I AM- The Good Shepherd, Part 5

Good morning.

Welcome to our first service on this very cold winter day.

But we're here.

We're here.

Last week we weren't here.

And I can't tell you how painful that was to make that decision.

26 years, we've never canceled a service.

And last week, it just was no way.

The timing, no way to clear the grounds, no way to get the place ready.

So we made a call, but we're here today, and I welcome you, and I thank you for getting up early and on a cold, cold day, coming together to worship.

Two words, three letters that changed my life.

Changed my life.

I am.

He is the answer to every question that will ever be asked.

He can answer every question that will ever be asked by any human who ever lived with two words and three letters.

I am.

Week five.

Here we go.

Week one was the foundation.

And every week I've been driving home the foundation because everything builds off of his name.

His name is the eternal name of Christ.

When he reveals it to Moses at the burning bush, he says, this is my eternal name.

Forever this will be my name.

I am.

In John 8, 56 says,

Jesus says, your father Abraham rejoiced as he looked forward to my coming.

He, 2,000 years before, saw it and he was glad.

And the people looked at Jesus and they said, Jesus, you aren't even 50 years old.

How can you say you've seen Abraham?

And Jesus answered, I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I am.

Now, what's their response?

They picked up stones to stone him.

Blasphemy.

You, a mere man, claim to be timeless before Abraham?

Is Jesus who he says he is, the I am?

Is he before Abraham?

Is he before Moses?

Is he before creation itself?

If you're having trouble with the follow me part of Christianity, there can only be one answer.

You don't know who he is.

You still haven't figured out that he is I am.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus then announces seven I am statements after announcing his name, which is what I just opened with.

After announcing his name, before Abraham was even born, I am.

Then he announces seven I am statements.

We've covered three of them.

The first was I am the bread of life.

The second was I am the light of the world.

Last week, Chad covered I am the gate.

And today, I am the good shepherd.

Now, it's interesting that when he makes the announcement of I am the good shepherd, it is in connection to the gate.

So the gate Chad covered last week and the good shepherd are in the same text, but a different announcement of his identity and purpose.

So let's begin John 10 verse 9.

Yes, I am the gate.

Those who come in through me will be saved.

They will come in and go freely and they'll find good pasture.

Now this is a reference to sheep.

They're gonna come through a gate and find good pasture.

The thief's purpose is to steal, kill, and destroy.

But my purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

Now here comes his announcement.

I am the good shepherd.

The good shepherd sacrifices his life for his sheep.

A hired hand will run when he sees the wolf coming.

He will abandon the sheep because they don't belong to him and he isn't their shepherd.

And so the wolf attacks them and scatters the flock.

The hired hand runs away because he's working only for the money and doesn't really care about the sheep.

Now here he comes again.

I am the good shepherd.

I know my own sheep.

Listen carefully.

I know my own sheep and they know me.

Don't miss that statement.

They know me, I know them.

Just as my father knows me and I know the father.

So I sacrifice my life for the sheep.

I have other sheep too that are not in this sheepfold.

I must bring them also.

They will listen to my voice and there will be

Listen, there will be one flock.

In the end, there will be one flock and one shepherd.

The I am has just announced that he is the gate for the sheep.

One way into the eternal kingdom that Jesus, King Jesus is bringing.

But there is an adversary.

There is a wolf that wants to destroy the sheep.

And how does he do it?

He does it through lies and deception.

The wolf, this is interesting when you study the scriptures and you study the spirit war, the wolf can't stop the good shepherd.

He can't do it.

And I think he knows he can't do it.

He can't stop the good shepherd.

So he uses lies and deception to get the sheep to take their eyes off of the good shepherd and

And by doing so, they'll start looking for another gate, another way to good pastures.

He can't stop the good shepherd, but he can distract the sheep and get them looking at a different gate.

Jesus, the good shepherd, will lay down his life for the sheep.

He did that on the cross.

The wolf, Satan, let me say something.

He will not die for you.

The good shepherd will die for you.

