All right, these are the words
of our Lord. I am the Good Shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life
for the sheep. But he that is an hireling, and
not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf
coming, and leaves the sheep, and fleeth, and the wolf catches
them, and scattereth the sheep. the hireling fleeth, because
he is an hireling, and cares not for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and know
my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even
so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which
are not of this foal, them also I must bring, and they shall
hear my voice, and there shall be one foal and one shepherd. Therefore does my Father love
me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again."
No man takes it from me, 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. Now here in this chapter and
in these verses that we have read this morning is another
in all of its glory and all of its authority of the collections
of the great I Ams of the Lord Jesus Christ, found in the Gospel. But especially and particularly
are they found in the Gospel of John. John gives us several
of these great I Ams that were spoken by the Lord. For example,
I Am the Bread of Life in John chapter 6. I am the light of
the world in John chapter 8. I am the resurrection and the
life in John chapter 11. I am the way and the truth and
the life in John chapter 14. I am the vine in John 15. All of these take us back to
that great passage spoken unto Moses in Exodus chapter 3 and
verse 14, I am that I am, when God would refer to Himself as
the Almighty and the Self-existing One, the All-Sufficient One,
is how he describes himself unto Moses. And our Lord, using these
words, I am, marks him as being equal with the Father and is
a declaration of his deity. And the Jews understood that
from the claims of our Lord. And in chapter 10, we have another
of these blessed I Ams. As the Lord said, I am the Good
Shepherd. And again from this text we have
another of the several ways by which the relationship of Christ
and of His people are set forth for us in the Scripture. head and members, foundation
and living stone, vine and branches, bride or wife and groom, And
here, one of the most familiar and popular of all in the Scripture,
that of shepherd and of sheep, as he declares himself a shepherd. And multiple times here in this
passage of the Scripture, he refers to those that are called
as she." Notice, he does not say, I am a good shepherd. But he says, nor does he say,
I am one among many good shepherds. But he said, I am the good shepherd. And here we notice in the Greek,
as expositors have pointed out, that it has the article, the
shepherd, the good shepherd of the sheep. J.C. Ryle, an old-timer,
wrote, the good are the excellent one, he said, having the article,
the being used to express the nature of his shepherdhood. and that for a greater or better
emphasis, and that in regard unto the sheep. This figure used
by our Lord in verses 1 through 9 of this chapter of a shepherd
and of his sheep. But before we get to the actual
meat of our text this morning, let's see the contrast and the
transition that is here at verse 10. in order that we might get
our minds around verse 11 and following. The false shepherd
leads the people down unto spiritual death, while Christ, on the other
hand, being the good shepherd and the true, bestows upon his
sheep an eternal and everlasting life. Now, this is the third
time in this passage that the Lord has referred to the scribes
and the Pharisees as being thieves and robbers. You have it in verse
1, You have it in verse 8, and you have it again here in verse
10. They and all like them who have
not been sent by Christ are thieves and robbers. Their intent is
to devour and to kill, just exactly like the Pharisees of that day
and that time. Again, J.C. Ryle pointed out,
only became teachers of religion for their own glory and advantage
and interest, but teaching doctrine which only led souls to ruin
and down to destruction. They sought and they loved the
praises of men above the praises of God. They loved the chief
seats in the synagogue and to be hailed as rabbi, rabbi. when they went out in public
in the marketplaces. But our Lord says of them that
their doctrines are deadly. And it is not without reason
that our Lord did warn His inner circle, His followers and His
disciples in Matthew chapter 16 and verse 6 in these words. Take heed and beware of the leaven
of the Pharisees and of the Sadducee. The disciples heard the word
leaven out of the mouth of our Lord, and immediately they thought
of bread. They said, uh-oh, he saith this
because we have forgotten to bring bread. But the Lord, knowing
their thoughts, said unto them plainly, in Matthew 16 and verse
12, that he referred not to eating bread, but to the doctrine and
to the teaching, the beliefs, the theology of the two schools
or groups of thought among the Jew. The Pharisees being the
largest sect and having the most influence in the Jewish religion. Now, the Pharisees, on one hand,
were self-righteous hypocrites. The Scriptures are clear. They
taught justification was by the works of the law or by mere natural
and descendancy and ancestry from Abraham. and mingled in
with the law, they freely mix the tradition and the commandments
of men. You can see that in Matthew 15,
1 through 9, Our Lord condemned them for it. Now the Sadducees,
