Which Are You? It is Possible to—Know that You Know that You Know!
“The hearing ear and the seeing eye,
(Proverbs 20: 12 NASB)
The LORD has made both of them.”
When I was a kid, my great-grandfather was a sheep-herder.
When I was a kid, my dad was a herder of pigs, cows, and chickens.
When I was a kid, we traveled on most Sundays to my great-grandparents home, one where a HUGE barn stood. We played within the barn (my younger brother and I) racing through the secret passageways and pens, climbing into the barn loft, swinging on the thick rope that hung from the rafters, trying our best to swing through the barn loft opening in the side of the barn. If I had made that feat, more than likely I would be dead today because in my excitement of going through that opening, I probably would have let go of the rope.
There’s something to be learned there.
God never lets go of us once we are His!
My great-grandfather kept sheep in his pasture, quiet docile creatures. As a child, I never really understood the sheep because once we returned home, I was surrounded not by sheep but by cows, pigs, and chickens.
Today, as an adult, as a child of God, it is so easy to see the allegory, to see the message God wants us to see when we look at sheep.
De schaap (the sheep); de varken (the pig); de koe (the cow); and de kip (the chicken).
Now, that’s a bit of Dutch, a language I am striving to learn—a bit slowly it seems; nevertheless, as I studied God’s Word, the Dutch words raced into my mind as I read.
Progress with the language I suppose.
Understanding of God’s Word, that’s where my heart strives to exist.
Sheep and pigs do not act similarly.
Schaap and varken cannot cohabitate within the same pen. That is correct!
Sheep and pigs should not desire to live or to exist within the same company, within the same area. We may visit the pigpen, but we cannot reside there.
- One may be in a pigpen for a season, but if he is a sheep, he will not be able to stay inside the pigpen.
- One may backslide—Yes!
- One may perish—Yes!
- The sheep may get into the pigpen—Yes!
Nevertheless, there has never been a sheep in a pigpen that stayed in a pigpen!
Schaap and Varken do not cohabitate!
- A sheep is always a schaap!
- A schaap is always a sheep!
So the questions become:
- How can we know if we are a sheep or not?
- How can we know if someone is a Christian or not?
More importantly, how can I & You (individually) know if we are a Christian or not?
The answer is so simple—Scripturally!
The answer is provided by Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world!
“Jesus answered them, [the Jewish religious leaders] “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me.
(John 10: 25-30 NASB)
But you do not believe, because you are not My sheep.”
[Let us pay close attention to Jesus’ next statement.]
“My sheep listen to My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;
and 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 the Father’s hand.
I and the Father are one.”
Do we trust God?
Do we live in relationship with Jesus, the Son of God?
Do we rely upon the guidance of the Holy Spirit of God?
Are we unwavering, faithful within our reliance upon God?
Have we placed our confidence in what we can do or not do?
OR
Have we placed our confidence in what God-alone has the ultimate power to do!!!
“God takes His position
(Psalm 82: 1 & 5 NASB)
in His assembly;
He judges in the midst of the gods. . . .
They do not know nor do
they understand;
They walk around in darkness;
All the foundations of the
earth are shaken.”
“You’ve Always Been” by the band Unspoken speaks of the truth of God; pause today and enjoy the reminder.
“JESUS!
You’ve been my Savior, Sustainer—when I’m at my end.
My Healer, Redeemer—again and again.
My mother, brother, sister, and friend.
Everything I’ve needed—You’ve always been!
Oh yes You have.
Thank You, Jesus!
You’ve always been!”
“You’ve Always Been”
Grace is what we do not deserve!
- God’s Grace is the unmerited love that God shows to sinful people!
- God expressed his love through the sacrificial death of His only Son—JESUS!
- God’s Grace becomes ours when we receive Jesus Christ as our Savior!
It is only through God’s Grace that we are forgiven by God and adopted into His family!
- My life before God’s grace was dead and headed toward eternal separation from God!
- I was born that way!
- I was alive, but I did not have spiritual life!
- By my humanistic nature, I leaned away from God and leaned toward the ways of the world.
My life after God’s Grace is alive because “once I was blind, but now I see!”
- My life after God’s Grace must be lived in total surrender to my Lord!
- My life after God’s Grace is not one marked by “religion” but by a conversation, a relationship with My Savior Jesus!
- My life after God’s Grace is one where I encounter Jesus, follow Him, and do His will.
So, you and I may be tempted, and we may be led astray by the devil straight back into the pigpen, but we will not be able to stay there—in the pigpen because the Holy Spirit of God will convict our soul of our sinfulness.
- Sheep and pigs cannot cohabitate within the same pen. That is correct!
- Schaap and Varken do not cohabitate!
Even though we may find ourselves caught down in the pigpen, but we cannot reside there.
If a person is a sheep (God’s child), he will not be able to stay inside the pigpen!
That is 100% True!
- One may backslide—Yes!
- One may perish—Yes!
- The sheep may get into the pigpen—Yes!
Nevertheless, there has never been a sheep in a pigpen that stayed in a pigpen!
God will convict His own!
His own will hear His voice & His own will respond to His voice!
- A sheep is a schaap & is always a schaap!
- A schaap is a sheep & is always a sheep!
- A person is a child of God once and for all!
- A child of God cannot escape (nor would he ever desire to) from the hand of God!
- No enemy can pluck the sheep out of the Savior’s hand!
It is impossible!
&
It is so wonderful!
God is God is God is the Good Shepherd!
No created being can take the sheep out of the Chief Shepherd’s hand—ever!
JESUS, the Messiah & the Son of God—said these words recorded within the Bible so that we can know with assurance—Which we are: God’s child OR not God’s child?
Let us see & Let us hear & Let us understand the word of God given to us through JESUS—the Savior of the whole world!
“My sheep listen to My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; . . .”
(John 10: 27 NASB)
Can the same be said of us?
- Are we alive through the work of Jesus upon Calvary’s cross?
- Are we leaning toward God?
- Are we “seeing and believing” in Jesus Christ as our Savior?
- Are we walking with our Savior, engaged in a daily conversation, enjoying a personal relationship with Jesus Christ?
- Are we living in total surrender to our Lord?
- Are we following Jesus and doing His will?
Which Are We?
Some people are religious.
Some people are church-goers.
Some people say they are Jesus-followers.
The proof, the evidence is found when we look intently into our being.
It is Possible to—Know that You Know that You Know!
It is Possible to—Reside within a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
- Every man!
- Every woman!
- Every child!
- Every person!
It is Possible to—Know that You Know that You Know!
“Then they will know that I, the LORD their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are My people,” declares the Lord GOD.
(Ezekiel 34: 30-31 NASB)
“As for you, My sheep, the sheep of My pasture, you are mankind, and I am your God,” declares the Lord GOD.”