He will sacrifice his life to save your life.

The wolf is different.

He will not die for you.

In fact, here's what he will do.

He will ask you to die for him.

In fact, being associated with him will be your death.

Just connecting yourself to him will bring your death.

Connecting yourself to the good shepherd will bring you life.

The wolf, Satan, even has the power to deceive people into sacrificing not only you, but he has the power to deceive people to sacrifice their children.

He has that kind of power.

He has that kind of influence.

It's ancient.

It's not new.

It's ancient.

It's ancient.

Then Jesus brings up hired hands.

Always interesting when he brings up hired hands.

They too will run when the wolf comes for the sheep.

The hired hand pretends to care for the sheep, but he's only doing it for personal gain.

Let me read that part again, verse 12.

A hired hand will run when he sees a wolf coming.

He will abandon the sheep because they don't belong to him.

He isn't their shepherd.

There's not that ownership.

They will abandon because he isn't their shepherd.

So the wolf attacks them and scatters the flock.

What's the flock?

It's the sheep.

What's the sheep?

It's the church.

The wolf wants to come and attack the church and scatter the church.

The hired hand runs away because he's working only for the money and doesn't really care about the sheep.

The I am good shepherd isn't a hired hand.

He's the owner.

He's the owner, the owner of it all.

And the concept of being an owner is that the sheep belong to the owner.

He owns the sheep.

He purchased the sheep with the price of his own blood.

He's the owner.

The owner will not fail the sheep because they belong to him.

He has a vested interest in them.

Let me put it like this.

No one from earth is coming to save you on the last day.

Take everybody who's ever been on the earth.

No one from earth is coming to save you.

Only one from heaven is coming to save us.

He's not from earth.

He's from heaven.

He's not a hireling.

No politician, listen carefully, no politician or political movement is gonna save you and I on the last day.

They are just like hired hands.

Yes, God establishes governments and he ordains kings and presidents, but they are not our shepherd.

They are not our king.

In fact, the Bible makes it clear that the real sheep have no king but Christ.

We do not belong to this world, so we don't look at the world like the world looks at the world.

This shepherd loves his sheep and will do anything necessary to protect his sheep.

He will even die for his sheep.

And Jesus tells us that the wolf will scatter the flock and

He will scare off the hireling and scatter the flock.

And only Jesus will hold the flock of sheep together.

You know who binds this church together?

The church universal.

Who holds the church together?

The head holds the body together.

Who is the head?

He's the good shepherd.

He's the only one that can keep the sheep from scattering when the wolf comes.

And the wolf comes regularly.

The wolf can split the church.

I've watched it happen.

I've watched it on the verge of happening in my lifetime.

The wolf can split the church.

Only Jesus can hold the church, the sheep together when the time of testing or trouble comes.

This is where the good shepherd story reveals what it means to truly know the shepherds.

to truly know the shepherd.

Remember, if you're struggling with the follow me portion of Christianity, it's because you still don't really, really know who he is.

You know about him, but you don't, when I say know, I mean oneness with him.

The two have become one, that kind of knowing him.

So let's go back to verse 14, break this down.

I am the good shepherd, Jesus says, and I know my own sheep and they know me.

Let's focus on this for a moment.

I know my sheep.

So right now, Jesus could look at the world and say, you belong to me, you belong to me, you belong to me, you belong to me.

I know which ones are mine.

I know, I know.

And there's another part to this.

He says, and they know me.

They know me.

These two have become one.

And they know they have become one.

They haven't become one mysteriously.

They have become one and they know that they were separate and now they know that they are one.

I know my own sheep and they know me.

What do you think that means?

If I were to go around the room and say, explain the depth of that sentence, I wonder how many answers I'd get.

Knowing the good shepherd is not the same as knowing about the good shepherd.

Churches are filled with people who know about the good shepherd.

The phrase, they know me, describes an intimate and personal connection with the shepherd.

This is what many use the word today.

I hear it in the church a lot.

A personal relationship with Christ.

