If you would, take the Word of God and let's turn to 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy chapter 3. As you can see in your copy of the manuscript, the title of this biographical message is Safe in the Scriptural Path. Safe in the Scriptural Path. The great hero of this biographical is actually the Word of God. And I hope that you will see that. I hope that will come through very clear. It's not Mercer, but it's God's Word. 2 Timothy chapter 3, beginning at verse 14, and reading through chapter 4, verse 5. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you have learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching. for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom, preach the Word, be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching, For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, enduring suffering. Do the work of an evangelist. Fulfill your ministry. And may God bless the reading of his holy word. From an historical standpoint, Baptists have always been known as people of the book. By this identification, Baptists from their emergence in 17th century England had gained the reputation of being that Christian body within Protestantism whose declaration of doctrine and practice was solely governed and ruled by the Word of God. In fact, the Great Reformation principle of sola scriptura, by scripture alone, can be argued as finding its fullest expression with Baptists than with any other Protestant group. This is why church historian Robert G. Torbett, in his history of the Baptists, made the case that Baptists, to a greater degree than any other group, have strengthened the protest of evangelical Protestantism against traditionalism. This they have done by their constant witness to the supremacy of the Scriptures as the all-sufficient and sole norm for faith and practice in the Christian life. So then, from this Baptist conviction that the Word of God is all-sufficient and the sole norm for faith and practice in the Christian life, it would therefore be Baptists who would hold forth such biblical doctrines as baptism for believers only, a regenerate church membership, liberty of conscience, and the separation of church and state. By these teachings, Baptists took the principle of sola scriptura to its logical and inevitable conclusion. They would seek to assemble local churches made up of only believers where Christ ruled as the head of His church by the revelation of His word, liberated from any human tradition or government who would seek to lord over their conscience. But again, what brings a Baptist to these convictions is their uncompromising faith in the authenticity of the Bible as the authoritative, inerrant, infallible, and sufficient Word of God. Now, for Georgia Baptists in the early 19th century, this unwavering confidence in the Word of God ruling and shaping their life and doctrine was the native air they breathed. Their view of God, man, sin, salvation, the church, the sacraments and missions were all defined and fleshed out by this simple, singular, but profound confession. We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are the Word of God and the only rule of faith and practice. These words come from the abstract in Decorum which was written in 1790 as the official doctrinal standard for the Georgia Baptist Association. The significance of this statement concerning the Word of God is that historically it stands as the original and leaning expression of faith for the first generation of Georgia Baptists. When it came, therefore, to the Word of God and its place in the Christian life, it was the only rule of faith in practice. Echoing other Baptist confessions which had preceded them, like the Charleston Confession, the Philadelphia Confession, and the Second London Confession, these early Georgia Baptists believed firmly that since the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are the Word of God, then all other sources of religious authority and human custom are excluded as a rule of faith in practice. Only the Bible can hold such authority over men. And the reason for this is because only the Bible sets forth all that God has deemed necessary for man to know concerning what he should believe about God and what duty God requires of him. Now, among the first generation of Georgia Baptists, there was perhaps no greater and more exemplary model to this conviction of the Bible's sole authority for our faith and practice than Jesse Mercer. One of Mercer's contemporaries said of him that the Bible with Mercer was first and last. In Mercer's own words, he once said to a friend as relating to the biblical practice of church discipline, quote, if I go according to the scriptural path, I am safe. Those words truly sum up where Jesse Mercer stood when it came to the place of God's Word in every facet of his life. He was fully confident that as long as he followed the scriptural path, he would be kept safe from dishonoring God, teaching error, and therefore leading others astray. Like De Salmis in Psalm 119 and verse 105, Mercer believed that the only certain light and dependable lamp for where his feet could travel was the Word of God alone. Now, for our study this morning, I want us to consider how Mercer traveled the scriptural path when it came to the doctrine of salvation, the church, and missions. But before we follow this path with Mercer, it would be very helpful to begin by looking first at Mercer's life and place in Georgia Baptist history. It would not be an exaggeration to say that Jesse Mercer was the most prominent figure in Georgia Baptist life for the first 40 years of the 19th century. Expressing this accolade in 1881, Baptist historian Samuel Boykin said of Mercer, it is not too much to say that no one has ever exerted upon the Baptist denomination in Georgia a more beneficial, healthy, and powerful influence than Jesse Mercer. No one did more to give a sound scriptural tone to its doctrine and practice. No one more zealously and persistently promoted all those benevolent institutions sanctioned by the gospel and in accordance with scripture principles Nor has anyone in our state been so liberal in donations to denominational enterprises. Suffice it to say, during his generation, Jesse Mercer held forth an influence among his fellow Georgia Baptists