Introduction:
Why Do People Doubt the Security of Their Salvation? (John 10:22-42)
- Sin
- Satan
- Shallow
Three Reasons a Truly Saved Person Can Be Secure in Their Salvation:
- Your salvation is Purchased by God. (John 10:22-28a)
- Your salvation is Protected by God. (John 10:28b-30)
- Your salvation is Promised by God. (John 10:31-42)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
-
00:42-00:45
Turn in your Bibles with me to John chapter 10.
00:45-00:53
While you're turning there, I would like to remind you that November 15th, we are having our next baptism service.
00:53-00:58
And if you have not taken that step of faith, that is your next opportunity to do that.
00:58-00:59
What is baptism?
01:00-01:05
Baptism is the visible, God-chosen, and God-commanded response to my faith.
01:05-01:10
At Harvest Bible Chapel, we don't believe that baptism is the thing that saves you.
01:10-01:13
It is the public profession of your faith in Jesus Christ.
01:14-01:17
It's the sign that God chose.
01:17-01:49
God says, "When you receive my Son, you are to make that public profession of faith." for cowards. It's for people who truly, sincerely come to Jesus Christ, receive His salvation. It's your announcement before God and before man that you're following Jesus Christ. And if you need to take that step, want to talk with me, pray with me more about that, come see me. But that is November the 15th, our next baptism service. All right? John chapter 10. Bow your heads and pray with me, please.
01:49-01:52
Our Father in Heaven, right now we are going to Your Word.
01:53-02:00
And we all have these ideas of how we think things are, or we think how things should be, or whatever.
02:00-02:04
And we come to Your Word, and You tell us how things are.
02:04-02:07
And You tell us how things should be.
02:07-02:09
And You tell us how things will be.
02:09-02:17
So Father, I just simply pray that we would be granted the faith, just believe what Your Word says.
02:17-02:26
And when your Word says something that might anger us, or your Word says something that might contradict something that we believe, Father, show us that we're wrong.
02:27-02:30
That we might believe You rather than believe us.
02:31-02:37
So, Father, let Your Word reign supreme in our heart, and let it draw us to truly know You.
02:38-04:09
We pray in Jesus' name, all of God's people said, "Amen." Many, many years ago, Darren and I were at Cedar Point with a friend of ours, and I think it was Darren's idea, like, "Hey, let's ride the ripcord." I know it wasn't our buddy's idea because we had to talk him into it. Darren actually had to threaten him. Because it was one of those things, you know, you have general admission, you ride all the rides, but the ripcord, can we get that picture up of the ripcord? That's this thing. And you have to pay extra for that. But here's the thing, like if it's one person, you had to pay like, I don't know, like $80, but two people, you had to pay like $50 each and three people was like $30 each or whatever. So the more people you get, the less it costs. So I think I think my brother kind of threatened our friend, like, you're riding this because you're going to save me some money. So anyways, we, um, we signed up to ride this thing. And 189 foot tethered freefall and you reach speeds of between 60 and 80 miles per hour. Well when we got up to get our harnesses and things on we actually knew one of the people that worked the ride. So everybody's joking around you know Darren's jokey and I can be jokey we're just all joking around and it's you know Then one of the workers was like, "Ah, look, his harness is frayed.
04:09-04:14
Oh, the harness is frayed. It's so funny." And everybody's just kind of joking and having a good time.
04:14-04:23
"Oh, I'm going to put you up there with a frayed harness. Oh, you're so funny." And then they went to take us to the point right before they pull you up.
04:23-04:24
We were right at that point.
04:25-04:43
And the one worker was like, "Hey, his harness is frayed." And everybody's like, "Oh, it's funny the first five times you said it." And she was like, "No, stop. I'm serious. His harness is frayed." And they looked, and sure enough, the harness they put on me was frayed.
04:44-04:49
And they're like, "We'll get you a new one." All of a sudden, it wasn't so funny anymore.
04:50-04:53
So they got me a new harness, and I couldn't back out now because we already paid.
04:55-05:00
And they put the new harness on me, and we're strapped in, and they're pulling us up.
