morning. I want to start by saying, first of all, I'm not a prophet, but I think you may have a pastor pretty soon. Thank you, Dave, for that wonderful testimony this morning, and I was really touched just hearing how the Lord has been working in your life and I know your dad is super proud, but as you are talking, I just kept thinking, man, this was going to be a preacher one day. Just keep the time on there. Hope I make it through this morning. So that Sunday, he had grace and the Lord has truly been gracious to us and so grateful to all of you. So being prayer for me as I preach because this is it's hard. We're looking at the last verses of chapter 10 of the Gospel of John, verses 22 to 42, and we'll continue with our theme from last Sunday and so if you're able to please stand and let us all honor the reading of God's Holy Word. This morning reading from the Gospel according to John, chapter 10, verses 22 to 42. Here now the reading of God's Word. At that time, the feast of dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter and Jesus was walking in the temple and in the colonnade of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, how long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly, Jesus answered them. I told you and you do not believe. The works that I do in my father's name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of my father's hand. I and the father are one. The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them. I have shown you many good works from the father. For which of them are you going to stone me? The Jews answered him. It is not for good work that we are going to stone you, but for bless for me. Because you, being a man, make yourself God. Jesus answered them. Is it not written in your law? I said you are God. If you call them God to whom the Word of God came and Scripture cannot be broken, do you say of them who the father's consecrated and sent into the world you are blessed with me? Because I said I am the Son of God. If I am not doing the works of my father, then do not believe me. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works that you may know and understand that the father is in me and I in the father. Again, they sought to arrest him but he escaped from their hands. He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing at first and then he remained. And many came to him and they said John did no sign but everything that John said about this man was true and many believed in him there. The Word of the Lord, will you pray with me? Lord Jesus, you have indeed gathered us here this morning so that you may speak to us. Would you ready us? Make us ready to hear from you. No one else. Make us ready to understand, to believe and above all to be completely transformed by your Word because it truly is your Word from your mouth that you have given to us. It is alive and able to transform us from the inside out. That's what we cry out for this morning. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Please be seated. Again, as I mentioned last week, we looked at verses 1 through 21. We talked about the sheep and I held my tongue and did not say that sheep are dumb even though we clearly saw that they really are. And we were able to distinguish between looking at false shepherds and a true shepherd. We also talked about how sheep are timid and defenseless and hopeless. And one thing that we were able to note was that sheep are always lost or completely lost without their shepherds 24, 7 care. And we also said that it is because of this idea of sheep being completely lost and completely defenseless and completely without any help wondering sheep that need their shepherd, that the Bible clearly shows us that that's who we are as God's people, that it's supposed to depict the close connection, the close dependency that we must have with our Lord and Savior who is our shepherd. And so I want us to pick up from there to continue talking about the sheep in that sense, but especially focusing on our relationship with Jesus Christ that must be this intact and this close. And I want us to think about what that means that as John is writing in chapter 10 and pointing us to this idea of the good shepherd, he's really speaking of this false submission, this dependence on the sheep towards the shepherd. And otherwise if the sheep are not dependent on the shepherd, they will get lost, they will be lost in the world. But I want us to focus on that close relationship and ask, or rather be able to see, that the reason why we are so dependent on Jesus as our shepherd is because Jesus is the only one who is able to offer to us nothing or rather offer to us things that nothing else in the world can give to us. That Jesus is the only one who is able to offer to us that which we need, that which we desire, everything that we need to be satisfied in our life and that the world cannot give us that. And the way I want us to look at is in the way we've titled this sermon for today. That Jesus is truly our hiding place. Now this will make sense as we start going through the verses because right now it may not make much sense, but the one part I want us to focus on is Jesus being our hiding place when we lack assurance of our faith. Jesus being our hiding place or our safety or the place that we can go when we are struggling with assurance of our faith. The first thing I want us to see here which