that was frankly second to none. Among those who respected him, he would be affectionately called Father Mercer. And out of that esteem for both his godly character and multiple gifts, he would be entrusted, for example, to serve his association as its clerk for 19 years and then its moderator for 23 years. He would also be given the honor of writing the annual circular letter for his association on five different occasions. This type of letter served those inside the Baptist family as a reaffirmation of some particular biblical truth combined with a challenge to remain faithful to Christ while being tried and tempted in a fallen world. But in addition to his stewardship as a leading voice and figure in the Georgia Baptist Association, Mercer promoted Baptist education and Baptist cooperation in Georgia, which would result in the formation of a university named in Mercer's honor, and the establishment of the Georgia Baptist Convention. Furthermore, Mercer's writings would become a household resource for Georgia Baptists. When in 1833 he purchased the Christian Index, This paper, which is the oldest continuing weekly religious periodical in America, became the official state paper for Georgia Baptist. And as its owner and editor, Mercer would strive to publish not only Baptist news, but more importantly, he sought to unpack biblical doctrine and application for Georgia Baptist churches. And finally, in the mix of all these labors and enterprises, Jesse Mercer was first and foremost a faithful pastor to four different churches in Wilkes County, Georgia. Powellton Baptist Church, Bethsaida Baptist Church, Phillips Mill Baptist Church, and the First Baptist Church of Washington, which he had a direct hand in establishing. From this perspective, therefore, it is not hard to see why Boykin's esteem for Mercer ran so high. In fact, even more than a hundred years after Mercer's death, he would still be lauded as exerting, quote, more influence on white Georgia Baptists than anyone in their history. Mercer's beginnings, however, did not start in Georgia. He was born in Halifax County, North Carolina on December 16, 1769. He was the oldest of eight children born to Silas and Dorcas Mercer. But Mercer's father, Silas, was in his twenties. He uprooted his family to settle in Georgia on 100 acres of land he purchased near Washington in Wilkes County. This settlement would last only a few years due to the British takeover of Augusta that would force the Mercers to move back to North Carolina for the duration of the American Revolution. Yet this period would not be spent in idleness for Mercer's father. Silas, who at this time was a licensed Baptist minister, became a chaplain to the Continental Army. It has been reported in his own journal that for the six years he served as army chaplain, he preached more than 2,000 sermons to the rebel troops. This means that on average he would preach one or two sermons each day for those six years. Following the War of Independence Silas would migrate his family back to their original settlement in Georgia where they would all live out the rest of their days. Now for Jesse Mercer during the formative years of his life he was by and large a morally upstanding boy. His parents ever constant instruction that his life must conform to the will of God as revealed in Scripture certainly had a deep impact on his already tender conscience. In fact, his first impressions of falling short of God's glory came to bear on him when he was only five or six. Hence, with that early conviction of his own sinfulness, he would be found by all external appearances as one who refrained from everything that would draw him into any kind of vice which other boys his age seemed to run after. Mercer's childhood in prime years as a teenager, therefore, exemplified to all casual observers a young man whose character was spotless. But at the age of 15, a crisis of soul began to work hard on Mercer's heart. While he admitted that before this time he had been concerned about his future state and thus frequently prayed over it, yet now at 15 he declared, I was more seriously impressed with a sense of the wickedness of my heart and its alienation from God. In response then to this much deeper conviction of his own sin, Mercer prayed harder, read the Bible with more frequency, and attended church services more regularly. And he stayed at these activities with fervency for three years, but all to no avail. Mercer concluded then that since his spiritual condition was no better, but worse, he lamented, My heart became hard and unfeeling, and I wondered that God, who was angry with the wicked every day, had not long since cut me off and sent me to destruction, a condemnation which my conscience could not but have approved. Now, it should be understood that at this time, Mercer had a very clear view of the plan of salvation through Jesus Christ. He saw clearly that salvation was in Christ alone, and all who repent of their sins and trust in Christ will be saved. Mercer got that. But his anxiety was over the fact that he could not produce saving faith. In frustration, he exclaimed, Seen it thus, I tried with all the faculties of my soul to believe, but could not. And so I concluded I had not come aright and was rejected." Yet with this sad conclusion of what he believed was his eternal doom, Mercer still desired salvation for others and wanted no one to join him in what he called his banishment from heaven to the regions of misery and despair. However, just when Mercer had signed himself off as one doomed to perdition, God, in his great mercy, gave Jesse Mercer the salvation. which so eluded his grasp. And Mercer's own words, his conversion to Christ, took place in this way. This is what he said. While on the verge of despair, I was walking alone along a narrow solitary path in the woods, pouring over my helpless case and saying to myself, Woe is me! Woe, woe is me! For I am undone forever. I would, I were a beast of the field. At length I found myself standing with my eyes steadfastly fixed on a small oak that grew by the pathside and earnestly wishing that I could be like the little oak when it died and crumbled to dust. At that moment, light broke into my soul and I believed in Christ for myself and not for another and went on my way rejoicing." Thus, at 17 years