© 2015 J.D. Shaw 1 “Abundant Life,” John 10:1-10 (May 3, 2015

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“Abundant Life,” John 10:1-10 (May 3, 2015) “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. 2  But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3  To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4  When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5  A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6   This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. 7  

So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8  All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9  I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 10   The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. PRAY I am very excited to have made it to chapter ten of the gospel of John. Lord willing, we will wrap up for this spring our study on John on May 17, so that gives us three weeks to cover chapter ten. We plan to come back to John next spring and pick up in chapter eleven. But in chapter ten, our text for the next few weeks, we get this very famous passage where Jesus says that he is the good shepherd. A very familiar passage to a lot of you, I’m sure. God as the shepherd of his people is a very common theme in the Bible. We see in prominently in Ezekiel 34, where God says he will set over his people one shepherd who will lead them. We see this frequents in the New Testament as well, particularly in 1 Peter. Peter in 2:25 describes Jesus as the Shepherd and Overseer of the souls of Christians, and later in 5:4 Peter calls Jesus the “Chief Shepherd.” And in Hebrews 13, the author of that book also calls Jesus “the great shepherd of his sheep.” Now, next week I hope we will look in great detail at Jesus and his role as the shepherd. But our focus will be a little different this morning. If Jesus is the shepherd, then who are the sheep? We are – Christians. Those who have given their lives to Christ and trusted him for their salvation. If you are a Christian, that means you are a sheep. Sheep were everywhere in Jesus’ day; they were one of the main commodities of ancient Israel. So of course it makes sense that Jesus would use sheep to try and illustrate certain eternal, biblical truths. Now, in this text, we have several different characters and settings. We have thieves and robbers, we have the sheep pen, we have the sheep, we have the shepherd, we have the gate, we have the gatekeeper. And some preachers get really creative and try to make the entire text into one big allegory, and assign precise meanings to each piece. The sheep

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pen is, according to some teachers, Israel, or heaven, or the church. The gatekeeper is the Holy Spirit, or the Father, or Jesus, or the church. Indeed, if you read ten different commentators who try to make the whole thing into an allegory, you’ll inevitably get ten different answers. So probably, almost certainly, Jesus was not constructing a precise allegory out of these verses. That was John Calvin’s view: he said “it is useless … to scrutinize too closely every part of this parable.” But everyone agrees that in these verses Christians are the sheep, and that Christ is the shepherd. That’s what we need to focus on, and from this passage I want to show you three things about yourself as sheep: first, you are prey. Second, you must be led. Third, you will be fed. First, you are prey. Now, it’s so interesting – Christians, consider all the different animals God could have called us in the Bible. Animals that, frankly, are more flattering than sheep. He could have said that Christians are hawks, or lions, or tigers, or blue whales, or elephants, or rhinoceroses, or even coyotes – I think I might have taken that over sheep. Why does he do that? Not because sheep are dumb. That’s what you hear from a lot of preachers – sheep are dumb, God calls Christians sheep, so Christians must be dumb. Not at all. Actually, I’ve read this past week from at least one source that sheep are intelligent. I’m not sure how you measure sheep intelligence, not sure what that IQ test is like, but that’s what one of the commentators said. But God, I’m sure, does not call his people sheep because they are dumb. We are not dumb, Christians. In 1 Corinthians 2:16, we are told that we have the mind of Christ. And in Romans 12:2 we are told that as Christians we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. God doesn’t call Christians sheep because they are dumb, or because we smell bad (sheep do smell bad). Rather, God calls us sheep because sheep are the most helpless, defenseless animal on the face of the earth. Sheep are easy prey. They can’t defend themselves, they can’t even run well when attacked. So, wild animals prey on sheep, but so do people. Re-read verse 1: “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber.” Livestock rustling, stealing cattle and sheep, was a real problem in the ancient world. In fact, it’s still a problem today. There was a man in my church in Louisiana who was an investigator with the state of Louisiana’s Agriculture Department, and part of his job was to go to all the sale barns to see if any stolen cattle were brought to market. I asked him one time, “How do you know if a calf or a sheep is stolen or not?” My dad raised cows, and we just identified them with numbers tagged to their ears, so if someone clipped the number off we would have had no idea whether a calf was ours or not. He said, “You don’t so much by the animal itself but by how the people brought the animal to the auction.” He said if someone pulled up to an auction in a car, popped the trunk, and pulled a calf out, then, probably, that guy is not a legitimate cattle farmer. Odds are that person had stolen that animal in the hopes of selling it for drug money.

