October 27, 2025 • 16 mins
What if the clearest path through a dark world isn’t a tactic, but a voice? We dive into John 10 where Jesus names Himself both the Gate and the Good Shepherd, promising not mere survival but abundant life. Think high beams on a night road: the dangers don’t disappear, but the way forward becomes visible. That’s the difference His presence makes—clarity, courage, and a peace that holds when everything else shakes.
We start with why John’s Gospel centers on Jesus’ identity more than biography, then move into the sharp contrast between the shepherd who enters by the gate and the thieves who climb in to exploit. From there, we unpack the famous line “life to the full” and show how abundance is about purpose, resilience, and communion with God, not comfort on demand. Jesus doesn’t stop at access; He promises care. As the Good Shepherd, He knows His own, calls them by name, and lays down His life—by choice, with authority to take it up again—so protection isn’t theoretical but blood-bought.
The setting matters too. During the Feast of Dedication—Hanukkah’s roots of miraculous provision—Jesus stands as the greater provision, the Light that doesn’t go out. When pressed to “say it plainly,” He points to the works the Father gave Him, then states it without hedging: “I and the Father are one.” Some reach for stones; others reach for faith. We talk about why His works validate His words, why assurance rests in His hand that no one can overcome, and how hearing His voice becomes the turning point from drifting to direction.
If you’re hungry for guidance that doesn’t flinch in the dark, this conversation will meet you there. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs clarity today, and leave a review telling us where His voice is leading you next.
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Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation (NLT).
Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Welcome to the Bible Breakdown Podcast.
Every day, we take one chapterof the Bible, dig deeper, and
discover that the more we dig,the more we find.
You can find out more at theBibleBreakdown.com.
Now let's grow in God's Wordtogether.
Hello, everybody.
Hope you are doing well.
Welcome back to the BibleBreakdown Podcast with your
host, Pastor Brandon.
(00:21):
And today, another, another goodone.
This is one that you've probablyheard before, but we're going to
talk about it anyway.
And if I were to give Johnchapter 10 a title, it would be
Jesus Gives Life on the HighBeam.
Jesus gives life on the highbeam.
I'm going to try to explain whatthat is.
And also we're going to talkabout a festival that maybe
you've never heard of before.
The festival called the Feast ofDedication.
(00:44):
Before we get into that, though,as always, if you like what
we're doing here and you'rewatching this on the YouTubes,
make sure you are liking thisvideo, subscribing to this
channel.
Also, leave us a comment.
We would love to know what allGod is doing in your life.
Or you can go to our Facebookgroup that is Bible Breakdown
Discussion and let us know whatGod is doing in your life.
And I want to ask you thisquestion: Have you ever been
(01:04):
driving down the road andsomeone had their high beams on
coming your direction?
What did you do?
Do you just, do you flick yourlights at them or do you just
keep going?
Like how do you handle that?
I want to know down in thecomments below.
That's what we're going to betalking about today.
Now, remember the context of theGospel of John.
John was written by the apostleJohn.
(01:24):
And according to John himself,he called himself the disciple
that Jesus loved.
And it is thought, you know,Jesus had 12 disciples.
Of the 12, he had three thatwere kind of his inner circle,
James, John, and Peter.
And then John was like his bestfriend, closest person on earth
to Jesus.
And so if you think about it,John is written by Jesus' best
(01:45):
friend.
And he's saying, hey, listen,I'm not going to focus on the
biography of Jesus.
There's other gospels doingthat.
The Gospel of John doesn't focuson the blow-by-blow account of
the entire life of Jesus.
He focuses on the final year ofJesus' life.
And really, more importantly, hefocuses on the message of Jesus.
And the number one message ofJesus is he is God.
(02:06):
He's not just a good man, notjust a good teacher, not just a
healer.
He is God come down in the fleshto rescue all of us from our
sin.
And seven different times hetries to describe, or he does
describe who he is.
We've already seen how he talksabout how he is the different
aspects of things.
(02:26):
He called himself the bread fromheaven, and he's going to talk
about being the way, the truth,and the life.
