It's my honor to be here. I appreciate
your pastor asking me to come and be with you. When I finish today, this morning,
I trust that the Lord will be pleased to lodge this one thought
in your heart. Isaiah 42. Isaiah 42. I'm going to repeat this statement
I don't know how many times. through this message, but I pray
the Lord will drive it home to our heart. God, we'd be pleased
to penetrate our heart. Look at verse 4, Isaiah 42, 4. I must confess, this is one of
my favorite scriptures. One of my, one of them, one of
my favorite scriptures. He shall not fail. Now, who's he talking about?
Who's he talking about that shall not fail? If you look at verse
1, we know right away, God said, Behold, My servant, My servant,
My servant to one I hold, My elect. Do you know that's the
first time that word elect is found in Scripture? Who is the
elect? The Lord Jesus Christ is the
elect. We're chosen in Him. God said,
Behold, my servant, my elect, my soul delights in him, I put
my spirit upon him, he shall, not maybe, could be, possibility,
no, he shall bring forth salvation to sinners. He shall. He shall. Now, verse 4, he shall not fail. He shall not fail, nor, nor,
nor discouraged. until he has accomplished salvation
in the earth and his people scattered throughout the isles waiting for the gospel to be
preached unto them. I'm entitling the message, Christ
Shall Not Fail. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Christ
of God, cannot fail, cannot fail. He shall not fail. He cannot
fail. Matter of fact, we could say
that failure is not an option. He cannot fail because of who
he is, God Almighty. The Lord Jesus Christ cannot
fail in any aspect of his redeeming work. Talk about his love. Just talk about his love for
a minute. His love doesn't know anything of failure. Love his
people with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness,
he does draw us to himself. His love never fails. How about
his mercy? Does his mercy work for a while
and then it maybe whittles out and fails? Does his mercy fail?
Not according to his book. Not according to his promise.
You see, it is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. Because his compassions, they
fail not. Lamentation 3, 22. In every aspect
of His redeeming work, and salvation is His redeeming work, His salvation
cannot fail. Everything that God undertakes,
write these words upon it in bold letters. Successful. Victorious. Complete. Many more words we could use
to describe Just a few successful. In all aspects of his eternal
purpose, his eternal decrees, his determination, his declarations,
maybe they'll come to pass. No, sir. Not according to this
book. Turn just a page or two. Isaiah
46. He said, I purposed it. I'll bring it to pass. I will
do it. Isaiah 46, look at verse 9. Remember the former things
of old. I am God, there is none else.
I am God, there is none like me. He declares the end from
the beginning. From ancient times, the things
that are not yet done, saying my counsel shall stand. He can't
fail. I will do all my pleasure. He cannot fail. Calling a ravenous
bird from the east. The man that executes my counsel
from a far country, yea, I've spoken it. I'll bring it to pass. I purposed it. Mark it down. I'll do it. I'll do it. I'll
do it. He worketh all things after the
counsel of His own will. What a glorious, glorious, comforting
thought to the believer. His great success He shall not
fail. What a glorious, comforting statement
is given to us. The Lord Jesus Christ cannot
fail to accomplish all God's purpose in saving His elect. He cannot be defeated. He cannot
be frustrated. Turn over just a couple of pages.
Isaiah 53. Here's another glorious word
that describes the gospel of God concerning the Lord Jesus
Christ. Look at the last part of verse
10. Isaiah 53. the pleasure of the Lord, the pleasure of the
Lord shall prosper, prosper in His hand. The gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ is a message of prosperity. He is. He is. He shall prosper. And
His people are blessed in Him. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
seek and to save the lost. Do you reckon there is any possibility
that He will fail in the mission for which God gave Him to do?
Oh, He shall save His people from their sin. I want us to
rest. I find sweet comfort in this
blessed promise of God our Savior. He shall not fail. He shall not
fail. He never has known anything of
the agony of defeat. Now, He knows a lot about agony.
