open your Bibles with me this
evening to John Gospel Chapter 10. And we want to remember Marlene. Kim just showed me a picture
of her eye. She went to bed Saturday night
and got up and is all swelled up. Now she had to bend the doctor
twice in the center of the emergency room this evening. And she's
home now, but boy, it looks bad. And it's an orbital, orbital
what? Periorbital infection. They've
done an MRI, so it's local. It's local. It hasn't been used.
Done her some IV antibiotics this afternoon, and sent her
home. Bless her heart. If Stan would
have been home, we'd have swore they'd been in a fight. But we know Stan's not like that.
No, I'm just joking. Just joking. Said he's glad he
wasn't there. Because of what people accuse
him of, yeah? Well, we had a wonderful weekend. Heard Saturday, Paul
Mahan preached from John 17, 9. I pray for them, not for the
world, but for them that they gave me. Don Fortner preached
on what is the gospel. My word that man preached. And
then Chris Cunningham preached on the words of life. Christ
cast out devils and they said, this is the words of life. And
John Chattinan preached on God is. Do you know God? God is. Oh my, what a day. What a day
of preaching. Just stand and wonder at it. That God would bless me to let
me hear such things. To let me hear such things. I'm
so blessed. So blessed. All right, John 10. 23 down through verse 30. John 10, 22 through 30. And Jesus walked in the temple
in Solomon's porch. Then came the Jews round about
him and said unto him, how long dost thou make us to doubt? If
thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you,
and ye believed not. The works that I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness of me. But ye believe not, because ye
are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. 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 pluck them out of
my father's hands. I and my father are one. Back over here with me in John
10. Let me tell you something while you're doing that. I got
a letter today from a girl in Texas that I met in a meeting,
and her and her husband got married in that meeting. She'd been listening
to me preach. She sent a letter today and a
$350 check to the church. Said she'd put me into rotation. Very encouraging, very sweet,
sweet letter. Very sweet letter. And I remember
her and her husband getting married in one of the meetings at a conference. They got married at a Bible conference.
And one of the first Bible conferences I went to up in Rocky Mountain,
Virginia, Rick and Jenny Williams got married in that Bible conference,
and they've been married. Oh my goodness That's been a
long time ago. They got their first grandbaby
now, but Know a lot of people over the years. You know here
our Lord Jesus Christ said in verse 27 My sheep hear my voice,
and I know them and they follow me 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 pluck them out of my Father's hands. I was
listening to a message by Bruce Crabtree, and he's preaching
on seven things, seven encouragements. And one of the things he mentioned
that was encouraging was that God kept him, that God kept him
saved, that he didn't, he noted he didn't have no ability, no
strength to do it himself, and that the Lord kept him saved. But why do believers, why do
believers keep on keeping on? Why don't they go back into the
world? Why don't they go back into the
world? And we who believe the gospel that God has taught us,
we believe that all for whom Christ died, all that's been
saved by the grace of God are secure in the Lord Jesus Christ,
are secure in Him. Their salvation can never ever
be lost. They can't forfeit it by some
action they do or deeds that they do. They can't forfeit it.
They can't forfeit it. Because we were not saved by
some action that we did. We were not saved by some deed
that we did. We were saved wholly and entirely
and completely by the grace of God given us in Christ. And believers,
they're born from above. They're born from above. They're
born by the Spirit of God, and you can't undo a birth. That's
why people who believe you can be lost again or can backslide,
they, but you know, how do you undo a birth? You can't undo
a birth. And if God gives you the new
birth and it's God in you and Christ in you, the hope of glory,
you can't undo that. You can't undo the nature that
God put in you, that holy nature, that new nature, that new creation.
You can't undo that. You can't undo that. But I tell
you what, Shirley asked me what I was going to preach. I told
her I was going to preach on the marvel, the absolute wonder,
the marvel of a believer's security that he has in Christ. It's absolutely
a marvel that you and I are still saved after all these years.
