Saved, Sure, and Secure

Temple Baptist Church - 8-6-2008

John 10:22-30

Introduction: It is the spiritual birthright of every Christian to know they are saved. As Christians we do not have to wonder or hope we are saved. Every Christian can sing with Fanny Crosby: Blessed Assurance Jesus is mine Oh what a foretaste of glory divine.

1. We have been thinking about the greatness of our salvation. I want to share with you one more reason why our salvation is “so great salvation,” and that our salvation is an eternal salvation. One of the things that make our salvation so great is the great truth of the eternal security of the believer.

2. In the first Church I pastored there was a older man there when I would preach on the eternal security of the believer. He would get so mad smoke would come out his ears. He would even go so far as to offer me money not to preach it.

3. May I say that the doctrine of eternal security should not make you mad. It ought to make you glad. It ought to make you shout “glory” that you can’t lose your salvation and that once you are saved you are eternally saved. Someone says, “Oh, that’s just what you Baptist believe. No, it is not just what the Baptists believe; it is what the Bible says.

4. I say AMEN! Our salvation is a “so great salvation” because our salvation is eternally secure. In John 10 we are told that we have eternal life. Let’s look at what Jesus said about our eternal security.

I. CONSIDER A SALVATION THAT IS PROVEN. (V.27)

1. At the very beginning let me say that you cannot have eternal life until first of all you have life. I am talking about being saved. You can’t be eternally saved unless you have been saved. Notice in verse 27 that what Jesus said about eternal security is addressed to, “My sheep.” He is talking about people that belong to Him. He is talking about saved people.

2. One of the arguments that is always presented against the doctrine of eternal security is that it is a doctrine that teaches you can live anyway you want to and still be saved. Let me be very clear. No, that is not what the doctrine of eternal security teaches. Eternal security is not a license to sin. The Bible teaches us that if a person can live anyway they want to it is because they were never saved in the first place.

3. When Jesus spoke of “My sheep” he was talking about true sheep. He was talking about those who were really saved, not just those who professed to be saved. The kind of salvation that Jesus is describing is one that is proven by the kind of life they live. They bear evidence in their life that they are indeed saved.

A. Notice one characteristic of the Lord’s sheep: They Hear His Voice.

1. Jesus said in (V.27) “My sheep hear my voice.” In (Vs.4-5) Jesus said that His sheep “know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.” True sheep hear the voice of the Shepherd and do not listen to the voice of strangers. Matthew Henry says that the Lord’s sheep have “a discerning ear.”

2. One of the marks of a saved person is that there is a discernment of spiritual things. One of the first things I realized after I got saved is that as a Christian I should live as a Christian. There is a way God wants His people to live and people who are saved—really saved—are conscious of the life God desires they live. They hear his voice.

3. Do you remember when you got saved how things bothered you that did not bother you before? You would do something wrong and it was like a little voice on the inside said, “That’s wrong” or “This doesn’t please the Lord.” That was the voice of the Lord. There is the voice of the Lord and His sheep hear His voice.

B. Notice another characteristic of the Lord’s sheep: They Heed His Voice.

1. Jesus said in (V.27) “they follow me.” True sheep not only hear His voice, but they also heed His voice. They follow Him. They follow His Word. They follow His will. They do what the Lord wants them to do. People who say a person can be saved and live anyway they want do not understand what it really means to be saved. To be saved means that a person will want to live for the Lord.

2. Saved people will want to go to Church. Saved people will want to read their Bible. Saved people will want to live like a Christian. Why? The Lord’s sheep hear and heed His voice.

3. . I have seen people come to the altar, make a profession, get baptized and afterwards the FBI could not find them. They never come to Church and have no desire to come to Church. They live like they always did and they have no desire to honor God in their lives. The Bible says in 1 John 2:19, “They went out from 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 they were not all of us.” Saved people hear the Lord’s voice and they follow Him. Saved people have a salvation that bears evidence that it is real.

4. Notice that Jesus said in (V.27) “I know them.” He knows those that hear His voice and heed his voice. Jesus is saying these are mine and the evidence that they are mine is they hear My voice and follow me.

