The Good Shepherd, the true Savior of the world.
The Lord is our Shepherd • Sermon • Submitted
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Read: John 10:6-15 “This figure of speech Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things were which He had been saying to them. So Jesus said to them again, “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 hear them. “I am the door; if anyone enters through 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 is not the owner of 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 is not concerned about the sheep. “I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.”
New Living Translation Chapter 10
“I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, 15 just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep.
The Bible refers to Jesus Christ by many titles. He is called the Amen (Rev. 3:14; cf. 2 Cor. 1:20), the Alpha and the Omega (Rev. 22:13), the Advocate (1 John 2:1), the Apostle (Heb. 3:1), the Author and Perfecter of faith (Heb. 12:2), the Author of salvation (Heb. 2:10), the Beginning (source, origin) of the creation of God (Rev. 3:14), the Bread of Life (John 6:35), the Cornerstone (Eph. 2:20), the Counselor (Isa. 9:6), the Deliverer (Rom. 11:26), the Door of the sheep (John 10:7), Eternal Father (Isa. 9:6), the Faithful witness (Rev. 1:5), the First and the Last (Rev. 1:17), the Firstborn (Preeminent One) of the dead (Rev. 1:5) and over all creation (Col. 1:15), the Forerunner (Heb. 6:20), the Great High Priest (Heb. 4:14), God blessed forever (Rom. 9:5), the Guardian of souls (1 Peter 2:25), the Head of the church (Col. 1:18), the Holy One of God (John 6:69), I AM (John 8:58), Immanuel (Isa. 7:14), the King of Israel (John 1:49; cf. Zech. 9:9), King of kings and Lord of lords (1 Tim. 6:15), the last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45), the Lamb of God (John 1:29), the Light of the World (John 8:12), the Lion of the tribe of Judah (Rev. 5:5), Lord (John 13:13), the Lord of Glory (1 Cor. 2:8), the Mediator (1 Tim. 2:5), the Messenger of the covenant (Mal. 3:1), the Messiah (John 1:41; 4:25–26), the Mighty God (Isa. 9:6), the Morning Star (Rev. 22:16), the Only Begotten (Unique One) from the Father (John 1:14), our Passover (1 Cor. 5:7), the Prince of life (Acts 3:15), the Prince of Peace (Isa. 9:6), the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25), the Righteous One (Acts 7:52), the Rock (1 Cor. 10:4), the Root and Descendant of David (Rev. 22:16), the Root of Jesse (Isa. 11:10), the Ruler in Israel (Mic. 5:2; Matt. 2:6), the Ruler of the kings of the earth (Rev. 1:5), Savior (Luke 2:11; Titus 1:4), the Servant (Isa. 42:1), Shiloh (Gen. 49:10), the Son of the Blessed One (Mark 14:61), the Son of David (Matt. 12:23; 21:9), the Son of God (Luke 1:35), the Son of Man (John 5:27); the Son of the Most High (Luke 1:32), the Sun of Righteousness (Mal. 4:2), the Sunrise from on high (Luke 1:78), the True God (1 John 5:20), the True Vine (John 15:1), the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6), the Word (John 1:1, 14), the Word of God (Rev. 19:13), and the Word of Life (1 John 1:1).
But perhaps His most endearing and intimate title is that of Shepherd.
The meaning of “good Shepherd”
“I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me,
1. His Character - “I am the good Shepherd”
Jesus describes himself as the good shepherd, yet in this emblem, it is not enough to explain all of his meaning and greatness. There is more in Jesus Christ than we can pack into any lesson about a shepherd.
He is the good, the great. the chief Shepherd.
“I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me,
Notice that he calls himself a shepherd.
Think about this for a moment. A shepherd is not just a guy we employ to look after sheep for a few months, till they’re large enough to be slaughtered;
A shepherd from the middle eastern, such as Abraham, Jacob, or David, is quite another person.The Eastern shepherd is generally the owner of the flock, or at least the son of their owner. The sheep are his own.
