We have a double text which is
found in the chapter that we read, John chapter 10 and verses
11 and 14. John chapter 10 verses 11 and
14. I am the Good Shepherd. The Good
Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. I am the Good Shepherd
and know my sheep and am known of mine. We remarked this morning how
God's elect are referred to here in the scripture as the sheep
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And remember how he speaks of
them in the 16th verse, of the sheep I have which are not of
this foal. referring of course there to
the Jews, God's ancient covenant people. Of the sheep I have which
are not of this fold, them also I must bring, that is the Gentiles. And they shall hear my voice
and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. Be they converted
Jews or be they converted Gentiles. They are all of them the sheep
of Christ. They belong to that one fold
of which the Lord Jesus Christ is the Shepherd, the Good Shepherd,
as we read in our text. We were earlier this morning
considering those words that we have in the fifth chapter
of Isaiah, verse 17. Then shall the lambs feed after
their manner and having said something earlier concerning
the lambs or the sheep of christ i want us this evening then for
a while to consider him who is the good shepherd and we see
how he makes the declaration twice in the course of just a
few verses. In verse 11, and then again in
verse 14, I am the Good Shepherd. The first thing then we can,
and we must observe with regards to Him who is the Shepherd of
the sheep, is the truth of His deity. Who is this One? who is the Shepherd, it is none
other than the Lord God Himself. We have that declaration, do
we not? I am. And of course in uttering
such words the Lord Jesus was doubtless mindful of what was
spoken back in Exodus chapter 3 to Moses at the burning bush. I am that I am. When Moses inquires who it was that
would send him, what was he to say to the children of Israel
as he goes back as the one who has been chosen and appointed
to be their deliverer. from the cruel bondage of the
Egyptians. He was to say, I am ascent. God declares his name, God declares
himself then in that formula, I am that I am. He speaks of course, we said
this before, he speaks of himself in the first person, the first
person singular of the verb, the verb to be. the first person
singular is I am and when we speak of God we speak of him
or we should speak of him of course in the third person we
say he is of himself he says I am and we say he is and that
really is the basic meaning of the word LORD, as we find it
throughout the Old Testament, when we see LORD in capital letters,
it's the name Jehovah. And the literal rendering of
that Hebrew word is simply HE IS. He is the Unchanging One. And this is the one who is speaking
here in this 10th chapter of John. And we have, as you know,
so many of these I AM passages Throughout this Gospel of John,
we have not only these statements in the words of our text, verses
11 and 14, but previous to that, in verse 9, he says, I am the
door. By me, if any man enter in, he
shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture. And then if we go over even to
the next chapter, in chapter 11, where Christ performs that
remarkable, that notable miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead. And remember the words that Christ
speaks there to the sister of Lazarus, he speaks to Martha,
there in chapter 11 at 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? Oh friends,
how the question must come to each of us tonight, to you, to
me. Believest thou this? Do we really believe that this
one of whom John speaks, and of whom of course Matthew and
Mark and Luke, and all these writers of the New Testament,
and not only that, all those of the Old Testament, the one
that is spoken of throughout the Scriptures, even the Lord
Jesus Christ, do we believe what is revealed here concerning Him
and His diaton? What Think ye of Christ, whose
Son is He." There are, I say, these great statements sent to
be found particularly in this Gospel, these I Am passages. We go back into the 8th chapter. What does he say there at verse
24? "...to the Jews, if ye believe
not that I am He, ye shall perish in your sins now observe just
what he is saying there in that 24th verse of the 8th chapter
because the little pronoun he appears in our authorized version
in italics and you know the significance of that it's been introduced
by the translators more literally it says if you believe not that
I am ye shall perish in your sins." Oh, if we do not believe
in the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, we cannot be saved. It's as simple, it's as plain
as that going to the end of that 8th chapter. He literally says
there, verily, verily, before Abraham was, I am. There's no
pronoun introduced there in verse 58. Verily, verily, before Abraham
was, I am." Or the deity, you see, of the Lord Jesus Christ. And remember how we have it later,
even when we come to His humiliation, when we find Him there, having
crossed over the brook Cedron, having come into the Garden of
Gethsemane, that place of great agony of Saul, And when they
come there to arrest the Lord Jesus Christ, how is it recorded
here in John, in chapter 18, verse 4, Jesus, therefore, knowing
all things that should come upon him, went forth and said unto
them, Whom seek ye? They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am he. And Judas also, which betrayed
him, stood with them. As soon then as he had said unto
them, I am he, they went backward and fell to the ground." Now
again, observe the pronoun he in verse 5 and in verse 6. Introduced in the translations
literally, he answered and said unto them, I am. And as soon
as he had said unto them, I am, they went backwards. They could
not come forward. They could not touch him. They
fell from him. They fell to the ground. They
were overwhelmed by his deity. They had no power to arrest him. As he comes to die he must give,
himself must he not. And do we not see it here in
this chapter that we read, this 10th chapter of John's Gospel. He has power, he says, to lay
down his life. No man taketh it from him. but I lay it down of myself.
