[0:00] We're going to begin our service singing from Psalm 90. Psalm 90 and from the beginning of the psalm.
[0:17] Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in generations all, before thou ever hadst brought forth the mountains, great or small, where ever thou hadst formed the earth and all the world abroad, even thou from everlasting art to everlasting God.
[0:38] Thou dost unto destruction man that is mortal turn, and unto them thou say'st again, ye sons of men return, because a thousand years appear no more before thy sight than yesterday, when it is past or than a watch by night.
[0:55] As with an overflowing flood thou carryest them away, they like a sleeper, like the grass that grows at morn are they.
[1:07] At morn it flourishes and grows, cut down and even doth fade, for by thine anger we're consumed, thy wrath makes us afraid.
[1:19] And so on. We're going to sing these verses 1 through to 7. Psalm 90. Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in generations all.
[1:30] Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in generations all.
[1:56] You have been our dwelling place, Like honored, we are still on the earth, The last one The year And on the World The Lord Even though From the Lord The last Seigneur To Ever Lost In all Thou
[2:56] Dost Down To Dish Run On The Is Born The Turn And To Them Persist Again Each Shown And Return Because The Person Here Shall Fear No More Before Thy Sight Than Yesterday
[3:57] When Is Past Or That Now Was Shining Night As With The No Butter Flowing Blood Can Yes Semble With In Night Night I Can Sleep Night I Can Sleep By Night The Christ That That Cross At Morn
[4:58] Tampa In We exist, amen.
[5:34] Let's join together in prayer, let's pray. Lord, our God, as we come before you at this time of worship, we would seek your own spirit to be amongst us, guiding us in our praise and in our prayer, that we may lift up our voices and that our singing would be truly a singing that is coming from our hearts, with the desire that our voices be heard in the heavens above, and that there would be a melody, a sweet melody in the voices that are raised in unison, so that we are truly amongst those who praise our Lord.
[6:45] We give thanks that you are the recipient of our praises, and that we are not amongst many that seemingly are overflowing in the praises of their peers, with a want and desire to elevate others for selfish reasons.
[7:16] And there is a hollowness and an emptiness in those who engage in such activities, because such praises quite quickly come to nothing.
[7:33] And the voices that have been praising may be voices that are soon silenced or soon engaged, not in praise but in condemnation.
[7:49] But your people have no reason to do anything other than magnify your name.
[7:59] There are times and occasions when those who bear your name are silenced by reason of their circumstances.
[8:15] They know that they ought to speak to their God, and they know that they have something to say to their God.
[8:27] But they are struck down by the providences that have assailed them, and sometimes even embittered, and they find themselves lacking in that spirit of praise.
[8:47] But they know in their heart of hearts that you are a worthy recipient of the joyous melody of the redeemed, because you are the great redeemer of the lost.
[9:06] You are the creator God who has propelled and sustained that which you gave your image to.
[9:16] And even though sin has desecrated and nullified that image so that it is barely visible, sufficient is the vestiges of your glory, that we cannot but believe that there are a God who is to be praised and magnified by those who reside within this sphere of time.
[9:47] So as we engage in this worship, may we contemplate your face as it is revealed in Christ Jesus, and Christ Jesus as he is revealed to us in the scripture.
[10:00] We pray that you would mercyfully undertake for us and for those who gather with us, regardless of their circumstances, whatever they may be.
[10:13] They are known to you while they may be hidden from us. As mere sojourners, as we all are, as we have been invited to reflect upon even in the singing of our first son, that we are but creatures of the dust.
[10:33] Perhaps if we are spared to live long, three score years and ten, and with greater strength to see four score.
[10:47] And yet there are griefs and sorrows that are bound in the lives of the long-lived, not just in the frailty of the flesh, but what they must endure during their time here in this vale of tears.
[11:08] And even on this day we are reminded of those who have griefs and sorrows to bear, and we are afflicted with them as they grieve.
[11:20] As the voice of death is once again to be heard amongst us as a community in this past week and even in this last 24-hour period.
[11:34] We pray for those that you have afflicted. We pray for the sorrowing and the brokenhearted. We pray for wisdom to yield to your hand and to recognise that you are God and there is none else.
