The document discusses the biblical imagery of Jesus as the 'good shepherd,' emphasizing His claim to messiahship as the one who lays down His life for the sheep. It contrasts Jesus' self-sacrificial nature with that of hirelings, highlighting that true goodness lies in genuine self-sacrifice, as illustrated through His death. The text explores the implications of this claim, asserting that Christ's unique authority places Him beyond other teachers and emphasizes the need for love and sacrifice in true leadership.

1. JESUS WAS THE GOOD SHEPHERD
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
John 10:11 11"I am the good shepherd. The good
shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
GreatTexts of the Bible
The GoodShepherd
I am the goodshepherd: the goodshepherd layeth down his life for the
sheep.—John10:11.
1. The imagery of the text is an incidental claim on the part of our Lord to be
the MessiahofIsrael. For it was as a shepherd that Jehovahwas to fulfil His
promise of redemption to His people. “He shall feed his flock like a shepherd:
he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom.” So
wrote Isaiah, and Ezekielafter him, “Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I,
even I, will both searchmy sheep, and seek them out.” The Divine promise is
fulfilled in Jesus who preaches Himself as the fulfiller and the fulfilment of
Israel’s hope and expectation:“I am the goodshepherd”; and then, going
beyond all former revelationof Divine grace and love, He adds, “the good
shepherd layeth down his life for the sheep.”
How quietly and unostentatiously, but at the same time with what confidence
and assurance,our Lord assumes to Himself titles that were predicted of the
Messiahin the Old Testament. He adopts them in the most natural manner,

2. folds them about Him as a man would clothe himself in his own garments.
There is never any excuse or apologyfor doing so. Everywhere our Lord takes
His Messiahshipfor granted. He and no other is the being pointed to by the
finger of prophecy, and so after His resurrection He took trouble with His
disciples to show them out of those Scriptures the things concerning Himself.
2. This Messianictitle of “Shepherd” is also freely accordedto Him
afterwards by His followers, as, for example, by the writer of the Epistle to the
Hebrews, who calls Him “that greatshepherd of the sheep,” and by St. Peter,
who speaks ofHim as “the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls,” and says to
the faithful presbyters of the Church “whenthe chief Shepherd shall appear,
ye shall receive a crownof glory that fadeth not away.” Whenwe pass out of
the regionof Scripture and from the Apostolic Church the figure still haunts
us. The early Christians in the days of their trial and persecutionloved to
depict on the walls of the catacombs Jesus as the GoodShepherd, with His
sheepstanding round Him, and earnestly gazing up into His face. With
authority and power did our Lord arrogate to Himself the care and guidance
of His Church to the end of time when He spoke these expressive words—“I
am the goodshepherd.”
There are two points to be considered—
I. Christ’s Claim.
II. Its Significance.
I

3. Christ’s Claim
“I am the goodshepherd.”
1. I am the Shepherd. We are all familiar enough with the ideas connected
with shepherd-life as it is pictured amongstourselves. The poetry of our
country dwells much upon it, especiallydownto about the beginning of last
century. It was describedas the ideal of a simple natural life. It was associated
with the piping times of peace. The shepherds were regardedas happy swains,
living a free, healthy life in communion with nature.
But the shepherd’s life in Palestine was attendedwith much hardship and
greatdanger. In a country where at any moment sheepare liable to be swept
awayby a mountain torrent, or carriedoff by hill robbers, or torn by wolves,
every hour of the shepherd’s life is risk. David tells how, in defence of his
father’s flock, he put his life in his hand and slew both a lion and a bear; while
Jacobreminds Laban how he watchedthe sheep, exposedto the extreme of
heat and cold. Pitiless cold at night, long hours of thirst in the day, must be
endured, if the flock is to be kept in safety. So it is not difficult to imagine how
a feeling of affectionwould spring up betweenthe lonely Syrian shepherd and
the dumb objects of his care. The sheepwould follow him whereverhe might
lead, or call them with his voice.
And so it was the ordinary duty of every shepherd not only to gather and feed
and watchthe flock, but also to lead them, to know them and to run some risk
for them. A great dealhas been made out of these last three points in the
application of the metaphor to Christ, showing how Christ is the Good
Shepherd because He leads His flock, because He knows them, and because
He runs some risk for them. But these are not characteristic points of the
GoodShepherd as distinguished from the hireling. Even the hireling in the

4. Eastled the sheep, as that was the ordinary custom, even he knew them to a
certain extent, and it was a necessarypart of shepherd life to run some risk
for the flock.
If that had been all, Jesus might have said “I am a shepherd,” but His words
are “I am the goodshepherd.”
A man may be a hired priest, as Demetrius was at Ephesus—“Bythis craft we
get our living.” Or he may be a paid demagogue,a greatchampion of rights,
and an investigatorof abuses—paidby applause; and while popularity lasts,
he will be a reformer—deserting the people when danger comes. There is no
vital union betweenthe champion and the defenceless, the teacherand the
taught.1 [Note:F. M. Robertson.]
2. I am the goodshepherd. The shepherd’s work may be done and done well
by the paid servant, it may be faithfully performed and the reward honestly
earned; but our Lord’s claim to be a shepherd was something essentially
different.
“I am the goodshepherd.” Good, not in the sense of benevolent, but in the
sense ofgenuine, true born, of the real kind—just as wine of nobler quality is
goodcompared with the cheapersort, just as a soldieris goodor noble who is
a soldier in heart, and not a soldier by mere professionor for pay. It is the
same word as that used by St. Paul when he speaks ofa good, i.e. a noble
soldier of Christ. Certain peculiar qualifications made the genuine soldier,
certain peculiar qualifications make the genuine or goodshepherd.
What, then, is that quality which constitutes the essentialcharacteristic ofthe
GoodShepherd, and without which you cannot conceive the idea of one

