Jeff Durbin: God Alone Saves

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Brothers and sisters, if you would open your Bibles to the gospel according to John chapter 6.

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Gospel according to John chapter 6 starting in verse 35. John 6 35

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Hear now the word of the living and the true God. Jesus said to them,

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I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

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But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the

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Father gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

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For I've come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me and this is the will of him who sent me that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me but raise it up on the last day.

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For this is the will of my father that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day.

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So the Jews grumbled about him because he said I am the bread that came down from heaven. They said it's not this

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Jesus the son of Joseph whose father and mother we know. How does he now say

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I have come down from heaven? Jesus answered them do not grumble among yourselves.

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No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up on the last day.

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It is written in the prophets and they will all be taught by God. Everyone who has heard and learned from the

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Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God.

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He has seen the Father. Truly, truly, I say to you whoever believes has eternal life.

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Thus far as the reading of God's holy and inspired word, let's praise God's people. Lord Jesus, these are the most precious amazing promises.

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These are truly water for our soul. They bring peace to our mind and our hearts.

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These words are comforting words from you. They're promises from you that you will never fail in the salvation that you bring.

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Father, we praise you that apart from anything in us that you chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we've been given to the

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Son. And we thank you God that your salvation is perfect. And we pray

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Lord that these truths today that are preached from this pulpit would bring peace to the minds and hearts of your people in this room.

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That you would reorient the way that we think about ourselves and you and even the future. That you would allow these truths

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Lord not to be just things that are suspended in midair, theological truths that we just look up to, but they're things that are buried deep within us and they transform us.

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We pray for your blessing by your Spirit on today's message, for your glory and for your kingdom. We pray this in Jesus' holy name.

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Amen. That verse 47. Again, truly, truly.

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The old -school translation says what? Verily, verily. Amen. Amen. This is true.

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It is sure. It is guaranteed. It is settled. Truly, truly.

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I say to you whoever believes has has eternal life.

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That's the promise of Jesus. That's the promise of the God -man. That's the promise of the one who came to destroy the works of the devil.

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That's the one, that's the promise of the one who came to seek and save that which is lost. And so Jesus says as God who cannot lie when he walked among us.

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Truly, truly. I say to you whoever believes has eternal life.

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So brothers and sisters, are you believing in Christ right now? It was about four of you.

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Good, okay. Let's try that again. Are you believing in Christ right now? And he says to us that we have presently everlasting life, never -ending life, alive in God.

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We will be together with Jesus for all eternity. Every night when

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I pray with Augustine when we're going to bed we have like sort of a, he's very scheduled, very patterned.

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And so we play a little video game that's really good for his mind. He's like a super genius and he can beat me at the game and bring it together colors and other things to do like a quick round of that just to have fun together.

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We've seen the doxology together and then we pray a prayer and I make sure that embedded in the prayer as we're talking to the

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Lord, I talk about Jesus and what we believe about him. And one of the things that I say like how do you, how do you say this beautiful gift?

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How do you talk about this beautiful gift to a four -year -old? Conceptually, how do you, how do you have them understand the glory of the gospel?

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And what I usually say to Augustine is we pray to Jesus and I say thank you Lord Jesus that you're our God and Savior.

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I thank you that you would live perfectly, that you never sinned. I thank you that you died for sins and you rose again from the dead so that we will live with you forever and ever and ever.

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That's how I tell him the story. We pray that every night and make sure that the gospel is embedded in our prayers so he's under the hearing of the gospel and understands what we believe about Jesus, but we will live with God for all eternity.

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So do you believe in Christ? Then you have eternal life. Let that satisfy your soul and your mind through your trial right now, what you face.

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Whether it's a relational trial, whether it's facing death or conflict or difficulties with your finances and fears of the future.

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Whatever you have in front of you, no matter how difficult, no matter how challenging, no matter how painful it is, it is ordained by the hand of the sovereign

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God who loves sinners and the truth is all of this stuff will pass away. All of this will be but a faint memory, but what will last is the amen, amen.

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Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. If you trust in Christ today,

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He loves you. He came to save you. He will never lose you. That's the substance of what we believe in terms of the doctrines of grace.

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So we're in our series right now on Core Doctrine. We're ending it now. We've gone through some of the foundational things that we believe at Apologia Church, the things that God has used as pillars in our church and brought us into the world with the gospel and brought us unity together in our fellowship.

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But this Core Doctrine today, we're talking about the doctrines of grace. Now again, as I announced ahead of time, we have so many teachings online, detailed exegesis of texts and detailed examination of the doctrines of grace.

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We've talked about the history of the doctrines of grace. We've talked about what we believe, why we believe it.

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We talked about TULIP, total inability, unconditional election, limited atonement or definite redemption, irresistible grace and perseverance of the saints.

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Today, we're not going to unpack every detail of the doctrines of grace, but just know that we have deep convictions, biblical convictions, that what is expressed in the doctrines of grace and was actually defended in that against the remonstrance that happened during the time of the

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Reformation, what is there in substance is really an expression of the grace of God in salvation.

