Let us again this morning turn our Bibles to the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 17. And I want to bring you the final installment of a message that I've entitled, God's Salvation is Eternal. God's Salvation is Eternal. Notice I preface the title with God's Salvation. It is eternal as a gift of God, as the Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 2. And my series again is based on Luke 17 verses 1 and 2, which speaks of stumbling blocks or fences. I wanted to use as a foundation false teachings that impact the faith of true believers. One that I dealt with for three weeks was how are we saved? And all of the language and illusions of the Word of God is through faith in God. In the New Testament, specifically faith in Jesus Christ. We trust Him for what He has done and as He said from the cross, it is finished. The work of redeeming man, saving the sinner was complete. Completed by the Lord Jesus Christ. But that doesn't deter false teachings which cause the true believer to doubt that. To doubt the grace of God towards them through faith in Jesus Christ. The evidence of true salvation is the ability or the enablement to believe that Jesus is the Messiah. He is the Son of God. And you will see that in our text today that we're going to use as our foundational text to teach from the eternal security of the believer. Or as some Christians will refer, once saved is always saved. And so the Spirit of God moved upon me again because of those two verses to deal with those issues. that attacked the faith of the true believer and causes them to doubt. We saw that in Second Timothy last week where Hymenaeus and Philetus were teaching that the resurrection had passed and it was unsettling the faith of those who could, where they would not trust in Christ says they should does not mean they were not believers but it impacted their faith and faith is a requirement in our relationship with God according to Hebrews 11 6 we must have absolute faith in Christ and that faith must be based on accurate interpretation of God's Word so again with that said let us look at the first two verses of Luke 17 This is the Lord addressing his disciples in verse 1. He said to his disciples, it is impossible that no offenses should come in words of condemnation to him through whom they do come. He leaves it blank. It doesn't matter who it is, male or female. The issue is the offenses that assault the faith of not only true believers but again prevents unbelievers from hearing the truth verse 2 it would be better for him the one who causes the offenses if a millstone were hung around their necks and they were thrown into the sea then he should offend one of these little ones The Lord refers to those of his as little one children. Now we turn to John chapter 10 which would be my text in which I will be expounding upon today because I think arguably this is one of the greatest texts in the Word of God that show the eternal nature of salvation. Once saved is always saved. And we will read this text beginning in verse 22. Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem and it was winter. And Jesus walked into the temple into Solomon's colonnade or porch. Then the Jews, these would be the religious leaders of that day, the equivalent today would be preachers, so-called theologically elite. Then the Jews surrounded him and then they said to him, how long will you keep us in suspense or in doubt? If you are the Messiah, the Christ, just tell us plainly. Jesus answered them I told you and you do not believe the works that I do in my father's name they bear witness their testimony to who I am but you do not believe because you are not of my what sheep my sheep Hear my voice is very important to pay attention to what the lord is saying here my sheep hear my voice Now that would have been true in that day that those who come to believe in jesus christ and followed him were those who believed in him That is not true today. And the reason I want to put a preface on this and Is because there are those who say they hear god speaking No, you don't. You now have the recorded Word of God and if you want to hear God speak, read it aloud. But he doesn't speak to people now and be very careful with that because in the last days there will be false teachers who come who will say that God has said or is speaking to them. We'll deal with that next week. But here, the true believer today does hear the voice of God, but it's the Spirit of God working in him who guides him to Jesus Christ. And that's why those of us in here who believe in Jesus Christ for salvation, who understand that we are sinners in need of redemption and saving and just as brother Mike taught this morning in Romans 5 you see if you really look at it you see it as God who is making us who we are we were all sinners because of Adam but it is because of what Christ has done it made us children of God You see that type of sovereign language where God is in absolute control of salvation and we play no part, that's the grace of God. And you see it here in this passage. But I wanted to clear that up. No one, listen to me, no one hears the audible voice of God today. No one. And this is why Jesus, even at the end of Luke, and I want to put this in here, At the end of Luke, Jesus scolded the two men on the road to Emmaus for what? Not believing what the word of God said. Then he taught his disciple and we see again the theme of God giving us understanding. It said he opened up the understanding of his disciples that they might believe the law of Moses and the Proverbs and the Prophets. And it's the same today. The only reason we understand the Word of