Questions The Bible Asks Us

When we open the Scriptures, we bring our questions to God—but the Bible also comes to us with deep, searching questions of its own.

In this sermon on John 10:1–21, Lead Pastor Neil McClendon digs into the rich imagery of Jesus as both the Door and the Good Shepherd. Contrasting true shepherd leadership with the destructive nature of false teachers, Pastor Neil explores five foundational questions that emerge directly from the text. The message challenges believers to move beyond religious duty or performance and enter into an intimate, voice-recognized relationship with Christ—one defined by genuine salvation, spiritual freedom, divine provision, and ultimate security.

In this episode, we cover:

• How God Designed Relationship: Moving away from shame, guilt, and religious duty to experience the intimate communion of a shepherd leading his sheep.
• Recognizing God's Voice: Understanding that God primarily speaks to believers by His Son, through His Spirit, in the Scriptures.
• The Experiences That Characterize Faith: Examining the three biblical markers of true Christianity—being saved, walking in freedom, and experiencing God's rich provision.
• Identifying the Thief: Exposing the false teachers and legalistic religious systems that seek to steal, kill, and destroy rather than lead people to Christ.
• Overcoming the Fear of Death: Living with confidence in the resurrection, knowing that Jesus willingly laid down His life and had the authority to take it up again.

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This podcast is a ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God. For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org.

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Amen. Let's pray together. And Father, we sang in that song in the middle of the mystery. And so we acknowledge, God, there's going to be moments in our life where we don't know what we're supposed to do or where we're supposed to go or what direction to turn. And in those moments, God, we just need to hear your voice. You're the good shepherd, and we're your sheep. We hear your voice and we follow you. And so, Lord, when life feels like a mystery, God, we can rely in faith on you because you're faithful, you're constant, you're consistent, and you're good. And so, Lord, because of all of these realities are true, uh, we get to experience those. And for that we're grateful. Lord, say something today that stirs our head, God, uh, that engages our mind and our affections. Lord, we love you. We open up the word because we want revelation, we want clarity, we want direction. So speak to us now, Lord. Your people are listening, and so we say, speak, and speak in Jesus' name. And everyone said, Amen. Amen. You could have a seat. If you've got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open it up to John chapter 10. John chapter 10. If you have a Bible, it's one of your roll on page 896. And we started into this set this text or scripture uh last week, but it is so rich. It's kind of like uh, well, while you're finding John 10, let me tell you, there's a restaurant down here in Town Center, a little area of our city called Town Center. There's a restaurant down there called Perry's Steakhouse and Grill. I've been to Perry's many times, probably more than I should, but I've been there many times, but I've never had a steak, even though it's called the Steakhouse and Grill, I've never had a steak, because I always have the same thing. I have the pork chop. And I'm sure they have other things on the menu, and you say, Well, I don't know what you mean. I promise you this: anytime you go to Paris, or just go down there and stand across the street on the sidewalk, you'll see people, you'll see people walking out with a little black bag in their hand. And in that black bag is the rest of the pork chop they couldn't eat. Because it is not a pork chop like you think of a pork chop, like that thick or thick, cut like that. That thing's like a rump roast. It comes out, it's got tie-downs on it, okay? And they set it down, and there's just a little, like they have a caulking gun, and they just kind of go, a little mashed potato. Because you're not gonna mess that mashed potato. They go, This is the eye, and this is the lash, and you're just like, back up, I'm fixing to get gout, okay? Uh despite your best efforts, you cannot eat the whole thing. They're bringing a little to-go thing, and then you walk out your little black bag. Sometimes the Bible's so dense and so rich, it's like the pork chop at Paris. You cannot consume it all in one setting. This passage is like that. And so I want to read in John chapter 10. Last week we talked about how Jesus is the only way to God. This is foundational truth that informs everything else that comes in this passage. Because Jesus describes himself as the door. He says, I am the door. I am not a door, I'm not a way to God, I am the only way to God. And because Jesus says this and the Bible teaches it all throughout, it puts a really increased emphasis and significance on the words of Jesus. And we all come to the Bible with questions, but today the Bible comes to us with questions of its own. So when I talk to you this morning about questions the Bible asks us from John chapter 10, starting verse 1. And Jesus says, Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in another way. That man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, he calls his own sheep by name, and he leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know, excuse me, they do not know the voice of strangers. This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. So Jesus again said to them, Truly, truly I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved, and