This scripture came to my mind
over here in John chapter 10. I'm going to read you four verses
here, beginning with verse 27. This he said in answer to them.
If you read this chapter, he said this in answer to those
who said, If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. He said, I told
you. I told you. But you believe not. Because, he said, you are not
of my sheep. Now, look here in verse 27. My
sheep, this is who I am interested in. This is who I am looking
for. This is what I have hope that
I am one of. This is the only place there
is any hope. My sheep hear my voice. And I know them. And they follow
me. I give unto them eternal life,
and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. My Father which gave them me
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
my Father's hand. I and my Father are one." And my message to you this morning
is this. They shall never perish. Never perish. Now, the first thing that I want
you to see here and the first thing that we must do in order
to glean any comfort out of this or find any assurance in this
is to establish who they are. Who is they? They. Now, he tells us here three things
that describe those to whom this precious, precious promise is
given. He tells me, first of all, that
they're his sheep. He owns them. They're his. They're
his by ownership. He bought them. They belong to
him. They were given to him. They're
his sheep. If you go back and read this
chapter, at the beginning he gives a parable of a shepherd
coming to the sheepfold. He said the porter knew who he
was. He recognized him. He owns these sheep. They are
his property. They are charged to his care.
They are rightfully his. And he used this same statement in
answer to the unbelief of those who challenged his person and
work. You believe not because you are not of my sheep. And
then secondly, he tells us how they got to be his. Verse 29,
he said, My Father which gave them me. My Father gave me these
sheep. Paul blessed the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, saying that he blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he, that
is, God the Father, hath chosen us in Christ. before the foundation
of the world. We're His sheep. His sheep. And we've got to be His sheep
because the Father gave us to Him. Peter said this. He wrote this
general epistle out to all these churches established in the land.
And I know preachers. I've heard them over the years.
They grab these things out of Peter and Colossians and all
these books, and they just apply it whoever and name it and claim
it and stand up and that's mine and this is mine and bully me.
That's not what Peter said. It's not what Paul said when
he wrote these books. Peter said they're elect according
to the foreknowledge of God the Father. This is for a particular
people. They're his sheep. His sheep
will hear his voice, though others don't. Why don't they? Because they're not of his sheep.
That's what he told them. Peter said, We are elect according
to the foreknowledge. You look that word up, it means
foreordination. According to the foreordination
of God the Father. And then thirdly, he says this
about these sheep, this they. We're trying to find out who
they is. Who's this they he's talking
about? Well, they, he said, hears his
voice. They hear it. Nobody else has
moved back. This is the Son of God standing,
preaching to these men. God has in these last days, this
is what He writes, this is what the Holy Spirit writes and declares
in Hebrews chapter 1. In the beginning he spoke to
our fathers through the prophets, hath in these last days spoken
unto us by his Son. This is the Son of God standing
before these men, preaching to them, talking to them, but they
didn't hear his voice. They didn't hear his voice. Why? Because it wasn't of his sheep.
Now, ain't that what he says? My sheep hear my voice. Well, what if one didn't hear?
He's not of his sheep. Nobody else has moved back. Nobody
else rejoiced in it. All the rest of them left. Preaching
got down to the fine points. The preaching got down to where
the separation and distinction is. Got down where the separation
is. Got down where the offense is.
And a bunch of them packed up the goods and didn't follow them
anymore. And he turned to the living behind him and said, Will
you go also? And they said, To whom shall
we go? There is nowhere else to go. Thou hast the words of
eternal life. Where are we going to go? Nobody else is willing to follow
it. Nobody else is willing to rest in it. My sheep hear my
voice. And they hear his voice because
the porter goes to the door of access to the sheep, and he opens
the door because he recognizes the shepherd. Back in the beginning
of this chapter, that porter, he comes to the door. Christ
doesn't climb over the wall like the thieves and robbers. He comes
to the door. He doesn't ignore the porter.
He doesn't ignore the right of the porter, who keeps these sheep. He doesn't ignore that. The thieves
and the robbers do because that's why they come, to steal and to
rob. But the shepherd comes to the
door. And he stands before the door,
and the porter, God the Father, sees him, recognizes him, recognizes
his right to the sheep, and opens the door of access to them. Now
they can hear his voice. And he calls his own sheep by
name, and they come out, one at a time. They come out. And he recognizes the shepherd
because they have an agreement concerning the sheep. He said
back in verse 15 of this chapter, As the Father knoweth me, even
so I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the
sheep, and the other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them
also I must bring. And they shall hear my voice,
and there shall be one fold, and there shall be one shepherd.
