John 10
King James Version
10 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
2 But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
3 To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.
4 And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
5 And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.
6 This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them.
7 Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.
8 All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.
9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
12 But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.
13 The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.
14 I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.
15 As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.
16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.
17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
19 There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings.
20 And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him?
21 Others said, These are not the words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?
22 And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.
23 And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch.
24 Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.
25 Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me.
26 But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
30 I and my Father are one.
31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.
32 Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?
33 The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.
34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?
35 If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;
36 Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?
37 If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not.
38 But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.
39 Therefore they sought again to take him: but he escaped out of their hand,
40 And went away again beyond Jordan into the place where John at first baptized; and there he abode.
41 And many resorted unto him, and said, John did no miracle: but all things that John spake of this man were true.
42 And many believed on him there.
WWJD
What would Jesus Do??????
What He never did is just say a bunch of Scriptures! Are not those already written. I don't know about everyone, but I have a lot of Bibles. He once had me open and run a Christian bookstore for Him, and He still has me selling books on-line, so I have lot of Bible. Still, I have never come to this forum with the intent of trying to post the Bible!!
He has me come to this forum to preach the Word of God, and that to mean Him and that He wants His people listening to Him. Now I will provide some Scriptures that back that approach up. So here are a few to back up what He tells me to do:
2 Tim 4: 1 - 4 I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.
Now the Greek word used for "word" above is logos. And it is used in the following verses also.
Jn 1:1,2 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.
and
Rev 19:13 He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.
Now when Jesus spoke He referred to something written to back up what He was saying, but by doing that He was not promoting the Scriptures but rather hearing what He had to say. He has not changed! If indeed you are hearing from Him you know that He is still the same today and always! It is not about the Scriptures, but the Scriptures are about Him!!
I was once told: "We don't use the Lord to preach the Scriptures, we use the Scriptures to preach the Lord."
That would seem obvious to anyone who actually hears from Him, isn't it. I mean unless you are trying to make and on-line Bible, you don't just post a bunch of Scriptures, right? And posting bunch of Scriptures does not mean you know the Lord, does it. In fact it may mean that you think the Scriptures themselves will save you!
Jn 5: 39, 40 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.
And if you talk to the Lord He points out other little things you might have missed, like the verse that follows:
Jn 5:41 “I do not receive glory from men;
Why would that verse follow the other 2?
Before listening to Him, I thought it just meant that they were seeking other people whom they knew at that time. But Jesus was not talking about that, He was talking about them 'searching the Scriptures" instead of coming and listening to Him. So He pointed out to me that the Scriptures were written by men! Yeah, He told them to write them, and He talked to those men who wrote them, even telling them what to write, but never-the-less He does not receive glory from men, not even the men who wrote the Scriptures. He gets is glory from His Father, the Holy Spirit, and His Kingdom! And His Kingdom if not of this world - He told Pilate that!
So those Jews then were thinking that because they had the Scriptures they had the glory of God, but have the Scriptures don't mean that! So why did we see a long post with nothing but Scriptures. Do we not understand that pride in ourselves can show up a number of ways?
Again, we don't point people to the Scriptures and thus preach the Scriptures, we point people to Jesus Christ and support that with the Scriptures, right?
So we tell them to seek Him and listen to Him, but will they? I have to tell you that is what He wants of us; that we seek Him and listen to Him!!
Ps 81:13 “Oh that My people would listen to Me,
That Israel would walk in My ways!
If you indeed listen to Him, you would know that is what is really on His heart!