John 10:1-21 - The Good Shepherd

Greeting

Good morning, church. It’s a pleasure to once again be able to step into the pulpit and share a word with you. I want to thanK everyone for allowing us the opportunity to step away for a week. For those who may not have been aware, our sending church, Cherokee Hills Baptist celebrated their 60th anniversary last Sunday. They themselves began as a church plant - or what we would have called a “mission” at that time - of Putnam City Baptist. So it was a wonderful opportunity we had to go worship alongside some of our dear friends, and celebrate with them as they celebrate not only their 60th anniversary, but also to attend representing the first church they were a part of planting. You may also notice that Stephen is gone again this week. I promise he’s coming back. You won’t be stuck with me forever. As a staff, we’re attending the For The Church conference in Kansas City. This conference is actually hosted and held at Stephens Alma Mater, so he and Sabrina headed up a couple days early so they could spend a little bit of time seeing some friends up there, and Justin and I will be headed up just after lunch today. You’ll be forgiven if you’re not familiar with For The Church. I’ve discovered that it’s not widely known. But, it’s an annual conference for pastors and ministry leaders to worship together and sit under teachings specific to the leading of a church. This year the theme is “Faithful: Serving the Most Beautiful People on Earth” and will focus on teachings which emphasize the ministry of the Word within our body. Then we have some breakout sessions which focus on specific things. It was so long ago that I enrolled in mine that I can’t tell you what they are, but I’ll be happy to share after we go and I learn what I signed up for! So, with all of that said, please be in prayer for your staff these next couple of days not only as we travel, but more importantly that it would be a productive time of learning and fellowship for us. So let’s get into it. This morning we will be in John 10:1-21. If you do not have a Bible, there are plenty in the seat backs, or it will be up on the screen, but please follow along as I read.

Scripture

John 10:1–21 (CSB)

“Truly I tell you, anyone who doesn’t enter the sheep pen by the gate but climbs in some other way is a thief and a robber. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought all his own outside, he goes ahead of them. The sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 They will never follow a stranger; instead they will run away from him, because they don’t know the voice of strangers.” 6 Jesus gave them this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them.

7 Jesus said again, “Truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them. 9 I am the gate. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. 10 A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.

11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand, since he is not the shepherd and doesn’t own the sheep, leaves them and runs away when he sees a wolf coming. The wolf then snatches and scatters them. 13 This happens because he is a hired hand and doesn’t care about the sheep.

14 “I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 But I have other sheep that are not from this sheep pen; I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. Then there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17 This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have the right to lay it down, and I have the right to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”

19 Again the Jews were divided because of these words. 20 Many of them were saying, “He has a demon and he’s crazy. Why do you listen to him?” 21 Others were saying, “These aren’t the words of someone who is demon-possessed. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

Let’s pray;

Prayer

Lord thank you for your word. Thank you that you are our good shepherd. I pray that through Your Word this morning, you would reveal yourself to us by the power of your Holy Spirit and do so for your glory. It’s in Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Sermon Intro/Recap

So, Jesus is the good shepherd. Not much else I can say. I guess we can all go grab an early lunch!

Joking aside, as I prepared for this morning, I realized this is a passage, like plenty of others, presents somewhat of a challenge in preaching, in that on the surface its pretty straightforward. We read this and we say “okay, got it. He’s a shepherd, we’re sheep. Look out for the wolves.”

Which stands in contrast to some of Pauls writings, for instance. Texts that make you really work for it… that make you say hold on. I’m gonna need an aspirin and an afternoon to re-read that.

But I want us to remember two important things this morning; first, that some of the simplest truths in scripture are still some of the most profound. And, that its important for us to remind ourselves of the simple truths often.

So, when we look at this passage, there’s one thing that is immediately and abundantly clear. And that is, that Jesus, just as He Himself says, is the “Good shepherd.” So our main point this morning, if you take away nothing else, is this;

Main Idea

For those who have placed their faith in Jesus, He is our good shepherd.

Now this is a nice sentiment, right? Again, we can all read this and pretty well get it. He doesnt actually even call himself the “good shepherd” until verse 10. But I’d be willing to bet each of you who read this had already arrived at that conclusion long before then.

His sheep hear His voice. He calls His sheep by name and leads them out. He goes ahead of them. The sheep know his voice. There’s not shortage of imagery here that leads us to this conclusion early on.

But, this is a passage which although we can understand what’s being said in light of our own historical and cultural context, it’s much more helpful to understand it in light of its own contemporary context.

