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You may turn in your Bibles to 
John chapter 10 for a meditation this morning. John chapter 10, 
as we focus on the Good Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ. John chapter 10, I'll pick up 
reading in verse one. 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. He calls his own sheep 
by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own 
sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they 
know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow 
a stranger. but will flee from him, for they 
do not know the voice of strangers. Jesus used this illustration, 
but they did not understand the things which he spoke to them. 
Then Jesus said to them again, Most assuredly, I say to you, 
I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before me are 
thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am 
the door. If anyone enters by me, he will 
be saved. and will go in and out and find 
pasture. The thief does not come except 
to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come that they may have 
life and that they may have it more abundantly. I am the good 
shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life 
for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not 
the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf 
coming and leaves the sheep and flees. And the wolf catches the 
sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he 
is a hireling, and does not care about the sheep. I am the good 
shepherd, and I know my sheep, and am known by my own. As the 
Father knows me, even so I know the Father, and I lay down my 
life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which 
are not of this fold. Them also I must bring, and they 
will hear my voice, and there will be one flock and one shepherd. Therefore, my father loves me 
because I laid down my life that I may take it again. No one takes 
it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay 
it down and I have power to take it again. This command I have 
received from my father. Therefore, there was a division 
again among the Jews because of these sayings, and many of 
them said he has a demon and is mad. Why do you listen to 
him? Others said, these are not the 
words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of 
the blind? Amen. Well, let us pray. Father, 
we thank you for this account. We thank you for this parable. 
We thank you for the statements concerning our Lord Jesus. How 
we bless you that he is the door. How we bless you that he is the 
shepherd. How we praise you that he has 
come to save us from our sins. We pray now that you would illumine 
our minds and hearts. guide us in our understanding 
of Scripture, and for this we desperately need the Holy Spirit. 
And we pray that you would send him forth even now. And we ask 
through Christ our Lord, Amen. Well, as we come to John chapter 
10, we ought not to come without remembering the great truths 
of the Old Testament. We already read Psalm 23, where 
David says, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. In the prophet 
Ezekiel, in chapter 34, verse 23, God the Father says, I will 
establish one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, my servant 
David. He shall feed them and be their 
shepherd. And we ought to remember that 
chapter 10 follows closely on what happens in chapter 9. Remember 
in John chapter 9, Jesus heals that man who was born blind from 
birth. Jesus healed that man and then 
they come to interrogate him. and they try to ridicule him, 
and they try to expose him. Well, John chapter 10 comes on 
the heels so that Jesus can explain the difference between the religion 
of the Jews at that time, apostate, legalistic, ungodly, unmerciful, 
ungracious, unkind, willing to put out blind men, versus the 
religion of Christ himself, the good shepherd who saves blind 
men, who draws them unto himself, who gives them quarter. So, what 
Jesus does in verses 1 to 5 is he sets out this analogy or this 
metaphor, this figure of speech. And because there is misunderstanding, 
according to John in verse 6, he then expands on it and explains 
it in more detail in verses 7 to 21. And that's what we're going 
to take up this morning, specifically looking at Christ as the door 
and Christ as the good shepherd. So again, don't miss the connection, 
however, with chapter nine. The wicked treatment of the man 
born blind by the Pharisees represents those higher links, those men 
who do not care. Those men who do not give any 
concern for the sinfulness of man and for his redemption. And 
then what Jesus sets forth by way of this door, by way of this 
shepherd imagery, is his willingness, his reception, his eagerness 
to receive those who need him. John Calvin says it is useless, 
I think, to scrutinize too closely over every part of this parable. 
