Romans chapter 11. Begin reading
in verse 1. I say then, hath God cast away
his people? God forbid. For I also am an
Israelite of the seed of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin. God
is not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wilt ye not what the Scripture
saith of Elijah, how he made intercessions to God against
Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have
digged down your altars, and I am left alone, and they seek
my life? But what saith the answer of
God to him? I have reserved to myself seven
thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.
Even so, then, at this present time, also there is a remnant
according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then
it is no more of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it
is no more grace. Otherwise, work is no more work. Israel hath not obtained that
which he seeketh for, but the election hath obtained it, and
the rest were blinded. According as it is written, God
hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should
not see, and ears that they should not hear unto this day. And David
said, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling
block, and recompense unto them. Let their eyes be darkened that
they may not see, and bow down their back away. I say then,
have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid, but
rather through their fall, salvation is come to the Gentiles to provoke
them to jealousy." As you and I read the Scriptures, and one
of the things I think that makes the Old Testament especially
difficult to interpret is because as we read the Scriptures,
even in the New Testament, we realize there are those things
that are spiritual, and then there are those things that are
natural. When we look at Abraham, the
book of Romans speaks about Abraham. We have a carnal Abraham, and
we have a spiritual Abraham. Abraham had two sons. One of
his sons was after the flesh. And one was by promise. But both
of them were children of Abraham. Abraham loved both of his sons.
He prayed for both of them. Oh, that Ishmael might live before
thee. But that was natural Abraham. That was carnal Abraham. Spiritual
Abraham had only one son. Isaac was his only begotten. When the Lord sent Abraham up
to offer Isaac upon the mountain, He said, Take now thy son, thine
only son Isaac. He had two sons. Carnal Abraham
had two sons. Spiritual Abraham had only one
son. Abraham had two seeds. He had
a natural seed and he had a spiritual seed. His natural seed inherited
the land of Canaan with all the promises, the carnal promises,
the temporal promises. The spiritual seed of Abraham,
they have an eternal inheritance that is incorruptible and undefiled
and that fadeth not away. There are two circumcisions that
you and I read about in the Scriptures, Romans chapter 2. There's one
that's of the flesh, and there's one that's of the heart. There's
two kinds of Jews. There's the spiritual Jew, and
there's the carnal Jew. There's two Jerusalem. One that's
in bondage, and the other one that's free. And I think what
makes Romans 11 so difficult sometimes to interpret are these
two Israels. There's the Israel of God, that
He proclaims peace to. And then there's Israel after
the flesh. Natural Israel. And it's this
natural Israel that the Apostle Paul is speaking of here in verse
7. "...Israel hath not obtained
that which he seeketh for." What was Israel seeking for? Well,
back in chapter 9, in verse He said, but Israel, which followed
after the law of righteousness, they have not attained to the
law of righteousness. They were seeking righteousness,
but they come short of it because they weren't seeking it through
Christ. They weren't seeking it by faith, but they were seeking
it by the works of the law. And they stumbled at Christ.
I lay in Zion a stumbling block, a stone of a fence. And they stumbled over Him. They
stumbled over faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. So Paul says here
in verse 7, Israel hath not obtained what he sought for. And the Lord
told them, He said, you're going to seek to enter in. You're going
to seek to enter heaven, but you won't be able to. Because
you're not seeking it rightly. You're not seeking righteousness.
And Paul made statements like he made here in verse 21 of chapter
10, where he said, All day long have I stretched forth my hand
to a disobedient and gang-saying people. And if you read chapters
9 and 10 and 11, he gives the impression that God has just
turned from the whole nation of the Jews. And they've stumbled
and they're going to fall forever. Not just a few of them, but most
of them, but all of them. That He turned from them and
His wrath is upon them. That's what made Paul ask this
question here in verse 1. Look at it. I say then, hath
God cast away His people? And then he answers that quickly
and says this, God forbid. And then he proves it by his
own conversion that God is not completely turned from Israel.
For He says, I'm an Israelite. I'm of the tribe of Benjamin.
I can trace my lineage back to Benjamin, the son of Joseph.
