The sermon, delivered by James Lundquist, elaborates on John 10, where Jesus is described as both the Door and the Good Shepherd. Lundquist emphasizes that salvation is only attainable through Jesus, who is the sole entry point to eternal life and spiritual abundance. The sermon distinguishes Jesus from thieves, robbers, and hirelings, who symbolize false leaders lacking genuine care for the flock. Jesus, as the Good Shepherd, knows His sheep intimately and willingly laid down His life for them, contrasting with hirelings who flee in the face of danger. The relationship between Jesus and the Father is highlighted as a source of comfort, illustrating the depth of Jesus' love and commitment to His sheep. Lundquist underscores the idea that abundant life is not about worldly possessions or achievements but about a spiritual richness that comes from knowing and following Jesus. The sermon calls believers to cherish being shepherded by Jesus and to have ears attuned only to His voice.

John chapter 10 starting in verse 1. 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 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 strangers Jesus used this illustration but they did not understand the things which he spoke to them.

And 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, but a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd and I know my sheep and am known by my own.

As the father knows me, even so I know the father and I lay down my life for the sheep and other sheep I have which are not of this fold them also I must bring and they will hear my voice and there will be one flock and one shepherd. Therefore my Father loves me because I lay down my life that I may take it again. No one takes it from me that I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from my father oh god we cry out to you for this power for the power of the Holy Spirit to come and to richly dwell in our brother James.

And for that same power to open eyes and ears, please, as my brother Robert prayed, We are desperate if we're not, make us desperate for you. Make us desperate to really hear and to really see the glory in this passage. Give our brother power from on high now and give us power and help to hear. In Jesus' name, Amen. I hope you have been so encouraged already just by the prayers and the exhortations from the Psalms, from Philippians.

Just hearing those, I'm just hearing lots. I'm going, wow, I didn't include that in my notes. I didn't include that in my notes. And it's just how the Holy Spirit is blessing us already through that. Yeah, This is a good part of our sermon, but it's a good part of our service.

But if you've been listening and paying attention to the prayers and the exhortations, you should have been so encouraged already. We are in some common ground this week. Well, this text was our memory text last quarter. Don't let that familiarity, at least of the knowledge, keep us away from plumbing the depths of this. Let me pray again, please.

Our God, thank you for giving us Jesus, for giving us a door to salvation. Jesus, thank you for being a shepherd, the Good Shepherd, not just a shepherd, the Good Shepherd. Holy Spirit, thank you for opening our eyes to the Good Shepherd and the way of salvation. Please, Jesus, shepherd us all now. In your holy name we pray, amen.

The title of the sermon is Salvation is Only Through Jesus, the Door and the Good Shepherd. And this is a continuation of last week. Last week in the beginning we saw the beginning of John 10, 1 through 5, the beginning of this illustration that really started in 9. Jesus is responding to the Pharisees who asked him, are we blind also? And Jesus goes on for a while here responding, not necessarily answering, but responding to their questions.

So it's a continued illustration that's going on. We talk about the uninspired chapter break that's not helpful right there. And in some ways, at least in my Bible, It's unhelpful that there's a break, a heading between six and seven. This is the continuation. It's so kind of God, He doesn't have to tell us anything, but so kind of Jesus to expand and give us more explanation to this illustration he has.

I need it, you need it, we all need it, as much as we can get from our Savior. This week in this week's text, we're going to see two more of the seven, what are called the I Am statements in John. We've already seen two of them. I am the bread of life. I am the light of the world.

And still to come are I am the resurrection, the life, I am the way, the truth, and the life. I am the true vine. And today we get to hear Jesus teach us about He is the door. I am the door. I am the good shepherd.

Now when it comes to illustrations, parables, narratives, we normally say the safe place to be when you're looking at these things is look for the worst person in the parable, in the illustration, in the narrative. Look for the worst person and think, how am I like them? Not how I'm like the best person, but how am I like the worst person? That's not today, family. It's not today.

And today, you are the sheep. Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, hear that. You're a non-Christian, that's not you. You may be one someday. But Christian, this is a text for just to be completely joyful, completely encouraged what Christ has to say about you, His sheep.

You are the sheep in illustration. There's plenty to say about thieves and robbers and hirelings and some warnings there that we can apply as well, of course. But, overwhelmingly, what Jesus is telling you is you're the sheep and how He cares for you as His sheep. That's the key here. I have three points that I'm going to cover.

You'll see there on your outline, Jesus is the door, Jesus is the shepherd, and our great comfort in the relationship of the Father and Jesus. Start with Jesus is the door in verses 7 through 10. 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. Just like at the beginning of this chapter, Jesus says most assuredly, we've seen this several times, and this is the amen, amen. Listen carefully.

Pay attention to what I'm going to say. A lot of time, what falls right after is a lot of cautions, a lot of things to be wary of. But sheep, Christians, pay special attention. Your shepherd has some very encouraging and joyful words to tell us today. And he says it twice in verse 7 and verse 9, I am the door.

The plain reading, the plain understanding of scripture here. It's not too complex. It's very deep, it's not too complex. Salvation is only through Jesus. The only way into Jesus' sheepfold is through Jesus, who is the door or the gate.

The gate that says in other parts of Scripture as well. It's only through Jesus into his sheepfold. And why does someone want into his sheepfold? It's great that he's a door, but why does someone want into his sheepfold? That's verse 9.

I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved. That's why you want in Jesus sheepfold because you can be saved and you need saved. All of scripture from the beginning of scripture to the end is very clear. The only way to salvation is through Christ and Him alone.

