Saved Forever
This is a transcript. It may contain small inaccuracies.
Other than the golden chain of redemption that's found in Romans chapter 8—the passage that was read earlier, verses 28 to 30 particularly—I don't think there's any place in the Word of God where the eternal security of the believer is more clearly presented than in these verses that we've just read. It's as if our Lord wanted to be unmistakable, clear—unmistakable—on this issue, as He gives us in this brief statement evidence after evidence after evidence that if He has saved someone, that someone will never be lost. Ever. They're saved forever.
And that's the question that's answered here in this portion of God's Word. When someone comes to God for the forgiveness of their sins by believing Him concerning His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and when they come to Him in faith in Christ, in Christ alone, the person who believes—are all of their sins forgiven? And are they forgiven in full? Past, present, and future? And are their sins forgiven forever? And will that person, without question, certainly be in Heaven after they die?
Is the salvation that is given in Christ something temporary or is it something permanent? Is it eternal? Is the believer secure once they have been given salvation in Christ? That's the question that Jesus answers in verses 28 through 30. And I don't think it surprises you to know that there are many people who say that salvation isn't something that is necessarily forever. There are many people who believe that a person can be given salvation in Christ and then sometime later forfeit it. Forfeited by their own sin or forfeited by their own lack of faith. You know, they fall away from the faith.
And what they do is they take the warning passages in the New Testament—passages that were given in order to stir us up unto perseverance, also given to warn us of empty profession—they take those passages and they twist them to teach that a person can actually lose salvation after the Lord Jesus Christ has saved them. What they ignore and what they dismiss is what the Lord Jesus Himself says here in this passage. I mean, He couldn't be any clearer on the subject. I mean, this is so ironclad, there's no wiggle room.
This morning and next Lord's Day, Lord willing, I want to point out six truths that are found in the statement of our Lord. Six truths that demonstrate the security of the believer, and we'll look at three of them this morning. And, Lord willing, next time we'll look at the other three. Well, let's begin. Let's delve into the passage. Look at the first one—the first truth that we find in this passage concerning the security of the believer. And the first one is this, I want you to see with me: the Provider of life. The Provider of life speaks of our security as believers. The Provider of life speaks of security.
In verse 28, Jesus says, “‘I give eternal life to them.’" One of the things that immediately stands out as you read that is that eternal life cannot be gotten. It cannot be obtained apart from Jesus.
Eternal life cannot be obtained, cannot be gotten apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one who gives it. He's the one who gives eternal life. He's the one who provides it. He's the Provider. Without Jesus, no one has eternal life. He says, "‘I give.’" It's Me who gives it. I'm the One who gives it. We need to tell the world very clearly that you cannot come to God the Father directly. You have to come to God by way of the Mediator, the one and only Mediator. You must come to God by way of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
People say, well, I've always believed in God or I believe in God. And so I believe that one day I'll be in Heaven because I believe in God. Well, you cannot come to God directly. You can't. It's not possible. Your sins have made a separation between you and God, sinner and a thrice Holy God. And the only way to be brought to God is for your sins to be dealt with, your sins to be forgiven and to be put out of the way. And God has ordained the way. He's ordained the way, the only way that sins can be forgiven. And that is through the death of His own beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so Jesus is the one who gives eternal life.
You cannot achieve eternal life on your own. Eternal life is not something that one day we'll be able to stand before God and say, well, this is what we have gotten for ourselves, God. This is something that we've achieved on our own. I worked so hard for it and here I am commending myself on my own merit before You. No, no. You didn't provide eternal life. You didn't provide eternal life. You don't provide eternal life. Eternal life is provided. It has a Provider and His name is Jesus.
John 14, verse 6. You're familiar with this verse, right? Jesus said, "‘I am the way, the truth, the life.’" And then He adds, "‘No one’"—and you know what no one means in Greek? No one. Absolutely no one — “‘comes to the Father but through Me.’" And so when Jesus says here in John 10:28, "‘I give eternal life to them,’" He's saying the same thing. And by the way, this is also a monumental statement concerning the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. What mere man could ever say, what mere man could ever say, "I give eternal life to them”? Which one of us here this morning can stand up and say, you know, "I give you eternal life. I give you eternal life"? No. Forgiveness of sin is something, and eternal life is something that only God can give. And so when Jesus says, "I give eternal life to them," let us not lose in our mind the historical reality of what we read here.
Here you have this Jewish carpenter standing before people who are questioning Him, questioning who He really is and what His identity is. And in the midst of all of this, He says, I am the one who gives My people eternal life. It's clear that He's claiming to be God. It's a clear claim to His deity. The Jews understood this, by the way. Turn with me to Luke 5 and verse 18. It was unmistakable what He was claiming to be, who He was claiming to be. Luke 5 and verse 18, we read the following: "And behold, some men were carrying on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in and to set him down before Him, before Christ. But not finding any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and led him down through the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus. And seeing their faith, He said, 'Friend, your sins are forgiven you.' The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, ‘Who is this who speaks blasphemies?’” — Now watch this — "‘Who can forgive sins, but God alone?’" So when Jesus says this to this man, "I forgive your sins," they clearly understood that Jesus was claiming to be God. No mistake about it. "Who can forgive sins but God alone?"
In John chapter 4, you remember—you can go there, please—John chapter 4, you recall that exchange with the Samaritan woman, the woman at the well. In the 10th verse, “Jesus answered and said to her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.’" Verse 11, “She said to Him, ‘Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?’ Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst–ever; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.’"
Jesus said to this woman, "‘If you knew the gift of God,’" and then He says this, "and who it is that's saying to you, 'Give Me a drink.'" If you knew who it is that's speaking to you, “‘you would have asked Him, and He would have given you this living water.’” And she says to Him, "‘Are You greater than our father Jacob…?’" And He says to her, "‘Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him…’" Jesus is the Giver. Jesus is the Provider. He says they will never be thirsty again. Ever. That's eternal. Forever. Eternal. That's eternal life. It's eternal life that He gives. It's life everlasting.
So the provider of eternal life is not yourself. It's not myself. It's not something you work for. It's not something you earn. It's not something you deserve. It's not something you achieve. The provider of eternal life is Jesus. He's the one who gives eternal life. And so, think about this: so if He gives it, and if you didn't get it on your own, if He gives it, then you're not the one who sustains it. Are you? If He gives it, then you're not the one who sustains it either. The giver is the sustainer. The giver is the sustainer. And so the provider of eternal life speaks of the security of the life that we receive. But notice the second truth that we have here, that we see here. Not only do you see the security of the believer in the provider of life, but secondly, you see it in the procurement of life. The procurement of life also speaks of our security. That is to say, how it is gotten. How it is obtained. How it is received—this eternal life that Jesus gives.
Notice He says, "‘I give.’" "‘I give eternal life to them.’" He says, "‘I give it to them.’" In other words, it's a gift. It's a gift. Eternal life is not something earned. It's not something deserved. It's something given. In Acts 16 and verse 29, the Philippian jailer, you remember, was afraid for his life after the Lord opened the prison doors for Paul and Silas to leave. Turn with me there, Acts 16, and you can see that together. In Acts 16, verse 29, we read, "And he called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear fell down before Paul and Silas, and after he brought them out, he said, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ And they said, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your house.’ And they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his household. And he took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds. Immediately he was baptized, he and all his household. And he brought them into his house and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly with his whole household, because he had believed in God.”
