John 10 • The Heart of the King
Listen to the audio version of this message with the player below.
Sermon Notes
-
(This transcript was prepared using software tools and has not been reviewed for complete accuracy.)
I'll ask that you turn there in your Bibles to John 10. For many people, this may be the most favorite passage of Scripture. It's such a precious message. You almost hate to touch it to burst the bubble of its beauty.
The key verse is verse 11. We'll cover a lot more of the chapter as we go.
But verse 11, Jesus says, "I am the Good Shepherd."
The Good Shepherd lays down His life for His sheep. Why do we need to know that?
I think of a young woman some years ago in our church. She was the pride of our youth group. She was effervescent in personality, her eyes bright with welcome, her smile ready for anybody.
And then somehow as she got a little older, the smiles seemed to be a smirk as though she had inner knowledge of things that nobody else could see or understand.
And the eyes that had been so bright, a certain slyness crept in that others could not explain, that her parents could not explain. And I think even she could not explain.
What she was doing is she was loving her family, loving her school, but also hearing the voices of mature friends who were calling her to experiment in things that she had not done before. She wanted both. She wanted the approval of friends. She wanted the affection of her family, and it was tearing her apart. Even she did not really know who she was.
And her parents trying to help send her to my office, no way that she wanted to be there.
But because she wanted to deal with the turmoil, she tolerated me.
And even as we talked, her personality and her expressions went from joy to sarcasm,
tears to anger.
And at some point I asked her, "Which of these is real?
Is any of it real?"
And she said to me, "I don't know," which may have been the first true thing that she said in the whole time.
I can locate it in the experience of a teen, but you and I know that the question of which is the real me is at any phase of life. When we're living in two worlds responding to two voices, one life in church, another life at work.
One life at work, another life on the weekends, one life in public, another life in secrecy
of lust or addictions or doubt.
And even we are saying, "Which is the real me?
Who am I really?"
And what Jesus is doing in John 10 is helping us settle that question of, "Who am I really?"
By first forcing us to understand who He really is.
Do you understand? He is saying in this amazing chapter that He is the Savior for real.
And you would think that is just obvious. I mean, in churches and religious settings, the people say, "Jesus is for real." We expect that. But you must understand in John 10, it's the church people. It's the leaders who are saying, "We've got to get rid of this guy. He's doing miracles. He's doing great things." But that's forcing people to listen to Him, and we don't want to hear that voice. It's challenging who we are. And Jesus recognizes that what He has to do to deal with the challenges is demonstrate His Messiahship. He's done it first by power, the representation that He is in fact the King. He's checked off all the boxes. Born in Bethlehem?
Check.
Blood of Abraham?
Check.
Lineage of David?
Check. Wind and waves obey Him? Check.
He has all the credentials of the Davidic King that they've been looking at for so long, but it is not enough to prove He is the long-sought Messiah. Even Jesus knows that. What is lacking?
What is lacking is what was lacking in David himself.
When David became King of Israel, the people gathered around in 2 Samuel 5, and they said, "The Lord said to you, David, you shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be the prince of Israel." He's royal and to be a shepherd at the same time.
So interesting that the shepherd boy who comes out of the fields to be the King is told, "You stay a shepherd even as you are a king."
Those two qualities that are there that David did not himself fulfill and live. Do you remember there comes a time that Nathan the prophet will go to David and he will tell a story to a shepherd about sheep.
There once was a man who was very wealthy.
He had lots of flocks, lots of sheep.
But one day a visitor comes and the rich man, wanting to provide a meal, knows he needs to provide a sheep. But he doesn't want to grab one of his own. That will diminish him. And so he takes the eulam of a poor man that lives next door to him.
That poor man had only the lamb. It was dear to him. It was special to him. But the rich man takes the eulam for his own satisfaction.
And David, hearing the story, says, "The man who did that deserves to die."
And Nathan the prophet said to David, "You're the man.
Where you took Bathsheba from Uriah to be your own wife when she was dear to him. And then to keep away his challenge, you murdered him to take what was not yours. You were the king!
But no shepherd have you been.
And from that time on, the people of Israel are looking for the greater David, the one who will be both king and shepherd. Ezekiel the prophet says he will come in chapter 34 saying, God says, "I will rescue my flock. I will set over them one shepherd, my servant David. And he shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I the Lord will be their God and my servant, the shepherd, shall be their prince.
