Welcome to Walk in the Truth podcast. Have you ever looked back in time and considered
how certain defining moments have shaped your life in future? Today, John Metter, lead
pastor of Cross City Church, looks at the importance of defining moments and how we
can recognize what God is saying through them.
Tonight we continue our series that we are calling Defining Moments. Now defining moments
are moments that you have in life that are extraordinary in the sense of far bigger than
normal experiences. We all have thousands of experiences, but just a few moments in
life that define the way we think and the way we live in the days throughout our lives.
All of us have some defining moments in our lives. Some of them are extraordinarily negative.
Some of them are incredibly powerful, but the defining moments we have with God are
the most important moments that we have in our life. And today I want to talk to you
about a moment of assurance, a moment of security and assurance. Somebody in this room today,
maybe somebody in this room today need to hear what this moment of assurance is all
about. John chapter 10, beginning in verse 27. Let's stand together as I read several
verses in God's Word today, beginning in chapter 10 verse 27. If you're familiar with
John 10, John is about the story of Jesus. Really all of John is about Jesus' life. And
John chapter 10 is Jesus depicting himself as the good shepherd and us as the sheep.
So you have the shepherd sheep mentality all the way through John chapter 10, all the way
through that chapter. There are all kinds of references to relationship, knowing one
another. So Jesus talks about salvation and knowing one another in John chapter 10 beginning
in verse 27. Here's what we read. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow
me and I give eternal life to them 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 my Father's hand. I and the Father are one. Father today my prayer
is that you will reveal to each of us in this room the security of a relationship with you.
Father that we might know what our eternal destiny really is based on our relationship
with you. Father I pray that you will answer questions in hearts and minds today and help
others make decisions to be in the right place with these truths. Only you can draw a person
to that place of decision. But I pray you will do that today in Jesus' name. Amen. Please
be seated. You know the idea of eternal security is a pretty big deal. An understanding that
you can have assurance of salvation is massive. In fact you're going to live life with confidence
and boldness or fear based on where you stand with that question. Over the years I've had
incredible numbers of questions that people have asked me about eternity and where they
stand with God in the light of eternity and some of those questions are quite revealing
about their thought or their insecurities. For example I've had questions asked like
did God really forgive me for what I did last week or last month or last year? Is that real?
Is that something that God really does forgive us for? Or a question like what if my life
ends and I'm not living like I should at the moment? Is salvation still real for me if
I'm not in the right place when I die? I've asked people, what if you don't confess your
latest sin just before you die? Is that sin held against you before deciding whether you
get to go to heaven? Or others ask what if I cross some invisible line in line? A line
that I'm not sure where it is but God knows. Do I lose my salvation that I at one point
had if I crossed that invisible line? How can I be sure I'm really and truly saved?
Those kinds of questions are questions that I've been asked over the years over and over
and over and most of them are based on the understanding, the false understanding that
salvation is anchored in to some degree how good we are. Now for some they believe that
it's anchored in how good we are since we come to Christ or since we put our faith in
Christ but for others it's all about just being good enough to be acceptable by Jesus
in heaven. I actually had one religious leader say to me one day, no one knows until they
stand before Christ whether they really have eternal life or not and believe it or not
that's a major line of thinking with many organizations, religions and so forth today.
Many people have that idea that we'll just live as good as we can in spite of our relationship
with Christ but we don't really truly know that we're secure until we look at him face
to face and my response would be what a terrifying way to live life. Wow. But none of those things
are true based on what Jesus said and I want to talk to you today about all those important
parts of security. I'm going to tell you why all those questions are answered in this text.
