One Flock And One Shepherd - [John 10:11-16]

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Let me ask you a serious question Do you ever get nervous when you're sharing the gospel?
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Is there ever a time where you just think okay? I know I Need to preach
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Christ I'm going to the hospital My grandmother's dying.
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My friend's very sick May not make it.
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I need to preach Christ in him crucified How do I do it? Do you ever feel that way ever
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I Know some have because they're like Steve. What do
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I do? I'm gonna let you in on a little secret. It's a professional tip
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Normally don't like to share these things, but I'm trying to work myself out of a job It's really easier than you think
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Here's what I tell people and here's what I what I've learned to do because it just listen
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I'm gonna say it works and then you're gonna say well I'm gonna write this down because now I know how to get people into the kingdom
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That's not what I mean. I mean Every time I've done this and every every time I've told somebody to do this they have been able to successfully give the gospel to somebody it starts with Psalm 23
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Why do you start with Psalm 23? Because almost everybody knows it and at least even the worst people in the world know this part
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You know, yay, though. I walked through the valley of the shadow of death You know, I will fear no evil and you know, sometimes it comes back to because I'm so bad, right?
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but when you start reading Psalm 23 people know it they recognize it and Then what do you suppose you do?
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You open your Bible to John 10, which is what we're going to do right now and you tell him who this shepherd is
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You tell him about Jesus You go from Psalm 23 the
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Lord is my shepherd I shall not want He does all these things leaves me beside Stillwaters and all these kind of things from King James still my head, but then you go on and you just explain who the shepherd is
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I've used this format in funerals because it's easy to personalize it and kind of talk about the person and This is a great way to share the gospel
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And John 10 really just overflows with the gospel the goodness of Christ Just gives us a really intimate portrait of him
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Laying down his life for his people and if you read just a few more verses in John 10
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You see the resurrection foretold and I'm telling you it cannot get any easier than Psalm 23 and then
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John 10 Well, let's read our passage this morning John 10 verses 11 to 16 the
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Lord speaking He says I am the Good Shepherd the
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Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep
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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's a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
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I am the Good Shepherd. I Know my own and my own know me
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Just as the father knows me and I know the father And I lay my life down my life for the sheep
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And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also and They will listen to my voice
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So there will be one flock one shepherd One man
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I read this week When he was talking about the Gospel of John, he sort of lumped the book of Romans in there, too and he said
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That Romans and the Gospel of John are like the Mount Everest of the New Testament Now personally,
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I would prefer never even see Mount Everest And I certainly wouldn't go see that movie because I just picture myself plunging down the slopes, but that's not the point
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The point is it's so lofty That you can look down from the
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Gospel of John as it were and just see the truths of the New Testament You have like a cat bird seat to look down and see all the truth that is in the
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New Testament In fact, he says from its peaks is possible to survey much of the territory a biblical revelation including the
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Old Testament the synoptics that is to say Mark Luke and Matthew Mark and Luke and other portions of the
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New Testament The Apostle John writing his gospel if you'll recall many years after Matthew Mark and Luke Did so to fill in some theological gaps to emphasize the deity of Christ So does it any wonder that it's just kind of packed that it's loaded with these mountaintop truths
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At the end of chapter 8 if you'll recall Jesus had offended the Pharisees with the truth
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When he told them that he was the great I am Yahweh. Remember he said before Abraham was
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I Am that in its in and of itself is a great truth because it just speaks of his eternality and His opponents that day understood exactly what he said
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Because they tried to kill him. They understand that they understood that he is making himself out to be
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God But he escaped the mob By means that are not clear.
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They were not described for us and sometime later He finds this man who had been born blind he and his disciples are just walking through the city
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And they find this man and he heals him Rather than engage his disciples in this theological exercise.
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They want to get into Well, he does briefly but then he moves on he heals him and he does it on the
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Sabbath and the aftermath of that Goes on and on all the investigation of the
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Pharisees as they try to you know Kind of convict Jesus of being a heretic so they can kill him
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And we're still looking at the aftermath of that healing here this morning as he's Speaking to the
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Pharisees and speaking to those who are listening to him This morning. We're going to see two truths that demonstrate his deity and you're like you do that over and over again
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Because that's what the book is about Now this morning I'm going to skip around a little bit within this
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Kind of regroup the text because if I didn't I'd be addressing a point and then going away from it and coming back to it and so I'm kind of Rearranging things and hopefully you won't get too confused
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First Jesus is the perfect Shepherd. He's the perfect Shepherd Look at verse 11, and if you also see verse 14 because he says the same thing in slightly different ways
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Verse 11. I am the Good Shepherd It's in contrast what?