God is because the Spirit of God, who we read in 1 Corinthians 2 this morning, who knows the mind of God, the deep things of God, reveals the deep things to us. And so, Jesus now, in response to these religious leaders, remember his disciples are also standing here as well, listening to the Lord. He tells them in verse 26 again, but you do not believe and the reason is because you are not my sheep. My sheep, on the other hand, listen to my voice. And I know them and they follow me. And I give them eternal life. and they will never perish. Neither will anyone 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 my father are one God. We are one. This is Jesus declaring divinity. He is claiming to be God. Another stumbling block is those who don't believe that Jesus is God. They don't understand the Trinity. Yet here Jesus is speaking of his Father. Speaking of himself in verse 30 clearly indicates that he is saying that he and God the Father are equal. That they are God. The response of the religious leaders are given to us in verse 31, which is not in my text, but I want to show you, again, because that is a stumbling block, that Jesus is God, and it is taught by some oneness Pentecostalism or modalism, or that God was one person revealing himself in three different manners. One time he's the father, the next time he presents himself As the son and another time he presents himself as the Holy Spirit not three individuals who are God one But one individual masquerading as three I would consider that to be deceptive No, he is three persons and the language clearly indicates when we read the Word of God it clearly indicates that that they are distinct individuals, yet they are co-equal, co-eternal. They are exactly alike. For a better word. There's no distinct difference between the Father and the Son. Again, this is why Jesus told them in chapter 14, he who has seen me has seen the Father. How would you dare ask the question, show us the Father? Have you not been listening that I'm the image of the Father? and the visible impression of the invisible father. They pick up their stones in verse 31 to stone him. Why? Because if he is not God, this is blasphemous. This is blasphemy and deserving of death. The death penalty for someone claiming to be divine God in the Old Testament economy of Israel was to be stoned to death. And so here they pick up stones to stone Jesus. Why? Because he is claiming to be God. Quickly to deal with this stumbling block that many Christians don't even understand that their Lord is God in a human body. Jesus answers them in verse 32. Many good miracles, the works of God, I have shown you from my Father. For which of those works are you going to stone me over? What miracle are you going to stone me over? The very same thing was done in John chapter 8 when Jesus said before Abraham was, I am, I existed, the self-existing one. And it's important to understand when you say that he is the self-existing one, you and I only exist because of him. We are the result of his promises, his power. If he doesn't want us to exist, guess what? We won't exist. He, on the other hand, needs no assistance in existing. He has always existed. Wrap your mind around that. There's never a time when Jesus did not exist. There was a time that you and I didn't exist, but it's never been a time where he has not existed, or the Father, or the Spirit. They have always existed. Look what they say in verse 33, then Jesus answered him, I mean, sorry, the Jews answered him saying, for a good work, the miracles is what Jesus is referencing, for the good works we do not stone you. But for blasphemy, because you being a man, you are making yourself to be God. Clear evidence that they knew exactly what Jesus was saying. Jesus was claiming to be God. This is his enemy. This is essentially a testimony of his enemies to the reality of the divinity of Christ. Same thing in chapter eight, they picked up stones of stone and when he said, before Abraham existed, I am. He was claiming the name given to Moses on the mountain. I am who I am. So if anybody comes to you with a stumbling block that Jesus is not God, or he is some sub God, that would not deter or cause you to stumble or impact your faith because now you know the truth. Now going back to whether a true believer can lose their salvation or not, it's not a matter of whether the true believer can lose their salvation. The question is, are you saved? That's the question. And the characteristics and evidences of a true believer are also in this text as well. Just as the Apostle Paul told Timothy, the Lord knows those who are his. And let everyone who claims his name depart from wickedness, iniquity, sin. Turn away from it. If you're going to claim that Jesus is our Savior, then we must turn away from living a life of willing habitual sin. And you see that in the passage as well. We may say everyone's a Christian, but to deal with that stumbling block that just because you joined a church or gave your hand to a preacher or whatever, will be dashed because Jesus is going to show you who the true believers are, who his sheep are. And just as accurate as it was accurate in this day, it is still accurate today. That's another stumbling block. I did not plan on mentioning those things, but they're coming to my mind because they're all in the text. All you saved is the issue. The Apostle Paul said, examine yourself to make sure that you are in the faith. That was one of the passages that confronted me one day from Dr. John MacArthur. When he mentioned it in that text, he said, examine yourself to see whether you are in the faith. Prove yourself. Prove that the spirit of