Transcribed by Beluga AI.
Please turn with me to John 10. They’re doing some construction on the roof, so there was a lot of debris, so we’re doing some cleanup. The guitar wasn’t working. The AC stopped working. One of the computers stopped working.
So a lot of things are breaking all simultaneously. But God is going to get us through John 10. I think it’s a fitting passage that we’re reading in light of all the opposition that we’re facing today, technically.
John 10:1. Truly, truly, I say to you. He who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in by another way. That man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep to him. The gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.
This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. So Jesus again said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.
I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he’ll be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
1 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. 2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. 7 So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. (John 10:1-10, ESV)
Okay, let’s pray. Father, we want to learn more about being a disciple and following you and what that means. We see a promise here that not just eternal life that awaits us in the next life, but you promise abundance of life at present.
So, Lord, we want to understand how to get there, how to live that out despite circumstances that will go up and down, and people around us will flee or have struggles. But Lord, internally, as followers of Christ, we can have this abundant life. We pray that you would teach us how to do this. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
Okay. Well, last week we covered what it means to follow Jesus by looking at the Gospel of John. Seven signs that Jesus performed. And we saw the first and the seventh had a promise. The first promise had promise of transformation, the changing of water to wine. And then the seventh sign was Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, a promise of eternal life.
Sandwiched in between these two promises are five warnings. And we went into that these things, from loved ones to circumstances, to fear of man, our desires. There are five warnings there that if we are not careful, these things can derail us spiritually and can cause us to forfeit the promises that God has given to us.
And that was kind of a general roadmap for discipleship. So I was curious, and I think the Lord put this on my heart. He said, why don’t you study all the other chapters in that stretch where there wasn’t a sign performed? Because there must be a common theme.
Because if there’s a common theme with the seven signs, because Jesus performed hundreds, thousands, John says if the whole world books could not contain all that he witnessed Jesus doing. And he handpicks these seven. So it’s very carefully, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit giving us a roadmap of discipleship.
So I was curious, what is there in the chapters that do not have a sign being performed by Jesus? And is there a common thread? And sure enough, there is. I was struggling this week. I thought I had a message earlier this week.
And as I sat on it until 4 a.m. this morning, it wasn’t the right message. I woke up this morning, got a phone call, and I got confirmed. It’s a different direction, same passage, but a different message. John 10.
In John 10, we’re going to go into it in more detail, but just as a high summary of John 10, here we have two voices that are mentioned and one that is not mentioned that I think all of us can identify with.
There is God’s voice, the voice of our shepherd, Jesus Christ. He speaks loud and clear, but only his sheep hear his voice. That is a mark of a disciple. You hear his voice, you hear him through the Word of God, you hear him through other believers.
You hear him through circumstances, but clearly you can hear his voice. And God will confirm it in many ways. That is the voice of God expressed through our shepherd. And then there is a stranger’s voice.
This one we must also be able to discern. It’s the voice of the devil, Satan. His agenda is totally opposite of God and Jesus’s agenda. If Jesus speaks to his sheep, it is to bring about abundance in this life and a promise of eternal life.
But when you hear the stranger’s voice, and if you’re not careful because he’s sneaky and he often sounds somewhat similar to the shepherd, and if you’re not discerning, you can get fooled by his voice. He will lead you in a direction of the total opposite. It will lead to a stealing away of blessings, a killing of your life and all the joys in your life, and eventually destroying you eternally. That is Satan’s goal.
And so those are the two voices mentioned in John 10. And I think through all the opposition, we’re experiencing some of the symptoms of satanic interruption, distraction. So we just tune all of that out.
And of course, for all of us, we have our own voice. And that is the vast majority of the time, it is our own voice, our own thoughts. And if we’re not careful, we may say Lord, Lord, when in fact we are the Lord. Because we trust ourselves. We trust our thoughts, we trust our own voice.
What I see in the chapters in the Gospel of John, the stretch from chapter one to 11, there were seven signs that Jesus performed. But in the chapters where signs were not performed, what do you think we would witness in those chapters?
Like, Jesus is not performing a sign, he’s not healing somebody, he’s not saving somebody. So in the other chapters, what do you expect to see? Any guesses? Does this be like John 7, John 3, John 8, John 10. What do you expect to see in those chapters?
What would be the opposite of what was preached last week? It would be unbelief. It would be spiritual opposition, resistance, rebellion, accusation, not listening to the voice of the shepherd and instead listening to their own voice or to the voice of a stranger.
That is what we see in the other chapters. Let me just give you a sampling. So in John 10, it mentions the Jews. This is right after the verses that I read about the good shepherd. And this is, there’s a division among the Jews in verse 19.
