The Good Fold

John 10:11-16 ESV

11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 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. 13 He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for 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; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 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.

I think that out of the four sermons that in are in this series, this one undoubtedly has the sweetest, most profound, and cherished text that we will look at throughout the series. Indeed, it is here that we find the wonderfully inexplicable bond that Jesus, the Good Shepherd of His elect people, shares with those of us who are among His sheep, His elect people.

At the close of our reading from last week, specifically in verse ten, Jesus had spoken of how the thief comes into the sheepfold only to steal, kill, and destroy, and how He, in contrast to the thief, is likened to a good shepherd, to One Who owns the sheep in the sheepfold. And because this is the case, because Jesus is the One Who truly owns the sheep, He gives His sheep what is good for them.

But alas! Because of man’s radical fall into sin, the sheep, God’s elect people are not in one centralized fold. But rather, they are scattered. And when I mean that they are scattered, I don’t just mean that they are in different geographic regions, but rather, they have been scattered abroad, mixed in with spiritual goats, living amongst the unsaved in a sin-infested world.

We see a lot of parallels throughout this narrative with Ezekiel, chapter 34. There, in the first ten verses of that particular chapter, God speaks against the spiritual shepherds of Israel. He said that He had placed His sheep under their care, but they have not properly cared for those sheep. Instead, He says that they cared so little for His sheep that they had been scattered.

Then in verses eleven all the way through to the end of the chapter, God proclaims that He Himself will search for His sheep and seek them out. He says that He will seek them out and bring them out of the world, out of their state of rebellion against Him, and He will bring them into His fold.

God says this in Ezekiel, chapter 34, verse 24:

Ezekiel 34:24 ESV

24 And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David (Which is in reference to Jesus, the Son of David) shall be prince among them.

And then, in verse 29 of that same chapter, God says:

Ezekiel 34:29 ESV

29 I will provide for them renowned plantations so that they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land, and no longer suffer the reproach of the nations.

This signifies the fulfillment of God seeking out His sheep, bringing them into the fold as He and they dwell forever, away from all harm and corruption in the New Jerusalem.

And what we see in our reading for today is Jesus declaring how this bringing His sheep, the elect people of God into the fold was and still is coming to pass.

In the first verse of our reading, verse eleven, Jesus says:

John 10:11 ESV

11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Now, remember what Jesus has been saying throughout this parable; about how the thief and the robber comes to steal, kill, and destroy. They have no good intention for the sheep whatsoever. They are the ones referred to in Ezekiel’s prophecy, the shepherds who have failed to care for God’s sheep. They are the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the ones who still today are appointed to reveal God’s truth to God’s people but instead feed them a lie. They do no good to the people of God.

But Jesus says that in contrast to such thieves and robbers, He is the Good Shepherd. They are His sheep, and He does what a good shepherd would do for his sheep, He gives Himself to their care. As Jesus said back in verse ten, He gives them, He communicates to them abundant life.

And this communication of abundant life from Jesus, the Good Shepherd, to His sheep is He laying down His life for the sheep. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, shows Himself to be to the Good Shepherd because not His own welfare, but the welfare of His sheep is His primary concern, even giving His life so that His sheep can be saved, and obtain His resurrected life.

So, having this truth positively communicated to us, we move on to verses twelve and thirteen, where we read Jesus saying:

John 10:12-13 ESV

12 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. 13 He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

So, the first thing that we notice here is Jesus speaking of one who He identifies as a “hired hand”. A hired hand is in reference to an under-shepherd, who is hired by the primary shepherd. The hired hand, though being a shepherd himself, does not own the sheep that he shepherds. But, as was said, he is hired by the primary shepherd and given the task of caring for the primary shepherd’s sheep.

Now obviously, there are many good and effective hired hands. But the hired hand who Jesus refers to here is the one who cares more about his position, his job, than he does the sheep that he has been hired to shepherd.

And because he cares more about his job than the sheep that he is called to shepherd, it then follows that when a threat comes towards he and the flock, a threat such as a wolf, he doesn’t stay and protect the sheep, for he fears that if he does that, he may suffer. And so, rather than staying and fending off the wolf, he flees. And the result is the wolf snatching the flock and scattering them.

Now, the point that Jesus was making in the spiritual sense here is that the “hired hands” of His day, the under-shepherds of God’s people; the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and still in our modern day, those whom God has called as pastors who love their jobs more than they love the people whom God has placed under their care fit the bill of the hired hand to a T.

In the ninth chapter of John, as we said in the first sermon in this series, we read about the man who had been born blind having been given sight at the hands of Jesus. And after presenting himself to the Pharisees, the local religious leaders and hearing that it was Jesus Who had given this man sight and after hearing the man’s own profession of faith, they cast him out of their sight, excommunicating him from the religious community.

