well-known office of the Lord
Jesus Christ that the Holy Ghost delights to set before us, again
he's the true author of the scriptures, is that of the Lord Jesus Christ
is the Great Shepherd and the Good Shepherd. What wonderful titles for our
great King because truly he is He is the Great Shepherd, and
truly He is the Good Shepherd. He's our Redeemer. He's the Redeemer of God's people.
And what are we called in the Holy Scriptures? We're called
the sheep of His hands. That's what we are. Oh, David said, yay. I walk through
the valley of the shallow death. I will fear no evil for the Lord
is with me. My shepherd's with me. He's with me all the time. He makes me to lie down in green
pastures. Here's the green pastures, beloved.
Here they are. Oh, maketh me the Oh my. He's so wonderful. He's just
so wonderful. Turn if you would to Psalm 95 and then also put
your finger in Psalm 100. Psalm 95 verses 6 to 7 and Psalm
100 verses 3 to 5 we'll look at. And then I'm going to have us
turn to Hebrews. The book of Hebrews. And when you put your finger
in Hebrews, put your finger in the first chapter. Psalm 95 verses 6 and 7 says,
oh come let us worship and bow down. Sinners. Sinners who at one time
never wanted to bow down before God. Now they've been made willin'
in the day of God's power, haven't they? And they're willin' worshipers
now, aren't they? Are you a willin'? We're willin' worshipers now,
aren't we? All by God's power, salvations of the Lord. O come,
let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord,
our Maker. For He is our God. And we are
His We are the people of his pasture. Look at this. And the
sheep of his hand. That's what we are. We're the
sheep of his hands. Today, if you will, hear his voice. Harden
not your heart. Oh my. We're the sheep of his
hand. What does a shepherd do with
sheep? He takes care of them, doesn't he? He makes sure they're
fed. He makes sure they're well nourished.
He cares for them when they're sick. He cares for them at all
times. His eye is ever watchful upon
His sheep. Ever watchful upon them. Then
look at Psalm 100, verse 3 to 5. Look at this statement
here. Know ye that Lord He is God.
No matter what people think, He is God. He is God, Elohim. Jehovah Elohim,
there, in the Hebrew. It is He that hath made us, and
not we ourselves. We are His people, and the sheep
of His pasture. This, of course, speaks of all
the elect of God, all those who were given by the Father to Christ
in eternity. They're the sheep of God's chosen. We don't know who they are, so
we preach the gospel to everyone, don't we? Out it goes, and the
Lord does the saving. He gathers together his lost
sheep. Look at that. We are his people, and the sheep
of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving,
and that's what we do, don't we? We who are the redeemed of
the Lord. We enter into the gates, oh my, we're rejoicing in what
the Lord's done for us. with thanksgiving and into his
courts with praise. Be thankful unto him and bless
his name for Jehovah is good. The Lord there is Jehovah. His
mercy is everlasting and his truth endureth to all generations.
Never forget that God's love is everlasting, God's wrath is
everlasting, right? He's God. He's the Everlasting
One. He's the Ancient of Days. He's
had no beginning and no end. And we who are the sheep of God,
we marvel that He saved us. We marvel. We marvel that it
was all according to His will and purpose that we're saved.
Because we know what we are, sinners from the top of our heads
to the bottom of our feet, right? We are sinners by birth, nature,
and choice. That's what we are. Now we're going to look at the
title. We're going to look at two titles today, the Great Shepherd
and the Good Shepherd. The Holy Spirit is in the Scriptures
being delighted to put these two titles upon our Master, upon
our King, the Lord Jesus Christ. First of all, turn to Hebrews
chapter 13. We're going to read verses 20 and 21, and then we're
going to go back to the start of Hebrews. This is wonderful. Again, the
Holy Spirit has set this before us. These two wonderful titles. And
for God's people, He is the Great Shepherd. He's the Savior of
our souls. He's the one we give all glory
to and all honor and all praise to. He's also the Good Shepherd. He's so good to us. All the time. Even in what we consider the
worst of times, he's so good to us. He's so merciful. We do not get
what we deserve. I remember talking to someone,
and they said, well, that's not fair. And I said, you know what? I
don't want fair. I want mercy. I want grace. Because if I got
what's fair, I'd be in hell. You want fair? I don't want fair.
