An Abundant Life with the Good Shepherd

Transcript

Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him, the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers. This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. So Jesus again said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers,

— John 10

(ESV)

but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the father knows me and I know the father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold.

I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason, the father loves me because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my father. There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. Many of them said, he has a demon and is insane. Why listen to him? Others said, these are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind? This is the word of the Lord Saints. Please be seated.

The Good Shepherd

Would you pray with me? Father, would you show us Jesus, the good shepherd this morning? May we draw near to him and find abundant life just as he promised. Guide our thoughts, guide our affections, tune our ears to hear from you we ask in Jesus name, amen. Amen. Friends today, I’d like to tell you about Jesus, the good shepherd. I’d like to tell you about how kind and how gracious he is, how generous and how loving, how much he’s done for those who belong to him. I want you to see him as the precious Messiah that he is, to love and to treasure him more than anything else in this world. And friend, if you don’t know him or you don’t know much about him, I believe with my whole heart that he is the single most important person you could ever encounter and that you really, really need to meet him.

And friend, if you do know him, if you love him, if you know more importantly that he loves you, I’d like to encourage you, my brother or sister, by telling you that the best place you can possibly be is in the care of the good shepherd. Life will throw all kinds of curve balls your way. There’ll be all manner of confusion, all kinds of uncertainty, doubts. Life will throw you for a loop. But man, is it good to be in the care of the shepherd because as Psalm 23 tells us that even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Why? For you are with me. It’s the best place we can be. In the previous chapter, Jesus healed a blind man and this upset the Jewish religious leaders, which then resulted in yet another contentious

back and forth between them and between Jesus. The religious leaders were upset with the miracles that Jesus was performing. They were upset about what he was teaching and his claims about his own identity infuriated them. But the blind man in the previous chapter, or should I say the formerly blind man, he’s all in. In 938, we read, Lord, I believe. And then the text says, and he worshiped him. He gets it. He understands. One of the first things he sees in this whole world once his eyes are opened is the face of Jesus. And just like that, he gets it. This one is worthy of my worship. This one is worthy of my praise. And it’s him getting it and the religious leaders not that leads us into this discourse in chapter 10. This man saw what so many around him were missing with new eyes, brand new eyes.

He saw more clearly than people with a lifetime of perfect vision. He saw the goodness of Jesus and he knew he didn’t wanna be anywhere else but by his side. And so this morning, I’d like for us to reflect a bit on that goodness by digging into this really amazing passage where Jesus presents himself as the door and as the good shepherd. The only way one might be saved and the only place one might be safe. We’ve touched on this a number of times as we’ve been studying the Gospel of John together, but John 10 is really one of these incredible passages. And for textual critical scholars, this is one of those kind of all or nothing texts. Either this is saying that Jesus is God and he’s clearly communicating as much or Jesus is just very, very misunderstood or worse yet, we’ve chosen to kind of impose upon Jesus

an identity that he never imposed upon himself. But I would argue that John 10 actually puts Jesus’ deity on full display. There are a couple of key I am statements in this chapter like I am the door and that no one could be saved apart from him and I am the good shepherd. These I am statements show us who Jesus is quite clearly and why he came. And so as we walk through the text, I wanna encourage you to pay attention to some of those statements. And so let’s dive into this chunk of John 10 where we’ll see what an abundant life with the good shepherd looks like. That’s the title of the sermon. If you’re taking notes, an abundant life with the good shepherd. Sorry, these guys are amazing. I’m terrible with sending my sermon notes on time. You can ask Sam, it’s usually like a 2 a.m. email.

The Need for a Shepherd

I’m like, hey, can you like add these in? So yeah, today it was about 9.55 a.m. An abundant life with the good shepherd. And we’ll look at our text in three parts. First, we’ll look at the need for a shepherd in verses one through 10. Next, we’ll look at Jesus the good shepherd in verses 11 through 18. And then we’ll see in verses 19 through 21, a continuing confusion. The need for a shepherd. In starting the good shepherd discourse, Jesus offers a description first of what false shepherds look like. Or a wrong way to enter the sheepfold. What the wrong kind of worship, the wrong kind of relationship to God looks like. Prior to pointing to himself as the good shepherd, he shows how needy the sheep are. He shows how deprived they’ve been of care, of leading, of provision. We’re presented here with this picture

