As usual, today we are looking at the next passage in our ongoing verse by verse study in the book of John, particularly the teachings of Jesus. I don’t preach topical messages. It doesn’t matter if it’s Christmas or Mother’s Day, I’m going to preach the Word of God as we come to it. But I will say this in light of the recent events in our country. We live in a fallen world, we live in a broken world, a world broken by sin. And the only hope for the world is not found in political parties, it is not found in social justice, the only hope for the world is found in Jesus Christ. And that hope is manifested in HIs church here on earth, it is manifested by His body. His church manifests Jesus Christ to the world when we are conformed to the image of Christ. So to that end, we are going to look today at a simple allegory which Jesus gave, which illustrates the true church of Christ, and their relationship to the Great Shepherd of the church.

This passage we are looking at today is the first part of a discourse that Jesus gave shortly after healing a blind man. If you look back at chapters 8 and 9, you will remember that Jesus had been teaching in the temple and said some things regarding His deity to the Jewish religious leaders which infuriated them, and so they took up stones in order to stone Him to death. But Jesus disappeared into the crowd and escaped. Then on the way out of the temple, He and his disciples saw a man who John tells us who had been born blind. And so Jesus spat on the ground, made clay and rubbed it on his eyes, and told the man to go wash in the pool of Siloam. The blind man believed Jesus, and obeyed by going and washing, and John says he came back to the temple seeing.

He eventually finds himself in front of the Pharisees, the religious rulers of Israel, and they interrogate him, trying to find information that they can use to discredit this miracle of Jesus. But they cannot. They can’t dismiss the irrefutable fact that he who was born blind can now see. But their anger so burns against Christ, that they take it out on this man, and so they excommunicate him from the temple. That meant that not only was he now a religious outcast, but a social outcast as well. But Jesus comes later on that day and finds him, and reveals Himself fully to him as the Son of God, the Messiah, the Lord Jehovah. And so it says that this formerly blind man worshipped Him. Worship is reserved for God. Not for prophets, not for great teachers. But this man worshipped Him as Lord God, and Jesus accepted that worship.

Shortly after that, Jesus declares to the Pharisees in 9:39, “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.” In other words, Jesus is saying that He came to separate those who are in the kingdom of Light, from those who in the kingdom of darkness. That is the judgment that Jesus said He brought to the world. Jesus said in John 3:19, “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.” So the judgment Jesus brings is to distinguish between light and darkness, truth and error, and life and death. This is the judgment that comes through Christ on the world.

Now as we come to chapter 10, Jesus continues to teach that principle even further by use of an allegory. The first part of this allegory which we read is that of sheep which belong to a shepherd, which are kept in a sheep fold, and the nature of true shepherds and false shepherds. And this allegory is expanding upon and illustrating the nature of the people who belong to God, which Jesus likens to sheep belonging to a shepherd. This is a recurring theme we see throughout the Old Testament, that of God as the Shepherd of His people.

For instance, one of my favorite psalms is Psalm 23. When we studied through the Psalms recently in our Wednesday night Bible studies, we memorized the 23rd Psalm. I’m suffering a little jet lag this morning, so I don’t trust my memory. I am going to read it for you, because I think it sets the stage for this allegory that Jesus was teaching. Psalm 23 says, “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 the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I 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 have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows.Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”

Now that is a beautiful Psalm. And we hear it used to speak to lots of different situations or circumstances in our lives. But it’s important to realize that the primary interpretation of this Psalm is to paint a picture of salvation. And as we look at it through the template of salvation, we see first of all that the Shepherd satisfies our need for salvation, as He gives us rest from our attempts at our own works of righteousness, He saves our soul, He leads us into the path of righteousness which comes through His own righteousness, He delivers us from the penalty of death, He provides blessing for us even though we live in the midst of a perverse world, He leads us and corrects us through the Word, He anoints us with the Spirit of God, He gives us all things to enjoy, He will never leave us or forsake us, and we will live forever with the Lord. That is the picture presented in Psalm 23, the picture of those in the church, who are saved, who are born again into the family of God, and are of the body of Christ.

