Apply Within

Bob Davis: Churches are starting to use words that are almost like magic words or trick words to communicate. Where does this word come from? Where does that word come from? I'm leery of it because so many people aren't teaching the Bible anymore. It doesn't make them right or wrong, it just makes me want to say, "I don't know about this guy." And if I don't really know, I'm going to stay away from it. Nothing personal, that's just me.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Apply Within, a verse-by-verse study of the word of God with Pastor Bob Davis of North Country Chapel. We invite you to join with us as we, by the power of God's Holy Spirit, apply His word within our own hearts as we study line upon line, precept upon precept, verse by verse through the Bible. Jesus is called the Good Shepherd as our study of John continues in chapter 10. Here is Pastor Bob.

Bob Davis: Verse one says, "Truly, truly, I say unto you." Remember He just said, "If you were blind, you would have no sin, but now you say we can see, therefore your sin remains." Now, "Truly, truly, I say unto you, he that enters not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, gets in some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep."

And you rightly so, if you're not paying close attention, you say, "Where did that come from?" He just goes from telling them they're blind fools and still in their sin, willingly refusing to turn, refusing to repent, willingly you're still in your sin. Then he starts talking about shepherds. The Pharisees are claiming to be the spiritual leaders over Israel. They are the most holy. You've got the Pharisees, the scribes, the Sadducees, and the Herodians, which was a political group, but they still carried a lot of weight when it came to trying to teach or interpret the Bible.

You've got all these groups and they all reject Jesus. They all don't understand the word of God, but they are the Bible teachers. If you've got a bunch of Bible teachers across your land and they're teaching the Bible but they're not teaching the Bible, you really have a problem on your hands. Where do you go if the teachers aren't teaching the word of God? Where do you go to get it?

Listen, here's the point. The Pharisees are claiming to be the overseers. The term Jesus is going to use here is shepherd. Get it? They claim they're the true shepherds over Israel. "We're descendants of Moses. We're the priesthood. We're in charge. We're the holy ones. We're the shepherds over Israel." So Jesus has just called them guilty of not even understanding the word of God, and they think they're the shepherds over Israel.

To show the seriousness of this, you've seen the language many times already in the Gospel of John. He's going to tell them a parable, an illustration. He says, "Truly, truly, most assuredly," the language says, "he that enters not by the door into the sheepfold but climbs up any other way, that one is a thief and a robber. But the one that enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep." They're saying they're the shepherds. He's going to say to them, "I'm the shepherd."

Sheepfold. What is that? It's an area with a high, solid fence around it or, in many cases, a rock wall, roughly built rock wall, where the sheep are led into every night. Near the end of the day, they just lead them in there and there's only one way in and one way out. The keeper will just guard and nothing gets in unless it's got a legitimate reason to, and nothing comes out. The sheep get out there in the dark, you're going to lose them, they're going to hurt themselves or worse.

It's there for their safety. They're not being punished. It's nighttime, they need to lay down and rest. The sheep need the rest, and it's to protect them from the dangers of the night. Oftentimes at the sheepfold, if it was near Bethlehem, there were all kinds of different sheep owners and different shepherds. Oftentimes there were many different flocks put into the sheepfold at night. It's just a good way to keep count of them, protect them, and when morning comes, the shepherd is going to come and take all the sheep to wherever they want them to graze.

So that's what a sheepfold is. In that sheepfold, there's only one door, one entrance/exit. It's set right there. There's only one way in and one way out, and it is guarded all night. Jesus is basically saying that many come to the children of Israel claiming to be a shepherd of theirs, claiming to be sent by God, but they were not shepherds. Speaking of the Pharisees, they are not. They're stealing. They're going to destroy, as you'll see he says in a moment.

They're claiming to be shepherds, claiming to be sent by God, but they were not ordained by God. Those Pharisees didn't understand the word of God and were being disobedient to the word of God and were making up things that the word of God didn't say so that the people would act the way they wanted the people to act. Telling them you have to do this and you can't do this.

