Security is a basic goal of all human beings, and the quest for security is a major preoccupation of our lives today. We all long to find a place of retreat, a place of safety, a place of calm, a safe harbor where we can live our lives. Everybody looks for security in different things today. We look for it in our homes, we look for it in our healthcare, we look for it in our savings account and in our investments, we look for it in our friends. You guys here [addressing the confirmands], you all want to be safe, too. I felt it the other night in your testimonies as you stood up and gave testimony to your faith. Some of you talked about worry and fears and concerns. Some of you talked about God watching your back, something that was part of something that you wanted to have. Others of you were talking about somebody who will always be with you, namely, our Lord Jesus Christ. A lot of you chose the same verse, Joshua 1:9, as your confirmation verse: "Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." It sounds to me like that's a verse about wanting to know that God is with you. I think that you guys, young people today, are always looking for security. You want to fit in, you want to have friends; if you're a jock and an athlete, you want to make the team; you're concerned about your bodies, everything is about beautiful bodies today. You want so much to be in a place where you're safe and where you fit in.

My message to you and to your families today is that the real key to security, the essential quality, the essential ingredient, is not in your friends, it's not in your savings account, it's not in your healthcare, it certainly not in the government. It's in Jesus Christ, your Good Shepherd. The one message I want to leave you with today, you guys, is that wherever you go, no matter what happens, ever, Jesus is still your Good Shepherd and you are safe in Him. He says this:

"My sheep listen to my voice; I know them ... I give them eternal life, and ... no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father," Jesus says, "who has given them to me, is greater than all; [and] no one" — no one — "can snatch them out of my Father's hand" [John 10:27-29]. I want to go through this a little bit and go a little deeper and talk to you about why it is that Jesus can make this bold claim. That's pretty bold: "No one can ever snatch me out of my Father's hand." Where do we get that? How can He make that kind of a claim?

One reason for our spiritual security is that we belong to Jesus. "I am the Good Shepherd; I know my own and my own know me. ... You do not believe," He told the religious leaders, "because you do not belong to my sheep" [John 10:14,26 RSV]. Spiritual Security does not depend on who you are, but it depends on whose you are. Spiritual security does not depend on whether or not you get straight A's in school or on whether you make the honor roll. Security does not depend on whether or not you've got a beautiful body, or on whether or not you made the wrestling team or the football team or the tennis team. Security doesn't rest in having friends. It rests in knowing whose you are and that you belong to Jesus, your Good Shepherd.

Insecurity results from belonging to nobody. Have you ever been a nobody? Have you ever not belonged? Have you ever felt in high school that you're all alone and that you don't have any friends? Have you ever moved to a new town, have you ever gone to a new place, and not had any friends? Have you ever been an interim pastor and been on the outside looking in? You don't really fit in and people kind of look at you like you're an outsider and they don't really want to follow. Have you ever been old, up in the years, and maybe people kind of push you aside because they think you don't know anything any more? Have you ever been divorced, or unemployed? Have you ever lost your home? Have you ever had people come into your office, security guards with the little brown bag, and say, "Put all your stuff in here," and they walk you out? Have you every been a nobody? You know, young people, most of the teenagers who get into trouble with the law, some eighty-six percent of them, are lone wolves; that is, they feel they don't belong, they don't fit in, and so they try to do things to get attention. You belong. You are children of the heavenly Father. He has called you by name. He's your Good Shepherd.

People are not automatically part of Jesus' sheepfold by nature of being a human being. By nature we are creatures of God, and only by rebirth do we become children of God. When you're born, you don't automatically become Christians, you don't automatically become sheep in His sheepfold. Remember what Jesus said to Nicodemus? " 'Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.' ... Jesus answered, 'Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit' " [John 3:3, 5, 6]. So when we're born, we're not automatically part of God's family. We don't automatically belong. But by grace God adopts us into His family through Holy Baptism. He calls us and He claims us to be His own. When you were tiny little ones, you were baptized. You didn't have anything to offer at that point, but your godparents brought you here and they brought you to the water of Holy Baptism. God adopted you there as part of His family. You were a nobody then, but now you're a somebody because you've been claimed by God to be His very own.

