Blessed Assurance

 Read John 10:22-30

 How many people, even Christians, live their lives to the very end wondering about their final destination.  Am I saved?

How many people wonder if the blood of Christ did the trick?

How many people wonder if they can keep messing up and not get kicked to the curb?

How many people think that God is going to disown them this time for sure?

We have already looked at the first half of this chapter.  The thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy. Jesus came so we could have life and live it to the fullest extent possible. To do that we must know our Master’s voice and put his words into practice.

Jesus wants us to really live. That means that we will make a few or a lot of mistakes along the way but Jesus will never disown us.  Once we have truly professed Jesus is Lord, our eternal life has begun.

Not only will Jesus never disown us for we are faithful, he will not let anyone or anything take us away from him. We are his. That’s a done deal!

This promise is not for everyone but only for those who receive Jesus as Lord and have professed his name.  We are his faithful.

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”

Our lives are not given to us to build a resume to see if we qualify for heaven. God himself has opened heaven to us. The blood of Christ has opened the door even though we were unworthy.  Christ has made us worthy.

And his promise is that he won’t let us go or lose us or that nobody is going to take us away from him.  Why don’t we meditate on this thought more than we do?

No one will snatch them out of my hand.

We are still trying to keep score. Jesus said that he wiped the slate clean.

We wonder if we will make it to heaven and eternal life with God. Jesus said, I’ve got you. It’s a done deal. Your eternal life is underway now

We wonder if we might have gone too far this time. We are told that God’s grace goes beyond our transgressions.

We wonder why we still have trouble in this life. Jesus told us that we would have trouble. We don’t hope in the world. We hope in Jesus, the one who has overcome the world.

If you have truly professed Jesus as Lord, why do we worry?

If we truly believe that Jesus is Lord and Savior, why do we worry?

If we believe that God not only created everything but gave us a way to reconcile the entire creation, just what do we have to worry about?

Why would we doubt?

Can we not live more fully than we do now? Is the life that I am living my best response to the grace of God that we know in Christ Jesus?

Do we have dissonance in our lives? Are there things that we can’t reconcile? Do we wonder if God will dispense justice upon the earth or just let all these yahoos get away with everything?

We should be the most confident people on the planet. Our eternity is secured. God will always love us. No one will take us from him.

But is that how we live?

We have already been counseled not to worry. We are told to be anxious for nothing. We are to be strong and courageous.

Do we live this way?

If you are struggling to step out in faith, remember, that nobody can steal you from God.

If you are worried that your best won’t be enough for God, remember, that Christ died for us while we were still sinners. God didn’t wait for us to get better to claim us for eternity. He rescued us while we were still broken.

If fear is still restricting your faith, remember that fear is not from God. God did not give us a spirit of fear. We are to be strong and courageous!

God loves you.

Christ died for you.

God raised him from the dead as a promise of what is in store for us.

The Spirit of God lives within you.

Knowing these things, how can we be timid in our discipleship?

How can we not put the words of our Master into practice?

How can we not work at everything we do as if we are working for God himself?

The questions are easy. The answers that come by way of our actions are sometimes more difficult, but they are not impossible for we are told that nobody will snatch us away from Christ Jesus. We belong to him for now and forever.

We have no excuse for not listening.

We have no excuse for not putting his words into practice.

We have no excuse for not producing a return for our Master and good fruit for the body of Christ.

Whenever we have doubts, we should realize that God does not. He wants us. He made a way for us to be with him in right standing. He will not give up on us. He is finishing the good work that he began in us.

And he will let no one take us away from him.  We are his.

This is for all of us who have professed Jesus as Lord. This is for all who seek God’s kingdom and his righteousness. This is for all who know his voice—the voice of the Good Shepherd.

He knows us. We know him. We know his voice. We can’t be taken from him.

We are assured of our eternal life. We should live fearlessly now for we know that our eternity has begun and is secure.

·       Let us live more boldly because of this assurance.

·       Let us love more often and with genuineness.

·       Let us help those in need more often.

·       Let us speak the truth in a spirit of love in whatever we do.

·       Let us work as if we are working for the Lord and not for men.

·       Let us love one another not only as much as we love ourselves but as much as Christ loves us.

