Address—C. Hendricks
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Turn with me tonight to John's Gospel Chapter 10.
Verse one.
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.
Abundantly.
I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
But he that is in Harlingen, not the shepherd.
Whose own the sheep are not.
See if the wolf coming and leave us the sheep and flee us, and the wolf catcheth them and scattereth the sheep.
The hireling fleeth because he is in Harlingen 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.
And one shepherd.
You may have noticed if you were reading carefully with me that I made two changes.
I left out the word more in verse 10.
And I changed the word fold to flock.
In verse 16 at the end.
And we'll see why as we go through this very interesting portion of Scripture.
It's a dispensational picture that we have here.
The Lord in the first verse speaks of.
False Shepherd.
And he says he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold.
You might ask, what is the sheepfold? It's Israel.
Israel the sheepfold.
Is people of old.
And he entered and he speaks of those that didn't enter in by the door. That's the proper way of entrance. We all came into this building tonight. We entered in by the door. We didn't climb up through a window or come in down through the roof. We entered in by the door and there's a proper way of entrance into the sheepfold.
By the true shepherd of the sheep. And that was through the door.
But he speaks of those that didn't enter in by the door. They didn't come according to the Old Testament Scriptures. They they didn't answer to the time when the Messiah was to come and the way in which he was to come, the place in which he was to be born and how he was to be born and all of these details that's entering in by the door. The true Messiah had to come in according to the word of God.
And the Porter, the Spirit of God, opened the door, and as he came in amongst the people of Israel.
So he says he that entereth not by the door, and that the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same as the thief and the robber. There were false shepherds, that false messiahs that had come.
And they didn't enter according to the scriptures, they didn't meet the scriptures. In fact, if you would look at all of the Old Testament scriptures that were fulfilled at his first coming.
There's there's so many of them that the probability of that happening by anyone that wasn't the true shepherd is so infinitesimally small that it's a virtual impossibility.
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But he met every requirement. He met exactly the requirements. He entered the true Shepherd, as it says in verse 2, He that entereth in by the door.
Is the shepherd of the sheep. Now we read the word door here in verse one and two. That's the door of entrance into the sheepfold which is Israel. Now in this sheepfold he has sheep that are his and there were other sheep that were not his. For instance, he says.
In verse 26. But she believed not. He's speaking to the Pharisees. Because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you, They were Jews, they were in the sheepfold, but they were not his sheep.
So as he entered into that sheepfold, the Messiah, the true shepherd of the sheep, he found his sheep, and they heard his voice. But there were other sheep there that weren't his. They were Jews, all right. They could say we have Abraham for our Father, but they weren't his sheep. They'd never been born again. They'd never received by faith the Lord Jesus.
They hadn't come into the possession of life. They had no faith.
In the true Shepherd. But there were sheep there, Jewish sheep that were his and he.
Let's read about it. Verse 3. Now to him the Porter openeth. Remember when the Angel announced to Mary that she would have a son?
And she said, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man. And he said, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall over shadow thee. Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
To him the Porter openeth. He was born of the Spirit He came in. The Spirit was the begetter in that birth, and Mary was the one who conceived.
There was number human father, though he did have a human mother.
He was born into this world by the begetting power of the Holy Spirit.
To him the Porter openeth.
He was born at Bethlehem. Remember when they asked where the Christ should be born? The kings from the East?
In Bethlehem of Judea, For thus it is written, thou Bethlehem.
Ephrata, least among the cities of Judah. Out of these shall come forth he that is to be governor.
Whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
They knew the Scriptures all right, but they didn't know the Shepherd.
You know, that's so important. You might learn the scriptures as a young person, you might be taught them by your mother and father. The the most important question is, do you know the Shepherd? Do you know him?
My sheep hear my voice. Have you heard his voice? Have you ever heard his voice? Really. If so, then you're one of his sheep.
And they follow me. That's what's characteristic of a sheep of Christ. To him the Porter openeth.
And the sheep hear his voice. The Spirit of God was in every action and activity. In the event of the blessed Lord. He was justified in the Spirit. He was led of the Spirit. He was anointed of the Spirit. He was sealed of the Spirit. The Spirit of God was the one that drove him into the wilderness to be tempted.
Of the devil.
Always under the promptings and leadings of the Holy Spirit.
To him the Porter openeth.
And he also used John the Baptist to point him out. Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
And the sheep hear his voice. This is what is characteristic of a true sheep of Christ hearing the voice of the shepherd.
