In Scott Brown's sermon titled 'Who Is Your Shepherd?', based on John 10:1-11, the metaphor of the shepherd and sheep is explored to illustrate the relationship between Jesus and believers. The sermon emphasizes that everyone has a shepherd, which is who they choose to follow and listen to in life. Jesus is described as the Good Shepherd who offers abundant life, unlike false shepherds who are depicted as thieves and robbers. The discussion delves into theological themes such as effectual calling, election, and the necessity of hearing and following Jesus' voice to be part of His flock. Brown highlights the characteristics of sheep, noting their dependency and tendency to follow, which parallels believers' reliance on Christ. The sermon also addresses the context in which Jesus spoke, including His interactions with the Pharisees and the broader narrative of conflict and misunderstanding surrounding His teachings. Ultimately, the sermon calls for discernment in recognizing and fleeing from false shepherds and emphasizes the transformative power of following the true Shepherd, Jesus Christ.

A sermon text here will be John, chapter 10, verses 1 through 11. Most assuredly I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out of his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of a stranger's." Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which he spoke to them. Then Jesus said to them again, Most assuredly I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.

The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd gives his life for the sheep. Let's pray.

Father we thank you for this opportunity that we have to gather together to hear the Good Shepherd today. Father we are so very grateful for this opportunity. Lord, I pray that you would open each of our hearts that we may hear from you today. Father, we pray a blessing upon Mr. Brown's voice as he speaks your word and your truth today.

Father, we know and acknowledge that this is your truth and that this is your word and that you have brought this for this very day, for this very congregation and those listening. Father, help us Lord to hear from you today. Amen. I was thinking how delighted I am to be in John chapter 10, how I've looked forward to it very much as the months have passed, as we've been in the gospel of John. But then I thought, Scott, you felt like that about every chapter in the Gospel of John.

And one of the reasons is, you know, over four decades ago the Lord really used this book to move my soul. And I'm so thankful for the Gospel of John and to be in chapter 10 here now and to find ourselves being reminded of so many things that are so important for us. I think one of them is that everybody has a shepherd. Your shepherd is whoever it is that you are listening to and following. John 10 speaks of this.

It really speaks of this fact that there is a special people And there's a good shepherd here in this passage. The shepherd possesses a people. He cares for and he protects his people. And these people that are being referred to in this chapter in the book of John are known by many names all throughout the Bible. So this picks up a theme of the people of God in the Bible.

They're known as a tribe. They're known as a people. They're known as a seed. They're known as a garden. They're known as a treasure, a body, a building, a temple, a church.

And here in the Gospel of John, God's people are a flock. They are a flock of sheep. And they have a dominant characteristic, and that is that they hear the shepherd's voice. And he calls, this shepherd calls them my sheep. And they're his.

They belong to him. It's a very precious chapter and it reminds me that there's just so many wondrous voices calling out in the world to us. And there really is only one voice of a good shepherd. And there's only one shepherd who will really take care of you. And The question is answered here in this passage.

How do you know if you're in his flock or not? It's very plain in this passage. And we'll deal with this over the weeks. We'll be spending four weeks in the golf, in John chapter 10. But here in this passage it's very clear, you hear his voice and you follow him.

That's what it means to be a Christian right there. You hear his voice and you follow him. And I want to give you a rather lengthy introduction to these verses because we're going to be in John 10 for quite a while. Many of the questions that are in your mind will be answered as we go on over the weeks. But I want to answer a few questions.

You have an outline in front of you. I've listed four of those questions that I'd like to just cover before we get directly into the text itself. Well, so who is the audience? Well, the audience is the Pharisees. The Pharisees are planning to kill him, and he's talking to them.

So that's it. You know, We think of this beautiful passage, I am the good shepherd. We think of this pastoral situation. It just seems so peaceful. No, there were men who had knives in their coats and they were going to kill him.

But the audience is the Pharisees and the scribes. What's the immediate context? The immediate context really began all the way back in chapter 8. In chapter 8 there's a woman who's caught in adultery. The scribes and the Pharisees bring her and Jesus says, well where are the witnesses?

And there aren't any witnesses. It was fake. And it was not done according to the word of God. And Jesus tells this woman to go and sin no more. So he relieves her of her sin by calling her to go and sin no more.

But then Jesus says, I'm the light of the world. He is the light of the world that really begins this entire narrative where that we find ourselves now even in John chapter 10 so immediately after that after there's a woman caught in adultery, there's a blind man in chapter 9. And Jesus heals this blind man on the Sabbath day. That was a capital crime, sort of, in Israel. You don't do that because you're not supposed to work on the Sabbath.

