7/21/2019 Sound of Grace, Issue 206, April 2014
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shepherds who love Gods sheep and serve him by serving
the ock, God watches, remembers, and rewards.
It is imperative to continually bear in mind that the
shepherd metaphorwhen it is being applied to human
leadersis only one metaphor among many. In Ezekiel 34the wicked leaders of Israel are depicted as selsh, harsh,
and brutal shepherds, but they are also portrayed as ornery
sheep bullying other sheep in the ock. Human shepherds
must never forget that they are no less a sheep than any
other sheep in Gods ock! Some people are delegated
certain responsibilities by God, but they remain the same
species as those they are responsible to care for.
Bringing together the fact that both God and human
leaders are referred to as shepherds in the OT, one begins
to see that God him-
This article was transcribed from a sermon. It was left very much as verbally
presented, which accounts for the way some things are stated.
If this message had a subtitle, it would be, The Confessions of John Reis-inger. I think all of us have left some pools of blood in presenting the truths
of sovereign grace. I confess I left my share of them along the way. One of the
difculties we have in getting people to discuss truth is creating an atmosphere
where everybody wants to learn. The old Greeks in their debating society had a
rule that you were not allowed to enter into the debate and challenge somebody
until you could repeat, in your own words, what that person had said to his sat-
isfaction. Until you could do that, you didnt understand what he said, and thus
you had no business opening your mouth in criticism. If we would do that same
thing today instead of jumping to false conclusions and caricatures, we would
not have as many difculties. We have to learn to listen and understand what
somebody else is saying before we respond.
Issue 206 April 2014
It is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace Hebrews 13:9
How To, and How Not To Preach theDoctrines of GracePart One
John G. Reisinger
In our previous examination of the shepherd metaphor
in the OT, we noted that God himself is the ultimate shep-
herd of his people. All of the best qualities of a compe-
tent and caring shepherd are perfectly found in him. In
the thought world of the OT, shepherding imagery oftenreferred to leadership and governance. Since God alone
reigns and rules over all things, this particular connotation
points to his sovereign authority and power over all the
earth. Yet the OT frequently applies the shepherd metaphor
to human leaders who are appointed by God to care for
his ock. They are undershepherds, not owners; their right
to rule the ock of God is entirely derived from his good
pleasure. All of their authority is derivative, and as such
they are answerable and accountable to God for how they
discharge their duties. When shepherds abuse the sheep of
Gods pasture, they treat him with contempt. But for those
Shepherding the New Covenant Flock: Part 5 of 6Shepherding Imagery in the NT: The Good Shepherd
Steve West
ReisingerContinued on page 2
WestContinued on page 12
In This Issue
How To, and How Not To Preachthe Doctrines of GracePartOne
John G. Reisinger
1
Shepherding the New CovenantFlock: Part 5 of 6Shepherding Imagery in the NT:
The Good Shepherd
Steve West
1
Philippians: Joyful Unity in theGospelPart 1
A. Blake White
3
Mission to Manymar
Jonny Carson andRobert Millar
5
Enough Room
Stan Vaninger9
7/21/2019 Sound of Grace, Issue 206, April 2014
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Page 2 April 2014 Issue 206
Sound of Graceis a publication of Sovereign
Grace New Covenant Ministries, a tax exempt
501(c)3 corporation. Contributions to Sound
of Grace are deductible under section 170 of
the Code.
Sound of Graceis published 10 times a year.
The subscription price is shown below. This is
a paper unashamedly committed to the truth
of Gods sovereign grace and New Covenant
Theology. We invite all who love these sametruths to pray for us and help us nancially.
We do not take any paid advertising.
The use of an article by a particular person
is not an endorsement of all that person
believes, but it merely means that we thought
that a particular article was worthy of printing.
Sound of Grace Board: John G. Reisinger,
David Leon, John Thorhauer, Bob VanWing-
erden and Jacob Moseley.
Editor: John G. Reisinger; Phone: (585)396-
3385; e-mail: [email protected].
General Manager: Jacob Moseley:
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to: John G. Reisinger, 3302 County Road 16,
Canandaigua, NY 14424-2441.
Webpage: www.soundofgrace.org
or SOGNCM.org
Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken
from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNA-
TIONAL VERSION Copyright 1973, 1978,
1984 by International Bible Society. Used by
Permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked NKJV are
taken from the New King James Version.
Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Used by Permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version,
copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a
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ReisingerContinued from page 1
ReisingerContinued on page 4
Until we truly understand what each
other is really saying, a protable dis-
cussion is futile.
I have used the following story
to illustrate what I mean. The pope
was going to run all the Jews out of
Rome. The rabbi went to see the popeand said, You cant do this. The
pope said, Yes, we can because you
dont believe in the true God. The
discussion started to get heated, and
the pope said, We dont want to get
angry and start shouting; lets have
a silent debate. They both agreed to
settle the matter with a silent debate.
The pope made a sweeping gesture
with both hands. The rabbi jabbed the
palm of his left hand with his rightindex nger. The pope held up one
nger. The rabbi held up three ngers.
The pope blessed a
glass of wine and
drank it. The rabbi
blessed an apple
and ate it. The pope
said, You win, you
can stay.
The rabbi left and the cardinals
asked the pope what happened. Thepope explained, I said (by making
a sweeping gesture with my hands)
that God is everywhere. The rabbi
said (by jabbing his nger into the
palm of his hand), God is also right
here. That is as orthodox as we are.
I then said (by holding up one nger),
There is only one true God. The
rabbi replied (by holding up three
ngers), God might exist in three
persons. The cardinals asked, What
happened then? The pope said, Idont know, we had lunch together.
When the rabbi went out, the Jews
asked what had happened. The rabbi
said, I am not sure but we can stay.
The rabbi continued his explanation:
The pope said (by a sweeping gesture
with his hands), You Jews have to
get out of here. I replied (by jabbing
my nger into the palm of my hand),
We are staying right here. The pope
then said (by holding up one nger),
There is only one true God. Then I
replied (by holding up three ngers),
But God may exist in three persons.
The pope then said (by drinking the
wine), It is through the man, Christ
Jesus, that sin was taken out of the
world, and the rabbi replied (eat-ing the apple), It was by another
man, Adam, that sin came into the
world. The Jews then said, What
did the pope say next? The rabbi
said, Nothing at all, we had lunch
together.
Most of the time when Christians
discuss theology, they might just as
well have silent debates. They usually
dont really understand each other
any more than the pope and the rabbi
understood each other in their silent
debate. They just talk past each other.
When we say,
Why dont people
believe the doc-
trines of grace?
we can give an
easy answer and
say, because they
are totally depraved, and of course,
that is true. It is true that man, by
nature, hates God. That is a clear bib-lical fact. We know that men reject
grace because of depravity. However,
Im afraid there are some people who
have rejected the truth of the grace
of God because of the way that you
and I may have presented it to them.
I love the doctrines of grace and have
preached them openly for many years.
I have more than fty years of scars
to prove it, and I dont want to do any-
thing (and I dont think you do either)
to hinder the truth of the grace of God
and hinder people from receiving
these doctrines. We want to protect
the truth of sovereign grace from
abuse and misrepresentation.
Let me correct a misconception at
the beginning. I do not want to imply
in any way that if you say everything
in the best possible way, people are
Im afraid there are some
people who have rejected the truth of
the grace of God because of the way
that you and I may have presented it
to them.
