You'll turn back with me now
to Romans chapter 11. I said my text would be in the
last four verses, it's in the last five. My subject is knowing the mind
of the Lord. Now ask us here, who hath known
the mind of the Lord? It's a mistake, I believe, to
confine these verses here in Romans chapter 11 to chapter
11 alone. It seems to me rather to be a
conclusion of all the doctrines that Paul has set forth from
chapter one all the way through chapter 11. What did he establish
back in chapter one? Salvation and Christ alone. Justification
by grace through the redemption of Christ and his representative
righteousness. Predestination. The mystery of
the Gentiles, the rejection of the Jews, the election of the
true Jews. And that's not even to mention
the preaching of the gospel, the work of the Holy Spirit,
baptism, conversion, and faith. All of these subjects Paul talks
about all the way through chapter 11. So when he starts talking
about the wisdom and knowledge of God and how great it is, he's
not just talking here about the election of the true Jew that
he talks about here in chapter 11, but he's talking about rather
everything that he's told them up to this point. And all of
these things this world is ignorant of can never perceive apart from
a divine revelation of God. I want to, before I get into
the message, I want to talk about this thing of revelation. Turn
with me just a few pages over from our text of 1 Corinthians
chapter 2. There are three things that have
a part in the revelation of God. And I think they're stated very
clearly here in 1 Corinthians chapter 2. The first thing is
the word of God. There's not gonna be a revelation
apart from the word of God. The man who says I learned these
things, I was out in a boat on the lake and I was way out there
all by myself one day, and God spoke to me and I learned these
things. He's a liar. He's a liar. I have no doubt
somebody told him, but it wasn't God. When God gives a man the
revelation of God, he gives it to him through the word of God,
that's what the word of God is. Now watch this, 1 Corinthians
2 verse 1. And I, brethren, when I came
to you, these were Gentiles, these were idol worshipers, these
were people totally ignorant of God. He said, when I came
to you, i came not with excellency of speech or wisdom declaring
under you now listen the testimony of god what did he declare that
testimony of god that's what this book that's what it is this
is god's testimony of the creation of man the fall of man salvation
in christ and all of these things of which god is purpose this
is god's Testimony. And preachers are messengers
of God. Their ministry is to preach and teach the testimony
of God. I don't have anything to say
on my own. I just keep pointing you to the
book. I just keep trying to show you in the book what it says.
What God says. Let God be true and every man
a liar. Paul delivered the gospel message
to the Corinthians. And here's what he told them
over in chapter 15. He said, I declare to you that which God
declared to me, how that Christ died for our sins, now listen,
according to the scriptures, and that he was buried and rose
again on the third day according to the scriptures. You have a
revelation about Jesus Christ and His coming into this world
and His death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead
and His ascension into glory, you'll have it through the Word
of God. You remember, there were some
disciples after the death of Christ and the resurrection of
Christ and they were walking along that road to Emmaus and
the Lord caught up with them and they were still ignorant
of His resurrection and they thought that their knowledge
of him as the Christ was for naught because he died. And they
just couldn't get it into their head or their heart, even though
he told them so often that he, on the third day, would rise
from the dead. And here they were. And Christ,
he doesn't reveal himself to him, but he's just walking along
there with him, pretending to be a stranger, and he talks to
him back and forth. And finally, they said, well,
we trusted that this was the Christ. And in their disappointment,
they told him that. And it says, beginning at Moses. What'd he do? What'd he do to
straighten him up? He went back to Genesis. And he preached to them everything
that Moses said in the first five books of the Bible. He went
through there picking out at random this and that and this
and that and all these pictures and types of Christ. And then
he went through the prophets. And he showed them how these
prophets prophesied of this Redeemer, how Daniel prophesied of him,
so many weeks the Redeemer is going to come, and he's going
to accomplish salvation, he's going to put an end to sin, and
he just took him through and showed him all those things,
and then he went through the Psalms and he showed him those
things. You know what it says in Luke
24? After he did that, then opened he their understanding that they
might understand the Scriptures. So if God gives you a revelation
of himself, it's not gonna come out of thin air. It's not gonna
come to you in a dream in the middle of the night. You're not
gonna hear voices or see a cloud shaped like Jesus Christ. He's
gonna teach you in his word the testimony of God. That's how
you're gonna receive it. When we talk about the revelation
of Christ, we're not talking about all of these things. We're
talking about these things which are recorded the mystery of the
gospel recorded in the word of god all right the second thing
in this revelation is the gospel of jesus christ contained between
the the front and back of this book is the gospel of jesus christ
now men take this book and they use it to preach on creation,
they use it to preach on all kinds of scientific facts, they
use it to go back and trace lineages of men and nations and countries
and all sorts of things. They use this book as a rule
book, tell you how to live, tell you how to raise your children,
tell you how to dress, how to cut your hair. They take this
book and they make it a book of science, a book of philosophy.