·       Let us be known as his disciples by our love.

We belong to Christ Jesus. No one can take us from him.

Live with confidence and boldness. Your eternity is secure.

Amen.

He's got us!

 Read John 10:22-30

 Jesus was in the temple area and many Jews were gathered around Jesus.  They had questions.

Just tell us. Are you the Messiah or not?

Jesus responded: I already told you but you did not believe. Why didn’t you listen? I already showed you. Why did you not see? Because you are not my sheep.

Jesus had been terse with the Pharisees before, but these were just the common people.  They had questions. They had plenty of evidence to consider that should have convinced them that Jesus was the Messiah, but they could not see it.

Jesus was telling people that the time for fence-sitting was over. If you disown me, my Father in heaven will disown you.  Yes, we are at that point.

We believe or we don’t, and if we believe, we know his voice.

We believe or we don’t, and if we don’t believe, we can’t distinguish the voice of our Master from the clutter for the clutter has become our god.

Imagine Jesus looking at you and saying, you are not one of mine. Could we bear to hear him say, I don’t know you?

Jesus will not disown us because we make mistakes.

He won’t kick us to the curb because that promise to work on my language is a few years late in the making.

He won’t cancel our reservation in heaven because we missed a day or two or two hundred in our Bible reading.

Do you want Jesus to disown you? Then disown him and the Spirit of God.

For those who believe, we do not need to go down this road. We disown the whole concept of God disowning us. We need to disown the status that the pagans give the things of this world, but Jesus will not disown us.

He has claimed us and that’s forever.

Jesus goes so far as to say no one can take away those I have claimed as my own—those the Father had given him.

We could go down a predestination and the elect rabbit trail here, but we will save that for another day.

For now, think about knowing the voice of our Master. If all we hear is the clutter, we need to declutter for his sheep know his voice and if you have grown deaf to his voice, it is time for action.

It’s easy to let the world creep in gradually, often unnoticed.

Long ago and far away in my college days, a new concept was introduced called narcotizing dysfunction.  Simply stated, modern media had become so overwhelming that it could bombard someone into a state of dysfunction.

We can get bombarded into a state of dysfunction as well.  How do we avoid this?

We know his voice.

How do we know his voice?  We pray and listen. We read his word faithfully. We discuss his word with other believers.

Here’s one that we should know. How do we know his voice? By putting his words into practice. Yes, his voice becomes clearer with each step of trust and obedience.

We know his voice because we talk with him often. We listen to whim all the time. We know his voice.

I said that I believe but how do I know that I meant it? Did I really mean it? How do I know?

Sometimes, we believe enough to be curious but do we believe enough to trust in the Lord with all our hearts?

The answer to do I really believe is can I trust the Lord.  If you want to test your own belief, try trusting the Lord with everything you have.

Trust is directly proportionate to our spiritual hearing.

Do you want to hear God’s voice more distinctly?  Start trusting him more.

Once we trust him enough to put his words into practice, this thing called abundant life can take hold and once the Lord is running everything in our lives, we can enjoy this eternal ride.

First, we need to know his voice. Know his voice.

·       Know his voice.

·       Put his words into practice.

·       Enjoy the blessed assurance of Jesus claiming you forever.

Amen.

John 10 - Part 3

Read John 10

Now we come to some of the most insightful words of the New Testament.

I am the Good Shepherd.

The Scribes and Pharisees were to have been the shepherds of Israel, but they didn’t have the right stuff.  They were like the hired hand that put in his 8 hours, collected his pay, and drank it all away.

The Pharisees liked their status but never comprehended service or sacrifice.  It was all about the rules and they had been in charge of the rules for some time.  Suffering was not in their repertoire. 

In stark contrast to the hypocritical religious leaders of the day, Jesus went so far as to say:

I lay down my life for my sheep.

No Pharisee or Sadducee or Scribe or other religious leader had ever said anything like that. They liked to give orders and throw their penalty flags and have the best seats wherever they went.  The Pharisees were the opposite of what we are called to be.

There is status and there is commitment.  The Pharisees knew status.  Jesus put forth commitment.  Who commits their life to their calling up to the point of freely giving it?  Only the true shepherd would risk his life for his flock.