You hear that phrase?

It's thrown around a lot.

It's this idea that I have a personal relationship with Jesus.

I know him.

He knows me.

We used to be two.

Now we're together as one.

A personal relationship.

To know him personally.

You come to know Jesus personally how?

By experiencing him.

If I look back at my life, how did I come to know him personally?

I have experienced him.

Over and over and over in my life, I have encountered him, I have experienced him, I have experienced his faithfulness, I've experienced his power and his presence and his purpose.

I've experienced him and I've found him to be faithful and I've found him to be real and I've found him to be close.

Jesus says this knowing

is the key to eternal life.

This knowing when two can become one.

Now, I don't have time to get into this point, but the Apostle Paul calls it a mystery.

He calls the church and the bride

A mystery from this perspective.

In Genesis, when Adam and Eve are married by God, he says that two people became one person.

And the two became one.

And then in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul says, this is a mystery for the church.

When the bride, the church, and the bridegroom, Jesus, two become one.

The marriage thing was a shadow of what God was going to do when he, the bridegroom, would take a bride, the church, and two would become one.

And in that case, you don't know about him.

You know him.

And he knows you.

This is oneness.

John 17, verse 3.

I've often thought this is a centerpiece to the gospel.

And this is the way to have eternal life.

This is Jesus speaking.

This is the way to have eternal life.

To know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one

You sent to the earth.

Is there a next verse?

Yeah, number three.

I brought glory to you here on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.

Now, Father, bring me into the glory we shared before the world began.

So I want to break this down.

I think this is the next slide.

Yeah.

Okay, I want to break this teaching of Jesus.

This is the centerpiece of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This is the centerpiece of this 11-part sermon series.

If you're struggling with the follow me part of Christianity, it's because you still don't know him.

And to know him is eternal life.

Not knowing about him, but to know him.

So let me break it down.

To know the word, and let me hold this up.

To know the word, the Bible, is to know Jesus.

I'm looking, I wanna see your faces.

To know the word is to know Jesus.

There's no way you will ever know Jesus without knowing the word.

So if you look at me, one of those people, don't be one of those people, and you say, I believe in Jesus, I just don't believe in the Bible.

Churches are filled with them.

I believe in Jesus, I don't believe the Bible.

I believe the Bible's man's writings.

To know the word, the Bible is to know Jesus.

Jesus is the word.

You're deceived, the wolf has got you.

If you say you know Jesus, but you, and let me take it one step further.

How anxious you are to be in this is how anxious you are to know him.

And how much time you spent in this this past week is a direct reflection to whether or not you really know him or not.

Number two.

To know Jesus is to know the Father.

Are you with me?

To know this is to know Jesus.

I'm trying to get to the Father, okay?

So how do I get to the Father?

I go to the Word, Jesus is revealed.

Number two, once I know Jesus, then I know the Father.

He's the only way to the Father, and he and the Father are one, singular.

Number three.

To know the Father is to have eternal life.

To become one with the Father and the Son.

Let me repeat verse 15.

John 10, 15.

Just as my Father knows me, and I know the Father, so I sacrifice my life for the sheep.

The Father knows me, and I know the Father.

What?

I and the Father are one.

So how can I know that I know Jesus when he's not here today?

So how can I know that I know Jesus?

And this is eternal life, to know you the one true God in Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

So how can I, how can you know that you know Jesus when you look around the room and he's not here today physically?

How can I know that I love Jesus and that I'm not deceived by the wolf?

Jesus gives us a way to know.

I like to look at this as kind of like a test.

Would you like to take a test today?

Nope.

Nobody wants to take a test.

But what if there was a test in the scripture to help me find out that I'm not deceived by the wolf?

To help me understand this truth.

Do I really know him?

What if there's such a test?

And I say this in the context that if you're struggling with the follow me part of Christianity, it's because you still don't really know him.

So here we go.

Here's the test.

Ready?

One verse.

One verse.

John 14, 15.

Ready?

Here's the test.

You ready?

