Good morning, friends. It's so good to be here.
Thank you so much for inviting me to speak here to you all.
Friends, greetings from Capitol Hill Baptist Church.
I know you've had pastors come and preach to you and they came
back encouraged by you and by your ministry here in Chapel
Hill. I've gotten about a dozen texts
this morning praying for you all, letting the say, letting
you guys know that the Saints at Capitol Hill Baptist Church are
praying for you and the preaching of the ministry.
So great to be here with you all.
And I've been a part of church planting kind of stage in LA.
And I just want to say thank you for the volunteers for setting
up the chairs, cleaning up afterwards.
You guys are serving and helping the church in so many different
areas. So thank you guys so much.
I know we just prayed, but before we begin, let me just
pray quickly one more time. Oh Father, we pray now by your
Spirit that you would reveal to us what we need to hear and that
your gospel will be clear to all of us and that your Son will be
exalted high in our lives. We pray these things in your
name, Amen. Standing on the truth and doing
the right thing sometimes bring disappointment and
discouragement. Standing on the truth and doing
the right thing sometimes bring disappointments and
discouragement. In 1847, the Vienna General
Hospital had two maternity wards, one that was run by
midwives. The mortality rate from childbed
fever was around 2%. But in the ward run by esteemed
doctors and medical students, the death rate was a staggering
16%. Ignaz Semolize, one of the
doctors in the hospitals, discovered the horrifying
reason. The doctors we're walking
directly from performing autopsies on corpses straight to
delivering babies. They were the ones literally
carrying death to their patients.
So Ignaz made a revolutionary and shocking proposal to their
community. Ready.
Doctors should wash their hands before surgery.
But the experts and leaders of the medical community completely
rejected his findings because to them it was unfathomable that
doctors were causing illness to their patients.
It hurt their pride. So they simply rejected what was
so obvious and continued in their horrible practice.
You know the rest of Semmelweis's life.
It's tragic and it's heartbreaking.
The rejections ultimately caused him to multiple mental
breakdowns and erratic behaviors, which eventually led
him to a mental asylum, driven away from his own family and
friends. Standing on the truth and doing
the right thing sometimes bring disappointments and
discouragement. This isn't that true, especially
for Christians. You know, in John 9, the
Pharisees begin to question a blind man who has been
miraculously healed. This blind man's story doesn't
ultimately highlight a physical washing.
He experienced something much greater.
He experienced the spiritual washing of his blindness, which
led him to see Jesus as someone worth following, as a Son of
man, as a great, true prophet. But like Semmelweis, this blind
man's story isn't entirely rainbows and butterflies.
He's quickly interrogated by the Pharisees, the religious leaders
of the day. And John.
The author, describes her questioning to be tame, right?
John simply records they asked him and the blind man said the
religious leaders answered, but all of a sudden in John Chapter
9 verse 29, their conversation becomes hostile.
John Rice, the religious leaders reviled against a blind man.
Why? What has turned this
investigation to denunciation is the man's innocent and earnest
question to the Pharisees. Do you also want to become his
disciples? Offended and raged, enraged by
this man's question, they cast him out of the synagogue, which
represented the social and religious currency of the day.
He experienced supernatural healing.
He told the truth about the Messiah.
He was doing the right thing. Yet he's locked out, driven
away. Following Jesus, both
individually and corporately, is worth it.
But friends, we all know sometimes it's costly.
I wonder if that's how you feel this morning.
You're doing the right thing of following Jesus, but you're
disappointed and discouraged. You believe following Jesus is
worth it. You counted the cost.
You really want to follow Him. But it's been three months,
three years, 30 years, and you feel like you're left in the
dust. Friends, are you discouraged in
your walk with the Lord this morning?
If that's you, friends, hear what Jesus has to say to you
this morning. Our passage is in direct
response to the man who's been accepted by God yet lost so much
and it's discouraged. His words in John 10, verses 9
through 10 is like an injection of vitality to those who are
weak. His words are like opening all
the windows, letting all the fresh air rush into a house
that's filled with black smoke. John 10 verses 9 through 10 is
Jesus holding your weary hands and your long journey by giving
you 2 reasons why you should continue to follow Him in your
discouragement. And that is my prayer for us
this morning as we hear Jesus telling us why we should follow
Him, that He would open our eyes from the things that are
distracting and discouraging us, and that we will be faithful in
following Him. So if you have your Bibles,
please turn to John chapter 10, verses 9 through 10.
