If you would open up your Bibles to John chapter 10, we're going to be looking at the back half
of John chapter 10, verses 22 through 42. It's on page 1068 of your pew Bible. And as you're
churning there, let me tell you a story. I was 18 and I was fearing for my life. I had just graduated
from high school and my youth pastor at the time had challenged me to run a mini triathlon with him
in Crystal Lake. So it's swim, bike, run. And being the cocky fool that I was, I said yes.
But being the really cocky fool that I was, 18, prime of life, I'm like, I don't need to train.
So I showed up not having trained. And I knew I was in over my head when I showed up to the Crystal
Lake Beach in my American Eagle trunks to my knees. And I look around me and everyone is in this elite
neoprene kind of wetsuit. I'm like, uh-oh.
So the starter, you know, shoots the gun and I'm quick. So I blasted off the line. I was one of the
first in the water and the water was like 53, 55 degrees. And so I instantly like, meh.
And then everybody caught up. And the next thing I know, and this is where I was fearing for my life,
people were swimming over me. And I realized at that moment, I'm like, down, get up. Because now the
weight of my competitors was holding me down in the water. And I'm like, am I going to drown? Is this
the way that it's going to end? I really wasn't thinking that clearly because I'm still kind of
like breathless. You know, there are a lot of Christians and non-Christians who are experiencing
a fear of having your head underwater spiritually. Like the weight of sin is holding
you down and you are beginning to fear that there is no way up.
We default in our thinking that, yeah, God forgives every once in a while.
He forgives the big stuff, the once in a while stuff. But for the chronic, repeated sin,
the kind of sin that you say to yourself when you do it, like, why do I keep doing this?
Why would God love a mess like this? Surely there comes a point when God says enough is enough.
And he just lets us go. Anybody been there? I lived a lot of my early Christian life that way.
It was miserable.
We have this knack of making God into our own image. And this knack of thinking God loves us the
way that we love others based upon their response to us. So we sneak our obedience into our standing
with God. You start thinking things like, how many second chances can God give me?
When is it like a banana that just is no longer ripe towards me?
God's love certainly must have a limited shelf life.
I've got good news for you this morning, Christian.
God's love for you does not depend on your obedience to him.
God's love for you in its fullness does not have a limited shelf life.
God's love for you.
We saw last week that the good shepherd, that his goodness runs red.
That he died, he laid his life down for you and took it up again.
That's good news.
But this morning I've got more good news.
That this good shepherd who laid his life down and his goodness, his goodness runs red.
This same good shepherd, you go.
You are unsmatchable.
This morning we find ourselves in another confrontation between Jesus and the Jewish leaders.
And it's a confrontation over two titles.
The Christ and the Son of God.
The Jewish leaders have rejected Jesus being the Christ, the Son of God.
But for those of us who believe, those two titles, the Christ, the Son of God,
it reveals a goodness to us that he will never let us go.
So let's look at these two titles and then bring them to bear upon our lives.
And so chapter 10, verses 22 through 30, let's look at this first title, the Christ.
We read this.
At that time, the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem.
It was winter and Jesus was walking in the temple in the colonnade of Solomon.
So the Jews gathered around him and said to him,
How long will you keep us in suspense?
If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.
Jesus answered them, I told you and you did not believe.
The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me,
but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep.
My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me.
I give them eternal life and they will never perish.
And no one, no one, no one will snatch them out of my hand.
My Father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one,
no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.
I and the Father are one.
Verse 22, time has passed since the last verses 1 through 21 that we read,
that we preached, saw last week.
Some time has passed.
It's a different time of year.
It's the winter time now.
It's the Feast of Dedication.
The Feast of Dedication, if you don't know,
it's what we have commonly known, come to know as Hanukkah.
So Hanukkah is being celebrated.
And notice where Jesus is.
He's in Jerusalem.
He's in the temple.
He's in the colonnade of Solomon, the third king of Israel.
And Solomon's colonnade, also known as Solomon's porch,
was an 800-foot long covered porch on the eastern side of the temple complex.
Do you know how long that is?
That's like three football fields.
That's huge.
It had 40-foot columns.
It was holding up a ceiling, a roof of cedar.
It was massive.
In fact, in Acts chapter 5, we learn that the early church in Jerusalem met at Solomon's porch.
What we're going to see is that this account that starts in Jerusalem will end in a very different place.
In verse 24, Jesus is literally surrounded.
This is not an accidental kind of like surrounding.
This is an intentional surrounding.