He will be royal.
But he'll still have the heart of the shepherd that was lost in David." And now people look.
Where is he? Oh yeah, here's this Jesus, the rabbi who seems to have all kinds of tricks up his sleeve.
But is he the one we're looking for? When Jesus finally says in verse 11, "I am the good shepherd," we think of it as sentiment. Isn't that sweet? You must know that what Jesus just did was he staked his flag and said, "I am the good shepherd."
And that means he is going to have to prove that he has not just royal status, the lineage of David, power over wind and wave. Is he really a shepherd with a shepherd's heart for his people? Is that who he really is? And Jesus establishes that. He says he comes as he should, verses 1 and 2 of John 10. "Truly, truly I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in another way, that man is a thief and a robber, but he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. I came in the front door. I didn't hide that I was coming. I came with the announcement of angels. I've shown by care for people that I am the good shepherd. It's been in all the papers.
It's gone viral on YouTube.
And in Temple Twitter, everybody's talking about it.
You know who I am and what I have done. But he doesn't just come as he should, he cares as he should. Verse 3, "To him, the one who comes in to the gate, the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out." There are many flocks and a big sheepfold. But the sheep of the shepherd, this shepherd, hear his voice and he calls them by name and they come and follow him. So much being said at once. The Jews would know the significance. He calls them by name?
Dasher and dancer and Donner and Blitzen and different story.
But the maker of the heavens causes sheep by name.
The 147th Psalm says, not only does God determine the number of stars, he calls them each by name.
Just science is telling us this day. It's hard for us even to comprehend the number of stars in the heavens is more than the grains of sand on every beach of all the oceans of the world.
That many stars and he calls them by name. But even as he has the capacity for that vastness, he knows his sheep and calls them by name. We sing about it. I have a maker. He formed my heart before even time began.
My life was in his hand. He knows my name. He knows my every thought. He sees the tears that fall.
And hears me when I call. I mean, it's just astounding that the God of infinity could be so intimate in his care that he knows each of us by name. But maybe even more special as you continue through the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name. Into verse three and leads them out. Verse four, when he's brought out all his own, he goes before them. And the sheep follow him for they know his voice. He calls them to follow him, but he leads. He goes in front. And we love the image of he's facing danger before us. He's leading down the path that we don't know. But he knows.
And we need that image. I love it when we go to the Holy Land in our tour group from time to time. And you know, I'm ready to say, there's the temple.
There's the vast guardianship of the Roman emperor. Look at this geological things. But people will say, stop the bus. We want to take a picture of that shepherd leading sheep in the field.
And the Israelis think we're just crazy.
But we know what's happening. Something dear in us. We've been taught, many of us since we were children, that Jesus is that good shepherd. He's not driving his sheep.
He's leading them to good pastures.
The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want.
He makes me to 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. And that means even though I go through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. My shepherd is leading me.
And it means so much to us to say, Jesus, I am that shepherd that is leading you even when you face hard things. I'm before you. I'm on the path ahead of you. I'm taking you to those pastures that I know are best for eternity. I can remember the very first funeral as a young pastor that I needed to do of a young person who'd been accidentally killed.
And just feeling totally inadequate. What would I say? What would I do? How would I bring any comfort to these parents who had such trauma in their lives? And I can remember even as I was driving, the only thing I knew to do was to pray through song.
He leadeth me, O precious thought, O words, with heavenly comfort, fraud.
Whatever I do, wherever I be, still tis God's hand that leadeth me.
God I can go anywhere if you'll lead.
I'll follow you anywhere if you lead.
What does that mean?
It is so interesting after Jesus says these precious things that verse six says, this figure of speech Jesus used with them, they did not understand what he was saying to them. I'm the good shepherd. I lead, I call. They did not understand that. And so he clarifies it, makes another run at it. What does he say? Verse seven, "Jesus again said to them, truly, truly I say to you, I am the door of the sheep."
What's he saying?
Etowats is a writer who once went to the Holy Land and talks about being on the crest of a hill that some of us have been on where you look out over the shepherd's fields toward Jerusalem. And she talked about being on that crest of the hill and then going with her guide down into the shepherd's field and they came to a sheepfold. And they kind of went in to look around a little bit and while they were there, the shepherd came looking like Moses, she said. Now I don't know how she knew what Moses looked like, but she said, "Here comes the shepherd looking like Moses."
