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Text: John 10:1-10                                             

1"I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. 3The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice." 6Jesus used this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them.

 7Therefore Jesus said again, "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. 8All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

 

Praise be the Good shepherd The Gate the Savior of our souls

Fellow Believers,

What is it that makes us secure?  Americans are told they need to be financially secure in case of recession.  We secure our homes at night in case of intruders.  We want to be secure from terrorists.  We spend a lot of tax dollars for security and safety.  We have a built in need for security sand especially our children need to feel that they are loved – that brings them a lot of security. 

Jesus provides a different kind of security.  He provides security for our souls.  It was his life and death and resurrection that secured our eternal future in heaven.  The Good Shepherd laid down his life for the sheep and because of that our most important need is taken care of.  Perhaps we can compare our salvation  to taking a car to a trusted mechanic.  If I fix my car myself I know I will mess it up.  If left to save myself from my sins, I know I will mess it up and be doomed to hell.  Since our salvation is in the hands of Jesus we can be sure it has been accomplished.   

Our text also calls Jesus the Gate.  He uses the illustration to help us understand how else Jesus provides security for our souls.  :

            How does the Gate Protect Us?

I.                    Who are our Enemies?

II.                  How Is Jesus The Gate

 

In our text for today Jesus warns us again the thieves and robbers.  He really wasn’t giving a lesson on good ranching or shepherding.  He was point to someone as a thief and a robber.  He was pointing to the Pharisees.  They were the ones who looked like the good people.  They were the religious people. They were the ones who set the tone for morality in Jewish society.  They believed they were the ones who were the righteousness and not really sinners.  But they were leading people astray. They were stealing souls for Satan.  They were leading people to themselves and away from the Messiah the true Shepherd of souls.  They were opposed to Jesus and what Jesus taught. 

            Our enemies are similar.  We can easily identify many temptations and dangers to our souls.  Behind them are the devil, the world, and our own traitorous sinful flesh.   At the heart of all trouble in our world Satan lies lurking somewhere.  This is what Jesus says about him.  John 8:44 " You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Satan is the ultimate murderer.  1 Peter 5:8 8Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.  Satan is the roaring lion who is seeking to devour us.  He wants our destruction and our death in hell with him.  Like a suicide bomber he is spending eternity away from God and wants to take as many of us with his as he can.

            Since it is Satan’s goal to destroy us and destroy the souls of our families, we should take that threat seriously.  We need to be on guard against his attacks.  We need to be on constant “Red Alert” so we are not destroyed by Satan. 

            How will the Evil Shepherd do that?  Will he send enemies in his name, or will he disguise them?  He will use the world around us to try and lead us away.  He will even use those in the Church and our own sinful nature against us. 

One of the lesser know terrorist stories was about the Portland 7.   One of them was arrested.  After his arrest many of his co-workers and friends came to his defense.  They accused the government of Nazism and conducting a witch hunt.  But after further investigation they found he had been in Afghanistan two times to train in Al-Qaeda terrorist camps.   He lived in our neighborhood.  He put on the mask of good citizen. He was an employee of Intel – an intelligent man.  He married an American girl.  He was planning to do violence in the neighborhoods he lived, against the country that was his home.  Satan works the same way.  Satan uses those we know best against us and even our own sinful nature to try and destroy us.

Satan uses the world against us.  He uses the world to tempt us to sin.  Like the Pharisees the world around us “sets” the morality.  They say that “Alternate sexual lifestyles” are good and desirable.  God condemns it as sin.  They say that pride in self is important – God says give glory to  Him the giver of all thing.  They say that science is truth and God’s Word is myth.   They say that others are to blame for their sins – God holds us accountable.  We can’t help but be affected.  The more we see and hear the more we become numb to the temptation.  At times the world does influence us. 

Even those who call themselves Christian can line themselves up with Satan.  The American Good Shepherd is very different than the one described in the bible.  The American Jesus is made out to be my therapist, my buddy.  Not the Almighty God and Creator of all things who we should honor and revere.  The American Jesus is somewhat spineless – looking the other way when I sin.  He is not the Almighty Righteous Judge.   The American Jesus “accepts me as I am” and does not Judge.  They deny that he holds sinners accountable for their sins and will punish those who do sin.  The American Jesus looks more like Oprah or Dr. Phil – someone who’s only goal is to make me a better person or be my support group. 

Nothing could be further from the truth.  While it is true Jesus loves us, he does not condone our sin.  He does not look the other way.  He hates sin and condemns sin.  He will come to Judge the world on the last day.  For the wicked – the sinner the Good shepherd is to be feared.  He is to be feared because he will send sinners to hell.  

