ask his mercy and grace upon our dear sister, Angela, as she is suffering the loss of our brother, Eric, who went home to be with the Lord a day or so ago, I guess. Boy, days run together. Yesterday. So be in prayer for her in the hospital with him. And what a good report. I have great comfort that a great hope that my brother is very safe and secure with our Lord. Last long conversation we had, he conveyed to me that he did not care. Either way, God would have this go, whether He would heal him or whether He would take him home. He was not anxious about it at all. And the Lord did see fit to bring our brother home this last couple of days. So be in prayer for her as she suffers the loss of her husband. We'll go to the funeral home tomorrow to make the arrangements. We don't know anything as far as that goes, but we will tomorrow. So I'll get that information out to you as soon as I can. Pray for others who are sick. Continue to pray for Rick. Have you heard from him? I know you've been sick. He had a surgery on Monday where they took the port out. He had to report to all three cancer doctors on Wednesday of the week before. And they decided they would go ahead and take the port off or the port out if they don't see any signs of symptoms at all. Lord bless. Lord blessed. So be in prayer for him. Continue prayer and thanksgiving for what God has done. Um, I do pray that you would ask God's mercy upon me as I desire to preach the word to you. I want this to be a comfort because that's intended of the spirit of God to comfort you. Uh, in this portion of scripture, and it is a great comfort. I just I know it's dreary. I know it's, uh, difficult by driving here. I was just, man, it's just dreary. It's just hard to drive even in this, but pray God give me the strength and liberty in you, the ability to hear and the spirit to work in the hearts of His people. Every time I get here I feel I'm less and less capable of doing this, but this is what God has called us to do. I pray he uses it for his glory. Pray for God's men wherever they are preaching the gospel. I talked to Clay Curtis this week and the church in the Philippines. He's been preaching there now to them for over a couple of years now. And there's a couple of young men, or there's some men in that congregation that are possibly seeking to be pastor there. So pray about that, because that's encouraging. Not only is there more than one man that seems to be capable, but there are more than one that desire it. So pray for that church there in the Philippines. And pray for those churches that don't have pastors. Any other requests that need to be mentioned? Thankful. Trent is doing better, brother. So thank the Lord for that. And I know Joanne and them are not capable with the weather the way it is, so pray for them. And pray. Sherry's surgery Friday, thank you. Sherry's surgery, pray for that, that God be gracious to her. And what is she having? Hip replacement. Hip replacement. OK. One piece at a time. Everybody's getting replaced one piece at a time. So pray God be gracious to her in that surgery, doctors. So let's go to him in prayer. Our gracious Father in heaven, we come before you thanking you for your mercy, for your grace, for allowing us to be here tonight. You've given us the strength, the desire, the ability to come. And Father, I know that many things are competing for our minds, even in this hour. beg you, Father, for grace that we might worship you in spirit and in truth, that you would give us the liberty and unction of thy spirit, that the word might go forth in power and demonstration of your spirit. I know and confess I need you tonight. I can't preach without you. I cannot have the strength. I do not have the strength, except you give it And Father, I pray you would, for the glory of Christ and the furtherance of the gospel, I pray for the hearts of your people, that you would open their hearts and pour in your word and give them refreshment. Father, I pray you'd rain down, Father, the dew from heaven, which is the gospel of Christ on our hearts, our dried and withered hearts. Give us life and peace. Pray for our sister as she struggles in this time of grief and sorrow. I thank you for the encouragement that we have that our brother is very safe with you. He was kept all this time, and now you have brought him to yourself. And for this, we give you thanks and praise. I pray as the message goes out that you would, Father, bless your people wherever they are. Bless your men wherever they preach. I pray you forgive us our sins. And I ask this in Jesus' name, for his sake. Amen. All right, take your Bibles and turn with me to Romans chapter 8. All right, I'm kind of lopsided. So I'm kind of lopsided. I have to look more over here, it seems like. I'm going to try to look over here. Romans chapter 8, our text. We've been found in verse 28, 38 and 39, 38 and 39. Paul said, for I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God. which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Now, I've entitled this message, Power of Persuasion. Power of Persuasion. Now, the Apostle Paul says these words, I am persuaded. I am persuaded. Now, what is he persuaded about? It really goes back to where we were last time we were together in this message concerning two things. First of all he is persuaded about God's justification in Christ and second of all he is persuaded that because he is justified that nothing can separate him from the love of Christ. The Apostle by the Holy Spirit has displayed this to every believer. The triumph that we have over every difficulty is this, our justification. Our justification. Remember, the justification we have says these two things are impossible. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect and who shall condemn any of God's elect? Every believer has this promise that no sin of ours, now we know that the sin is ours. We confess that. But we also are persuaded of this, that no sin of ours can be charged to us, nor can we be condemned for it, because of these two things. First of all, our election. Because God justified us according to the election of grace. Who shall lay anything to the charge of who? God's elect. It is God's elect that cannot be charged. God himself justified them. And second of all, we cannot be condemned because of these four pillars, right? Not only are we justified from eternity by the will of the sovereign God, but we have also been, we cannot be condemned because Christ died. There's the first pillar that holds up our justification. All of our sin, which we are guilty of, Christ bore Himself. He died for our sins. Peter said we were redeemed, not with corruptible things. We were redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, who verily was foreordained of God. This was no accidental death. It was no plan B. Our Lord Jesus Christ was always the only plan of our justification. And when He died, He was victorious. He actually paid for our sins. The Scripture says that we glory in God's judgment. Isn't that something? We rejoice in God's judgment. You know why we do? Because God being just cannot twice demand payment for sin. That's why we glory. We know this because God is just and my sin has already been paid for. He'll never condemn me. Now how do we know that's right? Because Christ rose again from the dead. He died according to the scriptures and was buried and rose again, listen, according to the scriptures. What for? Why was he raised again? Why so much is centered, if you take the whole book of Acts, the whole book of Acts is centered on this fact he's risen. That's everywhere in the book of Acts. This is the most astounding. Everybody knew he died. It was historically accurate. Everybody, in that time, It was within a few years of his death. They all knew he died. What was the most astounding thing was he was risen. He was risen. And this proves number one. Number two proves number one. His resurrection. And not only this, we are persuaded that we are justified because he is now seated at the right hand of God. Seated. What does that incline? That tells us this, the work's finished. He died for our sins, he rose again for our justification, and now he sits down. In that high priestly prayer he said, I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. I like this, in Hebrews chapter 4 the apostle talks about the Sabbath day. We just sang about the Sabbath day. Those old saints, they kept the Sabbath. Why? Because that was an ordinance of God, and that ordinance, Paul explains why they had to keep the Sabbath. They had to keep the Sabbath because it was a picture of Christ. The Apostle said, There remaineth a rest for the people of God. For he that entered into his rest, Christ, When he sat down, he entered into his rest. He also has ceased from his own work as God did from his on the Sabbath day. When that seventh day, when God created everything, everything was good and perfect, the scripture says, and God rested. That kind of throws us. I mean, God didn't really take any effort of God to create everything. I mean, he wasn't exhausted. He wasn't tired after all his creating. That's not what it meant. It meant that he stopped creating. He created everything that needed to be created, and what? He stopped. When Christ died and rose again, he ceased to perform the work of salvation. It's done. Listen to what John Gill says. I thought this was a very wonderful thing. when Christ rose from the dead and ascended to heaven and sat down on the right hand as having done His work. This is the ground and foundation of our rest." Now what right do you have to rest? What right do you have to say that the work's done? Well, He sat down. The work's done because He sat down. He did the work. And he sat down. So what does that give me? That gives me rest. It says, and he hath also ceased from his own works as God did from his. Christ had a work to do. As preaching the gospel, performing miracles, obtaining redemption and salvation of his people, he has finished them and ceased from them, listen to this, never to repeat them. I know Terrence, you got a job and some guy goes out there and does a job and he doesn't do it all the way, you gotta go back. It's