The Good Shepherd

The Hostile Context: John 10 as a Battle for the Truth 0:23

Sometimes when you hear about the Good Shepherd, we think, that sounds nice. We see Jesus sitting on a hillside saying, come to Me. And we get this picturesque view of what's going on in this text. But if you read this chapter in light of the chapters around it, you'd realize that what's really going on in John 10 is a battle royale.

You see, for chapter after chapter after chapter, Jesus had been talking. But who had He been talking to? Well, He'd been talking primarily, principally, if you look in John 8 and John 9, to those who hated Him. He'd been talking to Pharisees and scribes, the religious elite, and He had said things to them that had shaken their world, and on multiple times, just in several chapters, He had said things that startled them so greatly that they hated so much that they started to look around to pick up what?

Stones. Why? To kill the one in front of them. This text is not Jesus sitting on a hillside with all these willing people listening to Him and all nodding their head and affirming what He's saying.

Rather, these are words He is speaking to those who hate Him and who cannot wait for the opportunity to strike Him down. So that's the greater context of this passage, and it's helpful to bear it in mind as we dissect it this morning.

"Before Abraham Was, I AM": The Divine Name in Exodus 3 1:35

Now, back in John 8, one of the first things Jesus said that really broke the brains of the religious elite, and it was the main thing that caused them back then to pick up stones, as Jesus said this statement. It was two words long. He said, I am. Before Abraham was, I am.

I am. Why was that two-word statement significant to His audience? Well, significant, as we talked about a few weeks ago, because back in Exodus chapter 3, that was the way that God had identified Himself to Moses. God answered Moses' question about, who are you, O Lord?

And God just said, I am who I am. I am. Tell them that the great I am has sent me to you. That's what Moses was to tell the people, the Jews there under Pharaoh.

So when Jesus was talking to the Pharisees back in chapter eight, and they were having this back and forth, this argument, this discourse that was going wildly off tracks, at least from their perspective, Jesus had sealed the deal in their mind that this man had to die when He said, I am. Before Abraham was, I am.

At that moment, they picked up stones to throw. That's in chapter eight.

The Healing of the Blind Man and the Fury of the Religious Elite 2:38

Things didn't improve in chapter 9. Last week, Pastor Fish preached from chapter 9. In chapter 9, Jesus says something wonderful and nice. He encounters a blind man, and what does He do?

Well, the blind man calls out to Him, and Jesus says, come here, and He heals the blind man. Remember, there's the mud and the spit and all this different stuff, and He heals a blind man. The blind man is healed, and he's able to see once again. Now, you would think, you would think that that would be a cause for celebration, right?

That the people would be really excited. What a miracle. How amazing. And we're so happy for Brother Bob over here.

He can see now. How wonderful. Well, as we saw last week in Pastor Fish's sermon. People did not treat it as wonderful, or at least the religious leaders did not.

When they saw a man who was blind previously and now could see, all it did was infuriate them. It infuriated them for a number of reasons, but not the least of which was the source, the cause of his healing. It was that Jesus guy. That Jesus guy who keeps doing this stuff we can't understand.

It's got to be demons. Got to be demons. That's all they could ever come up with. It must be demons.

They hated it. He kept doing stuff. They wanted to kill him. He was saying crazy stuff.

They wanted him dead. And yet he kept doing things that the people would see and then run to Him with great abandon and try to embrace Him. And they couldn't believe it. They couldn't accept it.

They wanted him dead. Now you remember, they tried to accost the blind guy. Poor blind Bob here. Poor blind guy.

What do they do? Well, they chase him down. They want to know. All right, tell us the truth.

Tell us about this one who healed you. And then they go to his parents as well. And his parents say, don't talk to us. Talk to him.

But ultimately, the blind guy just goes, hey, all I know is this. I was blind, but now I see. Do you guys want to become his disciples too? They really hated that.

So what did they do to the poor blind guy? What was the religious elite's approach to the blind guy? They took him and they cast him out. They wanted his estate now to be worse than his estate was even when he was blind.

Now he was excommunicated, so to speak. Now he was cast out of the synagogue. Now you had this sheep that Jesus had nurtured and Jesus had healed and touched his eyes, and Jesus called close. And what did the religious elite do?

The Seven "I AM" Statements and the Deity of Christ 4:35

They cast him from their presence in chapter 9. Now, as we come to chapter 10, that statement, that two-word statement, I am, Jesus is going to repeat it on a couple of different occasions. Today's text, He's going to say, I am about two things. He's going to say, I am the door, and I am the good shepherd.