God is dwelling in you. And we don't do that. We're not told to do that. We're not required to do that in modern day church, churchendom, Christendom. And that's why I believe the major shock would be many of us will be standing before the great white throne judgments, which is when you're going to hit right before you go to hell. To the lake of fire crying out all of the things you did in the name of Jesus. But you never examine yourself to see whether you truly did believe in Jesus. But you match the criteria and the characteristics given to us in the word of God is specifically 1st John. Through the book, the epistle of 1st John. It's another stumbling block. False professions of faith in Jesus Christ when one doesn't even know him. Secondly, we look at salvation and it must be viewed from God's vantage point. From God's perspective and not human perspective. Salvation is God's promise, and it's of God's power. This is why the Apostle Paul said in Romans 1, when he said, we are not ashamed of the good news, for it is the power by which God saves. In the Gospel of John chapter 1, he said, he gave to those who believe the power the authority to become the children of God. So in order to understand that God's salvation is eternal and once saved, always saved, never view it from the human work or human vantage point of view. You always look at it from the point of God. Now we have in our passage today, we have Jesus Christ. Who is he? God. Is it possible that he could be in error? Well, if he's God, then we know that's impossible. The Hebrew writer said, he cannot lie. God actually made an oath against his own self that he would redeem people through Jesus Christ. But he can find no one higher, the Hebrew writer said, he swore by himself. An immutable oath. And so when we look at this passage, it's important that we look at it from the perspective of who is speaking. This is not John MacArthur, this is not Mike Williams, this is not Rod Hendricks, this is not Votie Bauckham, this is Jesus Christ. This is the word of God who has become human without ceasing to be divine. And he is speaking against stumbling block theology. And so therefore, looking at it from his vantage point, we can come to the conclusion that since Jesus is God, number one, number two, Jesus cannot lie, number three, Jesus has the power to fulfill anything that he promises. You see in the passage today, Jesus is the active power, the active force in his description in these passages, and you and I are the passive. So when we look at eternal security, or once saved, always saved, or a true believer cannot lose their salvation, we have to view it based on the view of God and from the perspective of God. God told Abraham when Sarah laughed at him. Why does she laugh? He says, is anything too hard for God? Mary wanted to know how can she become pregnant without knowing a man, having intimacy with a man. And what did Gabriel tell her? Nothing is in possible with God In Luke 18 a rich rich wrong ruler came to Jesus with the right question. What must I do to be saved? He was told to come and follow Jesus, but he couldn't because he had too much money The money had him the money was his God and so he walked away from the Lord dejected and Jesus turns to his disciple and And he said how difficult it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. He says it is easier to stick a literal camel through the eye of a literal sewing needle. It's easier to do that than for a rich man who loves their money to enter the kingdom of heaven. And let me say this too, just because we're not rich, we love money. If you love money, you're no different than a rich young ruler. I know sadly people that love money and it has destroyed their lives. So the apostles, I mean the disciples said, well then, how you gonna stick a camel through a needle? A sewing needle, how you gonna do this? He said, with man, it is impossible. But with God, all things are possible. This is the view we have to take when we look at the security, the eternal security of the believer. Is it possible for the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Father, and the sealing of the Holy Spirit to permanently save me? Where I can't lose it? Once you see this truth, it'll always, you'll always see it, and you'll see it, and alluded to it all throughout your Bible. I remember, again, I tell the story of Homer Lindsay at First Baptist Church downtown, and when I was baptized, died at that church, and I remember he used to teach on once saved, always saved, the eternal security of the believer. And I only believed it because it was Homer Lindsay saying it. And he said it was such confidence and such authority that I believed that. And the person had asked me a question, can I lose my salvation? And I said, no, you couldn't lose your salvation because, or could you lose your, no, because the Bible teaches it. Now I didn't see it, but I believed Homer Lindsay. And then I became a Sunday school teacher. And guess what? I came to John chapter 10, this very passage right here, decades ago. And as I had to study to teach it, I saw it myself. And so I no longer had to trust that Homer was telling me the truth, Dr. Lindsay was telling me the truth. I saw it with my own eyes. And once I saw that reality and that truth, I saw it everywhere. And that's what you have here. Can a true believer lose their salvation or not? Well, let's just jump into this, and we're not gonna handle it, but briefly, but let's start with, first of all, in the text, the question of the unbelievers, I call it. This is verses 22 through 24. Look at verse 22. To show you how accurate the scriptures are and that