Jesus Is The Door Of Safety And Satisfaction - [John 10:7-11]

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What are some of the things that give you that great joy that we just sang about?
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What are some things that you can just say, you know, I look at that and I my heart just overflows with joy
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There's many things that bring great joy to me One of the things that it does is when
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I see young children. We have a lot of babies Oh, they don't have to do anything.
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You just look at them and your heart just overflows with love for them and joy and as they grow and when you see young toddlers and older kids when they start to obey their parents and you can see that this is a child that is
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Loves his mommy or daddy and is willing to submit his life to his parents and there is this great joy in seeing how
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Life is as it should be and then when the children grow older and I see young people here and When I see young people who are not just obeying their parents because their parents have told them so but they have made
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Their parents faith their own they can see for themselves and they choose to follow in those paths those well -trodden paths toward Godliness on their own that is great.
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Joy. You just see someone like that and this Many of you like that here this evening and it fills me with great joy conversely Some things causes great great great sorrow and grief
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One of the things that breaks my heart every time is but recently if you just listen to any news you see children abducted
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You hear of young people who make choices that are on a slippery slope and then they end in disastrous consequences and The choices if you would look at it from Psalm 1 are very clear there is a path that leads to righteousness and there is a path that leads to destruction and sometimes the destruction comes from the outside there are predators who want to come and Take away the young children and there are other types of errors that just come from within and pull you down down the paths and the depths of destruction itself today, we are going to be looking at John chapter 10 in John 10, we are going to be looking at sheep how
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God calls you and I as His sheep and you're going to see the kind of dangers
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That are ever -present and yet for those who have followed
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Jesus our Good Shepherd You have a security and a safety that he promises.
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He will never let go So let's begin with a word of prayer and we will begin with John chapter 10.
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Dear God our loving and gracious Father We thank you for giving us Jesus Christ our
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Good Shepherd Feed us Oh Father these Next few moments as we open your word
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Teach us what you will That we your sheep of your pasture may graze and be well fed and rest in your care
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In Christ's name we pray. Amen So I'm going to read
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John chapter 10 verses 1 through 11 our messages from verses 7 through 11
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But I think it is good for us to remember what has gone on before John chapter 10 verse 1
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Truly truly I say to you He who does not enter the sheepfold by the door
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But climbs in by some other way that man is a thief and a robber
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But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep to him the gatekeeper opens
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The sheep hear 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
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Stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him for they do not know the voice of strangers
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This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them
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So Jesus again said to them truly truly I say to you. I am the door of the sheep
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All who came before me were thieves and robbers But the sheep did not listen to them.
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I Am the door if anyone enters by me He will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture
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The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life
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And have it abundantly I am the good shepherd The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep a few introductory
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Comments on this passage before we start diving deep into it This is the third message in john 10
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That i'm preaching and if you remember from the last time john 10 and john 9 go together
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So when you're trying to understand what jesus is saying In john 10 you always have to look back at john 9 and understand what jesus has done
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And now what it is that he is teaching In john chapter 9 you have the blind man the man who was born blind the beggar
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How jesus heals him and then there is this whole series of events where the jewish leadership try to Identify whether this was a genuine healing.
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Yes, it was Then they try to find out if the healer was genuine or not But they are biased against jesus and will not agree and accept that jesus healed this man because it was done on a sabbath
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And then it culminates in a climax and we will come back and look at that later today and it is a result of this healing and the
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Conflict that arises that jesus is now Teaching john chapter 10 the conflict was between jesus and the religious authorities and jesus is talking about how he
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Is the leader the shepherd the true shepherd of the sheep? In verses 1 through 5 we've already seen how jesus is the shepherd he entered through the ordained door.
