Sheep and Goats

When God created the heavens and the earth, he established the divine law of sowing and reaping. What is sown must one day be reaped. This is one of the most important divine laws and it can never be broken, even by God. Sowing good seed produces good fruit but bad seed produces bad fruit. That is because the life of the father dwells within the heart of the seed or son to bring forth fruit after its father’s kind. In the beginning, the Father was God, Adam was the Son of God, and the Holy Spirit was God’s gift of himself to Adam that filled his blessed heart with paradise. Unfortunately, Adam unwittingly rejected the fatherhood of God when he sinned by eating forbidden fruit in the garden of Eden. When Adam sinned, he brought the curse of prideful murderous sin and death into not only his heart, but also into the whole of Creation. There were no predators in the natural world before the Fall. It says in Leviticus 17:11 that the life is in the blood. He gasped the eternal life’s breath or Holy Spirit of the paradise of God’s fatherhood from his heart. This happened because his blood had become corrupted with the stain of sin and death. In his heart he died to God, became alive to simply superior marvellous me pride, and without the supernatural eternal life’s breath or Holy Spirit of God dwelling in his heart, his natural body eventually died too. That is why it says in Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can understand it?” In Hebrew, the word shepherd is a pictograph of a man, and an eye and means literally a watching man. It was related to words for delight, friend and pasture. The word for save in Hebrew is yasha. It is a pictograph made up of teeth, and eye and an arm or hand. It means literally the watching destroyer, a shepherd watching over his sheep to destroy anything that would harm the sheep. God is often described in the Bible as the Good Shepherd. This is how Jesus also described himself because Jesus is God. Originally, Adam had been God’s humble sheep but through his rebellion, Adam’s nature had changed and he in effect become a prideful goat. In Hebrew, the word goat is a pictograph of a camel and a weapon, which means literally a weapon lifter, an animal that is quick to use its horns. Cain was the original son of man and first-born over all creation. He was a weapon lifter or goat, who in a fit of incensed rage, murdered Abel, his brother. The word for sheep in Hebrew means literally a life that is hooked, an animal that is dependent upon the shepherd. The word for redeem in Hebrew means literally roll back or a circle dance. Why? Because those who dance in a circle get back to where they once belonged. The word redeem in English comes from the Latin redimere and means to take again or buy again or to buy back. It says in Psalm 49:7 that no man can redeem the life of another nor can he give to God a sufficient payment for him. No man could redeem the life of another man because all men had sinned and become goats with cursed fallen prideful hearts, just like Adam their first father. God as the Good Shepherd could not redeem Adam, the goat, directly back to being God’s sheep in the pasture of paradise. Why not? Because God cannot do what only a man can do; God gave dominion or the legal right to Adam or man. And of course, man cannot do what only God can do. That is why God had to become a man with authority or legal rights upon the earth, a man born of a woman, a man whose blood had not been corrupted with the stain of murderous prideful sin and death. As we have seen, it is a divine law that what is sown must one day be reaped and the sowing of sin brings a harvest of death. As we have already seen, God loves individuals but sees things as corporate totalities. It says in Galatians 3:13 “Christ [the Anointed One] has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangs on a tree”. As the spotless Passover Lamb of God, Jesus was crucified by his own people, the Israelites whom he came to save. Why? Because of their pride: corporately they were goats just like the marvellous Cain the original simply superior sinning son of man. On the Jesus cross reaped within his body the cursed harvest of prideful murderous sins for all people for all time. How did these sins get into Jesus body? They were beaten, scourged, bruised, nailed and pierced into him so much so that his face and body were disfigured or marred beyond that of any man (See Isaiah 52:14, and Isaiah 53). Because he did not have corrupted sin-stained blood flowing within him, the eternal life within his precious blood is able to redeem the repentant fallen sons of Adam or man back into the paradise of God’s fatherhood. How? When the innocent and precious blood of Jesus on the guilty hands of those who crucified him is applied to their not marvellous but murderous prideful sinning judgmental hearts, their hearts become humbled, broken, contrite, cut or pierced and ready to receive the gift of God’s Holy Spirit poured out on the Day of Pentecost. Jesus never sinned so death could not hold him and Jesus as God rose himself from the dead. Jesus became the firstborn from the dead, and also the firstborn of many brothers; his disciples and those who repented from the pride that nailed him to the cross became the Sons of God together with Jesus. That is why Jesus said after his resurrection to Mary in John 20:17 “I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God”. Jesus said regarding the temple of his body in John 2:19 that if it was destroyed, he would raise it again in three days. However, Paul said in Romans 6:4 that Jesus