The Security Of Believers–Or, Sheep Who Shall Never Perish

The Security Of Believers–Or, Sheep Who Shall Never Perish

INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, DECEMBER 29, 1889,

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING,
SEPTEMBER 5, 1889.

"My sheep hear My voice and I know them and they follow Me: and I give
unto them eternal life. And they shall never perish, neither shall any
man pluck them out of My hand. My Father, which gave them Me is greater
than all. And no man is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand. I
and my Father are one." John 10:27-30

OUR Savior did not hesitate to preach the deeper doctrines of the
Gospel to the most miscellaneous assembly. When He began to preach
where He was brought up, they all gathered with admiration about Him,
until He preached the doctrine of election. And then, straightway, they
were so angry that they would have destroyed Him. They could not bear
to hear of the widows of Israel passed by and the woman of Sarepta
chosen–nor of a heathen leper healed, while the many lepers of their
own race were left to die.

Election seems to heat the blood and fire the wrath of many. Not that
they care to be chosen of God themselves. But, like the dog in the
manger, they would keep other people out of the privilege. Not even to
prevent these displays of bad temper did our Lord keep back the
discriminating Truths of the Word. Here, when addressing the Jews, he
did not hesitate to speak, even to a rude rabble, concerning that
glorious doctrine.

He says, "You believe not, because you are not of My sheep, as I said
unto you." He does not lower the standard of the doctrine. But He holds
His ground and carries the war into the enemy's camp. The notion that
certain truths are not fit to be preached to a general assembly but are
to be kept for the special gathering of the saints, is, I believe,
horribly mischievous. Christ has not commanded us to keep a part of our
teaching reserved from the common folk and set aside for the priests
alone.

He is for openly proclaiming all the Truths of God. "What I tell you in
darkness, that speak you in light: and what you hear in the ear, that
preach you upon the housetops." There is no Truth of God that we need
be ashamed of and there is no Truth of God that will do any harm. We
grant you that every truth can be twisted–but even this would be a
less evil than the concealment of it. Whatever the doctrine may be,
ungodly men can pervert it according to their own lusts– and if we
have to stop preaching a doctrine because of the possibility of
perverting it, we shall never preach anything at all, for every truth
may be perverted and made to be the mother of infinite mischief.

Our Savior did not teach His disciples to keep certain things for the
instructed few who were able to receive them. But He bade us publish
all the great Truths of God, since they are necessary for conviction,
for conversion, for edification, for sanctification, and for the
perfecting of the people of God. Even to His brutish opponents He
exhibited but little reserve. He flashed in the faces of His
adversaries this grand but humbling Truth, "You believe not, because
you are not of My sheep." Your unbelief is just an evidence that you
were not chosen, that you have not been called by the Spirit of God and
that you are still in your sins.

The Jews had said to him, "If you are the Christ, tell us plainly."
They professed that they wanted to know more certainly concerning Him.
This was a vain pretense, for He had told them all they needed to know
and they had not believed Him. Therefore He answered them to a large
degree by making them know more about themselves. Sometimes the point
in which a man is deficient is not as to the Gospel, but as to his own
need of it. He may know all of Christ that is needful for his salvation
but he may not know enough about himself and his own lost condition.

And therefore he is not in the way in which Christ becomes precious to
him, because he is ignorant of his deep and terrible need. So the
Savior began to talk to them, not so much about Himself as about His
people and what they were to be. "My sheep hear My voice and I know
them and they follow Me."

I pray God, the Holy Spirit, to bless the Word to many, that they may
learn more about the work of Christ in their hearts and more about
their need of it–and thus may be led to seek Jesus and find Him
tonight as their Savior and their Shepherd.

There are two things in my text which will suffice for our meditation.
First, here is a description given of the Lord's people. "My sheep hear
My voice, and I know them and they follow Me." And then, secondly,
there is a privilege secured to them, namely, their everlasting,
unquestionable safety. "I give unto them eternal life. And they shall
never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My
Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all. And no man is able to
pluck them out of My Father's hand. I and My Father are One."

I. First, and all that I can say will be but little, considering the
largeness of the subject, let us notice THE DESCRIPTION HERE GIVEN OF
THE PEOPLE OF GOD.