Psalm 23 shows the relationship between the Shepherd and his sheep when one is saved by repentance and faith in Christ. The natural state of all men is like that of a lost sheep. Isaiah 53:6 says, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him (that is upon Christ) the iniquity of us all.” So those who hear the call of God and turn to Jesus as their Shepherd, by repentance from their sins and faith in Him as Lord who is able to save them from their sins, God lays their iniquity on Christ, and as they follow Him as their Shepherd, they are made part of His flock. That means that they become part of His church, His body.

That method of salvation was true in the Old Testament times and it is true in the New Testament times. That principle of the church is important for us to understand. Jesus was the Great Shepherd of the church of Israel, and He is the Great Shepherd of the New Testament church. In the Old Testament, the church was limited to being or becoming an Israelite, either by birth or by becoming a proselyte. But in the New Testament church there is no more Jew and Gentile, but we are all baptized into one faith, as one new race, a new people, the people of God. But God’s people were always His church.

So Jesus illustrates that relationship through a very familiar allegory in those days, that being the picture of a shepherd and his sheep. Now that was a familiar subject to an agrarian community such as that of the Jews in Jesus day, but it is not so familiar to us today I suppose. And I won’t pretend to be an expert on sheep either. But I have read many accounts from those who are. So I think it’s helpful to our understanding if we explain what these experts have written concerning shepherds and their sheep.

In those days, there was usually a community sheepfold near a village or town which would have been used by several different shepherds. This would be a large pen or fenced enclosure on the outskirts of the village. And during the day each individual shepherd would lead his flock out to pasture and watch over them and care for them. But in the evening, all the shepherds would lead their flocks back to the sheepfold where they would be kept for the night. The shepherd would turn over responsibility to a doorkeeper, or porter, who would guard the door of the fold all night. And from what we are told, this door would be a narrow opening in the fence, which only one sheep at a time could pass in and out of. And so once all the sheep were safely inside the fence, the doorkeeper would lie across the gate, or door so that none could enter or go out. There was no other door.

In the morning, the shepherds would come back to the sheepfold to gather their sheep again in order to pasture them. And the way this was done was each shepherd in turn would call his sheep. In some cases he would call them by name. Names that he had given them. And as his sheep recognized his voice they would come to him and he would lead them out to pasture and tend to them all day, leading them to water, leading them to rest, leading them to green pastures. Now that is a beautiful picture, not unlike that of Psalm 23, but note that it is only true for those sheep that belong to that particular shepherd. There are other sheep that belong to other shepherds, and they do not recognize the shepherd’s voice, and so they do not follow him.

Now that is a simple illustration which shows as I said the relationship of the Lord with His church. And Jesus uses this not only to illustrate that, but to rebuke the Pharisees and expose them as false shepherds. Look at vs.1, Jesus says that “he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.”

So the contrast is very clear. There are some who enter the sheepfold who are not the true shepherd. They do not enter through the door but climb over some other way under cover of darkness, to steal and rob the sheep. Now this is a pointed reference to the Jewish religious leaders. They attempt to rob from the church of God by climbing up some other way. They do not come through the door, who is Christ. They seek to defraud the church for their own advantage. He explains further in vs.10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.” False teachers, false shepherds have the same agenda as Satan. Jesus said in chapter 8:44 to these false religious leaders, “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

That’s why in this allegory they come under cover of darkness. Jesus is called in chapter one the Word, and it says the Word was Light. And the Light shines in darkness. That is how we know the truth, because the truth is light. So the characteristic of false teachers is that they don’t come with the truth, they don’t teach the word of God, they come with lies, with half truths, with silly stories, with philosophy, with human reason, with entertainment, tickling the ears of their listeners to deceive them, to defraud them of the truth, which leaves them in darkness and ultimately destroys those who are deceived. It destroys them because it blinds them to the truth, and Jesus said in 8:32 that only the truth can make you free. Only the truth of God can make your free from the penalty of death.

And that is what the Pharisees, the priests, the scribes and lawyers, the religious teachers of the Jews were; false shepherds, defrauders of the church by their false teachings which leave people in darkness. Jesus said in vs. 8, “All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.” He is speaking of the priesthood and the rabbis and Pharisees that had come to take advantage of the sheep. They are thieves and robbers. They are not serving the sheep, but serving themselves. They do not come through Jesus Christ.