English shepherds seldom, or never, own the sheep: they are employed to take care of them, and they have no other interest in them. —they are not at all like the Eastern shepherds, and cannot be; for he is usually the owner of the flock which he tends.
He remembers how he came into possession of the flock, and when and where each of the present sheep was born, and where he has led them, and what trials he had in connection with them; and he remembers this with the emphasis that they are his own inheritance.
His wealth consists in them. He very seldom has much of a house, and he does not usually own much land. He takes his sheep over a good stretch of country, which is open common for all his tribe; but his possessions lie in his flocks. Ask him, “How much are you worth?” He answers, “I own so many sheep.”
The Lord Jesus is our Shepherd: We are his wealth.
if you ask what is his heritage, he tells you of “the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.” Ask him what are his jewels, and he replies, “They shall be mine in that day.” If you ask him where his treasures are, he will tell you, “The Lord’s portion is his people. Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.”
The Lord Jesus Christ has nothing that he values as he does his own people. For their sakes he gave up all that he had, and died naked on the cross. He “loved his church, and gave himself for it.” He regards his church as being his own body,
The shepherd, because he owns the flock, He is also the Caretaker.
A shepherd will tell you that he leads an anxious life. He seldom has all the flock well at one time. Some one or another is sure to be sickly, and he spies it out, and has eye and hand and heart ready for its compassion and relief. There are many varieties of complaints and needs, and all these are laid upon the shepherd’s heart.
He is both possessor and caretaker of the flock.
The Shepherd has to be the provider and Leader too.
There is not a woolly head among them that knows anything about the finding and selecting of pasture to eat. The season may be very dry, and where there once was grass there may be nothing but a brown powder. It may be that herbage is only to be found by the side of the rippling brooks, here and there a bit; but the sheep do not know anything about that; the shepherd must know everything for them. The shepherd is the sheep’s providence. Both for time and for eternity, for body and for soul, our Lord Jesus supplies all our need out of his riches in glory. He is the great storehouse from which we derive everything. He has provided, he does provide, and he will provide; and each one of us may therefore sing.
Psalm 23 (NASB95)
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Surely, if a sheep can do nothing else it can lie down. Yet to lie down is the very hardest thing for God’s sheep to do. It is here that the full power of Gods grace, the rest-giving Christ is ours, we can give our fretful, worrying, our doubtful natures to lie down and rest.
Our Lord is able to give us perfect peace, and he will do so if we will simply trust in his abounding care. It is the shepherd’s business to be the provider; let us remember this, and be very happy.
The shepherd also has to be the defender of the flock.
All sorts of wild beasts attack the flock, and he must be to the front. Thus is it with our Shepherd. No wolf can attack us without finding our Lord in arms against him. No lion can roar upon the flock without arousing a greater than David. “He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.”
But David said to Saul, “Your servant was tending his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock, I went out after him and attacked him, and rescued it from his mouth; and when he rose up against me, I seized him by his beard and struck him and killed him. “Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he has taunted the armies of the living God.”
Wolves can come in shepherds clothing - False Teachers
The good Shepherd is not a hired hand -
A hired shepherd sees danger and flees
A hired shepherd causes the sheep to be caught
A hired shepherd lacks genuine care
A False teacher is a thief that steals, and only deals with the sheep as he takes them from the fold to the slaughter. He is a hireling: he does merely what he is paid to do, or commanded to do.
John 10:10–13 (NASB95)
“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 is not the owner of 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 is not concerned about the sheep.
in contrast-
Jesus does everything is with a willing heart. He throws his soul into it. There is a goodness, a tenderness, a willingness, a powerfulness, a force, an energy in all that Jesus does, makes him to be the best Shepherd that can be.
