WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:09.320 Now if you're not familiar with the Bible, if it's fairly new to you, you might still know and recognise this passage, mightn't you? 00:00:09.320 --> 00:00:15.540 John chapter 10, it is Jesus famously calling himself the Good Shepherd. 00:00:16.080 --> 00:00:24.600 And it's full, isn't it, this passage of heartwarming pastoral imagery of sheep and shepherds. 00:00:24.600 --> 00:00:33.079 I don't want to take away from that, but I want you to see that there is a bite to what Jesus is teaching here. 00:00:33.620 --> 00:00:41.240 Just for a minute try and forget images of shepherds in Yorkshire leaning on fences and chewing blades of grass. 00:00:41.960 --> 00:00:49.299 Because this claim of being a good shepherd in this section of John is a highly political claim. 00:00:49.299 --> 00:00:57.339 It comes at a time of deep political tension and religious paranoia. 00:00:58.359 --> 00:01:05.819 The background of what Jesus says here is in the prophet Ezekiel and in other places of the Bible. 00:01:05.959 --> 00:01:16.620 Ezekiel 34 when God promises that he is going to remove oppressive rulers who are influencing his people. 00:01:16.620 --> 00:01:22.340 He is going to wipe them away and he himself is going to come and be a shepherd. 00:01:22.460 --> 00:01:25.719 He is going to lead them and he is going to care over them. 00:01:26.740 --> 00:01:28.780 He himself will be the shepherd. 00:01:30.240 --> 00:01:36.980 And John puts this passage here just after the incident of the blind man, do you remember last week? 00:01:36.980 --> 00:01:46.780 Where his eyes are opened to the hypocrisy and impotence of the oppressive religious leaders of the day. 00:01:47.719 --> 00:01:54.780 Jesus stands out, doesn't he, in stark contrast as one who is really going to fulfil God's promises. 00:01:55.439 --> 00:01:57.080 That he is the ruler. 00:01:57.960 --> 00:02:02.840 That God is going to give them to shepherd them and to care for them. 00:02:02.840 --> 00:02:13.039 And so John chapter 10 is Jesus continuing to expose the religious leaders as false shepherds. 00:02:14.199 --> 00:02:19.699 If you listen to some of the words that he uses, I think he's talking about them. 00:02:20.039 --> 00:02:24.680 Listen, verse 1, he uses the word thief, robber. 00:02:25.319 --> 00:02:27.199 Verse 5, strangers. 00:02:27.199 --> 00:02:32.919 Verses 7 to 10, he talks about thieves, stealing and killing. 00:02:33.179 --> 00:02:35.459 He talks about a hired hand. 00:02:37.159 --> 00:02:43.859 Now, as we go through the gospel, you might wonder, why on earth is there so much opposition to Jesus? 00:02:45.339 --> 00:02:48.620 Why do the religious leaders hate him so much? 00:02:49.679 --> 00:02:55.879 There is overwhelming evidence, isn't there, of the good that Jesus has come to do, that God has sent him to do. 00:02:55.879 --> 00:02:58.139 So why don't they like him? 00:02:59.159 --> 00:03:02.620 The leaders of the religious police state. 00:03:03.319 --> 00:03:05.879 Why do they hate him so much? 00:03:06.039 --> 00:03:09.620 Well, Jesus says here, it is because they are thieves. 00:03:11.000 --> 00:03:12.139 And they are robbers. 00:03:14.039 --> 00:03:17.180 And God has sent Jesus to remove them. 00:03:18.199 --> 00:03:19.639 And to replace them. 00:03:20.400 --> 00:03:23.680 And to be the shepherd that God's people need. 00:03:23.680 --> 00:03:30.159 He is the person God says that we need, apart from anybody else. 00:03:31.020 --> 00:03:33.960 He is making an exclusive claim here, isn't he? 00:03:34.260 --> 00:03:39.540 Not just to be a good shepherd, but the good shepherd. 00:03:40.680 --> 00:03:42.680 He is the only one we need. 00:03:42.680 --> 00:03:49.719 And many of the leaders and guides come, don't they, and go in our lives. 