While Jesus gave the Pharisees more than they could handle; he also gives us preview to the fulfillment of his mission.  There came a time for him to lay his life down and for him to take it up again.  Here’s the short version:  Death and resurrection to follow.

He has come to fulfill all law and prophecy about himself and then die for our sins as an unblemished Lamb.  But he tells those who hear his voice, those who have ears to hear, that is not the end of the story.  There is more on resurrection and life in the next chapter.

Just to give us something to chew on, Jesus noted that he has sheep not of this flock.  We most often think of this being us,  those not born by blood as children of Abraham.  Paul would use the term grafted in, we being the wild branch in this equation.

Jesus was more direct than Paul.  We know and listen to his voice.  We are one flock.  He is our shepherd.

I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.

Why do we know the voice of Jesus?

He is our Shepherd. If he is not Lord, Redeemer, Savior, and Shepherd, then whose voice are you obeying?  If he is not your shepherd, all voices sound reasonable and compelling. 

Most of the time I don’t like being compared to a sheep.  When the kids sing the monkeys in the jungle say thank you Lord, I can relate; but who wants to be compared to a sheep.

The shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.  In that perspective, it’s good to be a part of the flock.  Think to the man after God’s own heart and what he did as a shepherd.

Consider the parable of the lost sheep.  The shepherd leaves the 99 to find the 1 that is lost.  OK, I could handle being part of that flock.

When Jesus is your shepherd.  It’s good to be a sheep.

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

When the Lord is your shepherd, it’s good to be a sheep, for he is the Good Shepherd.  He lays down his life for his sheep.

When Jesus said, as much as I have loved you, so you must love one another, remember, that he lay down his life for his sheep.  Hear his voice.  Learn from him.  Obey his commands.

He calls us to love one another.  Know his voice.

Know the voice of the Good Shepherd.

Amen.

John 10 - Part 2

Read John 10

And so now we have come to the verse we know so well.  Many have memorized it.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

So just who is this thief?

It sounds a lot like Satan but Jesus has been talking to and about the Pharisees.  So, is the thief Satan or religious hypocrite?

The answer is yes.  Jesus noted that his Father sent him.  He and his Father are one.  He is in the Father and the Father in him.  Nobody comes to know the Father except through him.

OK, what’s that all about?

Do you remember when Jesus confronted the religious Jews and told them that their father was the devil?  Now consider that they are in their father and their father in them.

The thief is both Satan and those who do his work, those who listen to his voice.  What is his work?

To steal.

To kill.

To destroy.

Jesus came to give us life, life abundant, and life eternal.  In one verse, we have a simple but powerful dichotomy.

It’s Jesus or the devil.

It’s life or death.

It’s love or hate.

It’s fulness or emptiness.

Who is our Father?  Does he live within us?  Yes, the Holy Spirit counts for our Father living in us.  The Spirit is the Father’s good deposit of the fullness to come.

Many would claim that we live in a complicated world.  Perhaps, that is true but our choices or simple.

Good or evil?

Love or hate?

Father who is creator and known by love or Father who is destroyer and known by hate and deception?

If you believe in God the Father, then you know his voice.  You enter into his presence through Jesus alone. 

You enter his presence with thanksgiving and praise.

You give thanks to him and praise his name.

You know that his love endures forever and his faithfulness continues through all generations.

I have seen so much ignorance these past few weeks from people who I thought knew the voice of the Master.

We must take action—take matters into our own hands.  Prayer just makes you feel good.  We must return hate for hate. Destruction is the only way to get people’s attention.

Whose voice prompts these responses?

People have stopped listening to their Master. They have consumed the placebo of righteous anger and set aside the voice of the Master, and that will not bring about the righteous life that God desires.

The emptiness, restlessness, and dissonance that so many know today comes from not listening to the One who is truth and brings peace in the midst of a troubled world.  So many listen only to the voice of the world.

So many feel helpless over the strife and violence that is all around us.  Finger-pointing abounds but the only finger-pointing that we who follow Jesus need to do is at the man in the mirror.