5. bearing a true shepherd heart and doing a true shepherd work? The Lord
tells us: “The goodshepherd layeth down his life for the sheep.” He seeksthe
slafety and well-being of the sheep;and He does so at the costof any self-
sacrifice, evenof life itself.
Out on one of the greatsheep-ranges ofthe North-Westof America, a
shepherd was left in a very lonely station in charge of a large flock of sheep.
He lived in a little cottage whichwas fitted up with the necessarycomforts for
all seasons ofthe year. There was no other house anywhere near. This man,
Hans Neilson, lived there with only his dog Shep for company. After he had
lived out there for two years there came a dreadfully severe winter. The
sheep-sheds were old, and the shelterfor the sheep was poor. New sheds were
to be built in the following spring. It was hard work for Hans, but he
succeededin saving all his sheepuntil the last and most violent blizzard of all.
The wind blew and the snow fell for three days. After it was over, help was
sent from headquarters to see how Hans had fared. They found his dead body
near the sheep-folds, and his dog standing on guard by his master. The sheep
were all alive and well, and it was quite clear to the men that Hans had been
trying to place additional protection at the broken places in the old sheds
when his brave battle ceasedand he was overcome by the intense cold. He
might have saved his life by neglecting the sheep, but he had literally given his
life for his sheep.1 [Note:J. Learmount, In God’s Orchard, 221.]
3. “I am the goodshepherd.” Why did Christ callHimself the Good
Shepherd? Many interpret this “the” as a “the” of degree, and amplify the
passagethus: “There are many goodshepherds, but I am the GoodShepherd,
par excellence.” Butthis is not the meaning of the text. Christ has showedus
that the essenceofgoodshepherding lies in this fact of laying down one’s life
for the sheep. No man has any claim at all to be called a goodshepherd unless
he does lay down his life for the sheep. Christ is the only one to whom the
epithet “GoodShepherd” in its metaphoricalsense may be applied at all. The
“the” is an absolute one. Christ is not to be consideredas first among

6. compeers, but as the one betweenwhom and others there can never be any
comparisonat all. Our Lord not only declares that He is the reality of which
the earthly shepherd is the shadow, and that He as such is the flawless, perfect
One, but that He alone is the reality. “I am the GoodShepherd; in Me and in
Me alone is that which men need.”
This question, “Was Christ merely a goodMan and a greatTeacher, orwas
He something more? Is He to be to us simply one of many teachers, to be
discardedpossibly soonerorlater because, howevervaluable in the past, the
world is destined more and more to outgrow His teaching? Is He to be merely
one of many, or are His claims upon us unique, supreme, paramount?”—this
is a question which I do not think you canafford to leave wholly unanswered.
To this extent the question, “What think ye of Christ?” is one which you must
face. To leave it on one side is virtually to negative any exceptionalclaim on
Christ’s part.1 [Note:H. Rashdall, Doctrine and Development, 83.]
We have just lost one who was at the time of his death, with one exception, the
greatestmasterof the English language still left among us. Some of the press
notices of the late ProfessorSeeleyshow a strangelyinadequate recognition,
as it seems to me, of his true place both in English literature and in English
religion. The advance of criticism may have somewhatdiminished the value of
Ecce Homo as an historicalstudy: I do not think it has touched its usefulness
as a help to practical Christianity. To many in our generationEcce Homo has
taught far more than such a book as Imitatio Christi (with all its truth and
beauty) can teachto men who do not live in a medieval monastery, about the
practicalapplication of our Lord’s moral teaching to the spiritual needs and
the everyday duties of modern life. To some of us it has come to seemalmost
like the very Gospelitself rewritten in the language of the nineteenth century.
Its declared purpose is simply to constitute an historical inquiry into the
ethical teaching of Jesus Christ. With Theology, strictly speaking, it does not
avowedlyconcernitself at all. And yet the writer who summed up the essence
of Christ’s teaching in the famous phrase, “the enthusiasm of humanity,”

7. found that he could not give an historicalaccountof what Christ taught or of
the reasons ofHis successwithout recognizing in the fullest and most explicit
manner the claim to a unique personalauthority which is implied as much in
the Sermonon the Mount as in the Johannine version of the Master’s life. A
morality which is essentiallybound up with a devotion to a Personis already a
religion. I hardly know of any book that appeals so directly to the conscience
of a man anxious, amid all difficulties intellectual and practical, to getan
answerfor his own soul’s sake to the old question, “What must I do to be
saved?” The book is throughout intensely practical, and yet it distinctly
implies a Theology, a Theologywhich may be all the more impressive to some
minds because it is more often implied than expressed. Had its author
attempted to sum up that implied Theologyin a sentence, he would perhaps
have expressedhimself in some such words as these, which I take from a like-
minded writer whose name is revered in this place [Oxford]: “For most of us,”
said Arnold Toynbee, “Christis the expressionof God, i.e., the eternal fact
within us and without us. In time of peril, of failing, and of falsehood, the one
powerthat, enables us to transcend weakness is the feeling of the communion
of the two eternalfacts in Christ.”1 [Note: H. Rashdall, Doctrine and
Development, 86.]
II
The Significance of Christ’s Claim
“The goodshepherd layeth down his life for the sheep.”
Christ not only proclaims Himself the GoodShepherd; He expounds the
significance ofthis greatword. In His exposition, He leads us into depths of
Divine wisdomwhich must evermore constitute the subject of profound study.

