Romans 9, Romans 9, let's read the first
three verses. I say the truth in Christ, that's Paul's solemn vow, I say
the truth in Christ, a conscience bearing me witness in the Holy
Spirit. The spiritual blindness of the
Jewish people, the Jewish nation, and their rejection of Christ,
the Messiah, is what's heavy on Paul's heart here, terribly,
terribly heavy on his heart. And that's what he says. I say
the truth in Christ, my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy
Ghost. Verse 2, I have great heaviness
and continual sorrow in my heart. His affection for these Jewish
people is great. And he makes a strong statement
and commitment in verse 3. He says, I could wish that myself
were cursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according
to the flesh. the descendants of Abraham, the
Jewish people, the people who are called the Israelites. What he's saying is this, if
my being under the curse and separated from Christ would secure
their salvation, he says, I'd be with him. That's strong and
hard, difficult to understand. But that's what our Lord did.
His love for us was so great that he redeemed us from the
curse of the law, being made a curse for us. He was separated
from God the Father for our salvation. And Paul is saying that here.
If my being under the curse, that's right, being accursed
from Christ, separated from Christ, would secure the salvation of
my brethren, he said, I'll be with And that's what Christ endured
to obtain the salvation of his brethren. He said, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? Well, your sins have separated
you and your God. You've made sin for us. Moses
made a statement very similar to this. Let me have you read
it over in Exodus 32. Moses in Exodus 32 in interceding for Israel, made
a statement much like this one that Paul just made. If my being
under the curse and separated from Christ would secure the
salvation of my people, I'd be willing. In Exodus 32, verse
30, it came to pass on the morrow that Moses said to the people,
You sinned a great sin. Now I'll go up unto the Lord,
for adventure I shall make an atonement for your sins." I'm
going to go pray for you and plead with God for you. And Moses
returned unto the Lord and said, Oh, this people have sinned a
great sin and made them gods of gold. That's when they made
that golden calf. Yet now, this is Moses speaking
to God, yet now if I will forgive their sin, And he pauses, and
if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of the book, out of thy book
which thou hast written. Now that's similar. I stand between
you, God, and these people I love. If you will, forgive them. If
not, blot me out of the book which you've written. And the
Lord said, The Lord said to Moses, Whosoever
hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book." Well, who are these people? Now,
let's read verse 4, Romans 9. Who are these people whom Paul
loved so greatly and for whom he prayed so earnestly? Well,
he says in verse 4, they're Israelites. Israelites, the natural sons
and daughters of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, David, throughout
the Old Testament they're called Israel, Israelites. And no people on earth, no people
on earth up to that time, since then yes, but up to that time
no people on earth ever have such abundance of great awesome
divine revelations from God as these people, the Israelites. No people ever had such divine
revelations. And then Paul tells us what those
revelations were. He said, they're Israelites to
whom pertaineth the adoption. Now that's not spiritual adoption,
because most of them were not children of God. But God chose
these descendants of Abraham to be a special nation, a special
people, called the people of God, called in the Old Testament,
Israel. Let me show you that. In Exodus
11, two scriptures, the adoption, God adopted these people as a
special people. In Exodus 11, verse 7. Exodus 11, verse 7, "...against
any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue
against man or beast, that ye may know how the Lord doth put
a difference between the Egyptians and the Israelites." God made
a difference Himself between Egypt and Israel. Now turn to
Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy 7. I'm talking about
this nation, Israel, in the Old Testament, the descendants of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In Deuteronomy 7, verse 6, to
them pertaineth the adoption. Deuteronomy 7.6. For thou art
a holy people unto the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath chosen
thee to be a special people unto himself. above all people on
the face of the earth. There were so many different
nations, but God chose us, Abraham and his seed. There were just
seven of them when they went down into Egypt. Abraham was
the first, and then there were seven of them when they went
down into Egypt. Jacob led them down there. Verse
7, The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because
you were more in number than any people. You were the fewest
