Morning. Okay. Take your Bibles. Well, why don't you turn to John
10 for the moment, and then put a marker there. We've been in
John chapter 10, and last time we were there we looked at our
Good Shepherd in relation to His redemption. We understand
that He's our Good Shepherd in terms of His purchase of us,
in providing everything that we need. Now, thinking of that,
The Apostle Peter, he gives to you that believe on Christ, he
gives us a fantastic outline of the Lord Jesus Christ as our
good shepherd in redemption. And so, leaving a marker there
in John chapter 10, turn with me over to 1 Peter, 1 Peter chapter
2. And the outline that he gives
us is in verses 21 through 25. And in those five verses, Peter
gives us five things, five characteristics or views of our Lord and Savior
in terms of him being our good shepherd. in his redemptive work. And so I've titled this message,
The Good Shepherd of Redemption. And each verse is a point concerning
our Lord. And so there will be five points.
The first one being the suffering shepherd. Then we'll see him
as the sinless shepherd. Then we see him as the submissive
shepherd, followed by the substitutionary shepherd, and concluding with
seeing our Lord and Savior as the successful shepherd. He's the successful Savior. So
from this first verse in 1 Peter 2, verse 21, here he declares
our suffering shepherd. For even hereunto were ye called,
because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example
that ye should follow his steps. And so there are times in a believer's
life, there's times when we find ourselves in a position where
we're going to suffer. We're going to be taking heat
for our stand in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn over to Philippians chapter
one. Go to Philippians chapter one,
and we're gonna pick up in verse 27. Now this is the Apostle Paul
who's writing Philippians and his expectation is that the church
believers are going to suffer adversity and suffering themselves. And he describes this for the
church who is striving together for the faith of the gospel. Now watch here in verse 27. only
let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ. So brethren, even as a body,
there's difficulties, there's struggles, there's things that
come up, there's challenges and adversities, even from within,
and he's saying each of you, let your conversation, your walk
in the Lord, let it be as becometh of the gospel of Christ. You walk in the light that the
Lord has given you faithfully before the Lord, and you treat
your brethren with love and patience. Be gracious, be kind, and tender-hearted. that, he says, whether I come
and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that
ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together
for the faith of the gospel. So there's a mission statement,
if you will, of the purpose of the church. We are to strive
together for the faith of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why we're here. We're
declaring the gospel of our Savior. And now in verse 28, he says,
in nothing terrified by your adversaries, those that oppose
the gospel, those that despise the true and living God and fight
against you, bring revilings and railings against the gospel
that you declare and believe and hold precious. holding the
Lord Jesus Christ precious. He says, now to them, it's an
evident token of perdition. It's a mark that they have not
the love of God in them. That's why they're warring against
the spirit of truth by which you declare Christ. It's an evident
token of perdition, but to you of salvation and that of God. For unto you, It is given in
the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to
suffer for his sake, having the same conflict which he saw in
me and now here to be in me. And so we see here that it's
appointed to the church who are striving together for the faith
of the gospel that we're going to face adversity, there's going
to be difficulties, there's gonna be those that strive against
and rail against the hope that we declare in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And the reality is that man by
nature hates God, hates his Christ, hates the declaration of salvation
by grace. Men get angry about grace because
they're trusting in their works. They're trusting in what they
are doing in religion to please God and earn and obtain favor
of God for their works. And so when they hear of grace,
it destroys all that they're hoping in, and so they get angry,
and they fight against it, and therefore they come against the
knowledge of the truth, and persecute the truth, and therefore their
sufferings that the church faces who stands in the truth. So that being the case then,
here's the question, well who maketh thee to differ from another? Why is it if man hates the truth,
why do you love the truth? Who has made you to differ one
from another? We see men warring against God,
hating the truth of God that we hold precious. Why do we hold
it precious? Who's made thee to differ? Well back in John 10 verse 10,
I'm just loosely following along some of the verses that we've
seen recently regarding our Lord as the Good Shepherd in the work
of redemption. John 10 verse 10, our Lord says,
the thief cometh not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy. I am come that they might have
life and that they might have it more abundantly. And so the enemy of our souls,
the enemy of the truth, the liar against the light of the truth,
he's wreaking havoc in the world and he's taking men captive at
his will and he's just doing all manner of evil and wickedness. But we're not, we don't have
our part in that body, that's not our hope, that's not our
trust and our confidence. We love the Lord Jesus Christ.