And today he's going to talkabout being the good shepherd.
And in doing that, he's going tosay one of my favorite verses in
the entire Bible about how hegives life and life to the full,
life more abundantly.
So we're going to jump in, and Iwant to kind of tell you my high
(02:46):
beam story in just a moment.
But if you have your NLT Bibleopen, John chapter 10, you're
going to read along with me.
Let's read about this exampleJesus uses to describe the
difference between him and animposter.
He says it like this.
Truly I tell you, anyone whodoesn't enter the sheep pen by
the gate, but climbs it someother way is a thief and a
(03:07):
robber.
The one who enters by the gateis the shepherd of the sheep.
The gatekeeper opens it for him,and the sheep hear his voice,
and he calls his own sheep byname and leads them out.
When he has brought out all hisown outside, he goes ahead of
them, and the sheep follow himbecause they know his voice.
They will never follow astranger.
(03:28):
Instead, they follow, or excuseme, they will run away from him
because they don't know thevoice of strangers.
Jesus gave them this figure ofspeech, but they didn't
understand what he was tellingthem.
So Jesus said again, Truly Itell you, I am the gate for the
sheep.
All who came before me arethieves and robbers, but the
(03:49):
sheep didn't listen to them.
I am the gate.
Other translations, by the way,would say, I am the door.
I am the entrance into thekingdom of heaven.
I am the gate.
If anyone enters by me, he willbe saved and will come in and go
out and find pasture.
The thief comes only to steal,kill, and destroy, but I have
(04:09):
come so that they may have lifeand have it in abundance.
That they may have life and haveit in abundance.
So pause for a moment.
So one day I was traveling downthis road, and I had been
traveling down it for a longtime.
It was out in the middle of arural area, and I couldn't,
couldn't hardly see.
And I was really concerned therewas going to be deer out there.
(04:31):
And I'd already seen a couple ofdead deer on the side of the
road.
So I knew they were out andabout and I could not see.
And I'm doing my best.
I'm trying, I'm going, I'mgoing.
I can't see anything.
And then I, for some reason, itfinally hits me, and it was
like, wait a minute.
I have not turned on my highbeams, my bright lights.
And I don't know why I hadn't.
I just hadn't done it.
And so I'm like, well, yeah,that would that this would be
(04:52):
about the right time because Ihave no idea where I'm at.
I I keep on coming up on theseunexpected turns.
So I pull up my high beams andall of a sudden, boom.
I mean, it was amazing.
I it was, of course, it was Icould see so much clearer.
I could, I could finally seewhat's in front of me.
And that is exactly what I thinkabout when I think of this
verse.
The Bible says the thief comesonly to steal, kill, and
(05:13):
destroy, but I have come thatyou may have life and have it in
abundance, have it on a highbeam, have life full blast.
And what I think about when Ithink of this verse is the thief
is like us going down a darkstreet at night.
There's villains on the left andvillains on the right, and
there's confusion in front ofus, and we can't hardly see
anything.
(05:33):
And we're trying to see our waythrough life, but we can't.
It's hard, it's dark, it'streacherous.
And Jesus says, But if you comeinto the kingdom by me, which is
the only way, it's like takingthat dark, lonely life and boom,
lighting it up with life.
And that's what Jesus is tryingto do.
He's trying to say, without me,your life is full of darkness,
(05:56):
your life is full of sin, yourlife is full of broken places.
That's why Jesus came.
Jesus came to fix all of that,to take the dark places in our
life and to brighten them up.
And so if anyone ever asks you,What hope have you got?
You say, You know what my hopeis?
Is that because of Jesus, I nolonger walk in darkness.
But here's what I love aboutJesus.
Not only is he the doorway intothe kingdom, but he is also our
(06:20):
guide who takes care of us alongthe way.
Because this is what he says.
All the way through verse 10, hesays, He is the high being.
He is the one who helps us getinto the kingdom of heaven.
But then he says this in verse11, I am the good shepherd.
The good shepherd lays down hislife for the sheep.
