Well, we are honored to have this morning in chapel speaking Dr. Ron Allen. Pastor Allen has been the pastor of the Bible Baptist Church in Matthews, North Carolina for the past 26 years. He and his wife Janice are both graduates of the university. They were married 39 years ago. They have four children who have graduated from Bob Jones, and most importantly, they have 10 grandchildren. And so it is delightful to have Pastor Allen here. I've known Brother Ron for many, many years, and I have always had a high esteem and appreciation for both his ministry as a pastor and his life as a Christian. And I know your hearts will be encouraged and warmed and challenged today as he comes to speak. So let's give Dr. Allen a warm welcome as he comes. Well, thank you so much, Dr. Pettit. I appreciate so much the opportunity to be back again speaking in chapel in a place that really I dearly, I dearly love. It's really hard for me to overestimate the impact that Bob Jones University has had in my life. When I came here in 1978 as a freshman, this was a whole new world to me. And when I came in, I was so thankful that I had some upperclassmen, and I had particularly a grad student who kind of took me on as a project, and he discipled me. And through street work that we did on the streets around Clemson University, to little prayer meetings that we had on Saturday morning in this little remote place, to various activities that he engaged me in, it really helped me to grow and be discipled in my faith in Christ. And I will never forget, I will always treasure those times. I met my wife here. We had the opportunity to serve for about a decade on the faculty and staff with dear friends here that we love. Our four children all graduated from here. Their spouses all graduated from here. Our grandchildren are talking about coming here. This university has had a tremendous impact in my life, and I'm so grateful. and thankful to be able to be here today to open the Bible to us. And I hope that God will use his word in our hearts today for his own glory. I'm gonna ask you if you would please to turn in your Bibles to Romans 11 and verse 36. Romans 11, and we're gonna be looking at just one verse this morning. As you're turning there, On April the 26th of 2006, Whitney Sarek, 19 years old, and Laura Van Ryn, 22 years old, were riding with a group from Taylor University. That's a Christian college up in Indiana. They were riding with this group when a tractor-trailer slammed into their van, killing five people. Whitney's family received some really sad news. She was told that Their family was told that Whitney was among the dead. Laura's family also received some sad news. Their daughter was alive, but was in a coma-like state. A few days later in Gaylord, Michigan, Whitney's family held a closed casket funeral that attracted 1,400 people. The Van Ryns, meanwhile, they stayed by the bedside of this injured young woman for weeks. On a daily web, they logged the events of her recovery. They detailed all the small steps that they felt like she was making. They would comment about her finally able to eat applesauce, and then they saw her playing the little game Connect Four, and they were making records of all of her progress. On Monday, the Van Ryns reported on the log there. They said, while certain things seem to be coming back to her, she still has time, she'll say things that don't make much sense. One day, they asked a badly injured and bandaged young lady to write her name. And then the Van Ryns learned why some things puzzled them. The recovering patient that they had cared for over the last five weeks was not their daughter, Laura. She was Whitney Sarek. The family disclosed the mix-up on their blog on Wednesday and they wrote this, our hearts are aching as we have learned that the young woman we have been taking care of over the past five weeks has not been our dear Laura. This was a case of mistaken identity. There was a series of mistakes that led the family to this incredible situation. The identification and personal effects from the van and the passengers in the van were strewn all over the accident scene. When Whitney Sarek was airlifted to a Fort Wayne hospital, Laura Van Ryn's ID went with her. The girls looked remarkably alike, and members of the Taylor University staff had mistaken and confused the two women. Whitney's family never looked at the body recovered from the accident. Her sister had gone there for that purpose, but ultimately decided against taking a look. So some five or six weeks after the accident, Whitney's real family was at her bedside caring for her, and Laura's family held a memorial service in memory of their daughter. The mistaken identity in this situation is tragic. It grips the heart of anyone. And as tragic as that is, did you know that some people live not five weeks, with a mistaken identity. Some people live their whole life mistaking their identity and you could be one of them. Imagine living your entire life, dying and facing the Lord one day and at that moment you discover that you never really understood who you were for your entire life. I understand your doctrinal theme this semester is fearfully and wonderfully made. I'm sure with this theme, you're going to be studying the intricate details of what it means to be made in the image of God and created male and female. But this morning, I want us to take a high level look. I want us to take a 30,000 foot view And I want to focus on this thought, identifying the real you. And I want to do that from just one verse in the Bible, Romans 11 and verse 36. In the context here, Paul has just finished 11 chapters where he's been expounding really great truths on the righteousness of God. And then here at the end of chapter 11, God's plan that he was going to show mercy on everyone, the Jews and the Gentiles, was just so overwhelming to the Apostle Paul, the way God was orchestrating all of this, that the Apostle Paul says in verse 33, all the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, His ways are unsearchable. How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out? It's like Paul is now, he's been climbing chapter by chapter this mountain, and now he's at the peak, he's on the summit of the mountain, and he's just overwhelmed at the spectacular view that he has in front of him. And so then he asks three rhetorical questions, and all of them have the same answer. Here's the first question in verse 34. Who hath known the mind of the Lord? I mean, who