go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and to kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He was a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and he leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he's a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me, just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep, and I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock and one shepherd. For this reason, the father loves me because I lay down my life, that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord, and I have the authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my father. There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. Many of them said, He has a demon and is insane. Why listen to him? Others said, These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind? It's a reference to the fact that Jesus had healed a man back in chapter 9 who'd been blind from birth. Now, when I say questions that the Bible asks us, what do I mean? Uh like that they just rise up out of the text. Now, we don't take points that we don't come up with things and put them down over the biblical text in an effort to kind of dilute it or explain it away. No, these realities rise up out of the text, and they will cause us to think about ourselves in ways that we don't normally think about ourselves. And that's a good thing, okay? Here's an example of a question the Bible asks us. The first question is this How did God design this relationship to be? How did God design this relationship to be? Let me give you some background of shepherds and sheep. When shepherds, they would be with their flocks, grazing their flocks all day, and at night, multiple shepherds would pull their sheep together in one common area, kind of like a holding pin, and they would pitch their tents all on the outside in a circle, and they would put all the sheep in the middle. That could be as many as 600 to 1,200 sheep, gathered together, just one throbbing mass of wool, and they would be surrounded by this enclosure and have a gate. And they would select somebody to be the gatekeeper. He would either stay up all night, or if he slept, he would lay down across the gate, so the sheep would have to get over him and he would, he would, it would wake him up. And in the morning, the shepherd would come, the gatekeeper would see him, would recognize him, open the gate, he would come in, and he wouldn't start going, Hey, okay, I think this one's mine, and that one's mine, and that one right there, and somebody else, no, that one's mine, you're trying to steal my sheep. Now the shepherd would walk into the sheepfold and he would just look around and go, talk to his sheep. Let's go! Everybody belongs to me, let's go. And he would walk out. And if he walked in there with 148 sheep, 148 sheep would walk out with him. Just at the sound of his voice. Here's why. Because what Jesus is winking at us and saying, Hey, by the way, when he says, Hey, how did this how did God design this relationship to be? It was supposed to be ruled by intimate communion. Intimate communion. My sheep hear my voice. Now, when you hear that, when you see this picture of the shepherd coming to the gatekeeper and just walking in and going, All right, all my sheep, let's go, they followed him. Now, because Jesus understood, and the people he was talking to understood. They'd seen this before. Now hear verses three to six again. To him that the gatekeeper opens, the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers. This, beloved, is the way God designed this relationship to be. Not to be ruled by guilt or manipulation or pressure, but just by this intimate communion, a shepherd and sheep who hear his voice and follow him. Now, one of the reasons are actually two of the reasons I don't think people enjoy their relationship with God. Number one is they don't really have one. They believe in God, they believe in a higher power, they believe in church. Church is a moral force for good. I want my kids to get instruction. All of those are great things, but you can want all those things and never have a relationship with God. Secondly, they don't understand the nature of the relationship as God craved it to be. We say this a lot here at our church. This is not about religion. This is about a relationship. Let me give you a picture. I heard a guy talk once, and he said it was in the seventh grade. Every six weeks they would focus on a different uh like activity. Like he said, we had bad knitting for like six weeks, and then we had basketball for six weeks, and towards the end of the year, and it was guys, girls, PE. The girls at one end of the gym, the guys at the other end of the gym, never the twain shall meet, except we're almost to the end of the school year, and they said for the next six weeks, we're gonna focus on dancing. Here's what we're gonna do. Line doll, seventh grade. Did you get that? Seventh grade. A bunch of hairless electric chihuahuas, seventh grade. Guys on this side of the gym wall, girls on this side. The coach walked out there, he got a female uh teacher to come out there, and he said, Dancing's easy. He said, Our coach was a former drill instructor of the Marine Corps, big barrel chested man that just screamed at us. And he said, Dancing's easy. Any idiot can do it. Here, it's like this just a box step. One, two, three, four. And so they were lined up, and he had them on the wall, and he said, When I blow the whistle, I want you to walk out to the center court to the middle of the gym floor. And whoever's standing in front of you, that is your put your partner. You're gonna you're gonna pair off, and the music starts. Just practice the box step. He said, I thought in my mind, I've got to do this for six weeks. We're gonna learn different dances. He said, I