[11:55] And to whom else can we go? For you alone have the words of eternal life. We bring before you the cares and concerns of all connected with these homes and households, our own homes and families we pray for.
[12:14] We pray for those who are dealing with sickness, for those who are dealing with illness for which there is no remedy. We pray for those that are in need of your own hand to be upon them, to sustain them as they pass on through this journey.
[12:36] May they be given strength, not only the mental strength, physical strength, but above all spiritual strength. That alone can be given to them in and through the passion of your eternal son, Jesus Christ.
[12:53] may they look to him and we also look upon him that our faces may be lightened. We pray, Lord, that you would remember our villages, our townships, our communities, our nation.
[13:12] Remember those who govern us, remember the parliaments of the land. we are so grieved because of the lack of leadership and wisdom that is so clearly in evidence.
[13:31] Such a lack you are able to make up. You are able to raise up those who would live in the light of the wisdom that God is God and there is none else.
[13:45] and that each and every one who murder the privileges that you afford us in life and there are many that we are answerable to you at the last. And whatever gifts and graces you endow with, if we abuse them or misuse them, we will answer to you and we will have to give account as all must for how we have lived our life in this world.
[14:12] We pray for mercy for our world that is sin-seeked, for all parts of it where there is so much recklessness and indifference to the realities that life brings before us that here we have no continuing city but there is one to come and those who are to experience the wonders of that eternal habitation that you have prepared for your own.
[14:43] We give thanks for the longings of soul that they enjoy and we pray that you sustain them as they must endure all the griefs that this world brings their way especially the persecuted those who bear Christ's name in the world and because they do they are despised and rejected as their saviour before them.
[15:07] Hear our petitions on their behalf visit them in mercy and feed the hungry give drink to the thirsty give protection to those who are in jeopardy grant Lord that you would hear our petitions for all who are in this world thankful that when we pray we pray in Christ's name our petitions may fall often on deaf ears humanly speaking but you have promised to give a hearing ear to the prayers of your people and as they come to before you even on this your day may you bless every prayer that is offered in secret and in public remember the children of the congregation as they meet together as a sabbath school bless them instruct them inform them direct those who are entrusted with their care may they be prepared by your own hand to live in this world with the knowledge that there is a saviour to whom they can go and upon whose name they can trust watch over as each one cleanse from sin in
[16:27] Jesus name Amen we're going to read from the scriptures of the New Testament and from the gospel of Jesus Christ according to John John chapter 10 the gospel of John chapter 10 and we're reading from the beginning and we'll read down to verse 18 John chapter 10 from the beginning verily verily I say unto you he that entereth not by the door into the sheep fold but climbeth up some other way the same is a thief and a robber but he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep to him the porter openeth and the sheep hear his voice and he calleth his own sheep by name and leadeth them out and when he putteth forth his own sheep he goeth before them and the sheep follow him for they know his voice and a stranger they will not follow but will flee from him for they know not the voice of strangers this parable spake
[18:00] Jesus unto them but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them then said Jesus unto them again verily verily I say unto you I am the door of the sheep all that ever came before me are thieves and robbers but the sheep did not hear them I am the door by me if any man enter in he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture the thief cometh not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly I am the good shepherd the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep but he that is an hireling and not the shepherd whose own the sheep are not seeth the wolf coming and leaveth the sheep and fleeth and the wolf catcheth him and scattereth the sheep the hireling fleeth because he is an hireling and careth not for the sheep
[19:15] I am the good shepherd and know my sheep and am known of mine as the father knoweth me even so know I the father and I lay down my life for the sheep and other sheep I have which are not of this fold them also I must bring and they shall hear my voice and there shall be one fold and one shepherd therefore doth my father love me because I lay down my life that I might take it again no man taketh it from me but I lay it down of myself I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again this commandment have I received of my father amen and may the lord add his blessing to reading of his word to his name be the praise now boys and girls before you go out to
[20:24] Sunday school this morning just a quick word I don't know if you've watched the news perhaps not but I'm sure the schools would have been telling you about an adventure that some were on this week some of you will have heard of the space X capsule a group of four people went on a journey into space they left on Wednesday and they spent until Saturday evening out in space they went round this planet of ours four times and that's a very very wonderful thing that they managed to accomplish some of us would think twice about going four times around the world with our feet on the ground without doing it up in outer space space but it shows us the kind of changes that have taken place in the world over hundreds and thousands of years many years ago the
[21:44] Greeks believed believed in a myth that saw someone called Atlas who was condemned to hold the, well some say the world or some say the earth on his shoulders because he was a giant.