00:03:49.780 --> 00:03:50.840 Many of the helpers. 00:03:51.480 --> 00:03:52.379 Good advisors. 00:03:52.780 --> 00:03:54.920 Good people to give us good advice. 00:03:55.159 --> 00:03:56.980 But he is the good shepherd. 00:03:57.980 --> 00:03:59.659 He is good news from Jesus. 00:03:59.920 --> 00:04:06.680 Now, there are things about him, and about how people respond to him, that reveal his unique identity. 00:04:06.680 --> 00:04:11.140 That he is this unique shepherd that God has sent. 00:04:11.240 --> 00:04:13.319 And I want to show you those this afternoon. 00:04:13.480 --> 00:04:17.959 First of all, Jesus is exclusive ownership of God's people. 00:04:18.660 --> 00:04:21.699 Jesus has exclusive ownership of God's people. 00:04:22.920 --> 00:04:26.160 That's one of the repeated themes in this passage. 00:04:26.160 --> 00:04:32.720 Jesus is the one who has legitimate claim on God's people. 00:04:32.900 --> 00:04:35.620 He enters, verse 2, through the gate. 00:04:36.480 --> 00:04:39.140 And the gatekeeper opens to him. 00:04:40.200 --> 00:04:46.640 Now, if somebody doesn't own a house, they don't belong in the house, if they're not legitimately allowed there, 00:04:46.700 --> 00:04:48.580 how do they get in to the house? 00:04:48.579 --> 00:04:53.000 Well, it is not through the front door with a key, is it? 00:04:53.979 --> 00:04:58.620 If a person doesn't own the house, or has the right to be there, how do they get in? 00:04:58.680 --> 00:05:02.939 They get in through the window, or they get in over the back fence. 00:05:03.099 --> 00:05:05.399 They get in in an illegal way. 00:05:06.939 --> 00:05:13.560 And Jesus is claiming, again and again, that there is an ownership of God's people 00:05:13.560 --> 00:05:19.780 that gives Jesus the right to enter in and begin pastoral care. 00:05:20.819 --> 00:05:21.819 Look at verse 4. 00:05:23.000 --> 00:05:28.600 When he brought out all his own, he goes before them. 00:05:29.120 --> 00:05:30.120 That is the true shepherd. 00:05:30.319 --> 00:05:31.000 Verse 12. 00:05:31.860 --> 00:05:36.360 He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, doesn't own the sheep. 00:05:37.019 --> 00:05:43.480 Or verse 16, Jesus says, I have other sheep that are not of this fold. 00:05:44.519 --> 00:05:45.300 See what he's saying? 00:05:45.399 --> 00:05:47.160 He has authority. 00:05:47.899 --> 00:05:53.639 He has the authorisation to be the shepherd you and I need. 00:05:54.600 --> 00:05:57.600 To be the one shepherd that we ought to follow. 00:05:57.600 --> 00:06:01.500 Because Jesus Christ owns us. 00:06:03.040 --> 00:06:06.939 God's people have been given to Jesus Christ. 00:06:07.699 --> 00:06:09.139 Under his care. 00:06:10.079 --> 00:06:17.860 And so Jesus has the exclusive right to tell you what to do and to bring blessing to you. 00:06:18.039 --> 00:06:19.919 Nobody else is allowed to do that. 00:06:20.740 --> 00:06:23.680 And you shouldn't listen to anybody ultimately to do that. 00:06:25.180 --> 00:06:30.300 Our three-year-old boy, when he goes to nursery, if Emma and I can't pick him up at the end, 00:06:30.360 --> 00:06:35.099 it happens occasionally, we could send a friend to go and pick him up. 00:06:35.100 --> 00:06:38.700 But to do that, we give them a password. 00:06:39.300 --> 00:06:44.160 So that the nursery knows it's not just some random stranger trying to take our child away. 00:06:44.560 --> 00:06:45.740 I won't tell you the password. 00:06:45.740 --> 00:06:53.120 But the password gives authority for that person to care for our child. 00:06:54.759 --> 00:06:59.740 And Jesus is saying here, isn't he, that he has been given that authority from God. 00:07:00.780 --> 00:07:02.439 He owns the sheep. 