The hired hand, since he is notthe shepherd and doesn't own the
(06:41):
sheep, leaves them and runs awayas he sees a wolf coming.
The wolf then snatches andscatters them.
This happens because he is ahired hand and doesn't care
about the sheep.
I am the good shepherd.
I know my own, and my own knowme.
Just as the Father knows me, Iknow the Father.
I lay down my life for thesheep, but I have other sheep
(07:05):
that are not from this sheephen.
I must bring them also, and theywill listen to my voice.
Then there will be one flock andone shepherd.
This is why the Father loves me,because I lay down my life so
that I may take it up again.
No one takes it from me, but Ilay it down on my own.
I have the right to lay it down,and I have the right to take it
(07:25):
up again.
I have received this commandfrom my Father.
Again, the Jews were dividedbecause of these words.
Many of them were saying, He hasa demon and he's crazy.
Why do you listen to him?
Others were saying, These aren'tthe words of someone who is
demon-possessed.
Can a demon open the eyes of theblind?
And so what Jesus was saying is,is he saying, Not only am I the
(07:46):
doorway into the kingdom, but Iam the kingdom as well.
I am the one who leads you andguides you.
And he's even saying, check myresume.
Everybody else, they run, theyscatter, they hide.
Who's standing in the gap foryou?
And then he's even goingfurther, and they don't realize
it yet, but he's saying, and I'mgoing to prove it.
I'm going to lay down my lifefor you, and then I'm strong
(08:06):
enough to take it back again.
So Jesus, he's already said thathe is the bread.
Now he is saying, I am the door,I am the gateway into the
kingdom of heaven, and then alsoI am the good shepherd.
I am the one that takes care ofthe flock.
Now, here's the next verse.
The Bible says in verse 22, thenthe festival of dedication took
place in Jerusalem, and it waswinter.
(08:27):
Jesus was walking in the templein Solomon's colonnade.
The Jews surrounded him andasked, How long are you going to
keep us in suspense?
If you are the Messiah, tell usplainly, I did tell you, and you
don't believe.
Jesus answered them.
The works that I do in myFather's name testify about me,
but you don't believe becauseyou are not my sheep.
(08:49):
My sheep hear my voice, and Iknow them, and they follow me.
I give them eternal life, andthey will never perish.
No one will snatch them out ofmy hand.
My father, who has given them tome, is greater than all.
No one will be able to snatchthem out of the Father's hand.
I and the Father are one.
Now, pause.
(09:10):
First of all, they are tellinghim, You haven't told us who you
are.
Tell us who you are.
And he just got through saying,I am telling you because I keep
telling you that I and theFather are one.
So he's going back to rememberthem, I am statements.
He's using the holy name of God,saying, I am the Good Shepherd,
I am the gate, I am all theseother things.
He is putting it out there forthem.
(09:31):
They're just not payingattention.
But I'll also love, just for thesake of saying, he said, it said
that at the festival ofdedication took place in
Jerusalem, Jesus was walking.
Well, what is the festival ofdedication?
Well, so right after the book ofMalachi in the Old Testament,
and right before the book ofMatthew, it was about 400 years
of prophetic silence.
And what I mean that by that is,is God wasn't speaking through a
(09:54):
prophet at that time that wasconsidered divinely inspired.
That doesn't mean nothing washappening.
At that point, the PersianEmpire fell to the Greeks, the
Greek Empire ended up falling tothe Romans, and all this kind of
stuff was going on.
Well, during that time, all ofthese countries who were moving
through also were taking overPalestine, taking over the
Jewish nation.
Well, at one point, there was agroup of people, this is between
(10:16):
Malachi and Matthew, so at 400years of prophetic silence,
there was a time when theywanted to restore restoration of
the house of God and the houseof worship and all these things.
And so they ended up working onstarting to rebuild the temple
and all this.
And there was a group of peoplecalled the, our family called
the Maccabees, who decided theywere not happy with the
corruption going on and all thepaganistic worship.
(10:38):
So they wanted to restoreholiness to the people of God.
And there were all these warsand a lot of people died.
Well, at one point, they wantedto dedicate the house of God
again.
