I want to turn back to John chapter
10 and read two verses of Scripture tonight before I bring this message.
John 10, verse 27. 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. Now if you'll think carefully
with me tonight, you'll have to agree with what I'm about
to say. And that is that assurance is not difficult to find. Not
at all. Assurance is not difficult to
find. Actually, there is more spiritual
optimism than there is doubt and fear, much more. For every one person that you
find who fears that he may go to hell, you'll find ten people
who assure that they're going to heaven. It's not difficult
to find a man or woman who is going to heaven. The difficult
person to find today is a man who knows and will admit that
there is a possibility that he might go to hell. So assurance
is not hard to find. You find it also in some unusual
places. As you would expect, you find
assurance among the faithful, people who love God and who show
it by their obedience, people who love God and show it by their
faithfulness. You find assurance among them,
men like John, who said, We know that we've passed from death
unto life. We know that. Men like Job, who said, I know
that my Redeemer liveth, and though after my skin worms destroy
this body, yet in my flesh I'm going to see the Lord, not another,
I myself. Or like the Apostle Paul, who
said, the time of my departure is at hand. I fought a good fight,
finished my course, kept the faith, Henceforth is laid up
for me a crown of righteousness, and not for me only, but for
all them who love his appearing." You'll find assurance among the
faithful. Expect to find it there. Men
and women who love God. Men and women who are faithful
to God's Word and His worship. But you'll also find assurance
among the religious. The Pharisees stood toe-to-toe
with the Son of God. and said, God is our father.
We be not sinners. God is our father. We're the
people of God. They said, we have Moses to our
father. We have Abraham. They didn't
flinch. They didn't blink. They didn't
quiver. They didn't falter. They looked
directly into the eyes of Jesus Christ, God's son, and said,
we've got Abraham to our father. We're not worried about the future.
Or they stood in the temple like the Pharisee who prayed, I thank
you God, I'm not like other men. He was an unjustified man, though
religious. He was an unsaved man, though
religious. He was a man who knew not God,
but religious. And he thanked God he was not
like other men. He said, I tithe, I fast, I give
alms to the poor, I'm not an adulterer, I'm not an extortioner,
I'm not an unjust man. I'm all right." Today, listen
to the songs in the church. Everybody joins together singing,
won't it be wonderful there? Or they join together singing
when we all get to heaven, all of us. Or shake hands with Mother
again, or build me a mansion next door to Jesus, and tell
the angels I'm coming home. Everybody's going to heaven.
Didn't you know that? Assurance is not hard to find
at all. You find assurance among the
religious. Everybody has some kind of hope.
Everybody has some kind of refuge. Everybody has some kind of hiding
place. And everybody has an expectation
that someday they're going to be in heaven. And my friends,
you'll even find assurance among the unfaithful. those who never
darken the door of God's house. I encountered a young man a few
years ago. We helped him a little bit, gave
him some material things that he didn't have, found out later
from the sheriff's department in Georgia that he was a con
man, that he had traveled all over the United States and he
had conned churches out of money and material. all manner of things,
that he was a first-rate crook and criminal, and his victims
were the churches and the people of God. And I confronted him
with this, and I said, You told me you were saved. He said, You're
damn right I'm saved. Who said I wasn't? I couldn't
shake him. He had assurance And when he
died, he was going to heaven, and he let me know that in no
uncertain term, though he had even robbed our church. But he
was saved. You find assurance in some unusual
places. I encountered a man just three
weeks ago, hadn't been to the house of God in months, had broken
up his home, had threatened the life of his wife, spent his time
drinking, gambling. When his pastor went to visit
him, the first thing out of his mouth was this. Now preacher,
don't you tell me I'm not saved. Don't you tell me I'm not saved.
I know I'm a child of God. You find assurance in unusual
places. It's not hard to find assurance.
I'm not just preaching tonight on assurance. Assurance is not
hard to find. Of course you find it among the
faithful. You expect it to be there, but you find it among
the religious, those who don't even know the gospel, who couldn't
define the gospel if you aimed a rifle between their eyes. They
couldn't define the gospel. They couldn't tell you what the
gospel is, but they have a hope, they have a refuge. They're not
going to hell. They've got an agreement with
hell. They've got an agreement with death. When the overflowing
scourge of God's wrath shall come through, it won't touch
them. And even the ungodly, even the religious but ungodly, and
the unfaithful, and the rebels against everything that God Almighty
is, have assurance. And then you know the most unusual
place you'd expect to find assurance. You'll find it even at the judgment. You'll find men and women holding
on to their assurance, even to the time when they stand directly
in front of the throne of God Almighty, and you hear them say
in Matthew 7, verse 22, Lord, we prophesied in your name. Why,
you can't condemn us. We cast out devils in your name.
