I AM The Good Shepherd

This morning, I have a question for you:

How well do you know the voice of your master? Do you recognize His voice when He calls for you?

This morning we are going to be looking at John 10

Remember the context. Jesus had healed the man born blind. He had done it on a Sabbath, and the Pharisees, true to form had shown their spiritual blindness.

And they asked Jesus, “Are you saying that we are blind as well?”

And Jesus begins talking to them, starting in 9:41

English Standard Version Chapter 9

41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.

I Am the Good Shepherd

10 “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. 2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

7 So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 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. 17 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.”

19 There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. 20 Many of them said, “He has a demon, and is insane; why listen to him?” 21 Others said, “These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

We have already observed that John, when he wrote his gospel, was concerned that we might believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and that in our believing, we might have life.

In order to get us to believe, he is concerned about showing us who Jesus is! And so he includes the 7 great I AM statements of Jesus.

We have already looked at two (actually 3) of them:

I AM the BREAD OF LIFE (John 6)

I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD (John 8)

I AM—His clearest declaration of His deity (John 9)

Today we see two more I AM statements

I AM the door of the sheep

I AM the Good Shepherd

Again, there is more in this passage than we could possibly hope to get through today.

But Jesus says twice in this chapter, I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD. verse 11, 14

Now, the Jews certainly knew about shepherding. Many people had sheep. They were used for food, sacrifices, wool, just as they are today.

They knew that many men and boys worked at being shepherds; taking care of the sheep.

But they also knew that it wasn’t just sheep that needed a shepherd. They knew that people also need to be shepherded and cared for.

They knew Psalm 23, about David picturing God has a shepherd to show us how much God cares for him.

And I’m sure they knew well that their history was full of men who were appointed as shepherds of God’s flock, yet had failed miserably in their task.

And they knew how God felt about that.

In Ezekiel 34 God lays out His case against those who called themselves shepherds, and yet abused the sheep:

They fed themselves instead of the sheep

They clothed themselves and not the sheep

They did not strengthen the weak sheep

They didn not heal the sick sheep

They did not bind up the injured sheep

They didn’t bring back the sheep that strayed

They didn’t seek and find the lost sheep

They ruled over the sheep with force and harshness.

The result was that the sheep scattered because there was no true shepherd and they became food for the wild animals. And there was no one to seek for them and bring them back

And God declares His wrath for such shepherds

And God goes on to say in Ezekiel 34 that if the shepherds were not going to do their job, God Himself would do it. And he tells them what kind of shepherd He will be for the sheep

He will seek them

He will rescue them

He will bring them back to their own land

He will feed them on the good land

He will give them places to lie down and rest

He will seek the lost

He will bring back the straying

He will bind up the injured

Strengthen the weak

He will deal justly with His sheep

I’m sure that the Pharisees in John 9 and 10, being experts in the law and the prophets, knew this passage.

It was probably one that they would just rather forget because without thinking too hard, they could see that they were just like the shepherds that God spoke about in Ezekiel.

They had very little interest in the welfare of their sheep, as we see by their reaction when the sick were made well on the Sabbath

In fact, they stole from the sheep by accepting tithes and offerings from the people and not using those offerings to glorify God.

And this is the group to whom Jesus now turns and says, “I AM the Good Shepherd!”

I used to read this passage hearing Jesus say these words in a very comforting tone of voice like a shepherd would use.

And I used to read His words about thieves and robbers thinking that he was talking about the devil himself

I don’t read it like that now. I see him looking accusingly and sternly at the Pharisees

The ones who claimed to be shepherds, yet did not care one bit for the sheep.

I think they had showed their lack of care and concern one too many times and now Jesus was going to have some words with them.

Jesus looks at them and says, “You claim to be shepherds but you have failed miserably.

In fact, you are no better than thieves and robbers! You have done everything BUT take care of the sheep!

I AM the GOOD shepherd!”

And let me tell you the difference between the kind of shepherd you are and the kind of shepherd I am

Here is how He describes them

They are thieves

How does a thief act?

He is sneaky and sly. He doesn’t want to be noticed or caught.

He wants to take something that is not his to take. So what does he do? He walks in the front door, right? Knock knock knock. Hello, I’m here to take your TV! Oh, right! well come on in!

NO! He comes in through the window or picks your pocket or jimmies the lock on the door.

Anything, but knock on the front door and get invited in

A thief tries to invent other ways into the sheepfold

Jesus says to them, “I am the door to the sheepfold. But because you reject me and because you are out to steal from the sheep and because you are out only to please yourself, you aren’t coming through the Door

There is only one legitimate way into the sheepfold. There is ONE and only ONE way into God’s flock.—that is, the place where we have peace and fellowship with God.

And that is through Jesus Himself. Jesus the Door. You have to believe and accept that He is who He says He is!

But we in our humanness have tried to invent a lot of other ways to enter the sheepfold

Rules, traditions, creeds, practices

We say, “Yes,” you have to enter by The Door”

But it can’t really be that simple, can it? That’s all we have to do? Surely not! Let’s help the Shepherd

Let’s add this rule about dress

Let’s add this tradition about Sunday

If you can’t do that, I’m not sure that you are really in the sheepfold

In many cases, loads have been laid on people which are too heavy to carry

The sheep break under the pressure and many fall away

Or we say, “What, ONLY one way into the sheepfold? Surely not!

