The Goodness of the Good Shepherd – Pt. 3

Utilizing this image, he builds
a metaphor, a lengthy story about a good shepherd in comparison
with what is articulated in three different ways, bad shepherds. We’ve already seen that the imagery
of God as the shepherd is an image that is seen throughout
the Old Testament, ultimately pointing to the Messiah as the
ultimate. Psalm 23, perhaps one of the
most memorable scenes as far as God being the good shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want. He makes me to lie down in green
pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He guides
me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Even though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear
no evil, for You are with me. Your rod and Your staff, they
comfort me. You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies. You have anointed my head with
oil. My cup overflows. Surely goodness
and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life, and
I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” God ultimately
is seen here as a shepherd, but the scriptures then open up.
The prophecies begin to point to the Messiah who would come
and ultimately serve as the good shepherd. That’s what’s in view
here in John chapter 10. And as I said, there are a series
of comparisons where we see not only the badness of the bad shepherds,
but by God’s grace, and we’re thankful to see it,
we see the goodness of the good shepherd. Start, if you would,
back in verse 1. Chapter 10, verse 1. Truly, truly, I say to you, He
who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep but
climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. But
he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. To him
the doorkeeper opens and the sheep hear his voice and he calls
out his own sheep by name and leads them out. When He puts
forth all His own, He goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow
Him because they know His voice. A stranger they simply will not
follow, but will flee from Him because they do not know the
voice of strangers.” This figure of speech, Jesus spoke to them,
but they did not understand what those things were which He had
been saying to them. So Jesus said to them again,
Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who
came before me are thieves and robbers. But the sheep did not
hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters
through me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find
pasture. The thief comes only to steal
and to kill and destroy. I came that they may have life
and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd.” The
good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired
hand and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep,
sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees. And the wolf comes and snatches
and scatters them He flees because He is a hired hand and is not
concerned about the sheep. I am the good shepherd and I
know my own and my own know me. Even as the Father knows me and
I know the Father, I lay down my life for the sheep. I have
other sheep which are not of this fold. I must bring them
also and they will hear my voice and they will become one flock
with one shepherd. For this reason, the Father loves
me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it again.
No one has taken it away from me, but I lay it down of my own
initiative. I have authority to lay it down,
and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment
I receive from my Father. As I suggested to you, as we
begin to see the goodness of the good shepherd, what particularly
makes him or characterizes him as a good shepherd, we see Jesus
begin to lay out three different comparisons with other bad shepherds. Some that can’t even really be
considered shepherds. There are, first and foremost,
as we saw, vastly different approaches to the sheep. We saw the first
contrast in verses 1 through 4 where Jesus points out a day
in the life of a sheep. The sheep would be put into a
pen overnight where they were safe. Multiple flocks would use
the same pen with one doorkeeper watching over the sheep at night.
The shepherds would go home and rest. rise in the morning, return
to the fold, and come to the door of the sheep, the doorkeeper
would recognize him, he would go in, and merely his voice beckoning
his sheep would draw out his flock. Well, we saw that a day
in the life of a sheep distinguishes Christ from those who don’t use
the door, those who are thieves and robbers, those who climb
over the wall, as He says, come in some other way. They’re up
to no good. There’s no reason that they should
not be using the door unless they are thieves and robbers. Strangers, likewise, they do
not recognize. In this brief contrast that He
brings up in verse 5, even if they dressed in the garb of a
shepherd, even the shepherd’s own garb Sheep would not listen
to his voice. They do not follow him. Instead,
they flee until their own shepherd comes and calls, and they follow
him. But there’s a second very dramatic
contrast. Not only the contrast between
the thieves and their deceitful tactics, as opposed to the shepherd’s
gentle methods, calling, beckoning, leading them out of the pen and
into pasture. But we saw last week vastly different
desires of these so-called shepherds. There are those who come only
to steal and kill and destroy. They come for souls of men. These would certainly point to
false teachers, those who want to promote a false gospel, those
who want to proclaim works righteousness that make people chase forever
salvation that is never granted to them. Jesus is very different
from them. The thief comes only to steal
and kill and destroy, but Jesus says that He came that we might
have life and have it abundantly, not just more life. Fascinating
that we read the passage that we read about earthly tents this
morning. It’s not just more life in these
earthly tents that he’s talking about, but life eternal. And
for that, Jesus says, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd
lays down his life for the sheep, forecasting for us the means
of providing that abundant life. I said there were a series of
three contrasts here. We come to the third this morning.