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with the bad shepherds with the false shepherds and He knows his flock look at verse 14.
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He says I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own Well any human
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Shepherd Knows his flock why because he's spending all day out there with them feeding them caring for them.
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He gets in and he Rescues them from various traps that they wander into he picks out you know the little
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Things that they get out. I'm sure he takes care of their wounds. I mean he really is like the parents of this flock
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He intimately knows his sheep He knows each individual sheep's quirks.
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It's scars. I would be surprised to find out that they named their flocks
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But Jesus is the great I am he's Yahweh And this is
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I am the Good Shepherd. It's one of the seven. I am statements starts with a go a me
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And he knows his own he knows his sheep He knows
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You if you are one of his sheep if you belong to him He knows what you do for him your service for him.
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He knows your love for him And he knows your sins your failures
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He knows everything about you and as I like to say he knows everything about you, but he loves you anyway
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Now it's easy to just pass that by but let me put it this way if somebody here if someone else besides you and Well if someone else beside you knew every thought that you had and knew every action that you took
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If they had perfect knowledge of you may I suggest that no matter how wonderful you are
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They probably wouldn't like you. I wouldn't want anybody to know everything
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I thought Everything that just ran through my head first of all it'll be kind of scary
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I'd be checking for microphones and stuff like that, but More importantly they would get to know
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The sin that remains in you and in fact if you really think about your own life and your own thought life
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You will wind up just as Mike's been saying pastor Mike's been saying on Sunday night understanding that you are
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The worst of all sinners like Paul said in 1st Timothy chapter 1 But God Jesus irrevocably places his affection upon you.
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We are loved But we are not lovable Jesus is the perfect shepherd and he is known by his flock
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Look at verse 14 Continuing on the second part of it.
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It says and my own know me What does that mean well he goes on and explains it verse 15 as he is known
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By his sheep he's also known by the father look at verse 15 It says just as the father knows me, and I know the father now think about that You know my own know me that in other words the sheep know
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Jesus And then he says just in the same way as the father knows me
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Well, what does he mean does he mean that we have exactly the same sort of knowledge and relationship that the father and son have?
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No, it would be impossible The father and son are
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Infinite we are finite The father and son have known one another perfectly forever before time even existed
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We cannot fully understand God We cannot fully comprehend God So we cannot fully know
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God But we do know him we do know Jesus So, what does that mean
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What does it mean to know Jesus? What do the sheep do?
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What's their relationship? How is it that they know him? Well, first of all, you show that you know him if you follow
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Jesus If you follow him just keeping this metaphor, what does sheep do with their shepherd?
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They Follow him They follow him they don't go running off after someone else
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They don't go trying to find some other shepherd They don't seek some other truth sheep
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Believers also trust Jesus again sheep have an inherent trust in their shepherd
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How much time you know just to get it silly for a moment? How much time do you think a sheep worries?
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How much time do you think he spends out in the field just kind of worrying about his life and wondering what you know What's gonna happen next?
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The truth is they don't They're not capable. Really. They don't have a worry mode Makes me wonder why we spend so much time worrying.
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We are sheep and we have the perfect shepherd He makes promises to us that he keeps
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Which leads right into number three believers depend on Jesus Just as sheep depend on the shepherd that's really a step beyond trust
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Let's just kind of tear it down a little bit sheep are Dumb We're not dumb we're very clever.
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In fact, I would argue that we're maybe a little bit too clever What do
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I mean well, we're clever enough to think that we need to add something to Jesus work or you know, maybe we can't trust him to meet all of our needs or Maybe our obedience to him will cause him to love us more to care more about us to take better care of us
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If I just do this Jesus, will you give me this we do this for me? Will you do that for me?
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He cannot love you more He cannot care more about you and he cannot break his word
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We depend on him we trust him in every condition in every situation at all times
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It's what sheep do Notice also that he is the shepherd of other sheep.