of a supposed shepherd who comes to the fold in the wrong way. Someone who doesn’t belong. Someone who doesn’t truly know the sheep. Someone that the sheep don’t know. They don’t recognize his voice. They don’t sense his presence as a calming presence. Someone who doesn’t know the life of the sheep, who can’t recognize one of God’s sheep. The idea here is that he’s talking about the religious leaders of the day. He’s speaking directly to these leaders in front of him, and he’s saying, you’re false shepherds. Not only do the sheep not know you, you don’t know the sheep. This man who longs after God, who wants to worship God, who wants to live with God, whom I just healed, you cast him aside because it wasn’t done in the way that you wanted. And I haven’t said the things that you wanted me to say.

You’re so ready to throw the sheep to the wolves that you show that you don’t care for these sheep. You don’t know these sheep. And remember, he’s in the middle of addressing these leaders who’ve just done this really ugly thing with this man where they should have been praising God and celebrating what God has done for this man, for his family, and instead, their hard-heartedness keeps them from seeing God. It keeps them from seeing who his people are, what the sheep of God actually look like, who the shepherd actually is. They don’t know the flock of God. They don’t know God. And so surely they would have heard this as an indictment. This would have been incredibly offensive. Their minds likely would have, or at least should have, gone to Ezekiel 34, where God very clearly speaks about this very thing. Ezekiel 34, beginning from verse one.

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. shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves. Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourself with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered. They wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth

with none to search or seek them. 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, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God, behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hand and put a stop to their feeding of 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 myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out.

Not only is this a comprehensive indictment on the religious leadership of Jesus’ time and him saying, you are eating the sheep, you are killing the sheep, you are neglecting the sheep, you are abusing the sheep. He’s saying, I am the one that was promised in Ezekiel. I will seek them out. They know my voice. Why? Because I am the good shepherd. What he’s pointing to is the difference between those who are called by God to care for his sheep and those who just enter into that position by their own desire or for their own reasons. If God called you, Jesus says, you’d know where to enter the fold. You’d recognize the sheep. You’d hear God speaking and you would be drawn to it. And what you’re doing, it’s robbery. It’s thievery. It’s murder. You don’t care for these people. They’re hungry. They’re in danger because you lack care for them.

You don’t even recognize them. What Jesus is doing while rebuking these religious leaders for their various abuses of power, for their misinterpretations of scripture and misunderstanding of God’s promises, his law, while pointing to their hypocrisy is he’s also pointing to the people that they so easily miss, the ones they so readily abuse and mislead. Jesus cares for these people. Jesus came for the lowest and the least. Jesus came for the unimpressive. How do I know that? Because he saved me. What am I doing in the flock of God but the fact that the shepherd, gracious and kind and patient and merciful, sought out a lost wayward sheep like me?

He cares for these. He’s not indifferent to what happens to them. He’s not okay with his sheep being abused. He loves them. They’re his people. Notice this amazing detail in verse three. The sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. Jesus is saying here that the sheep will know the shepherd’s voice. When they hear it, their ears will prick up. They’ll run that way. They’ll want to be near. They’ll know that’s where safety is. That’s where security is. That’s where love, that’s where provision, that’s where green pastures, that’s where still water is. Jesus is saying here that the sheep will know the shepherd’s voice. They’ll recognize him and he will recognize them, remembering them by name. Do you remember Matthew chapter seven, the end of the Sermon on the Mount, perhaps the most terrifying scripture in the whole,

I mean, I want to say the whole of the Bible, but certainly the top of the list for the New Testament. Jesus says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven. On that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. You see, it’s one thing to say you know the shepherd, but another thing entirely for him to know you by name.

