The Good Shepherd

John 10:11–16 | Pastor Chad Woods

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Chad: 00:00

We are known by the good shepherd. Do you understand the ramifications that has for us? He knows us. He knows all of our fears. Right?

Chad: 00:09

He knows all of our anxieties. He knows all the worries that we have, all our inadequacies, and there's plenty of those. All of our struggles. He knows all of our willful rebellions, and he knows all of those secret sins that we think we're hiding. He knows us, And that church makes Christ's grace to us even more amazing.

Chad: 00:34

Because while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Caleb: 00:40

The following message was recorded at King's Tree Church. May the spirit use it to help you see, savor, and sing the beauty of God in the crucified and risen Jesus Christ.

Chad: 00:55

This morning, if you would, if you could open your bibles with me to the tenth chapter of the Gospel of John. So what we're gonna be looking at, we'll be gonna be looking specifically verses 11 through 15 of chapter 10 of the Gospel of John. And we're gonna look at Jesus' claim to be the good shepherd. So the the shepherd is probably, and everyone would agree Oh, Jeff just gave me yes. So kids, if you you can go down to kids class now, you're dismissed to go down there.

Chad: 01:44

Thank you, Jeff. So the shepherd is probably one of the most recognized images in all of Christianity. I think we could agree, right? We see it everywhere. We see it in murals.

Chad: 02:05

We see it in paintings. We see it on coffee cups. I'm sure that at one time or another everybody here has probably had a children's bible that had a picture, know, had the the shepherd on the front. And typically, when you when you see that, if you notice, it'll be like this really like idyllic scene and it'll be this real fair skinned Jesus and he'll be in this perfectly white pressed tunic, you know, and he'll be tending this flock of sheep in some like pit picturesque Blush Valley somewhere and the the, you know, the sun will be setting behind the mountains. If you don't see that, you'll see you'll see the, you know, the scene of a king David, a young king David.

Chad: 02:51

You know, he'll also be wearing his white clean tunic and he'd be playing his harp, right, while he's tending his flock And that's typically like the renditions that you see of the shepherds. And if you don't believe me, you can do a Google image search and you'll see that I'm right. And there's nothing wrong with that and I understand like the artists there, they are they're just capturing, you know, there's something to be said for the care and the tenderness that Jesus and a young David, right, had towards his flock and his people. But that biblical image that we'll see here is so much more, right, so much more than what's portrayed there. And I think sometimes because it seems like we'll be we've we're around that imagery and you know, so much that we kind of become inoculated to it.

Chad: 03:42

And Jesus is gonna claim this title of the good shepherd. And with that it's gonna come with just really just a lot of of depth and and weight. And we're gonna look at this morning at the implications, right, of that title of the good shepherd. Implications to the identity of Jesus himself and his mission and the identity of his people, us, right, his sheep and the church and our mission to the world. And since and this is hard because, you know, I don't do this very often so I just jump right in.

Chad: 04:23

So it is we know we haven't went through, you know, John eight, John nine. So we're kinda jumping in right in the middle of chapter 10 of John's gospel. So I think that what we gotta do here is a little bit of review to get some context of exactly what's going on here and what prompts Jesus to make this declaration of being the good shepherd. So this particular passage is it's part of it's usually referred to as the seven I am statements that you'll see in John's gospel. Right?

Chad: 04:57

And these seven I am statements or analogies or metaphors that Jesus is gonna make and they're going each one of them is gonna express like a certain important truth about his identity or about his mission. And it's also gonna link us back to the old testament. So just the seven real quick and you'll see these all throughout John. In order they are, I am the bread of life. I am the light of the world.

Chad: 05:24

I am the door of the sheepfold. I am the good shepherd. I am the resurrection and the life. I am the way, the truth, the life. And number seven is I am the true vine.

Chad: 05:36

So each one of these analogies, if you will, or these metaphors, you know, they're gonna express like this unique attribute of Jesus and his mission. And John chronicles these in his gospel account and he tells us why he does in chapter 20, and you don't have to look there, but John says this. So this is what the gospel of John, what the point of the gospel of John is. John says this, now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book. But these things are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Chad: 06:18

The gospel of John. Okay? So to get an idea here as to the setting for this this good shepherd passage here in chapter 10, what we gotta do is we gotta go back and look at chapter nine real briefly. And just keep in mind as you do that, like the chapter breaks, everyone knows I'm sure that the chapter breaks were added centuries later, right, just for convenience. But here's one of those places when you're reading that the chapter break really isn't super convenient because nine and ten are essentially all the same scene in the setting, but when we read it it kind of we kind of think that it's broke up but it's not.

