In this sermon, the speaker begins by sharing a personal anecdote about visiting a 4-H fair and observing the different behaviors of cows and sheep. He then transitions to a story about three young men attempting to break into a neighbor's house and the consequences they face. The speaker emphasizes the importance of recognizing reality and being in touch with it. He concludes by highlighting the singular path to salvation through Jesus and the abundant life that he offers to those who believe in him.

John's Gospel, chapter 10. Now I don't know what it's like for you, but my tendency, especially if there's a couple of weeks or a week between the study of one chapter and another one, I tend to think that the Lord is starting something entirely new when he starts a new chapter. But there is a progression all the way through this section of John where one chapter is tied to the next chapter. And as much as chapter 9 was tied to chapter 8, so too is chapter 10 tied to chapter 9. And in chapter 9, Jesus has healed a man of his blindness. He was blind from birth. And in healing that man of his blindness, what Jesus was doing, though he was not yet aware of it, the man that was healed, is that Jesus was calling him out from what he was in the middle of and surrounded by, begging every day, the religious system of the Pharisees. And the Lord not only calls him out of that in healing him, but he takes and makes a stand for the Lord Jesus before the religious leaders, before the Pharisees, and he beats them in a theological discussion. Here's this blind beggar earlier in the day, and he's whooping the pros. But the Lord Jesus isn't content simply to call us out of whatever he's called us out of in saving us. He calls us out of it, but then he never stops until he's called us into salvation in him. That's what this chapter is all about. Now, remember, as Jesus is speaking, we see, what do we see in chapter 9? We see red. That means Jesus is talking, doesn't it? And that red just carries right on into 10. Whatever happened in chapter 9, it's got Jesus talking. And so the Pharisees are standing there. This man that has been healed of his blindness is standing there. And Jesus now begins to speak to the religious leaders specifically in that context. Now, in chapter 10, we come to one of the most common images that the Lord uses in the whole Bible to describe his relationship with his people in the images of one of a shepherd and his sheep. All through the Bible, Old Testament, New Testament. Remember David in Psalm 23, he declared, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not lack. Now, David had seen a lot of shepherds, good and bad. And here he is, he contemplates upon the Lord as his shepherd. And David knew what everyone knew and knew in that day. And the difference between having a good shepherd and a lousy shepherd or a hireling was the difference between life and death. The shepherd is someone you follow. It's someone who leads you in life. And so David's so thrilled that he had the Lord to lead him and the quality of life that it produced. He said, the Lord is my shepherd. There's a boasting in it, it's beautiful. I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. And yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me. You're out on your staff. They comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And then I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. In Psalm 100, the Lord declares, know that the Lord, he is God. It is he who has made us and not we ourselves. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. The imagery. Then you come into the New Testament. And when Jesus looked upon the multitude that was following him with the greatness of their need, he looked on him and the Bible says he would have compassion on them because he saw them as sheep without a shepherd. Now we think about that as sheep without a shepherd and we have to try and put some kind of a picture in our minds. I mean, a sheep separated from his shepherd was a dead duck. Sheep had no ability to defend themselves. They were a meal on wheels. I mean, there's no wolf that was afraid of a sheep. So sheep need a shepherd because they're defenseless, completely vulnerable to adversaries, predators, apart from the shepherd. We are completely vulnerable to spiritual adversaries apart from our shepherd. Another thing about sheep that is interesting to me, and I've observed it, this is no commentary on you, at least I won't develop it, is that sheep aren't terribly bright. When I was in high school and college, one of the ways that I earned money for college is that when the Napa fair was on in Napa, I was one of the guys that ran the rabbit and poultry building. I go to the Napa fair now and I go in there and I look at that building. It's a shell of its former self. We knew how to display poultry and rabbits. I mean, it was beautiful, the presentation. But one of the things that I would do is, you know, it can get boring and so I'd go over into the 4-H section. In Napa where I grew up, they had a 4-H, maybe not as big as here, but a very, very big 4-H thing. And so you'd go over and they'd have all of the pigs and they'd have the cows and they'd have the sheep and all of these things and, you know, you'd walk over to a cow and look a cow in the eye and that cow is looking at you. I'm serious, you look a cow in the eye and you have some sense that it's thinking something. It won't take its eye off you. It looks at you, it says, I better keep an eye on this person and it will track you until you leave