I AM...The Good Shepherd
Notes
Transcript
Good morning Church!
Doxology:
This is my Bible. It is God’s Holy Word. It is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path, and I will hide its words within my heart, that I might not sin against God. Amen!
We have made it to Christmas. I hope you all are excited for tomorrow! It is such a wonderful time of the year to celebrate. It is such a happy time of the year for most people, and I hope you all have a wonderful time in your Christmas celebrations today/tomorrow.
But....for today, we are getting very close to finishing up our current series of the I AM statements of Christ. After today, we only one more message, which we will get in on New Year’s Eve (Lord Willing), so let’s jump right in!
Today, we are speaking on the topic of: I AM…The Good Shepherd.
We see this comment made in John 10:11
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.
Context
Context
Being Christmas Eve, I want to integrate this thought of Christ being the good shepherd into the Christmas story, so we will be jumping over to Luke 2 in just a moment, but before we do I think there is some valuable information for us to glean from right here in John 10.
As we stated several weeks ago, this “I AM” statement is closely related with another, which is “I AM…The Door of the Sheep”.
We have already covered that statement, but right after making that statement here in John 10, Jesus goes on to say that He is not only the door, He is also the Good Shepherd of the Sheep.
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.
12 But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them.
13 The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep.
14 I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.
15 As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.
16 And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.
17 “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again.
18 No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”
Jesus is talking to the Jews and explaining to them that He is the true Messiah. He is using parabolic language of course, but He is painting the picture that noone else would be willing to do what He is here to do.
“I AM the good Shepherd,” He says. “I will lay down my life for the sheep, but all of the others, the hirelings, they are not willing to do that. They run at the site of wolves. I will not run. I will fight and even give my life for them.”
Jesus is telling them that He is here to do a job. He is foretelling His own death, even though none of them understand that at this point.
He even goes on to mention that He has other sheep from another fold, which was the Gentiles. He says that He is going to take all of the sheep, all of those who hear His voice, and bring them together into one fold. He will be the shepherd of that one fold. He is laying it all out for them very clearly, at least it is for us looking back onto events already taken place.
Within this text, Jesus explicitly mentions two things that make Him the good shepherd:
The Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep (v. 11, 15, 17-18)
Jesus draws a sharp contrast between Himself and all of the other religious leaders who claimed to be serving God. Though they were well established within the religious system, none of them were willing, or even capable, to do what Christ was about to do.
He was going to lay down His life. No one else was willing to do that....not for the sake of their enemies. Many people would lay down their lives for loved ones, or maybe even strangers, but not many, if any would lay down their lives for a fierce enemy.
Jesus said, “I will. I will lay down my life for all sin. Everyone will have an opportunity to come to my Father through my sacrifice, even those who killed mocked me, beat me, lied against me, and even killed me. Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do.”
The Good Shepherd knows His sheep and His sheep know Him (v. 14)
He emphasized the fact that real shepherds smell like their sheep. A real shepherd will smell like his sheep.
Jesus says, “I know my sheep and they know me.” Isn’t that amazing?
The God of heaven came to earth and dwelt amongst men so that we might know Him. He smells like His sheep.
Jesus came to reveal God unto us. We talked about that last week. He is Immanuel!!
In the process of revealing God unto mankind, there was a huge shift in our understanding of God. The teachings of Christ completely confused the religious leaders, even though His teachings were founded on absolute truth.
I want us to look at three major shifts of understanding that took place through Jesus teachings.
Content
Content
From Darkness To Light
From Darkness To Light
The first shift that took place was a shift from darkness to light. Look with me at vs. 8-9:
8 Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.
9 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid.
Notice that the shepherds were out in the fields with their sheep and it was nighttime. All of a sudden, an angel of the Lord appeared and stood before them. It said in vs. 9, “the glory of the Lord shone around them,”.
These men were out in the field. It was at night, so the darkness was what they expected. As we have already seen, a good shepherd smells like his sheep. These shepherds were right where they were supposed to be. They were with the sheep. They were guarding the sheep against potential predators.
These men were used to seeing the sun come up, but usually this happened slowly and came over the horizon. But on this night, the light of heaven shone about them and it happened all at once.
I think this is a picture of Christ’ coming, which seems fitting seeing that the angel’s message is concerning Christ’ coming.
The intertestamental period is the period of time that existed between the closing of the OT and the opening of the NT. During that roughly 430 years, there was no word from God. In other words, there were no prophets prophesying and there was no major spiritual movement of God that we know of. Therefore, this time period has become known as the 400 years of silence.
There was prophecies yet unfulfilled, which is what ended up bringing the wise men to Jesus in Matthew, but those prophecies were from men dead and gone and left behind as a guide to the future. To our knowledge, God did not move in any real evident way during that time.
I want you to think about what a culture looks like when God doesn’t move in it anymore. Think about that for a moment. God quits sending messages on a grand scale like He was. God quits dealing directly with the people through the priests and prophets, at least on the miraculous level. God sent no signs and gave no visions.
