James Merritt - Forever and For Always
Well, how many of you are not ashamed to admit you like Country music? Anybody like Country? Okay, all right, okay. I like Country music. I've got a playlist with some of the top Country music songs that I like best. And there's a song that I heard many years ago by Shania Twain and the moment I heard it and saw the video, I mean just like this, it became one of those, that song's for me and Teresa kind of a song. And it wasn't just the lyrics but I loved the title. The title of it was "Forever and For Always". And I thought what a great title.
And then I watched the video. We were on vacation down in Florida. I watched the video and it's about two little kids that kind of start out as friends and then they fall in love and they get married, and they stay in love the rest of their lives. And I love this part of the song. It goes like this, "Cause I'm keeping you forever and for always, we will be together all of our days". And as I listened to that song, it occurred to me, there really is a spiritual message in that song, because that four-word title, "Forever and For Always," actually expresses a promise that God gives us in scripture and a truth that it is important to everyone who might ever want to follow Jesus.
So, I want to say to our campus at Mill Creek, to those who are watching by television, those who are watching online, I hope and pray you'll really pay attention to what I'm about to say because this is one of those you better really listen to every word. You better not be texting. You better not be Facebooking or whatever it is you do during a sermon. You really need to pay attention because you can basically put people into one of four categories to describe where they are with God. I promise you, you fit in one of these four categories.
There are some people out there, you know them and I know them, they don't have a relationship with God and they don't want to. They don't have God on their radar screen. They're not looking for God. There are all kinds of reasons from hostility to indifference but there are people out there who say, "I don't even care if there is a God or not. If there is, that's fine. If there's not, I'm good with that either". We've got these new atheists out there even are telling us it's dangerous to have a relationship with God. There are people out there who will tell you, "I don't know God, don't wanna know God. I'm happy without God. Life is good without God. Don't need God". You've got people in that category. Then there are people who don't, who don't have a relationship with God but they want to.
And maybe there's some of you like that, like some people at our 9 o'clock service were like that. You realize that something is missing in your life, there's a void, there's a hole. And you've tried the sex thing, you've tried the success thing, you've tried the money thing, you've tried the prosperity thing, you've tried the alcohol thing, you've tried the drug thing, you've tried the pornography thing, and yet, there's this emptiness in your heart. And there are people out there, they're in a desperate or a crisis situation. And something has driven them to a higher power and they're not only hungry to know that there is a God, they're hoping there is a God and their heart is ripe and open to having a relationship to God. That may be where some of you are right now.
And then there are people who do have a relationship with God and they are sure that they have a relationship with God. Now, in this category I'm kind of begging a question because there are people who are sure they have a relationship with God but they really don't. And I'm gonna be talking to some of you this morning. But I'm talking right now about people who would say, "You know what, I believe Jesus is the only way to God. I have trusted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I have absolutely no doubt I have a relationship with God". And I'm talking about people I call followers of Christ or what many people would call Christians. And these are people who would say, "No doubt in my mind about it, there is a God. I know that God. I know that I know that God. I'm sure I have a relationship with God. I am good to go with God".
But then there's a fourth category. And again, I'm referring to people who would call themselves Christians. These are people who do have a relationship with God and they're sure they do, but they're afraid they can lose it. And today I want to talk primarily to that group. Because hopefully if you are by chance in any of the other groups, after what I have to say today, you'll want to move to the last group. Let me kind of explain where I'm going, okay. It is one thing to have a relationship with God. It is another thing to have a relationship with God and know that you have a relationship with God and be sure that you have a relationship with God. But it's an entirely different thing to have a relationship with God, to know that you have a relationship with God and to be sure that you have a relationship with God, and to be sure you can never lose it. To really know that relationship is forever and for always.
So, the question that I'm answering right now is very simple. Is a real relationship with God permanent or conditional? Now the question has been put this way. Once a person has been born again into the family of God, received new life, a new nature, been justified and sealed by the Holy Spirit, can that individual ever become unsaved by sinning, or ceasing to believe, or by any other cause? Now, with respect, I have people I'm very close to, who I love very dearly who believe that that's true. They believe you can be unsaved. They believe you can be saved on Monday, lost on Tuesday. They believe you can commit a certain number of sins or a certain kind of sin, if you ever commit that sin, you lose your salvation and you're never ever again right with God.
