Time to exposit one of the most misused verses and discover that the thief is not referring to the devil...

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The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. -- John 10:10 (ESV)

As the modern apostate church continues to rush to embrace the world it continues to sacrifice the word of God on the altar of pseudo-relevance and marketing schemes. The purpose driven industrial complex leverages the bible to lend the appearance of piety to what is clearly a work of the devil. The problem is that even well intentioned Christians start to be lulled into this spiritual complacency marked by biblical apathy. Modern American faith has been reduced to a checklist. Did I go to church this week? Check! Did I serve in a ministry? Check! Did I give my tithe? Check! Did I vote Republican? Check! I checked all the boxes so I must be Christian! The word of God however has been relegated to a subordinate role in our lives and in the church. Joel Osteen rarely reads scriptures for example and instead speaks in terms of what the bible says without actually saying what it says. Even when you have mega pastors who read from the word like Rick Warren, it is usually from an abhorrent paraphrase like The Message. Instead of expositing the bible so that the sheep might hear what God is trying to say, hirelings disguised as pastors across this country preach topical messages and proof text the bible out of the intended context. This may come as a shock but Jeremiah 29:11 was not written for you. Malachi 3 was written to the priests, not the congregation. The Matthew 7 "judge not" scriptures are about hypocrisy -- not judgement. John 10:10 is not talking about the devil.

Yes you read that right beloved. The key verse today is not speaking about the devil. Yet time and again it is always presented as if it is. It is just hermeneutical laziness to pretend it does and by ignoring the actual context, you ignore what God is actually trying to say and therein lies the real danger. So let us walk through the tenth chapter of John to discern what the Lord is actually saying:

"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. -- John 10:1-2 (ESV)

God uses imagery we can easily understand to convey His message. Christians are likened to sheep. As animals, sheep are very social and very docile. They are followers by nature. What is interesting is they have a wide scope of vision and rely solely upon what they can see. This of course is the opposite of faith, which is surety in what we cannot see. This is why faith is always a supernatural occurrence. Because of this wide linear vision, they have poor depth to their vision, as noted here from a website about sheep:

"On the other hand, sheep have poor depth perception (three dimensional vision), especially if they are moving with their heads up. This is why they will often stop to examine something more closely. Sheep have difficulty picking out small details, such as an open space created by a partially opened gate. They tend to avoid shadows and sharp contrasts between light and dark. They are reluctant to go where they can't see." -- sheep101.info

They tend to avoid the sharp contrasts between light and dark and instead must be led there. They are reluctant to go where they cannot see. They rely upon being shepherded but will easily follow where they are led. This the way we are to know the true shepherd is He who comes into the pen via the door. They do so because the sheep belong to the shepherd and they have nothing to hide. Jesus is also teaching us here however that others enter the pen that have malicious intent. They are thieves and robbers and they do not have the direct access to the sheep so they climb over by a different way.

To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and 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. -- John 10:3-4 (ESV)

The voice the sheep hear is the Gospel and they will follow He who brings it. The truth is confirmed by the indwelt Holy Spirit beloved. The Shepherd is His Word as John 1 teaches us. The Gospel is what leads the sheep forward. This is why the false teaching of experiential Christianity is so insidious. Places like Bethel Church teach that our personal feelings and experiences, which they pass off as being prompted by the Holy Spirit, rise above the level or equal to the level of Scripture. The result is people following their own voice or the voice of the thief instead of the voice of the Shepherd.

A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for 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. -- John 10:5-6 (ESV)

A stranger they will not follow. That seems pretty definitive, no? Indeed it does and that leaves us with an uncomfortable reality. People who have passed the threshold of salvation would simply not stay in an apostate church. They couldn't stay for a prolonged period of time listening to someone who is not presenting the Gospel; the voice of their Master. Not only that - they will flee from the voice of the false teacher! The word flee is defined as to run away from danger! Why? Because the false teacher is not merely false but he is dangerous. Whereas the true Gospel brings eternal life the false will bring only eternal death. How? By keeping you away from the true Gospel! When the saved Christian with the indwelt Holy Spirit hears the prosperity gospel he knows right away it is not the voice of the Lord. When he hears the preacher speaking about the seven mountain mandate or how one political party is the answer to what ails a fallen society he recognizes such as not being the voice of his shepherd. When he hears that our experiences should trump our doctrine, he realizes he is not hearing his Lord and Savior.

Does he stay in such apostasy? Does he secretly pray behind the scenes while being fed poison every week? Does he minimize the threat because the speaking motivates him to live for some imagined purpose? Because he feels more motivated in life? Because the music is really good and they have a great children's ministry? Because that is where all of his friends go? No beloved. He flees because he does not know the voice of strangers and he knows what he is hearing is not the voice of his Master. Remember that narrow is the way that leads to eternal life and few are those who find it. The bible teaches us that we can believe in vain. Matthew 7 presents a horrifying scene where fully churched people stand before Christ and hear Him say that He never knew them. That is the danger of following false teaching beloved a lifetime of service to the enemy all the while thinking you are serving God. You cannot serve God in a church that does not preach His Gospel.

