Unsnatchable

If you would open up your Bibles to John chapter 10, we're going to be looking at the back half

John 10 · chapter mention

of John chapter 10, verses 22 through 42. It's on page 1068 of your pew Bible. And as you're

John 10:22–42

churning there, let me tell you a story. I was 18 and I was fearing for my life. I had just graduated

from high school and my youth pastor at the time had challenged me to run a mini triathlon with him

in Crystal Lake. So it's swim, bike, run. And being the cocky fool that I was, I said yes.

But being the really cocky fool that I was, 18, prime of life, I'm like, I don't need to train.

So I showed up not having trained. And I knew I was in over my head when I showed up to the Crystal

Lake Beach in my American Eagle trunks to my knees. And I look around me and everyone is in this elite

neoprene kind of wetsuit. I'm like, uh-oh.

So the starter, you know, shoots the gun and I'm quick. So I blasted off the line. I was one of the

first in the water and the water was like 53, 55 degrees. And so I instantly like, meh.

And then everybody caught up. And the next thing I know, and this is where I was fearing for my life,

people were swimming over me. And I realized at that moment, I'm like, down, get up. Because now the

weight of my competitors was holding me down in the water. And I'm like, am I going to drown? Is this

the way that it's going to end? I really wasn't thinking that clearly because I'm still kind of

like breathless. You know, there are a lot of Christians and non-Christians who are experiencing

a fear of having your head underwater spiritually. Like the weight of sin is holding

you down and you are beginning to fear that there is no way up.

We default in our thinking that, yeah, God forgives every once in a while.

He forgives the big stuff, the once in a while stuff. But for the chronic, repeated sin,

the kind of sin that you say to yourself when you do it, like, why do I keep doing this?

Why would God love a mess like this? Surely there comes a point when God says enough is enough.

And he just lets us go. Anybody been there? I lived a lot of my early Christian life that way.

It was miserable.

We have this knack of making God into our own image. And this knack of thinking God loves us the

way that we love others based upon their response to us. So we sneak our obedience into our standing

with God. You start thinking things like, how many second chances can God give me?

When is it like a banana that just is no longer ripe towards me?

God's love certainly must have a limited shelf life.

I've got good news for you this morning, Christian.

God's love for you does not depend on your obedience to him.

God's love for you in its fullness does not have a limited shelf life.

God's love for you.

God's love for you.

God's love for you.

We saw last week that the good shepherd, that his goodness runs red.

That he died, he laid his life down for you and took it up again.

That's good news.

But this morning I've got more good news.

That this good shepherd who laid his life down and his goodness, his goodness runs red.

This same good shepherd, you go.

You are unsmatchable.

This morning we find ourselves in another confrontation between Jesus and the Jewish leaders.

And it's a confrontation over two titles.

The Christ and the Son of God.

The Jewish leaders have rejected Jesus being the Christ, the Son of God.

But for those of us who believe, those two titles, the Christ, the Son of God,

it reveals a goodness to us that he will never let us go.

So let's look at these two titles and then bring them to bear upon our lives.

And so chapter 10, verses 22 through 30, let's look at this first title, the Christ.

We read this.

At that time, the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem.

It was winter and Jesus was walking in the temple in the colonnade of Solomon.

So the Jews gathered around him and said to him,

How long will you keep us in suspense?

If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.

Jesus answered them, I told you and you did not believe.

The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me,

but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep.

My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me.

I give them eternal life and they will never perish.

And no one, no one, no one will snatch them out of my hand.

My Father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one,

no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.

I and the Father are one.

Verse 22, time has passed since the last verses 1 through 21 that we read,

that we preached, saw last week.

Some time has passed.

It's a different time of year.

It's the winter time now.

It's the Feast of Dedication.

The Feast of Dedication, if you don't know,

it's what we have commonly known, come to know as Hanukkah.

So Hanukkah is being celebrated.

And notice where Jesus is.

He's in Jerusalem.

He's in the temple.

He's in the colonnade of Solomon, the third king of Israel.

And Solomon's colonnade, also known as Solomon's porch,

was an 800-foot long covered porch on the eastern side of the temple complex.

Do you know how long that is?

That's like three football fields.

That's huge.

It had 40-foot columns.

It was holding up a ceiling, a roof of cedar.

It was massive.

In fact, in Acts chapter 5, we learn that the early church in Jerusalem met at Solomon's porch.

Acts 5 · chapter mention

What we're going to see is that this account that starts in Jerusalem will end in a very different place.

