John, pt. 64 | John 10:11-21

All right, you will at this time take your copy of the scriptures and turn with me to the gospel of John we're going to consider verses 11 through 21 the gospel of John chapter 10 11 through 21

This will be our fifth message in John chapter 10. This is our 64th message in the gospel of John John chapter 10 verses 11 through 21

Allow me to open in prayer gracious God father son and Holy Spirit Lord, thank you for your word

Thank you that you have allowed me to stand before your people today

What I pray that I am able to articulate well this message

I Solely rely upon you Oh Lord to Call to my mind the things in which

I have learned Please in the name of Jesus the Christ Use me this day

As well as all faithful ministers throughout this world to feed

Your sheep in Jesus name we pray Amen All right, let's begin with the text

John chapter 10 Beginning in verse 11. We'll read to verse 21

Jesus speaking I am the Good Shepherd The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep

He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd who does not own the sheep

Sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and fleas and The wolf snatches them and scatters them

He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep

I am the Good Shepherd and I know my own and my own know me

Just as the father knows me and I know the father I lay down my life

For the sheep I have other sheep that are not of this boat.

I must bring them also and They will listen to my voice.

So there will be one flock one shepherd For this reason the father loves me because I lay down my life

That I may take it up again No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on My own accord

I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it up again this charge

I received from my father There again a division among the

Jews because of these words There was again, excuse me. There was again a division among the

Jews because of these words many of them said He has a demon and is insane why listen to him others said

These are not the words of a man who is possessed by a demon can a demon open the eyes of the blind

Our theme for this Lord's Day is the work of the Good Shepherd The work of the

Good Shepherd and my proposition that which I aim to prove is this

It is only through the work of the Good Shepherd that we have been made his sheep

If you are his sheep, it is because of the work done by Christ It is not by your own efforts.

You do not make yourself his sheep The question is are you his sheep?

Have you heard the voice of Jesus and the proclamation of the gospel and have you followed him?

Ladies and gentlemen, this is a serious question I say this quite often as I'm on the streets witnessing that there's nothing more important than where you will spend eternity yesterday,

I was witnessing and I Was brought to mind James where James says that this life is but a mess.

It's a vapor and I pointed to the people and said if you're Boiling something or you're boiling water, you know, don't make a habit of watching water bowl like that just takes forever, right?

But if you walk into the kitchen and you see water bowl and you see the steam coming off of the pot that steam only goes

So high until you cannot see the steam no more and James tells us that is our life

And there's some infants who are born dead and there's some babies who die in infancy

There's you know little children die teenagers die young adults die people in their 30s die so on and so forth and you can even make it to be a hundred or even past that Everyone dies and the

Bible says that that is but a miss it's a vapor and it's fat and it's passing away It's here for a little time but eternity

Time after this is what we need to consider in this life

If you have followed him your assurance and salvation is found in Christ And if you have not followed him you have no assurance

If you're in Christ when you die You have assurance by the death burial and life death burial resurrection of Jesus Christ that your faith is in him

You will be with him If in this life you have not faith and you pass my dear friends there is no

Assurance, there's no assurance and in our outline. We're going to see the work of the

Good Shepherd in three aspects We're going to see his work on the cross his work in his death and His work in his resurrection.

So point number one His work on the cross point number two his work in his death and point number three his work in his resurrection

And as we transition, let's all remember What has taken place here?

Everything that has taken place here is because Jesus is a godly troublemaker

He's a godly troublemaker one of the

Old Testament Messianic promises of the Messiah is that he Was going to heal the eyes of the blind and we see that in chapter 9 of John how

John? Heals the eyes of a man born blind now. I would say that this is speaking physically as well as Spiritually, especially as you walk through this chapter

John chapter 9 Jesus comes across a man who was born blind Born blind from birth and I can just imagine

Jesus looking at Peter and said hey Peter hold my wine Hold you've heard that before right?

Some people say here hold my beer. That's what we say today They may have beer in a time of Christ.