05:00-05:02
That's by the way, that's not actually like a picture of us.
05:02-05:03
I don't have to tell you that.
05:03-05:07
But we look like that, OK, in that configuration.
05:07-05:08
But they pulled us up.
05:09-05:13
And the whole way up while they were pulling us, I only had one thought in my head.
05:14-05:14
Am I secure?
05:15-05:16
Am I secure?
05:16-05:17
Am I secure?
05:17-05:18
Am I secure?
05:18-05:19
Am I secure?
05:20-05:26
To tell you the truth, to this day, I don't know if all of that made the ride better or worse.
05:27-05:29
You're like, well, Jeff, why did you tell us this story?
05:30-05:35
Because many Christians live that way when they think of their salvation.
05:36-05:41
Am I secure? Am I secure? Am I secure? Am I secure? Am I secure?
05:42-05:46
Can I lose my salvation? Did I lose my salvation? What if I really messed up?
05:46-05:48
Is it possible? Maybe I...
05:48-05:51
Or we think of the salvation of a loved one.
05:51-06:07
Like, well, yeah, he made a profession of faith years ago, but he stopped going to church, and he's kind of living like a pagan, but he made this profession, and I'm just not sure was he saved, did he lose his salvation.
06:08-06:12
So today we're going to talk about knowing his security.
06:12-06:15
So why do people doubt the security of their salvation?
06:16-06:17
Just jot this down if you're taking notes.
06:18-06:22
Really three main reasons, I think, why people doubt the security of their salvation.
06:23-06:24
The first one is sin.
06:25-06:26
The first one is sin.
06:26-06:35
Second Peter chapter one talks about this, that if you are living in sin, if you are not living as God called you to live, you will live in doubt.
06:35-06:39
That's just a that's just a reality.
06:40-06:42
You're not living as God called you.
06:42-06:44
You will live in doubt if you're a believer.
06:45-06:47
So sin, let her be Satan.
06:48-06:49
Why do people doubt the security of their salvation?
06:49-07:05
Satan, you know Revelation chapter 12, says that Satan is a deceiver and he's an accuser and Satan wants nothing more than for a true follower of Christ to constantly be doubting their salvation. Why? Because it makes you ineffective.
07:06-07:23
Instead of being on offense for the kingdom, you're just constantly, "Am I secure? Am I secure? Am I secure?" Satan wants you living in this doubt. So sin and and thirdly, for the sake of alliteration, just write down the word "shallow." Shallow.
07:23-07:28
Meaning, maybe you just don't know what the Bible teaches.
07:28-07:31
Maybe your understanding of the Bible is shallow.
07:33-07:37
Maybe you were never taught what the Bible says about the security of salvation.
07:37-07:40
Or, maybe you were taught wrong.
07:41-07:43
Or, bless you, wrongly.
07:43-07:45
Maybe you were not taught properly.
07:46-07:47
Maybe you were taught incorrectly.
07:47-07:48
What's the right way to say that?
07:49-07:51
Maybe it's a shallow understanding.
07:51-07:53
But we're not going to spend our time talking about why people doubt.
07:54-07:58
Here's three reasons a truly saved person can be secure in their salvation.
07:58-08:09
And we're talking about truly saved, "I believe in Jesus Christ, born again." Three reasons a truly saved person can be secure in their salvation.
08:09-08:12
Number one, because your salvation is purchased by God.
08:13-08:15
I want you to look at verse 22.
08:16-08:23
"Your salvation is purchased by God." It says, "At that time, the feast of dedication took place at Jerusalem.
08:24-08:28
It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the colonnade of Solomon.
08:29-08:33
So the Jews gathered around Him and said to Him, 'How long will You keep us in suspense?
08:33-08:40
If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.' Jesus answered them, 'I told you, and you do not believe.
08:41-09:25
The works that I do in My Father's name about me, but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life. They will never perish." Stop there. It says that this took place during the Feast of Dedication. You're like, "Well, what is that?" Ultra quick history lesson. Let's go back to 165 BC. The temple, the Jewish temple, was defiled by the Syrian king Antiochus Epiphanes and the Maccabee family revolted against the Syrian overlords and drove them out and it was a time of rededication and reclamation of the temple.