Chad: 06:56

So, Jesus has just made one of his I am declarations and he's he talked about being the light of the world. And the interesting thing about that, after he declares himself to be the light of the world, he goes on to heal a man who had been blind from birth. And that's just really interesting that Jesus gave him physical light to his eyes and as we're gonna see a little later on, he'll eventually give him spiritual light to his soul. And somebody and everyone probably remembers the story, but just for review. So Jesus, going by his way, approached seen a man blind from birth, and Jesus kneeled down and what did he do?

Chad: 07:42

He spit on the ground and he made mud from that spit and he wiped it on the man's eyes. And that's pretty interesting in itself. Probably showing himself to be the same God who created Adam from the dust of the earth, but then he told the guy after he told the man after that he had put the the mud upon his eyes to go and to wash in the, Pool Of Siloam. And the man came back and he was healed from his blindness. But now the pharisees, they were really really been out of shape about this.

Chad: 08:20

They were really angry because when Jesus done this, what he did, he did it on a Sabbath day. So what they did, they called in the man who had been healed and what they did, they questioned him and they wanted to get him to agree that Jesus was a sinner because he had broken the law by performing this miracle on a Sabbath day. Thankfully this guy had some pretty quick wit about him and what he ended up doing was just exposing the pharisees for their hypocrisy. And because of that he was kicked out of the synagogue and being kicked out of the synagogue at that point in history would have basically left you destitute. So now this is interesting.

Chad: 09:00

Jesus heard that this man had been put out of the synagogue and I want you to remember that part. That Jesus goes and he seeks him out. That's the bible says that he sought him out. Jesus sought the man out. Remember that.

Chad: 09:13

And then they had this exchange, right? So this was Jesus and the man who had, had his eyesight restored. This is the exchange they had. Jesus said, do you believe in the son of man? The man answered, and who is he sir that I may believe in him?

Chad: 09:30

And Jesus said to him, it is he who is speaking to you. And he said, Lord, I believe. And he fell and worshiped him. So you can see right here, right, that what Jesus is doing, that light of the world, he's bringing light. He'd already restored his the light to his eyes, his physical sight.

Chad: 09:48

He gave him physical light, but now he was restoring light to the man's soul. He brought this man to faith and he enabled him to understand what the grace of God is. And that is my prayer this morning that as we go through this little bit of text here, that our hearts and our eyes would be open, right? Just so we could just grasp, just better understand a little bit of the goodness of God. So so then Jesus, after he had done this and you've seen the man be brought to faith, he turned to the pharisees and they had an exchange and essentially what had happened was he told the pharisees that they also were blind.

Chad: 10:28

Right? Not physically blind but spiritually blind. So that's actually the backdrop, right? And that's who the audience is gonna be for our text this morning in chapter 10. So we're not gonna read So what what we have here, Jesus is gonna make another analogy.

Chad: 10:49

He's gonna say he's the door of the sheepfold. Now we're not gonna read that today for the sake of time, but he's gonna give this metaphor as him being the door to the sheepfold declaring, you know, that he's the only way to become the people of God. And he gave this metaphor to him and the Pharisees absolutely, it was lost on them. They didn't get it. So then he's gonna try again.

Chad: 11:11

He's gonna give them another analogy. Right? And that's where we're gonna pick up in, verse 11 of John chapter 10. But before we do, let's pray. So father we, we come before you this morning.

Chad: 11:25

We need nourishment from your word father. And father I pray that you would give us clear minds and open hearts father to receive everything that you have for us this morning. I pray that we can see from this text that we're about to read a little more of the beauty that is Jesus Christ. And father I pray that you would use this broken vessel of a speaker this morning father to accurately and concisely deliver your word and that you would use it to your glory. And father I ask all these in Jesus name, amen.

Chad: 11:58

I think that was an amen. She gave me an amen. So alright. So if you look there and if you got an outline you'll see section number one there is the shepherd's character. So we're gonna pick up here in John 10 in verse 11 and we'll do some work here.

