Let's go back to that portion
of Scripture he read to us there from John chapter 10. My subject this evening is divine
preservation. I want to talk about God preserving
His people. I'm not ashamed to say that I
hold the doctrinal position that has been historically held by
Baptists. I believe in Salvation Mother,
sovereign grace of our God. We are not Protestants. And we are not Reformed. We didn't come out of the Church
of Rome. We're Baptists. We're Baptists. I know that some Baptist congregations
have dropped the name Baptist from their church name, which
is their privilege to do if they choose to do that. And I've asked
people the reason that they dropped the name Baptist. They say, well,
you've always got to explain to people what kind of Baptist
you are. And my response is, well, no
matter what is the name of your church, you're going to have
to explain to them what kind of church you are and what you
believe. And I choose to hang on to the
name of Baptist even though most Baptist churches aren't really
Baptist at all, at least not in belief. They've just hijacked
the name. But they don't believe that which
is historically the beliefs of the Baptist church. Position of Baptist has always
been that of a very strong belief in salvation by sovereign grace. We believe what has been set
forth in an acronym that is in the word TULIP. We do believe
in total depravity. Doesn't mean men are as bad as
they can be. Thank God he restrains evil.
It does mean that we have no spiritual life nor ability. We are spiritually dead. We believe
in God's unconditional election, that everlasting decree of God wherein He ordained, He chose
the people who would be the recipients of His grace and of His mercy. He set those people aside for
Himself, even from old eternity. He's always referred to these
people as being His, His people, His election. We believe further
in limited, what's called limited atonement, effectual atonement
or redemption, a successful redemption, In order for God's elect people
to be saved, the Son of God had to take our flesh into union
with his deity. And then he had to live a life
of perfection, thereby showing himself to be that perfect one
suitable to be sacrificed by God for the sins of his people. It's like the Passover lambs
had to be without spot and without blemish. They had to be fully
qualified. A male of the first year, so
that one who would save us had to be fully qualified before
God to be our substitute and to be His sacrifice for sin. And when He died upon the cross
of Calvary, It was a redemption that actually redeemed. It was a work of reconciliation
that fully reconciled us unto God. He saved us by the shedding
of His blood. Know this, all of the salvation
of God's people has always been dependent upon our Savior. And He Himself had to lay down
His life in order to save us from our sins. And having done
that, to the satisfaction of God, He took that life again.
And God welcomed him home to glory. He said, sit here at my
right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool. Further,
we believe in what's called irresistible grace. That is, the Spirit of
God takes the gospel word, the good news of the person and work
of the Lord Jesus, And the Spirit of God opens up our hearts and makes us willing to believe
that salvation is altogether a grace and altogether by the
wonderful Person of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's an irresistible
call. It's an irresistible work. And
then there is the perseverance of the saints. Those whom God
chose, the Son redeemed. The Spirit of God is quickened.
These will continue to believe the Gospel because of God's effectual
grace. You see, the Spirit of God has
given to us a life that will never die. Thank God for divine preservation. Make sure you understand this.
There is a difference between the perseverance of the saints
and that which we would call the preservation of the saints. The people of God hold on to
the end. We continue believing. And the
reason we continue believing is because God preserves us.
He keeps us. The Father keeps us. Jude 1 says
the Son of God keeps us. He preserves us. And the Spirit
of Grace preserves us as well. Job said, the righteous also
shall hold on His way. And you have heard accurately
from this very pulpit for many, many years, those of you who
have been here, this absolutely truthful saying, true believers
don't quit. They don't quit. They get discouraged. They fall. They sin. Do things we ought
not do. We don't do some things that
we should do. But one thing that is absolutely
guaranteed of all of the people of God, they just keep on believing. They don't quit. I don't know about you, but here's
the way I look at it, and I suspect that you look at it the same
way I do. God won't let me quit. He won't leave me, and He makes sure that I don't leave
Him. He keeps me. He keeps me. Through doubts and fears, through
troubles, through disappointments, He keeps me. And I'm thankful to say that
God, who has never let me go, He will never let me go. And the reason I do have a wonderful
security, the reason I'm being divinely preserved is because
that which is at stake is not merely my everlasting
life, but there's something greater. That's the glory of God. And if I'm not kept, if God chose
me unto salvation, and the Savior bought me with
His blood, and the Spirit of God has quickened me by His grace. He's called me effectually to
believe this wonderful person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ
and find my hope for eternity and salvation only in Him. If I should at last fail to make
it home to Heaven itself, yes, I'll lose my soul. but God
will lose His glory. And I'll tell you, that can never
happen. He's actually got more at stake
than I do. The very glory of the Father
is based upon all of His people being divinely preserved. The
very glory of the Son of God is dependent upon all those that
He redeemed being safely brought home to glory. And the very glory of God the
Spirit is at stake. For He's the one who came to
me in the darkness of my spiritual night, gave me light. When I was dead, He gave me life. And He didn't just speak to me,
though He did that, He came in to dwell with me. He opened my heart and He made
a welcome in my soul for the Lord Jesus and for that salvation
that is altogether of grace. I'm divinely preserved. That's
what I want to talk about tonight. Divine preservation. Here's what I want to, here are
the verses I want to set before you. And you know them well,
John 10, 27 through 30. The Savior is speaking. He has
already been set forth in the first half of this chapter, down
through about verse 21. He's been set forth as the shepherd
of the sheep, and you know that very well. And then between verses
21 and 22, about eight weeks go by. during which time we don't know
exactly what happened, but about two months go by between verses
21 and 22, and then our Lord is in Jerusalem at the Feast
of the Dedication. And He asked some people who
were in opposition to Him, come to Him, and basically they said,
if you're really the Christ, why don't you just tell us plainly?