I want mercy. I want grace. Oh, and God gives
that to his people. Look at this, Hebrews chapter
13, verses 20 and 21. Now the God of peace How do we have peace with God?
Through the Lord Jesus Christ and only him, through his shed
blood. That bought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that
great shepherd of the sheep. Look at that title, the great
shepherd of the sheep. That's one of his titles. Through
the blood of the everlasting covenant, right? Blood must be
shed. God the Father, the Son, the
Holy Spirit made a covenant in eternity. And the ratification
of that covenant is the blood of Christ, shed. It's called the everlasting covenant. Make you perfect in every good
work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing
in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and
ever, amen. Now, we're not perfect, are we? We're safe sinners. But in Christ, God sees us Not
as sinners, but he sees us in Christ. Those who are redeemed
by the blood of the lamb. But we're still sinners, aren't
we? To our shame. Do you sin more than you want
to? I ask you that all the time. It's true, right? You owe way
more than we want to. Oh my. Praise be to God for mercy. Praise be to God for grace in
and through the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord Jesus Christ here
is called the Great Shepherd. It is he who by himself sealed
our parted with his blood, by himself. He needed no help. Peter tried to cut the ear off
those who would take him away and he said, Peter, I can call
six legions of angels. One angel killed 100,000 men.
He's basically saying I could call enough angels to wipe the
whole world out. My oh my, 6,000 men per legion. in the Roman armies. That's a
lot of angels, isn't it? And if one killed a hundred thousand
men, there goes the world. I must go. See his face, Isaiah says, his
face was set like a flint to Jerusalem. He must go and redeem
his people from their sins. He must. And he did. And he cried, it is finished.
He didn't need no help. He came and accomplished that
which he was sent to do, the redemption of his people. He
obtained eternal redemption for us, right? So God's preachers,
we stand up and we proclaim a work already done. All we do is point
people to Christ and say, look to Christ. Look to Christ and
be saved. All the ends of the earth. It's a work already finished.
Brother Tim James brought that up. It's a work done. My oh my. So he ratified the everlasting
covenant with his blood. And all through the book of Hebrews,
you'll find that the great shepherd is he who was sent by God to
save his sheep from all their sins. And he did it. He cried,
it is finished. It's done. The work is done.
What's left for us? Nothing. Just look to Christ. Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you Rest. Rest. Those labors are the labors
of religion. Do this and don't do that. And
I'm not an antinomian. But I'll preach that we are so
free in Christ, we don't even understand it. But don't give
us a license to go out that door and go crazy, does it? No, the
love of Christ constrains us. But oh, the truth that all our
sins are forgiven. All of them. I mean every single
one in Christ. That's cause for great rejoicing.
If you're a sinner, that's cause for grace. Can't find many sinners
nowadays, that's the problem. Everybody else pointing the finger
at somebody else. No, I'm a sinner saved by grace. And I know I
preach to a group of people that are sinners saved by grace. Somebody
told me the other day, if I come over that church there, the roof
will fall in. I said, why? He goes, because I'm such a sinner.
I said, you'd just be joining a bunch of sinners already. This
is a hospital for sinners, isn't it? Oh my. My, oh my. Let's go to the first
chapter of Hebrews. We're going to go through the
book of Hebrews here just quickly, certain verses here, and look and see
why our Lord is called the Great Shepherd. Look at verse 2 of
chapter 1. By the Lord Jesus Christ, God's
final word has been spoken and revealed. He's revealed himself
to men. Look at this. Hath in these last
days spoken unto us by his Son. whom He hath appointed heir of
all things, by whom also He made the worlds." Look at that. All that God has to say to us
is in this book. Now there's so much more about
Him we don't even know. And we will never exhaust this
book, I'll tell you what. We will never. We're learning
still, aren't we, as God's people. As He reveals things, We see
him in the Old Testament, all through the Old Testament, in
pictures and types and shadows. And then Paul wrote to the Colossians,
he said, and now here's the substance. Those were shadows and types,
here's the substance. Just like you could see my shadow
coming around the corner before I come around, and then there's
the substance. That's true of Christ. And then look at Hebrews 1, 6.
