ask his mercy and grace upon
our dear sister, Angela, as she is suffering the loss of our
brother, Eric, who went home to be with the Lord a day or so ago, I guess. Boy,
days run together. Yesterday. So be in prayer for her in the
hospital with him. And what a good report. I have
great comfort that a great hope that my brother
is very safe and secure with our Lord. Last long conversation
we had, he conveyed to me that he did not care. Either way,
God would have this go, whether He would heal him or whether
He would take him home. He was not anxious about it at
all. And the Lord did see fit to bring
our brother home this last couple of days. So be in prayer for
her as she suffers the loss of her husband. We'll go to the
funeral home tomorrow to make the arrangements. We don't know
anything as far as that goes, but we will tomorrow. So I'll
get that information out to you as soon as I can. Pray for others who are sick.
Continue to pray for Rick. Have you heard from him? I know
you've been sick. He had a surgery on Monday where they took the port out.
He had to report to all three cancer doctors on Wednesday of
the week before. And they decided they would go
ahead and take the port off or the port out if they don't see
any signs of symptoms at all. Lord bless. Lord blessed. So be in prayer for him. Continue
prayer and thanksgiving for what God has done. Um, I do pray that
you would ask God's mercy upon me as I desire to preach the
word to you. I want this to be a comfort because
that's intended of the spirit of God to comfort you. Uh, in
this portion of scripture, and it is a great comfort. I just
I know it's dreary. I know it's, uh, difficult by
driving here. I was just, man, it's just dreary. It's just hard to drive even
in this, but pray God give me the strength and liberty in you,
the ability to hear and the spirit to work in the hearts of His
people. Every time I get here I feel
I'm less and less capable of doing this, but this is what
God has called us to do. I pray he uses it for his glory. Pray for God's men wherever they
are preaching the gospel. I talked to Clay Curtis this
week and the church in the Philippines. He's been preaching there now
to them for over a couple of years now. And there's a couple
of young men, or there's some men in that congregation that
are possibly seeking to be pastor there. So pray about that, because
that's encouraging. Not only is there more than one
man that seems to be capable, but there are more than one that
desire it. So pray for that church there
in the Philippines. And pray for those churches that
don't have pastors. Any other requests that need
to be mentioned? Thankful. Trent is doing better, brother.
So thank the Lord for that. And I know Joanne and them are
not capable with the weather the way it is, so pray for them.
And pray. Sherry's surgery Friday, thank
you. Sherry's surgery, pray for that, that God be gracious to
her. And what is she having? Hip replacement. Hip replacement.
OK. One piece at a time. Everybody's getting replaced
one piece at a time. So pray God be gracious to her
in that surgery, doctors. So let's go to him in prayer.
Our gracious Father in heaven, we come before you thanking you
for your mercy, for your grace, for allowing us to be here tonight.
You've given us the strength, the desire, the ability to come. And Father, I know that many
things are competing for our minds, even in this hour. beg you, Father, for grace that
we might worship you in spirit and in truth, that you would
give us the liberty and unction of thy spirit, that the word
might go forth in power and demonstration of your spirit. I know and confess I need you
tonight. I can't preach without you. I cannot have the strength.
I do not have the strength, except you give it And Father, I pray
you would, for the glory of Christ and the furtherance of the gospel,
I pray for the hearts of your people, that you would open their
hearts and pour in your word and give them refreshment. Father,
I pray you'd rain down, Father, the dew from heaven, which is
the gospel of Christ on our hearts, our dried and withered hearts.
Give us life and peace. Pray for our sister as she struggles
in this time of grief and sorrow. I thank you for the encouragement
that we have that our brother is very safe with you. He was
kept all this time, and now you have brought him to yourself.
And for this, we give you thanks and praise. I pray as the message
goes out that you would, Father, bless your people wherever they
are. Bless your men wherever they preach. I pray you forgive
us our sins. And I ask this in Jesus' name,
for his sake. Amen. All right, take your Bibles
and turn with me to Romans chapter 8. All right, I'm kind of lopsided.
