 This is an ongoing discussion that will likely not be resolved today, but just out of the sake of having some fun and also to encourage us to even study a little bit longer, go a little bit deeper to the scriptures. I want to offer up a challenge. It's really a revised challenge, but my challenge is this, to disprove this particular text or this set of texts that I say are really undefeated in terms of someone finding a way around these scriptures that I believe proves that you cannot, once you're saved, ever stop being saved. Once you are a believer, you're always a believer. Once a Christian, always a Christian. Once saved, always saved. That is, if indeed you are saved. I won't go into the other passages that are warning passages that call people who think that they're saved to check themselves. I won't go over those, but I want to deal with a passage or really a set of passages. Really these are probably my two favorite passages that deal with this or two of them, I should say, passages, and I want to go to there real quickly and I want to look at these passages and then someone tells me if these passages can be interpreted any other way. And we have to, and I know someone's gonna be bothered by this, but we necessarily have to look at the Greek. And so let's go to John 10. So both these passages are gonna be John 10. This is about Jesus being the shepherd to who? To ours, to us as sheep. And let's start in verse, start in verse three. To him, that being Jesus, the doorkeeper opens and the sheep hear his voice. So the sheep are hearing his voice. Who's voice? Jesus's voice. And he calls his own sheep. So the sheep belong to him. Remember, John tells us in six that all that the Father gives to him will come. We'll probably go over that at some other point in time, but let's go back to the passage. Verse four, I'm sorry, go back to verse three. He says, he calls his own sheep by name and leaves them out. When he puts forth all his own, again he's calling his sheep all of his own, he goes ahead of them and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. And so what he's doing is he's describing to us what sheep do. Sheep follow him. Do sheep follow the shepherd in a straight line? No, they kind of zigzag, they nibble here a little there. Sometimes might get off the beaten path, but because they belong to this particular shepherd, the shepherd will make sure that he, if he has to go and grab one, he will go and grab one. But notice what he says. He's describing what a sheep do. Sheep follow him. And so here it is, verse five. A stranger, they simply will not follow but will flee from him because they do not know the stranger's voice. And I wanna zoom in on a portion of verse five. It says a stranger they simply will not follow. Well, the English does no justice to what is actually being stated. In verse five where it says a stranger they simply will not follow, you have what's called a plural future active indicative. Meaning if it's a future active indicative, that means a person will do. Now this is the plural, so they will do this. The sheep will do something. Well, in this case, it's not what they will do. It's what they will not do because we have they will not. But it's not just as simple as the will not. There are two ways in Greek to strongly or most emphatically negate something to the point to where it is an impossibility for the reverse. If you say something is gonna happen in the future, well, if you get a negative or double negation prior or in front of the future active indicative, then it states that there is no way in the future that this will happen. And so look what it says. It says this, ooh, which is the word no, not, never. And then may, same thing. So you have a double negation. These are the two Greek ways of saying no. So you have no, not, ever, will they follow someone in the future? Will they listen in the future? So it's never going to happen. Jesus is Jesus's words. He's literally saying that the sheep of his, and if you are a sheep, this includes you, that you will never, ever follow someone else. So what he says, a stranger, they simply will not, or we should say, will never, ever, ever follow, but will flee. And then he says, why? But even before the why, but they will flee. And he says, because the reason why, they do not know the stranger's voice. But whose voice do the sheep know? The sheep are thoroughly familiar with the voice of the shepherd. And so I think that's key. I think if the person's going to say that you can lose your salvation, well then what do you do with this? Because there's no way in the Greek to get around this. I understand someone's going to say, well, I don't speak Greek, I speak English, that matter. This was written in Greek, spoken in Greek. And so we have to deal with the words there. What do these words mean? You cannot ignore those because you simply, or someone else that know Greek, that's not sufficient enough. If we're going to be honest about the text, we've got to deal with the text as it was given to us, as it was translated. Because what if I have an English translation that says exactly what I just said. And by the way, there are English translations and other language translations that would bear this out. But we need to, if we want to find out what was actually said, go to the Greek and look at it. And so in this case, he says, they will never, if you are a sheep, you will never, ever follow after any other strange voices. But you will flee from it. And Jesus is clear because you don't know the stranger's voice, but you will follow Jesus because you know his voice. And in case someone wants to say, well, he's speaking to this Jewish audience and he's speaking about Israel, the Jews, well, you can say that, but then Jesus makes a statement in verse 14 going on. He says, I am the good shepherd. I know my own sheep. I know them and my own know me. Now Jesus makes a statement in Matthew seven where he says that not everyone that says me Lord, Lord should enter it. In other words, not all Christians are Christians. But at the end of that, he says, I never knew you. Meaning that I did not once know you, I used to know you and then stopped knowing, you know, he says, I never knew you. And this is kind of what he's saying here. I know them and my own know me, even as the father knows me and I know the father. And I laid down my life for the sheep. Now look what he