1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,320 And now if you will turn with me in your Bibles to John chapter 10 verse 11. 2 00:00:08,320 --> 00:00:18,000 And this morning and for the next several Sundays we're going to be looking at the I am statements of Jesus Christ. 3 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:29,000 Now previous Sundays we've looked at the glory of Jesus but now we're going to look at what Jesus says about himself. 4 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:44,000 This morning we're going to look at one of the most familiar of those I am statements, one that is I think appropriate for the Lord's Supper. 5 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:52,000 And you will find it in chapter 10 of John's Gospel verse 11. 6 00:00:52,000 --> 00:01:06,000 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Let's pray. 7 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:16,000 Jesus you are the good shepherd and you are leading us at this moment in time and history. 8 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:31,000 Show yourself to us as our good shepherd. Be with us now on this communion Sunday and lead us into the way everlasting. 9 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:36,000 I make this prayer in his name. Amen. 10 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:39,000 Who do you think Jesus is? 11 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:56,000 Imagine that if you went out on the streets of Pensacola and you ask perhaps the average person who does not go to church or does not care a thing about who Jesus Christ is, he would probably say, well, he's just a man. 12 00:01:56,000 --> 00:02:13,000 If you go to other people who are supposedly Christian, they're in mainline denominations and you ask them who is Jesus Christ, they would probably say to you, he's a political liberator. 13 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:25,000 You may think that's far-fetched but let me tell you, this weekend I was looking at a preaching book and it was written by a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary. 14 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:29,000 And as I was reading the book here is the gist of it. 15 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:42,000 This woman wanted to have a post-colonial view of preaching that works with calypso music. 16 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:46,000 I'm thinking to myself, how the heck is that going to work? 17 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:54,000 But notice post-colonial theology, post-colonial biblical interpretation. 18 00:02:54,000 --> 00:03:04,000 I can tell you they're seeing Jesus as the one who's out to overcome the powers in politics, the traditional powers. 19 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:17,000 Now, it's no different than what went on in Jesus' day because Jesus specifically asked his disciples, who do the crowds say that I am? 20 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:26,000 And they said, some say you're John the Baptist, some say you are Elijah, some say you are a prophet. 21 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:33,000 So there's always been this view of who is Jesus. 22 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:35,000 You go back to the Old Testament. 23 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:39,000 People wanted to know who God was. 24 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:46,000 And Moses has the unenviable task of being the leader for Israel. 25 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:54,000 And he asked God, if I come to the people of Israel and say to them, the God of your fathers had sent me to you. 26 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:58,000 And they asked me, what is his name? 27 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:03,000 And you shall say to them, I am. 28 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:09,000 People want to know who God is. 29 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:18,000 And I would say to you in our era, there is certainly a need for us to know who Jesus Christ is according to his word. 30 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:29,000 And identity, who we are, tells us and tells others what kind of people we are. 31 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:35,000 So for example, my wife knows me by my characteristics. 32 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:38,000 And I know her by her characteristics. 33 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:42,000 And it's the same with any relationship. 34 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:49,000 Well today, what we want to look at is what Jesus says about himself. 35 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:54,000 So we understand who exactly Jesus Christ is. 36 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:58,000 And in the I am statements, he tells us such things as, 37 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:01,000 I am the way, the truth, and the life. 38 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:04,000 No one comes to the Father but through me. 39 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:07,000 I am the resurrection and the life. 40 00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:12,000 I am the door for the sheep. 41 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:22,000 And this morning in very pictorial language, she tells us, I am the good shepherd. 42 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:37,000 And when he uses that name, that metaphor, it's designed to do more than just give us an intellectual comprehension of who Jesus Christ is. 43 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:42,000 It's designed to move our hearts towards Christ. 44 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:44,000 So let's see what the Bible says here. 45 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:50,000 Let's see what it says about the good shepherd who is Jesus Christ. 46 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:59,000 And to understand the idea here of a shepherd, we've got to go back into the Bible. 47 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:09,000 Now if you went back into the Old Testament, sheep and shepherds were everywhere, especially for the Israelites. 