was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father. It was the glory of the Father, the eternal life’s breath of the paradise of God’s fatherhood that originally dwelt within the blessed heart of Adam. As the Son of Adam or man, and the Son of God, Jesus’ heart was again filled with paradise when God rose him from the dead. God did this so that what God did for Jesus, he can do for you. However, there is a problem. Paul said in 1 Timothy 4:1-2 that “Now the Spirit speaks expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing evil spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron”. We live in latter times, and many have departed from the Holy Spirit inspired faith of having a Father-Son relationship with God authored by Jesus and instead have a religious faith in the doctrines of demons and hand-me-down traditions of the established church authored by the devil and father of lies. Just like Cain, the faith of established church religion excuses rebellion and disobedience as being inevitable this side of the grave. The faith of church religion was established by the Roman Emperor Constantine and his successors, the church councils they convened and the creeds that they concocted. The faith of established church religion results in the marvellous manifestations of spells, incantations, rituals, rites, liturgies, creeds, enchantments, sacraments, offerings, priests, altars, incense, vestments and theologies, but the faith of relationship results in the manifestation of the supernatural saving power of God through a heartfelt faith in the precious blood of Jesus. The faith of religion redeems nothing, but the faith of relationship redeems the hearts of the Sons of God from the dreadful curse of pride that dwells within the heart of Cain, the original son of man. The faith of religion is of the head, the faith of relationship is of the heart. Paul says in Romans 8 that is with your heart that you believe and are justified. Justification means to make something good. That is why Jesus said in Matthew 12:36-37 “But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shall be justified, and by thy words thou shall be condemned”. The church establishment ignores these words of Jesus because they don’t fit in with their hypocritical boasts. The false justification of religion is for goats who claim that God is a super-sized hypocrite just like them because God imagines that selfish goats with pride poisoned sinful fallen hearts who believe in the efficacy of the creeds, rituals or ceremonies of the church establishment are good and righteous. The true justification of relationship changes, makes good or right, or redeems the hearts of the pride of those who were once goats, back to becoming the humble sheep of the Good Shepherd. It redeems the Sons of God back into the paradise of God’s fatherhood. People live from their hearts not their heads. One day, everyone will rise from the dead and the heart that people die with is the heart that they rise with. As such, the Sons of God are the sheep of the Good Shepherd who received the gift of a heart redeemed from the pride that nailed Jesus to the cross and will inherit the eternal life’s breath or Holy Spirit of God’s fatherhood dwelling within their hearts forever. The sons of destruction are the marvellous me goats, the weapon lifters who are quick to gore those that they hate with their prideful horns. They could have received the gift of a heart redeemed from pride but instead were deceived and robbed by the devil and father of lies working through the established religion of church tradition. They will inherit destruction by sharing in the dastardly devil’s doom. Jesus said in John 10:11,14-15 “I am the Good Shepherd: the Good Shepherd gives his life for the sheep. I am the Good Shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knows me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep”. The Good Shepherd laid his life down for his sheep by being murdered by the pride of the goats he came to save. Those that repented from his murder became the glorious sheep of his pasture. The life of the Good Shepherd is the life of God, it is eternal life, a loving life, a life that cannot hate, a life that never dies. Eternal life is not life after death but is having a heart redeemed from pride and then filled with the eternal life’s breath or Holy Spirit of God’s fatherhood. The sheep were once goats who repented from the pride of their part in the shedding of Jesus’ innocent blood. They died to their old lives in the waters of baptism into Jesus’ death to become sheep. The innocent blood of Jesus that was upon their guilty hands is now upon their redeemed hearts. As sheep, they no longer consider themselves the marvellous me: God is the one who is marvellous. They no longer live for themselves but instead, Jesus lives their lives for them so that they can experience resurrection life to sow good seed and bear the good fruit of God. That is why Paul said in Galatians 2:20 “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me”. The faith that they live by is the faith of the Good Shepherd, the faith of the Son of God, not their own. Such faith bears much fruit, fruit that glorifies God, the fruit of God, fruit that lasts. In the ancient world, goats looked very much like sheep. In fact, to the untrained eye, they could look identical. It was often only the shepherd who could tell them apart. The sheep and goats were often mixed together; the sheep followed the shepherd and knew his voice, but the goats did not. Jesus is the Good Shepherd who will separate the sheep from the goats at the end of days, not now.