So Imagine Jesus saying here hold my wine. I'm gonna go stir up some trouble

Right these religious Jews. They have made the Sabbath. They turned the Sabbath into something that it was not for As a matter of fact, the

Sabbath was the sign of the Mosaic Covenant Jesus had fulfilled the

Mosaic Covenant at his baptism. His baptism was to fulfill all righteousness

Christ had already kept the law. He had fulfilled the law.

He has served the purpose for which it was sent forth And he looks to Peter and he says hold my wine

Jesus heals the man by Anointing the man's eyes with mud. So Jesus spits on the ground and this is a

Sabbath day He spits on the ground and he takes his hand probably and he swirls it around me

He takes with his saliva and the dirt and he makes mud and he puts it on the man's eyes

And he tells him to go and wash in the pool of Siloam The religious leaders the

Pharisees denied this healing that took place They deny that Jesus performed this healing and they deny that Jesus was from God And in chapter 9 verse 41 through chapter 10 1 through 18

Jesus is responding to a question raised by the Pharisees in verse 40, which they ask are we also

Blind because Jesus said that for judgment that he came into this world that those who do not see may

See and those who see may become blind

They were thinking Physical blindness. Are we also blind

Jesus? We see you clearly we see you perfectly we can describe you we see you so well

And yet they're Looking at things that are physical and all throughout this gospel

Jesus has been using the the physical things to explain to us the heavenly things and yes,

Jesus came to make physically blind man see but also Spiritually blind man see and for those who think that they're righteous in and of themselves through the law

He came to make them spiritually blind Bible tells us that Christ did not come for the righteous those who think they can obtain righteousness by law -keeping but he came for tax collectors and Modern day we would say that he came for pimps and prostitutes

Jesus came for the low of the lows. He came for those that know They need a

Savior Doesn't matter if you're rich and poor Does not matter if you know that you are broken my dear friends

Christ died for you If you know that you are a sinner my dear friends Christ died for you

If you think you don't need Christ Christ did not die for you

And that's a hard pill for a lot of people to swallow now. Let's begin looking at this.

It begins our first point His work on the cross was going to take us from 11 to verse 15

But let's look at verse 11 first verse 11. Jesus says I am the

Good Shepherd The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep now, this should go without saying

His work on the cross would accomplish nothing outside of him living a perfect sinless life

Outside of him keeping the old covenant and bringing the new covenant into reality the covenant of grace

His death means nothing if Jesus had not kept the law if Jesus had not kept the covenant

His death means nothing. It means nothing Jesus being the

Good Shepherd is speaking about laying down his life for the sheep

And if his life was not sinless It would mean So the question is is how does he lay down his life and the answer is in his obedience

Without the obedience again his death means nothing. He's not the perfect lamb.

He's not who John said he was John sees him He says behold him

It's him. He's the one that's the guy In his words, he said behold the

Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world When I read it, I'm thinking he's jumping up and down. That's him.

He's the one that the Bible's been speaking about No more. Do we have to slaughter a lamb consume the lamb and put the blood on the doorpost in the mantle?

No more. Do we have to fulfill these old covenant ritual signs that point to the Messiah because he's here and That lamb had to be spotless

If Jesus did not live a sinless and perfect life, he's not spotless in that sacrifice

Means nothing so in his obedience in his law -keeping he lays down his life

You see a good leader is someone who doesn't tell you to do something that they themselves refuse to do

Follow no one Who tells you to do something that they are unwilling to do

I've learned this from a man by the name of Danny Barnhill. You probably Hear me talk about him a lot

My dad raised me, but Danny Barnhill taught me how to be a man He taught me how to answer my phone and to not run from conflict

He showed me what it was like to be a leader. He never told me to do anything

Without getting in there with me doing the work. I worked for him and we worked side by side in Roofing laboring and the and the heat laboring in the cold

There was no roof too steep for him to be right beside me Working now one time.