They are first described by a specialty of possession–"My sheep." All
men are not sheep, for some are foxes, or ravenous wolves, and others
are compared to dogs and lions. All persons who might be called sheep
are not Christ's sheep. All do not belong to His flock. All are not
gathered into His fold. There is a special of possession. There may be
many sheep, but the Savior speaks of, "My sheep," those whom He chose
of old, those who were given Him of the Father, those who have been
bought with His blood, redeemed from among men, and in due time have
been ransomed by His power– for He has bought them back from the hand
of the enemy and therefore claims them to be His own. "The Lord's
portion is His people."

Other lords have their portion and Christ takes His portion. His people
are the lot of His inheritance. He speaks of "My sheep" as a peculiar
heritage, whom, as a Shepherd, He claims for His own. Of these He is
the sole Owner. He is not merely their Keeper but their Possessor. We
read of the hireling shepherd, "whose own the sheep are not." But in
the case of our Good Shepherd, "He puts forth His own sheep."

There is a special character about them. They are "My sheep." They are
dependent, timid, trembling, obedient, teachable. They are made sheep
by His own Spirit. They have received a nature which is not that of the
doggish world, nor that of the swinish multitude, nor that of the
wolfish persecutor. But they are men indwelt of the Spirit of God, who
are, therefore, clean, gentle, loving, gracious. He calls them "My
sheep," for they have a special relation to Himself– they are like
Jesus. Being His sheep, He has become their Guardian as well as their
Proprietor and they look up to Him as such. They are sheep to Him and
He is a shepherd to them.

We may judge ourselves tonight by considering whether towards Christ we
are His sheep. Do we acknowledge ourselves as belonging to Him, spirit,
soul, and body? Do we regard ourselves as being, in relation to Him, no
wiser, no stronger, than sheep to a shepherd? I know some who are
certainly no sheep of Christ's flock, for they will be led by nobody in
Heaven, or on earth. They must have their own sweet way. They are
critics of the Bible, not disciples of it. They might be very good dogs
but they are very strange sheep. They would make very respectable
wolves, for they are great in destructive criticism. But they certainly
are not sheep.

And their temper and spirit are such that they would disdain the
character, if they understood it. "What? To go where I am led? To lie
down where I am bid to lie down? Not to choose my own way? To see
nothing and know nothing–to have my eyes in His head and my wisdom in
His mind? To be shepherded by another mind than my own? Is it so? Am I
to be nothing but a sheep to the Lord Jesus?" Yes, it is even so. And
therefore the modern wise man is indignant and proudly repudiates the
character of a sheep.

As for us, we accept all that the name implies. O Brethren, we can play
the man before other people, but when we come before our Lord, as the
sheep is a mere animal in comparison with its shepherd, we feel
ourselves to be less than that. How often have we cried with David, "So
foolish was I and ignorant: I was as a beast before You"! O my Lord, in
Your presence I sink as low as low can be and You become very high,
yes, All in All to me–the Shepherd of my weak, vacillating, trembling
spirit! There are special characteristics, then, about these people in
the description. I have only time to hint at some of them.

A chief mark of Christ's people is attention. "My sheep hear." They can
hear, because they have had spiritual ears given them. Once the
Shepherd might have spoken all day long and they would not have heard
Him. But it is not so now. Even from the Cross our Lord's plaintive
cries were all unheard by them. But now He has given them spiritual
capacity and perception and they can hear and they do hear what His
dying love would make them know and understand. Their Lord has spoken
to them. They have heard His voice and have known it to be His. They
still hear it and they distinguish between His voice and other voices.
"A stranger will they not follow: for they know not the voice of
strangers."

They now so hear that voice as to hear it in a true way. And joyfully
to own it by obeying it. Do you not say, sometimes, to a child that is
disobedient, "Did you not hear me speak, Child?" So Christ may say to
many who hear with the outward ear but who will not yield obedience,
that they have not heard Him. For indeed they have not hearkened with
the inner ear. Their ear does not reach down to their heart. And thus,
for spiritual purposes, it is no ear at all. It is an awful thing when
the ear is a closed-up passage, shut against the voice of the Savior.

You can tell the sheep of Christ by their being marked in the ear. "My
sheep hear My voice." They may not hear a good deal that other people
hear. They may even be glad to be deaf to it. There are many calls
exceedingly musical to carnal ears, which have no charms for them. They
try to be deaf to some voices from which they could gather nothing but
temptation. But they hear Christ's voice. They are all there when He
speaks–their soul sits at the door to hear His softest whisper. They
try to hear–they charge themselves to take heed that they lose no
sound from Heaven. They do hear. But they long to hear yet more
completely and to be more obedient to that voice which rings through
the chambers of their soul.