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If you want to know what the doctrines of grace are all about or what the five points of Calvinism are all about, essentially, it is an attempt to biblically defend the sovereignty of God in salvation and the grace of God in salvation.

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The doctrines of grace are essentially attempting to provide a biblical defense for what the Bible says about God's salvation that he gives to his elect.

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It is a gracious salvation, unmerited favor. You didn't do anything to deserve it.

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You aren't doing anything to deserve it. You never will. This is a work of God. Salvation is from God alone, and that is the substance of the doctrines of grace.

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And there are many ways you could demonstrate it. You could defend total inability, I think, quite easily, running from the beginning of the

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Old Testament all the way to Revelation talking about the inability of the fallen man, that we are dead in our sins and trespasses, by nature children of wrath, not able to come to God unless we're drawn by the

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Father. You could show our condition in Scripture clear, separated from God and Adam, condemned in need of a

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God who loves sinners that he pursues them. He provides the way of salvation.

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We could talk about what the Atonement actually accomplished according to the Scriptures, and it is clear.

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It is a definite redemption. It is an atonement that is personal. It is not general.

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It's not Jesus dying so that he would make people save a bull, and if they would just, on their own, somehow cooperating with the grace of God, reach out, then it would actually avail for them.

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No, Scripture makes it very clear. Jesus has sheep. He knows them like he knows the Father. He lays his life down for the sheep, and he'll never lose them or forsake them.

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It is an atonement that is perfect. It is a once -for -all atonement that is able to save to the uttermost and perfect forever those who draw near to God through him.

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It is an atonement that is not general. It is this. Jesus died on that cross for his sheep.

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He knew my name. He knows your name, and when he said it is finished, it is finished.

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It's accomplished. It's done. It is over. It accomplished what he came to do. Save the people the

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Father gave to him, and we believe, of course, and can defend irresistible grace, and that is that when

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God wants to save a sinner, he saves the sinner. No creature can thwart the

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Almighty God of the Holy Scriptures. Where did we ever get that idea? If God wants to open the eyes of the blind, he opens the eyes of the blind, just like Jesus did in his ministry.

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Those were real miracles historically here in this life, in this dirt, in this air. That's God becoming a man, and he healed the blinds.

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There was more to it, though, than simply a amazing miraculous feat where people could be in awe of Jesus controlling his own creation, which that's there, too.

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It's embedded there. It was a sign to everyone around that he has the power to open the eyes of the blind, give hearing to the deaf, to raise people from death to life.

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That is what all those stories are showing us. Jesus can save, and we also believe that once God saves, he saves perfectly.

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Once God saves, he will complete it. Why? Because he's the sovereign over all things.

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We believe when Jesus says in John 10, he will never lose us. He'll never forsake us.

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We believe that that's true. It is a perfect salvation, and it is God alone who saves. Here it is.

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We believe that God alone saves to his own eternal glory. And by the way, listen, when we find people who are so offended by the doctrines of grace, who are so offended by the five points of Calvinism, it makes sense.

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It makes sense. Why? Because we are, as creatures, so prideful, so self -absorbed, so believing things about ourselves that aren't actually true.

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We don't like the story of a God who saves on his own to his glory. We want to have some of that glory, a piece of it, a little bit of it.

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It's because what I did, it's because maybe I was more spiritual, or I thought this thing out, or I reached out.

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I did these things. The Scriptures are very clear. There is none who seeks for God.

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There could be no dispute about that. Scripture's clear. There's none who seeks for God. So if there is no

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God -seeker, what are we all doing in this room seeking for God? It means God was first seeking us.

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Amen? He sought the sinner. He sought the rebel. He sought the enemy of God.

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He sought the hater of God. God saves to his own eternal glory, and that is what the natural man finds so offensive about the five points of Calvinism or the doctrines of grace.

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But what we're going to do today is not unpack, as we've done many times before, tulip and go to all the biblical references.

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I want today, as we end this core doctrine series, to let this satisfy our souls.

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These truths are not simply truths that are supposed to hang above our heads in some lofty theological discussion.

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The doctrines of grace should humble you. The doctrines of grace should embolden you to the power of God and salvation.

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The doctrines of grace should bring comfort to your souls in those dark moments of the soul, whether it is trial, difficulty, death, disease, or even those moments.

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Where you remember your old life. Where you remember how depraved you were when

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God found you. Those moments where you wake up thinking about your past sin. Those moments where you think about where you're at right now in your sanctification and your war against sin.

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These are truths that will satisfy your souls. I want to encourage you as we read through this today and look at the discourses,

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I want to encourage you to let these texts not simply be proof texts for the doctrines of grace.

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They are that. It's incontrovertible. This is what Jesus teaches with clarity, without question.

