Iconic Jesus  Part 4

Hey there, Rockavoyne. How are doing? Hey.

It's good to see you. Good to see all you here. Good to see you out there on the livestream. Actually, I don't see you. You see me. So but it's good. It's good for you to see me, I guess. I don't know. What am I talking about here? Hey. As we get started, I wanna ask you guys a question.

Take it serious. Think deeply before you answer. But it's this, have you at some point in your life ever been a child?

Hopefully, the answer is yes to everyone in the room.

If not, then, there's you're an alien or some other creature. I don't know but what's going on? No, I'm joking but but the reality is we all have been children and if you remember back being a kid, sometimes that, remember the wonder of being a kid, how just cool things were and how how and sometimes fantasy and reality were kind of blurred.

I remember when I was a kid, would get get up early because I had one incentive to get ready to school early because my mom would let me turn on the TV because the last half an hour before I had to leave in the morning to go to school was that they would play reruns of an old TV show because I'm not that old, but it was called the Adventures of Superman.

It was black and white. A guy named George Reeves played Superman. Anyone remember that show? Uh-huh. I just made you admit you're old. But but but, yeah, it was this is all and, you know, it was old even for me. It's back in the forties, fifties.

And and and I just remember thinking this is so cheesy, so I didn't blur that line because it was just an old school. I mean, George Reeves, he wasn't a terribly out of shape guy, but the way you imagine Superman, he just looked like a middle aged guy wearing some pajamas. That that's what it looked like. And and but it was I liked watching it.

Well, him playing Superman, George Reeves, I I discovered back when he played TV

stars of shows were not quite as highfalutin as they are today. They would actually have to stop in the middle of the show when they're filming, and they would actually do a commercial, like like like just do the commercials and stuff. And the other thing they had to do is they had requirements in their contract to do public appearances.

And so he had to show up in public dressed like Superman. And I'm telling you, that original Superman costume back then looked like it literally looked like really tight

sweat suit or pajamas with an s on it. And and so he had to show up, but that's not what made him hate it so much. It wasn't pleasant for him to show up in public as Superman because like I said, kids, separation of reality and fantasy.

When he would show up, there was always a kid that would wanna kick him in the shins or throw a rock to see it hit because they wanted to see the man of steel to see if he's really as tough as the man of steel says. So it was always a pain for him to stay in character and go in these public appearances. Well, in 1953,

at one of these in a department store, one kid blurred that line a little too far. As he waited in line to meet Georgios, he walked up. He then proceeded to pull out his dad's revolver that he snuck out of the house and pointed at him and says, hey, Superman. I want to watch a bullet bounce off of your chest.

And he was about to pull the trigger. Unfortunately, George Reeves knew he wasn't Superman. He knew he wasn't bulletproof, but he was quick wit enough to say, hey, son. I get it. Superman is bulletproof,

but you're not, and no one else is around you. And here's the thing. The bow bullets do bounce off of me. So if you pull that trigger, it's gonna bounce off me and hurt somebody else who's watching. Do you want that to happen? Would Superman want that to happen? And the kid put the gun down.

And after the kid put the gun down, George Reeves put his Superman suit on. He refused to honor the contract, and he never appeared in public dressed as Superman again after that point.

You know why? Because he could act as Superman. He could say the lines. He could be dressed like it. He could pretend all he wanted, but he knew he was George Reeves, and he knew he wasn't bulletproof. That's kind of what we're gonna be talking about today

in the in the topic on this iconic Jesus. We're going through a part of the book of John

that where Jesus is making these statements, these I am statements where he's declaring that he's god and he's declaring some things but he is talking to a crowd of people that maybe we can relate to. We can relate to them. There are some people that they they act like they're Superman

and don't even realize that they're not,

that they're not bulletproof. They're trying to live the life to make it work. They're trying to go through life and say, hey. I got the system. I know how to do this. I know how to make life work. I know how to have a relationship with god and all that, but they're ignoring Jesus, who is the actual Superman. He's the one that can save the day and and all that, but they don't wanna listen. They wanna listen to their own system and their own way of doing things. And and in other words, they wanna figure life out on their own and they're acting like Superman.

They're acting like they're bulletproof. They're playing the part but they're not really and you know what? We might discover that that might be describing some of us here today. Matter of fact, a lot of us that come to church, we have the wrong idea of what it means to know Jesus.

We we come here and we think I have to be a better person. I have to be good. Some of us, you have your Superman costume hanging in your closet and you put it on when you come to church. We gotta come here and act a role. Yes, I am super Christian. You know, and and then you walk in and act like you have it all together

and and and then I I see you out to lunch with your family afterwards and and you see me and we're like, oh, this is a disaster.

