Address—C. Hendricks
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Let's begin this afternoon my reading. John 10, 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. And when he putteth 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 whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming and leaveth the sheep and fleeth, and the wolf catcheth 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 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 1 flock it should read 1 flock, 1 shepherd. Therefore doth my Father love 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 the devil and is mad, Why hear ye him? Others said, These are not the words of him that hath the devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind? 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 dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.
Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not the works that I do in my Father's name. They bear witness of me, but she believed not, Because ye are 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. There's a lot said in the Old Testament about the Shepherd.
And here the Lord claims to be that shepherd that is in the many passages of the Old Testament. I'm just going to turn to some of them. The 23rd Psalm comes to mind that we know so well, and it's very interesting.
I'll turn to it and read the first verse. The Lord all capitals, meaning Jehovah is my shepherd.
I shall not want he maketh me to lie down in green pastures, and so on. We know the the Psalm quite well.
The point I'm making is that Jehovah is speaking, or the sheep is speaking, and he speaks of Jehovah being his shepherd.
Isaiah 40. Isaiah 40.
Just look at a few of these verses. Verse 10.
Behold the Lord Jehovah. Notice God is in all capitals. That's Jehovah will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him and his work before him. He, that's the Lord Jehovah, shall feed his flock like a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with his arm.
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And carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those.
That are with young Ezekiel 34. Well let's let's touch on Jeremiah 23 first. Jeremiah 23.
Verse three. I and I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds, and they shall be fruitful and increase.
I will set up shepherds over them, which shall feed them. They shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the Lord. It's Jehovah that is speaking.
And he speaks of his flock. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, that's the Messiah.
And a king shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely, and this is his name, whereby he shall be called the Lord our righteousness.
And I'll read one more. No, two more is Ezekiel 34.
Ezekiel 34.
Verse 23.
And I will set up 1 shepherd over them.
And he shall feed them.
Even my servant David.
He shall feed them.
And he shall be their shepherd.
And I, the Lord, will be their God.
And my servant David, a Prince among them, I, the Lord Jehovah, have spoken it.
And one more in Zechariah 13.
Zechariah.
Chapter 13.
Verse 6.
And one shall say unto him, That's the Messiah. What are these wounds in thine hands?
Then he shall answer those with which I was wounded in the House of my friends.
Awake, O sword against my shepherd.
And against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts, might the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered, and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.
I read these passages in the Old Testament as a.
That.
Precedes what the Lord says going back to John 10 now.
What he brings before them in the 10th chapter.
John's Gospel has a special character to it, different from the three synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke. It it has Christianity being taught by the Lord himself.
Before it came into existence, in fact, on the day of Pentecost, Acts 2. But we have here a dispensational picture of which is very beautiful.
The Lord speaking John 10 verse one.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door. Now the word door in this passage is used in three distinct ways.
This first mention is the door into the sheep fold.
Sheepfold is Israel.
Judah Judaism.
Sheepfold.
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. What does that speak of the door to the sheepfold? There's a there's a proper way of entering into the sheepfold and that's to go through the door. And then there's the the way that those that are thieves and robbers enter in, they climb up someplace else and they don't come in by the door. What is the door? I think it speaks of the Old Testament scriptures that predict the coming, the first coming.
Of the Messiah, of the Shepherd of Israel.
And he had to enter in by the door. He had to enter in according to the scriptures.
In Genesis chapter 3, the Lord said to Satan that the seed of the woman.
Would crush his head, and thou shalt crush his heel.
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The seed of the woman.
Would be the one to deliver Israel and all of us seed of the woman in Isaiah 7.
It speaks of him as born of a virgin.
Born of a virgin, He had to come according to the Old Testament scriptures, and they had to fulfill them. One has said when you put all the Old Testament scriptures that predict the coming of the Messiah, the true shepherd of Israel, the shepherd of the sheep, it's more than Israel today. It's all of us. We're all the sheep, and he's the shepherd.
All of those verses, the probability of them happening in one person being fulfilled in one person by chance is so low that he could never happen.