Oh, what a hearing we have sometimes given to Christ! I have heard Him
with my body, my soul, my spirit–at least, I have thought so. But
whether in the body, or out of the body, I could not tell. If in the
body, every pore has been an ear for my Lord's sweet voice. As though
my blood were tingling from the crown of my head to the sole of my
foot, so has my spirit been wholly and entirely affected by the
charming tones of the voice of the Well-Beloved, Oh, that He would
speak tonight! Can you not hear Him? Beloved, is He not now calling us?
Do you not rejoice to hear Him?–

"No music's like His charming voice, Nor half so sweet can be."

So, you see, a noteworthy mark of the elect ones lies in their
attention to Jesus, their Shepherd. He calls in vain to others. But His
sheep hear His voice.

Another mark of the Lord's people is intimacy. "My sheep hear My voice,
and I know them." "I know them." Yes, the Lord discerns them. He
singles them out, for "the Lord knows them that are His." Sometimes we
do not know them. But He says, "I know them." In cloudy times they do
not know themselves. But He says, "I know them." When a child of God
does not know whether he is a child of God or not, his Father knows His
own children and the Great Shepherd knows His own sheep.

His is a discernment which never fails. The hypocrite cannot get into
the true fold of Christ. He may get into the visible fold. But not into
the real spiritual fold of Christ. For Christ does not know Him and
bids Him depart. This is the very seal upon the foundation–"The Lord
knows them that are His." His eyes discern between the righteous and
the wicked, between him that fears God and him that fears Him not–His
is a knowledge of quick and certain discernment.

But this might make us tremble if we did not know that the expression,
"I know them," means a knowledge of approbation. "I know them," says
the Shepherd. "I take a delight in them. I know their secret sighs and
mourning. I hear their private prayers. I know their praises in the
silence of their hearts. I know their consecration and their
aspirations after perfect service. I know their longings and their
love. I know how they delight in Me.

"I know how they trust My promises. I know how they look to My atoning
blood. I know how in their inmost souls they rejoice in My name. I know
them and approve their secret thoughts." O sweet words, understood in
that sense! And this is one part of the character of the Lord's
people–that He did foreknow them in His Sovereign Grace–and now He
personally knows them by taking a delight in them.

This Divine complacency leads to a very intense observation of them.
"He knows the way that I take." "The Lord knows the way of the
righteous." He has an eye upon them and marks their paths. His ears are
open to their cry and He hears their petitions. Though there is all the
world for His omniscience to consider, yet He looks upon each one of
His sheep as much as if there were only that one person in the
universe. Oh, to think of this! "I know them," sounds like mu-

sic in this sense. He that knows the stars and knows the infinite
multitude of living creatures in the universe, has a special and
peculiar knowledge of His own chosen.

"I know them," says He. And He intends, by that, an intense
observation. Now, Beloved, just try a little here, to see whether you
come into this number–"I know them." Does the Lord know you as His
own? Has He had personal communion with you and you with Him? Or will
He have to say to you at the last, "I never knew you"? Why, some of you
have made Him know you! You have gone to Him in such trials and in such
troubles and you have cried to Him in such bitterness and anguish,
that, if He asks your name, you can say–

"Once a sinner near despair

Sought Your Mercy Seat by prayer;

Mercy heard and set him free;

Lord, that mercy came to me!" When You did help me in great need, when
You did pass by my great sin, then did You know me, O my Lord! "Do You
ask me who I am? Ah, my Lord! You know my name." Just as some men know
right well the importunate beggar who is often at their door, so does
the Lord, for certain, know some of you, for you go every day begging
at His gate, and you receive constant alms at His hand. Besides that,
you go every day thanking Him for the mercies you receive. He knows
your name–the name of one who is drowned in debt to His infinite
bounty. He can never forget your groans and cries.

And day by day your praises are a memorial to Him. By His love and pity
and compassion, He is sure to remember you. Sooner can a woman forget
her sucking child than your God forget you. Well, here are things well
worth the not-ing–attention and intimacy. Are these yours?