Nothing iffy about this, nothing iffy about it. This great and
precious promise of God are no consequence to any man who does
not hear his voice. There must be a hearing. Faith
cometh by hearing, he said, hearing. He is talking about that inward
hearing of irresistible grace. He is talking about hearing that
calling of the Holy Spirit whose call is effectual. He is not
talking about an outward call where he stands and says, whosoever. He is talking about that particular
call where he says, Matthew, follow me, and Matthew follows
him. He is talking about that particular call when he looks
at Zacchaeus in the tree and says, come down. He is talking
about a particular calling, a particular calling. He said the time is
coming and the day is. when the dead shall hear the
voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live." It
is a hearing of men who are spiritually dead, hearing him in spirit and
in truth. Faith cometh by hearing. He that
hath ears to hear our Lord said as he preached, and many did
not. Many did not. Many of them left. Many of them
got angry. Many of them got mad and left.
Some of them just, I ain't going back. I'm not going to hear that
anymore. I'm tired of hearing it. Tired of hearing it. I ain't
going back. Now, he said, He that hath ears
to hear, let him hear. Let him hear. Those who reject
the Christ of God and the means of Christ's gospel preached and
the work which Christ accomplished, And his effectual intercession
and his reign as king of glory are those who do not hear." They
do not hear. You can't hear his voice and
not bow. You can't do it. You can't hear
his voice and not obey it. You can't hear his voice and
not rejoice in it. And those who hear it that way,
he said, are not my sheep. They're not my sheep. To those
who hear his voice, I say to you, on the authority of the
Word of God, you will never perish. Can you hear it? Can you hear
his voice in the gospel of his sovereign grace? Does he speak
to your heart? When he stands and proclaims
his death and his righteousness and these things, does he speak
to your heart? Is your heart moved? To those, he says, you'll never
perish. Huh? You'll never perish. Now, I'll tell you this, everything
in this life is perishable. We bought some strawberries two
days ago and they're rotten. He tells us not to lay up our
treasures here because moth and rust will corrupt. They will. I've got a gun. I like to hunt.
My boss from where I used to work, I did a lot of work for
him down on a hunting farm that he owns and in return and to
show his appreciation, he bought me a gun and put my name on it
and the name of the farm and all that and I brought it down
here, set it over in the corner and just pretty much forgot about
it and it sat there in the corner and my son-in-law come up to
hunt last fall and I went to get that gun and I looked down
in there and it was rusted solid. Moth and rust. We lay up treasures
here on this earth and moth and rust corrupts. Our treasures
are to be laid up in heaven, sealed up in the person of our
Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He said we are preserved, that
is what Jude said, preserved in Jesus Christ. Consider, I want you to consider
this morning the scope of this promise. It takes in all time. all circumstance, all events,
all trials, all enemies, all weaknesses, all possibilities,
and throws a blanket promise over the whole thing. And he
said, you'll never perish. Never perish. What about those little sheep,
weak in faith? who run astray, run this way
and run that way out of ignorance. What about them? Never perish. What about them young men whose
passions are full and strong in their young age? What about
them? What about those who you know they're going to go astray?
You know they're going to do these things? Solomon wrote to
his children time and time and time again talking about those
passions, talking about this world and its and the lust of
the things in this world. What about those? They'll never
perish. Never perish. What about them
old men? Their days are done and their
eyes are dim and their senses are not what they used to be
and they don't see. Their vision's dim now and they
don't see. Their mind's not sharp. They can't remember like they
used to. What about them? Never perish. That's what it
says. Never perish. But what if I'm tempted, tried,
perished through the fire? Never perish. What if Satan desires to sift
me as wheat as he did Peter? Christ said, Satan hath desired
thee. He said he's going to sift you
like wheat. But he said, I prayed for you that your faith fail
not. I'll never perish. What if the gates of hell assault
me? I'll never perish. What if I sin? You will. You will never perish. But what if I sin again? You
will never perish. Never perish. But what if I fall? Listen to what David said over
in Psalm 37. The steps of a good man are ordered
of the Lord, and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall,"
and you will, though he fall, he shall not utterly be cast
down, for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. Now, this
morning I'm going to give you very quickly seven reasons why
the sheep of Christ can never perish. And this is first and
foremost on my list, because God said they wouldn't. Ain't
that enough? We're talking about the living
God who cannot lie. Ain't that enough? They'll never
perish, He said. Huh? That's enough, ain't it?
