Welcome to the Defender Bible Study, a weekly encouragement to equip the body of Christ through the study of scripture and prayer to manifest the gospel to orphans and vulnerable children around the world. This podcast is ministry of Lifeline Children's Services where we believe that defending the fatherless begins by being rooted in God's word.

Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the Defender Bible Study. This is Rick Morton, and we're gonna continue our study in the book of John. We're gonna be in John chapter 10 verses one through 21. Apologize for my voice today.

I'm thankful that I don't feel as bad as my voice sounds, but we're gonna try to get through this passage and maybe I'll just go until my voice quits. But what an incredibly rich passage of scripture to delve into and one that I'm sure is familiar to most of us. We remember last week we finished up Jesus has just healed a blind man and that has caused the Pharisees to question him. He's had an interaction with the Pharisees. They sort of ended that interaction by asking Jesus if he thought they were blind.

And Jesus basically says, you know, basically says you are, in very crafty sort of way. And so Jesus in a very clever way sort of puts the Pharisees in their place. We don't know exactly the timing, John the next thing John records is this passage. And so Jesus is talking to his followers. There are obviously folks that are in the crowd that are Jews, that are still asking questions about Jesus, but primarily he's speaking to his followers when he says this and says, 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.

But he who enters the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him, the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hears 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 flee from him.

If for they do not know the voice of the stranger. This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they do not understand what he was saying to them. And so, you know, Jesus begins this passage by telling them, you know, give them an allegory here, you know, a story of, to use metaphor as a way of communicating something, you know, really deep spiritual truth. And so he uses the image of sheep and a sheepfold. Now, most of us have not raised sheep in our lifetime, and so this is a little bit lost on us.

But I'm sure you've probably heard a preacher tell this before. If you haven't, then then let me let me just glue you in really quickly. So sheepfold in Israel or in the ancient Near East would have been a pile of rocks about head high that were either in a in a circle or in a square that are big enough for a group of sheep to to come in and bed down in. And it usually had a door, which was just an opening that was it was very small and just just about the size for a man to curl up in because because the shepherd actually would be the door. So we hear Jesus using that analogy to describe his followers.

And there's just there's so much that's packed into this, you know, to this analogy of sheep. I mean, we know that sheep are not particularly smart or crafty animals. They don't necessarily, you know, strategize, they certainly don't plot, they don't hunt down their prey. They're not very good at being, staying away from things that are trying to prey on them. As a matter of fact, they're pretty unaware.

Usually, sheep are concerned with what's about two inches in front of their nose. And and they're concerned that they have grass to eat. A lot of where where sheep are being used in in modern times, people like us are getting herds or flocks of sheep to be able to keep pastures cut. So rather than having to mow the pasture, they instead are using the sheep to keep the grass cut short because sheep will basically with their teeth, clip the grass off right at the ground. And so it's there's nothing really but dirt left.

And they do that quite effectively, and they scatter all over the place to do it. And so if you've ever seen when somebody has sheep or they're tending sheep, don't particularly stay together like a herd of cattle. A flock of sheep just kind of go in every direction, because really they're just in search of good grass and plenty of it, and making sure that there's more of it in front of their face. And so they just eat, eat, eat, that's what they do. And then when they're done eating, or when the day is over, the shepherd calls them, they come together, they follow the shepherd and they go into the sheepfold and that's the place in which they sleep.

Now the sheepfold, in addition to being a big pile of rocks that was about five or six feet tall, some shepherds actually protected them even more by putting briars on them or by planting briars around them so that they would have these big thorny bushes or big thorns that a predator would have to climb over. And so whether that predator be a person or a wolf, they were gonna have a hard time getting to the sheep because the shepherd had put quite a bit of barrier between them and the sheep. But Jesus is basically acknowledging that there are going to be those who are going to come in among the sheep that are going to try to lead them astray. And he's talking about, on the one hand, our enemy Satan. He's also talking on the other hand about the Pharisees.

And so he's pointing back to the Pharisees and the type leader that he had just encountered in the healing of the blind man to talk about the fact that there will be people that will come in that will seek to steal the sheep or kill the sheep, and is and ultimately, that's either the work of Satan done by Satan or done by messengers of Satan. Satan. Now it says in verse six that they didn't really understand him. They didn't understand this figure of speech. And so then Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.

