How Do We Get There?
Scripture Reading: John 10:1-16
1 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up
some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. 2 But he who enters by the door is the
shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he
calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 And when he brings out his own sheep, he
goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 Yet they will by no
means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6
Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them.
7 Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All
who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9 I am the
door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The
thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have
life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. 12 But a hireling, he
who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the
sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. 13 The hireling flees
because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd; and I
know My sheep, and am known by My own. 15 As the Father knows Me, even so I know the
Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. 16 And other sheep I have which are not of this
fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one
shepherd.
Last week we talked about the importance of seeking after God with our whole hearts
by putting the things of God in the first position as far as priority. This week we'll
focus on what to do once we've done that. You've put the things of God in that first
spot so now what? Which direction should you go? What should you follow after?
Our passage today begins with Jesus giving a good lesson on the direction we should
go. If we want to seek after God and enter into His presence, it would be important to
know where the entrance is. Sometimes if you go to a large store, a mall, or maybe
even an amusement park or something, you can find what seems to be a good spot
until you get out and start looking for the entrance. It's pretty easy to get turned
around if you're not sure where the entrance is located.
Yeshua, begins by saying that whoever doesn't come in through the door is a thief
and a robber. Have you ever heard of people who will have one person pay for a
movie ticket and then go to the exit door to let in their friends? Or how about people
who will buy a ticket to one movie and then after its over sneak into one of the other
theatres? I know of people who would go early and end up seeing four or five movies
in one day. As they are sitting in a movie they haven't paid to see, they will seem
perfectly respectable, wouldn't they? But let's say that an usher comes by and asks
to see their ticket stub. All of a sudden they don't seem so respectable, do they?
They would hauled out of the movie and thrown out on the street. My friend used to
ride the Tri-Rail, the train that runs from Miami to West Palm Beach, every morning
and afternoon after work. The tickets were just $3 but you had to buy them from a
vending machine on the platform. He explained that you would just get on the train
when it came and most times you'd just ride to your destination with the ticket still in
your pocket. So, I asked him if there were people who would just get on and not buy a
ticket, and he explained that sometimes a conductor would walk through the cars and
ask for tickets. For the people who were found without tickets, not only would they
have to leave the train, but they would be met at the next station by the police and
they'd get a free ride to jail. Jesus explains that the shepherd goes through the door
and then lead his sheep through the proper way.
Yeshua reveals that although it may not be obvious, we know the way.
John 14:1-6
1 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house
are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I
am, there you may be also. 4 And where I go you know, and the way you know.”
5 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the
way?”
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except
through Me.
Alright! So, there we go! Jesus is the good Shepherd so He'll lead the way into the
Father's presence. Great! So, what's the problem? Well, even as obvious as it
seems, many people; Christians, are getting caught up following things other than the
path Yeshua laid out for us. It has been a trick of the enemy from the beginning to
lead us away from the true way to get to God by tricking us into following a different
option saying it will lead us there. That's what he did with Adam and Eve in the
garden. Speaking to Eve he said that doing that which God told them not to do would
actually make them like God. That can be described as being on the same level as
God. The enemy deceived them into believing they could get to where God is by
disobeying God's Word.
After Noah and his sons came off the ark, God gave them just one thing to do.
Genesis 9:1, So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply,
and fill the earth. That doesn't sound to difficult, does it? Multiply and fill the earth. But
let's look at what happened.
Genesis 11:1-4
1 Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. 2 And it came to pass, as they
journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. 3
Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They had
brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. 4 And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves
a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be
scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”
Did they just say what I think they said? Lest we be scattered over the face of the
earth. Isn't that exactly what God has told them to do? Scatter and fill the earth. So,
they are deceived into believing that they can build a tower to get to the heavens, so
they can avoid doing what God has clearly told them to do; fill the earth. You see, the
enemy has convinced them that there is a different way to get to the place where God
is. So, how did that work out for them?
Genesis 11:5-9
5 But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 6 And
the LORD said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they
begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. 7 Come, let Us go
down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8
So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased
building the city. 9 Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the LORD confused the
language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all
the earth.
It didn't work out the way they thought it would. They didn't get to finish their city, and
they ended up scattered over the face of the earth anyway. You may say, what does
that have to do with me? I don't have a plan to build any towers to heaven and
there's no tree in my garden God told me not to eat from. While that may be true,
there are things God has told us to do and not to do that we need to be aware of. So,
how can we know what God has told us to do and not to do? Well, that's an obvious
one that goes back to our recurring theme of reading your Bible cover to cover. Let's
take a look at prayer. Should you be concerned with the way you pray? What if
something is sponsored by your local church, does that make it ok? I've heard of
Christian yoga classes. Is that an oxymoron or is there nothing wrong with it? I've
had a discussion with a Christian who said they would do yoga and eastern-type
meditation but instead of saying 'ohm' while they empty their minds like you'll see in
the movies, they would say 'Jesus' or quote a memory verse over and over. This
person saw absolutely no conflict with this, because of these verses.
