re:FORMED - God Saves - The Sovereignty of God - John 10:1-30

You're listening to City Church Manchester. We are a church that invites

everyone to enjoy Christ for the glory of God. If we can serve you in any way

then visit our website at citychurchmanchester.org to find out more.

Well for those of you who do have your Bibles we're going to be looking at the

Gospel of John and we're going to be reading from John chapter 10 verses 1

John 10:1–30

to 30. John chapter 10 verses 1 to 30. If you're reading from the Blue Church

John 10:1–30

Bibles you can find John chapter 10 on page 1076. 1076 we're reading John

John 10 · chapter mention John 10:1–30

chapter 10 verses 1 to 30. Thanks Katie. Great so let's go. Very truly I tell you

Pharisees anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by

some other way is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the gate is the

shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him and the sheep

listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

When he has brought out all his own he goes on ahead of them and his sheep

follow him because they know his voice but they will never follow a stranger. In

fact they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice.

Jesus used this figure of speech but the Pharisees did not understand what he was

telling them. Therefore Jesus said again very truly I tell you I am the gate for

the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers but the sheep

have not listened to them. I am the gate whoever enters through me will be saved.

They will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal

and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life and have it to the

full. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the

sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep so when he

sees the wolf coming he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf

attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand

and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep and my

sheep know me just as the father knows me and I know the father and I lay down

my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheepfold. I must

bring them also. They too will listen to my voice and there shall be one flock

and one shepherd. The reason my father loves me is that I lay down my life only

to take it up again. No one takes it from me but I lay it down of my own accord. I

have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This

command I received from my father. The Jews who heard these words were divided.

Many of them said he is demon possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him? But

others said these are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon

open the eyes of the blind? Then came the festival of dedication at Jerusalem. It

was winter and Jesus was in the temple court walking in Solomon's Colonnade. The

Jews who were there gathered round him saying how long will you keep us in

suspense? If you are the Messiah tell us plainly. Jesus answered I did tell you

but you do not believe. The works I do in my father's name testify about me but

you do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice. I

know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they shall never

perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. My father who has given them to me

is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of my father's hand and I and

the father are one. My name is Ralph and I'm one of the pastors here at City

Church and it's my privilege to be taking us through that passage we just

had read John chapter 10 and thinking through more today about what it means

John 10 · chapter mention

for us to be a reformed church. Let me pray for us and then we're gonna dive in

to think about that a little bit more. Let's pray. Father God thank you that you are

the sovereign God who rules and reigns on high. You are above all things and you

all things live and breathe and have their being and Lord we pray that as we

think about who you are in relation to our salvation Lord would you open our

minds? Would you help us to leave behind preconceived ideas and to be open to

hearing what your word teaches us? Amen. Well I'd like you to imagine a scenario

please. It's not very pleasant I'm afraid but bear with me on this one okay. So

imagine we finish our service you go out you grab another coffee you haven't

had enough coffee yet you grab a cookie you're having a chat with one of your

friends then you decide it's time to go you walk down the back staircase you go

out of that exit onto Church Street and you step into the road without looking.

Smash! You're hit by a bus and the very next moment you find yourself at the gates of

heaven and God himself looks directly at you and he says why should I let you

into my heaven? How would you respond? Well if you're a Muslim you might say

well I've done my duty I've done the five pillars of Islam I've just finished

fasting for Ramadan I've celebrated Eid on Friday I've even given my zakat this

week that is why you should let me into heaven and according to the Bible

God will say no or maybe you're here and you describe yourself as a kind of

secular tolerant atheist and you'd say well well I've done my best I really

have I've tried to be a decent person I've tried to defend and champion the

rights of the oppressed women ethnic minorities transgender people I've given

to children in need I've even been along to church several times in my life

that's why you should let me in God and according to the Bible God will say no

the only answer the only answer that the Bible gives is that we must point to

Jesus and say because he died for me and said come and so I've come that's what

the thief on the cross did on that night that he arrived in paradise according to