09:26-09:31
And that is the holiday that is still celebrated today called, anybody know?
09:32-09:35
Hanukkah, that's right. That was the feast of dedication.
09:36-09:39
So during this feast, Jesus came to the temple.
09:39-09:44
Like, why did he go? This was his final declaration of his deity, publicly.
09:45-09:48
His final public declaration that he is God.
09:49-09:50
You're going to see that throughout the passage.
09:50-09:54
So here in this passage, the Jews, they sort of cornered Jesus.
09:54-10:07
They encircled him, like, "Hey, tell us! Are you the Christ?" The question was obviously trapped, because if you've read any of John to this point, you know that their minds were already made up.
10:08-10:14
But you see, they were looking for a superhero messiah like the Maccabees.
10:14-10:15
That's who they were looking for.
10:16-10:22
And I don't think it's a coincidence that this question took place during this feast.
10:22-10:26
Like, "Hey, are you like Judas Maccabeus? Are you like him?
10:26-10:39
Tell us, are you the Christ? Are you the one that's going to deliver us?" They were wanting Jesus to say, "I am the Christ." So that they could say, "Well, then you're not very good at it." Because really, who have you saved?
10:40-10:42
Like, well, why didn't they just believe Jesus?
10:43-10:43
I mean, why?
10:44-10:46
Why didn't they just believe in who he was?
10:47-10:52
Because like a lot of people today, they selected scriptures that they wanted to believe and they ignored the rest.
10:52-10:54
But Jesus gives the underlying reason.
10:54-10:55
You know why they didn't believe?
10:55-10:56
He says, you're not one of my sheep.
10:56-10:57
You're just not.
10:58-10:59
We talked all about that last week.
11:00-11:04
Jesus said, I saved my sheep and my sheep know who I am.
11:04-11:05
And they follow me.
11:05-11:08
You're obviously not one of them.
11:08-11:12
What I want you to notice here particularly is this truth.
11:12-11:15
Your salvation was purchased by God in Jesus Christ.
11:15-11:22
And He makes security clear in two very small, but very crystal clear statements.
11:22-11:24
Look back at verse 28 again.
11:24-11:31
Two phrases. He says, "I give them eternal life, and they will never perish." He gives them eternal life.
11:31-11:33
Let's talk about that for a second.
11:33-11:37
Underlined in your Bible, the word "gives." He gives eternal life.
11:37-11:39
Salvation is a gift.
11:40-11:40
It's a gift.
11:41-11:43
You can't work to get it.
11:44-11:46
And hear me, church, you don't work to keep it.
11:47-11:48
Why do people struggle with that so much?
11:48-11:49
Do you know why?
11:49-11:54
It's because that's all we've ever learned, is when you perform, people are happy with you, right?
11:55-11:58
As a kid, you're like, "If I do the right thing, "Mom and Dad are happy with me." And then you get a job.
11:59-12:04
"And if I do the right thing, my boss is happy with me." And then, you know, when you get married, if I do the right thing, my wife is happy with me.
12:05-12:08
And we are constantly teaching ourselves that.
12:08-12:13
And then we take that to the Lord to say, well, as long as I do good, God is happy with me.
12:14-12:18
But my salvation is not based on me, because I'm going to fail.
12:19-12:25
My salvation is based on Jesus Christ, who died, and rose for me.
12:25-12:27
It's not based on your performance.
12:28-12:30
It's based on Jesus and His performance.
12:30-12:38
And if you make your salvation based on your performance, you are never, ever going to feel secure in your salvation.
12:39-12:44
You're going to feel saved one moment, and the next moment, I'm the worst pagan in the world.
12:44-12:47
And then you're going to feel saved, and then you're like, I'm the devil.
12:47-12:51
And then you're going to feel-- and you're basing it on your performance.
12:52-12:53
He purchased it.
12:53-12:54
It is a gift.
12:55-13:00
And there is not-- you know there's not one verse in the Bible about him taking his gift back.