not done. You gotta go back. Our Lord never has to go back and do that work again. There's no more, no more sacrifice for sin. You got that? There's no more sacrifice for sin. Really, before that there was really never a sacrifice for sin. All those sacrifices before never did what His sacrifice did. And all those sacrifices after His sacrifice don't add one thing to His sacrifice. It's done. That's what we're persuaded of. It's finished. And fourthly, that fourth pillar is this, He constantly intercedes for us. That's the fourth pillar of our... I'm persuaded of this, that every single day He intercedes for me. You know, there's a lot of times I don't think about His intercession. There are a lot of times I'm so busy in my day, I'm not thinking about it. I'll do things, and we sin, and we don't even think twice about it. But you realize that He is perpetually interceding for you? That there's not one second of one day He is not interceding for you? I like that. He ever liveth to make intercession for you. He ever lived. He is ever living right now and He shall forever live to, listen, intercede for you. You know anybody else do that for you? You won't even do it for yourself. And He does it every day for you. And so when John says this, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Why? We have an adequate with the Father. That's what John tells us. Little children, sin not, don't sin. If there's any way that we can cease from it, cease from it. Use every faculty you have to not do it. But know this, when you sin, I like that, the word if there's better translated when, in John chapter two, he says, and when you sin, you have an advocate with the Father, you have somebody intercede for you. And so the second thing Paul is persuaded of is that next passage in verse 35. He says, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? And then he lists these seven things, tribulation. He says, so tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, peril of sort. He lists those seven things. He said, shall any of these things, now as believers, we are not exempt from any of these troubles. All seven of these things we are inclined to have in our lives. Yet even though all our life is full of suffering, Paul is persuaded of this, that we will never be separated from his love. Are you persuaded of that? Are you sure of that? Because it sure feels like we are. It feels as though these tribulations and persecutions and distresses, they feel like they tear our very souls from our bodies. And yet, he says, they're not going, I'm persuaded, they're not going to separate me. They're not going to separate me. And then he uses that scripture, he says, as it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are counted as sheep for the slaughter. And that's exactly how it appears. We are his sheep. Stupid, dumb, defenseless, always needing to be led. You don't always need to be led. I need to be led everywhere I go. I dare not try to lead myself. That's because that's our nature. But yet I'm thankful for this. I'm his sheep. I'm his sheep. And it appears that this is so, as it is written, for thy sake we are killed. How long? All the day long. That's our life. Our life is meant to be a life of suffering. That's a believer's life. And it appears that we are counted as sheep before the slaughter. I told you this, one of the Roman nobles, he boastingly said this, but true, it's just true. The only people who would be Christians are poor and ignorant and sick folk. That's all. When he walked among the Christians in his day, that's all he saw was the poor, the weak, the sick, and the dumb. The educated people, they didn't want Christ. The aristocracy, they didn't want Christ. You know why? They didn't have a need. Who has a need? Sinners. Sinners have a need. Sinners find all their hope in Christ. But the reality, Paul says, he says in verse 37, no. I'm persuaded of something. The way it looks is not how it really is. I'm persuaded of that. How it looks is not how it really is. Looks like we're sheep counting for the slaughter. That's how it feels. And yet, what does he say? No. We are more in all these things, in all these troubles, in all these afflictions. We are more than conquerors. We're not just conquerors. We are more than conquerors. We are more than conquerors through Christ, through Christ who loved us. We shall overcome all of these difficulties, listen, through His merits. You don't deserve to make it through these things. I don't deserve to make it through these things. I don't, I don't even, not, not even barely. I don't deserve to barely make it. But see, I'm not depending on my merits. My confidence is in His merits. Through His righteousness, through His blood, through His resurrection, through His love, through His mediation, we will triumph over all our difficulties. And none of these. What's the triumph? The triumph is this, we're never going to be separated from His love. That's the triumph, isn't it? Isn't that the goal? The goal is to be justified before God and never separated from His love. And you know what? Through Him, you'll