And as he got there, people ask, "Where's the door for your sheepfold?" I mean there's kind of rocks against a rock bank, but there's no door at the opening.
And she said, "The shepherd just thought, oh, these crazy Americans."
And he just lay down with his feet at one end of the opening, his head at the other to make clear, "I am the door."
And Jesus, when He says, "I am the door for the sheep," is saying precisely that. He cares as He should. He calls people, but He's actually providing what they need. He is the true door. I am the door for the sheep. If you had been on that crest of a hill, you would at the same time have had behind you what all the people of Jerusalem can see, the temple up at the top of the hill with its great gates and the vast doors to let, at times, hundreds of thousands of people enter. And when Jesus in that setting is saying, "I am the door and all that have gone before me are false," you must recognize people are doing the double like, "What do you mean? You are the door. You are the one." I mean, we had other provisions, and Jesus is like, "No, I am the true door for the sheep," in verse 7. And in verse 8, "All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not." Listen to them, "I am the door," verse 9. "If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and go in and out and find pasture." What does it mean that Jesus is the door?
He's providing pasture, and He's providing protection. If He opens the door, the sheep could go to green pastures.
When they go in at night, He's the protector.
So that, verse 10, the thief who comes only to steal and kill and destroy is taking care of how? "I came that My sheep may have life and have it abundantly." I am providing for My sheep. How does He do that? This side of the cross, we understand verses 12 through 15 so much more clearly. Jesus describes, "There are people who say they are shepherds, but they're just hirelings." So that when danger comes, when there's difficulty, the hireling runs away. Why should I sacrifice myself for this little bit of pay?
But verse 15, Jesus summarizes His role, "Just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father,
I lay down My life for the sheep."
We know what He's talking about.
He's the door.
He's making provision more than all the sacrifices that have happened before. He is the one who will lay down His life for the sheep.
He will do it to claim the penalty for our sin, that our guilt and shame might be put on Him because He went ahead of us and took on Himself the penalty we deserved.
It's a wonderful thought, but we wonder, does it apply to us?
And Jesus answers in verse 16, it's beautiful, "I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also and they will listen to My voice so there will be one flock, one shepherd." Jesus said He's the true door.
And not only is He the true door, He's the only door. We don't make a path by what we do. We are not our Redeemer. That has been the message as we started from Genesis and move forward in our through the Bible over and over God is saying, "You are not your Redeemer. You are not your Redeemer. You are not the door of relationship." Like Jesus is the door. And when you're saying He's the true door and He's the only door, you begin to say, "Can I go through that door?"
And Jesus is saying to the Jews who are gathered around, "I have other sheep and I am opening the door for them as well. And you and I need to hear that. Jesus, I'm not just the true door. I'm not just the only door. I'm the open door.
I will open my heart, my love. There will be a place for you." And when Jesus is saying that, it brings joy to our soul, but a huge question as well. Jesus will open the door for His sheep. He will open the door for me. Will He open the door for me?
Am I really His sheep?
I'm glad to know that He's real.
Am I His sheep for real?
And Jesus answers that as well. Two times He describes what it means to be His sheep. Verse 3, right in the middle, "The sheep hear His voice."
Not just the first group of sheep, but verse 16 will say it again, "I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also. And they will listen to my voice."
Now you must remember that even the people who are listening did not get it. What do you mean that your sheep are those who hear your voice? Voice for heaven? I mean, we rejoice that so much of what's happening in the Muslim world right now with the conversions, over and over again we hear the dream stories. That Jesus appeared in a dream. He appeared in a vision.
In a culture of people who need that kind of confirmation.
Wonderful messages of conversion like has not happened for centuries in Muslim ranks, happening right now in our lifetime. But is that what Jesus is talking about? No, remember He said, "You hear my voice." And they didn't get it. So, all right, I'll take another run at it. What does it mean, "You hear my voice"?
"I am the true door.
I am the only door, not you.
And I am the open door." Do you hear me?
It's that message that Jesus is calling for these people to understand. It's so clear in verses 26 and 27. As the Jewish authorities, they'll want people to honor Jesus. Jesus says, "You do not believe because you are not part of my flock.
My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me.
The mark of hearing the voice of Jesus is that you believe.