So at this time, we know Jesus is in Judea at this time. Remember he went there back at the start of Ch 7 for the Festival of Shelters. And we know that the main area of Judea is sort of a rocky plateau. It would not have been productive land for crop growth, so it pretty naturally became a place for sheep to graze.

But we also need a different understanding of shepherding here. I would venture a guess that for a lot of people, when we talk about shepherding, you picture the sort of Hollywood portrayal of the same. Idyllic rolling hills, vast wide open spaces, and a shepherd standing far off skillfully whistling commands while a dog sprints around the flock and corrals them.

Thats what usually comes to my mind anyway.

Or maybe you picture the typical middle-eastern shepherd. Gentle and caring, walking around with a staff.

But theres is a lot more historical context here that this understanding lacks.

We see in verse one the “sheep pen” or some other translations say the “sheep fold.” This is probably clear enough. We understand there had to be a place where the sheep were kept. But at this time, this would have been a large, communal sheep pen. At the end of the day, shepherds would return to this area in or around the city, and would direct their sheep back into the sheep pen. So you would have sheep from multiple, maybe a dozen, different herds, mixed together in this sheep pen.

Any of my fellow parents in the room who have ever been to one of those big indoor play places can immediately appreciate how chaotic this must have seemed.

But here’s where our imagery begins to take a bit of a turn. Unlike our more modernized understanding of shepherding, shepherds at this time did not so much “herd” sheep as we are familiar with, but rather, they led their sheep.

We see in verses 3 and 4 that the sheep know the shepherds voice and he calls them by name.

This again is not just a cute idea, but actually indicative of the relationship that shepherds had with their sheep. The relationship between a flock and their shepherd was truly so intimate that the shepherds would in fact have unique names for each of their sheep, and their sheep, in turn would easily recognize the shepherd And his voice.

I actually have a couple really neat examples of this. I was discussing this passage with a friend of mine over lunch a few days ago, and he said while he was on a mission trip In Ethiopia, he witnessed this. Several shepherds sat down together for lunch, and their sheep all wandered around close by. These sheep all had different colored dots on their backs indicating which herd they belonged to. And when one of the shepherds finished his meal, he would stand up, and his sheep would immediately regroup around him.

I got to personally witness this relationship as well just a few months ago.

Some of you have probably noticed this home around the corner here on Eastern that has all of the sheep out front. Harold and Rita are good friends with the couple that live there, and I was fortunate enough to have been introduced to them, and he invited me to bring the family out And see the sheep. The kids loved it of course, and there had just been babies a few days before, so Katelyn was on cloud nine. But the coolest thing was when he quoted this verse, then he gave a little whistle, and from everywhere across the property, anywhere there was a sheep, you heard one resounding “baaahhhh” in unison.

When a sheep belongs to a flock, they truly know their shepherds voice.

And because of this intimate relationship that a sheep has with its shepherd, he is able to protect it. Which leads us to our first point this morning;

Jesus Warns Us of False Shepherds

Let’s look back at a couple of verses from our passage - first at verse 2.

John 10:2 CSB

The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.

Again some context will help us here. Remember we said that the sheep pen would have been a large communal enclosure. It would have has a single gate where shepherds would bring their sheep in the evening, and retrieve them in the morning. Any legitimate shepherd would be using this gate, and only the shepherds were allowed to use this gate, as determined by the gatekeeper. And the sheep, recognizing the shepherd, would gladly leave through this gate with their shepherd. Because the shepherd had so invested in the relationship, the sheep wouldn’t leave with one who was not their shepherd, as we see in verse 5.

So for those wishing to take from the flock, they had to do so some other illegitimate way. These sheep folds often would have been constructed with some kind of stone wall, and its likely that they would have had these thorny brambles added along the tomb of the wall to serve as the equivalent of barbed wire. So, in other words, no one at this time was necessarily waltzing in and slipping away with someone else’s sheep. So what would happen then, is those seeking dishonest gain from flocks not their own, would climb into the pen “some other way” as we see in verse in 1, and since they couldn’t walk out with the sheep, and they couldn’t toss them one by one over the fence and expect them not to scatter, in order to gain anything from the sheep, they would sneak in, slit the throat of the sheep, and then toss it over to the other side of the fence where they could then shear it and consume the meat. They killed what wasn’t theirs in order to steal what wasn’t theirs, thereby destroying its future and its purpose.

But Jesus isn’t warning us here of literal thieves or murderers, is he?