And he fulfilled all of these scriptures. He had to be of the seed of David.
He had to be born in Bethlehem.
He had to come at a certain time according to Daniel 9, when the 70 week prophecy that was given, there was only one point in time that the Messiah would appear on earth.
And that was literally fulfilled when the Lord Jesus was born into this world. You put all of those scriptures, and I've only mentioned a few. You put them all together. That's the door of entering into the sheepfold. He had to come according to the predictions given by the Lord in the Old Testament. He had to fulfill every single one of them. Had he failed in any of them, He would have been not been the true shepherd of the sheep.
Now for anyone to enter the sheepfold, which was Judaism, and take some sheep out of it and have them follow him, he would be a false shepherd.
He would be, as he says, a thief and a robber.
And not the true shepherd of the sheep. So if they knew their scriptures.
When the wise men came, they asked to where the Christ would be born, and the scribes knew. The Pharisees they knew.
In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written, and they quote Micah 5.
The whole Bethlehem.
Unto thee shall he come forth, whose goings forth have been from a bowl, from everlasting.
The shepherd of Israel. So he entered in by the door. The first mention of door. Here is the door of the sheepfold to come into the into the place where his sheep were. Now not every sheep in that sheepfold was his.
Not every Jew.
Was his. We know that because he received in the Gospel of John especially the greatest opposition that he received anywhere was at Jerusalem, right in the center where the Pharisees and the scribes had their stronghold.
And they rejected him. They were not his sheep. He says that in verse verse 26. But she believed not. Because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.
So the true Messiah, the true Shepherd of Israel, enters the sheepfold.
And if you read those Old Testament Scriptures accurately, you'll see that it's the Messiah of Jehovah, and it's Jehovah himself. As the the sheep says in the 23rd Psalm, Jehovah is my shepherd.
So the true shepherd of Israel was Jehovah God himself, but a man too. A man, the Messiah.
And that, of course, is the.
The wonderful truth of His person, God and man in one person He was both.
In one person.
He then entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
He comes in and comes in according to all the utterances as to His first coming, they were literally all fulfilled. And the ones that have not been fulfilled refer to His second coming when He will appear and set up the Kingdom, and they will be as literally fulfilled as the scriptures were at His first coming. Must be so because He is the true shepherd of the sheep. To Him the Porter openeth. I believe that's a picture of the Spirit of God who opened the door for him to come in.
Mary when she was told that.
He would have a son, she said. How can this be seeing I know not a man?
The answer came back, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall over shadow thee. Therefore, that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
Holy Ghost shall come upon thee. He opened the door for the to him. The Porter openeth, and he entered into that sheepfold.
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To him the Porter opened, if he also used John the Baptist to announce the coming of that blessed one. Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. To him the Porter openeth, and the sheep hear his voice, his sheep his sheep hear his voice, and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. There's a beautiful illustration of that in the 20th chapter of John, and for the sake of time I'm not going to turn to it, but refer to it.
Magdalene stayed back when Peter and John went back to their homes after they saw the evidence of the resurrection, but Mary had no home.
Her home was the Lord.
And he was gone.
And so she stayed at the at the last place where he had been placed at the sepulchre.
He was gone.
But she didn't know where else to go. It was her affection. She wasn't intelligent As for the resurrection, but she had affection for the blessed Lord.
He was to her everything.
Everything.
And she sees this person there, supposing it was the gardener. She says, if you've taken him away, show me where you've laid him and I will come and take him away.
And he calls her. Then she didn't recognize him when she saw him.
We don't know. Was that the tears in her eyes? Was it the semi darkness that existed at that time that she did not recognize him until he said Mary?
Mary, he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. Now what he was about to do to this Jewess, She came forward when she recognized him, and would have embraced him, would have handled him and and touched him, and.
He says touch me not.
Don't cling to me, Mary.
You can't have me back as the Messiah to Israel.
They rejected me Now he doesn't tell her all this, but this is the significance of what he says. Touch me not I have not yet ascended to my father. Now that's that opens up Christianity. But go to my brethren and tell them I ascend to my father and to your father to my God and to your God totally new revelation by the risen Christ leading this Jewish sheep out of the sheepfold out of Judaism into.
