Session 24
This Is Why Jesus Came!
From The Gospel: Five Words You Need to Know
READ:
• John 10:1–10
• Psalm 136:1
• Ephesians 3:20
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” —John 10:10
“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures for- ever.” —Psalm 136:1
“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us” —Ephesians 3:20
In John 10, Jesus calls Himself the good shepherd who carefully watches after His sheep. Why? Because that’s what a shepherd does. It is His responsibility and His calling. He protects and provides for them because He cares about them. In verse 10, Jesus contrasts His nature with the nature of “the thief” who only comes to do you harm. Jesus shows that the thief’s purpose works in direct opposition to His own.
The thief, Satan, comes to rob us of the life that Jesus came to give. He wants to steal away our joy, kill any sense of peace that comes with knowing Christ and destroy the secure foundation we can find in Jesus. He wants us to believe the lie that this life on earth just can’t get any better than it is right now. He wants us to believe that we will always have regrets from past sins, that we can’t get out of the situation we live in and that we will never be good enough.
But Jesus declares that He came to give us an abundant life. That’s not a life of “just getting by” or hoping things will someday get better. In Christ, we can claim that the better life starts right now. We can have complete faith in the fact that He has great plans for our lives. We can have joy because we know He loves us more than we could ever imagine possible.
RESPOND:
• What gets in the way of you taking Jesus up on His offer of an abundant life?
• What is the best life you can imagine? How can you apply Ephesians 3:20 and believe that God wants even more for you?