Turn with me, if you would, to
John chapter 10. The name of the message is absolute
security. Absolute security. Beloved, we
who are the redeemed of the Lord have absolute security in Christ. That's wonderful because our
faith is fickle. We go up and down, don't we?
But Christ is constant. And our security is not dependent
upon us or what we do. Our security is fully 100% dependent
upon Christ and what he's done for us. And this is absolutely
magnificent. Now, the born-again blood-washed
believer is eternally saved, eternally saved, and will never,
will never come into condemnation. Isn't that wonderful, beloved?
We will never come into condemnation because the condemnation due
us, you've heard me say this many times and I will continue
to repeat it until the Lord, as long as the Lord allows me
to preach, that our condemnation that was due we who are his people
fell upon Christ. And He extinguished it, beloved.
He extinguished it. He extinguished the wrath of
God that was against us, that was due us. He extinguished the
judgment of God that was due us. He fulfilled the law of God
in our room and place, and He lived an absolutely perfect,
sinless life, and then He died a sinless death upon Calvary's
cross, having our sins imputed to Him, and then He imputes His
perfect, spotless righteousness to us. And God looks at us and
sees Christ. It's absolutely amazing. So God's
people, God's elect, his sheep, will never come into condemnation
because they abide in the Lord Jesus Christ. And the abiding
in Christ is a result of life and faith which God has given
to us. It's a gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. So God gives us faith and repentance. They're both gifts, beloved.
He gives those to us. And just like the apple trees
we have here on the property, and trees in your home or your
area, the branches cannot come about by themselves. They come
off the vine and then the leaves and any fruit that they bear
comes as a result from the vine, as a result of their union with
the vine. You take a branch off a tree,
off the vine, the trunk, and it will die. It'll wither away
because all its nutrients come from the vine, from the trunk.
Same way the Lord said, without me you can do nothing. Outside
of Christ, there's condemnation. Inside of Christ, there's eternal
security. Absolute security, beloved. It's
wondrous. And those who are in Christ will
bear much fruit. It's the Holy Spirit. Remember,
it's called the fruit of the Spirit. It's the Holy Spirit
working in us and producing this wondrous fruit. And so shall
ye be my disciples. If we abide in Christ, we're
going to bear fruit because it's a work of God the Holy Spirit.
Now let us marvel at the fact that God's elect are those who
were redeemed by Christ 2,000 years ago at Calvary's cross
when he shed his precious, which we looked at last night, costly
blood. And his atonement is so great
that he's redeemed all the elect of all the ages by his one-time
sacrifice on Calvary's cross. The value of the blood of Christ
is so infinite, it's far more valuable than silver and gold
and things that perish in this world. It's of infinite value,
the blood of Christ. And it's redeemed God's people
from all their sins. Isn't that wonderful? Redemption
has a cost, and Christ gives his life and sheds his blood
in the room and place of his people. And we say, after we're
born again, we say hallelujah, what a savior is Jesus Christ
our Lord. Did he save the worm like me?
Did he save the sinner like me? It's marvelous. It's absolutely
marvelous. Now turn, if you would, to John
chapter 10. We're gonna look at verses 27
to 29. And we see in this passage one
of the strongest statements to be found in the scripture guaranteeing
the security of every born-again, blood-washed child of God. Those
who are truly saved. Let's look at those verses. Look
at verse 27 to 29. My sheep, notice the possessive
words. My, my sheep. God's people are God's sheep.
We're the sheep of his hands. We're the sheep of his pasture.
We're the sheep of his choosing. Oh, it's wonderful. Look at this.
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I was
talking to our dog's veterinarian today, and he has over 150 sheep. And I said, if I went out there
and called your sheep, would they come? He said, nope. I said,
but if you called them, they'd all come. He said, absolutely.
Because the sheep hear the voice of the shepherd. And I said,
are you the only shepherd of those sheep? He goes, yes, I
am. Isn't that amazing? And so the Lord, who is the great
shepherd of the sheep of God, says, my sheep hear my voice,
and I know them, and they follow me, and they willingly follow
him. Because we're made willing in
the day of God's power. It's magnificent. Look at this.