Not only do these various shepherds use vastly different approaches
compared to Christ. Not only do they have vastly
different desires compared to Christ, they have vastly different
behavior or conduct, particularly when it comes to the sheep themselves.
Go back, if you would, to verse 12, where we see the thieves’
heartless negligence. Verse 12, Jesus says, he who is a hired
hand and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep,
sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees. The only
other time that that word is used is in Mark’s gospel. And it’s not a particularly,
it’s not like it’s a term of reproach even there. Mark 1 20
says, immediately he called them, they left their father Zebedee
in the boat with the hired servants. These were just paid fishermen.
Job 7 2 though in the Septuagint uses this same word, the word
for hireling translated here in John. Job 7 2 says, a slave
who pants for the shade and as a hired man who eagerly waits
for his wages. And so it points to someone who
is primarily about their paycheck, primarily about their wages. There are some that didn’t want
to blend these with the thieves and the robbers, but this is
just a different kind of robbery. These are still thieves. Here,
in a sense, they’re callous in their thief of their own wages. They’re getting paid, but they’re
really not doing the work of a shepherd in the first place.
This would point to those who were hired guns, so to speak,
mercenaries who attend the flock but they were really not about
their real and true and genuine care. And Jesus builds up a third
now contrast between those who really aren’t shepherds at all.
They’re paid shepherds and they have the title They’re paid to
do the work, but ultimately they’re interested only in the paycheck. The man here that’s pictured
is a man whose interest is in the paycheck as opposed to the
care of the sheep themselves. He doesn’t have the pride of
ownership. We’ll talk more about that in
a moment. He lacks the care, the basic
care for the creatures themselves. I remember as a young man when
I first realized that I had this disease. I got to California. I had become
a Christian. went out there to go to seminary,
and I needed to eat. That’s a great thing, isn’t it? And so I started this little
pool business. Through God’s providence, we
had no choice to start this little business. And for the first time,
I realized how deep this sickness was in me, that I had always
worked jobs that were just jobs. I didn’t care how they came into
existence. I didn’t care if they survived.
If they failed, I’d just go down the street and get another job.
I didn’t care how the business was built. I didn’t care about
its history. I didn’t care about its profit
margin. I didn’t care about its customers, really. But now that
I had become a Christian and now that in God’s providence
I had a business, suddenly I found myself caring. The buck stopped
with me. There was nobody to pass the
phone call to when a customer called, especially with a complaint. As one pastor said, there’s a
wide difference between a mere hired shepherd and one who feels
a special interest in his sheep because they are his own. A mere hired servant who has
not spent his money buying the sheep, but only takes charge
of a flock for pay and cares little about the sheep so long
as he gets his paycheck. He will make no sacrifice to
run risk for the sheep. His whole heart is not in his
work. He feeds the flock for money
and not for love. Paul was aware of this kind of
thing when he admonished young Timothy, when he commended rather
young Timothy when he said, you know of his proven worth that
he served with me in the furtherance of the gospel like a child serving
his father. This was no hired hand. This
was no heartless shepherd. Timothy was to Paul a kindred
spirit. And he had a genuine concern
for the flock. Here it speaks of him as being
like a child serving his father. It was almost a birthright. It
was as if Timothy was serving knowing that one day he would
glean an inheritance. That’s what it was like. I came across one young man when
I was in the throes of the restaurant business. I’ll never forget when
the restaurant changed ownership. There was a way of operating
that we had that was just, it was just habit. That’s the way
we did things. And then came the new ownership and the owner
put his own son in charge of the kitchen. Suddenly there were
