The Good Shepherd

Oh folks, John chapter 10. My soul needed this this week in John chapter 10 and it needs it this morning.

John 10 · chapter mention John 10 · chapter mention

And can I suggest that you need the truth of John chapter 10 this morning.

John 10 · chapter mention

And just in terms of being reminded this week of one of the things we know to be true about God, that he is sovereign.

He knows the end from the beginning. He knows what is happening in each of our lives.

He knows what we would be facing this week as a church.

And in his sovereignty, his total control, I could not have picked a better passage to be preaching today had I been given the whole Bible to pick from as the one that we're in.

And so John chapter 10 is just the most profound of passages.

John 10 · chapter mention

So please do have it open in front of you as we get into this today.

But let me just to get us into it. Let me ask us at the start.

If you were an animal, what would you be?

Right? Have a think about it. It's one of those awkward icebreaker questions that we all love.

And we're all so glad when people ask it, aren't we?

If you were an animal, what would you be?

And I have to be honest and say that everything inside me wants to answer that question and say tiger.

Okay? King of the jungle.

These guys are top of the food chain.

They're brave. They're powerful. They're large. They're in charge.

You fend for yourself.

And I want everything that's true of a tiger to be true of me.

And I hear Katy Perry sing in the background.

I've got the eye of the tiger, a fighter dancing through the fire because I am a champion.

And you're going to hear me roar.

And I think to myself, I would love to be a tiger.

I would love to have the things that are true of a tiger and have them true of my life as I lead it in the world.

Except the thing is, I know none of that is true for me.

Right? Powerful.

How about he needs his eight hours sleep a night minimum or he's a walking zombie the next day?

How about brave?

Well, how about somebody who gets so easily distracted, his emotions are up and down,

and so often I sit under a dark cloud of discouragement?

Okay?

I am no lion.

And that's why I think I have found, by God's goodness, such strength in being reminded of the wonderful and liberating truth

that comes if you and I embrace the animal that Jesus says we are in this passage.

This animal is not top of the food chain.

This animal has fleas.

This animal doesn't know what it's doing, and yet this animal is where we will find freedom today in embracing that we are it.

Because what this has done this week, in all honesty, is being in this place again and reminding myself of this truth.

It's taken the eyes of my heart off of a weak me,

and it's flung them onto a strong Christ.

It's taken them off of how I'm feeling,

which is always such a sugary peg on which to build the foundation of our lives,

and instead it's fixed them on what I know to be true.

Can I suggest if that's you here this morning,

and you're coming in here and you're not feeling great,

what you need this morning is not people telling you that you should be feeling better.

What you need to be this morning is to be in a place where you're reminded of what is true.

Because Jesus says quite simply, and this is one of the most simple yet profound statements

I think any human being has ever made.

Jesus says, I am the good shepherd.

And it's unique among the I am statements, the other ones that we get in John's gospel.

All the others reveal something about him,

except this one also reveals something humbling and freeing about us.

You know, years ago there was a Scottish minister and hymn writer called Horatius Bonnard.

They don't do first names like that anymore, do they?

Horatius Bonnard.

He lived in Broughton on the other side of the city early 1800s.

I've loved learning about Horatius Bonnard over the years.

That's why many of you know the Bonnard Trust that we're involved with as a church,

is where they take their name.

I think it was Andrew Bonnard, Horatius Bonnard.

Anyway, big brain, he penned these words to a hymn to describe what his soul found in Jesus.

And this is one of my favourite hymns.

And if you want to go home and go on YouTube, you'll find a wonderful version of it by a lady called Audrey Assad.

Simply says this, here it is.

I heard the voice of Jesus say, come unto me and rest.

That's what Luke I read at the start.

Lay down thou weary one, lay down thy head upon my breast.

I came to Jesus as I was, weary and worn and sad.

And I found in him a resting place.

And he has made me glad.

And that is the song of someone who's embraced what it is to be a sheep.

I find myself coming back to that song again and again and again and again in the Christian life.

And so what we're going to do over the next half hour or so,

is we're just going to bleat our way through this passage of scripture.

And here's the beat of the bleat.

It just says, how good is our shepherd?

Now if we're going to savour the sweetness of what Jesus says here even more,

we need to understand that he's saying it at a particular time in this gospel.

With Jesus, if you've learnt anything, it's that timing is everything with him.

No opportunity is wasted.

No moment is squandered.

No, Jesus says it in John chapter 10.

John 10 · chapter mention

Here's the first thing that we need to understand.

is that there's bad shepherds in the background of this.

