The Good Shepherd: Part 1

The Good Shepherd John 10:1-21

Introduction: If I began this message reciting a Scripture in Hebrew, it wouldn’t be very edifying to most of us! If I read the same verse in English, it’s a favorite verse that speaks about a God who knows us, loves us, and cares for us. We need to hear God in a language we understand! As the awesome, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent God of the Universe reveals himself to humans, He has spoken in Word and history in a way that we can understand. So He used figures of speech, metaphors that compare Him in some limited way to something that we can relate to. We’ve seen some of that with Jesus and the people in John: He said “I am the Bread of life... I am the living water… I am the Light of the world…” These are things from everyday life that resonate with people. Now in John 10 He uses the everyday picture of a shepherd and sheep and a sheepfold… And He says “I am the gate… the door to the sheepfold…” He says “I am the Good Shepherd…” As we look at this discourse in its context we get some clues that help us to know Him better. The movement from chapter 9 to 10 is direct. Jesus is illustrating in this discourse what had been made evident by the response to the miracle in Chapter 9 (see 10:21). The response to Him and His teaching reveals the heart of those who hear Him. In using the metaphor of “sheep” and a “Shepherd” Jesus is provoking the situation a little more, in one more way using language that would evoke in the mind of his hearers the God of the Old Testament. Psalm 80 begins,

“Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, You who lead Joseph like a flock; You who dwell between the cherubim, shine forth! 2 Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh, Stir up Your strength, And come and save us! 3 Restore us, O God; Cause Your face to shine, And we shall be saved!”

Even more familiar to us is Psalm 23:1, “The LORD is my Shepherd, I shall not want.” The language is applied to the coming messiah as well, for example by the prophet Micah,

“And He shall stand and feed His flock In the strength of the LORD, In the majesty of the name of the LORD His God; And they shall abide, For now He shall be great To the ends of the earth; 5 And this One shall be peace” (Micah 5:4-5).

Against this background Jesus says, “I AM the Good Shepherd…”

The Big Idea: As a shepherd protects, guides, and cares for his sheep, so Jesus will take care of his own, showing the way to life and blessing.

I. Jesus is the Gate for the His sheep (John 10:1-10). Jesus tells a story, in the first part without getting very specific, about sheep and a shepherd, a gatekeeper, and a gate, and thieves and robbers. Whenever Jesus used language like this, he expected his hearers to identify with someone in the story. He doesn’t immediately identify the shepherd or explain the sheepfold and the gate. First we see that He is the only way into the place of security and peace (1-6). Jesus is contrasting himself and his ministry with the false teaching promote by the Pharisees. The one thing that is immediately very clear is that Jesus is speaking this to reveal something about himself as the One Way, but also pointing a finger back at the Pharisees, they are the thieves and robbers trying enter by another way, since they have failed to see the truth about Jesus. Jesus is both the true Shepherd, and the Way into the sheepfold. That gets more explicit in the next verse…

He alone is the Way to the abundant life of blessing (7-10).

He says in verse 7, “I am the door…” This is one more of the “I AM” statements in this Gospel, there will be another in just a few verses, “I AM the Good Shepherd.” As we have seen reading through John there is no accident in Jesus choosing this phrase to identify himself. 8:58 left no doubt for even the most skeptical reader as to what Jesus was claiming, any ambiguity was gone: “Before Abraham was, I AM…” I am what or who? The One who spoke to Moses out of the burning bush, the one who spoke through Isaiah the prophet, “I AM that I AM…” He was identifying himself with the God of the Covenants, The LORD of the Old Testament.

NB. Also that he says, “I AM the door…”

A door indicates a way in, an entrance, a gateway that allows access to some protected place. Jesus says “I am THE door...” He is not “a” door, as though there were many paths to God and the abundant life of blessing. There is only one way into the sheepfold, through Jesus. This is the kind of exclusivistic statement that He will make in 14:6, “I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one comes to the Father, except by Me….” This kind of language gets evangelicals like us in trouble with the world today. “You mean to say that you think only born again Christians are going to heaven? Isn’t that arrogant?” Actually its about as humble as you can get—because we are saying that we can do nothing to earn God’s favor—it is by grace alone that we are saved. As a shepherd protects, guides, and cares for his sheep, so Jesus will take care of his own, after all He is the way, the only way, to life and blessing.