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But I would encourage you to allow these texts to be buried in your hearts and in your minds so that you would allow these texts to do to you what

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God intends them to do to you. And that is bring glory to him and find comfort and joy in a

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Savior who saves perfectly. Let these satisfy your soul. And so John 6,

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John 6. Let the text speak. Jesus said,

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I'm the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

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There's perseverance of the saints. There's that eternal security we have. This is a promise coming from the

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God -man and I think oftentimes we see the power of these verses. We've memorized them.

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We know them so well that we oftentimes miss the true glory of it in our lives.

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Here is Jesus saying to you, you're never gonna hunger. You're never gonna thirst.

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It won't happen. This is the work of God. This is the will of God. You look to Jesus.

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You come to him as the bread of life in your life. You will never be hungry spiritually. You will never be thirsty.

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God will satisfy you. These are the promises of God and God cannot lie. Jesus says in verse 36, but I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.

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He's talking to their unbelief. Now, of course, they had past tense, a superficial faith or belief in Jesus.

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It's a past tense, but they are not presently believing and he confronts their unbelief.

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You don't believe me, Jesus says. And you've seen me.

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You've seen the miracles. You've seen all the amazing things that demonstrate that this is truly

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God in human flesh. This is Mashiach. This is who we're waiting for. They see Jesus and yet Jesus says you do not believe.

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And he answers their unbelief. They're not trusting in Jesus.

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He answers with this. All that the Father gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me,

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I will never cast out. You want the five points of Calvinism, the doctrines of grace summarized in a verse?

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There's one. There's one. What do you guys believe at Apologia Church about salvation and what happens there?

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Well, we believe all that the Father gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me, I will never cast out.

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There's a summary, but know what Jesus says. You don't believe and you've seen.

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And he explains their unbelief. He says, here's why. All that the

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Father gives to me will come to me. That's guaranteed. Now note two things.

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The all. There are people given to Christ by the Father and it's not some of them that will make their way to salvation with Jesus.

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Jesus says what? All that the Father has given to me will come to me.

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How's that? How's that for boldness and evangelism? How's that for comfort in the trials and the difficulties of the very difficult ministries that we face?

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How's that for looking out there at the world right now with this depravity and all the darkness?

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Jesus says, yeah, there's unbelief. They know the message of Jesus. They've heard it.

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They don't believe and Jesus says what about it? All that the Father gives to me.

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There's people given to Jesus by the Father. Here it is. Ready? Listen closely. Will will come to me.

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So there is, ready? Guaranteed success in our evangelism. 100 % guaranteed success in evangelism.

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All that the Father has given to Jesus will come to Jesus. So someone says, hey, if you believe

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God is sovereign over salvation, if he's just chosen before the world began who he's gonna give grace to, which he owes nobody grace, then why are you preaching the gospel?

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Here's why I preach the gospel because the gospel is the power of God for salvation. It's what God uses to bring his elect people to himself and Jesus says all that the

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Father has given to me will come to me. So I go on preach the gospel in the most difficult circumstances and I can be satisfied when

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I go home and someone threw the Arby's sandwich in my head or spit on me or tore my tracks up or whatever they did to demean the gospel.

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I trust in a sovereign God. I know Jesus says there have been a people given to him by the

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Father and they will come to him. And here's the truth that all of us should be so satisfied about.

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Are you believing in Christ today? He says according to his own promise he will never never cast you out.

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Sometimes brothers and sisters, don't we feel be honest about it. We're creatures. We have moments of great strength and moments of very serious weakness.

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Sometimes don't you feel as a believer on this side of heaven that God is the farthest thing from you? Sometimes don't you feel as a believer in the midst of difficulties and trials, conflicts in your marriage, conflicts with your kids, conflicts with your friends, conflicts at work, the darkness of this world has to share with us constantly.

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Don't you feel sometimes like God is the absentee landlord? He's the farthest thing. Sometimes don't you wonder as a

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Christian has Jesus forgotten about me? Is he thinking about me?

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Is it really true what the Bible says about God and his people that he's singing over me?

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Is that really true? That he loves me with an everlasting love. Is that really true? Let's be honest.

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I think that sometimes we think about God in these ways that he's this father that's absent or he's so far away or he's busy doing other things with more faithful people.

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We oftentimes think maybe he's not concerned with me anymore, or he's just tired of me.

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He's worn out with my weaknesses. He's worn out with my failures as a husband, as a man, as a mother, a wife, a child, a friend, a child of God.

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He's so tired of me that maybe he's just sort of stepped aside a bit to focus on other more important things.

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I think the reason we think that way about God is because we're that way. We're failures. We're sinners.

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We're not strong. We forget. We change. But that's not who God is.

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And the glory of the ministry of Christ is that he enters into the world and he says, all that the

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Father has given to me will come. And he says he'll never cast you out. So when you think about those moments of sanctification where you're hating your sin and you're wondering how for the thousandth time you've fallen prey to the lust, or to the anger, or to the bitterness, or to the lies, whatever the conflict, you're there and you're wondering,

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God, how can I be this way? God, you must be so tired with me. Lord, you must, you must be ready to give up on me.

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Here's what Jesus says, and it cannot be broken. It's his promise. I'll never cast you out.