And then they said, many of them said, he has a demon and is insane. Why listen to him? Others said, these are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?
20 Many of them said, “He has a demon, and is insane; why listen to him?” 21 Others said, “These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?” (John 10:20-21, ESV)
So there is spiritual opposition. And then whenever, when it says the Jews, this is not talking about all the Jews. It’s talking about Jewish leaders, it’s talking about Pharisees, it’s talking about scribes, it’s talking about Sadducees, members of the Sanhedrin, the chief priests.
Whenever you see these types of religious leaders in Judea, it’s talking about the Jews. You see that phrase all in these chapters. The Jews are accusing Jesus, who casts out demons, of having a demon in himself. Jesus, of course, interacts with them.
Later on, he says that’s illogical. How can I have a demon when I’m casting out demons? It’s illogical. But you go on, and you keep accusing me, even though it doesn’t make sense. These people have it out for Jesus.
12 He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. (John 10:12, ESV)
They hear the Shepherd’s voice, and their own voice in their head is drowning out the shepherd and is opposing the shepherd. It could be their own voice, and possibly, likely, a satanic voice or a stranger’s voice is also mixing in there. That is the Jews.
We see it again in John 10:24. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, how long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly. And Jesus answered, I told you. And you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe me because you are not among my sheep.
24 So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” 25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. (John 10:24-26, ESV)
And at the end of the chapter, the Jews are ready to pick up stones and throw them at Jesus. So Jewish religious people, actually, the hardest people to save are religious people. It is the hardest group, people who grew up in the church, they have a doctrinal understanding of Jesus, but it’s not personal. They say, I know God, I love God.
But you look at their life, it’s like everything about their life suggests that they don’t know God. The fruit is off, the tree is off. The works that they do, the actions, the pattern of behavior, the problems, everything is off.
And yet they say, I go to church, I love God. But it’s more than what we say when we evaluate, does somebody know God? There is a fruit, there are works that they do. They are in the light. There’s no shadiness, there’s no skeletons in the closet there. There’s a brightness and there’s integrity.
And there’s a. The way they. They live and carry themselves. You just know, oh, that person is close to Jesus versus someone who says from the crowd, oh, I know Jesus. I believe in Jesus. Does Jesus entrust himself to them? It’s. It’s unclear.
But for religious folks, because they are so confident that they’re saved. It’s like what Jesus says to the Pharisees when they are accusing the man who was healed from blindness. The blind man says, I was blind.
And Jesus says, yes, you understand, I’m here and now you believe in me. Not only do you have physical eyes to see me, now I will open your spiritual eyes and you will see me.
In sharp contrast, you have the religious leaders who are experts at the Bible. Before it was the Bible, it was just the Torah, Moses, the five books of the Old Testament, and whatever else the man’s interpretation.
They added hundreds and hundreds of laws on top of it. It’s not God. It was a twisted form of God. And they are doing this out of their own flesh, out of their own intellect, out of.
And they are the furthest from God. We see this all throughout Scripture, but because they’re religious, they are blind and they don’t know it. And Jesus says, because you say you see, your guilt remains.
Religious people often will say, I see, I know the Bible. I love. I love Christ. But are their eyes closed or are they open? How do you tell? You got to look at the whole of their life. You got to look at the works. You got to look at the fruit. Is this somebody whose words match their life?
It has to match. If you’re a follower of Christ, your words and your life match. There’s integrity, there’s wholeness.
So Jewish people are clearly people who only have their own voice. And possibly mixed in there, the stranger’s voice. The stranger’s voice will say, yes, trust in your religion, trust in your doctrine. Yeah, you’re fine. Let nobody criticize you. you’re good.
Everybody else is saying, do you know Jesus? Are you okay? How can I pray for you? And you think I’m fine? Why are you. Why is everyone looking at me funny?
Satan will tell these people, you’re fine. you’re covered with grace, you love me. Don’t worry, you’re fine. And it’s a stranger’s voice.
It happens with people who grow up in the church who are in ministry. They say they love God, but does their life match their words? Does the tree match the fruit? Match the tree? Is it a good tree producing good fruit? Is it a bad tree producing bad fruit?
The decisions that they make, are they consistent with somebody who walks in the light? Or does it seem like they are walking in darkness?
So let’s throw out all religious mindsets. Let’s throw out what I think I am. Let’s take a step back. How does God see me? How does God see me? That is the beginning of salvation.
When you say, I think I see. No, we say, I can’t see myself. Well, Lord, how do you see me? How do you see me? If I’m lost, please show it to me. I don’t want to assume that I know you. And at the end, be shocked on judgment Day. And Jesus says, I don’t know you.