Turn to Psalm 118. Psalm 118. I want you to look at this. The end of Psalm 118, this is a chapter that I go to regularly and I say things about and I'll say in a call to worship. At verse 24 it says, this is the day the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it.

A lot of Christians, I'm not criticizing them or rebuking them. I don't know all the Christians that say this. But they'll say this verse, and maybe you've been caught saying this verse, is this is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. I'm pulling on myself my bootstraps to smile and be happy.

It's all going to be fine. That's not the context of why you should be happy in this day, because there are sad days. So how can I be happy even in sad days and rough days? Let's go back to verse 20. Remember the context here is, I am the door by Jesus.

Verse 20. This is the gate, this is the door of the Lord through which the righteous shall enter. I will praise you for you have answered me and have become my salvation. Through his door is salvation." And who's the door? Verse 22, the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.

This was the Lord's doing. It is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. Whenever you hear that last verse, verse 24, connect it right back to salvation.

Connect it right back to Jesus is the door and through him are paths of righteous. Through him are salvation. Him alone because of his death, burial, and resurrection, his love for his sheep and his people. That is why This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it no matter what day it is.

It could be your hardest day ever, the most grievous day ever, and you can still have a rejoicing. It may not be a smile. It may be much tears, but you can still have rejoicing because the Lord has saved. This is not the end, no matter how grievous the day is. John 14, 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me. All of scripture says it's through Christ alone. Who can be saved? Anyone. Back to John 10.

Anyone that goes through the door. Verse 9, If anyone enters by me, he will be saved. This is irrespective of your social status in the world, of how much you have, whether you have little, none, or a lot. Your health, whether you have the worst health ever, or the best health ever, your education, whether you don't know anything or know everything, your skin color, whether you're tan, as white as can be, as dark as can be, anything in between, your nationality, your language, anyone who enters by Jesus will Be saved. It's the plain teaching of scripture.

There are people out there, believe it or not, that don't believe that. Don't believe that. And I know some personally that do not believe that. That anyone can be saved no matter who you are. If you enter through Christ alone, you will be saved.

Now, let me say this, because some people can take these verses in isolation and build a doctrine off this on salvation that's not right. Let the rest of Scripture talk to this. I can't leave this section without saying that, yes, it is through Christ, He is the door, but it is by grace alone and by faith alone that you can enter through Christ. I do not deserve to be allowed into Jesus' sheepfold. I can't earn it.

You've heard illustrations of Jesus as the door and if you just open it, no. Think of that illustration for a moment please. If you say, I just opened that door, you are saying, I can move Jesus to make me enter into his sheepfold. In other words then, I'm more powerful than God. It's that simple.

No. You don't deserve into his sheepfold. You can't earn your way into his sheepfold. But by grace, we'll talk more about his grace, his mercy, and the faith that he gives us as a gift that we can enter in by Him to salvation. We know Ephesians 2.

We love Ephesians 2. All good evangelical, Bible believing, Christian churches love Ephesians 2. That laid this out perfectly. We were dead in trespasses and sins. We were children of wrath.

But God, who is rich in mercy and love, makes us alive in Christ through his death, burial, and resurrection by grace and by faith, which is a gift of God. Not of any works or we would boast. A gift of God that we are saved. Jesus is the door, and only through him is salvation. Now let's talk a little bit about these thieves and robbers.

We saw them first in verse one, And we see them here again in verses 8 and 10. As we heard last week, remind ourselves of the thief. A thief is someone who takes by stealth and deception. This word thief is the same word that's used to describe Judas. Judas was a thief, he stole money, alright, he was a thief in other ways too.

Just stealing the truth, not being deceptive in what people would think he believed, but this is a word you describe Judas. A robber is someone that then carries on and takes by violence on top of that. And this is the same word that's used to describe Barabbas as a murderer. So thief and robber. But Jesus starts off here in verse eight saying, all who ever came before me are thieves and robbers.

Now, all cannot mean all the people that ever existed before Jesus are thief and robbers. So that would be saying all the prophets, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, Elijah, Elisha, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Micah, Zechariah, plus all the redeemed were thieves and robbers. That can't be. So we know that can't be. And there's also going to be thieves and robbers after Christ.

There are today thieves and robbers. So what's Jesus talking about? Well, he could be referencing the Messiah imposters that we see in Acts 5 when Gamaliel talks about Thutus and Judas of Galilee. It could be referencing those messiahs, depending on where they came about and when were they and all that. It could be.

And it does make sense. We have those today. But the immediate context are the Pharisees that Jesus is addressing. That's the immediate context of false shepherds. And we have their intentions here in verse 10 that they steal and they kill and they destroy.

That's the intentions of these thieves. Their intentions. And I want you to see that that is the intention of these Pharisees, and it has been for a long time. So turn to Ezekiel 34. We'll be back in Ezekiel 34 a couple times, so you be prepared to go back to it.

We read all of Ezekiel 34 last week, very helpful. Ezekiel 34, listen to verses 3 through 5, it's talking about the false shepherds of Israel. Think of these as the Pharisees of the time, the leaders of Israel. And the Pharisees get the connection. Jesus is talking about false shepherds, thieves, and robbers.

These well-learned guys, a lot of knowledge, no heart application, a lot of knowledge. They get what Jesus is talking about here and what he's referencing Ezekiel 34 verses 3 through 5 talking to the false shepherds you eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool you slaughter the fatlings but you do not feed the flock. The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost, but with force and cruelty you have ruled them. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the beasts of the field when they were scattered." a false shepherd. Sounds like a bunch of stealing, killing, and destroying to me.

