The Gospel of John - Trust Required - Pt 5 - Trust is Unreasonable to us!

GREET EVERYONE-

Good Morning Loved Ones

If I have not had a chance to meet you; My name is Scott and I am a follower of Jesus and have the privilege of serving Him as the Lead Pastor among the people of Stonewater Fellowship.

VISON:

MISSION:

LETS GRAB OUR BIBLES IF YOU HAVE ONE AND

Open it to the Gospel of John and Chapter 10 as we continue in our series called “Trust Required” which is ONE part of our walking through the Gospel of John together verse by verse.

PRAYER OVER SERIES

My prayer over this series is that the Holy Spirit of God will being us all - In ever increasing ways  - into a deeper supernatural trust in Jesus.

SO much so that we would all experience a dynamic shift in HOW we live out our faith.

Living out our faith is first and Internal life - and what flows from the internal then effect the external.

You see we live out of trust in Christ first in our hearts and minds - Then we live out our trust in Jesus in how we live with in the world around us.

SO my pray is that we would experience the dynamic shift of living Faith - Living Trust in such a way that it changes both our internal thoughts and self identity but also how we live towards the world around us.

Trusting Him with our relationships both with in our self  - The relationship we have with ourselves

AND the relationships we have with others arounds us. 

PRAYER OVER MESSAGE

My prayer over this mornings message is that we would come to know the severity of Trust - The Severity of Faith that Jesus is calling us into.

That our FAITH - Our Trust in the Person of Jesus - A Trust that is lived out through obedience to His Commands. -

Must be a trust that at first Sight seems unreasonable to us and will certainly seem unreasonable to the world around us.

ENGAGEMENT –

Reasonable and Unreasonable -

What an interesting opinion that is part of our life.

It is a discussion that many many time we face.

When we purchase something -

A house

A car

A toy that is expensive enough that we have to pay attention to how much we spend -

You know things like Boats - Hunting ATV - or the latest zero turn mower.

Ya know

Or ladies -

For you its a house

Maybe an

its the location of the house.

Or it could be that next dress

Or pair of Shoes

Or A purse.

Here is the Funny thing -

Men think some of those things that women might want are unreasonable while what they want is reasonable

And

Ladies

It certainly goes both ways

When your husband thinks that the newest ATV that is on the market it a reasonable plan you might have other plans for that money.

What is reasonable and unreasonable come into our thoughts and conversations in many many subjects

When We manage Money

When we navigate Self Discipline or the discipline of our kids.

When someone else is disciplining our kids.

When we think about the pricing of an object we want to buy.

I mean thank about it - when Gas was 450 a gallon several year ago - many many of us thought that 100 bucks to fil up the tanks was just unreasonable. But now that gas is 2:80 a gallon and it’s a little over 50 buck that is more reasonable.

In all of that we can soon enter into the conversation words like - Compromise that is reasonable

Balance so things seem more reasonable

I mean if Gas goes up to 5$ a gallon that is reasonable if it is balanced by a 25% increase in the amount of money I make.

Compromise and Balance are often times the tools we use to negotiate the differences that we all interpret between Un Reasonable and Reasonable.

And what we usually do is we think we are doing very very well and that we are relatively healthy people when we get really good at Compromising and Finding balance in our life that yields peace and harmony in our life.

TENSION

The problem that we all have is when we take this comparison of reasonable and unreasonable into our relationship with Jesus -

We then can very easily Come to a place in our relationship with Him when we then begin to compromise and try to find balance and at the same time still claim to follow Him

That then takes us to a place in our relationship with Him where Following Him — Trusting Him with Everything - living a life with an intentionality to imperfectly obey Him -

ALL becomes a subject that we compromise on and try to balance to the life we want in this world and the life He has called us to live all at the same time.

But the life that Jesus called us into loved ones is A life of complete and total faith -

A life of complete and total trust - A life that is lived out following Him - Empowered by the Holy Spirit to joyfully Obey Him - Gladly doing all this Because we life for Him because He is the one who died for us and was raised from the dead - He is the one who did all the work to defeat sin and concur death.

BACKGROUND

Some Back Ground on the Text -

Jesus is continuing in a conversation with some of the Pharisees.

These Pharisees are Some Religious leaders who at one time, just a few paragraphs back, the scriptures say “they believed in HIM”

But Jesus has confronted them with the severity of what it means to “be His disciples”

And What is really ironic about the whole conversation is that Jesus is being confronted by these leaders because He has Healed People on the Sabbath and told them to do something in obedience of HIs commands -

There seems to be in the scripture to be a direct correlation to their obedience and the miraculous work of Jesus.

IN the conversations that y these Pharisees there seems be this growing disillusionment of who Jesus is - Where He comes from = His Sanity and His mental Health -

I mean up and to this point - they have called Him a Sinner - Thought He was Crazy - Said He was Not of GOD - Actually said and speculated that “He has a demon” and then said “Know we know for sure He has a demon”

All the time when you read these narratives and discourses recorded for Us by the Very best friend of Jesus - What is clear is that Jesus seemingly gets to the place where if you were an outsider looking in Jesus response might seems totally and completely unreasonable

All of these discussions with the Pharisees comes off of Jesus Healing a blind guy who didn't even know who He was - But the Testimony of this blind guys was fearless - Uninhibited - Clear - and Without reservation and Hesitation.

