Tonight's message is called,
well, I think. Well, I think. How many times have we heard
people say, well, that's what you all think when we're talking
about the scripture. Or, well, my pastor says. Amen, Brother Dave. That's what
we want. We want to go along with the
Old Testament saints and say, thus saith the Lord. What does
God say? But I can tell you, if I had
a dollar for everyone who's told me, well I think, religious people,
well I think, when I'm talking to them about scripture, I'd
be a millionaire, beloved. Vicki and I, we talked about
this this afternoon, and how many times we've heard religious
people say, well, I think you're telling them about John 10. Open up John 10, and you're expounding
the great doctrines of grace, the great doctrines of Christ,
redeeming his sheep, dying for his sheep. And they say, well,
I think. I had a fella today I was talking
to, And this is where this whole message came from. We were talking
about John chapter 10, verse 28. And he said, well, I think
after I had told him, just read the scripture. I said, don't matter what you
think. There's no scripture that's private interpretation, is there?
Scripture is not up for debate. We know that there was a king
that Jeremiah had someone take a note to, and they read, I was
reading that section today in Jeremiah, they read, he read
amongst his princes, he read what was on the roll, and he
took a pen knife, started cutting things, cutting it to pieces,
and had it thrown in the fire. And you know what the Lord said?
He put on Jeremiah's heart, Jeremiah said, send another one. And on
this one say, neither you nor your family shall reign. He's cut off just like that,
beloved. My oh my. Called the penknife king. What
I think, don't matter what we think, does
it? I remember when Charlie and Denise came here. And they said,
we love sitting here and listening to the gospel because you just
read and say what God's word says. That's all. Is that not
what gospel preachers do, Brother Dave, right? We just read the
scripture, we expound on the text, and that's what it says. Thus saith the Lord. What does
God say? I could have named the message
that too. What does God say? Or you hear people, well, my
pastor says this. Well, I believe, well, I believe. You may believe that the sky
is green, but you're wrong, right? You may believe the moon's made
of cheese, but you're wrong. Remember when we were kids, oh,
the moon's made of, no, it's not. Oh my. For years, people didn't
believe that the world was round. They thought it was flat. They
were wrong. They sincerely thought it was
flat, but they were wrong, weren't they? They were sincerely wrong.
And if they had looked in the book of Isaiah, where it says
the circle of the earth. Before we ever had telescopes
and all these other fancy things that we have now that can go
up in space and look at the world. Scripture says the circle of
the earth. My oh my. Thus saith the Lord. Thus saith the Lord. And people won't just ask this
question or say, or not this question, but will not just say,
well, I think, when you're talking about the scriptures, but they'll
also do it when you're talking about Christ. Well, I think there's something
I have to do. Well, you're wrong. Salvation's free. Turn, if you would, to 2 Peter
1. I did a look, because I've heard
this phrase so much, will I think. So I opened my e-sort up today,
and I typed in the words, will I think, and guess what? They're
not in scripture. The words, will I think, or my
pastor thinks, or that's your opinion, is not in scripture. But it says this in scripture.
In 2 Peter chapter 1, let's look here. Verses 16 to 21. Look at this. For we have not
followed commonly devised fables. What we believe is real. It's
not a fable. It's not a story that's made
up. It's real. when we made known unto you the
power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses
of his majesty. Now, Peter was an eyewitness
of the majesty of Christ. Not only was he an eyewitness
of the majesty of Christ, he was one of the ones that was
on the Mount of Transfiguration. He was an eyewitness of the Lord's
reveal and his glory. And look at that, eyewitnesses
of his majesty. He's a king, our God's king,
brother Dave. He's a majestic king. He is Lord, yeah? Look at this,
for he received from God the Father honor and glory. Remember,
look what we're gonna see here. When there came such a voice
to him from the excellent glory, this is my beloved son, in whom
I am what? Well pleased. Look at that. If you're in Christ, God's well
pleased. Oh my. And this voice came from
heaven. Remember, he was an eyewitness
to this. He was an eyewitness to this. And the voice which
came from heaven we heard when we were with him in the Holy
Mount. Now look at this. We have also
a more sure word of prophecy. Where until you do well that
you take heed is unto a light that shineth in a dark place
until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts. Knowing
this, now remember, as I mentioned on Sunday, when you see scripture
in the New Testament, it's referring to the Old Testament. The New
Testament wasn't written then. So when he says scripture here,
he's talking about the Old Testament. Knowing this first, that no prophecy
of scripture is of any private interpretation. So if someone
tells you, well, I think, you can say, the scripture is not
a private interpretation. A fellow I talked to today, well,
I think, I said, Dennis, what you think and what I think, it
doesn't matter. What does the word of God say?
