Thank you. Let's go back to that
passage that he read to us here out of John chapter 10. Now my
subject this evening is eternal security. That's what I want
to talk to you about, eternal security. The subject has been
argued. It has been debated. It has been
studied. for many, many years. And there
have been a lot of religious wars and clashes over this doctrine. A lot of people have got upset
with those who believe in eternal security. And those usually who get upset
over eternal security are those who believe that salvation is
that which man has some part in it. And therefore, if man
has some part in it, then he can do something to lose it. One described it this way. Mr. Spurgeon said, if your fingers
can tie the knot of salvation, then you, by your own fingers,
can do something to untie the knot of salvation. But if salvation is of God, which
the scriptures are very clear saying that it is, if salvation
is of God, we know that what God doeth, he doeth forever. Some people call this once saved,
always saved. That's okay. It's been called
once in grace, always in grace. That's good too. It's actually
the preservation of the saints and in a sense even the perseverance
of the saints. Say, Jim, what is the difference
between the two? Well, perseverance is that truth
that the righteous will continue on their way, will keep on looking
to Christ. Preservation is this, God will
keep us looking. God will keep us believing. God
will keep us saved. We often In reading, we'll come
across the word TULIP that stands for Total Depravity, Unconditional
Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace, and Perseverance
of the Saints. God's people once They have been
born of God. They have received a life that
can never be lost. And the Savior has never yet
lost one of his sheep. None of those the Father gave
him in electing grace will ever be left out in the wilderness. None who have been healed of
their spiritual diseases by the great physician of our souls
shall ever fall prey to that disease of sin. Our Lord Jesus is the mighty
Savior, and none that he saves can ever be lost. For if that were possible, He would lose all glory. You see, to be saved forever,
eternal security means that our Lord is glorified and magnified
because He keeps us safe. He who purposed our salvation,
He who purchased our salvation, He who by his power gave us this
salvation in reality and by experience will keep us safe forever. Now that will glorify his name. But if any of the sheep should
ever be lost, then all the blame would be on him. You see, the
sheep are not responsible for keeping themselves. The responsibility
for our salvation and for our preservation rests fully upon
our shepherd. It isn't a matter of how powerful
and strong and determined the sheep are. Sheep are weak. Sheep are prone to wonder. The issue is how mighty, how
powerful is our shepherd? Is he able to keep that which
God has entrusted to him. After all, the sheep were given
to him in covenant electing grace before the world began. So all
of the responsibility for the safety and the salvation of the
sheep that God gave him rests fully upon the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a vital subject. One that brings joy to the hearts
of God's people. And that's what I want to speak
to you about for a little bit tonight. But let's look at the
context in which this great doctrine of eternal security is found.
The speaker is our Lord Jesus Christ. In the first half of
the chapter, he has identified himself as the good shepherd
who gives his life for the sheep. In the latter part of the chapter,
he begins by dealing with Pharisees, the Jews. And I've said to you
before that in the New Testament, especially in the Gospel of John,
when you come across this expression, the Jews, such as in verse 24,
then came the Jews. In fact, when I read that, I
try to emphasize that the Jews, because these are the Jewish
authorities. These are the doctors. These
are the lawyers. These are the chief priests.
These are the Pharisees. These are the Sadducees. These
are the members of the Jewish Sanhedrin, the Jews. Our Lord
Jesus is the speaker and the Jews are his audience. He is preaching the gospel of
free and sovereign grace of everlasting life that's found in Him. He's
preaching that to the enemies of the gospel. And He doesn't
hold back. Now you'll notice in the 22nd
and the 23rd verse, and Brandon read this to us a few minutes
ago, he's at Jerusalem. He's at the Feast of the Dedication.
