Safe In The Hands Of God

Well, this morning I get the privilege to preach.

It's a blessing for me to be back up here and open up the book of John and look to see

what God has for us this morning.

I would say this passage is fantastic, is great for the church and the message of this

passage.

But I would say this, if there's any there here who are still investigating the claims

of Christ, who don't know Jesus as Lord and Savior, this morning this is going to speak

directly to you.

So as we open the text, if you would turn with me to John chapter 10, we're going to

John 10 · chapter mention

start at verse 22.

And I would ask if you can, in honor of God's word, would you stand with me as we read this

section of his holy word?

Starting at verse 22.

At that time, the feast of dedication took place at Jerusalem.

It was winter.

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're 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 the father's hand.

I and the father are one.

The Jews picked up stones again to stone him.

Jesus answered them, I've shown you many good works from the father.

For which of them are you going to stone me?

The Jews answered him, it's not for a good work that we're going to stone you, but for blasphemy.

Because you being a man, make yourself God.

Jesus answered them, is it not written in your law?

I said you are gods.

If he called them gods to whom the word of God came and scripture cannot be broken,

do you say of him whom the father consecrated and sent into this world,

you are blaspheming because I said, I am the son of God.

If I'm not doing the works of my father, then do not believe me.

But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works.

That you may know and understand that the father is in me and I am in the father.

Again, they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands.

He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing at first.

And there he remained.

And many came to him and they said, John did no sign.

But everything that John said about this man was true.

And many believed in him there.

Pray with me.

Father, as we open your word, I pray that you would open our minds that we might understand it.

Father, you give us eyes to see and ears to hear.

And Father, you would stir deeply in our heart that our affections would be for you, Father.

That we would love your word and we would long for your truth, God.

That we might be transformed and be made like Christ.

I pray that you would do this work in our life.

And this morning, I pray that you would lead this time.

And I pray in Christ's name.

Amen.

And you can have a seat.

I want to start with just a short story about when I was very young.

My family, I have one sister, Tanika, and myself along with my parents were in Hilton Head for vacation.

And we were at a campground that at that time back in 1970 or 71, whatever year it was, in Hilton Head, there was a marina that was at this area where the campground was located.

If you go on the island and you drive on, it's very early on the left-hand side where that was.

And I remember this is that my sister was a lot different than me.

I tended to be quiet and not as talkative.

She had never met a stranger.

Easy for her to talk to people.

And sure enough, she found a friend somewhere close to her age, a girl who was wandering around the same area.

And she ended up with them on their boat.

They had driven, driven.

They had boated to Hilton Head and they had parked at the dock.

It turns out that the boat they were in was quite a big boat.

And she was invited to come on and eat.

And she came back and she tells us a story.

And she said, yeah, they were very friendly.

This guy, Mr. Turner, invited us in.

And we sat down and ate.

And it was just really great.

I enjoyed.

Tanika said, I really enjoyed our time.

Hopefully, I can go there tomorrow.

Well, it turns out she didn't know who this guy was.

To her, it was just another guy.

She was friends with this little girl and they were playing.

And she happened to be sitting on the boat that was owned by Ted Turner and was sitting at the table with Ted Turner's daughter at the time.

You know, she didn't know who he was.

All she knew was that he was nice and she enjoyed playing with his daughter.

I tell that story just to illustrate this.

Ted Turner's the founder of CNN.

He's the founder of TBS.

And he's the owner of the Atlanta Braves.

At least he used to be.

I don't know if he is now anymore.

But he was influential in his own way.

Now, I'm not touting him.

I'm not giving him praise.

I'm just sharing this story as an illustration that Tanika was with him but didn't really know who he was.

You know us exactly where we find ourselves in this story this morning?

If you will look at verse 24, you'll see that the Jews gathered around Jesus.

They saw him walk into the temple area and they gathered around him.

And I would say this is that they recognized him but they did not know him.

They recognized him as Jesus but they had no idea who he really was.

He, in truth, was the Messiah but they didn't understand that.

They didn't see it that way.

They didn't believe that he was the Messiah but he was.

They thought that they knew him but they didn't know him.

You know why it is that they didn't recognize him?

Because they had a misconception of who the Christ truly was.

Of who the Christ was going to be.

Of what the Christ would do when he arrived.

So we see their question.

And their question is this.

