In John's Gospel, chapter 10,
I'd like us to begin reading at verse 22, down to verse 30. John 10, verse 22. Our Lord here
is having another encounter with the religious leaders. They were
taking issue with some of the things that our Lord said. Verse
19, we're told, there was a division, therefore, among the Jews for
these sayings. Verse 22, and it was at Jerusalem,
the Feast of the Dedication, and it was winter. And Jesus
walked in the temple in Solomon's porch. Then came the Jews round
about him and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to
doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us
plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you
and you believed not. The works that I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness of me. But ye believe not, because ye
are not my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice. I have no doubt that our Lord
rejoiced in heart as he spoke these words. He took no pleasure
that they believed not, even though he had spoken plainly,
and as he said, his works, the miracles bore witness of who
he was, that he was sent of God, but they believed not. Yet in
verse 27, my sheep hear my voice. You may not hear, you will not
believe. You won't come, you won't bow,
but my sheep will. My sheep hear my voice, and I
know them, and they follow me. And I give them eternal life,
and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. My Father which gave them me
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
my Father's hand. I and my Father are one." I'd
like for you to look at verse 28. This will be our text. Our
message will be from this one verse. Hear the captain of our
salvation. The captain of our salvation.
That has a sweet ring in it just by itself, doesn't it? That is,
he who is in charge, he who is in charge of the sheep, utter
these blessed words. I give them eternal life, and
they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my
hand. The security of the sheep rests
solely in the hands of the great shepherd. Their safety, their
security depends entirely on him. That's so. It must. It better. or we have no hope
whatsoever. It rests entirely in his hands. That's what he says so plainly
here in our text. It must rest with him because
look at them. Look at the sheep. That should
be proof that their health and security, their safety must lie
outside of themselves. It must rest with their mediator. The security of the sheep must
rest in the hands of the great shepherd of the sheep. Because
again, look at them. Look at them. Are they capable
of keeping themselves? Are they? Are you? Believer, are you? Oh, if you
think so, you deceive yourself. If you think so and you're a
true believer, you're in for a rude awakening. The prophet
said, all we like sheep did what? Went astray. Went astray. That's our nature. Romans 7. Paul wrote that chapter, that
epistle, after he'd been an apostle, a preacher of the glorious gospel
for many, many years. And he said, O wretched man that
I am. Note that now. O wretched man
that I used to be? No. O wretched man that I am,
who shall deliver me from the body of this death? And he answers
that question. But there's only one answer.
He doesn't give two possibilities. He gives only one answer to the
question, who shall deliver me? Who shall keep me? Who shall
preserve me? Who shall bring me to glory? Who shall present me into the
presence of God without a spot, without a blemish, or any such
thing? Who shall do that? And he answers,
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Look again, if you
will, at verse 26. Our Lord says, they're my sheep. You believe not because you're
not my sheep. In verses 3 and 4 of the chapter,
he refers to them as his own sheep. They're his responsibility. In verse 29 he said, My Father
which gave them to me. They were given to me by the
Father. Now look back, if you will, or
rather look forward, if you will, to John chapter 17. My Father
which gave them to me. To what does our Lord refer?
What's he talking about when he says that? The Father which
gave them to me. What does that mean? Well, he
refers to it so often in John chapter 17. That night of his
betrayal, just before Judas brought the mob to the garden to arrest
him, just hours before his arrest and afterwards his crucifixion,
he uttered these words in his high priestly prayer. Listen
to what he says in verse 2. As thou hast given him power
over all flesh. That's the captain of our salvation,
Lord. He has all power that he should
give eternal life to who? To who? To everybody? That's not what he says, and
that's not what the book teaches, that he should give eternal life
to as many, every one of them. And there are a multitude that
can't be numbered, or he'll have a glorious crown. He should give
eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. Look at verse
6 in John 17. I have manifested thy name unto
the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they
were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word. Now turn back to John's Gospel,
chapter 6. He tells us again. or speaks
rather again of those that the Father gave him. He says here
in this chapter that that was the reason he came to earth.
