WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:09.779 now we're going to read together from John chapter 10, so if you have a device or a Bible, 00:00:10.500 --> 00:00:15.380 it'll be helpful to find John 10 there, the words are also going to be up on our screen, 00:00:16.839 --> 00:00:25.539 and we'll read from verse 1 to verse 18 together, so let's hear the Word of God, 00:00:25.539 --> 00:00:31.379 very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate, 00:00:31.660 --> 00:00:38.240 but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber, the one who enters by the gate is the 00:00:38.240 --> 00:00:43.420 shepherd of the sheep, the gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice, 00:00:43.960 --> 00:00:49.859 he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out, when he has brought out all his own, he goes on 00:00:49.859 --> 00:00:55.280 ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice, but they will never follow 00:00:55.280 --> 00:01:00.259 a stranger, in fact they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice, 00:01:01.079 --> 00:01:06.079 Jesus used this figurative speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them, 00:01:06.879 --> 00:01:14.719 therefore Jesus said again, very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep, all who have come before 00:01:14.719 --> 00:01:21.079 me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them, I am the gate, whoever enters 00:01:21.079 --> 00:01:27.980 through me will be saved, they will come in and go out and find pasture, the thief comes only to steal 00:01:27.980 --> 00:01:37.000 and kill and destroy, I have come that they may have life and have it to the full, I am the good shepherd, 00:01:37.359 --> 00:01:43.739 the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep, the hired hand is not the shepherd who does and does 00:01:43.739 --> 00:01:50.079 not own the sheep, so when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away, then the wolf 00:01:50.079 --> 00:01:56.619 attacks the flock and scatters it, the man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the 00:01:56.619 --> 00:02:05.079 sheep, I am the good shepherd, I know my sheep and my sheep know me, just as the father knows me and I know 00:02:05.079 --> 00:02:11.659 the father and I lay down my life for the sheep, I have other sheep that are not of this sheepfold, I must 00:02:11.659 --> 00:02:19.159 bring them also, they too will listen to my voice and there shall be one flock and one shepherd, the 00:02:19.159 --> 00:02:26.919 reason my father loves me is that I lay down my life only to take it up again, no one takes it from me 00:02:26.919 --> 00:02:34.819 but I lay it down of my own accord, I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again, 00:02:34.819 --> 00:02:43.239 this command I received from my father, amen. So we're going to continue thinking about the heart 00:02:43.239 --> 00:02:49.359 of Christ as we see it in his public ministry and here we're going to think about the loving call of 00:02:49.359 --> 00:02:55.959 Jesus, the good shepherd but before we get to our text I just want to set the scene and I do that 00:02:55.959 --> 00:03:01.859 careful not to take anything for granted because I've learned from past experience. So a few years ago 00:03:01.860 --> 00:03:07.920 we went to the Philippines for a while and we were teaching a group of kids at a Sunday school and I 00:03:07.920 --> 00:03:13.720 prepared this brilliant lesson along with Vicky that had games and songs and crafts and it wasn't 00:03:13.720 --> 00:03:19.780 until a few minutes in when one little child put his hand up and asked what's a sheep? So we need to 00:03:19.780 --> 00:03:24.320 be clear on sheep and shepherds so we have a picture, oh we should have a picture up there hopefully 00:03:24.320 --> 00:03:31.800 to help us to think, yes. So in the Middle East in the times of Jesus, sheep would be kept in 00:03:31.800 --> 00:03:38.680 a pen, a walled pen, there'd be various families would keep their sheep in a shared pen and they'd 00:03:38.680 --> 00:03:45.900 hire a watchman to stand