The question he had for them, the jailer had for Paul and Silas, was this: How do I have eternal life? How can I obtain it? How can I receive it? How can I get it? What was the answer? Believe. Believe. That's all. Believe. It's a gift. It's a gift that is received by faith. “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.” It is by grace that we have been saved, not by works, right? Through faith. It's a gift of God. Paul reminds us in Ephesians 2. In John 6:27, "Do not work for the food which perishes," —you remember that passage Jesus declared, — "but for the food which endures to eternal life…"
Now, you remember in our exposition there, at first when you read that, when you hear that, you may think in terms of works. "‘Do not work for the food that perishes,’" He says, "‘but work for the food which endures to eternal life.’" But now listen to what He goes on to say in verse 27, John 6, "‘which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, set His seal.’"
Verse 28: "Therefore they said to Him, 'What should we do so that we may work the works of God?'" You tell us. You tell us that we're to labor for food that lasts forever. You remember they were following Him because He fed the multitudes. And here they are. They want to be fed again. He says, work. What work? And they asked Him, what work must we do to have this food that endures forever? What must we do? What must we be doing?
And Jesus answered in verse 29. He said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent." What is the work that brings to me eternal life? To put it in those terms, He says, here's the work of God. You want to do the work of God? Here's the work of God: "Believe in Him whom the Father has sent." Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, no work. Believe. Believe. How is eternal life received? It is received not by works, but by faith. And so Jesus makes it plain that it's a gift. You don't work for it. You don't earn it. You don't deserve it. He gives it. He gives it to you. He gives it to you. And He gives it to you through faith, which is a gift. Faith being instrumental, not salvific.
Romans 6:23, "The wages of sin is death." Right? For the wages of sin is what? We earn sin. We work for it. We deserve it. This is the payback. Right? "The wages of sin is death" — and I love how the LSB really captures the word in the Greek — "but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." The free, gracious gift of God. I mean, you can't put it any plainer than that. It's a gracious gift. Grace. We don't earn it. We cannot earn it. We don't deserve it. But it's given graciously.
Christ came into the world, we rejoice to say, to save sinners. He didn't come to save good men because there aren't any. There aren't any. He didn't come to save men by helping them be better. Reach their full potential. No, no. He didn't say, well, I'm going to come and give to them a moral example by which they can save themselves. No, no. Or I'm going to come and teach them how to love so that they can save themselves. I'm going to teach them how to live so that they can save themselves. Absolutely not. He came to save men who could not save themselves. He came to save wretched sinners. And to put it another way, God justifies ungodly, ungodly people. He didn't justify us. He didn't justify us. He didn't declare us to be right with Him when we achieved some place of godliness. I'll meet you halfway— no, no. He justified us when we were ungodly. When we were sinners, ungodly, estranged from Him, alienated from Him, by faith in His Son, God then declared us to be right in His own sight, and He gave us the gift of eternal life.
Turn with me to Romans 4. It's a magnanimous passage. Romans 4, beginning with verse 1: "What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about — but not before God! For what does the Scripture say? 'Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.' Now, to the one who works, his wage is not counted according to grace, but according to what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes upon Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:” — Verse 7— "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account."
And who is that man? Who is that blessed man that God doesn't take into account their sin? It's every one of us who has trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are that man. We are that one. We are the blessed one. We are the one whose lawless deeds have been forgiven. We're the one whose sins covered. We're the ones who have been counted righteous before God apart from works. We're the ones who've been given this righteousness as the gift of God, the righteousness of Christ. We're the ones who've been saved by God's Son through faith in Him.
And so the way this life is received—Jesus says in verse 28 of John chapter 10—He says, "I," "I"—He's the provider—"give" — that's how it's received. It's a gift. "I give eternal life to them." "I give it to them." It's a gift. "I give eternal life to them." And let me say just briefly about this verb "give" — ‘didōmi’ is the Greek verb. And actually, it means literally to give of one's own accord and with goodwill. It means to bestow upon. It's a bestowed gift. It's a gift of God. So not only does the Provider speak of the believer's security, the procurement of life speaks of the believer's security—how it is obtained. But there's a third truth that we see in the statement that speaks of our security. We speak of the security of the life that Christ gives. And I want us to see the third truth: the people who are given life speak of security. The Provider. The procurement. And the people. The people who are given life speak of security.
Now let me explain. What does Jesus tell us here about these people to whom He's giving eternal life, who He gives eternal life? Well, let me explain. You know, He's very specific. He says in verse 28—look at the text with me—"I give eternal life to them." Now the question is, who is He talking about here? "I give to them." Who are the "them"? Well, let’s go back to verse 27. He says, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them." What is the distinguishing characteristic about them? What, if anything, sets them apart from other people? From those who don't have this life? From those who won't have this life? What really distinguishes them? Sets them apart?
You realize there's only a certain group of people on the face of this earth who have eternal life. Right? Those who have trusted in Christ. Those who have put their faith in Christ have eternal life. Now, what sets them apart from those who don't have this life eternal? Well, most people would say, "Well, what sets them apart is that they believed." Verse 27 says, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them." And He says, "They follow Me." Those are the distinguishing characteristics. Right? Those who have eternal life are those who followed Him. They followed Jesus. They followed the true Shepherd.
And that's true. No one has eternal life who doesn't believe in the Son of God. And we need to be very clear, especially in our own day, clear about what this belief is really about. It's not just an intellectual assent. It's not just saying, "I believe the facts about Jesus." That's not saving faith. That's not belief. No, no. To believe in the Son of God is nothing less than—we studied this together—to hear His voice and to follow Him. Right? Obedience. But I want to add something else here. To believe in the Son of God is nothing less than to love Him. Than to love Him. If you believe in Him, you love Him. If you believe in Him, you love Him. Right? First Peter 1:8 “having not seen Him,” — what? — “you love Him.” You love Him.
In fact, when Paul wrote to the Corinthian church, he said, "If anyone does not love the Lord, he is” — what? He is to be ‘anathema.’ He is to be damned to hell. He is to be —“accursed" (1 Corinthians 16:22). And God doesn't curse His sheep. He doesn't curse His people, His children. And that tells me then that every true child of God is someone who loves the Lord Jesus Christ, the true Shepherd. And if anyone does not love Him, it's because they've never been saved. They've never been saved. If anyone doesn't love Him, it's because they've really never believed in Him. Because to believe in Him is to love Him. To believe in Him is to love Him. In fact, Jesus puts it in strong terms. He tells us that no one is worthy to be His disciple who doesn't love Him more than father and mother and brother and sister, and yes, even his own life and the temporal things of this world.
So it's to love Jesus above all else and to choose Him, even if it meant the loss of all else. Give me Jesus. Take the world and give me Jesus. It means you believe in Him so that you follow Him. Verse 27, you remember: "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me." True believers—and we saw this extensively last time together—true believers follow the Lord Jesus. They follow Him. They follow Him. This is what the Bible teaches. So this is a distinguishing characteristic of those who have eternal life. They see Him. They hear Him. They believe in Him. They follow Him. They love Him. Right? They love Him. But Jesus doesn't say that they hear His voice and follow Him as if these people are the explanation of their own following. That's the point I want to underscore.
