"Eternal Security" John 10:22-30 Sunday Morning Worship Service

We're going to discuss an all-important doctrine of eternal security this morning.

For those of us who have put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone for a salvation, I want to make sure that we are biblically and personally confident in our salvation, that we feel like we are eternally secure.

That there's no doubt in our mind.

That we are eternally secure in our salvation.

This morning as a family, we will celebrate communion in just a few moments.

And that reminds me of Jesus at the Last Supper in the upper room with his band of brothers, the disciples, and he explains to them a little bit about this eternal security.

With something he says in John chapter 13, verse 10, Jesus said, He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but he is already completely clean.

John 13:10

What Jesus is saying is those of us who have put our faith and trust in Christ were already secure.

Salvation is already secure for us.

We are legally before Christ.

We are legally declared righteous.

Every one of us that have put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

And what Jesus was explaining to the disciples is the washing of the feet is how we repent and we confess the dailiness of our ongoing sinful nature, even though we are eternally secure.

Friend, if you're here this morning, I hope that there's been a time that you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation.

But we know that not everyone is eternally secure.

There may be even some here this morning that you've never done that.

You never put your faith and trust in Christ.

And so what maybe you're doubting, maybe you just don't know.

Friend, I want you to know.

I want you to be eternally secure.

To know that you know that you know.

That if you were to die today, that you would spend eternity in heaven, not based on anything you've done or I've done, not based on how much money we have, or degrees, or accomplishments, or even that you recycle.

But the fact that you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation, him alone, him alone.

I know that not everybody is saved.

Some people struggle with doubt.

When we were stationed out in San Diego, we became all too familiar with the plight that's still ongoing of the illegal immigrants that have made their way across into the United States.

Ours was down by Tijuana in Mexico.

We lived north of Tijuana, but there were many illegals that had made their way up to our town, and they lived up in the foothills.

You could see their fires at night to keep themselves warm.

I don't envy their plight one bit.

In the mornings, they they would come down out of those hills to some known pickup points where contractors would come with a truck or a van who were looking for day laborers, and many of them would rush those trucks in those vans, hoping to get selected for a day of labor.

You see, without the cash that came at the end of that day of hard work, they just could not survive.

Well, the local police and the border patrol knew where those pickup points were, and they would stake them out and often pounce upon those illegal immigrants as they came out of the foothills every morning and gather up as many as they could and take them and deport them back to their country of origin.

What a horrible, difficult way to live.

To go through life not never knowing.

They've tasted of the freedoms of the country, but they didn't go through the proper channels, and so they're gonna go back at some point.

What a way to live.

What a difficult way to live.

You know what?

For the unbeliever, the plight is not much different.

To go through life every day not knowing.

What does it mean to have a relationship with God?

Am I gonna make it to heaven?

And to know that someday you may pass and not understand where you'll end up in all of eternity.

Friends, I'll admit, I know very little about immigration law.

I don't know the right thing to do, but I tell you what I do know.

I know what the scripture says about eternal security and about our citizenship in heaven.

If you and I have put our faith in Jesus Christ alone for our salvation, not based on any works, on faith alone in what Christ sacrificed on the cross that we will celebrate today by way of communion.

If you put your faith in Christ in that alone, your citizenship is guaranteed.

Put guarantee in all caps in heaven.

We're eternally secure.

My great-grandparents, back in the late 1800s, immigrated here from Ireland through Ellis Island.

They came in legally.

They went through the whole process.

And eventually they were declared naturalized citizens of the United States, gotten all the privileges and all the responsibilities of one as well, of a citizen of the United States legally.

Just think about your citizenship in heaven.

It's guaranteed.

Nobody will ever take that away from you.

You and I are completely secure in our salvation because we put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

But not everybody is secure.

Not everybody lives in that security of their salvation.

There may be some here today that struggle with that.

Those are the people that Jesus is addressing here in John chapter 10.

John 10 · chapter mention

Starting in verse 22, we know that Jesus is engaging them.

He's been cornered on Solomon's porch in the temple.

It's about the time of the festival of dedication of the temple, the festival of lights.

It's in the winter.

We know it now as Hanukkah.