at the gate to both defend from wolves or other animals but also to let the 00:03:45.900 --> 00:03:52.500 shepherds come in and out and take their sheep to pasture. So that's one important background but 00:03:52.500 --> 00:03:56.920 also we need to go further and to think about the background of the Old Testament because the shepherd 00:03:56.919 --> 00:04:03.479 image is one that has been there for a long time. So we think perhaps about King David who wrote Psalm 23, 00:04:03.619 --> 00:04:10.839 the Lord is my shepherd and he was a shepherd who became the king and that idea of the king as shepherd 00:04:10.839 --> 00:04:17.539 over the people of God is one that we find in the Bible. So we read at the beginning from Ezekiel 00:04:17.539 --> 00:04:23.599 chapter 34 and what we have there is God announcing judgment on bad shepherds over the people. 00:04:23.600 --> 00:04:29.879 They didn't care well, they didn't teach well, they took advantage of the people and God said I'm 00:04:29.879 --> 00:04:37.060 judging them and instead I the Lord will be their shepherd and then later on and we read it the Lord 00:04:37.060 --> 00:04:46.020 would send a shepherd, another David. And so when Jesus comes and he says I am, title of God, the good 00:04:46.020 --> 00:04:52.680 shepherd, that's a loaded term where Jesus is recognizing himself as the fulfillment of 00:04:52.680 --> 00:04:59.199 Old Testament promises. But we also have to think about the background in John's gospel because 00:04:59.199 --> 00:05:05.220 what's been happening in the last few chapters has been conflict, conflict between Jesus and the 00:05:05.220 --> 00:05:14.579 Pharisees, the religious leaders. In chapter 9 we find the Pharisees kicking out of the temple a man who 00:05:14.579 --> 00:05:22.459 was blind who Jesus had healed. The reason for him being kicked out, he had faith in Jesus. Jesus 00:05:22.459 --> 00:05:28.579 shows his heart of kindness and love to the man both in healing him and revealing that Jesus is the 00:05:28.579 --> 00:05:34.959 promised son of man so that this formerly blind man actually worships Jesus. So all of that is the 00:05:34.959 --> 00:05:41.939 background that comes together for Jesus in John 10 saying I am the good shepherd. And we're going to think 00:05:41.939 --> 00:05:46.660 about the heart of Jesus, recognizing that in contrast to the other leaders of his day, 00:05:47.459 --> 00:05:54.879 other voices that people might listen to, Jesus is sounding a loving call to life with God. He's inviting 00:05:54.879 --> 00:06:05.159 people in to the flock of God and he will do that by laying down his own life for his sheep. So three things 00:06:05.160 --> 00:06:12.000 for us to notice. First of all, there's a lot of mention of the shepherd's voice, especially in the 00:06:12.000 --> 00:06:20.500 first five verses, but also in verse 16. So first five verses, the picture there is of that sheep pen, 00:06:20.560 --> 00:06:26.720 but there are thieves and robbers around it and they are looking to claim over to harm and to steal. 00:06:27.500 --> 00:06:34.000 But by contrast, there is a shepherd and he is recognized and he enters and he calls his sheep 00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:40.800 and he leads them out. Three things to notice about the voice of the shepherd. First of all, 00:06:40.899 --> 00:06:48.300 it's a voice that's known and trusted. Read with me if you will. Verse three again, where we read, 00:06:48.420 --> 00:06:54.839 the gatekeeper opens the gate for the shepherd and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep 00:06:54.839 --> 00:07:05.219 by name and leads them out. The shepherd calls, the sheep follow. The shepherd goes ahead and they follow 00:07:05.219 --> 00:07:11.439 his lead. They follow his voice. Jesus says they won't follow a stranger, but they will follow their 00:07:11.439 --> 00:07:21.399 shepherd. They have learned by experience. This is the man who I can trust. He cares for us. He is for us. 00:07:21.399 --> 00:07:29.459 He is a safe voice to follow. And do we hear what Jesus is saying? He's saying, that's what I would be 00:07:29.459 --> 00:07:40.239 to each one of us. That safe voice to follow, leading us to life, to give us everything that we need in 00:07:40.239 --> 00:07:48.839 relationship with him. That voice from the shepherd is also a personal call. Did you notice it there at 00:07:48.839 --> 00:07:55.699 the end of verse three? He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out? Not just thinking of the 00:07:55.699 --> 00:08:03.560 flock as a mass. Each sheep is known. Each is commanded, but that command is also an invitation. 