the dangerous zone. You go up to a sheep and you look that sheep in the eye, you've never seen anything so blank in your life. Do it next time you go to a 4-H thing. There is no indication that anything is happening inside that noggin at all. Sheep are prone to wander. We're prone to wander. One of the interesting things about sheep, and it makes them very different from cats or very different from birds, and I hate to give cats any kind of platform, but a cat or a bird, if they get lost, there's a good chance they're going to find their way home. A sheep can literally go around a knoll, lose sight of the rest of the flock and the shepherd, and it is as lost as if it was on the other side of the world. It can't find its way back. Prone to wander, the hymn goes, doesn't it? Another thing about sheep is that they're prone and susceptible to infection in their eyes and in their ears. So David speaks about the oil that needs to be applied to their ears and to their eyes so that the bugs would come out. Of course, the oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. Why? He's good for what bugs you. But he is. He is. Listen, I'm trying to help you here tonight. But he really is in our lives. You take a dog. That's a low-maintenance animal. You just buy it and you take it home, and it's fine until the day it dies. A sheep isn't like that. They're high-maintenance animals. You get the picture. You are high-maintenance people. I can look at you and tell that that's true. So just as every sheep needed a shepherd, so too every person needs God. I don't care how strong we are. I don't care how smart we think we are. Every single one of us is as vulnerable to the spiritual realm and the enemies of man in this world as a sheep is to any predator without a shepherd in this life. Now, keeping sheep was a shepherd with his sheep. That was a commonplace image in this time. You can grow up all your life in California and never see a flock of sheep, much less see a shepherd leading sheep, or to see it long enough to watch it and learn something spiritual from it. But when Jesus begins to speak to them about sheep and shepherds, this was their daily portion. One of the hard things about going over to Israel is you go over to Israel and you get these Jewish guides, and they've been raised in the land, and they've been raised around Jewish things, and they open up the Bible. The whole thing jumps to life. They live around in everything. Poor pathetic Gentile that I am, I've got to scrape for every insight I get. So they would have understood what he was saying. Jesus declares most assuredly, verily, verily, in other words, listen up. I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. And to him, the doorkeeper opens and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and he leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them and the sheep follow him for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him for they do not know the voice of strangers. Now, Jesus uses this illustration of a sheep and shepherd to speak of spiritual things. He speaks in verse one of a sheepfold. And what a sheepfold was, was essentially something kind of out in the open. The shepherds at night, of course, during the day, they could keep track of their sheep pretty easily, but they had to sleep also. So they would build these kind of low rock enclosures and with a single opening into these enclosures, and they would bring the sheep inside of, of that place. And then all they had to do was just watch a single opening in order to, to, to protect the sheep. There are no other openings because sheep were vulnerable to other animals that were predators, also human beings trying to pull them off. And so you have the sheep pen that's there, the sheepfold that he's talking about. And sometimes they put several, you know, different flocks together in the same sheepfold. Now he speaks in verse one of the door. Most assuredly, I say to you that he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. And so there would be a single door in that sheep fold. Then in verses two through four, he tells us how to identify the true shepherd of the sheep, the true shepherd of the sheep verse two enters in through the door. And I believe that this refers to the fact that Jesus came for his sheep through the front door. That is through fulfilling the old Testament prophecies that were given concerning the coming of Messiah. What is a door? It is an accepted means of entrance. Jesus had the right to enter into this sheep fold and the sheep and the sheep fold represents the nation of Israel, the Jews. And he had a right to come to them and call them out to follow him. And the reason that he had a right to do that was because he came in the fulfillment of the prophetic scriptures. Now, because he has come the right way that is through the door of prophecy, he has a right to the sheep. He has a right to us as God's people. So you have Jesus. Coming to the nation of Israel, he comes to them the acceptable way. But then you notice in verse three that the doorkeeper opens the door to him. Who is the doorkeeper? Who is it that introduced Jesus formally to the nation of Israel? John the Baptist. John the Baptist. He's the doorkeeper in the imagery where he declared to the Jewish nation, behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And he pointed the entire nation to Jesus as the promised Messiah and as the one that was the promised shepherd, the one that was worthy of being followed. And so he opened up that door to Jesus in pointing the nation