People Jesus Met, part 44 The Good Shepherd (Eternal Security) The Good Shepherd gives every one of His sheep a place in heaven that is eternally secure. Jesus said to them, I am the gate for the sheep. John 10:7 All who came before Me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. John 10:8 I am the gate! Whoever enters through Me will be saved. John 10:9 I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. John 10:11 Jesus finished work on the cross provides the only way that people can get eternal life and into heaven. I am the gate! Whoever enters through Me will be saved. John 10:9 No one is going to pay the spiritual price involved in giving one s life to Christ (repentance... humility... absolute surrender) as long as they believe there is an easier way to get into heaven! For this reason, the Father loves Me, because I lay down my life only to take it up again. John 10:17 No one takes My life from Me, but I lay it down on my own initiative. I have the authority to lay it down and I have the authority to take it up again. This command I received from My father. John 10:18 In verses 17-18, Jesus is talking about the unfathomable inter-relationship between the 1st and 2nd Persons of the Godhead. As our Good Shepherd, Jesus went to the cross freely, voluntarily and willingly... And laid down His life for our sins And took His life up again and rose from the dead My sheep hear My voice and I know them and they follow Me. John 10:27... and I give eternal life to them... John 10:28 People who embrace Jesus as their only gate into heaven God gives these people eternal life as a gift based on the saving word of Christ on the cross.
For by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not as a result of works so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23... I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of My hand. John 10:28 Not only is eternal life in heaven a gift from God but it is also a gift that we can never forfeit or lose. If there were anything we could do to forfeit our eternal life in heaven or to cause God to take back His gift to us then Jesus could not say never here in verse 28. Once you and I have our salvation as followers of Jesus Christ, there is nothing we can do to lose it and there is no being in the world who can take it away from us.... no one can snatch My sheep out of My hand. John 10:28 Regardless of what ever stupid or sinful thing we may do, Jesus wants us to know that our eternal life in heaven is secure for all time and eternity! So What? What exactly do we mean by eternal security? The phrase eternal security itself never actually appears in the Bible but it s a phrase that summarizes an unmistakable truth that is in the Bible. Truth: When a person truly embraces Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior, God gives that person a guaranteed place in heaven which is eternally secure, regardless of what they do/do not do from that point on. As followers of Christ, not only is getting our salvation not based on our human performance, but also, keeping our salvation is not based on our human performance either. From getting saved to entering heaven it s all God s underserved mercy, based on Jesus finished work on the cross, which never changes regardless of how we perform. I tell you the truth, whoever hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has eternal life... John 5:24a
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. John 3:36 I tell you the truth, the person who believes in Me has eternal life. John 6:47 Heaven is merely the place where people who already have eternal life go when they leave this earth. Can a person ever have eternal life and then lose it?... and that person will not be condemned, for they have crossed over from death to eternal life. John 5:24b The perfect tense is used to describe (1) a completed action in the past... (2) the results of which go on indefinitely and irreversibly. RSV = Revised Solomonic Translation He who believes in Jesus has eternal life... and will not be condemned... for that person has crossed over/is crossed over/always will be crossed over... from death to eternal life. John 5:24 According to John 5:24, when we embrace Jesus as our Savior, God irreversibly transfers us from a state of eternal death to a state of eternal life and there is no going backwards EVER! And this is the covenant I will make with them their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more. Hebrews 10:16, 17 As born-again followers of Christ, God enters into contract with us which John 5:24 declares to be irreversible. The terms of this contract: #1 Their sins and lawless deeds I will remember no more (Hebrews 10:17) #2 Our names are inscribed in the Lamb s Book of Life (Philippians 4:3; Revelation 21:27) #3 There is now no condemnation for those who are in Jesus Christ. (Romans 8:1) #4 I will bury their sins in the depths of the sea. (Micah 7:19) #5 We are indwelt by the Holy Spirit Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God. 1 Corinthians 6:19 #6 We become adopted children of God But to all who have received Him, God gave them the right to be children of God. John 1:12 #7 We re branded with God s personal seal of ownership the indwelling Holy Spirit for every angel/demon of hell to see Having believed, we were marked
with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, which is deposit guaranteeing our inheritance. Ephesians 1:13 To be marked with a seal = literally in Greek to be branded Ephesians 1:13 says that every follower of Christ has been branded with the indwelling Holy Spirit so that every creature in the universe knows for certain that we belong to God for all eternity! #8 We become one of Jesus personal sheep who can never perish (John 5:24) For a true follower of Jesus to lose their eternal life and miss heaven, someone would have to: #1 Cast the indwelling Holy Spirit out of us #2 Eradicate God s brand from our hide #3 Cancel our adoption papers as children of God #4 Talk God into remembering our sins and lawless deeds once more #5 Sneak into heaven and erase our name out of the Lamb s Book of Life #6 Convince God to re-write Romans 8:1 to read: There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Jesus Christ except in the following circumstances #7 Scuba-dive down and dredge our sins up from the depths of the sea #8 Turn us from one of Jesus sheep to one of the devil s goats #9 Snatch us out of Jesus hand when He looking #10 Make a liar out of Almighty God, because He made a covenant with us which says that He would never do any of these things When you and I genuinely embrace Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, God consummates a legal agreement with us guaranteeing us a place in heaven. This is a covenant that is irreversible and irrevocable that we can take to the bank from now until eternity. I m not going to heaven because of anything I ve done or been. I m going there because of what Jesus in His mercy did for me on the cross! I m writing to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may K-N-O-W that you have eternal life. 1 John 5:13 It is normal for followers of Christ to know that they are going to heaven and God wants every follower of Christ to have this absolute assurance of eternal life. For every fault, God saw a cross. From the song God Saw a Cross No matter how bad our day is going because of eternal security there is always something going right with our day!
Talk About It How would your attitude toward things in life be different if eternal security wasn t true?