no more free desserts. Suddenly there was a care for
every scoop of butter and every piece of silverware. There was
just, there was a, there was a care of a son looking after
his father’s business. It was like no other. Paul says
that that’s how young Timothy served, like he was working for
Christ’s kingdom, like it was foremost. Other people sought
other things, not Timothy. Paul says, you know of his proven
character. He’s tested. He has been found
faithful like a son. There were others that weren’t
so. Paul warned also about those who worked for what he called
sordid gain. And I love the way the King James,
I don’t always love the way the King James translates much, but
I love this. The King James here translates
sordid gain as filthy lucre, dirty money. And it basically
points to the desire for unearned money, undeserved money. speaks of those who are motivated
only by the paycheck, unjust gain, making money and gathering
their money discreditably. One pastor said along these lines,
the basic scriptural qualifications for those that would shepherd
mean that we can’t be about unjust gain. We can’t be worried about
money and materialism. True shepherds aren’t going to
steal the sheep’s money, he says. They’re not going to acquire
it dishonestly. They’re not going to be like
false prophets, false shepherds, charlatans, and heretics. That’s what Jesus is pointing
to here. Those who see the wolf coming and they take off. There was a situation that happened
some months ago where an overnight hotel clerk was robbed at gunpoint
and took off and was terminated because of it. And some degree
of fight ensued. In a sense, it’s a reasonable
explanation for departing, certainly going home early. He sees the
wolf coming. Jewish law mandated that a shepherd,
if he saw one wolf, was supposed to fight for the flock. And that’s
all that’s articulated here is one wolf. But if he saw two wolves,
he was justified in departing, that it was an inevitable mark
of God’s providence that the flock was going to be decimated.
Some see the wolf here as pointing specifically to the devil along
the lines of the roaring lion that he’s called elsewhere, a
serpent, a dragon. Others say that he’s identified
in the same, no different than the thief and the robber. In
the very worst case, a false prophet who comes in to the church The bottom line, though, I think
that you can back away and look at this, that the wolf really
is any kind of enemy of the church, any kind of foe of the sheep. The wolf is an appropriate image,
isn’t it? The wolf was the most dangerous
creature known to the flock in Christ’s day. No wonder Paul
uses it as he warns the Ephesian elders. In Acts chapter 20, remember
he called, he beckoned the elders to himself. And ultimately he
says there, I know that after my departure, savage wolves will
come in among you, not sparing the flock. And from among your
own selves, men will arise speaking perverse things to draw away
the disciples after them. Paul sustaining this metaphor
of the sheep. Paul utilizes the sheep’s most
feared enemy, the wolf. The wolf likewise is, as we said,
a repeated metaphor in scripture, so much so that John Calvin,
speaking about the pastor’s role said, a pastor needs two voices. one for gathering the sheep and
the other for driving away the wolves and the thieves. See,
the wolves represent here, as they always do in the New Testament,
what I would call pernicious rabble, false teachers, false
prophets, spiritual troublemakers who seek only to devour the unsuspecting
by their deceitful doctrine. battling teachers, wolves in
sheep’s clothing is a major part of the calling as elders, a major
part of the shepherding of God’s flock. So Paul uses this as a
warning to the church of Ephesus, which is leaders, they knew instinctively
what this meant. Verse 13 says, not all are good
shepherds as Christ. That’s the image that he’s pushing
up. He’s presenting first. something with which to contrast.
And he ultimately says here in verse 13 that this hireling flees
because he’s a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep.
Israel’s history knew these kinds of so-called shepherds. In Ezekiel
chapter 34, just listen, just a few verses of that just incredible
chapter. The word of the Lord came to
me saying, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel.
He says, I’ve got a sermon for you. I’ve got a message. I’ve
got a message for the shepherds, the church leaders of Israel.