to him. Now, the reason that Jesus speaks this to the Pharisees is that this is what the Pharisees were not doing. They were fighting Jesus tooth and nail every inch of the way, refusing to give him the position that was rightfully his as the fulfillment of the prophetic scriptures. They wouldn't point the nation to him, though they ought to have pointed the nation to him. Now, wouldn't it be a terrible doorkeeper? Now, the interesting thing about the doorkeeper is the doorkeeper doesn't own the sheep. He just keeps the door for the night. And then when the shepherd comes, the sheep, he owns the sheep. And when he comes to get his sheep, he finds out that the doorkeeper won't hand the sheep over. Well, that could fry you just a little bit. And here is Jesus. He comes to call the nation of Israel to follow him. And the greatest resistance that he faces is from the religious leaders of the nation, from the scribes and from the Pharisees. And some of the fiercest opposition that Jesus faces in calling people in this world today into a personal relationship with him, some of the greatest competition comes from religious people. We lament the effect of sex, drugs, rock and roll, and we ought to. But I'm not convinced that more people aren't put on a path to hell, away from Jesus in a relationship with him under the guise of religion than under the guise of anything that the world, which is overtly in rebellion to him, could ever come up with. But John the Baptist wasn't of that ilk. He pointed the people to Jesus. And when Jesus, you notice in verse three, he came to the sheepfold, he came to the Jewish nation, he called on them by name to follow him. That's what he did with a man born blind. He called on him. You notice in verse thirty five of chapter nine, Jesus comes to him, finds him, said to him, Do you believe in the son of God? He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him? And Jesus said to him, You have both seen him and it is he who is talking with you. And then he said, Lord, I believe any worshiped Jesus. And so Jesus comes and he calls into this massive humanity known as the Jews and the nation of Israel. And among many others, this blind man heard his call and he came out. Now, the fascinating thing is Jesus talks about the fact in verse five that his sheep will not follow a stranger. Is that this guy has sat around for all of his life, he's into his adult life, surrounded by religion. And yet he hasn't joined himself to it. He is healed by Jesus. The Pharisees come and they use every bit of power that they can to constrain him to deny Jesus and to unite themselves with him to their opinion of Jesus. And he resists him. He's a nobody. He's a nobody. He's never had a theological discussion with people on this level before. And yet when they dig in and they try to do everything to get him to turn, he digs in and he won't move. Why? Because he recognizes the shepherd's voice and he recognizes that they do not speak for the shepherd. I don't know how many of us in this room, you can be raised in a religious environment and you never give yourself to it because you say this is not of God. It doesn't penetrate. Then one day Joe Blow from Kokomo comes along and more likely his little kid preaches a simple gospel to you. How it is that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, was buried and rose again on the third day according to the scriptures. And all of a sudden you realize that's the truth right there. That's the shepherd's voice. And you accept the Lord into your life and you begin to follow him. And so that's what happens. That's how all of this works as the shepherd. Then Jesus declares how to identify a religious thief or a robber. And they do exist. In verse one, a religious thief or robber comes up some other way. They're encapsulated by Jesus in three simple words, some other way. He doesn't enter the sheepfold through the door. In other words, he has no fulfillment of prophetic scripture by which to come to the nation of Israel and declare himself to be the Messiah. So because he can't come in that way, he devises other ways to get access to people and then tries to convince them that that's an acceptable way to enter in to the sheepfold. But Jesus says, if anyone comes in by any other way, they are a thief and a robber. The thief is someone that takes something that doesn't belong to them. The robber is one who does it by force. These religious leaders and the Pharisees know that he's got to have some inkling. Well, no, they didn't. They didn't understand what it was he was saying. But he's speaking about them and he's speaking about the fact that here they are. They are robbing people of a relationship with God for their own selfish reasons of trying to take a position in people's lives that belongs only to God. And that hasn't died out in 2000 years. So anyone that tried to enter the enclosure by some other way, Jesus says, trust me, they're up to no good. They're up to no good. Maybe you read in the Modesto Bee, probably been about three or four weeks ago, in the city of Merced. So glad I don't live in Merced. Just kidding. No, I am. They told a story of three young men who decided to break into their neighbor's house. And what they didn't know is that the man of the house was home. He just didn't answer the door when they knocked. And so they break in the side window and the first young man begins to climb in through the window and the man hears what's going on and he goes and he gets a big bottle and when the young man is kind of in the fulcrum point of his