FBCWest 578 | Safe in Jesus Hand
Recorded On: 10/29/2023
Bulletin
Hymn # 335 “Standing on the Promises”
SCRIPTURE READING – Romans 9:6 - 8
Giving of Selves and Our Offerings
OFFERTORY PRAYER
OFFERTORY MUSIC – Pru Hungate
Praise and Worship
“Holy Forever”
“How Great Is Your Love”
“The Stand”
Proclamation of the Word
Message by Pastor Joe
“Safe in Jesus’ Hand”
PRAYER TIME / Time of Reflection
“God You Are”
Benediction “There Is Freedom”
Sermon Notes
John 10:22 & 23 Jesus in Jerusalem during Hanukkah
John 10:24 Jesus asked to say plainly if He is the Christ
John 10:25 Jesus response that is what He has been saying and His action confirm it
John 10:26 – 28 They don’t believe because they are not His sheep, but His sheep hear His voice and follow Him
John 10:29 & 30 The Father gave His sheep to Him and no one can force them out of His hand and the Father and Jesus are One
John 10:31 They want to stone Jesus
John 10:32 – 39 Jesus and the Jews discuss blasphemy
John 10:40 – 42 Jesus goes beyond the Jordan River and many believe in Him
Scritpures
Transcript of Service
Insurance is a good thing, but it doesn't prevent anything from happening. Insurance is simply there to compensate you when an accident or some other event happens.
Jesus doesn't provide his followers insurance. He gives them assurance.
There is an insurance company that says, "You're in good hands when you're with them." Jesus talks about being in his hands. Let us see what being in Jesus' hand is all about and the assurance that he provides.
We have been going through the Gospel of John.
We have been going through the Gospel of John so that we might, for those of us who haven't found faith yet, find it, for those of us who have found it, who appreciate it, and strengthen that faith in which we have.
Because while Jesus said, "If you have the faith of a mustard seed, you can tell the mountain to move and it will move."
It seems that sometimes what little faith we have is all that hits us through. So I want us to have more faith and more faith so that if Jesus called upon us to move continents,
not just mountains, that we could.
And so if you have your Bibles, and you should, turn to the Gospel of John, chapter 10, and we're going to start with verse 22.
And it says this, "At that time the feast of dedication took place at Jerusalem.
It was winter and Jesus was walking in the temple in the portagole of Solomon.
Now the feast of dedication is also known as the Feast of Lights. It was a celebration where Israel rejoiced and recalled the fact that they did not have enough oil to be sustained in the temple to, through the lights, and a miracle happened and the oil that they had was sufficient until the resupply came.
Now we today don't know it as the Feast of Lights and we don't know it as the Feast of Dedication, but we do know this word, Hanukkah, because today present-day Jews celebrate Hanukkah. And there's a lot of us Christians who think, "Oh, well they didn't have a Christmas celebration, so they came up with that." No, they were celebrating Hanukkah long before we celebrated Christmas. And so that's what's happening is that it's winter time, it's probably cold and rainy, and Jesus is walking through the portagole to stay out of the elements. And so He was there in Jerusalem at this feast.
And then the Jews gathered around Him and were saying to Him, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly."
Now I think one of two things that are happening here, they're not mutually exclusive, they may be happening jointly. First thing I think is happening is that when people don't hear what they want to hear, they keep asking the same question over and over until they hear what they want to hear.
It's very common in your family or your friends, or you're not so friendly with people. They keep asking you the question over and over until they hear what they want to hear. And you'll, unfortunately, hear that a lot in politics, but I'll get away from politics, but you hear that. The second thing I think that's happening here is they want Jesus to tell them that He's the Christ. Not so that they will believe in Him, because nothing He has done and nothing He will do will cause them to believe in Him. What I think they want Him to do is say, "Yes, I am." Then they can run to the Roman governor and say, "Caesar has a problem. We got a guy who's claiming to be our King, and that's going to be a problem for Rome. You ought to arrest him and kill him."
