Alright, brethren, let's go to
Romans 8. When I went to Lexington, it was my intention to preach
the message that I had preached the Thursday night before, which
was a message entitled, Great Gain, about the contentment we
have in Christ. But when I got there, for some
reason I could not That message just seemed like it was gone
and I couldn't, I had no fire for it to preach it. Now I realize
why because Brother Joe's message he preached right after I did
and if I had preached that message I would have been, I basically
would have preached the message he was going to preach. I really
believe the Lord made it so I couldn't preach that. Well then I decided
I'll preach out of 1 John 5 and then Saturday night Brother Don
Fortner preached my message out of 1 John 5. He also preached
my message for this past Thursday night out of 1 John 5. So I went
back home that night and I just took these questions from the
next place we're in in Romans 8 and prepared from these. Now I know some of you were there
and some of you listened online, but I don't have a problem preaching
this again because one, they never come out the same. But
two, I know if you've heard it, you won't mind hearing it again.
God's people listen to the same messages three or four times
sometimes. But also, I don't mind preaching
it again because I know you didn't get it the first time. We just
don't get it the first time. This is not a classroom lecture.
You don't even get a classroom lecture the first time. a message
that has to be heard over and over and over. And also there's
some sitting here that probably haven't heard it and I want you
to hear it. So let's go now to Romans 8. Now the salvation of
every believer is certain because our salvation is entirely of
the Lord who works all things after the counsel of his own
will. That makes our salvation certain. I mean, if it was anything
left in our hands, there would be a possibility or uncertainty
to it, but because it's all in God's hands, there is no uncertainty
to the salvation of God's people. Romans 8, 31 says, what shall
we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? You know the we, spoken of here,
God's elect, his people. He says down there in verse 33,
who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect, that's
who he's writing to. Writing to God's elect, those
God chose from the foundation of the world. He's writing to
you who've been born of his spirit, who can hear and understand,
have discernment of the gospel, that's who he's writing to. And
he says, these things, what shall we say to these things? Well,
that these things and the way God is for his people, he says
God before us, that these things and the way God is for us is
everything that we just read. Go back up now to Romans 8, 28,
everything we went over prior to this, let's look at it. Romans
8, 28, we know that all things, that means good and bad, seen
and unseen, known and unknown, We know that all things work
together for good. God's working them all together.
He's doing it to them that love God, to them who are the called
according to His purpose. They're the called according
to His purpose and He's working all these things according to
His purpose. And what is that purpose? For,
because. These are the things that are
all according to his purpose. These are the things in the way
that he's for us. It's for because whom he did
for know, that is whom he for loved, whom he for ordained.
He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his
son that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. All who
God loved, all who he elected unto salvation, he predestinated
us to be conformed to Christ so that Christ might get all
the preeminence, his son. So verse 30, moreover whom he
did predestinate than he also called. God's for his people
because he called us in eternity, called us sons, called us and
gave us his name, and he's for us in time because he's gonna
call us. each to himself and give us the
adoption of children. He says in whom he called, then
he also justified. God's for us because he justified
us in the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. He justified
us on Calvary's cross. He justified us when he called
us in the court of our conscience. And he's gonna justify us in
the final judgment. He's for us because whom he justified,
then he also glorified. He glorified us in Christ when
He chose Him and gave this whole work into His hand in eternity,
and He's going to one day glorify us together with Christ for all
eternity. What shall we then say to these
things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? When you read there that He foreordained
us, that He foreknew us, and then you read that He also shall
glorify us, Brethren, that's everything from beginning to
end. And everything that happens from the beginning to the end,
you see, is all of God. That's how He's for us. He does
it all. He does everything. Now what
shall we, you and I who are God's elect, who He's for, what shall
we say to these things? Well, we've heard what others
say to these things. We've heard what the unregenerate
say when they hear these things. The unregenerate man has no idea
what kind of a sinner he is. The unregenerate man doesn't
know that he can do nothing to bring himself to God. He has
no idea about that. He thinks he can come to God
whenever he's pleased. And so when he hears these things,
he says, well, that's not fair. It's not fair that God does it
all from beginning to end. And then you have the the antinomian,
the man who's a lawless man, who's not been brought under
the power of Christ, he's not been brought under the dominion
of Christ in his heart, and so he just wants to sin. All his
religion is is a cloak and an excuse, a disguise for him to
sin. And he hears this and he says,
well, let's just sin that grace may abound then. If it's all
worked out beginning to end and God's not gonna charge us with
sin, then let's just sin that grace may abound. Anybody that
has that attitude toward these things, he don't know Christ
because Christ doesn't work that in the heart of his people. And
then the self-righteous religionist, he says, you've heard his answer,
but we have a law now. What about our responsibility?