It was winter, and he walked in the temple of Solomon's Porch. Now, to walk all the way around
the temple was about three-quarters of a mile. And that portion of
the temple called Solomon's Porch was left standing after Nebuchadnezzar
and the Babylonians came in and virtually destroyed the temple,
Solomon's temple. They virtually destroyed it except
for that wing or that portico, that porch called Solomon's porch. From Solomon's porch, you look
eastward toward the Mount of Olives. And our Lord Jesus was
there And the scripture says in verse 22, it was winter. It was winter. And that is not
to inform us merely what time of the year it was. This is Judaism
in its absolute coldness of spiritual death. They didn't know God. They didn't
love Christ. He proved He was the Son of God,
that He was the Divine One by the works that He did. And the works that He did, they
didn't despise those, it's His words that they hated. It's what
He said. He had denounced them in the
first part of the chapter. He said of these... Jewish preachers, these supposed
experts on the Bible, he said that they were hirelings. He
said they were thieves, they were robbers. He did not hold
back. And then he identified himself
as being the good shepherd that giveth his life for the sheep.
He's the Good Shepherd who knows His sheep. He approves of His
sheep. He acknowledges His sheep. He
loves His sheep. The sheep are dear to Him. And he says in that first part
of the chapter, he says, other sheep I had that are not of this
fold, them also I must bring. There's the purpose of God. It's
the purpose of God that all of the sheep that were given to
Christ by the heavenly father in electing grace and by covenant
grace, they shall come to him. He will draw them unto himself
and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. They will come
to him. And then he says, concerning
his own life, he said, I have the power to lay down my life,
I have the power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my father. And then in the 19th verse, there
was a division because of him. People were divided. Some were
for him, some were against him. But this division that was made
obvious after our Lord finished His message on the shepherd and
the sheep, this division was really a division that God made
before the world began. And these who were called the
Jews, they weren't on the side of grace. They weren't included
in the election of salvation, unto salvation. They're on the
other side. And they hated him so much that
they even said in verse 20, he has a devil. He's mad. He's insane. Why would anybody
listen to what he had to say? Others said, these aren't the
words of a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of
the blind as he opened the eyes of the blind man? And then about
two months or so goes by. Writers are, some say two months,
some say three months, but a little period of time goes by. And our
Lord, our Lord then is in Solomon's porch in the temple. It's winter. And verse 24, the Jews encircled
him. All of these enemies of the gospel,
they encircled him and they said to him, how long dost thou make
us to doubt? Verse 24, if thou be the Christ,
if you're the Messiah, if you're really who you say
you are, tell us plainly, tell us openly. And our Lord said in verse 25,
I told you, I told you, but you didn't believe
me. There's that unbelief again that
we talked about this morning. He says, the works that I do
in my Father's name, they bear witness of me that I'm the Son
of God. And then in verse 26, he makes
an astounding statement. Very powerful. But ye believe
not. And the reason you do not believe
is because you are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. It wasn't that they were rebellious
sheep, It wasn't that they were wandering sheep. It wasn't that
they were lost sheep. They were not sheep at all. When the Lord made the division
back before the world began, they were not included in the
election of grace. They were not numbered among
those whom God loved with an everlasting love for whom Christ
would come and redeem, and the Spirit of God would draw them
effectually to Jesus Christ. They were not included. The reason they did not believe
was because they were not His sheep. Now watch it. Don't let somebody reverse that.
People will say, well, the reason they weren't sheep is because
they didn't believe. That's not what it says. That's
twisting the Word of God. They were not sheep, never had
been sheep, were not then, are not now, never shall be, and
that's why they didn't believe. And then he goes on to say in
verse 27, my sheep hear my voice. They wouldn't hear him. The Jews,
the Jews, they wouldn't listen to what he had to say. But he
says, my sheep, they hear my voice. They not only hear the
words of the gospel, but they will hear my voice deep within. We have to hear the gospel. I
know faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. But
if the only voice you hear is the voice of the preacher, nothing of any eternal good will
come of it. The voice that you must hear
is the voice of the shepherd, and the voice of the shepherd
is his gospel of God's grace. That's his voice. And his voice
is heard with the natural ear wherever God's true preachers
are declaring the gospel of the grace of God. But we need something more than
the words of a man to penetrate our cold, dull, dead, hard hearts. It takes the voice of the Son
of God. The sword of the Spirit has to
pierce our hearts. And it will do so in the hands
of the mighty shepherd. My sheep, he says, my sheep hear
my voice. Where'd he get these sheep? Well,
they were given to him by the father in covenant grace. He says, they hear my voice.