So it's obvious, if I use my own example, He said God's not
turned completely from the nation of the Jews. But then He goes
on in verse 2, and look what He tells us. He tells us who
God's people really are. God hath not cast away His people
which He foreknew." Who is God's people? Well, it doesn't make
any difference if you're a Jew or a Gentile. That's not what
makes you His people. God will never cast out or cast
away His people which He foreknew. But that's who His people are,
those He foreknew. Now, remember Romans chapter
8? That's where we saw that word before, ain't it? All things work together for
good to them who love God, to those who are called according
to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow, them
He predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son. Whom
He foreknew, them He called. Whom He called, them He justified,
and them He justified, He also glorified. So who is God's people? Paul said He's not cast away
as people, but here's His people. Whether it's out of the natural
Jew or the Gentile, His people are those that He foreknew. Now,
only God can foreknow people. Stacey and Shane couldn't even
foreknow their little baby. It came out of her belly, but
they couldn't foreknow it. Nobody can foreknow anybody but
God. He foreknew them and foreloved them and predestinated them to
be conformed to the image of His Son. He provided for them. So Paul proves here in these
verses that God has always had a remnant of people among the
Jewish nation. But He saved them and He called
them His people, not because of who they were as a nation,
But it's because he foreknew them. Those individuals among
that nation that he saved. Look here in the last portion
of verse 2. Elijah didn't understand this.
God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Remember,
he says, what the Scripture said of Elijah. How ye maketh intercessions
to God against Israel, saying, Lord, they've killed your prophets,
they dig down your altars, and I am left alone, and they seek
my face, they seek to kill me." Poor Elijah, he thought he was
the only one left, didn't he? And he headed for the mountains.
He said, man, I've got to get out of here. They've killed everybody
else, I'm the only one, and Jezebel is seeking my life. And man,
he hightailed it to the mountains. And hid there. God had to feed
him by regular. He didn't understand. He was
confused. Aren't you glad, brothers and
sisters? Isn't it a great source of joy to you that when you don't
know what the Lord's doing, and when it seems like the church
is so diminished that there's hardly anybody left, And you're
so confused you don't know what's going on. Aren't you glad that
the Lord's purpose stands firm still? Isn't that a source of
great strength and joy to us? God has an eternal purpose and
He'll stand firm no matter how confused about it you and I get.
The rage of the enemy The confusion of our poor minds, the gates
of hell, shall never prevail against God's eternal decree
of election. I have 7,000 men, Elijah. You didn't know that, did you?
I sure didn't know that. I wouldn't have been so quick
to run. I would have never despaired like I did. I'd have never turned
coward if I'd have known that. There's a lot of things, brothers
and sisters, you and I don't recognize, even in our day. We look around us, and it seems
like the church is so small, and it's so weak. But God's purpose
stands fast still. The foundation of the Lord standeth
sure. It has this seal. The Lord knows. The Lord knows. That's a very
confident answer. The Lord knows. What saith the
Scripture? I have reserved to myself seven
thousand men. I've reserved them to pardon.
I've called them. I've saved them. I've put my
Spirit within their hearts. I'm using them for my glory.
I've reserved them. Seven thousand of them. And they've
never bowed the image. to the knee, to the image of
them. And you know something, what
he tells us here, that all of this purpose of God wasn't dependent
upon Elijah. He was a great prophet. It wasn't
dependent upon him. He was the prophet of that day. Is that not right, Larry? Elijah
was the prophet of that day. He was the greatest prophet about
it. He was the chief theologian. He was the one that all the prophets
wanted to set at his feet. He was the man of the hour. And
he didn't know what God was doing. And what God was doing did not
depend upon this man. I have done something Elijah,
and you are unaware of it. And I haven't even made you aware
of it because what I'm doing is not dependent upon you. Aren't
you glad when the Lord does things? When He looks at you and He says,
what I'm doing is not dependent upon you. If the well-being of
the church of Jesus Christ was dependent upon me, I think I'd
despair. It's too big a load for me. I can't bear that. But it's not
too big a load for Him. You know what's going on in the
world right now. Amongst all the confusion, And
as we look just ways ahead, the uncertainty of our nation, the
uncertainty of what's going to take place in the little congregations
like this, Lord, what's going to happen? We don't know. But
you know what's going to happen? Everything that He's purposed
to happen. And I'm comfortable with that. I'm comfortable with that. I
don't know. But I tell you this much, brothers
and sisters, things was going along. according to God's purpose
when Elijah was here. And things continue to go on
according to God's purpose when Elijah left here and went to
Heaven. And things are going according to God's purpose while
you and I are here. And things will continue to go
according to His purpose when you and I are left here. And
that's confident to me. I'm willing to live by that rule,
aren't you? Sometimes the Lord frustrates
us to death. We get these devices in our hearts,
what we want to do, and we even pray to that end.