walked out there, and the girl in front of me was one of the prettiest girls in the seventh grade. I was so overwhelmed with just oh, I was embarrassed. He said, I I took her by the hand and I didn't want to touch her, and I was just kind of, yeah, I just put my fingers on her hip and she said, You can put your hand right there. And he's like, No, I'm good, I'm good. And so um he said, I finally put my finger in the loop of her shorts, and I started stepping all over her. Every time we took a step, he said, We're supposed to do it for 30 minutes, okay? Just keep practicing this. He said, I might have lasted maybe five minutes, and finally I said, Hey, I'm not really good at this. Never mind. He said, I went and sat on the wall, stood on the wall, and the coach came over there and said, if you don't participate, you're gonna get a zero for a daily grade. And he said, I don't care. I was so humiliated, I would rather fail than face humiliation. Now, you probably should be thinking right now, what has this got to do with the way God designed this relationship to be? Some of you, that's your experience with any kind of God or Christianity or religion or whatever. You attempted it and you realized you weren't good at it, and you went over and stood on the wall, you just said, I'll take a zero. And I'm saying to you that God is not a God of shame, God is a God of invitation. And what if he set this thing up to be as simple as this? My sheep hear my voice, they they know my voice, and they follow me. Second question the Bible asks, because, and by the way, this is not, I mean, this is not something just random and pulled out of the New Testament. The Bible's always been this way. Just this is the way God set it up. You go back in the Old Testament, the book of Isaiah, chapter 30, uh, God's people are rebellious, and he says, Hey, if you turn to the left or to the right, you'll hear a voice behind you saying, This is the way, walk in it. Intimate communion. But the people said, We will not have any of that. We're not going to listen to you. Psalm 32, the Bible says it like this in verse 8. He says, I will instruct you and teach you in the way that you should go. I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Be not like the horse or mule without understanding, which must be curved with a bit and a bridle, or it will not stay near you. If you always have to have the bit and the bridle, that should be a sign to you. Because when you get a relationship with God, what you get is a desire for God and the things of God. So the first question the Bible asks us is, hey, I want you to think about how God designed this relationship to be. Second question in the text is Do you recognize the voice? Do you recognize God's voice? Do you recognize God's voice? Jesus said, Hey, I'm the good shepherd. My sheep hear my voice and they follow me. Do you recognize God's voice? Here, if you write anything down today, write this down. The primary way that God speaks to us is by his son, through his spirit, in the Bible. The primary way God speaks to us is by his son, through his spirit, in the Bible. You say, I don't know what you mean. That's okay. I'll explain. Two verses from the book of Hebrews. The first one is Hebrews chapter 1, verse 1 and 2. This is what the Bible says. Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in his last days, he has spoken to us by his son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom he also created the world. Let your eye be drawn to those six or seven eight or nine words. He has spoken to us by his son. In these last days, he's spoken to us by his son. What is that saying? When you look at the life of Jesus, Jesus is a megaphone. The life, the totality of his life. Life, death, burial, resurrection, the life of Jesus. He's spoken to us by his son. The life of Jesus is like a megaphone that God uses to speak to us, to rouse a sleeping world. The second thing the Bible says is in Hebrews chapter 3, verse 7 to 9. Now again, keep in mind that what we're looking at is this simple phrase that the primary way God speaks to us is by his son, through his spirit, in the Bible. This is what this is based on. Hebrews 3, verse 7 says this. Now, that's a reference to something that happened. It's called the Exodus, where God's people were in slavery, take a guy named Pharaoh, and God raised up a guy named Moses who was a murderer. Moses had killed a man and buried him in the sand. So he had a really sordid past he didn't want anybody to find out about. Now, why do I tell you that? Because all of us in this room have killed some people and buried them in the sand in our past. Amen. Y'all are like, I'm not falling for that religious trick. No. Put your hand down, honey. Sure. Every one of us in this room got something in your past that you just kind of think, man, I sure hope nobody goes back and why do I tell you that? This is free. This is not even nothing to do with the sermon to say this. You don't have to be perfect to be used by God. Moses had disqualified himself. Moses sold his house, moved to the wilderness, and was just eking out of existence. And God appeared to him, and Moses was like, Hey man, really? I mean, I hate to break it to you, but here's the reasons I can't be used. I stutter, I'm a murderer, and I've kind of got some fear issues, okay? And God said, Not a problem, you're my man. And Moses said, What about my brother? And God said, What about shut up? Now, why do I tell you all that? Because in the book of Hebrews, New Testament, he says, Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, and then it starts today, if you hear his voice, that from today, if you hear his voice, that's a reference to the 95th Psalm in the Old Testament. What the Bible is telling us is whenever the Bible speaks, the Holy