Listening to God's Voice

This is the fourth week in our Bible study that we called Simply Jesus, and today we're gonna study the statement that Jesus made twice in John chapter 10 when he said, I am the door of the sheep. Actually, every single one of our I am statements have been in duplicate so far, and this one he did twice as well. Some of your translations may say gate, but I've chosen to stick with what the ESV says door, and I think you'll see at the very end why I chose to do that. This conversation seems to be a continuation of exactly where we left off last week. It seems like we're still standing there with the man who is healed, the religious leaders, and Jesus is expressing more and more of who he is, what the kingdom of God is like, and so I wanna just kinda remind us who is in this conversation. First of all, we have the man who was healed, the man who stepped into the light last week, and now for our purposes this week, he's going to be just a sheep, okay, and we have the religious leaders who had abused him, the blind guides from last week, and for our purposes this week, they will represent false shepherds, the ones that aren't true to what God would have, and then we have, of course, Jesus, the light of the world who healed the man, and he is, in this new text, the good shepherd, and so we wanna just roll right into John 10, verses one through 10, and I'll start reading those verses. Jesus continued to say,

All right, so unlike the first two I am's, this one does not have a new specific miracle attached to it, because it is a continuation, but it does have an emphasis on relationship, and that's what we're looking for in this. Jesus is adding more dimension for us to understand who he is, always looking at things from a new side, and this time he's using a figure of speech. Pretty easy for us to figure out this figure of speech, because we're New Testament Christians, and we're looking back on the whole parade, and so it's easy for us to say, well, the sheep are obviously people in this. The shepherd of the sheep is obviously Jesus. The sheep fold represents his flock, or the kingdom of God, and thieves and robbers and false shepherds are anybody that's opposed to God's work. And so it's a very short amount of verses. So what I wanna do this morning is tackle this a little bit differently. I'm just gonna ask questions about this text, and we'll kind of handle it that way. And so the first question that I thought we would pose is what does the text say is the legitimate means to enter the sheep fold? All right, now we all live in houses, and your home has probably a front door, or if you're ranch folk, maybe the kitchen door is your front door, or a patio door, or whatever. And that is the way that legitimate guests to your home come into your space. They're known by you, you welcome them in, okay? When nighttime comes, you lock that space, and what you're trying to do is keep out illegitimate guests. And so illegitimate guests, what I mean by that is burglars, robbers, they may try to get into your home a different way, but you have locked the front door. Jesus said there was one legitimate way to enter the sheep fold, and that is by the door or the gate. Now, everybody hearing his words in that moment understood the picture. Every one of them had seen a sheep fold. They knew what it looked like. And sheep folds in that day were not corrals like we have here in Western America with split rail fences. They were stacked up rocks, so to a certain height, so that sheep could not jump over them. And so it was an enclosure, however large they wanted it to be. It was a wall, a walled space, with one way in and one way out. It was the front door, all right? And so Jesus said, he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. That person has legitimate access into that fold. And he went on to say, to him, the gatekeeper opens. All right, so I posed the question in your study guide, who is this gatekeeper? And we have to be a little bit careful because Jesus did not interpret who the gatekeeper was. And whenever he's talking in parables, we don't want to tie every element down to a specific thing and say it's this, this, and this. But I just wanted for the fun of it to go through and say who this gatekeeper might be because whatever you wrote, you get bonus points for it because there's no right or wrong. Jesus didn't interpret it for us. So if you said, well, I think the gatekeeper was the father in heaven because look, Jesus said, I am the vine, you are the branches. My father is the gardener. Like, he talked in terms like that. So it must be, well, that would make sense because certainly his heavenly father would open the way for him. If you thought the gatekeeper was John the Baptist, well, that would make sense because John the Baptist certainly paved the way for Jesus. Bonus points all around. If you thought the gatekeeper was the volume of prophecy in scripture, where we have types and shadows that point the way to open the path for the person who fulfilled those bonus points because the volume of prophecy in scripture certainly paves the way. God doesn't do anything in a vacuum and he tells us what's going on. So you just got all kinds of extra points for that. But the point of this is, is that God, is that Jesus had a unique and legitimate right to use the front door, not only enter through the front door but then actually become the door. And that leads us to question number two. If Jesus entered through the door, then what does it mean when he says, I am the door? That's a good question. So again, anyone in this moment hearing him say these words, they knew what a sheepfold looked like. They also knew the role of a shepherd and they knew that once the shepherd brought his sheep into the sheepfold, he would stay in that door. I like how Liz drew our picture of the shepherd in that gap, sitting in the gap there. He would position himself in such a way to protect the sheep, protect any ambitious and independent sheep from leaving through that entrance. And he would position himself to protect any ambitious thieves or bad guys from coming in. He wanted to keep the precious things in, keep the bad things out. That's what the shepherd