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This perfect shepherd is a shepherd of other sheep. Look at verse 16 and I have other sheep that are not of this fold
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Again I feel Obligated to say this he's not talking about going to North America and visiting the
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American Indians And you say why would you even say that because I'm a former Mormon? That's what they believe
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This means and I'm like if you look at it in context, it can't possibly mean this He just says look other than you
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Jews You people that I'm talking to I have other sheep other people that the father has given me that I'm going to gather in too
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I have other sheep that are not on this fold and Look, he says there. He's gonna round them up.
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It says I must bring them also and They will listen to my voice and then there's going to be one flock
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United with the shepherd look at verse 16. So there will be one flock one shepherd
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Sheep hear his voice. They believe him. They trust him. They follow him There will be one flock one shepherd what he's talking about is it's no longer limited to the
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Jews The Gentiles will be brought in There will be people from every tribe every nation every tongue in heaven.
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Well, how is that because Other sheep he has that are not of this fold That's his meaning
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Jesus is the perfect shepherd We're gonna spend the rest of our time looking at Jesus as the perfect sacrifice
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The perfect sacrifice again back in verse 11 the second half of it The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep and Again repeating in verse 15 and I lay down my life for the sheep very similar language
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Really the only difference. I mean, there's there's slightly different ones. He certainly identifies himself as the
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Good Shepherd, right? So he personalizes it in verse 15 and he lays down his life his own personal life instead of just You know the
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Good Shepherd he's making it very clear who he is and what he does Now it must be said that a run -of -the -mill a normal human shepherd
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Cannot cannot do his flock any good by dying for them. In fact
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It's quite the opposite of that a Shepherd who laid down his life for his sheep who sacrificed himself for his flock
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Would fail all the way around why? Because without his protection they'd be done for They would be smoked they would have no idea what to do.
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They're so dependent on the shepherd He's the one who leads them
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To fresh water and to grazing fields. They would just wander around and be lost
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But Around the middle a normal human shepherd, it's his job. He provides for his family. This is what he does to make ends meet
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The sheep are important, right? They are a resource. They are his livelihood but are they more important than he is now spiritually we know that that's
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That they're not right because they're animals. They don't have a soul. They will not give an account to God But even on a human and on an economic level
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We just imagine, you know guy comes home. Well, he doesn't come home You know, I don't think the shepherd when he left home in the morning his wife said to him now, honey
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You make sure you come home. Don't sacrifice yourself for the flock Because because it's just kind of dumb right you wouldn't do that What's the point but on the other hand these sheep are important, you know, because every sheep is important he can't say
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You know, I lost five sheep today, I guess we'll just put an insurance claim in You know
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There's nothing like that So they are important, but they're not important as important as he is but Jesus is the
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Good Shepherd not a mere mortal shepherd and His concern is not for the physical life of dirty foolish woolly sheep
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But rather his concern is for the eternal eternal souls of human beings his death rather than being some calamity for the flock leads to eternal life and The Greek word here where he it said that he lays down his life as Sukkot and it just indicates his
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Whole being nothing is held back He's doing everything for the good of the sheep
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And ultimately as we'll see in a moment, it's his life that brings about their eternal life
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But let's look at his sacrificial actions his sacrificial attitude in Contrast with the hired hand look at verse 12
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He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd who does not own the sheep
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Sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and fleas and the wolf snatches them and scatters them
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And fleas because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep now some of you will probably want to know well
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Who's the wolf? You know, what what's the point of the wolf here? Don't get caught up in the wolf
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The point of the wolf is that sheep are in danger And without a shepherd the wolf just comes in and grabs them
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But this isn't talking about a specific person or a specific situation. This is just talking about the dangers of life
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But think about these guys these hirelings these hired hands They're kind of like day laborers at Home Depot Why?
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Because you hire them and they might come in and do a great job But you know, let's say they're building a wall for you.
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Whatever. I mean walls aren't very popular out here I don't know what digging a trench for you And then the house gets on fire you wouldn't expect them to go
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I mean they could but you wouldn't expect them to go into the house and try to save people and all this other stuff Why they have no emotional attachment to the family.
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They have no emotional attachment to the home their day laborers And for the flock
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You know, they have no emotional attachment. They don't spend every single day with them. They don't own them.
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They have no economic Investments in the sheep. This is a job.