Don't leave out our responsibility. Paul did. Paul did. He said God's got your responsibility
right here. He's going to make you responsible. He's going to bring you into
your responsibility and make certain that you bow to Christ
and give him all the glory. That's what you're responsible
to do. When men start crying out responsibility and they're
law keeping, all they're doing is that's just a smoke screen
for a man trying to have the glory that belongs to Christ.
God's going to make his people responsible. They're the only
ones that do know their responsibility to God. What shall we then say
to these things? You and I who He's called and
who He's for, what do we say to these things? If God be for
us, who can be against us? If God be for us, who can be
against us? God's holy and He's sovereign. This is our Redeemer we're talking
about. Do you realize that when we talk
about the sovereign God of heaven and earth, we're talking about
Christ Jesus who came and laid down his life for us and is risen
and has all power in heaven and earth? That's who we're talking
about. And when he was raised from the dead, God set him at
his own right hand in heavenly places far above all principality
and all power and might and dominion and every nameless name. Not
only in this world but in the world to come. And put all things
under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to
the church. And that's his body. If his body
is not complete, he won't be complete. And so he's given the
glory to fill all in all his church. And that's what he's
doing. This is the God-man mediator. This is the one in whom the fullness
of the Godhead is manifest. That's who we're talking about.
He has all power in heaven and earth. He's the God that scripture
says, says he does according to his will in the army of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can say unto
him, what are you doing? Nobody can stop his hand. This
is Jesus we're talking about. God. God in human flesh. Glorified, seated at God's right
hand. This is God who has all power
in heaven and earth. That's who we're talking about.
And he's for me? He's for you? If he's for us,
who can be against us? This very one who laid down his
life for us, this one who shed his own precious blood for us,
that means he's for us, brethren. And if he's for us, who can be
against us? What do you think some little grasshopper's gonna
do that's gonna try to come up against one of his people? Well,
are you scared of grasshoppers? I know sometimes they jump on
the ladies and they get kind of a little bit beside themselves
but I mean you think about grasshopper that's sitting there and you
see him on the ground. Does he scare you? Does he start you
trembling and oh I'm fearful I'm not going to be able to take
the next step because of this grasshopper. The inhabitants of this earth
before this God and Savior I'm talking about. Scripture says
the inhabitants of this earth are as grasshoppers before Him. Now, since all this is true,
since this living God, since this successful Redeemer is for
us, nobody can be against us, brethren. Now the devil is the
one that we ought to fear the most because he's more powerful
than any other of God's creatures. But he's under the control of
God. When he came to God and Job,
he said he asked permission from God to do something to Job. He
had to come a second time and ask permission to touch Job.
He couldn't do something just of his own will. God had to give
him permission. Peter said he goes about seeking
whom he may devour. He has to have permission. That
gives us strength, brethren. If the devil is allowed to do
anything to tempt one of God's people, it's because God permitted
him to do it. And that means God's working
all that together for our good because it's needful. So the
devil can't be against us. Christ crushed his head at Calvary's
cross. He can't be against us. He's
got no sin to accuse us with. bruised his head. What about
the law? That's the next big thing that's
against. This is the law. You and I know
we can't keep the law. You hear religious people walking
around bragging about keeping the law. Well, the devil's got
them deceived, just hoodwinked. They just don't have a clue what's
going on because God's people are taught you can't keep it. You can't keep it. There shall
no flesh be justified by the law. What men are trying to do
is just justify themselves before men. Now you might can justify
yourself before a man by keeping the law because you can hide
things and he don't know what your heart is. But you can't
justify yourself before God by the law. Forget that. But what
about you and I who he's justified from the law? That means the
law can't say a thing to us. The law can't say anything to
us. Christ honored it, magnified it. Well, what about sinners
then? That's the next, we're going
from most powerful down the line. What about sinners then? What
about our own sinful flesh? What about, oh wretched man that
I am? Who shall deliver me from this
body of death? From my own sinful flesh, who's
going to deliver me? I thank God. through Jesus Christ
my Lord. He's going to deliver me. He's
going to deliver me from me. He's going to save me from me. Most of us probably would put
this at the top of the list on the most powerful that's against
us because we know ourselves and live with ourselves every
day. But he's going to save us from ourselves. So not even our
own simple flesh is going to be able to be against us. What
about death? What about death? We mourn the
loss of Kathy right now, Kathy Pruitt, Darwin's wife. We're
all going that way. Every person is going to one
day draw our last breath. We all know that's coming. Sooner
or later. For some, it's going to be sooner.