But here is one more–actual obedience. How does He put it? "I know
them and they follow Me." All the Lord's sheep are marked in the foot,
as well as in the ear. The foot and ear marks must be in every sheep of
the Lord's flock. "They follow Me." That is to say, they openly avow
Him as their Shepherd. Other shepherds come and other sheep go after
them. But these sheep know the Lord Jesus and they follow Him. He,
alone, is their Leader. They are not ashamed to admit it. They take up
their cross and follow the Cross-bearer and they bear His name.

More than that, they practically carry out their open avowal and they
follow Him in daily life, copying His example. They not only say, "He
is my Leader," but they follow Him. Christ's sheep try to follow in the
track that the Shepherd marks for them. Christ's people are never so
happy as when they can put down their feet where Christ put His feet
down. The very marks that He has left by His bleeding footsteps we
would desire to follow all day and every day. Beloved, look carefully
to this! Do what Jesus did, according to your measure and power. This
is what the people of God try to do. If you do not endeavor to be like
Christ, you are not His sheep. For of His sheep it is true, "I know
them and they follow

Me."

And this is personally operative upon them. I could not tell you
exactly in English words, but the Greek word gives here a kind of
personality to the whole company. "My sheep hear My voice," that is,
the whole of the flock of God. "I know them," that is, again, the whole
flock of them, altogether. But, "they follow Me," is in the plural
number. It is as though it said, "They, each one, follow Me." We, who
are the Lord's chosen, hear as a mass and the Lord knows the whole
Church, for, as a whole, it is redeemed by Christ.

But we individually follow–each one for himself, through Divine Grace.
We each one follow Him. "They follow Me." I like that singular personal
pronoun. It is not written, "They follow My Commandments," though they
do. It is not said, "They follow the route that I have mapped for
them," though they do that, too. But, "they follow Me," distinctly. In
their individual personality they follow their Lord in His individual
personality. They have recognized Him above His words, above His ways
and even above His salvation. "They follow Me," says He.

This is a grand mark of a Christian–not merely a life of morality, a
life of integrity, a life of holiness–but a life of all these in
connection with Christ. They follow Him, not holiness, nor morality,
nor integrity, apart from Christ–they follow their Lord. A good life
is good in any man. We cannot speak evil of virtue, even when we find
it in the ordinary moralist. But this is not the complete mark of
Christ's sheep. The virtues of Christ's sheep are in connection with
Himself. The Christian is holy and all that, but that is because he
follows his perfect Master and keeps close to Him. This is one of the
peculiar and unfailing marks of the child of God.

I have run through, very briefly, the descriptions, and I now leave you
to meditate upon it when you are alone. This descriptions of the sheep
of Christ are worthy of reading, marking and inwardly digesting.

II. But my main object tonight is to show you THE GREAT PRIVILEGE HERE
CONFERRED ON THE PEOPLE OF GOD. Christ has secured to them the
priceless gift of eternal security in Him. No sheep of Christ shall
ever be lost. None that He has purchased with His blood and made to be
His own, shall ever wander away so as to perish at last. This is the
doctrine of the verses now before us. At any rate, if I wanted to
express that doctrine, I could not find words in which I could set it
forth more definitely, or more completely, than is done by the words
before me.

The security of the people of God lies, first of all, in the character
of the life which they have received. Listen to this–"And I give unto
them ETERNAL LIFE." All the spiritual life which all the sheep in the
flock now possess has been given to them by their Shepherd. Never was
there another flock of which this could be said. No shepherd but this
one can give life to his sheep. But He gave them all the true life that
they have.

No, stop–He not only gave them life but He sustains that life by a
constant gift. Observe, it is not written, "I gave unto them eternal
life," but "I give unto them eternal life." They are always living by
virtue of the life which He is always giving. They are constantly
receiving life from Him, according to that assurance, "Because I live,
you shall live also." What He always gives they must always receive and
therefore it cannot cease.

Notice the nature of that life. "I give unto My sheep eternal life."
Now, you all know what "eternal" means–or say, rather, none of you can
form an idea of eternity which can grasp all its length of endurance.
Only this–you know it has no end and cannot, therefore, close. If
anybody said that he had eternal life and lost it, he would be flatly
contradicting himself. It could not be eternal, or else he must still
have it. If it is eternal, it is eternal and there is no end to it. And
that is an end of further argument about it.