That's accurate. That's true. I believe that I'm a sinner in need of a Savior. And Jesus is the true door. My relationship with God is through Him. And that door is made open, not because of what I do. Not my doings, it's my hearing.
I'm believing He is the way. Not that I've qualified. Not that I give enough. Pray enough, read my Bible enough, know the facts enough. That's not the point.
Do you hear what He's saying? I am the door.
And if you will accept that, if you believe that, as He was urging people to do, then all of life becomes different. If we were at a church dinner and I were saying to you, now listen, if you want dessert, you have to go through that door.
That's the only door. And it's open to anyone who wants dessert.
What's the mark that you heard my voice?
If you want dessert, what do you do? You go through that door.
And Jesus is saying, if you hear my voice, you are my sheep. You in your own heart are saying, I know that I'm a sinner in need of a Savior. And I'm not trusting anything I bring to the table.
I'm trusting Him. He is the only way that things will be made right. And I believe that. And I believe He's opened the door for me because I believe that, not because of what I do. He's the door.
What are your takeaways from such a message? What does Jesus want you to take away?
It means the real mark of your sheepliness. Are you really a sheep of Christ? What's the mark of your sheep? You hear His voice. I'm not talking about the mystical sound in the night. I am saying, you deep in your heart believe that He's the true door, not you. That He's the only door, not what you bring.
And He's the open door.
He will receive you as you seek Him.
Ask His forgiveness. Come before Him. That's not natural. The Apostle Paul reminds us the natural person does not receive the things of the Spirit of God. They are foolishness to Him because they are spiritually discerned. Here's the hard talk we have to say. If you're that person who says, you know what, I'm really struggling to know if I'm a believer or not, I do believe I'm a sinner in need of a Savior. I do believe that Jesus is the door. I do believe it's not what I bring to the table, but what He has done, then you have to say, praise God, you heard His voice.
But if what you're saying, you know, this sounds kind of silly to me. And you know these people in this church that kind of go through the motions for things like this, but you know, it's not really my heart.
Then I have to say, you haven't heard His voice.
But if it's true to you, if it's real to you, that's the evidence of Him working in you. I love the story of John Wesley. John Wesley on his way to the Americas as a missionary to the Indians to prove that he's a really good Christian.
But on the boat as they're coming across the Atlantic, there's a tremendous storm.
And Wesley cowers in a corner fearing he will lose his life. But there's a group of Moravian brothers who are praying.
And they seem just at peace despite the storm.
And one of the Moravian brothers sees Wesley cowering and he goes to him and says, don't you trust God for eternity?
And Wesley says, well, I think I do.
And the Moravian brother, large and impressive, I'm not asking what you think.
Does the Spirit of God testify with your spirit that you are a child of God? I'm not talking about up here. I'm talking about the 18 inches to here.
Does your heart affirm that Christ died for you and that you need Him to do that? And Wesley, while he said to the Moravian brother, well, I think that's so.
Later said it was vain words.
And it was not until much later that he was at a conference back in England where he heard somebody reading Luther's preface to the commentary on Galatians where it says over and over again, you are not your Redeemer. It's not what you do. It's not your purchase. It's not your doing. That ultimately Wesley said, my heart was strangely warmed. It finally got through. The penny dropped. It registered. It's not what I do. It's what he does. And I believe that. And it's not just for older times. I think of, you know, a Christian artist like Travis Reed who talks about wondering which person he was until the penny finally dropped. I know now who I am. This is what he wrote. At 13, I was baptized by my first stepfather.
I believe having my stepfather baptize me might make him stick around.
But three days later he beat up my mom and never came back.
The well-meaning people in churches that my mom and I cycled through didn't mention my unusual life circumstance, including the four different dads that I had had.
I continued searching in my young life for the father who would not go away.
Church experiences that did not reach his heart.
What did?
Years later he said, I went to a U2 concert, yacked out on Coke and tequila.
The last song of the night was "Forty."
I had no idea the lyrics are based on Psalm 40.
I waited patiently for the Lord. He inclined his ear and heard my cry.
Travis writes, out of nowhere, the wind of grace blew over me. I was drenched in love and immediately sobered. The voice carried me toward the arms of God. The moment was profound.
The next morning I was listening to the U2 song "Hawk Moon 269."
The words, "Like a desert needs rain.
Like a town needs a name. I need your love."
