Let us turn again to God's Word
and turning now to the New Testament and the familiar words that we
find in the 10th chapter of the Gospel according to Saint John
and directing you this morning to the words that we find here
in verse 11 and then again in verse 14. John 10 11. I am the good shepherd. The good
shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. And again, verse 14. I am the good shepherd and know
my sheep and am known of mine. We were away this last week for
a few days visiting our old friend Graham Miller in Guernsey. I
normally take something away to read on those occasions and
I was reading a sermon by an old Scots minister not preaching
on these words that I've just read but preaching from this
chapter but preaching rather on what Christ says concerning
himself as the door of the sheep in verse 9 that was a text he
was expounding this minister and speaking then on that theme
of the door of salvation and I want us to look at the door
of salvation this evening but I thought it might be appropriate
this morning to say something first of all with regards to
what Christ says concerning himself as the Good Shepherd and so we
come to these two verses that I've just read verse 11 and verse
14 And of course, I'm sure we're all familiar with the fact that
the elect of God are referred to often in scriptures as the
sheep of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we have those solemn words
concerning the final separation that the Lord will make when
he returns without sin unto salvation for his people. But as he separates
the sheep to himself so he will consign the goats to their appointed
place. Think of those solemn words that
we have, for example, in the 25th chapter of Matthew's Gospel,
where we read of the Day of Judgment, the coming of the Lord Jesus,
when the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy
angels with him. Then shall he sit upon the throne
of his glory, and before him shall be gathered all nations,
and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides
his sheep from the goats. And he shall set the sheep on
his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the king
say unto them on his right hand, Come ye blessed, and my father
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. Oh, He is the Good Shepherd and
He is that One who has secured the salvation of all that the
Father had given to Him in the eternal covenant and so it will
be evident in that great day. But how many there are to be
saved and the Lord reminds us of that fact here in this particular
chapter. The words of verse 16, he says,
are the sheep I have, which are not of this fold. Them also I
must bring, and they shall hear my voice. The Gospel is to go
out to the ends of the world, the calling of the Gentiles.
The same from Jew and Gentile. And there shall be one fold and
one shepherd, says the Lord. the Lord then has purpose to
save the people the election of grace and all these are the
sheep of the Lord Jesus and so this morning I want to say something
further with regards to knowing the Good Shepherd knowing the
Good Shepherd these words that we have particularly in verse
14 I am the Good Shepherd and know my sheep and am known of
mine but also to take account of what he said previously there
in verse 11 on two separate occasions in the matter of a few verses
the Lord then asserts that blessed truth I am the Good Shepherd
knowing the Good Shepherd and I want to deal with some three
points this morning first of all to say something with regards
to the shepherd, who the shepherd is, and in particular the deity
of the shepherd, the divinity of the Lord Jesus. And then the
dying of the shepherd, a great work that he came to accomplish.