will help us to understand this particular passage is actually the background to this feast of dedication that is going on. The first of dedication has a really amazing history in Israel's life. There was a Syrian king whose name was Antiochus Epiphanies. This man loved all things Greek. He wanted to change the Jews. He wanted to get rid of Jewish culture, Jewish religion and everything that they were doing and when he came into power he actually wanted to destroy the Jewish religion. And so initially he started by doing so peacefully trying to bring Hellenistic culture to the Jewish people. When that did not work in 170 BC we were told so many Jews were killed and then what ended up happening is that he banned the Jews from possessing the law. He banned them from practicing circumcision, basically taking everything that they had believed in God and turning it around. In fact he went to spa as turning the temple courts into brothels. And to him he took the altar that was supposed to be for the burnt offering and he turned it into the altar for the God's Zeus. He profaned the court, the temple of the Lord and then lo and behold the Savior showed up. His name was Judas Macabeeus. We know the name of Macabeeus, right? So Judas Macabeeus showed up and in 164 BC he rescued the people, he rescued the temple, he cleansed the temple, he rebuilt the temple and so the Jewish people are celebrating in this feast of dedication which we know as Hanukkah. They were supposed to be celebrating the purification of the temple. Now why do I make a big deal about this? It is because of that background during this feast, during Hanukkah that the Jews are asking Jesus to explain himself and tell them if he's truly the Christ. Why? Because for the Jews in their minds they are thinking politically and in the military sense. They are thinking Jesus must be like Judas Macabeeus, he has come to rescue us. And so if you are the Messiah tell us right now so that we may believe in you. And so we also know that Jesus all threw out, actually if you read the Gospel of John, Jesus has not been publicly declaring and telling people that he's the Messiah. Have you noticed that since we started the book? In fact, so far he's only shown, he's only told the woman at the well and the blind man. They are the only people that he told I am the Christ. In public, Jesus has been silent. Why? Because Jesus knows what the Jews are expecting. He knows they're expecting a political and military Messiah will come with an army and take over Jerusalem and be this king who sits there with this crown and doing all these amazing things. And that's the background. But John is really careful here to show us that if the Jews had not understood by looking at Jesus' words and his deeds by seeing that he was sent by the Father that he was truly the Messiah, nothing else will do for them to believe in Jesus. Because the question again is how are they going to receive, how are they going to hear and accept the notion of a suffering servant who comes and brings about the kingdom of God? And not a kingdom that is directly political and military. What if Jesus had come to them and told them, listen, Jews, I'm going to go to the cross and die and that's how I'm going to become the king. That would have said you must be a fool and a madman. Actually, they've already called him a madman and a fool insane. So, they asked the question, how long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly that we may know. Are they really asking Jesus to tell them if he is the Christ so that they can believe in him? Do you think that's the question? They are not asking so that they may believe. In fact, the question ought to be phrased this way. How long are you going to keep us knowing us? How long are you going to keep on offending us? Let's just tell us that you are the Christ, make this blasphemy so we have a statement to take you to court, so to speak. You know, we really have to think about the Jews for one second in terms of their hatred for Jesus. Why do the Jews, why are the Jews so offended by Jesus and what he has done? What is really driving them to a place where they want nothing with Jesus? See, the world hasn't changed much since then. It still is the same way. Listen, the world would not want to hear anything about Jesus. It never wanted to hear anything about Jesus back then because Jesus is the light of the world who has come to expose who we really are. Nobody wants their sin to be exposed out there. Everybody wants to live in their darkness. Everybody wants to live by their own right, by their own responsibility, by their own things that they believe in. And when Jesus comes and says you are a sinner, when Jesus comes and says you need a savior, when Jesus comes and says you are dirty and you need cleansing, you are not perfect, you are not spot best in the world is going to hate who he is. And as much as the world hated Jesus, guess what? They will hate you when you stand up for the truth and when you proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. Why? Because the gospel makes people uncomfortable. The Jews wanted Jesus to just go away. The Jews wanted what they were hoping. Jesus, would you just get away from us because the things that you were saying, they think us right in the heart. They were wishing that he could go. But guess what, friends? Jesus ain't going to go nowhere. The world