Security In Being Secure: John 10:25-30 by Pastor David Powell (May 1995)
Trying to tell all about Security in 20 min. is like trying to paint a house with a 2" brush. But we’ll try.
ILL. When the world was series going on in San Francisco and Oakland the Golden Gate bridge played a significant part in that it connects the two towns that were competing for the Series. The bridge was built about the year 1937, at a cost of $ 77 million. During the construction of the first part of the bridge no safety devices were used and 23 men fell to their death in the waters far below. In the construction of the second part it was decided to install the greatest safety net in the world, even though the cost amounted to over $100,000. It saved the lives of at least ten men who fell to it without injury. In addition to that the work went on about 25% faster with the men relieved from the fear of falling. The knowledge that they were safe left the men free to devote their energies to the tasks in hand.
To be assured of our salvation sets us free to serve the Lord free from the fear of Hell.
RELATE CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCE WITH FEAR.
I remember when my son, Davy was a little boy we used to go on walks. In order to keep up he would hold on to my little finger. After a while he would get tired and his steps would start to drag until finally he would look up into my face and say, "You’ll have to take hold of my hand now, Daddy, I can’t hold on much longer." Isn’t this a picture of ourselves? We have been trying to hold onto the little fingers of security so long that we are losing our grip on things that matter. Now we must ask God to take our hand and lead us. "You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you." (Isa. 26:3)
To be assured of our salvation sets us free to serve the Lord free from the fear of Hell.
Def. Security of the Believer. "That all who are united to Christ in faith will continue in a state of Grace eternally."
B. Two extremes, both of which are distortion of the truth.
1. One says man is justified and is eternally safe regardless of what he may become
in his person and his character.
a. The NT does not say that one will be saved whether or not he persists in faith,
but that he will persist because he is saved!
2. The other extreme is that one may fall from Grace.
a. Def. "He may be saved at one time in life and then not be saved at a later
time."
b. Those who believe this say that man is free to either continue in grace or fall
from it
c. To them, man really is the master of his own destiny.
C. The first extreme takes the whole thing out of human hands, the second extreme
makes human effort everything. The true view lies in combining the extremes.
D. God does not preserve us by irresistible grace as by something which overrides our
will, but by constraining grace which enlists our will.
T.S.- It is because of this grace that the term "Once saved,always saved", takes on a very dramatic meaning in our text. JOHN 10:27-29 (NIV) "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never
perish; no one can snatch them pout of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand."
(NLT) - So no one can take them from me.
As we begin I want you to put aside anything and everything you have determined about security and be open to God’s Word and what IT has to say about this. Remember, God’s Word is the final authority!
I. WE ARE ETERNALLY SAVED IN RELATIONSHIP (v.27)
A. The sheep have a relationship to the shepherd.
1. "My sheep LISTEN my voice."
2. "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ." Rom. 10:17.
B. Our relationship brings with it knowledge.
1. "I am the good shepherd; I know My sheep, and MY sheep know me."
John 10:14.
2. Lewis Drummond, professor at Southern Seminary said: "When everything else is
over and said and done, only one thing ultimately matters: Do you know Jesus?
3. Can you face eternity with Him?"
C. How can we know that we know?
1. 1 John 2:3-5, READ.
3 And how can we be sure that we belong to him? By obeying his
commandments.
4 If someone says, "I belong to God," but doesn’t obey God’s
commandments, that person is a liar and does not live in the truth.
5 But those who obey God’s word really do love him. That is the way to know
whether or not we live in him.
How can we know?
a. obey his commandments.
b. obey or be a liar
c. this is the way to know. If we know Jesus as our Lord then he gives us
something very important.
II. OUR SALVATION COMES FROM JESUS. (v.28)
A. Jesus said, "I give them eternal life."
1. John 17:2, "For you have given him authority over everyone in all the earth.
He gives eternal life to each one you have given him."
2. Rom. 6:23 Q Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
B. The Bible says that this life Christ gives is everlasting.
1. John uses a double negative before the word perish. Trans: "They shall not, they
shall not perish,"
2. In addition to the double negative there are three words, in the Greek text, which
follow the word perish which are translated by the word "never".
a. The one word has the same root as the word eternal.
Trans:"They shall not, they shall not perish no, not eternally."
T.S. >> The question that naturally follows is who or what guarantees this life and the answer is God.
III. OUR SALVATION IS PROTECTED BY GOD. (v.29)
A. "Has given", is in the perfect tense in Greek which refers to a past completed action
having present results.
1. Whenever a writer uses this tense he goes out of his way to do so, which means
that he has some special information to convey to the reader.
2. Its like a carpenter who drives a nail through a board, and to make sure that it
stays, he bends it down on the other side.
3. We have been given to Jesus as His own possessions and he can do with us as he
wants.
a. "All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me; and the one who comes to
Me I will certainly not cast out." (John 6:37) (NLT) …those the Father has
given me will come to me, and I will never reject them.
B. God gave us to Jesus who put us in His hand, and then in turn God the Father covered
Jesus’ hand with His own. Two fisted security! And no one can snatch us out.
1. When we consider the size of God’s hand, large enough to hold all of the oceans on
earth, wide enough to stretch from where the east begins and where the west ends
(Isa. 40:12), we understand why no one, including Satan himself, is able to snatch
the believer out of its care.
2. Nothing can snatch us from the two hands of infinite proportions holding us in
salvation.
C. The word "man" in the KJV is in Italics, which means that it is not in the Greek text
but is supplied. The translation, anyone or anything, is truer to the original.
D. Paul said,(Rom. 8:38-39); (KJV)
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
"For I am (utterly) convinced that nothing can separate us!!!!
a. death can’t (neither the fear of death or the pains of dying),
b. life can’t (the hope of life, the love of life, the offer of life),
c. angels can’t
d. demons can’t (those evil ones under Satan’s control),
e. principalities can’t (with all their evil values), Saddam Hussein ...! Islam!
f. nor things present (those persecutions that we are going through),
g. nor things to come (future trials),
h. nor powers, natural or supernatural
i. nor height (greatest of times),
j. nor depth (even the lowest of depression),
k. nor anything else in all creation (anything in the whole universe), shall be able
to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
CONC: God does not preserve us in spite of transgressions and backslidings, but by renewing us unto repentance for sins and to return from backslidings. The most important question should never be, "Can we lose our salvation?", but do we have a real relationship with Jesus Christ our Lord.
(1 John5:11-12)
11 And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 So whoever has God’s Son has life; whoever does not have his Son does not have life.
No matter who or what they are!!!
