God's Sovereign Mercy (ii). (Quality: Very good)

[0:00] For the Lord's help I would again direct your attention to the Epistle of Paul to the Romans chapter 9 verses 15 and 16.

[0:11] The Epistle of Paul to the Romans chapter 9 verses 15 and 16. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

[0:32] So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. The subject before us may well occupy our attention every day of our lives.

[0:58] For the mercies of God are constant and numberless. It would be impossible for us to count them up.

[1:09] It is an exceeding favour from God if we should hope, with a good hope through grace, and by a gracious experience received, that we come within those who have obtained mercy.

[1:31] I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

[1:44] Just at this moment, it comes into my mind how a person might obtain mercy. And if we go to the Hebrews, we find, Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

[2:09] If we are within the scope of these precious words, who receive of the mercy of God, one indication will be that they will come to the throne of grace.

[2:25] Sometimes we have sung the lines, that we are thankful to find there yet is room before the throne of grace.

[2:38] Room for the vilest of sinners who have lived to feel their need. What a blessing it is to live long enough to feel our need of Christ.

[2:52] Some are cut off in their early days, and they never live long enough to feel their need of Christ. Others may live to a hundred years old, and yet still, they've never lived long enough to feel their need of Christ.

[3:10] Now, what a blessing for us if we've lived long enough to feel our need of Jesus Christ. And if we have, then, necessarily, we come within these words, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy.

[3:30] Toward the conclusion of our discourse this morning, we were endeavouring to set forth some of the experiences of the people of God, whereby they might know that they had obtained mercy.

[3:49] This evening, I would endeavour to draw your attention to some of those points raised in the chapters that we read in the Song of Solomon.

[4:02] It will be a clear evidence that God has had mercy upon you if you are favoured to come onto what we might perhaps call higher ground and say, My beloved, speak.

[4:22] Now, if our beloved has spoken unto us, it is the result of this. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and God has had mercy upon us.

[4:40] My beloved, speak. Clear is the voice of our beloved to the soul. What a mercy from God if, in all humility, we may say, My beloved, speak.

[5:00] And if we should then enquire what did the Lord speak, we may continue in the words of the Scripture, Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.

[5:16] I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

[5:29] And if we should be favoured with that entering in to the words in the Song of Solomon, we shall surely be made acquainted with, and fully aware of the blessed testimony of this word, which was spoken to Moses, I will have mercy, on whom I will have mercy.

[5:57] Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away. How wonderful to hear the voice of our beloved speaking to us and speaking in such gracious and blessed terms.

[6:15] Terms which perhaps only a little while before, a few days or months or weeks or years as the case may be, it seemed impossible that we could ever have heard the voice of our beloved, certainly hearing him speaking in such tender, gracious, affecting terms.

[6:39] that my beloved speak and he said unto me, how do we know the voice of our beloved? My mind just goes to those excellent words of the hymn, hear the voice of love and mercy sounds aloud from Calvary.

[7:06] What a voice! not necessarily a voice that may be heard but a voice that is certainly heard in the soul, a voice that certainly affects the spirit, a voice which causes us to worship God in the beauty of holiness and to sing praises unto his great name.

[7:33] We notice in the experience of the children of God the proof of doctrine in that experience at the same time there is the call to walk in a preceptical path.

[7:54] Therefore this is important for us to observe. The precept will honour God. If we walk not in the precepts then we shall bring dishonour upon God.

[8:09] Furthermore it is written them that honour me I will honour and those that despise me shall be lightly esteemed. I know there have been some by reason of the application of these words that have felt it upon them to make a public profession of the name of Jesus Christ.

[8:35] and to be baptised in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. But we should be quite wrong if we consider the words them that honour me I will honour should be centred around that public demonstration of our trust in Christ.

[9:04] Honouring God is a daily sacrifice and therefore we need to seek grace that we may honour God in all things.

[9:16] We shall honour God when we seek his glory in all things. We shall honour God when we confess our sins. we shall honour God when we beseech of him that he will save us from being a stumbling block in the way of others.