7/21/2019 Sound of Grace, Issue 206, April 2014
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Issue 206 April 2014 Page 3
pay attention to what was spoken by
Paul. After she and her household
were baptized, she urged us, If you
consider me a believer in the Lord,
come and stay at my house. And she
persuaded us. Once, as we were on
our way to prayer, a slave girl met us
who had a spirit of prediction. She
made a large prot for her owners
by fortune-telling. As she followed
Paul and us she cried out, These
men, who are proclaiming to you the
way of salvation, are the slaves of
the Most High God. And she did this
for many days. But Paul was greatly
aggravated and turning to the spirit,
said, I command you in the name
of Jesus Christ to come out of her!
And it came out right away. When her
owners saw that their hope of prot
was gone, they seized Paul and Silas
and dragged them into the market-
place to the authorities. Bringing
them before the chief magistrates,
they said, These men are seriouslydisturbing our city. They are Jews
and are promoting customs that are
not legal for us as Romans to adopt
or practice. Then the mob joined in
the attack against them, and the chief
magistrates stripped off their clothes
and ordered them to be beaten with
rods. After they had inicted many
blows on them, they threw them in
jail, ordering the jailer to keep them
securely guarded. Receiving such
an order, he put them into the innerprison and secured their feet in the
stocks. About midnight Paul and Silas
were praying and singing hymns to
God, and the prisoners were listening
to them. Suddenly there was such a
violent earthquake that the founda-
tions of the jail were shaken, and im-
mediately all the doors were opened,
and everyones chains came loose.
WhiteContinued on page 10
witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea
and Samaria, and to the ends of theearth (Acts 1:8). The church is birthed
and her mission begins, but it is not
really the churchs mission. As one
has put it, It is not the church of God
that has a mission in the world, but
the God of mission that has a church
in the world. Our mission is part of
Gods mission. The mission of God
is the reason the church exists. In the
middle of Acts, Jesus interrupts Sauls
life, and Saul becomes Paul and is
forever-after a man on a mission. Here
is the story of how the church began
in Philippi:
They went through the region
of Phrygia and Galatia and were
prevented by the Holy Spirit from
speaking the message in Asia. When
they came to Mysia, they tried to go
into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus
did not allow them. So, bypassing
Mysia, they came down to Troas.
During the night a vision appeared to
Paul: A Macedonian man was stand-
ing and pleading with him, Cross
over to Macedonia and help us!
After he had seen the vision, we im-
mediately made efforts to set out for
Macedonia, concluding that God had
called us to evangelize them. Then,
setting sail from Troas, we ran a
straight course to Samothrace, the
next day to Neapolis, and from there
to Philippi, a Roman colony, which
is a leading city of that district of
Macedonia. We stayed in that city for
a number of days. On the Sabbath
day we went outside the city gate by
the river, where we thought there was
a place of prayer. We sat down and
spoke to the women gathered there.
A woman named Lydia, a dealer in
purple cloth from the city of Thyatira,
who worshiped God, was listen-
ing. The Lord opened her heart to
Everyone loves the book of
Philippians. Rightly so. It is short andsweet, full of rich gospel truth and
gospel application. Why do we have
this precious letter? How did this
church start? God has a mission, and
we are an integral part of it. What is
the mission of God? God created hu-
manity with the purpose of represent-
ing him and ruling the world on his
behalf, for His glory. Of course, our
rst parents decided not to trust God,
and sin entered the world with death
as its dreadful consequence; however,
God promises that the offspring of the
woman would conquer evil. The story
takes another dismal turn as humanity
continues in rebellion, and God judges
the whole world, other than Noah and
his family, for their persistent rebel-
lion. As the human race grows yet
again, God chooses one elderly, pagan
couple and promises to bless them
and to bless the nations through their
offspring. God told Abram that hisoffspring would be as numerous as the
stars of the sky.
The New Testament tells us that
Jesus is the singular offspring of
Abraham, and all who believe in him
are now Abrahams offspring, heirs
according to promise (Gal. 3:6-29).
That means you and I who believe
are among the stars of Abrahams
offspring. As the church grows, Gods
old promise to Abraham is being
fullled. You and I are Christians
because God made that promise thou-
sands of years ago in Genesis 12!
After the life, death, and resurrec-
tion of Jesus, but before he ascended
to the Father in the rst chapter of
Acts, Jesus told his disciples that the
kingdom would come, they would
receive power when the Holy Spirit
came on them, and they would be his
Philippians: Joyful Unity in the GospelPart 1
A. Blake White
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Page 4 April 2014 Issue 206
going to believe the doctrines of
grace. I dont want to give the impres-
sion that if you have had trouble and
some people get angry, it was your
entire fault because you did it wrong.
I dont believe that at all. Most people
rejected both Jesus and Paul whenthey preached grace, and the servant
will not be greater than his master.
However, I do believe we may have
asked for some of the difculties that
weve had in our attempts to teach
sovereign grace. I have fteen sugges-
tions on how to, and how not to, han-
dle the subject of Gods sovereignty
that I have learned over the years.
Number one:Dont ever approach
the preaching of the doctrines ofgrace, or any other biblical doctrine
for that matter, with a negative at-
titude. I read a book one time where
the rst line said, Election: that hated
doctrine. I wrote to the publisher and
said, If you ever publish this book
again, dont you dare start with that
statement. Start this way: Election
that beloved doctrine. Why would
anybody ever want to start a book
with a negative statement like that? I
had a friend who preached on the doc-trine of election. His rst statement
was, Now I know youre not going to
agree with this, and then he preached
a sermon on election. That is a stupid
way to begin unless your intention is
to deliberately antagonize people. I
had a lawyer friend who was in the
congregation; he said, Hes the only
man I can agree with 100% and still
get mad when he preaches. I think
there are people who have a natural
negative attitude, and I dont thinkthat helps in preaching the doctrines
of grace at all.
When you read the book of He-
brews, you hear some pretty harsh
things. In Hebrews chapter 5, Paul
accused people of being immature
little babies. Then at the beginning
of chapter 6, he shows there are some
bad signs with those people; hes not
even sure they were ever converted.
Then he argues that their past experi-
ence doesnt really prove that theyre
children of God. However, he does
not stop with the hard statements; he
holds out his hands and says, Im
persuaded better things of you. He
does everything he possibly can to
build a bridge even though thats oneof the most scary, harsh chapters that
youll nd in Holy Scripture. Yet
when hes nished scolding, he closes
by opening his heart and appealing
with all the pathos thats in him. He
says, Im persuaded better things of
you and proceeds to remind them of
all of the good things about them.
When you read the book of Gala-
tians, you see how Paul can be both
negative and positive. You see the
apostle Paul use
both the rod and
the staff. You see
him rebuking in
strong terms, and
you also see his
hearts sincere
concern. I long
to see Christ
formed in you
is the appeal of
a father, and yetthere is no harsh-
er book in the New Testament than
the book of Galatians. The apostle
takes the best avenue of approach that
he can take. He is not trying to win an
argument; he is trying to win peoples
hearts.
When people like you as a person,
they are 95% disposed to believe what
you say. And if they dont like you,
they are 95% disposed to reject what
you say. The way you say something
has an effect on the attitude of the
people who listen to you. If people
like you, they look for reasons to be-
lieve what youre saying. If they dont
like you, they sit there looking for
reasons why it cant possibly be right.
I am sure somebody is going to say,
Mr. Reisinger, youre talking like
Norman Vincent Peales power of
positive thinking. Well, Ill tell you
one thing for sure: theres no power in
negative thinking.However, Im not
talking about positive thinking; Im
talking about biblical thinking. I am
talking about the power of Scripture
and being like the writers of Scripture
in our presentation. When Paul rea-
soned in Acts chapter 26, he did thesame thing. Look at that passage of
Scripture. Remember the apostle Paul
is to be a pattern in all things to you
and to me, so we can learn from the
way he did it.
