The Good Shepherd Offers...

Some time between A.D. 202 – 220, Clement of Alexandria wrote a hymn text in Greek that is now know as “Shepherd of Eager Youth.” Commonly sung to an Italian hymn tune, the words pick up the metaphor Christ Jesus uses in chapter 10 of John's Gospel.

Shepherd of eager youth, guiding in love and truth through devious ways-Christ, our triumphant King, we come Thy name to sing; hither Thy children bring tributes of praise.

Thou art our holy Lord, all-subduing Word, healer of strife; Thou didst Thyself abase that from sin's deep disgrace Thou mightiest save our race and give us life.

Ever be near our side, our Shepherd and our guide, our staff and song; Jesus, Thou Christ of God, by Thy enduring Word lead us where Thou has trod, make our faith strong.

Another hymn, this one written by Dorothy A. Thrupp in her collection “Hymns for the Young”, in 1836 states:

Savior, like a shepherd lead us; much we need Thy tender care;

In Thy pleasant pastures feed us; for our use Thy folds prepare;

Blessed Jesus, Blessed Jesus, Thou has bought us, Thine we are;

Blessed Jesus, Blessed Jesus, Thou has bought us, Thine we are.

While these two hymns have “Youth” and “Young” in their titles, they are appropriate for Christians of all ages. Their words are good for those who are just beginning their walk with Christ and for those who have walked with Him for many, many years.

John 10 is one of the most theological chapters in this Gospel, though often misunderstood. Christ Jesus had entered an intense period of conflict and opposition to His ministry, as His enemies analyzed every word with the intention of punishment. He repeatedly alienated the Pharisees and yet drew His those who would folllow closer to Him with teaching sessions just like the one we are going to look at this morning.

John 10:1-13
10:1 "I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2 The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. 3 The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice." 6 Jesus used this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them.

7 Therefore Jesus said again, "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

11 "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 

1. The Good Shepherd Offers Security (vs. 1-6)

Beginning the chapter with His now famous “Truly, truly” statement, Christ Jesus changes His metaphor from blindness to sheep-stealing. 

In this last public discourse Christ Jesus used the imagery of a shepherd and sheep, familiar symbols deeply embedded in Hebrew life and history. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were shepherds. Joseph's brothers were tending to the flocks when they sold him into slavery. David started out as a shepherd

Christ Jesus used these images not only a tender pastoral teaching, but also as a stinging indictment of those who profess to be shepherds but were actually thieves and robbers, strangers and hirelings. 

Christ still is tender with those who know Him as Lord and Saviour - “come all you who are heavily laden, and I will give you rest ” (Matt. 11:28) and “peace I leave you” (John 14:27). But if you are just pretending to be a Christian, “better it would be if you had a millstone around your neck and thrown into the sea” (Luke 17:2). 

The Sheep pen, it was a tall stone wall – either a circle or a square – which was

often topped with briers. There would be an opening just big enough to let the sheep in or out. The shepherd or watchman/guard would lie down across the opening and serve as both the protector for the sheep and as a gate for the sheepfold. 

Unless someone or something was willing to confront the watchman, the only way into the pen was to climb the wall. The thief and robber attempted to bypass the doorkeeper, who would never allow them to enter, by climbing over the fence unnoticed. Then there were strangers, masquerading as shepherds, disguising their voices, trying to come between the shepherd and his sheep. But the sheep flee, frightened by the unfamiliar voice.

In the ancient Middle East a sheep pen held several flocks, so shepherd recognition was imperative. Only personal identification with the shepherd could make a sheep feel safe.

The Good Shepherd – Christ Jesus still can keep you safe and He wants to if you will let Him. “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand.” (John 10:29) 

It is said that shepherds customarily knew each sheep by name. How different that was from the thief or robber. The shepherd entered the sheepfold with authority because he was a familiar figure to the doorkeeper. The sheep were at ease with him because they knew his voice when he called them.

In the interweaving of these familiar pastoral symbols Christ Jesus was making vividly clear the contrast between the shepherd and those who came to plunder the sheep, however innocent they might appear. 

The differing ways by which they entered the sheepfold—the shepherd openly through the door, but the others by sneaking. The contrast in their voices—the one familiar, and the others strange and unknown. The totally differing motives with which they came to the fold—the shepherd to care and provide pasture, and the others to plunder and destroy, taking what was not theirs. 

God made you to have a relationship with Him, but Satan is trying everything he can to prevent that. Say no to Satan this morning and yes to the care and safety that God offers you, through Christ Jesus.

