 Alright, good morning and sorry for the slight delay, it was unavoidable, okay, so we will begin, we could have one person please lead us in prayer and then we will begin the session. Any volunteers, if any one of us could just say a short prayer and commit the class into the Lord's hands, we'll begin, yeah. Lord we thank you for this morning, we humble ourselves, in your presence we pray that this time of learning would be beneficial for each one of us and help us to understand your word and its fullness. We thank you for this time, in Jesus' name we pray. Amen, thank you so much. If you could just give me a moment to open up my notes. So last class we looked at chapters 8 and 9 and at the end of chapter 9 we saw that Jesus speaks about those who are blind and he says, there are people who are willing to learn and so even though they may be blind, even as knowledge is revealed to them, they are willing to learn from whatever has been revealed to them and their blindness starts going away. But then there are those to whom the truth has been shown and even though they see the truth, they choose not to see it. So even though they are not blind, they choose to be blind and so in that category are these Pharisees and we also just very briefly touched upon the fact that chapter 10 verse 1 is dealing with such people. So immediately after talking about how some people choose to be blind and so they are guilty, they have seen the truth, they have seen the evidence. So technically they are no longer blind, they have seen it but they choose to pretend that they are blind and regarding such people Jesus says in chapter 10 verse 1, you are the shepherds, the leaders who do not want to enter the sheep pen by the gate but you are trying to climb in some other way and so he says you are nothing but thieves and robbers. That's basically how chapter 10 verse 1 begins. So if we could have someone read out for us, John chapter 10 verses 1 to 4, we will look at the significance of what is being conveyed over here by Jesus. So if we could have one person read out for us, John chapter 10 verses 1 to 4 please. Most surely I say to you, he who does not enter the sheep hole by the door but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep, took him the doorkeeper opens and the sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them and the sheep follow him, they know his voice. Yeah, so here Jesus is using imagery which would have been very familiar to them in their times. They had two kinds of sheep enclosures. The first kind is mentioned over here. This would be a sheep pen which is available in the various towns and villages. There would be some common one or two enclosures where all the shepherds would store their sheep because I suppose it would have been more economical to have one general sheep pen where everyone can keep their sheep. Rather than each person building his own structure to house his set of flocks. So here it's referring to that kind of a sheep pen because it looks like this particular sheep pen has a gatekeeper. So these sheep pens used to be very large enclosures with lots of stalls inside and so different shepherds would keep their flocks in the different stalls. So when the shepherd arrives late in the evening or in the night with all of his sheep, the gatekeeper allows them inside and so he goes to his particular stall. The shepherd goes to his particular stall, leaves his sheep over there, sees to it that they have water and all of that and then he leaves. In the morning when he comes back, the gatekeeper makes sure that it's not a robber or a thief who is entering but rather a trusted shepherd. So the gatekeeper makes sure that only the right people go inside to collect their sheep on the next day. So if someone wants to come and steal the sheep, he would not be able to enter the pen through the main gate. He would have to enter in through some other way and steal the flock. So here Jesus is saying, you who choose to be blind even though you have seen the truth, you are like the thieves and the robbers. Yes, you want to be leaders. Yes, you want to be shepherds but you are not the rightful shepherds because you have chosen to reject the truth. So on the other hand, if you had been true shepherds, you would have been able to enter directly through the gate and the gatekeeper would have allowed you inside. So a true shepherd, once he comes through the gate, he walks up to his stall, it says he calls his own sheep by name. He knows them all personally and then he leads them out and then verse 4 it says when he has brought out all of his own, he goes on ahead of them and his sheep follow him. They are willing to follow him because they recognize his voice. So Jesus starts off with this imagery and then he moves on to say certain things. If we could have someone read out for us, verses 5 to 10. So from verse 5 up to verse 10 please. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger but will flee from him but they do not know the voice of the friends. Jesus used this illustration but they did not understand the things which he spoke to them. Then Jesus said to them again, most assuredly I said to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before me are thieves and robbers but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door, if anyone enters by me he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief doesn't come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. So Jesus is contrasting himself with these Pharisees and he says, you know what, I am not a thief or a robber like you. The reason that you want to shepherd the flock, the reason that you want to lead the flock is only to steal, kill and destroy. On the other hand I am a true shepherd. In what way am I a true shepherd? I am the gate and these sheep actually enter through me and they are saved. Now there are two implications here. He is the gate in the sense, he is the entry through which the sheep go inside. He is also the one through whom they are able to approach the Father. So I mean if you are thinking about this imagery in spiritual terms, not only is he providing entry into the enclosure, he is also the way to the Father. So here in these verses you have the other kind of sheep enclosure being mentioned. Earlier we looked at an enclosure which you have in the towns, a common one where you would have a gatekeeper who allows the true shepherds inside to collect their particular flocks. Here it is talking about an enclosure which would be out in the fields outside the town, out in the open pasture lands. Because some shepherds would not bring back their flocks back to the town every single night. They would prefer to just camp out there maybe for three days, four days. So when they are out in the open in that manner, in case the region where they are shepherding their flock is a slightly risky area where there could be wolves and other wild animals. In such a case in the night time they would try to find some kind of a shelter for their sheep. So beforehand they would have chosen a cave or they would have constructed a mud structure, just a temporary structure where they can keep the sheep during the night time. So in case they have chosen a cave or a mud structure to keep their flock for the night, there is no gate as such for that. So the shepherd automatically becomes the gate. He literally lies down in the entrance. So if any wolf wants to go inside it would actually have to go through him. So he is there to protect his flock. So in the first imagery Jesus says the gatekeeper will allow the true shepherd inside and over here there is no gatekeeper and no gate. Here the shepherd himself becomes the gate. He is the one who is defending his flock, shielding them from the danger of the wolves. And so in verse 9 Jesus says, I am the gate whoever enters through me will be saved. So those who enter through Jesus, they are shielded from the evil one and they also are saved in the sense. People can approach the Father only through Jesus. So in both of these senses Jesus is our gate. So here Jesus is addressing these words to the Pharisees and he is saying, I am willing to even be the gate for my sheep. That is the way I save them, guard them. You on the other hand are thieves and robbers. All you want to do is to steal, kill and destroy. So he is exposing what they are. He is exposing their inner motives and intentions because the Pharisees were portraying themselves as very godly people who are upholding the righteousness of God, who care for the people. That is the way they have been portraying themselves. But now Jesus is exposing the inner motives of their heart and says, you are nothing more than thieves. And so in that same line, he goes on to say the next few verses as well. So if we can have someone read out for us verses 11 to 13. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. But a highling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees. And the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The highling flees because he is a highling and does not care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd. So here we see that if the person who has gone out with a flock is just a higherling, even though he is supposed to be the gate which is shielding the sheep and even though he is supposed to be lying there at the entry point of the cave or the mud structure. When the wolf comes along, if the highling, what does he do? He just simply flees away. He leaves those poor sheep which are inside the enclosure completely exposed and the wolf comes and attacks them and scatters them. Why does he do that? Because it says in verse 12, he does not own the sheep. He does not feel responsible for them. He has not purchased them. On the other hand, we have this good shepherd who has laid down his life for the sheep and he has purchased them. Now, of course, the Pharisees would not have understood the implications of what Jesus is saying because the crucifixion event has not yet happened. But this is what Jesus is saying. He is contrasting himself with them and he is saying, I am a good shepherd to the extent that I don't just declare myself to be a gate. I literally am a gate who is willing to fight for my sheep. So I literally lay down my life for these sheep whom I have purchased with my own blood and so when the evil one comes, I will not abandon them. I mean, these words are such a great assurance for us, right? Because living in the fallen world that we are living in, we face attacks from many sides. I mean, simply because the world is evil, we face injustices. There are uncertainties regarding the future sometimes. Sometimes there are struggles regarding finances, regarding health. All that just because we are living in this fallen world. And then of course there are times when the evil one directly attacks us, directly targets us. So in the midst of all of this, it's such a deep assurance to know that this Jesus, what