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Fathers, we approach Christmas, the celebration of the coming of Christ. Gifts are very much on our minds. But Father, every Lord's Day, as we gather together, gifts are on our minds, the gifts that you provide for us in the normal provision of life, But also father, the gifts that we give back to you gifts of praise. Gifts of adoration as we sing unto you. Gifts of prayer as the prayers of your people rise to you as incense. And father now material gifts which we offer to you. We pray, Father, that these gifts would be given with cheerful hearts, that you might receive them as acts of worship. This we ask in the name of Christ our Savior. Amen. Amen. ♪ ♪ All right, as we prepare for the word to be preached to us, just a reminder to turn off your electronic devices so we're not interrupted as pastor brings the word. Let us pray. Father God, we are so glad to be in your house today. We are so privileged to be able to hear your word. But we thank you for bringing us Pastor Harrison as our shepherd, as he watches over us and ministers to us. Lord, give us ears to hear and hearts to respond. Lord, may your spirit work through him to teach us what you want us to know, Lord. Give us obedient hearts and minds. We might grow in your word this day. We might bind us together as your people. We might use it effectively. We know your word is powerful, and it goes out effectively to accomplish all your purposes, Lord. We thank you for bringing about your purposes today, and we just pray for you to be with us in ministry through our pastor. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. First of all, thank you for your prayers over the past couple of weeks. I am feeling much better and we're on our way to a full recovery, I trust. It is good to be among the people of God and to know that we are a part of one another. It is good to know that we have the ministry of intersection for one another, to lift one another up before the throne of grace, and I appreciate you doing that. We want to come to the Gospel of John once again this morning. We're going to be looking together at John chapter 10 and verse 10. Let me just read that for us. John chapter 10 verse 10. The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. I that they may have life and have it abundantly. Father, as we turn to your word this morning, we want to understand and we want to know what you have revealed to us in your word. We accept this word for what it is. It is your word to us, and we are grateful for it. Teach us this morning in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, last week we began a short series in the Gospel of John seeking to answer one particular question. And that question is this, why did Jesus come? Why did Jesus come? In order to answer that question, we're going to verify various passages throughout the Gospel of John, in which Jesus himself answers the question. And so last week, if you were here with us, you'll remember that we were in John chapter 6, which in verse 37 Jesus says, All that the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will certainly not pass out, for I have come now from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. This is the will of Him who sent me, that of all that He has given me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I myself will raise Him up on the last day. So what we saw last week was that Jesus came down from heaven to do one thing in particular. Everything we're going to see this morning and in the coming weeks is connected with this one thing. Jesus came to do the will of his father. His entire earthly ministry was intended to accomplish that. And as we opened that up last week, what we saw was the focus of this aspect of God's will, which Jesus is addressing there in John chapter 6, is to receive those whom the Father had given to Him, and to give them eternal life. And so when we ask that question, why did Jesus come? The first answer that we receive is that He came to do the will of the Father, which is to bring eternal life to those to whom the Father gives Him. And so we spent last week talking about this. It's not something that many people connect with Christmas. We're going to talk about sovereignty of God and salvation at Christmas. We're going to talk about election and predestination at Christmas. These are issues that are left for other times. Many preachers are afraid it's going to cause controversy within their churches, so they'll avoid that. But it's hard to avoid the clear words of Christ himself. has given men and women to Him. And He came so as to give them eternal life. That's what we saw last week. This morning I want to examine another answer to that question. Again, it's an answer that Christ Himself gives us. Why did He come? And today I want to give particular attention to this 10th verse of the 10th chapter of John's Gospel. It's here that we find an answer that is both related to that first answer we saw last week, but at the same time, it's different. It's important to examine this particular answer because what we find Jesus saying in chapter 10, verse 10, has so often been twisted and misrepresented. We need to understand what Jesus means when he says in verse 10 that he came first that they might have life, and second, that they might have it abundantly. What is this abundant life Jesus is talking about, and who are they? Well, as we go back and we open this up, we look at the context of what's going on here in John chapter 10, we find that the they are his sheep. And once again, as we saw last week, the ones Jesus is speaking of in terms of those to whom he gives life and those to whom he gives that life abundantly, they are not everyone. This doesn't apply to everyone in the world, everyone who