In verse 24, Jesus is literally surrounded.

This is not an accidental kind of like surrounding.

This is an intentional surrounding.

He's surrounded by Jewish leaders, and they have some questions for him.

In fact, they are posing it as a question, but it's more of a demand.

And this is just part of the tension between Jesus and the Jewish leaders that has been building since chapter 5.

And so, essentially, they say, are you the Christ or not?

Will you just give it to us straight?

Just straight up tell us.

Now, if you're not familiar with the word Christ, you can make a mistake at this point.

Because you're familiar with the two words Jesus Christ.

And you may think, well, Christ is Jesus' last name.

Like the last name, it is a title.

Jesus the Christ, Mike the pastor, Nate the intern.

They're descriptive titles.

Christ is a Greek translation of a Hebrew word, Messiah, that we say in English.

And that means anointed one.

As in the anointed king of Israel.

It carries this sense of kingship.

And so, throughout the Old Testament, there was this growing anticipation of a coming Messiah.

An anointed one.

A king who would rule God's people.

And he would be descended of King David.

He would sit on David's forever throne.

That's 2 Samuel 7.

He would be royal.

He would be divine.

He would be forever.

He would be just.

He would also suffer.

But he would deliver God's people and establish a kingdom that could never be destroyed.

Daniel 7, 13 and 14.

Now, if you were a Jew living in Jerusalem in the first century, that means you were under Roman rule.

And that would have been oppressive for you.

It would have limited what you could do as a Jew.

And so, if you were longing for the Messiah, chances are, it would have been politically loaded.

You're like, I want to get out from under Roman rule.

Come, Messiah.

Come deliver.

Re-establish Israel.

Make Israel great again.

We can all relate with this.

We, as Americans, want a president.

Regardless of where you're on the political spectrum.

You want a president who will represent you.

Who will do you good.

Who will deliver.

Who will make us great.

And so, we have this ripe situation in Jerusalem.

There are many ideas of who or what the Messiah would do.

And there were many men claiming to be the Messiah.

And so, it's no wonder that Jewish leaders, at least on one level, are like, okay, would you just give it to us straight?

Are you the Messiah or not?

Come on, straight up.

Just give it to us plainly.

Shoot straight.

But they have their own ideas of who the Messiah would be.

So, let me just ask this question of you.

What is your idea of the Messiah?

Who do you think the coming king, the king, should be?

In verse 25, Jesus responds to the demand.

He says, verse 25, very plainly,

I told you, and you did not believe.

And then he says,

the works that I do in my father's name bear witness about me.

I've told you.

How did you tell me?

And he switches kind of communication strategies.

He's like, I told you with my works.

With what I did.

What works?

Well, in John 5, he heals the paralytic in Jerusalem on the Sabbath.

And the Jews, at that moment, start to seek to kill him because he claimed to be equal with God.

In John 9, we were just there.

Jesus heals a man born blind.

He tracks him down.

And he asks this man who now sees, who's never seen Jesus' face.

Jesus asks him, do you believe in the Son of Man?

And the man formerly blind says, yeah, show me him.

And then Jesus says to him, you're looking at him.

And when Jesus tells him that,

Jesus is making a claim of being the Messiah

because the Son of Man is just another messianic title.

And when you hear about his kingship,

here's the association you need to have with that.

It's about authority.

Kings carry authority.

And Jesus has the authority to heal a paralytic.

He's got the authority to heal someone who's been blind all their life.

Next week, we're going to see him, hallelujah,

heal a man who was dead for four days.

At the end of Matthew, when Jesus, after his resurrection,

he appears to his disciples, and he tells them straight up,

he's like, all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me.

He's got all authority.

He has the right to do anything he wants.

And the Jewish leaders did not believe that these works that Jesus was doing

were actually bearing witness that he was the Christ.

In John 10, Jesus calls himself the good shepherd.

And it's that phrase, good shepherd,

it doesn't just carry the sense of leader, follower.

It does.

It carries more than that.

It goes beyond Psalm 23.

It goes beyond Ezekiel 34.

Shepherding is a way of describing kingship.

In Psalm 78, Asaph writes this.

This is verses 70, 71, and 72.

He, God, chose David, his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds.

From following the nursing ewes, he brought him to shepherd Jacob, his people, Israel, his inheritance.

With upright heart, he, David, shepherded them and guided them with his skillful hand.

A king was a shepherd king.

And what Jesus is claiming here, what's being said of him being the Christ,

is he is the great shepherd king who has all authority,

and he has laid his life down and taken it up again.

