The Good Shepherd

Pray:

Father, I pray that you would open our hearts and minds to receive your Word now.

We need you to work in our hearts because without you, these words are useless.

I certainly can’t change anyone’s heart for the better by my own effort, least of all my own heart.

We want to be changed into the likeness of your Son in righteousness and holiness, in love and forgiveness.

And we need you to do that, so please come, and use the preaching of your Word to accomplish this.

We thank you and praise you in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Intro:

You ever wonder why people join gangs?

Or maybe it’s something a little more wholesome like a yacht club or a bocce ball league.

Regardless, people gravitate to these kinds of groups because they offer a sense of belonging and a sense of being known and knowing others in the group.

But all of these groups in the world are led by people who don’t really care about the people in the group.

They are all led by people who only really care about themselves.

And sometimes there are people in those groups who don’t really belong in those groups in the first place.

I think of the guys who try out for the Voice or American Idol who can’t carry a tune in a bucket.

Selfish leaders and followers who don’t belong are a real problem for us.

The world offers a false sense of belonging apart from the church that entices believers away from the church to follow bad leaders, bad shepherds.

And people join the church for a sense of belonging like a gang or a social club, but they aren’t really Christians to begin with, they are false sheep.

Because of the prevalence of bad shepherds and false sheep, we need Jesus to give us discernment to reject them and embrace him as the Good Shepherd.

And Jesus does just that in our passage here in John chapter 10.

He describes his relationship with his sheep, and then John describes Jesus’ interaction with bad shepherds and false sheep, or strangers.

John places these two accounts back to back so that we will see the very obvious difference between them and respond accordingly.

First, Jesus describes...

The Relationship of the Shepherd and his Sheep (1-21)

This relationship is kind of one-sided.

The Shepherd takes all the risk, and does all the work, and the sheep don’t really contribute anything of significance.

But we’re more interested in how the Shepherd interacts with his sheep and how his sheep interact with him in this relationship.

We see in verses 1-6 a beautiful relationship of...

Belonging and Intimacy (1-6)

John 10:1–6 ESV

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

The shepherd belongs in the sheepfold, and he intimately knows his sheep.

Likewise, the sheep belong with the shepherd and no one else, and they intimately know their shepherd.

This is a beautiful relationship of intimacy and belonging, but why is Jesus saying this?

Jesus had just healed a man who was born blind to display the glory of God in that miracle.

And that man had been turned out of the Synagogue for defending Jesus before the religious leaders, though he didn’t know it was Jesus at the time.

Then Jesus revealed himself as the Christ to that man, and the religious leaders began questioning him.

So, Jesus is here explaining his relationship with people who believe in him like this man, and how different that relationship is from how the religious leaders had treated this man and his family in the previous chapter.

The religious leaders obviously do not have any love for people who believe in Jesus.

They do not belong in the sheepfold, and they do not know the sheep.

So it is actually a good thing for the man born blind to be put out of the synagogue.

Like a sheep, he has run away from the stranger, and he has run to his shepherd, Jesus.

It’s actually a pretty amazing thing how sheep recognize the voice of their shepherd.

I heard a story once of two shepherds that met in the countryside.

One shepherd had colored all of his sheep with a blue spot, and the other had colored all of his sheep with a red spot.

As these shepherds were talking about whatever shepherds talk about, the sheep began mingling, so that soon they were all a jumbled mess of red dots and blue dots.

After the shepherds went their separate ways, they walked ahead of their individual flocks, and each called to their sheep.

And those sheep could tell which voice belonged to their shepherd.

They all began to follow the voice of their shepherd, and not one blue dot was found among the red, and not one red dot was found among the blue.

How does that happen?

How do sheep learn to recognize the distinct voice of their shepherd?

How can we learn to recognize the distinct voice of our Shepherd, Jesus?

The answer is multiple exposures over time.

This is like how bank tellers are trained to spot counterfeit bills.

They spend every moment of their work day handling genuine currency, so that when the counterfeit shows up, it is glaringly different from what they have become used to handling.

Sheep spend their entire lives listening to the voice of their shepherd as he leads them, feeds them, cares for them, and protects them.

They associate his distinct voice with those things that he does for their benefit, and they get used to his voice because it’s constantly in their ears from the moment they are born.