So I'm kind of lopsided. I have to look more over here,
it seems like. I'm going to try to look over here. Romans chapter 8, our text. We've
been found in verse 28, 38 and 39, 38 and 39. Paul said, for I am persuaded
that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God. which is in Christ Jesus, our
Lord. Now, I've entitled this message,
Power of Persuasion. Power of Persuasion. Now, the Apostle Paul says these
words, I am persuaded. I am persuaded. Now, what is
he persuaded about? It really goes back to where
we were last time we were together in this message concerning two
things. First of all he is persuaded
about God's justification in Christ and second of all he is
persuaded that because he is justified that nothing can separate
him from the love of Christ. The Apostle by the Holy Spirit
has displayed this to every believer. The triumph that we have over
every difficulty is this, our justification. Our justification. Remember, the justification we
have says these two things are impossible. Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect and who shall condemn any of
God's elect? Every believer has this promise
that no sin of ours, now we know that the sin is ours. We confess that. But we also
are persuaded of this, that no sin of ours can be charged to
us, nor can we be condemned for it, because of these two things. First of all, our election. Because
God justified us according to the election of grace. Who shall
lay anything to the charge of who? God's elect. It is God's
elect that cannot be charged. God himself justified them. And
second of all, we cannot be condemned because of these four pillars,
right? Not only are we justified from
eternity by the will of the sovereign God, but we have also been, we
cannot be condemned because Christ died. There's the first pillar
that holds up our justification. All of our sin, which we are
guilty of, Christ bore Himself. He died for our sins. Peter said we were redeemed,
not with corruptible things. We were redeemed by the precious
blood of Jesus Christ, who verily was foreordained of God. This was no accidental death.
It was no plan B. Our Lord Jesus Christ was always
the only plan of our justification. And when He died, He was victorious. He actually paid for our sins. The Scripture says that we glory
in God's judgment. Isn't that something? We rejoice
in God's judgment. You know why we do? Because God
being just cannot twice demand payment for sin. That's why we
glory. We know this because God is just
and my sin has already been paid for. He'll never condemn me. Now how do we know that's right?
Because Christ rose again from the dead. He died according to
the scriptures and was buried and rose again, listen, according
to the scriptures. What for? Why was he raised again? Why so much is centered, if you
take the whole book of Acts, the whole book of Acts is centered
on this fact he's risen. That's everywhere in the book
of Acts. This is the most astounding.
Everybody knew he died. It was historically accurate. Everybody, in that time, It was
within a few years of his death. They all knew he died. What was
the most astounding thing was he was risen. He was risen. And this proves number one. Number
two proves number one. His resurrection. And not only
this, we are persuaded that we are justified because he is now
seated at the right hand of God. Seated. What does that incline? That tells us this, the work's
finished. He died for our sins, he rose
again for our justification, and now he sits down. In that
high priestly prayer he said, I have glorified thee on the
earth. I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. I like this, in Hebrews chapter
4 the apostle talks about the Sabbath day. We just sang about
the Sabbath day. Those old saints, they kept the
Sabbath. Why? Because that was an ordinance
of God, and that ordinance, Paul explains why they had to keep
the Sabbath. They had to keep the Sabbath
because it was a picture of Christ. The Apostle said, There remaineth
a rest for the people of God. For he that entered into his
rest, Christ, When he sat down, he entered into his rest. He
also has ceased from his own work as God did from his on the
Sabbath day. When that seventh day, when God
created everything, everything was good and perfect, the scripture
says, and God rested. That kind of throws us. I mean, God didn't really take
any effort of God to create everything. I mean, he wasn't exhausted.
He wasn't tired after all his creating. That's not what it
meant. It meant that he stopped creating.
He created everything that needed to be created, and what? He stopped. When Christ died and rose again,
he ceased to perform the work of salvation. It's done. Listen
to what John Gill says. I thought this was a very wonderful
thing. when Christ rose from the dead
and ascended to heaven and sat down on the right hand as having
done His work. This is the ground and foundation
of our rest." Now what right do you have to rest? What right
do you have to say that the work's done? Well, He sat down. The work's done because He sat
down. He did the work. And he sat down. So what does
that give me? That gives me rest. It says, and he hath also ceased
from his own works as God did from his. Christ had a work to
do. As preaching the gospel, performing
miracles, obtaining redemption and salvation of his people,
he has finished them and ceased from them, listen to this, never
to repeat them. I know Terrence, you got a job
and some guy goes out there and does a job and he doesn't do
it all the way, you gotta go back. It's not done. You gotta go back. Our Lord never
has to go back and do that work again. There's no more, no more
sacrifice for sin. You got that? There's no more
sacrifice for sin. Really, before that there was
really never a sacrifice for sin. All those sacrifices before
never did what His sacrifice did. And all those sacrifices
after His sacrifice don't add one thing to His sacrifice. It's
done. That's what we're persuaded of.