When you open up the NT, you find that a lot of things have changed. A new world power is in place. The Jewish nation was in bondage to the Romans now. Religious leaders, because of a lack of spiritual guidance from on high, had bent the laws of God to fit their own pleasing and had become hypocrites in the process.
It is amazing how far a nation can fall, and how quickly it can happen, when they operate without the guidance of God. This doesn’t just apply to the national level though, this truth applies to every level of communal organization: The state level, the county level, the community level, the Church level, and even the family level. Anytime that any of these different levels, or groups, attempt to take life by the horns and run it themselves, great spiritual decline will be the result.
That is what we see has happened in the opening of the NT and that is what we see has happened here in America. Over the past 3-4 decades, America has made a massive shift from God and attempted to take the law of God into their own hands. In doing so, they have accomplished exactly the same results as the Pharisees did 2,000 years ago. The legal system has become so complex that nobody can even keep up with it anymore. The system is failing the people.
We are living in a world of darkness today and it is getting darker by the second. The Supreme Courts of the individual states are rallying against the Supreme Court of the nation and noone really knows who is in control anymore. Listen to me.....this isn’t new.
In the book of Judges, we see a phrase repeated over and over throughout:
6 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
A lack of control always brings forth chaos. That is what we have today…chaos.
We are in dark times, just like they were then. But notice that when Jesus came, a light shined unto the darkness.
We have already covered Jesus’ statement, “I AM…The Light of the world.” Jesus brought the light of God unto a Godless people. How did He do that?
He began to shed the light of truth upon the lies and the hypocrisy.
He began to shed the light of hope unto a hopeless society.
He began to shed the light of love unto a world full of hatred and contempt.
He began to shed the light of faith unto a people who had lost faith in God.
Jesus caused a shift in the people’s understanding of who God was. If Jesus is God’s Son and He is preaching a message of faith, hope, truth, and love, then this tells us that these are the things God wants His people to operate in. God does not want us to dwell in darkness and chaos separated from Him, but rather to dwell in the light and be well aware of who He is.
If we are going to experience this same shift in our society today, we are going to have to operate as they did. We are going to have to operate in God’s love, God’s truth, faith in God, and live out a hope of eternity.
From Fear To Faith
From Fear To Faith
Not only did Jesus cause a shift from darkness to light, He also caused a shift from fear to faith.
9 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid.
10 Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.
11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
Notice the natural reaction of the shepherds. They were afraid. Now in one sense, almost every person who had ever come into contact with heavenly beings in all of Scripture had a similar response. We know this. On the other hand, nothing like this had happened in over 400 years.
These shepherds were carrying out their duties in the field....minding their own business. All of a sudden an angel of God appeared before them and they were terrified.
If I had to venture to say, I would say their response was much like what our response would be. They were terrified. Who wouldn’t be.
When we were growing up, nothing brought my dad more joy than to scare people. He would lurk around in the shadows, wait around corners, sneak up behind you, or whatever else he had to do to scare you. I used to think he was part ninja. Than man would appear out of nowhere.
I remember our fridge sat right next to the hallway going back to our bathroom. Any time dad came out of the bathroom and heard someone in the kitchen, he would wait until he heard them open the fridge and then sneak right up behind the open door, which was opened into the hallway. When they would close the door to the fridge, he would be standing there and get them.
Guess what, now I’m the ninja. I scare the kids all the time. We have done it so much now, that it has become a game. The kids love trying to scare me now. Most of the time I see it coming, but every now and then they get me.
Closing up here at night, walking home, walking into home, coming out of my bedroom, going into the living room....they are everywhere.
The pharisees and the Romans had all but stripped God’s people of all of these Godly traits. The only thing that was left was fear. God’s people were afraid. If they did not follow the rules of the Romans, they would be crucified. If they did not follow the rules of the Religious hypocrites, they would be excommunicated. They were walking on pins and needles every day of their lives.
These people had a broken understanding of God. The Pharisees honed in on the rules & regulations of the OT but never taught the relational side of God. They enforced maximum penalties when someone committed a sin and used God’s wrath upon Israel in the OT as support for doing so.
This half-truth of God, coupled with the fact that God had not clearly spoken to anyone prophetically for over 400 years, created a people who had a great fear of God but little faith in God.
Jesus came and challenged this spiritual concept of God, teaching that God loves His creation and truly desires for His creation to know Him. He taught them that it is not God’s will that His people suffer and God does not enjoy punishing those in whom He created.
He loved them so much, He came to this world in the flesh so that they might know Him, believe in Him, and love Him. He loved them so much that He was not only willing to become a man, but also to die as a man, so that they might have a better covenant.
Jesus gave mankind a reason to have faith in God again. He uncovered truths of God that had been long-since buried and proved them with God’s Word.
Jesus made it clear through His birth, His life, His ministry, His teachings, His death, and His resurrection that the only ones who needed to fear God was those who were outside of His will.
