Chapter 1: Ministry Updates
So, here we go again. Time to rightly divide the word of truth. Today, we’re answering the question: are we the sheep, “not of this fold,” in John chapter 10?
Stay tuned, and we’ll dive right in a moment. Hey, whenever you’re in the mood for a shot of truth with no chaser, we’ve got a brand new website and a new feature that’s going to help you answer a lot of your questions.
You can also put the people who tell lies about us and the word of reconciliation, you can put them in check. Like one that a listener sent in to us earlier that said, “Truth time teaches that believing is a work.” [laughter] If they’re breathing, they’re lying, right? We’ve never taught that. And now with access to our search box, you can do as Paul commands. And you can (1st Thessalonians 5:21) prove it for yourself. We teach what the Bible teaches about believing. It’s not hard.
To believe is to do. How do we know that? We follow scripture. Acts 16:31. The jailer said, “What must I do?” They said, “Believe.” You know what that means? Believing is doing. Believing is doing, but it’s not a work, because a work is defined as something done in the flesh. Believing is not in the flesh. But see, this is what happens when the limited forgivers realize their arguments are doing nothing but face-planting. So they revert to slander and telling lies. Very sad. But now with the search box, those days are over. Well, for anyone interested in knowing what we actually teach, those days are over because you can now find out for yourselves instead of depending on what someone else tells you. You can stop playing the telephone game. When people with integrity hear a rumor, they respond by going to the source instead of helping to spread it.
Also, on our website, you can now find the new book, “Understanding Bible Terminology, Explained by Context, Not Tradition.” And you can download our free app and come celebrate the word of reconciliation with us.
Chapter 2: Defining the other sheep
Okay, we’re going to start out with a listener letter here. One, he wrote, “I’m enjoying the app and have binge-watched your videos. Thank you for the vast supply of grace teachings. My question is, who are the other fold in John 10:16? At our former fellowship, we were taught that it was the body of Christ, but we wanted to hear from you because we respect your hermeneutics.”
All right, Juan, glad you’re here. Hermeneutics is just a fancy word for how to interpret, but the problem with it is it’s derived from the Greek messenger god, Hermes. So, it might not be the best word to use here. We interpret scripture from a dispensational perspective, appealing to 2 Timothy 2:15 and Romans 16:25, and allowing scripture to interpret itself.
Okay. John 10:16 — and other sheep I have, this is Jesus speaking, “Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.” First off, this is a fold with a shepherd, not a body with a head. So, it cannot be the body of Christ.
Ephesians 1:22: “And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.” Head of the body, not shepherd of the fold. So this is already going south for whoever taught brother Juan this. The John 10:16 fold is the Jews who at that time were living in Judea. Jesus was of the tribe of Judah and preached the gospel of the kingdom to them first.
So that leaves us with the other sheep. Who are they? Who are those not in this fold? Well, throughout the Bible, God refers to the people of Israel as his sheep. So, the other sheep would be the other tribes of Israel, those not of the tribe of Judah. This is Jeremiah 31. Let me get that. This is prophetic. It isn’t Paul’s mystery. This is pure prophecy. It belongs to Israel. And if you want your Bible to start taking shape, start rightly dividing Israel’s prophecy from the church’s mystery. Do that and see what happens. For those here with us today who have already put this to practice, you know precisely what I’m talking about. All the puzzle pieces start coming together, and this thing takes shape and starts to make sense.
The other sheep would be the other tribes of Israel, those not of the tribe of Judah. Jeremiah 31:31: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah.” There we are. This is a shot of prophecy with no mystery. Prophecy in its purest form. In the future, there’s going to be no more division between the northern and the southern tribes. The Jews referenced this in John chapter 7, verse 35, when they asked, “Will he go unto the dispersed among the Gentiles?” They were talking about the other fold, the other fold that was scattered, those who had been dispersed among the Gentiles.
That’s why over there in 1 Peter 2:12, Peter told his crew that they were to have their conversation honest among the Gentiles. See, they were in Gentile lands. When Peter opened his epistle, he mentioned how they had been scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.
Chapter 3: Prophecy versus mystery
See, context is a heresy killer. When you stay within its parameters, these false teachers don’t know what to do with you other than slander you, campaign against you because you become a problem for them. They’re part of the good old boys' club, still acting like puppets. I say it a lot, and some may get tired of hearing it, but stop comparing preacher to preacher and start comparing scripture with scripture and watch how your understanding takes off.
Under King Solomon, Israel was one united nation. But sometime after his death, the people chose Jeroboam to be their king, which led to what? A split under him. The ten northern tribes were called Israel, while the southern tribes formed the kingdom of Judah. That’s why Christ said, “Them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.” He’s speaking of bringing them back together.
Contrary to popular preaching, Gentiles are not the other fold. That’s the traditional, more popular view, but it cannot be supported with scripture.
Let’s back up a few verses from 16 to verse 11. John 10:11: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.” Sound familiar? It should. The same shepherd and sheep language here in John 10 is also found in Matthew 10:6, where Jesus said, “Go only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” We’re only a few verses into the study, and the picture is already starting to come together.