And as he thus spake for himself,
Festus said with a loud voice, Paul,
thou art beside thyself; much learning
doth make thee mad. But he said, I
am not mad, most noble Festus, but
speak forth the words of truth and
soberness. For the
king knoweth of these
things, before whom
also I speak freely, for
I am persuaded that
none of these things
are hidden from him,
for this thing was not
done in a corner. King
Agrippa, believest
thou the prophets? I
know thou believest.Then Agrippa said
unto him, Almost thou persuadest me
to be a Christian. Acts 26:24-28
Whether Agrippa was respond-
ing in scorn or whether he was really
moved, we cant know for sure, but
we can see the attitude of Paul. When
Festus says, Paul, youre crazy,
Paul, speaking to both Festus and
King Agrippa, did not say, Well,
youll just have to go to hell. Im not
going to talk to you; Im not going to
reason with you. No, no; Paul contin-
ued to talk, and he said, Now you be-
lieve this; you know you believe this.
He took the approach as positively as
he possibly could.
Number two:Never deliberately
or knowingly preach truth to people
that youre certain are going to reject
ReisingerContinued from page 2
ReisingerContinued on page 6
When people like you as a
person, they are 95% disposed
to believe what you say. And if
they dont like you, they are 95%
disposed to reject what you say.
The way you say something has
an effect on the attitude of the
people who listen to you.
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Issue 206 April 2014 Page 5
On January 12, 2014, my friend
and fellow pastor Jonny Carson andI started our journey to Myanmar/
Burma (organized by Asia-link). It
was an experience which neither of us
will ever forget.
Landing in Yangon, the rst thing
that hit us was the heat. Next was the
poverty before us. The combination of
this poverty and the great faith of the
believers there in such impoverished
circumstances have left an indelible
mark on us both.Our two weeks in Myanmar were
divided into two legs, the rst of
which consisted of travelling six hours
into the heart of the country to visit
church plants and planters (sent out
by the Reformed Evangelical Church
of Myanmar). We travelled to some
very remote villages, and during these
visits, we had the great privilege of
meeting the people, sharing from
Gods Word, and praying with them.
The harsh reality of life for these
folks was a real shock to the system;
seeing these young church plant-
ers and their families living in such
circumstances was both humbling
and challenging. Myanmar is a pre-
dominately Buddhist country, and the
majority of the Buddhist population
and especially the monks do not want
these church planters in their villages.
They make life really tough for the
work of the church planters.
One of the villages we visited was
so remote that we could only access
it by ox and cart. This thirty-minute
journey is one we will never forget
and one from which our backs may
never recover.
The strategy for planting churches
in these unreached areas is quite sim-
ple. First of all, two women will move
into a village and start a preschool for
the young children. These preschools
are unashamedly Christian in both
their syllabus and their goals. As the
villagers are so poor, they really value
education, seeing it as
an avenue out of the
poverty they are in,
and so they send their
children to the school in
great numbers. Subse-
quently, after a year or
two of preschool work,
church planters willjoin the school teachers
and begin having Bible
studies and church services. If funds
are available, then the church will dig
a well close by the church building
so the villagers can have clean fresh
water which is a real help to village
life. Also if funds allow (all funding
comes from outside the country via
agencies like Asia-link), a solar panel
system will be tted to the preschool/
church building, which makes it the
only place in the village with electric
light at night. This being the case, the
villagers ock to the church building
in the evening, presenting the pas-
tor with an opportunity to share the
gospel with them.
After a few days in the villages,we travelled back to Yangon, to take
part in the graduation service of
Myanmar Centre for Church plant-
ing (hereafter MCCP). This was a
great honor for us both, with Jonny
preaching the graduation sermon and
me presenting each student with a
copy of Wayne Grudems Systematic
Theology in the Burmese language.
I also had the opportunity to present
the school with some New Covenant
Media books such asNew
Covenant Theology, Abra-
hams Four Seeds, But I Say
Unto You, and Theologi-
cal Foundations for New
Covenant Ethics. The books
were gratefully received
and will be used by the stu-
dents in the coming years. I
count it as a great honor to
have been able to provide
these brothers and sisters with suchgreat materials.
The graduation service kicked off
our time at MCCP where we had the
opportunity to teach everyday Mon-
day through Friday. What a privilege
it was to teach these young men and
women who will be planting churches
like we had seen the previous week.
During the week, Jonny taught the
books ofRomansandHaggai,and I
had the chance to teach from the Pas-
toral Epistles. The students were very
receptive to the teaching and always
had questions after each lesson.
I taught from a New Covenant
standpoint and was able to correct
false notions that some of the students
had regarding dispensationalism. It
was wonderful to be able to explain
to the students the one eternal plan of
Carson/MillarContinued on page 7
Mission to Myanmar
Jonny Carson and Robert Millar
7/21/2019 Sound of Grace, Issue 206, April 2014
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Page 6 April 2014 Issue 206
ReisingerContinued on page 8
from my friends, I can handle my en-
emies. Oftentimes our friends do us
more harm than our enemies.
We ought never to preach truth to
a person that we know cannot receive
it because he doesnt have the back-
ground. We sin against him. Now I
dont mean that we shouldnt be clearand very straightforward when we
teach and preach; Im not saying that
at all. Im saying that there is a meth-
odology; there are degrees; there are
things you must understand in order
to believe certain other things. There
are things that must go rst before you
go to something else.
When I was a pastor in Canada,
there was a fellow pastor who was an
all things to all men person. Somemutual friends asked him if he agreed
with me about Calvinism. He said,
Well, Im a Calvinist but not a hyper-
Calvinist like Reisinger. One day
we were both on the same airplane,
and he started to tease me about my
hyper-Calvinism. I am really not a
hyper-Calvinist. I am a very mild Cal-
vinist in a hyper-Arminian generation.
Thats what I amreally. Most people
never met a hyper-Calvinist. If they
would have, they would immediatelyknow I am not a hyper-Calvinist. But
anyhow, I asked this pastor how many
people in his congregation clearly un-
derstand sovereign election because
he said he believed it with all of his
heart. He said, My congregation isnt
ready for that yet, and he quoted John
16:12. I said, How long have you
been pastor there? He said, Seven
years. I assure you, that congregation
will never be ready to hear about sov-
ereign election as long as that man is
pastor. How do you get people ready
for truth?By teaching them truth.And
then you teach them the next truth and
keep on teaching them truth. If you
have been seven years in a place and
nobody has ever heard about election,
dont hide behind John 16:12; you just
arent teaching the truth as you claim
that you understand it.
Go with me to Acts chapter 22
it because they dont have the back-
ground necessary to believe it. Re-
member the principle laid out in John
16:12, I have many things to say to
you, but you are not yet able to bear
them. Howbeit, when he the Spirit of
truth has come, he will teach you all
things. There were things that Jesus
couldnt say to his disciples at that
point because they didnt have the
experience and the background at that
time that was necessary to receive
those truths. I had a very good friend
and mentor named Robert Dittmar.
He had a great inuence on my life.
I remember one time I saw him just
after I had learned something new.
We have the tendency to think the last
truth we have learned is the answer toall the problems. Its all you want to
talk about. On this occasion, I started
to share my latest revelation with him.
He patiently listened to me. When
I was nished, he said, John, how
many things did you learn that made
it possible for you to understand this
latest truth? I thought for a moment,
and said, About three or four. Bob
then said, Promise me that before
you open your mouth and share this
latest truth with anybody, you willmake sure they understand these other
three or four things. Never preach
or talk about the last thing youve
learned; let it simmer a while. Think
it through a little while and get some
of the ramications of it.
I have some friends who have got-
ten me in a lot of trouble. They heard
me preach on sovereign grace and
were convinced I was right. Then
they went out and started an argu-ment about the sovereignty of God.