In Matthew 25 Jesus gives the parable of the sheep and the goats. When he comes in his glory with his holy angels he will sit on the throne of his glory to judge. He will gather all the peoples of the nations together and put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. It says in Matthew 25:34-40 “Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungered, and you gave me food: I was thirsty, and you gave me drink: I was a stranger, and you took me in: Naked, and you clothed me: I was sick, and you visited me: I was in prison, and you came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we you an hungered, and fed you? or thirsty, and gave you drink? When saw we you a stranger, and took you in? or naked, and clothed you? Or when saw we you sick, or in prison, and came unto you? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Truly I say to you, Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these my brothers, you have done it to me.” Jesus put the sheep on his right. Within ancient Hebrew culture, the right-hand represented strength. The right-hand of God was considered the strength or power of his righteousness. That is why it says in Psalm 48:9-10 “We have thought of your lovingkindness, O God, in the midst of your temple. According to your name, O God, so is your praise unto the ends of the earth: your right hand is full of righteousness.” Jesus described his sheep as being righteous and called the sheep to inherit the kingdom prepared for them before the foundation of the world. The foundation of the world is the Fall not Creation. God knew that the Fall was going to happen. It was no surprise to God that the devil in the person of the serpent was slithering in the Garden of Eden. God knew that he would be born as the man Jesus to redeem fallen humanity from the rebellious simply superior marvellous me curse of the Fall and back into the paradise of God’s fatherhood filling their redeemed hearts with love. Jesus as the Good Shepherd laid his eternal life down for the sheep and reaped on the cross the cursed bitter harvest that the sheep, as sinful goat sinners, had sown into his body when they crucified him. It is important to remember that the sheep were not sheep until they had been redeemed by Jesus’ blood; originally, they were simply superior goats just like everyone else, and it was the goats that crucified their own Lord and Messiah. It was the blessing of Jesus’ Father, the blessing of God’s Fatherhood, the blessing of the Holy Spirit that saves and turns the cursed goat-sons of Adam or man, by the precious blood of Jesus, from their naturally sinning ways. The sheep were the recipients of this new covenant blood-borne blessing originally experienced by Abraham and subsequently by David. How do we know who God’s sheep are? By their behaviour. John says in 1 John 4 that God is love, and those who live in love live in God and God lives within them. As the Sons of God, the sheep bore the fruit of love after their heavenly Father’s kind. The Sons of God were God’s sheep who quite naturally gave the needy a roof over the heads, food when they were hungry, clothes when they were naked, and visited those who were sick or in prison. As the son of Adam or man, Jesus identified himself with these needy ones because they were part of his corporate totality; they were his brothers. He called his sheep, the ekklesia or called out ones, out of the corruption of the world to inherit the promised land of the Kingdom of God filling their hearts that was prepared for the Sons of God before the Fall. Jesus was calling his brothers or bride back into the paradise of Eden, the Father’s House, the City of God. That is why Jesus said in Revelation 21:6-7 “It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcomes shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son”. Jesus said in Luke 20:35-36 “But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: Neither can they die any more: for they are equal to the angels; and are the sons of God, being the sons of the resurrection”. This is the first resurrection. The sheep are the overcomers whose hearts are eternally filled with love, who are counted practically worthy to be part of this resurrection and will rule and reign with Jesus in the Kingdom of his Father forever. Everyone else, including the goats of Constantine’s clergy, will have to wait until the general resurrection at the end of all ages. This is mentioned at the end of the Book of Daniel. An angel spoke to Daniel and said in Daniel 12:2-3 “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever”. 