We can learn to hear Jesus’ voice above the din of voices clamoring for our attention by spending every waking moment listening to him as he leads us, feeds us, cares for us, and protects us.

We do this by reading and listening to his Word; the truth of who he is and how he loves and cares for us.

Can you hear the voice of Jesus in the pages of Scripture?

Listen to it, steep yourself in it, find comfort and care for your soul in it because Jesus loves and cares for you, and every page of Scripture shouts that love like a trumpet blast.

In fact that love is the next thing Jesus talks about in the relationship between the shepherd and his sheep in verses 7-21.

Sacrificial Love (7-21)

John 10:7–21 ESV

So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to 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 comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 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. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 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.” There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. Many of them said, “He has a demon, and is insane; why listen to him?” Others said, “These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

The religious leaders didn’t understand what Jesus was telling them.

Usually, Jesus would teach in parables so that the truth of God’s kingdom would be hidden from unbelievers.

But this time Jesus wanted these unbelieving religious leaders to get it.

So, he explained the sacrificial love the shepherd has for his sheep in contrast to thieves and in contrast to hired workers.

Jesus is the door in contrast to thieves and robbers.

These thieves and robbers, all who came before Jesus, are the religious leaders who had made such a mess of the Law.

By their added rules and regulations, and their hypocrisy, they were essentially trying to steal God’s people away from God.

The door is the proper way to go in and out.

Jesus is the only way to be part of his flock.

And when you are a part of his flock, he takes care of you… he saves you, and you can go in and out and find pasture.

He gives you life… abundant life.

But the thief only wants to steal, kill, and destroy.

You see, Jesus, the door, sacrificially gives himself out of love for you so that you may have life and access to his provision for salvation and for whatever you may need.

But the thieves, the religious leaders, only care about themselves.

Well, Jesus makes another comparison of the sacrificial love of a good shepherd and the unloving self-preservation of the hired worker.

This is where Ezekiel 34 comes in.

These religious leaders are the bad shepherds who were eating the sheep rather than caring for them.

But Jesus says that he is the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep.

In Ezekiel God said that HE would be the shepherd of his people.

Don’t miss this… Jesus is claiming to be God here.

But he also explains his sacrificial love to show how much he values his sheep.

Picture the scene...

A shepherd and a hired worker are both watching over separate flocks in the same area.

A pack of wolves shows up for a buffet, and they will tear apart anyone who gets between them and their lunch.

The hired worker says to himself, “I don’t get paid enough to risk my life for these sheep… I’m outta here!”

But the shepherd says to himself, “I love these sheep, they are worth risking my life for them.”

So the shepherd stays and fights off the wolves.

The shepherd didn’t throw his life away, he risked his life so that his sheep might live because they are valuable to him.

This is an illustration of the love Jesus has for us, and the worth he places on us.

But he goes on to explain the reality of this illustration.

Again, Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd,” but this time he explains the depth of his intimate love for us, and the lengths he would go to save us.

Look at what he says in verses 14 and 15...

He knows his sheep and his sheep know him, just like he knows the Father and the Father knows him.

This is a depth of intimacy that is unparalleled.

The Trinity shares the most intimate relationship, and that intimacy is extended to us, his sheep, his people who have faith in him.

Even to us Gentiles!

Because Jesus says that he has other sheep not of this fold… that’s us!

The sheepfold he is talking about is Israel, but he will bring in Gentiles through the same sacrifice.

Paul talks at length about this in the second half of Ephesians 2, but he sums it up nicely in Ephesians 3:6 “This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.”

We get to be a part of his flock too, and all because Jesus laid down his life for all of us.

So that we would be one flock with one shepherd.

So, the depth of Jesus’ intimacy with us as our good shepherd is the same as his intimacy with the Father, and the lengths he would go to save us would be death.

He laid down his life for us.

Jesus says that this is why the Father loves him.

God the Father loves God the Son, because the love they share doesn’t stay between them.

Out of that love, Jesus laid down his life like a good shepherd.

Sin and death had their hungry eyes trained on us, but Jesus placed himself between us and that threat.

He died on the cross, so that we wouldn’t have to.

But he couldn’t stay dead because he is God.

He has authority to lay down his life, and he has authority to take it up again.

Jesus is foreshadowing the cross and the empty tomb.

