Understanding The Good Shepherd

Good morning to everyone. And
I take it you did receive a little surprise this morning. Very pleasant
one, I hope. Let me just mention that it is
a real privilege for us to have been here for the last several
days. It’s a privilege to look into the word of God. And one
of the one of the great privileges of being a pastor is is that
You get to study the word of God on a consistent basis. One
of the great terrors of being a pastor is that you have to
study the word of God on a continual basis or you don’t have anything
to say or at least nothing worth saying. I appreciate this church and
kindnesses that have been shown and I’m very, very thankful that
it is here. and that God is using people
here for his glory. And I hope you’ll be praying
for us. We are planning on leaving in the morning pretty early,
heading back to Kansas for a couple of days or whatever, and then
going from Kansas on back to Tennessee, where now that COVID
has kind of settled down a little bit, maybe somebody will let
us use a room or something and we can start working on getting
a church started. If you were to travel to that
area, and some of you may have, you would find that there are
church buildings on almost every other street corner in the entire
county where we live. I know of one church, one conservative
Presbyterian church, where the word of God is actually exposited.
That’s it. That’s it. thousands and thousands and thousands
of people in the Bible belt. Some people proudly proclaim
the buckle of the Bible belt and almost no Bible. And we’d like to do our small
part at least to change that and that for the glory of Christ.
So be praying for us and we will be praying for you. As by God’s
grace, you move forward for Christ’s glory. Let’s pray together. And
then I want to turn your attention to John 10 once again. And we’re
going to get to the goodies eventually this morning. We’re going to
wade through a little muck before we get to the goodies, but we’re
going to get to the goodies. So let’s pray. Father, open our
eyes, our hearts, minds to the truth of your word. May we desire
Christ above all else. Forgive us when we are turned
away from him to the myriad distractions that we face in our world. Things
that would call us away from Christ, some of them even good
in and of themselves, but not the best thing for the best thing
is the good shepherd himself. So help us to focus this morning.
Help us to truly worship him. And where there are failures
in our lives as believers, or where there is a need for salvation
in Christ, may the Spirit of God do His work in our hearts
today through Your Word. For it’s in Christ’s name that
we ask it. Amen. I want to kind of begin this morning
just with thinking about teachers in general. Christ, of course,
is the greatest teacher. And maybe this will be a blessing
to me and Ron more than anybody else, but Christ is the greatest
teacher that ever graced the earth. But every teacher knows
the anguish of being misunderstood. Even Christ. It is amazing that somebody could
listen to the God of the universe who created the universe and
who created language and who knows how to perfectly use language
and still that teacher be misunderstood. And so recognize this about teachers,
especially committed teachers of the word of God. First, they
are most often committed to teaching because they are also committed
learners. In fact, I don’t want to sit
under the ministry of anyone who claims to be able to teach
the Word of God who does not learn the Word of God on a consistent
basis. And I would say this, it is literally
impossible to be a right and good teacher of the Bible unless
you are first and foremost a good student of the Bible. A.W. Pink made this statement
years ago. He said, no verse of scripture
yields this meaning to lazy people. I had a man one time. It’s terrible
to get a compliment and get angry, but I preached at a church years
ago and a man came up and said something to me trying to be
complimentary. And he looked at me and he said, God just gave
you that, didn’t he? And his idea was that I just
opened the Bible and it plopped open to that page and God zapped
me with everything I said. I didn’t even know how to respond
to that at the time. If it were today, I’m a little
bolder and a little more brash, perhaps I would have looked at
him and said, yes, God did give that to me after about 20 hours
of study. Richard Baxter, a 17th century
Puritan, said this to pastors, Take heed also to yourselves
that you be not unfit for the great employments that you have
undertaken. He must not be himself a babe in knowledge that will
teach men all those mysterious things that are to be known in
order to salvation. The Apostle Paul, coming to a
scriptural concept here, a scriptural verse actually, said this to
Timothy, Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a
workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately
the word of truth. It simply is not possible to
teach someone else what you have not learned yourself. The question
then arises, I think we all just understand that kind of take
that for granted. But the question arises, is it possible to be
a student and yet not really to learn the truth? Is it possible
to be considered a scholar and yet find yourself opposed to
the very truth for which you should be standing? The answer
to that, by the way, is an unqualified yes. As Jesus dealt with the
Jewish leaders, the Pharisees in particular, He was dealing
with the educated elite. In fact, one of their great condemnations
of the Lord and His disciples was that they were unschooled.