If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.

Why do you speak in riddles and why do you use parables?

Why do you deflect when we ask questions?

Why don't you just straight out tell us?

Are you the Christ?

You know what he said?

He said, I've already told you.

I've told you many times that I'm the Christ.

But you don't believe.

It helps us to understand the reason they would directly ask this question.

By understanding what this feast is all about.

This feast of dedication was a feast that recognized an event in the history of the Israeli nation.

The Israelites.

At the time frame around 165 BC.

It was a time when the Greeks were in charge, if you will.

They were the great power in that day.

And the Greeks had abused the Jews.

They had caused them to stop sacrificing at the temple.

They had taken a pig into the temple.

They had slaughtered the pig on the altar.

And desecrated the altar.

Desecrated the temple by doing this.

And they were doing it for spite.

Just to show that they were in charge.

And what happened within the nation.

There was an uprising of anger.

They had been under the thumb of the Greeks for some time.

And Judas Maccabee.

You probably have heard his name.

I don't know if you've ever read anything.

He rose up in righteous anger.

He gathered people around him.

And the Jews resisted the Greeks.

And conquered them in that area.

And they had relief from the thumb of the Greeks.

And they were able to start the sacrifices again.

They were able to rededicate the temple.

It was through the leadership of brave men to fight against the Greeks.

And it is celebrated here this time.

This feast of dedication is a remembrance of this leader who rallied the Jews.

And they defeated the Greeks.

And they rededicated the temple.

And that's what's being celebrated.

And so they asked Jesus this question.

Tell us, are you the deliverer?

Are you the one that's going to deliver us from the Romans?

From this oppressive rule of these Romans?

Do you know they had the story all wrong?

They expected that Jesus was God.

Excuse me.

That the Christ was going to be this ruler.

This physical king on earth.

They misunderstood all of the prophecies that pointed to this coming king.

This great king that was going to redeem Israel.

In their mind, that meant that they were going to be their own nation.

And they were going to be free from the oppression of these other ruling nations.

They thought he was going to have a physical kingdom.

You know the scripture never said that?

It was talking about the kingdom of heaven.

It was talking about a spiritual kingdom.

And so they asked this question with glazed eyes.

They're blind.

They don't even understand who the Christ is or who the Christ is going to be.

So when Christ says, I am he, they can't believe it.

They have this expectation of what he should be doing if he's going to be the Christ.

Will you deliver us like the feast that we're celebrating?

Like this time when we were delivered from the Greeks.

Are you going to do that now?

Are you the Christ?

Seeker.

I know there's some here that perhaps you're not a Christian yet.

It's a great question to consider.

Is he the Christ?

Jesus, tell us plainly, are you the Christ?

Are you the Messiah?

Are you the one that has been foretold in the ancient scriptures?

Are you the one that's coming to deliver us from our sins?

Are you the one that's coming to redeem?

Are you the one that God is sending for his people?

And that's a question that we should ask.

Each of us should ask.

This morning we're going to look at three witnesses that give evidence that Jesus is the Christ.

And we're going to look at four truths about salvation that we find in our text this morning.

Three witnesses that reveal, that give evidence that Jesus is the Messiah.

And four truths about salvation.

First, the witnesses.

What does Jesus say when he answers them?

Listen, he says, I told you and you don't believe.

I've already told you.

And it begs the question, Jesus, when did you tell them?

Well, let me remind you of stuff we've already read in the book of John.

Things that would have happened earlier before this event.

He says, Jesus says, I am the bread of life.

And the statement, I am, is a statement that I'm sent by God and I'm equal to God.

He says it in the text earlier, I mean later.

He says, I am the Father and one.

But he said it before.

He says, I am the bread of life.

I am the one that God used to feed the people.

I'm the true bread that's come down from heaven.

I'm the true manna from heaven that if you eat, you live.

He said, I am the light of the world.

I am the one that comes to shed forth light, to reveal what is true, to point everyone to the Father.

He says, I am the door of the sheep.

None come in except through me.

He is claiming openly that he is the Messiah.

And he says again, I'm the good shepherd.

I'm the one that gives my life for the sheep.

He said it over and over and over again.

And listen, if you're trying to investigate the claims of Christ here, understand what he's saying.

He says, I and the Father am one or are one.

He says, I am the Messiah.