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Sheep are easy prey, and Christians so are you. You have a target on your back. There are thieves and robbers looking to climb into the sheep pen and carry you off where they can do with you whatever they will, get from you whatever they can. Fleece you. Ezekiel, the Old Testament prophet, foretold this in his book: “The word of the LORD came to me: 2  “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord GOD: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? 3  You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. 4  The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them. 5  So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts.” Ezekiel 34:1-5. Now, who are these shepherds of Israel who are fleecing and killing the sheep rather than watching out for them? They are the teachers, the pastors, of ancient Israel. Their job was to teach the people of God the law of God, to faithfully care for them and instruct them, yet instead they used their position of influence and power to enrich themselves at the people’s expense. These shepherds did not care about their sheep. And I doubt I have to tell you that this is still a problem today. Religion is a powerful tool in the hands of unscrupulous people. Many, many men and women have used their positions as Christian pastors and teachers to simply get rich. Just a few years ago Charles Grassley, Senator from Iowa, opened an investigation into the tax exempt status of six of the wealthiest televangelists in America: Paula White, Joyce Meyer, Creflo Dollar, Eddie Long, Kenneth Copeland and Benny Hinn. Now I’m not in favor of starving the preacher, I’m not a supporter of poor pastors, but it nearly boggles the mind when you read the kind of income and net worth these televangelists have, and it’s hard not to think of them in the context of Ezekiel 34. Slaughtering the sheep, wearing the wool, profiting from the meat, and letting the lost and the injured fend for themselves. Now I may be completely wrong about this, but I don’t think many people in our church think of themselves as the potential prey of false teachers, false shepherds. I would imagine that must of us in this church think we’re too savvy for that, we know too much Scripture for that. “I don’t even watch those channels, J.D.” And I certainly hope that’s true, and I surely hope no one thinks of the leadership of this church as simply out to slaughter the sheep for our own profit. It may be true you’re too savvy to be taken in by television preachers, but you’re still prey. You’re still sheep. You still have a target on your back. Greedy preachers and televangelists with bad hair aren’t the only ones trying to crawl over the wall of the sheep pen and get to you.

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Who is? The evil trinity: the world, the flesh, and the devil. The world (that is, the temptations to sin that come from the world around you), the flesh (the temptations to sin that come from within you), and the devil (the spiritual forces of evil that want to lead you astray). This unholy trinity climbs into the sheep pen so that they can steal, kill, and destroy. “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.” John 10:10a. And the way they get to you is through lies. So, maybe you would never believe Benny Hinn when he says if you just have enough faith to give him money, then you’ll get rich. But you believe the lie when you feel in your bones that if you just continually give more of your life to your career and making money, then no doubt you’ll be happy. You’d never believe a word Joyce Meyer says about how to raise children, but you believe the lie when you feel that the academic and athletic development of your children is more important than their spiritual and moral development, so your kids know you care way more about the former than you do the latter in their life. It’s clear from how much you talk about the one and how little you talk about the other. You’d never believe a word Kenneth Copeland says about healthy relationships, yet you believe the lie when you feel the lie that sex outside of marriage is natural and ok, that you can’t ask for forgiveness when you mess up because it will demonstrate weakness, and that basically the people in your life exist to serve you, not the other way around. Those lies are the way the thieves and the robbers get you out of the sheep pen, so that they can slaughter you. We are all susceptible to them. The unholy trinity knows what lies we are most susceptible to and uses them cunningly on us. And no matter how savvy you may think you are, please make no mistake: you’re still sheep. You may be savvy sheep, but you’re still sheep, so you’re still prey. Second, you must be led. Let’s read verses 2-5, but first a little commentary: in ancient Israel, each village had a common pen for all the different flocks owned by the different people in town, and the various owners would pay one person to keep watch at night so predators or thieves wouldn’t take any away. It was a good way for the sheep owners to cut down costs. Then, in the morning, when time came to feed the flock, each individual shepherd would come, one by one to the door of the sheep pen. 2  

But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3  To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4   When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5  A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers. John 10:2-5. I’ve been around cows a lot, I’ve never been around sheep. But because the shepherd/sheep relationship is such a common biblical theme, there are all these books for preachers out there to acquaint the uninitiated in the ways of sheep. And apparently it is literally true that shepherds and their flock get so close to one another that the sheep know their shepherd’s voice. They know his unique tone, and they recognize his

