I Am the Good Shepherd

Introduction

Jesus, the Good Shepherd

1. Jesus Provides for His People (v. 9)

Jesus as the Good shepherd does what a shepherd does, but He gives everything in order to take care of His sheep, in contrast to the hirelings known as the Pharisees who are using the sheep for their own benefit and who have no care or concern for the sheep.

First, we see the goodness of Jesus in how He leads them to pasture. We saw this last week when Jesus said that whoever would enter through Him as the door would be saved, have freedom, and find pasture. This is because Jesus as the door is also our shepherd who makes sure our every spiritual need is met.

And again, we have this claim to divinity. Jesus is claiming to do only what God Himself can do and He is actually pointing us back to Psalm 23:1-2

Psalm 23:1–2 CSB

The Lord is my shepherd; I have what I need. He lets me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside quiet waters.

The word for LORD is Psalm 23 is the Covenant name for God, Yahweh, which is what Jesus has been claiming. And we see that it is Yahweh God who provides what we need and leads us to green pastures and quiet waters. Only in Christ do we find all that our souls need for life and holiness. Everything we need for life and holiness is found in Christ alone. Only Christ is powerful enough to provide these for us, and only Christ is good enough to ensure that we receive these life-giving gifts!

As pastor of this church, I have been called to be an under-shepherd, which means I am acting as a representative of the Good Shepherd, but I cannot provide for your spiritual needs. All I can do is help lead you to the One who can. Unfortunately, we try to get other people to give us things that only God Himself can give. If you are looking to me to provide for your every need, as much as I would love to do that, I am not capable of doing that. I cannot do that for my family much less anyone else, because I am a fellow sheep as well. The best I can do is to direct you to the one who can meet those needs.

2. Jesus Protects His People (v. 10-13)

Next we see that Jesus protects His people. Here He says He lays down His life for the sheep. Obviously, here in a moment we are going to see how this teaching points us to what Christ is going to do on the cross, but at this point I think what He is saying may be a bit more basic because He is contrasting it with the hired hands in v. 12-13. What He is saying is He is protecting His sheep from those who seek to harm them, whereas the hired hand does not care for the sheep in this way and simply runs when danger comes upon him.

Jesus is the One who guards us from the wolves and predators that seek the life of the sheep. He is comparing the Pharisees to the hired hand who have no care or concern for the sheep and will only lead them as it is in their benefit, but when there is danger, they are quick to leave because they fear only for their own lives. In fact, if we look at Jesus’ words properly, we see that the hirelings are really no better than the wolves themselves, for if the hirelings are not even willing to protect the sheep, they might as well be the wolves and thieves breaking in. Jesus is the good shepherd because He will not back down from predators even if it means sustaining hurt himself because the sheep are that valuable to Him.

There are wolves and thieves in the world who are seeking to harm us and lead us away from our Good shepherd. Those wolves and thieves can take the form of false teachers who seek to lead us astray in our right belief of who Christ is. They can also be individuals who come into the church to sow discord and disunity seeking to disrupt what God is doing in the midst of His people.

It can also be people who encourage believers to fall away in their lifestyle and show sin to be OK. Sadly, there are even church leaders who bring, not just spiritual harm to the people by leading them astray, they also bring physical harm to their people by the physical abuse they practice. The news are filled with leaders who have fallen because of their physical abuse and manipulation of the flock they’ve been entrusted with.

There is a sense in which as the leaders of the church, both the deacons and myself are called to protect the sheep from those who would seek harm on the membership, even if it means being hurt ourselves in the process.

However, once again, as fellow sheep, we realize that the only One who can truly protect us is Christ Himself. If we want to know what true belief is or how to live rightly or how to maintain proper unity in biblical belief, you and I must cling to Christ as revealed to us in His Word. Only Christ can truly guide and protect us.

3. Jesus Rescues His People (v.14-18)

Last,. we see Jesus’ goodness in comparison with the hirelings in how we lays down His life for the sheep. This is tied in with the previous point in that this is an overflow of Christ’s protection for us, but this goes beyond simply protection, for while we are each called to help look out for each other and protect one another from those who seek to bring harm and disunity to the church, what Jesus says in these next verses goes beyond what you and I are capable of doing.

Jesus first tells us that He knows His sheep. This is not just a simple knowing about His sheep, but He knows them intimately. He knows their names, their personalities, the ways in which they are tempted and wired, their desires and their dislikes. He knows them just as well as He knows the Father and the Father knows Him. Think about that, Jesus and the Father are one, and so they each have a perfect knowledge of one another because they are one and the same. With this same kind of knowledge, He knows His sheep!

And not only does He know the sheep in this particular pen, He knows there are sheep of His in other places. He is speaking to the Jews saying that there are sheep not just among His people, but among all the nations of the earth and He has come to rescue them and to bring them together into this same group. We are here this morning because we have been brought into the sheep of Israel and the way He knew the sheep then, He knows us today. No Matter who you are, He knows everything about you. He knows your strengths and your weaknesses. He knows your areas of faithfulness and your sins.

This might frighten us, and there’s a sense in which it should. However, we also see the love of Christ in that while we were still sinners Christ still chose to die for us! Romans 5:8

Romans 5:8 CSB

But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

He knows His sheep, He knows everything about His sheep and He still chose to lay down His life for the sheep. And at this point it is not simply to protect them from the wolves outside. It is to save us from ourselves. We are sheep that continue to stray and go our own way. Jesus lays down His life in order to bring us back into His pen. How did He do this?

Because of our sin, we have strayed. We are like Isaiah has said, Isaiah 53:6

Isaiah 53:6 CSB

We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished him for the iniquity of us all.

