THE GOOD SHEPHERD - Pastor Josiah Shipley - SMSS

Whitten Baptist Church

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I'm going to be mostly in Psalm 23 and John 10 today, but I want to do something a little different.

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If you would, please start with me in Isaiah chapter 40. I did not plan on doing this part, but after that last one,

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I'm just going to show you something. Isaiah chapter 40, verse 3. A voice cries out in the wilderness, prepare a way of the

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Lord. Make straight a highway in the desert for our God. You may recognize that.

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It is quoted in all four Gospels. Do you remember this? Who is that prophecy about?

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Who is the one in the wilderness calling out, preparing the way of the Lord? Do you remember? John the

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Baptist. It's quoted in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. This prophecy is about John the

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Baptist, 700 years before he was born. A voice cries out in the wilderness, prepare the way of the

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Lord. You look down at your Bibles, and I bet almost all of your Bibles have the word

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LORD in all capital letters, doesn't it? Capital L, capital O, capital

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R, and capital D. I'm willing to bet probably every Bible in this room has that. That is not a typo.

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When you see the word LORD in all capital letters in the

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Old Testament, you know what that is? That is the translator's way of telling you in Hebrew, of course the original language, that the personal name of God was used right there.

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Yahweh, or Jehovah, either way is fine. In fact, when you say Hallelujah, you are saying the personal name of God, Yahweh.

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It means I am. This is what God revealed His name to be to Moses.

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I'm pointing that out to you because it says prepare the way of Yahweh, not just any

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God, our God. John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus.

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And this passage is quoted, prepare the way of the

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Lord, Yahweh, in association with Jesus Christ. Now how cool is that?

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You see, Jesus Christ is not merely an angel sent from God, He is the incarnate

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God in the flesh. I thought that was pretty cool, I just had to show you that.

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Now, our main text today will be Psalm 23, you can go ahead and turn there. Psalm chapter 23. A couple weeks ago we talked about pastorship and how the word pastor, poymen, literally means shepherd.

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That's what it means. We went over that a couple weeks ago. Today, we're going to talk about what the scripture calls the great shepherd, the chief shepherd, the good shepherd.

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And that's God. God has left His church for the time being in the hands of shepherds of His flock, but He still remains the good shepherd.

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Psalm 23. The LORD, you see that all caps again?

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Yahweh is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside still waters.

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He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His namesake.

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And though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.

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Your rod and your staff comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

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You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows. Surely, goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the

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LORD forever. A few things here. We're going to stay here, and then we're going to go to John 10.

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The LORD, Yahweh, that personal name of God, is my shepherd. He's my shepherd.

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I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters, and He restores my soul.

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He leads me down the paths of righteousness for His namesake.

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For His namesake. Please notice, guys, even as a believer, as a sheep of God, you still need

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God. Ladies and gentlemen, God's grace did not stop at your conversion.

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That was the first time you ever saw it. He's still leading you down the paths of righteousness.

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You cannot serve God without God. You cannot.

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It has been given to you on Christ's behalf, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for Him. He who started the good work in you will carry it on to completion.

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You know why? Because if He didn't, you would have forsaken Him a long time ago. A long time ago.

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Check this out. Even if I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for you are with me.

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Your rod and your staff, they both comfort me. One used for protection, one used for correction.

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And yet, they're both seen as comfort. I just want to, real quick, you don't have to turn there with me, quote a passage from Proverbs 3.

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It's quoted in the book of Hebrews. Proverbs 3, 11.

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My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline, or be weary of His reproof, because the

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Lord disciplines those He loves. Sorry.

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You ever felt the discipline of God? If you haven't, I pity you. I pity you.

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Because He disciplines those He loves. It's amazing. When I discipline

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Ava, she'll go cry, and she'll come back, and who's the one she wants to comfort her?

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The same one who disciplined her, right? The same is true of us and God, is it not? The same is true of us and God.

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You see, His discipline is for our benefit. And He disciplines the ones

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He loves. He loves. He leads me down the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.

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His rod and His staff comfort me. Check this out. In the presence of my enemies,

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He sets a table before me. You're chowing down while He's fighting your battles for you.

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In the presence of your enemies, He anoints your head with oil, your cup overflows.

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Surely, goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life.

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And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Has God ever told a lie?

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So if He says you will dwell in the house of the Lord, what's going to happen? One more thing here, guys.

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When the sheep go astray, as we're about to read in John chapter 10, sometimes it's because of listening to the voice of a stranger.

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But that is not the most dangerous thing for a sheep. You know what the most dangerous thing for a sheep is?

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The sheep. Themselves. Isaiah 53, verse 6 says this,

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All we like sheep have gone astray. Now what do you think the Bible means when it says all? All?

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All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone... Listen. This is the marked factor that someone has turned away from God.

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Not that they've turned towards Satan or practiced witchcraft. All we like sheep have gone astray.

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We have turned every one of us to His own way. That's the dangerous part.

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Is that the sheep have turned to their own way. You know why that's dangerous?