And the Lord doesn't answer our prayer. Everything we go to do,
He frustrates it. He burns it to ashes right at
our feet. But He can frustrate. If you
ever prayed for one thing, He'd give you something else. He knows
how to frustrate you. Do you know that? Oh, God wouldn't
do that. Yes, He does that. And you know
one of the reasons He does it sometimes? To teach us a lesson. You've got a lot of devices in
your heart, dear child, and some of them are good. Some of them
you really mean it for my glory, but I want to teach you that
my purpose will stand when your devices fail. Elijah had these
big plans, I reckon. He's going to change everything.
But he found out he couldn't. And he took off. And he was so
frustrated. Oh, he got so frustrated. I'm
finished with it, he said. I'm finished with it. I'm gone.
I'm out of here. My course is done. And God said, but my course
is not. You're frustrated and you run
off and hid in a cave. But my purpose shall stand. Isn't
that wonderful? There's many devices in the heart
of man But the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand. My counsel
shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. I have spoken it,
I'll bring it to pass. I have purposed it, I'll do it.
I will work, and who shall hinder? Our God is sovereign, ain't He?
He's sovereign. He'll out-think us. He'll out-purpose
us. And He'll out-live us. He'll
do it. Paul's gone now. And I imagine
when Paul was ready to get his head cut off or whatever happened
to him, probably men in the church said, what in the world are we
going to do now? This is just about it. The Lord's coming.
The Lord's coming tomorrow. No doubt about it. He's coming
tomorrow. We've lost this great apostle. But how long has it
been? Almost 2,000 years, hasn't it? We don't need the apostle
Paul. God doesn't need the Apostle Paul. He used him. He wrote these
epistles down. But Paul didn't redeem the church.
Paul didn't call them out of darkness into light. Paul's God
did. Paul's Lord did that. And now
Paul's God. And the church has got along
just fine without his person. Not without his writings, but
without his person. He says here in verse 7, the
election hath obtained it. The election hath obtained it.
And we know why the election obtains it. And he is speaking
here of righteousness. The elect obtain righteousness. How can we be sure that the elect
are going to be saved? How can we be sure that the elect
are going to believe on Christ for righteousness? Well, because
this election is election of grace. It's unconditional election.
He makes that pretty clear, doesn't he, in verse 6? If by grace, it's no more of
works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace.
If it be of works, it's no more grace. Otherwise, he's saying,
election is unconditional. God didn't look down through
time and see what men may do or could do or would do, but
it's all by His grace He chose them. It's free. It's sure. It's settled. And whatever He elected them
to must be effectual. Paul seemed pretty certain here.
The election hath obtained it. If you're one of God's elect,
you know something? You'll obtain righteousness. You'll believe
on Christ with all your heart. And you'll be saved. All the
elect of God will be saved. They'll be made righteous. Why?
Because He's elected them to that end. To that end. Seldom we see these two things.
one verse are closely related like they are here in verse 7. The election hath obtained it,
and the rest were blinded. When you and I read the Scriptures,
we see these two things. And it's proper to say this,
the elect and the non-elect. Because the Holy Spirit brings
them together right here. The election. hath obtained salvation,
and the rest..." See how he makes the distinction? There are the
elect and the non-elect. So it's proper for you and I
to say that, to distinguish between these two like this. There's
the elect, and then there is the non-elect. If there's an
Abel who is chosen, there's a Cain who is rejected. If there's an
Isaac who is a child of promise, there's Ishmael who is a child
of flesh. If there's a Jacob who is loved,
there's an Esau who is hated. If there's sheep who believe
Christ, there's goats who rebel. These are distinctions that the
Holy Spirit makes in the Scripture, the elect and the rest. And there's the two kinds of
people that live in this world. Only two kinds of people live
in this world. There's the election and there's the rest. Ain't that
amazing? Everybody you meet, everybody
that's here this evening falls in one of these two categories.