They try to use it for everything in the world except what it was
intended for. This book is the book of Christ. It's a hymn book. And it's a
book which contains the gospel. And it has the gospel from Genesis
3-16 all the way through the Bible. And that's a mystery to men,
they can't see it, they can't find it. Look here in 1 Corinthians 2
verse 2. Paul said, for I determined,
he didn't come with excellency of speech, he didn't come with
any of those things. He came to him preaching the
testimony of God, the word of God. Now verse two, for I determined
not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. Paul was a brilliant man. He
was a brilliant man. He could have left them spellbound
in their seats. He was an orator. But he didn't
do that. He preached the gospel to them.
He preached the gospel to them. And he said, I determined before
everyone over there, These were Greeks, these were philosophers.
He said, I determine when I come to you not to know anything except
Jesus Christ and him crucified. You take away Christ, there's
not gonna be a revelation of God or a revelation of salvation. I heard a man quote this, misquote
it rather the other day, he said, preaching is the power of God
or the salvation. Oh no, it's not. Oh no, it's
not. It's the preaching of the gospel
of Jesus Christ That's the power of God unto salvation. And then thirdly, here's the
third thing about this revelation of God, is the presence and power
of the Holy Ghost. Look here in 1 Corinthians 2
verse 4. He said, my speech and my preaching
was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration
of the Spirit and power. What in the world is he talking
about? He stated the truth. He stated the gospel. He quoted the prophets. He quoted
these men in the New Testament. Paul stood up and preached the
gospel as a declaration. He didn't say, consider this
or Try to get this mixed into your thinking. He said, here's
how it is. And he preached to them. He declared
this gospel to them. And then he backed off. He backed
off. He didn't try to make it palatable
to men. He didn't try to make it acceptable
to men. He didn't try to bring it down
on their level. He just preached the testimony
of God. And then he backed off. And he
waited because he knew if this thing becomes effectual in your
heart, it's going to require the presence and power of God's
Spirit. All of a sudden you'll be reading
this book and you've read it over and over and over, but now
you're going to read it and all of a sudden one day you're going
to look at it and it's going to click just like that. This
is the Word of God. What that man's saying is according
to the Word of God. This man's telling me the truth.
All of a sudden you can see what you've been reading all along.
My soul, we used to sit and sing Amazing Grace in that Armenian
church. Didn't know God from a billy
goat. Sit back there and sing Amazing Grace, how sweet the
sound. We didn't know what grace was. It was grace that taught my heart
to fear, and grace my fears were. We didn't know nothing about
grace. We didn't know what grace was. We were saved by our works,
or we thought we were. Rock of Ages, clever man. We didn't know the Rock of Ages. You see what I'm talking about?
All of a sudden, it clicks. It clicks. And only the Holy
Spirit can make it click. I can teach you. I can teach
you the facts. I can teach you the doctrines.
You can ask me questions just like these boys did a while ago,
and I can answer your questions sometimes. I can't make it click. He can
make it click. Only he can convince you of these
things. So that's the demonstration of
the Spirit and of power. And Paul said, I do this, verse
5, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but
in the power of God. If one man can talk you into
something, another man can talk you out of it. They've been doing
it for centuries. Verse 7, he said, but we speak
the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which
God ordained before the world under our glory. God ordained
the preaching of the gospel, which none of the princes of
this world knew, for had they known it, they wouldn't have
crucified the Lord of glory. But as it's written, I have not
seen or heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things
which God has prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed
them unto us by his Spirit. For the Spirit does what? What's
that say? Searcheth all things. He searches. I tell you, turn
to Romans 9, verse 7. You turn over there. The Spirit
searches those things, and He gives witness in your heart that
those things are so. He searches all things, yea,
the deep things of God. That's what a preacher told me
one time. He said, oh, don't get involved in that predestination
stuff. Don't let somebody suck you into
that old election stuff. Don't do that. I said, why? He said, those are deep things.
