23-0813a Transcript

Preacher: Jim Lokenbauer

(0:52) Good morning everybody. As you (0:56) can tell by the text that has been read, and I present to you another offering (1:03) of Jesus the great I am, and the many I am statements that he makes, particularly (1:10) in the Gospel of John.

And this one is found in John chapter 10. A short time (1:22) ago I had presented you with a lesson where Jesus said, I am the door. And that (1:31) also was in John 10.

This is a continuation of that discourse that he was having with the people around him. (1:43) So a little background information on shepherds. Excuse me, I’m making mistakes.

I hope (1:53) you can still hear me. The society in biblical times was agricultural. So more (2:01) than half the jobs that people had were centered around the production of food and the raising (2:08) of animals for both food and clothing.

So everyone in those times understood the job of a shepherd (2:15) tending his flock. Therefore it was a favorite go-to allegory that God would use to illustrate (2:23) a point that he was making in his word. We see that many of God’s people were farmers (2:29) and shepherds.

The three main patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, were all shepherds. (2:38) Abel, Moses, David, and Amos were of the same profession, being shepherds in the Old Testament. (2:51) And Amos was a herdsman, which was a shepherd, but he was a hired hand.

He didn’t own sheep. (2:59) So God wants those who lead his people to do it as a shepherd who leads his sheep. (3:08) And shepherds, if they were the owner of the sheep or had an interest in the sheep, (3:17) would come to know their flock and have pet names for them.

And they were very close to their sheep. (3:26) They knew the character of each sheep who was prone to stray, who was prone to go down (3:32) and drink too much water and pop up and have to be rescued because their fur sucked up all the water. (3:40) So they really got to know their sheep.

And in Numbers 27, 17, when Moses was considering (3:50) his future replacement, which was going to be Joshua, he asked that the new leader would be (3:56) a man who will go out and come in before them, who will lead them out and bring them in (4:02) so that the congregation of the Lord will not be like sheep which have no shepherd. (4:08) So Moses recognized the important role of a shepherd and applied it to God’s people (4:17) and what a leader would be like. And in 2 Samuel 5, 2, when addressing David (4:23) as he began his rule as king of Israel, it was said to him by God that (4:29) you will shepherd my people, Israel, and you will be ruler over Israel.

(4:35) So David was a shepherd and understood what God expected of him. (4:42) God sort of spoke the same language of David and so he could relate to that (4:48) and knew what his job was going to be. And God wants his leaders to lead as a shepherd.

(4:54) He cares for the flock because that was how his Messiah, the leader, (5:00) was going to lead the people. And these next verses prove this point. (5:06) In Jeremiah 31.10, Yahweh God, where it says the Lord in your Bible, (5:13) is described as a shepherd himself and Israel as his flock.

(5:19) And it says, hear Yahweh’s word, you nations, and declare it in the distant lands. (5:25) Say, he who scattered Israel will gather him and keep him as a shepherd does his flock. (5:33) And the psalmist said of God the Father in 95.7, he is our God (5:39) and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.

(5:45) And in Isaiah 40.11, when the prophet was speaking words of comfort to the people (5:51) who were about to be led into captivity, he describes God as one who, (5:58) like a shepherd, he will tend his flock. In his arm he will gather the lambs and carry them. (6:05) In his bosom he will gently lead the nursing youth.

(6:10) So even as God was punishing those he loved, he was as a shepherd still caring for them. (6:18) And this shows a very compassionate God, even in his anger and punishment of his people, (6:27) he still took care of them. (6:29) So from these verses we see Yahweh depicting himself and those who lead his people (6:35) as being like shepherds.

(6:38) His people are portrayed as sheep, and sheep were created as domestic animals. (6:45) If you remember when God created the animals, he actually created several species domestic, (6:52) meaning they weren’t like the wild animals. (6:57) These sheep and cattle and cows and what other goats, (7:02) the common domestic animals would be used to human contact, (7:09) whereas later after the flood, God instilled fear of man in all animals (7:17) except the domestic animals.