they are actually history, and these are not myths or fables, These are not made up stories or tales created by some ghost writer or writer or someone who had a vivid imagination. It gives us historical accounts, places, events. Here it is the Feast of Dedication. And you know it's the month of December, they're celebrating it now. Feast of Hanukkah or Hanukkah. And this is when the Maccabees historically, they defeated Antiochus Epiphanes and the Seleucid kingdom. The temple had been desecrated, you see here. It tells us it's in Jerusalem, it's in the temple in verse 23 of Solomon's port, so we have the place. And they cleansed the temple and rededicated it. Antiochus the fourth Epiphanes had desecrated the temple by sacrificing a pig his Hatred for the Jewish religion and a true God And as a mockery, he would take a pig an unclean animal into the temple and sacrifice it And eventually the Jewish Maccabees defeated him Rededicated the temple and then they celebrated it with Hanukkah And this is what the event that we have happening here. Now with the Feast of Dedication, Hanukkah, we see the city, Jerusalem. We see the time of years, winter. And here we have the God-man walking in the temple under the colonnade of what they call Solomon's Porch. Secondly, in verse 24, we see the enemies of Christ. And I remind you that these are your church people. These are not Gentile savages. These are not your irreligious unbelievers. These are religious people sitting in the pews. These are the preachers and they come to Jesus. They surround him and they said, how long will you keep us in doubt? Tell us the truth and tell it to us plainly. Are you the Christ? Are you the Messiah? And I thought about this last night in chapter two, Simeon prayed that he might see the Messiah before he died. You know the Bible said he was a righteous man. He prayed that before he died, he would get to see the Messiah. Anna, that ancient lady, that widow who stayed in the temple, rejoiced when she saw Jesus Christ and told everyone that it was Christ. The woman at the well. When Jesus revealed to her she was the Messiah, she ran back to the city and told everybody, come to meet a man who told me everything that I've ever done. Could this be the Messiah? They came out, Jesus spoke with them and they believed. But not these men here. How do we know they're unbelievers? They will not accept what Jesus tells them. They reject the fact that he's identified him as the Messiah. See, this would mean nothing to you and I, but for the Jews, they were looking for a Messiah. They were looking for the son of David to come and reign over them. What they did not realize was he had to come and deal with their sin first. He had to reconcile them to a holy God. And the only adequate, proper sacrifice would be another human, not animals. That should have conditioned their minds that without the shedding of blood, as the Hebrew writer said, there can be no forgiveness of sin. Somebody has to pay the debt in order to reconcile us to God. And for the true believer, this is the grace of God. Jesus came and paid the debt, and now you and I, through faith in Jesus Christ, are reconciled to God in spite of the fact that we keep committing sin. This is why you want eternal security. This is why you don't want to try to save yourself through religious behavior, because it's not going to do it. You can't reconcile yourself to God. Through any type of moral religious behavior, it's not going to work. It didn't work for the Jews, it's not going to work for us. The question is right question and we should be asking that question too. Are you the Messiah? Where do we get our proof from? The Word of God. They ask the right question. The rich young ruler say, what must I do to be saved? The Philippian jailer rushes in. What must I do to be saved? The question is, I want to be saved. And what must I do to be reconciled to a holy, holy, holy God? So they say, how long will you keep us in suspense like Jesus is the one wrong? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly. You can hear the arrogance and the pride and the conceit, the aloofness of these men without even being there. You're gonna walk up on God and talk to him like you're just talking to anybody. We know they didn't come up with humility and contrition and kindness and say, sir, Could you please let us know, are you the Messiah? We are desperately, we are desperate, and we desperately want to know, are you the Messiah? No. You know what they came up there and did? They came up there and demanded from him. Talked down to him like he was just anybody. We are the authority here. And we want you to tell us plainly, are you the Messiah? Tell us plainly now. We the religious police. We studied the word of God. We are, we know the word of God. They believe they were so sanctimoniously righteous that they told a blind man, you were born a sinner. We weren't. Do we pray like this to God, like God owes us something? You hear that in your preaching today. You just tell God what you want. You demand. You know why? It's premised on you. You're so good that you can walk up on God and demand plainly for him to do something. There's no humility here, I guarantee you, because later on, right there in verse 31, they're gonna stone him. They were gonna stone him back in chapter 8, but you know what? Jesus miraculously walked right through him and disappeared and they couldn't touch him. You know why? Because it wasn't his time. And here in chapter 10, he says, no one takes my life. I voluntarily give it up. And you know that has to be true when you really think it out theologically. Who can kill Jesus if he