John, chapter 10, verses 9 through 10.
I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will
be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.
I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
Friends, why is it worth following Jesus and your
disappointments? First, because He's the only
door. Don't be discouraged and
following Jesus because you have entered the right door.
We see this in His own words. I am the door.
Notice he doesn't say I am a door or I can show you the door.
No, he's clear in letting us know that he is the door.
There's no confusion. Jesus is the door and the only
door. But where does this door lead
to? It leads to a relationship with
God. Jesus is the only way to enter
into the covenant community, the flock of God that He himself is
gathering. And Jesus makes it clear that he
is the only one who decides who gets to go in, and he's the
exclusive way to God. As Jesus says later in John 14,
six, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No one can come to the Father except through me.
Only Jesus can lead us to the Father, because Jesus himself is
God. Most of us are familiar with the
I AM statements from the Gospel of John.
This phrase I AM is a very same way that Yahweh of the Old
Testament has revealed himself to Moses back in Exodus 3.
And Jesus teaching himself, revealing himself to be that
very same God of Moses, uses the same phrase I AM.
So here we see the I AM, the door and the verse that I
mentioned in John 14, six I am the way, the truth, the life.
John 10 I am the Good Shepherd, I'm the light of the world, I'm
the bread of life. All these I AM statements are
being used by Jesus to show the different aspects of Jesus's
fulfillment but also singular aspect that Jesus himself is
God. Only God the Son and only Him
can lead you to the Father. And if you're in Christ, you are
in. You have entered into this
covenant community and relationship with God and all
those who have already entered and will enter into the future,
you belong with them. We see that we have not listened
to the thief and the robbers, but by his mercy and grace that
we have heard his voice and followed him.
You know, if you don't consider yourself to be a Christian,
thank you for being here with us.
I'm usually not the preacher here.
Michael is. But don't let Jesus's
exclusiveness keep you from coming to Him.
Friends, this door has a sign. It doesn't say keep away.
It says come in when Jesus says if anyone enters by me, he is
inviting people to come in. You don't need a stacked resume.
You don't need experience. You don't need the approval of
others. All you need to do is enter and
trust and believe in Him and know that this invitation is for
you. This morning.
Maybe you feel like you're too bad to be loved by God, or you
think yourself to be too good, that you don't need him.
But when Jesus called himself the door, he wasn't talking
about you, He was talking about himself.
He means that there is only one door, one way of salvation.
It's not Jesus plus your resume. It's not Jesus plus your
ministry. It's not Jesus plus your
success. It's Jesus and Jesus alone, you
know, if you're not a Christian, maybe what I said earlier
sounded off putting, right? Am I saying that Christians
should be happy because we chose the right thing?
We made the right decision. That's why we that's why we
should be half happy as we sound awfully proud when we say that.
But I actually mean the very opposite.
As Christians, we believe that we're terrible and we are not
deserving of God's love. The door to God was once barred
shut and locked because of our rebellion against our Creator.
We in fact deserve the very opposite.
We were walking on the road that led not to the door of life in
heaven, but door to hell and eternal punishment.
But Jesus Christ, through his perfect death and resurrection,
has become that door which humanity, you and I, can have a
relationship with God. And how do we enter this door,
friends? We simply trust.
We trust that Jesus did what we could not have done.
We don't enter into this relationship by relying on our
own works, but instead trusting in His work, His perfect work on
the cross. Friends, if you're not a
Christian, trust in Jesus today. Enter by this door today.
If you don't know what that looks like, talk to the person
next to you or I'll be standing right in the back.
I would love to talk to you about what it means to trust
Jesus, but what does this have to do with Christians, right?
What does this have to do with Christians who have already
entered this door who already follow and trust him?
I have two applications for us. Application one, some of us were
used to 1 door leading to another door leading to another
door, right? Some of us, if I know this
person, this person is going to help me know that person, and
that person is going to help me know that person.
If I get this job, hopefully it'll lead to that job and that
job will lead to this job. Door after door, after door.
You know, sometimes we approach God like that, don't we?