He says, I am the one that he sent from heaven to redeem.

You can't get around this statement by Christ.

He's telling these Jews that he is the Messiah.

And they're not listening.

We'll get to that later.

I'm going to skip to the second item here.

The second witness that he really is the Christ.

And it's down in verse 32.

It says this, I've shown you many good works from the Father.

The works witness.

The works bear witness in verse 25.

The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me.

How do they bear witness, Christ?

What do you mean they bear witness?

Well, let me ask this question.

Have you all ever watched Harry Houdini?

Have you ever seen him do his stuff?

Isn't it amazing?

I can sit and stare at it.

I know there's some trick somewhere.

There's got to be a trick somewhere.

But I can stare at it and I can't for the life of me figure out how that guy got free.

Or how he was able to get out of the predicament he was in.

It's hard for me to understand.

But I do know something amazing just happened.

When I was younger, there was a guy in my neighborhood whose name was Carlos.

Turns out, by the way, he's Bert's brother.

I used to live in the same neighborhood as Carlos.

And I remember when I was a 10-year-old kid, or maybe I was 11, somewhere in that age,

I would go around to Carlos' house.

He was always very friendly to me, so I felt comfortable spending time with him.

I remember sitting in his house at his kitchen's table,

and he was wowing me with his ability to shuffle the deck of cards.

And I could not figure out how he did it.

He would shuffle the cards, and he would deal blackjack.

So he'd deal himself, and he'd deal me.

Every single time, he had blackjack.

Every time.

And then I said, no, no, you're doing it.

These cards are, there's something funny about the cards.

He flips the cards over, spreads them all out.

They're just like any other deck of cards.

There's nothing unusual about them.

I said, you can't do it again.

He did it again.

He did it again.

He did it.

I said, you need to let me cut it so you can't stack the deck.

I don't know how you're stacking it, but let me cut it.

And he would let me cut it two, three, five times.

He'd let me do all this stuff, and I'd do it around.

He would shuffle, shuffle, shuffle, shuffle.

And he'd go poop, poop, poop, poop, poop.

And guess what?

He had blackjack again.

I could not figure it out.

How he did it to this day, I don't know.

I haven't gone and researched online and tried to learn the trick.

But I just want to say it was amazing that he was able to do that.

Let me tell you something that's even more amazing here.

Do you know what Christ has done?

He's done things that are far and above amazing.

I would say that Carlos was a card shark.

He actually dealt in Vegas, by the way, is what I was told.

Now, I don't know if that's true.

Ask him when you see him, but he said he did.

And the way he was able to do that, maybe he did.

I don't know.

But Christ, look what he did.

Do you all remember some of the things that Christ did?

That he turned water into wine?

Do you know what any other person has done that?

Do you know he had a nobleman come and said,

Hurry, hurry, my son is sick.

And he said, Please come, please come.

Heal my son.

And he said the word, and the son was healed.

He didn't even have to go there.

And then, when 5,000 followed him, they were in the wilderness,

and they ended up with five loaves and two little fish.

He fed 5,000 plus wives and children in the wilderness.

Anybody else you know have done that with that little bit?

And then, the blind man who'd been blind from birth,

he healed the blind man that he might see.

All of these spiritually teach us something about the Messiah.

But I want us to recognize that all of these are signs.

What is a sign?

In order to hear it from the mouth of Moses,

we can turn back to Numbers chapter 16,

Numbers 16 · chapter mention

and I'll look at Exodus 4.

I want you to hear what the Scripture says about signs.

Because Christ has given them the second witness.

He said, I've shown you these good works.

Don't you see that I'm the Messiah?

Don't you recognize these signs that I'm performing?

They illustrate who I am.

I'm the one that's been sent from God.

Do you not see it?

And Moses says this,

in reference to a...

What's the word?

An uprising of people within the camp of Israel

when they were in the wilderness.

This one named Korah and his family and a couple of others

rebelled against the leadership of Moses.

And Moses said, as he's confronting these,

he said,

Hereby you shall know that the Lord has sent me.

The Lord is getting ready to do something

that he's never done before.

And if it doesn't happen,

then you recognize I'm not from God.

But if it does happen,

then you know that there's no other way

that this could possibly happen unless God is in it.

And what happened?

The ground opened up.

Korah and his whole family descended,

and the ground shut back up.

