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466.
For thou hast drawn us.
After the now let us run.
I sole desire.
166.
Started.
Lord, thou strong.
After need not let us run.
I never tried my friends and travel our comfortably.
Myself horrible thy soul will be in time.
I want to cheer our friends to strange.
Our strengths, our own people.
The blood flow without the God. Our strength, our strengths are straight from our shape, our shape, our shears.
What would the brethren think of John 17?
I just I submit to the the assembly of someone has another passage.
I was thinking of John's gospel as well, Chapter 10 but chapter 17 would be.
Go back to chapter 10 and or start to chapter 10.
I just feel there's perhaps a need for those that are younger to be established, and so chapter 10 is very helpful.
And is reading the Lord Jesus bringing in Christian doctrine, he gives the seed plot of the doctrine and then it's the apostle Paul that really brings it out a little bit later, but.
Yes.
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Of the mining, the revenue, could you start with Chapter 10 this morning then?
That's all. That's all right.
John's Gospel, chapter 10.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same as a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the Porter openeth, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. When he put us forth. His own sheep he goeth before them.
And the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.
And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of strangers.
This parable spake Jesus unto them, but they understood not what things they were, which he spake unto them. Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers. But the sheep did not hear them. I am the door by me. If any man enter in, he shall be saved.
And shall go in and out and find pasture.
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep, but he that is in hireling, and not the shepherd who is owned, the sheep are not.
See if the wolf coming and leave it the sheep and fleeth, and the wolf catcheth them and scatter at the sheep.
The higher length lieth because he is in higher length and careth not for the sheep.
I am the Good Shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine as the Father knoweth me. Even so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep and other sheep I have which are not of this fold. Them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.
Therefore, death. My father loved me.
Because I lay down my life that I might take it again. No man taketh that from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my father.
There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings. And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad, Why hear ye him? Others said, These are not the words of him that hath a devil. Can the devil open the eyes of the blind? And it was at the dedication there, and it was at Jerusalem, the feast of the dedication, And it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch. Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long does thou make us to doubt?
That would be the Christ. Tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you, And ye believe not the works that I do in my Father's name, They bear witness of me. But ye believe not, because you're not of my sheep, as I said unto you, 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.
Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, Many good works. If I showed you for my Father, For which of the those works do ye stone me? The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy, and because that thou being a man, maketh thyself God. Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law? I said, Your gods, if he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the Scripture cannot be broken.
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Say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world, thou blasphemest, because I said I am the Son of God. If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in him.
Therefore they saw it again to take him, but he escaped out of their hand, and went away again beyond Jordan, into the place where John at first baptized, and there he abode. And many resorted unto him, and said John did no miracle. But all things that John spake of this man were true, and many believed on him there.
Graduated, the Lord is introducing the.
Principles of Christianity.
As we know, the Lord is looked upon as rejected from the very first.
Chapter of John's Gospel.
Here he is presented in his divinity, the eternal Son of God.
But the nation rejected him from the outset.
It wasn't a period of probation, so to speak.
But in the Gospel of John, the Lord Jesus as the divine person.
Is unfolding.
The heart of God. The nature of God.
By his works and by his words.
He's really.
Laying establishment for Christianity.
Although it was not revealed.
In its fullness there are signs that show that now the nation of Israel, his own people to whom he came as Messiah.
Are we have rejected him?
And so the Lord looks on.
Beyond his earthly ministry.
To a time when the Spirit of God.
Would be here as the divine person.
On the Earth.
Within the believers.
So much of the latter part of John, especially jumper room ministry, is really introducing us into Christianity. What characterizes Christianity could ask that question. What characterizes Christianity? 1 There's a living man at God's right hand, never known in the Old Testament.
Manhood is there at the right hand of God.
#2 Very important. The Spirit of God is here to represent the Lord.
The promise of the Lord and the Father Spirit of God as a divine person.
On the earth, in the House of God, in the believer.
To give us understanding.