We perform many wonderful works in your name. How in the world
can you condemn us?" And they held on to that assurance and
held on to that confidence until they heard the voice of the Son
of God say, Depart from me, I never knew you. And they went to hell. amazed
that they could go to hell. So the problem is not to find
assurance. The problem is not even to get
assurance. It's easy to find and it's easy
to get. But the kind of assurance I'm
talking about tonight is assurance which is genuine and has some
kind of foundation. Now that I'm interested in. I'm
not interested in assurance. That's easy to get. You find
that anywhere. You find the confidence and assurance,
you can find it anywhere you look. But I'm interested in assurance
which is genuine assurance without presumption. Now this much I
know. The man who has genuine assurance
of eternal life without presumption has to be a believer. Now the Word of God said in John
3, 16, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten
Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but
have everlasting life. It's the believer who has assurance
without presumption. It's a believer. The Word of
God says, he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life. but the wrath of God abideth
on him." John said in 1 John 5, 13, "...these things are written
unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that
you may know that you have eternal life." To you who believe, that
you may know, these things are written. It's the believer who
has assurance. And then secondly, now watch
this, The man who has genuine assurance, the man who has a
right to claim assurance without presumption, is not only a believer,
but he's truly a believer. He's not just a religious person,
he's a believer. He's not just a moralist, he's
a believer. He's not just a good man, he
is a believer. He is not just a professor of
faith, he is a believer. He is not just a preacher, he
is a believer. He is not just a man who has
changed his ways, he is a believer. What is a believer? A believer
is one who knows that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. Whosoever
shall confess that Jesus is come in the flesh is born of God.
And whoso confesseth not that Christ is come in the flesh is
an antichrist." He's not a believer. A believer is one who knows in
his heart and is persuaded beyond the shadow of a doubt that Jesus
is the Christ, the Son of the living God. He believes that
Jesus Christ is the substitute for sinners. He is the sacrifice
for sin. He is the sin offering with which
the Father is satisfied. He believes that Jesus Christ
is our great High Priest, that He is the one advocate between
the Father and men, the only advocate. He believes that. He's
convinced of that. And he believes that Jesus Christ
is the Lord of his life, the supreme, sovereign Lord. They asked one of these Oakland
football players how he won that game yesterday, how he caught
that ball in the end zone with those fellas all around him.
He said, by the grace of God and a little love. Now that's
the philosophy of this world. by the grace of God and a little
luck. Now, without the luck, God's
grace wouldn't have been sufficient. Without the luck, God's grace
couldn't have got the job done. But by the grace of God and a
little luck, we got it done. But the believer is persuaded
that luck is not involved in his life anywhere. Fate is not
involved anywhere. Chance is not involved anywhere.
that Jesus Christ is the supreme, sovereign Lord of his life. He believes that. So the man
who has assurance without presumption is a believer. And he is truly
a believer. He is not a professor, he is
a believer. He is not just a reformed man,
he's a believer. A solid, sincere believer in
Christ the Lord. And then the man who has a right
to have assurance without presumption will always be a believer. Why, he can no more cease from
faith in Christ than he could live without breathing, because
Christ is his life. The Scripture says, he that endureth
to the end, the same shall be saved. Nobody else. And the believer will endure.
The scripture says, Christ is the son over his house, whose
house we are, if we hold fast the profession of our faith firm
unto the end. John said, some folks left us,
but they were not of us, for if they had been of us, they
would no doubt have continued with us. But they went out that
they might be made manifest, that it might be revealed that
they were not all of us in the first place. Don't talk to me of what you
used to be. Don't talk to me of what you
used to do if you're not still in Christ. You never were in
Christ. If Christ was ever your hope,
he's your hope now. If he was ever your life, he's
your life now. If he was ever your foundation,
he's your foundation now. The believer can no more cease
to be a believer than the man can live without bread. It's
an impossibility. And I'll tell you something else.
The only man who has a right to have any assurance at all
is the man who's a believer who has continued to be a believer,
and who has the marks of a believer. What are the marks of a believer?
They're just two. I don't know anything about Brandon
Cattle, but I've seen television shows where the cowboys wrestle
down the old wild steer, heated the Brandon iron, and put the
brand on him. and turned him loose. And wherever
he went, he had that brand on his side to let everybody know
what ranch he belonged to. And the believer, God's branded
him, the sheep, the sheep of Christ, are branded in two places. Turn to John chapter 10 again.