In Matthew 23, very clear here, these are the woes to the scribes and the Pharisees. Listen to what he says. Under the context of what I'm talking about, thieves and robbers that come to steal, kill, and destroy. Listen to these verses, verse 13 and 15, in chapter 23 of Matthew. But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men, for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, for you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers, therefore you will receive greater condemnation." Same chapter verses 34 and 35, talking to the scribes and Pharisees still. Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city. That on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barakaiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar." They are stealing from widows, stealing truth, killing prophets, destroying truth. They are not in Jesus' fold.

He is very clear about that. We saw that a couple chapters ago when he told them that you are you are in sin and will die in your sin. They are not in Jesus' fold and they keep others out. All of that you see in Ezekiel and in Matthew there. Just go back to the woman caught in adultery.

They stole truth, destroyed truth, they weren't willing to uphold the law. They had no care for this woman caught in adultery. No care for the people around that, that they could have used this for a teaching time on what God says about marriage. No care for her and the other man's spouses. No care for anybody else to teach truth of what God says about marriage.

Think about the blind man. No care, stealing his joy, no celebration that he's been made to see, stealing truth that Jesus is not the Messiah, they're saying, because if you proclaim he's the Christ, you'll be kicked out of the temple so they're scattering the flock. The Pharisees have come to steal, kill, and destroy. And that's their intention and that is their motivation. So Jesus is what he's doing here and bringing up the thieves and the robbers and the hireling, is he's contrasting himself to him.

Say, I'm not these guys. I'm not like them. And it's not that he's like, hey, don't think I'm like them. He says, that's what they're like. Let me tell you what I'm like as the door and as the shepherd.

Let me tell you who your Savior is and who your God is. And in verse 9 and 10, where Jesus says, I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. Then at the end of verse 10, I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. Here's the progression of what Jesus is saying in this section.

He saves you. He saves his sheep. You're able to go in and out, find pasture, and give an abundant life. There's what Jesus has stepped us through. Far from what the thieves and the robbers are doing.

Let's step through those. In and out. Going in and out. We talked about salvation only through Christ, going in and out. Under Jesus protection, now here it sounds like I'm talking about the shepherd, and I am.

Now don't worry about is he the door, is he the shepherd? This is a mixed analogy. Yes, he's God. You don't have any problems with me saying, I am the bread of life, I am the light of the world, I'm the resurrection and the life, I'm the way, the truth and the life, I'm the true vine, I am the door, I am the shepherd. We can say all of that in the same sentence along with all of his attributes, yes.

We don't have to keep them separated because they're separated by a couple of verses. He's the door, he's the shepherd. But this in and out, under Jesus' protection, we have the liberty, the freedom to move throughout the world. Move throughout the world. Turkey, it can be Malawi.

We can move throughout the world without fear. We have eternal life. We will not perish. No one can snatch us from His hand. Verses 28 and 29, our memory text right now.

We have that freedom, that liberty in Christ now. But that's in His pasture, within His pasture. Careful of where you go with liberty. We have a lot of discussions on that. This freedom.

But we have freedom to move about as his sheep to then talk about he is the door. He is the shepherd. And be cared by him as we go in and out. And we find pasture. We're provided food to stay healthy.

May not be physically healthy all the time, or maybe rarely for some people. But at a minute, it's spiritual health. You can have that spiritual health no matter what your physical health is like. Happy, full, or rest. Psalm 23, the green pastures are for food, what does it say?

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. You can rest in him. You can have good rest for him. As we sing today, anything outside of God's pasture, of Christ's pasture, is what?

What are we seeing this morning? It's shifting sand. It's a desert. Think of it that way. It doesn't look like that way to my sinful eyes.

It looks very appealing. But it's not. It's really not. It's a lie of the world. It's deception.

It's a mirage. It's shifting sand. So let's find this pastor. Now, what is the primary source Jesus has given us for being fed? What is it to be fed, to be satisfied, comforted, encouraged, strengthened?

What is it? It's His holy word, the Bible. You know that. It's His holy word, The Bible. Listen to what God says about this.

What he's written. In Psalm 34, Oh taste and see, sounds like good pastor here coming up, Oh taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who trusts in him. O fear the Lord, you his saints. There is no want to those who fear him." How do you know that?

By reading his word, by reading Psalm 34 and the rest of Scripture. There's no want. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Psalm 34. Psalm 19, and Michael read this morning.

I didn't have it in my notes, but Psalm 19 that you read this morning. Is the Word of God more to be desired for you than gold, much fine gold and sweeter than the honeycomb? Gold is pretty appealing. Honey, I want to have bees someday. Honey is very appealing and sweet.

But is the Word of God more precious than that? More precious than all you could ever get? Is it? Psalm 119, it's all about the strength and the light and the sweetness and the protection that comes from God's Word. The light that it brings from God's Word.

Matthew 5, starting of Jesus' sermon on the mount. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. First Peter 2, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word. One of the great things about having all these babies around us, we understand how babies desire milk. We're told to desire milk as a newborn baby.

Desire the word of God. Desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious." He's giving you green pastures right now. It may not look like your life is green pastures, but you have green pastures right here. You can trust in His Word, taste and see that the Lord is good. He will feed you, He will lead you, He will guide you, you will see that the Lord is good, you will see that it's a delight.