But the religious leaders he is talking to don’t know that, they can’t know that.

So, they move from confusion to division.

Jesus clarified his shepherd illustration, but because it was based on future events, people thought he was crazy.

But others placed more weight on the miracle he had just done in the previous chapter than on his seemingly crazy illustration.

It’s not so crazy to us, because we have the benefit of hindsight.

We get to read ahead and see how Jesus’ illustration was the perfect explanation of how Jesus would die and rise again to pay our penalty and secure our eternal life in his family, in his flock, forever.

So, Jesus explained, through an illustration, about the intimate and loving relationship he has with his people, the relationship of the Shepherd and his sheep.

Now let’s look at verses 22-42 to see...

The Interaction of the Shepherd and Strangers (22-42)

The way Jesus interacts with the religious leaders is very different from how he interacts with those who truly believe in him.

Jesus was patient and loving with sinners who humbly came to him to be saved.

But the religious leaders were full of pride and hypocrisy, and Jesus was short and condemning of their unbelief because they were the strangers, the thieves, the hired workers who only love themselves.

They were the bad shepherds who ate and scattered God’s sheep.

The religious leaders respond to Jesus here in rejection and unbelief which culminates in selfish hostility.

As Jesus interacts with his people in belonging and intimacy, so these strangers interact with Jesus in...

Rejection and Unbelief (22-30)

John 10:22–30 ESV

At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”

About two months have passed since Jesus had his last hostile encounter with the religious leaders after the feast of booths back in chapter 8.

Jesus healing the man who was born blind in chapter 9, and his illustration of the good shepherd that we just looked at happened not long after the feast of booths.

But now it’s the feast of dedication, also known a Hanukkah, in the dead of winter.

It was probably raining, so it makes sense for a whole bunch of people to be crowded under the roof of Solomon’s colonnade.

Jesus was walking there, and a group of religious leaders surrounded him and began badgering him about whether or not he was the Christ.

“How long will you keep us in suspense?”

This phrase in Greek is woodenly translated, “How long will you take away our life?”

It’s an idiom that sort of illustrates how consumed these religious leaders were by the question of whether or not Jesus was the Christ.

All their conversations, all their thoughts, all their lives were bent toward finding the answer to that question.

Their lives were taken up by this pursuit.

This was a very important question to answer.

But the problem is that Jesus had already clearly answered this question for them, and they refused to accept his answer.

Jesus answers their question again, but he does so explaining why they didn’t get it before and why they will continue to not get it.

Jesus already told them that he is the Christ, and the works he does bear witness about him.

Jesus is referring to his interaction with these same religious leaders back in John chapter 5.

John 5:36 “But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me.”

John 5:39–40 “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.”

These religious leaders, these strangers, did not refuse to believe because of a lack of information.

The problem was more fundamental.

They could not be argued into believing because they were predisposed not to believe.

Basically, people won’t just decide to believe in Jesus.

It seems like a catch 22… only Christians believe in Jesus, but you have to believe in Jesus to become a Christian.

And that is kind of the point.

There’s nothing we can do to save ourselves.

Left to our own devices, we are hopelessly lost… locked out of this catch 22.

The only way to be saved is for Jesus to make you one of his sheep rather than a stranger through the preaching of his Word and the work of the Holy Spirit.

Only then will you believe and be saved from sin and death… brought into the catch 22.

So, Jesus explains that these religious leaders don’t believe because they are not of Jesus’ sheep.

Then Jesus goes on to tell them exactly what they are missing out on, and the implication is that the opposite is true for these religious leaders and might be true of you.

Jesus’ sheep hear his voice…

Are you deaf to Jesus’ calls?

Jesus’ sheep know Jesus and he knows them…

Are you a stranger?

Jesus’ sheep follow him…

Are you following the lies of Satan?

Jesus’ sheep have eternal life and will never perish…

Are you awaiting eternal separation from God in hell because of your sin?

Jesus’ sheep will never be snatched out of his hand,

Are you lacking comfort and security?

Jesus bases his claim for the security of his sheep on the security of God the Father’s sovereignty.

Then Jesus makes a very bold claim that was sure to stir up these religious leaders.

He says, “I and the Father are one.”

Jesus claims to be God, very similar to how he did back in John 8:58 “Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.””