Matthew 6:5-6
5 “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the
synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say
to you, they have their reward. 6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have
shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in
secret will reward you openly.
They believe that they are getting closer to God by getting into the secret place with
God. On HGTV they are always showing people setting up meditation corners or
gardens or something like that. It's the latest trend and Christians are not exempt
from the phenomenon. So, is there a problem with that? Let's look at the last two
verses.
Matthew 6:7-8
7 And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will
be heard for their many words.
8 “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you
ask Him.
Jesus tells us not to use vain repetitions like the heathen, what do you think He meant
by that? Who are the heathen? He can't be refering to the Jews since they are not
refered to as heathen. In scripture it may say they were acting like the heathen or
following after the heathen but nowhere do it call the Jews heathen. This tells me that
this is not a continuation of those first two verses I read; the hypocrites who pray
where they can be seen by men. Those are the Jews He's talking about, so the
heathen have to be gentiles. Does that vain repetition sound familiar though? Like
repeating Jesus or some memory verse over and over. Yet, there are believers doing
this very thing thinking somehow it bringing them closer to God. Emptying their minds
as if that were a requirement to more into the spiritual presence of God. Scripture
never tells us to stop thinking; to the contary.
Philippians 4:8, Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble,
whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things
are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on
these things.
We are not supposed to empty our minds we are supposed to fill it with god things.
It's not enough to not think about bad things, we need to replace those thoughts with
good thoughts. Listen to what Jesus said may happen if you're left empty.
Luke 11:24-26
24 “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and
finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ 25 And when he comes, he
finds it swept and put in order. 26 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more
wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse
than the first.”
There are entirely too many empty Christians. They have emptied themselves of the
negative stuff they had in them before they came to Jesus; the lying, the filthy
language, the fornication, the thievery, the anger, things they have tried to control by
themselves to become a good person. But according to this passage if they don't fill
themselves up with the things of God, there is a decent chance that whatever they
had will return with more and they'll end up worse off than before. They think they
can follow after Christ without following after the Word of God. Which, I believe, is why
so many fall away. They want to follow Messiah like the world follows after its form of
spirituality. They want to be like the world, able to fit in. But God gave us a very
strong warning about this.
Deuteronomy 12:29-32
29 “When the LORD your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess,
and you displace them and dwell in their land, 30 take heed to yourself that you are not
ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire
after their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.’ 31 You
shall not worship the LORD your God in that way; for every abomination to the LORD which He
hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to
their gods.
32 “Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away
from it.
Most people read this as if God is only saying not to follow after the other gods of the
nations. However, verse 31 clearly warns us not to worship the LORD Yahweh in the
same way the other nations worship their gods. We need to worship God in the way
He has told us to worship Him. The last verse sort of sums this up, when He warns us
to be careful to observe His commands. This tells me that He is warning us that it will
be easy for us to slip up if we're not careful. If we are left to make up for ourselves
things like holy days and festivals. That's why I believe God laid everything out so
plainly for us to follow. Many believers think these things don't apply to us because
Yeshua gave us new commands but let's look closely at what He gave us.
Matthew 22:37-40
37 Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul,
and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it:
‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law
and the Prophets.”
So, these are the two new commands that people will point to showing that the
observances God had laid out are no longer necessary. Love God with everything
you have and love your neighbor. But is that all He says, do these two only? What
He says is that the Law and the Prophets hang on these two. It makes me think about
a tree with these two commands as the big sturdy trunk and limbs. Then everything
else which had been laid out before hangs up upon that to make the tree healthy and
full. Unfortunately, the way it's been taught has given many people a big empty tree.
They've attempted to fill in the branches and leaves on their own or have been
satisfied leaving it empty which making their faith a target for the enemy camp. That's
why, I believe, the organized church has become this big conglomeration of a
multitude of denominations, all believing different things and ending up with trees that
look completely different. The reason Jesus giving us the trunk and strong branch
was so important was that there were those who had made things so legalistic that the
important part was not love of God or love of neighbor but the rules and regulations of
man had taken over. Jesus was telling us that our motivations are what's important.
Our hearts! If we start with the right motivation and then are careful to observe the
things the LORD Yahweh has put before us, then we will have the full, healthy tree of
faith in action.