Christ said in verse 27, My sheep, first of all, hear my voice."
They have the brand of God on their ear. They'll not hear another
shepherd. They'll not hear another voice.
They'll not hear another spirit. They'll only hear Him. They've
got the brand of Christ on their ear, and they can recognize truth
when they hear it. Now, if you're satisfied to listen
to any religious hogwash, it's because you haven't been branded
yet. The child of God has a delicate ear. He can't stand to hear his
Lord shamed and ridiculed. He can't stand to hear the flesh
glorified and exalted. He wants to hear Christ exalted.
He knows the difference. A man who doesn't know the difference
hasn't had his ear branded yet. He's got no right to claim assurance. He's got no right to claim to
be a sheep of Christ if his ear has not been branded. My sheep,
Christ said, hear my voice. They hear me. They love my word. And another shepherd they will
not hear. And then the second place where
he branded them is the foot. He said, my sheep hear my voice,
they follow me. They follow me, and another shepherd
they will not follow. Now you have no right and I have
no right to claim to be of the fold of Christ if we have not
on us the brand of Christ. A believer who has the marks
of a believer. who has kept the faith, who has
walked in the path of righteousness. Now whence cometh this assurance?
Well, it does not come from us or from our faithfulness. It
comes like faith comes from God. And there are three things that
I want to show you here tonight, briefly, from our text. This assurance It's based upon
three things. Now look at the text again. It
says in verse 28, "...I give them eternal life, and they shall
never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand."
Here's the basis for sure. First of all, eternal life is
a divine gift. It's a divine gift. Christ said,
underscore this, "...I give them eternal life. I give them eternal
life. Eternal life is the gift of God.
We didn't possess it when we came into the world. David said,
I came into the world speaking lies. He said, in sin I was conceived,
I was shaped in iniquity, I was brought forth, estranged from
God, from the womb. We did not possess eternal life
when we came into this world. We were dead in trespasses and
sin. We didn't evolve into eternal
life by some mysterious process. We didn't receive eternal life
from our parents. Now there may be some point to
this thing of household salvation. I never met anybody that knew
anything about it. I never read anything written
by anybody that knew anything about it. And I don't know anybody
now that knows anything about it. But I do know this one thing. We didn't inherit eternal life
from our parents. Now that's a fact. We're born
not of blood, that is, not of fleshly inheritance, not of the
will of man, not of the will of the flesh. We're born of God.
Eternal life is the gift of God. We didn't receive it by works.
We didn't receive it by duties, by performing duty. We didn't
receive it because we were worthy. It was the gift of God. Turn
to Romans 6, verse 23. In Romans 6, verse 23, the apostle
Paul says this, "'For the wages of sin is death, but the gift
of God is'—what?—'eternal life.' I give them eternal life." My
sheep hear my voice, and they follow me, and I give them eternal
life." It's the gift of God. Eternal life is the free gift
of God. And it's the gift of God through
Christ. Now turn to 1 John 5, and this
is very important, and I wish every person in this church would
memorize these three verses of Scripture. I think the whole
Bible's worth memorizing, but Can't memorize it all, so we
have to pick out a few verses, and this is the first one that
I'd pick out for you. In 1 John 5, 11, and this is
the record that God hath given to us eternal life, and this
life is in His Son. It's in Christ. That's where
life is. It's not in the church. I'm afraid
that, hold that right there a minute, I'm afraid most preachers have
made salvation synonymous with coming to the front of the church.
And that's dangerous. Salvation is not down here, it's
in Christ. I'm afraid some preachers have
made it synonymous, this thing of getting saved with coming
forward. Salvation's not in the front
of the church. It's not in a mourner's bench.
I've got no objections to a mourner's bench. I've got no desire for
one or objections to it. I'm indifferent to it. If you make a god out of it,
it's dangerous. If you make salvation out of
synonymous with going forward and praying, salvation's not
there. It's in Christ. The same thing
is true of baptism and church membership. Somebody said, are
you a Christian? I joined the church when I was a child. That
doesn't mean you're a Christian. Salvation is not in the church.
