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#231 Pilgrims in the wilderness.
Our dwellings is a cap.
With double pilgrims leaving through the waste, Revolt is sweet to sing together. We are not far from home.
231.
Our bread out of the bread from heaven, greatest and sure.
Not one will save the stranger.
The old ever seen before?
Whoever takes the whole side.
Shall we continue in John 10?
Would be nice. I I thought there were four readings like you did, but really there's only one tomorrow.
So, but we can take up the as much as we could of Chapter 10 here and then maybe take that last reading in John 17 as you suggested. All right.
John Penny a good coverage.
00:05:03
So perhaps from.
Verse eight of John 10. Maybe read down to verse 30.
John chapter 10, verse 8.
All that ever came before me, our thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.
I am the door, find 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 whose own the sheep or not. See if the wolf coming and leave it the sheep and flee it, and the wolf catches them and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth because he is in hireling and careth not for the sheep. I am the Good Shepherd and know my sheep.
And I'm 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 doth my father loved me because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
No man taketh it 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 you him? Others said, These are not the words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?
And it was at the death 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 dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you, and you 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.
I think of that verse in First John.
Chapter 2.
Where we have Costco to send the fossil.
He's Speaking of the anointing that.
Was given to the babes little children.
You've got through 2.
First coming down the chapter here verse 27. But the anointing which you have received of him abideth in you.
And you need not that any man teach you.
Now, a word of caution here. It doesn't mean that, please.
We don't need the exposition and the teaching of the Word of God. That's not the thought there. We do. We need to recognize the gifts which the Lord has given to the church for ministry and for the building up of the of the Lord's people. That's not what it's referring to here.
Certainly babes need teaching.
Find this in Brazil. They needed to need to be established in the present truth. But what I'm referring to is the latter part of the verse. But as the same anointing teaches you of all things, and is truth and is no lie, and even as it has taught you, you shall abide in Him.
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So.
Even a babe in Christ has this anointing.
They have the ability to discern what is of the Shepherd's voice and what is not. It's not a question of having a lot of knowledge or having some great intellectual ability, but it's in communion with the shepherd. They may not be.
Shall we say great.
Great understanding of the truth of God.
But they do know the Shepherd's voice and.
When something that is contrary to the word of God and to the person of Christ is introduced, which John touches upon in his epistle here, the danger of deceivers coming in the those that have the even the little ones, the little children, they have that ability to discern. This is not the shepherd's voice. Would you say that's Robert is the case?
Yes, it's a wonderful provision, isn't it, of the Lord and everyone of his sheep were purchased with the.
Precious blood of Christ and so he has given provision so that we can detect error. Now in in this chapter we'll notice that he has different he mentioned different enemies, different character of the enemy that is given to us. We've noticed in verse 8, there's thieves and then there's robbers. So the thief is taking something when you're not looking when you're not conscious that he's doing it. The robber does it broad daylight.
And so the truth is plundered from the believers that sometimes in broad daylight and then you have the wolf a little later on and it says.
In.
Verse 12, it speaks of the hireling first. So you have a hireling in verse 12 and then you have the wolf cometh and so there's different characters. The enemy is a deceiver. He's we have a very real enemy.
And in the Word of God, it speaks of three enemies that we have. We have the flesh within us. We have the world system itself. Is that an enemy of God's people? And we have Satan as well. And so here there's different ones that are really under the influence of the enemy and doing the enemy's work. And so he speaks of the wolf coming, and the wolf is a destroyer, and he's really perhaps one who is.
Really comes in.
They've spoken of in Acts chapter 20. We might just turn to it again. It's.
Paul speaks to them and he says.
That there would be grievous wolves that would come in among them.
Verse 29. Chapter 20 of Acts. Verse 29. I know this.
That after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. So wolf comes in, He's a destroyer and.
He doesn't have any care or any love for the sheep, and often times wolves come in among the Saints of God because there's carelessness and reception to the Lord's table. And you know, the Saints in Jerusalem are very careful.
Paul said, oh, I'm a believer. I'd like to be received. I'd like to come and break bread with you. In Acts Chapter 9, they said, oh, wait a minute, we heard about you and no, you're not coming here. And so he had, he didn't have a letter of commendation, but he did have Barnabas that spoke for him and said, no, I, I've witnessed, I, I'm, I can corroborate. He is a believer and he has preached the gospel. He has preached that Jesus is the Christ.
He is real. And so there are wolves, and they're destroyers. And so perhaps really false brethren, perhaps even defective elders, those that once held the truth, those that once walked in the truth. But their doctrine has become defective. And instead of preaching Christ and magnifying Christ and his feeding the flock, they begin to destroy. And so Paul was warning of that.