And then finally the knowing of the shepherd. First of all
then, how the Lord Jesus is of course very much asserting that
great truth that he is none other than God, God manifest in the
flesh. I am, he says. I am the Good
Shepherd. And we have it twice. As I say,
it's here in verse 11 and again in verse 14. He is the I am. He is one in essence with the
Father and with the Holy Ghost. He is that one, the Eternal Son
of the Eternal Father who became incarnate. And when we think
of the constitution of His person as that one who is God and yet
man. He is the Son of God but He is
also the Son of Man. who is the only living, the only
true God. As we read in Isaiah 43, 11,
I even I am the Lord, and beside me there is no Saviour. And as you know, I'm sure we're
all familiar with the fact that we have throughout this Gospel
of John these great I am statements that the Lord makes. As I said,
I was reading a sermon on one of them just a few days ago there's
words at verse 9 I am the door he says by me if any men enter
in he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pastures
Remember later in chapter 14 and verse 6 he says, I am the
way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. And so we can go on repeating
these great statements. The words that he addresses to
Martha there at the grave of her brother Lazarus in the next
chapter, chapter 11. And verse 25, Jesus said unto
her, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in
me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever
liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? Or do we believe these great
statements that we find scattered throughout this gospel concerning
the one who is Jehovah Jesus? The I am that I am. And of course we have those words
previously in chapter 8, we looked at them in the past, where he
is addressing the Jews and he says, if you believe not that
I am He, you shall perish in your sins. Literally, if you
believe not that I am, that He is God, the Lord, Jehovah,
if you believe not that I am, you shall perish in your sins. And then again he says, verily,
verily, before Abraham was. As I say, John is continually
asserting this blessed truth that Jesus of Nazareth is none
other than the promised Messiah, the Son of God. God's manifest
in the flesh. And remember the language that
we have at the beginning of chapter 18 when they come to arrest Him
there in the garden. And He inquires whom seek you
and they say Jesus of Nazareth. And three times He says, I am
heard. I am heard. I am heard. But always that pronoun has been
introduced in the translation. Literally it says to them, I
am, I am, I am, and they fall backward. They cannot take him. He must give himself. His sacrifice
is a voluntary sacrifice. No man could take his life from
him. He had authority to lay that life down. That was the
commandment that he had received from the father. Oh, who is this
one then that's speaking here in our text this morning? It's
none other than the voice of the Lord God Himself. And it
is that promised one. Oh, it's that one of whom we
were reading in that portion back in Ezekiel 34. a remarkable chapter, I know
we've read it many times previously, but here we have the reproof
of the shepherds the shepherds in Israel, there were shepherds
in the Old Testament, pastors there was a threefold office
that the Lord God gave to His ancient covenant people, they
had those who were priests and those who were prophets and those
who were princes or kings and yet, how they failed, so many
Priests were unfaithful, ungodly men. Think of the sons of Eli. Wicked men. They were wicked
priests. They were those who were false
prophets, who only spoke their own words, and spoke of a false
priest, a false priest. Remember how the prophets such
as Ezekiel and Jeremiah to expose the false prophets. They are
not God's servants. And then so many of the princes,
the kings were wicked and ungodly men. And it's these men who are
being rebuked here in this chapter. Prophesy against the shepherds
of Israel. prophesy and say unto them thus
saith the Lord God unto the shepherds woe be to the shepherds of Israel
that do feed themselves should not the shepherds feed the flocks
and so we have many reproofs throughout the chapter but then
we come to that great promise and God says I will set up one
shepherd over them he shall feed them even my servant David he
shall feed them and he shall be their shepherd And I, the
Lord, will be their God, and my servant David, a prince among
them. I, the Lord, have spoken it,
and I will make a covenant of peace with them." Oh, it's the
Lord Jesus Christ who he's being spoken of, of course. Is he not
that one who is David's shepherd? Doesn't David say as much in
the familiar words of Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd? he was
a shepherd boy himself he was a faithful king in Israel he
was the Lord's servant but he needed one to shepherd him and
even his own son after the flesh as it were because Christ is
the son of David who is a real man and he's able to minister
to many minister to David as his God as his Savior and so
he ministers still to his people And though we see him there speaking
with such authority, how repeatedly we find him using that double
verily, the language that we have there
in verse 7, verily, verily. And you know the significance
of that. It's literally the word Amen, Amen, truly, truly. He is that one who is the Amen,
the faithful and true servant. He speaks the words of God. And we're taught, aren't we,
how God is not a man that he should lie, nor the son of man that
he should repent. Hath he spoken it, shall he not
do it? Oh, he is that one who is faithful
and true to his own word. This is the one then who is speaking.