Sermon by: Denise Baxley
Date: January 28, 2007
Scripture Reading: John 10:1-16
1 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up
some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. 2 But he who enters by the door is the
shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he
calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 And when he brings out his own sheep, he
goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 Yet they will by no
means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6
Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them.
7 Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All
who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9 I am the
door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The
thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have
life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. 12 But a hireling, he
who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the
sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. 13 The hireling flees
because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd; and I
know My sheep, and am known by My own. 15 As the Father knows Me, even so I know the
Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. 16 And other sheep I have which are not of this
fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one
shepherd.
Last week we talked about the importance of seeking after God with our whole hearts
by putting the things of God in the first position as far as priority. This week we'll
focus on what to do once we've done that. You've put the things of God in that first
spot so now what? Which direction should you go? What should you follow after?
Our passage today begins with Jesus giving a good lesson on the direction we should
go. If we want to seek after God and enter into His presence, it would be important to
know where the entrance is. Sometimes if you go to a large store, a mall, or maybe
even an amusement park or something, you can find what seems to be a good spot
until you get out and start looking for the entrance. It's pretty easy to get turned
around if you're not sure where the entrance is located.
Yeshua, begins by saying that whoever doesn't come in through the door is a thief
and a robber. Have you ever heard of people who will have one person pay for a
movie ticket and then go to the exit door to let in their friends? Or how about people
who will buy a ticket to one movie and then after its over sneak into one of the other
theatres? I know of people who would go early and end up seeing four or five movies
in one day. As they are sitting in a movie they haven't paid to see, they will seem
perfectly respectable, wouldn't they? But let's say that an usher comes by and asks
to see their ticket stub. All of a sudden they don't seem so respectable, do they?
They would hauled out of the movie and thrown out on the street. My friend used to
ride the Tri-Rail, the train that runs from Miami to West Palm Beach, every morning
and afternoon after work. The tickets were just $3 but you had to buy them from a
vending machine on the platform. He explained that you would just get on the train
when it came and most times you'd just ride to your destination with the ticket still in
your pocket. So, I asked him if there were people who would just get on and not buy a
ticket, and he explained that sometimes a conductor would walk through the cars and
ask for tickets. For the people who were found without tickets, not only would they
have to leave the train, but they would be met at the next station by the police and
they'd get a free ride to jail. Jesus explains that the shepherd goes through the door
and then lead his sheep through the proper way.
Yeshua reveals that although it may not be obvious, we know the way.
John 14:1-6
1 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house
are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I
am, there you may be also. 4 And where I go you know, and the way you know.”
5 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the
way?”
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except
through Me.
Alright! So, there we go! Jesus is the good Shepherd so He'll lead the way into the
Father's presence. Great! So, what's the problem? Well, even as obvious as it
seems, many people; Christians, are getting caught up following things other than the
path Yeshua laid out for us. It has been a trick of the enemy from the beginning to
lead us away from the true way to get to God by tricking us into following a different
option saying it will lead us there. That's what he did with Adam and Eve in the
garden. Speaking to Eve he said that doing that which God told them not to do would
actually make them like God. That can be described as being on the same level as
God. The enemy deceived them into believing they could get to where God is by
disobeying God's Word.
After Noah and his sons came off the ark, God gave them just one thing to do.
Genesis 9:1, So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply,
and fill the earth. That doesn't sound to difficult, does it? Multiply and fill the earth. But
let's look at what happened.
Genesis 11:1-4
1 Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. 2 And it came to pass, as they
journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. 3
Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They had
brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. 4 And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves
a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be
scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”
Did they just say what I think they said? Lest we be scattered over the face of the
earth. Isn't that exactly what God has told them to do? Scatter and fill the earth. So,
they are deceived into believing that they can build a tower to get to the heavens, so
they can avoid doing what God has clearly told them to do; fill the earth. You see, the
enemy has convinced them that there is a different way to get to the place where God
is. So, how did that work out for them?
Genesis 11:5-9
5 But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 6 And
the LORD said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they
begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. 7 Come, let Us go
down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8
So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased
building the city. 9 Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the LORD confused the
language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all
the earth.
It didn't work out the way they thought it would. They didn't get to finish their city, and
they ended up scattered over the face of the earth anyway. You may say, what does
that have to do with me? I don't have a plan to build any towers to heaven and
there's no tree in my garden God told me not to eat from. While that may be true,
there are things God has told us to do and not to do that we need to be aware of. So,
how can we know what God has told us to do and not to do? Well, that's an obvious
one that goes back to our recurring theme of reading your Bible cover to cover. Let's
take a look at prayer. Should you be concerned with the way you pray? What if
something is sponsored by your local church, does that make it ok? I've heard of
Christian yoga classes. Is that an oxymoron or is there nothing wrong with it? I've
had a discussion with a Christian who said they would do yoga and eastern-type
meditation but instead of saying 'ohm' while they empty their minds like you'll see in
the movies, they would say 'Jesus' or quote a memory verse over and over. This
person saw absolutely no conflict with this, because of these verses.
