"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand. I and My Father are one" (John 10:27-30).

These words of our Lord Jesus give full assurance of sheep not perishing. But it must be a sheep - a born again believer in the Lord Jesus. When I see a supposed Christian indifferent to the things of Christ, and going so deep into the things of this world, without a thought of the Lord or His claims upon him, I wonder if he is really a Christian. He may not be a sheep at all. The Lord Jesus Christ thinks too much of His sheep to lose any of them. The Father gave them to the Lord Jesus, and He gave His life for them. So He holds them tightly in His hand. They have eternal life and can never perish. It would not be eternal life if they could be saved for six months and then lost again. It would be only a six months' life. One may fail sadly and grieve the Lord who bought him, but that is a matter of a son with a father.

After we become children of God, God deals with us as sons. "Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth" (Hebrews 12:6). When a child of God fails, communion is broken, but not relationship. These are vastly different things. Is a child of an earthly parent in fear as to losing its relationship? Do parents say, "If you do a naughty thing you are…

24 pages – Pamphlet – Author: E. C. Hadley