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He comes as Prophecied by scriptures as the messiah the anointed one and we also see in verses, uh, three to five how his voice
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Is loud and clear to his sheep when jesus speaks his sheep listen
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And then in verse six, we see that jesus What he said didn't make sense even to the people of that time
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Uh shepherdry was very common so you would assume that when jesus used the symbol this imagery of sheep
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Uh, all the israelites would follow what he was saying, but most people didn't so jesus in verse seven is going to use another
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Uh aspect of the same imagery and then he's going to continue to teach them who he is
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In fact, that's the main focus of our message today. Who is this jesus that we all gather together to worship
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We are going to be seeing that he was a he's a shepherd Our main focus will be that jesus is the door and we will see how he is the good shepherd as well later
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And when you read through john 10 It is not like most other Parables where there is one image and there is one central point and that's
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Central point must be applied through the entire parable in john 10. You will see that jesus uses the entire shepherdry images but he will
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Apply them in various sections differently. So if you try to take what jesus says in john, um 10 verse 3 to 5 and try to fit that into verses 7 through 9
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You will not be doing justice to the text because jesus is trying to Teach a different aspect of who he is and you need to make sure that within each section
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You apply the meaning and the use the image that is used there. We will get into that in a minute
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So my purpose this evening is that you will see clearly that jesus is your door to two things to safety and to your satisfaction
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He is the one who keeps you safe and he is the one who satisfies you with an abundant life
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So let's begin by looking at jesus as the door of your safety
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We're going to do this in uh the same way. We did the last few times We're going to first look at what the meaning of the text is when it relates to the sheep
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We're going to then come and look and see what it means to the context in which jesus was Why was jesus saying at that particular moment in time?
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And then we're going to come back and look and see what this means to you and me today So let's begin by looking at what it meant to sheep at that time when jesus says the words that he just did
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He talks about thieves and robbers In verse 8 jesus says all who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them
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And then in verse 10 the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy
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Uh, the term thieves and robbers is just talking about people who want to come and take control of these sheep
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A thief has the nuance that he is coming sneakily stealthily in the night.
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He is not here with a big crowd He's just going to sneak over the wall and grab a sheep or two a robber has more of a connotation of violence here is one who's going to come here and and Cause damage to the sheep.
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That's the sense. There is a stealthiness or Violence involved and their goal was to take these sheep
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So you have your sheep in your sheep pen, but these men come to grab it They want to sell it or kill it and eat it.
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So that's That's what these thieves and robbers were they were not here to um
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Find a nice little sheep to raise as their pet They were not saying, you know, I have a better home than the home that this sheep has
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I'm going to take you to my little sheep pen, you know there you'll be comfortable. It's warmer cozier No, that's not the purpose they had no
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Desire for the good of the sheep they were here to make a profit or to gain by these sheep
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They would take it and destroy it and in verse 10 We read steal and kill and destroy there are three words that are used here verbs all conveying the same sense and in the greek language and even in the hebrew the sense was
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This was uh a complete It was an intensity of those three things that I mentioned so there is a stealing and a killing and a destruction the
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The idea that you want to get is that this is utter destruction for those sheep that will fall into these thieves hands
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And there's going to be a devastation and a ravaging a better picture to think of would be when there was a war uh, when there is a war you come, uh, those who
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Come into your land will just take everything devastate everything and that's the kind of sense that This three words put together give you it is not just you know, there's a small
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Problem here or a small sheep that is lost that these people are here to just destroy everything
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But there is something that uh, we read also in verse 8 the sheep did not listen to them
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Uh earlier in john 10 we see how the sheep know the voice of their shepherd so they would not voluntarily follow after Those who are strangers likewise god sheep we will see
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Will sense the harm That these thieves are going to bring and they will fear strangers who pretend to take care of them
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There's one more image that is used here with regards to shepherdry and that's the door in verse 9 Jesus says
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I am the door if anyone enters by me He will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture um in the old in the
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Sheep pen of old there was no real Uh fire code to say, you know, you need a front door and a back door safety exit
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There was just one door you came in through that door and you stayed inside And then that was the very same door through which you need to get out also
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So when you're out in the fields you have wolves and other predators that can attack you we will see later in john 10 how these um wolves are at real and present danger for the sheep, but when they come in Through the door when they are in the sheep pen and the door closes behind them.
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They are in a place of safety They can rest they have no fear when they are inside And that is the sense of the door that jesus is talking about you have come in and you're going to be safe so With that image, let's now come and look at what it means in jesus time
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Notice how he says in verse Seven truly truly. Amen. Amen. This is very important.
