How To Live And Die Happy
John 10 How To Live Happy And Die Happy
John Mahar passed away last week. As Margaret said, "John was a deeply godly man who had a joy in living and in dying. He knew where he was going. He had a full assurance of faith. His trust was wholly in the Lord Jesus. He lived happy and died happy knowing he was going to go home to be with the Lord."
Now it wasn't of those who think God owes people materialistic happiness, but a happiness that is much deeper than that. A joy that seeks us in pain. An abundant life. That is purposeful and at peace with God and lived in communion with God whatever the outward circumstances may be.
Chuck Swindoll writes "Jesus' predecessors are the priests, scribes, and Pharisees who presently ruled over the Jews. By identifying them as "thieves and robbers," He cast them in the role prophesied by Jeremiah (Jer. 23), Ezekiel (Ezek. 34), and Zechariah (Zech. 11). Whereas the Annas Bazaar left the people of Israel physically and spiritually impoverished (John 2:13-14), Jesus came to bring genuine abundance. People in the West (especially the false prophets of the "Word of Faith" movement) interpret "abundance" to mean prosperity, an abundance of money and possessions, creature comforts, a fat wallet, a prestigious job, the nicest house in town, and the sleekest car in the driveway. Yet I see no indication that Jesus offered His followers anything by way of material wealth. No stack of shekels. No pension. No insurance coverage. Not even a guarantee of safety. In fact, He promised them quite the opposite (Luke 9:22-25). So if abundance is not cash, possessions, or comfort, what is it? Given that Jesus' inner circle of followers suffered persecution and died as martyrs, what kind of abundance did they receive? The abundance Jesus offers is a spiritual abundance that transcends circumstances like income, health, living conditions, and even death."
The abundant life is life that never ends, yet we don't have to wait until the end of our physical life to receive this abundance and to enjoy it. Abundant life includes peace, purpose, destiny, a genuine purpose for living, the joy of facing any adversity—including the grave—without fear, and the ability to endure hardship with confident assurance."
Our Heidelberg catechism today said:
Question 2. How many things are necessary for thee to know, that thou, enjoying this comfort, mayest live and die happy?
Answer. Three; the first, how great my sins and miseries are; the second, how I may be delivered from all my sins and miseries; the third, how I shall express my gratitude to God for such deliverance.
How can you live happy and die happy? It has a whole lot to do with having a full assurance of faith.
It has a whole lot to do with question 1.
Question 1. What is thy only comfort in life and death? Answer. That I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ, who, with his precious blood, hath fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me that, without the will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must be subservient to my salvation: and therefore, by his Holy Spirit, he also assures me of eternal life, and makes me sincerely willing and ready henceforth to live unto him
Now doctrine can be hard and dry. And the very last thing that the Lord wants is for you to fall asleep while discussing theology, or history. We survived the 11th chapter of Daniel a couple of weeks ago!
I heard about a little girl who got very scared one night due to a thunderstorm. She called for her mum in the middle of the night. Mum came up and comforted her and reminded her that God was bigger than the storms, He is stronger than the lightning and in control of the thunder. The little girl said, "That's good mum, but I need someone with skin on!"
When the Lord Jesus dealt with the very important issue of true assurance of eternal life, He told a parable about the Good Shepherd. That is one story that sticks in everyone's minds. It has skin on!
Sheep are raised for two main reasons: for food, or for their wool. The wool got a good price. The fields, though, were family inherited allotments. And much of the land had flocks of sheep representing different families of the main family that was first given the land in Joshua's day. So the shepherds had smaller flocks that grazed across land corporately owned by the tribe which land they shared with other family flocks. The shepherd faithfully nurtured and protected each animal throughout its life. "He sacrificed his own comfort to provide safe grazing during the day and risked his own safety to guard the flock against thieves and predators during the night. Consequently, it was not uncommon for a shepherd to know each of his animals individually and to call each one by name. A good shepherd never allowed his flock to remain in the field as night fell; thieves and wild animals took advantage of darkness to steal and to kill. If the pasture was close enough to the village, the sheep would be driven from the field to a communal pen, which was guarded by a designated keeper. In the morning, shepherds led their sheep out to pasture again. During warmer months, shepherds frequently drove their flocks into the wilderness to find adequate grazing. Think about the region between Nyngan and Bourke. 2 -4 sheep per acre in NSW. But in Nyngan half a sheep per acre. And Judah was relatively dry. So their flocks were relatively small. "They always remained with them, camping out under the stars for weeks at a time. As darkness fell each evening, they corralled the flock into a cave or some other natural enclosure and slept at the entrance. Shepherds frequently worked together and even shared the same enclosure during the night. The following morning the flocks could be easily separated simply by calling them in opposite directions." Swindoll.