It's a marvel that it is. And I want to deal with several
reasons why. And the first being this, why
our salvation is secure and can never be lost because of the
character of those who are chosen by God. You look at the character
of those who are chosen by God. Now, you look over here in 1
Corinthians chapter 6. You know, Paul says, for you
see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after
the flesh, how that many noble, not many mighty are called. God
chose us the foolish things. foolishness of preaching. The
foolishness of the fact that a man cannot do anything. The
foolishness that it's not by works. The foolishness that it's
not by a man's free will. It's not by a man's works. It's
not by a man's... That's foolishness to the world.
God chose the foolishness of preaching. He chose the foolish
to confound the wise and the weak. Who's weaker than us? That he might confound those
that are mighty. But look what he said here in
1 Corinthians 6 and verse 9. This is why, this is why it's
a marvel and a wonder when you consider those whom God chose. He says in verse 9, 1 Corinthians
6, 9, Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom
of God? Be not deceived. neither fornicators,
nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of
themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards,
nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of
God. Now listen, and such were some of you, but all what happened
you washed. and sanctified, justified in
the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. It's
a marvel that we have our security in Christ and when you consider
who it was that God chose. People like that. And washed
us, justified us, sanctified us through Christ. Our flesh
was as enmity against God as anybody else's. We were strangers
from the covenant of promise just like anybody else. And when
Peter and John and them stood before the Sanhedrin and all
the people that was anybody, they said, these men are ignorant
and unlearned. That's the kind of people God
saves. I remember years ago, Wayne Boyd, when he was out in
Oregon, there's a fellow went off and got him an education,
went up north and went to a reformed seminary up there. and he came
back and him and his wife sat down and they'd been going there
to hear Wayne and then so they had this little small group and
after they was there for a little while they his wife his wife
said to him and his wife and Wayne and his wife said we can't
continue here said you're just too simple for us you know with
our education and our abilities you you're just too simple for
us so they left because he's too simple too educated educated
themselves right out of the kingdom of God But oh my, may that be
said about me. You're too simple. God, you know what God does for
the simple? He saves them. He saves them.
And oh beloved, not only in the character, you think the marvel
of our security in the character of those chosen by God. The weak,
the foolish, nobodies, nobodies. You consider the people that's
up and coming in this community right here. Who are we to them?
And oh, not only that, but here's another reason the marvel of
the saint's security is in the fewness of them that believe.
You know how few believers there are in this world? How few they
are? Look in Deuteronomy chapter seven.
Look in Deuteronomy seven. Fifth book of the Bible. Fifth
book of the Bible. Oh, the marvel of the saint's
security and the character of those that God chose, ignorant,
unlearned, strangers, And look what he says here about this.
Oh, it's a marvel that they're saved in the fewness of them.
He said in verse seven of chapter seven, the Lord did not set his
love upon you nor choose you because you were more in number
than any people for you were the fewest of all people. Now you think about how many
people at any one time are converted. In Noah's day, you know how many
there was? Eight people is all that God saved. In Enoch's day,
you know how many people walk with God? Enoch. Enoch walked
with God. Abel, Abel the first man mentioned
in the Bible that offered a blood sacrifice was martyred and he
was the only one as far as I know at that time and his brother
despised him for it. And then look at Lot, he was
the only one saved out of Sodom and Gomorrah out of everybody
that was in it. One person was taken out of there.
Just one person. And you know, when Elijah said,
you know, Lord, that he sat down under the juniper tree and he
said, Father, he said, oh, God said, they've killed all your
prophets and they tore down all your altars. And I'm the only
one left. And he really thought he was.