[9:37] But with us we may have grace to take up the stumbling blocks out of the way. It is this part of our life that will demonstrate and also confirm whether what we have said in regard to what we believe is true.

[9:57] People will look at our lives one godly man godly servant of the most high said on one occasion that though we a minister may preach many sermons his walk will speak and preach louder than any words that he may utter.

[10:21] You know this is solemnly true. It is also solemnly true to those who may say well I'm thankful that I am not a minister and therefore called upon to stand so highly.

[10:38] Your calling is as important in regard to your holy life and walk and conversation as any person whatever station or situation they may may be called upon to fulfill in the church of God.

[10:58] I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy will therefore be constantly seen in our lives. Now we revert back to what we have already mentioned arise my love my fair one and come away.

[11:18] it is required in disciples that they come away from the world. We cannot be a disciple of Jesus Christ and walk with the world.

[11:32] Not in anything. Even if we should conduct our business it will have to be on a different level from those with whom we may come in contact.

[11:44] it is observable from the book of Nehemiah that when Nehemiah said that did not I because of the fear of God it was in relation to something which we might call to be or regard as being the common usage of men in those days and we may equally say the common usage of men in the present day.

[12:13] What a blessing how God will have had mercy upon us if he speaks to us and communicates his holy fear in such a way that we have to say that did not I because of the fear of God is this honouring God it is indeed it is a working out of that word then that honour me I will honour we put it forth in this way it is not that did not I because of what of the integrity that was in my heart the abominations that I saw in these things but it was because of the fear of God and if we have to attribute what we do and what we say as being the result of the fear of God in our hearts then we shall be honouring

[13:16] God then that honour me I will honour and so the Lord says arise my love my fair one and come away we shall have to come away then from the world the worldly conversation and the worldly tenants and all these things now some of you may be ready to say well I where do I stand we are reminded and are only too solemnly aware that we have a carnal mind and we have that nature that would go along with the world there is a trinity of enemies to the souls of the people of

[14:18] God the world the flesh and the devil and those three combined will continually endeavour to shut your ears to close your eyes to close your hearts from listening to the word of your beloved and to paralyze you if it is possible from carrying out the words that he speaks nevertheless there is power with God all power is given to me in heaven and on earth and by this power the children of God conquer nay we are more than conquerors through him that loved us we we we we should not therefore sit down and say that we are conquered will you sit down and say that you are conquered will you say that the flesh is too strong for you and the devil is too strong for you and the world is too strong for you we could quite understand if you say so but can you let it be there because if there's no fighting if there's no seeking for deliverance if there's no desire to be an overcomer then we shall certainly be crushed with the power of this prinity of evil and be lost and spend in eternity in everlasting burnings where the grace of

[15:52] God is however this is not so because the very grace of God in the soul will cause a person to struggle to struggle even in weakness and there will be a consciousness of the conflict within whilst we may be fully acquainted with Daniel Herbert's words the old man struggles hard to gain the conquest over grace and after he seems to gain the field when Jesus hides his face yet nevertheless the Lord looks on our blessed Emmanuel and sometimes with the power of his voice and in the greatness of his strength he will come and say arise my fair one my beloved bread and come away come away from the world come away from yourselves that is the flesh now there is power with

[16:58] God I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy do we experience it in this way feeling the power of entwelling sin and the forcefulness of our flesh and the powerful attractions of the world and the strength of Satan's temptations that we should be ready to fall down and saying I shall be overcome as certainly you will be except it be for the greatness and glory and experience of the words of our text I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion this is demonstrated in grace communicated in love communicated arise my love my fair one and come away and then the church is reminded in that same chapter of the change in a situation it refers us to what we might say is a spiritual experience we come across people sometimes who say my winter has been long that is it has seemed to be never ending when the resurrecting power of the spirit of