Did he tell me to do something without being beside me my dear friends

That is a leader. That is a leader That is a shepherd

Jesus tells us to take up our cross and Then he goes and takes up his cross

That is a leader That is a shepherd The cross that Jesus carried came with a curse

Galatians chapter 3 verse 13 says this Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law

By becoming a curse for us for it is written Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree

Turn with me if you will to Deuteronomy chapter 21 Deuteronomy chapter 21 we're going to read verses 22 and 23

Deuteronomy chapter 21 verses 22 and 23 it says this if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and He is put to death and you hang him on a tree

His body shall not remain on the tree Excuse me, his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day for a

Homeman is cursed by God You shall not defile your land that the

Lord your God has given you as an inheritance If they would have allowed a man to remain on the tree overnight

They would curse the land the Lord had given them I see two things taking place in Galatians and in Deuteronomy Well, there's really more but two things

I can point out concerning this message The first thing is I see is if the Jews had not taken down the body of Jesus or not allowed it permitted it

They would have defiled the land of Israel Jesus was crucified

Taken down the same day and was buried They would have broken the law if they forbid it

Jesus to come down from that cross The second thing

I see is that Jesus was cursed by his father on that cross

That's what it says, right The body shall not remain on the tree

All night on that tree, but you shall bury him the same day for a hung man is cursed by God Cursed is everyone who is hung on the tree

Paul applies that verse to Christ and said that he was cursed who done the cursing

God he was cursed by God on that tree You see being made a curse

By being hung on a tree is how He who knew no sin became sin 2nd

Corinthians chapter 2 verse 21 says this For our sake he that he here is the father made him the hymn

Here is the son for our sake the father made the son to be

Sin who knew no sin so that in him the son we might become the righteousness of God God curses the son

He becomes a curse he who knew no sin become sin you hear people all the time say that Christ died for our sins

How did he die for your sin by becoming cursed? It's not like he was you know

Like adultery was stapled to his skin or or lying was stapled to his skin

He became a curse he became sin cursed by God So that those that are in him might become righteous he

We become righteous because of what he has done in keeping the law

He kept the law so that we might become righteousness in his death he

Became the curse so that we might become righteous Now I want to take this time to expound on something

I say quite often every week concerning the gospel You hear me say this every way

He lived the life that we could not live and he took the punishment that we deserve in his death

All right. Has there been a week that I haven't said that? Well, that's the truth

Right. He lived the life that we could not live You cannot obtain eternal life by living a perfect life.

You cannot do it And he took the punishment in his death because we cannot keep that law

Christ Jesus did not have to keep the law in order to earn righteousness for himself. He is

Righteousness he's the one who wrote the law We could not keep it he comes forth

Born of the Virgin and keeps the law Christ kept the law To earn righteousness for you and I that's why we say all the time it is as a substitute

We are called to keep the law we cannot keep it God himself enters into time becomes flesh and keeps the law in our place and Then we break the law.

We deserve death and punishment Christ took our death and punishment again as a substitute in our place

And he gives to us his righteousness that we that he earned for our sake

And you can say it like this christ kept the law for you If you're his sheep, you can rightly say christ kept the law for me

I could not keep it Every one of us are liars and thieves and adulterers at heart and murderers at heart

Who in here has been fully obedient to your parents? I have not my kids have not

None of us can keep this law and yet the bible calls us to keep this law

Someone has to keep the law he doesn't keep it for himself. He keeps it for you He doesn't die because he's a sinner the soul that sins will die

Jesus didn't die because he was sinner. It was he was a sinner. He died because you and I are sinners

And he did it as a substitute in our place Without the act of impassive obedience of jesus christ.

There is no gospel The act of obedience is him keeping the law him living the life his passive obedience is him receiving the sacrifice

Being the lamb of god behold the lamb of god who takes away the sin of the world.

That's him. He's the one That's the purpose my dear friends When he hung on that tree he received the punishment by becoming sin by becoming a curse the righteous for the

Unrighteous you and I the unrighteous him the righteous him the lawkeeper you and I the lawbreakers

We deserve the punishment. He receives the punishment in our place

There is no good news outside of that message Hence why

I say every week He lived the life that we could not live

And took the punishment that we deserve now look with me at the next verse verse 12

We'll read verses 12 and 13 He who is a hired hen and not a shepherd who does not own the sheep sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees

And the wolf snatches them and scatters them He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep

Jesus is telling us that if he wasn't the good shepherd He would have not lived for us and he would have not taken our punishment

The hired hand false messiahs false shepherds see the trouble coming. They see the wolves

They see the enemies and they take off running And leave us to be devoured

Because they are hired hands they didn't sign up for this This is not what they thought was going to happen.