And the Pharisees had really rejected the law of God and its real meaning and Jesus makes that very plain he says you do not keep the law and they were breaking the law Jesus was keeping the law when he healed that blind man. And as a result of that, healing of the blind man, who is blind from birth. And remember how the disciples said, who sinned? This man sinned, or was it his parents? Who sinned?

And Jesus said, nobody sinned. He's not blind because he sinned. He's not blind because of something that was done in the past by his ancestors or his parents or him he was blind so that the glory of God would be shown he was blind made blind so that I would give him sight and declare who I am, that I am the light of the world. Jesus is declaring that he is the light of the world and he makes the blind to see. And he's proclaiming himself.

So that's why in chapter 8 verse 12 Jesus says I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life." This whole thing is about following him. And then if you get to chapter 9 verse 5 after the healing of, or during this context of the healing of the blind man, he says, as long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. So he's talking about light for your way, for your pathway in the world, all through this context. And then, if we go just ahead a little bit in John 10, John 10, 21, there's tremendous conflict that happens as a result of this scene here in John 10, but some said these are not the words of him who has a demon.

Can a demon open the eyes of the blind? So this whole context is about opening of blind eyes and following him and having light to follow him. And notice that this begins with truly, truly, or in some versions, verily, verily, I say to you, or in the New King James, it's most assuredly. And this, I think, indicates, the very presence of these words indicates that this is part of this long narrative of explanation that Jesus is making before the scribes and the Pharisees. This terminology most assuredly or truly truly or verily verily is never used in the gospel of John to introduce a new subject.

It's always to explain a subject that's already been being discussed. And so that's what's happening here. Now, you know, then there is a sheepfold here. You know, what is a sheepfold? Now, we'll get to this later, but I think that there are two kinds of sheepfolds that are implied here in this passage.

There's a sheepfold in the city and there's a sheepfold in the country, in the countryside. And what would happen is if you had a flock of sheep and you were going into the city, there would be a large sheepfold and there would be a hired doorkeeper who would keep the sheep and he would keep the sheep of multiple flocks and the shepherds would come in and they would put their sheep in this fold and there'd be multiple flocks in the fold and then when he would come and get his sheep he would call his sheep and his sheep would leave with him. Not all the sheep would come. This is one thing about sheep. They hear the shepherd's voice.

And then there's another kind of sheep fold that seems to be implied perhaps in verse 7 where Jesus says, I am the door of the sheep. And it's possible, he's talking about a sheepfold that you would find out in the countryside. A shepherd would be out with his sheep and he would find a way to hem them in and he would stand at the opening of the entrance of that sheepfold and he would be the door. He is the protector. He would make sure that predators don't come in and that sheep don't get out so that they're vulnerable.

So it may be that he's talking about two different kinds of sheepfolds here, and then there's this matter of climbing in another way. What is that? Well, those are false shepherds who don't follow Jesus. And, you know, but one thing that it's critical to see in this section is Well, if you have a red-letter Bible, you know, I mean it's almost all the words of Jesus There's just one little transitional phrase in verse 6, but here's what's happening here. Jesus is describing himself.

He's telling us who he is in his own words that we can understand. Well, we don't understand sheep that much, but I think we can get the idea. But he's using language, anthropomorphic language to help us to understand who he is. He is a good shepherd, and he gives abundant life, and they're bad shepherds, and Jesus came to rescue from your bad shepherds That might be the heart of it right there There are so many shepherds out there And we need to be delivered from the bad shepherds they're everywhere and There they speak to us every day even from our own hearts We We often listen to bad shepherds for so long, we keep hearing their voices even after we become Christians. But there's this, this is all this pastoral beautiful scene with sheep and shepherds and you know, is tremendous conflict that's going on.

And what's happening here in this passage is Jesus is making it very clear that there's no sitting on the fence regarding him. He is proclaiming himself to be God. He says he has been sent from God. He says he's the only one who can forgive sins, and as a result of that, the scribes and the Pharisees want to kill him. Now they're really Jesus the things that Jesus says about himself makes it that no one can sit on the fence.

He is either God or he is insane. Only insane people say they came from heaven. Only insane people say they are God. Everybody knows that. Jesus is either insane or he is who he said he was.