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Among the Saints of God. And then the hireling really is perhaps you might say an under shepherd and he's doing it for an ulterior motive and he's doing it for hire. And it's really a a picture of what we have in Christendom where people are called so-called pastors and they do their work and they do it for a dollar. They do it As for a living. They do it as a career, so to speak. And they may not even be saved.
But their hirelings, and if there's a test that comes, if there's danger, if they have to lay down their lives for their brethren, they don't do that. They flee.
And so there's different enemies. And so it's just a warning to us, each one of us, not everyone that says I'm a Christian and not every system you might say that says we're Christian is really out and out for the Lord. It's not perhaps not true. I'll just give one illustration. We were in the flea market in Texas and Mission, TX and had all kinds of Bibles and.
Ministry books out and so on and.
Woman came by and she says, oh, do you have any?
JW Bibles, I said no, we only have Christian Bibles.
And she said, well, Jehovah's Witnesses are Christian. I said, no, they you don't believe in the same Jesus that we do. That's not a Christian organization. It's an anti Christian organization. Well, she didn't like that answer. But really, they name the name of Christ, but they're anti Christian. They're anti Christ and the person and the work of Christ they don't value. And so the spirit of God is bringing out before us in John's Gospel chapter 10, there are different enemies.
Different characters to the enemy and we need to be on guard.
You see that?
These.
These sects that Robert has referred to certainly are anti Christian. Every false doctrine.
Will in some way attack the person and work of Christ.
So they I spoke to a woman when I was giving out tracks just two days ago. I'm a Jehovah's witness. I said you deny that the Lord Jesus is the eternal God. She tried to sidestep it. He's not the almighty God. I didn't get into any conversation with him, but first John with her first John 4 verse one beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they be of God, whether they are a God because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
Well, you look at First Corinthians chapter 3, you have the three different types of workers there, the one who who builds with good material would precious stones, silver, gold. And then there is the false there's the one that.
May be a believer, but yet.
He is not building with good material, and He's building up something that does not have the Lord's approval.
So there will be a loss. He may be saved.
So as by fire. But his work will not have the approval of the Lord, so it will be lost at the judgment seat of Christ. The third character that is mentioned in First Corinthians.
Three, where the question is ministry in the House of God?
Is a person who defiles the temple of God. It says here in 16 First Corinthians. Corinthians 316.
Know ye not that ye are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, that's what the Jehovah's Witness do. And other cults that are in the same category, they they defile the temple of God, but they bring their error. Not into heathen duck. No, no, they don't bring it into the Pagan sphere, they bring it into Christianity.
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Into the House of God. So the apostle is very strong here. If any man defile the temple of God, that's exactly what they do.
Him shall God destroy. Not only is the work destroyed, but the the propagated leaves. The person who is propagating these evil teachings will also be lost eternally.
It says there.
For the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are Another thing, Satan, you know, doesn't always present himself as a roaring light.
Probably he's more dangerous when he.
When he is presented as an Angel of light than any other time, Satan can use the scriptures. He knows the scriptures, he can use them.
To the detriment of the truth of God and to lead souls astray. That's why we have these cults and these sects. They will use scripture, but it's Satan undermining the truth of God and he appears as an Angel of light. So we could look at that verse. I think we're familiar with the 2nd Corinthians. He's never more dangerous than in that character. So we have to be on our guard and dependence on the Lord and.
Holding the truth of God in its integrity.
And Purity.
You'll get the thin EDGE of the wedge in. It can happen among those that are gathered to the Lord's name.
I think it's helpful to see that the Lord was not surprised by this activity. He told of it. He foretold what would take place and it's helpful to look at Matthew 13. He tells us what the end of those things is and he tells us in a parable, teaches it in a parable. Matthew 13 verse 24, another parable put it forth unto them, saying the Kingdom of heaven is like an unto one of the similitudes of the Kingdom.
A man sowed good seed in his field.
But while men slept, his enemy came, So cared among the wheat, And when his wedding.
But when the Blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said, An insert. Did not thou so good seed in thy field? And went Then hath it tears? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. And then the servant said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay, last, while you gather up the tears, you root up also.
The wheat with them.
Let both grow together until the harvest. And in the time of harvest, I will say to the reapers, gather ye together first the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn. And so the wheat is going to be gathered into the barn at the time of the Lord's coming. And I believe that the rapture, and we know that He's allowing this to take place. He's allowing the wickedness of Mormonism and the wickedness of these other sectors.
