Sunday, August 16, 2009: Eternal Salvation

Eternal Salvation
John 10: 22 – 33

I. Introduction.

Read John 10: 22 – 33.

Most of you will not be surprised to learn that I consider myself a Baptist. After all, I am the pastor of THE First Baptist Church in Lufkin, Texas. You probably would not be surprised to learn that I have been a Baptist all my life: Son of a Baptist deacon, baptized as a nine year old in a Friday night Vacation Bible School family night service, educated in a Baptist college and Baptist Seminary. However, you might be surprised that I was 20 years old before I ever learned what Baptists believe.

I left home to go to college when I was 18 years old. At that point in my life, Baptist was all I had ever known. As a college freshman, I started “church shopping.” I went to every different kind of church I could find: Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian, Church of Christ, Assembly of God, United Pentecostal and non-denominational. After a semester of “shopping around,” I came back to a Baptist church. I couldn’t tell you why. All I knew is that it was the most comfortable for me.

Then, I took a Baptist history class as a college senior. This is where I discovered the radical history of Baptists, and where I made the decision that I would always be a Baptist.

Historically, Baptists have been committed to some unpopular theological positions. Four hundred years ago, an Anglican pastor (John Smyth) started preaching his own sermons from the Bible. Neither the Anglican bishop nor the King of England would tell him what to preach. He would read, interpret and preach the Bible. This led to the formation of the first Baptist church. And, Baptist churches today are committed to the Bible as the sole authority for our faith and practice.

Immediately, after reading and preaching the Bible, this group of Baptists refused to practice infant baptism. This was not so much a criticism of the Anglican church. Instead, it was a positive affirmation that every person must make their own personal, profession of faith. The church cannot make a profession of faith for you. Your parents cannot make a profession of faith for you. You must choose for yourself to follow Jesus as the Lord of your life. And, Baptist churches today continue to emphasize individual competency. Every person decides for himself or herself. And, every person will give an account before God.

The first group of Baptists were English speaking people. Just two years after the first Baptist church was formed, a revolutionary thing happened. The King James Version of the Bible was translated and printed in the English language in 1611. As John Smyth began preaching his own sermons from an English Bible, his congregation had access to the Bible like never before. Each man and woman in the church could read the Bible in their own language. Therefore, there was little need for a “priest” to speak God’s word to God’s people. And, Baptist churches today preach the priesthood of all believers. Jesus is the only priest we need. Every person can hear from God through the Bible. Every person can speak to God through prayer.

When John Smyth led his congregation to break away from the Anglican church, the faced political ramifications. The Anglican church was not one of many denomination in England. It was the only church sanctioned by the government. In fact, the Anglican ministers and bishops received their salaries from the taxes of the people—even the people who did not go to church. Thus began the Baptist view that church and state should be separate and paying the preacher should be voluntary. One hundred years later, it was Baptist ministers in Colonial America who influenced the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America.

These are the historical Baptist views I got excited about when I was in college; and these are the beliefs that continue to motivate me as a pastor. However, these are not the “popular” beliefs most people think of when they hear the word Baptist. Most people think of our strange practice of baptism by immersion. (This is a consequence of our view that every individual is competent to make their own profession of faith.) Other people point to our congregational polity or our many divisions. One of my favorite Baptist jokes is, “where there are two Baptists, there is a committee.” (Both of these developed from our views on soul competency and the priesthood of all believers.) Wikipedia lists 62 Baptist denominations in the United States alone. We believe the Bible, we just can’t agree on what the Bible says!

Another “popular” Baptist belief is the doctrine of eternal security, or in its popular form “once saved, always saved.” I can’t trace the origin of this Baptist view, except to say that it comes from reading the Bible and from a high view of the nature of God himself.

For example, people who affirm the existence of God usually agree about certain characteristics of God. There are some things about God’s nature that are necessary to his nature. The best way I know to think about this is to fill in the blank, “God cannot be God unless he is ______.” Now, what should we place in that blank?

God cannot be God unless he is POWERFUL. If you prefer to use the “omni” words to describe God, then we can replace “powerful” with “omnipotent.” But I believe it suffices to say that God is powerful. God has the power to create everything that exists. God has the power to intervene in the course of human history. Sometimes, God intervenes by using human agents to accomplish God’s purposes on earth. Other times, God intervenes through miracles that defy the natural order. The Bible (and contemporary experience) shows God’s power through both means.

God cannot be God unless he is KNOWING. Again, if you would like to use an “omni” word, we can say that God is “omniscient.” Nothing can surprise God. Neither human faithfulness nor unfaithfulness surprises God. God knows the past, the present and the future. There is a fine line between knowing the future and controlling the future. However, I do not believe “knowing” and “controlling” are necessarily synonymous. God knows the future without determining all the sinful and evil choices humanity will make.

God cannot be God unless he is ETERNAL. Eternal is an impossible word to define. Try as we might, we cannot fully comprehend an eternal existence which has no beginning and no end. Human knowledge is based on human experience. The experience of being human begins with birth and ends with death. There was a time when I did not exist as a human being. There was never a time when God did not exist. There will never be a time in the future when God will not exist. He was; he is; he is to come.

God cannot be God unless he is TRUTHFUL. Another way to describe this is to say that God is faithful. On one hand, God does not lie. On the other hand, God always keeps his promises. In the Old Testament, this was the test of a false prophet. If someone claimed to speak in the name of the LORD, there was a test. Did his words come to pass? The false prophet was the one whose words did not come to pass. The true prophet was truthful 100% of the time. The prophet whose words were not true was executed by stoning. Because God is not correct 99% of the time.