Man of sorrow is acquainted with grief, but He knows nothing of
defeat. Victory, we worship the conquering,
victorious, successful, enthroned Lord Jesus Christ. I don't want
anything to do with a God who wants to and can't, a Savior
who has tried and failed. Tell me about the one who cannot
fail. I'll tell you why I need to hear that. Because I'm a miserable
failure. He's not. He's the enthroned
Christ. The enthroned Christ. In Revelation
4 and 5, those two chapters, He talks about the throne of
Christ seventeen times in those two chapters. When He by Himself
purged our sin, He sat down on the right hand of the majesty
on high in throne. Why is He sitting there? Done! He cannot fail. He cannot fail. This is the one to whom we have
to do. This is the one to whom we answer
unto. And we cannot say that about
ourselves. We're failures. We're born that
way. It's not something we evolve
into. We're born in sin and depravity, born great failure, defeated
by sin. which brought upon us great deformity,
great depravity, great weakness. We've all sinned. We've all sinned
and come short of the glory of God. There is none righteous.
No, not one. God says in Romans 8, in the
flesh, no man can please God. You see, we are failures, miserable
failures. The presence of God Almighty
The Scripture often brings to our remembrance our total lack
of any righteousness, total lack of any ability to please God,
to work up or to work out any kind of righteousness to satisfy
God's holy law and justice. Cannot do it. Turn just a few
pages over to Isaiah 64. You don't mind turning these
references. I know you don't. You're here
this morning because you want to hear what God says. I love
to preach to people who want to be here, who want to worship
God. Just tell me what he says. Isaiah 64, turn there. You see
what he says? We're all as an unclean thing,
lepers. All of our righteousnesses are
as filthy rags, and we do fade as a leaf. Our iniquities, like
the wind, have taken us. Taken us. There is none that
calls upon thy name. None that stirreth up himself."
That kills freewillism, doesn't it? Man's will is always self-warding
downward, never God-warding upward. It's like free running water,
always downhill. No man stirreth up himself to
take hold of thee, for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast
consumed us because of our iniquities. But now, O Lord, thou art our
Father. We are the clay, thou our potter. And we are all the work of Thy
hand. He's made us. We are His workmanship created
in Christ Jesus. I am what I am, the Apostle said
by the grace of God. By the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified in His sight. Our Lord said no man can
come unto Me except the Father which sent Me. Draw him. We're
failures because we're sinners. Born in sin, shaped in iniquity,
When the Lord is pleased to teach us this, all flesh is grass. Men individually, vanity less
than nothing in vanity. Men collectively, all nations
before him as a drop of a bucket. When the Lord is pleased to teach
us who we are, I tell you, puts us in the dust before Him, makes
us to know that we're wretched and miserable and guilty and
filthy in His sight. I tell you, give thanks. Oh,
give thanks. Because He's about to show you
the One who is altogether lovely, who cannot fail to secure and
bring in everlasting salvation. It will gladden your heart and
rejoice. It will rejoice in your heart to know that God has provided
The perfect remedy, the perfect remedy for ruin is Christ. The perfect Savior for the sinner
is the one who cannot fail to accomplish salvation. He is the
Savior who actually saves. He is the Redeemer who actually
redeems. He is the Justifier who actually
does justify the ungodly. He does this. He cannot fail. He cannot fail. Are you with
me? He cannot fail. Now, here's three things. I want to present this truth,
this glorious, amazing truth in three parts. The first part
is this, what He has done. What He has done cannot fail. What He is doing cannot fail. And what He will yet do. He cannot
fail. It shall be accomplished. Now, what has he done? What has
he done? Isaiah here, by inspiration,
verse 4, you see it? Isaiah 42, 4. He shall not fail. Now, Isaiah here is looking future
by inspiration of God and seeing the elect of God, the servant
of God coming to accomplish Isaiah's salvation. And you know it cheers
his heart, it thrills his heart when God said, this one who is
coming to save you from your sin and to make you a new creature
in Christ, he shall not fail. Isaiah looks future by inspiration. God says to him, this one who's
coming to save you, he cannot fail. We looking back in the
Word of God and reading what God has already said, has said,
we can say, he did not fail. He did not fail. to accomplish
all of our salvation. Now, what He has done. Three or four points under this
first heading. What has He done for us? For His covenant people,
His elect. Christ did not fail, the Lord
Jesus Christ I'm talking about now, did not fail to fulfill
all Old Testament scripture. prophecy, type, shadow, and picture,
the Lord Jesus Christ came and fulfilled all of them. All of
them. I remind you, this scripture,
I wrote it down so I would get it right. In Luke 24, our Lord,
the risen, exalted Lord, said to His disciples that day that
all things must be fulfilled which are written in the prophets
and in the Psalms concerning me. They must be fulfilled. My friend, I declare unto you,
the Lord Jesus Christ did not fail to accomplish every type,
picture, pattern. The high priest, the Passover
lamb, the smitten rock, the brazen serpent lifted up the manna that
fell from heaven. All those Old Testament pictures
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Day of Atonement, all those feasts,
they all picture the Lord Jesus Christ. He fulfilled all of them. At Passover Lane, God said, when
I see the blood, I'll pass over you. Christ, our Passover, is
sacrificed for us. He ends that Passover. John said,
Behold the Lamb. I like to eat that Lamb. I rejoice
in that Lamb. Christ and Him crucified. Behold the Lamb of God that taketh,
taketh, taketh away our sin. How does He take it away? Did
you ever read that marginal reference on the word take it? Beareth.
