JOHN MESSAGE #34, “TRUST HIM KNOW HIM CONT’D” Ed Miller, Nov. 13, 2024

I want to share a verse before we go to prayer, Psalm 36:8&9, “Thou dost give them to drink of the river of Thy delights; with Thee is the fountain of life.  In Thy light we see light.”  Just a couple of thoughts.  When it says, “He gives us to drink of delights,” just for interest, that word “delights” is the same word that’s used in Genesis for “Eden”, the Garden of Eden, the river of His delights, but here it’s even plural.  So, it’s many gardens of Eden.  Every river needs a source and it says, “With Thee is the fountain of life,” so He’s the source, and we always stress the indispensable principle that we need the Holy Spirit, “In Thy light we see light.”  We can’t even see light apart from His revelation.  That’s how much we need the Holy Spirit.  So, with that, let’s go to prayer.

Our Father, we thank You for such a precious passage that you actually desire us to drink the rivers of Your delights, and that You are the fountain of those rivers, and that You will give us revelation, so we might see light.  Thank You, Lord.  We do commit our brother Bill who can’t make it because of some bodily illness or some weakness or some other appointment, and we thank You that You are omnipresent and we just pray that they would know your presence, and in Your purpose for them, Your redemptive purpose, as it pleases You, touch their bodies, we pray.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

We’re once again privileged to behold the Lord Jesus in the Bible.  It’s not a secret why we come to study.  We study the Bible not to know the Bible; we study the Bible to know the Lord, and He’s given it so that we might know Him.  It’s possible, you know, to be an expert on Bible knowledge, and miss the Lord.  That’s what happened to the Pharisees.  John 5:39&40, “You search the scriptures, and you think that in them you have eternal life; in these it is that testify about Me, and you are unwilling to come to Me, so that You may have life.”  So, they had the Bible, and they were experts, but knowledge puffs up, and the more Bible knowledge you have without seeing the Lord, the prouder you are going to become, and the prouder I’m going to become.  It’s our pursuit of a more intimate union with the Lord that we gather together. 

We’ve come in our study to John 10, and like every other chapter in the gospel of John, he’s following John’s revealed reason why he wrote.  Once again, John 20:31, “These have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, you might have life in His name.  To put that in principle, He’s given us this gospel so we would know Him more intimately, so we would trust Him more thoroughly, and so that we would have life in Him and enjoy Him—to know Him, to trust Him and to enjoy Him.  Every chapter sheds light on that, and so does John 10.  

Now, in John 10, we’ve been there for several sessions, but we are now looking at it in terms of that stated purpose, in other words, to know Him, to trust Him and to enjoy Him.  What does John 10 tell us and reveal to us about the good shepherd that helps us know Him more intimately?  And then, what does John 10 tell us about the good shepherd that enables us to trust Him?  And then, what does John 10 reveal about the good shepherd that brings us into what He calls, “life and life more abundantly,” and that we might enjoy Him?  That’s the little outline that we’re following.  So far, we’ve completed our meditation on that first point, what does God the Holy Spirit show us of the good shepherd to help us know Him more intimately?  Last session we had begun to look at that second question, “How does the revelation of the good shepherd in John 10 enable us to trust Him more thoroughly?”  We introduced that section by calling attention to the security that the shepherd gives the sheep.  We’re encouraged to place our full confidence in the Lord, because in Him we are safe; in Him we are secure.

We began looking at the Lord as our protector from John 10:27-30.  Follow along, please, as I read it, “My sheep hear My voice; I know them, and they follow Me.  I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; no one will snatch them out of My hand.  My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.  I and the Father are One.”  Because of these expressions, “I give eternal life to them,” and, “They shall never perish,” and, “No one is able to pluck them or snatch them from My hand or the Father’s hand,” we were focusing on the security, the safety, the eternal security.

When I’m looking at eternal security, I’m sort of backing off of the doctrine called “eternal security”.  I’m not against that doctrine, but I think it can be abused, and it has been abused.  I made two observations last time; let me review those, and then we’ll pick up in our new material.  I reminded you that sometimes in the so-called doctrine of eternal security, some interpret that to mean that once saved, always saved, no matter what, no matter how you live, and if you’ve accepted the Lord, then you are going to heaven, and it doesn’t matter, even if you become a terrorist or a murderer or something like that. 