make it. You're not just going to barely make it. I like that when he says that in Isaiah, the Lord hath received of her hand double for all her sins. You just didn't pay the bare minimum. You paid double. Through Christ, you paid double. I heard a man a long time ago, he was talking about getting ripe for heaven. He was saying that, well, when you believe, you're in, okay? You're going to make it. You're going to get to heaven. But then there are those who exceed that. They become more ripe for heaven. And someone had mentioned, said, well, what about like the man on the thief of the cross? He said, well, he just barely made it in. What an idiot. Most educated man in all of modern theologians this man was. I'd name him, you'd know who he was. I don't care to name him. I'm just saying. You know, he said the thief got in by the skin of his teeth. No, no one makes it in by the skin of their teeth. You know why? Because everyone makes it in on his merits. Everyone makes it in on his blood. Everyone makes it in on his righteousness. So what? You are more than conqueror. You're more than conquerors. You're not just conquerors. Is he just a conqueror? No, he's more than a conqueror, isn't he? So are you. In your representative, you're more than a conqueror. And so you will triumph over all these things. Well, Paul was persuaded. Therefore, with these truths, if we are persuaded of these things, let us fight the good fight of faith. Let us by faith take every thought against those things captive. If there's any thought or doubt in our mind, we should take it captive and kill it. Because it's not right, is it? It's not right. When we feel as though we're going to be separated from the love of God, you should take that thought captive because it's not right. May God give us grace to be persuaded that this is true. Believer in Christ, though we are as sheep, we are seated in the very presence of our enemies, yet Christ here defies His enemies in any way to try to remove us from His love. I thought about Job. Man, nobody suffered like Job. I mean, Job really suffered, and the things he lost are immense. Let me ask you, who picked that fight? Job didn't. He was oblivious to even know it was happening. There Satan was, and Satan went to and fro in all the earth. And he comes to present himself before God, and you know, God picked the fight. He said, have you noticed my servant, Job? You went out, you went all these other places. Look at this. See this guy? Look at that guy. It's a man that fears God and eschews evil. God picked the fight, didn't he? Satan wouldn't have said a word. Couldn't have said a word. You remember what he did? Job, he said, take all that he has. And Satan said, if you just take all his stuff, he'll curse you. He said, OK, take all that he has. Don't touch him. That's astounding, isn't it? You can have all this stuff. Don't you touch it. Could he touch him? Was it possible? Couldn't do it. to call his stuff, only because God let him take it. Then he said, skin for skin, if you just take his health, then, he said, okay, you take his health, can't kill him. Isn't that something? Could not kill him. Impossible for him to die. Why? God said, that's mine. And then you know what? When he was done, He did it for Job. And Job's scripture says his last estate was better than his first. So what will be the result of all of the assaults against us? The result is simply this. I am persuaded that we are more than conquerors. Through Him that loved us. And so now I want to see this in our text. Look at this. Paul says, I'm persuaded. Now he's persuaded of God's justification. He's persuaded that in all the troubles of this life, though it appear as though we are sheep of the slaughter, we are more than conquerors, he said, I am persuaded. He is declaring here his personal persuasion. His personal persuasion. concerning the immutability of God's love, not just for himself, but for all the saints. I'm persuaded of God's immutable love, not just for me, but for you. I'm persuaded of this. He said, I am persuaded that God's love will never depart from me or any other believer, that we should never fear the lack of God's presence, the lack of God's power, the lack of God's love to support and sustain us in every trial, in every difficulty, and that we shall be delivered from every enemy. Paul said this, listen to another way of saying this, I am totally sold out to this. absolutely sold out to it that nothing that happens to me is going to move me from this. Are you that persuaded? Every believer should be that persuaded. Now the language of Paul is not some theoretical thing. He is not persuaded based on a theory. We have a lot of theories, and people listen to the arguments, and then they're persuaded of a theory that's not really been proven. This is not an opinion. Paul's not basing his persuasion on some opinion. This is something he knew. Personally, experimentally, he knew. And so does, as the Apostle Paul was persuaded, so is every believer in Christ. Why? What is persuasion? It's faith. Faith. Every believer is persuaded by what? By faith we are persuaded. We believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. How? By faith. Go to 2 Timothy chapter 1. 