There's a lighthouse on the hillside that overlooks life's sea. When I'm tossed, it sends out a light. that I might see. And the light that shines in darkness now will say, If it wasn't for the lighthouse My ship would sail no more And I thank God for the lighthouse I owe my life to Him For Jesus And from the rocks of sin He has shown a light around me That I might clearly see If it wasn't for the Lighthouse Everybody that lives around us says tear that lighthouse down. The big ships don't sail this way anymore. There's no use of it standing round. But then my mind goes back to that stormy night when just in time I saw the light. Yes, the light from that old lighthouse that stands up there on the hill. God for the lighthouse I owe my life to For Jesus is the lighthouse And from the rocks of sin He has shone a light around me That I might clearly see If it wasn't for the lighthouse, where would this ship be? And I thank God for the lighthouse. I owe my life to Him for Jesus. Jesus is the lighthouse And from the rocks of sin He has shone a light around me That I might clearly see If it wasn't for the lighthouse, where would this ship be? Great job. I appreciate the message in that song, and I like that Jesus Christ is exalted in it. You know, there's no higher calling that we have than to exalt Jesus Christ and I believe that if we'll lift Jesus Christ up and we'll honor the Lord then he'll bless us It's not simple, but it's fact. I am so glad to be up here I'm thankful for the invitation. I came last year and I got invited back this year. Isn't that good? I I don't know if I'm invited back because he didn't hate me or he's obligated to invite me back because I'm family. Can't be obligation because I've not invited him down to Graceway. There's no obligation on my end. If you have your Bibles, I'd like to encourage you to turn to John chapter 10 and I want to say thank you again for your hospitality. I really do genuinely appreciate the invitation to be here with you. I'm encouraged every time that I'm here and humbled for the opportunity to open up the Word of God and try to be a challenge and an encouragement to you. John chapter 10 is where we find an intimate look at Jesus. It's a passage, it's a moment in John's biography of Jesus where we see a warm view of our Savior. I have been in the ministry now for some 19 years, and I've been pastoring for a little more than 13, and I have settled on this. Everybody needs to know that they are loved. There comes a time in everybody's life where they need a little bit of help. It comes in all shapes and sizes and it comes in all different seasons of life. But it is a reality that everyone needs to know that they are loved. It is such a reality that God Himself communicated to us that He so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus. It is a message that everyone needs to hear. It is also a reality that those who have received the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior will find seasons in their life where they struggle, will encounter moments in their life where they need help that no human can give, but only the Lord. Perhaps no one in Scripture knew this with any more clarity than David. David, we're aware, was chosen by God to be king of Israel. And David, having followed God faithfully and obediently pursued the will of God, finds himself running for his life. David finds himself literally face-to-face with a giant. David finds himself, at seasons, sleeping in a cave, surrounded by wild men. This was not a hotel situation. David found himself surrounded by a ragtag group of misfits. Violent men. David was not surrounded by comfort. And in those seasons, when David would begin to question, and I know that he doubted, he pins those words in his Psalms, asking God, how long will you be silent toward me? In effect, asking, do you see what is going on in my life? David pens some of the most poignant words for any of us to hang on to. I know that you're in John chapter 10. Let me read this to you from the 23rd Psalm. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. My is a very personal thing. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me. Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." You note in that psalm that David is being declarative. David is not confused. David declares, the Lord is my shepherd. That is an unchangeable fact. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. That is not due to my surrounding circumstances nor concerning my emotional state. It is a fact. Though I pass, and I will pass through the valley of the shadow of death, and that psalm is not written to the dead, that is written to the living, we all will pass through the valley of the shadow of death at seasons. But in doing so, he says with a declaration, I will not be afraid. Why? Because the Lord is my shepherd. Jesus, in John chapter 10, is going to speak, and here's what He says there where you are, "'Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.'" But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. And a stranger they will not follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of strangers. This parable spake Jesus unto them, notice the crowd's reaction, but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them. Now Jesus, knowing their frame, that it is dust, and that they are frail, in verse 7, says unto them, Again, verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. By Me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I am come, that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep. But he that is an hireling