Mainly because you see me having meltdowns.

But what we're going to see today is Jesus makes an I am statement that sounds vague. He says, I am the gate. That sounds weird. I am the gate and what we're going to unpackage today is simply this big idea.

Jesus is the gate to salvation and satisfaction. Salvation and satisfaction. What do I mean by that? Well, let's go into our Bibles. We're going to be in John chapter 10 but I want to kind of review a little bit about what happened in John chapter nine.

First, I encourage you to open your Bibles, bring a Bible, underline, or at least have a Bible app. We're not putting this the words up on the screen because

we want to encourage you to actually interact with those words yourself and it could be a Bible app. You pull out your phone. Just make sure it's an actual Bible app. It's not Candy Crush. Otherwise, Jesus knows and he will smite you but

but you didn't hear me say that if you're already playing Candy Crush. So, who cares?

But I want to kind of review. Last week, we in chapter nine, Jesus made a statement that he says, I'm the light of the world and then he healed him, a man that was born blind. He's trying to say, I'm the light. I am the way. I am the truth and and and he heals his man. Well, there's a group of people, these Pharisees and these religious teachers a lot that they were acting like Superman.

And and they got mad at Jesus because they wanted to have their religious system, but they didn't wanna trust Jesus. And and and so they were really frustrated. And this is the point in Jesus' ministry where he's starting to get a lot of opposition. These religious leaders are getting frustrated with Jesus because, like, hey, we already have the Bible. We already have it. We're we're the chosen people. We're the Israelites. We're the Jews. We we

don't need you. We got this. And so when Jesus heals this man, they start nitpicking in the rules that he broke and all this stuff, and they get mad at him. Well, this guy testifies to who Jesus is, as you saw last week, and they kick him out.

They basically excommunicate this man born blind. Well, Jesus then goes and finds him and says, do you believe in the savior? Do you believe? And he goes, yes. Would who is he? And he goes, it's me. And he worships him, and he's talking to him. And before we get into chapter 10, it's important to to see the end of this conversation conversation in in chapter chapter nine is when Jesus says in verse 39, I entered this world to render judgment,

to give sight to the blind, and to show those who think they see that they're blind. So he says, I came to say people that know they're in trouble, they know they're blind, they realize it. Basically, people who know they're George Reeves and not Superman,

people who know they're not bulletproof, I came to rescue them. But he goes, but I also came for those who think they are Superman, For those who who who are blind but don't even realize it. They think they see, but they don't. They think they have their act together, but they don't.

He and and what's interesting is every time Jesus so often when he's having a conversation to somebody, he's really starting a fight through somebody, to someone else. He's starting a conversation through him. So, says this and he knows that it says in verse 40, some Pharisees, the people who are blind but think they see,

they were listening, and they heard him, and they asked, are you saying we're blind? I just assume Pharisees say it like that. And

and Jesus replies, if you were blind, you wouldn't be guilty. What does that mean? He says, if you were just blind, if you were just, you know, stuck and trapped in in this world, it's like that's not the worst thing. The worst thing is not to just be blind.

Because he goes, I can fix that. If you realize you're blind and you trust me, you'll be okay. He goes, the real problem is, he says, but you remain guilty because you claim you can see.

So you remain guilty before me. You are lost, and you're saying you're not saved. You are far from me. You don't have relationship with god. You're not you're not able to walk out the life I've made you for. You're not able to even though you're being religious, even though you're trying to to to be this good person, you can't do it because you're blind. And the problem is you don't even admit that you are blind.

So we have an issue. So then in chapter 10, he continues the conversation. Chapter 10, the reason I set that up is everything he says next is continuing that conversation. But he changes the illustration.

So he goes from light and dark, from blind and seeing, to give them another point of view of what he's trying to say. And he so here's what he does in chapter 10. He goes, I tell you the truth. Anyone who sneaks over the wall of a sheepfold rather than going through the gate must surely be a thief and a robber. But the one who enters through the gate is a shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. They won't follow a stranger. They will run from him because they don't know his voice.

So he goes from talking about blind and seeing to say, here's what you don't get. It's like this sheepfold and the sheep. And there's a shepherd, and there's a gatekeeper. So all of a sudden, shepherd, gatekeeper, sheep. What? He switches the illustration, but he's still saying the same thing. You need me.

You need to see the way. You need to know who I am. You you need to understand what's going on. And but before we can take this apart, there's something we need to understand about what he's trying to say here. Because I don't think there's no shepherds in here, is there?

I asked this because I I made that assumption about five years ago, four or five years ago, and someone came up to me afterwards and says, I'm a shepherd. I have, like, 200 sheep. And I'm like, really? Wow. I stand corrected. He lived out in Queentucky somewhere, I suppose, but times have changed.