kind of a good shepherd is he? He owns us. He has purchased us. He is not a hireling. A hireling is just there to watch out for his own interests. The only reason that hireling is looking after the sheep is because he is going to get paid for it. So he's basically in it for what he can get for himself. So when he looks at the flock, he looks at the flock as a source of income, as a source of maybe gaining popularity or gaining some kind of material gain. So the flock exists for the benefit of the hireling. On the other hand, the owner of the sheep, he literally lives to serve his sheep. So he sees himself as being there for the benefit of his sheep. With the hireling, it's the other way around. The hireling looks at the sheep and says, oh, the sheep are there for my benefit. But the owner says, no, I am there for the benefit of my sheep. There's a complete reversal in the way these two look at the flock. So we are in the hands of someone who cares about us personally and he has chosen to be our gate. And so we can have the assurance that whether people are attacking us or the evil one is attacking us, he is there to watch over us. So when unfortunate events are allowed and permitted by the Lord, we can continue to hold on to the fact that he is a good shepherd. So he will never permit anything that I know that are not clearly within his eternal purposes. So we can always trust in his goodness. And then Jesus goes on to make another point which we would see in verses 14, 15 and 16. So if we can have someone read out for us verses 14, 15 and 16, please. I am really a good shepherd and I know my sheep and I'm known by my own. As the Father knows me, even so I know the Father and I lay down my life for the sheep. And the ownership I have, which are not of this flock, then also I must bring and they will hear my voice and there will be one flock and one shepherd. So Jesus is continuing the imagery and he's already repeated this three times saying that my sheep know me. They are able to hear me. They are able to recognize that I am the true shepherd. And in your PDF notes, you know, Pastor Ashish has included an example over there. He mentions an event that took place during World War I when some Turkish soldiers wanted to steal an entire flock of sheep. And so they come during the night and they begin to lead the sheep away. And the shepherd wakes up and realizes that his flock is being taken away and he calls out to them. Shepherds have their own unique signature calls. They have a particular sound which they make or they have a particular unique kind of whistle which they give. And the sheep are familiar with that. So they know their shepherd. They know the sound that he makes. They recognize his voice. So in this particular incident, when he calls out to the sheep, the sheep realize that they are following the wrong people and they immediately start flocking back to the shepherd. And the soldiers are unable to control such a large flock and the shepherd is able to get back his sheep. So the sheep will never go with a stranger. So here Jesus is saying the true sheep, the ones who recognize my voice, who recognize that what I am speaking is the truth that I am from the Father. They will come to me. They will listen to me. They will not listen to you Pharisees because you Pharisees are strangers. You are not the true shepherds. So here Jesus is making the clear point that his sheep, the ones who have a desire in their heart to know the truth, they will be able to discern the truth because God will help them. The shepherd will help them to hear his voice. And so Jesus goes on to say not only the sheep who are here in Israel, but even other sheep belonging to other nations, they too will listen to my voice. It's what Jesus says in verse 16. So he says I will bring them also and add them to my flock. And he says there shall be one flock and one shepherd. So we are all part of one single flock. So originally Jesus did not mean us to have so many different denominations. We all were just meant to be one single united flock. But of course due to differences which cropped up, people chose to form different denominations. But as long as we can coexist in peace, willing to help each other, willing to be there for each other, rather than pointing fingers at each other and trying to drag down each other, I think it would be alright. What usually happens between denominations is that each tries to declare themselves superior to the other. And that is not something that pleases the shepherd at all. Because this shepherd has laid down his life for the sheep. I mean the other denomination that I am criticizing and trying to slander, he has purchased the sheep of that denomination with his own blood. And so it would be a most evil thing for me to speak against them, to act against them, to kind of blacken their name. No, these are things which the shepherd will not approve of at all. So we need to be very careful in our attitude towards people who belong to other denominations, who may have slightly other doctrines than we do. Of course when it comes to essential matters such as salvation, there is no compromising. We follow whatever the scriptures say. But when it comes to other minor things about how a church service should be conducted, whether we should have footwear or not, when we go on to the pulpit and things like that, we need to be more flexible and we need to be careful not to criticize the others who are doing things differently from us. Because these things matter to this shepherd who has purchased this sheep. So let's move now into the next portion. Maybe we can look at verses 22 all the way up to verse 29. And yeah, thank you so much. Such a wide variety of you are reading the scriptures today. We had so many different people reading so far. So thank you so much. If we can have one person read out 22 all the way up to 29 please. Verse 22, now it was the feast of dedication in Jerusalem and it was winter and Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch. Then the Jews surrounded him and said to him, how long do you keep us in doubt? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you and you do not believe. The words that I do in my father's name, they bear witness of me. But you do not believe because you're not of my sheep as I said to you. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall anyone 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. So here it reminds us in fact of Romans 8 where it says, who can separate us from the love of God? I mean not even the principalities and powers can separate us from the love of God. So we have that echoed over here where Jesus says, my father who has given them to me is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of my father's hand. That is the deep security that we have in our Lord. So we are the sheep who have chosen to listen to his voice because we have been open to his voice. He has helped us to accept him and now we are part of the flock. The problem with these Jews is that even though they have been hearing again and again and he's been saying the same thing to these people that he has said to his followers these people don't seem to be able to believe. So here they are coming for the umpteenth time and again asking, tell us plainly who you are. I mean, hasn't Jesus been doing that all along? He said, father is testifying about me. The works which I do are testifying about me. The Old Testament scriptures are testifying about me. He has said this again and again and again. And at the end of it all, here they are coming again and saying, tell us plainly you have not been plain enough. And so Jesus says, the reason that it doesn't sound plain to you is because you are not my sheep. You have no desire to hear the truth. When the truth is presented to you, you choose to blind yourself to it. So Jesus says in verse 26, you do not believe because you are not my sheep. It is what he says. And then Jesus again repeats one last time, let them again hear it because they said plainly tell us. So now in verse 30, he's plainly telling them. He says, I and the Father are one. And what is their response when he plainly tells them who he is? They pick up stones to stone him. Now that clearly demonstrates to them that they are not interested in the plain truth. I mean, how much more plain can it get? The Lord says, I and the Father are one. And their response is not to bow down in worship, but rather to pick up stones to stone him. And so then Jesus says, I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me? This is like sarcasm in what Jesus is saying. You ask me to be plain. So now I have been plain. I'm telling you that I and the Father are one. Believe in this. If it was my true sheep, they would have heard this and they have, you know, when they heard it, they believed it. You on the other hand are unable to believe it because you are not my sheep. And here you are getting ready to stone me. So for which good work of mine are you stoning me now? Notice what Jesus says over here. And they are very angry and they respond and they say, we are not stoning you for any good work. They replied that we'd be in your verse 33. But for blasphemy, because you are mere man, claim to be God. So now Jesus is being very plain and telling them who he is and they do not wish to accept it. And then we have versus 34 up to 39. Yeah. If we can have someone read out for us versus 34 to 39, please. John 10 versus 34 to 39. If someone could read out, please. Jesus answered them. Is it not written in your law? I said you are God's. If he called them God's to whom the word of God came and the scripture cannot be broken. Do you say of him whom the father sanctified and sent into the world? You are blasphemy. Because I said I am the son of God. If I do not do the works of my father, do not believe me. But if I do, though you do not believe me, believe the works that you may know and believe that the father is in me and I ain't him. Therefore they sought against to see him, but he escaped out of there. So these are words that Jesus has been repeating again and again. So when they say we are stoning you for blasphemy, again Jesus says, if you do not believe me, if you do not want to take my word for it, believe the works that I am doing, because the works that I am doing, prove that I am from the father. These are good works that I am doing. So this is a repetition. Again and again Jesus is repeating the truth and we touched upon the idea in the previous classes. These things would have meant a lot to the first time readers of the gospel. So this gospel was written out to build their faith, to confirm and affirm to them that Jesus is truly the Messiah. So John was assuring his original readers that yes, even though you are going through persecution, hold on, do not stop believing, because these are all the things that Jesus said about himself and what he spoke is the truth and you who