Do they mean the exact same thing? Not really, as we're going to see in today's text, but just as a side note here, the two times He says it in John chapter 10, He would say I am throughout the entirety of the book. Seven times. Now back in John 6, He says, I am the bread of life.

John 8, I am the light of the world. These are very divine statements. The light of the world, who can say that? I am the bread of life, John 6.

I'm the light of the world, John 8. I am the door here in John 10. I'm the good shepherd, John 10, John 14. I am the resurrection and the life, John 11.

I am the way, the truth, and the life. John 14. You ever encounter someone who says, you know, Jesus never claimed to be God. Dear heavens, what do you think He's saying here?

I am this. I am that. The light of the world. The way, the truth, and life.

The resurrection. I am He. I'm the one who was sent. I'm the fulfillment of Psalm 23.

I'm the fulfillment of the entirety of the Old Testament. Hey guys, it's Me. He says this time and time again before the people.

The Definite Article: Christ the Exclusive Way to God 5:51

“I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.”

— John 10:9 (NKJV)

Now, one aside before we look at verses 1 through 10 together. One aside is I'm not a grammarian or the son of a grammarian. You can tell by the way I'm pronouncing it. Grammar is not my thing.

But I do know this. Definite articles matter. Now, what's a definite article? Definite article is if you say, I am the door, then the word that does jump out is the word the.

That's the definite article. What if Jesus had told the masses, what if He had said, I am a way and a truth, a life? What if He said, I am a door? What would the implication be?

There'd be more than one door. If Jesus told the world, hey guys, I'm here, it's Me. I am a door. You can enter in and find rest.

One of many. I hope you choose Me, but there's other options. I am a door. What if He had said that?

Oh, dear heavens, that's blasphemy. And it's also not what He said. He says, I am the door. I am the way.

I am the truth. I am the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me. No one comes of the Father, but through Me.

This is the most hated doctrine in all of Christendom. Why? Because it excludes all those who do not go through Jesus. It says this very straightforwardly.

It says that the singular means, the singular way to reach the apex, whatever that looks like, wherever it is, the singular way to reach God's golden shores, the singular way to reach that heavenly estate is through what? It's through the door, who is who? What other options are there? None.

This is Christianity 101. And yet, so often in our day, even in Christian circles, even in brick buildings with crosses on top, they kind of try to hide that. Try to hide that, right? Why?

Because it sounds exclusionary. Well, here's the thing. We don't want to exclude any sinner from that promise, which is why we're constantly evangelizing and trying to share the gospel. But we do know this, there's but one door, one way, one truth, one life.

There's one bread of life, one light of the world, one resurrection. It is through the personal work of Jesus Christ. And we would be like Judas. We would be betraying Jesus with a kiss if we failed to point to Him and highlight these statements, even if they sound exclusionary to modern ears.

The Door of the Sheep: Reading John 10:1-10 7:56

All right, let's look at verses 1 through 10 once again. Verse 1, most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in some other way, he is a thief, he's a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

To him, the doorkeeper opens, the sheep hears 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, they follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but they will flee from the stranger, for they do not know the voice of strangers.

Now Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them. Then Jesus said to them, most surely I say to you, I am the door. I am the door. Remember, not a door.

I am the door of the sheep. All whoever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep do not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved.

So there's a correlation here. And he will go in and find pasture. But the thief does not come except to steal, to kill, and to destroy.

The Sheep Know the Shepherd's Voice 8:57

And I have come that they may have life, and they may have it more abundantly. All right, let's say that you've got two guys. You've got two men, and they're standing in the sheep pan, or they're standing out on that hillside, right? Two men.

On the one hand, you got Farmer Jones, right? Shepherd Jones in a straw hat and like Farmer Jones, the shepherd of the sheep. You got him. And on the other hand, you got Brad Pitt.

Now, let's say you release a bunch of sheep, a bunch of sheep that belong to Farmer Jones, right? They both call the sheep to come to them. One of them is Farmer Jones. The other one's Brad Pitt.

Who are they going to go to? This is one of the odder analogies I've used in recent days, but let's go with it. I'm going to lean into it here. They're not going to go to Brad Pitt.

Why? Because there's nothing about Brad Pitt that's appealing to them. What appeals to them is nourishment. They look at the farmer and they say, that's our guy.