Through the light and blessedness of Christianity. That's what he's doing here in John 20.
So here it says he calleth his own sheep by name.
And leadeth them out.
Perhaps when he comes for us in the air.
You might hear your name called if you're one of his sheep.
We don't know, but I like to think.
That He knows each one of us personally, and he calleth his own sheep by name. Mary, he said. And then she recognized him, and she said, Master Rabboni, and he says, touch me not. Don't seize upon me, Mary. You can't have me in the old relationship any longer. Paul says it this way in Two Corinthians 5. Though we have known Christ after the flesh, Mary knew him after the flesh. Yet now we know him thus no longer.
We know him now as dead and risen.
From the dead, and in John 20, he's risen.
Become the head of a new creation.
And he was going to lead her and all of his disciples into that. You know, you remember in Acts chapter 1, the the disciples say to him, the risen Christ, wilt thou at this time restore again the Kingdom to Israel? And he said, it's not for you to know the times of the seasons which God has put in his own power. When he speaks of times and seasons, he's talking about events here on earth, the Kingdom. But he says, but Terry in Jerusalem and you'll receive power after the Holy Ghost is come upon.
Upon you. And he was going to then bring them into an altogether new order of blessing, that which has been going on for 2000 years now. It's called Christianity.
And it's knowing not a man on earth, but a man in the glory.
Man in the glory is ahead of this new creation, and we are now heavenly people, not earthly. We're not any sheep hold any longer. We're not in a confined place. But he leads the sheep out of that and onto the green pastures of his word, and we're following a shepherd. We're following our shepherd.
Well, it says.
In verse 4 And when he putteth 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.
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They most who read this parable don't understand it, and they didn't. This parable spake Jesus unto them, but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them.
Then Jesus said unto them again.
Now he's going to give them more light.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. Now that's the second use of the word door. This time he's the door of the sheep. He's the door of exit from the sheepfold. For anyone to go into that sheepfold and take the Jewish sheep out of it, to follow them would be apostasy if he wasn't the true shepherd, the only one that had the right to go into the sheepfold, that which had been established through Moses.
The law was given by Moses. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. But God had set up Judaism.
The only religion that he had established in the Old Testament.
And it would have been apostasy for a Jew to abandon Judaism for anything else.
No matter what the claims might have been.
I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers. But the sheep did not hear them. Now pause here, hold your place. Turn to Acts chapter 5, and we'll read a few verses there as an example of those that had risen up and had drawn away some of the Jewish sheep to follow them. Acts, chapter 5.
And verse.
34 Then stood there up one in the council of Pharisee named Gamaliel a doctor of the law.
He's the one at whose feet Saul of Tarsus was taught.
He had a reputation among all the people, and commanded to put the apostles forth a little space. And he said unto them, Ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves. What ye intend to do is touching these men. For before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody, to whom a number of men, about 400 joined themselves, who was slain in all. As many as obeyed him were scattered and brought to naughty. He was one of those false shepherds. Again, after this man rose up Judas of Galilee, in the days of.
The taxing and drew away much people after him. He also perished in all, even as many as obeyed him were dispersed. And now I say unto you, very good counsel, He is giving them refrain from these men. He's talking about the apostles, and let them alone. For if this council or this work be of men, it will come to nought, but if it be of God, you cannot overthrow it.
Lest haply be found even to fight against God. And to Him they agreed, And when they had.
Called the apostles and beaten them. They commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus and let them go.
And they departed from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. And daily in the temple and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.
If this be of God, he says, you cannot overthrow it.
And that which began with such a very small beginning has expanded into a huge tree, a huge system.
Much of which is not not true, but it's Christian verse 8 again going back to John 10.
Verse 7 Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. He was the only proper way of exit of His sheep, of the Jewish sheep, to leave Judaism for something else, and He became the center of that something else. He was the head, and they were to come to Him. In John 7 at the end of the Feast of Tabernacles, He says, If any man thirst, if you're not satisfied.