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The book of Jeremiah tells us that the heart is desperately wicked and incurable.

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Ephesians chapter 2 says, Every one of us, including myself, before Jesus Christ, walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler, who exercised the authority of the lower heavens.

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Satan. By doing what is natural to us, we do what is opposed to God.

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Do you know that? Have you ever had someone tell you to follow your heart? Ladies and gentlemen, that's the problem.

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That's the problem. We all have turned to our own way. All of us.

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That is why the shepherd needs a rod and a staff to protect us from the wolves and to protect us from ourselves.

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And he will accomplish what he started because the end says that I will dwell in the house of the

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Lord all the days of my life. One more passage like this. John chapter 10.

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John chapter 10 if you would please. Okay.

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Now, Jesus has made some people upset here in John chapter 10.

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Surprise, right? Let's read what he has to say.

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Start in verse 1 of John chapter 10. Truly, truly, I say to you, He who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber.

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But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens, the sheep hear his voice, he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out, when he has brought out all his own.

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He goes before them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. A stranger's voice they will not follow.

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They will flee from him because they don't know the voice of a stranger. It's ironic.

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The unbelievers listening to him, it says, did not understand what he had to say. Why don't you check this out real quick.

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The sheep hear his voice, he calls his own sheep by name, and he leads them out.

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Mercedes, I call her Rolls Royce, because I think she's worth more than a Mercedes, told me a story last week.

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She said I could share this with you guys. At some point last year, before Mercedes was converted,

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Brother Jeff gave her an assignment, that he's probably given half the people in this room, to read Ephesians chapter 1.

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She went home and read it, and said she understood none of it.

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Closed her Bible frustrated, understood none of it. A few weeks or months later,

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Mercedes got saved. She opened up Ephesians chapter 1, no one else was there.

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She took out her pen and her paper, and read and understood. Now what happened between those two events?

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Mercedes didn't take a reading class. Mercedes IQ didn't jump 50 points.

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Mercedes didn't go to college. You know what happened between that point, and that others? Verse 3.

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The sheep hear His voice, and He calls them out by name. Jesus called

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His daughter Mercedes, and said you're mine. That's what happened. The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those of us who are being saved, it's

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God's power. Lest we forget, that was every one of us at one point.

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Keep reading. Down in, let's see, I am in verse 14.

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I am the good shepherd. Now hold on. Did we not just read in Psalm 23? I thought the

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Lord was the shepherd. That's right.

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You know why? Because Jesus Christ is not just an angel, He's not just a prophet, He's not just a man.

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He's the living God. I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me.

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Remember Matthew 7? Many will come on that day saying, Lord, Lord.

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What does He say to them? Depart from me worker of iniquity, because I never knew you.

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I know my own, and my own know me. Verse 15.

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Just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. That's how

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He knows us guys. Just as the Father knows Him, and He knows the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep.

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I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice, so there will be one flock, one shepherd.

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For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it up again.

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Very interesting. The New Testament often speaks of God raising Jesus from the dead. Here it says

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Jesus raises Himself from the dead. You know why? Because Jesus is God. Have we gotten that yet? Verse 18.

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No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down on my own accord.

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I have the authority to lay it down, and I have the authority to take it up again. This charge

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I receive from my Father. Whew! Okay.

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Skip on down. Shocker. The Jews did not believe. Verse 26.

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Jesus says, You don't believe Me, because you are not among My sheep. This has nothing to do with intelligence.

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This has nothing to do with spirituality. Has nothing to do with any of that. They did not believe in Jesus Christ.

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Verse 27. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. Now check this out.

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Verse 28. I give them eternal life. What does the word eternal mean?

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Eternal life. Has Jesus ever told a lie? If someone had eternal life, and then later didn't, could it have been called eternal?

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It would have been life for 10 years, or 15 years, or 20 years. But if it's eternal life, doesn't eternal mean eternal?

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I give them eternal life, and they will never perish.

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And no one will snatch them out of My hand. We're in the hand of Jesus, the

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Good Shepherd, right? Now watch this. Verse 29. My Father who has given them to Me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the

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Father's hand. Now are we in the Son's hand or the Father's hand? Verse 30.

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I and the Father are one. At that, verse 31, the

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Jews picked up stones to stone Him. Jesus said,

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I've shown you many good works from the Father. Which one are you going to stone Me for? Verse 33.

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The Jews answered Him, It's not for a good work that we're going to stone You, but for blasphemy, because You, being a man, make

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Yourself God. Ladies and gentlemen, they knew the passages of the

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Old Testament He was referring to. And when He said, I and the Father are one, they knew exactly what

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He was getting at. We don't have time to go into it today. But later on, write it down for later.

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Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 4 through 8 I think it is. Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 4 through 8.

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It's called the Shema. It means here. Here over Israel the

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Lord is one. When you read that, you'll understand what Jesus was getting at here. Okay.

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I want you all to think about this. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to His own way.