Matthew 6:5-6
5 “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the
synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say
to you, they have their reward. 6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have
shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in
secret will reward you openly.
They believe that they are getting closer to God by getting into the secret place with
God. On HGTV they are always showing people setting up meditation corners or
gardens or something like that. It's the latest trend and Christians are not exempt
from the phenomenon. So, is there a problem with that? Let's look at the last two
verses.
Matthew 6:7-8
7 And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will
be heard for their many words.
8 “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you
ask Him.
Jesus tells us not to use vain repetitions like the heathen, what do you think He meant
by that? Who are the heathen? He can't be refering to the Jews since they are not
refered to as heathen. In scripture it may say they were acting like the heathen or
following after the heathen but nowhere do it call the Jews heathen. This tells me that
this is not a continuation of those first two verses I read; the hypocrites who pray
where they can be seen by men. Those are the Jews He's talking about, so the
heathen have to be gentiles. Does that vain repetition sound familiar though? Like
repeating Jesus or some memory verse over and over. Yet, there are believers doing
this very thing thinking somehow it bringing them closer to God. Emptying their minds
as if that were a requirement to more into the spiritual presence of God. Scripture
never tells us to stop thinking; to the contary.
Philippians 4:8, Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble,
whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things
are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on
these things.
We are not supposed to empty our minds we are supposed to fill it with god things.
It's not enough to not think about bad things, we need to replace those thoughts with
good thoughts. Listen to what Jesus said may happen if you're left empty.
Luke 11:24-26
24 “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and
finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ 25 And when he comes, he
finds it swept and put in order. 26 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more
wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse
than the first.”
There are entirely too many empty Christians. They have emptied themselves of the
negative stuff they had in them before they came to Jesus; the lying, the filthy
language, the fornication, the thievery, the anger, things they have tried to control by
themselves to become a good person. But according to this passage if they don't fill
themselves up with the things of God, there is a decent chance that whatever they
had will return with more and they'll end up worse off than before. They think they
can follow after Christ without following after the Word of God. Which, I believe, is why
so many fall away. They want to follow Messiah like the world follows after its form of
spirituality. They want to be like the world, able to fit in. But God gave us a very
strong warning about this.
Deuteronomy 12:29-32
29 “When the LORD your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess,
and you displace them and dwell in their land, 30 take heed to yourself that you are not
ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire
after their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.’ 31 You
shall not worship the LORD your God in that way; for every abomination to the LORD which He
hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to
their gods.
32 “Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away
from it.
Most people read this as if God is only saying not to follow after the other gods of the
nations. However, verse 31 clearly warns us not to worship the LORD Yahweh in the
same way the other nations worship their gods. We need to worship God in the way
He has told us to worship Him. The last verse sort of sums this up, when He warns us
to be careful to observe His commands. This tells me that He is warning us that it will
be easy for us to slip up if we're not careful. If we are left to make up for ourselves
things like holy days and festivals. That's why I believe God laid everything out so
plainly for us to follow. Many believers think these things don't apply to us because
Yeshua gave us new commands but let's look closely at what He gave us.
Matthew 22:37-40
37 Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul,
and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it:
‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law
and the Prophets.”
So, these are the two new commands that people will point to showing that the
observances God had laid out are no longer necessary. Love God with everything
you have and love your neighbor. But is that all He says, do these two only? What
He says is that the Law and the Prophets hang on these two. It makes me think about
a tree with these two commands as the big sturdy trunk and limbs. Then everything
else which had been laid out before hangs up upon that to make the tree healthy and
full. Unfortunately, the way it's been taught has given many people a big empty tree.
They've attempted to fill in the branches and leaves on their own or have been
satisfied leaving it empty which making their faith a target for the enemy camp. That's
why, I believe, the organized church has become this big conglomeration of a
multitude of denominations, all believing different things and ending up with trees that
look completely different. The reason Jesus giving us the trunk and strong branch
was so important was that there were those who had made things so legalistic that the
important part was not love of God or love of neighbor but the rules and regulations of
man had taken over. Jesus was telling us that our motivations are what's important.
Our hearts! If we start with the right motivation and then are careful to observe the
things the LORD Yahweh has put before us, then we will have the full, healthy tree of
faith in action.
Sermon by: Denise Baxley
Date: January 28, 2007