The Name of God: The Name Above Every Name (Part 7)
Pessimism is a sin. If a person claims to be a real Christian and is not optimistic regarding areas under God’s control, then one is sinning against Him.
It’s called a lack of faith.
…And whatever is not from faith is sin. [Romans 14:23]
The Lord was often exasperated with faithlessness, especially among His own disciples. Remembering the simple fact that those guys were His students learning His craft excuses them since they were in the process of moving from darkness to light. If they continued in pessimistic faithlessness after the Resurrection, the Ascension, and Pentecost, then they failed His curriculum and were in sin.
And not a real part of His community.
Which brings us to the crux of the matter: The majority who claim to be Christians are not real Christians. They are Christian in name only, regardless of their denomination or doctrinal beliefs.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.” This figure of speech Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things were which He had been saying to them. [John 10:1-6]
From this definitive statement the Lord is clearly teaching that it is possible for “strangers” to get into His sheepfold. Think about that. We gain greater understanding of this fact when discovering that the Greek word for stranger in this verse means “one belonging to another.” In other words, these strangers are not simply unknown persons crashing the party but those who belong to someone else. And in the clear context of the verse we see that He is referring to people who are shepherds other than the Lord Jesus.
Who are these shepherds?
I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed! For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ. For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. [Galatians 1:6-12]
There is no doubt that Paul spoke often of false apostles and false gospels. This obviously presupposes false shepherds. False shepherds are “strangers” who enter the Lord’s sheepfold through means other than the door. They assume authority over people not granted from God. It was the Pharisees who Jesus was referring to as such strangers, as clearly indicated in chapter nine of John’s gospel. (There should have been no chapter break, since the narrative from chapter nine continues into chapter ten.)
The Lord Jesus tells them He is the Door of the sheepfold. He is also the Good Shepherd. Whoever does an end run into His sheepfold without going through the Door (the only means of proper access) is not a real believer.
“…No one comes to the Father but through Me.” [John 14:6]
No one can possibly get to the Father without going through the Son. Whoever rejects the Son automatically rejects the Father also. The Father and Son are a package deal. One cannot have one without also having the other.
If one has a shepherd other than the Son, one does not have the Father.
Yet, such people think they still have the Father. Some Christians insistently refer to “God” as someone other than the Lord Jesus, but have no real idea who this “God” is. The term often refers to an unknowable, intangible, and conceptual God that people end up making to suit themselves. In their minds, this God is not Jesus.
They must, therefore, have a shepherd other than Jesus, because if Jesus were their shepherd, He would be their God also.
Who qualifies then as replacement shepherds of unreal Christians? Who are the Christian leaders who teach their sheep to enter the Lord’s sheepfold through a means other than the Door? Who are these replacement shepherds who take the place of the Door?
So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep.” [John 10:7-13] [1]
One should see very clearly that any shepherd who advises his sheep to disregard the Door and enter His sheepfold through another means or method is not honest or upright, but a thief and a mere hired hand working for pay. What’s more, you can bet that the sheep of the false shepherds look and act like them, and not at all like the Door.
The password to the kingdom of God is the Name of Jesus.
© 2011 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved. [Part 7 of 10]
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Posted on October 21, 2011, in Teaching and tagged False Shepherds, Lord Jesus, Optimism, Real Christianity, The Door of the Sheep, The Father, The Good Shepherd, The Holy Spirit, The Name of Jesus, The Son. Bookmark the permalink. 7 Comments.
Real Christianity 
Ouch. For many of my earlier years I was a pessimist. Came from a family of great pessimists–course we didn’t call it that. We were pragmatists or realists, but the end result was the same. I married an optimist. Used to “bug” the daylights out of me sometimes. It was the grace of God that He had me marry someone who had the attitude that “everything will all work out.” You are right, you can’t be a pessimist and be a real Christian. If you truly believe that God is Sovereign and He has all things under His control, then you must be an optimist. Optimism must have its foundations in faith though, not pride. There are many who are optimistic because they believe they can fix everything themselves–not so good. There is only one Savior and His Name is Jesus. No other person, no government, no group can save us from the mess that we make of our lives. Only Jesus is the Door to our salvation. Only Jesus is our Shepherd and our God.
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I love your response, I especially liked the last part “There is only one Savior and His Name is Jesus. No other person, no government, no group can save us from the mess that we make of our lives. Only Jesus is the Door to our salvation. Only Jesus is our Shepherd and our God.”
RJ, I have really enjoyed your blog, thank you.
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Thanks, Paul. I appreciate it.
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Reblogged this on Real Christianity.
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I can’t remember if I asked you this before, but the word god, it was never used in the Hebrew bible right? I was told once that when we referred to our creator it is Father, because man has made too many gods of their own, sun gods, water gods, etc. I am just curious, because the King James bible is written with the use of the word God. Who decided that is how we should refer to Jesus. I personally like using the word Father. Thank you RJ.
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Thanks for the comment, Sandra. I apologize for not getting to this sooner. You have a good question here. I am not sure just where to start but I always pray about how to answer and ask for the Lord’s anointing so here we go. First of all, in your use of the term Hebrew Bible I assume you mean the Old Testament. In that regard we need to look at some pertinent ancient history. It was to the Hebrews, the descendants of the miracle child Isaac through Abraham that the Creator gave a personal revelation of Himself and revealed that He is one God, that is, that He is one entity or Person. This flew in the face of all other ancient cultures whose respective religions taught that there were many gods or deities.
