WEBVTT 00:00:23.775 --> 00:00:29.484 1st Baptist, baptist El Dorado, will you join me now in listening to our sermon from this week? 00:00:29.484 --> 00:00:46.131 John, chapter 10, verse 7, begins like this so Jesus again said to them truly, truly, I say to you I am the door of the sheep. 00:00:46.131 --> 00:00:51.545 All who come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 00:00:51.545 --> 00:00:53.090 I am the door. 00:00:53.090 --> 00:00:58.664 If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 00:00:58.664 --> 00:01:04.111 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. 00:01:04.111 --> 00:01:09.959 I've come that they may have life and have it abundantly. 00:01:09.959 --> 00:01:10.962 Let's pray together. 00:01:10.962 --> 00:01:16.492 Lord Jesus, by your spirit, would you speak now. 00:01:16.492 --> 00:01:20.501 Speak, as only you can Speak through your word. 00:01:20.501 --> 00:01:25.974 I just pray that we would see you and be transformed by you, our good shepherd. 00:01:25.974 --> 00:01:29.685 Help us, lord, in Christ's name, amen. 00:01:31.108 --> 00:01:40.177 Well, I don't know how often you spend time probably not much thinking about doors, about doors you don't think about them. 00:01:40.177 --> 00:01:51.293 You've probably walked through at minimum 20 or 30 since you've woken up this morning Doors at home, your front door, your garage door, your car door, the door to the church. 00:01:51.293 --> 00:01:56.222 You've walked through many this morning, but you probably haven't thought about them that much. 00:01:56.222 --> 00:02:04.427 The reality is there's probably doors that are famous to you, that you know exist but you don't even realize just how famous they are. 00:02:04.427 --> 00:02:07.040 I've got a few pictures of a few doors. 00:02:07.040 --> 00:02:12.752 The first one, the doors of the White House there, and next, 10 Downing Street. 00:02:12.752 --> 00:02:14.641 You've got the prime minister. 00:02:14.641 --> 00:02:21.883 Next you have the large maybe you've walked through these those large gold doors of the state capitol. 00:02:21.883 --> 00:02:28.544 Even within fiction there's doors that are famous that maybe you think about the hobbit door here. 00:02:28.544 --> 00:02:32.353 Next we have a door that we really hope stays closed. 00:02:32.353 --> 00:02:38.229 Any fan of 90s television you know this next door to a certain apartment. 00:02:38.229 --> 00:02:41.061 And lastly, only for the children. 00:02:41.061 --> 00:02:45.091 You know what this last door is and you know what it's from. 00:02:45.091 --> 00:02:49.425 But doors come to mind often as we see them. 00:02:50.326 --> 00:02:54.594 One of my favorite stories about doors is Ed Orgeron. 00:02:54.594 --> 00:03:09.447 I don't know if you thought Ed Orgeron would come up in a sermon, but a few years back, when he was fired from LSU, he tells the story that the AD let him know that he was being fired, but also let him know there was a $16.9 million buyout. 00:03:09.447 --> 00:03:13.981 His next words were what door do you want me to go out of and when do you want me gone? 00:03:13.981 --> 00:03:16.545 And I don't blame him for that. 00:03:16.545 --> 00:03:23.403 Jesus says today I am the door and out of all the doors. 00:03:23.403 --> 00:03:26.932 We think about all the doors that are in our lives. 00:03:26.932 --> 00:03:31.912 Do we think about Jesus being the door, out of all the names we have for Jesus? 00:03:31.912 --> 00:03:35.728 We just sang a song that announced so many names for Jesus. 00:03:35.728 --> 00:03:42.471 When we think about the Prince of Peace, king of Kings, lord of Lords, do you ever stop and say Jesus, you are just the door. 00:03:42.471 --> 00:03:49.614 It may not come to mind that much, but I want us to see this morning just how powerful it is that Jesus is the door. 00:03:49.740 --> 00:04:03.435 In John 10, verse 1, it begins this way 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. 00:04:03.435 --> 00:04:05.651 These are harsh words by Jesus. 