on the other hand, did not believe in a resurrection of the dead,
nor did they believe in angels, nor did they believe in spirit
beings. Acts 23 and verse 8. Thus, in contrast to the illegitimate
shepherds, the scribes, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees, the Lord declares
himself the true shepherd who had come to give his sheep abundant
life. And look at the contrast there,
to kill, to destroy, and to give life on the other hand. Thus
the proclamation here in verse 11, I am the good shepherd, and
his devotion unto them is set forth. The love and the sacrifice
that the shepherd makes for them. The good shepherd gives his life
for the sheep. He will lay down his life for
them He will give up his life in order to preserve and protect
and give everlasting life unto them. Now, before he develops
a further truth and his shepherdhood, the Lord makes a contrast here
in verse 12 and verse 13, that he says that while I am the good
shepherd, and I will lay down my life for the sheep. The hireling
will abandon the sheep in time of danger. When wolves come with
their gnarled teeth among the sheep, then a hireling will quickly
get out of dodge, as we say, leaving the sheep, that is, leaving
them to the ravening wolves. Now why do they do that, the
illegitimate hireling shepherd? Well, number one, because he
is only a hireling. He is working for wages. He is not the shepherd. He is
only in it for the return that it brings unto him. Not only
is he in it only for himself, but the sheep are not his. They are not his. He does not
own them. He did not buy them, nor did
he raise them and nourish them up from a young, nor would he
die for them when he found them in great danger. And thirdly,
in verse 13, he cares nothing for the sheep. It matters not
to the hireling about the sheep and about their welfare and their
safety, their life, their food and their drink. Only reward
is all that is in the eye of him. Then in verse 14, the Lord
restates his claim again. I am the Good Shepherd. Now, one of the better descriptions
of this and its meaning I found in the writing of John Brown
in his very extensive work entitled Discourses and Sayings of Our
Lord. And on John 10, verse 11, John
Brown wrote this, and I quote, I stand in a particular relation
to a particular people who are my sheep. I am their shepherd
appointed and engaged to perform towards them certain important
and beneficial offices." There's the description of our Lord,
I Am the Good Shepherd. Soon after that, John Brown wrote
this, quote, I deserve the name Shepherd for I possess appropriate
qualification. I perform the appropriate duties
of the character that I sustain." In effect, the Lord declares
that he is a special one come from God on a special and a divine
mission in regard to the people of God who are called his sheep. He is the shepherd of the sheep. And methinks they make a good
point, who write and who say that the use of the words here,
shepherd and sheep, would conjure up a much clearer picture in
a Jewish mind of that day than it might in our time or the people
in a latter time. Because, you see, based upon
the Scripture to a Jewish mind, it amounted to a messianic claim
when our Lord used the word, I am, and then said, I am the
Great Shepherd. That the Lord is claiming in
this to be Messiah. He is claiming to be the very
shepherd of the souls of the elect, based upon texts like
Genesis chapter 49, verse 24. There, the prophecy of Jacob
just prior to his death, when he was dying and on his deathbed. Then and there he spoke of, quote,
the shepherd, the stone of Israel, unquote. How about that clear
imagery in Psalm chapter 23? Ah, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want." That lengthy
passage in Ezekiel chapter 34, especially the words of Ezekiel
34 and verse 23, quote, And 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." And consider 1 Peter 2, verse
25, where this shepherd-sheep image is brought forth again
in the Scripture. Peter writes, you were as sheep
going astray, but you are returned unto the shepherd and bishop
of your souls. And in its context here, the
bishop and the shepherd is a reference clearly to the Lord Jesus Christ. And please note, even when they
were yet astray, even when they were yonder on the far side,
even when they were lost They were then the sheep of Christ. They were never goats, as we
hear some claim, and then changed into a sheep. Always were they
the sheep of Christ, once lost but then found. But back to John
chapter 10, we have much rich teaching here that we might cover. Verse 11, his claim, I am the
good shepherd. Then look at his self-sacrificing
act in their behalf. Verse 11, the last part. The
good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. Look at verse
15, again, the last part of it. And I lay down my life for the
sheep. In verse 17, Therefore does my
Father love me, because I lay down my life, both in connection
with the Father's will and the salvation of the sheep. Now, the Lord is not speaking
here of His death from the standpoint of a martyr. He's not speaking
of a martyr's death at all. As a human shepherd might throw
himself between the flock and the enemy or the thief and the
robber, and be killed himself while the sheep escape to a place
of safety. He is not talking about in the
sin that a man might die saving his family so they can flee to
