John 10:1-5 ESV
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”
The Pharisees of Jesus’ Day
Jesus was evidently directing these remarks to the Pharisees.
And who were the Pharisees? They were the religious and the learned and they
were teachers of the Scriptures, and they were self-righteous and hypocritical,
and they opposed Jesus Christ, and they harassed him continually. And they did
all their deeds to be seen by others, and they loved the place of honor.
They were those who shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s
faces. They were not on their way to heaven and they were preventing others
from entering heaven as well. And they made their converts twice as much the
children of hell as they were themselves. And this is exactly what many
preachers and pastors and devotion writers are doing today.
They were those who were religious about tithing but who
neglected justice and mercy and faithfulness. They were those who made certain
that they looked good on the outside in front of others but inside they were
full of greed and self-indulgence. So Jesus told them that they needed to clean
the inside first and then the outside would be clean (in truth).
Jesus said they were like whitewashed tombs which outwardly
appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all
uncleanness. Outwardly they appeared righteous to others, but within they were
full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. And they were sons of those who murdered the
prophets and they themselves would be guilty of like conduct (Matt 23).
They were those who did not enter the sheepfold by the door
but who climbed in by another way. They were thieves and robbers and strangers
who were leading the people astray because they were leading them to a false
gospel based in the teachings of men and not in the teachings of Christ. And
they were showing them the wrong door of entry to heaven.
The Pharisees of Our Day
There are actually many parallels between what Jesus said
about the Pharisees of his day and what can be told about our modern day Pharisees.
And I am not speaking just of those who are legalists, for even the liberals
can be Pharisees, too, for being a Pharisee just means that you are not what
you profess to be for you live the opposite of what you profess.
For anyone professing genuine faith in Jesus Christ, from a
biblical perspective, is professing that he has died with Christ to sin and
that he is living to Christ and to his righteousness. And/or he is professing
that he is in relationship with Jesus Christ by faith in Christ and that his
sins are forgiven and that now he is on his way to heaven. And he professes to
believe God.
But there are many people professing faith in Jesus Christ
today, and some of them are pastors and elders of church congregations, who
have never been crucified with Christ in death to sin, and so they were never
raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, and so they continued
living in habitual sin, and so they do not obey the Lord, and so they are not
in relationship with Christ and they are not heaven bound (1 Jn 3:4-10).
So, they claim to be Christians but they live the opposite
of how a Christian is supposed to live, according to Scripture. They are those
who depart from the standard of what a Christian is supposed to be like, and so
they are the addicted to sin and the self-indulgent. Many of them are living in
immorality, lying, cheating, committing adultery, deceiving, betraying and
manipulating.
They are pretending one thing outwardly while they are
living the opposite usually in secret where no one can see what they are doing.
They may pretend to be your friend while they stab you in the back. They may
pretend to be loyal and faithful while they betray and are unfaithful when you
aren’t looking. So they are one thing outwardly to impress others while inside
they are something entirely different.
And those who are in positions of power and authority and influence
over others, such as were the Pharisees of Jesus’ day, are leading many people
astray from the truth. For they are not those who have entered by the true way
of the cross of Christ and they are leading many to follow them in their
hypocrisy and in their false faith.
For they are teaching that we can “believe” (not defined) in
Jesus, have our sins forgiven, be on our way to heaven, but how we live will
not impact our eternal security. So they are giving people carte blanche to
continue in deliberate and habitual sin while promising them heaven. But that
is a lie from hell. For the Scriptures teach we must forsake our lives of sin
to follow Jesus in obedience to his ways, and then we have the hope of heaven.
The Sheep Hear His Voice
So, we are being cautioned against following these strangers
(liars and thieves) who profess one thing while they live another and who have
slipped in among us by another way other than the way of the cross of Christ. So,
we are to be those who test what we hear and read to make certain that it is of
God and that it aligns with his word (in context) so we don’t believe lies.
We should not jump on any “bandwagon” that looks good and
sounds good without first checking it out to make certain that it is good. For
we have many Pharisees among us who are charlatans and wolves in sheep’s
clothing who are out to destroy us and not to see us be truly delivered from
our addiction to sin and walking in holiness and righteousness.
For Jesus said that if anyone would come after him that he
must deny self and take up his cross daily (daily die to sin and to self) and
follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to our old lives of living in sin and for
self, we will lose them for eternity. But if we forfeit our old lives of sin
for the sake of Jesus, we have the promise and the hope of eternal life with
God (Lu 9:23-26).
Jesus also said that not everyone who says to him, “Lord,
Lord,” will enter into the kingdom of heaven but only the one DOING the will of
God the Father who is in heaven (Matt 7:21-23). And John said something similar
when he said that if we say we know God but we do not obey his commandments that
we are liars. The truth is not in us (1 Jn 2:3-6).
So, just know that the Scriptures teach that we must die
with Christ to sin and live to him and to his righteousness and we must not
walk (in conduct, in practice) in sin, and we must not practice disobedience,
but righteousness and obedience are to be what we practice if we are those who
are in genuine relationship with Christ and who have the hope of eternal life
with God.
[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn
15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1
Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Tit 2:11-14; Jas 1:21-25; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:21-23; Col
3:5-10; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Heb 10:26-27; 1
Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Matt 7:21-23; Ac 26:18; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]
Seek
the Lord
An
Original Work / July 20, 2012
Based
off Isaiah 55
“Come to Me all you who thirst; come to waters.
Listen to Me, and eat what’s good today,
And your soul will delight in richest of fare.
Give ear to Me, and you will live.
I have made an eternal covenant with you.
Wash in the blood of the Lamb.”
Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him.
Let the wicked forsake his way, in truth.
Let him turn to the Lord, and he will receive mercy.
Freely, God pardons him.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,”
declares the Lord, our God.
“My word that goes out of My mouth is truthful.
It will not return to Me unfulfilled.
My word will accomplish all that I desire,
And achieve the goal I intend.
You will go in joy and be led forth in peace.
The mountains will burst into song… before you,
And all of the trees clap their hands.”
No comments:
Post a Comment