It’s in Matthew 7. The people who are busiest serving the church. Jesus says, I don’t know you. They’re so busy, and in their busyness, their mind is taking over. And Satan is saying, oh, you’re fine because you’re serving. you’re fine with me. But it’s Satan who is deceiving them and their own faith thoughts, and they’re confused.
Let’s throw out all religious mindset because I serve, because I read the Bible, because I’m disciplined, because I attend all the church activities, therefore I’m fine. Let’s throw that all away.
What matters is how Jesus sees us. And we have to start with, I’m blind. Lord, help me to see. And he can meet you and your eyes will open. But tomorrow, if you don’t meet him, guess what? you’re blind again. you’re in darkness again.
And a whole year goes by, you think, well, I’m fine, right? No. you’ve been walking in darkness for a year. You have to meet him every day. He has to open up your eyes every, every day. You have to walk with him every day in the light, out of the darkness.
If you let go of him once, because he is the light, you don’t have light in yourself. As soon as you let go, as soon as he’s down the street, he turns the corner, you can’t see him anymore. In that moment, you’re in darkness again.
And the decisions that you make are your decisions. And the fruit that comes out is your fruit. And the things that you think are from God are your thoughts. And Satan has you captive because you’ve let go of Jesus. you’re vulnerable. you’re a prey to him.
Of course, he’s going to speak and deceive. So from the Jews, the Jewish leaders, we understand our religion means nothing. Our church attendance and years going to church mean nothing. We discard all of that religious mindset.
My Bible knowledge means nothing. The fact that I can teach the Bible means nothing. All of that, if I don’t hold on to Jesus, who is the light, who alone can bring eyes from blindness to seeing. I need to meet him every single day.
John 7 speaks of Jesus’ own brothers, and they physically grew up beside Jesus. And we read about when they’re adults, that even Jesus’ own brothers, or you could say half-brothers, not really fully brothers in the truest sense, but Jesus’ own brothers, they don’t believe in him.
So it’s possible you can be in the proximity of Jesus and in a family of believers and attending church where there are true believers. And it’s possible that you’re just in Jesus’ proximity and you say that you know him, but you really don’t know him.
You know him as an acquaintance, you know him doctrinally, but you don’t know him personally as your Savior and your Lord. It’s even Jesus’ own brothers. John, chapter seven, they don’t know him for who he is, and they are frustrated with Jesus.
They say in John 7:2, now the Jews’ feast of booths was at hand. So his brother said to him, leave here and go to Judea that your disciples also may see the works that you are doing. For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly.
If you do these things, show yourself to the world. For not even his brothers believed in him. Jesus said to them, my time is not yet come, but your time is always here. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come. After saying this, he remained in Galilee.
2 Now the Jews’ Feast of Booths was at hand. 3 So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. 4 For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” 5 For not even his brothers believed in him. 6 Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here.7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. 8 You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come.” 9 After saying this, he remained in Galilee. (John 7:2-9, ESV)
So the sign that Jesus’ own brothers didn’t know who he was is their worldliness. If you’re worldly, the time is always now. I have to do it now. And this is like your thoughts. Just, just examine how your thoughts work. Like, I have to do this now.
I have to prove myself now. I have to show myself to the world that I’m respectable, that I’m lovable, that I’m deserving of acceptance. I have to do this now. It is all focused on how the world receives you. It is a world, a deep worldliness that we see in the brothers. They know Jesus and what he’s capable of.
And they’re saying, why don’t you take this show on the road? Why are you just going around this little town, and some days you only meet one person? Such a waste. Why don’t you just keep going to feed 15,000? Let’s just keep going to that location, and let’s keep inviting people.
Let’s make flyers, and let’s keep growing this place. And then you establish a mega center. And then you will go to another town. you’ll do the same thing, build up 5, 10, 15,000. You keep doing that so the world knows who you are.
That’s what his brothers are saying. So this voice of worldliness also needs to go. It is our own thoughts that are being influenced by the world that we live in because we’re in this world. But are we of it? Does the world change us, or are we a shining light?
What did Jesus do in this world? He didn’t come to be popular. He didn’t come to be loved and liked. He came to testify that the works of this world are evil. And he, as the light, is saying, come out of darkness.
Come out of darkness. I can set you free. The truth will set you free. He’s not trying to mingle and be popular and just fit in. No, he is a shining light saying, come out. Come out of Babylon, come out of Egypt. Come out of the world system. Don’t try to impress the world. That’s not why you’re a Christian.
So we abandon all worldliness. As a believer, if you’re worldly, then your thoughts are influenced by the world. And the voice of your shepherd is going to be silenced because that voice is too strong. And Satan, who’s a ruler of this world, loves it when you’re worldly.
