I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD
JOHN 10 :1-18
INTRODUCTION:
A shepherd was looking after his sheep one day on the side of a deserted road, when suddenly a brand new Porsche screeches to a halt.
The driver, a man dressed in an Armani suit, Cerutti shoes, Ray-Ban sunglasses, TAG-Heuer wrist-watch, and a Pierre Cardin tie, gets out and asks the shepherd:
"If I can tell you how many sheep you have, will you give me one of them?"
The shepherd looks at the young man, and then looks at the large flock of grazing sheep and replies:"Okay."
The young man parks the car,
connects his laptop to his mobile, enters a NASA Webster, scans the ground using his GPS, opens a database with 60 Excel tables filled with logarithms and pivot tables, and
then prints out a 150-page report on his high-tech mini-printer.
He turns to the shepherd and says, "You have exactly 1,586 sheep here."
Rather surprised the shepherd replies, "That’s correct, you can have your sheep."
The young man takes an animal and puts it in the back of his Porsche.
Just as the man is about to drive off, the shepherd asks him:
"If I guess your profession, will you return my animal to me?"
The young man answers, "Yes, why not?"
The shepherd says, "You are an IT consultant."
"How did you know?" asks the young man.
"Very simple," answers the shepherd.
"Firstly, you came here without being called.
Secondly, you charged me a fee to tell me something I already knew, and
Thirdly, you don’t understand anything about my business.
Now please can I have my SHEEP back?"
WE ARE NOW LOOKING AT JESUS STATEMENT “I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD”.
ONE BY ONE JESUS IS PLACING HIMSELF HIGHER THAN THE NATION OF ISRAEL’S PATRIARCHS.
MacArthur points out that Jesus is saying to them that He is greater than David. In John 6, in claiming to be the Bread of Life, Jesus claimed to be greater than Moses. In John 8, after declaring Himself to be the Light of the World, Jesus says that “Before Abraham was born, I am!
AND SO NOW JESUS SAYS “I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD.”
Good (kalos) means beautiful and valuable – Jesus is beyond being morally good but is also excellent and pre-imminent in every feature – incapable of doing anything bad. He is good in every attribute as God is good.
John 10:10: “I am come that you may have life and have it in abundance.
“to the full” – greek perissos
• exceeding some number or measure or rank or need
• over and above, more than is necessary, superadded
• exceeding abundantly, supremely
• something further, more, much more than all
BIBLICAL BACKGROUND:
In the beginning of Chapter 10, Jesus takes the opportunity to contrast the Good Shepherd with false shepherds, hirelings, thieves, and predators.
When Jesus said these words he was making two distinct and important points; the first one related to the blind man he had just healed.
(1) Before the man-born-blind was healed he was an outcast from the fellowship of believers and had to beg for a living. When Jesus’ men asked, “Is his blindness because of his sin or that of his parents?” That was no doubt what the blind man had heard time and time again. Instead of caring about his condition, people simply used him as a point of departure for theological discussions on sin and related illness. The standard Jewish notion was that illness was punishment for some past sin. (That was what Job’s friends told him when they found him in such a predicament. He was frustrated because he knew that wasn’t true). Sadly, when Jesus healed him, the man wound up cast out of the synagogue as a heretic for giving credit to Jesus as healer. The man went from outcast due to illness, to outcast due to beliefs in one day’s time. The leaders had cast out a sheep of the flock of Israel, not because he was a bad sheep, but because they were bad shepherds. Jesus made the comparison between the good shepherd and hirelings, thieves, and predators, to show that the shepherds of Israel were abusing the sheep.
(2) The second intention of Jesus’ words was to show that the Good shepherd (prophesied in Ezekiel 34) has finally made his appearance.
The Old Testament prophet, Ezekiel, in the 34th chapter of his prophetic letter contrasted the false shepherds of Israel with the true shepherd who would someday come to lead the sheep himself and to judge all false shepherds according to their evil deeds.
Ezekiel 34: 13 – 15 says this: “I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited parts of the land. I will feed them with good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and they shall feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God.”
There is a direct connection between the prophecies of Ezekiel 34, the shepherd’s psalm of David (Psalm 23), and the words of Jesus in John 10.
POINT ONE: CHARACTERISTICS OF SHEEP:
. Stupid and stubborn-ever seen a trained sheep? At the circus, come see the dancing elephants, funny monkeys and trained sheep? They are simple hearted
2. Dirty and Wayward-NOT THE SERTA SHEEP WE SEE ON TV. They easily wander and never learn from their mistakes
3. Easily frightened and confused-known to plunge off cliffs in their fear and confusion
4. Defenseless and dependant.
5. Need guidance and protection.
6. May not be complimentary to be a sheep (we are sinful, obstinate, rebellious and foolish)
POINT TWO: CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SHEPHERD:
WILLIAM BARCLAY The Gospel of John
A real shepherd was born to his task. He was sent out with the flock as soon as he was old enough to go; the sheep became his friends and his companions; and it became second nature to think of them before he thought of himself. But the false shepherd came into the job, not as a calling but as a means of making money. He was in it simply and solely for the pay he could get. He might even be a man who had taken to the hills because the town was to hot to hold him. He had no sense of the height and the responsibility to the task. He was only a hireling.