With all that's been going on here for the last 7 days of this Jewish feast, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.
He becomes the center now of a new order of blessing.
He said, Those that do so out of their belly shall flow rivers of living water, that spake ye of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive. For the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. Very important verse. While the Lord was on earth, the Spirit was not given only to him, but not to anyone else. In resurrection the Spirit was not given.
Not until he ascended and sent down the ascended Christ 50 days after the resurrection, 10 days he was a risen man on earth. Then he ascends to heaven.
40 days. Excuse me? And then he ascends to heaven. 10 days later he sends down the Holy Spirit. And that was the beginning of Christianity. All that ever came before me to lead Jews out of Judaism are thieves and robbers. But the sheep did not hear them. That is his sheep.
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And then he uses the word door in a third sense.
This is the third sense is the door of entrance into Christian blessedness, into Christian privileges and Christian position.
By me if any man enter in, you see as the door of the sheep, it was the door of their exit from the sheepfold. The sheepfold is Judaism. Now he's bringing those sheep, his sheep, out of Judaism, into Christian. But he's telling them what Christianity was and was going to be, and how they would be taken out of the old and brought into the new by the true shepherd of the sheep. 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 abundantly.
Notice I've taken the word more out. I think that is better left out. It's not that the Old Testament Saints had abundant life and we just have it more abundantly. No, they have life.
Same life that we have, but we have the abundant life, life and the fullness and power of the Holy Spirit.
You get that in the 20th chapter where there isn't, Christ appears to the disciples and says, peace be unto you.
And they beheld his hands in his sides, and the disciples were glad. And then he repeats it.
As my Father sent me, Even so send I you Peace be unto you. And then he breathes on them.
The breadth of his resurrection life and says receive ye Holy Spirit.
Back in Genesis 2, the Jehovah God, he was that Jehovah God, same person, but now as a risen man in John 20. But in Genesis 2, it's Jehovah that breathes into man's nostrils, the breath of life, natural life. Man became a living soul.
But now the risen Christ breathes into his disciples the breath of his resurrection life.
And in they received the Holy Spirit as the power of life, that which characterizes the new life that we have.
In Christ I'll read verse 10 again. Thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill and to destroy.
I am come, but they might have life.
But they might have it abundantly.
The abundant life.
Life in the power of the Holy Spirit uniting us to the glorified man. That's eternal life.
John speaks of eternal life over and over again in his writings, in the Gospel and in the Epistles. In the synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke. When it speaks of eternal life, it's referring to life on earth.
Referring to the Kingdom.
But in John's gospel, it has a Christian character to it.
Eternal life.
And he is that eternal life himself, and he communicates it to us.
When we eat him, John 6, except to eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, appropriate by faith the value of his death.
For yourself.
You don't have life.
But if you do that, you have eternal life, eternal life, wonderful truths that are all brought before us in John's gospel.
Life abundantly.
I am the Good Shepherd.
They should have known what he was claiming.
The psalmist says the Lord is Jehovah is my shepherd, and now he says I am the Good Shepherd. He was claiming, of course, to be Jehovah.
I am the Good Shepherd, and the Good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. They should have known that from Zechariah 13 Smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered.
The shepherd was to be smitten. He was to be rejected.
We read it this morning in Isaiah 53, the rejection of the Messiah, the shepherd of Israel.
I am the Good Shepherd, and the Good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
But he that is in hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth. The wolf cometh and leaveth the sheep, and fleeeth, and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.
The hiring fleet, because he is in Harlingen, careth not for the sheep.
I am the Good Shepherd and know my sheep and am known of mine. Precious, wonderful truths. He knows each one of us, knows us by name, and we know Him.
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. This fold refers to Judaism. The translators did not understand this passage. They ruin it by the way they translate this. I'll read it.
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Them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold wrong, not one fold 1 flock.
One shepherd. Christianity is not a fold. It's not a confined place. That was Judaism.
It's it's a flock following the shepherd. That's Christianity 1 flock.