He loves it when you’re religious, but you don’t meet Jesus. He loves it. He will keep saying, keep going. This is right. Keep doing this. Be worldly, do this. Show yourself to the world. Be famous as a Christian. Be famous. Do this. Hold on to your doctrine. You’re okay. You’re okay. You’re not blind. Other people are worried about you spiritually, but you’re okay. You’re a leader.
Look at how many people follow you in the synagogue. you’re fine. We should hear the voice of genuine Christians who express concern. Are you okay, brother? Are you okay, sister? I’m concerned about you.
We should listen to that voice. It’s the voice coming from the shepherd. Don’t trust in religion. Don’t trust in the world. Don’t trust in your voice. Don’t trust in Satan’s voice.
We get to the crowd, the third group, John 10:42. It says many believed in him.
42 And many believed in him there. (John 10:42, ESV)
In John 2, he performed a sign, the wedding at Cana. And then the crowd came. I still don’t know if they’re connected or not, but a crowd came and they believed in him. And it says, Jesus did not entrust himself to them.
24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people (John 2:24, ESV)
So we can say, I believe in Jesus, I trust in Jesus. But what’s more important is, does Jesus trust you? We can say, I know Jesus. What’s more important is, does Jesus know you? The crowd, many believe, but we don’t see them following Jesus. We don’t see them having a conversation with Jesus.
They’re just impressed by Jesus from a distance. They don’t follow him. They don’t. There’s no conversation with him. They’re just seeing signs. They’re hearing his teaching. They’re believing. But it’s still so far away from him. That’s not the kind of believer we want to be, that we believe on our part.
But does Jesus entrust himself? Does he believe in us? It’s got to be a two way. Trust is two ways. And so, is there that connection? I trust him. Jesus entrusts himself to me. He says, follow me. It’s not, I believe, and you just sit in the pew.
No, I trust him. Jesus, now where are you going? I’m following you. I want to be close to you, not Jesus. Okay, he did his thing. I believe in him. I’m going home. He’s going to another city. No, that’s not discipleship. Disciples say, Jesus, if you’re going to that town, I’m going to that town.
In a spiritual sense, Jesus is not physically with us, but spiritually he’s with us. So a believer says the same way that the 12 disciples, they physically followed him wherever they went. It was a physical representation, a metaphor for the life of a true disciple.
We go wherever Jesus goes. We don’t believe in him and say, good luck, Jesus. I’m rooting for you. Go do your thing to the next town. No, we as a disciple, if you’re going there, I’m going with you because I want to be close.
I want to see what you’re doing. I want to hear your voice. I want you to explain Scripture to me. That is a heart of a disciple.
And for the crowd, John 7:43. There was a division among the people over him. Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.
43 So there was a division among the people over him. 44 Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him. (John 7:43-44, ESV)
And then John 7:12, there was muttering about him among the people. While some said he is a good man, others said no, he’s leading the people astray. Yet for fear of the Jews, no one spoke openly of him.
12 And there was much muttering about him among the people. While some said, “He is a good man,” others said, “No, he is leading the people astray.” 13 Yet for fear of the Jews no one spoke openly of him. (John 7:12-13, ESV)
When I think about the crowd, it’s people who are on the fence. People are on the fence. Do I really? Am I all in? Do I really want to be a follower of Jesus, or do I still love the world? Do I still have my own thoughts and my own bucket list? Do I still have my own agenda? And I still live out of what I think is right and good? And it doesn’t matter what other people said. It doesn’t matter what Jesus says.
I trust my own instinct. The crowd, they’re always on the fence. And I think that is a good depiction of how we are. Like some of the days we think, yeah, Jesus is a good man. I think I want to follow him. I think I’m interested now.
I think, yeah, he’s convinced me. I’m going to do my best today. And then tomorrow you think, does he have a demon in him? You don’t say that. But he’s not as exciting to me, not as interesting to me. My own thoughts are more important than what he thinks.
And my own voice is. It will trump his voice. Because I really got to do this. I really got to take care of this. And we’re divided in our heart. And because we’re divided, we’re on the fence. Curious, but not becoming a disciple.
So let’s abandon all of this. We see in the life of Nicodemus. He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. So we see that even, even among the most difficult people to reach, Jesus is going after Nicodemus. Remember I said the Jews, they are so lost, so blind, because they don’t think they’re blind.
Nicodemus, there’s a little crack in the armor. He thinks, I know Scripture. I’ve been a teacher all of these years. I’ve been respected all of these years. But something is not right. And I don’t know what was happening in his life. Was he looking internally?
Did he have an addiction? Did he have some issue in his life that he felt like, if I know God, it doesn’t. What I preach about God and what it means to be a person following God or a person in God.
