John 10:1-16

Every Christmas season presents this preacher with a challenge. What more can I say than has already been said? How can I make the well-rehearsed details of this season more meaningful? How can I make effective application of the nativity to the contemporary needs of a waiting congregation? Of course, my dilemma is not at all unique. Preachers before me have faced the same challenge, so I do not anticipate that anything I say today will be earth shatteringly new, but perhaps, just perhaps, the Holy Spirit will speak through me some morsel of revelation to someone today.

This is the Advent season. It is that time in the liturgical calendar when Christians reflect once again on the incredible love of the Father in sending His Son to redeem a stiff-necked, hard-hearted, grumbling, complaining people like you and me. Many people miss the most important thing that Advent reveals. We’re way too busy preparing for the season, shopping, decorating, developing menus, planning and hosting parties. But the most important thing that Advent reveals is the clash between the kingdom of darkness and the Kingdom of Light. We know how the story ends. We know that the kingdom of darkness cannot and will not prevail. We know the ultimate fate of the enemy of our souls and those who follow him, so it is not profitable for me to spend our time talking about that struggle. (If you come to mid-week service this week you can hear more about this struggle.) I want to focus our attention and my energies today on the strategy of the kingdom of darkness and the prince of this world.

If we listen to the rhetoric of the world we will believe that the kingdom of darkness is winning the war. In truth the kingdom of darkness has won and does win some battles. The battlefield is strewn with the bodies of believers and unbelievers alike who have fallen prey to the devil’s devices. They have not fallen because of the strength of our enemy, but because of a lack of knowledge proving the Word of the Lord that declares “the people perish for a lack of knowledge.” When and how does the enemy attack the people of God.

1. Through our fleshly desires within us amplified by the unbelieving world around us.

2.  By deceiving us with the lies of worldly wisdom through the unbelieving world around us.

3.  By distracting us when we are sick, weak, isolated, straggling or inexperienced.

4.  By overtaking us when we are preoccupied by our circumstances and or situations.

How do we counter the enemy’s attacks? We counter the enemy’s attacks by knowing and coming under the protection of the Good Shepherd. Jesus is the Good Shepherd who came to save His people from their sin.

I.  Jesus possesses the right credentials (vss. 1-5)

• He came properly (vss. 1-3a)
• He commands properly (vss. 4-5).

II.  Jesus possesses the right character (vss. 6-10).

• His person (vss. 6-8)
• His performance (vs. 9a)
• His promise (vss. 9b-10)

III.  Jesus possesses the right concern (11-16).

• Proven by His sacrifice (vss. 11-13)
• Proven by His sheep (vs. 14)
• Proven by His salvation (vss. 15-16)

The kingdom of darkness has been very effective in its strategy against the people of God and the Kingdom of Light. Look around and see the advance of darkness in every quarter. It is evident even in the church where compromise and accommodation are rampant from the pulpit to the front door. Things that have always been seen as immoral and unethical are systematically being mainstreamed under the guise of bringing the church and its theology up-to-date with the times. But wrong is still wrong and the Word is still the Word regardless of how often it gets redefined. The kingdom of darkness may appear to have the upper hand. It may seem to be getting over on the people of God and the Church of Jesus Christ, but there are countless numbers of believers like me and many of you sitting here this morning that are determined to walk in the marvelous light of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He is the One who said, “I am the light of the world.” He is the One who declared, “I am come that you might have life and have it more abundantly.”

So it does not matter that the enemy is performing his job effectively and well. It does not matter that he is endeavoring to steal, kill and destroy the people of God. Regardless of the victories the devil’s kingdom may achieve, his kingdom can never prevail. What that means for you and me is that no matter how many times we fall and/or fail because Jesus is greater living on the inside of us that the enemy living in the world, we are not defeated. We are victorious because we are in the Kingdom of Light. We are victorious because our heavenly Father loved us enough to send His Son to lead us into the Light. Be encouraged today knowing that no matter what it looks like and no matter how bad things may appear you are a winner today. So, as the songwriter declares, “walk in the light, beautiful light. Come where the dewdrops of mercy shine bright. Shine all around [you] by day and by night, Jesus the Light of the world.”

© All Right Reserved 2013 • Dr. James H. Logan, Jr.