Jesus Gives Instruction

We are in John chapter 10 tonight is where we begin John chapter 10 We are as we have been talking about in a period of our Lord's life as we study the life of Christ on Sunday evening The three-month period of our Lord's life six months before he died And this time period is often called conflict and instruction what we've seen so far has been all conflict Jesus went to the Feast of dedication in Jerusalem series of conflicts with the religious leaders the priests and the Pharisees and the scribes and so forth has erupted everything he's doing everything he says creates conflict and This is growing and escalating toward the end of our Lord's ministry of course, but tonight we're going to focus on the other side of that conflict and instruction we're going to focus on the instruction part Because our Lord also during this time gives some instruction first of all instruction to the Jews and then some instruction to his disciples as he sends some of them out to minister in the area of Judea and Peria But let's let's begin in John chapter 10 with instruction to the Jews now this instruction will also create some conflict but Jesus is instructing the Jews about who he is now remember The Old Testament background and imagery that we talked about last week is really critical to understanding this chapter You really can't understand why Jesus is talking about himself being the good shepherd the the true shepherd unless you understand the Old Testament background So let me just highlight a little bit of that again so that we don't forget why this is so critical in the Old Testament the imagery of the shepherd was a ruler and protector of the nation Kings and the ancient Near East not only in Israel, but kings in the ancient Near East and may countries were referred to as Shepherds people who were supposed to guard their people protect their people guide their people So that was a kingly term it was not just a lowly term it was a kingly term and they were to provide guidance and protection for a nation and we looked last week at Jeremiah 23 Where we found that that God in the Old Testament although he himself was the shepherd he had delegated shepherding duties to religious leaders and political leaders and in Jeremiah 23 the prophet just takes the leaders to task because they have not Shepherded the people well and he says I will shepherd my own flock God says I will come and shepherd my own flock and I will send one who will be their king and his name the righteous branch of David his name will be Jehovah our righteousness. That's a prophecy of the Messiah So because the religious and political leaders have failed the nation failed to be good shepherds God will send the true shepherd to shepherd his people the Messiah now In that context Jesus claims to be the true shepherd He's not just using a nice little Middle Eastern imagery of a shepherd in sheep because it's pestoral it's rural it's agrarian It's really nice because of a farming community. No, no, he's harkening back to some Old Testament imagery of being the one that was promised to lead the people because the other shepherds have failed now with that imagery and Old Testament background you also pull together the background of chapter nine and the story that we just saw Remember what happened in chapter nine Jesus heals whom The blind man, okay, what happens to the blind man when when Jesus heals him Pardon me he becomes a believer yes and that kind of happens gradually doesn't that has he begins to understand Who Jesus is do you remember what happened to him though? He's called into Given account of what happened before the religious leaders and What do they end up doing with him? Drobe him out drove him out meaning what? Excommunicated and it kicked him out of the synagogue didn't they and and that was What they threatened his parents with and that's why they were intimidated by? By by the religious leaders and did not want to answer so they throw him out of the synagogue, okay? He has been failed by the people who were supposed to be the shepherds of Israel and so Jesus remember at the end of chapter nine calls them blind Again, they are shepherds who are supposed to be leading the people, but they themselves don't know where to go They're blind and so pack all of that into this and now you come to chapter 10 Harkening back to the Old Testament imagery of a shepherd leading the people and the promise of a true shepherd Jesus is going to make that claim I'm the true shepherd and then also on the very heels of the fact that the people who were supposed to be Delegated shepherds Given that responsibility have failed to lead the nation rightly Exhibit a best example is the blind man whom he's just healed They've kicked him out of the synagogue and Jesus comes finds him and says I'll be your shepherd and so he He talks in chapter 10 about being the true shepherd So with that background Let's let's see what Jesus says first of all he claims to be the genuine shepherd in verses one through six He says I tell you the truth the man who does not enter the sheep pin by the gate But climbs in by some other way is a thief and a robber The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep Now remember these Images we just briefly looked at them last week. Let's look at them again to Hope you understand what a sheep pin or a sheep fold In the ancient Near East or would would be like It's uh, it is a Rock wall basically and this wall as you can see through the gate here extends on back Would probably cover quite some territory a sheep fold or sheep pin like this was usually outside of a village And the shepherds if they'd had their flocks out grazing during the day would then bring them in at night And