Admonition Podcast

The Lord is my shepherd.

I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.

He leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul.

He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for
thou art with me.

Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.

Thou preparest table before me in the presence of my enemies.

Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the
house of the Lord forever.

David knew that the Lord was his shepherd.

If we look at his life and all that he faced, he started as a shepherd with his sheep.

He would play his harp, he would have his sheep, and he would go out and protect them
whenever he needed to.

He knew what it meant to be a shepherd.

And he knew that with all that he did, even though that he was a king, even though he
faced giants, even though he had a king that was running after him, he knew that all he

was was a sheep.

And the Lord was the one protecting him.

The Lord was the one guarding him.

Today we have a shepherd.

And that shepherd is Christ.

turn from Psalm 23 and look at John chapter 10.

And that's where we will spend our time today.

John chapter 10 shows the good shepherd.

And it shows, it identifies aspects of that good shepherd.

He is the one who is the door for the sheep.

He is the one who is the owner of the sheep.

And also he is the one who sacrifices for the sheep.

We looked at Psalm 23 and all those things that the Lord does.

And he was willing.

to give his life, give all of who he was so we could have those blessings.

Looking at John chapter three, starting in verse one, before that look at the context of
this.

John chapter nine, we read of a man who was blind.

This man, the apostles asked, Lord, why is this man blind?

Was he blind from birth?

And he was blind from birth.

And they asked, Lord, who sinned, this man or his parents?

And the Lord says,

That is not how this works.

But this has left the case so that you will be able to see the power of God.

And then the Pharisees are going to kick this man out of the synagogue, tell him you have
no part in us because he believes that this man was someone from God.

The Pharisees and Sadducees, they didn't want to believe it because this man healed him on
the Sabbath day.

So you have these people who disbelieve.

They have been given evidence.

This man had his sight given back to him.

and they disbelieved.

And then you have this man who says, look, Jesus did this thing that no one else could do.

I believe that He is from God.

And with that context, look at verse 40 of chapter 9.

And some of the Pharisees which were with Him heard these words and said unto Him, are we
blind also?

Jesus said unto them, if he were blind, ye should have no sin.

Now ye say, we see, therefore,

your sin remaineth." Now we set the context of chapter 10.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but
climbeth up some other way, the same as the thief and robber.

But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

To him the porter openeth, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calleth his sheep by name,
and leadeth them out.

First, this shepherd is the door.

and he is the door, he is recognized at the door.

To him the porter openeth.

The history of this, they had these sheep folds.

They had basically, it's like a pen, and it was made of stone often, and you would have
multiple sheep kept, multiple flocks kept in one fold, in one of these pens.

And you'd of course have multiple shepherds because of that.

The shepherds would come to the porter, the one who guarded the gate,

of this pen, and then the porter would recognize him and say, you can go in and get your
sheep.

The porter recognizes Christ.

Now, it doesn't matter who this porter is, we can debate, okay, is this John the Baptist,
is this God the Father allowing Christ to go get his flock?

The point is, Christ is recognized at the door.

Now, why is this important?

There are those who are not recognized at the door.

There are those who should not have this open to them.

Looking at verse 5, a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him, for they know
not the voice of strangers.

There's going to be strangers that try to come to this door, strangers that try to say,
that's my flock.

And both the sheep and the porter are going to know that that is not the shepherd of this
sheep.

Christ comes to His fold in the proper way, not in the way of a thief.

He comes to the porter.

Now, these, looking at this context, we saw the Pharisees.

The one who is not the true owner of this sheep, the porter is not going to open to them.

These Pharisees who are trying to reject Christ, who told this man, we're going to kick
you out because you decided that you are going to follow this man.

We're Moses' disciples.

They are the ones who have come to the Porter and they are acting like these are their
sheep and they are rejected.

Any doctrine, any Christian leader, or not any Christian leader, any religious leader who
says, I'm going to come to Jesus' flock and do what I want and say that these are my

sheep, no religion like that is from God.

No man who comes and has a congregation named after him has a religion named of God.

No one who says, this is how you enter into the sheepfold.

How the Bible says it, that's not right.

This way that I say to you, this is how you should do it.

That man is not the true shepherd.

Christ has the true way.

He came in the proper way.