The Lord is the creator. The creator of all things, whom
the angels worship. And again, when he bringeth in
the first begotten of the world, he said, and let all the angels
of God worship him. My, oh my. Now turn to Hebrews
2. Verse 10, we see the Lord is
the captain of our salvation. There's another title for him.
He's the captain of our salvation, beloved. For it became him for
whom are all things and by whom are all things and bringing many
sons into glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through
sufferings. Look at that. That's what he is. He's the captain. This is why he's called the great
shepherd in this book. This book of Hebrews is all about
Christ. All about Him. The Lord Jesus
Christ is our sovereign Savior who took hold of the seed of
Abraham to save us. Look at Hebrews 2.16. For verily
He took not on Him the nature of angels, but He took on Him
the seed of Abraham. Now what does that tell you?
That tells you that He is bone of our bone and flesh of our
flesh. These theologians call it the hyperstatic union. I just
like call him the God man. It means the same. He's the God
man. He's 100% God and he's 100% man. He can relate to the suffering
we went through. He's a man of souls, right? Acquainted with
grief. My oh my. In Hebrews 3, 5, The Lord Jesus
Christ is the prophet who's better than Moses, and that son who
is better than a servant. Hebrews 3, 5. And Moses verily
was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony
spoken of those things which were to be spoken, verse 6, but
Christ as a son over his own house, whose house are we. if we hold fast the confidence
and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. My, and in the Lord Jesus Christ
is our Sabbath. Do you know he's our Sabbath?
Do you know what Sabbath means? He's our rest. Remember, come unto
me all you that labor and are heavy laden? Yeah, I was in religion,
and there was things like, they just, I would go to church, and
I'd feel worse coming out. Because I never measured up to
what the preacher was saying. And now I know why. Because I
couldn't. And neither could he. See, Christ is our rest. Christ
is our Sabbath. He's the only hope for the believer.
That's why I said, cease from your labors. Now we labor for
Christ, but that's a labor of love, isn't it? It's not a labor
to get rewards or to gain favor or merit with God, not at all.
If Christ is my reward, which he is, can I receive any greater
reward? No. None. Christ is our reward, beloved.
He told that to Abraham in Genesis, chapter 14. Oh my. He's our Sabbath. Look at Hebrews
chapter 4 verses 1 to 11. Let us therefore fear, lest the
promise left, or being left of us, entered into his rest, any
of you should come, or should seem to come short of it. For
unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them, but the
word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith
in them when they heard it. For we which have believed do
enter into rest. Who's our rest? Christ. Christ
is our rest. As he has said, as I have sworn
in my wrath, that they shall enter into my rest, although
the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise,
and God did rest the seventh day from all his works. And in
this place again, if they shall enter into my rest, seeing therefore
it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it
was first preached entered not in because of unbelief, again,
he limited it to a certain day, saying in David, today, after
so long a time, as it is said, today, if you will hear his voice,
harden not your hearts, The Gospels being preached to you today,
don't harden your hearts. For if Jesus had given them rest,
then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. There
remains therefore a rest to the people of God. Well, who is it?
What is it? For he that entereth into his
rest, that's Christ, he although has ceased from his own works.
Look at that. Cease from trying to save myself. Cease from trying
to gain merit and favor with God by what I do. Because I can't
gain merit with God by my works. I can... Christ has done it all. He's done it all. Does not the
scripture say we are complete in Christ? In the Greek that
means you can't get another drop in that. Paul tells us that in
Colossians. We're complete in him. My, it's
wonderful. He also seeth from his own works
as God did from his. Let us labor therefore to enter
into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of
unbelief. Look to Christ and be saved. Philippian jailer, what must
I do to be saved? Notice the word I in there. What
must I do? That's the cry of all men, right? Natural men in their natural
state. That was our cry. What must I do? What did Paul
say? Now if he had to have baptism,
he would have said it there, right? If there had been any
works for him to be saved that he had to do, he would have told
them there. But he said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and
thou shall be saved. And I'll tell you, that's a work
of God the Holy Spirit in you. If you believe, that's because
you're born again of the Holy Spirit of God, and he's given
you faith to believe on Christ, wherein we rejoice. Oh my, it's wonderful. And the
Lord Jesus Christ is our sympathizing high priest who bids us to come
to him, to the throne of grace. Why? To obtain mercy and grace. Turn, if you would, to Hebrews
chapter 4, verses 14 to 16. Seeing then that we have a great
priest. We have a great priest. We have
a great shepherd. We have a great priest. We have
one. We have an advocate. We who believe,
we have an advocate with the Father. Oh my. Seeing them, we have a great
high priest that is passed into the heavens. Jesus, the Son of
God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest
which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
He's perfect. He's perfect, look at that. Tempted
like us, and yet without sin. He's the
perfect, spotless Lamb of God. Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy. And oh,
we find mercy at the throne of grace, don't we? Mercy, undeserved,
unmerited mercy. And grace, grace to cover all
our sins. All of them. In time of need. You ever been
struck down by your sin? Go to the throne of grace. You'll
find grace to help. Grace that covers all our sins. Remember that too, beloved. Past,
present, and future, all covered by the blood of the Lamb. Someone
said, how can you say your future sins? Because all my sins were
future when Christ died at Calvary's cross. I haven't committed one
of them yet. And He sealed my pardon with
His blood. Now, I didn't know that. I didn't know that until
I was born again by the Holy Spirit of God. I had no clue.