If you love me, obey my commandments.

Can't be that simple, preacher.

I didn't say it was simple.

To love him is to know him and to know him is to follow him.

To love him is to know him and to know him is to follow him.

So let's get real about what it truly means to know Jesus.

Jesus makes this statement.

I am the good shepherd and I know my sheep and they know me.

I know my sheep and they know me.

I know my sheep and I've become one with my sheep and they know me and I know them.

Do you think you would obey Jesus if you knew who he really was, the I am?

Do you think you would obey him

if you really knew who he is.

I'm gonna show you something today.

Some of you are gonna be shocked by this.

If you knew he was the one that gave Moses the Ten Commandments as the mountain shook, would you obey him?

I'm going somewhere, so please listen.

If you knew that Jesus, the Jesus of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,

If you knew that he was also with Moses, when Moses is gonna give the 10 commandments and fire is on the mountain and everything is shaking, and if even an animal approaches, death will come.

That if you approach beyond the border, the almighty I am, you would die.

If you knew that that was Jesus,

Would you obey him?

And the reason I bring this up, because what he's about to do in that Moses scene is give them 10 commandments.

10 of them.

And if you knew he was the fire on top of the mountain making the earth shake, would you obey those 10 commandments?

Yeah.

You'd try.

Yeah.

If you knew he was the one making the mountain shake and he's the fire on top of the mountain and he handed you 10 rules, 10 writings in the midst of the fire and the shaking and the terrified people below, would you obey them?

My thought is yeah.

Because you'd be afraid not to.

Stay with me.

So let's review that scene.

I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I am.

That's the centerpiece of these 11 messages.

He's before Abraham, he's before Moses, he's before creation.

So let's go back to Moses.

That's when he revealed his name, right?

I am that I am, right?

That's his name.

Moses, that's the encounter.

So let's do something.

Let's review that scene when Moses, when Jesus, the I am, gave the 10 commandments to Moses and the people of Israel.

And I'm going to begin in the New Testament.

Then I'm going to jump back to the Old Testament actual event.

So let's begin in the New Testament.

Just in case you think it only applies in the Old Testament.

No, no, no, no, no.

It's in the book of Hebrews.

It's in the New Testament.

Hebrews 12 verse 19.

This is a description in the New Testament about when Jesus, the I Am, reveals himself to Moses and Israel on the Mount Sinai.

For they heard an awesome trumpet blast.

And the voice was so terrible.

This is Jesus.

And they heard a voice that was so terrible that they begged God to stop speaking.

And they staggered back under God's command.

If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.

Moses himself was so frightened at the sight that he said, I am terrified and I am trembling.

Why are they all terrified?

They are standing in the presence of the I am.

Do you know who that was?

Jesus.

Jesus.

And some of you have come to church your whole life and you never got it.

Do you know who that was on top of that mountain with flaming fire?

I am.

It's him.

It's him.

Would you feel obligated to obey those Ten Commandments when they were delivered in a terrifying, earth-shaking scene?

There's so much there.

This is where much of the church has lost its way.

They don't know him and they don't fear him.

They see the New Testament Jesus and they do not connect the New Testament Jesus to the Old Testament I am.

They cannot make the connection.

He is the I am when Abraham.

What's the foundation scripture?

Please listen carefully.

Before Abraham was even born, I am.

So I want you to go back in your mind to Abraham and his wife Sarah's in the tent and these three angelic beings approach the tent and he looks down at Sodom and I want to say something.

When fire fell upon Sodom and consumed everything living,

It was Jesus.

It was Jesus.

What does that do to your image of him?

Do you realize, do you realize he is the I am with Abraham when fire fell on Sodom.

That was Jesus.

Do you know that?

Or do you have him compartmentalized that he's this more soft and fluffy Jesus over in the Gospels?

He's not this harsh judgment Jesus with Abraham over Sodom.

Number two.

He is the I am with Moses.

What's the last plague?

The last plague in Egypt.

The last plague of Egypt is

The first morn of every house in Egypt, death is coming.