And up to this point Jesus has already made three of the 9 definitive “I am” statements that the Apostle John Recorded for us in this Gospel.

He said “I am the bread of life, the living bread that coms down from heaven, - ANYONE who eats this bread will have eternal life”

after he feeds 20 thousand with two fish and five loaves

“I am the light of the world! “Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of Life”

After he shows a woman caught in the very act of adultery her way forwards form the tragic and humiliating event.

“Truly Truly I say to you before Abraham was I am”

Claiming that HE is God in the Flesh - After he has spoken of Eternal life - Healed a couple of people - Forgiven a Sinful woman and confronted the religious leaders for their false beliefs.

And to the Pharisees, who are still listening to Him - The Very one He has just said “you are blind and your Guilt still remains - IN other words “you don't know God and you are still guilty of sins.

Jesus turns and begins to speak in some terms that for them and for many who have read: and will read these words for the last 2000 years - Jesus speaks in terms that seem unreasonable.

But loved ones - The Trust that Jesus is calling us to - The Faith that Jesus is wanting us to Have - Will seem at first and to everyone else - Unreasonable.

But He is God and in this very passage He will Unwrap for us that HE has a plan for our life.

 UNPACKING

VS1&2

Jesus begins with this “Truly Truly” - which is a phrase that Jesus will use some 25 times, and When Jesus says this what He is wanting to do is Grab the attention of the hearer -

“This is IMPORTANT” THIS IS SIGNIFICANT” THIS IS TRUE”

and then Jesus begins to use a set of words that will paint for these Pharisees a clear understanding for what He is saying.

The Pictures He will paint for them is the Picture of the Occupation of shepherding Sheep.

and Here is where He begins - With Something that is plain and will make total sense to these Pharisees.

ANd He will start by comparing the Shephard to people who are not the Shephard.

John 10:1–2 ““Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.”

and He Starts with the comparison Shephard of Thief and Robbers

For Clarity - there is a word in this first verse we do hear every day at the grocery store - Sheepfold - It is another name for an area where the Flock of Sheep are assembled together. Sheep are heard animals and they are usually all in one area or Pasture and that area will have a wall around it.

Usually a stacked stonewall about 3-4 feet high.

and in certain places there are these Gates that allow the shepherd or others to be granted access in and out and that Gate is usually guarded by a Gate Keeper.

Fields are big several acres - Big fences and the owner of the sheep - would have the Shephard look after them, care for them - Protect them, and He would hire guards to make sure no one came in through the gate or door and get the sheep.

SO Jesus is saying here in clear terms is “anyone who does not enter the area where the sheep are assembled through the door is not the shepherd but a thief and a robber - Someone who is trying to get to the sheep - trying to steel the sheep.

And we also must realize that sheep cant jump over a 4 foot high fence but the robbers can -

And these Pharisees would have understood that and been like “Ahhh He is right”

VS3-5

Jesus Continues:

John 10:3–5 “To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.””

To Him - The Shephard is who the Him is -

TO Him the gate keeper opens the area that is boundaries that the assembly of the sheep are in -

Only one in is the shepherd.

Jesus then Continues -

The Sheep hear His voice, He calls his own by Name and leads them out.

SO there is this Idea that there are a large number of sheep in this large area - This Shephard is going to get some of those sheep form the mass of sheep - he is going to Call them by Name and They will respond to Him and follow Him our of the masses -

Sound Familiar to some of you?

Jesus Continues: “When He (the Shephard) has brought out all His own ( All of the sheep that belong to Him) He goes before them and they follow Him -

WHY do they follow Him ?

Because they know His voice.

Jesus continues: “A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee (run away) from Him for they do not know the voice of Strangers”

So Right here in verse 5 we are left with a question: Is this a real thing or is Jesus making something up.

Loved ones I want you to really hear me in this. This is a REAL THING. You see back then - A shepherd who was in charge of sheep would spend time with the sheep.

His exposure with the sheep was night and day - for months and months at at time. Shepherding was a full time gig. The Shephard would watch the sheep - speak to the Sheep - Protect the Sheep with His life. Lead the sheep to fresh fields of food - Care for the sheep - Anoint the sheep with oils to keep the bugs away - All kinds of things would a real shepherd do -

He would spend so much time with them that He would name them with different tones of HIs voice an talk to them so much that they would recognize His voice.

So when they assembled all of the sheep in the community to take some of the best for the feast - After the feast it was time to back home to the home fields and so the shepherd would call his sheep and walk them back home.

SO the Pharisees would have a clear understanding of this in real terms - but Jesus wasn't using this in real terms He was using this as a figure of speech and they didn't get it.

VSS7-9

So Jesus clarifies it and Begins once a gain with Truly Truly -

Except this time He places Himself as the personification of the Figure of speech and He will do the same thing to them here in a minute.

and He makes the 4th definitive “I AM” statement recorded for us in this gospel -

John 10:7 “So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.”