So so anyways, here's the thing. You hear this illustration and obvious in the story, we're gonna see this week and next week. Jesus is the shepherd, but he's also gonna say he's the That's what we're gonna focus on here in a sec. In this illustration, the sheep are us.

But before I take that apart, you gotta understand that to be called a sheep, you might not understand or we might not really, really appreciate what that means. I mean, sheep, they're all fuzzy and cute and fluffy, and it's nice, and he takes care of us, and it sounds so gentle. But for Jesus to call us sheep,

I don't think that's a huge compliment. You see, to understand you understand what he's saying about us as sheep. Do you know much about sheep? Sheep are are interesting animals. First, they they they they kind of snub their nose at the Darwinian idea of survival of the fittest.

They should be extinct. There are so many much more worthy animals that can survive that have gone extinct. How on earth do sheep still exist?

They have no known defense against any of their predators, and almost everything is a predator of them, including a strong wind. And you know what else is a strong predator against sheep? Sheep themselves because they're not very smart,

and they don't see very well, and they don't have big claws. They can't run fast. They can't fight. They're not even smart enough to have good tactical plans. Their basically best defense mechanism against a predator is, did you bring salt for your pork chops? That's about all they can do.

And matter of fact, they're so not smart that they've been known shepherds known that if they're up on a high place, the shepherd better stand near where the edge is and pay attention because sheep will be eating grass, and they will eat right off of the cliff.

And they are so dumb that other sheep will follow them right off the cliff. They'll go right with them, and and they don't care. You ever heard you know, like, if your parents says, are you like a lemming following lemmings? If one lemming jumped off a cliff, would you? You know what lemming parents say to their kids? Are you gonna be like a sheep? If one sheep goes off the cliff, would you follow it? That's how bad it is.

And and and so they're not real bright. They actually have no social structure where where the older ones are followed by the younger ones. A sheep will follow any other sheep, Meaning, a little lamb could wander off and the older sheep will just follow him.

That's why that beautiful picture of of the shepherd with the little lamb around his neck seems like such a pretty picture. You know what he's doing? He's broken the leg of that lamb and he's carrying it because that's called a wanderer.

And here's the problem. The littlest lambs tend to wander because they're they're they're even dumber than the older sheep, and they know, let's not stay together. Let's wander. But then the adult sheep are dumb enough to go, where is he going? And follow the kids.

Who on earth lets kids lead the way? Who on earth goes where their kids oh, wait. I forgot what culture we're in. But how's that working out for you? Not too well. So they'll just wander off. So they have to break the leg because it's like, gotta stop this lamb from helping all the others wander off.

They'll also sit there, and sheep will actually die of starvation or dehydration being only feet from food and water. They have to be shown literally where it's at. And then even when they do find food and water, the other thing that has to happen is they will literally

eat and drink themselves to death if you don't stop them. They they they will drink until their stomach explodes.

They will eat until they're so full. And there's something about how a sheep works that they can't truly finish digestion without laying down, but they'll refuse to lay down. So they will stand up till they die, which puts whole new meaning. Go read up on sheep, and then go read the Psalms 23, you'll understand a lot better. There's a line in the twenty third Psalm that says, he makes me lie down in green pastures.

Haven't you always read this? Isn't that such a nice Jesus? He knows that we're always so busy that he makes me rest. That's not what it's saying.

It's saying he makes you stop eating and sit down because you're about to gorge yourself to death and your stomach's about to explode. He's saying that sometimes what you think is good that you need more and more and more and more of, he's saying, no. You don't need more of that. You need to just sit down and stop.

That's what it's saying. Because sheep are not too bright. Other thing they'll do is if they fall over on their back you ever seen sheep? They a hard time. I was just watching a video this way. I just looked up. How dumb are sheep? There's some crazy videos out there. And and

this one sheep, it fell over and and and the problem is the the shepherd guy, he's trying to get it up. It's almost fighting him. I mean, how does this thing survive in the wild? It wasn't like some it fell in a ditch. It just literally fell over and it couldn't get back up and and and it's sitting there with its life alert. I've fallen and I can't get up and and he's trying to push it and it's fighting and he knows if he doesn't get it up, it'll die. If their stomach stays up, something happens, it kills them. The the the shepherding term is it's called, you have a cast sheep.

It fell over, it cast, and it died. So they have to get up. So they fight this thing. They finally get it up. It's hilarious. It gets up. He goes, and it starts to run away, which not real fast, but it runs away. Gets like 10 steps, tripped,

and goes over again. It's like, and they had to go help it up. It's like, how do these creatures even still exist? So when Jesus says we're sheep, you know what he's saying is? We are wanderers. We're not as smart as we think we are. We are defenseless.

