We were in John chapter 10 Start reading verse 25 Jesus answered them Jews Sadducees Pharisees I Told you and you do not believe Verse 25, John chapter 10. The works that I do in my father's name, they bear witness about me, but you do not believe. The reason they do not believe is because they are not his sheep. They are not among my sheep. Verse 27. My sheep, they hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 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. I and the father are one. And then next week we'll pick up with them picking up stones to kill him. The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Father in heaven, bless our time together this morning in your word, and may your people be just thoroughly edified and fed and taught well, and may the Holy Spirit prevail in this, your gathering, in Jesus' name, amen. So last week we went really deep and we talked about following Christ the week before and then eternal life and never perish. And I made much of what eternal life's gonna be like and this idea of never perishing. And now what I wanna do is I wanna try to cover the entire pericope. Next week we'll pick up in verse 31 and we'll keep marching away through the chapter. So here's our big idea for the entire sermon. Those Those, plural pronoun, those who follow Christ as Savior and Lord are known by Christ and the Father. And because they are known by Christ and the Father, they therefore have no fear of losing their salvation. They have no fear. They have no concern about losing their salvation. They're not wondering. They're not concerned about it. They know they are secure in number one, Christ, and number two, the Father. So let me show you where we're getting this idea from and let's work through it. So on the chart in front of you, I love visuals. I'm a visual learner. I could build charts all the time. If you are one of Christ's sheep, the permanence To give you an idea of what we mean by permanence, I've got some synonyms for you. Eternal, immortal, endless, durable, lasting, everlasting, deathless, enduring, continuous, persistent, ceaseless, indelible, perpetual, unending, undying, imperishable, and continual. That's your security. So two of you said amen. The rest of you were silently amen-ing me inside. It was a quiet, kind of a stoic amen, right? The permanence of your salvation is absolute. If you are one of Christ's sheep, the permanence of your salvation is absolute. And it's based on three things from this text. Number one, that Christ has given you eternal life. And that number two, he's promising that you will never perish. And number three, he is assuring you that no one will snatch you out of his hands. He has you. And this is good news. So now let's look at verse 10. Let's dig down to verse 28, chapter 10, verse 28, in letter C. No one, no one will snatch them out of my hand. So what's the most important thing to figure out in this verse is who the them are. It's a pronoun, so we need to know who are the them. Well, the last time he identified who the them were was in verse 27 with the words, my sheep. And my sheep have two characteristics. Let's look at them closely. Number one, they hear my voice. And number two, they follow me. So if you this morning want that assurance, I want to know, I'm never going to lose my salvation. I can Q, sleep well. I can put my head down at night and not wonder about my salvation. I don't have to fret about it. Then make sure that you're one of his sheep. How do I know if I'm one of his sheep? Number one, you hear his voice, and number two, you follow him. So now think about the last six days. The last six days. If I was to follow you around this week, is there ever a time that you would say to me, I think I've clearly heard from the Lord? Now, please don't understand. I'm not getting all mystical with you. I'm not talking about voice booming down from heaven. I'm talking about a still inner voice. A voice that says, read that again because man, the word of God ministered to your soul. Or don't go that way, go this way. Or repent, you idiot. Why are you treating your wife that way? Pick it, whatever you want. Come on, pick it. But there is something inside of you where you knew God was communicating with me in an intimate, personal way. And if you say to me this morning, I've never experienced that, then what I would challenge you to do is ask the Lord why not? And I mean, I don't mean flippantly ask, I mean seriously ask. I'm talking about private prayer time. I'm talking about a long walk. I'm talking about a time in the woods in which you're just yelling, God, everyone else is hearing from you, why aren't I? And then if I was to follow you around this week or you to follow me around this week, would you see any evidence in my life where you would say, he's doing that because he's a follower of Christ? He did that or didn't do that because he is a follower of Christ. See, I think that in the Baptist circles, we've done a great job about teaching about eternal security, but we haven't put as much emphasis on following Christ. I think we've been guilty of giving people assurance of salvation that we shouldn't have given assurance of salvation. Instead of pointing them to Christ, pointing them to Christ and saying, do you hear from his voice? Are you one of his followers? So we think about this picture that I have in front of you, this black and white picture, Bill, and I've got a woman who just lost her perch because there's two guys on a motorcycle and one is driving and one is the perch snatcher. And for those of you ladies in this room that keep your entire lives in your purse, this is