Now this is God in the flesh speaking. Remember, this is no
mere man. This is God incarnated in the flesh. This is the second
person of the Trinity who's become a man to redeem his people from
their sins. And look what he says, and I
give unto them eternal life. See, if we have eternal life,
it's because God gave it to us. It's because the Lord Jesus Christ
gave it to us. And look at this, as a result
of that, here's one of those little shall words again, right?
Oh, look at this, and they shall never perish. Oh, let's cling
to that, beloved, look at that. They shall never perish. Neither
shall any man pluck them out of my hand. We won't perish,
and we can't be plucked out of Christ's hand. That's absolutely
wonderful. And look at this. It says, my
father which gave them to me, when did he give us to Christ?
In eternity, chosen in Christ before the foundation of the
world. I was talking to a fellow today, and I said, what do you
think of election? And he said, Well, God chose
Israel, and I said, yeah, but what do you think about it in
the New Testament? And I said, you claim to believe
the Bible, right? And he says, yes, I believe the
Bible. And I said, but I tell you that God chooses the people,
and you don't believe it. I said, you're not believing
what God said. Look what he says here. And I
give unto them his sheep, and I brought forth that God's people
are called his sheep. And there's some in John 10 who
says, you're not my sheep. My, oh, my. Look at this. And I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than
all, greater than all men, greater than all men. No one
can pluck us out of our Lord's hands, not even ourselves, which
we would never want to do. We can't. And no man is able to pluck them
out of my father's hand. So look at what he says. He says,
no one's able, the Lord Jesus Christ, God in the flesh says,
no man's able to pluck my sheep out of my hand. And then he says,
and my father, no one's able to pluck them out of my father's
hand. We're in the double grip of God. We're in the grip of God the
Father, and we're in the grip of God the Son. Isn't that wonderful?
And we're sealed by the Holy Spirit of God. Oh, it's wonderful,
beloved. So let us marvel over the fact
in these words that we see the absolute security of the believer
in Christ, which is brought forth in these verses. Now, there's
eight wonderful statements I'd like us to look at in these verses. Number one, my sheep, the possessive.
Look at that, John 10, 27. My sheep hear my voice, and I
know them, and they follow me. Notice the personal word used
here in this wonderful statement. Made by he who is God in the
flesh, the word of God, sent to save his people from their
sins. So we're his by choice, we're
his by purchase, beloved, by redemption. Oh, it's wonderful. We're called his sheep. And notice
that, notice that personal possession. My sheep. were Christ's beloved,
my sheep, the ones he came to save from their sins. This is
God himself in the flesh saying this. This is the word of God.
This is the second person in the Trinity saying this. He says, we're his by the Father's
choice from eternity because we were chosen in him before
the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without
blame before him in love. Isn't that wonderful? Oh my. We are his by choice then. God the Father chose us and gave
us to Christ. And Christ loves us so much that
he shed his precious blood to redeem us. We're his bride. All
the elect of all the ages are the bride of Christ. So we're
his by choice, we're his by purchase, and he calls us my sheep because
we're his sheep. He died for us. He shed his blood
for us to redeem us from the slave block of sin, beloved.
And his perfect sin atoning work and the shedding of his precious,
precious blood has saved us from all our sins. Number two, look
at this, I know them. That's agnoska-them, I know them
intimately. Do you know He's always known
us? Do you know He's always loved
us? With an everlasting, unchanging love. Jeremiah says this, Jeremiah
31.3, the Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, yea,
I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving
kindness have I drawn thee. Why were we drawn to Christ?
Because He's loved us with an everlasting love. That's absolutely
magnificent, isn't it, beloved? It's absolutely magnificent.
