The Lord Our Shepherd (John 10:1-21)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:03.480 If you're able to remain standing, please do and let's turn to John Ten, 2 00:00:03.720 --> 00:00:07.000 so that we might hear of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. 3 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:14.310 John Ten, verses one through ten, will be our focus today, but 4 00:00:14.349 --> 00:00:18.910 I'm going to read one through Twenty One, the Gospel of John Chapter Ten. 5 00:00:20.309 --> 00:00:23.899 Truly truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the 6 00:00:23.980 --> 00:00:28.059 sheep fold by the door, but climbs in by another way, that man 7 00:00:28.300 --> 00:00:32.899 is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is 8 00:00:33.060 --> 00:00:38.729 the shepherd of the sheep. To him, the gate keeper opens the sheep 9 00:00:38.810 --> 00:00:42.210 here his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 10 00:00:42.810 --> 00:00:46.289 When he has brought them brought out all his own. He goes before 11 00:00:46.329 --> 00:00:51.079 them and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger, 12 00:00:51.200 --> 00:00:55.200 they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they 13 00:00:55.280 --> 00:01:00.200 do not know the voice of strangers. This figure of speech Jesus used with 14 00:01:00.280 --> 00:01:03.200 them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. So 15 00:01:03.390 --> 00:01:07.750 Jesus again said to them. Truly truly, I say to you, I 16 00:01:08.269 --> 00:01:12.750 am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and 17 00:01:12.829 --> 00:01:18.109 robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. 18 00:01:18.900 --> 00:01:23.060 If any one enters by me, he will be saved and will go 19 00:01:23.260 --> 00:01:27.579 in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill 20 00:01:27.659 --> 00:01:33.209 and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 21 00:01:34.650 --> 00:01:38.450 I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the 22 00:01:38.569 --> 00:01:42.329 sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, to who 23 00:01:42.409 --> 00:01:45.569 does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves, and the 24 00:01:45.689 --> 00:01:49.120 sheep leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 25 00:01:49.920 --> 00:01:55.000 He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 26 00:01:55.959 --> 00:01:59.519 I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own and my own know 27 00:01:59.719 --> 00:02:04.030 me, just as the father knows me and I know the father. And 28 00:02:04.230 --> 00:02:07.790 I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that 29 00:02:07.870 --> 00:02:10.110 are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will 30 00:02:10.150 --> 00:02:15.430 listen to my voice, so there will be one flock, one shepherd. 31 00:02:15.099 --> 00:02:19.340 For this reason, the father loves me, because I lay down my life 32 00:02:19.659 --> 00:02:22.979 that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, 33 00:02:23.620 --> 00:02:27.699 but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay 34 00:02:27.740 --> 00:02:31.210 it down and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I 35 00:02:31.330 --> 00:02:37.289 have received from my father. There was again a division among the Jews because 36 00:02:37.330 --> 00:02:42.490 of his words. Many of them said he has a demon and is insane. 