13:00-13:02
You know that? Not one verse.
13:03-13:04
We're going to talk more about that in a second.
13:04-13:06
I just want to ask you how Christmas works at your house.
13:07-13:08
Parents, is that how you operate?
13:09-13:11
You're like, son, I got this for you.
13:11-13:12
Merry Christmas.
13:12-13:15
And your son takes the gift and your son's like, oh, thanks.
13:15-13:18
And then you say, now behave yourself.
13:18-13:19
I'm taking it back to the store.
13:20-13:21
You do that at your house.
13:22-13:25
Who does that at your your Christmas stinks if you do that at your house?
13:26-13:27
OK, I'm not coming.
13:28-13:31
and I don't want your lousy gifts." You don't do that. Why?
13:31-13:33
Because you're not a maniac.
13:34-13:35
You're trying to be a good parent.
13:36-13:38
Who is described as the perfect father?
13:39-13:40
Who? God is.
13:41-13:46
You think God gives a gift to his children that he says, "Now behave, or I'm going to re-poet"?
13:46-13:48
We're going to talk more about that in a second.
13:48-13:50
But just for now, I want you to see this phrase.
13:50-13:52
He gives them eternal life.
13:52-13:55
So the question is, well, how does someone get eternal life?
13:55-13:59
It says, Jesus said right here, He gives it. He gives it.
14:00-14:04
And for people like me who are a little slow on the uptake, look at the next phrase.
14:04-14:09
It says, "Jesus said, 'And they will never perish.'" Stated in the negative.
14:10-14:15
For those of us still unsure what Jesus meant, when will a believer perish?
14:16-14:17
When? Never!
14:18-14:28
You're like, "Well, okay, Pastor Jeff, but what if a believer sins?" Well, does your Bible have a little asterisk by the word never and there a footnote at the bottom.
14:29-14:36
You know, most manuscripts say unless a believer sins, you know, the word never doesn't really apply here. Does your Bible say that?
14:37-14:43
No, it doesn't. And you're like, well Jeff, what did... I'm interested in the Greek words.
14:43-14:47
I'm a bit of a Bible scholar, Jeff. I'm interested in the Greek words.
14:47-14:52
What did Jesus mean by the word never? You know, I spent some time on this this week.
14:52-14:53
Do you know what never means?
14:54-14:54
Never!
14:55-14:57
Never, ever, ever, ever!
14:57-14:58
That's what that means.
14:59-15:03
Which of your sins did Jesus die for?
15:03-15:04
All of them!
15:04-15:07
Which of your sins did Jesus Christ take away?
15:07-15:08
All of them!
15:08-15:19
But there are some believers, some Christians, that believe that if you commit a sin, and then you die before confessing that sin, you go to hell.
15:20-15:21
I know some people that believe that.
15:21-15:24
You want to talk about a security killer? That will kill your security.
15:25-15:26
There are people that believe that.
15:26-15:29
Okay, I'm a sincere believer. I believe in Jesus. I'm born again.
15:29-15:32
And then I have a fight with my wife. I say horrible things. I sin.
15:33-15:36
And I leave the house, and I'm in an auto accident, and I die.
15:36-15:41
I'm going to hell because there was a sin that I committed that I didn't confess.
15:41-15:42
Therefore, it's not forgiven.
15:43-15:47
And I just got to tell you, that is completely an unbiblical line of thinking.
15:48-15:55
Like, "Well, how do you know?" Well, when Jesus Christ died, how many of your sins were in the future?
15:56-15:57
All of them, right?
15:58-16:02
So if you think to yourself, "Well, okay, I'm a believer, but what if I mess up tomorrow?
16:02-16:07
What about all my future sins?" All of your sins were in the future when Jesus died.
16:08-16:21
And look, I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, but I think I can grasp what Jesus meant when He said, "They will never perish." "Okay, well what about the person who walks away?
16:21-16:22
You know, you mentioned that guy earlier.
16:23-16:32
You know, the guy was in church, he seemed to be following the Lord, and he walked away from the church, and he doesn't seem to be seeking the Lord at all.
16:32-16:33
What about that guy?