I can rest right there without anything else, or to just be
able to rest in His Word. They'll never perish. Bring on
the whatabouts and the ifs and all the circumstances of life
and all the weaknesses and all the things that hell can throw
at you. They'll never perish. Why? Because God said they wouldn't.
Huh? Who's going to turn them? God
has declared these things. He declares the end from the
beginning and from ancient times, the things that are not yet done,
saying, My counsel will stand and I'll do all my pleasure.
If they're His sheep and it's His pleasure to give unto them
eternal life, they'll never perish. They'll never perish. Listen to this, "...because he
could swear by no greater, he swore by himself, saying, Surely
blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee."
That's what he told Abraham. I get so weary of all the ifs
and whatabouts and exceptions men try to pin on the promises
of God. Somebody said one time, God said
it, I believe it, and that settles it. No, sir. God said it, and
that settles it whether you believe it or not. Now, that's the way
it is. Paul said, "...the faith of God's
elect acknowledges the truth, which is after godliness, and
has hope in eternal life," now listen, "...which God, who cannot
lie, promised before the world began." God's sheep cannot perish because
he said they wouldn't. And then secondly, he said they
will never perish. Because the purpose of God cannot
be frustrated. Who's going to stop Him? Huh? We like to look out and see all
the other things and say, well, God can stop that, but I can't
stop my own heart. You mean you're sovereign over
your own heart? The heart of the King is in the
hand of the Lord. He turneth it withersoever He
will. You think He's got a problem turning yours? Huh? He can turn your heart. He can make your heart cold as
stone, or he can make it just warm as a fire. Whatever pleases
him. Whatever pleases him. That's
why we pray, isn't it? A man who prays and doesn't believe
he's going to get what he prays for, James said, that foolishness,
he wasn't going to get anything of the Lord. Let not that man
think he shall receive anything of the Lord. He's not going to
receive anything. But knowing his sovereign pleasure
is going to be done, And knowing what that sovereign pleasure
is toward his own, I can bow down and ask him, warm up this
cold heart. He can. He can. He says, In Christ we have obtained
an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him,
listen, who worketh all things after the counsel of his own
will. David said, Our God is in the
heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Listen to the
prophet Isaiah. This is Isaiah 45.9. He said,
Woe unto him that striveth with his maker! Let the parched strive
with the parched of the earth! Shall the clay say unto him that
formed it, What makest thou? Brethren, God's purpose cannot
be frustrated. It is not going to be frustrated.
blow the gates of hell, try it, charge it, make war against it. You're not going to get one eye
open against him. And then thirdly, his sheep cannot
perish. More than that, never perish,
because the redemptive work of Christ can't be undone. It can't
be undone. Now, let me tell you something.
What God has bought, He will have. Don't you feel that way
when you go down here and you buy something, and then you go
back to get it, and they say, well, we just can't find any. You want it, don't you? Why?
Because you bought it. It's yours. It's yours. It's
the only right that you receive. He bought these things on the
cross. He bought us. Bought us. And what God's bought, He'll
have. The Word of God tells us that His chosen ones, His sheep
have been made accepted in the Beloved in whom we have redemption
through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. It has been accomplished. It has been taken into heaven
itself and God Himself declaring His approval and satisfaction
by the resurrection of Christ. Receiving Him into favor, ascending
up into glory, He set Him down at His own right hand. And this
is what he says over in Romans 8, Who is he that condemneth? Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died. Yea, rather, that is risen again,
who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us. You cannot undo what God has
accomplished. Listen to this scripture. This
is over in Ecclesiastes. He said, Whatsoever God doeth,
It shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it, nor
anything taken from it. And he does this that men should
fear before him. You ain't going to add anything
to it. You ain't going to take anything away from it. Did God reconcile us in Christ?
