The Good Shepherd

The Good Shepherd

I Am Jesus – part 4

TODAY – is week 4 in our message series ‘I Am Jesus.’ ON – January the 9th we set out on a journey together to know Christ in a much deeper and much fuller way. On that day began taking a fresh look at Jesus, we starting looking at Him through a fresh pair of lenses.

AND – the look we have seen, so far in this journey has been pretty awesome, He is amazing! FOR - 3 weeks in an effort to know Him better we have been unpacking some of the names and titles that we find for Jesus in the New Testament. (what people called Him and what he called Himself.) SO – far we have looked at the names ‘Son of God” and “The Word Became Flesh…” (Jesus’ divinity and His humanity…)

[TIM…] – aren’t you glad that ‘the Jesus’ (you love, serve and worship) is God? Aren’t you glad that HE - can deliver what He promised, do what He said, guard what you have entrusted to Him. AND - aren’t you glad that the word became flesh… Aren’t you glad that Jesus put on sandals and walked among us…? I sure am… BECAUSE; Jesus the man;

• allows ME to see God

• allows ME to see MYSELF

• shows ME who I can become

• destroys death, sin, and the devil…and

• understands everything that I go through…

NOW – the name that we are going to unpack this morning is; ‘The Good Shepherd.’ AND – the only time Jesus refers to Himself as the good shepherd is the 10th chapter of John’s Gospel… LET ME – put that chapter in it’s context as we begin…

IN – John chapter 9 Jesus heals a man that was born blind… This guy is just kind of hanging out by the roadside… AND WHEN – the disciples first see him… THEY – ask Jesus… “Hey Teacher, is this guy blind because he has done something wrong OR is it because of his parents” (they like us wanted to know why)

Jesus replies, “No guys, he is not blind for either of those reasons… Instead this has happened to him, so that the work of God could be displayed in his life..”

QUESTION – do you know what the work of God is? To display His glory. To show the world how awesome he is! AND – listen just like this guy sometimes stuff happens in our life for the same reason… so that we have an opportunity to display God’s glory.

THEN - Jesus stoops down spits on the ground, stirs the dirt, and makes some mud… (now that’s a lot of spit)… HE - puts the mud on the guys eyes and tells the guy to go to the pool of Siloam and wash it off… SO - the guy goes and washes it off and immediately his eyes are opened… Awesome!

NOW – I would call that entire event (spit and all) a good thing (wouldn’t you?)… I MEAN – who would look at a guy born blind being able to see and call it bad? I’LL – tell you who, the leaders of God’s people… the Pharisees… YEAH – (as crazy as it sounds) those bone heads believed that a guy born blind going home seeing, was a bad thing…WHY? - because it was done on the Sabbath.

SO INSTEAD – of celebrating this man’s recovery, these guys begin holding hearings… They bring the guy in…Give him the 3rd degree, they asked him who healed Him… They don’t like his answer so they bring in his parents… BUT – his parents are too afraid to say anything because they don’t want to be thrown out of the synagogue. EVENTUALLY - things get so heated that they toss the guy out. LET’S – pick up the story at John 9:35;

Prayer…

35Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” (later on in 05’ we will unpack that title) 36“Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.” 37Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.” 38Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. 39Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.” 40Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?” 41Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.

REMEMBER – as I said a few weeks back Jesus always seems to be picking a fight with these guys. WHY? Because they were the leaders of God’s people. AND – they weren’t doing a very good job at it. BASICALLY – they only cared about themselves and about what they believed. YOU SEE – they made it harder for people to know, understand, love and follow God… NOT easier.