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Welcome to Walk in the Truth podcast. Have you ever looked back in time and considered

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how certain defining moments have shaped your life in future? Today, John Metter, lead

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pastor of Cross City Church, looks at the importance of defining moments and how we

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can recognize what God is saying through them.

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Tonight we continue our series that we are calling Defining Moments. Now defining moments

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are moments that you have in life that are extraordinary in the sense of far bigger than

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normal experiences. We all have thousands of experiences, but just a few moments in

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life that define the way we think and the way we live in the days throughout our lives.

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All of us have some defining moments in our lives. Some of them are extraordinarily negative.

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Some of them are incredibly powerful, but the defining moments we have with God are

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the most important moments that we have in our life. And today I want to talk to you

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about a moment of assurance, a moment of security and assurance. Somebody in this room today,

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maybe somebody in this room today need to hear what this moment of assurance is all

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about. John chapter 10, beginning in verse 27. Let's stand together as I read several

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verses in God's Word today, beginning in chapter 10 verse 27. If you're familiar with

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John 10, John is about the story of Jesus. Really all of John is about Jesus' life. And

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John chapter 10 is Jesus depicting himself as the good shepherd and us as the sheep.

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So you have the shepherd sheep mentality all the way through John chapter 10, all the way

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through that chapter. There are all kinds of references to relationship, knowing one

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another. So Jesus talks about salvation and knowing one another in John chapter 10 beginning

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in verse 27. Here's what we read. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow

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me and I give eternal life to them and they will never perish and no one will snatch them

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out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able

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to snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one. Father today my prayer

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is that you will reveal to each of us in this room the security of a relationship with you.

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Father that we might know what our eternal destiny really is based on our relationship

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with you. Father I pray that you will answer questions in hearts and minds today and help

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others make decisions to be in the right place with these truths. Only you can draw a person

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to that place of decision. But I pray you will do that today in Jesus' name. Amen. Please

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be seated. You know the idea of eternal security is a pretty big deal. An understanding that

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you can have assurance of salvation is massive. In fact you're going to live life with confidence

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and boldness or fear based on where you stand with that question. Over the years I've had

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incredible numbers of questions that people have asked me about eternity and where they

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stand with God in the light of eternity and some of those questions are quite revealing

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about their thought or their insecurities. For example I've had questions asked like

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did God really forgive me for what I did last week or last month or last year? Is that real?

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Is that something that God really does forgive us for? Or a question like what if my life

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ends and I'm not living like I should at the moment? Is salvation still real for me if

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I'm not in the right place when I die? I've asked people, what if you don't confess your

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latest sin just before you die? Is that sin held against you before deciding whether you

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get to go to heaven? Or others ask what if I cross some invisible line in line? A line

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that I'm not sure where it is but God knows. Do I lose my salvation that I at one point

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had if I crossed that invisible line? How can I be sure I'm really and truly saved?

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Those kinds of questions are questions that I've been asked over the years over and over

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and over and most of them are based on the understanding, the false understanding that

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salvation is anchored in to some degree how good we are. Now for some they believe that

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it's anchored in how good we are since we come to Christ or since we put our faith in

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Christ but for others it's all about just being good enough to be acceptable by Jesus

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in heaven. I actually had one religious leader say to me one day, no one knows until they

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stand before Christ whether they really have eternal life or not and believe it or not

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that's a major line of thinking with many organizations, religions and so forth today.

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Many people have that idea that we'll just live as good as we can in spite of our relationship

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with Christ but we don't really truly know that we're secure until we look at him face

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to face and my response would be what a terrifying way to live life. Wow. But none of those things

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are true based on what Jesus said and I want to talk to you today about all those important

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parts of security. I'm going to tell you why all those questions are answered in this text.