8. 1. “The goodshepherd layeth down his life for the sheep.” Christ’s love as
portrayed in His death illustrates the law of Sacrifice. The goodnessofJesus
Christ shines forth from Him, and in His death finds its crown and
consummation. That death is not an isolatedfact, for it is associatedwith the
whole history of Christ’s redemption. The Lord, throughout His earthly
ministry, setthat before Him, and said of it as His baptism, “How am I
straitened till it be accomplished.” Thus that death was no mere accidentor
afterthought. It was the necessaryoutcome ofthe life and ministry of the
incarnate Son of God. Messiahhad been representedas the Shepherd of
Israel, but it remained for the Son of God, in His supreme revelation, to
representthe Shepherd as dying for His flock. And so He says, “the good
shepherd layeth down his life for the sheep.”
(1) We must observe the perfectvoluntariness of His self-devotion. “No man,”
He says of His sacrificedlife, “takethit from me, but I lay it down of myself. I
have powerto lay it down, and I have powerto take it again.” There was no
external need for Jesus dying an early, violent death. If He had so willed it, He
could have kept Himself out of the hands of the men who crucified Him. He
lived a life that none other lived, and He died a death that none other died. He
lived because He willed to live, and He died because He willed to die. The law
of love never expresseditself so gloriously as in the death of Jesus Christ. So
He taught mankind through all time that love is sacrifice, whenfor us men
and for our salvationHe made that oblation of Himself upon the Cross of
Calvary, once, and once for all.
Love must be prepared for the greatestsacrifice. We may never conclude that
love is unreal merely because its thoughts are large. It may have the widest
schemes, andbe prepared to devote the utmost pains to their accomplishment.
It should give itself freely to the most romantic enterprises. The Lord would
not be for all time the King of Love if He had shrunk back from the cup of
suffering which, as He knew, was to be drained at the end of that progress to
Jerusalem. We need “public souls”—menand women who are capable of

9. cherishing greatideas, and who delight to spend themselves for their
brethren. There is a growing demand for such in the Church and in the
Empire. If, in the providence of God, the way should open for any of us to
some conspicuous path of devotion, let us count it high honour, and prepare
ourselves bravely for the costit will involve, costfar greaterthan will appear
at the outset;costof opposition, and criticism, and misunderstanding, and
disappointment; cost, it may be, of seeming failure to achieve anything, or to
make any immediate impression. Love must be prepared for the greatest
sacrifice. Thatis the first criterion and test.1 [Note:A. W. Robinson, The
Voice of Joy and Health, 167.]
(2) Christ, the GoodShepherd, in pronouncing goodness to lie in self-sacrifice,
is but realizing and consummating that principle which is striving to free itself
from the tangledweb of Nature. But have we always recognizedthat the heart
of goodness, ofnatural goodness,lies in self-sacrifice?Have we been loyal to
this as the verdict of Nature? Somehow, as we know, we came to believe a
little time ago that whatever supernatural grace might demand, Nature laid
its approval not upon self-sacrifice, but upon self-assertion. So Science had
seemedto say. It had opened our eyes upon a dismal scene in which beast
battled with beast, eachstruggling with desperate energyfor its own survival.
Nature appearedas a wild and blind monster, working with tooth and claw,
shrieking againstour moral creed. There was no goodnessto be detected at
work in a war where egoismalone counted. But ever since the early
recognitionof the law of natural selection, which Darwinemphasized as the
sole determinant of evolution, Science has been limiting and qualifying the
range of its activity.
To many of us it seems there is too much red in the picture which Darwin
painted; and the trouble is that his picture has been reproduced by cheaper
and coarserprocesses, until it has lost all subtlety and truth, and become a
harsh and ugly print of Nature, as if it were a dismal type of vast gladiatorial
show. This is not merely bad as a piece of unbalanced cosmogony;but by a

10. vicious circle the libel projected upon Nature is brought back to justify one set
out of human methods, the egoistic;and to condemn others as altruistic. But
the organic process depends on much more than a squabble round a platter,
or internecine struggle at the margin of subsistence;it includes all the
multitudinous efforts for others, as well as for self, betweenthe two poles of
hunger and love; all endeavours that mate makes for mate, and parent for
offspring, and kin for kin. Love and life are factors in progress as much as
pain and death, and the premium in the struggle for existence ontooth and
claw is not greaterthan that on the warm solicitude of the maternal heart, or
on the patience of a brooding bird. So, again, we will say if we make a curve of
the ascentofvertebrates, marking their position according to the degree of
brain development, we find that as the curve ascends the co-ordinates of
parental affectionand parental love and gentle emotions are heightened. And
those organisms so endowedsurvive, in spite of the admitted egoistic
competition. And that is the proof of Nature’s censure. Earth may be strong,
but it is also lovely, and the lovely and the strong exist together. And we see
that, according to its ownascending mind and age, the loving become more
and more strong. From the dawn of life, as Herbert Spencersaid, altruism has
been no less essentialthan egoism;self-sacrifice is as primordial as self-
preservation. More and more we see that it is possible to interpret the ideals of
ethical progress through love and sociality, through co-operationand
sacrifice, notas mere Utopias, contradicted by natural experience, but as the
highest expressionof the central evolutionary process in the natural world.1
[Note:Geddes, Ideals of Science andFaith, 70.]
Learn in self-sacrificeto find thy joy,
The only bliss unmingled with alloy;
All lesserpleasuressoonmust pall and cloy.