loves darkness rather than the light. That's what Jesus said. I am the light of the world, but they simply did not see it. Jesus has come. You spotless. He is perfect. And then Jesus drops a bombshell as I call it on verse 26. Look at it. He tells them as it is as real as can be. Do you want to know why you are not listening to my voice? It is because you are not my sheep. Oh boy. We don't believe Jesus because they are not his sheep. Does that startle you? Does that make you a little uncomfortable? Just a little bit? How difficult a thing for us to understand. Notice Jesus is not basically saying you are not my sheep. So you are actually excused for whatever you are doing or for where you are. No, Jesus does not in any way reduce the moral responsibility on those who reject Jesus Christ. Our unbelief is not an excuse. Yes, it falls under God's sovereign will. But everything happens within the purpose of God and yet in such a way that human free will is still responsible. God is still holding them responsible for rejecting him even though Jesus knows so well that they are not his sheep. Again, I ask you. Does that trouble you? We should have a whole lot of time to talk about election this morning. We don't, but this is what I am going to present to us this morning that God is a holy God. He is a just God. People talk about fairness. How can a fair God send some to heaven and send others to hell while I tell you what the world has no idea what fairness is all about. He says that just God, our God is a just God and he is not unfair. You know what I will say? He is also true. He is not only holy and just but he is also a gracious and merciful God. Listen, friends, the fact that God would look upon us this morning as sinners and choose to save you. Choose to save this wretched soul. Should point me and should take me to my knees. It is beyond comprehension that the Lord Jesus Christ would look upon me and save me. And we should feel the same way. The point is this, that if we ever find ourselves among the flock of God who have heard Jesus voice and follow him, it is not because we are less sinners but than others. For years I shared the gospel with my grandmother who died a while ago and she rejected the gospel. I have no idea if I am ever going to see her again. But at the end of the day, I am reminded that my grandfather in my own eyes, my grandmother, sorry, was a better person than I am. And yet Jesus would look upon me and save me. There is only one place I can go and that is to look upon a God who knows better than I do and give him praise for my own soul that it is only by his sovereign grace of God that I am here. And I must also remind that his day reminded me this morning that to receive this much grace and this mercy means I must go out there and tell the world about Jesus and his mercy and grace. On the other hand, Jesus says that his sheep here is voice and they follow him. So as he knows his sheep, the idea again as we saw last week and we saw it, we see again today is this entire dependence upon the shepherd of the sheep is completely done, completely lost without the shepherd. And that we are like the sheep. We are the ones who hear his voice. We are the ones who are called to follow him but how do we do that? Only by faith. Only by faith do we hear his voice. Only by faith do we hear him call. Only by faith do we take a step to follow him. Only by faith do we submit ourselves to him in our relationship with him. And then he says in verses 28 that we don't just follow him but Jesus actually gives something. He says I give them eternal life and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. Jesus says no one can take those who are in his hand away from from him. He says he bestows the right and the title of heaven. When someone put it, he will give their sins. He closed them with perfect righteousness that comes from from him. I love it. I love it for us as Christians, right? We may not have all the money in the world, all the fame and power but there's one thing that we will never miss. Friends, we will never lack God's grace and mercy. That's better than anything else that you can be offered by anybody in this world. This one in Christ. They will never perish. Now we'll be cast away. Do you wonder away from faith sometimes? Are you tempted to walk this way when you're supposed to be going this way? I see this smile, so you just like me then. When we wonder, he takes his staff that as a hook and says, Ben, come here. This is the way you're supposed to go. When we fall, he says, I'm going to raise you up because you are my sheep. When we go away, he says, come back. This is where you belong. When we feel we're down, he raises us up and he says, this is where you're supposed to be. The true believers never truly fall away. The God is always preserving them so that they may persevere to the very end. Do you hear the words I used? The God is preserving you so that you may persevere to the very end. You can go as deep. You can sin as heinous as you may think. You can fall as much as you think. If you are a child of God, you will never fall away completely. Doesn't that give you the chills knowing that you are safe in Christ? It does to me. No one can snatch me out of my father's hand. Again, we saw, first 12, the marauding animals that may come to attack the sheep, oh, they have no power. The robbers and the thieves that come to