That was Jesus.

That was Jesus.

Do you know that?

Number three.

He is the I am with Moses when fire and darkness covered the mountain and the people cried out in fear, please stop speaking.

They're so terrified at his absolute holiness and glorious power and majesty.

That was Jesus.

I want to read to you the details of that scene at Mount Sinai when Jesus, the I Am, came down to meet the people.

And why am I doing this today?

Because people think they know him.

But they have no intentions of obeying him and following him and becoming a disciple of his.

Because there's a wolf.

There's a wolf.

Exodus 19, 16.

On the morning of the third day, thunder roared and lightning flashed and a dense cloud came down on the mountain.

I want you to picture yourself in this scene.

You're there.

You're there watching this happen.

There was a long, loud blast from a ram's horn and all the people trembled.

That was Jesus.

Moses led them out from the camp to meet God.

That was Jesus.

And they stood at the foot of the mountain.

That was Jesus.

And all of Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the Lord had descended on it in the form of fire.

That was Jesus.

I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I am.

I am.

The smoke billowed into the sky like smoke from a brick kiln and the whole mountain shook violently.

That was Jesus.

And the blast of the ram's horn grew louder and louder.

Moses spoke and God thundered his reply.

That was Jesus.

And the Lord came down on the top of Mount Sinai.

That was Jesus.

And they're terrified.

And he called Moses to the top of the mountain, so Moses climbed the mountain.

I'm asking today, all of you, if you really knew who he is, would you obey him?

What was happening in that scene?

In that scene, I just read to you, they're all terrified.

Moses goes to the mountain and God gives him 10 commandments, 10 rules of life.

Would you obey him?

You just saw his fire.

The earth is shaking.

Would you obey him?

I'm not saying, listen, I'm going to be careful.

I'm not saying that everything today is the same as the Old Testament.

I'm not saying that.

What I am saying is this.

It's the same Jesus.

We didn't get a junior version.

It's the same Jesus.

Do you understand?

It's the same Jesus that stood with Abraham as fire fell on Sodom.

It's the same Jesus that was there with Moses when the death angel came and struck dead all the firstborn of Egypt.

It's the same Jesus on top of Mount Sinai.

And the people are terrified as 10 laws were given to man that would separate them from all the people of the earth.

It's the same Jesus.

Do you know him?

Do you love him?

Because what he says, not me, what he says is this, if you love me, you'll obey me.

Because you know who I am.

And when you know who I am, who I really am, you will follow me.

Yeah, you will.

So what is different today regarding our knowing and approaching God?

It's not all the same as it was in the Old Testament.

Praise God.

It's different.

So what is different about approaching God?

Jesus has offered us right now the Holy Spirit.

Like the bread of life that came down from heaven, the Holy Spirit will give you and I the power to know and obey God.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

Because I can't do it.

I can't do it.

So he gives me the Holy Spirit.

He comes inside of me.

Then he gives me the power to know and obey God.

When I read the Bible, the Holy Spirit gives me the ability to understand it.

Without the Holy Spirit, I don't get it.

But with the Holy Spirit, I get it and I'm transformed.

I know him.

When you receive the Holy Spirit, you'll read the Bible and the Holy Spirit will reveal Jesus to you so that you might know him and experience him through the word.

John 14, 16.

And I will ask the Father

This is Jesus speaking.

I will ask the Father and he will give you another advocate.

He's the Holy Spirit who will never leave you.

He's the Holy Spirit who leads into all truth.

The world cannot receive the Holy Spirit.

You with me?

The world cannot receive him because it isn't looking for him.

And I hope all of you are.

The world will never receive the Holy Spirit.

It's not looking for the Holy Spirit.

But we are looking for him.

And the world doesn't recognize him.

But you know him.

You see the word know?

But you know him.

You've been made one with him.

Because he lives with you now.

And later he will be.

in you.

And I love this part.

Jesus says, I will not leave you as orphans.

I personally will come to you.

I will come.