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You better pay attention to what jesus is saying He says all who came before me are thieves and robbers
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So who are these all that jesus is talking about Obviously jesus is not talking about moses and elijah and all the other prophets that god has sent
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So who are these all? There are two ways in which you can look at this in one sense you could be talking about the false messiahs
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So all the people who came here in my name calling themselves to be messiahs They are all false and then there is another sense in which all those who
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This is talking about the type If you are thinking of jesus the messiah all those who pretended to be messiahs are false and there's another context in which
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Which is more immediate which is if you look john 9 and john 10 all these people Who are right now pretending to be leaders?
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they are These all that that jesus is talking about So these are the vineyard tenants who are supposed to take care of the sheep and they have all
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Not done their duty, but they instead are thieves and robbers. So let's quickly look. What are some of the false messiahs?
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if you remember Uh in the old testament after the kings fell the israel went into exile
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They were in under various nations and then under maccabeus after the old testament ends you have uh uprising and israel
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Breaks free from the kings and the other rulers and for a period of time seems to have its own autonomy
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And then the romans come So under romans, they're back in rule. So as as The jewish nation is waiting for redemption.
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They're thinking of their messiah as a political leader This man is going to come and rescue us from from Rome and if you go to acts 5 you look at gamaliel, he says is jesus one of those kinds of men who just pretended to lead and then
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The it went to nothing the two names that are given there thaddeus and judas. These were political leaders
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They grabbed some people. They said let's go and I I will be like the messiah to these people and instead they just the leader was killed and the whole movement died um these men
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Who pretend to be messiahs never really Brought freedom or safety to the sheep instead.
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They killed those who Followed them, but more importantly, uh, the the immediate context talks about local despots
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These religious leaders who usurp their role as leaders And spiritually there were two groups one was the sadducees and the other was the pharisees in what sense did the sadducees?
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Come in as thieves and robbers Uh, the sadducees were after money
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They they were actually from the priesthood and they were supposed to do the rituals the old testament, uh sacrifices
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And the these sadducees instead were more concerned about amassing wealth for themselves
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So we read for example in matthew 21 12 Jesus entered the temple drove out all who sold and bought in the temple
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Overturned the tables of the money changes and the seats of those who sold pigeons and he said to them
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It is written. My house shall be a house of prayer, but you make it a den of robbers
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Instead of having gods the temple as a place where they could come and worship They instead were using all these schemes in order to gain wealth for themselves but the sadducees are not the main focus of jesus's
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Charge the ones that he is talking about from john 9 are the pharisees these men
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Did not really want to uh gain money, but instead they wanted to gain prestige. They wanted to show themselves as As as holier than others and they wanted to give legalism as the as the method to feed the sheep and uh, jesus says this in matthew 23 when he has these, um, he he
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Exposes the folly of the pharisees. He says one of the things there vote to you scribes and pharisees hypocrite
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For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte and when he becomes a proselyte you make him
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Twice as much a child of hell as yourself So if you're thinking of thieves and robbers here are some men who come tell the sheep
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I'm going to show you the way to heaven and instead they are taking them down the path of destruction because they are not taking
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God's word instead They are making rules as we heard this morning and they were trying to make this the means of salvation
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And they were false leaders So this is this is talking about the thieves and robbers.
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So what does jesus mean when he says I am the door Um, jesus says several iams in in the gospels and people get very confused by it then and even today
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If you remember jesus has not gone to the cross yet. He is still in his ministry Um, but he is pointing to the cross
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If you read uh in verse 9 jesus says I am the door if anyone enters by me he will be saved
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And the save that is talking about is the same soteriological sense that we have here today
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How do we know it read a couple of verses down in verse 11? I am the good shepherd the good shepherd lays down his life for for the sheep.
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Jesus is talking about His atoning sacrifice that he is going to accomplish We will see a little bit more on this in a minute, but uh a good practical example
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If you go back to john 9 is how john 9 ends So if you just turn a few a page or so before you will see in john chapter 9 verse 35 the blind man
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He's been healed One thing that god has done for him. He cannot deny
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He doesn't know a lot about jesus, but he knows this he was blind and now he is healed the the pharisees these thieves and robbers
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Do not want to credit jesus with this miracle and they try to tell him. Who do you say you are?
