Join us on this enlightening journey of biblical discovery as Adrian Rogers extrapolates the intricate connections between God’s sovereign choice and His unconditional love for all people. By dissecting the passages of Romans and the story of Pharaoh, Adrian addresses misconceptions about predestination, demonstrating through scripture the magnificence of God’s mercy. We’ll see how God’s will is intertwined with His justice and how His profound love is extended to every soul.
Known for his unique ability to simplify profound truth so that it can be applied to everyday life, Adrian Rogers was one of the most effective preachers, respected Bible teachers, and Christian leaders of our time. Thanks for joining us for this message. Here’s Adrian Rogers.
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Did God just predestine some people for heaven? And did God just predestine some people for hell? Are we just pawns? on the chessboard of fate? No. Absolutely not. We’re going to learn some things about the character of God and about the sovereignty of God and the God who predestines and the God who elects. But we’re going to learn that God wants everybody saved. We’re going to learn that today and I want you to take God’s Word and look here in Romans chapter 9, verses 1 through 3. Paul says, I say the truth in Christ, I lie not. My conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart for I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren My kinsmen according to the flesh. Now here you have the heartbeat of the Apostle Paul. And it’s the heartbeat of an evangelist. It’s the heartbeat of one who wants souls saved. And he had a sincere concern for the lost. He said, I say the truth in Christ. I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness. He wasn’t telling a lie. He was sincere. Paul said, my conscience bears me witness. I am telling you the truth. Not only was he sincere in his concern, he was steadfast in it. In verse 2 he says, I have continual sorrow. That is, he didn’t blow hot and blow cold. Night and day, everywhere, the thing that drove him and impelled him and gave him no rest was his concern for the lost. And he even had a sacrificial concern. He says in verse 3, I could wish that I myself were cursed from Christ. If I read this correctly, and most commentators agree that what Paul is saying is that I would be willing to go to hell if they could be saved. That was impossible. Jesus had already died for them. Jesus had already baptized His soul in hell. But this is the Spirit of Christ that was in this man. He’s concerned. And what He is primarily concerned about are His brothers and sisters in the flesh. Paul was a Jew. I believe the greatest Christian who ever lived. And Paul is concerned about fleshly Israelites, not spiritual Israel, there is a spiritual Israel, but here he’s talking about natural Israel, my brothers, my sisters, According to the flesh, Paul said, I want them saved. Now what brought this up was this, that Paul had been talking about the Gospel, how Jew and Gentile could be saved, and some Jews were saying, now wait a minute, Wait a minute, Paul. We’re the chosen people. God’s made some promises to us. Has God gone south on His promise? I mean, isn’t God going to keep His promise to us? Aren’t we the chosen people? Where’s all this about the Gentiles? Where does that come in? Now, there are three things I want you to learn today as we think about this. Is man predestined for hell? And they all three deal really with the character of God. Because until you understand the character of God, you don’t know really anything about salvation or anything else. And I didn’t say understand God. None of us understand God. But we understand some things that God has chosen to reveal to us about His character. Now here are the three things I want you to notice and it’s going to help to solve the problem because very frankly folks, the ninth chapter of Romans is one of the hardest chapters in all of the Bible. And you can get led astray very easily. And there’s some who read this and say God has just chosen some when they’re little children, little babies, just to go to hell. There’s nothing they can do about it. And God has chosen others to go to heaven and there’s nothing they can do to keep it from happening. And there’s a lot of theology that believes that. I don’t believe it. I don’t accept it for a moment. And I want you to see three reasons why. Now the first thing I want you to see is what I’m going to call God’s sovereign choice. God’s sovereign choice. Paul is reminding these people that God is a sovereign God and He can choose whom He will for what He will. Now begin again in verse 3. He says, For I could wish that myself were cursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh. Now he mentions now fleshly Jews and he talks about nine prerogatives, nine blessings, nine privileges that God gave to these, His chosen