So come with me.

Verse 1, Jesus says,

Truly I say to you.

And immediately we should be asking who is the you that he's speaking to.

And if you glance back to verse 40 of chapter 9,

you just go back a few verses,

you will see that Jesus is still talking to the Pharisees.

In the immediate context of John chapter 9,

John 9 · chapter mention

Ian took us through that last week.

Jesus has just given sight to this blind man.

And he has become,

verse 38,

look at that little description there we get of him.

What did he do?

He worships the Lord.

He worships Jesus.

This man has become a worshipper of the living God.

And is that not a wonderful description of what it is to be a Christian?

Worshipping Jesus.

Jesus has quite literally given this man his life back.

And you think everybody should be rejoicing in this scene,

but verse 34,

the Pharisees cast him out of the synagogue.

You're a liar.

You're not speaking the truth.

And so when Jesus speaks in this passage of thieves and robbers,

when he speaks about hired hands,

who don't give two hoots about the sheep,

this is a jab at the Pharisees.

Now these men would know that this isn't the first time that God's had some really chilling words to say

about bad and selfish leaders of his people.

Ezekiel chapter 34.

Ezekiel 34 · chapter mention

Ezekiel,

one of the prophets that we get in the Old Testament,

speaks to his generation.

God,

through Ezekiel,

speaks to his generation of really,

really bad and selfish leaders.

And you get it in Ezekiel 34.

You can read it in your own time,

a little snapshot of it there.

These leaders are not feeding the sheep.

They're not caring for the sheep.

They're not running to meet the needs of the sheep.

They're not tracking down the sheep who have run way,

way off course.

And as a result of that,

God's people are massively suffering at the neglect

of this generation of God's leaders.

And the root cause of it,

I think,

is that the relationship between God's leaders,

if you like,

the under shepherds,

and God the great shepherd,

that relationship that's meant to be driving everything that they do,

is non-existing.

Now it was Robert Murray McShane,

who was another Scottish pastor from way back,

he observed that what his people needed most from him

was his own holiness.

Now what he meant by that is if he's saying,

if I'm not pursuing the Lord,

if I'm not loving him and worshipping him,

I've got nothing to pass on to my people.

I'm in no fit place to lead them in worship of the Lord.

He recognized that in order to serve and love God's people,

you need to do so out of an overflow of a heart

that's captivated by a wonderful Christ.

Something that we're always asking ourselves as elders of this church.

We did it a few weeks ago as we went away.

Is this job,

is this role still a joy to us?

Because we love the Lord Jesus.

We love him,

and that love for him spills out in a love for his people.

Because no one is more committed to his people than Jesus,

as we'll see.

We serve you,

dear friends,

and it is a joy to do that,

because we love him.

And we love him,

and get this right,

because he first loved us.

And there's none of that going on in Ezekiel 34,

and God says to those shepherds,

I am against you.

But in the very next breath,

God promises,

not only to deal with the bad shepherds,

but also gloriously and graciously,

God promises,

not to post an advert on S1 jobs for a better shepherd.

Not to try and recruit and go head hunting to get more shepherds.

God says,

he promises to be to his people.

He will come and be the good shepherd that they need.

John chapter 10,

John 10 · chapter mention

that's the context.

There's bad shepherds in the background,

but the good shepherd is in the foreground.

And I just want us to hear,

if we can do this today,

right,

as we hear his voice,

I just want us to hear,

as he speaks,

three wonderful tones

in the voice of our good shepherd today.

If you're a note taker,

these are three C's.

And hear him speak to you today.

He says,

I want to be your shepherd.

I want to be your shepherd.

Here's the first.

Hear in his voice,

him express,

his complete care of us.

Jesus says,

verse 3,

and just take it what he's saying here.

I call my own by name.

Verse 14,

he says,

I know my own,

and my own know me.

So in terms of his relationship with his sheep,

Jesus doesn't know of his sheep.

He doesn't just know about his sheep.

He knows his sheep.

Now many of you will have that experience

of running a race,

right?

It's marathon day today.

I didn't even know that until yesterday.

Marathon day today in our city.

You know what it's like when you do these races

and what do you get on your chest to put on?

You get a number,

don't you?

And nothing makes you feel special

and known like knowing

that you are number 44978,

does it?

That's not far off being a telephone number,

in truth, is it?

44978.

We cannot get our heads around

knowing that amount of people.

But Jesus is not like us.

He's not just like us on our best day.