Spirit speaks. God speaks. When you read the Bible, you're hearing the voice of God, which is why I say to you that the primary way that God speaks to us is by his son through his spirit in the Bible. Now, why do I say that? Because we live in a day and age where God speaks through everybody and everything. It's called pantheism. God's in everything. But if you're not careful, like I remember I saw a lady for counseling once, and for whatever reason, our sessions ended after this. She's married, had three kids, if I remember correctly, and she said there's a guy at work that keeps hitting on me. And I prayed that he would stop, and he hasn't stopped. And so I'm wondering if God's sending me my soulmate because my husband is not my soulmate anymore. And in my mind, I'm like, what are you in the seventh grade? Are you kidding me? Lady, you got three kids and a husband and a mortgage and all this stuff. But so I prayed because, see, again, you know that you're not really hearing God when God sounds like what you always want to do. See, the Bible says, God created us in his image and we've returned the favor. We've created God in our image. And so she said, I even prayed and said, God, if you don't want me to hook up with him, take this desire away. And I'm like, well, what? See, this all became God's fault. The beauty of making every desire of yours the voice of God is that you're not responsible for your behavior. Now, why am I telling you that? You got to be careful. See, when attributing something to God, you should ask three questions. Number one, does this line up with the clear teaching of the Bible? God doesn't change his voice. He never says anything that violates what he's revealed in the Bible. When people disguise their voice, God doesn't disguise his voice. When people disguise their voice, they do not want to be found out. God speaks loud and clear because he wants to be known. Second question you should ask is, does this in any way grieve the Holy Spirit? Like I asked this lady, I said, Hey, when you feel yourself making plans with this guy at work, this is called an affair, it's called sin. Do you feel any sadness in you? She goes, Yeah, I feel a pang of guilt, but I just think, you know, in our last church, my pastor told us that God, after all, wants us to be happy. Feel free to just write his name down right here on this tablet. We may need to pay him a pastoral visit. She says, I just feel a pang of guilt, but I just, I just I just push that down. Hear this, hear this. I've said no to myself for so long in the name of motherhood, I think I've earned the right to say yes to myself. I've never been a mother. So don't email me, ladies. But look at me. Hey, you think you're gonna be saying done saying no to yourself when the kids leave your house? They're gonna be coming back. I said, Ha! Her kids were all under the age of nine. And I said, Because I'm full of compassion, you're not done saying no to yourself. Matter of fact, if you've practiced saying no to yourself so much in the name of motherhood, why can't you say no to yourself in the name of obedience? Because you can't complain about it over here and then exercise it over here when you want to hook up with this loser at work. Well, I think our session should be done. Okay. One less person to talk to in the world. Please, Bird Rabbit, don't throw me in that briar patch. And here's my point. If you're visiting today, I'm full of compassion. Just don't come and tell me that God said this is okay. No. No. Here's the third question. Is this in keeping with the character and nature of Jesus? Is this in keeping with the character and nature of nature of Jesus? Because God has set this up. This is God set this relationship up to be characterized, to be ruled and informed by this intimate communion between shepherd and sheep. You've got to ask yourself, do I recognize God's voice? Third question the Bible asks us is this what experiences characterize Christianity? What experiences characterize Christianity? Now put a star by this in your mind, okay? I'm gonna read right out of verse 9. This is in red. If you've got a red letter edition of the Bible, that means it's the words of Jesus. So I didn't say this. Jesus teaches this because we live in a day and age that kind of says, because there's so much pluralism and multiculturalism, it's kind of like, yeah, well, we don't really know who's really a Christian, so let's just don't be judgmental. I'm not saying be judgmental. I'm saying, no, you can tell who really knows God and who's just kind of, hey, uh, what do you mean? Look at verse 9. Jesus says, I am the door. If anyone enters by me, two definite statements got made. I am the door. I am not a door, I'm not a way, I am the door. Secondly, if anyone enters by me, in other words, if anyone comes into a relationship with God through me, here's these three realities you'll see in their life. He says, He will be saved, he will go in and out and find pasture. He'll be saved, that person will live in freedom, and that person will experience provision. What do you mean to be saved? It's the Greek word sozo. He will be saved. We live in such a such a cowardly time in the church that we don't even use the word saved anymore. We don't tell people, hey man, you're you're you need to be saved. Because our first question is, saved from what? Like, I'm talking with a guy not long ago, uh, very laid-back guy, and he said, Well, you know, I'm into Jesus. I love Jesus, I love that he's loving and compassionate. He loved prostitutes and he gave money to the poor and he did miracles to bless people, and that's great. I said, Anything else about that? No, I just love that he was so merciful. He was so merciful. I said, he was merciful, but he's also mighty. And he said, What do you mean? I mean, and