John 10

The world is because God spoke it into existence. But God is because he is, or as he says, I am, that I am. He exists of himself and the significance of what Jesus says every time he proclaims. One of these great I am stunts is using og from exist to him then to be the very voice that was in the burning bush. Moses.

But he says, fathom the I am. That I am the self existent one. Right.

All who came before me, verse eight, he says, and robbers. But the sheep didn't listen to them. Who came before him to look at historically, then who came for him? We're looking at the Pharisees who came before him. We're looking at the sadducees.

By the way, who knows the difference between a Pharisee and a sadducee? The sadducees do not believe in the resurrection, so they are sad. You see, I think some people are starting to get it now. If you need to remember the difference between the two. The sad do not believe in the resurrection, so they are sad.

You have the members of the Sanhedrin. You have the high priest. By the time of Christ, the office of high priest and full. Had become nothing more than a political office. That was used frequently to the gain.

High priest or high priest. There should only be one. But by the time of Christ, they had corrupted the office enough that there were multiples.

All who came before him, they came to kill and to destroy. They were thieves and robbers. Look at the Pharisees. Were the Pharisees faithful in their mission to steward the word of God. To study it faithfully and teach it and uphold it.

And be the light to the Gentiles? They weren't. Instead, the Pharisees took their position. And turned it into a way to accumulate wealth and power, influence. So all who came before Christ, they were thieves and robbers.

But the sheep didn't listen to them. So we've got a who are the sheep that Jesus is referring to? At this point? The Pharisees had. They ran the jewish system at the time.

They were in complete control of it. And everyone who wouldn't even speak. Out of fear of being out of the synagogues. But the thieves. Not the thieves.

The sheep that turn to here. They are the followers of Christ. They are the people who knew the promises of God. Who looked for the promises of God, who are waiting. Think about the samaritan woman.

Samaritan woman spoke to and says, we're waiting, messiah. And we know he will tell us all things. Just says to her, he who? You? I am the messiah.

To her. Think about when Jesus. When Jesus and he was eight. And there is the person, their old age, who rejoiced at the circumcision of Jesus, because that person knew the prophecies and was long waiting the coming Messiah. And when that person saw the messiah in the temple to be circumcised, knew that it was he, and rejoiced and was then able to go and peacefully die, right?

There were those who knew what the scriptures. What about the promised Messiah? And who did not listen, who were not fooled by the sheep. And then this side of the cross, there are they who hear the words of God, and they know what the scriptures proclaim about God. And they will not listen to anything else, but they will cling to what the word of God says and proclaims, and they are coming.

Eat of interest by me. He will become in and go out and find pastor. Anyone who comes will be said. Romans 1013 is a beautiful verse. And proclaims the gospel very simply.

For everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. That's the promise of the scriptures. That's the promise of Jesus. If anyone would come through me, he should be saved.

We've talked about this in depth as we have gone through the book of John. We have seen in all of the miracles of Jesus, in his healing. We have seen in his teachings.

We saw in depth in John chapter three.

When you fixate your eyes on the work based theology, on the ordinances and the sacraments and the works and all the requirements, and that is what you choose to fixate your eyes on, your gospel, your salvation becomes self centered, the beautiful thing that sets Christianity out. In fact, somebody made a statement to me a couple weeks ago. I was talking to this guy in person. He says, actually, he lives here in Milford. And I take him out repelling with me sometimes.

He says, all religions are the same. All religions are the same.

No, all religions are not the same.

There is something that sets Christianity apart from all other religions.

Every religion of the world, whether it claims to have its roots in Christianity and Abraham, or it claims it gets its roots from somewhere else, every religion of the world has something in common. And what it has in common is that based on what you can do for the God that you serve in hopes that he might reward you favorably. In hopes. In other words, you live your life trying to do everything you can for the God that you serve, with no guarantee that he will reward you. It is only a hope.