This life is in his Son. That's where it is. It's in Christ. And he that hath the Son hath
life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. Christ is the vine and we're
the branch. You can't separate the two. I
read a book one time, God is my co-pilot. Never occurred to
me when I was reading the book, the error that is in the title
of the book, God is my co-pilot. This thing of salvation is not
a partnership, it's a union. The branch is not a co-partner
with the vine, the branch lives off the vine. It's a head and body relationship. It's a living, vital union. The two become one. I'm not in
partnership with God. I hear these businessmen talking
about, God is my partner. God's not your partner. Christ is your very life. And eternal life is the gift
of God. He gives it. He gives it. And
it's in Christ. And if a man has life, he has
Christ. And if he has Christ, he has
life. And if he has not Christ, he has not life. It's a living,
vital union. And eternal life is not only
the gift of God and the gift of God through Christ, but eternal
life is a new life. It's not a reformation of the
old life. It's a brand new life. Eternal
life is not the old man reformed. It's a new being. It's a new
baby in the house. Here's a home where a mother
and father live, and they have one son. And that son is a retarded
son and a crippled son, and everything else that could be bad. And the
mother has a baby. Well, the baby whom they bring
home from the hospital is not the crippled boy made new, not
the lame boy become new and healed. It's a new person with a new
name. It's a new creature, a new creation. And the two of them live in that
house together. And when God saves a man, He
does not reform the old lame nature, He brings in a new person. You see that? If any man be in
Christ, he's a new creation, he's a new person. And when this
happens, listen to me, even the man who has received this life
is amazed at it. Not only are his friends amazed
at what's taken place, but he's amazed too. Just like the mother and the
father who have dealt with this crippled boy, this retarded boy,
this lame boy, when the new boy is there and he does things for
himself and he's healthy and happy and beautiful, they've
never had a child like that before. It's all a new experience. And
the man in whom Christ has taken up his abode has a new person
in him and he's amazed at what he finds out. Old things become
new. There's a new nature, new motive,
new attitude. All things become new, brand
new. And just like Ishmael and Isaac,
one of them has to move out someday. Just like the old man and the
new man created in Christ Jesus, there's a conflict and a warfare,
but they cannot exist together. And one day, by God's grace,
he'll put an end to one of them, the bad one. But that's what
eternal life is. It's a gift. It's a gift of God. It's a gift of God through Christ.
And it's a new person and a new being. Secondly, in this text,
he says, I give my sheaf eternal life. And they shall never perish. Never. And they shall never perish.
Now really and truly, I've just never had much sympathy with
this doctrine of being saved today and lost tomorrow. I've never had much sympathy
with it. I've never even taken the time to argue with people
over it because I know they didn't get out of God's Word. It has
nothing to do with the Word of God. The Word of God says they
shall never perish. And you cannot do away with the
force of that word, never, never. Are they young believers? Their
passion's strong, their judgment's weak? They have little knowledge,
no experience, tender faith. Christ said, they'll never perish.
I give them eternal life, they'll never perish. Are they in middle
life? When they have great trials,
family trials, personal trials, security trials, youth is gone,
children gone, various temptations, they'll never perish. That's
what he said. Are they old, tired and weary,
sick, forgetful, helpless, no longer can put things together,
they're old and frail and childish? They'll never perish. That's
what he said. I give my sheep eternal life,
and they'll never perish." You say, well, preacher, what if
a man denies Christ and leaves Christ? He never was in Christ,
that's what I'm saying. He never was in Christ. These
words never perish, shut out all time, all trial, all circumstances,
nothing, he said, neither height nor depth, no angels, no principalities,
no link, no breath, no things present, no things to come, nor
any creature can separate me from the love of God which is
in Christ the Lord. Never! They'll never perish. The soul that on Jesus hath leaned
for repose, I will not desert to its foes. That soul though
all hell should endeavor to shake, I'll never, never, never, never,
never forsake." Isn't God able to keep those
whom he saves? Does God start a building Is
God talking about himself in that parable when he said the
man started the building and didn't have sufficient material
to finish it, and had to leave it half finished, and people
came by and laughed at him? Is that God? Is that your God?
Not the God of the Bible. He said, I will do all my good
pleasure, and he that hath begun a good work in you will perform
it until the day of Christ. Every enemy has been met and
conquered, and there's none left to condemn. Paul said, who can
condemn me? Christ died. All right, the third
thing. Eternal life is a divine gift.
We have, secondly, a divine promise they'll never perish. And then
thirdly, now listen to me, we have divine preservation. He
says, no man can pluck them out of my hand. They're not going
to leave me for something else. That's what he's saying. Now,
I know that the believer will persevere. I believe in the perseverance
of the saints. The believer will continue in
faith. The believer loves Christ. The believer has no desire to
be separated from Christ. Our Lord turned to his disciples
after that 5,000 people had walked off. He said, Will you also go
away? They said, To whom shall we go?
