Last week I started a small series, two sermons that are both brought to you by the letter ‘V’. A V twin series. [PP Early twin Harley Davison]. My thinking was to highlight that as we enter 2025 that we know we can be, or more to the point are victorious in Christ Jesus. That we will know our value in Christ and not be vanquished and as a result our witness will speak volumes. Having dived into this I have realised that I could have probably made this a V 6 series, but another time.
I wrapped the last message up by saying that accomplishing victory in Christ comes down to our vantage point, or point of view and these things based on the scriptures I shared,
Accept your being God’s child
Listen to the direction of The Holy Spirit’s guidance
Focus running towards the goal, of being in the word (Bible) seeking after God’s will for your life in his word
Be humble
Live daily for Christ
Victory comes in seeking to be made new in Jesus' likeness, for it is being in Jesus' likeness that you will recognise your true value and advance to victory, eternal victory.
Right, so we have had a run over all that I spoke on last week and there are another couple of points that I want to make, one of which ties fairly closely to what I spoke about last week and it is what Jesus said, and it comes down to what Jesus said about us his people his flock: Let’s have a look at John 10 and see what he says about his relationship with his people, his flock.:
10 “Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” 6 Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.
7 Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.[a] They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.” (John 10:1-18)
Right, we started the reading with a V word, but that is not the one I will focus on in this passage. But that word was “very” Jesus said “Very truely I tell you.” Where Jesus was going here was giving an account of who he was and in doing so he gives two ‘I am’ statements about who he is the first being “I am the door of the sheep.” Now that’s an unusual thing to be, but we will get back to that in minute. The next is “I am the Good Shepherd.”
I’ll just talk a little about these two statements before going back to the V word, did you see it in the passage, not ‘very’ but the other one?
“I am the gate for the sheep.” Well back in the day at night the sheep would be parked up in one of these sheep folds but note there is no gate [Power Point], the reason being that the sheep would be kept behind the shepherd who would spend the night in the gate. Honestly, I don’t know how much sleep the shepherd got, so this metaphor was used to give understanding of who Jesus is. He is there protecting his precious flock, to get to the sheep, predators or thieves must go through him or over the wall.
The next “I am The Good Shepherd,” this is a pointer, like “I am the Sheep Gate” of Jesus divinity. Just to clear up any debate about who Jesus was claiming to be. He points those listening, to his divinity, in the 30th verse we read Jesus telling those gathered around that when he was asked if he was the Christ; “I and the Father are one.” They knew what he was saying and believed he was blaspheming; they picked up stones to stone him. Why? Because he was claiming to be God.
His being The Good Shepherd has Old Testament references to Shepherd the most famous being the first verse of Psalm 23 “The Lord’s my Shepherd I shall not want.”
At the time of Jesus coming there had been a full four hundred or so years when the people had not heard from God, prior to that time, there were occasionally bad kings in Israel, they were referred to as ‘false Shepherds’ those interesting in outcomes only for themselves and not their people. Jesus was saying he was The Gate for the Sheep, The Good Shepherd and that as such “lays down his life for the sheep.” Why because he is their owner, our owner and will do this to protect them and us. Coming between them and danger. In our cases saving us from sin and death and directing our lives to the right path.
This prophetic word from Isaiah 40:10-11 sums up who Jeus is to us, I think nicely:
“See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and he rules with a mighty arm. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him. He, tends his flock like a shepherd: he gathers the lambs in his arms, and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.”
But back to the ‘V’ word. The sheep listen to the Shepherds ‘voice,’ Verses 3, 16, and 27 all say, “My sheep or they will listen to my voice.” So here we go, a big part of our living victoriously and not vanquished or in vain is to know the words of Jesus to listen to what he said to know his teaching, very well, thoroughly.
The first part of listening to Jesus' voice is reading what is available in the Bible, we have the four gospels, we have the books of Acts and Revelations where Jesus is quoted directly, and the letters have scatterings of quotes of Jesus. So, we have no real excuse to not know those words of Jesus. Scripture tells us these will be written on our hearts. Paul says this to the Colossians; “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” (Colossians 3:16)
I’ve pinched idea the following idea from the Anglican Deacon, J. John. Imagine when you arrive in Heaven and you haven’t read your Bible and you get introduced to Saint Luke, and he asks “What do you think of all those eye witness accounts I recorded in my gospel about Jesus?” and you being in heaven have to answer honestly, awkward. Then he says have you met my old mate John, and he says what did you think of my two gospels and my letters I bet you got a lot of good learning out of those, and they helped you to live victoriously in Christ Jesus. The likelihood is that with eternity ahead of you, you are going to run into the two of them. This being alive right now really is a good thing, an opportunity to know the voice of Jesus. God speaks through all of scripture.
So, it’s a good idea to know the words of Jesus. Not just to save future embarrassment but because we are all another V word, that’s ‘vulnerable.’
Some are probably thinking, I’m not vulnerable, I’ve got a really firm faith, I’m as tough as nails, but the truth is we are involved in a spiritual battle, Paul's words to the Ephesians; “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12). There are trained and ordained ministers falling into traps, even theologians who are wandering from the truth, people are enticed into sin, into false teaching because they don’t hold fast to this sword, this mighty weapon-scripture. Statistically around 60% of young people who have faith, when leaving home to engage in tertiary study will abandon it. Why? One answer, because they believe the lies of the world. Jesus tells us, The Devil is a liar, this from John 8:44 “...When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a lair and the father of lies.” Why? Another answer, because of the temptations of the flesh, or they get distracted by other things that take up their time. Jesus tells us; “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26:41).
Don’t think that it is because academia proves there is no God. There are numerous academics', leading academics who are strong Christians. Who listen to the Voice of Jesus, who are living victoriously for in Christ, living lives of victory.
The truth is we are vulnerable, Jeremiah the prophet said this and I am picking it came from personal experience.
Jeremiah 17:9:, The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
How to live victoriously then if our hearts are deceitful and the scripture writers talking about the heart are referring to their whole being, our whole beings. So, if our whole being is deceitful above all things how do we live in victory in Christ? Well thankfully the scriptures tell us.
Thankfully the Psalmist tells us: Psalm 119:11, “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” What are the wages of sin?........
I can’t finish this message without referencing The Holy Spirit because He has a large part in our hearing Jesus voice, in our recalling the messages that we have heard either directly from the Bible or indirectly like this message. Jesus tells us in John's gospel: (John 14:26). But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. In the book of First Kings Elijah experiences the voice of God as a gentle whisper that came after a great wind that tore the mountains and rocks apart and an earthquake and a fire before the presence of the Lord passed by, but God was not in those big things he was in “the gentle whisper.” If you want to follow up on that read 1 Kings 19:1-14. Being attentive and alert to the gentle whisper, the Holy Spirit reminding, prompting, guiding us with memories of the words of Jesus is key to our victorious living in Christ Jesus.
So, what are the key points to take today that we might live victoriously in Christ? Being made new in Jesus likeness requires our:
Knowing his voice, his Biblical words, his teaching, understanding that he is Our Protective Gate, The Good Shepherd who gave his life for us, because he cares for us His flock.
Knowing Jesus words, understand his words. Because history has proven there will be times when we will be vulnerable to attack. But God’s word, the voice of Jesus written on our hearts will help protect us from harm, from sinning and the spiritual harm that results.
Also, that we are attentive to his still, small voice, the gentle whisper of his presence with us. For hearing his voice is key to our living victoriously in Him. Then your witness will speak volumes.