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And with leading questions, we know this man is not what he claims to be and uh, and the and the blind man cannot acknowledge what the pharisees say and he says
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This man is a prophet and he goes on to deny what the pharisees would want him to say and Finally the pharisees would have no more they say you are kicked out
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You cannot come to the synagogue anymore. You have no access to god. You are No longer a jewish person in good standing.
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So this man who is out of the door Jesus now comes and talks to him in verse 35
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We read jesus heard that they had cast him out and having found him. He said do you believe in the son of man?
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He answered who is he sir that I may believe in him and jesus said to him
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You have seen him and it is he who is speaking to you in verse 38. He says
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Lord, I believe and he worshiped him. So here you see the blind man
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Walking through that door that jesus provides. So here is a man who has seen who jesus is who?
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Believes in him and he worships him and that is the sense in which jesus is now talking to the rest of the people
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Who are around and watching this debacle very obvious very plain miracle, but the
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Pharisees were blind and could not acknowledge what jesus was doing and jesus says I am the door and just as this blind man
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Has entered through me and he is safe. So also will you if you would walk through me
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We will we will draw this out a little bit more. So let's now come and look at what it means to us today Who are these thieves and robbers that we need to be careful about who are these predators that we need to watch out for the predators are the false leaders um
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Among the false leaders the chief in the category are false teachers who come in into the sheep into the sheep fold
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Uh, they come in Wolves really with sheep's clothing and their real goal is to destroy
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Um, a good example would be cults where you have leaders who just Take power upon themselves.
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They would claim to speak for god, but instead their Motives are for their own gain just as we saw what happened with the pharisees and the sadducees
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So also there are people who would peddle god's word For private gain some of you who've been in false churches and have come out, you know, the destruction
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That they wreck upon unsuspecting sheep These false teachers are deceivers
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But they are in one sense deceived themselves because they Were intentionally or unintentionally they represent false gods and they ultimately work for the devil
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So when sheep are under the clutches of these robbers, they are abused and they are ultimately killed
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And even here when we are told that god's sheep will be protected from these false teachers
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Now sometimes we just limit the scope too much to just the religious leaders When you think back of the false messiahs in jesus time
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You have to remember that many of them were actually political leaders. They said, you know, I am the messiah I will lead you out and instead of leading them out to god's presence.
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They led them out to their destruction so When you think of today's world system
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We may not necessarily have You you may look at the true church and you may see these false teachers that creep in and want to destroy the church
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You may see false churches that claim to be churches, but are not you may see false world religions hinduism islam buddhism
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And you may actually even take atheistic world systems Take stalin take uh, mao take
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Uh hitler, these are all people who promised something to the people they said, you know, I will show you the ideal world you come and follow me and I will give you peace and prosperity and satisfaction and instead they took them like sheep and destroyed them completely and So when you think for example in john 1 john 2 17 the world is passing away with its desires the world's system
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Is not just a religious system, but it is anything that would compete with jesus christ as lord and savior
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So with that said let's now look at you the sheep What does this mean to you today?
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What door are you walking through? As we talked about salvation those of you who are his sheep you
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Have been saved verse 11 says Um, the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep you have acknowledged that jesus has died for your sin
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In verse 9 I am the door if anyone enters by me He will be saved when you think of door when you came to church today
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You would have you had to open your car door get out of your car Open your church door and you come into this building and you are here now doors have a function they let you in and they let you out and When you enter jesus as the door
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Where did you enter? What was it that you entered into? When you walk through jesus as your door
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You enter the kingdom of god. We all belong to the kingdom of darkness
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We were away and separated from god, but through jesus christ. We now have access we have entered god's kingdom
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Itself now, how is this accomplished? I'm going to read a few verses just to remind ourselves How jesus really is the door because the symbolism sometimes?
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Gets confusing when you try to explain to an unbeliever. What kind of a door do I just physically open jesus?
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No, but there is a access. There is an opening that jesus provides. Um, let me read for you.