It was a sign and evidence

that Moses was sent from God.

In Exodus chapter 4,

Exodus 4 · chapter mention

you remember that time in the life of Moses,

how he had run,

he had fled from Egypt,

he had lived 40 years in Midian,

he had his sheep,

and he was in the desert country,

and this bush flamed,

and out of the bush he heard a voice,

Moses, take off your sandals,

the place where you're standing is holy ground.

And that whole encounter with God,

God said to Moses,

I want you to go to Egypt,

and I want you to deliver my people.

And what do you say?

Oh, you got the wrong guy.

I can't do that.

I'm not able to.

Do you know who I am?

They won't trust me.

They won't believe me.

Nothing.

And it said in chapter 4,

it says this,

and Moses answered,

after he had said,

no, no, no, no, no,

he answered,

Moses answered,

but behold,

they will not believe me

or listen to my voice,

for they will say,

the Lord didn't appear to you.

And the Lord said to him,

what's that in your hand?

A staff?

He said,

throw it on the ground.

He threw it on the ground.

What happened?

Turn to a serpent.

He runs.

And then the Lord says,

go and touch it

and pick it up

and he touches the tail

and what does it do?

It turns into a staff again.

What else did he tell him to do?

Put his hand in his shirt.

Take it out.

What was his hand?

It's leprous.

He said,

I'll take your hand

and put it back in

and pull it out

and it's not leprous anymore.

And then what did he tell him to do?

He said,

the water that you take from the Nile

when you throw it down

will become blood.

He said to Moses,

he said,

you do these three signs

and they'll believe

that you're from God.

No man can do these signs

unless God be with him,

unless God has sent him.

The sign authenticates the messenger.

You know what Christ is saying?

Do you see the signs?

Do you recognize

that these signs are from God?

Don't you see

that no man can do these signs

unless God is in it,

unless he's the Messiah?

He's the one.

Don't you see?

Why don't you believe?

We'll speak about

why they don't believe here

in just a minute.

But these signs...

in John 6,

it talks about a large crowd

that followed him.

They saw the signs

he was doing to the sick.

And also in verse 14,

it talks about

the feeding of the 5,000.

And it says this,

when the people saw the sign

that he had done,

they said,

this is indeed the prophet

who is to come into the world.

The common people saw it

for what it really was.

That he was,

he had to be the Messiah.

No man can do this

unless they're the Messiah.

You remember what Nicodemus said?

You remember who Nicodemus is?

Nicodemus is the Pharisee,

one of the rulers,

the teachers of the people,

a part of the Sanhedrin,

of the council.

And he heard about

and saw these miraculous things

that Jesus was doing.

And he went to him by night

because it was already understood

that if you believed

this guy was the Messiah,

you'd be kicked out

of the Sanhedrin.

You would lose everything

that's associated

with that prominent position.

And so he went by night

under the cover of darkness

because he couldn't get over

the evidence.

the evidence that

he really was the Messiah.

And so he goes to him

and listen to what Nicodemus says

in chapter 3 of John.

He says this,

no one can do these signs

that you do

unless God is with them.

They have the fingerprint of God.

They're impossible.

They're miraculous.

I don't understand them.

They catch my eye.

I can't help but see

there's something supernatural

going on.

And I'm wanting to know

what it is.

How are you doing this?

Why is it that

the Jews can't see this?

Why are they blind?

Isn't it obvious

to you and me, Christian?

As we read this,

we see the words of Christ.

Never man spoke like this before.

Never man did this thing before.

Never is a man

turned water to wine.

Never is a man

healed a blind man

who was born blind.

Never is a man

fed 5,000 people

from five loaves

and two fishes.

It's impossible.

This has to be the Messiah.

And he gives another sign,

another witness

is referred to

at the end

of this section

in verse 41.

It says,

many came to him

when he left

and he went

to the place

where John baptized

and those who were there,

they came to him

and they said,

John did no sign

but everything

that John said

about this guy

has come true.

What did John say?

What did John say

about this guy?

Jesus.

You remember

what he said?

Early?

chapter 1

of John?

Here's what he said.

And you'll remember this.

Behold

the Lamb of God.

You can see John

beside the Jordan

and he sees Jesus

and he points to Jesus

and behold

the Lamb of God.

What else did he say?

And John bore witness.