Surely the Muslims must be part of the sheepfold! I mean look how sincere they are!

Surely the Jews must be part of the sheepfold! They worship the same God that we do!

No, there is only one way into the sheepfold

And anyone who tried to teach you anything different is a thief!

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What does the thief come to do?

Steal, kill, and destroy

And thief in this case is not out to bring you life

A thief only looks out for himself. He is only out to benefit himself and to do that, he will do anything.

He will rob you have the source of true life,

He will destroy you and kill you spiritually.

Folks, there are many prominent people who call themselves shepherds, but, and I say this carefully, I suspect that they really are thieves.

There are thieves out there. But this message is not focusing on them. This message, as all of my messages should be, is about Jesus, the Good Shepherd

Here’s what the Good Shepherd is like

He knows each of his sheep by name

Have any of you farmers in here named each of your animals?

Dallas takes care of about 10,000 chickens. Do you suppose he has named all of them? Most likely not!

I often have trouble remembering people’s names

How much do you think about the fact, that your Good Shepherd knows you by name?

out of the 7.8 billion people on earth?

He knows you by name!

Think how you would feel if you went to see the POTUS. And he would walk by and say, “Hey_______! Good to see you! How have you been? Let’s get together and chat later!”

We are talking about the King of Kings here! The Creator and Sustainer of the universe. It’s Him that’s saying, “Hey_______! Good to see you! How have you been? Let’s get together and chat!”

He calls your name! Do you hear Him when He calls your name?

He leads His sheep out of the sheepfold to find pasture

The Shepherd has to lead his sheep out.

In the sheepfold, there is safety, but there is nothing to eat

He leads them out to where the good things are.

But that is also where the danger lies. That’s where the wolves and bears are.

But that’s OK. Your Good Shepherd has a rod, a weapon with which he defends His sheep against attacks

Your Good Shepherd has a staff which He uses to guide you to where the good grass is and the nourishing waters

But many of us might say, no, it’s too scary out there. I hear you calling, Good Shepherd, but I would just rather stay put in the sheepfold where it is safe.

But He wants to lead us out. Not out of fellowship with God, but rather into a place of realizing our own inadequacy weakness and into a place of knowing HIS perfect goodness and love and sufficiency!

Not only does He have a rod and staff, look at verse 4! When he brings them out, He goes before them!

Quite a contrast to the stranger in Verse 5. They run from him because they don’t know his voice

We are going to be talking more about knowing the voice of the Shepherd next Sunday

In today’s methods of taking care of sheep, the sheepherder is generally behind the sheep with a prod or a dog, driving the sheep with intimidation and fear.

In Mozambique, the tribal people don’t understand the concept of a Good Shepherd, because in their culture a shepherd’s job is to throw rocks at the young goats to keep them from getting into the machamba, the garden

No, He goes before you when you follow Him, and he stays behind you when you run in fear, His face always to the enemy!

That’s our Good Shepherd!

He lays down His life for His sheep

And He doesn’t do it because He is giving up on the fight.

It’s not like the enemy is pressing in and He says, “OK, you got me. Just kill me now”

NO! Look at verses 17-18 again!

English Standard Version Chapter 10

17 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.”

He has authority over His own life and over anyone who would try to take it from Him.

He willingly lays down His life for His sheep

If you were to name your most precious possession, what would it be?

Car, house, farm? Family members?

I think the thing that we fight the hardest to preserve and keep is our life.

It’s instinctive for every living creature to try to stay alive. When our life is in danger, we go on high alert. Because we don’t want to lose our life

In spite of that, I would like to think that if forced into it, I would be willing to lay down my life for those I love the most

But which of us would go somewhere to die, to lay down our lives, for people who had rejected us and who hated us.

What if God tapped you on the shoulder and said, “Hey, you know those folks over in Iran, those folks who have such a great dislike for Americans? Yes, those folks. Well, they are marked for death unless someone takes their place. Would you do that for them?”

Well, what would you do?

Makes you stop and think, doesn’t it?

But that’s exactly what our Good Shepherd did for us.

God said, “Those folks are marked for eternal death and separation from me, unless someone died FOR (in the place of) them!

And Jesus said, “I will willingly do that for them!” I willingly travel out of eternity to those who have rejected me and will continue to reject me, and I will lay down my life for them.”

And He did! That is the Gospel, folks!

He knows your name and calls it

He leads you out and goes in front of you

He lays down his life for you.

He is certainly the Good Shepherd.

I’ve been given the title “Pastor” which means “shepherd”. As hard as I try to be “good”, I’m going to do things and say things at times which are going to make you say, “Yikes! He certainly isn’t good!”

In short, I’m going to act very human at times and I’m going to fail you.

But Jesus is our Good Shepherd. Don’t be afraid to trust Him. Don’t be afraid to go with Him where ever He leads.