(7:20) And if you wanted to check that out, you could look at Genesis 1.24 and 7 too, (7:26) and that explains a little more of that. (7:28) So domestic animals aren’t wild or unclean, and therefore he wants humans to care for them (7:36) and to do so in a humane way. (7:40) And sheep need a leader because they’re prone to go astray.

(7:44) Sheep can go feral though, and if they get separated from the flock (7:50) and live on their own out in the wild without human contact, (7:55) similar to humans who abandon God and his word, (8:00) humans can become wild, feral, pagan, also known as worldly, when left to their own devices. (8:09) All we have to do is look around us, and it’s easy to see who doesn’t follow God. (8:17) As a whole, sheep and the general human population are focused on several things, (8:24) the pursuit of food, water, shelter, and keeping the species going.

(8:30) So they both need someone looking out for them (8:33) and attending to the things that are out of their control. (8:36) And that’s why sheep need a shepherd and humans need leaders. (8:41) John chapter 10 is all about our Jesus who is our shepherd and our leader.

(8:50) And as I mentioned the last time I spoke on I Am the Door, (8:55) we explored that statement, and that was in John 10, 1 through 10. (9:02) And in those verses, Jesus primarily confronted the false shepherds, he called them, (9:11) who were actually the scribes and Pharisees. (9:15) And we looked at some verses from Ezekiel 34, (9:23) describing God rebuking those false shepherds of Israel.

(9:30) So today let’s look at the whole line of thought there to see what God wants in a shepherd. (9:38) So while rebuking the false shepherds, Ezekiel describes the proper role of the shepherd (9:45) that God the Father himself would be like in caring for Israel. (9:50) He said, Thus says the Lord God, (9:53) Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will demand my sheep from them, (9:58) and make them cease from feeding sheep, so the shepherds will not feed themselves any more.

(10:04) But I will deliver my flock from their mouth, so that they will not be food for them. (10:10) For thus says the Lord God, Behold, I myself will search for my sheep and seek them out, (10:17) as a shepherd cares for his herd in the day when he is among his scattered sheep. (10:23) So will I care for my sheep, and will deliver them from all the places to which they were scattered (10:30) on a cloudy and gloomy day.

(10:33) I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, (10:37) and will bring them out to their own land. (10:40) And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the streams, (10:45) and in all the inhabited places of the land. (10:48) I will feed them in a good pasture, and their grazing ground will be on the mountain heights of Israel.

(10:56) There they will lie down on good grazing ground, and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. (11:03) I will feed my flock, and I will lead them to rest, declares the Lord God. (11:08) I will seek the lost, bring back the scattered, bind up the broken, and strengthen the sick.

(11:16) But the fat and the strong I will destroy. (11:19) I will feed them with judgment. (11:21) Then I will set over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will feed them.

(11:27) He will feed them himself and be their shepherd. (11:32) So in those verses we have God the Father acting as heavenly shepherd, (11:39) exercising his care and providence, intending his flock Israel from heaven. (11:45) He was preparing the people for the true shepherd, (11:49) and he was pronouncing judgment upon the false shepherds of the time.

(11:57) And so the Messiah, when he comes from the bloodline of King David, (12:02) that’s why he said that David would feed them. (12:05) Actually it’s David’s descendant whom we know as Jesus. (12:10) The Messiah himself learned how to be a good shepherd from his Father in heaven.

(12:18) Our text for this lesson comes from John 10, 11 through 21, (12:24) where Jesus switches from his I am the door statement to I am the good shepherd. (12:31) As mentioned, this chapter starts out with Jesus painting a picture of these false teachers (12:38) who were described in Pharisees as false shepherds, (12:44) who by their evil behavior showed that they were not qualified to be shepherds, (12:51) or leaders, or teachers of the people. (12:54) In his seven woes to the Pharisees in Matthew 23, 15, (13:00) Jesus blasts them and says, (13:03) Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, (13:08) for you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, (13:12) and when he is won you make him twice as much of a son of hell as yourselves.

