Would you please take your copy of God's Word and open to John chapter 10. John chapter 10. John chapter 10 is connected to the narrative we've studied in John chapter 9. This is kind of continuing that event. Just because you see a chapter change doesn't mean it's always unconnected, and in this case it certainly is not. We know that because even in verse 21 of John 10, others said that can a demon open the eyes of a blind, referring to the man who was born blind in chapter nine. This is helpful to see this is part of the event in chapter nine. What happened in chapter nine? Well, there was a man who was born blind. From birth, he was blind. And as a grown man, he's probably on the side of the road begging, but Jesus sees him. and heals him. This man is almost immediately persecuted by his spiritual leaders. He's almost immediately persecuted for not denouncing Jesus. And he ends up even defending Jesus before the Pharisees. So he's badly treated by his spiritual leaders, by his shepherds, or in Latin, his pastors. the Pharisees who led the synagogue at the time. They accused Him, they abused Him, they embarrassed Him, and eventually they excommunicated Him. They cast Him out. Had He done anything evil? No, He was just unwilling to speak a word against Jesus, but rather praised Him. So Jesus is, in response to this situation, declaring what false shepherds and true shepherds are like. False shepherds are thieves and robbers, but He's the good shepherd. He cares for His flock. He says, imposters enter the congregation falsely, enter the sheepfold falsely. They climb over a wall, but the sheep and the true shepherd both enter through the gate. He's both the gate to the sheepfold and the shepherd of the sheep. So with that as context, this is John 10. We'll be reading verses 1-21, although just talking about the first 10 verses. Would you please stand for the reading of God's holy word? This is John 10. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens, the shepherd, the sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them and the sheep follow him for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they flee from him. for they do not know the voice of strangers. This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what He was saying to them. So Jesus again said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to 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 comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he's a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me just as the father knows me and I know the father and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock and one shepherd. For this reason, the father loves me because I laid down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my father." There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. Many of them said, he has a demon and is insane. Why listen to him? Others said, these are not the words of one who was oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind? Please be seated. Amen. Let us go to the Lord and ask for wisdom as we study and hear the preaching of His Word. Almighty God, we do come to you with humble and trembling hearts. We ask that Your Word would not return void, that You would comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. Lord, that Your Holy Spirit would bring truth to our ears, and that we would treat it as the Word of life, which it truly is. Lord, be glorified and magnified in this time, we pray in Jesus' name, Amen. Well, you may not know this, but if you've ever seen sheep being herded, and in the Western world anyway, and in Europe, what will you almost always see? Dogs. Dogs everywhere, and really talented dogs. Seen just recently this week as I've been researching, thousands of sheep it seems, and three or four dogs just herding them left and right, right up into a gate, into a fenced area. Well in the West, we herd sheep. We push them, we prod them, we poke them, we move them, we chase them with dogs, and we get them to go where they should go. in that manner. But this isn't today, nor was it the custom in Jesus' time in the Near East. In Israel, and at the time of Christ, Jesus is just using an illustration from something that was very normal in the life of almost all people that lived in the land of Israel. You see, in the East, shepherds actually lead their sheep. They're not chasing them with dogs. They're leading them. And you might think, well, why don't we do that today? Well, it takes a lot of time. Your sheep have to learn your voice. Your sheep have to be with you all the time to learn that trust. Often in the ancient Near East, the sheep were so closely associated with the shepherds that the shepherds would name their sheep. They would give their sheep names like pets, like you've named your dogs or your cats or in Todd's case, your own sheep. I think you had a couple names for those sheep, too. But we are recognizing that Jesus Christ names us. He calls us by name. And we hear his voice. So really, these are some of the things that we'll be discussing today. But it's important to understand that our shepherd doesn't chase us and he doesn't use dogs to chase us all over the place. Our shepherd leads us. There's one other point that should be made, and Jesus pulls from all kinds of metaphors relating to sheep herding and to shepherding. Sometimes there would be many various flocks that were put into the same sheepfold. Like shepherds, if they had to use the same place of water, they would separate their sheep during the day, but at night they would bring them back and put them in one sheepfold, and it was usually a walled structure with an opening And then the shepherd