Among that tried to defile Christendom and have defiled the Christian profession in the great house. Why they seek to defile but they're allowed to go on to the end and there's not the discernment or the power to deal with it and he says just let it go on and at the end I'm going to deal with it and so.
It's an enemy that have done this. The terrors really speak of the evil persons that carry these evil doctrines, and they attack the person and the work of Christ, the holy person of Christ, and there's discernment on the part of God as to those.
What's he doing now? Gathering them into bundles?
So you go by, I think of this Scripture when I go by a so-called Kingdom Hall. They're being gathered into bundles, the groups that have no use for Christ, no use for the person, and the glory of that blessed man, and they're being gathered into bundles. And at the end of it all, they're going to face the judge. They'll be judged, but they're being gathered into bundles now.
So it's a warning to us that not everyone that names the name of Christ, not everything that is written in the name of Christ is for the glory of God and is according to the truth of God. So be careful what you read, be careful is the ministry. There's a lot of the things put out on the Internet. There's a lot of Christian books so-called put out. But be careful. There's a principle in scripture. We do not learn the truth of God from those who do not walk in it.
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Let me say that again, we do not learn the truth of God from those who do not walk in it.
And so we need to be careful.
The apostle says in the first second in the Corinthians 11. Therefore I fear lest by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve.
Through his subtlety.
So your mind should be corrupted.
From the simplicity that is in Christ.
Well, in the end of verse 12, he's Speaking of the wolf catch them and scatter at the sheep. So they're real believers that wonderful to just be going about your life and meeting another believer perhaps in the grocery store doing in the hardware store somewhere you meet another believer, your heart leaps, you're thankful he's a real child of God. But what has happened is that the wolf and the hireling.
Here, the results of their work as being increased in them, as in the Christian testimony, as the responsibility of the church, was delivered on demand. Why they didn't?
Really.
Care for God's sheep as the Good Shepherd kid and so the sheep are scattered. They're sheep, they're real, they're not false. They're they do belong to Christ. And so as her brother was saying in the previous meeting, we need to take care of them. We need you have something of the truth of God that you've enjoyed something perhaps a book or a booklet something I I've often times that when I was in business would give.
ACDI know that's antique now, but.
I would give a CD of a meeting to a brother in Christ that I knew that was in the camp somewhere, but it's our responsibility to.
Disseminate the truth of God.
We're responsible to encourage and to strengthen all of the Saints of God if they will receive some strengthening. Now, they may not appreciate what we bring before them at times, but what a wonderful privilege. The sheep are scattered. They're real, but our hearts should go out to them.
Again in this chapter, the Good Shepherd and giving his life in sacrifice.
For our sins, sins of the sheep taking our place in judgment, but now in the glory, he's still shepherd. He's given the character of Great Shepherd in his intercession as our great high Priest, our Advocate Hebrews, chapter 13. He's spoken of the Great Shepherd, and we have that access to him during our pilgrimage, during our pathway down here.
We can come boldly to the throne of grace the coming day. First Peter chapter 5 speaks of the chief shepherds, the reward that the Lord will give for those who have cared for the sheep, who have kept them from the attacks of the enemy.
That, the apostle warns up, will be a reward.
A crown of glory that fadeth not away. That's a future.
Aspect of Christ as shepherd, but here we have him in his sacrificial death.
Those that.
Were sinners guilty before him? He took our place in judgment.
So because of that, I think it's important how we look at our fellow believers, isn't it?
The Lord Jesus was willing to give his life to suffer for my sins, for theirs and so.
Instead of looking at them as perhaps they hold this ecclesiastical position or that if we consider them as the Lord's sheep, will help us to love them and to have a proper response towards them. Perhaps it is what is needed in shepherding is to bring the truth before them. But if we do it as them being the Lord's sheep, there's going to be such a difference in response and if we just are correcting somebody who's wrong because if it, if we come across that way, there isn't.
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That love and care that's going to win the heart of the one that's seeking to be reached. And I was just thinking of this little verse. It says whose own the sheep are not. You know, each one is the Lord's own sheep.
And if each one of us could have that desire in our hearts to have our hearts expanded, to really view the sheep as the Lords, you don't make such a difference when you're seeking to be a help to somebody if you recognize they're the Lords, you know, he gave himself for this one.
Sometimes we can dislike somebody and be like, well.
They didn't really appreciate it anyway. So, you know, oh, well. But that's not the Lord's heart. He is the Good Shepherd who gave his life for the sheep. And if we can have that heart towards our brother, you know, it makes such a difference. I was thinking of that passage at the end of John Peters told to feed my sheep, to shepherd my sheep and to feed my sheep. So it's good for us just to have the Lord's heart towards his own. And I recognize I fail in this.