And Christianity says, well, it's not about what you can do at all. It's not about you. It's about God. Christianity is about what God did, right? The fact that God came down and lived perfectly, the fact that God died, the fact that he rose again to save you, and that sets Christianity apart.

There is no other religion in the world. There is no other gen through the history of mankind, where the basis of that religion has been what their God did for them. It's all about what you can do for your God. And that is what sets Anatia apart. He says, if anyone comes through me, he will be saved.

He will have life. Right? That's a promise. Come through me because I did the work, and you will. And he will come in and he will go out.

And with this promise, if we got to John, chapter six a little bit, and look at verse 37. It says that everyone who the father gives to me will come to me. And the one who comes to me, I will never throw.

So that promise of life, that promise of entering into the kingdom, it's forever. He will never throw you out if you enter through the door. But a thief in verse ten only comes to steal and to kill and to destroy. All the false religions of the world, whether rooted in Christianity, they use the name of Christianity for their benefit and their gain, or they be rooted in some other system. All of the false religions of the world, they have come to kill and to destroy and to steal.

That's what they exist for. And we can see that when we look at the cults, when we look at these religious systems of the world, they have come to steal, to kill, and to destroy, to build themselves up in wealth, in power, in woman, in drugs.

But look at Jesus. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.

Jesus didn't come, and he says this. He did not come to condemn. He did not come to send us to hell. He could have done that from heaven. He didn't come to tell us what we must do for him.

He could have done that from heaven. He didn't come to set up a system of people who would work for him. He could have done that from heaven. But he came to give us life because we were dead. And he came so that that life would be abundant, so that there would be no end to that life, so that life would be filled with joy, with love, with grace.

Have you read revelation, chapter 21 and 22? What the kingdom of God holds in store for us?

He came to give us life and to give it in abundance to us. What a wonderful God that we have he didn't come that we would serve him in hopes that maybe we do enough to get a good reward. But he came to guarantee an eternal, never ending, sinless life with no suffering, no disease, no death, no pain, no sorrow. Those are the things that revelation will tell us about the kingdom of heaven when we get there.

Verse eleven, he says, I am the good shepherd. What does a shepherd do? If we go back to the sheep analogy, a shepherd watches over the sheep, provides for the sheep, guides the sheep. He leads the sheep into pasture, and he protects the sheep. The sheep cannot protect themselves, but the pastor does.

He says, I am the good shepherd, and the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Jesus is foretelling right now of what it is that he will do for us. As of the moment in these scriptures, jesus hasn't yet died, and his disciples still have not caught on to the fact that he's going to die. And this is not the first time that he is foretold of his death.

In John chapter three, he foretold of his death. Last week, he foretold of his death when he said that it is still light, but the night is coming, and he foretells of his death again. Right now, the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. What makes Jesus the good shepherd? He's the good shepherd because he not only came, but he laid down his life for us.

He died that the sheep might live, that they might survive, that they would have a shot, a chance. But the hired hand, since he is not the shepherd and doesn't own the sheep, leaves them and runs away when he sees a wolf coming. The wolf then snatches and scatters them.

Let's talk about pastors now in the context of the church. Let's talk about pastors. There are those who enter ministry, and they enter it as a means to make a living.

They do. There are pastors out there that enter ministry without a call of God. And they do it to make a living. That's why they do it.

They don't die for their sheep.

They don't care for their sheep. They don't protect their sheep. In fact, what happens when they see the wolf? They run.

In fact, today I would dare argue that many of those pastors are in fact the wolf, because what happens when the wolf comes? The wolf snatches them and scatters them, and eventually the wolf leads them.

And I would say that condition that we have today, a lot of these people who entered for the purpose of making a living, they may not have entered with intent to mislead. But when you have pastors who do not have the call of God and ministry in the church, who are there because they see it as a way to make a living, the church isn't left unprotected. It's left unprotected. And then when the wolves come in, false doctrines are allowed to enter.

So we need to be careful of the hiring. And who works professionally without a call and does not stay with the sheep. To that pastor, it's just a job or a duty. To the pastor who is in ministry with a call of God, it is not a job or a duty, but it is a calling.

