John 10:7, 11 - I Am the Door of the Sheep & the Good Sheperd
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
I hope we often read the words of Jesus, but I wonder if we hear His heart in what we read?
John 9 records the story of a man born blind.
In the Jewish way of thinking, any malady in the body was the direct result of personal sin, so the disciples asked Jesus whose sin caused this man to be born blind—was it his own sin or that of his parents?
But Jesus responded by saying that no one’s personal sin caused this man’s blindness; this man was blind so that the glory of God in Jesus Christ might be displayed in his healing…
…and Jesus did just that; He opened the eyes of this man born blind.
When the now seeing man told the Jewish religious leaders, the Pharisees, that Jesus must be from God, for no one could open the eyes of one born blind unless He was sent from God, they responding by kicking the man out of the local Jewish synagogue.
Because he was healed by Jesus, trusted in Jesus, and then confessed Jesus, he was no longer welcome to worship God with his fellow Jews!
He had known rejection before.
When he was blind, he had to beg for his living.
How many times a day do you think he heard no?
When he was blind, he was probably reminded that no priest who approached the altar in the temple could be blind.
How many time do you think he felt less-than?
But then even when he was healed; even with his sight restored, the Pharisees kicked him out.
But listen to these words in John 9:35-38, and hear the heart of Jesus…
35 Jesus heard that they had put him out, and finding him, He said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 He answered, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him, and He is the one who is talking with you.” 38 And he said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped Him.
You see, when they kicked him out of the synagogue, Jesus welcomed him through the door of the Kingdom of God!
This man didn’t have a synagogue, but he was no lost sheep without a shepherd!
He had met the Messiah!
He had met Jesus!
I wonder if you hear the heart of Jesus in those words from John 9:35-38.
Do you hear His compassionate heart for the man who had been put out of the synagogue?
Do you hear His tender heart in revealing Himself as the divine Son of Man to the now seeing man?
Do you sense the fullness of Jesus’ heart when the man says, “Lord, I believe,” and then begins to worship Him?
But for all the tender compassion of Jesus’ heart, there were still some hard-hearted Pharisees nearby who pridefully refused to see Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God.
The man born blind was now seeing, but these Pharisees were still spiritually blind.
The now seeing man had now entered the Kingdom of God, but these Pharisees would not unless they passed through the door and followed the good shepherd.
[READING - John 10:1-21]
1 “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. 2 “But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. 3 “To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 “When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 “A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 This figure of speech Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things were which He had been saying to them. 7 So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 “All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9 “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. 11 “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. 12 “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. 13 “He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. 14 “I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, 15 even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. 16 “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd. 17 “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. 18 “No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.” 19 A division occurred again among the Jews because of these words. 20 Many of them were saying, “He has a demon and is insane. Why do you listen to Him?” 21 Others were saying, “These are not the sayings of one demon-possessed. A demon cannot open the eyes of the blind, can he?”
[PRAYER]
Major Ideas
Major Ideas
Sheep were kept in a pen, sometimes a courtyard with a stone wall; sometimes they were kept in a cave or other natural formation, and most often the pen featured a single gate or door through which sheep would enter and exit.
Sometimes shepherds hired a doorkeeper to guard the gate.
Sometimes shepherds even slept in the doorway to the pen, themselves serving as the gate or the door.
Any person who had any proper business with the sheep entered by the door.
Anyone up to no good, someone like a thief or a robber, would try to enter by another way.
Several families sometimes kept their flocks together in the same pen and, when a shepherd approached, the doorkeeper would open the door, and the shepherd’s sheep would recognize his voice and follow him out.
The shepherd of the sheep led the way, and the shepherd’s sheep wouldn’t follow anyone else through the door because they wouldn’t recognize anyone else’s voice.
This was Jesus’ message in John 10:1-5.
We likely see the clear spiritual application of what Jesus says in John 10:1-5, but the Pharisees were to prideful to see it. John 10:6 says…
6 This figure of speech Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things were which He had been saying to them.
So Jesus then clarified with two major REVELATIONS about Himself…
Revelation #1: Jesus said, “I AM the Door,” (John 10:7-10).
Revelation #1: Jesus said, “I AM the Door,” (John 10:7-10).
7 So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 “All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9 “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
[EXP] There is only way into the fold of God, and that way is through the door, and the door is Jesus.
Psalm 118:20 is best applied to Jesus…
20 This is the gate of the Lord; The righteous will enter through it.
Jesus stands as the door to sheep pen, and his sheep are saved! But what are His sheep saved from?
They are saved from thieves and robbers who only come to steal, kill, and destroy the sheep.
But Jesus came so that His sheep would go in and out and find pasture through Him.
The phrase “go in and out” reminds us of covenant language in the OT, where obedience to God invited blessing from God. Deuteronomy 28:6 says…
6 “Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.
This was another way of saying that the person who obeys God would be blessed in every facet of His life.
Through Jesus, the door, we find our obedience because He is our obedience!
And because we have come to God through Jesus the door, i.e., through His perfect obedience, every blessing from God is ours!
The pasture is obviously the grassland that sheep use for grazing, but here it has a spiritual application.
Because we have sinned against God, we are spiritually malnourished.
In fact, we are spiritually dead.
But through Jesus, the door, we find our spiritual pastureland; we find our spiritual nourishment!
Through Him, we find spiritual life!
But what kind of life is this spiritual life through Jesus, the door? Well, it is abundant life!
It times past, other shepherds or leaders of God’s people led them into rebellion and ruin.
These preyed upon the sheep, to steal, kill, and destroy to serve their own interests.
