I Am -- I Am the Good Shepherd -- John 10:11-30

1. Introduction
A shepherd has a big job. There are a number of things that go into keeping and maintaining a healthy flock. The shepherd has the responsibility for the youngest lamb to the oldest ram. He looks after the weakest few and pregnant ewe. He has to lead them to food and make sure they find water. He has to protect them against predatory threats like wolves and jackals.
When Jesus calls himself the good shepherd, he is alluding to all these ideas.
He is also moving into an area of describing himself as we see God described in the Old Testament.

2. Describing the Biblical Text
The 23rd Psalm tells us that the Lord is my Shepherd.
Notice how this passage opens and then how this passage closes.
I am the good shepherd – I am the Father are one.
Jesus is making the declarative that He is the Son of God and by that virtue, he is God.

3. Narrate the Contextual application
When you think about it, Jesus as he taught about himself really had a central message and that was that he was coming to do the will of God who sent him.
That is immensely important when we think about what He was doing.
He was coming to seek and to save the lost.
He was coming to die a sacrificial death on the cross.
He was coming to lead the people of God as their perfect shepherd.
Jesus is describing Himself as the good shepherd.

4. Life Application (thesis)
The Bible says that we are the sheep of His pasture.
The Bible all we like sheep have gone astray.
We need a shepherd.
Jesus is the keeper of His sheep.

5. SO WHAT!! (Outline)
In thinking about that main idea this morning, we are going to look at 4 different staves that the shepherd will employ in leading the sheep.
The first staff is this:
The shepherd will give his life for the sheep.
Both of my kids now have gotten older and they don’t yell out daddy whenever they have a little problem.
You know what I do? Whenever we are out somewhere like a mall or the zoo or something and I hear a little kid yell daddy, I instinctively look to see what Alyson or Kirstyn need. I guess it is just a habit that I developed when they were young and it stuck.
But if I answered one of those kids at the zoo or at the park with what sweetie, they would probably look at me like I was nuts.
That’s because when a child calls out to mommy or daddy, they are calling out to someone in particular.
Go back up to the very first few verse of this chapter in Verse 1 and following.
What we see in these verses is the basis of the sheep knowing the shepherd which of course is the relationship that He has with them.

The shepherd knows the sheep and his purpose is to keep them so he is willing to do whatever it takes to keep the sheep.
Look at verse 14
What is truly incredible about this is the fact that Jesus would be willing to die for sheep that had not been particularly loyal to following Him.
But, it all comes back to relationship.
It started in eternity past as Romans 8 reminds us.
All things work together for good to those who love God who are the called according to His purpose.
For those whom he foreknew, them he predestined to be conformed to the image of His son.
The relationship is in eternity past and Jesus coming to do the will of the Father is to bring the relationship to the point where it is mutual.
Now, we need to turn to Romans 5 because there are some very important ideas there.
While you are turning there, I want to remind you what Isaiah 53:7 says, “All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned each one to His own way and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
Romans 5 beginning with verse 6
6For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. 8But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. 10For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

The shepherd has laid down his life for us, His sheep.
All have sinned
Wages of Sin
But as many as received Him
Shepherd died to save the sheep
Follow the shepherd today.

The next staff that we see in this passage is the shepherd will give wholeness to the flock.
Verse 16
The idea here is that Jesus will complete his covenant people or the church.
Remember that Jesus is talking to Pharisees, Jewish leaders who are challenging and threatening him.
He is stretching their conventional wisdom.
And now what he is saying and our 20/20 hindsight makes it clear is that there will be another flock who come into the kingdom.
That flock of course is Gentile followers of Christ.
Paul declared that he was not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus for it was the power of God to all who believe to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Jesus was saying that yes the Jews are the covenant people as called through Abraham's covenant.
But that covenant is being expanded to all who will call on Jesus Christ by faith.

It is really neat when Joseph has his dream in Matthew 1 because of what the angel says about Jesus.
“He will save His people from their sin.”
In that statement the Jews and the gentiles are brought together as the people of God.
His people are now, as Revelation 4 and 5 tell us, from every tribe, people, nation, and tongue.

The shepherd will give guidance to the sheep.
This is our third staff.
As Jesus was attending a feast, the Jews wanted to challenge Him and to push Him on the point of being the messiah.
He came back to them with some very hard even harsh words.
You do not believe because you are not my sheep.
Based on what we have already seen in this passage, Jesus was saying that they were following a different shepherd.
Jesus also said in other place that if someone was not with Him, they were against him.
The sheep follow their shepherd.

That means that we go where He leads us and we do what he tells us.
We take the nourishment that he gives.
We rest in His protection.
The shepherd guides the sheep into the good pasture that they can take the necessary nourishment to provide wool and other commodities to the owners.
The Shepherd guides so that God can use us for His purpose.
There is the old hymn that says wherever he leads I’ll go.
That means that we will follow our shepherd anywhere to do what He has desired us to do.

There is a fourth staff and we have already alluded to it this morning
The shepherd will give security to the sheep.
We alluded to this last Wednesday night in our Revelation study.
It is the hand of God and the security that comes from being held in that hand.
There was old black preacher who described it like this.
That old devil might want to get but he can’t.
He might try and if he try he gots to peel back the fingers of God and Then he got to peel back the fingers of Jesus and if he get those fingers peeled back, then he still can’t get me cause nothing can get me since I covered with the blood of Jesus.

That is security.
That is peace in knowing that our shepherd will keep us and He will protect us.
Jesus is the keeper of the sheep.
The shepherd gives his life, gives wholeness, gives guidance, and gives security.
What is the responsibility of the sheep?
We must be about following the shepherd.
We are only his sheep if we believe that he died and rose again for us and we are following Him.
If we are following Him, we have life because He gave His life.
We have wholeness with the purpose of God because he came to do God’s will
We have one who will lead us and guide us through all the trials and storms of life and we will be spiritually nourished.
We have one who will keep us for His own glory and purpose.
But we have to follow.
We have to obey.
We need to surrender our lives to the shepherd and to be totally His.