Now later, King Herod, duringthe the just before the lifetime
of Jesus, and during thelifetime of Jesus, he would go
and expand on the temple of God.
But during that time, theywanted to restore worship to the
(10:59):
house of God.
But according to legend, theyonly had like one small little
thing of oil that was consideredceremonially clean.
Well, they lit that oil as a wayto celebrate dedicating the
temple, and it ended up lastinga total of eight days.
It was only been enough to lasta few hours, but it lasted full
(11:19):
eight days, a complete and totalmiracle.
And so later it would become anannual feast that they would
worship.
And so that's what actually ishappening here is Jesus is
celebrating the feast ofsupernatural provision in the
face of adversity.
And isn't that amazing thatduring this feast, Jesus is
saying, Hey, you know what thereal supernatural provision is?
(11:41):
Me.
I've come to set you free.
All right, let's pick up fromthere, verse 31, finish our
chapter.
Again, the Jews picked up stonesor rocks to kill him.
Jesus replied, I have shown youmany good works from my father.
Which of these works are yougoing to stone me?
We're not stoning you for a goodwork, the Jews answered, but for
blasphemy, because you, being aman, make yourself God.
(12:05):
Jesus answered them, Isn't itwritten in your law?
I said, You are gods?
Other words, that context isfrom the Psalms, talking about
you are leaders, you arespiritual authorities.
If he called these whom the wordof God called gods in Scripture
and cannot be broken, do you saythat you are blaspheming to the
one the Father set apart andsent to the world?
(12:28):
Because I said I am the Son ofGod.
If I am not doing my Father'sworks, don't believe me.
But if I am doing them and don'tbelieve me, wait a minute.
Sorry, verse 38.
But if I am doing them and youdon't believe me, believe the
works.
This way you will know andunderstand that the Father is in
me and I in the Father.
(12:49):
These they then they were tryingto again seize him, but he
escaped from their grasp.
Verse 40.
So he departed again across theJordan to the place where John
had been baptizing earlier, andhe remained there.
Many came to him and said, Johnnever did a sign, but everything
John said about this man istrue.
And many believed in him there.
(13:10):
And so as you can see, whereverJesus goes, he just shed light,
high beams into the situation.
When he's talking about thegate, he's saying, I came to
give you light.
That that life was going tolight up your life.
So I'm going to give you lifeand life to the full.
And then he goes and he talks tothe to the Jewish leaders, and
his words just show light tothem.
(13:32):
It just brightens up really thedarkness in their own life.
And then even when they want tostone him, his light, the life
of his life just brightens upand says, Hey, which one of
these things?
It's just like everywhere Jesusgoes, he just brings
perspective.
He brings life.
And here's the thing (13:47):
not everybody is interested in the
life that Jesus gives.
And so what I love about Jesusis he doesn't back up from that.
He doesn't say, Well, how can Imake you happy?
Instead, he says, This is thetruth.
I love you enough to tell you.
Because he even told him, youknow why you don't understand?
Because you're not my sheep.
He wants them to be, but you'renot going to understand unless
(14:08):
you are.
And to me, as we get ready tofinish our time together, that's
one of the greatest paradoxeswhen it comes to the gospel.
If you have the gospel in yourlife, you understand how
precious and how valuable it is.
If you don't have the gospel inyour life, you don't.
And so it's almost one of thosethings where I've told people
before, I wish I could tell youwhat it's like to experience
salvation.
(14:28):
But I can't.
You have to experience him foryourself.
And then when you do, nothingelse will satisfy.
Because it's just like goingdown that dark road.
Going on that dark road, I feellike I have villains all over
me, I can't hardly see ahead ofme.
And then I turn on those highbeams, and boom, the light
shines everywhere.
And once you see, you can neverunsee.
(14:49):
And I think that's what it'slike to be in the kingdom of
God.
So it's like if I could justconvince you to receive the life
that Christ has, nothing elsewill satisfy.
Well, the Lord's been sharing alot with us, and I've been doing
a whole lot of rambling.
So let me pray for us.