We can't do our own way. We can't find our own system. And if we don't have a really good shepherd that really loves us and protects us and shows us the way and guides us, and if we don't listen to him, we're dead. That's what the illustration is saying. So we need to understand that.

But you know what? Now that we know that, it's still a little confusing because even the crowd that knew sheep and knew what he's talking about still didn't quite get what he was trying to say. So verse six says, those who heard Jesus use this illustration didn't understand what he meant.

So he explained it. He goes, I tell you the truth. I am the gate for the sheep. So so he's saying, I'm the gate. Now they went on to this because when he says there's sheep, there's the shepherd, and and next week, he calls himself the shepherd too, and and that's that's accurate. Because what'll happen is

when they would try to to to to protect sheep, you put them in the pen to to keep them safe, so to be in the fold, to be in the kingdom of God, be in relationship with God. But he's using sheep as an illustration. The shepherds would herd. They'd either build a wall

and have an enclosed area that they would get them all in or a natural formation or something that they could keep them safe from predators and safe from themselves from wandering and all that. They'd funnel them in, and if they built it, they would always find a place where they'd have one little narrow opening. There's only one way in or out and then they would have what's called the gatekeeper.

Now, most of the time, the gatekeeper is just the shepherd or if it's several shepherds together, one of them would be the gatekeeper And what that means is there's not literally a gate. They were the gate.

They would actually get them all in, and then the the shepherd would then sleep in that opening. He'd lay down in that opening. So nothing gets in or gets out without going through him. So Jesus says, I am the gate.

You are the sheep. So if you're gonna be in my fold, if you're gonna be in a relationship with God, if you're gonna be in the kingdom, if you're gonna be a part of of that, you have to come through me. That's the only way. It's the only way. He even says in the next line, he says, those who come in through me will be saved.

See the big idea. Jesus is the gate of salvation. It's first the thing. He goes, he's the way in. He's the way in. Those who come in through me will be saved.

What he's trying to say to him is these religious leaders are saying, we have the law. We have the list of rules. We have the dos and don'ts. We we have the system. We have the map to the pasture. We have all this. We don't need the shepherd. We don't need that. We can go figure out life on our own.

But Jesus, your sheep, that's not gonna work. There's only one way in to salvation or to say salvation into a relationship with the God who made us. And it's not by being good enough. It's not by having following the rules. It's not by, you know, you know, being, like, ridiculously good looking like I am. It's that's

I'm joking, by the way. But it's it's it's not anything I do. I get in through Jesus. When he says, I'm the gate. He goes, I'm the only way. I'm the I'm the only way in. And and, you know, we'll see next week that symbolism of laying down is he he he didn't just lay down to sleep to block the way. He he laid down his life

so we can get in. So there's only one way to have relationship with God, and that's salvation is only through Jesus. Well, that seems kinda narrow. Doesn't that seem pretty exclusive? There's only one way.

I mean, but Jesus said this a lot. He he he said this many times. In Matthew seven, he uses a different illustration to say the same thing. He goes, wide is the road that leads to destruction,

but narrow is the road that leads to life. Now that sounds that sounds really so he's like, okay. So it means what is he trying to say? I'm only allowing a few people in this tiny little road, this tiny little door, this tiny little way, and everyone else is going down this road and they're dying. No. It's not about being exclusive. It's about being effective.

Like, if you're driving, there might be a great superhighway. But if it's bridge out ahead, you're not gonna get anywhere. There might be a dirt road over here that, man, that's bumpier. It's scarier. It's darker. It's not as wide. It's not as pleasant, but it actually gets to the destination.

That's what he's trying to say. The same thing with the door. He is the door. We live in a culture now that says, you're saying Jesus is the only way? That seems a little narrow. It seems a little intolerant, doesn't it? Let me put it this way. I was watching one of those survivalist shows,

and and they were out on the Serengeti plane out in Africa. They just dropped these people agreed to go out in the middle of nowhere and and just be dropped in with nothing

and not even close, actually, actually, on on the the show. It's crazy. It's it's edited. Don't worry. So I'm not watching weird stuff. But but they just got they just drop them in with nothing.

And they put them in a place where there was active lions and and stuff. Lions and tigers and bears. Oh my. And the first thing they did, I would say the first thing they did is find some clothes and get something to drink. But that's not what they did. The first thing it is, they went after building a shelter.

Because they knew if we don't get a shelter to protect us, these animals, the lions in particular, will will they already know we're here. They can smell us. They're gonna come find us. They're they're gonna try to kill us. So they built a shell shelter that's very similar to what they would try to do with these sheep. They built something high enough. They just use sticks and all this weird stuff. You know? You can see right through it, which to me would seem weird. It's like, I wouldn't want the lion to see me. Right?

