[0:01] Thank you for your prayers, and it's good to be home, good to be back. Thank you for your kind welcome, my wife and I, being away for several weeks and traveling to Philadelphia, D.C., and Palm Bay, Florida.
[0:17] Never been to Palm Bay, but God's people were there, and so had a chance to spend time with some friends from our former church in Miami who live there now. So, but again, thank you for your prayers.
[0:29] So excited to hear from the Davises and the Zimmermen about their trip. Thank you for the updates we got. Those are really neat to read.
[0:40] Hope you haven't read them. I want to turn back to the Jesus we need to know today. That's the Gospel of John series that we've been studying.
[0:51] Never knew that it would be so important in my life and the praying and life of our church when we started this way back at the beginning, before, just before COVID hit. That's what we need to see.
[1:04] And all of this crazy, what God's people needed to focus on was Jesus. Who is Jesus? His kingdom. His presence. His kingdom. And so we've been doing that meticulously a bit in the Gospel of John.
[1:17] I don't apologize for that because it's the Word of God. And I don't believe in reading the Word of God or preaching the Word of God like it's a novel. It's the most important thing we've ever seen in writing, and we need to marinate in it.
[1:34] So we've been marinating. I'm going to marinate a little faster if I can, but I don't know if I can. We'll see. We'll see. But thank you for your patience.
[1:45] And now we turn back to in the fall. In September, I want to start a new series on the Kingdom Centered Church, and hopefully do that starting in September. So be praying for that. Let's pray.
[2:00] Let's pray. Father, thank you. Father, Most High, thank you.
[2:12] You are glorious. You are good. You are glorious and wonderful. Awesome in glory. You are the God who works wonders. You have kept us.
[2:25] You have watched over us. You have given us life. You've sustained us through hard times and good times. You have been our God.
[2:36] You have been our rock. You have been the one who gives us joy in the midst of sorrow. You are the lifter of our head.
[2:48] You are the one who makes life worth living. For you sent your Son that we might have that life. Jesus, you are great.
[3:00] You are the Son of the Most High. You are our Savior. Blessed be the name of Jesus. As we come to the Word now, the Word of the living God, not the Word of man, not the Word of woman, but the Word of God.
[3:18] We ask, O Lord, that you would speak to us through your Word, that you would guide us, that you would open our eyes, that you would break through our idolatries, break through our foolishness, break through our excuses, break through our denials, break through to our hearts and set us free, and guide us so that we might follow, that we might be faithful sheep, to follow the great shepherd of the sheep.
[3:46] So, Father, come now. Holy Spirit, do your work that only you can do, and apply the Word to our hearts and lives. Feed us, for we are hungry.
[4:00] Find us, for some of us are lost and wandering in the dark. O God, save today. O God, guide your people.
[4:12] Heal today. Do all your holy will. Bring somebody back. Lead somebody in the right way. O Lord, we look to you.
[4:25] Encourage someone today. Encourage your church that we are following the great shepherd, and we're on the right track because we're following him according to his Word.
[4:37] Help us, Lord. Speak through your unworthy servant now. May only the Word of God win today. In Jesus' name.
[4:49] Amen. John chapter 10, beginning at verse 22. At that time, the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem.
[5:03] 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?
[5:16] 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.
[5:31] But you do not believe, because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
[5:42] 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.
[6:03] I and the Father are one. That is the word of the Lord. Praise the Lord. Please be seated. Thank you.
[6:21] Praise team. Thank you so much. Thank you. We come now, in our study, in sheep philosophy, to security.
[6:38] Not social security, not homeland security, but sheep security. Sheep security says, the Lord's sheep can never be lost again, because their good shepherd won't let them.
[6:59] We can go home now. Once in the pen, always in the pen. And just in case you don't know what I mean by pen, sheep pen. God used this passage to change my life years ago.
[7:15] Sandy and I have been only married a few years. We were both born again, saved by the good shepherd in the Pentecostal church, which I love to this day, because they are brethren, and we have much to learn from them.
[7:31] We heard the voice of the good shepherd and began to follow him in that church. But our church is taught that you could lose your salvation. My best friend, the man who led me, one of my best friends, who led me to the Lord, used to always be concerned that he didn't want to be caught in a movie theater when the rapture came.