00:04:05.651 --> 00:04:12.657 If you try to get in by another way, then through the door to the sheepfold, you are a thief and a robber. 00:04:12.657 --> 00:04:14.665 Well, who's he talking about in this moment? 00:04:14.665 --> 00:04:18.122 Well, he's probably talking about some individuals that are standing right there around him. 00:04:19.103 --> 00:04:25.355 In chapter 9, we see this full story of Jesus healing a man that was born blind. 00:04:25.355 --> 00:04:26.865 A miraculous story. 00:04:26.865 --> 00:04:30.290 He reaches down into the mud, puts it on this man's eyes. 00:04:30.290 --> 00:04:31.944 It's kind of a strange encounter. 00:04:31.944 --> 00:04:37.908 But now this man can see, and this should be a celebration, a good thing. 00:04:37.908 --> 00:04:39.665 Everybody should be happy. 00:04:39.745 --> 00:04:42.846 But there's a few people that are not happy, and they are the Pharisees. 00:04:42.846 --> 00:04:45.363 And the Pharisees they're these individuals. 00:04:45.363 --> 00:04:47.408 They are the religious elite. 00:04:47.408 --> 00:04:54.267 They are the high and holy, impressive ones, and they would love for you to know just how impressive they are. 00:04:54.267 --> 00:05:00.990 They want you to know just how well they keep the law, not just the law as it was given in God's Word. 00:05:00.990 --> 00:05:07.331 But here's what's even more exciting some extra laws they just made up for themselves because, you know, maybe God didn't give us enough. 00:05:07.331 --> 00:05:08.153 Let's add a few more. 00:05:08.153 --> 00:05:20.283 Let's add a few more rules that we can keep, because if I can keep rules, then I can also keep score, and if I can keep score then I can win and I can be the most spiritual and I can be the most religious. 00:05:20.283 --> 00:05:23.129 That's what the Pharisees were all about. 00:05:24.173 --> 00:05:27.160 And suddenly Jesus heals, a man that was born blind. 00:05:27.160 --> 00:05:34.002 And Jesus' first issue is this he did it on the Sabbath, and a good Pharisee knows surely he shouldn't have done it on the Sabbath. 00:05:34.002 --> 00:05:40.083 But even more, jesus made the mistake, really, of just upsetting the status quo. 00:05:40.083 --> 00:05:46.053 The Pharisees love things going a certain way and they love being the religious authority. 00:05:46.053 --> 00:06:00.985 And now, suddenly, if there's a new rabbi in town not even that, if there's a new rabbi in town that actually has power, the ability to heal a man born blind, all of a sudden, what if all these people go to him for their spiritual questions and not us? 00:06:00.985 --> 00:06:18.973 Jesus is pretty harsh here For you Pharisees that are trying to get in by another way, by your rule keeping, by your impressive religion and also heaping these laws and rules that God did not give upon other sheep. 00:06:19.800 --> 00:06:23.872 You're a thief and you're a robber Verse 2. 00:06:23.872 --> 00:06:30.862 A thief and you're a robber Verse 2,. 00:06:30.862 --> 00:06:32.084 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 00:06:32.084 --> 00:06:32.485 Look at verse 3. 00:06:32.485 --> 00:06:33.466 To him the gatekeeper opens. 00:06:33.466 --> 00:06:38.562 The sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 00:06:38.562 --> 00:06:46.615 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them and the sheep follow him for they know his voice. 00:06:46.615 --> 00:06:55.293 A stranger they may follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers. 00:06:55.293 --> 00:07:02.315 The sheep follow the shepherd because they hear the shepherd's voice. 00:07:02.437 --> 00:07:06.701 Reading different commentators about this passage they talk about in this day. 00:07:06.701 --> 00:07:25.713 There would be in some smaller villages a communal sheep pen Right there in the middle of a town, the communal sheep pen, where at the end of the day, multiple shepherds would bring their flock into this communal pen and all the sheep would go into this one communal pen. 00:07:25.713 --> 00:07:26.394 And guess what? 00:07:26.394 --> 00:07:31.480 That way we only had to pay one individual to watch them overnight and he would stand at the door. 00:07:31.480 --> 00:07:37.425 He would basically be the door and so that no one can get in and no sheep can get out, and they would all come together. 