Address—C. Hendricks
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John 7 start with a verse in John 7 verse 37.
In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.
He that believeth on me, as the Scripture have said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive.
For the Holy Ghost was not yet given.
Because that Jesus was not yet glorified.
And a verse in Hebrews 13.
Very well known verse.
And verse 13.
Let us go forth therefore.
Unto him without the camp.
Bearing his reproach.
I'd like to.
Speak tonight on the.
What it means?
To be without the camp.
What is the What are the characteristic truths that.
Define the camp.
What is it? Where to be outside of Go forth to him outside the camp?
The Epistle to the Hebrews deals with that subject very fully, though I'm not going to speak much from Hebrews tonight, but rather from the Gospel of John.
John's Gospel is.
Is that gospel which unfolds to us the truth of Christianity before it came to be in fact in historically existed?
Let's look at some of the chapters in John. We start with the first chapter, and we'll see what characterizes Christianity and what characterizes Judaism, which is the camp. In Hebrews, the camp is Judaism.
And there's that which answers to it all around us. And let's look at what is characteristic of the true Christian testimony and what was characteristic of the Judaism of the Old Testament, that the Epistle to the Hebrews is written, as you know, to the Jews to bring them outside of that old order of things that they were so attached to.
And to give them to.
Take their place outside of that established religious system which was for man after the flesh.
And Judaism is just that. Now, there's much that is in Christendom today.
That savers of that same thing.
And so we, we call that the camp. Actually the camp is Judaism, but there's that which answers to it in Christian circles, which is actually worse than Judaism because it's that which has gone, that's which Christians have gone back to, that the Epistle to the Hebrews and other scriptures were written to call them out of that.
Unto Christ, who was outside the camp.
So that which?
Is like the camp, and the only way we will know what it is and what the difference is, is to compare scriptures. We'll just look at a few scriptures in John 1.
Verse 17. Very well known scripture. The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Two names are mentioned in that verse, Moses and Jesus Christ the Lord Jesus himself.
And there's two basic principles that are mentioned in that verse. The law is 1 which man naturally tends to gravitate to the law. This do and thou shalt live. It's a principle of doing. Man wants to do something. He wants to feel good about himself, so he wants to accomplish some work that will please God, to give him some status, some standing, some acceptance before God. That's the principle of.
Law. Principle of works.
All false religions are on that principle. They may take different shapes, wear different clothes, so to speak, but they're all on that same principle of works, principle of law. The law was given by Moses. You remember they said about the Lord Jesus. We know that God spake to Moses, but As for this fellow, we know not from whence he is.
They knew that the Law was given by Moses. He was their leader, and He's the one they highly revered. And that's what we have the Lord is saying here. The Law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. You'll only really know the truth, the truth about yourself, the truth about God.
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Through the grace that came by the Lord Jesus. So we have two principles. We have two heads.
You might say, look Moses heading up the legal principle of of works and law, and you have the blessed Lord.
Coming in grace and truth, bringing in Christianity.
Verse 10 Back up a minute.
He was in the world.
The world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. The Creator came into the world first. Verses of this gospel tell us that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made the Creator of all things. Nothing has come into existence which has come into existence without Him.
He is the originator. He is the creator.
He was in that world that he had made. The world was made by him. The world knew him not.
We're in a world, and don't forget it, young people, we are in a world that does not know him.
We're living in the.
Last part of this century.
And most young people.
Don't know him.
In this country.
It's sad to say, but that's true.
The world knew him not. That was true then, it's been true ever since, It's true today. But there were those that were His own, those that were in a special relationship with himself, and that was Israel, the Jews. And so the next verse covers them. He came unto His own.
And his own received him not does not say they did not know him.
In Mark 12, when the Lord sent, when the father sent the son, they said, this is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize upon the inheritance. They knew who he was.
He says in John 7, I believe it is. You both know me and you know whence I am.
Their conscience knew him.
Their will refused him and would not submit to him. He came to his own. His own received him not the world didn't know him, but his own wouldn't receive him.