And you have to decide who he is. This is one distinction from all the other world religions Christianity says there's just one way That's what makes Christianity so hard to believe and so hard to swallow because Jesus says he is God. Mohammed didn't say he was God. The concept of God in Hinduism is very different. There are Lots of gods.

Jesus says, I am God. And that is tremendously divisive. So there's no fence sitting. Well, the Pharisees, they honored God with their lips but their heart was far from him. Okay, so this is the audience and the context.

Now the theology, There really is rich theology here. You'll see it as we go through the passage. It's scattered all through John chapter 10. Here particularly is the doctrine of effectual calling. You have a shepherd who calls a sheep and they hear.

And you have election. There are sheep that have been marked out who are his and they, by God's sovereignty, have been chosen from the foundation of the world the miracle of regeneration is here Knowing God and being known is here him knowing your name Knowing you and you knowing him though all these doctrines these beautiful doctrines of the Bible are embedded in this story that Jesus, or this parable or this illustration. Now, notice too there are two of the seven I am statements. You know, we've been in the gospel, John, we know that Jesus delivers seven, what are called I am statements. I am.

I am the bread of life. I am the light of the world. Now he says, I am the door and I am the good shepherd. So we have two of the I am statements right here in John chapter 10. And he is the deliverer of abundant life.

It's so wonderful. You know, everyone has a shepherd. Everyone is following someone. Everyone is listening to someone and following them. And it's so critical that even today you understand who it is that you're listening to and who it is that you're following.

He's the only good shepherd. You know, the thief here comes in to steal and kill and destroy. But Jesus came that you might have life, and that you might have it more abundantly. So, You know, there are many wrong images that you can see in kiddie Bibles about shepherds. You've seen them.

You know, you have this Jesus, this shepherd, and you know, he's gentle Jesus, and he has this long, he's very handsome, he has long flowing hair. You know, he could be in a magazine and he has a square jaw and he has a lamb on his neck. But you know, shepherds in the Bible actually, they were kings and they were warriors. Remember David? David was a shepherd.

He killed a bear and a lion with his bare hands. He's a warrior. He wages war against the enemies of his flock. And, you know, just last week in Colorado, a runner killed a mountain lion that attacked it with his bare hands and rocks. How about that?

Well, there's more to that story. But in the Old Testament kings were defenders and warriors. And so we often have, you know, wrong imagery in our minds from the kiddie Bibles that we looked at a long time ago so forget those images here's what the Bible says and this this imagery of being a shepherd is in the midst of tremendous conflict. I think we need to recognize that. And so there really is rich theology, but there is imagery here And there are multiple images.

There are shepherds and there are sheep. And these things are meant to teach us particular things. Shepherds in the Bible are contrasted with these bad shepherds that we find in Israel at the time. We find many good shepherds in the Bible. We'll get to that later in another message.

There's much to say about what God says about shepherds in the Bible. Next week we'll go a little bit deeper in that. But here's the heart of the matter of Jesus. Jesus has compassion on his sheep. In fact, in Matthew, in the Gospel of Matthew, in Matthew chapter 9, Jesus was going about all the villages and he was healing and he was dealing with the multitudes and it says there that he was moved with compassion because they were weary and scattered like sheep without a shepherd.

Well that's how God views us, that we are like sheep without a shepherd until we hear his voice and we follow him. But the language that is used here that they were weary and scattered like sheep without a shepherd, It's like they're thrown down, they're just like thrown away and they're hurt and they, and but he has compassion on them. That's that kind of shepherd. But then the contrast is these shepherds of Israel that Jesus is speaking to directly. But then we're also compared to sheep.

Now, he's telling us who we are. Now this isn't all that flattering on the one hand, Because he's saying that we are like sheep. And you know sheep or lambs are mentioned around 500 times in the Bible. And We encounter sheep very early in the Bible. Abel was a sheep herder.

Job, at the end of his life, had 14, 000 sheep, the Bible says. And Abraham and Isaac were shepherds. Moses was keeping his sheep when the Lord appeared to him and told him to go back to Egypt to rescue his people and Sheeper mentioned more than any other animal in the Bible now Now children just so you know this I'm gonna give you nine characteristics of sheep nine Because God says that we're all like sheep. And so, first of all, sheep are not very fast learners. You know, some animals learn a lot faster than others sheep don't learn very fast some some say they don't hardly learn nothing but secondly sheep get lost easily sheep often go astray Isaiah 53 verse 6 says all we like sheep have gone astray.