are his sheep will be able to hear his voice and discern that what he is speaking is true. So these testimonies about his works, about what the father has said, these are repeated in several places because again and again John is stressing this, emphasizing this for his readers to assure them that what they have decided to do in following Jesus is indeed the right decision and he is encouraging them to hold on to the truth which is presented in Christ. So here Jesus says something in verse 34 and some people have come up with wrong doctrines based on these words and so it is important for us to kind of understand the context. So when they say that a mere man is claiming to be God, Jesus says yes, you people who are familiar with the law, especially these Jewish leaders who would be very familiar with the Old Testament law, he says, yeah I mean even humans have been called gods in the past, isn't it? In the Old Testament doesn't it say in a particular place that people are also called gods and that actually is Psalm 82 that Jesus is referring to where actually it's talking about judges, the judges who are supposed to dispense justice and protect the interests of the weak and the poor. So over there in Psalm 82 God is speaking to these people who are false judges, they are corrupt judges and so he says to them in Psalm 82, you are supposed to be the gods who are supposed to be defending the people and you are gods in the sense the word of God is coming to you which is what Jesus also says over here. He says in verse 35, if he called them gods to whom the word of God came. So they were gods in the sense the word of God was given to them and now they were supposed to act upon it in the right way. So if God declared that someone is guilty then they should actually punish them rather than take bribes from them and send them away. So they were not doing that. In the same way, if the word of the Lord came to them saying that this person is innocent, release them, they are supposed to bring justice rather than exploiting the helpless people. So these people, these judges in Psalm 82 were not doing that and so God says to them you seem to be under the impression that you are literally gods. Your gods only in the sense that you are carrying out my word and you are supposed to be carrying out my justice but you are under the impression that you are actually gods but he says in Psalm 82 verse 7, he says but you will die like mere mortals you will fall like every other ruler. So Jesus says even humans have been called gods by the Lord in the sense that the word of God came to them. Now here I am directly from the Father and I am bringing words to you which are directly from Him and I am in fact doing works which are from the Father to back up what I am saying and still you are saying that I am blaspheming. So he brings an argument to them which would have made sense to them. These people who are standing on the Old Testament law when they hear this argument that would have made them think a bit about what Jesus is saying. So another maybe passage that we could just briefly touch upon just to make this idea clearer. In Exodus chapter 4 verse 16 this is what God says to Moses regarding Aaron. He will speak to the people for you. This is God saying that to Moses. So God is saying to Moses Aaron will speak to the people for you and it would be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him. Now the Lord saying over here is Yahweh saying over here that Moses is God. Definitely not. All that Yahweh is saying over here is that when you deliver my words to Aaron it's as if you are God and you are giving to him what I am conveying to him whatever I have given to you. So in that sense you are God. So people who kind of twist this passage and say oh Jesus said that we are all God and they start interpreting it in their own way they can lead us into all kinds of false teaching. So this is the correct interpretation. We are supposed to take this in this limited sense that when someone is conveying the words of God in that sense they are just a God with a minor G. So not the capital G. So we should only interpret this in that correct sense and not stretch out this concept. So yeah. Alright moving into the next chapter John chapter 11 So now this is the story of Nazareth and we have a lot of details here that can prove very helpful. If we can have someone read out for us John chapter 11 verses 1 to 3 please John 11 1 to 3 Now a certain man was sick Lazarus of Bethany the son of Mary and her sister Martha. It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with pregnant oil and wiped his feet with her hair whose brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore the sister sent to him saying Lord behold he whom you love is sick. So here we have the story of Lazarus and his two sisters Mary and Martha and John the writer clarifies and says the particular Mary that we are talking about here this is the one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. Now this incident in fact takes place later after Lazarus has been raised from the dead. So at this particular point in the story this pouring of the perfume has not yet occurred but she is the person about whom this story talks about. So in verse 3 we learn that the sisters are sending a message to Jesus saying Lord the one you love is sick. Okay so it looks like they were hoping that you know he would immediately come and speak healing over their brother and so they send a