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I'm going to tell you how they're not true but what is true is that you can have eternal

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security in Christ. Before I do that I want to tell you about an experience I had more

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than 44 years ago. On June 10th 1978 my wife and I were married in a small church in North

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Irving, Texas. That was on a Saturday night. On Sunday we got on an airplane and went to

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Acapulco, Mexico where my father and mother had purchased for us a honeymoon trip and

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so growing up in Oklahoma wasn't familiar with the beach too much. I mean Padre Island

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yes but no other beach and so I was looking forward to going to the beach, laying on the

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beach with my wife and just starting that married life. You know that's one of the things

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dreams are made of. On Monday we were at the beach in Acapulco and kind of late in the

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morning we went down to the beach and I didn't know anything about the flag system on the

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beaches and I didn't realize what the red flags were for on the beaches and if you don't

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know what they mean it means that you are not to swim the undertow is too strong. But

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I didn't know that and I didn't realize that there was nobody in the water at all. That

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didn't all add up to me. I thought nobody's up yet. And so in order to impress my new

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bride I looked at the first big wave coming in and I ran as fast as I could and dove into

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the middle of that wave. My form was perfect if you ask me. But what happened after that

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wasn't good because I went into a series of summer sauls and I was out of control. I learned

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later Acapulco Bay is one of the steepest bays anywhere and I was forced under by all

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the weight of those waves and that water. Summer saulting out of control not knowing

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what was up and what was down. It was a weird moment. I was a pretty strong swimmer and

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I thought okay this is going to end well. Sooner or later it's going to end well. But

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that sooner or later didn't really happen. And so there I was once I stopped spinning

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I became aware that I didn't know up from down. I didn't know where to swim and I knew

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that in any moment I would not be able to hold my breath any longer. And honestly one

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of the first thoughts I had at that moment when awareness began to sink in was well this

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is about timing. I mean the first day of my married life. And it wasn't kind of a funny

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thought it was a really really sad thought. Because there's my wife back up on the beach

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waiting for me to surface. Surely she's waiting for me to surface at some point. And this

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is not good. So that first thought was one of sadness and one of grief. But that's not

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the purpose of this message today because the second thought is the purpose for this

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message today. When you're faced with life and death it's right there in front of your

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eyes. And you're even at the point where you've realized you can't do anything about living

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or dying. It's possible that you could die. What's your second thought? Where's your heart?

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Where's your mind? Do you go to panic? Or do you go to peace? Sometimes when I tell

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stories from the pulpit people say oh you didn't finish that story. I'm not going to

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finish this story until later. But you know part of that. I'm here Arlie. I did come to

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surface at some point. But what I do want to talk to you about is that second thought.

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After the panic is there peace? The basis for this whole question is found in this passage.

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John chapter 10 verse 27 and following where Jesus is giving his disciples security. He's

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about to leave. He's going to be crucified. He's going to die. He's going to be buried.

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He's told them he's going to rise again the third day but they've never seen that before.

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He's giving them assurance and security of their future and his involvement in their

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lives. That's what John 10 is all about. And in that context it speaks to us in the same

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way. So today this moment of assurance is going to be unfolded in three key ideas Jesus

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gives us in John chapter 10. The first one is this. Salvation is a personal relationship.

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Your passport to eternity is not a religion. It's not keeping a list of rules but it's

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a personal relationship. Look at what Jesus says in verse 27. My sheep hear my voice and

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I know them and they follow me. Everything in John 10 is relational. As you walk through

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this passage it's all about relationships. Jesus emphasizes that he is the shepherd and

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they are the sheep, those who follow him and us. In John chapter 10 verse 11 he says I

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am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. It reminds us

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that he knows who we are. But the next verse reminds us that we know who he is. It says

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in verse 14 I am the good shepherd and I know my own and my own know me. So Jesus says this

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is going to all be about relationship. And that shouldn't surprise the disciples. It

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shouldn't surprise you and I that Jesus majors on relationships when it comes to eternal

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security or anything having to do with security. Go all the way back to the book of Genesis

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and you'll find God relating to Adam and Eve on the basis of personal relationship. He

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created them. Then they sinned. And then the next scene is God coming into that garden

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of Eden where man and woman realize they've broken God's commandment and they're naked

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and ashamed and he comes in saying where are you? He's looking for them. He's going to

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have an encounter with them. He met them in the garden. Read on in the Old Testament.