37 00:02:42.610 --> 00:02:46.599 Why listen to him? Others said these are not the words of one 38 00:02:46.680 --> 00:02:50.680 who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the 39 00:02:50.719 --> 00:02:55.759 BL mind? As the reading of God's Word for the moment, you may 40 00:02:55.800 --> 00:03:02.270 be seated. Well, this passage in John Chapter ten is famously known as 41 00:03:02.349 --> 00:03:07.750 the Good Shepherd passage. In the Bible that I'm reading from here, the 42 00:03:07.830 --> 00:03:12.789 editors have added a little heading that says I am the Good Shepherd, and 43 00:03:12.979 --> 00:03:17.379 indeed Jesus says says that. But before he says that, before he talks 44 00:03:17.419 --> 00:03:22.620 about himself as the Good Shepherd, he also talks about himself as the door. 45 00:03:23.819 --> 00:03:25.979 Perhaps you noticed that in verse nine he says I am the door, 46 00:03:27.330 --> 00:03:30.330 on parallel to the way he says I am the Good Shepherd. A later 47 00:03:30.530 --> 00:03:38.370 on, Jesus gives a little parable here at the beginning of John Ten, 48 00:03:38.969 --> 00:03:43.159 and he gives an explanation of it, and then he comes back around and 49 00:03:43.360 --> 00:03:47.560 he talks about it again, and there are various ways and things that we 50 00:03:47.680 --> 00:03:53.919 ought to ways of understanding this and things we ought to to take from it. 51 00:03:54.400 --> 00:04:00.590 Before we do that, I want you just to notice that this comes 52 00:04:00.629 --> 00:04:03.750 in connection with what has happened before. In John Nine, remember how the 53 00:04:04.030 --> 00:04:08.870 the this passage that I undread ends. The people say, how could he 54 00:04:08.949 --> 00:04:12.419 be oppressed by a demon? He's open the eyes of the blind. They 55 00:04:12.460 --> 00:04:15.539 are, of course, talking about the blind man, that he's just healed 56 00:04:15.339 --> 00:04:21.540 and will come back to him at the end of the sermon. Here, 57 00:04:21.579 --> 00:04:28.810 at the beginning, Jesus gives this parable, a parable that makes a distinction 58 00:04:29.009 --> 00:04:35.129 between a true shepherds and false shepherds as they relate to Jesus. As the 59 00:04:35.290 --> 00:04:41.399 door earlier, I mentioned that that passage in Matthew, Chapter Twenty five is 60 00:04:41.480 --> 00:04:45.759 in some ways parallel to this, because we have people that are either ministering 61 00:04:45.800 --> 00:04:53.870 or not ministering to the sheep. Jesus says, those who cared for his 62 00:04:54.110 --> 00:04:58.790 sheep, those who loved them, cared for him, they followed his will 63 00:04:58.910 --> 00:05:01.029 in this way, those who did not minister, but, to put it 64 00:05:01.069 --> 00:05:08.060 in terms of John Ten, killed and destroyed and stole, those do not 65 00:05:08.300 --> 00:05:13.620 belong to him. Those are thieves, those are robbers, those are people 66 00:05:13.740 --> 00:05:19.220 that are there to harm the sheep. I had an opportunity this summer to 67 00:05:19.300 --> 00:05:26.009 meet with a few of the young men from our in our church here and 68 00:05:26.290 --> 00:05:30.810 we went through a little book called called to the Ministry by a man named 69 00:05:30.850 --> 00:05:36.120 Edmund Clowney. Ed Clowney was a Presbyterian Minister and the OILLPC and the PCA, 70 00:05:36.360 --> 00:05:45.199 served a number of churches and also was a seminary professor at both Westminster's 71 00:05:45.279 --> 00:05:48.519 and Philadelphia and an Escondido. And this little book that he wrote, called 72 00:05:48.560 --> 00:05:54.709 to the ministry, is often given to young men who are considering going to 73 00:05:54.750 --> 00:05:57.949 the ministry and it's asked this question. It's a way to help you ask 74 00:05:58.069 --> 00:06:01.709 this question. Am I called? Should I join the ministry? Should I 75 00:06:01.750 --> 00:06:08.699 become a Minister of the Gospel? And the question am I called? Is 76 00:06:08.779 --> 00:06:15.259 answered this way. Yes, everyone is called to the ministry, ed Clowne, 77 00:06:15.300 --> 00:06:20.769 he says. Perhaps not in a full time official capacity as an ordained 78 00:06:20.810 --> 00:06:25.050 minister, but we all, he says, and