Blessed Assurance

Pastor Ryan Rush | John 10:28-29 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

I have a little carry-on uh duffel suitcase, rolling duffel bag that I've taken now on trips to four continents. A little carry-on bag that Omar Garcia got me a few years ago. And it's really not that attractive of a bag. It's not known for its beauty, it's known for its ruggedness. You can take it anywhere. In fact, they're so sure that it's going to make it through that they offer a lifetime warranty on that bag, which means that theoretically, uh 20 years from now, if uh there's a hole cut in that bag somewhere, it gets sliced up in uh on a plane or something, I could call them and they'll send me another one. In fact, I think they've actually sent Omar one. He as well just like it. They've sent him another. When they made that lifetime guarantee, I don't think they'd met Omar. So I'm not sure. You really believe in your product, you sell Omar Garcia a suitcase and say it'll last forever. But it says something about the confidence of the company in their product, right? That they do that. Anytime you see a lifetime warranty, you know that that has the backing of somebody who has great confidence in the promise that they have made. I want to talk today about a guarantee that has been made to you. God has not made a lifetime guarantee, He has made an eternal guarantee to those who are saved, who are forgiven. This is a doctrine that we know as eternal security. And it's the concept that once a person moves from death to life, having placed his trust in Jesus Christ. So once you've done that, you have trusted Jesus, you've been forgiven. Once that happened, you cannot lose that salvation. Uh, as I want you to turn with me to the uh the passage in John that talks about the shepherd, the shepherd bylaw of Jesus. That's in John chapter 10. When you turn to John chapter 10, oh, it's good to see all the t-shirts from camp uh around the campus today. So cool to hear what God has done this last week. Uh and uh I have to tell you, you're breaking all the rules. You know that the rules are during the summer, you know, churches people don't come. We don't want to miss it. So you're having to find a seat in the summer, same thing over in the courts. It's just so neat to watch what God's doing in Kingsland. Hey, I want to highlight one event that's coming up this month that you will see featured in the Connection Center if you haven't already today. But we'll be talking about it from here until the 4th of July. You probably know by now that this is the 250th anniversary of our nation. And we're gonna commemorate that time with 250 consecutive hours of prayer. And uh we're gonna invite you and to every household here to pray for one of those hours beginning June the 24th. And uh, if you haven't seen it already, I'm so encouraged by the many names that are already on there having signed up. I'm especially looking at those special forces that will sign up for an hour from midnight until 4 a.m. right in there. And so as we fill those up, I'm so grateful for your prayers. Looking forward to that time together. We have a prayer guide that you can pick up when you when you sign up. Uh, if you think, well, I'm not gonna remember it or I'll lose it between now and then, you can hang on. They'll be here until uh till we have the time of prayer uh that's also available online where you can take it and pray for that hour. And we know that nothing of significance happens apart from prayer. And we believe as we seek the heart of God for our nation, that we have reason to have confidence that the best days of the United States can be out ahead of us. This topic and this passage I want to look at today is tremendously important. This is not one of these things that we talk about and say, well, now you know some interesting trivia, and you know, you can hang on to this interesting kind of nugget about script. No, this is pivotal. It it impacts how we live and how we interact with the Lord Jesus Christ. John chapter 10, beginning in verse 27. I'm going to read down to verse 29. You look on as I read. My sheep, says Jesus, my sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will 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 is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. In verse 28, Jesus says that when he gives someone eternal life, how often will they perish?

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Never.