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You'll find that God sends the prophets to speak to his people often by name. He dispatches

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angels to speak to individuals about God's plan for their lives with a personal message.

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Then he sends Jesus the Messiah, God in the flesh, to come and establish a relationship

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before sealing that with his death. From the beginning of Jesus earthly ministry, it's

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all about relationship. Read John chapter one and you'll see that his connection with

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people was personal. That's the very purpose of the incarnation. God becoming flesh is

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so that he could relate to us on our human level. In John chapter one he meets Andrew

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and interacts with him. Then he meets Simon. Then he founds Philip, then Nathaniel, then

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Matthew the tax collector and on and on and on. And his commandment to them, every single

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one of them at the beginning was follow me. The relationship. It wasn't a list of do's

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and don'ts. It wasn't a religious discourse that talked about all the things that we should

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avoid or all those things we should practice as a way of having eternal security. It was

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a follow me. That's personal, isn't it? His first miracle was at a wedding in Canaan where

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people gather, where relationships are celebrated. Jesus interacted with people that way all

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the way through the gospel. He related to every person individually and by name. He

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reminded people that God knew who they were, where they were, what they were going through.

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As you look at the scope of relationships that Jesus demonstrated and revealed, it's

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really incredible that we could think that salvation is anything other than relationship.

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He knew us from the foundation of the world, the Bible says. He wove us in the womb. He

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wove our inward parts together. He knows the number of hair on our head, the scripture

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says. His eyes on the sparrow, Jesus said. So we know he watches us as well. He watches

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us. He convicts us. He waits for us. And when the moment is right, he reveals himself to

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us in a very personal way and introduces the relationship we can have with him by putting

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our faith and trust in Jesus Christ. It's all personal. It's all relational. That's

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what Jesus does. There's nothing in the teaching of Jesus or the teaching of the Bible that

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suggests we can earn our salvation. Nothing at all. There's nothing that says we have

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to be worthy of it. And there's nothing that says that religion gives us our salvation

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or can take it away. A source of much fear for many people. So the essence of what scripture

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says is that salvation does not depend on a religion but a relationship with Jesus Christ.

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That's pretty important. Even when Jesus dealt with the religious leaders of that day that

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were in opposition to him, he made this clear. He says in Matthew 7, many will say to me

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on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name cast out demons

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and in your name perform miracles? And I would declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from

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me. You who practice lawlessness. Even to the religious leaders in opposition, he said,

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it's all about a relationship with me. I never knew you. Relationship trumps religion. Relationship

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is what Jesus looks for. Relationship is what Jesus offers. Salvation is a personal relationship.

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Now the shepherd's sheep picture that we have in John chapter 10 and all through scripture

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actually is pretty interesting. I was reading something about that the other day and I kind

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of did a historical research on what did people of that day view shepherds as? And you might

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find it interesting that in Israel shepherds were generally considered unclean in the community.

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And they were unclean because they smelled like the sheep smelled. Because they were

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living out in the fields like the sheep were living out in the fields. They were in daily

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contact with dirty, smelly sheep. Their manure, the blood from their cuts and scrapes that

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the shepherd had to heal, the insects that were always buzzing around them. Sheep are

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not the smartest of animals at all, but they knew their shepherd and they would come only

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to their shepherd. Now the God of the universe reveals himself through his son Jesus by that

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picture. I would say it's a pretty clear picture that God wants a relationship with people.

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Jesus said my sheep hear my voice and they follow him. They follow me. And the whole

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idea is they trust him. They're aware of who he is and his involvement in their life

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and they trust him. How many in this room are dog people? Would you raise your hand

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if you're a dog person? Alright. How many of you are cat people? Would you raise your

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hand? Nothing I'm about to say applies to cat people, okay? You can put your hands down.

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If you have a dog, you know your dog knows your voice. Right? And you know the dog won't

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really listen to the voice of a stranger. Most dogs are suspicious of strangers, right?

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If a stranger comes in and tries to take a dog away or try to invade their space, that

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dog's going to bark. It's going to retaliate in some way, but they know you. And when you

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walk in the room and you call their name, their ears go down instead of up. They relax.

