23-0618p Transcript

Preacher: Jim Lokenbauer

(1:07) Thank you, Roger. (1:09) Psalm 23, probably the most notable book in the Bible. (1:18) Think of how it’s given comfort to millions over the years, (1:24) since it’s been written, billions if not millions. (1:30) It’s nice to know that we have a shepherd who takes such good care of us.

(1:39) And seeing that we’re going to be soon talking about, I am the good shepherd, (1:46) we just had to work that in. (1:48) I’d love to just do a sermon one day on Psalm 23. (1:52) I know lots of people have in this congregation, but it’s worthy, fertile ground to go over.

(2:02) Anyhow, I want to set up the timeline for our next I Am statement, I Am the Door. (2:10) At first read, this seems to be a continuation of the conversation Jesus was having (2:17) with the Jews and religious leaders back in chapters 7 through 9 of the Gospel of John. (2:26) Those chapters happened during the Festival of Booths, which occurred in mid-September, (2:33) mid to late September.

(2:35) And this discourse happens in Jerusalem during the Festival of Dedication, (2:42) which happens in mid to late winter in December. (2:47) So three months have passed since then, and we read our text this morning, (2:55) John 10, 1 through 10. (2:58) So the people that Jesus is speaking with could very well have been some of the same group of people (3:08) that he was talking to at the end of John chapter 9, (3:12) when he healed the blind man that was born that way.

(3:20) And at that time, again, he had a go with the scribes and Pharisees. (3:29) And those religious leaders were putting the man down, Christ down, and the miracle down. (3:41) So Jesus revealed in chapter 9, where we read our last I Am statement, (3:48) that he is the light of the world.

(3:51) At the end of that chapter, Jesus makes a statement that condemns those religious leaders (3:58) who fancies themselves as the spiritual guides and shepherds of the Jews. (4:04) As a review, let’s listen to those words. (4:07) John chapter 9, 35 through 41.

(4:13) Jesus heard that they had put him out, the blind man, and finding him, said, (4:18) Do you believe in the Son of Man? (4:21) He answered, Who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him? (4:25) Jesus said to him, You have both seen him, and he is the one who is talking with you. (4:31) And he said, Lord, I believe. (4:34) And he worshipped him.

(4:36) And Jesus said, For judgment I came into this world, (4:40) so that those who do not see may see, and those that see may become blind. (4:48) Those of the Pharisees who were with him heard him say these things and said to him, (4:54) We are not blind too, are we? (4:57) Jesus said to them, If you were blind, you would have no sin. (5:01) But since you say, We see, your sin remains.

(5:07) So Jesus was addressing their spiritual blindness for rejecting the miracle (5:13) along with all of the firsthand eyewitness testimony (5:18) of what had happened to that man born blind. (5:23) Plus the fact that the blind man could now see, (5:27) a man they themselves recognized as once having been blind. (5:31) So Jesus condemns their claim that they were in the right (5:35) by equating them as being blind themselves (5:39) and in a state of sin because of their hardened hearts.

(5:44) The Pharisees didn’t believe that Jesus was the Messiah, (5:48) so they rejected him, the miracle, and the blind man. (5:54) Perhaps Jesus spotted some of these poor excuse of religious leaders in the crowd (6:00) and sort of resumes his criticism of them in John 10, in verse 1 here. (6:08) So we’ll go over this now, verse by verse.

(6:11) So if you’d like to turn to John 10, we’ll go through that. (6:18) John 10, verse 1. (6:22) Jesus said, (6:35) As the second figure of the Godhead, Jesus is the author of both the Old and the New Testaments. (6:44) This is why he’s called the Word, or Logos.

(6:48) Nobody knows God’s law for man better than God himself. (6:53) And Jesus is the promised one that has been promised to come into the world (6:58) that would bless Jews and Gentiles alike. (7:02) Since the time of Abraham, the people of God have been looking forward to this Messiah.

(7:12) He was coming through the people of Israel, David’s bloodline, to bless the whole world. (7:18) In this parable, Jesus uses figurative language that all the Jews could understand, (7:25) the sheep and shepherd relationship. (7:29) In this parable, we have a sheepfold, which is a large gated pen (7:35) where the sheep are collectively gathered together to spend the night in safety.

(7:41) It has one door in which the sheep go in and out, and it is manned by the door, or gatekeeper. (7:49) The gatekeeper protects the sheep at night from anybody who wants to steal the sheep (7:55) or from wild animals that would want them for food. (8:01) And so the gatekeeper has a very important role here.