Luke 23 the only ground to be welcomed into God's eternal presence is Christ

and Christ's work you know there's been another answer that's being given down

through history in the church it's similar to that answer is very similar

so similar you might not even notice a difference but it is different this is

it well I heard the good news about Jesus at church 20 25 years ago I thought

it was the very best news in the world and that Sunday I decided that I was

gonna follow Jesus so here I am now you hear that and that sounds awfully good

doesn't it that sounds incredibly close to the gospel but it is different in a

crucial in a fundamental way it makes salvation dependent on us on my decision

to follow Jesus we're week two in a four-week series looking at what it means

for us as a church to be reformed so last week we looked at how God speaks to

us he speaks to us through his his authoritative word the Bible this week

we are thinking about how God saves us and the reformed answer is he saves us

through his sovereign grace alone this is the great debate between what is

sometimes called Calvinism on the one side and our minionism on the other side

now you might be sat here thinking boy this all sounds a little bit abstract a

little bit intellectual a little bit academic not sure I'm really that

interested in these sort of distinctions might might switch off for the next

half hour or so might catch up on my emails if you're thinking that can I

urge you don't don't do that please because what we are talking about this

afternoon is nothing less than the very heart of the gospel in a nutshell it's

the simple question did Jesus's death on the cross save us or did it merely make

salvation possible did it actually say or did it just make salvation possible

but what we're talking about is not obscure and intricate points of

theology they were talking about competing worldviews one worldview has

God at the center absolutely and squarely at the center the other worldview has us

there as well it is about competing understandings about how we become a

Christian one sees it as entirely the free and unmerited gift of God the other

says that it's something that we decide upon ourselves and it's a fundamentally

different view about the future one view says that we are secure in God's hands

and nothing and no one can ever snatch us out from them the other says that if

you're a Christian actually you you can fall away so you better watch out this

friends this is not some obscure theological discussion this is a big

deal and as a church leadership we adopt the former position what is sometimes

called Calvinism now I think that's a really unfortunate label for this view

because it didn't originate with John Calvin in the 16th century in fact it's

a view that's been believed right from the very earliest times in the church

and the sort of formulation of it that we're talking about actually wasn't

written down by Calvin it wasn't written down until 50 years after Calvin's death

in 1618 by the Synod of Dort now the Synod just refers to a meeting a meeting

of 84 members of Dutch clergy they met together in Dort in order to provide a

response to a Dutch theologian called Jacob Arminius from whom we get the term

Arminianism okay now don't make the mistake that I made when I first heard

that term Arminianism I assumed it referred to people from the country of

Armenia but it doesn't okay not all people from Armenia are Arminians and

not all Arminians are from Armenia they are different things anyway Arminius

Arminius the theologian taught that people have free will to respond to God

with faith he insisted that the God's election of people for salvation was

based on his foreknowledge of their future faith he said that Christ's death

on the cross wasn't for a specific group of people but for the whole world he

said that human beings were able to resist the work of the Holy Spirit

bringing them to faith and he said that once you become a Christian once you've

been born again it's possible for you to fall away and lose your salvation in

response the Synod of Dort came up with a set of statements to counter his

position those statements were known as the

cannons of Dort now it's springtime I was looking out in my neighbor's garden

earlier today and I saw some beautiful tulips in his garden and tulip is a

great way to understand and remember what the cannons of Dort were there were

five statements that you can remember through the acronym of tulip says T

stands for total depravity we are dead in our sin and we are unable to submit

to God you is for unconditional election God chose or or he elected us out of his

love it had nothing to do with any goodness he saw in us nothing to do with

any faith that he saw we would one day have the L stands for limited atonement

Jesus death only saved those whom he had chosen I is for irresistible grace that

Holy Spirit overcomes all of our opposition to him in bringing us to

faith and the P is for the perseverance of the Saints of those who are truly

Christ those are truest Christ they cannot ever be lost but that's what

tulip stands for that is what we believe as a church leadership here at City it's