We follow the Lord Jesus. We follow Him. We love Him. We believe in Him. We follow Him. But now we have to ask, why do we love Him? Why have we believed in Him? Why do we follow Him? Is it explained by us? Is it? Is it? Is it that we were smarter than others? We had, you know, softer hearts than others? We were more open-minded than others? We were maybe more reasonable than others when we heard the gospel? We were more spiritually sensitive than others? Is that the reason? Is it explained by the people themselves? Unequivocally, no. Absolutely not.
Notice how Jesus explains them by a previous statement that He makes in verse 25. Let's actually back up to verse 24. Let's actually back up to verse 24, The Jews then gathered around Him, and were saying to Him, ‘How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us openly.’ Jesus answered them, ‘I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these bear witness of Me.’” —here it is— “‘But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep.’” He said, “the reason you don't believe is because you're not one of My sheep." And Jesus says in verse 27 that it is His sheep who hear His voice. It's His sheep whom He knows. It's His sheep that follow Him. And He gives—verse 28—eternal life to them. To who? His sheep.
And you know what? They were His sheep before He called them out. Not in the sense that they were already saved, but in the sense that they were already destined for salvation. Do you realize this morning, beloved—and I know you do, but I want to tell you again, I rejoice to tell you—you were one of His sheep before you ever knew Him. And in this sense, that you were already destined to know Him, destined to be saved. And you may be sitting here this morning, one who's thinking, "Well, where did you get that from?"
Well, I'm glad you asked. Back up to the opening verses of chapter 10. Let's go back to it. Verse one: "‘Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. To him, the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear His voice, and He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out. When He brings all His own out, He goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow Him because they know His voice. A stranger they will never follow, but will flee from Him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.’ This figure of speech Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things were which He had been saying to them.”
You remember in our studies of that passage, you remember we learned earlier there that the sheepfold being pictured here is Israel—Israel—and Jesus comes to Israel as their Messiah, and He calls them out in the sense that He makes Himself known. But not all that are in the sheepfold follow Him. Only those that are His sheep—they hear His voice, and they recognize His voice, and they follow Him. And in fact, Jesus may explain later on in this discussion that He has other sheep not belonging to the nation of Israel, and they will also hear His voice, and they will follow Him, and there will become one Shepherd over both Jews and Gentiles who are redeemed. Look at verse 16. Jesus says this: "And I have other sheep, which are not from this fold;” —And I'm so thankful for the next statement, how it's made. Notice what He says — "I must"—this is a divine necessity, "I must," “I must.” What does He say? — "bring them also." There's no ifs and buts. "I must bring them also, and they"—what's the next word?—"will," not may. “They will hear My voice." "They will hear My voice."
Do you see the certainty of salvation? Do you see that Jesus didn't come to this earth to provide a hypothetical salvation for a hypothetical people who may one day come to believe in Him? Oh no, no, no. It's not as though Jesus says, I'm going to give My life on the cross, and God the Father says, I'm going to give My Son on the cross and crush Him on the cross so that He may be available—perhaps someone will believe in Him. Maybe. No, no. Jesus had a people given to Him by the Father before time began who were destined for salvation, and Jesus is the Redeemer who came into this earth to save His people from their sins.
He came knowing that He had sheep—sheep from the house of Israel, sheep from outside of the house of Israel, Gentiles. He must, He says, He must bring them also, and He would bring them, and they would hear His voice, and He would be their Shepherd, and they would be His sheep. In fact, He makes it plain that He came to this earth to die for those sheep. Look at verse 11, "‘I am the good Shepherd; the good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.’" That's the language of the cross. Verse 16, "‘And I have other sheep which are not from this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves Me,’” — why? — "‘because I lay down My life’” — for the sheep. That's Calvary — "‘No one takes it away from Me, but from Myself, I lay it down.’" — that's the cross — "‘I have authority to lay it down,’"—the cross—"‘and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.’" “I lay down My life for the sheep. I lay it down. I lay it down.”
You say, well, does this figure in the verses that we're looking at? Absolutely. Absolutely. Look at verse 29. Start with verse 28, "‘and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish–ever; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.’" Now look at verse 29, "‘My Father’"—and what's the next statement? Who has what? Who has what?—"‘given them to Me.’" —here it is— "given them to Me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.’" The ones to whom He gives eternal life—this is the text, I'm simply proclaiming the text—the ones to whom He gives eternal life are those who were given to Him as a gift by the Father.
Let's go to the high priestly prayer of Jesus, John 17. John 17. Look at verse 1. John 17, verse 1, "Jesus spoke these things, lifting up His eyes to heaven. He said, 'Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You.'" Now watch the language carefully, "‘even as You gave Him authority over all flesh’” —so Christ has authority over all humanity. Now what does He do with this authority? What's next? — "‘that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life.’" Right? Who does the Son of God give eternal life to? Who does He give eternal life to? All those given to Him by the Father. By the Father. Verse 3, "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.’"
Look down at verse 6, "‘I have manifested Your name’"—now watch the language again, it's right there—"‘to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.’" Look at verse 9, "‘I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours; and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them.’" Look at verse 20, "‘I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those who also believe in Me through their word.’" Who is He praying for? He's not praying for the world. He's praying for believers. He's praying for those who have been given to Him by the Father. And He's praying for those who will come to believe through their words.
In other words, the sheep—these are His sheep. These are the ones He must bring. These are the ones who will listen to His voice. These are the ones who will be saved and receive eternal life. This fully accords with what we read in the Testament epistles, like the one in Ephesians 1, verse 3, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Now, what's the next verse? Verse 4, "just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world…" When were we chosen for salvation? Before the world was made. He goes on to say, "that we would be holy and blameless before Him in love, by predestining us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to"—what? Our goodness, our merit, our work's righteousness? No— "according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He graciously bestowed on us in the Beloved."
Let me show you another passage, and this is also another magnanimous passage—Hebrews chapter 2. I'm just simply letting the Scripture interpret Scripture here. Hebrews chapter 2. Let's begin with verse 9, and this is amazing, really. We read in verse 9, "But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels–Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings." What was the Father doing through the suffering of His Son? According to this text, He was bringing many sons to glory. You see it? Verse 10, "bringing"—He was bringing—"many sons to glory."
Christ's suffering is what brings many sons to glory. It is by His death on Calvary's cross, His suffering, His agony on the cross, that God's children have been brought to Him, reconciled to Him, and will be one day presented blameless before Him in glory. That's what the text says.
Look at verse 11 now, "For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of One, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying,"—now this is the language of the Lord Jesus, now watch out, watch what He says—" I will recount Your name to My brothers, in the midst of the assembly I will sing Your praise.’" Verse 13, "And again, ‘I will put My trust in Him.’ And again”—listen to this—"‘Behold, I and the children whom God has,’" —what? — “‘given Me.’" You see it? Father, here I am with all these children whom You have given Me. Verse 14, "Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the seed of Abraham." Stop there. Isn't this amazing truth?