00:07:37.425 --> 00:07:41.903 But they wouldn't have to, you know, tag or label their own sheep, because here's what they would do. 00:07:41.903 --> 00:07:46.115 Those shepherds would wake up the next morning their own sheep, because here's what they would do. 00:07:46.115 --> 00:07:59.906 Those shepherds would wake up the next morning, the door would open, they would step inside the sheep pen and just by the sound of the shepherd's voice, the sheep would know to come and their sheep would know to come, and the other sheep would not come because they're waiting on their shepherd. 00:08:00.146 --> 00:08:05.439 And right here in this moment, this is exactly the idea that Jesus is getting at that. 00:08:05.439 --> 00:08:20.733 The true sheep of the good shepherd know the shepherd's voice, they know him, they respond to him and they can be led out by the good shepherd, knowing his voice. 00:08:20.733 --> 00:08:24.540 But I want to ask you a question Do you know the shepherd's voice, his voice? 00:08:24.540 --> 00:08:27.045 But I want to ask you a question Do you know the shepherd's voice? 00:08:27.045 --> 00:08:42.690 If we know Christ Jesus and we are the sheep of his flock, do we know, hear and respond to his voice? 00:08:42.690 --> 00:08:44.700 And maybe a better question is is how in the world do we do that? 00:08:44.700 --> 00:08:47.562 Because you know this we live in a world of noise, don't we? 00:08:47.562 --> 00:08:49.668 We live in a world of volume, and not all of it is bad. 00:08:49.668 --> 00:08:51.552 Actually, some of it's amazing. 00:08:51.631 --> 00:08:54.926 I love to hear the sound of my family's voices. 00:08:54.926 --> 00:08:59.322 I love to hear the sound of you all singing and worshiping in this room. 00:08:59.322 --> 00:09:09.731 There's a lot of sound and noise and volume that I wouldn't trade for the world, but you and I both know we live in a world that there's a lot of sound that probably doesn't need to be there. 00:09:09.731 --> 00:09:14.135 There's a lot of voices competing for my attention. 00:09:14.135 --> 00:09:22.259 There's a lot of volume that infiltrates my life that I quite honestly let in on my own. 00:09:22.259 --> 00:09:24.543 There's just a lot of sound in our world. 00:09:24.543 --> 00:09:29.837 So, in a world filled with sound, how do we hear the shepherd's voice? 00:09:29.837 --> 00:09:32.975 How do you hear the voice of God? 00:09:32.975 --> 00:09:38.107 I want to tell you you hear the voice of God through the word of God. 00:09:39.971 --> 00:09:44.885 I heard a preacher once and he said something that I think is so true for all of us. 00:09:44.885 --> 00:09:47.534 Wouldn't it just be nice if we could hear the audible voice of God? 00:09:47.534 --> 00:09:49.505 Wouldn't that? 00:09:49.505 --> 00:09:50.330 Have you ever thought about that? 00:09:50.330 --> 00:09:51.553 Wouldn't that just help everything? 00:09:51.553 --> 00:09:59.032 If he could just come, you can call me on the phone or step into the room and just let me hear the audible voice of God. 00:09:59.032 --> 00:10:17.715 For you students, maybe getting close to college and you're deciding between two universities, wouldn't it be nice if God just called you and spoke out loud that you are supposed to attend, you know blank university, and then we could just say thank you, lord, I'm going there and case closed. 00:10:17.715 --> 00:10:21.470 Wouldn't it be nice to hear the audible word of God? 00:10:21.470 --> 00:10:26.809 And then that preacher said this if you want to hear the audible word of God, all you have to do is just read the Bible out loud. 00:10:26.809 --> 00:10:31.078 Just read the Bible out loud. 00:10:31.625 --> 00:10:44.475 Another preacher, a little more bold, said it like this that sometimes people say Taylor, I think God is speaking, god has told me something specifically and the preacher said okay, just tell me chapter and verse so I can follow along. 