I'm going to tell you how they're not true but what is true is that you can have eternal
security in Christ. Before I do that I want to tell you about an experience I had more
than 44 years ago. On June 10th 1978 my wife and I were married in a small church in North
Irving, Texas. That was on a Saturday night. On Sunday we got on an airplane and went to
Acapulco, Mexico where my father and mother had purchased for us a honeymoon trip and
so growing up in Oklahoma wasn't familiar with the beach too much. I mean Padre Island
yes but no other beach and so I was looking forward to going to the beach, laying on the
beach with my wife and just starting that married life. You know that's one of the things
dreams are made of. On Monday we were at the beach in Acapulco and kind of late in the
morning we went down to the beach and I didn't know anything about the flag system on the
beaches and I didn't realize what the red flags were for on the beaches and if you don't
know what they mean it means that you are not to swim the undertow is too strong. But
I didn't know that and I didn't realize that there was nobody in the water at all. That
didn't all add up to me. I thought nobody's up yet. And so in order to impress my new
bride I looked at the first big wave coming in and I ran as fast as I could and dove into
the middle of that wave. My form was perfect if you ask me. But what happened after that
wasn't good because I went into a series of summer sauls and I was out of control. I learned
later Acapulco Bay is one of the steepest bays anywhere and I was forced under by all
the weight of those waves and that water. Summer saulting out of control not knowing
what was up and what was down. It was a weird moment. I was a pretty strong swimmer and
I thought okay this is going to end well. Sooner or later it's going to end well. But
that sooner or later didn't really happen. And so there I was once I stopped spinning
I became aware that I didn't know up from down. I didn't know where to swim and I knew
that in any moment I would not be able to hold my breath any longer. And honestly one
of the first thoughts I had at that moment when awareness began to sink in was well this
is about timing. I mean the first day of my married life. And it wasn't kind of a funny
thought it was a really really sad thought. Because there's my wife back up on the beach
waiting for me to surface. Surely she's waiting for me to surface at some point. And this
is not good. So that first thought was one of sadness and one of grief. But that's not
the purpose of this message today because the second thought is the purpose for this
message today. When you're faced with life and death it's right there in front of your
eyes. And you're even at the point where you've realized you can't do anything about living
or dying. It's possible that you could die. What's your second thought? Where's your heart?
Where's your mind? Do you go to panic? Or do you go to peace? Sometimes when I tell
stories from the pulpit people say oh you didn't finish that story. I'm not going to
finish this story until later. But you know part of that. I'm here Arlie. I did come to
surface at some point. But what I do want to talk to you about is that second thought.
After the panic is there peace? The basis for this whole question is found in this passage.
John chapter 10 verse 27 and following where Jesus is giving his disciples security. He's
about to leave. He's going to be crucified. He's going to die. He's going to be buried.
He's told them he's going to rise again the third day but they've never seen that before.
He's giving them assurance and security of their future and his involvement in their
lives. That's what John 10 is all about. And in that context it speaks to us in the same
way. So today this moment of assurance is going to be unfolded in three key ideas Jesus
gives us in John chapter 10. The first one is this. Salvation is a personal relationship.
Your passport to eternity is not a religion. It's not keeping a list of rules but it's
a personal relationship. Look at what Jesus says in verse 27. My sheep hear my voice and
I know them and they follow me. Everything in John 10 is relational. As you walk through
this passage it's all about relationships. Jesus emphasizes that he is the shepherd and
they are the sheep, those who follow him and us. In John chapter 10 verse 11 he says I
am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. It reminds us
that he knows who we are. But the next verse reminds us that we know who he is. It says
in verse 14 I am the good shepherd and I know my own and my own know me. So Jesus says this
is going to all be about relationship. And that shouldn't surprise the disciples. It
shouldn't surprise you and I that Jesus majors on relationships when it comes to eternal
security or anything having to do with security. Go all the way back to the book of Genesis
and you'll find God relating to Adam and Eve on the basis of personal relationship. He
created them. Then they sinned. And then the next scene is God coming into that garden
of Eden where man and woman realize they've broken God's commandment and they're naked
and ashamed and he comes in saying where are you? He's looking for them. He's going to
have an encounter with them. He met them in the garden. Read on in the Old Testament.
