Turn with me if you will, please, to the gospel, according to St. John chapter 10, reading the first several verses, St. John chapter 10 at verse 1. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same as 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 that 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. Let us pray that we might understand what he has spoken to us, and we depend, Father, upon God the Holy Spirit, to grant enlightenment, understanding, and right response. So we come to the Scripture reverently and expectantly, and pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. In the New Testament, there are three significant adjectives, a joint to shepherd. We have here in the 10th of St. John's Gospel, good shepherd. Churches are named for the good shepherd, schools, mission agencies, and he tells us right here in the 10th chapter, St. John's Gospel, why he is the good shepherd. Second adjective is great, great shepherd. At the end of the book of Hebrews, having set forth the glories of the Excellency of the priestly work of the Lord Jesus, there is that benediction which we use at the Holy Communion. Now the God of peace, who brought again from the dead, our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep. And there the adjective great is a joint to shepherd, for a particular reason. The third place is in 1st Peter, the 5th chapter, where Peter himself by the Holy Spirit speaks of the chief shepherd in his return. I would help the apostle Peter of 5th with alliteration and say there, he is the governing shepherd. So our Lord, Jesus, good, great, governing shepherd of the sheep. And he thereby, as he has set forth in the New Testament, fulfills all that expectation of Messiah, the anointed one of God. He is the shepherd so expected all through the Old Testament. The figure of Messiah is shepherd. Most belovedly, as we have read together in Psalm 23, the Lord, the Messiah, the Savior, is my shepherd. But again, in the Psalms, Psalm 79, so we thy people and the sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks forever. For again, in Psalm 80, give air, O shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock again. Psalm 95, for he is our God. We are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. And then most extensively in that wonderful 34th chapter of Ezekiel, generation after generation, the Messiah, would be a shepherd, believers, sheep. Surely that's figurative, isn't it? He did not really function in a pastoral setting and to herd sheep in Judah. Judah and I are people, not animals. And so when we come to the 10th of St. John's gospel, we come to an allegory. The gospels are full of allegories and parables. And for a right reading and receiving of the Word of God, it is important that we understand literary figure. And remember that an allegory is characterized by symbols, figurative people. As here, Jesus is door. You and I are believers, sheep, different from a parable. A parable takes a real life figure and is used to tell a story with a point to it. For example, a sower went for. That's not figurative. There were sores who sowed. But the Lord Jesus, when he told that story, had no one particular sower in mind.
And then an allegory functions as a metaphor of sorts. Do you remember all of this from school days? Well, I didn't, and you don't have to duck your head. I had to look a little bit of it up and be refreshed. And remember that a metaphor is an implied comparison, a simile and expressed comparison. And so, Herod has addressed as that fox metaphor. But it might have been said, he governs and acts like a fox. Similarly, implied, expressed. An allegory has with it metaphor. You need to know that for a right reading and receiving of the Word of God. But there are broad, even in traditional church circles, those who make the scriptures anything they want them to be. But here is our Lord Jesus, good shepherd of the sheep. And I would have you consider first that he is the one who enters into the sheepfold so that the sheep might be a part of that fold, and that he might thereby be the door whereby we enter into salvation and life, consider him as the imprint. Not entrance yet, but the one who enters that there might be the entrance. And these first two verses of St. John's gospel, it speaks of this one who enters this good shepherd as the one who does it with legitimacy. Do you see that? Do you not? By way of comparison, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same as a thief and a robber, but he, the Lord Jesus, figured here in this allegory, who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep, long promised to Israel. He enters the legitimate way, the right way, the picture of a pastoral enclosure, perhaps a stone, some wall with a door. It is the shepherd's retired to their own places for the night, the hired doorkeeper protected the entrance. Thieves came up and tried to come in over the wall, but the legitimate shepherd goes in through the door. And so we speak of the legitimacy of our good shepherd entering in the sheepfold. He does it the right way, that is the righteous way, that in order for him to be Messiah and to be the good shepherd, and he is the good shepherd as we read here, because he gives his life for the sheep. He lays his life down in a toming sacrifice. That's what it always means, good