[18:38] God the spring time and the life of the soul will ever be felt again but now you see the Lord comes may we not say in respect to our spring time it is an evidence of the Lord coming and revitalizing and putting life into the trees that have looked dead and so it is with the trees of righteousness now in order that the church of God may be fully assured we have a further walking out and working out of these words I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion I will tell them that the winter is past and you may be tempted to think that the winter is not past but God says my beloved spake and said unto me but for no the winter is past and the rain is over and gone and the time the flowers appear on the earth and the time of the singing of birds is come and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land the fig tree put it forth her green figs and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell arise my love my fair one and come away what will be more attractive to the awakened soul than to feel the upward movements and power of the resurrection of

[20:24] Jesus Christ I will have mercy at whom I will have mercy this is observable in the springtime when that which has been described takes place naturally do we think of the mercy of God when the winter is over and gone and the cheerfulness of the flowers and the singing of birds and so on appears to us and gives us joy and uplifting of heart shall we not more so observe this as the evident experience of these words I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion when the Lord causes the winter to be gone and the spring to appear and fruitfulness to be seen as a real possibility mercy now that is the rising of hope in the soul and as it is the rising of hope in the soul so we have obtained mercy

[21:47] I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy we dealt this morning with reference to the sovereignty of God in this great matter we are now considering the benefits and blessings and the evidences that those have that have obtained mercy and those that have also received of the compassion of God now God speaks here with certainty he says I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy mercy whilst it speaks of his sovereign purposes it also speaks of his power William Cowper who has these lines when this poor lisping stammering tongue lies silent in the grave then in a nobler sweeter song

[22:58] I'll sing thy power to save God's power to save is manifested in our experience and is made known as this is evidenced I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy have you seen this working in your own souls sometimes it is solemnly demonstrated in God's remarkable purposes of grace and favor can we say this evening that we have obtained mercy can we look at some of those points that we have endeavored to set before you and say yes I know a little and therefore I come within the scope of these precious words that God has spoken that he has had mercy upon me that he has had compassion upon me sometimes this is noticeable in a remarkable way if I remember rightly in the recorded mercies of the late

[24:15] George Rose he refers to an occasion when in his school days there was some confusion in the class because there was another George Rose as well well the both grew up and both went their various ways now the George Rose that some of you will remember was called to preach the gospel and there came a certain day when this beloved servant of God got into a carriage and who should be there but the other George Rose whom he had known in his school days now that man had made his mark in the boxing field if my memory serves me rightly the George Rose that some of us knew could not but observe how he had obtained mercy and the other though the same name yet had not obtained mercy as yet for he said to

[25:31] Moses I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion as we have said before this is a verse which can and will be surely a daily experience as we come to the end of each day can we say that I am still under this divine cover I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and truly I have obtained mercy how I could have obtained it some of you may readily say I cannot tell but undoubtedly I have obtained mercy now we have obtained mercy if God has shown us anything of himself shown us the true doctrine of

[26:31] Jesus Christ we have obtained mercy if we have felt ourselves to be guilty before God and then have perhaps felt so distressed and the last thing that we thought we obtained was mercy at that time now in looking back we can see that it was such a time that we obtained mercy to a remarkable degree because God came into our hearts and showed us what we were and what need we had of that salvation which is through Jesus Christ and therefore we shall worship and this brings us to the next point I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy will be evinced in the desire in the souls of the people of God to worship it is a mercy if we have a desire to engage in congregational worship and to adore the most high in the reading of

[27:48] God's precious word in the singing of his praises and also in rejoicing in the gospel of Jesus Christ but we may also cite one or two cases wherein the worship to God is put in a different category or in different circumstances I think first of all of the Syrophoenician woman who was in great trouble and we find that subsequently she came unto the Lord and she worshipped but she worshipped him in the prayer which she uttered and in the simple expression of her faith which was made known now we read in the 15th chapter of

[28:53] Matthew and we may perhaps venture to say that there are others who for want of deeper for their general knowledge of what they have heard may say in their troubles