Let us rest satisfied with the general view that, as Christ 
states a resemblance between the church and the sheepfold 
in which God assembles all his people, so he compares himself 
to a door, because there is no other entrance into the church 
but by himself. That's essentially what's going 
on in verses 1 to 5. Now, let's look specifically 
at his expansion of this imagery in verses 7 to 18. The first 
thing to notice is that Christ is the door, according to verses 
7 to 10. Throughout John's gospel, Jesus 
says, I am several times. If you're thinking biblically, 
you're thinking about the Old Testament, you will realize that 
I am revealed himself in the burning bush to Moses in Exodus 
chapter 3 verse 14. It's beautiful. When the Roman 
Legion comes to arrest Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, 
Jesus makes that declaration. I am. And the Roman troops fall 
down before his feet. There are instances in the gospel, 
according to John, where Jesus says, I am and the Jews understand 
the import of his statement and they pick up stones to throw 
at him because he being a man made himself out to be God. Jesus 
confounds his enemies when he says, before Abraham was, I am. He says, Abraham rejoiced to 
see my day. So Christ is the great I am that 
is revealed in both the Old and the New Testaments. But several 
times in the gospel, according to John, Jesus not only says 
I am, but he says I am. And then he gives a predicate. 
Probably the kids in the church know what a predicate is more 
than the adults. A predicate says something about 
the subject. And there are several instances 
where Jesus does that. He says, I am the bread of life. 
He says, I am the light of the world. Here, he says, I am the 
door of the sheep. He says, I am the good shepherd. 
Later, he'll say, I am the resurrection and the life. Later, he'll say, 
I am the way, the truth and the life. And then finally, he'll 
say, I am the true vine. And each of these I am statements 
are packed with meaning and significance for us as God's people. They ought to encourage us because 
they shine a light upon a particular facet of what Christ is to his 
people. And these two are no different. 
He is the door. He is the good shepherd. Notice, 
first, Jesus contrasts himself with the thieves and the robbers. 
Verse 7, Jesus said to them again, Most assuredly, I say to you, 
I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before me are 
thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I don't 
think he's talking about the prophets of old. He's not talking 
about those who biblically and properly preached God's Word. 
He's talking about the Pharisees. He's talking about the scribes. 
He's talking about those pretenders who tried to be the Messiah that 
in reality or in truth were not. The contrast is stark. Jesus 
says, I am not like those men. I haven't come to rob. I haven't 
come to steal. I haven't come to destroy. Later 
on, he's going to say, I have come that they might have life 
and that they might have it abundantly. You see, sometimes we have the 
wrong view of biblical religion. We look at what we have to give 
up. We look at what we can't do anymore. We look at Christianity 
and say, oh, it's just a bunch of rules of do's and don'ts, 
and I'll have no more fun. Well, if fun to you is slavery, 
if fun to you is bondage, if fun to you is being the servant 
of sin and Satan, well then, yes, Christianity isn't your 
cup of tea. But what Jesus says is that I 
have come that they may have life. There is only life to be 
had in Christ. If you are here this morning, 
in a few minutes we're going to take this bread and drink 
this cup in memory of our beloved Savior. If you have not closed 
with Christ, if you have not believed on Christ, this isn't 
for you. These are the symbols, these 
are the tokens, these are the representatives of everlasting 
life. Only those who have a participation 
in everlasting life get to eat and drink the Lord Jesus Christ. 
You see, by your own sin and your willingness to do all those 
things contrary to God, you have forfeited life. But you know, 
that's true of everyone in here. But God is in the gracious business 
of saving sinners by the Lord Jesus, the one who describes 
himself here as the door. He says, secondly, that he is 
the door alone. Notice the exclusivity of salvation. Verse nine. Jesus says, I am 
the door. If anyone enters by me, he will 
be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. He's not one 
door among many. To go to one of those big stores 
and there's several doors you're walking up, am I going to go 
right? Am I going to go in the middle or am I going to go on 
the left? Well, that's not the case with religion. It's not 
the case with salvation. It's not the case with God. God, 
the Lord, is a moral governor of his universe. We have broken 
his law over and over again. He has purposed one way of salvation, 
and it is through this door, even Jesus Christ. This isn't 
let's make a deal. Many of the older people, you 
already remember that. Monty Hall, do you want what's behind 
curtain number one? Or would you like what's behind 
curtain number two? The unwitting soul would say, 
I'll take number one. He'd get a burrow or a donkey 
or something weird like that. He would have opted for number 
two. He would have got the new car. You know, men treat religion 
that way. Men look at religion that way. 
