Good Shepherd John 10:11-21

Sermon on John 10:11 prepared by Jonathan Shradar

John 10:11-21

Jesus is good because He died for you.

Due to the resurgent Nebraska football team I have been enjoying some rekindled connection with what was once an inseparable group of college friends via a text group. These texts have had us reminiscing (not gloriously mind you) in the old days and the shenanigans. And as I was studying the Good Shepherd this week I thought of one such episode.

I was with my good friend Brandon, fraternity brothers, and law school roommates. His brother had been sick out the window of his car so we went to the local spray car wash to clean it. As he was spraying the car down, two young men approached, one holding a gun, demanding the keys to the car.

Brandon, in a fit of bravery never seen before, or since, yelled at the kid, “No, get out of here!” Stunned, the young car-jacker ran away. But between Brandon and the gun wielding teen was me.

This came to mind as I thought of Jesus’ words.

John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” (ESV)

Notice it is not “lay down your friend’s life for yourself!”

In an age where there is plenty of that going around - politicians looking for a voting bloc to use to gain power; celebrities needing bodies to fill seats and receipts in order to maintain an opulent lifestyle; and the crisis of an ever shrinking existence of friendship, at least the kind that is about more than likes on social media…

We need greater love. We need something good.

And there is no one better than the Good Shepherd.

Jesus is good because He died for you.

Here we are in our “I am” series, evaluating the statements Jesus made for himself. Already we have seen the Bread of Life, and the Light of the World. Just a sentence before our text today we had the Door of the Sheep. If you enter by Him you will be saved, find freedom, and provision for an abundant life.

Still in the frame of seeing followers, His or God’s people as sheep, in dialogue with “hired hands,” Pharisees (religious elites), He continues His declaration of who He is.

He is the Good Shepherd.

This statement is why in every painting you have seen of Jesus - which is always too fair skinned - he has a shepherd’s staff and is around perfectly white and fluffy sheep!

We like the image the statement invokes. Comforting. Protection. Guiding.

But what he actually says about being “good” is among one of the more scandalous realities of Christianity. Some refuse the necessity of it, the plan of it, or there can be a minimizing of it so as to not offend certain sensibilities.

We want to be faithful to the text, to Scripture, to read, understand, and live in response to it.

We will unpack this in three movements, the Good Shepherd is your substitute, the Good Shepherd chose to die, and the Good Shepherd laid down his life to know you.

The Good Shepherd is Your Substitute

John 10:11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” (ESV)

For the sheep.

Jesus is contrasting himself still with the religious leaders, the pretenders that would cast out the likes of the man born blind, because being healed didn’t fit their narrative.

Jesus says these are like hired hands that care nothing for the sheep, they see a wolf coming, leave the sheep and the wolf snatches and scatters them.

Think of those today that want followers but don’t care about them. Influencers just want views, likes, shares. Anyone that would see you as a number and not a person. They are all about what they can get out of it.

As the Good Shepherd though, Jesus lays down his life.

Now, this means he dies. This is not metaphorical sacrificial living, which he does. What he is talking about is the Good Shepherd dying for the sheep. We call the Friday he hung on the cross Good because he died.

We have a clearer view of this maybe than His first audience. But he dies for the sheep because it is necessary.

On occasion I have had friends say something like, “God wouldn’t do that, or force this…” My response is always, “on what authority do you make that declaration?”

There may be things we are uncomfortable with, disagree with, but we submit to them because we are not God. We do this with the question, why did Jesus have to die?

Isaiah 55:8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.” (ESV)

Deuteronomy 32:4 “The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.” (ESV)

His plan of salvation then is perfect, just, right.

1 Corinthians 15:3–4 “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, [4] that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,” (ESV)

Evidence affirms that the sinless Jesus bled and died on a cross. He did so to be your substitute, to take your place.

The punishment for sin is death.

God created earth and humanity perfect. But when Adam and Eve disobeyed God, he had to punish them. “A judge who pardons law breakers isn’t a righteous judge.”

Found this out last week after two days of jury duty. They didn’t want a pastor. By the line of questioning they were concerned I wouldn’t pass judgment on someone.

