WWUTT 896 Enter the Sheepfold by the Door?

In John 10 Jesus said, 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 by the door is the shepherd of the sheep, when we understand the text. Many of the

Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text is an online ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty.

Visit our website at www .utt .com. Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes.

Thank you, Becky. John chapter 10 today. And I'm going to open up our study of John 10 by reading through the first 21 verses.

We start with Jesus saying, 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 by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him, the gatekeeper opens.

The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

When he has brought out all of his own, he goes before them. And the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

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

This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. So Jesus said to them again, truly, truly,

I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.

I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.

The thief comes only to steal and 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 is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd.

I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the

Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold.

I must bring them also and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.

No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.

This charge I have received from my Father." There was again a division among the

Jews because of these words. Many of them said, he has a demon and is insane.

Why listen to him? Others said, these are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon.

Can a demon open the eyes of the blind? Remember all of this is still going on on the tail end of what we read in chapter 9 with Jesus healing the man who had been born blind.

And he rubbed some mud on his eyes and he told him to go wash in the pool of Siloam.

And that's what the man did and he came back seeing a man who was blind from birth. And suddenly he was able to see.

Not see again, he was able to see the first time. And that is the case with every one of us.

All of us who are born in spiritual blindness because of our sin. And we see for the very first time when we hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and repent of our sin and believe upon his name.

So Jesus still talking with the people and with the Pharisees because of the mumbling they had been doing following the healing of this man.

How is Jesus able to do these things? Who is this guy? And they overhear

Jesus say to the man that he is the son of man. You have seen him and it is he who is speaking to you.

And the blind man or the man who had previously been blind said, Lord, I believe and he worshipped him.

And Jesus said, for judgment, I came into this world that those who do not see may see and those who see may become blind.

Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things and said to him, are we also blind? They said that in a mocking tone.

And Jesus said to them, if you were blind, you would have no guilt. But now that you say we see your guilt remains.

This is kind of we're reading in John here, a statement that Jesus makes in Matthew and in Luke, where he says that that men will be forgiven all of their sins except for blasphemy of the

Holy Spirit. There is no forgiveness for this sins for this sin. It is an unforgivable sin.

And that's basically what Jesus is saying here in verse 41. Jesus said to them, if you were blind, you would have no guilt.

But now that you say we see your guilt remains. So if the Pharisees are saying we see what

Jesus is doing, we see all the signs that point to him being the son of God. And yet we are going to say that he's not and he has a demon instead.

If that's what it is that they're saying, if that's the revelation that is coming from their hearts, what they're revealing from their hearts, then their guilt is apparent how evil they are and that they are from Satan, not

Christ. The shoe is on the other foot. Jesus is not the one who is walking the steps of the devil.

It's the Pharisees that are doing so. And then even after Jesus says what he does next about being the good shepherd, they say he has a demon and he is insane.

Who wants to hear this guy? Even the people don't quite buy the Pharisees statement when they say that they're going.

Yeah. But how can a guy who has a demon say some of the things that he is saying? Oh, by the way, he healed a blind man.

How can a demon do such a thing as that? In common sense, they're recognizing something more is going on here.

But the Pharisees, they see it. They even know what God spoke through the prophets because they're the teachers and the shepherds of Israel.

They're supposed to be. And yet they look at Christ, who is the fulfillment of all the law and the prophets, which they're supposed to know.

And yet they say that he has a demon. So this is why the Pharisees would be guilty of this unforgivable sin.

And Jesus is able to make that proclamation of them because he knows the heart. He knows just how hard hearted they really are.

And that they're not actually going to repent of this. They're going to remain so hard hearted all the way to Christ's death.

But then after his resurrection, their hearts will remain hard all the way to their own deaths.

Chapter 10, verse one, 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.

Why a thief and a robber? Why was it necessary to say that twice? Well, let's break down some of these terms here.

Sheepfold. What is the sheepfold? Well, think of it in terms of your average peasant shepherd in first century

Judea. OK, not somebody who was rich, who may have had lots and lots of sheep and all kinds of hired shepherds and all kinds of land to graze on, but just your average shepherd in Judea.

The sheepfold would have been an enclosure of dry stack stones. What do

I mean by dry stack? Well, it was a wall that was made with stones just stacked up on top of one another.

It wasn't any mortar holding them together. It wasn't like a permanent wall, still a solid and well constructed structure, but it was just dry stack.

So because these stones have not been made with any mortar, there is a single opening.

It's kind of a horseshoe shape, sort of. But the opening in the horseshoe is just big enough for one or two sheep to fit through.

So that's it. That's the door into the sheepfold. It wasn't often a gate or something that could be opened and closed.

Rather, that opening would have been guarded by the gatekeeper or maybe even the shepherd himself.

So you have all the sheep that would come into the sheepfold, that enclosed stonewall area at night.

They come out during the day, they graze, they do their grazing during the day, or maybe they're enclosed during the day and they come out and do their grazing at night.

Because it's easier for the sheep to eat at night and too hot during the day, dependent on the season.

Anyway, but that's that's kind of the the purpose of the sheepfold to keep the sheep all in one spot and keep them protected from any outside predators.

That entrance to the sheepfold is being guarded by the gatekeeper. Or again, it might be the shepherd himself that is standing there.

The shepherd knows how to herd the sheep, take care of the sheep. He's giving instructions to the rest of the shepherds, the under shepherds, the gatekeeper.

His only job is to stand there at the door. Very simple job. He's probably the least of the shepherds, has the least experience with the sheep.

He just needs to stand there at the entrance, keep the sheep from coming in and out and keep predators, especially from being able to get in.

So there's only one way in and out of that sheepfold. The gatekeeper is standing there at the door.

If somebody climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber.

