2022 04 10 I Am the Good Shepherd

This is a sermon about Jesus as the Good Shepherd. Jesus refers to himself as "I am" statements, affirming his divinity. He explains that he is the gate, the only way to God. He sacrifices his life for the sheep, symbolizing his love and protection. Believing in Jesus and confessing him as Lord allows us to have a relationship with God. Jesus knows his sheep and loves them despite their imperfections. To know the Good Shepherd more, we must confess Jesus as Lord and believe in his resurrection. The speaker encourages listeners to pray and commit their lives to Jesus. The sermon concludes with an invitation for those who have made a commitment to reach out for support and guidance. Good morning. I'd like to introduce you to a friend of mine. This is Doubly now doubly is a sheep that my wife Hannah got Years ago when she went to visit Ireland hence the name doubly Dublin now, why do I have doubly here today? Well, that's because today we're going to be talking about Jesus as the Good Shepherd We're going through a series right now of Jesus I am statements a series of statements. He made in the gospel saying that you know I am the way the truth in the life. I am the Good Shepherd These were culture shaking statements because way back in the book of Exodus in the beginning of the Bible God introduces himself to Moses as I Am he was stating that he's the ever-existent One so as Jesus stated I am the Good Shepherd our topic today For example, he was also stating his Divinity, so if anyone ever asks you well Where in the Bible does Jesus say that he is God each of these? I am statements is one of those times that he actually outright says I am God Jesus was stating that he was and is the God of Moses the nation of Israel and ultimately The whole world. So as I said today, we are looking at Jesus statement. I am the Good Shepherd So let's pick this up in the book of John chapter 10 starting in verse 1, but we're going to carry on all the way to verse 18 I Tell you the truth Anyone who sneaks over the wall of a sheepfold rather than going through the gate must surely be a thief and a robber But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep The gatekeeper opens the gate for him and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out After he has gathered his own flock. He walks ahead of them and they follow him because they know his voice They won't follow a stranger. They will run from him because they don't know his voice Those who heard Jesus use this illustration didn't understand what he meant. So we explained it to them I tell you the truth I am the gate for the sheep all who came before me were thieves and robbers But the true sheep did not listen to them Yes, I am the gate those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and find good pasture The thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life I am the Good Shepherd the Good Shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep a Hired hand will run when he sees a wolf coming He will abandon the sheep because they don't belong to him and he isn't their shepherd And so the wolf attacks them and scatters the flock The hired hand runs away because he's working only for the money and doesn't really care about the sheep. I Am the Good Shepherd. I know my own sheep and they know me just as my father knows me and I know the father So I sacrifice my life for the sheep. I have other sheep too that are not in the sheep fold I must bring them also They will listen to my voice and there will be one flock with one shepherd The father loves me because I sacrificed my life so I may take it back again. No one can take my life from me I sacrifice it voluntarily For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again for this is what my father Has commanded So there's a lot of nuggets to unpack here in this passage But first let's remember that this passage and I would argue Personally that the entire Bible are meant to teach us about who God is now that seems obvious but I think we often turn to the word looking to learn more about ourselves or how we can respond to a specific Situation in our lives rather than learning who God is and therefore growing closer to him And I think that as we grow closer to him, we will be able to better face the specific situations in our lives Not the other way around. So remember the Bible is not a self-help book. It's not a reference book of good moral values It's the primary portal with which we learn about God and his character. It's how we know his voice you know, I used to think when I was younger that The Bible was really secondary to prayer, you know these two pivotal parts of our Christian walk I'm like, they're they're both really important but prayer is a little bit more important is what I used to think because That's where we get the personal application of Scripture oftentimes, but without Constant and thorough study of the Bible. We won't recognize God's voice when we pray and we'll be open to Interpreting our own thoughts or worse Distractions from the devil as if it were God's voice So maybe as we read about how the sheep will know his voice you thought I don't really always know his voice I wish I did I wish it was clear to me when God's speaking. Let me ask you this What voice or voices do you fill your