I'm going to read our scriptureand we'll be done for today.
Father, thank you so much.
Your words are true.
Thank you, Jesus, that you arethe door, you're the gate that
(15:10):
leads us into the kingdom ofGod.
And you are the good shepherd.
You lead us and you guide us andyou never leave us.
I'm thankful for what you'redoing in our life.
I'm thankful, Lord, that yourword says the thief comes to
steal, kill, and destroy, butyou have come that we have life
and life to the full.
And that life lights up our lifeand it expels the darkness.
Thank you.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
Don't forget, John 20, 31 says,These are written that you may
(15:34):
continue to believe that Jesusis God, and that by believing in
Him, you will have life by thepower of His name.
I love you.
I'll see you tomorrow for Johnchapter eleven.
Welcome to the Bible Breakdown Podcast.
Every day, we take one chapterof the Bible, dig deeper, and
discover that the more we dig,the more we find.
You can find out more at theBibleBreakdown.com.
Now let's grow in God's Wordtogether.
Hello, everybody.
Hope you are doing well.
Welcome back to the BibleBreakdown Podcast with your
host, Pastor Brandon.
(00:21):
And today, another, another goodone.
This is one that you've probablyheard before, but we're going to
talk about it anyway.
And if I were to give Johnchapter 10 a title, it would be
Jesus Gives Life on the HighBeam.
Jesus gives life on the highbeam.
I'm going to try to explain whatthat is.
And also we're going to talkabout a festival that maybe
you've never heard of before.
The festival called the Feast ofDedication.
(00:44):
Before we get into that, though,as always, if you like what
we're doing here and you'rewatching this on the YouTubes,
make sure you are liking thisvideo, subscribing to this
channel.
Also, leave us a comment.
We would love to know what allGod is doing in your life.
Or you can go to our Facebookgroup that is Bible Breakdown
Discussion and let us know whatGod is doing in your life.
And I want to ask you thisquestion: Have you ever been
(01:04):
driving down the road andsomeone had their high beams on
coming your direction?
What did you do?
Do you just, do you flick yourlights at them or do you just
keep going?
Like how do you handle that?
I want to know down in thecomments below.
That's what we're going to betalking about today.
Now, remember the context of theGospel of John.
John was written by the apostleJohn.
(01:24):
And according to John himself,he called himself the disciple
that Jesus loved.
And it is thought, you know,Jesus had 12 disciples.
Of the 12, he had three thatwere kind of his inner circle,
James, John, and Peter.
And then John was like his bestfriend, closest person on earth
to Jesus.
And so if you think about it,John is written by Jesus' best
(01:45):
friend.
And he's saying, hey, listen,I'm not going to focus on the
biography of Jesus.
There's other gospels doingthat.
The Gospel of John doesn't focuson the blow-by-blow account of
the entire life of Jesus.
He focuses on the final year ofJesus' life.
And really, more importantly, hefocuses on the message of Jesus.
And the number one message ofJesus is he is God.
(02:06):
He's not just a good man, notjust a good teacher, not just a
healer.
He is God come down in the fleshto rescue all of us from our
sin.
And seven different times hetries to describe, or he does
describe who he is.
We've already seen how he talksabout how he is the different
aspects of things.
(02:26):
He called himself the bread fromheaven, and he's going to talk
about being the way, the truth,and the life.
And today he's going to talkabout being the good shepherd.
And in doing that, he's going tosay one of my favorite verses in
the entire Bible about how hegives life and life to the full,
life more abundantly.
So we're going to jump in, and Iwant to kind of tell you my high
(02:46):
beam story in just a moment.
But if you have your NLT Bibleopen, John chapter 10, you're
going to read along with me.
Let's read about this exampleJesus uses to describe the
difference between him and animposter.
He says it like this.
Truly I tell you, anyone whodoesn't enter the sheep pen by
the gate, but climbs it someother way is a thief and a
(03:07):
robber.
The one who enters by the gateis the shepherd of the sheep.
The gatekeeper opens it for him,and the sheep hear his voice,
and he calls his own sheep byname and leads them out.