00:10:44.475 --> 00:10:54.298 But I want to tell you this morning God speaks through his word and God speaks also this according to his word. 00:10:54.298 --> 00:10:57.793 God speaks in alignment with his word. 00:10:57.793 --> 00:11:20.846 And so if we say this morning and maybe you do say and have said in the past and should say that, taylor, I felt God speaking to me, I felt God leading me in a certain direction, or maybe you felt that nudge from God to do this or go that way or do that, I would completely affirm that, so long as it is in line with the word of God. 00:11:20.846 --> 00:11:40.056 And so if we think about it this morning, maybe you say this Taylor, I feel very clearly that God is speaking to me and telling me that you know, I've got this neighbor that doesn't know the Lord and I feel that God is speaking to me and just telling me that you know, I've got this neighbor that doesn't know the Lord and I feel that God is speaking to me and just telling me that I need to just invite Him over, have Him over for dinner. 00:11:40.056 --> 00:11:48.916 I need to just befriend this individual, talk to Him about Jesus, form that relationship so that I can more and more share the gospel with Him. 00:11:49.004 --> 00:11:51.735 I would tell you this that sounds a lot like Matthew 28, 19. 00:11:51.735 --> 00:11:55.288 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations. 00:11:55.288 --> 00:11:58.336 I would say this I think God is telling you to do that. 00:11:58.336 --> 00:12:04.884 If you say this, taylor, I feel called to work with a certain ministry in town, god's speaking to me. 00:12:04.884 --> 00:12:08.610 He said go help the call the fostering ministry in town. 00:12:08.610 --> 00:12:11.634 Go help Hannah Pregnancy Resource Center. 00:12:11.634 --> 00:12:13.999 I feel called to work with them. 00:12:14.219 --> 00:12:21.001 I would say this James 1, 27, for this is true religion to watch after the orphans and widows. 00:12:21.001 --> 00:12:22.947 I think God's calling you in that direction. 00:12:22.947 --> 00:12:41.230 Now, if you tell me this, taylor, I've always been a giver, I've always been a tither, but God's speaking to me and he's telling me to take my giving to the next level and take my generosity to the next level, and I've devised a plan to do that. 00:12:41.230 --> 00:12:46.331 I call it generosity, others call it fraud, some call it embezzlement. 00:12:46.331 --> 00:12:52.677 But just know, you're about to see some tithes come into the offering plate that you haven't seen before. 00:12:52.677 --> 00:12:54.871 I would tell you this Well, one, I don't see your ties. 00:12:54.871 --> 00:12:55.674 I do want you to know that. 00:12:55.674 --> 00:12:59.149 Illustration purposes only. 00:12:59.331 --> 00:13:05.940 I would say this hey, praise God for your desire to serve, praise God for your desire to give, but I don't think God's calling you to do it that way. 00:13:05.940 --> 00:13:09.488 He has not spoken to you because his word says just the opposite of that. 00:13:09.488 --> 00:13:11.851 You're not going to steal, you're not going to do these things. 00:13:11.851 --> 00:13:26.576 That is not God, because God speaks according to his word, by his word, and I want to tell you God speaking in any way that is contrary to his word is an impossibility. 00:13:26.576 --> 00:13:28.720 It cannot happen. 00:13:28.720 --> 00:13:37.038 It will not happen Because God has given us his word and God speaks through his word. 00:13:37.038 --> 00:13:39.811 And once again, verse 5, the stranger will not follow. 00:13:39.811 --> 00:13:44.988 They'll flee from him, for they do not know the voice of the stranger. 00:13:46.328 --> 00:14:06.635 I had a professor in seminary, dr Lyle Dorsett, just one of the best guys that maybe has ever lived, and at his home and he would invite students from once a semester over to his home for dinner and in the basement of his home he had a World War II museum. 