Right?

The all-knowing one.

When Jesus says he knows his sheep,

we need to understand

that we are not a number to him.

You are a name to him.

These are wonderfully intimate words

that convey his wonderful

and perfect knowledge

of every detail of our lives.

And that's the metaphors

what a shepherd in this day would do.

He would sleep beside the sheep.

He would camp out

and eat with the sheep.

He'd even have nicknames for his sheep.

Because in this day,

his flock

is his livelihood.

Right?

It is his bank account,

if you want to put it like that.

He loves his sheep.

They are his sheep.

And Jesus is saying

in a greater way,

he knows his sheep.

Right?

And you need to take this in today

if you are his.

He knows every single struggle

that's going on in your heart today.

And he knows every single weakness

that you're carrying

in your life today.

And he knows every fear

that's in your mind

that's dominating you today.

And he knows every need of your soul.

And so when we call out to him,

this is not like

when you phone your insurance company

and you get

the customer services line

that says,

your call is important to us,

your number 18 in the queue.

And you think,

how can I be important to you

if I'm 18 in the queue?

Friends, when we pray

to our Father

in the name of Jesus,

we need to understand

that he is right there

at the right hand of God

interceding for us

by name, by need.

And when we pray,

we have the ear of God.

Not begrudgingly,

but delightfully.

He loves us.

He loves us.

You know, Chloe did that the other day.

She came down into our room

at one o'clock in the morning.

I want a drink of water.

I can't get to sleep.

Now, who does that?

Only somebody who's got

the confidence

that they're going to a parent,

not a teacher, right?

That we have that kind of access

before this God.

We can pray to him

knowing that he loves us

because of the son.

In the words of the late Tim Keller

who died and went to be

with Jesus last week,

Tim Keller,

profound influence

on my life

and many others in the world,

he says this

and take this in.

To be loved

but not fully known

is superficial.

To be known

but not loved

is our worst nightmare.

Only Jesus

knows us to the bottom

and he loves us

to the sky.

Hear the complete care

this morning

of your shepherd's voice.

And hear secondly,

hear the total commitment

to you in his voice.

Verse 10,

Jesus says,

others have come

to steal,

kill and destroy.

And you see,

it's just a contrast

that he's setting up here.

He talks about

the hired hand.

The hired hand

sees the wolf coming

and he thinks to himself,

I'm getting out of there.

This is not my job.

I did not sign up for this.

I'm not taking on the wolf

for this sheep.

I'm not paid enough

for this.

Right?

I remember doing that

one of my first ever jobs

as a student

during the summers.

One of those old school

restaurants we used

to have to go to.

Some of you remember

this kind of thing.

You had to clock in

and stamp.

Yeah?

Stamp, clock,

that was you in.

When you left,

stamp, clock,

that was you out.

I'm doing my shift.

And that's the hired hand.

I'm only paid to do this.

I don't care about the sheep.

It's my job.

But with Jesus,

it's not a job.

With Jesus,

this is his calling.

They say that,

verse 12,

because they don't own the sheep.

They don't care

what happens to the sheep.

They just want to care themselves.

Jesus, on the other hand,

he could not be more in it

for his sheep

because he owns his sheep.

Do you see that word?

He owns them.

And it's a wonderful thought today

that if you're a Christian

here this morning,

that Jesus called you.

Jesus bought you

with his precious blood.

Jesus took responsibility

for you and I's sin.

Jesus pulled out all the stops

to make you and I his sheep.

And the truth that we need

to understand this morning

is that this good shepherd,

he has us.

He has us.

Our times are in his hands.

No one is getting to us

because our shepherd will defend us.

Our shepherd has our times.

Our shepherd has our lives.

And as dark

and as scary

as the valley gets

and as painful

and as long as the path might be,

even through death,

this shepherd,

not only is he with us

in the darkest valley,

this shepherd will lead us

through to the other side.

And no one will snatch us

from his hand.

We'll see that next week.

No one will snatch us

from his hand.

And what I want us

to know this morning

as a church family

is that no one

is more committed

to loving us

than Jesus is.

Jesus will never run away

from us.

Jesus knew exactly

what he was taking on

when he called us

to himself.

What makes him

the good shepherd

is verse 15.

He says,

I lay down my life

for the sheep.

He's talking there

about the cross.

In other words,

if you were a roaming reporter

going around the streets

of Jerusalem

on the day

that Jesus was crucified

and you held up

a microphone

to his mouth

and said,

Jesus,

what are you doing

up there?