It's not their possessions But if you're his shape he lays down his life for you

In my house, I have my wife and my kids I am not a hired hand

Huh, no one's hired me to watch over my family You break in my house

I will not flee You will have to pay the consequence and I would lay down my life

For my family. This is a call to under shepherds as well at this church

If I am a hired hand if i'm in this for the money I see the wolf coming and flee

I would flee You're not my possessions You pay me to be here my dear friend,

I will not flee I am not the good shepherd Jesus is the good shepherd, but he has called us to follow him.

Remember follow the leader Whatever he does we're supposed to do. He's king. What does he tell us to do follow him?

And to give our life as a ransom for me Or to do what he does

The evidence that he is the good shepherd is that he laid down his life for you He is not a hired hand and he will not he did not flee look at verses 14 and 15

He says I am the good shepherd I know my own and my own know me Just as the father knows me

I and I know the father I lay down my life for the sheep You hear me quite often speak about how christianity is the thinking man's religion

This is not a religion based on athletes or works that you can do It is a religion that's based upon what you know what you believe

Jesus says in john 17 3 Now this is eternal life

He's not saying this is how you get eternal life. He's saying this is what it looks like that you may know

God And that you may know his son Jesus christ eternal life is knowing god.

You can only know god through jesus and you have to know jesus Jesus cannot be just you know, it's just a bumper sticker, right?

like I heard this one lady tell me one day. She said listen, we don't want to talk about theology We just want to talk about jesus

I said lady if you tell me anything about jesus you're talking theology This is a thinking man's religion

It comes by what we believe what matters is what we believe not what we do

Christ did it for us. It's about what we believe This word no here right here where it says that he knows us.

He he says, uh I am the good shepherd I know my own and my own know me this word.

No is it means intimacy It means to have an intimate

Knowledge of and we read this verse. It just came about and in sunday school. So if you look with me at genesis chapter 4

Look at verse 1 genesis chapter 4 verse 1 This is the same root word in the greek

The the the greek septuagint Translates it the same as it does the other words in the new testament

It says now adam knew his wife knew eve his wife and she conceived and bore

Cain saying I have gotten a man with the help of a man So so that word there no new no

Foreknown however, however, you want to relate that word It just means intimacy and through this new

Conceived a child So this word is a word for intimacy now turn with me to amos chapter 2

No, excuse me. Amos chapter 3 verse 2 Amos chapter 3 verse 2 let's read one for the context so you know who is speaking of It says hear the word of the lord hear the word of yahweh you see it's capital l -o -r -d

All capitals, that's yahweh The name of god hear the word of of yahweh

Has spoken against you oh peoples of israel So who's he talking to?

peoples of israel against the whole family That I have brought up out of the land of egypt you only have

I known speaking of intimate knowledge of You only have

I known of all the families of the earth Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities

Did god not know the other families of the earth? God not know everyone else on the earth.

It says you only have I known This is talking about an intimate knowledge of of course god knows them.

He created them But he doesn't know them intimately. He doesn't know them personally.

They don't know him personally He was the god of israel He was not the god of the palestines and the philistines and and all these other

Jebusites and hivzite and make we'll make up some right. He does not know them.

He knows the israelites Them only has he known God knows everyone.

Yes. However, there's just a certain group of people that god knows and they are his sheep

They are his sheep He knows them by name and they know him. It's those whom he foreknows.