They quickly started to lose the argu-
ment because they could not answer
the objections, and then do you know
what they did? They knew the person
they were arguing with liked me, so
they said, Well, this is what John
Reisinger believes. The way they said
what John Reisinger believes is not
what I believe at all. I have often said,
with Martin Luther, Lord, deliver me
for another illustration. Paul is on the
road to Damascus, and in verse 10, he
recounts how he was struck down by
God and cried out, What shall I do,
Lord?
And the Lord said to me, Rise
and go into Damascus, and there it
shall be told thee of all things which
are appointed for thee to do. And
when I could not see for the glory of
that light, being led by the hand of
them that were with me, I came unto
Damascus, and one Ananias, a devout
man according to the law, having
a good report of all the Jews which
dwelt there, came unto me and stood
and said, Brother Saul, receive thy
sight. And the same hour I looked
up upon him, and he said, The God
of our fathers hath chosen thee, that
thou shouldst know his will and see
that Just One and should hear the
voice of his mouth.
I refer to that passage for two rea-
sons. First, the rst Christian doctrine
that Paul learned as a new convert
was the doctrine of election. The rst
thing he learned was the God of our
fathers has chosen you in order that
you might understand the truth and
your eyes might be opened to seeJesus Christ. We should teach theol-
ogy in the very beginning of a new
Christian diet. Actually, the truth of
election is a doctrine that ought to be
taught in evangelism. The second rea-
son I looked at this text is that when
Paul said this, he was not teaching
a theology class; he was giving his
personal testimony to lost sinners.
Theology belongs in all of our preach-
ing, whether it is in evangelism or
catechism class. However, be sure it is
taught in the right proportion. Where
a person is in his understanding will
have a bearing on what you teach and
how you teach it.
Number Three.Avoid labels as
much as possible. You cannot totally
avoid labels, and your use of labels
will vary according to different cir-
ReisingerContinued from page 4
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Carson/MillarContinued from page 5
God to save his people in Christ Jesus
and how that plan has been worked
out through different covenants which
nd their ultimate fullment in Christ
and the New Covenant that he inaugu-
rated. I tried to explain to the students
that the Bible was Christocentricand Christotelic. I have the men who
write for Sound of Graceto thank for
teaching me this, and I hope it will be
an encouragement to you to know that
I have tried to pass it on to others in
Asia. The dean of the school was my
translator, and he plans to translate
my notes into Burmese and use them
for a class in their new syllabus.
Being away with Jonny also gave
me the chance to fully explain what I
have been mentioning to him for some
time now, namely New CovenantTheology. I believe he is really
grasping the subject. I let him
listen to some sermons by Joe
Kelly and Blake White as well
as read some articles from
Sound of Grace, so hopefully
the New Covenant revival
will continue to grow here in
Northern Ireland. Jonny even
changed some of his notes on
Romanswhile we were there to reect
his new understanding.
Two really poignant moments
during the trip happened on both the
Sundays we were there. The rst was
an opportunity I had to preach in a
church on the delta river system. We
started out early that morning as thesun was rising and travelled two hours
by boat to get to this little fellowship,
a fellowship that has suffered greatly
over the years from both the
harshness of the environment
and the hostility from the lo-
cal monks. In spite
of such circum-
stances, they are
seeing people turn
from their idols and
turn to the living
God through Jesus
Christ our Lord.
To nish off
our time in Myan-
mar, just before
we travelled to the airport to
head home, we visited what
we were told was a slum
church. Considering the
poverty of the country, to be
labelled as the slum churchreally was something.
Jonny had the opportunity to speak
to the children that gather every week
for Sunday school, telling them that
Jesus was greater than the temple, in
a country where temples are every-
where. This was truly a word in sea-
son. When it was made known to us
that these children sneak out of their
homes to go to church and that when
they are caught they are severely
beaten, I must admit my heart broke.
In all honesty, I could do nothing but
weep in this place. To think that these
poor little children valued their Bible
stories and their memory verses over
and above their physical safety and
comfort was a real challenge to my
own lack of desire and passion for thethings of God.
To sum up my trip to Myanmar, I
can speak for both of us when I say
that we will never forget the people
we met, the food we ate, and the
challenge we received. It is now a big
challenge for me to keep the challenge
received in Myanmar alive. It is so
easy to slip back into a materialistic,
comfortable lazy attitude. I am pray-
ing the Lord would give me a war-
time mentality; living a simple, basiclifestyle and so enabling me to help
the war effort (spiritual war) in places
like Myanmar. I trust the readers of
Sound of Gracewill also be chal-
lenged to live lives that glorify our
great God and Saviour Jesus Christ
and seek to relieve the saints around
the globe. The desire of the people
we met to share the gospel with their
neighbors and friends and with the
unreached, even at the risk of their
own safety, was so inspiring.
If you wish to know more
about our time away, please
contact me at: mcalvinist@aol.
com.
If you would like to contrib-
ute to any of the projects men-
tioned above, then please visit
http://www.asialink.org/proj-
ects/where-we-work/burma/.
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Page 8 April 2014 Issue 206
cumstances. In an article like this, I
can use labels in a way that I would
not normally use them when speaking
in a local congregation, except the one
which I myself would have pastored.
If we must use labels, make sure we
explain them carefully. Be sure to ex-plain the labels honestly; dont carica-
ture them, and by all means admit that
all Christians dont agree on a subject
that you know is controversial.
Any time I ever preach on elec-
tion, the rst thing I always say is,
Sincere godly Christians disagree on
this subject. You may disagree with
my understanding of election and love
the Lord with all of your heart. All
youre doing is disarming the person
so hes ready to listen. He knows that
youre not jeopardizing his salvation
or that you are better than he is or that
this has something to do with his con-
version. Godly Christians disagree,
and I think we should admit this all
the time when we teach anything
at all that we know is controversial
among sincere Christians. If we use a
label, we should only use it for iden-
tication, and as I say, we must use
it honestly. As a pastor teaching theleaders in your own congregation, you
ought to have labels so that all might
know what you believe and why you
believe it. Your elders ought to know
the difference between an amillen-
nialist and a premillennialist and how
they differ. They ought to know the
difference between a Calvinist and an
Arminian and why theyre different.
You may possibly have both on your
board, but if they understand each
other carefully and honestly, there isa much better chance of them tolerat-
ing each other that way than there is
if they have total misconceptions of
what each other believes.
Number Four.As I mentioned a
moment ago, start where people are,
especially if theyve never heard any-
thing about sovereign grace. When
Mr. McGee came down to Lewisburg
to hear me preach in 1959 and the
congregation of which Mr. Magee
was a deacon later called me as pas-
tor, there were 300 people coming to
church. There was only one person, a
young girl, in that congregation that
had previously heard the doctrines of
grace. I was there seven years, and I
say this to the praise of Gods glory,when they interviewed a man for the
pastorate to take my place, one of
the rst questions they asked was his
knowledge and understanding of the
ve doctrines of grace. The entire
board of deacons and the majority
of the congregation were thoroughly
entrenched in grace. We only lost
one family in seven years over the
doctrines of grace because we never
pressed people; we never pushed
people, but we did teach it. We alwaysencouraged ques-
tions. We didnt
start with limited
atonement. We
started with books
like the book of
Habakkuk. If
you preach to the
hearts of people about the sovereignty
of God in providence and the sover-
eignty of God over their lives, they
believe that. And its much easier tomove from a concept of Gods sover-
eignty in your life and texts like Ro-
mans 8:28 and a series of sermons il-
lustrating that text in the life of Joseph
and so on; all Christiansthe worst
of Arminianswill say Amen!
It will echo in their hearts, and its
much easier to move from there to the
doctrine of election because all youre
doing is just going one step further
on the foundation youve already laid,
than it is to just attack that head-on.
