John Chapter 10:28-38

It's not that we loved God and so God finally responded to our love.

It's not like you know maybe you can remember in high school or college or whenever and you were wanting to to woo somebody and you salt them and you gave them flowers and then chocolates and whatever else and then finally they said okay I'll go out with you. You know it's not that kind of thing with God. As a matter of fact if it is that kind of thing with God he was the one sending the flowers and the chocolates saying come let us reason together though your sins are like scarlet but be white as snow. Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David McGee. David is the senior pastor of the Bridge in Kernersville, North Carolina. Do you ever wonder why did Jesus leave heaven and become a man and also why does the Lord keep us in the palm of his hand? Today as Pastor David McGee continues teaching in John chapter 10 he'll answer these questions and more. Now here's David McGee with part one of his teaching The Son of God. Well let's turn in our bibles to John chapter 10. We are continuing on with our verse by verse teaching in the book of John. We're going to pick it up at verse 28. And I give them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. What a glorious verse. Notice the word give. I give them eternal life.

You know what that means? It means eternal life is a gift. It's not something you earn.

It's not a reward for good behavior. I mean what would you feel like if you gave somebody a gift at Christmas and they opened and they said wow that's really nice that's really awesome. You know and then they pulled out their checkbook and said how much do I owe you?

That would be a little bit weird wouldn't it? And yet do you understand some of us treat salvation like that? It's a gift from God.

Now granted it's a gift that we are indebted for and we should be appreciative of but remember guys it's a gift. So many people in so many places in so many churches get so confused about this one central issue that salvation is a gift from God. We're told that in Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. It says for by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God not of works lest anyone should boast. What a perfect plan. See in God's wisdom he set up the plan where we would be saved by our faith by our belief in Jesus Christ not by our works.