He talks about having life next In this progression he goes through. It's eternal life that starts. As soon as you enter by the door, you have this eternal life. Now Christ has known from eternity past that you have eternal life. In his mind, you're going to have it.

You didn't know that until Christ gave you the gift of faith and was gracious to you and allowed you to enter His sheepfold. But it's not just any life, it's abundant life. It's abundant life. When you look up this word abundant, it's beyond measure. Life beyond measure.

You can't measure how abundant your life can be in Christ. It's over and above, much more than all, superior life, extraordinary life, more excellent life. Now the world chases this abundant life in their activities and acquiring stuff. They chase this. What they think will be abundant life and they never have enough, right?

You hear this work-life balance, right? And what they're really saying by work-life balance is I want to work as little as possible so I can do all these things. This never-ending bucket list to achieve this abundant life, to say all these things and post it on Instagram and Facebook and videos of it. See what an abundant life I have? But it's never enough and they keep chasing it.

And it shouldn't surprise us that suicide rates have continued to increase and will continue to increase. In 2016, in the US alone, 45, 000 people murdered themselves. It's 126 a day. Sound like abundant life? Look at the lives they leave behind.

They don't care about them. That's selfish. I'm not saying that life isn't hard. Life can be very, very hard and dark at times. You might say to yourself, but my life doesn't feel or look abundant.

James, it doesn't. You know what I'm going through, or I might not know what you're going through. But it doesn't feel this way. And I'm not saying that our feelings don't matter. God gives us feelings.

We're feeling people love, right? Joy. We have expressions of our feeling. But, but, you can't always trust your feelings and what you see. Our feelings and our eyes will lie to us about abundant life.

And we need to preach the Word of God. We need to feast on the Word of God to help us through those lies. When we think their life isn't abundant, because when we think our life isn't abundant, what we're really doing is comparing ourselves to the world and to social media and what people are saying and all these perfect posts about how people are educating their children, their devotional time, or all the great things they get to do that I don't get to do. We're really comparing ourselves to that instead of the Word of God about what he says is abundant life. Let this inform you.

Let the word of God inform you on what is abundant life. If you're taking notes, I want you to stop and just listen. I want the word of God, just hear the word of God, be encouraged by what the word of God says is abundant life. Sheep. Sheep.

Here's abundant life for you. We have been saved from a roaring lion seeking whom he made devour, 1 Peter 5. From being children of wrath, Ephesians 2. We are born again, John 3. We are new creations, 2 Corinthians 5.

We've been made alive, Ezekiel 37 in Ephesians 2. Let the Word of God inform you, instruct you. Trust the Word of God on what it says abundant life is. We know the living God. We have Jesus as a personal Savior that we get to worship, that we can treasure, that we get to feed on, eat my flesh, drink my blood, we can feed on, feast on Him through His Word especially, and we have the Holy Spirit indwelling us, conforming us to the image of Christ, and finishing us.

He will finish the good work. You have abundant life now, and eternal life has started now, because someday When you're at the end of this life, and you take that final breath, when it looks like you don't have abundant life, when you're on your deathbed, if you get that opportunity to know you're taking that final breath, or if it comes suddenly, what happens immediately after that? Oh, you'll know abundant life. Eternal life. That's God's promises to you.

Sheep, Christians. If you're not a Christian, what is your hope? What is your hope? In Some ways, yes, I am trying to depress you of your miserable life without Christ. It should be miserable.

Some ways, I want it to be very miserable. Because Christ is really your only hope. And with Christ, it doesn't mean that abundant life comes with wealth and treasures and everything the world says that makes it abundant. You will still have heartache after heartache after heartache. You will.

There'll be lots of tears still to come. But what does the word of God say really is? How does God define your abundant life? We have abundant life that can only be had through Jesus alone. He is the door.

Next, Jesus is the Good Shepherd. Jesus is the Good Shepherd, verses 11 through 13. I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd gives his life for the sheep, but a hireling. He who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees.

And the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. We've had types of shepherds in scripture, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and David, all actual shepherds. And then Moses and David were actually leaders of Israel on top of that. So they led like a shepherd.

Moses was actually a shepherd for 40 years with his father-in-law. And David, we know as a shepherd, probably the greatest shepherd that the Pharisees would say. And shepherds, as we heard a little bit last week, it's a tiring, hard, dangerous job. They have to deal with weather, whether it's cold, whether it's hot, whether there's rain, whether there's drought, whether there's famine. How am I gonna find water for these sheep?

How am I gonna find pasture for these sheep? In 1 Samuel 17, David gives us a glimpse into the dangerous life of a shepherd. He's before Saul. Goliath is out there, and he's gone before Saul. And to appeal to Saul, to let him go fight Goliath, he uses his resume as his qualifications.

He talks about how he chased down a lion and a bear to go get a lamb that they had taken. And when the lion or bear resisted, what did these children remember what it says that David did? Remember? He grabbed them by the beard. A lion and a bear grabbed them by the beard and killed them.

Not from a distance, not with an arrow, from a spear, from a distance. He grabbed them by the beard and killed them. And with this resume, what did Saul say to David? The Lord be with you. Go.

And he went and he took down Goliath. Right? Went and did that. Well, Jesus, as great as David was, Jesus is far greater. As great as a shepherd as David was, Jesus is far greater.

He's the anti-type. He is the good shepherd. Whereas Peter says the chief shepherd. Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd. Isaiah 40, verse 11, He will feed his flock like a shepherd.