He knows who his sheep are and they know him. He’s the one they’ve been waiting for. Before he expands on this beautiful truth of him being the good shepherd, after he’s pointed to the reality that these people are presently, as Matthew nine says, sheep without a shepherd, Jesus says that the only way to enter that flock of God, the only way to be in this fold is by him, the door. It’s only through him that salvation can be found. It’s only in him that life is possible. Others may make promises about this or that, but what he offers, he says, is abundant life. Jesus offers joy, peace, rest, hope, meaning, love, and all of it in abundance. The person who’s looking for salvation, the person who’s looking for hope, for answers, they grasp on to what Jesus is saying because when you’re truly looking for these things

Jesus the Good Shepherd

and the shepherd speaks, that’s the voice of salvation. His words are the words of eternal life and his sheep recognize them as such. And they know that they need a door through which to enter. They know they need a shepherd to lead them, which brings us to verses 11 through 18. Jesus, the good shepherd. The abundant life that Jesus said he gives to the sheep in verse 10 is right here. It’s with him. It’s life with the good shepherd. See, shepherding and shepherds appear all throughout scripture. This theme is incredibly important to the people of God, all throughout the Old and into the New Testament. Centuries before Jesus was born, God promised that he would send a Messiah to shepherd his people, to be the shepherd to Israel. In Micah five, verse four, we read, and he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord,

in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. This theme presents itself in many ways in multiple portions of scripture like this portion of Micah, the portion of Ezekiel that we just read a little bit ago famously Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd. And then it’s repeated again in the New Testament, but perhaps the clearest picture of this is seen here. Jesus, the good shepherd, from his very own lips. And what’s the first thing that he tells us about this shepherd? What’s the first thing that we come to see about what a good shepherd is and what he does? Jesus, the good shepherd, shows his goodness in willingly laying down his life for his sheep. Absolutely counterintuitive to any human survival instinct. You will not find shepherd, they will go out of their way to protect their sheep, sure, but to lay down your life for a sheep?

This is madness, this makes no sense. And Jesus says, why am I the good shepherd? Because I willingly give up my life to save my sheep. The hired hand, just someone trying to earn a living, not invested in the lives of the sheep, he won’t put himself in harm’s way. He’ll run away, he’ll run to safety. He’ll get new sheep, he’ll figure it out. The shepherd who knows and who loves his sheep, he won’t abandon them. He would rather give himself for them. Do you see that? Dear Saint, when all life seems to be relentlessly beating you up, when nothing makes sense, when you can’t seem to find your bearings, you’re full of uncertainty and fear and doubt, when you feel needy, when you feel lost, Jesus says to you, I am the good shepherd. I will never let you get lost. I will lay down my life to save you.

In the words of one of my favorite modern worship songs, Jesus said, I almost started singing, I shouldn’t sing. Jesus said, if I am lost, he will come to me. And he showed me on that cross, he will come to me. His love for his people leads him directly to the cross. And we see in our text that Jesus’ perfect, efficacious sacrifice for us was voluntary.

He chose to go that way, to save his sheep, to protect his sheep, to take care of them. No one had this power over him. No one forced him into it. He said, I will go to save them. The way that you and I were saved, beloved, is by placing our trust in him. And as Romans 10, nine tells us, that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Why did God raise him from the dead? Because our shepherd gave his life for us.

What he’s saying here isn’t hypothetical. This isn’t just a nice sentiment. But that in order for us to belong to him, in order for us to enter by the way of the door, to know him and be known by him, he had to die. And he did. Why? Because he’s the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep, taking the punishment that they deserve so that in him they would obtain his righteousness and the promise of abundant, eternal life.

Do you see the comprehensive nature of his care? The beauty of this kind of love that he would come after us, that he would call us to himself, that he would give himself for us? Do you see why he’s good? Friend, do you ever stop to think about God’s gracious provision? If you’ve been walking with the Lord for some time now, do you still slow down to see it? The many blessings? Yes, the fullness of our life and the thing that we’re striving for is ultimately heaven. Fellowship with him, unencumbered by sin. But what about here, today? Do we just gloss over his provision and what he’s doing now? Do we think that this gift of the abundance of life isn’t already ours? It’s easy to see the difficulties. I know. That’s where my mind goes. It’s easy to notice the pain. It’s easy to notice the loss.

But are we as quick to see his care for us, the food he provides, the roof over our heads, the people in our lives, your children, your friends, your job, and on and on and on? Yes, some of us are longing for one or more of these things, but do we notice the ones that he has provided in his care, in his wisdom? Or do we move right past the abundant provision and look to the thing that we want to have?

