Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] If you are new here to living Hope church, welcome for maybe if it's your first time, we're glad that you've chosen to join us this morning and we've been going through a series in the book of John. So John chapter ten is where we are starting today and we'll just jump right in. And firstly, two things actually. I want to just say firstly, I am glad to be back. Silas, three weeks old yesterday and he's doing well and my wife and I are rich in sleep deprivation. So just thank you for your prayers and support through this season. Also, thank you for your continual financial giving to the life and ministry of the church. We here at living hope know that it is a choice that you all make and a decision you make every day to trust the Lord. And so thank you for that. We strive to reach not only the lost here in woodland and disciple, the church here, but also, as we talked about moments ago where we watched a video earlier to reach people in other parts of the world with the word of God. So I just want to say thank you for your giving to the life and ministry of the church. John chapter ten is where we'll be. I'm just going to pray and then we're going to jump right in. Verses one through ten is what we are looking at. Join me in prayer, if you would, when we sit here this morning and I stand. We are here before you this morning as people who are only able to come before you because of the cross. Because of the cross. We're able to approach your throne this morning with confidence. We're able to join with our brothers and sisters at different churches in our community with confidence because of what you, Jesus, have done for us as the king.
[00:01:56] You came to this world and became like one of us and died a death that we deserve so that we could experience life.
[00:02:06] As we spend time in your word this morning, Lord, I pray that you would shepherd our hearts. You would guide and direct us. You would pull us back if we're stepping towards danger in our life, that we would also be intentional about trusting that where you want to take us is good and is better than where we are now.
[00:02:27] As we spend time in your word here, Lord, we also just ask that your spirit would open our eyes to things maybe that we haven't seen before and that we would grow closer to you. In Jesus name, amen.
[00:02:38] If you were maybe a flea on the robe of or on the jacket of Moses in Exodus as he's a shepherd and he's walking along and he sees in the distance, a bush that is burning. You know where I'm going with this. He walks towards it, something strange. He thinks maybe this bush has just caught fire. But no, he walks closer and he realizes the bush is not burning.
[00:03:07] Like it's not burning down, it's not breaking down, but rather continues to burn. And he approaches it. And then a voice comes from this bush, doesn't it? And he begins to have this dialogue, knowing that this is God. And God calls him to step out of the life of being a shepherd to sheep and begin to be a shepherd to a people that is in bondage in Egypt.
[00:03:33] And God calls him to do that. And you might know this story. He's apprehensive about this. He's afraid what is going to happen if I step out of what's comfortable for me to go and be a part of this crazy. To him it might sound calling of approaching of facing the pharaoh in Egypt and saying, let these people go. And so he asked this voice, the goddess who is speaking to him through this bush, he says, who shall I say has sent me? On what authority should I go to the pharaoh and say, let my people go? And God says, say to them that I am has sent you. Now, if you have spent some time thinking about that, it sounds strange, especially in the english language. When we say I am, usually there's something else that follows that I am blank.
[00:04:34] But here in Exodus, we see this dialogue happening. We don't see a I am and we don't see a fill in the blank there. We don't see a conclusion to that. He just says, I am. And so we know that through that vocabulary there, that name there, ego, Amy is the word. I am is the clear name of God. It's divinity. And so now we jump forward some thousands of years. We jump forward some thousands of years and we see Jesus filling in the blank, doesn't he? He now says, as we've seen already in the book of John, John lists off seven different I am statements, and we're looking at the third today, the I am the door of the sheep. Now, what Jesus does here is he attaches a metaphor in all of these I am statements. He attaches a metaphor to the end of these I am statements to help us understand the personality or the characteristics or the work of God and how God relates to us. He says that I am the bread of life. What does that mean? It says that Jesus is who we consume, who we take in to ourselves so that we can experience light. We looked at that in John, chapter six, verse 35. And following, he says, I am the light of the world. Right? He says, now he fills in the blank. I am the light of the world. Says, I am what gives the world life and direction, the ability to see between darkness and clarity or light. I am the one who offers that. And then today we see the first of two different, of both three and four. We'll look at next week. Next week it's I am the good shepherd. Today. I am the door of the sheep. Jesus here tells us an incredible and powerful way that he relates to you and I, the way that our life should interact with his life. So John, chapter ten, verses one through five is the first section you can write in cultural context because that's an important piece for us to understand as we're about 2000 years or so removed from Jesus and when he is speaking here. So these first five verses of this passage is a parable that Jesus is saying, sharing or a figure of speech. Your bibles might say in verse six, because we don't live in the Near east and most of us don't practice shepherding like those people did in that era and in that region. I want