Page 81 - The Gospel of John - Student textbook

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Notice the promise given to us in versus 28 and 29. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish—ever!
No one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all. No one
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is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. Many Christians wrestle with fears that they might lose their
salvation. They wonder, “can we really say, ‘once in grace, always in grace’?” We respond by saying, “if you have
it, you never lose it; if you ‘lose’ it, you never had it,” because that’s what the New Testament teaches. We
believe in the perseverance of the saints and the security of every believer, but not because we have an inflated
view of our ability to persevere in the Christian life. If it were left us, we would all fall away from the faith and
perish. But Jesus promised here that He will keep all of His sheep secure; no one can rip them away from him.

Jesus promised here that He will keep all of His sheep secure

Here is a very simple illustration of this biblical concept. A strong father is walking with his three – year – old son
beside a dangerous railroad track. There are two ways the father can protect the son. He can reach out his hand
and say to the little boy, “Now listen, son, hold on tightly to my hand, because if you let go you could fall onto
the tracks and be killed.” Or the father can say, “Son, give me your hand,” and he takes the boys hand and holds
on to him. Thus, the father holds on to the son rather than the son holding on to the father. Which is a sure
method?

Jesus said no one can snatch His sheep out of His hand. We are secure, not because we hold tightly to Jesus, but
because He holds tightly to us. Jesus said: “every one of My sheep is going to have eternal life. They will never
perish – I’m going to see to it. I give them eternal life, and nobody will snatch them out of My hand.” This is a
tremendous promise that affords great comfort, but it is a promise only God could make.

Jesus then repeated the promise with a twist. He said, “no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand”
(verse 29). Are the sheep held in the Son’s hand or the Father’s hand? The answer is simple – both. Jesus went
on to say, “The Father and I are one.” (Verse 30) The Son and the Father are one in essence, with the Holy Spirit
included as well. The preservation of the saints is the work of the triune God.

It is a reminder that we did nothing to save ourselves. We believed in Christ by faith. But we did not do any
work to warrant our salvation. Christ told us to believe and he then would save us. We did nothing; He did
everything. So, if we cannot do anything to save ourselves, we can’t do anything to un-save ourselves. Christ
does the saving and He does the holding.

Hearing these words, “I and My Father are one,” the Jewish authorities began to grab stones to execute Jesus on
the spot. They heard Jesus’s words. They understood He had just claimed that He was God, and they were
convinced that He had blasphemed, for He was so clearly a man. It seems that Jesus had answered them too
clearly this time.

Again the Jews picked up rocks to stone Him. Jesus replied, “I have shown you many good works from the
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Father. Which of these works are you stoning Me for?” “We aren’t stoning You for a good work,” the Jews
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answered, “but for blasphemy, because You—being a man—make Yourself God.” Jesus answered them,
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“Isn’t it written in your law, I said, you are gods? If He called those whom the word of God came to ‘gods’—
and the Scripture cannot be broken— do you say, ‘You are blaspheming’ to the One the Father set apart and
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sent into the world, because I said: I am the Son of God? If I am not doing My Father’s works, don’t believe
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Me. But if I am doing them and you don’t believe Me, believe the works. This way you will know and
understand that the Father is in Me and I in the Father.” Then they were trying again to seize Him, yet He
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eluded their grasp. So He departed again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing
earlier, and He remained there. Many came to Him and said, “John never did a sign, but everything John
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said about this man was true.” And many believed in Him there.
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