and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth. And the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep. I am the Good Shepherd, and know my sheep. Am known of mine as the father knoweth me even so know I the father and I lay down my life for the sheep Another sheep I have which are not of this fold them Also, I must bring and they shall hear my voice and there shall be one fold and one shepherd You're in verse 16, by the way Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. No man taketh 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 commandment have I received of the Father." When we read the 23rd Psalm, we are infused with spiritual strength. I don't mean that the dire and dark circumstances of our life disappear, but I know that we declare as fact, as Christians, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He prepares a table for me where there is no sustenance that I can find of my own strength or of my own will. And when I hear Jesus in John chapter 10 step forward and declare this, I am the good shepherd, He authorizes and He backs the declaration of David in the 23rd Psalm. And it means something for me. Everybody needs a leg up. Everybody needs to know that they're loved. And that's what Jesus articulates in John chapter 10. There was an author who wrote a very interesting book about taking care of sheep. He was a shepherd, something I was not. I was raised in the Washington, D.C. area. I have been around sheep, but not a lot. I have been around wildlife, but not a lot. I have two children. That's about as wild as life gets. But he wrote from a shepherd's perspective. And what he writes teaches me something valuable about my Savior. He says this, even the largest, the fattest, the strongest, and the healthiest sheep can become cast and be a casualty. A cast sheep or a sheep that is cast down is a sheep that is heavy with wool and has laid down perhaps in some depression in the earth. And as it has laid in that depression in the earth or as it has been knocked over on its side, it will in a bit of a panic begin to flail its hooves and begin to tip ever so much slightly more over until its hooves can't reach the ground. A cast sheep is in a dire situation. In fact, a sheep that is unable to regain its feet is on its way to an ugly death. A cast down sheep. Do you understand that in the 23rd Psalm, when David says, he restoreth my soul, inherent in the language there is the good shepherd goes around and finds those cast down sheep that cannot regain their feet and he sets them right again. He restores those sheep. even the strongest, even the healthiest, even the largest, even the fattest sheep can at times find themselves cast down. He writes several other things about sheep that I find interesting. He says this, sheep are of limited intelligence. I can identify with that. When it comes to finding food, they're definitely uncreative. Not so much. As creatures of habit, they will follow paths through desolate places, even though excellent forage is not that far away. Sheep are also given to listless wanderings. He writes, there are even accounts of their walking directly into open fire. They're stubborn and they are timid. They are frightened by the most ridiculous things. They are absolutely defenseless. And then he says this, Of all animals subject to husbandry, sheep take the most work. Do you realize that when the Bible uses the metaphor of Jesus as the good shepherd and his followers as sheep, it is not hyperbolic speech. It is not something that is just crazy. It is fact that he is shepherd and we are sheep. And every fact that is true about sheep is true about us. We are timid and we are stubborn. We are defenseless and we are given to listless wandering. We are uncreative in finding our own sustenance. We are creatures of habit. We take an awful lot of work. Thankfully, we're sheep of the Good Shepherd. A little study of the shepherd and his sheep here from John chapter 10 is all that I want to communicate to you tonight. What I really want to do is exalt Jesus Christ, and in exalting Jesus Christ, I want to equip you for the life that you are now living. The Jewish shepherd would have two different places they would keep their sheep. If he was out in the Judean wilderness, out in those hillsides where we know that David kept sheep, if you were out in the Judean wilderness, as night would come, you would come to a small corral with a simple, very low rock wall that had been built. The shepherd would take his flock and he would put them into this low slung corral and there wasn't a gate and the shepherd would go and he would lay himself across the opening and thus he would become the door. If you were in a city or a village of any size, you would find that there was a communal corral. The walls were much more thick. They were certainly set there. They were larger. They were taller. There was a gate, and there was a hired porter who would be there at the gate, and as shepherds came into the city with their flocks, they would put them in this communal corral. Here, as we begin John chapter 10, Jesus is taking our minds to the communal corral in the city. He's taking us to this scene where we look and there within this corral, where a porter stands and a gate exists, are sheep from all different and various flocks. And here's what he says in verse 14. I am the good shepherd and know my sheep. and am known of mine." You have to hear Jesus in the day and moment in which He's speaking to a group of people who understood husbandry of sheep. When He talked about this communal corral, they weren't wondering. They weren't thinking up