And this illustration suited well to describe how the world could be divided into two flocks. Now to the Jewish mind, the flocks were the Jews, the goodies, and the Gentiles (particularly the Romans and Greeks) who were obviously the baddies. But the Lord Jesus, referring to the prophecies in the 7th century BC prophets like Jeremiah and Ezekiel, saw the baddies as some of the Priests and Leaders of the Jews who were not being Good Shepherds. So the Lord Jesus tells the parable to highlight that He was the Good Shepherd, and whether someone was a goody or baddy was defined by their relationship to Him.
He IS the Good Shepherd. And today, He is the Good Shepherd.
And you are in His flock if you are His sheep. No one is born into His flock. Being an Aussie or Dutch or some other nationality doesn't make you a Christian. People have to come into through the gate, the Lord Jesus, to become part of His flock! And if you are not part of His flock you miss out on everything He came to bring.
As the Good Shepherd there are some things the Lord Jesus does that make Him Good for you and me. Recently the Editor of the Australian Newspaper Greg Sheridan wrote a book. "God is Good For You!" "Without a relationship with God, human beings are deprived of the one fact across history which has mandated their universal and irreducible value… The lack of purpose and meaning, the lack of any ultimate standards that come with the exile of God from our culture lead to savage polarisations and sudden outbursts of hysterical sentiments. There is a disorientation which is alternately enervated and frenzied. There is no ground below us, and above us only darkness. For without God, human beings are no longer unique and universal, no longer special in nature. They are just one more chancy outcrop of the planet and its biosphere, ultimately no more worthy of consideration than a cockroach. If we lose God, we lose something essential of our humanity."
To Live Happy and Die Happy I Need Someone with skin on.
I Need Someone To Know Me Guide Me and Guard Me.
To Live Happy and Die Happy I Need to Know and Experienc
1. God's Great Grace In The Good Shepherd
The Attractiveness of His Character: He loves His Sheep Intimately
14 I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me,15 even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.
"I hear people talk about love but I don't know what love is." I know what this person was feeling. Sometimes our upbringing hinders us from understanding the nature of God's love. I grew up in a dysfunctional family where my mother was badly schizophrenic. My father said to me once "I blame you for all of my unhappiness. Because you were born, I had to stay in that marriage!" As you cn imagine, from my earliest memory something was lacking.. basic love. Discovering the love of God for me His sheep, was unbelievable! Why should God love me when I don't love me?
After coming to know the Lord Jesus as a teenager, I knew intellectually that God loved me. After all, John 3:16 says "For God so loved the world.." But He seemed far away and distant. But He wasn't. I discovered that the Good Shepherd, the Lord, cared for a carried His sheep that I began to know that His love for me was real. He has guided and guarded me as His sheep all the way through my life.
The Inclusiveness of His Concern: He Seeks and Shelters His Sheep
16 I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.
I remember at High school reading a poem by Francis Thompson THE HOUND OF HEAVEN 1 I fled Him, down the nights and down the days; 2 I fled Him, down the arches of the years; 3 I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways 4 Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears 5 I hid from Him, and under running laughter. .. 168 How little worthy of any love thou art! 169 Whom wilt thou find to love ignoble thee, 170 Save Me, save only Me? 179 Shade of His hand, outstretched caressingly? 180 'Ah, fondest, blindest, weakest, 181 I am He Whom thou seekest! 182 Thou dravest love from thee, who dravest Me."
Jean Ingelow wrote a beautiful hymn "1 I sought the Lord, and afterward I knew he moved my soul to seek him, seeking me. It was not I that found, O Savior true, no, I was found of thee.
2 Thou didst reach forth thy hand and mine enfold, I walked and sank not on the storm-vexed sea.
'Twas not so much that I on thee took hold as thou, dear Lord, on me.
Here is amazing love. That the Good shepherd seeks the lost sheep.
The Lord Jesus told this parable in Luke's gospel (15). So He told them this parable, saying,4 "What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?5 When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
The lost sheep didn't seek the shepherd (that's how he got lost!) The Shepherd sought the lost sheep. If you have believed on the Lord Jesus as your saviour He came and sought you. If you are here today and you are not sure whether He is seeking you, you are here today because He IS seeking you. Come back to Him today!
The Effectiveness of His Call: It Expects a Response and a Relationship
26 But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep.27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.
Westminster Catechism Q. 68: Are the elect only effectually called?
A.: All the elect, and they only, are effectually called; although others may be, and often are, outwardly called by the ministry of the word, and have some common operations of the Spirit; who, for their wilful neglect and contempt of the grace offered to them, being justly left in their unbelief, do never truly come to Jesus Christ.