I saw the Spirit

descend from heaven

like a dove

and it remained on him.

I saw it.

And when he's talking

to his disciples

he said,

did you see it?

Did you see it?

It's like a dove.

It descended

and it rested on him.

Never has that

ever happened before.

It's the validation.

The Spirit told me

that this was going to happen

and whenever I saw it

that's evidence

that this is the one.

That this is the Messiah.

I myself did not know him

but he who sent me

that is the Father

to baptize with water

said to me

he on whom you see

the Spirit descend

and remain

this is the one

who baptizes

with the Holy Spirit.

Who baptizes

with the Holy Spirit?

There's only one.

There's only one.

The Lord Jesus Christ

the Messiah.

The one who was foretold.

He goes on to say

I've seen it

I've borne witness

that this is

the Son of God.

Behold

the Lamb

of God.

And now

I want to look at

the four

truths

about salvation

that are so evident

and clear

in this passage.

Turn with me

or look with me

if you will

at verse 26.

It says

the works that I do

in my Father's name

bear witness

about me

but you do not believe

why?

See Jonathan

stole this last week

and

I'm going to share it again

because

the way that he worded it

is so powerful

to consider.

Notice

the order

which is extremely

important here.

Notice the reason

why they didn't believe.

We want a glimpse

at

the sovereignty

of God here.

I want you to see

what the scripture

says here.

Notice it says

you do not believe

why?

Because you're not

among my sheep.

That's why you don't believe.

You're not

one of my sheep.

Remember earlier

last week

when Jonathan preached

he preached about

this parable

he talked about

that it was common

for multiple shepherds

to enclose their sheep

together in one fold

one door

and the shepherd

would walk in

and would talk to him

or whistle

and all the sheep

that were his

knew his voice

and they only

followed him

and so when he spoke

he said

come on let's go.

What did the sheep do?

Did all the sheep

follow him?

No.

Just his sheep.

And we see it here again

you do not believe

because you're not

among

my sheep.

Isn't it interesting

that word my

connotates relationship

doesn't it?

And so it begs

the question

who are your sheep?

I want you to hear

what the word of God

says about this.

It says it

in multiple ways

in multiple places.

I'm just going to look

at three very quickly.

Revelation twice

and Ephesians once.

Notice what it says

in Revelation.

Revelation.

Revelation.

Revelation.

Revelation.

Revelation.

Revelation.

Revelation.

Revelation.

Revelation.

It's talking about

the bottomless pit

and destruction

and it says

the dwellers on earth

whose names

have not been written

in the book of life

from the foundation

of the world

will be cast there.

Listen again.

The dwellers on earth

whose names

have not been written

in the book of life.

What book of life?

What are you talking about?

Book of life.

You mean

there's a book

with names in it?

And that's going

to dictate?

Chapter 21

of Revelation

says this.

It talks about

this new

city.

This glorified city

and it says this.

But nothing unclean

will ever enter it

nor anyone

who does

what is detestable

or false

but only those

who are written

in the Lamb's book

of life.

Only those

whose names

are in the Lamb's

book of life.

Ephesians 1

says it this way.

Paul

when he's talking

about

those that are

in Christ

those that receive

salvation

notice what he says.

Blessed be the God

verse 3 of chapter 1

Ephesians

blessed be the God

and Father

of our Lord

Jesus Christ

who has blessed us

in Christ

with every spiritual

blessing in the heavenly

places.

even as he chose

us in him

before the foundation

of the world

that we should be

holy and blameless

before him.

In love he predestined

us for adoption

to himself

as sons

through Jesus Christ

according to the

purpose of his will.

Paul is saying

that before the

foundation of the world

God chose

the believers.

God chose

his sheep.

God had a plan

and the plan

was to give

sheep to the son

and the son

would come

for the purpose

of gathering

his sheep.