When he has brought out all hisown outside, he goes ahead of
them, and the sheep follow himbecause they know his voice.
They will never follow astranger.
(03:28):
Instead, they follow, or excuseme, they will run away from him
because they don't know thevoice of strangers.
Jesus gave them this figure ofspeech, but they didn't
understand what he was tellingthem.
So Jesus said again, Truly Itell you, I am the gate for the
sheep.
All who came before me arethieves and robbers, but the
(03:49):
sheep didn't listen to them.
I am the gate.
Other translations, by the way,would say, I am the door.
I am the entrance into thekingdom of heaven.
I am the gate.
If anyone enters by me, he willbe saved and will come in and go
out and find pasture.
The thief comes only to steal,kill, and destroy, but I have
(04:09):
come so that they may have lifeand have it in abundance.
That they may have life and haveit in abundance.
So pause for a moment.
So one day I was traveling downthis road, and I had been
traveling down it for a longtime.
It was out in the middle of arural area, and I couldn't,
couldn't hardly see.
And I was really concerned therewas going to be deer out there.
(04:31):
And I'd already seen a couple ofdead deer on the side of the
road.
So I knew they were out andabout and I could not see.
And I'm doing my best.
I'm trying, I'm going, I'mgoing.
I can't see anything.
And then I, for some reason, itfinally hits me, and it was
like, wait a minute.
I have not turned on my highbeams, my bright lights.
And I don't know why I hadn't.
I just hadn't done it.
And so I'm like, well, yeah,that would that this would be
(04:52):
about the right time because Ihave no idea where I'm at.
I I keep on coming up on theseunexpected turns.
So I pull up my high beams andall of a sudden, boom.
I mean, it was amazing.
I it was, of course, it was Icould see so much clearer.
I could, I could finally seewhat's in front of me.
And that is exactly what I thinkabout when I think of this
verse.
The Bible says the thief comesonly to steal, kill, and
(05:13):
destroy, but I have come thatyou may have life and have it in
abundance, have it on a highbeam, have life full blast.
And what I think about when Ithink of this verse is the thief
is like us going down a darkstreet at night.
There's villains on the left andvillains on the right, and
there's confusion in front ofus, and we can't hardly see
anything.
(05:33):
And we're trying to see our waythrough life, but we can't.
It's hard, it's dark, it'streacherous.
And Jesus says, But if you comeinto the kingdom by me, which is
the only way, it's like takingthat dark, lonely life and boom,
lighting it up with life.
And that's what Jesus is tryingto do.
He's trying to say, without me,your life is full of darkness,
(05:56):
your life is full of sin, yourlife is full of broken places.
That's why Jesus came.
Jesus came to fix all of that,to take the dark places in our
life and to brighten them up.
And so if anyone ever asks you,What hope have you got?
You say, You know what my hopeis?
Is that because of Jesus, I nolonger walk in darkness.
But here's what I love aboutJesus.
Not only is he the doorway intothe kingdom, but he is also our
(06:20):
guide who takes care of us alongthe way.
Because this is what he says.
All the way through verse 10, hesays, He is the high being.
He is the one who helps us getinto the kingdom of heaven.
But then he says this in verse11, I am the good shepherd.
The good shepherd lays down hislife for the sheep.
The hired hand, since he is notthe shepherd and doesn't own the
(06:41):
sheep, leaves them and runs awayas he sees a wolf coming.
The wolf then snatches andscatters them.
This happens because he is ahired hand and doesn't care
about the sheep.
I am the good shepherd.
I know my own, and my own knowme.
Just as the Father knows me, Iknow the Father.
I lay down my life for thesheep, but I have other sheep
(07:05):
that are not from this sheephen.
I must bring them also, and theywill listen to my voice.
Then there will be one flock andone shepherd.
This is why the Father loves me,because I lay down my life so
that I may take it up again.
No one takes it from me, but Ilay it down on my own.
I have the right to lay it down,and I have the right to take it
(07:25):
up again.
I have received this commandfrom my Father.
Again, the Jews were dividedbecause of these words.