Jesus talked about losing one sheep out of a hundred. And he leaves the 99 and he goes after the one who went astray because sheep go astray and and and thirdly sheep aren't really very careful about what they eat and they need someone to take them to green pastures and so in Psalm 23 the shepherd leads you to green pastures and to still waters, and he's restoring your soul there with all that good food and all that good water. And in the fifth, sheep are very dependent creatures. Sheep don't stay alive very long without a shepherd. They just don't.

They'll die, they'll get lost, and you'll never see them again. Sixth, sheep always act like sheep. They're whole life long. Like now, I don't know maybe there is anybody three years old here? Anybody five or six years old?

Guess what? You're not always gonna act like a five-year-old you're not or six year old or seven year old your parents are very thankful for that by the way but well they do love you at three and four and five because you're so cute but the truth is you're gonna grow up mentally and emotionally guess what sheep don't do that they always stay the same and you know why does God you know compare to sheep? We like to think of ourselves as lions you know we think nobody nobody thinks of themselves You'd rather be a bear than a sheep, really. It's not really not that flattering. Seventh, a sheep are flocking animals.

They're social, extremely social, and they follow the crowd. They'll follow the most dominant leader. Like there's a remarkable illustration of this that happened in Turkey, okay, right outside of Istanbul. This was in 2005. It's a real story.

There were 1500 sheep that they were following this one sheep and went over a 50 foot cliff. And 1500 of them, one by one, went over the cliff and were piled at the bottom and almost everybody in this little town, this little tiny town lost some sheep. Most of the families had about 20 sheep in this big flock. And almost everybody in town lost some or most of their sheep. But all of them didn't die.

Because the first group created this soft pillow, and so only 400 of them died. But The rest of them were so whacked out that they were hardly worth anything at all. So say the townspeople. What sheep are flocking animals and they follow a leader and they'll even follow a stupid leader and that's really dangerous for sheep you know but you know is there anything is there anything good about sheep they do have some positive qualities and there is one thing there's one really really good thing about sheep and it's absolutely their best quality. It's their most redeeming, hopeful quality.

And that brings us really to the eighth quality. And they hear their shepherd's voice and they follow him. It's the best thing they ever can do with their life. With all the other maladies and weaknesses they have, The very best, very most important thing is to hear the voice of their shepherd and to follow him. You know we're all like sheep.

We have, we bear all these characteristics of sheep. And as we're going through life with all of our weaknesses, all of our mental incapacities, all our emotional woundedness, all of our whatever, all of our best qualities that we can hear the voice of the shepherd and it's the thing that we need the most every single day. You see this quality here in verse 3 and 4. The doorkeeper in the city, I'm assuming, opens the door and the sheep hear his voice. And he calls his own sheep by name and he leads them out.

And when he brings out his own sheep he goes before them and the sheep follow him. For they know his voice. This is the most important thing is to love his voice and to know it and to follow it. This is what sheep need the very, very most. It's what I need.

I need it every day. Every day. His voice is communicated in his word. You know, We need his voice from the very beginning of the day. David said, let me hear your loving kindness in the morning, for I trust in you.

Teach me the way in which I should go, for unto you I lift up my soul. That's what sheep need more than anything else. And then the night, the last quality of sheep is that sheep were used for sacrifices in Scripture. And there's a double meaning there with that and that is that first of all, God sent his son, the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. He was sacrificed.

Now that makes us think of all the Old Testament sacrifices where sheep were slaughtered for the sins of the people. When you get to the end of the Bible In Revelation chapter 7, 17, you read about sheep who are washed in the blood of the Lamb. And these sheep, they're before God's throne and They're enjoying him day and night. And they don't hunger and they don't thirst anymore. And then you read these words.

The lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. So in this passage Jesus is making a very bold statement about how you enter his fold, his flock. How do you become part? And you must hear his voice and enter through him.

You don't enter his family through baptism. You don't enter his family through adopting moral principles. You don't enter his family by being morally good. You don't become part of his flock by adopting a Christian worldview or becoming a Republican or conservative. You don't get in the kingdom of God that way.

It has nothing to do with that. And You don't become a Christian by making a profession of faith and praying a prayer. That's not how a person enters his flock. Unless you're born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God. Unless you hear his voice and follow him, You cannot see the kingdom of God.

And then you, and then you're dependent upon him. And you follow him and you open your ears to his voice. That's what it means to be a Christian. Okay, so let's get into the text with such a lengthy introduction. Now as you can see there this this passage divides very simply into two sections.