That was the reason he was made flesh, because his brethren were
flesh. That was the reason he was born
under the law and born of a woman. In John 6 verse 36, our Lord
speaks and says, but I say unto you that ye also have seen me
and believed not, just as he did in John 10. then again he
falls back on this sweet consolation of grace. He falls back on this
gift of the Father committed unto him. All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. Shall come to me. They'll come,
no matter who they are. no matter where they are, no
matter how fallen they are, no matter how helpless they are,
no matter how much in sin they are, dead in trespasses and sin,
even they shall come to Him. All the Father gave Him, without
an exception. Without one loss, without one
failure, all that the Father giveth to him shall come to him,
he says. They'll come to me. And him that
cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out. 4 verse 38. I came
down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him
that sent me. And this is the Father's will
which has sent me, that of all which He has given me, I should
lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day."
If kept, if kept, he receives the praise for it. He must keep
us. Hear the words of the great shepherd
again in Ezekiel chapter 34, and then we'll come to our text.
But listen to these words in Ezekiel chapter 34. The great
shepherd speaks here, and he says in verse 11, For thus saith
the Lord God, Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep
and seek them out. Isn't that comforting? As a shepherd
seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep
that are scattered, so will I seek out my sheep and will deliver
them out of all places where they have been scattered in the
cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out from
the people and gather them from the countries and will bring
them to their own land and feed them up on the mountains of Israel
by the rivers and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them in a good pasture,
and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be. There
shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they
feed upon the mountains of Israel. I will feed my flock, and I will
cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God. I will seek that
which was lost and bring again that which was driven away and
will bind up that which was broken and will strengthen that which
was sick. But I will destroy the fat and the strong. I will
feed them with judgment." Look down in the same chapter at verse
23. And I will set up one shepherd
over them. One shepherd. And he shall feed
them, even my servant David." Now, he's not talking about King
David. He's talking about the son of
David, Jesus Christ. And he shall feed them, even
my servant David. And he shall feed them, and he
shall be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their
God. And my servant David, a prince among them. I, the Lord, have
spoken it, and I will make with them a covenant of peace. and
will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land, and they
shall dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. And I
will make them and the places round about them my hill of blessing. And I will cause the shower to
come down in his season. There shall be showers of blessing. I will make a covenant with them. Oh, He speaks there of that everlasting
covenant of grace. This is what our Lord speaks
of when He says, the sheep which He had given me. What He refers to when He said
in John 6, I came down not to do my own will, but the will
of Him that sent me. And this is the will of Him that
sent me, of all which He giveth me. Meaning this, in that everlasting
covenant of grace, before the foundation of the world, God
entrusted into the hands of the great shepherd all his sheep. He became what the Bible calls
the surety. And he agreed. In the fullness
of time, he promised the Father, he pledged to the Father that
he would come and do everything. Do you hear that? Do you hear
that, weary pilgrim? That he would come and do everything
necessary Do everything that God Almighty required. Do everything
that justice demanded to secure the everlasting salvation of
all His sheep. I come to do Thy will, O my God. The salvation of the sheep The
saving of the sheep, the security, the keeping of the sheep was
entrusted into the hands of the great shepherd. He said, I've
come to seek. Aren't you glad that's so? I've
come to seek and to save that which was lost. I do both. And, Lord, He always succeeds. Everyone He sets out to seek,
He finds. It's no futile effort. It's no
wasted work. He finds those He seeks. And
when He finds them, He said in Luke 15, He puts it upon His
shoulder and He brings that sheep all the way home. I take that
to mean all the way to glory. all the way to heaven, all the
way to everlasting life. Peter in his first epistle said,
you were a sheep going astray, but are now returned into the
shepherd and the bishop of your souls. And consider this, if
lost, If only one, only one of that multitude, that multitude
of redeemed sinners that John saw and could not number, he
couldn't count them. There were too many. There was
no way he could count them or calculate the sum of total of
all the redeemed. But if one should be lost, only
one, the fault would be his. It would be his fault. That's
exactly right because he pledged to the Father in that covenant
of grace that he would do everything necessary to save them and keep
them and then in that day present them back to the Father who gave
them to him in that covenant. He says, I give them eternal
life. They shall never, never perish. None shall pluck them out of
my hand. He speaks of all of them. Not
a part, but the whole. Otherwise, Satan would be able
to boast. He would be able to say, I snatched
this one. This one you couldn't keep like
you said. You couldn't bring home like
you promised. I've snatched him out of your
hand and that will never happen. Thank God that will never happen. It will never be said of the
great shepherd of the sheep that he lost one. It will never happen. They're
his sheep by God's choice. Not man's choice. Oh, no. Man's
choice doesn't determine this. Man's will doesn't determine
this. Oh, no. It's God's will. It's God's choice. My Father, verse 29 again, which
gave them me. And they're His by purchase.
