WWUTT 907 I Give Them Eternal Life?

Jesus said, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

This is the doctrine of eternal security when we understand the text. This is

When We Understand the Text, a daily study of God's Word that we may be filled with the knowledge of His will.

For questions and comments send us an email to whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com

Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We come back again to John chapter 10, and I'm going to begin reading in verse 22.

We'll go through verse 30. The apostle John wrote, At that time the feast of dedication took place at Jerusalem.

It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the colonnade of Solomon. So the

Jews gathered around him and said to him, How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.

Jesus answered them, I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my

Father's name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep.

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

My Father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my

Father's hand. I and the Father are one. So back in verse 25,

Jesus said, I've told you, and you do not believe, and the works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me.

So he has mentioned two things that he has shown to them that they should be able to observe and therefore believe in who he is.

First of all, he's told them plainly who he is. They are asking Jesus, Are you the

Messiah? Tell us plainly. Jesus is saying, I've already done that. I have told you who

I am. In fact, the people have even tried to stone him already because of who he said he was, that he was the

Son of God, which they interpreted as meaning that he was saying that he was equal with God.

The people have already heard him say this. So as they come to him here at the Feast of Dedication, and they're asking him to speak plainly, they're not asking him to say something he hasn't already said.

Why is it that they continue to press him to say something when they know he's already said it? They've even tried to stone him for it.

Well, this is revealing that they are lost. The reason why they have to ask this again, even though they've heard

Jesus say it and they've tried to kill him for it, it's just revealing the fact that they're lost.

And Jesus is showing them that he's given them two evidences which they have refused.

Why have they refused it? Because they're not among his sheep. He says,

I have already told you. So from his mouth, he's already said who he was and the people tried to stone him for it.

He goes on to say, I have also done these works and I do them in my father's name and they bear witness about me.

But you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. I've told you who I am.

Even try to kill me for it. I've done amazing works that reveals that I am from my father in heaven.

You saw these works and then asked who I was and I told you and you tried to kill me for it. That's what

Jesus is saying to them here. The reason why they don't believe and they have to ask him yet again is because you are not among my sheep.

And then here's what Jesus says about his sheep. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me.

I give them eternal life and they will never, never perish. And no one will snatch them out of my hand.

My father who's given them to me, God, the father has given these sheep to Christ.

He is greater than all. No one's able to snatch them out of my father's hand. So they've been predestined for before the foundation of the world, predestined by the father.

He has given them to the son. No one's able to change the course of God. If God has set it in motion, no one can turn it back.

We've been reading through the book of Job in Job 9, 12. It says, behold, he snatches away who can turn him back.

Who will say to him, what are you doing? God is the one who snatches. So no one can snatch anything away from God.

We also read in Job 23, 13. He is unchangeable and who can turn him back?

What he desires that he does. Now I've given you these couple of references from Job and maybe you're saying, well,

Pastor Gabe, I've been listening to your teaching series on Job and you've said we need to be very, very careful with how we make references to Job because it could be a verse that God later rebukes toward the end of Job.

So how are we supposed to receive this? If God has done it, then who can turn it back? Well, we find this not only in Job, it's also in Isaiah, Isaiah 43, 13.

God says, this is the voice of God now. I am he. There is none who can deliver from my hand.

I work and who can turn it back? So if God has decreed something from before the foundation of the world, then it is going to be and he is going to fulfill that which he has declared from before the first day of creation.

So God, who has the sheep in his hand, the father who has the sheep in his hand, who declared these are going to be the sheep from before the foundation of the world, he has given those sheep to the son.

No one can snatch them out of the father's hand. No one can snatch them out of Christ's hand.

And Jesus says, I give them eternal life and they will never perish.

I do a ministry on Tuesday. Today is Tuesday. We call it Bible Lunch Tuesday.

We're right next door to the high school. So on Tuesday, high school students come over to our church during their lunch period and they can get a free lunch and we give them the word of God.

Now it's not free for us. It's free for the students, but we have some donors that help to provide for this ministry for about half the students.