In Matthew 25:41-46 Jesus says to the goats “Then shall he say also to them on the left hand, Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungered, and you gave me no food: I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and you took me not in: naked, and you clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and you visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we you an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto you? Then shall he answer them, saying, Truly I say unto you, Inasmuch as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal life.” These words of Jesus are very well read, and yet the goat-theologians of the church establishment who know passages like this off by heart do not take them to heart. Why? Because it says in Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can understand it?” These goats have religious confessions, creeds, theologies, sacraments, liturgies, rituals, incantations, ceremonies and long complicated prayers with scriptural sounding words, but have unredeemed deceitful desperately wicked hearts and are following in the way of the marvellous Cain. Jesus described these goats as having been cursed. Why? Because of their behaviour. People behave what they really believe, and people behave from the heart not the head.  It is commonly taught in the goat-commentaries of Constantine’s culturally Greek religion of established church tradition that Jesus was a Jew born under the law of Moses. Therefore, he was speaking under the law and only to those who were also under the law, not to those who claim to be under grace. Jesus was asked which was the greatest commandment of the law. He replied in Matthew 22:37-40 “Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shall love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets”. The goat-theologians teach that these words of Jesus regarding God’s commandments and many others don’t apply to them. Why? Because they believe that Jesus’ words were in effect cancelled when Jesus died on the cross. The goats imagined that, because they believed that Jesus died for them, they were conceptually righteous and would be saved from hell and go to heaven when they died, so how they behaved did not matter. It didn’t matter to the goats because, like Cain, they had cold blue uncaring loveless hard pride-poisoned deceitful desperately wicked hearts. But it does matter to God because the heart is at the heart of the true gospel. John said in 1 John 2:3-5 “And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that says, I know him, and does not keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keeps his word, in him truly is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him”. These words of John are ignored by the church establishment. The established religion of church tradition is a lying establishment, and the false prophets of church history are liars. How people behave from the heart is the revelation of their sonship. One day, everyone will rise from the dead. The heart that people die with is the heart that they will rise with. As sons of rebellion, the goats were like the marvellous Cain who had hell and not heaven in their uncaring loveless pride-poisoned murderous hearts. They gave the needy no roof over their heads, no food when they were hungry, no clothes when they were naked, and did not visit those who were sick or in prison. The goats claimed to have faith, but their faith was the faith of the religion of the established religious institution called church. Their faith was not the faith of the Good Shepherd, it was not the faith of the Son of God. It was a religious faith, a faith without love. James says in James 2:15-17 “If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be you warmed and filled; notwithstanding you give them not those things which are needful to the body; what does it profit?  Even so faith, if it has not works, is dead, being alone”. James is clear, being saved by faith alone, faith without works, is dead. The goats didn’t listen, they didn’t care about the needy. They did their own established orthodox religious loveless established church thing. In Matthew 7:21-23 Jesus said “Not every one that says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? and in your name have cast out devils? and in your name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity.” Jesus said he never knew these workers of iniquity who called Jesus Lord but did not obey him. The word iniquity is from the Latin iniquitatem meaning unjust, unequal or unfair. These were the goats that had intellectual faith and conceptually attributed righteousness in the religion of their tradition but were not doing the will of Jesus’ Father in heaven. It says in Hebrews 2:2-3 “For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him”. Deception is a form of pretence, and the devil is the original lying pretender. The goats were self-deceived great pretenders. They did not reject but rather neglected the salvation of receiving from Jesus a loving heart redeemed from the pride that nailed Jesus to the cross. Unlike the sheep, they were deceived into thinking they were following Jesus when they were still following the ways of this world. They were deceived into thinking that the type of seed that they sowed and fruit that they bore didn’t matter if they believed in the goat-theologies of the church establishment. Their righteousness was a hypocritical pretence, and in their arrogant unbelieving loveless hard pride-poisoned hearts they believed that even God was a hypocritical pretender just like them. Their blind guide teachers taught that God would pretend they were righteous if they believed, by faith alone, in the teachings and efficacy of the ceremonies and sacraments of their culturally Greek religious theologies. Jesus said to the goats depart from me into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Why? Because the devil and father of rebellion already dwelt within their cold uncaring and rebellious loveless prideful simply superior marvellous me hearts. They had neglected the salvation of receiving from Jesus a heart redeemed from pride and being inspired by the amazing grace of God to live a loving life of overcoming victory. They reaped what their loveless hearts had sown. They were sent by Jesus where their cold blue uncaring hard hearts belonged.