I was reading the Sermon on the Mount one day.

I'm going to guess maybe close to a year ago.

Just my normal reading.

when I was so convicted by the Holy Spirit.

This is how it works with me.

I don't know how it works with you, but I'm gonna tell you, when I read the Bible, I encounter God.

I encounter the I am.

So I was reading the, I was reading, and all of a sudden, a scripture I have read a thousand times totally convicted me.

It's Matthew 5, 6.

God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice.

Some translations say righteousness.

And how would he bless somebody for hungering and thirsting for him?

How would he do it?

He'll satisfy you.

The blessing is that you're hungry and you're thirsty and you're looking for something to satisfy your hunger and satisfy your thirst.

And what's God going to do in response?

I'll satisfy your hunger.

I'll satisfy your thirst.

So that's so transforming that day, that day so transforming that now I pray each day that I would hunger and thirst for Jesus more than anything in this life.

Now, one of my normal everyday, everyday, everyday prayers is this.

Lord, I pray that I would hunger and thirst for you more than anything in this life and that you would satisfy that hunger and that thirst by your presence.

And after you have satisfied that hunger and that thirst by your presence, would you set my face like flint on following after you and only you?

And I would never turn to the right or the left and I would never look back.

And you would take away my fears and doubts and give me boldness and confidence in you and in you alone.

And fill me with your power and your love and the sound mind that can overcome the world because you have overcome the world.

That all came from that one day when I'm reading that one verse.

One verse changed me.

Totally changed me.

One verse.

Why?

Why would I pray that prayer?

Lord set my face like flint that I would not turn to the right or the left and never look back.

Why would I pray that prayer?

Because I know about the wolf.

I know about the wolf.

I know about the wolf.

I do fear the I am who holds my eternity in his hands.

Did you hear me?

I do fear him.

I see him as the one on top of Mount Sinai in flame and holiness.

I see him in that role.

I see him.

I fear the reality of this last verse in John chapter 3.

John chapter, everybody knows John 3, 16.

Did you get down to the bottom of John chapter three and read this?

And anyone who believes in God's son has eternal life.

Somebody say hallelujah.

Anybody who believes in God's son has eternal life.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

And anyone who doesn't obey.

And anyone who doesn't obey the Son will never experience eternal life but remains under God's angry judgment.

If you love me, you will obey me.

You will follow me.

And if you know me, you will obey me and you will follow me.

But if you don't obey...

But if you don't obey, you will never experience eternal life.

Why?

Because you remain under God's wrath.

You remain under God's judgment.

That fear motivates me.

It motivates me to hunger and thirst for Jesus more than anything in this life.

So let me reread Jesus' statement again.

I need this Christ in me, Holy Spirit, more than anything in this life.

John 14, 16.

And I will ask the Father.

Jesus says, I'll ask the Father.

He will give you another advocate who will never leave you.

He is the Holy Spirit who leads into all truth.

I need truth.

If I don't get truth, I'm going to be deceived.

He will lead you in all truth.

The world cannot receive him because it isn't looking for him, doesn't recognize him, but you know him because he lives with you now and later will be in you.

And no, I will not abandon you as orphans.

I will come to you.

I got one more part in this.

I am the good shepherd that I want to focus on today.

And it's a question that's been asked by a lot of people and a lot of people get it wrong.

Who are the other sheep?

Did you notice?

I'm going to read it again.

Verse 14 and 16.

Who are the other sheep?

I am the good shepherd and I know my own sheep and they know me.

And just as my father knows me and I know the father, so I sacrifice my life for the sheep.

Here it comes.

I have other sheep too that are not in this sheep fold.

I must bring them in also.

And they, the other sheep, the other sheep, not in the sheepfold, they will listen to my voice and there will be one flock and one shepherd.

I have other sheep.

Who are they?

Who are they?

I can tell you who they're not.

It was several years ago, I don't know what year it was, but the guy's name was Jeremiah Wright.

He was the preacher at Barack Obama's church.

I was watching the news one day and he was being interviewed.