16:34-16:37
What about that guy?" Well, one of two things is going on here.
16:37-16:40
One is, he was never truly saved in the first place.
16:41-16:41
Right?
16:42-17:00
You know, there are a lot of people that come to church, not because they're saved, not because they want to worship, but because they like the people, it's a friendly environment, they wanna learn some things about the Bible, maybe they have a desire to know God, but not a desire to repent from their sin, maybe that person was never really saved.
17:01-17:04
Or what about the person that walks away?
17:04-17:07
The other option is they're coming back.
17:07-17:14
Like you don't know what God's gonna do with that guy's life next year, five years, 10 years from now, you don't know.
17:14-17:15
God isn't done with them.
17:16-17:18
If they're truly saved, God is not done with them.
17:19-17:21
You're like, "Well, how do you know?" How do you know?
17:22-17:23
The answer is you don't know.
17:24-17:25
I don't know anybody's heart.
17:25-17:26
Only God knows the heart.
17:27-17:30
All I know is what Jesus says.
17:30-17:35
He gives eternal life, and those who get it will never perish.
17:36-17:37
So your salvation is purchased by God.
17:38-17:42
Secondly, your salvation is protected by God.
17:42-17:44
Your salvation is protected by God.
17:45-17:46
Get back to verse 28.
17:47-17:50
Jesus said, "And no one will snatch them out of my hand.
17:51-17:58
My Father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.
17:58-18:02
I and the Father are one." Stop there.
18:02-18:05
I just, I don't know, I kind of laugh sometimes when I read.
18:06-18:12
Jesus says, "I and the Father are one." And these people are like, "Tell us plainly, who are you?
18:12-18:13
Tell us plainly, are you the Christ?
18:13-18:16
Tell us plainly." Like how much more plain can he get?
18:16-18:20
Right here he's like, "Me and the Father are the same.
18:20-18:24
We are one." It doesn't get any more clear than that.
18:24-18:31
Jesus is God and that is a truth that has been taught and demonstrated over and over and over in John.
18:31-18:44
But the way that Jesus says it here describes the security that we have in our salvation because he says being in his hand is the same thing as being in the Father's hand.
18:44-18:44
Did you catch that?
18:45-18:51
That's a claim of deity, and it's a claim of security at the same time.
18:52-18:59
So if you're like, "Well, tell me, Jeff, can a believer lose their salvation?" And I'm here to tell you today there is one way.
18:59-19:02
There is one way a believer can lose their salvation.
19:02-19:03
Only one.
19:04-19:05
And you're going to want to write this down.
19:05-19:06
Okay?
19:06-19:11
There's one way that a believer can lose their salvation.
19:11-19:15
Someone stronger than God would have to rip you out of His hand.
19:16-19:17
That's the way.
19:17-19:28
It would sort of be like, I have this little pen knife, a little Swiss Army knife, it was given to me by a missionary friend of mine many years ago and it's kind of valuable to me.
19:29-19:30
Very handy. It's got little scissors and stuff.
19:31-19:36
It's got tweezers and a nail file and I don't know what else. It's very handy.
19:37-19:40
But if I said to you, "You know what, you can have this.
19:40-19:42
You just gotta come and take it from me.
19:43-19:46
A lot of you probably could do that, right?
19:46-19:49
Storm the stage, knock me down, rip this from my hand.
19:50-19:51
A lot of you could probably do that.
19:52-20:00
But, but, what if standing up on this stage was, I don't know, let's say Hulk Hogan.
20:01-20:02
Do you know who Hulk Hogan is?
20:03-20:05
The greatest professional wrestler of all time.
20:05-20:06
You know who he is?
20:07-20:17
from Venice Beach, California, weighing in at 303 pounds, 6'7", 2 inches from heaven, the immortal, the incredible, Hollywood Hulk Hogan.
20:17-20:18
Do you know what I'm talking about?
20:18-20:19
Was that too much?
20:19-20:28
If Hulk Hogan was standing on this stage, and I put this in his hand, and I said, hey, if you want that, you can come and rip it out of the Hulkster's hand.
