He returns or calls me home,
here in the power of Christ I'll stand. I received a letter one day this
week from Brother Henry Mahan down in Asheville. Christ is
getting old. And he said, we're looking forward
to the trip home. Because till he returns or calls
me home, here in the power of Christ I'll stand. Turn with
me, if you will, to John chapter 10. The gospel of John, the 10th
chapter, and it is my prayer that as we read this passage
of scripture and learn what our Lord here teaches us, that you
will be delighted till he returns or calls you home. with the blessed
assurance that you stand in the power, goodness, grace, and righteousness
of Christ the Lord. The Lord Jesus says here in John
10, 27, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow
me. And I give unto them eternal
life. Now watch this, and they shall
never perish. I remember so well the first
time the Lord showed me that statement. When I was a boy seven
years old, I was attending church, some with my family. One time
I couldn't sneak out and go somewhere else. And one day the preacher
was preaching, and they had an invitation, told a story, and
scared everybody into making a profession of faith. And I
joined the crowd. I came down front. Some fellow
put his arm around my shoulder and took me down Romans Road
and asked me if I wanted to go to hell. And I said, no, if you
want to be saved. And I said, yes. Do you know you're a sinner?
I said, I don't know. He said, did you ever do anything wrong?
I said, yes. He said, well, that's sin. The Lord said, if you believe
on Jesus, you'll be saved. Well, you repeat after me." And
he said a prayer and I repeated his words and he said, now you're
saved. Don't let anybody ever tell you otherwise. And I was
baptized. Actually, I shouldn't use that
word. I was put in some water. They called
it baptism. And I was asked to go with them shortly
thereafter out to I call it a colored mission out on the north side
of town. And eight years old, every Sunday
afternoon I'd go up to a bunch of folks and have me preaching
to a bunch of adults. More idiots in religion than
anywhere else. There are more of them in church houses than
there are in nuthouses. Just idiots. That didn't last long. Before I was nine years old,
I had no interest in anything. Got to be more and more rebellious
all my days. We'd go to church. Whenever I'd
get in trouble, my mother'd take me to church if I'd get in bad
enough trouble, and she'd try to scare the hell out of me again.
And if I got real bad trouble in my mind, I'd go and rededicate
up. You know, just make another dedication. And it'd last almost
as long as it'd take to get out the door. Because hell was in
my heart. Rebellion in my soul. Unbelief
and hatred of God ruled my life. I've been told I say it and I
ought never to let anybody talk me out of that. Tell me otherwise.
And that went on until I was nearly 17 years old. Started going to church pretty
regular because I wanted to date a girl that was going there.
And I sat in Sunday school class, teenage boys, with Leroy Pat,
with the Lord Moore, teaching the class. The pastor blessed
his heart. I love him dearly. He's gone. He wasn't a very bold preacher.
What he said was all right, but it wasn't much. But those two
men taught the gospel of God's grace distinctly and clearly. And God began to expose my rebellions,
my enmity against God, my sin. And I was condemned in my soul. And I couldn't sleep. And I couldn't function in life.
And the law, exposing my sin, revived sin and I died in a man
who's without hope and in desperate, desperate straits. He's a fellow
you don't want to be around. And godliness just got worse.
I'd go to bed at night, try to make a bargain with God. Lord, if you'll get me through
this, I'll serve you. Lord, if you'll get me out of
this, I'll serve you. Nothing worked. Nothing worked. And finally, I began to see my
need of God's mercy and grace in Christ. And Satan had convinced me that
I was just too far gone, too bad, too corrupt, too vile, too
wretched for God to save me. Grace be good for others, but
no grace for you. And when I began to have a little
glimmer of hope, maybe the Lord would be gracious even to me.
He would slander God's goodness and God's grace in my heart,
in my mind. And I began to hear in my mind,
in my soul, those slanderous words of the fiend of hell who
would destroy my soul. You've been through this before.