God said, no, that's not right. Said, I got 7000. Now you're
talking about out of millions. I got 7000. Ain't about to need
a bill yet. 7000, 7000. No, beloved, you know what our
Lord Jesus Christ said? Fear not, little flock. It's
your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. It's good
pleasure. And you know it, look, straight
is the gate, narrow is the way. And what does it say? Few, few,
that be the thought. So it's a marvel, and not only
that we're the secure, considering the kind of people that the Lord
chose, how few of them that they are. And here's another marvel,
a marvel that we're secured all in Christ and being saved. Here's the third reason why,
is God leaves us in the world. He leaves us in the world. John
17. John 17. He leaves us in the world. Now
you think about this. We're in this world. We're in
a world that don't know God, don't care about God. All they
care about is materialism, philosophy, politics, economics, and making
money, making money. But oh, listen, God takes His
people that He chose. and how few they are just so
few of them when our Lord Jesus got through preaching you know
when he when he ascended to glory you know how many people were
gathered together after our Lord preached for three years on this
earth 120 people was all there was 120 people that gathered
together that was more than that in that conference that we had
up there this weekend Oh, listen, look what our Lord Jesus said
here. Oh, the marvel of our security. Look what he says in verse 11.
And now I am no more in the world, but these are, these are in the
world. And I come to thee, Holy Father,
keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that
when it's all said and done, they may be one, even as we are
one. Oh, he said, I'm not longer in
the world, but they are. And look what he says down here
in verse 15. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out
of the world. He could do that. He could save us and took us
straight to glory had he chosen. But he said, I pray not that
you take them out of the world, but here's why while they're
in the world, keep them, keep them, keep them from the evil
one. Keep them from that devil. Keep
them from the evil one. Now, we'll show you another thing
too about God leaving us in this world. 1 John 5, 4. We went through
this here a while back. 1 John 5, 4. Here's the thing. Oh, what a marvel that we're
secure at all because the type of people God chose. How few
of them there are, and then we're left in this world. Look what
he said here in chapter 5 in verse 4. For whatsoever is born of God,
listen to this now, overcomes the world. Who overcomes the
world? Them that are born of God overcome the world. And this is the victory that
overcometh the world, even our pain. Now, what is he talking
about overcoming the world? Oh, who does it? Those that are
born of God. We overcome the world's philosophy.
The world by wisdom didn't know God. We're too wise to know God. What in the world is this world's
wisdom ever done for a child of God? What university can you
go to out of the top universities in this country where you can
go and learn something about God? You can learn philosophy.
You can learn God don't exist. You can learn you're a fool if
you believe in Christ. You're a worse fool if you believe
the Bible. Oh, we've overcome the world's
philosophy. People make fun of it. We overcome
the desire to be recognized. We don't have to be recognized.
We don't have to have somebody say something good about us.
We don't have to be recognized. Oh, get upset. I remember one
time a preacher, and he used to come here all the time in
all of our conferences, but one time somebody didn't recognize
him. And he ain't been back for years.
And that's what he said. He said, they didn't even recognize
me. A la-dee-da. Ain't that a crying shame? I
remember being at 13th Street one time, and Henry was looking
at me, looking, I thought he was going to ask me to preach,
and I ducked down behind somebody so he wouldn't see me. Oh my, it ain't, you know, we
don't have to be recognized. That's what the werewolves, they
want to be recognized. They do it in the churches. We
got Grandpa's Day, and Granny's Day, and Old Fashioned Day, and
Cowboy Day, and Children's Day, and all, every kind of day you
can, all folks' day. Divorced people's day, and single
people's day, and married people's day. I mean, they come up with
every kind of day you can think of to make folks, who's the oldest
mother here today? Stand up, let me see. Who's the
youngest mother? Who's the new baby? Gotta be
recognized. And if you don't do it, get offended. They don't even recognize the
flesh there. Let me tell you something about
services. You know why our services are
so simple? And I've thought about this a
lot. All's we do is get up and sing
a couple of hymns. Somebody reads the scriptures
and we pray. And then we preach. You know why we do that? We don't
give the flesh any opportunity to do anything but can be fronted
with things of God and Christ. Because if you let the flesh
get involved, then the flesh will take over. Ain't that right? And I tell you, we've overcome
the desire to be recognized. We're overcome over wanting to
be approved by the world. And I'll tell you this much about
why it's a marvel that God left us in the world and we've overcome
the world by our faith, is we've overcome materialism. We don't
have to have everything that everybody else seems to think
that, I just can't live without that. Well, we can live without
a lot of things, can't we? We're not just out here looking
for something to spend money on. Are we joking? We got more
we know what to do with now, huh? When you move, you know
what? When you move, I guarantee you,
you'll throw away 25 to 30% of the stuff you got in your house
when you move. Oh, what did I keep that for? What am I doing with that? The
way it goes, the way it goes. And I'll tell you another reason
why this is a marvel of the same security. is the old nature. This is a wonder that we're secure.
