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I'm going to be reading today from John chapter 10 verse 7 through 10.

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Now this is the last of the I Am sayings that we're going to cover.

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It's not the last in the book of John, but it's the last we're going to do in this particular series of sermons we've been going through.

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And in some sense it's also a little bit more of a difficult one to look at, which we'll get to a little bit later.

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This passage comes right after the healing of the man who was born blind, and then is kicked out of the synagogue because of his faith in Jesus Christ.

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So let's listen to what God's word says about who Jesus Christ is.

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Therefore Jesus said again, very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep.

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All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them.

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I am the gate whoever enters through me will be saved.

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They will come in and go out and find pastor.

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The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.

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I have come that you may have life and have it to the full.

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Let's pray and ask God to give thanks for his word.

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Lord Jesus, please be with us now.

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As we look at what your Bible says about who Jesus Christ is,

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please help us today to be attentive to your word so that we obey your will and we find the grace that is there in the Bible.

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Be with your people. I make this prayer in your name. Amen.

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The I am statements tell us about who Jesus Christ is.

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And part of the I am statements is that phrase itself, I am, it takes us back to the book of Exodus where God revealed himself as Yahweh.

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And one way you translate that is I am.

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But also these I am statements give us images of Jesus Christ, such as I am the good shepherd.

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I am the vine. I am the way, which is like a road, the way, the truth and the life.

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And all these images that Jesus used are to tell us about who he is, but they're also to move us.

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Because God's word is not meant to be intellectually understood, but it's to have an impact on our lives.

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And so it is with this passage here that we're looking at today.

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It tells us how our life is to be different, how much more trust we should have in Jesus Christ.

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But this one is hard to figure out. And I'll tell you why. Because at the exact same time that Jesus is saying I am the gate or the door in some of your Bibles,

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He's also saying I'm the good shepherd. You got a lot of metaphors going on here.

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And it's hard to figure out exactly what is Jesus trying to say in all this.

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It would have been a lot better maybe from our perspective if he just stuck with the shepherd idea.

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But he doesn't. So let me clarify a little bit.

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He's telling us about salvation when he uses that image of the door or the gate, as some of your Bibles may say.

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And I want you to think of other passages, such as what you might find in Luke's Gospel where Jesus said,

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You've got to enter by the narrow gate, not the wide he is referring to heaven and being with Jesus.

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And our great hope resides in the fact that Jesus died for our sins and opened up a way for us in heaven.

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And what the Holy Spirit wants to do this morning is to show you that Jesus Christ is the entrance into kingdom blessedness.

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Let me repeat myself again. Jesus Christ is the entrance into kingdom blessedness.

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I want you to think for a moment, Christmas time, and right now with all the heat, we are probably wishing it was Christmas.

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But I want you to think for a moment about you go to your grandmother's house, you go to your parents' home,

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and you open up the door and there is the Christmas tree, there are the presents, there are the relatives.

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You are going through a door in which it's going to be very, very pleasant beyond what is normally there.

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Well, that's what Christ is getting at here. You go through him as a door,

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you are coming into a time of blessedness.

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So now, let's see why you and I need to cling to that truth so much.

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And one reason is because Jesus alone is the gate to heaven.

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Now let's start out by looking at the differences maybe in your Bibles for a moment.

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If you are reading the King James, if you are reading the New American Standard, it will say door.

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And to tell you the truth, that's the term I'm most familiar with.

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However, modern versions have gate.

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And you are saying to yourself, well, why is that?

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Well, it's the same Greek word, but that one word in Greek can be looked at two different ways.

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In some instances, it is used for a door.

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In other instances, it is used for a gate.

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Now the reason that the NIV and some of the other translations have gone with that idea of gate instead of door

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is because of what's taking place in the passage.

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You are dealing with sheep out in the fields.

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You are not going to find a door like you would have on your house.

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Sheep usually have gates.

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And I want you to think about the picture here for a moment.

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Now back in Biblical days, there were sheep pens.

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And these were round, rough enclosures.

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And they were made of rock.

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And on top of the rock, there were thorns.

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Now there was no literal gate.

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The shepherd was the gate.

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He would lie across the front and the entrance of the sheep pens.

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He was the one who was guarding the sheep.

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And if anybody was going to get into that sheep pen, they'd have to go over the shepherd.

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So when Jesus here is talking about a shepherd and a gate, it's the same job.

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The shepherd was the gate or the door that the sheep would have to go through.

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And if you were a wild animal or a thief or a robber, you were going to have to deal with the shepherd

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because he was there to protect the sheep.

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Think of it this way.

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If you ever see, for example, the president, he's got the secret service around him.

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He's got the big guys, dark suits, glasses.

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They're to guard.

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Well, Jesus as the gate is the one who is guarding the sheep.

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He's taking care of them.

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And what Jesus is saying here is, if you want to get into the sheep pen, you got to come through me.

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I can either let you in or keep you out.

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And think of other passages in the Scripture.

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Think of one of the other, I am saying.

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I am the way, the truth, and the life.

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No one comes to the Father except through me.