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Matthew 27 50 This is jesus on the cross as he dies. He says this
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Jesus cried again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit and behold
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The curtain of the temple was torn into from top to bottom And the earth shook and the rocks were split
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And if you think of the doors in the temple you had the outer gate you had the inner coats
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You could come to a lot of places But one thing one place you could never go and that was into the holy of holies
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You have the curtain once a year on a on the day of atonement The high priest would actually walk into it and perform a sacrifice for the people, but you could not go in there alive
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When jesus dies that curtain is split from top to bottom god
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Opens up that means of access to him if the interpretation in Ephesians 2 18 when paul talks about what kind of access we have
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He says for through him through jesus. We both have access in one spirit to the father
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It is through the work finished work of jesus christ on the cross that there is complete access
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You now can enter through his finished work. He has died for your sin You are counted as righteous before god and you can now come boldly into his presence in ephesians 2
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It's talking about both the jews and the gentiles who now have access And many of us here are gentiles who are saved by christ
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Now when we think of safety, I want to talk about how we are safe So we saw that the thief comes to steal kill and destroy there is an utter and complete devastation
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What kind of safety does the christian have in jesus? We hear of the thrice holy god holy holy holy he is utterly and completely holy
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In john 14 6 jesus says I am the way the truth and the life
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No one comes to the father except through me. He is the The way he there is he is the
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Sure way to to god himself and then later in john 10 He says I will give them eternal life and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand
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The thief and the robber will come to destroy and and annihilate but when jesus
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Takes you into his hand There is complete safety. There is really no way you can be taken out of his hand
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And in verse 29 my father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them
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Out of the father's hand just as how there is sure destruction in the hands of the thieves and the robbers
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So also in the hand of jesus christ, you are completely safe. There is absolutely no way that you will be touched by the enemy
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I want to read a few verses that talk about this security in verse 9
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We read that you will be saved and you will come in and go out and find pasture What is this coming in and going out we will see this more in the next section but It was a term that was used in the old testament talking about freedom
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So when you have thieves and robbers when you think of the sheep who are afraid of the wolves There is a sense in which they are afraid
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The image that you should think of is war. So if we had war right now And people are bombing us on the streets.
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So you're not just going to go open the door and walk outside You're going to look carefully make sure there's no air raid siren
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You'd be hunkered in the bunkers rather than walking outside But when there is peace in the land you have complete freedom
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You can walk out whenever you want you can come in anytime you need And that is the sense in which jesus is saying when you have come into the door that is jesus
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It is not like you come in into the fortress and you have to lock the doors and then watch out
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That is not the sense at all in which jesus gives you safety when you come in into jesus
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When you are in his hands, you have complete freedom to walk in and out. Let me just read a few Verses from the old testament just to give you that imagery of how god
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Allows you to walk in and walk out in complete freedom and complete security and unmolested by the enemy deuteronomy 28 6
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Blessed shall you be when you come in and blessed shall you be when you go out Why?
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Verse 7 the lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways
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When there is enmity when there is opposition to the christian God says he will take care of it.
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He will grant you peace so you can actually have freedom in your life um, many of you may know this verse psalm 121 verse 8 the lord will
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Keep your going out and you're coming in from this time forth and forevermore. It's a song of a sense
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Saying that god would protect you. He would give you peace and if you read the rest of the psalm It begins like this you you probably know this
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I lift my eyes to the hills from where does my help come from? Here in the present in the presence of real danger the psalmist looks to god and he is assured that god will protect him
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He's going in and is coming out so if you're a believer today
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You know your shepherd's voice You are in his hands
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You have the freedom and the safety that god provides And you are not like um
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Like sheep that are defenseless How do you hear god's word? How do you hear his voice?
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As you read his word you keep hearing what he has to tell you and We have the bible says an armor that god has provided us
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Imagine that sheep with armor and not just that you also have sheep Like ninja turtles,
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I guess with sword you have this word of god To defend against the enemy
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That changes the images quite a bit but There is complete security for the christian.
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You are safe and you have everything you need in order to live life In the security of jesus christ, but what about those of you who do not know jesus as your shepherd?
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Those of you who have not walked in through that door So What are the doors that you probably see?
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As you look at these choices The bible says that there are two doors
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That any all of us must walk through there is one door which has
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Which is broad it in in matthew 7 jesus talks about this He says there are you either have god as your leader or you are following the enemy onto destruction
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So who are some of the leaders that come to your mind? Is it yourself? Is it someone else that you look up to to find meaning in life and purpose in life and to walk down your life?