If the life that Christ gives us, when we are born again, can die, it
is not "eternal" life, or else words have ceased to have any meaning at
all. In its nature, as being the work of the Holy Spirit, and an
emanation from God, the life bestowed in regeneration is an undying
one. Has not the Holy Spirit described us as "being born again, not of
corruptible seed but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which lives
and abides forever"? The life of God imparted by the Holy Spirit must
live forever. As the gift is continuous, is always being given, and as
it is in itself eternal life, it must always exist.

But, principally, I dwell upon the glorious character of the Giver. "I
give unto My sheep eternal life." The life that Christ gives is not
that poor, paltry life which lasts the professor for about three weeks
and then dwindles down and dies out. Or, say, three months and then the
revival is over and the convert is spun out and done for and has to
begin again. Such is the religious life which is excited by men. But it
is not so with the life which comes from God.

I said that the false convert begins again, though how he begins again,
I know not, because I read in Scripture of people being born again. But
I have never read of their being born again, and again, and again, and
again. I am told that some of our religionists have had their people
converted and born again more times than they can count. And I heard
that a woman had been born again twelve times down at a certain
meeting. But he who stated the fact said shrewdly that he feared it was
not done well the last time.

No, I do not think it will ever be done well in that way. He that is
born again, according to Scripture, has received ETERNAL LIFE. And this
is the only life worth receiving. I would not preach my very soul away
in order to proclaim such a two penny, trumpery, temporary salvation as
that. But to preach the Lord Jesus as giving eternal life is worth
living for and dying for. I tell you, Sirs, it is this that brought me
to Christ. While I was yet young and thinking over matters, I saw young
lads that were brought up with me, excellent in character, who left
their homes to be apprenticed and after a while the temptations of the
world overcame them, and they went astray and had no religion at all.

But when I read that Christ gave His sheep eternal life, I looked at it
as a kind of moral life insurance for my soul and I came to Christ and
trusted Him to keep me to the end. I shall suffer a grievous
disappointment if I ever find out that the life of God in me is not
eternal and that the new birth does not assure final perseverance.

I did not go up to the booking office and take a ticket for a quarter
of the distance to Heaven. But I took my ticket all the way through. I
trust, no, I know, that according to my faith, so will it be unto me. I
am very glad to have my through ticket with me and I believe that
unless the train of Almighty Grace smashes up–which it never will–I
shall

get through to the Celestial terminus as surely as ever Divine power
can draw me there–for so it is written–"I give unto My sheep eternal
life."

Now, depend upon it, it is what you hold out to people that has much to
do with how they behave themselves afterwards. Tell them that if they
believe in Christ, they are going to get, not eternal life–but life
for a little while–life for as long as they take good care of it, and
I fear it will prove to be so. It may do them good to get the poor
little change you offer them–but as surely as they are converted to a
temporary life, they will die out before long.

You told them that they would. You did not propose any more to them.
But when you propose to them this–"Here is everlasting life to be had
by believing in Christ. It is not temporary but eternal life"–why,
then they grip it as such. They believe in Christ for that and
according to their faith it is unto them. And the Lord and Giver of
life is glorified in giving to them this great and splendid gift, the
gift of all gifts. "I give unto My sheep eternal life."

I do not know in what other way to preach from this text than the one
in which I am preaching from it. Somebody says, "Oh, that is
Calvinism!" I do not care what it is. It is Scriptural. I have this
inspired Book before me, and I cannot see any meaning in the words
before me, if they do not mean that those who have received life from
the Lord Jesus have an endless inheritance. I cannot make them mean
anything else. "I give unto My sheep eternal life," must mean that
Believers are eternally secure.

"It is dangerous doctrine," cries one. I have not found it dangerous
and I have tried it these many years. I conceive that it would be far
more dangerous to tell people that they could be truly converted and
yet the work of Divine Grace would end in six months and then they
could come back again and begin again and do so as many times as they
liked. The Word of God tells them that if they shall fall away, it is
impossible to renew them again unto repentance. Men may fall and be
restored. But if they fall away utterly, there remains no other work
which can be done for them. If this everlasting life could die, the
Holy Spirit would have done His best and nothing more would remain to
be done.

If it were so that this salt which is good should lose its savor, where
could it be salted? See what a gulf opens before you. And do not look
for a work which will not endure every possible strain. Oh, that you
may get this eternal life!