of all people. But because the Lord loved you, and because he
would keep the oath, he swore unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob. Hath the Lord brought you out
with a mighty hand, redeemed you out of the house of bondmen,
from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt." By that time there
were 2,000,000 of them when they came out of Egypt. But this is
what Paul is saying here, these people, my people, he was a Jew. Now, Israelites, to whom pertaineth
the adoption, and then secondly, turn back to my text, Romans
9, to them pertains the glory, the glory. And he's talking here
about the Shekinah glory of God. God had Moses make an ark, and
on that ark a mercy seat between the cherubims, and the very Shekinah
glory of God. dwelt between the cherubims,
over that ark, over the mercy seat, in the tabernacle of Israel. God's presence and glory dwelt
there. That's right. Let me show you
that in Exodus 40. The very glory of God dwelt in
that old tabernacle. In Exodus 40, verse 33. And Moses reared up the court
round about the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the hangings
of the court gate, so Moses finished the work, finished the tabernacle. Then a cloud covered the tent
of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the
tabernacle. And it was always there. And
when they packed that tabernacle up and moved it, the cloud would lead them by
day. And at night, if they marched
at night, a pillar of fire, the very presence of God. In fact,
when that old ark, when that ark of the covenant was stolen,
was removed from Israel, the daughter-in-law of Eli was expecting
a child at any time. And when the ark was taken out
of Israel and Eli the prophet died, and his son died, and this
widow gave birth to a son, and she called his name Ichabod,
because the glory has departed from Israel." God's presence
is gone. Read the next line, the glory
and the covenants What are these covenants, the one he made with
Abraham in Genesis 17, when he says, I'll bless you and bless
them that bless you. And through every nation you'll
be blessed. You'll be the father of many nations, father of many
believers. And then the covenant he made
with Judah. When Jacob was blessing his 12 sons, he came to Judah.
This is back In Genesis 49, when he was blessing those sons before
they left Egypt, he put his hand on Judah, and this is what he
said, the scepter, the crown, the crown rites, will not depart
from Judah till Shiloh comes, several thousand years later.
But Judah remained the kingly tribe until Bethlehem's manger
held the king, who was the son of God, but the son of David,
born of a woman who was heir to the throne of David, who was
married to a man, Joseph, who was also of the house of David. That's a covenant. And they had
the giving of the law, the giving of the law. was to Israel. God said in Galatians, I gave
it to you as a schoolmaster to bring you to Christ. And then the service of God,
what's that talking about? That's talking about the service
of the tabernacle. The high priest and the many
other priests that offered up the sacrifices to God. And once
a year came unto the holy of holies with the blood of atonement,
the blood of atonement and sprinkling it on the mercy seat. That was
given to Israel. No other nation on earth had
the tabernacle and the glory and the covenants and the services
and the priesthood and the atonement and the mercy seat and forgiveness. No other nation. Israel. Israel. And the promises, what
was the promise? The Messiah. Turn to Hebrews. I will show you this in Hebrews
6. The promises. The promise. This promise was the very foundation
of Abraham's faith, that what God promised he was able to perform. But Hebrews 6, verse 13. Now when God made promise to
Abraham that he would have a son called Isaac, And through Isaac
would come the Messiah. Because God could swear by no
greater, he swore by himself. And he said, surely, blessing
I'll bless thee, multiplying I'll multiply thee. And so after
he had patiently endured, after Abraham patiently endured, he
obtained the promise. Now, men rarely swear by the
greater. You hear people swearing by heaven,
swearing on the Bible, swearing And an oath for confirmation
is to them an end of all strife. Wherefore God, willing more abundantly
to show to the heirs of promise, children of promise, the unchangeableness,
the immutability of his counsel, God confirmed that promise with
an oath. Imagine God making an oath. That by two unchangeable things
in which it's impossible for God to lie. might have a strong
comfort and consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold of
the hope set before us. What is the hope? Which hope
we have is an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, the
hope which entereth into that within the veil. Whether the
forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus Christ made a priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek. That's the promise. You have
that promise. That's what he just talked about.