Chad: 12:18

Jesus said, and remember he had just he's predominantly speaking to a Jewish audience, mostly Pharisees at this point. And he said this, 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 does not own the sheep sees the wolf coming and he leaves the sheep and he flees. And the wolf snatches them and scatters them.

Chad: 12:48

He flees because he is a hired hand and he cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me. Just as the father knows me and I know the father and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold.

Chad: 13:08

I will bring them also and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock and one shepherd. So you have to understand what's happening here. Right right out of the gate Jesus is gonna start with this declaration and they're gonna hear if he was a Jew at this time or if he was if he was a Pharisee especially, a student of the law, you're gonna hear the the first of that statement, I am. Right?

Chad: 13:37

You're gonna hear that, I am. And Jesus is doing that intentionally. I am. Just like all of the other seven I am statements in John's gospel, Jesus is referring himself back to being the God of the old testament, right? The I am that spoke to Moses out of the burning bush.

Chad: 13:56

The I am that led Israel out of captivity in Egypt. So right out of the gate, that's gonna catch the Pharisees' attention, and then he says, I am what? I am the good shepherd. And they would've they would've had an enormous understanding of what he was talking about here because they was really really intimately familiar with sheep and shepherding because it was one of the primary industries in ancient Israel at that time. But not just that, they also would have understood what he was saying because they understood themselves to be sheep under their covenant Lord.

Chad: 14:32

Right? You think about Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Or Psalm 100, we are his people and the sheep of his pasture. So they would have known. Right?

Chad: 14:44

They would have understood the relationship their relationship with the Lord was one of sheep to shepherd. And they would have probably reflected on that as they studied through their scriptures. So what Jesus is doing here, he's tapping into something, this this reservoir, if you will, in their minds that would have been really super fresh to them and they would have understood instantly what he was saying. And they also though would have been keenly aware as they read through the writings of the prophets, specifically Ezekiel and Isaiah, that there were and they would have known this, that there were shepherds in Israel that had not been true shepherds, and what they had done, they had actually drawn Israel away. And if you want to or if you would, if you turn to Ezekiel chapter 34 with me this morning.

Chad: 15:36

We'll mostly be in John 10, but if we could look to Ezekiel 34. Here's what we read in Ezekiel 34. Oh, shepherds of Israel, who have been feeding yourselves, should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed the strayed sheep you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them.

Chad: 16:27

If any of the teenagers in here remember we talked about a youth group last Wednesday, gentleness as a fruit of the spirit. That's in contrast to this, this harshness, right? That these shepherds, if you will, that was supposed to be looking after the spiritual well-being of their people. They ruled with harshness and really this is one of the reasons that you will see that Israel went into captivity, right? Cause they would wander off, right?

Chad: 16:57

Like sheep wandering off, and they'd wander off into their idolatry and they didn't have shepherds who went out and brought them back into the fold, and because of that they went into captivity. And then if you look at verse 11 there in Ezekiel 34, we hear this. This is important. For thus says the Lord God, behold, I myself will search for my sheep and seek them out. Remember Jesus?

Chad: 17:27

Hearing of the man put out of the synagogue? Remember him seeking that man out and that man coming to faith? I think, are you starting to see what's going on here? They would have understood this. This is all taking place at the same time.

Chad: 17:41

So especially the pharisees that was listening to Jesus speak, they would have known how disobedient their forefathers had been. It was all throughout their scriptures, right? All throughout the old testament how over and over again they they would default back into idolatry. But they also would have been able to say when they read through their scriptures that there was hope, right? They would have said there's hope still.

Chad: 18:06

And you see that if you look at Ezekiel 34, if you're still there, if you look down at verse 23. And what this verse is gonna speak about is God's intention to bring about a ruler over Israel and he's gonna do it through King David. And verse 23 says, and I will set over them one shepherd, my servant David. And he shall feed them. He shall feed them and be their shepherd.

Chad: 18:34

And I, the Lord shall be their God. And my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the Lord and I have spoken. Now the interesting thing about this passage is by the time Ezekiel had written this, king David was dead and buried. So what you have here that God isn't speaking of David literally, but he's speaking of David figuratively.