What does the word of God say? Right? And he listened. The Lord,
praise God, the Lord had him listen. And we went through scriptures
about the very verse that we're going to look at tonight. Oh
my. Scripture says what it says. And the only reason we understand
it is because the Holy Spirit's given us an understanding of
the Word of God. We don't naturally understand the Word of God. But
He's given us an understanding, and God, the Holy Spirit, has
also given us faith by His regenerating power, right? We're born again.
He's given us faith, brother Zane, to believe what the Word
of God says. Now we don't understand it all.
We don't understand it all, no way. Anyone who says they do,
they're a liar. But the little we understand,
He's given us the light. He's revealed it to us. Think
of how he's revealed Christ to us. We didn't know who the true
Christ of God was. We didn't even know who the true
God was. But now we know the one true living God, don't we?
Praise his mighty name. Oh my. And no scripture can be
interpreted in light of human wisdom. What I think is human wisdom
at work. It's not what we think. It's
what does it say? I know I keep harping on that,
but it's what does it say? And scripture, as I told Dennis
today, scripture can only be interpreted with scripture. Right? People, I said, I told
them, people have made doctrines, false doctrines out of scriptures
they've torn out of context, when another scripture will explain
to you a little bit more about what that means. But they disregard
those scriptures, like people who say you have to be baptized
to be saved. Well, the thief on the cross
destroys that, doesn't he? Do you know the thief on the
cross never witnessed anybody? He didn't pray a sinner's prayer,
did he? No. He didn't get baptized. As far as we know, it wasn't
raining. Right? So he says, well, he gets sprinkled.
Well, as far as we know, it wasn't raining. Right? No. He hung on that cross. He
said, Lord, just remember me. And earlier, this is what, as
I told Dennis, salvation's all of grace. It's all of grace.
It's all of grace. And the thief on the cross proves
that, too, because a little while earlier, he was railing with
the other thief. and casting words at Christ. Yeah. So callous, just like, but something
happened, didn't it? Who taught him? Who taught that
man? Oh, I love this. And every believer knows this.
Who taught that man? When he looked at Christ and
said to the other thief, basically, shut up, because we're here justly. And this man's done nothing to
miss. Amen. The Holy Spirit told him that. He's born again. And
then he looks to Christ and he says, just remember me, Lord. And the Lord said, today thou
shalt be with me in paradise. Today. Today. The forerunner's
going first, isn't he? He going first. And that thief
followed right up there, didn't he? Could you imagine that? Could you imagine that thief?
He's guilty by the law of God. He's hanging on the cross. He's
dying. He just looks to Christ and says,
just remember me. And he dies and wakes up in paradise. Oh,
my. Oh, my God, so good, isn't he?
He's so good. He's so, so good, beloved. My! And who's the author of the Holy
Scriptures? Well, it's God! The Holy Spirit,
isn't it? The Apostles, in the New Testament,
they constantly made reference to the Old Testament. We saw
that there in 2 Peter 1, verse 21. For the prophecy came not
in old by the will of men, but holy men of God spake as they
were moved by the Holy Ghost. Look at that. They were moved
by the Holy Ghost. Turn if you would to John chapter
5. Oh. You know, and they didn't, the
apostles didn't say, well, I think. No, they said, thus saith the
Lord. This is what the Lord says. This is what the scriptures say.
In Christ, our master and our king, he even said, he even said
that the law and the prophets, they testify of me. to the two
on the road to Arimaeus, didn't he? Look at this, John chapter
5. This is wonderful, too. Oh, my. Do you know where to search the
scriptures? And I tell the folks out there,
I preach to a congregation of people who search the scriptures,
who know what the Bible says, by the grace of God. By the grace
of God. A friend of mine said, a lot
of professing Christians don't really know the Bible, do they?
And I said, no, that's a problem. They've just repeated a prayer,
and then you know what they do? They just start repeating what
the preacher says, even if it's error. I want you to hear what
I preach and then go look. All right? And you all know,
you know if a man's lying to you or not. God's people, we
know that, don't we? I can listen to a preacher and
go, that man's lying. He's lying on God. He's lying
on God. Amen! We're going to look at
that, too, tonight. That's right. Look at this in John, chapter
5. This portion of the Scripture is wonderful. Now, remember who's
speaking here, too, okay? We've got to do the setting.
It's the God-man. It's God incarnated in the flesh.