I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again.
This commandment have I received of my father." All friends, his
sacrifice is a voluntary sacrifice. Those that would arrest him,
they cannot lift a finger against him. He is divine. He is God's, manifest in the
flesh. He is that one who speaks back
in Isaiah 43, 11, I even I am the Lord and beside me there
is no Saviour. He is the unchanging Jehovah. He is the one who is ever the
same, Jesus Christ, the same, yesterday and today. and forever, no different now
than when he was here upon the earth ministering as we read
here in the Gospels. It's the same Jesus, the one
that we come together to worship even this night. And we have
that great promise, do we not? Remember how this one who is
the shepherd of the sheep, he's promised. In Ezekiel chapter
34, that chapter where in God is rebuking the false shepherds of Israel God
had made provision for his covenant people there were those who were
their shepherds in the form of the the priests and the prophets
and the princes threefold office that we read of there were the
priests of Aaron who ministered about the tabernacle and the
temple there were those who were raised up as prophets and there
were those who were set as kings but how many were false and so
God rebukes those false shepherds Son of man, 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? Well, we were thinking about that food that the shepherds
should minister to the flocks, to the lambs of Christ, those
tender ones. ye eat the fat she clothes you
with the wool ye kill them that are fed but ye feed not the flock
so it goes on throughout this chapter that is full of reproof
the false shepherds but then what does God say? what is the
promise he makes? verse 23 I will set up one shepherd
over them and he shall feed them even my servant David, he shall
feed them, and he shall be their shepherd." This is not David
who was dead, whose sepulcher was there in Jerusalem that is
being spoken of. This is David's greatest son. I, the Lord, will be their God.
and my servant David, a prince among them, I, the Lord, have
spoken it." Here is the promise of this one who is revealed to
us here in this 10th chapter. The Good Shepherd. I am the Good
Shepherd. The Good Shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. And then he repeats himself,
I am the Good Shepherd. and know my sheep, and am known
of mine." And how this one speaks with such authority! Oh, how
he speaks with authority! Observe the verilies that we
have in the chapter. How does this chapter begin?
Verilies! Verilies! Literally, he says,
Amen! Amen! This is truth! This is
truth! Again, In verse 7 Jesus says,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. Is he not that one who speaks
with authority? Is he not that one that we see
in the book of the Revelation, the Amen? The faithful and true
witness. And so John speaks of him there
in chapter 3 and verse 14 of the book of the Revelation. the
Amen, the Verily, the Faithful, the True Witness. He is God. God is not a man that he should
lie, nor the son of man that he should repent. As he said
it, shall he not do it? As he has spoken it, shall he
not make it good? His word is good. His word is
true. Here we see then something of
the authority of Christ. Because He is divine, He is God.
the deity then, the deity of the Good Shepherd. And then,
secondly, let's consider what he said here in verse 11 concerning
the dying, the dying of the Good Shepherd. What does he say of
that work that the Shepherd performs? I am the Good Shepherd. The Good
Shepherd giveth is life for the sheep. And that was true of good
shepherds in Israel, good shepherds in the East. Remember the practice
of those Eastern shepherds. How they would hazard their lives
in caring for their flocks. How they were constantly attending
to the needs of their flocks. We see it, do we not? even at
the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ we're told there in the second
chapter of Luke's gospel there were in the same country shepherds
shepherds abiding in the field keeping watch over their flocks
by night they never leave the ship even in the night watches
they're there attending to them ready always to hazard their
very lives for the sake of the sheep. That was the practice
of those Eastern shepherds. We see how that Jacob, the patriarch
Jacob, how he wearied his own life in caring for the sheep
of Laban. He did it, of course, we know,
for the great love that he bore towards Rachel. But now he was
wearied and he reminds Laban of that very fact. In Genesis
chapter 31 verse 38 he says this, 20 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 own
hand, didst thou require it, whether stolen by day or stolen
by night. Thus I was in the day, the drought
consumed me, and the frost by night, and my sleep departed
from mine eyes." How wearied he was, because he would faithfully
attend to those sheep. He would care for them. And we
see something the same, we see something even more with David.