old, Jesse Mercer came to faith in Jesus Christ. A few days following this momentous life-transforming event, he related his conversion experience to the Phillips Mill Baptist Church, where his father was pastor. And with the full consent and affirmation of the church, Mercer was baptized on July 8, 1787. Two years later, after manifesting much fruit and giftedness, Mercer would be ordained to the ministry by Phillips Mill Baptist Church after a thorough examination of his character, call, and qualifications. Mercer was then called to serve as pastor of Hutton's Fort Baptist Church, later to be called Sardis Baptist in Wills County. The year prior, To his call to the ministry, however, Mercer was also married to a Miss Sabrina Shivers. Sabrina would be Mercer's thankful wife for 38 years until her death in 1826. From this union, they would have only two daughters, both of whom would come to a very early death. In addition, though, to his new marriage and ministry, Mercer was also strongly encouraged by his father to receive a formal education as a minister. This would be first carried out by attending a small school led by a Presbyterian minister named John Springer. For two years under Springer, Mercer would receive instruction in the biblical languages and theology. After completing this education, he would then attend his father's school for one year, Salem Academy, which was the first private Baptist school in Georgia. Thus, after receiving three years worth of ministerial education, Jesse Mercer became one of the most educated Baptist ministers in the state. In 1796, one of the greatest turning points would occur in Mercer's life. It was the untimely death of his father Silas. Silas Mercer was without question the most influential person in the first half of Jesse Mercer's life. And when it came to the ministry, Silas was Mercer's mentor and his chief companion in gospel labors. conducting, for example, preaching tours throughout both Virginia and North Carolina in the years of 1791 and 1793. Not to mention their combined efforts in the establishment and progress for the Georgia Baptist Association. Hence, when his father passed away, the course of Mercer's life was to immediately change. In the first place, he would return to his father's estate, having to resign a pastoral charge he had taken in Oglethorpe County. As the eldest son in his family, it was Mercer's responsibility to take care of his mother and his four youngest siblings. In the second place, he assumed the role of superintendent of the aforementioned Salem Academy. And finally, all three churches in which his father was pastor each called upon Mercer to take their charge. From this period, though, Mercer's influence as a Baptist leader in Georgia would grow on several different fronts as a pastor, author, editor, hymnologist, philanthropist, and denominational statesman. Mercer's first biographer, Charles Mallory, summed up all of Mercer's ministerial labors as one who was set for the defense of the gospel. He observed that The Gospel's great leading truths, Mercer had studied intensely and profoundly. And if in the clear, well-defined, original, and masterly exhibition of these truths from the pulpit, he has had superiors or even equals amongst Baptists of our country, they certainly have been rare. To those who love Mercer, as already mentioned, he was called Father Mercer. But to those who despised him, He was derided as the old man whose gospel efforts, they said, were never worth supporting. Yet for Mercer himself, by his own estimation, he was inadequate as a pastor, frustrated as an editor, and only sometimes successful in bringing people to see things his way. As a man in his physical appearance, Mercer stood just over six feet tall, with hazel eyes, mostly bald and moderately corpulent. His demeanor was quiet and reserved when out of the pulpit. In fact, as Mallory noted, to strangers, Mercer often appeared cold, uninteresting, and dry. He was not a man who had the gift of gab and lamented over this as impeding his duties as a pastor. Why even his first wife Sabrina would say, if you wish to get Mr. Mercer talking when he comes to see you, you must lay out some subjects for him beforehand. But where Mercer lacked such sanguine traits in personal conversation, he made up for it in graces of transparency, humility, and meekness. Moreover, he was a man known for his uncommon moral courage. Mallory said of Mercer in this regard, in matters of principle and conscience, He was immovable as a rock. Upon what he deemed important and vital points, he was not afraid to proclaim his opinions even if the whole world was to be arrayed against him. Yet as principled as Mercer was, Mallory was also quick to point out that when he came to matters of indifference, No one was more ready and cheerful in yielding to the wishes of others. As a pastor, Mercer was a supreme model of Paul's instruction to the Corinthian church when he exhorted them, let all things be done decently and in order. This was how Mercer lived his life personally and how he would shepherd the flock of God, whether it was in maintaining a regenerate church membership, practicing church discipline, or guarding his congregations from the growing fanaticism he was observing by the new measures of Charles Finney and the fever of revivalism. As a preacher, however, Mercer was in a class all by himself. His uniqueness as a preacher was not in what he preached, but in how he preached. The substance of his sermons were always doctrinally sound, which was his greatest strength, and ever tended to make the most practical applications. Furthermore, as one contemporary noted, While Mercer was not a gifted orator, yet there was an unction from the Holy One which rested on his preaching. But when it came to Mercer's manner in the pulpit, he was quite a sight to behold. He would begin his sermon by shrugging his shoulders and moving his head sideways. His voice was not particularly strong, and when he would raise it to effect, it became shrill and dissonant. As he became more excited during his delivery, Mercer often slapped the pulpit and stomped his foot on the floor, following up at times with an entire turning of his body from front to rear. Needless to say, Jesse Mercer never attained to a graceful manner in the pulpit. Yet in spite