They are there because God wants them there. And so Jesus, he begins to tell us about this here. He begins to warn us. But when we then apply it in the context of Jesus himself, Jesus did not run that. When the wolf came and faced off with Jesus, he sat there speechless.

He did not argue. Right? When it came down to it, he did not argue. He did not make up a defense. But he went through his trial and he just allowed what was to happen to happen out of a love for us that he could defeat that wolf.

Verse 14, it says, 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. I lay down my life for the sheep.

When we get to heaven, or when we get to the other side, when we die and we go to that judgment, Jesus knows who his sheep are, and the sheep know him. But I want to focus on the emphasis here that Jesus knows his sheep.

There is a very scary verse in Matthew that I have many times preached over this, over this pulpit, and this verse has always given me cause to pause to think, even pause to question my own status. Verse Matthew seven, verse 21. Jesus says, not everyone who says to me, lord, lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my father. Many on that day will say to me, lord, lord, didn't we prophesy in your name and drive out demons in your name, and do many miracles in your name? And I will announce to them, I never knew you depart from me, you workers of iniquity.

Right? Jesus, getting back to our verse here today, he says, I know my sheep, and we will not fool Jesus when we get there and request those gates to open for us. If we were not his sheep here, we will not fool him.

He knows his own, and his own know him, and he lays down his life for the sheep. We're going to end this chapter with three more verses. We're not chapter, but we're going to end tonight with three more verses, 16 through 18. But I have other sheep that are not from the sheep, and I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. Then there will be one flock, one shepherd.

This is why the father loves me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have the right to lay it down, and I have the right to take it up again. I have received this command from my father. All right, verse 16.

He says, I have other sheet that are not from this sheet pen. This is a verse that has caused much controversy in some religions, especially in our nation, that would. One big religion in my area would claim that these other sheep that Jesus refers to are the native Americans, the people in the Americas. But in the context of what Jesus is saying, that cannot be so. Who is Jesus talking to?

He's talking to Jews. He's talking to Jews. And in the mind of a jew, how many people groups are there? Two. Jew and gentile.

When Jesus says, I have other sheep not from this fold, he is referring to the GEntiles, to those who are not already members of the abrahamic covenant through the jewish line, the Gentiles. And he must also bring them in, and they will listen to his voice. This is awesome. As you go through the book of acts, you will see what begins to happen as the apostles begin to preach first to the Jews, and they stone them and scatter them and throw them out of their homes, kick them out of the cities, and they go to the next Synagogue, and they preach again. And the Jews throw them out of the city, and they go to the next.

And then what happens? Well, Paul eventually says, okay, you don't listen to me. I'll go to the Gentiles. And he goes and he starts preaching to the Gentiles. And they start falling in love with Christ.

They fall in love with him. They want to follow him. They hear his voice and they receive it, and their lives are changed. So much so that at some point, the early Christians are accused. They have accused them of everything, and they can't get anything to stick in the court of law.

So finally, they accuse them of having turned the world upside down due to the amount of gentiles receiving the gospel message.

And then jesus tells us one last thing. He says, the father loves me because I lay down my life. But look what he says. No one takes it from me. This is very unique.

No one takes it from me. Jesus in his own authority laid down his life.

If jesus did not want to go to the cross, they never would have been able to arrest him. We read through the scriptures as the know several times through his ministry, as the crowds got angered and sought to seize him, that he just disappeared, vanished, disappeared, was no longer there, could not be found.

We know that he had the power. If he did not want to die on the cross, he could have gotten himself off that cross. But not only did he get arrested on his own terms, and that's so very cool, he was arrested on his own terms. There's many times they tried to arrest him and seize him and stone him and kill him, but it was on his terms, when he was ready that he was arrested. But his very death was on his own terms.

When you read the death of jesus on the cross, he cried out to heaven and he says, it is finished. By the way, I hate that translation. It is finished. That is not what the greek word means. And that's a sermon for another day.

