John 10:1-6 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.’ This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.”
What do these thieves and robbers look like? What does a
stranger look like? And I don’t mean in physical appearance, but in character –
in thought, word, and deed. How will we know if there are such “thieves and
robbers and strangers” among us? How will we recognize them? Will they be loud
and boisterous? Or quiet and unassuming? They could be either one. For they
will appear to be whatever you think they should be so that you will trust
them, and so that you will believe and follow them.
So, what are they thieving and robbing? They are robbing the
truth from the Scriptures, and they are robbing you of that truth in their
teaching. And they are robbing from you your trust in them, for they are just
using you and taking advantage of you. And they are lying to you and
manipulating you and smooth-talking you so that you will believe that they are
your friend, and that what they are offering to you is for your good and not to
harm you. But all of that is to make you like them and trust them and believe
them.
So, how do we discern these thieves, robbers, and strangers
from those who are sincere and honest and trustworthy? Well, we have to pay
close attention, not just to what they are saying, but to how they are saying
it, and to what they are not saying, i.e. what they are leaving out. What is
missing? Are they quoting Scriptures but not talking about them? Are they
misquoting Scriptures? And/or are they quoting Scriptures out of context that
when read in context take on a whole different meaning?
We read in Jude 1 that they pervert the grace of God into
sensuality and deny Jesus Christ (which can be in actions and in words or in
actions only). And to pervert is to distort, to misrepresent, to alter, and to
corrupt the Scriptures and what they teach about the grace of God. And
sensuality is fleshly, sexual, carnal, and sexual immorality, impurity, evil
thoughts, passion, and orgies, and lawless insolence, indecency, and lewdness.
So, how do they pull this off? How do they get people to
accept that? Well, they teach them that all they have to do is to make a once
in a lifetime profession of faith in Jesus Christ, and now all their sins are
forgiven (past, present, and future), and now heaven is guaranteed them, and it
can’t be taken away from them, regardless of how they live. And they convince
them that no works are required of them – no repentance, no obedience to God,
no submission to Christ as Lord and no living holy lives, pleasing to God.
And they do this by taking Scriptures out of their context
and then twist them to make them say what they want them to say. And people are
buying into these perversions of God’s grace by the masses! For example they
quote Ephesians 2:8-9 which says, “For by grace you have been saved through
faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of
works, so that no one may boast.” But they leave out verse 10, which says: “For
we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God
prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
And they don’t teach Titus 2:11-14 which says, “For the
grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to
renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled,
upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the
appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave
himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a
people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.”
So many of their adherents, thus, have this mistaken idea
that because they made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ that heaven is now
secured for them regardless of how they live. And so that is a corruption of
the grace of God which gives those who believe in it free license to continue
living in deliberate and habitual and premeditated sin without conscience and
without feeling guilty, and absent of remorse. And many of them are addicted to
sexual immorality, believing that God will not judge them.
But what did Jesus say? He said, “Not everyone who says to
me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the
will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord,
Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and
do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never
knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness,’” because they believed
they did not have to obey the Lord for salvation (Matthew 7:21-23).
So, if we are those who are in genuine relationship with
Jesus Christ, by God-given and God-persuaded faith in him, and so we were
crucified with him in death to sin, and we were raised with him to walk in
newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin, but now as slaves to God
and to his righteousness, if we are walking by that faith in him we are not
going to be those who follow these liars and deceivers, i.e. these strangers. But
we are going to follow Jesus wherever he leads us, and we will obey him.
By
G. M. Eldridge
“He
will wipe away every tear from their eyes…” Revelation 21:4
In the moment He appears
And the light from heaven shines,
I’ll forget ev’ry fear,
Ev’ry pain I’ll leave behind.
Then I’ll see Him as He is
And I’ll know Him as I’m known.
Ev’ry tear wiped away when I go home.
Ever present is the tho’t
That a moment waits for me
When unworthy as I am,
His glory I will see.
I will empty all my praise
Before my Father’s throne.
Ev’ry tear wiped away when I go home.
If the trial I endure,
And your presence I can’t find,
Be near me, Lord, I pray,
Bring back unto my mind
That your promises are firm
And I’m never on my own.
Ev’ry tear wiped away when I go home.
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