About the Author

Thomas Ray Floyd was born in 1953 in Simpson County, Mississippi, the son of Roy Thomas Floyd and Lina Sue Shows Floyd. Thomas Ray's mother was a member of a Primitive Baptist church, and he cut his teeth on the doctrines of distinguishing grace.

When he was a small boy, his father was converted to Christ and became a member of a Missionary Baptist Church. Thomas Ray joined the church of his father when he was 13 years old, and thought of himself as a Christian. The doctrines of grace that he had heard as a child continued to be precious to him and when he became an adult, he joined a Primitive Baptist Church. When he was 27, Thomas Ray made his first effort to preach the gospel in public and was ordained to the full functions of the ministry in 1985. In 1986 he was convinced under the preaching of Rolfe Barnard (by tapes from Mt. Olive Tape Library), the written sermons of Spurgeon, and the ministry of Elder Zack Guess that he had been a false professor and cried out in agony of soul to the Lord Jesus Christ to have mercy and truly save him. And He did! Floyd then began to preach the gospel as he had been taught of the Lord.

Floyd has pastored churches in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee and until recently was pastor of a church plant known as "Particular Baptist Fellowship." He and his wife Brenda presently attend Zion Baptist Church at Polkville, Mississippi, pastored by Elder Glen Hopkins. The pulpit ministry of Zion Baptist Church can be heard at Sermonaudio.com.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Sovereign Mercy

(Article for publication week of 8-17-2011 AD)

“… I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy” (Romans 9:15). The first thing I want you to see in our text this week is that God is absolutely sovereign in showing mercy to sinners. I wish you would stop now and go read the ninth chapter of Romans, and you will see the awful sovereignty of God. God is under no obligation to have mercy on any sinner. Were He obligated , it would cease to be mercy. Don’t you see that my friends? If God sent the whole human race to eternal hell, He would be a just and a good God, for hell is what sinful worms like you and me deserve. God says, “ I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy.”

Secondly, I want to point out that God will have mercy. God delights in mercy (Micah 7:18), and He is rich in mercy (Ephesians 2:4). God has promised that he will have mercy on every sinner that will repent of His sins, and trust in Christ Alone for salvation. The very angels in heaven rejoice when the chief of sinners repents, and God Himself rejoices. You will never find recorded in the scriptures where any who repented of their sins and believed in Christ were turned away. All of us who have believed in Christ can testify that God ‘s mercy was plenteous for us. I send out this proclamation of the gospel to you my friends, that there is mercy for the vilest sinner. “The vilest offender who truly believes, that moment from Jesus a pardon receives.” Yes, millions in heaven now , could they speak to you would say, “we found that God will show mercy to penitent sinners.” But there is still plenty of mercy for sinners. God has not expended His great treasure of mercy and grace. There is mercy reserved for you too, if you really hate your sins and want to be saved from them. Oh! What an encouraging word to sound forth today! God will have mercy!

But my text has a third point that I want you to see. Will God have mercy on you? Now friends and neighbors, mark it down. God only does one of two things with sinners (and you are a sinner). He either has mercy and saves a sinner, or He shows wrath to a sinner and damns him. There is no two ways about it. There is no middle of the road. God will either save you , and take you to heaven, or He will damn you and send you to hell. Now you think about that and let it sink in. Will you be an object of God’s wrath, or an object of His mercy? Now it is one thing to hear of God’s mercy, and another thing to be a recipient of it. Have you applied for mercy through the Sin Bearer, the Lord Jesus Christ? He is the only way that God will spare you. If you are not in Christ, there is no mercy for you. Come to Christ and do not delay. Flee from the wrath to come and seek salvation through Christ, for there is salvation in none other. May the Lord have mercy on you.



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