something. They knew exactly what He was talking about. And Jesus says, I come to that communal corral, I walk in, I know my sheep, and my sheep know me. And when I speak, my sheep hear me and they respond. Let that sink in for a minute. I know my sheep. Isn't that a beautiful reality? That the Good Shepherd knows us. Think about that. He knows my name. In fact, we could take this deeper. We can understand that when I was curiously wrought in the inward parts, He already had penned my story. He designed me to look this way. He gave me the lineage that He designed for me to have. He knows me. One author said this, he knows us in the most profound ways. He knows our past with its failures and its hurts. He knows our present, our unrealized longings. He knows us in the most intimate ways. He knows our idiosyncrasies. He calls us by our characteristics. There are things that we aspire to be. And there are things that God has wired us to be. Do you comprehend that every situation, every circumstance that exists in my life, if not for the consequence of sin, every situation that exists in my life is an assignment that I have received from God? Oftentimes an exasperation will say things like this, I know that God won't give me more than I can handle, but there is truth in that. Because God is the author and designer of every one of your characteristics. And He calls you and He calls me according to our characteristics. He doesn't do so blindly. He doesn't do so ignorantly. In the most intimate ways, God knows us. Think about that. There's something that you wrestle with. There are thoughts that swirl in your mind. There are emotions that are in your heart. There are questions and there are doubts. God knows. You have strengths and you have weaknesses. You have unrealized longings. God is aware. Can I add this layer too? He says, I know my sheep. How many churches are full of people that are trying to fake out the Lord? trying to act like they're in the flock, trying to act like they're on the team. And he says as clear as can possibly be spoken, no one fools me, I know my sheep. How does He know us and meet our deepest needs? Very simply, I say this, His protection is clear. In verse 17, Jesus said unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture." Do you know that in the story that Jesus is telling, He has now moved us from the communal corral in the city out to the wilderness? And he says, I know my sheep and am known of mine. And when I walk in past the porter at the gate and I begin to speak, my sheep respond to me. And I know which ones are mine. I never take one by accident. I know every weakness and every idiosyncrasy of every one of my sheep. I call them by their characteristics. How does he meet our deepest needs? By his protection. We're now out in this low-slung corral. We're in the Judean wilderness. David told us that as he was out in the Judean wilderness, he would keep watch of those sheep at night. He killed a lion and he killed a bear while tending to this flock. The shepherds who were taking care of the temple sheep out there outside of Jerusalem, when the angel choir comes, we know that they were taking care of their flock by night. What were they doing? They were protecting the sheep from harm. And Jesus says, I know what this world is like, and I know that there are predators around every corner. You are my sheep. I am the door. No one gets to you unless they come past me, and nothing's coming past me. I have some staff, and I love them, and they both, in the last year, have had babies. Little, tiny babies, and I'm desperate to win their affection. I believe in some weird, strange way pastors are like all-time grandparents. Don't mean all-time good grandparents. I just mean in a way you have a role with people's children You don't have to raise them. You don't have to discipline them You can do whatever you want with them and you can send them back to their parents You can feed them ice cream. You can give them candy. You can let them have their way You say that's bad pastoring then don't come to my church. I We had one yesterday. I was in the offices and his mother was sitting in an office chair and he had crawled over by the door. I walked over to him and I knelt down and I said, hey, Grayson, come here, buddy. And as soon as I knelt down and I said, come here, buddy, he looked at me. got a panicked look on his face, and as fast as he could, crawled over. He didn't go to his mother. He crawled over behind the office chair on the far side of the office and leaned around and looked at me. And what he didn't realize was this is what he was communicating. Sir, I don't want you. And if you try to get me, you're gonna have to get through her. And by the time you cover all that ground to get to me, all I have to do is this, and I'm in her lap. I'm safe because she's here. And I maybe was in a little danger over there, but the second I sensed the predatory animal had entered the room, I got back to the place of safety, and you have to get through her to get to me. Do you comprehend, Christian, that Jesus, the Son of God, said, I'm the door. I'm the door. Whoa. No one can get to me. No predator can take me out. I'm the door. 1 John 4, for greater is he that is in me, the good shepherd, than he that is in the world, the roaring lion. I'm not afraid. It also indicates this, I'm the door. There's no way into this flock but by Jesus. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 18 says this, through Him, that is Jesus, we have access unto the Father. There's no other way. There is no other name under heaven whereby man can be saved except Jesus. Jesus said, all that ever came before me, they are thieves, they are robbers. They have broke through to steal and to kill and to destroy. The word steal in the Greek is klepto. We get our word kleptomaniac from that. To kill as it is used there means to kill for food, for sustenance. What Jesus is saying is anyone who climbs over this pin without going through the door. They're false teachers. They're not there for you. They're there as kleptomaniacs so that they might take you and feed on you for their own good. I'm the door. If this world asked me, are you a pastor? Yes. What is the main thrust of your message? That there's no other way into the flock except by Jesus. He's the chief cornerstone. It is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. We didn't concoct this. This isn't our idea. This is the Lord's doing. It is marvelous in our eyes. How can we sit on a message that clear? That's it. There is no answer. You understand that, right? There is no answer in the political system. The church has merely become another voting block to contend with and it's sad. We're not competing for the same podium or for the same power as any political party. We have Jesus Christ and we are aware He's the only way into the flock. Jesus said, I am the door. One wrote, had Jesus compared Himself to a wall, we would have to climb over it to be saved. That would be hard work, and some of us might not be able to do it. Had He compared Himself to a long, dark passageway, we would have to feel along it. Some might be afraid to try, but He is not a wall. He is not a passageway. He is a door, and a door can be entered easily and instantly. What did Jesus say? If any man will enter in, he shall be, and here's a word that modern religion doesn't like, saved. You know what saved means? Simply delivered, safe, and sound. Sirs, what must I do to be saved? What must I do to be delivered safe and sound? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house. Do you comprehend that it doesn't matter whether religion or modern thinking or critical thinking likes the word saved, Jesus used it. And I can look at someone with conviction and say, if you want to be saved, Jesus is the only way. We're not right because we dress different. We're not right because we act different. We're not right because we sing different. We're righteous as we align ourselves with the doctrine of Scripture. And if you are not proclaiming the name of Jesus, then you are not right with God. He's the door. I say in verse 11 with Jesus as He says, I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep. His protection and His passion. He gives His life for the sheep. Again, stop for a second. Think about this. You're a sheep. You're timid and you're stubborn and you're filled with fear over the most ridiculous things. You take a ton of work. You are uncreative in finding something of sustenance for yourself. It is possible that you are tipped over and that you are cast down. Take strength from the fact that He is your protection. He's the door. No one's getting to you unless they get through the Good Shepherd. Understand this. He draws a distinct contrast between Him, the Good Shepherd, and the hireling. Now, we're going to jump back to the city corral. Now we've got the paid porter who stands there at the gate and as the shepherds come, he stands there and he's there to take tabs and make sure everything's in order. But when the wolf comes, the hired porter at the gate gets out a dodge and the wolf gets to the sheep and the sheep are scattered. And Jesus says, don't you ever think for one second that I'm not in this with you. I give my life for you. When no one else seems to love you, when no one else seems to understand, when no one else seems to care, Jesus said, I died for you. I give my life for you. Think about that reality. A sheep is so timid that as long as there seems to be some threat, he'll remain standing. And yet David wrote, he maketh me to lie down in green pastures. I think He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. Does that mean God comes up to me and says, lay down? Nope. It means He removes every obstacle. He removes everything that would induce fear. He removes all aspects of discomfort so that I lay down. He maketh me to lie down because I am aware that no one has ever loved me so purely, and no one has ever protected me so thoroughly, and yet in my weakness, I am dominated by the fear of man, unfulfilled expectation, unrealized longings. David also wrote, yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Do you comprehend how fear will strangle you? Fear will incapacitate you. The fear of man, according to scripture, bringeth a snare. We're so afraid. We are passive. We are timid. All of life concerns us. Listen, my hope is not in Washington, D.C. My hope is not in whether there is or is not global warming. My hope is not in whether you are recycling or you are not recycling. Listen, my hope is not in whether abortion is legal or illegal. My hope is not in the homosexual agenda or if moral people prevail. My hope is in Jesus. Jesus is never changing. And the psalmist said, yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Now we have to stop for just a second because he's just said he leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Does that mean that he can be leading me and that the path can go through the valley of the shadow of death? Yeah, he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. What's David saying? There are going to be treks in life where it's winter time and the shadows are long. and you're in a passageway where there's not a lot of freedom of movement and there are holes not too far away and they could have a predator inside of them and it is icy and it is slick and you are literally passing through the valley of the shadow of death. But don't be afraid. Why? Did you hear what he says? Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. The rod was something the shepherd would use as a weapon. The staff was something he would use to snag that sheep who had gotten too far away. Promise yourself, according to Scripture, He gave His life for you. As you go through this world, as you go through this life, He's with you. And He fears nothing. Not even death. He's already conquered that too. Lastly, he provides for us. In verse 11, I referenced, he said, I am the good shepherd. In verse 14, he says, I am the good shepherd. The word that is used there intimates beautiful. Beautiful. Jesus, your savior, is the beautiful shepherd. An old pastor from the 1800s said, there is more in Jesus, the Good Shepherd, than you can pack away in a shepherd. He is the Good, the Great, the Chief Shepherd, but He is much more. Emblems to set him forth may be multiplied as the drops of the morning, but the whole multitude will fail to reflect all his brightness. Creation is too small a frame in which to hang his likeness. Human thought is too contracted. Human speech too feeble to set him forth to the full. He is inconceivably above our conceptions, unutterably above our utterances. Why is he beautiful? Because He knows us. He relates to us. Because we know Him and He sees to our every need. Because He's the door of protection and salvation. Because of His passion and His love for us, greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. There's no greater declaration of love than Jesus laying down His life for you. Don't buy the lie that no one cares. His provision is beautiful. It is such that He knows everything about you. When He says, I know my sheep, it is that wonderful word, I know them by experience and I know them by relationship. But He also says, and my sheep know me. I drive back to the analogy of the little baby. And here's what I see. That little child crawling out is in a dangerous predicament because he's too far away from safety. Now the reality is mama was always sitting right there and you are not going to deaden her instincts for her baby. Her natural reaction is to come after you and claw you to death if you try to do anything to that child. I'm married to one of those, I know it. But what he understood was this, I sense danger, I better get back over where I'm safe. I better get back over to the place where I know by experience and by relationship that everything's okay. As we finished out the passage that we read, he was talking about us was Jesus and other sheep I have which are not of this fold, this immediate fold, them also I must bring and they shall hear my voice and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. Do you comprehend that Jesus was our perfect substitute? That Jesus knows your name, he knows your nature, he knows your needs. He is the good shepherd, not a good shepherd among many, he is the good shepherd. I love how one pastor wrote, he said this, he is not a good shepherd among any, he is the good shepherd, let us go on. Now I don't do it that way. But think about how clear he just said that for slow people like us. He's not a good shepherd among many, he's the good shepherd, let's go on. You know what that means? Hey, tomorrow's Tuesday. You have to go back into the real world. There are predators everywhere. He's not a good shepherd among many. He is the good shepherd. Let's go. You have to proclaim the gospel. I don't know how long you have. I don't know how long I have, but I do know this. I am a sheep and the fold of the good shepherd, not a good shepherd among many, the good shepherd. Let's go on. I have to raise my kids. I have to navigate a marriage. I have to pastor a church. I have to fulfill the calling of God on my life, which he has assigned to me according to my characteristics. He knows my weaknesses. He knows my strengths. You say, hold on, I have health issues. Hold on, I have financial issues. Understand, He has not given you something on accident. It's your assignment. And He knows you. He knows you. He knows what you need. He knows what you can handle. He's not giving you too much. He knows when the end's coming. And He's already told us this, I know when the end comes, and where I'm at, it's already beautiful. Just navigate this dark valley. I don't want to take another step. He's not left you. He's right there. But I wonder, have you crawled some distance from the Good Shepherd? When he steps into the corral and he begins to speak, do you deafen your ear or are you keenly, intently listening and developing by experience and relationship that knowledge of Jesus Christ, your Savior? Is there anything we can do any better than exalting Jesus? No. He's the Good Shepherd. Let's go on. Heavenly Father, we thank You for the truth of Your Word. We thank You for this view of Jesus, our Savior. Forgive us for being so carnal. Forgive us for being so full of pride. Forgive us for distancing ourselves, deadening our sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. Forgive us for diminishing the greatness and the beauty of Jesus, the Good Shepherd. May we, by our actions and by our emotions and by our priorities and by our prayers, indicate we glorify Jesus, we trust Him fully, and we pursue with reckless abandon the mandate that you've given us to proclaim His name to this world. We ask all of this in Jesus' name, amen.