And so I think that's also what's happening.
They're asking because they keep wanting to hear what they want to hear, but they want a confession. Again, not to believe, but to get Jesus in trouble. And Jesus understands this and says, "But you do not believe because you are not of my sheep." Jesus understands. They're not asking Him so that they might come to faith because they're not His.
You do not believe because you are not of my sheep. Jesus had been telling them previously that He is the Good Shepherd, that He is the door, that His sheep hear His voice and follow Him. And because they are not of His sheep, they don't hear His voice and they don't follow Him. And He's re-teaching this because unfortunately, we believers as well as others seem not to catch things on the first time or the second time or the third time or the fourth time. We have to hear it over and over and over. And so Jesus teaches over and over and over so that we who hear His voice might understand His voice, since you're not them.
My sheep hear My voice and I know them and they follow Me.
So Jesus, you're not of My sheep. You don't hear My voice. And the reason you don't hear My voice is because you're not of My sheep. But if you were of My sheep, you would guess what? Not only follow Me, but you would hear My voice so that you might follow Me.
And so Jesus is emphasizing to them why they don't believe, which should give us some understanding
that when we try to witness to our friends and family and strangers and others, when they don't believe, it's not because you're an utter failure in being a witness.
It's because they're not His sheep.
But we're supposed to witness because we don't know who His sheep are. So we witness so that when we come across His sheep, they will hear His voice and follow, not us, Him.
And so many pastors make the mistake of saying, "People are going to follow us."
Now it's a temptation, I understand, because unfortunately, I have come to a conclusion that I didn't want to come to a conclusion of. There's oftentimes the reason churches are really big or whatever is because they like the pastor.
And when you like the pastor, you want to be a part of the church.
And almost every time you go, you'll say, "Well, My pastor," and so and so. You never hear anybody saying, "Well, My church is such and such, and there is such a loving congregation and we're all family." They don't talk about the church, they talk about the pastor. And then when they talk about the pastor, guess what? We get really big heads and we think it's all about us. No, no. It's hearing His voice so that we might follow Him.
Notice what Jesus also does. And I give eternal life to them.
When we hear Jesus' voice and when we follow Him, He gives something to us. Yes, He takes away our sins. And yes, He takes away our shame. And yes, He gives us His righteousness. But it isn't just for here and now. It is eternal life.
And they will never perish.
He didn't say they'll perish and come back. They will never perish.
And listen to this awesome assurance, "And no one will snatch them out of My hand."
He gives us eternal life and no one can take that eternal life away from us because of Him. We do not secure ourselves because we have great faith. We do not secure ourselves because we have great morality. We do not secure ourselves because we're awesome people. We secure ourselves because we are in His hand and no one can take us out of that hand forcibly.
Paul understood this because he said, "I am convinced that neither death nor life nor things present nor things to come nor life, angels or principalities nor things present nor things that come will able to be separated from the love of Christ, the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Paul understood this teaching that once we have been following Him, we are secure in that faith.
That's known as eternal security.
In case you're wondering, "Well, did Jesus say what He means and means what He says?" Let me give you an Old Testament reference.
There was a young man who was going to be anointed King of Israel.
He was so unimpressive when the prophet came to find out which of the man's sons was going to be king. The father didn't bother even to have the youngest son show up. He made him stay out in the fields with the sheep.
After the prophet said, "Is this all the kids?" He goes, "Well, I've got one other. He's out." Whatever. Even his own dad didn't think he was worth even paying attention to.
God set his anointing on him.
When this person not only was anointed King, but actually became King, guess what he did?
Instead of being where he was supposed to be with kings in battle, he was where he wasn't supposed to be on a rooftop.
He saw this beautiful woman taking a bath.
He coveted her, a violation of one of the Ten Commandments.
He called for her to come, and he committed adultery, a second of the Ten Commandments. Having been convicted of adultery, he stole the sanctity of the relationship between her husband and her stealing.