The first six verses, Jesus gives an illustration. And then in verses seven through 11, he explains the illustration. In the first part he doesn't, he just tells the story. It's just an illustration. It's a figure of speech to help us understand what he's like.

And we begin verse 1. The first thing he says is that some shepherds enter in another way. Most assuredly I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs up some other way the same is a thief and a robber so he's speaking to the Pharisees and he's speaking to the Pharisees who used their authority to hurt a blind man. They just cast that blind man out of the synagogue. They just excommunicated him.

They just excluded him socially from all of Israel. They wrecked all of Israel. They wrecked his life, okay. They harmed him and he calls them thieves and robbers and they like what they did. They robbed that blind man.

They stole from that blind man. And, now in this context, I think the sheepfold is Israel and you have different kinds of people in that sheepfold. But the shepherds are corrupt. And they are thieves and robbers. So that's what we get in verse 1.

There are shepherds who are thieves and robbers. And then in verses 2 through 6, you find that some enter by the door, but he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. I think Jesus is talking about himself. To him the doorkeeper opens and the sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. Now who's the doorkeeper?

I don't know if it matters. It could be figurative of God. I don't know. You can make too much of these figures. But what we know is that the good shepherd calls his own sheep by name and he leads them out.

So you have maybe four, five, six, ten flocks of sheep in this sheepfold in the city. And a shepherd has gotten up early in the morning and he goes and he's gonna go get his sheep. Well in this part of the story Jesus is the shepherd and he goes and he calls his sheep by name and they know his voice and they come out and all the other sheep stay because they have another shepherd okay so that's the scene and And then I think in verse 7 we get to the other kind of sheepfold in the countryside, where Jesus says, I am the door. I'm protecting this flock of sheep of mine out in the countryside. I've taken them out.

It's possible anyway, that that's the way this reads. You read it yourself, you decide. But his sheep hear his voice and he calls them by name and he leads them out. And I think This is very much like what Jesus said in John 6, 37, all that the Father gives me will come to me. And this is the doctrine of effectual calling, that He calls and you come.

You can relate to the fact that you are a sinner. You are lost in your sins. And you have no way to atone for your sins. And your guilt is overwhelming you. And you don't know what to do with it.

And you don't know what to do with your messed up life. You have all these inclinations and it just never ends. And you keep wanting to do things that you know are wrong. And you have guilt. But He calls you and you say, I want to be free from my guilt.

And I believe that Jesus Christ came to relieve me of my guilt. And to relieve me of these stupid shepherds that I'm following. This has happened to me and this has happened to so many people. They finally realize these people that I'm following around are idiots. They're leading me to some of the stupid, look at all these people, look what happens to them.

Look at where they end up. And the richest people or the poorest people, it doesn't matter. Look what it does. You know, their shepherds are wrecking their lives. They're wrecking their relationships, their marriages.

They're wrecking their bodies. They're wrecking everything. So that, you know, you You wake up and you realize that And you hear his voice and you say I want to follow I believe you Jesus You know Jesus also said many are called but few are chosen. Paul said, whom he called he also justified. That's the picture here.

They hear his voice and they follow him. And he justifies them. And there are few. Like all the sheep didn't empty out of that sheepfold in the city. Just a few.

Just the ones who could hear his voice. That's the big question. Have you heard his voice? Do you hear his voice? How about today?

Maybe you're just hearing his voice today. Maybe you've heard preaching for years, but you're just for the first time you're hearing his voice there's a big difference you can be in church a long time and not really hear his voice But then you hear and you say I have to come So that's what we find in verses 4 & 5 the true sheep follow the true shepherd verse 4 and when he brings out His own sheep he goes before them and the sheep follow him for they know his voice he goes before them I love that yeah I remember when my when my father was getting ready to go to World War II. He met with his dad just before he went to Iwo Jima and he handed him a Bible and said, Son, the Lord goes before you. What a blessing. But Verse 5, and they will by no means follow a stranger, but they will flee from him for they do not know the voice of strangers.

Here's how you know a Christian. He flees from the voices of the false shepherds. He doesn't like those voices anymore. He hates those voices. That's how you know.

And so you have to ask, you know, whose voices do I love? Whose voices do I love?" And then really Jesus, he's really revealing the essence of Christianity here. And he's showing us what it means to be a Christian. What kind of life is it? Well, it's a life of following Jesus.