He will gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those who are with young." This word good could have been translated with many other words to describe the shepherd. We know this is Jesus, and there are not enough words in our languages to describe how great and good He is. But listen to these words. These aren't my words that I just thought of. These are words when you look up good that could be replaced with good.

Good is just fine. Good is perfect in there. But listen to these words that can describe the good shepherd. Jesus is a beautiful shepherd, an excellent shepherd, a choice shepherd, a surpassing shepherd, a precious shepherd, A commendable shepherd. Jesus is an admirable shepherd.

Jesus is a magnificent shepherd. Jesus is a shepherd that is excellent in his nature and characteristics. Jesus is a genuine shepherd. Jesus is a noble shepherd. Jesus is a praiseworthy shepherd.

Jesus is a comforting shepherd. All those words can be used for the word good. When you look up the word good, Go look it up in Blue Letter Bible. You'll find all these words. That is your shepherd.

There are many other words we can say. Go back to Ezekiel 34. Let's let the Word of God tell us and describe to us the Good Shepherd from his word. Back in Ezekiel 34, verses 13 through 15, listen to how this true shepherd, the Good Shepherd, treats his sheep. And I will bring them out from the peoples, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land.

I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, and the valleys, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them in good pasture, and their food shall be on the high mountains of Israel. There they shall lie down in a good fold, and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I will feed my flock, and I will make them lie down says the Lord God. Sounds like a lot like Psalm 23 doesn't it?

Sounds like a good shepherd doesn't it? Because it is. This is the good shepherd. Now back in John 10, let's talk a little bit about these hirelings, these hired hands, hired hands that we see in verses 12 and 13. Shepherds can't work 24-7.

They can't. They need to sleep. They have rest. They have family pressures. They have things that come up.

They may need to go away for a time being. Things that can't be around their flock 24-7. So they hire people to help them. A hireling. A hired hand.

Now these are not like the thieves and robbers. They're not there to intentionally bring harm, but they do harm the sheep in their lack of care for them. Because as Jesus says here, the hireling just doesn't have the same interest as the shepherd. This is only a job for the hireling. He's committed to his self-interest and payment.

And that's what he's committed to. He's committed to staying alive, and as long as he stays alive to getting paid for that. Right? And not taking on wolves, probably not taking on thieves and robbers, especially if it looks like his life may be in danger and he's going to run. He's going to run.

Don't be too hard on the hire lane here. Most of us with our jobs, we're really hire lanes. I don't have the same interest as the owners do in my company. I'm not willing to do as much as they are for the company. I'm not.

And there's nothing wrong with that really. I'll go get another job. How many of us, all of us, I think probably everybody here has had more than one job. But in this case, Jesus contrasts himself with this hireling though, and how he's not like that. Jesus is not a hireling.

And he's talking to these Pharisees. These Pharisees may be full of pride, say, I'm not a thief, I'm not a robber. Okay, we'll try this on. At best then, Pharisees, you're a horrible hireling. At best, you're a horrible hireling.

You only care for yourself. You only want more money and being honored. We see that throughout Matthew 23 and the rest of scripture. At best, Pharisees, you are a horrible hireling and only after your self-interest, so much after your self-interest, you want to scatter this flock. It's not just when a wolf comes.

When anybody comes, you're willing to scatter them. This is what we know about these sheep that are given to Jesus, how he's not like a higher lane. These sheep are given to Jesus by the Father. We'll see that in verse 29. And Jesus and the Father are one.

We'll see that in verse 30. They're one. So they have the exact same interest. The exact same interest. I and my Father are one.

The exact same interest. Last week we see that shepherds lead through and pass danger. They are leading the way through and past danger, clear the way for us. We don't have to fear. Here's why we don't have to fear.

I talked about David with his lion and his bear. Okay, but that is nothing. Nothing compared to what our shepherd did. He faced the wrath of God and took the wrath of God, laying down his life for the sheep. He saw the wrath of God coming.

He didn't flee. He ran towards it and took it on our behalf. He completed the work to redeem us. He laid down his life for the sheep. He took on the wrath.

And Jesus' death, don't think that Jesus' death put the sheep in danger during that time. Don't think for those three days he was dead that that put the sheep in danger and there's nobody watching the sheep. You have God the Father, God the Holy Spirit. Don't forget that. The sheep were not in danger.

They had scattered, yes. But the sheep were not in danger one bit. At the end of those three days, Jesus rose from the dead. And because He rose from the dead and conquered death, He is shepherding us right now. Shepherding us right now and we can rise from the dead when we die and have eternal life.

In verse 18, we'll get there in a couple weeks, only God has the power to lay down his life and take it back. He is God. God, he did not abandon the sheep like a hireling. He faced wrath and death for them, and rose from the dead. Jesus does not need a hireling either.

Don't think of the Holy Spirit as a hireling. Don't try to take this analogy in a bad place. It's an illustration. No, they're one. We have one God.

One God. One God. Three persons. The Trinity. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The good shepherd never tires. Why would he need anybody else? Never tires. He doesn't need a break. In night and day, he's interceding for us.

You can see that in Romans 8 and Hebrews 7. Now, there are undershepherds. We have pastors. He ultimately doesn't need us. It seems like foolishness for me to try to stand up here and expound on this text, glorious text.

Many, many people have done it 100 times better than me for a long time. And they all influenced me and helped me in this passage, a lot of them dead and alive. All right, but This is what Jesus does. He is caring for us right now through one another, through pastors, but especially through His Word of God. Jesus is the door, the good shepherd, that willingly lays down His life for the sheep.