00:07:02.439 --> 00:07:12.000 He's been given authority to come and to command God's people to go the places where he wants them to go. 00:07:12.800 --> 00:07:16.019 Verse 3, he calls his own by name. 00:07:16.899 --> 00:07:17.959 And he leads them out. 00:07:17.959 --> 00:07:27.060 And so do you know, before a person hears Jesus, a person who is not a believer, maybe that's you today, 00:07:28.739 --> 00:07:35.819 Jesus is saying here, isn't he, that there is a prior connection, there is a prior knowledge, 00:07:36.139 --> 00:07:40.599 there is a kind of prior relationship between Jesus and that person. 00:07:41.679 --> 00:07:44.279 There is a connection of ownership. 00:07:44.279 --> 00:07:50.779 You know, there are people in this town, and there are people in your family, 00:07:50.899 --> 00:07:55.359 there are people who live on your street, who live as if God doesn't exist, 00:07:55.519 --> 00:07:58.000 and who live as if Jesus is not their shepherd. 00:07:59.659 --> 00:08:06.519 But God has chosen some of them to give to Jesus, even if they don't know that yet. 00:08:06.519 --> 00:08:14.439 And if they belong to him, as he calls them, that will be an irresistible thing to them. 00:08:16.079 --> 00:08:19.620 Do you know, Jesus is not worried about the growth of his church. 00:08:20.839 --> 00:08:23.979 He is not worried about church growth statistics. 00:08:25.120 --> 00:08:29.819 Because he owns his people, even if they don't know it yet. 00:08:29.819 --> 00:08:32.620 And he will have them. 00:08:34.319 --> 00:08:37.139 That is why only he can be the good shepherd. 00:08:37.519 --> 00:08:43.220 Nobody else, not your imam, or your rabbi, or even your church minister. 00:08:44.100 --> 00:08:50.419 Not your life coach, or your favourite celebrity on TV, or your favourite journalist or politician. 00:08:50.639 --> 00:08:56.819 None of those things have that right to be your one and only ultimate shepherd in life. 00:08:56.820 --> 00:09:00.320 But Jesus has that right. 00:09:00.480 --> 00:09:04.000 He has exclusive ownership of God's people. 00:09:04.760 --> 00:09:08.900 Secondly, he has exclusive recognition from God's people. 00:09:09.820 --> 00:09:11.360 He has exclusive recognition. 00:09:12.080 --> 00:09:17.240 There's a video going around online of a group of sheep in a field. 00:09:17.860 --> 00:09:20.280 And it's in a country somewhere, I'm not sure where it is. 00:09:20.500 --> 00:09:22.220 And they do an experiment. 00:09:22.220 --> 00:09:29.279 They get a few people together to try and get the sheep to come over by calling to them. 00:09:29.540 --> 00:09:31.279 It's in a language that I don't know. 00:09:31.779 --> 00:09:35.960 Presumably they're shouting some like, you know, here, sheepy, sheepy, come over. 00:09:36.940 --> 00:09:38.420 Each person tries. 00:09:39.040 --> 00:09:40.180 They take it in turns. 00:09:40.440 --> 00:09:41.379 But it's hilarious. 00:09:41.540 --> 00:09:43.160 The sheep just ignore them. 00:09:43.379 --> 00:09:45.540 They just carry on eating the grass. 00:09:45.639 --> 00:09:46.580 They couldn't care less. 00:09:46.580 --> 00:09:51.340 And then they bring the farmer along, who owns the sheep. 00:09:52.420 --> 00:09:56.120 And as soon as he calls them, their heads kind of pop up like this. 00:09:57.060 --> 00:10:02.000 And they stop eating the grass and they start running over to the farmer. 00:10:02.240 --> 00:10:02.680 It's great. 00:10:02.679 --> 00:10:16.599 What differentiates Jesus from the false shepherds is that the people he has come to rescue and care for will instinctively recognise him. 00:10:17.699 --> 00:10:18.439 Did you see that? 00:10:18.519 --> 00:10:19.099 Verse 3. 00:10:19.819 --> 00:10:22.039 The sheep hear his voice. 00:10:23.179 --> 00:10:25.079 And he calls his own sheep by name. 00:10:26.199 --> 00:10:27.959 They know his voice. 