It it it it it doesn't matter.

Lions aren't stupid. They eat the sheep. Right? So so they they they it doesn't matter if they can't see you. They know you're in there. So what you wanna do is build it high enough and make it all these sticky and pointy and they grab all the thorny. Anything that pokes and and pricks you wedge that in everywhere. When you create this wall that even the lion knows you're in there, it would hurt too much. It would cost too much. They couldn't really get in there. Well, then you need a way in. And how they build the way in and the way out is they build a little teeny hatch, Like a piece that looks like the wall, but it's breakaway.

And they wanna make that as small as you possibly only big enough that you can get in and out because that's gonna be a weak link. You don't want are you gonna build a huge opening? Look at this awesome thing. And we have this giant, you know, nine foot door that's wide open. Like, why would that would be stupid?

You see, the idea of it being a narrow door, it's not so much about what it's trying to keep in or not let in. It's about what it's really trying to keep out and what it's trying to do for those who are in. And

if you actually wandered across this area because you got stranded, and they found you, and there was lions coming, and they said, come into our shelter. And they go, here. How do I get in? Oh, right down there. There's this one little gate, this door. You just gotta put that's kinda small. I have to kinda get crawl?

That's gonna be hard for everyone to find. That's pretty intolerant and narrow minded of you. Would you say that? Or would you just go, thank you very much, and crawl in there? See, when Jesus says he's the only way, he's not trying to be exclusive. He's telling you what is effective.

No other way will work, but that's not popular in our culture right now. Even amongst people that go to church, maybe amongst some of you go, I I like this Jesus thing. I've been coming here. I I Jesus kinda works for me. He's I'm discovering Jesus is my truth.

I'm finding my truth. But who am I to say that your truth isn't something else? Why aren't we supposed to just live our truth? Did Jesus say, I tell you a truth? Did Jesus tell you, hey. This is my truth? What did he say twice in the verses we read already? I tell you the truth.

That is not popular, because we live in a culture right now that's even coming into us, and it's this is a lie. When he described anything that tries to get in from the other way is the thief and the robber that's come to kill and destroy. But yet, we treat that like you you can't be exclusive.

You can't say there's only one way to God, and that's through faith in Jesus. You narrow minded, bigoted, you know, intolerant Christians. But he he here's the problem with a culture that says tolerance is the most important thing. If tolerance is our chief value, we gotta tolerate.

Which, by the way, the word tolerant has been redefined in just the last thirty years. You do know that. Right? Tolerance used to mean, I think you're wrong. I think your red shirt is stupid. You know? I could say that. I could believe it. That'd be mean of me, but but I could say, I think nobody should wear a red shirt.

But you know what? I'm not gonna pick on you. I'm not gonna force you anyway. I'm not gonna treat you any different. I'm not gonna do that. I I I'm just gonna introduce you to the guy with the red sweatshirt, because, you know, you guys can, like, at least get along in your stupid shirts.

But I'm not gonna pick on you. I'm telling you, that used to be tolerant. We're not gonna fight over it, but I do have the right to say I think it's wrong. That's not what tolerance means anymore.

If I don't agree that a red shirt is as good as a black shirt or is the same, if I don't agree that your way is just as good or valid, now I'm intolerant. I have to say, so here's the problem. When culture goes that way win win win. Here, I'm trying to

speak philosophically, but make really, I'm trying to make it where I understand it, because if I can get it, I think you all can get it. And and it's if if if in if tolerance is the chief value, then sincerity is the primary requisite. Sincerity then becomes the chief requirement for us to work.

So basically what you're saying is what's the number one thing for my life to work? Well, if tolerance means any way works, then how does it work? I just have to be sincere. So as long as you're sincere, then that makes it okay.

Which which is you just gotta be sincere. If you if if if that's your truth and you really sincerely believe it, then you're good. I have to let it out, and you're just as valid, And that's okay. I gotta back off and say that's just as valid because I'm gonna be tolerant. So and you're sincere.

Here's what's weird about that. This is we're talking about what is the meaning of life? How are we created? How do we know the God who created us? How do we even know there's a God? How do we know the way is to interact with him? How do we know how eternal life works? How do we know that there's something

the greatest deepest questions we could ever ask as human beings. We've lumped into you gotta be tolerant as long as you're sincere. Greatest questions, deepest meaning things. If you believe that, here's the problem I have. How many of you operate that way with your kids?