We have been working God into our lives where he is convenient.  Our families, our work, our school life or our home schooled life, our sports, our bills, our college funds, our mortgage, our time waiting in line at the drive-through all seem to take precedence over living for God.  And we wonder why we feel distress at the trouble in the world.

Do we have problems in this country?  Absolutely.  We live in the worst country in the world, well, except for all of the others.  I am glad that we live in a place where we have a voice.  In about half the world you can have a voice or you can live.

We are so blessed here.  We have it easy.  We can sit on the sidelines with our penalty flags and feel like we accomplished something.  Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and whatever the online flavor of the month is give us outlets to reign judgment upon those who do not follow the Master the same way we do.  We can be modern-day Pharisees.

Yes, these things are platforms to other things that are good, but too often we think because we post something that we have accomplished something.  The voice of our Master calls us to more.

We can know the voice of our Master and come off of the sidelines and do what he has commanded.

Here is the thing.  Jesus did not wait until there was a tragedy or crisis on television.  He commanded all who love him to follow him to be known by our love.

That’s a daily command.  That purpose must be so evident in our lives that we are unmistakably known by our love.

Why is there such an outcry in our nation?  We have not been known by our love.  We do not know our Master’s voice.  We—and I am talking Christians here—have become Pharisees.

I am not talking about those who don’t know the Lord.  What else should we expect of those who do not know the Lord than hate, greed, and violence?

In our age, there is a collective term to define those who do not know the Lord and it’s not pagans.  They are the—our—mission field.  

But back to those in our country who profess to be Christians, why is there such an outcry among us?  Of course, we detest murder and injustice and disorder, but at the heart of this is that we have stopped listening to the voice of our Master and have tuned into the voice of the world.

If you think that trusting the Lord is insufficient, you need to find his voice again.

If you think that prayer is just to make ourselves feel good, you need to find his voice again.

If you think that you are doing nothing if you are not part of a national movement or organization of some sort, you are not listening to your Master who told you to love one another.

We are sent into the world and that includes our states and nation and even beyond our borders, but we are to start with each other.  We bring good news and love like the world does not know.

If we hear his voice and know his voice, we start with each other.  We practice on each other.  After two millennia you think we would have a little momentum.  But so many will not hear his voice.  So many who have professed Jesus as Lord find him inconvenient at this time and will not hear his voice.  They will not learn from him.

If you think that loving one another has no efficacy, then you have been deceived by the one who comes to steal, kill, and destroy.

But we have to take action! Right?

We have been commanded to action for the past 2000 years.  You know that if you have listened to his voice.

If you know his voice and he has called you to go to Minneapolis or Atlanta or Gotebo America, then go.

If you know his voice, and he has called you to lead or join some national or international endeavor, then do not kick against the goads.  If you know his voice and he has called, answer and go where he sends you.

If you are not sure it is his voice that is calling you, it’s time to come home and know the One who brings life and life abundant, before you wander off on some crusade where a couple months from now find yourselves just as empty as when you began.

If you are not sure it is his voice that is calling you, it’s time to come home before you embark on a Facebook posting campaign that will give way to Forrest Gump memes and college football banter by summer’s end.  There is no efficacy in immediate gratification of our self-righteousness.

If you are not sure it is his voice that is calling you, it’s time to come home and sign up for caller ID.  We know who is calling us by diligent study of God’s word, continuous prayer, and a heart that seeks God and longs to bring glory to his name.

If you are not sure it is his voice that is calling you, how can you live out your salvation as the most important thing you do?  You must know his voice for his call will take you out of your comfort zone.

You must know his voice if you are going to answer his call in your life.  I think many among you do know his voice and some will be called to do great things in reconciling strife in our nation, but all are called to love one another.  That includes those who don’t like us very much.

Do not listen to the voice of hypocrites.

Do not listen to those who mock God.

Do not listen to the voice of the devil.

Know the voice of you Master.

The days seem complicated but the choices are simple.

God or Satan.

Good or evil.

Life or death.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

The thief steals.  God gives good gifts.

The thief kills.  God gives life, life abundant, and life eternal.

The thief destroys.  God creates and loves his creation more than we can imagine.

God chose you to be his disciple.  Will you know his voice when he calls?

Will you know his voice?

Know his voice.

Amen.