I invite you to turn this morning to John chapter 10, if you have your Bibles with you. John chapter 10, as we're continuing our study in the Gospel of John. John chapter 10, we'll read the first 21 verses this morning of this great chapter. This is the word of the Lord. 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 sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them. And the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers. 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, 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 and 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, one shepherd. For this reason, the father loves me because I lay 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've 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 is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind? There ends the reading of God's word this morning. John chapter 10. Someone said to me the other day, Have you noticed how everyone right now in the world is unhappy? That's really an interesting comment, a perspective. Everyone is frustrated. Everyone's complaining. Everyone's generally unhappy all because of the state of things. And there's a lot of reasons that come into that. But it all has to do really with, if you think about it, the state of leadership and the way that things have gone in the world right now. That's where everyone's focused. That's what everyone's talking about. That's what everyone's worried about. We have one month. Did you know that? And that's not the biggest issue, is it? But you see, everyone's worried right now. Everyone's concerned. Everyone's in a state of panic. Everyone's in a state of fear. And it seems, I was thinking of the book of Haggai in some ways, as the Lord, one of the judgments that fell on the people was that he had said not only would their money go into a bag with holes, it's interesting, but that he would send leanness into people's souls. Have you ever thought about that? What the experience of having leanness in people's hearts and life would look like, and I think we're living it. Real dissatisfaction. Real frustration. Real searching for answers and not finding it. And I think we have enough Pharisees everywhere, don't we? Have you noticed how going through John, all these Pharisees are angry and ready to throw stones and mad and furious. These are Pharisees, and I don't think we lack Pharisees today. Pharisees are everywhere who have their ways, who have their answers. In many ways, at times we're living, really, we're no different in Israel. And I think that's what makes this morning's passage so unique, and it makes it so helpful to come to the table this morning. Jesus is describing for us what he is like as our good shepherd. The things that we take for granted, his care in our life, what he has done, all that he has done to shepherd his people, all that he has done to rescue his people, all that he's done to save his preserving power over his people that he promises to continue to demonstrate this abundant life that he desires to give in real power. This is what he's describing here that he gives to you and that is yours in him. I mean, it's really, that's why I said, this is too good to be true, it seems, what Jesus says here. We have to understand it a little bit and we have to understand it in its context. But I say all that this morning to say this is what should make us the happiest of people in affliction. This is what should make us the people who really are a people who are shepherded well, who are cared for by the one with whom it matters. And that should change our perspective on everything, shouldn't it? We're really not looking to November to solve our solution, our problems, are we? Not really. And so notice here that this is a great opportunity as the Lord has prepared a table before us in the presence of our enemies that our cup overflows, that we have a direct teaching and application of Psalm 23 and Jesus taking that psalm and saying, that's me, I am the shepherd of that psalm, That when you know that psalm that you all love and say, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want, that's me, says Jesus. It was all about me. So we need to think about that this morning, exactly what he's saying to us about his care, about his help, about his shepherding preservation, what you actually have that he has come to achieve and give to you. And so Jesus says certain things here about himself. Obviously, the Pharisees were so furious at this, they were ready to kill him again after this because the implications of it are so radical, they understood that he was making great claims here. But he says three things about himself that I don't think you can miss here, that he is a watchful shepherd, that he is a freeing shepherd, and that he is a giving shepherd. I think you could summarize John 10 with those three great descriptions of Jesus, that he's a watchful shepherd, a freeing shepherd, and a giving shepherd. And under those sort of titles, we can look at this, I think, in a helpful way. I don't believe you can understand this properly unless you see how vitally connected this all is to John chapter 9. It is really important to understand that this is a response of Jesus, his response to John chapter 9 and the healing of the blind man. Remember, we studied that last week, that great