could possibly think up and execute a plan like this? Who has known the mind of the Lord? Who has been his counselor? Who hath first given to him and it shall be recompensed unto him again? And the answer is no one. No one has known the mind of the Lord. No one has been his counselor. No one can give to him what he has not first had received from him. And so then, after asking these questions, here's the crescendo of chapter 11 in that last verse when Paul moves and he makes this statement under the inspiration of God. For of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things to whom be glory forever. In this verse, Paul gives us foundational truths that you and I have to grasp if we're going to really identify who we are. 30,000 foot view and looking and trying to identify who really am I. I want you to notice these three truths that are mentioned here. And we're going to do them really quickly. And I just want to give us a caution here. Don't let the simplicity of these truths distract you from the profound claim and the impact that they have on our lives. Here's the first truth. Your life came from God. For of Him are all things, including you. including me, your life came from God. The eternal God is the beginning of all things. Psalm 90 in verse two, from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. It's hard for us to wrap a finite brain around the thought of the eternality of God. I love out west, our children used to live out west, some of them, and we would travel out there to see them. And I was always amazed at how long these roads were and how straight they were. They would just go on for miles and miles. And if you were to go out there and you were to be on one of those roads and you were to and you were to park your car, and you were to get out, and you were just gonna take some time and look down that road, and you would look down westward, and you would see that road, and it just stretched for miles, a beautiful bright day, and you just follow your eyes right down until that highway just narrows and narrows and narrows, and then it comes to a point way out there in the distance. And then you turn and you look the other direction. And as you look east, that highway just came. And it came to a point. Closer and closer together. And then it came to just one point right there on the edge of the horizon. That's what this text is saying. From vanishing point to vanishing point. It's what it's describing there. God is at both ends simultaneously. He's the eternal God. And the Bible speaks of that. You know that in Genesis chapter one, the Bible opens up. In the beginning, God, begin is a time word and it refers to man. God has no beginning. And there was a point in time when God decided that you were going to begin. And so he gave you life. And He gave everything else life that He wanted. He made everything. For of Him, the Scripture says, are all things, including you and me. Psalm 100, verse 3, you memorized this when you were a child. Know ye that the Lord, He is God. It is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves. You know John 1 and verse 3, all things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. All things are of Him. And what glorious truth it is when you think about this. You and I, think about it this way. You were not a product of mere happenstance. You didn't just come to be. There was a point in time where the eternal God said he was gonna bring your life into this world. At this particular moment, in this particular age, at this particular time, God said, you, right where you're sitting this morning, you are going to have a beginning. And He brought your life into view. For of Him are all things, including you. This is the first basic principle And we must properly understand that. If I don't identify myself that way, I could live all of my life with a mistaken identity, and then one day tragically meet the Lord, having lived all of my life not understanding who I really was. My life came from God. But then here's a second truth. Your life works properly only through God. For of Him are all things, and through Him are all things. That's the way God designed it. He designed everything that it was only going to work properly the way He designed it to work. Colossians 1, 16 and 17, For by Him were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were made by Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and by Him, all things hold together. That's all by God's design. Through Him are all things. You think about your body. Your very body is held together by God. Your body has 60,000 to 100,000 miles of blood vessels in it. Enough to circle the globe three or four times. Your body has 600 to 800 muscles depending on how you number them. Your body has 200, your adult body has 206 bones and a quarter of them, 54 of those bones are all positioned in your wrists and your hands and your fingers. You have a hundred billion neurons in your brain and God is holding it all together by His own design. And at any moment in time, He could have something happen to one of those bones. He could have something happen to one of those muscles. He could have something happen in some way to your body because He's the one who's holding it all together. Through Him are all things. But God's not only holding your human body under His control, He's holding your entire life under His control. Because He made you, He knows how you best function. And because He loves you, He gave you a manual to help you to know how you function and to help repair you whenever you get out of line in some way. That's what God does. 2 Peter 1, verses 3 and 4, according as His divine power had given unto us all things that pertain to life and to godliness through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue. 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17, you've heard these verses many times. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness for this purpose. that the man of God may be perfect, mature, complete, throughly furnished unto all good works. That's why God gave us this manual. To help us know about Him, to help us know about us, to help us understand how we're rightly related to Him, and how we function as part of His creation. God knows what it takes to make my life work best for my own good and he maintains me. He maintains my life through his word. He teaches me how to repair myself by his spirit through his word. Years ago, I was repairing the 1995 Honda Accord that our kids drove during the years that they were in our home. Auto mechanics and I have never gotten along very well. I grew up in a construction background. I love home construction, but auto mechanics and I have never hit it off. And so when this airbag deployed and needed to be replaced, I started looking at what it was going to cost to replace those airbags. And I did not want to pay what they wanted me to pay to replace it. And so I got online and I found that I could get some airbags shipped to me from a distribution center in Texas. And so I had them shipped to me. And then I Googled, how do you replace airbags in a 1995 Honda Accord? and a YouTube video came up, and I looked at that, and then I took my laptop out and sat it in the front seat of the car, and I began to change those airbags out. Now, the point I want to make here with this is I was not looking at how do you replace airbags in a Ford or how do you replace them in a Chevy. I wanted to know what does the owner's manual say of the vehicle, the people who made the vehicle that I have. That's what I wanted to know. And in like manner with you and me, God knows. how we work. God knows how you function. And you and I are only going to function properly, only and always will only function properly through God and the way he has outlined it. You may be like me, sometimes tragically, I think I've got a better idea. And while God will tell me something in His Word, I argue with Him about it. And I want to go a different direction. And then God's just reminding me, no, it's not that way. And in His kindness and mercy, He draws me back. For of Him are all things, and through Him are all things. Your life was given to you by God. Your life only works properly through God. Then here's the third truth. Your life was made for God's glory. And to Him are all things to whom be glory forever. When you and I think about identifying who we really are, identifying the real you, you have to grasp these truths. of him are all things, through him are all things, and back to him are all things. That's the way God designed the entire universe. He designed it all around himself. And I'll never properly understand myself or live my life, steward my life, unless I grasp who I really am. God made all of His creation to glorify Himself. Psalm 19, 1, the heavens declare the glory of God. Colossians 1, 18, and He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He might have the preeminence. So many places we could turn. to speak of God's glory, and God will not share that glory with another. So if you and I are going to steward our lives well, I've got to identify who I really am. I've got to understand that. I would encourage you to be like a man I read of in his life many, many years ago. It's one of my favorite biographies, William Borden. William Borden was born in 1887 to a wealthy Chicago family. He was an heir to the Borden Dairy Company. Between high school and college years, he traveled the world. And while traveling in London, William Borden came under the preaching of R.A. Torrey and that dramatically changed his life. He gave his life to missionary service as he saw the need of so many people around the world. He decided when he came home that he would go into college, and so he went to Yale. And from there, he went to Princeton Theological Seminary. And even though Borden was wealthy, when he arrived on the campus of Yale University in 1905, he arrived there wanting to look like just any other freshman on campus. But very quickly, Borden's classmates noticed something really unusual about him and it wasn't his money. One of them wrote, he came to college far ahead spiritually of any of us. He had already given his heart in full surrender to Christ and he had really done it. We who were his classmates learned to lean on him and found in him a strength that was solid as a rock just because of this settled purpose and consecration. Then during his college years, Bill Borden made an entry in his personal journal that defined what his classmates were seeing in him. Here's what he simply wrote in his journal. So simple. Say no to self. and yes to Jesus every time. Charles Erdmann, one of his Princeton professors, described him this way. He said he's an ideal missionary volunteer. And he said that because of the many qualifications that he had, one of which, he said, was, quote, his striking example of Christian stewardship. William Borden had come to a point where he understood his life, and he properly identified who he was, that he came from God, that his life works properly only through God, and that all of his life is to point back to God, and he sought to live that way. And though he wanted to go to China to work with the Muslims, William Borden contracted spinal meningitis while in Cairo, Egypt. And he died on April 9, 1913 at the young age of 25. But in those years on earth that God had given him, he had come to identify who he really was. And that's my burden for me, that's my burden for you, that you and I will understand and carefully and properly identify who we really are. And I want us to ask you that this morning, have you done that? I purposely wanted to caution us at the beginning that the truths that we're looking at today are so simple that it could be very easy for us to just almost blow it off and say, you know what, I learned that in elementary school catechism, but I'm telling you, These simple truths have a profound impact on the way we live our lives. And I will never be the kind of steward that God wants me to be unless I really grasp who I am. I am fearfully and wonderfully made by the Creator God this way. My life came from Him. And it's only ever going to work properly through Him. And it's all supposed to be pointing back to Him. If we could live that way, through our lifetime here, we would have a dramatic impact for God and His glory. And I pray for you and for me that we will be able to do that by the grace of God and the help of the Holy Spirit, that we will be able to live our lives to the glory of God. Let's pray together. Oh God, thank you for your faithfulness to us. You are so kind and gracious, God, as to make us so fearfully and wonderfully in such a way like no one else could. We thank you for your design and purposes in our lives, and I pray, God, that we will engage with you and that we will live to your glory and carefully and properly identify who we really are. Help us to that end, God, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.