And it's important that we recognize something of the authority of
the speaker. when we come to the Word of God
it's the Word of God, it's the Word of Christ the glory of His person the great
I am that I am but turning in the second place to the work
of the shepherd we might rather say the dying of the shepherd
in a sense as he says here in verse 11 I am the good shepherd,
the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep He is that
one who has come and is obedient and obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. Think about the figure that the
Lord is using throughout this chapter. It is that of the shepherd
and of course as he speaks of the shepherd they would be remembering
the practice of those eastern shepherds. What was the practice?
of those who were true shepherds, who really cared for their flocks.
Why they would hazard their lives. They were continually, constantly
keeping watch over their sheep. And when the Lord speaks of himself
as the door of the sheep, well that was the practice. In the
sheepfold there was an entrance but no door as such. But the
shepherd would be there in the east even watching over his flocks
during the night. Remember at the birth of the
Lord Jesus we're told back in Luke 2 there were in the same
country shepherds abiding in the fields keeping watch over
their flocks by night. And so, as they put the sheep
into the fold, they would sleep in the opening, as it were. They'd
be the door, ever on hand, there to protect the sheep, should
any ferocious beast come to attack them. And now David, of course. David, as a shepherd boy, would
risk his own life in caring for the sheep. he would fight off
the the bear and the lion when they came to devour the sheep
this was the practice of those eastern shepherds they had such
a love for their flocks and even Jacob when he was caring for
Laban's sheep how he was ready and willing to weary himself
we have the language there back in Genesis 31 remember how Laban in many ways deceived him
but of course hadn't Jacob deceived his own brother Esau in stealing
the birthright and what a man so's had he reaps Laban is so
deceitful in his dealings with Jacob and now he has to serve
and serve and serve again in order to obtain Rachel for his
bride but there in chapter 31 of Genesis Verse 38, speaking to Laban,
Jacob said, This twenty years have I been with thee. Thy ewes
and thy she-goats have not cast their young, and the rams of
thy flock have I not eaten? That which was torn of beasts
I brought not unto thee, I bear the loss of it. Of my hand it
is how required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. Thus
I was In the day the drought consumed, and the frost by night,
and my sleep departed from mine eyes. Thus have I been twenty
years in thy house. I served thee fourteen years
for thy two daughters, and six years for thy cattle, and thou
hast changed my wages ten times. But now we see him there, you
see, as one who was ever ready to care for the sheep. even at
his own cost. These Eastern shepherds. This
is how they worked in caring for their sheep. And when we
come to the New Testament, and we still have the figure of course
of the shepherd, not simply in terms of those who are literal
shepherds, but spiritual shepherds. And Paul, the apostle, was a
faithful shepherd of Saul. when he gives charge to those
elders at Ephesus in Acts chapter 20 it's the same imagery that
he's using that of a shepherd take heed he says unto yourselves
and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you
overseers to feed the church of God which he hath purchased
with his own blood or to feed the past to pass the flock. This is what Paul was concerned
about. This is how he had behaved himself. This is the exhortation
then that he's giving to these men. Now to do as he had done. Neither counts I my life dear
unto myself, he says unto them. Like those eastern shepherds
he would give of himself. in ministering to those churches
that he was so favoured to establish as the Gentiles apostle as he
goes about through Aisha Minor preaching the word of God and
when he writes the various epistles to those churches what does he
say? He writes to the Corinthians,
I will very gladly spend and be spent for you, he says He
was very much a faithful shepherd. He was following then the pattern,
the example of the Lord Jesus Christ who speaks here as the
good shepherd. What a contrast! As I say, we
have that chapter that we were reading, chapter 34 in Ezekiel,
speaking of those in the Old Testament who were such miserable
failures in shepherding God's ancient people and so it was
also in the New Testament with regards to those Pharisees. Weren't
those Pharisees like false and blind shepherds? Now the Lord in a sense is addressing
them. The Lord says on another occasion
that those who are blind leaders of
the blind will only finish up in the ditch. The blind lead
the blind. Both will finish in the ditch.