They had never sat under the proper rabbis to get the right
information. These men had dedicated themselves
to the study of the law of God and failed to understand the
very law they were studying. And so they were also unable
to understand the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. John assures
us that that is the case. Let’s pick this up again in John
chapter 10, beginning with verse one. We’ll read down through
verse six. Jesus says, truly, truly, I say
to you, he who does not enter the sheep fold by the door, but
climbs up by another way, that man is a thief and a robber.
But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
To him, the gatekeeper opens, the sheep hear its voice, or
his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them
out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them,
and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger
they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they
do not know the voice of strangers. This figure of speech, or this
illustration, Jesus used with them, but they did not understand
what he was saying to him. How can that be? These are the
religious, educated, elite leaders of Israel and they can’t understand
the Lord. Now keep that in mind because
we’re going to come back to it. Let me give you a second thought
about teachers of the Word of God in particular. The second
thing that should be true of all true teachers of God’s word
is that they are to be so committed to the truth that no matter what
the opposition, they teach only that which is true and all of
that which is true to the scriptures. In other words. The teacher of
God’s word should not feel safe in refusing to communicate those
things that might be misunderstood or rejected by his audience. Every pastor, every preacher
of the Word of God, in a sense, every time he steps into the
pulpit has an audience of one. And that audience of one is God.
And the only one it really matters is whether or not he’s pleased
with what I say or what Ron says or what any other pastor says
is whether or not God thinks it’s OK. That’s the that’s the
thing that is most important. That’s the thing that’s most
vital. We have an audience of one. And so I need to every other
pastor needs to proclaim the truth of the word of God, let
it say what it says. We need to do it kindly. We don’t
need to just convince everybody that we are tremendously angry
while we’re preaching to them. But we are to preach the word
of God, whatever it says, and if it ruffles someone’s feathers.
It ruffles mine every time I read it. Because I don’t live up to
this, maybe you do, but. No, I know you don’t. You don’t
live up to the perfection of the word of God. Every time I
study the word of God, it is a book that demands perfection.
It is a book that demands absolute holiness. And I’m not there.
By God’s grace. In glorification, I’ll get there
someday, but that’s God’s work in me, not my work on my own. And so we preach the word in
season and out of season. Whether it’s enjoyed or whether
it’s disliked, we preach it. That’s exactly what the Apostle
Paul told Timothy in chapter 4 of 2 Timothy, when he said,
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who
is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing in
His kingdom, preach the word. Be ready in season and out of
season. Reprove, rebuke, and exhort. None of those things, by the
way, are always enjoyable to the people who are hearing. I
don’t know how many people like to be reproved, but most don’t.
Most people don’t like to be rebuked, and most people are
perfectly content in their whatever state they’re in, and they don’t
want to be exhorted. But that’s what we’re to do with the Word.
