SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/31/2016 6:52 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-4 Jesus is the True Shepherd of the
Sheep
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: John 10:1-6
Message of the verses: “1 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who
does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other
way, he is a thief and a robber. 2 “But he who enters by the door is a shepherd
of the sheep. 3 “To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and
he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 “When he puts forth all
his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his
voice. 5 “A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him,
because they do not know the voice of strangers." 6 This figure of speech
Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things were which
He had been saying to them.”
We change
course as we look at verse five stating that the sheep will not follow a
stranger, and MacArthur adds “True believers, will not abandon Christ, the Good
Shepherd, to follow false shepherds.
True believers recognize the truth revealed by God (8:31-32, 47, 51-52)
and reject error. John expressed that
truth in his first epistle: ‘1 Beloved,
do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from
God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you
know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come
in the flesh is from God; 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not
from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it
is coming, and now it is already in the world. 4 You are from God, little
children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he
who is in the world. 5 They are from the world; therefore they speak as from
the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God; he who knows God
listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know
the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.’”
I think
that a good example of this is the story of Job, for Job was a true believer in
God and even though he went through some horrible things in his life, not
really knowing why he went through them, he never failed God for he was a true
believer. Matthew 24:24 states “"For
false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and
wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.” Notice that Christ says “if possible, even
the elect” stating that that was not possible.
MacArthur adds “Those who abandon their profession of faith in the truth
prove that neither their faith nor their salvation was ever genuine. ‘They went out for us,’ John wrote, ‘they
were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained
with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they are not of us’
(1 John 2:19). John, then, contrasts
such departure from the truth, the voice of the Shepherd, with faithfulness to
His voice. He writes of the true sheep, ‘20
But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. 21 I have not
written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it,
and because no lie is of the truth. 22 Who is the liar but the one who denies that
Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and
the Son. 23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who
confesses the Son has the Father also. 24 As for you, let that abide in you
which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides
in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.’ Those who are Christ’s
do not leave Him to follow those who deny the truth.”
Now we
conclude with verse six that tells us “This figure of speech Jesus spoke to
them, but they did not understand what those things were which He had been
saying to them.” Now we want to get into
the Greek word (paroimia) which is
translated “figure of speech” in verse six.
MacArthur says that this word “describes the veiled, enigmatic language
that conceals a symbolic meaning. Though
the ‘figure of speech’ was presented plainly enough to the religious leaders,
they failed to grasp its significance.
So ingrained with their belief that as Abraham’s descendants they were
part of God’s flock that they completely missed Jesus’ indictment of them when
He stated that He was the true Shepherd and they were false shepherds to whom
the sheep would not listen. Like His
parables (Matt. 13:10-16), this ‘figure of speech’ served a twofold
purpose: It revealed spiritual truth to
His followers, and concealed it from those who rejected Him.”
This
concludes this rather long section covering these first six verses in John
chapter ten, and I have to say that the next section is much shorter.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: “I'm so glad I'm a
part of the Family of God,
I've been washed in the fountain, cleansed by His blood!
Joint heirs with Jesus as we travel this sod,
For I'm part of the family,
The Family of God.”
I've been washed in the fountain, cleansed by His blood!
Joint heirs with Jesus as we travel this sod,
For I'm part of the family,
The Family of God.”
My Steps of Faith for
Today: Pray that as others read
these truth that the Spirit of God will draw them to the Savior.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question: “To throw them to the ground” (2 Kings
13:14-18).
Today’s Bible question:
“What stone became the head of the corner?”
Answer in our next SD.
7/31/2016 7:19 AM
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