This new life that we receive in Christ, it meets every need of the saints. Yes, every need of the saints. We, as his people, are saved. We’re given a family, a purpose, an eternal security, hope. He makes sense of our trials and difficulties, and he uses all things in our lives, yes, all things, for our good. Christian, do you see his goodness? Or have you grown accustomed to it by now?

Part of that care is that just as the father knows the son, so the sheep are known by the shepherd. Intimate, close, real relationship, truly known, fully known, what we all long for, what we all desire, to be known, and more than that, to be loved. Jesus then says this fascinating thing in verse 16 about sheep that are not of this fold. These other sheep are those who aren’t a part of the Jewish flock. Remember, he’s speaking to religious Jews here. The understanding being that salvation should only be available to the people of God, the Jews. Well, if they’re not from here, then from where do they come? Who are these people? Revelation five, verses nine and 10 gives us a good picture. Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe

and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth. Jesus is saying that God is rescuing for himself a flock from all over the world. He’s bringing Jews and Gentiles together, which makes no sense to the religious Jew. He’s bringing outsiders in and calling them his own.

People that don’t look like they belong, people that don’t sound like they belong, people that don’t feel right here. Funny looking, strange sheep, like me and like you. It’s not just religious people. It’s not just the right kind of background. It’s not just the right heritage. No, it’s religious and irreligious. It’s the ones of noble birth and the peasant. It’s those with dark skin and light skin and every tone in between. The flock of God, dear saints, is beautiful because it doesn’t look uniform. Any sense of uniformity is only seen in the fact that we all, different as we are, look like him. And notice here, he already has them. They’re his. How does he already have them? John 17, six, I’ve manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of this world. Yours they were and you gave them to me.

John 6, 37, all that the father gives to me will come to me and whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. The father already has these sheep. He’s already called them and he’s giving them to the son. And notice also, I must bring them. He will get you. Sounds like a threat. It kind of is. Your life is over. If he’s pursuing you, if he’s getting you, he will get you. He will keep you. He must bring these sheep. He goes after his sheep. He doesn’t let them go. He’ll traverse mountaintops to get you if that’s what it takes. He’ll drag you by one little paw all the way back to the flock until you get it, that he’s the good shepherd, but he will get you. He will never let you perish. If he’s coming after you, he’s gonna get you. That really does sound like a threat.

Beloved, as we think about these other sheep, do we think about those people whom God has called to himself around Portland who don’t know him yet? Or do we only see people that are outsiders? Do we only see people that are not here and that’s it? We need to start thinking about people as not yet here because we don’t know whom God has called. We don’t know whose heart God is working in. We don’t know who God is pulling to himself. Do you think about these people? Trapped in sin, trapped by the enemy, trapped and ready to die for their sin, but God is calling them. How about in other parts of the Pacific Northwest? How about in other parts of the country? How about in Europe, Southeast Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East? Do our hearts long to call these brothers and sisters to come home?

Or are we indifferent? I got my salvation figured out. I got my community figured out. Let someone else go get those people. Beloved, how much are these sheep on your heart? These sheep that aren’t yet home? In your prayers, how much of your prayer life does the salvation of the lost take up? How much of your prayer life do the nations take up? You realize there are still people alive today that have never even heard the name of Jesus? There are people dying this very moment that have never heard that they could be saved and brought back into the fold of God?

We’re talking more about missions in our church, and my prayer is that soon, very soon, we will start sending missionaries as a church, sending people to reach the lost. Kids, my prayer is that many of you would grow up to be missionaries and go off into far-off distant lands, corners of the world that the gospel has never yet reached. I know your parents might not be too excited about that, especially you being so far away, but my prayer really is that the Lord would save and use each of you to reach the nations. We need to be praying about this. Maybe some of us need to reevaluate our lives and go. Uproot, start over. Think about what a soul is worth. If Jesus would give their lives for them, would I not?

Romans 10, 14 tells us, how then will they call on him in whom they have not believed and how are they to believe in him they have never heard and how are they to hear without someone preaching? Jesus has other sheep who haven’t joined the fold yet and they’re waiting for you to bring his words to them.