[22:10] The story is that because he had been on the wrong side in a battle between the gods or between some powerful figures that he was condemned to do this.
[22:27] Many believed that that was the case, that this world or the planet that we're on, the earth above us was held up by a giant. And some others believed that the planet earth was sitting on two columns and the planet was sitting on these two columns.
[22:49] And then later on some believed that the world was flat. Some of you will have learned about Christopher Columbus.
[23:01] I remember when I was in school I was very interested in exploration, not just exploration in space. It wasn't so much spoken of when I was your age.
[23:16] But there was explorers who went seeking parts of the world that people didn't know much about. Christopher Columbus was an Italian and he went sailing across the ocean hoping to find the new worlds.
[23:35] And it was him who discovered the Americas. But when Christopher Columbus, remember he was, he lived around 15th century, 14, I think it was 1480, 1490 when he discovered America with his ships.
[23:53] But a lot of sailors who were on the boat with him, they were afraid that they would sail off the end of the world. They thought the world was flat. And that when they would get to the end, they would just go over the end, just as if you saw a table.
[24:11] They would just trip off the end. And they were terrified. And they didn't believe that the world was round at all. And then various other discoveries I suppose.
[24:26] When I was in school, before I went to school in 1962, I think that was when the first voyage into space took place.
[24:38] 1961, a man called Yurik Akaren. He went out into space. He was the first man ever in space. A Russian. And he went round the world once in his rocket.
[24:53] Then eight years after that, in 1969, the first men landed on the moon. And they walked on the moon.
[25:04] And I remember when I was in school, one of my friends told me that if the rocket crashed into the moon, the earth would blow up.
[25:16] And I was afraid. I said, why on earth are they doing that? Why are they so silly going up into the sky and the danger of them crashing into the moon and then the world will blow up?
[25:28] And I believed what they were saying. And it just shows you what people believe and people want to believe. Many people don't believe God's word.
[25:42] And if you read God's word, there's a man in God's word called Job. There's a book named after him. And while we're not very sure when he lived, he's supposed, he started to have been around at the same time as Abraham and Isaac.
[26:03] Around the time of the patriarchs. So it's an ancient passion. Somebody who's been around many, many years ago. Long before Christopher Columbus.
[26:15] And in the book of Job, if you read through it, you'll find that Job was very interested in the sky as well. He speaks about the heavens above. He speaks about the stars.
[26:27] He speaks about the moon. But he says something very interesting. And it should really have been taken note of. He said, and only God could have told him this.
[26:42] He said, God hangeth the earth upon nothing. God hangs the earth upon nothing. Now that was said long before space exploration.
[26:56] Long before people thought that the world was flattened. People thought that it was something that depended on something else.
[27:07] But God in his wisdom, saw food to tell the person Job. This bit of information. And many people took centuries before they discovered a truth that God knew from the beginning.
[27:22] Why did God know it? How did God know it? Because God made the earth. God had made the sky. God had made the moon. God had made the stars. God had numbered them and named them.
[27:36] And yet man doesn't believe that. To this day, man is still thinking that they know better than God. And that they are making great discoveries that only man can make.
[27:48] But don't you believe that for a minute. If you want to know what is certain. You make sure you believe. If anything is made plain by God in his word.
[28:02] You trust in that before you trust in anything else. Many men today don't believe that this world will ever come to an end. Or if it does, they think that man is going to be responsible for it.
[28:17] Well, God tells us different. That when the world comes to an end, he will be the one who will end it. God tells us that when our time in this world is over and done with.
[28:29] That there are two ways that we can go. We can go to be with him. Or we can go to be with the devil and his angels. That's what he tells us. Many people don't believe that.