11. Betterit is to give than to receive,
All to forsake than unto aught to cleave;—
’Tis in the actof giving that we live.
All spiritual Being lives by this—
The ground and basis of the Godhood’s bliss;
Who turn therefrom the Life Eternal miss.
For though dischargedin full strict duty’s round,
If in the chains of self-hoodthou art bound—
Lifeless and void of worth thy works are found.
Throughout the extent of Nature’s wide domain
See this great law of sacrifice obtain,
The creature’s loss conditioning its gain.

12. The very elements this law obey,—
The beams that from the solarsource outray,
The springing fount’s perpetual sparkling play.
All living things are constituted so,
All organisms from out earth’s womb that grow;
As is the outward, so the to-ward flow:
So that whate’erimpedes or hindereth
The pores’ free play, the issue of the breath,
Is the concomitantor cause of death:
Would’st truly live?—let go!1 [Note:W. Hall, Via Cruris.]
2. “The goodshepherd layeth down his life for the sheep.” Christ’s death
illustrates the law of Redemption. Here is the doctrine of vicarious sacrifice:

13. the sacrifice ofone insteadof another: life savedby the sacrifice of another
life. Mostof us know the meagre explanation of these words which satisfies
some men: they say that Christ merely died as a martyr, in attestationofthe
truths He taught. But we must observe the strength of the expressionwhich
we cannot explain away, “I lay down my life for the sheep.” If the Shepherd
had not sacrificedHimself, the sheepmust have been the sacrifice.
There was something the Lord passedthrough, passedthrough once and for
ever, something awful and unspeakable, in order that we might never share it.
We Christians shall never die as He died. Our material bodies will wearaway
and cease, andthey will be carried over the well-trodden way to the cemetery.
Men will speak ofus as having died, hut we shall never die as our Saviour
died. There was something in His death which His followers will never know.
“He that believeth in me shall never taste death.”
The dangerwhich threatened us was not bodily death, for from that we are
not delivered. But it was something with which the death of the body is
intimately connected. Bodilydeath is as it were the symptom, but not the
disease itself. It is that which reveals the presence of the pestilence, but is not
itself the realdanger. It is like the plague-spotthat causes the beholder to
shudder, though the spot itself is only slightly painful. Now a skilful physician
does not treat symptoms, does not apply his skill to allay superficial distresses,
but endeavours to remove the radical disease. Ifthe eye becomes bloodshothe
does not treat the eye, but the generalsystem. If an eruption comes out on the
skin, he does not treat the skin, but alters the condition of the blood; and it is a
small matter whether the symptom goes onto its natural issue, if thereby the
eradicationof the disease is rather helped than hindered. So it is with death: it
is not our danger; no man cansuppose that the mere transference from this
state to another is injurious; only, death is in our case the symptom of a deep
disease, ofa real, fatal ailment of soul. We know death not as a mere
transference from one world to another, but as our transference from
probation to judgment, which sin makes us dread; and also as a transference

14. which in form forcibly exhibits the weakness, the imperfection, the shame of
our presentstate. Thus death connects itselfwith sin, which our conscience
tells us is the greatroot of all our present misery. It is to us the symptom of
the punishment of sin, but the punishment itself is not the death of the body
but of the soul; the separationof the soulfrom all good, from all hope,—in a
word, from God. This is the real danger from which Christ delivers us. If this
be removed, it is immaterial whether bodily death remain or not; or rather,
bodily death is used to help out our complete deliverance, as a symptom of the
disease sometimes promotes the cure. Christ has tasteddeath for every man,
and out of eachman’s cup has suckedthe poison, so that now, as we in turn
drink it, it is but a sleeping draught. There was a chemistry in His love and
perfect obedience which drew the poison to His lips; and, absorbing into His
own systemall the virulence of it, by the immortal vigour of His own
constitution, He overcame its effects, and rose againtriumphing over its
lethargic potency.1 [Note: M. Dods.]
A doctor in one of the London hospitals found a child-patient dying of
diphtheria, and suckedawaythe suffocating film from the throat, with fatal
consequencesto himself. Was he justified? There are many side issues to this
problem, but they do not alter the main question. To answerit we must put
ourselves on the spot at the given moment, and see the two human beings face
to face with the emergency;the child gasping for breath, the doctor conscious
that he holds in his hands a possible means of retaining the life that has almost
escaped. He uses it. Can this be calledrenouncement? Surely not. It is an
actionlove-prompted, generous, beautiful. He does not actthus in order to
give awayhis ownlife, but to save the child’s; not to lose, but to win
something not otherwise to be won.1 [Note: M. C. Albright, The Common
Heritage, 77]
The GoodShepherd

15. BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
The GoodShepherd
John 10:11
D. Young
I. THE INFORMATION GIVEN TO US. We may ourselves be very ignorant
of sheep and shepherding; and what should we know of Easterncustoms?
Hence it is wellto study the information given in the first five verses of this
chapter. We are to imagine a large fold where a greatnumber of sheepare
gatheredtogether. At the door of the fold a man is stationedto keepguard,
chiefly, as one may suppose, to prevent the entrance of unauthorized persons.
For the sheep within do not constitute one flock. They are not the property of
one person. The fold has been made for the common advantage. Each
shepherd could not afford to make a fold for himself and employ a doorkeeper
of his own. Imagine, then, some shepherd having a hundred sheep. He has
been out with them all day, watching them and leading them from pasture to
pasture. Then at night he brings them to the common fold and leaves them
with the doorkeeper.Nextmorning he returns to take them out for the day;
and how must he find his own amid the mixed crowd? By the simple plan of
calling eachsheepby name. And so the shepherd takes them out and goes in
front of them till the pasture is reached. His voice is quite enough to keep
them right. They will not follow a stranger, for they know not the voice of
strangers.
II. JESUS CAN SAY MORE FOR THE SHEEP THAN FOR THE
SHEPHERDS. He can saythis of a sheep, that if a shepherd gives it a name,
and then calls it by that name, it will make its way to the familiar voice, even
though it be amid a large crowd of other sheep. But take a lad and entrust him
with a flock of sheep. Explain to him their ways, their wants, and their perils.
Still you cannottell beforehand what sort of shepherd he will turn out. He