He took away our sin by bearing our sin in His own body on the
tree and took it away. He appeared once in the end of
the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Every prophecy
concerning His death, time, manner, circumstances were all prophesied
in the Old Testament. Someone's coming. The Lord Jesus
Christ. He cannot fail. He did not fail. God said He can't fail. He's coming. It's dying. His resurrection. Why do you seek the living Lord among
the tombs? He's not here. He's risen! He's
risen! Why is He risen? He can't fail. Sin's put away. He can't fail. Paul said, the Lord Jesus Christ
that I delivered unto you also that which I received." How the
Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scripture.
How He was buried. He rose again the third day according
to the Scripture. You see, we do not worship a
failed God. We do not have a failed Gospel. Absolutely successful in all
things, the Lord Jesus Christ did not fail to fulfill all Old
Testament types, pictures, and patterns. Secondly, the Christ
of God did not fail to satisfy God's holy law and justice. Isaiah 42. Another one of my
favorite verses. Verse 21. Look there. The Lord
is well pleased. The Lord is well pleased. For
His righteousness sake, He will magnify the law. It just didn't
meet the mere minimum standard which was perfection, magnified
the law, honored the law, glorified God's justice and His mercy in
Christ crucified. He will magnify the law and He
will make it honorable. Our Lord said in Matthew 5, I
didn't come to destroy it. I came to honor it. He cannot
fail. to honor God's law, every aspect. In His life, He obeyed every
precept of God's law. You know, people stick up in
the yard to tend, don't they? They're living under the curse
of the law. You know, there's 700 or 800
precepts of that law. The Lord Jesus Christ magnified,
honored every precept of that law in His life in perfect obedience,
word, thought, and deed. We read about this in Hebrews
7, don't we? Such a high priest became us.
He became us who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sin. Had no sin, knew no sin, and
did no sin. Honored the law of God, every
precept. He did that for His people. Did
He fail? Can He fail? Did He fail? In his life, he obeyed every
precept of God's holy law. In his death, he satisfied the
penalty of the law, didn't he? Christ redeemed us from the curse
of the law, being made a curse for us. He cannot fail to put away the
curse of that law, the guilt he must die. The Lord Jesus Christ
took my sin, took my guilt, took my wrath, took my death, and
put away sin and satisfied God. honor to satisfy the penalty
of the law. You know what it says over here?
Turn back to Isaiah 53. Look at this real carefully. Verse 11, Isaiah 53, 11. You
see that? Isaiah 53, 11. He shall see of
the travail of his soul. The Lord was pleased to bruise
him. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities satisfied."