00:10:28.079 --> 00:10:28.759 Verse 4. 00:10:29.559 --> 00:10:30.339 Verse 14. 00:10:30.340 --> 00:10:32.639 I know my sheep and my sheep know me. 00:10:32.980 --> 00:10:35.019 A stranger they won't follow, he says. 00:10:35.139 --> 00:10:39.940 They'll flee from him, but they'll recognise me when I speak to them. 00:10:41.680 --> 00:10:45.100 It is what happened to the blind man last week, if you were here. 00:10:46.399 --> 00:10:53.759 We might ask, might we, why do people like the blind man still keep giving evidence in favour of Jesus? 00:10:54.900 --> 00:10:56.500 Why is he so tenacious? 00:10:56.500 --> 00:11:02.899 When the police state of the religious authorities are clamping down on people like him. 00:11:04.100 --> 00:11:10.480 John told us last week, didn't he, that they'll throw out anyone who stands with Jesus and gives evidence in his favour. 00:11:11.019 --> 00:11:13.299 They will exile them. 00:11:14.360 --> 00:11:16.700 Socially, economically and religiously. 00:11:17.740 --> 00:11:19.620 Excommunicating them from the temple system. 00:11:19.620 --> 00:11:24.379 And why is it that today, people still give evidence in favour of Jesus? 00:11:25.700 --> 00:11:28.720 When they know full well that they're going to be thrown out of their family. 00:11:29.560 --> 00:11:30.620 Or their job. 00:11:31.340 --> 00:11:32.799 Or society as a whole. 00:11:32.960 --> 00:11:34.039 Or even worse. 00:11:35.259 --> 00:11:38.139 I heard a story, a horrific story of a boy. 00:11:38.820 --> 00:11:41.580 Who was shot in the stomach four times. 00:11:42.560 --> 00:11:45.460 Because he wouldn't renounce his faith in Jesus Christ. 00:11:45.460 --> 00:11:52.560 As men pointed a gun at him, he shouted out, I am so scared but I will not renounce Jesus. 00:11:53.100 --> 00:11:53.759 And they killed him. 00:11:55.220 --> 00:11:59.379 People in the Gospels, they face ridicule and much worse, don't they? 00:12:00.440 --> 00:12:03.500 The disciples, many of them were killed for their tenacity. 00:12:03.759 --> 00:12:06.120 They kept giving evidence of who Jesus was. 00:12:06.120 --> 00:12:08.139 Why is that? 00:12:09.500 --> 00:12:15.899 It is because these people, God's people, recognise the voice of their shepherd when they hear it. 00:12:16.919 --> 00:12:20.539 And they flee from anybody else, no matter what they throw at them. 00:12:21.899 --> 00:12:28.019 Earlier in John's Gospel, in chapter 4, the disciples are given a chance by Jesus to walk away. 00:12:28.539 --> 00:12:29.299 If they want to. 00:12:30.259 --> 00:12:31.799 A group leaves Jesus. 00:12:32.200 --> 00:12:33.279 They stop listening to him. 00:12:33.279 --> 00:12:37.679 And he says to his disciples, guys, do you want to go away as well? 00:12:38.919 --> 00:12:42.000 And Peter says, Lord, to whom else shall we go? 00:12:42.919 --> 00:12:44.879 You have the words of eternal life. 00:12:45.000 --> 00:12:49.480 You see, the sheep recognise the shepherd's voice when they hear it. 00:12:50.439 --> 00:12:56.299 And centuries of church history speaks of the identity of this man as the good shepherd. 00:12:56.299 --> 00:13:01.279 If you think about it, there are only a few explanations, aren't there? 00:13:01.979 --> 00:13:10.359 Either these people are so deluded that they die for something they think is true when it's just all made up. 00:13:11.179 --> 00:13:16.539 Or they know that Jesus is false and his message is false and they die for it anyway. 00:13:16.539 --> 00:13:22.659 So the first argument, you want to say, well, have you read the written work of the New Testament? 00:13:24.399 --> 00:13:28.339 These are not the words of some deluded, crazy people. 00:13:29.620 --> 00:13:31.500 They are brilliantly written. 00:13:32.759 --> 00:13:37.339 Coherent, logical, artistic, sane words. 