So we take a step farther. The children of God are safe, again, not
only because of the life they receive but because of the inner dangers
which are averted. Take the next sentence–"And they shall never
perish." They have a tendency to spiritual sickness, but their Shepherd
will doctor them so that they shall never perish. They are sheep and
have a tendency to wander. But their Shepherd shall keep them so that
they shall never perish. Time tries them and they grow old and the
novelty of religion wears off. But they shall never perish. Think what
you will of them, "they shall never perish," for so the promise stands.

The first statement, "I give unto them eternal life," is as broad as
can be, but this is broader still–"they shall never perish." The rule
has absolutely no exception. The whole of them shall be preserved. Let
them live to be as old as Methuselah, they shall never perish, whatever
temptation may assail them. They may be tried and troubled and broken
down, so that they may be hardly able to live. But they shall never
perish. "Never" is a long day. But it is not longer than Divine Grace
will last. Blessed be God, this grand promise stands fast–"They shall
never perish."

Now we must go a step farther. We have no time to urge these arguments
at any great length. They are safe, next, by outer injuries being
prevented. "Neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand." Many will
pluck at them but none shall pluck them away. The devil will give many
a horrible pluck and pull, to get them away. But out of the great
Shepherd's hand he shall never take them. Their old companions and the
memories of their old sins will come and pluck at them very hard and
very cunningly. But the Savior says, "None shall pluck them out of My
hand."

So, first, here is their security–they are in His hands. That is, in
His possession and He grasps them, as a man holds a thing in his hand
and says, "It is mine." Neither shall any take them away from being
under His protection. Never shall they be plucked away from Christ.
When He says this, He pledges His honor to preserve them, for if it
could be that one were plucked out of His hand, then would the devils
in Hell rejoice and say, "He could not keep them. He said that He
would, but He could not. We have managed to pluck this one, or that
one, out of the pierced hand of their Redeemer." But such a horrible
exultation shall never be heard throughout the ages of eternity.

"They shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of My hand."
Someone wickedly said, "They may get out of His hand themselves." But
how can this be true, when the first sentence is, "They shall never
perish"? Treat Scripture honestly and candidly and you will admit that
the promise, "they shall never perish," shuts out the idea of perishing
by

going out of the Lord's hand by their own act and deed. "They shall
never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of My hand." Who is to
loosen the clasp of that hand which was pierced with the nail for me?
My Lord Jesus bought me too dearly ever to let me go. He loves me so
well that His whole omnipotence will work with that hand, and unless
there is something greater than Godhead, I cannot be plucked away from
that dear, fast-holding grip.

Now, to make quite sure about it and to pile on the comfort, the Savior
goes on to add the care and power of God Himself. Our Lord says, "My
Father, which gave them Me." The saints of God are safe, because the
Father gave them to His Son. He did not give Him a transitory
inheritance. He did not bestow on Him a something which He might, after
all, lose. Will the Lord Christ lose what His Father gave Him? You know
how people say, "Oh, I hope that, if a burglar takes anything from my
house, he will not take that cup, which is an heirloom. My father gave
it to me."

If a man had to defend his property, he would be sure to take care of
that which was a very special gift, given in his honor, as a memorial
of a great work. So is it with our Lord Jesus–He values that which His
Father gave Him. I delight in the thought. I picture my blessed Lord
looking at each one of His believing people and saying, "My Father gave
you to Me." That poor woman, that struggling young man, that decrepit
old lady, that man who is half-starved, but who loves his Lord–Jesus
says of each one, "My Father gave this soul to Me." He cannot lose what
His Father gave Him.

He would die again sooner than He would lose them. His death has made
their salvation safe beyond all jeopardy. He laid down His life for His
sheep. The lion came and leaped into the fold. But the Shepherd met the
lion–yes, He received him on His naked breast and held him there. It
was a terrible tug. The Shepherd sweat great drops of blood as He held
the monster. But He rent him and He hurled him to the earth and said,
"It is finished." And it was finished. He has so saved all His flock
until now that we are sure that He will never lose one of those whom
His Father committed to His trust. "My Father gave them Me."

Then He goes on to say that His people are kept by the Father's power.
For He says, "My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all. And
no man is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand." Beloved,
although God gave us to Christ, He did not cease to care for us
Himself! Our sweet text last Sunday night I must bring to your memory.
I could not fully preach from it, but the text was enough without a
sermon–"All Mine are Yours and Yours are Mine. And I am glorified in
them."