a place of safety. Granted, these are noble deaths,
but the Lord speaks of a vicarious death in this place. dying for,
dying in, dying, giving his life for the stead of the sheep. A substitutionary death is what
our Lord has here in mind, and some theologians say that the
word for emphasizes that again and again. In behalf of the sheep
I lay down my life, in their stead I give up my life, that
they might have abundant life, even everlasting life, that they
may never perish, that none may ever pluck them out of my Father's
hand. Now, in these words, the Lord
inseparably connects the salvation and deliverance of the sheep
to him laying down or giving up his life. I lay down my life
for the sheep. My life I give for the sheep. My death is the cause of their
life. By my death shall they be saved
and come to everlasting life. Then the question comes around,
how shall the death of Christ, how shall the death of the Good
Shepherd save the sheep? How is His death effective to
save them? Isaiah has given us a hint. Chapter 53, verse 6. all we like
sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to our
own way, and the Lord has laid or made to light upon him the
iniquity of us all. Now, the Holy Lord God not only
made the iniquity of the sheep to light upon the blessed Son,
but as Paul says, 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21, He made Him to be
sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. He made Him to be sin, but not
sinful when He imputed our sin unto the Lord. The Apostle Peter
again writes, 1 Peter 2, verse 24, who his own self bare our
sins in his own body on the tree. that we, being dead to sin, should
live unto righteousness by whose stripes ye are healed." Is that
not a reference to Isaiah 53? Now, we know that the apostles
both spoke and wrote on the nature and the extent, the accomplishment
of the atonement of the Lord's anointed even the incarnate Christ. Peter, John, and especially Paul
wrote on the atonement. Before that, the prophets foretold
it and wrote it down in the Scripture. But let us not forget The Lord
also declared His atoning death. As one has observed, the Lord
on special occasions brings around His discourse to His own atoning
death. So let's hear what it is that
the ward himself had to say about his own death. And not restricted
to the fact that he would die, that he would be put to death
in a violent manner, but declaring the purpose, the aim, and the
end to be accomplished by his death. Now, as a preparation
for this, or an introduction, let's consider a couple of points
that are certainly relevant to our particular discussion this
morning on this subject. Number one, I raise a question,
had you thought about it, are we surprised that the Lord Jesus
Christ himself did not more frequently speak of his saving death than
what we have recorded in the gospel. Does it seem strange
that the Lord, this death being so important, did not declare
it every time He spoke, every time He held a public discourse,
to every crowd that gathered and listened unto Him? In every
place where He taught the people, every Sabbath day in the Jewish
synagogue, would we not expect our Lord to speak of His atoning
death? Secondly, I raise another question. Are we surprised that the Lord
did not more clearly, more clearly, like Paul, state the nature and
the need of his atonement. Mine is that in that parable
of the prodigal son, there is no mention of the necessity of
an atonement to save and restore fellowship of the promiscuous
son with his father. I raise that question because
there are those liberals and there are those modernists who
find in this parable of the prodigal son that self-reformation is
enough and is all that is needed to bring one to salvation and
to God. Well, again, the Lord did not
before some somewhat veil his death in symbols. He did that
on occasion, such as John chapter 2 and verse 19. They said, What sign do you give
us? And he said, Destroy this temple and in three days I will
raise it up again. He said on another occasion,
no sign shall be given you but the sign of the prophet Jonah. For Jonah three days, three nights,
in the belly of the sea whale or monster, the Son of Man three
days and three nights. in the bowels of the earth. Again,
our Lord, in speaking of His death, spoke of His being, quote,
lifted up, unquote. He would be lifted up. Again,
He spoke of it as a baptism that He had to be baptized with. Again,
He spoke of it as a cup that was before Him that He must drink. My point is this. In short, the
Lord did not cast pearls before swine. He reserved the clear
declaration of His death for special occasion and for special
people if we read it carefully in the Scripture. When in the
Gospel we read of the sayings of the Lord Jesus concerning
the death of Himself, they are comparatively few in number. And we might ask, why is this
the case in view of the great importance of his death? That
to die for sin did he come into this world and became incarnate? I was reading this week from
a book by a man named George Smeaton, who wrote a book called
The Atonement According to Christ. And in laying the introductory
foundation for it, he wrote something that struck a chord in my mind. He spoke of the atonement according
to the according to the docility and freedom from prejudice, or
else, according to the love of truth, as well as the capacity
to receive it on the part of those to whom he was speaking."