2 Timothy chapter 1 and look at verse 12. The Apostle says, for the which cause? I also suffer these things. Make no mistake about it, the cause of Christ will be a cause of suffering for you. You who believe, you will suffer physically and spiritually. Yet in spite of all that we feel and see, We, like Paul, are not ashamed. He said, nevertheless, regardless of my suffering. Now, consider his sufferings, man. He had some doozies. I mean, this man was thrown into prison. He was stoned. And they thought he was dead. They left him because they thought they'd killed him. He had been arrested. He had been falsely charged. He had been, you know, He committed his judgment to Caesar. They were about to let him go, and he said, well, I want to be judged by Caesar. So they arrested him, took him to Rome, and all of the difficulties he's had, he said, I've suffered. And he said, nevertheless, regardless of what I have suffered, nevertheless, I am not ashamed. Does our suffering make us ashamed? Because we suffered, does that mean we're wrong? That's what people think. I must be wrong. I'm suffering so much. No. Paul said, I'm persuaded. I don't care how much I've suffered. This is right. And so we're not ashamed of the gospel of God's grace. When I talk about the election of grace, I'm not ashamed of that. Anybody who doesn't believe in God's sovereign election should be ashamed. But I'm not ashamed. Well, the Scriptures are clear. I don't have to be vague about it. God has an elect people. He loved them, chose them in Christ, and purposed to save them, and only them. I don't know who they are, but I know they're elect. I know this, and I say this without hesitation. Everyone for whom Christ died, He saved. I'm not ashamed of that. Anybody who says that Christ died for everyone without exception should be ashamed of themselves. They should be ashamed. Christ didn't die for everyone. If He did, everyone would be saved. Now that's true. If He died for everyone, there would be no hell. But I know He didn't. He said, I came down from heaven to do my Father's will, which is this, that of all He had given me, limited number, I should lose nothing. Now He's not going to lose them. Because we believe we preach His victory, don't we? This whole time I've been preaching His victory, haven't I? I'm not preaching your victory, I'm preaching His victory! And He was successful and God raised Him from the dead. We're not ashamed to preach that. And right now He is sitting in heaven working all things after the counsel of His own will. I'm not ashamed to say that. They try to get you with these calamities and they look at this horrible thing over here and they say, well, if there's a God, then why all this? Because God did it. I'm not ashamed to tell you God did it. What are you going to do about it? You can complain and moan about it all you want to. Is there not evil in the city and the Lord hath done it? I'm not ashamed of that. I can't explain it. I don't have to. God does. God rules all things. And you know what He's going to do? He's going to give eternal life to as many as the Father gave Him. That's how many. You know how many is going to be saved? As many as the Father gave Him. I don't know how many that is. It's a lot. I know there's going to be a lot there. Somebody asked me this last week, you know, they're very serious. Man, could anybody in the Catholic Church or in these false religions, could any of them be saved? Well, of course they can. They just won't stay there, but they could be saved. Not by those preachers, but they can be saved. Sure. God has to elect people everywhere. And you know what He's going to do? He's going to call them. He's not going to call them by a false gospel. He'll call them by His gospel. Our Savior is giving eternal life to as many as the Father gave Him. And listen, they're not going to come by the power of their will. They're going to come by the power of the Holy Ghost. I'm not ashamed to preach that. If you believe, you didn't do that. The Holy Spirit did that. You still believe? Well, the Holy Spirit did that too. It's amazing what He gives us. Faith is a gift of God. Thy people shall be willing. in the day of thy power. That's when they're willing. And listen, I am not ashamed to say this, that no one can charge or condemn anyone God justifies. Now you can follow me around, and you can see all the wickedness that I do. You can point your finger at me, and you can, and I probably just have to nod my head. You're right. You're right. But you know what? It really doesn't matter about man's condemnation, does it? If God says he won't charge me, if God says he won't condemn me, then what does it matter if you do? It doesn't bother me at all. This is what we're persuaded of. Now look back there at 2 Timothy. He said, nevertheless I am not ashamed, what of the gospel? Why? For I know whom I have believed, and notice he uses the same language, and am persuaded, listen, that he is able. Now he didn't say nothing