message and we get to know at the end of the previous chapter John chapter 10 where Jesus is staying at this particular time. So in John 1040 we are told he went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was baptizing at first and there he stayed. So right now Jesus is staying in a place beyond the Jordan where John used to first baptize. So which is that place if you were to go back to John chapter 1 verse 28 we are told these things were done in Beth Barah beyond the Jordan where John was baptizing that would be in our NKJV. You know NIV uses a different manuscript so they have a slightly different wording over there but basically this seems to be some place which is beyond the Jordan which means that it's basically a one day journey. So it looks like Lazarus is getting very sick and so the sisters send messengers who would have traveled one entire day to reach the place where Jesus is staying. So they travel one entire day and they come over here with a message saying that the one that you love is sick. And maybe we can read out verses 5 to 10 if someone could please read out for us verses 5 to 10. Verse 5, now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus so when he heard that he was sick he stayed two more days in the place where he was then after this he said to the disciples let us go to Judea again. The disciples said to him Rabbi lately that you sought to stone you and you are going there again Jesus answered are there not 12 hours in the day if anyone walks in the day he does not stumble because he sees the light of this world but if one walks in the night he stumbles because the light is not in him. Yeah. I seem to have missed out verse 4. So when the messengers come and they say that Lord the one you love is sick we have Jesus reply in verse 4 sorry I just missed out on that verse. So when he heard this Jesus said this sickness will not end in death no it is for God's glory so that God's son may be glorified through it. So the messengers have travelled one entire day and come over here and now they are informing Jesus about this and it looks like Lazarus is still alive at this particular point of time because Jesus just simply says this sickness will not end in death so he asks them to convey this message he asks them to take this message back to the sisters so he is saying this sickness will not end in death no it is for God's glory so that God's son may be glorified through it so having given the messengers this assurance having told them to convey this positive message to the sisters he decides to stay over there for another two days and with what attitude does he stay in that place for another two days with an attitude of love it says Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus so with that attitude of love and compassion he chooses to stay there another two days. Now later on in the passage we get to know that Jesus finally goes four days after the burial so we kind of get the impression from that that shortly after Jesus has given this message to the messengers telling that this will not end in death it looks like maybe around that time Lazarus dies so they would have travelled one day again another entire day's travel they would have gone back and so when they reach over there with this message it says this will not end in death there the sisters are mourning the death of their brother so it almost sounds like Jesus made a mistake in the message which he has sent but when we read verse 5 it says he has done all of this in love with an attitude of love and with that attitude of love he has chosen to stay another two days in that place so Lazarus died at some point the previous day so he was dead that day the next two days will be day 2 and day 3 of his being dead and then on day 4 is when Jesus says to his disciples back to Judea and you know at the end of chapter 10 we saw that they were very determined to stone him so it's a little risky to be going back over there which is why the disciples say it may not be a very good idea for us to go there now and Jesus again says this about daylight being there and how we need to work when there is daylight this is something that we talked about earlier in John chapter 9 verses 3 to 5 so in John 9 3 to 5 Jesus had said as long as it is day we must do the works of him who sent me so here he is saying anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble or they see by this world's light in John chapter 9 he said while I'm in the world I am the light of the world now when we add up what we read in John chapter 9 with what is mentioned over here we can just kind of summarize and say that the time for Jesus crucifixion has not yet come his days on the earth are you know he still has many more days left scheduled for him so while it is still time for him to continue his work over here he will continue to do it so he says to the disciples over here he says are there not 12 hours of daylight my 12 hours are not yet up we are walking in the daytime now while my time has not yet come so we will not stumble no need to worry everything will be fine so the disciples are worried that he may get attacked but Jesus is assuring them and saying no no we are still having our 12 hours of daylight and I am in this world as the light of the world so it's alright nothing bad will happen you know over there and yeah I think we are kind of reaching our break alright fine then we will come back at 10 o clock and we will resume from verse 11 thank you