several flocks might go into one sheep fold or sheep pin And so they would be in this enclosure at night for safety now if the shepherds because of The time of year and the need to go further to find good good forage for the the sheep Needed to to be further away they would sometimes be Out in the fields at night, but often if they're near a village They would be brought into a sheep pin like this showed you last week also a picture of sheep trying to Get up close to that the the gate that's the gate the door And the sheep and then the next picture is Of of sheep following a shepherd now remember that we talked about The shepherd would come to the sheep fold in the morning and the sheep Would recognize the shepherd's name remember there may be several flocks belonging to several shepherds in that same pin and The shepherd would call out for his sheep and that shepherd's sheep would recognize the shepherd's voice and would Come to follow him other sheep would not do that they would wait for their shepherd But they would recognize the shepherd's voice and follow him Okay, now you have to have all of that in mind And the reason why it's important for us to explain that it was not important in Jesus They to explain any of that that's the way they lived they understood all of that And so when Jesus talks about a sheep pin when Jesus talks about calling his sheep and they follow him They know exactly what he's talking about we don't live there anymore And so we have to go back and try to put ourselves back in that world to really catch the importance of what Jesus is saying So Jesus is going to say I am the the genuine shepherd I am the one the Old Testament was portraying and there are several reasons why First of all he says I come the right way versus one and two that we just read He says the man who does not enter the sheep pin by the gate But climbs in by some other way as a thief and a robber Um the man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep Okay, the shepherd is always going to come to the gate Be recognized by the watchman as we'll see in a moment who will open the gate so he can call his sheep and they will come out and follow him If someone crawls up over the wall he's obviously not the shepherd he's a thief He's someone who's trying to steal sheep because he's not coming the appropriate way Now what Jesus is saying is I came the appropriate way There were no surprises Jesus is not trying to climb up over the wall trying to get in some back way He came the appropriate way and the way that he came was foretold clearly in the Old Testament The Old Testament had lots of prophecies as to how the Messiah would come The Old Testament foretold for instance the place of his birth. What what did the old where do the Old Testament say it would be born Bethlehem you remember where that prophecy is Micah yeah Micah chapter five in verse two where the place of the Messiah's birth is identified as Bethlehem Even the general timing of his birth was prophesied in the Old Testament Daniel chapter nine the Prophecy of the 490 years from the starting point of the building of the wall in art exerxes time in Nehemiah's time until the coming of the Messiah the coming actually being the coming into Jerusalem um On Palm Sunday, but you could figure exactly when that would happen and so sometime prior to that in the general frame time frame The Messiah would be born so the Old Testament prophesied his birth the Old Testament prophesied uh What Jesus ministry would be like Saw or Isaiah 61 Tells the spirit of the Lord is upon me. He has caused me to Announce good tidings to the poor and describes several things that the Messiah will do the Old Testament Prophecy the specific Miracles that the Messiah would do That would show that he was the genuine Messiah Isaiah 35 and Jesus actually quotes that passage in in Matthew 8 as confirmation of what I'm doing Just look look at what I'm doing now go back to your Old Testament. That's exactly what Isaiah 35 said Messiah would do So what Jesus basically is saying here is the Old Testament prescribed the way that the Messiah would come And I want you to know I'm coming right to the front door I've come exactly like the Old Testament said I would I'm not crawling up some back way trying to sneak in. I haven't snuck in. I've come exactly like the Old Testament declared I would come I've come right to the door to the to the sheep gate So he has come the right way and by the way Well, let's I'll hang on to that and we'll get to that in just a moment The second reason why Jesus can say I'm the genuine shepherd is that he is he has recognized by the watchman look at verse 3 The watchman opens the gate for him Okay, there's a person at the sheepfold at night that kind of watches You know, it's a night duty. He's a night guard basically He watches to make sure the sheep are kept safe and that no thieves or robbers try to come in and no animals try to attack Even though there's security in that sheepfold something might might happen So there is a watchman, but when the true shepherd shows up the next morning the watchman recognizes him and opens the gate for him Now if Jesus is the genuine shepherd and if he has come right to the front door He's not tried to climb in sneak in he came just like the Old Testament said he would Who is the watchman that recognizes him and opens the gate for him? Somebody said it John John the Baptist John recognized him didn't he? Jesus Came to be baptized by John and God had told him the father had told John that when you see the Holy Spirit descending That's the one that's the one And so John recognized him and John opened the gate for him didn't he prepared the way Info film would advise a 40 which declared that one