Righteous judgment is that death enters the scene. The wages of sin are death. We like our first parents, live in disobedience, disregarding God in lots of ways, guilty of sin.

Our good works, even if there were many, could never make up for the wrongs against the holy God. So there has to be satisfaction of the penalty. We need intervention.

All people are in need of a substitute since all are guilty of sinning against the holy God. All sin deserves punishment because all sin is personal rebellion against God himself. This is why Christ came and laid down his life.

Even from the garden God makes a promise of reconciliation, that one would come to crush the head of the serpent. Until then, men would sacrifice innocent lambs, showing their repentance from sin and faith in the future sacrifice from God who would bear their penalty.

God’s perfect Son fulfilled God’s perfect requirement of God’s perfect law.

2 Corinthians 5:21 “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (ESV)

This is Penal Substitutionary Atonement. This means that Christ died in the place of sinners, taking upon himself the penalty and punishment we deserve.

“The penal substitutionary view of the atonement holds that the most fundamental event of the atonement is that Jesus Christ took the full punishment that we deserved for our sins as a substitute in our place, and that all other benefits or results of the atonement find their anchor in this truth.” TS

The cross is giving us victory over sin, defeating satan and his schemes, glorifying Christ, providing an example of sacrifice for others, and more. But first it is Jesus taking our punishment, taking our place, meeting the penalty our sin deserves.

“The shepherd does not die for his sheep to serve as an example, throwing himself off a cliff in a grotesque and futile display while bellowing, ‘See how much I love you!’ No, the assumption is that the sheep are in mortal danger; that in their defense the shepherd loses his life; that by his death they are saved. That, and that alone, is what makes him the good shepherd.” D. A. Carson

Why did Jesus die? The holy God cannot let sin go unpunished. To bear our own sins would be to suffer God’s wrath for eternity. But, He kept his promise to send and sacrifice a Lamb, a Good Shepherd, to bear the sins of those who believe in Him. He pays the penalty of our sin.

This is his mercy.

Your forgiveness. Your freedom. Your security. In Him, because he laid down his life for you.

The Good Shepherd Chose to Die

His death was no accident. This was on purpose, exactly as planned.

Bumper sticker - “If Jesus had a gun he'd still be alive today.” Wrong on a couple of levels. He is alive!

“I lay down my life for the sheep.”

John 10:17–18 “For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. [18] 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.” (ESV)

Essentially reads, the Father loves me and I lay down my life to take it up again.

Jesus makes clear this is no accident, no one takes it from Him. He lays it down on his own accord.

As the God-man He has authority to lay it down and take it up, looking to both his death and resurrection. Pays the penalty for sin and defeats our final enemy death, giving us new life.

All according to plan.

Acts 2:22–24 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know—[23] this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. [24] God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. (ESV)

Matthew 20:28 “even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (ESV)

Romans 5:8 “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (ESV)

Galatians 1:3–4 “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, [4] who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,” (ESV)

Ephesians 5:2 “And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” (ESV)

A planned death of the son? This rubs some the wrong way. But it is clear from Scripture, this was the promise, the plan, and the reality.

“Substitution captures the heart of the atonement, for we see in the atoning sacrifice of Christ both the love and justice of God. Nor should we pit the Father against the Son since the Son willingly and gladly gave of himself for the sake of sinners (John 10:18). As the Gospel of John emphasizes repeatedly, the Father sent the Son, but the Son rejoiced to do the Father’s will.” Tom Schreiner

The religious elites didn’t win at the cross, Rome didn’t have the upper hand, Satan wasn’t orchestrating the outcome of Good Friday. Jesus, the Good Shepherd chose to die.

“His death was with the resurrection in view. He died in order to rise, and by his rising to proceed toward his ultimate glorification (12:23; 17:5) and the pouring out of the Spirit (7:37–39) so that others, too, might live.” D. A. Carson

Spontaneity can be fun. But when someone has made a plan for you, that is special (engagement and 10th anniversary). This is the Creator of the universe, from before there was light, having determined he would lay down his life for you.

Let that settle.

The Good Shepherd lays down His life to know you.