00:14:06.635 --> 00:14:09.307 I don't know where you were expecting that sentence to go, but that's where it went. 00:14:09.307 --> 00:14:14.827 In the basement of his home he had a World War II museum, and I know right now what you're thinking. 00:14:14.827 --> 00:14:23.115 I mean by that is that down in the basement he had one room with one bookshelf and there were a few pieces of World War II memorabilia. 00:14:23.115 --> 00:14:24.197 That's not what I mean. 00:14:24.197 --> 00:14:29.370 I mean the square footage of probably our reception hall down here by the parlor. 00:14:29.370 --> 00:14:49.758 He had uniforms and helmets and rifles and memorabilia like floor to ceiling all over and people would come from all over to see Lyle Dorsett's World War II museum that was just in his home and he told this story in class one day and I've seen it, I've been in there. 00:14:49.937 --> 00:14:51.707 He told this story in class one day. 00:14:51.707 --> 00:15:06.006 He said this that often people will mail him different pieces of World War II memorabilia, historical pieces, and in their mind they're saying that you know, it's been in my attic, it's been in storage or it just kind of sits on our shelf. 00:15:06.006 --> 00:15:11.115 Wouldn't it do much better being shown off in Dr Dorsett's museum? 00:15:11.115 --> 00:15:12.456 And so they will send it to him. 00:15:12.456 --> 00:15:27.708 And he said this that often he will look at it and he will inspect it and he'll have to give kind of a tough telephone call back to the individual and he'll say this I looked over it and the reality is I think this is actually just a replica, it's not the real thing. 00:15:27.708 --> 00:15:37.812 Or he'll say you know, it's a cool item but it's actually not from that era, it's actually from a different time in history, and he'll have to kind of give that call. 00:15:37.812 --> 00:15:40.815 And he said this, and this is what he told us in class. 00:15:40.904 --> 00:15:53.070 He said I have spent my whole life studying World War II memorabilia and I've studied it so close that when something fake comes across my desk, I can spot it from a mile away. 00:15:53.070 --> 00:16:20.153 Do you know the real thing in such a way that when the fake thing, when the evil one's lies, when the voice of our world and our culture comes to you, that you can spot it from a mile away? 00:16:20.153 --> 00:16:20.234 Why? 00:16:20.234 --> 00:16:28.169 Because you know the voice of the shepherd, because you know his word, because there will be times when the evil one comes and he will tell you. 00:16:28.169 --> 00:16:33.735 He will say how do you think you could be forgiven? 00:16:33.735 --> 00:16:38.849 How do you think you can, you can have this relationship with him? 00:16:38.849 --> 00:16:41.820 How do you think God could forgive your sins? 00:16:41.820 --> 00:16:50.347 I know he could probably forgive their sins, but but your sins where you've been, what you've done, who do you think you are to be used by a holy God? 00:16:50.347 --> 00:16:53.475 Because I know your past and I know your history. 00:16:53.475 --> 00:16:58.916 And in that moment, if you know the voice of the shepherd, then all you have to do is open this. 00:16:59.236 --> 00:17:00.166 First John, 1.9,. 00:17:00.166 --> 00:17:07.086 If I confess my sin, he's faithful and just to forgive me of my sins and cleanse me of all unrighteousness. 00:17:07.086 --> 00:17:28.701 And so the evil one will just have to take it to the top, he'll have to go to headquarters and figure it out up there, because God has already spoken and the good shepherd has already given you a good word and you know the voice of the good shepherd and therefore you will not fall for the enemy's lies and deceptions, because you know the shepherd's voice. 00:17:28.701 --> 00:17:29.930 Do you know the shepherd's voice? 00:17:29.930 --> 00:17:34.915 Have you spent time in the word of God? 00:17:34.915 --> 00:17:39.256 He continues, verse 6, this figure of speech Jesus used with them. 00:17:40.685 --> 00:17:42.692 They didn't understand what he was saying to them. 00:17:42.692 --> 00:17:48.682 The Pharisees didn't understand what Jesus was talking about. 