It's finished. And fourthly, that fourth pillar
is this, He constantly intercedes for us. That's the fourth pillar
of our... I'm persuaded of this, that every single day He intercedes
for me. You know, there's a lot of times
I don't think about His intercession. There are a lot of times I'm
so busy in my day, I'm not thinking about it. I'll do things, and
we sin, and we don't even think twice about it. But you realize
that He is perpetually interceding for you? That there's not one
second of one day He is not interceding for you? I like that. He ever liveth to
make intercession for you. He ever lived. He is ever living
right now and He shall forever live to, listen, intercede for
you. You know anybody else do that
for you? You won't even do it for yourself. And He does it
every day for you. And so when John says this, if
we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.
Why? We have an adequate with the
Father. That's what John tells us. Little children, sin not,
don't sin. If there's any way that we can
cease from it, cease from it. Use every faculty you have to
not do it. But know this, when you sin,
I like that, the word if there's better translated when, in John
chapter two, he says, and when you sin, you have an advocate
with the Father, you have somebody intercede for you. And so the second thing Paul
is persuaded of is that next passage in verse 35. He says,
who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Who shall separate
us from the love of Christ? And then he lists these seven
things, tribulation. He says, so tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, peril of sort. He
lists those seven things. He said, shall any of these things,
now as believers, we are not exempt from any of these troubles. All seven of these things we
are inclined to have in our lives. Yet even though all our life
is full of suffering, Paul is persuaded of this, that we will
never be separated from his love. Are you persuaded of that? Are
you sure of that? Because it sure feels like we
are. It feels as though these tribulations and persecutions
and distresses, they feel like they tear our very souls from
our bodies. And yet, he says, they're not
going, I'm persuaded, they're not going to separate me. They're
not going to separate me. And then he uses that scripture,
he says, as it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the
day long. We are counted as sheep for the slaughter. And that's
exactly how it appears. We are his sheep. Stupid, dumb,
defenseless, always needing to be led. You don't always need
to be led. I need to be led everywhere I
go. I dare not try to lead myself. That's because that's our nature.
But yet I'm thankful for this. I'm his sheep. I'm his sheep. And it appears that this is so,
as it is written, for thy sake we are killed. How long? All
the day long. That's our life. Our life is meant to be a life
of suffering. That's a believer's life. And it appears that we are counted
as sheep before the slaughter. I told you this, one of the Roman
nobles, he boastingly said this, but true, it's just true. The
only people who would be Christians are poor and ignorant and sick
folk. That's all. When he walked among
the Christians in his day, that's all he saw was the poor, the
weak, the sick, and the dumb. The educated people, they didn't
want Christ. The aristocracy, they didn't
want Christ. You know why? They didn't have
a need. Who has a need? Sinners. Sinners have a need. Sinners find all their hope in
Christ. But the reality, Paul says, he says in verse 37, no. I'm persuaded of something. The
way it looks is not how it really is. I'm persuaded of that. How it looks is not how it really
is. Looks like we're sheep counting
for the slaughter. That's how it feels. And yet,
what does he say? No. We are more in all these
things, in all these troubles, in all these afflictions. We
are more than conquerors. We're not just conquerors. We
are more than conquerors. We are more than conquerors through
Christ, through Christ who loved us. We shall overcome all of
these difficulties, listen, through His merits. You don't deserve
to make it through these things. I don't deserve to make it through
these things. I don't, I don't even, not, not
even barely. I don't deserve to barely make
it. But see, I'm not depending on
my merits. My confidence is in His merits. Through His righteousness, through
His blood, through His resurrection, through His love, through His
mediation, we will triumph over all our difficulties. And none of these. What's the
triumph? The triumph is this, we're never
going to be separated from His love. That's the triumph, isn't
it? Isn't that the goal? The goal is to be justified before
God and never separated from His love. And you know what?