Do you really believe that's how it works? Because if you really believe tolerance is the most important, that everyone lives their own truth, and all you have to do be is sincere. So if your kid comes to you and says, you know what? My truth, mom, dad, I sincerely heartfelt believe that brushing my teeth is wrong.

Going to bed whenever I want is right. I'm never gonna move out, and I still wanna sleep in your room. And you're like, but you're 26 years old. If

you buy that system that we seem to be completely okay with when it comes to the real deepest questions of our existence, You would not tolerate that raising a child. You know why that doesn't work? Sincerity is a great virtue. Nobody wants to be a hypocrite, but you can be sincerely wrong.

Just because you're sincere doesn't mean it works. Ask a guy named Colonel Gibbon. This guy named Colonel Gibbon in 1820

said in the February 25, announced, publicly announced and declared. He says, forthwith and and and with all haste, tomorrow at noon, I shall consume an entire bushel of tomatoes in front of the Boston Courthouse.

Now, I have no idea if that's how he talked. It just seemed really cool and old timey, but but but he did. He made a public declaration that he was gonna come out there the next day and eat an entire bushel of tomatoes. Now, doesn't that sound stupid? Who wants everyone to see you eating a salad?

Think about it. Then go look at your Instagram feeds.

Now, you're catching up. Thanks for joining. I'll be here all week. Now then, why? You know what's weird? Thousands of people showed up. Thousands to watch him eat a bushel of tomatoes. You know why? You know why they all showed up? They thought they were coming to see a suicide. Because everyone in 1820, sincerely,

with all their heart, their truth was that tomatoes are poisonous to human beings. The whole crowd felt that it was right. Everyone in society says this is right. But they were wrong.

Why when it comes to our entire eternity and the reason for our existence do we flippantly say, as long as you just believe what you want really strongly, that's okay. Because there is a robber and a thief that's climb in, and wants to destroy and kill, and wants to make it seem like Jesus saying he's the only way is so

intolerant, when really Jesus is trying to be tolerant. He's trying to be exclusive. He's trying to take us who have no right being in that fold with him, and he laid down his life to create that gate so we can have life. But the enemies flipped the script on us. Jesus is the gate into a relationship with God.

So the question is, if you're honest, what's your gate right now? Just because you're sitting in church. What do you really, really, really lean into and trust for your future, for your eternity, for your salvation? Because Jesus just laid it out there and said, you don't get there except coming past me.

But you know what? It doesn't stop there. He's the way in, but a lot of times we just get stuck on that. Like, okay, I believed in Jesus. I put my faith in him. I'm saved. I'm a Christian. I got my my ticket stamped. I get to go to heaven when I die. Now, I walk out of here and live the rest of my life however I want.

He's not just the gate in. This is a two way gate. It's the gate in and a gate out. It's a gate in that's being saved but it's also he's supposed to be the gate out to satisfaction, to real life because that's what he goes on to say. He says,

I tell you the truth, I'm the gate for the sheep. Yes, I'm the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. Then he goes on to say, they will come and go freely. Not only will they come in, they'll go out freely

and will find good pastures. Even the sheep, you're gonna find the right place to eat. You're gonna find the place that you're really meant to live. He goes, the thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life. Satisfying. You see, he doesn't just wanna save us.

He wants us to find the real satisfaction of why we were made in the first place. He wants us to find a satisfaction. So we're not only supposed to just trust him to be saved, we're supposed to trust him to live.

We're supposed to follow him as the shepherd. He we go out with him. He says he we go out with him, and we go where he goes, and we do what he does. And we follow him to go to the pastor he wants us to go. And and to be honest, some of you here in a minute are gonna have an opportunity to walk through the gate of meeting him for the first time. Walk through that gate of salvation.

But there's a lot of us in this room that are gonna have an opportunity to enter back through a gate that you probably haven't gone through in a long time or maybe never, And that is the gate that goes beyond just being saved, beyond believing Jesus got you to heaven, and through the gate of saying, I'm gonna listen to his voice. I'm gonna go where he wants me to go and go live the life he wants. See, mean, we trust Jesus to save us, but some of us don't trust Jesus to satisfy us.

You trust Jesus to save you, but you're not trusting him to satisfy you. You're trusting something else. And the way you know you might be doing that is look at the way you pray. First of all, do you pray?

And then if you are praying, are your prayers filled with it seems more like you're bartering with God to get something? And are you angry when you don't get it? Is there something you've longed for that like, Jesus, I want this, and I and what happens if you never get that?

What if Jesus says, that's not my plan. That's not the pasture you're gonna be in. If you are not trusting for satisfaction, if you don't get that thing, you eventually say, I'm gonna lose hope and walk away from God because I don't trust him anymore. That tells you you want something else, not him.