a nightmare, right? Are you one of those ladies this morning? Would you kind of graciously pick your hand up and wave it and say, yeah, pastor, that's me. My life is in my purse, and if I was to lose it, yeah. All right, well, this is a purse snatcher. You say, well, why are you showing us this? Because I'm trying to give you some idea that if this is you, and you're a sister in Christ, and this purse is your eternal life, then you have the absolute assurance this will never happen to you, church. Because Christ Jesus is making sure that your eternal life will never be snatched from you. I love this picture, Bill. This is two grizzly bears, and they are perched on this ledge on a kind of a waterfall. And if you look closely in the picture, you'll see the red salmon right here. And it's about a minute away from being a good morning snack or less than a minute. Because this grizzly bear is getting ready to get himself some breakfast. And why am I showing you this picture? Because once again, it's an illustration that if you're his salmon, that'll never happen to you. Never. There's nothing in your entire life that is ever going to snatch your security from Christ away from you. Now, why are we talking about the word snatch? Why is Jesus using it? Because back in verse number 12, Jesus said a hired hand and not a shepherd is one who does not own the sheep. He sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep, and what does he do? He flees. And because the shepherd flees, the wolf snatches them and scatters them. And what you need to know this morning, Keith, is that your good shepherd is standing guard, making sure that nothing will snatch you away. Nothing. He is not like this hired hand. He does own the sheep. He loves the sheep. He cares for the sheep. And he's going to ensure, he's going to guarantee that you will never be snatched. So application number one. In other words, the so what, why does this matter? Why should I care about what you are saying to me this morning? Is that you do not keep yourself saved. So what does this mean to me? I want you to think about your spiritual walk this morning. And I want you to think about when you were on the highest high. I mean, you just felt like you were crushing sin. You ever had a week where you just feel like you're crushing sin? I mean, it just feels like, man, I'm just, man, God is with me and we are just crushing sin by His grace. I'm not talking about arrogance. I mean, you just felt really victorious. Yes, church? You've had a moment like that, a day like that, a period like that? And then how about the other side? Have you ever felt like sin was crushing you? And as much as you were confessing, and as much as you were turning, and as much as you were struggling, man, it just felt like, are you there with me this morning? A little bit? Here's the reality. This is what you need to grasp. Whether it's this week or this week, in both cases, you're not more or less secure in Christ. Church, that's good news. I mean, that's amazing. Because in our default mechanism, we would think that when I'm crushing sin, I'm more secure than when I'm not crushing sin. In fact, we have denominations and brothers and sisters in Christ that teach that idea. And they teach that if you didn't get your sins confessed and if you weren't conquering sin, then you might not be saved. But that's not what Christ is teaching us. Christ is teaching us that if you are His sheep, if you are one of His, He is the one that's keeping you from being snatched. You're not keeping yourself. So the good news is sleep well, brothers and sisters in Christ. Sleep well. Don't be anxious about your salvation. If you're a follower of Christ, you are as secure as you can be. You are as secure as you can be if you are, in fact, one of his sheep, if you are, in fact, a follower of Christ. Christ's sheep have no fear of being snatched away from their shepherd. They have no fear because he is the one that keeps them secure. Now, please notice how Jesus doubles down on this. He is relentless about this idea of you being secure in the end of verse 29. So I'm skipping all the way to the end. I still need to cover my and father and giving them, but I want to get right to this idea right here, which is no one is able to snatch them out of my father's hand. And all of us in this room, we would say, telling me that I'm secure in Christ is enough. That's amazing that I'm secure in Christ. And yet Jesus says that the Father is greater than all. And now not only do you have the assurance that Christ is keeping you safe, the Father doubles down on that. Now, we know that it's not possible for Christ to lose anyone, and yet the idea is that if it were possible, the backstop to that would be the Father. The backstop would be the Father, that the Father would ensure that none are lost. This is what he says in verse 29. He says, So one time, the wolf snatches, and Christ keeps that from happening, and the Father keeps that from happening. And then he says, the Father is greater than all. Now, what's amazing about your Bible and my Bible and our Bible is that our Bible does not mind saying things that are just seemingly contradictory. It just brings it right out there. What do you mean? Well, in the very next verse, we're gonna read that I and the Father are one. Well, could you please, which is it? Because on the one hand, you said we are one, we're one. And then you just got done saying that the Father's greater than all. And we would assume that greater than all includes Christ. Because all is all, and he's saying the Father is greater. And we would think that they would kind of