Again I say the principle, I have
many things to say to you, but you
are not yet able to bear them, would
apply here also. We sin if we choke
people with truth, even though it is
the very truth of God, if theyre not
able to chew it and swallow it.
Number 5:Prove the things you
believe with the Word of God and not
with logical deductions and not with
creeds alone. Prove things with Scrip-
ture texts if youre trying to convince
people that this is a theological truth.
Make people look at the text in the
Bible. What does the text say? Youre
teaching the Word of God when
youre doing this. Did you ever noticewhen Christians argue, they often ar-
gue using labels instead of over a text
of Scripture? How many times have
you heard two Christians discussing
doctrine and one of them said, Well,
the difculty with you is you dont
believe this text or you dont under-
stand this text? No, they say, The
trouble with you is you dont believe
the moral law, or, You dont believe
in the millennium, and they use a
theological label instead of dealingwith the text of the
Word of God. What
does the Bible say?
Some years
ago, I was asked to
speak at a fellow-
ship of Reformed
pastors in Canada.
They asked me to speak on the Four
Seeds of Abraham. Somebody had
read a paper I had done, and theywanted me to present that. When I
was nished, we had a lively discus-
sion. This was the rst time Id ever
spoken on this subject. It is a bit scary
to face forty pastors knowing half of
them dont agree with you. I could
hear them cocking their theological
guns. About 1/3 of the men were dis-
pensational, about 1/3 were covenant
theologian, and about 1/3 had a very
limited knowledge of New Covenant
Theology. During the discussion peri-od, a Presbyterian kept using the theo-
logical terms covenant of grace and
covenant of works. He was trying to
refute what I had said and was using
these terms as key points in his argu-
ments. He was using these terms as if
they were Bible verses. I nally said,
Wait a minute, you keep using purely
theological terms as if they were Bible
ReisingerContinued from page 6
ReisingerContinued on page 10
We sin if we choke
people with truth, even though
it is the very truth of God, if
theyre not able to chew it and
swallow it
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Issue 206 April 2014 Page 9
We see a paradise lost/paradise
restored scenario in the pages of
Scripture.
In the early chapters of Genesis,
we see Adam and Eve in the Garden
of Eden. Since they were assigned
the task of caring for the garden, we
can be certain that it was small. But it
was just the two of them, so there was
enough room.
The paradise of Eden was lost
when they sinned. But the rest of the
Bible records Gods plan to restore
paradise on earth. Revelation, the last
book of the Bible, gives us some hints
about what that restored paradise is
going to be like. It is quite clear that
it is going to be a big deal. While it
is true that many are called but few
are chosen nevertheless there will
be a lot of people in the Eden of the
new creation. Millions of people. Butwe neednt fret about having our own
space. God had this all planned out
from a while back. We can be sure
that there will be enough room.
The resurrected saints will no
doubt inhabit the entire earth. God
had something in mind from the very
beginning. He commanded Adam and
Eve to ll the earth. After the ood,
Noah was given the same directive.
It was part of Gods master plan.Throughout the Bible, land seems
to have great importance. When the
Lord called out Abraham, he prom-
ised him that his descendants would
Enough RoomStan F. Vaninger
be given land. This was an important
aspect of the Abrahamic covenant.
About 500 years later, when Israel
was redeemed from slavery in Egypt,
that promise was fullled. God gave
them a parcel of land in Canaan that
is spoken of as the Promised Land. It
was very small. If we look at a currentmap showing all the Muslim nations
surrounding modern Israel or ancient
Israel (theres not a big difference) we
realize just how small the Promised
Land was. But it was enough room
for Israel. It was enough roomfor
Gods chosen people of that era.
When Christ returns and consum-
mates his glorious kingdom on the
new earth, we can be sure that it will
be the perfect environment for the res-
urrected elect of all nations. We can
be certain that there will just enough
room.
The New Covenant ChurchEkklesiaof Christ
John G. Reisinger, with his familiar clarity and respect for the Scriptures, inves-tigates the nature of the new covenant church. Should it be understood primarilyas an organization structured with ofcers and by-laws? Or is the church rst andforemost those called to faith in Christ, by the Holy Spirit, through the Word of Godproclaimed? The true and accurate translation of the word ekklesiademonstrates,namely, that the ekklesiaof Christ is they, meaning people, and not it, meaning anorganization. If you cannot speak of the ekklesiaas they but constantly think andspeak in terms of it you have not totally come out of Romanism!
John G. Reisinger has served the body of Christ for over sixty years. This is histwenty-fourth title in print. He is well known and loved for his gift of making seem-ingly difcult topics easily understandable to the edication of The New CovenantChurch Ekklesiaof Christ.
See pages 16 & 17 for price and ordering information.
I conclude, therefore, that God permitted Satans fall, not because He was helpless to stop it, but because He had a purpose for it.
Since God is never taken off guard, His permissions are always purposeful. If He chooses to permit something, He does so for a
reason an infinitely wise reason. How the sin arises in Satans heart, we do not know. God has not told us. What we do know
is that God is sovereign over Satan, and therefore Satans will does not move without Gods permission. And therefore every
move of Satan is part of Gods overall purpose and plan. And this is true in such a way that God never sins. God is infinitely
holy, and God is infinitely mighty. Satan is evil, and Satan is under the all-governing wisdom of God.
John Piper
7/21/2019 Sound of Grace, Issue 206, April 2014
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Page 10 April 2014 Issue 206ReisingerContinued from page 8 WhiteContinued from page 3
verses. You havent yet quoted one
verse out of the Bible that proves your
terms are truly Scriptural.
The man said, Dont you believe
the Bible is structured around two
covenants? I said, Absolutely. And
he said, Well, so do I. I said, Allright, give me the texts of Scripture
that establish your two covenants.
Show me where the Bible teaches a
covenant of works made with Adam
before he fell and a covenant of
grace with Adam after he fell. He
said, Where are the Bible texts that
establish your two covenants? I said,
Galatians 4:24 specically mentions
two covenants and refers to them as
these are the two covenants. Thats
a pretty clear verse. Paul proceeds totell us exactly what two covenants he
is talking about. The rst covenant
he mentions is the covenant that God
made with Israel at Sinai. The other
covenant is the covenant made with
Abraham, which is fullled in the
new covenant in Jesus Christ.
I said, Hebrew 8:6 is another
clear text that specically speaks of
the same two
covenants aroundwhich the Scrip-
ture is built. He-
brews 8:6 says,
But now hath he
obtained a more
excellent ministry
by how much also he is the mediator
of a better covenant which was es-
tablished upon better promises. The
writer is comparing the old and new
covenants. The writer is showing how
the New Covenant is so much betterthan the one it replaces. We looked
up Hebrews 8:6 and I said, In verse 6
there are three comparisons: Christ is
a better priest than Aaron because he
has a better ministry than Aaron. And
the second comparison is this minis-
try is better because it is based on a
better covenant. And the better cov-
enant is better than the old covenant it
replaces because its based on better
promises. I said, Now there is an
old covenant and a new covenant, and
those are the covenants around which
the Scriptures are built.
Continuing, I said, Now you give
me the texts of Scripture for your cov-
enant of works with Adam before he
fell and your covenant of grace madewith Adam after he fell. There was
dead silence. I just stood there and
waited. Finally the man said, Well,
we dont actually have a specic text
of Scripture. We prove our point with
the good and necessary consequences
deduced from all of Scripture.
Use the Word of God and insist
the other person do the same thing.