And you can't tell by age. You can't look at your age and
think, well, I got a long time. Uh-huh. You go out to the cemetery
and See how long those graves are. You do the math on those
beginning and ending dates and you'll find out some of them
were mighty young. What about death? Is it going to be against
us? Scripture says He's given us the victory over death. He
took the stinger out of death. He took away our sin so that
death has no more sting anymore. Not for His people. Scripture
says we're going to close our eyes in death and open up our
eyes and to be absent from the body is to be present with the
Lord. Open up our eyes. Behold our Lord face to face. If we knew what Kathy saw, we
wouldn't shed a tear. So if God be for us, none can
be against us. Look at the next thing here.
This next question. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all thing? You know these are rhetorical
questions. They don't need an answer. The answer's in the question. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? God our Father chose his people. We're not talking about good
people. We're not talking about people that men would lay down
their lives for. We're talking about wretched,
sinful, God-hating rebels and sent his son and spared not His
Son, but delivered Him up for us all, for His people. Go back
over to Romans 5 and look here with me. Romans 5 verse 6, When
we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for
the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous
man one will die, Yet perfected for a good man, some would even
dare to die. We weren't righteous and we weren't
even good. But God commendeth His love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us,
much more than being now justified by His blood. We saw this this
morning. God laid on Him the sin of His
people and did not spare His Son. He didn't have respect to
His Son. He delivered Him up for all His
people and Christ answered to divine justice and paid our debt
in full. That means much more than being
now justified by His blood. Now, if he died for us when we
were sinners, what's he gonna do for us now that we're justified?
We shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we
were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son,
much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. If
He laid down His life for us when we were enemies of God and
now He's reconciled us and we're friends to God, much more than
being now friends with God, He's gonna save us by His life. He
did that for us by His death. He's gonna do this for us by
His life. And with joy in God through our
Lord Jesus by whom we now have received the reconciliation. We've got it now. We've got it
now. All the promises of God are in
Christ, yes, and in Christ, amen, to the praise, to the glory of
God. Everything he's promised us, he's going to bring to pass
for us. God's for you. Think about that, believer. God's
for you. And he that spared not his own
son for you, but delivered him up for you, how shall he not
with him freely give us all things? Let me tell you what this preeminently
is talking about. It's saying because he delivered
him up, having laid on him the iniquity of his people, and because
Christ answered to divine justice and satisfied divine justice,
he's saying there's not any way possible that God can't give
you all these blessings, all these eternal covenant blessings.
There's no way he cannot give them to you. Look in the bulletin
here. I told Melinda that I don't know
why, I didn't know why I put this in the bulletin. And at
the time that I put this in the bulletin, I had planned on preaching
something else to you in the first hour. And this is how it
happens every week. I don't know why I put the things
I do in the bulletin, but then by the end of the last message
on Sunday, I realized they just all went right with everything
that God had for us that Sunday. And this is no exception. I didn't
have the first message when I planned to preach, and this is what I
wrote. Before Christ died for his people, God's justice demanded
our death. Since Christ died for his people,
God's justice demands he give us life. You see, if God's going
to remain holy, he has to give us all these things. Why? Because
Christ justified us. The same holiness that demanded
we die in Christ, since we've died in Christ, that same justice
demands we be given all these spiritual blessings in Christ.