rightly says, have a 79 00:06:25.170 --> 00:06:29.689 responsibility. Right. This is Jesus's Point in Matthew, Chapter Twenty Five. 80 00:06:29.810 --> 00:06:31.810 There are people who said what? When did you say? I was supposed 81 00:06:31.810 --> 00:06:34.839 to take care of people? When was I supposed to take care of you? 82 00:06:35.360 --> 00:06:40.079 Where was my ministry? And he says you failed to do it in 83 00:06:40.160 --> 00:06:47.029 these regards, you are a goat depart from me. So we have passages 84 00:06:47.189 --> 00:06:53.509 like these, we have passages like John Ten, we have passages like Colossians 85 00:06:53.509 --> 00:06:57.829 three hundred and fifteen, which says that to the church, and Colossius says 86 00:06:57.829 --> 00:07:02.939 let the word of Christ dwell in you, richly teaching and admonishing one another 87 00:07:03.060 --> 00:07:10.019 with all wisdom. Each of us are shepherds in a way. In some 88 00:07:10.220 --> 00:07:15.889 way or another, God has given put people around us in our lives, 89 00:07:15.610 --> 00:07:19.970 often family and friends, and perhaps a few people at Church as well, 90 00:07:20.170 --> 00:07:26.290 that he gives us some responsibility for to teach, to admonish, to sing 91 00:07:26.410 --> 00:07:30.079 with, to dwell together, which Richly Im with the word of Christ. 92 00:07:31.959 --> 00:07:35.680 So in a way we get to approach this passage in a couple different ways. 93 00:07:38.079 --> 00:07:41.920 One way is to think about ourselves as the sheep right. WHO ARE 94 00:07:42.079 --> 00:07:46.910 TRUSTING CERTAIN SHEPHERDS? WHO's a wolf and WHO's not? WHO's a hired hand 95 00:07:46.949 --> 00:07:49.629 and WHO's not? WHO's a thief, who's a robber and who's a true 96 00:07:49.670 --> 00:07:55.029 shepherd. That should matter to you as one who belongs to the Lord. 97 00:07:55.870 --> 00:07:59.899 But we can also approach this passage all as shepherds. What is my job? 98 00:08:00.100 --> 00:08:03.459 What is my responsibility? What does it look like for me to CARE 99 00:08:03.699 --> 00:08:13.649 FOR THE LAMBS OF CHRIST? So let's consider that. First, with Jesus's 100 00:08:13.730 --> 00:08:18.449 distinction that he makes in versus one and two. He says he who does 101 00:08:18.569 --> 00:08:24.689 not enter the sheep fold by the door, but climbs in another way, 102 00:08:24.889 --> 00:08:28.920 that man is a thief and a robber, but he who enters by the 103 00:08:28.160 --> 00:08:33.519 door is the sheep of the shepherd. So goods. If you are drawing 104 00:08:33.679 --> 00:08:37.200 notes on your bulletins, or adults, if you are drawing notes on your 105 00:08:37.240 --> 00:08:43.350 bulletins, you can draw a sort of square, but leave off one side 106 00:08:43.990 --> 00:08:50.789 right, and that's your sheepfold. This is a enclosed area where the sheep 107 00:08:50.830 --> 00:08:54.629 are put into and on the open side that's where the gate is, right. 108 00:08:54.710 --> 00:08:56.860 Does that make sense? So you have one open side of your square 109 00:08:56.940 --> 00:09:01.820 and the sheep go in and out through that gate. If you are out 110 00:09:01.860 --> 00:09:05.539 in the desert, for example, with your sheep and you're wandering around, 111 00:09:05.620 --> 00:09:09.210 you're looking for food. You're taking them to various places and you need to 112 00:09:09.289 --> 00:09:13.210 put them into a protected place. You're going to try and find a place 113 00:09:13.370 --> 00:09:16.490 like this, try to find an enclosed place where you can block off one 114 00:09:16.690 --> 00:09:20.009 side and and guard it and protect it. And that's at your door, 115 00:09:20.250 --> 00:09:26.440 that's your gate. And what Jesus is saying is that the the true shepherd, 116 00:09:26.559 --> 00:09:30.360 goes in and out through the gate, and thieves and robbers they don't 117 00:09:30.360 --> 