48 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:16,000 A lot of the Israelites had sheep and they needed shepherds. 49 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:27,000 And sheep would provide clothing, probably meat, and other things that God's people needed to survive. 50 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:32,000 And it wasn't just for Israel, it was other societies too. 51 00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:36,000 And sheep were sort of a helpless animal. 52 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:40,000 They wouldn't know what to do if a predator came along. 53 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:45,000 I guess they would just eat some grass and bow away while the predator destroyed them. 54 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:49,000 They're not exactly the smartest animals on earth. 55 00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:51,000 Yes, they're cute and adorable. 56 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:57,000 Yes, they provide wool, but they are really helpless animals. 57 00:06:57,000 --> 00:07:01,000 And they needed a good shepherd. 58 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:14,000 And if you looked in the Bible, the leaders of Israel were often shepherds, such as Moses, David, Amos, 59 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:30,000 and after a while a good leader in the Bible was known as a shepherd who would take care of God's people, like King David. 60 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:41,000 That idea of being a shepherd was not only applied to humans and human leaders, but also to the God of the Bible. 61 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:53,000 And when we go back in the Old Testament, the first time God is called a shepherd is in Genesis chapter 48. 62 00:07:53,000 --> 00:08:03,000 And Jacob says to his son this about his life and the God he followed. 63 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:17,000 May the God before whom my father Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day. 64 00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:27,000 Now I want you to think of what Jacob went through, all the twists and turns of his life dealing with Laban, dealing with Aesod, 65 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:31,000 dealing with the debates among his wives. 66 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:37,000 And he was suffering through a famine and he's got to go to Egypt. 67 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:41,000 And what does he say after all of that as he reflects on his life? 68 00:08:41,000 --> 00:08:44,000 God has been my shepherd. 69 00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:52,000 We can move on to the prophets and one of the most moving lines in the Old Testament is found in Isaiah chapter 40. 70 00:08:52,000 --> 00:09:02,000 And I want you to listen to how it describes God. He tended his flock, which is referring to Israel, like a shepherd. 71 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:11,000 He gathers the lamb in his arms and carried them close to his heart. 72 00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:18,000 He gently leads those who have young. 73 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:27,000 If you see what the biblical authors want us to know about who this God is that we follow, they may have had questions. 74 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:39,000 You may have questions about God. Is he cruel? Is he mean? Is he absent? Does he care? Does he care for you personally? 75 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:48,000 And what do you think the answer would be when he is described as a shepherd? 76 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:53,000 He is a God who protects his people. 77 00:09:53,000 --> 00:09:57,000 He is a God who provides for his people. 78 00:09:57,000 --> 00:10:05,000 He is a God who cares for his people as a group, but as individuals. 79 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:12,000 So in the Bible, when we think of God, yes, God is God of judgment and wrath. Yes, God is all powerful. 80 00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:23,000 But what he wants you to know him as also is a shepherd who is there to bring comfort to his people. 81 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:36,000 God is there to care for you. And that very image of a shepherd is what Jesus applies to himself. 82 00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:39,000 He first of all says, I am. 83 00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:48,000 Now in the Bible, I am would be one way we could say Yahweh. I am. 84 00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:58,000 He's basically using the Old Testament words to describe himself. But then he goes on and says, I am the good shepherd. 85 00:10:58,000 --> 00:11:06,000 And if you look at the other verses, look at what it says. I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep. 86 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:14,000 And my sheep know me. Just as the Father knows me and I know the Father and I lay down my life for the sheep. 87 00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:22,000 Just as the Heavenly Father knows the sheep, Jesus says, I also know the people that God has given me. 88 00:11:22,000 --> 00:11:29,000 I also am taking care of them because I am the good shepherd. 89 00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:40,000 And in Revelation, what do we hear? It said of Christ, for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd. 90 00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:54,000 You have a Savior who is a shepherd. And the great danger is for all of us to forget who Jesus Christ is. 91 00:11:54,000 --> 00:12:06,000 Because if you forget that Christ is the good shepherd, you're going to start having mean thoughts about our God and our Savior. 92 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:18,000 And we have got to tell ourselves and preach to ourselves over and over again, our Savior is the good shepherd who's taking care of us one way or another. 93 00:12:18,000 --> 00:12:24,000 That Jesus was sent by God to shepherd you and your souls. 94 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:32,000 And here's really what I think that imagery is trying to get across to us. 95 00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:39,000 He is the good shepherd who cares. 