But think about this. Let this grip your mind. Not only do you have fallen men, you also have fallen angels. But there's never been redemption provided for angels. Never, never. Yet to the seed of Abraham, the spiritual seed of Abraham—for this people, reckoned to be in Christ before the foundation of the world, chosen in Him—for these, He offers help, the text says.
Verse 17, "Therefore, He had to be made like His brothers in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the help those who are tempted." Not only has He saved us, but He is so identified with us that He's our faithful High Priest who gives us comfort in all of our struggles, in all of our tests, and all of our temptations.
What makes these people different? He says, "I give to them eternal life." "I give eternal life to them." What's different about them? Well, they've believed Christ. They followed Christ. That's true. But the reason why they believe, the reason why they follow, is because they were given to Him before time began. They are His sheep, and that speaks of their security. Now, here's the point—all of this leading to this. If the Lord purposed to save you before you were ever born, will He lose you now that He's given you life? If the Lord purposed to save you before you were ever born, will He lose you now that He's given you life? Did He purpose just to give you life for a moment, an hour, a week, a month, a year? Or is Jesus able to save? Hebrews 2:13, Behold, here I am with all the children You have given Me. What was Jesus doing? Bringing many sons to a moment of faith? Is that what He was doing? Or bringing many sons to what? Glory. Bringing many sons to glory. Glory. "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound," right? "That saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see. Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved," and the same grace will lead me safely home one day to glory.
So, this is what His suffering was all about—to bring many sons to glory. And it speaks of the security of God's children. But there's something else. And I don't want us to miss this. There's something else, another way that we speak, that we testify the security of the believer, and that is, we had to be redeemed. You say, what's the big deal? Think about this. We had to be redeemed. How do the people of God speak of security? Because there's nothing in them that explains the salvation that we've been given. Nothing. Nothing. Were we any different than any other people? Was there something special about us that would explain why we were given eternal life? As I mentioned earlier, were we smarter than others? Were we more moral than others? Were we more spiritually sensitive than others? Were we the explanation for why we're redeemed today? Oh, indeed not. No, no. In fact, from an external point of view, it almost seems to be just the opposite. In fact, God makes a point with us. God makes a point with us. He saved people in such a way that it becomes evident that the salvation that He gives, that He provides, has to be because of Him and not because of the people whom He saved.
Paul gave the Corinthian church this dose of reality. And we need this dose of reality, you and I, today. 1 Corinthians 1, right? Turn with me there. We need that. We need to remind ourselves of the essence of the gospel and all the implications bound up in the gospel. Think about your—he says, “Consider your calling, brothers,...” verse 26, “Consider your calling.” Think about your calling. Think about why you're a Christian, why you're a sheep. Think about why the Lord has called you. Think about who you were before you were called. He goes on to say, look at the text, "there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may abolish the things that are, so that no flesh may boast before God. But by His doing"—not mine, not yours—"by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, 'Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.'"
Who has the Lord saved according to this text? Well, He saved fools. He saved fools. He saved weak people, anemic people. He saved people who didn't have nobility. We could put our arms around all of this. He saved nobodies, wretched nobodies, rebels. He saved us. He saved us. And if you just look at us, it ought to be evident that salvation is by grace. Each and every single one of us must say and preach it to our own heart. Remind ourselves, I am that I am by the grace of God. That's it. That's it. That's what Paul was saying to the Corinthian church. Don't we speak of the grace of God as redeemed sinners? And so the people speak of security because did God know what He was getting when He chose you? Did God choose the people who could save themselves, who didn't need Him? "‘Without Me, you can do’” —what? — “‘Nothing,’" right? Jesus said. Did God choose the people based on their works? Based on their parents, their grandparents? Based on what was seen in them or foreseen in them? No.
When God saw us in eternity, in His eternal mind, when God saw us, He saw people who were helpless, and He chose to save a helpless people. In the language of Romans 5 and verse 6, "For while we were still” — ‘asthenes’ the Greek word, powerless, without strength, helpless, weak—"at the right time Christ died for the ungodly." Is salvation forever? If someone is saved, will they be saved forever? Well, in closing, consider the provider. Jesus said, "I give to them eternal life." You don't provide it for yourself—He provides it. Consider the procurement. How did you obtain it? Not by works, but by faith as a gift from God. And then consider yourself, Christian. Consider the people who are given eternal life. How are you different from anybody else? You say, well, I believe. Well, why did you believe? Why did you recognize Him and hear His voice and follow Him? It's because you were one of His sheep. And when were you given to salvation? When were you given to Him for salvation? Before you were ever born. And why were you given to Him? Well, not because of anything seen in you or foreseen in you, but for a reason found only in God, period, paragraph. That is His grace, His mercy. His love alone explains why one day you will stand with Jesus when He says, "Behold, I and the children whom You have given Me."
It all speaks of the security of salvation. Next Sunday, Lord willing, we'll come back to these verses and see three additional truths that are bound up here that speak of the security of salvation. I want to ask you as we close this morning, are you saved? Are you saved? I know you're in a church gathering. I know you are in this place, but are you in Christ? Are you saved? Are your sins forgiven? Have you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you follow Him? Do you love Him? Listen, the invitation is given to all. The gospel is preached and proclaimed in a general fashion. If anyone will repent of his or her sin and look to Christ for life, come to Christ as Lord and Savior, He saves you and you'll be saved. Do you hear that call? Not the external call, but do you hear that call, that effectual call? Do you believe it? Will you respond to it? Will you believe in Him, knowing that it doesn't mean to just intellectually hear, agree with the facts concerning Jesus? Will you love Him? Will you come to Him by faith? There's no one who's ever trusted in Him who's ever been disappointed. Will you come to Him?
I must give the final words to Spurgeon. I'll conclude with him, and I pray this will encourage your heart. It's an extended quote, but it blessed my own heart and I want to share the goods with you. Listen to what he says, and I quote:
"If one dear saint of God had perished, so might all. If one of the covenant ones be lost, so may all be. And then there is no gospel promise true, but the Bible is a lie and there's nothing in it worthy my acceptance. I will be an infidel at once when I can believe that a saint of God can ever fall finally. If God hath loved me once, then He will love me forever. God has a mastermind. He arranged everything in His gigantic intellect long before He did it. And once having settled it, He never alters it. This shall be done, saith He, and the iron hand of destiny marks it down. And it is brought to pass. This is my purpose, and it stands, nor can earth or hell alter it. This is my decree, saith He, promulgated, yet holy angels, rend it down from the gate of heaven, ye devils. If ye can, but ye cannot alter the decree, it shall stand forever. God altereth not His plans. Why should He? He is almighty and therefore can perform His pleasure. Why should He? He is the everlasting God and therefore cannot die before His plan is accomplished. Why should He change? Ye worthless atoms of earth and ephemera of day, ye creeping insects upon this bay leaf of existence, ye may change your plans, but He shall never, never change His. Has He told me that His plan is to save me? If so, I am forever safe. I do not know how some people," he goes on to say, "who believe that a Christian can fall from grace manage to be happy. It must be a very commendable thing in them to be able to get through a day without despair. If I did not believe the doctrine of the final perseverance of the saints, I think I should be of all men the most miserable because I should lack any ground of comfort. I believe that the happiest of Christians and the truest of Christians are those who never dare to doubt God, but who take His word simply as it stands and believe it and ask no questions, just feeling assured that if God has said it, it will be so."
