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Copyright © 2012 J. Neely. All rights reserved.
Chapter 7 - Good Shepherd
John 10:27-30
27 My [emos] sheep [probaton] hear [akouo] my [mou] voice [phone] , and I [kago] know [ginosko] them [autos] , and [kai] they follow [akoloutheo] me [moi] :
28 And I [kago] give [didomi] unto them [autos] eternal [aionios] life [zoe] ; and [kai] they shall [apollumi] never [ou me] [eis] [aion] perish [apollumi] , neither [kai] [ou] shall [harpazo] any [tis] man pluck [harpazo] them [autos] out of [ek] my [mou] hand [cheir] .
29 My [mou] Father [pater] , which [hos] gave [didomi] them me [moi] , is [esti] greater than [meizon] all [pas] ; and [kai] no [oudeis] man is able [dunamai] to pluck [harpazo] them out of [ek] my [mou] Father's [pater] hand [cheir] .
30 I [ego] and [kai] my Father [pater] are [esmen] one [heis] . KJV-Interlinear
27 'My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28 and I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them out of My hand. 29 '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. 30 'I and the Father are one.' NASB
'My sheep hear my voice.' Those who would be the sheep of Christ are receptive to His Word. Whether at a young age or at an old age, people who listen to the gospel and get off of their arrogant and alternative beliefs, will have the chance to come to the point of faith in Christ. And when so doing, believing in Christ, they are saved.
'And I know them.' God responds to their faith and acknowledges it. People merely have to believe and that is enough. In fact that is all that people can do. There is no room in the plan of God for the works of people. People come up with all kinds of screwball ideas and that is enough to eliminate them from the plan of God and the mechanism of salvation.
'And they follow me.' Active obedience to God comes first from faith for salvation, and then second in obedience to the Word of God in following the principles of the scriptures. The principle in view here is the faith expression in Christ.
'I give them eternal life.' When man believes, then he is saved. Period. When man is saved then, 'They shall not perish forever.' Once saved, always saved. Eternal security. You do not have to keep believing in Christ in order to be saved over and over, again and again.. Once saved always saved. Many people probably are saved at a very young age and they grow up not realizing that they are saved.
They might even get involved in some weird cult or another religion, or they might even reject God and everything in life, but they are still saved. Here is a question for you. Once you have believed in Christ, then what sin can you commit that will cause you to lose your salvation? Or what is the unpardonable sin?
Now if you know anything about the Bible, then you already know that the answer to the first question is - there is no sin which will cause you to lose your salvation. Once saved always saved. So if you believed in Christ at the young age of say eight (or any age for that matter), then you grow up and become the absolutely worst terrorist in the history of humanity, you are still saved.
Likewise if you are the worst person who ever lived and just before you die, you believe in Christ, then you are saved. Salvation is a function of faith (belief in Christ), it has nothing to do with the details of your life. Nothing!
And the unpardonable sin is - failure to believe in Christ, that of course occurs before salvation as an unbeliever. Unbelievers are sent to the Lake of Fire because they failed to believe in Christ, not for any sin they committed. Sins, all sins, were judged on the Cross.
'No one (not man , not devil, not wolf, nor hireling) shall pluck them out of my hand.' Once saved you are placed in Christ's hands and He has the most powerful hands in existence. And, since the Pharisees present, do not respect Jesus, then Jesus brings the name of the Father into the discussion.
The Father is greater than anything and anyone in existence. He is greater than any power or alliance that could ever possibly be arrayed against Him.
The Father's gift, the Father's own eternal love and power, the omnipotence of the Lord Himself, is pledged to the security of each individual believer.
And now the phrase which will just set them all off, 'I and the Father (we) are one.' This is not merely a statement of identifying ones self in a relationship with God, but Christ makes it quite clear here, that He is equal with God the Father. He is God himself. He is conscious of His own personality which is distinct from that of the Father. They are two unique individuals, just as the Holy Spirit is a unique and distinct person. But they all three are co-equal, co-eternal, and co-infinite. They all three possess the same essence. They are identical in every respect (ability, knowledge, power, etc.), but they are different persons, just as you and I are different human beings.
With God there is a fundamental unity or purpose and oneness. There is no competitiveness.
John 17:20-21
21 that they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us; NASB
When a person comes to Christ as Savior and Lord, nothing, absolutely nothing, can remove that person from their state of salvation against their will. Even their own will cannot deny that which they have already acquired. The believer can rest assured that they are held in the hand of God, totally and completely protected from any assault to their state of eternal life.
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