would come and prepare the way John opened the door for him open the gate for him Okay Isn't it interesting though when when he introduces Jesus to the country how does he introduce him? As the Lamb of God It that's kind of interesting to me doesn't call him the shepherd although Jesus is the shepherd John is focusing upon the fact that this shepherd will die and in his death he is better portrayed as Lamb By the Old Testament Lamb and so when he announces him to Israel He portrays him as the Lamb of God behold the Lamb of God who takes away the city of the world So Jesus is he's come the right way he's not tried to sneak in He's come the right way he is recognized by the watchman and then notice he calls his sheep by name in diverse three or middle of verse three The watchman opens the gate for him and the sheep listen to his voice The sheep listen to his voice he calls his own sheep by name And leads them out So Jesus Knows the name of his sheep He calls them by name Um, he recognizes all of his sheep And his sheep hear his voice and follow him so as Jesus puts out the call to the nation of Israel Does everybody follow him No, of course not But those who do follow him Who recognize his voice who recognize that he is the Messiah are his sheep and Chapter nine is just given us an example of both kinds of people There is a man who recognized these voice the blind man Finally understands who he is there are some people who do not recognize him and do not follow him the religious leaders in chapter nine They are not his sheep So the blind man is one who did recognize his voice but notice Jesus talks about leading the sheep out of the fold at the end of verse three says he leads them out when he is brought out all his own He goes on ahead of them and his sheep follow him because they know his voice But they will never follow a stranger In fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice Jesus used this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them Now think about this for a moment One of the ways that Jesus shows he is the genuine shepherd is that he leads the sheep Out of the fold Out of the pin What do you think the pen represents the sheep fold represents The world Okay possibly The Jewish law that they were under Getting warmer Bondage to sin okay, it's all that's all included The religious system a religious system Yeah, I believe um Especially because of the context he's just been clashing With the religious leaders He has just rescued a man who was kicked out of the religious system of Judaism kicked out of the synagogue And Jesus says my sheep recognize my voice. I'm taking them out of the pin And I'm leading them on to something else I think there's a sense in which the sheepfold or the sheep pin represents Judaism Judaism has fulfilled its purpose It has served to protect God's people through the Old Testament from idolatry at least after the captivity it has And to to protect God's people in a certain sense To revere the law of Moses and so forth it has served its purpose But Jesus now is coming to start something new And so he's calling out sheep His sheep by name To follow him out of the sheepfold He's going to take them somewhere else I think the idea here is that Jesus is beginning a new work The the Pharisees will resist that but Jesus says my sheep know my voice they'll follow me And I'll take them out of the sheepfold And and we'll take them to a place of of pasture we're going to leave the old religion the old works the old law And we're starting something new here. I think that's What Jesus is speaking of so Jesus is the genuine Shepherd any any question about those six verses and what Jesus is speaking of there Yes Yes, good point when we claim Jesus as Savior our citizenship changes our citizenship is no longer here is it it's In in heaven Jesus or Paul talks about that in philippians 3 verses 20 and 21 our citizenship is in heaven from whom we look for a Savior Who will come and change this vile body this human body into a body like is We have a new citizenship in heaven Sounds like he's taking his followers to church. I think there's a sense in which he's anticipating the beginning of the church here in the sense that he's He's starting a new work pulling out of Judaism Okay Now the figure changes a little bit in verses 7 through 10 Jesus is the genuine shepherd, but I think verses 7 through 10 indicate that he is also the giving shepherd He claims to be the giving shepherd and there's several things he gives here um It's important to see that the scene changes a little bit the sheep have followed the shepherd out of the sheepfold Imagine the scene now is more of out in the field kind of seen where the sheep have been grazing and pastures through the day And then if you would picture a door or a gate to a wooded thicket or some kind of Wooded enclosure canopy where the sheep can get out of the sun can lie down in grass and rest But then go back out to the pasture to feed come back in to where it's a little out of the sun and and can rest If you can picture that image that's the different scenery that we find here in verses 7 through 10 so there's several things that Are emphasized here about how the shepherd provides for the sheep What he gives the sheep? Okay, look first of all here at verses 7 through 9 where Jesus basically says that he gives The sheep salvation Therefore Jesus said again, I tell you the truth. I am the gate For the sheep All whoever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them I am the gate Whoever enters through me will be saved He will come in and go out and find pasture Okay, Jesus offers Salvation he is now the gate into that wooded area That place where the sheep can find rest But they can also go