Prophesy and say to those shepherds, thus says the Lord God, woe shepherds
of Israel who have been feeding themselves. Should you not feed
the flock? You eat the fat and clothe yourselves
with the wool. You slaughter the fat sheep without
feeding the flock. Those who are sickly, you have
not strengthened. The diseased, you have not healed.
The broken, you have not bound up. The scattered, you have not
brought back, nor have you sought for the lost, but with force
and with severity, you have dominated them. They were scattered for
lack of a shepherd. They became food for every beast
of the field. My flock wandered through all
the mountains on every hill. My flock was scattered over the
surface of the earth, and there was none to search or seek them.
Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. As I live,
declares the Lord God, surely because my flock has become prey,
my flock even become food for the beasts. For the lack of a
shepherd, My shepherds did not search for my flock, but rather
the shepherds fed themselves and not my flock.” Jesus says, those who are only
in it for the paycheck, those who only care for the position are just like those hired hands,
just like those so-called shepherds of Ezekiel 34. that as soon as
the challenge comes, as soon as the position becomes dangerous,
they flee, they bolt, and they leave the shepherds to fend for
themselves. J.C. Ryle here said, the Pharisees
and other false shepherds were no better than hireling shepherds. They cared for nothing but themselves
and their own honor or profit, nothing for souls. They were
willing to have the name and the profession of shepherds,
but they had no heart for their work. So the hirelings had no heart,
no concern, no love for the sheep, merely working for wages. And
when the wolf came, they took off. Well, Jesus says, not all shepherds
are like that. Not all. I, on the other hand,
Christ says, am the good shepherd, and I know my own, and my own
know me, verse 14. Even as the Father knows me,
and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. I
am not like those other so-called shepherds who gave a bad image
to the name. I’m not like them. There were other good shepherds,
mind you, throughout the scriptures. Think of a few. There were other good shepherds
articulated in the Old Testament. Abel. Abel was a good shepherd. Abel was a keeper of flocks,
Genesis 4-2. Jacob. Jacob was a good shepherd. Jacob said I will again pasture
and keep your flock Genesis 30 31 Genesis 31 listen to this
account These 22 years I have been with
you. Your ewes and your female goats
have not miscarried, nor have I eaten the rams of your flocks.
That which was torn of beasts I did not bring to you. I bore the loss of it myself.
You required it of my hand, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. Thus I was by the day consumed
by the heat and the frost, by night and my bed. and my sleep
fled from my eyes.” Now that’s a shepherd. He stood toe to toe. He stayed there all night in
the cold, out in the heat. Jacob was a good shepherd. Joseph
was a good shepherd. Genesis 37 records of Joseph. Joseph was 17 years of age, pastoring
the flock with his brothers while he was still a youth. Joseph was a good shepherd, Abel,
Jacob, Joseph, Moses. Moses was a good shepherd, spoken
of by the Lord, Exodus 2, Exodus 3 verse 1. David, David was a
good shepherd, which verse we’ve already looked at where he fought
off wild animals just to save the flock. Not all the shepherds
were bad shepherds, but there was no shepherd like Christ.
There is no shepherd like Christ and people can build all day
long into this imagery in comparing Christ and comparing their own
ministries as shepherds to Christ, but we will never approach the
level of Christ as shepherds. Jesus Christ was a shepherd like
no other. Look at the end of verse 14,
I know my own and my own know me. even as the Father knows me and
I know the Father.” In other words, He indicates that there
is this intimate union. It’s one of the marks of a good
shepherd, is that He knows His sheep. Proverbs tells us to know
well the condition of our flocks. Well, Jesus does. Jesus knows
His sheep. And His sheep know Him. Paul
uses the same language in writing to Timothy. Nevertheless, the
firm foundation of God stands having this seal. The Lord knows
those who are His. It’s intimate knowledge, it’s
deep knowledge, it’s passionate knowledge, full knowledge. So intimate, said one, is the
relation between the good shepherd and his sheep that it may be
compared and likened to the relationship between the father and the son.