And we’re to do it with complete patience and teaching, for the
time is coming when they will not endure sound teaching, but
having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers
to suit their own passions. They’ll turn away from listening
to the truth, wander off into myths. That’s not what we’re
to do. We’re not to give myths. We are
to give the truth. Paul told the elders in Ephesus,
therefore, I testify to you this day, I’m innocent of the blood
of all, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole
counsel of God, everything from the word of God. And so the one
who proclaims the truth must learn the truth and speak the
truth with love, endurance and fullness. But even if people
sit under that kind of teaching, sometimes they can misunderstand. And sometimes people who claim
to study still misunderstand the word. And this was the perilous
position that the Pharisees found themselves in. Again, John’s
comment was that this figure of speech Jesus used with them,
but they did not understand what he was saying to them. And I
encourage everyone here to study the Word. And Pastor Ron has
been trying to encourage that and teach through that to give
you methodologies. And can I just back off and say
this for a second? If you listen to him or you listen
to a godly, committed Bible expositor, you will somewhat learn how to
study the Word of God just by listening. Because the methodology will
somewhat come out as he speaks, and over years of time in particular,
it will come out. And so study the word, but realize
that you can you can dedicate yourself to study and so forth,
and you can still misunderstand. How does that happen? Well, let
me illustrate this to you. And I want to say first, great
intellect does not guarantee biblical understanding. Let’s
think about this, this one verse, this figure of speech Jesus used
with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. Great
intellect was probably represented by some of the Pharisees. By
the way, remember the apostle Paul was a Pharisee before he
became a believer. And I think most of us would
look at Paul’s writings in scripture and say, he’s probably the most
intellectually astute of all the biblical writers, at least
in the new Testament. He’s a brilliant man. But understand
this. Sometimes with great intellect
comes great arrogance. And I would tell you that an
arrogant heart and great learning from God’s word basically rarely,
if ever, exist in the same person. And so the Pharisees failed to
understand the truths taught by Christ. They would not receive
his truth because their self-righteous heart deafened their ears to
it. Paul exhorted the believers in Rome with these words, live
in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate
with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. And to the Corinthians, he said
this, for consider your calling, brothers. Not many of you were
wise, according to worldly standards. Not many were powerful. Not many
were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish
in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the
world to shame the strong. God chose what is lowly and despised
in the world, even things that are not to bring to nothing things
that are so that no human being might boast in the presence of
God. Doesn’t say a lot about me, does it? God chose the weak. God chose the foolish things
in the world. When we think about ourselves, we in our sin fit
that description and God chooses the weak and the unwise and makes
them strong in him and wise in him and confounds the world in
Christ and glorifies himself through that process. Now, I don’t want to take too
long with this, but this just came to mind. Let me share something
very personal with you for just a second. You might be surprised
to know this. I am the introvert of all introverts. When I was in Sunday school as
a kid, I walked in, I went to the back, I sat in the back seat,
I never said anything, ever. By nature, I would be the last
guy in the door of the church. I would sit in the back somewhere.
I don’t want to point out anybody in the back because you wouldn’t
do this and you don’t do this. But I’d sit in the back someplace.
And as soon as the last amen was said, or maybe even before
it was said, I’d be diving out the door for fear I’d have to
talk to somebody. If I have any ability to preach,
if I have any ability to study the word of God, if I have any
ability to communicate with people, it is all of God’s grace. I want
you to understand that. Because by natural disposition,
I would never do this. I was asked to narrate something
in the fifth grade. I wouldn’t even try out. You’re not going to get me in
front of people. God had a little different idea. Sometimes I think God does things
like that just so he can kind of laugh and enjoy himself. You
thought you wouldn’t? This is what this is what I’ll
do. God chooses the weak things.
The Pharisees thought they were strong and in thinking they were
strong, they were actually weak. When the apostle Paul realized
he was weak, that was when he was really strong. And that’s
true of all of us. But intellectually astute people
a lot of times think we know things. So let me give you some
illustrations here of people from three different areas of
life. Field of science, philosophy, and sadly, theology. Of people
who had great intellect, but they don’t understand the teachings
of scripture. The first is Albert Einstein.
Maybe one of the smartest people to ever walk the face of the
earth, just on purely an intellectual level. Here’s what Einstein said. He said, the word God is for
me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses.