You got to love the beauty of the system and this tells us one of the reasons he did it lest anyone should boast or so nobody can brag about it. God knows us. See if we could earn salvation then you know what we would do is then we would begin to make phone calls and possibly hang out at the front of the church on Sunday morning you know and as people come in we'd kind of be standing over there yeah hey how are you yeah I got mine do you have yours oh oh yeah you don't really look safe you you don't really look like you've gotten there see they will begin to brag and be arrogant and be prideful about it amen or oh me yeah see we we tend to do that anyway even though this says not of works at verse 29 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 now look at this this is awesome he says something very similar twice verse 28 he says neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand the hand of Jesus verse 29 says my father which has given them to me is greater than all no one is able to snatch them out of my father's hand verse 30 I and my father are one what an awesome thing to know that we're in the hands of the Lord if you're a believer if you've asked the Lord to forgive you of your sins you're right there in his hand what better place to be now I know that we we get into this thing and we talk about eternal security and and and to be honest I think a lot of times we we take a lot of time and and we waste a lot of breath and a lot of energy talking about the minutia of eternal security and when we talk about those things it usually revolves around somebody that is not walking with the Lord well let me ask you something if somebody is not walking with the Lord should they really feel secure in their relationship with the Lord I wonder I wonder I know at times I've wandered away from the Lord and and I wasn't secure in my relationship with the Lord why because it was kind of a warning device to be honest it was a warning device of the Holy Spirit going you need to get right you need to come back to the Lord so whether you divide the line of going well you know across the line and and and you know wouldn't be allowed into heaven or or you're on the the side of going well you'd make it in but just barely you'd make it in like smelling like smoke with your ashes on your tennis shoes or something you know but the fact is believers I believe the word of God teaches right here believers are eternally secure in the hand of the Lord now again if you're here and you're wandering and you've drifted away you probably lack that security you probably lack that feeling of knowing that you're right in the hands of the Lord and that's why it's important to repent and come back to the Lord why does the Lord keep us in the palm of his hand it's not because we're good people it's not because God looked down from heaven thought well you know what there's a spark of innate human goodness in that one I believe I'll save that one no no many of you have a testimony sort of like mine in the sense that God God looked down thought man that one is way out there in left field man that boy if he got saved boy people would know that was a God thing they would know that was a God thing we're in the palm of his hands because he loves us he loves us that much and you know what I know that's a simple truth but I think we get away from that so quickly we forget that so quickly if we were remembered that I mean really remember that in our heart and in our head I don't think we'd ever have a bad day the rest of our lives see we can remind each other that oh how are you doing oh horrible oh that's a bummer remember God loves you and you're in the palm of his hand we forget God loves us that's a first life lesson God loves you not because you're deserving of his love but because that's what he does that's his nature that's his character and he's willing to throw out the red carpet and adopt us as we believe in him that's an amazing thing to me and to remember it's not that we loved God and so God finally responded to our love it's not like you know maybe you can remember in high school or college or whenever and you were you know you were wanting to to woo somebody and you salt them and you gave them flowers and then chocolates and whatever else and then finally they said okay I'll go out with you you know it's not that kind of thing with God as a matter of fact if it is that kind of thing with God he was the one sending the flowers and the chocolates saying come let us reason together though your sins are like scarlet they'll be white as snow God loves us 1st John 4 19 says we love him because he first loved us we love him because he first loved us see God loved you and not just kind of love you like you know loving somebody from afar the Lord knows us sees us all the time and he loves us beyond what we can comprehend he gives us things blessings we've not earned grace and mercy he lavishes these things upon us that verse Ephesians 2 8 and 9 it'd be a good verse a couple verses for you to memorize but it says for by grace you have been saved through faith that none of yourselves is the gift of God not of works lest anyone should post and then it goes on to verse 10 I love verse 10 for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them you know an awesome thing about this verse the Greek word for workmanship is poema the Greek word for workmanship is poema so in that verse it says for we are his poema do you know what word we get from that word Greek word poema we get our word poem for you are his poem you may have been called a lot of things today or this week or this year chances are nobody has called you their poem that's what God calls you you are his poem your your daddy's poem what an awesome thing the God that makes that has made the universe form the universe loves you intimately and knows you and he's not going to forget you he's set you apart to be forgiven of your sins Isaiah 49 verse 15 says can a woman forget her nursing child and not have compassion on the son of her womb surely they may forget yet I will not forget see I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands your walls are continually before me you know what I like about this verse is it doesn't say that I've written your name even on my hand it says I've engraved you your likeness your picture see again maybe think back a high school college or junior high or whatever when you really like somebody and you wrote their name on your hand or whatever God took it one step further and he engraved you on his hand he's thinking about you even now watching you get ready to come here this morning oh that's that's my son that's that's my daughter they're coming to worship me and learn about more about