He is the permitted shepherd of the sheep.

Now, He is known at the door, but also He is the door.

There's another picture here in John 10, 7-10.

Then Jesus said,

unto them again, verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.

All that came before me are thieves and robbers.

But the sheep did not hear them.

I am the door.

By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved.

He shall go in and out and find pasture.

The thief cometh not in but forth to steal and to kill and to destroy.

I am come that they might have life and might have it more abundantly.

Christ is recognized at the door in the previous idea, but now He is the door.

You would have the more urban areas where you had multiple sheep kept in this one fold, or
multiple flocks kept in this fold.

And then you had the more rural areas where you only had one flock kept in a fold at a
time, and there was no quarter at the door.

In that case, the shepherd would literally lay at the entrance of where the sheep were,
and He would be the door for them.

He would be the way in and out.

Christ is the way for us today.

And He has always been and will always be.

He is the way to the Father.

John 14, 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No man cometh unto the Father but by me.

If we want to see the God in whose image we were made, we have to go through Christ.

We have to go through the way that He has shown to us.

He is also the way into the church.

In Acts 2 when the church was finally established, when the disciples spoke with tongues,
they showed the people what they had to do to be saved and they said, repent and be

baptized, every one of you, for the remission of sins.

And then after all of that, and it shows what they are doing, verse 47, praising God and
having favor with all the people.

And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

The Lord is the one.

that adds to His church.

If there is a group that says, we're going to vote on if you are going to be a part of us
or not.

If there is a group that says, okay, do you meet these qualifications outside of God's
Word?

That is not the Lord's church.

The only thing that decides if you are in the church or not, if you are going to be added
to it, if the Lord will add you to it, is if we follow His words.

He is the way to the Father, He is the way into the Church, and finally He is the way into
everlasting life.

1 John 5 11.

This is the record that God has given us, given to us.

And this is the record that God has given to us eternal life.

And this life is in His Son.

Jesus is the one that gives us life and allows us to go into eternity, no longer having to
be lost, no longer having to face the consequences for the sins that we chose, but instead

being able to enjoy what is beyond.

Jesus is recognized at the door.

Jesus is the door.

And finally, as we've already seen, false teachers who don't go through the door, they are
not the shepherd.

They will not be recognized.

They are not the way in.

We must walk by God's authority and not the authority of anyone else.

Verse 8, all that ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear
them.

The Lord's sheep are not going to recognize the voice of these false shepherds

and they are not going to follow them.

Now, people can be led astray and they can be sincerely believed, but ultimately those who
are going to follow God's way, they are going to seek the truth, they will find the truth

and they will believe it because they are objective, because they want to do what is right
in God's sight.

As we saw in chapter 9, it's not that this man was already a Christian, it's not that this
man already knew Christ, what was it that was different about him from the Pharisees?

He had a mindset that was willing to believe.

This is not some predestination.

This is not Jesus saying, okay, you will be saved and you won't be saved because, I just
feel like that today.

There is a difference in mindset.

There's a difference in the choice of what they are going to do.

Previously we looked at John chapter 3 and the idea that the one who believes, that's the
one who has decided to be objective, the one that is going to understand.

We looked at Nicodemus, the one who said, how can these things be when Jesus said,

except ye be born of water and of the Spirit, ye cannot enter into the kingdom of God."
And he was rebuked for not understanding because he had everything he needed to

understand.

But there was simply something he was deciding not to do, even if it wasn't something that
was as direct, that he could see.

Jesus is the way, and those who desire to truly follow him, he's going to make it
available.

Jesus is recognized at the door.

Jesus is the door and no one else is.

Now, moving forward, the shepherd is not only the door, he is the owner.

In John 10 verses 4 and 5, and when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them,
and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice
of strangers.

Jesus is let in because he has the authority.

And now the sheep are going to listen to them because they know His voice, as we already
looked at in verse 9.

With Him being known by His sheep, the reason that shepherds were all able to keep their
sheep in one pen, in one fold, is because the sheep knew their masters by voice.

If another person came and just tried to make the exact same sound, exact same voice as
another, the sheep would still know the difference.

They know who their master is.

Christ's people will know His voice, they will know His words when they hear it.