[7:48] I'm serious. And because he was afraid he would be left behind because he was not in the place he should have been.
[8:03] When you believe you can lose your salvation, it can be a torturous life at times. We used to debate students, my wife and I, in college at Temple University.
[8:15] We would debate some of the students who believed that doctrine. We'd debate them, and we held our own too. It shows you that you can be wrong and win a debate. But God began to get my attention as I was reading the Scripture.
[8:35] This passage, this passage haunted me. I read it in my devotions, and it kept speaking to me. It kept screaming at me.
[8:49] I remember saying to my wife, is this? And we used the term eternal security at that time. Is this eternal security? And she thought I was losing my salvation.
[9:04] When God finally broke through, I want to tell you, it was freeing to realize that my good shepherd really does give me eternal life. And he will preserve me to the end.
[9:22] There are no degrees of sheep security. The sheep in heaven are happier, but they are not more secure than we are.
[9:36] Do you hear me? Write that down somewhere. The sheep in heaven are happier, but they are not more secure than we are. But there are degrees of sheep assurance of their salvation.
[9:53] We all are at different places where we know that we know that we know that we know that we are safe. And sometimes that sense of safety and security is assaulted.
[10:04] But let me ask you some questions. Do you really believe that because of Jesus, your soul is safe?
[10:20] Do you really believe it? In a world that has no security, followers of Jesus can live in safety and in peace because we are secure.
[10:37] Last time we came to this passage in John 10, we soaked in the words of Jesus when he says, I lay down my life for the sheep. This is how the good shepherd saves his sheep by dying for them and guaranteeing they will be saved.
[10:54] But now he goes further to show us that his death means that we will be kept, not just saved, but kept in that state of salvation.
[11:07] But before he talks about sheep security, he shows us what it's like not to be his sheep and how insecure that life can be.
[11:19] Because that's one of the great issues of humanity, is it not? Security. I would suggest to you that that might be the driving force in humanity since we got kicked out of the garden.
[11:34] We don't feel safe. We don't feel safe. Whatever safe means. And today, brothers and sisters, we demand to feel safe.
[11:46] We demand safety. My wife and I were talking to a friend of ours. Was it Sandy? Was it in D.C.? The story about the call, the customer service call.
[11:57] Was that? I can't remember who told us that. That was, huh? Pennsylvania. It was okay. We were talking to someone in Pennsylvania. They were telling us about a phone call that they called.
[12:08] They made customer service call. You know, you call customer service and you want to help from some kind of situation, your phone, whatever. and this person called and they were on the phone with the customer service person and the person wasn't really helping them very well.
[12:21] You know, and you ever been there? Come on, has someone ever experienced this? You're on the phone and you're having a hard time with customer service and you're getting a little bit, your temperature is rising.
[12:32] You're not yelling and screaming and cussing at anybody, but you're being firm and forceful. You're going to get help here. This person's not listening to you and you're trying to get clear.
[12:43] Well, the person on the customer service side says to our friend, I'm sorry, sir. I can't talk. I'm going to have to get someone else to talk to you because I don't feel safe with you.
[13:01] Now, my friend said, do you think I'm coming through the phone to strangle you? Thanks, because we don't feel safe, y'all, we run from hard conversations.
[13:22] We even talk about safe people. And now there's some truth to some of this. I'm not saying it's all bad now. We seek security and safety without God.
[13:32] That's our problem. And then we tend to find our identity in other things that we think will give us security. Gender. Love.
[13:45] Am I securing your love? Or just sex? We look for security and prosperity and work and weaponry. We want a sense of peace.
[13:56] We want a sense of inner peace, inner security, and outer security. But again, true, lasting security is only found in Jesus. And Jesus wants to show us, first of all, what it looks like when we don't.
[14:10] Our scene takes place. Remember where we are. It takes place in winter, it says, which in Israel is from November to March. It's at the time of the Feast of Dedication. And that's a celebration of the rescue of the Jews under the Maccabees and the rededication of the temple that had been defiled by the Greek invaders.
[14:30] This takes place, if you open your, if you look at your Bible, between Matthew, between Malachi and Matthew, that 400 years there, this is where that era takes place.