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particular sounds and inflections. They listen to him. When he comes to the gate of the pen and calls them, they really do come to him. Sheep know their shepherd so well that they will come to him when he calls, when he whistles, when he clicks, but they will not respond to stranger. In fact, stranger can say the exact same things and make the same noises to the sheep and they will not move; they’ll stay in the pen. Now here’s the question: friends, do you know the voice of your shepherd like that? Do you know Jesus’ words, his phrases, his sounds and inflections like that? The problem with too many Christians is that we cannot distinguish between the voice of our shepherd and the voice of a stranger. What does a stranger, a thief come to do? He comes to steal, kill, and destroy (that’s verse 10). So when those lies come we must immediately recognize them for what they are, the lies of a stranger, and reject them. Any pause, any hesitation, in trying to discern whose voice is whose can lead to disaster. We must know our shepherd’s voice. “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ …” 2 Corinthians 10:5. Every thought – when every thought is at stake we must know our shepherd’s voice instinctively. We must feel his voice in our bones when he calls us. You say, “Is it really that bad? Is it really necessary that we know Jesus’ words that well? Instinctively?” Yes, or you’ll give the stranger a foothold in your life. So, for example, you’re in a discussion with someone – could be anyone: spouse, friend, child, parent, co-worker. And that person says something that really rubs you the wrong way. Maybe they meant to do it, maybe they meant to provoke you, maybe they didn’t. But you have a choice in that instant, whether to reply in anger or not. To say something harsh in reply, or not. If you don’t know your shepherd’s voice in your bones, if you don’t know it on instinct, if you hesitate, you’ll blurt something out you regret. You must know the shepherd’s voice! James 1:19-20: “My dear brothers, take note of this: everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.” Anger, that’s just one example: we could talk about hundred. When the temptation to lust comes, it doesn’t wait on anyone. It needs an immediate response, like this one from Ephesians 5:2a: “But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality …” (NIV 1984). Money, pride, telling the truth, laziness, career, friendships. In every area of life, you must be able to distinguish in an instant, or you’ll experience the work of the stranger, the thief, in your life – stealing, killing, destroying. And how do we get to the point to where we know the shepherd’s voice that well, so that he can lead us just by speaking one word to us and we immediately follow? How do sheep get to know their shepherd’s voice? Is it natural? Is this something sheep are born

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with? No, they get to know their shepherd’s voice simply because they spend a lot of time around their shepherd, so they are always hearing it. We’ll learn more about this next Sunday, but sheep are always around their shepherd. The way we get to know our shepherd’s voice is by hearing it all the time. Do you want to be led by your shepherd? Then get immersed in his Word. Get to know the Bible. This means you must read the Bible on your own, of course. In the church in America today we have more copies of the Bible per capita than at any other time in the history of Christianity. How many copies do you have? And on top of that every imaginable version of the Bible is available to you free on the internet. Never before as the shepherd’s voice been so accessible to you – are you listening to him? Are you learning it? But, individual Bible reading isn’t the only way, and in fact is not the best way, to know your shepherd’s voice. As long as Bible reading has been around, it’s always been the secondary source, not the primary. What’s the primary source? Preaching. Now, I’ll admit, there’s a conflict of interest when a preacher tells you how important preaching is. But a conflict of interest doesn’t always mean that you automatically recuse yourself from the matter at hand. Sometimes it’s just required that you recognize it’s there are move forward anyway. That’s what I’ll do this morning. Individual Bible reading, while good and right and necessary, has always been a secondary to preaching. Good, gospel preaching, where the preacher has studied the Bible and gets the text right and applies it carefully to the lives of his people, combined with friends to whom people can go afterward and discuss the Word with friends (like our community groups, meeting tonight, by the way) and apply it in more detail and with an additional level of care – that’s how you get to know the shepherd’s voice. And know it reflexively, as if on instinct. Most people, most of the time, when they read the Bible by themselves, get pretty little out of it. If that’s been your experience, don’t feel bad about. That was certainly the case with me before I was exposed to gospel preaching that fed my soul. But once the Bible has been opened to you through faithful gospel preaching, and when you’ve had the experience of processing and talking about the Bible with other Christians, and this goes on over a period of years and years, then individual Bible reading becomes a powerful, supplementary tool to teach you the nuances, the particular sounds and inflections, of your shepherd’s voice, so that one by instinct you hear the words of Jesus in any given circumstance. Sheep will be led. Now, where will the shepherd lead you? Third, sheep will be fed. Verses 9-10: 9  I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 10  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