You'll find that God sends the prophets to speak to his people often by name. He dispatches
angels to speak to individuals about God's plan for their lives with a personal message.
Then he sends Jesus the Messiah, God in the flesh, to come and establish a relationship
before sealing that with his death. From the beginning of Jesus earthly ministry, it's
all about relationship. Read John chapter one and you'll see that his connection with
people was personal. That's the very purpose of the incarnation. God becoming flesh is
so that he could relate to us on our human level. In John chapter one he meets Andrew
and interacts with him. Then he meets Simon. Then he founds Philip, then Nathaniel, then
Matthew the tax collector and on and on and on. And his commandment to them, every single
one of them at the beginning was follow me. The relationship. It wasn't a list of do's
and don'ts. It wasn't a religious discourse that talked about all the things that we should
avoid or all those things we should practice as a way of having eternal security. It was
a follow me. That's personal, isn't it? His first miracle was at a wedding in Canaan where
people gather, where relationships are celebrated. Jesus interacted with people that way all
the way through the gospel. He related to every person individually and by name. He
reminded people that God knew who they were, where they were, what they were going through.
As you look at the scope of relationships that Jesus demonstrated and revealed, it's
really incredible that we could think that salvation is anything other than relationship.
He knew us from the foundation of the world, the Bible says. He wove us in the womb. He
wove our inward parts together. He knows the number of hair on our head, the scripture
says. His eyes on the sparrow, Jesus said. So we know he watches us as well. He watches
us. He convicts us. He waits for us. And when the moment is right, he reveals himself to
us in a very personal way and introduces the relationship we can have with him by putting
our faith and trust in Jesus Christ. It's all personal. It's all relational. That's
what Jesus does. There's nothing in the teaching of Jesus or the teaching of the Bible that
suggests we can earn our salvation. Nothing at all. There's nothing that says we have
to be worthy of it. And there's nothing that says that religion gives us our salvation
or can take it away. A source of much fear for many people. So the essence of what scripture
says is that salvation does not depend on a religion but a relationship with Jesus Christ.
That's pretty important. Even when Jesus dealt with the religious leaders of that day that
were in opposition to him, he made this clear. He says in Matthew 7, many will say to me
on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name cast out demons
and in your name perform miracles? And I would declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from
me. You who practice lawlessness. Even to the religious leaders in opposition, he said,
it's all about a relationship with me. I never knew you. Relationship trumps religion. Relationship
is what Jesus looks for. Relationship is what Jesus offers. Salvation is a personal relationship.
Now the shepherd's sheep picture that we have in John chapter 10 and all through scripture
actually is pretty interesting. I was reading something about that the other day and I kind
of did a historical research on what did people of that day view shepherds as? And you might
find it interesting that in Israel shepherds were generally considered unclean in the community.
And they were unclean because they smelled like the sheep smelled. Because they were
living out in the fields like the sheep were living out in the fields. They were in daily
contact with dirty, smelly sheep. Their manure, the blood from their cuts and scrapes that
the shepherd had to heal, the insects that were always buzzing around them. Sheep are
not the smartest of animals at all, but they knew their shepherd and they would come only
to their shepherd. Now the God of the universe reveals himself through his son Jesus by that
picture. I would say it's a pretty clear picture that God wants a relationship with people.
Jesus said my sheep hear my voice and they follow him. They follow me. And the whole
idea is they trust him. They're aware of who he is and his involvement in their life
and they trust him. How many in this room are dog people? Would you raise your hand
if you're a dog person? Alright. How many of you are cat people? Would you raise your
hand? Nothing I'm about to say applies to cat people, okay? You can put your hands down.
If you have a dog, you know your dog knows your voice. Right? And you know the dog won't
really listen to the voice of a stranger. Most dogs are suspicious of strangers, right?
If a stranger comes in and tries to take a dog away or try to invade their space, that
dog's going to bark. It's going to retaliate in some way, but they know you. And when you
walk in the room and you call their name, their ears go down instead of up. They relax.