to just spend a few minutes and talk through what this would have looked like for them and the people listening, what they would have understood Jesus to be saying 2000 years ago. It's important for us to see also at the onset of that, Jesus starts off speaking of himself here as the shepherd. And then he pauses, really, and he says, I am the door. And then next week we'll see that he says, I am the shepherd. Again, this figure of speech, this illustration that he uses of I am the door and I am the shepherd. Today we're just focusing on I am the door. And then what he talks about also in this story, in this illustration is he gives us two pictures, and really those listening and us today gives us two pictures. The first picture is this. He's talking about shepherds who are interacting with sheep, particularly those shepherds with a sheepfold near a town or a city. And then later on we'll look at in verses seven through ten, he's talking about what a shepherd and sheep and a sheepfold would look like out in the country. So we have kind of city or city or town shepherds or those keeping their sheep near a town or a city and those who are keeping them in the countryside. Now, those are two important concepts to kind of have in your mind. So let's start off today. We'll lean into this point of Jesus. He says, I am the door.
[00:08:17] And we'll look at verses one through five. We'll read it together. You can write in the sheep, the shepherds and the sheepfold on your outline. The sheep, the shepherds and the sheepfold. We want to understand these terms and a few others as we read through this and understand what Jesus has to say. Truly, truly. He starts off in verse one, chapter ten. Truly, truly. That is. Pay attention. Verily, verily. Some might say this is very important for you to hear. I say this to you. He who does not enter by the sheepfold. There's that word again. There's that word, sheepfold. But by the door.
[00:08:53] Who does not enter by the sheepfold. But the door climbs in another way. That man is a thief and a robber. We're gonna come back and talk about thieves and robbers in a moment. But verse two, he who enters by the door is the what? The shepherd of the sheep.
[00:09:11] To him, the gatekeeper keeper opens. The sheep hear or listen to his voice. And he calls his own sheep by name, and he leads them out. And when he has brought out all of his own, he goes before them. And the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Verse five. A stranger. They will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers. Now, you know this, perhaps. Sheep are pretty dependent creatures, aren't they? They need shepherds. They need someone to show them where the water is, where the food is. They need to get direction from somebody because they just don't have a lot of. What's the terms like? They're one fry, french fry, short of a. There's all those phrases, right? There's. They don't have it. They can't take care of themselves. They are dependent, and rightfully so. We are also very dependent. And scripture points to us also being like sheep. We need a shepherd. We need someone to guide and to direct us. Now, God did gift shepherds with an incre sheep with an ability to recognize different voices. And as they spend time with the shepherd over long periods of time, they learn what shepherd is their shepherd, and what shepherd is another sheep's shepherd. Now, quick, spiritual connection here that we need to understand before we move on is the sheep here talking about those? The spiritual connection is the sheep are those who have or will put their faith in Jesus. Maybe write that down somewhere. Those who have or will put their faith in Jesus. Later on, Jesus talks about the sheep who are not yet in the sheepfold, who are not yet believed. As John says. I think I put a picture on the screen here to help us kind of get an idea of this. There's just a nice picture of a sheep and some other sheep. And then a sheepfold. So I told you earlier, there is a. There's like those shepherds and a sheepfold that are near towns and cities. And then there are others that are out in the wilderness or out away from the town. So this sheepfold, it might be one that is closer to a town or a city. And what would happen is the shepherds who are wandering through the countryside. If they were gonna come back to their town. Maybe they spent the night there in a particular town. Maybe they lived there. They would come to a sheepfold. Something maybe like that. And they would bring all of their sheep up to the gate. And there would be a gatekeeper or an under shepherd who was at the gate. You see someone sitting there in that image. Now, what they would do is they would let all of their sheep in. But because this was a communal sheep fold. Other sheep also might already be there. Or becoming later, with other shepherds. And so there would be a conglomeration, really, of different people, of different shepherds, sheep in this place. And then they would tell that they would entrust their sheep to this gatekeeper. Or this under shepherd who was there. His job was to make sure that no one else came to take the sheep. And to protect the sheep. If others, thieves or robbers, tried to come over the side walls in other places. Their job was to protect the sheep. And then what the shepherd would do is he'd go off and do whatever business he needed to do in the town or over the night or whatever it was. And he would come back. And when he was going to go back out, perhaps the next morning to graze his sheep in the. In the countryside. He would approach the gatekeeper and he would say, all right, I'm here to get my sheep. And the gatekeeper, knowing that this is the shepherd who's supposed to get his sheep, would open the gate. And the shepherd then would not go into the sheepfold and find his sheep that have tags on their ears like we do today. And check the numbers and verify it with his little sheet, right, like a parent does when they go to the nursery to pick up their kid.