steal to destroy and kill, oh, no, they cannot even match God's power. That being ultimate security of Jesus sheep rests with the good shepherd. How many times have you been tempted as a Christian to think that there is someone or something that can steal your joy? How many times have you been defeated overwhelmed with temptations and sin that you begin to think, oh, boy, the Lord has truly truly left me. He cannot be near me. He cannot be close to me. But he is my encouragement to you, friends, who can steal from God? Who has the power? Who has the strength or the solitude sufficient to overpower or out with the sovereign maker creator of all things? I tell you this morning, nobody, no one, no one in Romans were told not even the devil himself, nothing. Nothing can pluck you from the father's firm grist grasp. So when you're tempted to think that Jesus has somehow let you go, sing that song, whole love that won't let me go. Jesus says the father is greater than all. He says that mighty, that awesome father of mine was greater than all. He's got you. He's got you. Nothing can save without relationship between Jesus and his children as far would say in Colossians 3.3 that our life is now hidden with Christ in God. Man, I love that. Our life is now hidden with Christ in God. There is greater security. There's no greater security than this, so to speak. I've got to warn you, though. We've got to pause there for one second and realize that Jesus is not saying that because you are safe in God's hand in Jesus' hand, that means you're going to be sleeping on a bed of roses. That there's not going to be trials and no problems. You're never going to get sick. You're never going to get tempted. You're never going to face any trouble in your life. Lapis is going to be smooth sailing. Oh, I'm sorry. Or you're going to face it all. As a Christian, I would even say, you're going to face it even more, but he's a comforting thing. As I think about my dear sister, Mary Ann, he's a comforting thing. If one day if she ever gets to hear this sermon, the thing is even when you're in the midst of all of that suffering and crying and questioning and doubts and thinking about the world is coming to a listen, the comforting thing is listen. The trials, the temptations and the pain has no power. It has no hold on you as Jesus has hold on you. Nothing has a hold on you as Jesus has a hold on you. The one day, one day when he returns, he will wipe away every tear and he will comfort us from every sorrow and everything will finally be restored and things will be the way they were supposed to be. I cannot wait for that day. Please another pause, another reminder that we need to hear. We need to remember that just because Jesus said that he preserves us so that we will not completely fall away, he is a warning for us. We are not passing partakers of the blessings of God. We are active followers of Jesus Christ and that means we're going to do some work. That means we work out of salvation with fear and trembling. That means we make use of the means of grace that God has given to us. Come to church. Show up at church every Sunday. I didn't just say it once in a while. Every Sunday. Be fed, God's word. That fellowship with your brothers and sisters. And come to church and do it some more. Second safety I want to look at is that Jesus provides safety when we struggle with unbelief. I got to explain this one out because it's a little complicated. Again, the Jews are rejecting Christ and now they want to stone him so they pick up the stone that they're coming to him because he claims to be the Son of God. He claims to, as they say in verses 31, your blasphemy or rather according to them, he's claiming equality or oneness with God with the Father. I mean, the Jews are basically accusing Jesus of aspiring to be one or to become God. They're accusing Jesus of aspiring to become God. You remember who aspired to become God early on in the Bible, in Genesis? Somebody wanted to become like God. Jesus hasn't committed any crime. Jesus has not aspired to become God. Jesus is God. God in flesh. He isn't a mere human. He's fully God. But is the other thing that they're also forgetting? The Jesus did not come for his own glory. In fact said, I came to do the will of my Father who sent me Jesus could have been God done everything on his own terms, but he said I did not come to do things on my term, but actually I'm a servant. I came to do the will of God. And he even says in, in Philippians he says, Jesus not considered equality with God a thing to grasp, but he what emptied himself like a servant and being born in the likeness of man. And so that question is how can a mere man become God? They've read the scriptures that God is spirit. Even more, Jews are one of theistic, right? So you cannot have another God. To them what they're thinking is you're claiming to be God, so you're claiming to be another God, so you're claiming to physically come and compete with our God, the winner is Jehovah. They're right, though. They're right in making the claim that Jesus is doing everything that the Father does. That's exactly what he's doing. Everything that the Father does, Jesus does. They had asked Jesus to explain to them plainly if he was the Christ. Does Jesus give them, give them an answer? We would think not, right? Because he didn't say, yes, I am the Christ. He doesn't do that. I actually think