people. He calls them Israelites. What a glorious name is Israel. It means prince. And so they have a great heritage. And then He says, to them pertaineth the adoption. God said, Israel is my son. God adopted a whole nation. And the glory. That means the Shekinah glory of God that led them out of Egypt and led them into Canaan that rested in the tabernacle and in the temple. the glory and the covenants. What is this? Solemn promises that God has made agreements with His people. We talk about the Abrahamic covenant. We talk about the Davidic covenant. And these are covenants that God has made that are unbreakable and the giving of the law. He’s talking now about the Ten Commandments and the law that God gave on Sinai, which is the basis of all true law in the world today. God’s Ten Holy Commandments, God gave them through the Jew and the service of God. He’s talking about all of the types and sacrifices and all of the wonderful ways that the Jews worshiped God, the Levitical offerings and all of this. All of them pointed to the Lord Jesus, but God gave them through the Jew. and the promises. God made a promise to Israel. And friend, God is not finished with the Jew. God loves Israel. Never forget it. The Jews are people of destiny. They’re people of promise. They are God-ordained, God-decreed, God-raised-up, God-protected nation. And if you want to know what God is doing in the world, just look at Israel. And it is the center point of all world history. It all revolves around Israel. And God has made these promises, and not one of God’s promises will fail. And then he talks about whose are the fathers. The fathers now he’s talking about are the patriarchs. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, what a lineage! These stars in the Hebrew heaven, He is talking about them. And then He saves the best for the last, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, Messiah came, who is over all, and GOD BLESSED FOREVER. THAT IS, GOD CAME. MESSIAH WAS GOD. HE’S OVER ALL. HE IS LORD. HE IS BLESSED FOREVER. HE IS THE ETERNAL GOD. MESSIAH CAME FROM THE JEW. I WAS SPEAKING TO SOME JEWISH RABBIS AND THEY SAID, NOW YOU BAPTISTS OUGHT NOT TO BE TRYING TO WIN JEWS TO CHRIST. THAT’S NOT RIGHT. I SAID, LISTEN, YOU PROSELYTIZED ME. I serve a Jewish Messiah. All that I believe is rooted in that Old Testament. He is the Messiah. And so God is talking here about His sovereign choices. God chose the Jewish nation. Now watch this. Not all of Israel is Israel though. Look in verse 6. God is saying, I haven’t failed to keep my word. You might think I have. Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel which are of Israel. That is, not every Jew is a part of the spiritual promise. Neither because are they the seed of Abraham are they all the children. It’s not necessarily according to parentage or lineage. But in Isaac shall thy seed be called. Abraham had two sons, Ishmael and Isaac. God did not choose Ishmael. God… Isaac. And Isaac had two sons, Jacob and Esau. Look down to verse 13 as it is written, Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated. Now there were two sons, they were twins. But God made a sovereign choice and God said, I choose Jacob. Now, this is God’s plan. Don’t argue with it. You may not like it. You might say, as one man said, how odd of God to choose the Jews, but He did. He chose Abraham out of all the people, and then Abraham’s son Isaac, and then He chose Isaac’s son Jacob. And so, what God is showing here is just simply His sovereign promise. Now, right now we start to get into some deep water. Okay, don’t check out on me now. This is important. You need to listen to this very carefully. Because in this verse where God says, look at it in verse 13, Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated. God says, how could God ever hate a little baby? Well, actually it says that even before the children were born. Look in verse 11, for the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil. that the purpose of God, according to election, might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. Why did God call Jacob? AND NOT ESAU. WAS IT ANYTHING THAT JACOB HAD DONE? NO, HE HADN’T EVEN BEEN BORN. IT IS GOD’S SOVEREIGN CHOICE. NOW, BE VERY CAREFUL. GOD HERE IS NOT TALKING ABOUT TWO LITTLE BABIES, ONE BORN FOR HEAVEN AND ONE BORN FOR HELL. THAT’S NOT WHAT HE’S TALKING ABOUT AT ALL. This is national and not personal. Let me give you a verse that will help clear this up. Genesis 25 and verse 33. Put that down in your margin. Now, speaking to the mother of these two little twins, and the Lord said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb. She might have said, it feels like it. “‘Two nations are in thy womb, “‘and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels. “‘And the one people shall be stronger than the other people, “‘and the elder shall serve the younger.'” He’s not talking about one particular