That's why our Lord gives us eternal life. Says we'll never
perish. No man's able to pluck us out
of his hand. But when you consider us left
in this world, the character of those that's chosen, and the
fewness of them that believe, and then God leaving us in the
world, and we still stay secure? And here's another reason. The
old nature is left in us. God didn't take that old nature
out. When He saved us by His grace, He didn't take that old
nature away. Did He? Paul says, you know, he said,
that is in my flesh. dwells no good thing. And when,
it's not I the sin, but the flesh that dwells in me, the sin that
I do, that I wouldn't do, I do. And the things that I hate, I
do. And the things that I love, I
don't do. I have a will to perform, but how to, I have the will to
do it, but how to do it, I don't know how. Huh? We have an old
man, we have an old nature, and I'm going to tell you something
about him. I'm going to tell you something about him. He's
a sorry thing. He's a sorry thing. Paul said
it like this, he said, O wretched man that I am, who shall save
me from this body of death? You know what he's talking about?
He said there's a dead man that I'm carrying with me, and he's
rotten, he's corrupt, and he stinks, and sometimes he gets
so heavy, and I'd love to lay him down, but I can't do it.
I can't get him off. I can't get rid of him. Huh? Oh my. And ain't that the way,
we have this old nature, we have this new nature, and that old
nature is such a burden to us, such a grief to us. And one of
these days, oh, we just feel like we can just reach back there
and throw him away, but we can't. But one of these days we'll be
gone. Oh, listen, and here's the thing
about it. We got to be as holy as God is
holy. Now, how with this old nature
being left in us, how in the world are we going to be as holy
as God told us? We can't do it in this old nature, and we can't
even do it in the new nature. Christ is our sanctification. We're as holy as God's own dear
Son. They sung that up there this
week about near and dear I cannot be. than in God's Son who lived
for me and died for me. And oh listen, you know the old
timer said that a believer is like a wagon being loaded down
with dynamite and he's going through a fire and it don't explode.
And that's about the way it is. We're like a wagon load of dynamite
going through this world and we're going through a fire and
it never blows up. What keeps us from that way?
I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish.