This passage in John 10, I’ve called attention to it, and it’s very, very basic; I  hope the Lord let’s you see this.  The sheep in John 10 are not the same as the sheep in the rest of the Bible, “All like we are like sheep have gone astray.”  Not in John 10; these sheep are not going astray.  This is the remnant flock; these are sheep that are united to the Lord.  John 10:27, “My sheep hear My voice; I know them, and they follow Me.”  That’s contrary to the nature of a sheep, but this is the kind of sheep He’s talking to.  So, the promise given in John 10 are addressed to sheep that are in union with the shepherd.  They are the ones that are getting it. 

The second observation is closely related to that.  There are sheep, and we can’t see the heart, but there’s such a thing as back sliding, and there’s such a thing as taking your eyes off the Lord.  God forbid, but if you take your eyes off the Lord, you are capable of any sham that any unsaved person if capable of.  But they’re not dealt with in chapter 10, unless they’re under the false teachers and those that come up another way.  God is talking to these sheep, and the point I’m making is that this promise of eternal security is addressed to the sheep that know His voice and are following Him.  It’s not addressed to the sheep that are wandering away and living on their own.  I can’t see anybody’s heart; I can’t look at somebody and say, “You’re not a sheep.”  Sometimes it’s obvious but you can’t judge a heart, but I can say without clearing my throat, “If you’re not following the shepherd, you have no Bible proof that you are saved.  There is not a verse, not a syllable in the Bible that would give you assurance.  I’m not saying you aren’t saved; I don’t know.  God knows, but the only ones who have this assurance are those that know His voice and are following the shepherd, and they can rest assured.  2 Corinthians 13:5, “Test yourselves and see if you are in the faith.   Examine yourself, or do you not recognize this about yourself, that Jesus Christ is in you, unless you fail the test.”

One time I had someone who was living way deep in the world, and he came to me, and he said, “I accepted Christ in Sunday school; I was seven years old.  So, I’m saved.”  And, I said, “I see the Bible description of those that are saved and I see your life, and I can’t prove it; it doesn’t look like it, but may God test your heart.”  So, we’re not judging, but I am saying this, if you are related and living in union with Christ, great security belongs to you and great security belongs to me.  I can’t see the heart but 2 Timothy 2:19, “The firm foundation of God’s stands, having this, that the Lord knows who are His.”  That’s the security; the Lord knows.  That’s where we left off.

Now, I’m going to read those verses again, and we’re going to pick up there.  “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them and they follow Me; I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of My hand.  My Father, who has given them to Me is greater than all, and nobody is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand; I and the Father are one.”  He gives us this passage so that we’d feel at liberty to put our faith in Him and trust Him. 

I want to dive a little deeper into the awesome verses that we have here.  I see four descriptions, I have to say at least four, there are more here, that portray and underscore this great security that those who follow Him have.  I’m going to mention the four right up front and then we’ll take them one at a time.  The first is that expression “eternal life”, “I give eternal life to them.”  The next is the word “snatch” or if you have the KJV it’s “pluck”, “No one will snatch/pluck them.”  The third word is “hand”, the “hand of Jesus and the hand of His Father”.  The last is the reference to His Father.  I know that’s surface; there’s a lot more.  Actually there’s no bottom to any verse in the scriptures.  This is an infinite word, and you can meditate forever.  Each of these, I think, gives a special invitation, and the Lord saith, “Will you please trust Me; look what I have provided; trust Me and put your confidence in Me; don’t be afraid, and you can lean heavy on Me.”  Let me show you how that’s so.

John 10:28, “I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish.”  I want to focus on eternal life, “I give eternal life to them…”  There are a couple of truths about that that I want to underscore.  The first is that eternal life is a gift, “I give eternal life to them…”  That idea of “I give” is calling our attention to the fact that it’s a gift; it’s a free gift of grace.  It wouldn’t be grace if it wasn’t a gift.  In fact, listen to Romans 11:6, “If it’s by grace, it’s no longer by the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.”  It’s a gift.  The fact that eternal life is an undeserved blessing and it’s a gift, how wonderful, but actually in this passage there are two gifts that are mentioned.  John 10:28, eternal life is a gift, “I give eternal life.  And then in John 10:29, “You are the Father’s gift to His Son.”  He’s given us to the Lord Jesus.  You know that God can only give the best; when He gives something, it’s the best.  He gave us Jesus and He couldn’t do better than that; we got His life; He gave us the best. 