Their tail starts wagging and they come your way, lick your hand. I mean, we're not worthy
of dogs. They love us in spite of all we've done or not done. Well, you put that analogy
into the picture Jesus gives of sheep and shepherds, then you understand something about
the familiarity and the security that Jesus says the sheep have in his presence because
they trust him, because they have that personal relationship, because he guides them to the
water they need, to the food they need. Jesus says, this is what I am to those who follow
me. I'm in a personal relationship with them. Now in John 10, Jesus says that I am the door
to life for the sheep. I am the protector who lays down his life. The good shepherd
is the one who intimately knows the sheep in every way and gives them life. In fact,
later on in the book of John, in chapter 17, verse three, in what we call the high priestly
prayer, Jesus Christ says, this is eternal life, that they may know you the only true
God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. That's as clear as a picture in one verse of eternal
life as you can get. It's knowing and having a relationship with Jesus Christ. Therefore,
when we talk about security, I have assurance, the most important question I can ask you
is this one. Do you know Jesus? Do you know Jesus? When I preach about security, there's
always a concern that someone might get a false sense of security, but don't you know
who you know? Sometimes people come up to me and say, hey, do you know such and such
a person? And if I can't recall who they are, I do what you do. I get on Facebook and type
their name in there to see maybe if it's there. And if they look familiar, oh yeah, I know
them. But if I really know someone, they come to me and they give me their name. Do you
know such and such? Immediately I go, oh yeah, I know them. And the reason I say I know them
is because I have some experience with them. I've had interactions or conversations with
them. I've got history to some degree with those individuals. You know who you know.
And the security of your relationship is the security of your salvation. Do you know Jesus?
Have you met him? That's an incredibly important thing. So Jesus begins with a security kind
of teaching with personal relationships. Salvation is a personal relationship. Do you know Jesus?
But there's a second principle that comes out of this, and that is that salvation is
a permanent gift. You notice what he says in verse 28 in the first part? He said, and
I give eternal life to them. Now John is the disciple who describes himself as the disciple
whom Jesus loved. I've always thought that was funny because we know Jesus loved all
the disciples, right? And we know that he loves us. But John felt pretty special. He
was the disciple whom Jesus loved. And whenever he wrote, he would write based on that relationship
that he had with the Lord. And so he talks a lot about this eternal life that's given
to him by Jesus. In fact, he quotes Jesus in John 3.16 as he writes the book of John,
where God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes
in him should not perish but have what? Everlasting or eternal life. So he emphasizes that. Later
on in John chapter 5, we read this, for just as the father raises the dead and gives them
life, even so the son also gives life to whom he wishes. John later on wrote in 1 John,
and the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life. And this life is in his son
who who has the son has the life and he who does not have the son of God does not have
the life. And then in verse 13 of that same chapter, another great, memorable verse, these
things I've written to you who believe in the name of the son of God so that you might
know, be assured of, have security in the fact that you have eternal life. And it's
not just exclusively John and the gospels. You find this written by the apostles of Paul
and the epistles, the book of Ephesians chapter 2, verse 8 and 9. For by grace you've been
saved through faith and that's not of yourselves. It's a gift of God, not a result of works
that anyone should boast. This is not something that we come up with on our own through religion.
This is a gift that God gives us and it is not achieved but received. That's a line I
like to use a lot. Salvation is not achieved but received. It's a personal relationship
and it's not achieved but it's received. That means you can't earn this thing. It means
that you can't acquire a certain status or level where God finally says, all right, you've
got it. You've got the key to heaven. You're going to go in someday because you've reached
this level of obedience or maturity or whatever else it is. But salvation never has, but never
will be achieved. It's always a gift received and it's permanent, eternal life. I wish everything
was eternal, at least things I like. I wish they were eternal. How many of you would like
to purchase everything you purchased with a lifetime guarantee? Would you raise your
hand? Of course we would. I mean I would immediately purchase a car if someone could give me the
promise it would never break down. I would love a refrigerator that never quits even
in the hot of summer. I would really like air conditioners that don't stop and electricity
that never gets cut off. But nobody on this planet can give you a lifetime guarantee for
any of those products, right? As much as we want them, nobody can guarantee that. And
the reason they can't guarantee that is because they're not big enough to guarantee that because
they're not God. But God guarantees what he gives us. I give eternal life to them. Eternal.