Who are you kidding? You're just playing games. And
if you make a profession of faith, it's not going to last. How many
of them have lasted before? You made a dozen. It ain't going to last. All you're
going to do is make a mockery of everything and embarrass yourself
on top of it. Because you can't go on. You can't endure. And one day,
maybe in the middle of the night, I don't remember, I was just looking for something. And I came across John chapter
10. And verse 28, and the Lord Jesus said, I give unto them eternal life, and they
shall never perish. Jesus is our guard and savior. guide and counselor and friend. He will never, never leave us, nor will let us quite leave him. They shall never perish. But they shall never perish. They shall never perish. That's his word. And that's my
message. Look at this text again. John
10, 27. My sheep, hear my voice. I know them, and they follow
me. There's not an if, and, or but,
or maybe in the sentence. My sheep hear my voice. I know them, they follow me,
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 gave them me
is greater than all, and no man can pluck them out of my Father's
hand. I and my Father are one. Now here are four things I want
you to see. First, a divine distinction. My sheep. My sheep. I love it. Let men denounce it
as they may. Let them denounce me for preaching
it. That'd be all right. I don't much care what they did.
If that gives them pleasure, they can have a little fun. But
the God of the Bible distinguishes between men. He has from eternity. He has throughout history. He
does now, and He will tomorrow. He chose to save some and pass
it by others. He sent his son to redeem some,
and passed by others. The Lord Jesus laid down his
life for his sheep, and passed by others. God sends his gospel
to some, and not to others. God calls his son to hear his
gospel, and not others. He calls some by the power of
his spirit, giving them life and faith in Christ, and leaves
others to themselves. He saves some, but not others. You see, salvation and grace
are the prerogatives of God Almighty. He gives grace to whom He will. He has mercy on whom He will. He saves whom He will. Turn to Romans chapter 9. I want
you to see it clearly. Romans 9. Verse 15, God said to Moses,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. And I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. Well, what does that mean? Read
the next verse. So then, in other words, this
is what that's all about. It is not. It is not. It is not. at any point, to any
degree, at any time. It is not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. For
the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have
I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, that my
name might be declared throughout all the earth. Well, what's that
got to do with salvation? It's a picture of it. That's
what it is. God saved Israel, and He passed by Pharaoh, and
He raised Pharaoh up to drive them out of Israel to show His
power in overwhelming Pharaoh. Therefore hath He mercy on whom
He will have mercy. And what does Scripture say the
Lord did to Pharaoh's heart? What does it say? Hardened his heart. Therefore hath he mercy on whom
he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. Turn to
Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2 verse 16. The Holy Spirit is here describing
the purpose of our Lord's incarnation. The purpose why he was made flesh.
The purpose why he came into this world. In verse 16, he says,
for verily, this one who came to deliver us from the fear of
death, who are all our lifetime subject to bondage, verily, he
took not on him the nature of angels. Now wait a minute. What
did the angels do? They did exactly what Adam did
in the garden. Exactly the same thing. They
said, we will not bow to God's dominion. We refuse to recognize
that God has the right to be God. We'll be our own gods. That's exactly what Adam did
in the garden. And those who sinned, he passed them by and
they are reserved in chains of darkness and everlasting destruction,
no mercy offered, no mercy provided, no mercy given, no hope, forever
cast off. And it passed them by. But it took on him The seed of
Adam. Is that what this says? What did he do? He took on him
the seed of Abraham. He took on Him a covenant seed.
He took on Him God's chosen seed. He took on Him those whom God
Almighty had ordained to eternal life. He took hold of Abraham's
seed to save Abraham's seed. This is a divine distinction. Mashi. Mashi. Our Lord said back
here in John chapter 10. He's clearly teaching His sovereignty
and salvation. And He said to the unbelieving
Jews who refused to believe His word, you are not my sheep. And in verse 26, He told them
the evidence of that fact is the fact that you do not believe.
Now catch these words. Let them sink into your heart.
God our Savior says of you, and me, my brother, my sister. These people are my sheep. I've loved them with an everlasting
love. I've made all things for their
sake. I've redeemed them with my own
blood. I've come here to save them and
save them I shall. I've called them by my grace.
I've found them. I've laid them on my shoulders
and I will carry them all the way to glory. These are my sheep. The Lord Jesus says, I know them.
I know who they are. I know where they are. I know
what they are. I know everything they've done.
I know what they would be and where they would be if I left
them to themselves. I know all that they have been. I know when I will find them. I know what I will make of them.