Give us more evidence and we'll believe you. They had had a multitude
of evidence presented to them that he was the Christ of God,
that he was the Messiah. They didn't have any interest
in any more information, any more evidence. They had wrath in their hearts,
anger in their hearts toward Jesus of Nazareth. And they're
not gonna be satisfied until he dies. After he said, I and my father
won, they were ready to stone him. And that's not the first
occasion. They were out to kill him. Why,
his enemies had been out to kill him ever since he was born. The evil one would do away with
him. Couldn't be done. He will not
die until God says, it is time for thee Passover lamb to die. He will die right on schedule. These people were in opposition
to Him. And they weren't His sheep. They were goats. Know this, that
all of the world, everybody who will ever live really is in one
of two camps. Sheep or goats. That's all there are. The children
of God and the children of the evil one. Just two groups of
people. We say, well, what is the evidence
that you're in one group or the other? Those who believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, who submit to Him, who bow to Him, who believe
Him, who rest in Him for all of their salvation, That's what the sheep do. You see, the sheep, they are
made to realize they need the shepherd. They're nothing without
the shepherd. Sheep are weak. Sheep are not
so smart. Sheep naturally go astray. If
one finds an opening in the hedge, the rest of them will follow
him. Sheep are not the smartest creatures that God ever made,
but they're a beautiful picture of the people of God. We're the
sheep of His pasture. But He makes sure that we never
leave. These people who were in opposition
to Him, they were goats. In fact, He even says to them
in verse 26, but you believe not. And here's the reason. You're
not of my sheep. You see, the evidence of being
one of his sheep is you believe him. You don't just voice those
words, I believe him, in your heart of hearts. He's your only
hope of glory. He's all your wisdom. He's all
your righteousness. He's all of your sanctification.
He's all of your redemption. So our Lord, after having said
that to them, He continues to speak. Verse 27. notwithstanding their refusal
to hear him, he says this, my sheep hear my voice. And I know them and they follow
me. 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, and no man is able to plug them out of my
Father's hand. I and my Father are one." Let
me give you seven things very briefly. Number one, here's a
divine distinction. He says, my sheep, my sheep. These sheep are owned by the
shepherd. the Jews who rebelled against him, who had no interest
in him. By their unbelief and by their
persistent rebellion, they revealed they were not his sheep. But he says, I do have my sheep. He is the shepherd who will never
be disappointed. You see, the purpose of God can't
be frustrated. God's purpose of election unto
salvation, that can't be frustrated. The redemptive work of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that cannot be annulled. The work of the Spirit of God,
that cannot be reversed. These are His sheep. How long
have they been His sheep? From old eternity. He says, they're
my sheep. It's a very sweet thought to
all of the children of God that the one who says this to these
goats is that one who is our shepherd of whom David wrote
and said, the Lord is my shepherd. I don't know who your shepherd
is. If he's the shepherd who wants to help you, but he can't
unless you cooperate, he's not the Lord. The only shepherd who
can save and protect his sheep and see them safely all the way
home to glory is the shepherd who is the Lord. And this God-man, by his faithfulness
to do the work of redemption that God gave him, God therefore
rewarded him, and God made him Lord. I see these signs around town. I'm tempted to stop and ask somebody,
what do you mean by that, Jesus in 2022? I told Nancy today,
He's not running for office. He doesn't want to be your Lord.
He's not asking you, will you make me Lord of your life? He
is Lord. He's not running for office.