I was a God-hater just like everyone else. You couldn't tell. I had
no idea I was a sheep of God. No clue. But God knew. God knew. He says, I'm not going to lose
one of my sheep. I'm not going to lose one for whom I died for
at Calvary's Cross. So since we don't know, we pray
for everyone. We pray for our family, we pray
for our friends, don't we? My. My, oh my. You know the Lord
Jesus Christ is the anchor of our souls? You know, if we didn't
have him as the anchor, we'd be drifting away, we'd be gone.
What Donny Bell used to call him? Gone Jesse, you know what
that is? That's the fellow that says, I'm gonna fight with you.
Let's go over there and fight with that guy. And then when
you get there to that guy, he's, where'd he go? He took right,
there goes Jesse, he's gone. And that's how we'd be. We'd
just be gone. We would just be gone, wouldn't
we? Without an anchor. My. Dave, you were in the Navy, them
big old ships, they drop an anchor there. My, they're not going
nowhere. You're not going to the port
and they drop that anchor? My. It isn't moving. It isn't moving at all. Look
at this in Hebrews chapter 6, verses 18 to 20. This is again
why he's great all through this book. That by two immutable things,
in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong
consolation, that's comfort in the Greek, who have fled for
refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. Which hope we
have is an anchor of the soul. Look at that. Christ is the anchor
of our soul, beloved. Both sure and steadfast. We're
not sure and steadfast, but he is. We're like that boat getting
tossed to and fro in the waves, right? But where does it go? It's got an anchor. It's anchored. My story of Niagara
Falls, there was two men floating on logs and they were getting
closer and closer to the edge. And they ended up throwing ropes
out and stuff because before you get to the falls, there's
a river, the Niagara River. And they were throwing a rope
out that was attached to the land. They ended up stringing
it across. And one man grabbed a hold of
the rope and held on for dear life. And the other fella saw
another log, a bigger log, and thought, I'm going to get on
that bigger log. And he got on that bigger log, and he went
right over the falls to his death. But you see, the one guy, he grabbed that rope. It was
anchored to both sides, wasn't it? Our anchor's in heaven. We go through the storms of this
life, don't we? Oh, we're tossed to and fro in this life. But
where's our anchor? He's in glory. And we're going
to be with him soon. He said, where I go, you're going
to come. You're going to come. Oh my. He's steadfast and sure. He's steadfast and sure. Now
look at chapter 7. We're going to see here the Lord
Jesus Christ is our ever-living High Priest. He's our Savior. Who saves to the uttermost all
who come to Him. And you know that? God's sheep
are living proof of that, aren't we? We didn't seek Him. He sought
us. And did He save us to the uttermost?
Some preachers say He saved us in the gutter most. That's where
we were. We were in the gutter of life. Let's just say what it is, right?
That's where we were. We were in a hole. Jeremiah,
remember, they tossed him in that pit, miry clay. And when
it rained, if he tried to climb out, it was just like slipping
down. And then that muck would just suck his feet in. How did
he get out? Hope came from above. How did we get out of the gutter
that we were in, the miry clay that we were in, the pit we were
in, the pit of sin? Help came from above, beloved.