We believe Him. Our hope is fixed in our Savior. And we see that the Lord Jesus
Christ is showing that because He came and suffered and died
for His people, we're delivered from all that. We're delivered
from that havoc and that hatred and that that wickedness and
darkness, and are brought into the light of our God in the face
of Jesus Christ, by whom we have a knowledge of the truth, an
understanding by the Spirit, and a hope, a good hope in the
Lord Jesus Christ. We bless our God's name for the
suffering shepherd. Turn over to Colossians chapter
one. Colossians chapter one. We'll
pick up here in verse 12, just reaffirming what I just
said to you of our hope. He says, Colossians 1.12, giving
thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in light. who hath delivered
us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the
kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have redemption through his
blood, through his suffering, where he shed his blood, even
the forgiveness of sins. And so we see what our suffering
Savior has secured for our life and for our good hope in Him. He suffered taking upon Him flesh,
that humiliation, laying aside the glory of the Son of God,
having fellowship with God in the Godhead as one from all eternity,
and taking upon him the weakness and the limitations of this flesh,
born under the law to fulfill the law perfectly, and he came
for his people to bear their sins in his own body, going willingly
to that cursed tree in order to put away our sin, the stain
of sin, the punishment of sin, by bearing it for us and making
us righteous, by His righteousness. And so, for those whom He loves,
in order that we would receive the forgiveness of sins, He went
to that cross for His people to make them righteous by bearing
their sin and their punishment and by the shedding of His blood.
He put it away. He put away the stain of sin,
and we're righteous now in him. So we see the suffering shepherd. Next, Peter speaks back in 1
Peter 2, verse 22. Here he declares the sinless
shepherd, the sinless shepherd, who did no sin, neither was guile
found in his mouth. Brethren, we have a sin problem. We're sinners. Our very nature
is sin. We are born of corrupt, defiled
seed that cannot work a righteousness for ourselves. We are bankrupt. We have nothing to bring to God
to make payment for our sin that we should go free of eternal
punishment. We don't have it, brethren. We're
fallen from our uprightness. God made man upright, but he
hath sought out many inventions. We have, in sin, in darkness,
in rebellion against the true and living God. And so we can't
turn things around. We can't bring forth a righteousness
in order to gain acceptance with our Lord. In Isaiah, he captures
it well. He says, Isaiah 64, verse 6. But we are all as an unclean
thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. And just
note, when he says all our righteousnesses, he didn't say all our sins are
as filthy rags. He says all our good works, our
righteousnesses, are as filthy rags, and we all do fade as a
leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. Even those things which man feels
or thinks is good, things that God will be pleased in, those
things being born of the flesh and not of faith are a stench
in God's nostrils. He's not pleased with them because
they're of the flesh and they're not of faith. And whatsoever
is not of faith is sin, our Lord tells us. And so, born of the
flesh, it doesn't please God. And the Lord tells us nothing
we do is ever going to change that. We can't produce a righteousness
of ourselves under the law. We can't do it. The prophet Jeremiah,
chapter 13, verse 23 asks, can the Ethiopian change his skin?