has ever been born. There is a specific group of people to which this applies. Here in chapter 10, Jesus identifies them as his sheep. And as we read through this chapter, Jesus opens that up for us because Jesus presents himself as the Good Shepherd. And as the Good Shepherd, he has sheep that he watches over. He has sheep, and to those sheep he gives abundant life. But not everybody is within that category. Not everybody is a shepherd. We can go back to the Gospel of Matthew and we can see this laid out for us. Matthew records Jesus' teaching that when he comes again and sits upon his throne, the nations will be gathered before him. And the first thing that Jesus is going to do as he gathers the nations before him is divide them. Sheep will be on one side, goats on the other. Not everyone is a sheep. That's something that needs to be declared today. Because we hear so often, don't we, that everyone is a child of God. And depending on how you're speaking, that may or may not be true. If you're speaking about creation, well that's certainly true. God created everything and everyone. But the vast majority of the time, Scripture is not speaking about creation in those terms. Scriptures are speaking about those who belong to the Father spiritually, those who have been adopted as his children through faith in Jesus Christ. So when we come to chapter 10 and we find Jesus talking about sheep, we need to understand he's making a distinction. There are those who are his sheep and there are those who are not. Let me show you how he does this. Go back up to the beginning of the chapter. Jesus says, truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but finds us some other way, he is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out." Now again, Jesus is going to go on to identify himself as the Good Shepherd, the True Shepherd. And Jesus said, I have sheep, and when those sheep hear my voice, they follow me. When he puts forth all his own firstborn, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him because they do not know the voice of the stranger. This figure of speech Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things were which he had been saying to them. So Follow that. You know what John is telling us there? Jesus spoke in this figure of speech, but they didn't understand. So, Jesus said to them again. They didn't get it. So Jesus has to make it more clear. What do we know about sheep? Sheep are stupid. things clear so Jesus said to them again truly truly I say to you I am the door of the sheep so Jesus is going to mix metaphors here but it's okay it's his word he can do that he's gonna speak himself as a shepherd but here he's also the door I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief only comes to kill, to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. And then he goes on in verse 11 to make it very clear if we are gotten confused with the mixed metaphors. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who is not an owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep, and flees. And the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he's a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. So we've got a lot of things going on already. We've got a discussion of sheep. We've got a discussion of shepherds. There is a good shepherd, a true shepherd, and there are false shepherds. False shepherds are higher to hands. They're just there for the paycheck. They don't care about the sheep at all. Wolf comes along. They're just going to look out for their own skin, and they're going to get out. The true shepherd is going to stay there. He's going to fight off the wolf. He's gonna protect those sheep. Jesus says, verse 14, I am the good shepherd, and I know my own, and mine who know me. Even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. Now watch this, I have other sheep. which are not of this fold, I must bring them also. They will hear my voice, and they will become one flock with one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it up again. No one has taken it away from me, but I lay it down on my own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again, this commandment I receive from my Father. So Jesus has other sheep. Who are these other sheep? Well, where is Jesus now? He's there in Israel. He's speaking to Jews. Jews who believe on him are his sheep. But he has other sheep. Gentiles. You and me. And what's Jesus going to do? Jesus is going to bring them also. Now, watch the tense here. I must bring them also. They will hear my voice. And they will become one flock with one shepherd. Well, if that's in the future, then what do we know about this? It's not the present situation. There are those whom Jesus notes to be his sheep. And they themselves don't know that they are His sheep yet. But He's going to go and call them, and He's going to bring them, and there's going to be one flock with one shepherd, Jew and Gentile, in the same body, all His sheep. But not everybody comes into that category. Jump up to verse 24. The Jews then gathered around him. Now, when you read the Jews in the Gospel of John, understand he's not speaking about everybody who's Jewish. The Jews is shorthand for the leaders of Israel. The Jews then gathered around him and were saying 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 do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name, these testify of me, but watch this, you do not believe, because you are not of my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. What did we read just a moment ago? Jesus has other sheep. Those sheep are his sheep, even though they don't yet know him. That is, the gospel hasn't come to them yet. But when it does, they will hear his voice in the gospel, and they will follow him. The Jewish