00:17:48.682 --> 00:17:53.836 I wonder how many times the Pharisees heard a story of Jesus. 00:17:53.836 --> 00:17:55.928 And then finally, on the way home, it clicked. 00:17:55.928 --> 00:18:01.066 I think he was talking about me there, but in this moment it hadn't clicked yet. 00:18:01.066 --> 00:18:09.067 And so Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you verse 7, I am the door of the sheep. 00:18:09.067 --> 00:18:16.669 I am the door of the sheep, all who come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 00:18:16.669 --> 00:18:18.694 I am the door. 00:18:18.694 --> 00:18:25.432 If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 00:18:25.432 --> 00:18:27.234 There's our I am statement of the day. 00:18:27.234 --> 00:18:38.605 I am the door, the door. 00:18:38.605 --> 00:18:43.180 And so if you want entrance into the sheep pen, if you are of the flock of God and you come into the pen, there is one way in and it is through the door. 00:18:43.339 --> 00:18:54.252 Now there are still thieves and robbers among us today, and that is a harsh term, because often these thieves and robbers are very kind people, nice people, smile on their face. 00:18:54.252 --> 00:18:57.299 I, you know, I love many of these people. 00:18:57.299 --> 00:18:58.301 They're good people. 00:18:58.301 --> 00:19:09.244 But so many out there in our culture, in our world, want to tell us that there are other ways, and we've heard of these other ways that if I can just do enough good work, surely I can get into the sheep pen. 00:19:09.244 --> 00:19:18.974 If I can just maybe do more good than I've done bad, or at the end of this thing, you know, all people are going to be saved, or all roads lead to God. 00:19:19.056 --> 00:19:22.388 It doesn't matter how you get there, so long as you get there. 00:19:22.388 --> 00:19:26.979 There's always been talk of other ways to get to the Father. 00:19:26.979 --> 00:19:31.313 But you and I both know there's some exclusivity in the claims of Jesus. 00:19:31.313 --> 00:19:35.467 He doesn't say I am a door, I am one door among many. 00:19:35.467 --> 00:19:41.953 I am the door and Jesus is the way in. 00:19:41.953 --> 00:19:44.673 And if you come in, what do you find? 00:19:44.673 --> 00:19:49.454 You find pasture, where the Lord is my shepherd. 00:19:49.454 --> 00:19:50.730 I have everything I need. 00:19:50.730 --> 00:20:02.315 He leads me beside those still waters to that green pasture, so as we, the flock of God, come under our good shepherd's care. 00:20:02.315 --> 00:20:12.234 That's life in the pasture of our good shepherd and that's how you get there, the door. 00:20:12.234 --> 00:20:15.150 But I want you to see verse 10. 00:20:15.150 --> 00:20:23.257 The thief Jesus is clearly here talking about now the evil one. 00:20:23.257 --> 00:20:25.451 We're not dealing with just Pharisees. 00:20:25.451 --> 00:20:25.791 Now. 00:20:25.791 --> 00:20:28.027 This is Satan, the evil one. 00:20:28.027 --> 00:20:29.067 What's his goal? 00:20:29.067 --> 00:20:36.220 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. 00:20:36.259 --> 00:20:41.692 I want you to think for a minute what is Satan's desire for your life? 00:20:41.692 --> 00:20:48.701 What does Satan want with your life and for your life? 00:20:48.701 --> 00:20:51.449 What is his goal for your life? 00:20:51.449 --> 00:21:01.457 Because sometimes we sell it just a little bit short, like some idea that Satan's main desire in life is just to inconvenience me in some type of way. 00:21:01.457 --> 00:21:06.788 And he wants to do that, sure, or cause me just a little extra stress. 00:21:06.788 --> 00:21:12.249 So maybe I don't treat those around me as well because I'm a little bit under stress and he wants that for sure. 00:21:12.249 --> 00:21:24.211 Sometimes we can make some jokes about it and we've all made them and I'm not mad at anybody that has but we stub our toe or spill coffee on me and you know we'll say not today, satan, I don't want that today We'll make those jokes. 