We went astray and yet Christ came for us. And how did Christ rescue us and bring us back? He laid down His life for us. Isaiah told us the Lord has punished him for the iniquity of us all.

Because our sin requires death, Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”, Jesus Himself took that death and punishment upon Himself to rescue us. Jesus lived the perfect life. And then, He took upon Himself the punishment of sin by His death on the cross. He was treated as a criminal, when He had done nothing wrong, bearing the full wrath of God against sin, for the sake of bringing us back into the safety of the pen.

Also, notice in v. 18, that this did not just happen to Him. He was not caught unawares by the religious leaders and sentenced to death and then had to find a way to make this work. The crucifixion was not plan B because plan A failed to work. The crucifixion was always the only plan of redemption from the beginning. Jesus makes this clear when He says no one takes my life from me, but I lay it down on my own. (v. 18) Jesus chose to lay His life down and willingly bore the wrath of God against sin.

But notice what He says next in v. 17 - “This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, so that I may take it up again.” His dying would not end in death, but He would take it up again. His work of salvation would not be complete without the resurrection. So as we are quickly approaching Easter, we need to remember, that Christ’s I Am statements are fulfilled in the fact that He did not just lay down His life for our sins, but that He rose again, signifying that the Father has fully accepted His payment for sin on our behalf, and that because Christ has risen, we too will rise and live eternally with Jesus Christ as our Good Shepherd.

Jesus Calls to His Sheep

1. We Must Know His Voice

We Know Christ by Faith

What does this mean for us that Jesus is the Good Shepherd. First we have to know Christ.

Because of our sin, we do not automatically know Him. He is our Creator, but because we have rebelled against Him, we start off as enemies of God. And yet the call and the invitation is for us to know Him.

As we have already looked at, Christ has laid down His life for His sheep in order to take care of our sin, to remove that barrier and to allow us to enter back into relationship with Himself. However, simply because Christ died does not mean that we are all part of His flock. There are those who are part of His flock and those outside of His flock. We become a part of His flock, a part of His people, by turning to Christ in faith and repentance.

That means we must trust that He alone is what our souls long for and need. We also admit that while we have lived in rebellion against Him, we recognize that that path leads only to death, so like someone who has realized they are headed the wrong way on the highway, you find a way to turn around and begin heading in the right way. As sheep who have wandered and strayed, we admit there is a voice we have failed to listen to and we need ears to hear His voice. And when He calls, we must trust that His voice leads and guides us to a better place than where the world is leading us. So it is a turning away from our own sinful and selfish desires and asking God to give us a heart that wants what He wants.

b. We grow to know Christ better as we spend time in His presence

How do we spend time in the presence of a shepherd we cannot see with our physical eyes or hear with our ears?

First, when we come to put our faith in Christ, we are given the gift of the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised us this gift before He died. John 14:16-17

John 14:16–17 CSB

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever. He is the Spirit of truth. The world is unable to receive him because it doesn’t see him or know him. But you do know him, because he remains with you and will be in you.

Through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, we get to know Christ more and are reminded of what Christ has told us. Do you want to know Christ’s voice? The Spirit has given you what you need to know and recognize His voice.

John 14:26 CSB

But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you.

If we are true genuine believers, we have the ability to know the voice of Christ because of His Holy Spirit who lives within us and serves as our Counselor and Reminder of what Christ has said.

Through the Holy Spirit, we also have access to God through prayer and the Word. As believers we can pray to God in a way the lost cannot, for we have the Holy Spirit as our intercessor.

Romans 8:26–27 CSB

In the same way the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

We have this great privilege to approach God through prayer because of the power of the Holy Spirit. We get to talk with Christ and because of the Holy Spirit living within us, knows us intimately and knows what we need before we even ask.

But we also have access to Christ through His Word because of the Spirit. While all men can read the Word of God, not all men can understand or truly discern the Word of God. This comes only from the power of the Spirit as well.

1 Corinthians 2:14 CSB

But the person without the Spirit does not receive what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually.

We can know Christ and learn His voice as we trust Him, as we walk in the Spirit, and as we read and learn His word. You cannot know the voice of Christ apart from listening to His Word, and even though there may be some parts that are difficult, if you are a believer, you have what you need to understand and to grow in your understanding of God’s Word. And as we spend time in the Word and learn it, we grow to learn Christ’s voice, so when He calls to us, we can hear Him and follow Him wherever He leads.

Sadly, we often know the voices of celebrity preachers, politicians, and actors better than we know the voice of Jesus because those are the voices we are listening to. While God can and does speak through others, we must be sure that we know His voice as we spend time with Him in prayer and reading the Word for ourselves. We cannot take for granted the great privilege we have of having access to God’s Word in a personal way that many believers throughout history have not had.

We neglect listening to the voice of Christ to our danger and harm.

2. We Want Others to Know Him

Last, we want to see that Christ says that there are others who belong to His sheep that are not part of this fold. He is on a mission to save people from every tribe, tongue, and nation. And the primary way He has chosen to invite those sheep into the fold is by using the sheep who are already a part of the fold.

If we are His sheep, we not only want to know Christ’s voice, we want to make Him known to those around us. If Jesus is the Good Shepherd, we should want others to experience His goodness in the same way we have experienced that goodness.

Who has God placed in your life that He wants you to share the goodness of Christ with? It might be that He is choosing to reveal Himself to your loved one, neighbor, coworker through your faithfulness and obedience as you listen to and follow His voice.

Again, we see the ministry of the Spirit, not only in how we can know the voice of Christ, but also through Him giving us the power to reveal the Word of Christ to those around us.

Acts 1:8 CSB

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

If you know Christ, you have a responsibility to share Him and to make Him known.

Conclusion