John 10:8 “All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.”

Anyone and Everyone throughout history that claimed to be God - False prophets - False Teachers And there were plenty - back then and there are plenty today

Then Jesus in verse 9 Reiterates the statement He just made in verse 7 and He makes this unreasonable claim -

I am the DOOR - IF ANYONE?

WHO?

ANYONE?

If ANYONE enters

He will be saved!!!

and Go in and out and Find Pasture

What does it mean “Go in and out” and find Pasture?

In order to understand this this is one of those phrases we have to understand from the larger counsel of Jesus words.

Jesus said in John 17 in his high priestly prayer that The Father would not take His disciples out of this world but rather protect them from the evil one.

So Jesus is imp[lying that His sheep can operate in this world and not be of this world and still find refreshment in the kingdom -

That is what Jesus means when he uses the word Pasture for this sheep.

VS10

Jesus then make one of the most start contrasting statement that he has made up to this point in the Gospel Jesus says:

The Thief -

He narrowed it down to ONE -

before He said Thieves and Robbers -

This time He says THE Thief - Not A thief - not Thieves - But THE Thief.

The Thief come to Steal, Kill and Destroy -

But I came - and what Jesus has just said to those Pharisees who are listening was that Jesus had come from the father For His specific Sheep (remember he is saying He calls His sheep by Name) to give them Something - Specific

“THEY”

Give them Life and have Life Abundantly - The Text Says - Some of your Text says “To the Full”

Loves ones I must take a side note Here.

John 10:10 unfortunately is one of the used and abused scriptures in all of the bible. And what makes it used and abused is the False Teachers in our world that infuse a prosperity gospel a fake gospel into the narrative of what they call being a Christian.

The Text says “I came that they would have Life and Have IT (meaning life) abundantly.” Directly meaning we would have life Abundantly - We would have an abundance of LIFE - That our Abundance would be Life itself - Everlasting Life is an over abundance of Life - AMEN?

So loved ones- If Jesus has called you by name and the Holy Spirit has given you the gift of faith and you have repented unto salvation giving your self over to Jesus as Lord and Master, being regenerated by the Holy Spirit and adopted by that same spirit as a child of God - You have LIFE abundantly - There is not more greater possession that any person can have than Jesus and life with Him for all eternity.

But some have reversed it to Say =- Jesus came that we would have life and Have an Abundant life.

Loved ones He came to give us life and if you follow Him it will be abundant - But you and I we do not get to define for HIM the life he has for us.

VSS11

Jesus then makes the 5th Definitive “I am “Statement in this autobiography of Jesus life. and He says :

John 10:11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

and that is what good shepherds do is they risk their life in protecting the Sheep.

VSS12-13

Jesus then does another comparison with a Hired Hand - Back then if the Shephard needed to take some time off for sickness or what ever there would be hire hands that from time to time would sub in.

Jesus says- When the enemy of the sheep comes the hired hand is out of there.

VS14

Jesus Reiterates the “I am “ Statement He made back in verse 11 except He now indicates that He has a flock of Sheep that belong to HIM!

John 10:14 “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me,”

VS15

He give comparison to explain how His sheep know Him -

John 10:15 “just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.”

and What Jesus is beginning to talk about in the words that He says is he impending Crucifixions'.

VS16

Jesus then takes a Side bar - A small detour form the conversation - Jesus introduces the Idea that There is more than one FLOCK of sheep.

You see we must remember Jesus was Jewish - He is Speaking to very educated Jewish people.

The Messiah - according to Jewish Tradition is coming to save Israel - So the reality is IF and it is a big IF any of these Pharisees caught on to what Jesus was saying - They would have thought Israel ONLY>

So in vss 16 Jesus takes a side Bar -

I have other Sheep that are not of this fold , I must bring them also , and they will listen to my voice.

So Jesus says “I have another flock that is not like this flock - I MUST bring them and they will listen -

What is Jesus going to DO with this other flock?

Blend them in - One Flock and One Shephard

Who is this - “Flock that is not of this fold”?

Loved ones it is you and I! The Gentile World -

VSS17-18

Jesus then begin to talk in terms that are completely unreasonable and for these guys and for many - incomprehensible.

and What Jesus is doing is unfold for all who hear the Power of God in Him - The Joy of God in Him and the Authority of God in HIM!

Watch -

Jesus says “Because I lay down my life for the Sheep so I can pick it up again because I am the good shepherd - The Father Loves me -

VSS 18

Jesus then unfolds the divine plan that He was joyfully in agreement to accomplish -

John 10:18 “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.””

VS19

Common Reasonable thought come over these Pharisees and watch what they say about Him.

John 10:19–20 “There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. Many of them said, “He has a demon, and is insane; why listen to him?””

VS21

There are others that don't think is all that unreasonable.

John 10:21 “Others said, “These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?””

THE GOSPEL CONNECTION

Share the Good News

ENCOURAGEMENT

Tell those who know Him there is a Great need for us to spend time reading His words.

 PRAYER TEAM