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With the confidence saying this is what gives me satisfaction. This is what keeps me safe Jesus says look to those people that claim to be leaders and see if this
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Matches their description matthew 7 15 beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing
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But inwardly are ravenous wolves you will recognize them by their fruit Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles so those who claim to be leaders
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If their lives do not match with what they say That would be an evidence that these are people that you ought not to follow
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But for yourself, what is this door that looks like so we have jesus here who promises eternal life
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But you might say, you know, this door just seems Unpleasant to me. I would rather take this door
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What is another door that you might have in math in matthew 7 13 Jesus says enter by the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads
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To destruction and those who enter by it are many today when you look at the world, there are many options church seems to be stifling, but all these other ways seem to be good financial success and A peace by following meditative principles of eastern religions.
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There's so many other ways that want themselves as Means as doors that you are to enter but jesus says these doors may look nice on the outside This is hell's advertisement as you might have heard, you know
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Everything looks nice from from a distance and as you start walking in you realize That these are not what truly?
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That they claim themselves to be People think that they need peace in life They go down these meditative paths and they find that all they are doing is suppressing the real issues and then they find destruction instead and Any other means that competes with jesus christ may seem attractive on the outside But the end of that path is destruction
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But jesus says in verse 14 the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life and there are few who find it
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So when you look at christ What is the door? What is the first aspect of the door that we are looking at it is a cross
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Who wants to go through a man who would die on a cross for us?
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Who would want to follow a man who says you must deny yourself take up your cross and follow me?
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Yes, it seems hard as you would want to follow after him yet That is the only true way to safety when you have surrendered your life to him
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When you have given up everything and when you have taken up his cross when you have taken up His life as your own
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You now have a peace and a confidence and you know that the end will lead you to safety in god's own presence
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And what is it that the shepherd says he talks about a holy god He talks about a sinful man and he talks that this jesus your shepherd died for man
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For his sheep in order to provide this door to access into heaven And if you do not believe in jesus you need to repent of your sin
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And you need to believe in jesus christ So you too can be in this door in this door of safety in this place of security in this place of peace
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That you can live life without fear or danger
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So let's now take a few moments to talk about how jesus is also your door of satisfaction We'll go quickly through this but we'll take the same three steps
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We saw how the thieves and robbers they came here to destroy and to kill They did not come here to give life
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They did not come to take you to another place the sheep and raise them as a pet and to provide for them
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And now this door through which the sheep came this door was not just a place of safety it was not just a place where the sheep came and Said okay.
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I don't have to deal with wolves anymore. This was also the door that opened up to pastures So they would come in and go out.
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They would come in for safety and rest. They would go out for food and satisfaction and Uh, we read again in verse 9, which we touched upon earlier
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I am the door if anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture now
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Uh, what were some of the ways in which these pharisees? Took the life out of the people
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The pharisees, uh, well, let's begin with the false messiahs. They took them out to lead up against rome
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All the people who went against were killed Uh, the pharisees they said here is what would please god do this and you will live instead all they were doing was adding burden upon burden and the people who tried to follow it were just stifled and Had no abundant life that they could enjoy the sadducees.
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They said, you know, here is the rituals Here is what you need to do to come before god and instead they took away the meager means that they had for survival but jesus said um
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If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and go in and out and find pasture Uh, you will feed of the goodness that god has given you he is going to take you to a land flowing with milk and honey
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You will grow As you are nurtured by god himself in verse 10
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Jesus says I came that they may have life and have it abundantly uh, if you look at the life of those who followed jesus in the first century that Superficially may not seem so, uh, all the apostles that followed him
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Well, at least most of them except john, uh died as martyrs And um
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Was that? a problem Not if you look at the big picture
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Jesus told them the dangers that they will have but if you look at the life of peter and john a crass fisherman peter and uh son of thunder john
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Transformed by the life of jesus christ So when you look at peter at the end of his life and john at the end of his life totally different They were transformed from from humans
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Sinful humans to those who would reflect the image of god in all its splendor
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God delivers what he promised he gave them abundant life These men lived their lives so much that they did not care to give up their earthly life in order
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To glorify god on earth and enjoy it completely in heaven So today when you look at false teachers, we have people who promise
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Easy life in christ easy believism. Just say a mantra and then everything would go well with you
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Um seems fine, but when you look at those places where these men teach
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People have real problems and when you try to solve those problems with a with a band -aid
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That's not going to satisfy very soon. Those band -aids will rip apart and your life falls into pieces
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Um on the on the other hand you have legalism people who say, you know Use all these rules make sure you do these and that's what would please god instead.