One of the remarkable characteristics of this Scripture is the way Jesus claimed to be God. The Jewish audience considered this blasphemous for a mere human to claim to be equal with God. However, Jesus was not a mere human. Jesus is the “only begotten Son of God.”

Since Jesus claimed to be God, we must choose one of only three options. Is Jesus a Liar, a Lunatic or the Lord?

If we profess Jesus to be Lord, we also profess that Jesus possesses the same characteristics as God. In other words, Jesus is POWERFUL, KNOWING, ETERNAL and TRUTHFUL. We can believe the promises Jesus makes to us, because he is God. He knows what he is talking about; and he has the power to keep the promises he makes.

II. Salvation as Relationship.

Jesus spoke these words to a crowd of people. It is apparent that this crowd can be divided into two groups of people. We can come up with any number of adjectives to describe the two groups—saved and lost; pro Jesus and anti Jesus; believers and unbelievers; insiders and outsiders… Or we could just stick to the language Jesus used: my sheep and not my sheep.

The difference between the two groups of people is their relationship with Jesus. Some of the people were Jesus’ sheep. Others were not Jesus’ sheep. The difference is relationship.
Fortunately for us, Jesus gives us three descriptions for his sheep. We don’t have to guess about who is in and who is out. Jesus tells us. His sheep (1) listen to Jesus’ voice; (2) are known by Jesus; and (3) follow Jesus.

These words come at the conclusion of one of Jesus’ famous sayings: “I am the Good Shepherd.” First, he defined himself as the shepherd. By doing so, he is borrowing from the Old Testament imagery of God as the shepherd of Israel. The classic texts for this idea can be found in Ezekiel 34 and Psalm 23. Then, Jesus defined who can be called Jesus’ sheep. Again, he is borrowing from the Old Testament, but Jesus defines a different group of people. In the Old Testament, God is the shepherd, and the people of Israel are his sheep. Jesus says he is the shepherd, and the people who have a relationship with Jesus are his sheep.

In the ancient world, shepherds were everywhere. Most families kept their own sheep for wool, milk, meat and religious sacrifices. Since every family had sheep, every family needed a shepherd. This responsibility usually fell to the youngest son of the family. It was not a glamorous job. Most young boys were eager for the day they could “graduate” from shepherding responsibilities to participate in their father’s work. Perhaps even Jesus served as the family shepherd until he was old enough to work alongside Joseph in the carpentry shop.

The three characteristics of sheep Jesus cited would have been very familiar to his original audience. Shepherds are not like a Texas cowboy. The cowboy drives the cattle with horses, dogs and physical force. The shepherd simply calls the sheep, and the sheep follow his voice.
Jesus said his sheep listen to his voice and obey his call. This begs the question for us in the Twenty-First Century, “Do we hear the shepherd’s voice?” The Good Shepherd speaks to us today through the Bible and the presence of the Holy Spirit in every believer’s life. However, if our Bibles remain closed, the shepherd is silent.

Also, notice that following the shepherd’s voice is an important part of being one of Jesus’ sheep. Jesus’ sheep do not simply hear him. They hear him and obey. This is a test of faith every one of us ought to take seriously. Being a Christian is not about showing up to church on Sunday mornings or about having been baptized when you were nine years old. Being a Christian is marked by listening and obeying. Not every person is one of Jesus’ sheep. Jesus’ sheep are the ones who have a relationship with Jesus, listen to his voice and follow in obedience.

III. Salvation as Eternal Life.

The hard part of being one of Jesus’ sheep is listening and following. The good part is the promise Jesus made that he gives eternal life to all his sheep. But, when does this eternal life begin? Does Jesus promise us the “hope” of eternal life in the future? Must we wait until after our earthly deaths to experience eternal life? Or does Jesus give us eternal life, which begins today?

On one hand, eternal life may simply be life that never ends. If this is the case, then it cannot begin until we reach heaven. On the other hand, eternal life may be a new kind of life that begins today, having more to do with the quality of life than simply the quantity of life.

John seems to promote eternal life as a new life that begins at the moment of faith.

For example, John 3: 36, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.”

And, John 17: 3, “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”

And, 1 John 5: 11 – 12, “And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”

If eternal life is something that begins at the moment of faith in Jesus, the Son of God, then we must ask, “Can eternal life be lost?” If something can be lost, then it is not eternal. In fact, Jesus emphasized the eternal nature of salvation with a double negative. Literally, Jesus said, “I give them eternal life, and they shall NOT NEVER perish…” This is not acceptable in English, but it is an emphatic form in Greek.

IV. Salvation as Grace of God.

Please don’t overlook the fact that eternal life is a “gift” from Jesus to his followers. A gift is not something that can be earned by human effort. Salvation is a gift from God. Another word for this is Grace. None of us have ever deserved God’s Grace or salvation. It is freely offered for us to accept, as a gift.

At this point, the Apostle Paul is our greatest interpreter of Jesus’ words. Paul tells us in Ephesians 2: 8 – 9, “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Obviously, salvation cannot be attained by human works. But, there are some who say salvation must be retained by human works. What is the difference? There should be no difference at all. If becoming saved does not depend on me, then remaining saved does not depend on me.

V. Conclusion.

This is the point Jesus makes by describing the way he holds his sheep in his hands. Jesus is both the source for my salvation and the source for my security. Jesus said that my security does not depend on how firmly I can hold onto Jesus. My security depends on how firmly Jesus can hold onto me.

If Jesus and God are one, then Jesus has the power to save. He knows what he is talking about. And, he has the power to keep his promise.