Through Him, you'll make it. You're not just going to barely
make it. I like that when he says that
in Isaiah, the Lord hath received of her hand double for all her
sins. You just didn't pay the bare
minimum. You paid double. Through Christ, you paid double. I heard a man a long time ago,
he was talking about getting ripe for heaven. He was saying
that, well, when you believe, you're in, okay? You're going to make it. You're
going to get to heaven. But then there are those who exceed that. They become more ripe for heaven. And someone had mentioned, said,
well, what about like the man on the thief of the cross? He
said, well, he just barely made it in. What an idiot. Most educated
man in all of modern theologians this man was. I'd name him, you'd
know who he was. I don't care to name him. I'm
just saying. You know, he said the thief got in by the skin
of his teeth. No, no one makes it in by the skin of their teeth.
You know why? Because everyone makes it in on his merits. Everyone
makes it in on his blood. Everyone makes it in on his righteousness.
So what? You are more than conqueror. You're more than conquerors.
You're not just conquerors. Is he just a conqueror? No, he's
more than a conqueror, isn't he? So are you. In your representative,
you're more than a conqueror. And so you will triumph over
all these things. Well, Paul was persuaded. Therefore,
with these truths, if we are persuaded of these
things, let us fight the good fight of faith. Let us by faith
take every thought against those things captive. If there's any
thought or doubt in our mind, we should take it captive and
kill it. Because it's not right, is it? It's not right. When we feel as though we're
going to be separated from the love of God, you should take
that thought captive because it's not right. May God give us grace to be persuaded
that this is true. Believer in Christ, though we
are as sheep, we are seated in the very presence
of our enemies, yet Christ here defies His enemies in any way
to try to remove us from His love. I thought about Job. Man, nobody
suffered like Job. I mean, Job really suffered,
and the things he lost are immense. Let me ask you, who picked that
fight? Job didn't. He was oblivious
to even know it was happening. There Satan was, and Satan went
to and fro in all the earth. And he comes to present himself
before God, and you know, God picked the fight. He said, have
you noticed my servant, Job? You went out, you went all these
other places. Look at this. See this guy? Look at that guy.
It's a man that fears God and eschews evil. God picked the fight, didn't
he? Satan wouldn't have said a word. Couldn't have said a
word. You remember what he did? Job, he said, take all that he
has. And Satan said, if you just take
all his stuff, he'll curse you. He said, OK, take all that he
has. Don't touch him. That's astounding, isn't it? You can have all this stuff.
Don't you touch it. Could he touch him? Was it possible?
Couldn't do it. to call his stuff, only because
God let him take it. Then he said, skin for skin, if you just
take his health, then, he said, okay, you take his health, can't
kill him. Isn't that something? Could not
kill him. Impossible for him to die. Why? God said, that's mine. And then
you know what? When he was done, He did it for Job. And Job's
scripture says his last estate was better than his first. So what will be the result of
all of the assaults against us? The result is simply this. I
am persuaded that we are more than conquerors. Through Him
that loved us. And so now I want to see this
in our text. Look at this. Paul says, I'm
persuaded. Now he's persuaded of God's justification. He's
persuaded that in all the troubles of this life, though it appear
as though we are sheep of the slaughter, we are more than conquerors,
he said, I am persuaded. He is declaring here his personal
persuasion. His personal persuasion. concerning
the immutability of God's love, not just for himself, but for
all the saints. I'm persuaded of God's immutable
love, not just for me, but for you. I'm persuaded of this. He said, I am persuaded that
God's love will never depart from me or any other believer,
that we should never fear the lack of God's presence, the lack
of God's power, the lack of God's love to support and sustain us
in every trial, in every difficulty, and that we shall be delivered
from every enemy. Paul said this, listen to another
way of saying this, I am totally sold out to this. absolutely sold out to it that
nothing that happens to me is going to move me from this. Are you that persuaded? Every believer should be that
persuaded. Now the language of Paul is not
some theoretical thing. He is not persuaded based on
a theory. We have a lot of theories, and
people listen to the arguments, and then they're persuaded of
a theory that's not really been proven. This is not an opinion. Paul's not basing his persuasion
on some opinion. This is something he knew. Personally,
experimentally, he knew. And so does, as the Apostle Paul
was persuaded, so is every believer in Christ. Why? What is persuasion? It's faith. Faith. Every believer is persuaded by
what? By faith we are persuaded. We
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. How? By faith. Go to 2 Timothy
chapter 1. 2 Timothy chapter 1 and look at
verse 12. The Apostle says, for the which
cause? I also suffer these things. Make no mistake about it, the
cause of Christ will be a cause of suffering for you. You who
believe, you will suffer physically and spiritually. Yet in spite
of all that we feel and see, We, like Paul, are not ashamed.