doesn't want you to kill him? No one. You can't kill God, first of all. He cannot cease to exist. And even dwelling in a human body, just like ours, as the Hebrew writer says, without sin, you couldn't kill him until he gave up his life. And so here's the question. And this is a very important question. And we have to ask that question today. You want to be baptized, is Jesus the Christ? Is he the Messiah? Is he the Son of God? Is he the Savior? Is he the grace of God revealed? The law was given by Moses, John said in John 1, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Moses couldn't give you grace. The law cannot give us grace. Trying to keep the commandment to go to heaven will not give you grace. It is only in the truth of Jesus Christ You wonder why Mike and I keep beating the horse of Jesus Christ. I won't even call my Lord a horse. A shepherd. This is a difficult message for humankind to accept. You're completely inept. You're desperately wicked. You have no ability to come to God on your own. You're dead in trespasses and sins. You're not righteous. You're not good. You're actually worthless to God. This is what the Bible says. I'm not making it up. This is what the Bible says. It is completely humbling. And so you ask the right question, Jesus, are you the Messiah? Jesus said coming down the road, there are gonna be a bunch of messiahs coming, claiming to be saviors. We got one coming down the road, another one, who will claim to be God. the most wicked man that has ever lived. I believe he's alive right now. And I wouldn't be shocked if we didn't saw his face. I believe the Pope, maybe this one, I'm not sure, but this is one, all Popes are bad, but this might be the worst one. The other ones at least tried to imitate genuine Christianity, but not this one. Not this one. Jesus said in the last days many messiahs and false prophets will proliferate and their responsibility is to mislead the many. And I would have to say based on what I see, it's being fulfilled. So the right question, who is Jesus? Nothing wrong with asking that question. But our answer comes from the Lord himself. Secondly, notice not only the questions of the unbelievers, I want you to notice secondly in verses 25 and 26, the identity of the unbelievers. Jesus answered them, I have told you and you do not believe. You know, that's a present indicative, present tense indicative. What he's saying is you just habitually won't believe. You keep on not believing. What I have clearly told you, plainly told you that I was the Messiah. That's one of the characteristics of an unbeliever is he doesn't believe. Now let me ask you a question. Do you think because you're sitting in here that I'm supposed to believe that everyone in here believes? I pray that you do. Not believe that he just exists, but believe that we are sinners in need of salvation. We have come to him to be saved. One of the characteristics is that they keep on not believing that Jesus is the Christ. Well, what was the question? Are you the Christ? And they keep on not believing it. And Jesus, who has eyes of fire, penetrates to the heart and with that very same two-edged sword that is in Hebrews chapter 4, he starts slicing and dicing and he opens it up with a spiritual divine autopsy and reveals what's in their hearts. This is coming from the very mouth of God and they don't even believe. Now what makes you think they're going to believe brother Mike and me? Or you, when you tell them they must repent of their sins and believe in Jesus Christ. You think they're going to listen to you? You just read, he just read, son, DeVecchio just read John chapter 15 and Jesus said the world is going to detest you, hate you. So one of the first characteristics is they just keep on not believing. Then he talks about the evidence here in verse 25, the miracle, the word works there, miracles. The miracles that I do, emphatic, I do in my father's name, they testify of me. They would have seen him raising people from the dead, giving sight to the blind. They would have saw all of these astounding miracles at a level that had never been seen collectively by all of the Old Testament saints. It was miracle after miracle after miracle. Remember, we only have selective miracles. But John said there were so many that if he recorded all of them, there would be not enough volumes to contain everything that Christ did in those three years. Three years! And it would take volume after volume after volume. It would fill the entire planet. If everything he did was written in the word of God, but selective miracles, we have selective miracles, and you know what the requirement for us today is? To believe what we're reading. Did Jesus do these miracles? And the answer to that question is yes, he did. When Brother Michael, we teach on these miracles on Christ, do you believe it? Or do you look at it as a fairy tale? Or do you look at it at, this actually happened. The works, the miracles that we have recorded in the Word of God testify to you and I today, that Jesus is the Christ. He is the Messiah. Look at verse 26. He says, but you do not believe, and finally, the reason being is, because you're not my sheep. Don't think that just applied 2,000 years ago, it's the same today. It's the same truth and reality is today. People don't believe Jesus Christ because they are not his sheep. So we see the unbelievers and Jesus tells them why they can't believe the consistent, habitual message that he is the Messiah is because they're not his sheep. And when you think about the context of chapter 10, this is what he's been using, an illustration of a shepherd and a sheep. Look at what he says. In