And he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. He knows each of you. If you're his, he knows your name. He calls you by name.
You are very personal to him and He loves each one of us individually, calls you by name. Now, so far in this chapter, it's all Jewish. He's he's entered the shepherd of the sheep. The Messiah has entered into the sheepfold, the nation of Israel. The sheepfold is an enclosure.
Here it's an enclosure with a fence around it and a gate, a door going in or a gate going in, and the sheep are kept together by that enclosure. It's a picture of Israel and Judaism to be separate from all the nations which were round about them.
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They were not to mingle with the Gentile nations round about. They were to be a separate people and to bear testimony to the true and living God in the midst of all the idolatry and the false gods that were worshipped by the nations round about.
And they their, their separation was maintained by a physical, geographical separation from the nation's roundabout. That's the way it was to be maintained. We know they failed in that separation, just as the church has failed in her separation.
But that was an enclosure.
And it was marked out. It was 1 nation under God. That's what Israel was.
This nation, I say, this nation, I'm in Canada now. I have to remember that I'm from the States. We often say the United States, a nation under God, but there's no such thing in this dispensation as a Christian nation like there was with Israel.
Christians are everywhere, interspersed in this world, among the ungodly and the unbelievers.
The separation of Christians is not by some physical setting them apart by some sheepfold, but.
By following the shepherd, that's what separates us, the unregenerate, the ungodly. They don't follow the shepherd, they don't know his voice. But the true sheep do. And what keeps the sheep of Christ together is following the shepherd. And the closer we are to the shepherd, the closer we are to one another.
The unity that we're going to be looking at that was established by the Lord's death and resurrection is something that is very different from what they had in the Old Testament.
The Old Testament, the question of being born of God, was never raised.
It's spoken of in the prophets, but it wasn't a requirement. You could be an Israelite and have all the access to all the blessings of an Israelite, whether you were born of God or not.
But if you're his sheep, you're born of God.
All his sheep have a new life. They hear his voice and they come to him.
Verse 5 says a stranger. Will they not follow?
But will flee from him, for they know not the voice of strangers.
Now this parable spake Jesus unto them, but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them. They didn't understand the significance of what he was saying.
The sheepfold. Is this real?
The true shepherd had to enter by the door, by the proper way of entrance. He had to fulfill in his coming all of the scriptures. He had to come according to the prophetic time clock of Daniel Chapter 9, the 70 week prophecy. He had to come at exactly the right time. He had to come to the very place.
Everything, all the machinery, had to be under. God moved in such a way so that he could come, and the Virgin had to be there to bear him. Not just any virgin, but the virgin.
And.
Had to be in the right town where he was born, the right place, the right conditions. The whole machinery of the Roman Empire had to move in such a way as to call for that census so that he would be born in Bethlehem.
The door he entered by the door.
Verse 7 Now then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.
Now, the word door is used here in an entirely different sense. He's the door of exit from the sheepfold.
The door of the sheep. He has his sheep in that sheepfold. Not all of the sheep in that sheepfold were his, but he's the door of exit. He went into the sheepfold to get his own sheep and to call them out and to lead them out.
So he says, I'm the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers. But the sheep did not hear them. There were false messiahs. Let's turn to Acts chapter 5 and we'll read of two of them.
Acts Chapter 5.
Verse 34.
Then stood there up one in the council, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a doctor of the Law, had in reputation among all the people, and commanded to put the apostles forth a little space, and said unto them, Ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what ye intend to do, as 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 were slain.
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As many as obeyed him were scattered and brought to naughty. Here was one of those false shepherds that came into the sheepfold and LED some Jews out. For a Jew to abandon Judaism to follow a false shepherd, was apostasy really apostasy from Judaism for a Jew to quit Judaism?
Without the true Shepherd, leading him out would have been apostasy.
And that's why the Epistle to the Hebrews was written, to tell those Jewish Christians whom God bore with for a long time.
To quit Judaism altogether, go forth unto him without the camp bearing his reproach.
In that setting, the camp is Judaism. Today the camp is Christendom. At least much of it has a Jewish flavor to it. All the characteristics of the Jewish camp are found in in Christendom. It's interesting since I've made this comment, it's interesting that in two of the addresses to the seven churches, Smyrna and Philadelphia, we have.
The the camp mentioned.
Not as such, but they're called those who say they are Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. That's really what the camp is.
And they're the ones that oppose the Philadelphian testimony, the truth of.