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This is a way to pay the bills keep the lights on Okay, they didn't have lights but They're just trying to make ends meet and one flock or one sheep is like any other
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When the hireling sees danger approaching the flock, you know, here come the wolves. What does he think?
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I better Save the sheep because They're very important to me
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No, he says forget the sheep. I'm worried about me I'm not gonna you know, allow that wolf to bite me to scratch me to do whatever
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I'm leaving. I'm out of here now Let's look back at the context
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This man born blind Jesus heals him on the
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Sabbath and the Pharisees They're nominally the shepherds right they are the guides the spiritual guides they're supposed to protect the flock of God What's their response to this man born blind are they happy are they rejoicing for him?
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Are they concerned for him do they want to just care for him are they super happy that he got healed?
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No They want to talk to him about Jesus and about being healed on the
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Sabbath and they ultimately they kick him out of the synagogue Their only concern was for themselves in their position because Jesus is a threat
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Do they care for the flock? No They're the hirelings
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They made this man Who was a pariah when it first began because he was born blind
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They made him into a pariah all over again by kicking him out of the synagogue They are hirelings.
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They have no interest no attachment to the sheep. Their only concern was their own position their own welfare
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Now let's ask some questions here Why must Jesus lay down his life?
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Why does he have to? Sacrifice his own life for the sheep And it really means that he died for the benefits of his sheep
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What is that benefits? Well, he paid in full the price for their sins for every believer
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When he was confronted or when he confronted the Pharisees on the Temple Mount if you recall in chapter 8
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So he said to them again. I'm going away and you will seek me and you will and you will
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Die in your sin where I am going you cannot come Well, where was he going?
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He was going to heaven And he says to them because you die in your sins because you are guilty of your sin when you die you will not
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Go to heaven to die in sin that is to say to be guilty of sin leaves you in debt a
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Debt that you cannot pay one unpaid for sin prevents you from Going to heaven where Jesus is
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Now on believers hate this they say well if God exists, which I'm not certain of Surely he must be kind enough to overlook overlook a few sins.
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I mean who's perfect a Few things we didn't do or that we did do that.
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We shouldn't have done If God exists, he certainly must be a God of love.
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And what would you say to that? The answer is yes. He is a God of love Who else would send his son on a rescue mission to save sinners
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He's also a God of justice and of holiness every sin must be punished and Nothing may enter his presence tainted by sin.
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There's not going to be any sin in heaven He had to die to pay the price
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That the sheep owed He also had to die
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Out of obedience to the father. I'm gonna skip ahead for just a minute You look at verse 18 and you'll see again what
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I was talking about with regard to the resurrection No one takes it from me. That is to say his life, but I lay it down of my own accord
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I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it up again this charge
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I received from my father Well, what is the charge Some of your translations may even say commandments.
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That's exactly what it is He received an order from the father And look he says
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I have authority to lay it down. Well, where do you get that authority from the father? He's always acting in obedience
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To the father he perfectly does the will of the father. Well, why is that is he less than the father?
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No He's eternally gotten every bit as much God as the father each of the three persons of the
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Trinity Have a particular role they all perfectly perform these roles so that God and the persons of the father the
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Son and the Holy Spirit may all together be glorified One God three persons each with different sometimes overlapping roles
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But Jesus and the economy of the Trinity is sent to obey perfectly the father why because we don't someone had to someone had to obey in your place and That someone is the
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Lord Jesus Christ He was obedient to the father and he died because it was the father's desire for him to do
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So I'm gonna go to a few verses You can just write these down or just listen because when
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I go through it just a few Fairly rapidly here Isaiah 53 verse 10 yet it was the will of the
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Lord speaking of Jesus was the will of the father to crush him
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He was put he put he has put him to grief when his soul makes an offering for guilt
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He shall see his offspring his spiritual children. He shall prolong his days the will of the
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Lord shall prosper in his hand Acts 2 verse 23 this
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Jesus is Peter preaching this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and for knowledge of God you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men this was
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Known by the father ahead of time and planned by the father ahead of time even in the
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Gospel of John Chapter 6 verses 37 through 39
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John writes this he says and it's John's or Jesus speaking. He says all that the father gives me will come to me and Whoever comes to me.