mind and heart with? You know, my parents used to say that if you fill a bucket up and then it gets knocked over Whatever's inside that bucket is what's gonna come out. So what have you been putting inside of you in your bucket? We all know his voice by spending time in his word and filling up our buckets with him You know, I've met people who've told me I read the whole Bible before so I know about Christianity. I mean Congrats. I don't know if you want an award or something but read it again and then when you finish again and Again, it's only in reading this best record that we have of God's words that we will begin to notice His patterns just like reading a letter or an email or texts from your friend over time you'll begin to see the consistency in their voice and then you know some scammer car prankster comes along trying to Impersonate them you can tell the difference even in written form because you know that consistency of their voice So with that out of the way Let's look at this first. I am statement that he's making in this passage We're talking about I am the Shepherd But first of here he talks about how he is the door or the gate depending on the translation, you know There's not another way to get to God the Father except through Jesus he is that doorway Romans 10 verse 9 says if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart That God has raised him from the dead. You will be saved. So this has this has two parts right to his way Number one belief in the miraculous facts that God died and came back to life not metaphorically But literally so most of us tend to understand that part I think conceptually but the confession that Jesus is Lord part is somewhat harder So so number two is confessing that Jesus is Lord So what the Lord if we're going to confess that he's Lord, we need to know what that is So the title Lord indicates that Jesus is your authority figure He's the most supreme and utter authority in your life So to confess that Jesus is Lord is not just a synonymous We're saying you believe in God or you believe in Jesus is to acknowledge that Jesus Is your authority and to acknowledge that both verbally and with your actions and your life choices and all that you do So so that's Jesus way, but why can't there be another way, you know a lot of people wish there was another way But Jesus is saying he is the gate the one Entrance to God and eternal life and freedom from sin one and in case you're saying well Maybe that's not what he's saying here. Maybe he's just saying that's a way Well acts 412 tells us that salvation is found in no one else other than Jesus for there is no other name Under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved. Let's just play a little Mind experiment here theoretically could there be a better way? Well, if God is perfect, which I believe that he is and I think Christianity hinges on that fact then why would he create many ways if he knew the best way? You know That's why the idea that a lot of people have that all Religions serve the same God with a different face and different name or details It's pure nonsense because there's no logic to that argument. Why would God why would the perfect God create a religion? With a million faces and names if he knew the singular best way to create a path to him So no, we often want there to be another way Because if we're honest, it's not always fun And sometimes it's hard to have to have God as the Lord of our life You know, we want to be free spirits and not have any authority Who we follow or acknowledge and both our words and actions and our lifestyle besides us We want to be in charge. We want to be seated on the throne of our lives, but that's God's deal here This is the deal that he set up. This is the way we have to acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord of our life, right? It's almost not even so much You know we're saying giving God permission to be Lord it's acknowledgement that he is Lord and we are going to come Into alignment with that rather than fighting against it You know, but take heart the Bible doesn't say that Jesus is the Mediocre shepherd it doesn't say the Shepherd, you know It says he's the good Shepherd his way is the best way even if we may not feel like it at times He knows better than our feelings and our instincts and our intellect in every part of us So let's move on to the second part here where Jesus reiterates that he's the good shepherd He goes on to say something interesting about the good shepherd. He says I'm the good shepherd And as we go into verses 11 to 13 there, he basically reiterates I'm the good shepherd the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep So why did he have to give his life? Well because way back in the Garden of Eden when? God made humanity Humankind broke their covenant with God and we were infected with sin So what's a covenant in modern terms? Well, this is not a perfect analogy, but to give you a quick analogy you know when you install a new app on your phone or program on your Computer or you sign up for a website and the terms of services they pop up and you have to agree them You know those things you never read You know, do you agree and you just you just click accept? Because unless we agree to those terms, we can't participate in the use of that website or that