[00:12:53] That's not what the shepherd would have done. The shepherd would have simply called his sheep. And instead of coming behind them and driving them out of the sheepfold.
[00:13:04] They would have stood there at the gate. Perhaps the gatekeeper there next. And they would have called their sheep. And their sheep would know their voice. And their sheep would pop their heads back up and say, oh, I guess it's time for us to go. And their sheep would come out of the sheepfold and the sheep that did not belong to them would stay there in the sheepfold because they did not recognize that shepherd's voice. He was a stranger to them, as we see here in this text. And then it says that the shepherd would lead them. He wouldn't come behind them and drive them. He would lead them and he would call them and they would follow him. And unlike today, it's not driving sheep from behind or even thinking about leading, leading. Well, it's not shoving people from behind and saying, go do this. But rather it's, here's where I am, and come, follow me. Isn't this what Jesus does with us? Here's where I am. Come, follow me. And if you entrust yourself to me, you will trust that where I am taking you is better than where you were. So here we see this sheep, the shepherd and the sheepfold. We have this picture here. And I think it's important for us to hold on tightly to a quick lesson here. The sheep knew the voice of their shepherd.
[00:14:22] We too, as sheep, are to know the voice of the shepherd, of our shepherd. Now, it can be easy, especially in the world that we live in, because there's so many voices around us calling for our attention all over the place, for us to say daily, I need to check in with the chief shepherd and make sure that's where he's really taking me because there's a lot of voices that will take our minds and our attention and our heart and even our bodies, places that Jesus is not taking us. How do I know what the voice of Jesus is? First and foremost, I'm going to come back to the written word, the written word of God, and say, I want to know him. I want to know what his voice sounds like. I want to know what he says is true and what he says is good. And then when other people speak or I see the advertisements in other places or the tv commercials or the movies or whatever that may be, I'm going to go. Wait a minute. Does that match what the true shepherd, the master shepherd, is calling me towards?
[00:15:23] Now, there are times that a sheep may wander off in the wrong direction. And when the shepherd sees that because he pays attention to his sheep, he would call to his sheep and they would make a U turn.
[00:15:41] They would make a U turn.
[00:15:44] Sorry, that was a sheep joke. So I don't think there'll be more of them. But it took a moment. It took a moment.
[00:15:59] So we look further here and we see that the sheep are willing to turn around. They're willing to follow the shepherd wherever he may lead. Even if something else that's shiny out there may look attractive. They need to trust the shepherd. We look a little further, we see if we jump back a little bit to the first one, we see that thieves and robbers are a part of this illustration as well. You can go to the next slide.
[00:16:24] Thieves and robbers. You could write that in there. Thieves and robbers. That is those two words. Very similar, really. The difference in those words is one that steals by stealth and one that doesn't. And this is true even of thieves and robbers in that time. This could be one at nighttime, someone who comes up to the wall, away from the gatekeeper, looks in and tries to jump the wall, perhaps, and take one of the sheep, maybe a smaller sheep, maybe a weaker sheep. And even at times, what these robbers might do is jump into the sheepfold and even slaughter some of the sheep, just to one, bring about damage to this person's property, but also because they could steal the meat for themselves.