Now, there's going to be a distinction between these two terms, thief and robber. The good shepherd, the gatekeeper, anybody who has been sent by the shepherd, they're going to come in only one way.

They're going to come in by the door. But anyone who is entering over the wall, they have evil intentions.

They don't have any good intentions. The thief is someone who's going to come in by covert operations.

All right. He's going to sneak in. He's going to try to get in unnoticed. The robber is probably someone who comes in more violently, more forcefully into that situation.

The robber is breaking in. The thief is kind of sneaking in. So that's why there's two different terms there.

There's a distinction between those terms. But either either of those two are bad, evil men.

The thief, the one who kind of sneaks in, he's a little more cunning, a little more conniving with how he is getting into the fold.

The robber barges in by force. He's loud. He's obnoxious. He even announces why he's there, what it is that he is doing.

You can see his intentions. You know exactly what they are, but you can't do anything about it because of how violent and oppressive he is.

So anybody who's coming in by another way is a thief and a robber.

And there are false teachers that come into the church in exactly these ways. They either come in in covert ways.

They're sneaky. They're conniving. You don't see right away what it is that they are doing, but they have come by another name other than Christ.

They're not preaching the true gospel or they have compromised the gospel and are preaching a different gospel.

But they're sneaky about it. Then there are other guys who are just loud and obnoxious about it, and they take advantage of others and they use their power to to be able to oppress others, to advance themselves and tear other people down.

And you can see exactly what it is that they're doing. But because of the power that they have, it's almost like you can't do anything to stop it.

Or maybe they're even blatant about the heresies that they are preaching.

But people, nonetheless, get caught up in them as they try to lead the sheep astray.

So he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. That's verse two,

John 10, two. And then we see all the more clearly coming up in verse seven that Jesus is the door of the sheep.

So he is both the shepherd and he is the door. In other words, the shepherd is standing watch over his sheep.

He's the one that's standing there at the sheepfold door. So you can't get into the sheepfold by any other way but through the shepherd.

He's the guy. He's the door and he's the shepherd. And he lays down his life for the sheep.

And if anyone comes in any other name but his, they are not from the shepherd.

They are a thief and a robber. So Jesus goes on, verse two, he who enters the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

To him, the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and he leads them out.

When he has brought out all of his own, he goes before them and the sheep follow him for they know his voice.

So let's get kind of more of a picture of this metaphor, this analogy that's going on here. Remember that God has chosen whom he is going to save.

He has elected from before the foundation of the world those who are his sheep, not going to be his sheep, those who are his sheep.

They're not goats. They're sheep, goats and sheep. They've been determined from before the foundation of the world.

God has appointed those who are going to be sheep. We come back to Ephesians chapter one. Blessed be the

God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.

This is also said in Romans 8, 28 and 29, that God has predestined us to be conformed to the image of the sun.

So he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.

He is not only predestined those who are going to be justified, he is predestined those who are going to be sanctified.

We are not only going to become those who are converted to believe in the name of Jesus, but we're also going to be those who are going to grow in knowledge of him, becoming more like him until the day of glory in love.

He predestined us, Ephesians 1, 5, for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the beloved.

In him, we have the redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

In him, we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.

In him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation and believed in him, were sealed with the promised

Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory.

There you go. That's Ephesians chapter one, verses three through 14. That basically sounded like one long run on sentence because it kind of was.

But anyway, so we see there having been predestined to be the sheep of God.

So you have those who are who belong to Christ, who are in the fold. They are safe.

They are not going to follow the voice of anyone else but the voice of the shepherd. And only to him, the shepherd, does the gatekeeper open the sheep, hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and he leads them out.

And when he has brought out all of his own, he goes before them and the sheep follow him for they know his voice.

Understand this and understand this well, my brothers and sisters. Repent and believe are commands.

They're not suggestions. They're not invitations. They are commands. And those who are his sheep will follow them.

Those who are not his sheep won't. So whenever a person has heard the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ and then the call of the gospel that you would repent of your sin and you would follow

Jesus, those who have been predestined to be sheep will hear that call and obey it because they know the voice of the shepherd.

They have been consecrated before they were born, set apart before they were born. The apostle

Paul makes that clear in Galatians 115. We read it also in Jeremiah 1 5.

I have consecrated you and set you apart from your mother's womb before you were born.

So they were appointed to be sheep. Therefore, we know who truly are the sheep of God, for when they hear the voice of the shepherd, they obey it.

They turn from sin. They turn from their wandering, which is what sheep do. They just wander aimlessly around without a shepherd.

When they hear the voice of the shepherd, they follow Jesus. And it's because they are sheep.

The goats will not follow the shepherd, but it is the sheep who follow him because they were appointed to be sheep.

God has appointed them to be his sheep. And when he has brought out all his own, he goes before them and the sheep follow him.

So you have the call of the gospel. You have the growth and sanctification, for they do not know the voice of strangers.

They're not going to follow after Satan or any of his minions, even those who disguise themselves as angels of light like Satan does.

This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them, John 10 6.

And there are many who do not understand this. They don't understand God's predestining, those who are going to be saved.

And then we come to know who those are, whom God has elected from before the foundation of the world, when we see that they follow the voice of the shepherd, his sheep, those who know the shepherd's voice, listen to him and obey him.

And so, my brothers and sisters, you must you must do this. You must know this yourselves, knowing the voice of God that is spoken to us through the scriptures.

And you must hear it and you must obey it. Beware those who are liberal, who do not know this voice, or they try to twist it and turn it into something that isn't actually the voice of God.

Be one who knows God's voice, listens to it and obeys it. In Jesus name.

Amen. You've been listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. We hope you are a part of a church family committed to gospel teaching, and we thank you for including us in your

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