he said, Hey, I just think if Jesus was alive today, I could smoke a cigarette with him. And I said, I don't know. Maybe, I don't know, maybe Jesus is the Marlboro man, I don't know. But you can't just say God's merciful because God is merciful. You okay? You didn't check out on me there, did you? Uh God is merciful, but he's also mighty. And I said, see, here's the problem. You have this underdeveloped view of God. It's just, oh, Jesus is love, and Jesus did all those things. But if you look in Revelation 19, start by verse 11, it talks about Jesus' coming back and what he's like. And it says he's gonna be riding a white horse with a sharp mouth coming out of his mouth with which to strike down the nations, and he will tread the wine press of the wrath and the fury of God Almighty. The problem in America is that the God we talk to people about, you don't need to be saved from him. Because all he's come to do is make your life better. And the Bible, and he goes, Well, where's that in the Bible? I said, You think I'm making this up? Well, I just never heard that. It's Revelation 19, starting about verse 11. He said, Well, I'll check that later. And get back to me. I said, check it and get back to me. Because hey, by the way, he's mighty, but that doesn't cancel out his mercy. His might magnifies his mercy. He is this. He says, Well, what's the difference? I said, That's a great question. And by the way, this is starting to feel like an argument. I don't want to argue, but if we're going to argue, let's take our shirts off. And he's like, What you say? You should say things people don't expect coming. That makes it interesting. He's like, Okay, I said, I'm just kidding, leave your shirt on. And I said, Here's the thing. It's a great question. You say, what's the difference in the Jesus you're talking about? And same thing. I said, but here's the thing. For Jesus to leave heaven and come to earth, he had to give up some of his glory. And he took on humanity. So when he was here, he was fully God and fully man. But when Jesus ascended back into heaven, he said to his father, Give me back the glory I had with you before the world began. So when he comes, he's coming full of glory. And that is going to be mighty, my man. That's the God you need to be saved from. And he's like, Whoa, whoa. Oh, I said, now you might want to lay off some of them left-handed Democratic cigarettes you'll be hitting up on. And he's like, How'd you know I smoke? I said, Man, I can tell. Your brain's a little slow on the uptake here. How long have you been smoking the wacky tobacky? And he goes, Oh, since I was about 15. How old are you now? 31. Woo! I know some of you pot smokers out there, get off marijuana, Pastor. The man can't sustain a thought. The synapses in his brain lacked the sufficient calcium. He's just like, and I said, Hey, I'm not mocking you. I'm just saying, be careful you don't smoke yourself into a numb state of being. He goes, bro, I'd like he kept calling me bro. I was like, I'm strangely warmed by that. He said, bro, if I lived in your city, I'd come to your church. I said, and you'd be welcome. He goes, Are you serious? I don't know if I agree with what you're saying. I said, You think everybody that comes to my church agrees with me? He's like, oh, okay. Hmm. So what experiences to characterize Christianity? The first one is being saved. Now you gotta ask yourself, to be saved, what does it mean? It means to be delivered from the penalties of mess of messianic judgment. The penalties of not believing in a God who sacrificed himself to give you not just something to believe in, but payment for your sins and forgiveness. Now, it's important that we distinguish this being saved from just being healed or feeling better or having our marriage in a better place because a lot of people go to marriage counseling and you don't need marriage counseling. You just need to be saved because you got two sinners that are just both trying to get their way. And so there's no motivation, no capacity besides this man and this woman wanting what they want. There's nothing that says, hey, love her and serve her like Christ served his bride, the church. And so you say, Well, what do you mean there's a difference in being saved and just feeling better? I give you a biblical picture. It's uh don't turn there, but it's in Luke chapter 17. There's a story of the Jesus and the ten lepers. Leprosy was uncurable. It was like AIDS in the 80s, okay? And so to be a leper, they sent you to a leper colony, usually out in the country, away from town. Now, fun fact: a leper was religiously called ceremonially unclean. They could not come to the temple because they would contaminate everybody. So if they showed up at the temple with leprosy, they could be put to death because it was a violation of the religious law. And so they're stuck out there in the middle of nowhere and they're just waiting to die. Jesus is walking down the road in Luke 17, and these guys see him and they go berserk. I mean, they're like, oh my gosh, Jesus, have mercy on us. And Jesus is so subtle. He says, Hey, go show yourselves to the priest. Translation, go to the temple. And they knew they're at this fork in the road. If we obey and we go there, we could be killed because we're contaminating the place. But the next verse of the Bible says, as they went, they were healed. Now look at me. Sometimes you've got to obey before you get the healing. Some of you want the healing as motivation to do anything. It says, as they went, they were healed. But here's the part you need to understand. Then the Bible says, and one of them, when he realized he was healed, he turned back to Jesus. He comes back and falls at his feet. Jesus says, Hey, were not ten healed? Where are the other nine? Jesus is so greedy for