An Abundant Life

Their hearts are longing for something and they may not know what that is yet and so they need to hear of Jesus. You see, the plan was all along to draw his people to himself. To be the one who would wash them clean, to be the one who would care for them, who would be their God. All kinds of people with all kinds of stories of how they came to be in this amazing, diverse, beautiful flock with such a wonderful shepherd.

What does it do to a person to be completely secure in who they are? To a person to feel safe and grounded and cared for? A person who knows that their biggest problem has already been solved? They’re sure and confident. They know who they are, they know who they belong to and they can fully live for the good of others and the glory of God. And you know what Jesus calls that? An abundant life. You know how you access that life? From the generous hand of the good shepherd.

Seems quite clear, right? Not to the Pharisees. In verses 19 through 21, we see that there’s a continuing confusion about him. When this beautiful picture of hope and care and love is presented to the religious leaders, how do they respond? He has a demon. He’s insane. Why would you listen to him? Why give this man the time of day? Interestingly, in the beginning of the book, interestingly, in the previous chapter, when the religious leaders were struggling to wrap their heads around Jesus and his miracles, the formerly blind man with no religious training at all nails it in verse 33. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing. But since he’s doing all of these things, clearly he’s from God. No one could do what Jesus did but by the power of God. And yet, with these hard-hearted religious men, their confusion persists because they just refuse

to open their eyes and see him as he is. Throughout these 21 verses, Jesus says more than once that his sheep will hear his voice, that they’ll recognize him. And the tragedy of the Pharisees is by their repeated misunderstanding of Jesus, their twisting of his words, their attributing wicked motives to his miracles, his kindness, they show that they absolutely just don’t hear his voice. They hear God speaking to them. They see God performing miracles before them and they only grow in their hatred and their jealousy and their desire to kill him. And we could look at that and we could say, wow, that’s so ugly, it’s so bad, but this is what unbelief does. Sooner or later, this is where unbelief takes you. It hardens your heart and it makes you just completely closed off to hearing the truth of God, to hearing the voice of the shepherd.

Continuing Confusion

It’s tragic. It’s so sad. And so dear friend, how do you know you’re one of his sheep? How do you know if you belong to him and that he knows you? If you jump ahead in chapter 10 in verse 27, Jesus says, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. When you hear the words of Jesus, what do you feel? What goes through your mind? What stirs in you? Are these just nice stories that you listen to on a Sunday morning or periodically in your personal Bible reading? Is this a bit of encouragement for the week ahead? Or are these life-giving words that draw you closer to him, that fuel you to live more fully for him, that fuel you to embrace this abundant life which he has promised he will give to his people? As we continue to study the life and ministry of Jesus

and the gospel of John, we’ll see and we’ll continue to see that his ministry, his teaching, his shepherding care for his disciples, it all ultimately leads to death. Death on a cross. But thanks be to God that he doesn’t stay dead. Because just like he promised would happen, God raises him from the dead. Our abundant life is an eternal life where we’ll get to be with him forever. And what is it that makes this possible? What is it that enables us to have this life? The shepherd willingly became a lamb in order to rescue us from the condemnation that we deserve and to die in our place. We get this powerful glimpse of what this life looks like in eternity when we’re finally home from Revelation 7. Then one of the elders addressed me saying, who are these clothed in white robes and from where have they come?

I said to him, sir, you know. And he said to me, these are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They’ve washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb. Therefore, they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple. And he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst no more. The sun shall not strike them nor any scorching heat for the lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd. He will guide them to springs of living water and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

Safe, secure, happy, free from sin, free from tears, forever worshiping our Jesus. An abundant life indeed. Charles Spurgeon when writing about our text in John 10 says the following. Christians should have such abundant life that their circumstances should not be able to overcome them. Such abundant life that in poverty, they are rich. In sickness, they are in spiritual health. In contempt, they are full of triumph. And in death, full of glory. All this and much more, all thanks to Jesus, our good shepherd. Amen? Amen. Would you pray with me?

Our King Jesus, thank you for your relentless pursuit of lost wayward sheep like us. Thank you for your faithfulness, for your kindness, for your love and for the free gift of abundant life. We love you, Lord. We want to live fully for you. Help us do that. Help us be a people that would regularly point others to you because you are everything. Our great shepherd, our savior, our God. Amen.