His goodness runs red.

And so his words, his works, point to him being the Christ.

He even tells the Samaritan woman in John chapter 4 in Sychar,

John 4 · chapter mention

when she makes a comment,

yeah, you know, the Messiah, when he comes, he will tell us all things.

He says to her, I who speak to you am he.

So not just works, but he used words too.

Unfortunately, these leaders were not around to hear that.

They didn't believe.

And Jesus says why in verse 26.

He says, you don't believe because you're not among my sheep.

His sheep hear his voice.

His sheep hear his voice because they belong to him.

Jesus says in verse 26, excuse me, in verse 27,

my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me.

And I know them.

Last week we looked at Jesus saying, I know my sheep and my sheep know me.

And that knowledge is not just this kind of like fact knowledge, head knowledge.

It is that.

It is a personal knowledge.

It's a personal relationship.

It's being in intimate personal relationship with the Christ.

CCEF, the Christian counseling.

Thank you, Zach.

So when we hear the word, I know them, you can swap out the word know with love.

I love them.

I know my sheep.

I love my sheep.

I laid my life down for my sheep.

You might ask the question, well, how long?

How long has he known us like that?

He has known you and loved you since before the foundation of the earth.

He's been tracking you.

In verse 28, we learn that Jesus gives them his sheep who he knows and loves, who hear his voice.

He gives them eternal life and they will never perish.

And just to be clear, we play no part in receiving this eternal life.

It's God who causes us to be born again.

It's him that makes us new creations.

Eternal life is not caused by any of us or anything that we do in any sense.

But we've been made alive in Christ Jesus all because of the goodness of the good shepherd who laid his life down and took it up again.

His death and resurrection.

His goodness runs red.

But in verses 28 and 29, we have the unsnatchable promise.

No one, no one will snatch them out of my hand.

No one.

So let me put it together for you.

The all authoritative Christ.

The all authoritative Christ.

Who has authority over heaven and earth.

All things.

He has authority over paralysis.

He has authority over blindness.

He has authority over death.

He has authority over your soul.

He has authority over the devil.

He has authority over creation.

He has authority over all things.

And he is saying, no one will snatch them out of my hands.

No one.

That's really good news.

His goodness never lets you go.

It's because he's the Christ.

He's got all authority.

And in fact, he doesn't stop with just talking about himself.

He says, no one can snatch them out of the Father's hand.

He needs greater than all.

And so what he's painting the picture of is this divine double grip on each of his sheep that will never let you go.

You are held by the all-authoritative divine grip of the Almighty.

It is really good news.

His goodness never lets go of his sheep.

And in verse 30, he says, I and the Father are one.

He's claiming unity with God the Father along two lines.

Mission.

Why he came.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son.

One of a kind son that whoever believes in him shall not.

Same mission.

Different roles in that mission.

But same mission.

And he's claiming oneness of nature.

That he himself is fully God.

It's not just mission, but nature.

Two distinct persons.

God the Father.

God the Son.

Of course, there's God the Spirit.

Fully God.

Playing different roles in our salvation.

And they have a double grip on us.

The Christ is the all-authoritative God.

And he's got a grip on you that will never let you go.

Because of who he is.

Not because of who you are.

Now, let me just ask a question before we move on.

Who then has the authority to snatch you out of his hand?

Who then in all of creation has a surpassing glory to Jesus

that is authorized to snatch you sheep out of the good shepherd's hands?

There's no one.

And I would argue, not even you.

So we've looked at this title, the Christ.

Now let's look at the second title.

The Son of God.

And that is in verses 31 through 39.

Let me read that.

The Jews picked up stones again to stone him.

Jesus answered them,

I have shown you many good works from the Father.

For which one of them are you going to stone me?

The Jews answered him,

It's not for a good work that we are going to stone you,

but for blasphemy.

What's that?

You, being a man, make yourself God.

Now, Jesus answered them,

Is it not written in your law, I said, you are gods?

If he called them gods to whom the word of God came,

and scripture cannot be broken,

do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world,

you are blaspheming?

Because I said, I am the Son of God.

If I am not doing the works of my Father,

then do not believe me.

But if I do them,

even though you do not believe me,

what I say about myself,

believe the works,

that you may know and understand

that the Father is in me,

and I am in the Father.

Again, they sought to arrest him,

but he escaped from their hands.

In verse 31,

the Jews pick up stones to stone Jesus,

to kill him,

and we know that they've wanted to kill Jesus

since chapter 5,

when Jesus healed the paralytic

and claimed to be God.