waist there, halfway in, halfway out, he smashes the bottle over his head. Does a pretty good job of it. The guy begins to bleed all over the place. And not only does he smash him over the head, but the two buddies outside realize that their friend is in some trouble. So they each grab a leg and they begin to try and pull the young man out. But the homeowner grabs him on the other end and tries to pull him into the house. And finally the two young men win. They get the guy and they pull him out. By this time, a crowd has gathered on the sidewalk in front of the house. They're watching all of this. And when they get him out, they notice that this young man is bleeding profusely and they even come and they try to administer some first aid to him, but he doesn't want it and they leave and they live just two or three houses down and they go back to the house of the friend. The police show up. They just follow the blood and they go into the house. And as the young man's wounds are being tended to in a moment of just pure chutzpah, he demands that the homeowner be arrested for assault. This is a young man that is completely out of touch with reality. You want to talk to his parents or something, don't you? That? The law enforcement said, no, no, I don't think it's going to work out that way. And they put him under arrest. So anyone who comes in through the accepted means of entrance is up to no good. It's true of the house. It's true spiritually. And only one person in history has qualified for the office of Messiah, and that's Jesus. He came through the door, born of a virgin, born in the city of Bethlehem, born of the lineage of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Judah, David, and on and on and on it could go. But you notice that Jesus in verse six, as he used this illustration, they didn't understand the things which he spoke to them. Why didn't they understand it? They're not a sheep. They're not a sheep, and they're not interested in understanding. And then Jesus said to them, what you kind of have to do at this point is you've got to erase the blackboard, because he's going to continue to use the imagery of a sheep and a shepherd and a sheepfold, but his lesson is a completely different one now. In the first illustration, he is rightfully calling, as the Messiah, his followers out of Israel from among the Jews to follow him. In the second illustration, the call is not out of something, but it's now into something, into salvation. It's not enough to call us out of what we've been spending our life for, but we must now be called into salvation, as we'll see in just a moment. Again, that's what the blind man did. And Jesus said to them, most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. So Jesus declares, this is one of the great I am statements of the gospel. According to John, he says, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before me, they were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. Now he's not talking about David or Ezekiel or Isaiah. They never came claiming to be the Messiah. He's talking about false messiahs that came and then demanded that they would be worshipped, though they didn't match the prophetic prerequisites. And so he said, all who came before me, they were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. And then he declares, repeats himself again. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. And so Jesus declares a second time, I am the door. What is a door? The door is a means of access, isn't it? And one of the interesting things that the shepherd used to do is that he would bring his sheep into the sheep fold. And because again, he would have to get some sleep each night. What he would do is he would lie across the opening and in order for a sheep to exit or to come in, it would have to go through him. And so the shepherd in essence became a door. That's what Jesus is talking about. I am the door. And if anyone enters verse nine by me, he'll be saved. We'll go out. We'll go in and out and find pasture. And so he's speaking here of salvation. He'll be saved talking about heaven. So he's talking about making himself as a door access to something. That's what door a door is. It's access, access to what access to heaven, access to salvation and notice what that access is through. He says, anyone who enters by me singular, it's not by me and any one of 50 other people that come along and declare the same thing concerning themselves. He is the lone door by which I might be saved. And he's going to talk in a moment here in verse 10, the thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. And anyone who comes along and says that there is another door, there is another means of access to heaven or salvation. They're a thief and a murder and they're a liar. Again, a thief is someone who steals something from someone else. They are stealing from people the opportunity to see the necessity of being saved and entering into a relationship with God. But what these Pharisees were doing in being unwilling to point people to Jesus as the way of salvation is that they were keeping people on a path that led to destruction. Thus they in essence became murderers in doing this. And so Jesus said, salvation is found in me. You've got to enter by me, not by religious works, not by the religion of the Pharisees or any other religion, not by baptism, not by keeping of communion, not by any kind of ritual or any of that kind of thing. It's by him, a personal relationship with him. And some people complain, I've never understood it, but they