me from the word or perhaps you don't know him oh the Lord got excited about you coming this morning if you don't know him because he thought oh this is awesome I'm going to let them know one more time how much I love them and that I wanted to adopt them and I want to forgive them and oh here they come and this is great so much so that we're told that when somebody comes to the Lord the angels in heaven rejoice so God's excited so don't think if you're sitting here as an unbeliever not sure of your eternal destiny not sure if you've been born again or a Christian don't think well God's not happy about me being here oh you're so wrong God is tickled if I may use that God is tickled about you being here this morning and the Lord is wanting to walk with us he's wanting to have a relationship with us so much that he's able he will orchestrate your entire life so you get to the place where you will respond to his proposal maybe this morning I've come walk with me come walk with me whispering in your ear over and over I love you I want to fellowship with you as a backslidden Christian the Lord sort of whispered through a believer in my ear that he missed me and that was the end of my wandering to realize that God creator God had missed me see Jesus wants to say and guys I know this is kind of Christianity 101 but it's so important we drift from it so fast Jesus is wanting to say at the end of this life after all you go through and all the things that you do good and all the things that you do wrong at the end of this life as you approach the throne room Jesus wants to say you know what father and this one may have messed up some but he's with me this one's with me I'm going to put this robe of righteousness on it or on her what an awesome thing you're listening to pastor David McGee on cross the bridge he'll be right back with more in just a moment but I want to remind you of the free resources available to you on cross the bridge.com there's a team of hundreds of people that will pray for somebody to be saved you have a loved one that needs to know Jesus as savior you need people to pray for them you need someone to present God's word to them every day we're every day we're presenting God's word to them here on cross the bridge with pastor David McGee we can pray for them as well just by simply going to cross the bridge.com and click on the pray for the lost button all you need to do is put in the first names of the people you love that need to know Jesus as savior click on submit and immediately hundreds of people will begin praying for your lost loved ones and what an awesome way to bring your loved ones to Jesus here's a word from associate pastor D.A. Brown hey Bob I want to take a minute to pray for some of our listeners in these cities in Hawaii Kihei, Lanai City, Lihue, and also Ammon, Asitin, Boise, and Burley Idaho God we thank you that we get to pray for these listeners today we pray that they would be encouraged and remember how much you love them Lord if some of them are sick we pray that you please heal them from the top of their head to the bottom of their toes and Lord we pray that you would equip them and empower them to share their testimony of your goodness to other people in Jesus name amen amen thank you brother and now let's get back to David McGee as he continues teaching verse by verse in the book of proverbs it says come here and listen to me I'll pour out the spirit of wisdom upon you and make you wise I called you so often but you didn't come I reached out to you but you paid no attention I hope that's not what happens at the end of your life I hope that's not what you hear but you hear well done I'm good and faithful servant see that's it's important to listen to the voice of the Lord even this morning the Lord is reminding each and every person how much he cares for you and how he longs to be in a relationship with you and you know what's weird if some of us are having a hard time hearing this right now there's people in here that are getting really uncomfortable because I keep talking about how God loves them so I'm gonna keep on saying it because you need to realize God loves you he loves you and it's not a love like well well you know you did you don't do something right or you know you don't look right or you don't act right or whatever and he quits loving you it's not that kind of thing at all Romans chapter 8 awesome two verses Romans chapter 8 verse 38 and 39 say for I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other created things shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord what an awesome two verses now understand we're not safe necessarily in our actions we're safe in his love and in his care in his love and in his care in verse in 30 he says I and my father are one now this is a reference back to the Shema we call it the Shema it's Deuteronomy 6 4 and and chapter 6 verse 4 and 5 from the Hebrew word the first Hebrew word is Shema Shema Israel Yahweh Elohim Yahweh Ahud meaning the Lord our God is one God now and if you remember there's another clue about the trinity way back in book of Genesis when God said let us make let us plural make man in our image okay interesting isn't it so he says I and my father are one so he's claiming deity so let's see what their reaction is verse 31 then the Jews took up stones again to stone him so so there they are letting us know that Jesus said something really important because they're picking up rocks again and and keep in mind these aren't little bitty rocks these are like big rocks okay verse 31 or 32 Jesus answered them and many good works I have shown you from my father for which of those works do you stone me the Jews answered him saying for good work we do not stone you but for blasphemy because you being a man make yourself God oh wow now the Jewish people here in this chapter the Jewish leadership they understood something that some people today miss they understood something that Dan Brown the author of the Da Vinci Code is obviously unaware of and that's that Jesus did claim to be God in the Bible he claimed to be God now what you do that is between you and the Lord but understand that is the that is part of his claim you can't say well he never claimed to be God well yes he did he just did it in this verse right here and in many other verses so what do you do with that you know what's interesting is the accusations that they made of him here they're saying that Jesus who was a man made himself out to be God that's kind of interesting isn't it the reason it's interesting is it's backwards it's backwards Jesus wasn't his God who made himself to be a man so that he could walk this earth and lay down his life for us it's a Hebrew scripture concept it's