Chad: 19:01

He's speaking of a descendant of David who's going to he's going to bring about and he's gonna be the shepherd of Israel. And you see that and it helps a lot to understand this, but you see that in a lot of the prophecies in the old testament. They're like this. So they'll be speaking of an historical event or something that's taking place on the time space continuum, right? But also there's it will also foreshadow a future event in the future that's that hasn't happened yet.

Chad: 19:31

So there's kind of a double prophecy going on at the same time and that's what's happening here. The greater event is going to be the coming of David's greater son if you will. A descendant of David, the Lord Jesus who will become the Messiah. And when he comes, he's gonna bring in a new covenant and his flock's gonna expand and we're gonna see that later on here in John 10. Right?

Chad: 19:56

So when this prophecy was made, there was a bigger picture in mind as they make these promises to Israel. So we have this promise in Ezekiel 34. The Lord is gonna gather back his sheep under one shepherd. And we and here we see Jesus standing before the pharisees and declaring, I am that good shepherd. I am that good shepherd.

Chad: 20:20

And take note here, good good. The word good here meaning not just good at what he does but good and noble. He's noble, excellent, morally perfect, trustworthy. And they should have understood. If they had been studying their scriptures, they should have understood what was stand who was standing right in front of them, but they didn't.

Chad: 20:44

And there's one distinguishing attribute that makes this shepherd good that the pharisees at that time that was in that audience as John was speaking or as Jesus was speaking to them in John 10 that they couldn't even possibly fathom and that was that this good shepherd would lay down his life for the sheep. So Jesus doesn't say he's the good shepherd, right, because he leads his sheep to good pasture. He doesn't say in this text, he doesn't say he's the good shepherd because he feeds them well, right, or that because he protects them. Those things are all true. He says, but the The defining character or its characteristic of what makes him good is that he lays down his life for his sheep.

Chad: 21:34

Right? And just because he's metaphorically speaking here of this shepherd sheep identity, this death isn't at all metaphorical. It's a literal death and not just a literal death. And this is important. This is what I want to see.

Chad: 21:46

It's a substitutionary death. So it's not it's not understand, it's not Jesus didn't die like an accidental death, right, of a shepherd who was trying to fight off the wolves and the bears to defend his flock and died in the process of doing that. I mean, you think of a young King David, he did that. He fought he didn't die, but he fought off it says he fought off a bear and a wolf to protect his father's flock. And I'm sure throughout history there's been many shepherds die for their flock, defending their flock.

Chad: 22:22

And that's valiant and that is is noble. And it's an example. Right? It is an example of the kind of love that we should have for one another. First John three sixteen says this, that we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

Chad: 22:35

Right? So there is an example there. But Jesus didn't die as an just an example to us. And he didn't die as a martyr. He died as a substitute for the sheep.

Chad: 22:48

The preposition here means for the sake of the sheep, on behalf of the sheep. It's substitutionary language. So he stands in our place bearing the penalty that we deserve, and this is the heart of what the theological term for this would be penal substitutionary atonement. And it means this. It just means this.

Chad: 23:19

That penal is the we get our word penalty, penalty, right? That's legal language. That's language of the courtroom, right? And we see that we see that same language in Romans six twenty three, for the wages of sin is death. Right?

Chad: 23:36

So sin has a penalty and something needs to be paid to make up for that penalty. So his death is also substitutionary, right? That Jesus bears the penalty for us on our behalf. You see that, think of Isaiah 53. You think of first Peter two twenty four, for he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree.

Chad: 24:05

It's substitutionary. And his death made atonement for us, his sheep. His death reconciled us back to God. Once again, Isaiah 53, by his wounds we are healed. Right?

Chad: 24:19

This is all throughout the Old Testament. This is the picture of the Old Testament sacrifices, the lamb slain in the place of the sinner. And here in John 10, Jesus this is super interesting. In John 10 Jesus is not only the shepherd, but he's also the lamb. So the shepherd becomes the sacrifice.

Chad: 24:40

In John, it's really interesting that John carries this same image over into the book of Revelation when describing his vision of the throne room of God. Revelation seven seventeen, John says, for the lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd and he will guide them the springs of living water and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. So the good shepherd here not only dies for his sheep, but he leads us eternally into glory. He doesn't just shepherd us in this life, but he shepherds us into the future, into the new heavens and the new earth. The shepherd became the lamb.