The answer

which he could have given

is I am laying down

my life

for my sheep.

Friends,

if you want to know

his commitment

to you,

if you want to see

his love for you

demonstrated,

that's where we look

today.

Hear in his voice

his total

commitment

to you

and thirdly,

hear the absolute

control

in his voice.

Jesus says,

I lay down

my life.

That's verse 17.

I lay,

now just take that in,

I lay down my life.

In other words,

he's no tragic hero.

If you grew up in Scotland,

you'll know Macbeth

was standard reading.

Shakespeare kind of

created that term,

didn't he?

Tragic hero,

classic,

you take a good character,

you show them

making a bad choice,

audience sympathizes,

classic tragic hero.

Jesus is no tragic hero.

He lays down

his life.

He is in complete

control of that.

That is the very

reason he came.

He lays down

his life.

He's in charge.

He lays it down

and

he takes it up

again.

He's talking about

the resurrection.

He lays down

his life.

He takes it up

again.

Jesus is in

total control.

And it reminded me

this week of that song,

Who's Afraid of the

Big Bad Wolf?

And as I think

about the biggest

wolf that's facing

each of us

in our lives,

the wolf of death,

we have to understand

that Jesus

has taken

care of it.

Because he laid

down his life,

because he took

my sin,

because he took

my place,

because the Father

raised him in power,

he took on

death,

which is the

biggest wolf

facing us,

and he won.

And in him,

his victory

is our

victory.

And what's

driving all of

this?

What's driving

all of this?

You've got to see

this.

See the glorious

answer at verse

15 and 17.

What's the reason?

15 and 17.

It's because of

the loving

relationship that

exists between

the Father and

the Son.

Jesus, the Son,

obedient to death.

The Father in

heaven who sent

the Son loves

him for it.

The Holy Spirit

sent to apply

that work to

our lives.

Salvation is the

overflow of that

loving relationship

of our triune

God that has

existed for all

eternity.

And so when

Jesus talks about

life to the

full, the life

that he has come

to give his

sheep, life to

the full, is

life with our

three-in-one

God.

And see the

promise that

Jesus makes at

verse 16.

He says, I

have other

sheep.

Now in the

context there,

who's in his

mind's eye?

It's the

Gentiles.

Yeah?

It's other

sheep who in

the years to

come will hear

the voice of

the shepherd and

will respond to

his voice as

his word goes

forth.

Before we

move to

Edinburgh, Alex

and I spent

five months in

Malawi in this

place called

Blantyre.

And it's called

Blantyre because

it's after one

of Scotland's

leading explorers

slash missionaries

called David

Livingston.

David Livingston

takes the gospel

to the people of

Malawi.

There's that close

relationship that

exists between

Scotland and

Malawi still to

this day.

I didn't know

this, but in

David Livingston's

grave down in

Westminster Abbey

is this verse

from John 10.

I've got other

sheep, says

Jesus.

I've got other

sheep.

In other words,

I've got people

all over the

world, down the

years, through

the ages, who

are going to

respond to my

voice as I

call them to

me.

And here's the

blessed thought

this morning of

you're a

Christian.

However weak

you're feeling,

however messy

you think your

life is, it's

if your trust is

in Jesus, you're

here because you

are in Jesus'

mind as he

said this.

He called you

by name.

That should be a

great evangelistic

comfort to us,

that Jesus is in

the calling

business.

You know, my

calls have little

effect.

We were at the

Meadows Park

yesterday, couldn't

find one of our

kids, shouting

her name, no

response.

But Jesus

calls his

sheep and

they respond to

his voice.

It's what's

happening now.

What gives us

any confidence in

evangelism is that

Jesus, through his

word as it goes

forth, he has

his people who

will respond to

his voice.

As Danny goes

off this morning,

as she goes,

and in her heart

to go to

Asia, what gives

her any confidence

this morning, and

what gives us as

we support her

this morning as

a church, any

confidence that the

Lord will do

things through her

and through her

work, is this

verse, that Jesus

has other sheep.

He has sheep all

over the world who

he wants to call

to himself.

I don't think

anyone's expressed

this better than

American missionary

D.L.

Moody.

He says this, and

think about this, and

I know for many of

you God has laid

things like this

international mission

work on your heart.

He said this, God

doesn't expect the

impossible from us, but

he wants us to

expect the impossible

from him.

And you have to

say, what a

shepherd.

Verse 20, some in

this crowd say he's

insane.