called the goel is the Hebrew word kinsman redeemer and some of the laws of the kinsman redeemer include that you had to be a relative of the one you were wanting to redeem so Jesus became a man and walked among us not half man half God I've heard people say that no 100% God 100% man and why did he do that he did that Jesus became a man so we could become children of God Jesus became a man so we could become children of God Jesus did that so that we could do something that we can scarcely comprehend that we as sinful men and women can stand righteous or for a holy God something that we had dared not dream outside of that as it's been said Jesus paid a debt he did not owe because we owed a debt that we could not pay that's why he did it verse 34 Jesus answered them and said is it not 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 whom the Lord sanctified and sent into the world you are blaspheming because I said I am the son of God now look back at verse 35 Jesus says something very interesting here he says to whom the word of God came what was he referring back to he was referring back to the Hebrew scriptures and what was he calling them he was calling them the word of God it's important to understand that Jesus validates and verifies the Bible as the word of God and the word of God validates and verifies Jesus as the son of God so you cannot say well I believe the Bible but I don't believe that Jesus was the son of God you can't say that and neither can you say well I believe Jesus is the son of God but I'm really not sure about the Bible Jesus called it the word of God if you believe Jesus you believe the Bible if you believe the Bible you believe Jesus it's not a cosmic salad bar where you can pick and choose well I want a little that and a little this and I believe a little of that truth but the rest of it you can't do that you can't do that you shouldn't do that now the word here in in the Hebrew scriptures is Elohim now some of us know that as one of the names of God in the Hebrew scripture but it's also the Hebrew word for for a judge or an official and in this case that's that's sort of what Jesus is alluding to in Exodus chapter 22 verse 8 it says if the thief is not found then the master of the house shall be brought to the judges that word judges there is Elohim to see whether he has put his hand into his neighbor's goods for any kind of trespass whether it concerns an ox donkey a sheep or clothing or any kind of lost thing which another claims to be his the cause of both parties shall come before the judges and whomever the judges condemn shall pay double to his neighbor again judges judges those three judges in there is the Hebrew word Elohim okay so in the Hebrew scriptures they are called God's and notice it's a little g and then and then in psalm 82 the Elohim is used and and then it says and then they the the judges they will die like men so obviously it's not a term distinctly of deity and what Jesus is saying is you know what if they call judges Elohim how can it be blasphemy to call me God when I'm doing these things when I'm doing the works of the father it's something they were missing now it's interesting to look at the names of God and what's really interesting is to see all the names that are used for God in the Hebrew scriptures and similar titles that are used for Jesus in the New Testament there's a whole lot of them I listed just a few right here Yahweh or I am we have the I am statements God alpha and omega Lord savior king judge light rock redeemer our righteousness shepherd creator giver of life forgiver of sin our healer omnipresent omniscient omniscient pre-existent and eternal that's just a few of the names that Jesus is given in the New Testament that correspond to the names God the father is given in the Hebrew scriptures guys Jesus Christ is God there's no doubt about it there's no doubt that that is what this book teaches in verse 36 he says do you say of him whom the father sanctified and sent into the world you are blaspheming because I said I am the son of God in verse 37 he says if I do not do the works of my father do not believe me but if I do though you do not believe me believe the works that you may know and believe that the father is in me and I in him think about this Jesus said I am the resurrection and the life and he brought somebody back from the dead he said I am the light of the world and he healed somebody that had been born blind these are all things that are believable Jesus said I am dying for your sins and I will be resurrected again and anyway was raised from the dead three days later an amazing thing friend do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven you can know right now I want to lead you in a short simple prayer simply telling God you're sorry and asking him to help you to live for him please pray this prayer with me out loud right now dear Jesus I believe you died for me that I could be forgiven and I believe you were raised from the dead that I could have a new life and I've done wrong things I have sinned and I'm sorry please forgive me of all those things please give me the power to live for you all of my days in Jesus name amen friend if you prayed that prayer according to the bible you've been forgiven you've been born again so congratulations friend you just made the greatest decision that you will ever make God bless you if you prayed that prayer with David for the first time we'd love to hear from you you can visit crossthebridge.com to receive our first steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ or you can write to cross the bridge at pobox 12 515 winston salem north carolina 27117 and share how God is working in your life you know the bible tells us that the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord but it does cost for us to come and bring that message to you and to others in your neighborhood through radio through the internet and through the mobile technologies that God has gifted us to be able to use so if you'd like to support this ministry please go to crossthebridge.com click on the donate button and ask God how much he would have you give either on a one-time basis or a continuing basis each month to help ensure that the teaching of God's word continues to go out through cross the bridge thank you so much well da before we go what are some ways that we can bless our listeners each day you can wake up with encouragement from pastor David through the word of God with his email devotional life lessons to consider a daily reading plan and a thought to meditate on throughout your day from the heart of David McGee thanks again for listening and join us next time as david mcgee continues teaching verse by verse in the gospel of john