It was first made to Abraham. First made to Adam and Eve in
the garden when he promised the seed of woman would bruise the
serpent's head. But this promise of a Messiah,
of a literal man coming to this earth through the lineage of
Abraham's son Isaac. God made the promise by two immutable
things, his word and his oath. I tell you this and I swear to
it. That's what that says. I tell you this and I swear to
it. I can't swear by anything greater, so I swear by myself,
God said. I promise you. This nation had
the promise of a Messiah. Look at verse 5. Another blessing
they had. Whose are the fathers? Whose
are the fathers? Jews. Old Testament, Israel. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph,
Samuel. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, keep
naming them. Every one of them, sons of Abraham,
every last one of them. No other nation had a prophet.
No other nation had a priest. No other nation had a tabernacle. No other nation had a mercy seat.
God gave it to these people. But I tell you, these people,
Israel, Old Testament, they're a picture of the true Israel
of God. They're a picture of the true
children of God. Israel of the Old Testament were
called God's people, but they weren't. People who were redeemed
by Christ are God's people, children of the promise, true Israel.
Why don't we read on? "...whose are the fathers, of
whom as concerning the flesh Christ came." Jesus Christ, our
Lord, was born of Mary, a Jewish maiden. He came, who is God over
all, God blessed forever, our Lord Jesus Christ, the seed of
David, who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh,
the son of Isaac, who is the son of Abraham. Christ came.
Christ came through that lineage, just like he's promised. But
he's God Almighty. God bless forever. Paul says, I weep for these people
who are Israelites, who had all these divine revelations and
the promise. But verse 6 says, although I
love these people and they are my brethren and God has been
merciful to them and they have had so much revelation, I tell
you, they are a whole lot like America, no nation on earth. can boast of the spiritual blessings
and revelations that England, Scotland, Germany, France, and
America, where the great prophets of God ministered years ago,
and have ministered in the last centuries here in this country,
have been blessed. But he says in verse 6, Not as
though the word of God had taken on effect. These people didn't
believe, did they? Israel didn't believe, they rejected.
The scripture says, he was in the world, the world knew him
not, he came to his own, his own received him not. The Jews,
unbelieved, rejected the Messiah. But Paul is saying here that
the purpose of God hasn't failed. It hasn't failed. Because, verse
6, look, they are not all Israel which are of Israel. Oh, oh,
I see. You see, Abraham's name was not
Israel. Jacob's name was Israel. Abraham
was Abram, and God changed his name to Abraham. And along came
Isaac, and along came Jacob. We're going to see in a moment,
God loved Jacob and chose Jacob. And when Jacob was wrestling
with the Lord, and through the night, wrestling with the Lord.
Out there, you know the story. And the angel of the Lord, that
was Christ. The appearance of Christ in the
Old Testament many times was called the angel of the Lord.
Because he said his name was secret, a name wonderful, that's
Christ. And he said, let me go, the light
is breaking. Jacob said, I won't let you go
until you bless me. And the angel of the Lord said, what's your
name? He said, Jacob. He said, your name no longer
Jacob, but your name's Israel. There's the name, Israel. They
were Jews, they were sons of Abraham, but Jacob, Israel. And throughout the Old Testament,
every true believer is called a son of Jacob, a son of Jacob. The Lord said in the last chapter
of the last book of the Old Testament, I am the Lord, I change not.
I'm the Lord, I change not, therefore the sons of Jacob are not consumed. So all the descendants of Abraham
are not sons of Jacob. All so-called Israel is not Israel. But the true Israel are true
children of God. Why are we called sons of Jacob?
Let me tell you four things. Number one, God loved him before
he was ever born. God chose him before he was ever
born. God gave him the birthright,
refused his brother. And God revealed the gospel to
him over there, lying on that rock, on those rocks, and showed
him the ladder between heaven and earth, and Jesus Christ the
Lord, Bethel. He called that name of that place
Bethel. He said, I've seen the Lord. This is the house of God. God not only loved him and chose
him and gave him the birthright and revealed the truth to him,
the way to heaven through Christ, but he kept him through all of
his journeys, through all of his ups and downs and failures
and successes, whatever, God kept him. And God brought him
back to Bethel, kept bringing him back to Bethel. And that's
what he calls us, sons of Jacob, sons of Israel. and are all Israel
which are of Israel. Turn back to Romans 2. That name
Israel, Israel, its true application applies to people born of God,
chosen of God, elected of God, loved of God, redeemed by God.