Can the leopard change his spots? No. No, they can't do that. If they could, he says, then
may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil. It's our
custom because it's our nature. It's what we are by nature. We
can't turn that around. And so we have a sin problem. But our God has provided the
way. He's provided salvation freely. abundantly in grace in the person
of His Son, Jesus Christ, whom He sent to deliver, to make a
way for the deliverance of His people, that we might know Him,
that we would be made righteous by the very blood of Christ,
by His righteousness, by our Lord and Savior, And so we see
in Isaiah 48, verse 1, that our God turns our attention not on
our flesh and what we need to be doing better to fix this and
to make this right. No, no, no. He turns us to behold
his servant. As he says in Isaiah 48, 1, behold
my servant whom I uphold, mine elect. I mean, he chose him out
for us, for our life. He determined our salvation and
provided it fully. In whom he says, my soul delighteth,
I have put my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment
to the Gentiles. And then again in Isaiah 35 verse
8, he tells us that in highway shall be there and away. a way that God provides, because
we don't know the way. We can't make the way. We can't
provide salvation for ourselves. So God's provided a way, a highway,
and it shall be called the way of holiness. The unclean shall
not pass over it, but it shall be for those. The wayfaring men,
though fools, shall not err therein. So the unclean don't pass over
it because all who go in the way, all who are delivered from
that broad way that leadeth to destruction and are brought into
the way, the narrow way of the Lord Jesus Christ, they are clean. being washed in the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ by His grace. That's why no unclean
go there, because all who are in Christ are washed clean, are
made whole, are delivered from eternal death and brought into
the kingdom of light of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though we're wayfaring
men in the flesh, though we're fools, having no knowledge of
the truth of God, your God has been gracious to you in delivering
you out of that darkness and bringing you into the kingdom
of light. He's done that for you by your
sinless shepherd who was made in the likeness of his brethren,
made in the likeness of sinful flesh, yet he himself is without
sin. He's perfect, holy, righteous,
being born of that heavenly seed, being born of the Spirit of God. And so by the righteousness of
Christ, our God raises sinners, dead in trespasses and sins,
giving them new life, giving them that heavenly birth, born
of the seed of the Lord Jesus Christ, that spiritual sea whereby
we're regenerated, we're born again, and have our part in Christ
our Savior. He puts us in the way. So back
in John chapter 10, we see this declared. Back in John 10, verse
14, he tells us, I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep,
and have known of mine. And so he knew exactly what we
needed. He knew. He knows. We're sinners. We can't save ourselves. He knows
us. And so he came and provided salvation
for us and gives us now a light and understanding, a knowledge
of our Savior, a knowledge of his salvation through the gospel,
whereby we rejoice in Christ, the sinless shepherd who put
away my sins. and delivered me out of death
and into his light and his glory. So in summary of that point,
Romans 5.19 says, for as by one man's disobedience, by Adam,
the first Adam, of whose seed we come forth of that corrupt,
defiled seed, By one man's disobedience many were made sinners. So by
the obedience of one, the second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ,
shall many be made righteous. All whom Christ represents are
made righteous in Him and shall come to a knowledge of His salvation,
glorying in Him. Third, We come to the submission
of Christ. We see the submissive Savior. So back in 1 Peter 2, verse 23, who when he was reviled, reviled
not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously. And so we understand, we know
that the Trinity, our God, God in three persons, Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost, they are one. God is one and none is higher
than the other. But here we see the humility
of Christ. We see the humility of Christ.