And I said, well, it says the Holy Spirit searches all things,
yea, the deep things of God. The effectual demonstration of
the Holy Spirit in regenerating power takes place when the gospel
of Christ is revealed in the hearts of chosen sinners, causing
them to bow before Christ, recognize Him as the King. He's the King. He's God Almighty. Causing them
to bow to Christ and receive Christ and rest in Christ and
rejoice in Christ. That's the revelation. This world's
ignorant of these things that I'm preaching this morning. And
they have to hear them. They have to hear them. And then
the Spirit has to convince them. I can't do that. So I've got
four things I want you to see here in Paul's conclusion here
in Romans 11, 32 through 36. The first thing I want you to
see, he's talking here about Jews. In the beginning, there
was nothing but Jews. God didn't save Egypt, He saved
the Jews out of Egypt. God didn't give His law to the
world, He gave it to the Jews. God didn't call prophets all
over the world, He called prophets from the Jews. God didn't make
covenants with the world, He made covenants with the Jews.
There's a Jewish nation, a Jewish people, and God dealt with those
Jews. And those Jews were types of
the real church. They're the elect of God. They're
the chosen of God. God delivered them He protected
them, he provided for them, and he preserved them. And nobody
could destroy them. And here they are. And then he
talks about the Gentiles. All of a sudden the Jews reject
Christ. They reject Christ. And some of the Gentiles were
saying, well, that's it for the Jews. They're gone. Paul said,
now wait a minute. Wait a minute. That's not what's
going on. God has an elect people, and
some of them are Jews, and I'm one of them. I'm one of them. Peter's one of them. John's one
of them. Even so, at this present time,
there remains a remnant, according to the election of grace. Some
of them are Jews, and some of them are Gentiles. Now this thing
of natural Jews, he used that to open the door to the Gentiles,
to reveal the mystery of God toward the Gentiles. Then through
the Gentiles, He's going to cause the Jews to recognize that God
has a spiritual Jew, a true Jew, and he's going to save some of
them. And he said, boy, you think this is great when the Gentiles
come through the door? Wait till I open the door for
the Jews. Wait till I reveal the gospel to them. And Paul
gets to thinking about these things and he just loses it.
He just says, oh, he said, the majesty, the wisdom, the knowledge
of God is past understanding. It's beyond us. Would you have
ever figured that out reading the scriptures? You never would
have. Never would have. But God reveals it to us. So here's the first thing. Man,
because of his fallen nature, his ignorance of God and religious
influence, will not and cannot reconcile himself to God. He
said, God, verse 32, Romans 11, for God hath concluded them all
in unbelief, all of them. Gentiles were in unbelief, the
Jews were in unbelief, that he might have mercy on all. And
the all here is in reference to both Jews and Gentiles, not
every man, woman, and child. It's easy for a self-righteous
Jew to see Gentiles as a sinful people. They could recognize
them as being an unbelief. When you was going to church,
you used to look at those men, they're going out to the bar
and chasing after women and doing this and that and all these things.
It was easy to see their sin wasn't You couldn't see yours,
yours was greater than theirs, but you couldn't see it. So it
was easy for that self-righteous Jew to see the Gentiles as a
sinful people. They outwardly worshipped idols,
committed adultery, murdered, stole, fought without reason,
just so they could have whatever it is they wanted. And whenever
the scriptures refer to the world, the Jews believed it was talking
about the Gentiles. But the Jew was blinded to his
own sin. He didn't know. He was blind
to it. He didn't recognize. Maybe you're
here this morning and don't recognize it either. You're a sinner. You're
a vile, putrid man. That's what we are before God.
We say, now wait a minute, I ain't all that. Oh, you're more than
that. You're more than I ain't got the words to tell you the
depth of what we are before God as sinners. He just picks out
things that are putrid to us like a maggot. And he said, a
worm. A man is like a worm. You look
that word up and see if it don't mean maggot. It's exactly what
it is. Well, we might see ourselves
making some mistakes. We might see ourselves in this
and that. He said, out of your heart proceed evil thoughts,
murders, adulteries, fornication, thefts. Where'd it come from?