He said, nevertheless, regardless of my suffering. Now, consider
his sufferings, man. He had some doozies. I mean,
this man was thrown into prison. He was stoned. And they thought
he was dead. They left him because they thought
they'd killed him. He had been arrested. He had
been falsely charged. He had been, you know, He committed
his judgment to Caesar. They were about to let him go,
and he said, well, I want to be judged by Caesar. So they
arrested him, took him to Rome, and all of the difficulties he's
had, he said, I've suffered. And he said, nevertheless, regardless
of what I have suffered, nevertheless, I am not ashamed. Does our suffering make us ashamed? Because we suffered, does that
mean we're wrong? That's what people think. I must
be wrong. I'm suffering so much. No. Paul said, I'm persuaded. I don't
care how much I've suffered. This is right. And so we're not
ashamed of the gospel of God's grace. When I talk about the
election of grace, I'm not ashamed of that. Anybody who doesn't
believe in God's sovereign election should be ashamed. But I'm not
ashamed. Well, the Scriptures are clear.
I don't have to be vague about it. God has an elect people.
He loved them, chose them in Christ, and purposed to save
them, and only them. I don't know who they are, but
I know they're elect. I know this, and I say this without
hesitation. Everyone for whom Christ died,
He saved. I'm not ashamed of that. Anybody who says that Christ
died for everyone without exception should be ashamed of themselves.
They should be ashamed. Christ didn't die for everyone.
If He did, everyone would be saved. Now that's true. If He died for everyone, there
would be no hell. But I know He didn't. He said,
I came down from heaven to do my Father's will, which is this,
that of all He had given me, limited number, I should lose
nothing. Now He's not going to lose them.
Because we believe we preach His victory, don't we? This whole
time I've been preaching His victory, haven't I? I'm not preaching
your victory, I'm preaching His victory! And He was successful
and God raised Him from the dead. We're not ashamed to preach that. And right now He is sitting in
heaven working all things after the counsel of His own will.
I'm not ashamed to say that. They try to get you with these
calamities and they look at this horrible thing over here and
they say, well, if there's a God, then why all this? Because God
did it. I'm not ashamed to tell you God
did it. What are you going to do about it? You can complain and moan about
it all you want to. Is there not evil in the city
and the Lord hath done it? I'm not ashamed of that. I can't
explain it. I don't have to. God does. God rules all things. And you
know what He's going to do? He's going to give eternal life
to as many as the Father gave Him. That's how many. You know
how many is going to be saved? As many as the Father gave Him. I don't know how many that is.
It's a lot. I know there's going to be a
lot there. Somebody asked me this last week, you know, they're
very serious. Man, could anybody in the Catholic
Church or in these false religions, could any of them be saved? Well,
of course they can. They just won't stay there, but
they could be saved. Not by those preachers, but they
can be saved. Sure. God has to elect people
everywhere. And you know what He's going to do? He's going
to call them. He's not going to call them by a false gospel.
He'll call them by His gospel. Our Savior is giving eternal
life to as many as the Father gave Him. And listen, they're
not going to come by the power of their will. They're going
to come by the power of the Holy Ghost. I'm not ashamed to preach
that. If you believe, you didn't do that. The Holy Spirit did
that. You still believe? Well, the
Holy Spirit did that too. It's amazing what He gives us.
Faith is a gift of God. Thy people shall be willing.
in the day of thy power. That's when they're willing.
And listen, I am not ashamed to say this, that no one can
charge or condemn anyone God justifies. Now you can follow
me around, and you can see all the wickedness that I do. You
can point your finger at me, and you can, and I probably just
have to nod my head. You're right. You're right. But
you know what? It really doesn't matter about
man's condemnation, does it? If God says he won't charge me,
if God says he won't condemn me, then what does it matter
if you do? It doesn't bother me at all. This is what we're persuaded
of. Now look back there at 2 Timothy. He said, nevertheless I am not
ashamed, what of the gospel? Why? For I know whom I have believed,
and notice he uses the same language, and am persuaded, listen, that
he is able. Now he didn't say nothing about
himself. I'm persuaded, I'm not ashamed of his gospel. Why? Because I know whom I have believed."