Now, think about that a moment. Don't pass it off. Think about
it. By docile, I understand one who
is easily led, easily managed, one who is easily taught. Now, as examples that this were
true, consider how the Lord spoke of His death to Nicodemus in
John chapter 3. Under the figure of the brazen
serpent, our Lord speaks of His death. He knew of a brazen serpent
lifted up upon a pole among Israel. They that looked did not die
of the fiery bite of the vipers, but lived. So, under the figure
of a brazen serpent upon a pole, the Son of Man must be lifted
up. Again, He spoke of the nature
and of the necessity of His death to the two on Emmaus Road in
Luke chapter 24, that his debt was foretold by the law, by the
psalm, and by the prophet. And all things spoken there must
necessarily be fulfilled. How clear did he speak on his
debt. with those with him in the upper
room, when he spoke at the supper, saying, This is my blood which
is shed as a ransom for many. Another gospel has it this way.
This is my blood which is shed for you. Now another point that
Smeaton made in his book, the part of the reason for the Lord
speaking as sparingly as He did on His atonement could be, and
I'm quoting, the idea of a suffering Messiah had grown obsolete, unquote. Now again, I ask you to think
about that. The idea among the Jew of a suffering
Messiah had grown rather obsolete. His priestly office was ignored
and not cherished. Very few there were. who had
an interest or understanding of such things as a suffering
Messiah. Hear these words again. The idea
of a suffering Messiah had grown obsolete. Great God, my brethren,
I thought when I read that. The same thing could be said
concerning the present generation of Christendom. The cross is
an offense, so it is toned down. Christ crucified is an insult. to the wise of this world. Most deny His sovereign lordship
and are ignorant of His high priesthood. Jesus, to some, is
only a good example. There are many today who do not
think that the death of Christ is necessary and efficacious
to save sinners. Many there are who do not believe
that Jesus is the one and only way into salvation, and many
of these are in the bosom of Christendom. So the suffering
one has indeed grown obsolete among many. But let's go back
to the sayings of our Lord John 10, declaring His giving Himself
for the sheep. That would be again in verse
11, verse 15, verse 17, and verse 18. Now, by the words, laying
down His life, The Lord not only declares that
he would do so for the sake of the sheep, but that his death
would be the direct and immediate cause of the salvation of the
sheep and bestowing upon them everlasting life. This he performs
in the capacity of his relationship to them as a shepherd. Not a stranger, not a hireling,
but as the true, legitimate, God-ordained shepherd of the
sheep. Now, notice further in our passage
the mentions of sheep. Verse 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16. Now, who are these sheep? And how are they said to be Christ's
or belong unto Him? How came He to be their shepherd? Now, the sheep, we say, are one
and the same with the elect of God. They are those chosen in
Christ before the foundation of the world. They were given
to Christ in the covenant. They were given to Christ before
the foundation of the world. And He is their duly appointed
Shepherd to seek them and to find them and to save them. And He is sent by the Father. He did not come on His own, but
has been sent by the Father. Notice with me in verse 14 and
15 where He speaks. of the most intimate relation
which He sustained, first to the sheep, in verse 14, and also
to the Father, in verse 15. Now, as to the sheep, verse 14,
I, the Good Shepherd, know My sheep. That made me think of II Corinthians
2 and verse 19. The Lord knows them that are
His. As one put it, there subsists
the most intimate and enduring and mutual acquaintance and communion
between the shepherd and the sheep. That is, between Christ
and the elect. He knows them. He distinguishes
them from the religious imposter in any day. He is intimately
familiar with them so that he can say to some, as he does down
in verse 26, you are not my sheep. You remember Matthew chapter
7, verse 23. those who did great things in
His name. And then will I say unto them,
I never knew you, not at any time." As you know, Judas was
a devil from the beginning, John 6, 71, and our Lord knew that. And then something else, and
the sheep know His voice. They know His voice, having been
given ears to hear. They hear and they respond to
the call of Christ. They hear His voice in the Gospel. They hear His voice in the Word
of God. They hear His voice in the preaching
of the Gospel. And the Holy Spirit develops
before them a picture of Christ And he knows them each individually
and each personally, as seen in cases in the Scripture. John
1 and verse 47, looking upon Nathanael, knowing his name,
calling him an Israelite in whom there is no Gaia. Then we come
to Luke chapter 13 and 16, calling the afflicted woman a daughter
of Abraham." Ah, that is significant. Luke 19, verse 5 and verse 9,
calling Zacchaeus first by name and then recognizing him as a
child of Abraham. And not after the flesh. but
in a spiritual sense. In verse 15 of our text, in John
10, he illustrates the reciprocal knowledge between Christ and
the sheep to be like unto that between himself and the Father. Now, this takes us to the mountaintop. This takes us to high ground,
as unreasonable as it seems. for the mutualness between father
and son is, as George Hutchison put it, matchless and incomprehensible."