The heavenly calling of the church and all the blessings that we enjoy. Well, let's read out a little in Acts chapter 5.
Verse 37. After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him, he also perished, and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed.
And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, 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, ye cannot overthrow it, lest haply ye 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 cease not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.
Yes, if that new religion, as they called it, was of men, it would come to naughty, but if it was of God, nothing could stop it, and nothing has stopped it.
The power of the Gospel has been sounded forth now for 2000 years.
And millions have been brought in.
Well, there were those that he speaks of in verse 8, going back to John 10 again, All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers. We saw two of them mentioned in Acts 5. But the sheep, his sheep did not hear them.
And now he uses the word door in a third sense. She says I am the door by me if any man enter in this time, the door is the is the way of entry into the blessings of Christianity. Here's the picture. The shepherd of the sheep comes and enters by the sheepfold door into the sheepfold Judaism to lead his sheep out of Judaism into the blessedness of Christianity.
He is the door of the sheep as the door of exit from the sheepfold.
And now he's the door of entrance into the blessings of the new order of things. Notice how verse 9 reads. I am the door by me. If any man enter in, he shall be saved.
Saved. That's a word which is characteristically Christian. Saved. Clean. Delivered from the world and from the Prince and God of this world, and from all the power that stood against us. Saved.
He shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture. It's not a sheepfold any longer, it's not an enclosure any longer. It's not a place of constraint, but it's following the shepherd on the green pastures.
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Of the precious Word of God.
He should go in, in for worship, in for adoration and praise to the one who is worthy, and out for service, and then find pasture. Going in and out speaks of liberty. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, no confinement, but liberty to to go in and to go out.
That's Christianity.
Verse 10 Now the thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.
Whenever there's a work of the enemy, there is the attempt on the part of those that are being used by the enemy to steal away our blessings, to kill anything that is of God in an exercise that you might have, and to destroy the unity and the happiness and the joy of the Saints. This is what the thief does.
And then he says in contrast. But I am come.
That they might have life.
And that they might have it abundantly.
The Old Testament Saints had life. We have abundant life.
The reason I take the word more out, it's not that the Old Testament Saints had abundant life and we just have it more abundantly. That's not the thought they had life.
We have life in abundance. We have life in the fullness and power of the Holy Spirit. We have life in the full assurance of sins forgiven. We know God is our Father. The Spirit of God has taken his dwelling in our hearts. We are children of God. We cry ABBA Father. We're reconciled, we're justified. We're forgiven. We're brought into.
The the family of God.
And God is our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ calls us my brethren.
These are some of the blessings that go with this abundant life that we're brought into. And there are more.
I am come that they might have life and that they might have it 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.
See if the wolf coming and leave the sheep and fleeth.
And the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.
The hireling fleeth because he is in harling, and careth not for the sheep.
I am the Good Shepherd.
And know my sheep and have known of mine.
As the Father knoweth me.
Even so, know I the Father.
Those two verses 14 and 15, rather than having a period at the end of the 14th verse.
It should have a comma.
He says I am the Good Shepherd and know my sheep, and am known of mine, even as the Father knoweth me.
And I know the father. It's a tremendous statement.
And I laid down my life for the sheep. That is, there is an intimacy of knowledge on our part of him and on his part of us.
And intimacy is so precious that he compares it with.
Even as I know the father.
Even as the Father knoweth me, and I know the Father.
Wonderful. It's a statement that is, that is so.
Immense that it's.
Hard to grasp, but the Spirit of God can can open it up to you. Read those two verses in the new translation once.
Now, up to this point in the chapter.
The Lord has spoken of his Jewish sheep altogether his Jewish sheep.
But now he expands.
Because Christianity is not just Judaism.
It's not Judaism at all. It's not just the Jewish people or the Israelites.
It's all peoples. It's the world that the gospel goes out to, to bring souls in from every tribe and people and nation and tone.
And so he says other sheep, verse 16 I have, which are not of this fold, this Jewish sheepfold. These aren't Jews, these aren't Israelites. There are other sheep he's got outside of that enclosure we call Judaism.
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Them also I must bring these are gentiles.
Those of us who have believed the gospel in this present day, I don't believe there are any that were Jewish here. I don't know you all that well, but I think you are probably all Gentiles. And so here we are in this verse. 16 other sheep I have which are not of this fold.
This Jewish sheepfold them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be 1 flock.
Why they rendered that fold, I don't know. It completely destroys the sense of the verse.