Let’s remember for a moment, the setting in which this conversation is happening. Last week you looked at chapter 9 where Jesus heals the Man born blind. And the Pharisees are outraged by this. The blind man gives his testimony to the Pharisees, they throw him out, Jesus finds him, and along with him, some Pharisees, who again take issue with Jesus and question him on their own blindness. And without a break, the conversation continues into our passage today. Turning from the blind man, to those pharisees present, he begins this good shepherd discourse, and its in that context that we can see that he is providing a very stark, very really contrast here, between himself, and the Jewish leaders.

It’s easy to look at this text and think that the sheepfold that Jesus is referring to here at the beginning is the church or even Heaven. But, as John MacArthur points out in a sermon over the same passage, we see here that the shepherd calls the sheep out of the sheepfold. Jesus doesn’t call his people out of the church, or out of heaven, so it can’t be that. In fact, here in the first 10 verses, Jesus is referring Israel. The sheepfold is Judaism. It’s the Law. It’s the bondage of the Law that the people are under.

The Jewish authorities, who’s roles were never intended to be self-serving, but rather meant to be leaders of the people, to serve as their shepherds, had, as fallen people do, corrupted what was meant for good. We wont turn there, but I want you to think for a moment about the giving of the Law back in Exodus 20. It was this beautiful scene in Jewish history where for a brief moment, the people of God, who until now had been slaves and exiles, have a glimmer of hope as their Holy God gives them the Law - a way for unrighteous people to be made right before their God. But as time goes on, this gift of the Lord to his people is corrupted. Man-made rules and traditions are added to it and greed reigned over it. And it’s in this cultural scene where Jesus arrives. And not just arrives, but fulfills what was prophesied about Him.

Let’s look quickly at Ezekiel 34:1-10. It will be up on the screen.

Ezekiel 34:1–10 CSB

The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy, and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord God says to the shepherds: Woe to the shepherds of Israel, who have been feeding themselves! Shouldn’t the shepherds feed their flock? You eat the fat, wear the wool, and butcher the fattened animals, but you do not tend the flock. You have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick, bandaged the injured, brought back the strays, or sought the lost. Instead, you have ruled them with violence and cruelty. They were scattered for lack of a shepherd; they became food for all the wild animals when they were scattered. My flock went astray on all the mountains and every high hill. My flock was scattered over the whole face of the earth, and there was no one searching or seeking for them. “ ‘Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. As I live—this is the declaration of the Lord God—because my flock, lacking a shepherd, has become prey and food for every wild animal, and because my shepherds do not search for my flock, and because the shepherds feed themselves rather than my flock, therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord! “ ‘This is what the Lord God says: Look, I am against the shepherds. I will demand my flock from them and prevent them from shepherding the flock. The shepherds will no longer feed themselves, for I will rescue my flock from their mouths so that they will not be food for them.

Of course God is not surprised by any of this, right? He knew before the foundations of the earth what was going to happen. He knew that He would ordain the Jewish people, He knew that He would give them the law, He knew that the law would be corrupted, and He warned His people about this. So Jesus came to gather His sheep— the Jewish people, back to Himself, and to lead them out of the bondage in which they had found themselves.

But, now look ahead to verse 16. Jesus has sheep in other sheep pens. If we look at the previous verses as if we are the focus, verse 16 becomes kind of confusing, huh? I’ve seen the fairly laughable suggestion that Jesus is saying here that he’s got sheep somewhere beyond earth. Other planets, other galaxies, and so he’s heading off to go gather them up next.

But seriously, here in verse 16, Jesus is talking about us. He came to gather His people, Israel, recovering the lost sheep and returning them to the fold, and then in verse 16, to gather the sheep which were not of that pen - gentiles, in other words. You and I. So he came for both the Jewish people and the gentiles. But just as we share in that nature as His sheep, we likewise share in the warning issued. We are likewise vulnerable, as sheep, to those who would seek to steal, kill, and destroy. Or put another way, those who would seek to “fleece the flock.”

Look at 2 Peter:1-3

2 Peter 2:1–3 CSB

There were indeed false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, and will bring swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their depraved ways, and the way of truth will be maligned because of them. They will exploit you in their greed with made-up stories. Their condemnation, pronounced long ago, is not idle, and their destruction does not sleep.

Jesus, warns us in His own ministry of false shepherds, false teachers - and scripture echoes these warnings for us today.