section. I don't believe there really should be a section break here. It's one continuous story, as we've seen in John, where you have an event and then the teaching that follows. And so in verse one comes right on the heels of the judgment that he pronounced in verse 41. And if you remember that scene, it was a unique scene. It was a powerful scene. Jesus had healed a man that was born blind. Remember that. And he had given an illustration for everyone of our problem by putting cakes of mud right on the guy's eyes so that he had to walk around with big black mud pies on his eyes. I know that sounded funny, but it's what it is. He had spit on the ground and he had put mud on the man's eyes as a walking illustration of everyone's blindness. And that they need to be washed. They need to be cleansed. This is everywhere in the scriptures. Here was a blind beggar born blind from birth and Jesus has compassion on him. It was a disease that had been given to him so that the glory of God would be exhibited and that glory is still being exhibited as we study it here in 2020. That God had saved a man like this, telling him to wash, illustrating the blindness of our hearts and the light that Jesus gives to all people as he is the true light that has come into the world. Well, the rest of the account was the awful scene of the Pharisees just brow-beating this man. Remember? They were awful in this scene to this man. They didn't care about him. They didn't love him. In fact, the whole time Jesus had been telling the Pharisees they didn't know God, and that showed in the way that they shepherded the people. They were trampling God's people, ruling them with force. These weren't just petty disagreements about certain things that we get mad with each other about. No, this was serious stuff. They were ruling them with force and with guilt and forcing them into ridiculous interpretations of the law. Legalism at its worst. And cramming that down the throats of the people so that they couldn't move. They were all in straitjackets. They were scared to death. Anything they did, they were afraid they would be judged by God. That's how they were ruled. That's how they were shepherded. They were so out of control, they were casting out. They were unsynagoguing. They were excommunicating anyone who disagreed with them. You ever seen this? This stuff? They didn't care. And in verse 34, that's exactly what they did to this man who had been born blind from birth. All he did was receive sight and say, yeah, the man who did it healed me and I'm not denying him. And they unsynagogued him. They unsynagogued him. He was not allowed. He was barred from coming to worship. So the false shepherds were not in it for the people. They didn't care about the people. And that's how it ended last week. Jesus, what did Jesus think about them casting this man out? That's the question. What is Jesus' response to all of this? And that's why it's so important to see that what we're studying is a direct response to John 9 and this behavior. John 10, if it's separated out and taken on its own, you miss the real effect of this. So in verse 1, we read one of the most beautiful descriptions of Jesus' mission and relationship to his people as he alone is the good pastor. He is your pastor, ultimately. And this is a really important message for our time, I think, in our day. So really think about who our leader is, who our shepherd is, who our pastor is, who our governor is, who our king is. Notice what he says in verse 1. Most assuredly, I say to you, 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. So everyone would have at least understood the basic imagery and metaphors that Jesus is using here, that throughout Israel you had these main plateaus and that there were hills all around, they were rocky and they were steep, and the sheep would constantly be led by shepherds to find grass. It's a beautiful sort of imagery that you would have of these shepherds leading their sheep. And everyone knows, you've probably heard this passage preached a dozen times in your life, but sheep are dumb animals, you know. They are really, really confused animals. And the shepherd loves them. And the shepherd knows them. There was constant danger of ravines and valleys and wolves. And it really was. It was a hard job. It was a hard job to be a shepherd. It took great care of the shepherd, great knowledge of it, great skill, great wisdom to know the sheep, to protect the sheep, and to understand exactly what was happening that were real threats and real dangers to the sheep. It took real wisdom to know those things. It took real wisdom and care to be on guard for those things. And so, in this kind of section here where Jesus has just healed the blind man, Jesus is now applying these things. In verse 2, when he says, he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him, notice, the gatekeeper opens, the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. So in each village, after a long day, they would be brought into a common sheepfold. It would be a big pen and a wall or hedge made of stones. At the end of the day, the shepherd would bring his flock into this common sheepfold only through one door in the sheepfold. There was one door where you entered in the sheep. And a porter or a doorkeeper would be there and they would go into the fold and they would