Some people don't make much about Holy Baptism; they think it's just a custom — people come up and do their thing, but it doesn't really mean anything. That's not true. Baptism is the very means by which God chooses you to be His very own. You didn't have anything to offer, all you could do was drool, but He chose you to be a part of His family right then, when you were just a little baby. You didn't give any offering, you didn't serve as an usher or an elder, you didn't have anything to offer. But God chose you out of the mass of young people to be His own. From that day on, you've been His own. Today, you're going to come up here on this stage and you're going to acknowledge the fact that you belong to Jesus. When you were little, your godparents said that, or maybe the congregation said it — "I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth" and so on. But today, you're going to acknowledge that and you're going to say, "Yes, I believe in Jesus. Yes, I know my God and I know His love for me."

Jesus gave the great commission. He said, "Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them [into] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" [Matthew 28:19]. "We were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body — whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free — and we were all given the one Spirit to drink" [1 Corinthians 12:13]. "This is what the LORD says — he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: 'Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are mine' " [Isaiah 43:1]. You have a new name. Your name isn't just "Fox" or "Gehrke" or "Hayes"; your name is "Christian," your name is "the Salt of the Earth," "the Light of the World," "Ambassadors for Christ." You're special; no, you're thoroughbreds. Do you know, you guys, how unique it is that you sit here today, having been claimed by God, and ready to confess your faith in Him as a part of His family? There are so few young people who do this any more, who have been blessed as you have been blessed. I wish I could just zap you with the Holy Spirit that you'd get that today, that you're not just a nobody but you're a somebody, and that wherever you go you'll remember that you are unique and you're special in God's eyes.

We are God's prized possession. God says in Isaiah, "I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me" [Isaiah 49:16]. I always like to say to people, if God had a refrigerator your picture would be on it. He loves you, you are His, you belong to Him. Security comes from knowing to whom you belong. Then He makes this wonderful promise: God never withdraws His grace. He will never, ever disown you. No one can ever steal you from Him. Do you understand that? Never, ever will that happen. "I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; 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" [John 10:28, 29] The good news is that God holds you, you don't hold Him. Have you ever tried to hold on to something for a long time? Have you ever fallen out of a tree, like I did? Every branch breaks on the way down and then you grab hold of one and you just hold on as long as you can, and your fingers get numb. Have you ever held on to a window sill when you're sneaking out of your bedroom at night, and you just can't hold on? Have you ever been on a monkey bar and you're holding on as long as you can, but you can't hold on? My message to you is you can't hold on to Jesus, but He always holds on to you; He will never, ever let you go.

"My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand" [John 10:29] Here's the key point: ultimate security comes NOT by holding on to God, but God's holding on to you. In some of the churches in America they over-emphasize our hold on God. They'll ask you if you've made a real decision for Christ, if you really believe in Jesus, if you really have given your life to the Lord. Some even want you to remember the day on which you gave your life to Christ. But it's not about you; it's about God. It's not your hold on Him; it's His hold on you. When Timothy Christian, my youngest, was a little boy, in Boston we lived on a busy street and if he wanted to go over and see his little buddy Danny, he always had to come in and say to us, "Dad, I want to cross," or "Mom, I want to cross," because he could not cross by himself when he was five years old. Of course, sometimes he broke the rules and snuck across, and then we had to talk to him, but when we'd go across with him, he never wanted to hold on to my hand. He'd go just like that [demonstrates], and so I'd hold out my finger for him and he'd hold on to it for a little while, then he'd let go, and he'd slip and fall on his little keister. I'd do that for a little while and then finally I'd grab his hand. Then he'd slip and fall, but I had him. I held on to him. That's the difference, you guys. We don't hold on to Jesus, but He holds on to us. Sometimes in life, you may feel like you're losing your hold. Sometimes you may feel like you're slipping away. But I want you to know that God always has you. He holds on to you — you belong to Him.

We find security in knowing to whom we belong, and our spiritual security is based on whose voice we hear. "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me" [John 10:27]. Today's world is filled with a lot of contradicting voices. I was wondering to which voices you listen. You probably listen to the voices of your friends a lot. Can you trust them? Some of you are going to go out on a date with boys or girls, and they're probably going to whisper a few things to you. Can you trust them? You listen to voices on iPods and videos. To which voice are you going to listen? We listen to voices of our financial advisors, we listen to the voices of political people, we listen to the voices on Fox News, we listen to the voices on CNN or whatever news broadcast. There are a lot of voices. Who's the dominant voice? Who's the voice to which you really listen? How can you be sure it's the right voice?