John says

this

in chapter 17

of John

the high priestly

prayer

here's what he

says

this is Christ

speaking

sorry

John writing

Christ speaking

I have manifested

your name

to the people

whom you gave

me

out of the world

I have manifested

your name

to a subset

of people

to my sheep

only to my sheep

this is hard

to swallow

isn't it

it's hard

to understand

I openly

confess

that I don't

understand

the purpose

and the reason

behind it

but what I see

is it's clear

in scripture

that there's

certain sheep

that are called

by his name

that this took

place before

the foundation

of the earth

the names

were written

in the Lamb's

book of life

these sheep

were given

by the Father

to the Son

the Son

came to redeem

those sheep

and to call

them into

his kingdom

and we see

it here

it said

I have given

them the words

that you gave

me

I've given

them the truth

and what was

the result

of these sheep

hearing the truth

listen

it says

I've given

them the words

that you gave

me

and they have

received them

and have come

to know in truth

that I have

come from you

and they have

believed

let me paraphrase

he's praying

to the Father

he said

Father

the ones

whom you

gave me

the ones

who are

called by

your name

the ones

who are

my sheep

I spoke

the words

to them

the truth

to them

the truth

to them

and they

all believed

they all

responded

every one

of them

responded

they heard

it

and they

believed

they understood

and they

believed

and he

goes on

to say

I'm praying

for them

the sheep

I'm not

praying

for the world

that is

I'm not

praying

for every

person

that's

ever been

born

in every

city

in every

town

in every

country

I'm

praying

for my

sheep

so we

turn back

to our

passage

this morning

and I

want you

to see

again

you do

not believe

because you're

not among

my sheep

and the way

Jonathan

put it

last week

is belonging

precedes

believing

the order

is important

here

the reason

that they

believed

is because

they already

belonged

the reason

they believed

is because

their names

were written

in the Lamb's

book of life

the reason

that they

believed

John 6

would say

no man

comes to

the Father

except the

Father draws

him

you know

when that

drawing took

place

in the mind

of God

it took

place in

eternity

past

but it

happened

in real

time

here

is that

though I'm

not a

believer

until

personally

until

I'm

22

my name

was

written

in the

Lamb's

book

of life

because

God's

done

a work

in my

life

to

open

up

my

ears

and my

eyes

spiritually

speaking

that I

might

understand

the reality

of my

sin

that I

might

understand

the

separation

that is

between

me and

God

because

of my

sin

that I

might

understand

the need

for

forgiveness

from a

holy

God

that I

might

understand

that God

sin

is one

and only

as the

perfect

lamb

that

that

lamb

would

be

sacrificed

and the

blood

of the

lamb

would

cover

my

sins

would

purify

and

cleanse

me

from

all

sin

and I

would

be

saved

I'm

saved

by the

blood

of the

lamb

and the

only

reason

I

ever

knew

that I

needed

to be

saved

is

because

God

did a

work

in

my

life

he

opened

up

my

mind

and my

ears

and my

eyes

spiritually

to understand

my

separation

from him

he gave

me a

longing

for him

he drew

me to

himself

and he

said

you're

my

sheep

do you

hear me

calling

do you

hear me

calling

listen

I'm

asking

if

anybody

is

investigating

the

truths

of

scripture

to

determine

whether

this

be

true

let me

just

say

to you

this

morning

the

Lord

calls

do you

hear

do you

believe

that he

truly

is

the

Messiah

do you

believe

that he's

the only

way

the

truth

and

the

life

the

only

means

by which

you

can be

forgiven

the

pure

and

spotless

lamb

who

laid

willingly

lay

down

his

life

and

God

said

I

accept

that

that

offering

and if

you

and I

believe

that he

really

is

who

the

scriptures

say

he

is

when

we

also

believe

guess

what

we're

given

eternal

life

so we

read a

little

further

and I'm

about

done

four

truths

about

salvation

God

had a

plan

before

the

foundation

of the

world

God

chose

many

to be

the

sheep

that

Jesus

would

come

to

redeem

verse 28

Jesus

says

I

give

them

eternal

life

the

source

of

eternal

life

is

through

the

shed

blood

of

Jesus

Christ

Jesus

came

as a

Passover

lamb

to die

that we

might

have

life

and we

go on

it

says

and they

will

never

perish

you know

that is

true

for every

believer

let me

let me

say it

this way

what can

separate you

Christian

from the

love of

God

what if

you go

out

tomorrow

and you

say

something

you

shouldn't

say

you

do

something

you

shouldn't

do

are you

going to be

separated

from God

are you

no longer

going to be a

Christian

do you

realize why

you're in the

kingdom

Christian

