OUR GOOD SHEPHERD

Introduction

-I read a story about a young pastor who had a story time with the children during the Sunday morning church service. The pastor had chosen the 23rd Psalm to teach the children about spiritual shepherding. He told the children about sheep, that they weren't smart and needed lots of guidance, and that a shepherd's job was to stay close to the sheep, protect them from wild animals and keep them from wandering off and doing dumb things that would get them hurt or killed. He pointed to the little children and said that they were the sheep and needed lots of guidance.

Then the pastor put his hands out to the side, palms up in a dramatic gesture, and with raised eyebrows said to the children, "If you are the sheep then who is the shepherd?" He was pretty obviously indicating himself.

A few seconds of silence followed. But then a young visitor said, "Jesus, Jesus is the shepherd."

This young pastor, obviously caught by surprise, said to the boy, "Well, then, who am I?"

The little boy frowned and then said with a shrug "I guess you must be a sheep dog."

-I don’t know if I’ve ever heard a more accurate description of my pastoral work. I’m just the sheep dog gathering the flock. There is only one shepherd of the sheep of God’s people, and that is Jesus Christ.

~In fact, He is not just a shepherd, He is the Good Shepherd according to the passage that we are reading today.

-What we see is that the Good Shepherd lovingly takes care of the sheep and guards God’s people and guides them through this life onto the next.

-Therefore, knowing this picture of love and intimacy given by Christ, we can follow Him with trust as we walk through this life with all its ups and downs, valleys and mountaintops, good times and tribulations—there is only One who will eternally stick by us sheep. And so, my prayer is that you will allow Him to be the Good Shepherd for you in every aspect of life.

John 10:7–21 ESV

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?”

-I want to give 6 quick characteristics that are true of Jesus being our Good Shepherd, which will hopefully lead you to trust and obedience to Him, because us sheep need Him

I) Jesus gives us access to God

-In v. 7 Jesus calls Himself the door, and in v. 9 He says that if anyone enters by Him they will be saved and be able to go in and out and find pasture, that is, they will find rest and peace

~Jesus makes the claim that He alone is the means by which to access God, access salvation, access heaven, access eternal life

-The door He is referring to is the door to the sheepfold—the sheepfold has large brick walls to prevent people coming in to steal the sheep and to prevent the sheep from going out. There is only one way in and one way out.

-Jesus is that one door—no one is able to enter the Kingdom of God except through Him

~ This is well attested throughout Scripture

-In John 14:6 Jesus says:

I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

-Peter also makes it clear in Acts 4:12

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

The apostle Paul reminded Timothy in 1 Timothy 2:5-6

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

6 who gave himself as a ransom for all

-doesn’t say there are many mediators, Peter doesn’t say there are many names, and Jesus doesn’t say that there are many ways—there is One way, One name, One mediator, and that is Jesus Christ alone

-Just like there is one door to the sheepfold, there is one door to God—Jesus earned that right by sacrificing Himself on the cross and raising Himself from the dead on the third day

-John Dyer, who was a Welsh poet and pastor from the 1700s once wrote, “A man may go to Heaven without health, without riches, without honors, without learning, without friends; but he can never go there without Christ.” Today our world is filled with people who are seeking some other way to God than the one found in the blood of Jesus and His precious name, but all such efforts are doomed to failure. Jesus is the only Way to Heaven.

-Jesus is the door that gives you access to God—therefore believe in Him, trust Him, follow Him, and obey Him

II) Jesus grants us protection from enemies

-There is an interesting part of this picture of a shepherd. As I’ve mentioned, the sheepfold has only one entrance. It seems, though, that there wasn’t a door or gate in that entrance like we would picture it.

~What would happen is that the shepherd would bring his sheep into the fold for the night, but then he would lay himself across the entrance to sleep through the night. If the sheep would try to get out, he would be there to stop them. Or if thieves and robbers would try to get in to harm the sheep, he would be there to stop them as well. The shepherd was literally the door.

-Jesus said that there were thieves and robbers who approach the sheepfold, but He is there as the guard to protect the sheep from the enemies.

