The Good Shepherd

1. What instrument do a pair of sheep play? A two-baa

2. Where do sheep get their wool cut? The baa-baashop

3. What do you get when you cross a sheep and some chocolate? A candy baa

4. What’s a sheep’s favorite snack? A baaanana

5. What’s a French sheep’s favorite holiday? Baastille Day

6. What do you get when you cross angry sheep with a grumpy cow? A baaaaad mooooood

7. What’s a sheep’s favorite car? A Lamborghini

8. What is it called when a sheep wins an election by a huge margin? A lamb slide

9. What do you say to a sad sheep? “Shear up!”

10. What do you call it when a sheep jumps out at you? A lambush!

Historical/Cultural Context -

The Gospel of John was written between 90 AD and 100 AD. Scholars also believe that John wrote the three Epistles and the book of Revelation around the same time-frame as he wrote this Gospel. The Gospel of John was written after Matthew, Mark, & Luke had been written and circulated. John has been dubbed by most scholars as “The Spiritual Gospel.”

Biblical Text -

John 10:1–21 NKJV

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them. Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. 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. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. 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. “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. 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.” Therefore there was a division again among the Jews because of these sayings. And many of them said, “He has a demon and is mad. Why do you listen to Him?” Others said, “These are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

-[Prayer]-

Life Principle - We Come To The True Shepherd By The Gate, Following His Voice, And Trusting In His Sacrifice.

Life Point- Come To God By The Gate

Exegetical -

John 10:1–10 NLT

“I tell you the truth, anyone who sneaks over the wall of a sheepfold, rather than going through the gate, must surely be a thief and a robber! But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice.” Those who heard Jesus use this illustration didn’t understand what he meant, so he explained it to them: “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me were thieves and robbers. But the true sheep did not listen to them. Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures. The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

Homiletical -

Folks we are referred to as the sheep. We are His sheep. He is the shepherd and as a pastor I am the under-shepherd. At least that is what has always been taught. However, this is not that teaching right now. This is a different teaching.

Jesus says that He is the gate for the sheep. He is the one in whom you can find eternal life. He is the true Messiah. There had been many that came before Him claiming to be the Messiah, but their movements all fell apart. True Christianity has lasted about 2000 years.

John 14:5–7 NKJV

Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.”

When we look at cults today they all have one thing in common. The leader of the cult is the highest authority. Not Jesus. Because of this the outcome is always destruction; spiritually, emotionally, and sometimes physically.

Jesus is the only way. Your momma and daddy’s religion won’t save you. Your spouses relationship with Christ won’t save you. Only Jesus can save.

No other religion on earth can save you. Just Jesus.

Jesus states His purpose is to give a rich and satisfying life. But His richness is different than what the world’s. His richness and satisfaction come with supernatural peace and understanding. We can graze through the scriptures with new eyes once we are saved from Hell.

John 14:25–27 NLT

I am telling you these things now while I am still with you. But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you. “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.

Make sure you are entering by the Gate. The Gate that is Christ Jesus The Lord.

Jesus is not only the Gate but the Good Shepherd as well.

Life Point - Follow The True Shepherd’s Voice

Exegetical -

John 10:11–16 NLT

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep. A hired hand will run when he sees a wolf coming. He will abandon the sheep because they don’t belong to him and he isn’t their shepherd. And so the wolf attacks them and scatters the flock. The hired hand runs away because he’s working only for the money and doesn’t really care about the sheep. “I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep. I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd.

Homiletical -

Notice that Jesus is the Good Shepherd He sacrifices His life for the sheep. When I look around at churches today. I see a lot of under-shepherds who really aren’t shepherds but are hirelings. They will stay when the times are good, but not when the times are bad. Watch for these hirelings, these wolves in sheep's clothing.

Acts 20:27–30 NLT

for I didn’t shrink from declaring all that God wants you to know. “So guard yourselves and God’s people. Feed and shepherd God’s flock—his church, purchased with his own blood—over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as leaders. I know that false teachers, like vicious wolves, will come in among you after I leave, not sparing the flock. Even some men from your own group will rise up and distort the truth in order to draw a following.

Around here we may not have the latest and greatest on the stage. We don’t have a smoke machine and laser lights that draw people that want nothing more than a good show on Sunday mornings. We don’t mind good worship and good music. What we mind is having a bunch of tickling of the ears and fleshy fits.

I was told a long time ago that if you get people by the flesh, then you have to keep people by the flesh. However, if your people come because of the Holy Spirit then it is His Job to keep them, not yours.

The next thing Jesus says is that He knows His own people and they know Him. His sheep, that is us, know Him as intimately as He knows His father.

He tells them right up front that He is going to sacrifice Himself for them. To take their place of punishment that they deserve. This is called the substitutionary atonement. He paid a price He didn’t owe and we received the blessing from that. We are made clean and new before God because of His sacrifice.

Then Jesus talks about other sheep, in other sheepfolds.

What is He talking about here?

You see Jesus was and is a Jewish man. Salvation came to all of us here through the Jewish people. Anyone who is a non-Jew is called a Gentile. Jesus built His church from some sheep that were Jewish and some sheep that were Gentile.

Salvation has been opened up to all mankind.

John 3:16 NLT

“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

world here means, all mankind. All different tribes and nations across the world.

This was revolutionary thinking at the time. Everyone was split into their own nationalities, but Jesus brings unification amongst them all. Salvation is The unifying force in all of history. There was nothing like it before and nothing after that can unify all mankind together.

A unification with God and man.

Do you know Him today? Are you apart of His sheepfold? Do you want to be?

Life Point - Trust In The Shepherd’s Sacrifice

Exegetical -

John 10:17–21 NLT

“The Father loves me because I sacrifice my life so I may take it back again. No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what my Father has commanded.” When he said these things, the people were again divided in their opinions about him. Some said, “He’s demon possessed and out of his mind. Why listen to a man like that?” Others said, “This doesn’t sound like a man possessed by a demon! Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

Homiletical -

We like to think that Jesus’ life was taken from Him by the Jews conspiring with the Romans. But that is not the case.

He laid it down willingly and he took it up again on the third day, which proclaimed that He has the keys of the kingdom over death, hell, and the grave.

Revelation 1:17–18 NLT

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as if I were dead. But he laid his right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last. I am the living one. I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave.

So how do the people respond? Some said he is demon possessed. Why?

Because what He was saying seemed ridiculous to them. No one had died and rose again. No one was the once for all sacrifice. But Jesus is telling them what is going to happen and they think He is nuts.

You know what there are people in the world who still think that Jesus rising from the grave is nuts. Why? Because if they admit Jesus rose from the grave then they are accountable to Him for their sins; and they love the darkness so much that they embrace it over the light.

John 3:18–21 NLT

“There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.”

So how do the other people respond? They go back to the miracle of the blind man and say there is no way Jesus has a demon because he opened the eyes of the blind man and no demon can do that. So there is again this great divide amongst the believers and the non-believers. Amongst His sheep and others.

You can guarantee one thing. That all of History has been split concerning Jesus. We have B.C and A.D. and your personal History, if you are a Christian, is split thanks to Christ. There is before Christ and After Christ. How much better our lives are After Christ comes in and changes us from the inside out. Do you know what I am talking about here? If not then maybe you need an after Christ Experience.

Call to Action – altar call….