important to say not everyone believes that here and a members can be members

of church without holding to that position but it is the position of the

leadership and it will always be the position taught from the front here from

beginning to end we believe that salvation is a work of God and only a

work of God I'm conscious that is a very long introduction thank you for bearing

with me I promise we're gonna speed up but what I wanted to do at the start was

to give you the big picture of what we're talking about today and then we're

gonna get into the detail of it by seeing how it's a position that is taught

in the Bible now we could have turned to lots and lots and lots of passages in

the Bible to look at this today but I wanted to focus on just one because I

think just one actually demonstrates all five things so we're looking at John

John 10:1–30

chapter 10 verses 1 to 30 John 10 follows on from Jesus healing a man who

was born blind in John chapter 9 and John chapter 10 gives us what John

John 9 · chapter mention John 10 · chapter mention

describes in verse 6 is a figure of speech it is a picture that Jesus uses

to illustrate to us important things about salvation and the figure that the

picture he gives is of a shepherd with his sheep now that would have been

incredibly evocative for Jesus's first century Jewish hearers you see in Ezekiel

Ezekiel 34 · chapter mention

chapter 34 the Lord speaks to to Israel in exile and says to them your leaders

they've been bad leaders they have been bad shepherds and then Ezekiel 34 the

Lord promises that he himself will come and be for them a good shepherd verse

11 of Ezekiel 34 I myself will search my sheep and look after them verse 12 I

will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered now back in

John chapter 10 verse 19 do you see why why the Jews were so angry at Jesus

John 10:19

saying I am the good shepherd they realized that he was saying that he

himself is God the true good shepherd now I don't have time to unpack all the

details of that here today but what I want to do is show how each of the five

points of tulip are taught here in John chapter 10 so first up we see here in

John 10 · chapter mention

John 10 that we are helpless sheep that's total depravity verse 14 Jesus

says I am the good shepherd I know my sheep and my sheep know me I think we

have a problem when we come to a passage like this today because we have an

over sentimentalized view of sheep I think so we used to singing Mary had a

little lamb when we were growing up and we used those beautiful little pictures

of lambs leaping around in springtime aren't we so for us lambs just cute

little beautiful things and we think frankly shepherds they're pretty lucky

people because they get to spend all their day just cutting up the little

sheep and stroking them okay that's that's what we think when we hear about

the good shepherd and his sheep but that's a load of nonsense the reality is

that sheep sheep are dirty smelly stupid obstinate creatures that's what sheep are

what's more sheep are utterly dependent if you were to go out to the peaks

yesterday and join the rain in the peak district you may well have seen you may

have seen wild deer running around you might have even seen wild rabbits and

wild foxes if you went down to the new forest you would see wild horses down

there but you will never see wild sheep why well because sheep can't survive on

their own left to their own devices sheep will overeat or under eat they will

fall off cliff edges they'll get run over by cars they'll fall over and not

be able to get up sheep are needy dependent creatures and they look to one

person to provide everything that they need they look to the shepherd now what

picture what what figure of speech does Jesus choose to describe a Christian's

relationship to him we are sheep in need of a good shepherd if our problem was

simply a lack of knowledge Jesus would have said you are the pupils I am the

teacher if our problem was a lack of wisdom Jesus would have said you are the

followers I am the guru if what we really needed was just to kind of pull

up our socks and try a little bit harder Jesus would have said I am the good life

coach but he says you are sheep you are needy dependent helpless people totally

depraved now that does not mean that we're as bad as we possibly can be we're

not but it does mean that we are lost in our sin it does mean that we are

helpless and utterly dependent just like the blind man in John chapter 9 we are

John 9 · chapter mention

spiritually blind in need of having our eyes open just like Lazarus in John

John 10 · chapter mention

chapter 10 we are dead we are spiritually dead we don't need someone to

come along and merely shake us to wake us up we need someone to come and give

life to the dead we are helpless sheep and Jesus is the good shepherd

secondly we see here in John 10 that we are chosen sheep that is

unconditional election in the ancient Near East verse 2 shows us this verse 2

in the ancient Near East sheep when they were being kept overnight they were kept