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What you have is a life that is not in communion with god, but rather a life that is inwardly focused and stifled and completely the opposite of an abundant life
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Now for those of us who are in christ we are given an abundant life. So In what sense do we want to think of an abundant life?
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We already saw the door of safety when you enter the door you entered into god's kingdom And this is a place where the enemy has no hold over you
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But this is not just a kingdom as a fortress as we saw This is also a place where you come in and feast in god's presence.
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This is filled with god's immediate presence itself, so when we see um, once again going back to jesus as The door that provided this way
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Here are a few verses in hebrews 10 19. Jesus says we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of jesus
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By the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain that is through his flesh Let us now draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith
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With our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water We have complete access before god.
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We will draw this out a little bit more how this satisfies you Same thing with romans 5 1 we have been justified by faith.
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We have peace with god through our lord. Jesus christ And this access now helps us to rejoice in the glory of god in the hope of the glory of god
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We have something spectacular something Marvelous that we have now have access into when we come through this door and that satisfying
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Sense is what we have in god. I'm going to point to a few verses as we move Quickly, uh, if you look at I we're not going to look at this but in psalm 118 verse 19
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It's a messianic psalm that talks about Jesus and there we have the gates of righteousness and the righteous will enter through the gate of the lord and he
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Provides salvation and it is a place of great rejoicing and gladness and Jesus later would use the same verse in matthew 21 44 where he talks about the stone
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That the builders have rejected which becomes the cornerstone Um, but I want to talk about two things when we think of satisfaction
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We have safety which is when you are justified you've come into your god's presence But we also have satisfaction which is part of your justification
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What are some of the images that jesus has spoken of when you are satisfied? earlier in john jesus said
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Let me read this verse again. John 10 10 says i've come that they may have life and have it abundantly There are two images that jesus has already used in his ministry until now in john 4
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Jesus was talking to the woman at the well this the samaritan woman And he said
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This was a woman who was coming to draw water and jesus said I will give you water and in verse 13
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He said everyone who drinks of this physical water will be thirsty again But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again
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The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life
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All of us have a certain kind of thirst On earth we are made as spiritual beings
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We are made as beings in god's image and there are certain things that we are dry off when we do not have god
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Physical water will satisfy us for a moment. We need to come back to it. But when god Gives us himself when god fills us with himself
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We now have full and complete satisfaction that longing, uh that God gives us he satisfies by himself, but it is not just something that is just barely there.
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Okay. My thirst is gone. This is Abundant life we saw how this will be a spring of life welling up to eternal life
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You now have the spirit of god within you he he helps you enjoy this kingdom of god into which you have
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Entered you now have that fellowship that is rich and full and overflowing It is this abundant life that we were talking about.
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Jesus also says in john 6 35 I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst when you have
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Taken partaken of jesus, he will satisfy your spiritual hunger and he will leave you with no lack um
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How does that translate into your life today? So we we understand this theologically in what sense is a christian to have an abundant life?
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So when you came this morning, we heard about how this christian Has a fulfilled life here on earth.