I could not get this brother to tell me
what Hebrews 8:6 means. He wouldnot discuss the two texts I had given
him. He kept saying, But theres only
one covenant. I kept saying, I gave
you two texts that contradict you. We
looked at two texts and both say there
was an old covenant replaced with a
new covenant. These two texts spe-
cically mention the two covenants
around which the Scripture is built. I
dare you to try to read one covenant
with two adminis-
trations into eitherof these texts. I
could not get him
to discuss the texts.
He would not look
at the texts of Scrip-
ture but insisted on
using theological terms without prov-
ing them with Scripture.
When you deal with those who
dont believe in election or the doc-
trine of total depravity, insist theyread the text of Scripture and ask
them, What does that text say?
What does that text mean? I may not
understand it, but you must believe
something about it. Use the Word of
God to prove what you want to say.
Defend truth with the Book and with
the Book alone.
To be continued . . .
When the jailer woke up and saw the
doors of the prison open, he drew his
sword and was going to kill himself,
since he thought the prisoners had
escaped. But Paul called out in a loud
voice, Dont harm yourself, because
all of us are here! Then the jailercalled for lights, rushed in, and fell
down trembling before Paul and Silas.
Then he escorted them out and said,
Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
So they said, Believe on the Lord
Jesus, and you will be savedyou and
your household. Then they spoke the
message of the Lord to him along with
everyone in his house. He took them
the same hour of the night and washed
their wounds. Right away he and all
his family were baptized. He broughtthem into his house, set a meal before
them, and rejoiced because he had be-
lieved God with his entire household
(Acts 16:6-34).1
Paul has a vision of a man in
Macedonia asking for help and con-
cluded that God had called them to
evangelize them (Acts 16:9-10), which
leads them to Philippi, a large city
and a Roman colony. The story of
the gospel coming to Philippi showsthat the message of the gospel knows
no bounds. Here we have three very
different types of people being con-
fronted with the message of grace.
F.F. Bruce writes, Three individu-
als are singled out by Luke among
those whose lives were inuenced for
good by the gospel at Philippi; they
differ so much one from another that
he might be thought to have selected
them deliberately in order to show
how the saving power of the nameof Jesus was shown in the most di-
verse types of men and women.2The
1 Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture
quotations are taken from the Holman
Christian Standard Bible, Copyright
1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by
Holman Bible Publishers. Used by
permission.
2 F.F. Bruce, The Book of the Acts (Grand
Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988), 312.
Use the Word of God to
prove what you want to say.
Defend truth with the Book and
with the Book alone.
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Issue 206 April 2014 Page 11
WhiteContinued on page 14
church of Jesus Christ transcends our
standard social classications and
makes all one in Christ.
The typical practice of the rst
missionaries was to go to the local
Jewish synagogue, but there was no
such thing in Philippi. There only
needed to be ten Jewish men to forma synagogue, but there was not even
that in Philippi.3But there were some
ladies who were having a riverside
Bible study.4(Praise God for faith-
ful women of God. Chances are you
would not be interested in such things
as the book of Philippians had it not
been for the prayers and encourage-
ment of a faithful women. I know it is
true of me.) One of those ladies was
not Jewish but had rejected paganism.
Her name was Lydia, and she was
Asian. She was from Thyatira and
probably owned a successful fashion
company, and her main clients would
have been wealthy people since purple
was the color the wealthy wore. She
wanted to honor God and was listen-
ing in on the Bible study. Paul enters
the conversation and tells these Jewish
ladies whator whomthe Hebrew
Bible pointed toJesus Christ. As
Paul tells the story, the Lord opensLydias heart to pay attention to what
Paul was saying (Acts 16:14). That is
grace, friends. Shes irresistible. But
notice that we work, and God works.
John Stott writes, Although the mes-
sage was Pauls, the saving initiative
was Gods. Pauls preaching was not
effective in itself; the Lord worked
through it. And the Lords work was
not in itself direct; he chose to work
through Pauls preaching.5Paul told
the story of Jesus and God openedher heart. How many times did you
3 David G. Peterson, The Acts of the
Apostles (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,
2009), 460.
4 Matt Chandler, To Live is Christ To Die
is Gain (Colorado Springs: David C.
Cook, 2013), 18.
5 John R. W. Stott, The Message of Acts
(Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity,
1990), 263.
hear the good news of Jesus before it
nally hit home? God opened your
heart just like he did Lydias. Lydias
conversion changed her life, and im-
mediately she was hospitable inviting
Paul, Silas, and Timothy to her house.
She was quick to serve other believers
and use her resources for the propaga-tion and advancement of the gospel.
True conversion inevitably leads to a
desire to see others converted. If were
redeemed, we will love to proclaim it!
Next, the message of grace grabs
the fortune-telling slave girl. She fol-
lowed the Apostles around for many
days, announcing that these men
know the way of salvation. Finally
Paul had enough of it and commanded
the spirit to buzz off and buzz off it
does, which frustrates the owners
whose means of prot buzzed right
with it. The owners drag them to the
authorities and accuse them of preach-
ing against Caesar, which is partly
true since they were announcing the
reign of a new king (Acts 17:7). They
were stripped naked, beaten with
rods(!), and tossed in prison.
Next, the hound of heaven pur-
sues the Philippian jailer. Naked and
beaten, the disciples sulk in their owndespair and cry out Why me God?
No, they do not. One would expect to
hear groaning and complaining, but
the Bible says they prayed and sang
hymns!6As the 2ndcentury theologian
Tertullian put it, The legs feel noth-
ing in the stocks when the heart is
in heaven.7Their faith was strong.
Brothers and sisters, we need to culti-
vate a faith that sings when, whennot
if, the trials come. Earlier, when the
disciples were persecuted by the Jews,
Peter and John had said, Whether
its right in the sight of God for us
to listen to you rather than to God,
you decide; for we are unable to stop
speaking about what we have seen
and heard (Acts 4:19-20). They would
also rejoice that they were counted
6 Bruce, The Book of the Acts,317.
7 Tertullian, To the Martyrs quoted in
Bruce, The Book of the Acts,317.
worthy to be dishonored on behalf of
Jesus (Acts 5:41). They truly believed
in the surpassing worth of Jesus. Do
we?
Then God miraculously frees Paul
and Silas through an earthquake.
Nothing can stop the mission of God.
This desperate jailer knew that once
his boss found out that he had failed
to do his job, hed be put to death in
a way that would be worse than him
stabbing himself with a sword. Paul
shouts at him and tells him not to do
it. Paul was free but risks his own
life to save the life of the jailer. This
theme of giving of self for the good
of otherswhat I have called else-
where cruciform love8will surface
again and again. Before he became aChristian, Paul held the robes of the
Jews who killed Stephen for preach-
ing Jesus and no doubt Paul recalled
that experience in the midst of his
own suffering. Stephen prayed for the
blessing of those who were persecut-
ing him: Lord, do not charge them
with this sin! (Acts 7:60). Stephen
was following the example of his Lord
who prayed, Father, forgive them,
because they do not know what they
are doing (Luke 23:34). Here Paulcould have escaped, but he is more
concerned about the salvation of the
jailer than about his own freedom.
This jailer knows that the God
whom these Christians were praying
and singing to is the real deal. So he
asks, What must I do to be saved?
(Acts 16:30). The answer is that he
must believe on the Lord Jesus and he
will be saved, a simple, but life-trans-
forming answer. He believed, cleanedthem, fed them, and rejoiced. Just as
with Lydia, this mans faith immedi-
ately leads to service for the people
of God. Paul and Silas were released,
returned to dear Lydias house to en-
8 See Part Two of my Theological
Foundations for New Covenant Eth-
ics(Frederick, MD: New Covenant
Media, 2013).