00:08:04.859 --> 00:08:12.339 Follow me and you will have protection. Follow me and I will make sure you find the feeding of pasture. 00:08:12.339 --> 00:08:20.899 Follow me and I will give guidance through some of the difficult terrain that you will face. 00:08:23.399 --> 00:08:29.819 We might look at sheep and think they're all the same, kind of fluffy with black legs, but not to 00:08:29.819 --> 00:08:37.980 a shepherd and not to Jesus, the good shepherd. And just as encouraging for us, so we gather a very 00:08:37.980 --> 00:08:45.560 small section of the church as it happens. We're part of a flock. But in Christ, we're loved and known 00:08:45.560 --> 00:08:53.539 and cared for individually. He knows our stories. He knows our struggles. He knows our hopes and fears. 00:08:53.940 --> 00:09:02.920 And he is for us. And he is calling us to him as we are. One other thing about the voice of the shepherd, 00:09:02.919 --> 00:09:11.059 and this is over in verse 16. He says there in verse 16, I have other sheep that are not of this 00:09:11.059 --> 00:09:18.819 sheepfold. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice and there shall be one flock 00:09:18.819 --> 00:09:26.179 and one shepherd. So here Jesus is talking about his mission to the non-Jewish nations. 00:09:26.179 --> 00:09:34.219 So he wants to call people from other nations to be part of the kingdom of God, part of the flock of 00:09:34.219 --> 00:09:42.539 God. And what's he saying? He's saying, when people hear my voice, they will hear and they will respond. 00:09:43.359 --> 00:09:49.039 It's a reminder of the effective call of God to save people from sin. We thought about it last week, 00:09:49.039 --> 00:09:56.039 God's irresistible grace in the life of those who he chooses. To use this image, 00:09:56.740 --> 00:10:05.299 the voice of Jesus is a guarantee that none of his sheep will be lost. None will be left to stray. 00:10:06.339 --> 00:10:14.779 So there is confidence in the success of God's plan to build his church. And it rests on the voice of 00:10:14.779 --> 00:10:23.360 Jesus, the authority of Jesus, the call of Jesus. As part of my homework for this week, I watched a 00:10:23.360 --> 00:10:27.259 YouTube video from a Norwegian sheep farm. It's probably the only time I've ever done that. 00:10:28.240 --> 00:10:35.299 And this shepherd from Norway, he was inviting people into his farm and there was a group of maybe 00:10:35.299 --> 00:10:41.759 20 sheep about 100 meters away. And he was inviting various guests to see if they could effectively call 00:10:41.759 --> 00:10:47.899 the sheep. So they were trying to copy the shepherd's call and the shepherd's voice. One after another 00:10:47.899 --> 00:10:53.840 was trying, failing miserably, as we would expect. But as soon as the shepherd came on camera, as soon 00:10:53.840 --> 00:10:59.500 as he started to speak, those sheep that were grazing, their heads were up and they were bleating and they 00:10:59.500 --> 00:11:07.259 were running because they knew the shepherd's voice. Let me ask each one of us very simply. 00:11:07.259 --> 00:11:16.399 Ask yourself, am I following the voice and the call of Jesus, the good shepherd? 00:11:18.319 --> 00:11:25.200 It's a wonderful picture of discipleship. He is the master who goes before us and he calls us to follow. 