That is why Spurgeon could sing, and I hope you and I can also sing as well:
"My name from the palm of His hands,
Eternity will not erase;
Impressed upon His heart, it remains
In marks of indelible grace."
And that's the question that's answered here in this portion of God's Word. When someone comes to God for the forgiveness of their sins by believing Him concerning His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and when they come to Him in faith in Christ, in Christ alone, the person who believes—are all of their sins forgiven? And are they forgiven in full? Past, present, and future? And are their sins forgiven forever? And will that person, without question, certainly be in Heaven after they die?
Is the salvation that is given in Christ something temporary or is it something permanent? Is it eternal? Is the believer secure once they have been given salvation in Christ? That's the question that Jesus answers in verses 28 through 30. And I don't think it surprises you to know that there are many people who say that salvation isn't something that is necessarily forever. There are many people who believe that a person can be given salvation in Christ and then sometime later forfeit it. Forfeited by their own sin or forfeited by their own lack of faith. You know, they fall away from the faith.
And what they do is they take the warning passages in the New Testament—passages that were given in order to stir us up unto perseverance, also given to warn us of empty profession—they take those passages and they twist them to teach that a person can actually lose salvation after the Lord Jesus Christ has saved them. What they ignore and what they dismiss is what the Lord Jesus Himself says here in this passage. I mean, He couldn't be any clearer on the subject. I mean, this is so ironclad, there's no wiggle room.
This morning and next Lord's Day, Lord willing, I want to point out six truths that are found in the statement of our Lord. Six truths that demonstrate the security of the believer, and we'll look at three of them this morning. And, Lord willing, next time we'll look at the other three. Well, let's begin. Let's delve into the passage. Look at the first one—the first truth that we find in this passage concerning the security of the believer. And the first one is this, I want you to see with me: the Provider of life. The Provider of life speaks of our security as believers. The Provider of life speaks of security.
In verse 28, Jesus says, “‘I give eternal life to them.’" One of the things that immediately stands out as you read that is that eternal life cannot be gotten. It cannot be obtained apart from Jesus.
Eternal life cannot be obtained, cannot be gotten apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one who gives it. He's the one who gives eternal life. He's the one who provides it. He's the Provider. Without Jesus, no one has eternal life. He says, "‘I give.’" It's Me who gives it. I'm the One who gives it. We need to tell the world very clearly that you cannot come to God the Father directly. You have to come to God by way of the Mediator, the one and only Mediator. You must come to God by way of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
People say, well, I've always believed in God or I believe in God. And so I believe that one day I'll be in Heaven because I believe in God. Well, you cannot come to God directly. You can't. It's not possible. Your sins have made a separation between you and God, sinner and a thrice Holy God. And the only way to be brought to God is for your sins to be dealt with, your sins to be forgiven and to be put out of the way. And God has ordained the way. He's ordained the way, the only way that sins can be forgiven. And that is through the death of His own beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so Jesus is the one who gives eternal life.
You cannot achieve eternal life on your own. Eternal life is not something that one day we'll be able to stand before God and say, well, this is what we have gotten for ourselves, God. This is something that we've achieved on our own. I worked so hard for it and here I am commending myself on my own merit before You. No, no. You didn't provide eternal life. You didn't provide eternal life. You don't provide eternal life. Eternal life is provided. It has a Provider and His name is Jesus.
John 14, verse 6. You're familiar with this verse, right? Jesus said, "‘I am the way, the truth, the life.’" And then He adds, "‘No one’"—and you know what no one means in Greek? No one. Absolutely no one — “‘comes to the Father but through Me.’" And so when Jesus says here in John 10:28, "‘I give eternal life to them,’" He's saying the same thing. And by the way, this is also a monumental statement concerning the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. What mere man could ever say, what mere man could ever say, "I give eternal life to them”? Which one of us here this morning can stand up and say, you know, "I give you eternal life. I give you eternal life"? No. Forgiveness of sin is something, and eternal life is something that only God can give. And so when Jesus says, "I give eternal life to them," let us not lose in our mind the historical reality of what we read here.
Here you have this Jewish carpenter standing before people who are questioning Him, questioning who He really is and what His identity is. And in the midst of all of this, He says, I am the one who gives My people eternal life. It's clear that He's claiming to be God. It's a clear claim to His deity. The Jews understood this, by the way. Turn with me to Luke 5 and verse 18. It was unmistakable what He was claiming to be, who He was claiming to be. Luke 5 and verse 18, we read the following: "And behold, some men were carrying on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in and to set him down before Him, before Christ. But not finding any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and led him down through the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus. And seeing their faith, He said, 'Friend, your sins are forgiven you.' The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, ‘Who is this who speaks blasphemies?’” — Now watch this — "‘Who can forgive sins, but God alone?’" So when Jesus says this to this man, "I forgive your sins," they clearly understood that Jesus was claiming to be God. No mistake about it. "Who can forgive sins but God alone?"
In John chapter 4, you remember—you can go there, please—John chapter 4, you recall that exchange with the Samaritan woman, the woman at the well. In the 10th verse, “Jesus answered and said to her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.’" Verse 11, “She said to Him, ‘Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?’ Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst–ever; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.’"
Jesus said to this woman, "‘If you knew the gift of God,’" and then He says this, "and who it is that's saying to you, 'Give Me a drink.'" If you knew who it is that's speaking to you, “‘you would have asked Him, and He would have given you this living water.’” And she says to Him, "‘Are You greater than our father Jacob…?’" And He says to her, "‘Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him…’" Jesus is the Giver. Jesus is the Provider. He says they will never be thirsty again. Ever. That's eternal. Forever. Eternal. That's eternal life. It's eternal life that He gives. It's life everlasting.
So the provider of eternal life is not yourself. It's not myself. It's not something you work for. It's not something you earn. It's not something you deserve. It's not something you achieve. The provider of eternal life is Jesus. He's the one who gives eternal life. And so, think about this: so if He gives it, and if you didn't get it on your own, if He gives it, then you're not the one who sustains it. Are you? If He gives it, then you're not the one who sustains it either. The giver is the sustainer. The giver is the sustainer. And so the provider of eternal life speaks of the security of the life that we receive. But notice the second truth that we have here, that we see here. Not only do you see the security of the believer in the provider of life, but secondly, you see it in the procurement of life. The procurement of life also speaks of our security. That is to say, how it is gotten. How it is obtained. How it is received—this eternal life that Jesus gives.
Notice He says, "‘I give.’" "‘I give eternal life to them.’" He says, "‘I give it to them.’" In other words, it's a gift. It's a gift. Eternal life is not something earned. It's not something deserved. It's something given. In Acts 16 and verse 29, the Philippian jailer, you remember, was afraid for his life after the Lord opened the prison doors for Paul and Silas to leave. Turn with me there, Acts 16, and you can see that together. In Acts 16, verse 29, we read, "And he called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear fell down before Paul and Silas, and after he brought them out, he said, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ And they said, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your house.’ And they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his household. And he took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds. Immediately he was baptized, he and all his household. And he brought them into his house and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly with his whole household, because he had believed in God.”
