Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. Welcome to our program. Now today
I'm going to be teaching in the book of John chapter 10. And the title of the message
is, They Shall Never Perish. And that title is taken from
John chapter 10, verse 28. But let me begin by reading verse
27, where the Lord Jesus Christ speaking of his sheep. Now his
sheep are his people. There are a lot of names in the
scripture for the true people of God. They're called God's
elect. God has an elect people out of
every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation, chosen in Christ
before the foundation of the world. They're referred to as
those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. And
then they're referred to as the church collectively, the church,
the word church literally means called out ones, ones who are
called out of the world and into the gathering of God's family. And that's another name, the
family of God, the children of God, we could go on. Well, one
name for the true people of God is the sheep. There are goats
and then there are sheep. And here's what Christ said in
John 10 in verse 27. He said, my sheep hear my voice
and I know them and they follow me. In verse 28, and I give unto
them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall any
man pluck them out of my hand. And let's read verse 29 and 30.
He says, my father, which gave them me is greater than all.
And no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand. I and
my father are one. So we're gonna focus in on the
phrase, they shall never perish. Now this message is one of a
series of messages that I'm preaching. giving to you on our TV program
concerning the subject of the eternal security of the believer,
the eternal security of the saved. And what my whole point is, is
this, that the Bible teaches, the Bible teaches that once a
person is truly saved, not just claims salvation, But once a
person is truly saved, they are forever saved, and they shall
never perish. That's the title. The doctrine
of eternal security is such an important foundational truth
of the scripture and of the gospel of God's grace itself in Jesus
Christ that we cannot ignore it. And I'll be honest with you,
and I'm not just saying this to be mean or to be unkind or
to be divisive, but my friend, I want you to know it is not
a doctrine that Christians can disagree on. I know there are
a lot of people who claim to be Christian. They believe you
can be saved one day and lost the next. That's not what the
Bible teaches. The doctrine of eternal security
is founded upon the fact that salvation is totally of God,
through Jesus Christ, by His grace, which states that not
only are we saved by grace, but we are preserved, kept by the
grace of God and ultimately we who are saved will be brought
to final glory by the grace of God. And the gospel which states
that all of salvation is conditioned on not you or me but on Jesus
Christ and what he accomplished at Calvary's cross to put away
the sins of his people and establish righteousness what the Bible
calls the very righteousness of God by which God is able to
justify the ungodly. And it's through that righteousness
of God that sinners are given life from above by the Holy Spirit. Now, as you know, one of the
main objections to the eternal security of the believer, the
eternal security of the saved, is people say, well, that means
that you can go sin as much as you want to. And that is not
what the doctrine of eternal security from the Bible teaches.
Now, there are some people who disagree with it, who make that
claim in order to to support their own claim of being saved
one day and lost the next. There are others who use grace
for an excuse to sin, but that's not the gospel. That's not the
doctrine of eternal security. That is a perversion of it. You
remember the Apostle Paul, we dealt with this a few weeks back,
how the Apostle Paul anticipated that objection when he brought
forth in such vivid language how all of salvation is based
on not what we do for Christ, but based on what he's done for
us, his people, based on his righteousness imputed alone.
And people say, well then, if what I do doesn't determine my
salvation, then why should I obey? What motivation is there? Should
I just sin that grace may abound? And Paul wrote, God forbid. You
see, grace is not only, salvation is not only what Christ does
for us on the cross. That's the basis. That's the
foundation. That's the ground of salvation.
exclusively what Christ in himself alone did for his people on the
cross. That's the only ground of salvation.
But salvation is not only what he does for his people, it's
also what he does within his people, and that too is by his
power and by his grace. It's not of our power or our
grace. You see, salvation is a work
of God's grace through the substitute, the surety, the representative,
Jesus Christ on the cross. And he says that here in verse
14. Look at John chapter 10. And he's been talking about how
he is the door into the sheepfold. He is the way of salvation. And
he says in verse 14 of John 10, he said, I am the good shepherd
and know my sheep and am known of mine." Now, He's the Good
Shepherd, but before that, in verse 11, look back up at John
10 and verse 11. He said, I am the Good Shepherd.
The Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep. Christ gave His life for His
sheep. For whom did Jesus Christ die? Well, people today just assume,
well, he died for everybody and everyone without exception. That's
not what the Bible teaches. My friend, if Christ died for
everyone without exception, even for those who perish in eternal
damnation, then salvation cannot be by grace. You see, it's not
Christ who makes the difference between saved and lost, it's
you or me. And the Bible says that we're
sinners, totally depraved, that we don't have righteousness,
we can't work righteousness, and we don't want it God's way.
The Bible teaches that if salvation were conditioned on us in any
way, to any degree, at any stage, we would perish. But Christ has
a people. And they're called His sheep.
And He said there, I'm the Good Shepherd. I give my life for
the sheep. That's what He does, the Good Shepherd. Now why did
He give His life? He gave His life because He agreed
before the foundation of the world to pay the full price of
their redemption. He agreed. He and the Father
and the Spirit agreed in the everlasting covenant of grace.
He agreed to be their surety. which means their sins, the debt,
the demerit of all their sins was imputed to him. And so he
agreed, he laid down his life to pay that debt, to pay the
penalty, to satisfy the justice of God. You see, God is holy.
And he cannot save sinners, he cannot forgive sin, he cannot
love sinners apart from his holy law and justice being satisfied. And in order for that to happen,
the Good Shepherd here, who is Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
Emmanuel, God with us, the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ, who
is the Son of God, gives his life the wages of sin in their
place as their surety and substitute and representative. And in doing
that, giving His life, He brought forth an everlasting righteousness
of infinite value whereby God could justify the ungodly. Now,
what Christ did in giving His life as the Good Shepherd ensures
the salvation of His sheep. And not only ensures it, it demands
it. He says it. Look back at verse
14, John 10. He says, I'm the good shepherd
and know my sheep. He knew for whom he died. He
knew his people. He foreknew them before the foundation
of the world. And he says, and am known of
mine. In other words, he knows them
and they know him. Now, that doesn't mean if you're
one of his sheep, you always knew him. You see, if you're
one of his sheep, you were born a lost sheep. That's what Christ
said, all we like sheep have gone astray. We've gone our own
way. But in time, God the Holy Spirit
comes and by the power of God's grace, the invincible power of
God's grace, He imparts spiritual life, knowledge, and that's called
regeneration. It's called the new birth. And
under the preaching of the gospel, Christ calls his sheep into the
fold and they hear his voice. And we're gonna talk about that
in just a minute. Down in verse 16, look at John 10 in verse
16. Now, remember what I said. What Christ did as the good shepherd
in giving his life for the sheep ensures their salvation. Not
only ensures it, but demands it. And listen to what he says
here. This is John 10. Start at verse 14 again. John
10 and verse 14. He says, I'm the good shepherd
and know my sheep and am known of mine. Verse 15, as the father
knoweth me, even so know I the father, and I laid down my life
for the sheep. And he says in verse 16, now
listen to this, and other sheep I have which are not of this
fold. Now what fold's he talking about?
Talking about the Jewish fold. You see, He has some sheep who
are among the Jews, but He has some sheep that are among the
Gentiles too. Other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them
also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice. You see that?
And there shall be one fold and one shepherd. Verse 17, Therefore
doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might
take it again. You see, They'll hear His voice. Now how are they going to hear
His voice? Through the preaching of the gospel in the power of
God the Holy Spirit. You see, the gospel is the power
of God unto salvation. And it's only the power of God
unto salvation as the Holy Spirit empowers it to the calling in
of the sheep. He gives them life. You see,
we're born spiritually dead in trespasses and sin. That's the
product of our fallen Adam. We fell in Adam. We fell into
spiritual death and sin. And so we're born spiritually
dead. The scripture says in Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 1, And you
hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. You see
that quickening is the giving of life in the new birth. And
that comes before faith. Look at verse 25. And here what happens, this is
John 10, 25. The Pharisees rejected Christ
as being the good shepherd. They rejected him as being the
Messiah. And they ask him, look back at verse 24, John 24. He says, then came the Jews round
about him and said to him, how long dost thou make us to doubt?
If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. If you're the Messiah,
tell us. Well, here's his answer, verse
25, Jesus answered them, I told you and you believe not. The
works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me.