They've been wanting to kill him.

Chapter 8,

Jesus makes this crazy statement

in verse 58,

Before Abraham was,

I am,

claiming to be Yahweh.

Why?

And again,

the Jews pick up stones

to stone him,

but it wasn't his time.

So in verse 32,

they pick up stones

to stone him again

in verse 31,

and Jesus said,

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

For which of my good works

are you going to kill me?

Are you going to stone me?

Now, you've got to understand

what's going on here.

It's like if we were looking down

the muzzle of a gold,

of a loaded gun,

he's looking at men

with stones in their hands,

and he's like,

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Which of these good works

that I'm doing?

Is it the paralytic I healed?

Is it the blind man?

Just wait till you see

what I do in a few days.

They say in verse 33,

Not for a good work,

but for blasphemy.

And they give the definition.

You a mere man

making yourself God.

Blasphemy, what it is,

it's a charge of a false claim.

Blasphemy is charging someone

with a false claim.

Blasphemy is saying,

You are claiming to be God,

but you're not.

Unfortunately,

they got it wrong.

Because what they're assuming

in this charge

is that Jesus

is just a mere man.

And that he's not God.

He existed with God.

He didn't make himself God.

He is very God.

In fact,

the Jews actually

had it backwards.

Here's what I mean by that.

He's not a man

who made himself God.

God.

He is God

who was made man.

Remember

John 1, 14?

And the word

became flesh

and dwelt among us.

Oh man,

did they have it backwards.

They were totally missing this.

They did not believe

who Jesus was.

And in verses

chapter 5

of John

and 8

and 10.

They just miss

and miss

and miss.

And they just don't call him

a blasphemer.

They call him demon possessed.

They call him insane.

So check it out.

If

our

king

was called

those things,

what do you think

that means for us?

There's no way

around it.

In verses

34 through 38,

Jesus responds

to the charge

of blasphemy.

And he responds

in a way

that may sound

a little confusing

to our ears.

Let me try

to spell it out.

So what Jesus does

is he

corrects

the Pharisees'

sloppy use

of a phrase,

the son of man.

It's like

you guys don't

know your Bibles.

And so

in verse 34

he says,

Jesus answered,

is it not written

in your law?

I said,

you are gods.

And that's

Psalm 82

Psalms 82:6

verses 6 and 7.

And he just doesn't

say you are gods.

He says,

you are sons

of the Most High.

And his point

is that

in that

Psalm,

God is speaking

to humans

and calling them

sons of God.

Sons of the Most High.

And so what Jesus

is simply doing here

is just showing them,

it's like,

you guys don't know

your Bibles.

Because

the phrase,

the son of God

is actually used

for human beings.

For example,

Psalm 82.

And so what Jesus

is doing here

is demonstrating

that they don't know

what they're really

talking about.

But what happens

in verse 35 and 36

is called

a lesser to greater

argument.

So starting there

with this idea

of Psalm 82

that in fact

God does call

some humans

sons of God.

Jesus makes

an argument.

He says this,

if God called

them gods

to whom

the word of God

came

and scripture

cannot be broken,

Jesus had a high

view of the Bible.

Inerrant,

unbreakable.

Then he turns

to himself.

If God spoke

of that

to just mere men,

then he says,

do you say

of him

whom the Father

consecrated

and sent

into the world

you are blaspheming

because I said

I am the Son of God.

What he's assuming

is he is

greater

than a mere human.

He is

consecrated,

made holy,

set apart

by the Father.

He had been

sent by the Father

in order to

save sinners

by laying his life

down for him,

something only God

could do.

So what Jesus

is saying

is saying

you don't really

know what you're

talking about

and by the way

I am

greater.

I am

claiming that.

I am

saying

in verse 38

37, 38

if I am not

doing the works

of my Father

then do not

believe me.

He comes back

to this idea

of his works

testifying to

who he is.

It's like

if I'm not

doing the works

of my Father

then don't

believe me.

Don't believe

what I'm saying

about myself.

Don't believe

what I just said

that I and the

Father are one.

If I'm not

doing his works

don't believe that.

Then he says

verse 38

but if I do them

if I am doing

the works

of God

my Father

even though

you do not

believe me

even though

you may not

believe

what I'm saying

about myself

my verbal

claim

that I and

the Father

are one

even though

you don't

believe me

believe the works.

It's proof

in the pudding.

And then he says

that you may

know and understand

that the Father

is in me

and I am

in the Father.