The Bible, a collection of honorable but still primitive legends,
which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation,
no matter how subtle, can for me change this. He also declared
this, I do not believe in a personal God and I’ve never denied this,
but I’ve expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can
be called religious, it is the unbounded admiration for the
structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it.
That’s Einstein. Here’s a man of great intellect,
a man who was highly respected in the field of science, and
yet he did not understand even the simplest, and I mean the
simplest, of things about Christ or the Word of God. Through the years, some of the
brightest minds to ever grace the earth were philosophers,
men like Plato and Socrates or Pythagoras, later men like Kierkegaard
or Nietzsche. Nietzsche discovered or summed
up his thought when he said, God is dead, God remains dead,
and we have killed him. And it’s very interesting to
me. I’m reading a book right now written by a man named John
Frame on the history of Western philosophy and theology. I’m
approximately halfway through it. It’s not exactly a small
tome. If you know anything about John
Frame, he’s never written a small book. Every book he’s ever written
is long. But it’s interesting to me that basically
none of the philosophers agree with each other. They’re all
searching for truth and none of them ever agree with each
other. We have, on the other hand, a
Bible written over some 1,400 years by some 40 different individuals
that never contradicts itself and is a sure word from God. Why would we want anything else? By the way, He has given us everything
that pertains to life and godliness. And so, we rest in the hope that
we find in Scripture, in the Word of God. But perhaps the
worst of all of this, of people who have great intellect who
end up denying the scriptures, comes from the theological field
itself. People who claim to be Christian. Men like Robert Funk. Any of you ever heard of Robert
Funk? Robert Funk was the founder of the Jesus Seminar. The Jesus Seminar set out to
find out what parts of the Bible, what parts of the Gospels, basically,
Jesus was actually true about Christ and what wasn’t. And they
started out with denying miracles, so all the miracles go. And what
you have left is about six statements that Jesus made, and otherwise
it’s all bogus, according to the Jesus Seminar. Funk said
this. He said, the tales of entombment
and resurrection, speaking of Christ, Our latter day wishful
thinking. Instead, Jesus’ corpse went the
way of all abandoned criminals’ bodies. It was probably barely
covered with dirt, vulnerable to the wild dogs that roam the
wasteland of the execution grounds. You know what he’s basically
saying? He’s basically saying they buried Christ in the shallow
graves, the dogs probably dug him up and ate him, and his body
got disposed of very much like Jezebel’s. whose body was disposed
of in the way it was as a judgment of God upon her for her great
wickedness. This is blasphemous. This is speaking of Christ in
terms no better than one of the most wicked women ever presented
in scripture. Funk’s not the only one. A man
named Sanders, who was part of open theism, If you’re familiar
with that idea at all, if you’re not, open theism basically says
that God is not omniscient. God kind of. He guesses right
most of the time, but he kind of makes it up as he goes. Sanders
said this, he said, God is the consummate social scientist predicting
what will happen. God’s ability to predict the
future in this way is far more accurate than any human forecasters.
However, since God has exhaustive access to all past and present
knowledge, although much more accurate than the best of human
futurists, however, God too is mistaken at times. Really? I don’t need to read any more
of that quote. God is mistaken at times. If
God is mistaken at times, throw your Bible away. And throw any
idea of what you think is coming in the future away because God
can’t be sure. If God is mistaken, he can’t
be sure. Even more concerning to me. Is. Robert Thomas, who worked at
the master seminary for four years, Dr. Thomas and his commentary
on Revelation is the best one I ever picked up. But Dr. Thomas spoke of one of the professors
at Dallas Theological Seminary who believes in a three tiered
interpretation of scripture. That’s a dangerous way to go.