I hear his voice. I recognize that guy. That's the guy who shows up and he feeds me and he takes care of me. Oh, and when the wolves came, that's the guy who defended us and protected us.

Run to him. Brad Pitt will be standing alone. The sheep will not go to him. Why?

Because fame and wealth and celebrity does not matter to the sheep, but rather he who nourishes them is what they will desire. In a very weird way, in a roundabout way, that's what Jesus is saying. He's saying, I am the shepherd. I'm the door.

I'm the singular means. There's a world of Brad Pitt's, and there's a world of Oprah's, and there's a world of other means and paths that people think will spiral up to heaven. Nonsense. I am He.

And when My sheep hear My voice, what do they do? They respond.

Sheep That Hear the Shepherd: A Picture from Ireland 10:30

They follow Me because they recognized My voice. You know, I've told this story at other intervals. It's one of my favorites, so I'm going to tell it again. We went to Ireland on a couple different occasions about, I don't know, seven, eight years ago.

I had an opportunity to Bible in an hour across different counties there in Ireland. Now, our host there, my host, wanted to show me the various sites of Ireland. It's a very pretty country, very nice. You know, the rolling hillsides, all the postcard stuff you see, it kind of matched up with what I found in Ireland.

Well, went off towards the coast. I don't know if it's County Donegal or what's over there on the west side, but we went over towards the coast. And as we got towards the coast, it was even more rural than the areas that were more central. And as we went out to the coast, there was a lot of sheep.

And you would think that there'd be like big old fences. Like here in America, we know how to do fences, right? We have tall fences, barbed wire fences, all sorts of fences that keep animals apart. Well, they have fences too.

But the thing is, they're all like two feet tall and made of broken, you know, run down old stones from some different age, right? You see fences, but they're all small. And you go, well, how does this, how does this even work? They're not tall enough to keep about anything out.

Well, I'm not sure they do keep anything out, but I know this, the sheep, the sheep are all over the place. They run about, they scatter the hillsides with no discernible way because of these low fences of keeping them in one specific pen, at least not that I saw during my time there.

So I commented to my host. I said, boy, how in the world? How does people know who sheep is who's? They're all over the place around here.

And he says, look closer. So I did. And immediately I saw something that was just the oddest thing. Now, this is not on the postcards.

This is not in the movies. This is not something I'd ever seen or even expected to see. He says, look closer. He says, we've got a very practical solution.

We're practical people here. We've got a practical solution to this problem of how you know which sheep are yours. He says, if you look at the sheep, look to the side, and you'll see something. And sure enough, I looked.

And on the side of the various sheep, the different shepherds or farmers or what have you, had taken cans of spray paint. And there was different colors, purple, pink, green, yellow, what have you. And if you were the farmer with the purple spray paint, what'd you do? Well, you went up to your sheep and went, and there was a nice purple stripe down the side of your sheep.

And I thought, boy, this doesn't show up in the postcards at all. But yet, you could look out the hillside and see the different colors. Now, with that said, what was even more fascinating was I was like, all right, so how does — so they're all different sheep with the different colors, what about feeding time?

And I only had to wait about an hour and a half to find out. We had sat in a little kind of a cafe in that area, and a big truck — not a big truck like by our standards, but by Irish standards a big truck — went rolling by, and it was one of the local farmers, agricultural guys, and he goes rolling up down the hillside, and his truck makes a lot of noise, and the gentleman I was with says, now just watch, you look out towards the hillside, what happens?

Well, what happens is that a whole lot of sheep do nothing, but some sheep hear the sound of this particular truck's approach and run to it. And when the gentleman gets out, he calls, rings a bell, makes a specific noise, and then the sheep with the purple or pink or green or what have you, stripes, go running to the appropriate guy who takes care of them.

Now, I cannot believe that that's the way that this is done, and yet that's what my own eyes saw. This is the way that it's done, but the singular means by which sheep get nourished by their own shepherd is that the sheep recognize the voices and sounds and cars and different things attributed to their specific shepherd.

And so you don't need 10 foot high fences.

Effectual Calling: The Spirit Enables the Sheep to Hear 13:49

You don't need all these different things because the sheep respond to their shepherd's voices. In a sense, this is what Jesus is saying here. He says, My sheep know Me. My sheep know Me.

They've been enabled and persuaded by the agency of the Holy Spirit who has changed their hearts to recognize that which they previously rejected. My sheep know Me because the Spirit has entered in, has changed their hearts, and now, now when I speak, they hear, and not only do they hear, but they follow.