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You will never be cast out. Not in your darkest moments. Not in your deepest failures.

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He will never cast you out. These are the words of God. And so Jesus then goes on.

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Man, I love this text. He says, for I have come down from heaven. Now again, this is one of those other verses where you're so accustomed to hearing this and reading it.

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You've got it buried. You know it. And of course, it's satisfying to your soul. As soon as it misses you, just what an audacious claim that is, that's being made by Jesus.

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Now, you know, according to the Scriptures, that Jesus is the Word made flesh. It's God walking among us.

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He's God walking among us. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the

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Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We know that because of the testimony of the Scriptures. And we know who

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Jesus is. We're Trinitarians. Amen? But think about it in their context.

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This is Jesus, live, with other human beings. They're kind of trying to get to know him.

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They're in all of the miracles, and his teaching, and his righteousness. That's all there. That's compelling to them.

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And then Jesus says, listen to it, to monotheistic

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Jews who only believe in one true and eternal living God. He says something that the other prophets did not say, cannot say.

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We all started here, in the wombs of our mothers, by the way, just like Jesus, as a human being.

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But that's where we started. That's where our origin is. Humanity was made from the dust of the earth.

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That's our Genesis. That's our beginning. And then Jesus says something audacious. He says,

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I have come down from heaven. Now again, you've heard me say a hundred times, don't ever lose it.

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I repeat myself a lot when I think it's something very important we can't ever lose. Jesus says things, be honest, that do not allow us to put him on a shelf where he's a good teacher, he's a good moral man, or simply a prophet.

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Jesus says things that if they are not true, he is the greatest deceiver in the history of humanity, or he is absolutely out of his mind.

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He's telling people something that if you or I said, we'd be out of our minds.

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Liars. Jesus says, I've come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

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So this was my origin. I come from above, a different place than you.

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I came down out of heaven like the bread coming down out of heaven before, that beautiful sign and symbol they couldn't even possibly understood.

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He says, I've come down from heaven, not to do my will, but the will of him who sent me. So Jesus was sent to do something that was given to him by the

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Father, and Jesus says, and this is the will of him who sent me. I want to know.

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Think about it. I want to know, what's this all about, Jesus? And Jesus is telling you about the inner workings of the eternal plan of God in the triune

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God. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus says, here it is. This is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.

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Brothers and sisters, where do we ever get the idea that someone could truly know Christ, trust in Jesus, and be lost by him?

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That violates the text. It's impossible to get around. Jesus says, I've come down from heaven. Here's the mission.

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The Father has a will for me, and this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given to me.

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So brothers and sisters, when you're trusting in Christ, and you feel like God is the farthest thing from you, just read these words and promises of our

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Savior. He will lose nothing of all that the Father has given to him, but he will raise it up on the last day.

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There's hope for eternal life. There's hope for never being lost by Jesus, and there is hope for a final resurrection.

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You remember that at the deathbed, of a loved one, of a friend. He will raise them up.

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You remember that on your deathbed. He will raise me up on the last day.

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And so, here we go. Here's the Gungus mooing of the Jews. So the

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Jews grumbled about him, because he said, I'm the bread that came down from heaven. Notice, their response was, that's a shocking claim,

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Jesus. We know how we all started, and you're actually claiming something farther back, that you've come down from heaven.

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That's where you are from, heaven, coming down to us, that you're the bread of life. That if we come to you, we're not going to be hungry or thirst, we'll never be lost.

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These are some bold claims coming from a guy from Nazareth, who doesn't have a very profitable ministry.

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I don't see the bling. I don't see the the fancy clothes or robes. I don't see what looks like Mashiach in the

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Old Testament, the one who actually conquers the world, brings the knowledge of God across the earth, like the waters cover the sea, the one who establishes justice on the earth.

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I see the lowly man in front of me from Nazareth. Can any good thing come from Nazareth?

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And so he says he's come down from heaven. Yeah, right. Sure. I actually know your mom and dad.

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That's what's being claimed here. They said, is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?

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How does he now say, I have come down from heaven? Jesus answered them, do not grumble among yourselves.

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No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up on the last day.

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Again, if you needed another verse that expresses in a punch what the doctrines of grace are saying, there it is.

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There it is. When we talk about total inability or total depravity or radical depravity, what we're saying is, is that in the fall, it's not that we don't have a will.

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We do. It's an enslaved will. Jesus says whoever commits sin is what? A slave of sin.

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But if the son sets you free, you shall be free indeed. So we don't deny that people, human beings have a will.

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You do have a will, but your nature is feeding the will. If you're fallen in rebellion against God, if you don't know

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Jesus, then your nature is fallen. You're hostile to God and your will is broken.

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It's the kind of broken that won't come to God, hates God, refuses to come to God. And so here's the condition.

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You see me. You don't believe. All that the father gives to me will come to me.

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And then Jesus explains their grumbling. He says no one can come to me.

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OK, let's stop there for a moment. No one has the ability to come to Jesus. No one.