Now listen to me. Are you satisfied with the Lord
Jesus Christ? Yeah, I am. I am. It meets my every need. But you
know, more importantly and chiefly, God is satisfied. with the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's our hope. That's our hope
in Him. He did not fail to honor God's
holy law. Did not fail to accomplish all
Old Testament pictures, types, patterns, shadows. Thirdly, He
did not fail. I like all these points, but
I like this one especially. He did not fail. Did not fail
to make complete definite, particular atonement for sin. He did not fail. We do not have
an atonement. We have an atonement, a complete
expiation, a complete covering, a complete putting away of sin. He did this by the sacrifice
of Himself. We have a complete Atonement
for sin. He appeared once in the end of
the age to put away sin. Did He actually do it? Oh, you
know, He made it a possibility, if you would meet certain conditions,
that He would put away your sin. Oh, no. Salvation is not dependent
upon you. Not accomplished by you. Not
determined by you. Salvation is accomplished, determined,
and depended upon Him. Upon Him. Upon Him. Complete atonement. He appeared
once in the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice
of Him. So much so, you often say that
the blood atonement of Christ is not something weak and anemic
and powerless. You know how complete and prevailing
and powerful the blood atonement of Christ is? I'll tell you how. In Hebrews chapter 10, when it
talks about the great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, by that
one offering, perfected forever them that are set apart unto
it. He is elect. He died for His
sheep, His chosen. God said that the atonement of
the Lord Jesus Christ is so perfect, complete, that He said their
sin and their iniquity I remember no more. Psalm 103, we read it,
as far as the east is from the west. He has separated us, separated
our sin from us. One day our sin separated us
from God. Now the Lord Jesus Christ putting
away our sin, having separated us from our sin. Now we have
complete reconciliation in the Lord Jesus Christ. He did not
fail to make complete atonement for sin. To say or imply, as
many out in this religious world do, that the Lord Jesus Christ
died for all the sins of all men. And yet some men wind up
in hell anyway. It's to have a failed atonement.
A failed Savior. My friend, this book knows nothing
of failure. Just absolute success. I love to declare the successful,
triumphant King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Lost religious folks don't like
to hear that kind of preaching. God help us, never. God help
us as those who stand before dying sinners to never trim off,
cut down, to try to appease from offending the flesh. God help
us. Paul said, if I preach to please men, I'm not his servant.
Mark it down. God will not allow a failed atonement. Really? What good would it do? Our Lord said in his prayer,
Father, I glorified thee on the earth. I finished the work you
gave me to do. Does that sound like failure
to you? He said on Calvary's tree, it's
finished. Does that sound like failure
to you? Successful. Successful. We have complete atonement. He
put away our sins, satisfied God's law, honored every picture
and type of the Old Testament. Fourthly, Christ did not fail
to bring in an everlasting, justifying righteousness for his people,
and he freely gives it to them. 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?" I like that word freely, don't you? Justified freely by His grace
through the redemption that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. My
friend, as Brother Scott used to say, the righteousness we
have is not just pasted on. Blessed is that man whom the
Lord imputeth righteousness without work, saying, Blessed are they
whose iniquities are forgiven. Blessed is the man whom the Lord
will not charge sin. You see, he didn't fail to bring
in an everlasting, justifying righteousness that he freely
gives to his people. Fifth point on this first point.
Number five, on this point, if you're jotting down these notes
or you can get the message on the CD and listen to it later,
Christ did not fail to crush the head, the dominion, the principalities
and power of all Satan's reign and dominion. He's a defeated
foe. Now, he's a failure. He's a failure. He's a failure. The Lord Jesus
Christ, the seed of the woman, He crushed Satan's head. Defeated all principalities and
powers. It says that in Colossians 2,
doesn't it? And you know why He did this? It says, by Himself,
He did this. Defeated Satan, sin, death, hell,
and the grave. I like how Revelation says, in
Revelation 1.18, it says that Our Lord, in that vision of Him,
our Lord said, I'm here to live it. And we said, behold, I'm
alive. I'm alive. Forevermore, He cannot
fail. He shall not fail. And what He
has done, that's point number one. He shall not fail. Number two, Christ shall not
fail in what He's doing now. And what he's doing now. He's
doing something now. Right now. He's doing something
now. Of which it cannot fail. Cannot fail. Matthew 16. He said, I'll build my church.