Came from above. Oh, my. Look at this, Hebrews
7, 25. I'll tell you what. I don't care
how black your sin is. I don't care how worse your sin
is. Right? Christ can save all who
come to him. David was an adulterer and a
murderer. Paul was a murderer. What things have went through
our minds and here we are saved? Oh my. Hebrews chapter 7 verse 24, wherefore
He is able. Now those words right there,
He is able. We're not able to save ourselves,
but He's able. He's able to save them to the
uttermost that come to God by Him, seeing that He ever liveth
to make intercession for them. He's God. And where is He right
now? He's seated at the right hand
of the Father, interceding for His people. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
a redeemer of all his people. Look at Hebrews chapter 9 verse
12. How are we redeemed? By the precious blood of Christ. gave his life for us. Look at
this, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his
own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained
eternal redemption for us. Remember earlier I said that
I preach a work that's already done? He already obtained eternal
salvation for his people. Now it comes true for us in time
and space when we're born again by the Holy Spirit of God, right? He's already obtained it. It's
already done. That's why he said it is finished. And what a hope
we have as believers. What a hope we can set before
other sinners just like us. He's able to save to the uttermost
all who come to Him. My, what a Savior. And He gave
His own life. He shed His own blood to redeem
us. And that's the blood of the God, man. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission of sins. So he gives his life for us.
In Hebrews 9.14, Christ is a great sacrifice who by his blood purifies
our conscience from dead works to serve the living true God.
We didn't want to serve God before he saved us. We had no desire
to serve God before he saved us. Look at this. Oh, this is
wonderful. How much more? shall the blood
of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without
spot to God. So who did we sin against? We
sinned against God, didn't we? So Christ offers himself up,
the holy, sinless, spotless Lamb of God. Perfect in thought, word,
and deed. Never sinned. And how does he
offer himself up? Without sin. as the great substitute
of his people. If you walk away today with two
things in your mind, this is the two things I want you to
walk away with, substitution and satisfaction. Christ is a
substitute for sinners, for his people, and satisfaction, God's
absolutely satisfied with the finished perfect work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's what it's all about. Look
at this. Offer themself without spot to God. Purge your conscience
from dead works to serve the living God. That's why we serve
our king. Oh, what he's done for. Our labor
for the Lord is a labor of love, not of duty. It's a labor of
love. And then look at Hebrews 9.26,
the Lord Jesus Christ is our sacrifice. And what did he do? He put an end to all the sacrifices.
There's no need for any more sacrifices ever again. They would
be an abomination in the eyes of the Lord. You know that? Because there's only one sacrifice
that will satisfy God. And all those sacrifices in the
Old Testament were just but types and shadows pointing to Christ,
the great sacrifice. Look at Hebrews 9, 26. For then
must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world,
but now once in the end of the world, once in time, hath he
appeared to put away sin, how? By the sacrifice of himself.
Now he's sinless, right? He's sinless. So whose sin is
he putting away? Yeah, our sister, yeah. Brother, ours. All the sins of all the elect
of all the ages were put upon Him. And by Himself, by Himself,
He paid for them all. All that God's law demand. I'll
tell you, there's not one left out. Again, all my sins were
future. Were all your sins future at Calvary's cross? Of course.
Paid them all. Paid them to the outermost. The wrath of God was extinguished
that was against us by the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
why we say hallelujah. That's why we say praise be to
God. Remember, hallelujah is not a bad word, right? No. Every time you see praise
ye the Lord in the Old Testament, in the Hebrew that's hallelujah. Hallelujah. My, oh my. It's wonderful. Now, the Lord Jesus, now, do
you see why He's called, do you see why He's called the Great
Shepherd, just what we looked at? Oh, He's so great, isn't
He? He's called the Great Servant in Hebrews 10, verses 1 to 14.