In the ditch. And the Lord here, you see, He's
addressing the Pharisees really. When we look at the end of the
previous chapter. There, in verse 14, chapter 9, some
of the Pharisees which were with him, heard these words, and said
unto him, Are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, If ye were
blind, ye should have no sin. But now ye say, We see. Therefore
your sin remaineth. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
He that enters not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth
up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. that he
that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
He's still addressing these men, these blind leaders of the blind,
these Pharisees, these false shepherds. He's addressing them,
he's rebuking them. Verse 12, he says, He that is
unheiling, and not the shepherd whose own the sheep are not,
seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth, and the
wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. The hiring fleeth,
because he is unheiling, and careth not for the sheep. These
are words of rebuke. In some ways the context we might
say is very similar to that that we have back there in Ezekiel
34. Or there were those who were false
shepherds. In the Old Testament, in the New Testament, and of
course in every day, in every generation. And so God's people
are to try the spirits. we don't just accept what the
man in the pulpit says because he stands there as a minister
of the word we have to go to the law and to the testimony
we have to test everything by God's word to see if they are
speaking truly the words of God but considering the Lord Jesus
himself here what do we say? or the Lord's prerogative? what
a shepherd is this one? He says in verse 11, I am the
Good Shepherd, the Good Shepherd giveth, giveth his life for the
sheep. And then again at verse 15, he
says, I lay down my life for the sheep. Other shepherds might be willing
to go to great trouble in order to care for their flock, but
here is one, you see, who literally gives himself, lays down his
life. It's interesting, the word that
we have there at the end of verse 15, to lay down, it has the idea
of putting down a pledge, laying down a pledge, or a pawn. You can think of the pawnbroker, and you put your item in and
you receive money and in time if you're able you will redeem
whatever it is that you've poured this word then, this laying down,
that's the idea of redemption the Lord is that one who has
come to redeem his sheep how has he redeemed them? he's redeemed
them of course with his own precious blood not with silver and gold
from your vain conversation, received by tradition from your
father," said Peter, but with the precious blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. There is the price of the sinner's
redemption. All these other shepherds, they
might be ready and willing always to be protecting their sheep,
watching over them, even putting themselves to great dangers.
But here is one who dies for his sheep. who suffers in their
place, in their room, and in their state. We're all familiar
with the language, aren't we, of Isaiah 53, concerning the
Lord Jesus. He was wounded for our transgressions,
bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed. We were like sheep
going astray. Oh, but the Lord, you see, has
laid that dreadful punishment upon the Lord Jesus. He's not
only the shepherds. He's that sheep. He's the Lamb
of God. Take it away, the sin of the
world. He's our Passover, the Passover
Lamb, even Christ. Our Passover is sacrificed for
us, says the Apostle. or the work then that he comes
to accomplish. He comes to give himself. He
comes that he might make that one sacrifice for sins forever. The Good Shepherd give us his
life for the sheep. In a sense, you see, what we
have in these texts is the old story, the old apostolic theme,
isn't it? We see here the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And we see here also something
of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Who is He? This person
is none other than the Great I Am. The Great I Am now humbling Himself,
taking upon Him the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of
man. and then found in fashion as a man still humbling himself
that he might be obedient unto death even the death of the cross
it's the same theme time and again in the word of God it's
the person of the Lord Jesus it's the work of the Lord Jesus
the Apostle Paul's determination to know nothing amongst you he
says save Jesus Christ and him crucified but the main The theme
I wanted to set forth this morning is that of the knowledge of the
shepherd. Can we not consider it in a twofold