Don't know why they translated it this way. The previous English translation said flock correctly so but they changed it to fold and they lost the the contrast between the first part of the verse. Other sheep I have which are not of this fold not of this Jewish fold person told me recently that his Sunday school teacher was asked what's meant other sheep I have which are not of this fold and the Sunday school teacher hazarded a guest and said must be.
Aliens from another planet.
Totally ignorant of the meaning of the passage. It's referring to Gentiles.
Other sheep I have which are not of this fold, this Jewish fold them also I must bring that brings us in reminds you of John 17. His prayer in John 17 is all about the disciples that were here on earth and that he was bringing them into this blessing of Christianity. And then he in verse 20, I think it is or is it verse 17 and I'm going to read it.
John 17 verse 20. Neither pray I for these alone.
But for them also, which shall believe on me through their word, that you and me.
That's all of us Gentiles that have believed on him since.
The church was established by Jews.
In the 1St century.
Other sheep I have which are not of this Jewish fold, them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice. And there shall be 1 flock, 1 shepherd.
Therefore doth my father love me because I laid down my life, that I might take it again. This was so hard for the Jew to accept.
They they had their minds locked in on a future Kingdom of glory over which the Messiah would reign and establish them as the head of the nations and subdue all their enemies. That's the that's the picture they got from reading the Old Testament.
But they missed Isaiah 53. They missed Psalm 22, They missed many, many other passages. Smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered. They missed those passages which told them that the shepherd would be smitten, the Messiah would be crucified and put to death.
And they couldn't understand that.
They were looking for a reigning Messiah. Will doubt this time, restore again the Kingdom to Israel, had no idea we were noticing, and we were at the end of Ephesians 5. This is a great mystery, great secret never told out before, a secret that now you and I know. No longer a mystery, but we understand it.
Being those who have been brought into this one flock.
One shepherd.
He says in verse 18, No man taketh my life from me. I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my father. It sounds the first part of that verse sounds that he's doing it of and from himself. But he ends by saying no, I'm doing it in obedience to my Father's commandment.
Every ever since he took the place of subjection, and he exchanged the form of God for the form of a servant, he always obeyed his Father.
Never did anything from himself as the source. He was the obedient servant perfect in it.
And so he's going to be given everything.
He is the heir of all things. Everything will be placed under his authority, a man.
And we associated with Him in that coming glory as his sheep.
That was the division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings. And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad that I hear ye him. Others said, These are not the words of him that hath the devil. Can the devil open a devil? Open the eyes of the blind. 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 dost thou make us to 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. I never forget the time when.
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I asked the brother a question. He gave me the answer.
I asked him the same question the second time he gave me the answer. I asked him the same question the third time he gave me the answer.
I didn't like the answer I guess.
So I kept asking, thinking maybe he would change his answer, but he never did.
They didn't like the truth that the Lord was presenting to them. I told you already.
And ye believe not?
But she believed not. Because ye are not of my sheep. You see, all those sheep in that Jewish sheepfold weren't his. He went in there and he called their names his own. He called them out like Mary and all the rest. And he's called each one of us out. We're called the called ones. In Paul's epistles especially. He's called us out of darkness into his marvelous life, and we've come.
We hear his voice, and if you're, if you're a Christian, you've heard his voice and you know his voice.
And he's called you to himself. Verse 26 But she believed not. Because you are 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.
No man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand.
I and my father.
Are one. And when he makes that claim, that statement, the Jews took up stones to stone him.
He said for what good work that I have done be a stone me.
They say we don't stone you for a good work, but for blasphemy, because if thou being a man, make us thyself God.
I knew what he was claiming.
And they wouldn't have it.
And yet their own scriptures testify to the fact. In Psalm 23, it's Jehovah who is the sheep's shepherd.
In the other passages we read, it was David's son.
A man that was the shepherd.
Let's turn to the 21St chapter of John.
Now.
And he's the Good Shepherd, he's the great shepherd, he's the chief shepherd.
As the Good Shepherd, he died for our sins, as the Great Shepherd He lives on high as our intercessor to bring us through the wilderness. And as the Chief Shepherd He will reward the under shepherds that are serving as shepherds in his absence.