It's those whom he knows Intimately turn with me to romans chapter 8 We'll read verse 28

And then we'll read verses 29 through 30 romans chapter 8 28 It says and we know that for all

Excuse me, and we know that all that For those who love god all things work together for good

For those who are called according to his purpose. What's his purpose?

covenant of redemption We spoke about this in sunday school god purpose to save a people his son comes to accomplish the purpose

Through his death burial resurrection. The holy spirit applies the purpose through the preaching of the message of christ

All things work together for good For those who are called according to his purpose

Death works together for good for those who are called according to his purpose

Whatever tragedy that has befalled you in your life It works together for good for those who are called according to his purpose.

You say how can you say that? Well, that's just what the bible says That's what it says

It's not so easily lived out My sister recently just passed away and I had to tell her son whom i'm raising

That it's for his good Because he is called according to the purpose of god

I can't explain it Nor did he put me here to explain it

But we are to trust that all things work together for the good of those who love god and are called according to his purpose

Verse 29 and 30 flushes us out. This is for those whom he foreknew So this is that intimacy those whom he knows personally

Those whom he has intimate knowledge of he predestined to be conformed to the image of his son

And this image is speaking about the resurrection In order that they might in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers

Normally when it's talking about the firstborn jesus being the firstborn it's speaking of that new creation in the resurrection verse 30 for those whom he

Predestined he also called this is an effectual call And those whom he called he justified this is through your faith when you believe in him

You're justified romans chapter 5 verse 1 And the and also

And those who me Excuse me Those whom he predestined he also called and those whom he called he also justified and if you have been justified finish reading that verse

Those whom he has justified he also glorifies Glorification here is speaking of that image of christ our resurrection

So when he's talking about these sheep whom he knows It's those the father purpose to say he came into time to die for them to live his live his life for them and to die

For them and when he calls your name through the preaching of the gospel, you will respond

You will hear his voice and you will follow him That's what the bible teaches

He has intimate love intimate knowledge of those

Who are his and he says that he knows you and you are to know him

I meet people. I meet christians sometimes who've been in the faith for 50 years

And they can't tell you the gospel and they can't tell you anything about jesus christ and christianity is a

Jesus says that eternal life is knowing him. It's knowing the father church.

We are lacking in teaching his sheep Preachers are not feeding the sheep.

It's not the sheep's fault. It's the preacher's fault. It's the hired hands You see a wolf isn't always just someone coming in here

As a judas goat portraying people A wolf sometimes can just be afraid to hurt your feelings

They're afraid to tell you the hard truth that's found in the word So let's look at the second point

The work and his death verse 16 Of our chapter chapter 10

He says 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

So in verses 1 through 15 of this chapter chapter 10, jesus is dealing with the lost sheep of israel

The lost sheep of israel the jews And in verse 16 jesus brings into the conversation the lost sheep of the gentiles

Romans chapter 3 verse 29 a rhetorical question is asked by paul. He says or is god the god of the jews only

Is he not the god of the gentiles also then he gives the answer. Yes of gentiles also

So, how does god make one flock out of the lost sheep of israel those whom he knows intimately

And with the lost sheep of the gentiles those whom he knows intimately How does he take the two and make them one that is a fair question?

And it's one I think that needs to be raised more often in our day Many groups in the christian faith today would would say that god has a separate plan

For the jews than he does for the gentiles If that's true Then there will be two different flocks

But this verse indicates that there is one flock with one shepherd one flock under one shepherd

And my dear friends jesus Does not have a bride and a side chick God does not have a bride and a side chick.

He's not cheating on his wife Why would he call you to do something that he is unwilling to do

He calls us to be faithful to our wife to love our wives

And god's going to tell us to do something that he himself is unwilling to do And yet we got christians today that says that yeah, the church is just some parentheses that's been brought up in the margins

The old testament knew nothing about it because his people rejected him, but let's just get somebody else into this mix

It's not honoring to the word of god, he says he's going to take the two jew and gentile and make them one

And ephesians chapter 2 tells us how he takes the two groups and makes them one turn with me to ephesians

Ephesians 2 we're going to start with verse 11 Now pay attention to this

I really like to run my dispensational friends in this verse 11 therefore remember

That at one time you gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision by By what is called the circumcision?

Which is made in the flesh by hands. So he's saying you gentiles Who are called the uncircumcision by the jews?