A person in God’s. Among God’s people. There’s something that doesn’t quite connect. I’m not quite. It’s just head. But my heart seems far or my life seems disordered or out of control.
There’s something in Nicodemus’ life that makes him humble enough to seek out Jesus at night. Like he won’t do it during the day, he’s got to still preserve his reputation. But at night he comes to Jesus.
So this tells me, even if you’re the hardest person to reach, if you just humble yourself a little bit and say, maybe I don’t have it all figured out. Maybe I do trust my own voice too much. Maybe Satan’s voice. I’m getting confused with God’s voice because Satan doesn’t tell you outright.
Well, sometimes he will say, kill yourself. But before that, he will just slowly deceive you and say, oh, this is fine. Just do this. It’s okay. Everybody does it. It’s okay, you’re fine. There’s grace for you. Don’t worry. Everybody struggles with this.
Everybody does this. He just will inch you closer and closer to the cliff. And then at the end he’s going to say, jump. This false assurance that things are okay, it’s from the stranger.
But even if you’re the most impossible person on earth to be saved, the fact that Nicodemus is being drawn to Jesus by the Father in John 3 and in John 7, he’s even defending Jesus, saying, how are you accusing him? Shouldn’t we at least have a trial? Isn’t that the law?
Why are you ready to arrest and put him away and kill him? This is such encouragement to me as I think about certain people in my life and I think, are they ever going to be saved? It seems impossible, but nothing is impossible with God that God can do.
Three voices, John 10. He is speaking to Pharisees. John 8. We see the Pharisees. What do they do? They drag out a woman caught in adultery. It’s like these people have no compassion and yet they’re speaking about on God’s behalf.
There’s so many people filling pulpits. They have no compassion for people. They have no love for people. It’s only their image that matters. It only matters if you’re a number in the congregation. And the more numbers, the more I feel like I’m somebody in God’s kingdom.
These Pharisees, they’re dragging out a poor woman in her utter shame. She’s caught in the act of adultery, and they just want to throw stones because that’s the law. The same people, John 9, they’re speaking to a man born blind. And they’re not rejoicing.
A man blind from birth can see. And they’re saying Jesus did this for you. He’s a sinner. He’s not a prophet. Stop defending him. If you keep on defending him, we’re going to throw you and your parents out of the synagogue.
This is the religious people, their mindset. You cross them, they will throw you out of the church. As if God’s child can be thrown. Thrown out of a church. Nobody can be thrown out of God’s church. It is God’s church. How can anybody throw a person out of God’s church?
And these people are trying to throw people out of the synagogue because it is their synagogue. They are the ones in charge. They are the Master and Lord of their synagogue. They get to decide who comes in, who goes out.
And Jesus is addressing Pharisees, religious leaders. John 10. It’s the audience of the Pharisees. So this one is a big one, especially all of us who grew up in church. It’s a big one. Because the last person who will admit that they’re blind is someone who grew up in the church.
The last person who admits they’re blind is somebody who is teaching on a Sunday. And that’s why these people, Jesus has this John 10 for them. He says, John 10:1, Truly, truly, I say to you. He who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber.
But he who enters by the door is a shepherd, the sheep to him. The gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them. And the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.
1 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. 2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. (John 10:1-4, ESV)
Salvation happens when you hear the Shepherd’s voice call you by name. I hope all of us, at some point, if not now, at some point in the near future, that you can point to a time when you knew it was not a preacher speaking to you, but it was Jesus directly calling you by name.
And he was saying, follow me. Leave your life of sin. Come out of darkness into the light. I will heal your blindness. If you come to me, you will see physically and spiritually.
Think back to your life. There should at least be one, hopefully many, many more. Every time you open up Scripture, we’re not gaining information. Jesus is the Word of God. Faith comes from hearing. Romans 10: We hear the Shepherd’s voice call you by name. Faith is birthed. We don’t know how it happens. We see in Nicodemus’ case, the wind just blew that day.
Hopefully, we don’t know if it happened, but Jesus talking to them, you need to be born again, born from above. And especially spirit blows. And on that day, you hear the Shepherd’s voice. It’s not a pasture, it’s not black ink on a paper. It’s Jesus coming alive in your presence, and the Word of God coming alive in your presence, and Jesus calling you by name.
And you answer and respond, I will follow you. And that every time you open up Scripture, you’re looking for Jesus, who is the Word of God. It says in Revelation 19. It is one of his titles. He is the Word of God. And so we’re listening for the Shepherd’s voice every time we go to Scripture.