(13:18) Do you understand the implications that God is making on these false teachers, (13:29) shepherds, who are the scribes and Pharisees? (13:33) And do you see where Jesus places these false teachers? (13:37) First, they themselves are hypocrites, (13:40) trying to pass themselves off as the true children of God, (13:45) when by Jesus' words here and elsewhere in John’s Gospel, (13:50) he says their father is the devil, not God. (13:54) So in God’s eyes, these scribes and Pharisees are phoney, (14:01) false leaders, assuming the role of teacher. (14:06) So in addition to that, their teaching isn’t about enriching the hearers about God’s word, (14:12) it’s all about making little Pharisees, (14:15) who end up being more legalistic and hateful than the Pharisees.

(14:20) Garbage in, garbage out. (14:22) That’s their style of teaching. (14:24) Or keeping in the theme of the metaphor, their style of shepherding.

(14:29) If you remember, in chapter 9 of John, which I thought on, (14:35) they misjudged the man who was born blind, one of the sheep, (14:40) and threw him out of the synagogue. (14:44) They threw him out of the fold of God. (14:46) Truly false shepherds.

(14:52) So let’s look at our text today. (14:57) John 10, starting in verse 11. (15:03) John 10, verse 11.

(15:08) And I’ll read through verse 21. (15:11) I am the good shepherd. (15:13) The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

(15:17) The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. (15:20) So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. (15:25) Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it.

(15:29) The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. (15:34) I am the good shepherd. (15:36) I know my sheep and my sheep know me.

(15:39) Just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. (15:43) And I lay down my life for the sheep. (15:47) I have other sheep that are not of this sheep kind.

(15:50) I must bring them also. (15:52) They too will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock and one shepherd. (15:58) The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life, only to take it up again.

(16:05) No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. (16:08) I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. (16:14) This command I received from my Father.

(16:18) There arose a division among the Jews because of these words. (16:23) And many of them were saying, He has a demon and is insane. (16:28) Why do you listen to him? (16:29) Others were saying, These are not the sayings of one demon possessed.

(16:34) A demon cannot open the eyes of the blind. (16:37) Can he? (16:39) And again, they were referring to what happened in chapter 9, the man born blind. (16:45) Okay, so we’ll go over these verses, verse by verse.

(16:50) Verse 11, I am the good shepherd. (16:52) The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. (16:57) And this is probably, perhaps, the most recognized I am statement that Jesus makes about himself.

(17:05) Even more so than I am the bread of life. (17:09) Perhaps it could be that in this declaration of who he is, he’s linking himself to the most notable psalm in the whole Bible. (17:18) And probably the most recognized poem in the whole world.

(17:23) Psalm 23. (17:25) Do you remember Psalm 23? (17:28) I, you know, the Lord is my shepherd. (17:31) Well, I’m that Lord who is David’s shepherd and I’m your Lord.

(17:39) The good shepherd too is what Jesus is saying here. (17:42) And remember the names associated for our Lord in the book of Exodus. (17:49) From the burning bush.

(17:51) The angel of the Lord tells Moses to take off his shoes because the place where he was standing was holy. (17:57) And then he told Moses that he was Elohim. (18:03) And translators of the Bible substitute this holy name for the trinity with the word God.

(18:10) And that he was the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. (18:15) So he implies that he is El Shaddai too, whom the patriarchs were familiar with that name. (18:24) And we know this because later in their discussion in Exodus 6, 2-3, it says, (18:30) God spoke to Moses and said to him, I am Yahweh.

(18:34) And that’s the being in the burning bush. (18:38) And I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty. (18:42) But my name Yahweh, I was not known to them.