And you know, many people, almost everybody who has not turned to the Lord thinks that Christianity is really about what you quit doing and it's really about what God takes away from you. And they really think of it that way. They really do think that if you follow Jesus you're going to miss something really good, like you're going to miss some happiness that's what they think and that that you know that Christianity is a happiness killing rule following religion and but But John is making it really clear that following Jesus, it does include a system of morality, but it doesn't stop there. It's far deeper and wider than that, but it's and wider than that and But but it's a relationship with a shepherd whom you follow and you hear his voice and He leads you He does lead you away from bad shepherds, but that's good actually. He's not stealing happiness for you.

He's taking you away from the things that are destroying your happiness. And so, in Christianity you have an exchanged life. You're exchanging one voice for another. And you're exchanging whatever you have for an abundant life. I came that they might have life and that more abundantly.

So it's a more abundant life. Now also it's so clear here that life is really pretty dangerous. It's dangerous to get born in this world. You have two big problems. One, you're born with a sin nature.

Your parents passed on to you a fallen nature, so that your inclination is corrupt. It's toward evil things. This is why it's so critical for parents to preach the gospel to their children day in and day out and really obey what God says about training their children. You have passed on to them something that will throw them into hell for all eternity and you must rise up and do something about it and you must be diligent when you sit in your house when you walk by the way when you lie down and when you rise up and if you don't do that you are hating their soul because they are bound for hell and their only hope is that they would hear faith comes by hearing hearing the word of God do not be lackadaisical in the discipleship of your children that's one big problem well the other problem is that there are all these false shepherds out there. There are all these other voices out there.

It's a dangerous world. There's a roaring lion. You know, we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but we wrestle against powers and principalities. And everyone who is born into the world has to face those powers and principalities and they will rob you they will they will rob you of everything good they will steal from you and they will kill everything good from you and you know and this is why it's so tragic when people think well Christianity is just taking away your joys there's nothing could be further from the truth well the prodigal son figured that out remember he would and He wanted to blow off his father and this life and he wanted, he got his money, his dad gave him his money, his inheritance, and he went off and he had a great time for a while. And at the end of it he realized you know all my best friends are pigs They're pigs.

That's really kind of where most people end up before they become Christians and The food I'm eating it's making me sick. I Think I'm gonna go back to my father. He's a good shepherd. He's a good dad. You know, he figured it out.

He figured out what Christianity really was. And that's why Jesus tells that story. But it's a dangerous world. Because these shepherds, they want you blind, they want you lame, they want you condemned. And So we live in a very dangerous world, but Jesus says, my sheep hear my voice and they follow me, and I give them life, and I give them life more abundantly.

Okay, now we get to verse 6. You see verse 6? This is not in red letters in your Bible because John, who wrote the gospel of John, is now making a comment. Remember, John was an eyewitness. John was there.

John saw this happening. And now he's probably 80 years old and he's looking back. And he's recalling what happened. And John says in verse 6, Jesus used this illustration, but they didn't understand the things which he spoke to them. The Pharisees didn't understand what he meant.

John says they didn't, John is whispering, the Pharisees didn't get the story. That's what he's telling us. This is the narrative. But he uses an illustration. The ESV says figure of speech, the King James says parable.

It's not really a classic parable, but it's an image. It's something to help us to understand Jesus. Jesus. And then Jesus explains the illustration in verses 7 through 11. So first of all in verse 7, then Jesus said to them, most assuredly I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.

Now it's possible he's talking about a sheepfold out in the countryside. Possible. I am the door. So he says, I am the door of the sheep. And Now Jesus is both the shepherd and he's the door.

You know, don't worry about that. Jesus is just giving you illustrations. Jesus illustrates himself in a lot of ways. Light, door, bread, all kinds of things. He's not just a shepherd, he's a door.

He's the light of the world. He's many, many things. And God gives us hundreds and hundreds of illustrations to help us understand how good he is. So this is just another one of the metaphors. And he's the door.

Now here's when you're going through this world, there's one thing that you need. You need a door. You need a door And you need somebody good. You need a good door and that's Jesus here And he doesn't he doesn't let thieves rob you and he provides everything and then he says in verse 8 that there have always been false shepherds all who ever came before me are thieves and robbers but the sheep did not hear him. Now I think all who came before me, those are anybody who's a false shepherd in all of history, I think that's what he's talking about.

And they are thieves and they are robbers. Now this is really interesting. I think he's saying that there are two ways that false shepherds rip you off. Two ways. There's the way of the thief and there's the way of the robber.