do. They complain that the way to heaven is so narrow. I don't like Jesus because he said, I'm the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the father, but by me, it's so exclusive, it's so narrow. Listen, beggars can't be choosers. When the day came that I was ready to surrender my life to the Lord, I never complained, not once, that the way was narrow. I was happy there was a way. Now, I know in the United States we like to go to Raley's or Save Mart or whatever, and we like 16 brands of lima beans. So we're used to selection, don't we? But as it relates to salvation, there's just one true way to be saved, and that's through him. And I like that word anyway. I am the door if anyone enters by me. It's a nice broad invitation. Anyone can be saved. And so after salvation, he declares, we'll go in and out and find pasture. But the motive of the thief was then, he doesn't come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. Jesus said, I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. So Jesus not only saves us, but he saves us into an abundant life. I confess to you tonight that if the Lord were to take me home tonight, I'd tell you that the testimony of my life is that he gives an abundant life. You take the greatest dream that you can have of life being wealth, travel, possessions, education, sin, and to come to know the Lord is to come to realize that he not only saves me out of something, but he saves me into a life that I never dreamed existed. It's an abundant life. I've said it before, but I get more joy out of fellowshipping with my Lord with a cup of tea and a piece of toast on any given morning than I got out of all of my life prior to coming to know him. And the abundant life is in knowing him and learning to enjoy everything, even the daily in life and fellowship with him. And so it's the truth. It's an abundant life that he calls us into. So Jesus didn't come to get, that's the religion of the Pharisees. He came to give, and he said, I am the good shepherd. And so here's another, I am statement concerning Jesus. He said, I am the door. Now he says, I am the good shepherd. And the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep, but a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees. And the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he's a hireling and does not care about the sheep. And so Jesus declares himself to be the good shepherd in contrast to the hireling. Why is he the good shepherd? Because he gives his life for the sheep. What happens when a shepherd gives his life for the sheep? It is a picture of the greater dying for the lesser, but the greater dies for the lesser because it is his responsibility to keep the sheep that have been entrusted to him. And so Jesus comes and he dies for us, the sheep, the greater dying for the lesser, because he came in order to do that. And he was going to be faithful to that all the way to death. And so Jesus said, listen, the, the, the kind of badge of the fact that I'm a good shepherd. So I'm going to give my life for the sheep, but the hireling isn't like the good shepherd. The reason he isn't, we're told in verse 12 is he doesn't own the sheep. The hirelings would tend sheep, but they were hired to tend sheep, which means what they didn't own the sheep. They did it as a job. It was just a way to make money. It's a sad thing. I'm so glad. And I, and the Lord tests our heart. I think all of us is the Lord calls us into different things in the body of Christ. He's going to test us for whether we're a hireling or whether we're a shepherd. Sometimes the money will dry up or whatever will dry up. And then you realize I'm doing what I'm doing and I'm doing things I would never do for money because it's a call upon our lives. And it isn't about money, but the hireling he'll scoot. He sees the wolf coming and he says, well, it's going to be near the sheep. And he heads out and leaves them. And then what happens is they end up being eaten and they end up being scattered. Verse 13, the hireling flees because he's a hireling. He doesn't care about the sheep. He has no stake in the sheep. And Jesus said, I'm the good shepherd. And I know my sheep and I'm known by them. And as the father knows me, even so I know the father and I lay down my life for the sheep. He's prophesying of his death. It's coming. And then he declares in 16 and other sheep I have, which are not of this fold them. Also, I must bring, and they will hear my voice and there will be one flock and one shepherd. He's speaking of the Gentiles. And so the Jews, it was still kind of working into their mind a little bit that God was interested in the Gentiles. And you remember that the Jewish religious leaders would wake up in the morning and they say, thank you, God, that I wasn't born a Gentile, a dog or a woman. And we look at it, we said, well, that's haughty religious Jews. I'll tell you, the Gentiles gave them good reason for it because the Gentiles lived like dogs. The gods that they worship were essentially the extension of their own flesh. They just tried to sanctify the engaging in sin by calling it the worship of some religious thing. And they live such a base life that it horrified the typical Jew. And here Jesus comes and says, I'm not only interested in the Jews, I'm interested in the Gentiles. It is shocking. Shocking. As I speak to a room that is doubtless made up almost entirely of Gentiles, that we would be saved. That was shocking to the Jews. It's shocking to me. But Jesus said, listen, I've got only not enough grace. I not only have