It's beyond our understanding or beyond our grasp. And yet
the relation or the mutualness between Christ and the elect
resembles it, that between the latter, the Father and the Son. And that union of Christ and
the elect, I'll say, is also incomprehensible, being a great
mystery. And yet, is it a fact? As proof
of his affection, in verse 15, the last part, I lay down my
life for the sheep. And soon he will repeat for emphasis
in verse 17, I lay down my life that I might take it again. And then say in verse 18, I have
power to lay it down, I have power to take it up again, this
commandment have I received of my Father. Now it is true that
Christ was crucified by wicked hands, yet not until he voluntarily
submitted himself and gave Himself up to the death of the cross. You do remember that the Jews
on several occasions had attempted earlier to put the Lord to death. They had tried to kill Him on
several occasions, but they could not because His time had not
yet come. But when His hour was come, He
went as a sheep to the slaughter. Isaiah said it. He could have
called legions of angels, he said, to have delivered him.
Or he might have slain his enemy simply by a word. out of his
mouth like a great sword. Or he might advise power, turn
them to pillars of salt or turn them into stone. And yet, what
did he do when the hours come? He gave his back to the smiters. He gave his cheek to them that
plucked off the hair. He hid not his face from shame
and spitting." Isaiah chapter 50 and verse 6. He endured without
retaliation the mockery of infidels. And he became obedient unto death. And what kind of death? Even
the death of the cross, as Paul said in Philippians chapter 2
and verse 8. He even dismissed his own spirit
or gave up the ghost. Christ could never have been
put to death. He never could have taken away
the life of our Lord unless he gave it up. Did you hear what
he said? No man takes it from me. I lay it down. It had to be that
way that it might be that it was of God, a voluntary death. On the other hand, look what
he said, I have power to take it up again. The word power,
as it is in our King James Version, is, I believe, the word exousa,
right, authority. privilege, liberty, ability,
and such like. I have this to take it up again."
And take it up again he did at the appointed time, after three
days and three nights in the grave. Seeing no corruption,
neither was it possible that he be holden by the cords of
death beyond the appointed time, Peter said in Acts chapter 2.
Now we see two things about the death of Christ in bringing our
study to a close today. Number one, how can you deny
it was a particular death? It was particular. He died for
the sheep. And he says that again and again. I lay down my life for the sheep. And by the way, In verse 26,
go down to verse 26, see his word. He says to some, the reason
that you do not believe is because you are not my sheep. Now don't
flop that over. Make it vice versa. The sheep
will be saved by the death of Christ. But he said, you do not
believe because you're not my sheep. He does not say, you are
not my sheep by your refusal to believe. You do not believe
because you're not my sheep. As I said, my sheep hear my voice
and they follow me. Our Lord's death was particular. I lay down my life for the sheep."
Now, we notice another thing, secondly, in verse 16, and may
we read that. "'And other sheep I have which
are not of this fold, them also I must bring. They shall hear
my voice, there shall be one fold, and there shall be one
shepherd." I agree with those who think that this refers to
the Gentiles, Gentiles by divine election, sheep of God from among
the nation. Long strangers had they been
to the things of God, the promises and the covenant. A dividing
wall had stood between them and between the Jew. And our Lord
Paul said in Ephesians 2, broke down that middle wall of petition,
removing the enmity contained in ordinances. And other sheep
I have, not of this fold, them I must bring, as surely as he
must be lifted up, as surely as he must go through Samaria,
I must bring them and be brought they shall. Them I must bring,
they shall hear my voice, one fold and one shepherd. Now, the shepherd and the bishop
of our soul is how our Lord is referred to. The good shepherd
of the sheep lays down his life that the sheep might have everlasting
life. Thank God for one who, appointed
as a father, perfectly fulfilled the act and part of a shepherd,
giving his life that they might live, be spared death and destruction,
and saved from the ravages of the wolves and the thief and
the robber. God help God's people who are
sometimes mingled in among these worldly, worldly shepherds and
groups that meet together. May they hear the voice of Christ
and be called out and drawn away.