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I will never cast out for I've come down from heaven Not to do my will but the will of him who sent me the father and this is the will of him who sent me
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That I should lose nothing of all that he has given me but raise it up on the last day the father gives
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Essentially the sheep to the son he puts The son in charge of this flock of the sheep and then he says
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You know ultimately bring them back to me Jesus is going to bring them all back.
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Look. He says that I should lose nothing of All that he has given me but raise it up on the last day talking about that day of judgment and taking them to heaven
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He's given to Jesus by the father cannot be raised up unless The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
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Why does he do it? Why does Jesus do this because he loves the sheep? In John 15, what does he say?
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He says greater love has no man than what? And he laid down his life for his friends
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This is what Jesus did Now why minute must it be the life of Jesus in particular why is he the
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Good Shepherd who has to lay down his life? Well first it's because his life has infinite value
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For just a moment. I want to talk about sin. We fail sometimes to grasp I think to fully comprehend the gravity the weights the seriousness of sin
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How even the smallest sin is such an offense to God? in fact, sometimes
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I think our thoughts of sin are Basically the same kind of things that we would hear from unbelievers kind of a shrug not too serious.
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I Don't think we take it as seriously as we should Jesus called for radical action to remove sin from our lives
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Why did he do that? Because as both God and man he was calling or he was trying to express
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From God's perspective how serious it is the horror that we should see sin with What do you say in the sermon on the mount if your hand caused you to stumble?
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It's better that you Cut it off. Why because we keep you out of heaven and he let me just Crack that up a little bit if somebody is to put a bag of Containing a lot of money they told you there was five million dollars in there
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And you went you counted five million dollars, and he says okay now to get this money All you have to do is chop off your left hand
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Can I see a show of hands on who would do that? Not very many people would do that. What if it was a hundred million?
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What if it was a billion? What if it was ten billion? What if they put all the money in the world?
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I wouldn't do it for anything Why is that? Because I value my hand and it's gonna hurt a lot, and I'm not gonna have my hand
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I'm gonna have a lot of money, but I'm not gonna have my hand. I think
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I'd probably call the police When Jesus tells us to cut off our hand if it causes us to sin he's stressing the seriousness of sin the sinfulness of it
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The weight of it He's not saying you know what mar the image of God mar the creation of God He's saying this is how much you should hate the sin in your life
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There's no such thing as a minor sin What did James say if you break the law one little part of it?
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You're guilty of the whole thing that level of guilt Demands a redemption a price of infinite value
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Only God in human flesh could pay the price for sin, and that's Jesus each of us has sin and even if we didn't even if we could die for Ourselves to redeem ourselves from Adam's sin
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We could only pay for ourselves, so it wouldn't help anybody else because we're just a person He's God in the flesh
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So he has infinite value he also had to die it had to be Jesus He's the perfect sacrifice because of his inherent perfection
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Jesus perfectly obeyed the law he perfectly obeyed the father. He is the flawless spotless lamb of God He is the only sacrifice that could satisfy the wrath of God for all the sins of all his sheep
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Forever he lays down his life for the sheep Galatians 4 verses 4 and 5 but when the fullness of time had come
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God sent forth his son born of a woman born under the law To redeem those who were under the law so that we believers
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Might receive adoption as sons That's the purpose to redeem people
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Redeem the sheep redeem believers So he lays down his life for the sheep well who are the sheep
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You just read through this section You don't have to go back to John 6, but they are those given to Jesus by the
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Father those whom he will raise up in Ephesians they're referred to as the chosen the elect those who the
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Father chose before the foundation of the world They like the man born blind
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Those who hear the words of Jesus and worship him Yes, they believe him, but they worship him they understand that he is
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God What did he say my sheep hear my voice they believe me they trust me they follow me
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Some might say well, you know there is a benefit to The non sheep
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I'll call them you know the goats the wolves whatever you want to call them Well there may be a benefit The question is why did he die and it was for the sheep?
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But did Jesus lay down his life for all men well no again think of our text for the sheep
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Consider the setting in which he says those things there are Pharisees listening there are unbelievers listening
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Is he dying for their sins as he laid down his life for them are they among the sheep the answer is no
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Look back at verse 8 John 10 all who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them
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All who came before him were the religious authorities of his day And he says
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They tried to they tried to lead the sheep of stray. They're a separate group. They are definitely not in the sheepfold
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Now could one of them repent yes, they could But there is something that has to happen before repentance over and over and again in Scripture We see this and that one thing is
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Regeneration Jesus said it himself in John 3. He said you must be born again in order to see the kingdom of God There is no faith.