Then we are reconciled forever. Did he justify us in his resurrection? Then we are justified forever.
Did he give us eternal life? Doesn't the very word eternal
life at least imply everlasting life? I know he's talking about
the quality of it, but even at that, it's not going to have
any quality if it doesn't last, if it just runs a little bit
and then dwindles into nothing. But that's not what our Lord
talked about. He said, if you'd asked me, I'd have gave you water.
He said, I'd have put a well in you, springing up into everlasting
life. Bubbling up forever. Everlasting
life. Oh, justified forever. Did His blood pay my debt? Then
I have no debt to pay ever again. Ever again. They'll never perish
because God said they wouldn't. And they're not going to perish
because the purpose of God cannot be frustrated. They will never
perish because the redemptive work of Christ cannot be ignored. And then fourthly, they will
never perish because they have been freely justified of God
by an irresistible act of sovereign grace. They will never perish. The only thing that could cause
you to perish, John, is a charge of sin. If Satan, or one of the
devils in hell, or your neighbor, or anybody can make an accusation
that sticks on you for sin, if God Himself looks at you who
can define asunder, who can see the heart and the motives and
the thoughts, the intent of your heart, if you can find anything
there, anything, you can perish. You can perish. But God has justified
us. You know what that means? Innocent.
Innocent of all charges. There is nothing there. Nothing there. When He presents
us before God, we are unreprovable. You can't find anything in you
to even reprove in that day. Listen to this, Romans 3 verse
24. Being, that is something already done, justified freely
by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Romans
4, verse 25, who was delivered for our offenses and raised again
for our justification. Romans 5, verse 9, much more
then, being justified by his blood, we shall be saved from
wrath through him. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who will dispute him? Who is
going to overturn his judgments? Who is going to change his mind?
Brethren, if God justifies you, you are justified. That's it.
That's it. There is nothing else. The trial
is over. The prisoner that was bound is
now set free. He is justified. cleared of all
charges, cleared of all accusations, cleared of all suspicion, He
justified. And by the righteous obedience
of my substitute and by a just satisfaction for sin, I stand
in Him justified forever. And then, fifthly, they shall
never perish because the grace of God can't be defeated. Who
is going to defeat the grace of God? God is determined to
give something. Who is going to stop Him? You going to stop it? Free will
is going to stop it? What's going to stop it? Nothing is going to stop it.
That's why they call it irresistible grace. Listen to this. Where sin abounded. This is over
here in Romans chapter 5. Where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. How did sin abound? It rained
unto death. Ain't that what it says it did?
But listen to this, verse 21, Romans chapter 5, that as sin
has reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through
righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Grace
reigns because it is God's grace. And the God of all grace is omnipotent. Omnipotent. John, out on that
island, caught up by the Spirit of God, he said, I heard, as
it were, the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of
many waters, and as the voice of mighty thundering, saying,
Hallelujah! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth."
Omnipotent. That's sovereign. Sovereign. He reigneth. How does he reign?
He reigns in grace. Grace. In Christ, he said, dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And all that fullness
occupies the throne. If grace, all grace, grace and
truth came to us in Jesus Christ, isn't that what it says? That
grace now sits on the throne. If it sits on the throne, it
is sovereign grace. Sovereign grace. Listen to this over in Philippians
chapter 1. Paul said, being confident in
this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you
will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. Where do you
get that confidence in these first things I just told you
about? Yeah, I do. By grace are you saved, Paul
said. And that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God. He says this, he said, by grace
you are saved. And because you are saved by
grace, you are going to be saved. He says that over in Ephesians
chapter 2. That is reigning grace, reigning grace. And then sixthly,
they will never perish because Christ intercedes on their behalf,
and what he asks for, he gets. Now, I tell you, I bow my head
a lot of times to my own shame. with doubts and fears and weaknesses
and don't even know what to ask for. He not only knows what to
ask for, but he's going to get it. He's going to get it. He told Peter, he said, Satan
is going to shift you like wheat, but I prayed for you. That's
why your faith ain't going to fail, because God is going to
give me what I prayed for. I prayed for you that your faith
fail not. Oh, I wish my heart could lay
hold of this. He prays for me. He makes intercession
for me. He stands before God the Father
in full justice and righteousness and acceptance and love and mercy,
and He pleads for me, and He gets what He pleads for. God
should have wiped me out a thousand times. Why don't He? Because
He prays for me. He intercedes for me. If any
man sin, we have an advocate with the Father. He'll tell you
what he said. We have an advocate. Oh, what a comforting thought.