Wouldn't have him, but beautiful, but as many as received Him. Now that's each one of us who have received Him. You're either a part of that world that that did not know Him, or a part of those that did not receive Him, or you are one of those that received Him. How do we receive him? Not by works, but by faith, by believing As many as received Him to them gave He power, the right, the authority.
To become children of God. I believe John always speaks of children of God.
It says in our translation Sons of God. Paul uses sons of God and children, but John always speaks of children of God, those who have been born of God and have come into the family of God not by adoption but by birth. And that's what John speaks of. He gave power, as many as received him to become the children of God, even to them that believe on his name.
Now in the Old Testament.
You could be a member of the people of God.
You could be an Israelite and all you had to to do. In fact, you didn't have to do anything. You just had to be born into this world as a Jewish or a Jew and you were a part of that people.
The truth of the new birth was not explained in the Old Testament. It wasn't even insisted on. To be a member of that chosen nation, Israel, you simply had to be naturally born into it.
Verse 13 here says something different which were born not of blood.
When that speaks of your being connected with your earthly parents, you're born of blood.
You are.
A part of them they.
Begat you. He begat you. Your father and your mother conceived you. Now this, this birth that he's talking about is not a birth of blood. It's not that you are a member of the family of God, because your parents are.
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No, there's something more needed than that. Not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh. Someone else did not will it for you. You can't will it yourself to be saved. I don't like the the bumper sticker that I see or the on the advertising boards. If you've tried this and that, try Jesus.
Jesus is not a religion that you can try.
If it was a religion you could try it. I've tried this and that religion and now I'm going to try this.
You cannot get into the family of God by trying Jesus. It has to be God working by his sovereign grace in your soul, producing faith and a new birth.
Which were born not of blood. It's not because your parents are saved, nor of the will of the flesh, your minister or someone that has spoken to you about the Lord, whatever it might be.
Cannot will it for you, can't bring you in.
They can only present you with the gospel and turn and and direct you to the one that can save you, the Lord Jesus. But it's a work of God.
Nor the will of the man. You can't will it for yourself and someone else cannot will it for you.
But of God born of God.
This is something that originates from God.
You need a new life.
Not an amended life. Not a reformed life.
But a new life, an altogether new life, a divine life, what you have as born of your earthly parents, are into a certain niche of society.
Or you can even join a church that's not going to bring about the new birth.
You cannot do anything yourself.
To be born again. This is a work of God in the soul. The Spirit of God works in your heart.
And God works.
And turns you to him, brings about conviction. And there is.
Faith and life communicated both at the same instant. I do not understand. We do not understand the insurance and outs of new birth.
But it's an essential, absolutely essential. You have no part in the family of God. You're not in it unless you've been born of God.
Now that's different from Judaism. Now if you see a church in Christendom that has a mixed multitude, some are born of God and some are not.
Some are saved and some are not, and they're all members of the same church.
There they have membership in it. Of course, membership in a local church is not is not according to scripture, but I'm just using terms that are quite familiar and are used all the time in Christian circles.
But you can't. You can't get into it by any effort of your own or any effort of someone else's, or because your parents are there. No, this is an individual thing between your soul and God.
I want to ask each one of you here tonight, have you been born of God?
As God so wrought in your soul to bring about a new life, the very life of Christ himself.
Without that, you haven't even begun.
In the path of faith.
Which were born not of blood.
Nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. You see, in Judaism you could be a Jew, you could be a godly Jew who was born of God, and you could be an ungodly Jew that was not born of God, but you were just as much a Jew as the other one.
And that's, that's the way it is in many Christian circles. And whenever you see a Christian group, those that call themselves Christians that have that kind of a mixture in their fellowship, and yet they're all part of the same fellowship, part of the membership of that same church, that's that's the camp in principle.
That's what Judaism was. They did not insist on the new birth.
That was not insisted on in the Old Testament.
The Lord brings it out.
So there's this difference. You have to be born of God to enter the family of God in the 2nd chapter of John. We're going to move on in the 2nd chapter of John, the.
18th verse Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, What signs show us thou unto us, seeing thou doest these things?
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Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple.