So, you are a follower of Jesus. You have a relationship with God. You're sure that you have that relationship. Simple question, can you lose that salvation? Is there anything you can do to foul up, to mess up, to screw up, and therefore lose that relationship? Now the reason why I bring this up is because not long ago, I was in a Bible study with a group of believers at our church, and we were talking about something and I realized that one of the men in the group who is a dear friend of mine. I've been his pastor for a long time. I was listening to him talk and the more he talked, the more I realized, I said, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute". I said, "Are you telling me you believe that you knew somebody that was saved but they're no longer saved"? "Yeah". "So, you're telling me you believe that a person can have salvation but they can lose that salvation"? He said, "Yeah, I do".
He's a great guy. We had a good conversation. And with his, I told him, I said, "You know what? You've really kind of inspired me because I think this is something we need to look at". We need to kind of settle it. Well, the good news for us, in a gospel called John. There are four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. In John, chapter 10, Jesus addresses this question head on. Now as we study this passage, Jesus actually does two big favors for us. Number one, He identifies who really do have, people who really are right with God, He identifies them. Then He verifies that that relationship is totally permanent.
So, if you would like to know whether or not you really do have a relationship with God, or you would like to know that you can be sure of it, or you'd like to know you can never lose it, then Jesus would say, "I want you to ask yourself three questions". We're gonna put them up on the screen. Before I do, let me say this. I want to be clearly understood what I'm trying to accomplish. I am not trying to get anybody to doubt what they have. That is not my goal. On the other hand, I am not about to try to make you sure you have something that you don't. So, if you have it, I'm not trying to make you doubt it. But if you don't have it, I'm not gonna let you leave here thinking that you do.
So, three questions to ask yourself right now. Number one, am I sensitive to the Word of Jesus? Am I sensitive to the Word of Jesus? Now, Jesus begins by identifying who He's talking to and talking about and remember who He's talking to in this little address He's giving. He's talking to Pharisees. They were the religious Ph.Ds. Who's talking to the Sadducees. They were kind of the religious lawyers. He was talking to critics. He was talking to skeptics. He was talking to unbelievers. He was talking to people who didn't even like Him. They were badgering Him about who He claimed to be. And they had just said to Him, look, let's just get it straight, just eyeball to eyeball, man to man, if you are the Messiah, tell us you're the Messiah. That's what they had just said to Him.
Here's what Jesus said, John 10:25. "Jesus answered, 'I did tell you, but you didn't believe. The works I do in My Father's name testify about Me, but you do not believe.'" Why don't they believe? Why don't a lot of people believe? "Because you are not My sheep". Now Jesus said in effect, the reason you don't believe in Me, is not because of Me, it's because of you. I'm not your problem. You are your problem. You don't believe Me because you don't belong to Me. And so the question is well who belongs to Jesus? Who are His sheep? Here's what He said, "My sheep listen to My voice".
Now Jesus is obviously talking about His true sheep. Not people who say they're sheep but they're not. Not people who think they're sheep but they're not. But people who really are sheep, okay. So, what He's about to say is only true about His sheep. Because I want you to remember something, not everybody that says baa-aaa-aaa is a sheep. Now I worked on that in Israel for a week. Give me some love here, okay. Not everybody that says baa-aaa-aaa is a sheep. Because when you hear the words of Jesus, anytime you hear Jesus say anything, if you don't hear in Him the words of a man who is God in the flesh, the Son of God, the Messiah of the Jews, the Savior of the world, the Lord of the universe, here's why, you're not one of His sheep. He's not your problem. You are your problem.
I read about a lady that walked into a china shop and she wanted to buy some stemware. And he said, "Well ma'am, I got all kinds of glasses in here. What kind would you like to buy"? She said, "Well, I'd like to buy all of your glasses that are pitched to the key of A". And he looked at her and he said, "Lady, now tell me how I'm gonna know in this store which of these glasses are pitched to the key of A". With a smile on her face, she reached into her purse, pulled out a tuning fork. She struck it and immediately everyone of those glasses that was tuned to the pitch of or the key of A vibrated.
And I thought to myself, you know if you're a true sheep, when you hear the Word of God, when you hear what Jesus says, when you hear what Jesus taught, your heart will vibrate. You will live your life by listening to Jesus and nobody else. You'll recognize when He is speaking. You'll realize what He is saying. You will respond to His commands. So in other words, If you really belong to Jesus, your eyes will see His truth, your ears will hear His truth, your heart will receive His truth. Because there are only two kinds of people in this world. There are people who are spiritually discerning. They know when they hear spiritual truth. They know when Jesus is talking. They know it is the real deal. But then there are people who are spiritually deaf. They don't hear because they can't hear and they can't hear because they won't hear.