That's Israel. It's called the Israel of God.
It's called true Israel. Now look at Romans 2, verse 28. He's not a Jew, which is one
outwardly. Neither is that circumcision
which is outward in the flesh. All those things serve the purpose.
But he's a Jew, which is one inwardly. And circumcision is
that of the heart, in the spirit, not the letter, whose praise
is not of men, but of God. They're not all Israel, which
are of Israel. That's what our text says. They're
not all Israel, which are of Israel. Let me show you another verse
in Galatians 3. Galatians 3. The children of
Abraham. Let's see who they are. Galatians
chapter 3, verse 26. Galatians 3, verse 26. You are
all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. As many of you
as have been baptized into Christ and put on Christ. There's neither
Jew nor Greek, there's neither bond nor fruit, there's neither
male nor female, you're one in Christ Jesus, and you're Christ.
If you're Christ, then are you Abraham seed, then are you Israel,
and heirs according to promise, children of promise. Now, this is illustrated in the,
turn back to my text, Romans 9, verse 7. This is illustrated
in the case of Ishmael and Isaac, verse 7. Neither, they're not
all Ishmael which are of Ishmael, verse 6, neither because they're
the seed of Abraham are they children. Ishmael was the son
of Abraham, so was Isaac, but they were born of different mothers.
Ishmael was born of the bondwoman, Isaac was born of the free woman,
Isaac was the miracle child who was given according to promise.
God said in Isaac, Shalt thy seed be called. So persons are
not sons of God, because they are sons of men. Look at verse
8. That is, they which are the children
of the flesh, children of Abraham, descendants of Abraham, these
are not the children of God. But the children of the promise,
they are counted for the seed. They are the children of God
who are chosen of God, who are given to Christ. who are redeemed
by blood, who are called by his spirit, who are born of God,
according to promise. For this is the word of promise,
God said in verse 8, verse 9, at that time will I come and
save us, shall I have a son. Now watch this carefully, verse
9. This is the promise, this is
the promise. We've been reading about over
there God said, I swear by myself, this is the promise. At that time, at this time, in
the fullness of time, God sent his Son. I'll come, God will
come, and Savior shall have a son. All right, in verse 10 now. And
not only this, but when Rebekah also had conceived by one, even
our father Isaac, not only is the choice of Isaac over Ishmael,
an indication that everybody who's the descendant of a certain
man is not a child of God. Ishmael was Abraham's son, Isaac
was Abraham's son. They were born of the same father,
different mothers. But now what's this case? And
not only this, but when Rebekah conceived by one, our father
Isaac, they had the same father, they had the same mother, and
they were twins conceived at the same time. And the children
being not yet born. The choice was made before they
were born, neither having done any good or evil, no act of goodness
or act of evil, that the purpose of God, according to election,
might stand. Not by works, it's not by works,
it's by pure grace. It was said to her, verse 12,
the elder shall serve the younger. Jacob have a love, Esau have
a hate. Israel, it wasn't all the sons
of Abraham. Ishmael was a son of Abraham,
but it was an Isaac, child of promise. Israel, Esau was a son of Abraham, and
also a son of Rebekah, and also born at the same time as his
brother, but God chose Isaac. as a child of promise. And he
says in verse 13, Jacob have I loved, Jacob have I loved,
Esau have I hated. Now, I know that men want that
to read differently. They want it to read something
like this, Esau have I loved less. But that's not what it says.
It says Jacob have I loved. God only can love infinitely. The only way God does anything
is perfectly. And he hates the same way. I love Jacob. I hate Esau. A friend of mine's
father was a pastor over in Missouri. And his father
preached on this text one day. And this friend of mine was a
young boy in his teens. And he went into his dad's study.
And he said, Daddy, I have a problem with what you're preaching on
this morning. His father said, What was that, son? He said,
Jacob, have a love. Esau, have a hatred. His father
said, What's the problem? He said, I don't understand how
God could hate Esau. And his dad said, Son, I have
a problem with that text, too. A real problem with that text.
But my problem is not yours. I know exactly why he hated Esau.
