Turn back with me now to John
chapter 10. I often hear men and women expressing
worry and doubt concerning the salvation of their souls. Doubt as to whether or not they
truly believe. Doubt as to the quality of their
faith. And doubt as to the future security
of their souls. It is ever the work of Satan
and his endless supply of servants to destroy the joy and peace
and rest of God's elect. What I want to do this morning
is to go through these verses here in John chapter 10, and
as simply as I can, show to you the basis of the believer's hope
and the reason for his assurance in this world. The entire 10th
chapter of John deals with the shepherd and bishop of our souls. It deals with the sheep which
the Father has committed to his trust, and it deals with the
hands that secure our souls. and the utter impossibility of
anything or anybody plucking you out of his hands. I remember
coming out of religion, how shocked I was to learn that virtually
everything I thought I knew was twisted, tainted, upside down
and backwards. I thought, well, now wait a minute.
There are some things I know are so. No, they weren't. No, they weren't. Listen to what our Lord said
back here in John chapter 8 to some of these Jewish converts
back here in John chapter 8, verse 31. Then said Jesus to
those Jews which believed on Him, If you continue in my word,
what's he talking about? He's talking about his doctrine.
He's talking about what he's teaching, what he's preaching.
If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed. That is, if you continue in my
teaching and doctrine. And ye shall know the truth,
and the truth shall set you free. Beloved, faith is a continual
process of hearing and learning and being persuaded and trusting. It's a continual process. Having established the means
of gospel preaching and the expectation of true saving faith, Paul sums
up his teaching on these subjects in Romans 10 with these words,
so then, Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Now the new birth, don't misunderstand
what I'm saying. The new birth is a one-time act. You're not born again and again
and again and again. We did that in religion. Some
religions don't even go that far, but the one I was raised
in did. You can be saved and lost and saved and lost and saved
and lost. Go out the back, well, when you
come back in, you have to be born again. So the Bible doesn't
teach that. The new birth is a one-time act. You're not born again and again
and again. But that life given in that birth
must be sustained the same as this life in this flesh. This
life has to be sustained. Believers need to be fed. Peter, do you love me? Feed my
sheep. Feed my lambs. His sheep have
to be fed. They have to be fed. And he's
not talking about eating Cheerios. He's talking about spiritual
food. He's talking about you have to
be fed with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You have to be fed with
the Word of God. Believers need to be fed. Believers
need to be led. They're sheep. They have to be
led. Christ calleth. How many times
does He use that thing in this chapter? My own sheep. And I lead my own, He said. Believers
need to be led. Christ calleth His own sheep
by name and leadeth them out. And He goeth before the sheep
and the sheep follow Him. Sheep have to be led. Sheep must
be comforted. They had to be comforted. Comfort
ye, comfort ye my people, he said. Speak ye comfortably to
Jerusalem and tell her that her warfare has been accomplished. Sheep must be sheltered. There's
a song in our hymnal written by a man whose name was Vernon
J. Charlesworth. He served as a
pastor. Nobody knows who. Have you ever
even heard that name? I've never even heard that name
mentioned before. He was the pastor of Surrey Chapel over
in England and he was the headmaster of Charles Spurgeon Stockwell
Orphanage. And he ministered oft times in
the place of Charles Spurgeon in Metropolitan Tabernacle. And
this hymn was wrote This is a hymn that he wrote, and it caught
on, but it had a horrible tune. It was sung in an old minor tune,
like an old folk song or something. It was sung in this old, really gets you down in the dumps,
you know, I understand what I'm saying. It was kind of a mournful
tune that was written to it, but the fishermen loved this
a hymn and they'd sing it in times of storm when it was coming
in and they'd sing this old hymn. And one day a man by the name
of Ira Sankey, he got a hold of this song and he wrote some
music to it so it could be sung in the church as a hymn. And
this hymn found its way, I believe, into almost every hymnal that
I've ever read. A shelter in the time of storm. Listen to this. The Lord's our
rock. In Him we hide. A shelter in
the time of storm. Secure whatever ill be tied. A shelter in the time of storm. The raging storms may round us
beat. A shelter in the time of storm. We'll never leave our safe retreat. Why? He's a shelter in the time
of storm. Oh, he said, rock divine, oh
refuge dear, be thou our helper ever near. A shelter in the time
of storm. Sheep have to be sheltered. They
have to be sheltered. And my friend, faith grows. We
grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. But faith
is also an unlearning process. It's not just a learning process,
but it's an unlearning process. And this is what our Lord was
telling those converted Jews who were listening to Him back
in John chapter 8. If you continue in my doctrine,
you're going to learn the truth. And the truth that you learn
is going to set you free. It's going to set you free. And like Paul, you're going to
discard a lot of things. You're going to unlearn some
things and throw them on the donkey. Most everybody knows George Clooney,
the actor. But hardly anybody knows his
father. George Clooney's father was a Cincinnati newsman for
years and years and years. And after he retired, they asked
him to come and speak at one of the University of Kentucky
during their graduation. They asked him to come speak
at the commencement. And this is what he told the He was urging
the graduates to keep an open mind as they went out into the
business world and out here into life. And here's how he summed
up what he told them. It's not what you don't know
that hurts you. It's what you know that just
ain't so. Now that's the way it is with
the gospel. It's what you know that just
ain't so. That's what causes the problem. Our Lord, declaring himself to
be the great shepherd of the sheep, tells his disciples in
verse 8, all that ever came before me are thieves and robbers, and
the sheep didn't pay any attention to them. And we don't need to
pay any attention to them either. Many of the high priests of Israel
were thieves and robbers. Many of the Pharisees, these
master theologians, were thieves and robbers. Many of the lawyers,
those who were experts on the law of God, were thieves and
robbers. Many who claimed to be shepherds
of the sheep were just hirelings. They had no interest in the sheep.
And Paul said, though we are an angel from heaven, preach
any other gospel unto you than that which we preach. Let him
be accursed. All that ever came before me,
he said, were thieves and robbers. We don't need to put any stock
in what the thieves and robbers have said. We don't need to put
any stock in what the thieves and robbers have taught. I don't
care if your daddy loved it or if your mama loved it, if your
great aunt that you love so well. I don't care what it is. A lie
is a lie no matter who lays hold of it. That's an old instrument
that Satan uses. He takes somebody you love, somebody
that's meant everything to you in the past. Just like old Isaiah
did. Oh, Isaiah. He said, King Uzziah. You know, the scripture said
that Isaiah wrote everything King Uzziah did down in a book.
He loved that man. That man just stood out to him. Evidently had a personal affection
for him. And Isaiah just penned everything.
He was going to be his biographer. He wrote everything he did. He
said, in the day when King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. I saw the
Lord. King Uzziah died, he took that
sacrifice from that high priest and he was ready to go beyond
that veil. And God smote him with leprosy and he lived out
his days in the leper colony. He said, when King Uzziah died,
I saw the Lord. Might be when your great aunt
dies, you'll see the Lord. But a lie is a lie, and Satan
loves to take somebody that you love and somebody that you're
so impressed with, and cause that to be a thing of unbelief
in you. He does it. He does it in every
family I've ever ministered to. Thieves and robbers. That's what
the Lord said about them. John said this, he said, Whosoever
transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath
not God. And if there come any unto you,
and bring not the doctrine of Christ, don't receive him into
your house, and don't bid him Godspeed. Don't have anything
to do with it. For he that biddeth him Godspeed
is a partaker of his evil deeds. Why am I saying all this? Well,
I'm saying this because our minds and hearts have been saturated,
saturated with the twisted doctrine of anti-Christ religion until
we can't hardly tell what we do believe and what we don't
believe. All the major things we cast
aside. We cast them aside. Quickly discarded
those things, but they're subtle things. Things
that come to the surface all throughout the rest of our lives
that we picked up in religion and didn't even know we picked
it up. Peter was an apostle. He was filled with the Spirit.
He had long since denounced the system of works religion. But
see him down in Galatia. See him down there. And these elders from the Jerusalem
church, these Jews, had come down to visit this little work.
And Peter wanted to be thought well of those back in Jerusalem.
And he kind of just separated himself. Here he was. He's sitting over there gnawing
on a big pork chop over there. They forbidden to eat pork, but
there's Peter. He's over there eating that pork
chop, and he saw those elders come down. And he just kind of
slid out of the table, went over here in the corner, got him something
else to eat, and sat down there with those elders, pretending
like he didn't want to be identified. with those Gentiles. And Paul
was sitting over there in the corner just shaking his head.