do you

realize how

you got

into the

kingdom

because God

did a

work in

your life

because God

gave you a

longing for

him

because God

brought you

into the

kingdom

and he

knew you

were coming

into the

kingdom

from eternity

past because

you're one

of his

one of the

ones that he

gave to

Christ and

Christ's work

is effective

and effectual

those whose

names are in

the book of

life will

come to him

why because

he puts a

longing in our

heart for him

he draws us

to him

it's his

work not

ours

you know

that you

can't destroy

his work

if he's

brought you

into the

kingdom you

can't do

anything to

take yourself

out of the

kingdom

if you're

truly in

if you're

truly born

again he

gives us a

new heart

when you

desire

do you

know it

Christian

have you

experienced

that

do you

think

differently

do you

long for

things different

from the

time before

you were

Christian

he changes

us he

gives us

this new

heart and

he tells

us to walk

in newness

of life

like children

of light

whom we

are

we're

his

he goes

on to

say

no one

is able

to snatch

them out

of my

hand

do you

understand

the security

that we

have

do you

understand

that you

just can't

make a

mistake

and mess

it all

up

you know

I was in

Regina and I

were riding

bikes in

Europe and

we rode into

Innsbruck

Austria

and by

God's grace

we had a

chance to

stay with

different people

in their

houses or

in their

backyard or

wherever

I mean we've

got a lot of

stories we

could tell

but this

particular time

we ran up

on this guy

who happened

to be a

priest in

training

and he

was at

his education

was happening

in Innsbruck

and we got

in a long

conversation

I ended up

staying in a

place near

where he

was

I think it

was in the

Regina help

me out

maybe this

I don't think

it was called

seminary

whatever it's

called

where he was

getting his

training

and we had

conversations

and here's

what I heard

him say

because I

point blank

asked him

I said

what happens

if you're

doing all

the right

things

and you've

confessed

to whoever

you need

to confess

to

and you

feel like

you're clean

because you've

confessed

and on the

way home

you say

something you

shouldn't have

said

you say a

word that

dishonors God

is that sin

yeah

are you going

to hell

and he's

he's like

well

yeah

I'm like

because you

said a word

you shouldn't

say you're

going to

hell

yeah

so if you

totally confess

it all to

your priest

and then you

on the way

home do

something that's

sinful

that one

sin

that means

you're not

going to

heaven

right

yeah

man

what a

brutal way

to live

you know

what the

word of

God

says

nothing

can

separate

you

Christian

from the

love of

God

because you

didn't

earn it

he's the

one that

did it

he did

it for

you

because he

loved you

and he

called you

from eternity

past

and he

put a

longing in

your heart

for him

he drew

you to

himself

and he

did this

work in

your life

that you

might long

for

desire

to know

him

and to

bow your

knee

to surrender

to him

to understand

the need

and the

place of

Christ

in your

life

he did

it all

it's

beautiful

he planned

it

he gave

some to

Christ

he accomplished

salvation

he secures

it for

every

believer

amen

amen

let's

pray

lord for

us who

are in

your

kingdom

for us

who are

Christians

for us

who are

born again

for us

who have

come to

recognize

our sin

and our

separation

because of

our sin

that in a

sense lord

we could

not be in

your presence

because of

our filth

and our

dirtiness

and our

sin

but you

made a

way

through

your

son

Jesus

Christ

that you

would

send him

that he

might die

for his

sheep

that he

might purchase

life for

his sheep

lord I'm so

thankful that

you've helped

us to see

that it's

through Christ

we have

life

and you've

drawn us

into your

kingdom

god you've

given us

this great

salvation

greater than

we could

possibly

understand

father we

see glimpses

of it

especially in

revelation

than you

have in

the new

earth

the beauty

of being

in your

presence

unhindered

we will

see you

face to

face

god we

celebrate

the gift

that you've

given us

as far

beyond any

value of

anything this

earth has to

offer

god we give

you thanks

father I'm

thinking about

the one here

that's sitting

here today

who knows

that they don't

know you

yet

who knows

truly in

their heart

of hearts

that they

have not yet

totally understood

this whole

thing

father I

pray that

this morning

that you

would open

up their

mind to

understand

they would

father desire

to know

you I

pray that

you would

give them

eyes to

see this

truth and

I pray

god that

you would

draw them

into your

kingdom as

a gift to

them father

help them to

see this

morning god

we give you

thanks this

day for your

great gift and

we praise you

in christ's name

amen