Perhaps as parents is maybe where we fail the most in it.
How we treat our children.
We view them as the Lord's sheep.
We have opportunity.
To care for them in some little way.
It could help us to.
Of the right spirit and how we deal.
Have a little example of that, don't we? In Acts chapter 18 of we could read from verse 24, the Spirit of God gives us little examples of those that were true shepherds and aquiline. Priscilla were a couple, a young couple perhaps, and they used their home for the Lord and for the Lord's people. They had the assembly responsibility. The assembly met in their home in a couple of different places, I think it was at Rome as well as that in Corinth.
For an emphasis.
Getting myself mixed up that in chapter 18 of Acts it says.
Verse 24. Certain Jews named Apollos, born in Alexandria, an eloquent man, mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man was instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in the Spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John. And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue, who, when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them.
And expounded the way unto him, the way of God more perfectly. And when he was disposed to pass into IKEA, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive Him, who, when He was come help them much which had believed through grace. For he mightily convinced the Jews, not publicly showing by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ. And so I take it that equivalent Priscilla brought this man into their home in a gentle, a kind way.
And they just expounded the way of God more perfectly unto him in such a nice way that there was real fruit for God as a result. And so they recognized that this the man was a man of God and maybe didn't have all of his ducks in a row. You might say doctrinely, but it's possible for us to speak the truth in love. And so it says in I think it's Second Corinthians chapter 5, that the love of Christ.
Constraineth us.
And so it's because we have love for the Lord Jesus that our souls are constrained to follow him and to walk with Him and to be a help to our brethren. It should be out of love for them.
Six times, it says, and the New Testament that he gave himself.
And you can look it up on your own time, but six times in here. I just read the Mr. Darby's translation.
In the 10th chapter of John and.
00:35:01
The thought is that it said yeah, verse, verse 13. Now he who serves for wages, please, because he serves for wages and is not himself concerned about the sheep.
I was just thinking about when we seek to help others of the sheath, you need to love them and care for them ourselves.
Well, it's John's ministry, He introduces us to the Father. And here in verse 15 he says, as the Father knoweth me, Even so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep, other sheep I have which are not of this fold. There weren't of the Jewish fold Them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one, it should say 1 flock and one shepherd.
And so the Lord Jesus introduces them to the relationship of the Father. You and I have a relationship, and we brought it out a little bit in the last meeting, but it's a wonderful privilege to acknowledge and to enjoy that relationship of the Father. Now it says that the Father is one who chastens us in Hebrews chapter 12. And for we had fathers in the flesh that chasing us after their own pleasure and so on, but he for our prophet.
And so.
You have a Father who has very great interest in every single detail of your life, and he was interested in your life before you were born, and he's still interested and he will do what is necessary that there might be fruit for him in your life. And you have a Savior who is faithful as well. So it speaks in.
Is it Romans chapter eight of the Lord Jesus and of the Spirit interceding for us?
Romans chapter 8 and.
It says there in.
26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, for he maketh intercession for the Saints according to the will of God.
And so in verse 34 as well.
Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yeah, rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of the of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
Oh, what a it's a work of the Godhead.
To produce fruit in your life and in the days of our weakness, to intercede for us as we pass through this wilderness scene. You have a shepherd that's intensely interested.
In your life and He delights to have you follow him and to read His word, to walk in communion with him.
Of the Lord's obedience was unto death.
Death of the Cross.
He says in verse 17, therefore, that my father loved me because I lay down my life.
That I might take it again.
That refers to the Lord taking his life and resurrection.
The Lord had a body capable of death, but not subject to death. You and I have bodies that are subject to death, corruptible. If the Lord doesn't come, we go through the article of death. The body goes into corruption. That never would happen with the Lord. Psalm 16 that couldn't happen because there was no sin in that blessed one. It was the root of the old nature was was not there.
In fact, to say that the Lord could have sinned.
Is implying that he had an old nature which is really blasphemy. But the Lord was fully perfect, spotless, but he laid down his life voluntarily.
The Lord didn't need to go through the death of the cross.
Philippians chapter two. He humbled himself unto death, even the death of the frost that brings before us what the Lord suffered from the hand of man. That's not the atoning sufferings there because it's an example for us, but here I believe He refers to the complete work that the Lord would accomplish and the Father.
00:40:24
Loved him because he was going to to fulfill the will of God.