The question he had for them, the jailer had for Paul and Silas, was this: How do I have eternal life? How can I obtain it? How can I receive it? How can I get it? What was the answer? Believe. Believe. That's all. Believe. It's a gift. It's a gift that is received by faith. “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.” It is by grace that we have been saved, not by works, right? Through faith. It's a gift of God. Paul reminds us in Ephesians 2. In John 6:27, "Do not work for the food which perishes," —you remember that passage Jesus declared, — "but for the food which endures to eternal life…"
Now, you remember in our exposition there, at first when you read that, when you hear that, you may think in terms of works. "‘Do not work for the food that perishes,’" He says, "‘but work for the food which endures to eternal life.’" But now listen to what He goes on to say in verse 27, John 6, "‘which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, set His seal.’"
Verse 28: "Therefore they said to Him, 'What should we do so that we may work the works of God?'" You tell us. You tell us that we're to labor for food that lasts forever. You remember they were following Him because He fed the multitudes. And here they are. They want to be fed again. He says, work. What work? And they asked Him, what work must we do to have this food that endures forever? What must we do? What must we be doing?
And Jesus answered in verse 29. He said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent." What is the work that brings to me eternal life? To put it in those terms, He says, here's the work of God. You want to do the work of God? Here's the work of God: "Believe in Him whom the Father has sent." Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, no work. Believe. Believe. How is eternal life received? It is received not by works, but by faith. And so Jesus makes it plain that it's a gift. You don't work for it. You don't earn it. You don't deserve it. He gives it. He gives it to you. He gives it to you. And He gives it to you through faith, which is a gift. Faith being instrumental, not salvific.
Romans 6:23, "The wages of sin is death." Right? For the wages of sin is what? We earn sin. We work for it. We deserve it. This is the payback. Right? "The wages of sin is death" — and I love how the LSB really captures the word in the Greek — "but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." The free, gracious gift of God. I mean, you can't put it any plainer than that. It's a gracious gift. Grace. We don't earn it. We cannot earn it. We don't deserve it. But it's given graciously.
Christ came into the world, we rejoice to say, to save sinners. He didn't come to save good men because there aren't any. There aren't any. He didn't come to save men by helping them be better. Reach their full potential. No, no. He didn't say, well, I'm going to come and give to them a moral example by which they can save themselves. No, no. Or I'm going to come and teach them how to love so that they can save themselves. I'm going to teach them how to live so that they can save themselves. Absolutely not. He came to save men who could not save themselves. He came to save wretched sinners. And to put it another way, God justifies ungodly, ungodly people. He didn't justify us. He didn't justify us. He didn't declare us to be right with Him when we achieved some place of godliness. I'll meet you halfway— no, no. He justified us when we were ungodly. When we were sinners, ungodly, estranged from Him, alienated from Him, by faith in His Son, God then declared us to be right in His own sight, and He gave us the gift of eternal life.
Turn with me to Romans 4. It's a magnanimous passage. Romans 4, beginning with verse 1: "What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about — but not before God! For what does the Scripture say? 'Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.' Now, to the one who works, his wage is not counted according to grace, but according to what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes upon Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:” — Verse 7— "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account."
And who is that man? Who is that blessed man that God doesn't take into account their sin? It's every one of us who has trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are that man. We are that one. We are the blessed one. We are the one whose lawless deeds have been forgiven. We're the one whose sins covered. We're the ones who have been counted righteous before God apart from works. We're the ones who've been given this righteousness as the gift of God, the righteousness of Christ. We're the ones who've been saved by God's Son through faith in Him.
And so the way this life is received—Jesus says in verse 28 of John chapter 10—He says, "I," "I"—He's the provider—"give" — that's how it's received. It's a gift. "I give eternal life to them." "I give it to them." It's a gift. "I give eternal life to them." And let me say just briefly about this verb "give" — ‘didōmi’ is the Greek verb. And actually, it means literally to give of one's own accord and with goodwill. It means to bestow upon. It's a bestowed gift. It's a gift of God. So not only does the Provider speak of the believer's security, the procurement of life speaks of the believer's security—how it is obtained. But there's a third truth that we see in the statement that speaks of our security. We speak of the security of the life that Christ gives. And I want us to see the third truth: the people who are given life speak of security. The Provider. The procurement. And the people. The people who are given life speak of security.
Now let me explain. What does Jesus tell us here about these people to whom He's giving eternal life, who He gives eternal life? Well, let me explain. You know, He's very specific. He says in verse 28—look at the text with me—"I give eternal life to them." Now the question is, who is He talking about here? "I give to them." Who are the "them"? Well, let’s go back to verse 27. He says, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them." What is the distinguishing characteristic about them? What, if anything, sets them apart from other people? From those who don't have this life? From those who won't have this life? What really distinguishes them? Sets them apart?
You realize there's only a certain group of people on the face of this earth who have eternal life. Right? Those who have trusted in Christ. Those who have put their faith in Christ have eternal life. Now, what sets them apart from those who don't have this life eternal? Well, most people would say, "Well, what sets them apart is that they believed." Verse 27 says, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them." And He says, "They follow Me." Those are the distinguishing characteristics. Right? Those who have eternal life are those who followed Him. They followed Jesus. They followed the true Shepherd.
And that's true. No one has eternal life who doesn't believe in the Son of God. And we need to be very clear, especially in our own day, clear about what this belief is really about. It's not just an intellectual assent. It's not just saying, "I believe the facts about Jesus." That's not saving faith. That's not belief. No, no. To believe in the Son of God is nothing less than—we studied this together—to hear His voice and to follow Him. Right? Obedience. But I want to add something else here. To believe in the Son of God is nothing less than to love Him. Than to love Him. If you believe in Him, you love Him. If you believe in Him, you love Him. Right? First Peter 1:8 “having not seen Him,” — what? — “you love Him.” You love Him.
In fact, when Paul wrote to the Corinthian church, he said, "If anyone does not love the Lord, he is” — what? He is to be ‘anathema.’ He is to be damned to hell. He is to be —“accursed" (1 Corinthians 16:22). And God doesn't curse His sheep. He doesn't curse His people, His children. And that tells me then that every true child of God is someone who loves the Lord Jesus Christ, the true Shepherd. And if anyone does not love Him, it's because they've never been saved. They've never been saved. If anyone doesn't love Him, it's because they've really never believed in Him. Because to believe in Him is to love Him. To believe in Him is to love Him. In fact, Jesus puts it in strong terms. He tells us that no one is worthy to be His disciple who doesn't love Him more than father and mother and brother and sister, and yes, even his own life and the temporal things of this world.
So it's to love Jesus above all else and to choose Him, even if it meant the loss of all else. Give me Jesus. Take the world and give me Jesus. It means you believe in Him so that you follow Him. Verse 27, you remember: "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me." True believers—and we saw this extensively last time together—true believers follow the Lord Jesus. They follow Him. They follow Him. This is what the Bible teaches. So this is a distinguishing characteristic of those who have eternal life. They see Him. They hear Him. They believe in Him. They follow Him. They love Him. Right? They love Him. But Jesus doesn't say that they hear His voice and follow Him as if these people are the explanation of their own following. That's the point I want to underscore.