And some of these pestering Jews have cornered Jesus.

They want to know who he really is.

They want him to come clean with them as to who he is.

They're looking for somebody that will save them from Roman oppression.

And so they corner Jesus here on Solomon's porch.

And he has an interaction with them.

Look at your text.

It begins in verse 22.

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

It was winter.

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, listen to this, you are not among my sheep.

He shuts them down right there.

And you may say, look at that verse 26, and you say, Boy, Jesus' words are really, really harsh.

Actually, friend, they're really loving.

Because Jesus is telling them the truth.

They are not of his flock, and he doesn't want to give them any hope that they are.

Jesus is telling them that heaven is restricted access.

Belonging to his flock, there's only one way to get there, and they haven't done it.

And he's actually being really loving by telling them that you haven't done it.

You're not of my flock, because my flock would know me, and they know my works, and they know my voice, and they respond to me and obey me.

But it's not you.

Heaven is restricted access.

You know, our gospel writer John here, many books later in the book of Revelation, he records a comment from Jesus in Revelation chapter 21 and verse 7.

Revelation 21 · chapter mention

Jesus is describing who can actually get to heaven.

And Jesus is telling me it's restricted access.

Many think they're going to heaven, but it's really restricted to a very small number of people who will be going.

Those who put their faith and trust in Christ.

Listen to what John writes in Revelation 21 and verse 7.

He's recording Jesus' words, and he says, Jesus said, the one who conquers, your Bible may say, the one who overcomes will have this heritage.

That means citizenship in heaven.

The one who conquers will have this heritage.

And I will be his God and he will be my son.

Jesus is saying the only way you can get to heaven is to overcome your sin.

And that was paid for by him on the cross of Calvary 2,000 years ago.

And unless you put your faith and trust in Christ, you cannot have a relationship with him in heaven.

Jesus is making it very clear, only those who overcome.

Heaven is a restricted place.

And he's actually being, Jesus is very loving with these Jews who cornered him here on Solomon's porch.

He's telling them, you're not part of that.

You can become part of that, but you're right now not part of that, my flock.

Friends, I think one of the greatest disservice a human being can do to another is to somehow give them the false impression that they're going to heaven.

That all men and all women will one day stand before God and God will be merciful and say, Ah, okay, come on in.

That's a biblical lie.

And it's not true at all.

My family that immigrated over through Ellis Island was in the funeral business.

They began Joyce Brothers' Funeral Home.

My cousins still run it to this day, a hundred and something years later.

I spent a lot of time with my grandfather as he owned the business during my upbringing, and I would do things for my grandfather at a bunch of different funerals.

My dad and I both did.

And I would stand in the back of that church and listen to the priest or the pastor speaking about the person who was there in the church in that casket.

And I knew a number of those people, and I knew they were sinners as long as the day is.

But that pastor, yeah, would stand up in front of them and just, he was, oh, this person, oh, they're so lovely.

They were so great.

Here's what they did on earth.

They did all these great things.

They had all these degrees and they recycled.

And so, therefore, I'm sure that Peter, when he stands, when they stand before Peter, he'll just say, Well, come on in, welcome.

I know what he was trying to do.

He was trying to give those people who were in their grief some kind of hope about the future for that person.

But frankly, what they were telling him wasn't loving at all.

It was just a lie.

Because, friends, here's the truth.

Unless you put your faith and trust in Christ on this side of eternity before you die, there'll be no place in heaven.

Jesus said it's only for those who overcome.

He gave us very clear instructions by way of his discussion with his disciples, Jesus did in John chapter 14 and verse 6.

John 14 · chapter mention

Jesus made it very clear.

He said, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life.

No one comes to the Father.

No one will make it to heaven.

No one comes to the Father but by me.

The only passage we have from this earth to heaven is through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

That's it.

But the good news is if you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, friend, I want you to be eternally secure.

I want us to understand that we can have no more doubt.

That if we put our faith and trust in Christ, the scripture makes it clear that we are saved for all of eternity.

Jesus explains that in his continued dialogue with these pestering Jews on Solomon's porch.

Look with me now in verse 27.

After Jesus told these Jews that they are not of his sheep, Jesus continues.