Now that Christmas is coming, I started to do some Christmas shopping.  I’ve got friends that have everything, and I don’t know what to get them, so I went on the internet looking for unique gifts, and all that kind of thing.  What gift can you give Jesus who has everything?  The Father said, “I want to give Him a gift; I want to give Him the best,” and He decided to give you to Jesus.  That’s the best; you are the best.  You say, “Are you kidding?  I’m not worth anything.  There’s no intrinsic value in me.  How in the world can I be a gift?”  You are not only a gift, but you are God’s best gift.  If somebody would offer me right now, and I might even sell it, a million dollars for this Bible, this book would be worth a million dollars.  The value is made by how much somebody is going to pay for it.  If value is made by the price that is paid, then His blood made a treasure of you.  That’s the price that He paid, and you are His gift to the Father.  Pull out all the stops and believe that with all your heart.  May God give us eyes to see ourselves as God sees us, very valuable.  That’s a death knoll to all this self-depreciation and, “I’m a nobody.”  You are in Christ, and you are a valuable gift.

There’s something else about eternal life that makes it precious.  It’s not only a gift, but eternal life is a Person; it’s the eternal One.  Usually, we think of eternal life as duration, “God gave me eternal life.  I’m going to go on and on and on, and I’m never going to die.  I’ll be in heaven as ages roll upon ages.  I’m not infinite; I’m only eternal on one end.  I had a starting point, but I’m going to keep going on and on.  God’s eternal on both ends.”  We look at it as if it were duration, but in the gospel of John, it’s not only duration, but it’s quality, and not only quantity.  Listen to 1 John 5:11&12, “And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life; this life is in His Son; He who has the Son has the life.  He who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.”  Eternal life is the life of the eternal one, and God has given Jesus.  He is in your heart, and He’s in my heart; eternal life is a Person.  If we can catch the wonder of that, we’ll see what assurance He gives His sheep, that we are a gift to Jesus, that He is a gift to us, and that eternal life is a Person, and that Person lives inside of us, doesn’t that make you want to trust Him?  It’s such an invitation to a child-like faith.

There’s another word in this passage that’s an incentive to child-like faith, and that’s in verses 2*&29, the word “snatch”, “No one shall snatch them.”  If you have the KJV, “No one is able to pluck them out of His hand.”  Darby says, “seize them”, “No one can seize them out of His hand.”  Darby is calling attention to the essence of the Greek word.  In other words, the focus is on power, that God is holding you so tightly, that no one can pull you away, can snatch you and pluck you from His hand.  The emphasis is on the power, and not Satan and not demons and not sinful men and not your old sin nature.  Nothing can pluck you from His hand, so secure are His sheep.

I thought it would be a great encouragement if that verse was turned around, and if God was saying, “I will snatch you out of the hand of the enemy.”  That would have been a comfort to me to know that God is going to snatch me out of their hand, but it’s the other way around; the enemy is not able to snatch me from the hand of the Lord.  That’s so precious.  A lot of people misunderstand Matthew 10:22, “It’s the one who has endured to the end who will be saved,” and it sounds like a condition that I’ve got to endure, and keep on going, and if I don’t, I’m going to lost.  The one that endures to the end shall be saved.  Matthew 10:22 is not a condition of salvation, “If you do that, then this.  If not, well sorry, then you are lost.”  Matthew 10:22 is a description of a Christian and not a condition of salvation.  In other words, describe a Christian.  A Christian is someone who has been forgiven of his sins.  A Christian is someone who has the Lord in his heart.  A Christian is someone who loves the Bible.  A Christian is someone who endures to the end.  It’s a description and not a condition.  There’s no “if” in that.

Do you remember that line in “Amazing Grace”, “It’s grace that’s brought me safe thus far, and grace will bring me home.”  I think many are familiar with the five distinctives of those who claim to be Calvinistic of their theology?  They use a memory aid to help them remember those five doctrines.  It’s called pneumonic, and they took the word “tulip” and they took each letter to get a doctrine.  The “T” is total depravity, and the “U” is unconditional election, according to them, and the “L” is limited atonement, and “I” is irresistible grace, but the “p” they call perseverance of the saints.  I know what they mean, and basically I guess I agree with it, but I don’t like to call it “perseverance” because that sound like sweat.  I like “preservation” of the saints.  I call this a pneumonic; I used to call it an acronym, but I saw the difference between an acronym and a pneumonic.  Acronym makes up a word; it’s not a real word.  Now tulip is a real word, and if you take a real word and use it’s letters, then it means one thing, but if you take like M & M’s, that’s a word, but M & M’s is just Mars and Murray’s who are the founders of that candy, but we don’t think of that when we say M & M’s; that’s a word.  We say “scuba”, and that’s word, it’s self-contained underwater breathing apparatus, that’s what scuba is.  We’ve got a lot of acronyms, the NFL, GPS, and so on.  It’s just words that have become words. 