David actually risks his life. He will go after the bear, he
will go after the lion. When he protests before King
Saul, who cannot believe that this stripping is one who can
go out against the champion of the Philistines, go out against
the giant Goliath. And so there, in the first book
of Samuel, you remember how it's recorded for us in the 17th chapter,
1 Samuel 17, Verse 33, Saul says to David,
thou art not able to go out against his Philistine to fight with
him, for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his
youth. And then David responds, thy servant kept his father's
sheep. There came a lion and a bear,
and took a lamb out of the flock, and thou went after him, and
smote him and delivered it out of his mouth. And when he arose
against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew
him. Thy servant slew both the lion
and the bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of
them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God. Oh, David, you see, was prepared
to do that, to go out, to risk his life, to fight against those
terrible beasts of prey in order to save the sheep. This is how
the Eastern Shepherds behaved themselves. This was their practice. They were willing to As of their
very lives, they would be constantly caring for their sheep. And that's
the significance, of course, of what the Lord is saying concerning
the door. Verse 7, Verily, verily, I say
unto you, I am the door of the sheep. Verse 9, I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he
shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture when
they bring their sheep into the fold in the night. There's only
an opening into the fold, there's no proper door, and there it
is that the shepherd would lay himself down to rest and to sleep. He, in his own person, would,
as it were, form the very door of the sheep. He's constantly
on hand to care for them. Should any seek to come and to
destroy the sheep, or to steal the sheep, These shepherds, oh, they were
faithful men, willing even to give their lives. Now, we know
that Paul was himself a faithful shepherd, a faithful pastor,
an under-shepherd. He would shepherd the souls of
the people of God that came upon him daily, the care, the care
of the churches and so when he is departing from Ephesus and
he calls the elders to him, remember how he gives them charge in the
20th chapter of the Acts, he says, take heed therefore unto
yourselves, this is to the elders at Ephesus, take heed and to
yourselves and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost
hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God which he hath
purchased with his own blood." He gives them charge. Now, here
is a man who practices what he preaches. He can say to another
church, to the Philippians, those things which ye have both learned
and received and heard and seen in me do. He's not one who says
and does not. When he gives his charge then
to these elders, that they are to shepherds the flock, it was
what he himself was constantly doing. He goes on to say there
at verse 24, neither can I my life dear unto myself. Paul was
ready to suffer great things in order that he might be found
a faithful under-shepherd, a true pastor of the Lord Jesus Christ. When he defends his ministry,
writing to the Corinthians, many times he speaks of all that that
ministry cost him. I will very gladly spend, he
says, and be spent for you. Now in contrast, in contrast
to the Apostle, not just Paul, but all those faithful men, those
servants of the Lord Jesus Christ, in contrast to them, how the
Pharisees were false shepherds and blind guides. And isn't the Lord, in a sense,
addressing the Pharisees here? We have the Pharisees there at
the end of the previous chapter. Some of the Pharisees, which
were with him, heard these words, the words spoken by the Lord
Jesus, saying, For judgment am I come into this world, that
they which see not might see, and that they which see might
be made blind. And some of the Pharisees, which
were with him, heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind
also? Jesus said unto them, If you
are blind, you should have no sin. Now you say, we see, therefore
your sin remaineth. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but cometh
up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. He's speaking
of these Pharisees, you see. They're false. They're false
shepherds. They're blind shepherds. And
if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. What solemn words they are. that
the Lord speaks against them. He that entereth not by the door,
but climeth up some other way, the same, says Christ, is a thief
and a robber. He goes on in verse 12 to say,
He that is unheiling and not the shepherd whose own the sheep
are not, seeeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth,
and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. The highling
fleeth because he is unheiling, and careth not for the sheep."
These are words of reproof that the Lord is speaking to these
men who were the religious leaders amongst the Jews, the Pharisees.
They were false shepherds, whereas His disciples, His apostles,
were the true shepherds. And those true shepherds, as
I've said, were men willing to venture their very lives has
it all, as they cared so faithfully for the sheep." But here, really,
surely we are to consider the prerogative of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is speaking of Himself, is He not? When He says, the
Good Shepherd, give us His life for the sheep. Here is that Shepherd
who really gives His life, because He's not only the Shepherd, the
Good Shepherd, He is also the Lamb of God. Oh, the glorious fullness of offices
that we see in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is
the Lamb of God. And John says, Behold the Lamb
of God that taketh away the sin of the world. Oh, this is that
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, slain in the great
purpose of God. This is what was appointed. Does
he not say it here in verse 18? This commandment have I received
of my father. What was the commandment? To
lay down his life. Therefore does my father love
me because I lay down my life that I might take it again. That
was the commandment. He comes to do the will of God
and to finish his work. And what is required? Obedience.