Verse 27, he says, My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me.

Verse 28, I give them eternal life.

And they will, here's a key word, they will never perish.

And here's two more key words.

And no one will snatch them out of my hand.

Then he continues in verse 29.

My father who has given them to me is greater than all.

And here are those key words again.

No one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.

And then Jesus just blew their minds when he said verse 30.

He said, I and the Father are one.

Notice carefully the very important eternal security point that's made in verse 28 and again repeated in verse 29.

Jesus says, No one can snatch them out of my hand.

Those key words, no one.

You know, I look them up in the Greek to see what this really means in the Greek.

You know what it means, no one means in the Greek?

No one.

Thousands of dollars of seminary training, and I got that.

But that's an important issue, is it not?

No one will ever be able to separate you from the love of God.

And how do we know that's true?

Because Jesus explains it himself here.

He's explaining it to the Jews.

We have it in earshot, and we're picking it up, and we know it to be true.

This is the security that we have.

Because he says here that no one is able to remove us from his hand in verse 28 and from the Father's hand in verse 29.

They both have a grip on us and they're never letting go.

We will never be removed from the presence of God the Father and from Jesus.

And Jesus says, he tells them in verse 29, he says, because the Father has taken possession of his believers, those that he's called to himself, he's taken possession of those believers, and he gives them to me.

He transfers the ownership of them to me.

He said, My father gives them to me in verse 29.

My father who has given them to me.

And then he says, also, my father is greater than all.

By the way, I also looked up the word all in Greek.

And you know what the word all means in Greek?

All, thank you.

Here's the point, friend.

Your salvation is so secure, and the Father is greater and more powerful than all, then you can't even lose your own salvation.

But you wouldn't want to if you truly belong to Him.

Prior to you coming to Christ, the Holy Spirit, prior to me coming to Christ, the Holy Spirit was working on us from the outside.

The Holy Spirit's role in this world is to convict the world of sin.

He's convicting, convicting, convicting.

Eventually we come to Christ and we accept him.

At the moment of our salvation, the Holy Spirit takes up residence within us permanently, never to leave us.

And the scripture says that greater is he who is in us than he who is in the world.

And so we would not want to lose our salvation.

And so nobody can take this salvation away from us.

We are in the palm of the Father's hand.

We're in the palm of Jesus' hand.

They're holding on to us.

No one can take it.

And the Father is greater than all.

We can't even lose our own salvation.

Friend, I hope that's comforting for you.

It was so comforting for the Apostle Paul that here's what he wrote in Romans chapter 8.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

He said, I am convinced, Paul said, I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things yet to come, nor power, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.

That's powerful.

But it's only for those that put their faith and trust in Christ.

Friend, if you're here today and you haven't done that, let me be loving again and say, you're not eternally secure.

At any moment you could pass from this life, and there'd be no hope.

There's no second chance.

In verse 30, Jesus tells them, I and the Father are one.

He's speaking about his deity, but also he's speaking about his purpose.

Separate in their personhood, the Father and the Son, unified in their purpose, the salvation of mankind.

Nobody can take us out of the Father's hand.

Nobody can take us out of Jesus' hand.

They have a desire for us to be eternally secure.

We will never be taken away from them.

When I first started flying fighters out in San Diego, I was the backseater.

I flew in the backseat.

But we what part of our training is we go to the aircraft carrier and we learn how to land the airplane on the aircraft carrier.

That's what we're going to do the rest of our career.

The first time you go out to that aircraft carrier in any kind of airplane, but a big airplane like an F-14, it's a scary proposition.

And so I was flying with actually a brand new pilot.

Both of us were brand new.

We had done well enough through our training that they let us two brand new guys go out together.

We were going through oxygen like it was going out of style.

We were breathing so heavy coming in for that first landing.

And they teach you in your training that as soon as you touch down on that flight deck, as soon as your wheels touch down, you go to 100% of the power.

Should you miss any of the one of the four wires, you're just going to do a quick touch and go and you're going to come back around and try to land again.

Well, we came back in all tensed up, ready to go.

I mean, you're flying that thing all the way down to touchdown.