Do you know

what that is?

That the Father

is in me

and I am

in the Father.

That's just

another way

of saying

I and the Father

are one.

He comes

back to this

claim

of being God.

The works

show it.

He's claiming

equality

with God.

That this

healing of the

paralytic

that

that giving

sight to the

blind man

that

that his

soon

raising of

Lazarus

from the

dead

and his

own

giving

of his

life

and being

raised

from the

dead

this all

points

to who

he is.

He is

God in the

flesh.

He is

the Christ

the Son

of God.

in verse

39

the Jews

seek to

arrest him

because they

don't buy

it.

They still

think that

he's

blaspheming.

They don't

believe that

he's

that this

claim is

true.

And so

we have

these two

titles.

first is

the Christ

all authority

and the

second title

the Son

of God

and Jesus

is the

Son of God

in full

divinity

full

full

godness.

Do you

know what

that means?

He is the

almighty.

He's got

all power.

He just

hasn't been

given authority

over all

things.

He has

power over

all things

to do

what he

sees

best.

He's got

full

authority

full

power.

So

what's

the point?

What's

the point

of this

passage?

This

passage

is the

culmination

of this

tension

that's

been

building

since

chapter

5

between

Jesus

and

the

Pharisees.

There's

been

this

ongoing

back

and

forth

of

who

Jesus

is

and

whether

these

leaders

were going

to believe

him or

not.

It centers

in this

passage

on those

two

titles

the

Christ

and

the

Son

of

God.

The

Jewish

leaders

refuse

to

believe

that

Jesus

is

the

Christ.

They

refuse

to

believe

that

he

is

the

Son

of

God.

What

they're

doing

is

they're

refusing

to

submit

to

the

all

authoritative

Christ

and

they're

refusing

to

submit

to

God

Almighty

that

he

has

come

to

establish

a

new

kingdom.

In

John

chapter

one

we

read

this

speaking

of

Jesus

he

has

come

to

his

own

and

his

own

did

not

receive

him.

That's

what's

happening

here.

That's

what's

coming

full

into

the

picture

but

those

who

did

receive

him

to

them

he

gave

the

right

to

become

children

of

God.

To

those

who

did

receive

him

as

the

Christ

as

the

Son

of

God

as

the

good

shepherd

who

laid

down

his

life

and

took

it

up

again

to

them

he

gave

the

right

to

become

children

of

God

to

them

he

gave

!