They look at their souls that way. If you are not going through 
this door, you are going to hell. There's not two, three, four 
or five ways of redemption set forth by God the Lord. He is 
exclusive, it is particular. Jesus says, unless you enter 
by this door, you will not be saved. That's the point of John 
14, 6. I am the way, I am the truth, 
I am the life. No one comes to the Father except 
through me. Now pluralism, which means we 
can reach God by a whole host of ways, is very popular today. It's very common today. In fact, 
if you go out into Canadian society and you do a bit of polling, 
you'll ask people, why do you think you'll go to heaven? Some 
will say, well, I'm a Muslim, or I'm a Hindu, or I believe 
in Shintoism, or I don't even believe in heaven. Most likely 
you'll find people that say, well, because I'm a pretty good 
guy, or I'm a pretty good gal. I've never done anything really 
bad. I've never committed murder. I've never committed adultery. 
They're weighing or they're resting their eternal state before God 
on what they have done or haven't done. Jesus says, I'm the door. You don't get to heaven based 
on what you do, you get to heaven based on God's free grace, looking 
only and solely to the Lord Jesus. But realize this. He is the door. God's salvation isn't a block 
wall. Sometimes you can get that feeling 
as well, right? Christians act like they're the frozen chosen. 
There's a handful of us that have happened in. Jesus is a 
door. What does that mean? It means 
to you this morning that if you have not gone through that door, 
you should. If you have not believed the 
gospel, you must. If you have not tasted and seen 
that the Lord is good, come. The door is there to be used. The door is there to be believed 
on. The door is there not for you 
to go, wow, look at that majestic place. I'd sure like to go in, 
but there's no access. There is access. It is through 
Christ. You come later. He'll say earlier 
in John six, he says, all that the father gives me will come 
to me. And the one who comes to me is what he says. I will 
certainly not cast out. In other words, you're not going 
to be knocking at that door and him saying, ha, ha, ha, ha. No, you 
come to that door and he lets you in. You come to that door 
in faith and you will be saved. That's the beauty or beautiful 
message of the gospel. God is in Christ reconciling 
the world to himself. Believe on the Lord Jesus and 
you shall be saved. That's good news. That's a blessing. That's wonderful. Jesus Christ 
alone is the way of salvation, and Jesus Christ alone is powerful 
to say. We just finished going through 
the book of Hebrews on our Wednesday night study, and in Hebrews chapter 
seven, it makes this statement concerning Christ. It says that 
he is able to say to the uttermost. Is that a beautiful statement? 
See, salvation in Christianity isn't he'll do his part and I'll 
do mine, or I'll do my part and he'll meet me halfway. If that's 
the case, we're dead in our trespasses and sins. Everybody with me, 
you should be happy if you're a believer. You might be warm, 
you might be tired, you might wonder what all this has to do 
with anything else or anything in your life, but just follow 
along. Jesus Christ is the door that 
leads on the everlasting life. You come to him, you come only 
to him, and he will save you from your sins. Notice he sets 
forth the contrary purposes between the hireling and himself. Verse 
10. The thief does not come except 
to steal and to kill and to destroy. That's what false religion brings. 
That's what your work's righteousness brings. I suspect that if you're 
not a believer in Christ here this morning, let me just say, 
first of all, I don't say this as, wow, I've arrived. None of 
us have arrived. God saved us. We are deceitful 
above all things and desperately wicked and running away from 
God. And it is God who sought us. 
It is God who grabbed us. It is God who affectionately 
drew us to himself. But if you're not a believer 
here, I doubt you're a Hindu or a Buddhist or a Muslim or 
any of those other sorts of things. You're probably clinging to something 
that you do or something that you don't do. Well, even that 
method, that means that religious approach to God brings stealing, 
killing and destruction. You will not have everlasting 
life cleaving to your own works. You will not have everlasting 
life by your own accomplishment. You will not have everlasting 
life by virtue of what you do. It is by grace alone, through 
faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone. D.A. Carson said the world 
still seeks its humanistic political saviors. It's Hitler's, it's 
Stalin's, it's Mao's, it's Pol Pot's. And only too late does 
it learn that they blatantly confiscate personal property. They come only to steal. They 
ruthlessly trample human life underfoot. They come only to 
kill and contemptuously savage all that is valuable. They come 
only to destroy. Jesus is right. It is not the 
Christian doctrine of heaven that is the myth, but the humanist 
dream of utopia. Life comes through Christ. Life 
and that abundantly is what he has to say. That's Christ as 
the door. Now let's look at him under this 
happy image of Christ as the Good Shepherd. Verses 11 to 18. Again, he contrasts himself with 
the hireling. Verse 11, he says, I am the Good 
Shepherd. The Good Shepherd gives his life 
for the sheep. More on that in just a moment. But a hireling, 
he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees 
the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees. And the wolf 
catches the sheep and flees and scatters them. You see, he's 
carrying on this contrast. Don't forget Chapter 9. Jesus 
is doing something not real popular today. He is condemning false 
religion. In his positive treatment of 
the fact that he is the door and the shepherd, he has a particular 
doctrinal enemy in view here. It's the Pharisees. It's the 
religious hypocrites. It's those people in John chapter 
nine who came to trip that man up and said, you were born entirely 
in sin. And do you teach us? I got mad 
at the guy for having been healed. That's just amazing, isn't it? 