The word “snatch”, “No one will snatch them… No one will pluck them… No one will seize them,” that makes me think I’m being preserved; I’m not persevering; I’m being protected, that the Lord is holding me, and that’s the reason why I’m safe.  The book of Jude is a wonderful book on this, on security.  In the first verse it begins with, “I am being kept for Christ,” and the book ends, verses 24&25, “Now to Him that is able to keep you from stumbling, to make you stand in the presence of His glory, blameless with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority for all time, now and forever.  Amen.”  Kept for Him, kept by Him; that’s what you get and no one will snatch them.  A child that is crossing the street, a busy highway, clinging to it’s parents hand, the security of that kid doesn’t depend upon the grip the kid has on the parent’s hand; the security depends on the grip the parent has on the child’s hand.  We are being gripped by the Lord, and what a precious truth that we can trust in the Lord; the security is guaranteed for those sheep who are following Him. 

When it says that no one shall pluck them out of His hand, He’s saying that they shall never perish.  In other words, we’re being saved from perishing.  Some Christians might think, “Oh, we’re exempt; He’s holding me, and therefore sickness can’t get me, or temptation can’t get me, or persecution can’t get me, or some kind of a tragedy on the level of earth can’t get me.”  We’re not exempt from any of that.  We are being held safe for His redemptive purposes, and that’s why He holds us.  The enemy in this context was successful in kicking that restored blind man out of the synagogue, but the enemy kicked him right into the hands of the Lord, and he’s now safe.  It’s so precious!  No power of any enemy and no error of any false teacher or no blunder of mine, nothing can snatch you out of the hand of the Lord.  You are God’s gift to Jesus.  Jesus is God’s gift to you.  You have the life of the eternal One living in your heart; I have the life of the eternal One living in my heart.  How safe, how safe!

The next word that emphasizes that security is the word “hand”, “the hand of the shepherd, the hand of the Father.”  I’m held in His hand.  A person’s grip is in proportion to the strength of His arm, and Jesus is called “the arm of the Lord”.  I want to look at John 10:11 in another connection, but right now, “I’m the good shepherd and the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.”  Among the other truths, I remind you, that the hand that holds you is the hand that was pierced on the cross for you.  Isaiah 49:16, “Behold, I have inscribed you on the palm of My hand.”  What a marvelous picture that is!  We’re going to come back to that in another connection, but I can’t think of the hand in John 10 without thinking of the word picture in Isaiah 40, so I want to go to Isaiah 40.  I remind you, I understand that God is a spirit, and He doesn’t literally have a physical hand, except, of course, in the Person of our Lord Jesus.  It’s just a figure of speech.  A couple of lessons ago we were talking about how the figure is never as great as the reality.  When I share this picture, you are going say, “What a strong picture!”  It is not!  Any picture is weak, if it’s picturing the Lord.  As strong as this picture is, in reality it’s insulting to the Lord.  You don’t impress God with superlatives; I don’t impress the Lord with superlatives.  Our language is nothing.  Isaiah uses very strong words.  Isaiah 40:11, “Like a shepherd He’ll tend His flock; in His arm He’ll carry the lambs and carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes.  Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand and marked off heaven with a span?”  That expression, “measured the waters in the hallow of His hand,” I’m assuming the waters mean all the waters on the earth, and He’s holding them right there in the palm of His hand.  He’s used weak, strong pictures before, like, “He knows the names of all the stars in the great universe,” and, “Every grain of sand, He thinks of you more than that,” and, “All the hairs on your head are numbered.”  He uses what we would consider strong figures of speech, but they are not strong, because the reality is infinitely greater than all those puny figures of speech. 