And it stood him to the fact. We carry stuff over. I'm telling
you, every one of us. I do, you do, everybody I've
ever met. We've got things. It's like,
I told somebody one time, these religious things stick to us
like flies on flypaper. We get it on us, can't get it
off. It sticks to us. And it's an
unlearning process as much as it is a learning process. As
we learn this, we discard this. We learn this, we discard this.
And we grow in grace. And we grow in knowledge of the
Lord Jesus Christ. My friend, the reason our minds
and hearts are filled with doubt is because we are still harboring
some kind of religious lies and twisted doctrine concerning the
salvation of our souls. Salvation, I want you to hear
me. I'm telling you these things
for your good. Salvation is 100% by the grace of God. 100% by the grace of God. If it weren't, you'd have to
take that word shall out of the Scriptures. You'd just have to
get rid of it. Take it out of the book. It had
no place in the book. It's 100% by the grace of God. There are
no empty slots for us to insert anything having to do with our
works. The very instant you attempt
to mix your works with the grace of God, your salvation becomes
works altogether. If it be by grace, the scripture
said, then it's no more works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. Now let's look at some of these
verses here and let me show you where true saving faith plants
its feet. Plants its feet. Can a man do
that? The Scripture says he can. It
says he can stand in the grace of God. He can plant his feet
on a solid foundation and stand. Be secure before God. So let's
look at some of these things. John chapter 10 verse 9. I am
the door. By me, if any man enter in, he
shall be saved, and he shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief cometh not, but for
to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I am come that they
might have life, that they might have it more abundantly. I am
the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep." Now let me tell you something. You who
never seem to have any assurance. You who never seem to have any
lasting peace. I mean peace. Peace no matter
what happens. Peace. You who struggle but can't
seem to find anything to lie on that will give you some rest.
Assurance, peace, and rest is in a person. It's in a person. And you're not that person. Huh? It's in a person. It's been in
this person from all eternity. It never was given to you. It
was given to Him. It's given to Him. And it's been
in His hands from all eternity. Jesus Christ is the shepherd
of the sheep. Now, here's the first thing I
want you to, and I preach on this all the time, but I want
you to just look at it in terms of this assurance that I'm talking
to you about. God has an elect people. He has an elect people. To get
rid of the doctrine of election, you'll have to throw your Bible
in the garbage can. It's taught from one end of it
to the other. It is so interwoven. I'm not
talking about the 27 or 37 times that he uses that word in the
scripture, but it's so interwoven in the teaching of the scriptures
that you just have to take your Bible out and throw it in the
garbage can. If you deny election, election's from one end of the
book to the other. But men so despise the doctrine
that they deny it even exists in the Word of God, yet the doctrine
is so interwoven that they can't get rid of it even in the modern
translations. It's still there. The eternal
blessings of God, Paul said, are according as He hath chosen
us in Him before the foundation of the world. Now what did He
do with us? He chose us. Just take my name
out of it altogether. Take your name out of it. Let's
just look at it in general. God chose a people. What did
He do with them? Put them in Christ. Huh? He didn't leave them alone. He
didn't do something for them and then come along and teach
them some things and tell them, now you hang on to that. You
keep on keeping on. No. He put them in Christ. That's where He put them. Put
Him in Him. There's no other way that God
Almighty could bless a people with all spiritual blessings
except He put them in Christ. But putting them in Him, He can
do it from all eternity. He can justify. People say, oh,
I don't believe in eternal justification. Your God is eternal. He doesn't
do things in time. He does things eternally. And
when He put you in Christ, He justified you. Does that mean
Christ don't have to come and justify me? No. That's the reason
He came. Because God first trusted in
Christ. He put you in Christ. All these eternal blessings of
God are according as He's chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world. God's elect were chosen in Christ,
and Christ was chosen for them. For them. If you take away the
elect, there's no reason for the Savior to be appointed. And
if you take away Christ, there's no reason for the elect to be
chosen. Think about that for a minute.
God Almighty chose a people and appointed His Son as their covenant
surety, His mediator, and their Savior and Redeemer. God has
saved us. Isn't that what Paul said? He
has saved us. And He called us with a holy
calling, not according to our works, but according to His own
purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the
world began. The porter knows the shepherd. He don't have to sneak in, Russell.