He says in verse 11 of this same chapter, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. Again at verse 15, as the Father
knoweth me, even so know I the Father, and I lay down my life
for the sheep. For. That's an important little
word. It means in their place. I took
their place. He paid a real price. You were
not redeemed with silver and gold. But with the precious blood
of Jesus Christ, it was a real price paid. And it was a real
redemption obtained by that price. That atonement secured an everlasting
redemption. Reality, truly, He obtained eternal
redemption for us. And they become His in time.
In time, they hear his voice, verse 3, and they follow him. To him the porter openeth, and
the sheep hear his voice. And what do they do? They ignore
him. They turn a deaf ear to him.
Oh no, no, no. They do that to you and I, but
not to Shepard. Not to shepherds. When they hear
His voice and He calls them by name, what do they do? He leadeth
them out and they follow Him. They prove that they've heard
His voice by following Him. They'll be made willing in the
day of His power. God doesn't send me on a fool's
errand. When He said, go into all the
world and preach the gospel to every creature, He doesn't send
me on a fool's errand. He says, other sheep I have which
are not of this fold, them also I must bring and they shall hear
my voice. and they'll follow me." Oh, they
are his by that everlasting covenant of grace. They're his by purchase,
and they're his when he calls them. He says, the hour is coming,
and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of
God, and they that hear shall what? Shall what, Louis? They'll live. They'll live. They're dead right up to that
very moment. And they can't raise their self. And Adam all died. When Adam
fell in the garden, and we fell in him, we didn't stump our toe. We died spiritually. We became
dead before the Holy God. And we're unable to do anything
to raise ourselves. You cannot come to me, Christ
said. and you will not come to me.
You have neither the power nor the will until he comes." Until
he comes. Until the great shepherd seeks
and saves his sheep. Until that moment, they're dead. But he says, all the hour is
coming. They'll hear his voice. They'll hear his voice. He'll
come to them and he'll say, live. Live. I say unto thee, live. Martha, he that liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Do you believe this, Martha?
Do you believe this? I'm the resurrection and the
life. He that liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Three things in our text. Look
at it again with me, verse 28. First, there's a gift. He says,
I give them eternal life. And then there's a promise. And
they shall never perish. And then there's a challenge.
Neither shall any pluck them out of my hand. First, he speaks
of the gift. I give them eternal life. Notice that. I give. This life
is his gift to his sheep. It's not something they merited.
It's not something they earned. It's not something they bargained
for. It was given to them. Turn, if you will, to Romans
5. The apostle tells us here that's exactly how it was. Eternal
life is the gift of God. In Romans 5, verse 15, Paul writing
and he says, but not as the offense, so also as the free gift. For if through the offense of
one many be dead, much more the grace of God and the gift of
grace, which is by one man Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift. For the
judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many
offenses unto justification. For if by one man's offense death
reigned by one, much more. Much more. The grace that is
in Christ Jesus is reigning grace. Much more, they which receive
abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign
in life by one, Jesus Christ. Look at verse 23 of chapter 6. For the wages of sin is death.