If God intends to visualize here all the waters of the earth in the palm of His hand, I gleaned this off the internet, so I can’t vouch for it, but even if they’re a little bit right, here’s what they said, “Seventy-one percent of our earth is water.”  That’s a lot of water, seventy-one percent of our earth is either salt water or fresh water.  I sure don’t know how they figured this out but they said there are 332 plus million cubit miles of water on the earth.  Then they added, “And every one of those cubit miles has 1.1 trillion gallons of water in it.”  I’m not vouching for this.  Just take the oceans, the Atlantic, the Pacific, the Indian, the Southern, the Artic Ocean; of course, there’s only one ocean, and it’s by district they divide it up.  Add to that they say there is more than fifty seas that have been mentioned, so put in the hand the Red Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Caribbean Sea, Bering Sea, and all the other seas.  Then I guess you’ve got to add all of the rivers and all the brooks and all the streams.  Then they say there is more water under the earth, the water table, so let’s bring that up.  There’s water in the air, and let’s take that.  There’s water in every living thing, so let’s take all of that.  The whole point is that all of that according to this word picture can be held in the palm of His hand and He doesn’t spill a drop.  That’s a big picture!  No, it’s not!  That’s a feeble picture, because it’s a picture.  All pictures are weak; the reality is greater than that, but even from that little picture, can’t you see how secure you are?  No one is going to pluck you out of the hand that size, that massive hand you’re in. 

Then he goes on to say in verse 12, “He marks off the heavens with a span.”  In the Bible they didn’t have the tape measures that you have, so they used the body parts to create the distances.  For example, a cubit is the distance between an elbow and the tip of your finger.  That’s how they measured cubits, about 18 inches.  Actually, there’s one cubit that goes up to the beginning of your fingers, and then there is the sanctuary cubit that goes to the tip.  The span is the distance from your thumb to your little finger.  I tried to measure my span and stretch it out as far as I could.  His span covers His creation; that’s how big His hand is.  You say, “What a mighty picture of hand!”  No, what a puny picture.  I know it’s inspired but God gives us these pictures to encourage our faith.  Even on the level of earth, God is not foolish, there is no foolishness in God, but the Bible says, if He weren’t foolish, I’d be wiser than all of men.”  There’s no weakness with God, but the Bible says, “If He were weak, His weakness would be stronger than them.”  He gives us these pictures and He’s begging us, “Will you come trust Me?  Will you put your faith in Me?  Will you lean on Me?   I have you.  It’s okay; you are in My hand.  You’re safe and you’re secure, and nothing can pluck you out of My hand.”

In addition to these thrilling truths, that eternal life is a gift, and eternal life is a Person, and that nothing and no one can snatch you from that marvelous hand of God, and you are being kept this moment for Jesus, and you are being kept this moment by Jesus, all of that is incentive to faith to trust Him.  This passage contains another encouragement.  John 10:28, “I give eternal life to them and they will never perish and no one will pluck them out of My hand,” verse 29, “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.”  That expression about the Father is greater than all, why wasn’t it sufficient for the sheep to know that we’re safe in the hand of Jesus?  Why did He find it necessary to add, “and no one can snatch them from the hand of My Father?”  Is Jesus claiming some kind of an inferiority there, “My Father is greater than all?”  It almost sounds like, “If you don’t believe My hand is sufficient enough, let Me point you even stronger hand, the hand of My Father.”  That’s what it looks like.

We know with certainty that Jesus is 100% God, and He’s claiming equality with His Father.  In fact, it’s in this same passage, verse 30, “’I and the Father are One.’  And the Jews picked up stones to stone Him.” They knew what He was saying. He said, “I and My Father are One; we’re the same, and His hand is My hand, and My hand is His hand.”  Now, why did they pick up stones to stone Him?  I’m not voting for them; they were wrong, and they were unbelievers, but there was a command in the Bible, Deuteronomy 13, that they were to kill a false prophet.  They saw Jesus claiming to be God.  The command in the Bible doesn’t say to stone Him.  You get that in the Mishnah; they have another writing where it says to stone him or strangle him.  You could do it either way, but the false prophet had to die.  They saw Jesus as a false prophet, claiming to be God, and now He’s got a lot of followers, so, “We’ve got to stop this guy because He’s leading everybody astray.”  That was their reasoning.