We follow the Lord Jesus. We follow Him. We love Him. We believe in Him. We follow Him. But now we have to ask, why do we love Him? Why have we believed in Him? Why do we follow Him? Is it explained by us? Is it? Is it? Is it that we were smarter than others? We had, you know, softer hearts than others? We were more open-minded than others? We were maybe more reasonable than others when we heard the gospel? We were more spiritually sensitive than others? Is that the reason? Is it explained by the people themselves? Unequivocally, no. Absolutely not.
Notice how Jesus explains them by a previous statement that He makes in verse 25. Let's actually back up to verse 24. Let's actually back up to verse 24, The Jews then gathered around Him, and were saying to Him, ‘How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us openly.’ Jesus answered them, ‘I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these bear witness of Me.’” —here it is— “‘But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep.’” He said, “the reason you don't believe is because you're not one of My sheep." And Jesus says in verse 27 that it is His sheep who hear His voice. It's His sheep whom He knows. It's His sheep that follow Him. And He gives—verse 28—eternal life to them. To who? His sheep.
And you know what? They were His sheep before He called them out. Not in the sense that they were already saved, but in the sense that they were already destined for salvation. Do you realize this morning, beloved—and I know you do, but I want to tell you again, I rejoice to tell you—you were one of His sheep before you ever knew Him. And in this sense, that you were already destined to know Him, destined to be saved. And you may be sitting here this morning, one who's thinking, "Well, where did you get that from?"
Well, I'm glad you asked. Back up to the opening verses of chapter 10. Let's go back to it. Verse one: "‘Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. To him, the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear His voice, and He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out. When He brings all His own out, He goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow Him because they know His voice. A stranger they will never follow, but will flee from Him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.’ This figure of speech Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things were which He had been saying to them.”
You remember in our studies of that passage, you remember we learned earlier there that the sheepfold being pictured here is Israel—Israel—and Jesus comes to Israel as their Messiah, and He calls them out in the sense that He makes Himself known. But not all that are in the sheepfold follow Him. Only those that are His sheep—they hear His voice, and they recognize His voice, and they follow Him. And in fact, Jesus may explain later on in this discussion that He has other sheep not belonging to the nation of Israel, and they will also hear His voice, and they will follow Him, and there will become one Shepherd over both Jews and Gentiles who are redeemed. Look at verse 16. Jesus says this: "And I have other sheep, which are not from this fold;” —And I'm so thankful for the next statement, how it's made. Notice what He says — "I must"—this is a divine necessity, "I must," “I must.” What does He say? — "bring them also." There's no ifs and buts. "I must bring them also, and they"—what's the next word?—"will," not may. “They will hear My voice." "They will hear My voice."
Do you see the certainty of salvation? Do you see that Jesus didn't come to this earth to provide a hypothetical salvation for a hypothetical people who may one day come to believe in Him? Oh no, no, no. It's not as though Jesus says, I'm going to give My life on the cross, and God the Father says, I'm going to give My Son on the cross and crush Him on the cross so that He may be available—perhaps someone will believe in Him. Maybe. No, no. Jesus had a people given to Him by the Father before time began who were destined for salvation, and Jesus is the Redeemer who came into this earth to save His people from their sins.
He came knowing that He had sheep—sheep from the house of Israel, sheep from outside of the house of Israel, Gentiles. He must, He says, He must bring them also, and He would bring them, and they would hear His voice, and He would be their Shepherd, and they would be His sheep. In fact, He makes it plain that He came to this earth to die for those sheep. Look at verse 11, "‘I am the good Shepherd; the good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.’" That's the language of the cross. Verse 16, "‘And I have other sheep which are not from this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves Me,’” — why? — "‘because I lay down My life’” — for the sheep. That's Calvary — "‘No one takes it away from Me, but from Myself, I lay it down.’" — that's the cross — "‘I have authority to lay it down,’"—the cross—"‘and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.’" “I lay down My life for the sheep. I lay it down. I lay it down.”
You say, well, does this figure in the verses that we're looking at? Absolutely. Absolutely. Look at verse 29. Start with verse 28, "‘and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish–ever; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.’" Now look at verse 29, "‘My Father’"—and what's the next statement? Who has what? Who has what?—"‘given them to Me.’" —here it is— "given them to Me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.’" The ones to whom He gives eternal life—this is the text, I'm simply proclaiming the text—the ones to whom He gives eternal life are those who were given to Him as a gift by the Father.
Let's go to the high priestly prayer of Jesus, John 17. John 17. Look at verse 1. John 17, verse 1, "Jesus spoke these things, lifting up His eyes to heaven. He said, 'Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You.'" Now watch the language carefully, "‘even as You gave Him authority over all flesh’” —so Christ has authority over all humanity. Now what does He do with this authority? What's next? — "‘that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life.’" Right? Who does the Son of God give eternal life to? Who does He give eternal life to? All those given to Him by the Father. By the Father. Verse 3, "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.’"
Look down at verse 6, "‘I have manifested Your name’"—now watch the language again, it's right there—"‘to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.’" Look at verse 9, "‘I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours; and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them.’" Look at verse 20, "‘I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those who also believe in Me through their word.’" Who is He praying for? He's not praying for the world. He's praying for believers. He's praying for those who have been given to Him by the Father. And He's praying for those who will come to believe through their words.
In other words, the sheep—these are His sheep. These are the ones He must bring. These are the ones who will listen to His voice. These are the ones who will be saved and receive eternal life. This fully accords with what we read in the Testament epistles, like the one in Ephesians 1, verse 3, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Now, what's the next verse? Verse 4, "just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world…" When were we chosen for salvation? Before the world was made. He goes on to say, "that we would be holy and blameless before Him in love, by predestining us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to"—what? Our goodness, our merit, our work's righteousness? No— "according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He graciously bestowed on us in the Beloved."
Let me show you another passage, and this is also another magnanimous passage—Hebrews chapter 2. I'm just simply letting the Scripture interpret Scripture here. Hebrews chapter 2. Let's begin with verse 9, and this is amazing, really. We read in verse 9, "But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels–Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings." What was the Father doing through the suffering of His Son? According to this text, He was bringing many sons to glory. You see it? Verse 10, "bringing"—He was bringing—"many sons to glory."
Christ's suffering is what brings many sons to glory. It is by His death on Calvary's cross, His suffering, His agony on the cross, that God's children have been brought to Him, reconciled to Him, and will be one day presented blameless before Him in glory. That's what the text says.
Look at verse 11 now, "For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of One, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying,"—now this is the language of the Lord Jesus, now watch out, watch what He says—" I will recount Your name to My brothers, in the midst of the assembly I will sing Your praise.’" Verse 13, "And again, ‘I will put My trust in Him.’ And again”—listen to this—"‘Behold, I and the children whom God has,’" —what? — “‘given Me.’" You see it? Father, here I am with all these children whom You have given Me. Verse 14, "Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the seed of Abraham." Stop there. Isn't this amazing truth?
But think about this. Let this grip your mind. Not only do you have fallen men, you also have fallen angels. But there's never been redemption provided for angels. Never, never. Yet to the seed of Abraham, the spiritual seed of Abraham—for this people, reckoned to be in Christ before the foundation of the world, chosen in Him—for these, He offers help, the text says.