If you got healed in the first century, the Jews would get mad 
at you because you followed Jesus. Jesus is condemning this approach 
to religion. Jesus is condemning these people. Don't miss that. Again, it's 
a very namby-pamby age that we live in. You can believe anything 
you want, but don't denounce others, because we all have the 
right to believe whatever we want. You may have the legal 
right in Canada, but you don't have the theological right. There 
is one name given under heaven among men by which we must be 
saved, and it's Jesus Christ. You don't have the right to be 
theologically wrong, and Jesus deals with them powerfully. Notice. How he highlights the 
intimate relationship that his people have with him. Verses 
14, I'm sorry, verses, yeah, 14 and 15. I am the good shepherd 
and I know my sheep and am known by my own. Isn't that beautiful? 
If you're a believer this morning, you are Christ's own. You may not have a lot of friends. 
Your parents may not be the nicest people in the world. Your siblings 
may not care a bit for you. But if you are in Christ, you 
belong to him. There's a hymn that we sing in 
the Trinity Hymnal. It says, Jesus, what a friend for sinners. There's one stanza that says, 
I am his and he is mine. This is what Christ is highlighting 
here in verses fourteen and fifty. That intimate knowledge that 
believers have of the good shepherd. I am the good shepherd and I 
know my sheep. and am known by my own as the 
father knows me. Even so, I know the father and 
those who have been blessed by God to be saved are brought into 
this position of intimate knowledge. What a boon, what a blessing, 
what a joy, what a benefit of this abundant life that we possess. You see, we spend a lot of time 
trying to get God out of our thoughts as unconverted people, 
don't we? What the big crime in Romans 
chapter 1 is? They did not honor God as God, 
nor were they thankful. God has made his existence obvious 
to all men everywhere. But you know what they do? They 
suppress the truth in unrighteousness. They try to escape from the knowledge 
of God. They try to run from God. God, 
through the prophet Jeremiah, indicts the nation of Israel. 
You have turned the back to me. What does that mean? We don't 
care. We're going to walk away. Imagine 
if you were having dealings with your son or daughter and they 
turn their back on you. You'd probably be tempted to 
grab them by the scruff of the neck and turn them around and 
say, you look at me when I'm talking to you. That's what God 
through the prophet says. You turn the back to me. Paul 
will say later on in Romans one, they did not like to retain the 
knowledge of God in their minds. They suppressed that truth and 
unrighteousness. This is what shocks me, brethren, 
to be quite candid when believers aren't interested in theology. 
It's a mark of unbelief. To not want to understand who 
God is... I'm not saying you've got to 
show up every Saturday morning at 6.30. There's more ways to 
study theology than just that. I'm not saying you've got to 
read Robert Raymond. That might not be a bad idea, but there's 
more ways to learn theology than that. careless attitude? This idea 
that, well, you know, that's for those people in the church. 