baby and another particular baby, one born for blessing and one born for bane. He’s talking now about two nations. God in His providence said, I’m going to use the Jews. My choice is for the Jewish nation. Number two, God here is not talking about salvation at all. Look, if you will, in verse 12. And it was said unto her, the elder shall serve… The younger. He’s not talking about salvation. He’s just simply saying that Israel is going to be my choice and the descendants of Jacob are going to be my spiritual leaders in the world and the elder, that is Esau, will serve the younger. Nothing is said here about one twin going to heaven and another twin going to hell. You don’t spell save, S-E-R-V-I-C-E. And also, here’s something you need to be very careful about. When it says that, verse 13, Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated, it doesn’t mean that God despised Esau. It doesn’t mean that God had vehemence toward Esau. He may have had later on because of what Esau did, but not before Esau was born. IT WASN’T GOD SAID, ALL RIGHT, YOU DON’T HAVE ANY CHOICE ABOUT IT. BEFORE YOU’RE BORN, I HATE YOU. YOU’RE GOING TO DIE AND GO TO HELL BECAUSE I HATE YOU. FRIEND, ANYBODY WHO CAN READ THE BIBLE KNOWS THAT GOD DOESN’T DESPISE LITTLE UNBORN BABIES. He’s not talking about despite. What he’s talking about here is preference. Now this, you have to understand the way this word is used in the Bible here. We’re talking about preference, not abhorrence. The Bible uses the word hatred differently than we do. For example, the Bible says, no man can serve two masters. He’ll love the one and hate the other. That doesn’t mean he said, well, I really love this boss. I despise you. It just means he prefers one. You can’t have two lords in your life. Turn in your Bibles or write down Luke 14, verse 26. Now our Lord is talking to all of us. Now listen to me. If any man come unto me and hate not his father and mother, AND WIFE AND CHILDREN AND BRETHREN AND SISTERS, YAY, IN HIS OWN LIFE ALSO, HE CANNOT BE MY DISCIPLE.” NOW DO YOU THINK IN ORDER TO BE A CHRISTIAN YOU’VE GOT TO DESPISE YOUR FATHER AND YOUR MOTHER? DO YOU THINK IN ORDER TO BE A CHRISTIAN YOU HAVE TO DESPISE YOUR BROTHER AND YOUR SISTER? You think in order to be a Christian, you have to despise your own precious children? Do you think because I gave my heart to Jesus Christ, I hate the girl named Joyce? I love her all the more. She knows that she gets far more love out of me being second in my life than she’d ever get being first. Because Jesus Christ is first. The word here does not mean to despise. It does not mean to abhor. Not in Bible terms. He’s only speaking of preference. Jesus is saying, I must come first. And back in those days, God said, Jacob will be first. I have chosen, I have preferred Jacob. Now, God just makes His sovereign choices. That’s all there is to it. God chooses whomever He wants to choose. Now, God loves lost sinners. We’re in the book of Romans. Put down Romans chapter 5, verse 8. If you think that God hates you, let me tell you, God doesn’t hate you. You say, well, I’m a sinner. He still loves you. Romans chapter 5, verse 8, but God commendeth His love, His love toward us. And that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. God loves the lost. God loves sinners. Don’t get the idea that God predestined Esau to go to hell and God predestined Jacob to go to heaven. Now Esau may have gone to hell. But he wasn’t predestined to go to hell. But you can be sure that God is a God who makes sovereign choices. The choice that God made was to service, not to salvation. God called me to preach. I have two brothers. God called me to preach. He didn’t call either of my brothers to preach that I know of. Now, because God chose me to preach, does that mean that God consigned both my brothers to hell? No. Because God chose Jacob… To lead for a spiritual blessing, does that mean that God consigned Esau to hell? Not at all. So the very first thing I want you to do is that you need to recognize God’s sovereign choice. God chooses whom He will, when He will, for what He will. He’s God. You might as well admit it. He’s God. is God’s sovereign choice. And God is working in the nations of the world and here God is talking about nations, God is talking about service, and God is talking about preference. Now, here’s the second thing I want you to see. Not only God’s sovereign choice, But I want you to notice God’s spotless character. God’s spotless character. There’s some who might want to argue with God and say, well, God, you don’t have a right to do it that way. Maybe you’re a little unrighteous if you just choose one person above another. Look in verse 14. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. And I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Now who decides whether or not God’s gonna have mercy?
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You wanna know? God.