be guarded all night. And each time after they would come in after the long day that the shepherd would take his rod and he would stop and he would inspect each sheep and he would look at the sheep, the state of the sheep. He would know what the sheep had been exposed to. He would know if they were cut, if they were bruised, if they were hurt. He would know that and he would then let them in into the gate to be cared for overnight. they were so familiar the sheep with the shepherd in care of the the shepherd in the mornings the shepherd would come back and it was amazing that would happen he would stand at the front of the door sheep aren't that dumb he would call out and and and in this giant pen where all the sheep were mixed together his sheep would actually come to the front of the door hearing his voice That imagery is powerful, isn't it? So he comes to the sheepfold, and here the shepherd would speak, and they would recognize, and they would come. His voice was so powerful, they knew that voice. They heard that voice. It's Psalm 23, isn't it? The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. All of that in the valley of tears, in the valley of the shadow of death. He's doing that for you. I will not fear your rod and your staff. They comfort me. Jesus is speaking intimately here of his watchful care for you. That's what he's doing. He's telling you how much he actually is involved in your life. He's telling you how much he's watching over you. He's telling you how much he's guiding and leading you in paths of righteousness. That's what he's saying to you. During the whole day, he leads them. They follow him. He takes them to find pasture. You kind of understand when Jesus is telling little parables about one sheep that gets away. I'm going after him. Leaving the 99. I'm getting my sheep. I'm not letting one. One go. This is where Jesus now throws down on the Pharisees. He really lets them have it. Notice what he says. He who climbs up some other way, that guy's a thief and a robber. The thief and the robber has two purposes. You're either going to fleece the sheep or you're going to slaughter them. It's a beautiful, comforting word picture that's given. I think the people to some degree would have understood what he's describing, but what verse 6 says, this little wayside proverb was confusing to many people because they didn't know why he was saying it. They didn't know what the purpose was that Jesus was telling it and and what did jesus mean by using it and and and then you you understand it when you see who's standing in front of him standing right in front of him was a poor blind beggar who had just been healed who had been hurting he was he was shamed and nobody cared about him and these guys all had left him abandoned him and kicked him out of israel and contrary to the angels rejoicing over one sinner who repents these guys celebrated the unsynagoguing of this man all they wanted to do was condemn him they modeled nothing they modeled nothing of what the old testament said now again i think it's important to say this doesn't throw out discipline discipline is done in love this doesn't people here sometimes will hear stuff like this and come to radical conclusions the opposite extreme we're looking at at abuse in every kind of wrong way in israel but remember what king said um first kings 22 the constant cry throughout the old testament i saw israel scattered upon the mountains as sheep that have no shepherd and the word of the lord came to me saying son of man prophesy against the shepherds of israel prophesy and say to them thus says the Lord God to the shepherds. Woe to the shepherds of Israel. Getting into Ezekiel here now. Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves. Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with wool. You slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the flock. The weak you've 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 ruled them so they were scattered because there was no shepherd and then ezekiel goes on to say he shall feed them and he will be their shepherd so so you understand jesus is out in the wilderness and he's burdened you understand why he wasn't just feeding physically he was feeding the people with the word everywhere he went his ministry was a ministry of the word because that's how israel was recovered that's how the good shepherd got his sheep. Isaiah 40, he will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arm and carry them in his bosom and will gently lead those that have their young. They weren't fed. They weren't cared for. And Jesus is saying to us here in this first section, I am this watchful shepherd over my sheep. I have come to fulfill the Old Testament. This is what we were talking about. This is the abuse we were after and exposing. And I'm here to get my sheep. And I want you all to know that I watch my sheep. I care for my sheep. I know my sheep. I want you to notice the second thing that's emphasized here in this particular passage. Here comes another one of these great I am statements that Jesus makes. Notice how he says it in the next section. Of a truth of a truth, what I'm saying is really important. I am the door, verse 7, of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. Now think of the sheepfold. There's the door to come in. Jesus just said, that's me. I am that