So, I want you to imagine your phone rings. And you don't have caller ID or maybe the number's blocked. And so you don't know the identity of the caller before you pick the phone up, okay. So, your phone rings. It's a no name, you don't recognize the number and so you answer the phone. And I want you to imagine the person on the other end says only two words. "It's me". That's all they say, "It's me". Now logically that statement has to be true. Who else could it be, right? Okay, I know that it's you. But theoretically it could be anybody who makes that statement. "It's me". But relationally, if you know that person, you have a real relationship with that person, you immediately know that person's voice because you've got a real relationship with that person.
When Teresa calls, we've been married over 40 years, right. Sometimes Teresa will call, I'm not even paying attention to the phone. It just picks up, "Hello". Teresa will say, "It's me". In over 40 years, thank God I've never said, "Who is this"? And really thank God, "Oh it's Sally". No, no, no, no. When she says, "It's me," I know immediately, that's the woman I've been in love with for over 40 years. I know her voice. Jesus said if you're one of My sheep, you know My voice. You know when I'm the one talking. You know who you're dealing with. You know the one that's giving you the command. But then Jesus goes on to say something that's really surprising.
Jesus said, "My sheep listen to My voice and I know them". Now you would have thought Jesus would have said, now My sheep listen to My voice and they know Me. He didn't say that. He said, "My sheep hear My voice and I know them". Now, why did He say that? Here's why. Because not everyone who says they know Jesus knows Jesus. The ones who truly know Jesus are known by Jesus. Earlier Jesus said this, He said, "I am the Good Shepherd. I know My sheep and My sheep know Me".
So, if you'd really like to know today whether or not you're really one of His sheep, let me ask you a question, I don't care whether you say you know Him or not. Here's what I want to know, does He know you? I know He knows who you are. I know He knows all about you but does He truly know you? See, you can claim to know someone without really knowing someone. And you can claim that you know someone without them knowing you. I mean, there are people in this world, I saw them in Paris, I saw them in Jerusalem, they don't know anything about Jesus. They know nothing about Jesus. Then there are people who know some things about Jesus. And then there are people who know Jesus and He knows them.
I've told you before the story of when I got the opportunity on a golf course, not too far from here, when I told you about having the opportunity to witness to Michael Jordan and share the gospel with Michael Jordan. Now when Michael Jordan came up to me when I was warming up on that golf course and stood right next to me, he didn't have to introduce himself to me. I knew exactly who he was. He didn't have a clue who I was. I knew who he was. And even after I shared the gospel with him, I can look at you and say today, you know, I know who Michael Jordan is, I've talked to him, I've told him about Jesus, I shared the gospel, but he doesn't know who I am. And Jesus said one day, there's gonna be a multitude of people who are gonna stand before him. They're gonna think they're gonna be accepted but they're not. They're gonna think they're gonna be rejected, but they won't be rejected but they will be.
You know what Jesus is gonna say to those people? Listen to this, "I never knew you". "But Lord I," "I never knew you". "But Lord I went to church". "But I never knew you". "But Lord I was religious". "But I never knew you". "But Lord I gave money to the church". "Yeah, but I never knew you". "But Lord I paid my taxes". "Yeah, but I never new you". That's the whole bottom line. "I never knew you". Simple question, does Jesus know you? That is, if He does, then you only dance to the beat of one drummer and it's His voice. So, question number one, am I sensitive to the Word of Jesus? I hear His voice, He knows me. You say, "Well how will I know that"? Real easy.
If you are sensitive to the Word of Jesus, you can answer the second question, am I surrendered to a walk with Jesus? Am I sensitive to the Word of Jesus? Am I surrendered to a walk with Jesus? Now the second way you can know if you're a sheep is not just with your ears but with your feet. Okay, so watch what Jesus said. Jesus said, you want to know whether or not you're one of My sheep? Okay, here we go. Number one, you listen to My voice. Number two, I know you. But number three, you follow Me. You follow Me. That's pretty plain. Jesus said, if you're truly a sheep, here's how you know it. You follow the shepherd, i.e., you don't just talk the talk, you walk the walk. You don't put on the religious mask on Sunday morning and then go out and live any way you want to on Monday morning. What you are on Monday morning matches up with what you are on Sunday morning.