We trick ourselves into thinking that we need to go door after
door after door to really know God, to really be loved and
accepted by him. Friends, what is that door for
you? Is it spiritual disciplines like
Bible reading, prayers, gathering with your people?
You know, they're meant to be like windows where we could see
God and commune with him. But a lot of us are tempted to
treat them as doors and replace Jesus.
Many of us are tempted that more Christian things we do, the more
will be accepted and loved by God rather than sisters fight to
remember this week. There's only one door and it's
not you. And just like you didn't do
anything to deserve to enter in this door, our eternal security
and status are only because we have entered through the
sufficient work of Jesus Christ. Rest assured, in Christ and His
work alone. You know, one way we could do it
is by simply changing the posture of our hearts.
You know, it's so easy for Satan to attack our motives to make us
stop doing the good work that we're doing.
Oh, I know you struggle with pride whenever you serve others,
so why don't you just stop serving altogether?
Just do that later. Oh, I know you feel like you're
just checking off the list when you pray and when you read your
Bible. So why don't you just hold that
off until your heart gets right? You know the enemy is so good at
stopping us from doing good works by pointing out our bad
motives. Brothers and sisters, instead of
stopping good work, pray that the Lord would even use our
feeble and impure hearts like ours and friends do that good
work today. You know, the second application
is that some of us construct our own doors that apply to other
people. Yes, of course, believe and
enter by Jesus, but and also enter this door of reading
Puritan books and dare I say 9 Marks books.
Or what kind of political party that you align yourself with or
how you discipline your kids or lead your family or how much
you're involved at church. Friends, be aware of setting up
doors that Jesus didn't set up. This is exactly what the
Pharisees have done, and Jesus condemns them.
Be the church, brothers and sisters.
Be the church that celebrates one door and only one door.
So why should we trust in Jesus despite disappointments and
discouragement? Because he's the only door to
salvation. He's the only door to God.
But I imagine with a room this big, there's some of us who are
disappointed in entering. Some of us regret trusting in
Jesus today. The world that you stepped out
of it looks enticing. The lifestyle that you left
behind seems brighter. And maybe this week we found
ourselves looking backwards to where God saved us from more
than looking ahead where God is taking us.
If we're honest, some of us, we want to go back.
If that's you this morning, I have one more good news for you.
Jesus gives you one more reason why you should keep trusting
Him. He promises that you won't
regret following him. So point #2 you won't regret
following Jesus. Look at our verse again.
If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out
and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal,
kill and destroy. But I came that they may have
life and have it abundantly. Why do we regret or get
disappointed in life? Most of us regret in life
because when things don't meet our expectations right?
When things don't meet our expectations, we get
disappointed. We regret making that choice.
So for some of us, we've been studying for this job interview
for weeks and months and you land that job only to realize
that work hours are longer than you expected.
The Co workers are not as kind. You really were looking forward
to college and you studied for all these tests, but you're
there. You got in, but your friendship
is rocky. Classes are not as interesting,
you change your majors, and you're not satisfied.
Or maybe some of you guys were rooting for UNC.
I don't need to say any more than that.
But friends, what Jesus points out is that what we hoped for
when we decided to follow Him will never let us down.
How? Well, first we see that the
treasure and benefit that we have in Christ is that we're
saved. The thieves and robbers who are
trying to kill, destroy. But Jesus has come to give life.
This word saved and life remind us that we are saved from the
wrath of God and we're saved into eternal life and salvation.
He says I came that they may have life and have it
abundantly. Friends, these two words I came
contain the most perplexing mystery and the greatest gift
combined. Jesus came because he wanted to.
Jesus came to dwell with sinners because he loved them.
Jesus came to die so that if you trust in Him, you will have this
life that He promises. The fullness of life that
existed before time began. The life that can't be taken
away by anyone or anything. The life that gives life to all.
This life can only come from Jesus.
This life is yours, friends. Not only is our future life
guaranteed, we can be sure that our life here on earth will also
be marked by our communion with Him.
You know, he says he will go in and out and find pasture.
That's a picture of a sheep that has access to both inside the
sheep pen and outside where the food is.
Not only does his sheep experience protection at night,
he is free to wander around, explore, and enjoy the abundant
life in the day. You know, I don't think this
verse is implying that going in is staying in God's protection
and going out is going out of God's protection.
I don't think that's what Jesus is saying.