I will be gracious to them and I will bring them home. These
are my sheep. My sheep. My Father gave them
to me, trusted them to my hands as their shepherd before the
world began, and I assume responsibility for them. And these are not just
a trust of cattle to my hands, these are the trust of the souls
of my people to my hands. I love them, they're my sheep,
and I'm their shepherd." And then we have in our text a divine
gift. unto them eternal life. This is one reason why we must
believe in the eternal security of God's elect. Now I know some
folks get upset with that and some fine, refined theologians
say you ought not talk about eternal security. I listened to a fellow back in
1972, never will forget it. Brother Scott Richardson and
I met. We were at a Bible conference. I had my wife and daughter. Faith
was just a baby. Drove a long ways out there to this big sovereign
grace Bible conference, international Bible conference. Had preachers
from everywhere, all over the English-speaking world. And this
big shot, he got up and he started deriding. the teaching of eternal
security. He said that's high school Calvinism.
You fellas need to read something. Teach you something. And he started
distinguishing between security and perseverance. Well, after
about five minutes of it, I said, let's go to the motel and go
swimming. And Shelby and I just got up and walked out, took Faith
out, and walked around the back of the door, and that's where
we ran into Scott. Same thing happened the next
day. Met him at the same place. I said, we will talk to him for a little
while. No, eternal security is exactly
what I meant to say. Security. I know believers persevere
in the faith. I'm fully aware of that. But
the only reason why Bobby Estes continues in the faith is because
God Almighty holds you in His hand. That's all. That's all. Saw those grandbabies just briefly
yesterday. I'd take Will in those hands and pick him up and swing
him around. And he's holding on tight as
he can. He's holding on tight as he can.
But do you think for a second I'd throw that boy up in the
air depending on his grip on my thumbs? No, his security, he knows it
and I know it. It's not him holding me, but
me holding him. And our security is not our grip
on Christ. No. It's His grip on us. And that's our security. You
got that? Well, why must we believe this
doctrine? Why must we? Why wouldn't we?
who wouldn't want to believe it. Eternal life is the gift
of God. Eternal life comes to man as
a matter of free grace. Man doesn't have eternal life
by nature. It does not evolve from man's
sinful heart by some mysterious process of spiritual evolution.
It cannot be communicated to him by some religious ceremony
or rite. It cannot be educated into him. He can't be raised into it. Eternal life is given to man. given to women graciously, performed
in the heart by God's own work. Our Savior says, I give. That
kind of forbids the idea that it comes to men as a matter of
debt or reward. The gift of God is eternal life. Pastor, you know that this is
a conditional promise. Oh. I didn't know that. I'm sorry,
I did not understand that. You see, there was nothing in
our hearts, nothing in our conducts that calls God Almighty to bestow
eternal life on us. What do you reckon there was
in you that induced God to be gracious to you? Oh, no. And there is nothing in the believer's
heart or conduct that can cause God to take away his gift of eternal
life once it's bestowed. Can't be. I answered a letter
this morning. I've been sitting on it for a
few days. A friend of mine I've known Long, long time. Got into a mess. I got a letter,
wondering what on earth could be done, made such wreck, such
ruin. And this is my last word to it.