that Jesus gives them far more than what they ask. Because he gives them a better answer than what they ask. And what he gives them, they cannot understand. It just goes, because what does he give them? He tells them I am the Father, I won. I came to do the Father's and I am God. I am, I am part of who you think you think you know. And then he says, brother doesn't say, but we imply, go ahead and explain that. Jesus, the Son of God, is fully God, is one with the Father, and is not a competing or separate God from the God they claim to know. The Trinity? Does it sound familiar? See, our minds cannot understand this great truth, but it's what Jesus presents to them. Jesus and the Father are one. I love the mystery of the Trinity. I think it's a beautiful thing. Unfortunately, I think the world tries to question it. They try to force us to give easy and simple answers that will not do. But I think the whole idea of the Trinity must lead us to worship and to faith in God. When we are confronted with the triune God, we begin to see just how small, how finite, and how mortal we are in the presence of this magnificent mighty God. And the fact is sometimes we really want to explain that relationship always. Sometimes we really want to explain the way that relationship is in the Father and the Son that we are having a really hard time to explain, but God is bigger than what we could ever explain. But why do I bring that up? This is the reason why I bring that up. Because to ask when we think about the Trinity and this concept of God being one yet three persons and all of them being equal in glory and power, but each one being unique in their own way, I mean, it's really hard for our minds to think about it. But when we think about it in the sense of how God is so great and awesome, sometimes we fail to see how that is a beautiful and comforting thing for us. Because if we think of Him as high and lifted high God who is so powerful and so hard to explain yet He is the same God who has come to us, who has come to us, who has come to us, who has revealed Himself in the person of Jesus Christ, so that we may have salvation. It's a beautiful thing. In response, Jesus is here using the Pharisees' logic. He reads to them Psalm 82.6, which they knew very well. I said, you are God's sons of the most high, all of you. Saying He's greater than those who brought the Word of God and were called God's, quote, in a small G. It's a hard text for us to understand because actually that passage in Psalm 82.6 and 7, it talks about judges. We don't know whether it's really referring to the judges. Is it talking about angels or is it talking about Israel itself as a people? In any case, he's basically saying using this passage to show that the Scripture proves that the Word of God legitimately used to refer others to God other than Himself. And so if there are others who brought the Word of God and God Himself is the author of Scripture, that are addressed as God or as sons of the most high, on what biblical basis do this Jews object to Jesus when He says, I am the Son of God. Again, as complicated as that may be, my point that I want to make is this. I want to point you to how Christ honors Scripture here. That Jesus is basically saying the Scripture once Scripture has spoken, it has spoken. The case is closed. No more debate. He actually says Scripture cannot be broken verse 35. And he's really challenging the Jews on their belief, on the Bible, on Scripture. The Word of God, again, as they remind us this morning, is the Word of God. From his mouth inspired by him. And I think we need to hear that this morning. I think we need to hear that today. Because we live in a world that is objecting to the authenticity and the claims that are made in this Bible. But we got to present Scripture to people as the very Word of God. That is true. Inspired and inert. Are you going to read some really difficult things in Scripture that you can't explain away? You bet. We just did one of them. John chapter 7 and 53, 8, 1, 3, 11. But you know the problem when people object to Scripture is that the difficulty does not lie in Scripture itself. I'm the problem and you're the problem. Jesus continues to challenge them. He actually says, if you don't believe me, why don't you believe the things that I do, the works that I do, maybe that will help you understand. And I think Jesus is really using the miracles to show his divine mission and his divine authority that Jesus is God the Creator who made all things. But he's actually able to suspend the laws of creation whenever he will to heal a man that was born blind. And he's basically saying, you see all these things that actually don't work by your physics and everything else. And yet you don't believe me. At least believe in that, if you don't believe in me, get the rejecting. Again, in all world, that's the same thing we do with. I mean, there are so many people that reject the miracles ever happen. People reject Jesus and say, well, he was a good man, but I can't believe that he actually died on the cross with the sins of the world. I don't believe that he did all these things that he claims he did. Show me the proof and then I'll believe. The world wants proof. But you know, sometimes we also fail to recognize that actually Scripture history does give us proof that Jesus is who he says he is. Proof after proof show that Jesus did walk on