Jesus will say, "You're putting all kinds of weight on the backs of these people. You've got to do this, you've got to do that, you've got to have one of those, and you've got to be over here at a certain time." But you don't lift a finger. You put all this weight on them, but you don't lift a finger to make the load lighter for them. You're just piling it on and they're just going to have to get through it or fall down.

That's what he's saying to them. They were not ordained of God. If they're not ordained of God, what are they? I guess the term I would use would be self-appointed. The Bible does tell us if a man chooses a full-time ministry job, an overseer, he chooses a good thing. But there needs to be a calling and there are certain qualifications. There are certain things that he's got to be able to do.

Just because I feel like I want to do it doesn't mean I should do it. You can see that by listening to Christian radio. Some of those people really probably think it's an easy job and you listen to them and go, "Well, no, the Bible doesn't say that at all. I don't know where you got it."

So what's happening? They're self-appointed. They're not God-ordained. Therefore, they come into the sheepfold but they can't come through the front door. They come in any other way they can get in. Climb over, pay money and find a bad keeper of the gate there. In other words, they're not legitimate.

Now Jesus refers to himself, which he's been saying all along. The true shepherd comes through the door. Now what does that mean? In a parable, what is the meaning of coming through the door? It's easy. He came in fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies. He did it the right way. He became flesh miraculously and he's going to be born in Bethlehem. You've got all the prophecies. He came the very exact way. He came through the door. He did it right. The others are getting in there and making a mess of everything, and they didn't do it right.

Since he came in the right way, they should be able to recognize him. He said that in the last chapter, "You should recognize if you knew the scriptures, you would know who I am. You would know I'm the Messiah." Remember they took up stones because he claimed to be God. They wanted to kill him.

Look at verse three. "To him," who's him? The shepherd. "To him the porter opens," in other words, opens the door. "And the sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and he leads them out. And when he puts forth his own sheep, he goes before them." In other words, he doesn't drive them. He gets in front of them and leads them on to where he wants to take them.

"When he puts forth his own sheep, he goes before them and the sheep follow him. Why? They know his voice." Remember this is a parable, an illustration of what Jesus is doing and what the Pharisees are doing and the difference between the two. It's a simple, clear picture. He says the sheep follow him and they know his voice. "And a stranger they will not follow." Who? True sheep that belong to Jesus will not follow a stranger. "But they will run away from him, flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers." They don't recognize strangers' voices.

This parable Jesus spoke unto them, but they understood not what things they were which he spoke. They had no clue what he was talking about. In this parable, Jesus also makes something perfectly clear. If you can't tell his sheep, how many Gentiles have been saved so far up to chapter 10 in the Gospel of John? None so far. When he says his sheep, who are they? The children of Israel.

Good. He's preaching to the crowds in Galilee. He's in his own country. He'll go out a little bit and you'll see it happening, but right now the only sheep that he has, real sheep that he has, are the children of Israel, the chosen people. He was sent to them first. He makes it perfectly clear. The sheepfold and the sheep, that's the nation of Israel. He is the true shepherd and the spiritual leaders, so-called spiritual leaders of Israel, they're the false shepherds. They're the hypocrites. The illustration, the parable, is very easy to understand, not complicated at all.

But the people didn't understand it, so he's going to keep talking. Now he's going to change it up a little bit. Watch this. Verse seven. "Then Jesus said to them again, another little illustration, truly, truly," once again, same thing, "I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep." Now he goes from being the good shepherd, he's given them a whole different illustration. He's the door you go in and out of. He's also the good shepherd, but now it's a whole different little illustration.

"Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me," and in the Greek, all means all. "All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. By me, if any individual enters in, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture."

People use that to say, "See, you can lose your salvation. You can come in and then you can go out." Like the Hokey Pokey. That's not what he's saying at all. It's got nothing to do with salvation there. Listen closely. Jesus gives another illustration. This time, now we know he's the good shepherd in that last illustration, but he's now presenting himself as the door itself. "I am the door." The way you get into the sheepfold, the way you go back and forth out, is through me. The only way to get in there is through him.

