1 Timothy 1:11-13: "According to the glorious Gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust. And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, Who hath enabled me, for that He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry: Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious; but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief."
Paul was given a two-fold ministry; he was a minister of the Gospel of God's grace, but he was also a minister of the church, and he understood that the two go together. Living in a day like we do, when there is a great controversy about what the Gospel is; it behooves every professing child of God to take seriously the truth that the whole New Testament is a protest against the division between what we call the preacher and the people. In the New Testament every child of God has a ministry, every one of us are to be heralds and proclaimers of the Gospel.
I wish we believed that. We don't, but it is so. Every child of God had better face seriously his part in the proclamation of the Gospel of the glory of the blessed God which was committed to your trust. It is not simply for what we call public preachers, it is for every child of God to become a witness of what you have seen and heard from the Lord. We must tell others that salvation is of the Lord. If we keep this, we will lose it, but if we proclaim it, we will gain. Do you know of anything more wonderful than having a part in telling this good news of the glorious Gospel of the blessed God which was committed to your trust?
In the book of Exodus we find the first mention of the glory of God, and if we want to find out what the Gospel is, we should turn to Exodus 33 where in verse 18, a man by the name of Moses made a request of Almighty God. Surely if God is a living person, and not a creed, and the good news about His Son is the good news of that which brings glory to God. Surely if the Old Testament that speaks so much about the glory of God which filled the Temple; and the glory that clothed Adam and Eve before they sinned. Sure-ly the Old and the New Testament that speaks so much about glory, the glory of God, surely the greatest thing on earth that could happen to any eternity-bound human being would be to get a glimpse of that glory. And Moses said, "I beseech Thee, shew me Thy glory." And the Lord said, "I will grant your request, but not one hundred percent, for that would kill you." We sing that old song "Oh! that will be glory for me, when by His grace I shall look on His face, that shall be glory for me." We are told that when the Lord shall appear; we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. If we did it now with undimmed view we couldn't take it. That look, as we see Him as He really is, will complete our salvation, and we will be like Him. Oh! to just get a glimpse of this glory is so wonderful. Ac-cording to the Gospel of the glory of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.
One day I would love to be able to preach on the glory of God. Surely if I could just get a little glimpse of His glory, it would meet every need I've got, encourage my faith, put unction in my voice, tears in my heart, joy on the way to heaven, the glory of God." The glory of God seen in the Gospel of God, concerning His Son, that which we take for granted is so wonderful. This generation has never gotten a glimpse of the glory in the cross of Christ or in His throne.
The Gospel of God's glory is the Gospel of God's marvelous grace. The best definition for grace that I have ever found is "in spite of." God saves people in spite of their awful sinful nature. God gets glory in spite of us. I have never found a man that I thought God could use. He uses them in spite of them. I've never preached in a church that deserved a single drop of blessing from God; but if they get any blessings it is in spite of them. Oh! the depths of the grace of God and yet it is in His grace that He shows us a little glimpse of His glory.
Now Moses, are you ready? I've got you in the cleft of the Rock and I got My hand before you, so you can't see My face, if you did, you would die. Verses 19-23: "And He said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the Name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. And He said, Thou canst not see my face; for there shall no man see Me, and live. And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by Me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: And I will take away Mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen."
I'm going to give you just a little glimpse of my glory.
The Gospel of the glory of God has three points: (1) it is the story of the goodness of God; (2) it is the story of the Authority of the Lord Jesus Christ; (3) it is the proclamation of the fact that God must do right, and He may show mercy. If I have studied anything in the Word of God to try to come up with what the Scriptures teach, it's the sovereign mercy of a thrice holy God. And long since I've learned that a Gospel that is not soaked with the goodness of God is not the Gospel of God. Long since I've learned that a Gospel that doesn't proclaim the utter, absolute authority over everything, men, women, events, and everything else. If it does not give the preeminence and rest all glory and all authority in the only begotten Son of God, it cannot be the Gospel of God's glory.
I can remember preachers crying out in their pulpits, "Rolfe Barnard is a liar. You can have Jesus as Saviour without having Him as your Lord." But I am not a liar; I was not a liar then. The Gospel that preaches Jesus any other place than sitting on a throne, exercising all authority, and power, and dominion is not the Gospel of the glory of God. Oh! I will proclaim the Name of the Lord, that is the authority. Then the Gospel brings us into that realm of mystery, the Gospel is not the Gospel if it does not treat God as a God, Who is gracious to whom He will be gracious. The Gospel is not the Gospel of God if it doesn't preach about a God Who shows mercy to whom He will show mercy. Long since I learned that it isn't doctrine that is the center of controversy. I learned that we have come to the hot issue whether or not we shall preach a Gospel that leaves men and women with one thing they can brag about; or whether we will preach a Gospel that fills churches full of men and women who can say from their heart "but God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ." The Gospel that allows one person to glory one bit is not the Gospel of the glory of God.