new

life

born

again

to

them

the

Holy

Spirit

would

come

and

indwell

them

and

would

bubble

up

life

as

an

eternal

spring

the

Christ

the

Son

of

God

gives

eternal

life

to

his

sheep

who

hear

his

voice

and

the

good

news

this

morning

he

will

never

let

you

go

these

two

titles

they

show

up

at

the

end

of

John

we

hit

this

before

it's

the

purpose

statement

of

the

book

in

John

John 20:30

chapter

20

verses

30

and

31

we

read

this

now

Jesus

did

many

other

signs

in

the

presence

of

the

disciples

which

are

not

written

in

this

book

but

these

are

written

so

that

you

may

believe

that

Jesus

is

the

Christ

the

Son

of

God

and

that

by

believing

you

may

have

life

in

his

name

you

may

receive

the

abundant

life

you

may

receive

eternal

life

and

here's

where this

is all

landing

no one

has

authority

to snatch

you out

of the

Christ's

hand

no one

has the

power

to snatch

you out

of the

hand

of the

Son

of God

there

there

is

no

one

no

thing

that

has

the

authority

or

power

to

take

you

from

Jesus

because

his

all

authoritative

all

powerful

grip

has

no

rival

this

is

one

of

the

greatest

of

all

assurances

for

a

Christian

so

if

you're

a

Christian

in

the

room

I

need

you

to

stop

doing

something

this

is a

call

to

repentance

here's

the

call

stop

making

God

in

your

own

image

stop

stop

believing

that

God

is

like

you

in

the

way

he's

committed

to

you

he's

not

he's

all

authoritative

and

he's

almighty

and

he

loves

you

if

you

see

that

operating

in

you

do

you

know

what

you

need

to

speak

to

that

that's

wrong

that

is

not

the

God

of

the

Bible

we

need

to

repent

of

making

God

into

our

own

image

the

other

side

of

that

is

to

rest

assured

in

these

titles

of

Jesus

that

his

being

the

Christ

that

him

being

the

son

of

God

that

he

is

all

authority

and

he's

God

almighty

it

is

these

realities

his

posture

towards

you

in

his

authority

and

power

is

one

of

love

he's

exercising

those

things

for

your

good

because

Jesus

is

the

authoritative

Christ

because

Jesus

is

God

almighty

no

one

not

even

your

own

sinfulness

can

separate

you

from

the

love

of

God

in

Christ

Jesus

here

Romans

8

who

shall

separate us

from

the

love

of

Christ

shall

tribulation

or

distress

or

persecution

or

famine

or

nakedness

or

danger

or

sword

as

it

is

written

for

your

sake

we

are

being

killed

all

the

day

long

we

are

regarded

as

sheep

to be

slaughtered

no

and all

these

things

we

are

more

than

conquerors

through

him

who

loved

us

in

his

authority

in

his

power

for

I

am

sure

that

neither

death

nor

life

nor

angels

nor

rulers

nor

things

present

nor

things

to

come

nor

powers

nor

height

nor

depth

nor

anything

else

in

creation

all

creation

including

yourself

will be

able to

separate

us

from

the

love

of

God

in

Christ

Jesus

our

Lord

that's

just

another

way

of

saying

you're

unsnatchable

and I

hope

what this

does

in your

heart

is

it

causes

your

heart

to

rise

some

people

will hear

that

and

they'll

critique

it

they'll

say

well

isn't

that

convenient

Salvati

you're

giving

everybody

license

to

sin

in

the

room

this

is

Jesus

talking

here's

how

it

works

if

you're

convinced

that

he

will

never

let

you

go

what

will

that

affect

what

should

be

that

effect

on

you

in

relation

to

sin

to

abuse

it

or

to

press

into

it

if

I

know

that

I

will

never

be

let

go

I

am

going

to

slay

my

sin

this

is

not

an

excuse

to

sin

this

is

an

assurance

of

salvation

if

you're

not

a

Christian

in

the

room

do

you

believe

that

Jesus

is

your

long

awaited

king

the

God

king

do

you

believe

that

Jesus

is

God

almighty

in

the

flesh

who

laid

his

life

down

and

took

it

up

again

do

you

believe

that

is

that

true

did

he

lay

his

life

down

for

you

and

take

it

up

again

is

that

true

the way

you

respond

is

very

simple

the way

you

respond

is by

just

saying

I

believe

Jesus

I

believe

I

hear

your

call

I

believe

this

to be

true

and

I

will

follow

you

as

my

good

shepherd

!

you

you

you

and

you

put

your

faith

in

Jesus

he

lays

hold

of

you

and

he

will

never

let

you

go

and

then

you

come

follow

Jesus

with

the

rest

of

the

flock

together

following

Jesus

we

hold

fast

to

him

knowing

that

his

goodness

will

never

let

us

go

he

holds

fast

to

us

this

passage

ends

in

verses

40

and

42

and

it

ends

in a

very

different

place

than

where

we

began

it

ends

with

Jesus

going

across

the

Jordan

into

the

wilderness

where

John

the

Baptist

had

begun

his

baptizing

ministry

it's

very

interesting

and

all

sorts

of

people

come

to

Jesus

at

that

point

and

they

believe

in

him

based

upon

John

the

Baptist

we're

in

Jerusalem

Jesus

is

surrounded

by

the

Pharisees

and

it's

Jesus

speaking

to

them

and

they

don't

believe

it

ends

with

Jesus

in

the

wilderness

not

Jerusalem

you'd

think

hey

all the

godly

people

are

Jerusalem

not

in

the

wilderness

and

all

of

these

people

gather

to

Jesus

they

surround

him

not

because

of

what

Jesus

has

said

but

because

of

what

John

the

Baptist

had

said

who's

now

dead

they

believe

to

believe

they

believe

that

he's

the

Christ

that

he's

the

son

of

God

these

are

sheep

coming

to

their

shepherd

and

it's

there

in the

wilderness

we see

belief

not in

Jerusalem

ironic

John

is a

master

master

storyteller

this

morning

we've

heard

good

news

not only

does

the

goodness

of

Jesus

run

red

the

goodness

of

Jesus

will

never

let

you

go

and

it's

because

of

him

not

us

let's

pray

God

in

heaven

we do

thank

you

so

much

for

this

assurance

this

this

blessed

assurance

of

these

words

no

one

will

snatch

them

from

my

hand

God

would

you

impress

that

upon

us

your

sheep

that

this

week

we

would

walk

through

this

week

with

this

word

unsnatchable

echoing

through

our