In verse 11 of our text there
the Lord Jesus Christ declares himself to be the good shepherd. I want to speak to you for a
little while this morning on the subject the
shepherd of the sheep. The Lord has commanded me to
comfort his people and I believe if this doesn't do it nothing
will. I am the good shepherd. The Lord Jesus obviously delights
in this title because he uses it so frequently. The shepherd
of the sheep. Both Old and New Testaments portray
him in this wonderful character. The shepherd. And we ought to
also delight in it. And I believe we will this morning.
We understand what it means, we will. David seemed to delight
in that, didn't he? When he said, the Lord is my
shepherd. And as he thought about that the next line, he said,
I shall not want. If he's my shepherd, I'll never
lack anything. That's delighting in it, isn't
it? And we will delight to call him
our shepherd, and we will delight, we'll gladly take our place as
his sheep. If we are sheep, Christ refers to himself here
as the Good Shepherd, I said, verse 11. This refers to his
love, chiefly of his love for the sheep. And notice that in
the text. In verse 13, the Good Shepherd
is contrasted with the harling in this way. How is the harling
different from the Good Shepherd? The harling careth not for the
sheep. The good shepherd cares for the
sheep. He loves the sheep. He gave himself to the sheep.
He always is mindful of the sheep. He watches over the sheep. He
tends the sheep. He feeds them. Causes them to drink from the
still water. The Good Shepherd, it says in
verse 15, lays down his life for the sheep, which we know
from God's Word that no greater love has any man than this, than
that love that would cause somebody to lay down their life for somebody
else. That's the greatest love there
is. John 15, 13 says that. So you see how, as the Good Shepherd,
it chiefly speaks of his love In that great parable of the
sheep and the coin and the son, what is commonly referred to
as the parable of the prodigal son, but there's a lot more to
that parable than just the part about the prodigal son. It says
this, the Lord Jesus is described in that parable in Luke 15, verse
4. He says to the audience there,
what man of you, having a hundred sheep, If he loses one of them,
does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after
that which is lost until he finds it. That may not mean a whole
lot to you if you're one of the ninety-nine, but if you're that
one, which one are you? I don't know about you, but I'm
the one that was lost. That was me. And the Lord Jesus
Christ went after me. He could have said, well, it's
still 99 here, you know, it's really that one. That was the
worst one anyway. He was lame and he had blemishes
all over him. No, I'm going to get him. Because
he's my sheep. Which of you wouldn't do that?
And he went on to say when he found it, he laid it on his shoulders,
rejoicing. This is the good shepherd that
loves the sheep. And when he comes home, he calls
together his friends and neighbors and says, rejoice with me. I
found my sheep, which was lost. And so you see,
This title, the Good Shepherd, talks about his great love for
the sheep. Christ is also called the Great
Shepherd in Hebrews 13, 20. If you'd like to turn there,
I'll read it to you. Hebrews 13 and verse 20, it says,
Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord
Jesus, that Great Shepherd of the sheep. through the blood
of the everlasting covenant, makes you perfect in every good
work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing
in his sight. If there's going to be anything
in me that's well-pleasing in God's sight, he's going to have
to work it in me. How about you? Through Jesus Christ, to whom
be glory forever and ever. Amen. I like that. But he refers
to him as that great shepherd of the sheep. And the context
is significant because this title speaks of his accomplishments.
He's the good shepherd because he loved the sheep. He'd do anything
for the sheep. He proved it, didn't he? What
more could he have done than give himself for us? And then,
as the great shepherd, he is victorious. He is triumphant
as our shepherd. He was, as our shepherd, given
a work to do. And he finished it. He fulfilled
it. And he is said here in Hebrews
13 to have been brought again from the dead. Now the God of
peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that
great shepherd of the sheep. He was brought again from the
dead because he is successful in what he was given and what
he came to do. He offered that sacrifice of
his own precious blood. He entered into the holy place,
not made with hands, and he didn't go in there with the blood of
an animal. He went in with his own precious blood. And when
he did, that sacrifice was well pleasing in the sight of God.
And because it was, he as a man, as our representative, as the
firstborn from the dead, God brought him out. God brought
him out. The high priest came out of the
tabernacle alive. And that means the sacrifice
was accepted. And so this time, the great shepherd
of the sheep, it speaks of his glorious victory over death,
and over hell and over sin. All of our enemies are vanquished
because he's the great shepherd. He is, by that covenant blood
spoken of here in Hebrews, he has accomplished our eternal
redemption. We were in his care as the sheep
are in the care of the shepherd. We were in his care as our great
surety, and he has not lost a single one of his sheep. Not a single
one. Of all that the Father gave him,
he's triumphed gloriously over all of our enemies. We have a
lot of enemies. You know that? Satan, sin, our
own wicked heart. The law of God is our enemy when
we're under the condemnation of it. He's freed us from all
of our... God's law doesn't have any quarrel
with us anymore. There's therefore now no condemnation.