Jesus says the sheep of the Good Shepherd recognize the voice of the Good Shepherd, and when they hear His voice they find peace and assurance. "My sheep listen to my voice ... and they follow me" [John 10:27]. Where do you hear the voice of the Good Shepherd? Where can you tune in to that voice? Karina, you mentioned in your testimony of faith that you hear the voice of Jesus through your mother. That's pretty safe, that voice; your parents carry the voice of your Good Shepherd. You can come and hear the voice here; every Sunday at nine forty-five I'll be here and Pastor Balzer will, too. You hear God's voice in your heart and in your conscience. I would guess that you've memorized some verses, as God's voice speaks to you. Maybe you hear God's voice through people, Christian friends, and events. Maybe some of you hear it in other ways. But especially you hear it through the Bible. I had an idea the other day: I wonder what it would be like if you guys just got together, still got together on Monday night, for two Mondays a month in the Youth Room over there, and in that Youth Room you just had a couple of parents who wanted to lead you in a little Bible study. You could talk about things in your life, and you could hear the voice of God. You could keep doing this. You've learned this habit of coming over here on Monday nights; maybe we could still do that a couple of times a month and you could be together and you could hear the voice of Jesus. When you became a Christian, God gave you His Holy Spirit. It went into your heart, this Holy Spirit. Jesus said, "I will ask the Father, and he will give you another counselor to be with you forever, the Spirit of truth ... [He] will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you" [John 14:16, 17a, 26b] So as you walk through life, you're going to hear a lot of voices, but I hope you can discern Jesus' voice and that you'll listen to that voice as the dominant voice of all.

Then finally, because we belong to Christ and follow His voice we have the security of eternal life. "I give them eternal life" [John 10:28]. Life is a gift from God. We don't earn it, we don't buy it, or we don't secure it. You guys didn't wake up one day and say, "I choose to live today. I choose to be born." That's not how it happened. God is the one who gives you life. Life is a gift from God. "I give them ...," Jesus says. Remember in the Book of Genesis: "Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being" [Genesis 2:7]. "In him" — in Jesus — "was life, and that life was the light of all mankind" [John 1:4]. It's God who created you and brought you here today. It's the same God, and His Son Jesus, who gives you eternal life, a never-ending life, for here and for hereafter. God is eternal. He always is; there never will be a time when He is not. He says, "I am the Alpha and the Omega who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty" [Revelation 1:8]. "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die" [John 11:25, 26]. Security comes from knowing that you're going to live forever. It comes from knowing that Jesus is your Good Shepherd. Even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, he will be with us. It's to know that He has prepared a table for us and that our cup will overflow and that goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our life and we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. [Psalm 23] As I get a little older, sometimes I think that my life is going like this, that it's kind of shrinking. But in Jesus Christ, it's really like this, the best is yet to come, because Jesus is your Good Shepherd. I always tell people that when they get to heaven, they're never going to say, "Boy, I sure do miss Elgin!" The best is yet to come. "I give them eternal life."

The life which Jesus gives is not for the future only but for the present. "I give them ..." — not "I will give them ..." but "I give them ..." In other words, if you believe in Jesus Christ today, if you believe in Jesus Christ today, you can know that you're going to live forever. Right now, you've got your tickets, your passport; you're ready to go. Listen to what Jesus says: "Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life" [John 5:24]. You've crossed over. Through Jesus who lives in you, you will live forever.

Do you guys feel safe and secure today? I mean, after you come up here and do your thing — I know that's a little anxiety producing. But do you feel safe? Do you feel secure? I'll tell you, if we look at all the things in this life, if we look at our home or our health, if we look at the government, if we look at our savings account, if we look at the things out there, we'll never really feel safe. But if you look to Jesus, the Good Shepherd, remember that He called you and claimed you as His own, that you belong to Him, that you are His sheep. If you remember to hear His voice, you'll always feel safe and secure. Remember these words?

I am Jesus' little lamb,
ever glad at heart I am
for my Shepherd gently guides me,
knows my needs and well supplies me,
loves me every day the same,
even calls me by my name.

God bless you guys, now and throughout your lives. Amen.

Pray with me:

Dearest Lord Jesus, we thank You and praise You for being our Good Shepherd. We thank You for the security and safety that we have in You. Dear Lord, so much of life today is precarious, so much of life today is uncertain. We wonder what tomorrow will bring. And it's so wonderful to know that in You we know that we have Your love, that in You we have Your forgiveness, that in Your Word we have Your promise that You will be with us always. We pray for each one of these young people today. We pray that Your Holy Spirit would zap them in a special way, that they will never forget what You've done for them here, and that they'll remember this time, and that whenever they get a little shaky, or if they go off on a rabbit trail some time, they will always know that You're there and that they can always come and hear Your voice again. We pray this in Your precious name, Jesus. Amen.