But, while there are those who would seek the destruction of the flock, we can take great comfort in knowing that true sheep follow the true shepherd. Which brings us to our final point this morning;

Jesus is the True Shepherd

As a final point of context this morning, we look at the shepherd himself. Not Jesus specifically, but shepherds more generally. The life and labor of a shepherd was not necessarily glamorous. He would rise early to gather the flock and lead them to pasture. The grazing lands of Judea are not exactly lush, so it could be a reasonable trek with the sheep getting them to a pasture in which they could actually graze. Then after a long day weathering the elements with his flock, and often fighting off predators, they would make the trek back to the sheep hold. And it is at this point that the shepherd would take the opportunity to account for his sheep and examine them one by one before entering the sheep pen. With his staff he would hold it to stop the sheep and look it over for any wounds or ailments which might need treatment. At this point, the shepherd alone would be the one to both tend to the sheep and to admit it to the sheep pen. Now sheep are not necessarily known for their intellect. Which, at times, feels a pretty fitting description of us. But because sheep had a tendency to wander, sometimes the shepherd would return for the evening and discover he was missing a sheep. And at this point, the shepherd would, even after the toil of the day, pursue his lost sheep. And we even see this in more sheep talk from Jesus in Matthew 18:12

Matthew 18:12 CSB

What do you think? If someone has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, won’t he leave the ninety-nine on the hillside and go and search for the stray?

So thats a shepherd. But thats just sort of standard shepherd, right? All we’ve really done is define what a pretty average shepherd would have been. Shepherds were important, make no mistake about that. And shepherds cared greatly for their flocks. But shepherds stood to gain from the flock. It was a job, and like all jobs, it was governed by economics. A shepherd cared for and searched for his sheep because they were his livelihood.

But Jesus gives a distinction. In his fourth “I am” statement in this Gospel account, Jesus tells us he is what? Verse 14, he says “I am the good shepherd”

Shepherds by any definition were good, right? We’ve already extolled the virtues of the shepherd at length. But Jesus must make a distinction here. He is THE good shepherd. He does what the shepherd does, right? Thats his very next statement. He knows His own, and His own know him. For evidence of this, look no further back than the man born blind.

As he’s being questioned by the Pharisees - grilled, may even be a more appropriate description, an interaction which could not have been pleasant by any means, the man recognizes the divinity of Jesus and bears witness to it. What does he say?

John 9:25 (CSB)

“Whether or not he’s a sinner, I don’t know. One thing I do know: I was blind, and now I can see!”

We of course know from last week that the man was tossed out of the synagogue, and the very next thing we see is his next interaction with Jesus where Jesus sought him out, and the man proclaims his faith in Jesus.

He knew the shepherd, and the shepherd knew him.

But what is the next and final defining characteristic that Jesus gives of a good shepherd? Look at verses 17 and 18.

John 10:17–18 CSB

This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have the right to lay it down, and I have the right to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”

The good shepherd doesn’t just care for his sheep. He doesn’t just protect his sheep. He doesn’t just seek his lost sheep. The good shepherd lays down His life for His sheep. And this was the central issue that the Jewish authority had with Jesus. He upset the status quo, sure. He threatened their lifestyle, no doubt. But the real issue with Jesus was this claim. This claim of Divinity. That he could lay down and take up His own life, were he not himself God, would be a heresy of the highest magnitude. It’s a line that no rabbi of the time would dare to cross. And this is why we see the response of the Pharisees in verses 19 and 20. They don’t just question his authenticity, they question whether or not he has a demon. Because that would be perhaps the only explanation for someone saying these things - unless they were truly divine.

The pharisees clearly did not know His voice. But His sheep know His voice. His sheep know His nature. His sheep believe in Him. And in turn, he gives His life for His sheep, and in doing so, purchases theirs. Leading them out of the captivity of sin and into His everlasting kingdom.

But this is only true for those who have put their faith in Him. Jesus tells us this in Verse 9

John 10:9 CSB

I am the gate. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture.

If you’re here this morning and you have placed your faith in Him, and you know His voice, praise God. And be comforted today in the promise that you know His voice, and you will not follow a stranger. And then go out and share that good news. Remember Jesus said he has other sheep. Pursue His sheep, share His good news with His sheep.

And if you‘re here this morning and you do not know his voice. If you have not put your faith in Jesus. Simply come.

Romans 10:9-10 tells us all that is required of us by Jesus for salvation. It says;

Romans 10:9–10 CSB

If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation.

I’ll be sitting right up here, Darrell will also be available in the back, and we would love nothing more than to pray with you. Just come.

As Justin comes up to lead us in a song of response this morning, I want to close us with one final reminder of who our Good shepherd is. Psalm 23. And I’ll be reading this from the ESV.

Psalm 23;

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness

for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil,

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff,

they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies;

you anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

all the days of my life,

and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord

forever.