b) Helping people to come to faith in the Lord Jesus
3. Post-evangelism
a) Helping new believers to relate to the Lord Jesus as Shepherd
b) Encouraging growth of faith in the Lord
THE DOOR OF THE SHEEP
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.
John 10:7-10
1. “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep” John 10:7
a) Assurance
b) Use of Imagery- “Door”
i) Entrance
ii) Exit
2. “All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers”John 10:8a
a) This is not a reference to the old prophets
i) They came before the Lord Jesus
ii) They came before the Lord, but they were in spirit “with Him”
b) The point of reference is the phrase “thieves and robbers”
i) Thieves use cunning tactics
ii) Robbers employ violence
c) The warning is about false shepherds
d) Words of warning may be found in the following texts
i) Jeremiah 23
ii) Ezekiel 13
iii) 1 Timothy 4
iv) 2 Timothy 3
3. “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” John 10:9
a) I am the door
i) Repetition for Emphasis
ii) Repetition for Expansion of Teaching
b) If anyone enters by Me
i) The Person of the Lord Jesus
ii) The Place of the Lord
c) He will be saved
i) Assurance of Salvation
ii) Against all who are “thieves and robbers”
d) “And will go in and out and find pasture”
i) The believer will be led by the Lord Jesus
ii) He will lead them to find new pasture
4. “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy” John 10:10a
a) The thief (Includes “the robbers”)
b) His work
i) To steal
ii) To kill
iii) To destroy
c) This may be discerned
i) Check their lives against the Lord Jesus
ii) Check their doctrines against the teachings of the Lord
5. “I have come that they may have life,and that they may have it more abundantly.” John 10:10b
a) The Lord Jesus came to give:
i) New Life (John 3:3)
ii) Eternal Life (John 3:15)
b) Life more abundant I (John 10:10b)
i) This not a reference to wealth
ii) This is not a reference to a life of ease
c) Life more abundant II
This is a reference to the kind of life the Lord Jesus demonstrated
i) Full of the Holy Spirit (John 7:37-39)
ii) Abundance of fruit (John 15)
iii) Abundance of power/ strength (Acts 1:8)
iv) Abundance of revelation (2 Corinthians 12:7)
CONCLUSION
1. Post-evangelism work is just as important
2. Young believers need to be:
a) Nurtured
b) Instructed
c) Warned against false teachers
3. The work of Evangelism
a) It does not end when a person comes to faith in the Lord Jesus
b) It continues till the new believer is sufficiently strengthened (2 Timothy 2:2)