Sermon
True Shepherds, Obedient Sheep
February 16, 2003
Pastor Donald Sheley

We have been studying now for a number of months from the gospel of John, and today we arrive at chapter 10 in our study of this great gospel. This is a new chapter. I want to read the entire chapter to you so we get the setting for the lessons that we will be studying in the weeks to come, because we will be back frequently at this very wonderful passage of Scripture.

John chapter 10; let me read the chapter for you. "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers." Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them.

Then Jesus said to them again, "Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. 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 will be one flock and one shepherd. Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father."

Therefore there was a division again among the Jews because of these sayings. And many of them said, "He has a demon and is mad. Why do you listen to Him?" Others said, "These are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?" Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon's porch. Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, "How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly."

Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father's name, they bear witness of Me. But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand. I and My Father are one." Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. Jesus answered them, "Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?" The Jews answered Him, saying, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God."

Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law, 'I said, "You are gods"'? If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I say, 'I am the Son of God'? If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him." Therefore they sought again to seize Him, but He escaped out of their hand. And He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was baptizing at first, and there He stayed. Then many came to Him and said, "John performed no sign, but all the things that John spoke about this Man were true." And many believed in Him there.

Now when we come to this chapter, when you study the manuscripts of the expositions, you'll find that the first thing that most theologians wrestle with is this: is there a connection between chapter 9 and chapter 10? Some even go so far as to suggest that maybe the chapter has been misplaced. But I think when we study it you'll see how beautifully they tie together.

In chapter 9 we came to that story of the man who was born blind. He sat by the gate of the temple and there he begged. Jesus walked up, took spittle as He spat on the ground, and took the clay from the spittle and put it on the man's eyes, and said, go wash. And he went and washed and he was healed. Now our attention as we studied chapter 9 was upon that blind man. The first thing, he's question, is this really the man that was sitting there by the temple? And some of those who saw him every day were questioned, is this really him? Finally, he said, I am he. Well what happened? How did you get healed? And you remember his answer; a man by the name of Jesus.

Now as soon as he had given witness to the fact that Christ had done it, of course, they bring the Pharisees. The Pharisees were the religious leaders, and I want to discuss those with you in just a moment. But the Pharisees immediately make an issue out of it. Now you would think that here are the religious leaders and here's a man that's been blind for all of these years, they should've called a big party, and they should have had a marvelous time of rejoicing all over Jerusalem! But those preachers turned a joyous occasion into something extremely ugly. They said, this is the Sabbath day and you don't heal on the Sabbath day. He's a lawbreaker.

Now here's what had happened; over the years, centuries, God had given His very limited commands; thou shall not, thou shall not, and God didn't enlarge on them. He said, thou shalt have a holy day, a Sabbath, and you'll keep it holy. But what happened is man got a hold of God's law and they started deciding, well we're going to have to tell God what He didn't tell us, and so we're going to write all these regulations on what you can do and what you can't do on the Sabbath. And in their writings over the centuries the Pharisees came up with this idea, foolish as it is, if a person is sick, if you give them medication that starts the process of healing, you've worked on the Sabbath, and that's a violation. All you can do is give them medication to hold them wherever they were in their problem and wait till tomorrow to treat them. You couldn't put spittle on a man's eyes that was considered by the religious leaders, the Pharisees, that that was work. It seems ridiculous to us. But they're accusing Jesus of breaking their Sabbath.

Now they knew that Jesus already had a contract out on His life, and if anybody confessed Him, they'd get excommunicated from the synagogue, and that was the very center life. The Pharisees, over and over again, said, how did it happen?. He said, look at, I've told you and you won't listen to me. Finally, they accuse Jesus of being a sinner and he said, I don't want to get involved in this theological discussion. Whether sinner or no, I was blind, and now I see. And they answered back, well we know that Moses was from God and we're Moses' disciples, but this guy, we don't know anything about him.

And the man said, well that's interesting; he said, since the beginning of time nobody's ever opened any blind eyes. And that's interesting -- he knew his Old Testament better than those preachers. Because never in the Old Testament do you find the healing of a man blind. He said it's interesting, never from the beginning of time has a man been healed and here comes a man and heals me, He must be from God. Then he adds this little line, would you like to be one of His disciples? I always like that. This guy is already getting converts for Jesus.

You know the results. They excommunicate him and Jesus finds him, and the story ends with that man bowing in the presence of Jesus worshiping Christ. It's a beautiful story. But how does chapter 9 tie to chapter 10? Look at the very first verse. It says: "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber." Jesus had something else in His heart and His mind, and that is, the reaction of those religious leaders. They broke His heart. Here was a scene that could have been and should've been a scene of joy and wonderful rejoicing, and those religious leaders have stole that scene of all of its joy, of all of its blessing, and they tried to rob God of all of His glory. And that bothered Jesus tremendously and that's why He turns the subject away from the blind man, and He said, anybody who tries to get into the sheepfold any other way is a thief and a robber.