They know that voice and they are going to follow Him with confidence.

In life today we can follow our Lord with confidence.

Looking at His words, looking at how He has told us to live, whether that be in the
selfish attitude we are to have toward life, whether it be how we are to treat our

enemies, whether it be how to enter into the Lord's Church, what are we to do as the
Lord's Church?

Christ makes it all.

clear to us.

We know His voice, and we know those, we know not only His direct voice in the words that
are written and read, we know those to whom He delegated authority, and who spoke the

words that He wanted us to know, and who made sure that we had the Word of God written
here so that we could follow Him.

If there is anyone who says that, I am from God, and I give a word that is not in this
book, that is not one sent from Christ, that is not one giving God's voice.

He is just claiming to be a part of showing God's word, and that is not true, it is false.

This is all that we have.

Timothy 3, 16 and 17, all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

That the man of God may be perfect, complete unto every good work.

God's word can make us complete that word.

perfect is complete.

It means that it is all that we need.

If we take it and we follow it, we trust in what it says and do it.

Jesus is the door for His sheep.

He is recognized, He is, and no one else is.

Jesus is also the owner.

It's seen in not only how they know His voice, as we have seen.

Before moving forward, looking at Matthew 16, 24.

Jesus said unto his disciples, if any man will come after me, let him take up his cross
and follow me." If anyone is going to follow Christ, if anyone is going to live God's way,

he's not going to follow anyone else.

He is going to follow Christ, willing to take up the willingness to sacrifice life daily
and live his way.

Now, moving forward, he is known by his sheep.

They know his voice.

But also, he cares for his sheep.

If you own something, if a vehicle is yours, you take care of it.

You make sure that the inside is at least relatively clean.

You wash it out, I had to not be a hypocrite right there, But you go and wash it.

You make sure that you take care of it.

Now we should do that with anything that we get to use because that's how Christians
should be.

But there is a special attachment we have to those things which are ours.

Now move that from possessions.

from the things of this world to the ones you love.

If you're married, don't you love your wife?

If you have children, don't you love your children?

Now, look at the idea of a farmer.

If he has livestock that belong to him, there's a special connection there.

And Christ has something beyond that.

It's beyond just livestock because he has invested all of his being into his sheep.

Now, those relationships that we have, we've invested in them.

If you're married, then you went on dates.

You went and you took her out or you went out with him.

Bless your heart.

You built that relationship.

Christ has done so much to build a relationship with us.

He came and He sacrificed His life as we will look at more in a few moments.

He lived His life on earth.

He spent 33 years worth of days and nights on this world for us.

Looking at the idea of what a shepherd does for his sheep, turn to Genesis 31 verses 38
through 40.

Genesis 31, 38-40.

Jacob was a shepherd, the son of Abraham who had went out to the land where his father
Laban was.

And now we're going to see what a shepherd had to do if he was going to do a good job as
one.

Jacob is airing his grievances toward Laban because Laban has been a rather pitiful
father-in-law.

Verse 38, this 20 years have I been with thee, thy use?

And thy she-goats have not cast their young, And the rams of thy flock have I not eaten.

That which was torn of beasts I brought not unto thee, I bear the loss of it, Of my
hand-stits that were quiet, Whether stolen by day or stolen by night.

Thus I was in the day the drought consumed me, In the frost by night, in the sleep
Departed from mine eyes.

Thus I had been twenty years in thy house.

To be a shepherd

to be one that is taking care of this kind of livestock, you are there day and night.

There is not a moment where you are able to say, I'm done working.

You might go sleep for a little bit, but you don't get to just go off the clock.

You go back and work with the sheep.

Christ came to this world and as we mentioned, He spent 33 years worth of days and nights
living so that He would one day preach the message.

and also make the sacrifice that was necessary for us to have salvation.

Jesus is known by His sheep.

Jesus cares for His sheep coming down to this world and not only doing the things that
Jacob did, being willing to go out day and night whether it be sun or shine, but giving

His life for us.

Finally, Jesus loves all of His sheep.

Turn to verse 16 of John 10.

Verse 16 of John 10,

shows who all are in this flock that Jesus is going to call.

And other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they shall
hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd." Jesus is going to bring

others.

Now, who are these others?