God made him Lord. God seated him on his throne. And this shepherd is our Lord,
and this Lord is our shepherd. And he has his sheep. Here's
a divine distinction. In old eternity, God made a distinction. between the election and the
rest. That's what it says in Romans
chapter 11. The election hath obtained it, and then there's
the rest. They're just two groups of people.
And that distinction, that fine line of distinction is one made
by God himself. And if you want to see this illustrated,
our Lord illustrated it in Luke chapter four. There were many
widows in Israel in the days of Elijah. They were all hungry,
needy, starving. And God didn't send His preacher
to any of the widows of Israel. He sent Elijah to a Gentile woman,
a Gentile widow. And God provided for her and
did not provide, He wasn't pleased to provide for the Jewish widows
of which there were many widows in Israel due to the battles
that the Israelite men had fought in. God made a distinction. When our Lord said that in Luke
chapter 4, there was a rumbling in the crowd. But He wasn't finished. He kind of said, point number
two. There were many lepers in Israel
in the days of Elisha. God didn't send a preacher to
any of them. He didn't send a prophet to any of them. He sent Elisha
to a Syrian general who was a leper. And when our Lord set forth the
distinction of grace, they were ready to kill Him.
And I'll tell you this, if you clearly in your vocabulary, in
your words to your friends and your family, if you set forth
this divine distinction of salvation, that God has a people, Well,
they probably won't be ready to kill you, but they'll be ready
to ostracize you, and you won't fit in their club. And even with
your family, they'll still love you, but that's a subject that will
be off limits. You know what I mean. Several
of you do. Our Lord made a distinction.
This is divine distinction made back in old eternity. And forget
about that old saying, you know, God voted for you, the devil
voted against you, now you cast the deciding vote. The only vote
that was cast was that by God. He said, these will be my people. And in the everlasting covenant
of grace written in the Lamb's book of life were all the names
of all of those people that God would be sovereignly gracious
to through the Lord Jesus Christ. And God said, these are my people. These are my people. Everybody
else is gonna be judged out of the books according to their
works. Thank God there's another book
on the open. It's the book of life. The Lamb's
book of life. Here's a divine distinction.
Number two. Here's the divine voice. He says,
my sheep, hear my voice. What is the shepherd's voice?
It is the gospel of redeeming grace. That's the shepherd's
voice. I spoke this morning and read
you from Proverbs chapter 1. God said, I've called and you
refuse. That's the general call. It goes forth. Preachers make
it. The Word of God, as I read the Word of God, the general
call goes forth. Come to Christ. Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. Providence. Things happen in
your life to warn you. But know this at general call
of the gospel, nobody will ever hear that voice, not down in
their hearts. The Lord has to speak. And when
He speaks to you, you will hear. He'll make sure you hear. The Scripture says of Lydia,
the Lord opened her heart and she attended to the word that
was spoken. That's when you'll believe. Not
when you decide. Not when you exercise your so-called
free will. But when the voice of God speaks
in your heart, that's when you'll hear. And it won't be any argument. won't be fussing on your part. You won't be saying stuff like
that. Well, if that's the gospel, I'm not going to believe it.
No. You'll say, this is God's way of saving sinners by grace
alone, through the doing and the dying of the Son of God alone. Who taught you that? God taught you that. This is
the divine voice. He calls His sheep out of darkness
into light. And earlier in John 10, He calls
His sheep by name. We hear His voice. It's not an
audible voice. But believe you me, it's very
real. It's very real. Number three, here's the divine
knowledge. He says, I know them. This is
a knowledge of love. It's a knowledge of affection. I know them. I love them. My sheep hear my voice and I
know them. I've always known them. This
is a word of affection, you see. Divine knowledge. There came
a point in time when the Lord introduced Himself to me. I heard
His voice. I was brought by the grace of
God to believe the Gospel. Then I can say, I could say then,
I know the Lord. Somebody says, Jim, do you know
the Lord? Yes, I know the Lord. But He's always known me. He's always known me. He's known
me from eternity. And He knows me in time. He knew
me from my mother's womb. He knew where I was going to
be born because He ordained it. He knew the family into which
I'd be born because He ordained it. He knew me. He loved me. And this is true not only of
me, but it's true of all of His sheep. I've known them. He's always known you. Why, this
is the very foreknowledge of God. It's a loving foredonation. And then number four, here's
a divine gift. I give unto them eternal life. I give. And such is the magnificent and
miraculous way that He gives this eternal life. When He gives
it, you want it. He makes you want it. He makes
you want Him. Not just want to know more about
doctrine. But I want to know Him. Paul
said, I want to know Him and the power of His resurrection.