was doing. It is the same reason you lock your doors at night. You're trying to keep the bad guys out and you're trying to keep ambitious toddlers in. Have you ever had a little one that sleepwalked? I have in my house. I found one of my kids at the front door at night. You never know what's going through their little minds but that's why we lock our doors. We're trying to keep the bad things out, keep the good things in. That's what we're trying to do. Now, remember that the religious leaders who had tangled with Jesus through this time, they're hearing this, they're listening to this. They were supposed to be shepherds of Israel. They were supposed to keep things in and keep things out. They were supposed to care for the sheep and point them to the real shepherd to come but what had just happened last week? They failed to protect that little blind sheep. Instead of keeping the precious things in, what had they done to him? They had cast him out. Oh my goodness, exactly the opposite of what a shepherd should be doing. And so they were not a decent door for the sheep. Only Jesus is the perfect door for the sheep and in saying, I am the door, Jesus set himself apart from others who came before him because he is. He is the true door, He is the faithful door. He lets anyone come in through that door who will do it in agreement with Him. And so verse 9 even uses those words that we've been emphasizing, those words, if anyone, whoever comes, whoever believes. Look at verse 9, if anyone enters by me, he will be saved. And of course He's talking about people now, not animals. People can be saved from their sins. People can be saved toward eternity. People can be safe in the sheepfold. So it's a good time right here to pause and say, that's what the scripture says, now what does it mean to me, okay? When we enter through the sheepfold, when we believe in Jesus, step into the kingdom of God, He becomes our door as well. He stands in the gap to protect us from ourselves. Our ambitious, independent selves that may want to scoot out. He protects us from bad things on the outside, the dark world on the outside pressing into us. He is our protection from that. But make no mistake, He does not turn us into robot sheep. He maintains our free will. And so if we are persistent about it, He will allow us to finally climb over that rock fence and scoot away. If we are persistent about it, He will allow us to listen to voices of others outside. But He is also persistent. He is the shepherd that leaves the 99 to search for the one, and that is His character. But we do not become robot sheep. So how much better off would we be if we so quickly became contented sheep, just happily living under the protection of the shepherd, excited to be guided daily in and out of the sheepfold, right? Quick to listen to His voice and to follow it. We have a choice, and we can be contented sheep if we want to be. So the next question I thought of is, so what does it mean to hear His voice, to listen to His voice? Before we investigate that, I want to recap where we've come from in our whole Bible study. We've come through, I am the bread, I am the light. We kind of squeezed in living water right in between there, remember? So bread, water, light, we decided they were all important elements, essential elements for life, okay? Bread relates to our sense of taste, light to our sense of sight, and now we have I am the door, and you're saying, so how does that relate to any kind of a sense? And so what I want to propose is it's because, okay, I want to say that this one relates to our sense of hearing, and the reason is, is because in this text, Jesus used an abundance of hearing-related words, voice, listen, hear, over and over. It seems that that's how He was expressing this. So I'm just going to say that this one relates to our hearing, and I want to spend some time on the hearing. I want to remind you of, if you actually marked these words, this is what you marked. The sheep hear my voice. He calls His own sheep by name. They know His voice. They do not know the voice of strangers. The sheep did not listen to them, and if we borrow into next week's text, there's two more. I have other sheep that are not of this fold, and they will listen to my voice. Next week, my sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me. That's how Jesus was relating at the time. So what does it mean to us to hear His voice and to listen to His voice? If someone knew nothing about the way we talk in Christian language, and we said these words, what would they think? Would they ask questions like, so is this literal? Like does God call out and say, Merlin, you know, I heard His voice, you know, or is it more spiritual? Is it more of an inner sense, and that's a good question. Now remember, Jesus is talking in figures of speech. He's not a literal shepherd by occupation. The people He's talking to are not literal animal sheep, and so the voice should be in agreement with the figures of speech. So we need to put it in agreement, it is not a literal voice. And so I want to talk about three ways that we, three aspects of hearing. We hear for belonging, we hear for guidance, and then we hear for abundance. And those are the three that I want to go through here in this text. First hearing for belonging, Jesus said that He calls His own sheep by name, and to belong to Him. The point is to belong to Him, to enter into His sheepfold. And I want to remind us of some Bible truths, want to review some Bible truths that will help us understand this. The first one is, Bible truth, is that our faith depends on our hearing. Look at Romans chapter 10, verse 17, faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. Our faith depends on us hearing, our spiritual hearing, okay? Our faith also depends on God. This is a review of what we have already looked at in this Bible study, John 6, 44. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And another Bible truth that we need to understand is that our ears are dull. Look at what Jesus said in Matthew 13, 15, this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear. Jesus often said, he who has ears to hear, let him hear. And you know that parable of the sower where the seed was scattered, and it said on all types of soil, everybody heard the word, and the one who heard, and the one who heard. But Jesus wrapped that up by saying, be careful then how you hear. Some people hear and respond and follow the shepherd through the door into the sheepfold. But Jesus told us that the road is narrow. And he was trying to pass on that understanding, hear well. We'll kind of talk about this a little bit more in the next one, which is hearing for guidance. We hear his voice to be guided. So we've already been saved, we're part of the sheepfold, what type of hearing is relevant for us? And so I'll review what we heard in this passage, verse 3, he calls them and leads them out, verse 4, he goes before them and the sheep follow him. Verse 9, they go in and out and find pasture. That's leading, that's guidance, right? That's a beautiful picture. There's no smidge of conflict there. It's the ideal sheep-shepherd relationship that we see. And we ask ourselves, is that possible? As God's sheep, can we hear his voice to be guided like that? So effortlessly, like Jesus had said, we remember that the Middle Eastern shepherd didn't drive the sheep from the back like Western cowboys, you know, herding cattle or something. He would go out before them and lead them and they would follow him. He would lead them out of the pen that were their safety and he would lead them into the pen for safety and out into the pasture. He led them. It required some following on the sheep's part. And Jesus leads us the same way. We can happily follow, go in and out and find pasture, but it requires on our part a listening ear and a soft heart, a listening ear and a soft heart. I didn't have this next passage that I want to show you, I didn't have it in my mind until Paul taught it through the Psalms on Wednesday night. And it was, it just was so amazing because I thought I never knew that those two things were connected that way. So let me just, let's read it and I'll show you first. Look at this, Psalm 95, seven and eight, very, very popular song, song and Psalm, for he is our God and we are the sheep of his pasture and the sheep, I'm sorry, can I start over? For he is our God and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. And look at what's connected to that. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as at Maraboni, that's he's making a reference of in the wilderness. I never saw that those two went together. I've sung that Psalm as a gospel song, probably since the seventies in some way or another. But and it's so wonderful, we're the sheep of his hand today. If you hear his voice, do not harden your heart. Look at the warning that's right with that, interesting. So, do I listen to God with a soft heart? Do I believe that he has my best interest in mind to lead me places, even the wilderness places? Because that reference right there was the wilderness journey, where they were being led by God through Moses, and there was a few perilous times where they needed to trust. Do I believe God is leading me into good places? How do I do that? I want to get there. How do I listen to God with a soft heart? So, three things came to mind. The first thing that came to mind is that I shouldn't expect to be led anywhere unless I'm first willing to follow. About 20 years ago, I went to an Elizabeth Elliott conference up in Seattle, and I don't have exactly how she said, but she kind of opened up my eyes to the idea. She said, people are always asking me, how do I find out God's will for my life? And she said, well, the first most important thing is, will you do it? If he shows you, will you do it? Mind blown. That is the first step, is being willing. It's kind of like one of your kids coming up for whatever motivation they have and saying, mom, I'd like to do something for you. What can I do? And you think about it, and you say, well, that crockpot on the counter, I'd really love that crockpot. Well, I don't want to do that. I want to do something else. Right? And we do that with God. It's like we ask, what can I do for you? And in our mind, we're thinking of starting a nonprofit or raising awareness or going on a missions trip. And the Lord's saying, those babies, why don't you stay home, raise them well, take care of them. We're like, yeah, I don't want to do that. So it's a good question to answer. Am I willing? Have I decided already that I'm willing? Because I shouldn't expect to hear if I'm not willing to do what it is that God is saying. Next one, we shouldn't expect to be led anywhere if we haven't quieted our world enough to hear his voice. Do I patiently listen or am I talking, talking, talking, talking so as to convince the shepherd that this is the direction that we should go? Am I listening or am I talking? I heard about Dan Rather interviewing Mother Teresa a while back, and he was asking about her prayer life. And he asked her, he says, when you pray, what do you say to God? And she said, I don't talk, I simply listen. And he said, okay, so then what does he say to you? He simply listens. And that's really interesting. I had to think about that for a long time, but I think what she was trying to convey in here is that one of the purposes of prayer is spending time cultivating the sheep-shepherd relationship, spending quiet time cultivating. I've been married for a long time, and I know my husband's movements. I know when he gets up from the couch in a certain way, I know what he's gonna go do. I've seen it over and over. I know the difference between getting up to make a cup of tea and getting up to do, no words anymore. Some of you can relate to that. And so the beauty, and I just want to say for you that are younger, and maybe you hear the world say, you never want to get old, being old is terrible. No, there is a beauty to finally getting to the place where you have walked with your shepherd for a while. And then you find out that you feel like you're at the beginning again. But I loved what she said, just listening to his heart without so much talking, talking, talking, and convincing. And what are you gonna do about this? And oh, this and that, you know, we do a little too much of that. So, absorbing God's heart. Okay, and the third one is we