During his time, Jesus spoke with the Jews.

Now, he did go north up to the land of Phoenicia at least once.

But throughout most of his time on earth he was speaking directly to the Jews.

The Jewish Pharisees, well there's not Gentile Pharisees, the Pharisees were the context
of what is happening here.

And there is this man who was cast out of the synagogue, these were all Jews.

They were the ones who were apart out of these would Christ call his fold, but also out of
another.

What's going to happen later is we're going to have Peter the apostle to the Jews.

And we're also going to have Paul the apostle to the Gentiles who are going to receive the
Word of God and be able to be saved, Acts chapter 10.

Christ cares for all of His flock even though His people, the Jews, the ones in which He
was raised, they did not care about all.

If we turn to John chapter 4, there's more context with this.

John chapter 4 we have the woman of Samaria.

Now,

It was at first a marvelous thing for Christ to go to the land of Samaria because any time
someone went over there they would go around Samaria, any Jew would go around Samaria to

go up toward Jerusalem, if they were in the land, to go up toward Galilee if they were in
the land where Jerusalem was.

Verse 9, then said the woman of Samaria, how is it that thou being a Jew asketh drink of
me?

which am a woman of Samaria.

For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.

There's prejudice here.

There is racism here.

There is a hate between the Jew and the Samaritan.

The Samaritans were a a mixed population.

When the Assyrians took away the Israelite nation, that northern nation that had gone away
into wickedness, the Assyrian king said, okay, I do not want anyone to be coming up

against me.

So I'm going to take everybody and take them out of the land that they're proud of being
from, and I'm going to switch them all around so that they have nothing that is a part of

their background except what I've done, so that I am this powerful ruler that has control.

Doing that, he brought Gentiles to the region.

Some of the Jews were left.

The poorest of the land, the ones that were taking the Jews into captivity, they just left
them.

So you have a mixed population.

the Jews hated the mixed population more than they hated the Gentiles themselves.

Jesus shows that this was wrong because He is going to call all, He is going to call His
sheep from a different fold.

He is going to include the Samaritan, He is going to include the Gentile, He is going to
include the Jew.

Everyone who is going to be willing to believe, be willing to do what the man did in
chapter 9 where He looked at the evidence and He said, this man he is from God.

and then he obeyed him.

Anyone who does that, anyone willing to obey the evidence can be part of Christ's fold,
called into what he is going to establish.

Jesus is known by his sheep.

Jesus cares for his sheep and he cares for all of his sheep.

Now with this, he cares for you no matter where we've come from and he cares for us no
matter what has been done in the past.

The Lord wants...

you to be saved.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in
him should not perish but have everlasting life.

That word whosoever does not leave anyone out.

No matter how much guilt you have in your past, you are part of whosoever.

I am part of whosoever.

No matter the indifference that we might have been guilty of as Christians, no matter the
rebellion that might have been there when we were young,

or when we were older Christ wants whosoever, He wants you.

Christ cares for all of His sheep.

Jesus is the door and Jesus is the owner.

And finally, Jesus is the sacrifice.

We mentioned the idea of if something is yours, especially a relationship, you are willing
to invest in it, it is important to you.

And because it is important to you, what are you going to do about it?

look at what Jesus did.

John 10 verse 11, I am the Good Shepherd, the Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep.

We looked at Genesis 38, Jesus was willing to live the life proverbially of a shepherd,
being willing to go out with His apostles and do what needed to be done to preach the

message.

He lived a life that was going to be harder than what Jacob ever did.

But Jesus finally is not just going to live for His sheep,

He's going to give his life for his sheep.

That is what the good shepherd does.

Now, what does a bad shepherd do?

He that is in hireling and not the shepherd, whose own sheep, whose own the sheep are not,
leaveeth the sheep and fleeeth, and the wolf chasteth them and scattereth the sheep.

The one who does not have this attachment with the sheep, he is one who is not going to
give his life for the sheep.

He is not one that is going to be there

for these little defenseless ones.

Christ is, I am the good shepherd and know my sheep, my sheep are known of mine as the
Father knoweth me even so I know the Father and lay down my life for the sheep.

A literal shepherd, he would have to know that throughout his life he might have to risk
his life as a shepherd.