glory. He's not, he's not a sissy like you've been told. He's like, Hey, did I not heal ten of you cats? Where are the other nine? And he looks at this one, hear this, and he says, Hey, blessed are you. Your faith has made you well. Now, guess what word he says? Make you're smart people. Think about it for a second. Why would Jesus say to a man he's just healed, your faith has made you well? He's already been healed. Guess what word it is? It's the same Greek word, so-so. Jesus is saying to him, Your faith has saved you. You don't want just relief, you want the truth. Those other nine cats that are high tailing it into town to show everybody, look, we had leprosy and now we're healed. They didn't get saved. Be careful that you don't pimp the church just to feel better about your parenting and your marriage, and you never get saved. Happens all the time. All the time. What experiences characterize Christianity? It's Jesus right here. Verse 9. It's not hard. You're grown people. I'm the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved. Secondly, he will go in and out. That's freedom. That's freedom. If you think, man, Christianity gets you all jammed up, you don't understand the Bible. He says, it will go in and out. It's Galatians 5. He says, it was for freedom that Christ set us free. Why does the Bible have to tell us it was for freedom that Christ set us free? Here's why. Because some people get free. Everybody gets free when you get saved, when you come enter into a relationship with God. And what a lot of people do, they turn around and they obligate themselves to some religious bondage. That's what's happened in the book of Galatians. He's like, hey, it was for freedom that Christ set you free. Get away from this stuff. Here's the third thing that characterizes this is you experience provision. Think of the 23rd Psalm. Draw your attention to that second sentence there. He says, He makes me lie down in green pastures. Now this is free. Think with me for a second. You still with me? Look at me. Shepherds do not take their sheep to the green pasture to lie down. Why do shepherds take their sheep to green pastures? To eat. That's right. Provision. Here's what Jesus is saying. The Bible doesn't always yell at you, sometimes the Bible is just like, psst. Notice this. What he says is, my shepherd is so good. Let me ask you a question. Have you ever eaten so much that you were sleepy, you had to take a nap when you were done? That's what the Bible's saying right here. The Bible's saying, hey, he makes me lie down in green pastures. Why? Because my shepherd's so good. He provides me so well that he leads me to these green pastures, and after I've just got a big old, got my feet on, I'm just like, hey, Jesus, I'm gonna lay down right here and take about a three-hour power now. Don't leave without me. And he's like, I'm not gonna leave. Knock yourself out. You wake up, you drool all over themselves, but I'm better now, Jesus. He's like, All right, well, let's go. There's more green pastures. Ask yourself this question: Who provides for you like that? Because this is free. The other two services didn't get this. The more I think about it, the more it comes to me. Look at me. You ought to be, remember how God set this relationship up to be intimate communion? You should be so experiencing God providing for you in ways that you forsake every other thing that comes along. It's what Peter did when people in John 6 turned and walked with Jesus no more, and Jesus turned to the 12 and said, You guys want to leave too? Peter said, Where else are we gonna go for the words of life? Translation, who's gonna take me to a greener pasture than what you've done? Some of you don't understand how good God is, and so you kind of got one eye out there looking to see if anybody else is gonna come along and help you out. Jesus says, Hey, this is what characterizes Christianity. This person's been saved. They've not just relieved, they got the truth, they live in freedom and they experience provision. They eat so much, they just lie down and sleep. They're like, oh God, you've been so good. Fourth question the Bible asks us is who is the thief? Who is the thief? Look at verse 10. He says, The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy, but I come that you may have life and have it more abundantly. Now, let me ask you a simple question. Who's Jesus talking about when he says the thief? Say it out loud. It's not Satan. I turned on TV, I got about 6 o'clock this morning. I turned on the TV and I thought, I'm just gonna turn over to the religious channel. Wish I hadn't done that. I'd like, oh man, it wasn't on two minutes, and the guy says, you know, the thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. Uh, how can this be Satan? Remember, I told you last week everything in the Bible happens in a context. You cannot violate the context to make the Bible say what you want it to say. The thief is nowhere in here. Now, by the way, Jesus was so smart. He was smarter than everybody he ever talked to, but he wasn't arrogant. He wasn't like a punk kid in a Harvard bar because Jesus had to go, you like apples? How you like them apples? Jesus wasn't that kind of smart. Jesus was smart like this. He would talk to you on Sunday, and he was so much smarter than you that it would take you to Tuesday to realize that he offended you. You would wake up the meeting, you'd wake your wife up. Get up, get up, go! I think he was talking to us. And your wife's like, What? Got her sleeping mask up. What are you talking to? You idiot. What are you doing? Jesus was talking to us on Sunday. Eureka. And your wife's like, okay, go back to bed. What's your problem? You say, Well, where do you get that? Look at verse one. You'll see who the thief is. Let the context of the