Ain't nobody gonna pluck them out of my hand. Oh, this old
nature, that's a marvel that we're secure and saved and kept
safe because of the old nature being left in us. And let me
give you another reason why. where grace dwells, you know
it dwells in the depraved soul of fallen creatures, fallen creatures. You know the flesh lusts against
the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and you cannot do the
things that you cannot do. There's not one of us that can
do the things that we want to do. We cannot be as spiritual
as we want to be. We just can't do it. There's
whole days that go over our head that we may not even have a spiritual
thought because that's how fallen we are. And then there's other
days that God blesses us and subdues that old nature and that
old nature and all we can do is think about Him and rejoice
in Him and bless Him. But there's a warfare going on. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
Flesh and spirit. Bam, bam, bam, bam. All the time. All the time. And oh, look over here in Psalm
71.7. Look what the psalmist says about it. Psalm 71.7. Ain't it a marvel? Don't you
just stand in utter astonishment that God saves you and keeps
you saved? And knowing what you know about
yourself and the things that goes on. You know, grace was
in Adam. God gave grace to Adam, some
of Adam's fallen race. And here's the thing about it,
that where this grace comes, it purifies the heart. even though
grace dwells in this old corrupt, corrupt nature. You know, I'll
tell you something, God did not give grace to angels. When angels
fell, He didn't give any grace to them. He never raised them
up, never forgave them. But when we fell, oh, when we
fell, God brought an abundance of grace and gives us abundance
of grace. Look what He said here in Psalm
77. Look what He says. I am as a wonder unto many. I'm a wonder to myself. Ain't
you a wonder to yourself that you steal? Oh, ain't you a wonder
to yourself? Why in the world would you have
anything to do with me the way I am? But you know what? He has
a heapsight more than just doing something with you. He loves you from eternity and
gave you an abundance of grace and then he Set this warfare
going in us and I'll tell you why he does that Because if we
didn't have this warfare going in us, we never would seek the
Lord if he didn't leave the flesh in us We never would seek and
that's why we long to be done with this body, huh? And oh my he says oh, I'm as
a wonder unto many. I But thou art my strong refuge. You're the place that I go hide.
And that's strong. When I get in you, you're the
one that's strong. This refuge is what's strong.
It's not the person in it. It's the refuge himself that's
strong. The old Puritans talked about where grace dwells. He
said it's like a fire burning in the ocean all the time. And
that's the way it is. You remember in Bunyan's Pilgrim's
Progress and And Christian and faithful was taken into the interpreter's
house. And that interpreter is the Holy
Spirit. And they took him into the interpreter's
house and they went from room to room. And they come in a room
where there was this fireplace and the fire was burning. And
there was a man standing there throwing buckets of water on
that fire, trying to put it out. And they stood there and wondered,
said, but he's throwing water on that fire and that fire's
not going out. And the interpreter took him around behind. The devil's
throwing water on the fire, but Christ is in the back of it putting
oil on it. The devil wants it out, but Christ
is back there pouring oil on it. And ain't that right? Ain't that the way he does? He got to pour oil on the fire.
It'll go out. It'll go out. Let me give you
one more. Let me give you. another one
here. And I tell you, not only is it
a wonder that we're secure in Christ, considering what we are,
and what we are, and what we've done, and all our old nature
and things. But I'll tell you another one,
the marvel of our saint security is in their exposure to Satan's
attacks. You know, Satan is not interested
in us when we're in the world. And the only place you find him
laboring at is where the gospel's at and where believers are. That's
the only place you ever find him at. He goes about as a roaring
lion, seeking whom he dated by. And you can look for yourself
in Revelations 12, 4. He took, when he fell, when Lucifer
fell and became Satan, when he fell, he took a third, a third
of the angels in heaven with him. And they fell from heaven
with him. And so he took a third of the
angels. And look over here in 2 Corinthians 11. This is what
the scripture says about him. And oh, for us, for us, you know,
to stay secure with Satan and him attacking us and seeking
to destroy us. Oh my, he's an angel of light
and he's subtle. Look what the apostle said here
in verse three of 2 Corinthians 11. Oh, Satan, he's the accuser
of the brethren. But I fear, lest by any means,
as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, through his craftiness. So your minds should be corrupted
from the simplicity or the singularity that's in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what he wants to do. He
wants to get your mind off Christ, wants to get you off on other
things. But oh, listen. And then look what he says down
in verse 14. And no marvel for Satan himself is transformed
into an angel of light. He's subtle, he's crafty, and
it would be a miracle to continue even if there were no devil.