We've been looking at this book in Ottawa. It was remarked to last Wednesday that the disciples.
Apparently did not understand anything the Lord said before.
For the coming of the Holy Spirit.
Mr. Hale used to remind us of that, and it's true. So in John's Gospel, there's the, there's the.
The introduction of the principles really of Christianity and the separation from that whole Judaistic system.
With all its ritual and.
And it's ceremonies, but the Lord is bringing his sheep outside of the bowl of Judaism, which really?
It has rejected their Messiah and gathering them around the person of Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ. Is that right, Robert?
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Yes, it's helpful. As you say in John's Gospel chapter one, maybe for the younger ones. Why did brother John say that the Lord was rejected right from the outset in John's Gospel while you go to chapter one and it says in verse 11, he came unto his own and his own received a knock. Who was his own, his own nation, his own people, but also you and I are included. His own creation. He came into his own creation.
God the Son.
And he was rejected from the outset, so this world has no room for the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so if you're saved this afternoon or this morning and you know the Lord is your Savior, you live in a world that has no room for Christ. And so God sent his Son. And in John's Gospel, there is really a transition taking place. And as you probably know, John's Gospel was written, it's approximately maybe 8090. And so it was after Judaism was destroyed.
And so John and his ministry takes the Roman names for all of the places, and he uses Roman time. He doesn't use Jewish time. And so he would say the same thing. He would say, John would say it's 10:50. And so he uses Roman time. And so there's a transition taking place.
From brother, John said from the fold of Judaism.
To the in chapter 10 from the fold of Judaism to the flock of Christianity. So the key verse in this in this chapter is a little bit further on here in.
Verse 16.
Everyone of these chapters has a little bit of a transition taking place and so here the Lord is saying I'm going to call my sheep out of the fold of Judaism and a fold is some of some of them being to Europe. They've seen the folds where the enclosures where the sheep or the shepherd keeps his sheep at night.
And so they build a Stonewall about six or seven feet high, and sometimes it's a circle, sometimes it'll be like a square, and then it has an opening to go into that.
Fold. And it's about maybe 2 feet or maybe 2 1/2 feet wide. And that's where the shepherd lies. That's where he sits there and he lies across that opening all night. And he preserves his sheep. And so in Judaism they were kept.
In a sheltered place, God had set a hedge around that nation and.
But really it hadn't brought forth fruit for God. And so he's going to call us sheep out of that system of religion and he's going to bring them into the flock. So verse 16, chapter 10, verse 16, other sheep I have which are not out of this fold. We never were Jews were Gentiles, we didn't have Judaism, we weren't under the law. Them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold or one flock.
And one shepherd. And so he was bringing out the fact that there was going to be one church, there was going to be one company. And what would what would characterize them is that the shepherd would be in the center, he would be in the midst and the the sheep would be all around him. And so it was a flock without any walls around it, but it had the shepherd as the center, the focus.
Of the affections and the attention of those that were there. And so that's really the key of.
Understanding this chapter, we might just say just as we go through it.
Might point out there are seven things that the Lord brings out in connection with Christianity that are unique and really he gives a seed plot of it. Chapter 10 Here in verse nine he says by me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved.
Well, he speaks of salvation.
The Jews didn't know about salvation. They kept the law. And so salvation is a key point here. And then it says.
They shall go in and out.
And fine pasture. So they were going to have liberty.
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Going to have liberty to go into the presence of the Lord. Only the Levites and Judaism could ever go into the presence of the Lord. And Aaron once a year within the holiest of all. But you and I have liberty. And so he says that they're going to have liberty and then they find pasture. So there was going to be pasture. What a rich provision the Lord has given us the doctrines of Christianity, the person of Christ who worked all finished.
Our souls are fed and nourished and then he says in verse 10 right at the end that they might have light and that they might have it more abundantly. And that's really eternal life. That's having a relationship with the Father and the Son, being indwelled with the Spirit of God. The Lord Jesus himself brings this out and then in.