And in three days I will raise it up and said the Jews 46 years was this temple and building in wilt thou reared up in three days. But he spake of the temple of his body here the Jewish temple that was at Jerusalem is being replaced by the temple of his body. It's not a religious temple. It's not a place where you can go and worship and offer sacrifices and do the the religious ritual that.
Was associated with Judaism.
But it's being linked with and identified with one who died and rose again.
His temple was his body. He died. He said. You destroy me, you put me to death, and in three days I will raise it up. Christianity begins with the resurrected Christ, the one who went into death. He went into death for our sins. Here he's speaking about the wickedness of man to put him to death. Destroy this temple, he said, and in three days I will raise it up.
Verse 22 clearly explains his meaning when therefore he was risen from the dead.
His disciples remembered that he had said this unto them, and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.
Now in the next chapter we have a, you might say, an expansion upon this subject of the new birth. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man, be born again. There you have it again.
He cannot see the Kingdom of God. If you haven't been born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God. It's it's a sphere which is which is foreign to the life and nature that we have as born of our earthly parents. It's a spiritual sphere and it can only be entered and seen when one is born of God or born again.
Nicodemus did not understand him. He was a ruler of the Jews. He had never heard of this before, though he should have had some knowledge of it if he had read his Old Testament scriptures properly, but it wasn't clearly brought out as it is in the New Testament.
How can a man be born when he is old? He said. Can he enter the second time into his mother's woman be born? Amazing how stupid a question someone like Nicodemus who was very learned and educated and well taught in the Jewish scriptures.
How he could ask such a question?
Jesus answered, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water. Now he amplifies the word again born again, born of water. He was using the word of God, and that's a figure of the of the of the word of God. The water is to be born of water.
Is to be born of the word of God. Peter says that being born again.
I won't turn to it, but I'll quote from it first. Peter one being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.
So the water is the type of the word of God here and of the Spirit. Spirit is the agent. The water is that which He uses. The Word is that which He uses in bringing about this new life.
He says they If you haven't been born of water and of the Spirit, you cannot enter the Kingdom of God.
You can't see it nor enter it without the new birth.
He explains that which is born of the flesh is flesh. You can train it, you can educate it, you can give it every possible earthly advantage. It's still flesh.
And some of the worst flesh is found in the universities by the professors that are teaching that which is destructive to ones faith, if he has faith.
Anti biblical teachings and trying to.
Bring in man's thoughts.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.
It partakes of the nature that which is born of. It partakes of the nature of the Source. If the Source is flesh, it produces flesh. If the Source is the Spirit, it produces spirit.
Marvel not that I said unto thee.
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Ye must be born again. Notice notice the change in the.
The pronouns here he says, Marvel not that I said unto thee, he's talking to Nicodemus. But now he, he amplifies that and he says, he doesn't say thou must be born again, That would be Nicodemus. But he says you must be born again. You Jews who are trusting in your natural birth, they could say we have Abraham for our father.
And they boasted in that, and the Gentiles couldn't say that they had nothing. They could boast in of that kind. And the Lord is telling Nicodemus that will not do.
Ye, you Jews, must be born again.
You need a new life wherever a.
The new birth as such is talked about John 3.
John.
He came to his own, His own received him not, but as many as received him so on.
James one first Peter 1 he talks about new birth.
Because the Jews needed to hear that truth. They were trusting in their birth as Jews.
And they thought that gave them an advantage and made them the people of God.
And the Lord tells them, Peter tells them, James tells them that you come into that by the new birth.
Now he doesn't tell the Gentiles they had to be born again. He uses another expression. They had to be quickened. They were dead in trespasses and sins. Now quickening is giving life. New birth is giving life. They're the same operation of the Spirit called something different. One addressed to Jews, the other addressed to Gentiles. Same operation of the Spirit, the communication of divine life to man.
So he says you must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth.
And thou hearest the sound thereof, but can't not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit.
New birth is something we do not understand. It's a sovereign work of God and it comes to the soul when he believes in Christ and he has life and faith at the same time.
Nicodemus was puzzled. How can these things be? He says.
The Lord says, Art thou a master of Israel? A teacher of Israel knows not these things.
And then he has this most profound verse. I believe it's the most profound verse in the New Testament.
Verse 11.
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, I.