00:13:37.340 --> 00:13:45.860 The written work of the New Testament and the whole Bible is unprecedented in quality and in content. 00:13:46.840 --> 00:13:52.460 One secular writer comments, the subsequent impact of the English translation of the Bible in English literature 00:13:52.460 --> 00:13:54.840 might be traced in a thousand ways. 00:13:55.220 --> 00:14:00.660 In the work of Milton, Bunyan, D.H. Lawrence, Walt Whitman and Defoe and he could go on and on. 00:14:00.659 --> 00:14:10.600 With the English Bible it's been said there would be no paradise lost, no pilgrim's progress, no negro spirituals, no Gettysburg Address. 00:14:11.759 --> 00:14:15.819 See, deluded, crazy people cannot produce something like the Bible. 00:14:17.539 --> 00:14:22.679 And dying for something that you know to be false, that is just ridiculous, isn't it? 00:14:23.079 --> 00:14:24.120 Who is going to do that? 00:14:25.079 --> 00:14:28.699 It would be ridiculous to die for a cause that you know is wrong. 00:14:28.700 --> 00:14:34.920 And so the only explanation of these people who just keep giving evidence, 00:14:36.340 --> 00:14:39.800 the tenacity of the faith of God's people against the world, 00:14:39.900 --> 00:14:42.940 is that they just recognise the voice of their shepherds. 00:14:45.300 --> 00:14:53.280 Sharing the Gospel is not a sort of hope for the best kind of thing. 00:14:53.279 --> 00:14:59.120 Do you know we run these talks, we share the words of Jesus with people, don't we? 00:14:59.620 --> 00:15:04.059 With anyone, it doesn't matter where they come from, it doesn't matter what religion they have, 00:15:04.379 --> 00:15:05.959 it doesn't matter what their past is. 00:15:07.000 --> 00:15:12.519 It is totally indiscriminate, Jesus' Gospel, that the call is totally inclusive. 00:15:13.480 --> 00:15:16.059 There is no one walking down the street this afternoon, 00:15:16.059 --> 00:15:19.579 who we can look at and go, oh, they won't be interested. 00:15:20.719 --> 00:15:24.079 They're not from sort of white, western, Christian tradition. 00:15:25.379 --> 00:15:27.659 We share the good news of Jesus without prejudice, 00:15:28.059 --> 00:15:32.039 because his chosen people will recognise his voice, 00:15:32.599 --> 00:15:35.639 no matter what their condition, and no matter what the opposition. 00:15:35.639 --> 00:15:40.100 Evangelism is not a stab in the dark. 00:15:41.620 --> 00:15:44.580 It's true, not everyone will be his follower, isn't it? 00:15:44.620 --> 00:15:48.639 But it is certainly that there are some in the world who will. 00:15:50.139 --> 00:15:52.539 And there are definitely some who will hear Jesus 00:15:52.539 --> 00:15:56.699 and know that he is different from every other voice that they've ever heard. 00:15:58.179 --> 00:16:00.700 I wonder when people ask you, you know, 00:16:00.779 --> 00:16:02.419 why do you believe? 00:16:02.720 --> 00:16:03.720 Why are you a Christian? 00:16:03.720 --> 00:16:08.800 Again, we need to be much better, I think, at giving good answers on that. 00:16:09.500 --> 00:16:11.259 And we need to be better at helping you with that. 00:16:11.320 --> 00:16:14.000 But sometimes it's just hard to put your finger on it, isn't it? 00:16:15.879 --> 00:16:21.160 And often it is just that something resonated with us in Jesus' words. 00:16:22.360 --> 00:16:28.300 That before I heard him, all other noises and voices of the world just seemed so inane. 00:16:28.299 --> 00:16:35.899 And if there is a voice that is shouting loudly, but it's not recognised by Christians, 00:16:36.539 --> 00:16:38.139 then it's not the right voice. 00:16:38.199 --> 00:16:41.059 If it doesn't resonate with Christians, it is not right. 00:16:42.099 --> 00:16:48.359 Because Jesus has exclusive ownership, he has exclusive recognition from his people. 