II. CONSIDER A SURETY THAT IS PROMISED. (V.28)

1. Jesus said in (V.28) “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish.” Jesus is telling us that we can be sure about our salvation. He is telling us that we do not have to worry about losing our salvation.

2. One of my favorite hymns is I Know My Name Is There: My name is in the Book of Life, Oh, bless the name of Jesus; I rise above all doubt and strife, And read my title clear. I know, I know, My name is there; I know, I know, My name is written there. My name once stood with sinners lost, And bore a painful record; But by His blood the Savior crossed, And placed it on His roll. I know, I know, My name is there; I know, I know, My name is written there.

3. The Bible says in (1 Joh.5:13) “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” The Bible tells us that we can know that we are saved. A Christian does not have to live in doubt and uncertainty. We can be sure!

A. Notice we see that eternal life is: A Gift of God.

1. Jesus said, “I give unto them eternal life” (V.28). Being saved does not depend on what we do. It depends entirely on what Christ has done for us. The same thing is true about eternal life. Eternal life is not gained by us, it is given to us. The Bible says in Ephesians 2:8 that salvation is a gift of God. Eternal life is a gift as well. Jesus gives us eternal life.

2. I want you to notice that Jesus does not say, “I will give unto them eternal life,” making eternal life something we receive in the future. He says, “I give unto them eternal life,” making it something we have at the present. If you are saved you don’t have to wait until you die to know for sure you are saved. Eternal life is something you have the moment you are saved.

3. If you could lose your salvation it would not be eternal. The word “eternal” simply means “everlasting, for ever and ever.”

4. When Jesus said He gives us “eternal life” He is telling us that He has given us a salvation that will last more than 100 years, more than 1,000 years, more than 1 million years, and even more than 1 billion years. He is giving us a salvation that is eternal. To have eternal life is to be saved eternally.

B. Notice we see that eternal life is: A Guarantee of God. (V.28)

1. This guarantee is found in the words “they shall never perish”. Jesus couldn’t say it any plainer. If you are saved you will never perish.

2. The word “never” is a double-negative. If you remember your English classes you know that a double negative occurs when two form of negation occur in the same sentence. A double-negative in English is not considered proper grammar. You would not say “I don’t want nothing.” However, in Greek double negatives were used to strengthen the denial. In other words, you could read what Jesus said: “they shall never, not at all, in no case, nor ever perish.”

3. There are four Greek words meaning “never.” One means “not at all.” One speaks of “time, place, and purpose.” One means “male or female.” One means “perpetually or eternally.” If you put them all together you would have the full scope of what Jesus said: “I give unto them eternal life and they shall not at all, by any means, in any case, in any place, for any purpose, whether they be male or female, perpetually or eternally perish.”

III. CONSIDER A SECURITY THAT IS PROVIDED. (V.28-29)

1. Eternal security teaches us that it is not up to us to keep ourselves saved. It is God who keeps us saved. This is our security. God is doing the keeping. Paul said in (2Tim.1:12) “for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” Paul was not trying to keep himself saved. He was persuaded that God would keep him saved.

2. The security of the believer is that God is keeping us. In closing, I want you to notice what Jesus said about how we are kept by the Father.

A. Notice The Place of Our Keeping.

1. Jesus said in verse 28, “neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” First, I want you to see that we are in the hand of Jesus.

2. It gets even better. In verse 29 Jesus said, “no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.” We are not only in the hands of Jesus, but we are also in the hands of the Father. We have a double security. It is not a case of us holding onto God’s hand. He is holding onto our hand. And you can be certain He will never let you go.

B. Notice The Power of Our Keeper.

1. In verse 28 Jesus said no one could “pluck” us out of His hands. In verse 29 Jesus also stated that no one could “pluck” us out of the Father’s hands. There is nothing or no one that can pluck us out of the hands of Jesus and the Father. Why is that? Jesus said in verse 29, “My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all.”

2. There is no person or power that can break the grip the Father and the Son has on us. The power of the Father and the Son is greater than the power of any man, any demon, or the devil himself. The Father is omnipotent and He alone is all-powerful.