A Good Shepherd [John 10]

A Good Shepherd (John 10)

John 10:31-32 Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, "I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?"

Earlier in this chapter, Jesus declares that He is the Good Shepherd. He declares that He is the legitimate one to enter the sheep pen; He is the one that the sheep will follow; the sheep know His voice. This was presented in a parable that was not understood. Then Jesus explained it without the parable. It was still not understood. However, when He pointed out that the miracles done were in "His Father’s Name," that was understood because -- miracle aside -- Jesus claimed to be God.

You’ve got to love the contradictions. Here is a man doing the miraculous, giving credit to God his Father and the religious leadership ignores the evidence of the miracles and jumps on a detail of their own lack of understanding of scripture. They can’t or don’t hear the analogy of the Shepherd. They don’t hear or understand the willingness of the shepherd to lay down his life for his sheep. They miss it -- and don’t even know their own scripture as Jesus responded:

John 10:34-39 Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your Law, 'I have said you are gods'? 35 If he called them 'gods,' to whom the word of God came-and the Scripture cannot be broken- 36 what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, 'I am God's Son'? 37 Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does. 38 But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father." 39 Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp.

AGAIN, Jesus has plainly told the Jews, "I am God’s Son." At the Feast of Tabernacles where the torches were being juggled, Jesus told the Jews, "Behold Abraham was born, I am." That was the same language God told Moses at the burning bush.

Exodus 3:14 God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM . This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'"

And Jesus has identified Himself as the Shepherd of Israel. This is endearing imagery that takes all of Israel back to David, the great shepherd who became King. This is the same David Ezekiel talked about who would be in the future the prince of Israel.

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Psalms 69:6 May those who hope in you not be disgraced because of me, O Lord, the LORD Almighty;

may those who seek you not be put to shame because of me, O God of Israel.

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WHY? Why did Jesus use this imagery? Why did John include this specific account?

CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD SHEPHERD

David, the all time great shepherd, wrote the psalm that we all know and because of that Psalm, we understand what a shepherd is. He identified how the Good Shepherd would act.

Psalm 23 [NEB] The LORD is my shepherd; I shall want nothing.

He makes me lie down in green pastures,

and leads me beside the waters of peace;

he renews life within me,

and for his name’s sake guides me in the right path.

Even though I walk through a valley dark as death

I fear no evil, for thou art with me,

they staff and thy crook are my comfort.

Thou spreadest a table for me in the sight of my enemies;

thou hast richly bathed my head with oil,

and my cup runs over.

Goodness and love unfailing,, these will follow me

all the days of my life,

and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD

my whole life long.

What will he do as the Good Shepherd?

-- his sheep will have lack of nothing

-- his sheep will have food in green pastures

-- his sheep will have clear water

-- his sheep will have resurrected life

-- he will guide his sheep

-- he will walk along even through death; who can do that except the LORD

For the past several weeks, we have been looking at the Gospel of John. John, a disciple of Jesus who walked with Him and learned directly from Him admitted that Jesus did many things.

John 21:25 Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.

For his version of the Gospel, under the inspiration of Holy Spirit, John selected certain events to make a specific argument. And it looks like the accounts selected seem to have a relationship with the topics of the 23^rd Psalm as well as the order. John is accounting for all the requirements of a Good Shepherd as defined by David. He is presenting the Good Shepherd, Jesus, as the Good Shepherd that David talked about. And that Good Shepherd is the LORD. Therefore, Jesus is the LORD.

John’s presentation so far is:

1. In the beginning was the Word

2. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world

3. Jesus changes water into wine

4. You must be born again

5. Living Water

6. Healing

7. Miraculous bread

8.. He is the Light of the World

9. Blind man given sight

There were thousands of stories about Jesus that John could have picked, but under the inspiration of Holy Spirit, he chose these situations. And this specific one is important because it is where Jesus presents to the Jews the concept of the Good Shepherd, not only like David, but like what the prophet Ezekiel was shown. This presentation by Jesus showed how he was the one that was going to fix what sin had destroyed.

Jesus told them through parable and straight teaching that he was and is the sovereign LORD Ezekiel talked about who will be the Good Shepherd.

CHARACTERISTICS OF A BAD SHEPHERD [Ezekiel 34]

Takes care of himself

-- eat the curds

-- clothes themselves from the flock

-- slaughter the choice animals

Do not take care of the flock

-- not strengthened the weak

-- not healed the sick

-- not bound up the injured

-- not brought back the strays

-- not searched for the lost

-- have ruled harshly and brutally

As a result, the flock has been scattered

-- food for wild animals

-- sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill

-- scattered over the whole earth

NO ONE SEARCHED FOR THEM

What God says through the prophet:

-- I will rescue my flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them.