I'm not going to go through all those verses. But if you want
to write that down for later on, And then in Hebrews 10, 18
to 22, let's read that. Hebrews 10, 18 to 22, the Lord
Jesus Christ is called the new and living way by whom we have
access to God. You see, when we fell in Adam,
we lost our access to God. And every son and daughter of
Adam, that's all of us in this world, Christ is the seed of
the woman, we're the seed of man. Every one of us is born
now dead in trespasses and sins. Totally depraved. Shaking our fist at God. The
scripture, not my own opinion, the scripture says, in sin we
were conceived. We come out of the womb, the
scripture says, speaking lies. My oh my. We need a savior. We need a Savior. Look at Hebrews
chapter 10 verses 18 to 22. Now where remission of these
is, there's no more offering for sin. And look right above
that verse. It says, and their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more. That's speaking to God's people
through the sacrifice of Christ. Now where remission of these
is there's no more offering for sin. Having therefore, brethren,
boldness to enter into the holiness by the blood of Jesus Christ.
The only way we can enter into God's presence is through the
blood of Christ. By a new and living way, which
he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say his
flesh. And having a high priest over
the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full
assurance of faith. Look at that, full assurance
of faith. Our assurance sometimes like
this. Right? Let's just be honest, right?
Sometimes we're up, sometimes we're down. He's like this. He's constant. He never changes. He's the same
yesterday, today, and forever. What a savior. Full assurance
of faith, having the heart sprinkled from an evil conscience and our
bodies washed with pure water. What a Savior, what a Redeemer
is Jesus Christ. He's the true and living way.
And then go to Hebrews chapter 12 verse 2. What is Christ to us? Who is
Christ to us? Well, He's the Great Shepherd.
But more importantly, He's the Savior of my soul. Look at this. Looking unto Jesus, the author
and the finisher of our faith. I used to know an author in Oregon.
And I talked to him one time, and I said, do you sit down,
and before you even write even one letter, do you sit down and
plan your whole book? He goes, of course, I plan the
whole thing. I said, oh, OK. You purpose what you're going
to do. You write down. You purpose what you're going to do. You
plan what you're going to do. See, God's no different, is he? He's
purposed to save a people. He's planned to save a people. before anything even started,
before the foundation of the world. And look at this. This
is spectacular. I'll tell you what. Looking unto
Jesus, the author, the beginner, and the finisher of our faith.
Now, Zane and I were talking about this last week, and Zane
brought up how amazing this is. Look at this. For the joy that
was set before him. The joy. What's that? The redemption of his people.
But how would he do that? He'd have to go through the cross,
wouldn't he? The joy set before him endured
the cross for us, beloved. Despising the shame and he sat
down at the right hand of the throne of God. You know, the
old high priest could never sit down. There was no chair in the
temple. Where's Christ right now? He's
sitting right down. Work's all done. It's finished. And all those high priests will
put pictures of Christ, who is our great prophet, priest, and
king, right? He's our high priest. You want
to read the high priestly prayer, read John 17. That's the high priestly prayer
of our Savior. And then, the Lord Jesus Christ is God and Savior who will never
leave us nor forsake us. We looked at this in Sunday school. Hebrews 13, verse 5. Let your conversation be without
covenants. Conversation there in the Greek
is lifestyle. be without covetousness and be
content with such things as you have for he has said I will never
leave thee nor forsake thee now this is the portion you always
hear me say in the triple negative in the Greek this I'll never
leave thee nor forsake thee is never not ever never never not ever never It's like
he just wanted to emphasize, the Holy Spirit wanted to emphasize
that Christ will never leave us, nor forsake us. Never. He purchased us with his precious
blood, didn't he? My, oh my. The next title I'd
like us to look at quickly is The Good Shepherd. Turn, if you
would, to John chapter 10. John chapter 10. We'll read the
first five verses where we'll see the Holy Spirit of God has
preserved the Lord's words when he speaks to the Pharisees. This
comes right after they had excommunicated from the Jewish community the
man that he had healed who was blind in chapter 9. And what
the Lord is saying in these first five verses is he's calling these
Pharisees who again set themselves up as shepherds of the flock
In guides of the people, he's calling them thieves and robbers.
They were false shepherds. They are not sin of God. They
are not sin of God. The sheep were not theirs. The
sheep are the Lord's. And they did not come by the
only door of redemption. No, they came by traditions of
man, man's doings. The only way to come to God is
through the Lord Jesus Christ and His perfect, complete, sin-atoning
work. There's no other way. There's
no other way. Look at this. Verily, verily,
I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold,
but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
To him the porter openeth. And the sheep hear his voice.