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See these words like all and no one. They're important in the context. All that the father has given to me.

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No one's going to be lost. Now, over here we have Jesus saying no one can come to me.

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So there's the ability. Where did we ever get the idea that our wills are free?

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Our wills are enslaved. Human beings aren't robots, but we're a war with God.

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And so Jesus is explaining to people who don't believe no one can come to me.

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Coming to Christ is coming to him to believe in him. And Jesus says no one can come unless something happens.

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Unless the father who sent me draws him. So there's a no one who can no ability.

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And then he says, unless something happens, unless the father who sent me draws him.

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And then he makes a promise. And I will raise him up on the last day.

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So what does that say? It testifies to the sovereign power of God and salvation that the father draws.

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Jesus raises up who? The one who had no ability to come. All right.

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So there's one way we can do this. We can firm up our commitments, firm up our commitments to the doctrines of grace.

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We can take these texts. We can put them away in our hearts and our minds and say, here's one of the hundred texts that display this truth from the doctrines of grace.

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It's good to do that. Please don't neglect doing that. But if that's where you stop, you're going to be that argumentative, reformed person that everyone hates and doesn't want to have over for dinner.

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These truths are not supposed to be something necessarily just for someone out there. You will use them, of course, to defend the grace of God and salvation.

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But this truth should be something that actually impacts you in terms of how God loves you.

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Here you are today. You've got your stories. You've got your testimonies. Some of those testimonies are graphic and hard to hear, but they bring glory to God.

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And some of those testimonies are amazing, amazing testimonies of the grace of God in terms of being raised in the

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Christian home under the under the hearing of the gospel. God preserved you from this life where this path was dark and evil and broken and praise the

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Lord for that. But no matter where we've come from, what does this text say? You're here today trusting in Jesus.

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So let's try it again. Are you believing in Christ? OK, this text says this about that experience.

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You didn't have the ability to come. I know you remember your story, right?

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You remember your story when you heard the gospel, you believed in Christ. Maybe it was like a process where like God was working on you over time to expose your sin and your need for Jesus, whatever it was.

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Maybe it was a radical conversion on a street corner one day, whatever it was. Here's what's true about you right now.

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You believe in Christ, so no one can come to me. You didn't do it wasn't because of you.

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You were broken. You were lost by nature, a child of wrath. Scripture says you couldn't come.

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You wouldn't come to Jesus if he had left you. He'd been right to leave you to give you the justice of God.

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It would've been right to leave me in my sin. But he chose to love a sinner who could not save themselves.

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No one can come to me. So you couldn't. But here you are. So what's that mean? Unless the father who sent me draws him.

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It means if you're trusting in Christ today, the father set his love on you and he drew you to the son.

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And the promise of Jesus is this. I will raise you up on the last day.

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Glory to God. That is hope for today.

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That is hope for the future. These cannot just be theological truths suspended up there. These lofty theological discussions, these theological debates.

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These are the things truly meant to satisfy your soul and transform your heart and your mind. Have you lost joy in your

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Christian life? Have you lost your passion? Maybe the reason you have is because you've neglected these truths.

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This love, this intimate love from a savior who actually chooses to save sinners who would never save themselves.

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That's what these truths teach. And then Jesus says, It is written in the prophets and they will all be taught by God.

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Everyone who has heard and learned from the father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the father except he who is from God.

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There's another bold claim. He has seen the father. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.

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You remember that at the deathbed. You remember that when you're losing your home.

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You remember that in the midst of the divorce. You have eternal life. And he's never going to lose you.

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This is what the doctrines of grace is expressing. It's expressing the sovereignty of God and salvation and the true graciousness of God's grace and salvation.

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It's a powerful grace. It's an effectual grace. It accomplishes what God wants it to accomplish.

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Now, if you would move to John chapter 10. John 10. Same book, couple chapters away.

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Same story. Again, I wanted to say. Rather than going point by point.

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Going through all the texts for each point. I wanted to let these discourses tell the story. If you want to know what it means to be part of a church like Apologia Church.

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That believes in the doctrines of grace. Who are hardcore, pie -pitting, five -point Calvinists.

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It's like my friend Doug says. Like, we're so Calvinistic. We wake up in the morning and we go, oh, Calvinism. Right?

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We're just thrilled about it. Why? Why? It's because of this.

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It's not because it's a theological team. And I'll be honest. I see the behavior of a lot of reformed people online.

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And when I say, you know, I wouldn't have them over for dinner. I mean it. There's a lot of people who profess to be reformed and believe in the doctrines of grace.

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That I personally wouldn't want to have into my house. They're so rude, mean -spirited. They're scoffers.

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They're argumentative. They're constantly contentious. So I promise you this.

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My being a Calvinist and believing in the doctrines of grace, and I hope it's this way for you too, has nothing to do with a team or a tribe.

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Oftentimes I'm embarrassed by our tribe. Because these truths are supposed to make us into the image of Christ.

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These are truths that are supposed to humble us. And cause us to lighten God's grace.