Now, you want to talk about what you've earned. What you've merited,
what God owes you, it's this. The wages of sin is death. Oh,
but, but, all will not remain dead, but the gift of God, and
the gift is in the hands of the captain of our salvation. The
gift of eternal life resides in him, but the gift of God is
eternal life through Jesus Christ the Lord. One more, Romans chapter
11, verse 29. Listen to what the apostle writes
here. Verse 29 of Romans 11. But the
gifts and calling of God are without repentance. He's not
talking about your repentance. He's talking about God. He says
that the gifts of God and the calling of God is something that
God will never retract. He will never take away from.
Once He gives faith, faith is yours. Once He gives eternal
life, it's a gift from the grace of God and it's yours forever. God will never repent of it.
He'll never take it back. This is not an offer. This is
not an offer our Lord speaks of. I give them eternal life. It's not an offer, but an operation
of His mighty grace. Can you imagine if one of your
children, your son or your daughter, came up to you and said, Dad,
I'm thankful that I took life from you, that I accepted it,
that I received it. I look at it and I think something's
wrong. Something's wrong. No, no, no. You had nothing to
do with it. You had absolutely nothing to
do with it. And Christ told his disciples,
because I live, hear this, because I live, ye shall live also. The same life. that's in our
head, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the same life in His members. The very same life. And He says,
the life that's in me is the life that I give you and you
will live as long as Christ, who is our life, lives. Imagine
that. In John's first epistle, chapter
5, he wrote, I write this unto you that believe that ye may
know that ye have eternal life, and this life is in his Son. In Hebrews chapter 1, the writer
said, The world shall wax old, and as a vesture thou shalt fold
it up and lay it aside, but thou, O Lord, art forever. Thou shalt abide forever, and
so shall we. When this world shall be no more,
the child of God will be. When sun and moon and stars no
longer shine, we shall be reigning with Christ. When time shall
be no more, we shall yet be forever with the Lord. I can't get my
little brain around that, Carlos. that's bigger than I am. Oh but
I rejoice in it and I believe it and I bow to it. The life
Christ gives his sheep is as eternal as he is himself. They
shall live as long as Christ who is their life lives. Now
how long is that? How long is that? Eternal is
eternal. It will never cease. A gift not
earned by any act of mine. And it can't be lost by any act
of mine. Christ shall not lose one member
of his body. No, no, no. Not one member will
be lost. I give them eternal life. It's his gift to all his sheep. Now look secondly at the promise.
He says, and they shall never perish. Never perish. Oh, who speaks like this? Who
can make such a claim? Who is able to make this a reality? Who is this that can accomplish
such work? I mean, see the sheep going astray. See them yet with a fallen nature. Hear them cry, O who shall deliver
me? Hear them confess, O wretched
man that I am. Hear them pray, O Lord, I'm prone
to wonder. I'm prone to wonder. Is that
the prayer of a Christian? Absolutely. You mean that's the
experience of a real believer? And only a real believer. Lord,
within me, there's a fallen nature. Born again, but the fallen nature
remains the same. It's not been changed. It's not
been eradicated. It's still a fallen nature. That's why The Spirit lusteth
against the flesh and the flesh against the Spirit. That's why
there's this constant warfare going on. Prone to wonder. Lord, I feel it. In me there
is a nature, a principle Paul called it, a law so fixed and
so certain that if left alone, if left to myself, I will leave
you. Think about that. Our Lord spoke
some hard things one time. about God's sovereignty, about
man's depravity. And the people said, well, this
is just too much. This is just too much. You've
just destroyed our foundation. You just took all of our props
out from under us, so they walked away. And he watched them as
they departed, the great multitude, and they all left. And he looked
back and there were the disciples. And he said, do you want to follow
them? Do you want to go too? Remember what Peter said? Remember
what Peter said? Now, this is grace. This is grace
that made him to differ. He said, Lord, to whom shall
we go? Where are we going to go? Thou alone has the words
of eternal life, and we believe that you're the Christ, you're
the sent one, you're the Messiah. Where are we going to go? Thank
God for constraining grace that says, I've got nowhere else to
go. I've got nowhere else to go. They shall never perish. It takes
in all times and all circumstances and all cases. What about babes
in grace? What about those newly converted?