of this, Mercer became so well loved and admired by Baptists that one may conclude that his idiosyncrasies behind the pulpit were a small price to pay for his knowledge, grace, and warmth outside of the pulpit. Doctrinally, Jesse Mercer was by his own description an old-school Baptist. And what this meant, as Mallory explained, was that Mercer was a strict Calvinist. Or, as we would describe it, he was a five-point Calvinist. And his position as the Calvinist never wavered. In fact, in his later years, when Primitive Baptist accused Mercer of having defected from the Calvinistic faith of his father Silas, he retorted by saying, I have undergone no fundamental change in my faith from my forefathers. I believe now and always preach in perfect accordance with the faith adopted by the Georgia Association. And this faith adopted by the Georgia Association to which Mercer refers is the 1790 doctrinal standard of that association which expresses with unmistakable clarity the five points of Calvinism. So, as a Calvinist, Mercer obviously did not hide his convictions in a closet. For example, when he purchased the Christian Index in 1833, It was due to a concern that the paper remain within the bounds of regular Calvinism. Moreover, for the seven years he served as both owner and editor of the Christian Index, articles on predestination, effectual calling, election, and other similar themes appeared with great frequency by Mercer in contributing authors. In one particular article, which Mercer published in the Christian Index during 1836, the writer's sentiments concerning the value of Calvinism echoed Mercer's own convictions as well. This author wrote, The doctrines generally called Calvinistic have been the source of much contention. Yet taking a fair view of them, they are so reasonable and scriptural that wherever the principles by which they are supported are disbelieved and opposed, true religion would disappear. In 1830, Mercer's greatest formal defense of Calvinism was brought forth by ten letters he composed to the Christian Index vindicating the Calvinistic doctrine of limited atonement. This was in response to a book that had been published by a Georgia Baptist pastor named Cyrus White, who was arguing for the Arminian doctrine of universal atonement. One thing that should be noted, is that Mercer was not defending a minority view of the Atonement. In 1830, the overwhelming majority of Georgia Baptists were five-point Calvinists. Thus, when Pastor White's book appeared endorsing the Arminian view of the Atonement, it was seen as a dire threat to the doctrinal health and preservation of Georgia Baptist churches. Old-school Baptists like Mercer, therefore, looked on Cyrus flying as a man departing from the faith. On the morning of September 6, 1841, Jesse Mercer, at 71 years of age, would breathe his last. He would only survive his second wife, Nancy, by less than four months. Nancy had passed away at their home in Washington, Georgia. But Mercer was not in Washington when he died. He had traveled to Indian Springs, which is actually not too far from here in Jackson, to see if the springs would revive his failing health. But such would not be the effect for which he was hoping. In fact, Mercer would not leave Indian Springs at all. Retiring to the home of a friend named James Carter, Mercer would see his final days on earth. When friends inquired of him as to how he felt, he responded, I have no ecstatic joys, not so much of that triumphant assurance which some speak of. but an humble hope of heaven, and habitual calm reliance on my blessed Redeemer, which enables me to contemplate my approaching in with composure, undisturbed by any very distressing apprehensions. To Joseph Carter on the night before Mercer's death, after singing the hymn, I did to him my all commit, he said, that is continually in my mind, Forty odd years ago, I committed my all to the Lord before the mercy seat, and there is my dependence now. And Mercer's final words right before his death were spoken to his nephew, W.A. Mercer, who had sat with his uncle through the whole of his last night on earth. Writing to the Christian Index of his last moments, W.A. Mercer said that his uncle had answered several questions I asked him. I inquired if he was ready to depart. He threw his dying arms around my neck and pulled me down near to him and said, I have no fears. Jesse Mercer would be buried on September the 8th, 1841 in Pinfield Cemetery near Mercer University. Several Georgia Baptist churches would adopt resolutions expressing their grief over Mercer's passing along with the Georgia Baptist Association and the Georgia Baptist Convention. And on October 3rd of that same year, which in that year fell on the Lord's Day, the First Baptist Church of Washington held a memorial service for Mercer, and the local Presbyterian Church closed their doors and joined the service out of respect. The chosen text for that service was most fitting, 2 Samuel 3.38, Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel? Now, with the sketch of Mercer's life before us, let us consider what is the main subject of this study, which is how Mercer walked the scriptural path when it came to the doctrines of salvation, the church, and missions. To begin with, let's notice Mercer on the scriptural path of salvation. When Jesse Mercer came to the Word of God and studied what the scriptures taught concerning how God saves sinners, his conclusion was what he wrote as a summary in the Christian Index in 1833. The editor believes in the doctrine of free and sovereign grace, in perfect accordance with the obligations and responsibilities of men as accountable beings. Unpacking this, Mercer saw clearly from God's Word that salvation is by grace alone, meaning that there was nothing in man to influence God to save him, but the design and application of redemption was entirely God's own sovereign pleasure. Mercer wrote, Indeed, I cannot conceive how any motive could operate on the mind of the judge of all the earth in the counsels of peace to produce this purpose of mercy towards the guilty, but that which was purely of himself according to the good pleasure of his own will. Hence, for Jesse Mercer, when he read the Scriptures, he came to understand that it was not man's will at the center of salvation, but God's