leaders, however, are not his sheep. And the way Jesus knows that, because they don't believe. Now note what's going on here. Look again at verse 26. We've got to be very careful here because it's easy to get this turned upside down. I've actually heard people preach this passage and reverse what Jesus said. Jesus says that the reason they don't believe is because they are not a sheep. And I've heard people preach this and say, you're not a sheep because you don't believe. That's not what Jesus says. You don't believe because you're not a sheep. If you were my sheep, you would believe. That's what he said earlier. I'm going to go and I'm going to call my sheep. And when they hear my voice, they're going to recognize that they're going to follow me. They are my sheep. And because they're my sheep, faith follows. But if someone is not one of Christ's sheep, not one of those that the Father has given to him, faith does not follow. They hear the voice, but they don't recognize it, because they're not sheep. So, in this chapter, Jesus is presenting himself as the good shepherd of his sheep. And the reason he has come, he tells us in verse 10, is to give life to those who are his sheep. It's a different way of saying what He said last week. Those that the Father gives Him are going to come. Here He says it in terms of the sheep-shepherd relationship. Those that the Father gives Him are His sheep. His sheep, when they hear His voice, are going to come. And when they come, Jesus is going to give them eternal life. And He's going to give them, He says, abundant life. Now, to put all of this in its context, the abundant life is, as Scripture defines it, contented life. in which contentment comes from the confidence that God is equal to every emergency and does indeed supply all of our genuine needs according to His riches in glory and righteousness. He gives that kind of life to His sheep. First He gives life, period, and then He makes that life abundant. The contented life is the life of the sheep who finds himself in the hands of a good shepherd. There may be dangers, in fact there will be dangers. There will be storms, there will be drought, and famine. Still, in the hands of the good shepherd, the sheep are content. And life, even in those situations, is boundless. Abundant. Contentment means satisfaction. Satisfaction means to have enough. This understanding is reinforced by the meaning of the word abundance in English and in most ancient languages. Our English word abundance comes from the two Latin words, ab and andare, which means to rise in waves or to overflow. That first translation gives us a picture of the unceasing rise of waves upon the sea shore. There the waves rise again, and again, and again. One wave surges forward and exhausts its force on the sand, and then right behind it, another wave comes along, and another, and another, and it continues as long as time will last. The other picture is of a flood. This makes us think of a river, after heavy rains, rising irresistibly until it overflows its banks. The abundant life is, therefore, one in which we are content in the knowledge that God's grace is more than sufficient for our needs. The grace is a provision of God doesn't just get you over whatever hurdle you're facing in your life. The abundant life is more than you could ever need. The Greek word used here has a mathematical meaning, generally denotes the surplus. In this sentence, it's used of the 12 baskets of food that remained after Christ's feeding of the 5,000 as Matthew describes it there. There's a surplus. There's more. More than is necessary. More than can be used. We all dream of the day our government will have a surplus. Never quite works out that way. But God always has a service. He is always the source of more than we need. But as we said, before one can know this abundant life, there's a prerequisite. If one is to know the abundant life, one must first know life. Period. That is, he must first be made alive through faith in Christ. And again, it's this which connects us to what we saw last week in John 6. It's this of which Christ is speaking when he says, I come that they might have life. It's only after that that he adds, and have it abundant. So, let me ask you this. Do you know that you have been made alive spiritually? You shouldn't be just as certain of this fact as you are that you have been made alive physically. If you are not, you need to understand that you can be. The scripture tells us over and over and over again that we can have assurance that life is ours. Eternal life. In fact, one entire book of the Bible has been written so that Christians who have been made alive through the new birth can be certain of it and might grow in Christ on the basis of that assurance. The first epistle of John, written by the same man who authored the Gospel of John, tells us that that is his purpose in writing. He says, I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you might know that you have eternal life. And there are so many who don't know that. I speak to people, I share the gospel with them, and over and over and over, when I ask people if they know that they're going to heaven when they die, the response is, I hope so. I can't imagine living my life with that kind of uncertainty. I hope so. I don't know. And typically this flows out of an understanding or a misunderstanding that we get into heaven because we're good enough. And if you've got that kind of misunderstanding, here's the problem. We don't understand what the problem is. The problem is we never know whether or not we're good enough. When I was a child, before I came to understand the gospel, that's what I thought. One day you're going to die, and there's this big set of scales outside the gate. And all of your bad is going to be on one