I said, our God is a great forgiver. a great forgiver. You got that? David said, listen
to his argument for forgiveness. So different from ours. We asked
for forgiveness because it really wasn't that bad. David said,
Rex, pardon my iniquity, oh Lord, for it is great. Pardon it. Does it glorify you
to forgive sin? Then you ought to get a lot of
glory in me. Pardon my iniquity, for it is great. R.L. Dadman made this statement. I
thought it was just outstanding. He said, God was not induced
to bestow his renewing grace in the first instance by anything
he saw meritorious and attractive in repenting sinners. And therefore,
the subsequent absence of everything good in them would be no new
motive to God for withdrawing His grace. I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, our Savior says. Because it's
contrary to the very character of God to withdraw His gifts. contrary to the character of
God, to take away that which he has freely bestowed. The gifts
and callings of God are without repentance. This gift of eternal
life freely bestowed is in no way dependent upon the contingencies
of this present mortal existence. I give to Don Fort, eternal life. And when he's so weak that he
thinks he's strong, I still give him eternal life. And when he's strong enough that
he knows he's weak, I still give him eternal life. When he's so empty that he thinks
he's full, I still give him eternal life. And when he begins to be
full enough that he knows he's empty, I still give him eternal
life. It's a gift of God. No contingencies. Turn to Ecclesiastes 3 for just
a moment. Verse 14. I can't think of a better way
to put this than this. I've had folks over the years
ask me, do you believe in eternal security? Do you believe once
saved, always saved? And my response is, that depends
on who does the saving. If you've got something to do
with it, no, you won't last as long as it takes for me to blow
my next breath out my lungs. No. If you do it? No. If you've got anything to do
with it? No. No, I wouldn't be once saved, always saved. But
if God does it, if salvation is God's work, oh yeah. Look
here to Ecclesiastes 3.14. I know that whatsoever God doeth,
it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it, nor
anything taken from it. And God does it this way, God
doeth it, that men should fear before Him. Any child who's not
been blinded by religious nonsense will recognize that eternal life
must of necessity be eternal. Boy, that's deep, isn't it? Eternal. What does that mean? Eternal. That means it doesn't have any
beginning, doesn't have any end, can't be destroyed, can't be
lost, can't be taken away. It's eternal. Everlasting. Everlasting. The believer's life is a life
in union with Christ. Mull that over just a little
bit, will you? That lady and this man are wed
to one another. And I'm married to Christ. More
importantly, Bob, he's married to me. And we get to be more and more
one all the time. And that marriage is a picture
of our union with Christ. But there's a union with Him
more real, a mystical, spiritual union, more real than the union
of this finger to this hand, this hand to this arm, this arm
to this body. Look in Ephesians chapter 1 for
a moment. Verse 23. The Holy Spirit tells
us that Christ is the head of all things in the church. Now
watch this. Verse 23. Which is His body. Anybody got the next words? The
fullness of Him that filleth all in all. The fullness of Him. David, this
is what that means. He who fills all things, as our
mediator, substitute and surety, has His fullness in us. His body, His mediatorial character,
His surety ship, His redemptive character, His character as our
substitute, our savior, our surety, our mediator, our high priest,
the head of all things, would be incomplete if one member of
His body were absent. He's not maimed in any degree.
We are God's elect, chosen redeemed sinners, all who believe on the
Son of God. We are the fullness of Him, the
completion of Him that filleth all in all. Not only is our life
given by God's grace, an eternal life union with Christ, We are
preserved and kept in life by the seal of God the Holy Spirit.
Look at Ephesians 1.13. 1.13. Paul says, in whom ye also trusted,
that is, in Christ. After that, ye heard the word
of truth, the gospel of your salvation. In whom also, after
that, ye believed. You were sealed with that Holy
Spirit of promise. Sealed. Sealed. I've often told
you, when it comes time to put up vegetables, I'm the salt and
sealer. That's my job. If I'm around,
Shelby puts the beans in the jar, she bathes them in hot water
bath, she does it the old way. Gotta do it the old way. Stuff
those things, you get more beans in a jar than you can get in
there if you took a vacuum sealer and pushed that in there. She
stuffs some of that in there. And I put a teaspoon of salt.
And since I like salt a lot, sometimes I fudge a little more.
Put the lid on there, tighten it down, set it in that hot water
bath. boil them for whatever it takes, that pressure canner
now, 20 minutes I guess, take them off, wait a little while,
open it up, take them out, and we'll set around and make some
more beans. Crack them up, break them up and put them in jars.
And listen. You know the sound. As the lid
pops, sealed. Sealed. What does that mean?