Then in verse 27 of John 10, we see the third statement of
the absolute security of the believer. They follow me. In our natural state, we're rebels
shaking our fists at God. When we're born again by the
Holy Spirit of God and given faith to believe in repentance
before God, faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we
follow Christ. And we willingly follow Christ,
don't we? We joyfully follow Christ, beloved. Oh, and another shepherd, we
will not follow. He's given us ears to hear. His
voice, look at verse four of John chapter 10. We willingly
and gladly follow Christ. Look at this. And when he put
forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow
him, for they know his voice. We willingly follow the shepherd,
because now we know his voice. He's revealed himself to us.
That's glorious. Praise his mighty name. Oh, my. And then in verse 28, we see
the fourth statement of the absolute security of God's sheep, the
believer in Christ. Look at this. I give them eternal
life. It doesn't say temporary life.
It doesn't say life we can mess up. It says what? Eternal life. Isn't that wondrous?
And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. So Christ, he
obtained eternal redemption for us, for his people, for his sheep.
And he gives it as a free gift to us, beloved, because he loves
us. Look at that. I give unto them
eternal life. In the scriptures, in Hebrews,
it says he obtained eternal life for us. It's wonderful. So that which He obtained for
us, He gives to us. It's absolutely incredible. And
how did He obtain eternal life? Through His perfect, sin-atoning
death upon Calvary's cross in our room and place, shedding
His precious, precious blood to redeem us out from under the
law. Oh, it's wondrous, beloved. It's
absolutely wondrous. And He gives eternal life freely
to His people. Then in verse 28 of John 10,
we see the fifth statement of the absolute security of the
believer in Christ. And it's here. They shall never
perish. Shall. That's the king of kings
and the Lord of lords saying that. They shall never perish.
That's not no mere man saying that. They shall never perish. Man thinks, oh, I'm not going
to die. And 100% of 100% of people die, don't they? And we're going to die physically,
but you know what? We'll be alive spiritually forever. We'll be
with Christ forever. You know, we'll be more alive
when we're in heaven than we are down here. We're going to
the land of the living, beloved. We're leaving the land of the
dead. We're going to the land of the living. Praise the name
of Jesus. Oh, how can one perish for whom Christ died? As someone
says, oh, you can lose your selfishness. How can one perish who Christ
died for? How can he? No, he'll not lose
one sheep. So rejoice, beloved of God, in
the absolute security we have in and through the Lord Jesus
Christ. And then, in verse 28 of John 10, we see the sixth
statement. No man has the power to take
them out of my hand. Look at this. And I give unto
them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any
man pluck them out of my hand. So no man has the power to take
us out of Christ's hands. No man. We're in Christ's grip,
beloved, and He's God. He's God, incarnate in the flesh.
So let us rejoice, beloved God. He saved us from our sins. He's
a successful Savior, and He will keep us all through this life,
and He will take us home to glory, to be with Him forever. Then,
in verse 29, we see the 10th statement of the absolute security
of the believer in Christ. My Father gave them. Look at
this, my father which gave them me. We're given to the son from
the father. The father chose us. He gave
us to Christ before the foundation of the world. And look at this,
he's greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out
of my father's hands. the sheep of God, their love
gift, beloved, from the Father to the Son, as He chose us in
Christ, again, from before the foundation of the world. So let
us marvel at this great love that God the Father and the Son
and the Holy Spirit have for we who are sinners saved by grace. In the last statement of the
absolute security of God's people, the believer in the Lord Jesus
Christ, is found in verse 29. No man is able to take them out
of my Father's hand, pluck them, it says. My Father which gave
them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them
out of my Father's hands. So the sheep of God have double
security, because they're in Christ's hands, and they're in
the hand of God the Father, and no one is able to take us. either
God in the Father's hand or the Lord Jesus Christ's hand. To
suggest that any of his sheep could be finally lost is to blasphemy
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's that serious. It's that
serious. But praise the Lord Jesus Christ
for absolute security in him, in the Lord Jesus Christ, and
by his perfect sin atoning work. And we say amen and amen. Praise the mighty name of Jesus.