My sheep hear My voice, and they follow Me. Now who is He saying all this to?

Two Tasks of the Shepherd: Feeding and Protecting the Flock 14:19

Again, principally to people who are not His sheep. Let's see how they respond here as we look to the next verses. Let's look at verses 11 through 16. Verse 11, I am the good shepherd.

The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep, but a hireling he was not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep. He sees the wolf coming and he leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling, and he does not care about the sheep.

I am the good shepherd, and I know My sheep, and I'm known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father, and I lay down, I lay down My life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold. Them also I must bring.

They will hear My voice, and there will be one flock and one shepherd. All right. So a shepherd has two principal jobs. Those jobs are broken down into a lot of different responsibilities, but there's two principal jobs.

The first one is to feed the sheep. Remember what Jesus says to Peter? Peter, you love Me? Peter says, oh, you know it, boss.

I love you. I love you. I love you. And Jesus says what?

If you love Me, you will feed the sheep. He says it three times because it's important. Feeding and nourishing the sheep is an important task given to shepherds, both real shepherds on the hillside, but also those who occupy the pulpits, those who are the apostles, disciples, those in ministry, Sunday school teachers and the like.

We have a responsibility to shepherd by nourishing. Now, the second job that a shepherd has, beyond nourishing, is protection, to protect the sheep, to defend the sheep. In verses 11 through 16, it's that protection that Jesus is talking about here.

The Failed Shepherds of the Old Testament 16:06

Now, if you go to the Old Testament, the Old Testament priests, they were supposed to be shepherds too. In the Old Testament, the leaders that God had appointed, in our context today, it would be elders and deacons and the like. But in the Old Testament context, it was generally speaking the priesthood. The priests were called to shepherd God's people, to shepherd the people.

However, routinely they did a bad job. And so there's a number of texts I could cherry pick from a handful of them. There's a number of texts in which God warns the priesthood and the leaders of the Old Testament covenant community and says, hey guys, you are not doing good work. I have given you sheep to take care of, and you are busy getting fat off of them, so to speak.

That was the problem with Eli and Eli's sons when we studied Samuel. Zechariah 11, verse 17, God says this, Woe to the worthless shepherd, the one who leaves the flock. A sword shall be against his arm and against his right eye. His arm shall completely wither, and his right eye shall be totally blinded.

Time and time again, the Old Testament was filled with these prompts that the religious leader should shepherd and care for God's own, and yet warnings that they were failing to do just that. Now, who's the greatest shepherd in the Old Testament? Who's the most well-known shepherd in the Old Testament? David, right.

He was a shepherd in his youth. Remember, he used the slingshot that used to protect the sheep from the wolves and the lions and the bears. He used the slingshot in order to kill Goliath. He was a shepherd.

He knew all about shepherding. He was a shepherd from Bethlehem, which tells us what? He was a type of Jesus. He was an anticipation of Christ Himself, the shepherd who would rise from Bethlehem.

So, a great shepherd in the Old Testament. With that said, what if you're a man named Uriah? Who's Uriah? Who is Uriah married to?

Bathsheba. Oh, I think we're onto something here. What if you're a man named Uriah, who has a beautiful wife named Bathsheba, and this guy, this king, this David, takes a hankering, a liking to your wife, and says, I think I'm going to make her mine, and the way I'm going to secure that is I'm going to send Uriah out to the front lines in order that he would be killed, and if he's killed, then I can take his wife.

This is King David, the greatest shepherd of the Old Testament. Ask Uriah how his shepherding was. The point here is not to run down David. David is a sinner like the rest of us.

The point is this, that the Old Testament looked forward to the coming of one who would be the good shepherd. All the other shepherds had failed. All modern day shepherds fail. And yet there is one singularly referred to as the good shepherd.

The fulfillment of that which all the other shepherds should have been and should have done. The good shepherd. In verse 11, Jesus says, it's Me. Jesus says this, I am the good shepherd.

I am the one who lays down My life for the sheep. Verse 11 through 16, He says He's the good shepherd. He looks out for the sheep, and the sheep at this time are God's people, His covenant community of Israel. He says, I have come to redeem those that God has given to Me, and I have come to Mine own.

I have come to My people. Remember, He would cry over them later. He would cry over them as He came and approached the city for the last time and say, oh Israel, oh Israel, oh Jerusalem. How long I've wanted to hold you to Myself, but you would have none of it, right?