shepherd. Not good because he gives good gifts, that would be true, but principally, because he lays down his life for the sheep, and he enters in for control and possession and lordship and life-giving into the flock, into the sheepfold, rightously, so that the one who guards is God figured here as the doorkeeper, God the judge, perhaps the point is that the good shepherd goes in by the door. All righteousness fulfilled, exercising the right to enter by the door. So that he fulfills all righteousness for us, who may follow him in, and he exonerates the rightness of the judge by taking sentence, sentence for sin on himself. There's a legitimacy to his being the good shepherd, and entering by the door, he goes in the right way, acceptably, with perfect righteousness, bearing the judgment, the condemnation of our sin, the wrath of the judge, for us. He bears that he might rightly be good shepherd, important for us to understand him, his role as the good shepherd. Before we want Psalm 23 to be meaningful to life, not just memory work, not just liturgical reading, but to be able to say the Lord is my shepherd. He entered in rightly for me, and I follow him in in his righteousness. There is here as well of these two verses concerning this one who enters, this entrant, an urgency, legitimacy, indeed, an urgency as well because they're thieves and robbers of everybody else is a thief and a robber. All other ideas, all other religious directions, even our own autonomous self-made religion. It all falls into the category of being illegitimate, and in the category by the judge of a thief and a robber sounds awfully exclusive, but that's how the Lord Jesus always sounds. We're living in a day when it's all right for you to believe a certain thing, but then when you begin to propagate that and reject that onto somebody else, and insist they must believe it, then we are in trouble with the intelligence. There is one door, and only one who has the right to go in there, it is the great good governing shepherd of the sheep, all others, thieves, robbers. I admit to you that I did not know exactly until preparation for this morning, the distinction between thief and robber as you see it here in the text, at the end of verse 1. As used in that culture and in that language, thief implies the one who decryves of something, the robber, the one who destroys, and apart from Jesus Christ who enters the door, that we might in him the door, enter salvation, the urgency is that every other idea, every other person, even our own self-made plans, I like thieves and robbers, whereby we are deprived of true life, and life finally is destroyed. He is the good shepherd and he enters in righteousness, and it is urgent, there is no other entrance, it is urgent, whether our culture accepts it at the moment or not, it is urgent because it is exclusive. So as we look at the cross, we look indeed at the one who was on that cross, and he is called the good shepherd because on that cross, he is giving his life for the sheep, not depriving, not destroying, not limiting, good. Well, there are follows in the verses that come along in our passage this morning, what we want to call a resulting experience, the infant who makes entrance and provides for us an experience that is spiritual and saving, this comes to us in verses three, four and five really, and I am compelled now in speaking of spiritual experience to add adjectives to qualify spiritual experience. For spirituality is in vogue at the moment. It was not when many of us were in university, spirituality was scorned, set aside, snowed, and one could be thought less than intellectual or able if he believed in all of these spiritual realms and things. Impericism reigned them, the empirical method, the scientific method reigned in those days, but now spirituality is in style. Look at the book racks, this may be the only time I tell you to look at television, and be stunned with the plethora of advertisements for psychics. Could you have predicted such 20 years ago that on reputable channels, not obscure channels we get somehow, but on reputable main channels in our land are these wonderful psychics ready to help you in the spiritual realm. Most of us are old enough to remember when psychics were relegated to trailers on the other side of town with an obvious sign to come in for a palm reading or such. Sister Mary lived there and she'd be glad to take your fee and tell you something. Spirituality is in, but we must speak of a scriptural gospel experience, and so I do. There are self-proclaimed spiritual leaders, prophets, prophetesses, with all kinds of wonderful stories and claims trying to capture allegiance's followings. It must rightly divide the word of truth. What is the spiritual experience of the person who enters the sheepfold of salvation with the only reliable righteous rightful imprint? Well it calls for a time of full thinking just about that. I mentioned two things. In verses three, four, and five, our spiritual experience means that we hear his voice first. We're tuned to it. When a person has entered into the sheepfold of salvation, following the rightful imprint, the good shepherd, the faculty is then present to hear his voice. Not immediately, audibly, there are those who claim that, but immediately through the printed page. This is his voice. This is his word. And when a person truly has entered through the door of redemption by the rightness of the good shepherd, he has that faculty. It may be undeveloped at first,