Well wait a minute pastor, if God loves all of mankind and sent Jesus to die for all of mankind, then why do those who are not in His will need to fear Him?
That’s a great question and I am so glad someone asked it.
Listen, God is just and righteous and holy. He is also the judge over all of creation. He is just judge of eternity. The requirement for admittance into heaven is perfection. Therefore, anyone who is less than perfect, which is everyone, is counted unworthy of admittance into heaven.
But.....because of His love for us, God made another way. He sent Jesus to become the Christ and as the Christ, He lived up to His name Jesus. He became the propitiation for our sins. That means He was the substitutionary sacrifice on our behalf.
What exactly happened at Calvary? God’s wrath, judgment, was poured out on Jesus, satisfying the heavy price of reconciliation and therefore becoming the atonement for our sin. But it only applies to those who trust in Jesus as their personal Savior and Lord. It is completely voluntary. If you do not want to believe in God and follow Him faithfully, you don’t have to.
But.....before you make to rash a decision, let me be clear. If you choose to deny the payment that has already been made for you through Jesus, fully satisfying your sin debt, then you must pay for your sin alone. This means that you must find another way to stand before God perfect without going through the blood of Jesus, which was shed for you at Calvary.
By the way, no one has ever been able to do that and no one ever will. This means that all who reject Jesus must suffer the full measure of God’s wrath upon them, because He is a righteous judge. God does not want to do this, but in order to maintain a perfect heaven, He must do this and you are forcing His hand to do so.
This is the understanding of God that Jesus brought to the NT. This was a message of faith, not fear.
From The Highest To The Humblest
From The Highest To The Humblest
So we have seen that Jesus brought a major shift from darkness to light and from fear to faith. Jesus also brought on a major shift from The highest to the humblest.
12 And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:
14 “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”
Imagine if you will for a moment the culture of their day. Throughout the history of the Jewish people, God chose certain individuals to be His spokesman. It was normally either a priest or a prophet. God would tell them what He wanted of Israel and then they would relay the message to the rest of the people.
After Malachi, God has chosen no one else. There have been no messages from God for over 400 years. During this time, the “Religious Leader” position has been created and now everything is controlled through an hierarchy of religious position. There were Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Herodians, and Hellenist. Everything revolved around titles and factions. Who you aligned with determined who you and your family were accepted by.
If you were a part of one of these groups, you somewhat knew your place. If you were not part of one of these groups, you were a nobody.
The bad thing is that every one of these groups considered themselves to be the most effective spiritual group. Each group considered themselves to be the most Biblical group. Each group told of how their ideas and culture had always existed, even back to before the 400 years of silence.
Jesus’ arrival pointed everyone back to the Father. You did not have to be in some faction of society, you just had to believe in God. You didn’t have to be some prominent member of a religious group, you just had to believe in God.
God’s people are not supposed to be divided, they are supposed to be united in Him. Without order, chaos pursues. We have already seen that. We are still seeing it today. Denominational divisions have been created. You are either part of this belief system or that belief system. If someone disagrees over one of the simplest of things, they simply go start another faction that further divides God’s people.
Now, in an effort to disban all of the current factions, we are seeing the rise of non-denominational churches. They are everywhere, and many of those who used to be aligned with a particular denomination are removing those names from their signs and becoming non-denominational.
The problem with that, is that it has the potential to create an environment where you can believe what you want to believe on any subject and still be part of the group. That can be very dangerous. Though we must be given the liberty to “agree to disagree” over secondary issues, there are some doctrines that we MUST agree on. If we can agree on the ESSENTIALS of the Christian faith, we simply cannot have fellowship with one another, because where we land on those ESSENTIAL beliefs determine how every other aspect of our belief system will be formed.
What is the answer? How do we bring the chaos under control? Take the focus off of us, and put it back on the Father. This is what Jesus did. He said in
30 I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
Every ounce of our allegiance must be placed upon our Heavenly Father. If we can manage to do this, then we can destroy these factional barriers that have been put in place and truly come together as God’s people. Only then will the glory of God be seen. Only then will the people be truly united.
The glory of God shines upon the humble.
5 Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,
5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,
6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,
7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.
8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,
11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Jesus brought a major shift into the understanding of the people concerning God. God loves the humble, not the proud.
These angels here in the text brought the news that God Himself had entered the world. That is the greatest news that has ever been told since creation and look who He brings it to, the shepherds in the field. Shepherds were considered to be low-class. They were looked down upon. They roamed the fields and smelled like livestock.
God delivered His greatest news to the least of the people. Praise God!
Don’t get caught up in the hype of our society. Don’t seek to make your name great. Let us not as a church, seek to make our name great. Let us seek to make His name great and trust that He will exalt us in due time. He will decide our increase. He will determine our position within society.
Commitment
Commitment
Jesus is indeed the Good Shepherd. He leads His sheep well. His sheep hear His voice and they know Him. They love Him. They follow Him.
Are you one of the fold? Do you want to be one of the fold?