00:11:26.200 --> 00:11:35.679 Do we know him and trust him? Do we follow him in obedience? Are we willing to be led 00:11:35.679 --> 00:11:44.279 because we know that he is the one that we can trust? And maybe connected to that, where do you 00:11:44.279 --> 00:11:51.599 and I hear the voice of our good shepherd? We hear it in the Bible, don't we? We hear it in the word of 00:11:51.599 --> 00:11:59.039 God. We hear it in the good news of the gospel. That's why it's so important for us to be back together 00:11:59.039 --> 00:12:03.939 as the people of God Sunday by Sunday for Sunday worship. That's why it's so important that we 00:12:03.940 --> 00:12:10.340 find time in our busy schedules to be reading the Bible individually and as families. It's why we 00:12:10.340 --> 00:12:16.200 make time as a church for our community discipleship group because we never want to be far from the 00:12:16.200 --> 00:12:21.400 shepherd's voice. Because when we're listening and when we're obeying, that's where safety is. 00:12:21.740 --> 00:12:28.280 That's where life is to be found. So perhaps one application for today for each one of us is that we 00:12:28.279 --> 00:12:39.600 would either commit or recommit to following the call of Jesus and to hearing his voice in his word, 00:12:40.179 --> 00:12:42.819 whatever changes that might mean for us. 00:12:44.519 --> 00:12:48.139 Following on from the shepherd's voice, I want us to think about the shepherd's 00:12:48.139 --> 00:12:52.759 love for a few moments, especially from verses 7 to 10. 00:12:52.759 --> 00:13:00.840 So remember that the conflict theme that's rumbling in the background. And then hear Jesus' words 00:13:00.840 --> 00:13:07.639 in verse 8, all who have come before me are thieves and robbers. And then in verse 10, 00:13:07.720 --> 00:13:14.759 the thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy. This is a word spoken against the false 00:13:14.759 --> 00:13:23.600 teachers of his day who are claiming, you need to listen to us and be like us because we will teach 00:13:23.600 --> 00:13:29.200 you and show you the way to God. And Jesus would say, no, you're wolves in sheep's clothing because 00:13:29.200 --> 00:13:35.819 you are rejecting me, the Son of God, the one who is the good shepherd. They were making much of 00:13:35.819 --> 00:13:41.500 themselves rather than giving glory to God. And their path was a path to death and not to life. 00:13:41.500 --> 00:13:48.620 So not everybody who claims to represent God really does represent God and teach his word faithfully. 00:13:49.500 --> 00:13:55.019 We had two of our friends from India joining us on Wednesday for a Zoom call. And one of the prayer 00:13:55.019 --> 00:14:02.539 requests was that the people of God would be protected from false teaching that they might hear online. 00:14:03.559 --> 00:14:09.720 Health, wealth, and prosperity teaching, which is a false gospel that would draw people away from 00:14:09.720 --> 00:14:15.019 trusting in the Lord Jesus and in the message of the word of God. 00:14:16.740 --> 00:14:22.500 Jesus recognizes that in his day, and it's still a reality today. But by contrast to the thieves and 00:14:22.500 --> 00:14:28.860 robbers, Jesus says, verse 7, very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 00:14:30.200 --> 00:14:36.920 What's he saying there? He's saying the only way to be part of the flock of God, to be in the kingdom 00:14:36.919 --> 00:14:43.099 of God is through Jesus. It's another way for him to say, as he said in John 14, 6, I am the way 00:14:43.099 --> 00:14:50.179 and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Jesus, in lots of different 00:14:50.179 --> 00:14:58.000 ways, claims he is the exclusive way of access to God, and not just to God, but to life with God. 00:14:58.000 --> 00:15:06.120 In verse 9, he says, I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved. There is safety and 00:15:06.120 --> 00:15:14.419 there is salvation in coming to God through Jesus. Verse 10, his sheep will come in and go out and find 00:15:14.419 --> 00:15:21.360 pasture. There is feeding. There is plenty. In verse 10, he talks about, I have come that they may have 00:15:21.360 --> 00:15:28.840 life and have it to the full. There is abundant life and there is salvation that comes only from Jesus. 