One flock.
Christianity is a flock following a shepherd, not a fold anymore. We're not a fold.
That speaks of Judaism. It's interesting that the English translation that preceded the King James the Bishop's Bible. I may be wrong in that, but whatever it was, which one preceded it had it right one flock. Why they changed it, I don't know.
There shall be 1 flock.
And one shepherd, Now that's the truth of Christianity.
One flock following the one shepherd.
How many flocks? Just one.
One flock composed of Jew and Gentile.
Now we don't get the one body of Christ in John's ministry that Paul brings out, but here we get the one flock, the one flock following the one shepherd.
There shall be 1 flock, 1 shepherd.
And then he goes on to say, Therefore doth my father love me?
A striking statement.
Immediately you would say, doesn't he? Didn't he always love him? Yes, he did.
But here is a fresh motive for the father to love his son, his son in manhood.
He says, therefore doth my father love me because I laid down my life, that I might take it again. He lay his life down in loving devotedness to his father, and in love for you and me, that he might bring us into this one flock.
No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself.
Sometimes people speak of the Lord's.
Death as he died as a martyr.
According to this verse, he didn't die as a martyr.
No one could take his life from him.
Peter does speak in that line when he.
Talks to the Jews and says that they killed the Prince of Life.
And desire to and murdered him.
But.
They couldn't touch him.
If he did not allow it, so he says, no man taketh it from me.
I lay it down of myself.
I have power to lay it down.
And I have power to take it again.
And then the capstone of that verse, the choicest part, is the last sentence.
This commandment have I received of my Father. He did it not just as a divine person, which He had the authority to do, but He did it in subjection to the commandment of the Father.
He laid his life down in obedience to the Father, and therefore he starts out the verse. Therefore doth my Father love me?
Father found fresh love, if I could put it that way, a new motive to love his son.
In viewing him in loving obedience and devotedness, laying his life down.
Well, 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 Jerusalem, the feast of the dedication.
And it was winter.
And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch.
And 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 he 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.
And now we have some very, very precious words, verses that the Lord uttered.
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My sheep hear my voice.
And I know them.
And they follow me.
It's wonderful to realize that He knows us.
That's more important than that. We know him.
But he says, I know my sheep. He knows everyone of them. Not one of them will be lost. He knows each one.
And they follow me. This is what is characteristic of a sheep of Christ.
We hear his voice.
He knows us.
And we follow him.
And I give unto them eternal life. Now that's this abundant life that he's been speaking about in verse 10, eternal life.
Life in all the fullness and blessedness.
Of.
The redemption that he has wrought.
He tells us in John 17.
This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom now has sent.
The knowledge of the Father and the Son.
Is what eternal life?
Is characteristic of.
They didn't have that knowledge in the Old Testament.
Want to make this statement?
The life that is given when a soul is born again.
Is the same life in this dispensation as it was in the Old Testament?
Its divine life.
The life of the Sun.
But in the Old Testament, they didn't have that life.
And in the conscious knowledge of redemption being accomplished.
They could not cry. ABBA father.
They did not have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
They did not know their sins were forgiven.
They could not say that they were reconciled. All of these are truths that flow from his death and resurrection.
They didn't have resurrection life in the sense that we have.
They had the life.
But the life in the conditions.
That we have.
Is what is here called in John's ministry? In John's ministry eternal life?
The abundant life.
Life in the fullness and power of the Spirit of God Romans 8 verse 2 Says for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
Has set me free from the law of sin and death.
The law of the spirit of life.
In John 20.
The Lord breathed upon the disciples the breath of His resurrection life.
And said, receive you Holy Holy Ghost.
That's abundant life.
That's something more than they had in the Old Testament.
But when they were born again.
And not all Israelites were born again, only those that were his sheep.
Only those that had faith in him could be spoken of as born again.
And that's true today.
But Christendom has gotten used to, and we have two using the term born again as though that's the sum total of all the blessings that we have. And it's not. It's just the beginning.
Just the beginning.
It's the most basic and fundamental of all our blessings.
It's true that everyone must be born again or he cannot see nor enter the Kingdom of God.
That's absolutely essential. We must have divine life.
But that's just the beginning.
To get to give a thought that might help you to seize the difference between being born again and having eternal life.
Think of it this way, we need to be born again.
We receive eternal life by faith in Christ.
He is in his own person, eternal life.
Did he need to be born again? No, of course not.
That would be blasphemy.