What's up with that? If a mark of the unconverted 
is that they don't like to retain the knowledge of God in their 
minds, and they're busying themselves by suppressing the truth and 
unrighteousness, what is a mark of the converted? They want to 
know God. They want to understand. They 
want to learn. They want to be students of Holy 
Scripture. How does Jesus define or give 
the essence of eternal life in John 17 when he prays? He says, 
And this is eternal life, that they may know thee, the only 
true God, and Jesus Christ, who now has sent. Do you realize 
that you're going to spend, if you're a believer, eternity in 
heaven, growing in your understanding of who God is? You should practice 
now. You should warm up. You're on 
deck. Swing that back. Learn of this, 
God. The psalmist says, great are 
the works of the Lord. They are studied by all who have 
what? Pleasure in them. There's people 
out there who can spot a bird from a hundred feet away and 
say, well, that's a blah, blah, blah. Or they can go whale watching. Oh, that's this brand of whale 
or that's this. You know, they study. They're 
studying the works of the Lord. They have pleasure in them. I've 
shared before when I was in England. It used to be very common on 
my way to work to see British people sitting outside of the 
American base with a notepad and a pen in their hand. They 
would record tail numbers from the various aircraft that were 
on our base. And if you went up to them and 
you said, what are you doing that for? It was like train tracking. That's another thing that they 
would do. Maybe they do it in Canada or in America too. This 
is something foreign to me. I couldn't care one bit about 
where this plane came from or where it's going. As long as 
it's not dropping bombs over me, I'm good. But that's what 
they did. They were interested in it. They 
liked it. It made them happy. Christian, 
are you happy to know your God? Do you have delight to read of 
Him? Do you search the scriptures? 
Is that an aspect of that abundant life that you are applying yourself 
to? You have life. You have it abundantly. And if life is characterized 
in the knowledge of God, then what are you doing? Look at what 
Jesus says here. I am the good shepherd and I 
know my sheep and am known by them. You probably all heard 
the stories about the imagery that Jesus uses. The shepherd 
would bring his flock. He'd put them in the pen. He'd 
perhaps go to town, do whatever he had to do. He'd come back. 
He would just give a command and his flock would respond. 
Another shepherd could come and say the same words, but the flock 
did not know him, so they would not follow him. What does that 
speak of? Intimacy. Union. Communion. You know, when we 
go this morning, when we take this bread and we drink this 
cup, think of Jesus. Engage the mind. This isn't hocus 
pocus. It isn't a magic light. It's 
not just a performance of this. It's the engagement of the mind, 
the knowledge of Christ, the reality that I know my shepherd 
and he knows me. Brethren, that is a boon in Christianity. John Chrysostom, that silver-tongued 
preacher in the early church says, when he brings us to the 
Father, he calls himself a door. When he takes care of us, a shepherd. His flock know his voice. They know him. He knows them. Herman Ritterbaugh says God's 
knowledge means that he adopts people as his own, enters into 
a personal relationship with them and calls them to his service. It's a beautiful statement. Simple, 
brief, to be sure, but it encapsulates the glory that is Christian salvation. God's knowledge means that he 
adopts people as his own, enters into a personal relationship 
with them and calls them to his service. That's what we have. That's what's ours. That's what 
we can contribute to our society. We know Christ. He knows us. And as a result, we want to follow 
the lamb wherever he calls us. I want to do his bidding. We 
want to speak well of Him. We want to shine His lights in 
a crooked and perverse generation. We want to hold forth this Word 
of Truth, because we know that Word of Truth, if it's powerful 
to save wretches like us, it can save sinners in Shiloh. And 
then notice what Jesus speaks of. The doctrine of substitutionary 
atonement. I realize He doesn't use quite 
that language, but that's the doctrine set forth here. Verse 15b, I lay down my life 
for the sheep. There's a world of blessing in 
that statement. You know why you're a Christian? 
Is it because you responded to the altar call? Because you signed 
the card? Because your hand went up when 
every eye was closed? Are you a Christian because you're 
wiser? Are you a Christian because you're 
better? Are you a Christian because your works have sort of put you 
ahead a little bit? No, you're a Christian because 
Jesus laid down his life for the sheep. That's why men are 
Christians. That's why people are saved. 
The basis, the ground, the very foundation of our salvation is 
not our words. It's not our righteousness. It's 
not our wisdom. It's not our knowledge. It's 
not our performance. It's the doing and the dying 
and the rising of Jesus Christ the Lord. This is gospel. This is good news. This is substitution. The language of substitution 
is conspicuous here. I lay down my life for the sheep. What's the implication? The sheep 
deserve to die. The sheep deserve to be slaughtered. The sheep deserve to be punished. 