First well remember that you were at one time separated from christ

Alienated from the commonwealth of israel and strangers to the covenants of promise

Having no hope and without god in this world So jesus says he has another flock

That is not a part of that flock. That flock was given the covenants the promises.

They were israel They were under that commonwealth that israel had they were given the law They had this covenant kingdom that they were children physical descendants of abraham

He's telling them you you gentiles. Y 'all were separated from this. You had no part of israel

You were alienated You are strangers of the promises And look at verse 13, but now

In christ you who are once for all have been brought near how right here by the blood of christ

For he himself is our peace who has made us both

This is jew and gentile One and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility speaking about the old covenant

When he kept the covenant he led the life that you and I could not live He broke down the dividing wall of hostility in his flesh through his death burial and resurrection

By abolishing this is what it says the law and the commandments expressed in ordinances that He might create in himself one new man in the place of the two so making peace

And yet there's christians today that says that we're not one But we are two

And might reconcile us both to god in one body through the cross thereby killing the hostility

He came to he came and he preached peace to you who are far off That's the gentiles and peace to those who were near that's the jews

For through him we both jew and gentile have access in one spirit to the father

So you are no longer strangers and aliens verse 12 said we were strangers and aliens

In christ, we're no longer strangers and aliens. The gentile is brought into israel

The church my dear friends is israel we are god's people jew and gentile

We're one in christ. We're no longer strangers and aliens But you are fellow citizens with the saints and are members of the household of god built on the foundations of the apostles and prophets

Christ jesus himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole structure is being joined together

Grows into a holy temple in the lord in him You also speaking to the gentile are being built

Into a dwelling place for god by the spirit the two are made one in christ

God made the two jew and gentile one in christ

While some religious leaders are trying to separate what god has joined together What does he say?

Let not man Separate what I have put what i've joined together Ain't that what we say in marriage?

Who's the the church is the bride of christ? jew and gentile And still today people are separating us

We got the jewish church We got the white church we got the black church we got the hispanic church my dear friends there's only one church

There's only one church The two groups if there's two groups, there's two plans of salvation and you know, that's what they teach

That when christ comes back and there's a a secret rapture that the bible speaks nothing about That then christ will be focused on the jews.

The jews will make sacrifice to christ That's a gospel of heresy that's heresy.

It's a gospel of works My dear friends. He lived the life that we could not live and took our punishment in his death

And my dear friends the blood of jesus christ unites the two jew and gentile into one body the body

Of christ you cannot separate jesus from his body

Think physical body Nor can you separate the body from jesus?

Or is it the physical body? Let me put it this way. You cannot separate the church from christ because The church is the body of christ our dear friend

Who's soon to be a new member him and his wife? Joseph today identified himself with the body of christ.

The bible says that he put christ on galatians chapter 3 verse 27

He was united with christ the body He was already united in heaven

Through regeneration today. He united with the body the physical members of the church

The physical members of the church He's a part of christ's body.

You cannot separate christ from him and you cannot separate him from christ That's what we see here today

The church is israel. The church is god's people point number three his

Work and his resurrection. This is taken from verses 17 through 21, but let's just begin with verse 17 through 8 17 and 18

It says for this reason the father loves me because I lay down my life that I may take it up again

No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it up again remember earlier

I said that Jesus did not keep the law in order to earn righteousness

He is righteousness In the same way The act of impassive obedience of jesus christ did not earn the father's love

He says for this reason the father loves me a lot of people that can take that and misuse that His act of impassive obedience did not earn his father's love but through his act of impassive obedience the father's love is exalted upon him

It's exalted upon him where you and I can see it with our eyes

Turn with me to philippians chapter 2 Philippians chapter 2 we're going to read verses 8 through 11

It says being found in human form speaking of Jesus who is god made flesh being found in human form.

He humbled himself by becoming obedient To the point of death even death on a cross remember on that tree.