(18:46) So this same Jesus is that being. (18:54) So he can relate himself to being the Lord is my shepherd. (19:01) He’s that Lord.

(19:02) Yahweh is the shepherd. (19:04) And Jesus is saying, I am the good shepherd. (19:10) Pretty neat.

(19:12) So when Moses asked God, if the children of Israel ask me what your name is, what do I tell them? (19:21) God answered him in Exodus 3-14, I am who I am. (19:27) And he said, you shall tell the children of Israel this. (19:31) I am has sent me to you.

(19:34) And I am is the most holy name, Yahweh. (19:42) And Jehovah is a variant of the name Yahweh. (19:47) So God told Moses, tell the children of Israel, Yahweh has sent me to you.

(19:53) Our English translators, with their questionable reasoning, (19:57) thought by substituting or adding the name LORD with all capitals, (20:03) to remember this holy being would make it easier to remember him. (20:07) Yet with a new name rather than by his real name. (20:12) So they’re asking you to remember another name so that you wouldn’t get confused with the name Yahweh.

(20:18) It makes no sense to me. (20:20) So in our text here, Jesus says, I am the good shepherd. (20:24) He is saying he is Yahweh, the good shepherd.

(20:29) And that agrees with Psalm 23, which says, Yahweh is my shepherd. (20:34) I shall not want. (20:36) Jesus is David’s shepherd in that psalm.

(20:42) Why did Jesus choose to use the adjective good to describe the shepherd? (20:49) I believe, like a lot of words, they get misapplied today or used incorrectly. (20:56) And when done often enough, a word can end up having its meaning changed. (21:02) What a word means today often has a different meaning than what it did originally meant 100 years ago.

(21:09) Today when you think of a person being good, you might think, oh, that’s a nice person. (21:16) Or a likable person. (21:19) But that’s not what good means.

(21:23) So we defer to Noah Webster’s 1928 dictionary. (21:29) I love that dictionary, as I’ve said in the past, because he is not afraid to give glory to God (21:36) and uses oftentimes scripture to describe words. (21:42) So he goes the authority of authorities on language.

(21:47) So good, it means valid, legally firm, not weak or defective, (21:57) having strength adequate to its support. (22:02) So also it means, another meaning for it is valid, sound, not weak, false or fallacious, as a good argument. (22:13) Three, complete or sufficiently perfect in its kind, (22:17) having the physical qualities best adapted to its design and use, (22:22) opposed to bad, imperfect, corrupted, impaired.

(22:26) We say good timber, good cloth, a good soil, a good color. (22:31) And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. (22:39) Noah Webster, not afraid to put that in his dictionary.

(22:44) Do you see that today with the new collegiate dictionary? (22:48) I dare say no. (22:50) And the fourth definition, having moral qualities best adapted to its design and use, (22:59) or the qualities which God’s law requires, virtuous, pious, religious, (23:05) applied to persons and opposed to bad, vicious, wicked, and evil people. (23:10) So that’s what good means.

(23:13) I guess it could mean nice, but know what it means, okay? (23:19) Moral excellence. (23:22) We see these definitions for good in our Lord. (23:26) We see that he is sound and not weak.

(23:30) He is not false or fallacious, which means he is true, and he calls himself truth. (23:37) His word is truth, and he is opposed to that which is bad, corrupt, and evil. (23:45) Goodness is one of the Christlike virtues that we’re to strive to have.

(23:51) It’s one of the fruits of the Spirit. (23:54) So Jesus is the good shepherd, the shepherd whose moral quality is the finest that there is, (24:01) performing the duties of shepherd perfectly, so as to be the standard for all shepherds. (24:10) His statement, and I lay down my life for the sheep, (24:14) shows his commitment to his task and his love and care for his sheep.

(24:20) Unlike the hired hand, who in the story that Jesus told us ran away when the danger showed up, (24:29) he ran away because it was human nature to save his own skin. (24:35) Jesus moves towards the danger, confronts it, and protects his sheep, (24:41) even to the point of laying down his life. (24:47) Jesus proved that on the cross.