Other Sheep Not of This Fold: The Ingathering of the Gentiles 19:35

“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.”

— John 10:16 (NKJV)

But that's who He was sent to. However, notice something really interesting here. Here in this last verse, it's verse 16, He says something that's astonishing. In the face of this idea that Israel is His people, He came to His people.

In verse 16, He says this. Yes, Israel is My people, but verse 16, but I have other sheep too. I have other sheep that are not of this fold, and them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice, and there will be one flock and one shepherd. Who in the world is He talking about?

You know, there's some wild, you want to read commentaries and get into some weird stuff on that verse? There's some people who have looked at that and said, okay, so Jesus says, I've come to Mine own, this flock, but I have other flocks, maybe celestial flocks, maybe flocks in other planets, in other galaxies.

I have other sheep somewhere, and at a given time, there will be one giant flock made up of people across the whole galaxy. Some have looked at this text and said, I think that's what He's talking about. Is that what He's talking about? Heavens no. What is He talking about?

He's talking about the Gentiles. He's addressing a Jewish audience in Jerusalem, and He says this. He says, I've come to you as the fulfillment of that which the Old Testament anticipated. I'm the fulfillment of all these prophecies.

It's Me. I've come to you just as scripture said that I would. But know this, I have sheep outside this fold, and through Me they will be yoked to you. So there'll be one flock and one shepherd.

If you and I this morning are Gentiles, we can praise God that this verse is a reference to us. If this morning you're a Gentile, so to speak, outside of the original ethnic Israel, this morning, if you are a Gentile, this verse is the promise by which God said, I will take folks from far fields and from centuries later and the likes, and I will bind them and yoke them to the covenant community that I will purchase with My own blood.

Christ Lays Down His Life of His Own Will 21:31

All right, let's look at verses 17 through 18 now. Verse 17. Therefore, My Father loves Me because I lay down My life that I may take it up again. That's interesting.

Verse 18. No one takes it from Me. Imagine all the people looking for the stone still. He says, no one, 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. This command I've received from My Father. You know, throughout this book, as you said before, there are people who wanted Jesus dead, almost on every page. Once He gets past the things like turning water to wine, you know, that just startled people.

But once He starts doing the miracles on the other side of that, once you get to John 4, 5, 6, it builds. The crescendo of hatred and animosity builds towards Jesus, and they want Him dead. The people want Him dead. The leaders, excuse me, want Him dead.

The wolves, the enemies, the bandits, the thieves that He referred to earlier in this passage, they're already sharpening their knives, hoping to slaughter this particular lamb, this one, this Jesus. But here's the thing. Jesus says, when it happens, and it would happen, He routinely told His disciples, this day is coming, but when it happens, it will not be because someone else does it to Me.

It will be for this reason and this reason alone, because I will volitionally, of My own will, My own choice, I will lay down My life. No one has the power to take it from Me. There's no one, no collection of someones that have the ability, the power to take My life from Me, but I lay it down.

And not only do I lay it down, as impressive as that would be, the idea that you could call your own shot along that front, that's impressive. But He says, not only, not only do I lay My own life down, but I have the power to take it up again. So that's what we see there in verses 17 through 18.

A day would come when the Pharisees would rejoice and they thought they'd finally done it. They finally did it. They'd finally taken them out.

The Shepherd and Overseer of Our Souls 23:21

However, it would be in the timing, the way, the fashion, and for the purposes, not of them, but of Christ Himself. In 1 Peter 2, Peter said it this way, He who bore our sins in His own body on that tree, that we having died to sins might live for righteousness. It's by His stripes you were healed.

Remember that's from Isaiah 53 we read this morning. For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. The good shepherd laid down His life, not necessarily to save your physical flesh. You and I, if we live long enough, that life will eventually be extinguished.

If Jesus doesn't come back first, we will perish. And yet Jesus here is declared as one who's the shepherd and overseer of our souls. Our souls are entrusted to Him. If you are a child of God right now, your soul is in His hands.

That will never change. It is in this sense that He continues to shepherd.

Liar, Lunatic, or Lord: The Trilemma and the Resurrection 24:12

All right, let's look at our last verses, verses 19 through 21. Therefore now there was a division again among the Jews because of these sayings. And many of them said, He has a demon and He is mad. Why do you listen to Him?

Now others said, these are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind? All right. In the 1940s, C.S.

Lewis popularized a theological concept. It existed before him, but he popularized it, so I'll refer to him. It's called the trilemma, the trilemma. He popularized this idea of the trilemma.