[00:17:04] So who is Jesus talking about here? Because spiritual connection, understanding what Jesus is trying to say here, he's probably calling out at least two different groups of people. One, he's calling out the religious leaders of the day, who are using the sheep or the people there, the common Israelites, for their gain. And sadly, Jesus pointed this out. Common. It was very common for them. They looked at the Pharisees and savages, the religious leaders, and says, you're doing all these things not for the purpose of pointing these people towards God, but you can gain something, whether it's esteem or financial gain or looking better, just pride. He also here is probably calling out, and he says, he makes note of this in verses one, verse eight and verse ten. I think these are on the screen as well, when he talks about these thieves and robbers. But the sheep did not listen to them. He's probably pointing out false messiahs that have come before him. Because that was something that happened in Jesus. People would show up, they try to lead a revolution. They'd say, I'm the messiah. I'm the one you've been waiting for. But those who listened to and trusted in what the scripture said, they said, this doesn't match what scripture says the messiah is to do.
[00:18:18] If we look back here, like I said, just a moment, as we think through how Jesus is calling out the religious leaders of the day, I think it's important for us to look at a clear parallel between Ezekiel 32. If you have your bibles, you could look at it. I think it's on the screen as well. Ezekiel 34 would have been something that the people listening, the religious leaders most pointedly would have been thinking and remembering as Jesus talks about shepherds and sheep. Because it's not.
[00:18:44] Well, it would have been something that caught their attention. They would have, as people who knew the scriptures would have been reminded of what the scriptures say about shepherds and about sheep. Look with me. Ezekiel 34. Listen to what it says. The word of the Lord came to me, son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. That is, the religious leaders of Israel prophesy and say to them, even the shepherds. Even to the shepherds. Thus says the Lord God. Ah, 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, but you do not feed the sheep. In other words, you take advantage of others, the weak. You have not strengthened the sick. You have not healed the injured, you have not bound up the stray, you have not brought back the lost, you have not sought. And with force and harshness, you have ruled over them. What's interesting is you look at verse four there. The antithesis of that is who Jesus is. He is someone who strengthens, who heals, who binds up, who brings back those who have strayed. He finds the loss, and he is gentle and kind. That is Jesus. But the thief and the robber, they are the opposite of him. Sadly, this is true today as well. People who do even church things and christian things for the gain of themselves, not for the gain for the benefit of people, for the love of people. Now, Jesus says, he walks us through this analogy of a shepherdess. And particularly we looked at this shepherd near a town or near a city, and we have this picture of the sheepfold. And all of these people, they would have understood, okay, I know what he's talking about. I know what the shepherd is. I know what the sheepfold is. I know this whole calling by name. I know what it looks like for the sheep to ignore the stranger. I understand that. But they've hung out with Jesus long enough to know that there's probably some spiritual significance to what he's saying.
[00:20:40] There's probably something more.
[00:20:43] And so we see in verse six, it says this. They. It's not on the screen, but it's. You can read. Look in your bibles, it says this figure of speech or this parable or this illustration Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. They didn't understand the spiritual significance here. So then here's what Jesus does. And this is key for us, because this is where you'll find points to and then a through d there for the lessons for us today. Jesus now shifts from this city shepherd person or the town shepherd with a sheepfold to now a shepherd who is in the wilderness, who is out in pasture, and who's going to be spending the night out there. So there's a shift that's happening. It's important for us to see. You could write this in spiritual significance, because that's what Jesus is going to lean into. In verses seven through ten. We'll spend a few minutes here. So in the country, a shepherd, they're not going to go back to town. What they would have done is, all right, it's nighttime.
[00:21:45] Who comes out at nighttime?
[00:21:47] Wolves, bears, lions, dangerous things, things that are going to hurt the flock. So obviously, a good shepherd is not going to say to the sheep, just wander around, figure out where you want to go. That's not going to go well. Some wild animals, they're smart. At nighttime, they stay together. Sheep, not so much. Remember the one french fry, less of a whatever that. I got to figure that one out.
[00:22:10] Happy meal. Thank you. Thank you.
