Sermon Tone Analysis
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Setting: Jesus is in Jerusalem, at the Feast of Tabernacles.
He has been preaching and letting the people know that He is the Light of the World.
He is God come in the flesh.
He is doing the works of God the Father, and is the great ‘I Am’.
The Pharisees and Priests have been opposing Jesus, refusing to believe in Him.
Jesus showed who He was by performing a Messianic miracle, that is, a miracle that only God the Messiah could do; He gave sight to a man born blind.
Even after this miracle, the Pharisees refuse to believe in Jesus, yet there are some of them that wonder because He did make this blind man see.
Jesus sought out the blind man, and said this in the presence of some of the Pharisees,
I presume that these Pharisees followed the blind man were the ones that were puzzled because Jesus did in fact make this man who was born blind to see.
John 10 is actually a continuation of Jesus’ interaction with the Pharisees.
First, I want to read through the passage.
Then we will work our way through this passage, and see what it has to say to us today.
While we read through, I want you to ask, what is the main idea?
What is it that Jesus was trying to get across to the Pharisees?
One clue to finding this would be to look for what concept is repeated.
What is the Main idea?
Hint, what was repeated?
What is repeated in verses 3, 4 and 5? The concept of the sheep hearing the voice of the shepherd versus hearing the voice of others.
Actually, in John 10, this concept is repeated 6 times.
When something is repeated like that, it is a huge clue as to what the main idea of the passage is.
The Main idea is that Jesus is the Good Shepherd, and,
His Sheep Hear His voice and follow Him
These Pharisees that were around after the healing of the blind man were likely the ones who were still debating how Jesus could have performed the Messianic Miracle of healing the man born blind.
They couldn’t totally discount Jesus, but He didn’t fit the mold that they were taught, or that they expected.
So, Jesus is trying to show them who He is, and what their response should be by using this illustration.
Let’s work through it, verse by verse.
Sheep herding was an important part of life in Israel, and much of what they did still happens today in the Middle East.
Sheep are pretty defenseless animals.
So, protecting them is a big part of a shepherd’s job.
Often, at night, a shepherd will make a pen or a fold to keep the sheep safe.
Then, the shepherd will sleep in the entryway.
Thieves and robbers would not use the entryway where the shepherd was posted.
They would sneak in some other way.
But in contrast to the thieves and robbers who don’t come in through the gateway,
The true shepherd doesn’t sneak in.
The true shepherd does not hide his intentions.
The true shepherd comes in the right way.
What does this have to do with Jesus?
During this years before Jesus came, there were others who came wanting to be the Messiah, the leader who would take Israel out from under the thumb of the Roman Empire.
In Acts 5:35-37 Gamaliel, a renowned teacher of the law spoke of a few of them:
These men did not come in through the gate.
That is, they did not come as God prescribed.
They came in their own power, for their own motives and their own gain.
But now, Jesus has come, just as God described through the prophets.
He fulfilled the scriptures as He came humbly to give sight to the blind, make the lame walk, make the deaf to hear, and to set those who were captive free!
These Pharisees saw that He came doing exactly what God had said.
They knew He was coming in the right way.
So, they should have known he was the true shepherd!
But there is more...
If there are multiple herds in an area, they can put them together in the same fold, and one person could be the gatekeeper.
So imagine that you are a shepherd who has placed your sheep into a fold with other sheep for safe keeping.
Come morning, how will you get your sheep?
Well, in their culture the shepherd would simply call out his sheep by name.
In that culture, the shepherds truly lived with the sheep.
They were there from the moment they were born.
The personally named each sheep.
And each sheep was special.
Everyday they would count every sheep, calling them by name.
They felt each sheep looking for bruises, burrs, parasites.
They spent time with their sheep.
Illustration of putting the lambs with the mothers (51), in the dark, black lambs, lambs bleeting for their mothers, mothers bleeting for their lambs.
The shepherd felt each lamb, and then called the mother by name to come for its lamb.
Illustration of Mrs. Aref and her lost sheep, who months later heard her voice
What was the point?
Jesus is the true shepherd.
He came the right way.
He came just as God had foretold through the prophets.
He came to care for and call His sheep by name.
Those who were His sheep would recognize His voice and follow Him instead of another.
Would these Pharisees recognize the true Shepherd who came the right way?
Would these Pharisees recognize His voice and follow Him?
They didn’t get it.
so Jesus tries again
Those who came before were not recognized.
This time, Jesus tried a slightly different tact.
Jesus said, I am the gate.
Often the shepherds would sleep at the opening of the fold, or enclosure to keep others from getting in, and to keep the sheep from going out when they should not.
Jesus is saying that He is the way to have life.
They can only enter into the safety of God’s salvation through Him.
But is did not stop there.
Coming in and out and finding pasture.
Not salvation… this is ongoing, daily.
After we are saved, we need daily nourishment.
For sheep, they cannot stay in the fold and thrive.
They need to get out.
They need to find food, and water.
They need good pasture.
Sheep will eat anything.
Left on their own, they will even eat poisonous plants.
Shepherds in the middle east know over 121 varieties of plant life.
They know what is bad for the sheep.
They know what is good for the sheep.
They know what can help a sickly sheep.
Also, if the food is gone, the sheep won’t know how to get to the next pasture.
They need guidance.
The shepherds guide the sheep to the pastures, even along rough and dangerous paths, because they know the pasture that is on the other side.
Jesus is saying that if they go through Him, they will find good pasture.
He is the shepherd that knows what His sheep need to feed on.
He knows what is empty calories.
He knows what has rich nutrition.
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