I want to know Him. Because this is eternal life. To know God and His Son Christ
Jesus whom He sent. I want to know God. I don't want
to just know tulip. I don't want to just know doctrine. There are a lot of people, Barnard
used to say, who are as straight doctrinally as a shotgun barrel,
but just as empty. I love doctrine, but our Lord
Jesus is the very life of doctrine. That's what you gotta understand.
Doctrine is good. It's good, it's profitable. But
doctrine without the Lord Jesus is just the dead letter. That's
all it is. I'm telling you the truth. And
there are a lot of people who say, I'm a five-point Calvinist. Whoopee, good for you. Do you know the God of grace?
Do you know Him through the Lord Jesus Christ? Here's the divine gift I give
unto them eternal life. I preached this morning Romans
6.23, for the wages of sin is death, but, but the gift of God
is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. I told somebody
back in the vestibule this morning, I'm so thankful God is the God
who butts in. But God, but God, Ephesians chapter
1 talks about how we're dead in trespasses and sins. But God
who is rich in mercy for His great love wherewith He loved
us in Christ. Not but you, not but you decide
it. But you decide you'd give God
permission to do something for it. No. But God who is rich in
mercy He melted your heart. He caused you to see what you
are by nature. And He enabled you to see the
remedy for your disease. Our Lord Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. Here's the divine gift, eternal
life. Life by His death. like by his death. In Egypt,
God got death at every house. In Egypt, God got blood at every
house. The blood of the firstborn or
the blood of the approved substitute. God's gonna get blood from every
one of us or from a suitable substitute. I'm looking to the substitute
only, aren't you? He's my only hope. Life by his
death. And then here is number five,
divine assurance. And they shall never perish. They shall never perish, neither
shall any man pluck them out of my hands, his hands. I think
about the hands of our Lord Jesus, I think about nail-scarred hands. Hands that were wounded in saving
me, wounded in redeeming me, wounded in buying me. Hands that hold me. Hands that
embrace me. I think of His hand of grace
that reached down into the miry clay, into the muck and mud and
filth of sin and who lifted me up and set my feet on a rock
Himself. Christ is the rock. He did that
for me and He washed me in His blood. And He robed me with the
garments of salvation And God sees in me no sin or iniquity. He did that for me. This is my divine assurance. He holds me. I'm not going to go far. I may
wander off, but He's not going to let me go very far. There's His eternal suretyship,
His substitutionary work, His intercessory work. You see, my
preservation is all of His responsibility. He's got to keep me. He bought
me. He paid for me. He drew me unto
Himself. He's got to keep me safe. He's
got to take me all the way home to glory. That's the only kind
of salvation that's worth having. He holds us in His hands. It
doesn't matter who you are. It doesn't matter how young your
faith is. He'll keep you. He says they
shall never perish. Well, what if I sin? The shepherd
says they shall never perish. What if I slip up and fall? They
shall never perish. What if I'm a disappointment
to my church family? They shall never perish. What
if I say things I ought not to say? What if I lose my temper?
They shall never perish. That's His Word. And here is
divine security, number 6, verse 28, end of it says, Neither shall
any man pluck them out of my hand." Then 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.'" We're in the Father's hand. In
the Son's hand, He's in the Father's hand. You can't get any more
saint than that. Here's divine preservation. These
people running around here saying, you're going to lose your salvation. Well, yeah, you'll lose your
salvation if you did something to get it. But the Bible's salvation is
a salvation that's all of the Lord. In purpose, in purchase,
in power, in preservation, in perfection. He whom God saves,
God's safe forever. Divine security. And here's the
last thing. Here is divine agreement. I and
my Father are one. And I know he's identifying himself
as being God, equal with the Father. But here is also divine
agreement. I and my Father joined together
on this. And we're one on this. Let all hell be opposed to the
church. And all hell is. The gates of hell try to prevail
against His church. Can't happen. They won't be successful. Because here's divine agreement.
I and my Father are one. You go home tonight, you who
are the people of God, just remember this. The Father is for you. And if
He's for you, who can be against you? The Father's for you in
electing grace. The Son of God is for you in
redeeming grace. And the Spirit of God is for
you in keeping grace. This is divine preservation. Go home. Kick your feet up in
your easy chair. Close your eyes and think about
this. I'm preserved by my great shepherd. Let come what may. Maybe like Brother Brady, I'll
have a stroke tonight. Or I'll have a heart attack.
Or I'll go out into eternity. or I'll have some aches and pains,
and they'll say, Jim, you got cancer, stage four cancer, whatever. I don't, whatever. I have no
idea what the future holds, but I do know this. I'm divinely
preserved. Let come what may. It's all all
right. Everything just fine. Thank you
very much. Now you go home and meditate
on these things. Let's sing a closing song.