16. must be tried by actualexperience, and the name goodor bad given to him
according to the way in which he behaves.
III. JESUS THE GOOD SHEPHERD. Whatpower there is in the word "I"
when Jesus uses it! We like Jesus all the bettor when he talks about himself.
We do not callhim egotist. Think in how many respects men are like sheep,
and need a goodshepherd. In many things we can look after ourselves, but in
the most important things we need to be lookedafter. The true shepherd will
not submit to have his property scatteredand lost without a determined
attempt to save it. He has a specialand supreme interest in the sheepbecause
they are his sheep. Every human being has something of the sheep-nature in
him. Jesus looks onevery company of human beings as a fold wherein sheep
of different flocks are gathered together, and he has to get his own flock out of
them. We cannot do without some shepherd, and happy is it for us if we have
the goodshepherd. He laid down his life for the sheep, seemedto be destroyed
by the wolf, but really he was engagedin its effectualdestruction. He has
gained for his sheepbroad, even measurelesslands of greenpastures and still
waters, where the sheepmay feed at leisure without a foe and without a fear.
In all those lands no ravenous beasthas his haunt. Nothing shall hurt or
destroy in all the holy mountain of the Lord. - Y.

17. Biblical Illustrator
I am the GoodShepherd.
John 10:11-15
Christ the GoodShepherd
J. C. Jones, D. D.
Christ is "the GoodShepherd." He is this because —
I. He OWNS the sheep. He is the Proprietorof the flock. They are His —
1. By the gift of the Father. "Thine they were, and Thou gavestthem Me."
2. By creative ties. "His own" — sheepwhich are His even before they are
called.
3. By purchase. "The Good Shepherd giveth" as a deposit, layeth down as a
pledge, "His life for the sheep" (Hebrews 13:20). The blood He shed was not
in His own defence, but for the sake ofthose whom He came to rescue.
II. He KNOWS His sheep.
1. By their faces. An ancient and convenient custom among shepherds is to put
a mark upon their sheep, an ear-mark, as they call it; and by the mark they
know them in years to come. Jesus Christ, too, puts a mark on His sheep, not
on the ear, but on the forehead(Revelation14:1).
2. By their names. He knows His followers, not as men and womenonly, but as
Peterand Andrew, Mary and Martha. The saints have queer names in the
Epistles. I cannotremember them, but Jesus does. He calls the stars by name
too, but then the stars are very big things. The wonder is that He calls the tiny
sheepby name, scatteredas they are. "What's in a name?" A greatdeal,
especiallyin a Christian name, given at the font, and acceptedby Christ.
3. Their circumstances (Revelation2:13). The GoodShepherd knows where
you live — the town, the street, the house (Acts 9:11; Acts 10:5, 6).

18. 4. By a thorough apprehension of their character. In the fourth and fifth
verses "know" signifies outside acquaintance — that Christ and man have
come within the same circle. But in the fourteenth verse it means a clear
discerning insight into the springs of life and the motives of action.
III. He FEEDS His sheep(ver. 9).
1. "Theygo in" first to the fold. Restafter wandering. "He leadeth me beside
the still waters" (services ofGod's House: perusalof the Bible).
2. They "go out" to graze. "He maketh me to lie down in greenpastures"
(marg. "in pastures of tender grass"). The Bible pasture is greenpasture.
Every truth as fresh as if it were spokenbut yesterday. Not only is the grass
green, but there is plenty of it (ver. 10).
IV. He LEADS the sheep(ver. 3).
1. He leads the sheep. Exceedinglysimple and helpless is a sheep gone astray.
And when the Bible speaks ofsinners it compares them to erring sheep(Isaiah
53:6).
2. He leads them gently (ver. 4). He is not behind them, searing them with the
lashes of the law, but in front of them, drawing them with the cords of His
love, and adapting His steps to theirs.
3. He leads them safely along "the paths of righteousness for His name's
sake."This is, to me, one of the most cogentreasonsfor believing in His
Divinity, that He was able to stamp His feet so deeply on the rock of history,
that their prints have not yet been erased. The weight of Godhead was in His
steps, the emphasis of the Infinite in His tread.
4. Notonly does He lead us through life, but He goes before us through death
(Psalm 23:4). Not a single sheep will be wanting, they shall all be safely folded
by Divine love (ver. 16).
(J. C. Jones, D. D.)
Christ the GoodShepherd