THE GOOD SHEPHERD KNOWS HIS SHEEP (V.3)
It was common for shepherds to have every one of their sheep named and they were able to distinguish them from each other because of their markings or peculiar traits. A shepherd could say, "See that sheep over there? Notice how its feet toe in a little. The one behind it with a gimp in his walk, that’s Limpy; the next one has a patch of wool missing off its back, he’s Patch; there’s one with a black mark below its eye, that’s Blackie, while the one closest to us has a small piece torn out of its ear, Tag. The shepherd knew each by name.
ISAIAH 43:1-2
BUT NOW, THIS IS WHAT THE LORD SAYS—HE WHO CREATED YOU O JACOB, HE WHO FORMED YOU O ISRAEL: “FEAR NOT, FOR I HAVE REDEEMED YOU; I HAVE CALLED YOU BY NAME, YOU ARE MINE.”
THE GOOD SHEPHERD LEADS HIS SHEEP
a. Sheep know the voice of the shepherd and they follow only HIS voice
b. When the stranger comes, they run!
THE GOOD SHEPHERD PROTECTS THE SHEEP (V.4)
a. He is the sacrificial shepherd, one how places Himself between His sheep and any attacks.
Jesus uses this imagery to help us understand that we are all in danger if we choose not to enter his sheepfold. Out there in the wilderness at night we are vulnerable to the enemy, Satan, who the Bible says, prowls around like a lion, waiting for his chance to pounce and devour us (1 Pet. 5:8). When we are not under the protecting watch of the shepherd we are more likely to be a target. Each one of us has the choice, are we going to choose to be safe and protected under the watchful eye of the good shepherd?
There are two ways which we can find ourselves vulnerable to the enemy. 1) Not being in the flock or the fold, or not being a Christian. 2) Not staying in the fold, but wandering off.
1) Not being in the fold
Are we going to enter through the gate and into Jesus’ sheepfold? Jesus said, “I am the gate, those who come in through me will be saved.”
2) Wandering off from the fold-church
While Jesus won’t let go us. We are sometimes prone to wander from the flock. We don’t listen for Jesus’ voice and we do our own thing. We disobey Jesus’ commands, we sin. Pretty soon we find ourselves in a different place than where Jesus is. Perhaps in a literal sense we have distanced ourselves from Jesus and his flock, the church.
WHAT WOLVES CAN ATTACK US TODAY?
What are the wolves that people face?
• Abusive spouses
• Drug abuse
• Sexual temptation
• Gambling addiction
• Depression
• Financial ruin
• Pride
• Arrogance
• Selfishness
THE GOOD SHEPHERD PROVIDES FOR HIS SHEEP
In Psalm 23 we see he provides for his sheep Ps.23.2
CONCLUSION:
THE GREATEST GIFT THE GOOD SHEPHERD PROVIDES FOR US IS SALVATION.
A famous actor was once 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 23rd Psalm. The actor agreed on the condition that the preacher would recite it also. The actor’s recitation was beautifully intoned w/ great dramatic emphasis for which he received a lengthy standing ovation. The preacher voice was rough and broken from many years of preaching, and his dictation was anything but polished. But when he finished there was neither applause nor a dry eye in the room. After the gala had concluded, someone asked the actor what made the difference in the Psalm. He replied, “I know the Psalm, but he knows the Good Shepherd.”
BUT TO JUST KNOW THE SHEPHERD IS NOT ENOUGH. WE HAVE TO DEVELOP A HEART FOR THE OTHER SHEEP.
Phillip Keller A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23
When all is said and done the welfare of any flock is entirely dependent upon the management afforded them by their owner. The tenant sheepman on the farm next to my first ranch was the most indifferent manager I had ever met. He was not concerned about the condition of his sheep. His land was neglected. He gave little or no time to his flock, letting them pretty well forage for themselves as best they could, both summer and winter. They fell prey to dogs, cougars and rustlers. Every year these poor creatures were forced to gnaw away at brown fields and impoverished pastures. Every winter there was a shortage of nourishing hay and wholesome grain to feed the hungry ewes. Shelter to safeguard and protect the suffering sheep from storms and blizzards was scanty and inadequate.
They had only polluted, muddy water to drink. There had been a lack of salt and other trace minerals needed to offset their sickly pastures. In their thin, weak and diseased condition these poor sheep were a pathetic sight.
In my mind’s eye, I can still see them standing at the fence, huddled sadly in little knots, staring wistfully through the wires at the rich pastures on the other side.
To all their distress, the heartless, selfish owner seemed utterly callous and indifferent. He simply didn’t not care. What if his sheep DID want green grass; fresh water; shade; safety or shelter from the storms? What if they did want relief from wounds, bruises, disease and parasites?
He ignored their needs-he couldn’t care less. Why should he-they were just sheep-fit only for the slaughterhouse.
I never looked at those poor sheep without an acute awareness that this was a precise picture of those wretched old taskmasters, Sin and Satan, on their derelict ranch-scoffing at the plight of those within their power.
IF WE KNEW OF CONDITIONS SUCH AS THIS WE WOULD IMMEDIATELY CALL THE S.P.C.A. WHERE THEN IS OUR HEART FOR SHEEP OUTSIDE THE FOLD?