Listen, you that are persuaded, you are persuaded because you
know whom you believed, not what. You know whom you believed. People get this confused, I think. I've asked people before, I said,
when did the Lord save you? And they said, well, I came to
the doctrines of grace. No, that's not what I really
asked. I didn't ask, did you come to
a what? When did you come to a whom? Christ. When did you
know Christ? That's the doctrines of grace.
The doctrines of grace simply describe Him. That's like telling my wife,
well, I love your dress, but don't say anything about her
person. It's not what, I'm persuaded
because of whom. I know that I'm going to be more
than a conqueror through him that loved me. I know I'm going
to be justified. I am persuaded that I'll never
be separated from his love because I know him. I know him. whom I have believed, and I'm
persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed
unto Him against that day." What have we committed? Everything!
I've committed everything to Him! My whole soul, my body,
my mind, my heart, my life, everything is committed to Him, and I'm
persuaded that He's able. You're not going to commit everything
to someone unless you know they're able. And I'm persuaded that
He's able. to save. He's able. Therefore, believer, do you doubt?
Do you fear? Then I want you to look on whom
you believe. Look on Him. If you're doubtful
that you're going to make it, if you're troubled And you don't
know if you can endure another day. That's because you look
into yourself. If left to yourself, you wouldn't. I'm persuaded of that, too. I'm
persuaded if left to myself, I would fail. I would not make
it. But I'm not to look to that,
am I? I thought of Peter walking on
the water. And we condemn him because he sank. But did you
realize he actually walked on the water? His faith was genuine,
it was real, so much so that he walked on the water. Christ
said, come on out. Water's great. Water's fine,
come on out. When did he sink? When he took
his eyes off Christ. When he looked at the waves instead
of looking to Him. The old Jesus Christ, our Savior,
Look on whom we have believed. I want you to see He is the Son
of God. He's the Son of God. He alone
pleased God. He alone finished the work. He
alone saved us. He called us. He justified us. What then shall keep Him from
glorifying us? What? Is there anything to stop Him
from doing what He determined to do? Our question is, it's good to
question your ability, you don't have any. But it's horrible to question
his. I'm persuaded, Paul said, that he is able. You know, false religion, the
reason why they have no real persuasion of anything is because
their doctrine is general. It's kind of vague. It's in the
ether somewhere. Well, God died for everyone.
God wants everyone to be saved. And so you ask him a question.
Will you go to heaven? He said, you'll get this answer.
Well, I'm trying. I'm working real hard. Why? Because they're not persuaded.
You can't be persuaded in a God that wants to save everybody
and doesn't. But we who have ourselves been
persuaded, believed on Christ, we are persuaded of this. He
is my refuge. He is my refuge. He is my hope. He is my life and my peace with
God. And the Word of God says this,
we have a strong consolation. You that are persuaded, you have
a strong consolation, a strong hope. Look at Hebrews 6. I want you to see, you that are
persuaded, I want you to see how willing is God that you should
have a strong consolation, a strong hope. Hebrews chapter 6. In verse 16 it says, verily swear
by the greater, and an oath for confirmation to them is an end
of strife." Isn't that so? Two men make a... should, I mean,
two honest men, that they make a pact as an end of strife. That's
it. That's it. The covenant has been
made, and two men are in agreement. Yet look at this. wherein God,
willing more abundantly to show to the heirs of promise the immutability
of his counsel." What's his counsel? It's his will. God desires, listen
to me, is willing to show you that his will can't be moved. He wants to show you that, he's
telling you that. God willing more abundantly to show to the
heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, which is what?
To save you. God's will is to save you. That
was His will in eternity. That was His will when Christ
died. That was His will when Christ rose again. That was His
will when He called you. You think it's changed? You think
God's will to save you has changed? Well, my circumstances changed.
Man, obviously God must have changed His mind. No. You that believe, you should
be persuaded of this. That God's counsel is immutable. And not only that, look at that,
the immutability of His counsel, listen, confirmed it by an oath. Now this is just a reflection
of how how horribly frail we are. That God not only had to
say, I will to save you, but He also had to swear. Isn't it
enough He just said it? God who cannot lie said it! And yet we run around, oh, oh,
I don't know, I don't know. So God said, to show you even
more how, in fact, I'm going to swear by my name. What if somebody swears to you
something and then they lie? What do they do? They ruin their
name, don't they? You won't trust them anymore.