An individual person.
We speak.
That we do know.
And testify that we have seen.
And you receive, not our witness. Notice how it's changed to the plural.
The Lord Jesus here is speaking as a divine person in the Trinity.
The We as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
All three persons enveloped in that we we speak, that we do know.
When we say things, we can say, well, I know this or I know that you've learned it, but nothing, No one of us knows anything intuitively as God does. Only God can say we speak that we do know and testify that we have seen and you receive, not our witness. Then he goes back to the singular If I've told you earthly things and you believe not, why you need to be born again just to enter the earthly Kingdom, let alone the heavenly Kingdom.
How shall you believe if I tell you of heavenly things?
So now he's going to go on and tell about the heavenly things, and now he speaks about eternal life.
A term which is connected with our heavenly associations and relationship with Him.
No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man, which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, Even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
Now that's essentially, that's basically the same nature that we received when we're born again, but now it's called eternal life. It's given a, it's given a fullness of meaning in John's writings.
This is life eternally says in John 17 that they might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom not has sent.
Eternal life consists in it the knowledge of the Father in the Son.
But it's a communication of a new life.
That most wonderful verse for God so loved the world.
That he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting or eternal life.
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Now in the 4th chapter.
Just to move on quickly.
We have water, again mentioned.
The Lord asked this Samaritan woman for a drink of water. Jesus saith unto her. From verse 7 cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water, and he asked her, Give me to drink.
The woman says to him, How is it that thou being a Jew, ask his drink of me, which I am a woman of Samaria, for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
Here was a soul, a single soul. It says he must needs go through Samaria. There was a soul there to be spoken to and to be brought into the light, this Samaritan woman.
Jesus answered and said unto her, verse 10 If thou knewest the gift of God.
If you only knew God as a giver in the Old Testament. And there's another basic difference between Judaism and Christianity. In Judaism, God was requiring of man obedience to the 10 commandments, a perfect law, perfect law, not no flaw in the law.
But man could not keep it, did not keep it, could not keep it, would not keep it.
But here he says, if thou knewest the gift of God, not God asking something of man, not God requiring something of man now, but giving.
If you knew God as a giver.
And who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink. Thou wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
Now in the 3rd chapter, the water is a symbol of the Spirit of the Word of God, which the Spirit of God uses in the new birth here the living water, the flowing water, is a symbol of the Spirit of God himself.
The woman saith to him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. You remember that first verse we read in John 7? Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
This may he of the Spirit, Spirit of God.
Signified by that living water. Here it's water from within the soul. Water from within the soul in John 7 is water flowing out in testimony.
Now, Judaism didn't have this, didn't offer it, didn't bring it.
But it was a it was a law system.
It was rules and regulations.
Thou shalt have no other gods but me.
Thou shalt not make an image of anything in heaven and earth and bow down to it. Graven image. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
That was the only one of the 10 commandments that was ceremonial.
Honor thy father and thy mother, that may be well with thee, and that thou mayest live long on the earth. And then we have the five.
Last commandments thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet.
Lust. And when they heard that, they said all that the Lord has spoken. We will do and obey good.
Good teaching.
Used to hang up in schools.
The law.
God's requirements for men, man after the flesh.
They don't allow it anymore.
So we have a lawless society.
But there's something higher than that.
And that's Christianity, not God, requiring obedience and holding out the promise of life to the obedient 1.
But God giving life.
Giving life that we had in John 3, and here we have it in the power of the Holy Spirit.
The woman says to him, verse 11 Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with the well as deep. From whence then hast thou that living water?
You see, John's Gospel is a complete contrast between Christianity, these truths we're looking at, and Judaism.
From which?
These Jews had to be delivered.
Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself and his children, and his cattle?
Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again, but the whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him.
Shall never thirst.
It's not this kind of water that he's talking about.
It's the water of the Spirit.
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The water that I shall give him shall be in him.
A fountain of water, I believe it reads more correctly, springing up into everlasting life.
An internal eternal source of joy, refreshment and communion. Producing worship.
An entirely different kind of worship than they had in Judaism.
And so this goes on into that.
The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hit her to draw, and then he asks her to call her husband.