You see, what He's saying is those religious leaders thought they could get into heaven by fulfilling the laws that they made. And He said you don't get into heaven any other way but through Me, and anybody who tries is as deceptive as a thief and a robber. Now if I would rename the sermon today, it would be a sermon for preachers. You probably have not heard a sermon like I'm going to preach, and when we finish you'll walk away and say, that's interesting. Most preachers will avoid this subject. And it's simply this: one of the greatest risks that God ever took was to place into the hands of mortal man the task of preaching the glorious gospel of grace, because man has failed.

Spiritual leaders have failed over; we have failed over and over again. We're human beings. Jesus walked into a scene of religion that must have nauseated Him. Here are all of these Pharisees and all of these regulations. Religion was a burden and they had made it a way of life. Those religious leaders had made it a way of getting rich, and Jesus is broken hearted with the religious leaders of His day, and He leaves that temple, a scene that should've been filled with joy, and said anybody who is trying to get into the kingdom is a thief and a robber. He's talking about those Pharisees.

Tell us a little bit about those Pharisees. How did they get involved in the religion of Judaism? We have to go back many hundreds of years and the remaining children of Israel from the southern kingdom were taken away into Babylonia during the captivity. When they are there they begin to realize the reason why we're in captivity, we're under the judgment of God, and we have violated the laws of God. So it's time we as a nation go back to God's laws, the Torah, and understand them and then commit ourselves to fulfill God's commands. And so what you find starting there, even in Babylonian times captivity, you'll find that they started going back to the Torah and they would write down these laws and then they would enlarge what they think God had left out, and they would add all of these regulations. And what God had put in one small volume, which we call the Penatuch, the first five books of the Bible, when they finished they had 50 massive volumes of regulations. God made it simple -- leave it to man to complicate religion.

When God gave His instructions you'll find His laws fall in two categories: reverence for God, and respect for our fellow man. That's it. All the laws fall in those two categories. Reverence for God and respect for man. But those people started writing all of these rules. So you get about 175 years out from before Christ and there appeared in the religious circles what were called the separated ones; they were the Pharisees. And what they decided, they would take all of those massive volumes of regulations and they would memorize them, and then they would spend their entire life committed to those regulations. And that's why they were called separated, because when you commit yourself to that many regulations you can't do anything else in life. You're separated. And they didn't even live normal lives. And at the most, when you go back in history, you'll find that there were no more than 6000 ever at one time in Jewish history of the Pharisees. They were the ones that were so committed to all those manmade regulations they lived separated lives, even in the community of Judaism.

Now what happened is as those regulations became developed and the expositions of them developed into two major sections known as the Talmud. And in the Talmud, which is a major Jewish writing, they themselves classify their own preachers, their own Pharisees, and they say the Pharisees fall into seven different categories. Now this comes right out of the Talmud. Here is the way the Jewish people looked upon their own leaders, the Pharisees. There are seven different kinds.

#1 The Shoulder Pharisee -- now the shoulder Pharisee he's one that meticulously observes all the law, but he wears all of his good deeds on his shoulder for he wants a reputation of purity and goodness, and he wants everybody to see how good he really is. Jesus talks about that when we get into Matthew 23. He's called the shoulder Pharisee.

#2 The Wait a Little Pharisee -- he was the Pharisee who could always produce an entirely valid excuse for putting off a good deed. He professed the creed with the strictest Pharisees, but he could always find an excuse for allowing practice to lag behind creed. He could speak, but he didn't do. And like many religious people: that's the way you should live, but don't do as I live but do as I say.

#3 The Bruised and Bleeding Pharisee -- this is a funny one. The Talmud speaks of the plague of self afflicting Pharisees, these Pharisees received their name for this reason. Women had a very low status in Palestine. No really strict Orthodox Pharisee could be seen talking with a woman in public, not even his wife or his sister. You say, that's religion pastor? But if you talked with your wife or your sister in public, you were violating one of their regulations. These Pharisees went even further. They would not even allow themselves to look at a woman on the street. In order to avoid doing so they would shut their eyes when a lady walked down the street, so they would bump into walls and buildings and obstructions, and they thus bruised and wounded themselves, and their wounds and their bruises gained for them a special reputation of exceedingly fine piety. Can you imagine walking into the house at night and your face is just bleeding and your wife says...very religious, kept my eyes closed all the way home honey. You say, was that religion pastor? Folks, that was the religion that Jesus had to walk into. He wouldn't be that way. That's why He was hated by the religious leaders. That's why they nailed Him to a cross. He would have nothing to do with that kind of religion.