There’s the the meaning according to the original text, according
to the original setting and so forth, and then there are two
other layers of meaning that you can get to. Dr. Thomas says
that’s that’s a that’s and it’s coming from somebody at Dallas,
which is very scary. And then there’s this, and I
heard this just this week. I guess it came up, I’ve spent
some time when the kids are resting or something, I’ve spent some
time looking around on the internet and things. And I couldn’t bring
my library with me, so I couldn’t study a whole lot. But I saw
this sermon preached by somebody who is the president of a Christian
college. And it was on Titus chapter one,
verse five. If you were part of the diligent
Bible study class, we talked about this this week. That verse
says, this is why I left you in Crete. He read it out of the
King James. This man did. And it says, stay
in Crete. Stay in Crete. So that you might
put what remained into order and appoint elders in every town
as I directed you. But this man preached a message
that he titled, Stay in Crete. You know what it was about? I wish I could tell you all it
was about. But for example, if you’re in a really difficult
marriage, stay in Crete! Stay in that marriage! Hang in
there! Seriously? You can read the book
of Titus any number of times you want to and you won’t find
that in that text. And I thought about Acts 8, verse
26 and following, where Philip was having this wonderful ministry
in Samaria. And God said, leave and go down
into the desert. He was going to send him to the
Ethiopian eunuch. Do I then get to preach? You’re
in that difficult place, or you’re in that place that’s even really
prosperous. You need to leave? You know that wonderful marriage
you’ve got? Leave it? Is that what we are to discern from that
text? Well, of course not. That was one of those misuses,
and I would even say not only misuses, but an abuse of Scripture. I’m very thankful that Ron’s
been trying to make sure that people have the tools to study
Scripture and to learn Scripture, and you need that. I will tell
you that just having the tools is not enough, and that’s been
emphasized through that time as well. But there is a lot of
abusive scripture out there. Be careful what you listen to. Not only, though, does great
intellect not guarantee great effort does not guarantee that
you’re going to understand the scriptures. The Pharisees had
put in a lot of effort. And they were smart people. But
they didn’t understand. They had been confused by layer
after layer of false teaching that they had developed through
the years, that had developed through the years and that they
were leaning on. So they had great intellect and
they put a lot of effort into it, but they still didn’t understand.
And also note this great exposure to the Bible does not guarantee
understanding of biblical truth. Surely these men had been exposed
to the scriptures. They knew the truth. They searched
the scriptures but didn’t understand them. Jesus said to them in another
place, you search the scriptures because you think that in them
you have eternal life. And it is they that bear witness
about me. Yet you refuse to come to me
that you may have life. You study the scriptures, you’re
smart enough and everything, but you still don’t understand
the scriptures. And that brings me to this guidance
from the Holy Spirit. It’s what guarantees understanding
a biblical truth. with all your intellect, with
all your ability, with all of your time, with all of your effort,
if you do not have the Holy Spirit illuminating the Word of God
to you, you will not understand it. That’s why it is so important
to study the Scriptures in an attitude of prayer. It’s not
just for me, just praying before I start to study. It is a conversation
with God. Lord, what does this mean and
how do I apply this? You’re constantly asking God
for insight and information as you study. And so it is vital that we study. Again, A.W. Pink’s phrase, no
scripture yields its meaning to lazy people. We must put forth
the effort, but we must depend on the Holy Spirit. And so you’re encouraged to study
hard, but never in void of the dependence upon the Spirit of
God. With all of their abilities,
with all of their work, with all of their efforts, with all
of their time, the Pharisees didn’t get it. And this was not
a saying of Christ that would be ranked as one of the most
difficult things He ever said. We’re to study, we’re to learn,
we’re to grow in Christ. Now I want to take you to what
I told you in the beginning I wanted to do. If I can point you to
Christ, if I can get you to love him more, if I can get you to
want to know more about him while I am here, By God’s grace, I
will accomplish my purpose as far as bringing the word of God
to you. Life for the believer centers
on Christ. One of the great things about
preaching through the book of Ephesians, it took me, what,
two and a half years, something like that, to get through the
first three chapters, and then I finished the last four chapters
in about six weeks because I was leaving the church where I was.