work this out before they printed it. You know, kind of read through it and get all the variances ironed out. And once they nailed it down, then they could go with the publisher. That's not what the Bible does. And this very passage and passages like this is why our early church in the 200s and 250 and 300 had these creeds and confessions. Because they were trying to work through the triunity of God. What does it mean that God, the Father is the Father, the Son is the Son, and they're one? And yet Jesus clearly says the Father is greater than all. Like, which one is it? And what is our answer, church? Yes, it's that beautiful yes. It's yes and yes and more yeses. And the Bible's not concerned with whether you can logically figure this out. The Bible wants you to believe both truths without struggling with them. So I'll give you a couple examples. Here's 1 Corinthians 15, 27 on the screen for you. Paul writes, for God has put all things in subjection under his feet. Paul is quoting from Psalm 8, 6, in which the promise is that the Father has given him, we don't know who the him is, dominion over the works of your hands, and that you, the Father, have put all things under his feet. And at this point, we don't know who this is, we just know it's the Messiah. And someday the Messiah will have everything under his feet. And then in order to provide some clarity about this, Paul says, when I say all things are put in subjection, when I say all, I don't mean all. I mean all but the Father. And this is what he says in just a moment. He says, it is plain that he, God, is exempted who put all things in subjection under him. Do you see what he just did right here? So is everything under Jesus' feet? Yes, with one exception. And what's the one exception? God the Father. And we need to be very clear and say, God the Father, that's who we're talking about. Now turn back to 1 Timothy. Turn back to 1 Timothy. So find Thessalonians, and then once you find Thessalonians, you're gonna be real close. Second Thessalonians, and then there you are, you're going to be at Timothy. I want to show you two verses, one in chapter one and one in chapter six. And I want to show them into your Bible so you can see them in black and white, so that you can see them in the pages of your scripture. So here is Paul magnifying who Christ is in chapter one. In chapter one, verse 12, Christ Jesus, our Lord. Christ Jesus, our Lord. Verse 14, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Verse 15, the saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the foremost. Verse 16, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him eternal life. Then having magnified Christ Jesus in verse 17 with the preposition to, Look at this almost doxology. To the king of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor, glory forever and ever, amen. And if you have a study Bible, there are some that are even confused as to who this is in verse 17. Is he talking about Christ or is he talking about the Father? And yet we know because of verse number, in chapter six, verse 15, go ahead and turn back to chapter six. Go back and turn to chapter 6. Paul nails this down unequivocally. He nails it down. So in verse 11, he tells Timothy, O man of God, flee these things. He gives them this Instruction in verse 12. He says take a hold of eternal life still talking about this in verse 13 I charge you in the presence of God who gives life to all things and of Christ Jesus So clearly Paul here is making a distinction. I charge you in the presence of God, I would add the Father, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, the Son, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now look what he does one more time in the exact same way. Which he will display at the proper time, he who is the blessed only sovereign, the king of kings, lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. Now we know for sure he's talking about who? The Father. Because if we say, have you seen a Peter? We said, Peter, have you seen Jesus? What would he say? I have, but he's not seen the father. So why did we do all this? Why in the world did we do all this? If I tell you, let me give you an illustration. If I tell you you're scared, you're concerned about your life, you're fretting, and you say, I want to hire some bodyguards. All right? I want some bodyguards. You know what I'm talking about. I want some bodyguards. Well, in order to sell you on the bodyguards, I'm going to need to tell you they're what? They're what? They're reliable. They're credentials. Right? I got this puny little guy right here. That's not what you're looking for as a bodyguard, are you? Hello church, are you looking for that in a bodyguard? What do you want? I want him to look like this. Right? I want his very presence to be what? Intimidating, his very presence. Right, I want to know his credentials. Here's the father's credentials. Here's your bodyguard. Here's the one securing your salvation. You wanna know about his credentials? He is the sovereign. You wanna know about his credentials? He is the king of ages. You wanna know about his credentials? He's the king of kings and the Lord of lords. And you say to me this morning, I thought we were talking about Jesus when we say king of kings and Lord of lords. I've read that in Revelation and I would say, yes, you are absolutely correct. Jesus is the King of Kings. You mean the Father and Jesus are the King of Kings? Yes. You mean the Father and the Son are Lord of Lords? Yes. And both are guarding your salvation. Both. And that's good news. That is unbelievably assuring that the King of kings and the King