I Am The Good Shepherd
John 10:11-21
In John 10 Jesus spoke using an illustration based on first century sheep herding.
Jesus is a masterful teacher… He commonly starts with physical things that we understand…as a backdrop to teach us about spiritual things.
Sheep
Sheep are utterly helpless animals.
Proof evolution is FALSE (“Survival of the fittest”)
Sheep aren’t the most intelligent animals. (They are definitely at the lower end of the intelligence scale.)
Sheep are prone to wander and get in all kinds of trouble
Sheep are timid and can be very stubborn
Sheep are easily frightened
Sheep are absolutely defenseless apart from a shepherd
Sheep bite especially when your trying to help them
Sheep represent us perfectly
Psalm 100:3 We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
Isaiah 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
Shepherd (in Jesus’ day)
Wore a white cotton tunic with a leather belt around his waist. Hanging from his belt…
A leather pouch… to carry small stones & his sling.
A horn of oil… Oil was used to anoint the heads of the sheep in the flock, not only as an insect repellent but also to reduce the friction that occurred when sheep butted each other.
A rod… a small club-like instrument was used to fight off predators & as an instrument of correction if a lamb continually, persistently wandered away from the flock..
Staff… a large stick (7-8 feet long) with a crook at one end.
(sheep, shepherds, sheepfolds,, doorkeeper, the door, thieves & robbers, hirelings and wolves)
9. I AM the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
This is the 3rd of 7 “I Am” statements of Jesus.
10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
11 “I AM the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.
This is the 4th of 7 “I AM” statements of Jesus.
2x in our chapter “I AM the good shepherd“ ( v.12 & v.14)
I AM is a claim of Deity! Jesus is here claiming to be God.
I AM the good Shepherd
Is another claim of Deity. God. How so?
Psalm 23:1 The Lord is my Shepherd
Psalm 80:1 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, You who lead Joseph like a flock; You who dwell between the cherubim, shine forth!
11. “I AM the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.
Gods GOODNESS is a Foundational Truth
(Exodus 34 , Ps 34:8, 73:1, 119:68, John 10:11)
Gods LOVE is a Foundational Truth
John 15:13 There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us
11 “I AM the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.
At the very center of God’s goodness & love …The good shepherd… gives His life for the sheep.
12 But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. 13 The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep.
Jesus the Good Shepherd is here in CONTRAST to the false shepherds of Israel. (hirelings) (gives > < flee)
Matthew 9:36 When Jesus saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.
14. I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.
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15. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.
This is another claim of Deity. How so?
15. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.
Substitutionary atonement! (“for” the sheep v.11, 15:13)
Cross!
John 1:29 Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
16 And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd
Romans 1:16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.
17. “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again.
18 No one 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 command I have received from My Father.”
I have power to take it again.
We all have that power lay down are lives. BUT only GOD has the POWER to take it again.
This is another claim of Deity. Only God has power over life & death.
18. This command I have received from My Father
Jesus GOD THE SON in Submission to His Father
Matthew 26:39 O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.
Philippians 2:5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,
7 but he emptied himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
19. Therefore there was a division again among the Jews because of these sayings. 20 And many of them said, “He has a demon and is mad. Why do you listen to Him?”
21. Others said, “These are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”
Who do you say Jesus Is?
Demon? Lunatic? Liar? Lord?
How you answer that question will determine your eternity!