Oh, there was a day when every believer hears the voice of the
shepherd cry in our name, cry in our name. And how do we hear
it? Through the preaching of his word. To him the porter enters, and
the sheep hear his voice, and he calleth his own sheep by name,
and he leadeth them out. You know how intimately the Lord
knows us, even before we know him? Very hairs of our head are
numbered. My. What was that sign you got at
the house? Set apart. God's people are set
apart before we're even saved. We don't even know it. Don't even know it. Oh, and he leaves them out. And
when he put forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the
sheep follow him, for they know his voice." Oh, we know the voice.
We know when a man's lying to us on the pulpit, don't we? You
know when? When they start telling you about
what you have to do to be saved. That's a man lying. He's lying
on God. Because salvation's only in and
through Christ Jesus our Lord. And by his perfect work. Through
his shed blood. And a stranger will they not
follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of
strangers. So our Lord has set this parable
before the Pharisees here. We see that in verse 6 that they
don't have a clue what he's talking about. They don't have a clue. Look at this. This parable spake
Jesus unto them, but they understood not what things they were which
he spake unto them. They didn't understand any of
it. Let me tell you, if you know and understand what He's talking
about here, you're very blessed. And that's only because God's
revealed Himself to us. That's only because we've been
saved by His grace and we've been taught by God the Holy Spirit
the things of Christ. So there's no room for boasting
for any of us, is there? Who do we boast in? Christ. That's
who we boast in. My Savior saved my soul. He did
it all. He did it all. My, these false
shepherds, they had no idea what the Lord was saying. Now in verses
11 to 18, we see the Holy Spirit of God call the Lord Jesus Christ
in two verses, the good shepherd. First it comes in verse 11, look
at this. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. So the Lord's here saying, I'm
the good shepherd, as opposed to those false shepherds. I'm
the good shepherd. These folks come with the traditions
of man, saying, oh, you have to do this to be saved, or you
have to do that to be saved. No, just look to Christ. And
if you're born again by the Holy Spirit of God, He's got to do
the work, right? Then you will look to Christ. I'll tell you
what. He'll give you faith to believe. But it's all Him. And if you truly believe, you're
going to give Him all the glory for the rest of your life, and
then we're going to be giving Him all the glory in heaven. It won't stop. But then we'll
be able to give him the glory without any sin. That'll be an
amazing moment. Oh my, he's the good shepherd.
He's the good shepherd. I am the good shepherd. The good
shepherd giving his life for who? The sheep. Remember way back at the beginning
of the message, the sheep of his hands? Sheep of his pasture. That's all the elect of all the
ages. And we see this title, good shepherd.
Do you know there's none good but God? He is truly the only
good shepherd. He's sinless. The Lord Jesus
Christ is God in the flesh. He's Emmanuel, God with us. He's
the only one who's good. And therefore he's called the
Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd. And he's the shepherd appointed
by the Father. Sent by the Father to redeem all his precious sheep
by the shedding of his precious blood. And we see in this verse
too, marvelous truth, substitution. He gives his life for the sheep,
the sinless one. Gives his life for sinners. You ever heard of a king dying
for his subjects? There it is. The king of glory. Dying for his subjects. That's
us. My, I read a lot of history,
but I never heard of a king dying for his servants. and dying for
his people. Maybe one will go down in battle,
but that didn't happen very often. They usually sent other men to
go out and do that. And marvel at this fact that
our Lord did this freely, voluntarily. He left the glories and splendors
of heaven He was outside of time and space.
He left the glories and splendors of heaven. What does Galatians
say? At the appointed time, right? When the fullness of time was
come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the
law, to redeem them that were under the law. That's us. We
were under the law. The law had a hold upon us. A rightful hold. And he redeemed
us out from under the law, beloved. Delivered us from the curse of
the law. His death was not in vain, but it was effectual. It
was effectual to the salvation of all his people. And not one
of whom Christ died for shall ever perish. They will hear the
gospel. They will hear the gospel. And they will be saved. And we
are living proof of that. We who are his people. Because
we weren't looking for God, were we? No. Not at all. He looked for us and found us,
didn't he? Yeah, he did. Look at verses 12 to 13 here. He says, but he that is a hireling
and not the shepherd whose own the sheep are not, seeth the
wolf come and leave it the sheep. So the false shepherd will just
take right off and leave the sheep to the wolves. And the wolves will devour as
many sheep as they can, but not with the good shepherd. Oh, the false shepherd fleeth,
and the wolf catches them, and scattereth the sheep. The hireling
fleeth, because he is a hireling, and careth not for the sheep.