As soon as we touched down, the pilot jammed the throttles all the way to full power.

But then he said, we need more.

He'd put it into full afterburner, all five zones of full afterburner.

And we caught the number three wire with our tail hook just like that.

Perfectly, just like that.

But there we are, we're standing staring straight ahead.

We're stopped now on the flight deck, and we're still in full afterburner.

These two gigantic flames, 25,000 pounds of thrust going out of the back of that airplane.

And the air boss finally comes up in the radio and says, uh, 205 tower, you can come back on the power.

We gotcha.

Most powerful airplane in the world at that time.

We weren't moving a millimeter.

That aircraft carrier had us permanently in its grip.

It wasn't going to let us go.

Friend, that's a picture of what God has for us.

When we come to Christ, it says he holds us in the palm of his hand.

Nobody is taking us away.

We're eternally secure.

Have you ever thought how the Trinity, the Godhead, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, are involved in our eternal security?

You think about it.

In Ephesians chapter 1, it tells us before the foundation of the world, we were called by God.

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

He selected us, he elected us for salvation.

So God predestined us, but God also sustains us every day.

You and I got up this morning and God said, You can still breathe.

Your heart can still beat.

He sustains us, he predestined us and sustains us.

How about Jesus?

Well, Jesus went to the cross and died for us.

We'll celebrate that here in a few moments by way of communion.

Jesus died for us.

He literally gave up, he shed his blood, he gave up his life for us on the cross, paying for our sins.

But Jesus now sits at the right hand of the Father, interceding on our behalf.

Satan, the accuser of the brethren, is saying, No, that guy's not saved.

That person's not saved.

Jesus said, Yes, I paid for them.

They put their trust in me.

They're part of my flock.

Jesus is interceding for us.

And the Holy Spirit has, I said before, he's now indwelled us.

And he has taken up residence within us and is helping us in our sanctification process.

And he seals us for all of eternity.

Like a cattle branding.

This one belongs to me.

And so think of how John 3.16 that verse plays out then, in light of what God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are doing around the clock, seven days a week, 365 days a year, to ensure that our salvation is secure.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life, everlasting life.

It'll never stay change.

And you could add on the end of that, as a footnote, because God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are ensuring our salvation, predestined and sustained, died for us, intercedes for us, indwells us, and seals us.

The Trinity is involved in our salvation.

And they are one in purpose, the desire to save and sustain those that have been called the elect, each one of us who have put our faith and trust in Christ.

Salvation is free, friend.

But it wasn't cheap.

And as a result of what Christ has done for each one of us, I believe we have a stewardship of that.

A stewardship of being eternally secure.

That we go to bed at night, we sleep well because we know that we are eternally secure.

Our salvation is in the palm of the Father's hand forevermore.

We have a stewardship of that.

And I would make two applications by way of our stewardship.

What do we do with that eternal security that we have?

And the first thing I would say for the believer in Jesus Christ is, friends, we need to live boldly.

We need to live boldly.

I was talking to some friends recently and asking them, hey, would you like to join me on a missions trip?

And you know, we're either going to go to Rwanda or we're going to go to Cuba.

And one of them said, but I could get food poisoning.

I I don't know the language.

Those are people, not my people.

Friends, we need to live boldly.

Your salvation is already secure.

If you should get sick, which you probably won't, and you should maybe even die, wake up in the presence of Jesus Christ.

Friends, we need to live boldly.

We need to understand that God has got things for us to do as believers.

That we don't just cloister ourselves.

We don't have a drawbridge here at church that we pull up.

We're engaging the world.

We're boldly engaging the world.

Remember what he used his last words that he said on the cross?

To tell us die.

Last words out of Jesus before he gave up his spirit.

To telest die.

It is finished.

Paid in full.

It's already done.

There's nothing more that has to be done.

And friend, therefore, we need to be willing to live boldly for the kingdom of God.

Live boldly as if you understand where we're going next.

Legendary football coach Lou Holtz.

Whenever he was coaching a college team, he would discourage those end zone celebrations, those wacky dances they do in the end zone.

He said, guys, act like you've been there before.

And friends, we need to live life as if we understand where we are going.