I will. I will. I will. His will will
be done. I will build my church. And the
gates of hell cannot prevent it. Stop it. You cannot stop the
purpose of God. He shall not fail in what He's
doing now. And I've got five points under this heading. And
I won't be as long. Christ shall not fail to irresistibly,
powerfully call out His elect wherever they may be in this
world. If you're one of His, He'll run
you down. He'll cross your path with the gospel of God's truth,
with God's servant, with the message of truth and grace, and
God the Holy Spirit will drive that home to your heart and convince
you of sin. what I am, of righteousness,
what I need, Him, and of judgment that has taken place upon my
sin in my substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ. He shall not fail
to irresistibly and powerfully call out His people unto Himself. The Apostle Paul talks about
that in Colossians chapter 1, doesn't he? But he said, we give
thanks to God. Oh, we give thanks unto God who
translated us out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom
of his dear son or the son of his love, to which we give him
all honor and glory. He shall not fail to call out
his covenant people powerfully, irresistibly. And he does this
through the preaching of the gospel. He does this through
the means that he has ordained. It pleased God through preaching
to call out His people. When Paul writes to those in
Thessalonica in that second epistle, he says, We are bound to give
thanks to God for you, brethren, because God from the beginning
hath chosen you unto salvation through sanctification of the
Spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto He called you by something. What did He call you by? The gospel. God does not use
the lives of men to teach His sheep the truth. He uses gospel
preachers preaching the undiluted truth of God, of who He is, who
we are, who the Lord Jesus Christ is, and how He saves sinners. Preach it. You know who will
hear it? Somebody's going to hear that
message. You heard it. Why you? Why me? I think back where I come from,
where I came from. How'd I get here? What are you
doing here? Who made you to differ from another?
What do you have that you didn't receive? I tell you who's going
to hear this message. He said, My sheep, they hear
My voice. I know them. And you know what?
They'll follow Me. You can't run the sheep of Christ
off. You can't do it. You can't do it. Just keep lifting
up the shepherd. That's sheep food. Just keep
lifting up the shepherd and the sheep will feed upon
Him. He shall not fail in what he's
doing now. He's calling his people irresistibly,
affectionately, calling them out of darkness into God's marvelous
light and making them new creatures in Christ Jesus. Here's another point on what
is Christ doing now. He shall not fail to meet the
need of every redeemed sinner by his grace. Now, have you ever looked at
that scripture carefully? Ecclesiastes 4.19, my God, my God, I'm not
going about the God of someone's imagination,
the God of Scripture, God of the Word, my God, shall supply
all your need, singular, according to His riches in glory through
Christ Jesus. For the Lord Jesus Christ is
made unto the believer. By His almighty grace, He is
our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption that we might
glory only in the Lord. As a matter of fact, Paul said,
God forbid we should glory in anything else. But Christ, in
Him crucified, Christ shall not fail to irresistibly call us
out, shall not fail to meet the need of every redeemed sinner
by His grace. Thirdly, Christ shall not fail
to sustain our soul and keep us by His grace. He's able to keep us from falling.
Talk about kept. He's able to keep us. He doesn't
save us and then just shove us out there and say, okay, now
do the best you can. Kept by His power. Kept by His
power. Christ shall not fail. to sustain us and keep us by
His grace, His power. He ever lives to intercede for
us, doesn't He? He ever lives to intercede for
us. He's able to keep us from falling and to present us faultless
before the presence of God's glory with exceeding joy. He's
able. Able to do above all we ask or
think. He is able. Why? Why is He? He cannot fail. He cannot fail to meet our every
need, to call us unto Himself, to keep us by His power, His
grace. Christ shall not fail to comfort
us in our time of need. To comfort us in our time of
need. What does He comfort with? Our Lord said when He, the Holy
Spirit, has come to comfort her, He will comfort you. What does
God the Holy Spirit comfort His people with? This warm, gushy
feeling, you know, I just feel so saved. Most of the time I feel lost. What does God the Holy Spirit
comfort His people with? Our Lord says He'll take the
things of mine and show them unto you. God, the Holy Spirit,
comforts His people with Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's our
comfort. He's our comfort. He's our comfort,
whether we're up or down. He said, Lo, I'm with you always,
even unto the end of the earth. I'm with you always. Well, I
don't feel His presence. He didn't ask you to feel His
presence. Believe His Word. I'm with you always. I'll never
leave you or forsake you. That leads me to point number
three. I'm almost through. The Lord Jesus Christ shall not
fail in what he will yet do. He shall not fail in what he
has done. He shall not fail in what he's doing. He shall not
fail in what he will yet do. Preacher, where are you going
with this? OK, stay with me. I've got three points here. He
shall not fail. and what He will yet do. He will not fail to come again
and to receive us unto Himself, and there we shall ever be with
the Lord. He shall not fail to receive
us unto Himself. He can't fail to do that. The
Apostle, when he writes He said, comfort one another with these
words. Our Lord said, I go away to prepare
a place for you, and if I go away, I'll come again and receive
you unto myself that where I am, there you may be also. He cannot
fail. He will not fail. Failure is
not a possibility. He shall not fail to make a new
heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. He's
going to burn this place up, purge it with fire, and make
a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.