#4 Pestle and Mortar Pharisee -- such men walked in such an ostentatious humility that they were bent like a pestle in a mortar, or like a hunchback. They were so humble that they would not even lift their feet from the ground and so tripped over obstructions they met. Their humility was a fact of self-advertising ostentation. I'm just so humble. Religion -- Pharisees.

#5 Ever Reckoning or Compounding Pharisee -- this kind of the Pharisee was forever reckoning up his good deeds and he was forever striking a balance sheet between himself and God. And he believed that every good deed he did put God a little further in debt to him. So he walked around with his computer and his manual, and every time he did something good he would write down and say, see God, just remember when I got up there. Don't forget it. And they lived with the idea that if the balance sheet had more positives than negatives, God was going to bless them in heaven, and right away. Isn't that amazing? Earning your place with God. It's so different than Christianity, isn't it?

#6 Timid and Fearing Pharisee -- he always was in dread of divine judgment. He was therefore always cleansing the outside of the cup and the platter so that he might seem to be good . He saw religion in terms of judgment and terror, and he feared the day he would die and have to see God face-to-face. He feared God's judgment. No joy in his religion, was there?

#7 God Fearing Pharisee -- he was the Pharisee who really and truly loved God, and who found his delight in obedience in the law of God however difficult that law might be.

Now it was these Pharisees that robbed that glorious moment there in the temple, when the man was healed, of all of its joy. They were the religious leaders. And Jesus said they're trying to get into heaven some other way by their own righteousness, by their own good deeds, and they are a bunch of thieves and they are a bunch of robbers.

Now go with me to Matthew 23. This is severe folks. This is to show you how Jesus really felt about those Pharisees. This is His heart, listen: Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying: "The scribes and the Pharisees," there they are, "sit in Moses' seat." In other words, they take the position of authority in religion. "Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not." We already found them. We met them already. They tell you to do something but they live entirely different lives.

He said, "For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers." They are the people who rob religion of all of its joy because they just lay it with a lot of traditions and a lot of burdens, and they call it religion and it has nothing to do with Christianity. Some of us came out of churches where they laid the burdens on us, and all the restrictions and I almost missed God because my church had too many burdens and I found religion very, very boring, and very burdensome, and I almost left. Some of us understand that, and then after we started reading our Bible we realized all those things were just traditions and man-made ideas. Where in the Bible does it say ladies can't wear lipstick? But in my church if you wore lipstick you were Miss Jezebel. You say, boy, that's a long time ago pastor. That's my point; they called that religion. Restrictions and regulations that have nothing to do with what this book says. He said, you lay heavy burdens on people and you call it religion, and you rob a wonderful, beautiful happy relationship with the God of all of its joy by all of your regulations.

Let's go on. He said, you love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, 'Rabbi, Rabbi.' But you, do not be called 'Rabbi'; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. What is He saying?

Here's what happened, and you'll notice religion does this, religion gives titles to human beings that imply that they are more spiritual than they really are. But me illustrate. I have never liked the title Reverend. The Bible makes it very clear in the book of Psalms there is only one Reverend, and that's God. I've never felt it was proper to call a pastor Reverend, but the church does it. I want you folks to know there's not an ounce that's Reverend about me. Only God is Reverend, and being Reverend He deserves our respect. What Jesus is saying is religion has a tendency to give titles. Is there such a thing as the Most Holy Reverend? Not in your life. We're just human beings. We have all of our frailties. We're just as capable to sin like anybody else. And to give somebody a title that implies super spirituality, is against the teachings of Christ. That's exactly what He's saying here.

Then why do you call yourself pastor? Well, when you understand that the lowest person in society in the days of Christ was the lonely shepherd out on the hillside with his flock, the shepherd was the lowest classification in society. And, when you read the Latin, the word for shepherd in Latin is pastor, and to me I think that's the most beautiful designation when you call me pastor; you're saying shepherd. And I thank you for that and that challenges me to be the best shepherd I possibly can be.

But titles don't make a man holy. Just like degrees never make the man. A man makes the degrees. That's why you find a person who was educated in some of the finest universities in the world, when they write their books they don't put their degree after their name, because the man makes the degree not the degree making the man.

Jesus said don't give a person a title that implies something very spiritual about them, because they're not. Let's go on. "But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." Now look at the woes. "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!" Now He's talking to preachers, folks. He's talking to religious leaders. He calls them hypocrites. "For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in."