So why do people stay then? Why is the apostate church growing so much? First of all the bible teaches us that people gather around them teachers to tell them what their itching ears want to hear. We see this dynamic playing out across this country in the carnal sense as people are no longer interested in the truth. They just want their worldview confirmed. This has been going on in the church for decades now. That same verse says that people will not even tolerate sound doctrine! To those who believe in experiential Christianity and false signs and lying wonders, those who insist on doctrine are legalists. To those who follow prosperity, word faith, and the more mainstream puppies and pancakes ministries on cable? To them people who insist on doctrine have no love and take themselves too seriously. The real reason beloved? People seek out the false because they do not want God. They do not want to relinquish their sin, which the world insists no big deal or even evolutionary on some level. They do not want to give up control. In short, they like being their own god. Like Lucifer before them, they have desired to ascend to the throne of the Most High. The real truth behind this verse in John however is they stay because they have believed in vain in a false gospel. If you do not believe that just try and talk to one of them about the falseness of what their pastor preaches. Try speaking to a Joseph Prince adherent or a follower of Joel Osteen. Where a true believer hears them and hears the voice of a stranger, they hear them and hear what they want to hear. That I am special. That God Almighty designed a supery-dupery purpose for me. That God wants me rich beyond my greediest dreams of avarice. That the bible stories are all about me. That I can give a wink and a nod to my sin as long as I tithe correctly. The true believer hears these voices and flees. Verse six shows the disciples were having trouble understanding the imagery Christ was using so He clarifies:

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 will go in and out and find pasture. -- John 10: 7-9 (ESV)

I am the door of the sheep. The cross reference is John 14:6 -- I am the way the truth and the life and none come to Father except through me. If anyone enters through Christ they are saved. How does one enter? Romans teaches us that only the Gospel has the power of God unto the salvation of man. We must hear the true Gospel and not listen to the robbers and thieves that are seeking to do us harm. We will find no respite through the false. There are no pastures to find by following false teachers. Their path may seem right, or even pious but in the end it only leads to destruction.

So we come to the key verse for today but before we examine it, let us review how we got here. Jesus uses the analogy of sheep to define the believer in Him. He makes a clear distinction between Himself as the Shepherd and those that climb over the fence as thieves and robbers. His voice is the Gospel message which is the only thing that has the power to save anyone. The thieves and robbers do not have His voice and therefore His sheep will not follow them. Thus believers that hear the voice of these false strangers will not stay beloved -- they will flee from the danger a false gospel presents. Faith in vain results only in eternal destruction. Those that are saved will only respond and stay for the voice of the Master. With this understanding I ask one question.

Has there been any reference to the devil? Please do not stretch for reasoning. Of course everything in the world is of the devil but is Jesus Christ speaking about the devil? Yes all false teachers are unsaved and essentially doing the will of Satan but is that who Jesus Christ is speaking about specifically in these verses? The only fair answer must be no. So when we come to the key verse and Jesus say that the thief comes only to steal kill and destroy, whom is He actually speaking about? If you said false teachers congratulations; you have been set free from one of the most misused passages in the bible. The delicious irony of course is that nearly every false teacher misuses this verse to pretend Jesus is speaking about the devil but that aside it infects all Christian teaching at some point. Some may still be saying what's the big deal but then you have not been paying attention because eternal life hangs in the balance. Maybe not for you but for many people who think they have been saved by a false gospel and sit in apostate churches listening to wolves and not being able to tell the difference. As if to drive this point home the second half of the key verse reminds us that while the false teacher has come to steal, kill and destroy -- the true Gospel of Jesus Christ brings the abundant life. This is what is on the line beloved. Look, if you want to say the devil also comes to steal, kill and destroy fine. Just go find the correct passages to support that conclusion and leave this one alone to properly warn people of the eternal damage done by following false teaching. This section of scripture now wraps up:

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and 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. 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, 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. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father." -- John 10: 11-18 (ESV)

We know from the purpose driven church that pastors are now being taught to blessedly subtract dissenters out of their sheepfold. That is why they are hirelings. The vast majority of pastors today will not name names when it comes to false teachers and that is why the vast majority of them are false themselves. I ask defenders of false teachers all the time why they seem to care more about the wolves than they do about the sheep. The Good Shepherd lays down His own life for the lives of His sheep. He does it of His own accord because that is love. That is the true voice of God. That is the Gospel. Find someone who is preaching it and not compromising it, and then stand. For you will have found your Shepherd's voice. You will have come home.

Reverend Anthony Wade -- November 12, 2018

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.