All who come 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 kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and 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, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he has a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, for I know my own and my own know me.

Just as the father knows me and I know the father, 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 is the 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 received from my Father. What an incredibly rich thing Jesus just laid out here. As a matter of fact, we see a complete presentation of the Gospel in this passage. So Jesus, you know, let's just take it from the beginning. One of the things we see here is part of the figure speech that Jesus is using, part of what he's communicating, is he keeps using this, the phrase I am.

I am the good shepherd. I am the door. I am door. I am the good shepherd. He says it over and over again.

And what we can take from that is, is this really is an illusion pointing back to when in Exodus three fourteen, when Moses said to God, who am I supposed to tell Pharaoh is sending me? And God replies and says, tell him that I am. Seems a little strange, we don't name our kids I am. Why did God use I am as his name? He used it because God doesn't have a beginning and he doesn't have an end.

He just is, he exists. So there's there wasn't a point of history before God, there's not a point of history after God. God is God has always existed in time and space, and so so he used the name I am. Jesus is associating himself with the Father, and he goes even further to say that I and the Father are one. He says that I, you know, that I know the Father, the Father knows me.

So there's he's presenting the case at this point that he is that he is the Messiah. Even further, Jesus says that he is he's gonna willingly lay down his life, and then he's gonna take it up again. Jesus is foreshadowing, and that's an allusion forward to the cross, where Jesus says that, you know, men are gonna kill Jesus, but men didn't take Jesus' life. Jesus allowed himself to be killed. He had he had the power and the sovereignty to call a halt to all of it.

You know, even even the unbelieving thief recognized that and and said, you know, that Jesus had the power to take himself down from the cross. We know that as the sovereign of the universe, Jesus had that power, but he allowed himself to be crucified in order that you and I might be saved. What an incredibly important statement that Jesus makes there that that he he has the the power and authority over over even the laying down of his own life and and the rising from the dead, the taking up of it again. And that that he and God, he and God the Father, are of one mind because they're of one person. And so Jesus is expanding the thoughts of the people that are following him to really understand more fully who he is.

They didn't get it then, but they began to get it later. Jesus also says some, you know, some other important things. He says that he protects his sheep. He says, if anyone enters by me, he will be saved and he will go in and out and find pasture. Jesus declares that that he has the power.

He also has the power to save and secure, and that if you come to him, he will he will hold you in safety. That he is the shepherd will will defend us. And and so something I love about this, you know, the shepherd shepherds were not they were not small men. They were not timid men. Shepherds were, by and large, they were big, burly, strong, working men.

Shepherd usually carried a staff, and if there were a robber, he'd find himself on the business end of that staff. If there were a wolf, he would find himself on the business end of that shaft. Many a wolf died as a result of coming after the flock, only for the shepherd to use his staff to protect the sheep. And Jesus, what Jesus is saying here is the sheep who really don't have the ability to be concerned for themselves. He's saying that that his sheep have the ability to go and to live and to graze and to do that in security and to do it in calmness.

That's our reality today in Christ. It may not seem that way to you today. Your life may be difficult and complicated. There may be all kinds of problem and brokenness in it, but the truth is Jesus says that there's a higher order to our understanding. It's not about our immediate problems, but there a greater truth that in him we are secure.

In him nothing can ultimately kill us, even though we may lose our life in this life, that does not mean that we lose our life in eternity, and that there's nothing that can take us out of his hand. There's nothing. There's no wolf that can come snatch us. There's no Satan has no power over us. The fact is that the shepherd protects us, and in that we can be secure.

He talks about this idea of hired hands. I think he's talking directly to the Pharisees and directly about the Pharisees at this point. That there are gonna be people that are gonna come and they're gonna act like they are they're speaking on behalf of the shepherd, they're speaking on behalf of Jesus, they're representing God. But the truth is, those people, when the going gets tough, they don't stay. Those people are in it for themselves.