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Sheep must be led in order to be fed. Sheep are extreme creatures of habit. They always go to the same spot to eat. They won’t graze the way cows will graze. Cows will eat and walk, eat and walk, eat and walk. All in one direction on a hillside, then they’ll angle back across the field in a different way. Not sheep. If you leave them alone in a field to feed, they will eat the grass in one spot all the way down to the root, and then they’ll eat the root. Nothing will be left but dirt, and then the sheep will starve. Friends, you need to know, you are just like that. What we are tempted to do all the time is find one thing – one spot in a pasture – that feeds us and keep going back to it. So, you remember what it was like when you had your first real boyfriend or girlfriend? Middle school or high school? You remember how exciting that was? This is all I’ll ever need – this boy, this girl. But six months later you think, “What in the world did I see in him?” What happened? You ate the grass all the way down to the root, you ate the root, and there was nothing left. We can make fun of kids for that, but how many of us do it, too? We think just one or two things in our life – one or two places in the pasture – will make us happy. You know, if my work life and my sex life are going along okay (those two spots in the pasture), then I’ll be happy. That’s all I need. You know, if I can just find a few friends and if my kids are happy, then I’ll be ok. You know, if I can just make a little more money and lose a little weight, then I’ll be happy. But do you know what you’ll find? You’ll either find no grass in that part of the pasture (you won’t get those things), or you’ll find some grass (you will get those things) but before long you’ll eat even the roots and you’ll look up from the dirt and say, “Why isn’t this satisfying me the way I thought it would?” There was a time when I thought that making the basketball team would solve all my problems. Then I thought getting into a fraternity would solve all my problems. Then I thought getting married would solve all my problems. Then I thought getting a job would solve all my problems. Then I thought changing careers and being a preacher would solve all my problems. But none of them did, and none of them ever will. The only thing that will feed your soul is to be led by your shepherd into green pastures, otherwise you’ll be left in the dirt. Once you understand that, the poignancy of the 23d Psalm becomes all the more clear. Psalm 23:1-3: “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2  He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. 3  He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.” Green pastures. In other words, if you follow the shepherd’s voice he will continually lead you into new experiences of his mercy and his grace and his love and you will find restoration for your soul. These experiences can and will take a thousand different forms

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(they will almost certainly involve serving other more and being served less, and it will mean you won’t hoard your possessions, but will give them away), but they will all ultimately restore your soul. Now, admittedly, some of these green pastures that you’ll be led to are places you’d never have volunteered to go. Notice, the shepherd in Psalm 23 has to make the sheep go there. You know, you have to cross a stream to get there, and you don’t want to get wet. Or you have to climb over a ridge to get there, or walk along a narrow mountain path. It’s scary. But the good shepherd, Jesus Christ, will take you there anyway, because a good shepherd will do what is good for his sheep whether they want it or not. Elisabeth Elliot, missionary and writer, once told a true story about how she was visiting with some farmers, some shepherds, in the highlands of Northern Wales. She found out that once a year they have to take their sheep and dip them in a vat of insecticide. Otherwise, the insects would literally eat the sheep. It’s very hard on the sheep because you have to grab the sheep by the feet up here and the hind legs and just immerse them so they’re submerged for something like 15 seconds. And even though it’s exactly what the sheep need, none of them like it. I just want you to know that. As Elisabeth Elliot looked at that and she was thinking about herself as a sheep and the Lord as her Shepherd, she says, “I know what that’s like, because my Shepherd has done that to me quite a lot over the years.” But you know what you will always find on the other side of the shepherd’s voice? Abundant life. Green pastures. That’s the promise, if you’ll let the Great Shepherd lead you. We are sheep. But he is the shepherd. You say, “How can I trust him?” There’s a hymn that goes like this: “Savior, like a shepherd lead us, much we need thy tender care; in thy pleasant pastures feed us, for our use thy folds prepare. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus, thou hast bought us, Thine we are; Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus, Thou hast bought us, Thine we are.” Jesus bought us on the cross. Jesus paid for you with his blood on the cross, he’s committed to you, so you can trust him. No other shepherd, certainly no stranger, has given himself to you. They came to steal and kill and destroy. The Great Shepherd gave his life so that you might have it abundantly. Friends, give your life to him. PRAY

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