19. ArchdeaconManning.
This is one of those Divine sayings in which there is so much of truth and love,
that we seemable to do little more than to record it and ponder on it, to
express it by symbols, and to draw from it a multitude of peacefuland
heavenly thoughts. It was the symbol under which, in times of persecution, His
presence was shadowedforth. It was sculptured on the walls of sepulchres and
catacombs;it was painted in upper chambers and in oratories;it was traced
upon their sacredbooks;it was graven on the vessels ofthe altar. The image
of the GoodShepherd has expressed, as in a parable, all their deepest
affections, fondestmusings, most docile obedience, mostdevoted trust. It is a
title in which all other titles meet, in the light of which they blend and lose
themselves. Priest, Prophet, King, Saviour, and Guide, are all summed up in
this more than royal, paternal, saving name. It recalls in one word all the
mercies and lovingkindness of God to His people of old, when "the Shepherd
of Israel" made His own people "to go forth like sheep, and guided them in
the wilderness like a flock." It recites, as it were, all the prophecies and types
of the Divine care which were then yet to be revealedto His elect:it revives
the visions of Isaiah and Ezekiel(Isaiah40:11; Ezekiel34:12-27;Ezekiel
37:24;Isaiah 49:9, 10). And, moreover, by this title He appropriates to
Himself the fulfilment of His own most deep and touching parable of the lost
sheep. There is no thought or emotion of pity, compassion, gentleness,
patience, and love which is not here expressed. It is the peculiar consolationof
the weak, orof them that are out of the way; of the lostand wandering; of the
whole flock of God here scatteredabroad"in the midst of this naughty
world." And though it be an office takenon earth, and in the time of our
infirmity, it is a name which He will never lay aside. Even in the heavenly
glory it still is among His titles. He is even there "the chief Shepherd," "that
greatShepherd of the sheep";and in the state of bliss shall still guide His
flock:though more fully to express the unity of His nature with theirs, and His
own spotless sacrificein their behalf, He is called"the Lamb" (Revelation
7:17). Let us then considerawhile the surpassing and peculiar goodnessofthe
One True Shepherd. And this He has revealedto the world in His voluntary
death. There was never any other but He who came down from heaventhat
He might lay down "His life for the sheep." This is the one perpetual token of

20. His greatlove to all mankind — a tokenever fresh, quickenedwith life, full of
powerto persuade the hearts of His people to Himself. "Greaterlove hath no
man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends"; and therefore the
death of the goodShepherd is the subject of all the Church's testimony. Again,
His surpassing goodnessis shownin the provision He has made of all things
necessaryfor the salvationof His flock in this state of mortality and sin. For
this He has provided, first, in the external foundation and visible perpetuity of
His Church. He has securedit by the commissionto baptize all nations, by the
universal preaching of His apostles, by shedding abroad the Holy Ghost, by
the revelationof all truth, by the universal tradition of the faith in all the
world. And, secondly, His love and care are shown, not only in the external
and visible provision which He thus made beforehand for the perpetual wants
of His flock, but in the continual and internal providence wherewith He still
watches overit. The whole history of His Church from the beginning — the
ages ofpersecution, and "times of refreshing"; the greatconflicts of faith with
falsehood, and of the saints with the seedof the serpent; the whole careerof
His Church amid the kingdoms of the earth and changes ofthe world, are a
perpetual revelation of His love and power.
(ArchdeaconManning.)
Christ the GoodShepherd
BostonHomilies.
He is the GoodShepherd in the sense ofreal or genuine. He is the Shepherd
from the very centre of His being. Every instinct of His nature, every feeling
of His heart, every thought of His brain, every touch of His hand are those of
the true Shepherd, whose constantpurpose is to guide and feedand save the
flock, and for that purpose He counts no toil too severe, no suffering too
intense, no sacrifice too costly. He has thoroughly identified Himself with the
sheep, and whateveradds to their well-being He gladly does and bears. He is
the GoodShepherd in contrastwith the hireling, whose care is selfish and
whose aim is wages. Jesus here gives us a distinction that applies in the most
direct way to every phase of life. Interests of all kinds are intrusted with paid

21. workers. Some ofthese are goodshepherds, putting the very best of their lives
into their toil; some are hirelings, faithful only so long as fidelity is easy, safe,
and profitable. The railroad engineerwho sees imminent danger and remains
at his post, hoping to save precious lives entrusted to his care, is the good
shepherd. The need today in the State, the bank, the factory, the store, the
kitchen, is for goodshepherds. The presence of hirelings brings disasterto
every cause. The GoodShepherd guides His sheepby going before them.
Those who follow where Jesus led are safe. He was at times in a very
whirlwind of human beings who were wrought to the highest pitch by diverse
passions, but His feet never made a misstep, His face never turned in the
wrong direction. His lips spoke the right word, His hands wrought the most
helpful work always. Jesus said, "Iknow My sheep, and am known of Mine."
"I lay down My life for the sheep." These were the proofs that He was the true
Shepherd. He certainly knew what was in man. He saw the treacheryworking
in the heart of Judas. He saw in Peter's self-trusting, impulsive nature the
flame that soonburnt itself out to leave only the ashes ofhis boastedfaith and
devotion. But further than this, He saw the repentant Peterconverted into the
brave hero. He lookedinto the very soul of Zaccheus in the sycamore tree and
taw in him a stedfastpurpose of righteousness.He knew that back of the
cleanly appearance ofthe Pharisees there was moral leprosy. On the briefest
acquaintance with NathanaelHe spoke ofhim as one "in whom there was no
guile." The young man who came to Him with eagerinquiries for eternal life
was before Him as an open book — a man with a kindly heart, but too weak
to brave dangerand privation and sacrifice. There was no martyr stuff in
him. Sin blunts the faculties. The most exaltednatures have the keenest
insight. Jesus, the PerfectOne, knew instantly the false and the true.
(BostonHomilies.)
The GoodShepherd
J. Brown, D. D.
These words are equivalent to —