00:21:24.211 --> 00:21:27.616 But seriously speaking, what is Satan's goal for your life? 00:21:27.616 --> 00:21:29.365 I just want to tell you it's your destruction. 00:21:29.365 --> 00:21:34.272 What's Satan's goal for your marriage? 00:21:34.272 --> 00:21:36.695 It is to destroy it. 00:21:36.695 --> 00:21:40.165 What does he want for your family? 00:21:40.165 --> 00:21:42.190 He wants to crush it. 00:21:43.010 --> 00:21:45.336 What is Satan's desire for this church? 00:21:45.336 --> 00:21:53.778 That it would be left in rubble after controversy and conflict and division has infiltrated our midst. 00:21:53.778 --> 00:21:58.869 What does Satan want for everything that God deems good? 00:21:58.869 --> 00:22:00.090 Destruction. 00:22:00.090 --> 00:22:07.500 I want you to know that and I want that to lead you to keep your guard up. 00:22:07.500 --> 00:22:20.593 I want that to lead you to walk in step with the Spirit, because there is a very real enemy out there that wants destruction for everything that God loves. 00:22:20.593 --> 00:22:22.454 That is his desire. 00:22:22.454 --> 00:22:26.381 He comes to steal and kill and destroy. 00:22:26.381 --> 00:22:34.157 I come that they may have life and have it abundantly. 00:22:34.157 --> 00:22:40.758 We contrast that with the goal and the will of the good shepherd. 00:22:40.758 --> 00:22:49.529 The thief wants to destroy, but the good shepherd says I want you to have life and have it abundantly. 00:22:49.529 --> 00:22:51.472 And you know this. 00:22:51.472 --> 00:23:04.074 I pray and I'll tell you this that if you want that abundant life, the only way to have it is through the door and into the good pasture that our good shepherd provides for every one of us. 00:23:04.074 --> 00:23:15.468 But I want to ask this question we say this, speaking of destruction can Satan destroy our marriages, our church, our families, all these things? 00:23:15.468 --> 00:23:16.430 Yes, he sure can. 00:23:16.430 --> 00:23:17.392 Of course he can. 00:23:17.392 --> 00:23:19.416 It happens all too often. 00:23:19.416 --> 00:23:27.538 But I want to ask this question Ultimately, spiritually speaking can Satan destroy me? 00:23:27.538 --> 00:23:30.088 Can Satan destroy you? 00:23:30.088 --> 00:23:31.392 What do I mean by that? 00:23:31.392 --> 00:23:36.165 Can Satan destroy the sheep of the good shepherd's pasture? 00:23:36.165 --> 00:23:42.453 Can Satan do anything to remove the sheep from the good shepherd's pen? 00:23:42.453 --> 00:23:48.260 Mainly this can Satan remove you from the father's hand? 00:23:49.885 --> 00:23:57.968 I think about movies and TV shows sometimes, that this same scenario seems to always happen Law and order. 00:23:57.968 --> 00:24:02.743 Any movie with crime scene, with an investigation, anything like this, it always happens. 00:24:02.743 --> 00:24:04.608 Let's say some crime occurs and there's a crime scene with an investigation, anything like this, it always happens. 00:24:04.608 --> 00:24:14.454 Let's say some crime occurs and there's a crime scene happening in a small town, somewhere, and local law enforcement is doing a great job, they're on the case. 00:24:14.454 --> 00:24:21.037 But you know, then with the plot of the movie we find out that's not just some little crime in a small town, it's much bigger than this. 00:24:21.037 --> 00:24:24.387 And suddenly the national crew comes through. 00:24:24.387 --> 00:24:31.713 The FBI arrives, the national team comes and in the movies they're not always the kindest people. 00:24:31.713 --> 00:24:35.317 They look at local law enforcement and they would always say we'll take it from here. 00:24:35.317 --> 00:24:41.342 They look at local law enforcement and they say this is now above your pay grade, the big one. 00:24:41.342 --> 00:24:44.095 This is no longer within your jurisdiction. 00:24:44.095 --> 00:24:45.771 You need to move along. 00:24:45.771 --> 00:24:48.173 It happens in every movie. 