The election and the rest. The election and the rest. Let's
look just for a minute. Look over in Jeremiah chapter 6. Jeremiah chapter 6. If you'd
like to read an interesting book sometime, it's somewhat deep. The first time I read it, I had
to lay it down and waited a few years, but I went back and read
it again. It's by John Bunyan. It's on reprobation asserted,
is the name of it. And he deals somewhat with this
subject, the election and the rest. But our forefathers, the
Puritans, used to use this word reprobation a lot, the reprobate. And when they did that, they
applied that to the non-elect. That's the way they described
them, reprobate. When you see this word reprobate
in the Scripture, the only way to understand what it means is
to look at it in its context. Reprobate. Sometimes it's used
regarding the faith. Men are reprobate concerning
the faith. That means they're without it.
They're without faith. There's reprobate of good works. They're without good works. There's
reprobates in judgment, moral judgment. Romans chapter 1, God
gave them over to a reprobate mind. There are people that are
living in gross sins, open sins, and perversion, but they see
nothing to matter with. Because God has gave them over
to moral reprobation. And then you find it here in
Jeremiah chapter 6 in verse 30. Here's this word written again. And here it has a different meaning.
In verse 30 of Jeremiah chapter 6. Look at this. Reprobate silver
shall men call them. And here's the meaning of this
word reprobate. Because the Lord hath rejected
them. This is why the old Puritans
used to call the non-elect the reprobate. Boy, that's a name,
that's a definition. That's an adjective that you
and I should be very careful. We should be very careful to
call somebody a reprobate. Especially when we're talking
about election and the rest. Because no doubt there's been
a lot of men that were called reprobate that weren't really.
I imagine some of the Jews left on Calvary's Mountain that one
day, when both of those thieves were cussing the Lord Jesus,
and they probably went home and said, boy, those two reprobate
thieves. One of them was. One of them was rejected in God's
decree of election, but not the other. Not the other. So we have
to be real careful, don't we? But this word reprobate here,
it means Those who are rejected. And somebody said, Bruce, you
shouldn't have used that to describe the non-elect. But look what
he said. Reprobate silver shall men call them. I may not be able
to look at anybody in here that's lost and say, you're reprobate. I can't do that. But there is
such a thing as reprobation. And that's the rest. That's the
heading that they come under. Rejected. Rejected in God's eternal
decree of election. Rejected. We don't boast about
that, do we? We sure don't look down our noses.
But I tell you this, it's something to tremble over. It's something
to stand in awe about. Knowing that before God ever
made a world or made a human being, He fixed their destinies. Either elect or the rest. Either those that He chose or
those that He rejected. And that's done. That's finished. That's settled. Election and
the rest. The names of the elect were written
in the Lamb's Book of Life, and the rest have already been rejected. Not because of who they are. Not because of what they've done.
It has nothing to do with that. But it simply has to do with
this, God's decree, election, and the rest. The chosen and
the reprobate. And why would God do that? Well,
for many reasons. But the book of Ecclesiastes
gives us one Ecclesiastes 3.14, listen to this, I know that whatsoever
the Lord doeth, it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it, nor
anything taken from it. Now that's election and the rest. God's eternal decrees, they are
fixed You can't put anything to them or take anything away
from them. Why does God do that? He tells
us that men, sinful, fallen, proud, boastful, self-willed
men may fear before Him. Boy, it kicks all the props out
of the mind of a person, doesn't it? The election and the rest. Now, let's answer this question. Can any of the rest, the ones
that Jeremiah calls reprobate, can they be saved? Can they be
saved? You ought to already know the
answer to that. No. No. Now let's be plain about
it. Let's just be honest. You know, you talk to people
and you don't want to get plain. Let's get plain for a minute. Let's just look at this as it
is. Can the rest be saved? The election hath obtained it
and the rest, can the rest, can one of the rest be saved? No. No. Why? Let me give you two or three
reasons. First of all, the number of the election has already been
settled upon. As many. Them. Those. All that the Father has
given them. There are many. There are so