Two different ways to get ripped off in this world and their differences. Like for example thieves. Thieves are different from robbers. Thieves steal when you're not looking or when you're not home. They steal in private.

You know, you're on vacation or you're at bed at night and they sneak in, or you might even be in a city and they're pickpockets. You know, people now are making clothing that's supposed to be pickpocket proof. Well, You know, pickpockets don't even want you to know that they got it, and you don't. They're really good at it. They're fast.

They distract you here, and they pickpocket you, and they walk the other way, and you don't even know it for hours later. And that's one way. But then they're robbers. Those kind of, well they steal in public. They come to you, they're face to face with you and they push you around and they say, give me your money.

Maybe they hold a gun and they say, give me your money, and they threaten you with some kind of harm. And they put you their finger in your face and they force you to do something And they threaten harm. That's one kind of shepherd. Those are brutal shepherds. They steal from you, but they don't steal you blind.

They steal you face to face. And they make you do things that are harmful. And they make you believe things that are harmful. And they're brutal. They threaten you with violence if you don't submit two ways to get ripped off by false shepherds and then in verse 9 Jesus says if you enter the enter the fold you'll be saved he says I am the door.

If anyone enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. So Jesus is saying that if you enter through me, if you believe in me, if you hear my voice and follow me, you will be saved. That's how you're saved. You go in through him. He is the only way.

In John 14 he says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me. There's only one way. And that's how you're saved. He is the door to the presence of God.

He is the door that opens to forgiveness. He is the door that opens to you for protection and care all your life long. So that you're no longer like sheep without a shepherd. You are locked out of all those things until you enter that door. And Jesus has bridged that gap.

There is no other name under heaven or on earth by which men must be saved, says the Apostle Peter in the book of Acts. But we need a door and a shepherd. We need a way in and a way out. And that's what he promises here. And you enter by faith in Jesus Christ as the only mediator between God and man.

And you will be saved and you will go in and out and find pasture. And I think this going in and out and find pastures has to do with sustaining you in everything you encounter. He provides for you, he cares for you in the city, in the country, in a storm, in a calamity, in anything. He will take care of you. And then we learn what the thief does in verse 10.

The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and destroy. Have your children memorize this. This is very important. It's one of the most important things anyone must know. Is that the thief comes to steal and kill everything that is good in your life.

He will kill the truth, He will destroy reality, He will steal your light, He will steal your knowledge. The Bible makes this very clear. These are false shepherds. These shepherds here, they stole the true meaning of the law. So then Jesus says that He provides abundant life.

That's Jesus. Now, okay, how do we apply all this? So, You have this picture of good shepherds and bad shepherds and you have this picture of voices and And you have this picture of two ways That's sort of the big picture of this whole thing. Now, so, a diagnostic question for your soul. Are you satisfied in this life to have Jesus as your shepherd?

You know, Everybody's always wondering where they're going, how life is going to turn out. Am I going to get fired from my job? Am I ever going to get married? If you're young, you're always worried about what kind of person you're going to end up what kind of life you're going to have but here's here's what I think this instructs us to think. The Lord is my shepherd.

I have everything that I need. He gives me all I need every day. That's all you need. You don't know what's going to happen to your job. You don't know how life is going to turn out you don't know when you're by the way almost everybody's going to get married that wants to get married almost everybody gets married by the way just statistically so I'm just going to say you're going to get married so quit worrying about it.

And be content to say, the Lord is my shepherd. I have everything that I need. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul.

He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. And even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil.

My cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. Is that how you feel about life? I hope you do. Rest, rest there.

You know, I'm going to, I may talk about this more. I was reading a sermon by Charles Spurgeon on this text last night, just before we went to bed. And in this sermon, he focused on one word, my. My sheep, they're mine. And the whole sermon was, they're mine, they're mine, they're mine.

It was beautiful. So that's one thing. Just on a daily level of trust. Hear His voice and follow Him. That's all you need.

That's all you need. All you need is His voice. And His voice speaks to you in His Word. God talks and He talks through His Word. But there's another thing that I've really, that I've really grappled with this week and I and I'd like to just talk about it for a bit here following Jesus means that you think and walk and live in a really radically different way than the world that surrounds you like never before You know the false shepherds and their voices dominate the world and You don't dare contradict them and they will destroy your life maybe in maybe in 24 hours on the internet Okay And you have so many things going on right now that Christians think so differently about devastatingly differently and I here's what I want to say don't follow that crowd you know all around us people are deconstructing our understanding of gender as the way it's defined biologically and there are millions of people in our country who think that you can change your gender they do think that it's insane All you have to do is look at yourself and know that there are two genders and they are biologically fixed.