In the Book of Revelation there are letters from Jesus to seven ekklesia, assemblies or called-out ones (deliberately mistranslated churches by the church establishment) in Asia. They can be found in Revelation chapters 2 and 3. They were letters of love sent personally from Jesus through John to each of the assemblies, giving a promise to those who overcome. Why? Because people who follow in the ways of this world are slaves of sin. They may be able to restrain sin but cannot possibly overcome it. For those who are following Jesus, sin is possible, but it is not inevitable. They can overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony if they really want to. However, only those individuals who do overcome by living in the undeniable power of resurrection life and come humbly under the corporate covenant-covering or saving anointing of the umbrella of Abraham’s blessing are the sheep that are counted worthy to be part of the first resurrection. They will be present at the marriage supper of the Lamb, rule with Jesus for 1,000 years and eternally live in the paradise of God by becoming the City or Corporate Son of God headed by the Good Shepherd. The pattern followed by the letters in Chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation followed a common style of public address. First the qualifications of the speaker, then praise, then, if necessary, correction and finally promises for those who responded positively by repenting from what was wrong and continuing to do what was right. This is alien to the tradition of the religious church establishment. Tradition teaches that because Jesus died on the cross, God no longer cares about wrong behaviour. Tradition teaches that because of the cross, what God cares about is right creed, theology, beliefs, dogma, rituals, rites, incantations, prayers, vestments, enchantments, spells or liturgy. It is clear from Jesus’ letters that such traditional teaching is deception and the doctrine of demons authored by the deceiving father of lies. The Ephesians had forsaken their first love and were no longer living under the umbrella or covenant-covering or saving anointing of Abraham’s blessing, but Jesus promised that those who overcome by returning to their first love would be given free access to eat fruit from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God’s fatherhood. Those in the assembly of Smyrna were enduring dreadful persecution even to the point of death, but Jesus promised that those who remained faithful and humbled themselves to death would be given Jesus’ victorious crown of life. He also promised that those who overcome would not be hurt at all by the second death. There were those in the church of Pergamum that believed wholeheartedly in the religion of church tradition. As such, they had not come under the corporate covenant-covering of Abrahams blessing but still visiting pagan temples, sacrificing to idols, and engaging in sacred prostitution. He warned them that if this continued, he would come and fight against them with the sword of the word of the breath or Holy Spirit of his mouth. He promised that to those who overcome he would allow them to eat the hidden or secret manna or bread of life and give them a vote of acceptance into the City or Corporate Son of God and a new secret name. Jezebel the witch, who calls herself a prophetess, was a well-loved successful prophetess in the church of Thyatira. Jezebel taught the church that, because of the work of redemption, it was now acceptable to continue to sacrifice to idols and engage in sacred prostitution. These people had been taught by the Jezebel of the church establishment that such behaviour was irrelevant for them because they were saved and were going to escape hell and go to heaven when they died. Jesus said that if they did not repent, he would cast these Jezebel adulterers onto a bed of intense suffering and strike their children dead. Jesus promised that he would test people’s hearts and reward everyone according to what they had done. He promised that the overcomers who live under the saving anointing of God’s Holy Spirit poured out on the Day of Pentecost would rule the nations together with him and that he would give to them the morning star which in Revelation 22 he identifies as Himself. The church of Sardis had a great reputation for being alive, but like many churches, they were almost dead to the eternal life’s breath or saving anointing of the Holy Spirit of God’s fatherhood. The garments of their lives had once again become soiled by the natural self-worshipping I am as god pride nurtured by