many, you and I can't number them. But God numbers them. God knows them. The exact number
of them. Christ has a body. His body is
made up of members. And it's a complete number. It's
a fixed number. If you've got all the members
of your body, you want to add one more member to it. It disfigures
the body. The body is made up. God has
made it up. He set every member in the body
as it pleased Him. And it's a perfect body. You
can't take one member away. It's not a complete body. You
can't add one member to it. It's a defiled body. It's a disfigured
body. The body of Christ is a perfect
body, and the number of that body was decreed upon before
time, and it cannot be increased. Never diminished, but never increased. Secondly, the rest cannot be
saved, not a single one of them. Because those blessings that
was given to the election, to save them, was denied the rest. The blessings of grace, those
spiritual blessings that would save them, is denied. These blessings that Paul spoke
about in Ephesians chapter 1, those heavenly blessings, those
spiritual blessings, those peculiar saving blessings, these are in
the bosom of Jesus Christ. God put them there in the bosom
of His dear Son when He put the elect there before time. And
those blessings, those spiritual blessings, those free, gracious
blessings come to the elect only. And they only come to them after
the Holy Spirit makes them fill their need of them. He doesn't
even give it to them without making them fill it. Turn over to Matthew chapter
13 and let me show you that. In verse 10. Look in Matthew
chapter 13, in verse 10. Look here what the Lord Jesus
was telling His disciples. He is preaching to them in these
parables. And the disciples asked Him why
He was preaching to them in parables. He's preaching to a great multitude
in parables. In verse 10, Matthew 13, Peter
and James and John and Matthew and the other apostles came to
him and said, Why are you speaking unto them in parables? And look
what he says, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries
of the kingdom of heaven, but to them It is not given. It's given to you to know. It's
given to you to believe. It's given to you to come to
Christ. It's given to you to repent. A broken heart is given
to you, but it's not given to them. I've not given it to them. And he went on down here in verse
16. Blessed are your eyes, for they
see. Blessed are your ears, for they
hear. You're blessed. You're blessed
with these blessings that my Father has withheld from everybody
else. Blessed. I thank Thee, O Father, Lord
of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from
the wise and prudent, and revealed them unto babes, even so, for
so it seemed good in thy sight." It's good. This is good. This is good. Election and the
rest. God's decree is good. I'll tell
you why it's good. I give you two reasons why it's
good. First, it's good because He's decreed to give some men
blessings. Ain't that good? He's decreed
to give some men faith in Christ, a new heart, a new spirit, to give them grace to hang on
and hang out and hope. That's good, ain't it? That's
good. Nothing wrong with that. And I'll tell you something else,
number two. I'll tell you something else good about this. God doesn't do the rest any harm. What harms He did anybody? You
say, well, He made sinners out of the rest. No, He didn't. That
has nothing to do with being a sinner. God's never tempted the first
man. He's never harmed the first man.
He's never done the rest any harm at all. When He left him
out of His decree of election, it just simply means He left
him to himself. Didn't make him a sinner. Didn't
tempt him to sin. Just left him to himself. I do you no harm. Ain't that
what He said? Shall I not do with my own what
I will? Friend, I've done you no harm.
I've done you no harm. Boy, if anybody ever stands on
the dead judgment, which they won't, and says, well, I didn't
because you left me out. I'm among the rest. It's your
fault like mine. You know what the Lord Jesus
will say to them? Friend, I've done you no harm. If I done you
any harm, you rise right now and you let me know where I done
you harm. Let me know when I led you astray. Let me know when
I ever tempted you to do evil. Let me know one time I ever rejected
you if you came to me. No, I've done you no harm. I've
done you no harm. Well, somebody said, that's not
fair, Bruce. They can't be saved. That's not fair. Is it not fair,
brothers and sisters, that God has not given men blessings that
they hate anyway? It's just not fair. Do you want
a new heart? Go up and ask a lost man, do
you want a new heart? No, he don't want a new heart.
He don't want a broken heart. He don't want to come to Christ.