Thou hast the words of life. And that's the believer's attitude.
I don't want to leave. He's like the bond slave of the
Old Testament. Bore my ear. I love my master. I love his house. I'll be a willing,
loving bond slave. I don't want any freedom. except
to worship and serve you. And that's the believer. But
that's not your attitude. You're just not a believer. You're
a religious person. You're a professor. You're a
heaven-seeker and a hell-avoider, but you're not a believer. A
believer is a bond-slave. A believer is a willing, loving
bond-slave of Christ. He's been conquered! And he doesn't
want any freedom except to worship Christ and serve Him. But I not
only believe in perseverance, I believe in preservation. And
I'm going to tell you what that preservation is. It's His preservation. And He says here, "...neither
shall any man pluck them out of my hand." You know why? Nothing
that the world has to offer that our Lord doesn't have infinitely
more. Nothing. His beauty keeps us in Him. Once you see the beauty of Christ,
there's nothing else really beautiful. Nothing. Once you taste of the
love of Christ, that infinite, everlasting, ultimate love, you
don't want to leave Him for Satan's trickery and confusion. His grace, once you taste of
His grace, the grace that flows from His lips of mercy, everything
else is bitter. Not sweet, bitter. Once you see
His riches, His glory, there's nothing else to see. Once a man lived in the king's
palace, why would he want to live in the hog pen? The hogpen
doesn't attract him. His pleasure keeps us in him,
so we are not only persevering, and it's not like some people
picture it. Well, I don't like it, but I'm
staying in the faith. Well, I'm miserable, but I'm
going to keep on keeping on. Well, it's awful, awful tough
to be a Christian. but I'm going to keep the faith."
That's a lot of hogwash. In Christ we find infinite pleasure,
and infinite joy, and infinite riches, and infinite love, and
infinite beauty, and infinite joy. Everything is in Him. And everything else is vanity,
everything else is tarnished, everything else has no appeal. as far as spiritual things are
concerned. He will not let us go. John Newton
sums it up. Here it is. He says, how tedious
and tasteless the hours when Jesus no longer I see. Sweet prospects, sweet birds,
sweet flowers, they've all lost their sweetness for me. The midsummer
sun shines but dim, the fields strive in vain to look gay, but
when I'm happy in him, December's as pleasant as May. His name
yields the richest perfume, and sweeter than music, his voice,
his presence disperses my gloom and makes all within me rejoice. I should, were he always thus
now, have nothing to wish or to fear, no mortal as happy as
I, my summer would last all the year. Content with beholding
his face, my all to his pleasure resigned, no changes of season
or place would make any change in my mind. While blessed with
a sense of his love, A palace, a toy, would appear. And prisons
would palaces prove if Jesus would dwell with me there. I'd
rather be in prison and have fellowship with the Lord than
to live in a governor's mansion and not know Christ. Now, I mean that with all my
heart. I'd rather be in prison I'd rather be in a lonely prison
cell and have Christ in my heart and in my life and live with
his fellowship than live in a governor's mansion or in the Morgan or Woolworth
or Rockefeller Palace and not have Christ Jesus the Lord. Because
while blessed with a sense of his love, a palace, a toy would
appear, and prisons would palaces prove if Christ dwelt with me
there." Now, assurance is not hard to find. Most everybody
I know's got assurance. They've settled this heaven-hell
proposition. Some of them settled it when
they joined the Church, and some others settled it when they made
a profession. Some settled it when they learned a doctrine,
Some settled it one time or other, but the only man that has any
right to claim assurance, the only man, is that man who has
received a divine gift in a divine person and has a divine union
and relationship with that Lord. Now that's assurance, and it's
based on that. Our Father in Heaven, thank Thee
for the promise in Christ of eternal life. Outside of Christ
we have nothing, but in Christ we have all things. We're the happiest people on
earth, yet miserable because of sin. We're the richest people on earth,
and yet empty, and having nothing apart from Christ. We're clothed
with the beauty of the King, yet in ourselves we're naked
and poor. We pray that thou would reveal
the beauty of Christ to everybody in this congregation tonight,
that we might find in him that glorious rest and peace that
passeth understanding Commit your way unto Him. Lean not to
your own understanding. Sheltered under His wings, protected
by His love, we find in Him all that our soul needs, and we're
refreshed day by day. In His name we pray, and for
His glory. Amen.