Out of your heart. Where'd that come from? Through
the falls. How long have I had it? From
the time I was born. Now I can't get rid of it. I
can't do anything about it. Only God in glory can do anything
about it. I hear what God's saying here
in Romans 11. I concluded them all in unbelief
that I might save them all. That Jew's gonna know his sin
and that Gentile's gonna know his sin. Sin is a nature. Its corruption
of man is throughout his being, none righteous, none that understandeth,
none that seeketh after God, all gone out of the way, together
become unprofitable, none good, no not one. Now let me quote
you something. I've quoted it to you often and
I've had you turn and read it so I know you're familiar with
it. So let me just give it to you. The apostle says in Romans
10 verse 13, we're talking about the conclusion of the doctrines
here in Romans. He tells us in Romans 10, 13,
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Baptists use that. Nazarenes use that. Methodists
use that. I've heard them all. Whosoever
will. Whosoever will. And they talk about this scripture
here and quote it a lot. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Now let me tell you something. If there's none that understand
it, And ain't that what the scripture
said? If there's none that understandeth, if there's none that seeketh
after God, and destruction and misery are
in their ways, and there's no fear of God before their eyes,
and the way of peace they've not known, how shall such a one
call on him in whom they have not believed? How are they going
to do that? And how shall they believe in
him of whom they have not heard? And how are you going to hear
without a preacher? But you say all God's promises
were directed to the Jew. That's right, but Paul tells
us in Romans 9, 6, Not as though the word of God had taken none
effect, for they are not all Israel, which are of Israel.
Just because they were born of one of these tribes, one of these
12 tribes, doesn't make them a Jew. Not God's Jew. This was established back in
Romans 2, verses 28 and 29. Paul said he's not a Jew, which
is one outward of it. Neither is that circumcision
which is outward in the flesh, but he's a Jew which is one inwardly,
and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit, and not
of the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God. So God
has a people. These people he chose in Christ
by his eternal sovereign election of grace. And some of them are
Jews, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile. He just keeps
saying that, don't he? Some of them are Jews, and some
of them are Gentiles, but all of them are spiritual Jews, every
last one of them. And so he tells us in Romans
11, 5, even so at this present time, also there's a remnant
according to the election of grace. And if it's by grace,
then it's no more works. It's no more works. I need to repeat that about seven
or eight times, don't I? If no more works, otherwise grace
is no more grace. Now what are you going to say
about that? Romans 11 verse 7, what are you going to say? What
then? Israel hath not obtained that
which it sought for. What did it seek for? He said they were seeking to
establish their own righteousness. But they were doing it in ignorance.
And they couldn't obtain it. They were seeking to follow after
God and be his disciples and be his children. But they couldn't
obtain it. Israel hath not obtained that
which he seeketh for, but the election obtained it. And the
rest of them that were called Jews were blinded. The natural Jew is a picture
of this religious world, believing that all God's promises and covenants
are directed to them, and that they have a right to them, and
that they're theirs for the taking. But God says, I conclude them
all in unbelief, that I might save them all. I'm going to tell you something,
and this is as opposite as night and day from what religion preaches.
God's not obligated to save anybody except those he obligates himself
to save. That's it. I heard a guy stand up in his
altar call after his message and he said, God's only obligated
to call you one time. God's not obligated to call you
at all. There's whole nations Well, God
didn't save anybody. There's tribes over in Africa
left to themselves out in the middle of a jungle, living like
wild beasts, dancing around a totem pole, eating one another's own
flesh, cannibals. Never heard the gospel. Never
heard anything about the living God. God didn't call them. He didn't call them. He left them alone. He's not
obligated to call you, but I tell you if he does, you better hang
on every word. You better say to yourself in
your heart, this is the most precious thing I have on this
earth. You better hang on to it. You better beg God to increase
it, give you some knowledge and give you some grace to believe.