Do you get that? Even as, verse 15, to the same
degree, with the same intensity, with the same love, This knowledge is the knowledge
of experience. It’s the knowledge that issues
forth in a loving fellowship. God’s people know their shepherd,
and the shepherd knows God’s people. It’s the knowledge here
that he talks about that’s a knowledge of faith and confidence. It’s
a knowledge that knows that Christ knows us and is confident in
that, not fearful. They know that they can trust
the Savior as a friend. They know that He is indeed their
Savior. One commentator said that Christ
here is known experimentally. In other words, we go about life
and we see Christ’s loving care for us. We see it every day.
We see it in everything that He does. His mercies are indeed
new every morning, right? You’ve already sensed it this
morning. Christ is known experimentally. He’s known personally. He knows
us intimately. He knows everything about us.
And still He loves us. The believer knows Christ not
merely as a figure of history, but as the Savior of his soul. He knows Him as the rest giver,
the friend, the Good Shepherd. That’s why we love that title.
We love the title Good Shepherd because we know it is true of
Him. He watches over us. He cares for us. He provides
for us. He comforts us in our weaknesses
and injury. Well, the Good Shepherd knows
His flock. He knows them. He knows them
not only well, but He knows them with sympathy. He cares for them. Look at the end of that verse. Not only does he know them, he
serves them. And we’ll come back to this in
a moment. But he sacrifices for his flock, I lay down my life
for the sheep. Now this isn’t, by now we’re
so far beyond the imagery of the day in the life of a flock
of sheep. Because even if a shepherd was to die in protecting his
sheep, he might protect even the bulk of them. He might even
end up protecting everyone. The wolf comes and kills him
instead of killing the sheep and then is driven off. And it
gains the sheep a little more life on earth. But the image
is so far beyond that. Because Christ laying down His
sheep isn’t like anymore a shepherd merely laying down his life for
his sheep. The shepherd laying down his
life is saving. It is a sacrifice that is purposeful. This is essentially a reiteration
of the statement that was made in verse 11 where Jesus said,
I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down His
life for the sheep. And even though Jesus identifies
Himself there as the Good Shepherd, He speaks of the Shepherd laying
down His life in the third person. It’s kind of distanced from the
idea of the Good Shepherd. But this is what a Good Shepherd
will do, Jesus says. He would lay down His life for
the sheep if need be. So here in verse 15, there’s
an intensification of that point. Do you see it? No longer is it
some general point that He makes. The Good Shepherd lays down His
life for the sheep. Here He says He is the Good Shepherd,
and I lay down my life for the sheep. We’ll come back to that
idea of sacrifice in a moment. But I want to take you to verse
16. As Christ begins to fill up His flock. First we see the
sacrifice for the flock, but then we see the filling of this
flock. There are some interesting images
that come out of this. He still stays with this metaphor. But look at verse 16. I have
other sheep, which are not of this fold. I must bring them
also, and they will hear My voice, and they will become one flock
with one shepherd. Mind you, I want to take you
back back into the early parts of this verse where he talked
about the fold. Remember the day in the life
of the sheep? That the sheep are brought in at the end of
the afternoon before twilight. They’re brought back into the
pen. They’re penned in with other sheep, watched over by one shepherd,
the doorkeeper, who watches over multiple flocks. And now Jesus says, I have other
sheep. In the bottom line here, he’s
not talking about other Jewish sheep. He’s not talking about
inheriting some other flock that just happens to reside within
the pen. What he’s pointing to ultimately
here is the glorious truth that it includes you and I. I don’t
know, I don’t know for sure, but I don’t believe that there’s
a Jew among us But the very fact that it’s stated here means that
ultimately we were to be the benefactors and others, scores
and countless millions of others who have placed their faith in
Christ who were not Jewish. Those who were outside of the
fold of Judaism. Well, this was exactly the plan.