passage explain the passage. Truly, truly, verse one, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in another way, that man is a thief and a robber. That man, not the devil. Stop giving the devil so much credit. That man, who is the thief? The thief, this refers to these false teachers because remember in chapter 9, the blind guy got healed and they kicked him out of the temple because he wouldn't denounce Jesus. The thief is the false teacher of the day who taught people that belonging to a religious institution was more important than believing in Jesus. And some of you got raised up in a religious tradition that said if you ever leave the church, you have no hope of heaven. That's a false teaching. That's not in the Bible. Jesus is the door. The Baptist church is not going to get you to heaven. Only Jesus. He is the door. And so when we say, who is the thief? I mean, Israel has this horrible record, this record of horrible shepherds. I mean, don't, don't, but just if you're taking notes, write this down. Exodus 34. Read Exodus 34. And God says, I can't stand these shepherds because they make themselves rich off the backs of my sheep, and they don't give a rip about these people. Jesus is picking up on this in verse 10 when he says, The thief, this false teacher, comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. And I can have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He was a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming. And he leaves the sheep and flees. And the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. Did you hear that? He he when he gets hard, that cat leaves because he didn't care anything for me. Here's what you should do: you should go home today, get on our church website, pull up our staff page, look at all the men and women on SATH here and ask yourself, do those people care about me? Are they just trying to separate me from my money? Sure. You should do that. Now why? Why do I tell you that? Because the church in America is full of false teachers. Say things that aren't in the Bible, just to make millions of dollars and build some mansion out there in their gated community, and they come down off their high horse and bless their church with their presence. And people are like, oh, that's awesome. I got people calling me and go, I can't get a point with my pastor. He's kind of famous. Can I come see you? Yeah, come on. Come over here to the infamous people. Verse 13, he flees because he's the hired hand. He cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me. Just as the Father knows me and I know the Father, I lay down my life for the sheep. You should ask, are these people inconveniencing themselves? Are they laying down their life for me? I've had other sheep that are not of this fold. By the way, Jesus is talking to these Jewish men right here. He's talking about Gentiles when he says, I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also that they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock and one shepherd. Last question the Bible asks is simply this Would you fear death if you knew you would live again? Would you fear death if you knew you would live again? It's verse 16, uh, or excuse me, verse 17 and 18. Look at Jesus says, For this reason the Father loves me because I laid down my life, that's the cross, that I may take it up again, that's the resurrection. Uh no one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my father. So I ask you, Jesus live with the certainty that yes, I'm gonna lay my life down, and after three days, I'm gonna take it back up again. Would you fear death if you knew you would live again? Now, all of us would say, Oh, I don't fear death until you get around somebody who really doesn't fear death. Let me give you a name. Some of you people have been here a long time remember this. Does anybody remember a guy that used to be here named Norm West? You ever remember Norm West? That, yes, that rascal was unsettling. Norm West was an old missionary from Turkey. He and his wife Fran were part of our church. Norm got cancer and was dying, and he would call me every once in a while and say, Hey, brother, come over and encourage me. I don't know how much longer I've got on this life. And it was unnerving to be around that cat because I'd go to his house and he'd open the door and go, morning. I think I got maybe two weeks left, and I can't wait for glory. And in my mind, this is how shallow I was. Like, I want to eat that pork chop a time or two bound Paris before I go. Whoo! We'd go in there, we'd we'd make Turkish tea, his wife Fran, and we'd talk. That cat was so excited. Now look at me. I'm not saying you gotta be like norm. I mean, I'm I'm not that guy. You should be that way. I'm not saying you should hate your life in this world. No, enjoy yourself. But understand something. If you're a Christian, the Bible says you're gonna live again. Hear this as well. If you're a non-Christian, you're also gonna live again. We don't say that part. We talk about Christians, the only people are gonna live forever. No, everyone's gonna live forever. You will live forever in a place called heaven or in a place called hell, but you're gonna live forever. We're not annihilationists here. Annihilationism is the belief that says heaven's not gonna be forever. You're just gonna go there and be punished for a little bit, and then it's gonna be over. The Bible says hell's a place where the worm never dies, where people are in agony there day and night, forever and ever and ever. And then people come along and say, Well, how could a loving God punish people forever? Well, I would just ask you, then how could a righteous God, on what basis then, could he reward the righteous forever and ever and ever? You can't have one without the other. See how