You can see the difference in new birth being born again.
It doesn't apply to him.
But He is that eternal life, and we have it in Him.
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Whereas we need to be born again because we're sinners. He was not.
So there's a definite distinction.
And I don't think I'm doing well at making it between new birth and eternal life.
Well, let's.
He says in verse 28, I give unto them eternal life. It doesn't mean just young people. It doesn't mean a life that goes on and on and on and on and on and will continue for all eternity. It doesn't mean that it's a life that had no beginning and no ending. It's the life of the Son of God.
He is the true God and eternal life. First John 520.
He is the true God and eternal life. He is in His own person. The life was manifested and we have seen it. And bear witness and declare unto you that eternal life that was with the Father and was manifested to us.
So when you have the son, you have the life.
He is the life.
That's quite.
A much fuller expression than just new birth.
I give unto them eternal life.
It's a quality of life.
That was not known in the Old Testament.
And they shall never perish.
Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
Eternal life.
Of course it goes on forever, but it's far more than that.
They shall never perish.
Absolute certainty of being his, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
We're held in the hand of Christ as secure.
And then he says, my Father, which gave them me, is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand, held in the powerful hand of the Son and of the Father. Eternal security. Well, you've heard that many times, and I and my Father are one.
Turn back to John 3 for a moment, just to make these distinctions a little more clear.
In John chapter 3.
There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher, come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest except God be with him.
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man, be born again.
He cannot see the Kingdom of God.
This is the most essential truth we have. Very basic.
Without the new birth, 1 cannot see the Kingdom of God.
Much less enter it. Can't even see it.
Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's woman be born, not entering it all into the force of the Lord's words? He was Speaking of a spiritual birth, not another physical birth.
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water. Water is the symbol of the word.
As Peter tells us, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but an incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.
The word of God is presented to a soul, and the Spirit of God working in that soul causes that soul to believe that word and at that instant.
Imparts life and the soul is born of God.
Life and faith come at the same instant.
In fact.
In John 525.
We'll just call your attention to it.
John, 525.
The Lord says, Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming.
And now he is.
When the dead.
That is the spiritually dead.
Shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live.
If there is an order.
According to this verse, the hearing precedes the living.
But I believe they coalesce in one event, human language.
Is.
Fails us here. We do not understand.
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The the all that is involved in the new birth.
But no one was ever born again without faith.
Faith.
In the word of God.
That's how we're born again by the word of truth.
James tells us that.
And here we have it.
In verse 5 of John 3. Except a man be born of water, that's the word.
And of the Spirit, Spirit of God, using the Word of God to impart and produce faith and life at the same time in a soul.
He cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh.
And that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.
The flesh.
By itself will never receive.
The Lord.
There must be the work of the Spirit of God and the voice of the Son of God.
Who can make his voice heard in the soul of a dead Sinner?
And he that hears shall live. John 525.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh. You can educate it, you can train it. You can cultivate it. You can.
Promoted in every way.
And it's still flesh.
You can flog the body, You can discipline yourself, You can deny yourself.
And it's still flesh. No matter what you do. That which is born of the flesh partakes of the nature of the Source. Flesh produces flesh.
And that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.
Partakes of the nature of the Source, The Spirit of God communicating a life to a dead Sinner.
And faith.
Faith is the gift of God, just as life is.
That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.
The nature of the new nature, the nature of it, is spirit.
Comes from the Holy Spirit.
Marvel not that I said unto thee, You must be born again.
It's one of the musts of Scripture. Absolutely essential.
The wind bloweth where it listeth, and now hearest the sound thereof. But canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth? So is everyone that is born of the Spirit.
Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?
Jesus answered and said unto him, Art, tell a master of Israel, and knowest not these things.
He should have known about the new birth.
The Old Testament scriptures spoke of it, spoke of sprinkling water upon them, and they should be clean, the water of the Word.
And now notice verse 11. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, we speak, that we do know.
The we who is the We Divine Persons, Father and the Son Holy Spirit.
We speak that we do know and testify that we have seen.
And you receive not our witness. Now he changes back to the singular If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things? Oh, now he's going to tell them the heavenly things.
Eternal life has to do with heavenly things being born again.
Which he should have understood has to do with earthly things. Just to enter the earthly Kingdom one has to be born again. But now he's going to tell them of something more than just being born again.
No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven. Even the Son of Man, which is in heaven. Now this that he's going to speak of is connected with the Son of Man coming down, the Lord of glory coming down into this world. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, Even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. That was the cross.