[14:41] The Judas Maccabees and the defeat of the Greeks. Temple was defiled. And so when the Jews finally kicked out the invaders, they designed this celebration of rededicating the temple that had been defiled by the invaders.
[15:01] Today we call it Hanukkah. It takes place this year, December 7th through 15th. That is when our Jewish neighbors will be celebrating the rededication of the temple and the rescue of their nation during that period.
[15:16] Now here's the thing about this scene. The rededication of the temple means the rededication of the nation and people to God.
[15:35] See, that's what religious holidays should do. It should bring people back back to God. Back to a reality that I belong to you.
[15:49] That we, as a people, belong to you. Do you see the irony in the passage now? Jesus, the Son of the Most High, God in human flesh, has come to His temple.
[16:06] He's there. The one they should be dedicated to has come to the temple. And He didn't recognize Him.
[16:20] Amen. Is that what happens to you?
[16:31] When you gather with God's people on Christmas, Easter, forget those days.
[16:43] Every Lord's Day is our holiday. The only one commanded for us in the New Testament, the Lord's Day.
[16:54] It is our celebration. It is a, as it were, a rededication of ourselves to Christ and to His kingdom.
[17:08] But do we miss Him? Pastor, what do you mean? How could we miss Him? We're here. Are you too busy thinking about what you're going to do after worship to meet Jesus in worship?
[17:22] We fill up our Lord's Day with so much activity, so many things, and we pop into church and we tip our hats to Jesus and our hearts are way gone because we're thinking about lunch and dinner and parties and games.
[17:46] Can I ask you, I'm just asking because I don't know your heart. You're speaking, you and Jesus. Are you here? Are you here? Not to see Kevin Smith, but are you here to meet with Jesus the great market day of the soul the Puritans called Sunday, the market day of the soul where we do business with the living God as it were.
[18:08] Are you here? Is your heart here? Is your mind here? Are your cares distracting you? And some of our cares are heavy, okay?
[18:21] But are they, are you so distracted by your cares that you're not laying them at the master's feet? When we come to worship, I never tell people, leave your cares out there.
[18:35] That's crazy. You can't do it. What Jesus wants when we gather is to bring our cares and lay them at his feet. Come with your burdens.
[18:47] Come heavy laden. Come so he can lift you, the yoke off of you. Lay them at his feet. That's what, that's what I'm here to do. To those of us who work in the service, are you too busy thinking about your role in the service?
[19:05] How it will go to bring your heart to him in worship? That's happened to me. Thinking about the sermon, worrying about the sermon, worrying about what I'm going to say and forget him.
[19:20] I'm just saying that's what's happening here. These Jewish people, these Jewish leaders are gathering for this wonderful dedication Saturday or Sabbath, whatever day it was for them.
[19:32] They're gathered to meet with the living God and yet, the living God is in their midst and they don't see him. They don't recognize him. They don't know him. How is your rededication time going this morning?
[19:50] Here's the, here's where you see where we, life doesn't work very well. Those who are not Christ's sheep find, find life unbearably frustrating.
[20:02] I didn't say frustrating. I said unbearably frustrating. Frustration is a sign of lack of inner security. In our passage, notice the big question they're asking.
[20:13] Who are you, Jesus? Tell us plainly right now. That's the big question they're asking in this passage. I mean, I'm glad they're asking the question.
[20:26] Listen, how, here's how they put it. How long will you keep us in suspense if you are the Christ? Tell us plainly, who are you, Jesus? They felt frustrated because they didn't believe Jesus had been clear.
[20:41] Now, let's be honest. Some of them wanted him to say he was the Christ so they could accuse him of blasphemy probably and try to find another way to hook him.
[20:53] Okay? So this is, some of this was tricky. But there's a real question here. There's a real frustration here. They didn't realize who Jesus was.
[21:04] They wouldn't accept what he said. We'll come back to what he said in a minute. But listen, what they were saying is this, therefore. God, you haven't done enough to prove yourself to us.
[21:20] Sound familiar? They could be contemporary people. Do more. Show me more. Listen, life becomes very frustrating when you make demands of God.
