The Lamb Who Is the Good Shepherd
(John 10:11-18, 27-30)
1. Two people were watching a man drive a herd of sheep through the main street of a small town.
“I thought shepherds led sheep. I didn’t know they drove them with a whip.”
“They do,” the other fellow remarked. “That’s not a shepherd. That’s the town’s butcher.”
[source: philipchircop.wordpress.com]
2. In our day, shepherds raise sheep primarily for meat.
3. In ancient times – and in parts of the world today – sheep milk and wool are other motivators. The shepherds care for the sheep, and the sheep take care of the shepherds.
4. But in the case of the Good Shepherd, He cares about the sheep like no earthly shepherd could.
Main Idea: Jesus is not just a good shepherd, He is The Good Shepherd.
I. Jesus’ Good Shepherd Teaching is Likely a MIDRASH on Ezekiel 24.
A. The imagery of shepherd and sheep is COMMON in the Old Testament.
1. We find mention of a shepherd soon after the fall, righteous Abel. The following examples of leaders called shepherd: God Himself, Moses, Joshua, David, the promised Messiah, and Israel’s spiritual leaders.
2. The sheep are consistently the people of Israel.
Psalm 100:1-3, Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
B. As deity, Jesus is YAHWEH the Shepherd.
• Psalm 23:1, The LORD is my shepherd…
• 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.”
C. As the root of DAVID according to the flesh, He is the King and Shepherd.
The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord God: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? ….“Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: As I live, declares the Lord God, surely because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts, since there was no shepherd, and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep, therefore… I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hand and put a stop to their feeding the sheep. No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them.
“For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered … I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak…And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the Lord; I have spoken.” [Ezekiel 24:1-24 passim]
“And you are my sheep, human sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, declares the Lord God.” [Ezekiel 34:31].
II. The Good Shepherd PROVES His Goodness To The Sheep (11-18).
A. He LAYS DOWN his life to protect the sheep because he cares (11).
1. In the world of shepherds, the sheep and shepherd are functionaries.
2. What do I mean by functionaries? The checkout person….doctors…dentists
3. But Jesus relates to His sheep as individuals….not just how they benefit Him.
B. He stands in CONTRAST to the hired hand (12-13).
1. “They don’t pay me enough for this or that…”
2. Why should he risk his life or risk injury with so minimal a pay?
C. The Good Shepherd KNOWS us and we know Him, akin to the Father and Son (14-15).
1. Communal sheep pens; shepherds would take turns keeping watch at the gate through the night. If you have never tasted lamb, you don’t understand.
2. When it was time to leave, each shepherd would call his own sheep, and the sheep would follow him; they recognized his voice and would not follow another.
D. The Good Shepherd INCORPORATES other sheep into one flock (16).
1. Some stretch this to refer to people on non-Christian faith…
2. Best understood to refer to gentile believers, in a cloaked manner…
E. Jesus CHOSE to die for the sheep, and He chose to rise from the dead (17-18).
John 2:18-22, So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.
Jesus is not just a good shepherd, He is The Good Shepherd.
III. The Shepherd’s True Sheep RESPOND to Him (27-30).
We know we are saved by faith in Christ alone. But how do we know we have actually believed? There are defective versions of faith, sometimes called “believing in vain.’
A. If you are one of His sheep, you are DRAWN to the Shepherd.
B. If you are one of His sheep, you generally FOLLOW the Shepherd.
C. If you are one of His sheep, it is because you were GIVEN to Jesus by the Father.
1. Do you realize you are the Father’s gift to Jesus?
2. You may not think of yourself as much, but God has given you gift status.
D. If you are one of His sheep, you have to be GREATER than God to be released by Him.
E. Jesus the Good Shepherd is the LORD Who is our Shepherd (30).
1. The Sh’ma of Deuteronomy 6 begins with, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.”
2. The Hebrew word “echad” means one unity. When a man leaves his father and mother and cleaves to his wife, they become one “echad” flesh.
3. There is a lot we do not understand about God and His nature, but the doctrine of the Trinity is really a set of Biblical parameter put together so that we have a comprehensive picture of the One God existing as Three Persons.
4. If we know Jesus, we know God.
Jesus is not just a good shepherd, He is The Good Shepherd.