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Their tail starts wagging and they come your way, lick your hand. I mean, we're not worthy

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of dogs. They love us in spite of all we've done or not done. Well, you put that analogy

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into the picture Jesus gives of sheep and shepherds, then you understand something about

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the familiarity and the security that Jesus says the sheep have in his presence because

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they trust him, because they have that personal relationship, because he guides them to the

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water they need, to the food they need. Jesus says, this is what I am to those who follow

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me. I'm in a personal relationship with them. Now in John 10, Jesus says that I am the door

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to life for the sheep. I am the protector who lays down his life. The good shepherd

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is the one who intimately knows the sheep in every way and gives them life. In fact,

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later on in the book of John, in chapter 17, verse three, in what we call the high priestly

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prayer, Jesus Christ says, this is eternal life, that they may know you the only true

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God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. That's as clear as a picture in one verse of eternal

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life as you can get. It's knowing and having a relationship with Jesus Christ. Therefore,

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when we talk about security, I have assurance, the most important question I can ask you

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is this one. Do you know Jesus? Do you know Jesus? When I preach about security, there's

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always a concern that someone might get a false sense of security, but don't you know

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who you know? Sometimes people come up to me and say, hey, do you know such and such

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a person? And if I can't recall who they are, I do what you do. I get on Facebook and type

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their name in there to see maybe if it's there. And if they look familiar, oh yeah, I know

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them. But if I really know someone, they come to me and they give me their name. Do you

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know such and such? Immediately I go, oh yeah, I know them. And the reason I say I know them

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is because I have some experience with them. I've had interactions or conversations with

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them. I've got history to some degree with those individuals. You know who you know.

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And the security of your relationship is the security of your salvation. Do you know Jesus?

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Have you met him? That's an incredibly important thing. So Jesus begins with a security kind

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of teaching with personal relationships. Salvation is a personal relationship. Do you know Jesus?

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But there's a second principle that comes out of this, and that is that salvation is

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a permanent gift. You notice what he says in verse 28 in the first part? He said, and

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I give eternal life to them. Now John is the disciple who describes himself as the disciple

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whom Jesus loved. I've always thought that was funny because we know Jesus loved all

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the disciples, right? And we know that he loves us. But John felt pretty special. He

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was the disciple whom Jesus loved. And whenever he wrote, he would write based on that relationship

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that he had with the Lord. And so he talks a lot about this eternal life that's given

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to him by Jesus. In fact, he quotes Jesus in John 3.16 as he writes the book of John,

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where God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes

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in him should not perish but have what? Everlasting or eternal life. So he emphasizes that. Later

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on in John chapter 5, we read this, for just as the father raises the dead and gives them

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life, even so the son also gives life to whom he wishes. John later on wrote in 1 John,

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and the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life. And this life is in his son

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who who has the son has the life and he who does not have the son of God does not have

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the life. And then in verse 13 of that same chapter, another great, memorable verse, these

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things I've written to you who believe in the name of the son of God so that you might

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know, be assured of, have security in the fact that you have eternal life. And it's

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not just exclusively John and the gospels. You find this written by the apostles of Paul

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and the epistles, the book of Ephesians chapter 2, verse 8 and 9. For by grace you've been

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saved through faith and that's not of yourselves. It's a gift of God, not a result of works

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that anyone should boast. This is not something that we come up with on our own through religion.

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This is a gift that God gives us and it is not achieved but received. That's a line I

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like to use a lot. Salvation is not achieved but received. It's a personal relationship

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and it's not achieved but it's received. That means you can't earn this thing. It means

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that you can't acquire a certain status or level where God finally says, all right, you've

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got it. You've got the key to heaven. You're going to go in someday because you've reached

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this level of obedience or maturity or whatever else it is. But salvation never has, but never

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will be achieved. It's always a gift received and it's permanent, eternal life. I wish everything

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was eternal, at least things I like. I wish they were eternal. How many of you would like

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to purchase everything you purchased with a lifetime guarantee? Would you raise your

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hand? Of course we would. I mean I would immediately purchase a car if someone could give me the

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promise it would never break down. I would love a refrigerator that never quits even

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in the hot of summer. I would really like air conditioners that don't stop and electricity

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that never gets cut off. But nobody on this planet can give you a lifetime guarantee for

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any of those products, right? As much as we want them, nobody can guarantee that. And

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the reason they can't guarantee that is because they're not big enough to guarantee that because

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they're not God. But God guarantees what he gives us. I give eternal life to them. Eternal.