Rather, I think Jesus is conveying the freedom and
accessibility and protection that the sheep have because
they're always under his care. So this is what Psalm 121 says.
The Lord is your keeper. The Lord is your shade on your
right hand. The Lord will keep you from all
evil. He will keep your life.
The Lord will keep your going out and coming in from this time
forth and forevermore. Going in and out, both in Psalm
121 and John 10, is a metaphor of showing us the protection and
the accessibility that we have in God.
And friends, when He's talking about the pasture and the
abundant life, Jesus certainly had the Old Testament in mind.
Your Psalm 23 is perhaps one of the most familiar passage in
Scripture. How does it begin?
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures, Ezekiel 34, where God
indicts the wicked leaders and promises that he will lead his
people to the pasture. This is what Ezekiel 34 verses
11 through 14 says. For thus says the Lord God,
behold, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out.
I will bring them out from the peoples, and gather them from
the countries, and will bring them into their own land.
And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel by the
ravines and all the inhibited places of the country.
I will feed them with good pastures.
And on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing
land. There they shall lie down in
good grazing land and on rich pasture.
They shall feed on the mountains of Israel.
Whether it's the green pasture in Psalm 23 or the good and rich
pasture in Ezekiel 34, the point that Jesus is making in John 10,
the point is that the pasture, it's not so much about a place,
it's about a person. The pasture is not so much about
a place. What about the person, friends?
What good? It's a green pasture if there's
no one to lead us. What good is rich pasture if
there's no one to feed us? Psalm 100 tells us that we are
His people, the sheep of His pasture, and the pasture that we
long for and that we need can never be a part from Jesus
Christ. As you may feel like you're not
in a pasture right now, but He promises you the everlasting
pasture in the heavenly city. Friends, did you notice the
certainty of this pasture? If anyone enters by me, he might
find pasture. He should find pasture.
Oh friends, no, he will find pasture.
And in that pasture, all your disappointments and regrets that
this life has caused will be repaid, will be repaid by our
Heavenly Father. The cries and tears that you're
having right now are not only heard in this moment in heaven,
but later. Our God will dwell with us and
we will be his people. God himself will be with us as
our God. He will wipe away every tear
from our eyes. Friends, you may feel like
you're not in a pasture right now.
You may feel like you don't have that life.
But friends, when we get to heaven, we will not complain how
the Lord brought us there. Brothers and sisters, this isn't
true for just individual Christians.
This is true for you as a church, Trinity Baptist.
You have covenanted together. You have met together over the
months and years to follow Jesus faithfully to proclaim the good
news to those around you. Yet some of us, I imagine you
guys, are discouraged. You guys are confused.
Abundant life and green pasture as a church seems like a thing
of the past and distant in the future.
Oh friends, just like you will not complain when you get to
heaven, friends, you will not complain how the Lord brought
Trinity Baptist Church to heaven.
Yes, there are ups and downs. Yes, there are trials and
temptations, but brothers and sisters, in Jesus there is only
life. There's no death or decay, only
life and abundant life. Trust in Him.
Trust that He is bringing life through your trials.
Encourage one another. Point each other to the life
that is in Christ Jesus. Bear one another in this season
and let every trial be the testimony that you are clinging
to Jesus because you trust him, because you trust that he could
give you life. You know, the story of Samuel
Wise is tragic. It's tragic because it shows
that someone can be so right and yet rejected.
Some might say the true thing about.
Some might say the same thing about the blind man in John 9.
He was so right about Jesus. He was so right and following
him, yet he was rejected. He's discouraged.
But friends, we know his story is not tragic.
It's not tragic because even though he was rejected by man,
he was accepted by the Creator. And this Creator of the universe
welcomed him, accepted him, and promised him that he won't
regret following him. And this Jesus, who encouraged
and cared for this blind man, encourages and cares for you
today. Friends, Jesus is worth
following despite the discouragement that we face
today. Keep trusting in Him because
He's the only door, and keep trusting in Him because you
won't regret it. Let's pray.
Our Father in Heaven, we marvel at Your grace and mercy
displayed through Jesus Christ. We pray by Your Spirit that You
would cause us to be faithful to You.
Help us to keep looking to You for all that You have given us
through Christ and what You will give us in the end.
We pray this in Christ's name, Amen.