Good morning. Jesus is getting ready to give an illustration
in which He uses more metaphors to describe Himself. He who does not enter by
the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a
thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is a Shepherd of the sheep.
To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own
sheep by name and leads them out. There are those who try to persuade members
of a church to follow them instead of the Pastor. They of course do it
surreptitiously. (I never have an occasion to use that word. I still remember
the first time I heard an explanation of what that word means. It was in high
school during gym period. Instead of having physical activity, we heard a
lecture by someone. They said that you can remember what that word means by the
last three letters of the word - sly. It is something that is done on the sly.)
The sheep know the shepherd’s voice. He also knows their name. This implies an
intimacy between them. When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them,
and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. (where He leads me, I
will follow.) A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him,
because they do not know the voice of strangers. If we know the true voice, we
will not follow strange ones. It reminds me of what I read one time about bank
tellers. They don’t teach them all the different types of counterfeit bills.
They make them handle real ones over and over again to get used to the feel of
them. A counterfeit bill would just not feel right. If we listen to His voice
over and over again, we will know when a false voice is speaking to us. Father thank
You that we know Your voice, and You know us by name. Speak to the reader today
so that he/she will know what he/she is to do.
Law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners
Good morning. So, was the law a bad thing? We know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully (not to control people, as some were), realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane…, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching, according to the glorious gospel of the Blessed God, with which I have been entrusted. I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer etc. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. Formerly Paul was good in the eyes of the law, but unrighteous in the eyes of God. Despite that, God was more than able to use him in a magnificent way to bring the gospel to the Gentiles. Father thank You that Your Grace is gre...
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