[28:41] But God tells us that that's the way it's going to be. Now, if you're wise. If you're clever. If you're wanting to believe what is true. You believe what God tells you in his word.
[28:54] Because you can't go wrong when you do that. Well, we're going to sing now as you go out to Sunday school. Some verses from Psalm 39. Psalm 39 from the beginning of the psalm.
[29:08] Psalm 39. I said, I will look to my ways, lest with my tongue I sin. In sight of wicked men, my mouth with bridle I'll keep in.
[29:20] With silence sigh as dumb became. I did myself restrain from speaking good. But then the more increased was my pain. My heart within me walks taught.
[29:32] While I'm using was the fire that burned. From my tongue these words I did let pass. Mine end and measure of my days. O Lord unto me show.
[29:44] What is the same that I thereby my frailty well me know. Lo thou my days and handbreadths maids. Mine ages in thine eye as nothing.
[29:56] Sure each man at best is holy vanity. Sure each man walks in a vain show. They vex themselves in vain. He heaps that wealth and does not know.
[30:09] To whom it shall pertain. We'll sing these verses 1 to verse 6 of Psalm 39. I said, I will look to my ways. I said, I will look to my ways.
[30:34] Blessed with my joy I share. And side your way within my heart.
[30:51] With pride your loyalty can. With silence I shall begin.
[31:09] I get my celebration. And Amen. From feeling good. Thank you and do yourself.
[31:21] Your acceptance ofgtits. 249 who were posted on the broadcast.ç·š3 who was my. My heart within me watched it all And I, like you, sing was The five impermanents wrong I turn its words like it let pass Thy name, John, measure all my days
[32:22] O Lord, I turn to be sure What is the same that I live by?
[32:39] My faith is the only one Lord, I look my years on the earth My nature's end of my life As now, the Jewish man, the best It's all in my dream To each mother's world, the young in June In excellence, the sin in
[33:42] He is the wealth and earth To whom it shall burn in I'm going to turn now to the portion of Scripture that we read together Gospel of Jesus Christ according to John chapter 10 And we can read at verse 9 I am the door By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved And shall go in and out and find pasture The thief cometh not But for to steal and to kill and to destroy I am come that they might have life
[34:43] And that they might have it more abundantly I am the good shepherd The good shepherd giveth his life For the sheep And so on Particularly the words that we have in verse 10 I am come that they might have life I'd like us to think about that statement This morning for a while At this service for a while And a number of thoughts that I felt were prompted by this statement And while I appreciate that these words are found in a certain context
[35:47] As far as teaching is concerned At the heart of this teaching There is a truth that must be taken on board First of all These words They remind us that The Lord Jesus Christ Is someone who Was born into this world It is a declaration of the incarnation Of Jesus Christ What the theologians call the incarnation That God That God Came into this world In the passion Of the Lord Jesus Christ He came As a human He became man The second thing It is a declaration Of his intent What he intended to do By coming
[36:48] And the third thing And the third thing It is a reminder to us Of the fullness Of what is coming Fulfilled So there are three thoughts there That I want us to think about Now there As I've said If we read John chapter 10 Most people Think of John chapter 10 If they're familiar with the scripture at all They would think of this chapter As being the chapter That is associated with Christ The good shepherd And with good reason The words that we have in verse 11 Tells us I am the good shepherd And the good shepherd gives us Life for the sheep However Part of the chapter Is given As a parable
[37:48] And part of it Is Given As teaching That necessarily Accompanies The parable The parable doesn't make sense Without the teaching Without the explanation Without the application And He wants Those who are hearing These words To be Instructed And informed And better equipped To respond To the teaching That we have Contained within The passage But like many of the parables That Jesus Uses The parables Are not Often Often They are not Understood They are certainly Not understood By those That they are told to And here He is He is Speaking to
[38:49] The scribes And the Pharisees And He is Using His knowledge Of the scripture Of the Old Testament And Particularly The teaching That you find In the prophecies Of Ezekiel And Ezekiel There Is speaking About those Who are Supposedly The shepherds Of Israel And yet Although they are Supposedly Shepherds They are not Looking after The sheep The way Shepherds Should And Jesus Applies That teaching From the Old Testament To his own Modern day Context And he points To the scribes And the Pharisees And he uses This parable And he says To them That they are Nothing better Than the blind Guides Those who Are supposedly