Who do you think he picked?
To be a shepherd.
In John 21.
So when they had dined.
Jesus saith to Simon Peter. Simon.
Son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? That's what Peter had said. Though I'll deny thee yet, will not I?
Yeah, Lord, he saith unto him. Yeah, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee.
He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.
The Lambs need to be fed.
First thing that.
A young 1 needs his food.
He saith unto him again the second time. Simon son of Jonas, lovest thou me?
He saith unto him, Yet Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, and that ought to read Shepherd my sheep. It's a different word. It's a fuller word than feed.
He said Shepherd, my sheep first feed my lambs.
And he says to Peter, Shepherd, my sheep.
He saith unto him, the third time, Simon son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved, because he said unto him, the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things, Thou knowest that I love thee.
Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep. There it's correctly rendered. Feed my sheep. Feed my lambs, Shepherd my sheep. Feed my sheep.
Well, we might not have chosen Peter.
He denied the Lord three times.
Had a tremendous fall.
And I find it very precious that the one that fell.
Denied him three times, did what he said he would never do.
Never do.
Never deny.
When he's restored.
The Lord commits to him.
Is she?
Very precious.
If he didn't do that.
If he didn't commit to us failures, for we're all failures like Peter.
We've all failed. There's not one in the room that hasn't failed.
There's only one man that was perfect.
That's our blessed Shepherd.
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Our Lord Jesus.
But he uses Peter now.
Be the shepherd of the sheep, of the lambs. Feed them.
And shepherd them.
And Peter talks about that in the.
First Epistle of Peter, chapter 5.
He's talking to the under shepherds.
Let's just read what he says to them. We know it well.
First Peter 5 verse one, the elders which are among you, I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed.
Feed the flock of God.
Which is among you?
Taking the oversight thereof.
Not by constraint.
But willingly, not for filthy lucre.
That's what the that's what Balaam did. The heir of Balaam.
He exercised his prophetic office for money.
And Jude says the heir of Balaam.
He ran greedily after the heir of Balaam. They did for reward. And Peter says not for filthy looker but of his ready mind. Neither us being Lords over God's heritage.
But being in samples to the flock.
The leadership.
That is necessary for a sheep when I'm not a shepherd. I don't have personal experience with UH.
Shepherding or feeding sheep. But I've talked to some that do and one thing they say you can't drive the sheep.
They won't be driven.
You can't whip them into obedience.
You have to lead them.
And that's what the Shepherd does. He leads them.
Paul speaks of himself in a similar way when he says you have many teachers but not very many fathers.
For in Christ Jesus I have begotten you. You are my children.
And they need to be handled very carefully and delicately.
Many of us who are fathers have to hang our heads in shame, I being one.
That is not always handled them.
Gently and delicately.
But I asserted my authority.
Well, it doesn't work with sheep.
It just doesn't work with sheep.
Not as being Lords over God's heritage, but being in samples to the flock.
The Lord was uncompromisingly severe with the hypocritical, self-righteous, self opinionated Pharisees.
That looked down their noses at everyone else and thought themselves superior.
You read Matthew 23.
Some of the most scathing pronouncements come from the Blessed Lord.
But we also read of him a bruised Reed. He would not break.
And smoking flax, he would not quench.
He handled those that were.
The the least in the flock.
With special care.
And Paul did the same we read in First Thessalonians 2, he says.
This man who was an insolent, overbearing man.
So the way he characterizes himself as Saul?
Sometimes I look back.
And wonder how?
The older brethren.
Could have tolerated me.
My legality.
My high opinion of myself.
And low opinion of others.
Nothing of Christ in that as being not as being Lords over God's heritage.
But in samples to the flock.
He says Paul says I was among you as a nurse. Cherisheth her children gentle.
And.
He had authority.
He exercised it, but he was very slow in exercising it.
With those Corinthians, they were his children.
He had begotten them and he was their Father, and he didn't want to come with a rod.
He didn't want to have to exercise his Apostolic authority, but he says.
I will do it.