He's surrounded by Jewish leaders, and they have some questions for him.
In fact, they are posing it as a question, but it's more of a demand.
And this is just part of the tension between Jesus and the Jewish leaders that has been building since chapter 5.
And so, essentially, they say, are you the Christ or not?
Will you just give it to us straight?
Just straight up tell us.
Now, if you're not familiar with the word Christ, you can make a mistake at this point.
Because you're familiar with the two words Jesus Christ.
And you may think, well, Christ is Jesus' last name.
Like the last name, it is a title.
Jesus the Christ, Mike the pastor, Nate the intern.
They're descriptive titles.
Christ is a Greek translation of a Hebrew word, Messiah, that we say in English.
And that means anointed one.
As in the anointed king of Israel.
It carries this sense of kingship.
And so, throughout the Old Testament, there was this growing anticipation of a coming Messiah.
An anointed one.
A king who would rule God's people.
And he would be descended of King David.
He would sit on David's forever throne.
That's 2 Samuel 7.
He would be royal.
He would be divine.
He would be forever.
He would be just.
He would also suffer.
But he would deliver God's people and establish a kingdom that could never be destroyed.
Daniel 7, 13 and 14.
Now, if you were a Jew living in Jerusalem in the first century, that means you were under Roman rule.
And that would have been oppressive for you.
It would have limited what you could do as a Jew.
And so, if you were longing for the Messiah, chances are, it would have been politically loaded.
You're like, I want to get out from under Roman rule.
Come, Messiah.
Come deliver.
Re-establish Israel.
Make Israel great again.
We can all relate with this.
We, as Americans, want a president.
Regardless of where you're on the political spectrum.
You want a president who will represent you.
Who will do you good.
Who will deliver.
Who will make us great.
And so, we have this ripe situation in Jerusalem.
There are many ideas of who or what the Messiah would do.
And there were many men claiming to be the Messiah.
And so, it's no wonder that Jewish leaders, at least on one level, are like, okay, would you just give it to us straight?
Are you the Messiah or not?
Come on, straight up.
Just give it to us plainly.
Shoot straight.
But they have their own ideas of who the Messiah would be.
So, let me just ask this question of you.
What is your idea of the Messiah?
Who do you think the coming king, the king, should be?
In verse 25, Jesus responds to the demand.
He says, verse 25, very plainly,
I told you, and you did not believe.
And then he says,
the works that I do in my father's name bear witness about me.
I've told you.
How did you tell me?
And he switches kind of communication strategies.
He's like, I told you with my works.
With what I did.
What works?
Well, in John 5, he heals the paralytic in Jerusalem on the Sabbath.
And the Jews, at that moment, start to seek to kill him because he claimed to be equal with God.
In John 9, we were just there.
Jesus heals a man born blind.
He tracks him down.
And he asks this man who now sees, who's never seen Jesus' face.
Jesus asks him, do you believe in the Son of Man?
And the man formerly blind says, yeah, show me him.
And then Jesus says to him, you're looking at him.
And when Jesus tells him that,
Jesus is making a claim of being the Messiah
because the Son of Man is just another messianic title.
And when you hear about his kingship,
here's the association you need to have with that.
It's about authority.
Kings carry authority.
And Jesus has the authority to heal a paralytic.
He's got the authority to heal someone who's been blind all their life.
Next week, we're going to see him, hallelujah,
heal a man who was dead for four days.
At the end of Matthew, when Jesus, after his resurrection,
he appears to his disciples, and he tells them straight up,
he's like, all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me.
He's got all authority.
He has the right to do anything he wants.
And the Jewish leaders did not believe that these works that Jesus was doing
were actually bearing witness that he was the Christ.
In John 10, Jesus calls himself the good shepherd.
And it's that phrase, good shepherd,
it doesn't just carry the sense of leader, follower.
It does.
It carries more than that.
It goes beyond Psalm 23.
It goes beyond Ezekiel 34.
Shepherding is a way of describing kingship.
In Psalm 78, Asaph writes this.
This is verses 70, 71, and 72.
He, God, chose David, his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds.
From following the nursing ewes, he brought him to shepherd Jacob, his people, Israel, his inheritance.
With upright heart, he, David, shepherded them and guided them with his skillful hand.
A king was a shepherd king.
And what Jesus is claiming here, what's being said of him being the Christ,
is he is the great shepherd king who has all authority,
and he has laid his life down and taken it up again.
His goodness runs red.
And so his words, his works, point to him being the Christ.