Many of them were saying, He hasa demon and he's crazy.
Why do you listen to him?
Others were saying, These aren'tthe words of someone who is
demon-possessed.
Can a demon open the eyes of theblind?
And so what Jesus was saying is,is he saying, Not only am I the
(07:46):
doorway into the kingdom, but Iam the kingdom as well.
I am the one who leads you andguides you.
And he's even saying, check myresume.
Everybody else, they run, theyscatter, they hide.
Who's standing in the gap foryou?
And then he's even goingfurther, and they don't realize
it yet, but he's saying, and I'mgoing to prove it.
I'm going to lay down my lifefor you, and then I'm strong
(08:06):
enough to take it back again.
So Jesus, he's already said thathe is the bread.
Now he is saying, I am the door,I am the gateway into the
kingdom of heaven, and then alsoI am the good shepherd.
I am the one that takes care ofthe flock.
Now, here's the next verse.
The Bible says in verse 22, thenthe festival of dedication took
place in Jerusalem, and it waswinter.
(08:27):
Jesus was walking in the templein Solomon's colonnade.
The Jews surrounded him andasked, How long are you going to
keep us in suspense?
If you are the Messiah, tell usplainly, I did tell you, and you
don't believe.
Jesus answered them.
The works that I do in myFather's name testify about me,
but you don't believe becauseyou are not my sheep.
(08:49):
My sheep hear my voice, and Iknow them, and they follow me.
I give them eternal life, andthey will never perish.
No one will snatch them out ofmy hand.
My father, who has given them tome, is greater than all.
No one will be able to snatchthem out of the Father's hand.
I and the Father are one.
Now, pause.
(09:10):
First of all, they are tellinghim, You haven't told us who you
are.
Tell us who you are.
And he just got through saying,I am telling you because I keep
telling you that I and theFather are one.
So he's going back to rememberthem, I am statements.
He's using the holy name of God,saying, I am the Good Shepherd,
I am the gate, I am all theseother things.
He is putting it out there forthem.
(09:31):
They're just not payingattention.
But I'll also love, just for thesake of saying, he said, it said
that at the festival ofdedication took place in
Jerusalem, Jesus was walking.
Well, what is the festival ofdedication?
Well, so right after the book ofMalachi in the Old Testament,
and right before the book ofMatthew, it was about 400 years
of prophetic silence.
And what I mean that by that is,is God wasn't speaking through a
(09:54):
prophet at that time that wasconsidered divinely inspired.
That doesn't mean nothing washappening.
At that point, the PersianEmpire fell to the Greeks, the
Greek Empire ended up falling tothe Romans, and all this kind of
stuff was going on.
Well, during that time, all ofthese countries who were moving
through also were taking overPalestine, taking over the
Jewish nation.
Well, at one point, there was agroup of people, this is between
(10:16):
Malachi and Matthew, so at 400years of prophetic silence,
there was a time when theywanted to restore restoration of
the house of God and the houseof worship and all these things.
And so they ended up working onstarting to rebuild the temple
and all this.
And there was a group of peoplecalled the, our family called
the Maccabees, who decided theywere not happy with the
corruption going on and all thepaganistic worship.
(10:38):
So they wanted to restoreholiness to the people of God.
And there were all these warsand a lot of people died.
Well, at one point, they wantedto dedicate the house of God
again.
Now later, King Herod, duringthe the just before the lifetime
of Jesus, and during thelifetime of Jesus, he would go
and expand on the temple of God.
But during that time, theywanted to restore worship to the
(10:59):
house of God.
But according to legend, theyonly had like one small little
thing of oil that was consideredceremonially clean.
Well, they lit that oil as a wayto celebrate dedicating the
temple, and it ended up lastinga total of eight days.
It was only been enough to lasta few hours, but it lasted full
(11:19):
eight days, a complete and totalmiracle.
And so later it would become anannual feast that they would
worship.
And so that's what actually ishappening here is Jesus is
celebrating the feast ofsupernatural provision in the
face of adversity.