This is exactly what is told here in the New Testament. That’s
exactly what the plan was as it begins to unfold. John 11,
52, not for the nation only, not for the Jews only, but in
order that he might also gather into one the children of God
who were scattered abroad. And he very generally points
to other people groups, Gentiles. John 12, 32 speaks of it somewhat
vaguely, if I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men
to myself. Now, he’s obviously not talking
about every person ever born. He’s talking about all manner
of people. When Paul traveling, I believe
it was to Corinth, when Paul arrived in that city, he said,
no man will attack you for I have many people in this city. pointing broadly to those who
would come to Christ and be saved. It was prophesied in the Old
Testament of the Messiah that it wasn’t just for Jews that
He was coming and it would ultimately lead to a great drawing in of
the other nations. We read this in Psalm 72 this
morning, didn’t we? That other nations would fall
on their knees in reverence of the Savior. what was prophesied
in the great prophet Isaiah over and over again listen Isaiah
42 6 I am the Lord I have called you in righteousness I will hold
you by the hand and watch over you I will appoint you as a covenant
to the people as a light to the nation’s plural Jesus Christ
was going to come as the Messiah and he would be the Messiah not
just of Israel but of people Isaiah 49.6, is it too small
a thing that you should be my servant to raise up tribes of
Jacob to restore the preserved ones of Israel? I will also make
you a light of the nations so that my salvation may reach to
the end of the earth. Jesus Christ was coming to be
the Messiah of all nations. Isaiah 63, nations will come
to your light, kings to the brightness of your rising. Joel 2.28, it
will come about after this that it will pour out My Spirit on
all mankind. Your sons and your daughters
will prophesy. Zephaniah 2.9, as I live declares
the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel. the remnant of my people
will plunder, my nation will inherit them.” In other words,
he says that God is going to draw in all nations to himself. Malachi 1.11, from the rising
of the sun to its setting, my name will be great among the
nations, plural. Old Testament prophets over and
over again saw the breadth of the gospel, how far it would
reach that it was universal worldwide in its scope. So when Jesus says, I have other
sheep, and I want you to note this, look down at the passage.
When he says, I have other sheep, he says they’re already his. They just have to be called out.
And they’re scattered all over the hillside. They’re wandering.
They’re in brooks and ravines. They’re down in the mud. They’re
lost. They’re wandering. They look like hopeless, messy,
knotted up, matted creatures. You and me. And I love the way he says it.
I must. It’s a divine necessity. Jesus
Christ His whole purpose is wrapped up in calling these other sheep
from the hillside and from the valleys and the ravines. They’re already His. They just
need to be called. They just need to hear the voice
of the Savior. John 6, we’ve already seen it, heard it. All
that the Father gives me will come to me. And the one who comes
to me, I will certainly not cast out. I’ve come down from heaven
not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me. This
is the will of Him who sent me, that of all that He has given
me, I lose nothing, but I raise it up on the last day.” Even those wayward sheep that
look, probably nobody wanted them. scrawny, dirty. Jesus says, I must. I must bring them. They will
hear my voice. And he basically issues forth
not just a promise here, but this is prophetic. They will
hear my voice. Those who are elect among the
heathen, They will hear, and when they hear, they will respond. They might look like utter criminal
sheep, felon sheep, foolish sheep, stupid sheep, and yet, when the
voice of Christ goes forth, they hear. And they can’t ignore the
voice of the shepherd. They believe, they obey. And ultimately Jesus says here,
look at the passage, they will become one flock with one shepherd. Now Jesus is blending these formerly
wayward sheep with his own flock. And he doesn’t say. It’s unfortunate
that I think the King James and several others over the course
of history, they translated it here fold. Going back to that
imagery of the overnight pen, remember? Going back to that
imagery of the overnight pen, they translated it here, they
will become one fold. That’s not what it says. It’s one flock. It’s one flock
and Jesus has them, remember, in the pasture. He says that
He’s going to lead them about in the pasture. He’s going to
nourish them. He’s going to water the flock
and feed the flock and care for the flock. And if a wolf comes,
after all, It’s the Messiah Himself, the King of kings and the Lord
of lords who is sitting over the flock. They’re in no peril. That’s Psalm 23 material. Jesus doesn’t say here that there
would be one fold. He says one flock. He doesn’t bring necessarily
the heathen sheep that He gathers on the hillsides and in the ravines
and draw them up and put them in the fold with His flock. He
blends them all as one body of people. Earlier in verse 1, we
read about the fold, that pen, where the shepherds come in the
morning to retrieve their flocks. And I suggested to you there,
and I stand by it, that the fold represents the world into which
Jesus came. But just beyond that are these
scattered sheep that Jesus says, I must bring. You don’t have
to press the image too far, but there are these wandering sheep
outside the pen, unaccounted for, abandoned sheep. And Jesus
says, I will gather these two into one flock. Paul had that same image in mind
in Ephesians chapter one. He made known to us the mystery
of His will according to His kind intention, which He purposed
in Him with an administration suitable to the fullness of times,
the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens
and things on the earth. In other words, He says, there
is going to be a coming together. There is going to be a gathering.