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God. God says, I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy. Well, does that mean God won’t have mercy upon you? No. If you want mercy, you may have it. The Bible says in Titus 3, 5, it’s not by works of righteousness that we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us. The Bible says, He that covereth his sin shall not prosper. but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. God does as He pleases, but He always pleases to do right, and there’s no unrighteousness with God. And I am telling you that anybody who will call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, and any mother’s child who says, God have mercy upon me, God says, I will have mercy on him. God will have mercy upon whom He will have mercy, and He will have mercy upon him who uncovers his sin that God might cover it. He will have mercy upon the man that comes unto Him in faith, not by works of righteousness that we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost. Yes, listen to me folks, pardon PARDON IS ACCORDING TO GOD’S SOVEREIGN WILL. GOD ALWAYS WANTS TO BE MERCIFUL, BUT PUNISHMENT, PUNISHMENT IS ACCORDING TO MAN’S SINFUL WICKEDNESS. YOU HAVE GOD’S SOVEREIGN WILL, YOU HAVE MAN’S SINFUL WICKEDNESS. LOOK AT THE ILLUSTRATION HE GIVES HERE BEGINNING IN VERSE 17 OF THIS CHAPTER. FOR THE SCRIPTURE SAYETH UNTO PHARAOH, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up.” Now who was Pharaoh? Well, Pharaoh was the high muckety-muck of Egypt. Pharaoh was the king, the most powerful man upon the face of the earth. And he was raised up to sit upon that throne. Now here’s not talking about God raising him up for childhood, it’s talking about God raising him up in power and authority. Sometimes we get all upset when we see powerful people in high places who are not doing right. Isn’t that right? Let me tell you something. God is sovereign. This is one of the great verses in the Bible right now, and you need to pay attention to it. He says, For this purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy upon whom he will have mercy. Now watch this. And whom he will, he hardeneth. Now, God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. and then God judged Pharaoh and God made Pharaoh an example. You remember the story of Pharaoh pursuing the Israelites and they came to the Red Sea and the Red Sea 48 lane superhighway opened up in that Red Sea and Israel went through and then when Pharaoh and his chariots began to go through it all closed in on them. Remember that? Yeah, I haven’t read the book but you’ve seen the movie, I know. Now listen, God said that all the world, everybody in the world knows this story of Moses going through the Red Sea and then God judging Pharaoh. And it is an example, a picture of God’s righteousness and God’s judgment. Just as God is good, God is righteous. And God says, I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy. And whom I will, I will harden. Now, this is a very interesting thing. We say, well, pastor, what… What hope did old Pharaoh have? I mean, if God just simply set him up on a throne and hardened his heart and then judged him and cast him into hell, What chance did he have? Now listen carefully. God did not say, I have chosen to send him to hell. God said, I’m going to get glory in my judgment upon him. You see, God makes even the wrath of man to praise him. There was an example that was needed of God’s righteousness and God’s judgment. And God said, I’m going to use Pharaoh. Now God is going to be glorified. Just put it down. God is going to be glorified, and God’s love is magnified in heaven, and God’s justice is manifest in hell. But whether it be love or justice, God is going to be glorified in His love. He’s going to be glorified in His justice. People say, well, God is too good to punish sin. No, friend, God is too good not to punish sin. God is a holy God. Now, the reason that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart is very simple. Pharaoh first hardened his own heart. Now you read about 17 to 20 times in the Exodus passage where Pharaoh’s heart was hardened. About half of those times Pharaoh’s heart was hardened by Pharaoh before it was ever hardened by God. God did not take a little tender child and say, now from childhood I’m going to make your heart hard. And you’re going to get harder and harder and harder and harder and then I’m going to cast you into hell. No. First of all, Pharaoh hardened his own heart. Let me give you a couple of Scriptures. Put down Exodus chapter 8 and verse 15. But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart. Put down Exodus 8 verse 32. And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also. Now, before God ever hardened Pharaoh’s heart, his will was set. All God did was to crystallize the sin that was already in him. The Bible says to the froward, God will show himself froward. When a man has a hard heart against God, all he does is rebel against God. And what happens is that his heart gets harder. The Bible says, Beware lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief. And in the day of provocation, harden not your heart. And the Bible speaks of those whose hearts are hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. First of all, Pharaoh hardened his own heart and as a righteous judgment and in order to make an example of this man whose will was already set against God, God crystallized the thing, God brought him to judgment, and God used him as an example. But Pharaoh was already a wicked sinner. He