God concluded them all in unbelief. All right, here's the second
thing I want you to see. I want you to see that our God is truly,
actively, and eternally God. This God that this generation
talks about in churches, I just can't imagine. If you sit and
listen to them and write down on a piece of paper, if you go
there, if you have an opportunity to go somewhere, get you a piece
of paper and a pen, sit down, and I want you to write down
on a piece of paper how they describe their God. Here's what
they say. God's done all he can do. God has done all he can do, and
now it's all up to you. What kind of God do you got? I just don't think God would
do that. When did you get up on his level? Who are thou, old
man, that replies against God? I thought you was the clay and
he was the potter. Does not the potter have power
over the clock? He's the one who made the vessel.
He can make it a slop jar or he can make it a trophy and set
it on his mantle. He can do whatever he wants to
with it. He's the potter. We're just dust. God is God. He's God. I heard a preacher the other
day. He said, God wants to save you. He does. well i'll tell you this
if he wants to save you you're going to be saved i can tell
you that for sure because he does all his pleasure and he does it in heaven on earth
in the sea and all these places he does everything he wants to
do and if he wants to save you he's going to save you he's God i want you to see that
our God is truly actively and eternally God listen to this
Romans 11 33 Oh, he said, the depth of the riches, both of
the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments
and his ways past finding out. I had a guy, he got so angry
at me, he was a foreman on a carpenter job I was on, and a bunch of
them in there talking religion that didn't know anything, and
I said something about, they asked me, and I gave them an
answer to the question, and they didn't like it. And I said, well,
have you got a Bible? He said, yeah, I got one right
here. Slammed it down, I turned him over there and let him read
over in Isaiah, declaring the end from the beginning. I turned
over to Daniel. He rules in the armies of heaven among the inhabitants
of the earth. Took him over to Romans 9. I'll
have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I'm the potter, you're
the clay. And he, give me that Bible, he said. You see, I'll
tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to go home this weekend
and read this book while I come back and talk on Monday. Are
you going to read this book over the weekend? God can only do what you let
him do. Really? What kind of God do you
got? This is the God they're preaching
and telling men He wants to save you, but He can't. He can't. Isn't that what they're saying? He wants to, but He can't. Well,
what's that leave? It leaves you to save yourself. Oh, my. Our God, because He is
God, is the source of all true wisdom and knowledge. In the
beginning, listen, God. Were you there? I wasn't either. I guess I have to take him at
his word. I wasn't there. I wasn't there. God spoke to
Job and he said, where were you when I laid the foundations of
the earth? You so wise and proud and know it all. Where were you
when I laid the foundations of the world? If you've got to understand
it. Where were you when I laid it
out and stretched the line on it? We lay out a foundation,
we drive some stakes in, stretch a line down through there, and
then we drive another stake, stretch another line, we make
an outline of where the footer's gonna go, and the pad's gonna
go, and all that, and we stretch. God said, where were you, and
I laid out the line for all things. Where were you? Whereupon are the foundations
fastened, or who laid the cornerstone? My friend, you and I don't know
anything except what God's been pleased to write in his book.
That's all we know. Salvation is an eternal work
which has its beginning in God. Every good and perfect gift cometh
down from above, comes down from the Father of light, with whom
is no variableness, neither shadow or turning. Where does it come
from? It comes from God. Well, don't you reckon you'll
see what he has to say about it? if it's coming from him. Man sits around with his little
peanut brain and his limited experience and he tries to imagine
who God is and what God's like and what God's doing. All of
the knowing and understanding of God comes by way of his testimony
and not our imagination. I wrote some, brought some things
in here in Isaiah chapter 46. God said, in verse five, he said,
to whom will you liken me? Who you gonna liken me to? He's just talking about general,
general people of the world. Whom will you liken me and make
my equal and compare me? He said, they lavish gold out
of the bag, they weigh silver in the balance, and they hire
goldsmiths And he makes them a little god. And they fall down before him
and they worship. And then they pick him up and
they put him on their shoulder and they carry him to the place
that they built for him. And they set him down there where
they want him to sit. They set him in his place. And he standeth there, right
where they put him. From his place, he shall not
remove. He can't go nowhere. He has to
go right where they put him. Wherever they put Dagon, that's
where he stood. He didn't move around. He didn't do anything.
Yea, one shall cry unto him, but he won't answer. and he won't
save him from his trouble. Remember this and show yourselves
men and bring it again to mind. Oh, you transgressors. He's talking
to Israel. You didn't make me and you didn't
set me in my place and I can go where I please. I'm God. You see what Paul's saying here?