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They're the kind of truths that should actually allow us to see ourselves as we actually are. And not be haughty or high -minded about ourselves.

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But these are the discourses. And there's many others. These are the discourses that express the graciousness of God's grace.

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How gracious is God's grace? You've heard me say that a number of times before. But I wanted you to hear this.

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This is what we believe. In terms of the doctrines of grace. The atonement itself. Christ as our shepherd and savior.

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Look what Jesus says in John chapter 10. Starting in verse 7. So Jesus again said to them.

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Truly, truly I say to you. I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers.

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But the sheep did not listen to them. I'm the door. If anyone enters by me. He will be saved.

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And will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.

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I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd.

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The good shepherd lays down his life for whom?

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So who does Jesus lay his life down for? The sheep. Mark that down.

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The specificity of that story of redemption. The specificity of the atonement. It is personal.

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Jesus knows about sheep and goats. He has things to say about separating the sheep from the goats.

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And Jesus says here is the good shepherd. He says about his sheep that he's the good shepherd. And he lays his life down for the sheep.

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He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd. Who does not own the sheep. Sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees.

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And the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he's a hired hand. And cares nothing for the what?

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The sheep. There it is. I am the good shepherd. I know my own.

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And my own know me. Stop. Do you see how intimately personal this relationship with Jesus is?

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He knows who his sheep are. He knows who he's laying his life down for.

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He knows the all that the Father has given to me. He knows the will of the

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Father to lose none that the Father has given to me. He's the shepherd. He knows the all.

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He knows the will. They will never be lost. And he says in John 10, I lay my life down for the sheep.

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Now here it is. It gets better. In terms of the personal nature of the atonement. That's what's under discussion.

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The life of Jesus being given for his people. There's the discussion. And Jesus says, he lays his life down for the sheep.

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Verse 14, I'm the good shepherd. I know my own. And my own know me. Just as the

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Father knows me. And I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep.

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Do you want to know how intimately Jesus knows you and his concern for you and your life as his sheep?

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He says, I know you. You know me. Just as the

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Father and I know each other. That is the depth of the intimate knowledge that Jesus has of his sheep.

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So, fast forward in the ministry of Jesus. Here's Jesus talking about giving his life for the sheep.

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And then he does. So what was happening on that cross? Jesus was enduring it for you.

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You belong to him. How much was he thinking about you on that cross?

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With a knowledge that is so perfect. So everlasting and so intimate.

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You could never be lost. So that enduring pain and death and wrath on the cross was specific.

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I know you. You know me. I lay down my life for the sheep.

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So if you want to know what limited atonement is about. Or definite redemption.

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Is it a perfect redemption? It is an intimate redemption. It is a redemption that knows for whom

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Christ is giving it. And so, Jesus then says, and I have other sheep that are not of this fold.

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What's that mean? Not Jews. Gentiles. So there you go. You see that in the book of Acts, right?

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Don't you love it? Stop. Acts 13 .48. Go read it later. That amazing, amazing section of scripture that matches this so perfectly.

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We have Jesus coming for the lost tribes of Israel. Jesus coming for the people of God that have been given to him by the

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Father who are Jews. And he says, I know my sheep. And he says, and I have other sheep which are not of this fold.

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The Jewish fold. And Jesus says about them, I must bring them also.

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Why? Because this is the will of the Father who has sent me. That of all that he has given to me, I lose nothing. Jesus says, here's the other sheep over here.

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Not Jewish. I must bring them also. And he says, and they will listen to my voice.

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Oh. That's powerful. Because that sounds like Acts 13. Maybe let's go ahead and go to it.

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Let's do that, okay? Shall we? I'm doing good on time. Acts 13.

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Verse 46. Here's the gospel coming in a Gentile context.

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Not a Jewish context specifically. And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly saying, It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you, since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life.

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Behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. For so the

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Lord has commanded us, saying, I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.

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And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the

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Lord. And here it is. And as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.

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As many as were what? Appointed to eternal life. They believed. They didn't believe and get themselves appointed.

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Oh, it sounds kind of like what Jesus says. I have other sheep, which are not of this fold. Them I must also bring.

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Must also bring. And they, what? Will listen to my voice.

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And so the gospel now goes out. The Gentiles hear it. They rejoice. And as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.

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Sounds exactly like Jesus in John 10. Exactly what the Lord promised would take place.

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Let's go on. So there will be one flock. One shepherd. One flock.

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One shepherd. Jews. Gentiles. Every tribe, tongue, people and nation.

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Every language. Believing in Jesus Christ and trusting in him. Being one flock together. I love this room.

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You've heard me say it so many times. I'm always going to highlight it. I love our room. You know, we live in Mesa.

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Or we're here in Mesa, Arizona in Tempe. And you've East Valley. Sometimes you have an inordinate amount of white people.

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Right? Not that there's anything wrong with white people. I hope not. But I love a church like ours.

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I love a church like ours where I can look out across the congregation. And I can see the diversity among us.