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And Isaiah 53 says, So the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

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So we all like sheep have gone astray. Our own way is the most dangerous. Which is why

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Proverbs 3, 5, and 6 says, Trust Him, O Lord, with all your heart, and lean not to your own understanding in all your ways.

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Acknowledge Him and He will direct your path. What does the Bible mean when it says all? We want it to mean all in some verses.

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We don't always want it to mean all in every verse. But when it says in all your ways, you know what that means? All. Acknowledge Him as Lord and He will direct your path.

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Ladies and gentlemen, the shepherd is a good shepherd, but He is a jealous shepherd. His sheep will hear

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His voice. A voice of a stranger they will not follow. It's all your ways or none of your ways.

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You know the beautiful thing about it though? Is you have never surprised

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God when you did go astray. You can go read about it for yourself in Luke 22.

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Before Peter, Sorry guys. Hello. Before Peter denied

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Jesus, Peter swore that he would never leave Jesus. In Luke 22,

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Jesus looks at him and says, Satan desires to sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith won't fail.

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And when you return, strengthen your brothers.

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You know what real forgiveness is? Real forgiveness is not forgetting.

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Real forgiveness is remembering and not holding it against them. In the mind of Jesus, Peter had already betrayed

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Him. The next time Jesus saw Peter, He didn't say,

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I told you so. He didn't even bring it back up. He said,

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Peter do you love me? Shepherd my sheep. You see the way

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Peter would show Jesus that he loved Him was by obeying Him.

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Let me say that again, and I'm speaking to everyone including myself. The way Peter would show

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Jesus that he really loved Him would be obeying Him. Did Jesus not say the same thing in John 14?

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If you love me, you'll keep my commandments. Ladies and gentlemen, there is no better way to show

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Jesus that you love Him than to obey Him. Miss Cindy and I were talking last week about this.

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1 Samuel 15. I think I've spoken of this before. Jesus told, you can go read it, write it down for later.

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1 Samuel 15 .22 Jesus told

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King Saul to go into the city, conquer it, and take nothing.

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The soldiers brought back cattle in direct disobedience.

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Jesus approached Saul, the king, and said, why have you sinned against me?

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And then Saul has a better excuse than you and I are ever going to have for sin. He said, yes

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Lord, they did take the cattle so they can offer sacrifices to You. I don't think any of us will ever have a better excuse than that for sin.

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We have way more childish excuses, right? Because I felt like it, or whatever. And then the

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Lord says to Saul, do you really think I desire sacrifice more than obedience?

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To obey is better than sacrifice. In John 10 it says, verse 27, my sheep hear my voice and I know

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Him and they follow me. If you want to show you love Jesus, follow.

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And when you don't understand, you follow. And when you're trying to figure out what to do, you follow.

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And when you don't feel like it, you follow. And when someone else asks you what they should do, you tell them to follow.

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That's what loving Jesus is. Isn't it ironic? It says,

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I lay down my life for the sheep. The great shepherd had to become a lamb to sacrifice himself for the other sheep.

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The Lamb of God, right? He became a lamb and was sacrificed for His sheep.

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The beautiful thing about it is they were already His sheep before they even realized it.

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Look again. He's speaking to the Jews, but He wants them to understand this is not just for them.

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Verse 16, and I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also.

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They'll listen to my voice and there will be one flock and one shepherd. They're not even saved yet, but they're already

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His sheep. He already knows them by name. They're already in His hand.

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Mercedes, like the rest of us, but since we used her example earlier, did not earn her way to becoming a child of God and one of His sheep last year.

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Because that grace was shown before He ever said, let there be. Mercedes realized that in 2019, but the good shepherd knew that before he even created the world.

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Verse 27, my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish.

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No one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all.

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No one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the

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Father are one. Sometimes, it's difficult to obey.

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The thing that has always helped me the most, and maybe this will help you too, is every time

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I struggle to obey God, I remember who I am and who

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He is. I think a constant reminder of who God is in comparison to who you are will put things in perspective.

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A constant reminder that we all have gone astray and that the good shepherd is

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God. He said, let there be. He created the world.

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Think about this. Let me just go on a side note for a second. Do you remember when

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He calmed the storm? You ever thought about the fact that was not the first time

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He spoke to that water and that wind? That wasn't the first time He spoke to them.

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He spoke to them several thousand years before that and said, come, let there be.

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And if you want to think about it this way, the wind and the waves remembered the voice of their

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Creator and obeyed. Well, if any man be in Christ, He is a new creation.

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You see, 2 Corinthians 4 -6 said, the God who said, let there be light, has shown that light in our hearts to give us knowledge of the glory of the revelation of Jesus Christ.

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So in the same way as the rest of creation obeys its Creator, so should we. And for us believers out there, you are a new spiritual creature.

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You are given a new heart and a new spirit. So obey your Creator in that sense. Ready? I love you guys.

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Let's pray. Father God, thank You for all You've given us. Forgive us where we fail.

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God, let every thought we have, let every action, let every desire, every motive be turned to You.

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And every day, let every one of us decrease a little more so You can increase. Thank You God for all