about himself. I'm persuaded, I'm not ashamed of his gospel. Why? Because I know whom I have believed." Listen, you that are persuaded, you are persuaded because you know whom you believed, not what. You know whom you believed. People get this confused, I think. I've asked people before, I said, when did the Lord save you? And they said, well, I came to the doctrines of grace. No, that's not what I really asked. I didn't ask, did you come to a what? When did you come to a whom? Christ. When did you know Christ? That's the doctrines of grace. The doctrines of grace simply describe Him. That's like telling my wife, well, I love your dress, but don't say anything about her person. It's not what, I'm persuaded because of whom. I know that I'm going to be more than a conqueror through him that loved me. I know I'm going to be justified. I am persuaded that I'll never be separated from his love because I know him. I know him. whom I have believed, and I'm persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed unto Him against that day." What have we committed? Everything! I've committed everything to Him! My whole soul, my body, my mind, my heart, my life, everything is committed to Him, and I'm persuaded that He's able. You're not going to commit everything to someone unless you know they're able. And I'm persuaded that He's able. to save. He's able. Therefore, believer, do you doubt? Do you fear? Then I want you to look on whom you believe. Look on Him. If you're doubtful that you're going to make it, if you're troubled And you don't know if you can endure another day. That's because you look into yourself. If left to yourself, you wouldn't. I'm persuaded of that, too. I'm persuaded if left to myself, I would fail. I would not make it. But I'm not to look to that, am I? I thought of Peter walking on the water. And we condemn him because he sank. But did you realize he actually walked on the water? His faith was genuine, it was real, so much so that he walked on the water. Christ said, come on out. Water's great. Water's fine, come on out. When did he sink? When he took his eyes off Christ. When he looked at the waves instead of looking to Him. The old Jesus Christ, our Savior, Look on whom we have believed. I want you to see He is the Son of God. He's the Son of God. He alone pleased God. He alone finished the work. He alone saved us. He called us. He justified us. What then shall keep Him from glorifying us? What? Is there anything to stop Him from doing what He determined to do? Our question is, it's good to question your ability, you don't have any. But it's horrible to question his. I'm persuaded, Paul said, that he is able. You know, false religion, the reason why they have no real persuasion of anything is because their doctrine is general. It's kind of vague. It's in the ether somewhere. Well, God died for everyone. God wants everyone to be saved. And so you ask him a question. Will you go to heaven? He said, you'll get this answer. Well, I'm trying. I'm working real hard. Why? Because they're not persuaded. You can't be persuaded in a God that wants to save everybody and doesn't. But we who have ourselves been persuaded, believed on Christ, we are persuaded of this. He is my refuge. He is my refuge. He is my hope. He is my life and my peace with God. And the Word of God says this, we have a strong consolation. You that are persuaded, you have a strong consolation, a strong hope. Look at Hebrews 6. I want you to see, you that are persuaded, I want you to see how willing is God that you should have a strong consolation, a strong hope. Hebrews chapter 6. In verse 16 it says, verily swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation to them is an end of strife." Isn't that so? Two men make a... should, I mean, two honest men, that they make a pact as an end of strife. That's it. That's it. The covenant has been made, and two men are in agreement. Yet look at this. wherein God, willing more abundantly to show to the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel." What's his counsel? It's his will. God desires, listen to me, is willing to show you that his will can't be moved. He wants to show you that, he's telling you that. God willing more abundantly to show to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, which is what? To save you. God's will is to save you. That was His will in eternity. That was His will when Christ died. That was His will when Christ rose again. That was His will when He called you. You think it's changed? You think God's will to save you has changed? Well, my circumstances changed. Man, obviously God must have changed His mind. No. You that believe, you should be persuaded of this. That God's counsel is immutable. And not only that, look at that, the immutability of His counsel, listen, confirmed it by an oath. Now this is just a reflection of how how horribly frail we are. That God not only had to say, I will to save you, but He also had to swear. Isn't it enough He just said it? God who cannot lie said it! And yet we run around, oh, oh, I don't know, I don't know. So God said, to show you