20:28-20:34
I guarantee you, there's not a person here, or anywhere, that's gonna come and take this from him.
20:34-21:00
Now, to understand Jesus' point, He says, not a silly pen knife, He says, "Your salvation is in My hand." And then Jesus says, "In other words, your salvation is in the hand of God Almighty, and if somebody is going to take your salvation, they're going to have to come to God and rip it out of His hand." Who's strong enough to do that?
21:00-21:03
Three reasons a truly saved person can be secure in their salvation.
21:04-21:07
Finally for today, your salvation is promised by God.
21:07-21:09
It's been purchased by God.
21:09-21:11
It's being protected by God.
21:12-21:14
And it's been promised by God.
21:16-21:20
All right, verse 31 says, "The Jews picked up stones again to stone him.
21:21-21:25
Jesus answered them, "I've shown you many good works from the Father.
21:26-21:27
"For which of them are you going to stone me?
21:28-21:35
"The Jews answered him, "It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you, but for blasphemy.
21:36-21:50
Because you being a man, make yourself God." Stop there. They picked up stones and you're like, "Well, where'd they get the stones from?" Well, they were in the temple, and the temple was always under construction, just constantly.
21:50-21:53
It was like, frame of reference here, it was like Route 28.
21:54-22:01
It was always under construction. So there were stones laying around, and when Jesus said, "I am the Father of one," they're like, "That's it.
22:01-22:10
Grab a rock and Jesus says, "Okay, so for which of my good works are you going to kill me?" What did I do that was so horrible?
22:10-22:13
Was it when I healed the blind person?
22:13-22:15
Or maybe it was healing the lame person.
22:16-22:20
Or maybe it was when I fed 5,000 people with the little boy's lunch.
22:20-22:22
I mean, these things aren't exactly criminal activities.
22:23-22:34
And they said, "No, no, no. It's for blasphemy." Because they knew exactly what Jesus was claiming, being equal with God and under Old Testament law, blasphemy deserves death.
22:34-22:47
But you gotta see, Jesus' response to this is so unanticipated and absolutely staggering what he says. Look at how Jesus responds to this, okay?
22:48-23:09
Verse 34, "Jesus answered them, 'Is it not written in your law, I said, you are gods?' If He called them gods to whom the Word of God came, and Scripture cannot be broken, do you say of Him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, "You are blaspheming because I said I'm the Son of God"?
23:10-23:13
Stop there. What was Jesus saying here?
23:13-23:16
Well, Jesus was quoting Psalm 82.6.
23:17-23:29
Psalm 82.6 says, "I said," this is God speaking, I said, "You're God's sons of the Most High, all of you." Now, who's the Lord speaking to here?
23:30-23:31
He's speaking to the judges of Israel.
23:32-23:35
Now, when I say judges, I don't mean like Samson and Gideon and Shamgar and them.
23:36-23:39
These were like the Supreme Court judges of Israel.
23:39-23:43
And it was their job to act as agents of God.
23:43-23:46
Their judgment was to be God's judgment.
23:46-23:48
They were to speak for God.
23:49-23:58
You're like, "So what was Jesus' rebuttal here?" the basic generic understanding that a lot of scholars believe is Jesus' argument is this.
23:58-24:09
If the Scriptures call men who serve the Lord, "gods," they must be in some sense, so it's not a blasphemous term for a person representing the Lord.
24:10-24:17
And while that's true, Jesus' words go way beyond that.
24:17-24:24
Because verse 36, Jesus gives the further revelation and explanation that he was two things.
24:24-24:28
He said he was consecrated by God and sent into the world.
24:29-24:30
There again is another claim of deity.
24:30-24:35
I was in heaven with the Father and he sent me here.
24:36-24:39
So the deeper meaning of Jesus' rebuttal is this.
24:40-24:47
If men doing God's work are called gods, how can you charge the one who was with God and comes from God?
24:48-24:49
You want another run at that one?
24:49-24:50
OK.
24:51-24:59
The deeper meaning of Jesus' rebuttal is this.