We tried to show you how we were none the less the Father's because we
were the Son's and none the less the Son's because we belonged to the
Father. So here Jesus in effect says. "My Father gave you to Me. Yet He
takes care of you none the less, but all the more. Because He is
determined that what He gave to Me shall be Mine, the Lord will put
forth His wisdom and power to preserve you."

Let me, by a symbol, illustrate the latter words of the text. There lie
the children of God in the hand of Christ. Do you see that fast closed
hand? They are safe enough there. Jesus says, "No man shall be able to
pluck them out of My hand." But see the Father? He puts His hand over
the hand of Jesus! There, now–you are inside two hands, "And no man is
able to pluck them out of My Father's hand."

Oh, the serene security of those who hear the voice of Christ and whom
He calls His sheep! A double-handed force keeps them safe against all
ill. Pluck away, Satan! You will never pluck them away from the hand of
Jesus and the hand of His Father! "Who shall separate us from the love
of Christ?" It is impossible to be done.

And then the Savior finishes all by saying that, while He has spoken of
the Father and Himself as two and two as they are as Persons–yet in
their Divine Essence they are but One. He says, "I and My Father are
One." And especially One in love to His people. "The Father Himself
loves you," even as He loves His Son. And, while you read the love of
Christ in His death, you must read the Father's love quite as much in
that great sacrifice. It is true of our Lord Jesus that–"He loved the
Church and gave Himself for it." But it is equally true of the
Father–"God so loved the world, that He gave

His Only-Begotten Son."

They are one in an infinite love to all those who, called according to
the Divine purpose, are following Christ and hearing His voice. I fall
back with great joy upon this blessed conviction–that He will not
suffer those to perish who have received eternal life at His hands. Of
course, if you have only taken temporary life–if you only believe in
that–you will get no more than you believe. Your gift will be measured
by your faith. But if you say, "I gave myself up to Christ

that He might be Alpha and Omega to me. And I wholly trust myself to
Him without reserve, throughout all my life, to save me," He will do
it.

"I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed
unto Him against that day." "He which has begun a good work in you will
perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." "The path of the just is as
the shining light, that shines more and more unto the perfect day."

You are safe in Christ's hands. Know it, and feel the joy of it. "Oh,"
says one, "but if I thought so, I should run into sin!" I am sorry for
you–things act very strangely upon you. Nothing binds me to my Lord
like a strong belief in His changeless love. "Oh but it would be far
safer to tell your hearers that they may be overcome by sin and
perish!" I will not tell them what I do not believe. I will not
dishonor my Lord by a falsehood. Shall I come home to your house and
tell your children that, if they do wrong, you will cut their heads
off? Or that, if they disobey you, they will cease to be your children?

If I were to propound that doctrine, your children would grow angry at
such a slander upon their father. They would say, "No, we know better
than that!" Far rather would I say to them, "My dear children, your
father loves you. He will love you without end, therefore do not grieve
him." Under such doctrine true children will say, "We love our
ever-loving Father. We will not disobey Him. We will endeavor to walk
in His ways."–

"It is love that makes our willing feet In swift obedience move." Our
loving Lord will not cast away those to whom He is bound by marriage
bonds.

"Well, but suppose we sin." He will chasten us and restore us. "If I
believed that doctrine, I should live as I like," says one. Then you
are not one of His sheep, for His sheep love holiness and will not love
iniquity. The change worked by the new birth is such that a man will
not return to his old ways of sin and folly. This is the doctrine. And
how can you make it to be an indulgence to sin? True saints never turn
the Grace of God into licentiousness but the very mention of eternal
love leads them to careful obedience.

One more thing I must say. Some ministers preach a Gospel with a very
wide door to it, but there is nothing to be had when you get within. I
am sometimes told that I make my door a little too narrow. It is not
true, for I preach the Gospel to every creature under Heaven, with all
my might. But if the door is narrow, there is something worth having
when you enter by it. Even if the way is narrow, if you once get in,
you have got in and you have found eternal life and you shall never
perish, neither shall any pluck you out of Christ's hands.

Sinner, come and have an eternal blessing! It is worth having. Come and
have it! If you believe, you shall assuredly be saved. "He that
believes and is baptized shall be saved"–saved from sin so as never to
go back and live in it again! So saved as to be made holy! Saved as to
be preserved in holiness. Holiness shall be the set of the main current
of your life, until, made perfectly holy, you shall dwell with God
above.

Into His hands let us commit our spirits tonight and we may rest
assured that they shall be safe eternally. Amen.