He prays for me that my faith fail not. He said, I pray for
them. Not that you take them out of
the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. I pray
for them. How do I know Satan ain't going
to? Because he prayed for them. He prayed for me. Keep me from
his lies and from his deceit and from his power and from his
influence. He prays for those who shall
yet believe. He said, I don't just pray for
these that are standing here with me, but for those who shall
believe on me through their words. I pray for them. You think they're
going to believe? I guarantee you they're going to believe.
He prayed for them. He prayed for them. And he prays
for a oneness with him. As he's one with the Father,
he said, I in them and thou in me, that they may be made perfect
in one. Oh, and he prays that all those
given him of the Father be with him where he is. I thought about
that. That's why I worded that just
exactly that way. Scott has gone to be with the
Lord. Huh? He prayed for us. That where I am, there you may
be. You think he's going to get his
will? I do. I do. He runs things now. You know, he gives this, and
I'll give this to you last of all. They'll never perish because
the presence of the Holy Spirit himself abides in you. That book, Abiding Presence.
He abides in you. You remember that story the Lord
told them over there about the strong man who keeps his house?
And he's going to keep it. You can't take it away from him.
You can't spoil his goods. One stronger than he must enter
in and take him down. Now the stronger one abides.
Ain't that what he said? I'm going to send you the comforter
and he's going to abide in you. And we're going to take up residence
in you. Who's going to take back over
the house? Nobody. Nobody, because he reigns
inside. That's where grace reigns. It
sits on the throne of the body. It sits in the heart. And it
governs all that a man does. Work out, Paul said, your own
salvation. He didn't care about these free
willers and universalists and all these ungodly men taking
these things, let them run away with them. They always do. Work
out your own salvation, Paul said to the Philippians, and
do it with fear and trembling, for it is God that worketh in
you, both the will and to do of his good pleasure. He abides
in, or God abides in the hearts of believers. He abides there. He rules in there, reigns in
there. His security preserved in the
heart of God by love. Who is going to separate you
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord? How
many verses does He say? How many things does He name?
What is going to separate you from that love? You are never
going to perish because nothing can separate you from the love
of God. Preserved by the power of his
Spirit. Preserved by his purpose of grace. In the book of Jude, here is
his opening statement. There are not chapters in this
book, just verses. But in this book of Jude, he
begins by saying that we are sanctified, that is, set apart. Sanctification means several
things, but here it means set apart. set apart by God the Father, preserved
in Jesus Christ and called, that is, by his Spirit. And then he
goes in and describes all the dangers and all the false preaching
and all the power of Satan. And he gives out strong warnings
all through this book. And then he comes to the end
of it. Listen to what he says at the
very end. Now, unto him that is able to keep you from falling,
and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory
with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savior be glory
and majesty and dominion and power both now and forever. Amen. He said, I give unto them eternal
life. and they will never perish. Everlasting
life, a well of water springing up in you unto everlasting life. And I thought as I prepared this
message about that old oil geyser out there in the Gulf. Every
nation on the face of this globe is reasoning and coming together,
trying to stop its flow, but they can't. The same thing is
going on with the resistance of Satan and all his ministers
and all the world working together as one, trying to stop this grace,
trying to shut it down, trying to hold it. But you can't stop
the grace of God because it's sovereign. It's omnipotent. And it reigns. And it's effectual. Oh, I tell you, it's all in His
voice. If you can hear His voice. My
sheep hear my voice. And when they do, I give unto
them everlasting life, eternal life, and they'll never perish. One day you and I are going to
go to bed just like old Scott, and we're going to wake up in
glory, or wake up in hell. But my sheep, he said, will never
perish. I want that more than anything.
That's why Peter said, give diligence. Give diligence to this. Make
your calling and election sure. If you do, you never fall. Because
you can't fall in Him. You can't fall in Him. In order for one of these sheep
to fall, God would have to cease to be God. Is that right? That's
exactly right.