What's he talking about? We know that the Son of God is
eternal. He's with the Father. He has
no beginning and no end. The Son of God is one with the
Father and with the Spirit. Here, our Lord is speaking of
our Savior as the Mediator. He's speaking to Christ as the
Mediator who became flesh like unto His brethren. So as the
Mediator, He willingly agreed to come. and to bear his people
up in his arms, to provide all things for them, to give them
everything that was necessary. And so as the mediator, he submitted
himself to the will of God in redemption. He submitted himself
to the will of God in redemption. Look back now at John chapter
10. John chapter 10, and we're gonna
look at verses 15 and 17. Here he says, as the father knoweth
me, even so know I the father, and I lay down my life for the
sheep. Verse 17, therefore doth my father
love me, because I lay down my life that I might take it again. And so the Son of God came as
Jehovah's servant. He took upon him flesh. He came
as a man, born under the law, fulfilling all the law perfectly,
doing that which man was created to do but didn't do in falling
in Adam and becoming defiled and corrupt. He trusted God perfectly. He leaned upon his Lord. He leaned upon his God. He trusted
him and committed himself fully to our God's will and didn't
rebel against him in order to deliver us from our rebellion. And so Christ, being the second
Adam, came and did all things well. He fulfilled the law of
God perfectly. Turn over to Isaiah chapter 50. Isaiah 50, and let's read verses
five through seven. We read there, the Lord God hath
opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away
back. And that picture there is in those times there in Israel,
if you had sold yourself to your brother in Israel to provide
because you were poor, and he treated you well, and he treated
your family well, and he provided everything for you, and you said,
I'm happy. I'm happy with this. And the
time came where you could go free. If you loved your Lord,
you would go before the elders in the gate of the city and say,
I love my master. I don't want to go out from my
master. I want to stay with him forever. And they would take
you to a wooden door post and they would put your earlobe up
there and put a hole through it and all through it and that
would mark you as that man's servant for life. And that's
what the Lord is saying is he's opened my ear. I'm his servant
forever. He's saying I'm here to do the
will of my God. the will of my God here. That's
what Christ is saying. He says, I wasn't rebellious.
I didn't turn away back. And in that submission to the
will of God for his people to obtain our redemption, He says,
I gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks to them that plucked
off the hair. I hid not my face from shame
and spitting, for the Lord God will help me. Therefore, shall
I not be confounded? I'm not going to be confused
by what's happening. I know this is the will of God
for me. Therefore, have I set my face like a flint, and I know
that I shall not be ashamed. And our Lord is not ashamed. He wasn't ashamed. He went right
in to that shame and put our enemies to an open shame. He
put them to shame, and he fulfilled the will of God perfectly, obtaining
eternal redemption for his people. And rather than being ashamed
in the grave, our Lord and Savior rose again from the grave by
the power of God, declaring him just, and all who hope and believe
in him are justified from their sins. We are justified before
holy God. So there's no shame. There's
no shame. And so that brings us now to
behold Christ as the substitutionary shepherd. Christ is the substitutionary
shepherd. Look back now at 1 Peter 2, verse
24. 1 Peter 2, verse 24. Who his own self bear our sins
in his own body on the tree. that we, being dead to sins,
should live unto righteousness, by whose stripes ye were healed."
So there on the cross, he took the place of his people. He bore
their sins for them. And that means he went to the
cross, willingly bearing our sin, that he would bear the punishment,
the wrath of God against our sin. bearing our punishment,
bearing our stripes, bearing our bruises, in order that we
might bear his righteousness, brethren. Turn over to Isaiah
chapter 53. Isaiah 53. And just stay there for a moment,
because we're gonna come back to Isaiah 53 at the close of this
poem. Look at verses four through six.
Surely Christ hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him. And with his stripes, we are
healed. All we, like sheep, have gone
astray. We have turned every one to his
own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. And so Christ really took on
him the sin of his people. Our Lord really bore the punishment
of God for his people. And our Savior really satisfied
the wrath of God that was against us. He really pleased the Father
well in all things in that work of redemption for his people's
good, for the life of his people. God hath made Christ to be sin
for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. That's 2 Corinthians 5.21. And
so because our Savior really is a substitute for his people,
so it is then that his atonement was also made for a particular
people. He suffered and died for a people. Well that means his redemption,
his atonement is for a particular There's a specific people that
he bore those stripes for, that he took those bruises and that
punishment for, a specific people. And so each one for whom our
Lord died, he has put away their sin. He's covered their sin by
his substitutionary death for them. He took their place. He
took the place of a specific people. He came for them. And our Lord tells us then, we're
coming back to Isaiah 53, but he tells us in John 10 verse
11, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. for the sheep. So there's a people,
a sheep that he gave his life for, not the goats. All right,
what's that picture that we're given in scripture in the day
of judgment? There are some on the left hand
of our God called the goats. And then there are some on the
right hand of our God called the sheep. And our Lord and Savior
says, I gave my life for the sheep, not for the goats, but
for the sheep. That's whom he shed his blood
for. And so our Lord's blood was not
shed in vain. Not one drop of his blood was
shed in vain for whom he died. There's not a soul in hell for
whom Christ died. They're all delivered from death
and are delivered into life. He died for a particular people
whom he loved and saved them by his substitutionary sacrifice
for them. And so back in Isaiah 53, in
the middle of verse 10, there's three phrases there. It's the
middle phrase. which says, when thou shalt make
his soul an offering for sin, He shall see his seed, that seed
born of the righteous seed of the Lord Jesus Christ. He sees
all his generation whom he's given birth to by his glory and
power. And verse 11 says, he shall see
of the travail of his soul, the labor of his soul, and shall
be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many. For he shall bear their iniquities. That particular people for whom
he suffered, he bears their iniquities to put it away. And so none of
his sheep for whom, none of the sheep, those are the ones for
whom he died, none of them shall be lost. None shall be lost.