Chad: 25:21

So look back at John 10 there and let's look at look at verse 12 here. And what you what you what you'll see here in verse 12 is, you're gonna see Jesus, he's gonna make a contrast or comparison between himself as the good shepherd and those who thought of themselves as the shepherds of Israel, the pharisees. He's gonna make this stark contrast between the two. So verse 12 there says, he who is a hired hand and not a shepherd who does not own the sheep sees the wolf coming and he leaves and he flees and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. Why does he do that?

Chad: 26:03

Why does his hired hand flee? He flees because he's a hired hand and he doesn't care for the sheep. Right? A couple things here, and I think there's a real temptation to make a comparison, and you probably could do that to of this hired hand who shepherds their flock, you know, only when it's convenient to them. But when their own influence and financial gain maybe come into question, then they flee.

Chad: 26:29

You know, we we could make a modern day comparison to that to maybe these mega church pastors, right, who own multi million dollar estates and fly around in private jets. Right? But we won't make that comparison. I'm gonna resist that temptation to do that. But that that definitely could be a comparison that's made here.

Chad: 26:48

But what we really need to see and understand from verse 12 here is is this. So the good shepherd and the hired hand, they both perform similar roles. Right? Or they should in theory. They both watch over sheep.

Chad: 27:05

Correct? But their inner motivations and their inner motivations ultimately, you know, lead to their their behavior, but they're drastically different. What's the decisive issue? What separates the hired hand from the good shepherd? I would say ownership, right?

Chad: 27:29

Ownership. That's what that's the difference. That's the driving motivation between the hired hand and the good shepherd. And just thinking of this example off the top of my head here, guess, it definitely won't be a Christopher Powers example, that's for sure. I drive a truck for a living, that's my occupation.

Chad: 27:52

And we're company people. We're company guys. So we don't own our vehicles. And you can tell. You can tell when you climb into some of these vehicles.

Chad: 28:01

I mean, they're rough inside and out. But then I'll see these guys that own their vehicles. They own their trucks, these owner operators, and they'll be polishing the wheels and they'll be waxing. And what's the difference? That's what it's saying here.

Chad: 28:15

What's the difference? Ownership. That's the difference, right? Those who don't own it aren't invested in it, Right? They don't they didn't give their wages and their wages was earned by their sweat and their time.

Chad: 28:29

They didn't trade that, so they're not vested. And that's that's what's being said here between the hireling and the good shepherd. The hireling doesn't own the sheep. He's merely paid to watch over them. He doesn't have that investment.

Chad: 28:45

There isn't, if you will, a covenant. There isn't a covenant bond between them. So what happens? He sees danger, the going gets tough, what's he do? He hits the road, right?

Chad: 28:56

And he leaves the flock to fend for themselves. Now remember, Jesus is when he's when he's telling this, this would have been intimately familiar to the people hearing this. In that image of the worthless shepherds who flee at the first sight of danger, that's that also would have been really familiar to the Jews who heard it and it should have been because in Zechariah, the Lord literally pronounces a curse on the religious leaders of Israel for doing that exact same thing. Zechariah eleven seventeen says, woe to you, That's the curse being pronounced. Woe to you my worthless shepherd who deserts the flock.

Chad: 29:38

May the sword strike his arm in his right eye. Let his arm be wholly withered and his right eye utterly blinded. But Jesus is saying to them, I'm not indifferent towards the sheep. In fact, I'm so completely invested in their life and their well-being that I will lay down my life for those sheep. Because why?

Chad: 30:06

Because they're my sheep. That's what Jesus is saying, those are my sheep. He says as much in ten twenty in John, a little bit further along there, John ten twenty nine, he says as much. He says this, he says, no one can snatch the sheep from my hands because the why? The father has given them to me.

Chad: 30:23

He's the owner of the sheep and he knows them and he know and they know him. And if you're following along in your outline there, that's gonna bring us there to section three in your notes, the shepherd's knowledge of his sheep. So look at verse 14 there if you will. He says, I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me.

Chad: 30:51

So if somebody was to ask me, they're like, I don't know, you know who Teddy Roosevelt is? I'd say, yeah. Yeah, know Teddy Roosevelt. Right? Twenty sixth president.