00:09:33.039 use the gate, they don't use the door, they go in over the 118 00:09:33.240 --> 00:09:41.789 side or the back. Now let's continue going on and then we'll come back 119 00:09:41.950 --> 00:09:43.710 through this in the way that Jesus explains the parable. So let's just first 120 00:09:43.750 --> 00:09:46.710 listen to the parable and see what he has to say. So first and 121 00:09:46.789 --> 00:09:50.350 verse is one and two. He makes this distinction. The second thing he 122 00:09:50.470 --> 00:09:56.740 says in verses three through five is the shepherd's relationship to two groups, one 123 00:09:56.259 --> 00:10:01.620 to the gatekeeper and too, to the sheep. So his relationship to the 124 00:10:01.659 --> 00:10:05.539 gatekeeper is a good one to him. The True Shepherd, that is the 125 00:10:05.659 --> 00:10:11.570 gatekeeper, opens the gate. He opens the gate and to the shape we 126 00:10:11.690 --> 00:10:16.370 read that he hears his voice, or the sheep hear his voice, and 127 00:10:16.529 --> 00:10:20.129 he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has 128 00:10:20.169 --> 00:10:24.879 brought out all his own he goes before them and the sheep follow him for 129 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:35.600 they know his voice. I read story about this in which there were person 130 00:10:35.750 --> 00:10:39.750 was describing seeing this in action, where there were multiple shepherds with multiple flocks 131 00:10:41.190 --> 00:10:46.750 that brought the their sheep together into sort of a circle and then surrounded that 132 00:10:46.950 --> 00:10:52.299 circle of multiple flocks with various tents for the night. So they sort of 133 00:10:52.580 --> 00:10:58.700 they kind of created a sheep folded away by the shepherds with their various tents. 134 00:10:58.620 --> 00:11:01.620 Well, in the morning they have you have this large body of sheep 135 00:11:01.700 --> 00:11:07.129 and the shepherds then go out of the circle at different points and do their 136 00:11:07.210 --> 00:11:13.730 very their particular calls to the sheep, and then the sheep then filter out 137 00:11:13.809 --> 00:11:18.960 of that circle at the appropriate place and go to their particular shepherd. I 138 00:11:18.120 --> 00:11:24.080 heard another story about a lady who had had her sheep taken away from her 139 00:11:24.559 --> 00:11:28.240 and they were inclosed and again mixed in with a bunch of other people. 140 00:11:28.679 --> 00:11:33.990 She was then released from her captors and she said, I want to take 141 00:11:33.990 --> 00:11:37.350 my sheep with me. Well, good luck. Right there, they're in 142 00:11:37.429 --> 00:11:39.509 there with all these other people sheep. How will you know which one? 143 00:11:39.629 --> 00:11:43.149 She says, they'll hear my voice, they'll recognize it. And sure enough, 144 00:11:43.549 --> 00:11:48.019 she she I think there was a whistle or something that she used, 145 00:11:48.340 --> 00:11:54.100 and all of a sudden certain little head started bobbing and out came her sheep. 146 00:11:54.220 --> 00:12:01.259 So the shepherd has this particular relationship with his particular sheep. He also 147 00:12:01.259 --> 00:12:07.169 has a relationship with this gatekeeper who opens and closes. So why is any 148 00:12:07.210 --> 00:12:09.490 of this important? Right? Here's the here's the the picture Jesus gives. 149 00:12:09.769 --> 00:12:15.649 The people have trouble understanding it in verse six. So he explains in verses 150 00:12:15.690 --> 00:12:20.159 seven through ten, and here's what he says. He says, I am 151 00:12:20.320 --> 00:12:26.440 the door of the sheep. Truly, truly, I am the door of 152 00:12:26.559 --> 00:12:30.750 the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the 153 00:12:30.870 --> 00:12:33.389 sheep did not listen to them. Right. So the thieves and robbers, 154 00:12:33.470 --> 00:12:39.029 the sheep don't listen to them. Thieves come to steal and kill and destroy. 