The sheep deserve to go into hell. That's what the prophet 
Isaiah said. All we like sheep have gone astray. The Lord has laid on him the 
chastisement for our peace. Brethren, substitution. If I 
dropped dead on the way to church this morning, Pastor Cam would 
have preached, and he would have been the substitute, not because 
he's lesser or inferior, but because I dropped dead and he 
took the pulpit. You go to school on Monday, if 
your teacher, maybe he didn't drop dead, maybe he's got the 
sniffles, or maybe she's sick, or maybe she has jury duty or 
something, you'll have a substitute. You'll have one standing in. 
You'll have one in place of. That's the essence of the gospel. The gospel isn't what I do. The 
gospel isn't what I perform. The gospel is what Jesus has 
done. He's been a substitute. He hung 
on that cross. He took the punishment of the 
Father. He took the vengeance of God for our sins. I lay down my life for the sheep, 
he says. What a blessed statement. Listen 
to A.W. Pink. He says the Savior gave 
his life not as a martyr for the truth, Need to understand 
that. Not a martyr, not saved, because 
Jesus was that witness willing to go to the very end. Paint 
goes on to say, not as a martyr for the truth, 
not as a moral example of self-sacrifice, It's not like we look at Jesus 
on the cross and say, boy, what a thing. I ought to follow that. 
I ought to give my life self-sacrificially for those around me and for the 
appeasement of God. That's not the cross. That's 
not Christianity. That's not the redemptive religion 
set forth from Genesis to Revelation. Paint goes on. He says, but for 
a people. He died that they might live. 
By nature, his people are dead in trespasses and sins, and had 
not the divinely appointed and divinely provided substitute 
died for them, there had been no spiritual and eternal life 
for them. You see why we say believe, believe 
the gospel. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ 
died for the sheep. Believe on him. Come through 
the door. Know the joy of everlasting life. 
Know the joy of abundance in life. And then notice what will 
just quickly pass through verse 16. What he's speaking here, 
I believe, is the Gentile mission. Notice in verse 16, I have other 
sheep, and other sheep rather I have which are not of this 
fold, them also I must bring, and they will hear my voice, 
and there will be one flock and one shepherd. I think in the 
context right here specifically, Jesus is saying that he's also 
coming not only for the lost tribes of Jacob, not only for 
the house of Israel, but he's coming for the Gentiles. He is 
coming for those who are outside of Israel. He is coming to make 
them one flock in God. Paul the Apostle waxes on this 
in Ephesians chapter 2, that through Christ he has taken Jew 
and Gentile and made them one new man. He's brought them together 
in Christ Jesus. But notice something that we 
need to end on here with reference to the willingness of Christ, 
verses 17 and 18. You see, you don't meet a saver 
in John 10 that says, man, you know, these people are just horrible, 
the sheep, they smell, I don't like them, they're really bad, 
but you know, I'm just doing this because it's what I got 
to do. That's not it at all. Follow with me this morning, 
if you're not a believer, look at the willingness of Jesus to 
save sinners. Look at what Jesus went through 
on behalf of his people, and if you are a believer, you should 
smile here, at least inwardly. You know, if we could see happy faces, 
hopefully in all of our hearts, I don't know where the heart 
is. It's on one of those sides. We'll just put it right in the middle. 