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There is no Repentance there is no forgiveness no adoption and no salvation apart from a regenerating work of the
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Holy Spirit Unless God wills unless the Holy Spirit wills
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You cannot will Unless the Spirit works to revive you you are dead in your sins and trespasses you
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Cannot in the words of Jesus from John 6 you cannot come to Christ on your own
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He says there that unless the Father draws you but it's the work of the triune God has to go first Furthermore the
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Spirit does not give you a push a nudge of encouragement He doesn't whisper in your ear he doesn't give you a spark of faith he transforms you
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He grants you new affections new desires and a new nature All things have passed away
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Well, what are those who died apart from faith Before Jesus was born
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Jew and Gentile. What about them? Did he die for their sins? Were those who were already facing the eternal wrath of God standing before the judgment seat of God Were they the beneficiaries of the
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Good Shepherd's sacrificial death the text says what He laid down his life for the sheep
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It's Appointed for a man wants to die and then to face judgment. They don't die as non sheep and then become sheep after death
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There is no second chance Therefore there would be no purpose in Jesus suffering for the sins of those who did not believe before he was even born
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Now does the sacrifice of Jesus accomplish? What it was intended to accomplish
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Does it ever fail? Absolutely not I refer to Jesus as the perfect sacrifice because he alone is sinless and he alone could bear the wrath of God for his chosen sheep
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But also because he cannot fail His purpose will come about He came to save his people from their sins and he will not fail on that.
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Listen to what Carson DA Carson says he says the shepherd did not die.
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He's talking about this a more liberal view Well, maybe he just died as a good example sacrifice
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He says the shepherd does not die for a sheep to serve as an example Throwing himself off a cliff and a grotesque and futile display while bellowing.
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See how much I love you. That's not what Jesus did He loved his sheep. He cared for a sheep and he cared for them all the way to the cross
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He intimately knows his sheep. He loves them. He knows that they're in mortal peril. He knows that they stand condemned
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They have a fatal disease and that disease is called sin and for sin, they will face eternal torment
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But the father sends him he who obeys and interposes himself between the wrath of God and his sheep
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He cannot fail He will not die in vain. All of God's purposes will be fulfilled
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Let me ask you is Jesus your shepherd? Is he your sacrifice?
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He must be both or he is neither. Let me put it another way. He must be Your Lord and your
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Savior. You must be willing to follow him or his sacrifice is not for you
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You must obey him or he did not die for you Does that mean you're gonna going to obey perfectly?
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No, but it means your heartbeat is to follow him If he is your shepherd, you will hear his voice and you will obey his voice
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Now again thinking about Psalm 23, I don't want to take the time to read it
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So I'll just say this if Jesus is your shepherd You shall not want
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Jesus will be your source of spiritual nourishment He will be your pasture.
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He will be your water Jesus will restore your soul.
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He will lead you in paths of righteousness for his glory If Jesus is your shepherd, what have you to fear?
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He is your comforts He is all your hope He has promised you a seat at his banquet feast in heaven where you will dwell with him forever
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Friends if you've not believed in Jesus as your Lord and Savior if you're not sure he is your shepherd
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Would you please talk to me one of the elders one of the shepherds? One of the ushers somebody in a suit somebody who just looks like they know what they're talking about Do that today
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Jesus Christ fully man fully God the perfect Sacrifice for sin who died for sinners and was raised on the third day.
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I Don't want anybody to leave today without knowing exactly where they stand with the
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Good Shepherd Now let me ask you one last question Do you think you can share the gospel?
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with your friends with your family As you're heading to the hospital, you don't know what to say you think you can do it, it's pretty easy
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Psalm 23 John 10, let's pray our
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Father in heaven we thank you for Jesus Christ we thank you for our
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Perfect shepherd for our perfect sacrifice Father we do not deserve it.
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We could not deserve it We deserve hell But you set your affections resolutely upon us
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And determined to redeem a people flock individual sheep
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For our good and for your glory You are a great
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God and worthy of all praise and Lord for anyone here Man woman child
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Who does not know you today? I just pray that today would be the day your spirit so works in them to regenerate them to give them a new heart new affections new desires and A new nature that they might flee to the cross free from all sin from all fear