The last point, verses 14 and 15. It's 14 and 15. We see our great comfort in the relationship of the Father and Jesus. Read these words. I don't know if you took time to meditate on them or not, but As I've been meditating and thinking on these, I just kept seeing depths and depths and depths and depths of great comfort here because of the relationship between the Father and the Son.

Let me read this. I am the Good Shepherd, and I know my sheep, and am known by my own. As the Father knows me, even so I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. These should be very comforting for you. Let's walk through this.

Verse 14, Jesus knows his sheep. We saw last week he knows them by name. Says here he knows them. This isn't general knowledge of the sheep. This isn't even just saying, I'm a very observant shepherd, more observant than any other shepherd, and I know all your goings in and going out and what you tend, what kind of grass you like to eat and where you may go wandering.

It's way more than that. This word no, this word no means intimate knowledge. Intimate knowledge. Everything, listen to this, everything about you to the deepest, darkest corners, all of our motivations, all of our circumstances, all of our considerations, all of our thoughts, all of our deeds, every sin, and everything we don't even know about ourselves. Made that sound pretty bad about ourselves, didn't I?

On purpose, so you would hear this. And he still laid down his life and took on the wrath of God for you, knowing all that. Oh, hear the depths of grace here. Undeserved favor. Yes, humble yourself in hearing that, but then praise God.

Have joy. Be encouraged that your shepherd is shepherding you, knowing all this. Do you ever struggle, yes, with saying things like, nobody understands me. Nobody understands what I'm going through. We all struggle with that at times.

Nobody understands me. Nobody knows what I'm going through. I don't even have any friends that really care about me. I don't. I remember being 16 and saying that to my parents at one time.

Nobody knows the pressures I get from my family, from your family, your work pressures, your financial pressures, your health pressures, homeschooling pressures. Whatever pressures you have as a man or woman, societal pressures, nobody knows, nobody understands my sin struggles. I feel, once again, I'm just all alone. Jesus knows all this. And it's way deeper than just he's omniscient and knows all this knowing you this intimate knowledge of you is in the all-wise God that will that will work out his glorious and good plan.

Yes, he does bring trials. I said they can be very hard trials, but that is out of care for you and for others. Care for you that he would conform you, that you would see that he is a faithful shepherd, a comforting shepherd, a caring shepherd, a providing shepherd, and also for others that others might come along and help you. To help others grow in their giving of themselves. Now, Maybe nobody comes in your trouble.

Maybe you need to let people know of your trouble. But maybe nobody knows. Maybe not. That doesn't mean God's not caring for you. It does not.

I know I have let each one of you down and I will again. Okay, but your trust isn't in me. It's not in Michael, it's not in Jason ultimately. Pray for us, we thank you for that. We want to be good higher lanes or good under shepherds.

We don't want to flee, but I've never faced a real trial with anybody here that I'd be tempted to flee. I really haven't. So I don't know exactly what I would do. I don't. I'm being honest with you.

I don't know. But pray. But it's Jesus who never will flee. It's Jesus that is your shepherd. You shall not want.

And here's the comforting part. Here's another comforting part. We are invited. He knows us, and we are also invited to know everything about our shepherd, to be intimate knowledge and be intimate with our shepherd, to really, really intimately know his love, his grace, his mercy, His forgiveness, his joy, his delight in you, his happiness in you, his longing for you as a bride, as a bridegroom longs for his bride. He's longing for you, caring for you.

Know how he's feeding you and protecting you. Really know his patience, his longsuffering with you. You know that if you self-examine yourself and what He knows about you. Really know His kindness, His goodness, His comforting, His humility, His giving, his faithfulness, his perfection, and his holiness. All that's not comforting enough.

Jesus continues, and here's where it really meets the road. Here's where it really all comes together. If that's not comforting enough, Jesus continues telling us that He knows us like He knows His Father. Just think on that and it will blow your mind away. It really will.

Just try to think that He knows us like He knows His Father. Now who are Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit? Not leaving the Holy Spirit out of this, they are one God. They are God, they are bound together from eternity past. Bound together from eternity past with the same will and the same love.

In John 15, 9, it says, as the Father loves the Son, so Jesus loves His sheep. How much love does God have for the Son? He has that for you. He has that for you. Can you measure that infinite love?

That infinite delight, that infinite joy between the Father and Son? No, you cannot. But that's the love the good shepherd Jesus has for you. Beyond measure. Beyond measure.

I hope these verses stir us all up to a greater love for our shepherd and a desire to know our shepherd. Jesus, who gathers sinful sheep, saves them, gives pasture, abundant life, because he gave his life and is bound to the Father. Knows his Father and loves us with the same love the Father has for him. Jesus, who is God, left his eternal throne to be a man. Listen to how he laid down his life.

Be very deep. I want to get into what he did to give of his life. Just living on earth for 33 and 1 half years, he obeyed sinful parents. He didn't obey sin. He knew whether his parents were sinning or not.

He's God. He still obeyed them. He obeyed them. That's given of himself. He was hated, mocked.

He got hungry. This is God. He got hungry, tired. He laid down his life and he was crucified. On top of all that, I lay down my life for the sheep.

Why? Because that was what was required for us to become sheep. He has no sheep unless he gives to himself. There's no other way, no other name given among men, whereby you must be saved. I am the door.

I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me. Only through Christ. This was the only way, only possible way to be saved, to have abundant life, eternal life. So are you His sheep?