And then in chapter 3, Paul lays it out. I, Paul, the prisoner
of Jesus Christ, for the sake of you Gentiles, If indeed you
have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace given me for you,
by revelation there was made known to me the mystery as I
wrote before you in brief.” Paul says, I want to tell you a story,
special kind of story. This is a mystery. And everybody
in the church of Ephesus sits forward, right? Tell us, Paul. Tell us what God showed you.
By referring to this, when you read, you can understand my insight
into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not
made known to the sons of men. To be specific, that the Gentiles,
those rabble sheep, you mean? Those dirty, rotten, forgotten,
wayward sheep, those? The Gentiles are fellow heirs
and fellow members of the body and fellow partakers of the promise
in Jesus Christ through the gospel. And now I want to take you back
very briefly. I want to take you back to verse
14 for a set and specific purpose. I want you to look at the shepherd’s
self-sacrifice. How much does he love his flock? First of all, he died for his
flock. It’s a selfless sacrifice. I
am the Good Shepherd. Look at the end there, and I
lay down my life for the sheep. I want to just pause right there. It’s pointing to the whole doctrine
that we call particular redemption, that Jesus Christ died for a
flock of sheep, a finite group of people, true believers ultimately,
that alone gain the benefit of Christ’s mediatorial work on
the cross. Paul said it this way in Romans,
while we were still helpless at the right time. Christ died
for the ungodly, very broadly. One will hardly die for the righteous
man, though perhaps for the good man some would dare to even die.
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. It was a purposeful death. This wasn’t just some shepherd
dying on the hill to save some flock of sheep. This is the atonement
This is Christ going to the cross for the purpose of redeeming
a people, who He just happens to call here, the flock. This great payment that He was
preparing to make, the shedding of His own blood on the cross,
was the very highest proof of His love. Isaiah 53.8, you know it. By oppression and judgment, He
was taken away. As for His generation, who considered
that He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression
of My people, to whom the stroke was due? That’s why Jesus came.