But Jesus doesn’t steal life from His sheep; He gives abundant life to His sheep through the giving of His life on the cross!
There were false saviors among the Jews.
There were false gods among the pagans.
There were empty philosophies and man-centered ideas in every place.
There were hypocrites like the Pharisees and charlatans of every stripe.
But they were all thieves and robbers, and all they did was steal, kill, and destroy the soul of God’s sheep.
They never gave life, and they still don’t.
Only Jesus gives life to the soul, and He gives it abundantly!
Abundant life is not just eternal life, but it the quality of life that will be ours in full when we are with Jesus in eternity.
Abundant life is peace with God and security in salvation and joy forever through Jesus.
Abundant life is the absence of all sin, suffering, and death, and the presence of all righteousness, wholeness, and life.
This abundant life is ours both now and forever if you enter through Jesus, the door.
[ILLUS] “What’s it going to be: Door #1, Door #2, or Door #3?”
It seems likes it always came down to that question on the game shows I watched with my grandparents as a child.
Behind one door was a new car!
Behind another door was a new TV.
And behind the last door was an old shoe or something equally unappealing when compared with the new car.
Everyone wanted to win the new car. but the odds weren’t in their favor.
Some won the new car, but most didn’t, because they chose the wrong door.
[APP] This morning I want you to know that the odds are in your favor, because Jesus is telling us that there is abundant life with God like we can’t imagine through Him, the door—the only door!
The world would have us to think that there are many doors to choose from with all sort of prizes behind them, but there is only death behind those doors.
Jesus is the only door that leads to abundant life!
Everything else is just a thief trying to spiritually steal us away to kill and destroy us.
Don’t be a fool! Enter by the door! Come to God through faith in Jesus Christ!
He died on the cross to pay the price for your sins!
He rose from the dead to make you right with God!
He offers you abundant life!
But you have to enter through faith in Him.
There is no other way.
[TS] The man born blind entered the Kingdom of God through faith in Jesus.
The Pharisees didn’t.
What will you do?
Revelation #2: Jesus said, “I AM the Good Shepherd,” (John 10:11-18).
Revelation #2: Jesus said, “I AM the Good Shepherd,” (John 10:11-18).
11 “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. 12 “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. 13 “He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. 14 “I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, 15 even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. 16 “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd. 17 “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. 18 “No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”
[EXP] The history of Israel is replete with bad shepherds. A shepherd was any priest, prophet or king, and a bad shepherd was any wicked priest, false prophet, or evil king.
Earlier in the service, we heard from Ezekiel 34 on some of those bad shepherds, but Jesus, by contrast, is the good shepherd, the excellent shepherd; and his excellence was demonstrated in His sacrifice.
Jesus compared Himself to a hired hand. The hired hand was paid to watch the sheep, but he wasn’t paid to die for them; the hired hand wasn’t going to put his life on the line when the wolves came.
He was going to save himself and flee, leaving the defenseless sheep to be torn and scattered.
But Jesus, the Good Shepherd, could never have done that to His sheep when the wolves of sin and death came to steal, kill, and destroy.
The Good Shepherd loves His sheep, and they love Him.
The Good Shepherd knows His sheep, and they know Him.
The Good Shepherd didn’t flee from the wolves of sin and death; He laid down His life for His sheep on the cross.
No one took His life from Him, but He laid it down for His sheep.
He died for Jewish sheep.
He died for Gentile sheep.
On the cross, He died for white woolen sheep, black woolen sheep, and every color woolen sheep in between.
He died for sheep who will vote for Biden and sheep who will vote for Trump.
He died for sheep who take the vaccine and sheep who don’t.
He died to save us from the wolves of sin and death and to make us one flock with Him as our one shepherd.
For this reason the Father loves Jesus, the Son: He laid His life down on the cross and then took it up again in His resurrection.
Jesus had the authority and the willingness to do all this.
He didn’t just volunteer to die as the sacrifice for sin; He was authorized by God the Father to do so.
But Jesus wasn’t forced to die as the sacrifice for sin, and He wasn’t a victim of unfortunate circumstances; He willingly went to the cross to glorify the Father by dying as the sacrifice for our sins.
This was the commandment He had received from His Father, and He obeyed it perfectly.
Through His death and resurrection, Jesus, the Good Shepherd, leads us into salvation.
[ILLUS] When I was in high school, we took a career aptitude test to determine what job we should pursue once we graduated. I tried my best to answer the questions on that test so that it would say that I should have a cool job like ‘secret agent’ or ‘fighter pilot,’ but I honestly don’t remember what it said.
I can tell you this though, no one got ‘shepherd,’ and if the career aptitude test had said ‘shepherd,’ we would’ve all thought it was a joke.
I had classmates that wanted to be lawyers, doctors, teachers, policeman, and scientists.
We even had one guy who drove a hearse and wanted to be a mortician!
But no one wanted to be a shepherd at New Hope High School in Columbus, Mississippi in 1998.
No one wanted to be a shepherd back in Bible times either.
Sheep-herding wasn’t glorious. The sheep weren’t always docile and compliant. They weren’t even always healthy. The conditions were often terrible. The pay wasn’t great. The hazards were numerous, and your social status didn’t rise when you announced that you worked as a shepherd.
But, hear me, it was worse for the Good Shepherd because He died on a Roman cross, an instrument of suffering and shame, to save His rebellious sheep.
He did it in obedience to His Father.
He did it because He loves us.
Are you one of His sheep?
Did the Good Shepherd die for you?
Have you entered the Kingdom of God through the door of faith in Him?
All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on the Good Shepherd.
Amen.
[TS]…
Conclusion
Conclusion
[PRAYER] “Father…