Here is the thing. Though God had appointed the Levitical priesthood to conduct the services in the temple, and to teach the word of God, they had become apostate. They still conducted the services and ceremonies and rituals, but they had departed from the truth. And the other religious leaders in Judaism were apostate as well. They gave precedence to the traditions of their forefathers. They observed their ordinances and traditions, but they had long since lost sight of any application to their hearts. Furthermore, many of their offices were appointed by politics, not by God. Much of the leadership that was controlling and influencing the church of Israel such as the Sanhedrin and the Pharisees had never really been appointed by God. And so they were in it for the political power that it gave them, and for the financial opportunity it provided as rulers of Israel. Jesus says they were thieves and robbers. However, God did use men to be His spokesmen. He appointed prophets such as John the Baptist or Elijah, who would faithfully call His people to repentance. But for the most part the religious leadership of Judaism was apostate.

I believe that has a lot of similarity with the situation in the church today. I would dare say that a large percentage of pastors and priests in churches today are not really called by God to preach His word, but are nominated by men, by denominational boards, by countless human mechanisms, but they are not sent by God, and as such they are not true shepherds or doorkeepers. They have climbed in some other way. They did not come through Jesus Christ. God didn’t call them or appoint them. They are man appointed. But just as in times past, God still speaks through His appointed prophets. Not fortune tellers, not future tellers. That’s not what it means to be a prophet of God. But prophets who are forth tellers. Men who will faithfully proclaim forth the truth of God’s word without adulteration or hesitation.

By the way, let me make something clear that has been on my mind lately. As the church, we need to understand that God has chosen men to be His instruments here on earth. To be His ambassadors, His ministers. We are not all called to be pastor’s or preachers, but we are all called to be ministers, to be workers in the kingdom. God has always chosen to use men to perform His works here on earth. God divided the Red Sea, but He told Moses to strike it with His rod. God raised the widow’s son, but He used Elijah to do it. God is the author of His word, but He used men to write it down as the scriptures. Even when it came to providing salvation for the world, God did not act without incorporating man in that salvation. Jesus not only was God, but He also became a man in order to effect our salvation.

So I say that to emphasize that if there is a work here on earth that God has determined to do, then He will usually use the people of His church to do it. That is the purpose of the body of Christ. To be His hands and His feet. This idea that all we can do is say a quick prayer and then go back to our regularly scheduled programming on television, believing that if it’s going to be done then God will have to do it, and that means we do nothing, is bogus. That isn’t taught in the Bible. Jesus gave us the example of the good Samaritan so that we might learn that if we say we love God, then we need to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. And that means we don’t pass by a situation and say, “My, my. God help that person.” But just keep on going on by. No, Jesus said if you love your neighbor as yourself you will get down off your high horse and spend whatever time and resources necessary to help that person. To be the hands and feet of God. To display the mercy and love of God.

James said the same thing in James 2:14, “What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.”

Now we do those things by the strength which God supplies, but we do them. This idea that we need to just give everything up to God and leave the lost or hurting or destitute to somehow discover the love of God on their own is a travesty of what God has designed the church to do. I’m not suggesting the church is about a social gospel either, where we just focus on meals and water and material things. I’m talking primarily about providing for spiritual needs while not neglecting physical needs. Usually both are needed, and God has designed the church to perform His will here on earth in both of those areas conjointly. And there is a reward James said in chapter 5, to those that do so. James 5:19 says “My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back,let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.”

All right, that was a freebie. But I believe it needs to be made clear that God has not given us a commission to be passive, but to go into a hurting, dying world and share the gospel. Well, in spite of His allegory, the Pharisees fail to understand what He is saying. So Jesus expounds upon it starting in vs.7, saying, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.” Jesus will say later, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except by Me.” So when Jesus says He is the door, He means He is the only door. There is no other name given among men by which we may be saved. John said in 1John 4:3, “every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.” These cults that say that Jesus was not God in the flesh are antiChrist. The new emergent churches that are espousing that all religions lead to God are antiChrist.