Jesus Christ came to offer up a selfless sacrifice. But not
only is this sacrifice a sacrifice that was for his flock. Secondly, it’s of his life. This was a real sacrifice. They
have this play in baseball called the Sacrifice Fly, right? Or
Sacrifice Bunt. Nobody dies. Nobody dies in that
play. But in this sacrifice, when he
says, I lay down my life, it was a real sacrifice. It was
a real death. Look at verse 17, For this reason
the Father loves me, because I laid down my life.” It’s not that Jesus earned His
Father’s love. It was a representation of His
Father’s love. The Father loved the Son. God
sent the Son for this mission. Jesus Christ willingly took it
up. As one pastor said, Christ died
in order to rise again. And only because Christ was to
take human life again was His death. as such that the Father
could have approved. In other words, God doesn’t approve
of suicide. We know that. The ultimate act
of pride, right? God could not have signed off
on Jesus just laying down His life. But for a purpose, God
said that this fits the purpose of redemption. This is the plan
of redemption. And if Jesus had decided to pass
on the resurrection, or rather on the crucifixion, or to pass on the resurrection
and leave maybe his humanity hanging on the cross while he
and his deity returned to heaven, then he goes on to say the salvation
of man would not have been won. The sentence of death would not
have been reversed. He would have become like the
hireling, casting aside his duty before it was accomplished. See, ultimately death was necessary,
a necessary precursor to the resurrection. And so we see that
Christ not only died for a people, His sacrifice was of His life
and it was ultimately Jesus says here it was by His authority,
it was an intentional sacrifice. It’s voluntary. Jesus voluntarily
laid down His life with the Father’s authority, with the Father’s
permission beyond permission. One said it this way, the great
shepherd of the sheep made his soul an offering for
sin of his own free will. He was not obliged or compelled
to do it by a superior force, no one could have taken away
his life had he not been willing to lay it down. Not even the
thorns, the nails, the cross, the spear could have taken his
life had he not consented to it. But he laid it down of himself
because he had covenanted to offer himself as a propitiation
for our sins, his own love to sinners and not the power of
the Jews or Pontius Pilate’s soldiers was the cause of his
death. See, Jesus Christ was a loving
shepherd. He was the good shepherd. We can aspire to be good, better
shepherds. We can look and examine our lives,
but we will never be the kind of good shepherd that Jesus Christ
was. Jesus Christ was the only good
shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep. And I want to take you back. Perhaps even in your mind you’re
already sitting there contemplating, He laid down His life for me?
May I tell you that If you are of His flock, promised to be
in His flock, if you were the only one that would have responded,
Jesus Christ would have come to the cross. I believe that
with all my heart. Jesus Christ would have come and gone through
all that He went through just for you. And we find that hard
to fathom, don’t we? We find it hard to even grasp
because we know ourselves. So when he says, I am the good
shepherd, I know my own and my own know me. Think that through
for a moment. One Puritan said it this way.
If you would think rightly of the son of man, think of the
person who knows thoroughly everything that each of you is feeling and
cannot utter to others. Isn’t that true? There are things we couldn’t
tell even our most dear and precious friends. Every temptation from riches,
from poverty, from concern or worry, from society, from the
gifts of intellect, from the lack of them, from the gladness
of the spirit, from the barrenness and dreariness of it, from the
warmth of affection to the drying up of affection, from the anguish
of doubt, the dullness of indifference, from the whirlwind of passion
and the calm which succeeds it, from the vile thoughts which
spring out of fleshly appetites and indulgences, from the darker
and more terrible suggestions which are presented to the inner
will Believe that He knows all these. He knows you. And then believe this also. That
He knows with intense, most inmost sympathy. Believe that knowledge
is absolutely inseparable from sympathy. Jesus Christ knows
you. And He died for you. that they saved you if your faith
is in the Lord Jesus Christ and in Him alone. Let’s pray. Our
Father God, we thank you for this, not merely an exposition, not merely an expose of bad shepherds. There are plenty of those. Lord,
but an articulation of the goodness of the Good Shepherd, whose tactics
and methods were so different from those heartless thieves,
whose desires were so dramatically different from those who came
only to steal and kill and destroy, whose conduct so different from
the heartless hirelings that turned their back on needy sheep
when Christ willingly went to the cross for us. Lord God, if
we are in Christ, we know we affirm with our heart what a
good shepherd who knows us so intimately and still loves us. Lord God, if there are any who
do not know the shepherd, who perhaps are even this morning
hearing his voice, knowing that he paid for the penalty of sinners
on the cross. Lord, if they could hear his
voice, I pray that you would grant them the grace to respond.
I pray that you would draw them to yourself, not just for the
day, comforting as that would be, but for eternity. They would
place their faith in Christ alone for salvation. That they would go out and find
pasture, following their loving Savior. It’s in Jesus’ name that
we pray. Amen.