[39:50] Meant to Guide others But they are Blind themselves And you would Appreciate How that is How difficult It is How impossible It is You've often Seen I'm sure Adverts On the Televisions Of An organisation That looks For funding For guide dogs And You will see How dependent A blind person Is On their dog Because They can't see Anything I remember When I was Growing up There was A retired Policeman Who used to Stay next door To us And a few Doors And we Had a cow When I was Growing up And we used To send Milk In the summer Months To this home And this Gentleman Was Blind
[40:50] Totally Blind I was Quite Young And I Would Be Able To go Into The House And Because I Was Quite shy I didn't Like to Announce My Presence I would Go Into The Kitchen And I Would Be in The Sitting Room And he Would Be Sitting Here Completely Oblivious To my Presence It was Very Embarrassing For me Then I Didn't Like to Announce Myself In the Middle Of The Floor Because he Hadn't Heard Me Come in And he Certainly Hadn't Seen Me Come in Because he Was totally Blind He Couldn't See Me At All And When you See how Vulnerable A person Who's Blind Is You Appreciate How Important It is For Somebody To Be a Guide To Them Somebody To Help Them Somebody To Lead Them In The Right Path And Keep Them Away From Danger And Jesus Is Very Scathing About This People That He Is Speaking To And He Tells
[41:51] Them That They Need To Understand Who He Is And What He Is In The World To Do That He Is The Door Of The Sheep Fold And That He Is The Good Shepherd Uses Two Different Illustrations There But What He Says Of Them The Parable Spoke Jesus Unto Them They Understood Not What Things They Were Which He Spoke Of To Them Those So Know And Let's Thought has to say and they are not able to accept it because they don't understand it. Now Jesus is the shepherd of the sheep and he is the door of the sheepfold but this is unacceptable to them. But for those who know Jesus, they know him because they recognise his voice and that's what Jesus tells us there. They know his voice and because they know his voice they follow him. Now that's the essence of this chapter, of this part of it anyway. He is describing himself, he is describing his role, he is describing his relationship to them and the need that they have to be in that kind of relationship with him. But I want us to notice this thing and consider it well because it is important for us to recognise it and we can just almost be unaware that this is of import, which we might accept it as truth but not really think much about it. But he says, I am come. I am come that they might have life. And when you stop there, or when I stopped there, I thought to myself, well is that not really the most awe-inspiring statement? That this person who describes himself as the good shepherd, this person who describes himself as the door to the sheepfold, says this wonderful thing about himself, that he is come. It might not be his main aim to declare his incarnation, to declare his birth into the world, to describe to us the way that he appears on the scene of time. But it is important for us to understand that without that happening, he could not be the good shepherd. He could not be the door to the sheepfold.
[45:11] He had to be the good shepherd. He had to be the good shepherd. He had to be born into the world in order for that to happen. And perhaps there is the only time that many people give any thought at all to this, the birth of Jesus, is around Christmas time.
[45:29] Because that is the time that most people think, however they think about it, if they think of it deeply at all, that is the time that the birth of Jesus is spoken of. But they do not do much more than speak about it or have it as a useful date in their holiday calendar.
[45:53] But the reality of what the scripture says is this, that Jesus was born into this world. And anything and everything that is true about Jesus Christ, the Lord of his people, could not be true were this not true of him.
[46:14] That there came a point at which the Son of the Most High God, who is one with the Trinity, one of the Trinity, he is equal with God.
[46:29] He is God's equal in all aspects. He is God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There is a unity in the Trinity that almost defies description, but it is true of him.
[46:47] And this second person came to a point in his existence, an existence that has no beginning and no end. There came a point when he became something that was not true of him until that point.
[47:04] He was born into the world, born through the Virgin Mary, born in the womb, carried in the womb of the Virgin Mary till his birth in Bethlehem.
[47:16] You know, in this chapter, there are one or two of what are called the I am sayings of Christ. Remember, there are seven sayings that have this title.