And isn't that amazing thatduring this feast, Jesus is
saying, Hey, you know what thereal supernatural provision is?
(11:41):
Me.
I've come to set you free.
All right, let's pick up fromthere, verse 31, finish our
chapter.
Again, the Jews picked up stonesor rocks to kill him.
Jesus replied, I have shown youmany good works from my father.
Which of these works are yougoing to stone me?
We're not stoning you for a goodwork, the Jews answered, but for
blasphemy, because you, being aman, make yourself God.
(12:05):
Jesus answered them, Isn't itwritten in your law?
I said, You are gods?
Other words, that context isfrom the Psalms, talking about
you are leaders, you arespiritual authorities.
If he called these whom the wordof God called gods in Scripture
and cannot be broken, do you saythat you are blaspheming to the
one the Father set apart andsent to the world?
(12:28):
Because I said I am the Son ofGod.
If I am not doing my Father'sworks, don't believe me.
But if I am doing them and don'tbelieve me, wait a minute.
Sorry, verse 38.
But if I am doing them and youdon't believe me, believe the
works.
This way you will know andunderstand that the Father is in
me and I in the Father.
(12:49):
These they then they were tryingto again seize him, but he
escaped from their grasp.
Verse 40.
So he departed again across theJordan to the place where John
had been baptizing earlier, andhe remained there.
Many came to him and said, Johnnever did a sign, but everything
John said about this man istrue.
And many believed in him there.
(13:10):
And so as you can see, whereverJesus goes, he just shed light,
high beams into the situation.
When he's talking about thegate, he's saying, I came to
give you light.
That that life was going tolight up your life.
So I'm going to give you lifeand life to the full.
And then he goes and he talks tothe to the Jewish leaders, and
his words just show light tothem.
(13:32):
It just brightens up really thedarkness in their own life.
And then even when they want tostone him, his light, the life
of his life just brightens upand says, Hey, which one of
these things?
It's just like everywhere Jesusgoes, he just brings
perspective.
He brings life.
And here's the thing (13:47):
not everybody is interested in the
life that Jesus gives.
And so what I love about Jesusis he doesn't back up from that.
He doesn't say, Well, how can Imake you happy?
Instead, he says, This is thetruth.
I love you enough to tell you.
Because he even told him, youknow why you don't understand?
Because you're not my sheep.
He wants them to be, but you'renot going to understand unless
(14:08):
you are.
And to me, as we get ready tofinish our time together, that's
one of the greatest paradoxeswhen it comes to the gospel.
If you have the gospel in yourlife, you understand how
precious and how valuable it is.
If you don't have the gospel inyour life, you don't.
And so it's almost one of thosethings where I've told people
before, I wish I could tell youwhat it's like to experience
salvation.
(14:28):
But I can't.
You have to experience him foryourself.
And then when you do, nothingelse will satisfy.
Because it's just like goingdown that dark road.
Going on that dark road, I feellike I have villains all over
me, I can't hardly see ahead ofme.
And then I turn on those highbeams, and boom, the light
shines everywhere.
And once you see, you can neverunsee.
(14:49):
And I think that's what it'slike to be in the kingdom of
God.
So it's like if I could justconvince you to receive the life
that Christ has, nothing elsewill satisfy.
Well, the Lord's been sharing alot with us, and I've been doing
a whole lot of rambling.
So let me pray for us.
I'm going to read our scriptureand we'll be done for today.
Father, thank you so much.
Your words are true.
Thank you, Jesus, that you arethe door, you're the gate that
(15:10):
leads us into the kingdom ofGod.
And you are the good shepherd.
You lead us and you guide us andyou never leave us.
I'm thankful for what you'redoing in our life.
I'm thankful, Lord, that yourword says the thief comes to
steal, kill, and destroy, butyou have come that we have life
and life to the full.
And that life lights up our lifeand it expels the darkness.
Thank you.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
Don't forget, John 20, 31 says,These are written that you may
(15:34):
continue to believe that Jesusis God, and that by believing in
Him, you will have life by thepower of His name.
I love you.
I'll see you tomorrow for Johnchapter eleven.
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