It's not just no mere man, right? It's God in the flesh. The Master,
the Second Person of the Trinity, the Word of God, speaks these
very words. And they're preserved for our
learning, too, and for our encouragement, beloved. It's wonderful. Remember
that when you read the scriptures. It's for our encouragement. It's
for reproof. It's to encourage us. It's to help us. He's the light. We're going through this dark
world. He's the light. The scripture's the light for
us, isn't it? Oh my, it's wonderful. Look at this. John chapter 5,
starting in verse 30. I cannot of mine own self do
nothing. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because
I seek not mine own will. This is the Son of God. You talk
about humiliation. He says here, I don't seek my
own will. Brother Dave, he's in absolute
subjection to the Father, for you and I. perfectly obeying
everything with the Word of God for us. Yeah, our only hope,
our only hope, yeah. He says, but the will of the
Father which is sent, sent me, sent, sent on a mission to save
his people from their sins. If I bear witness of myself,
my witness not true. There is another that beareth
witness of me, and I know the witness, I know that the witness
which he witnesses of me is true. He's speaking of the Father who
sent him. But I receive not testimony from men, but these things I
say that ye might be saved. Saved. The words of Christ are
life. Oh my. Look at this. He was a burning and a shining
light, and you were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.
But I have a greater witness than that of John. What eventually
did they do to John? Threw him in prison and cut his
head off. Well, they rejoiced for a while.
Then he started saying, repent, the kingdom of God is at hand.
And I'm like, goodness, you can't say that. Yes, you can. Because
he's the forerunner, right? Oh, my. Look at this. For the works which the Father
hath given me to finish, that's our salvation, beloved, and that's
fully satisfying God's law and justice in our room and place
as our substitute, and in rising again from the grave for our
justification. And we know he finished it perfectly, didn't
he? The same works that I do bear witness of me that the Father
sent me. So his very miracles and his
works that he did and the works of fulfilling the law for us
bear witness. He had no sin. He's perfect. He's spotless. There's no guile
in him at all. No sin at all. His very works
bear witness of who he is. And the Father himself which
has sent me hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard
his voice at any time, nor seen his shape. And ye have not his
word abiding in you. For whom he hath sent, him ye
believe not." He just said, I am sent by the Father. You've not
seen him. Well, we know Christ has seen
him, hasn't he? And he says, you're not even believing on
whom he said. I'm the Messiah sent by God. And you're not believing
on me. That's what he's saying, right?
Search the scriptures. Now look at this. That's Old
Testament. Right? There's no New Testament
at this time. Search the scriptures. For in them you think you have
eternal life. And they are they which what? Testify of me. And ye will not come to me. That's
every man in our natural state. That's even us before the Lord
saved us, before we were born again. You will not come to me
that you might have life. But praise God, we were made
willing in the day of God's power, and we came to Christ, didn't
we? That's why I say, sinner friend, come to Christ. You'll
find out, I like what Dave says, there's a hospital for sinners.
We're just a bunch of sinners saved by the grace of God in
here. That's all we are. That's all we are, and we praise
God for it, that He had mercy on us. Oh my. Now look at verse 41 to 47. I
receive not honor from men, but I know you, that ye have not
the love of God in you. What a statement. I am come in
my Father's name, and ye receive me not. If another shall come
in his name, Him you will receive. He's saying you'll receive a
false prophet, or false messiah, but you won't receive me. You
see how man naturally hates God? This is us too by nature, right? How can ye believe which honor
one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh from God
only? Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There
is one that accuses you, even Moses, in whom you trust." Look
at that. He flat out said, yeah, there you go, right? He's flat
out though saying, you're trusting in Moses. You're not trusting
in the Messiah. And Moses spoke of who? Christ. Well, they got some wrong thinking
going on, don't they? They got some wrong thinking
going on. Look at this. For had ye believed Moses, they
don't even believe Moses. Because look what he says. For
had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me. For he wrote
of what? Look at that. He's telling them who he is.
He wrote of me. Oh, he just declared his deity right there. And look
at this. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe
my words? Oh, only by the grace and mercy
of God. That's how we believe. Oh, by
God's regenerating power. Oh my, now turn if you would
to John chapter 10. Here we go. I had a fellow again,
I told you, a local fellow. And he got on to me again. He's
a friend of the guy that told me that you could jump out of
Christ's hand. And this fellow, he's going, I got a question
for you. And I thought, well, here we go. I knew exactly where
he was going. He says, well, you know, the
scripture you guys were talking about, it doesn't say you can
jump, but you can jump. And I said, well. You would have
to do some gymnastics with the Greek if you wanted to bring
that up. And he says, what do you mean?