church tradition that came from the Fall. Jesus promised that for those who overcome, he would not blot out their names from the book of the life, written on their hearts by the eternal life’s breath or Holy Spirit of the paradise of God’s fatherhood. Jesus promised to confess their character, behaviour, life’s breath or name before His Father as being part of Him. The assembly of Philadelphia was enduring hardship and false accusation but because they were living humbly under the umbrella of the corporate covenant-covering of the saving anointing of Pentecost, had not denied Jesus’ name; they kept on behaving like Him. They had kept Jesus’ word by the breath or Holy Spirit of God’s fatherhood and Jesus had opened the door of an open heaven to them. Jesus promised that they would not have to practically live through the hour of trial or testing. He encouraged them to hold on to their crowns by continuing to walk in love. He promised that those who continue to overcome would become pillars in the temple of God, that upon their hearts he would write the character, personality or name of God’s fatherhood, that they would eternally become part of the City, Corporate Son or dwelling place of God that comes down from heaven, and that they would share in Jesus’ new name. The church in Laodicea was full of goats who had fully embraced the religion of church tradition. They believed they were rich but in fact they were lukewarm; wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked in their hearts. This came from the Fall, and their loveless pride poisoned I am as god hearts had not been redeemed back into the paradise of the life’s breath or Holy Spirit of God’s fatherhood. Using religious syncretism, they had mixed just a tiny bit of Jesus into their essentially pagan cultural beliefs. Jesus said he was knocking on the door of their hearts, offering to eat with them, no doubt from the tree of life. He promised that those who overcame would sit with Him on His throne, just as He overcame and sat upon His father king David’s throne.

As already mentioned, Jesus was asked which was the greatest commandment. It says in Matthew 22:37-40 “Jesus said unto him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, You shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets”. In the old covenant, these commandments were in effect written on tablets of stone. These commandments were the righteous requirements of the law and were the expression of the character and nature of God. In the new covenant, through the blood of the sinless Lamb of God that was shed upon the cross by the people he came to save, these commandments were written on people’s hearts. Because they were written on people’s hearts, the commandment made in the old covenant became a promise kept in the new. The Sons of God are the sheep of God’s pasture who love the Lord their God with all their heart and their neighbour as themselves because the commandments that demanded obedience in the old covenant became promises of obedience in the new. The Good Shepherd became the Lamb of God who laid down his eternal life for his sheep who were originally goats, and that eternal life dwells within their hearts to delight in keeping the commandments of God. However, Jesus told a warning parable about the marriage supper of the Lamb in Matthew 22. There was a King who prepared a marriage for his son, but the guests who were invited were goats; they refused to come because they had something better to do. They were too busy doing their own thing and going their own way. It says in Matthew 22:9-13 “Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests. And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: And he said unto him, Friend, how came you in here not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth”. Everyone was invited to the wedding supper. The King came in to see the guests, but there was one without a worthy wedding garment. Jesus asked the guest how he got in without a wedding garment and the man was speechless. He was speechless because he was a goat who had nothing to cover his shameful nakedness that came from the Fall. Because of his beliefs in the efficacy of his creed, ceremonies, and confessions that came from the culturally Greek religious commentaries, he believed he was clothed with the wedding goat-garments of the conceptually accredited righteousness of faith in right religion. He had been deceived by the father of lies working secretly within the church establishment and had remained a goat. Jesus had him bound hand and foot and cast out into outer darkness where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. The word gnash comes from nasha in Hebrew, it means deception, a continued pressing of the teeth in distress. It is the word Eve used when she told God that the serpent had deceived her and was to blame for her sin. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 3:12-15 “Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. Now if any man’s work abide which he has built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire”. The unworthy wedding goat-guest had been building with the flammable wood, hay and stubble of the religion of established church orthodoxy. He had been torn between two lovers and had behaved like a fool. He had broken all of Jesus’ rules. He had chosen not to receive God’s great and precious promises and as such had not become a sheep and participated in the divine nature of the Good Shepherd. He had failed to overcome. He was like Abraham’s father Terah, who left Ur of the Chaldeans and went to live in Haran but never entered the promised land. He was like the Israelites who left Egypt in the power of the blood of the Lamb but who died in the wilderness because in rebellious prideful unbelief they refused to enter the promised land. He was like Lot who was saved by angels out of Sodom, but his inheritance went up in flames. And yet, the blind goat-guides of the religion of church tradition, the sand builders of established church orthodoxy who hear the words of Jesus but do not do what he says, totally ignore the clear warnings of scripture that God’s judgement is based upon behaviour and not beliefs, fruit and not religious faith. Those that truly believe from within Jesus and live by the faith of the Son of God will bear the fruit of God and this fruit proves that they are the sheep of the Good Shepherd, the Sons of God. Jesus told another warning in Matthew 24. It says in Matthew 24 “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord has made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he comes shall find so doing. Truly I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods. But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delays his coming; And shall begin to smite his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looks not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth”. This was a warning to the leaders of God’s household, the so-called church establishment. This church leader didn’t believe how he behaved mattered because, like the marvellous me Cain, he believed wholeheartedly in the efficacy of his simply superior religious observances. He believed his pie in the sky spiritual bank account had been credited with the righteousness of Jesus. He had been theologically trained by the contents of culturally Greek religious goat-commentaries and was therefore playing fast and loose with the word of God. He was behaving in an irresponsible and reckless way by using and abusing the flock under his supposed care. He was also partying with the secret power of lawlessness; those that were drunk on the poisoned pleasures and ungodly passions of Mystery Babylon, the Mother of Prostitutes that sits on the scarlet beast of religion. Jesus demolished his doctrine of demons by cutting him to pieces by the sword of the living word of God and assigned him a place, portion or inheritance with the hypocrites where there was weeping and gnashing of teeth. Jesus’ warning is that if people consider themselves the sheep of the Good Shepherd and want to be at the marriage supper of the Lamb, they must be practically worthy, love and behave like sheep; being conceptually, theologically or theoretically worthy and behaving like goats with pride-poisoned loveless hearts just won’t do. They must be anointed with the same anointing that Jesus was anointed with and if they are, they will love like Jesus loves. They must wear their wedding garments by living in the presence of Holy Spirit power where overcoming victory is assured. If they do, as the Sons of God, they will love the Lord their God with all their hearts and their neighbour as themselves because they have God as their Father living in their redeemed hearts. They live in God and God lives in them. They live in love for God is love. They have hearts that are filled with the eternal life’s breath or Holy Spirit of the paradise of God’s fatherhood. They are the overcomers, they are the sheep of the Good Shepherd, they are the Sons of God, corporately, they are the City of God, the New Jerusalem. They will eternally inherit all things. Jesus will be their God, and they shall be His Son. Forever.