It would have taken longer. But we started that if you go
through Ephesians, if you read that book and read that book
and read that book, there’s one phrase that comes over and over
and over and over and over. And it’s in Christ, in Christ,
in Christ. And the Christian life centers
on Christ. It focuses on Christ. It loves Christ. It serves Christ. It wants to obey Christ. Christ is everything. I get frustrated sometimes. I
hear people talk about heaven and they don’t talk about Christ
being there. Let me tell you something, folks,
there are going to be all kinds of great reunions in Christ,
but they are going to pale in comparison to the fact that we
see the one who died for us. And so look with me, if you would,
at verse seven. So Jesus again said to them,
truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who
came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not
listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will
be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes
only to steal and to kill and destroy. I came that they might
have life and might have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good
shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired
hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees
the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees. The wolf snatches
them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired
hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd.
I know my own and my own know me just as the father knows me
and I know the father and I lay down my life for the sheep and
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. For this reason, the Father loves
me because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.
No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.
I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take
it up again. This charge I have received from my Father. We could
read further, but let me stop right there for just a minute.
It takes very little time to read that.
It takes a lifetime and more to fully comprehend the riches
of what we just read. Consider briefly what is missed
if we don’t carefully learn the word of God, even in this short
passage that is so rich with truth about Christ. From this
passage, we realize that the person of Christ is revealed
in the Word of God. And if we are not students, then
we don’t know Christ like we should. Jesus says of Himself
here that He is the door of the sheepfold. In other words, entrance
into the fold of God may only be had through Christ. There is no other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. He is the only
one who saves. And He saves all who come to
Him in repentance and faith. Notice He is unlike the false
shepherds that were present in Israel at that time, who had
plagued the Jewish people throughout their history. Rather than pillage
the people, as did the false prophets, the false shepherds,
Jesus, the Good Shepherd, gives His life for the sheep. And He
gives to them abundant life. And that doesn’t mean that we’re
all going to be rich. It doesn’t mean that we’re all
going to live in some kind of a palatial palace someplace. But it does mean that no matter
what is going on in our lives, like the Apostle Paul in the
prison cell from which he wrote the book of Philippians, that
we can know the joy of the Lord and we can be content in whatever
circumstance we find ourselves. That’s abundant life. I know
people who have lots of money, who have so many cares and are
so weighed down with burdens that they have no joy whatsoever. They don’t have any abundant
life. I played basketball with a young man when I was in high
school, who went on to college and then
earned his degrees and had a prosperous dental practice. And several years ago, he wrote
a letter, left it somewhere either in his house or in his office.
And when they found him, he’d taken a shotgun and blown his
head off. He had gobs of money. Everybody looked at him and thought
he had a wonderful life, an abundant life. But it wasn’t abundant
life because abundant life is not necessarily defined by how
many things you have. Abundant life is determined by
whether or not you are content in Christ. But whether or not
you know the true God. Not only is Jesus the door of
the sheepfold, he’s the good shepherd himself. False shepherd
seeks what is best for himself and the good shepherd seeks what
is best for his sheep. Again, so much that he lays down
his life for his sheep. Far from fleeing from the wolf
who seeks to slay the sheep, the good shepherd puts himself
in the sheep’s place. And then afterward, he rises
from the dead and he intercedes from that point on for his people. According to Romans, chapter
eight, verse 34. This is the good shepherd. This is the one.