I said, well, the Jehovah Witnesses, they twist the scripture and
say Christ wasn't God. He was just this, I don't even
know, they think he was a little God. No, he's God. But in order
to do that in their translation, they have to twist the scriptures.
He's the logos of God, beloved. He's the word of God. He's God
incarnated in the flesh. So if somebody says, well, you
can jump out of the Father's hand based upon John 28, John
10, 28, you have to twist the scriptures, because the word
jump is not in there. And we're going to see later
at the end of the message that jump is nowhere even mentioned in the Greek, not even close.
As a matter of fact, this verse, I believe will give us such peace
and will encourage us, beloved, in the eternal security that
we have in Christ. I mean, people say, well, what
happens if somebody gets Alzheimer's and they're a believer? God's
gonna keep them. He's not gonna lose one of them. He's gonna finish what he started.
In this verse, what comfort for us. If I ever get Alzheimer's,
you guys can know I'm in the Father's hand. If you guys ever
get out of this room, we can know. No one can pluck you out
of his hand. No one. Let's read John chapter
10. We'll read verses 23 to 31. And Jesus walked in the temple
and Solomon's porch. Then came the Jews round about
him and said unto him, here we go. They're going to start questioning
him right away, right? How long dost thou make us doubt?
If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly." Well, he just did in
John chapter 5, didn't he? Right? He said, Moses spoke of
me. I'm the Messiah. Right? But see, they don't have hearing
ears, and they don't have seeing eyes. That has to be given to
us. Christ has to be revealed to us, doesn't he? Oh my, this
is wonderful. Jesus answered them, I told you,
and you believe not. Do you know that verse in John
3.16, everybody likes to throw at us? I had the same fellow
today. He goes, well, what about whosoever
in John chapter 3? I said, well, I'm not afraid
of the word whosoever. It's a wonderful word. Right? And he goes, well,
what's it say in the Greek? And I have my phone there, so
I pull up. It says any, any. And he goes, see, see, Christ
died for everybody. And I said, no, he didn't. If
he died for everybody, then he's a failure, because there's people
in hell right now. I said, but he's a successful savior and
everyone he died for will be saved and will be in heaven with
him forever. And I said, you forget that there's
another word right after whosoever. You know what that little word
is? Believeth. So I said, the whosoever God's
elect. He goes, how can you say that? I said, because they believe. Not everybody believes, do they?
But God's elect do, don't they? For God so loved the world, that
he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Believeth. It's qualified, beloved. It's
qualified. But they don't look at that,
do they? See, they only see what they want, and they say, well,
that's your opinion. No, that's what the Word of God says. Right? That's it. Oh my. Hmm. Let's look at verse 25 again. 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. Look at this. Okay, now this,
this, this verse right here. Oh my goodness. Look at this. But ye believe not, because ye
are not of my sheep. I said unto you, Dave, you mentioned
this earlier, my sheep hear my voice, and they follow me. They follow me. Now, here's the
verse we're going to look at. And I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall. I was looking at this verse again
today. I'm like, there's two shells in this verse. There's
two shells. Look at this. Look at this. And
I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which
has given me is greater than all. And no man is able to pluck
them out of my Father's hand. We're double gripped. We're gripped
in the Son's hand, and we're gripped in the Father's hand.
And no one shall. Perish who's in Christ's hands.
No one. Look at that. It's wonderful.
They shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. Then he says, I and the Father
are one. There is a trinity, the Father, Son, and the Holy
Spirit. Then look what the Jews did. Right away, they took up
stones to stone him. What? Just madder than wet hornets,
aren't they? That's what religious people
do. Now, if they can't pick up a stone, they start assaulting
you, verbally. And they all do the same thing. They just start verbally assaulting
you. Try to bring you down. Don't
let it happen. Just go. That's just your opinion. And you know what Paul said?
You can find this in Corinthians. I don't know the exact address,
but he said to people who were judging him, you know what he
said? And we need to use this. He says, I count it as a small
thing to be judged by you. Just a tiny little thing. Man,
that'll flush out people's mouths, won't it? Well, I think, no matter what you think, well,
I think you're not preaching the gospel. It's a small little
thing. I think you're not doing this
there. You guys aren't doing things right over there. A small,
small thing can be judged by you, right? And I'm not doing
that in a condescending way. I'm just doing that in the...
We can't let it bother us, beloved. We have to go forward with the
gospel, and we have to treat people with grace, don't we?