25:00-25:16
Jesus was saying, "If men doing God's work are called gods, how can you charge the one who was with God and comes from God?" It's an argument from much, much lesser to much, much greater.
25:16-25:22
But verse 37, Jesus said, "If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe Me.
25:22-25:34
But if I do them, even though you do not believe Me, believe the works that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me and I am in the Father." Oh, by the way, there it is.
25:35-25:39
Our sermon series is called "Knowing Jesus," right? There it is.
25:39-25:42
Jesus said He wants you to know and understand what?
25:43-25:45
The Father is in Him and He is in the Father.
25:45-25:50
Verse 39 says, "Again they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands.
25:51-25:56
He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing at first.
25:57-25:59
There he remained. And many came to him.
26:00-26:09
And they said, 'John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.' And many believed in him there." Like, all right, you were talking about security here.
26:09-26:11
What do we learn about security from this?
26:13-26:22
There's a statement that Jesus made here that is one of the most game-changing statements ever made by any person who's ever walked on this earth.
26:22-26:24
And there is no exaggeration there, because you're going to see that here.
26:25-26:26
Look at verse 35 again.
26:28-26:39
Jesus almost says this statement parenthetically, but the significance of this statement cannot be overstated.
26:39-26:46
Look at verse 35, "Jesus said, Scripture cannot be broken." What does that mean?
26:46-26:51
Well, the Greek word for broken literally means dismissed or eliminated.
26:52-26:53
Here's the picture.
26:53-26:57
Like, Scripture can't be dismissed or eliminated. What does he mean by that?
26:58-26:59
The picture is, imagine a chain.
27:00-27:05
If you eliminate one link on that chain, you no longer have the same chain, do you?
27:06-27:10
Every link is important for that chain, right?
27:10-27:17
And Jesus saw the entirety of the Scriptures, which in His day we would call the Old Testament, Jesus saw the entirety of the Old Testament as a chain.
27:18-27:20
Like everything matters.
27:21-27:29
Every word, every phrase, every tense, every single word matters.
27:30-27:30
Everything.
27:31-27:42
Even this maybe seemingly obscure reference in Psalm 82.6, calling these judges "God." It's just this one reference in the Old Testament.
27:42-27:44
Jesus goes, "It matters." That's a link on the chain.
27:45-27:48
Scripture cannot be broken.
27:48-27:51
Every single word is important.
27:52-27:55
Jesus' whole argument was based on one word.
27:55-27:57
By the way, have you ever struggled to believe the Old Testament?
27:58-28:00
Have you ever struggled believing the Old Testament?
28:00-28:09
You're like Jonah, swallowed by a fish, and we just spent a few weeks on Samson, and that was a pretty wild story, and all the stuff with Moses.
28:10-28:13
Do you know Jesus believed in the Old Testament as being literally true?
28:13-28:16
So I can't speak for you, but I'm going to speak for myself here.
28:16-28:20
I believe that the Bible is literally and straightforwardly true.
28:21-28:23
Why? Because Jesus did.
28:24-28:35
And for the person that comes along and challenges that, and says, "Well, I don't believe the Bible's true," In my head and sometimes out of my mouth, admittedly, this phrase comes to mind, "Oh, you know better than Jesus then.
28:35-28:36
Oh, how do you tell?
28:37-28:43
Because the Almighty Savior of the universe said it's true, but you came along. What are your credentials again?
28:43-28:48
You came along and you say, 'No, it's not true?'" Look, I'm going with Jesus on this one.
28:48-28:53
And I've got to tell you, church, I used to think that a person's view of Scripture was important.
28:54-28:57
And I've come to realize that important doesn't even begin to cover it.
28:57-29:01
because your view of Scripture sets the whole course of your entire life.
29:01-29:05
For example, God's Word says you are adopted.
29:05-29:07
Do you believe that? John 1.12.
29:08-29:10
So let me ask you, can you unadopt yourself?
29:11-29:16
God's Word says you are a new creation. 2 Corinthians 5.17.
29:17-29:20
So let me ask you, can you uncreate God's work? Can you do that?
29:20-29:24
God's Word says He finishes when He begins.