enough grace for the Jews, I've got enough grace. Are you ready, Pharisees? I've got enough grace to save the Gentiles and not only save them, but make them one flock with you. They all needed an Advil after hearing that. And that's what Jesus has done when he then speaks in the letter to the Ephesians, how he has taken down that wall of partition between the Jew and the Gentile, and he's made us one flock. Doesn't matter whether we're Jew or Gentile, we all have the same shepherd because there's one way of being saved for both Jew and Gentile. That's that shepherd, that savior, the Lord Jesus. And therefore, my father loves me because I lay my life. I laid down my life that I may take it again. No one takes 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 command I have received of my father. So Jesus is again, he's prophesying of the fact he's about six months away from the cross and he's prophesying the fact to them that he's going to be crucified. He's going to give his life. And he said, I'm going to lay my life down. Nobody's going to take it. Nobody will take it. You remember when they came to arrest him, Judas and the troops and the religious leaders and all that kind of stuff. And Jesus said to him, who do you see as if we're seeking Jesus? And he said, I am whom would they do? They felt backwards. What was that all about? That was heaven communicating to them that no man takes his life, but he lays it down because they could have got that right back up again. And Jesus said, I am, I am. It could have gone 2000 years could be a show over there in Israel right now, but he just demonstrated the power that the only reason you're going to arrest me is because I'm laying my life down voluntarily. Don't be confused with all the army men that you bring and all that kind of stuff. He just made it clear in their mind. He's still trying to reach them. And one of the things that fascinates me here in verse 18, he said, no one takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have the power to lay it down and I have the power to take it up again. Well, listen, I understand the necessity of having power to raise his life from the dead, but he speaks of it requiring power to lay his life down. Oh, that unless he gave up his spirit on that cross, he would still be alive on that cross 2000 years later on Calvary's hill. And maybe it took just as much power for him to die on that cross in this great mystery of the God, man, and his incarnation, all God, all man, all at the same time as it ever took for him to be raised from the dead. And he said this command I've received from my father. And therefore there was a division again among the Jews because of these things. And many of them said he has a demon. He's crazy. Why do you listen to him? And others said, these are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind? And so again, you've got the whole context. They're still talking about this miracle of this man that's had his, his healed of his blindness. That's what's driving the whole thing. Now in verse 22, there's a two month gap because what's happening in chapter 10 up to verse 21 occurs in about October feast of tabernacles is still all that's the context of it. And now in verse 22, it talks about the feast of dedication in Jerusalem, which happens among the Jews, even to this day in December. So there's a two month jump here in, in the narrative. Now it was the feast of dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter and Jesus walked in the temple and Solomon's porch. So it's a winter time. It's December. It's the time of the feast of dedication. Now the feast of dedication, we know it today as Hanukkah Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. Now Hanukkah or the feast of dedication, or more rightly, it's called the feast of rededication. That feast was never instituted by God through Moses. This was something that the Jewish people added to kind of their religious traditions. Later, during the period between the old Testament, the new Testament has appeared about 400 years. And in 167 BC, a Syrian by the name of Antiochus Epiphanes, Syria was battling all of the time with Egypt. And so Egypt would go up through Israel to fight Syria. Syria would go down through Israel to fight Egypt, all of this stuff. Antiochus Epiphanes said, all right, enough of this traveling through Israel. I'll just conquer Israel and I'll just fight the Egyptians from there. And he goes into Jerusalem and he conquers Jerusalem and he goes into the temple and he sets up an image to his God, which was Zeus in the Holy of Holies. He then proceeds to slaughter a pig on the altar, an unclean beast to the Jews. And not satisfied with that, he takes the broth from the pig and he sprays it all over the temple. He killed 40,000 Jews in the midst of all of this, and he captured and deported 40,000 more Jews. The man by the name of Judas Maccabeus said, that's enough of this. A Jewish man. And he led a revolt against the Syrians, Antiochus Epiphanes. And in 164 BC, they defeated them, retook Jerusalem, and then they spent a period of time rededicating the temple to God from its desecration under Antiochus Epiphanes. And so this is a celebration of the bravery of Judas Maccabeus, historical fact, and a celebration of the rededication of the temple. Now later, the Jews came up with a tradition or came down through the ages with the tradition that when they were rededicating the temple, that they only had enough oil for the candelabra in order of holy oil. And so it was enough for one day, and it was