96 00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:44,000 Now let me tell you why this is important. It's what's going on right before this. 97 00:12:44,000 --> 00:12:51,000 There was a man who was born blind in chapter 9 of John's Gospel. 98 00:12:51,000 --> 00:13:02,000 And the disciples were asking, why is he blind? But Jesus goes on and cures this man. 99 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:13,000 But then the Pharisees come on the scene and they interrogate the family of the man saying, surely Jesus didn't do this miracle? 100 00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:25,000 Surely he wasn't blind since birth. The family of the man is scared that they're going to be put out of the synagogue. 101 00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:30,000 So then they go to the young man who was cured and he says, I was healed. 102 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:36,000 But then they rejected him and they did kick him out of the synagogue apparently. 103 00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:47,000 The Pharisees, those leaders, those people who were supposed to be caring for God's people did not care. 104 00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:50,000 But Jesus did. 105 00:13:50,000 --> 00:13:56,000 And here in chapter 10, I want you to notice the dichotomy he's making. 106 00:13:56,000 --> 00:14:03,000 If you look in verse 12 of chapter 10, he says, the hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. 107 00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:07,000 So he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. 108 00:14:07,000 --> 00:14:11,000 Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 109 00:14:11,000 --> 00:14:20,000 He is referring to the religious leaders of Israel who really did not care, to take care of the flock. 110 00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:25,000 They were in it for prestige or for money. 111 00:14:25,000 --> 00:14:29,000 And we can say, well that is back then. No, no, no. 112 00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:37,000 It happens today where you can have religious leaders who are more interested in making a buck, 113 00:14:37,000 --> 00:14:42,000 increasing their reputations than caring for God's people. 114 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:46,000 But that's not Jesus. 115 00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:53,000 The truth is he cares for the sheep. 116 00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:59,000 And he knows the sheep as verse 14 and 15 says. 117 00:14:59,000 --> 00:15:05,000 He knows their strengths. He knows their weaknesses. 118 00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:10,000 Showing that Christ cares for you. 119 00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:13,000 And so Jesus is the good shepherd. 120 00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:15,000 He is the one who cares for you. 121 00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:19,000 Do not ever forget that. 122 00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:26,000 Because if you forget that he is a good shepherd who cares for you, then what have you got left? 123 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:32,000 A savior who really doesn't care for you. 124 00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:35,000 And in modern day society we really need to know that. 125 00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:37,000 Let me tell you why we need to know that. 126 00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:40,000 You know why? 127 00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:43,000 Because the powers that be really don't care for you. 128 00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:45,000 What do I mean by that? Are they out to get you? 129 00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:48,000 No, you're nothing but a number. 130 00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:50,000 Try to number. 131 00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:57,000 So for example, where I work, there's lots of teachers, but I'm really just a number. 132 00:15:57,000 --> 00:16:03,000 I have an employee code and one day when I retire and go away, that number will go away. 133 00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:07,000 I'm just a number and there's a lot of people. They don't know me. 134 00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:11,000 To the government of the United States, what are you? 135 00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:13,000 Your social security number. 136 00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:17,000 Just a number. Just a number. 137 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:21,000 And that's the way life is for a lot of people. 138 00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:23,000 Just a number. 139 00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:28,000 And when that number expires, that's it. 140 00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:33,000 But here we find Jesus Christ. 141 00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:41,000 He knows us not as a number, but as a sheep who needs to be cared for. 142 00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:46,000 You forget that, then you've got nothing but a deistic Jesus who's out there somewhere 143 00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:52,000 who doesn't care, who's not involved in your life, who is not leading you. 144 00:16:52,000 --> 00:16:59,000 But we have a Christ who is the good shepherd, who knows you, who is leading you, 145 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:11,000 and most important of all, he cares enough for you to lay down his life for you. 146 00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:20,000 I am the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep. 147 00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:26,000 Shepherds, back then the false shepherds, they didn't do that. 148 00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:31,000 But Jesus says in verse 11, we can go down to verse 16, 149 00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:36,000 He says, I have other sheep referring to Gentiles that are not of this sheep pen. 150 00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:41,000 I must bring them also, they too will listen to my voice and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 151 00:17:41,000 --> 00:17:48,000 And the reason my father loves me is that I lay down my life only to take it up again. 