himself or someone who had been hired just for this purpose would sit in front of the opening all night. Just sit there and keep all the sheep in and keep anything bad out. Sit there as a door, a human door if you will. Sometimes though, if there was just one flock, sometimes the shepherd himself would be the one that was sitting in the door. Jesus pulls from both of these particular realities in the statements that He makes here as well. It's important to understand as we go through the text that these things, these sheep and shepherds, these are metaphors that Jesus is using. They don't limit God's work at all. Rather, God's work is being seen in and through these particular metaphors. They're figures of speech, as John tells us in verse 6. Figures of speech, but they didn't understand. R.C. Spruill translates that Greek word, illustrations, They didn't understand the illustrations that He was giving them. These metaphors, these figures of speech, are not parables, but they're just using everyday life to explain something about Himself and about God. So, with all that said, we're going to look at Jesus as our shepherd and as the gate. In the ESV, it's translated door, but it also means gate, particularly related to sheep. He's our gate and He's our shepherd. I'll also make three points in the sermon. One is that the reality is, even in the sheepfold, we'll see threats. We're threatened by thieves and robbers and wolves. This is not complete and utter peace in the sheepfold. although we keep our eyes on the shepherd and he certainly keeps us safe. Secondly, we'll see the relationship between the shepherd and his sheep. It's a special relationship. And thirdly, we'll see that his sheep are special sheep. They're identified from the other sheep. As we read in Ezekiel, God separates sheep from sheep and goats from rams. His sheep are special sheep. Well, let's look at verse 1 as we look at the thieves and the robbers and the wolves. Again, remembering the context of the previous chapter helps us understand what Jesus is saying. He's just healed a man born blind. The man was badly treated by his shepherds, the Pharisees, the people appointed by God to shepherd the covenant people of God. He was badly treated by them. And Jesus has just told them that they were blind and they were offended. Actually, look back at chapter 9, verse 40. Some Pharisees overheard this and, taking offense, asked, what are we blind to? And Jesus replied, if you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin. But now that you claim to see, your guilt remains. Truly, truly, amen, amen. Truly, truly, I say to you, He who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. You see, this is a direct reference to the shepherds of Israel. He's implying that these blind shepherds are thieves and robbers. They've climbed in the sheepfold another way. They have not come in by the door. They're not interested in the sheep. They're only interested in their own comfort, their own selfish ambition, their own influence, their own selfish interests, their own power. And God had spoken to the shepherds of Israel in the past, as we read in Ezekiel 34, saying the same thing. It appears that the shepherds of Israel, in large measure, had not changed very much over the years, in the 600 years since Ezekiel prophesied. Listen again to Ezekiel and think of the Pharisees. Ezekiel 34, 2, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Say to them, all shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves, should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with wool, you slaughter the fat ones and do not feed the sheep. the weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought. And with force and harshness you have ruled them." This appears to be describing the Pharisees and their means of ruling and shepherding their own flock. We've already read in the Gospel of John how they seem to not even care about the regular people in Israel. whom they were given to care for. And certainly by contrast, we see the servant David, speaking of Christ in Ezekiel 34, that God's raising up His own shepherd, His servant David, who shall feed them and be their shepherd. So there's a contrast that's being made there, certainly. The Pharisees are primarily being referenced, being called out by Jesus Christ as those who seem to care nothing for the flock. In verse 8, he continues, and he says, all who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. In verse 10, the thief comes to steal and kill and destroy. That certainly doesn't mean every single person who came to shepherd God's people, before Him are all thieves and robbers." But what's he talking about? He's not talking about Abraham, or the patriarchs, or Moses, or David, or the prophets, Isaiah, or Jeremiah, or John the baptizer, or any of his faithful shepherds. He's referring most directly to these Pharisees who had just cast out a follower of God from their presence, a man blind from birth who had been healed, And in this way, they were thieves and robbers. He's also referring to all the false prophets who had come before Him and imposter leaders who would come after Him throughout history. Feeding themselves, scattering and slaughtering the sheep, living in pride and selfishness. These traits of shepherds that are false have always been the same. Concern with their own wealth and privilege and power and position and their own selfish interests. rather than being concerned, like Christ, with the interests of the flock. And those shepherds, those Pharisees in particular, had come, it seems, only to steal and kill and destroy. You have to ask, what were they stealing? How were they stealing? Were they physically stealing