Esau was a crook. Esau hated God. Esau was willing
to sell his birthright, fellowship with God, the priesthood of the
home, all the rights and privileges of a son of God for a mess of
beans. I understand why a man who holds
that kind of contempt for Almighty God is despised by God. But son, what bothers me is how
could he love Jacob? Jacob was a sinner, and Jacob
was a man who, well, his very name is supplanter, chief. But the love of God is not merited
or earned or deserved, it's the given by the grace of God. He
loves whom he said that Moses said, show me your glory. God
said, God said to Moses, this is my glory. I'll be merciful
to whom I will be merciful, and I'll be gracious to whom I will
be gracious. That's my glory. That's my goodness. And that's what we see right
here. The question is not, how could God hate Esau? The question
is, how could God love Jacob? God acted in justice toward Esau. He got what he deserved. He made
the choice. He got what he deserved. God
acted in justice. But God acted in mercy toward
Jacob, in justice toward Esau, and in justice toward all men.
But thank God he acts in mercy toward us. Mercy is not deserved. It wouldn't be mercy. Grace is
not deserved. It wouldn't be grace. Nowhere
found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Now let me tell you something. You can jot these five things
down if you'd like to. What we see here The children
being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that God's
purpose, God's covenant, God's will, the design of God for the
kingdom of his Son might stand, not of works, but of grace. It was said to the mother, the
elder is going to serve the younger. I love Jacob, I hate Esau. Jacob, my Lord, will always follow
Jacob and the sons of Jacob. I'm the Lord, I change not, you
sons of Jacob are not concerned. Now these five things, you remember
them. Salvations of the Lord. The Bible says that several times. The salvation of the righteous
is of the Lord. It's of the Lord in its eternal
conception. It's of the Lord in its eternal
conception. The scripture says, I'm bound
to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of
the Lord, because God hath from the beginning, from eternity,
chosen you to salvation. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessing in the heavenlies in Christ, according as he chose
us in Christ before the foundation of the world. Salvation is of
the Lord in its conception, in its purpose, in its planning.
It's of the Lord. Known unto God are all His works
from the beginning. He said, I declare the end from
the beginning. Secondly, salvation is of the Lord in its execution. In the fullness of time, God
Almighty sent His Son into the world. He sent Him, made of a
woman. flesh and blood, bones, like
you and me, I represent it, that he sent him, made of a woman,
made under this law, under every title requirement of God, upon
true Israel, and he sent him under the law, that he might,
by his obedience, give unto us a righteousness, and by his death,
give unto us justification, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. God did that. He executed it.
And then God, in time, applied it. There was a son of Jacob
named Saul of Tarsus. Saul of Tarsus was a highly educated,
well-known, influential, powerful religious man who hated Jesus
Christ, who hated the gospel of grace. He was a Jew. Old Israel. Old Israel. He persecuted people
that didn't believe like he believed. Well, but he was a son of Jacob.
He was chosen back down in eternity. Christ died for him on the cross.