00:24:48.224 --> 00:25:28.277 I want you to think about something that when the evil one comes to the shepherd to try to take the sheep from the pen, to try to remove you from the Father's hands, the voice of the good shepherd says one thing in return this is outside your jurisdiction, you are not welcome here and you have no hold on the sheep of my pen. 00:25:28.277 --> 00:25:44.394 And the good news is this that if you are in Christ Jesus and you are a sheep in the pen of the good shepherd, where he is there, you will be also. 00:25:44.394 --> 00:25:46.140 That's what Luther said. 00:25:46.140 --> 00:25:54.548 So when the devil throws your sins in your face and declares that you deserve death and hell, tell him this I admit that I deserve death and hell. 00:25:54.548 --> 00:25:55.009 What of it? 00:25:55.009 --> 00:25:58.865 For I know one who suffered and made satisfaction on my behalf. 00:25:58.865 --> 00:26:04.895 His name is Jesus Christ, son of God, and where he is there, I shall be also. 00:26:04.895 --> 00:26:09.890 If you are in the Father's hands, then you are in the Father's hands. 00:26:09.890 --> 00:26:28.127 And when Satan tempts me to despair and tells me of the guilt within upward, I look and see him there, who made an end to all my sin, because no power of hell, no scheme of man can ever, what can ever, pluck me from his hand. 00:26:28.868 --> 00:26:33.486 This is the good news of being a sheep in the care of the good shepherd. 00:26:33.486 --> 00:26:40.038 This is the good news of knowing that Christ Jesus, and him alone, is the door. 00:26:40.038 --> 00:26:56.214 This is the good news of having a good shepherd that if, quite literally, he is the door of the sheep, then he literally looks at the accuser and says this that if you want to get to them, you have to go through me. 00:26:56.214 --> 00:27:03.132 And you don't get through him Because he's the door and he takes care of his sheep. 00:27:03.132 --> 00:27:06.661 Maybe this morning you want to enter through the door and he takes care of his sheep. 00:27:06.661 --> 00:27:17.532 Maybe this morning you want to enter through that door for the first time To know that you are a sheep, one of his pasture. 00:27:17.532 --> 00:27:18.769 I'd love to talk to you about that. 00:27:18.769 --> 00:27:28.871 Maybe this morning you know Christ Jesus for yourself, but you just need for this morning to be encouraged by the fact that you are his. 00:27:28.871 --> 00:27:51.756 And this morning you're here this morning for no other reason than to just hear the gospel once again that because the good Savior went to the cross for you, went to the cross for you, died for you, rose for you, that you are in his pen, both now and for eternity, the sheep of his pasture. 00:27:52.597 --> 00:27:54.420 How does Psalm 23 end? 00:27:54.420 --> 00:28:01.027 That I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. 00:28:01.027 --> 00:28:04.531 That's what our shepherd Lord Desires for us. 00:28:04.531 --> 00:28:06.574 Let me pray for us. 00:28:06.574 --> 00:28:09.577 I'll be down front after If you'd like to respond in any way. 00:28:09.577 --> 00:28:13.230 Please, as we worship, come see me. 00:28:13.230 --> 00:28:27.798 Lord Jesus, thank you that you are the door, that we are the sheep Of your pasture, thanks for how you love us, how you care for us, how you never Forsake us. 00:28:27.798 --> 00:28:34.260 Lord, if there is one this morning that needs to enter through that door. 00:28:34.260 --> 00:28:40.212 Would he or she come Not come to a pastor, though, they talk to me, but really come to you. 00:28:40.212 --> 00:28:40.594 That's what it is. 00:28:40.594 --> 00:28:41.336 Would they come to you this morning? 00:28:41.336 --> 00:28:45.675 I'd love nothing more than to talk to them about Jesus this morning. 00:28:45.675 --> 00:28:47.964 I'd love nothing more than to talk to them about Jesus. 00:28:47.964 --> 00:28:54.590 So, lord, as we worship, would we see you as the good shepherd that you are, see you as the door that you are, and rejoice in you. 00:28:54.590 --> 00:28:56.935 We ask this in Christ's name, amen. 00:28:56.935 --> 00:28:59.339 Would you stand now as we continue in worship?