A Shepherd in Sheep's Clothing

In the Name of Jesus

Amen

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

Familiar passage that once again cannot be understood unless you pay attention to whom Jesus is comparing and contrasting Himself.

““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. 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.” (John 10:1–10, ESV)

Here we see that not only is Jesus distinguishing Himself from the false teachers (pharisees). His description of Himself is not describing a shepherd that is merely better than the hirelings. Instead Jesus is describing himself which makes it clear that He is in a league of His own.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd who unlike the false teachers are wolves in Sheep’s clothing is instead a Shepherd in Sheep’s clothing who has come to lay down His life for the His Sheep. ““Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)

“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.” (John 10:12–13, ESV)

We’ve noted for the past two weeks that the Apostle John was writing against the Cerinthian-ites were following the false doctrines of the proto-gnostic, Cerinthus.

It was his heresies, that appealed to the Platonic Worldview of the ancient Greco-Roman world, which sounded so reasonable and rational and believable which tore the church in Ephesus apart.

“Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.” (1 John 2:18–19, ESV)

Heresies continue to divide the flock and expose people to snatching and scatterings of the devil. What motivates such mistreatment of the sheep?

Satanic “I”dolatry. - The Hirelings care nothing about the sheep, they only care about themselves and their ego driven interests.

Money

Power

Prestige

Success

the accolades of the world

The hirelings are slick - they oftentimes claim to have secret knowledge and insight and their insight, they assure you, will help you to attain the same kind of money, power, prestige, success and the world’s accolades that they’ve achieved.

Their rhetoric will include phrases like...

Those backwards traditional churches that Preach the Word are irrelevant and have you focused on eternal life but what use is salvation if it doesn’t make your life better in the here and now. The hirelings claim that their secret insights and spiritual keys to achieving success will give you

POWER - Dunamis power to, receive direct revelation from God, have your own private prayer language, and slay the Goliath’s in your life so that YOU can live the “victorious Christian life” and live the life of an anointed one as you take your place in the Christian Hall of Fame.

““Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” (Matthew 7:21–23, ESV)

A special and unique purpose and destiny so that YOU can change the world.

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10, ESV)

Divine Health and Divine Wealth so that YOU can be the head and not the tail and never experience weakness nor feel the dependent need to beseech God for daily bread like all those weak and miserable ‘ordinary Christians’.

“And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.” (2 Peter 2:3, ESV)

An even more loving understanding of God so that YOU can affirm same sex marriage, espouse evolutionary theory, and deny the doctrine of hell so that you can hobnob with the elite’s of the world rather than bear the reproach of the world like those ‘ordinary backwards Bible believing Christians do’.

“And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.” (Romans 1:28–32, ESV)

But JESUS is NOTHING LIKE the hirelings. He is not motivated by satanic self-interest. He truly cares 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.”” (John 10:14–18, ESV)

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“By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.” (1 John 3:16–24, ESV)

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“But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.” (Jude 17–23, ESV)