In other words, if you're a sheep, you don't live like a goat. You live on the outside of what you say you believe on the inside. That's why I've rarely, you'll notice I rarely ever use the term Christian to talk about people today. I use the term Christ follower. You say, "Yeah, why do you do that"? Because probably the most abused, misused, over-used word in the English language, at least in the religious world, is the word Christian. Go to any city in America, pick out a hundred people at random, ask them what is a Christian. You'll get a hundred different answers. It is the most over-used, misused, abused word in the English language.
But if you are truly a Christ follower, you're always asking yourself two questions in the way you live your life. Number one, what would Jesus say in this situation? And number two, what would Jesus have me do in this situation? Because you hear His voice and you want to follow Jesus. And the truth of the matter is, if you're not following Jesus, it is because you're not really hearing Jesus. I want to just kind of give you a caution here again. I am not trying to make you doubt what you have but I am not gonna give you assurance you've got what you don't. 'Cause there are people, I've seen 'em in my ministry, you look kind back in your life and you say well I walked down an aisle and I filled out a card and I got baptized and you think, "I'm good to go".
And I wish I could say that about everyone I've seen do that. I've baptized thousands and thousands of people in my ministry. But I'm just being honest, I've seen a lot of people in my ministry, they walk down an aisle, they filled out a card, they get baptized and three months later, the F.B.I. can't find 'em. I mean, I called 'em Alka Seltzer Christians. You drop 'em in the water, they fizzle for a while and they disappear. I mean, it's an amazing phenomenon to me. I mean, it really is incredible. And then maybe some of you who doubt you have a relationship with God, I'm gonna be honest, there are some of you listening to me right now and you doubt you have a relationship with God and you probably should doubt you have a relationship with God. Because you're not following Jesus.
'Cause there's some legitimate questions we all ought to ask ourselves on occasion. For example, does my life show, not what my lips say, does my life show I'm really following Jesus? Can people tell by the way I talk, the I walk, and the way I act that I'm following someone they're not following? Am I marching to the beat of a drummer they don't even listen to? Do the people that you work with, and the people you live next door to, and the people you do business with, can they know almost without you saying a word, "This guy's not on my, I'm not listening to the same radio station he's listening to. I'm not living according to the same way this guy is living by".
Jesus is not an insurance salesman that comes just to give you some fire insurance. He comes to you as a king, as a Lord, as a Master, and He expects nothing less, nothing else, and nothing but that you totally follow Him. That's why one of the biggest mysteries that's really growing in my ministry are people that will walk into our church, they'll fill out a card, and they'll check off a box that some of you will fill out today and you'll say I prayed to receive Christ. And you'll say I want to be biblically baptized like those people were, wonderfully were a minute ago. And then we'll call, you don't return our calls. We email, you don't return our emails. We go to an address and find out that it's the address of a Kroger grocery store.
And listen, I want you to hear me clearly, you do not have to be baptized to know Jesus. You do not have to be baptized to have a relationship with God. I want to make that real plain. Everybody got that? But if you don't love Jesus enough to get into the pool of water, why do you think you love Him enough to go to heaven? Do you understand the first step of following Jesus is to be baptized? Not the second, not the third, not the fourth, you know why some of you doubt your salvation? You guys started off on the wrong foot from the very beginning. 'Cause the very first thing Jesus told you to do, you said I'm not gettin' my hair wet. I'm not gettin' in no cold, by the way it's heated. I'm not gonna do that.
That's what following Jesus is all about. Following Jesus is all about your bank account. It's all about how you manage your money. It's all about how you manage your time. It's all about how you treat your wife and your kids. It's all about being honest and giving a good day's wage for a, a good day's work for a good day's wage. That's why I'm telling you, the greatest thing America needs right now, we don't need a different President, or maybe we do, maybe we don't, we don't need a different this, a different that. If we'll just have people that'll fall in love with Jesus, we can solve about every problem we've got.