00:16:48.360 --> 00:16:55.080 And thirdly, exclusive mission for God's people. 00:16:55.080 --> 00:16:58.539 Jesus has an exclusive mission for God's people. 00:16:59.840 --> 00:17:04.519 And this is the thing, really, isn't it, that Jesus focuses on in the passage, 00:17:04.640 --> 00:17:09.380 that makes him stand out as the good shepherd. 00:17:09.380 --> 00:17:10.900 Look at verse 11. 00:17:12.400 --> 00:17:14.760 I am the good shepherd. 00:17:15.020 --> 00:17:15.920 Why is that? 00:17:17.200 --> 00:17:21.620 Because I lay my life down for the sheep. 00:17:22.080 --> 00:17:24.020 Verse 15, he says it again. 00:17:26.260 --> 00:17:27.320 Now, why is that? 00:17:28.180 --> 00:17:29.600 How does that make sense? 00:17:30.960 --> 00:17:35.420 The story goes of a man who jumped into a rough sea off the coast of Italy. 00:17:35.420 --> 00:17:38.180 And he killed himself. 00:17:38.480 --> 00:17:40.460 He jumped off a cliff and killed himself. 00:17:41.779 --> 00:17:45.500 And I guess you could say that he laid his life down. 00:17:47.259 --> 00:17:50.340 But doing that doesn't tell us anything about it, does it? 00:17:51.620 --> 00:17:55.380 The fact that he did that doesn't prove that that man was anyone special. 00:17:56.820 --> 00:18:02.660 And when Jesus allowed himself to die, that really in itself doesn't tell us anything about him, does it? 00:18:02.660 --> 00:18:04.400 That doesn't make him a good shepherd. 00:18:05.420 --> 00:18:06.759 And Jesus died. 00:18:06.920 --> 00:18:07.380 So what? 00:18:08.960 --> 00:18:13.880 If Jesus says, I'm a good shepherd, and then he jumps under a bus, 00:18:13.980 --> 00:18:15.400 he hasn't proven anything, has he? 00:18:15.660 --> 00:18:16.440 Just by dying. 00:18:17.759 --> 00:18:24.700 How does Jesus laying his life down mean that only he is the good shepherd that we need? 00:18:26.120 --> 00:18:29.759 The man who jumped off the cliff in Italy, his name was Simon Pearson. 00:18:30.640 --> 00:18:34.100 And he jumped into the sea knowing that he would die. 00:18:35.420 --> 00:18:42.460 But that action makes a lot more sense when you realise the bigger picture, that his daughter was already in the sea. 00:18:43.080 --> 00:18:44.259 His 11-year-old daughter. 00:18:45.560 --> 00:18:47.560 She was in deep water. 00:18:47.720 --> 00:18:49.100 She got caught in the currents. 00:18:49.360 --> 00:18:50.380 And she was in big trouble. 00:18:50.480 --> 00:18:51.640 Her life was in danger. 00:18:51.640 --> 00:18:59.820 And he saw her from the comfort of the warm sand and the sun of that Italian beach. 00:19:00.600 --> 00:19:04.480 And he was overwhelmed with love and instinct for her. 00:19:04.480 --> 00:19:07.000 And he didn't think about his own luxury. 00:19:08.019 --> 00:19:10.400 All he could think about was the life of his daughter. 00:19:10.620 --> 00:19:16.720 And so he plunged himself into the same death, in a way, of that water. 00:19:17.839 --> 00:19:20.759 He shared with her in her sufferings. 00:19:20.759 --> 00:19:24.460 But he didn't do that just to give her moral support, did he? 00:19:25.359 --> 00:19:28.440 It wasn't just sort of put her arm around her and say, I know how you feel. 00:19:30.519 --> 00:19:32.079 And to say, I'm a good daddy. 00:19:32.240 --> 00:19:33.319 I'm with you in this. 00:19:33.440 --> 00:19:33.680 No. 00:19:33.859 --> 00:19:37.759 He laid his life down to rescue her. 00:19:38.359 --> 00:19:39.140 That was the point. 00:19:41.660 --> 00:19:43.920 He died to give her life. 00:19:43.920 --> 00:19:49.800 And then, when you understand the story, his death really does prove something, doesn't it? 00:19:50.759 --> 00:19:52.340 That he was a good father. 