Then when she became pregnant and was found out, he brought her husband, and he was an honorable man. He had him killed, murder.
I would suspect because he did all those four things, he didn't take God and his name seriously.
He thought he got away with it when he killed the husband.
There was a prophet who came and told him a story about a man who had a whole flock of sheep, and wasn't satisfied with that, and saw a young lamb, and decided to take that and killed the owner and took the sheep.
It became so enraged at that, he said, "Who's the man that we might kill him?"
I can never tell the story without thinking of a pastor who said, and he goes, "Nathan, the prophet's bony finger pointed at him and said, "You're the man."
Notice what David does.
David repents.
He writes the 51st Psalm, and in that Psalm he says, "Lord, create in me a clean heart, and restore unto me a steadfast spirit." He understood that he had a wicked heart that needed to be cleansed, and that he needed to have that spirit steadfast, that the man who had the heart after God would continue to do that.
Notice what he says in that same Psalm, "Lord, restore unto me the joy of your salvation."
He didn't say, "Lord, restore to me salvation."
He goes, "Lord, when I did all these sins, there was a separation.
I didn't celebrate my salvation the way I did. I felt shameful.
Lord, bring back that joy that I had." But he didn't say, "Bring back my salvation." You see, even David understood that there was eternal security. When God saves you, you are saved.
No one can take you out of his hand.
He gives you that blessed assurance.
And not only that, he says this, "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 Jesus, in case you're concerned, the Father who gave you to me will put you in my hand, you are now in his hand, and he is the Lord God.
The King of heaven and earth, no one is more powerful than him, not even Satan, not even you.
And no one, nobody is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand. And then he makes a wonderful statement.
"I and the Father are one."
They wanted to know whether he was the Christ. He goes, "I have one on you. I am God."
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one. Yes, O Israel, the Lord our God is one, and that one is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And Jesus declares that he is God.
The Jews knew this, and so the Jews picked up stones again to stone him.
They're not seeking to believe. Remember they just, "Are you the Christ?" He goes, "Not only am I not just a Christ, I am God." And instead of coming to the realization he is who he said he is, they want to stone him.
And Jesus answered them, "I showed you many good works from the Father, for which of them are you stoning me?"
Notice Jesus doesn't just run away. He's going, "Wait a minute.
So I healed sick.
I healed the lame man. I caused people to be resurrected from the dead. I did a bunch of good stuff.
Which of those good things that I did are you stoning me for?"
And the Jews answered him, "For a good work we do not stone you, but for blasphemy.
And because you've been a man, make yourself out to be God."
Well, it's not "and." If you blaspheme, that's kind of what you're doing.
And Jesus answered them, "Has it not been written in your law?" So he's zooming in, "You're the ones who are supposed to know the law. You're saying I'm blaspheming, and you have the right to stone me.
So has it not been written in your law? I said you are gods.
If he called them gods to whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken,
do you say of him who the Father sanctified and sent into the world, you are blaspheming because I said I am the Son of God?"
Now Jesus is quoting Psalm 82.
This doesn't surprise me because Jesus was instrumental in having the law and the prophets and all the rest of the scriptures written.
So this little verse that he quotes is not unknown to him, seems to be unknown to them. Now we, when we hear this go, that's weird. Why would he say gods, and why would the Psalms talk about gods?
Because basically what the Psalm is saying is, when you are representing God in judgment,
when you're having that role of his in earth's place, you are considered, in essence, God's representative, God.
So God's saying, "When God calls you his representatives, God's, and I say because the Father sent me, and therefore I am representing him in the world, why am I being stoned when I say I'm the Son of God?"
Then he says this, because they just said they're not stoning him for good work. If I do not do the works of my Father, do not believe me.
If I have not been consistent in telling you who he is, if I have not been consistent in doing the things that my Father has called me to do, then don't believe me.