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We can look at other Scriptures which points to the fact that there is only one way and it is through Jesus.

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That one gets into the kingdom of God.

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So for example, in Ephesians chapter 2, verse 18,

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for through him we both have access to the Father by one spirit.

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You can turn to Hebrews and you'll find that same thought, one way through Jesus Christ to God.

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Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the most holy place by the blood of Jesus,

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by a new and living way open for us through the curtain that is his body,

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since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart

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and with full assurance that faith brings.

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Only one way to heaven, only one way into the kingdom of God and it is through Jesus.

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We use that term today, you got gatekeepers who will let you into an institution, the gatekeeper is Jesus.

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Now, let's talk about basic Christianity for a moment here.

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How do you get to heaven?

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How do you get into the new heavens and the new earth?

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How do you get to be part of the kingdom of God?

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Basic answer, you need to say Jesus.

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You need to focus in on him and let me tell you, in our multicultural world, we will say such things as,

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oh, Buddha is a way to God.

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Buddha did not die for your sins.

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Muhammad, Muhammad didn't die for your sins.

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He's not going to open up the way to heaven.

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The pope, the pope didn't die for your sins.

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Confucius, he didn't die for your sins.

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There is only one gatekeeper and it is the Lord Jesus Christ.

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The others can't let you into heaven, but Jesus Christ, the God man, he did do it.

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Now, what do you got to do today when you get into a building?

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You got to swipe the card, put in the code.

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Christianity doesn't do that. There is no secret code.

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Remember the old days, and I love this in the Perry Mason movies and shows.

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You used to have people who run the elevators.

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They let you in.

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Now, we're not personalized today.

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Let me tell you, there's no secret code.

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You're not going to get a card that's going to open the kingdom of heaven for you.

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It has to be because of a person who is going to let you in and a person who knows you.

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Think of that basic evangelistic question which you can all use.

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If you died today and Jesus said, why should I let you into my kingdom?

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What are you going to say?

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Because I've been good.

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I kept all the 10 commandments?

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No. You need Christ.

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He is the door.

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He's the one who's going to let in.

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You need to say, I believe in you Jesus who has forgiven me of my sins and died in my place.

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I've heard it said that Albert Einstein could not find his way home when he was at Princeton.

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How did they get him home?

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They had to paint his door a different color so he could find it.

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I think they painted it red.

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I don't know if that's true or not.

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But I will say this.

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You've got to go to the right door to get into heaven.

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That door is Jesus Christ.

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Remember that show?

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Let's make a deal.

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You can choose door number one, door number two, or door number three.

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Well, there isn't a door number one, a door number two, and a door number three.

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There is Jesus.

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And what this passage wants us to drill into our heads and our hearts is you've got to have Jesus.

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And we should never grow tired of looking at it or proclaiming it.

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Because in our multicultural world, the temptation is for all of us to be confused about this.

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To be too encompassing of everything.

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There's no shame.

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If Jesus said it, then we need to believe.

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So why should you believe?

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Because Jesus says, I am the gate.

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Why can you have some comfort in this life? Because Jesus said, I'm the gate.

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But there's more here, isn't it?

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It's because there might be people out there who are going to deceive you about this.

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Jesus is the gate.

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You've got to believe it.

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But beware.

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Here's another reason you need to believe it.

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Deception.

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I want you to notice here that this is what Jesus warns his disciples about in verse eight and verse ten.

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He tells them, all have come before me are thieves and robbers.

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But the sheep, they haven't listened to him.

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This is done in the context of the man born blind.

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Now these disciples were asking Jesus at this point, did this man sin or his parents?

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Jesus says, now this is all going to be done for the glory of God.

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So Jesus heals them.

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And then what happens?

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The Pharisees come out.

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They try to disprove that Jesus is God's representative.

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And do you know what happens?

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Threaten his parents.

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Parents are worried about getting kicked out of the synagogue.

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Oh, ask my son, he's old enough.

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So the son just says, look, I just know what I've experienced.

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He healed me.

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And they're going to run him out of the synagogue.

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Here you have a man who was blind and what are they trying to do?

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Run him out of the synagogue.

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They were not true leaders.

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They were not true shepherds.

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And in the Old Testament it warns us over and over again about false shepherds and false teachers and pastors.

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So for example in Exodus 34, the word of God says, son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel.

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Prophecy and say to them, this is what the sovereign Lord says, woe to you shepherds of Israel.

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You only take care of yourself.

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And there are people who can be ministers of the gospel, who are supposed to be shepherds, who are doing it for themselves.

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And Jesus also warns his disciples about those Pharisees who were not true leaders because they didn't have a heart for God.

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They didn't have a heart for the people of God. And listen to what Jesus says to them.

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He says, woe to you teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites.

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You shut the doors of the kingdom of heaven in people's faces.

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You yourself do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying.

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False shepherds.

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And Jesus is warning us here, be careful, be careful, because some who may come as representatives of the kingdom of God don't really care about God.

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They don't care about human suffering.

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They don't care about the people who are the sheep of God.

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What do they care about?

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Power, traditions that are unbiblical, keeping their reputations intact.

