John 10:1-21

John 10:1-21

1 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. 2 “But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. 3 “To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 “When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 “A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 This figure of speech Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things were which He had been saying to them.

7 So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 “All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9 “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

11 “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. 12 “He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 “He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. 14 “I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, 15 even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. 16 “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd. 17 “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. 18 “No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”

19 A division occurred again among the Jews because of these words. 20 Many of them were saying, “He has a demon and is insane. Why do you listen to Him?” 21 Others were saying, “These are not the sayings of one demon-possessed. A demon cannot open the eyes of the blind, can he?”

Impostors are people who pretend to be one thing when, in reality, they are something very different.  As Jesus looked at the religious leaders of His day, He saw men who were nothing more than impostors who were taking advantage of the people.  These men hated Jesus because He was not fooled or intimidated by them, but was constantly exposing their true identity.  Jesus tells this parable about the dangers that sheep face as a means of exposing these men.  This is a rather unique parable because there are two different points of comparison in the one story.  Jesus says that He is the door of the sheep and He also compares Himself to the good shepherd.  Usually parables will only have one component that represents God.  The parable is about sheep that are in a fold in order to be kept safe during the night.  That safety is threatened by a thief who climbs over the walls of the fold instead of coming do the door.  Then there are the strangers who come and try to convince the seep to follow, but are not successful.  The true shepherd of the sheep calls the sheep by name, they know his voice and follow him because they trust him and know him.  The people didn’t understand the parable, so Jesus explains it to them so there can be no mistake about the two ways that Jesus is represented in this parable.

JESUS IS OUR PROVIDER: Jesus describes Himself as the door of the sheep.  Those sheep that come into the fold through Him are saved by Him.  Jesus provides abundantly for all who come into a relationship of trusting Him.  As the door the sheep come in and out of the fold in Him and He is the means by which all the sheep are given access to the security of the fold and the abundant provision that they find in the fields.  Jesus supplies all our needs according to His riches.  He has abundant riches which is why He makes abundant provisions for all His children.  He provides salvation from sin as the most precious gift available and then He tops it all off with an abundant live.  Christ gives us a life that is full of purpose, meaning, joy and eternal rewards.  There is not a better way to live than in a relationship with Jesus.  He has made a life for His children that is worth any hardship that may come along the way.  Unfortunately, Jesus is not the only Person interested in sheep.  There are the thieves who do not come in and out of the door because they are not sheep and they are not the true shepherd These thieves scare the sheep because they do not know their voices.  The thief has come for the purpose of destroying all what the sheep have and even going so far as to kill the sheep.  This is the work of the false teachers.  The blind man had just been thrown out of the temple by these false teachers who were out to destroy any who believed in Jesus.  We must beware of Satan’s desires and his desires to take us off the path of fellowship with God so He can destroy our faith and lead us down a path of destruction.

JESUS IS OUR PROTECTOR: The second way Jesus describes Himself is as the good shepherd that lays down His life for the sheep.  This time He contrasted Himself with the hired hand who runs away at the first sign of danger and allows the wolf to come and devour the sheep because he really does not care for the sheep.  The religious leaders were exploiting the people as their support came from the people but they really did not care for the people at all.  They had all kinds of rules and regulations about how things were supposed to be done but they did not love the people or make any sacrifice for good of the people.  Jesus, on the other hand, was not only meeting the people’s needs by healing and feeding them, but He was setting them free from sin by giving His own life.  The reason He was willing to give of Himself for the sheep was that He knew them and they knew Him and they followed His voice.  In other words, they loved one another.  This love between the Shepherd and the sheep reflected the love that has always existed between the Father and the Son for all of eternity.  God created mankind to reflect the love, communion and unity that the Trinity has enjoyed for all eternity.  Sin separated man from God as well as man from one another.  Jesus came to give His life so the fellowship between God and His children could be restored.  He also has other sheep in other folds referring to the Gentile nations that would also come to follow Him and be united with the Jews to form one united and loving body.  Jesus had come to sacrifice Himself by giving His life for the sheep.  Neither the Jews nor the Romans took Jesus’s life.  He freely gave Himself for the sheep in death but also had the authority to be resurrected as the sacrifice for sin was complete.  This is the kind of love Jesus has for us and the kind of love we should have for Him and for one another.  This discussion brought out a division in the people and the Pharisees.  Some were insisting that He was of the devil while others were convinced by the healing of the blind man that He was from God.  

APPLICATION: Jesus came into this world in order to provide and abundant life for us in fellowship with Him and with one another.  We need to hear His voice, love Him and follow Him wherever He may lead.  He is our protection from the consequences of sin and the attacks of the world and Satan.  We bust believe in His sacrifice and respond to His love by loving the Father as He loves the Father and loving the nations for whom He has given His life.