So notice that Jesus is not only the Shepherd, but He is the Door. By Him only is entrance gained into the church of God. He lays down His life for the sheep. But He is not speaking of Himself in this allegory as the doorkeeper. I would suggest that the doorkeepers are the men that Christ has called to be His pastors. The word pastor comes from the idea of a shepherd. Peter tells the elders to shepherd the flock among you. So a pastor is an under shepherd. He is a doorkeeper. When the Great Shepherd of our souls went back into heaven, Paul said in Eph. 4:11 that “He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ.” So the pastors/teachers are to shepherd the flock. We are the doorkeepers. We are guardians of the flock while living in this present darkness. We don’t save people, God saves people. But we guard the flock, we guard His word, we guard the church and we guard the door.

In vs.9, Jesus again reiterates that He is the door saying “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” He will be saved. What does that mean? That word “saved” has fallen out of favor in many churches today, but to their own detriment. Because the Bible speaks of those that believe in Christ unto salvation as being saved. Saved from what, you might ask? Saved from the penalty of death. Saved from destruction. Saved out of darkness into light. And I will add, saved not only from the penalty of sin, but the power of sin. Saved from enslavement to sin. Jesus quoting from Isaiah 61 when He was in Galilee said that He came to proclaim liberty to the captives and set the prisoners free. What He was talking about was setting them free from the enslavement to sin and the trap of Satan. That’s what it means to be saved. To be set free from sin and death.

And yet salvation doesn’t stop there. Salvation is only the beginning of following Jesus. It is the first step. It is new birth. Jesus said in vs.9, not only will they be saved, but “they will go in and out and find pasture.” Why does the shepherd take the sheep in and out to pasture? Obviously, it is to feed the sheep. This is the duty of the shepherd to feed the sheep. And we too need to be fed spiritually through the word of God. This is how we grow and mature. Hebrews 5:12 tells us, “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.” This is the job of the shepherd of the flock, to feed the sheep. To grow them to maturity, to edify them, build them up, so that they can do the work of service that the church has been commissioned to do.

Then the in the last verse that we will look at this morning, Jesus presents a final contrast between His ministry and the ministry of the false shepherds. Vs.10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” Now earlier I already talked about the characteristics of false teachers. They share the same characteristics with their father the devil as we talked about earlier when I quoted John 8:44: Jesus said, “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

That’s the tragedy of false doctrine. If we condemn false teachers we are told we need to be more loving, more tolerant of other viewpoints. But the fact is that nothing short of the truth will save you. Watered down or diluted truth cannot set you free. It will not save. Half of the gospel is not the full counsel of God. So that’s why Jesus was so intolerant of false teachers. That’s why He gives us this allegory, because it’s a rebuke to those false shepherds who continue to keep the people enslaved to their captivity even when faced with a true miracle of God as in the case of the blind man, and then have the audacity to excommunicate this man from the church because they hate the truth so much. They end up killing and destroying with their lies those that Christ came to save with the truth.

But then Christ contrasts their ministry with His own saying “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” See, here is the truth of the gospel; it is not only what you are saved from something, but you are saved for something. We are saved from condemnation. We are saved from the wrath to come. But Jesus says we are saved for an abundant life. What that means literally is exceedingly abundant life. Now that doesn’t mean what the prosperity preachers say it means. Jesus isn’t promising you a Mercedes 500 if you follow Him. But what He is offering is a surplus of life that will not fade away. He is offering everlasting life that will never die. He is offering a life that is filled with the source of all life bubbling up within us. Remember what Jesus had just cried out in the temple a few days earlier? In chapter 7 vs.38 Jesus cried out in the middle of this ceremony, ““He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’ But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive.” That is the promise to us, that we who believe in Him will have the Holy Spirit in us, like a spring of living water springing up from our soul that will never fail. The promise is that God will lead us and guide us, not only in this life, but in the life to come, and in the ages of eternity to follow forever and ever. As Psalm 23 said, God will anoint my head with the oil of the Holy Spirit until my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”

I hope that you will hear the voice of the Shepherd today and you recognize His voice as the word of God. And you will believe in Him, and follow Him with all your heart. Jesus said, “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” The invitation is extended to you today to enter through that door and be saved. I pray that you will. Let’s bow our heads in closing.