He don't have to sneak in. He don't have to come at midnight
when it's dark, pull his hood up over his head and stand back
there in the shadow. He can come at noon and stand
before the door because the porter knows the shepherd. He knows
the shepherd. He knows the shepherd because
he appointed him to be the shepherd. And the shepherd can come in
the full light of day and he's recognized by the porter and
he calls his sheep by name and the porter opens the door. Opens
the door. And the shepherd calls his sheep
by name, and the sheep are allowed to go to the shepherd. When sin entered into the mind
and heart of Satan, the Scripture said he fell from heaven like
lightning. What does that mean? That means so fast your mind
can't even comprehend it. He didn't do anything. It entered
into his mind to do it. And when he did, he fell from
heaven like lightning. And when sin entered into the
mind and heart of Adam, God would have in an instant burnt this
world into cinders. But unlike Satan, Adam had a
surety. Adam had a representative. God
chose Adam and put him in his son. And he appointed his son
to be his surety. That's why God didn't burn this
world to cinders in the garden. Because Adam had a surety. He
had a substitute. All of the fallen angels, if
you read the book of Jude, which kept not their first estate,
but they left. They left that first estate.
They left that habitat. It says they are reserved in
everlasting chains under darkness until the judgment of that great
day. Why? Because Christ took not
on Him the nature of angels, He took on Him the seed of Abraham.
That's why. Paul said, He saith not to seeds
as of many, but unto thy seed which is Christ. And if you be
Christ, then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the
promise. Beloved, God put all His people
by eternal covenant union in His Son. in His Son, made you
by covenant union to be one with Him. One with Him. Listen to this ancient prophecy
of Christ over here in Proverbs chapter 8. I don't know if you've
ever read this or not. But if you haven't, you need
to listen to it. Proverbs chapter 8, verse 23. Christ said, I was
set up from everlasting. From the beginning. before ever
the earth was. When there were no depths, I
was brought forth. When there were no fountains
abounding with water, before the mountains were settled, before
the hills were brought forth. While as yet He had not made
the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust
of the world. When He prepared the heavens,
I was there. When He set a compass upon the
face of the depth, when He established the clouds above, when He strengthened
the fountains of the deep, when He gave to the sea its decrees
that the waters should not pass His commandment, when He appointed
the foundations of the earth. Are you listening? Then I was
by Him as one brought up with Him, and I was daily His delight,
rejoicing always before Him, rejoicing in the habitable part
of the earth, and my delights were with the sons of men." Before
ever the earth was formed, Christ rejoiced in his people. You can't
imagine, can you? Why? Because God made them one
in covenant union with his son. God's sheep are God's sheep as
they were chosen in Christ and as He was appointed as their
surety, their savior, their redeemer, and their substitute. Secondly,
when the fullness of the time was come, that end decreed from
the beginning. He declared the end from the
beginning, from ancient times. When this fullness of the time
was come, God sent forth His Son made of a woman. made under
the law to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive
the adoption of sons. Those chosen in Christ and blessed
of the Father before the foundation of the world, they were and are,
Ephesians 1, 5, predestinated unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to Himself. That's not going to change, is
it? It's predestinated. It predestinated. And to accomplish
this adoption, Christ came in the person of our representative
and substitute. And to the praise of the glory
of His grace, He made us accepted in Him, gave to us redemption
through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, abounded toward us in
all wisdom and prudence. That is, He fully revealed how
He can save sinners without compromising the glory of His name. And beloved
Christ is our righteousness. He's our righteousness. Of ourselves,
we have no righteousness. Now, let this sink in. Don't
miss this. Let this sink in. We don't have
of ourselves a righteousness before or after conversion. Everybody knows we don't have
it before. A lot of folks don't understand
that you don't have it afterwards. I can't produce one now any more
than I could then. That which is flesh is flesh.
It is useless flesh. It can't do any more now than
it did then. Of ourselves, we had no righteousness
before or after conversion. We were chosen in Him that we
should be holy and without blame before Him in love. It's not
viewing His love Are you listening? It's not viewing his love, his
obedience, and his faithfulness where you find your doubt. It's
when you try to view it in yourself. Huh? Ain't that when we doubt?
That's when we doubt. You can't look at him and doubt. Not as God has set him for. You
can't have no. This is God our sage. With man,
it's impossible. With God, all things are possible.