He did not come to make us feel better he came to take away our sins. He did not come to make us happy and nowhere does he tell us he wants us to be happy.  He came to save us from hell.  Jesus did not come to make this world a better place.  His primary purpose is to “seek and save the lost.”

            Isn’t’ that a warning of us?  Don’t we need to be on guard for the thieves and robbers of our world?     Satan sends his false prophets in to the world to fool us and lead us astray.  Your enemy is Satan and anyone who does not teach you the right way to heaven.  “I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber.” Satan, false prophets, “prophets” of sin are all joined together knowing or unknowingly to lead you to hell.  They promote many ways to heaven, when there is really only one way.  The false ways to heaven really are disguised ways to hell.

           

So you be getting an idea to know what is means that Jesus is the gate.  What does a gate do?  It is the place where people go in and out of an area.  The Gate is a form of protection.  Jesus tells us that he is the Gate.  In those days a Shepherd often put his sheep in a pen and then slept in front of the gate as the gate.  The sheep wouldn’t cross over him to get out and the predators would not cross over the shepherd to get into the pen.  If they tried the shepherd would wake and drive them off.  In order to go in our out you had to go through the gate/shepherd.  Jesus the Gate is our protector, our Savior. 

            The Gate is also a way in our out of a place.  Jesus is the only way into heaven.  Listen to what else scripture says about the doorway to heaven.  “I am the Gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.”  “I am the way the truth and the life. No one come sot the Father except through me.”   Acts 4:12 “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” How many ways are there to heaven?  Even in the Old testament Isaiah speaks of only one way to heaven. “I even I am the Lord, and apart from me there is no Savior.”

            Our God teaches us there is only one way to heaven.  Compare Christianity to any other religion.  What do they all say?  Every one of them, somehow or another, teaches that you must adhere to certain laws rules or perform certain rituals to get to a better place.  Buddhist rituals are constant in the hope to get to something better.  Islam promotes a forced righteousness.  Even some Christians teach a righteousness that comes from good works.  Faith in Jesus is the only way to heaven. 

            In His grace and mercy he has given us eternal life.  For all our sins and our criticism of our God he loved us so much that he lived in our place.  He died for our sins, and he rose again to wash all our sins away.  By shedding his blood he bought us back from Satan.  He saved us from hell.  He did it all and offers it to all through faith in him as our Savior from sin.  He is that Gate to heaven.  He is indeed the only way to heaven. 

            Jesus is our Good Shepherd.  As the Good Shepherd he is our provider and protector.  He keeps evil away from us.  He leads us to the pastures of His word.  Through that he protects us against Satan and our sin.  Through the word we can better see temptation and evil and by God’s help avoid it. 

Through that he teaches us to recognize his voice.  He teaches us to recognize the lies of Satan and the evil of our world.  He teaches us his will for our lives.  He teaches us the law and shows our sins.  He also proclaims to us the Gospel for our forgiveness and eternal life. 

            How important it is to be in the word of God.  You will recognize the evil.  You may not be able to label the false teaching, but it will not sound right.  If we don’t know we do have his word to check the teaching against.  It is our work and for our protection.

            It is serious sinful danger to our souls when we take a lazy approach to the word,  when we dismiss the false teaching of others as “opinion”.  It poses a threat to our souls when we are unwilling to educate ourselves on the differences between true Christianity and false Christianity.  It angers our God when we are not serious about his word, and when continued growth is rejected 2 Peter 3:17 -18.  17Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. 18But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.  He does not want us to be fooled.  At times our attitude is like a know-it-all teenager behind the wheel of a car.  When we fell any advice or instruction God wants us to have is a waste of time or we already know it all.  As parents, that is when we worry because we do not want our children driving to end up dead.  God feels the same way about our souls. 

            Why serious?  There is only one true God.  There is only one Savior.  There is only one way to heaven.  That is through Jesus our Lord.  The world is not going to get kinder to Christianity.  It will not become more accepting of the teachings of God.  Ultimately Jesus was rejected and put to death because he taught what the Bible teaches.  We should not think the world will treat us any differently. 

            We hear his voice and we hear his words.  Listen to them.  As we listen and learn we will recognize that Good shepherd and all he has done for us.  The more we hear his voice, the more we will be able to identify our enemies.  The more we are in the word, we will hear things that don’t seem right – we may not be able to identify the false teaching, or give it a label, but we will know to avoid.  We will find comfort running back to the words of our good shepherd.  We will hear the voice and recognize its sound, comfort and peace.   Amen.