even more how, in fact, I'm going to swear by my name. What if somebody swears to you something and then they lie? What do they do? They ruin their name, don't they? You won't trust them anymore. They're a liar. You know what God says? If I don't save you, that makes me a liar. Is there any possibility that that would happen? No. God, who can not lie, promised and swore that he would save you. That by two immutable things, what his counsel and his oath, which is impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation. Listen, only these who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. What is that hope? Which hope? I love it when the scriptures don't leave you to guess what it's talking about. Which hope we have as an anchor for our souls, steadfast and sure, which entered into the veil wherein the forerunner has entered in, even Jesus. Who's our hope? Who's our anchor? Who's our refuge? Jesus, a high priest after the order of Melchizedek, an eternal priesthood. Therefore, our faith, like Paul's, is this. I am persuaded. God willed it. God swore He would do it. And now, because we have entered in, there is nothing and no one able to separate me from His love. I am persuaded He will fulfill this promise. And so all who are persuaded, all who believe on Jesus Christ alone, no matter the greatness, I jotted this down, no matter the greatness of our faith, it does not keep us in the love of God. Nor does the smallness of our faith separate us from the love of God. You got that? We are persuaded. But see, my persuasion really has nothing to do with keeping me in the love of God. Or my lack at times of persuasion doesn't keep me from the love of God. Aren't you glad it's not dependent upon your persuasion? I'm persuaded. But man, my faith even at best times is weak. So my union with this love of God is not based on my persuasion. Now I am persuaded, but that's not what keeps it love. So we either have small or great faith, we are persuaded. Now I'm going to give you some things that we are persuaded with. Listen to this closely. First of all, everyone who is persuaded of Christ's salvation, first of all we are persuaded of this, I am a sinner. Everyone who believes on Christ is persuaded of this. You don't need to do this very long to convince me of this. I am a sinner. I was born of a fallen race. We are persuaded that all we do is sin. And there is no way I can merit the favor of God. Are you persuaded of that? I am completely sold out to that truth. Why? Because God's Word testifies to this. There's none righteous, no not one. There's none that understandeth. There's none that seeketh after God. They're all together become unprofitable. There's none that doeth good, no not one. I am very much persuaded of that. That's a personal persuasion. Before I was saved, I knew everybody was depraved. But when the Lord saved me, I knew I was depraved. And the second thing, we're persuaded of this. Everyone who's persuaded there's a sinner, when God shows them Christ, they're persuaded of His success. I am totally persuaded of His success. That He, as the Son of God, came into this world and He did save His people. Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. And I am persuaded that you can't convince me of this. He was successful. He did exactly what He was sent to do. And when these two things come together, this is what the Spirit of God does for a sinner. He convinces him of a sin, and He shows him the success of Christ. And then He brings these two things together. And that person will always do one thing. He will flee to Christ. He will flee to Christ. Why? Why do you flee to Christ? Because you are persuaded that He is able. You're persuaded. Noah, when Noah built that ark, how do you know he was persuaded the ark was sufficient? How do you know? He went in. If he wasn't persuaded, He never would have went in. How do you know you're persuaded? You went in! And you ain't stopped. You came to Christ and you ain't stopped. Why? You're persuaded of Him. You're persuaded that He is the One. And so what do we as preachers do? We persuade men. That's what He said, knowing the terror of the Lord. What do we do for sinners? We persuade them. How do we do it? We preach the gospel, that gospel I've been preaching to you just now, about his victory, about his success. I preach that gospel. Why? Because that's the message used of God to draw man to himself. A message of victory, a message of success. Not a message of maybe, might, perhaps. No, a message of assurance. He said that if a man should confess with his mouth and believe in his heart, the Lord Jesus, that God raised him from the dead, he shall be saved. I am persuaded of that. We persuade men by preaching the gospel. And you know what? God uses that. I'm going to go over this list with you real fast. Go back to your text now. Paul said, I'm persuaded. And every believer is. We're persuaded. And he listed more difficulties, these other difficulties. What's the first one he lists there? I think the most difficult. Death. Death. Why? Death is solemn. Because death is final. When a man