will. And Mercer's conviction of this truth was supported by two biblical doctrines which he affirmed strongly. On the one hand, God's eternal decree, and on the other hand, man's total depravity. Regarding God's eternal decree, Mercer wrote, the decrees of God are the holy plan or purpose according to which God governs the world. And this divine governance of the world, Mercer would write, extended to every action and event, yet not eradicating the freedom of moral agents, nor signifying God's approval of everything comprehended within His plan in itself. Consider. Therefore, since God has decreed everything that comes to pass, then when it came to salvation, the how, why, and who was already fixed in God's eternal purpose. So then, when Mercer considered how God would save sinners, he affirmed the biblical truth of the Father electing, the Son redeeming, and the Spirit regenerating. As to election, Mercer expressed, the doctrine of personal and eternal election is that God and the wise and holy plan of His government has determined what individuals He will sanctify by His Spirit and thus prepare for eternal life. Regarding the redeeming work of Christ on the cross, Mercer believed that The atonement is special both in its provisions and applications. By this, Mercer understood that Christ's atoning sacrifice was intended and extended only to those the Father elected to be saved. Thus, when Christ died on the cross, His death secured the salvation of all those He came to save. Mercer maintained, the fullness of the atonement is not to be measured by the number saved, but by its competency to save one sinner. And as to the work of regeneration, Mercer explained it as a change of heart from enmity to supreme love to God, produced by the special and efficacious agency of God the Holy Spirit. This meant, therefore, that if any sinner whom the Father chose for His Son to redeem were to savingly believe on Christ, then the Holy Spirit would have to regenerate them to new life. They would have to be born again. But what Mercer plainly saw by each of these biblical truths was that salvation was in no wise dependent nor determined by man's will. Salvation from beginning to end was of the Lord. In fact, even when it came to the preservation of all God's elect, Mercer declared, all true believers being born of God will, not by their own strength, but by His mighty power, be preserved from eternal final apostasy and kept through faith unto salvation. Salvation then for Jesse Mercer was in truth by God's free and sovereign grace. And behind this biblical doctrine was the larger truth of God's eternal decree. But combined with the decree of God was also man's total depravity. Why did salvation have to be entirely of God's doing? Is it man capable of making himself right with God? For Mercer, as he read and understood God's Word, he had to conclude, quote, that men are by nature totally destitute of holiness and enemies of God. Concerning this fact, Mercer appealed to such passages as Romans 3, verse 12, where we're told that all have turned aside. Together they have become worthless. No one does good, not even one. He also cited Romans 8, verses 7 and 8. where unregenerate sinners are described as minding the things of the flesh, being hostile to God, and completely incapable of pleasing God, as they are bent by nature to rebel always against God's law. Finally, Mercer turned to Jeremiah 17 and verse 9, which sums up man's fundamental problem as a sinner. The heart of man is desperately wicked and deceitful above all things. So being true to Scripture, Mercer could not reason but one thing about the natural state of man as a sinner. He is spiritually and morally depraved. And while this does not mean, as Mercer would say, that all men are as bad as they can be, yet their sinful nature has rendered them with no will nor desire for Christ and His salvation. With this in mind, therefore, Mercer wrote, all men, wherever they are dispensed, would be saved, were it not for that alienation of heart which has everywhere estranged man from God and filled him with that enmity which is not subject to law, neither indeed can be. But God, foreseeing that no man would receive the testimony, and that all men would turn away from the holy commandment delivered to them, has in plentitude of His mercy determined in the riches of His grace, according to the sovereign counsel and good pleasure of His own will, to exercise a power sufficient to effect the purposes of His grace in salvation of His own chosen people. By the display of this power, his enemies are changed into friends, and they that hated him bow before him and give him glory. So then, if one were to have asked Jesse Mercer, Mr. Mercer, why do you believe these things? Why is it that you maintain that salvation is by free and sovereign grace? Mercer would have replied in the following manner, as he in fact did in 1838. He said, These doctrines are believed because they are supported not only by express declarations of scripture, but by an abundance of such declarations. They do not rest on the doubtful interpretation of a few isolated passages, but are supported by the obvious meaning of a great multitude of texts. Hence, following the scriptural path in the matter of salvation, Jesse Mercer would simply but strongly contend it is God alone who saves sinners. But as we continue down the scriptural path with Mercer, let's now consider where it led him concerning the doctrine of the church. And to narrow this down, what was Mercer led to believe by the teaching of God's word as to church membership and church discipline? As to church membership, Mercer held firmly that it must be a regenerate church membership. This means that anyone who would join themselves to a local church must be proven by their lips and lives to have been born again. In short, only Christians can be church members. But what is a Christian? Mercer once answered this question in an article he wrote outlining the fruit of a real Christian by four principal characteristics. First, a Christian is a believer in Christ, whose sole dependence for salvation is in Him, and who, from a sincere regard for Christ's person and honor, is endeavoring to follow His precepts and examples. Second, a Christian loves God, which may be known by an exercise of holy and