And there's nothing you can do about it. Pretend all you want. Pretend all you want. I mean you even have modern universities who are accepting incoming students to identify as either male or female or something else whatever they choose this is just rebellion against the created order in the beginning God created the heavens and earth and he made them male and female. That's all he made.

He just made male and female. That's it. And you don't cross up. You don't cross them up. You know, you live in a world where there's an erasing of almost all biblical categories of sexual immorality.

Who will be your shepherd? The church is drifting on this right now. It's astonishing to me. Things that nobody dreamed anybody would even speak of are happening today. And it's going to keep happening and it's going to get worse because the voices are rising you know You have people in this world who are pretending that man can control the weather And they look at variations of temperatures over history, which they do vary in history.

They go up and they go down. You know, when I was growing up, everybody thought we were going into an ice age. Did you know that? It's madness. God controls the weather.

God created the world. And by the way, you're not going to be able to kill Antarctica. If you go to Antarctica, Antarctica will kill you. Okay? Man doesn't control the weather.

But you know, you have, you have, here's what, here, a real, we have a real problem. The people who were brought up believing this kind of stuff about climate change and things like that. They heard it all their life that the world is gonna end in 15 years because of climate change and all the oceans of the world are gonna devour all the coastal cities. You know, those people have been studying this stuff in school and now they're in Congress and they're gonna be your judges and they're crazy they're crazy and it's because they rejected the voice of the shepherd But that's the world you live in and you got to figure out who you're going to follow. Because you might follow your shepherd into prison.

I expect that many will follow their shepherd into prison. Just by believing really fundamental things. Man made the image of God. Man made as male and female. That God controls the wind and the waves you know those really funded things that most people have believed you know for all of history are being rejected right now you know the whole the whole move that these these movements of social justice where there's an attempt to dismantle all hierarchy.

Does anybody realize how crazy that is? You can't do that. Man creates hierarchy. It's impossible to function without hierarchy. There always have been and there always will be people who will hire others to work for them.

That's never going to change. You will always need a leader. The Bible says that the husband is ahead of the wife. Okay? I mean if you dismantle hierarchy you really dismantle the whole structure of order and authority that you see in the Bible.

The Bible says submit to your rulers in Romans chapter 13 and to obey them the Bible says obey your leaders I mean there's hierarchy that God put in the world you live in a world where people want to dismantle hierarchy the problem is those who want to dismantle it want to be the new hierarchy that's the problem you don't ever get away from a hierarchy the people who say no more hierarchy are gonna tell you what to do with everything in your life Because they really do believe in hierarchy. They just act like they don't. They're liars. This is the kind of world that we live in right now. Whose voice will you follow in a world like this?

I'll tell you, I've been thinking all week long how important it is that there are sheepfolds in this world, that there are local churches where people actually listen to the shepherd's voice. They believe that This is inerrant and authoritative and sufficient. It's so critical that we have flocks of people in the world who believe the voice of the shepherd Give your life to sweetening the flocks of God in the world. It's so critical that you do strengthen the churches that remain that believe that scripture is sufficient. There are churches that say we really believe the Bible is enough.

God be praised for that. And you know places where they want to take his yoke upon them and learn from him, for he's gentle and humble in heart and there you'll find rest for your souls. Churches like that that believe that only God can regulate church life and family life. Churches where people just do what Jesus tells them to do in his word. We need churches like that.

Like that. Well Jesus says that he is a good shepherd and that you can hear his voice. What a wonderful thing that is. You know the writer of Hebrews speaks beautifully of how good this is. When he says, now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead that great shepherd of the sheep Through the blood of the everlasting covenant make you complete for every good work To do his will Working in you what is well pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever.

You know He is such a good shepherd. His voice is so true and He is the only voice that can bring abundant life. And so here we are, we're a flock of sheep. We're not too smart, we don't learn too fast, we don't eat everything we should, but we have a shepherd who will tell us how to sweeten all that. I praise God for that.

Would you pray with me? Lord, Lord we thank you for sending your Son to speak truth and love to us. We thank you that he is such a good shepherd. We pray Lord that every one of us here would follow him That we would see what a good and kind shepherd he is To turn away from all the other voices in this world Not to be educated by them, but to be educated by you. Amen.