Jesus Is The Good Shepherd

"Jesus Is The Good Shepherd

John 10:11-18

In John 10:7-10 He changes the metaphor from the Shepherd to the Door and then in Jn 10:11-18 He again speaks of sheep and describes Himself as the good Shepherd. Last week we discovered that in John chapter ten Jesus made two “I AM” statements in which He clearly stated for the people in general and the Pharisees in particular what the “true” Good Shepherd should look like. He stated that He was the both the “The Door of the Sheep” (v. 10) and “The Good Shepherd” (v.11).

Last week we looked at that He was the one and only door of the sheep and this morning we are going to look at the fact that He is the Good Shepherd in verse 11 through 18. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. (12) But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. (13) The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. (14) I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. (15) As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. (16) And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd. (17) “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. (18) No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”

In these verses Jesus declares that He is the “Good” Shepherd. The Greek language has several words that conveys the idea of goodness and very often they do not differ a great deal. Here he uses the word (kalos) for “good” which refers to that which is morally good but also to that which is beautiful as well as what is what is good. We have taken this over into our language when we speak of beautiful handwriting as “calligraphy.” We gain the sense of this when we compare Christ claim to be the “good shepherd” with His parallel claim to be the “true vine” (John 15) and the “true bread” (John 6) the word means genuine or true as opposed to that which is false or artificial. But we also must understand that He is claiming beyond that He is not just one “a” good shepherd as though there where others, He is saying, He is “the” one and only Good Shepherd! Even though as the Prince of Preachers Charles Spurgeon wrote, “ … there is more in Jesus, the good Shepherd, than can be packed away in a shepherd,… ” still Jesus did describe himself as a shepherd. So, there must be lessons for that he want us to gain from the study of them. But first I want to briefly look at the characteristics of sheep and why they need a shepherd.

What It means to be a sheep!

From almost all accounts sheep are not the sharpest of animals and perhaps require more care than any other domesticated animal. Perhaps most telling is that it has been said that sheep are prime evidence against the theory of Evolution – because if evolution is true there is no way sheep could have survived

1. Sheep have no sense of direction.

But let’s just say they have no sense of direction. In fact, they will follow whoever is leading them, even if it leads them off a cliff. Remember when your parents asked you the question, “If your friend jumps off a cliff, would you do it too?” Well, they actually would. How many times do we follow someone who is leading us in the wrong direction or acting foolishly? Or especially as young people we imitate others because we think what they are doing is cool, when they are really just doing something stupid. Can you see why God compares us to sheep in the Bible?

Another reason that human beings are compared to sheep in the Bible is that sheep are prone to wander away from the flock. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every-one to his own way” (Isaiah 53:6).

A sheep’s only chance of survival is with the flock under the care of a competent shepherd. Yet sheep become overconfident, rebellious, or distract-ed, and they wander away. They notice greener grass in the other direction or fail to notice when the flock moves away.