dies, however he is when he dies, is how he will be for eternity. When my brother passed, I did look on him. And the solemnity of the situation grabbed my heart, the finalness of it. However he was when he left, That's how you'll be for eternity. Now have a good hope with my brother. My brother left with a good witness, a good testimony that he believed on the Lord completely. Scripture says, he that is unjust, let him be unjust still. He that is just, let him be just still. However you are, when you leave this life, that's how it is. But notice what God says about death. Not what we say. It's what God said. Precious. Anybody you know ever said anything about death as precious? God said it is. Better is the day of one's death than the day of one's birth. That's what God says. Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of His saints. Consider that. Why? Because death is the transport that brings us to Christ. So then will death separate you from the love of God? Paul laughs and he says, no, it's the transport that brings you into the fullness of his love. When a believer breathes out his last breath, in the very next instance, he breathes in the fresh air of heaven. No time lapse. As soon as he breathes out, he breathes in. As soon as his eyes close in darkness, he opens them and sees one face. He sees his master's face for the first time. So is death a hindrance? Paul said, I'm persuaded death's not a hindrance. God says death to the saints is a blessing. What about life? He said life, not death or life. Why not life? Because our God controls everything in life. The world is the Lord's. You got that? People running around, politicians running around doing things like they're doing something. They're not doing anything that he hasn't ordained to be done. They can't. It's his world and everything in it. Nebuchadnezzar learned that when he's eating grass for seven years. Now you imagine that. God set the greatest king, the highest king that ever lived at that time on the earth and put him in the field eating grass for seven years. When he come to himself, he said everything in this world is nothing in his eyes. Everybody does exactly what he wants to. So if God purposed to save you and then controls all of the things around you, Is that a hindrance to separate you? It's no hindrance at all. I'm persuaded of that. Look at this. Nor angels, fallen or otherwise. And in fact, angels do the bidding of our God. And one day they will serve us. Isn't that something? There'll be no hindrance. Or principalities, governments. Well, they try. Governments try. They'll try to separate you from the love of God. They will. Principalities or powers. Listen, or things present or things to come. Weapons already invented against you and weapons that have not yet been invented. There are some cruelties that they have not yet invented ready for you. Is that going to separate you from the love of God's in Christ? Paul said, I'm persuaded it's not. Look at this, nor height nor depth. Isn't that your life? Heighth and depth. Heighth and depth. Heighth and depth. Ups and downs. Is that going to separate you from the love of God? No. Who controls the heights? Who controls the depths? Paul said, that's not going to separate me from the love of God. Listen to this, nor any other creature, just in case I miss one that I didn't even know about yet. None of these things, listen to this word, shall be able. Didn't say wouldn't try. They're going to try. Your family, your friends, your jobs, your husband, your wife, all of these things will try to separate you from the love of God. Paul says, I'm persuaded that they're going to try, but I am persuaded that they're not going to be able. to separate us from the love of God. Listen, why? Which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. This is why. Because you are in Christ Jesus. To separate you from the love of God, they would have to separate you from Christ. I pray God would comfort you with this. I know there's much more I didn't say, I wanted to say, but I told you I wouldn't keep you two hours. So I'm trying to keep my promise. But I pray that God would instill this confidence in you, this assurance, not in yourself, but in Him, that you can say, I'm persuaded. I'm persuaded that He justified me. He's going to glorify me. And nothing can keep me from Him. I pray this is comfort, because there's a lot of things trying to keep you from Him. And they just won't be able to do it. They just won't be able to. I pray God comforts you. Let's stand and be dismissed in prayer. Our Holy Father, thank you for your grace and your mercy. Oh, your compassion, your pity, your love and your grace. I beg you to pour out your grace upon us and persuade every heart, every soul of their need of Christ. Persuade everyone of his victory, of his success, and that everyone in him cannot ever be condemned and no one would be separated from your love who is in Christ. I pray you forgive us our sins and lead us and comfort our hearts in our times of grief. We pray this in the name of our Lord Jesus in his name. Amen. Come on, you guys.