from people? We don't know. Maybe. But certainly stealing salvation from God's people. Turning them from Jesus Christ. The ultimate steal. This is what they had just tried to do with this blind man who had been made to see. Offering some other way to God. other than faith in a Redeemer and repentance unto life. They had climbed over the wall, they had bypassed the gate, and they didn't even know the gate. Certainly, the Pharisees loved the law of God, or they professed to love God's law. But they had put their hope in the law itself rather than the lawgiver. The law pointed to Christ. It doesn't offer another way of salvation. The same errors exist today. Anyone today who would confuse the people of God offering some other way to God than faith in Jesus Christ, they are also stealing and killing and destroying. Because ultimately, it brings destruction. Destruction. Eternal destruction. Jesus has earlier said in John 8.44, speaking of these kinds of people, you belong to your father, the devil. And you want to carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning. Not holding to the truth. There is no truth in Him. When He lies, He speaks His native language. For He is a liar and the Father of lies. So these false teachers, these false shepherds, these imposters, they're stealing salvation from people. They're pushing people away from Christ instead of drawing them to Christ. So we can recognize them by their teaching, by their words, but we can also recognize them by their fruit. In Matthew 7, Jesus talks about false prophets as well. Verse 15, beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing. You see, they're in the sheepfold. They're among us. The universal church. They're among us. Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You'll recognize them by their fruits. are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles. So every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits." Well, looking at the fruit of most of the Pharisees, as we see them in the Scriptures, their fruits would say they are not God's people. They're serving Satan. With very few exceptions. Nicodemus, maybe Joseph of Arimathea. These false teachers, these false shepherds, these thieves, they work for Satan. Then and today, they do the opposite of Christ, the true shepherd. They're wolves. By pushing people away from Christ and the true gospel, they bring death. They steal. And we're told throughout the Scriptures this is going to be part of the church's existence until Christ returns. 2 Peter 2, verse 1. There will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them, bringing swift destruction on themselves. And many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute In their greed, these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping. When you see someone who's a false teacher, maybe in pop culture today, Look at what they're saying. Heresies. Denying the sovereign Lord who bought them. Look at their conduct. Their depraved conduct. Brings the truth into disrepute. Look at their greed. They're exploiting the flock to reap up riches for themselves. And they exploit you with fabricated stories. They say things that are preposterous. You probably have people in your mind that you're thinking of right now if you've ever turned on some of these quote-unquote Christian networks on TV. They're filled with these kinds of people. But the Gospel. The Gospel given by the apostles and handed down from generation to generation to us today. That's all we need. We need the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And be clear, any religion that offers some way to God other than the God-man, other than the man Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only begotten Son of God, born of the Virgin Mary, lived the perfect life, suffered and died on the cross, rose on the third day, resurrected to life and went up to heaven and is coming back again. Anyone who offers some other Christ or some other way of salvation is a false teacher. certainly other religions apart from Christ, are false. Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Mormonism, Unitarianism. But even parts of our own quote-unquote faith that would call themselves Christian, that rely on a works-based gospel. You work hard, and then maybe God saves you. Using the same words, Completely different emphasis. It's false. Roman Catholicism. False. Anti-supernatural Christianity of the liberal churches. False. These all offer a broad road to destruction. They're climbing over the wall, brothers and sisters. We need to know. We need to know our Master's voice. And that's the contrast. The real shepherd, he doesn't steal and kill and destroy. He restores. He gives life and He creates. And He comes that we might have life and have it abundantly. So yes, there are wolves and robbers and thieves. But we have a shepherd. That's the second point. We have a shepherd and He cares for His sheep. Imagine a sheepfold full of sheep from many different flocks. They've all been, all ten flocks have been jammed into a sheepfold for the night. And the gatekeeper is watching all of the sheep all night. And he only lets in the shepherds, and only so that they can call out their own sheep by name. And you can see this online as well. Flocks that are mixed, and a shepherd calls out his own sheep. They hear his voice and his own sheep separate and follow him. It's amazing. And remember the context of this illustration, the man born blind. The shepherds of Israel have cast out a true believer, a child of God, condemned him to hell in their own eyes. Everything was backwards. The shepherds were scattering the sheep. And Jesus comes and He says, I am the shepherd. I