had murderous ways. He had killed thousands of people. He blasphemed the God of heaven. And God had warned him, and God had entreated him, and God had sent His Word to him, and God had sent His messenger to him, and this man stubbornly, arrogantly said no to God. It was then that God hardened the heart of a man whose heart was already hardened. Now, don’t get the idea that God just raised up Pharaoh to send him to hell. No. God warned Pharaoh. He wouldn’t take the warning. Here’s another example that some people wrongly use. Begin in verse 19. It’s a classic passage about the potter and the clay. Paul, you know, is a great, a very logical man. So he can just hear the wheels turning in the minds of people. Look in verse 19, Thou will say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? I mean, if God is sovereign… How can he blame me for sinning? And what Paul is going to say here in just a moment is one preacher said somewhere, your arms are too short to box with God. Why don’t you start arguing with God about that? Nay, but O man, who art thou that replies against God? Shall the thing formed say unto him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor? and another unto dishonor? What if God, willing to show His wrath, and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath to destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy which He hath aforeprepared unto glory.” Somebody says, well there it is pastor. Here’s God, He just takes a lump of clay, He takes humanity. He says, this one is for heaven, this one is for hell, this one is for heaven, this one is for hell, this one is for heaven, this one is for hell. These I’m going to keep, these I’m going to destroy. Now use a little sense. What potter in his right mind, would be making vessels so he could turn around and destroy them. What potter is going to sit there and say, I’m making this one, I’m going to get a whole stack of them over here on the wall, and then I’m going to take a broomstick and I’m going to break them all. It sounds more like a madman. THE BIBLE SAYS GOD FORMED THESE VESSELS. IT DOESN’T SAY HE CREATED THEM. NOW GOD IS THE CREATOR, BUT THAT’S NOT WHAT HE’S SAYING HERE. IT’S NOT THE IDEA THAT GOD IS CREATING SOME FOR HONOR AND SOME FOR DESTRUCTION. THE BIBLE SAYS THAT HE IS FORMING THEM. GOD HAS A PLAN. GOD HAS A PURPOSE. Bible says that God is molding these that He is long suffering with them. Look if you will in this passage of Scripture here. Look in verse 22, what if God willing to show His wrath and to make His power known endured with much long suffering the vessels of wrath. Here’s God working with them. Here’s God’s hand on them. A patient, loving, long-suffering God. Not an arbitrary God. A long-suffering God. 1 Peter 3, verse 9. For the Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but is what? He’s long-suffering to us-ward. willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Here is the potter long suffering with these, but you say, but wait a minute it says the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction. Well, this is an adjectival use. He’s saying here, vessels of wrath that are ripe, ready for destruction. It doesn’t mean that He made them fit for destruction. It is that they are ready for destruction. Well, how did they get ready? Vincent, in his word study, says this, and I want you to listen. I don’t want to get too involved, but this is a very important point. This is the middle voice. What does it mean? It means simply this, that they fitted themselves for destruction. It is not the potter that fits them for destruction. It is not the potter who makes them for destruction. It is the potter who is long suffering. It is the vessels of wrath who fit themselves for destruction. Friend, I want to tell you something. God never made anybody to go to hell. Amen. God never made anybody to go to hell. God wants people saved. He wants you saved. Put down I Timothy 2 verse 4, speaks of God who will have all men to be saved and come into the knowledge of the truth. Now you can harden your heart. And if you harden your heart, God may harden it also. That’s the reason the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 3 and verse 15, today if you’ll hear God’s voice, harden not your heart. There may be somebody here today You’re listening to this sermon. You say, I don’t want that. You become stiff, recalcitrant clay. You will not yield yourself to the potter’s hand. You harden your heart. God will just put you in the kiln and harden you further, and then you’ll be destroyed. But you can be saved. The Bible speaks of those who are hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. God does not create a man in order to damn him. Now, if you go to hell, you’ll take all the blame. If you go to heaven, you’ll give Him all the glory. God shows mercy to whom He will show mercy. And whom He will, He hardens. But He did not harden Pharaoh until Pharaoh first hardened himself. And God did not destroy that vessel until that vessel made itself fitted for destruction. Now, here’s the third thing I want you to notice. What we’re talking about is the nature of God. We’re talking about God’s sovereign choice. God is sovereign. He’s absolutely God. We’re talking about God’s spotless righteousness. Is God unrighteous? No. You know, God is not fair. He’s just. When we talk about God being fair, we think we’re owed something. We don’t get it. We’re dissatisfied, further dissatisfied. Somebody else gets it for what we do if they get more than we got. No, God is just. God doesn’t