29:25-29:29
talking specifically about salvation, Philippians 1.6.
29:29-29:34
Do you think you can show up where God is at work and put Him to a stop?
29:34-29:37
Say, "No, we're not doing that anymore." Do you think you can do that?
29:38-29:47
God's Word says that you are sealed by His Spirit, the guarantee of our inheritance, according to Ephesians 1, verses 13 and 14.
29:48-29:52
Do you think you can come along and break the seal that God has put on a believer?
29:52-29:52
Can you do that?
29:53-30:00
It is a pretty audacious, no, not audacious, obnoxious.
30:01-30:02
That's the word we're going with today.
30:02-30:03
Obnoxious.
30:04-30:10
It is an obnoxious thing to think that you have the power to undo something that God has declared done.
30:11-30:12
You're obnoxious and you're a fool.
30:13-30:14
And that's not my opinion.
30:14-30:15
That's God's.
30:15-30:16
He has promised.
30:17-30:18
I have believed.
30:19-30:20
I am transformed.
30:20-30:21
I am forever secure.
30:22-30:26
So if you're one of his, if you're one of his, your salvation is secure.
30:27-30:27
Jesus bought it.
30:28-30:30
He's holding it and he promises it.
30:31-30:35
And really at the end of the day, this is what, this is what, this is what it looks like.
30:36-30:37
This is what it looks like.
30:37-30:39
I have a Walmart gift card right here.
30:40-30:42
The only downside is you have to go to Walmart to use it.
30:42-30:47
But if you recognize that you would like to have this, it's for $25 by the way.
30:47-30:54
But if you recognize that you would like to have it and you come and ask me for it, I'll give it to you. No catch. Anybody interested?
30:54-30:59
Anybody interested? Carrie. Warm it up, Carrie. Apparently Carrie's the only one that shops at Walmart here.
30:59-31:01
If you ask me for this, I'll give it to you.
31:02-31:02
Can I have that?
31:03-31:10
You absolutely can. You're sure welcome. You see, for Carrie, it's a gift. Did she earn that? No.
31:11-31:14
Somebody else paid for that, and it was simply given to her.
31:15-31:20
And all she did, you see, all she did was say, I realize that's something I need.
31:21-31:23
And she came and asked for it, and she received it.
31:23-31:25
And so it is with eternal life.
31:25-31:27
There's just one big difference.
31:28-31:30
Hypothetically, she could lose that card.
31:31-31:34
But your salvation - you can never lose that.
31:34-32:06
Because Jesus said, "I got that right here." Father in Heaven, we thank You for Your Word, God, because we can come up with all kinds of crazy and goofy ideas about who You are and what you're like, and what you require, and God, I really believe as human beings it's all going to go back to some sort of works type salvation that we want to believe, but your Word says salvation is a gift that you purchase and that you hold and that you promise.
32:06-32:09
So God, we come today claiming that promise.
32:09-32:20
And if there's anybody here, whether they're sitting here watching this stream, I just ask God that they would come to You that they would come to you and say, "I need what you have.
32:20-32:24
Can I please, Father, can I please receive this gift of salvation?
32:25-32:29
I believe that Jesus is the Christ. I believe that He's God.
32:29-32:33
I believe that He died for me. I believe that He rose from the dead for me.
32:33-32:40
I believe that I have the promise of heaven only through Him." Father, bring that person to that place.
32:40-32:46
Father, we thank You for the security, because I know, God, if it was up to me, I'd lose it a thousand times an hour.
32:47-32:50
but it will never be lost because you're holding on to it.
32:50-32:51
Thank you, Father.
32:51-32:53
I pray in Jesus' name, Amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read John 10:22-42
What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
How would you respond to this statement?: “My sister was saved, but she isn’t anymore. She walked away from the church years ago.”
Read John 10:27-29 again. Why do you think Jesus took this opportunity to emphasize the security of salvation? Why here?
Explain Jesus’ response to their “charge” of blasphemy (John 10:34-36). What was His point in mentioning Psalm 82:6?
Why is it important for a believer to be fully confident in the security of their salvation?
Breakout
Pray for one another.