SPEAKER_00 4:24

Never. It says, they'll never perish. So many people, so many Christians, live lives of spiritual insecurity, and you treat your salvation or the favor of God kind of like the stock market. Well, it's up today. I had a bad morning, and uh, you know, who knows what's gonna happen tomorrow. You know, you just it's a terrible way to live. And listen, if you come to church for the first time today, maybe somebody invited you, you're just checking out the things of God, you come on the perfect day because you're gonna hear really the heart of what we believe, talking about the grace of God, which is the foundation, the bedrock, of why we can be secure and why we can feel safe. Today, Jesus is gonna show you how you can be secure in your relationship with God. I want to tell you three reasons you can be secure in Jesus. Here's the first reason: we're secure because of the promise of Jesus. He's made a promise. This passage is a promise. I don't know about you, but sometimes they get spam emails and they don't make it to the junk folder somehow, and they show up and they'll say something like, Hey, good news, you have a long-lost great uncle who was a multimillionaire, and he has left you as his only heir. And all we need you to do is follow this link and give us your social security number and you know, bank number, that sort of thing. And uh, or maybe it goes like this Hey, good news, we want to offer you a position. It's a part-time position. You only have to work two hours a day, and uh, we'll pay you, you know, a million dollars a year, something like that. Never in the history of those emails have I picked up the phone and called a buddy and said, You're not gonna believe what happened. This is the greatest day of my life. No, what do you do? You hit delete. Why? Because the credibility of a promise is only as good as the one who made that promise. And the reason we can get excited about this doctrine of eternal security is because of who has made the promise. Notice Jesus begins by saying, My sheep, it's a possessive, my sheep, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. It's not as though, incidentally, that everybody can feel secure. This is for his sheep. If you came today and you say, I've never trusted Jesus, I mean, I I don't know him, I then you don't have a reason to feel secure. He's talking about his sheep. Now you can, before you leave here, say, Well, Pastor Weird Church, who in the world would be here if they didn't believe in Jesus? Plenty of people. You can come, you can come for years. I've met people who sat for years and they came because mama asked them to come, or they they came because uh it was the right thing to do, or that's what the family did, but they they didn't know Jesus. Listen, this is for those who recognize that Jesus Christ has paid the penalty for our sin on the cross, and that means that we desperately needed a savior, you couldn't earn it on your own, and you said, Lord, help me, save me. And when you trust in the saving power of Jesus, then you come under the payment, the blood payment of Jesus, and you are secure forever. But let me tell you something. If you have been saved, that's it. Because if you've trusted Jesus, it says, it is over. Jesus says, my sheep. He doesn't just say the sheep, he doesn't say those who follow me. He says, When something belongs to me, my sheep, I'm taking care of it. Jesus isn't a shepherd who says he loses his sheep and says, I guess that one got away. No, he goes after his sheep that he calls his own. There's a beautiful picture here. Look back at verse 28. I give them eternal life and they will never perish. That idea of giving eternal life is written in the present tense. How many of you thought that eternal life is something you were gonna have when you die? Uh no, it's something you have right now. Uh in the last service, we sing at the end um It Is Well with My Soul, and it's my favorite song, you know. And so we sang the first couple verses, and I could tell they were wrapping up, and I said, Scotty, no, we're not gonna sing my favorite song without singing the last verse. And so I told him, I just said, Hey, and I'll tell you. Like, if I get hit by a bus this week and I die at the funeral, I want you to sing It Is Well with My Soul. So I want to sing the last verse. And so poor Scotty, I just said, if I get hit by a bus, and so Scotty starts singing, and Lord haste the day. I didn't think about, I didn't think that one through, man. So he's like, Okay, Pastor, Lord haste the day. Pastor gets hit by a bus. Where was I going with this? Anyway, oh, eternal life will not begin after I get hit by that bus. It begin began when I got saved at 11 years old. Eternal life has already begun for you if you know Jesus. Do you see? And how long does eternal life last? It'll last eternity. It'll last eternally. All right. Gets even better. I give them eternal life, and it says, they will never perish. When Jesus says they'll never perish, the Greek here uses a double negative that actually doesn't exist in English. It's the strongest possible assertion. So we would say something like, they will by no means under any circumstances ever perish. Jesus is slamming the door shut on the idea that a Christian should perish because it's based on his promise, not yours. You ever buy something of great value, like a car or something like that? And so when you go to buy it, they say, Oh, I can't take a personal check. You're gonna need a cashier's check. You know what the difference between a cashier's check and a personal check is? A personal check is based on your promise. A cashier's check is based on the bank's promise. That's why they say, I'd rather trust the bank. Thank you very much. You see? Jesus is making a promise that you can take to the bank because it's based on