going to take eight days in order to get a fresh supply of the oil in order to light the candelabra. And that the Lord kept that one day supply lit and keeping the light lit for eight days until the fresh oil was made a miracle of God. So you have the eight days of Hanukkah. So we're coming into that season. So you understand the Jewish people as they celebrate that. And so he's there, and then the Jews, they surrounded him and said to him, how long will you keep us in doubt? If you're the Christ, tell us plainly. So they're kind of like some thugs, you know, I don't know if they have any cigarettes or anything like that, but the idea surrounding them is they've kind of pinned them in. You have to pin in God, you know. And they say to him, tell us, how long will you keep us in doubt? If you're the Christ, tell us plainly. Excuse me, for three years, he's been telling them plainly that he's the Christ. What are they doing? They're blame shifting. Listen, it's your fault. You haven't been direct with us enough in order for us to believe in you as the Messiah. So they tell him, and Jesus answered and said, I told you, and you do not believe. Don't make it my fault. You do not believe. In other words, you refuse to. The works that I do in my father's name, they bear witness of me. They are a testimony of the fact that I'm the Messiah. But you do not believe because you're not my sheep. As I said to you, you refuse to believe and your refusal to believe proves that you're not my sheep. Jesus said, my sheep, they hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. That's the characteristic of one of the Lord's lambs. Now, the reason I spent some time on this is this. He is just about to give some of the most astonishing promises concerning the security of the believer in terms of salvation. But he wants to make sure that no one misapplies that security into their life if they're not truly saved. And so one is a follower of Jesus. If they've heard his voice, they've heard the gospel and then they follow him. That is, they obey his word. Now, I remember years ago when we first started here in Modesto. I used to go and do a midweek study in Merced. I was teaching this thing and I had two young ladies come up to me and they were so excited about walking with the Lord and everything like this and all the Bible study and everything. And I said, what Bible study are you attending? But anyway, so all of this is good. And as they're talking, it becomes apparent to me that each of them are living with their boyfriend. And they both know it's wrong. And I took them to Galatians and I took them to the Epistle of Corinthians and showed them where the Bible says that those that make a practice of sin, of fornication, of adultery, of drug use, of lying, of stealing, of these things, when that's the practice of my life, it's an indicate that I will not inherit the kingdom of God. And it's not because those sins keep me from getting into heaven. They reveal that I have not settled the issue of Jesus' lordship in my life. That I'm not born again. Now, I'm not talking about someone who's born again and struggles against sin. This is foreign to me. I have victory over all sin. But sometimes it takes a while to get as spiritual as I am. You better have laughed and I'm glad you did. But so it's not that, oh boy, I struggled against sin. It must mean that I'm not saved and all this stuff. None of that. But where there is this living, a practice of sin, Jesus doesn't want that person thinking, oh yeah, you know, you're on your way to heaven and you can feel good about it. And so the characteristics. They'll hear his voice and they'll follow him. And then Jesus said in verse 28, and I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. This is all Jesus is doing. He gives eternal life. They'll never perish on his word and no one will ever snatch them out of his hand. Now he brings the father into this issue of our security, of our salvation. My father who has given them to me is greater than all. And no one is able to snatch them out of my father's hand. So you've got Jesus's hand holding us. You've got the father's hand holding us. This is known as the good hands people. You just can't make salvation more sure than that. Because as he says concerning the father there in verse 29, he's greater than all. It is impossible for him to lose one of his people. I never spend a moment of my life doubting my salvation. I don't because I'm in so sure hands. And I hope that if you're the kind of person you wonder, am I saved today? Am I not saved today? All that kind of stuff. You take a deep jack-o'-lantern breath tonight and then let it out. The mighty warlets are going. We have no organists tonight. We can't accommodate you as it relates to that. And just accept the fact that salvation is a free gift and it is a sure thing in my life. And notice he says in verse 30, I and the father are one. Not that they're the same person, but they're one in purpose. And you notice the purpose that he's just described, the security of the believer. See in heaven. Then the Jews took up stones to stone him. Now remember he said, listen, they said, all we want you to do is just be square with us. Tell us the truth. So he tells them the truth. He tells them a little more than they asked for. They were just asking whether he was the Messiah. He said, I and the father are one. He tells them, yes, I am the Messiah. By the way, I'm also the son of God, which makes me equal with God. Is that clear for you? And it was clear for them. So they took up stones again