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The different colors. The backgrounds. The tribes. I want to thank

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God. And what God has done to bring together a body of Christ. A body of believers. With so many differences amongst us.

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In terms of cultural differences. Being raised a certain way. Having a different background.

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A different heritage. And yet here we are. One body. Trusting in Jesus Christ. What unites us is our savior.

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What unites us is Jesus. What unites us is the truth. One shepherd. One flock.

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One body. Praise God. Praise God. And I will just mention briefly.

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I'm not going to go into deep detail today in terms of this. There is an insidious, disgusting teaching that is becoming popular now.

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Oddly, I don't understand it. Reformed people talking about one of the ways we can save the

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West is by white families having more white kids. If you've ever respected a man who teaches that.

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Stop listening to the podcast. Stop listening to the sermons. Because if you don't understand the basic level of what unites us as Christians and what changes the world.

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The gospel and God's truth. If you don't understand those basics. You should never be listened to or respected again.

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Any reformed pastor or teacher that is teaching people that we save the West by white people having more white kids.

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Should shave their heads and go buy some sackcloth and ashes. That doesn't save the world.

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Jesus has a flock that he has shepherded over. And it contains Jews, Gentiles, and people from a variety of tribes.

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And we are united because of our union with Jesus. And with his gospel and his truth. What changes the world and the future has nothing to do with your skin.

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That's a disgusting and insidious teaching that has broken its way into the reformed community. And when you see it, call it down.

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Call it to repentance. It might be easy to teach that kind of awful message. That disgraceful, abominable message.

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In a place, in a community where most of your church is white. Try saying that in an apology at church.

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Everybody would stand up and walk out. Amen? Rightly so. One shepherd.

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One flock. One body. There is a diversity within the body of Christ that we should glory in God in.

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Amen? Jesus says, for this reason the Father loves me. Because I lay down my life that I might take it up again.

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No one takes it from me. But I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down.

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And I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father. Stop there. That's powerful.

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He's sovereign. He's doing this on his own terms. His own will. But you remember that.

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When you feel like God is far from you. How much does Jesus love me? When we took the wrath of God in the most brutal death imaginable.

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Why? Because he had to. Somehow he was pushed into it against his will.

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No. He says, no one's doing this to me. I lay it down of my own accord.

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I'm the one who has authority. And when he's going through the trial. With the lying witnesses.

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And the brutality. And the cat of nine tails. And the crown of thorns. And the bleeding.

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And the suffocating. And the reviling on the cross. You remember.

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How much does he love me? He endured all that shame. He endured all that vileness.

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And pain and bitterness. He did it willingly. Nobody was doing it to him.

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In terms of power over him. He did it on his own authority. According to his own power.

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And his own will. How much does Jesus care about me? How much does

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Jesus love me? With that kind of powerful divine love. And so, verse 19.

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There was again a division among the Jews. Because of these words. Many of them said.

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He has a demon. And is insane. Why listen to him? Others said.

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These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind? Obviously.

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Now here it is. At that time the feast of dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter. And Jesus was walking the temple in the colonnade of Solomon.

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So the Jews gathered around him and said to him. Listen to these words. Listen. We're wrapping up now.

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We actually are. Amazing. What a miracle. Listen to what they said.

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Think about the context of what you already know from the gospel of John. How long will you keep us in suspense?

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If you are the Messiah. Tell us plainly. Now that ought to make you laugh.

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Seriously. That ought to make you laugh. Why are you keeping us in suspense?

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If you're a Mashiach. Tell us. It's insane. It's insane that they would actually say that.

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After all they've seen. After all they've heard. After what he said. And then they say.

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Stop keeping us in suspense. If you're the Messiah. Tell us. It's crazy. It's laughable.

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And Jesus, verse 25, answered them. I told you. And there's the problem.

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Spiritually dead people. People who are alienated from God. And at war with God. No one can come to me.

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They don't have the ability. Jesus is saying it. And it's coming into their ears.

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He's saying it to them. He's proclaiming it to them. They're seeing the works. They're seeing the power of God. These divine miracles.

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They are hearing Jesus. But they're not listening. They don't know. They can't come.

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And Jesus says. I told you. And you do not believe.

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The works that I do in my Father's name. Bear witness about me. And here it is. Here's Jesus' explanation.

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Here's his explanation. When he addresses their unbelief. I told you. I told you.

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And he says this. But you do not believe. Because. You are not among my sheep.

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You are not among my sheep. My sheep. Hear my voice.

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And I know them. And they follow me. I give them eternal life.

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And they will never perish. And no one will snatch them out of my hands. My Father who has given them to me.

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There it is again. John 6. The will of the Father. All that the Father has given to me. The sheep given to Jesus.

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Laying his life down for them. My Father who has given them to me. Is greater than all.

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And no one. Is able to snatch them. Out of the Father's hand. I and the

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Father are one. Praise God. Praise God. So.

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Stand alone message. Doctrines of grace. And I didn't fill out the details of total inability.