But he cries out, it is finished. It's done. And he gave up the ghost.

Jesus died exactly when he wanted to. Not when the pain got to him, not when the blood loss got to him, not when the Romans decided it took too long and wanted to finish it and speed it up. But he died exactly when he wanted to.

And I tell you all this not just to show how powerful he is, but to show how much love he has for us. The only person with the authority to lay down his own life on his own terms, and he still went through it for us. He still suffered the agony, the anguish, the rejection.

He allowed not only the only person in the world with the authority to lay down his life, but the only person in the world with the authority and the power and ability to not lay down his life for us. We don't have a choice. If the government wants to seize us and execute us, we have no choice. There is nothing you're going to do to stop the government from doing it. But jesus had a choice.

And yet he went through it. He suffered it.

But most importantly here he says, I have the right to take it up again. Jesus not only laid down his life, but he was the only person with the right to take it up. What's the significance of that? The significance of taking up his life was that he unlocked the keys of death, that he could also raise you and me up, that he could give us the one thing he set out to give us and what did he set out to give us? Verse ten.

He says, I have come so that you may have life and have it in abundance. That is what Jesus came to do. If you're listening to this and you can hear the message in your life right now is dead. You know who you are. You know that your life is dead right now.

You can feel that your spirit is dead. If your life is dead, if you live in the weight of the guilt of your sin, if you live with the dread of what's on the other side, I want to tell you that Jesus came so that you could have life and you could have it in abundance. Jesus came that if you would just enter through him, if you would give up your crown, stop living your own life for you and stop focusing on you, but focus on him and enter through him, that you could have life and have it in abundance. And he promised us today. He says that all who enter in by me will be saved and will go in and will go out and find pastor.

And remember what Romans eight, sorry, 1013 said. It said that all who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. And so I stand here tonight to tell you that you can stop worrying. You can stop drowning in your guilt. You can stop letting what's to come on the other side have a hold on you so that you live in fear.

If you are ready today to accept that you are a Sinner, that you're a sinner, you're dead already. And that you cannot save yourself. If you are ready to accept right now that your ways are not the ways of God, and if you can believe, let the very person who created this heavens and this earth also stepped down into it, that you would not perish, but have everlasting life through his death, burial and resurrection. If you look up to him and confess him as your lord, your God and your king, he will give you this gift. He'll give you that peace you seek.

He'll give you that eternal life. And he has prepared a world for you. As we're going to read about here as we continue our study on Wednesdays in revelation, he will give you a kingdom, a world with no sin, no death or disease or heartache or suffering.

And it's a day that we all look forward to. If you're ready for that, we're going to our closing prayer and I'll help you verbalize that to God. Immediately after our closing prayer, we will partake of the Lord's communion, as we remember, especially now in this Christmas season. His death, his sacrifice for us.

And then I will see you all, hopefully on Wednesday night at 630 to continue our study. Let's go ahead and pray. Father, I admit that I am a sinner, lord. I know I cannot save myself. I know that I am dead and that I am corrupt, and that my ways are not your ways, God.

And I believe, God, that you, the very creator of the heavens and the earth and all that are in them, stepped into it for us. That you lived perfectly sinlessly and that you died a sinner's death. My death. What I deserved to save me. And I believe, Christ, that you rose from the grave.

I believe that you were victorious over that death and that grave. And I confess you, Lord Jesus, is my God, my king and my lord. I will remove my crown and follow you. And I ask you, Lord Jesus, to enter into my heart, to give me a new birth, to give me this promise that all who call upon your name will be saved. And I thank you for that, Father, I thank you for our good shepherd, that he laid down his life for us, that he gave voluntarily his all that we could have life and that we could have it abundantly.

We thank you for all that you have done, that you have given us. And God, I ask you in this Christmas season, that your gift would rain down on this earth for those who are still perishing, that they would have it and enter into your life and your kingdom. And we thank you and praise you in Jesus name. Amen.