Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 726
Delivered by C. H. Spurgeon, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington
“And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand.” John 10:28.
SOME will say that this is a mixed congregation and that such a doctrine as this should not be advanced in the presence of ungodly men and women. This shows how little such objectors read their Bible, for this very text was spoken by the Savior, not to His loving disciples but to His enemies! Read the thirty-first verse of the chapter, and you will see the temper of the congregation to whom Jesus Christ preached upon this subject—“Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him.” So it was an indignant multitude of bigots that had this hurled into their face by the Savior, that although they might reject Him, and because of their willful obstinacy might miss the blessings of Divine Grace, yet those blessings were rich and rare.
He would have them to know that what they lost was inexpressibly precious, and that His message was not to be despised without great damage to their souls. Thus, if there is a mixed multitude here—and I fear the allegation is true, that there are many here who cannot comprehend the preciousness of the things of God—yet, for the same reason which prompted the Savior to preach this doctrine to the wicked in His day, we will do the same now, that they may know what it is they lose by losing Christ! We want them to know what those comfortable things are which they despise, and what are the inestimable treasures which those must miss who seek after the treasures of this world, and let their God, their Savior, go!
We have no time to loiter, and let us, therefore, as the bee sucks honey from the flower, seek after the sweet essence of the text, “I give unto them eternal life.” The connection tells us that the pronoun “them” refers to Christ’s sheep, to certain persons whom He had chosen to be His sheep, and whom He had also called to be such. Lest we should be in the dark as to whom they are, our Savior has kindly put us in possession of the marks by which His sheep may be discovered. We cannot read the secret roll of election, nor can we search the heart, but we can mark the outward conduct of men. The verse before the text tells us by what signs we are to know God’s people—“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”
The marks are the hearing of Christ, and then the following of Christ, first, by faith in Him, and then by an active obedience to His precepts. “Faith, which works by love” is the mark of Christ’s sheep, and it is of true Believers that He speaks when He says, “I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of My hand.” Would to God that all of us wore the uniform of the elect, namely, active, sanctifying faith! Oh that we all listened to the Great Shepherd’s voice! That we all received the Truths of God which He delivers! And then, resolved by His Grace, that we all followed Him wherever He goes, as the sheep follow the shepherd!
Having thus explained to whom the text belongs, we will now handle it in a threefold manner. The text implies, first, somewhat concerning the past of these people. The text plainly states, in the second place, a great deal about the present state of these people. And, thirdly, the text not obscurely hints at something about their future.
I. In the first place, the studious reader will observe that the text implies SOMEWHAT CONCERNING THE PAST HISTORY OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD. It is said, “I give unto them eternal life.” There is an implication, therefore, that they had lost eternal life. Every one of God’s people fell in Adam, and all have fallen also by actual sin. Consequently we came under condemnation, and Christ Jesus has done for us what Her Majesty the Queen has sometimes done for a condemned criminal—He has bought us a free pardon. He has given us life.
When our own desert was eternal destruction from the Presence of the Lord, Jesus Christ stepped in and He said, “You are forgiven. The sentence shall not take place upon you. Your offense is blotted out. You are clear.” No, I think the text implies that there was something more than condemnation—there was execution! We were not only condemned to die, we were already spiritually dead. Jesus did not merely spare the life which ought to have been taken, and in that sense gave it to us, but He imparted to us a life which we had not before enjoyed!
It is implied in the text that we were spiritually dead. We are not left here to our own surmising, nor even to our own experience, for the Apostle Paul has said, “You has He quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins.” What? Paul, were we dead? Are you not mistaken? Perhaps we were only a little sick. We are ready to admit, O Apostle, that we were sick and near to death, but surely we had a little vital energy, a little power to assist ourselves! “No,” says the Apostle, “you were dead. Dead in trespasses and sins.”