The law looks and says, not guilty. Not guilty? To who? Those that
are in Christ. That's who. God himself is reconciled
to us and we to him. And our Lord Jesus, the Great
Shepherd, has accomplished all this. And he in whose charge we are.
That's a good place to be. There's a word used together
with shepherd in 1 Peter 2.25 to describe the Lord Jesus Christ,
and it helps us understand the way that it's used. It gives
us a little bit of insight into this office of shepherd. In 1 Peter 2.25 it says, For
you were as sheep going astray, but now are returned. unto the shepherd and bishop
of your soul." The word bishop there is interesting. It means
literally this, an overseer, a man charged with the duty of
seeing that things to be done by others are done rightly. Isn't that an interesting word,
the bishop? His business is to make sure
that you do right. Any parent is a guardian or a
superintendent. And as our great shepherd, he
oversees us, doesn't he? He watches over us. He's got
the care of us. He's in charge of us. He's responsible
for us. I'm glad I'm not, we're responsible
to God's law by nature, but I'm glad I'm not responsible, that
I'm not under that responsibility, aren't you? I'm glad that my
eternal destiny will not be determined by how I lived up to that responsibility. He's responsible for me. And
if he does what he came to do, it'll be well with me, because
he's responsible for me. As our shepherd, he has the charge
of us, and in this role, He is described as the Great Shepherd.
The Great Shepherd. And then also he's called the
Chief Shepherd. In chapter 5, turn over there,
let's read a passage of scripture from 1 Peter chapter 5. Peter begins this chapter with
an exhortation to Christ's under-shepherds. Notice the context of this. Think
with me. I'll try to be brief, but let's
apply ourselves to this this morning. May the Lord help me
to do so. 1 Peter 5, verse 1. Peter said, The elders which
are among you I exhort to him also an elder and a witness of
the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory
that shall be revealed. So he's talking to the elders.
who teach the word. Those who are given that responsibility
by God are taking the word of God and feeding the sheep. He
said to Peter, do you love me? Feed my sheep. What am I going
to feed you with? Christ, the word, the bread of
life. Where are we going to go without
the words of eternal life? And so he's talking to them and
he says, feed the flock of God. This is Peter saying that now,
the one to whom Christ said, feed the flock of God. And he's
saying all elders, feed the flock. Which is among you, taking the
oversight thereof. Not by constraint, but willingly. Not because you have to. Is that
why I'm doing this? Is that why you would Be interested
in speaking the word or witnessing of Christ to somebody because
you feel like it's your duty? Or is it, goodness gracious,
how can you not say something about Christ when you have an
opportunity? How can you not speak the glories
of his gospel? What was done to me if I preached
not the gospel? There's a constraint laid upon
me, but not the constraint of the law. willingly. It's a delight to do this. There's nothing I enjoy any more
than telling sinners there's a Savior! There's hope! For wretched,
foul creatures like you and me. And then don't do it for filthy
lucre. Don't do it for game. How many are doing that? Would
you like a pasture that has gold diamond rings on every finger?
I've seen them now, flashing up there. Maybe people would
listen to me more if I had some bling bling, you think? Probably not. Not the right ones, anyway. Not
for filthy lucre, but I'm a ready man. I'm anxious. to let you know what God said.
If I can find out, I'm anxious to let you know. Neither has
being Lord over God's heritage. Not because I'm some kind of
big shot and I'm going to enlighten you little shots. We don't need
another Lord, do we? We've already got a Lord. And
He does just fine for all of us, doesn't He? I don't need
to be lording it over you. But being samples to the flock,
oh if I could do that, if God would enable me to be somebody that you could
follow. Somebody that you could, like
Paul says, be followers of me as I'm a follower of him. Man,
what a privilege. What a responsibility. And when
the chief shepherd shall appear, ah, That's who we're talking
about, the chief shepherd. You're the under shepherds. You have the oversight of the
flock. You're the sins. But there is a chief shepherd,
and when he shall appear, you'll receive a crown of glory. You'll
wear his glory, his image, his likeness. I'll be satisfied,
David said, when I awake like you." That's the crown of glory
right there. I guarantee you that. You see
how he's compared to those who in this life, in a temporal sense,
have the charge over the flock. Taking the oversight of the flock,
they are the under-shepherds, but he is the chief shepherd.