And both there and here the response is the same.

To Jesus’ sheep, the reality of his deity and his selfless love produces worship, like the man who was born blind...

but as we will see in verses 31-42, to strangers it produces…

Selfish Hostility (31-42)

John 10:31–42 ESV

The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.” Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken— do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” Again they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands. He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing at first, and there he remained. And many came to him. And they said, “John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.” And many believed in him there.

They picked up stones to kill him right there in Solomon’s colonnade on the temple grounds.

This is now the second time in John’s record that the religious leaders tried to kill Jesus in this way.

They tried to do the same thing back in chapter 8, and here they are again picking up stones to stone him to death because he said something they didn’t like.

This time Jesus asked them why they were trying to kill him.

Not because he didn’t know… he absolutely knew because he knows what is in man John 2:24-25.

He wants them to think about what they are doing, and he helps them think through it a bit.

They are trying to kill him because of what he just said.

He claimed to be God.

They think it’s blasphemy… and for any mere man it would be… but Jesus is not just a man, he is the God-man.

But they don’t believe that.

They have already decided that he is lying, and they are ignoring the evidence because they are not of Jesus’ sheep.

But Jesus argues his case with them by appealing to Scripture.

He says, “Is it not written in your Law...”

It’s interesting he says “your Law” not “the Law.”

He distances himself from it for some reason.

It’s also interesting that the part of Scripture that he cites as “your Law” is from the Psalms, not from the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament, commonly called the Law.

He cites Psalm 82:6 which in context refers to angels in the divine council.

“I (God the Father) said, ‘You (angels) are gods.’”

So, Jesus’ argument is not that men are referred to as “little G” gods, but that angels, God’s messengers are called gods, and he is the ultimate messenger sent from the Father.

It’s a lesser to greater argument similar to the beginning of the book of Hebrews.

Jesus is better than the angels.

Psalm 82 calls the angels “little G” gods, but Jesus is actually “Big G” God in the flesh.

And the works Jesus has been doing and will continue to do bear witness to that fact whether they believe it or not.

It is objectively true, and they would do well to at the very least recognize that the works he does are from the Father whether they believe his claim or not.

Well, his argument at least stayed their hand from stoning him right then and there, but they did still try and arrest him.

They tried and failed… again.

John doesn’t give us any more details on how Jesus evaded arrest in the crowded colonnade.

But he does tell us that he went back to where the Gospel account began.

Across the Jordan to where John the Baptist was baptizing at first.

And people came to him and reasoned that John did no sign to prove his claim to be sent from God, but they still believed John.

And everything that John had said about Jesus had come to pass.

That was the test of authenticity for a prophet.

If what they said came to pass then they were a true prophet.

And everything John had said had come to pass, so he must be a true prophet.

And he said that Jesus was the Christ… therefore… Jesus must be the Christ.

These country folk got it!

Because they were of Jesus’ sheep, but the religious leaders in jerusalem refused to connect the dots because they were not of Jesus’ sheep.

So, Jesus showed us what a relationship with him looks like as our good shepherd.

We belong with him and he with us, and we intimately know him and he us.

And all of this is because he loved us enough to lay down his life at the cross so that we wouldn’t have to die for our sin, and he took up his life again three days later so that we could spend eternity with him.

And Jesus also showed us what his interaction with strangers looks like.

Those who are not his sheep reject him in unbelief, and he likewise rejects them.

And that rejection and unbelief results in selfish hostility.

So, there are two positions that we must consider now.

If you are one of Jesus’ sheep, if you believe in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins, then...

Conclusion

Trust your good shepherd to be good and do good whether it feels good in the moment or not.

Daily, hourly, moment by moment… listen to the voice of your good shepherd, that way you will know when a stranger is calling, and you can run away back to your loving shepherd.

And remember how much your good shepherd loves you… he laid down his life for you, so that you may have life, and have it abundantly.

This world is full of false sheep and bad shepherds that want to lead you astray, so listen to the voice of Jesus in Scripture telling you how much he loves you, and trust him to lead you and care for you better than anyone else.

Now, if you are not a believer, then consider what you are missing.

Only Jesus’ sheep, his people, believers listen to Jesus’ voice, know Jesus, follow Jesus, have eternal life in Jesus, and will never be lost.

