John 10:27-29 -- My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.
Thank You Lord, for a new week and a new day. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.
We're back to traveling the road of John chapter ten today. Following Jesus as He continues talking to the religious authorities. He told them they continually choose not to believe as they are not His sheep. He then tells them about those who are His sheep.
Jesus' sheep hear His voice and follow Him. He knows them. We see in verse twenty-eight He gives them eternal life and they will never perish. Wow! What an amazing gift from the Good Shepherd!
To clarify something, Jesus isn't talking about eternal physical life in our current body. This isn't being physically immortal like Connor Macleod of the Clan Macleod in the movie Highlander. Nope. We're talking real, genuine, true life that we can only receive in and through Jesus Christ the Good Shepherd, the Word, the Way, the Truth, the Life!
I came across this in Guzzik's commentary:
B. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish: Jesus described the benefits and blessings that come to His sheep. They have eternal life, given by Jesus. This eternal life begins now, but is greater than physical life.
i. “We should not overlook the point that in fact eternal life does not end. It is this aspect that is prominent here.” (Morris)
ii. “Physical life may be destroyed, but those who are united by faith to the Son of God, those who belong to the flock of the true Shepherd, can never lose real life, for he keeps it secure.” (Bruce)
iii. “The one way by which a soul is saved is by that soul’s abiding in Christ; if it did not abide in Christ, it would be cast forth as a branch and be withered. But, then, we know that they who are grafted into Christ will abide in Christ.” (Spurgeon)
Christian, one of the biggest ways you can be deceived is by hearing or reading things out of context. Taking a single verse like verse twenty-eight and holding it above the rest can easily become a trap. Yay Jesus gives eternal life that will never end, all set, done, good to go, right!?!? However, plug it back into everything Jesus has said since John chapter three (you must be born again), all the way to the verse right before that eternal life, which is John 10:27:
"MY sheep HEAR MY VOICE, I KNOW them, and they FOLLOW ME." ---- It's then we find He gives HIS sheep, the ones who hear His voice, who follow Him, who abide in His Word, who abide in Him, this eternal life that will not perish. Knowing all what God is saying makes quite a big difference.
Beloved, be sober minded and awake when you hear that single great verse, or that 20 min long point the preacher makes, backed up by one single verse, and absolutely let it encourage, cause joy, BUT ALWAYS let it drive you back to scripture, to the Word, to the Bible. Let God speak to you fully and directly.
On that note, don't take my word on any of this! I pray that anything I ever say here will drive you into the Word of God, to talk with Him, to walk with Him, to see/hear Him directly. Be the Berean, who heard Paul teach about Jesus Christ and it brought them great joy, then they went home and searched the scriptures to see for themselves.
You are loved. You are prayed over. You are not alone.
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