She says I don't have one.
He lets her know they don't knew all about her life.
That was truly said, I have no husband. Thou has had five husbands and the man that you're living with is not your husband.
And that's focused now, truly.
Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.
Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and then she turned the subject into worship.
And he tells her that the worship that she was doing, her fathers were doing, the Jews were doing, even at Jerusalem, is set aside now by a new order of worship altogether, produced from the heart of the soul that has been born again, that has been sealed by this dwelt of the Holy Spirit as the source and power of worship.
The organ, the piano, the orchestra, all of those kinds of instruments that were used in the Old Testament in their worship have absolutely no place whatsoever in Christian worship.
Christian worship flows not from a dead piece of wood or some kind of mechanical instrument. It flows from a living soul that's been born of God and indwelt of the Spirit of God.
Jesus says to the woman, Believe me, the hour cometh when you shall neither in this mountain Samaria, nor yet in Jerusalem worship the Father.
You worship, you know, not what we know, what we worship for salvation is of the Jews. In that one sentence, he says to her.
God never owns Samaria but Jerusalem. But now he goes on beyond both of those. And he says the hour cometh, and now is when the true worship worshipper shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. Worshipping with the musical instrument is not worshipping in spirit, and it's not worshipping in truth.
The one that sits at that organ and plays so beautifully may not even be born again.
May not even have life, may not be sealed by the Spirit at all. And yet they can do it so beautifully.
Because they know how to play well.
But the worship that God is looking for in this present day is worship in spirit according to the nature of God Himself.
And in truth, according to the revelation that he has been pleased to make of himself in the New Testament.
That's not the kind of worship they had in Judaism. But when you go into places of worship today, what do you see?
You see anything from a piano to an organ to musical instruments to a whole orchestra.
All patterned after Judaism.
That's the camp in principle.
And we're told to go forth unto him outside the camp, and you see a mixed multitude, those who are not born again and those who are, those who have not the Spirit and those who do, and they're all part of the same church.
It's a mixture, it's confusion. It's a mixture of Judaism and Christianity.
But the worship that goes on in those places is not normally Christian worship. I'm not saying they're not individuals there that are truly saved and that worship in their hearts.
Worship in their souls, in their spirits to God. Yes they do. And God values that and he sees that and he owns that. But the system that they're a part of?
Is not Christian.
It's Jewish.
Or even worse, Pagan.
There's much of paganism.
All you have to do is go into a some of these.
Some of the churches.
That cost millions and millions of dollars to erect and you'll see plenty of paganism as well as Judaism in those places. Christian worship is little known in this so-called Christian nation of ours.
True worshippers shall worship the Father.
Spirit and in truth.
For the Father seeketh such to worship him.
Are you a worshipper?
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God is a spirit.
And they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit.
And in truth.
And it's so beautiful. I'm not going to go into the rest of this chapter. He reveals himself to her as the Messiah. She becomes an evangelist, goes into the town, comes to a man that told me all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ and the souls are one for him.
Now going on to the 5th chapter, we have a picture of Judaism with this man at the pool of Bethesda.
He's helpless. He knows how he can get healed. All he has to do is when the Angel troubles the water, is to get up and get down into the water. He has to do something. That's the principle of Judaism. This do and thou shalt live.
He has to keep the law, whatever it is.
And the angels were connected with that. We were talking about that a bit last night in Hebrews, how much importance the angels had with the the, with the Judaism establishing it and so on. And then there was the Sabbath day that had to be kept and could not be violated.
The whole thing is there. And what's the contrast? The voice of the Son of God.
Which thou be made whole. I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool, But while I'm trying, another comes and steps down before me.
Take up thy bed and walk.
Rise, take up thy bed, and walk A word from the Son of God.
The Son of God is here now to displace that whole Jewish order of things.
And what did it bring? It brought the hostility, the enmity, the wrath of the Jewish leaders down upon him.
And the more true you are to Christian principles and to Christian worship and to Christian truth, the more you will feel the wrath of conventional religion.
Conventional religion gives a place to the first man gives a place to the flesh.
And so there's no reproach connected with it.