Chad: 31:03

Is that right? Think twenty sixth president? Yeah. Know, rode with Rough Riders up San Juan Hill, survived an assassination attempt, established a park system, you know, a man's man. Love that guy.

Chad: 31:15

Love Teddy Roosevelt. But I don't know Teddy Roosevelt. Right? I know about him. I know about him.

Chad: 31:27

But if somebody was to come to me and say, do you know and then fill in my three kids names, right? Do you know them? Or my wife, do you know her? I'd say, oh yeah, yeah, I know them. I know them very well.

Chad: 31:45

And I know them in a deep, in a personal, in an intimate way, in a covenant way. I know their struggles, right? I know their fears. I know what brings them joy. I know their hearts.

Chad: 32:02

Well, that's what Jesus is talking about here in this knowing. That's that's specifically that word. That kind of knowing. Not knowing about his sheep in some generic sense or like just having information about like I do about Teddy Roosevelt. Right?

Chad: 32:20

It's not even looking down the corridors of time and being able to see what his sheep are like. Right? He says, I know my sheep. Covenantally, intimately, I know them and they know me. It's experiential.

Chad: 32:36

It's an intimate knowledge, a personal knowledge, a relationship. You see the same that same word being used in John 17 in in Jesus' high priestly prayer. John 17 in verse three, Jesus says this, and this this is eternal life. That what? That they know you.

Chad: 32:59

Speaking to God. That they know you. The only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Not know about you. He said this is eternal life that they know you in a covenantal way, in a deep intimate way.

Chad: 33:18

That's eternal life. And the thing that's amazing to me, and it says we are known. We are known by the good shepherd. Right? Do you understand the ramifications that has for us?

Chad: 33:35

He knows us. He knows all of our fears. Right? He knows all of our anxieties. He knows all the worries that we have, all our inadequacies, and there's plenty of those.

Chad: 33:47

All of our struggles. He knows all of our willful rebellions and he knows all of those secret sins that we think we're hiding. He knows us and he has known us from all eternity. Our names were written. If you're his today, your name was written in the lamb's book of life before when?

Chad: 34:06

The foundation of the world. And that church makes Christ's grace to us even more amazing because while we were yet sinners, what? Christ died for us. Now look with me there at verse 15 and we're gonna see how deep does this knowing, this knowing go. Verse 15, Just as the father knows me and I know the father, I lay down my life for the sheep.

Chad: 34:41

Jesus just He just took this to the nth degree, right? If it already wasn't amazing enough, he took it to another level here and he's going to deepen this whole truth that he's just told us and he's gonna compare his knowledge to his sheep to the perfect eternal intimate knowledge shared between himself and the father from all eternity and that church is stagger. If that if you're not staggered by that right there, that fact right there, then it's it's time to do a heart check. And this should change everything. That should change everything for us.

Chad: 35:19

That Christ knows us as intimately as he knows the father and because of that and what's amazing about that, that he knows me like that and still cares for me so much because I know me, right? And it's not always good, Sometimes rarely good, but he knows me like that and he still shepherds me. Right? He still cares for me and he still cares for you so much that he puts us into the sheepfold, right? Where we're protected and he said, no one these are my sheep.

Chad: 35:53

These are my sheep and no one's gonna snatch them from my hands. Because he's the good shepherd and we are his cherished sheep. So look at verse 16 there. And and I have other sheep that are not of this fold and I must bring them also. And they may perhaps listen to my voice.

Chad: 36:18

Nope. Nope. Notice what I did there. It doesn't say that. He says, I have other sheep that are not of this fold and I must bring them also and they will listen to my voice.

Chad: 36:28

So what? What'll happen? There will be one flock and one shepherd. What's happening here? Jesus, he's hinting at the mystery, what they call the mystery of the church that was hidden until until then.

Chad: 36:42

It's what the apostle Paul in Ephesians two, he calls it the breaking down of the dividing wall. And what was that? Paul was making an analogy to, to the wall around the courtyard of the temple, right? Where and and what that would do, that would separate the Jews from the Gentiles. They couldn't come any closer than that wall.

Chad: 37:03

And what he was Paul was saying there that Jesus through a sacrificial death is tearing down that wall. He's doing something new. He's building something new. What's he building? He's building the New Testament church made up of all those believing Jews and those from the Gentile nations into one living temple.