They're not in it because of the sheep, and they're certainly not in it because of the shepherd. And so they come, they're there for a moment, they leave, but they're regardless for themselves. And so he's basically saying when danger comes or when difficulty comes, you can't count on these people, but you can count on me. Now Jesus says one more thing here that that's that's really, I think, it's interesting and it's really noteworthy for us. He he declares to to these Jews that he has other he has other flocks that are not of this fold.

He has sheep that are not of this fold. So in other words, there's there are this flock is bigger than the fold of sheep that that Israel can see in front of them right now. Now they thought that the Messiah was coming to bring salvation to Israel. They really built up a political narrative that the Messiah was gonna come and be the one that was gonna redeem them from the rule of Rome and from all these all the people that had ruled them and oppressed them over the years, Jesus is coming to say that's that's not really the goal. The goal is not just really the redemption of Israel, the goal is the redemption of of all people, all tribes, all tongues, and all nations.

And Jesus points out the fact that that those people too are gonna be saved and they're gonna have a good shepherd because Jesus died for them just as much as Jesus is dying for Israel, the flock that he's standing in front of. Now he talks about this idea that but I lay it down on my own accord, talks about his life. He says that I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own accord. I have the authority authority to lay it down, and I have the authority to take it up again.

That's a really bold statement because the the Jews that that we're talking about here, they would understand if God held the power of their lives in their hand, that if God held the power of the universe in his hand, but for a man to be standing in front of them telling them that he has the power to lay down his own life and to take it up again, Jesus is claiming something that no man should have claimed in Israel, which is he's claiming sovereignty. He's claiming to be as great as God. Why? Because he is as great as God, because he is co equal with God, because he is part of the Godhead, because he is part of the Trinity. All that stuff is true.

And so today for for you and for me, I think we can take great comfort from this passage, that we know Jesus is is the good shepherd who guards the gate for us. He's the one that holds our salvation. He's the one that that provided the ultimately paid the sin debt for us and and ultimately provided the ransom for us. Jesus is the one who is alive and he's a reigning king. There's nothing that's outside of his hands.

We can follow him, he speaks to us through the Holy Spirit, he directs us through his word, he is leading us and he is guiding us, and ultimately, he is protecting us so that one day we will be reunited with him, and one day we will experience the fullness of his kingdom. But for right now, when we're in the middle of trouble and challenge in a world that's been broken by sin, with lives that continue to be plagued by our own sin and by the sin of the people around us, the thing that we can take hope in today is that we have a shepherd who is greater than all of that. He's greater than our sin and he proved it because he died on the cross and he was raised from the dead. We have a shepherd that is greater than the circumstances in our lives because he's sovereign over the universe. We have a shepherd that's greater than any pain or any hurt that we experience because he conquered pain and hurt in a much greater sense on the cross.

And so today, I hope that you take great hope and great comfort in this, that the Shepherd is alive and he's at work, he's at work in your life, and he's at work in the world around us, and that ultimately he is bringing all things together that he might fulfill his destiny, his kingdom on this earth, including for the vulnerable children that we advocate for, including for the vulnerable families that we advocate for. And the reason that we can step into the world of vulnerable children and have hope, the reason we can step into the brokenness of broken families and have hope for restoration and reconciliation is because we have a good shepherd who we know guards his sheep, but not only that, we have a good shepherd who laid down his life for his sheep. And so what we're doing is we're putting Jesus in front of those people so that they may hear his voice and that they may become part of his flock and that may listen to him, and that they may be under the shadow of his protection. And so hope you have a great day today, and please pray for us as we continue work around here in The US and around the world on behalf of vulnerable children and vulnerable families.

We'd love nothing more than to be able to come alongside your family in some way or your church as we seek to fulfill God's call to manifest the gospel to vulnerable children and vulnerable families by equipping the body of Christ. That's our role. We wanna come alongside you, we wanna come alongside your church, and you can find us at lifelandchild.org. We hope you have a blessed day.

Thanks again for joining us for the Defender Bible Study. If you enjoy making this podcast a part of your weekly routine, we'd love for you to take a moment to subscribe, rate, and review the Defender Bible Study to make it easier for more people to find. For more resources and information on how you and your church can partner with Lifeline, please visit us at lifelinechild.org. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter by searching for Lifeline Child. You can email us directly at infolifelinechild dot org.

We look forward to seeing you again next week for the Defender Bible Study.