door. He sets himself up in chief contrast with everything that had just happened. Jesus has entered the sheep by this door. Jesus has just entered a sheep by him into the kingdom. And he's emphasizing not only his watching care, his preserving care, but that Jesus himself has brought him into the kingdom and the leaders had done nothing but try to climb up some other way with the goal of hurting this man. It says in verse 8, all who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn't hear him. I don't know if that's the best translation. The word could also mean in front. all who've ever stood in front of me, they're thieves and they're robbers. He's not saying that all other pastors throughout history prophets. No, he's saying anyone who took my place, tried to stand in front of me and shove me out and take away my word and take away my name and my witness. All who have stood in front of me and have diminished me and my work, they're the robbers. They're the thieves. What this means is there are in the ministry constantly people who are stepping in front of Jesus. Do you know that? This is where great discernment has to happen in the church today. This is why when we have the celebrity culture and pastors are praised too highly, what essentially has happened is this very thing. Too many have stepped in front of Jesus and they're taking the glory. And Jesus is saying they're not there for the sheep. They're stealing. They're stealing what they need. They're robbing the people. Discernment is so needed in our day where we accept everything in the name of Jesus. But it's a beautiful passage here to expose this. He says the thief does not come, verse 10, except to kill, steal, and destroy. All they have tried to do is steal people after themselves. Jesus is describing this. Remember when the adulteress came and poured water on Jesus in Luke 7? She comes weeping over her sins and pouring oil on him, washing his feet with her tears. Jesus forgives her. Remember what the leader said? This man, if he were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who's touching him, for she is a sinner. Listen to that. Just listen to that. Listen to the attitude of the false shepherds. Listen to the attitude of them who ruled in Israel. They would have never talked to her. They would have never helped her. They would have never shepherded her. They would have looked at her and her adulteries and said, bad sinner. This is what Jesus is talking about. In fact, he says in verse 12, a hireling who is not the shepherd, the one who doesn't own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and he leaves and flees and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he's a hireling and he doesn't care about the sheep. Do you think I came, says Jesus, to let wolves in? I'm a wolf fighter. You see, we don't know this. Any true, I want you to know, this is where in America we get really in trouble as pastors when we become wolf fighters. Did you know that? People get mad at us. This is the business of your good shepherd. To fighting off the wolves and exposing them often by name. This is what Paul was doing all over the New Testament. And everything about us is be nice, be nice, be nice. Jesus was a wolf fighter for you. Don't expect his true under shepherds to not be. A wolf fighter. And this is what he's saying here. Here they had excommunicated a man for receiving grace. It's unbelievable. That's a Pharisee, a despiser of grace. Pharisees are despisers of grace. Good definition. Did they not stop and look at the radiant joy of this man who could see? He finally, can you imagine 30 years of not being able to see and his eyes are open and now he sees his Savior and they're condemning him. Did they care about the woman caught in adultery? Did they care about the man healed in the pool of Bethesda? All they cared about was that that man carried his mat on the Sabbath. Notice what they were fighting over. Complete conformity to their own traditions. I said this last week. This goes on all the time. For some people, they will never receive you until it's complete conformity to their ideas and their rules and their interpretations. Jesus is contrasting that. Hear what he's saying here? I, in contrast and contrary to all of that, if anyone enters by me, now listen, here's the beauty of this second point. He's a freeing shepherd. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved. He will go in and out and find pasture. I have come, second part of verse 10, that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. I'm moved by that. That's why I came. I came to free the sheep from this stuff. Tell me something. Now, I still think there's direct ties since we have always been told in the scriptures to not put our trust in princes and political powers. How much trust is there either way in the political system and in presidents right now? Maybe there's not. In some camps, there's a lot of trust. How free are you? How free are we right now? it's an important question. You see, there's a lot that's happening right now that the Lord has used to demonstrate. We're very constricted. His freeing power, the sheep move. The sheep are free under his care. The sheep are not constrained by ridiculous ideas. The sheep are joyful. The sheep are loving. The sheep are responding. The sheep are not brow-beaten into