They shall never perish. What if I grow old and feeble
and don't remember? What about then? They shall never
perish. What if I fall? There's no if
about it. Oh, if you fall 70 times in a
day, they shall never perish. What if I fall so far that I'm
taken suddenly with the temptation and I take my eyes off of you,
Christ, and I deny, I deny that I ever knew you? What if I say,
I don't even know you? He can't deny himself. He says,
they shall never perish. They'll never perish. It covers
all the flock. All the flock. If ever it should
come to pass, the sheep of Christ should fall away. My fickle,
feeble soul at last would fall a thousand times a day. Hmm? Do you feel that? It's so. It's true. That's just not something
I'm reciting. I feel that. I know that that's
so, Todd. If Christ would withdraw His
hand of grace, remove His blessed Holy Spirit, the preserver of
my soul, if the Great Shepherd would let me go to myself for
one moment, I would run back into the filth that He brought
me from. I know that I would. That's why
when I read these words of my great shepherd, oh, I rejoice.
They shall never perish. It's not the... privilege of
a select few, but all. We find in God's word, not one
true believer who didn't sin and fall. Noah did. Noah did. After he left the ark. Abraham did. Lot did. David. God said, he's a man after
my own heart, but he sinned. Peter did, but they could not. Oh, bless God. They could not
send away the grace of God. They couldn't do it. It couldn't
be done. You know why? Because where sin
abounded, His grace doth much more abound. His grace will keep
us and keep us and bring us all the way to glory. They shall
never perish. Every attribute of God declares
that this must be so. Is God willing enough? Of course. Is he powerful enough? Of course. Is he wise enough? Of course. They shall never perish. That
soul, though all hell, should endeavor to shake. He'll never,
no never, no never forsake. Never. I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. And
like we read earlier, we may feel that we have been. Like
David in the 73rd Psalm. We may feel that we deserve to
be. We may feel that God's deserted us. Oh, but it cannot be so. It can never be so. He says,
I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. My
name from the palms of His hands. Eternity will not erase. Impressed
on his heart it remains in marks of indelible grace. Yes, I to
the end shall endure, as sure as the earnest is given, more
happy but not more secure, the glorified spirits in heaven."
As an example of this, turn, if you will, back to Mark's Gospel,
chapter 4. I like this passage. Mark chapter
4. The captain of our salvation, he who steers the vessel of grace,
he who is in control, he's that responsible for the sheep. He who promised his father that
he would keep all that the father gave him. In verse 35 of Mark
4, he says, let us. He speaks to his disciples and
he said, let us pass over unto the other side. And these words
were spoken by that one. who has his way in the whirlwind
and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. These
words were spoken about him by he who rideth upon the storm,
by he that saideth, King forever. How could they perish? How could
they perish? Verse 36. And when they had sent
away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship,
and there were also with him other little ships. And there
arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship,
so that it was now full. And they wake him up. He's asleep. Can you imagine? Now here's Peter
and James and John and Andrew of the four, or rather those
four of the twelve, at least they were experienced fishermen.