[47:33] I am the bread of life. I am the light of the world. I am the resurrection of the life. I am the way, the truth and the life. I am the vine. You are the branches.
[47:47] And in this chapter, I am the door. And I am the good shepherd. And while I am not arguing and saying, there is an eighth, I am come.
[47:59] But what I am saying is, this, while it doesn't belong to that important list of I am sayings, what he is saying could not possibly be true.
[48:16] If it is not true, that Christ could say, I am come. I am come into this world. I am come for this, as we shall see, for this purpose.
[48:29] I am come in order that the lifeless would have life. In order that the dead would experience the resurrection from spiritual death.
[48:43] It is not a boast on the part of Jesus, but a statement of fact. And John seems to want us to grasp the significance of it.
[48:56] If you remember, go back to the start of John's Gospel. He goes where? At the very beginning of his Gospel. It doesn't begin with the birth of Christ.
[49:09] He goes back into eternity. He speaks these words. He says, the world was made flesh and dwelt among us. The world who was from the beginning, and in the beginning, he was with God.
[49:24] He goes into eternity. He goes beyond time. That's where he begins his Gospel. That's where he begins to tell us about Jesus. The world was made flesh.
[49:37] And it's no wonder where you find Jesus here, speaking about the centrality of the position that he occupies with regard to his sheep. The last sheep of the house of Israel.
[49:52] He goes beyond time. And he becomes the need that he occupies with regard to the world. He says, the need that there was for the second person of the Trinity to leave heaven and enter the scene of time. To become man.
[50:13] Man. And he became man, as the theologians tell us. And so was and continues to be God and man. And so on. When we look at these words, maybe we'll pass over them and think nothing of it.
[50:31] But it's important for us to recognize that the person who is saved is Jesus, the Son of God. I am come. I am come in a way that you will be able to see me, recognize me for who I am, if your eyes are not blind.
[50:52] If your eyes have the truth hidden from them, God can open them and enable you to see. It's interesting that, you know, when we were studying theology in the college, we also had to study history of theology.
[51:12] And if you look at the history of the New Testament church, one of the earliest heresies that was in the church, in the New Testament church, was a heresy called Docetism.
[51:29] And that heresy involved in a teaching coming into the church where this truth was denied. I am come, Jesus says.
[51:44] But the Docetist said, no, he doesn't really have human nature. It's not real. It's not what we are expected to believe.
[52:00] Jesus was anything but human. But when Jesus is saying here, I am come. He is saying, I am come in order to accomplish something.
[52:15] I am come in order that you have life. And when he says that, he says it with the understanding that everything necessary for that to take place had to be accomplished.
[52:32] And for that to take place, the salvation of lost sinners, they had to experience salvation at the hand of someone who was not just like them, but one within.
[52:48] One within. One within, in nature. Because in that nature, what he was going to do, bestow life upon them, could actually take place.
[53:01] The late John McKeever Carloway states when he's talking about the Good Shepherd. He says, Jesus manifested the glory of divine love and grace.
[53:16] He manifested the glory of divine love and grace. And then he says, he exhibited that through the channel of his humanity.
[53:36] He exhibited it through the channel of his humanity. The grace of God in the salvation of sinners could only be revealed through this medium, through this passion, through the second passion of the Trinity, through the second passion of the Trinity becoming one with us in nature.
[54:01] I am come, he says. I am come, he says. I am come, he says. I am come, that they might have life. I don't know what you think about Jesus.
[54:13] I know the Christian thinks everything about Jesus. The believer in Jesus Christ knows that Christ would be his all in all.
[54:24] But if you ask yourself the question, what is it about Jesus that I am expected to believe? What am I expected to understand about Jesus?
[54:36] Well, maybe you'll have any number of answers to that question. You can see the flawed thinking of the Pharisees there.
[54:48] Repeatably, when Jesus confronts their ignorance, their blindness, their darkness, their lack of spiritual understanding.
[54:59] What is it? What is it? Who is this man? Who is this person? Is he not just a son of Jacob? A son of Joseph? Is he not just a carpenter from Nazareth?
[55:10] How dare he tell us how to do things or how to think? Because what they saw was what they wanted to see, what they expected to see. Nothing more.