the beginning of chapter 10, truly, truly I say to you, he who does not enter by the sheepfold by the door, but comes on some other way, climbs up another way, the same is nothing more than a thief and a robber. That's what robbers do. They don't come through the door, they climb over the thing. get in there in this massive sheep pen, possibly where there would be hundreds and hundreds of sheep, and they go up on the side somewhere and just grab him one. Snatch him up out of there. He doesn't go, because they'll have a hireling, somebody they hired to watch the gate who knew the shepherds. And this was a corporate sheepfold, so there would be sheep from many shepherds. And sheep are just like those cats or dogs that you might have. They know who you are. They don't know who strangers are. If I go to your house and I went to daughter Tanya's house and the little dog there, what is his name? Slinky. Slinky one of them long dogs. So I went in and Slinky didn't recognize me initially. And you know, I was making sure he, I was watching him now. I want to make sure that Slinky got teeth too. So I was watching him and Slinky didn't recognize me. He didn't know me. I had to win him over. But he knows her, he knows, the evacuee knows them. Well, it's the same thing. When the shepherd would come to the sheepfold, he would go in and the sheep knew his voice. He was always with those sheep, he would lead them out, and he spent the whole day with those sheep, and then he would bring them back at night. They knew his voice. This is the illustration that Jesus is using. So he says, in verse two, or verse three, when the shepherd comes in verse two, to him the doorkeeper opens and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep. by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them and the sheep follow him for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger. They will flee from him for they do not recognize the voice of strangers. He used a real scenario of a real shepherd and real sheep animals and they would have clearly understand that he was absolutely right. And I noticed to be true, you can put a video up on YouTube where This was proved. And there's a bunch of sheep out there, and I've said this before, there were a bunch of sheep out in the pasture, and they're all out there grazing. And so the shepherd, the man who had the sheep, invited the young people, male and female, to come to the edge of the fence and call for the sheep. And one after one, they got up there on that fence and, come here, sheepy, sheepy, sheepy, and all kinds of stuff. And them sheep didn't pay a bit of attention to them. And if they hollered loud enough, the sheep might look up and say, who that fool hollering at? You know, and they'd go right back to eating. Eating. Then the shepherd came up and got on that fence and he called out. Them sheep looked up and they all ran to him. Ran to him and that gave me chills and reminded me of this passage right here. Jesus sheep hear his voice and they come flocking to him and they will not listen to another shepherd There's reason for these things see And so we go back to our passage again quickly He tells them in verse 26 you do not believe because You are not my sheep And that goes for anyone that does not believe Jesus Christ, they are not his sheep. And I want to warn all of us that you can sit in church and not be his sheep. I have to remind you that one man is here listening to all of this, embedded among the 12, and I always have to bring him up. He represents the church people. who hang around Jesus, and as the Hebrew writer says, experience the power of the Spirit of God working in the lives of true believers. And yet he's not a believer. You see the obvious, clear unbelievers, the religious leaders, what you don't see is Judas. Later on, Jesus exposes him. Okay, so now, look at the identity of the true believers. So we've seen the question of the unbelievers, we've seen the identity of the unbelievers and some of their characteristics continue with rejection of Christ's word, continued rejection of the biblical witness of Christ, they just won't believe. Now we look at the identity of the true believers, and this is very important because they have characteristics that we have to have. First of all, notice what he says. Verse 27, mashi. You see now, notice the, again, from Jesus' view. Not yours, Jesus. Jesus claims that these sheep are his. This is personal. They belong to him. He is the good shepherd. He is giving his life for the sheep. He says, my sheep, number one characteristic is they listen to my voice. Well, we don't hear his voice today, but the thing is that when we preach the word of God, are you listening? We're taking it in context. We're not taking things out of context. We're not pulling a verse out of a passage and discarding the rest of the passage. We're going verse by verse. Look at what he's saying. My sheep, listen to my voice. Who are you believing today? Is these so-called preachers who take scripture out of context and give you what their opinions of their depraved hearts are, are they taking it verse by verse, elevating Jesus Christ, which is what the Holy Spirit will do in any believer, is he's going to honor Christ. If the Spirit of God is in a man of God or a woman of God, or a true believer, guess what they want to do? They're going to be compelled by the very Spirit who is God too. He is God. He is going to honor Christ through them. They're going to be compelled to honor and glorify Jesus Christ. They're going to study to show they are self-approved under God. A workman that does not be ashamed, rightfully dividing the word of