He even tells the Samaritan woman in John chapter 4 in Sychar,
when she makes a comment,
yeah, you know, the Messiah, when he comes, he will tell us all things.
He says to her, I who speak to you am he.
So not just works, but he used words too.
Unfortunately, these leaders were not around to hear that.
They didn't believe.
And Jesus says why in verse 26.
He says, you don't believe because you're not among my sheep.
His sheep hear his voice.
His sheep hear his voice because they belong to him.
Jesus says in verse 26, excuse me, in verse 27,
my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me.
And I know them.
Last week we looked at Jesus saying, I know my sheep and my sheep know me.
And that knowledge is not just this kind of like fact knowledge, head knowledge.
It is that.
It is a personal knowledge.
It's a personal relationship.
It's being in intimate personal relationship with the Christ.
CCEF, the Christian counseling.
Thank you, Zach.
So when we hear the word, I know them, you can swap out the word know with love.
I love them.
I know my sheep.
I love my sheep.
I laid my life down for my sheep.
You might ask the question, well, how long?
How long has he known us like that?
He has known you and loved you since before the foundation of the earth.
He's been tracking you.
In verse 28, we learn that Jesus gives them his sheep who he knows and loves, who hear his voice.
He gives them eternal life and they will never perish.
And just to be clear, we play no part in receiving this eternal life.
It's God who causes us to be born again.
It's him that makes us new creations.
Eternal life is not caused by any of us or anything that we do in any sense.
But we've been made alive in Christ Jesus all because of the goodness of the good shepherd who laid his life down and took it up again.
His death and resurrection.
His goodness runs red.
But in verses 28 and 29, we have the unsnatchable promise.
No one, no one will snatch them out of my hand.
No one.
So let me put it together for you.
The all authoritative Christ.
Who has authority over heaven and earth.
All things.
He has authority over paralysis.
He has authority over blindness.
He has authority over death.
He has authority over your soul.
He has authority over the devil.
He has authority over creation.
He has authority over all things.
And he is saying, no one will snatch them out of my hands.
No one.
That's really good news.
His goodness never lets you go.
It's because he's the Christ.
He's got all authority.
And in fact, he doesn't stop with just talking about himself.
He says, no one can snatch them out of the Father's hand.
He needs greater than all.
And so what he's painting the picture of is this divine double grip on each of his sheep that will never let you go.
You are held by the all-authoritative divine grip of the Almighty.
It is really good news.
His goodness never lets go of his sheep.
And in verse 30, he says, I and the Father are one.
He's claiming unity with God the Father along two lines.
Mission.
Why he came.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son.
One of a kind son that whoever believes in him shall not.
Same mission.
Different roles in that mission.
But same mission.
And he's claiming oneness of nature.
That he himself is fully God.
It's not just mission, but nature.
Two distinct persons.
God the Father.
God the Son.
Of course, there's God the Spirit.
Fully God.
Playing different roles in our salvation.
And they have a double grip on us.
The Christ is the all-authoritative God.
And he's got a grip on you that will never let you go.
Because of who he is.
Not because of who you are.
Now, let me just ask a question before we move on.
Who then has the authority to snatch you out of his hand?
Who then in all of creation has a surpassing glory to Jesus
that is authorized to snatch you sheep out of the good shepherd's hands?
There's no one.
And I would argue, not even you.
So we've looked at this title, the Christ.
Now let's look at the second title.
The Son of God.
And that is in verses 31 through 39.
Let me read that.
The Jews picked up stones again to stone him.
Jesus answered them,
I have shown you many good works from the Father.
For which one of them are you going to stone me?
The Jews answered him,
It's not for a good work that we are going to stone you,
but for blasphemy.
What's that?
You, being a man, make yourself God.
Now, Jesus answered them,
Is it not written in your law, I said, you are gods?
If he called them gods to whom the word of God came,
and scripture cannot be broken,
do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world,
you are blaspheming?
Because I said, I am the Son of God.
If I am not doing the works of my Father,
then do not believe me.
But if I do them,
even though you do not believe me,
what I say about myself,
believe the works,
that you may know and understand
that the Father is in me,
and I am in the Father.
Again, they sought to arrest him,
but he escaped from their hands.
In verse 31,
the Jews pick up stones to stone Jesus,
to kill him,
and we know that they've wanted to kill Jesus
since chapter 5,
when Jesus healed the paralytic
and claimed to be God.
They've been wanting to kill him.