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The very first way in which we do is by spiritual joy uh, we talked about how a christian of all people have
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Something that they need most people try to find it in in power in money in relationships
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But when you have walked through the door, you realize that this is the water that you were searching for This is the food that you were looking to be nourished in And you have that spiritual joy in god
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That is a joy that nobody can take away every time you come to the word every time you commune with god in prayer
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Your soul is filled with a bounty with the abundance of god's own presence itself
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And then when you live out your life you have physical contentment in the provisions it's not a prosperity gospel in the sense that you're now going to have double the salary or thrice the influence or all your relationships are going to be um
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Filled with people who just come and flatter you Uh, none of that might change but god changes you inside out
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You now see the people as god would have them have you see them You now see people as those that god has placed in your care
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You now see life through god's eyes that you can see what it is that god would have you do whether it is a time of Peace and prosperity or it is a time of great and intense conflict god gives you
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His own presence his own wisdom to lead you through those times and you can live life saying this is how god wants me to live
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You're not walking in a path confused and scattered rather You say this is what god has placed me before and I will walk joyfully because I can see my shepherd walking before me
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All your relationships now come under god. You no longer try to influence people in order to gain
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Their friendships, but rather you can honor god in the relationship that god has given you you can grow in knowledge god now
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Opens up the word. He feeds you daily as you read his word your family no longer becomes a chore that you need to handle
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But it becomes a joy that you can actually enjoy in god's presence your work no longer becomes
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Frustrating means that you just have to go and do so that you have your food But rather you can actually work for the pleasure of god you can see how god has
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Given you this work for his purposes today. You can enjoy your recreation without any guilt
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You can you can be thankful for this rest that god gives you in your recreation So whether it is a conflict or in peace you can now have this shepherd before you in all of your ways
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Psalm 23 is a good imagery of how he takes you By these pastures and by these still waters and all of your life you can bring before god and let him
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Lead you through those paths Uh, there are a few other verses i'm just going to give you the references psalm 79 13 talks about how we are the sheep of his pasture and There is a sense especially as you look at the old testament how when god has called his sheep on his own
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Generation after generation these people would praise this god Because they can look back at how god has blessed them and that is an abundant life that they can physically see and be thankful for psalm 100 verse 3
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It is not just what god has done in our life, but it is the presence of god in our lives We know that the lord he is god.
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It is he who made us. We are his we are the sheep of his pasture just this The sense of being under god that takes life from The perspective that the world brings to a totally new vision of what god has given us
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Isaiah 49 8 and 9 talks about how god Redeems his people and he would put us in places which to the world may seem barren and foolish
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But god says they shall feed along the ways those paths where things are dry Those are the very places that god would provide all the bare heights where there doesn't seem to be any food
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That will be their pasture But the one passage that I really want to leave you with is ezekiel 34
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And there right after talking about how the false shepherds have driven the sheep away.
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Jesus says as God says as a shepherd seeks out his As flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered
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So will I seek seek my sheep and rescue them from all the places? They have been scattered and then he concludes that by saying you are my sheep
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Human sheep of my pasture and I am your god declares the lord.
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God Ezekiel 34 again talking to israel, but uh in john 10 16
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Jesus says, you know, there is this jewish fold that i'm talking to but I have sheep of Other sheep that are also not of this fold and I must bring them also and they will listen to my voice
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And there will be one flock and one shepherd So when we think today of how jesus is our door of safety and how jesus is our door of satisfaction
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You want to remember who? jesus is he is The one who has provided access to god.
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He is the one who has given you eternal safety He is the one by which you
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Every day have access completely into god's presence He is the way by which you can look at life and say
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What a joyful opportunity for me to come before god and live life for his glory
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You now have a totally new way of seeing life living life and glorifying god in your life
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So when you think of jesus as your door of safety as your door to satisfaction It should translate to say what a great lord
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I have what a great shepherd I have and may I glorify god Through what he has provided in john 10 1 through 10, we see how jesus is the shepherd
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Who came through this unique door? He is the one he is the messiah the anointed one he is
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The shepherd who has a unique voice you and I have heard his voice and keep hearing his voice and we follow him
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And he is the unique way to god you and I who have entered through that door can come in and go out and find pasture
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Let us pray our loving and gracious father we
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Thank you for Giving us your son. Jesus christ as our door of safety lord as we
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Look around and see Children abducted young people walking down a slippery slope
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We commit them into your hands father for your protection We are thankful that you have plucked us out of the fire
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You have placed us on a rock And you lead us in the pasture for our safety and your glory
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As we go out back to our homes As we go back to our work and to those places that you placed us help us to remember that you
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Constantly are with us Help us to look at life Through your eyes
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That we would Enjoy every moment that you place before us
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That we would walk in the strength and the power that you have given us And that we oh lord would glorify you as sheep that follow you
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And fulfill your purposes both in our lives and the lives of those among whom you placed us