[00:22:12] So these sheep, in the midst of darkness, would wander away, but a good shepherd says, we need to have a sheepfold. But you're out in the wilderness. How are you going to do that? So what they would have done is they would have grabbed sticks or logs or rocks, and they would have made, depending on the size of their flock and perhaps even the environment around them, some sort of enclosure. And so maybe it's up against a cliff. Maybe there's a rock face that they're able to utilize. Maybe they're just finding sticks and rocks and branches from around them. There's a picture of this, I think, as well, that they might have had. And so they could use that, or trees or little trees around them would have taken whatever they could have find and built something like that. And then they would have pushed their sheep inside. They would have led their sheep, I should say, inside this sheepfold, this makeshift sheepfold for the night. Now, because they're out and about wilderness, they wouldn't have had some gate that they were making. And so what would have happened is the shepherd would have been the gate, he would have been the door. Depending on what version you're reading, your bibles, might say, gate or door, same thing. He would have been the one sitting in the gap between the sheep, his property, whom he valued, and the danger outside. So let's read through this. We're going to see some incredible lessons about Jesus and about us as we just look at these few verses in front of us. So let's read through that. Verse seven and nine, a. Point out a very important piece here. Jesus is the way to safety from danger. You could write that in, Jesus is the way to safety from danger. We have this picture now in our mind of the sheepfold, and maybe it's getting dark right now. The sheep are now inside, and you see now a shepherd laying in the gap in the doorway. He is the gate between the wolves, the bears, the lions, the thieves. His job is to pay attention, to keep his sheep safe. And Jesus now says, I am the door. I am that person. And now they're going, we know this kind. We know now we're understanding. Jesus often has these spiritual parallels with things that we understand now. Here we see it. So Jesus again, I feel like we read that a lot in John. Jesus again said to them, truly, truly, or pay attention. This is important.
[00:24:38] I say to you, listening here today.
[00:24:42] I am the door. I am the one. I am the door of the sheep. I am the one who protects the sheep from danger. Verse nine, a. Again, he says, I am the door. Here's what he's saying. I am the entrance to the place of safety. Do you want to be safe? The way that you get there is by coming to me. There is dangers out there. No matter, though, how strong a sheep may be, no matter how aware a sheep may be of danger that is out there. A sheep is not going to overpower a wolf. A sheep is not going to say, all right, bear, let's go at it. We're going to see how this goes. The bear's going to win each and every time. So here's what keeps the sheep safe. I'm going to go find my shepherd and I'm going to go into a sheepfold because I'm going to trust that he's going to keep me safe. Spiritual connection is clear here. The world is full of people, of activities and possessions that are designed by the enemy to steal our joy, our peace, our attention and our heart all over the place. We don't have to look very far at all to find things that are drawing us out into danger, drawing us away from the shepherd who wants to keep us safe. Remember, the enemy wants our hearts, and he knows that he can't have it if we are children of God. So he will seek to draw our mind away from the things of God. Our salvation as children of God are secure. But we have to be aware of this, friends, that the way we stay safe is to keep our minds renewed. Right. Romans twelve is to check our minds with the word of God and say, I don't want to be led astray by the things of the world.
[00:26:38] So there is, yes, danger for us that we must be aware of in the world. But the danger, the greatest danger is not really out there, but rather it's in the future. And not for us. But for people who don't know Jesus. The greatest danger is eternity apart from Jesus. And that is Jesus point here. Yes, I realize the world is scary and I realize all these things are falling apart. I get that. But the danger that you and I must be aware of for people who don't know Jesus, is an eternity in hell apart from him. That, friends, is great danger. And Jesus says, I am the way to safety from that danger. The danger of hell is real for those who have not stepped into relationship with Jesus.
[00:27:37] So if somebody, if anybody wants to experience eternal safety, there is only one way, and it is through the door with a capital d.
[00:27:48] We might ask this question, is it mean, is it cruel, is it narrow minded of Jesus to say that there's only one way, that it's only through me? But even to ask this question, we assume a few things. One, that God is like us in morality, that sin really isn't so bad, that is.
[00:28:09] Secondly, it assumes we deserve to be with God, which we don't.
[00:28:15] And it also says this, our sin isn't as bad as God says. It is in reality. For God to provide any way at all, all for us to be saved demonstrates his love and his grace and his mercy, of which he did not have to show us. So the fact that this sheepfold even has a door on it for us to experience safety from the dangers of hell is an incredible gift of God, friends. An incredible gift of God B on your outline. Anyone who claims another way is dangerous.
[00:28:55] Verse eight, a and verse ten, a is on the screen as well. All Jesus says, who came before me are thieves and robbers. We talked about these people. Verse ten. The thief comes only to steal, to kill and to destroy. So back again to the thieves and to the robbers. They would steal the sheep for their own gain. They would do that so that they could benefit, not so that the shepherd could benefit.
[00:29:20] These words, the sheep, the thief and the robber.