00:19:54.080 --> 00:20:00.360 Reports say that as he fought to save her, he urged her, saying, hold on to my hand. 00:20:00.860 --> 00:20:01.820 Hold on to my hand. 00:20:03.680 --> 00:20:07.720 And that is what stands out about Jesus as the good shepherd. 00:20:08.880 --> 00:20:12.400 He says to us, doesn't he, I am the good shepherd that you need. 00:20:12.400 --> 00:20:20.780 And the reason his death proves that is because we, like that little girl, are in danger. 00:20:22.340 --> 00:20:27.000 And Jesus jumps into our death and he says, hold on to my hand. 00:20:28.420 --> 00:20:31.000 And without his death, we have no life. 00:20:33.759 --> 00:20:36.860 Don't misunderstand what happens when Jesus died. 00:20:36.980 --> 00:20:38.340 He is not a victim. 00:20:38.339 --> 00:20:43.819 He says here, doesn't he, he is in control of his own death. 00:20:43.939 --> 00:20:44.559 Verse 18. 00:20:44.720 --> 00:20:46.619 No one takes it from me. 00:20:47.799 --> 00:20:50.079 I lay my own life down. 00:20:50.579 --> 00:20:55.939 If that man had been pushed off the cliff into the sea, his rescue would have meant little, wouldn't it? 00:20:56.879 --> 00:20:58.720 But Jesus comes voluntarily. 00:20:59.759 --> 00:21:03.119 And he goes down into death and he lifts us up in life. 00:21:03.119 --> 00:21:08.839 And Jesus cannot be your shepherd without laying his life down. 00:21:09.899 --> 00:21:13.279 And you cannot be looked after and cared for. 00:21:13.459 --> 00:21:16.299 And you cannot live unless he dies. 00:21:19.219 --> 00:21:21.459 Let me finish with one more story. 00:21:22.819 --> 00:21:25.979 The Prince of Grenada, he was the heir to the Spanish crown. 00:21:25.980 --> 00:21:31.259 And he was sentenced to life confinement in Madrid's drearious prison. 00:21:32.099 --> 00:21:36.059 And he was given only one book to read for the entire time. 00:21:36.120 --> 00:21:39.019 He was in there for 33 years until he died. 00:21:39.120 --> 00:21:40.319 And he had one book. 00:21:40.940 --> 00:21:42.839 It was the Bible to read. 00:21:42.839 --> 00:21:50.699 When they came to clear out the cell after he died, they found notes written all around the walls. 00:21:51.699 --> 00:21:52.740 Said things like this. 00:21:53.279 --> 00:21:56.519 Psalm 118 verse 8 is the middle verse in the Bible. 00:21:57.819 --> 00:22:02.119 Ezra 7.21 contains all the letters of the alphabet except the letter J. 00:22:02.919 --> 00:22:07.299 The ninth verse of the eighth chapter of Esther is the longest verse in the Bible. 00:22:07.299 --> 00:22:14.139 See, the Prince of Grenada, he'd had 30 years of exposure to the Bible. 00:22:14.299 --> 00:22:15.799 He'd read it hundreds of times. 00:22:17.139 --> 00:22:22.839 But actually all he found in the Bible was meaningless trivia, wasn't it? 00:22:24.220 --> 00:22:27.159 Because he'd not listened to the shepherd's voice. 00:22:28.339 --> 00:22:29.960 And he hadn't heard the shepherd's voice. 00:22:31.720 --> 00:22:34.019 And sadly that is true of the son, isn't it? 00:22:34.019 --> 00:22:43.160 But he says to you, as the good shepherd, hold my hand. 00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:47.019 Because you are in danger. 00:22:48.319 --> 00:22:51.319 And there really is nobody else that you can trust. 00:22:52.680 --> 00:22:55.079 Nobody else who owns you. 00:22:56.019 --> 00:22:57.859 And has the right to be trusted. 00:22:59.279 --> 00:23:00.660 Nobody else who has the password. 00:23:00.660 --> 00:23:08.279 No one else who has the familiar voice that his people know and love. 00:23:09.620 --> 00:23:14.920 And nobody else who has given his life to keep you from that danger. 00:23:16.660 --> 00:23:17.680 And so listen to him. 00:23:18.920 --> 00:23:20.060 And hold on to him. 00:23:20.360 --> 00:23:20.940 Let us pray. 00:23:20.940 --> 00:23:50.920 Let us pray.