And he is obedient, as we see there in Philippians 2, obedient
unto death. Obedient unto death. Even the
death of the cross, a cursed death. He is that one then who
has his prerogative to lay down his life, to give himself as
the great sacrifice for sins. And so he says it. Here in verse
11, the Good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. Again, at the end of verse 15,
he says, I lay down my life for the sheep. It's the same word
that's used in these verses. In verse 11, it's translated, giveth In verse
15, the same word is translated to lay down. What is the significance
of the word? Well, it literally means to put
down. We might think of putting down a pawn or a pledge. And when that is the case, of
course, it has to be redeemed. When there were pawn breakers,
if someone took a valuable item in, they would use it as a pawn,
a pledge, and they would receive money, and when they paid the
debts, they would redeem. And here we have the idea, you
see, in what Christ has done in giving his life, in laying
down his life. It's laid down as a ransom. He is that one who has come into
the world to redeem his people. That was the obedience required
of Him. When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth
His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them
that were under the law. Our debt was owed to the Holy
Lord of God. And the sheep that were given
to Christ in the eternal covenant, they were the transgressors of
that law. They owed the Lord a dreadful debt. And what was
the debt? that they owe to the law. Well,
the law says the wages of sin is death, the soul that sinneth
it shall die. They must die, they must bear
the punishment that is due to the transgressors of the Holy
Lord of God and Christ come to lay down his life, to give his
life, to redeem his people. And how does he redeem them?
With precious blood. With precious blood. Remember
how Peter speaks of those precious things. And amongst the precious
things we have that blood that was shed, even the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. For as much as you know that
you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold, from
your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers,
but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot who verily was fought or dying before the foundation
of the world you see he's the lamb slain from the foundation
of the world or dying before the foundation of the world but
was manifest says Peter in these last times for you all the life
is in the blood And what does he do? He sheds his blood. He
pours out his soul. He dies. And he dies just for
the unjust to save his people. Other shepherds might die in
the course of protecting their sheep. Doubtless there were those
like David who would go after the lion and go after the bear
and they might be overwhelmed by those terrible animals of
prey, they might be killed themselves. There would be shepherds who
died protecting the sheep, but here is that one who dies in
the place of the sheep. He dies for his sheep, wounded
for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement
of our peace was upon him with his stripes, says Isaiah. We
are healed. He is our Passover. We are to
come presently to observe again that holy ordinance of the Lord's
Supper. And what do we do? We remember.
Oh, we remember Christ, His body broken, although a bone of Him
was not broken. Now His body was mourned. His
back lashed, crown of thorns about His temple. His hands,
his feet were pierced, his sword thrust into his side, how his
body was broken for sinners, how his blood was shed, and that's
what we remember. We do it all in remembrance of
the Lord Jesus Christ, wounded, wounded for our transgressions.
Christ our Passover was of course at the observance of Jewish Passover
His last Passover before He suffered that Christ instituted that Holy
Supper. And we observe it in remembrance
of Him and we look to Him as our Paschal Lamb. He is the fulfillment,
you see, of that Lamb that the children of Israel were to offer
a sacrifice and to take the blood and to sprinkle the blood upon
the doorposts and the lentils and to remain in their houses
when the destroying angel would come through all of Egypt destroying
the firstborn and they were safe sheltered beneath that blood. And Paul says even Christ our
Passover is sacrificed for us. He is the Good Shepherd. And
what does the Good Shepherd do? The Good Shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. But not only that. I said we
have a double text. And so verse 14, he says, I am
the Good Shepherd and know my sheep, and am known of mine. Now two things we can observe
with regards to this knowledge. First of all, there is the Shepherd's
own knowledge. He says that he knows his shape. Now of course he is I am. He is Jehovah. I am that I am. With him there is no yesterday. With him there is no tomorrow.