says, if you think that he's only speaking about Jews, he says, I have other sheep which are not of this fold. I must bring them also. And they, look what he says, they will hear. This is a future active indicative. They are going to hear this. There's no ambiguity here. They will hear my voice and they will become one flock with one shepherd. And so here's another part that you just simply cannot get away from. Now that's not as strong as emphatic as verse five, but what is as emphatic as voice verse five is verse 27, 28 and 29. Now he starts off by telling these Jews, he says, you do not believe me because you're not my sheep. You're not my own. If you were, you wouldn't believe me. That's the point he's trying to make. But verse 27, my sheep. So we're speaking about sheep. My sheep, what do they do? They hear my voice. Achousen, which is the Greek word for they hear. They hear my voice. Also he says, I know them, which is what he says, and they follow me. Achluthasen, which is they follow me. This is, this is not too difficult to understand. At least at this point, he's telling what sheep do. Sheep know him. He knows them. Sheep hear him and sheep follow him. And then look what he says. If you are a sheep, that is if indeed you are a sheep. And I grant that there are some that aren't sheep who think they're sheep. But if indeed you are a sheep, if you are a sheep today, he says this, I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one can snatch them out of my hand. And the reason why this clause C is important is because one, he says that the sheep will not turn and go somewhere else. They'll run away from a stranger. They'll keep following him because they don't know the stranger's voice, but they do know his voice. And you cannot have a contradiction where clause A, clause B, or clause C contradicts each other. But in this clause, another one of my favorite passages to go to is verse 28, clause B, where he says, and they will never perish. Similarly to verse five, where you have a double negation of a future active indicative, you have a double negation of a subjunctive. A subjunctive is the word that shows probability or potentiality. And so if you have a double negation, it negates the possibility. And the rule is this guys, and there's no getting around this. The rule is that it negates the future possibility of it happening. In other words, it cannot be negatized by any event in the future. There is no way to get around it. That is simply what the rule states. If you are a believer, Jesus literally states by this double negation of a subjunctive that you will never ever perish for no reason of any sort, even into the future. You don't have to. And what's interesting is you cannot find, at least I have not found, at least yet, a scholar, a Greek grammarian who would disagree. Are there some Greek scholars? Are there some scholars who know Greek who would disagree? Sure, but they never deal with this text. Because oftentimes, and scholars aren't immune for this, they can hold to a position and do everything they can to try to disprove this. But what they have not done, at least I haven't seen one, and I've asked for other scholars to point one out and they couldn't. Every time someone has pointed a potential scholar out, they don't deal with verse 28. They'll say, we'll see, this person must have been a sheep. Well, fine, you have to be a sheep. I get that. If you are a sheep, and by the way, verse 27 is not conditional, because some are gonna say that verse 27 means that you, it's a big if, they're if you are a sheep. Well, fine, I'll go with that. Also, although that's not what I'm saying, but if you are a sheep, well, if you are a sheep, meaning I'm a sheep today, then I will never ever perish. But by the way, it's not saying there is no condition in this. There is nothing in the grammar that would indicate that this is conditions to stating what sheep do. So this is stating a point of fact. That's why you see these verbs in many cases in the indicative, it's stating a point of fact, to state that this is what sheep do. And if, to use their words, if you are a sheep, then he says you shall never ever perish under any circumstances in the future. Does that mean that a person can be a sheep and then live how they want to live? A person can be a sheep and stop following. A person can be a sheep and stop hearing. A person can be a sheep and just stop believing, renounce Christ, become a Muslim, a Buddhist. That's not what that means. That means a sheep will never, according to verse five as well, will never stop believing, will never renounce Christ, will never become a Buddhist or Hindu or Muslim. Why? Because that's a stranger's voice and they will simply not listen. As a matter of fact, they will never ever listen. Well, what will a true sheep do? Run away. Now a couple of the passages that I think need to be brought in is what God has stated he's going to do because he understands the heart of man. As a matter of fact, he says that in Ezekiel 36, he gives this future telling prophecy of what he is going to do. He states in 36 verse 25, he says that, then I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your hideous notices. Jesus is saying that our God is saying I will do these things to you. Verse 26, moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit, the Holy Spirit, within you and cause you. Notice what he says, and cause you. This word, this word, a Hebrew word, aside means to cause, to do, to make. So I will make you, I will cause you to walk in my status and you will be careful to observe my ordinances. Now someone might turn around and say, well, wait a minute, Corey, but he's talking about the Jews. Yes, he is talking about the Jews, but he's not only gonna do this with the Jews. He's not only gonna do this with Israel. He's gonna also do it with the Gentile church. How do I know? Because Jesus says in 1st and John 1, 12, he says, but as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, even those or to those who believe in his name. Look what he says, who were born. And this is his word for being born again in John three. This word, this term is brought up, being born again, which is Genethianothan, which means to be born from above. The spirit comes from above and regenerates or touches the heart, same as we see in Titus three. So the spirit in a person's heart, that's what God is speaking of in