side, all of your good on the other. And if the good outweighs the bad, you're in. And if not, down the chute. But where's the line? What's the standard? How do I know? Well, we can't, because that's not what determines whether someone is a sheep. Our good works does not determine whether or not we get into heaven. Scripture tells us the reality. Scripture tells us that no one does good. No one is righteous. Say, well, you know, walking down the street the other day, you know, I was lost, and some, you know, very nice gentleman gave me directions. That was a good thing. Yeah, from our perspective, But Scripture tells us that the standard of good and the standard of righteousness is not what we arbitrarily decide. The standard is God Himself. And if God Himself is the standard, that means the standard is perfection. Now it's a whole different picture, isn't it? Because if you're willing to stand up this morning and say, yeah, I've met that standard, then everybody else in this room is going to question your sanity. No one has met that standard. But Jesus says, I came that they might have life. That who might have life? that those who have not met the standard might have life. Because Jesus came and He met the standard. Jesus is the standard. And He lived His life without violating that standard, and then He went to the cross to take upon Himself a penalty which He did not owe. But it was a penalty which we owe. So the Scripture tells us that if we will but repent of our sin and put our trust in Jesus Christ, He will give us life. And that more abundantly. A few verses. Jesus tells us that God has given life to all who believe on Jesus as God's Son, and that they can be assured of this, and I'm sorry, this isn't there in John chapter 10, this is again in 1 John, that those who believe on Jesus can be assured that they have this life because God Himself tells them that this is what He has done. Let's take a moment, turn with me to 1 John. If you're not sure where that is, just go to the very back of your Bible. You'll hit the book of Revelation and then start making your way toward the front. And you'll see 1 John and 2 John and 3 John. And we're looking at chapter 5 of 1 John. 1 John chapter 5, verse 13. Verse I quoted earlier, these things I've written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you might know that you have eternal life. So you can know that you have eternal life. You don't have to live in the anxiety of wondering if you're good enough. As I've already explained to you, you're not. But Jesus is. So go back up to verse 10. The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. The one who does not believe God has made him a liar. because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son. And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has the life. He who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. And I want you to pay attention to what John is saying there, beginning with verse 10, because you will read through that entire passage down to verse 13, and you won't see one word about your good works or your righteousness. What you'll see a lot of is faith in Christ. Faith alone. That is how you receive life. This brings us to this abundant life itself, and in order to discuss it in its fullest biblical framework, I want you to come back with me to the book of Psalms, to the 23rd Psalm specifically. And those of you familiar with the 23rd psalm will see why there's a connection between the 23rd psalm and John chapter 10. Both passages are dealing with sheep and shepherds. This is a psalm best known, perhaps, as a funeral psalm. But the reality is that the 23rd psalm is, above all, the psalm of the contented life. When it begins by saying, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want, the psalmist, King David, is speaking about the abundant life. Not to be in want is to be content. And that state can only exist, given this context, when the sheep are in the care of a good shepherd. As you read through the 23rd Psalm, you find David telling you what it means to be content in the Lord. You find David telling you what the abundant life is. And he does so in reference to five things that I want to bring out here this morning. First, the one who is content can rest. David indicates this by saying he makes me lie down in dream castles. He leaves me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul. There is a very helpful book in dealing with Psalm 23 entitled A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23. Its author is a man named Philip Keller who was himself a shepherd. A literal shepherd. And he tells of the difficulty in getting sheep to lie down. They don't lie down easily, he says. In fact, and I'll quote Keller, it is almost impossible for them to be made to lie down unless four requirements are met. Owing to their timidity, they refuse to lie down unless they are free from all fear. Because of the social behavior within a flock, sheep will not lie down unless they are free from friction with others of their kind. If tormented by flies or parasites, sheep will not lie down. Lastly, sheep will not lie down as long as they feel in need of finding food. They must be free from hunger. So they need to be free from fear, from tension, from aggravation, and from hunger. Those are the four necessities for a sheep. And the important thing, as Keller points out, is that it is only the shepherd who can provide that work. If they are left to their own devices, that's not going to happen. It's an interesting picture. When the psalm begins with the sheep at rest, it begins with a picture of sheep who have found their shepherd to be a good shepherd. That is, one who is able to meet their physical needs and to provide them with a release from anxiety. Moreover, it's interesting