152 00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:53,000 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own accord. 153 00:17:53,000 --> 00:18:05,000 Jesus is telling us that he willing lays down his life for you. 154 00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:09,000 That is the greatest sign that Christ loves you. 155 00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:13,000 And in John chapter 15, a verse we should all memorize, 156 00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:23,000 greater love has no more than this, that he lays down his life for his friends. 157 00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:26,000 You are the friends of Christ and Christ gave his life for you. 158 00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:30,000 He went to the cross for you. 159 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:32,000 We deserve the judgment that he faced. 160 00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:39,000 We deserve the damnation, but Christ, the good shepherd, went in our stead. 161 00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:46,000 And when we want to know, does Jesus love us? 162 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:50,000 We always go back to the fact that he laid down his life. 163 00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:53,000 And here's what happens in your thinking. 164 00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:56,000 Bad events happen to Christians. 165 00:18:56,000 --> 00:19:03,000 And when those bad events happen, whether it be cancer or you get fired or you're misunderstood, 166 00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:05,000 where do our thoughts turn? 167 00:19:05,000 --> 00:19:09,000 We say, Christ doesn't care. 168 00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:13,000 God doesn't care because I'm suffering. 169 00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:22,000 And at that point, we often forget the great mark of the love of Christ for you. 170 00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:31,000 Yes, you may be suffering, but Christ died for you. 171 00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:36,000 Now, there's lots of objections, especially from our conservative circles, 172 00:19:36,000 --> 00:19:42,000 about talking about the love of Jesus Christ for his people. 173 00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:46,000 And they will say, well, it's liberalism, liberalism, liberalism. 174 00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:50,000 No, it's not liberalism. It's in the Bible. 175 00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:55,000 And what we've got to remember as conservative Christians is that there's a lot of hurting people. 176 00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:59,000 There's a lot because life is cruel, 177 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:07,000 but the Christian message is that there is a God who cares. 178 00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:11,000 And Christ cares for you enough to lay down his life for you. 179 00:20:11,000 --> 00:20:19,000 When no one else would, this life is full of spills and chills and pills. 180 00:20:19,000 --> 00:20:26,000 We go through cataracts and cancer. We deal with loneliness and lymphoma. 181 00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:34,000 But we also have a Savior who is guiding us and has us by the hand. 182 00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:39,000 And one day we will be in a position like Wilma DeVio, where that life is running out. 183 00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:43,000 Do you think the good shepherd has abandoned her and will abandon you? 184 00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:50,000 No, that good shepherd is going to be there right with you till the very end. 185 00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:57,000 And one of the things we need to teach our children is, yes, Jesus is that good. 186 00:20:57,000 --> 00:21:03,000 You may think this is a bit foolish, but it is a true story that I heard when I was in seminary. 187 00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:14,000 And the professor was trying to tell everyone, you should not underestimate the power of our loving Savior when we pray. 188 00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:21,000 Even when children seem to pray for trivial things. 189 00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:25,000 So for example, there was this one child who wanted a dog. 190 00:21:25,000 --> 00:21:27,000 Parents didn't want her to have a dog. 191 00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:31,000 Oh, we can't get a dog, but she prayed and she prayed and she prayed. 192 00:21:31,000 --> 00:21:37,000 Guess what happened? She got the puppy because she prayed. 193 00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:41,000 Was that an act of our loving shepherd? Yes, it was. 194 00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:54,000 Don't ever think that our good shepherd cannot take care of the little things and the big things such as death and disease. 195 00:21:54,000 --> 00:22:02,000 We come to the table to see our shepherd and to remember the great words that we have just read. 196 00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:09,000 I am the good shepherd who lays down my life for the sheep. 197 00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:13,000 I am the good shepherd who cares for you. 198 00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:17,000 Let's pray and then turn to the table. 199 00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:22,000 Our Heavenly Father, we ask now that you will be with us as we come to your table. 200 00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:33,000 No matter what sins we have, nor matter what we are suffering, we come now to this table to enjoy the presence of the good shepherd. 201 00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:44,000 And one day in the new heavens and the new earth will be with him at the wedding supper of the Lamb. 202 00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:53,000 Bless your people now with confidence in the Lord. Amen.