Monday, April 29, 2013

THE SHEPHERD AND HIS SHEEP by R.C. Sproul


Most assuredly, 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. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. John 10:1-3

Jesus began (Chapter 10) with contrasts, and the first contrast was between the one who enters the door of the sheepfold and those who climb over the fences and try to sneak into the sheepfold by some other way. Those who try to sneak in are thieves and robbers, Jesus said, but the shepherd uses the door.

Some biblical commentators look at this text and say that when Jesus spoke of thieves and robbers, He referred to false messiahs or to the Devil. I don’t think so; this comment is far more pointed than that. Remember, this comment came right on the heels of a very heated discussion between Jesus and the Pharisees about the man born blind. This is the context here. Jesus addressed those whom God had called to be the shepherds over His flock, the clergy of His day, who had so recently cast the healed man out of the synagogue, rejecting a sheep in the flock of God. Jesus called these clergy, the Pharisees, thieves and robbers.

Jesus drew this illustration from the sheep industry of the day. The way sheep were cared for in ancient Israel was very different from the way they are handled today. In those days, there was one large, central pen, or sheepfold, in a given community, and at the end of the day people brought their small individual flocks and led them into the big sheepfold. With their combined resources, they paid a gatekeeper, and it was his job to stay with the sheep during the night.

In the morning, the gatekeeper opened the gate to those who were truly shepherds, whose sheep were enclosed in the sheepfold. The shepherds entered by the door, for they had every right to do so—the sheep were theirs and the gatekeeper was their paid servant. When a shepherd entered the sheepfold, the sheep of all the local flocks were mixed, but he began to call, and his sheep recognized his voice and came to him. In fact, a good shepherd was so intimately involved with the care and the nurture of his sheep that he had names for them, and he would call them by name. His sheep followed him out because they knew him.

Jesus used this particular illustration over and over again to speak about His relationship to those whom the Father had given Him, to those who are believers. The illustration teaches us that Christ knows the believer and the believer knows Him, recognizes His voice, and follows Him. This two-way knowledge is absolutely essential. Jesus gave a dreadful warning about this at the end of the Sermon on the Mount when He said: “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ ” (Matt. 7:22–23). He said, “You are not My sheep if you don’t know Me and I don’t know you.”

Sproul, R. C. John. St. Andrew's Expositional Commentary. Lake Mary, FL: Reformation Trust Publishing, 2009.

For more on John 10, click HERE and listen to, “KNOWING JESUS AS THE GOOD SHEPHERD.”

"Quote" of the Week

"It is through (Christ) that salvation is found. Those who come to Him find access to life and sustenance...Jesus came not to steal but to give, and His gift is abundant life."  -R.C. Sproul

Monday, April 22, 2013


In declaring himself to be the light, Jesus was claiming divinity. In the Bible, “light” symbolizes the holiness of God (see also Psalm 27:1; 36:9; Acts 9:3; 1 John 1:5). Jesus is not merely a light or another light, he is the one and only true Light. As the Light, Jesus illumines the truth, gives people spiritual understanding, and reveals to us God himself and what he has done for us.

In claiming to be the light of the world, Jesus defined his unique position as the one true light for all people, not just the Jews. Isaiah wrote, “I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, that You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6 NKJV).

Death brings eternal darkness; but to follow Jesus means to never walk in darkness, but … have the light of life. When we follow Jesus—accepting him as Savior and Lord and following him—we are walking in his light. We no longer walk blindly in our sin, rather his light shows us our sin and our need of forgiveness, guides us along life’s pathway, and leads us into eternal life with him. The psalmist said, “In Your light we see light” (Psalm 36:9 NKJV). 

Barton, Bruce B. John. Life Application Bible Commentary. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1993.

"Quote" of the Week

"Jesus as the 'light' brings to this dark world true knowledge, moral purity, and the light that shows the very presence of God."  -Andreas Kostenberger

Monday, April 15, 2013

CAN YOU HAVE THE FATHER WITHOUT THE SON?

So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.  For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel.  For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will.  The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son,  that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.  John 5:19-23

There are some today who believe that you can have God and leave Christ out.  There are many, like the Pharisees of the first century who believe that one can be a follower of God without believing that Jesus is God and the only way to Him.  Muslims believe this; many Jews believe this along with many in the church. 

Scripture, however, is clear that if one rejects the Son, he or she necessarily rejects the Father because the Father sent the Son.  The Bible is also clear that because Jesus is God and the only way to Him, it is impossible to have one without the other.  The God we look to, believe in and follow is a Trinitarian God, who exists as Father, Son and Holy Spirit and who has revealed himself to us in the person of Jesus.  

"Quote" of the Week

I and the Father are one.  -Jesus, John 10:30

Monday, April 8, 2013


The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood.  John 7:18

Of all the leaders and teachers on all levels throughout human history, there has been none whose motives have been purer than Jesus.  Though He rightfully deserved to be exalted and worshiped in every way, He set His glory aside when He took on flesh and came and lived among us.  Though He deserved to be served and glorified for who He is, instead He came to serve and lived out His earthly ministry, not for His own glory but for the glory of Him who sent Him.

Paul tells us in Philippians 2:5-8,

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

"Quote" of the Week

"Every phony baloney messiah, every false teacher, every charlatan, every crook, every false savior the world’s ever known has been in it for one of two reasons, money or ego."  -John MacArthur