This picture Jesus had drawn was not simply a comparison or an allegory. His illustration was a general parable, called a mashal maw-shal', “a mysterious saying full of compressed thought.” Those whose eyes have been opened spiritually, such as the new disciple healed of blindness, saw the truth hidden in the figurative language.  

But the spiritually blind, those who had cast the healed one out, were baffled and angered. They “did not understand the things which He spoke to them” (v. 6). I pray your eyes will be open this morning if they are not already so.

Now Christ Jesus became very specific and personal in illuminating the meaning of His illustration. There is a singleness, an exclusiveness, about His declaration, “I am the door of the sheep.” This statement made the Pharisees mad and it is still making people mad today.

Christ Jesus is the one entrance by which the sheep can enter the fold and join the flock. There is no other way for them to have access to the full treasure of life.

2. The Good Shepherd offers Shelter (vs. 7-13)

John R. Mott was an amazing and, a visionary layman whom God used in the early part of the 20th century to call a whole generation of students to Christ and missionary service. When he was well into his eighties, and although he had just finished pouring out his heart to several thousand students in one of his characteristically passionate missionary addresses, he was fresh and eager to spend time with a visiting pastor. “His clear, piercing eyes and great mane of white hair reminded me of a shaggy old lion,” recalled the pastor later on.

When asked about his Christian pilgrimage he spoke simply and tenderly of his “capitulation to Christ,” as he called it, as an undergraduate student at Cornell University and of his continuous growth in the Spirit ever since. It had all been a great adventure, he said. Then he concluded, “After being on hundreds of university campuses in more than eighty countries and having seen all the great religions of the world firsthand, I know now more than ever that Christ towers over all the movements of history and religion. Absolutely unique! He stands erect among the fallen, clean among the defiled, Saviour of the world, King of kings and Lord of lords!”

Truly, truly, Christ is the one door of the sheep! All who come announcing life apart from faith in Christ Jesus cannot make themselves the door of the sheep. Like the shepherd of old Christ Jesus is the shepherd and the door. 

In the Old Testament, God was the shepherd to the children of Israel, in the New Testament it is Christ Jesus is the shepherd to all who will see and hear. But Christ Jesus is more than just a shepherd, He is the door to God. All the world religions point you to god or a god. But Christ Jesus takes it one step further, through Him you can enter into God's prescience. How is that possible, because He is God, and He is the only doorway.

Any who teach another way to a restored relationship with God the Father are thieves and robbers. It did not matter whether they were priestly rulers, religious politicians whose hands had been dirtied ever since the time of the Maccabees. Or those who are eager for power and recognition, claiming to be “the Messiah,” or men and women of God. Thieves and robber leading people astray. Or those who selfishly prey on the unsuspecting for personal gain, dividing and robbing them. These are alien voices, that belong to the thief and the robber. Or those who teach any other way to God the Father except by through Christ Jesus are thieves and robbers. “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy,” (vs. 10) 

Christ Jesus came to give you an abundant life. Can this world give you an abundant life? It may seem to for awhile, but it will play out eventually. Christ Jesus, from whom all blessings flow; is eternal and so a life in Him will be an abundant one.

Now in verse 11 you see the key to our passage this morning, something I have been talking about all along. Here is another declaration of who Christ Jesus is, another “I Am” statement. 

The good shepherd does not just lie across the opening of the pen to frighten away anything that tries to get at the sheep, He lay down His life if He has to. Unlike the hired hand who runs off when things get bad, the good shepherd is willing to make the supreme sacrifice. And He did when He died on the cross for your sins and mine. 

Christ Jesus did not die to serve as an example, He did not die to become some kind of martyr. Instead He knew that you and I were in mortal danger because of sin. In His death He beat sin and save you and me from it's clutches. If... if you will invite Him into your life as Lord and Saviour.

Conclusion: The good shepherd cares for His sheep in a way no hired hand could. A hired helper was not responsible for attacks from wild animals and worked for pay. The sheep did not belong to the hired hand and so he did only as much as he had to. Brother and sisters are we any better when we see lost neighbors and friends and do nothing to correct the situation?

We can't save anyone, but we can tell them about the Good Shepherd. How about a hurting brother or sister in Christ? They too are your concern.

If you are here this morning and do not know Christ Jesus, He wants to be your Good Shepherd. How can I say this, because of John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” And Romans 5:8 - “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”