submission. The sheep are not scared. The sheep are not living in great fear of tomorrow. The sheep are being led out by the good shepherd every day. This is what he's describing to you. I am a freeing shepherd to you. And who do we put our trust in? It's beautiful stuff that he's saying. My purpose has never been. This is the God of heaven and earth, beloved. My purpose has never been to rule you with cruelty. Look at the gods of the pagans. Look at Muhammad. Look at the gods of the Aztecs and the Incas. With force and cruelty, they ruled them. That's what their human hearts came up with. My purpose has never been to do that. In contrast, Jesus was coming, and he was saying, come to me, all you who are weary. And who are heavy laden, I'll give you rest. My yoke is easy and my burden is light. Who says that? Who says that? Do you think of Jesus that way? And more than a few people say that their experience with their earthly fathers has framed how they look at God. It's a hard earthly father, an angry earthly father, and a strong authoritarian. They have a hard time looking at God this way. He cares for his sheep. He loves his sheep. He frees his sheep. He watches over his sheep. I've come, he says, I want my sheep to have life. That's not it, what these guys are doing. And remember, it doesn't come in the ways you think. I'm the good shepherd. But I want to tell you one other thing that I do for my sheep. I watch them. I free them. And I give to them. What does he give? Notice what he says. I am, verse 11, the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. That's one of the most beautiful statements in the Gospels. I am the good shepherd. I have come, ultimately, to lay down my life for my sheep. Why does he lay down his life? So that you might have life. he gives his life so that you might have life. It's a great exchange. I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep. I'm known by my own. My father knows me. And even so, I know the father. I lay down my life for my sheep. And my sheep hear my voice. My sheep come to me. My sheep receive this. I lay down my life. And guess what? And this is really wonderful that he says this here. In this fold right now that we have, I've got a whole much more sheep in the future that are coming in. That's you it's talking about. They will hear my voice, and we're going to be one flock and one shepherd. There'll be one flock, one shepherd. Notice the complete picture. This is the fulfillment of Ezekiel 34. As the shepherd seeks out his flock on the day, he is among his scattered sheep. So I will seek out my sheep and deliver them from all the places they were scattered on a cloud and dark day. I will feed them in good pasture and their fold shall be on the high mountains of Israel. They shall lie down in the good fold and feed in the rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I will feed my flock and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. Who's Jesus? The Lord God. I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away. Bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick. That's your shepherd. That's your shepherd. Now, do I need to say that none of these politicians are your shepherds? Really? None of them. What if our president died of COVID tonight? Would you lose anything? What if your guy doesn't get in? Would you lose anything? According to this, absolutely nothing. You see, you have everything. He's watching you. He's freed you. and he died for you. Tell me what you lack. That's your shepherd. He's your pastor. Jesus is your pastor in this life. He invites you to talk to him. He invites you to pray and trust him. What shepherd has ever in this way sacrificially laid down his life for the sheep and took upon himself all the sheep's burdens, all the sheep's sins, all the sheep's sorrows, and wipe them away. Nobody. Well, they heard this and they said, this guy has a demon. Again, there was a great divide, just like there is to this day. Jesus makes a promise to you today if you hear it. Do you hear his voice? If anyone enters by me, he will be saved. Enter. Believe the Son. Enjoy this kind of life that he has for you, even in the midst of this chaos. You know, he says, he spreads a table for you where? In the presence of your enemies. Well, that's what this is. That's where we are. And the good shepherd is leading you. Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd. How good are we at memorization? Then we'll close. You want to try it? Or is this going to be an embarrassing moment for me? I'm going to read it and you can say it with me because I'm going to mess it up if I do that. Psalm 23. I'm going to say this and then we're going to go to prayer and come and commune. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for His namesake. 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 and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for such wonderful words. Thank you for giving of your Son, our Good Shepherd, to shepherd us all the way home. May we not be afraid sheep, fearing sheep, doubting sheep. May we be sheep who've heard the voice of the Good Shepherd who watches over us, who has freed us to live in real joy and happiness in this life, and who gave his life so that we might have life abundantly. Thank you for so great a salvation. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.