but it's present, and we understand and respond to the word to his voice. My sheep who have come into my fold here, my voice. That's what happens. That's the experience, the gospel, biblical experience. Hearing his voice, last visit. Some days ago, our married son and his wife, we were in their home in Florida. He's on his way now on the USS Stennis to the Persian Gulf. They bought a little puppy, it's the liveliest thing I've ever been around. Cute, but oh my, I even suggested we go to the drug store and get a little bit of chloroform and just a flip of it on a tissue under the dog's nose to see if we might calm the thing down a bit. It's trying to climb my leg and our son seeing my predicament call that dog's name, have paid attention to my name, my voice, my command. But when that little yippy puppy heard that voice, turned, looked, recognized it. That's my master. What is it in the church of Jesus Christ to get people under the word? Do we, and I don't like the expression, but it's everywhere dumb down to get them? Or do we teach the word to people who have faculty to hear the voice and if not with urgency? As it were to compel them to come in the door of salvation for those who are in the sheepfold of salvation who have come by the one rightful infant, have this faculty. That puppy, thank goodness, does not belong to me, but knows the voice of the one to permanently lose. I cannot create that. You cannot create that. It is the gift of saving grace when we enter the door to the sheepfold of salvation. My sheep hear my voice. Now there's a second thought in there about this experience that is both gospel and scriptural. And it is this that they listen with response. You have that as you go on and hearing the voice, knowing his voice first four, not responding to the voice of a stranger, fleeing the voice of a stranger. They respond to the voice of the Savior. Not only do we hear it and recognize it and know that voice among all other voices, but no indeed it is the voice of authority. It is the voice of everlasting love. It is the voice of the Lord Jesus and we listen to it and we consider it and we respond to it
like the hymnus we say hearing his voice in every line. I'm distressed by people who seem to have constant verbal, audible communication from the Lord. Do they? Or are they baptizing their own desires and directions with scriptural language? So important rightly to divide the word of truth and understand that we are hearing his voice in the sacred page and we're listening to his voice, not her own.
That's why I took the time with allegory and parable that you might rightly know how to read and respond to the word. I use this illustration with apology to the faithful ladies of Wednesday morning who have heard this, but we're in the upper room discourse in the 14th, 15th and 16th of St. John's gospel and there in the 14th chapters that wonderful promise whatever you ask in my name that will I do. Have you never heard that one lifted out of context? Whatever you can imagine, I have a great imagination. You don't need to be bothered to ask me can you imagine, just understand ahead of time. Yes, I can imagine and I can imagine all kinds of astounding things that I ought to ask and command and have automatically. Is that right? If you lift that out of its immediate context but in the context it is linked with his commands, his precepts, his teaching and our observance of those things. And if understanding his commandments, you love them and love him thereby, then you will ask anything because what you ask will be guided by what he is and teaches and requires all the context. It's not any wild thing. You can conjure up. I can do a great job conjuring. It's so here. The spiritual experience is not any wild thing that comes along. It is rather hearing his voice. We listen to it carefully and we're able to discern it from other voices from the sirens that seek our allegiance and we respond. That's our experience. Having followed him through the door of redemption into the sheathfold where he is the good shepherd. Oh, did you say in all truthfulness
the Lord is my shepherd. Let us pray. Our Father and our God, we thank you for the many who are able to say in this room who are listening to this broadcast because of the great work of salvation. The Lord himself is my shepherd and by him I have entered. By his righteousness I have gone into the sheathfold he has given his life for me. Oh, God, if there is any who has not yet entered in, out of the sound of this sermon grant that gracious work inwardly that entrance might be made. Grateful always because of the entrance who went ahead of us, he the rightful one, the redeeming one that we might be delivered from thieves and robbers even as we would deprive ourselves and destroy our own lives left to ourselves without the living Lord Jesus. Oh, God, deliver us from every thief and every robber and save us and shelter us in the sheepfold. Even as we give great thanks for the one who died on the cross who lay down his life thereby is the good shepherd and can be the good shepherd of all who enter in by him alone. We pray these things through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.