That's not just a lifetime guarantee. That is a timeless guarantee. It is an eternity
guarantee. I give eternal life to them. It's really quite amazing. I love how he uses this
term all the way through the Bible to talk about salvation. It's a gift. It's not something
that's earned. And that gift is eternal. How did we miss the point of permanence? This
thing is permanent. So let me show you what the word eternal means. Eternal is a word
that means perpetual, constant, forever. It means everlasting. It pertains to a future
time. It is endless duration of the highest quality. The word life there is the essence
of life. That's what it means. It is an eternal promise. As a pastor, I've always struggled
to define eternity. It's hard to define eternity when my mind is finite, right? It's not infinite.
And your mind is not infinite either. It's finite. We know blocks of time. We know periods
of time. And so it's hard to define eternity. I heard of one preacher who was asked to define
eternity and his response was, I can do it, but it'll take forever for it to come across.
But today I want to try to define eternity. I'm going to pick up something on the floor
here. I'm going to stretch it across the stage because I want you to see this rope that I
have as an illustration of the timeline of life. As I stretch this rope across the stage,
I want you to realize that you can't really see where this rope starts and you won't be
able to see where it ends. And that in a sense will help us understand something about eternity.
And while I stretch it to the end of the stage, I'm going to give it to a friend here who
makes sure we can hold it up. Now you may think that this piece of the rope right here
is all messed up, but it's not messed up. It just describes your life right here on this
timeline. It's kind of gnarly, isn't it? It's out of going forward and going backwards.
But I want you to envision for just a moment that this is the timeline of your life on
this planet. And I want you to think about eternity past. And I want you to realize that
the scripture tells us that the God who brings Jesus to us and salvation to us has known
us from before the foundation of the world. That would be eternity past. And if this is
forward, then his life stretches into eternity future. And really all we know is this right
here, this little piece of time right here, where we first become aware that we have life
of some kind. And yet we get this promise from God that he promises us eternal life.
Now I know we're worried about this life right here. We spend all of our time focusing on
this life right here, this little piece of the timeline from the time we were born to
the time that we die. And everything we think about has to do with this right here. But
God has in mind for us everything for all time and all eternity. Now when Jesus uses
the word, I give them eternal life, he's not talking about this right here. He's talking
about all of that. The moment you come to faith in Christ. It tells you how to be prepared
for that and how to live here in order to maximize all that. But most of the time we
just think of it right here. God has such a bigger plan for your life and my life than
we envision and imagine. That's what eternity can look like. How can you become insecure
about something that's a gift and that's eternal? Here's the answer to that. You see it as something
other than a gift. But how could you earn all that through all time and all eternity?
How could you be possibly good enough, perfect enough? How could you possibly please God
enough to get all that? The answer is you could not. Not in a million tries. But God
gives us eternal life. And that's where our hope is. And when you accept Jesus Christ,
you accept the gift of eternal life from here into eternity. It comes with the gift. All
your eternity comes with the moment of accepting him as Lord and Savior. Now I want you to
know something about this whole teaching that Jesus gives in John chapter 10. None of the
emphasis is on you. All of the emphasis is on him and his ability and his promise and
his keeping the promise. It's all on him. It speaks about the greatness of God and the
power of God. And it's never been about man. It's never been about me. It's never been
about you. It's always about his goodness, always about his faithfulness, always about
his graciousness and his favor placed on unworthy people. And so the biggest question I can
ask you is not only do you know Jesus, but have you accepted him and his gift? Have you
trusted him for eternal life? But Jesus doesn't stop there. He talks also about a powerful
assurance. The last part of verse 28 says, 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 my father's hand. So here's Jesus, no less of an authority than Jesus says these
words to us about assurance and security using terms that are crystal clear, crystal clear.