But when God who had set me apart, even from my mother's womb and CALLED me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me (Gal. 1:15–16).
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are CALLED according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28).
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has CALLED you out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Pet. 2:9).
2. God's Great Gift In The Good Shepherd
11"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep… "I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. .. 17The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father."
Assurance is Yours Because Christ Died For You: He Purchased You!
He laid down His life for you. He died for you particularly! We often use the term "Limited atonement" in the Reformed church. Another term is clearer I think. "Particular redemption". While "limited" sounds negative, that the Lord Jesus' atoning death is limited to those He died to redeem, Particular redemption is more positive: He particularly died for you who believe in Him as your Saviour and your God. How beautiful are the words of the Apostle Paul in Galatians 2:20 "The Son of God loved Me and gave Himself for me!" You can say those words as true for you!" What love is this that He should die for me!
"Amazing love, How can it be, That Thou my God shouldst die for me!"
3. God's Great Grip Of The Good Shepherd
"My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. 30I and the Father are one."
The Perseverance of God! Phil 1:6. For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. 1 Cor 1:8,9 awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ,8 who will also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.9 God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
4. God's Great Glory: The Good Shepherd
Eph.1: 4For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace
Ode to Joy.
Jesus Saviour we adore Thee Shepherd of Thy blood bought sheep
From Thy hand no one can pluck us Safe are all whom Thou dost keep.
Brightness of the Father's glory, God and man in One combined,
Faithful Shepherd of the chosen: Safe are all to Thee consigned.
Never perish! words of sweetness, Dissipating ev'ry fear,
Filling all with joy and gladness Who the Shepherd's voice will hear.
2:8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast.
How Does Securing Your Salvation Glorify God? It Vindicates
The Promises of God The Perfection of God The Prayer of Jesus The Power of God
How To Be Happy in Life And Death?
Preach The Gospel To Yourself Everyday
I love to tell the story, for those who know it best seem hungering and thirsting to hear it, like the rest.
And when, in scenes of glory, I sing the new, new song, 'twill be the old, old story that I have loved so long.
In His discourse with the religious experts, Jesus described four qualities of God's sheep. His purpose was to show that none of the religious experts bore any evidence of these qualities and therefore should be regarded as outsiders.
I Need Someone to Know Me. Know Him My Sheep..
I Need Someone To Guide Me My Sheep Hear my voice..
God's sheep are sensitive to His leading (10:27a). If you were to travel the world and hold an informal conversation with Christians in different countries and from different cultures, you will eventually hear them describe a common experience: the inner prompting of the Holy Spirit leading them to do certain things or to go certain places. I'm amazed by the similarities in the descriptions of people living on opposite sides of the globe. I need to hear His voice in His Word and follow the Good Shepherd.
I Need Someone To Guard Me Be confident of His guarding you. My Sheep hear My voice and they follow Me... Sheep follow their shepherd because sheep without a shepherd die; they fall prey to wild animals, they wander into danger, they fail to find food and water, and they succumb to the elements. I need to trust the Good Shepherd to lead me to green pastures. I need to obey Him and follow Him.
God's sheep are confident (10:28). Domestic sheep and sheep in the wild behave very differently while grazing. Wild sheep remain ever vigilant against predators; they chew with their heads up, constantly scanning their surroundings for danger. Domestic sheep graze with their heads down, popping up only when a noise draws their attention. When sheep have a good shepherd, they feel secure; they don't live in constant fear. Believers rest in the confidence that Christ has done everything to secure their eternal safety for them. Because He is completely faithful, we may rest in the confident assurance that we will be preserved from evil until evil no longer exists.
God's sheep are secure (10:29). This is a fact, not a feeling. Regardless of how insensitive, how disobedient, or how fearful the sheep choose to be, their place in the flock is secure. This is not to suggest the believer's behavior is irrelevant or unimportant. People who willfully resist spiritual growth and who evidence no change in their values or behavior need to seriously question their spiritual condition. However, eternal security—like salvation itself—is not based upon the goodness of the believer. We are just as incapable of holding onto salvation as we were of earning it in the first place.
Trust Him To Guard You
I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day. 2 Tim 1:12
Will you live Happy and die happy? There is only one way that can be, if you have come to the Lord Jesus. You must hear His voice. This is called the inner call of the Holy Spirit.
Remember I said earlier "The lost sheep didn't seek the shepherd (that's how he got lost!) The Shepherd sought the lost sheep. If you have believed on the Lord Jesus as your saviour He came and sought you. If you are here today and you are not sure whether He is seeking you, you are here today because He IS seeking you. Come back to Him today!" You can come back to Him today by joining me in this prayer.
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