He is no hireling; neither is he an idler. Even shepherds that have had their own flocks have neglected them, just as there are farmers who do not cultivate their own farms well; but not so with Christ. He is the good Shepherd: good up to the highest point of goodness, good in all that is tender, good in all that is kind, good in all the directions in which a shepherd can be needed; good at fight, and good at rule; good in watchful oversight, and good in prudent leadership; good in every way.
Proof that Jesus is the Good Shepherd
2. His Complete Knowledge - He knows His sheep
He know their number
He will never lose one. He will count them all again in that day when the sheep shall pass again under the hand of him that telleth them, and then he will make full tale of them. “Of all that thou hast given me,” says he, “I have lost none.” He knows the number of those for whom he paid the ransom-price.
He knows them personally
He knows the age and character of every one of his own. He assures us that the very hairs of our head are all numbered. Christ has not an unknown sheep. It is not possible that he should have overlooked or forgotten one of them.
He has such an intimate knowledge of all who are redeemed with his most precious blood that he never mistakes one of them for another, nor misjudges one of them.
He knows those that are weak and feeble, those that are nervous and frightened, those that are strong, those that have a tendency to presumption, those that are sleepy, those that are brave, those that are sick, sorry, worried, or wounded. He knows those that are hunted by the devil, those that are caught up between the jaws of the lion, and shaken till the very life is almost driven out of them.
He knows their feelings, fears, and frights. He knows the secret ins and outs of every one of us better than any one of us knows himself.
He knows our trials
The particular trials you are now bowed down to, we all have many difficulties,—that special difficulty which seems to block up your way. All the ingredients of our life are known to him. “I know mine own, as the Father knoweth me.”
It is impossible to conceive a completer knowledge than that which the Father has of his only-begotten Son; and it is equally impossible to conceive a completer knowledge than that which Jesus Christ has of every one of his chosen.
He knows our sins
Think about this for a moment; When he chose us, he knew what we were, and what we should be. He did not buy his sheep in the dark. He did not choose us without knowing all the devious ways of our past and our future lives.
There is a saying that Love is blind; but the love of Jesus Christ has many eyes, and all its eyes are open, and yet he loves us still.
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
He knows you not merely with the cold, clear knowledge of intellect, but with the knowledge of love and of affection. He knows you in his heart.
You are peculiarly dear to him.
You are approved of him.
You are accepted of him.
He knows you when you spend time with Him
He has been with you in sweet fellowship as you worship.
1jn 3.1
See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
“I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.
He knows the Father
“All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.
His complete knowledge Part 2 - Our knowledge of the Lord our God.
The second part of the subject is our knowledge of the Lord,
The miracle is that we should be able to know him. That such a stupid, blind, deaf, dead soul as mine should ever know him, and should know him as he knows the Father, is ten thousand miracles in one.
This proves him to be the good Shepherd indeed, not only that he knows his flock, but that he has taught them so well that they know him!
With such a flock as Christ has, that he should be able to train his sheep so that they should be able to know him, and to know him as he knows the Father, is miraculous.
Yes, we know Jesus. We feel the power of our union with him.
Because we know him, we are not to be deceived by false shepherds.
We know Him by His word which he has spoken. - The Bible
We know his voice.....
We know Him by His love.
In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
We know him by the Holy spirit
The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
We know Him by His suffering and sacrifice
We know him also by a deep sympathy with him; for what Christ desires to do, we also long to do. He loves to save souls, and so do we. Would we not save all the people in a whole street if we could? in a whole city, and in the whole world!
Jesus Christ is a Saviour.
“I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
If anyone enters through Me… this is you invitation, this is the only way to eternal life.
3. His Sacrifice - The final Proof is the sacrificial death and the resurrection of Jesus
He voluntarily gave his life for yours.
john10.17-18
“For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. “No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”
For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps. He never sinned, nor ever deceived anyone. He did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly. He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed. Once you were like sheep who wandered away. But now you have turned to your Shepherd, the Guardian of your souls.