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That's not just a lifetime guarantee. That is a timeless guarantee. It is an eternity

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guarantee. I give eternal life to them. It's really quite amazing. I love how he uses this

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term all the way through the Bible to talk about salvation. It's a gift. It's not something

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that's earned. And that gift is eternal. How did we miss the point of permanence? This

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thing is permanent. So let me show you what the word eternal means. Eternal is a word

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that means perpetual, constant, forever. It means everlasting. It pertains to a future

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time. It is endless duration of the highest quality. The word life there is the essence

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of life. That's what it means. It is an eternal promise. As a pastor, I've always struggled

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to define eternity. It's hard to define eternity when my mind is finite, right? It's not infinite.

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And your mind is not infinite either. It's finite. We know blocks of time. We know periods

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of time. And so it's hard to define eternity. I heard of one preacher who was asked to define

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eternity and his response was, I can do it, but it'll take forever for it to come across.

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But today I want to try to define eternity. I'm going to pick up something on the floor

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here. I'm going to stretch it across the stage because I want you to see this rope that I

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have as an illustration of the timeline of life. As I stretch this rope across the stage,

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I want you to realize that you can't really see where this rope starts and you won't be

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able to see where it ends. And that in a sense will help us understand something about eternity.

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And while I stretch it to the end of the stage, I'm going to give it to a friend here who

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makes sure we can hold it up. Now you may think that this piece of the rope right here

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is all messed up, but it's not messed up. It just describes your life right here on this

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timeline. It's kind of gnarly, isn't it? It's out of going forward and going backwards.

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But I want you to envision for just a moment that this is the timeline of your life on

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this planet. And I want you to think about eternity past. And I want you to realize that

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the scripture tells us that the God who brings Jesus to us and salvation to us has known

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us from before the foundation of the world. That would be eternity past. And if this is

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forward, then his life stretches into eternity future. And really all we know is this right

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here, this little piece of time right here, where we first become aware that we have life

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of some kind. And yet we get this promise from God that he promises us eternal life.

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Now I know we're worried about this life right here. We spend all of our time focusing on

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this life right here, this little piece of the timeline from the time we were born to

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the time that we die. And everything we think about has to do with this right here. But

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God has in mind for us everything for all time and all eternity. Now when Jesus uses

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the word, I give them eternal life, he's not talking about this right here. He's talking

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about all of that. The moment you come to faith in Christ. It tells you how to be prepared

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for that and how to live here in order to maximize all that. But most of the time we

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just think of it right here. God has such a bigger plan for your life and my life than

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we envision and imagine. That's what eternity can look like. How can you become insecure

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about something that's a gift and that's eternal? Here's the answer to that. You see it as something

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other than a gift. But how could you earn all that through all time and all eternity?

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How could you be possibly good enough, perfect enough? How could you possibly please God

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enough to get all that? The answer is you could not. Not in a million tries. But God

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gives us eternal life. And that's where our hope is. And when you accept Jesus Christ,

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you accept the gift of eternal life from here into eternity. It comes with the gift. All

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your eternity comes with the moment of accepting him as Lord and Savior. Now I want you to

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know something about this whole teaching that Jesus gives in John chapter 10. None of the

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emphasis is on you. All of the emphasis is on him and his ability and his promise and

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his keeping the promise. It's all on him. It speaks about the greatness of God and the

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power of God. And it's never been about man. It's never been about me. It's never been

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about you. It's always about his goodness, always about his faithfulness, always about

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his graciousness and his favor placed on unworthy people. And so the biggest question I can

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ask you is not only do you know Jesus, but have you accepted him and his gift? Have you

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trusted him for eternal life? But Jesus doesn't stop there. He talks also about a powerful

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assurance. The last part of verse 28 says, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

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My father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them

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out of my father's hand. So here's Jesus, no less of an authority than Jesus says these

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words to us about assurance and security using terms that are crystal clear, crystal clear.