David went and he fought lions and bears to take care of his sheep.

at any given day he could have died.

Jesus, not only did he know that any, he knew not that he would die any given day, but
that he was destined to go and face a death that was unlike anything David ever faced.

Unlike anything any man has faced that was innocent.

Anyone who has faced this kind of thing, he was not a perfect and sinless one, as Hebrew
shows.

He was one that ultimately did deserve death.

even if he might not have necessarily deserved that exact punishment, anyone who lives
that is not Christ, that is accountable, has sinned, and is therefore, there is not the

same sacrifice there, even if they face the exact same things Christ did.

He is the one who gave his life, a sinless and perfect life, so that we could be saved.

Now, he that is in hireling, the one who doesn't have this connection, he is not going to
die for his sheep.

Jesus is going to

die for us, but He also does it not only out of care for us, but out of obedience to His
Father.

Verse 15, "'As the Father knoweth me, even so I know the Father, and lay down my life for
the sheep.

Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they shall
hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.

Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it
again.'"

We looked at John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that He made this sacrifice.

And also, we now have here the Father loves the Son because of the sacrifice that will be
made, because I lay down my life that I might take it again.

There is a relationship that we have with Christ, and there's also the relationship that
Christ has with the Father.

And the Father loves the Son.

making this sacrifice because the Father wants that relationship with you as well.

He sent His Son and said, bring them home, redeem them.

Make sure that they ensure that they have an opportunity to be with us here in heaven one
day.

Have Hebrews 12, 2-4.

We have Jesus the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before Him
endured the cross, despising the shame.

The joy that was set before Him, He would receive the glory that He did not have before,
because He fates this world even though it was a shame.

But the reason He even came in the first place was for us to be saved.

The joy that Christ had set before Him was joy where He had the glory of the Father, and
He also had us with Him in eternity, forever.

The cross was worth us being with Him.

It was worth that to the Father.

It was worth that to the Son.

Jesus is the door.

Jesus is the owner.

He is the one who loves his sheep.

And finally, He is the sacrifice.

We have a Lord who in 1st Timothy is described as being beyond abundant with grace, having
grace that is beyond being abundant with grace and love.

You have a Lord.

You have one who wants to be your shepherd, who is beyond the grace and love that we could
ever imagine, beyond this faith and love that we could ever imagine.

He wants you.

Mankind's greatest blessings are only offered in this true shepherd.

Ephesians 1-3, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us
with all spiritual blessings.

Who?

In Christ.

These blessings are only from

the Messiah.

Now you can only say the Lord is your shepherd.

You can only receive these spiritual blessings if you are willing to follow Him and do as
He says.

What must we do?

John shows throughout all of it that there is this belief, this need to follow Christ and
do as he says, and also to understand the message that He has given us.

If we turn to John chapter 3, we would see the one that believeth, He is the one that will
be saved.

And the one that believes is going to do what is true.

Now, what is it that is true?

What is true is first, hearing the Word.

Romans 10, 17, so then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

And after you hear the word of God, what are you willing to do?

You're willing to do that truth.

John 8, 32, and ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free, but it only
makes you free if you follow it.

And to follow it, you confess Christ as Lord.

You confess Christ as being your shepherd.

Romans 10, 10, for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation.

And then we repent of sins.

Acts 2, 38, when they realized that they were the ones that killed Christ, when they were
the way that Christ gave his life for the sheep, they said, men and brethren, what shall

we do?

Peter said, repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the
remission of sins.

There must be this repentance, meta nuo, a change, meta nuo of mind.

This is a change of the way we live, of the way we think about the things that we once
enjoyed.

And then finally, baptism, being immersed in water, not to show that I have been saved,
but for salvation.

It is ace unto a step toward the remission of sins.

For Christ to be your shepherd, he has shown you what you must do.

If you were not a part of his flock yet, and you want to be a part of his fold, he's
called you to it.

will you accept it.

If you are already of His fold but have wonder to stray, if you are that one that is away
from the 19 and 9, the Lord wants you back with Him.

And He will forgive any sin that we are willing to confess, that we are willing to make
sure is not a part of our lives anymore.

If there is any need for you to take part in the forgiveness of Christ today, will you
please come forward as we stand and as we sing.