I do not profess to be able to enter in the depth of this expression, "I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will shew mercy to whom I will shew mercy." I don't know whether I understand that or not; but I know it is the language of the Apostle Paul, who repeats it and it is his way of reducing men and women to where they will face three truths: (1) God's saving, sovereign mercy is not owed to men; (2) it is not something that men deserves; (3) it is not something that men can demand of God; if it is, it's no longer mercy. All my days I have preached in a so-called religious, or church, or Christian? atmosphere; in a generation with what we call the Gospel bas spawned a nation and churches that actually believe that every human being is entitled to be the object of God's divine mercy that is preached and taught and engraved and buried in mankind. And this is an offense of the Gospel of the glory of God, for it is desperately true that if any man is entitled to God's mercy, then there is no such thing as mercy, for mercy is something that undeserving people receive; but if they deserve it, they are no longer candidates.
I know that the Holy Ghost led Paul to write Romans 9:16: "So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy."
There is deep water here! He is telling men and women that if they have unclaimed mercy like Paul said he did, God gave it to them. He didn't pay it to them, but He gave it to them. God must do right or He won't be God, and He may show mercy.
I know that when Moses was told by Almighty God one part of the Gospel of the glory of God; he was to tell men and women what seems to be terribly offensive, that salvation is not a swap, it's not something that you can bargain for; it's not something that you deserve; it's not something that you can pay for. No sir, it's a gift and God bestows His mercy as He wills. Now if a sinner insists on justice, he may get it, but if he insists on justice according to the Word of God, hell will be his portion. The only hope for a sinner is to bow to God's judgment upon him, and cast himself on the mercy of the court and plead just one thing, "I am guilty," and stand there in the presence of God with an empty hand saying, "Lord, if Thou wilt, please have mercy on a sinner like me."
Years ago I was in a meeting in South Carolina and my preaching was so different. The pastor asked me to meet with the people on Sunday afternoon and answer some questions. So we did and the preacher said, "Brother Barnard, doesn't God give everybody a chance to be saved?" And I said, "Salvation is not by chance, salvation is by God's grace." And that answered all the difficulties. Salvation isn't giving everybody a square deal and a fair chance, salvation is God in spite of; giving men and women salvation, the gift of eternal life. When you get that settled it will unravel all the other problems. God said to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy."
Paul said, "I was a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious, but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief." Saving mercy must be obtained from a living Lord; saving mercy is in the nail-scarred hands of the Man in glory. A man cannot obtain sovereign, saving mercy without doing business with the crucified Son of God, Who is alive forevermore. He is the One that deals with sinners. God raised Him from the dead and made Him a life-giving Spirit. 1 Corinthians 15:45: "The first Adam was made a living soul, the last Adam [Who was Christ], was made a quickening Spirit. "The sovereign mercy of God is now under control of the living Lord.
This generation of church members are on the road to hell believing the creed or a doctrine and not being joined to a living Lord, but imposing on the mercy of God and taking it for granted. But you cannot obtain mercy like Paul said he did, unless you are confronted in the Scriptures, in the Gospel, in the power of the Holy Ghost, with the same risen Lord that he was. Paul was on the road to Damascus and he met a person, and that person was the Lord Jesus Christ.
And unless God is pleased to reveal to you that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, you will never know Him, and you will never be able to say with Paul, "I obtained mercy." It is not a creed to believe, it is a blessing to be received. Oh! you have to do business with the living Lord to obtain mercy.
The Apostle Paul was led by the Holy Ghost when he wrote Romans 9:18: "Therefore hath He mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardeneth." That's some verse of Scripture, and we can't fathom the depths of it, but I know that any person who can truthfully say: "I obtained mercy," ought to be mighty thankful, and give all the glory to God, because Almighty God says that some people He will harden. And the Lord, when He was here, said in John 5:21: "For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom He will." Romans 9:16: "So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy."
What do those Scriptures mean? They show that our will is limited. It certainly means this: my salvation is in His hand, so we must face that. It certainly means that I can't pay for it or deserve it. But it means more than that. It means the offer of mercy is as wide as the heart of Almighty God. I do not believe that a single one of the Scriptures that I have read is meant to discourage anybody, except somebody that is trying to tell God what they think He ought to do. I believe that these Scriptures instead of being some to discourage you, they open wide and teach that the most wicked sinner out of hell may rightly become a candidate for the mercy of God.
If I pick up a Bible and it claimed to be that which I am to live by and die by; and salvation was extended only to people that I decided to extend it to, that would be a scary proposition. But if I can preach a mercy, that God the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, the same God who turned His back on His own Son, when He cried out: "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me." And God Almighty turned His back on Him, and the earth shook and the sun refused to shine in protest. A God Who will do that, I'm not afraid to trust the wideness of His mercy, and I'm not afraid to tell the most wicked sinner on earth that God is a merciful God and He delights in mercy. That's good news. These verses teach this poor preacher that this side of God's rejection and this side of death, God's mercy flows mighty freely in the direction of anybody who is interested in not being a subject of God's justice, but being a candidate of the grace and mercy of God.