Now look at verse 26 and note this carefully. He says, but
you believe not because you're not of my sheep. The reason you
don't believe is because you're not part of his sheep. That's
what he says. He said, look at it again, verse
26, but you believe not because you're not of my sheep as I said
unto you. Now listen to, my sheep hear
my voice and I know them and they follow me. That's what his
sheep do, he died for them. That's how they get life. They're
made righteous by his death. They're justified, a complete
full standing, not guilty, righteous before God because Christ died.
That's the death of Christ. That's the ground of salvation.
And then by the power of the Holy Spirit under the preaching
of the gospel, they hear his voice. How many times, if you've
read the Bible, does the Lord say through his preachers or
says himself, he that has ears to hear, let him hear. He told the disciples in Matthew
13, blessed are your ears for they hear. You've been born again.
Scripture says you must be born again or you cannot see or enter
the kingdom of God. And so he says, he says, my sheep
hear my voice. This is John 10, 27. I know them. He knows who they are. He foreknew
them. They're predestinated to be conformed
to the image of God's son. And they follow me. If you're
one of his sheep, you hear his voice. That means you hear the
gospel with spiritual ears. You believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ. You see him as your only hope
of salvation. You see the Holy Spirit has convicted
you of sin to see that you have absolutely no hope of salvation
by your best efforts to keep the law. That your best is not
good enough. It's still sinful. It still falls
short. of God's standard of righteousness.
The Holy Spirit shows you your sinfulness to the point that
you know that your only hope is the blood of Christ for the
forgiveness of sins, the righteousness of Christ freely imputed for
your justification. You have no hope without Him.
And the Holy Spirit shows you that you must run to Christ,
cling to Him, believe in Him, rest in Him for all salvation,
else you'll perish. And that your only hope is to
follow Him. You'll follow Christ. But look
at verse 28. He says, and I give unto them
eternal life. Eternal life is not something
we earn. You see, eternal life is not
something we deserve. Eternal life is a gift. And he
says, and that eternal life, you know what? It is eternal.
He says, they shall never perish. They'll never perish, he says.
Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. If you have a
King James version of the Bible, which that's what I read and
use, I believe that's the best translation, You might notice
that the word man there in verse 28 is italicized. What that means
is that it was not in the original text, but it was added by the
translators. And the reason I bring that up
is because years ago I had a person challenge me on this verse concerning
the eternal security of a believer. And here's what this person said.
He claimed to be a Christian. He says, well, it says, neither
shall any man pluck them out of my hand. But he says, Satan
can do it. In other words, this man was
telling me he didn't believe in the eternal security of the
believer. He believed you could be saved one day and lost the
next. And the reason he believes that is because the reason anybody
believes is because you believe salvation at some stage is conditioned
on you. And my friend, that's not grace.
That's not the gospel. That's opposed to the Bible.
That's a denial of Christ. And so he said, well, no man
can do it, but Satan can do it. Well, the word man was not in
the original, and it could literally be read this way. Verse 28, and
I give unto them eternal life. They shall never perish, neither
shall any man, neither shall anyone pluck them out of my hand. No one can pluck them out of
his father's hand. And then he says, my father which
gave them me, verse 29, is greater than all. He's greater than man.
Well, he's greater than Satan too. And he says, and no man
or no one is able to pluck them out of my father's hand. I am
my father one. That's the eternal security of
the believer. And my friend, it's based upon
the power and the grace of God, not only to save a sinner, but
to keep that sinner saved and bring him unto glory. I believe
it was last week that I dealt with this in John chapter six,
either that or the week before, where Christ said in verse 37,
all that the father giveth me shall come to me and him that
cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. Now, the fact that
Christ knows his sheep, and the fact that they will hear his
voice and follow him is a miracle of the grace of God. It's not
the product of man's inherent goodness, for man has no inherent
goodness. The Bible says that there's none
righteous, no not one. There's none good, no not one.
Read about it in Romans chapter 3. The fact that His sheep will
hear His voice and follow Him, is not the product of their own
free will. The Scripture tells us back over
in the book of John. Let me read this to you. And
if you've got your Bibles, look at it. Look in John chapter 1.
And it speaks in verse 11, talking about Christ. It says, He came
unto His own. and his own received him not.