-- so will I look after my sheep.

-- I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness.

-- I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries

-- I will bring them into their own land.

-- I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land.

-- I will tend them in a good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel will be their grazing land.

-- I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign LORD.

-- I will search for the lost and bring back the strays.

-- I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak,

-- but the sleek and the strong I will destroy.

-- I will shepherd the flock with justice.

-- I will judge between one sheep and another, and between rams and goats.

Ezekiel 34:18 Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of your pasture with your feet? Is it not enough for you to drink clear water? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet? 19 Must my flock feed on what you have trampled and drink what you have muddied with your feet?

The sovereign LORD says he will do it, so when Jesus says and demonstrates that He can and will do it, He is identifying Himself as being the sovereign LORD. "For which one do you stone me?"

Ezekiel 34:20 "'Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says to them: See, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. 21 Because you shove with flank and shoulder, butting all the weak sheep with your horns until you have driven them away, 22 I will save my flock, and they will no longer be plundered. I will judge between one sheep and another. 23 I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. 24 I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the LORD have spoken.

What the sovereign LORD will do. In other words, what JESUS will do.

Ezekiel 34:25 "'I will make a covenant of peace with them and rid the land of wild beasts so that they may live in the desert and sleep in the forests in safety. 26 I will bless them and the places surrounding my hill. I will send down showers in season; there will be showers of blessing. 27 The trees of the field will yield their fruit and the ground will yield its crops; the people will be secure in their land. They will know that I am the LORD, when I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from the hands of those who enslaved them. 28 They will no longer be plundered by the nations, nor will wild animals devour them. They will live in safety, and no one will make them afraid. 29 I will provide for them a land renowned for its crops, and they will no longer be victims of famine in the land or bear the scorn of the nations. 30 Then they will know that I, the LORD their God, am with them and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, declares the Sovereign LORD. 31 You my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are people, and I am your God, declares the Sovereign LORD.'"

Jesus declared in what He did and what He said that He was the Good Shepherd. And in the context of Ezekiel, what Jesus did and what Jesus said indicated that He was the Sovereign LORD. This is the presentation that John made. Inspired by Holy Spirit, John selected events that showed compliance with the prophetic words of David and Ezekiel.

WHICH ONE DO YOU STONE?

That should be a rhetorical question, but unfortunately it is not.

Jesus had just taught the people and the Jews how He himself was the Good Shepherd identified by Ezekiel as well as David. He is the sovereign LORD presented by Ezekiel. He is the ONE who will correct what has been destroyed by sinful man.

In both Psalm 23 and Ezekiel 34, there are things that happen before the death and also after death. There are events that happen while we are in this tent of human existence and events that happen afterwards. John’s presentation shows how Jesus fulfills the prophetic before death for both scriptures. Is there any reason to think that Jesus will not complete the work?

Christ’s question to the Jews was valid then and now: "For which miracle do you stone me?" Let’s think about that in yet another way: "For what fulfillment of prophecy do you reject me?" The church has often preferred the bad shepherds over the Good One. The church has often selected the leadership that abuses them over the One who will lead them even through the shadow of death. By selecting and following the false shepherd, we effectively stone Jesus -- we reject Him.

When we do what the Apostle Paul instructed and declare that Jesus is Lord. In effect what we are doing is saying the we, ourselves, are not Lord. That is important. The joke posted in places is correct: There are two things you need to know about God. 1) There is a God. 2) And you are not Him. That is what we counteract when the Holy Spirit calls us and we must admit that Jesus is Lord. That confession is on multiple levels. Emotionally we recognize that we can’t be Lord and He must be. Intellectually we must recognize that it makes no sense for us to think that we are Lord and Jesus must be. Religiously, we cannot be righteous in ourselves, but He as Lord can be and is. Prophetically, Jesus as LORD fulfills all prophecies about the coming Redeemer.

Romans 10:6-13 But the righteousness that is by faith says: "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?'" (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 "or 'Who will descend into the deep?'" (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: 9 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 11 As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile-the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

At some point in time in your life, you will be prompted by Holy Spirit with the evidence that has been presented to you. All through your life, you have been exposed to more and more evidence of Jesus as sovereign LORD. Any one single piece of evidence could and should convince you to release your own lordship of your own life over to Jesus as sovereign LORD. For which one do you reject Him? How long do you think you can resist Holy Spirit before He quits calling you and you face the judgment from the sovereign LORD.

That confession, as Paul states, comes out of your mouth.