shouldn't expect to be led if we're not consuming his word to hear what he's telling me through it, okay? Listening is important, but there is no substitute for earnest consumption of the word of God. We build layer upon layer as we read and reread. And this is what I was just talking about, our Christian walk is a cycle of relearning things that we thought we once knew, but now in a whole new, deeper way. And that is what we continue to do until the Lord moves our address to heaven. Now maybe, I just want to add in here, maybe you've had the experience where someone in your life has said to you, God told me this or that or the other thing. And maybe it's been good, but maybe you have rolled your eyes inside your head and thought, well, I don't think so, because that's not the character of God and that's not what the Bible says. Maybe we've all had that experience. And you know, it's awkward. And as the saying goes, we don't want to throw out the baby with the bathwater and just say God doesn't speak to people, God doesn't lead people. He does. He leads us. As long as the sun comes up every morning, people will misuse things like that. And I guess what we need to do at that point is just stop and listen to the Lord and say, no, what do you want me to do about this right now? Do you want me to just quietly pray for them or do you want me to gently guide them into what the word says? And that's another aspect of listening. So we also hear for abundance. And I just wanted one minute on verse 10. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. It is such a beautiful verse. And I just want us to let that soak in. Abundant life. Your shepherd wants to lead you into a life of abundance. And it might not be what you think abundance is, but he is good and he is for us. And we need to let this wash over anything that gets into our heart that causes us to think that God is kind of a meanie and is always trying to show us, you know, whatever. And just let this abundance flow over. We listen, knowing that God has abundant blessings in mind. What did Jesus say about us? He said, if you, even though you're evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more does your heavenly father in heaven know how to give good gifts? So there is abundance for our living here, abundance that we're looking forward to in heaven. But one of the aspects of abundance is that it is possible for us to be at peace and at rest in the midst of turmoil in our world. That is life abundantly. Now we're almost out of time. So I want to go back to the phrase, I am the door. And I want to bring this all to a close. For those religious leaders, their ears had become dull. Their hearts had become hard. They were more interested in their laws than in looking for the lawgiver. And these men may not have been priests and may not have served inside the temple, but they, of all people, should have sensed something familiar when Jesus was characterized by saying, I am the bread, I am the light, I am the door. Because that is how the tabernacle was designed. It became the temple by Jesus's day. But I want to take us back in our minds to our previous Bible study, Wilderness Way, from Mount Sinai to the Jordan River. And God gave Moses the pattern for the tabernacle on that mountain. He did it. We got to Exodus chapter 40 and it was erected the first day of the first month of the second year and the whole tabernacle was erected. The frames and the beams and the tent and all of that. And when it was set up, they set it up after the outer shell was set up. It was from kind of from the inside outward, the holiest, the holy of holies was set up first with the mercy seat and then the next place, which was the holy place. Now, what is so fun about studying the Bible and teaching the Bible is when you get to little jewels like this. So I would like to show you in Exodus chapter 40, I don't want you to turn to it. I just want you to enjoy this. I'll give you the text so you can look at it later. It's Exodus 40 verses 22 to 28, okay? I just want to show you how it was set up. Oh, here, I'll put it on so you can see it. Ready? He put the table in the tent of meeting and he arranged the bread on it before the Lord. He put the lamp stand in the tent of meeting and he set up the lamps before the Lord. He put in place the screen for the door of the tabernacle. And so what do we have in the holy place? We have the bread, we have the light, and we have the door, isn't that beautiful? And this door was a barrier between the holy place and the mercy seat. In Jesus's day in the temple, it had become a heavy curtain that was 18 meters high that said basically, stay out, no admittance. And you know that it was only the high priest once a year that went in there, okay? And so we also know that it was this curtain that Matthew, Mark, and Luke All recorded, when Jesus yielded up his spirit, this curtain was torn from top to bottom. Not from the bottom to the top, like a man would have torn it, but from top to bottom. It was this curtain that was torn. So I want to leave us with the suggestion that when Jesus said, I am the door, it was more than just a sheepfold metaphor. It also reminds us that Jesus entered through the door into the holiest of all, not with the blood of animals like the priest did, but with his own blood. And then he became the door to allow anyone who would walk in agreement with him and accept what he had done to enter in, to peace with God, to security, and to safety, into that precious place with the Lord. Isn't that awesome? You gotta love the Bible. Lord, we do love how you've given us your word in the Bible. And Lord, it's so good for us to just hear your word and be reminded you are the door in practical ways in our life, but in this deep, spiritual way. You have given us access, Lord. Jesus, you've given us access to God the Father. You've sprinkled your blood that opened the way for us so that we could enter through that door. And that's what we need to do, is enter through that door. And we thank you. Collectively, we just thank you, Lord, for that. And we pray that you would guide us now, help us hear your voice in our discussion groups. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.