owe us anything, but God is just. But it’s not until you see the justice of God that you cry out for the mercy of God. But God will give mercy to whom He will give mercy. Now, here it is. Look, there’s God’s sovereign choice. God chose Israel. They’re His chosen people, and He’s not forgotten His promise. There’s God’s sovereign choice. There is God’s spotless character. And the third thing, and here’s what I want you to notice. There’s God’s steadfast concern. What is the book of Romans all about? It’s about redemption. It’s about salvation. It’s about getting people saved. Notice in verse 23, And that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, whom He hath aforeprepared unto glory. God is making us, friend, ready for glory. Even us, whom He hath called, not of the Jews only, but thank God also of the Gentiles. As he saith also in Osi, that’s Hosea, I will call them my people, which were not my people. And her beloved… which was not beloved.” Oh, hell-bound sinners like we were. Gentiles. Aliens from the commonwealth of Israel. God has taken both Jew and Gentile and God has called them with His mighty love that we might be saved. God wants you saved. God wants me saved. I’m going to give you some scriptures quickly. You just jot them down in case you think that God ordained some people to hell. Listen to these scriptures. John chapter 3, verses 16 and 17, For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. It doesn’t say God just loved a certain portion of it. He loved the world, that whosoever, not a few, but whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. Isaiah 53, verse 6, All we like sheep have gone astray. We’ve turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. I tell you, the iniquity of my sin was laid on the Lord Jesus. He didn’t just die for some elect. He died for every person. The Bible says in Romans 8, verse 32, He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up freely for us all. He died for you, my friend. He wants you saved. 1 Timothy 2, 4 says, It speaks of God who will have all men to be saved. 1 John 4, verse 14, And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. And then that classic passage in 1 John chapter 2, and He is the propitiation. That means He’s the satisfaction for our sin and not for ours only, but also for the sin of the whole. world and then the way God just wraps up the final invitation in the Bible over there in Revelation chapter 22 and verse 17 and the spirit and the bride say come and let him that heareth say come and let him that is a thirst come and whosoever will let him take of the water of life freely Whosoever will. You want to be saved? Just come ahead. You want to see if you’re the elect? Just come on to Jesus. You are, my friend. Whosoever heareth, shout, shout the sound. Spread the blessed tidings all the world around. Tell the joyful news wherever man be found. Whosoever will may come. And whosoever cometh need not delay. Now the door is open. Enter while you may. Jesus is the true, the only living way. Whosoever will may come. Whosoever will. The promise is secure. Whosoever will forever must endure. Whosoever will, tis life forevermore. Whosoever will may come. Whosoever will, whosoever will sound the proclamation over a veil and heel, tis a, listen to this, tis a loving Father.
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Calls the wanderer home.
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Whosoever will may come. God so loved the world. And that’s the reason Jesus said, come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I’ll give you rest. God says, yes, I’ll have mercy upon whom I’ll have mercy, and I’ll tell you upon whom he’ll have mercy, that one who’ll come to Jesus Christ. Jesus said, him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out. That’s the reason I’m glad to be a gospel preacher. You show me any time, any place, anywhere where anybody ever came to Jesus Christ in repentance and faith and he didn’t save them, I’ll close my Bible and never preach again. I’ll promise you on the authority of the word of God HE’LL SAVE YOU. NOW HE’S A SOVEREIGN GOD AND HE’S A RIGHTEOUS GOD, BUT HE’S ALSO A LOVING GOD. AND WHEN YOU’RE SAVED, YOU’RE PREDESTINED TO HEAVEN. BUT WHEN YOU’RE BORN, YOU’RE NEVER PREDESTINED TO HELL. AND GOD SENT YOU HERE TODAY TO BE SAVED. DO YOU BELIEVE THAT? FRIEND, IF YOU WANT JESUS CHRIST AS YOUR LORD AND SAVIOR, You might pray this prayer, dear God. Just pray it out of your heart. I know that you love me. I’m a sinner. My sin deserves judgment, but I need mercy. I’m not going to harden my heart against you, Lord. I open my heart. Come into my heart, into my life now. Forgive my sin. Save me, Jesus. Pray that from your heart. Precious friend, just say, save me, Jesus, and mean it. Then pray this.
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Thank you for saving me, Lord. I’ll not be ashamed of you. Give me the courage now to make it public. Don’t let me deny you because you died for me. In your name I pray. Amen.
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Join us on this enlightening journey of biblical discovery as Adrian Rogers extrapolates the intricate connections between God’s sovereign choice and His unconditional love for all people. By dissecting the passages of Romans and the story of Pharaoh, Adrian addresses misconceptions about predestination, demonstrating through scripture the magnificence of God’s mercy. We’ll see how God’s will is intertwined with His justice and how His profound love is extended to every soul.