[55:22] Maybe when you're thinking about this person who's saying, I am come. And you ask yourself the question, what is it that the Christian believes about Jesus?
[55:35] Well, the Christian believes about Jesus, this, that and the other thing. They think that he's a special person, that he's God in our nature perhaps.
[55:47] You'll agree with that, perhaps not understand it. Anyone wants to ask the question, would you be willing to engage your brain to try and fathom the truth that Christ himself is declaring to us here?
[56:05] Even with your limited understanding of what he is. But he is here putting it simply, I am come, he says, that they might have life.
[56:18] I am come that they might have life. And if you remember, the context is, he's talking about his role as the shepherd, the good shepherd.
[56:31] He's talking about his role as the door to the sheepfold. He's talking about his role as the true guide to the sheep.
[56:42] The one who walks before them. All of these things are true of him. And he's saying, I am come that they, that is the sheep, that they might have life through me.
[56:55] That they might have life through me. Isn't that the key? Isn't that the crux of the matter?
[57:06] He is talking about his sheep. And he is talking about what he is to pay to his sheep. He is talking about the reason for his coming into this world. The thieves and the robbers, they are in it for themselves.
[57:26] The thieves and the robbers, they don't care about the sheep. The thieves and the robbers, when the wolves come, they run. They are not interested in guarding, protecting the sheep.
[57:40] But he has come to seek and to save the lost. And he is not going to be deflected from his task. No matter the opposition. No matter the anger that is in the world directed against him.
[57:54] He has come, he tells us to lay down his life for the sheep. Even the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He has a clear vision, he has a clear understanding.
[58:09] That is what is in the world too. The lost sheep, the straying sheep, the silly sheep, the struggling sheep, the defiant sheep.
[58:21] It doesn't matter what kind of sheep it is. He is burdened to gather these sheep to himself. And that is what he is here to do.
[58:32] Many years ago on a communion Sabbath, a famous Scottish preacher, Rabbi Duncan, challenged his congregation. I think it was a table address.
[58:44] He challenged his congregation and he said to them, Come, here is God-man, God incarnate, crucified, raised from the dead, sitting at God's right hand, who this night by his Holy Spirit invites and entreats you to come.
[59:04] He has come that you may come. That is what he is saying. He has come in order that those who are his sheep might come in response to his voice.
[59:19] So he asks a very striking question. Are you going to reject the one who says come? Are you going to prefer the devil? Are you going to prefer the offerings of the devil?
[59:32] The world or whatever else the world has to offer in preference, in deference to what Christ is offering to you?
[59:45] In rejection of what Christ is offering. I have come, he says, that you might have life. Just think of that.
[60:02] Just think about it. That you might have life. When it's put before you, is there anything that you would prefer to life?
[60:16] Is there anything that you would put before life? Why would anyone reject life and choose death?
[60:28] Well, that is how stark the joyce is. But he says something more on that. And this is probably the most difficult part of this passage.
[60:40] I have come, he says, that they may have life, but not just life, but an abundance of life. That they might have it more abundantly, he says.
[60:53] Some look at this and they say, well, how would I translate this? Don Carson, the theologian, says that it is life to the full.
[61:08] Jesus is offering life to the full. And when you think about it, what life is, is often narrowly understood to be made up of, of how you best meet the physical demands that you as a person have.
[61:34] How are you going to meet your physical hunger? Your physical thirst, your mental thirst and mental hunger?
[61:47] It doesn't go beyond that. How am I going to satisfy what is my life? What is going to give me satisfaction?
[61:59] What is going to make me feel that I've accomplished something, that I'm contented with what I have?
[62:10] There are many in this world and they fill their life with what they think is satisfactory. And they say, this is what living is all about.
[62:23] This is what having a full life is all about. I've got my home, I've got my family, I'm well off, I'm comfortably off, I'm satisfied with what I have.
[62:37] But that itself is open to challenge. Because if it was an abundant life, then that would be the end of the murder.
[62:48] There would be no call on something different, something better, something more. Which is what many, if not all of us, are striving for.
[63:00] If we are oblivious to the fullness of the life that Christ has to offer. The abundance of life that Christ has to offer. If a person has abundance of life through Christ Jesus.