that it begins at this point. The other advantages of the contented life come only to one who has found the Lord adequate to meet every need. Jesus has come to give us abundant life. That is, Jesus has come to make you content. Jesus has come to give you rest. The second thing the psalmist tells us is that the sheep who experiences contentedness or the abundant life does not lack guidance. He leads me beside quiet waters. He guides me in the path of righteousness for his name's sake. We've discussed, quite often in the past, how stupid these people are. One aspect of their stupidity is seen in the fact that they so easily wander away. They can have a good shepherd who has brought them to the best grazing lands near an abundant supply of water, and still they will wander away over a hill to where the fields are barren and the water untreated. Another evidence of their futility is that they will, having been led to good grazing land due to the diligence of the shepherd, they find that good land, but they would, if left to themselves, continue to graze upon it until every blade of grass and every root has been devoured. and there is nothing left. Fields are ruined and they themselves become impoverished. No other class of livestock requires more careful handling and more detailed direction than you. So a shepherd who is able to give good guidance is essential for the welfare of that flock. He will move the sheep from field to field before that field is destroyed. And He will always keep them near water. He will chase down and recover those who stray. He will plan the grazing to fit the seasons of the year in the same way we too need the good shepherd. And we don't lack guidance. He has given it to us in His Word, in the indwelling Spirit. Jesus came to give us abundant life. Jesus came to give us contentment, and that abundant life, that contentment comes to us because the Good Shepherd guides us. He tells us the right way to go. David also tells us that The sheep, being cared for by the good shepherd, does not lack safety, even in the immediate presence of danger. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil. For you are with me. Your rod and your sack, they come. Now, of course, this verse has often been taken as that which provides words of comfort to the dying. And it's not wrong to use it in that way. That's a perfectly appropriate application. God certainly is a source of comfort to His people at the time of death. But primarily, the verse speaks about the shepherd's ability to protect the sheep in those moments of imminent danger. The picture in this verse is of the passage from the lowlands where sheep spend the winter. to the valleys up in the high pastures where they go in the summer. The valleys are places of the richest pastureland, of abundant water, but they're also places of great danger. Wild animals lurk in the canyon walls on either side of the valley. Sudden storms can sweep down through the valley. There may be floods. The sun doesn't shine so well down into the valley, so there are shadows everywhere, which at any moment, due to all of those dangers, may become shadows of death. It's through those kinds of experiences that the Lord leads His people in faith. In the book that I referred to earlier, Philip Keller notes how often Christians seek of their desire to move on to higher ground with God, to live upon that mountaintop. We want to move above the lowlands of life, and yet we don't realize that mountaintop experiences are entered into only by going through the valleys. We don't want violence, but we can't avoid violence. This is what life is, a fun battle after another after another. It's what it means to live as fallen people in a fallen world. And yet the promise is that the shepherd will be with us. I fear no evil. Why? Because you are with me. Strong faith results from having that faith tested. Patience comes from living through tribulation. This means that life will not necessarily be smooth under the direction of the shepherd. He will sometimes lead us through rough and dangerous places. Nevertheless, as we go through them, we can know of His ability to keep us from falling and to present us into the presence of the Father with great joy. Just as the shepherd must be with his sheep in order to keep them from danger, so our Lord has promised to be with us always, even to the end of the age. Keller writes again, the basic question is not whether we have many or few values. It is not whether those values are dark or merely dim with shadows. The question is, how do I react to them? How do I go through them? How do I cope with the calamities that come my way? With Christ, I face them calmly. With His gracious Spirit to guide me, I face them fearlessly. I know of a surety that only through them can I possibly travel on to higher ground with God. Another aspect of abundant life which David brings out to us here, and we've touched on it already, is the provision that God makes for His people. Verse 5 says, You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You have anointed my head with oil, my cup overflows. Now Keller thinks that the reference to preparing the table refers to the shepherd's advanced preparation of the location that he wants to bring his sheep to. So he's going to move his sheep from their winter grazing to their summer, and the shepherd goes ahead. to make sure that everything's prepared, everything is safe, there's plenty of grass there, there's plenty of water there, any dangers have been taken care of already, all before the sheep arrive. If it does not revert to that, then it's got to be taken merely of God's provision of peace and meeting, even when there are enemies lurking by. In such times, David says, God anoints him with oil and fills his cup of wine to overflowing. That