-Jesus is probably speaking about false religious leaders, false teachers, and even false Messiahs who would come to lead the people of God astray. But as long as the sheep stick to the Good Shepherd, as long as they keep themselves under His loving care, they will not listen to these thieves and robbers, they will listen to Christ.

-That doesn’t mean that we won’t go through seasons of straying, because all sheep do that. It also doesn’t mean that absolutely no harm will come to us if we believe and follow Jesus. Jesus is not some sort of supernatural bullet-proof vest that repels all troubles from finding us.

~It does mean that in the sense of eternity, Jesus will go after the true believer in Christ to bring him or her back to the fold, and ultimately even if physical harm comes to us on earth, nothing can harm our spiritual standing with God in Christ. Therefore, we need not fear the ones who can only do something to the body.

-On this earth we all have found safe places during certain times. The sturdiness of the roof of our house or apartment is our safe place during storms. Hospitals turn into safe places when we are sick. Embraced in the arms of a loved one becomes a safe place during emotional turmoil. But our souls are safe when we are guarded by the shepherd who is at the door protecting us from the thieves and robbers who would try to do us spiritual harm.

-Trust in Jesus and allow Him to be your safety and security in an otherwise dark, scary world

III) Jesus fulfills God’s promises for us

-When Jesus refers to Himself as the Good Shepherd, He is not only describing Himself in a picturesque way about His love and care for God’s people like a shepherd to sheep, but He is also referencing Old Testament metaphors that point to Himself.

-This is fleshed out and pictured in Psalm 23 where David recognizes that the LORD (Jehovah God) is his Shepherd (v. 1 The LORD is my Shepherd)—God is the ultimate shepherd, the ultimate leader of mankind and one who cares for the well-being of the sheep.

~By Jesus claiming to be the Good Shepherd, He takes this picture of Jehovah being the Shepherd and then applies it to Himself, making the claim that He is Jehovah God.

-But then Jesus also takes on the picture of another shepherd in the Old Testament. David, before he was king, was a shepherd, but then as king he was called of God to shepherd the people of Israel. This was recognized in 2 Samuel 5:2

And the LORD said to you [David], 'You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over Israel.'"

-David was given a covenant by God that one of his descendants would sit on the throne forever and shepherd the people of God throughout eternity. Jesus is the fulfillment of that promise. Jesus is the promised Shepherd King who would rule over God’s sheep, and Jesus recognizes that.

-Jesus claimed to be and is the fulfillment of the OT Shepherd pictures, therefore we know that all other promises, prophecies, and pictures are fulfilled by Jesus as well. Nothing will go left unfulfilled, as even pictured by the apostle John where he describes Jesus in Revelation 7:17

For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

-Jesus makes the claim, and proves to be, the promised Divine Shepherd who is King and Lord and the giver of Life.

IV) Jesus sacrificed His life to give life

-Several times in our passage Jesus says that as the Good Shepherd He will lay down His life for the sheep. Jesus is talking about sacrificing Himself in order for the sheep to live.

-An earthly shepherd would put himself in harms way to save his sheep because the sheep are dear to him. We again think about David in the Old Testament, when he was but a shepherd-boy he fought off bears and lions in order to protect his sheep. He would have willingly sacrificed himself in order for the sheep to live.

-But Jesus gives a greater sacrifice, not to protect the earthly life of sheep, but to give them eternal spiritual life which will eventually lead to eternal physical life in resurrected bodies.

-Jesus describes this life as the abundant life

~In v. 10 Jesus warns that the thieves and robbers, the false religious leaders, want to lead people to their eternal deaths.