All of them. So since He didn't spare His
Son but delivered Him up, He has to freely give us all these
things. They're free blessings too. All
these blessings are free blessings. They're not costing you and me
anything. Christ purchased His people He purchased our right
to all these blessings. So they're free to us. We're
justified freely by His grace. We've been reconciled freely
by God. We're going to be conformed to
His image freely by God. We're going to be made to rejoice
in all these blessings in the freeness of all these blessings.
Because God chose us and gave us to Christ and Christ purchased
us with His own blood and purchased our right to these blessings.
That's why they're ours. Shall not the judge of all the
earth do right? Every sinner has to have these
blessings because he was delivered up for us. Now, look at this. I want to go over some of these
blessings. It says, God the Father predestinated us to be conformed
to the image of Christ. Christ now, because he has justified
us. And because God's holy, that
means we must be conformed to the image of Christ. So he's
going to sit in the spirit of God, and after God, we shall
be created in his image. There's a new man in his people
that John said cannot sin, can't commit sin, because his seed
is in us, his incorruptible seed. We've been born of his incorruptible
seed and that new man does not sin. Let people say what they
will. You find me one place in this
book where you'll find anything that has to be done to our spirit
to go and be with the Lord. You won't find one thing that
has to be, the moment we drop this body of death, the new man
will go to be with the Lord immediately, and you won't find anything in
this book that has to be done for us to go to be with the Lord.
Why? You find a lot that has to be done to our flesh. It has
to be completely a new body given to us, a glorified body, and
it has to be entirely new, but not our spirit. Why? Because
John said we're born of incorruptible seed. There's a new man created
within us. It's that new man Paul said,
if I sin, it's no longer I that do it. Well, it looks like you,
Paul. It's my old man, yes. But that's
not the real me. That's not the me God's looking
at. The new me is the me that's one with Christ. That's the me. That's I. That's the real me. You know, you heard that illustration
about like you look at a faucet and you got cold water and hot
water coming out of the same faucet. Well, that's us. You got a believer who loves
God and delights in Christ and worships Christ and delights
in the truth of God. And in that same believer, you
have a God-hating rebel. And both of these waters are
coming out of the same faucet. They're both of us, but God says
there's only one real us. That's the one that he's created.
The one that's of Adam is going to go away to the dust and be
no more. He's already been crucified in Christ. The new means the
new creation. It's created after the image
of God. Go to Ephesians 4 and compare
the old man which is after Adam and the new man which is after
God. Compare them. Look at them. See what you got
from Adam, you see what you got from God. We got righteousness
and true holiness from God. We didn't get anything but sin
and corruption from Adam. And then it says here, he called
us from eternity. So you know what's going to happen
in time? Because Christ freely, because he laid down his life
for all his people, how shall God not with him also freely
call us in time? There's some people that say
that if you're elected, you don't have to be called. You don't
have to hear the gospel. Should we preach against that?
Should we tell the truth that, yeah, you will have to be called?
Because without faith it's impossible to please God. Yeah, we should
declare the truth against that. And how shall he not with Christ
freely give us that call? He purchased it. If he's going
to be holy, he has to call his people. And he's going to call
his people, every one of them. It says, God the Father justified
us from eternity and the Lamb slain from the foundation of
the world. In time, Christ justified us. This is what we're talking
about. He didn't spare Him. He delivered Him up and He justified
us in time. How shall He not call us and
let us know we're justified? How shall He not bring us into
the experience of that free justification and let us know about it? He
did it for a reason. He did it to be praised. And
He's going to bring His people to glory in it. It says God the
Father glorified us in Christ in eternity. In time, Christ
said, the glory which thou gavest me I've given them that they
may be one even as we are one. When he calls you by the gospel
and he gives you the word of the gospel, that's the glory
he's talking about that he's given to his people. The glory
you've given me, he said, I've given to them that they may be
one even as we're one. And one day we're going to be
glorified together with him. How shall he not freely give
us this? Justice demands it. Holiness demands it. The very
character of God demands it. He has to give it. So, listen
to this. Go to 2 Corinthians 5. I think
we should see this. 2 Corinthians 5. This is such
a blessing. And try to remember this, brethren. Next time you come into great
difficulty and you can't hardly look up and you don't have anything
in you, no strength in you whatsoever and you think God's just forsaken
you, remember this. 2 Corinthians 5, 17. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. And all things are of God, who
hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and has given
to us the ministry of reconciliation. Go back now to 1 Corinthians
3. And look at this, and remember this too, right here now, because
that's the case, remember this. 1 Corinthians 3, 21. Therefore, let no man glory in
men, for all things are yours. Whether Paul, or Paulus, or Cephas,
or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things
to come, all are yours. And you're Christ, and Christ
is God's. Now what do we do with that?