this earth and that the things that he did were true. When people object to the faith, they do it in vain. We can look at the internal evidence. We can look at the Bible itself. We can look at the lives of first Christians or prophecy or history or all these things. At the end of the day, we get the same answer. Jesus is the Son of God and there is life only in Christ alone and no one else. You can take that to the bank. You can object all you want all day long. Why am I making this point? Because you probably are here because you believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Do you? That's why you are here. But why do I make this point? There is a point. Believer, you have no reason to doubt your faith. Listen, there are times when we're going to be challenged. In fact, right now, I'll make the argument. It is a hard time for us to be alive. We're going to be challenged to the core about our faith. People will challenge your faith. People will present to you doubts that you can have about Scripture, but I want you to know one thing. It's not going to change what Jesus is. But here's another thing. I'm not too worried about the external challenges to our faith. I'm actually more worried about the internal challenges to our faith. You know what I'm talking about? Friends, there are times when the truth of Scripture will not match the reality of where you are. Some of you know what I'm talking about. There are times when you read Scripture and the Scripture tells you I am victorious on your behalf. And you look at yourself and you think, God, I'm losing this battle. There are times when you read Scripture and it tells you I am your healer. And you are dead sick. There are times when you read Scripture and it tells you you have overcome and that you must be joyful and all these things that you say. But God, here I stand before you and I have no joy in my life. My question is, what are you going to do? Again when those challenges come, the truth of the gospel is this. That no matter what we face in our life, no matter when the truth of the gospel and our reality does not match, it never changes Jesus. It never changes who he is. Jesus is still who he says he is. He is still on the throne. He is still working. He is still going to do it. And his promise is not going to be stopped by anything or by anybody, whether you believe it or not, it does not change the facts. It's a little child. I do not like wearing shoes. Now this is not Nairobi which has perfect weather. But I grew up in the village and the weather out there hundreds of miles from the city is hot. It's a semi-aried almost desert kind of a weather. The sand is like beach sand. When the sun shines at one o'clock it is. I mean you can stand outside and you just see, you know those flares you see it's like fides being lit up because of how hot it is. We would be out there taking care of all goats. And I don't have any shoes. And I'm walking in my feet are burning. There are no trees out there. But there's one tree. One tree that I do not know the name of it. That has deep, deep roots on the ground. The tree remains green no matter how the drought is. It's ever green. Every shepherd out there always looks for that green tree because when they see it they run to it. Because with your burning feet scorpions and thorns and snakes all over the place that is the spot you want to be. Every time I do walking outside and my feet get so hot and I see that green tree and I'm like that's where I'm going. And I would sit under the tree. Sometimes I would even fall asleep because it is so peaceful. It was my hiding place, my friend if you're here. And you are standing out in that scorching heat and your feet are hurting. And they stand on the ground that is stinging and pricking you and you keep looking at the shelter and you don't want to go to it. I ask you please run to it. That's your hiding place. What do I mean? If you're here and you don't know Jesus if you've never submitted your life to Christ and you're just standing out there in the heat and you don't know what to do. I ask you this day please go to that shelter. It's your hiding place. And friend if you're here and you know what I'm talking about and you know that you run there. You know how you're tempted to still run on the sand and get your feet hurt and burn. And you know what I'm talking about. If you're walking away from faith can you turn around. Look at that hiding place because you're going to be lost. You're going to wonder. You're going to get hurt. You're going to die if you don't look at the hiding place. See that tree dies at some point. But the hiding place I'm telling you about already died and rose again to a life that knows no death. And that's the life that he's promising you to go to the hiding place and there find safety for the rest of your life. And you can sleep there if you want. Let us pray. Give our Jesus we thank you for this morning. Thank you for your word. Thank you that you truly are a hiding place. Lord you know where we've wandered away from you. You know where we've let ourselves be open to the marauding animals and the robbers and the thieves that come to tempt us. We give us assurance that we are in you and you hold us together. But you also remind us when we deal with unbelief. That when they come to you and cry out to you, Lord Jesus help my unbelief. I'm praying all this in Christ's name. Amen.