Not only did he die to save you, he lives to intercede for you
at the right hand of the Father. By the way, that’s a wonderful
passage of scripture. We’re taken into a courtroom
setting by the Apostle Paul and he says, God the Father is the
judge. and He has already declared you just in Christ, and Jesus
Christ is your lawyer, He is your advocate, and He is sitting
at the Father’s right hand, interceding on your behalf, and if the Father
has declared you just, and if Christ, the perfect lawyer, is
pleading your case, you can never lose what He’s given you! That’s encouraging to me! That’s
thrilling to me. I’ve heard John MacArthur say
on more than one occasion, if I could lose my salvation, I
would. And that’s true of me. That’s true of all of us. If
we could lose our salvation, we would. But in Christ, we can’t
lose it. The good shepherd is every moment
of every day interceding at the right hand of the father for
you because he rose from the grave. The Good Shepherd leads
you into rich pastures where you can feed and be nourished
so that your soul is enriched. He leads you to pure crystal
waters where you can drink and be satisfied. And notice that
he brings people in from both Jewish descent and Gentile descent,
brings them into one being, one new man, one flock. He is the
one shepherd and people who hated each other formerly now get along. And let me illustrate that just
real quickly in one way. These were both Jewish men, but
this is always a blessing to me when I think about it. Among the 12 was a man named
Matthew. What was Matthew’s occupation
prior to coming to Christ? He was a publican or a tax collector.
Among the most hated of all the Jewish people, they’d sold their
soul out to Rome to make money. There was also a man named Simon,
not Peter in this case, but Simon the Zealot. What were the zealots
known for? Well, the zealots were perfectly
willing, in many cases, to lose their own life to get rid of
somebody that was hated like Matthew. And Matthew, the tax
collector, and Simon, the zealot, come together in Christ. And
they actually get along. They are taken and brought into
one flock. Which means we can get along
with people who are very different from us in their backgrounds. By the way, folks, you want to
end racism, that does it. That does it. You don’t need
anything else. You need Christ. We have a wonderful, in the church
we’ve been attending, a wonderful, if you want to call them, I refer
to it as bi-ethnicity because there’s really only one race,
but a bi-ethnic couple. They’re terrific. Beautiful kids. They’re terrific. He’s studying
for ministry. She’s a joy to be around. I can’t look at them and not
know that she’s darker skinned than I am. But I can look at
her and it not make any difference what color her skin is. She is
a sister in Christ who should be loved as a sister in Christ.
That’s what solves this. And this is our Good Shepherd
that we’re following. And when we’re all following
the Good Shepherd, we get along. Makes life easier when everybody…
Boy, wouldn’t it be nice Of course, they wouldn’t need us, Ron, if
they always followed like they should or whatever, but wouldn’t
it be nice to pastor a church where everybody always followed
the Good Shepherd perfectly? It’d make life easier. I said, you probably wouldn’t even
need us at that point, but that’d be fine. We could find another
thing to do. If you don’t get in the word,
If you are not illumined by the spirit of God so that you can
understand the word. You’re going to miss out on the
riches of Christ. You’re going to miss out on the
greatest thing there is. Because he’s the greatest person there
is. And he loves you. as one of his
sheep, and he knows you by name and he calls you by name. And he gave his life a ransom
for you. And he intercedes for you. And he nourishes you. He’s the good shepherd. Now. I preached through John’s gospel
several years ago, and it it took me seven years to get through
it. So I will guarantee you I was in John 10 longer than I was
in John 10, 7 down through 18 and beyond. A little longer than
I have been this morning. I will guarantee you there’s
a lot here that I don’t have time to touch on. So my exhortation
to you is this. Learn of the Good Shepherd. Know the Good Shepherd. Love
the good shepherd. And if you do, you’ll follow
the good shepherd. Who gave his life. For his sheep. Let’s pray. You may be here this morning
and don’t know the good shepherd. You’ve never repented and trusted
in him. I exhort you today to trust him. Turn from your sin
and trust the good shepherd. You may have been caught up in
other things going on in the world. And you’ve lost your focus
on Christ. May your life be focused on the
Good Shepherd. Today, Father. Forgive us when
we fail to keep our eyes focused on Christ, the one you gave for
us and who gave his life for us. One who intercedes on our
behalf. May our love for him grow. Our
desire to follow Him ever increase and may it prove itself out as
our lives are changed to the glory of the one who died in
our place.