Josh writes in to ask, this, Pastor John, is

possible to intellectually believe the Bible in all the truths of Christianity and accept

them as 100% true, to want to love Jesus and to be saved from God's wrath, and yet to

not be one of the elect, is that possible, Pastor John?

I want to say no, but to make plain, I want to make plain why I need to dig in for a minute

to what it means to, to quote, accept all the Bible as 100% truth, that's what Josh is

saying, accept all the Bible as 100% truth.

I have often said, and maybe this is why Josh is asking this, I have often said that the

devil knows more truth than most theologians, and the reason he's not saved is that he hates

it.

James says that devils believe in tremble, they believe many facts about God are true,

but they're not saved because they hate those facts, but I'm not sure I can really

say that someone could affirm all the Bible as 100% truth and be lost, not be saved.

And here's the reason, the Bible is filled with statements, not just of facts, but also statements

about the worth and the beauty and the desirability of those facts.

So it doesn't just say God is powerful, but that God is glorious and great in glory and

beautiful, that he's infinitely transcendently valuable, that Jesus not only exists, but that

he has all these attributes that make him more precious than the greatest pearl and more

valuable than the greatest treasure and Paul himself remember said that he found more satisfaction

in knowing Christ than he did in all other reality.

So what would it mean to say you believed that, but did not embrace him as beautiful or valuable

or supremely pleasant, and I think most people would say you don't mean it, you say you believe

...