(8:08) And he’s the one who recognizes the legitimate shepherds who come in the morning to collect their sheep. (8:17) In the morning, the doorkeeper opens the door for each shepherd, (8:22) and the shepherd goes into the fold and calls his sheep and leads them out of the fold into the pasture land. (8:29) And Jesus' point in this first verse is that the scribes and Pharisees and other religious leaders of that time (8:39) are the thieves and robbers who enter in some other way.

(8:45) When Jesus purged the temple from those who were turning it into a market (8:49) by selling and trading the animals there, he called those same men thieves and robbers. (8:58) They have presumptuously appointed themselves as the spiritual guides of the people. (9:04) In Matthew 23-2, Jesus says that scribes and Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses.

(9:14) They are false shepherds. (9:17) The Messiah, the lawgiver, the true teacher, is the one responsible for the sheep. (9:24) And the sheep here are the spiritual Israel, those who hear his voice and will soon become his church.

(9:33) And they are those who follow him. (9:38) In John 10-2 it says, but the one who enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. (9:46) So the various shepherds who show up in the morning to lead their flock out of the fold (9:51) are the shepherds who believe in the Lord and have heard the calling from the Messiah, (9:58) the one true shepherd that Ezekiel prophesied about in Ezekiel 34, 23 and 24.

(10:06) Ezekiel says, then I will set over them, this is God speaking, (10:11) then I will set over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will feed them. (10:17) He will feed them himself and be their shepherd. (10:20) I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them.

(10:27) I, the Lord, have spoken. (10:30) Of course, God isn’t reestablishing King David, bringing him back from the dead to be this shepherd. (10:38) David is shown here as a type of Christ.

(10:42) He’s referring to Jesus as the Messiah, who would be the one that would be the shepherd, (10:48) who would come through this King David’s bloodline. (10:54) Jesus will feed God’s people the true bread of life, his word. (10:59) The Holy Spirit stirs men to want to be shepherds and teachers (11:03) and build God’s flock up and feed them this holy bread, the word of God.

(11:10) These are the men who love the Lord and love the Lord’s flock (11:15) and want to enlighten them with the word of God. (11:18) They have answered the calling that the Spirit put in their hearts (11:22) to watch over God’s people, people tending them to them spiritually. (11:29) Let’s look at verse 3. (11:32) The doorkeeper opens the door for him and the sheep listen to his voice.

(11:38) He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. (11:44) Again, Jesus is being the owner of the sheep and trusts his sheep to the care of the shepherd. (11:53) Jesus opens the door of opportunity for the shepherd, giving them this talent, (12:00) the shepherd being either an elder or a teacher, by the way, (12:03) who has heard him and believes in him and wants to serve him in this capacity.

(12:10) This is where the shepherd of Christ’s flock gets his commission, his authority, (12:15) example and instruction how to care for Jesus' sheep. (12:20) There is a familiarity between the shepherd and the sheep. (12:24) They hear and listen to him because he speaks the words of the true shepherd, Jesus.

(12:31) Let’s look at John 10, 4 and 5. (12:35) Whenever he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them. (12:40) The sheep follow him, for they know his voice. (12:44) They will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, (12:48) for they don’t know the voice of strangers.

(12:53) Jesus is still working the shepherd-sheep illustration here. (12:57) He’s really teaching them about himself as the true teacher of truth and the true shepherd of Israel (13:04) and the true shepherds and teachers approved by him (13:09) and the true flock who is spiritual Israel, which is us, which belongs. (13:16) We belong to the shepherd because we are children of the promise.

(13:23) One of the works of the Spirit is to help change us into the image of Christ. (13:32) We will also follow after the teachings of Jesus by being doers of his word. (13:40) Plus, we try to be like him and that’s what Christians mean, little Christ.

(13:45) We try to be little Christs. (13:47) We also learn from the example of our leaders. (13:51) Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11, 1, (13:55) Be imitators of me, even as I am an imitator of Christ.

(14:02) And that is the idea. When the shepherd leads his flock out, he leads by example. (14:08) And the sheep are to imitate him as he imitates Jesus.

(14:14) The sheep, us, get to know Christ by reading and studying and putting his word into practice. (14:22) We become so familiar with it, we recognize his voice. (14:32) We recognize Christ’s voice in our own shepherds and teachers' teachings (14:38) and listen to it and we trust it and we follow it.

(14:42) If a stranger enters in here and starts preaching a different gospel, (14:47) we can tell the counterfeit right away because we don’t hear our Lord’s voice (14:53) and what is being said. (14:56) And we reject that stranger and his teaching. (15:00) So let’s look at John 10, 6. (15:04) Jesus spoke this parable to them, but they didn’t understand what he was telling them.