in and out find pasture come back go out and find pasture and come back So Jesus says those who come in and go out those who enter through me will be saved So he's using this imagery now to show that he is the one who saves them. He gives Salvation not the religious leaders He's taking them out of that system He now becomes the one who gives them salvation Secondly, he gives them nourishment in verse 9 He will come in and go out and find pasture their spiritual nourishment for The sheep here as they go in and out of that enclosure to find pasture Interestingly enough the term go in and out is used throughout the Bible of the normal experiences of life The coming and going of life the going in and out the normal every day life carrying out of life's duties that kind of thing and What Jesus is indicating that is in every day life Just in the coming and going of life we find our spiritual sustenance in him. He gives us pasture we find what we need the nourishment we need spiritually in him Day in day out just as we go about the normal duties of life. That's where we find our strength and sustenance So he gives nourishment, but he also gives abundant life verse 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I've come that they may have a life and have it to the full Remember as The way I memorized this verse was in the King James that they may have a life and that they may have it more abundantly Okay, and the idea is is Not just by the way eternal life in the New Testament is not just quantity It's not just an extension of this life, okay? I stop living here, but my life goes on for eternity in heaven That's not all that's meant in the New Testament by eternal life. It's not just quantity. It's also a different quality of life It is not just physical life. It is a different kind of life that Jesus gives us It is an eternal life Again, not just an extension of this life But a far richer life and that's why the King James says and might have it more abundantly It is it is a more abundant kind of life It's a life of spiritual blessing. It's it's a life of An enrichment of all the enjoyments that God has provided us here eternal life is not just heaven eternal life is an abundant richer experience of the life God's given us here now it is spiritual life But that does serve to enrich everything family work leisure fun Everything is enriched by the fact that we have a different quality of life now that we're in Christ. It's not just length of life It's a very different idea in in the original language. It's not just an extended biological life It's a different quality of life that we're given eternal life It's not bios. It's not that Greek word. It's zoe. It's It's a different quality of life full life abundant life. That's what we're promised So he gives us salvation nourishment abundant life he gives us all of that as the shepherd Okay, comments or questions about verses 7 through 10 and Jesus as the giving shepherd Okay, then Jesus says in verses 11 through 18 I'm the good shepherd and he literally says that in verse 8 or verse 11 I am the good shepherd again the original language is so much more precise than the English language There are two different words you could use for good one means morally good and the other means intrinsically good or beautiful and that's the word that you used here Jesus is the good shepherd in the sense that he is the ideal the model shepherd He is the good shepherd in the sense that there is no one more beautiful or better or intrinsically Better than Jesus. He is the ideal the model shepherd and in that sense, he's the good shepherd Not just that he's morally good that he doesn't do anything bad It's that he is the ideal the perfect shepherd. That's the idea here So as the good shepherd notice what he does. He first of all dies for the sheep I'm the good shepherd the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep Through verse 13 hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep so when he sees the wolf coming He abandons the sheep and runs away then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it The man runs away because he's a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep Jesus proves that he is intrinsically good that he is the ideal perfect shepherd Because he's willing to lay down his life for the sheep He's willing to die for the sheep. Now sometimes a shepherd would die in the course of his duties By virtue of the attack of an enemy or the attack of an animal But Jesus is not talking about that. He's talking about the willingness to voluntarily lay down his life for the sheep and so Jesus Is the good shepherd because he's willing to die for the sheep Now let me let me pause just a moment to run a bit of a rabbit trail here, okay? Passages like this where the Bible says Jesus dies for the sheep have led some to believe that that's all Jesus died for that Jesus dies only for a select group of people the elect Um and and that fails to take into account the total teaching of scripture The Bible does talk about Jesus dying for the sheep The Bible does talk about Jesus dying for the elect The Bible does talk about Jesus dying for the church. Ephesians 5 So sometimes when the Bible talks about Jesus death it talks about it in terms of those who will be saved That's who he died for But that's not all the Bible talks about And to really have a full biblical balance view you have to also understand that the Bible talks about Jesus died for the world and Believe me. I've had enough theology to understand how five point Calvinists answer that They always say well the world means Gentiles just not Jews Not in every case if you do a careful study of that you'll find that is not true in every case where that is said