in in shared communal pens that the shepherd didn't have their own pen but

they put all of their sheep into the same pen overnight now look at a second

sentence in verse 3 and see what the shepherd does the the morning comes the

gatekeeper opens the gate and each shepherd takes out their flock and look

at verse 3 the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out he

calls them by name now in biblical language a name is really really

important it's not so important for us for us it's just a label so my name is

Ralph okay it's a way for you to distinguish me from my co-pastor Matt

okay I am Ralph he is Matt okay people confuse us all the time but we are

different people okay and the way you know we're different is I am Ralph and

Matt is Matt okay names are simply labels to help us to distinguish but in

the ancient Near East a name meant so much more a name was who a person was

at the deepest most profound level so when Jesus says that he knows each of

his sheep by name well he's saying that he knows them at the deepest most

profound level we know how to keep up appearances don't we I mean it's written

to British etiquette keeping up appearances in it so you know you come

into church on Sunday I say how you doing you say all right your your arm

might be hanging off having been severed outside and you would still say I'm

alright that's just what we do we keep up appearances don't we we use makeup

and we use concealer we use Instagram filters to project that we're something

that we aren't truly but what verse 3 says is that Jesus looks down to the

very depths of who we are he sees us truly with all the Instagram filters

removed he sees behind the facade he sees behind our attempts to look good

and godly he sees us in all of our sin and mess and he says you're mine you're

mine listen this point is so important that Jesus repeats it a second time in

this passage verse 14 he says I am the good shepherd I know my sheep and my

sheep know me he knows us he knows us inside out back to front he knows

exactly what we're like and yet he's chosen us we're his sheep now our

minneas and his followers they taught that the God chose us in eternity because

he foresaw that one day we would have faith faith in Jesus but that's not how

it worked here in John chapter 10 verse 4 the people aren't his sheep because

John 10:4

they follow Jesus rather they followed Jesus because they are his sheep it's

unconditional election the Arminian say I owe my election to my faith the

Calvinist says I owe my face to my election I follow Jesus because I am one

of his sheep so I guess that begs the question well why did God choose some to

be his sheep when the Old Testament the people of God are asking exactly the

same question and just as they're about to enter the promised land Moses gives

the answer in Deuteronomy chapter 7 verse 7 he says the Lord did not set his

Deuteronomy 7:7

affection on you and choose you because you are more numerous than other

peoples for you were the fewest of all peoples in other words God didn't choose

you because you are bigger or better or smarter or more godly than the other

people no verse 8 Deuteronomy 7 it was because the Lord loved you and kept the

oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand I

remember the first time that I realized that my wife Anna truly loved me we've

been on a trip to France together with some my old school friends we were going

to visit a mutual friend of ours who was on a gap year and I had a great friend

great time with my old school friends we we were having a hoot we were going

around acting like complete idiots okay all of our silly French accents and

saying silly French things and Anna was utterly embarrassed by her boyfriend's

conduct and when we got back I remember in Waterloo station Anna confronting me

about it and saying you just acted like a fool that whole weekend I was

devastated but she said she still loved me and that's when I knew that she really

loved me she didn't simply love things about me she didn't simply love things I

did she loved me you see God chooses people not because he sees potential in

them not because he sees good but because he loves the love is within

himself in fact did you notice did he notice where the love was in this

passage just look at verse 29 look on in the passage verse 29 tells us that we

his sheep we are a love gift from God the Father to God the Son we are chosen

sheep unconditional election out of God's love within himself thirdly Jesus died

for the sheep now here are minions really differ from what we believe here

at City Church you see they see the cross as merely having removed an

obstacle that stood in the way of God forgiving us they see the cross as

simply having satisfied the unsatisfied claims of God's justice but in a broad

and general way it was a display of God's justice they say that it didn't

deal specifically with any individual specific personal sin it just made

saving faith possible we believe that on the cross Jesus died in the place of

sinners substituting for us taking the punishment we deserve in our place and

the reason that we believe that is because it's taught throughout the Bible

so in Romans chapter 3 verse 25 we read that God presented him that's Christ as

Romans 3:25

a sacrifice of atonement that means a substitutionary sacrifice through the

shedding of his blood in Isaiah chapter 53 verse 5 which which Chris took us

Isaiah 53:5

through several weeks back we read that he Jesus was pierced for our

transgressions he was crushed for our iniquities the punishment that brought us

peace was on him and by his wounds we are healed it's the language of

substitution he was punished he was wounded in our place and that's what we

have right here in John chapter 10 verse 11 we read I am the good shepherd the

John 10:11

good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep now now that word translated for

is the Greek word hyper and we don't really have a good English equivalent

for it the closest we would get is on behalf of so Jesus laid down his life on

behalf of the sheep in their place a few weeks back I was speaking at a

conference for international Baptist Church pastors in Lisbon Portugal it was

great fun time and on the final night one of the pastors he was the pastor of

a new church plant in Scandinavia said I'd love to go out for dinner with you

tonight I've got loads of questions to ask I'll tell you what I will pay for

the dinner will you come for dinner with me and I said yeah of course I will but

but as we started to speak it became clear that he was the pastor of a very

small church that only just started he was on a very very low salary and I

thought this this shouldn't be on you so just before we finished a meal I went

up to the bar and I paid the bill both for me and for him which means that when

he got up at the end and went over to pay the waiter the waiter said well no

it's already paid and that's what we believe about the cross no it's already

been paid at the cross Jesus took on himself the punishment for all the sin

of Christians past present future he didn't deal with sin in some kind of

abstract general way it was specific he was nailed to the cross for the prideful

thought I had this morning he was nailed to the cross for the bitter thought I

have tonight it was specific but because the cross was specific because it really