of kings, the Lord of lords and the Lord of lords are securing my salvation. So application number two is the issue is never can one lose his salvation. The issue is never. The issue, so we know that there is an issue, but what the issue isn't is no one can ever lose their salvation. If you are part of God's elect, if you are one of his sheep, you will never lose your salvation. There is no concern. And if you say to me, well, Pastor, everybody believes that, that's not true. Any of you that have driven around North Carolina any amount of time, you go to Goldsboro, you go to any of these areas, you will identify these churches called Free Will Baptists. And they'll always have it on their sign. They are very clear about putting it on their sign. And they believe that you can give up your salvation. And it's what split them from other Baptists. This very doctrinal idea is what split Baptist churches in two. And these guys said, no, we believe that one can forfeit their salvation. Now, are they brothers in Christ? Absolutely. Do they worship the same King of Kings and Lord of Lords? Yes, they do. But they argue from a different perspective. And that's why I said to you, the issue is never can one lose their salvation. The implication in their church is that there's clearly what? There's an issue, but it's not there. That's not where the issue is. In verse 29, Jesus says, my father who has given them to me. This is the second time we've heard this language. Turn back to John six. Let's refresh ourselves one more time on the good language in John six, because it's a theme in John. So just turn back a few pages, get to John six. Find John six, please. Let's look at verse 32 forward. I'll give you a second to get there, because I want everyone to turn back in their own Bible. 32, Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you true bread from heaven. So there is a physical bread, and there is a true bread, and the true bread comes from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven, talking about himself, and gives life to the world. They said, sir, give us this bread always. Here's verse 35, Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you, but I said to you that you have seen me and yet you do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me. All that the Father gives me will come to me. Now, what is the truth that I'm supposed to learn from that verse? All right, look at verse 39. And this is the will of Him who sent me, that I should lose nothing and all that He, the Father, has given me. All right, what am I supposed to take away from this? What is the individual application I'm supposed to take away from this? If you this morning would say, I know Pastor Sean, I'm one of his. You would say, I know I'm one of his. I know I've been born again. I know that Christ dwells in me. The very reason I'm here this morning is because he has done a work in my life. Are you there with me? Is that you this morning? Give me a little tiny little wave. Yeah. All right. then here's the reality. If that is in fact true, the reason you're there is because the Father gave you to the Son. You didn't do it on your own. You didn't wake up one morning and go, hmm, I think today will be the day I'll go to Jesus. The very reason you are in Christ is because before eternity, before you had any opportunity to make any decision, the Father chose you in Christ. All right, what's the reaction? What reaction should that be in my life? One of gratitude? One of praise? One of adoration? One of bananas for you? One of give it up for Jesus? I can't believe you were gracious to me. I could have been lost, but you found me. It should create in us an adoration that is earth-shattering. And even if you're one of those quiet introverts, you should be doing cartwheels inside. Because the Father gave you to the Son. Now look at Jesus' promise. He said, I will what? Lose nothing. I'll lose nothing. In contrast to losing nothing is a promise that he will raise it up on the last day. In fact, he says this four times. Verse 39, verse 40, verse 44 and 54, I will raise him up on the last day. So again, look at the verse in chart form just so you can kind of grasp it. All that the Father gives will come to Christ. Whoever comes to Christ will never be cast out. That's good news. Christ does not do his own will. He always does the will of the Father who sent him. And now he promises that he will lose none. In contrast, he will raise them up on the last day. Here's what I want you to realize. Christ is not done. Christ is not done. He is still working. He still has a current work for you and for I. What do you mean? I thought on the cross, he said, it is. And it was. The atonement for your sins on the cross was done. When Christ said it is finished, he died for sins, past, present, and future. Then what's left? The resurrection. The resurrection. What do you mean the resurrection? All of us in this auditorium, like James Gillespie that was right up front yesterday, we carried him right out. His body was right here, right here in our auditorium, in a casket. We dumped it in the ground over there. We know that his spirit is with the Lord. We know his soul's in the presence of the Lord, but his body is still on this earth. Scripture is really clear about this Jesus promises that on a future day guys. This is amazing every single one of his sheep in the grave will be pulled out and United with what church their souls their spirits into a new glorified spiritual body and Then And only then will Christ be able to say, it's done. It's done. I have not lost any that you've given to me. I saved their souls, I