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Well, a good Wednesday morning to you. We're in the middle of the week, halfway to the end of the week, and just as a reminder, this coming weekend, on the
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Lord's Day, we're beginning a four -day Eternal Issues Bible Conference, we call it.
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Our guest speaker for this conference is Pastor Aaron Hoke, pastor of the church in Warsaw, Indiana, and he's going to come and deliver five different messages from the book of Genesis, and each of these messages, they'll be helpful to those who are
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Christ's, but they will also serve to really encourage the unbeliever to put their trust in Christ.
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They'll have an evangelistic emphasis to them, because after all, this is an Eternal Issues Bible Conference, and so we want to be confronted with issues that are of eternal consequence.
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So I encourage you to come on the Lord's Day, 1030 is the morning service, 6 o 'clock the evening service, and then
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Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, special services and times at 7 o 'clock for that Eternal Issues Bible Conference.
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Well, today we're reading in Judges chapters 5 and 6, John chapter 10, and the 78th
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Psalm. What a rich, rich passage John chapter 10 is, isn't it?
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This Jesus identifies himself as the Good Shepherd. He contrasts himself with shepherds that are hirelings, that are just...they're
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not laboring in any way out of concern for God's people, the sheep.
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They're simply filling time and looking after their own interests. But Jesus contrasts himself with that, and he says,
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I'm the Good Shepherd, and as the Good Shepherd, I have come to give life to the sheep.
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He says, not only have I come to give life to the sheep, but to give to them a more abundant life.
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How did he do that? He tells us. He says, I'm the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd gives his life for the sheep.
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A few verses later in verse 15, he says, the Father knows me, and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep.
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In other words, what Jesus was alluding to in John chapter 10 is what was going to come at the end of his earthly life, the crucifixion.
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He's telling those who are listening, his closest disciples to be sure, but also others who needed yet to trust him and commit themselves to him, letting everyone know that this event that's going to come, a not -too -distant future, his own crucifixion, was not going to be a passive event on his part.
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It wasn't just going to happen to him. He says, I give my life for the sheep.
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This is the Lord's voluntary doing. Why? Because he loves the sheep. He loves his sheep, and he gives his life for their life so that they might live.
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Later on in this sermon or this message, Jesus tells the people, he says, my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
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Let me ask you, do you hear the Lord's voice, the voice of the Lord Jesus? Do you hear his voice through his word?
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Do you follow him? He goes on to say, I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
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Neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. You talk about security. There's an awful lot of stuff going on in this world today, and we read of tragedies and crises, we read of crimes.
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Just a few weeks ago, that horrific crime of this disturbed, mentally, emotionally, spiritually distraught woman who opened fire and killed six people in that Christian school down in Nashville.
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What a horrible, horrible thing. What a horrible thing. But even though their lives physically were snuffed out, those who were
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Christ's, those who were his sheep, they didn't perish. They're still living eternally.
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He says, I give them eternal life, they shall never perish, and no one can pluck them out of my hand.
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I take that as a word of encouragement today in this crazy, mixed -up, chaotic world in which we live, that no one can pluck you out of the hand of your
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Lord Jesus. He goes on to say, listen to this, my Father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my
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Father's hand. I and my Father are one. Listen, if you are one of Christ's sheep, thank the
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Lord for that. Thank him for being your good shepherd who gave his life for you.
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But thank the Father of the good shepherd, who in his grace and his kindness has given you to Christ.
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My Father, Jesus says, who has given them to me is greater than all.
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No one can pluck them out of my Father's hand. So today, if you are one of Christ's sheep, and I trust you are, if not, listen, repent of your sins, turn to Christ today.
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Hear his voice as he calls to you to come unto him and follow him.
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Trust him as your Savior today. And what does the verse say?
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He gives them eternal life. He who gave his life for his sheep gives to his sheep life, eternal life, abundant life.
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Praise the Lord today. Our Father and our God, we do thank you today for giving us as sheep to the great shepherd, the good shepherd, the
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Lord Jesus. And we thank you for his gracious sacrifice of himself on that cross so that we might have life and have it more abundantly.
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Thank you, and we praise you in Jesus' name, amen. All right, well, listen, have a good rest of your day, and I trust the