00:15:30.279 --> 00:15:36.560 And also further on in verses 14 and 15, there's this wonderful statement again, I am the good 00:15:36.560 --> 00:15:43.320 shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep know me. And then he gives a comparison, just as the Father 00:15:43.320 --> 00:15:50.159 knows me and I know the Father. Do we see the loving heart of Jesus there? He's saying, 00:15:50.159 --> 00:15:58.799 just as I have this eternal loving fellowship with my Father in heaven, so I love my church, 00:15:59.379 --> 00:16:05.980 my sheep. This is the loving shepherd of Luke chapter 15. Jesus loved the shepherd image. You 00:16:05.980 --> 00:16:11.379 know, Luke chapter 15, there's the lost sheep and the shepherd who goes searching. And when he finds it, 00:16:11.419 --> 00:16:15.220 he puts it on his shoulder. He returns home with joy and has a great feast for the community 00:16:15.220 --> 00:16:24.000 because he'd found his lost sheep. Speaking of the joy Jesus has in welcoming sinners who turn to him 00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:32.879 and find salvation through him. Jesus is a loving shepherd. So let me encourage everybody today, 00:16:33.000 --> 00:16:40.500 don't miss the loving heart of Jesus, which is on display here. Hear what Jesus in his call is 00:16:40.500 --> 00:16:50.840 inviting you and I to. This is spiritual security and satisfaction and true and eternal life, enjoying 00:16:50.840 --> 00:16:56.799 knowing God. And when we think about who's calling us and what he's calling us to, 00:16:58.059 --> 00:17:05.240 why is it that so often we remain distant? Why is it that we become so cold to our Savior? 00:17:05.240 --> 00:17:14.359 We become apathetic in our faith. Rather than doubting his love, let's every day seek to prove 00:17:14.359 --> 00:17:22.359 it to be true, to enjoy him daily, to recognize we need him. So if Jesus is the shepherd, he's saying 00:17:22.359 --> 00:17:27.559 that we are sheep. As sheep, we need guidance and protection. And Jesus is saying, I would give that 00:17:27.559 --> 00:17:35.599 to you because I love you. Jesus in the gospel, he is calling us in. He's calling us into the safety of 00:17:35.599 --> 00:17:44.740 God's kingdom, God's flock. Why would we stay on the outside? What could be better than this life that we 00:17:44.740 --> 00:17:55.480 were made for? Life of knowing and enjoying the love of God. So again, maybe we need to consider the loving 00:17:55.480 --> 00:18:05.339 heart of Jesus and to think about our choices, that we would choose for true life and eternal life and 00:18:05.339 --> 00:18:12.259 not anything less. The last thing I want to draw attention to, and it sort of follows on from the 00:18:12.259 --> 00:18:19.339 shepherd's love, is to think about the shepherd's sacrifice, especially in verse 11, but verses 15 to 00:18:19.339 --> 00:18:27.459 18 as well. So being a shepherd was a tough job, still is, a dirty and a demanding and at times a 00:18:27.459 --> 00:18:34.220 dangerous job. David, in the Old Testament, just before he goes out to face Goliath, he tells King 00:18:34.220 --> 00:18:39.139 Saul, when I was a shepherd looking after my father's sheep, there were times when I had to rescue 00:18:39.139 --> 00:18:43.819 sheep from the jaws of a lion or I had to protect the flock from the attack of a bear. 00:18:43.819 --> 00:18:49.319 Dangerous job. And that's the pattern. And here comes Jesus, the true shepherd king, 00:18:49.480 --> 00:18:55.720 and he's not just going to risk his life, he's actually going to, verse 11, be the good shepherd 00:18:55.720 --> 00:19:03.319 who lays down his life for the sheep. What's the supreme demonstration of love? 00:19:04.879 --> 00:19:10.799 Jesus would say it's self-sacrifice. It's giving oneself for another. He'll say it in just a few 00:19:10.799 --> 00:19:15.639 chapters in John's gospel, the night before he goes to the cross, he will tell his friends, 00:19:15.740 --> 00:19:23.799 greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. And then Paul, 00:19:23.960 --> 00:19:28.419 reflecting on the cross in Romans 5 and verse 8, says, God demonstrates his love for us in this, 00:19:28.519 --> 00:19:35.399 while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. At the heart of the good news of Christianity is the 00:19:35.400 --> 00:19:45.500 self-sacrificial love of Jesus, the good shepherd. And here he is anticipating his work on the cross. 