So I’m wrestling throughout the week, what should I preach? What should I preach? And I think I have a leaning, but I’m still asking, Lord, is this what you want? Is this what you want? And then he gives me another possibility, okay, no, Lord, now. Now I have two choice options. Wrestling. And then he gives me a confirmation through a phone call. This is the way. Go this way.
And I say, okay, Lord, I will do this. That is how God speaks to us. We ask him questions. Like the disciples, they heard a parable they don’t understand. And so you just have a journal and say, Lord, I don’t understand what this verse means. And you jot down in a journal and you wait for the answer.
It may come that day in that very passage. It may come a week later, a month later, a year later, that question will be answered somewhere else in God’s word. And you will say, oh, Lord, now you’ve answered my question. Now I understand. It’s Jesus talking to you. It’s different than systematically studying the Scripture intellectually.
You come with yourself, with your condition, with your situation, with your problems, with all of your burdens, and you have all of these questions that are likely related to what you’re struggling with. And you ask him these questions, and then he answers you. you’re hearing the Shepherd’s voice. Faith comes from hearing that voice.
And every time he meets you and you hear his voice and he answers your question, faith grows a little bit more.
John 10:5. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers. This figure of speech Jesus used with them. But they did not understand what he was saying to them.
5 A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. (John 10:5-6, ESV)
So Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers. But the sheep did not listen to 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 comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
7 So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. (John 10:7-10, ESV)
Two voices. The voice of the shepherd. He’s leading you to abundant life. In this life, he only wants what’s best for you. You can do it your way, you can do it the world’s way, you can do it the stranger’s way, but you will suffer the consequences.
Or you can do it God’s way, and you follow the Shepherd’s voice. He guarantees abundance in this life. And so everybody who looks at you, you might not have all the money, you might not have everything going well in your life, but people will look at you and say spiritually, that brother, that sister is experiencing abundant life.
People have to be able to see it. It’s not just you saying, I’m fine with Jesus. No, other people should be able to see. Oh, oh. There’s an abundance of spiritual life in that brother or sister.
What does a thief do? He comes to steal all of that abundance. And if he can have it your way, he will kill you spiritually, physically, mentally. But if he can kill you physically and if you die in your sins, then he has destroyed you eternally.
We must be able to discern the stranger’s voice. How does a stranger speak? He speaks through the world. He speaks through this. He speaks through this young, young person. Pay attention to what I’m saying. It’s not just your parent being uptight about technology. He’s speaking through this.
You have to know that he’s broad. Satan is broadcasting temptation and a life of stealing, killing, and destroying through social media, through the Internet, through television, through entertainment. He is broadcasting. No, this is normal. Does it? Why don’t you do this?
We’ll talk about this at our next men’s breakfast. This one. It’s not just parents warning you. Even as adults, we can fall spiritually if we’re not careful. I. This is true. From the bottom of my heart, I miss the days before the Internet. Life was boring.
But it’s good to be bored, you know. Spiritually, it is good to be bored. You think about the meaning of life when you’re bored.
Nowadays, nobody is bored. You don’t think about life. You don’t think about your eternal destination. Why don’t people go to church? Because compared to YouTube, it’s boring. I don’t want to go to church. It’s boring. I’d rather play games. I’d rather watch movies. I’d rather binge at home.
Satan is consuming a generation. It’s no wonder, as Internet goes. Internet was launched while I was in college in the late 90s and came online in early 2000. You see the church attendance dropping. It’s because Jesus is boring.
Church sermon. Who wants to listen to a slightly above average Korean guy speaking for 30, 45 minutes on a Sunday when you have like all the TikTok little clips, you can. You can live all of your life consumed with TikTok.
You know, we have a hard line at our home and Elijah, he gives me a hard time. But later on, when he’s my age and he is a parent, he will understand why I’m saying the things that I’m saying. Hopefully, he will understand years later why I’m doing what I’m doing.
Satan is deceiving a whole generation through technology. It’s the stranger’s voice. Oh, secular music. Oh, it’s fine because it’s got a good beat. And then you study the lyrics. It’s outright Satanic. But you didn’t even know it because the beat is catchy. And you let that thing seep into your soul and you wonder, why am I spiritually dull?
Why don’t I care about reopening the Bible? It’s so boring. Because you spend the whole week in the world distracting yourself, consuming Satan’s materials, and you think it’s an accident that the Bible is boring. It’s not. No, it’s exactly predictable.
Why is the Bible boring? Because your phone is more interesting. I long for the days before the Internet. Life was simple. When you just went outside to play, we had like three channels, and they’re not even clear. They’re staticy.
And you have an antenna, and you’re putting aluminum foil on the antenna to try to improve the quality of the channel. This generation knows nothing about life before the Internet. It is ruining you. It really is ruining you.