The first motive of the Lord's death was to to please his Father, to accomplish the will of God his Father. Of course, we come in as a result of that work.
But to have the joy that was set before Him would be returning to the glory, having accomplished the will of God his Father in debt.
Ask the question, maybe someone knows. Is it the burnt offering character of his death here? It says in Ephesians chapter 5 or? Yeah I think it's Ephesians chapter 5.
It says.
That we ought to walk in love, verse two, as Christ also have loved us and have given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour. So it was a voluntary offering. It wasn't. It was one of the things, if I could speak personally, that.
When I was a young man and I considered the request of the Lord Jesus to remember him in his death.
This is what broke me down is to think that he didn't have to go to the cross.
That there was a time when his work was his father gave him to do in connection with the miracles and all those things that was done and at the time of his receiving up.
He said, his face steadfastly, to go to Jerusalem. He could have gone back to heaven.
He'd done his work as the father had given him to do, but there was one more work that his father had given him to do, and he would go to the cross. He would finish that work. And so it was a voluntary offering. He went of his own will, have his own volition, if we could put it that way. It was his father's will, but it was his desire as well. And so his desire is to have us remember him in his death.
And if there's perhaps a young person that's not asked for their place at the Lord's Table.
It's a wonderful thing. It's just it's not complicated and there's no, the Spirit of God doesn't tell us what age we should be at or anything like that, but that there's a desire to remember the Lord Jesus and his death in a very simple way and to remember him.
Is a voluntary thing, if I could put it that way. In the Old Testament, they were commanded. They had to eat the Passover. It was a commandment. There was no wiggle room, you might say.
But the Spirit of God and Christianity he appeals to the affections of the believer and the desire of heart to remember him.
I think that's the very thought in that Luke chapter 951 That came to pass when the time was come that he should be received up he steadfastly.
To go to Jerusalem, sometimes that's applied to the ascension of Christ, but I don't think properly speaking.
Any good? According to what Roberts mentioned here, there is no reason why the Lord could not have returned into the glory from the Mount of Transfiguration. Or when He had fulfilled his 3 1/2 years of public ministry, which was always a fragrance to the heart of God, He could have returned into the glory, but rather voluntarily and because of love for lost sheep like we were.
He went through the agony of the hours of darkness to redeem us, so it was love that led him there.
To the cross, and all the shame and reproach and suffering of those hours.
I think we all understand that Lord was six hours on the cross, three hours receiving reproach and shame and ignominy and mockery and the crown of thorns and the purple rope and the spitting. This was all the heart of man exposed in Ottawa. We've been noticing in in John chapter 15.
00:45:28
They hated me without a cause.
That's the strongest condemnation we have a man in the Scriptures.
But then there's the three hours of darkness.
Which the Lord must go through if our sins were to be dealt with and forgiven. And.
Purged, the Lord had to go into the deep waters of the darkness.
Forsaken of God doesn't say forsaken of the Father, but God dealing with sin. The majesty, the power and the holiness of God, demanded that punishment for those filthy sins that I have committed.
So that he, he paid the price fully. He glorified God about the whole question of sin, your sins, my sins. Some people say confess your sins and come to God. I'm sorry, I can't do that. I have too many.
But the Lord on the cross.
As it were, he confessed all my sins as his own, and bore the punishment for them.
All praise to His blessed name.
I think that verse you mentioned, brother Robert and Ephesians 5 would connect with Genesis 8.
And verse 21 in the offering that went up after the flood, says the Lord smelled a sweet savour. And what was the consequence? And the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground anymore for man's sake, until he said in his heart, what did that sweet saver do? It move the heart of God? And so in Christ laying down his life, He really gave the Father fresh cause to love him and move the heart.
Of the Father, he always loved his Son from a past eternity. And so in John's Gospel chapter 3 and verse 35, it says the Father loveth the Son, have given all things into his hand, but now as a man, and he goes on to that cross and lays his life down. There's a fresh reason, fresh cause for the Father's love. And his heart is moved at that sweet savour offering a coverage.
It's so interesting. It says the father loveth the son there in chapter 3.
Earlier in that chapter, that well known verse for God so loved the world.
What's the difference? A little word so.
When you say when we read God so loved the world, we're saying this is how much this is what qualifies the love of God for this world. What is it called? What what qualifies it? What defines it? He gave his only begotten Son.
Is that measurable? It's immeasurable nonetheless, that little word. So is there. It's a love that is qualified by certain parameters, if I can put it that way. I don't want to be technical in that way, but there's a point to be made. There is no such qualifier when it says the father loveth the son, doesn't say he so loved the son, and then give qualifiers that define that love. Nothing there. The father loveth the son, period.