paid for my sins that means it could only really pay for the sins of the

elect those God has chosen before creation because if it paid for more but

it would be double payment wouldn't it it would be double punishment for the

sins of unbelievers their sin would have been punished on the cross but then

punished on them in final judgments as well and that will be unjust and God is

never unjust now our minions say that we have too smaller view of the atonement

they say it's limited at home and after all but actually it's far bigger than

their view you see what our minions claim to be unlimited at home that Jesus

died for the sins of all the world is actually very limited indeed because it

means the cross didn't actually save anyone it just made salvation possible

for anyone we believe that the cross really did save absolutely fully finally

it saved all of those who God and his love has chosen in eternity to die for

fourthly having died for us Christians will follow his voice our minions teach

that people are able to resist the Holy Spirit when he starts to bring them to

salvation we can stop it but look at what we read here in John chapter 10 the

John 10 · chapter mention

shepherd calls and the sheep come verse 3 not some of them not most of them all

of them because verse 4 they know his voice they listen verse 27 and they

follow him Jesus uses a double metaphor in this passage it contains two I am

saying so in verse 7 he says I am the gate and then in verse 9 he says I am

the good shepherd and I think Jesus point his reason for using these two

different metaphors he to I am saying is he's saying that he's both the way to

eternal life through his death but also the one who will lead us to eternal life

he does it all he hasn't just made it possible he has brought us through to

eternal life itself gifting us faith he is the good shepherd it is irresistible

I mean that's not surprising is it I mean a dead person cannot bring themselves

back to life they're dead a sheep cannot stop themselves from being led by the

shepherd the shepherd will win the battle of wills every single time the

grace by which we're saved is irresistible and understand what this

means it means that there is no heart too hard to be soft there's no mind too

made up to be changed there's no life too damaged to be redeemed there is no

history to blot it to be turned around God saving grace is powerful and it is

irresistible and that is great news for a city that has turned its back on God

as we hold out the good news of the gospel to the city of Manchester we

should have great confidence that we will see salvation happen because his

grace is irresistible and finally Jesus will never let go of his sheep look at

verse 27 he says my sheep listen to my voice I know them and they follow me I

give them eternal life and they shall never perish no one will snatch them out

of my hands this is one of the most wonderful promises in the whole Bible

Christians are safe because we are in Jesus it is firmly gripped and he will

never let us go now we need to be clear what this does not mean it is not once

saved always saved in the sense that if you went to the front at the end of a

meeting 20 years ago you're saved forevermore no matter what happens in

the rest of your life it doesn't mean that but it does mean that if we have

truly believed if we've truly been born again of the Holy Spirit then nothing no

one no power no authority can ever take us away from Jesus and that is so so

encouraging that the Christian life can be hard the name of this doctrine it's

the perseverance of the Saints not the holiday of the Holy the Christian life

is tough but this doctrine means we're safe we may lose our health in this life

but we will never lose eternal life we may lose our job in this life but we

will never lose the one who worked for us and laid down his life in our place

we may lose our smile in this life but we will never lose the joy of the one

who takes joy in us we may lose our loved ones in this life but we will

never lose the one who is supremely loved us that's the promise Christ will

hold us to the end so that's what we believe about how God saves it is his

work from beginning to end and it is to be received as a free gift God's sovereign

grace now it is possible to believe all these things in your head it's possible

to score top marks on a test on Calvinism and still to go straight to

hell but we're not saved on the basis of our knowledge we're saved on the basis

of Christ and all he has done but if we get this if we really get this not just

in our heads but in our hearts as well then it will change everything in our

life we'll be secure in who we are

knowing that we're dearly loved children of God not because of who we are but

because of who he is we will be free to live a radically transformed life knowing

that God will equip us for everything he calls us to be as his holy people we

will be bold in our evangelism knowing that no heart is too hard for God to

soften it and we will be confident about the future knowing that nothing and no

one can ever snatch us out of his hands all we need is Christ all we have is

Christ let me pray for us Lord Jesus thinking that you are supreme and

sovereign in all things thinking that you are the one who is saved from first

to last we were dead in our transgressions and sins but through your

death and resurrection you have made us alive you have raised us up with

yourself and you have promised that you hold us in your hands the love gift from

the father to the son and nothing can ever snatch us from that safe place