reverent fear of Him, leading to askew evil and do good from a pious and devout regard to His honor. Third, a Christian loves his fellow Christians, just in that proportion in which they give evidence that they are born of God. And finally, a Christian has a knowledge of himself which at once distresses and humbles him. Fanning this last point out, Mercer described the Christian as one who views himself as totally depraved if he is without Christ. Moreover, he knows his heart is a sink of sin. He just knows its plague and bitterness. Furthermore, he often reproaches himself as vile and unworthy. And the greater his discoveries are of the holiness and greatness of God, the more he abhors himself in dust and ashes. He is therefore often disappointed in his fondest hopes and anticipations in happiness and success and duty. And his life as a whole is ever exposed to many and fiery temptations, yet he rejoices in hope of deliverance. This is a Christian. And church membership can only be reserved for such as these, if it is to be a true church of Jesus Christ. This is why, therefore, when it came to joining a church, Mercer declared that a public profession of faith is a serious transaction. He who makes it enters into a most solemn pledge that by the grace of God he will not live to himself, but to him who died for sinners and arose again. He professes then that these resolutions are the result of a gracious operation of the Spirit of God upon his heart. But next to a regenerate church membership, Mercer also believed and practiced strongly biblical church discipline. In this regard, Jesse Mercer was lionized by his fellow Baptists for his attention to church discipline. For Mercer, Anyone who chose to come in the front door of church membership was also made aware of the back door of church discipline. This awareness was made in a formal way by signing a church covenant, whereby a church member would pledge themselves with the rest of the church body to live up to what they profess to be as believers in Christ. But, If this covenant was disregarded by either sinful, unrepentant behavior or by promoting false doctrine, then discipline would ensue following the pattern and principles of Matthew 18, verses 15 through 17. In a circular letter written in 1806, Mercer wrote of church discipline as that practice without which there can be no union, order, peace, or fellowship in the church. In fact, church discipline, by Mercer's conviction, was the lifeblood of the church. But, as Mercer would say, if it were neglected or loosely executed by allowing the toleration of corrupt men, then they will end up corroding and corrupting the whole body, which will lead to more ungodliness till, by their number and influence, the church at this or that place may become a mere worldly sanctuary or a synagogue of Satan. Suffice it to say, for Jesse Mercer, church discipline was not an option, but a divine mandate. There would be no ensuring of true healthiness for the local church without it. Our final scriptural path with Mercer is that of missions. Charles Mallory said of Mercer regarding missions that, the cause of missions was ever dear to the heart of Mr. Mercer. It might be said that he was in truth an active and efficient domestic missionary for nearly 30 years, a large portion of that time being actually spent in itinerant labor. Moreover, Mercer's passion to spread the gospel via missionary efforts was seen by his spearheading ways that Georgia Baptists could cooperate on a statewide level to reach the lost. And his support, by word and deed, of the famed Triennial Convention, which was the first nationwide mission agency among Baptists in America. Now, to many modern-day Baptists, it might seem strange and even contradictory that Jesse Mercer, the five-point Calvinist, was such a strong and active supporter for missions. But what we must understand about Mercer's Calvinism is that it was evangelical and not hyper-Calvinism. When Mercer read and studied the Scriptures, he clearly saw that God ordains the means as well as the ends of His eternal purpose to save His elect. Therefore, evangelism, according to Romans 10, verses 13-17, is God's ordained means to bring His elect to salvation in Christ. With this understanding, Mercer would thus write in 1834, this good news is to be preached, according to the commission, to every creature, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people. Mercer saw no contradiction then between five-point Calvinism with its scriptural emphasis on the sovereign grace of God and the biblical command to preach the gospel to all nations. Mercer declared that it was the first duty of a gospel minister to teach men of their ruined state as sinners, and the provision of mercy God has made for their recovery in Christ, warning them of their danger, then calling them to repentance and faith, inviting them all to come to Christ and live. And while it is true, Mercer said, that all men resist the claims and refuse the grace of calls and means and will not comply. Yet, God puts forth a mightier energy of divine influence into these means and invitations by which they are rendered effectual by the Holy Spirit to salvation. Now, at this point, we must pause and note that not all fellow Baptists in Mercer's day shared his missionary zeal. In fact, when it came to the cause of missions as expressed through the use of means like mission agencies, tract societies, Bible societies, Sunday schools, protracted meetings, and ministerial education, A vast movement of contention and controversy arose within the Baptist family and severed it to the core. This movement would be known by history as the anti-mission movement. And the division this movement would spawn would bring forth two distinctive Baptist groups. The missionary Baptists and the primitive Baptists. Now to be fair, the primitive Baptists, who were the champions of the anti-missionary cause, were not against missions in theory. In fact, the very term anti-missionary was not how they saw themselves. It was the missionary Baptists who labeled the primitives as anti-missionary. But for the primitives, they took a very strong position in favor of missions. What became their written manifesto, known as the Black Rock Address, 1832, recognized that Christ had commanded them to go into all the