Of course, such multiple deities either existed as mere figments of their imagination or were actually demonic entities in league with Satan. It is relatively easy to perceive this by the nature of their false religions and aberrant cultures. The actual Creator created the first man and woman in His likeness long before such false religions were formed and He had revealed His true benevolent, loving, pure, and holy nature to Adam and made Adam the same way He was (in God’s image) as He also later made Eve. These were originally pure and holy human individuals completely devoid of sin who lived in a state of innocence. It is why it was such a devastating event when they both succumbed to temptation, turned on their Father Creator, obeyed the serpent (Satan), and fell into sin which destroyed their spiritual nature.
So we see that in the beginning of the history of the Creator’s interaction with mankind He revealed Himself as the one God, a term we later came to use to refer to Him. I have done very detailed studies of this subject in the past but here’s a quick review: The Creator used one particular Hebrew word to define Himself in the first general creation story which runs from Genesis 1:1 to Genesis 2:3: Elohiym. This Hebrew word is translated as “God” in our English versions which denotes the Supreme Being or Creator of all. In Genesis Chapter 2:4 however, which begins the second creation story (an account in greater personal detail regarding mankind), He updated the word Elohiym by using it in tandem with another Hebrew term showing greater relational awareness: YHWH. These two Hebrew words are translated into English as the “Lord God.”
Because Genesis 1:1-2:3 is a general account, the Creator used a Hebrew word describing Himself from afar, so to speak. But starting in Genesis 2:4, because He reveals a new close relationship with His first created human being, Adam, also referred to as His son, the Creator uses the newer term YHWH Elohiym. YHWH is known as the Tetragrammaton (having four letters). These four Hebrew letters (actually three since one is used twice) referred originally to the unpronounceable Name of God. It is translated most correctly as Yahweh (a pronunciation attempt) though was also translated into English (in a substandard sense) as Jehovah (1520) though there is no letter “J” in Hebrew.
So again, if you mean by your term “Hebrew bible” as the Old Testament, then the English word “God” is used a great number of times as a general word denoting the great Creator (Jewish people prefer to use the term G-d). So we see that, as opposed to all the other ancient nations, only the ancient Hebrews received the great revelation that God is one which began the monotheistic tradition.
Now, regarding the Lord God as Father, the first time in Scripture we see this is in Exodus 4:22-23 when in a conversation with Moses God refers to Israel (Jacob) as His firstborn son thus denoting His Fatherhood and all that is associated with the term. In Deuteronomy 1:31 the Lord God refers to Himself as the Father of His people, though without using the term. Yet later, in Deuteronomy 32:6 we read:
“Do you thus repay the Lord, O foolish and unwise people? Is not He your Father who has bought you?”
So we see that God certainly referred to himself as Father in the very early time of His infant nation.
In the New Testament Scriptures God gives the final and greatest revelation of Himself by appearing to us in person as a fellow human being. Of course, He is modeling both the Son and the Father by being our example as Son but also showing His greatness and majesty as the Lord God and our heavenly Father. As I mentioned previously in another segment, the classic man-made Trinity Doctrine has greatly clouded this issue and made it confusing though it was never such originally. Our Lord Jesus referred to Himself in one way or another as the Creator, Lord God, and Father many times. Paul writes about Him as the Creator. Remember, there was never any “trinity of persons” in the Old Testament or New Testament Scriptures. This was a later man-made doctrine formalized in the early 400s AD which unfortunately serves to place the Lord Jesus in a mere secondary position and intimates that there is another “person” greater than the Lord Jesus known as the Father. Yet Jesus said HE is the Father. He thus refutes the Trinity Doctrine and claims His place as God and Creator.
Regarding how we may refer to the Lord Jesus I think we must think in the relational terms that fit best. For the real Christian, THE LORD JESUS IS THE ONE WHO DIED FOR US TO PURCHASE OUR SALVATION. What kind of a Father would send His Son to die instead of coming Himself to die? Of course He did come Himself. “The Father sent the Son” is simply another way of saying that God became a Man. There was simply no other way to bring forth a perfect sinless sacrifice for all sin unless the Creator Himself became the sacrifice since He is the only one who is perfect and purely holy. It is the greatest act of love of all time and perfectly reveals His Fatherhood in that He would give His life for His children.
By the way, I call the Lord Jesus “Father” also because He is my Father. He died for me and brought me to new life. “Father” is perhaps the most wonderful of all terms of endearment and shows both our love and respect for Him. He is the greatest.
Blessings to you Sandra. Thank you again for writing. I had no idea how I would be able to do this but the Lord blessed! Thank you for the opportunity to teach and write again. Be Blessed!
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Thank you very much RJ for this answer. You always have a way of helping me understand what I am reading and what I hear from the world around me. Helping me to hear our Father over the false words of man. Yes I was referring to the old testament. This explains so much. I especially appreciate your teachings on explaining how Jesus and the Father are one. Because I had separated them in my mind. Not understanding how they were one. I will continue reading your post. I am glad they are still available for me to read. Blessings to you as well RJ. All glory to our Father.
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