[63:19] What does that mean for them? You know, later on in this chapter he says, not just that he gives them an abundance of life.
[63:35] He says in verse 28, I give them eternal life. And they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand, he says.
[63:46] Because God has them in his hand. I have them in my hand. Nobody is going to take them from me. Such is the nature of the life that I confer upon the sheep that have come to me, that have heard my voice, that trust in me.
[64:02] No one can take from them what I give to them. They cannot be usurped of the things that I have bestowed upon them by virtue of the fact that I am their shepherd.
[64:16] And that I am keeping my flock. And all a foreign part of it. As some interpret these words, he says, His eye is on eternity. He is thinking about beyond this world.
[64:28] He is saying to them, yes, you have life in this world and there is more to come of the same in the world to come. Do you think that is what he is thinking about?
[64:43] That they might have it more abundantly, this life. Well, maybe that's true.
[64:55] As I said, many of the commentators are trying to pinpoint what exactly Jesus is thinking about here. Matthew Henry, one of the older commentators says this.
[65:11] In Christ that we might live comfortably, plentifully, live and rejoice, live in abundance as eternal life.
[65:23] Life without death or fear of death. Life more abundant that cannot be lost or forfeited in the way that original life was forfeited because of sin.
[65:45] Well, whatever Jesus is saying here, he is saying this to us. That the life of which he speaks is solely his to give us.
[66:04] And what he gives, he will not. He will not be stinting. He will not be... You know, there are some people who are very careful about what becomes what's theirs.
[66:19] And even when they are inclined to share what's theirs with others, they will think about, well, how much of this can I afford to share with others?
[66:31] They don't want to leave themselves short. They don't want to leave themselves so that they're deprived themselves while others are not.
[66:43] Jesus can't speak like that. Because what he has is an eternal resource. Resource without bounds. He is the son of the most high God.
[66:55] You know, this is key, I suppose. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. And because he gives his life, he is able to impart life to them in the fullness of that life.
[67:11] Now, this is the question for you today. Is this life in Christ yours? Is this what you believe the gospel to be all about?
[67:26] Is this what you understand the good shepherd to have come to accomplish? Well, surely if Christ says to us that he has come, who would have done?
[67:42] There wouldn't be a church on earth today if he hadn't come. It wouldn't be possible to sustain a church if it was just a fiction, if it was just a myth.
[67:56] Because this world is hostile. Hostile to Christ and to his word and to his people. And if it was anything other than the vital life-giving Christ that is at the heart of his church.
[68:15] The church would have been inexistent long ago. But because he is who he is, and because he came, and for the purpose for which he came, the church remains the church.
[68:30] The life that is at the heart of the church is still a life that is vibrant and vacacious for the salvation of souls to every person who would hear his voice.
[68:44] Well, may you hear it and listen to it and come to the one who has come for you. If you are one of his sheep, let us pray. Lord, be merciful to us.
[68:56] Give us the hearing ear and the sight that will take away our blindness that we may see him for what he is. God, mercy for our sins in Jesus.
[69:07] Amen. Our closing psalm is Psalm 36. Psalm 36, verse 5.
[69:18] Thy mercy, Lord, is in the heavens. Thy truth doth reach the close. Thy justice is like mountains grave. Thy judgments deep as floods. Lord, thou preservest man and beast.
[69:30] So precious is thy grace. Therefore, in shadow of thy wings, many sons that trust shall please. And so on to verse 9. Verse 9.
[69:41] As thy mercy, Lord, is in the heavens. Thy truth doth reach the close. Thy majesty And thank you.
[70:01] Thy mercy, Lord, is in the heavens. Thy peace of the clouds, Thy justice, registr com wie smitten I thank you.
[70:53] And I miss you. Let us promise thee with the darkness of thy love.
[71:11] Let me well satisfy thee. From river shore like pleasure shall we drink to them all night.
[71:37] Because of life upon him you may live alone with thee.
[71:55] And in the purest life of mine, Be clear, be my trust thee.
[72:15] May we bless, mercy, and peace in God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Christ and Abide with you all, never and always. Amen.