Different than God, so loved the world.
When it comes to the sun, you cannot define it, you cannot qualify. It is without qualification. He just loveth the sun and now the sun gives up even more recent fresh cause to love him and laying down his light.
Well, it says in verse 19 that there was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings.
And so.
The truth divides, the light divides from the darkness, and so the Lord Jesus was introducing a Father, and he loved the Father, the Father loved him, and he was going to lay down his life voluntarily in obedience to His Father's will.
00:50:15
And the world is divided by those that appreciate the sun and those that have no love for the sun. And so there's three divisions that are spoken of, I believe in John's Gospel and one is in John's Gospel Chapter 7. Each time it's one a different reason.
And it's yeah, John 7 verse 43.
So there was a division among the people because of Him, the person of Christ, the Son, the Father, love and the Son.
And they could see his Godhead glories were veiled, but they saw a man, and they saw a man walking in the favor of God, the full favor of God, in obedience to God himself. And his face radiated the joy of what it was to live for the Father. And so there was a division because of him, the person of Christ. And then a little bit later on, I think it's Chapter 9.
It speaks of another division in verse 16.
Therefore, said some of the Pharisees, this man is not of God because he keepeth not the Sabbath day. Others said, how can a man that is a Sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them.
And so really it was because of his words, because of his works, I should say, his works, his miracles. There was a division.
And so if you do a work for the Lord.
If you in obedience seek to.
Offer your life to sacrifice to Him.
There's going to be division between you and this world because you'll be reflecting something of the glory of Christ. It'll divide.
And it's will cause a separation. But here it's his words in chapter 10, verse 19, His sayings. There was a division, therefore again among the Jews for these Saints. The Lord Jesus had expressions. You have expressions. When we were young, we'd say, oh, that's groovy.
That's a little while ago that we used to say that.
You might say it's cool, you would have some expressions. The Lord has expressions that he uses. And if you read the Scriptures, you will get to be acquainted with some of the expressions that the Lord Jesus uses as he goes through the experiences of the Gospels. And it's wonderful just to enjoy those little expressions of the Son of God. But the Pharisees had no use for those little expressions that obviously the Lord Jesus was in the delight of his Father.
And love to honor the Father, and loved his sheep. The Pharisees and scribes went say were hirelings. They had no care for the sheep.
They wouldn't defend the sheep and so there was going to be a loss.
Might just pardon a personal little story of perhaps I've told it before, but when I was a young boy he lived along the railway track. My dad lived work for the railway and.
The schoolhouse was less than a mile away and we could see it straight down the railway track and.
One morning he walked with us to go to school and then he came back to the schoolhouse at night and he walked back to the house with us. And then the next morning he got up and he walked to the school house again with us. And I said, dad, why are you walking to school with us? We see the school down the track. We can see it. And why are you walking to school with us and then coming and getting us? And he said, son.
Look just beyond the trees. What do you see?
It was about where the across the road. I said well there's some dogs over there. He says no son, those aren't dogs, those are wolves. We haven't even noticed 2 little boys walking to school. And then I understood. I I'd never forgotten where he was standing when he said that. He was standing between US and the wolves and he had a gun with them. We hadn't noticed, but he had stood between.
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The wolves and ourselves.
And a true shepherd loves the sheep, and will stand before.
And defend the sheep, defend the truth of God, and in love for the sheep will do what it takes to defend them.
Just kind of going back through maybe a little bit of outline again, the Lord presents himself.
As the Good Shepherd here, but also the door.
And in the beginning we have the sheepfold and.
There's the one who doesn't enter by the door and climbs up some other way, beating the robber. But then the Lord enters by the door. He's the true shepherd of the sheep. The Porter opens to him. The Porter's the Spirit of God and the Lord Jesus. We read of him in the pronouncement of his birth to Mary, that the power of the of.
The Spirit of God would over shadow her in that birth and so the Spirit of God was involved in his birth.
And then at the river Jordan, he was anointed by the Spirit of God. He was involved by the Spirit of God. So he was marked out as we read him in Romans, one marked out as the Son of God by the Spirit of holiness. And so he was marked out clearly as the coming one. And so the Spirit of God is really that Porter he opened to him. And so the sheep hear his voice. He calleth his own sheet by name.
In that fold there might be other sheep, but there are those that are His own, who are His own sheep. They are those that are born of God. All that the Father given me will come to me. And so as born of God, they have faith, and they have an ear to hear, and when the shepherd calls, they hear his voice. His own sheep doesn't say that. This sheepfold is emptied of every sheep but his own sheep.