Now you see what's he talking about. I had to look this up because I don't really work as much as I should with sheep. When they left the sheepfold, remember the last illustration? He's the shepherd. He calls his sheep, they all follow him. He walks out and they're all now following him. When he gets to the place where they're going, they would usually set up another enclosure. It's for safety and security. What if some wild animals start circling the field? So they would set up a little makeshift enclosure. It's good and solid, but they do it quickly.

What happens is this: it's a safe area for the sheep. The shepherd himself would stand in that little open space. For the sheep to get in, they had to go through him, and for the sheep to get back out, they had to go through him. If anybody tried to get in that was a wild animal or something to hurt, he's right there and it's not going to happen.

That's how they did it. I always wondered about that, but when I saw that, I thought that makes sense too. He took his place at the entrance of the enclosure, standing right there, letting the sheep in and out. Now the sheep can go out to the pasture in front of the enclosure or that area. The sheep that are comfortable, they might just go and some lay around near the water, whatever. He still's got his eye on them.

Or if they were frightened or afraid, they would commonly come running and retreat to the security where their shepherd's at and hide in their little safe space, the little enclosure. The shepherd himself being the door, the only way in and the only way out. When Jesus says this, "All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers," he's referring to the spiritual leaders of Israel that have been telling the people wrong things about God's word, putting loads on them that the word of God never put on them.

Causing them to think you can only go to church on this day, or you have to give so much money, if you don't we're coming to get it from you, or you have to do this, you've got to say so many prayers today. Religion is what they were teaching and Jesus is teaching relationship. He's referring to the spiritual leaders of the nation. What? He's already called them thieves and robbers.

What he's saying is they don't truly care for the spiritual needs of the sheep. They just make rule after rule after rule, and some churches are like that. It's a picture because those false teachers were false teachers. Jesus says, "I'm the door. If any man, anyone, comes in through me, they are safe." Safe. And they can come in and go out and find pasture. Simply meaning that their needs will be taken care of.

He's not talking about getting saved and getting unsaved. He's talking about you're free to roam. You walk, I'm with you everywhere you go. If you want to go check out that little part of the field, I go before you. The shepherd is always right there. So what it is, when you see it, they could come in and out and have pasture. He's not saying saved/unsaved or something like that. It's a picture, I believe, a simple little illustration of perfect security and perfect liberty. In Jesus Christ, we have complete security and perfect liberty. We are free in Jesus Christ.

Verse 10. "The thief does not come except to steal, to kill, and to destroy. And I am come that they might have life, that they might have it more abundantly." That's really easy to understand. The thief, the devil and all of his followers: the high priests, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the doctors of the law, the scribes, the Herodians. They all are false shepherds. They come only to steal, take what they want from the people, to kill the people and to destroy.

That's what the devil's after. To steal, to kill, to destroy. That's what he's after. You want to follow him, that's what you'll have, nothing basically. They're only looking to get what they want. When someone enters into any kind of ministry or any kind of mission field because they think it's an easy way to make a living, that's a false heart right there. That's not a call from God. That's somebody hoping they don't have to do a real job or something.

Jesus says, on the contrary, as opposed to that, "I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly." Why? Jesus loves the sheep. Those are his people, Israel. He loves them. They keep turning their back on God, or spitting in his eye and turning their back, but he loves them. He promised that he's never going to let them completely be destroyed because he loves them. It's what he promised Father Abraham.

Jesus loves the sheep, each and every one of them. We look at some of his sheep and we go, "Oh, what a mess, what a mess." Or you look at us and you go, "What a mess, what a mess." But Jesus says, "He's mine, she is mine. Just get away from her, leave her alone. She's mine. Leave him alone. Who are you to judge another man's servant? He stands or he falls before his own master and God is able to make him or her stand, and he will."

You say, "I can't stand at all. I'm just the weakest there is." God will have you standing on that day. You'll be standing before Jesus Christ for rewards. That's his promise. I want you to know something about this shepherd. He loves his sheep, each and every one of them.

He goes on: "I am the good shepherd and the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep." He's going to die for these sheep. "But he that is a hireling and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, he sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, runs away. And the wolf catches them and scatters the sheep," in other words, kills some and scatters them. "The hireling flees, runs, because he is a hireling and he doesn't care for the sheep."