00:19:46.440 --> 00:19:55.000 As he says, I, like a good shepherd, will lay down my life for my sheep. I won't turn and run from 00:19:55.000 --> 00:20:03.540 danger. Rather, I will face it down to protect those I love. This little section really brings us 00:20:03.539 --> 00:20:11.920 into the heart of Jesus. We can go deeper still. Verse 17, we learn something about the relation 00:20:11.920 --> 00:20:20.159 between the father and the son. The reason my father loves me is that I lay down my life only to take it 00:20:20.159 --> 00:20:27.019 up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down 00:20:27.019 --> 00:20:33.680 again and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my father. So Jesus is saying, 00:20:34.099 --> 00:20:41.039 God the father, he loves me because I am perfectly obedient to the eternal plan of salvation. 00:20:41.980 --> 00:20:46.720 Jesus is not going to deviate from that plan to save sinners by going to the cross to die for us. 00:20:47.180 --> 00:20:55.819 And Jesus says, I willingly lay down my life. Because he loves his father, yes, but also because he 00:20:55.819 --> 00:21:03.240 loves his people, he loves his sheep. In Hebrews, the book of Hebrews, for the joy set before him, 00:21:03.299 --> 00:21:11.179 Jesus endured the cross and scorned its shame. Here is Jesus in complete authority. He's saying, 00:21:11.279 --> 00:21:16.200 I have authority to lay down my life and I have authority to take it up again. And he's using that 00:21:16.200 --> 00:21:24.759 authority for his sheep, not only in his dying, but also in his rising in glory and in victory, 00:21:24.759 --> 00:21:34.339 because where the shepherd goes, so the sheep will follow. So just as Jesus took his life up again, 00:21:34.500 --> 00:21:39.920 and then was ascended to the glory of heaven, there is that promise that that is the reality. 00:21:40.460 --> 00:21:47.680 Eternal glory is the reality for all those who follow him. There is so much good news in here. 00:21:47.680 --> 00:21:54.519 We have here a shepherd who is for us and with us always. What's Jesus, our good shepherd, doing now? 00:21:54.740 --> 00:22:00.539 He's praying for us. He's pleading our cause. He's saying to the Father, look, I have made that 00:22:00.539 --> 00:22:10.039 sacrifice to cover their sins. They are mine, and I will have them to be with me. We have this promise 00:22:10.039 --> 00:22:16.860 of Jesus, the good shepherd who has fought off all of our great enemies, Satan and sin and death, 00:22:16.859 --> 00:22:24.519 and he's won a decisive victory over them at the cross. And it's this Jesus who calls us to follow 00:22:24.519 --> 00:22:34.819 him, and to follow him to enjoy life to the full, to enjoy salvation from him. So it's true sometimes 00:22:34.819 --> 00:22:42.359 that people say to be a sheep is a negative thing. Someone says to a person, he's such a sheep. You know, 00:22:42.359 --> 00:22:48.339 he's led by someone else and someone else's ideas, just a follower, somebody who's perhaps weak. 00:22:49.719 --> 00:22:54.859 But you know, Jesus is our good shepherd. It's entirely different, isn't it? If he is the one 00:22:54.859 --> 00:23:00.479 we follow, then we know that in him we have protection. We recognize our own inability and 00:23:00.479 --> 00:23:04.959 our weakness, and we look to him for strength. He is the one who will protect us from Satan, 00:23:05.359 --> 00:23:10.500 that roaring lion that seeks to devour. He is the one that will protect us from those wolves in 00:23:10.500 --> 00:23:16.259 sheep's clothing that would lead us astray. He is the one who gives us everything that we need. He has 00:23:16.259 --> 00:23:21.839 promised, he has called, he has loved us, and he is the one who will keep us from here to eternity. 00:23:22.720 --> 00:23:30.960 So let's hear the call of Jesus, the good shepherd. Let's follow him today and always.