Bible verses to build your life on

Jesus said: “… whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock…” ~ Matthew 7:24

John 10 ~ Part 5

(vs. 11, 14 – 18)

¹¹“I AM the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep…. ¹⁴I AM the Good Shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. ¹⁵As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. ¹⁶And 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. ¹⁷Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. ¹⁸No 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 from My Father.

I don’t know if those verses resound in your head like they do mine, but WOW! At first glance, it really reminds me of Isaiah 53 (what a beautiful passage!). Verse 6 says – “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” What an amazing love God has for us! He isn’t just offering a relationship to people who are friendly, He is offering a relationship to us, people who naturally hate the things He loves and love the things He hates (because they destroy us). That could be a good definition of a true enemy - yes? “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) That word for “sinners” there is the idea of a rebel – a reprobate – a fierce opponent, or as one Pastor John MacArthur puts it – enemies. Yet, Jesus, knowing that we are so prone to rebel and wander away from Him – “Christ died for us.” What an amazing love! It is almost beyond words to describe!

Jesus’ “I AM” statement must have been stunning to the Jews. Even though He was fulfilling prophecies right before their eyes, He didn’t fit their mold or expectation of what He should be like. They were looking for the conquering King who would destroy Roman and chase off the armies that had invaded the land, not realizing that their sin was the bigger problem and Jesus came the first time to be the spotless Lamb of God who would take the holy fury of God’s wrath against sin on Himself, so that we have the opportunity to go free. So, because He didn’t fit the Jews’ mold and pre-conceived idea of what they wanted the Messiah to be, they stayed more on the verge of rejecting Him rather than accepting Him. How sad. And yet, we do the very same thing when we hear and study His Word and then criticize it as being too hard, or not popular, etc… or worse, reinterpret it with our own meanings rather than studying His Word more thoroughly to discover His meanings! May we learn from this example to embrace and follow the REAL Jesus Christ!

Words to note:”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.” – A couple of key notes. “other sheep” – “not of this fold” – interesting phrases, but what is He talking about? Well, we need to remember first who He is talking to. He’s talking to the Jews – His chosen people. So, He is telling the Jews He has sheep from another fold – other than the Jewish people = us - Gentiles (non-Jews)! Notice, He includes us in His 1 flock. We are different from, but we are adopted into His flock – those who accept Him as their Master and Savior. Romans That’s pretty cool! Jesus even prayed for us in John 17:20 and 21 ~ “²⁰I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; ²¹that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.”

Words to note: “No one takes it [His life] from Me, but I lay it down of Myself…” – How absolutely amazing! God created everything perfect. Man rebelled. God sends a deliverer – none other than God Himself – the Son, fully God and fully Man to live a perfect life, and die to pay our debt for our rebellion. That is the most amazing story. It is my earnest prayer we never get tired of hearing it and even more, that we would continue to thank Him for it and share this GOOD NEWS!

(vs. 19 – 21)
¹⁹Therefore, there was a division again among the Jews because of these sayings. ²⁰And many of them said, “He has a demon and is mad. Why do you listen to Him?” ²¹Others said, “These are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

Yeah, I’m sure there was a huge disagreement! This Man was so amazing and yet so accurate - knew people’s thoughts and confronted them on the spot, and He even had the power of God – yeah, that must have been hard to understand!

Words to note: “These are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?” – incredible question! Notice, demons are followers/co-conspirators with satan. The idea behind this question is noticing His authority and that Jesus had pointed out in Matthew 12:25-30 that this power is not from satan, but the very power of God. To top that, Jesus had not only healed the blind, the mute (those who couldn’t talk), the deaf, and those with horrible diseases, but He also healed a man who was born blind in John 9. Not only that, but Jesus had also healed people the Scribes and Pharisees couldn’t heal! WOW! Were they astonished? YES! Did all of them just praise God and believe in Jesus? No, sadly not. In fact many of them followed a while and then left Him for an easier life… May we learn from their example!