Hopefully that happy face is shining brightly. You stop and 
think the good shepherd came because he loves you. What he 
says in verse 17. Therefore, my father loves me 
because I laid down my life that I may take it again. Yes, Peter 
indicts the godlessness of the Romans. Yes, the Jews behind 
the Romans were the ones more culpable and guilty for handing 
Jesus over. It was that motley crew, that 
wretched mob that said away with him, away with him, crucify him. Christ went willingly. Christ went to the uttermost. No one takes it from me, but 
I lay it down of myself. completely, constantly, always 
conscious of the mission before him. I love that decisive break 
in Luke 9 when he journeys for the last time to Jerusalem. He 
picks up the language of the prophet Isaiah. It says he set 
his face like a flint to go to Jerusalem. When everybody would 
detract, when even his own beloved Simon Peter would say, may it 
never be, Lord, I don't want you to go to Jerusalem. Get behind 
me, Satan. The son of man must go to Jerusalem. He must be tried. He must be 
delivered up. He must be crucified. He was a willing Savior, a willing 
shepherd, a willing door. He laid himself out to death 
for his people. He says, I have power to lay 
it down and I have power to take it again. This command I have 
received from my father. There is a willingness in the 
Savior to do the work of the Father in the salvation of His 
people. Again, D. A. Carson says, if 
Jesus has just mentioned the unique intimacy He enjoys with 
His Father, He is now at pains to explain why the Father loves 
Him. It is not that the Father withholds 
His love until Jesus agrees to give up His life on the cross 
and rise again. Rather, the love of the Father 
for the Son is eternally linked with the unqualified obedience 
of the Son to the Father, His utter dependence upon Him culminating 
in this greatest act of obedience now just before Him, willingness 
to bear the shame and the ignominy. That's an old word that means 
really big shame. the ignominy of Golgotha, the 
isolation and rejection of death, the sin and curse reserved for 
the Lamb of God. So here Jesus, His testimony 
as to why the Father loves Him, is expressing something of His 
character to His people. The Son willingly goes. The Son 
willingly yields. The Son willingly lays down His 
life for the sheep. What a blessed Redeemer we serve. 
What a blessed God we have. If your heart's not happy, it 
ought to be. You ought to repent. If you can come face to face 
with these redemptive truths, at least the bare reading of 
them, maybe I'm a stumbling block, but in your reading of this passage, 
if your heart doesn't do a holy jig, you might need to be born 
again. You might need to come to the 
cross for the first time. He laid his life down for the 
sheep. He laid his life down willingly for us. He rose again. He now sits enthroned at the 
right hand of the father. And he calls men to believe the 
gospel. He calls men to believe on his 
name. He calls men to be saved. Heretics steal, kill, and destroy. Jesus Christ comes to save his 
people from their sins. If you've not come, come. Get somebody after church, somebody 
that you suspect is the real deal, a real Christian, and say, 
what have you found in serving Jesus? I don't think you'll get, 
it's been a nightmare. It's just been drudgery. It's 
horrible. If you do, can you have him go 
see Pastor Cam so he can straighten him out? What does the apostle say in 
Romans 10? He who believes on him will not Be disappointed. You've parted with sin, you've 
received a righteousness, not your own, you've been fit to 
enter into heaven. To be quite honest, I don't know 
why we're not all skipping. I were not getting more speed 
tickets on the way to church, I'm not condoning that. We have been blessed with abundance, 
ask someone today. What's it like being a Christian? I'm not asking trials. There 
are difficulties. Jesus himself promises in John 
16, in this world you will have tribulation. Be of good cheer. I've overcome the world. In fact, 
ask the older saints among us. Ask the tried saints. They're 
usually the happiest. It's just amazing, right? He 
takes somebody that's had a perplexing, tried, difficult life, and you 
would think that his heart's perpetually sad-faced. Now, he's 
usually the happiest of the lot. Why? Because he has tried and 
proven his God over and over and over and over and over again, 
and found him faithful every step of the way. You will not 
be disappointed believing on Jesus. You young people and you 
children, there is no life outside of Christ. There is no life in 
anything this world has to offer. There is no life in all the things 
that people promote as bringing fun and joy and life. Now, Jesus 
is the door. Jesus is the Good Shepherd. You 
believe on Him early. You remember your Creator in 
your youth. You give your heart to Christ in your youth, and 
He will keep you, and you will try and prove Him to be faithful 
every step of the way. Well, let us pray. Father, we 
thank You for our Lord Jesus. God, a passage like this ought 
to promote joy. It ought to promote unspeakable 
joy. We thank You for what a great 
Savior You have sent into this world. We thank you that when 
it came time for redemption, you sent the best. You sent the 
Son of your love, the one in whom you are well pleased. And 
we give you praise and we give you glory and honor for that. 
We thank you for His willingness. We thank you for His mercy. We 
thank you for His death on our behalf. And, O Father, I pray 
that sinners today, here and elsewhere, would believe on the 
Lord Jesus Christ and know the salvation of sin. And we ask 
in Christ's most blessed name,