Now that's his own people. By nature, they will not receive
him. But he says in verse 12, but as many as received him,
to them gave he power, and the word power there is not ability,
it's the right, the title to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on his name, which were born, not of blood,
that is, this is the new birth, And it's not of physical heritage. He says, nor the will of the
flesh. That's the works of the flesh. It's not of works. Nor
of the will of man. That's the will of man. That's
like people say, well, that's your own free will. No, your
will's in bondage to sin. You make choices every day. I
make choices every day. But the problem is we won't make
the right choices when it comes to salvation and God's glory
because we're ignorant of it and we don't want it. That's
the problem. You can choose anything you desire,
but what you don't desire by nature is the glory of God in
Jesus Christ in salvation totally by His grace. You and me, by
nature, we always want to have some part in it which separates
us from the rest of the people so that we can boast. Oh, I made
this decision, or I did this, or I did that. Oh no, it's all
of God. The only reason that I'm willing
to bow to God's grace in salvation is because I've been born again
by the Spirit, the sovereign will and purpose and grace of
God. And that's what he says in verse 13 of John 1, which
were born not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will
of man, but born of God. Now when a sinner is born of
God, this is what the Lord says in verse 27 of John 10. My sheep,
hear my voice, I know them, they follow me, I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish. They shall never perish, neither
shall any man pluck them out of my hand. Now somebody says,
well, what if somebody claims to believe the gospel, but they
use that as an excuse to go out here and live in sin? Well, my
friend, the scripture says they're not a true believer. They're
a fake. They're a hypocrite. You see, they make a claim of
salvation, but they have no heart for it. What if somebody claims
to be a believer and show some evidence as we see it, and then
stops believing? Well, if they totally depart
from the Lord Jesus Christ, they never truly believed it to begin
with. That's what the scripture teaches. And in coming messages,
I'm going to deal with some passages that answer those questions. But my friend, understand what
I said at the beginning. Salvation, it is totally based
upon what Christ has done and accomplished for His people.
There's nothing I do or nothing I decide that forms any part
of the ground of my salvation. There's nothing I do or nothing
I decide that forms any part of the righteousness by which
I stand before God. That is totally Christ. The power
and the grace of God in Christ based on His righteousness imputed
alone. However, Salvation doesn't stop
there. Salvation is also, as the fruit
of God's grace, as the fruit of Christ's work, His righteousness,
a powerful, permanent work of God within his people. And that's
what he's talking about. They hear my voice, Christ said.
He knows them. They follow me. He gives unto
them eternal life. Eternal life is everlasting life. Eternal life really is not, doesn't
necessarily speak of the length of it as much as it does the
quality of it. And once a person is given eternal
life, it can never be taken away. You want to know why? Because
it's not conditioned on them. It's not based on their goodness,
their decision, or anything. It's all in Christ Jesus and
what He accomplished on Calvary's cross as the representative and
as the substitute of His people. When Christ laid down His life,
He actually died in the place of his people. And in dying,
he drank damnation dry. And so when he talks about all,
as I mentioned, John 6, 37, all whom the Father has given me
shall come to me, he said after that, and him that cometh to
me I will in no wise cast out. There's absolutely no way that
he'll cast one of his sheep, one of his children, one of his
family, one of his brethren, one of his redeemed ones out
of the fold. And as I mentioned a while back
in Jeremiah 32, when Jeremiah was prophesying of this salvation
under the new covenant, God said, He said, I'll not depart from
them and they will not depart from me. I'm telling you right
now, if you read this Bible in the context, you'll understand
these things. Pray that the Lord will reveal
them to your heart, to your mind, to your affections and your will.
And what happens is when this truth takes hold of you, it gives
you, as I mentioned a few weeks back, the only right motive to
serve the Lord. And you know what that is? That
is the grace of God, that is love for God, and gratitude to
God. You see, a true believer, one
of His sheep, who's heard His voice and following Him, who
has eternal life, he serves the Lord, not in legal fear of punishment
or mercenary promise of earned reward, but he serves the Lord
as motivated by grace, gratitude, and love. I hope you'll join
us next week for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1102 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia, 31707. contact us by phone at 229-432-6969
or email us through our website at www.theletterofgrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.