22. I. I am A Shepherd. I stand in a peculiar relation to a peculiar people, who are
My sheep.
II. I am a GOOD Shepherd. I possessthe appropriate qualifications and
perform the appropriate duties of the characterI sustain.
III. I am THE Shepherd — the one Shepherd — not like him of ver. 2, one of
the shepherds, but the great, chief, proprietor Shepherd, whose own the sheep
are — the Shepherd of shepherds as well as of sheep.
IV. I am THE GOOD Shepherd. I possess in the most perfect degree all the
qualifications that are requisite for the discharge of the numerous, varied, and
difficult duties of this most exalted office.
V. I am THAT GOOD Shepherd, i.e., the Divine Guardian foreshadowedin
prophecy (Ezekiel34:11-24), and answering in every respectto the type.
Christ is all this —
1. As He secures forHis peculiar people all the blessings they require.
2. As He secures these advantages to them at the greatestconceivable expense
to Himself.
3. As there subsists the most endearing mutual acquaintance and intercourse
betweenHim and His people.
4. As He cares forthe happiness, so He secures the salvationof all.
(J. Brown, D. D.)
The GoodShepherd
D. Moore, M. A.
The truth here is Christ's exceeding love and care for the Church. He would
show that He sustained towards it a relationship beyond parallel. Not a king,
howeverwise his rule; not a parent, howeverfond his care;not a friend,
howevergreathis service, for all these are kindnesses ofbeings of the same
nature only. They suggestnothing of that condescensionby which a Being of

23. the highestorder could embrace one reduced to the condition of fallen man.
Hence Christ selectedas the type of our lost race the most helpless of animals,
and compares Himself to one of the kindest of guardians. Let us consider
some of His pastoraloffices in which His love is setforth.
I. HE PROVIDES FOR THEIR SPIRITUAL WANTS. This would be the first
thing lookedfor according to the predictions (Psalm 23).
1. Pasture for the flock — enough for all; variety for each.
2. Wisdom to guide.
3. Watchfulness to tend.
4. Constraintto rule.
5. Diligence to seek out.
6. Powerto restore.
II. HE PRESERVES THEM FROM FOESAND DANGERS (ver. 12). It is
our lot to be sentforth as sheepin the midst of wolves. If our soulescapes at
all it is because the snare is broken by our Deliverer. That which enables the
GoodShepherd to effectour deliverance is His profound and comprehensive
knowledge (ver. 14). These perils are foreseenand provided for. How many
tempted ones have derived comfort from the thought that when Satan has
desired to have them, he has prayed, etc. Hence the encouragement, "Fearnot
little flock." "He that keepethIsraelneither slumbers nor sleeps."
III. HE IS DILIGENT IN RECOVERINGTHOSE WHO STRAY (Ezekiel
34; Isaiah53:1). In relation to the whole human family Christ came to seek
and save the lost. The whole history of the Church has been the gathering in
of outcasts. He is found of them that sought Him not; and under backslidings
after conversion, will He go after us again. He may leave us to eat the bitter
fruits of our ways for a time, and make us contrastthe misery of the
wilderness with the blessedness ofthe fold. He, who of all the saints of God
lived nearestto Him, and yet wanderedfurthest, said, "He restoreth my soul."

24. IV. HE HAS SPECIALCARE OF THE YOUNG, whether young in years or
in grace (Isaiah40). An untended lamb is the very type of helplessness and
folly. The temptations are many which besetthe flock in early life from the
example of companions, worldly pleasures, buoyant spirits, etc.; but for these
and every spiritual danger the Good Shepherd provides. Still, there are
specialdangers which accountfor this pastoralcare. The very warmth and
freshness of their religious feelings render them more liable to fall. Hence the
first duty enjoined on restoredPeter was "FeedMylambs."
V. HE IS WITH THE FLOCK TO THE END. "Yea, though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death," etc.
(D. Moore, M. A.)
The GoodShepherd
F. W. Robertson, M. A.
I. THE PASTORALCHARACTER CLAIMED BY CHRIST.
1. We shall learn nothing from the text unless we enter humbly and
affectionatelyinto its spirit. We must dismiss all Western ideas. Here the
connectionbetweenshepherd and sheepis simply one of pecuniary interest;
but beneath the burning skies and clearstarry nights of Palestine there grows
up betweenthe man and the dumb creatures he protects, often at the peril of
his life, a kind of friendship. For this is after all the true schoolin which love is
taught; dangers and hardships mutually shared, alone in those vast solitudes
the shepherd and the sheep feela life in common. The vastinterval between
the man and the brute disappears, and the single point of union is felt strongly
— the love of the protector, and the love of the grateful life. Those to whom
Christ spoke feltall this and more. He appealedto associations whichhad
been familiar from childhood, and unless we try, by realizing such scenes,to
feel what they felt by association, these words will only be dry and lifeless.
2. To the name shepherd Christ adds the significant word "Good" — not in
the sense ofbenevolent, but true born, genuine, just as wine of a noble quality