But when your attitude towards the world and all of its beautiful religious ceremonies, sweet sounding music and all that, when your attitude is such as to give credence to that support to it.
It does not reproach you.
But when your attitude is to.
Totally disown it.
Because it's not true Christianity. Then you'll feel.
The reproach.
Bearing his reproach, let us go forth unto him.
Outside the camp, burying his reproach.
As long as you give the world its place in having its religion, whatever form it might take that gives a place to man in the flesh.
There's no reproach.
You're accepted.
When you refuse that.
And stand outside of it. With Christ there will be plenty of reproach.
In the 6th chapter you have the setting aside of the.
The bread that was rained down from heaven, that gave life and and supported life.
Before you, you have that which is, which typifies that. You have the natural bread, and then you have the Lord Jesus as that which is typified by the manna, the bread of God which comes down from heaven. He's the one that gives life. He's the one that sustains life and maintains it in contrast with the natural realm.
And then in this 7th chapter, we've already read.
That wonderful verse.
37.
Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink.
He that believeth on me is the Scripture is said. Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. This was the 8th day of the Feast of Tabernacles. It was the only feast that had eight days, I believe. And this was that last day, that 8th day. And they had gone through the whole thing. And he stands there and becomes a new center now, and he draws souls that are not satisfied with that religious system that they had just gone to Jerusalem to celebrate.
They, they, they, some of them were going away and they were not satisfied. Their souls were not fed. It was, it was a, it was an emptiness there.
And he says, if any man still thirsts, let him come to me and drink.
He's the source of life, He's the source of refreshment, He's the source of blessing. He's the source of everything that is from God.
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And he gives the Holy Spirit.
And then those souls that have drunk of that.
The Spirit of God flows out in blessing, rivers of living water flowing out, and two others round about. We become now a witness wonderful. In the 4th chapter, the Spirit dwells within to produce worship. In this 8th, 7th chapter, the Spirit dwells within to produce service and testimony to those roundabouts.
In the 8th and 9th chapters we have Christ as the light of this world.
He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
We can say in a word, Judaism was a system of laws given by Moses. Christianity is.
That which is a person, a living person that we have come to know and are attached to.
Now, the best illustration of what I've been saying here tonight is in the 10th chapter, and let's just look at it quickly.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, the sheepfold is Israel.
The sheepfold, it's an enclosure. That's what Judaism was. Judaism. The Jews were not told go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. They weren't told that at all. They were to maintain strict separation from the nations roundabout. They were an enclosure.
And.
He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold. What's the door? Well, it's the proper way of entrance into the sheepfold. There were many, many, many scriptures in the Old Testament that told how the Messiah, the coming Redeemer, would enter into that nation. He had to be the seat of David.
He had to be born of a virgin, he had to be heralded by John the Baptist, by his forerunner, and he had to be born at Bethlehem.
Many, many many scriptures.
He entered in by the door, but he then enters not in by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same as the thief and a robber. There were numbers of others that had come false. Messiahs professed to be messiahs, but they didn't qualify as such. They didn't come according to the Scriptures.
The God ordained way, but he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
To him the Porter openeth. Spirit of God opened that door to him. He entered in the proper way. Born of the Virgin.
And heralded by John.
To him the Porter openeth, and the sheep hear his voice.
Now, in this sheepfold, it's all Jewish. The sheepfold is all Jewish. Those outside of that sheepfold are Gentiles. But not all in the sheepfold were saved. Not all were his sheep.
So it says.
The sheep hear his voice, that is those who are his sheep.
And he calleth his own sheep by name.
And leadeth them out. He leads them out of the sheepfold into the blessings.
Of Christianity.
He calls them by name.
And when he put forth his own sheep.
He goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice is he. Christianity is not an enclosure.
It's not a confinement like Judaism was.
Boarded in by a fence and a strict rules of law that they had to keep.
Or come under the judgment of God.
Now Christianity is the sheep free to follow a shepherd.
The shepherd of the sheep, a person now.
Has come in to lead these Jews out of Judaism.
That's what Hebrews is written about.
Let us go forth unto him.
Outside the camp. So he comes into his sheepfold, calls the sheep by name there, and they follow him, and he leads them out.