It says in Micah 6:7-8 “Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousand rivers of oil? shall I give [sacrifice] my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has shown thee, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly [what is right], and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?”. The goats have religion, the sheep have relationship. Like Cain, the goats attempt to please God with their simply superior religious observances and expect God to accept them on their own marvellous me merit, but it doesn’t work. The sheep love to do what is right, to show mercy and kindness to those in need, and walk humbly with their God. Jesus said in John 14:21, 23-24 “He that has my commandments, and keeps them, he it is that loves me: and he that loves me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. If a man loves me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.  He that does not love me will not keep my sayings”. The sheep love the Good Shepherd because He first loved them and laid down his life for his sheep. The sheep love to obey the Good Shepherd because he makes his home within their hearts and fills their hearts with paradise. The Apostle Paul described life as running a race, and if someone is fooled into running according to the rules of orthodox established church religion instead of the rules of a Father-Son relationship with God, they will be disqualified from the prize. Church religion fools people into running the wrong race and fighting the wrong fight. Even if they believe that they have won they have already lost. They disqualify themselves from the prize of paradise within their hearts and the only thing that they win is a self-congratulatory wreath of victory awarded to them by the blind guides of the church establishment.

So, what about you? Someone once sang torn between to lovers, feeling like a fool. Being fooled is being deceived, trusting someone or something that claims to be trustworthy but is not. Countless millions have been deceived by the religion in which they trusted. Jesus did not come to establish the tradition of church religion. Church religion was established by the culturally Greek church councils convened by the Roman Emperor Constantine I and his successors. The church establishment teaches that if people believe in the efficacy of the marvellous rites, rituals, ceremonies, sacraments, creeds and theologies of the orthodox church establishment, the grace of God is such that selfish, hurtful and hateful behaviour doesn’t matter. Why? Because they teach that the cross changed God. This is deception. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:10 “But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me”. Paul was greatly used by God and his letters form a highly significant part of the New Testament. Through the amazing grace of God, Paul worked harder than any of the other Apostles. And yet, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9:27 “But I keep my body under, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway”. Paul was very much aware that people behave what they really believe. Paul was very much aware of the dangers of religious hypocrisy, claiming to know God but by one’s actions denying him. Paul was very much concerned that by behaving badly he could be a castaway and therefore miss out on the prize of paradise. That is why Paul said in Galatians 6:7-8 “Do not be deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap. For he that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting”. Paul would not have said this if people had not been fooled by religion into thinking that they can behave like goats but be accepted by Jesus as his sheep if they have an intellectual appreciation of the cross and therefore believe they are righteous by faith alone. Those who sow to the flesh are unbelieving goats that love this fallen world. They are torn between to lovers and the love of the Father is not in their loveless hearts. They may not feel like fools now, but they are fools attempting to mock God by breaking all the rules. They are goats who could have been redeemed from the simply superior marvellous me pride of Cain by Jesus into becoming the sheep of the Good Shepherd. One day, from their flesh, the goats will reap destruction. For you, it does not have to be that way. You can become one of Jesus’ sheep. Jesus calls his sheep by name. He leads them out, he goes before them, they follow him by doing what Jesus says. And the prize? To become one of God’s sheep; to become a Son of God by having a heart redeemed from pride, being washed by the precious blood of Jesus and eternally filled with the eternal life’s breath or Holy Spirit of the paradise of God’s fatherhood. So, what will it be? Sheep have relationship, goats have religion. Which do you have? When he comes, will Jesus recognise you as his own?

Prayer: Dear Father, you said in your word, I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered. Thank you that as the Good Shepherd, Jesus was struck a deathblow with my sins and the sins of the people Jesus came to save by you. As such, I acknowledge that Jesus was crucified and murdered by the simply superior not marvellous but murderous pride of those he came to save. Thank you that as the Good Shepherd, you laid your life down for wicked goats so the precious blood of the Lamb of God could wash their prideful murderous sinning away and transform them into the sheep of your pasture. I don’t want to be a theologically trained established church goat that claims to be one of your sheep, believes they are one of your sheep, behaves like a goat, calls you Lord but then ignores you and does not do what you say. I would like to be one of your sheep who follows you by believing in you, obeying you and is inspired by your Holy Spirit to please you in everything that I do. In the name of Yeshua the Messiah, I would like to have a heart of love like you have because those who dwell within love, God dwells within them and will continue to dwell within them forever, because God is love.

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