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That's what they're into.

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They are not true shepherds because they don't care about you at all.

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No, not true shepherds.

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And I want you to think about this for a moment.

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Just because someone parades around in a religious garment,

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just because they have the trappings of an office doesn't mean they're the true leaders.

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They may have a position, but they don't have any power.

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And what you've got to do as one of the sheep is make sure you're listening to true shepherds.

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Now let me give you an example of this. He is called Bishop Blaine.

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He was in New York City.

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You may remember some time ago that he was robbed while he was in the pulpit, lost over a million dollars of jewelry.

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Now I'm thinking to myself, hey, who has a million dollars worth of jewelry and why are you wearing it in a church?

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Always the big headlines.

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Police investigated.

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You know what happened to Bishop Blaine?

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He got arrested.

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He was tried and he was found guilty of exhorting people.

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Extortion.

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He was taken from the flock, taken people's retirement accounts.

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He's not true shepherd.

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Right now, the church overall, Protestant churches, are suffering from ministers who are taking advantage of young women.

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And then covering up with nondisclosures agreements.

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What are they in it for?

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And you also have ministers being dismissed from pulpits because of their tyrannical style of leadership.

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I can tell you in a situation like that, it's not about the sheep.

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It's about the leo and they're not true leaders.

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And I can tell you from going to seminary and jumping through all the hoops,

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there were people at seminary who should not have been there.

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They were not going to make good ministers and if they became a minister, they did not last long.

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Beware.

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Beware of who you follow.

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Because only Jesus is the gate who's willing to lie down to protect you and let you in.

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No other person can do that.

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But there is another reason here why you need to look to him.

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It's because of what you will receive.

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Let's go back to that imagery here of the gate.

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When a sheep goes into the gate and can go out, it means they're safe.

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And look at what it says in verse 9.

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I am the gate. Whoever enters to me will be saved.

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If you're looking at a footnote in your NIV, it says, or will be safe.

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The word can mean either thing.

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They will come in and they will go out.

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They will find pasture.

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What the Word of God is telling us here is that with Jesus as the gate, he's sheep or safe.

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No one is going to snatch them out of his hands.

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And a little later on, in verse 27 and through 28,

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he says, my sheep, listen to my voice. I know them and they will follow me.

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I give them eternal life and they shall never perish.

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No one shall snatch them out of my hands.

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If you are a true believer in Jesus Christ, you have a shepherd,

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just like God in the Old Testament, who is never going to let you go.

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Nothing will come between you and him.

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Now, I'm not saying you won't sin.

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I'm not saying at times you won't experience the discipline of God,

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but Jesus is going to let you go.

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You think of all those times when you have done things that have been sinful,

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Jesus isn't going to let you go. You need to repent, but Jesus isn't going to let you go.

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And keep in mind something else it says here about what you will receive.

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The blessing of God.

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Look at verse 10.

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I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.

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Now, we may be tempted just to go through that section of the verse a little too quickly.

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That word can mean over and above, extraordinary, more than enough.

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Jesus is saying, if you believe in me, you're going to have an extraordinary life.

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You're going to have a life that is beyond measure.

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You're going to have a full life if you believe in me.

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And that is partially true now, but certainly when he comes back a second time,

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the life that you will experience will be beyond what you can ever imagine.

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All those frustrations are gone. Your limitations are gone.

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You're going to have a full life. That is something we do not have in this world.

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But one day you will.

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And you know, there is a sense where that show Let's Make a Deal is sort of correct.

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Because what happens if you choose the right door?

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Oh, you get the big prize, not the booby prize, not the wrench.

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You know the vacation to Hawaii or whatever, if that's where you want to go.

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Well, it's even better for the kingdom of God.

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All of you in this life have seen some frustrations, haven't you?

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Your job didn't go like what you wanted.

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Relationships didn't work out like you wanted, but you had plans, you had dreams,

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you wanted to come to pass.

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Jesus says, if you believe in me, one day it's going to be better than what you think.

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And as Christians, here's what you need to do.

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You need to have a little sanctified imagination.

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Because too often we don't think heaven is that good.

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We don't think eternal life is that good.

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We've made it boring.

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But that's not what Jesus means when he says, I'm coming so that you can have life to the fullest.

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And the older you get, and the more frustrations you will face,

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you need to spend more time thinking about what life with Jesus in the new heavens and the new earth will be like.

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Let me just tell you, it will be that good.

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And you need to focus on that.

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The I Ams.

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They tell us about Jesus, but have you also noticed that in every one of these I Ams,

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there's been good news for God's people.

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It's as if Jesus wants you to be excited about the kingdom of God.

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He wants you to believe salvation is that good.

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And today he says, I am the gate.

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One way to heaven.

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Don't listen to those false shepherds, but life is going to be that good.

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That's what it means to look at Jesus as the gate.

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Let's pray.

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Our Lord and our God, we ask now that you will show us the goodness of your kingdom.

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Keep us from the false shepherds and help us to focus on you.

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The gate or the door of our salvation, which opens up into a world beyond our human belief.

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Hear us now, Lord. Amen.