That means they're preserved, they're kept. You know, I've
never figured this out yet, but you ladies who do this stuff,
you'll understand why you do it. You'll work all summer long,
spring and summer and fall, canned beans, put them on the shelf,
and you'll keep doing it every year. Got 40 quarts left from
last year, need more. Need more. Pretty soon you're
pushing them out the back side of the shelf. And just to make
sure they were still good, you'll open them up, still good, then
throw them all away. So they can make room for more
beans. But years later, fine. They're just fine. Just like
the way when you put them up. How come? Because they've been
sealed. Preserved. Now a seal declares preservation. A seal is a mark of ownership. A seal means that something is
legally secure. You find a trailer that's been
sealed, it's legally secure. A seal suggest permanent freshness. A seal? Let me tell you something. I'm sealed in Christ by God the
Holy Spirit. And that means it doesn't matter
what I think or what anybody else thinks. That means it doesn't
matter what I feel or don't feel. Everything's okay. Sealed with
the earnest of the inheritance. Now, look back at our text. Here's
a divine promise. I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. That's a blanket promise. An
unconditional promise. It takes into consideration all
times, all circumstances, all contingencies, all events, and
all possibilities. Our Lord says concerning all
his sheep, all the flock, not one exception, I give unto them
eternal life, and because they're my sheep and I give them eternal
life, they shall never perish. Ah, but what if their faith is
weak? They'll never perish. What if
their young men in Christ and their passions are strong? They
shall never perish. What if they're old men and their vision grows
dim? They shall never perish. What if they're tempted? They
shall never perish. What if they're tried? They shall
never perish. What if they fall? They shall never perish. What
if they fall again? They shall never perish. What
if they fall seven times a day? They'll never perish. What if
they fall seventy times a day? They shall never perish. What
if they sin and sin and sin again? They shall never perish. They
shall never perish. Go ask Brother Noah. Bless God,
he made a covenant. And he set his bow in the sky.
And he declares, they'll never perish. Go ask Brother David. Hear him declare, blessed is
the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. They shall never
perish. Go ask Brother Lot. Brother Righteous
Lot. Go ask him. Lot! What is it that
gives you hope? Oh Christ, my shepherd, that's
what gives me hope. That's all. But don't you have? No, I ain't got anything. I gave
it all up. But haven't you done? Oh, I've done so much. But my
shepherd says they shall never perish. Go ask Brother Peter. He thought he had perished. He
thought he was gone. He really did. He really did. After he got done cussing and
denying the Lord. And the Lord calls that cock
the crow. After he denied him three times, his heart broke
within him. And the scripture tells us that
he wept bitterly. Bitterly. And you know what he
said to his brethren? He said, boys, it's all over
for me. It's all over for me. No hope
for me. Master told me Satan desired
to have me that he may sift me as wheat. And he sifted me. I'm going back where I was when
all this stuff started. It's over. It's over. There's no way. No way. No way. I can be one of his. Not me. Not me. No way. No way. One morning, the Lord Jesus rose from the
dead and made himself known to those women through his messenger. And the angel said, you go tell
my disciples. I'll meet them like I said I
would. Be sure to tell Peter. Be sure you tell Peter, be sure
you tell Peter, nothing's changed. I give unto them eternal life
and they shall never perish. You see, salvation is God's work. Altogether, God's work. in no way dependent upon you
or me or anything else. Altogether God's work. But the
lady was talking earlier this morning about the riches of His
grace. And I jotted this down. God's
grace in Christ is an inexhaustible barrel. of mercy. Oh, now you can exhaust my mercy
real quick. And I say it to my shape. And I can exhaust your mercy.
And I say it to your shape. But we cannot ever even diminish,
much less exhaust God's mercy. They shall never perish. The work which God's goodness
began, the arm of His strength will
complete. His promise is yea and amen and never was forfeited
yet. Things future nor things that
are now. Not all things below nor above
can make him his promise forego or sever my soul from his love. 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. Now that message, they shall
never perish. We'll draw a strong response
from everybody here. Some of you will just be confused. I don't understand all that.
Well, maybe in time. Some will say, well, if that's
the case, then let's go live like hell. What's to prevent
anybody from living like hell? Nothing's going to prevent you
from it. Go ahead. Go ahead. If you want to go to
the store and buy your bunch of rope, take it out here and
tie it to a tree and hang yourself, I'm not going to start a campaign
trying to get them to outlaw the sale of rope because some
fool hung himself with it. If a man hangs himself with the
grace of God and destroys himself with it in licentiousness, I'm
not going to quit preaching it because it doesn't make any sense. Oh my God, what a Savior is mine. Let me never leave Him, nor forsake
Him. For you who need God's salvation,
oh, God make you to see that Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
is a willing, mighty Savior, even for such as you are, calls you to hear His voice.
And following Him, following Him, having eternal
life. Go home, follow the Master, and
hear Him. He walked in those doors this
morning. Knowing that hell was your eternal home, rightfully
so. But now, you shall never perish. Amen.