(24:52) So just like he did in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night Judas betrayed her, (24:58) he stepped forward in front of his men when the guard came. (25:04) Whom is it that you seek? (25:05) Jesus of Nazareth. (25:07) I am he.

(25:10) They all fell over at the power of I am. (25:14) And I’ll be bringing that lesson in the future. (25:19) So Jesus steps towards the danger to protect his sheep, true to his word.

(25:28) In John 15, 13 it says, (25:31) Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. (25:39) And in John 3, 16, we all know this. (25:42) For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, (25:46) that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

(25:52) And that’s what Jesus was talking about where he said, (25:55) And I lay down my life. (26:01) This everlasting life is made possible because Jesus, who was eternal, gave his life to save us. (26:12) So in verse 11, we have Jesus, Yahweh, making this statement, (26:19) I am the good shepherd.

(26:22) He is here staking his claim that he is the shepherd of the sheep, (26:26) the shepherd spoken of from the prophets. (26:30) Listen to these words from those prophets from the Old Testament (26:34) and compare them to what Jesus says in this discourse (26:39) and where those words were fulfilled in the New Testament scripture. (26:44) From Micah 5, 2, you have, (26:47) But you, Bethlehem, Ephratah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, (26:52) out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, (26:58) whose origins are from old, from ancient times.

(27:03) And then in Matthew 2, 6, we have the fulfillment of those words. (27:08) But you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are in no way least among the princes of Judah. (27:15) Out of you shall come a governor who shall shepherd my people of Israel.

(27:23) And Jesus, who is the ancient of days, was born a man in Bethlehem (27:30) and was at that time, and here, depicted as a shepherd and a ruler, governor. (27:39) By saying good shepherd, he is contrasting himself to the scribes and Pharisees (27:45) who were false shepherds, who were anything but good. (27:51) Part of being a good shepherd is the fact that he cares for his sheep to the point (27:57) where he was willing to lay down his life for them by putting himself between his sheep in danger.

(28:04) This also is a prophecy about himself, that he was going to lay down his life once for all for the sheep, (28:12) ending all forms of sacrifice by being an atoning sacrifice. (28:20) And in Zechariah 13, 7, it says, (28:22) Awake, sword against my shepherd, and against the man who is close to me, says Yahweh of armies. (28:31) Strike the shepherds, and the sheep will scatter, and I will turn my hand against the little ones.

(28:37) So Jesus reiterated this prophecy just before he laid down his life on the cross. (28:44) In Matthew 26, 31, he says, (28:49) Then Jesus said to them, All of you will be made to stumble because of me tonight. (28:56) The Lord has written, I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.

(29:06) These verses prove that the good shepherd did lay down his life for the sheep. (29:13) Hebrews 13, 20 said, Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep, (29:24) with the blood of the eternal covenant, our Lord Jesus. (29:30) 1 Peter 2, 24-25 says, He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, (29:38) that we, having died the sins, might live to righteousness, (29:43) by whose stripes you were healed, for you were going astray like sheep, (29:48) but now have returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls.

(29:54) And lastly, 1 Peter 5, 4, When the chief shepherd is revealed, (29:59) you will receive a crown of glory that doesn’t fade away. (30:05) So Jesus didn’t utter empty words. He proved his words by his actions, (30:13) by his moral purity and veracity.

(30:19) He went to the cross fearing nothing. He willingly gave his life. (30:26) No one took it from him, he said, but he laid it down of his own accord, (30:31) and by the same authority that he had from God, he raised it up again.

(30:38) So we’re going to stop right here and finish the rest of this, (30:43) I am the good shepherd this evening. (30:45) So the invitation is extended, if you want to make Jesus shepherd of your life, (30:51) you can come forward and make that great confession as we stand and sing.