Really from verses 10 down to verse 15, he brings out the activity of the shepherd. And so he would personally shepherd the sheep and he would raise up those that were under shepherds. And so he gives little warnings about that. And then we have in verse 16.
That he would bring them out individually, as we said from the fold, those that were Jews remember in Matthew's Gospel Chapter 11 it says.
Let's just turn to it. I don't want to misquote it.
It says.
Verse 28 Come unto me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, they are laboring under the law, and they couldn't have that rest. I will give you rest. Take my ears upon you and learn of me for a meek and lowly and heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls. So he's going to call them out individually, out of the flock. Call them by name individually.
And they out of the fold and of Judaism and then bring them into Christianity. And then in verse 28 we have internal security, the principle of the truth of eternal security. I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. We don't know how.
Fearful it was for the Jew. He didn't know what was the step beyond death, beyond life into death. He didn't know there was fear. Even Hezekiah, king, good king, Hezekiah, he was, he was afraid and everything that all his hopes were in this world. But you and I know that we have eternal security. We can never be lost. Once our sins are forgiven, we're cleansed with the precious blood of Christ. So those seven things, he brings out the Lord Jesus.
In this chapter.
John's Gospel in the early chapters is a series of different accounts.
The Spirit of God selects out in the Lord's pathway, and then each one is followed by a discourse and instruction from the Lord. And so this chapter is a discourse. Well, what's the incident that the discourse is based upon? Well, that's Chapter 9 and Chapter 9. We have that man who is blind and whose eyes the Lord opened, but he was sent to the Pool of Siloam to wash, and that's where his eyes were open, so he's never seen.
The Lord, But what have He?
He'd heard his voice. That's what he had.
And so he's cast out as we know the accountant in Chapter 9 when his his question about how his eyes were open and he really confesses the Lord and his understanding is getting opened as he's being questioned, he grows in his soul as to who the Lord is, but he had never seen him and.
So.
He is cast out of the synagogue.
For the testimony that he bore to the Lord, even though he had never seen him and was just growing in his own understanding as to who the Lord was. And the Lord seeks him out and finds him. Verse 35. Jesus heard they cast him out. And when he had found him, well, that's what a shepherd does, doesn't he? He seeks a sheep that needs help, that's lost, that's wandering. And the Lord found him and.
He said unto him, Dost thou believe in the Son of God?
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This blind man had never seen the Lord before, and now he was seeing him for the first time.
How did he know who he was?
He replies to him. Who is he, Lord, he says.
That I might believe on him, Jesus said unto him, Thou hath both seen him first time.
And it is that talking with the not the first time.
He had heard that voice before and he knew that voice. And he responds and he worshiped him. And so there is the account that the discourse is based upon the shepherd seeking a lost one, and that one recognizing the shepherd's voice. He'd heard that voice as soon as he heard it. And you know, it's, I'm not blind. I've never been blind, but I understand that people who lose one sense.
Tend to have other senses in their body that that try to fill in. And so people who are blind tend to have very good hearing developed. And so this man knew that voice. He knew the voice of the shepherd, though he had never seen his face. And he responds. And so that's what we get in the chapter. The Lord is the shepherd and the sheep his own respond to his voice.
We're coming in by the door of the.
Is that referring to the Lord fulfilling all the prophecies the Old Testament perfectly in his introduction? The Porter would be the Holy Spirit giving witness or testimony to who he was because the Holy Spirit of God.
Abode in the Lord.
And testified of him as a risen man in the glory, and he gave the disciples the the strength to testify for him. But coming back to the first part of the chapter, is it not referring to the Holy Spirit giving?
Shall we say confirmation from the Scriptures that this was the true shepherd, the shepherd of Israel?
The Messiah, yes, there are three doors. There are three doors that are mentioned in this passage. And the first door really does refer to the prophetic scriptures. And so the Lord Jesus was revealed as the Son of God, the eternal Son of God according to the Old Testament scriptures. So we might just turn to Isaiah Chapter 7 and see there that it was prophesied of him, verse 14.