[21:40] God, I'm trying to tell you. God, you haven't done enough to prove yourself to us and it's your fault. God, you're not being clear enough for me.
[21:57] Remember who these people are. They are Jewish people who are being occupied by a conquering nation.
[22:07] They are vassals. The Greek, the Romans have conquered the known world in that area. And the Jewish people are living in a type of slavery.
[22:22] They had taxation without representation and no power to change it. Every time they tried to rebel, the Romans would put them down brutally.
[22:33] This is history, y'all. There were many crucifixions before Jesus. They were longing for a savior. They're frustrated. And this guy shows up.
[22:45] This guy named Jesus shows up. He looks like the Messiah but he isn't acting like the Messiah was supposed to act in their thinking.
[22:56] He looks good. He says some good things but then he says some crazy things like love your enemies. do good to them.
[23:07] That is not what they were looking for in the Messiah. He isn't raising an army that they can see. He isn't preaching against the state and its policies. He isn't organizing demonstrations.
[23:21] they are frustrated to the core. They even are worried that because of him we're going to see this later in the book that because of him they're going to the Romans will come in and take away their power because he's stirring up the people.
[23:42] Listen. Rejecting what Jesus says and has done leads to a life of frustration and cynicism and deep insecurity.
[23:57] If you don't listen to him who are you listening to? You're listening to somebody and the problem is they're just like you.
[24:12] They're just like you. Your favorite pundit your favorite guru on Fox or CNN and they're but they're just like you and you're gobbling up what they said because you're looking for security in something.
[24:29] You're trying to find some security and I'm here to tell you I stopped by on my way to heaven to tell you that they can't give you security if you reject what Jesus said and did.
[24:46] you can't even trust yourself because you know you. You don't know what you don't know.
[25:02] And see they're frustrated and you're frustrated and I'm frustrated because we're not in control. Do you feel that way right now? Anybody here feel like you're not in control? Don't raise your hand just think about it.
[25:13] you can't control your teenage or adult children. You can't control whether people like you or not. You can't control your health diagnoses.
[25:27] To be honest you can't even control whether you keep breathing. That's called being human y'all.
[25:40] That's called being human. it's okay but you don't like it. We are not in charge but we get angry and we blame God.
[25:59] You haven't done enough to prove yourself. You haven't done enough for me. You're feeling insecure.
[26:11] just be honest. You feel unsafe. But when you understand that you are a sheep of the Lord if you are a sheep of the Lord you can stop blaming God.
[26:33] You can start demanding from God because you know you're safe in the pen. we'll get there. Give me a minute. Those who are not Christ's sheep I tell you to come back to this reject the evidence he gives.
[26:52] Reject the evidence. That's what 25 and 27 show us. Jesus is saying to 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.
[27:08] My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. This is the Lord's big answer to their big question. Big question remember are you really the Savior Jesus?
[27:22] Here's the big answer. Here's the big truth. Jesus has said and done all that he needs to do. He's said and done all that he needs to do to prove himself to you and to the world.
[27:39] If he did nothing else and he is doing much more but if he did nothing else that was enough to show the world who he is.
[27:50] He's got one now in the history here he's got one last thing he's going to do and it's called the cross and the resurrection. That's the exclamation point and the final statement about who he is and what he says is true.
[28:03] It's coming. But our problem is we don't sometimes let's be honest we don't know what he has said. We don't know the scriptures or we don't believe him.
[28:26] Sometimes we don't believe him it's because we're not really his sheep just what Jesus is saying because we're not really his sheep. sometimes there are people in churches there are people all around this world all around the world in this country in this city who go to church every Sunday but they really don't believe.
[28:43] They show up but they really don't believe what he's saying. This is a dead book. These words mean nothing because they're not his sheep at least not yet hopefully.
[28:56] we're not dedicated to him. We're hanging around the sheep pen and we look like sheep but we're not sheep.
[29:10] And by the way the biblical word for being dedicated to God the word is holy. When he makes you holy he makes his sheep holy dedicated to them.
[29:24] Mine he says mine you're mine. And if that's not you it can become you by crying out to him.
[29:39] But let's talk about in general. The truth of the matter is even true sheep our faith wavers doesn't it? Even those of us who trust Jesus have moments of doubt or confusion and we too feel insecure.