He was cursed He became obedient To the point of being cursed by his father therefore god has exalted him and bestowed upon him the name

That is above every name This right here is saying that he's never more to be cursed verse 10

So that at the name of jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth

And under the earth and every tongue confess that jesus christ

Is lord to the glory of god the father and quite often when i'm out street preaching i'll say something like God is going to get glory from you

Whether it is the bowing of your knee and the confessing with your tongue that jesus christ is lord

Or if it's from the scream and the smoke of your torment He will receive glory

You will bow your knee and you will confess

Everyone Whether in heaven on earth or in hell Whether yours bends as mine has been your knees bend as mine do daily

And give god glory and your tongue confesses jesus christ to be lord or whether your knees break

And you're forced to bow And you're forced to say christ is lord it is going to happen my dear friends

Bible says he's putting all of his enemies under his feet and the last enemy to be footstooled is death

And that is at the resurrection when we are conformed to the image of the son The father's love for the son is expressed and the authority given to the son

What did he say? He said All authority in heaven and on earth is given to me and then he charges his church to go out

He charges his body to go out and to make disciples This is how daniel chapter 2 comes to pass when he talks about that that rock that's carved out by no human hands

Hits the earth and that rock turns into a mountain that covers the whole earth It's by his church being obedient his body being obedient and witnessing the gospel

The authority given to him he gives to us So here's the question who raised jesus from the dead

Our verse says that he raised himself Look at verse 17 again for this reason

The father loves me because I lay down my life that I may take it up again No one takes it from me

But I lay it down on my on my own accord and I see saying I have authority to take it up To lay it down and I have authority to take it up speaking about his resurrection who raised him from the dead

Right here. We see that jesus raised himself from the dead Galatians chapter 1 verse 1 says this paul an apostle not from man nor through man

But through jesus christ and god the father Who raised him from the dead?

Okay, so we got one verse that says jesus raised himself from the dead this verse says god the father

Raised him from the dead and romans chapter 8 verse 11 says this if The spirit speaking of the holy spirit of him who raised jesus from the dead dwells in you

And he who raised christ from the dead will also give you your mortal bodies

Give life to your mortal bodies through the spirit who dwells in you So jesus raises himself from the dead the father raises him from the dead and the holy spirit raises him from the dead

So question who was it? Yeah, was it the father son and holy spirit?

Yes, that's the answer it's yes. Yes God raised god god died for our sins and god raised god god in trinity raised the son from the dead and because of what jesus has been saying from verses

Chapter 9 verse 41 and 10 all the way to verse 18 a commotion A division came upon the jews.

Look with me in verse 19 through 21 And there again was a division among the jews because of these words

And many of them said he has a demon and he is insane. Why listen to him?

Others said these are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon Can a demon open the eyes of the blind and to answer that question

Absolutely not Nowhere in the old testament. Do we hear anything about anyone opening the eyes of the blind?

Jesus is the first one who opened the eyes of the blind can beelzebub cast out beelzebub

No Absolutely not They cannot open the eyes of the blind

This is the fifth message that i've preached in chapter 10 And as i've been preaching i've been wondering if you've been wondering why jesus is using this shepherd and sheep language

My dear friends, there is a reason and we're going to see that as we close turn with me to ezekiel chapter 34

If you've never read ezekiel, I would encourage you to do so you'll probably need to read it 20 times and to get any kind of a an understanding

It's it's a very confusing book But it's actually one that I quite often reference

Ezekiel chapter 34 we're going to read 10 verses the first 10 verses Listen to this language

The word of the lord came to me son of man prophesy against the shepherds of israel prophesy and say to them even to the shepherds

Thus says the lord god Ah shepherds of israel who have been feeding yourselves

Should you not shepherd should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with wool

You slaughter the fat ones But you do not feed the sheep the weak

You have not strengthened the sick you have not healed the injured you have not bound up the stray

You have not brought back the lost you have not sought and with force and harshness you have ruled them

So they were scattered because they were not there was no shepherd So he's calling these shepherds.