Isaiah 7. Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel. And then in Chapter 9.
Prophetically speaking.
Verse six. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder. His name shall be called wonderful counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
The increase of his government and peace there shall be no end upon the throne of David and upon his Kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice. From henceforth, even forever, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. We could turn to different passages of Scripture and it speaks of the Lord Jesus. And so he came and the in harmony with all of those prophetic scriptures.
He fulfilled the scriptures were fulfilled by his coming into the world, the way he came into this world. So the first door is the door prophecy, and then the second door is mentioned in verse seven. And it's really that we might say the door of deliverance from Judaism, deliverance. And so he says, then said Jesus unto them again, verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. He was the means by which they could leave Judaism.
You left hedonism, you left the darkness of the heathen world by way of the Lord Jesus Christ. What a glorious deliverance it was individually individual sheep he's talking about. And then the door, the last door is really the door of salvation. That's mentioned in in verse nine that I am the door by me. If any man enter in, he shall be saved.
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So really he brings out those through this door of prophecy was very significant because it says in verse one, Verily, verily I send you he that entereth not by the door, you know, the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same as a thief and a robber. And so there were going to be those that were.
Might say defective elders among the children of Israel, those that would seek a following after themselves. In fact, it speaks of that in speak of it in the New Testament. But let's look at the Old Testament, Isaiah 56.
There were those that came and they tried to have the sheep follow them instead of the shepherd, and so it says.
Well, let's read verse 10.
His watchman Isaiah 56 and 10. His Watchmen are blind. They are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs. They cannot bark. Sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Yeah, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough. And they are shepherds that cannot understand. They all look to their own way. Everyone for his game, for from his quarter and then.
We could look at Acts chapter 20 for a similar passage in connection with Christianity.
It says that in verse 28.
Acts chapter 20, verse 28. Take heed therefore unto yourselves. He's speaking to the elders, to those that are in oversight in the assembly at Ephesus. They say you're responsible as shepherds under shepherds. Take heed therefore unto yourselves. Exercise self judgment and be careful with your own walk.
To all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the Church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood, or the blood of his own. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flocks also of your own self shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. So there's always the danger, whether it was in Judaism or Christianity, that.
Men will rise up and will speak to gain a following. They'll gather them, the sheep around themselves and exalt their cause and so on. But it's it's not profitable for the sheep. It's the shepherds that ought to exalt, be exalted. It's a shepherd that the Spirit of God would desire to have us follow and to hear his voice. And so the result of those that are.
Really engaged in this activity is to steal a thief or a robber, and there's a distinction, a thief.
Steals something, He takes it undercover of darkness when you're where you're not aware, you're asleep, you, you don't, you're not conscious and he takes it. You may not even know it's missing, but he takes it, it's gone. And so the enemy seeks to take the truth of God, the enjoyment of the things of God, the enjoyment of the person of Christ, and to just take it away just a little bit, just a little bit of the truth, just a little bit, and you don't even know.
The other way is to as a robber and a robber is a plunder, he broad daylight. A bank robber, what does he do? He breaks into the front door of the bank and he bowls and he breaks down and he plunders the people of God. He robs them in broad daylight. He denies the truth of God and he plunders. And so the Lord Jesus was warning them of this. And so he said, there are those that are destructive to the Saints of God.
To his sheep.
But he that entering by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. There's no wonderful to know that shepherd who entered in by those prophetic scriptures and that you can have assurance in your soul that he is the Savior that was prophesied that would come into this world. And the blessing that you have the relationship that you have with God as your Father and the Lord Jesus is based on his holy work.
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The eternal life that the Lord speaks of, that there's something greater than any Old Testament St. enjoyed.
Eternal life.
In the sense in which John speaks of it.
Is divine life.
Of the Lord in resurrection.
He has formed a new creation race and.