You can't find any reason to doubt in Him. When you doubt
is when you try to view these things in yourself. Jesus Christ fully accomplished
our redemption. It says He put away our sins. We're sanctified, Paul said,
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. sanctified, perfectly sanctified
before God. And by this one offering, he
hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. The good shepherd
giveth his life for the sheep. Now if this be so, and I have
God's promise and His oath that it is, then there can be no doubt
that all for whom he died are fully, freely, and perfectly
justified, and can never, under any circumstance, be condemned
of God." Who is he that condemns? It's God who justifies. Christ
who died. There is, therefore, Paul said
back in In Romans chapter 8, there is therefore, based on
the person and work of our representative and substitute, there is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who have
the mind of Christ. There is nothing any man can
do or be or say to put away his sin. Do you believe that? There's nothing any man, any
man, I don't care who he is, nothing he can do. A man murders
somebody and he goes up before the judge. There's nothing he
can do to undo what he's done. He's going to have to pay what's
demanded of him by the justice of the land. If we go before
God, there's nothing you can do. Not even the smallest sin,
there's nothing you can do to put away your sin. Not even eternal
damnation can put away sin. Otherwise, there wouldn't be
eternal damnation. But the Lord hath laid on him
the iniquity of us all, and he bore our sins in his own body
on the tree. And one time, he said, in the
end of the world hath our great high priest appeared to put away
sin by the sacrifice of himself. He put it away. Thirdly, having accomplished
our redemption, finished the work of righteousness, our representative
ascended into heaven to secure by his own presence the salvation
of our souls. Listen to this over in 1 Peter
1. In verse 3, he said, We have been
begotten again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead. Oh, listen to this. To an inheritance
incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved, That doesn't say reserved in
your faith, does it? Reserved in heaven for you who
are kept by your own power. That ain't what that says. Who
are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation,
ready to be revealed in the last time. The power of God through
faith is that which keeps your minds and hearts and affections
fastened on Christ. That's what that's talking about.
At no time has God ever put the security of your soul in your
hands. At no time. Not at any time. Those who believe not, look at
our text. John 10 verse 26. You believe
not, because you are not of my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. Huh? Why do they hear it? Because
he speaks like no other man ever spoke. He can speak to the heart. When he calls, it's an effectual
call. He turns those he calls. You believe not, because you
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." Who? His
elect, His sheep. I give unto them eternal life. What is that? Over in John 5,
verse 20, it said, "...and we know that Jesus Christ hath come,
and given to us an understanding, that we might know Him that is
true, We might know Him, that we're
in Him that is true. This is the true God in eternal
life. I give unto them eternal life,
and they'll never perish. They'll never perish. Neither
shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father which gave
them Me is greater than all. No man is able to pluck them
out of My Father's hand, and I and My Father are one. Now
let me read you this and I'll quit. This is where I got all
confused in my Sunday school lesson. Colossians 3, verse 1. I'm trying to preach to you what
I try to preach every time I get up here, that our salvation is
union with Christ. That's what it is. It's union
with Him. If we're not one with Him, we're
goners. We're goners. Now listen to this,
Colossians 3 verse 1. He just got through telling them,
don't let folks put you in some kind of bind over keeping a holy
day and all of that. That's foolishness. Christ has
accomplished all that. He is the Sabbath. He's accomplished
all those things. Now, if you then be risen with
Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth
on the right hand of God. What things? Wisdom. Righteousness. Sanctification. Redemption. The Lordship of Christ. The Kingdom of Christ. The will
of God in the salvation of chosen sinners. Seek those things which
are above. Secured in Him. Preserved in
Him. Exalted in Him. Set your affection
on things above, important things, necessary things, blessed things,
not on things of the earth, for you're dead. You died in the
fall, and you died in Christ. You're dead. And your life is
hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life,
is He? That's what it means to be saved.
Is Christ our life? When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall you also appear with Him in glory.
You're going to appear right where God put you in the beginning,
in His Son. In His Son. And you're going
to appear with Him in glory. Assurance is spiritual persuasion
that your salvation is secured in Christ, and that His work
is sufficient to save to the uttermost all who come unto God
by Him. That's assurance. Assurance is
not confidence in your confidence, it's confidence in Christ, confidence
in Him. Yeah, but you say, how do I know
that I'm in Him? Do you trust Him? Can you rest
in Him? That's what it means to be in
Him. That's what faith is. All this other stuff they talk
about, that's not faith. Faith sees Christ, lays hold
of Christ, rejoices in Christ, looks to Christ, and keeps on
looking to Christ until it appears with Him in glory. That's assurance. Paul said, I'm persuaded that
He's able to keep that which I committed unto Him against
that day. That's what it means to have
insurance.