For this generation to spiritually come alive, they need to fight against the encroachment of technology, social media. It is my testimony that when I hear the Shepherd’s voice, it always produces good fruit.
And so you can look back on your life and say, all the decisions I made, did it lead to a good fruit or did it lead to me getting messed up, derailed, problems, everybody turning on me, everybody leaving me, everybody saying I got issues? These are signs that maybe your voice is too strong, and so that needs to be repented of.
We need to actually humble ourselves and not trust our voice. We need to discern the stranger’s voice and say, I should stop listening to his voice.
And if he’s just attacking you and tempting you, we need to have a strategy for how to deal with the stranger when he comes with his temptations. But if you hear the Shepherd’s voice and you follow him, it always leads to good fruit.
When we were living in Alhambra, this is when our oldest son was in the eighth grade. They were attending public school. And through an issue that happened at the school, God spoke loud and clear. We knew we needed to homeschool, and that was the best decision. Not the easy decision for me.
You know, I often complain, but it was the best decision. I see the fruit. I see it in Timothy, I see it in Jeremiah. I see it in Elijah. I see it starting to come out a little bit in Elijah. I see it spilled over to Matthew and Emma. I see it in Ezra. I see it in John. That one decision, when God spoke loud and clear, it led to good fruit.
And we just stay the course. And God is saying, I will take care of it. Because you listen to me, I’m going to take care of your boys, and I can just be at peace. I’m listening to God and God says, I will take care of your boys. And he has. I can testify he has taken care of my boys.
When I worked at Biola, and it was a struggle because it was difficult people. And I went from the highest ranking position in the IT department to the lowest ranking position in the IT department because I just couldn’t work in that other department with those people anymore.
And I didn’t want to do it. But I wrestled, and God gave me a passage. I talked to a pastor, and I said, I’m praying about this. I don’t know why I have this passage that I’m struggling with of Luke 16. He who is faithful in the little things will be faithful in much. And the pastor said, you know, that’s the exact same passage the Lord gave to me as I was praying for you. So I said to the Lord, okay, I’ll take the job.
10 “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. (Luke 16:10, ESV)
And through the job that I dreaded for nine months, I got to meet Leo over the phone, and I got to meet Stephanie and the two daughters. What I did not want to do, God spoke, says, do this. It led to good fruit.
We were in Alhambra still for that season. And then through Jackie’s dad, who was flipping a house in Torrance, we had an opportunity to pray about moving to Torrance. We had a week to give him an answer. During that week, God gave me 10 to 12 signs. Yes, go to Torrance.
One of them I heard on ESPN, Xbox. I was listening. I said, Lord, you got to speak audibly, because I really don’t know about Torrance. And God had Chloe Kim performing the X Games in her hometown as Torrance. First time I ever heard the word the city Torrance, on audibly, even if it’s from a TV.
God gave me 10 signs. We moved to Torrance. After we moved to Torrance, the Fernandez family, they’re joining today online. They came to our house church because they Googled and found us because we were in Torrance.
And then a couple years ago, God moved us again. We’ve been wandering for some time. God moved us to Culver City. It was a connection through brother Abraham, who had a colleague, Pastor Max, who was also teaching at Pepperdine. And then God put us in contact with them.
Through that move, for a year or two, maybe just a year, in Culver City, we got to meet a godly couple, Pastor Max and his wife Amy. And now we get to meet William. There’s always good fruit when you trust the Lord and you follow his voice.
Always good fruit. And then just last year, God said through Daniel Lim’s mom, who’s been praying for us, why don’t you. Why don’t you come to Bellflower?
At the time, God put on my heart, yeah, it’s time for a change out of Culver City, because that one felt very temporary. The point of that was to meet the Elzey family. Okay, we got that point. But God was moving, and I wasn’t sure. I applied all over the place because I sensed there was a move on the horizon.
And then Daniel, through his mom, said, she’s praying for us to come to Bellflower. And a month or two passed and we sat on it. All other doors closed, but Bellflower stayed open. End of February last year, God moved us to Bellflower. And then we met Janet.
Everywhere we go, God produces some kind of a fruit to confirm and to encourage me. That was the right move. Maybe it’s not the scale that I’m looking for, but nonetheless, it’s a sign that God is saying, I’m with you and. And if you follow me, I will take care of the rest. And he’s done that.
I want to end with James 1:14-15 and James 4:7. James 1:14: But each person is spurred and enticed by his own desire. Then desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin. And sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death.
14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. (James 1:14-15, ESV)
Sometimes a stranger speaks, and we were not vulnerable to that temptation, but in that day we are vulnerable and we fell. That can happen, but many times the tempter speaks. And the reason we fall is because it’s in us already. The desire is already in us. There’s a brokenness already in us.