And they asked him the question about what I just read to you.

And he, Jeremiah Wright, the preacher at Barack Obama's church in Chicago, said the other sheep

is Islam, Muslims.

Well, I almost fell out of my chair, but I heard him say it.

So I can tell you who the other sheep are not.

It is not, they are not the followers of Muhammad.

The other sheep are the Gentiles.

who will come to know the good shepherd during the church age.

Jesus says this about the other sheep.

What separates the other sheep from the world is this.

Are you ready?

They will listen to my voice.

And there will be one flock with one shepherd.

They will listen to my word, my voice.

Are you listening?

The test of whether or not you're listening and whether or not you know him is you obey him.

That it is your life's purpose to obey him, to follow him, follow him.

Will you sometimes stumble in that?

Yep, join the crowd.

And then you'll get up and you'll repent and you'll follow him again.

Now back to the other sheep.

The wolf is teaching that Islam is another way to God.

Right now, it's happening now in America.

The wolf is teaching there's another gate to God.

Let's make this clear.

Islam worships a demon God named Allah.

He is a demon God.

They are not the other sheep and many are falling for this.

In New York, they just elected an openly Islamic mayor who took his oath on the Quran.

Islam is rising because demonic powers are rising all around us.

They're rising.

But the truth about Islam is this.

Islam, Muhammad doesn't even come on the scene in the world till 600 years after Jesus.

600 something years after the church begins.

And he comes, Muhammad goes into this cave and he sees this angel of light.

And supposedly this angel of light gives him the Quran.

And the Quran says,

mentions Jesus.

Do you know that?

Are you surprised by that?

His name is Isa in the Quran.

And in the Quran, it says that Jesus is going to come back.

But when he comes back, he's going to bow to Muhammad and tell all the Christians to convert to Islam.

And the wildest thing is this.

They have eschatology in the Quran.

You know what that means?

End of times descriptions.

And we read in the book of Revelation that those who take the mark of the beast during the tribulation, by the way, the Quran also has a tribulation.

It has Jesus and it has a seven-year tribulation.

You know what's in the Quran?

And they say, in our Bible, it says that if you take the mark of the beast, you are damned.

You cannot recover.

You belong to Satan.

It is his mark.

But you know, in eschatology of the Quran, if you don't take the mark, you are damned.

There is a wolf.

And he is real.

And he is rising.

And I want to say this about Muslims or Islam.

We are to love them with the truth.

The truth.

We don't hate people who are Muslims.

We hate the doctrine of Islam, which is the doctrine of death, leading people into eternal fire.

And if a Muslim, and here's the amazing part to me, I've been doing a lot of reading about this from reputable people in Iran and many Muslim countries, Muslims are going to bed at night and seeing Jesus.

He's revealing himself to many people in these Islamic nations.

And they're waking up in the morning and denouncing Islam and confessing Jesus, which in their culture is almost certain death.

So don't strain on the thought of Islam too much until you ask yourself.

Are you ready?

Do not strain on Islam too much today until you ask yourself, do you know his voice?

My sheep know my voice.

Are you living in obedience to his word?

Muslims are just another form of unbelievers that don't know who he is.

And churches are filled with people just like them who really don't know who he is and you have no intentions of following him because you don't know him.

So here's my closing.

The Bible says the word of God is sharper than a two-edged sword.

Why?

Because it reveals the truth to us.

Not what we think, but the truth.

So I'm going to close today by reading the section about the good shepherd from the Gospel of John.

And then reading to you a section from 1 John where you can know what it really means to know the good shepherd and find life in his name.

What I'm about to give you is not opinion.

What I'm about to give you is absolute truth.

And it is alive and sharper than a double-edged sword.

And if you will allow it, it will pierce the depths of your soul and trim away the darkness so that there will be no dark corners, only light remains.

Here we go.

John 10, verse 9.

And when I finish that, I'm going to go to 1 John and close.

Yes, I am the gate.

Those who come in through me will be saved and they will come and go freely and will find good pastures.

The thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy.

My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

I am the good shepherd.

The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep.

A hired hand will run when he sees the wolf coming.

He will abandon the sheep because they don't belong to him and he isn't their shepherd.

And so the wolf attacks them and he scatters the flock.

The hired hand runs away because he's working only for the money and doesn't really care about the sheep.

I am the good shepherd.

I know my own sheep and they know me.

And just as my father knows me and I know the father, so I sacrifice my life for the sheep.

I have other sheep too that are not in the sheepfold and I must bring them in also.

They, the other sheep, will listen to my voice and there will be one flock with one shepherd.

Now, first John.

Same John, different letter, different book.

My dear children, I'm writing this to you so that you will not sin.

But if anyone does sin,

We have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father.

He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous.

He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins.

And not only our sins, but the sins of all the world.

Here we go.

And we can be sure that we know him.

Absolute truth.

We can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments.

And if someone claims, I know God, but doesn't obey God's commandments, that person is a liar.

He's not living in the truth.

But those who obey God's word truly show how completely they love him.

And this is how we know that we are living in him.

Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.

Today, you did not receive this word at the base of Mount Sinai with flaming fire.

And for that, I'm happy.

Today you did not get this word from the I am at the base of Mount Sinai as the earth shook.

But today the same truth remains.

If you're struggling with those two words of Jesus, follow me.

There can only be one logical answer.

You still don't know who he is.

The story of man will end like this.

They will listen to my voice and there will be one flock with one shepherd.

I'll ask Chad to come on out for the invitation.

I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I am.

That's the foundation for this entire series.

Before Abraham, I am.

So I want to remind you, that terrifying fire on Mount Sinai,

that Moses himself was terrified.

The people begged Moses, please don't ever put us in that situation again.

You speak for him, don't let him speak directly.

That was Jesus.

Do you know him?

The fire that fell on Sodom, as Abraham was standing looking over and he saw the smoke,

That fire that fell on Sodom, that was Jesus.

Do you know him?

When Moses was in the 10th plague of Egypt and blood was put over the houses and death entered Egypt and firstborn, firstborn, firstborn, all dropped to dead, it was Jesus.

Do you know him?

That day during Passover when Jesus was hung on a tree and the sky went dark around noon, that was Jesus.

And on the third day when he rose from the dead, that was Jesus.

And in all of those scenes, it's the same person and his name is I Am.

And today, do you know him?

I didn't ask if you know about him.

Do you know him?

Because here's what he says.

If you know me, you will obey me because you will love me.

And I will love you.

And I will come to you and I will enter you.

And two will become one.

This is salvation.

Everything else is from the wolf.

This is salvation.

So we're going to sing a song.

It's an invitation.

If you want to know him, you must surrender to him.

You fall down in front of him.

And ask him for mercy.

You repent and ask him to save you.

And he will save you.

Let's stand.

Without hope, without light.

For from heaven you come running.

There was mercy in your eyes.

To fulfill the law and profit.

To a virgin came the word.

From a throne of endless glory.

To a cradle in the dirt.

Praise the Father, praise the Son, praise the Spirit, three in one.

God of glory and majesty.

Jesus

that you rose all of heaven held his breath till the stone was moved for good for the lamb they call the death and the dead rose from their tombs and the angels

Amen.

Well, today we live for one name, and that's the name of Jesus.

And I pray that this week, wherever your place, wherever you find yourself, you will stand unashamedly for that name, no matter what it costs, no matter what the world thinks.

We live for the approval and the applause of one, and that's Jesus Christ.

So we thank you for being here today, for being a part of these services.

We pray God's blessing on your families this week.

We pray for safety and warmth for you in the midst of this cold season.

But let's give God thanks as we close.

God, we thank you that we can come together today, strengthen and challenge and encourage one another.

God, we're thankful that we don't have to travel this journey called life alone.

God, we're thankful for Jesus who has made a way for all of us.

In his name we pray, amen.

Have a great day.