Unless you believe,

you cannot know the love of Christ,

you cannot heed his voice,

you cannot follow him in righteousness,

you cannot have eternal life,

and you cannot have any real sense of security in life and especially in death.

Apart from faith in Christ, you are just like these religious leaders who wanted to kill Jesus just because they didn’t want to hear what he had to say.

Stop resisting the truth.

Stop fighting against the good shepherd.

Stop trying to get in another way.

Just stop and believe.

Jesus is the good shepherd, he is the door, he is the Son of God.

His flock enjoys eternal life, security, peace, love, joy, hope…

Those not in his flock are doomed to a self-inflicted eternal separation from God, hostility, hatred, pain, and fear.

If you want to be in his flock, then you have to go through him.

Believe in him and believe what he has said.

He is the Son of God who died on the cross to pay for your sin so that you wouldn’t have to and then he rose again on the third day securing your eternal life.

All you have to do is believe and submit to him as your good shepherd.

Pray:

Father, thank you for sending your Son to be our good shepherd.

Thank you for loving us and caring for us.

Lord, you know us intimately.

You know all things, and you know us to our very core because you made us.

You know the depth of our sin, but you love us anyway and you sent your Son, Jesus to pay for our sins, so that we could know you even as you know us.

Father, your sacrificial love is more than any of us can really comprehend.

I pray that you would reveal more and more of that love every day from now to eternity.

And Father, there are many people in this world who are not your sheep.

I pray that you would give us boldness and compassion to share the good news of what Jesus has done on the cross so that they might become your sheep and believe by the power of your Holy Spirit.

We ask all this in the name of our Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Communion

Now we get to celebrate the sacrificial love of our good shepherd as we take communion together.

If you are visiting with us, and you are a baptized believer in good standing with your home church, then you are welcome to join us.

As the men pass out the elements, I want to consider an aspect of communion that has been very freeing for me since I’ve been a part of Trinity Church.

I want to consider the state of our hearts and our attitude during communion.

I grew up in the church from the time I was 8 years old, and communion was always a time to consider if there was any unconfessed sin in your life.

Because if you took communion with unconfessed sin, then you could get sick or die.

That’s what Paul was talking about in 1 Corinthians 11:27-32… right?

Well, let’s read it and find out.

1 Corinthians 11:27–32 ESV

Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.

I didn’t read anything about unconfessed sin.

Paul wrote about taking communion in an unworthy manner, but that is not necessarily doing so with unconfessed sin.

Taking communion in an unworthy manner is doing so without discerning the body.

That means doing so without thinking about the other people you are in communion with, doing so selfishly and to the detriment of your brothers and sisters in Christ.

So, the examining Paul encourages us to do is not to discover any unconfessed sin in the dark recesses of your heart, it is to discover whether or not you are loving and building up one another as you take communion together.

I would say that most of us, because of how we do communion, will never really have this problem.

Now, in principle, we should never have any unconfessed sin in our hearts because as soon as the Holy Spirit convicts you of sin, you should confess it and repent of it right then and there whether it is in the middle of the sermon, or the middle of the night.

So communion is just as good a time as any to confess sin if the Spirit convicts, but it’s not a time to go looking for it, or to invent some sin to confess as every head is bowed and every eye is closed.

You don’t have to be perfectly clean and confessed-up to take communion, you just have to love your savior and remember his sacrifice together with you fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

That brings me to the attitude of communion.

All growing up, communion was a somber time to remember the pain and agony that Jesus suffered because of my sin, and to feel kind of bad because of it.

Yes we remember his death for our sin, but it’s a time of rejoicing.

It’s a party celebrating Jesus’ victory over sin and death.

Don’t dwell on your sin, dwell on Jesus, and the fact that he has freed you from your sin by his death on your behalf.

Communion is not supposed to be like a funeral, it’s supposed to be like a victory feast celebrating the sacrificial love of our good shepherd.

Pray:

Father thank you for freeing us from sin and death.

Thank you for sending your Son to lay down his life for us.

We remember his sacrifice, and we rejoice in the abundant life he has purchased for us with his body and blood.

We remember until he comes again, and we look forward to the day that he will wipe away every tear from our eyes, and we get to party with you in heaven forever.

We thank you and praise you in Jesus’ name. Amen.