am the door. He gives us hope. Well, in verse 2, He says, He who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. Who is this gatekeeper going to let in? Only the shepherds. To him, the gatekeeper opens. Gatekeeper could almost be capitalized because it's almost certainly referring to the Father who's opening the gate for Christ to bring in His own sheep. Christ is the shepherd who enters by the door. He is the trusted one. The sheep hear His voice, verse 3, and He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out. And when He has brought out all His own, He goes before them, and the sheep follow Him, for they know His voice. This is amazing to think about. It's wonderful to think about. It should excite you to think about. The sheep, verse 3, hear the shepherd's voice. His sheep don't follow other shepherds. We read that in verse 5. They won't follow a stranger. They run from the voice of strangers. But they know His voice. Jesus is commending certainly commending the man who was born blind, who stayed true to him in face of persecution. He's saying this man heard my voice and he stayed true to me. He followed me. He rejected the voice of his of his false shepherds, and he heard the voice of his shepherd. But it begs the question, how do the sheep imagine this? The sheep full of sheep, how do they know the voice of Jesus, the voice of their shepherd? Certainly, we hear his voice in our in the word of God. And certainly they must learn the voice of the shepherd. But we know that they would never hear His voice were it not a work of God before. God opens their ears to hear the voice of the shepherd. And then after they hear the voice of the shepherd, they keep hearing the voice of the shepherd. How do they know the voice of the shepherd? Well, practically, in the ancient Near East, the shepherds are constantly talking to their sheep. I encourage you, get online and find examples of shepherds in the ancient Near East or shepherds in the East today. Many similarities. Constantly talking. You know, when I'm out with the few cows that we have on our property, I don't talk to them very much, unless I'm calling them for food or something. chasing them into another pasture, or trying to lead them into another pasture. But there's not a lot of talking going on. The shepherds in the Near East would talk constantly. They were among the sheep, constantly talking and singing. The shepherds were always speaking, talking to their own sheep. Now, often they were alone, so they probably had no one else to talk to. That being said, they were always talking. And the sheep learned the voice of their particular shepherd. And they followed Him because they knew His voice. They don't follow strangers, they follow Him. Thankfully, we have a God who talks. He talks to us. He talks to us through His Word. He puts His Spirit in us so that we can hear His voice and understand it. And in that way, when He calls, we follow. Today, we are the sheep of His hand. We are the people of His pasture. And we know the voice of our Savior by the Holy Spirit living in us. It's God in us that recognizes the Son and the Son's voice. Speaking through the Word of God, as we read the Word of God, as we hear the Word preached, His voice we hear as well. But we also reject the voice of strangers. We flee from strangers. We don't listen to any voice except the voice of our shepherd. And God does help us. He gives us great wisdom. Someone sent me something recently. It was some modern prophet who was trying to explain all that was going on in the world today. This modern prophet has been around for a decade or so. Nothing he said has come true as far as I can tell, but he's still prophesying and he's talking about Donald Trump is this and Israel is this and this is this and this is all going to happen this way. That's not the voice of my shepherd. I immediately knew that's not. That's not right. How did I know it? Well, first of all, I know the word of God, but also the spirit in me knew that that was not the voice of the shepherd. So I'll ask, do you know the Shepherd's voice? Do you know the voice of your Good Shepherd? If you don't spend time with the Shepherd, then plainly you do not. If you don't hear His voice, how are you going to know Him? If the Spirit is in you, certainly you will desire time in the Word, time in prayer and fellowship, But if you have no desire for these things, you certainly don't know the Shepherd. Where's the passion for the Word? Where's the passion for reading and devouring the Word of God every day? For singing the Word of God. For meditating on the Word of God. For memorizing the Word of God. Where's the energy for prayer? Being in the presence of God and lifting up your prayers to Almighty God. Those who know their Shepherd have a great passion for their time with Him. And they learn to trust His voice and to hear His voice. His voice may right now be calling you back to time in the Word and time in prayer. Because that's what He does. He calls His people back to Himself. You need to know the Word of God. You need to know the Scriptures. They are the written record of His voice. and the Spirit of Christ lives in you. And it makes that voice resonate in your soul. So we have a special relationship with our Shepherd. We hear Him. We follow Him. But we need to remember, and this is the third point, that we have been hand-picked and named. Notice that He doesn't just call His own sheep out, He calls them all by name. What a precious truth. Isaiah 43 says, But now, thus says the Lord, He who created you, O Jacob, who formed you, O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name and you are mine. If you are in his flock, it's because he knew