How does that affect me in my life? Go to Luke 12. This is
how it affects us in our life. This is Christ speaking right
here and this is what he tells us to do with all this great
blessing. Luke 12 verse 29. Seek not ye what ye shall eat
or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of a doubtful mind. If
you have a margin, marginal reference, it says live not in careful suspense. Don't be anxious and troubled
and, you know, anxiety. I don't know what this is today
with everybody's got anxiety, but you want the cure to anxiety?
You ain't going to find it at a shrink. Here it is. Everything is given to us by
God and He's in control of everything. He says, seek not what you should
eat, what you should drink. Don't be anxious for these things. For all these things do the nations
of the world seek after. This is what sinners are all
tore up about. Your father knows you have a
father in heaven and he knows that you have need of these things.
But instead of seeking those things, there's something we
should seek. We ought to be anxious about this. Seek ye the kingdom
of God. That means seek the King of the
Kingdom, Christ the King. Be always seeking Him. And all
these other things will be added to you. I guarantee you, if we
were seeking Christ, if we were putting the emphasis on Him,
that we're putting on things of this world, we wouldn't be
anxious. You just can't be anxious. When
you come in here and sit down and hear the Gospel preached,
and you hear these things that Christ promises us, that God
says must be ours because of His holiness, does this make
you anxious? Doesn't it just calm you? And
you just, okay, I don't have a thing to worry about. If we're
in this Word and in listening to messages that point us to
Christ and reminding us of these things, brethren, this works
better than Xanax. It might not feel quite as good,
but it works better than Xanax, I can tell you that. Now look
at this next thing, Romans 8. Verse 33. Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifieth. God's
the only one that could, you know, that anybody could make
a charge against us. God's the only one that it would
even matter. You know, if somebody says something against you, so
what? God's the only one that anybody could make a charge to.
And God's the one that justified us. So, we don't have anything
to worry about. We don't have anything to worry
about. He justified us before the world was made. Isaiah 54,
17, he says, No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper.
Every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment, you
shall condemn it. Get that. Every tongue that's
going to rise against you and try to condemn you, God says
you're going to condemn that person. Because this is the inheritance
of the servants of the Lord. Their righteousness is of me,
saith the Lord. Nobody can charge one of God's
people without charging God because our righteousness is of God.
So to charge me, they got to charge my Redeemer. To say I'm
a sinner, they got to say my God's a sinner. You see, nobody can lay a charge against
us. Who is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died. yet rather
that's risen again who's even at the right hand of God who
also makes intercession for us. Christ died in our place, brethren,
and so he says there's therefore now no condemnation. Nobody can
condemn you where there's no condemnation. He's condemned
the condemnation. They can't condemn you. Nobody
can. But we're sinners. We sin, and
somebody might lay a charge to us personally because we've sinned,
and we see it, and it'd be true charge in this earth but Christ
ever lives to make intercession for us, that charge can't come
up to God, before God, because he ever lives to make intercession
for us. You remember when the devil,
it's scripture says, he argued about Joshua over the body of
Moses. He wasn't arguing, you know Jude
said that, he wasn't arguing about Moses' physical body, he
was arguing about the law. He was using the law to charge
Joshua, God's high priest, not Joshua over in the book of Joshua,
Joshua over in the book of Zechariah, that high priest. He was charging
that high priest with sin because he had taken a wife of Gentiles. And so he was standing before
God trying to make an accusation and condemn Joshua to God. And
the scripture says, the Lord said to Satan, the Lord rebuke
thee, O Satan. Scripture says Christ was standing
there, the archangel, Michael the archangel, Christ Jesus the
Lord was standing there and he said, I don't even have to rebuke
you, Satan. The Lord rebuke thee. Why did
he have to rebuke him? His presence there made intercession
for Joshua. He said, the Lord rebuketh thee.