I like this point too. He shall not fail to make us
just like the Lord Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact, he said,
moreover, for whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of his Son. He shall not fail. He cannot fail. Failure is not
an option. God's people are predestinated
to be just like Christ. Who doesn't want to be predestinated? One of our dear, dear brothers,
a week ago today, I watched him in the ICU unit, all hooked up
with life support. The doctor came in and said,
no hope, no hope. He said, you need to disconnect
everything. And I told the family they were
there. I said, that's the thing to do. Let him go and be with
the Lord. And they disconnected everything
and he took a few breaths. His heart weakened and weakened
and he graduated. He graduated. But I remember
what this old brother told me one time. I told the family he's
gone to be with the Lord. And I told him the same thing
when I preached his funeral Tuesday afternoon. He'd gone home to
be with the Lord. But I remember something he told
me. This was a man who was a very poor man. He made his living
in the timber business. As the saying goes, he was poor
as a church mouse. Very poorly educated. Didn't
have much. But in Christ, he had everything.
And here's what he said. He said, Brother Tom, you know
what? You know who believes in that
predestination stuff? And I said, no, Brother Earl,
who does? He said, those whom are predestinated. And I said, I'm going to write
an article on that. And I did. And I gave him the
credit for it. I do brothers with the Lord,
predestinated to be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He did not fail to take that brother home to glory. I
rejoice with him. In closing, how do we know that He shall
not fail? That just because I say so, how
do I know? How do we know this? That the
Christ of God shall not fail. He promised it in His Word. He
said heaven and earth will pass away. My Word will not pass away. And I like this Scripture really
well. 2 Corinthians 1.20. All the promises
of God in him are yes. Amen. Unto the glory of God. He cannot fail. If you've got
it, he cannot fail. Now, give me a minute. Of all
the exceeding great and precious promises that Peter talked about,
he's given us these exceeding great and precious promises. Of all the promises God has given
to His people, His precious word, the sure word of prophecy. Any
of those promises are going to fail? Can they fail? Not one word will fail. All shall
be fulfilled, accomplished successfully and eternally to the glory of
the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm reminded of two things. When
Joshua died, or was dying in Joshua 23, He can read his last
words like the words of David in 2 Samuel 23. God hath made
with me the covenant ordered in all things and is sure. Joshua
said this, for all that God hath promised, not one word will fail. The prayer recorded in 1 Kings
8. Blessed be the Lord. that hath given rest unto his
people according that he hath promised, there hath not failed
one word of all that he hath promised." I'm persuaded, aren't
you? I'm not here to convince you.
I'm here to preach Christ. God will have to convince you.
And when He does, you'll have this same testimony. My Redeemer cannot fail. I'm
persuaded as Abraham of old that all that God has promised, He's
able to perform. He cannot fail. He cannot fail. Romans again says, We are more
than conquerors through Him that loved us and gave Himself for
us. The song of the redeemed and
glory is unto Him who loved us and washed us from our sin in
His own blood. To Him be all the honor and glory. now and
forever. Thanks be to God who has given
us... Everybody likes to be a winner,
don't they? He's given us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ. We're losers. And ourselves, we're miserable
failures. But in the Lord Jesus Christ, He's made us an object
of His love and a trophy of His grace. He shall not fail.