The eternal life that we now possess has an understanding.
Of God as our Father, which was not known in the Old Testament.
So eternal life is something that is peculiar, you might say, to Christianity. It has all the fullness of the revelation of, of Christ, our relationship with God now.
As children.
Spirit of God and.
Dwelling within the believer.
It is a wonderful privilege, it is.
A very light from God.
Communicated to us, we will not have a different life in the glory than we have now.
We will have that same eternal life goes beyond.
What any Old Testament St. had.
Bringing us into.
The knowledge of of Christ in the glory, the knowledge of God as our Father. Is that right?
Yes, it's beyond.
When I was young, and then perhaps everyone here that was young thought eternal life was living forever.
And yes, all that are born into this world will live forever.
Even Satan will exist forever, but that's not eternal life. That's not what he's Speaking of.
The Old Testament Saints had divine life. Wonderful. They had divine life. They were born of God. David was born of God, but he was never indwelled with the Spirit of God. He could never call God his Father.
He called him the God Almighty. Perhaps he called him Jehovah. He called all those Old Testament Saints. They God was at a distance. They could never come into the presence of the Lord.
And they never knew the Lord Jesus as their Savior.
They didn't know the Holy Trinity.
But you do brother, explain this years ago and I think might be helped to give it they they had divine life and you have divine life too, but you have every blessing that God could possibly bestow upon you. It's like those Old Testament Saints. If you put it away and put it in automotive terms, they would have a stripped down economy car.
Crank up windows. No power steering, no power brakes.
Everything was just manual. Had to go and unlock the trunk, all the surfing.
That's what they had. They had divine life, but they didn't have all of the blessings of Christianity. They didn't even have eternal security. They didn't have the enjoyment of eternal security, but you have.
A nice car, the best on the planet with sunroof.
Cruise control, it's got every option that is possible to put up on that car.
You can't even think of another option to put on that car. You have divine life. You have a position of favor before God that is inalterable.
It's astonishing to think of what you have because you have eternal life. If you know the Lord Jesus as Savior, you can address God as your Father, and you know that his heart is 100% for you. Brother quoted in his prayer this morning James chapter one that we have a Father, the Father of lights, with whom is no variable is neither shadow turning. You cannot alter his love and favor towards you.
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You're standing. You're standing is inalterable. Your state may fluctuate, but your standing is not multiple. So how thankful we must be. We should be for what we have been, what has been bestowed upon us in this way. And it's all a result, Robert, of the death and resurrection of Christ it all.
Pivots on the fact that now.
The Lord has gone through death is accomplished.
The will of God in.
Bearing the judgment for sin.
Now he brings us into.
Relationship.
With an understanding.
That we are children of God, sons of God.
We have the same relationship toward.
God the Father as he has as the father of love me even swallowed. I loved you. You've been noticing in the pain and John 15 so there's there's certainly a marvelous unfolding.
In the Gospel of John.
Of the Lord's desire.
That his people might be near to him and might understand.
His heart, his purposes, His counsels. Now this depended upon the coming of the Holy Spirit, which is taken up.
In its In the promises of chapter 13141516.
The Lord made it very clear that these things would not be possible, would not be understood, until the Holy Spirit of thought as a divine person, not an influence, not simply an influence, but as a divine person.
Sent from the Father by the Lord Jesus.
Not Incarnate, but a person that dwells in the body of the believer. So wherever we go, we take the Holy Spirit of God with us. He will not leave us. We are sealed.
Look at that verse Ephesians chapter 4.
Looking at it all of the other day, it's well known. Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God verse 30 of the 4th chapter whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
The day of redemption there, of course, is the.
The glorification with Christ receiving the.
The glorified body.
That is a marvelous work of God to be indwelled with the Spirit of God.
You have the power to live a life for the Lord. Let's look at the 2nd Corinthians chapter one.
There are three things in connection with the Spirit of God.
That everyone of us that know the Lord Jesus.