We Will Persevere
Notes
Transcript
What’s the difference?
What’s the difference?
At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
Today we will look at a certain truth in uncertain times. Something that can remain a steadfast hope in our lives. It is this, Jesus gives us eternal life, we will never perish and no one will ever snatch us out of His hands.
In the bible there are several imperatives. And that word is used to describe commanding tones in scripture. A simple version of this is the Great Commission:
Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
That is an indicative passage, “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”
But we have to view the imperatives in light of the indicatives. An indicative is a mood of assurance or actuality.
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.
There is an important relationship between these two forms of moods.
Namely, what God commands us to do (the imperative) is based upon what he has done, is doing or will do (the indicatives).
So much so that the Bible has more indicatives than imperatives. God, in His Word, has poured out more of who He is and what He has done than what we are to do or not to do. This is to inform what we do. It is to inform our obedience.
I want us to think of today’s text in that light. The entire thing is an indicative, an assurance of an unchanging reality, we are kept and carried by Christ to eternity.
What did He do?
What did He do?
So what did Jesus do to prove that He is not only The Christ but the Son of God?
Jesus is prophesied and confirmed by John the Baptist
Turns water into wine
Jesus righteously drives people out of the temple
Heals an official’s son
Heals a the pool on a Sabbath
Feeds the 5K
Heals the blind
walks on water
And teaches with the authority of the Word.
These are only the things found in the Gospel According to John.
Jesus has proven Himself adequately
V.25-26 Makes me think of Psalm 95:7-8 and Romans 1:18
God speaking and showing people His awesomeness and them hardening their hearts and suppressing the Truth.
His Voice
His Voice
There is this video I watched about sheep herding. Not super in depth but so good. They had 3 test subjects and the shepherd himself. One after the other they called the sheep having been taught the same call the shepherd uses. Not one sheep budged as they were grazing. Then the shepherd steps up and begins to call them. Some heads lift with slight hesitation to move, then a few more, then they all moved entirely towards the shepherds voice. It was such a cool sight to see.
V. 27-29
Jesus calls His sheep and He knows them and they follow Him.
Jesus knows those He calls. A few weeks ago I had mentioned this in a sermon. It was this idea of “knowing” in scripture. It is deeper than we often understand. Today we say we know someone after we’ve met them on a social media platform. In Jesus time, to know someone was so much greater. In Greek the word is Ginosko, and I remember my friend Martin Medina once preached here and said “Ginosko is rings as the Spanish version of the word conosco. It a deep familiarity.”
And biblically it is. In Genesis 4:1 we see that Adam knows his wife Eve and she bares a child. Here the Hebrew word is Yada. And it is intimate knowledge.
Jesus here is saying that He intimately knows us as both the creator and the one that has called us out of our tomb.
Often in our day to day jobs, in doing taxes, even in voting, we can feel like a just a number or a tax return. Even if we know our bosses, we will never be friends or truly known by them. Here our Creator is letting us know that He intimately knows us.
For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
So, Jesus calls us by name as He does Lazarus from His tomb and we follow Him, and we obey Him.
By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.
“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
We are known, loved and called, let us obey as only those with true Life can obey. Maybe not perfectly but sustained and strengthened to do so.
We Are Persevered
We Are Persevered
V.28-29
Last week Nohan had mentioned how I tend to mention the doctrine of the PErseverance of the Saints.
Theopedia says this about the doctrine:
those who are truly saved will persevere to the end and cannot lose their salvation. It doesn't mean that a person who is truly saved will never lose assurance faith or backslide at any time. But that they will ultimately persevere in faith (in spite of failures) such as not to lose their salvation.
How is it that we cannot ultimately lose our salvation? Because Jesus says so and He is faithful to complete what He has promised. It’s in the Covenant of Grace. We are His and He will never let us go.
The 2nd London Baptist Confession says this about the doctrine.
1689:
2. This perseverance of the saints does not depend on their own free will but on the unchangeableness of the decree of election,4 which flows from the free and unchangeable love of God the Father. It is based on the efficacy of the merit and intercession of Jesus Christ and union with him,5 the oath of God,6 the abiding of his Spirit, the seed of God within them,7and the nature of the covenant of grace.8 The certainty and infallibility of their perseverance is based on all these things.
4. Romans 8:30 Romans 9:11, 16. 5. Romans 5:9, 10; John 14:19. 6. Hebrews 6:17, 18. 7. 1 John 3:9. 8. Jeremiah 32:40.
Though the name suggests that we persevere, a more proper term is that we are persevered. It is God who keeps us, not our holding on, not our works, Jesus and His works and His protection.
And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
Just as sheep do not choose their shepherd, we did not choose Christ, but Christ chose us. We cannot and will no be disowned.
To say that one can lose their salvation Has several implications.
You are saying that if we can lose it we probably gained it.
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
2. You are saying that Jesus Life death and resurrection wasn’t enough.
For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
If the Gospel is not enough, Jesus life death and resurrection is not enough, God’s gathering of His own is not enough than what is? We will continue to work as the world teaches us. If we had to work for this then we’d be no better off than any other religion. If we had to keep ourselves, persevere ourselves we would never rest.
Rest
Rest
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
We are safe in His hands.
And led me out
To an open land of peace
My soul is well and I know
That You're alive in me
And in the dark
Your redeeming light endures
Forever
I'm saved secure