He didn't know it, but he didn't know God, but God knew him. He
didn't know Christ, but Christ knew him. And when he was about
40 years old, he was on his way to Damascus to kill some Christians
and put them in jail, believers in Christ. And God crossed his
path. And God smote him. And God blinded
him. And God revealed the gospel to
him and opened his eyes and he saw Christ. And he said later
on, God, who separated me from my mother's womb, was pleased to call me by his
grace. God chose him, Christ died for
him, justified him, and God called him. And he called you and he
called me. I was in religion, I was a preacher,
been to preacher school, pastor of a church in Chattanooga. Didn't
know Christ, didn't know the gospel. I was religious, but
didn't know the gospel. When I was 24 years old, about
that time, he crossed my path. I heard the gospel for the first
time. I heard it. And the sons of Jacob are going
to hear it, because God, salvation is of the Lord in its conception,
in its execution, in its application, and it's of the Lord in its sustaining
power. Do you keep yourself? People
say, keep the faith, give it a try, why don't you? You didn't give birth to your
faith and you can't keep it. The scripture says we are kept
by the power of God through faith. You don't keep yourself in God,
God keeps you in Christ. He put you there and wrapped
his hand around him and that's where you stay. My sheep hear
my voice. They follow me, I give them eternal
life, no man will pluck them out of my hands. He's not in
our hands, we're in his hands. And no man is able to pluck them
out of my Father's hands. We're kept by the power of God
through faith. And then, salvation is of the
Lord, fifthly, in its ultimate perfection. One day, before too
long, they're going to bury this body. And then when Christ comes, this
body's going to be raised. But you know who's going to raise
it? The same woman that redeemed it by His power. He's going to
raise it and make it just like His glorified body. Salvations
of the Lord. In its conception, in its execution,
in its application, in its sustaining power, and in its ultimate perfection. And when we wind up in glory
by His grace, everybody's going to sing the same song unto Him. who loved us, and gave himself
for us, and washed us by his own blood, and made us unto our
God kings and priests, unto him be all the glory, all the praise,
all the honor, forever." We didn't do anything but receive it. Now let me close, and I want
you to listen very carefully to me for a few minutes. I've had people ask me more than
once, when were you saved? When were you saved? I believe
I have a better question. It would serve this purpose much
better if these questions were asked. Don't ask a man when he
was saved. Here's a better question. When did you first hear the gospel
of God's redeeming grace? You remember that, don't you,
when you first heard the gospel? I remember. I can give you the
day and the time when I first heard the gospel, the true gospel
of God's redeeming grace. I was religious. I heard all
this religious jargon all my life. But one day I heard who
God is, who Christ is, and what I am. I heard that. I heard a
preacher tell the truth. When did you first hear it? Here's
a second question. When were you first made aware
that you needed Christ Jesus, that you couldn't make it, you
couldn't fulfill it, you couldn't produce it, you couldn't take
another breath or step without his mercy? You remember? I did. It took a while, but I heard,
I came to realize my need of Christ, need of Christ. And then here's the third one.
When did God reveal to you in Christ how he can be just and
justify? Now, boy, that's when you really
got a hold of the gospel, when you realized that not only were
you saved and redeemed by Christ, but God Almighty was justified
by the death of his Son, that God Almighty's hands were released
to show mercy to folks like you and me, that God Almighty's law
was fulfilled, and his justice was satisfied, and his righteousness
was honored, a ransom was found. God can be God and save me. And the scripture is clear about
this salvation business. You listen to me. The Bible says
we have been saved. The Bible says we are being saved.
The Bible says our salvation is nearer now than when it started. It's not finished. That's right.
Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, here's the true translation. For by
grace have you been saved through faith. You have been saved through
faith, by grace. You have been, from eternity
past. How long God loved you, always
has. And 1 Corinthians chapter 1 says, To them that are perishing,
the preaching of the gospel is foolishness. But to us who are
being saved, it's the power of God. We're being saved. And then
Paul said, now is our salvation nearer than when we believe.
So it bothers me when somebody walks up to me and says, when
will you save? When will you save? And I'll tell you why it
bothers me. Number one, when a person asks
you that, just naturally. This will be the temptation,
to try to pinpoint a time and a place and an experience to
satisfy his question. Now you think about that. Somebody
comes up to you and says, when will you say? Well, you immediately
try to, he wants to know when. And I'm going to have to get
something out of the air here that will satisfy him, if you're
not careful. Secondly, if you don't have a
vision or an experience on an unusual experience. You feel
somewhat less spiritual than he is, and a little bit guilty,
and maybe a little less saved because you don't have some tale
to tell. Isn't that right? Thirdly, it may even cause you
to look to an experience and not to Christ. It may even cause
you to look to a time and a place rather than to the person. Ask
me when I was saying, my dear brother, sometime between eternity
past and right now, because I know whom I have believed in. I know
whom. And I'm persuaded he's able to
keep that which I've committed to him, and still committing.
I'm still coming to Christ, aren't you? I'm still looking to Christ. I'm still calling on Christ.
I'm still saying, Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. I chant all
the time. Paul never said, I know when
I believe. He said, I know whom I believe. Am I saved? Yes, sir. When? Sometime between the time God
said he's mine and the time right now when I say he's mine. I'm
his and he's mine. I am my beloved and he's mine.
And I know this is all by grace. All by grace.