[29:53] We don't feel safe. many of you if not most of you have probably been on an airplane. I like flying.
[30:05] I really I do. I like flying. I like traveling to other countries. I don't like long flights because I'm kind of a sizable person sometimes and they never put me in first class for some reason.
[30:17] I don't know. but you know I like it. You know if you know your flight attendants greet you as you get on the plane.
[30:28] They're nice ladies or nice men. They're really smiling and happy to see you because they're getting paid. You know sometimes when you get on you ever get on the plane and you look to the left and get a glimpse of the cockpit.
[30:43] Yeah. Isn't that pretty cool? You see them back there the captain and the copilot back there checking you know. I love that. And you get in your seat you get all set up and the flight attendant will give you the spiel about safety.
[30:58] Right? I know it by heart basically but yeah I love it. And then the captain will come on to the PA system and he has always a very nice calm voice to tell you about your flight.
[31:13] We will be cruising at an altitude of 30,000 feet. sunshine. Keep your hands and feet inside the plane at all times.
[31:25] I mean he's this neat guy or woman. I mean either one and the voice is really soothing like the people on the radio with that soul voice you know. The plane taxis down the runway.
[31:38] I have a ritual that I do as the plane is taking off. I'm going to let you in. Don't tell anybody I told you this but I'm a Star Trek fan. As the plane is taking off I go engage.
[31:53] I do it. I can't help it. And the hand moves and I do it and I try to do it quite. It just Kyle it just comes out of me. I can't help it. Engage. And the plane's and you hit cruising altitude and you're like yeah.
[32:08] When you're taking off you remember you kind of fall back in the seat as the plane tilts up. You know yeah baby. And you hit 30,000 40,000 feet and you are cruising along.
[32:18] It's like looking at white fluffy clouds if they're any up that high and you're just enjoying the ride. It's wonderful until turbulence hits. Nobody where did the turbulence come from.
[32:32] You were enjoying the flight. You got your headphones on, a good book. You were kicked back and then you hit turbulence. And you're like what?
[32:46] And now you're not happy. Now we're all feeling insecure. You're grabbing the hand of the person next to you whom you do not know but you're about to become good friends.
[32:59] You're holding on to them and now you're looking at that captain and you're wondering, oh son, what are you doing? I mean, that nice captain who with the beautiful voice has lied to you or he's incompetent one or the other.
[33:20] What kind of flying is this? And the problem is this, you can't fly the plane. even if you could, you couldn't get through the door, Air Marshal would shoot you in his tracks.
[33:43] What are you going to do? You have to trust that the captain up there, he or she knows what they're doing. You have to trust that that they've landed more planes than they've crashed.
[34:00] You've got to trust. trust. And here's the thing, the captain of that plane isn't perfect.
[34:17] He can, he or she can make mistakes. Some have. Things happen that they can't control. Bird strike into the engines, planes go down.
[34:32] Come on, I'm not trying to scare you about flight, I'm just trying to show you. It's still safer than driving, amen, even in Chattanooga. You, you have to trust.
[34:47] But Jesus' words are more trustworthy. Jesus' actions are more trustworthy. He has never lost a flight. When your life seems crazy, you have to trust in the captain of your soul.
[35:03] You have to go back. Listen, saints, you have to keep going back to what he has said and what he has done. You can't say, I already know that.
[35:19] You don't know what you think you know. Or you don't know it as well as you think you know it. Because if you knew it as well as you thought you knew it, you would never have said what you said. You have to keep soaking yourself in what Jesus has said and done.
[35:36] What Jesus has said, what Jesus has done. You've got to keep coming back to the shepherd, to the good shepherd, the great shepherd of the sheep, and keep in mind, you've got to keep looking at this Jesus you need to know.
[35:49] You've got to keep hearing his voice. You've got to keep coming. He's speaking all the time. But are his sheep listening? Well, last thing, last thing, last thing.
[36:05] I've got a few minutes left. Those who are Christ's sheep are secure in his pen forever.
[36:16] Now, here's the goodie. Here's the punchline. As he's talking to them, he says, listen, I'll tell you about my sheep.