They're a liar. You know what God says? If I
don't save you, that makes me a liar. Is there any possibility that
that would happen? No. God, who can not lie, promised
and swore that he would save you. That by two immutable things,
what his counsel and his oath, which is impossible for God to
lie, we might have a strong consolation. Listen, only these who have fled
for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. What is that
hope? Which hope? I love it when the
scriptures don't leave you to guess what it's talking about.
Which hope we have as an anchor for our souls, steadfast and
sure, which entered into the veil wherein the forerunner has
entered in, even Jesus. Who's our hope? Who's our anchor? Who's our refuge? Jesus, a high
priest after the order of Melchizedek, an eternal priesthood. Therefore, our faith, like Paul's,
is this. I am persuaded. God willed it. God swore He would do it. And
now, because we have entered in, there is nothing and no one
able to separate me from His love. I am persuaded He will fulfill
this promise. And so all who are persuaded,
all who believe on Jesus Christ alone, no matter the greatness,
I jotted this down, no matter the greatness of our faith, it
does not keep us in the love of God. Nor does the smallness of our
faith separate us from the love of God. You got that? We are
persuaded. But see, my persuasion really has nothing to do with
keeping me in the love of God. Or my lack at times of persuasion
doesn't keep me from the love of God. Aren't you glad it's
not dependent upon your persuasion? I'm persuaded. But man, my faith even at best
times is weak. So my union with this love of
God is not based on my persuasion. Now I am persuaded, but that's
not what keeps it love. So we either have small or great
faith, we are persuaded. Now I'm going to give you some
things that we are persuaded with. Listen to this closely.
First of all, everyone who is persuaded of Christ's salvation,
first of all we are persuaded of this, I am a sinner. Everyone
who believes on Christ is persuaded of this. You don't need to do
this very long to convince me of this. I am a sinner. I was born of a fallen race. We are persuaded that all we
do is sin. And there is no way I can merit
the favor of God. Are you persuaded of that? I am completely sold out to that
truth. Why? Because God's Word testifies
to this. There's none righteous, no not one. There's none that
understandeth. There's none that seeketh after God. They're all
together become unprofitable. There's none that doeth good,
no not one. I am very much persuaded of that.
That's a personal persuasion. Before I was saved, I knew everybody
was depraved. But when the Lord saved me, I
knew I was depraved. And the second thing, we're persuaded
of this. Everyone who's persuaded there's a sinner, when God shows
them Christ, they're persuaded of His success. I am totally persuaded of His
success. That He, as the Son of God, came
into this world and He did save His people. Thou shalt call His
name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. And
I am persuaded that you can't convince me of this. He was successful. He did exactly what He was sent
to do. And when these two things come
together, this is what the Spirit of God does for a sinner. He
convinces him of a sin, and He shows him the success of Christ.
And then He brings these two things together. And that person
will always do one thing. He will flee to Christ. He will
flee to Christ. Why? Why do you flee to Christ? Because you are persuaded that
He is able. You're persuaded. Noah, when
Noah built that ark, how do you know he was persuaded the ark
was sufficient? How do you know? He went in. If he wasn't persuaded, He never
would have went in. How do you know you're persuaded?
You went in! And you ain't stopped. You came to Christ and you ain't
stopped. Why? You're persuaded of Him. You're
persuaded that He is the One. And so what do we as preachers
do? We persuade men. That's what He said, knowing
the terror of the Lord. What do we do for sinners? We
persuade them. How do we do it? We preach the
gospel, that gospel I've been preaching to you just now, about
his victory, about his success. I preach that gospel. Why? Because
that's the message used of God to draw man to himself. A message
of victory, a message of success. Not a message of maybe, might,
perhaps. No, a message of assurance. He said that if a man should
confess with his mouth and believe in his heart, the Lord Jesus,
that God raised him from the dead, he shall be saved. I am persuaded of that. We persuade men by preaching
the gospel. And you know what? God uses that. I'm going to go over this list
with you real fast. Go back to your text now. Paul said, I'm persuaded.