Did you know you are mentioned in the Bible? A couple of times really, but especially here.

John 10:16 “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.” (ESV)

The purpose of salvation, of laying down his life is in knowing you.

John 10:14–15 “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; and I lay down my life for the sheep.” (ESV)

“The use of ginōskein (“know”) here is far more than cognitive (factual) knowledge. The relationship between Jesus and his sheep is modeled on the relationship between Jesus and the Father (10:15). It is this relationship that supplied the rationale for the self-sacrifice of Jesus for his sheep.” Gerald L. Borchert

Think of that. The Father and the Son share the same essence. There is the height of intimacy here. And that is how Jesus desires to know his own. To know you if you are his.

Knowing him is eternal life now. John 17:3 “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (ESV)

Scripture tells us that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Those that are saved are his sheep, who know him, know his voice. Will be with him, forever.

This is his grace.

“No one could know us better than Jesus, who knows every time we have hated, everything we have contemplated, and the filth we have articulated. And he loves us anyway. No one has been with us longer than Jesus, who with the Father knitted us together in the womb of our mother. No one has been truer to us than Jesus, telling us what we did not want to hear, always true to the truth. No one has shown more commitment to our good than Jesus, traveled further to redeem us, suffered more indignity, endured greater pain, made better promises, and in every way shown himself worthy of all we have and are. Oh, how he loves us!

And we owe no one more. We can have no suspicions about the motives or intentions of Jesus. We cannot distrust him. We cannot resent him. The love we have for Jesus ought to be the nearest thing there is to crystal clear purity in this murky world. This is a world of uncertainty, but we can be certain about Jesus. His body and blood bought our lives, and his body and blood bear us up on the journey to the land where he is King. This is our Shepherd. This is our Friend. This is the one who knows us, the one who lays down his life for us. All that is required of anyone who would be loved by him is that they turn to Jesus from sin.”

He can be known. We find him in his word. In his people. In prayer.

The Good Shepherd has gone to such great lengths to know you. He has laid down his life, of his own accord.

To give you salvation, freedom, hope, restoration, formation, abundant life, a family to bear your burdens with.

He laid down his life to give you rest.

The bar is belief. He pursues you and with open arms he welcomes you in, calls you his own.

“This is Christ’s welcome. He moves toward the needy, the outcast, the messed-up, the sinful. He doesn’t recoil in disgust. He doesn’t keep his distance. He makes the first move, he approaches, he is moved, he reaches out, he heals and restores. This is what it means for Christ to welcome us.” Sam Allberry

And in the knowing, in growing intimacy with Jesus, the welcome doesn’t change, it goes deeper, to every corner of our lives.

“His mercy for the undeserving makes the gospel hard to accept at conversion and hard to hold onto along the way. We deeply fear Jesus can’t stomach the real, behind-the-scenes, unrehabilitated us. We expect (and suspect) that he despises us, that he should despise us. But the gospel insists he loves, forgives, justifies, adopts, and rejoices over us and that he will never stop, no matter what mess we bring out into his light. Whenever we dare believe his gospel, that’s when we find ourselves walking in the light. That’s real Christianity, and it’s beautiful.” Ray Ortland

All because the Good Shepherd laid down his life.

Jesus is Good because he died for you.

Isaiah 53:1-12 “Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? [2] For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. [3] He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

[4] Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. [5] But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. [6] All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

[7] He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. [8] By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? [9] And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.

[10] Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. [11] Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. [12] Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.” (ESV)

Believe in the Good Shepherd - Jesus is for you, he laid down his life for you as your substitute so that you would have new life in him. There is nothing you have done that keeps you too far from him.

“The cumulative testimony of the four Gospels is that when Jesus Christ sees the fallenness of the world all about him, his deepest impulse, his most natural instinct, is to move toward that sin and suffering, not away from it.” ― Dane C. Ortlund, Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers

Live with Jesus as Lord - Follow his commands, trust him, pursue him, surrender to him.

Greater love has none than this, than one lays down his life for his friends. I know such a friend.

Those living real life find it in the death and resurrection of the Good Shepherd, Jesus.

May it be so in us.