In Colossians chapter 2, Paul warns us to be aware. Be aware and don’t let men spoil you through philosophy, vain deceit, after the tradition of men. We have to test these traditions up against the truth. What Paul says here is just as true today as it was then. Tradition makes the mind lazy. Not all traditions now. Some traditions are good. As Paul tells us in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, some are good, but not the religious traditions of men that stand in the way of truth, like what we’re discussing today. Those who want to take away from the distinctive grace ministry of the Apostle Paul by making the other fold the believing body of Christ—a result of their failure to rightly divide. Jesus is speaking of things concerning prophecy, Israel’s prophecy. We’ve never been a lost sheep of the house of Israel a day of our lives. And it’s why if someone were to ask you what tribe you belong to, you don’t have a clue because you’re not in one.
Chapter 4: Rejecting religious tradition
This truth has been right here for us all along. Hidden in plain sight. Hey, I was ashamed and embarrassed when I first came to understand Paul’s unique and distinct apostleship to us. There I was. I had a personal apostle handpicked by Jesus Christ, and I didn’t know it. You spend time in church buildings, in ministry work. You learn all the catchphrases. You become fluent in speaking “Christianese,” the insider subculture language spoken among the evangelical circles. And boy, I could speak it. Let me tell you, I knew very little Bible, but I had mastered all the church catchphrases. Meanwhile, missing these simple truths.
You’re there on Sunday morning, and the preacher recites Revelation 3:20: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with me.” He follows that up with, “Friend, if you feel Jesus tugging at your heartstrings, just open your heart’s door and let him in.” Teaching that for salvation is nothing short of heresy. That’s not the gospel. It’s not the gospel, and it’s incapable of saving anyone today.
This is where “ask Jesus into your heart” came from. That false phraseology only generates a mental image that will keep you religious and lost. You can set the Guinness Book World Record for asking Jesus into your heart and wind up being cast into the lake of fire. How many false converts do you think it’s made? How many people will be in the lake of fire because they heard a message at their Baptist church on “turn or burn”? So they spent their lives turning from sin, thinking it would save them. How many will be in that fiery lake for confessing their sins to get them forgiven instead of believing the testimony of Paul when he said God stopped imputing their sins at the cross? (2 Corinthians 5:19)
We’ve been taught our whole life that the books of Matthew through John and Hebrews through Revelation have our name on it; it’s our mail, it’s where our doctrine, our instructions are. But the only ones believing that are those who failed to rightly divide the word of truth. And at that time those books are speaking of, at that time, the only hope for gentile salvation was if they found it by going through God’s chosen people. John 4:22. No other way—you can forget it.
Chapter 5: Evidence for prophetic focus
All right, back to John 10. Some say they believe the Bible but prove otherwise. So, let me challenge you right here today. Back to John 10, verse 15. John 10:15, Jesus the Son speaking: “As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for who? For the sheep, not the body of Christ.”
John 21:16. Get that quickly there. John 21:16: “He saith unto him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonah, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.”
Matthew 18:12: “How think ye, if a man have a hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, does he not leave the ninety and nine and go into the mountains and seeketh that which is gone astray?” Exactly what Jesus did. He came for the lost sheep of the house of Israel, not the church, the body of Christ.
Next verse, verse 13: “And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.” The ninety-nine represent the house of Israel. The one represents the lost sheep of Jacob’s house. No church, the body of Christ, is in sight. This is Israel and Israel, not Israel and the body of Christ.
Look at Matthew 26:31: “Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night. For it is written”—now that’s important, “it is written” denotes what? Prophecy. Prophecy, not mystery. Keep reading: “For it is written, I will smite the shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.” Scattered abroad. There we go again. Sound familiar? Of course it does.
James 1:1: “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad.” Not the gentile believers who became the church, the body of Christ. No, to the twelve tribes which are scattered. If they’re scattered, they might need to be found. That’s who he came for: the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
I hope you’re able to digest this. The same theme. The same theme. Hey, it carries into the book of Mark, guys. Mark 6:34: “And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.” Teaching who? The lost sheep of the house of Israel.
It’s time we face it. Religion taught us to not believe what we read. Luke 15:6: “And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.” All these references, one after the other, so much evidence. And even this sheep parable here all points to one central thing. At this particular time in the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Jesus was not sent to rescue us. He was sent to rescue the lost sheep of the house of Jacob. This is all in accordance with prophecy, lines up just right, having nothing to do with a mystery—the mystery that was given to Paul. The mystery that the risen, the ascended, the glorified Jesus returned to Paul and gave him.
In 2 Corinthians 5:16, Paul said, “Knowing no man after the flesh, though we have known Christ after the flesh, now henceforth know we him no more.” And the reason he said that is because Paul wasn’t taught his gospel by Jesus during his earthly ministry in the flesh when he walked among men in an earth suit. No, Paul was taught by Jesus, who appeared to him from heaven in his glorified body, who met him while on the Damascus road.
Just remember that these John 10 types of arguments—this is just one, but there are many—they’re designed to take away from the distinct apostleship of the Apostle Paul. Period. He is the only one in scripture that the body of Christ was revealed to. And he was the only one who revealed the mystery to the body of Christ. Think about that. That’s deep.
Listen, to get a clear picture of yourself and your walk with the Lord, you must first find your apostle, your Apostle Paul. Now, search his writings in 2 Timothy 2:7. Consider what he says, and the Lord will give you understanding in all scriptural things. Brother Juan, I hope this helps. Everyone wakes up at different times. Just remember to keep being the alarm clock. Grace and peace.
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