In this sermon, we looked in John 10:1-18 at the contrast between Jesus and the Pharisees. The Pharisees were trying to lead people to heaven through their own system of religion that required paying the substantial price of self-sacrifice and carrying the heavy burdens of guilt and shame. Jesus tells the Pharisees that He is the only one who can lead the people to abundant life and points out the primary difference between Himself and the Pharisees: The Pharisees will abandon the sheep when the wolf comes but Jesus, the Good Shepherd, will lay down His life and take it up again in order to defeat the enemy of death. Like the Pharisees, we often lean on our own understanding and trust in what makes sense to us instead of trusting in the Good Shepherd. As Christians, we are called to know and follow the voice of our Good Shepherd, trusting that He is the only one who can lead us to abundant life.