truth. So Jesus said, my sheep, listen to me. Well, I tell you what, I don't hear any voices, but I know where the words of Jesus are. And they're in this book. And I go to this book. And if any of you have ever had any counseling for me, don't sit here and tell me I don't tell you what God's word says. My opinions are like a nose. Everybody's got them. But what does God say? My sheep hear my voice, the conjunction and, Look at what he says, I know them. Remember in Matthew 7, he makes false Christians, he sends them into the lake of fire by saying, I never knew you. Emphatic negative, I never knew you. It was not conditional in the fact that he might have known them intimately at some time. He says, I never knew them. I never knew you. It's the opposite here in this passage. He says, I emphatically, I know them. The Greek word, gnosko, it literally means intimate knowledge like a husband has for his wife in every way. He knows us from the crown of our head to the sole of our feet. He knows what's in our heart. He knows everything about us because we now are in a relationship with him. Why? Because we are his sheep. He knows us. Another and here, conjunction, ties all three together, and they follow me. That's a present indicative. They're always following him. Now would Jesus lead us in the sand? So if you're heading into sin, guess what? You're not following Jesus. This is a person who commits their life to Christ. They pick up the cross and follow him. They identify with him. They're always listening to his voice, listening to the word of God accurately interpreted, and their lives are centered on obeying his commands. Didn't you just see in John, it said that if you keep my commandments, It says in John chapter 14 verse 15, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. You saw, when Jezebel read this morning, he says also in 14, he who has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves me, and he who loves me will be loved by my father, and I will love him and reveal myself to them. Notice the condition, they keep my commandments. This doesn't mean absolute perfection, but it does mean this is the commitment of your life. He says in chapter 15, verse 10, if you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love. You are my friends, in verse 14, if you do whatever I command you. Constantly this type of language. That's what follow means Jesus is supreme. He's the Good Shepherd. I'm following him. What does he have me? What would he have me to do? I'm dead to the world now The world's opinions speculations music. I don't care what they said if it contradicts the Word of God The Word of God is what I follow and this is what Jesus is talking about They pick up their cross and walk after Christ They're dead. The cross means they're dead to the world. They're dead to sin. They're alive to God. It's more than just well I follow Christ. Do you? Notice that is the characteristics of the true believer. They're Jesus sheep. He knows them and their lives mimic Christ. Paul says, follow me as I follow Christ. Notice verse 28. As a result of the grace of God towards these, and emphatically, and I give them eternal life. It is a gift. Notice between verses 27 and 28, there is no you doing anything. He knows you. He pays the price for your sins on the cross. And I give them as a gift eternal life. Exactly what the Apostle Paul says. For by grace you have been saved through faith and not of yourself. It's the gift of God. And then look what he says. What I give and they will never perish. Now look at that from who's saying it. Is he wrong? Is he wrong? If a person came to a saving knowledge of Christ and perished, then this has to be wrong. That means Jesus was wrong. Whoever this sheep is that he knows, these sheep that he knows, we see that they follow him. He gives them eternal life. And then Jesus declared from the mouth of God, the son, they will emphatically never perish. And just in case they didn't understand that, at the end of verse 28, he says, and neither will anyone snatch them out of my hand. Just look at the language. Now who's holding on to who? It didn't say that he was in your hand, you were holding on to him. It says God the Son is holding on to you, to us. This is the second person of the triune God, all-powerful. And he says, no one can pry my hands open and pull you out of it. And I love the fact that he uses the N-word in the Middle Greek, which means it could be active, you doing something, or it could be passive, something being done to you. He is literally saying, you can't do it. And I said, can I not believe Jesus? And I'm telling you, I cannot not believe him. No matter what happens, cancer, trials, tribulations, assaults, persecutions, nothing makes me stop believing in Jesus. It is not me holding on to Jesus, it is Him fulfilling the promise. Rod, I don't care how awful you are, and you are awful, I know what you're doing. Remember now, I know your heart, I know your thoughts, I know everything you're doing. You know what though? You know, I'm making a promise based on myself, And my power, and I'm telling you Rod, because your faith is in Jesus Christ, because it's in me, you will never perish. No one's gonna pluck you out of my hand, Rod. Well Lord, you know, I don't know if you enough to do that though. Are you sure you enough to keep me secure eternally? Oh, well let me add something to it. Verse 29. 