These fellows who encircled him, imagine there's the preacher.
Never a man spake like this man. He's there in the temple and
he is encircled by all of these Pharisees, these do-gooders,
these men who are trying to work themselves into God's good graces,
these men who believe in salvation by their own righteousness. They've
encircled the Savior, cut off every exit. And he said, you fellows are
not of my sheep. Let's not fear to tell the truth,
no matter who we're talking to. The Savior spoke the truth, even
though the enemies circled him. My sheep hear my voice. He says,
I know them. I said, well, he knows about everybody.
That is correct. He knows about everybody, but
He doesn't know everybody. To those people in Matthew 7,
He will say at the last day, I never knew you. Depart from Me. Ye that work
iniquity. But there are some people He
knows. He knows in covenant, grace,
and love. And therefore, they follow me,
he says. You think these fellows who encircled
him, you think they gonna follow him? No, they're gonna hound
him all the way to the cross of Calvary. They hate him. But there are some who follow
him. They follow him into the green pastures of the word of
God. They follow Him as He leads in
paths of righteousness for His namesake. In Revelation, John
said, these are those that follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. We'll follow Him into the waters
of baptism to identify with Him. We'll follow Him in our walk
through this life, and we'll follow Him all the way to glory
someday. We follow Him. And he says, and
I give unto them eternal life. It's a gift. It's a gift. He says eternal life. And I recognize
the fact that really that's kind of the truly the quality of the
life. that he gives, and if you read
John chapter 17, the first part of it, this is life eternal,
that they might know thee the only true God in Jesus Christ,
whom thou hast sent. Eternal life is to know God.
But certainly there is included in this eternal life, a life
that is eternal. And the life that he gives, it
is not temporary, it is eternal. It will last forever. He says, I give unto them eternal
life. I give it. This is a gift. It's a gift of grace. And then
he says, and they shall never perish. They shall never perish. Why won't people hear the words
of the Son of God? They shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. Oh, how secure are the sheep
of the shepherd. Here is our eternal security. were kept by the shepherd. Our Lord assured us of the impossibility
of any of his sheep ever perishing. You say, well, we've got to keep
looking, we've got to keep praying, we've got to keep watching. That's
true. That's true. But keeping believing
and keeping watching and keeping prayerful, He'll make sure that
we do. And that's a great comfort to
me. Because you see, I've been around a long time and some of
y'all have been around a long time. We've seen a lot of people
go well for a while and then quit. Why did they quit? I mean, they
never come back. They go out into false religion
or go into nothing. What's the difference between
them and us? We're being kept. And I'm thankful
for that. Because you see, especially being
a preacher, I've seen a lot of preachers leave. Never come back. And I'm a preacher. I mean, I've
seen men that went well for several years. They're gone. So where's Brother So-and-so? He fell off the face of the earth,
I reckon. He doesn't preach grace anymore. Why is it that he's gone, And
I'm still here. Who makes the difference on that? I'll guarantee you this, it's
not my strength, and it isn't your strength. And it isn't your
faithfulness, and it's not my faithfulness. It's the faithfulness
of the shepherd who keeps his sheep safe. I'm so thankful he
will never let us go. Because if any of his sheep could
have wandered off for good, right here's one of them. I would have. And if you'd be honest, you would
have too. But he keeps us. I know this about reading about
sheep, don't have any personal experience dealing with four-legged
sheep, but they're weak, they're helpless, and defenseless creatures. No strength to withstand their
enemies. If lost, they cannot find their
way home. If sick, they cannot fight off
the disease. If threatened, they cannot defend
themselves. You see, the only that a sheep has got is the shepherd. That's really good news. He's the one who keeps us. And if the sheep live and the
sheep thrive, all honor to the shepherd. If they perish, The
shepherd will bear the blame. And that's never going to happen