Ezekiel. And so it's not just the Jews, but it's also to the Gentiles as well. Anyone that's born, not of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, but you are born of God, what Jesus says in John three. What Peter says in first Peter, one, as a matter of fact, before we go there, I wanna also look at something else that when God says that when he puts his spirit in our heart, notice what he says in Jeremiah 32, 39. He says that I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me always for their own good, for the good of their children after them. Look at verse 40. This is gonna be difficult for someone to get around. I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them to do them good. And I will put my fear of me in their hearts. This is what he's gonna do, put the fear of him in their hearts. How? By putting his spirit in our heart. And look what will happen. They, so that they will not turn away from me. And so God is making a point that when I do this, put my spirit in their heart. One, I won't turn away from them and they won't turn away from me. So if both parties will never turn away from each other, well then they will never turn away from each other. The only way that the only possible way that the person can be taken away from Jesus that can be unsaved is if someone were to snatch them out of their hand. The problem is though, Jesus makes this point clear. He says no one will snatch them out of my hand. My father who has given them to me, 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. So who gives us to Jesus? The father, just like the father gives to the son gives the bride away to the groom, the same thing in this case. The father gives the bride to the son, to the bride groom. And no one's gonna snatch us out of his hands. We will never turn away from him. He will never turn away from us. Why? Because we've been born of God. Now to make this point even more so and I'll go back and restate the challenge again. In 1st John 5.1, he says that whoever believes, now what it says is, pas, ha, pistol, one, so all the ones that are believing, the believing ones, whoever believes that Jesus is Christ, that person what is born, and notice the phrase, Yeganetai, which that person has been born, it's a perfect tense. So it's a completed action in the past. They have been born, same word used for born again, same word used in John 1.12, that person has been born of God and they do what? They love all these that, they're the ones that are loving the father. The father loves the child born of him. Now he goes on to say that we know that we are born of him because we keep his commandments. But what, and what did God say in Ezekiel? We will, he will cause us to keep his commandments, keep his statues. And then look what it says in verse four, for whatever is born of God. And the word that says it's ha, ti, pan, ta, Yeganetai, which is those, all those that have been born, perfect tense, all those that have been born. Oh, by the way, this is a perfect middle participle. So this is continual, have been born of God. What do they do? They overcome the world. And this is the victory that overcomes the world, faith. So our faith has caused us to overcome the world because we've been born of God because we believe. And how do we believe? How are we overcomers? Because we've been born. Well, what caused us to be born? Well, 1 Peter 1 3 says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy has, look what it says, caused us to be born again or born from above. These are the words of God that are speaking to us. And so my challenge to anyone that would disagree, to state that we can lose our salvation. I've got, I'm camping on two passages in John 10. I've given some other passages kind of go along with those, but two passages, please don't refer me to other passages, Galatians five. Yes, it states that it seems to state that you could be severed, but it says those who are attempting to be in other words saved by the law, they have been cut off, they've fallen away. And other passages in Hebrews three, Hebrews 10. So many other passages we've covered, most of those are just simply warning passages to those who simply are non-believers. But here I would like people to deal with two texts. The Greek is clear. The Greek scholars, and I mean Greek grammarians, those that actually deal with the Greek who understand Greek, these Greek professors, these Greek grammarians, these Greek textual critics will also validate this, that the double negation of a subjunctive as well as a double negation of a future academic indicative eliminates the future possibility of this happening. John 10, 28, the Greek is clear. She will never, ever, ever, ever perish. Even if you wanna say if indeed they are sheep, fine. If they are sheep, true sheep will never, ever perish. That's been my argument all along. And he says that true sheep will never listen to a stranger's voice, but they will run away. Which is why there's not one example, not one example of a person who is a believer in the Bible who ends up not being a believer, or I put it this way. There's not one example of one where we know for a fact they were a believer. There might be some why they say, I think this person was a believer, and I think they lost their salvation. Well, one, we don't know they lost their salvation. Two, we don't know they were believers. But anyone that we know for a fact was a believer. And the Bible bears it out. They've never lost, we can't find one example. And so it'd be kinda hard to build a doctrine off of something where there's no examples of it in the Bible. But in this case, if my challenge is for someone to show me the error of my way in John 10, 5, in John 10, 28, that's the challenge. And if you succeed, then I will agree to reverse my course on this channel and begin to teach that you can't lose your salvation. But you've got a tough task, and you're gonna have to elicit some grammarian, which I don't think you're gonna find when I haven't found one yet. And even other scholars have pointed out their defense and they don't use those passages. So this is not meant to start a fight, but just really to kinda encourage us to study and go deeper. And hey, if I'm wrong, no problem. Because it's not who's right, but it's what's right. And so let's just let the scriptures be our guide. And let's just have fun studying the scriptures even more so.