And also, in our own day, many times, when a church has a pastor who loves his job, loves his position more than he loves the sheep under his care, whenever hardships come his way or come the church’s way, he flees, he gets out of dodge before it gets any worse.

This was the appointed under-shepherd of God’s flock, yet he fled whenever danger and hardship made its way towards the flock he was appoint to shepherd. And the result is that “the wolf”, the danger, the hardship attacks and scatters the sheep.

Now, notice that Jesus does not say that the sheep are devoured. They are not eaten by the wolf, because the sheep of Christ, the elect people of God can never finally perish. But instead, they are “scattered”. They have no under-shepherd to shield and protect them and so, they are attacked, their faith is shaken, they are greatly troubled.

And this happens, Jesus says, “because he is a hired hand”. And being a “hired hand”, he does what hired hands do, and that is “care nothing for the sheep”, just as a thief steals because he is a thief, or a liar lies because he is a liar. And thus, the hired hand flees because he is a hired hand. The pastor, the church leader who loves his job and his position more than he loves the sheep that he has been called to love and care, he flees at the sight of danger, simply because that is what he is prone to do.

But in complete contrast to this, Jesus speaks of Who He is and what He does in verses fourteen and fifteen, when He says:

John 10:14-15 ESV

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; and I lay down my life for the sheep.

So, the hired hand who does not love the sheep flees at the sight of danger, but Jesus again identifies Himself here as the “Good Shepherd”. The others, the hired hands, certain under-shepherds may have fled because they did not own the sheep and did not care about the sheep, but Jesus, being the Good Shepherd is the proper Owner of the sheep, the elect people of God.

And as a good shepherd knows his sheep intimately, so much so that he knows them by name and calls out to them and they follow, so does Jesus, the Good Shepherd of His sheep, His elect people, know His sheep intimately.

A most precious truth concerning this is spoken by Arthur W. Pink, who says concerning the elect people of God, “Though unknown to the world—we are known to Him.”

This “knowing” that Jesus speaks of here equates to loving. So, Jesus says, “I love My own sheep”. Indeed, though unloved by the world, the elect are loved by Jesus.

And it isn’t just Jesus Who knows His sheep, for His sheep also know Him. Jesus says, “I know My own, and My own know Me”. This is not just a general “knowing”, but rather, this is an experiential love.

The sheep of God, the Lord’s elect people, we know the Lord, we love the Lord, and we do so not generally, but personally, individually, unique to each individual one. Indeed, what is so wonderful and amazing is that we are not merely the sheep of Christ generally, but we are all the sheep of Christ, individually and personally.

But what takes this to an even greater level is how Jesus says that this mutual knowing, this mutual loving between Himself and His sheep is, as He says here, “just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father”. Do you know how amazing that is?! We, His people, become bound in Him as our Head. And thus the love that each individual elect child of God has between himself and the Great Shepherd is, as Jesus says here, “just as” the love that exists within the Godhead! That seriously blows me away!

And the love, the “knowing” between Christ and His sheep is supremely manifested as He effectively lays down His life for, or, “in the stead of” “in the place of” His sheep whom He loves so much.

But then Jesus goes on to say something in verse sixteen, the final verse of our reading for today that certainly must have shocked His hearers, when He said:

John 10:16 ESV

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.

Now notice what Jesus says here, He does not say, “I will have other sheep that are not of this fold” as though they are not yet His but will be, but rather, He says that He has, currently possesses other sheep that are not of this fold. This means that these other sheep, these other elect people, He has possessed for all eternity.

But who are these “other sheep” these elect people “that are not of this fold”? They are Gentiles, those outside of the commonwealth of Israel. Indeed, those who are not even Jews.

We, my friends, are among these “other sheep”. We are those referred to in John, chapter 11, verse 52, who are identified as “the children of God who are scattered abroad”.

So, what Jesus says here is that He has covenanted with the Father to redeem these sheep, these children scattered abroad, He has covenanted with the Father to bring them into the fold, and He will in fact do this, because, as Jesus says, “they will listen to My voice” when I call them. Indeed, when the Shepherd calls, His sheep will hear and follow Him, for they are His sheep.

And thus, the Lord, the Good Shepherd declares that throughout history, until the end of the age, He will actively pursue His sheep, sheep that are misplaced among many folds.

And He will do this so that all of those Who are His, those from Israel who believed, believing Gentiles, and all those who would be saved of every tribe and tongue all will be in one fold, that state of salvation and favor with God, ultimately culminating in the eternal New Jerusalem where they will forever dwell with their Shepherd, Jesus Christ.

Indeed, Good Shepherd, call Your sheep home. Call them into Your fold. May we comfortably enjoy Your care, Your favor, and Your nourishment. And most of all, Good Shepherd, come quickly!

Amen?