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And unconditional election. Limited atonement. Irresistible grace. Perseverance of the saints. All we did was walk through two sections of scripture.

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John 6 and John 10. And what is it saying about God? He's the sovereign.

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What's it saying about our condition? We can't come apart from him drawing us. And what's it say about our eternal security?

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He'll never lose us. He'll never forsake us. What's it say about Christ as our shepherd? He lays his life down for the sheep.

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Not the goats. What's it say about unbelief? All that the Father gives to me will come to me.

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What's it say about unbelief out there? You've seen me. You don't believe. And Jesus says about their unbelief.

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You don't believe because you're not of my sheep. My sheep hear my voice.

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And they follow Jesus. So brothers and sisters. Are you believing in Christ? You're following him because he drew you.

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You're following him because he set his love on you. You're following him because he is the true shepherd.

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And you're his sheep. And he says that he will never lose you. He will never forsake you.

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And he will raise you up on the last day. That is the power of our faith.

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And the power of this effectual grace of God. What does it mean?

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It means we have a savior who saves perfectly. He will not fail in his salvation of his elect.

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It means that he'll never lose us. It means that we are secure in him.

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Let those words mean more to you now than ever before. It is finished.

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Remember the it is finished brothers and sisters? That part of the story. The atonement. It's finished.

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You remember that it is finished was said after this. This is the precursor to it's finished.

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The it is finished is it's accomplished. It's done. The transaction's over. I've already told you what

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I've come to do. I've already told you who belongs to me. I've already told you that I'm the good shepherd. And these are the sheep.

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I'm never going to lose them. And then that victorious moment on the cross. Yes, it was victory.

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It is finished testifies to everything he said before. I'll never lose you.

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I'll never forsake you. I lay my life down for the sheep. How much does

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God love me? That much. And it means brothers and sisters, and I'm going to say this in the midst of the darkness that we have all around us right now.

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And there is a lot of darkness. And all the ways that God is using in ministry. I recognize there's times where you get very, very frustrated.

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That's just normal, right? As a creature, as a human being, fallible. You get frustrated. You feel discouraged.

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And we've had a moment in ministry in the last six months where we've invested ourselves with all of our might to do something that is honor in God's eyes.

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To glorify God. Some of you guys were out on the streets in the middle of 110 or 115 degree

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Arizona heat to try to fight for the lives of babies with a wicked, wicked proposition to kill babies from fertilization up to birth.

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It's an amazing, incredible, evil thing that we have to face right now in these days. That that is on the ballots being voted on in a matter of weeks in our state to kill human beings in the womb from fertilization all the way up to birth.

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And some of you guys were on your feet soaked in sweat, burning in the Arizona sun.

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You watched people break the law and lie to people about this ballot measure. You gave so much of your life into something that is so glorifying to God.

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It's obvious. God, justice for these fatherless children. And yet the ballot measure goes through.

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It's a proposition on the ballot now to be voted on to kill children in our state in a matter of weeks.

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You might be tempted in moments like that. Where are you, God? This is for your glory. You commanded us to cease to do evil, to learn to do good, to seek justice, to correct oppression, to bring justice to the fatherless.

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So Lord, why? You might see such resistance to the gospel.

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You saw the clip maybe, some of you guys have seen a clip that's going around this week of Kamala Harris rally where she's saying something about the murder of children and someone in the crowd yells out,

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Jesus is Lord. Jesus is Lord. And she says, oh, you're at the wrong rally.

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To which we say, obviously. Whatever were you doing there in the first place?

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But you see that kind of evil and that kind of resistance to God's truth and to the gospel and that kind of position of power, you might be tempted to say,

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God, where are you? How long, oh Lord? Those kind of words come out.

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But these truths say that God is the sovereign and if he wants to split a

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Red Sea or to move a mountain or to raise somebody from spiritual death to spiritual life, he will.

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So whatever is going on out there in terms of darkness, decay, evil, we can call it judgment from God.

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Because if God wants to move and bring light into the world to raise people to life and to bring salvation, he will.

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Why? Because all that the Father gives to me will come to me. You let that be your boldness when you go out there to preach the truth.

01:00:00

You can let your heart be settled, brothers and sisters, when you're on the street corner sacrificing or telling the truth or praying for a family member or once again engaging in the conversation passionately, contending for the faith.

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You remember that Jesus knows his sheep. They know him and they will follow him.

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They will hear his voice. He'll never lose them. He'll never forsake them. We have a 100 % success rate in our evangelism here at Apology of Church.

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Why? Because of a sovereign God who saves alone to his glory. Amen? Let's pray.

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Lord, we love you. We praise you. Thank you for these truths. We pray that these would not simply be things that we memorize in order to argue but they would be truths that satisfy our souls.

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Lord Jesus, we thank you that you're the bread come down from heaven that we will never hunger and we will never thirst because of you.

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We thank you that you know us and that you saved us knowing all about us when you did. We thank you for your great love that you're the bread of our lives, that we have eternal life.

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We're going to live with you forever. You will raise us up. And so we trust you.