Chapter 8,
Jesus makes this crazy statement
in verse 58,
Before Abraham was,
I am,
claiming to be Yahweh.
Why?
And again,
the Jews pick up stones
to stone him,
but it wasn't his time.
So in verse 32,
they pick up stones
to stone him again
in verse 31,
and Jesus said,
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
For which of my good works
are you going to kill me?
Are you going to stone me?
Now, you've got to understand
what's going on here.
It's like if we were looking down
the muzzle of a gold,
of a loaded gun,
he's looking at men
with stones in their hands,
and he's like,
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Which of these good works
that I'm doing?
Is it the paralytic I healed?
Is it the blind man?
Just wait till you see
what I do in a few days.
They say in verse 33,
Not for a good work,
but for blasphemy.
And they give the definition.
You a mere man
making yourself God.
Blasphemy, what it is,
it's a charge of a false claim.
Blasphemy is charging someone
with a false claim.
Blasphemy is saying,
You are claiming to be God,
but you're not.
Unfortunately,
they got it wrong.
Because what they're assuming
in this charge
is that Jesus
is just a mere man.
And that he's not God.
He existed with God.
He didn't make himself God.
He is very God.
In fact,
the Jews actually
had it backwards.
Here's what I mean by that.
He's not a man
who made himself God.
God.
He is God
who was made man.
Remember
John 1, 14?
And the word
became flesh
and dwelt among us.
Oh man,
did they have it backwards.
They were totally missing this.
They did not believe
who Jesus was.
And in verses
chapter 5
of John
and 8
and 10.
They just miss
and miss
and miss.
And they just don't call him
a blasphemer.
They call him demon possessed.
They call him insane.
So check it out.
If
our
king
was called
those things,
what do you think
that means for us?
There's no way
around it.
In verses
34 through 38,
Jesus responds
to the charge
of blasphemy.
And he responds
in a way
that may sound
a little confusing
to our ears.
Let me try
to spell it out.
So what Jesus does
is he
corrects
the Pharisees'
sloppy use
of a phrase,
the son of man.
It's like
you guys don't
know your Bibles.
And so
in verse 34
he says,
Jesus answered,
is it not written
in your law?
I said,
you are gods.
And that's
Psalm 82
verses 6 and 7.
And he just doesn't
say you are gods.
He says,
you are sons
of the Most High.
And his point
is that
in that
Psalm,
God is speaking
to humans
and calling them
sons of God.
Sons of the Most High.
And so what Jesus
is simply doing here
is just showing them,
it's like,
you guys don't know
your Bibles.
Because
the phrase,
the son of God
is actually used
for human beings.
For example,
Psalm 82.
And so what Jesus
is doing here
is demonstrating
that they don't know
what they're really
talking about.
But what happens
in verse 35 and 36
is called
a lesser to greater
argument.
So starting there
with this idea
of Psalm 82
that in fact
God does call
some humans
sons of God.
Jesus makes
an argument.
He says this,
if God called
them gods
to whom
the word of God
came
and scripture
cannot be broken,
Jesus had a high
view of the Bible.
Inerrant,
unbreakable.
Then he turns
to himself.
If God spoke
of that
to just mere men,
then he says,
do you say
of him
whom the Father
consecrated
and sent
into the world
you are blaspheming
because I said
I am the Son of God.
What he's assuming
is he is
greater
than a mere human.
He is
consecrated,
made holy,
set apart
by the Father.
He had been
sent by the Father
in order to
save sinners
by laying his life
down for him,
something only God
could do.
So what Jesus
is saying
you don't really
know what you're
talking about
and by the way
I am
greater.
I am
claiming that.
I am
saying
in verse 38
37, 38
if I am not
doing the works
of my Father
then do not
believe me.
He comes back
to this idea
of his works
testifying to
who he is.
It's like
if I'm not
doing the works
of my Father
then don't
believe me.
Don't believe
what I'm saying
about myself.
Don't believe
what I just said
that I and the
Father are one.
If I'm not
doing his works
don't believe that.
Then he says
verse 38
but if I do them
if I am doing
the works
of God
my Father
even though
you do not
believe me
even though
you may not
believe
what I'm saying
about myself
my verbal
claim
that I and
the Father
are one
even though
you don't
believe me
believe the works.
It's proof
in the pudding.
And then he says
that you may
know and understand
that the Father
is in me
and I am
in the Father.
Do you know
what that is?
That the Father
is in me
and I am
in the Father.
That's just
another way
of saying
I and the Father
are one.