Oh, my soul, he's God. Presently, actively, eternally,
he's God. He's God. And then thirdly, I want you
to see that Jesus Christ is the saving manifestation of God.
He tells us in Romans 11, 34, for who hath known the mind of
the Lord, and who hath been his counselor. Now the Lord here
is the Lord Jesus Christ. In 1 Corinthians 2, verse 15,
Paul says, he that is spiritual, he rightly divides, he understands
all things, yet he himself is not understood by anybody. Now watch, he quotes the same
scripture Paul did. For who hath known the mind of
the Lord that he may instruct him? Now listen, but we have
the mind of Christ. If you have the mind of Christ,
you know God. And you know what it takes for
a sinner to be brought into his presence. You know God. I can tell you what God's will
is about some things because I know Christ. To have the mind of Christ is
to have the saving knowledge of God which is revealed in Him,
the harmony of His character in the free justification of
sinners, God being just and justifier. being justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. That
we have a perfect righteousness in Christ, which to us is the
end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. That
Christ is the promised seed, the head of the body, the church,
that all His people are in union with Him. That to see Him is
to see the Father. One of them said, show us the
Father and it'll suffice us. He said, you've been so long
time with me, have you not seen the Father? He that seen me seen
the Father. At the end of Romans seven, having
declared the true nature of the law and the fallen nature of
man, Paul cries out, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? He said, I thank God through
Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, now watch this, with
the mind, what mind? The mind of Christ. With the
mind of Christ, I serve the law of God. I see that law kept perfectly. I see that law exalted and honored. I see not one jot or tittle of
it moved. Everything in it fulfilled. Everything
it demanded was paid. With the mind of Christ, I serve
the law of God. Somebody said, y'all despise
the law of God. I do no such thing. But I respect the law, and I
know what the law is. And the only way I can serve
that law is with the mind of Christ. And then fourthly and lastly,
I want you to see in these verses that salvation is altogether
a work of grace. He said in Romans 11.35, who
hath first given to him that it should be recompensed unto
him again? Who gave to God and expected
a reward? Who did that? For of him and through him and
to him are all things to whom be glory forever. Amen. Salvation is all by grace. Our election is an election of
grace. I read it to you earlier. Our
redemption, our forgiveness of sins is according to the riches
of His grace. Our acceptance in Christ is to
the praise of the glory of His grace. Our quickening with Christ
and His work as our representative is, here's what He says about
it over in Ephesians chapter two, by grace ye are saved. And
what about our faith? By grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. He tells
us, by grace are you saved. He tells us about His provenient
grace, all the works done for us in eternity and time, both
in purpose and providence. He calls it grace for grace. We're given grace to serve God
acceptably. and we're said to grow in grace
and knowledge of god and they were told that we're saying that
about grace does now much more back salvation by grace it's
by a great and he tells us this my brain is sufficient it's enough
it's a no it's a patient and that it requires nothing from
the center in christ well it's all the fullness of the godhead
bottle you're complete in Him. It's sufficient in that it supplies
all that the sinner needs. Everything he needs, he finds
in the grace of God. It's sufficient by eternal wisdom,
having considered all things and ordained all things for our
good and His glory. It's sufficient because it finds
its source in God. Now I hear this a lot. Preacher,
I don't have any assurance. And a fella asked me that, he
told me that the other day. He said, I don't have no assurance. I said, you mean you don't believe
Christ died for you? Oh, he said, I believe Christ
died for a sin. And I said, well, you mean you
don't believe God raised him from the dead, freely, just?
Oh, he said, I believe that. I said, you mean you don't? You don't believe that Christ
is interceding in glory and that nothing can separate you from?
Oh, he said, I believe that. But he said, I just don't have
no assurance. I said, you're looking for assurance in the
wrong place. Assurance is in Christ. Paul said, I am persuaded that
he is able to keep that which I committed unto him against
that day. He wasn't persuaded that he could keep it. He persuaded
that Christ could keep it. That's assurance. And all of
our assurance is in God. He said, my counsel shall stand
and I'll do all my pleasure. And I'll say this in close. For
God to lose one of his elect, to lose one, he would cease to
be God. That's just so. For him to lose one of his elect,
he'd have to cease to be God. Because he swore by himself,
because he could swear by no greater, he swore by himself. That's my assurance.