you first. He called you out by name. The shepherd has chosen his own sheep and called them out by name. Our shepherd has done this. You see, our faith isn't in a doctrine. Our faith is not in a in a propositional truth. Our faith is not in the law. Our faith is not in just a certain amount of knowledge about the gospel. Our faith is in a man, a God named Jesus. We have faith in Christ. It's a relationship. With the Son of God. He leads us, he goes before us. He speaks to us. When you pass through the waters, He is with you. Isaiah 43, 2. He's with us. He's the Lord our God. The Holy One of Israel. Our Savior. We follow Him because we know His voice. And He knows our name. God, if you are in His flock, it's because He knew you from the foundation of the world. He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love, He predestined us for adoption to Himself. That's bringing us into His flock. To the praise of His glorious grace. You see, everyone that the Father had given to Jesus would come to Him and then never be cast out. Everyone. Speaking of our election in Christ. So those whom He has been given will be saved. They'll be called out by name. They will hear His voice. And they'll end up sacrificing everything else in life if required for Him. Because only in Him is true life to be found. So, to recap the three points. Beware of thieves and robbers and wolves in every sheepfold. Beware. Know the voice of your shepherd. And hear His voice. And pursue Him. Pursue that relationship in the Word and sacraments and prayer and fellowship. And if you're in the flock, remember, you are in a precious position. He has chosen you. You see, what God requires, He provides. He's chosen you and He's opened your ears so you will hear. So if right now you're feeling like I'm just a failure as a believer, I'm a failure as a Christian, I'm not spending time in prayer, I'm not in the Word, but I want to be, be encouraged. What God requires of you to grow and to be healthy, He provides. And that's the conclusion to the sermon. He is the only way to life and it's an abundant life. In verse 7, Jesus said, Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the gate of the sheep. I am the gate. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved. Remember the gate of the sheep hold. The sheep hold had no door. The shepherd himself was right there in front of it to keep the sheep out and to keep the wolves out and the sheep safe within. The shepherd himself was the human door. And Jesus makes it clear exactly what he's saying. He is the only way to salvation. And he is almighty God. And remember, when he says, I am, this is one of the seven I am statements in John. Ego, a me. I am the divine name, as the Septuagint translates, I am, as ego eimi. Jesus is saying, ego eimi, I am. I am the one, the eternally existent one. I am the only way to salvation. You must come through me. In John 14, 6, it's another I am statement. Ego eimi, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." That's the point he's making here as well. We must come through Christ. The Pharisees needed to hear this. There's no other way to the Father except through Jesus, and we need to hear this today. And there's great benefit to following the gate, to going into the gate. Verse 9 says, "...and they will go in and out." You see, he's describing that if you have the true gates and you're in his sheepfold, you'll be going in and out. There's there's freedom there for his sheep. They're confident in the care of their shepherd. They trust him. They follow him. But they can move in and out. Of the sheephold, in other words, there's there's no more danger. Eternal danger from wolves and thieves and robbers, yes, will be afflicted, but ultimately all they can do is kill the body. They cannot kill our souls. There's safety there. There's freedom. It goes on to say they go in and out and they find pasture. There's health. There's health in the sheepfold of God. That's why membership in a church is critically important. There have been people in our church and they have been waffling on membership and I've said, You don't have to be a member here, but you should be a member somewhere if you're a believer in Christ. And some people went to another church and praise God. Praise God. Because then you belong to a body of Christ. You have earthly spiritual shepherds. But Christ is the perfect shepherd, and when you are in Christ. Following your shepherd. You're going to be healthy. You're going to find pasture. And he ends in verse 10, this particular statement by saying, I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. Unlike a thief, our Lord Jesus doesn't come for selfish reasons, does He? He didn't come to be served, but to serve. Unlike the Pharisees, He came to give His life as a ransom for many. He came that the people whom He has called by name would have a joyful and eternal existence. And this abundant life doesn't start just when we're in heaven. It starts now, at the moment that we have faith in Christ and believe in Him as our Savior. This abundance may not mean physical wealth or even health, but it does mean that what no eye has seen or no ear has heard or not even has entered the heart of man. God has prepared something amazing for those who love Him. We can't understand it. Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to His power at work within us. This abundant life is only possible as we fix our eyes on our Shepherd. Well, we're transitioning at this point to the Lord's Supper. You remember later in chapter 10, he talks about his death, how our shepherd actually goes to die. Just before he died, he instituted the sacred supper, the Lord's Supper, as the covenant