his promise, not your promise. There's a beautiful picture of that here that's just wonderful. Now it keeps going. I give them eternal life and they will never perish. Watch, no one will ever snatch them out of my hand. That word snatch, harpazo, is a predatory word. Remember, we're talking about this illustration of a sheep and a shepherd, and it's the same word that would be used to describe a wolf snatching a sheep. It's a violent, aggressive word. And Jesus is saying, no predator, no enemy can rip you out of my grip, my protection. He's saying an attempted theft cannot succeed. If you know Jesus, no one is going to take you from that relationship because it's not up to you. It's built on the promise of Almighty God. Here's the first reason. Here's the second. We're secure because of the grace of Jesus. Remember what grace is? Grace is something you don't deserve that you receive. It's unmerited favor. I think one of the reasons so many Christians struggle with the idea of eternal security is because many Christians struggle with the real idea of salvation by grace. So you wouldn't say it out loud, but what you think is, I'm so glad that Jesus died for me. And so that way he paid a price, and I came alongside him. We worked together, we were a team, salvation by committee, and he did his part. I checked a few boxes, and man, we we made it happen. Me and Jesus. That's not the way it works. No, you had no part in your salvation. You received a free gift from God. If it's true that you participated in your salvation, then you're only as secure as the weakest link. And you're the weakest link, dude. You didn't earn it, you don't deserve it. You can't sustain it. That's the grace that saved you, and it's the grace that keeps you. And to think that we had anything to do with our salvation is actually an insult to the grace of God. Do you see? Len and I had the opportunity last couple days to be at a wedding. I love being able to preach a wedding, and especially when I know them, Kai and Lindsay, amazing young man and young lady. We got to watch Lindsay grow up, dear friends with her parents. And so sat there at that altar. I stood there at the altar, I didn't sit and watch them. And just I could just see this beautiful little girl. And I'm thinking, how in the world is this knucklehead worthy? It's incredible. It's just incredible. What's just the things that got so emotional? It's amazing. It was a beautiful wedding, extravagant wedding. Incredible. Can you imagine if I'd have gone up to Duke, her daddy before the wedding and said, Duke, I just love being here. I'm so honored. I want to give you 20 bucks. I'd like to participate in the beauty of this wedding. And then I got up to do the ceremony and I said, Dear beloved, dearly beloved, we're here in the sight of God in the presence of this company to unite this man and woman in holy matrimony. And before we get started, I want to thank you for coming and just let you know that Duke and Angie and I have paid for everything that you see. I'm not sure I'd make it through the wedding, right? No, because it's not true. They did everything. I just had to, I got to participate in their grace to be there. When you were saved, Jesus paid it all. That's what we see here. Look back at verse 28. I give them eternal life. Underline that word, give. Doesn't say they earn their eternal life. It doesn't even say they maintain their eternal life or they keep it as long as they're faithful. No, he gives it. Eternal life is not a paycheck, it is a gift. And what God gives by grace, he doesn't take back because of weakness. Jesus has already promised that no one can snatch his father's followers from his hand, but in verse 29, he demonstrates that the fact that we're his sheep is a part of God's eternal plan. It says, My Father who's given them to me is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. We're talking about the beautiful mystery of sovereignty here. We spoke about it a few weeks ago, and you can go back and listen, but the bottom line is in case you missed it, the reason your salvation is secure is because it's up to God, not you. You don't have to fully understand that to just be in awe of the grace of God. Incidentally, this is so important in the context of the family. We talk a lot about family, home life, empowered homes here at Kingsley, mom and dad. You lead with grace. It doesn't mean that you have to have truth and consequences with your kids, but if all you do is have rules and consequences, guess what's gonna happen as soon as you're not around to provide the consequences? They're gonna go crazy. At some point, it has to be based on grace. Do your kids know? Listen, I love you no matter what. Nothing can stop me from loving you. I'll always be here. But I want you to know I love you enough that I'm calling you up to something better. And so now, do you see how it changes? Now I'm living according to grace as a child rather than according to rules as a child, and that can sustain long after the rules are there. The verse says, watch this, my father who has given them to me. I want you to read that again slowly. Did you catch that? The last verse indicated that Jesus has given us eternal life. This verse now says, the Father gave you to the Son. If you're saved, you're not just the person who decided to follow Jesus. Yes, it came down to a decision. You had to receive or ex or reject the grace of God. But it's not just that, because you are a gift from God the Father to God the Son. You were chosen, set apart, and presented to him. That's awesome. Now listen, do you think the Father is going to let his gift to his son get lost? No way. You ever watch the news and you see some uh criminal that got off because of a legal loophole? So they know they did it, they went through the trial and all this, and