What's the difference? This speaks of his ownership
of the sheep, his rule over them. In those days, under-shepherds
were utilized to watch over the flock when the chief shepherd
was away, but the chief shepherd was the one to whom the sheep
belonged. You see how he uses that in the
context there? You do these things now. You
be responsible in feeding the sheep and tending the sheep.
Take the oversight there. Be a leader for the sheep. An
example. But you're not the shepherd.
You're not the chief shepherd. No, and he's coming. And he's
not far. He's not detached from the flock. He's not gone. He's right here.
And he's coming back for us one of these days. And this is what
I want to talk to you about for a little while this morning.
The one to whom the sheep... He's called the chief shepherd
because the sheep are his. Isn't that what he said in our
text in John 10? My sheep. My sheep. In what sense are we Christ's
sheep? In verse 27 there of chapter
10, he said, my sheep. In what sense are we Christ's
sheep? And how did we become Christ's sheep? Well, we're not
left to guess about that, are we? The scriptures are so clear
on it. We're the sheep of Christ because
God the Father gave us to Christ. Gave us to him. Go back to John
10, if you would, and we'll spend the rest of our time, I believe,
there. I'll just read a few references to you. But we'll camp out there
in John chapter 10 for a while. We were given to Christ by the
Father. John 10, 29. My Father which
gave them me. Gave who? The sheep. He's talking
about the sheep. No man is able to pluck them
out of my Father's hand. In the eternal coming of grace,
God the Father gave to God the Son a people. And these are the
sheep to which Christ refers in our text. My sheep. They're
my sheep because somebody gave them to me. The Father, God Almighty. Listen to the following verses
from John 17. I know you're familiar with these. You don't need to turn them.
We studied through that chapter and noticed this as we went through
it. But listen to them as I just read them to you. Verse 2, As
thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give
eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. Verse 6, I have
manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest to me out
of the world. Thine they were, and you gave
them to me. Verse 9, I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me. He said, My sheep which the
Father gave me. They're in his hand. Verse 11,
And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and
I come to thee, Holy Father, keep through thine own name those
whom thou hast given me, that they may be one as we are. Verse 12, While I was with them
in the world, I kept them in thy name. Those that thou gavest
me, I have kept, and none of them is lost. The good shepherd that loves
the sheep, the great shepherd who is victorious on behalf of
the sheep, the chief shepherd to whom the sheep belong. He doesn't lose a sheep. He doesn't lose one. Verse 24, Father, I will that
they also whom thou hast given me be with me. Be with me where I am, that they
may behold my glory, which thou hast given me, for thou lovest
me before the foundation of the world. By divine decree of the
Father, we are Christ's sheep. John 6.37, All that the Father
giveth me, I get the idea, and I think I
mentioned this when we were studying John 17, I get the idea that
the Lord Jesus, again, he delights in this, doesn't he? He keeps
referring to us as the gift of the Father, as though he cherished
us. Oh, those that you've given me. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. Is there a clearer language anywhere
in this world than that? And when they do, I'm not going
to cast them out. And when they cometh to me, there's
no coming to you. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. And when they come, he that cometh
to me, I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but
the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will."
Can you, could you answer that question if somebody asked you,
or if you find somebody that even is interested, could you
tell them why Christ came to this world? Everybody talking
about Jesus, and they got pictures of him, and they Use his name
constantly. Talk about him coming and becoming
a man. Why did he do that? He said,
I came down from heaven to do the will of him that sent me
and here it is. That of all which he hath given
me I should lose nothing. You mean to tell me they're not
preaching that are they? You mean to tell me he came for
a specific people? He wouldn't come down here to
try to save everybody? I came down here, he said, because
God the Father gave me a people! And I came to seek them, and
to save them, and to not lose a single one of them. Man, that's
offensive. Not to me anymore. It used to
be. In our text said they're my sheep. My sheep. Where do you live from?