Listen carefully. Are you His sheep? Yes, hopefully you're encouraging, you're having joy in your shepherd. But you have to ask yourself, am I his sheep? There's only one way, as I've talked about before, this holy God, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, who is perfect and holy, who can have no sin before him.

Remember when we self-examine ourselves, how much sin we have in us? You're not perfect. You know you're not perfect. You can compare yourself to the mass murderer or the awful mother or this or that, but you're still not perfect and God requires perfection. So Jesus came and lived the perfect life, gave of himself, even obeying perfect parents, being mocked and scorned, having his disciples even question him and argue about things and scatter at the end.

He endured all that and then took on the wrath of God. Our sin, the wage of sin is death. We deserve death. We deserve the wrath of God. And what Jesus did is he became our sin for us and took on that wrath of God for us, that infinite wrath of God for us, and died shedding his blood.

Without the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sins, all those sacrifices pointed to this. Shed his blood. Because of his death and then resurrection, we now, for all who believe in him, you believe in Christ alone, have faith in him, and trust, listen to me carefully, trust that every word of this is right. By no means am I saying you understand it all. All you need to understand to be saved is that Jesus is the Christ and believe that Jesus is the Christ and that you need Him to be saved.

And only He can let you into His sheepfold, nobody else, no matter what the world says. And there's plenty of people out there. If you repent of your sin, not saying you will forever be perfect, but if you repent and acknowledge these ways are awful and keep me separated, and by faith in you, Christ, that did the perfect work, living in my place, dying in my place, I believe, I believe that you are God and the Messiah. You will be saved. To what?

That's not the end. Jesus rose from the dead, that what? We would be able to rise from the dead and have resurrection and new life in heaven and when the new earth is created, we'll be on the new earth as well. No idea what that looks like, but it'll be glorious life. Glorious life.

There are many that think you are sheep. But Jesus was very clear. There are many in that day will say, I know you Christ. That's not what matters ultimately. Matters is does Christ know you?

You can believe all, you can think you know Christ, but you don't know Christ. And on that day, Christ might say, I never knew you. I never knew you. And that's hell forever. Applications.

I have three of them. Number one, do you have ears only for Jesus? Do you have ears only for Jesus? I want to go back to verse 8. I didn't miss this part.

Verse 8, all who ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. Sheep did not hear them. Do you have ears only for Jesus? Now, this doesn't mean that I don't physically hear them. Now, God does protect us.

And there's many things I don't hear or see because I don't want to. But there are many things. But you hear the false shepherd. You hear the false teaching. You're at the abortion clinic.

What are you hearing from people that are arguing with you? You're at work, you hear the news, you read the news, you read all kinds of things and see all kinds of things. We have preached from here, we have called out people by name, churches by name, false teachings by name. To warn you, we will continue to as we need to. But who or what is influencing you?

What is ultimately influencing you? What's ultimately tickling your ears? And we know they won't ultimately get a hold. If you're a sheep, if you're a Christian, they won't ultimately get a hold. No one can snatch you from Christ.

You may have to go through very rough times. I'm going to read from Pilgrim's Progress in here a little bit. But you may have to go through tough times, like Pilgrim and Christian did, and get off the way. And he went through hard times. Looks like death was coming.

Death came to his friend, Faithful, and he's sitting in the town of Vanity Fair. It doesn't mean that won't happen. But you can go through some tough times. But what is influencing you? What has your ears?

Listen carefully here. I'm not speaking to anybody particularly. Just laying out topics for you to consider what really is influencing you. To a desert, to shifting sand. I'm talking to myself as well as I'm writing this.

I better be doing a lot of self-examination. Books, movies, preachers, music. What's leading you? Does it really lead you to green pastures, still waters, paths of righteousness? Now, you know this about me.

I'll hear what you're hearing from preaching, from other preachers. I keep my ears open to what people are listening to and what books you're reading. And if I don't know about it, you know that, I think, hopefully you know this about me, I'm going to go listen. I'm going to go maybe not read, but look up people I trust on their reviews of books. And then I might come back to you and say, I know I've come back to some people before about books.

I've come back to people about preaching. It happened once where somebody was listening to somebody I wasn't familiar with. It ends up being a great preacher. Now I listen to him quite a bit. But what's influencing you?

And is it really leading you to green pastures, still waters, paths of righteousness? In John 10, 5, yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him. Are you fleeing these? Are you fleeing anything that's really not helping your soul? That's really fighting for Jesus' voice in your ear.

John 10, 27, my sheep hear my voice, and I know them and they follow me. You will primarily, primarily hear his voice through the Word of God. How well do you know the Word of God? So when these thieves and robbers or strangers come, you know that they're thieves and robbers or strangers. You'll only know that through the Word of God, through studying the Word of God, meditating on the Word of God, and having Jesus inform you and shepherd you through His Word.

These are great words of life, abundant life. And God does help us and shepherd us through parents, through siblings, through spouses, through pastors, treasured Christ. I was talking with a man before service, and this came to mind. Parents, we train our children to hear our voice, don't we? We can be in church, but if they hear our voice calling their name we train them to kind of whip around and hear that.

And parents, we're trained to hear our children's voice. You can have all the children here could be going crazy and our child's over here and we can pick out that voice, right? As a mom, a mom, right? We're all, they're asleep at night. Mom and dad are asleep, a baby cries, mom wakes up, dad might still be sleeping, but mom has that voice trained.

We know this. Are you trained for the voice of God? Are you trained to love His Word and love his voice and you'll recognize his voice by recognizing truth the more we know his word. Do you have ears only for Jesus? Number two, love that Jesus is the door.