Getting back to the point, Jesus was assuring the sheep, by calling attention to the Father.  God is a spirit.  You know He doesn’t have a hand, but He’s calling attention to this exchanged life.  Jesus is God, and they are One in everything; One in purpose, One in will, One in heart, One in strength, One in power, and He’s just telling His sheep that there is no controversy between God the Father and Me, “If you have a problem with Me, then rest in God the Father; it’s the same thing.”  That’s what He was saying.  Nothing will ever pry you, Me, His sheep, out of the hand of omnipotence.  So, those four things help me, want me, push me to trust in Him, that He’s God’s gift to me, and I’m God’s gift to Him, and that He’s eternal life, and He lives inside my heart, and that He’s holding me and nothing, no one and no power can ever snatch me out of His hand, that His hand is awesome and powerful, and that the Godhead agrees that you are secure.

There’s another thing in this chapter that helps me, draws me to put my faith in Him.  John 10:7, “Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.’”  Now, what did the door of the sheepfold look like in New Testament days?  As it was pointed out last week, the New Testament sheepfold was large; it has more than one flock in it.  There wasn’t just one flock of sheep under one shepherd.  There were many flocks, and the door was strong; it was a big gate, and it would be opened and shut at will, and the one who controlled it is called “the doorkeeper”, John 10:3, the doorkeeper, and the doorkeeper would guard.  When a shepherd came, the doorkeeper recognized the shepherd, and he let him in.  If it was a stranger, he wouldn’t come in.  When he came in, verse 3, “To him the doorkeeper opens; the sheep hear his voice, and he calls out his own sheep by name, and leads them out.”  The shepherd would go into the fold and just call for his sheep, and only his sheep would respond; they knew the voice of the shepherd.  But we have information that’s not in the Bible directly; the spirit of it is, but it’s not directly in the Bible.  I’m going to give you a story that was true in the 1800’s, and was claimed to be true centuries before.

There was a man named George Adams Smith.  Some of you students might know that name.  He was a brilliant English Bible scholar, brilliant off the page brilliant, so smart.  I happen to have his book, “The Historical Geography of the Holy Land”.  That’s only part of the title.  Back then they had long titles, “The Historical Geography of the Holy Land, Especially in Relation to the History of Israel and the Early Church”.  That’s the name of the book.  It’s recognized as a standard among Godly theologians.  It was more a geology book.  He’s also familiar with archeology and the historical background of the area.  In that book he gives an eye witness report, a testimony.  He said, “Sometimes the shepherd leads the sheep to different pastures, and sometimes they get so far from the corporate fold, that they make their own little fold out wherever they are.  So, there would be a temporary fold just for his flock.  On one of his trips he came upon one of those Syrian sheep folds.  He described it as a four walled enclosure with no door, just a space.  So, he went to the shepherd and since he knew the language, he asked, ‘Aren’t you afraid that at night the sheep will come out or some animal will come in?  You don’t have a door.’  And the shepherd was a little offended, and he lifted up his robe and he rolled up his sleeves and he showed all his scars.  He said, ‘I am the door; I lay down on that space, and no sheep can come unless he comes out over me, and no enemy can come in unless he goes through my dead body.’”  What a powerful illustration!  That’s the way it was in the late 1800’s, and the shepherd said, ‘It’s been like that for centuries.’” 

I don’t know if it was like that in the New Testament times, but Jesus said, “I am the door,” and I’d like to take that word picture and just develop it.  Verse 11, “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 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.  He flees because he’s a hired hand, and is not concerned about the sheep.  I’m the good shepherd, and I know My own, and My own know Me.’”

I want to play a little bit on that graphic illustration because I think it’s true to the balance of scripture; Jesus is the door of the sheep.  In order to get you and in order to get to me, the enemy has to pass through that door.  You are safer in the fold, word picture, than you are in His hand.  I speak as a fool, but you know what I’m saying.  In Bible times wild beasts were predators of the sheep.  What kind of beasts did the sheep need to fear?  Well, you remember David, King Saul gave this testimony, 1 Samuel 17:34, “David said to Saul, ‘Your servant was tending your father’s sheep when a lion or bear came and took a lamb from the flock.  I went out after him and attacked him and rescued it from his mouth.  When he rose up against me I seized him by the beard, and I struck him and killed.”  David was a shepherd and he was protecting these sheep from bears, and from lions.  We know from John 10:12, another beast, “He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming.”  So, the wolf was a predator.  But they were also threatened by leopards, hienas, coyotes, dogs, and by certain birds of prey.  The sheep were constantly victims of these wild animals. 