155 00:12:41.350 --> 00:12:46.899 So what is Jesus saying? He is saying that he has a relationship, 156 00:12:46.019 --> 00:12:50.299 then, with the shepherd and the sheep in this way. Later he 157 00:12:50.419 --> 00:12:54.620 will talk about himself as the shepherd, but hold off from that till next 158 00:12:54.620 --> 00:12:58.210 week. For now, he's saying, think of me as the door. 159 00:13:00.690 --> 00:13:05.970 The true shepherds, the good shepherds, use the door. They take the 160 00:13:07.090 --> 00:13:13.519 sheep in and out through me. The gatekeeper, which many commentators, and 161 00:13:13.559 --> 00:13:16.360 I would agree with this, would say, is the Holy Spirit. The 162 00:13:16.519 --> 00:13:20.559 gatekeeper is the one who opens that door. He is the one who lets 163 00:13:20.639 --> 00:13:26.480 us come in and out through Christ, hearing the Voice of Christ, in 164 00:13:26.679 --> 00:13:33.269 the shepherd of Christ, who uses only Christ to call the sheep. The 165 00:13:33.429 --> 00:13:39.909 connection between the shepherds call, the under Shepherd's call and the greater shepherds call 166 00:13:41.070 --> 00:13:45.899 is, of course, because he speaks the word of Jesus. Jesus, 167 00:13:45.940 --> 00:13:48.779 as we sang in one of our hymns, himself, speaks his own word. 168 00:13:50.500 --> 00:13:54.299 Jesus is not a shepherd for someone else. He calls the sheep by 169 00:13:54.419 --> 00:14:00.169 his own name, and those who serve under Jesus don't call by their names, 170 00:14:00.330 --> 00:14:05.809 but they call by his. And so Edmund Clowney in this book called 171 00:14:05.850 --> 00:14:09.080 to the ministry. One of the things he emphasizes is how important it is 172 00:14:09.440 --> 00:14:16.360 that the Christian Ministry be, unsurprisingly, tied to Christ and to Christ alone, 173 00:14:16.159 --> 00:14:20.679 and for anyone who might have heard or known a little bit about this. 174 00:14:20.879 --> 00:14:28.909 Particular theologian, Ed Clowney, was known particularly for being extremely Christ centered. 175 00:14:28.669 --> 00:14:33.429 He understood this the core of his being, that to be a true 176 00:14:33.509 --> 00:14:39.820 minister meant to preach Christ, to teach Christ, because that is where the 177 00:14:39.980 --> 00:14:45.779 sheep have life and have it abundantly. Those who steal, those who rob, 178 00:14:46.100 --> 00:14:48.940 those who destroy, they kill the sheep, they take from the sheep, 179 00:14:50.019 --> 00:14:54.129 they harm the sheep. But those who use the door, what does 180 00:14:54.169 --> 00:15:00.250 Jesus say? Jesus says in verse ten the thief comes only to steal and 181 00:15:00.289 --> 00:15:05.769 kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 182 00:15:07.200 --> 00:15:11.000 There is freedom in this image of going in and out, in and 183 00:15:11.320 --> 00:15:16.799 out, led by the Voice of the shepherd who speaks the words of Christ, 184 00:15:16.840 --> 00:15:22.029 who uses the words of the door, who the WHO is in step 185 00:15:22.149 --> 00:15:26.830 with the spirit, who is opening that door, because it is all of 186 00:15:26.990 --> 00:15:35.740 Christ. If you want an example of this, you can go to chapter 187 00:15:35.820 --> 00:15:45.539 nine. Consider the Pharisees. Right here is this blind man who's just been 188 00:15:45.980 --> 00:15:50.850 healed by Jesus. What do they do? Do they take care of this 189 00:15:52.090 --> 00:15:54.289 man? Do they comfort this man? Do they love this man. Do 190 00:15:54.409 --> 00:15:58.929 they say, let's go back to Jesus, maybe there's more for you. 191 00:15:58.490 --> 00:16:03.730 Do they do they take him to him? No, they mock him, 192 00:16:03.639 --> 00:16:07.080 this man, this bland, who had been blind from birth and is now 193 00:16:07.120 --> 00:16:11.200 healed. They mock him, they shame him, they publicly humiliate him and 194 00:16:11.600 --> 00:16:18.750 then they cast him out of the Church or out of the synagogue. If 195 00:16:18.830 --> 00:16:22.830 that is an example, that to me sounds like an example of a thief 196 00:16:22.190 --> 00:16:30.350 and a robber and someone who is destroying the lambs of God. Interestingly, 197 00:16:30.429 --> 00:16:34.860 the blind man actually ends up becoming a shepherd himself. You remember that the 198 00:16:34.899 --> 00:16:38.580 way he has healed. Jesus puts mud on his eyes and tells him to 199 00:16:38.620 --> 00:16:44.220 go wash in the pool of Sylom, which means scent. So he goes 200 00:16:44.299 --> 00:16:48.169 to this, as one commentator said, this kind of missionary pool. He 201 00:16:48.529 --> 00:16:52.529 his eyes are cleansed, his eyes are healed, he comes out and then, 202 00:16:52.649 --> 00:16:56.850 in all of the persecution that he's facing, he just keeps telling the 203 00:16:56.009 --> 00:17:03.360 truth about what Jesus, about who Jesus. He keeps testifying to the door 204 00:17:03.240 --> 00:17:07.319 that one healed me, that one healed me. Jesus tells him, I 205 00:17:07.359 --> 00:17:14.359 am the son of man, and he worships him and in this people believe. 206 00:17:15.269 --> 00:17:19.789 The blind man actually, though he was persecuted by these false shepherds, 207 00:17:21.109 --> 00:17:26.069 actually becomes in a way, a true shepherd himself, one who is testifying 208 00:17:26.230 --> 00:17:30.180 to the works of Christ. If you want another example of this, you 209 00:17:30.259 --> 00:17:33.740 could look at the woman, the woman of the well, at the well 210 00:17:33.859 --> 00:17:37.900 that Jesus met there. He speaks to her, he testifies to her, 211 00:17:38.059 --> 00:17:42.940 he tells her things about herself that she thought no one knew. And what 212 00:17:44.059 --> 00:17:48.130 does she do? She goes and she starts pointing to the door. She 213 00:17:48.289 --> 00:17:55.049 goes to her her to townspeople, and she says this is what happened, 214 00:17:55.250 --> 00:17:59.839 this is what he did, and they started coming out to Jesus and they 215 00:17:59.920 --> 00:18:07.039 started believing him. These are examples of teaching and admonishing and shepherding in a 216 00:18:07.200 --> 00:18:15.509 true way. By pointing to Christ. The Pharisees were afraid of Jesus. 217 00:18:15.589 --> 00:18:19.750 The Pharisees did not want to use the door. They were going to go 218 00:18:19.829 --> 00:18:25.069 any other way. They were going to but in doing so they were not 219 00:18:26.309 --> 00:18:33.380 helping the people at all. Instead they were harming the people. And there 220 00:18:33.420 --> 00:18:37.339 are many examples of this today. They are all kinds of other ways into 221 00:18:37.380 --> 00:18:44.490 the sheet fold that ultimately destroy and hurt the sheep. There are ways that 222 00:18:44.609 --> 00:18:49.529 people will try to a shepherd you, to teach you, to lead you, 223 00:18:51.130 --> 00:18:55.960 that are not through the door, that are not in Christ. They'll 224 00:18:56.000 --> 00:19:02.400 point to mystical strategies, they'll point to other gods, they'll point to particular 225 00:19:02.599 --> 00:19:06.720 teachers and books and say here's the only way or this is the only way, 226 00:19:06.759 --> 00:19:10.230 or pay attention to me, or all kinds of things. Sometimes, 227 00:19:11.190 --> 00:19:15.230 like the Pharisees, people will even use the Bible itself and true and good 228 00:19:15.470 --> 00:19:22.910 doctrines in a way that takes us away from Christ. Again, using the 229 00:19:22.950 --> 00:19:26.299 Pharisees an example, remember what their emphasis was. We are going to hold 230 00:19:26.420 --> 00:19:32.259 to the Sabbath and we are going to pound this truth. Now, of 231 00:19:32.339 --> 00:19:37.299 course they were constructing all kinds of man made things around it. They were 232 00:19:37.339 --> 00:19:41.369 not living as it or they were not following it as it was meant to 233 00:19:41.369 --> 00:19:47.250 be followed. But how is the Sabbath meant to be followed in Christ? 