Love that Jesus is the door. It should be very comforting that I can't earn my way into salvation. It should be very comforting that I am not your standard. It's very comforting to me that you're not my standard, not because you are so beneath me, because there are some people here that I'm like, how can I attain to that standard in that area or that area? So thankful that none of us are the standard, that Christ is the standard, and it's by His grace, therefore, because when we see Christ and see all His beauty and perfection, therefore we're going, You have to be gracious or I have no hope.

You have to be merciful or I have no hope. Be thankful that by grace alone, by faith alone, by Christ alone, for the wages of sin is death but the gift that's the grace that's not earned the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord John Bunyan the only quote I'm going to do today is from Bunyan lots of people that have influenced me I talked about influences there's lots of people that influenced me you hear Jason talk about it Michael talk about it for this message you influenced me just in your prayers and our conversations last Monday morning in Men's Bible Study. You've got MacArthur, Begg, Ryle, Carson, Calvin, a lot of people that influenced me here and helped me and helped me. Listen to this about Jesus being the door, the only way from Mr. Bunyan in Pilgrim's Progress.

He's come across these two men, formalist in hypocrisy. And what's happened here is Christian has seen two men come tumbling over the wall, come tumbling over the wall into the narrow way, and they caught up to him. And Christian says, gentlemen, where have you come from, and where do you go? Formless hypocrisy say, we are born in the land of vainglory and are going for praise to Mount Zion. Why have you come not in the gate, which stands at the beginning of the way?

Do you not know that it is written that he who comes not by the door but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber? They said to Christian that to go to the gate for entrance was by all their countrymen counted too far about, and that therefore their usual way was to make a shortcut and climb over the wall as they had done. Christian says, but will it not be counted a trespass against the Lord of the city, whither we are bound thus to violate his revealed will? Will you stand trial at his law?" He told Christian that the custom, been so long standing, is above a thousand years, We're just doing things that have always been done. It's because everybody does this.

It's been going on for a long while. It's been standing above a thousand years. Would doubtless now be admitted as a legal thing by an impartial judge because it's been happening. It must be legal by now. It must be fine, because many people have tried this and done this.

And besides, they said, if we get into the way, what matter is it which way we get in? If we are in, we are in. You're in the way, who, as we perceive, came in at the gate. And we also are in the way that came tumbling over the wall. Wherein now is your condition any better than ours?

Christians' words to them. I walk by the rule of my master. You walk by the rude working of your fancies. You are counted thieves already by the Lord of the way. Therefore, I doubt you will not be found true men at the end of the way.

You come in by yourselves without his direction and shall go out by yourselves without his mercy." There's only one way. Only one way, and that is Jesus. He is the door. Love that Jesus is the door and that he is the only way to green pasture, abundant life, and eternal life. The last point, Last application, love being shepherded by Jesus.

Love being shepherded by Jesus. We know Psalm 23. We say, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. We've said this about other texts. As Christians, we hear those words, the Lord is my shepherd.

Yes, he's my shepherd, I shall not want. Ouch. Because I do want at times other things, other glittering things that then don't give me any life. It actually steals from me, steals joy and hope from me. We know that Christian, we know that.

But we know that all we want is in Christ, that He is a good shepherd. He does shepherd us. And so you pray it. The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want. When David wrote that, was He a perfect man?

No. But He's just preaching truth. I shall not want anything else. It's not good. Jesus is the good shepherd.

You didn't know Jesus by name, but the Messiah is my good shepherd. Jehovah is my good shepherd. There are those here though that when they say this, just like I said at the end of the main part of the message, that are lying to themselves when they say that Jesus really isn't your shepherd. Do you think Jesus is one of the shepherds? A shepherd.

He might be a shepherd. You can't believe that. There are religions that believe that. You can't believe that. That's wrong.

Jesus either is the door and the good shepherd, the only way, truth, and life, or He is not. And all His teachings are evil then, if that was the case. He is a good shepherd. You should not want. He gives abundant life.

He is the door. Turn to Revelation chapter 7. We will end here. He is your shepherd forever and ever. See this in Revelation 7.

His shepherding does not end with our final breath. He will be our shepherd forever. He is the eternal God. Revelation 7, starting in verse 9 through the end of the chapter. After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues.

Sounds like anyone can be saved, that believes, right? Missionaries? Great hope. Of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. All the angels stood around the throne, and the elders and the four living creatures, and fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God, saying, Amen!

Blessing and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen." Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, Who are these, arrayed in white robes? And where do they come from? And I said to him, sir, you know. So he said to me, these are the ones who come out of the great tribulation and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Therefore they are before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them. Listen to your shepherd here, shepherd you, for all eternity. They shall neither hunger anymore, nor thirst anymore. The sun shall not strike them nor any heat.

For the lamb who sits, the lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living foundations of waters, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Let's pray. Jesus, you are the door. You are the shepherd of your sheep. We shall not want.

Jesus, that you would love us with the love the Father has for you. Keep that in front of us, please. We can't plumb the depths, I know that, but don't let it stop us from plumbing, from meditating, from thinking on, from delighting, having joy in. God, if there is anybody here that is struggling with what it is to have abundant life, doesn't feel like they have abundant life, oh God, please be so kind and gentle and comforting to them. Through your word, through friends, through others, let them know they do have abundant life through you.

And it is only through you. Oh, would people be saved, God, to abundant life. Lord, help us to love you as a door, to love being shepherded by you, and to have ears that love hearing your voice and being led by you alone. Amen.