So people do that to us. Inside, we go, I counted a small
thing, and then you just show them grace. Right? And when you start pouring
out and not reacting to them, I'll tell you what's going to
happen. They're going to get even mad at you. But you know
what? You're not trying to make them
mad. And eventually they're going to realize they don't care what
I'm saying. Because it doesn't matter, does
it? What I think and This and that doesn't matter what we think. What does the word of God say? My. Again, this guy today told
me, well, you can jump out of John chapter chapter 10 verse
28. And I said, let's read it again.
There's no word jump found in here, is there? Look at this.
As a matter of fact, again, it gives us, it gives us, beloved,
it gives us security in Christ. We can't mess this up, beloved.
Look at this. This is the master speaking.
This is God speaking of you and I as his sheep. And I give unto
them eternal life. That's us. That's his sheep,
right? And they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. And again, people
have to twist the scripture to put the word jump in there. They
have to do Greek gymnastics and twist the scriptures all up because
there's no word, there's not even an inkling of jump in there,
is there? Exactly, we're gonna look at
that later. That word man is italicized. So let's read it
without the word man. Yes, I noticed that today too,
Brother Zane. And I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them
out of my hand. Do you notice, like Zane said,
the word man is italicized. Whenever you see a word italicized
in the King James, that means it wasn't in the original Greek.
So you can actually read the verse without that. The King James translators were
honest enough to put in there when they added Words, yeah, to try to make it
more understanding for us. Well, without this, it's even
more forceful, isn't it? Neither shall any pluck them
out of my hand. Any. Nothing. And that's what we're going to
look at later. Nothing. No circumstance. No instrument. Nothing. Nothing. To the end. That means the end of the age. And notice he says eternal life. He doesn't say temporary life. What did he obtain? Having obtained
what? Eternal redemption for us. Ooh, my brother, we're free,
man. We're saved, brother. Brother
Brian, we're saved by the grace of God. Sister Linda, we're saved. Oh, my. Praise his mighty name. Isn't it wonderful? Oh, it's
wonderful. Oh my. Now the problem with some
professing Christians nowadays is they don't believe what the
Word of God says. That fellow I talked to, I actually confronted him
with that and I said, you actually don't believe what the Word of
God says. Because you just said to me, well I think. You're saying
I don't believe what you just read me. Right? And God give us grace to believe
what the Word of God says. Right? God give us grace to believe
it. And to rest in that. To rest
in these wonderful truths here. Let's read that verse again.
And I give unto them, speaking of God's people, eternal life.
I'm going to read it without the man again. And they shall
never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand. Now look at this. Note the words
of the matter that the Lord Jesus Christ is addressing. Eternal
life. And I give unto them eternal life. Why? Well, because of the
covenant mercies that God, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit
made in eternity, right? The Father giving us to Christ,
the Holy Spirit saying, I'm going to regenerate them, and Christ
saying, I'm going to redeem them. They made a covenant agreement,
beloved. And God doesn't change. Praise God, he doesn't change,
right? He's faithful. We see he's faithful. He's faithful to the promise.
Well, the covenant, the covenant mercies, whereby they were given
to him by the Father. These, these whom he's gonna,
who he gives eternal life to, these sheep, he called them my
sheep too. They were, they're, they're his
because they're a gift from the Father. We're a gift from the
Father to Christ. Isn't that amazing? Oh my. And then we receive, because
of his obedience, we receive a perfect righteousness that
can't be mired. My oh my. It's absolutely incredible. And because of his death, resurrection,
and intercession, well, we're justified when God raised him
from the dead, right? Because of that, We're justified
before God in such a way that God's justice and character in
wrath, we're totally satisfied. Exhausted. His wrath was exhausted
in Christ against us. There's no wrath for us. We're
not appointed to wrath. Isn't that wonderful? I told
a fellow today, if I got what I deserve, I'd go to hell. But
I don't get what I deserve, praise be to God. Right? We don't get what we deserve.
We get mercy, beloved. My, it's wonderful. Note the
rest of the verse here. And they shall never perish.
They shall never perish, now or eternally. Never. Never. They're saved by the Lord Jesus
Christ, by his perfect sin atoning work. They're redeemed by the
blood of the Lamb, and they shall never perish. Never. Never. And then look at the rest
of the verse. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. Well, rejoice, you who are the
redeemed of the Lord. Rejoice. No man, no demon, no
power, no force can separate God's redeemed sheep from Christ.