He says he.
Calls his own sheet by name. He puts them, He leads them out and he puts them forth. So he removes them from that pole. He puts them all out there they are in front of the fold. And now he takes the place is leaving them and he leads them away from that hole. They're not going to follow a stranger. They have life and they know the shepherd's voice, the others.
Don't respond, because they don't. Now not only is He leaving them out, but He is Himself the door by which they are going to enter into a whole new order of things that was not known under the Law, a whole new order of things. And you're only going to come into that by the Lord Jesus Christ. No man cometh unto the Father but by me, and so He is the door to that whole new.
Order thing.
And then that new order of things.
Go in and out and find pasture in for worship, out for service. That is going to be that new order of things and.
He's going to give his life for the sheep, but he's come that not only would they have life, but now have it more abundantly. They have life. And as a consequence there's faith and there's a response to the shepherd's voice. But now they're going to have life in a whole new character. And we've discussed that they're going to have eternal life.
And so he's leaving them. He's the entrance of that whole new order of things. They're going to have life more abundantly, but it's going to require him laying down his life, giving his life for the sheep. And throughout we find there are the thieves, the robbers. What does the thief come forth to steal, to kill, to destroy? And the higher length fleas. When the wolf comes, those different enemies are identified.
In Zechariah.
And chapter name is Chapter 11.
Zechariah Chapter 11 and verse 17. Woe to the idol or the worthless shepherd that leaveth the flock. The sword shall be upon his arm and upon his right eye. His arm shall be cleaned right up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened. That's Speaking of the Antichrist. He ultimately is the thief and the robbery.
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He comes in some other way.
And his aim and intent is to kill and to destroy. And he has a name in Revelation that's called Apollyon, and that means a destroyer. He comes up, he doesn't come in the.
Legitimacy and fulfillment of prophetic scripture associated with the Lord. There's no Porter that opens to him, he just takes that place. The Lord said you. I came in my Father's name and you received me not.
Coming in his own name. Him he will receive. He comes in his own name. He doesn't come in any revelation of.
A relationship that we have in the Lord Jesus with the Father and the Son. You know, he comes in his own name and in Revelation 13 he appears on the scene.
And he is looked at as a beast in Revelation 13 and verse 11, a beast that comes up out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb and spake as a dragon. You know, the thieves and the robbers.
It says in our chapter that the thief cometh.
But the Lord Jesus was sent of the following. That's a contrast the Antichrist comes, but he wasn't sound.
And so he comes, he appears on the scene and he really, it says he speaks as a dragon. Satan is the power behind him and what he has to say. And he exercises all the power of the first beast before him, who's the 1St beast? That's the head of the revived Roman Empire. And he's, you might say, going to be his spokesperson, he's going to be his prophet. And what does he do? He causes an image to be set up of the beast.
And he causes all to worship that beast. What's going to happen to those sheep left in the folder?
What's going to happen to them? The thieves come.
The wolf's coming.
And he's going to do just exactly what the Lord said in this chapter.
What happens to him? What happens to that idle shepherd? We read it.
Well, he flees when the wolf comes.
And so there's a great enemy of Israel that in the end of the Tribulation comes down.
With destructive power to sleep through the land of Israel. And where is that shepherd, That worthless shepherd? He runs away. He's not going to lay his life down for those sheep. He's there to fleece them, to take advantage of them, to steal, to kill and to destroy. He wants what they have. He could care less for them.
And he flees. Who does he flee to? He flees to the protection of this first beast. Now Revelation 19, when the Lord comes out of heaven, after that great enemy, the king of the north comes down through the land, and the idol shepherd, the Antichrist, has run away. He now comes back with the beast. And in Revelation 19 the Lord comes out of heaven.
And says in verse 19, and I saw the beast, that's the first beast, the head of the Roman Empire and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war with him that sat on the horse that is the Lord Jesus and against his army. And the beast was taken. And with him, the false prophet, he's not looked at as a beast like a lamb, an imitation of Christ anymore. He got stripped off of that disguise.
When the king of the North came down and he ran away, he was exposed for what he really was. Now he comes back and he's with the first beast again, but he's not looked at as that beast like a lamb anymore. His disguise has been stripped away. All the faithful knew it was a disguise because he spoke like a dragon. But I got stripped away and what happened toward me and the first beast and his false prophet, because that's what he is.
Are cast into relation fire and that is going to be be the end of the thief and the robber and the wolf. He's going to be cast in the lake of fire, but he will have done this awful damage.