Jesus wants us to not only trust him as the gate into relationship to salvation, we're supposed to trust him as the gate to go out to live life.

That's probably more of a throat punch to a lot of us in the room. So I ask you, honestly, what's your gate of satisfaction right now? What is what you really want? And as long as Jesus gives it to you, yeah, it's okay.

Or do you just trust Jesus to lead you to where he wants you to go? Because he is the gate in and out. He's the gate of satisfaction, but he's the gate of salvation. What's your gate? So I don't wanna I wanna end, but I wanna stop with just that. Hey, good luck. Hope you figure it out. Find your truth.

How do we walk through those gates? He says, you enter through me. You'll walk out with me. How do I walk into the gate through him? How do I walk out of the gate with him? You realize the answer was in this passage the whole time. It was right there. Said several times.

It starts off when he says, the gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice. He's talking about the shepherd.

And he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. They won't follow a stranger. They will run from him because they don't know his voice. You know how you go through that gate?

You have to listen to the voice of Jesus call your name. You have to hear his voice. But you know what saying? He says, but other shepherd they won't listen to anyone else other than shepherd. They'll run for their voice. I saved this. There's one thing sheep are really good at.

They're really good at recognizing and learning a voice.

So when it says the shepherd will call the sheep by name, they'll come to him, that might be confusing to you because you're like, well, wait. If it's all your sheep, wouldn't you just open the gate and tell them to come out? What he's saying is a lot of times they'd get a pen that was big enough, but a shepherd might have eight sheep, five sheep, six. And so several shepherds would put their sheep altogether.

And sheep are so good at recognizing they know the one that's taken care of. They know the one that saves them. They know the one that cares for their wool and and all that stuff. They know the one that leads them to the still waters because they have to be by still waters. You know why? Sheep are stupid enough they'll die next to running water because it scares them so they won't drink it.

Sheep need a shepherd that takes care of their wool because their wool will get a parasite that'll kill them. Their own wool kills them.

They know that voice. So what'll happen is you'll put several of them together, and in the morning, they open, the gatekeeper get the shepherd gets up, you start calling the name of your sheep, they know that shepherd's voice. So guess what? You can see this herd of sheep, and only their sheep will start walking out of the herd and go to them. The others won't go. I don't know you.

So you we are good. If we're the sheep, we're good at going to the voice we recognize. The question is whose voice do you recognize in your life?

Whose voice do you always go? Is it yours? Is it some idea out there contrary to what Jesus says? Because maybe you don't listen to Jesus' voice because you're too familiar with the other voices. We need to hear his voice.

Some of us, for the first time, you hear him call you into a relationship with him right now. But many of us, we need to listen for his voice again. When I was when when we first I first moved here in 2001 to start Rock Point. I started in 2002. At the end of 2002, my dad died. And then shockingly,

we discovered right after my dad died, my mom had cancer they didn't even know about, and she died eight weeks later. Right after my youngest daughter was born. She held her one time. That was a tough time in my life. But one thing that would help me, because I had great parents. My mom and dad were awesome.

But one thing that really helped me at that time is I discovered that I still had one of my mom's voicemails she had left me. Just one. And and and here's the deal. Back then, was just like I had no other recordings of my mom. No video. Nothing. I had all the memories, but this is the one thing I could listen to her voice.

So I listened to it a lot. Once, twice a week. Just remind. And you know what's funny is, it wasn't even that great of a voicemail. It was you think I know how to throw a punch. I got it from my mom. She's the Jedi master of mom guilt. The the voicemail was something like, Billy,

can you call me back? I really wanna talk to you. Pause.

And the reason she's pausing is because I would always argue with her. She'd call and make everything sound like emergent. Billy, I really need talk to you. Call me. And I go, oh my gosh. And I go, what do you want? I just wanna talk to you. Okay. Then, Billy, I really need that. What are you doing? And so I finally said, mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. When you call, if you listen to my message, I ask everyone to say, and if you know what it's about, can you just let me know? That way, a lot times I get calls and I call them, oh, I need know this. Well, I'm gonna have to go find out. So now we've got another call. If you let me know what you wanna talk about, I'll bring the information. And she goes, but what if I just wanna talk to you? And I'd say, let me know that because then I'll probably make the time to go. If she really just wants to talk and hang up, maybe I'll just drive over and see her. You know what I mean? I'm like, but she didn't trust me. So this voice was, Billy, call me. I really wanna talk to She paused.

I don't really wanna tell you why because I'm afraid you won't call me back. Bye. Click. That's the voice mail. My final voice mail from my mom is my mom trying to guilt me into saying, you're such a jerk that you make your son you make your mom tell you why she wants to talk to you.