Our problem is, can I be honest, the biggest problem we've got in America is a church full of people who aren't following Jesus. Jesus said, you really want to mean business with Me, are you sensitive to My Word? Do you hear My voice? And are you surrendered to a walk with Me? Are you following Me? And let me, while I'm in the neighborhood, I'm so tired I'm fired up. I realize I will say things at times and some of you will leave because I said it. I realize there are people that don't come here 'cause they know about what we say, but you just need to understand this, I only march to the beat of one drummer. Pick any issue you want to talk about. Homosexuality, adultery, fornication, drunkenness, gay marriage, doesn't matter. I couldn't care less what the President thinks, what the Congress says, or what the court decides.
I wanna know what Jesus says. That's all I care about. That's all I wanna know. So, am I sensitive to the Word of Jesus? Am I surrendered to a walk with Jesus? Here's the last thing. Am I sure of the work of Jesus? Now watch, this is the best part. Jesus has identified who His sheep really are. Okay, so now you gotta get that settled. Am I really one of His sheep? Now, if you are, Jesus says, okay, let me tell you the benefits of being a sheep. He says first of all, "I give them eternal life". Now, that's the crux of the whole matter. Jesus didn't say, I'll sell them eternal life. He didn't say, I'll loan them eternal life. He says, "I give them eternal life".
Now, the two key words are the words give and the word eternal. First of all, if it's a gift, you can't earn it. On the other hand, if it's eternal, you can't lose it. So, if you can't earn eternal life by being good, you can't lose eternal life by being bad. You can't have it both ways. So, listen again to what He said. He said, "I give them eternal life". By the way, He didn't say I will give them eternal life. He said, "I give them eternal life". This is something a lot of people don't understand about eternal life. Eternal life is not something you get when you die, it's something you get when you believe. Some people get this idea, boy I just, they're hoping and they're praying. Here's the way a lot of people think they're gonna get into heaven, they die and they're not really sure if they're gonna get there or not but all of the sudden they're there, and they slam the door, they go, "Ha, whew, so glad I made it". That's not eternal life.
Let me give you a news flash, if you don't have eternal life before you die, you're not gonna get it after you die. You either have it or you don't have it. You either have it now and you have it forever or you don't have it at all. It is eternal life. Now you know what the word eternal means. I've already told you. Shania Twain, I don't know if you know that she's a great theologian because forever and for always means eternal. That's what eternal means. If you ever have bought anything expensive like a new car, a new television, new washer, dryer, whatever, something breaks and it needs repairing, you call to get it repaired. There are five words that will make you weep, scream, faint, shake, collapse, and even consider suicide. You know what those five words are? The warranty has run out.
When you enter into a relationship with Jesus, you are under His divine, eternal, forever, for always warranty and His warranty never runs out. And that's why Jesus goes on to say in verse 28, "and they shall never perish". My high school buddies will remember this, when our English teacher, Ms. Towry. Ms. Towry always told us, don't ever put a double negative in a sentence. You don't, that's not proper grammar. Well, in the Greek language, this is actually a double negative. If you translate the Greek language literally, here's what it says, John said, they shall never, not ever, no never, forever, ever perish.
Physical life can be taken away from you but your spiritual life can never be taken away from you. And then to close the deal, Jesus goes on to say this, watch this, He says, "No one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all, no one can snatch them out of My Father's hand". Now I want you to look at the picture that Jesus paints. Jesus said when you give your life to Jesus, here's what happens. This is such a beautiful picture. God the Father puts us in the hand of Jesus. Jesus closes His hand. Then God the Father puts His hand around the hand of Jesus and closes His hand. So now we're in a double grip, double grip. In other words, we've got a double wall of security.
Years and years ago, Teresa and I when we were younger, we had some things that were valuable to us, family heirlooms, some rare coins people had give us, and other things, and we didn't want to keep 'em at the house, so we went to a bank. And we rented a safety deposit box. It was really kind of fascinating what they did. So they brought a box to us and they said okay, this is a fireproof box. It can withstand any fire. It won't burn up. And then they put it in the box and then they locked it. And then to make sure that nobody would tamper with what was inside the box, they put the box inside of a vault and it was closed with a heavy steel door.
Now there was a secret code known only to the two of us that we had that we could give someone at the bank just so we could get into the vault. That didn't get us into the box, just to get us into the vault we had to know a code. Then to get into the box there was another code that only two of us knew. We had to give them the code or we couldn't even get into the box.