So that temptation is just a little whisper, a little nudge. It doesn’t take much, and then you fall. So when people fall into sin, like sometimes if you’re a Charismatic, you blame Satan. Satan did it. We don’t take any responsibility, as if we’re perfect. And then unbeknownst to me, I just fell. And I was doing fine spiritually, but I fell.
I would say 99% of the time we fall because that tendency to fall in that way is already there. The sin is already there. The desire is already there. Satan just gives a little bit of a nudge and then we fall.
So we repent of all the sins that make it so easy for Satan to topple us and tempt us. We want to be a kind of person that has no vulnerabilities as best as we can control. Like if we struggle with alcohol, we’re not going to the bar to evangelize.
We know our limitations. We know our weaknesses are past. If you struggle with sexual sin, you’re not going to witness to a prostitute. That’s just common sense. We flee temptation where it’s possible. But as much as we can control in ourselves, we want to get to a place where Satan has to try really hard to know the vulnerability because he can’t tell.
He can’t tell if there are actions where. Oh, he sees. Oh, you like that website? Oh, you like that activity? Satan sees. Okay, I’m paying attention to you when you least expect it.
I’m prowling around, and I will pounce when you’re at your weakest point. But if he, Satan, can’t see you fall many times, then he, for the most part, he’s going to stay away because he’s not going to waste his time. He’ll wait; he’ll spend time on somebody else.
So we want to get to a place where the desires in us, the sinful desires, are repented of so that there’s no opening for Satan. And then John 4:7, and I’ll end with this. This is in the context of worldliness. We can’t be a friend of God and a friend of the world. If you’re a friend of one, you’re an enemy of the other. That’s where he starts.
And then he ends with verse six. But he gives more grace. Therefore, it says, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee.
6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:6-7, ESV)
It takes a humble posture of not trusting in your voice and your thoughts and saying, that gets me into trouble. These thoughts that are informed by the world, these thoughts that are colored by evil desires, I don’t trust them. I don’t trust them.
And then we humble ourselves and we say, God, I’m listening for your voice. I’m listening for your thoughts. Did you know your mind? Biblically speaking, by definition, if you look at the original language in the Greek and the Hebrew, the mind is the organ, if it’s properly renewed, to receive the thoughts of God.
But in order for you to hear those thoughts, your own thoughts have to be put out, cast out, humbled. If your thoughts are too strong, too loud, Jesus speaks not all the time, but he speaks like a gentle whisper.
You have to be still. You have to humble yourself. You have to cast out your own thoughts and wait for God to speak. And if you submit to God, we see in that posture of waiting and hiding behind Christ and coming to Jesus, you’re fellowshipping with Jesus. you’re in Christ. Being in Christ.
Christ means you hide behind Jesus. That is a spiritual armor. you’re not fighting the battle yourself. Ephesians 6. If you understand the meaning behind that, Jesus saying, I’m going to fight for you, and you’re in Christ.
That is the Spiritual armor you put on. You come to Jesus. You hide behind Jesus. That is how we resist. You stand on the truth of who Jesus is, that is resisting. The devil will flee. The devil will flee. So we humble ourselves. We repent. We surrender. We submit ourselves. And Jesus says, I will fight for you. Stand with me. The devil will flee.
Okay, let’s pray. Father, forgive us. We’re still struggling and having a hard time hearing the Shepherd’s voice because our voice is too loud. Our voice that’s been colored by this world is too strong.
And Satan’s voice slips in there with the world, and we don’t perceive it. He leads us step by step in a path toward stealing, killing, and destroying us, people who are destroyed by Satan. We see it in their lives. Everything is broken. Everything is out of whack.
It’s so obvious when somebody is not walking with Jesus. But we stand on you, Lord Jesus. We thank you that you speak to your sheep. But Lord, if these attacks keep coming, Lord, all we do is we submit ourselves to you.
We humble ourselves in your presence. We stand behind Christ and Lord Jesus. We ask you to help and fight for us. Fight for every single person in this room. Please fight for us. Defeat the enemy. He will flee. In the presence of Jesus, he will flee.
Thank you that we have a promise not just of eternal life waiting for us, but in this life spiritually, there is an abundance of life that we can experience far more than what we’ve experienced in our decades of attending church.
There’s far better, far deeper, far more intimacy that you promise abundance. You promise for sheep who follow the good shepherd. There’s only one. There’s only one. It’s you, Lord Jesus. We want to follow you.
We shut out all other voices. We want to follow you. We pray that you meet us as we examine our hearts, as we prepare for the Lord’s Supper. We thank you for Your Body that was broken for us and Your Blood shed. We pray in Jesus’ Name, Amen.