thought-provoking the Bible is? See how you shouldn't just come to church and sleepwalk and go, hey man, give my kids some goldfish and leave me alone. And just get done on time, man. Come on. No. No. We're here for the meal. Would you fear death if you knew you would live again? And if you're a believer and you know, hey, when I die, that doesn't mean you gotta seek death and love death. I love my life. I love my wife. I want to see my kids get married, I want to have grandkids, I want to get my grandpa's name tattooed on my chest, big poppy and a big arch right there. So when I tell my grandkids something, they go, I don't want to do that. I just ripped my shirt open. Who said do it? Ain't your mama? I'll wear yourself out. You walk home with a limp today. What happened? I popped off the big poppy and he gave me a hot leg. And then my kids will call me and go, Did you spank my kid? Yeah, I spanked your kid. And clearly you ain't doing it enough. Why don't you stop putting them in time out and give them a little hot leg? They'll be better for it. I want to do all that. And by the way, I'm available to babysit your kids. Your kids be walking, you get home. What happened? Pastor Neil gave me a hot leg. If you're visiting, I will not whip your kids. If you're a longtime member, I'll beat yours. Ask yourself, if would you fear death if you knew you'd live again? Because look at me. The life of Jesus doesn't make sense unless this is real. Because people would threaten him and he would say, Hey, my time has not yet come. Hear this again, we'll be done. Jesus said, No one takes my life from me. I lay it down, the cross. I take it up again, the resurrection. You're gonna live forever. One of two places. That's why it's important that you understand that Jesus is the only way to God. Let's pray together. If you're a guest, just relax. We're gonna try to get you jammed up with a bunch of emotionalism. We like to teach the Bible and give you some soul space to think about it. And so I'll pray a brief prayer. Lindsay's gonna come and sing something over you. And just use this time to ask yourself, hey, what stood out to me? What is it that I want to think about or maybe better understand? We'd love to help you with that. Right now, let me just voice a prayer. God, we the Bible's so rich and dense, it's like good cheesecake. We can't get it through it all in one setting. But it's so nourishing, it makes us want more. Lord, what had our name on it today? What do we need to respond to today? Holy Spirit, just brood over your people now. And God, of all the words that we could use, those two are the best. The two words that we could use to describe Christianity is just wild and free. Wild, not in a destructive way, but in a liberating way and just free. God, we want to be the freest cats that anybody knows. We're not bound down with a bunch of religious rules. That doesn't mean we're disobedient. That means we're righteously reflective of the goodness and the character and the nature of God. We're like the moon, God. We don't have any light source of our own. We're just here to reflect the glory and the sufficiency of the sun. That's what it means to be wild and free. I pray for anyone in this room that doesn't know that experience, that you'd bring them to that. I pray that in Jesus' name. And everyone said, Amen. Amen. If you're a guest today, let me say thanks. I know it's a big deal going to a church you've never been to before. Let me say this: you're always welcome. You're always welcome. If you've got questions, your questions are welcome. We'll be available down front, myself and some of our pastors and elders in just a minute when we're uh dismissed. And we if you have any questions, or you got anything going on, you say, Hey, I'd love somebody pray with me. This is kind of big in my life. We'd love to pray with you, okay? If you're a guest, hopefully you had a chance to fill out on those guest cards. And on your way out here in just a minute, just drop on those wooden boxes by the doors. Um, for the rest of us uh that this is your church, if today's the day you worship God through obedience or generosity, that's where you'll take care of that as well. Uh, lots of different things going on at church, opportunities for involvement. We want to make you aware of those by way of our announcements. So give your attention to the screens right now.

SPEAKER_01 41:56

Here's a look at what's happening at Grand Parkway Baptist Church. Registration for our women's retreat is now open. The retreat will take place on March 29th through 30th here at the church with Colleen Searcy teaching and Lindsay Fraleck leading worship. The cost is $50. Are you ready to make Grand Parkway your church? Starting Point is a class designed to help you understand the pathway to membership and the DNA of our church. If you're interested in attending on March 3rd, register online at grandparkway.org. Tonight is Community Group Sunday. If you haven't joined a group, this is a great time to check one out. If there's anything you've heard today, if you have questions, or you would like someone to pray with you, some of our pastors and elders will be down by the stage at the conclusion of our service.

SPEAKER_02 42:51

We like to close our service with a blessing. So if you would stand and just hold your hands out. If you're not comfortable holding your hands out, just stand there. That's okay. Your God is a speaking God, and he created you to be a listening people. That's why he says in the Psalms, I've dug for you ears, because he not only wants you to hear him, he wants to be heard. So speaking God, listening people. Depart now and live in the beautiful collision of these two realities. In the name of the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit. Amen. Bless you.