And now this brings us to the final point, the successful shepherd. The successful shepherd. Peter
here declares in this last verse, 1 Peter 2.25, that the good shepherd
gathers his people together unto himself. They're going to be
gathered out of darkness and brought into light and life in
Christ. Verse 25, for ye were as sheep
going astray, but are now returned unto the shepherd and bishop
of your souls. So we all went astray in Adam. Coming forth of his corrupt seed,
we all went astray in rebellion against the truth of our God,
against our God. And not only were we born corrupt,
born in sin, but we willingly went and participated in sin
and practiced sin and gave ourselves to sin and wickedness and darkness. We, by nature, are willful in
rebellion against the true and living God. But Christ, the Good
Shepherd, seeks out his sheep, his wandering sheep, his lost
sheep, his scattered sheep. He seeks them out and gathers
them together into his one fold of the sheep for whom he gave
his life. And John 10, 16 says, other sheep
I have. which are not of this fold, them
also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall
be one fold and one shepherd. And so we see there that our
Lord and Savior is the one who's glorified. The sheep are dumb. The sheep are ignorant. The sheep
go astray. The sheep don't bring themselves
back. We were returned by the Lord
Jesus Christ. Peter points out, ye were a sheep
going astray, but are now returned. And that not of yourselves. It's
of the Lord Jesus Christ that we're returned. Why do I say
that? Because there in John 10, 16,
he said, them also I must bring. So we know who's returned us,
not we ourselves, but the Lord Jesus Christ. We went astray. Christ sought us out. We were
lost and Christ found us. We were found filthy and polluted. Christ washed us in his blood.
We were dead in trespasses and sins. Christ gave us life from
the dead in himself, by his life. Brethren, we rejoice in the good
shepherd of redemption who provided everything necessary for his
people. And so I pray that's a comfort
to your hearts and that you rejoice in your Lord this day and every
day, giving God thanks for his precious, unspeakable gift in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. All right, let's close
in prayer. Our gracious Lord, we thank you,
Father, for your great mercy and your provision for your people
and your son. It's full, it's free, it's perfect,
Lord. Everything necessary you've given
to us in your son, Jesus Christ, and we thank you for him. We
thank you for this life. Lord, keep our eyes ever looking
to the Lord Jesus Christ. In ourselves, there's discouragement,
there's disappointment. Lord, we have nothing to boast
in of ourselves, but we boast in the Lord Jesus Christ. We're
thankful for him, Lord. And Lord, we ask that you would
be with your people this day. Bless your people. Rejoice our
hearts. Lord, we that are sick and suffering
and sorrowing, Lord, tend to your people, heal them. Lord,
give all your people a heart for you and help us, Lord, when
we're sick. Heal us and restore your people
together in this body together that we may rejoice in you as
one, as you've purposed to gather us together. Lord, we look to
you and ask that you would do this. It's in the name of our
Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.