At least this is the only gospel that they will hear all week long. So we as teachers, we try to be as basic in the things that we talk about so that they understand turning from sin, following Jesus Christ, who he is, death on the cross, resurrection from the grave.

He's coming back again in judgment. The only way to be saved from judgment is to believe in Christ.

These are some of the basics that we cover regarding the gospel that we teach at Bible Lunch Tuesday.

Now, there are some other churches involved in this, but they are by invite. Not any church can come and be part of this.

But we selectively invite which churches are going to partner with us in this. And they have been assigned a certain

Tuesday that they're preparing the lunch and offering the devotional. Well, one of these pastors that serves with me in this particular ministry does not believe in eternal security.

He believes that a person can lose their salvation. So one time there was a student that came up to me, came up to the both of us talking afterward and they said, what is the difference between your two churches?

Like why would there be two separate churches? Why don't you just be one church? And I said, well, we are the same on essential doctrines of the

Christian faith, but we disagree on some secondary issues. And I gave her an example. My friend here believes that you can lose your salvation where I believe that you can't lose your salvation.

And she said, well, I've known people who used to be Christians and aren't Christians anymore. So isn't it true that you can lose your salvation?

And I said to her, I said, I gave her this answer very simply. We have to keep our answers short and concise because they've got to get in and get out and head back to class.

So I couldn't talk long about this. And I said, well, you understand the concept of believing in Jesus and receiving eternal life, right?

And she said, yes. And I said, OK, if you could lose your salvation, then the gift that you received from Christ wasn't eternal.

And it's kind of like the light went on for her when I said that, she was like, ah. So she said, you believe that some people, if they lose their salvation, then they weren't ever actually saved to begin with.

They just said they were, but it wasn't real. It wasn't genuine. And I said, yes, now you're getting it. So if a person truly is a follower of Christ, then they're never going to fall away from that.

If there comes a time where they did fall away from that, then they never actually had their salvation. They never had the gift of eternal life to begin with, because if you can lose it, then it could not have been eternal.

So that's just the basic, simple explanation on how I explain a difference between eternal security and the person who believes that you can lose your salvation.

And all of this goes back to the parable of the sower. The first parable that Jesus told gives an explanation of eternal security.

So Matthew chapter 13, I'll start right at the top of the chapter. That same day, Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea, and great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down.

And the whole crowd stood on the beach, and he told them many things in parables, saying,

A sower went out to sow, and as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them.

Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil.

But when the sun rose, they were scorched, and since they had no root, they withered away.

Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

He who has ears, let him hear. Then the disciples came to him and said, Why do you speak to them in parables?

And he answered them, To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.

For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

So oftentimes you might hear a pastor say that the reason why Jesus spoke in parables was to give people word pictures to help them understand better.

That's not exactly the reason. Jesus spoke in parables so that those to whom the kingdom of God had been given would understand the message of the kingdom.

But to those who have not been given the kingdom of God, they wouldn't be able to understand what it was that Jesus was talking about.

So there's only a select few who are going to understand the word of Christ. And who is that going to be?

His sheep. What we're reading exactly in John chapter 10, his sheep know his voice and they follow him.

So they will hear the parables and understand the meaning of them. But those who are not part of his sheep, they won't understand the parables.

And they won't understand these illustrations related to the kingdom of God that are given by Christ.

This is meant to be cryptic to those who do not believe. It is not meant to be a metaphor that anybody should be able to hear and understand.

It is meant to be the word of God that only the people of God receive and rejoice to hear.

So Jesus goes on quoting from the prophet, indeed, in their case, the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says, you will indeed hear, but never understand.

And you will indeed see, but never perceive. For this people's heart has grown dull and with their ears, they can barely hear and their eyes, they have closed less.

They should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn.

And I would heal them. But blessed are your eyes for they see and your ears for they hear.

For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people long to see what you see and did not see it and hear what you hear and did not hear it.

So then Jesus goes on to explain the parable of the sower. Here then the parable of the sower, when anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart.

This is what was sown along the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy.

Yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while. And when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.

As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and it proves unfruitful.

As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it.

He indeed bears fruit and yields in one case, a hundredfold in another 60 and in another 30.

So you have these four examples of a person who hears the word of God proclaim that Jesus gives in this particular parable.