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abandoned. He is always a ruler. What
is truly wonderful is that he rules with
love and mercy. He is not calloused
towards his peoples hurts. Matthew
tells us that, Jesus went through all
the towns and villages, teaching in
their synagogues, proclaiming the
good news of the kingdom and heal-ing every disease and sickness. When
he saw the crowds, he had compassion
on them, because they were harassed
and helpless, like sheep without a
shepherd (Matthew 9:35-36). Jesus
is moved with compassion for the
people, and he discharges the duties
of a competent and caring shepherd.
He takes note of their situation and
he heals them. He doesnt want them
scattered and helpless; his compas-
sion causes himto gather, teach
(i.e. feed), and
heal. All of this
activity is not
disconnected from his position of
ruling. As a matter of fact, Jesus acts
as a compassionate shepherd as he
goes about preaching his kingdom.
His kingly rule and tender care are
inextricably linked.
There will come a time in thefuture when the shepherd-ruler judges
his ock. One day, All the nations
will be gathered before him, and he
will separate the people one from
another as a shepherd separates the
sheep from the goats. He will put
the sheep on his right and the goats
on his left (Matthew 25:32-33).
The shepherd gathers all the people
of the world, and then proclaims to
them what their eternal destiny is. To
describe the eschatological judgmentwhere the Lord acts as the great king
(cf. 25:34) and the universal judge,
Jesus employs the imagery of a shep-
herd.
Jesus also uses the shepherd meta-
phor to explain to his disciples what
is going to happen to him and to them
when he is crucied. Jesus takes the
Messianic prophecy from Zechariah
13:7 and tells his disciples, This very
night you will all fall away on ac-
count of me, for it is written: I will
strike the shepherd, and the sheep of
the ock will be scattered. But after
I have risen, I will go ahead of you
into Galilee (Matthew 26:31-32). The
Messianic prophecy obviously uses
the shepherd metaphor to communi-cate its point, and Jesus knows that
when it is fullled, he as the shepherd
will be struck, which will result in the
scattering of his sheep. Yet Jesus fur-
ther knows that the struck shepherd
will rise again: his death is not an
absolute disaster for the ock because
he will rise again, lead them (go
ahead of you) and gather them safely
together again.
The themes of life, death, and
resurrection infuse
John 10:1-21, where
Jesus gives his fa-
mous good shepherd
discourse. Here in
John 10 the shepherd imagery is given
its most extended treatment in the NT.
There is also a mixing of metaphors,
where Jesus is not only the good
shepherd but he is also the gate to the
sheep pen. Conating these images
so that Jesus is the gate because heas a shepherd lays down to block the
entrance to the pen is possibly forcing
the imagery to a consistency its just
not designed to bear. Jesus has every
right to mix his metaphors.
John 10:1-5 sets out the contrast
between Jesus and the Pharisees.
Jesus is the one who has rightful
authority over the ock. The Phari-
sees are trespassers, virtual criminals
who only want to harm the ock for
their selsh gain. By contrast, Jesus
knows the sheep by name (stop and
think about that: not just the phonetic
label attached to them, but who they
are, their character, he knows them).
Jesus, God incarnate, knows each
of his sheep and they know him too.
They hear his voice, listen when he
calls, and follow him. Because of this
intimate relationship they will not fol-
low another shepherd or be destroyed
self is the great shepherd, and that hu-
man shepherds (even when good) are
deeply awed (and some are down-
right wicked), but God has elected to
have his people shepherded by other
people. Does this doom his ock to a
minimum of substandard care, and,
given a worst case scenario, savage
abuse? No. God himself will shepherd
his people directly and he will do so
through a human leader. Or, more pre-
cisely, God will shepherd his people
directly as a human leader. God will
become incarnate, and the full splen-
dor of the imagery will be brought to
exquisite and rich fulllment, both
theologically and practically.
According to Matthew, Jesus birth
in Bethlehem fullled this prophecy:But you, Bethlehem, in the land of
Judah, are by no means least among
the rulers of Judah; for out of you will
come a ruler who will shepherd my
people Israel (Matt 2:6 quoting Mi-
cah 5:2,4). The immediate connection
in this particular usage of the shep-
herd imagery is with ruling. There is
nothing said here about compassion,
care, or tenderness: the accent sound-
ed is purely that of a great ruler. This
is not the only aspect of the metaphor
that applies to Jesus, but we must
guard against romantically envision-
ing a soft shepherd image where a
handsome Jesus with long, owing,
brown locks and bright, blue eyes is
gently carrying an innocent lamb on
his shoulders back to the safety of a
sheep pen. That type of idyllic West-
ern artwork may capture other truths
in the imagery, but it certainly does
not exhaust the riches of the metaphor.Actually, if that is the only picture
one has when Jesus is thought of as a
shepherd, the biblical fullness of the
imagery is being horrically dis-
torted. Jesus is ttingly described as a
shepherd because he is a ruler.
Even when the imagery shifts to
highlight the compassion and tender
care that Jesus exercises towards his
ock, the ruling motif should not be
WestContinued from page 1
. . . Jesus is not only the
good shepherd but he is also
the gate . . .
7/21/2019 Sound of Grace, Issue 206, April 2014
13/20
Issue 206 April 2014 Page 13by heresy: by Gods grace they know
the one who knows them.
Jesus continues to contrast himself
with the Pharisees. Whoever comes
to God through Jesus will be saved.
He says, They will come in and go
out, and nd pasture. The thief comes
only to steal and kill and destroy; Ihave come that they may have life,
and have it to the full (John 10:9b-
10). Listening to the voice of their
good shepherd, the sheep will be led
out of their safe pen, taken out to safe
pasture, and led back to their shelter
again. What more could sheep want?
This is the full,
abundant life! Trans-
late the metaphor
into human terms,
think about a spiri-
tually rich life, and
know that it is yours
through Jesus alone.
In the course of
calling his sheep and
leading them and
blessing them abun-
dantly, it is necessary
for the good shepherd to die. This is
jarring and discordant: Jesus has just
said, they may have life, and haveit to the full, and he immediately
proclaims, I am the good shepherd.
The good shepherd lays down his life
for the sheep, (10:11). The sheep get
abundant life; the shepherd gets death.
How can the death of the shepherd be
good for the sheep? Wont that leave
them in the most vulnerable of all
positions? We have seen that when
the shepherd is struck, the sheep are
scattered; in the OT scattered ocks
guratively resembled people without
strong, godly leaders. How can the
death of the good shepherd be good
for the ock?
The reason, as we know, is that
Jesus lays down his life on his own
authority. Nobody can take his life
from him; only he has the power to
lose it (10:17-18). So his death is not
involuntary or forced. The good shep-
herd is not overwhelmed by a predator
and forced to either watch his ock
die or intervene and die himself in so
doing. No, he has chosen to come to
this ock and die in their place. And
death will not be the last word. The
ultimate reason his death is good for
the sheep is that when he dies, deathdies. Jesus can condently claim, I
have authority to lay it [my life] down
and authority to take it up again (v.
18). The good shepherds death is not
the end of the good shepherd or his
sheep: it is actually how the members
of the ock become the recipients of
abundant life.
In fact, there
is just too much
work for Jesus
to do for him
to die and not
come back to
life! There are
other sheep, too,
scattered across
the entire world,
who are not yet
safely in the fold
(10:16). Jesus is not just the shepherd
of Israel, he is the only good shepherd
in the world. There are Jewish sheepand Gentile sheep. There are sheep
embedded in every nation, tribe,
tongue, and culture. But there is only
one shepherd, and he is going to bring
them all safely into one ock, by call-
ing them and having them respond to
his voice.