234 00:19:48.450 --> 00:19:52.250 It is in Christ that we have our rest, it's in Christ that we 235 00:19:52.329 --> 00:19:55.759 have our peace. How do we know this? The healing of the blind 236 00:19:55.839 --> 00:20:00.359 man on this if they he healed this man, he brought him restoration in 237 00:20:00.799 --> 00:20:07.119 life and peace and his body. That's what the Sabbath is about. That's 238 00:20:07.150 --> 00:20:10.869 what it's that's why we rest, that's why we celebrate, that's why we 239 00:20:11.269 --> 00:20:15.509 take one day out of seven to rest in the Lord Jesus. But the 240 00:20:15.670 --> 00:20:22.940 Pharisees were using this and using a biblical practice in a way to go around 241 00:20:22.980 --> 00:20:26.579 Christ, to have another way. And this happens in the church all the 242 00:20:26.700 --> 00:20:32.700 time. Sometimes there are churches, even where it seems like there is good 243 00:20:32.859 --> 00:20:37.849 doctrine and biblical emphasis, where Christ is still not present. What a sad 244 00:20:37.970 --> 00:20:41.609 thing that is, when Christ is the Christ of all the scriptures and the 245 00:20:41.769 --> 00:20:48.170 doctrines and the teachings all point to him and find their grounding and their source 246 00:20:48.730 --> 00:20:52.799 in him. It's the voice of your shepherd is not one that is pointing 247 00:20:52.839 --> 00:20:56.599 to the door. If Your Shepherd is leading you in and out through a 248 00:20:56.759 --> 00:21:03.039 different door other than Christ, he's not a true shepherd. And if you 249 00:21:03.319 --> 00:21:07.710 are doing that for other people, if you are encouraging them in the things 250 00:21:07.750 --> 00:21:11.990 of God through some other path other than this door, than you are not 251 00:21:12.309 --> 00:21:17.670 a true shepherd. This is, of course, the danger that we have. 252 00:21:18.740 --> 00:21:22.660 The good news is that Jesus is the supreme shepherd above all shepherds, 253 00:21:22.819 --> 00:21:26.779 and knows how to take care of his sheep, even when they're in bad 254 00:21:26.859 --> 00:21:33.890 situations and even when they're being naughty themselves. Jesus is the Good Shepherd and 255 00:21:33.970 --> 00:21:36.569 he knows how to guide us, he knows how to protect us, he 256 00:21:36.690 --> 00:21:40.089 knows how to keep us, and he doesn't do that by going somewhere else. 257 00:21:41.170 --> 00:21:45.170 He does that by grounding us in him. Why? Because he is 258 00:21:45.289 --> 00:21:48.680 the door, he is our life, and in him, him and in 259 00:21:48.799 --> 00:21:56.759 him, we have freedom and life abundantly. So if you want to belong 260 00:21:56.960 --> 00:22:00.240 to God, if you want to be one who is cared for and protected 261 00:22:00.430 --> 00:22:07.789 and loved and known, then enter in and out through Christ, belong to 262 00:22:07.910 --> 00:22:14.509 him, know to him. Put surround yourself by people who speak his words, 263 00:22:14.549 --> 00:22:18.619 who teach and admonish and all wisdom, and let the crought word of 264 00:22:18.660 --> 00:22:23.900 Christ dwell richly in them and in you, and be that kind of person 265 00:22:25.019 --> 00:22:29.500 yourself. Minister to others, is Christ has called you to do as a 266 00:22:29.579 --> 00:22:33.809 member of his body, bring and call others into that body and point them 267 00:22:33.890 --> 00:22:41.730 to Jesus. We're called Christians for a reason, because we are in Christ. 268 00:22:42.049 --> 00:22:47.160 May God keep us in him and never let us fall away. Let 269 00:22:47.240 --> 00:22:47.640 us pray