And Adam fell the first time he was tempted. The first time
he was tempted, he fell. What if we fail the first time
we was tempted? And you take Job? Oh, Job? When Satan was turned loose on
him, you know what Job said? He said, the Lord knows that
the way that I take, and when he hath tried me, I shall come
forth as gold. I'll trust him though he slay
me. And it was all Satan's work on him. And David, David. Oh my, the things that he went
through. Joshua, the high priest, he said, Satan stood at his right
hand. And our Lord Jesus told Simon
Peter, Simon, Satan has sought to sift you as wheat. He sought
to sift you. He wants to sift you. But you
know what? I prayed for you. I prayed for
you that your faith fell not. Satan's pouring water, Christ's
pouring oil. My Paul told him this he said
I would have come to you sooner, but Satan hindered Satan hindered
And you know how we're overcomers you won't read how we overcome
Revelations 12 11 you know how what makes us overcome? talking
about overcoming Overcoming look what he says here in chapter
12 Romans 12 and verse 11 I And they overcame him. Look in
verse 10 to get set this up. And I heard a loud voice in heaven
saying, now has come salvation and strength in the kingdom of
God and the power of our Christ. For the accuser of our brethren,
Satan, is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
And they overcame him, listen, by the blood of the Lamb. By
the blood of the Lamb. I don't see no blood. God takes
the Holy Spirit and applies the blood to us. God said, when I
see the blood, I'm gonna pass over you. They overcame him by
the blood of the Lamb, and listen to this, by the word of their
testimony. What do we testify? Christ. Christ is whole and in all. Christ
is our salvation. Christ is our righteousness.
Christ is our redemption. Christ is our wisdom. Christ
is everything to us. And He's access by whom we have
to God. That's our testimony. We have
no other testimony. How does God save you? Christ.
How does God keep you safe? Christ. Where's your righteousness? Christ. Where's your strength?
Christ. Where do you get grace? From
Christ. Oh my, and look what he says. And they didn't even
love their lives unto death. I don't love my life enough to
want to stay here forever. Well, I got four or five more
points, but I'll save them the next week maybe. Save them the
next week. That's enough, ain't it? But
you know, you see what I say about the marvel of the saint
security? Considering us and all being in the world, having
our own nature, where grace dwells, how few of us they are, Satan,
it's a marvel. It's a marvel that we're here
tonight. Absolute marvel. And you know what? If God lets
us live another year, it'll be a marvel we'll still be here. We'll still be coming. We'll
still be hearing the gospel. You'll still be hearing this
old fellow singing the same note. He's plucking that same old string.
Well, if you find the right one, why pluck another? If you got
the right note, I don't know how to sing, but I do know the
right note to hit when it comes to preaching. Amen. Oh, thank
God for salvation. I give, I give. unto them eternal
life. They shall never perish. And
ain't no man ever going to pluck them out of my hand. They're
going to try. Things are going to try. The world's going to
try. Satan's going to try. The flesh is going to try. Oh,
so many things that we'll go through that'll try. But you
know why you won't? He said, no man's able to pluck
them out of my hand. And my Father which gave them
me is greater than all. And no man's able to pluck him
out of his head. And that's the reason. And it's
a wonder that we stay safe. Oh, Father, Father, Father. Oh,
Abba, Father. Our blessed, blessed Savior.
Thank you for your abundance of grace given us in Christ.
Thank you for this salvation that's secure, that's real, that
keeps us keeping on, keeping on. Lord, we don't want to be
of those who, like the sow goes back to wallowing in the mire,
or the dog who returns to his vomit. Oh no, Lord, we want to
believe, believe, and believe, believe to the saving of our
souls, waiting patiently for the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ. And Father, I thank you for these
saints who have kept on keeping on all these years, year after
year after year after year after year. coming, hearing the same
thing over and over, and yet they come with joy, they come
with faith, they come sometimes discouraged, they come sometimes
weak, they come sometimes sick, sometimes troubled, but Lord
they come, and they come because of you and what you do for us. Bless these dear saints. Please,
please do something for Marlene. Bless her, encourage her, strengthen
her, and may the, may her eye go back to normal. We thank you
for her. Thank you for your blessed spirit.
We thank you in Christ's name. Amen.