“’Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.’ This figure of speech Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things were which He had been saying to them.” (John 10:1-6 NASB1995)
We learn in verses 7-9 that Jesus Christ is the door of the sheep and he is the way by which we must enter into salvation from sin and eternal life with God. No other way is the right way. And who are the sheep? They are all who believe in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of their lives who listen to what he teaches and who obey his teachings (see John 10:27). We are those who have entered into the fold of the sheep (the church, the body of Christ) by way of the cross of Christ in death to sin and walks of obedience to God.
But there are others who have entered into the gatherings of the sheep by another way other than through Jesus Christ and his gospel message. For there are many false shepherds of the people out there who are “thieves and robbers” who are leading people to believe in a false gospel message which is infected with half-truths (lies) and distortions of truth created in the minds of humans who reject Jesus’ gospel message because they don’t want to have to die to their sins and to submit to God in obedience to his commands.
So “the gospel” message these “thieves and robbers” are bringing to the people are filled with bugs, i.e. with errors, many of which are willfully being planted within the gospel message to purposefully lead people away from Christ to a false gospel message of salvation from sin and eternal life with God. And many of them have deliberately skirted (bypassed) the parts of the gospel that teach death to sin and obedience to God, and they have diluted the gospel to a mere verbal profession of faith in Jesus, no change of heart.
Now, Jesus Christ is the shepherd of the sheep (verses 11-18), as well as he is the door into the fold of the sheep (the church, the body of Christ). And it is God the Father, I believe, who is the doorkeeper. For he is the one who sent Jesus Christ (God the Son) to the earth to be born as a baby and to one day die on a cross in order to put our sins to death with him so that, by God-gifted faith in him, and empowered by God, we can now die to sin and live to God and to his righteousness in walks of obedience to his commands.
And all those who become Jesus’ sheep by dying with him to sin and being raised with him to walk with him in obedience to his commands, by faith in him, they listen to Jesus’ words. They heed his words, and they follow him in surrender to his will in walks of obedience to his commands. And they follow Jesus because they know his voice. But they do not follow the strangers who are lying to the people, because they do not recognize their voices. For God has given them the discernment of the Spirit to know truth from lies.
For if we are truly following our Lord in obedience to his commands, and sin is no longer our practice, but righteousness is our practice, by the grace of God, and because we are now listening to the Lord, and we are heeding his words, then as we grow in our walks of faith in obedience to the Lord we should be able to recognize more and more the lies of the enemy which are opposed to the truth of the gospel which Jesus and his New Testament apostles taught (in the correct biblical context, and not out of context).
And we should be those who are rejecting the lies of the enemy and their messengers, who are discerning truth from lies and those who speak truth vs those who speak lies. For the Holy Spirit is living within us speaking truth to our hearts and minds, and he is revealing to us the lies vs the truth so that we will now follow the truth and reject the lies. And if we are Jesus’ true sheep, we will not resist the Holy Spirit’s voice and end up following the lies, but we will desire to live for our Lord in doing what pleases him.
[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]
When I Am Afraid
Based off Psalms 56-57
An Original Work / October 17, 2016
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
When I am afraid, Lord, I will trust in You.
Your Word, Lord, I praise. I yield my life to You.
Enemies pursue me, slandering Your Name.
Lord, have mercy. I trust in You. Hear my cry today.
Lord, I love Your Word. It comforts me today,
As I look to you, and bow my head and pray.
You are Christ, my Lord. You saved me from my sin,
That I may walk, Lord before You, purified within.
Steadfast is my heart, O God, I sing of You.
I will praise You, Lord. To You, I will be true.
Oh, how great Your love. Your faithfulness endue.
Be exalted, God of heaven. Glory be to You.
Login to view embedded media
The Shepherd of The Sheep
An Original Work / December 6, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