to stone him. And Jesus answered and said, many good works I have shown you from my father, for which of these works do you stone me? And the Jews answered. And they said, for, uh, answered him saying for a good work, we do not stone you, but for blasphemy because you being a man, make yourself God. And Jesus answered. And he said, is it not written in your law that I, in your law, I said, you are gods. And Jesus declared. And if he called them gods to whom the word of God came and the scripture cannot be broken. Do you say of him whom the father sanctified and sent into the world? You are blaspheming because I said, I am the son of God. Now, Jesus in verse 34, he directs their attention to their own law, the law of Moses, where God declared concerning. Judges in the old Testament, where they were referred to as gods. And the word there is Elohim. Now he's quoting from Psalm 82. And I'd like you just to turn to it as we close out here this morning, because it's important, not only for our own lives, but it's important for us to have an answer related to this. When the Mormon comes to our doorstep and they want to tell you that they're on the way to becoming God and that you can become a God too. Now, um, there's a lot of people think that, that they're going to become a God. When I was younger, I listened to a lot of music, but one of my favorite people was Barry White. Can you believe it? But I did drove my wife crazy. I remember seeing Barry White on television one time. There he is all big and braided out and the whole deal. And then he got this voice. I mean, if anyone had a voice like God, Barry White has a voice like God. And so the whole deal, and he's talking and everything. And then, and then he starts to talk about the fact that he's God. I thought that was kind of weird. You know, I mean, he's great in what he did and all, but he's not God. And, and, um, so anyway, it was interesting to me, but he, he declares here in Psalm, uh, 82, God stands in the congregation of the mighty. He judges among the gods Elohim. This is what Jesus is, is quoting, or he does in verse six. And how long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked, defend the poor and the fatherless do justice to the afflicted and needy, deliver the poor and needy, free them from the hand of the wicked. They do not know, nor do they understand. They walk about in darkness. All the foundations of the earth are unstable. And then here's what Jesus quotes. I said, you are God's Elohim. And all of you are the children of the most high. And I noticed that God is in lower case. What God is doing is he is speaking clearly to the judges in the old Testament and the judges in the old Testament were the priests that he had called so that when God's people came to them with a dispute, that they would judge the dispute in the light of the word of God. And in representing God and the word of God, they were in essence, an Elohim in that is they're called, but never does God look at them and say, oh yes, they're God's all the way through here. And even in the old Testament has its basis there in Exodus. It's very clear that he's calling regular men with a spiritual position, God's because they've been given that position to represent God. No, God isn't calling them God. You notice in verse seven, he says, but you'll die like men calling them God at all. Why did he call them gods? Because number one, they were representing God in the judgment and God also gave them the right to judge in capital crime. They had the right to life and death. And so he said, you're a representative. And so he calls them Elohim there in the passage and what the Lord is declaring here, not declaring that their man is a God at all, but they were claiming that Jesus wasn't divine, but he was merely a man. And Jesus in essence, declares to them that the greatest of men, even the judges of the old Testament, God appointed as representatives of him to whom God gave the title Elohim did not do what he was doing. He said, you call the old Testament judges, God's I'm doing infinitely more than they could ever dream of. So why won't you see me as greater than them, greater than the greatest of men and recognize that my works and my teaching reveal me to be exactly who I'm declaring to you. And that is that I am God, that I am the son of God. If I do not do the works of my father, don't believe in me. But if I do, though you do not believe me, believe the works that you may know and believe that the father is in me and I am the father. Remember Nicodemus, he believed in Jesus all the way back in John chapter three. Why? Because of the miracles. He said, no man could do the miracles that you're doing. We know that you've been sent from God. Therefore they sought again to seize him, but he escaped out of their hand. He would yield himself to them in four months, but that was four months away. And he went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was baptizing at the first. And there he stayed. He went into the region where John the Baptist had originally baptized Jesus. And there he stayed. And then he came to Jesus and they said, John performed no sign. But all the things that John spoke about this man were true. They were impressed by the miracles that Jesus had done and by his teaching. So they were impressed and they got what the religious leaders refused to get. And that was that this is the Messiah. Heaven's going to be filled with surprises who gets there and who doesn't get there. And so many of them believed in him. There is a result of those things.