to one of our Lord's sheep. Let me give you some reasons
why it's impossible for any of the Lord's sheep to perish. Number one, because of electing
grace. God's purpose of salvation cannot
be frustrated. Were we given to the Lord Jesus
Christ that is given to the Son of God in covenant grace and
love and mercy? Were we entrusted to His everlasting
care? Did God choose us unto salvation
before the world began? Were we appointed to salvation
and not to wrath? Then we're safe. We're safe. Would the Son of God lose the
gift that He was given? The Father said, Here, I give
these to you. Would the Son of God lose part
of the gift? Oh, where'd that one go? Oh,
that can't happen. This is the Father's will, our
Savior said in John 6, 39. This is the Father's will which
hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose
nothing. but should raise it up at the
last day. Why is it impossible for any
of the Lord's sheep to perish? Number two, because of redeeming
grace. The death of our Lord Jesus Christ,
his sacrifice, his precious blood washed all of our sins away and
saved us forever. The blood of Christ could not
have been shed in vain. That's why I absolutely detest
people who believe in universal redemption. I'm not going to
condone that. The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ
could never be proved to be a failure. We're the purchased property
of the Son of God, the shepherd. He bought the sheep, and the
price that He paid was a dear price, His own precious blood. Will that blood ever lose its
saving power? Say, I've been washed in the
blood of the Lamb. Will it ever lose its power to
save you, you think? Or will it remain effectual,
taking you all the way to the very throne of Christ Himself? Did not John say, the blood of
Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin? It keeps on
cleansing. That power that's in the blood.
And we can't be lost because of the redemptive work of Christ. And we can't be lost because
of the justifying work of God because of Christ's faithfulness
in saving us. See, God has justified us. And
really, He justified us before the world began, based upon what
the Lord Jesus Christ would do. See, Abraham was a justified
man, even though Christ hadn't died yet. But I put it this way, he was
justified because God knew His Son was good for it, He's good
for it. He's going to pay. It was as good as done, therefore. If God has justified us, nobody
can condemn us. That's an impossibility. We're justified. We're declared
to be righteous. through the imputed righteousness
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we don't have any sins. When
our Savior died and God justified us, God declared us to be free
from sin forever. There are no sins on God's record
books recorded against His sheep. There ain't one. If there's even
one, We're gonna be gone jessies, that's for sure. But there's
no sins recorded against us. We're justified. Who can condemn
us when God the Father has justified us? When God says your sins are
forgiven and you stand righteous in my son. And I impute that
righteousness to you. I give it to you freely. And I'll tell you, we're safe
forever because the effectual regenerating grace of the Holy
Spirit can't be reversed. You mean to tell me somebody
can be spiritually alive today and then spiritually dead tomorrow?
Now, I can understand somebody being spiritually dead today
and spiritually alive tomorrow, but not reversed. Yeah, but what
if we sin? We have an Advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous. And it's not what if we sin,
we do sin. We do sin. But we have an Advocate. We have a Mediator. And I'll tell you what, we're
safe because of the guarantee of the Word of God. Eternal life is a gift of God. Romans 11, 29, the gifts and
callings of God are without repentance. He's not gonna take it back.
He's not gonna change his mind about you. A fellow told me one
time, he said, I'm afraid that, and this shows poor understanding,
But he said, I'm afraid if God ever finds out what I really
am, I won't get in. I said, let me tell you something.
He knows exactly what you are. He knows what you are in yourself. And if you're a believer, he
knows what you are in Christ. He's never going to turn his
back on you. Jude says we're preserved in
Christ Jesus and called. Actually, a calling follows being
preserved. Who do you think preserved you
all those years when you were lost in sin and darkness and
in unbelief? Who was preserving you then?