The Father gave them to me. You see that? And then, in what
sense are we his sheep? How did he get his sheep? 1 Peter
1.18 The Lord Jesus Christ bought us. He bought us. 1 Peter 1.18
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, without spot, who barely was
foreordained before the foundation of the world. He bought you before
you ever existed, but was manifest in these last times. He bought you and then sometime
after you were born He manifested or showed you that He bought
you. Is that what that says? Redeemed. You were not redeemed
with corruptible things but you were redeemed with His precious
blood. What does that word redeemed
mean? It means to liberate by payment of a ransom. You're in debt. You are enslaved
to God by His holy law. You are under the bondage, the
judgment of the law. You're a debtor to the law. You're
a slave until Christ comes and pays the ransom price. What is
the ransom price for a sinner? I've asked you this before. How
important is God's glory to him? How much is his honor worth to
him? You dishonored the God of heaven
and shook your fist in his face and said, I will be God. How much is that going to cost?
More than you got. More than you got. More than
all of us have put together. It costs the precious blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the ransom price for a
sinner like you. And he paid it. You know what
that means? That means you belong to him
now. Is that okay with you? To liberate by payment over ransom
the Lord Jesus Christ bought and paid for you and I, his sheep. And we belong to him, first Christian
to him, first Christian to him. You're bought with a price, therefore
act like it. Glorify God in your body. If
he hadn't bought you, where would you be? Where would I be? Glorify God in your body and
in your spirit, which are God's. God's, apostrophe S, God's, your
God's ownership. We are the precious treasure
of Christ. Think about this with me for
a minute now. I know you know these things. I'm not teaching
you some dark truth that you haven't heard before this morning.
If I did, that wouldn't comfort you. What's comforting is the
old story I tell you what comforts me, I can lay down my head on
my pillow at night and rest because I have a shepherd that takes
care of me. If I didn't, I'd be flying off
a cliff before I finish this message. The shepherd and the sheep, you're
bought with a price. speaks of us as sinners, when
we see the Lord Jesus Christ, we treasure Him. We're like that
merchant man seeking goodly pearls who sold everything that he had
to buy that one pearl. I got nothing except a pearl. I've given, I've sold every bit
of it, but look at this pearl. And he considers that pearl worth
everything and more. And I can understand that now
that I know him. Can't you? I can understand.
I see that. I see why somebody would sell
everything they have and buy that pearl. Because of the glorious
beauty of it. Because of who he is. Because
of his infinite worth and value. But did you know that Christ
loved us so much that he gave a lot more than we ever gave,
He gave Himself to redeem us. And that He consumed us, His
precious, priceless treasure. He said in Malachi 3.17, They
shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I
make up my jewels. And I will serve you as a man
serves his own son. Wait a minute, Louie, I haven't
served you. I haven't acted like a son. Just
make me one of your hired servants, no? I'm going to love you and
bless you like a son that has served. Wait a minute, when did we? We
haven't done anything. You said we visited you when
you were in prison. When did we do that? You said
you were thirsty and we gave you something to drink. No. No,
my mind, my thoughts were awful foolish things even in your worship. I've been a 33-4 since you were
precious in my sight. You have been honorable. and
therefore I will give men for thee and people for thy life. You were precious to me." I can
understand how a sinner, if he ever opens our eyes and we ever
see him as he is, I can understand us calling him precious and valuing
him above all else and living our lives that way like everything
else is just window dressing. in which to display that pearl.
I'm not going to explain to you why he would ever treasure me
that way. But I know that he does. I know that he bought me. I'm
his. And he says, you're my jewel. My jewel. Well, finally, by divine
calling, by divine calling, just as surely as God ordained me
to eternal life. And he did. Those that were ordained
to eternal life believed. And I believed on the Son of
God. And I know because I know because God ordained me to eternal
life. And just as surely as the Father
gave me to his Son, the Father said to the Son, Son, today ask
of me and I'll give you the heathen. for thy inheritance, and the
uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." And he asked.
And just as surely as I am elect according to the foreknowledge
of God, he also in time called me by his grace. And when I answered
that call, I became his. I'm his sheep now. My sheep do
what? They hear my voice. The shepherd
calls. He says, come. And what do we
do? Here I come, here I come. And because I did, because he
called me, because I was his sheep, I came to him and acted like
a sheep. Oh my goodness. Relations 115, when it pleased
God. When did all that happen, Chris?
When it pleased God. When it pleased God who separated
me from my mother's womb. He called me by His grace. He
called me. He called me. He called me. Why? Because I called Him? No, He called me by His grace.
He called me because He wanted to. And when He did that, it
pleased Him to reveal His Son in me. I never would have found
Him if He hadn't revealed Himself. If He hadn't revealed the Son
in me, He found me, revealed His Son, and then I found Him,
that I might preach Him among the heathen. And when He did
that, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood." Had
nothing to do with the flesh. It's the calling of God. God
calls us by His Word. Does he not? This is worse. They
come unto me, all you that labor, and are heavy laden, all you
that are prone to return to that bondage we read about a while
ago. Why would you do that? Go back and put that yoke on.