world and preach the gospel, being sent and supported exclusively by the local church. Hence, when it came to Baptist state conventions, or the Triennial Convention, becoming the prime agency for sending and supporting missionaries, the Primitive Baptists saw this as, quote, subverting the order marked out in the New Testament. On this principle, therefore, the Primitive Baptists remained true to Scripture. Yet behind this principle, was a hermeneutic that reasoned whatever they could not find explicitly stated in Scripture should not be supported. So, since the Bible does not contain words like Baptist Convention, mission boards, or Sunday school, then such things like this must not be of God. Their interpretation of the Bible then became a mechanical literalism. But what's worse was that their mechanical literalism drove them to separate from any Baptist churches which supported what they believed were unbiblical ideas. However, underlying all the concerns the primitives had with the new missionary endeavors of their Baptist brethren was their judgment that advocates for missions did not believe God was sovereign in salvation. Why, they even called Andrew Fuller an Arminian. Indeed, to follow this fervor for the missionary cause was to rob God of His glory in salvation, they would say, since God could convert the world apart from any human effort. But sadly and tragically, this way of thinking would ultimately send the primitive Baptist into the quagmire of hyper-Calvinism. Therefore, despite their strong stand for missions in the Black Rock Address, yet in reality, It would only remain a theory. Now, among Georgia Baptists, the anti-mission movement began to divide the churches and associations in the mid-1820s. In fact, when the Georgia Baptist Convention was formed in 1822, only two of the eight Baptist associations became charter members. You understand what I'm saying there, that in 1822, there were only eight Baptist associations in Georgia, and only two of those eight joined the Georgia Baptist Convention. This was due to the anti-missionary stance of the other six. And in 1846, five years after Mercer's death and one year after the forming of the Southern Baptist Convention, Georgia had the highest number of anti-mission adherents in the United States, 11,603. Needless to say, there was a deep-rooted and strong divide over missions among Georgia Baptists. The formal break, however, between the missionary and primitive Baptists in Georgia occurred between the years of 1836 to 1840, and at the center of this controversy during this period was Jesse Mercer. For the primitives, Jesse Mercer was their whipping boy. They railed against him from their pulpits to bimonthly periodicals they published to counter his influence. On Mercer's part, however, he sought to do two things in response to the Primitives. First of all, he pursued reconciliation. Mercer organized three official ministers' meetings, two in 1836, one in 1837, between the missionary and Primitive Baptist to heal the breach and unite these brethren once again. Sadly, not a single primitive Baptist appeared at these meetings but criticized them in their papers impugning evil motives on Mercer and the missionary Baptists for calling such a conference. But second of all, from a doctrinal position, Mercer used the Christian Index as his medium to counter the theological arguments of his primitive brethren on several fronts. On the one hand, he would show from Scripture how New Testament churches did join together to accomplish missionary work, and he would reference Acts 15, verses 1-35. And on the other hand, He also noted how Old Testament prophecy became New Testament command. Thus, he said, we are to regard all the predictions of the prophets in relation to the advancement of Christ's kingdom and the salvation of the world as invested with the power and authority of divine commands requiring us to labor and pray for their accomplishment. Mercer would prove this point by comparing Isaiah 49.6 with Acts 13.47, demonstrating how the apostles understood their missionary labors to be an outworking of this ancient plan. Isaiah's prophecy was a prediction, a salvation extending to the ends of the earth, whereas in Acts 13.47, this same prophecy is repeated in the form of a command. Mercer also challenged the primitives with their own mechanical literalism by exposing their inconsistency. While they demanded scriptural proof for all the new missionary enterprises, yet they could not prove from scripture why they had church associations, constituted churches, and required the approval of Presbyteries before such churches could join their associations. Finally, Mercer took the primitives to task over their hyper-Calvinism, calling them the do-nothing party, while defending the evangelical Calvinism of missionary Baptists. Describing the essential difference between the two, Mercer said, The doctrine of do-nothing is that which is most congenial with their feelings. They are afraid to engage heart and hand in labors of love, lest God should be robbed of His glory in the conversion of men. The one party, missionary Baptists, argues that God, in the exercise of His grace and mercy, will convert and sanctify men through the means which He has appointed to that end. The other party, Primitive Baptist, contends that he will convert them as an act of his sovereign pleasure, means or no means, hence they do not concern themselves very much upon the subject. This is really the difference between the parties concerned, and it seems to resolve itself into the following question. Do the doctrines of grace lead to vigorous and persevering action? Mercer would go on to answer his own question by citing Revelation 7 and verse 9, where the final number of God's elect will be higher than man can count. Hence, with such a vast multitude to be saved, shouldn't Christians want all the more to participate in the fulfillment of this redemptive plan through missionary activity? Simply put, Mercer understood the position taken by the primitives when it came to missions, but he could not accept their solution of waiting on God to fulfill his own great commission. So then, when it came to the great cause of missions, Jesse Mercer put his full weight and tireless efforts behind it for local, state, national, and