He comes
back to this
claim
of being God.
The works
show it.
He's claiming
equality
with God.
That this
healing of the
paralytic
that
that giving
sight to the
blind man
that
that his
soon
raising of
Lazarus
from the
dead
and his
own
giving
of his
life
and being
raised
from the
dead
this all
points
to who
he is.
He is
God in the
flesh.
He is
the Christ
the Son
of God.
in verse
39
the Jews
seek to
arrest him
because they
don't buy
it.
They still
think that
he's
blaspheming.
They don't
believe that
he's
that this
claim is
true.
And so
we have
these two
titles.
first is
the Christ
all authority
and the
second title
the Son
of God
and Jesus
is the
Son of God
in full
divinity
full
godness.
Do you
know what
that means?
He is the
almighty.
He's got
all power.
He just
hasn't been
given authority
over all
things.
He has
power over
all things
to do
what he
sees
best.
He's got
full
authority
full
power.
So
what's
the point?
What's
the point
of this
passage?
This
passage
is the
culmination
of this
tension
that's
been
building
since
chapter
5
between
Jesus
and
the
Pharisees.
There's
been
this
ongoing
back
and
forth
of
who
Jesus
is
and
whether
these
leaders
were going
to believe
him or
not.
It centers
in this
passage
on those
two
titles
the
Christ
and
the
Son
of
God.
The
Jewish
leaders
refuse
to
believe
that
Jesus
is
the
Christ.
They
refuse
to
believe
that
he
is
the
Son
of
God.
What
they're
doing
is
they're
refusing
to
submit
to
the
all
authoritative
Christ
and
they're
refusing
to
submit
to
God
Almighty
that
he
has
come
to
establish
a
new
kingdom.
In
John
chapter
one
we
read
this
speaking
of
Jesus
he
has
come
to
his
own
and
his
own
did
not
receive
him.
That's
what's
happening
here.
That's
what's
coming
full
into
the
picture
but
those
who
did
receive
him
to
them
he
gave
the
right
to
become
children
of
God.
To
those
who
did
receive
him
as
the
Christ
as
the
Son
of
God
as
the
good
shepherd
who
laid
down
his
life
and
took
it
up
again
to
them
he
gave
the
right
to
become
children
of
God
to
them
he
gave
!
new
life
born
again
to
them
the
Holy
Spirit
would
come
and
indwell
them
and
would
bubble
up
life
as
an
eternal
spring
the
Christ
the
Son
of
God
gives
eternal
life
to
his
sheep
who
hear
his
voice
and
the
good
news
this
morning
he
will
never
let
you
go
these
two
titles
they
show
up
at
the
end
of
John
we
hit
this
before
it's
the
purpose
statement
of
the
book
in
John
chapter
20
verses
30
and
31
we
read
this
now
Jesus
did
many
other
signs
in
the
presence
of
the
disciples
which
are
not
written
in
this
book
but
these
are
written
so
that
you
may
believe
that
Jesus
is
the
Christ
the
Son
of
God
and
that
by
believing
you
may
have
life
in
his
name
you
may
receive
the
abundant
life
you
may
receive
eternal
life
and
here's
where this
is all
landing
no one
has
authority
to snatch
you out
of the
Christ's
hand
no one
has the
power
to snatch
you out
of the
hand
of the
Son
of God
there
is
no
one
no
thing
that
has
the
authority
or
power
to
take
you
from
Jesus
because
his
all
authoritative
all
powerful
grip
has
no
rival
this
is
one
of
the
greatest
of
all
assurances
for
a
Christian
so
if
you're
a
Christian
in
the
room
I
need
you
to
stop
doing
something
this
is a
call
to
repentance
here's
the
call
stop
making
God
in
your
own
image
stop
believing
that
God
is
like
you
in
the
way
he's
committed
to
you
he's
not
he's
all
authoritative
and
he's
almighty
and
he
loves
you
if
you
see
that
operating
in
you
do
you
know
what
you
need
to
speak
to
that
that's
wrong
that
is
not
the
God
of
the
Bible
we
need
to
repent
of
making
God
into
our
own
image
the
other
side
of
that
is
to
rest
assured
in
these
titles
of
Jesus
that
his
being
the
Christ
that
him
being
the
son
of
God
that
he
is
all
authority
and
he's
God
almighty
it
is
these
realities
his
posture