sense really? There's his knowledge of his
sheep, but there's also the sheep's knowledge of him. I am the good
shepherd, he says, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. He knows them, and they also
come to a knowledge of Him. And so let us just for a while
as we draw to a conclusion, think of that knowledge. First of all,
the Shepherd's own knowledge. He is set before us as Jehovah,
Jehovah Jesus. He is the I Am. and all that
that means, you see. He is God, and as God, of course,
he is omnipotent, he's all-powerful. As God, he's omnipresent, he's
in all places. As God, he is omniscient, he's
all-knowing. And here, of course, it's that
particular attribute, the great knowledge, that he has as Jehovah I know he says I am the good shepherd and know
my sheep when we think of him as I am he's the eternal one
there's no yesterday there's no tomorrow it's all now that's
That's what eternity is, isn't it? There's no time in eternity. We are so limited and restricted
because we're creatures of time and of space. And sometimes when
we speak of eternity, we use terms that are really quite contradictory. We talk about eternity past and
eternity to come. Well, there's no past or future
with eternity. It is always now. and as it is always now so here
is one who knows all things and this is brought out so clearly
isn't it in the language that we have in those words of the
139th Psalm the Psalm of David O Lord thou hast searched me
and known me thou knowest my down sitting and mine uprising
thou understandest my thought afar off thou compassest my path
and my lying down and art acquainted with my ways." Now he's speaking
of this knowledge, how the Lord has known him, is acquainted
with him. There's not a word in my tongue
but lo O Lord thou knowest it all together thou hast beset
me behind and before and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge
He's too wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain unto
it. Whither shall I go from thy spirit
or whither shall I flee from thy presence? And then he goes
on, having spoken of God as that One who is omniscient, all-knowing,
he goes on to speak of Him as that One who is omnipresent. He's in all places. But you see,
whilst it's true that God is all-knowing, and knows the end
from the beginning because he views time from eternity. I don't know how one can really
illustrate that. I often think in terms of picking
up a ruler and you look at it and you see the whole length
of the ruler from one end to the other. And isn't that in
a sense, poor illustration I know, but in a sense that's how God
views time. He sees it all at once. from the beginning to the end
because he's that one who is in eternity but the knowledge
that we're reading of here is not that omniscience when the
Lord says I know my sheep we're not simply to think in terms
of that attribute of omniscience that God is an all-knowing God
No, there's so much more in these words. This is a special knowledge
that the Lord is speaking of. It's that same knowledge that
we read of in the familiar words of Romans chapter 8. And you know the passage there
at verse 29 following. Whom he did foreknow. Oh, it's
that foreknowledge. Whom he did foreknow he also
did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son. And we're not to think there,
you see, that the foreknowledge is the omniscience of God. No,
it's something more than that. Those whom he foreknows, these
are the very ones he has set his sovereign love upon. He has
known them. He has made choice of them in the Lord Jesus Christ
from all eternity. And so he has predestinated them
to be conformed to the image of his Son. what does Paul say
writing to Timothy the foundation of God standeth sure the Lord
knoweth them that are his that foreknowledge in Romans 8 is
to be understood in terms of the sovereign love of God and
it's the same here the Lord says he knows his sheep and these
are the very ones of course that he gives his life for the ones that were given to him
by the Father. Oh, look at what he says concerning
them. I am come, he says, in verse
10, that they might have life, and that they might have its
more abundance. And how is it that they have
obtained that abundance of life? It is by his dying. His death is their life. so great
is his love to them. I think Isaac Watts is right
in his interpretation of Psalm 72 in the paraphrase. We don't have that particular
paraphrase in Gadsby's selection, do we, Psalm 72? It's paraphrased
of course in those opening words, Jesus shall reign where'er the
sun, that his successive journeys run, his kingdom stretch from
shore to shore till moon shall wax and wane no more. I'm sure
we're familiar with the lines of the hymn or the paraphrase.