international endeavors. Whether it was attempting to reach the Creek in Cherokee Indians in Georgia, to supporting the labors of William Carey and Addernaim Judson in India, Jesse Mercer sought ways and means to rally his fellow Georgia Baptists together to become all things to all people that by all means some might be saved. Well, drawing our study of Mercer's life and labors to a close, there are three lessons which I believe would be very helpful for us to glean from Mercer for our own generation. First, we should make every effort to recover in our day the biblical model of the local church as regenerate and disciplined. I believe we heard much about that yesterday. The care and attention that Jesse Mercer and Baptists at large in his day gave to the biblical doctrines of a regenerate church membership and church discipline are sadly absent in most Baptist churches of our time. Bloated membership roles where over half of the church members cannot be found is an all-too-common culture for modern-day Baptists. And the practice of corrected church discipline is not even a category existing in their Bible database. Thus the spiritual climate found in many Baptist churches is one of strife, carnality, and a widespread worldliness which is left unchecked and therefore uncorrected. The overall result are Baptist churches reduced to a remnant of true believers living among a majority of unregenerate sinners. But what can be done with such a vast problem? But from a doctrinal standpoint, Baptist pastors in such situations need to unpack what the Bible teaches about salvation and what it therefore means to be a Christian. Moreover, Baptist churches need to be taught what the Bible clearly commands and instructs as to how purity is preserved in the church via corrective discipline. And then from the standpoint of church polity, where joining the church has been hasty, careless, and irresponsible in how prospective members are received, there should be a return to affirming prospective members if only their testimony, character, and understanding of the gospel is biblical. Mark Dever once said in this regard, what we actually need to do is to close the front door and open the back door. We need to make it harder to join and we need to be better about excluding people. We need to be able to show that there is a distinction between the church and the world, that it means something to be a Christian. The point is, beloved, while it is not in our power to grow the church, yet it is our responsibility to cultivate the health of the church. Hence, we need to recover in this day the biblical model of the local church as regenerate and disciplined. Secondly, we must guard against one Bible doctrine eclipsing the rest of Scripture. For the primitive Baptists in the 19th century, their dogged insistence to exclusively hold forth the truth of God's sovereignty and salvation led them ultimately to renounce the outworking of evangelism and missions as God's ordained means to save His elect. They would therefore find themselves, as the result of their very imbalanced theology, floundering in the spiritual inertia of hyper-Calvinism. for the Missionary Baptists. While in Mercer's day, he could say that they were never freer of Arminianism than during his generation. How shocked he would be today. Yet in 80 years following this claim, the evangelical Calvinism of Mercer and the Missionary Baptists would be only a distant memory. Because over time, Their zeal for evangelism and missions would eventually overshadow and take away any doctrinal distinctives that even resembled the Calvinism of Jesse Mercer. This departure from evangelical Calvinism would result in the embrace of a semi-Pelagian view of salvation, the fruit of which would drive church ministry by pragmatic philosophy while trumping God's sovereignty for the belief that human methods will ensure conversions and grow the church. Hence, we, we, brothers and sisters, must be always on the guard that when we read and study and preach and apply God's Word, that we hold forth the whole counsel of God and not just our favorite proof text for our favorite doctrine. When Paul charged Timothy to preach the Word, he did so on the heels of reminding his protege that all Scripture All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. Thus, when the church is standing on all Scripture, and not just part of it, then they will be thoroughly equipped for every good work. Finally, while we contend earnestly for the preservation of sound biblical doctrine, Yet we must do so without a quarrelsome spirit, but in love for those toward whom we are contending. Although Jesse Mercer did not back down from exposing the theological and practical errors of the primitive Baptists, yet, understand this, he did not want to separate from them in fellowship and ministry. The truth is, he loved them and he therefore pursued peace with them despite how strongly he disagreed with the certain positions they took. And while Mercer's efforts to reconcile with the primitives did not succeed, at least he could live with a clear conscience that his efforts were following the path of Scripture. In fact, what Jesse Mercer models for us all in this regard is what Paul urged Timothy to do in response to the false teachers in Ephesus. In 2 Timothy 2, verse 24, the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. This must be our posture. when standing for the truth of God's Word in the face of falsehood. We must not be argumentative, abusive, harsh, or pugnacious when defending the truth. But rather, to those in opposition to the truth, as we would seek to correct their errors, it must be done in a humble, gentle, forbearing manner that is free from all malice, revenge, and arrogant pride. This was Mercer's pattern with the primitive Baptists. And by God's grace, working in our own hearts, beloved, may this be our pattern as well whenever we have to confront those who are in opposition to the truth. Listen closely. Love for others must never be sacrificed for the sake of maintaining sound doctrine. Let me say that again. Love for others must never be sacrificed for the sake of maintaining sound doctrine. Instead, we contend for the preservation of sound biblical doctrine, while at the same time loving those we should be seeking to win to the truth. Amen.