some lawyer says, Wait a second, somebody didn't follow protocol, this, whatever, and so all of a sudden they just walk free. Some of you are living as though Satan's gonna find some legal loophole, and and everybody else is gonna be okay, but he's gonna say, Not so fast, don't you know what he did? In fact, some of you, even talking about eternal security, what you're thinking in the back of your mind, you'd like to ask me, Pastor, okay, fine. You're saying once saved, always saved. What about the guy who does, and you fill in the blank with the worst thing you can imagine? What about that? And here's the answer. First of all, it is possible that someone can live in continual sin and have said they were a Christian and they never place their faith in Jesus. We know that's true, right? They can play church their whole lives and they're not saved. They're under judgment. But likewise, you can be a Christian, follow Jesus, and you can blow it. First John says, if we say we're not without sin, we're liar, and the truth is not in us, right? That's why it says if you confess your sin, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So here's the reality. Listen, no matter what you can drum up in your mind, God is not judging us whether we'll have a relationship or be saved based on our worst day. He's not even judging us based on our best day. He's judging us based on whether we have come under the grace of Jesus Christ. So to answer your question about the what if, the what about this guy or this thing, this act, is it's the grace of God. Think about Noah's Ark. Perfect example of salvation we have in the Old Testament. The judgment comes, God provides a way of escape, Noah comes into the ark. He receives the ark, if you will. You receive Jesus, you come under Jesus and you escape the judgment. If you go back and read the story of Noah's Ark, who closed the door? God closed the door. Noah didn't do it. And there is no doubt in this massive flood that there were storms and Noah stumbled on that ark. But listen, Noah fell in the ark. Noah never fell off the ark. And so it is with salvation. You say, Pastor, so I can sin all I want, huh? Yeah, if I'm saved, I can just go on sinning. No, here's the answer. Because of the grace of God, you can worship all you want. And the reality is you'll live differently because of the grace of God. And if you don't understand this, you're gonna behave for the wrong reason. So there's a lot of people saying, Well, I'm just still trying to keep the checklist. Like, you better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout. I'm telling you why. You know, that's not the reason. It's because we have been so dramatically saved, and now we want to love him with our lives. We are secure. Why? We're secure because of the promise of Jesus, we are secure because of the grace of Jesus, and finally, we are secure because of the protection of Jesus. Now, some of you OCD people have already guessed your wait a second, Pastor, you have two P's and one G. What's up with that? Could you not come up with three P's so we could have some? I tried. I tried. But the reality is that second point was the grace of Jesus. That's exactly what the text says, and I couldn't come up with a P word for grace, and so you're gonna have to suck it up, and so am I, because the text says we can be secure because of the promise of Jesus, because of the grace of Jesus, and finally because of the protection of Jesus. Just as Jesus promised us salvation and he demonstrated grace for salvation, listen, Jesus has the power to protect us in that salvation. The same God who saved you will keep you because he loves you. Look back, Jesus says, no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. Do you see that? Actually, verses 28 and 29 give us two hands if you watch it closely. In verse 28, Jesus said, No one can snatch you out of his hand, Jesus' hand. Now he says in verse 29, no one can snatch you out of the Father's hand. You are doubly secure in both the Son's hand and the Father's hand. Your hand is actually not involved. The security of your salvation is not dependent on your firm grip on Jesus. It is dependent on Jesus' firm grip on you by his power and authority. The question is never, are you strong enough to hold on to Jesus? The question is, is Jesus strong enough to hold on to you? And that question answers itself. We talked about a bank a while ago. You know what the most secure place in a bank is? It's the safe deposit box. Inside the safe, why is the safe deposit box so safe? Because there's two keys. The bank has a key, and you have a key. And if you don't have both keys, you don't get in the safe deposit box. Your salvation is protected by two keys, the father's hand and the son's hand. And for anyone to get what's inside, your soul, your standing, your eternal life, they'd have to defeat both simultaneously. That's not a security system. Anybody's break it. First John 5 13 puts it this way I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. Listen, I recognize that there are very some very sincere and well meaning Christians who do. Disagree me with me on the fact that once a person is saved, that person is always saved. But I have to tell you, I look at the breadth of scripture and I think this is crystal clear. And I also have to say, I don't think this is some minor doctrine. Say, well, it's no big deal either way. No, this is it. Because the question of security not only puts us on shaky ground, it ultimately questions the power of God to save. Listen to the words of Jesus in John 5, 24. Truly I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not come under the judgment, under judgment. That is written in perfect tense. So that means it's an act that is true and will always be true forever. A chemical reaction that cannot be undone is an irreversible reaction. So, for example, if you burn a piece of wood, that wood will be converted to a mixture of carbon dioxide, water, and ash. Now, if you say, well, I want to reverse the process and take the carbon dioxide, the water, and the ash, and I want to make some wood. You can't do it. You don't get to bring those things together and meld them into wood. You have made something entirely new. That's what Jesus is telling you. The same is true at conversion. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old is gone. Behold, the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5.17. In order for a Christian to lose his salvation, what has to happen? Well, somebody'd have to make Jesus a liar. And then somebody would have to rewrite Romans 8 that our students spent all week at camp studying, that says, nothing can separate us from the love of God. Somebody would have to erase your name from the Lamb's book of life that Jesus has written there. You can't do it. Listen, I have good news for you today. When Jesus makes a reservation in heaven for you, no one can cancel it. You see how important your security in Christ is? Do you see how this changes everything? So I want to say two things before we close. First, if you're here and you have not trusted Jesus, I need to say again that none of this applies to you yet, but it can. It all comes down to whether you received the gift of grace that Christ has offered you. See, Jesus Christ paid the penalty on the cross for my sin because I deserved death. I deserve to be eternal, eternally separated from God and punished in hell for what I have done. But Jesus paid the price. And so that salvation, that grace, that relationship in that life is available to you today. And I think it'd be such a tragedy if you heard this promise and that invitation and you missed out. So in a little while we begin to sing, I want to encourage you to take a moment and say, I'm going to settle this right here today. Lord Jesus, I know I'm a sinner and I am condemned in my sin. I need a savior. I believe Jesus died for me, rose from the dead to defeat that sin. Come into my life, Lord Jesus. Forgive my sin. I want to follow you as my Lord and King for the rest of my life. That can happen today. So I want to say one more thing to those who have trusted Jesus. I want to ask you something. Are you living like it? Say, what are you talking about? If you've been saved, are you living like it? And I don't mean, man, you need to behave if you're one of his children. I don't mean that. I mean just the opposite. I mean if you've been saved and it's secure. Some of you are acting like you were saved by grace, and now y'all got to work it out for the rest of your life to maintain that thing. It's like it has to be renewed every year. No, let me tell you something. If you're living out the Christian life and you're saying, I've just got to check the boxes or sing the songs or tend the thing or whatever, and I'm doing it all so that maybe somehow I can earn that renewal, you're missing the point. Because something happens when you recognize it's sure. Because now all these things we do are out of worship and relationship, and it's glorious. When we understand that, we will walk differently, talk differently, sing differently, study differently. We'll share Jesus differently when we really understand this grace. And I pray that you would. Would you bow with me, Church? Before I pray for us, move into this time of response, we're gonna sing a song together. Just allow this promise to settle on your heart today. I'm serious when I say if you're here and you have any doubts about your salvation, you can settle it this morning. And when we begin to sing, I'm going to invite members of our prayer team to join me here at the front. In fact, you all can make your way this way right now. They're gonna be here and they'd be honored to pray with you and for you. Listen, first and foremost, if you need to trust Jesus, I plead with you. Don't wait another day. You know, opportunities always have an expiration day. You're not here by accident. And so upstairs, you can make your way to the side stairs. Downstairs, make your way this direction. Settle it today. Second, of course, there are some who are saved in the room, and maybe the Lord has reminded you, it's secure. You're good. You just want to pray with somebody and just use this day as a marker so that you remember what the Lord has promised you. And finally, there are some who are dealing with burdens, your heart's broken about something. You just need to pray with somebody for something going on. I hope that you'll come. Let's respond as God leads in just a moment, even as we sing my favorite song. So, Father, thank you for this word. Thank you, Lord, because of what Christ has done, that it can truly be well with our souls. No matter the circumstance, regardless of the regrets, God, we thank you that we rest in Jesus and what he has done. So speak to us now. Move in our hearts, God. Pray that the man or woman who hasn't trusted you, Lord, that this would be the day of salvation. Pray these things in Christ's name. Amen. Hey, Pastor Ryan Rush here, and I just want to thank you for being with us at Kings Online today. What an honor. But I'll tell you what would be even better. We'd love to see you get connected with the physical church in the days ahead if you haven't already. And that means maybe if you're local in the West Houston area, we'd love to see you at Kingsland. Otherwise, regardless, we'd love to help you facilitate uh jumping into a local church near you, and we can do that together. You can go to Kingslinorg slash online connect. Kingslink.org slash online connect to find the next steps on your journey. Listen, thanks again for being with us today at Kings in the Lord.