But they thought surely all is lost. The ship's going down. And they're trying to bail out
the water, but it's useless. It's coming in faster than they
can bail it out. And they look around and say,
where's the master? Where's the master? He's the one initiated
this trip. Where's he at? He's the one said,
let us pass over onto the other side. Andrew, find him. Where
is he? He's asleep. He's asleep. He took a pillow
and went down and fell asleep, sleeping in the hands of sovereign
majesty, sleeping in the hands of his blessed heavenly Father. And they wake him up and say,
don't you care? Don't you care that we're going
to perish? Verse 39, and he arose. He arose. Oh, can you see him? Can you
see him? Can you see him arise with healing in his wings? Can
you hear him speak? Peace. Peace. Be still. Quiet, he said. Enough. And those
great waves ceased. They laid down at his feet. They
obeyed the master of their creator. He said, Peace, be still. And
the wind ceased and there was a great calm. Hallelujah, what
a Savior. Verse 41, and they feared exceedingly
and said one to another, what manner of man is this? That even the wind and the sea
obey him. John, Peter said, did you see
that? Did you see that? Did you see
what he did? And in that day, when he gathers
all his elect around the throne of God. And there's not a trace
of sin in any one of that multitude. There's no evidence of sin whatsoever
in them. They stand before the throne
of God without a blemish, without a spot, without any such thing. And the captain of our salvation
says to the Father, here they are, Father. Here's the children
that you gave me. Here's the ones that I pledge
to keep, and to save, and to preserve, and to bring back to
you. They're all here. And I've lost
none. And you know what we'll do? We'll
look at one another, Lester, and say, My soul, do you see
what He did? Do you see what He did? And we'll take the crowns off
our head and cast them at His feet and we'll sing, worthy is
the Lamb that was slain. He has redeemed us by His own
blood and made us priests unto our God. We're in the heart of
Christ. by everlasting love, and nothing
shall pluck us out." That brings us to our last point. Here's
a challenge. He said, neither shall any pluck
them out of my hand. I deliberately didn't read man
there. You'll notice that word man is
in italics, meaning that it wasn't in the original. so that not
only man, but neither shall devils or anyone else or anything else
pluck them out of his hand. It's his hold, his hand that
secures his sheep, not theirs. Turn back, if you will, to the
Psalms. Psalm 71. We read so much of this in the
Psalms. Psalm 71. David records these words. Verse
4. Deliver me, O my God, out of
the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and
cruel man. For Thou art my hope, O Lord
God. Thou art my trust from my youth. By Thee have I been holding from
up from the womb. Thou art He that took me out
of my mother's bowels. My praise shall be continually
of Thee. And Psalm 73 again, we read it
earlier, but look at it, verse 23 of Psalm 73. Nevertheless,
in spite of myself, not because of myself, but in spite of myself,
nevertheless I am continually with thee. Thou hast holden me
by my right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy
counsel and afterwards receive me to glory. We're in the heart
of Christ by an everlasting love and we're in the hand of Christ.
by everlasting power. This is not the shifting foundation
of sand. This is not based upon man's
so-called free will. Oh, no. This is that rock upon
which the church is built that the gates of hell shall not prevail
against in his hand. Can you picture it? The place
of love. I have engraven Thee on the palms
of my hands. The place of power. He appeared
on Mount Olivet just before His ascension back to glory and He
said, All power. Not just on earth, but in heaven. All power in heaven and earth
is in my hands. Oh, the place of property, all
thy saints are in thy hand. What shall separate us from the
love of God that is in Christ Jesus? Shall distress, shall sickness, shall sorrow,
shall persecution, Paul says, I'm persuaded. I'm convinced
that nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing shall pluck me out of
his hand. Once where he is, where he is
forever, nothing from his love can sever. I see him in the everlasting
covenant of grace, pledging himself as the surety of his elect. and the Father entrusting all
the sheep in His care, and I believe nothing shall pluck us out of
His hand. I see Him in the garden that night, trotting the winepress
all alone, till the blood gushes forth from the pores of his head
and falls to the ground and he prays, if it's possible father,
let this cup pass from me, yet not I, mine rather, but thy will
be done and I believe that none shall pluck us out of his hand.
I see him ascend to Mount Calvary being made sin, and cry out,
my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And I rejoice to
know nothing shall pluck me out of his hand. Look at verse 29
and 30, and we'll close, of John 10 again. He says, I and my Father
are one. My father which gave them me,
rather, verse 29, is greater than all. And no man is able
to pluck them out of my father's hand. I and my father are one. You see the picture he's giving
us there? No man can pluck them out of
my hand, he says. There they are, secure in the
hand of the great shepherd. But then he says, my father's
hand. Double security. No man can pluck the sheep out. There they are in his hand, in
the Father's hand. None shall pluck them out of
my hand. Amen. Amen. God bless you.