Nothing. Nothing at all. Not even ourselves,
not that we'd want to, but we can't. We're in his grip. We may wander off, but he's gonna
make it. He'll bring us right back, won't
he? And we're gonna fall in love with him even more when he does
that. I remember when I was wandering off in Oregon, I remember wandering
off in the wilderness. God just drew me back and with that everlasting love and
put in front of me via the computer a guy named Henry Mahan. And
oh my, listen to what I heard. The same thing I preach. God's
free and sovereign grace in Christ and salvation by him alone in
his perfect sinatonian work. Oh my. In Christ our Lord, he
gives his sheep eternal life. We see here, it's eternal life. It's not temporary. It's not
based upon our doings. It's all based upon what Christ
did. All based upon what he did. And they never perish. And then
look, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. Again, no
demon can take us out, nothing. Listen to this, Romans chapter,
let's turn there, Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. Because
we're going to go to Romans chapter 3 after that. Romans chapter
8, look at this. We're starting verse 35 and we'll
read to verse 39. Look at this. Speaking of this
too, because we can't be separated from Christ, can we? Because
we're in His hand and we're in the Father's hand. Now look at
this. Paul writes this, who shall separate us from the love of
Christ? Shall tribulation, well we all go through tribulation,
right? or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril,
or sword? It is as written, for thy sake
we are killed all the day long. We are counted as sheep for the
slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors
through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither
death, death can't separate us, right, from Christ. Our dear brother Bill passed
away. And he's in glory right now. Death couldn't separate
him from Christ. No, now he's seeing the Redeemer
face to face. Right? Our dear sister Kathy,
she's seeing the Redeemer face to face, brother. Death couldn't
separate her from him. Yeah, he's got her in his grip,
don't he? And now she's with him forever now. My, oh my, this
wonderful beloved. nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Why?
Because he's got us in his hands. He says, no one's going to pluck
you from my hand. No one. No one. And think of
this, too. Look at that. Paul asks in verse
35 those questions. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Tribulation, distress, persecution, famine,
nakedness, peril, or sort? Well the answer is nothing. Nothing
will separate us from Christ. Because if Christ didn't keep
us, we'd be goners, wouldn't we? Gone justices, Brother Donnie
says. We would be. We'd be gone so
fast, Brother Eddie, wouldn't we? But he keeps us, doesn't
he? Isn't that wonderful? Because of that everlasting,
unchanging love that Dave mentioned. He's got us, beloved. Christ's
love for us is eternal. It's infinite. We can't even
measure it. We can't even grasp it. Think of the love you have
for the person you love the most in this world. And the love of
God for us doesn't even come close to that deep, deep, deep
love you have for them. Doesn't even come close. That's encouraging, isn't it,
Brother Zane? Oh my. And the nice thing is, the Lord
says, for I am the Lord, I change not. His love for us has been
the same in eternity, yesterday, Right now, today, and it will
be forever. It'll never change. It'll never
change, beloved. The fact that he changes not,
he's the same God today and forever. My, oh my. So our opinion upon scripture,
when people say, well, I think, it don't matter. It don't matter
at all. Flip over to Romans chapter three
now. Now, what does the scripture declare? How does the scripture
declare we are by nature? Well, the scripture declares
this, that in Ephesians 2, I'll read it quick. And you have the
quick in who were dead in trespasses and sins, where in times past
you walked according to the course of the world, according to the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience. Among also we all had our conversations
in time past in the lust of our flesh. fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, and we're by nature the children
of wrath as others." So that's what the Word of God says we
were, how we were before the Lord saved us. And of course
in Ephesians 2, 4 it says, but God who's rich in mercy. But
how, but somebody might think, well I think, I don't think man, I had a guy
tell me, I don't think, I don't think man totally fell in the
garden. His will was still. His will
didn't fall. I said, no, man fell. See, what
people fail to realize is our will is governed by our nature. Right? That's why we need a new
nature. That's why we need to be born
again of the Holy Spirit of God. We need a new nature that now
our will, we desire now to follow God, don't we? We desire to serve
God now. We didn't before because we had
a dead nature. And our will was guided by that
dead nature. A.W. Pink said, now we can actually
make choices. Before we were just going all
over the place. Oh my, don't you battle your
flesh now? Oh my. Look at this in Romans
chapter 3. What else does the scripture
declares? Well, it declares that everyone is born into this world
and they do not seek God. Look at Romans chapter 3, verses
10 to 18. As is written, there's none righteous,
no not one. That means there's none good, right? There's none,
look at verse 11, there's none that understand it. There's none
that seeketh after God. The only way we seek God is He's
made us willing to seek Him, beloved. Because the scripture
right there, whether people believe it or not, they say, well, I
don't believe that. Well, your argument's not with me, it's
with God. Right? Someone says, well, I don't believe
that when you're talking scripture. They're not arguing with you, beloved.
