The Gospel According to John: 10:1-21

Series Introduction:

The theme verse for our series is John 20:31

John 20:31 – “…these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.”

The “these” John is referring to are the seven recorded SIGNS/miracles and the seven recoded “I Am” STATEMENTS of Jesus. John focused on those 14 key SIGNS and STATEMENTS in order to show us that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior of the World because He’s God’s only begotten Son. God had John write these things so that we would believe and put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ so that by the grace of God we would be FREED from the penalty of our sin and given life to the FULL here on earth and life FOREVER in heaven.

Recap: John 1 - 8:11

John 1 - We are introduced to Jesus as the Word made flesh and told His purpose for coming to earth. We are also given John the Baptist’s testimony about Jesus as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” and Jesus calls His first disciples.

John 2 - Here we have the first recorded sign (the water turned into wine) and Jesus demonstrating His authority in the turning over the tables at the temple during Passover.

John 3 - The amazing discourse between Jesus and Nicodemus and John the Baptist’s second testimony about Jesus, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

John 4 - Jesus and the woman at the well, living water, Samaritans come to Jesus and then the chapter ends with the second sign/miracle, Jesus healing the nobleman’s son.

John 5 - The third sign/miracle, Jesus healed the man at the pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath Day

John 6 - We have the fourth recorded sign/miracle, the feeding of the five thousand. Then we have the first “I Am” statement, “I am the Bread that came down from Heaven” and the chapter ends with people starting to divide over Jesus.

John 7 - We see specifically how people are dividing over Jesus, some were divided because of unbelief, others because of uneasiness about the danger of following Jesus and others because of uncertainty about the claims of Jesus.

John 8 - The chapter begins with the religious leaders bringing the woman caught in adultery to Jesus wanting to trap him and stone her. The chapter ends with the religious leaders getting caught in their own trap and wanting to stone Jesus.

John 9 - A man blind from birth, healed, questioned, put out of the synagogue and found again by Jesus, he believed in the Son of Man, worshipped him and the chapter closes with Jesus being confronted by the Pharisees...

Picking up in Chapter 10: [Read Text]

John 10:1–21 (NASB)

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?”

2 things to be Aware of, something to Acknowledge and something thing Apply.

Let’s start with the things to be aware of…

The hired servants (v. 12-13)

“12 He who is a hired hand...”

12 “He who is a hired hand 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.

Make sure you are not like this and the leaders in your church aren’t like this.

Why? Because the hired hands… servants… aren’t “concerned about the sheep”. They don’t love the sheep. They don’t care ABOUT the sheep, they are only caring FOR the sheep because they are being paid to do so. It is about what they are getting out of it. If the selfish benefit is removed, so is the care.

1 Thessalonians 2:9 (ESV)

9 For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.

Paul cared for the church, even when he wasn’t getting pain to care for them.

If getting paid, or rewarded or recognized causes you to serve others more or better, then you are just a hired hand, a paid servant, and you don’t see the sheep the way Jesus sees the sheep. (Be aware of that…)

Also be aware of...

The scoundrels (v. 1, 8, 11)

(v. 1) “...he is a thief and a robber.”

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.

There are thieves and robbers. I am calling them scoundrels. And Jesus is saying that they are the ones that get into the sheep pen and are there to harm the sheep.

8 “All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.

These scoundrels are in the plural. Jesus is saying that there were many that came before Him with the intention of stealing from the sheep or harming the sheep or both. These would be false prophets, antichrists and the like. Jesus wasn’t the first to claim they were the Messiah. But the good news is, Jesus is saying that His sheep, those following Him, didn’t fall prey to the thieves and robbers.

We need to be carful that we don’t fall prey too. There are many today, like the ones that came before Jesus, that might not claim to be the Messiah but they are fleecing the sheep. They steal and harm have no calling from Jesus to be there.

There is also “THE thief”…

10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy...

THE thief is Satan. The enemy or adversary is what the Greek literally means. And his desires is to only steal, kill and destroy. His intentions are the exact opposite of Good Shepherd. Jesus wants to give life but Satan wants to steal it away.

Satan wants to kill you. If you can do that he wants to steal your joy away so you will wish you were dead. And if he can’t do that, he wants to try and destroy everything in this life that you care about or blesses you. He wants you to be in hell with him and if he fails there he wants to make your life a living hell.

But, there is good news because there is...

The Good Shepherd (v. 10, 11, 14-18)

(v. 11) “I am the good shepherd...”

The Good Shepherd is Jesus.

(v. 10 ...I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

Notice the contrast! The scoundrels come to harm… Jesus comes to heal. The chief scoundrel came to steal, kill and destroy and the Good Shepherd came to give life and give to us abundantly.

(Abundant life is life forever and life to the full)

11 “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.

Jesus died for you!

2 Corinthians 5:13–14 (ESV)

13 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died;

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...

Notice that Jesus didn’t have His life “taken” from Him, He gave His life willingly.

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,

The Good Shepherd calls.

The Good Shepherd leads.

The Good Shepherd goes ahead.

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.

The Good shepherd cares enough to know us by name. Does Jesus know you?

Matthew 7:23 (ESV)

23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

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.

Maybe you are not “of this fold” yet. Jesus is calling. Jesus is leading. Jesus has gone ahead. Are you one of the sheep? Will you be one of the sheep?

The Sheep (v. 9, 3-5, 14-16)

(v. 1) “...the fold of the sheep...”

How does someone become a sheep?

9 “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.

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.”

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.

As you’ve seen over and over… there was a division about Jesus.

People disagreed about Jesus. Shocking. Right?

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?”

So, how about you? Are you a sheep? A hired servant? A scoundrel?

No matter which one you might be right now, know this, Jesus is the Good Shepherd and He is calling you into His fold.

With Jesus, hired servants can become sheep.

With Jesus, scoundrels can become sheep too.

And Jesus wants to help us all see other sheep like He sees sheep.

Let Him work in your heart and mind today.

Let’s pray…

Memory Verse of the Week:

John 15:19 (NASB)

19 “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.

Discussion Questions: (John 10:1-21)

Who do you think the thief and the robber are that Jesus is speaking of ? (v. 1-2)

How does the voice of the shepherd affect the sheep? (v. 3-4)

In what ways do you need to flee from the voice of “strangers”? (v. 5)

What does it mean for Jesus to be the “door” and how do we go through it? (v. 7-9)

In what ways are the thief’s intentions the exact opposite of the shepherd’s? (v. 10)

In what ways are the hired hand’s heart different from the shepherd’s? (v. 11-13)

Does Jesus know you and do you know Jesus? (v. 14) How do you know?

In what ways did Jesus lay His life down for us? (v. 15)

Who are the other sheep Jesus is talking about and why is that significant for us? (v. 16)

Why is it important to remember that Jesus gave His life, He didn’t have His life taken away? (v. 17-18)

Why do you think John mentions so many divisions occuring over Jesus? (v. 19)

What caused the divisions over Jesus? (v. 19-21)

In light of this passage in John 10, do you think division is a bad thing? What makes you think that?

What else does this passage tell us about God?

What did you learn about yourself from this text?

Did anything else in these verses stick out to you?

How do you believe God is leading you to respond to His word?