Stranger will they not follow, but that will flee from him, for they know not the voice of strangers.
This parable spake Jesus unto them, but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them. Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. Now this is the second use of the word door. The first use is the door of entrance into the sheepfold, according to the Scriptures of the Old Testament.
He entered. He fulfilled all of those scriptures that spoke of his first coming.
There are many.
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And they were all fulfilled in one person.
The probability it's been figured out by mathematicians that no probability, the probability that all of those scriptures pretending to his first coming being fulfilled in one person is so astronomically low that it would be an utter impossibility to for it to happen by chance.
Now he says I'm the door of the sheep.
Until the shepherd came, for any of the sheep to abandon Judaism and get out of the sheepfold would have been apostasy and would not have been of God.
There were others that came, false messiahs, and they led certain sheep out and they all perished. It came to nothing.
That's referred to in the book of Acts.
For the sake of time, I'll not turn to it, but he hear the true shepherd. He goes into the sheepfold, comes, enters in according to the scriptures of this of the Old Testament, finds his sheep, calls them by name, they follow him and he leads them out of the sheepfold, which is Judaism.
He says all that ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep, my sheep he's talking about, did not hear them. Now he uses the word door in a third sense.
The second sense he's the door of exit from the sheepfold.
To himself, the Shepherd.
And now he uses the door verse 9 in the Christian sense I am the door this time it's the door of entrance into the blessings of Christianity. I'm the door by me if any man enter in.
He shall be saved.
And she'll go in and out in fine pasture. Going in is John 4IN for worship. Going out is John 7 out for service.
And find pasture.
Christianity is liberty. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. The sheep are not confined. They're not in a constricted place, in a sheepfold, A fenced place that was Judaism. They're free to follow the shepherd on the on the mountains and over the green hills and so on.
Let's go down to verse 14 for the sake of time. I am the Good Shepherd and know my sheep.
And am known of mine. Isn't that precious? If you're one of his sheep, he knows you.
He knows you by name.
In fact, he says he calleth his own sheep by name and leads them out.
I believe based on this, and I'm not pressing this, but I believe that when he comes for us, he'll call our name.
And we'll hear it, and we'll go.
To meet him in the air.
I am the door by me. If any man enter in, he shall be saved first time that word is used. Saved in the Christian sense, He's brought into the blessedness of being in fellowship with and in an association with the shepherd.
He shall be saved. He should go in and out and find pasture. 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, or I think abundantly is more correct. Just leave the word more out. It's not that the Saints in the Old Testament had abundant life and we have it. More abundantly, they had life and we have the abundant life. Life in the power of the Holy Spirit. Life in association with a risen glorified man in heaven.
That's Christianity.
Heavenly people united to that man in the glory.
And indwelt by the Spirit here born of God, sealed by the Spirit, True worshippers. Not a system that man after the flesh can have a part in, but one has to have a new life and a new relationship.
With the Shepherd.
Verse 16 And then we close.
And other sheep.
I have.
Which are not of this fold. These would be Jews, These would be Gentiles.
This fold is the Jewish fold. Now. That's us who believe now.
Them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice. And there shall be 1 flock it ought to read.
One shepherd. The way the King James translators translated that, it spoils the whole passage.
The fold refers to Judaism.
We gentiles are not brought into the fold of Judaism, but there's one flock.
The Jewish sheep taken out of the fold of Judaism into the flock, and then the Gentiles associated with them as well.
One flock.
In the next chapter, the 11TH chapter.
We have the Lord Jesus as the resurrection and the life.
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Hazardous come forth and he brings him forth and one day that's going to happen for all of us. It's going to call us home.
He is the resurrection and the life. Well, all of these things bring out so beautifully.
In the Gospel of John, true Christianity in contrast with Judaism.
Which is a system of do's and don'ts following a man, Moses the Lawgiver, we follow another man.
The Lord Jesus Christ, the one who went into death for us, rose again and exalted, and was exalted to the right hand of God and going to bring us there shortly.
Well, there's much more in John's Gospel, as we know, but it's just beautiful to see how that it presents to us Christian truth before it came to be, in fact, in time.