They're arguing with God. Right? Oh my, look at this. They are all gone out of the
way, they all together become unprofitable. There is none that
doeth good, no not one. See this, I was talking to Joshua
today, about this very topic and stuff, and he said, he said,
when you tell people, dad, that there's no good in them and that
they're not righteous, that offends their pride. And I said, you're
absolutely right, son. It offends their pride. It does. Oh my. My, look at this. Their throat is an open sepulcher.
With their tongues they have used deceit. The poison of asp
is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.
Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery
are in their ways. We were miserable. We thought
we were happy when we were in our sin, and yet we're miserable.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Miserable, though. Miserable.
Look at this, in the way of peace they have not known. They have
no peace with God. There is no fear of God before
their eyes, that's the problem right there. But praise be to
God. The scripture declares this,
that God sent Christ to save his people from their sins, Matthew
121. And she shall bring forth a son, speaking of Mary, and
thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people
from their sins. God knows that we can't save
ourselves, He's purposed and planned that salvation's only
in Christ, and therefore he sends his son. He sends his son to
save us from our sins. It doesn't say to save us from
hell, right? The wages of sin is death,
right? So the payment is death, and after death, the judgment,
and then hell. But it does say he came to save
us from our sins, and therefore we will be saved from hell. Because
we're saved from the wrath of God and the justice of God. Isn't that wonderful? God's people
are not appointed to wrath, but to obtain salvation. It's wonderful. Oh, it's absolutely. Turn if
you would to Hebrews chapter 9. Hebrews chapter 9. Hebrews chapter 9. We're getting near the end here.
Hebrews chapter 9. starting in verse 11 and going
to verse 15. Our Lord was sent, and he was
sent to redeem us with his precious blood. Look at this. Hebrews
9, 11. But Christ being come and high priest of good things
to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made
with hands, that is to say, not of this building, neither by
the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood. There it
is, beloved. Dave, he shed his blood for us.
But by his own blood, he entered in once in the holy place, having
obtained eternal redemption for us. Now, personalize that. For us. For us, Brother Brian.
My! That's amazing! With his own
blood! Oh, it's wonderful! For if the
blood of bulls and goats, and the ashes of an heifer, sprinkling
the unclean, sanctify it to the purifying of the flesh, how much
more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit,
look at this, how did he offer himself up? Without spot. He's sinless. He's perfect. He offers himself up, and death
can't hold him, beloved. And he rises from the grave the
third day. Our sins are imputed to Christ,
and his perfect righteousness is imputed to us. And he bears
it before God. And just like I said, I always
love that picture of a traveler. That's why I love that song,
A Shelter in a Time of Storm. A traveler in the Middle East,
hiding behind a giant rock. And here comes a sandstorm. And
he's tucked in underneath that rock. That rock's Christ, beloved.
And that sand beats on that rock, just starts beating it, beating,
beating, beating, beating, beating. And that man's safe behind that
rock, isn't he? That's us in Christ, beloved. The wrath of
God beat and beat and beat and beat and beat upon Christ. And
we're safe. Safe. And the wrath of God is
extinguished. After that sandstorm is finished,
what? That man can come out, can't he? What a picture, beloved! What a picture! Oh my! What a
picture. Look at this. How much more shall
the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself
up without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works
to serve the living God? Dead works is trying to merit
your own salvation. Oh, just dead works. That's dead
works. And for this cause, he is the mediator of the New Testament,
that by means of death, his death, for the redemption of the transgressions
that were under the first testimony, that they which are called might
receive the promise of eternal inheritance, eternal life. Let's
go back to John chapter 10. John chapter 10. We're going
to look at this, we're going to look at this portion again. We're going to look at, I'm going
to read verses 27 to 30, but then we're going to specifically
look at John chapter 10 verse 28, it won't take us very long,
in what it says in the Greek. And I'm even going to give us,
there's Weist, who's a Greek scholar. He wrote his own Bible
based upon the Greek, the New Testament. I'm going to read
what he said. I'm going to also read what the Greek literal Bible
says later on. And then I'm also, we're going
to be looking at the Greek underlying this text. I think this will
bless you. It won't take long, but I think it'll just bless
you. Look at this, verses 27 to 30. My sheep hear my voice. John chapter 10, verse 27 to
30. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them. I gnoska them. They're
mine. I know them intimately. And they
follow me. And I give unto them. We don't
seek it, remember? We don't seek God. We don't seek
this eternal life by nature, in our natural state. We don't
seek this. No. And I give unto them. It's a
gift. It's a gift. Eternal life. And they shall
never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
My Father which gave them me, oh my, He gave us to Christ in
eternity, is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them
out of my Father's hand. Same Greek word, too. Same Greek
word as the one in verse 28. I and my Father are one. So,
Waist, this is his Interpretation of the Greek for verses 28 and
29 says this, I give them life eternal, and they shall positively
not perish. Never. Never. Never. and no one will snatch them by
force out of my hand, my father who gave them to me as a permanent
gift." Dave, we're permanent gifts. I thought of you when
I read that. We are permanent gifts by the Father to Christ. Permanent gifts. There's no,
well, I don't like this one. I'm going to toss them aside.