It's a paraphrase of Psalm 72 and what's his design in those paraphrases is
to put the language of David in Christian dress in the psalm
David is speaking of Solomon but of course the greater than
Solomon is there in the psalm no dispute in that but what's
in a sense brings it out but he has that line or those two
lines in his paraphrase concerning the blessings that are in the
Lord Jesus Christ in him the sons of Adam boast more blessings
than their father lost What did Adam lose? Whatever Adam lost there in the
Garden of Eden by his sinful disobedience, what we find in
the last Adam, the Lord from Heaven, is much greater than
anything that Adam lost. That's what That's what Watts
is trying to say. In him, in Christ, the sons of
Adam boast more blessings, greater blessings than Adam lost. Isn't that what the Lord is saying
here in verse 10? I am come that they might have
life. Adam had life, but we have a much more abundant life in
the Lord Jesus Christ than any life we could ever receive from
our father Adam. greater blessings. Here we see
the wonder of the love of God, you see, in not withholding His
Son, His only begotten Son, but delivering Him up for sinners. Such was His love, and such is
the love of Christ, such is the knowledge that the Lord has of
His people. He knows them. I am the Good
Shepherd and know my sheep. He knows everything about them.
He takes intimate interest in every aspect of their lives.
And for those who are the sheep of Christ, what a blessed thing
it is then to contemplate that fact that the Lord knows us and
He understands us. He's touched with the feeling
of our infirmities. He was tempted in all points
like as we are and yet He's without sin. Well, we have the shepherd's
knowledge, but he also goes on to speak of the knowledge that
the sheep have. He says, "...and am known of
mine." Oh, they know Him. Do you know Him this morning?
I'm sure each of us would say, well, we know something about
Him. We're familiar with the Bible and what the Bible says
about the Lord Jesus Christ. But do we have a greater knowledge
than just knowing about him? Do we know him? He says, doesn't
he, this is life eternal that they might know thee, the only
true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. We can have no
real knowledge of God outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the mediator. He is the
mediator between God and man. We can only know God in Christ.
He is the image of the invisible God. No man hath seen God at
any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the
Father. He hath declared Him. If we would know God, we must
know Him as He has revealed Himself in and through the person of
His only begotten Son. and we can know Him we can hear His voice is that
what you want to hear when you come into a service like this? you don't want to hear just the
voice of the preacher you want to hear His voice isn't that
the mark of the sheep? as the Lord says He's the one
who calleth His own sheep by name and leadeth them out. And then verse 4, when He put
forth His own sheep, He goeth before them, and the sheep follow
Him, for they know His voice. Oh, do you know His voice? Have
you heard His call, His gracious call in the Gospel? He says at verse 27, My sheep
hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow me and I give
unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall
any man pluck them out of my hand Lord you know that voice
have you heard the Lord Jesus you felt on some occasion that
though there were others present maybe a full chapel Yet what
was being said, it was simply for you, it was solely for you.
As if no one else was there, it wasn't just the voice of a
man, it was the voice of the Lord. It was the shepherd calling
his sheep by name. This is what the Lord does. And you know, if we do know Him,
we'll desire to know more of Him. We want to have a real experience,
an experimental knowledge. That's what we call it, isn't
it? That's the expression we often use. Not just something
in our head, not just an intellectual knowledge, but an experimental,
an experience. Wasn't that Paul's great desire
that I may know him, he says? Well, we knew a lot, did Paul.
You've only got to read his epistles to see what wondrous truths and
doctrines were revealed to that man profound and yet how he had
such a hunger and such a thirst that I may know him he says and
the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings
being made conformable unto his death conforming to his death I'm crucified
with Christ says Paul nevertheless I live yet the life that I now
live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved
me and gave himself for me that's his knowledge you see he knew
him he knew that Christ loved him and he knew that Christ had
given himself for him I am the good shepherd and know my sheep
and they are known of mine what a wonder it is that we can know
him even in this day because it's a day of grace it's an acceptable
time it's a day of salvation well we're going to go on with
the Lord well this evening to see what the Lord says further
here concerning himself as that one who is also the door I am
the door he says by me if any man enter in he shall be saved
well you see it's a message really for any man any woman Or that
we might be those then who, as we gather together, desire just
that one thing, that we might know the voice of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and be those who desire to follow Him. Oh, the Lord be
pleased then to bless His word to us. Amen.