II. Jesus is the Good Shepherd, who would graciously sacrifice Himself for the good of His sheep (11-15).

Jesus has contrasted himself with “thieves and robbers” and now shifts the imagery a bit: He is the “Good Shepherd,” the One who lays down his life for the sheep, in contrast to mere “hired hands.” Now this image goes farther than a shepherd typically would go. A typical, devoted shepherd might fight to protect his flock, he might even put himself in danger in the process, but he would not, willingly at least, lay down his life for the sheep. But that is just what Jesus did; going that much farther than anyone could be reasonably expected to go. He gave His life, as a substitute for his sheep. He is also not saying that he is a good shepherd, but that He is THE Good Shepherd. The One and Only. In light of the words of the prophets concerning God as the Shepherd of Israel, there can only be One who would merit this title: God alone. The great I AM. As the shepherd who protects, guides, and cares for his sheep, even more, who laid down his life for His sheep, we can trust Jesus, He will take care of his own, showing us the way to life and blessing.

III. Jesus is God’s Son, who came to fulfill His Father’s plan (16-18).

Some “world views” don’t give adequate place to the sovereignty of God. It is as though He is a great and powerful being who we can call on for help from time to time, but ultimately His plan is dependent on our choices. The Bible gives a different perspective. History really is His Story. Notice that the Father’s plan included all nations: “I have other sheep that are not of this fold…” From the beginning God was interested in all of humanity. He chose Israel for two specific reasons: 1) to them would be entrusted the oracles of God. And 2) through them would come the Messiah, the savior of the world. But it was God’s plan that the chosen Seed of Abraham would be a blessing to all the nations. And so Jesus commissioned His disciples to bring His message to all the nations. The plan included Jesus’ death and his resurrection. “I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. What a statement! This is akin to what he says at the graveside of Lazarus: “I AM the resurrection and the life…” Its possible for a person to choose to lay down their life for another. But if you give your life, you can’t take it up again. Only One could do that. He is again making a claim that only God could make. Who is this man who would call himself God? Either He is who He claimed to be, or he was insane, or a pathological liar. Liar, Lunatic, or Lord? His death and resurrection according to His prediction vindicated His identity. That’s why He came, to fulfill the Father’s plan, and as a shepherd he protects, guides, and cares for his sheep, and will take care of his own, showing the way to life and blessing.

IV. Jesus is the Great Divide(r) (19-21).

As we consider this story and the claims of Jesus, we come face to face with the question once again that is at the heart of this Gospel: Who is this man who said he was God? What will you do with Jesus? Again we see the two-fold response, the division, that Jesus brings. Men either come to the light or stay in the darkness. They are either God’s children or the devils. They either are His sheep, or they are not. They either hear His voice or are deaf, blind, and dead. There is no kinda, maybe, a little bit, more or less saved people. People today are trying to undercut the Gospel, saying that God is love, that means He will finally let everyone into heaven. That kind of thinking makes a mockery of the Cross. John says it plainly: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him" (John 3:36). We see the extreme reaction of some of the leaders: “He has a demon and is insane.” If Jesus wasn’t who He claimed to be to call him a lunatic might be one reasonable conclusion. But He is who He claimed to be, God the Son, the Great I AM, the promised One. The reasonable response to the evidence might start with the questions raised in verse 21: “But others said, "These are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?" He spoke only good, exemplifying Grace and Truth, He did things that only God himself could do.

What is God saying to me in this passage?

He said, “I AM the Gate, God and the Way to God, I AM the Good Shepherd, the One who protects, guides, and cares for his sheep, showing the way to life and blessing. That’s the Truth, He is the Truth, how will you respond to Him?

What would God have me to do in response to this passage?

Have you heard the shepherd’s voice and come? Do you recognize His voice as He speaks to you in His Word? Do you acknowledge His presence in the midst of the crises of life, protecting you, watching out for you? Have you decided to follow Him, obediently, reverently, worshipfully?