Permanent gifts, brother. Permanent gifts. That's what
it says. Oh, my. I was shocked when I saw that
today, I'll tell you. Permanent gift is my father who
gave them to me as a permanent gift is greater than all. And
no one is able to snatch, no one is able to be snatching them
by force out of my, out of the hand of my father. So let's break
this down now. In the Greek, like I said, it
won't take us long. Look at the Greek definitions of this word.
And I give unto them eternal life. Well, that's Christ. And,
and those two words and I are, are meaning him. See the word
give? It means to bestow in the Greek. He bestows it upon us. Eternal
life is a gift. He bestows it upon us. It gets
better. I'll tell you what. It gets better.
So eternal life is given to us. We don't earn it. We can't merit
it. We don't deserve it. It's bestowed
upon us by the mercy and grace of God. And then eternal life
in the Greek, you know what that means? Perpetual life. Perpetual. Now we're going to
die here, right? What would we say? Born twice, die once. Born once, die twice. Right? Which means this. Born
twice, our regular birth and the spiritual birth only die
once. Right to glory. Born once, not
being born again, you die once and then you die in the second
death. Cast into hell forever. My. Brother Brian, we have perpetual
life in Christ. Isn't that wonderful? We're going
to die here, but we're going to live perpetually with Christ
forever. Perpetual life. That means it
won't end. It'll never end. Stuff on this earth ends, doesn't
it? Our life ends. Different things end. Our job
ends. We retire. Not preachers. We're going to
die when we're preaching. or until we can't even walk hardly
anymore, right? Then you can just wheel me up
in a wheelchair. Dave will wheel me up one day if you're still
alive. But you see, it'll never end though. Perpetual, never
ending, never ending. What hope and joy that gives
us for our brothers and sisters who went on before us. Oh my
gosh, they're more alive now. Sister Carolyn told me, Brother
Bill's more alive now than he's ever been before. Isn't that
wonderful? Oh, more face to face. Sister Kathy too, it's wonderful.
More alive now. No more Parkinson's, brother.
No more Parkinson's, oh my, oh my. And then see the words there,
they shall never. Now this had me shouting again,
because it's in a double negative strengthening denial. It means
never know. Never know. There's no jump in
there. It's her brother. How do you
get a jump out of that? Well, that's a man-made doctrine,
isn't it? Yeah, yeah, I think, I think that's exactly what it
is. Well, God says, God says, never,
they shall never, never, no, never, not at all. Listen to
this verse in the Greek literal Bible. And I give them eternal
life, and they, and never shall they perish to the age, and never
will anyone seize them out of my hand. The next word in the
Greek comes from a primal word which definition means the absolute
negative. The absolute negative. Oh my. The absolute negative. It says here, and I give unto
them eternal life and they shall never perish, neither. The absolute
negative. That word neither is in the absolute
negative. It's used here, it means no,
not in direct question. It's like, say Dave, someone
asks you a direct question, you're like, I'm never gonna answer
you. I'm never gonna answer you. They shall never perish. Never. Never, ever, ever. Neither. Never. Do you see how
emphatic the Lord's being in the Greek? Oh my. Someone asks a direct question
to you and you say, I'm never ever, I'm absolutely not going
to answer you. We can never, absolutely not
be plucked out of the Father's hand or out of Christ's hands. Never. The word man, again, as Brother
Zane brought it, it's not in the Greek. So the text can read,
shall any pluck them out of my hand? My. And do you know what plucking
the Greek means? It means to seize. My dear brother, no one can seize
us out of the Father's hands and out of Christ's hands. Isn't
that wonderful? No one can seize us. No one. No one. Oh my, I'll tell you why. So
rejoice, beloved God. No instrument of man, no means
can ever seize us out of Christ's hands. You know what we're safe
in? We're safe in the double grip
of God. We're safe in the Son's hand, the Lord Jesus Christ,
our Savior, and we're safe in the Father's hand. We're double-gripped. And Christ says, no one's going
to seize you out of my hand. He uses the same word saying, no
one's going to seize you out of my Father's hand either. And it's
all based upon what Christ has done, and nothing we've done
at all. Look to Christ and live. He's the only Savior of sinners. Brother Brian, can you close