have resurrected their bodies, and they are ready for you, Father, into the eternal kingdom. Now this is what's gonna blow your mind. Christ gives them to the Father, and the Father gives them right back to the Son. Right back to the Son. I mean, all of us in the military can get this concept. There's a change, and he turns around and gives them right back. Now, I gotta tell you, I mean, I just want you to pause for just a minute and think to yourself, on the day when Adam, Eve, and us, and Moses, and Abraham, and every single soul that was given to Christ is resurrected, is that not going to be an incredible day? It's hard to conceive of, isn't it? It's really hard to conceive of. It's hard to think about the idea that there will be a day in which Abraham and Noah and Adam, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Isaac, all the 12 sons, or maybe not. I don't know about that. We have to think about that for a minute. Some of the sons were a little iffy there. They get called out in Genesis 49. Moses, Joshua, Aaron. David, Solomon, what's up, dude? No, y'all not there with me yet, right? No, you're like, dude, Moses, right? I mean, you're not gonna go just to, come on. Do you understand at that moment we will all be children of God, saints of the resurrected King in our glorified bodies? Yes or no, church? Are y'all living for a better hope that I don't know about? Do y'all know something that I don't know about that's a little bit cooler than this? I mean, is there a new iPhone coming out that I don't know about and you're kind of toying between those two ideas? I mean, this is insanely amazing. You want to make sure you're going to be resurrected on the last day. You want to be part of this. The promise of resurrection life is exactly why D.A. Carson defines eternal life as he does. He says properly it means life of the age or life to come or resurrection life. When every soul that the father has given to the son from Adam for it has been raised from dead and on that day the mission of losing nothing of all that the father has given him will be complete. This language of Father is beautiful language. It's how we refer to the first person of the triune God. It is Abba, Father. It is the one who is our creator. Jesus doubles down with this language of my, my. Not our. If he said our, they wouldn't have picked up stones. He would have made himself like all the other Jews and said, he is our father, but he set himself apart and said, this is my father, not your father, my father. I have a relationship with him that is different. The Greek is very specific. It is a personal, possessive pronoun. And then he turns around and says, I and the father are one. Now, you don't do that with your son. You don't say my son and I are one. You don't do that. But he can. So what do we mean by this word one? How are we defining one? Well, a single unit, well, that's not gonna work, because they are clearly two. Being one in particular, being preeminently what is inclined, being the same in kind or quality. All right, we're getting somewhere. We can kind of deal with this just a little bit. Constituting a unified entity. a unified entity, constituting a unified entity. So let's talk about this. Verses like this are why we have the doctrine of the triunity of Yahweh. Christ separates himself from the Father and then turns around and unites himself. Do you see how he does that in this passage? Okay. So Christ and the Father are one in at least five ways, five ways, certainly there's probably more, but at least these five ways. Number one, they are one in being or essence. The Father's essence is not more or less divine than the Son. They are equally divine. They are equally, their nature when it comes to deity is the same. The father and the son are one in power. The father is not more omnipotent or the son is not less omnipotent. They have an equal omniscience or omnipotence perspective. They see everything the same way. Now, you know that in your marriage, if we can just give you a little bit of a parallel, you know that if you can get you and your wife on the same sheet of music, Life is what, man? Oh, it's better. It's better. Good. There's one honest camper in the room. Right. Are you two always, Josh, are you two always one? Are you guys always? Why is there laughing? Why are we laughing? On occasion. There's some honest confessions. You know what I mean by seeing something the same way? How many of you as children exploited your parents when they weren't seeing something the same way? Come on, you know what I'm talking about, right? There's a few honest hands going up. Yeah. And kids know it, don't they? I mean, it's unbelievable how fast they can pick up when mom and dad are not united on something, when they are seeing something from a different perspective. And what do they do? They work hard to split it. Here's what you need to know. There's never been a moment in eternity past or present or eternity future when the father or the son don't see everything the exact same way. Their perspective is exactly the same at all things. That's inconceivable, really. But it is where you want to be as husband and wife. When you get mom and dad on the same sheet of music, when they see the world the same way, they become an impenetrable force. The children have no point to capitulate, right? Because they see it from the same perspective. Number five is purpose. There's perfect unity in the plan of redemption. You know, boys, the father and the son didn't do rock, paper, scissors to figure out who's going to the cross and who's not. They were unified in the fact that the son was gonna