I will never forget the first time I went home that night, for the first time I didn't worry about anybody breaking into my house. I didn't worry about the house burning down and losing all those valuables. I slept like a baby because I was trusting the safety of those valuables to the bank. When you give your life to Christ and He gives you the gift of eternal life, you are trusting it in His hands, and your position in the family of God is thoroughly in the hands of God the Son and the God the Father. So therefore, nobody, not the devil, not his demons, not powers above, not powers below, no physical being, no spiritual being of any kind can ever snatch you out of the Father's hands.
Now, this is important, okay. Our eternal security does not depend on our grip on God, but on His grip on us. The greatest college running back who ever lived. Somebody tell me who that was. You better say it right or I'm churching you right now. Herschel Walker. If you don't like that, don't even say Bo. Bo don't know Joe. It's Herschel Walker. Herschel Walker, if you watched him, I watched him all three years on t.v. and I got to see him in person one time, I think, if my memory's correct, I gotta go back and check, he only fumbled one time. Herschel just didn't fumble but he did fumble one time. Listen, God never fumbles. Nobody can snatch you out of His hand. You know what that means, you know what that means? When I make it to heaven or not is not depending on my holding onto Him, it's depending on Him holding onto me.
So, I'm only as secure as God is. And there is no power strong enough to pry open the hand of Jesus. And even if there were, then you gotta pry open the hand of God. And there's no power that can do that. The devil can't do it and neither can you. Listen, I hear this all the time, there are people they just don't believe in what I'm saying. "Oh no, you can sin your salvation away. You can lose your salvation". And then you'll say to them, "Well now wait a minute, let me ask you, so, what do you have to do to lose your salvation"? They can't tell you. "Well you can sin". "Well how much sin, how many sins, when do you know you've crossed the line? Is there an alarm that goes off? How do you know"? Well, they don't know.
But then this is their trump card, they'll say, "Well, maybe you can't do it but the devil can do it because you're not more powerful than the devil". Well that's true. You're not more powerful than the devil. But now think about that logic. Think about that logic. The devil could do it. Okay, think about that. If the devil could do it, he would do it. And if he would do it, he would do it for every Christian and no Christian would ever get into heaven. But there's a bigger problem. If he could do it, but he doesn't do it, you know what that would mean? That means we all go to heaven, not by the grace of God but by the goodness of the devil. Now if you're a graduate of three certain schools I don't have to name, you'll believe that. You been around me long enough, you know what those are. One's North, one's West, one's South. I'll leave it right there
Listen, I was reading the other day something I didn't know about. It's called the Cheyenne Military Complex. It is the most secure location for safety and security in the world. Listen to this, it's located under 2,000 feet of granite in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It's a nuclear blastproof facility. It is the home to the North American Aerospace Defense Command, otherwise known as NORAD. Chinese Mountain Complex has it's own self-contained power plant, water supply, heating system, hospital, and more. Everything NORAD needs to keep operating during DEFCON 1, the only place on the planet that could withstand DEFCON 1. 721st Mission Support Group Deputy Director Steven Rose told "Airman Magazine," it's basically the same thing as an underground city.
So if we found out today, Russia, China, North Korea, whoever, they're launching everything they've got, they're throwing everything they've got at us, if you could get there, the safest, most secure place in the world is Cheyenne Mountain Complex. It is the only high altitude facility certified by the Department of Defense to withstand an electromagnetic pulse. Its 25-ton blast doors protect against biological and nuclear attack. And I thought there, that's the most secure place in the world.
But then I read the fine print. And there are three things that that place cannot protect you from. It cannot protect you from the tongue lashing your wife gives you if you forget your anniversary. It can't do that. It can't protect your parents from telling you about how much tougher they had it than you did. And it cannot protect your children from being spoiled by their grandparents. I promise you that's true. But I read that and I thought, "Nah, that is not the most secure place in the world". The most secure place in the universe is to be a son or a daughter in the family of God. The most secure place in the world is to be sheep in the flock of God. Because when you stand in the palm of God and you're surrounded by the presence of God, and you're secured by the promise of God, you can know that your relationship with that forever God is forever and for always.
So the question is, not is your relationship secure, but the question is, is your relationship sure? And I hope and pray right now and again, I am not trying to make you doubt what you have. As a matter of fact, let me just go ahead and help you. I can't make you doubt what you have but I am not gonna assure you that you have what you don't. And let's just be honest, look at your life and just ask three questions. Does my life show I'm really sensitive to the Word of Jesus? Does my life show I'm really surrendered to a walk with Jesus? Does my life show I'm really sure of the work of Jesus?