Others, verse 21, say

he couldn't have

opened the eyes of

the blind man if he

wasn't who he says

he is.

And the question

we've got to ask

ourselves is how do

we respond to the

news of the good

shepherd?

Do you know his

voice in your life

presently?

Maybe for some of

us we've never heard

nor responded to

his voice.

Well, I take it that

as Jesus has walked

off the pages of

John chapter 10, and

John 10 · chapter mention

as his voice has

gone forth, that

some of us need to

stop and think about

his claims about

himself and about

us.

Dear friends, it is

foolishness to go

alone in life.

But for us who

know Jesus as our

shepherd, I wonder

if some of us just

need to be still this

morning and listen to

him, to fix our eyes

on him and follow.

Let me ask you, are

you, are we, letting

the good shepherd feed

and lead our souls as

he speaks to us in his

word?

You know, there's a

reason that so often

the funerals that I've

done over the years,

90% of them have

featured Psalm 23.

We don't have time

this morning to go

into the connections

between Psalm 23 and

John chapter 10.

John 10 · chapter mention

I would love to do

that, except to say

that Jesus steps right

in to fulfill that

psalm.

But I love that bit in

Psalm 23, as Jesus

is the shepherd, leads

us by still waters.

What happens to our

souls?

He restores them by

his word.

What are you doing by

means of cultivating

that deep trust in and

love for the great

shepherd as he leads

us through the ups and

the downs of life?

What a shepherd.

You know, I heard, went

for a walk with Ross this

week and he said

something about his

dad.

He said, my dad keeps

saying, I just don't

know how you would do

this.

I don't know how you

would do this without

Jesus.

And it's so true, isn't

it?

It's so true.

I just don't know how

you would do it.

I don't know how you

would fathom it and get

beyond it if it wasn't

for the good shepherd.

So friends, what animal

would you be?

And just as we close and

as we think on that, and

as we think about embracing

the posture of a

dependent sheep who's

totally reliant on the

good shepherd.

You know, I had another

shepherd in my mind this

week.

Life staging that.

That I'm at.

She's a shepherdess

actually.

I had little Bo Peep in

my mind all this week.

And I didn't know it

until I googled it this

week.

And I don't know if you

know this as well, that

there's several verses to

that nursery rhyme.

Third verse.

There's a lot of them.

Goes like this.

Little Bo Peep began to

weep and lay down to rest

for a while.

She fell fast asleep while

counting her sheep.

Then dreamt they came

home with a smile.

And you have to say

that's lovely and cute.

And credit where credit's

due, Bo Peep right there.

She clearly loves her

sheep.

She loves her sheep.

But she's also powerless

to do anything to help

them.

And it strikes me that the

Pharisees in John chapter

John 10 · chapter mention

10, sorry, in the

background of John chapter

John 10 · chapter mention

10, do the opposite of

Bo Peep.

They've got all the power

in the world to help

people.

All the power in the world

to help the sheep.

But because they don't

love the sheep, they're not

bothering.

But what I want us to

understand as we finish

this morning about Jesus.

Jesus is one who has both

the power to help his sheep

and the love for them that

drives him to act.

He is all power and he is

all compassion.

And they are married, both

of those things, in the

person of Jesus.

Friends, our lives could not

be in better hands than the

hands of the good shepherd.

And so three quick things as

we close.

Let's know his voice.

Let's trust his heart.

And let's follow his lead.

Let's pray together.

And so Father, I just pray in

the silence now.

Lord Jesus, as we've heard

your voice in John chapter

John 10 · chapter mention

10, as you walk off the

pages of the Bible.

Lord, I pray that this voice

would come as a challenge to

many of us.

I pray that it would come as a

comforting balm to some of

us.

And Lord, it would come with

great strength to all of us.

And I pray particularly for

those here today who are

walking some of the darkest

paths, through some of the

darkest and scariest valleys,

that they would be so aware of

your rod and your staff in their

lives.

Lord, they would be so aware of

your presence with them as you

lead them and love them through

the good shepherd.

So I just close with that thought

that Fraser brought this week to

me.

That I just don't know how you

would do this without Jesus.

And so Lord, I pray that as we

finish our service and as we spend

time together and as you, as we

speak, Lord, that your spirit would be

ministering to us in our

conversations, that we would be

bringing the truth of God's word to

bear on our lives.

Father, help us to be a community

that is founded on the truth of the

gospel.

Father, we just thank you as we

close for your incomparable love

and commitment to us.

In Jesus is worthy and in his

precious name we pray.

Amen.