Chad: 37:25

So imagine then when being in that audience or imagine putting yourself in a fly on the wall listening to this as Jewish is speaking to this predominantly Jewish audience in John 10. And what the Pharisees and these teachers of the law, what they were thinking when Jesus made this revelation. It's not only, his mission wasn't only gonna be the gathering of the lost sheep of Israel, but he's gonna gather all of his sheep globally. That it wasn't just exclusive to ethnic Israel, but Jesus has other sheep in the world just waiting to be brought into the fold. That verse particularly was said to be the the like the driving force behind the motivation of David Livingston.

Chad: 38:15

David Livingston was famous missionary to Africa and he said that that was the verse that that drove him to go into unreached parts of the world. Because why? He said because he knew that Jesus promised there was sheep. There was other sheep there. He said, there's sheep there.

Chad: 38:34

He said, I just have to go and I have to preach the gospel to them and bring those sheep home. Right? And I think of that you see that same thing. You think about the apostle Paul. And at one point he in his evangelistic mission to the city of Corinth, which Corinth was a horrible terrible city at that point, right?

Chad: 38:56

I mean was essentially, you know, the Las Vegas of the time I guess you would say. And Paul had went there and he had literally he had met so much hostility and so much resistance to the gospel that he was Paul was ready to throw in the towel. So God had to do this. One night, God appeared to to Paul in a in a dream and he spoke to him in a vision and said, he said, don't be silent. He said, for I am with you and no one's going to attack or harm you.

Chad: 39:31

Why? For I have many in the city who are my people. Right? This was before Corinth had been evangelized. And what happened?

Chad: 39:44

Paul spent another year and a half there and he preached the gospel and eventually we had what you see the Corinthian church was established. Right? And we have two books, you know, the two letters that he wrote to them that we, you know, we can read and study. Right? The sheep were there.

Chad: 40:03

They were there. They just needed what? Someone to preach the gospel to them and that's what we've been commissioned to do. Preach the gospel, preach the good news, baptize, make disciples, make learners disciples to the people of the nations. And you know what the beautiful thing about it is?

Chad: 40:22

That mission that we've been tasked with, it won't fail. It can't fail. Why? Because his sheep, they'll hear his voice. That's what Jesus said.

Chad: 40:33

And then in Revelation chapter five, John's gonna see the culmination of this, of this ingathering. When all the sheep have been gathered into the fold. And this is what they and this is what he's seen. And he said this, and they sang a new song saying, worthy are you to take the scroll and open its seals for you were slain and by your blood you have ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation and you have made them a kingdom and priest to our God. That's our mission and we can't fail in doing it.

Chad: 41:20

There is sheep. God still has his sheep. He loves them. He cares for them and he's going to draw them home and he's gonna do it through means of the local New Testament church. So this morning, I say, Kingstree, that we should leave this place this morning and go out and know that we are called by name by the good shepherd, right?

Chad: 41:52

That should change everything for us and in our lives. That he calls us by name, he knows us and he's tasked us with a mission and that mission can't fail. So that should be our driving force this morning. So let's pray. Father, your goodness and grace to us, just leaves us in awe father.

Chad: 42:18

That you would shepherd and care for us the way you do. Even knowing us so intimately and thoroughly that you see all of our shortcomings. Thank you for your goodness and mercy father that follows us all the days of our lives. And that through all life's toils and all life's troubles father that you still offer us green pasture. And father, as Caleb read this morning, even as the nations rage, father, and they rage around us and the world shakes its fist at us and everything just appears so dire, father, like everything's crushing in on us.

Chad: 42:58

And what do you do? You prepare a banquet table for us, father, in the midst of our enemies. And father, you're good. And I pray, father, as we walk out these doors this morning that the gospel would be forever upon our lips Lord. The good news of the gospel, the beauty that is Jesus Christ for his people.

Chad: 43:21

And father that we would take that to a lost and hurting world father and that you would draw your sheep into the fold and father thank thank you father for the way that you love and shepherd us lord and we ask all these things in Jesus name. Amen.

Caleb: 43:36

Thank you for listening to this message from King's Tree Church in Sabina, Ohio. To see more of the beauty of God and the crucified and risen Jesus Christ, come worship with us on Sundays at 10AM or visit our website at kingstreechurch.org