That's what our tendency is. He says, come. Are you laboring? Is that yoke
getting heavy? Come put this one on. Take that
yoke off. Put my yoke on. Be yoked with
him. And you know what? The burden
gets real light when that happens. There is no burden. He's carried
it. The burden is light. You'll find rest unto your souls.
So he calls us by his word. He calls us by his service, by
the preachers of Christ. Paul said, we beseech you. Be
reconciled to God. Is that not the call of God?
It's not, we're ambassadors of Christ, what does that mean?
I've got a message from somebody else. It's not my message, it
is in the sense that I own it and rest in it and I'm glad to
have it, glad to have it. That's it. I'm just bringing
it to you. So that's God calling you. He
beseeches you by us to be your reconciled to God. And so he
calls you that way, and then he calls you by his spirit. He calls you by his blessed,
holy spirit. In the preaching of the gospel,
Christ says, the Spirit will come, and he won't talk about
the spirit. He'll take the things of Christ,
and he'll show them to you. Has he done that? Have you seen
the things of Christ? while somebody was preaching.
If you did it's because the Holy Spirit was there. It wasn't because
I was a good preacher. It was because I, you know, studied
hard that week. It's because the Spirit that
Christ said will come and show you the things of Christ did
just that. Ah, what a blessing. So he calls
us by his blessed spirit. We hear the shepherd's voice
and we come. He calls. And we're His, by divine
calling. My sheep hear my voice. I've gone too long, but Matthew
13, 9, Christ said, he who has ears to hear, let him hear. Who hears my voice? Those that
have ears to hear. The disciple said, why do you
speak to them in parables? And he said, because it's given
to you to understand the things I'm telling you. Isaiah prophesied of these folks
and he said they have eyes but they don't see anything and they
have ears they hear my voice as a man they hear the tone falling
upon their ears but they hear not. Do you know anybody like
that? But Christ said to them in verse
16 blessed are your eyes My sheep hear my voice. Have you heard his voice? Then
bless God for it. Because highly favored of God
are you. Blessed are your eyes for they
see, and your ears for they hear. And he said they follow me. Can
you tell who a sheep is and who's not? The Lord could. He said,
you don't believe me. Why? Because you're not one of
my sheep. I can't tell that. I don't know
your heart. I don't know a sheep from a goat, but I know this.
The sheep follow the shepherd. Wherever you find the shepherd,
you'll see some sheep coming along behind him. What a blessing. He said, that's
what sheep do. They hear and they follow. What does Christ do? He said,
I know them. That means I love them. I have
an intimate knowledge. And I give them something. Eternal
life. What a gift. You know what that
life is? I am the way, the truth, and
the life. He gives himself to us. Matthew 25, 31. I'm done. Honest.
I'm going to quote this and we're done. Matthew 25, 31. When the
Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels
with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory. Where
do you think he is right now? He's on the throne of his glory,
and before him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate
them one from another, as a shepherd divided his sheep from the goats."
That's an interesting illustration, isn't it? Here's the great shepherd,
the good shepherd, the chief shepherd, and he says, here's
my sheep. on his right hand, but the goat
on the left. And then shall the king say unto
them on his right hand, Come, this is the shepherd, he has
separated the sheep, and he says to them, Come, ye blessed of
my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world." Is that a comfort? Is that a comfort? If you're
in Christ, it is. If you're a sheep, it is. If
you're a dumb, wandering, feeble, foolish sheep, but you're his
sheep. And I believe that'll comfort
you. Let's bow in prayer. Lord, thank you for this glorious
title. May you have declared yourself
as the shepherd, the good, great, chief shepherd of the sheep.
Give us an understanding of what that means and cause us to rest. How wonderful to acknowledge
that the very Son of God, the King of Glory, has the charge
of us. That he has the care of us. help
us to completely rest in him who has washed us from our sins
he bought us with his blood called us by his grace knew us before
this world ever was help us to rest cause us to look under this shepherd
for all of our needs and not to lean upon this flesh in which
there's no help. Bless those who are in the midst
of trial, Lord. You're the shepherd that cares
for the sick sheep and for the hurt sheep, for the sheep that
are in trouble. Bless those who are especially
in need. and lift them up and encourage
them in Christ. Feed us Lord by thy grace and cause us to rejoice in thee
in his precious name. Amen.