[00:29:24] These are those who are dangerous. People who care more about themselves than they do care about, than they care than they do loving the people that they're supposed to serve, like the shepherd. If someone tries here to make a new way to get in and out of the safety of being in Jesus care, here's what Jesus says. It's dangerous to follow them. Watch out for anyone who says, jesus. Plus, this is going to get you to safety. Or that's nice, Jesus is good for you. But there's a better way. Or there's another way in reality that's dangerous, because that's exactly what the thief or the robber might be saying as they try to reach over the wall and they say, come here, sheep. There's another way for you to get out. You don't have to go through the gate over there where the shepherd is or where the gatekeeper is. Come with me. That person who pulls the sheep somewhere else and says there's another way is someone who is dangerous. Simply put, this could be another religion or other cults out there that say there is another way to God. Very simply, there's many cults, many religions out there that say heaven. Yes, we want some or some version of heaven, something better out there in the after life. And here's what Jesus says. There is no good afterlife for those who have not trusted in me.
[00:30:44] And yet we see all around the world, there's plenty of people that believe it's like God put inside of us some sort of ability to know there's something beyond what we exist in today. There's something more out there. What is it? And we have people, millions of people for thousands of years, all around the world, who try to appease a God out there or hope that when somebody dies, they go to a better place. Where do they get that assumption? God instills that in our hearts. And then he points us to Jesus and says, the way you get there is through me.
[00:31:18] C on your outline is this. Not only do we need to be aware of the danger also out there, but we need to be children who practice discernment. God's children practice discernment. We see this about the sheep again as God's children. Verse five of John ten. It's not on the screen. You can just look up in your Bible. It says, a stranger, they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers. Verse eight b on the screen there. But the sheep did not listen to them. They have the ability by the gift and grace of God to know, is this my shepherd's voice or is this somebody else's voice? No matter how many shiny things may be out there for us, no matter how good it might sound, no matter how much we might be tempted to follow the things out there, we must, friends, come back to this and say, does it match?
[00:32:17] Does this speak in such a way that's guiding me this way and somebody else is speaking in such a way that it's taking me this way? I need to be intentional about checking that. We talk about reading the Bible and the value of reading scripture. It's not just because I need to be a good christian person and I gotta stick to my script or whatever the really the religious weight that you might be feeling, but rather it's, I wanna be someone who follows Jesus the way he wants me to go. How am I going to do that the right way? Well, I'm going to check to see what he said. And every day there's distractions and voices pulling us other places. So every day I should probably keep checking back. Am I in the right place? Am I in the right place? Am I going to the right place? Do I need to make. Do I need to repent? I'm not saying a U turn.
[00:33:09] There's all sorts of big time pastors, popular superstars, churches with all sorts of bells and whistles draw our attention. And that's not really the problem in and of itself.
[00:33:19] Sometimes we can get caught, so caught up in the lights and the loud music and the bells and whistles that we forget discernment.
[00:33:26] And discernment isn't popular, and it often looks unloving and judgmental.
[00:33:34] But that's what the children of God do, and that's what the sheep of God do. If they want to stay safe. They check the voices that they're hearing. And I have to ask this question here today of you and of myself.
[00:33:46] Are there voices that I'm listening to? Are there voices that you're listening to? Maybe it's other people or yourself or the enemy who's trying to tell you that you are someone that God says that you're not, who's trying to pull your mind somewhere that you are not supposed to go and you know, is there voices around you that are calling you to do something that you know is wrong?
[00:34:11] Are there times in your life that you think or believe things about yourself that doesn't match with what the shepherd has to say about you? And if so, I want to encourage you. Run back to the voice of the shepherd. Run back to him and see.
[00:34:28] Can you tell me, shepherd, that I'm wrong? Tell me that I need to believe something different, because where you want to take me is better than where I can take my.
[00:34:37] We see the last and final really promise here. D on your outline, a safe and superior life is found when Jesus is your door, when Jesus is the way that you enter into this promise of safety, this promise of love, this promise of joy. Yes, there's lots of things out there in the world that promise love and safety and joy and contentment and happiness and all of those things. And Jesus says, I offer more. And if you truly want to experience that, come to me. All you who are weak and heavy laden, come to me. You want relief? Come to me. Jesus is the way to experience life. We see this word life. There's two ideas of life in scripture. One that we know were life. Like someone came back to life, that means their body was dead, and then they came back to life. The other word for life that Jesus talks about here is Zoe. And it's this, you know what? When you feel just exhausted and you've got nothing, have you ever felt that before?