[30:41] Lord help me now you will know whether you've been like this woman when she came and worshipped him saying Lord help me she believed that he was able to help her now God has had mercy upon you if you have come to him at the throne of grace in secret or whether it is as it were in public though in a singular way since she was not engaged in congregational worship she was in public but she came to him and his disciples tried to thrust her away but she could not be put off because she saw the great mercy of God in revealing to her the one that was able to help I have laid help upon one that was mighty we read in the book of

[31:42] Psalms here was a woman that needed help from one that was mighty no less mighty to save her child and if the Lord had mercy upon her child then she would certainly have mercy upon her it is worth noticing what she says and behold a woman of Canaan came out of the same coast and cried unto him saying have mercy on me oh Lord thou son of David my daughter is grievously vexed with the devil may we not have thought that she would have said have mercy on my daughter but no she said have mercy on me and we may respect this in relation to other relationships in life some they put it like this

[32:47] Lord have mercy on me and it will be evinced if thou just have mercy on my wife others will say have mercy on me and this being the voice of the woman will be in this case have mercy on my husband but if you have mercy on him or unheard as the case may be you will certainly have mercy on me I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion and so we may extend it to many others that we might come in contact with we may see dissolute cases but can we say with the hymn who of mercy need despair since I have mercy found if we're rightly taught of the spirit of

[33:50] God we shall feel that we can commend the mercy of God to everybody saying have mercy upon me the pastor may say in respect to his people or some of them have mercy upon me cast out the dumb devil or the deaf devil or the blind devil that covers up the eyes stops the ears prevents the mouth from speaking and having mercy upon that person you will certainly have mercy upon me and you may perhaps think along those lines in regard to your own pathway and present exercises in regard to the mercy of

[35:37] God in respect to other people now we have this I will have mercy there on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion we would again make the point that we should seek not to put ourselves outside of this word and to say well if God will have mercy on whom he will I cannot believe that he'll have mercy on me I say that is not the right attitude but rather may we be amongst those who may hope in his mercy are we not reminded from the book of the psalms that the Lord the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him and that hope in his mercy mercy it is a mercy to be favoured with that grace to hope in his mercy to believe the day will come when the mercies of God will be demonstrated more deeply that is that you will enjoy the fullness of the pardon of sin what a mercy is that

[37:01] I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy how different this is to the absolution that is given by the Roman Catholics by the priests that is not forgiveness but this is forgiveness where the Lord speaks and speaks to us distinctly and says I have put away thy sins return unto me for I have redeemed thee or again we have various instances in the scriptures where the Lord speaks and he says son thy sins which are many are all forgiven and the same may have its application to the daughters that will be as it were an elaboration an extension of the mercy of God but do not say that you have not obtained mercy if according to your own satisfaction you have not as yet obtained forgiveness of sins people do not have to wait to that point before they can say now

[38:24] I've obtained mercy there are the various points that we have set before you today that will indicate that mercy is discovered very early in the Christian experience their pardon some receive at first and then compelled to fight they find their latter stages worst and trouble much by night others again more calmly go but when their pardon they receive there they walk with joy to heaven we cannot set down a hard and fast rule or in what order God will work to bring the pardoning love and mercy through Jesus Christ into your soul we do know that it will come and it will come before you leave this life even though it is even extended to the last day

[39:35] I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and on and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion we think of those words that are uttered by Jacob on his last day he was blessing his children and suddenly he emits this prayer I have waited for thy salvation a few months ago when I was preaching from those words the thought came sweetly to my mind that this had been his daily prayer I have waited for thy salvation he needed salvation every day have we been in the place of those Jacobs that have waited for God's salvation started the day having nothing requiring

[40:39] God to appear for them and save them throughout this day and tomorrow and the day after and then coming down to the last day of our life our prayer is not altered we're still waiting for God's salvation to be manifested on that day oh yes that would be good but what also will it demonstrate I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion it will certainly be the mercy and compassion of God if our prayer today includes this of waiting for God's salvation and if we come down to the last day of our life and we're still praying the same prayer because we need the same salvation and we are encouraged to pray the same prayer because that prayer has been answered so many times demonstratively that is not so much by word but by deed not so much by the application of a special part of the scripture but by