towards
you
in
his
authority
and
power
is
one
of
love
he's
exercising
those
things
for
your
good
because
Jesus
is
the
authoritative
Christ
because
Jesus
is
God
almighty
no
one
not
even
your
own
sinfulness
can
separate
you
from
the
love
of
God
in
Christ
Jesus
here
Romans
8
who
shall
separate us
from
the
love
of
Christ
shall
tribulation
or
distress
or
persecution
or
famine
or
nakedness
or
danger
or
sword
as
it
is
written
for
your
sake
we
are
being
killed
all
the
day
long
we
are
regarded
as
sheep
to be
slaughtered
no
and all
these
things
we
are
more
than
conquerors
through
him
who
loved
us
in
his
authority
in
his
power
for
I
am
sure
that
neither
death
nor
life
nor
angels
nor
rulers
nor
things
present
nor
things
to
come
nor
powers
nor
height
nor
depth
nor
anything
else
in
creation
all
creation
including
yourself
will be
able to
separate
us
from
the
love
of
God
in
Christ
Jesus
our
Lord
that's
just
another
way
of
saying
you're
unsnatchable
and I
hope
what this
does
in your
heart
is
it
causes
your
heart
to
rise
some
people
will hear
that
and
they'll
critique
it
they'll
say
well
isn't
that
convenient
Salvati
you're
giving
everybody
license
to
sin
in
the
room
this
is
Jesus
talking
here's
how
it
works
if
you're
convinced
that
he
will
never
let
you
go
what
will
that
affect
what
should
be
that
effect
on
you
in
relation
to
sin
to
abuse
it
or
to
press
into
it
if
I
know
that
I
will
never
be
let
go
I
am
going
to
slay
my
sin
this
is
not
an
excuse
to
sin
this
is
an
assurance
of
salvation
if
you're
not
a
Christian
in
the
room
do
you
believe
that
Jesus
is
your
long
awaited
king
the
God
king
do
you
believe
that
Jesus
is
God
almighty
in
the
flesh
who
laid
his
life
down
and
took
it
up
again
do
you
believe
that
is
that
true
did
he
lay
his
life
down
for
you
and
take
it
up
again
is
that
true
the way
you
respond
is
very
simple
the way
you
respond
is by
just
saying
I
believe
Jesus
I
believe
I
hear
your
call
I
believe
this
to be
true
and
I
will
follow
you
as
my
good
shepherd
!
you
and
you
put
your
faith
in
Jesus
he
lays
hold
of
you
and
he
will
never
let
you
go
and
then
you
come
follow
Jesus
with
the
rest
of
the
flock
together
following
Jesus
we
hold
fast
to
him
knowing
that
his
goodness
will
never
let
us
go
he
holds
fast
to
us
this
passage
ends
in
verses
40
and
42
and
it
ends
in a
very
different
place
than
where
we
began
it
ends
with
Jesus
going
across
the
Jordan
into
the
wilderness
where
John
the
Baptist
had
begun
his
baptizing
ministry
it's
very
interesting
and
all
sorts
of
people
come
to
Jesus
at
that
point
and
they
believe
in
him
based
upon
John
the
Baptist
we're
in
Jerusalem
Jesus
is
surrounded
by
the
Pharisees
and
it's
Jesus
speaking
to
them
and
they
don't
believe
it
ends
with
Jesus
in
the
wilderness
not
Jerusalem
you'd
think
hey
all the
godly
people
are
Jerusalem
not
in
the
wilderness
and
all
of
these
people
gather
to
Jesus
they
surround
him
not
because
of
what
Jesus
has
said
but
because
of
what
John
the
Baptist
had
said
who's
now
dead
they
believe
to
believe
they
believe
that
he's
the
Christ
that
he's
the
son
of
God
these
are
sheep
coming
to
their
shepherd
and
it's
there
in the
wilderness
we see
belief
not in
Jerusalem
ironic
John
is a
master
storyteller
this
morning
we've
heard
good
news
not only
does
the
goodness
of
Jesus
run
red
the
goodness
of
Jesus
will
never
let
you
go
and
it's
because
of
him
not
us
let's
pray
God
in
heaven
we do
thank
you
so
much
for
this
assurance
this
blessed
assurance
of
these
words
no
one
will
snatch
them
from
my
hand
God
would
you
impress
that
upon
us
your
sheep
that
this
week
we
would
walk
through
this
week
with
this
word
unsnatchable
echoing
through
our
heads
thank
you
Lord
Jesus
that
our
assurance
is not
grounded
in our
performance
but
in your
very
nature
in
Jesus
name
we
pray
amen