The Lord, he said, even the Lord that chose Jerusalem rebuketh
thee. And he said of Joshua, is this
not a bran plucked out of the fire? You know what a bran plucked
out of the fire looks like? It don't look very pretty. It's
dirty and sooty and smoking. And he said, I just called him
out of the darkness. I just called him out of sin.
You don't expect him to look all pristine right now, do you?
He's still a sinner in himself. He's a brand-blood out of the
fire. This is Christ making intercession for Joshua. And then the scripture
says, Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and he stood
before the angel, and he answered and spake unto those that stood
before him, and he said, Take away the filthy garments from
him. Christ said this of Joshua. And he said, Behold, I've caused
your iniquity to pass from you. I've closed you with a change
of raiment. He told him to bring a crown and put on him. I've
made you a king. I've made you a priest unto God,
Christ said. He said, Now don't sin anymore.
Listen to this. You know what the New Testament
of that is? If we confess our sin, He's faithful and just to
forgive us our sins and not only that, to cleanse us from all
righteousness. God calls you when you're defiled
and you've sinned and He brings you to confess your sin and He
says, And He purges your conscience again and He washes you in that
water of the Word and He cleanses you in His blood and He makes
you clean and white before God. And He makes intercession for
you and He's just and faithful to forgive you of your sin. Just
like He did to Joshua. Just like He did to Joshua. Now
let's look at this last thing. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Who shall separate us? We read
this, we sang this in the song. I like the second verse on the
mighty fortress. Did we in our own strength confide,
our striving would be losing. We're not the right man on our
side, the man of God's own choosing. Just ask who that may be. Christ
Jesus it is he, Lord sabaoth his name. From age to age the
same, listen to this, and he must win the battle. So he asked you and me, who's
going to lay anything to our charge and who's going to separate
us from the love of Christ? I like this that Brother David
Pledger wrote. He wrote it, we sang this too
in How Firm a Foundation. It's from Isaiah 41.10. Fear
thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy
God. I will strengthen thee. Yea,
I will help thee. Yea, I will uphold thee with
the right hand of my righteousness. And Brother David wrote, God
has arranged all our concerns with consummate wisdom in the
very best possible manner. He overrules all events by his
omnipotent power. He directs all things by his
paternal love. If infinite wisdom, omnipotent
power, and paternal love are engaged for our present and eternal
welfare, then our fears must be groundless, our anxiety must
be folly, Our fears only dishonor God, distress the mind, please
Satan, and grieve the godly. That's all they do. Now let me
read you these two. I just took a little bit out
of a couple of songs. John Kent wrote, What from Christ
that soul shall sever, bound by everlasting bands? Once in him, in him forever,
thus the eternal covenant stand. Listen to Augustus' top lady.
My name from the palms of his hands eternity will not erase.
Impressed on his heart it remains in marks of indelible grace. Yes, I to the end shall endure
as sure as the earnest is given, more happy but not more secure,
the glorified spirits in heaven. You're as secure as those people
that are already in glory with God. That's what he's saying.
So listen to this. Who's going to separate us? Verse
35, shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or
nakedness, or peril, or sword, as it's written, for thy sake
we're killed all the day long, we're counted as sheep for the
slaughter. We are helpless sheep, there's no doubt about that.
But listen to this word about our shepherd. But nay, in all
these things, we are more than conquerors through him that loved
us. more than conquerors. I heard
a story, Brother Henry told this and said there was this chaplain
in the military and in the military you cannot proselyte, you cannot
try to make converts. They would tell him, you know,
first thing you ask is what persuasion are you? If it was a Catholic,
you send him to the Catholic priest. If it was a Baptist,
a Baptist preacher. If it was a Methodist or Presbyterian,
But you couldn't try to teach them your persuasion. And this
preacher came to this soldier and he said, what persuasion
are you? And this is what he said. Verse 38, 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." That's
a pretty good persuasion right there. That's our persuasion. Our Lord said, I give unto them
eternal life and they shall never perish, neither shall any man
pluck them out of my hand. So that's all our cure for doubt.
That's all our cure for anxiety and worry. Go to these scriptures
and read them again. And just remember, God's promised
this. Christ's blood has secured it.
And God's holy character demands it. Amen.