With him there is but now. He, as I am, is the eternal one. He dwells outside of time. He
beholds all of time from its creation to its end. Remember there was a time, we
might use the expression, when time was not. When God created
the heavens and the earth, He created time. And there will
come that day when time will be no more. And here is that
One who is the great eternal Jehovah, and with him there is
only now he sees all things he declares the end from the beginning
and so as he sees all things he knows all things he is omniscient,
he is all-knowing he knows everything and remember how the psalmist speaks of that omniscience in
the words of the 139th Psalm. David says, O LORD, Thou hast
searched me and known. Thou knowest my down-sitting
and my not rising. Thou understandest my thought
afar off. Thou compassest my path and my
lying down. and art acquainted with all my
ways, for there is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord,
thou knowest it. Altogether thou hast beset me,
behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge
is too wonderful for mine. It is hard. I cannot attain unto
it. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit,
or whither shall I flee from thy presence? He knows all things, this Good Shepherd, because He
is none other than the Lord God Himself. He is Jehovah. But what of the knowledge that
we read of here, where He says, I know my sheep? This is not
His omniscience. Friends, this is that special
knowledge that He has, that that He has spoken of as his foreknowledge
remember the words of Romans 8 whom he did foreknow he also
did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren all that foreknowledge
it's not just a foreseeing a foresight of their faith it's that love
of God he knows them intimately He has set His love upon them,
and having known them in that fashion, He has predestinated
them. This is the knowledge that we
read of here then, this knowledge that the Shepherd has of His
sheep. The foundation of God standeth
sure, Paul says. Having this seal, the Lord knoweth
them that are His. He knows them. And He has known
them from all eternity. What a comfort it is! if we are
those who are truly the people of God the Lord knows us and
He knew us before ever we had an existence and He set His love
upon us and when He came and died upon the cross He knew us
and He shed His blood for us that's the knowledge that He
has you see He knows His sheep, He loves His sheep and having
loved His own which were in the world we are told here in chapter
13 He loved them to the end or the immensity of that love that
He bears towards them. So what does He do? Having known
them, He gives to them eternal life. I am come, He says, that
they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. All that abundance of life that
they have in Him. In him, the sons of Adam boast
more blessings than their father lost, says Isaac. That's how
true it is. We have more than Adam lost in
paradise. More blessings. And all these
purchased by the Good Shepherd who gives his life for the sheep. He knows them. He knows them.
But then also this knowledge, of course the sheep know him.
That's what it says, is it not? I am the good shepherd and know
my sheep and am known of mine. The sheep also know him. They know his voice. He calleth his own sheep by name,
it says in verse 3, and leadeth them out. And when He put us
forth His own sheep, He goeth before them, and the sheep follow
Him, for they know His voice. He calls them by their names,
they know Him. It's a wonderful thing, is it not, this knowledge
that they have. Again, verse 27, He says, My
sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And friends, if we know anything
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and sometimes we have to confess,
do we not, that our knowledge is such a small, insignificant
knowledge. We're so ashamed, we know so
little of Him. But are we those who can say
that we know this much, we do desire to know more of Him. We're
not satisfied with only knowing a little. We want to know more
and more of Him. We want to experience more of
Him. We want to feel more of His gracious
presence in our lives. This was the desire of the Apostle
Paul, was it not? He says that I may know Him.
All that was Paul's burning desire, that I may know Him. The power
of His resurrection, the fellowship of His sufferings, being made
conformable unto His death. to have that faith, you see,
that has fellowship with the crucified Christ. He says again
to those Philippians, unto you it is given in the behalf of
Christ not only to believe on him but to suffer for his sake.
Or do we desire that, the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformable
to his death? I'm crucified with Christ, he
says to the Galatians, I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live,
yet not I, But Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now
live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God,
who loved me, and gave himself for me. Or do we desire to know
more? When we come to these services,
we fill our seats week by week, service by service, do we come
with that one desire that we might know something more of
Christ, or to discover something more about Him? when we come
to the Lord's table is that our desire that we might discover
something more that he might come and reveal to us something
more that he might truly serve with us that we might behold
him through that lattice, the ordinance as he comes to manifest
himself that's his promise that he will manifest himself reveal
himself in our hearts all friends are we those who do at least
have that desire we know too little of it and yet what little
knowledge we have only makes us long for more that I may know
him says the Apostle I am the Good Shepherd and know my sheep
he says and am known of mine and what is it to know him? Why?
He tells us here in chapter 17, it is life eternal. To know Thee,
the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. The Lord
bless to us His Word. joined together in the singing
of hymn number 1088, the tune is Sorely, 231. Shepherd divine,
thou want'st relief in this, our evil day, to all thy tempted
followers give