The good shepherd is not only a
ruler, a judge, a king, and a perfectly
virtuous person, he is also a mis-
sionary. He actively tracks down his
sheep. Without making any additional
commentary at the end, Im simply
going to cite a very famous parable
with context. Notice how the shepherd
cares about his sheep and how he
actively goes to gather even one stray
that has wandered off and needs his
help. Now the tax collectors and sin-
ners were all gathering around to hear
Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teach-
ers of the law muttered, This man
welcomes sinners and eats with them.
Then Jesus told them this parable:
Suppose one of you has a hundred
sheep and loses one of them. Doesnt
he leave the ninety-nine in the open
country and go after the lost sheep un-
til he nds it? And when he nds it he
joyfully puts it on his shoulders andgoes home. Then he calls his friends
and neighbors together and says, Re-
joice with me; I have found my lost
sheep. I tell you that in the same way
there will be more rejoicing in heaven
over one sinner who repents than over
ninety-nine righteous persons who do
not need to repent (Luke 15:1-7).
Although much more could be said
about the shepherd imagery as applied
toand fullled byJesus, there is
one more element of it that is essential
to see. As much as Jesus is the good
shepherd and the complete fulllment
of that metaphor, he is not only the
shepherd. Jesus is also the fulllment
of thesheepcomponent of the imag-
ery. This is true not just in the general
sense of being obedient to the will of
the Father, listening to the Fathers
voice, and following him with trust
at all times. All of that is true but the
connection is much deeper. Jesus is si-multaneously the good shepherd who
lays down his life and the sacricial
lamb that is led silently to the slaugh-
ter (cf. Isaiah 53). He is the Lamb of
God who takes away the sin of the
world (John 1:29). He is the lamb who
was slain, triumphing in glory and
bringing Gods purposes to pass (cf.
Revelation 5). He is the good shepherd
and the good sheep, the substitution-
ary lamb without blemish required
for sacrice. Jesus the shepherd isalso Jesus the Passover lamb. Mixing
metaphors, he is the shepherd incar-
nated in the lamb, dying for the sheep
as a member of their species. But then
he rises again. The richness of what
he has done transcends our language,
regardless of whether we employ
straight propositions or symbolic im-
ages. Jesus contains the best parts of
everything good.
Jesus knows the sheep by
name (stop and think about
that: not just the phonetic labelattached to them, but who they
are, their character, he knows
them). Jesus, God incarnate,
knows each of his sheep and they
know him too. They hear his
voice, listen when he calls, and
follow him.
7/21/2019 Sound of Grace, Issue 206, April 2014
14/20
Page 14 April 2014 Issue 206
courage the new believers, and moved
on to Thessalonica.
So here we have the beginnings
of the church at Philippi. We have
Lydia the successful business owner,
a rough and tough jailer, their house-
holds, and a formerly enslaved slavegirl. The church at Philippi was a
diverse group of people, which shows
that the grace of Jesus is available
to all. Whosoever will, may come.
The message is for the rich and the
poor, men and women, slave and
free, black, white, green, or brown.
Salvation is available to the demon-
possessed, to the blue collar and
white collar worker, to the tattooed
and the preppy, to the Republican
and the Democrat. For God loved
the world in this way: He gave His
One and Only Son, so that everyone
who believes in Him will not perish
but have eternal life (John 3:16). The
Philippian church begins as a motley
crew, to say the least, but a motley
crew with a message that saves. And
it does. The church grows, and it con-
tinues to grow.
What is our role in the larger
story? We are all called to take part in
this same mission of God, but in order
to properly function for that mission,
we have to have our community uni-
ed and must walk in a manner wor-thy of the gospel. This is why the let-
ter to Philippians was written. This is
why everybook of the New Testament
was written. Listen to Old Testament
scholar Christopher Wright: The
writings that now comprise our Bible
are themselves the product of and wit-
ness to the ultimate mission of God.
The Bible renders to us the story of
Gods mission through Gods people
in their engagement with Gods world
for the sake of the whole of Gods
creation. The Bible is the drama of
this God of purpose engaged in the
mission of achieving that purpose
universally, embracing past, pres-
ent and future, Israel and the nation,
life, the universe and everything,
and with its center, focus, climax, and
completion in Jesus Christ. Mission
is not just one of a list of things that
the Bible happens to talk about, only a
bit more urgently than some. Mission
is, in that much-abused phrase, what
its all about.9Or as Ralph Winter
put it, The Bible is not the basis of
missions; missions is the basis of theBible.
So we need to hear the message
of this prison epistle for the purpose
of Christian formation; this letter
was written and included within the
Christian canon of Scripture to in-
struct and shape us. We are instructed
in order to function better within the
mission of God. The point is not sim-
ply to form a holy huddle but to help
us be better missionaries. God has a
mission, and we are an integral part of
it. That is how the church of Philippi
came into being.
9 Christopher J.H. Wright, The Mission
of God (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Aca-
demic, 2006), 22.
WhiteContinued from page 11
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Issue 206 April 2014 Page 15
Council on Biblical TheologyTuesday Evening July 22 to Friday Noon July25, 201
Grace Church at Franklin
4052 Arno Rd., Franklin, TN 37065
Theme: Gods Eternal Kingdom Purpose:NCTTime for a More Accurate Way
(Make Your Reservations as Early as Possible)
Morning (8:45-12:00) & Evening (6:45-9:30) Speakers
Tony Costa. Christian Apologist & Adjunct Professor, Providence Theological Seminary (PTS). The Sabbath and ItsRelation to Christ and the Church in the New Covenant.
Peter Gentry. Professor of OT Interpretation, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. (Two Messages) Ephesians 3:4-6:What the OT Says about the Inclusion of the Gentiles & Gods Dealings with Abraham: Conditional or Uncon-ditional? One or Two Covenants?
Gary George. Evangelist & Pastor, Sovereign Grace Chapel, Southbridge, MA; Board Member PTS. The RegenerativePower of the Holy Spirit in the OT and the NT
Frank Gumerlock. Professor of Church History and Systematic Theology, PTS. Hebrews 11:8-19: Gods Land Promise toAbraham and the New Covenant
Zach S. Maxcey. Graduate of PTS and Blog Administrator for PTS. Daniel 9:24-27: The Messiah and the New Covenant
W. W. Sasser. Pastor, Grace Church at Franklin and Board Member PTS. Grace and Law: Whats the Big Deal?
Greg Van Court. Pastor, Dayspring Fellowship Church, Austin, TX & Adjunct Professor PTS. 2 Timothy 3:16-17: TheProtability of All Scripture
Kirk Wellum. Principal, Toronto Baptist Seminary, Toronto, Canada. The Ecclesiological Implications of the New Cov-enant
Stephen Wellum. Professor of Christian Theology, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. (Two Messages) What Is Newabout the NC? and The Nature of Typology Revisited: Do We All Agree?
Blake White. Pastor, Spicewood Baptist Church, Spicewood, TX. 1 Corinthians 9:19-23: Not Under Law But Not WithoutGods Law.
Wednesday & Thursday Afternoon Consolidated Doctrinal Workshop Topics (2:00-3:30 p.m.
Moderator: Gary D. Long Faculty President, PTS
Topics Include:
Use and Misuse of Inaugurated Eschatology in Dispensational and Covenant Theology
Response to Crit icism of the Book Kingdom through Covenant
Servant King and Obedient Son as Covenant Categories in Genesis 1-3
Hebrew Idiom in Covenant Making (Cut vs. Establish a Covenant)
The Church, Pentecost and Spirit Baptism
The Two Greatest Commandments and the Covenantal Administration of the Law of God
REGISTRATION & MOTEL ROOMS FOR THE COUNCIL ON BIBLICAL THEOLOGY
Franklin, TNJuly 22-25, 2014
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Administrative Host: Grace Church at Franklin, Pastor W. W. Sasser; Church Ofce: (615) 791-1575.
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