And every believer is. We're persuaded. And he listed
more difficulties, these other difficulties. What's the first one he lists
there? I think the most difficult. Death. Death. Why? Death is solemn. Because death is final. When a man dies, however he is
when he dies, is how he will be for eternity. When my brother passed, I did
look on him. And the solemnity of the situation
grabbed my heart, the finalness of it. However he was when he
left, That's how you'll be for eternity. Now have a good hope
with my brother. My brother left with a good witness,
a good testimony that he believed on the Lord completely. Scripture says, he that is unjust,
let him be unjust still. He that is just, let him be just
still. However you are, when you leave
this life, that's how it is. But notice what God says about
death. Not what we say. It's what God said. Precious. Anybody you know ever said anything
about death as precious? God said it is. Better is the
day of one's death than the day of one's birth. That's what God
says. Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of His
saints. Consider that. Why? Because death is the transport
that brings us to Christ. So then will death separate you
from the love of God? Paul laughs and he says, no,
it's the transport that brings you into the fullness of his
love. When a believer breathes out his last breath, in the very next instance, he
breathes in the fresh air of heaven. No time lapse. As soon as he
breathes out, he breathes in. As soon as his eyes close in
darkness, he opens them and sees one face. He sees his master's face for
the first time. So is death a hindrance? Paul
said, I'm persuaded death's not a hindrance. God says death to the saints
is a blessing. What about life? He said life,
not death or life. Why not life? Because our God
controls everything in life. The world is the Lord's. You got that? People running
around, politicians running around doing things like they're doing
something. They're not doing anything that
he hasn't ordained to be done. They can't. It's his world and
everything in it. Nebuchadnezzar learned that when
he's eating grass for seven years. Now you imagine that. God set
the greatest king, the highest king that ever lived at that
time on the earth and put him in the field eating grass for seven years. When he come to himself, he said
everything in this world is nothing in his eyes. Everybody does exactly
what he wants to. So if God purposed to save you
and then controls all of the things around you, Is that a
hindrance to separate you? It's no hindrance at all. I'm
persuaded of that. Look at this. Nor angels, fallen
or otherwise. And in fact, angels do the bidding
of our God. And one day they will serve us.
Isn't that something? There'll be no hindrance. Or
principalities, governments. Well, they try. Governments try. They'll try to separate you from
the love of God. They will. Principalities or powers. Listen,
or things present or things to come. Weapons already invented
against you and weapons that have not yet been invented. There
are some cruelties that they have not yet invented ready for
you. Is that going to separate you
from the love of God's in Christ? Paul said, I'm persuaded it's
not. Look at this, nor height nor depth. Isn't that your life?
Heighth and depth. Heighth and depth. Heighth and
depth. Ups and downs. Is that going to separate you
from the love of God? No. Who controls the heights? Who controls the depths? Paul
said, that's not going to separate me from the love of God. Listen
to this, nor any other creature, just in case I miss one that
I didn't even know about yet. None of these things, listen
to this word, shall be able. Didn't say wouldn't try. They're
going to try. Your family, your friends, your
jobs, your husband, your wife, all of these things will try
to separate you from the love of God. Paul says, I'm persuaded
that they're going to try, but I am persuaded that they're not
going to be able. to separate us from the love
of God. Listen, why? Which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord. This is why. Because you are
in Christ Jesus. To separate you from the love
of God, they would have to separate you from Christ. I pray God would comfort you
with this. I know there's much more I didn't say, I wanted to
say, but I told you I wouldn't keep you two hours. So I'm trying
to keep my promise. But I pray that God would instill
this confidence in you, this assurance, not in yourself, but
in Him, that you can say, I'm persuaded. I'm persuaded that
He justified me. He's going to glorify me. And
nothing can keep me from Him. I pray this is comfort, because
there's a lot of things trying to keep you from Him. And they
just won't be able to do it. They just won't be able to. I pray God comforts you. Let's
stand and be dismissed in prayer. Our Holy Father, thank you for
your grace and your mercy. Oh, your compassion, your pity,
your love and your grace. I beg you to pour out your grace
upon us and persuade every heart, every soul of their need of Christ. Persuade everyone of his victory,
of his success, and that everyone in him cannot ever be condemned
and no one would be separated from your love who is in Christ. I pray you forgive us our sins
and lead us and comfort our hearts in our times of grief. We pray
this in the name of our Lord Jesus in his name. Amen. Come on, you guys.