The first one is the person who hears the word, but he doesn't get it, doesn't understand it, doesn't care, walks away from it, doesn't receive it.

The evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. But then you've got two more who for a time, they do show that they have heard the word and it seems that they understand it.

And there is at least a period of their life where they would look like on the outside, like they're

Christians. Because Jesus says, as for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy.

Yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while.

And then why does he end up falling away? It's because tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word and immediately he falls away.

And this could also be interpreted as he was persecuted because of the word. People started making fun of him because of what it is that he believed.

So he changed the message that's still falling away from the word. He changed the message of God so that it would be friendlier to the world.

So it would be more palatable to him. So it'd be more comfortable so that he could get along with worldly people and not be judged as a result of that.

That also qualifies as a person who has fallen away from the true and sound word of Christ.

He's ashamed of the word. And as Jesus said in the gospel of Luke, whoever is ashamed of me and my word,

I will be ashamed of him before my father on the day of judgment. So Jesus goes on, as for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word and like the one who was with the word that was sown on rocky ground, this person shows for a period of time that indeed they believe it.

They might look on the outside like they are Christians. But when the cares of the world come, when life gets hard or the deceitfulness of riches pull that person away from the word, they choke the word out and it proves to be unfruitful.

So we've got three people here, three kinds of people who have heard the word and two of them for a time believed it and showed at least on the outside.

We would look at this person and we would think that person is a Christian, but then it turns out because they did not endure to it to the end.

This was just a passing opinion. It was convenient for them for a time, but once it became inconvenient, they turned away from it and they were not genuine believers.

This is Jesus very first parable in the New Testament. And it explains to us the understanding of eternal security.

The person who has truly heard the word and has truly received it.

The word is sown on good soil. This is the person who heard who hears the word and understands it.

He indeed bears fruit and yields in one case, a hundred fold in another 60 and in another 30.

So some are going to produce a lot of fruit and some not a lot of fruit. Some are going to have more opportunities than others.

Some are going to be more sanctified than others. But this goes back to what Jesus said in chapter 13 verse 12 for to the one who has more will be given and he will have an abundance.

But from the one who has not even what he has will be taken away. So there's a person who receives the word or hears the word doesn't understand it.

The evil one snatches away what's in his heart. There's one who hears the word and for a time he receives it with joy and will look like to everybody else that he is a

Christian. But once he gets made fun of, once he starts getting persecuted, once things get difficult for him as a professing

Christian, he will abandon the word or he will change the word into something else. And this is a person who falls away revealing that they were never truly a believer in the first place.

Then you have one who hears the word and believes it. But the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word.

Life gets hard or the temptations of material possessions pull that person away from an endurance in the word of Christ.

But the one who receives the word is sown on good soil. This is the one who hears the word and understands it and bears fruit and shows evidence that his profession of faith was real.

This is the doctrine of eternal security. This is where we get it from. It's scriptural. It's not something that somebody made up.

And to illustrate again what I said yesterday, if a person prays a prayer, but then never shows that they have received the word and are producing fruit as a result of it, then they're just like the one who for a time received it with joy.

But then either the cares of this world or persecution or whatever choked it out and they no longer endured in it.

They didn't believe it. So they look like for a time they were a Christian. But if they did not continue in that faith, then it was not real.

It was not genuine. Jesus illustrated this in the parable of the sower. So a right understanding of eternal security means that a person receives the word and they endure in it.

They show sanctification, bearing fruit, growing in the word and increasing in these things.

They will display that in their life. And then you will know that this conversion that has happened in their hearts was a real conversion.

It wasn't merely a passing opinion. It wasn't an emotional experience that they had at a particular point in time.

But a real transformation has happened in this person's heart and they are revealed to be a part of the flock of God.

God knows who his sheep are. We do not know who God has predestined from before the foundation of the world.

We have the responsibility to preach the gospel to all. God knows who are his and those who are his will hear his voice and follow it.

When we preach the gospel, the sheep will hear the call of the shepherd and they will follow the good word.

My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

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.

I and the father are one. Amen. Thank you for your prayers and your support.