He writes, "I pulled the car over and started weeping. I did not just hear a song. I felt it with my being. It called me to strength and gave me hope." And it's that type of hearing that Jesus is talking about, not just we kind of have the mental understanding that Jesus did something that church people think about.
It's descended to our hearts. I believe I have need of a Savior. He will pay the penalty for my sin and I will be okay with him for eternity. And God is saying, do you understand that? The proof, as it were, of that sheepiness that we have heard the voice is that we are not paying attention to other voices.
I mean verse 5 is a little hard to read, a stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him for they do not know the voice of strangers. If you're really my sheep, you're listening to Christ's voice and not other voices in the world.
Here's the hard truth, folks. It means if you are living in consistent, unrepentant sin, you may say, "I'm a believer, but you are listening to other voices." And they will be drowning out your confidence that you are a child of God because so many other voices are competing.
I think of the testimony right now because of the world series of Anthony Rendon, the third baseman for the Nationals.
I mean he's been so strong as a player in what has been a torturous year for the Nationals despite where they are now.
So he's getting lots of attention, maybe the MVP this year.
But in an interview with the Washington Post he says, "I want it to seem, I don't want it to seem like it's all about me, me, me.
That takes away from what I do for the Lord.
I want to be known as a Christian baseball player. I'm still trying to grow into that.
But in the end, I want to be more Christian than baseball player." Now you may know on the web, got him in a lot of trouble for saying that. I want to be more Christian than baseball player. But what does it mean? What voice is he listening to? I want to follow Christ. I want more his priorities than the priorities of the world. I don't want it to all be about me. I want it to be about him. I'm listening to that voice.
And ultimately it is that voice that we need when we face our weakness and our failure and our difficulty. We wonder, am I still a child? I do believe that he's the door, but I wonder if the door is for me. I've listened to other voices.
And ultimately our confidence, you must know, is in this reality. It's what Jesus says right at the end of this talk. Verse 27, he says it again, "My sheep hear my voice. I know them. They follow me." Beautiful words. Verse 28 through 30, "I give them eternal life and they shall never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. Father, am I really yours? I know I'm struggling to be what I ought to be. But if you have heard the voice that says, "He's the door," and that is your belief, you must know he holds on to you even when you're questioning if you can hold on to him. When my kids were little, we always went to Colorado for our vacations at a lodge that had the the bunk stacked against a wall for a big family like ours. And I found that I could be in the very top bunk and play helicopter with my kids. I would reach down and I would say, "Grab a hold."
And I would start to lift them heavenward.
Always what would happen is, as they were holding on to me, they would say, "Oh, Daddy, I can't hold on to you. Hold on to me."
And what Jesus is saying is, "If you've heard my voice, you know you need me. And this you need to know, even when you cannot hold on to me, I will hold on to you."
We sing about it. When I fear my faith will fail, Christ will hold me fast. When the tempter would prevail, he will hold me fast. I could never keep my hold through life's fearful path. For my love is often cold.
He must hold me fast.
He will hold me fast. He will hold me fast. For my Savior loves me so. He will hold me fast.
It's the great blessing, the mark of the Christian. We've heard the truth and the penny dropped. We believe that He's the door.
And we know the proof of that is that we're walking with Him. We're listening to His voice. And we're not listening to other voices.
Where there's question in us, if we have done all we should, we remember, He said, "Here's your confidence, not your hold on me.
My hold on you."
We're about to celebrate that. What does this communion meal about?
It's celebrating Jesus as the door.
It's reminding God's people through the centuries across all continents, "Jesus is the door. You're not the door, not what you do." But belief that He has provided a way. The bread is going to indicate His body broken for us to pay the penalty for our sin. His blood spilled so that His life would be taken that our life might be restored. And then just as Jesus said, "I give my life that I might take it up again."
He's reminding us having paid the penalty, having given His life, the penalty is fully paid.
So He will rise to new life and not only Him, but all who trust He is the door.
We celebrate that here. We say, "Jesus, blood and righteousness."
This bread and wine are not something special in themselves.
They are special when we're hearing His voice when we're partaking.
I don't trust Me.
I trust Him.
He has made a way and I celebrate it for my own heart and those who witness it and those who will witness it for years to come. We do this to say we believe Jesus is the door and we could not do it had His Spirit not worked in our hearts.