The Pharisees, if they weren't eating so well, if they didn't have the best clothes, if they weren't treated and given the best seats in the house everywhere they went, they wouldn't be in ministry long. They'd quit it and find something that was more lucrative. That's what he's saying, basically.

This is another "I am." "I'm the good shepherd." Not only did he say "I am the door," but "I am the good shepherd." By the way, if you look it up, that means the beautiful, kind shepherd. Beautiful, good, kind shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The true good shepherd will give his life on the cross at Calvary willingly for all of us.

False shepherds don't do that. They're hirelings, meaning they're getting paid. That's why they're doing what they're doing, because they get so many weeks of vacation, so much housing allowance, so much this, so much that. If you take that from them, they're going to go find some place else to work. True? That's what a hireling is. It's okay to be a hireling if you're just trying to earn a living. But if you're in the ministry, you're called to be a minister and we're going to serve the Lord all that we can, no matter what comes to us or doesn't come to us.

Hirelings don't own the sheep. Jesus does. But the hirelings are just getting paid to keep an eye on them. He or she is just paid for doing what they're doing. So when danger comes—and mark this down, it always does—when really hard times and troubles come, the hireling runs away. He's going to leave the sheep. Whatever happens to them happens to them. I'm out of here. This is crazy.

Mr. Ironside writes: "There are many hirelings in the ministry today, in the church today. Men and women who choose the ministry as a comfortable occupation without true love for God's sheep." It never works out. False doctrine is running rampant in our country today, for sure.

"I'm the good shepherd and I know my sheep and they know me." In other words, "I'm known of mine. As the Father knows me, even so I know the Father and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold. Them also I must bring and they will hear my voice and there shall be one fold and one shepherd."

Put that together. "I'm the good shepherd and I know my sheep and they know me." When you came to Jesus Christ, you started to learn, didn't you? Remember? And you still are. You know more and more about Jesus. You have more experience with him. You trust him more and more because he's never let you down yet. Even though this next big thing you've got coming, you think, "I don't know if we're going to make it." We're always going to make it. Even if we lose everything we have, we're always going to make it.

I know my sheep and they know me. The language is this: it talks about an intimacy and a personal interest. Jesus knows you intimately and he's interested in what you think and how you feel and how it's going. Jesus says, "Here's the model. This is what he's after. As the Father knows me, I know the Father." He knows us that way and he wants us to know him that intimately too. "As the Father knows me, I know them. I am willingly laying my life down for the sheep." He did give his own life to pay the price for all sin, remember, at the cross at Calvary.

Now this other flock throws people off. It shouldn't you because you already realize who is the flock that he's talking about here. Not the other one, but who's the flock? It's Israel. But the Gospel is going to go outside the land of Israel, and who will get saved? Gentiles. That's you and me and everybody that's a Gentile. We're the other part of the flock. He says, "I've got this flock and I have another flock." He's going to bring them all in and make them one, so that there will be no Jew and Gentile anymore in the flock of Jesus Christ, right?

"Other sheep I have which are not of this fold. Them I must also bring and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd." There will be no Jew and Gentile. In Jesus Christ, there's no male or female, no Jew or Gentile. We're all his sheep.

Guest (Male): Thank you for listening to Apply Within with Pastor Bob Davis. Apply Within is a radio outreach ministry of North Country Chapel. Our Sunday morning Bible studies are at 9:00 and 11:00 AM. We also have a Friday evening Bible study at 7:00 PM and a Monday evening Bible study at 7:00 PM.

You can download today's message in its entirety at NorthCountryChapel.com/studies. That's NorthCountryChapel.com/studies. If you would like a copy of today's message, write to us and ask for the message with today's date. The address is Apply Within, 2281 West Seltice, Post Falls, Idaho 83854. Or call us at 1-800-572-8851. That number again, 1-800-572-8851.

Our mobile app is available for iPhone and Android. Download it to listen to full-length studies, watch the live stream of our services, or to find out more about church events. If you have been blessed by the teaching or have prayer requests that you would like to share with us, write, email, or call us as well. Please join with us every Monday through Friday as we study together verse by verse on Apply Within, sponsored by North Country Chapel. God bless you.