What He is saying is, as religious leaders, by our deeds and by our waywardness, we block the gates of heaven for people who really want to get in. You say, explain that pastor. Every time I see one of these religious leaders fall, my heart goes out, and I say, God, I'm sorry. Because what happens is people have a tendency to respect spiritual leaders, and when they fall, morally, people just throw up their hands and say: If that's Christianity, you can have it. When I think of all the religious leaders that have fallen, and as it were, stand at the gates of heaven, and people say, don't go there if that's what religion is.

The other day I got a letter from a pastor who decided he wasn't going to be a pastor any more. He threw it all overboard; almost at the end of his journey. He decided to leave his family and go live with someone else. And I cried, because here's a man who has touched the lives of thousands, and now they look at his life and say if that's Christianity, you can have it. Jesus said, religious leaders by the way they live often block the doors of heaven because their life is a sham and brings disgrace to the cause of Christ.

Look at what He says, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers." Religion is often known as the pastors' as gold diggers, trying to devour someone else's estate, trying to get money into the coffers. It's always...Jesus had the same problem. He had Judas. Out of 12 He got one guy out for the money. Religion has always been plagued with human beings who get their focus off of God and on to money. It will destroy them.

There's a tremendous responsibility that comes in being a pastor. Go with me to James. It's near the end of your Bible; James chapter 3. Look at what it says here. My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. When the religious leader stands before God, I'll tell you, it's going to be a sad moment for many of us. Because when one selects to be a spiritual leader the responsibility is absolutely immense. That's the reason why, folks, I can't josh, I can't joke is the pulpit. I'm not that way, because when I walk to that pulpit I know I'm dealing with eternity, and I'm dealing with souls who are going to spend eternity either in heaven or hell. And I sense that immensely every time I stand before you. I cannot take this position lightly because the responsibility is immense.

My only prayer is when I walk through the gates of heaven I only want to hear one statement: well done thou good and faithful servant. And as I move towards my finish line, and I'm not very far, I'm 53 years in the ministry, and my finish line is not very far ahead of me. But I don't want to fall. I don't want to stumble before I get to the end, to let you down, and to let all the folks down who have found Christ would be a fearsome tragic thing in my life.

But God has always had problems with preachers. Go with me clear back in the Old Testament. Look at what God put up with in the Old Testament: Ezekiel. God has always had problems with religion because religious leaders are no more than human beings. And what I'm trying to say today is don't ever put religious leaders upon a pedestal. We'll fall. We're human beings.

I had a man just walk up to me after one of the services this morning, just crying, and he said, Pastor, for years I had my eyes on my leader; and my leader fell. He said, I'm looking for God again. I understand that. God has always had problems. Look at back in Ezekiel chapter 34: And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, "Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord God to the shepherds: "Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool; you slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the flock. The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost; but with force and cruelty you have ruled them."

Those are the Pharisees that Jesus is talking about, the thieves and the robber using religion to control people and gain for themselves whatever they want. Look at what He says, So they were scattered because there was no shepherd; and they became food for all the beasts of the field when they were scattered. My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and on every high hill; yes, My flock was scattered over the whole face of the earth, and no one was seeking or searching for them." 'Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: "As I live," says the Lord God, "surely because My flock became a prey, and My flock became food for every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, nor did My shepherds search for My flock, but the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed My flock" - 'therefore, O shepherds, hear the word of the Lord! 'Thus says the Lord God: "Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require My flock at their hand; I will cause them to cease feeding the sheep, and the shepherds shall feed themselves no more; for I will deliver My flock from their mouths, that they may no longer be food for them."

You see, God has always had problems because He's placed into the hands of mortal men the task of delivering the divine message. We're just earthen vessels. You say, Pastor, then what's the whole theme that you want to get across today? This is my theme: don't get your eyes on religious leaders -- keep your eyes on God, and you pray for your religious leaders. I cherish your prayers, and my prayer is that when I stand there and hear those words: well done thou good and faithful servant, that you, my flock, will be there with me and we'll spend eternity in God's presence forever. Amen?

Let's pray. Father in heaven, we're trying to feel the heart of Jesus as He walked away from that temple scene that should've been one of joy, and then to realize that religious leaders had robbed it. They are spiritual thieves. And we feel the heartthrob of Jesus. Lord Jesus, I just pray for the shepherds today across the land and around the world. Help us to realize the seriousness of our call, and the absolute eternal requirement to feed the flock. Help us to do that, Lord Jesus, so that when we gather at the sheepfold on that eternal day we'll all be there together. That's my prayer and we pray it in Jesus' name. Amen.