Verse 17, "Therefore, He had to be made like His brothers in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the help those who are tempted." Not only has He saved us, but He is so identified with us that He's our faithful High Priest who gives us comfort in all of our struggles, in all of our tests, and all of our temptations.
What makes these people different? He says, "I give to them eternal life." "I give eternal life to them." What's different about them? Well, they've believed Christ. They followed Christ. That's true. But the reason why they believe, the reason why they follow, is because they were given to Him before time began. They are His sheep, and that speaks of their security. Now, here's the point—all of this leading to this. If the Lord purposed to save you before you were ever born, will He lose you now that He's given you life? If the Lord purposed to save you before you were ever born, will He lose you now that He's given you life? Did He purpose just to give you life for a moment, an hour, a week, a month, a year? Or is Jesus able to save? Hebrews 2:13, Behold, here I am with all the children You have given Me. What was Jesus doing? Bringing many sons to a moment of faith? Is that what He was doing? Or bringing many sons to what? Glory. Bringing many sons to glory. Glory. "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound," right? "That saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see. Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved," and the same grace will lead me safely home one day to glory.
So, this is what His suffering was all about—to bring many sons to glory. And it speaks of the security of God's children. But there's something else. And I don't want us to miss this. There's something else, another way that we speak, that we testify the security of the believer, and that is, we had to be redeemed. You say, what's the big deal? Think about this. We had to be redeemed. How do the people of God speak of security? Because there's nothing in them that explains the salvation that we've been given. Nothing. Nothing. Were we any different than any other people? Was there something special about us that would explain why we were given eternal life? As I mentioned earlier, were we smarter than others? Were we more moral than others? Were we more spiritually sensitive than others? Were we the explanation for why we're redeemed today? Oh, indeed not. No, no. In fact, from an external point of view, it almost seems to be just the opposite. In fact, God makes a point with us. God makes a point with us. He saved people in such a way that it becomes evident that the salvation that He gives, that He provides, has to be because of Him and not because of the people whom He saved.
Paul gave the Corinthian church this dose of reality. And we need this dose of reality, you and I, today. 1 Corinthians 1, right? Turn with me there. We need that. We need to remind ourselves of the essence of the gospel and all the implications bound up in the gospel. Think about your—he says, “Consider your calling, brothers,...” verse 26, “Consider your calling.” Think about your calling. Think about why you're a Christian, why you're a sheep. Think about why the Lord has called you. Think about who you were before you were called. He goes on to say, look at the text, "there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may abolish the things that are, so that no flesh may boast before God. But by His doing"—not mine, not yours—"by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, 'Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.'"
Who has the Lord saved according to this text? Well, He saved fools. He saved fools. He saved weak people, anemic people. He saved people who didn't have nobility. We could put our arms around all of this. He saved nobodies, wretched nobodies, rebels. He saved us. He saved us. And if you just look at us, it ought to be evident that salvation is by grace. Each and every single one of us must say and preach it to our own heart. Remind ourselves, I am that I am by the grace of God. That's it. That's it. That's what Paul was saying to the Corinthian church. Don't we speak of the grace of God as redeemed sinners? And so the people speak of security because did God know what He was getting when He chose you? Did God choose the people who could save themselves, who didn't need Him? "‘Without Me, you can do’” —what? — “‘Nothing,’" right? Jesus said. Did God choose the people based on their works? Based on their parents, their grandparents? Based on what was seen in them or foreseen in them? No.
When God saw us in eternity, in His eternal mind, when God saw us, He saw people who were helpless, and He chose to save a helpless people. In the language of Romans 5 and verse 6, "For while we were still” — ‘asthenes’ the Greek word, powerless, without strength, helpless, weak—"at the right time Christ died for the ungodly." Is salvation forever? If someone is saved, will they be saved forever? Well, in closing, consider the provider. Jesus said, "I give to them eternal life." You don't provide it for yourself—He provides it. Consider the procurement. How did you obtain it? Not by works, but by faith as a gift from God. And then consider yourself, Christian. Consider the people who are given eternal life. How are you different from anybody else? You say, well, I believe. Well, why did you believe? Why did you recognize Him and hear His voice and follow Him? It's because you were one of His sheep. And when were you given to salvation? When were you given to Him for salvation? Before you were ever born. And why were you given to Him? Well, not because of anything seen in you or foreseen in you, but for a reason found only in God, period, paragraph. That is His grace, His mercy. His love alone explains why one day you will stand with Jesus when He says, "Behold, I and the children whom You have given Me."
It all speaks of the security of salvation. Next Sunday, Lord willing, we'll come back to these verses and see three additional truths that are bound up here that speak of the security of salvation. I want to ask you as we close this morning, are you saved? Are you saved? I know you're in a church gathering. I know you are in this place, but are you in Christ? Are you saved? Are your sins forgiven? Have you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you follow Him? Do you love Him? Listen, the invitation is given to all. The gospel is preached and proclaimed in a general fashion. If anyone will repent of his or her sin and look to Christ for life, come to Christ as Lord and Savior, He saves you and you'll be saved. Do you hear that call? Not the external call, but do you hear that call, that effectual call? Do you believe it? Will you respond to it? Will you believe in Him, knowing that it doesn't mean to just intellectually hear, agree with the facts concerning Jesus? Will you love Him? Will you come to Him by faith? There's no one who's ever trusted in Him who's ever been disappointed. Will you come to Him?
I must give the final words to Spurgeon. I'll conclude with him, and I pray this will encourage your heart. It's an extended quote, but it blessed my own heart and I want to share the goods with you. Listen to what he says, and I quote:
"If one dear saint of God had perished, so might all. If one of the covenant ones be lost, so may all be. And then there is no gospel promise true, but the Bible is a lie and there's nothing in it worthy my acceptance. I will be an infidel at once when I can believe that a saint of God can ever fall finally. If God hath loved me once, then He will love me forever. God has a mastermind. He arranged everything in His gigantic intellect long before He did it. And once having settled it, He never alters it. This shall be done, saith He, and the iron hand of destiny marks it down. And it is brought to pass. This is my purpose, and it stands, nor can earth or hell alter it. This is my decree, saith He, promulgated, yet holy angels, rend it down from the gate of heaven, ye devils. If ye can, but ye cannot alter the decree, it shall stand forever. God altereth not His plans. Why should He? He is almighty and therefore can perform His pleasure. Why should He? He is the everlasting God and therefore cannot die before His plan is accomplished. Why should He change? Ye worthless atoms of earth and ephemera of day, ye creeping insects upon this bay leaf of existence, ye may change your plans, but He shall never, never change His. Has He told me that His plan is to save me? If so, I am forever safe. I do not know how some people," he goes on to say, "who believe that a Christian can fall from grace manage to be happy. It must be a very commendable thing in them to be able to get through a day without despair. If I did not believe the doctrine of the final perseverance of the saints, I think I should be of all men the most miserable because I should lack any ground of comfort. I believe that the happiest of Christians and the truest of Christians are those who never dare to doubt God, but who take His word simply as it stands and believe it and ask no questions, just feeling assured that if God has said it, it will be so."
That is why Spurgeon could sing, and I hope you and I can also sing as well:
"My name from the palm of His hands,
Eternity will not erase;
Impressed upon His heart, it remains
In marks of indelible grace."
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