in the New Testament Now here's the point Jesus did die for the elect to secure their salvation Jesus did die for his sheep those who will end up being in heaven Jesus did die for the church, but Jesus also died for the world The larger group encompasses the smaller group But the smaller group does not rule out the larger group. It can't work that way It simply can't work that way You can't do that with the scriptures Sometimes the scriptures do focus on the more narrow group on those only who will trust him But that doesn't exclude the larger group that the Bible talks about however the larger group does include the smaller group Now let me let me show you a couple of verses that They're actually five passages that clearly Keep me from being a five point Calvinist that believes oh Jesus only died for the elect By the way Five point Calvinists will explain away these verses, but they have to do some linguistic and Biblical gymnastics to do it and they they go to great lengths to do that But here just two of those five passages that show that both are in view first simply four ten That is why we labor and strive because we have put our hope in the living God who is the savior of all people and especially of those who believe Okay, both groups are mentioned Jesus is the savior of all that's the bigger group the whole world But he is especially the savior of those who believe now that that would be the same group and the Bible as the church or the elect or the sheep Especially those who believe but he also is the savior of the whole world In some way Jesus died for the sins of the whole world Obviously that salvation will only be applied to those who believe they're the only ones that are going to end up in heaven So Jesus in some sense died for the larger group, but he also died specifically for the smaller group both are true Another passage that includes both is first John 2 too He is the atoning sacrifice and by the way you cannot Water down that term 5.0.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.2 but you cannot Legitimately, Biblically, lexically with the word water down that term he is the atoning sacrifice that means he died to pay for the sins Following the Old Testament sacrificial offering imagery that's the word. It's the word propitiation So you can't water down that word he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins John writing to as he calls him in his epistle little children believers He's he's the propitiation the atoning sacrifice for our sins believers and not only for hours but also for the sins of the whole world John by the way is not writing to Jews There's nobody that takes that position of first John that that deals credibly with the text Because John's writing in the 90s the Jews are already spread throughout the world There's he's not writing to a Jewish audience. He's writing to all believers And he says Jesus died not only for our sins, but for the sins of the whole world Jesus died for everybody in some sense The provision of Jesus death is broad enough to cover anybody's sins Obviously the only ones who will end up being saved are the ones who are going to be in heaven those are his sheep That's the church those are the ones that end up being the elect Okay, but the Bible very makes it very clear that Jesus died for a wider group of people You cannot use passages like John 10 to limit the atonement You can say that Jesus is having a specific focus of the atonement in John 10 But the atonement is broad enough to die for the sins of the whole world the atonement is enough to cover that um And and I say that because we you know we've had folks in our church who have espoused five point Calvinism and we don't we don't You know run them off We welcomed them with open arms as long as they don't espouse try to promote and process the ties and so forth But I just feel it's important when we come to a passage like this to make it very clear What the Bible teaches in its totality not just in specific instances And by the way five point Calvinism is a logical system It makes logical sense if you follow the five points makes very logical sense and I'm not going to get into all that tonight Some of your lost already, but it it makes perfect logical sense But it doesn't make biblical sense Because there are passages like this and three others um That Very clearly Tell that Jesus died for everybody now. I don't know how to put all of it together But I want to stay biblical. I'm not going to try to form a theology on logic We um I've been on an ordination council before for a guy who was trying to defend five point Calvinism and it was clear It's like a light switch turned where he jumped from Bible to logical arguing If this happens then this has to happen and this has to happen this has to happen and that's how you come to a five point Calvinist position Well, I'm just going to stick with what the Bible teaches if I can't put it all together make sense of it How both are true? That's okay because I can't explain the Trinity either And I can't explain the deed and humanity of Christ and how all of that worked in the same person without some division I can't explain that fully either, but I believe them both So I'm going to believe this as well Okay, I've said a lot more than I anticipated saying on that, but any question See Oh He Okay. Steve has made an interesting point that 5-point Calvinism logically leads to no interest in missions. And that logically is true. I don't want to be unfair to people though. There are many 5-point Calvinists who are very strongly mission-minded. John Piper is a good example. There's no better mission-hearted man in this country than John Piper. He's a 5-point Calvinist. James Kennedy was, and you