give his life. The father would be the leader. Now again, how? The scripture doesn't tell us, Church. It just presents it that way. Number six or five, glory. The Father is not more or less glorious than the Son. The Son is not more glorious than the Father, and the Father is not more than the Son. All right, let's wrap it up. The application, number three. The issue, we've already said the issue is not whether one can lose their salvation. The issue becomes, can one have a moment of belief and be assured of eternal life? That's what split Baptist. That is what split Baptist. That's why we have churches all over North Carolina that call themselves free will Baptist. Because there was not unity on this issue. Jesus said, my sheep, number one, hear my voice, and number two, they follow me. The assurance of salvation is found in being one of his sheep, not an aha moment. Not an aha moment. Let's wrap this up. I have been guilty of giving someone assurance of their salvation, Billy, that I shouldn't have. I had no business giving them assurance of their salvation. I told someone you're saved. I had no business doing that. Is there any way, Jeff, that I can know that someone's saved? No, no. Then how do we help someone work through this? How then do we help a child? How then do we help a son? How then do we help a brother? How then do we help a sister work through this? Church, we must make sure that we say only what Scripture lets us say and nothing more. We have to stop at the edge of Scripture. Now, we're tempted to go further than Scripture lets us go, especially when we love and care about the person. And sometimes we're guilty of actually giving ourselves assurance of their salvation when we shouldn't. Do you understand what I mean? What we can do is only what Scripture lets us do. So we're gonna use you this morning, Justin, for an example. You're struggling through your salvation. You're struggling, am I born again? Am I trusting in Christ? Have I been redeemed? I know you're not, but we're using you as an example. I'm not gonna try to convince him that he's saved. Instead, I'm gonna tell him what Scripture says. Scripture says that sheep believe in Christ They hear his voice and they follow. So I'm gonna leave you with some assignments for the week. I want you to read some scripture. I want you to think about your week. I want you to work through your week. We're gonna come back and have a follow-up meeting. And in our follow-up meeting, what are the things I'm looking for as I help him work through this? Has he heard Christ's voice this week? What else? Yes, sister, did you find a moment or a time or evidence when you, in fact, did follow Christ? You were ready to rip someone's face off, but you used self-control. You knew it wasn't just an external self-control. It was truly a spirit-filled grace self-control. Now, let's be clear. Let me explain to you when this really gets hard. We're gonna wicker through this. Stay with me for just one more minute. I'm gonna use my good hand as a person who's following Christ, and I'm gonna use my bad hand as a person who's following the teachings of Christ. So if I take two people, one who's following Christ, Steve, and one who's following the teachings of Christ, and you look at both their lives, it's gonna be very difficult for you to tell the difference. All right, Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, blessed are the what? The peacemakers. All right, so the person who's following Christ knows he's supposed to be a peacemaker because he's following Christ, and the person who doesn't care about Christ but likes the teachings of Christ is also working on being a peacemaker. So both people are gonna encounter a conversation or a difficult, and both people are gonna work towards making what? Peace. And from the external looking in, are you gonna be able to tell the difference? No, you're not. And this is why it's impossible for you to give someone assurance of their salvation. They and they alone can assure themselves of salvation because they know whether they're following the person or whether they're following the teaching. Now, where does this really get difficult? Caleb, think about all your children. You have four, right? You have three boys and a girl. Are they all naturally compliant or some more naturally compliant than others? Give me an assessment. What? Plead the fifth, all right? Caleb doesn't want to participate. All right, I got it. All right, we'll put person X here, okay? All right, person X. It's nobody. Come on, you know your children. Come on, you know your children. Mine came out of the womb with like a fist in his hand ready to go to war, you know? You know what I'm talking about? And there are others that are saying, yes, ma'am. You know what I'm talking about? So who is it going to be easier to figure out who's been transformed by the power of the gospel? The naturally compliant or the rebel? I can't do questions, sister. Or the naturally compliant? The rebel. The rebel. Because what you don't know with the naturally compliant, are they a rule follower or are they in love with Christ? Are you all with me this morning? Parents, you've got to work through this. This is hard. You have to keep giving them Christ, not the rules. Because if you keep giving them the rules, you won't know whether they're following Christ. They could go through their whole lives placating you. You're positive they're saved, and they go into turmoil. And now you're like, what just happened? That's why you need to point them to Christ and Christ alone. Father, dismiss us with your grace this morning, in Jesus' name, amen.