Now, what in the world is that? Well, from tricycle, you know, tri applies to three, and in this particular case, C.S. Lewis said that there's a trilemma that modern man has when it comes to the personal work of Jesus and who He really is. And the trilemma, you know, tri-dilemma, the trilemma is this, that this guy, this Jesus, this one in times past who said the most outlandish things, there's only three things we can believe about Him.

And this was true for first century Jews, it's true of 21st century people in Gulfport. There's only three options to what Jesus said, repeatedly what He said and said again and said again. There's only three options. The first is this, that He was a liar.

That's one option. It's not the right option, but it's one option theoretically. So some people, that's what they believe. They say He is full of it.

Remember there were Pharisees that said He's full of it. No, no, He's a liar. He's got a demon. The father of lies speaks to Him.

He's a liar. We've got to take Him out. Now there were others who would say that I don't know if He's lying, but He is crazy. He's a lunatic.

Liar and lunatic, right? That's what we hear right here. They said He's mad. He's a madman.

He's either a liar. He's either a demon-possessed liar spouting falsehoods from the pit of hell, that's either the case or He's just mad. He's just crazy. So He's either a liar or He's just a lunatic.

Now, is that the case either? Was He a crazy man? Well, no. And one of the ways you know He wasn't crazy is, dear heavens, He won every argument He gets into. Every debate, every argument, every discourse that we see here, every attempt that the collective brainpower of the Pharisees had to try to take Him down, throwing their best men at the job.

Everything they did to try to argue and to tear Him down through words fell flat. Mad men do not reason the way Jesus Christ reasoned. He deduced and He concluded and He spoke in ways that no one did. He's not a mad man and He's not a liar either.

So what does that leave? If He's not a liar and He's not a lunatic, what's left? The third option in the trilemma is this. He's either a liar, He's a lunatic, or He's the Lord.

He's either lying to us, He's crazy, or maybe, just maybe, He is who He said He is. Maybe, just maybe, this one who's doing miracle after miracle that boggles our minds that no one can do, maybe, just maybe, the guy who died, and we all saw He died, and He rose three days later, and we saw He was rose, maybe, just maybe, that guy is who He said He is.

Even during His life, His own disciples had moments of question and doubt and anxiety about what was going on. But when they saw the risen Jesus come on in and eat some fish and honeycomb with them, they went, ah! Everything He said is true. He wasn't lying, and He wasn't crazy.

He is who He said He is. This is the Lord. And His disciples responded by acting accordingly every day of the rest of their lives, even as the overwhelming majority would die as martyrs. They didn't die as martyrs to defend a liar, and they didn't die as martyrs to defend a crazy man.

They died as martyrs because they knew, they knew that Jesus Christ is who He said He is. And they also knew that He who made promises to them, that if He would go, He would return and take them to where He might be, that they might be with Him, that He had the power and the ability to fulfill those promises.

One of the things that emboldened the saints, as we wrap up this morning, one of the things that emboldened the apostles and the disciples was this, that Jesus had said outlandish stuff, amazing stuff. Now, He had backed it up with these miracles. And yet, there was no miracle greater than this. Laying down His own life in the way in which the Old Testament anticipated He would, and then taking it up again, three days later, walking in and eating fish and honeycomb with them.

There was no greater miracle than the resurrection. No one had done that. People just didn't heal blind people either. But certainly no one died, and then three days later, they arose.

So if you were a disciple, if you're an apostle, and you saw that, and you saw the risen Christ, and you saw all this happen, He's not a liar, He's not a lunatic, He is the Lord. But furthermore, not only is the Lord, but if He could fulfill all the things that He said He would do, that He would lay down His life and take it up three days later, if He could fill all of that, then maybe, just maybe, He could fulfill the promises that He has given to you as well.

Maybe, just maybe, when Jesus said, I will die that you might live, maybe, just maybe, that's what He means. When Jesus said, you who believe in Him today, even today in 21st century Gulfport, we were broken and hurting and wounded and looking around the culture around us, maybe, just maybe, when the shepherd says, I am He, take My hand and live, maybe, just maybe, it's the truth.

Maybe, just maybe, the promises that He's given you that you're leaning into even now, maybe, just maybe, in fact, not just maybe, absolutely, they are true. And they're cemented in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If He could fulfill that promise, then let me ask you, what promise can't He fulfill? You know the answer.

Let's pray.