I want you to remember what I say to you today. I want you to highlight these verses in your
Bible. I want you to circle the words that I talk about today because they're so incredibly
important. For instance, this passage here says this, my father has already given them
to me. In other words, in eternity past, God has already shown Jesus how all this is going
to work out. Now don't ask me to explain this today or in next week's message. I can tell
you that it's infinite in its theology and its wisdom. God alone knows. But it also says
that no one is greater than the father and no one can snatch them out of Jesus' hand
and no one can snatch these sheep out of the father's hands. Now in the Greek language,
there are two different kinds of words for no. One of them is what we would call a relative
no. The other is an absolute no. And the absolutes are rampant in this text. All of these nos
are absolute nos. In other words, what Jesus is saying is that absolutely no one is able
to snatch them out of Jesus' hand. Absolutely no one is able to snatch them out of the father's
hand. And we have this word picture here that I want you to remember. Eternal life is paralleled
with being in his hands. There's nothing insecure about this salvation. There's nothing iffy
about this promise. In fact, it's a double gripped illustration. Let me use the biblical
imagery for just a moment to put a word picture in your mind. When you come to faith in Jesus
Christ, according to Jesus, no one can snatch you out of his hand. Is that what it says?
That's what it says. You can say amen there. That's what it says. If no one can snatch
you out of his hand, that means you are where? In his hands. Follow me through this, through
the end of this with your logic and with these words. Then the Bible says no one is able
to snatch you out of the father's hands. But I don't think we have a handoff going on here.
So let's take this other hand and let's place it over you who are in the hands of Jesus.
Though you're in the hands of Jesus, no one can snatch you out of his hand. The father
also holds you. There's no one that can snatch you out of the father's hand. If you keep
reading the Bible, you'll find about the power of the Holy Spirit that sets it sealed on
this relationship. Though you're gripped by Jesus, covered by the father, sealed by the
Holy Spirit, I believe that you cannot be snatched out of these hands. Amen? That's
what it says. Now if this is just me promising you that, it's not good enough. I can't keep
that promise. But if it's Jesus Christ, God the Son, promising you this, you can count
on it. In fact, you better count on it. Your security is based on what Jesus has done and
what Jesus has said. And again, all of the emphasis here is on the power and the sovereignty
of God. It doesn't say a word about what you're doing while you're in his hands. It doesn't
say that you're going to be perfect while you're in his hands. It just says that you
trust him when you're in his hands. Today I want you to get the picture that God has
this thing figured out. I know you have to be at the place of trusting him for you to
be able to understand it. Now in my interaction with people, some who doubt the idea of eternal
security often feel like it's Christ who will cut them off. And yet Jesus says here, that
will not happen. And there are some who doubt eternal security that believe that while no
one else and nothing else can remove them or threaten their salvation, they themselves
can remove it if they were to go back on their faith. Again, this text removes that possibility.