Jesus was the good shepherd, the shepherd sent from heaven.  John 10:17, “For this reason, the Father loves Me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.”  When Jesus, the shepherd, laid down His life for the sheep, what kind of enemies tried to come and get the sheep?  Psalm 22 is a Messianic psalm and you’ll know that from the first verse, “My God, My God; why hast Thou forsaken Me?”  That’s how the psalm begins.  The whole verse, the whole chapter is about the cross and His suffering.  Once again, he uses word pictures, and his enemies are animals.  Listen to verse 12&13, “Many bulls have surrounded me, strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me.  They open wide their mouth at me, as a ravening and roaring lion.”  Verse 16, “Dogs have surrounded me, and a band of evil doers encompass me; they pierce my hands and my feet.”  Animals are just pictures.  Dogs can’t pierce your hands and feet; it’s a picture of wicked men.  Verse 20, “Deliver my soul from the sword, my only life from the power of the dog.  Save me from the lion’s mouth, from the horns of the wild oxen; answer me.” 

When the Bible says that the shepherd laid down His life for the sheep, the real enemies were more violent than all of these beasts that we’ve mentioned.  Sin was an enemy that wanted to destroy the sheep.  Isaiah 53:5, “He was pierced through for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities.  The chastening of our wellbeing fell upon Him; by His scourging we are healed.”  Colossians 2:14, “The Law was an enemy, having cancelled out the certificate of death, consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us, He’s taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”

You can’t forget that Satan and all his demons wanted to get to the sheep.  Colossians 2:15, “When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.”  When Jesus hung on the cross, all the demons of hell were jeering all around the cross.  God Himself became an enemy.  Zachariah 13:7, “’Awake, oh sword, against my shepherd, against the man, my associate,’ declares the Lord of host, ‘Strike the shepherd, that the sheep may be scattered.’”  Isaiah 53:4, “Surely, our griefs He Himself bore; our sorrows He carried.  Yet, we ourselves esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.”  Isaiah 53:10, “The Lord was pleased to crush him, putting him to grief.”

Jesus is the door; He’s laying there and you’re inside.  Sin tries to get through, the holy Law makes a demand on your life, Satan tries to get through, the holiness of God tries to get through.  Revelation 1:17, “I saw Him and I fell at his feet like a dead man; He placed His right hand on me saying, ‘Do not be afraid; I’m the first, the last, the Living One; I was dead and, behold, I’m alive forevermore.  I have the keys of death and of Hades.’”  Death tried to get you, and Hades, and all that’s pictured by the wrath of God, the holiness of God. 

If you went to hell, you would never be able to finally pay because you are finite; you would suffer forever and forever and forever and forever, and I would suffer for forever, and forever, and the whole world.  Jesus in three hours, being God/Man, paid that debt.  When He said, “It is finished,” He has taken all of that debt.  All of these enemies tried to get you; sinful man and the holy Law and Satan and all his demons and the character of God and death and hell, they all tried to break through, but your door, Jesus was your door, and He said, “You’ll get them over My dead body,” and indeed, that’s how it was, and He said, “But, I’m going to rise again.”  It’s a very precious, precious truth that He is the door.

I want to close just by reminding you this.  Romans 5:8, “God demonstrated His love toward us in that while we were sinners…”  When did He stop all of these enemies from getting to you?  You were a sinner at that time, and verse 10 says, “If when we were enemies,” He stopped all those wild animals, when we were His enemies, and we weren’t even His sheep yet.  May I just suggest that He can be trusted; you can trust in the Lord.  You are God’s gift to Him, and He’s God’s gift to you, and eternal life is a Person, and He lives in you, and you have His life, and no one can pluck you from His hand.  You have the description of His hand, and all the enemies of the sheep tried to break through that door, and He died and He rose again, when you were a sinner and when you were an enemy.  “How much more now shall we be saved by His life?”  We’re going to pick that up next time.  What does it mean to be saved by His life? 

Father, thank You for Your word, not what we think or guess it means, but that portion You’ve revealed to us, and what You have inspired it to mean.  Work that in our hearts, we pray.  If there is any timid Christian here who is afraid to rest in the security they have, oh Lord, deliver them and give them that wonderful peace and rest.  Thank You, Lord, that we can trust You for this because it’s in the name of our Lord Jesus that we claim it.  Amen.