No shepherds now And they became food for all the wild beasts

My sheep were scattered They wander all over the mountains and on the every high hill

My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth with none to search

Or seek for them verse 7 therefore you shepherds Hear the word of the lord

As I live declares the lord god Surely because my sheep have become a prey and my sheep have become food

For all the wild beasts since there was no shepherd And because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep

But the shepherds have fled Have fed themselves And have not fed my sheep.

Therefore you shepherds hear the word of the lord verse 10 Thus says the lord behold.

I am against the shepherds And I will require my sheep at their hand

And put a stop to their feeding the sheep No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves

I will rescue my sheep from their mouth That they may not be food for them the hired hand

Jesus is saying Is eating the shepherds the eating the sheeps the sheep the shepherds the hired hand.

They're not true shepherds They're not good shepherds. As a matter of fact, they're not watching over the shepherd the sheep And they're feasting on them instead of feeding them

These false shepherds remember shepherd Pastor is a latin word for shepherd these false pastors these false shepherds were abusing the sheep

They were nothing more than judas goats These pharisees these religious leaders were not true shepherds.

They were hired hands. They were there to deceive to blend in and deceive

And myself as well as every other shepherd slash pastor that stands

As a mouth before the sheep better take warning to ezekiel chapter 34 because god will require it of us

Bible says don't be so quick to think that you want to be a teacher God will require it of you you abuse the sheep god will require it of you

And guess what sheep do they bite? They bite I get bitten all the time

I can't bite back. I can't feast upon the sheep God will require it of me

The good shepherd who lay down his life for his sheep will not allow his precious sheep to be abused

He will require it of us We are called to feed the sheep and not to feast upon the sheep

Under shepherds like myself better follow jesus Just like every other sheep is to follow jesus

I'm, not telling you to do something that i'm not doing myself I'm, not telling you to follow jesus

While not following jesus I'm, telling you to follow jesus and scoot over let's do this together

Are you following jesus? Is he your king?

Can he tell you what to do? Does his word mean anything to you? Are you living for him?

Is he your all in all? Is he your shepherd? Did he die for your sins according to the scriptures was buried and on the third day rose again according to the scriptures?

Are you living as a sheep listening to the good shepherd? You might be here today and through this message you hear his voice.

He's calling you to follow him Not to just walk in the house shake a hand sign a card prayer prayer or to be baptized to follow him

To live for him to take up your cross And to die for him if necessary Is he your king?

I told y 'all last week psalm 23 speaks about a shepherd king his rod and his staff

His rod is speaking of his kingliness With his rod he rules over us

And with his when his staff he comforts us He keeps us from going out of the boundaries

We start to wander away takes that shepherd's hook and he grabs us by our neck and pulls us back Are you hearing his voice my dear friends today is the day of salvation

Tomorrow is not the day of salvation today is the day of salvation And so I call all of us to repent and to turn from ourselves to to turn from sin and to follow jesus christ in faith

And if you have not be joined to the body of jesus christ in baptism

He lived a life That we could not live

And he took the punishment that we deserve He saw

The sheep being abused and he enters into time And he sees the wolf coming

And he stands in front of us And he takes The punishment he dies.

He lays down his life for us We are available to anyone who wants to talk

Let's pray God and father

Our savior jesus christ and our comforter the holy spirit God we are so weak and broken

And yet we still think that we can please you And you have pleased yourself in christ

Lord help us to not look to ourselves, but to look to him And to not look to commandments to make sure we're keeping commandments, but to just follow jesus to keep our eyes on jesus

For if we're keeping our eyes on jesus We will do what jesus does and that is love you with all of his heart mind soul and strength

And love his neighbor as ourselves Lord, please we pray in christ's name that you will redeem your people

And that you will allow us to be a part of that redemption And that you will bring revival here in talahoma and the surrounding counties

And reach the whole world And that mountain will cover the whole earth as the water covers the sea

Now lord as we Are about to partake in this supper We ask that you bless this meal

We pray lord that if there's some here today that That know you but have been living in utter sin and they're unwilling to repent

And trust in you lord that they're unwilling to confess their sins that you keep them from this table

But lord, we have all sinned this week Lord help us to confess our sins to you so that as we partake in this meal we can do so with a clean conscience