(15:11) So most of them didn’t understand parables. (15:14) They were slow to learn and dull in hearing. (15:18) And we would call them spiritually discerned.

(15:22) John 10, 7. (15:34) It almost sounds like Jesus is getting a little frustrated with them (15:38) because they just don’t get it sometimes. (15:40) He has to come right out and tell them. (15:43) And this is our Lord’s I Am statement, our point of focus.

(15:49) These I Am statements reveal to us different aspects of the Messiah (15:54) and the different roles he plays or the different jobs that he does. (16:00) Since they are spiritually discerned, Jesus has to come right out (16:03) and spell it out to them that he is the sheep’s door. (16:07) He is the door where the sheep must enter in by (16:11) and by which the shepherd must access in order to leave Jesus' sheep out.

(16:17) If you want into the Lord’s church, you must access it through the sheep door. (16:22) Jesus Christ. (16:23) If you want into the heavenly kingdom, (16:27) you must gain access through the heavenly king, Jesus Christ.

(16:40) Again, Jesus judges rightly these religious leaders of the day. (16:50) And this was foretold by the prophet Ezekiel. (16:53) Ezekiel describes these men with amazing detail and accuracy.

(16:58) In Ezekiel 34, 2-4, God is saying, (17:20) You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool. (17:25) You slaughter the fat sheep without feeding the flock. (17:29) Those who are sickly, you have not strengthened.

(17:32) The diseased, you have not healed. (17:34) The broken, you have not bound up. (17:37) The scattered, you have not brought back.

(17:40) Nor have you sought for the lost. (17:42) But with force and severity, you have dominated them. (17:52) Let’s look at John 10, 9-10.

(17:56) I am the door. (17:59) If anyone enters in by me, he will be saved. (18:03) And I will go in and go out.

(18:07) And they will go in and go out and find pastor. (18:10) The thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. (18:15) I came that they might have life, and may have it abundantly.

(18:20) So these false teachers are really citizens of the darkness of Satan’s kingdom. (18:29) And they’re doing the will of their king, Satan. (18:34) They steal, kill, and destroy.

(18:37) Doesn’t that sound like they’re doing the will of Satan rather than God, whom they claim to serve? (18:48) Jesus even said these things to these men’s face. (18:52) In John 8, 44, he said, (18:55) You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. (19:02) He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him.

(19:10) Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. (19:17) And isn’t that what these men do when they deny the miracles that Jesus does in the name of God? (19:27) They are amounted to liars when they say it’s by Beelzebub he does these things. (19:34) Or they claim that he’s some kind of a false messiah.

(19:40) They’re doing the will of Satan. (19:45) And this is true today. (19:46) People who claim to speak for God, yet teach the doctrines of devils, are teaching another gospel, (19:54) and are doubly cursed, Paul tells us in the Galatian letter.

(19:59) They belong to Satan and his kingdom. (20:03) And remember the chilling warning that Paul makes about Satan. (20:15) In 2nd Corinthians 11, verses 13-15, Paul says, (20:21) For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.

(20:30) No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. (20:35) Therefore, it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, (20:44) whose end will be according to their deeds. (20:50) I’m sure that for many of the unrepentant scribes and Pharisees, (20:54) they were as shocked as much on the day of their death to find themselves right next to the rich man, (21:01) from the story of the rich man and Lazarus.

(21:07) They will hear the Lord’s words, (21:10) Away from me, you workers of iniquity, I never knew you. (21:16) Jesus said, I am the door. (21:19) Access to his church and to heaven are through him and him alone.

(21:25) There is no other way in. (21:29) And Peter says in Acts 4.12, (21:32) Salvation is found in no one else. (21:35) For there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.

(21:42) These first ten verses of John 10 are a segue into our next I Am lesson, (21:49) I Am the Good Shepherd, which immediately precedes these verses. (21:54) So back to Psalm 23, it’s given peace to know that we have a good shepherd. (22:01) Peace to countless millions of people during troubled times.

(22:06) The idea that our Savior is a shepherd who leads us, pastors us, and protects us, (22:15) truly can give us the peace of God. (22:19) Psalm 81 says, (22:21) O give ear, shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock, (22:26) you who are enthroned above the cherubim, shine forth. (22:32) If you need this shepherd to shepherd your life, get you back on track, (22:37) now is the invitation time.

(22:39) You can come forward and we’ll be so happy to pray for you. (22:43) Come as we stand and sing.