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I want you to remember what I say to you today. I want you to highlight these verses in your

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Bible. I want you to circle the words that I talk about today because they're so incredibly

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important. For instance, this passage here says this, my father has already given them

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to me. In other words, in eternity past, God has already shown Jesus how all this is going

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to work out. Now don't ask me to explain this today or in next week's message. I can tell

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you that it's infinite in its theology and its wisdom. God alone knows. But it also says

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that no one is greater than the father and no one can snatch them out of Jesus' hand

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and no one can snatch these sheep out of the father's hands. Now in the Greek language,

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there are two different kinds of words for no. One of them is what we would call a relative

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no. The other is an absolute no. And the absolutes are rampant in this text. All of these nos

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are absolute nos. In other words, what Jesus is saying is that absolutely no one is able

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to snatch them out of Jesus' hand. Absolutely no one is able to snatch them out of the father's

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hand. And we have this word picture here that I want you to remember. Eternal life is paralleled

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with being in his hands. There's nothing insecure about this salvation. There's nothing iffy

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about this promise. In fact, it's a double gripped illustration. Let me use the biblical

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imagery for just a moment to put a word picture in your mind. When you come to faith in Jesus

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Christ, according to Jesus, no one can snatch you out of his hand. Is that what it says?

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That's what it says. You can say amen there. That's what it says. If no one can snatch

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you out of his hand, that means you are where? In his hands. Follow me through this, through

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the end of this with your logic and with these words. Then the Bible says no one is able

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to snatch you out of the father's hands. But I don't think we have a handoff going on here.

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So let's take this other hand and let's place it over you who are in the hands of Jesus.

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Though you're in the hands of Jesus, no one can snatch you out of his hand. The father

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also holds you. There's no one that can snatch you out of the father's hand. If you keep

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reading the Bible, you'll find about the power of the Holy Spirit that sets it sealed on

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this relationship. Though you're gripped by Jesus, covered by the father, sealed by the

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Holy Spirit, I believe that you cannot be snatched out of these hands. Amen? That's

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what it says. Now if this is just me promising you that, it's not good enough. I can't keep

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that promise. But if it's Jesus Christ, God the Son, promising you this, you can count

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on it. In fact, you better count on it. Your security is based on what Jesus has done and

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what Jesus has said. And again, all of the emphasis here is on the power and the sovereignty

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of God. It doesn't say a word about what you're doing while you're in his hands. It doesn't

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say that you're going to be perfect while you're in his hands. It just says that you

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trust him when you're in his hands. Today I want you to get the picture that God has

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this thing figured out. I know you have to be at the place of trusting him for you to

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be able to understand it. Now in my interaction with people, some who doubt the idea of eternal

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security often feel like it's Christ who will cut them off. And yet Jesus says here, that

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will not happen. And there are some who doubt eternal security that believe that while no

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one else and nothing else can remove them or threaten their salvation, they themselves

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can remove it if they were to go back on their faith. Again, this text removes that possibility.

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Can someone still stumble? Can someone doubt? Yes, they can. Is this salvation big enough

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to hold them up? Even in that doubt, yes it is. Romans, the book of Romans is the book

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of theology and Paul writes about the same subject in these words. He says, Romans 8,

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verse 38, for I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities

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nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor any other

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creative thing shall be able to separate us, who is us? That is those who believe in Jesus

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Christ from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And there we are in his hands

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and the promise pertains to us. Salvation is not to be determined. You don't have to

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wait to find out if you get there by looking at the face of Jesus after your death. But

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it's already reserved, already secured. That's what the passage says. Placing faith in Jesus

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means removing faith from yourself and from your religion or your ability to keep his

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commandments or your decision to stick with him or your practice of religion to keep you

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safe. You trust him. Period. False dot. That's the salvation of the Bible. When my kids were