Well, it wasn't you. It wasn't that false religion
that you embraced. You are preserved in Christ. And then we're safe because the
work of Christ as our advocate and intercessor can never fail. We have a heavenly lawyer. We got somebody who speaks for
us at the throne of God. And he doesn't have to lay out
arguments why we should be spared. His wounds show that we must
be spared. He received those wounds in the
house of his friends. He received the wounds our shepherd
did when he suffered, bled, and died for us. You see, the Father
always looks at the wounds, and the wounds guarantee us eternal
safety. God's eye is always on the blood. And I'll tell you, we're safe
because we're in the hand of the shepherd. That's what he
says here. He says, they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. I'll tell you
what, his hands are nail-scarred hands. They're nail-pierced hands,
hands wounded in securing our salvation. He has the hand of omnipotent
power. His hand in his hand is the scepter
of sovereign dominion over all things. Our names are graven on his hands,
right? That's why it's impossible for
any of the sheep to perish. Follow that song that Alan and
Gail sing. I love to hear them sing it,
A Debtor to Mercy, by Augustus Toplady, one of my favorite writers,
preachers, songwriters. I just admire him so much. A
debtor to mercy alone, he wrote, of covenant mercy I sing, nor
fear with thy righteousness on my person and offerings to bring. The terrors of law and of God
with me have nothing to do. My Savior's obedience and blood
hide all my transgressions from view. The work which His goodness
began, the arm of His strength will complete. His promise is
yea and amen and never was forfeited yet. things future, nor things
that are now, not all things below or above can make him his
purpose forego or sever my soul from his love. And I love this
verse. My name from the palms of his
hands, eternity will not erase. impressed on his heart it remains
in marks of indelible grace. Yes, yes, I to the end shall
endure, as sure as the earnest is given." Who's the earnest?
That's the Spirit of God. And more happy, but not more
secure, the glorified spirits in heaven. We're kept. We're kept. We're kept because
we're in the hands of the shepherd and then we're safe and secure
because we're in the hand of the father. That's what he says
down here. He says in verse 29, my father
which gave them me is greater than all and no man is able to
pluck them out of my father's hand. God who made the world, God who
rules the world, God who sent His Son. Is anything too hard
for the Lord? We're in His hand. Oh, what a happy place to be
in the hand of God. Let others have whatever it is
of the toys of this world that they want. But let me be hidden
in the hand of my God, and I am safe forever. And we're safe because we're
preserved in his heart of love, loved with everlasting love. And we're safe because we're
in Christ. That's powerful. We're united
to our Lord Jesus Christ from all eternity. And in order for
one of the sheep to ever perish, guess what? The shepherds got
to perish because we're one with him. And we're as safe in Christ Jesus
as if we were in glory already. Because in Him, we are. We are. The church is His body. Now what kind of head of the
church would He be if He lost part of His body? Why, it's foolish. What kind of a husband would
he be if he lost part of his bride? Impossible. And I say to all
of you who are the people of God, by all means, keep looking
to Christ. Hold fast your profession without
wavering. You see, that promise of eternal
security does not free us from the responsibility of watching
and praying and using every means that God
gives us to learn more about this glorious Shepherd in his
gospel of saving grace. But know this, our watching and our praying
and our believing and our using every means that God gives us
to keep looking to Christ, that's not why we're kept safe. That's the shepherd's job. I'll tell you, get some comfort
out of this. Get some assurance out of this. He'll hold us fast. He's not
going to let us go. We're eternally secure. Get your songbooks. We'll sing
a closing song. 32. Blessed be the name. Sing verses
1, 2, and 4. I'm not too crazy about that
third stanza. Some words there I don't like.
So just 32, sing verses 1, 2, and 4. Let's stand, finish, we'll
go home.