[36:28] They hear my voice, I know them, they follow me, and I give them eternal life. They will never perish. The Greek is very strong here. They will never, no, not ever perish.
[36:41] 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.
[36:53] I and the father are one. There's a lot there. I'm going to do this briefly. First of all, who are the true sheep? You've got to make sure you're a sheep. You can't talk about eternal security, or a better phrase that we use in our circles, perseverance of the saints, or preservation of the saints.
[37:16] You can't talk about this unless you understand what a true sheep is. He said it before, now he's saying it again. What's a true sheep? One who hears my voice.
[37:30] When the word is spoken, the sheep go, that's the good shepherd. When the word is read, the sheep go, I recognize that voice. That's the voice of my good shepherd.
[37:43] They know his voice, he knows them as intimacy with God, and they follow me.
[37:54] Oh, thanks. They follow me. We sang it, my chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose, went forth, and followed thee.
[38:19] That's good theology, y'all. That's what it means to be a true sheep. You see, the true sheep hear the voice of the Lord, they hear his voice, and they follow.
[38:32] That's a sheep. If you're not following, you're not a sheep. I'm not saying true sheep don't stray, we know that, but the good shepherd brings them back because he's the good shepherd.
[38:46] David wandered, God brought him back. Peter wandered, God brought him back. Samson wandered, God brought him back.
[38:58] That's the nature of being a sheep. You can make some horrible mistakes as a sheep, commit some horrible sins, we see it in Scripture, but then the Lord arrests your heart.
[39:12] are you a true sheep? If you are, see, you got to be careful, saints, hear me, we got to be careful telling people they're saved because they make a profession of faith or walk down the aisle or something, whatever it is, or they ask Jesus into their heart.
[39:31] None of those things are actually in Scripture, by the way. Jesus said, follow me. Believe and follow. follow. That's when you know you are a true sheep.
[39:44] That's when you know you're likely seeing a true sheep, someone who follows. It's a continual following. We make the mistake of telling people they're saved and they haven't followed.
[39:59] And so many people are not. And you've told them they have eternal security. What have you done? What have we done?
[40:17] I don't get excited overly, a little bit, when someone makes a profession of faith in Jesus. I say to them, great, come, let's come follow Jesus now.
[40:29] Come, let's walk with Jesus. Because those words don't have to mean it's really in here. sinners' prayer, all that stuff, not in Scripture.
[40:43] Jesus said, follow me. Are you following? It's not saved by works.
[40:56] You're only demonstrating what's really happened to you. you're not saved by following. But if you are saved, you're following. Such, those are the ones Jesus says now, I give you eternal life, you will never perish, no one will snatch you out of my hand.
[41:22] three things, real quick. We are secure because he actually gives us eternal life. Eternal life, by definition, is forever life.
[41:35] Forever life does not begin when you die. Forever life, Jesus called it the abundant life earlier in this chapter. His life begins right now. You, if you are a sheep of Jesus, you have it and are living it right now.
[41:49] Eternal life, the abundant life. What is that life? It is life in the pen. It is life in the kingdom. It is life in his presence. It is life of a purpose that goes beyond you and yours. It's living for him, knowing his presence, hearing his voice.
[42:04] That is the abundant life that he wants to give you so that you have a shepherd who is guiding you through the life's darkest moments and life's brightest moments. You need him guiding you in life's brightest moments so you don't put your security in those moments.
[42:23] You put your security in the giver of the moments because bright moments will always end up later being dark moments. It's coming.
[42:34] You see, if you put your faith in security and everything going well, you end up worshiping that. But if you're listening to the voice of the good shepherd, you can give him praise for those good moments and recognize that every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights.
[42:55] Amen? I'm almost done. Second, we are secure because no one can take us from him. He said no one can snatch us out of his hands.
[43:07] In that culture, sheep were sometimes stolen from shepherds, but not this shepherd. He cannot be robbed. The devil cannot steal us from Jesus nor take us by force.
[43:21] That's what snatching implies. It is something. You ever have somebody try to snatch something from you? They try to... They don't ask you for it.
[43:34] Snatch and grab, we call it, right? They want to give it. And Jesus is so strong that you, sheep of God, cannot be snatched from him.