~Satan’s ministers want to keep people from the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ so that ultimately they will suffer eternal death—these people want to kill and destroy

-But Jesus sacrificed Himself to give abundant life—not abundant as in lots of earthly possessions, but abundant as in enjoying the greatest of eternal possessions

-You see, when Jesus says that those who believe on Him have eternal life, He is not only talking about quantity of life (as in life that is forever and ever) because even those in hell are going to live forever and ever

~Jesus is talking about quality of life—the Christ-life, the life of eternal joy and peace

-But this life is only possible because Jesus sacrificed Himself—He gave up His life in order to give life to us sheep

V) Jesus builds relationships with His people

-In vv. 14-15 Jesus describes the intimate relationship that He builds with believers

~He says that the shepherd knows the sheep in the same fashion and in the same way that God the Father and God the Son know each other

-God the Father and God the Son have been in perfect relationship for all of eternity—this is a knowledge of love, a knowledge of enjoyment, a knowledge of intimacy that knows no bounds

-This is quite a contrast with earthly relationships—even in our most intimate of earthly relationships we dare not expose all our deep, dark secrets

~The people who know us best still don’t know us completely because we are still guarded with what we share

-But Jesus, being omnipotent God, knows us fully—he knows everything about us: the good, the bad, and the ugly, and He loves us completely

~Jesus knows that we are sheep that are defective, we are sheep that are blemished, and He still actively seeks a relationship with us

-But Jesus doesn’t just say that He knows us, He says that the sheep know the Shepherd too

~We can know Jesus; no, we will never completely understand Him; we will never figure out how the Trinity fully works or how Jesus is fully God and fully man, yet He reveals Himself to us in the best way we can understand, and we can know Him and relate to Him

-There’s a story about a famous actor who was the guest of honor at a social gathering where he received many requests to recite favorite excerpts from various literary works. An old preacher who happened to be there asked the actor to recite the twenty-third Psalm. The actor agreed on the condition that the preacher would also recite it. The actor's recitation was beautifully intoned with great dramatic emphasis for which he received lengthy applause. The preacher's voice was rough and broken from many years of preaching, and his diction was anything but polished. But when he finished there was not a dry eye in the room. When someone asked the actor what made the difference, he replied "I know the psalm, but he knows the Shepherd."

-Knowing the Shepherd in close relationship makes all the difference in the world. There are many today who have the Christian religion, but only the true sheep have the relationship—the same relationship between God the Father and God the Son; my question is: do you…?

VI) Jesus unites all believers in one body

-In v. 16 Jesus says that part of His flock is in another fold, but He will bring those sheep with the other sheep and there will be one flock under the one shepherd

-Jesus is talking about Gentiles who would believe on His name through the preaching of the gospel—those from the flock of the Gentiles are united with those from the flock of the Jews to make one flock

-Paul tells us in Galatians 3:28

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

-Jesus is the great unitor—the only division found in this world is believer and unbeliever

~But for the believers in Jesus Christ, there is no black or white; there is not Democrat or Republican; there is no American or Argentinian—and the greatest of all miracles is that under Christ there is neither Auburn fan or Alabama fan

-We are all sheep of the Good Shepherd; we are one people; we are one family; we are one church and Jesus Christ is our head!

~Oh, I long for the day that this church will be a reflection of the one flock

~But it’s only Jesus, the Good Shepherd that can make that possible

Conclusion

-Let me close with this:

In 2005 there was very bizarre incident near Istanbul Turkey where over one thousand sheep jumped off a cliff while the shepherds had left the herd grazing in order to sit at a distance and relax and have some breakfast. Looking from the distance, the shepherds saw first 1 sheep jump off the cliff, only (to their horror) to see all the others starting to follow. 450 sheep died in the bizarre incident.

-What this shows us is that sheep need to stick close to the shepherd, and the shepherd needs to stick close to the sheep.

~We have a Good Shepherd who fulfilled ancient pictures and prophecies by sacrificing Himself to give His sheep life so that they would have access to God and have close relationship with the Shepherd. Bringing all believers into one flock, Jesus gives us spiritual protection on this earth, and promises to bring our souls to Him when our time on earth is done. He is worthy of our trust, so let’s follow and obey Him.

-That’s the Good Shepherd. Do you know Him? If Jesus isn’t your Good Shepherd, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. Give your life to Jesus today…

-Maybe you know someone who isn’t part of the flock, and you want to come to the altar to pray for him or her…

~Or maybe you need some soul care from the shepherd, come to that altar…

-Maybe you’re looking for a local church to become family with some other sheep…