could, you know, Mark Deaver, Al Molder. You could name a lot of others too, John MacArthur. You could name a lot of others who are very strong 5-point Calvinists, but also very strong missions-minded. So that doesn't always happen. It can happen. And it is a logical maybe conclusion, but it doesn't always happen. Good. Good. That is good. Okay. I don't want to get deeply embroiled, and I've probably got too far anyway, but I don't want to get off on a theological tangent too far. But any other related questions? Yes. In Romans 8, he says, all creation groans because of the curse. Yes. And he also says that all creation will be restored, will be reconciled as a result of Christ's death, all of creation, including, you know, not just people, but all of God's intent for creation will be restored. Colossians 1 talks about that. Okay. Let's also look at the fact that Jesus is the good shepherd, not only because he's willing to die for the sheep, but also because he knows the sheep, verse 14. I'm the good shepherd. I know my sheep, and my sheep know me just as the father knows me, and I know the father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. And it's great to know that our divine shepherd, Jesus, knows us. And according to verse 3, because he calls his sheep by name, he knows this by name. Isn't it good to know that you're not a number? You're not a computer entry. You are a person with a real name to Jesus, and he knows your name. He knows your name. He's tired of calling companies that you have to do business with and being sent through the phone tree. And finally, if you ever do get to a person, a real person, you can tell they have no clue and no interest in who you are. And Jesus has millions and millions of followers, and he knows every one of them personally by name. But he not only knows our name, he knows everything about us. He knows our personalities, he knows our strengths, our weaknesses, our idiosyncrasies, that might make other people smile at us. He knows all of those things about us, and he loves us for who we are. He knows his sheep. He knows what we need. He knows everything about us. But he's not only the good shepherd because he's willing to die for the sheep and because he knows the sheep, but also because he gathers the sheep. Verse 16, this is interesting. And you'll pick up on this because of what we've seen about what the sheepfold is. He says, I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. Now because some people have understood the sheep pen the mean the world or even the church, there have been some who understand verse 16 to mean that there are people that Jesus died for on other planets, other places in the universe. And that's what he was talking about here. Have you ever heard the verse use that way? Some of you have. I certainly have. And in the context, it's absolutely ludicrous. Remember what the sheep pen is? What does the sheep pen represent here in this past? Do you remember the sheep pen that Jesus is bringing people out of? He's bringing them out of Judaism. Yes. Bring them out of Judaism. So Jesus is saying, I have other sheep that are in other pens. So what he's saying here is I've got people outside of Judaism. He's really talking here about Gentiles. There are people in other sheep pens. There are people in Spain. There are people in North America. There are people in China that I'm going to gather, not just out of Judaism, but out of other sheep pens as well. I'm going to gather them. He says, I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice and there will be one flock and one shepherd. The reason my father loves me is that I lay down my life only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, authority to take it up again. This command I received from my father. Jesus again is talking about his willingness to die for the sheep, willingness to give his life for the sheep. And there are people from other sheep pens that he's going to bring and put in this one flock. This is, I believe, quite clearly another one of those predictions, one of those prophecies of the church. He doesn't call it the church here, but he's talking about bringing Jew and Gentile together into one flock. That's obviously the church. So it is a prophecy of what he will do after his death. And then as you can see, verses 19 to 21, this creates more division. At these words, the Jews were again divided. Some of them said he's demon-possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him? But others said there, and these are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind? So again, even the instruction Jesus gives to the Jews here creates division concerning him. So Jesus' instruction to the Jews. Okay, we've got two minutes. I really wanted to get into Luke 10 tonight, but we'll do that next week. Jesus' instruction to the disciples, when Jesus sends out 72 or 70, depending on which text you're looking at, we'll talk about that next week. I believe it is 72, but Jesus sent out. It's a very interesting endeavor that Jesus does. We're going to look next week at why he sends them out. Why it's 72? Who are these 72? Hasn't he been dealing with 12? And focusing on them, how does he all of a sudden have 72 to send out? And where does he send them? And why? And what kind of instructions does he give them? When you fit all of that into the context of where Jesus is right now in his ministry, once a few months before he dies, I think you'll find the instructions that Jesus gives them to be much more understandable in light of the context. Historically, the timeframe of Jesus' ministry, the urgency of the situation, where he's sending them and what he's asking them to do. We'll see if all that kind of comes together next week.