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younger we lived in a town in Oklahoma and we had a new Burger King move into town and

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they had this phenomenal playground. It's always a great playground. By the way it doesn't

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matter what the burger tastes like if you've got three young kids the playground is where

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you go. I had a slide with an eight foot ladder. This eight foot ladder was pretty high but

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they loved it because when they were six and four and about three they would jump off that

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ladder into my hands and it was a lot of fun. And my oldest daughter was kind of a risk taker

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and she loved jumping off that ladder and I'd catch her. My next oldest kid was a boy

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his name was Caleb and Caleb was not quite as adventurous as Carrie was but when he got

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to the top of the ladder the first time it took him a long time to trust before he could

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jump off the ladder into my hands. But he had seen how I caught Carrie so he thought

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okay he's going to be able to get caught he won't get dropped and I decided to play a

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trick on him because it took so long for him to trust me when he finally leaped I turned

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away and said never mind. Then I turned back around back quickly and caught him. At that

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point my wife said that better never happen again. I don't think it scarred him permanently

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but I was playing a trick on him. It took him so long I finally looked away then turned

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around and caught him. Let me tell you what will never happen in eternity the heavenly

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Father will never do that to you. He will never do that to you. You can trust him you

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can be confident in him you can leap the leap of faith and he will be there to catch you

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and he will have you in his hands. It's so important. Trusting Jesus and trusting the

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Father is just like that. When you do trust him you love him you follow him you serve

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him and you want to become like him because you trust him. The question is do you trust

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him? Let me finish my story I started with a few moments ago it would be bad to not come

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back to that story. The first thought I had when I thought I would die was sadness and

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grief. The panic was over nothing I could do about it didn't know whether I would go

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up or down didn't know what up and down was at the moment. I just knew I could only hold

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on to my breath just a little while longer. Then in the middle of that moment while I

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was holding my breath but realizing it wasn't going to be long an incredible sense of peace

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came and washed away the sadness and grief. In fact I remember thinking while I was in

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that water I'm not supposed to feel this way if I'm about to die. It was just amazing it

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was just a calming peaceful thought and I knew I was about to lose my life my wife my

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future everything but that peace told me I'm not going to lose my salvation here. Here

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are the words that came to my mind long before I studied John 28 and 29 long before I knew

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what these words meant the thought I had in that calming moment was live or die I am in

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his hands live or die I am in his hands. Imagine my surprise when later on I studied the scripture

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and found out that's incredibly true live or die we're in his hands. I was in his hands

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then I'm in his hands now I was in his hands when things are bad I'm in his hands when

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things are good I'm in his hands on planet earth and I'm in his hands for all time and

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all eternity because he gives eternal life to me and I shall never perish and no one

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shall snatch me out of his hands and my heavenly father who is greater than all has given them

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to Jesus and no one is able to snatch me out of my father's hands. That's what this text

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tells you today that's what Jesus says to you today. That to me is what security is.

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Do you know Jesus? Have you accepted him? Do you trust him for that? Do you trust him?

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In just a few moments I'm going to close in prayer and I want to invite you to make a

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decision to trust Jesus to know him to have confidence in him to trust him to put your

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faith and belief in him. We have decision stations that are at the back of the room

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that are available manned every Sunday and I can't imagine you wanting to walk out of

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this building today without eternal security as being something that you really have. I

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can't imagine you wondering and not stopping and my encouragement to you is to stop and

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ask but more than that trust him receive him and with him the entire gift of eternal life

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would you stand with me. Father today as we consider this whole time line of eternity

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and as we consider the understanding of assurance and security my prayer today is that those

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in this room will come to the place of knowing beyond doubt that they have salvation and

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that it's eternal that it's real. And father for those who doubt today I ask that you cause

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them to want to stop and to want to talk about this and to want to make decisions that will

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lead them to put their faith and trust in you. Lord no one can guarantee us tomorrow

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or next week or next month but you guarantee us eternal life in you. And father my prayer

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today is that we will come to the place every one of us individually are putting our faith

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in you. Thank you father in Jesus name. Amen.