[43:48] You cannot be taken from him. His grip is iron, baby. He got the true kung fu grip. And yet, people will say, you can jump down.
[44:05] I said, I was told, I was told, yeah, you can't snatch, but you can jump down if you want to. That's a denial, one, of the new birth, and two, it's a denial of the strength of Jesus.
[44:29] We're like little children, sorry, like little children crossing the street. When your children were little, that's right. You didn't say, you didn't say, you're crossing a big tree. You didn't say, follow me.
[44:42] No, you grabbed them by the hand. And, and listen, you sometimes, come on somebody, by the wrist. Huh?
[44:53] Huh? Because you know, you get them by the hand, they get slippery. Children are slippery. hungry. And so, you grab them by the wrist.
[45:06] That's what Jesus does. He's got you by the wrist. He's got you by the body. He ain't, no one can get to you, and you can't just jump away from him.
[45:19] Now, that don't mean that you don't wander sometimes, no, no. But, but he always holds on to your soul. Paul said in 2 Timothy 1, 12, I know whom I have believed, and I'm convinced he's able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.
[45:36] What did Paul entrust to Jesus? He entrusted his soul to him. Come on somebody. 1 Peter 1, 3 to 5, praise be to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[45:47] In his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead into an inheritance that can never perish spoil or fade.
[45:59] This inheritance is kept guarded in heaven for you who through faith, listen, are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
[46:13] Your inheritance is kept and guarded and you yourself are being shielded. Come on, how in the world can anybody get to you. Last point, we are secure because the Father and Son both hold us.
[46:31] Oh, goodness gracious. Notice the text says, Jesus says, the Father gives him people. Verse 29, my Father who has given them to me.
[46:46] It's a handoff, y'all. the Father in eternity chose those whom he would save. First, Ephesians 1, he chose those he would save. Then, he sends Jesus to die for them.
[47:00] He hands them off. It's not the Falcons when a handoff is fumbled. this handoff is secure. The Father puts them right in the Son's hands.
[47:14] Now, you go save them. You go die for them. And the Son says, I got this. Come on, son. The Father and the Son working together.
[47:24] Listen, you can't get more secure than being in the hands of the Trinity because the Spirit is implied. He's the one that applies salvation to us. He's the one that says, you must be born again.
[47:35] I make you born again. So, you see and believe and trust in Jesus. You can't be lost if you are a sheep.
[47:49] Why? This is important. because insecurity is the air we breathe.
[48:03] The life, you don't know what's going to happen today or tomorrow. That breathes a certain amount of insecurity. It can overwhelm some people sometimes.
[48:18] Well, they're afraid to go outdoors. they're afraid to let their children go to school or go on a school trip. We're afraid to take any type of risk.
[48:34] We long to feel safe, but we don't because we're looking for safety in things that people can give us. Jesus Jesus tells us these things so that we can rest in him knowing that what is most precious to us, what is most cherished by us, what is most important in us, our very souls are safe in his hands.
[49:00] Therefore, listen, if our souls are safe, we can rest. If I cannot be lost, I can deal with tomorrow. I can face whatever comes.
[49:12] I can face loss. I can face pain. I can face disease. I can face being dissed. And I know what it means to be dissed.
[49:28] Because what's most important about Kevin Smith is safe and secure. Because I got a good shepherd. He laid down his life for you and me.
[49:50] so that we can know, not guess, know that he has given us eternal life in his pen and that life will never be taken away.
[50:03] Well, I've gone a little longer than the other preachers did earlier since I was gone, so I got to stop now. Where do you find your security?
[50:16] Where do you find your peace? is it in what Jesus says and has done?
[50:28] If it's not there, it's in something that in creation, not the creator, it's in creation. And if it's in creation, it will fail you.
[50:43] It will fail you. They will fail you. he, she, will fail you. This very body, though outwardly we are wasting away, Paul says, but he says inwardly we've been renewed day by day.
[51:02] Is that your testimony? Outwardly, but inwardly you hear the voice of your good shepherd. Let him be your peace today and your security.
[51:18] Father, may your word find good soil in the hearts of all who listen. Deliver us from false security and give us true security in Jesus your son.
[51:30] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.