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Well, I shouldn't call him the wolf, the thief and the robber. When the wolf comes, he runs away. He's the idol shepherd. The wolf is the king of the north. He comes down with his destroying armies. God deals with him too. But ultimately, I think in this chapter, it's looking on to prophetic events that are yet to take place.
But we've enjoyed the very practical principles applied to us right now, and God intends it to be that way from these scriptures.
That's really the young twins spirit coming back, isn't it? Does he have any Luke Chapter 11 go off and take it to him and seven other spirits more wicked than himself. Just what you refer to Mandarin and dwellings. That's the nation under the.
Under the idolatry of the worshipping the.
The Roman beast.
But it's wonderful in this our time is gone nearly to just go for a few moments on the eternal security of the believer.
You know we're on the shoulders of the.
Good Shepherd, that's the place of security.
Safety. The Lord holds the whole world on one shoulder.
Isaiah tells us that, but his sheep are held on both shoulders.
And they will never perish, and no man can pluck them out of his hand.
So we have the Spirit of God, as has been mentioned.
Is giving us the seal of redemption. We are secure. We are on the the place of strength and and safety on the shoulders of the Good Shepherd, also on his heart.
It's a little different there. The breastplate, you know, on the shoulders there were just two stones, two unique stones. The names of six of the tribes of Israel on one stone engraved were engraved on the on the stones as well.
Engraved on the heart of the Lord, and the six on the other. Onyx stone on both shoulders. That brings before us the eternal security of the believer. He will never perish.
Of course, when we come to the heart.
There were 12 Stones on the breastplate. You remember Exodus 2829? It gives you the names of each stone that was on the breastplate. The thought there is a little different. That's the place of affection, love, care. We've been Speaking of the Lord caring for the sheep. Your name, you're a believer, is engraved on the heart of the Lord.
So he knows all about you as you've been reading in the chapter here.
And He cares for us according to our need. We all have different personalities. Thank God for that. And we all have.
Different weaknesses. A weakness is not a sin, but it's something that we have to be careful about. What? The Lord understands his sheep perfectly. He understands my whole temperament, personality.
Which is different to yours?
And the Lord.
He does not.
Excuse our city.
If we allow that weakness to predominate and we yield to it, we're going to sin and we need the Lord to work as our great hype, as our as our great advocate. But we are on the on the heart of the Lord. He understands each one of us individually, personally. We've often been reminded that the Lord has a individual tuition for every believer.
In school you sometimes have special needs for the children. This child needs special needs. We, we have encountered this in education. Well, we all have special needs, don't we? And the Lord understands fully.
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Our our our needs, and I'm not Speaking of sins or not to we're not to tolerate that and say, well, this is my weakness. This is the way I'm made.
And I can't, I can't stop doing this. No, that is unbelief. And that is, that is willful disobedience. Whatever the temptation is, we have a great high priest to help us in that hour of temptation. We're on his shoulders, that is true. We're on his heart, the place of love and affection that never changes. And so we have that provision of one who is interceding for us.
I think it was mentioned.
Earlier today that the Spirit help us our infirmities in that verse is referred to in Romans 8. It does not say the Spirit removes our infirmities. It doesn't say that.
He helps our infirmities. What does that mean? Well, Paul had an infirmity, didn't he? He'd be sought the Lord three times, especially that he could be delivered from this form in the flesh, which he says, this is hindering me in my service. Lord, take it away. Lord did not answer the prayer of the apostle Paul. He left him with that thorn, whatever it was.
It was quite a painful thing to him, but he had it for the rest of his pill remains the rest of his days. But the Lord said, I'm going to give you the grace to bear. The Lord doesn't remove our infirmities, but He does give grace when we come to the throne of grace and avail ourselves of that wonderful provision that our great high priest has for us.
Not all the sufferings of Christ as a man were to put away sin.
Some of his sufferings were in so that he could be faithful and merciful high priest who has passed through this this scene that we are in and knows all the bitterness of it and you've been noticing an Ottawa that if we're faithful to the Lord in testimony we we receive hatred from the world. But the point I'm trying to make.
Probably someone else could do it better is that the Lord intercedes for us to strengthen us, to help us to overcome.
The the the particular impediment or whatever.
Obstacle we have, the Lord is able to give us the grace to overcome. Is that right to Steve? Yeah, I think so. That's right 296.
296.
Divino considering where prayers come down.
Way ahead of squeezing.
Glory.
And thy.
Name.
The spirit sound of my new preservation.
Faithful.
Holy man, with thee joy.
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And night for thou settlement.
We take our place.
And to work.
Nice poverty.
Lost and wandered by and praying.