I love what Paul the Apostle said in Philippians chapter 1.

Philippians 1 · chapter mention

For me to live, he said, is Christ.

To die, it's only gain.

For me to live is Christ, live boldly for Christ.

And think about Stephen in Acts chapter 7, who's giving testimony of what Christ has done and how those Jews are the ones that crucified him.

Acts 7 · chapter mention

He refused to back down from that.

Even though they're going to stone him, he's not looking at his accusers.

He's not looking at the rocks, he's looking heavenward.

And he says, Lord, receive my spirit.

Totally secure in where he's going.

That's when I first got married.

We live in a very small one-bedroom apartment out in San Diego.

Then our son was born when I was on deployment.

I got to see him when he was about three months old.

Already I knew we had outgrown that apartment.

And we were able to scrape enough money together to actually purchase a home and watch it being built.

In fact, I think we went over to that site where it was being built just about every single day.

We watched all those studs go up, we watched all the wiring go in, we watched the pipes go in, we watched the windows go in, we watched all of that.

We stopped worrying about the cramp, how cramped that one-bedroom apartment was, because we knew where we were going.

We knew there was a better place yet to come.

And friends, we need to live that way as believers in Jesus Christ.

And we would be willing to take a stand for the gospel.

And that's the second thing.

Not only would we be able to live boldly, but friends, we need to be able to share him boldly.

You and I are surrounded by people who don't have eternal security, who don't know who Jesus is.

You and I are surrounded by people that are struggling in this life.

You can see the impact of Satan upon them and this life.

I mean, we have people that are standing up and applauding the death of innocent babies in the womb.

It's cancerous.

And yet you and I hold the cure for spiritual cancer.

And as we live boldly, we've got to be prepared to share him boldly.

With those that God has surrounded us with who desperately need to know.

And friend, if you're one of those that have come here this morning and you don't know, you don't know what it means to walk with Christ, you don't know what it means to put your faith and trust in him, we'd love to share that with you.

Let today be the day of your salvation.

Understand the cure for spiritual cancer and be willing to give your life over to Christ.

Then you too would be eternally secure.

In just a moment here, we as a body will take part in communion.

And I would ask if there's never been a time that you put your faith and trust in Christ, you allow us as a family just to share this together.

This is not for those outside of the body of Christ.

And so if you have never put your faith and trust in Christ, and let those elements just pass you by.

And please think.

Think about what you've heard today.

Think about what you know to be true.

And consider today, the day of your salvation, yielding yourself to Christ.

We're going to pray now over these elements and pray for our time together as family and be reminded of what Christ has done so that you and I can be eternally secure.

Let's pray together.

Father, we do thank you for this passage and the clarity of it.

And Jesus' words were clear that there are some who don't belong to you, that are not of his flock.

And so we pray, if there's any of those here today, Lord, that they would understand the gospel.

And he paid the price so that they wouldn't have to.

So, Lord, that you would draw them to yourself, give them no rest until they come to that realization and be able to yield themselves to Jesus.

And we pray for us, Lord.

We pray that those of us who know we are eternally secure, that we would indeed live boldly for you, be willing to step out in faith in things that we're not sure of, but that we live boldly, knowing that our salvation is secure, that we would share you boldly with those that surround us at work, at home, in the neighborhood, wherever we would be, Lord, we'd be willing to share boldly.

We want to honor and serve you.

That's the stewardship of our salvation.

Christ's name we pray.

Amen.

You have been listening to Emmanuel with Pastor Jesse Johnson.

You can find more resources like this at ibcva.com.

Here is a parting word from Pastor Jesse.

If you have any questions about what you've heard today, or if you want to learn more about what it means to follow Christ, please visit our church website, iBCVA.com.

If you're not a member of a local church and you live in the Washington, D.C.

area, we'd love to have you worship with us here at Emmanuel.

We're located in Northern Virginia, and for more information about when and where we worship, check out our church website.

I hope to first point to meet you this Sunday after our service.

But no matter where you live, it's our hope that everyone who uses this resource is involved in their own local church.

Now, may God bless you, sweetkeeties, sweet keys to constantly serve the Lord faithfully and share the gospel forward.