I will do it if it's necessary.
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There were things there that needed to be corrected.
But he was slow.
And how slow our God is.
In exercising judgment.
I've often said if I had the control of things, I'd have wiped him out a long time ago. And when we make a statement like that, we don't realize maybe you'd be one of the first to be wiped out.
I remember two brothers were talking and one was talking about the salvation of of another and the first one said.
You mean he got saved?
Well, if he got saved, that had to be pure grace.
And how did you get saved, brother?
Pure grace.
You know we betray ourselves, don't we? In our just a statement we make.
In Matthew 18 they said to the Lord, who is the greatest in the Kingdom of him, tell us we want to be the greatest.
Right behind the question.
We want to be great, don't we? We want to be looked up to. We want to be somebody.
Something.
The Lord said, he that will be the greatest among you shall be the least.
Take the low place.
We don't know much about that. And again, I'm talking.
Not to you, but to my own heart, to my own conscience. And if it applies to you, accept it.
Because I know it does as in water phase answereth to face so the heart of man to man.
We're all pretty much made out of the same stuff.
Pride is the last thing to die in man.
And it's the most hateful to God of all our sins. Pride. And when the Chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.
Oh my, let's go back. I want to read. I don't want to comment much on it. I think it's it stands by itself. Turn back to Jeremiah 23.
I want to show you.
Just to read to you what God's assessment was of the shepherds of Israel.
Jeremiah 23 Woe be unto the pastors. That means a shepherd that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture, saith the Lord. Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel against the pastors, the shepherds that feed my people. Ye have scattered my flock and driven them away, and have not visited them. Behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the Lord. And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries, whether I have driven them and will bring them.
To their folds, and they shall be fruitful and increase. Then I will set up shepherds over them, which shall feed them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the Lord.
Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch in a king shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely, and this is his name, whereby he shall be called the Lord our righteousness.
No comment on that speaks for itself. Ezekiel 34.
Ezekiel 34 And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of Man, prophecy against the shepherds of Israel, prophecy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God unto the shepherds. Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves. Should not be shepherds feed the flocks, you eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool. Ye kill them that are fed, but ye feed not the flock.
The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed at which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost. But with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them. And they were scattered because there is no shepherd, and they became meat to all the beasts of the field when they were scattered.
My sheep wandered through all the the mountains and upon every.
Hill Yeah, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them. Therefore ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord as I live, saith the Lord God. Surely, because my flock became a prey, and my flock became meat to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherd search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves and fed not my flock. Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord.
Thus saith the Lord God.
Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my flock at their hand and cause them to cease from feeding the flock. Neither shall the shepherds feed themselves anymore, for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them. For thus saith the Lord God. Behold, I even I will both search my sheep and seek them out, as a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered.
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So will I seek out my sheep and will deliver them out of all places?
Where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country. And I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be. There shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture they shall feed upon the.
Mountains of Israel I will feed my flock and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God. Well I could, I could finish the chapter. I'll leave it up to you to do that.
It's God's indictment against the shepherds of Israel.
What about us? What about me?
What about us?
We need shepherds, beloved.
We need those that really care for the flock.
He gave some apostles and some prophets, and some evangelists and some pastors, some shepherds and teachers, for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.
Paul was a true shepherd. Peter was a true shepherd after he had fallen. And you may have fallen and you may have think you are useless in the Lord's service. No, you're not.
No matter how you've fallen.
He can pick you up and use you for blessing. Maybe you needed the fall to teach you what you really are in yourself. And that we have to learn because naturally speaking, we have high thoughts of self.
And low thoughts of others.
God can't use that.
So he humbles us.
He chastens us.
He deals with us the last verse in Hosea. We had that reading when I was in.
In Vancouver, WA.
And just in the middle of the verse it says.
The ways of the Lord are right.
The ways of the Lord are right. Don't ever question them, no matter how severe His hand is upon you, and His hand has been upon many of us very severely.
The ways of the Lord are right. He wants to use us.
He wants us to be in the right state of soul so he can use us.
For His glory.