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. Now we got a real problem. Jesus is God and said you can't get him out of his hands and now he says you're in the father's hand and now we got two persons of the Trinity holding on to me. And he says, no one is able to snatch them out of my father's hand. What part of no one do you not understand? No one. Now, you might be able to do it if you're not a one. But if you are a one, you can't even do it. What part of never don't you not understand? They shall never perish. Well, maybe the Holy Spirit is not a part of this. Maybe he's a negative vote that say, no, I don't want him to come. Well, Paul dealt with that issue in Ephesians. He says, you are sealed with the Spirit of God. Now the Spirit of God comes and puts the seal of God on you. And He's the power that keeps you believing in Jesus. So the entire Trinity is working to make sure that we, the true believer, never perishes. No one can pluck me out of my hand. Now quickly, turn to John chapter six, because this type of language is everywhere. Once you see it, you can't unsee it because it's everywhere. He who has begun a good work in you will complete it to the day of the Lord. Whom he has foreknown he predestined whom he predestined he called whom he called he sanctified and who he sanctified justified and who he called he justified he sanctified or glorified I should say who he said who in Romans 8 if God is for you who Who can be against you? Then he goes and he gives that nice beautiful doxology near the end of it where nothing can separate, nothing can separate me from the love of Christ that is in Jesus, nothing. In John chapter six, you see this type of language. Look at verse 32. And then Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven. It was my father who gives you the true bread from heaven, that's Jesus. For the bread of God is he who comes down, and bread is food, come down from heaven and gives life to the world. Then they said to him, Lord, give us this bread always. We want this food. And Jesus said, I am, ego imine, imine, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will Never hunger and he who believes in me will What part of never don't you understand? That means that I'm not looking for another Messiah I'm not looking for another Savior. I am convinced that Jesus is the Christ and you know who's convinced me the Spirit I Holy Spirit convinced me and I'm telling you I'm not sitting here blowing smoke. I'm telling you I don't believe there's any other Messiah other than Jesus Christ and That's the Spirit of God working in me notice now he doesn't stop there verse 36 and But I said that you have seen me, and yet you do not believe. These are the very same religious leaders and people, right? All that the Father gives me, now notice what he says in verse 37. All that the Father gives me will come. Is he wrong? Future tense. And the ones who come to me, I will by no means throw them out. See how you look at when you look at it from God's perspective. This is him making the promises I'm just a passive object Receiving the mercy and grace of God and this is the promises he's making He ain't finished though. He's I would say he's not finished. He ain't finished Verse 38 The reason he's not casting him out for I have come down from heaven. I Not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me. That's to die for sins. This is the will of the Father who sent me. That all He has given me, I will lose nothing. So if you come to Jesus Christ and he loses us, how can that verse be right? At no time does he say he lose. He said, I will, I will lose none of them. Who's making the promises? listen to what he says in verse 39 this is the will of the father who sent me that all he has given me I should lose nothing but will raise it up in the last day what? and this is the will verse 40 this is the will of him who sent me everyone who sees the son and believes in him may have everlasting life and notice what he says I will raise them up at the last day Boy Jesus selling it He's saying what he's gonna do to those who believe and not one Language not not one word and he indicates that he can't keep what he promised like that We don't misunderstand what he's saying or we shouldn't anyway One last one John 3 16 and I'm done You see it in here too once you see it you always see it and John 3, 16. Are we there? For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have what? Eternal life, everlasting life. You know what he's saying? If that person believes in him They will not perish. What if they perish? Then that can't be right. That means Jesus was in error. He said they will not perish and on top of that he says but will have everlasting life. The true believer cannot lose their salvation because the true believer did not accomplish their salvation on their own, it was Jesus who did it. And so it is Jesus who is holding us in his hand. And no one can pluck us out of his hand. We're in the father's hand, and no one can pluck us out of the father's hand, and we've been sealed by the spirit of God until the day of redemption. He who has begun the good work in us will complete it. And finally now, the doxology that I normally read, I'm closing on this. Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you faultless, blameless. How you become faultless and blameless when you know good and well we're not? Because of the atoning work of Christ. He is, now listen to, again, listen to who the power is. Now to Him who is able to keep us from stumbling. And to present us faultless before the presence of His glory with what? Exceeding joy. To God our Savior. And my Bible says, who alone is wise, we are to be glory for him. He's the glory, the majesty, dominion, and power both now and forever. If someone asks you the question, can a true believer, and the key, true believer, lose their salvation? What's your answer? No. It's about