biblical imagery of oil and wine speak of joy and prosperity. For the growing of olives and grapes and their transformation into oil and wine take time. These things have to be cared for gently. In times of domestic turmoil or war, those are the tasks that are forgotten. Those are the things that don't get accomplished. But David says, the Lord has anointed his head with oil, and his cup overflows. Oil, wine, well suited to the inhabitants of a dry and a barren land. And therefore, certainly in ancient Israel, they were highly, highly valued. In Israel, where the sun shines fiercely most of the year, and the temperature continually rises up, Into the hundreds, the skin quickly becomes cracked and broken, throats become dusty and parched. Oil soothes the skin, particularly the face, and wine clears the throat. So when a guest arrived at the home of a friend in Israel in Christ's day or in David's day, hospitality demanded the provision of oil and wine so that the ravages of travel might be overcome and these friends can then enjoy one another's company. David spoke of this elsewhere when he prayed, O Lord, let your face shine on your servant. A shining face is the face of a friend. In another passage, Psalm 104, he thanked God for wine that gladdened the heart of men and oil to make his face shine. David knew of God's great love and provision. His face shone, his heart was made merry because of it. We don't typically speak in terms of being merry except around Christmas. But perhaps we should. God intends his people to be characterized not by scowling faces, but by merry hearts. Because God has provided for us all that we need. If we allow him to lead us to the high pastures of the Christian life, we will find there a table prepared, our heads anointed with purest oil, our cups overflowing with the best wine of joy. That's the abundance of life. Finally, having spoken of all these provisions, David adds, no less gladly, that he does not lack a future hope. Surely, goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. To have this hope, this certainty, this surety, a home of home. It's one of the greatest desires of a nomadic people. who have generally occupied that area of the Near East bordered by the Mediterranean and the Red Sea and Arabian desert. T.E. Lawrence, who became a fan of Lawrence of Arabia during World War I, has written of this in his classic Seven Pillars of Wisdom. He tells in the opening pages of that book how because of the geography of the area, one tribe after another came out of the desert in order to fight for the Judean highlands. Because there were present the best trees, and the best crops, and the best pasturelands. The Israelites, in their conquest of Canaan under Joshua, were just one of these peoples. When one group, like the Israelites, succeeded, the conquered people generally moved just a bit south into the Negev, and they displaced other people. They went south because, although it wasn't as good as the islands of Judea, it was still okay. But every displaced group moved further and further into the wilderness and into the desert. At some point, all the peoples of the Near East have that background. In some sense, that is what laid behind the conflict still going on today. It's conflict. over this particular land. So for most of these peoples, the North, generally referred to as Damascus, with its rivers and fields, became the symbol of true abundance at the end of life's pilgrimage. It symbolized home. That's what David's speaking about. For us who know the Good Shepherd, there is a similar longing, but it's not a longing for Damascus or any other earthly home. Our longing is for that great and final home that the Lord Jesus has gone to prepare for us. That home that He has promised. He said, I'm going to prepare a place for you, and if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again. that you may come to be with me, that you may be where I am. That's the promise of eternal abundance with our shepherd. Of our safety in that moment, John, again the same author, wrote this time in the book of Revelation, that we will never again hunger or thirst. The sun will not beat upon us, nor any scorching heat, for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be our Shepherd. And He will lead us to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from our eyes. That's the abundant life which Jesus came to give. It includes this life and heaven too. This is what was achieved for us by the one who was born in the stable and who himself became a lamb in order to die in our place so that we might enter into the fullness of this great salvation. He is a lamb, and he is also a shepherd. Isn't that neat? When you read these scriptures, you see Jesus being everything. Jesus is the great high priest, and he's also the sacrifice, which the great high priest is making. Jesus is a lamb, and he's also the shepherd of his people. And it is this, brothers and sisters, that should make us merry. not only at Christmastime, but indeed all the year long. Father, thank you for what great and precious promises What a source of rejoicing that we not only have life, but have life more abundantly. We thank you for it, Father, and we pray for anyone here today or anyone who will hear this in the future. We pray, Father, that you would use your word to draw your people to your Son. that you would use your word father that in the preaching of the gospel the voice of christ might be heard and that he might be recognized as the good shepherd father in all of this we give you thanks in jesus name
Why He Came Part 2
Series Christmas Message
Sermon ID | 1212231523501052 |
Duration | 59:58 |
Date | |
Category | Sunday Service |
Bible Text | John 10:10 |
Language | English |
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