No, look at this again. Now here's the second time he's
going to call himself the good shepherd. Remember there's none
good but God, and he's God in the flesh. I am the good shepherd,
and know my sheep, and am no one of mine. Again he gives the
same title there. Again the Holy Spirit of God
emphasizes this wonderful title. through the pen of John, because
the true author is the Holy Spirit of God of the scriptures. And our shepherd, the Lord Jesus
Christ, is the good shepherd. Good in his holiness, good in
his mercy, good in his word, and good in his full provision
for us. All that a sinner needs is found in Christ. forgiveness of all your sins,
justification before God, sanctification to be made holy, all our wisdom,
all our righteousness is Christ. He's the Lord our righteousness,
isn't he? Jehovah's kindu, the Lord our righteousness. My, what a savior, what a redeemer
is Jesus Christ our Lord. Oh, He's the Great Shepherd. Look at verses 15. 15 to 18. As the Father knoweth
me, even so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the
sheep. He's telling them again. And of the sheep I have, which
are not of this fold, that's us Gentiles. That's us Gentiles. Them also
I must bring, and they shall hear my voice. It's not, well,
they might if I've done everything I can for them, and now the rest
is up to them. No, it doesn't say that at all,
does it? They shall hear my voice. They shall. And they'll never stop rejoicing
after they hear that voice, I'll tell you. They shall hear my
voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd, all believers, In the Lord Jesus Christ, are
one. Are one in Christ. See, men, we make divisions.
But God doesn't, does he? God doesn't. All born-again,
blood-washed believers will be one. Therefore doth my Father love
me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again, No
man taketh it from me. You see he gave his life willingly. But I lay it down myself. I have
the power to lay it down and I have the power to take it again. He's proclaiming he's God. He's
proclaiming right here before them his deity. Because only
God has that power to take away life and to give life. this commandment have I received
of my father." Verse 18 there, we see that no man takes Christ's
life from him by force without his willing and consenting to
it, because he has all power. Pilate, the Jews, the Gentiles
nailed him to the cross, but not without his voluntarily surrender,
right? He surrendered. I must redeem my sheep. I must save my people from their
sins. Matthew 121, call his name Jesus,
for he shall save, again, shall, not maybe, he shall save his
people from their sins. And he did it, beloved. He did
it. He's telling his people through
these words, That this is the covenant my father gave me to
fulfill, and the work that he gave me to do, and it's finished
now. Right? We know that because of
what he cried on the cross. It is finished. See, men don't like that. Natural
men don't like that. Well, there's nothing for me
to do? Nope. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. No other name under heaven given
among men whereby we must be saved. No other name. The Lord Jesus Christ is a name
above all names, beloved. And he did not die as a martyr
or a reformer or as a victim. He died as a divine ordained
substitute. And he died the appointed death
at the appointed time for an appointed people. That's exactly
what he did. And what a hope we have in Christ.
What a hope we have. My, what a hope we have in Christ. The storms of life occur in this
world and our anchor is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the anchor
of our soul. 1 John 2.28 says, And now, little
children, abide in him. Rest in him. that when he shall
appear, we may have confidence and be not ashamed before him,
and it's coming. What a sweet comfort that verse
can be for the tried, born-again, blood-washed believer. When our Lord shall return with
all his glorious splendor to receive us to himself, we'll
be with him forever. forever. No more sin, no more
sorrow, no more sickness. Praise in the Savior all the
day long. No more night either, because
He's light and glory. My, can you imagine? We can't
even fathom that, can we? It's going to happen one day
for us, either at the time of our death or if we're alive at
the Lord's return. It'll happen at either one or
the other. In that blessed day we shall
have absolute and eternal confidence to stand before the holy throne
of God, totally justified and complete in Christ, all because
of what Christ has done for us. all because of his perfect sinatonic
work that God is absolutely satisfied with. This is my beloved son
in whom I'm well pleased and he's well pleased with every
single person that's in Christ. Glory be to God. Brother Brian,
can you close us in prayer?