[00:35:40] You're just like, I've got nothing to give.
[00:35:44] I have nothing else inside of me. Yes, your body's still moving, your heart's still beating, but there's just a part of you that just feels gone. Maybe a frustrating or sad or grievous thing happening, feel heavy. There's nothing there. That's the kind of life we're talking about here. And he says, I've come to give you abundant, overflowing, exceedingly that kind of life so that you don't feel hopeless any longer, so you don't feel lost any longer. And he says, you want that. I'm the way that you get there. It's not by anything else out there to most everyone out there, regardless of their face, faith, they want to know and experience that kind of life. And Jesus says, inside the sheepfold, you will experience that. And it's not one where there's bondage and weight tied around you. And I think we get a glimpse of that when he says that.
[00:36:41] Notice that the tail end of that when he says he's going to lead him in and out of the sheepfold to the pasture. It's this idea of freedom that the shepherd offers, and Jesus offers that to each of us as well. This sounds simple, perhaps, and straightforward to us, but to the rest of the world it's not. There are millions of people who think that the sheepfold that is eternal life and safety.
[00:37:08] Either is easy to get to because we're generally good people, or for generally good people. Or as long as you generally believe that a God exists, you'll be fine. And Jesus, in a very clear and present illustration says, it doesn't matter what you might like when you're out there. You won't have safety unless you come to me. There's no other way. I want to conclude and get asked three questions before we close here, maybe jot these questions down or three different ideas. There's a few questions in them. One first and foremost, this is a question I think that Jesus would ask most clearly and pointedly of all of us here today. Do you know the shepherd? And does the shepherd know you?
[00:37:54] Do you know the shepherd? And does the shepherd know you? Do you know Jesus? Have you said, I have chosen to follow you? I've chosen to turn around when you call me because I believe that your way is safer than my way. Your way is better than my way, that there is danger out there in the future. Life apart from you, yes, while I take breath, but also eternal life apart from you or with you is decided by trusting in Jesus. Have you made that decision to trust Jesus as your shepherd? As your door? As the door? Secondly, are you taking time to practice listening to the voice of Jesus?
[00:38:36] Is this a daily practice, a regular practice?
[00:38:40] Do you listen when he calls? Or are you ignoring him? Maybe think right now in your own life. Am I wandering down a road? Am I walking down a path, wherever it may be going? And I know Jesus is over here saying, come back, come back, come back? And I'm choosing to say, I like this way. The grass is really green over there. I know I'm walking away from you, but I like this way. Are you listening to the voice of the shepherd? Your life? Are you willing to turn around maybe today and say, I believe that his way is better? And third question, do you discern the voices that you hear? Do you compare them with the voice of God? Do you compare the voices coming into your mind through other people, through the things around us? Do you compare them? Are you willing to fight off the voices or at least check them through, filter them through the word of God as a good sheep does? Is this the shepherd's voice? Or is it somebody else's voice? Jesus today is calling us to do those things, to trust him as the door, to take time to listen to him and to discern the voices, the many voices in our life, and to make sure that it's only his voice to help us make decisions in our life, in what we think and what we feel and what we believe.
[00:40:00] I'm gonna close our time in prayer. We're gonna sing a song talking about Jesus as the shepherd. And if you would like to pray with myself or somebody else, either at the back or pastor les or myself, we would love to do that. Join me in prayer. Dear Jesus, we know today because we believe what your word says. We know today that we need you, that we are sheep. So often we'll wander our own way.
[00:40:26] And you keep calling us back.
[00:40:29] And today in this passage, in this text, you remind us the only way to safety, both today, while we take breath and when we stop taking breath, the only way to safety is through you.
[00:40:43] Help us to trust in you. If there's anyone here perhaps, that are trusting in you and something else, it's always Jesus plus. Jesus plus. Lord, I pray that you would have show them clearly today. You would show us clearly today that it's Jesus plus nothing. It's just trusting you. It's walking with you so that we can experience this abundant life that you promise that you desire for us may not mean riches and wealth and prosperity in the world sense, but spiritually, Lord, that we can be content knowing that you have our backs.
[00:41:21] Knowing that no matter what life brings our way, we can keep looking to you and listening to you and knowing that your best, that you will have our best in mind. In Jesus name, amen.