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life, doesn't say be born again.
Now. Now he's going. Now he's advancing to what he calls heavenly truth.
Heavenly things.
This is what is characteristic. This connects with John 10. The being born again connects with the sheep, and the sheepfold is the sheep that he's brought out and brought in. I'm come that they might have life and that they might have it abundantly. The abundant life, life and the fullness and power of the Spirit. Life in the conscious sense and enjoyment of sins forgiven.
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Of an established eternal relationship between US and God as our Father.
The Lord Jesus calling us my brethren.
Telling us, go to my Father and your father, my God and your God.
So that all the epistles, not all of them but some of them addressed, are addressed to blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. You don't have anything like that in the Old Testament.
They didn't have that knowledge. The work of redemption was not yet accomplished.
So this now flows from an accomplished redemption.
As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, Even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life, the very life of the Son.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. Again says everlasting life, but it's it's really eternal life.
The English word everlasting means from now on.
But the word eternal means from now on and forever in the past. No beginning, no end. Eternal. That's the life that we have, the life of God.
The son has been communicated to us that we might know and enjoy all the things that he has for us.
And we have the power of the Spirit.
God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. Notice how the word saved is applied. I remember when I was first saved.
I went where?
I talked to a young lady that was my sister's friend. She was a Methodist.
And she said to me, she said you're always talking about being saved.
She said. We don't talk like that in our church.
So I said, well, let me show you a few passage and I just.
Reeled off.
Passage after passage after passage that spoke about being saved, being saved.
And she just said, well.
I never knew there was so much about being saved in the Bible.
It's amazing. What do they teach them in these places?
What do they teach them?
What do they talk about all this time?
These are the things we ought to be talking about.
These are the things to which are really ours.
These are the eternal riches that we have in Christ, eternal life, the life of God Himself, the Son.
Has been communicated to us by the Spirit of God.
Who also has taken up his abode in our bodies.
To be the power of that life.
And the source of enjoyment of all that that he has won for us.
That he might be saved.
He that believeth on him is not condemned.
That he that believeth not is condemned already.
You don't have to wait.
If you don't have faith tonight, you don't have to wait to see if the sentence of condemnation will be pronounced upon you.
At the judgment seat, it's already been pronounced. If you don't believe, you're condemned already.
The greatest sin, The greatest sin that man can commit.
Now that the Son of God has come.
And has died and shed his precious blood, and has risen again.
And is seated at the right hand of God the greatest sin that you can commit.
Is the sin of unbelieving unbelief.
And not receiving him, not bowing to him, not submitting to him.
Treating his coming into the world as though it was of no consequence for your life.
Once you receive him, your whole life ought to change entirely.
You now are a different person. You have a new life.
And you have the Spirit of God.
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The Spirit of Christ dwelling in you.
The spirit of life.
You have the abundant life.
Fullness of it.
God has nothing more than he can give to a creature. He's exhausted himself, if I can put it that way.
In Blessings.
He's given us all the fullness of his heart.
And if God hasn't won your heart.
Can't do anymore to win it.
Can't do another thing to win it.
He's done everything.
He that believeth on him is not condemned.
But he that believeth not is already condemned.
Because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
To reject him.
The only begotten Son of God.
Is the most despicable thing that you can do.
Nothing worse.
And this is the condemnation.
That light has come into the world. The light of God has come into the world.
And men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.
They love darkness. Think of it, loving darkness. Have you ever taken a rock kids? Have you ever taken a rock and and flipped it over at all? These little creatures, creatures of darkness, go scattering in every direction. They love the darkness. They don't want the light and when the light comes upon them they just scatter till they can get into another dark place.
That's what you're like if you.
Hate Delight.
Light has come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.
We're at the end of this dispensation. Christendom has had the light of the gospel for 2000 years and man is saying we don't want it. We don't want it.
They love darkness.
They're under the power of darkness.
They're under the Prince.
Of the power of the air.
Power of darkness.
Paul was given the gospel to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God.
Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light, who has delivered us from the power of darkness, and translated us into the Kingdom of the Son of His love.
Everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be shown as they are reproved, shown as they are exposed for their true character.
But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
Well, he came.
That we might have life and that we might have it abundantly.
What a wonderful blessing is ours.
In Christianity now we follow the shepherd.
And the closer we are to the Shepherd, the closer we'll be to one another. Let us keep.
Near to him.