software So we accept well humanity broke the terms of service agreement with God for a holy Relationship with him there were terms for that and and we broke that so sin entered into humankind and that Imperfection of sin cannot coexist with a perfect God so therefore sin had to be destroyed that impurity had to be destroyed that was the only solution but Unfortunately now that sin was tied to us as humans so Jesus steps in to take that impurity to himself and to have it put to death on the Cross and take the punishment for the crimes of humanity. So how do we benefit from this? How does this benefit us? Well We can now get the grace. We don't deserve Because Jesus took the penalty that he didn't deserve We now get to have a relationship with God without the barrier of sin in the way You know in practice We still mess up while we live here on earth But in heaven the full essence of this relationship will be available to us But here on earth we pledge to acknowledge that we need Jesus to be the bridge or the gateway or the door to God to go over the chasm That lay between us and God because of our sin that huge Ravine think of a Grand Canyon. We couldn't cross it without that bridge So, how can we receive that benefit? Well, you know as I said earlier, we confess that Jesus is Lord and believe God raised him from the dead literally So let's move on to point three as Jesus reiterates again that he is the Good Shepherd He also says in verse 14 that he knows his sheep. Jesus knows us What does it mean that this Good Shepherd knows you and I? Jesus like a shepherd knows the quirks and the character of his sheep They're competing desires to wander off and do their own thing But they're also their desire to get fed and be safe and be protected He knows where we stray and knows what's best for us. You know, we we tend to push back at this like sheep We don't want to be told which way to go We want to do our own thing and yet we want nothing but being told which way to go when we're confused You know We want all of Jesus guidance but complete autonomy to make up our own minds and have no consequences for it We it's like we want God to be a GPS rather than the one who is giving us the orders You know Yeah, he knows and loves us. Anyways, despite this tendency to wander despite these Imperfections, you know I think of the song known by Torin Wells where it says I'm fully known and loved By you God, you won't let go no matter what I do and it's not one or the other it's hard truth and Ridiculous grace to be fully known and loved by you Isn't it a beautiful thing to be fully known yet fully loved Beyond our flaws beyond our wandering God knows all this and he loves us anyway Before we got any of our acts together. He loves us anyway when people were crucifying him. He loved us anyway So, how can you and I know this Good Shepherd more, you know You might you might be thinking this sounds pretty good to be fully known yet fully loved. How can I be known this way? Again, as we said before it's confessing Jesus as Lord in words and actions and believing that God raised him from the dead literally So if you'd like to be fully known by the Good Shepherd yet loved anyway, then let's pray together And before you do, can I be frank? I don't believe that this prayer is what makes One a Christian. I believe that it's by grace We're saved by God and that we need to confess him in more than just one quick prayer on a Sunday morning But through our very lives on going, but let's pray to start you on that journey today Or maybe to recommit to that journey today Lord. I Acknowledge that I'm prone to wander. I'm rebellious And I've sinned against you and broken my covenant with God. I Need Jesus to be my gate To be the door to be the bridge that goes over that chasm that separates me from God because of my sin Come into my life. Jesus fill me with your Holy Spirit And help me to confess that you are the Lord that Jesus is Lord over my life. Not just through Lipservice and my words Lord, but through my actions not just once but on an ongoing basis Lord I believe that you raised Jesus from the dead to life Literally, Lord God and that my sins have been erased because of you not because of me I accept you and I acknowledge you Jesus in Jesus name Amen Amen Thank you so much for tuning in today. Thank you so much for praying with me today and worshiping with us today um, I am just I'm, just hopeful that you are Starting yourself, uh afresh or maybe for the first time on your journey with Jesus Um, if that's you today if you've uh recommitted or committed your life for the first time to Jesus Um, why don't you go ahead and let one of the pastors know in the chat you can request prayer Um, or just let us know. Um, you could also email us Um, our emails are available to be found at hcfsydney.ca You can find the staff list there and we would be happy to Come alongside you on this journey in Christ that you have chosen to make today or recommit to today That's not a judgment thing If you're like, oh people probably thought I was a christian before or maybe they didn't realize I was struggling No one's here to judge. You would just want to help come alongside you and build you up Um, but for everyone today just have a great happy healthy safe week serving our lord and savior at Jesus Christ God bless