He wants his own selfish way. Then how can he complain that
God has not given him a broken heart? That God has not given
him faith in Christ? Can a man complain that God has
not forgiven his sins while all along he tramples underfoot the
blood of God's Son? Can a man complain that God has
not predestinated him to life and to be conformed to the image
of Christ? while all along he hates the
image of Christ? Can a man complain that God has
not given him life, has not decreed that he should have life, while
all along he loves darkness? Men spend their lifetime begging
God to depart from them. Some of them do it literally
with the words of their mouth. Others do it indirectly. They
imply it. And then they want to blame God
when He does depart? And say it was because of His
decree? Man is a sinful and unreasonable
creature. To complain against a good and
gracious and generous God, because God has not given him what he
don't even want. That don't make any sense, does
it? Why have you withhold these blessings from me? Did you even
want the blessings? No, the rest will not be saved. Because these blessings are not
given to them. They're not given to them. If God gave everybody these blessings, then what makes the distinction
between who actually gets the blessing and who don't? If God
says, I'm just going to offer them to everybody, and it's basically
up to them, then it was up to you. to receive
the blessing. God didn't have anything to do
with it. See what I'm saying? Why are
you blessed? Because God decreed to bless
you. And whatever condition that had to be met to receive those
blessings, He made sure that that condition was wrought in
your soul, in your heart. Who makes you to differ? What
do you have of what you received? God did the rest no harm. It
just means more or less He leaves them to themselves to be blinded. And Paul says here in chapter
11 that God blinded them. How does God blind men? Just
leaves them alone. How does God fix it where men
can't hear? Just quit speaking to them. How does God harden
man's heart? Just don't visit it in saving
grace and tender mercy. Just leave a man alone. The rest cannot be saved. Thirdly, the rest cannot be saved
because there is no place, there is no place that has been prepared
for them. There's room. Man, there's room. But it's only room for those
for whom it's prepared. Come, ye blessed of my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared
for you. Who's the kingdom prepared for?
We know when it was prepared. Before the foundation of the
world. And we know who it's prepared for. The election. For you! For you! God never prepared it
for the rest. He never reserved it for the
rest, and He never reserved them to it. There's no room in heaven
for the reprobate. That's what He said. Come, ye
blessed, ye blessed of My Father. You were blessed when the Father
gave you to Me in the covenant of grace. You were blessed when
I stood up as your charioteer. You were blessed when the Holy
Spirit come to you and give you life and a new heart and a new
spirit. You were blessed when I gave you grace in your eyes
to see, grace in your ears to hear, grace in your heart to
perceive, to understand. You were blessed when I gave
you hope and through your temptations and trials, I give you grace
to cleave to me and not leave me. When you went through the
fire, you were blessed and you weren't burned. When you went
through the tribulation of waters that could have overflown your
soul, you were blessed, you weren't drowned. Come, you blessed of
my Father. But you, you, you know what this
says to me? You know what this does to me?
It makes me real serious about this business. It makes me serious
about this business. This is not a game, is it? Man,
I mean, this has to do with men's eternal destinies. God has fixed
men's eternal destiny, and they fit in one of these categories,
the election or the rest. If I'm among the elect, no matter
what it takes, I will find myself getting to Christ. I will find
myself following Him through this world. I'll find myself
denying myself and taking up my cross and following Him. I'll
find the way to be difficult. I'll find many tribulations.
There'll be times that I'll fall. I'll be heartbroken. I'll be
full of sorrow and anguish. But I'll get up and I'll follow
Him. And I'll follow Him all the way
to heaven. But if I am among the rest, I
don't care what I do. I can take up the profession
of religion. I can pray. I can read my Bible. I will not
be saved. You say, Bruce, you mean if a
man comes to Christ? I ain't saying that. I didn't
say that. I didn't say that at all. You're
talking about election, aren't you? I'm talking about the rest.
I'm talking about all these people throughout the world that's walking
down the street whipping their backs and making the blood come
out. I'm talking about these people
that have given their bodies to be burned for the cause. Fasting
twice a week and paying tithes of all they possess. They're
of the rest and they'll not be saved. They'll not be saved. I think when I started studying
on this subject years and years ago, not only was it a great blessing
to me and great confidence, but I don't know of any other subject
in the Scriptures that has so woken my soul and makes me stand
in awe. Makes me come to the Lord with
no props, with nothing to commend myself. and knowing that my eternal
destiny has been fixed by Him, either through Christ, through
repentance, through faith, to heaven, or through my sin, my
hard-heartedness, to hell. But it's fixed. It's fixed. Let's pray.