But yet, it was her voice, so I listened to it. And then about a year later, we we switched phones companies.

And they failed to tell me what happens when you do that.

And that got erased. And for a while, it was okay. I mean, I missed it, but I could still close my eyes and think through our conversations like the one I just said. I could think of that phone call, and and I could hear my mom's voice saying those words.

But over the years, it finally dawned on me a couple years ago. It hit me. Hit me hard. When I was thinking about my mom in a conversation, and I closed my eyes, and I realized I can't recognize her voice anymore.

I can't hear it in my head anymore. I know the words. I know the content. I love the relationship. I know the wisdom. I I know the whole experience, and I feel it deep in my heart, but I can't hear what she sounds like anymore. It faded away.

And the truth is, if I'm really honest, what made me sad is I realized that's because I don't have a current relationship with my mom. I only have past experiences. They were amazing. They were awesome. They were incredible. But right now, I'm only living on the memories. I don't have a current moment.

So all I'm saying here is could it be

that for some of you that you you know Jesus, you know he loves you, you know he died for you. You've had amazing moments. Might have been that camp experience, that women's retreat, that men's retreat, that Bible, that service, that worship service, that time, that whatever. But you've had amazing moments. You were in the word of God. You've experienced Jesus. You hear his voice. But

that's all in the past, and you're only here on nostalgia and memories, but you not currently listening to the voice of Jesus. And it's fading. It's fading.

It's fading.

And some of you don't even recognize it anymore.

So what I want us to do to close is maybe have a chance for us to hear him call our names again. This is what we want to do here. So what we're going do is we're going to sing a song. It's called Come to the Altar. And it says there that when you hear him call your name, if he's your shepherd,

you'll go. You'll get up and you'll respond. So I I I I wanna invite you to come to this altar. And and and one of the lines says, Jesus is calling. He is. He's not exclusive. It's not intolerant. It's effective. Jesus is saying, I'm calling your name. Just will you listen?

So there's two different types of people that can walk up here now. We even took the front route. I mean, I use we sing this song to just respond if Jesus is calling your name to walk up here and just sing the song, pray. People have gotten on their knees. They've stood. They prayed. Some just sang. All I'm asking you is to come up here. Your response is if you wanna hear that voice come up here, it's two different people. Some of you, you need to hear them call your name for the first time. You're walking up here going, I need to enter the gate of salvation.

I may be coming to church. I may but I have never put my faith in Jesus as my lord and savior. If that's you, come up here. But the rest of us, maybe you you're the one that Jesus' voice has been fading hard.

This is your chance to say, I want to hear that voice again, and I'm going to draw closer so it gets louder and more familiar. If that's where you're at, just take this moment and have the courage to come on up here and stand. And then I'll pray with us when we're done. Jesus is calling.

Do you hear, and will you respond to his voice?

Now if you're standing here, it's because Jesus is calling, and you heard him. And I know it seems weird when he calls us to trust him and to go through that gate, that door. The door seems narrow. And the world out there says narrow means intolerant. But really narrow is because it's effective. It's the door to real life,

and Jesus wants us to experience that. So what I want to do is I just want to pray to close this out. We'll be done here. But who I I want to specifically pray with the people that are up here that maybe you just walked down here because you heard them call your name for the first time. You're You're entering into a a a

with Jesus by putting your faith in him as your savior. And if that's you, I just want you to pray with me. I just wanna give you an opportunity to reach out and pray to him to just make this thing kind of official to say, hey, Lord, this is what what it means. And and as you pray, just make it your own words in your heart. And you could pray if you didn't get down here. If you're sitting out here and you feel like, alright. God spoke to me, but I didn't why? That's okay.

If you're out there watching on the live feed, you can pray with us right now. Just put a prayer that says, I heard your voice, Jesus. Thank you for calling me. Would you just pray with me if that's you, that you need to reach out to him and

respond to him calling you for the first time? Just pray something like this. Dear Jesus, thank you. Thank you for being that doorway to life. Thank you for laying down your life for me, the wandering sheep.

Lord, thank you that you you came and you died for me, the one who who so often acts like I'm bulletproof, but I know I'm not. Thank you that you want to save me, and you want to give me real life. So right now, I put my faith in you,

not me, not my plans, not my ways, but not what I'm doing, but what you've already done for me. Thank you for dying on the cross for me. Thank you for coming back to life to rescue me.

Thank you for being willing to call my name over and over and over again, even when I often don't listen. Thank you for that. Now help me to go from here and draw close to you so I can get more and more familiar with your voice each and every day. And in doing so, allow you to take me to those pastures that provide richness

and satisfaction of what life is supposed to be. Thank you, Jesus. I pray this in your mighty name. Amen.