[42:02] God's action in saving us day by day now just a few words on the next verse so then it is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that showeth mercy it is a mercy from God to have this conclusion settled in our own minds how many there are who are deluded who are misguided into thinking that they may will the mercy of God and the compassion of God or that by running a race satisfactory to themselves they may then obtain mercy how wonderful has been the evidence that God has worked this 15th verse in your soul's experience if then you are able to come to the same conclusion because it is a conclusion this is made known by the opening words so then so then because

[43:22] God has said I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion so then I am satisfied in this it is not of him that willeth so then it is not of him that runneth so then but of God that showeth mercy mercy I remember hearing a godly man utter a prayer for his family and I shall never forget it he said Lord if wishing could get our children to heaven they would all be there but he himself was well instructed in this present truth it is not of him that willeth and we may will all our family as we may well do and desire to do that they all may get to heaven but being taught of God we shall have to say by the experience of the 15th verse so then this is my conclusion

[44:45] I can endorse what the apostle Paul says so then it is not of him that will it oh I have willed but I have seen the fallacy of it you know Abraham willed but God made it very clear to him that it is not of him that will I referred to the occasion when he prayed unto God and he said oh that Ishmael might walk before thee but God said in Isaac shall thy seed be called so he learned this under that circumstance faithful Abraham that great man of faith so then he would have to say after that occasion so then it is not of him that willeth I cannot bring my Ishmael into the covenant of grace no this will bring us to solemnly fear before

[45:46] God to acknowledge his great sovereignty and for us to be aware that he has an undisputed right to govern me and mine but neither is it of him that runneth Paul tells us in his epistle to the Corinthians that there are many that run in the race but one obtaineth the prize why does that one obtain the prize because of his running the word of God tells us it is not of him that runneth as he obtained the prize the answer is given in these concluding words that by the mercy of

[46:47] God not nor of him that runneth but of God that showeth mercy the prizes that are given to the people of God are the result of God's mercy we should not confuse this with God's favoritism God is no respecter of persons men are they may sometimes improperly and unfairly give a prize to one who is not deserving of it but God's blessings are given according to his mercy those that run in the race will be made aware that if they obtain the prize it will be the result of his mercy we read in the prophecy of Isaiah that the lame take the prey that the poor amongst the people are those that gain the victory in the end it is a gad that overcomes we read concerning him a troop shall overcome him but he shall overcome at the last when we think of running and running a race we may not just think of what we might call a fat race but we might think of an obstacle race and how many obstacles are laid in the way of the people of God we are reminded by the apostle when he wrote his epistle to the Hebrews wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a crowd of witnesses throughout all generations those who have obtained mercy who have obtained the prize of salvation and eternal life and in no case has it been the result of their running yet nevertheless they must run wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us let us run with patience the race that is set before us looking unto

[49:27] Jesus this is how the poor and the needy run the race he sees them often overcome and pities their distress and makes afflictions drive them home to anchor on his grace they are looking unto Jesus us when they anchor on his grace we may refer to another most blessed word in the epistle to the Hebrews which speaks of the hope of the people of God and concludes with these words wither the forerunner is for us entered now we should never be aware and remind ourselves that if when Christ overcame the whole of the church overcame in him it was he that run the race that was set before him and he was a conqueror and he is in heaven now and all will gain the victory through him as he died so the people of

[50:40] God died in him as he rose again they rose with him as he enjoyed the victory so shall they enjoy the victory for though they may be accounted as sheep for the slaughter every day yet we find the apostles saying nay in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy wonderfully demonstrated to us when we look at this and come to this conclusion so then oh it is good in the experience that the people of God have to as it is work it out work it out and not in their mind as much as by reason of the experience through which they come that they're able to say so then it is not of him that will it so then it is not of him that runneth but of

[51:48] God that showeth mercy oh may we be brought to a right conclusion in regard to the truth of God and sing to his praise to his honor and to his glory and to him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood glory and honor and dominion and power be given forever and ever amen