Can someone still stumble? Can someone doubt? Yes, they can. Is this salvation big enough
to hold them up? Even in that doubt, yes it is. Romans, the book of Romans is the book
of theology and Paul writes about the same subject in these words. He says, Romans 8,
verse 38, for I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities
nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor any other
creative thing shall be able to separate us, who is us? That is those who believe in Jesus
Christ from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And there we are in his hands
and the promise pertains to us. Salvation is not to be determined. You don't have to
wait to find out if you get there by looking at the face of Jesus after your death. But
it's already reserved, already secured. That's what the passage says. Placing faith in Jesus
means removing faith from yourself and from your religion or your ability to keep his
commandments or your decision to stick with him or your practice of religion to keep you
safe. You trust him. Period. False dot. That's the salvation of the Bible. When my kids were
younger we lived in a town in Oklahoma and we had a new Burger King move into town and
they had this phenomenal playground. It's always a great playground. By the way it doesn't
matter what the burger tastes like if you've got three young kids the playground is where
you go. I had a slide with an eight foot ladder. This eight foot ladder was pretty high but
they loved it because when they were six and four and about three they would jump off that
ladder into my hands and it was a lot of fun. And my oldest daughter was kind of a risk taker
and she loved jumping off that ladder and I'd catch her. My next oldest kid was a boy
his name was Caleb and Caleb was not quite as adventurous as Carrie was but when he got
to the top of the ladder the first time it took him a long time to trust before he could
jump off the ladder into my hands. But he had seen how I caught Carrie so he thought
okay he's going to be able to get caught he won't get dropped and I decided to play a
trick on him because it took so long for him to trust me when he finally leaped I turned
away and said never mind. Then I turned back around back quickly and caught him. At that
point my wife said that better never happen again. I don't think it scarred him permanently
but I was playing a trick on him. It took him so long I finally looked away then turned
around and caught him. Let me tell you what will never happen in eternity the heavenly
Father will never do that to you. He will never do that to you. You can trust him you
can be confident in him you can leap the leap of faith and he will be there to catch you
and he will have you in his hands. It's so important. Trusting Jesus and trusting the
Father is just like that. When you do trust him you love him you follow him you serve
him and you want to become like him because you trust him. The question is do you trust
him? Let me finish my story I started with a few moments ago it would be bad to not come
back to that story. The first thought I had when I thought I would die was sadness and
grief. The panic was over nothing I could do about it didn't know whether I would go
up or down didn't know what up and down was at the moment. I just knew I could only hold
on to my breath just a little while longer. Then in the middle of that moment while I
was holding my breath but realizing it wasn't going to be long an incredible sense of peace
came and washed away the sadness and grief. In fact I remember thinking while I was in
that water I'm not supposed to feel this way if I'm about to die. It was just amazing it
was just a calming peaceful thought and I knew I was about to lose my life my wife my
future everything but that peace told me I'm not going to lose my salvation here. Here
are the words that came to my mind long before I studied John 28 and 29 long before I knew
what these words meant the thought I had in that calming moment was live or die I am in
his hands live or die I am in his hands. Imagine my surprise when later on I studied the scripture
and found out that's incredibly true live or die we're in his hands. I was in his hands
then I'm in his hands now I was in his hands when things are bad I'm in his hands when
things are good I'm in his hands on planet earth and I'm in his hands for all time and
all eternity because he gives eternal life to me and I shall never perish and no one
shall snatch me out of his hands and my heavenly father who is greater than all has given them
to Jesus and no one is able to snatch me out of my father's hands. That's what this text
tells you today that's what Jesus says to you today. That to me is what security is.
Do you know Jesus? Have you accepted him? Do you trust him for that? Do you trust him?
In just a few moments I'm going to close in prayer and I want to invite you to make a
decision to trust Jesus to know him to have confidence in him to trust him to put your
faith and belief in him. We have decision stations that are at the back of the room
that are available manned every Sunday and I can't imagine you wanting to walk out of
this building today without eternal security as being something that you really have. I
can't imagine you wondering and not stopping and my encouragement to you is to stop and
ask but more than that trust him receive him and with him the entire gift of eternal life
would you stand with me. Father today as we consider this whole time line of eternity
and as we consider the understanding of assurance and security my prayer today is that those
in this room will come to the place of knowing beyond doubt that they have salvation and
that it's eternal that it's real. And father for those who doubt today I ask that you cause
them to want to stop and to want to talk about this and to want to make decisions that will
lead them to put their faith and trust in you. Lord no one can guarantee us tomorrow
or next week or next month but you guarantee us eternal life in you. And father my prayer
today is that we will come to the place every one of us individually are putting our faith
in you. Thank you father in Jesus name. Amen.