Walk away.
But if I do them, though you do not believe me, believe the works so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I am in the Father.
He's saying, "Okay, I get it. You may not believe me, but take a look at the work."
Now they haven't had the opportunity to see this work that ultimately convinces me that Jesus is who Jesus said he was.
He rose from the dead according to the Scripture.
He didn't just rise from the dead. He rose from the dead according to the Scripture.
And because he rose from the dead according to the Scripture, then I believe he is who he said he is, and will do what he said he will do, because he is the Son of God. He and the Father are one.
So I believe him because I hear his voice. I believe him because he rose from the dead, and I believe him because he did all the things he said he could do in between times.
Therefore, they were seeking again to seize him, and he eluded their wrath.
Because again, the Father's timing was that Jesus was not to die during Hanukkah, but that Jesus was to die during Hassel.
And you can't do anything to interrupt God's timing.
God's timing is perfect.
And he went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was first baptizing, and he was staying there. And again, he has to stay there, because in Jerusalem, all they want to do is seize him and kill him in his not God's timing. So he's going to continue his ministry. The next message we're going to see is that when he's gone further away, the disciples are so afraid that they're going to kill Jesus, that when Jesus decides that he needs to get close to Bethlehem again, I mean Jerusalem again, that they're trying to kill you, Jesus, let's not go.
So the threat is real.
So he goes to where John was ministering.
But unfortunately, John was no longer ministering there because he had been arrested and beheaded.
And many came to him and were saying, "While John performed no signs yet, everything John said about this man was true."
John's testimony, and we always call him John the Baptist.
But John was the testifier. He goes, "He's the Christ. He's the Son of God. He's the Lamb that takes away the sons of the world." And they're going, "John never did anything but baptize people and testify."
So John didn't perform any signs, but when John preached and when he preached about Jesus,
all those things were true.
So we can believe Jesus because we can believe John because John testified true. And as a result, many believed in him there.
Not all.
Not everyone, but many.
This passage of Scripture should be, and I know some of you don't like to do it, so those of you who don't like to underline in your Bible, write the notes and put it in so that when you're feeling that you've just screwed up so bad that God can't love you, that possibly you've lost your salvation, that maybe there's no hope for you.
When you see, and God said, "No one can take you out of his name and that you are his sheep."
Believe him.
I am, and you are if you are his, eternally secure, not because you are a great person of faith, not because you're a pastor or a deacon or a Sunday school teacher or a prayer warrior or a wonderful, magnificent example in the community, you are eternally secure, not because of who you are and what you've done, but because of who he is and what he's done and that he has you in the palm of his hand.
And I thank God that's done.
Because if my salvation relied on me, I would lose it multiple times a day.
I would not be like David who said, "Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation."
And in case this one verse doesn't secure you, I want you to understand another thing that Jesus had said. He said in one of his parables, he goes, "Let us know about it." He goes, "Depart from me, I never knew you."
He didn't say, "I used to know you, but I got amnesia."
He didn't say, "I knew you, but you're no longer qualified and so I don't know you anymore." He goes, "I never knew you." So once you become his sheep, because the Father gave you to him, and once you heard the voice, and once you're in his hand, you are nothing but secure because you are known by him and you have always been known by him and you will always be known by him, so you are secure. So instead of wondering what your salvation is about, stop being depressed, stop being defeated and go out there and say, "I don't deserve my salvation, but he gave it to me because he did it all and I'm going to testify that that's who he's in and that even though a person like me who does things like I do and has doubt like I have, he even saved me, so guess what? He can save you.
That's the God that we have.
A God who does it all and says, "Come."
A God who secures us and says, "Nothing can separate you because I love you, not the way you love me. I am faithful to you always. Yes, Lord, I know I've been faithful to you several times, but thank God you are who you are and I am not you."
But don't know if it's worth knowing.
And if you knew him and got away from him, listen to his voice and come home.
And all about you.