I read in the Word of God where He talks about Rolfe Barnard being dead in trespasses and sins. I was a child of disobedience, taken captive by the devil, a child of wrath by nature, and I followed the course of the awful anti-Christian spirit of this present age. But I read in Ephesians 2:4-9: "But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace ye are saved: And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus; That in the ages to come He might shew the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast."
He's got plenty of mercy. A person doesn't deserve mercy, and if he knows it, he is a candidate of the grace and mercy of God. I read in Romans 10:12: "The Lord is rich unto all that call upon Him. "This is a precious verse. We all had better humble ourselves and say, "Lord, I don't deserve nothing but hell, so Lord, here I am on Your hands. I have no claim on You, and I know if I had any claims on You, then that would be justice, and we wouldn't need any mercy," so we are just a beggar of God's mercy. So when I read, "But God who is rich in mercy unto all that call upon Him." i can preach to men and women who can't deserve salvation, they can't earn salvation, they can't buy salvation, but bless God, they could become callers. Nothing this side of hell could stop them if they would. So be encouraged, God is rich in mercy to all who call upon Him. If God could save a man like the wicked Manasseh, He wouldn't have any trouble with you. If He could save a man like Saul of Tarsus, who was a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious, He wouldn't have any trouble with you. Oh! I like to preach the Gospel of the glory of God. He gets glory by showing mercy on the worst and the wickedest of sinners.
I'll never forget a poor fallen woman in Canada. I was up there preaching in a church where no one had been converted in nine years. They were mighty orthodox, mighty separated, and mighty dead. I said to them, "You ought to get acquainted with folks," and they took me seriously. So we went out ringing doorbells up there and inviting people to come hear me preach. It was twenty below zero, and I was going around with a deacon from house to house and we came to a wicket gate. I unlatched the gate going up to the house and started to go in. The deacon said, "Brother Barnard, don't go in there." I said, "Why not?" The deacon said, "I don't want to say, but don't go in there." I said, "Why not? .... Oh! I couldn't tell you, but please don't go in there." I said, "I'm going." He said, "It will ruin the meeting." I said, "Why? .... Well, preacher, that is the most notorious woman in this section of Canada. Oh! if you went in there, it would be terrible." I said, "I'm going," and I went and knocked on the door and a nice looking woman, not yet betrayed by her sinful life, came to the door and said, "Hello, big boy." I said, "Howdy. I am a preacher and am holding meetings down here at the church. I have come to invite you to come and hear me preach tonight." She began to laugh and I said, "It is no joke." She said, "Are you really a preacher?" I said, "Yes." She said, "I believe you are." I said, "Yes, I'm from the south, and I'm preaching here." "Oh!" she said, "I heard about that fellow from the south, and you're him? Oh, yes." She said, "Do you know who I am?" I said, "Yes. I've been told that you're the most notorious woman in this section of Canada." She said, "I guess that's right. Do you mean you want me to come up to that church building tonight? .... Yes, I want you to come, because I want to preach to you." She said, "Why, if I come up there, it would shock them to death." "Well, they need a good shock and I want you to promise me that you will come." And bless God, she did. I've never seen the Holy Spirit challenged when He didn't work. I preached that night and before we could get started singing, here she came, just running down to the front and fell down there and sobbed and sobbed and sobbed, and after a while she stood up, tears running down her cheeks, the glory of God on her countenance and she witnessed a mighty good confession. The congregation was singing people, so they began to quietly sing "Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found; was blind, but now I see." They had an old eighty-year-old woman there and she was the mother of Israel of all that section. A fine woman. I wondered what that nice gang of church members were going to do. There was that ex-prostitute standing there claiming the grace of God had done its work of Christ in her life. Tears running down her cheeks, she just stood there while they were singing. Nobody moved. I looked back and saw that mother of Israel pull her glasses up and wipe her eyes. Then pretty soon she pulled them off and took her handkerchief and wiped her eyes. Pretty soon, here she came down to the front, put her arms around that ex-Magdalenia, kissed her on both cheeks and loudly enough so the congregation could hear her, she said, "Welcome sister, welcome sister." Praise God, at the foot of the cross, objects of the mercy of God; the best and the worst woman in town in the same crowd.
The difference, "the mercy of God," which because His blessed Son hung on a cross, He's able and willing to show mercy, God's sovereign mercy, to the worst sinner that ever stayed out of hell a little while. And when that woman did that, the people's hearts were broken and sinners all over the congregation began to cry out and once again we saw the glory and the wonder of that simple Scripture, "Whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved."
Alleluia.
"O Lord our God, please have mercy on those who read this message on 'God's Sovereign Mercy: We beg You to please show sinners their awful sinful lost condition so they will seek the Lord and beg for mercy. Praise the Lord for having mercy on a sinner like me. May Christ be glorified even now. Amen!"