25. is goodcompared with the cheapersort; and a soldier who is one in heart and
not by mere profession, or for pay. This expressiondistinguishes the Good
Shepherd from —(1) The robbers who may guard the sheepsimply for their
flesh and fleece:they have not a true shepherd's heart any more than a pirate
has the true sailor's heart. There were many such marauders in Palestine.
David protected Nabal's flock from them. Many such nominal shepherds had
Israelin by-gone years:rulers whose rule had been but kingcraft: teachers
whose instruction had been but priestcraft. Government, teachershipare
sublime pastoralcallings;but when the work is even well done for the sake of
party, or place, or honour, or consistency, it is the spirit of the robber.(2) The
hirelings, who are tested by danger. A man is a hireling who does his duty for
pay. He may do it in his way faithfully. The paid shepherd will not desert the
sheepfor a showeror a cold night. But he is not paid to risk his life againstthe
lion or bear, and so the sheep are left to their fate. So a man may be a hired
priest, or a paid demagogue, a greatchampion of rights paid by applause; and
while popularity lasts he will be a reformer — deserting the people when
danger comes. The cause ofthe sheepis not his.
3. Exactly the reverse is the Good Shepherd. The cause ofman was His, and
His only pay the cross. He might have escapedit all, and been an honoured
leaderby prudent time service. But this would have been the desertionof
God's cause and man's.
II. THE PROOFS WHICH SUBSTANTIATE THE CLAIM.
1. I know My sheepas the FatherknowethMe, and not simply by
omniscience. There is a certain mysterious tact of sympathy and antipathy by
which we discoverthe like and unlike of ourselves in others' character. A man
may hide his opinions, but not his character. There is a something in an
impure heart which purity detects afaroff. The truer we become, the more
unerringly we know the ring of truth. Therefore Christ knows His sheepby
the mystic power, always finest in the best natures, by which like detects what
is like and unlike itself; and how unerringly did He read men — the
enthusiastic populace, Nathanael, the rich ruler, Zacchaeus,Judas, the
Pharisees!It was as if His bosomwas some mysterious mirror, on which all
that came near Him left a sullied or unsullied surface, detecting themselves by

26. every breath. This Divine powermust be distinguished from that cunning
sagacitywhichmen call knowingness.The worldly wise have maxims and
rules; but the finer shades ofcharacterescape.Eternaljudgment is nothing
more than the carrying out of these words, "I know My sheep";for their
obverse is "I never knew you."
2. Christ's sheepknow Him, not by some lengthened investigation, whether
the shepherds dress be the identical dress, the croziergenuine — but
instinctively. Truth is like light; risible in itself, not distinguished by the
shadow it casts.
3. Pastoralfidelity, "I lay down My life." Here is the doctrine of vicarious
sacrifice. Unitarians say He died as a martyr in attestationof His truths; but
we cannot explain awaythe "for." This sacrificing love is paralleled by the
love of the Fatherto the Son. Therefore that sacrifice is but a mirror of the
heart of God.
(F. W. Robertson, M. A.)
The GoodShepherd
C. H. Spurgeon.
We have here —
I. THE COMPLETE CHARACTER.There is more in Jesus than you can
pack awayin shepherd or any other emblem. But note —
1. He sets Himself forth as a shepherd: not such as is employed in England to
look after sheepa few months till they are slaughtered. The Easternshepherd
is —(1) The owner or his son. His wealth consists in sheep. He has seldom
much of a house, or much land. Ask him "How much are you worth?" He
answers, "So many sheep." We are Christ's wealth, "the riches of the glory of
His inheritance" is in the saints. The Lord's portion is His people. For their
sakes He gave not only Ethiopia and Seba, but Himself.(2) The Caretaker.
Christ is never off duty. He has constantcare for His people day and night. He
knows and prescribes for their every complaint.(3) The Provider. There is not

27. one in the flock who knows about the selecting ofpasturage. Fortime and
eternity, body and soul, Christ supplies all our need.(4)The Leader.(5)The
Defender.
2. Christ completely fills this character.(1)He is the Good Shepherd —
neither thief nor hireling. What He does is conamore.(2)He is the Good
Shepherd. Of others we can only say a shepherd. All the rest are shadows:He
is the substance.
3. Christ rejoices in this character. He repeats it so many times here that it
almost reads like the refrain of a song. And if He is so pleasedto be our
Shepherd, we should be pleasedto be His sheep, and avail ourselves of all the
privileges wrapped up in the name.
II. THE COMPLETE KNOWLEDGE.
1. Christ's knowledge ofHis own, "As the Father," etc. Do you know how
much the Fatherknows the Sonwho is His glory, other self, yea, one with
Him? Just so intimately does the GoodShepherd know His sheep.
(1)Their number.
(2)Their persons — age, character, hairs, constitution; and never mistakes one
for another
(3)Trials.
(4)Sins.
(5)This ought to be a greatcomfort, inasmuch as it is not cold, intellectual
knowledge, but that of love. He knows you —
(a)By acquaintance.
(b)By communion.
(c)Sympathy. "ThoughHe were a Son yet learned He," etc.
2. Our knowledge ofthe Lord, "as I know the rather." This is —
(1)By delight.

28. (2)By union.
(3)By love.
III. THE COMPLETE SACRIFICE.These words are repeatedin different
forms four times (vers. 11, 15, 17, 13), and mean that —
1. He was always doing so. All the life He had He was constantly laying out for
the sheep.
2. It was activelyperformed. He did not die merely.
3. It was voluntary.
4. It was for the sheep.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
The GoodShepherd
W. H. Van Doren, D. D.
I. HIS QUALIFICATIONS TO MEET THE NEED OF THE SHEEP.
1. His knowledge ofall the wants of the sheep is perfect.
2. His wisdom to provide is infinite.
3. His power enables Him to carry out all His will.
4. His kindness endures through all their waywardness.
5. His faithfulness will never forsake them.
6. His undying interest forgets and omits nothing for their good.
II. HIS ACTIVE WORK FOR THE SHEEP.
1. He rescues them from the greatrobber.
2. Brings them into His own fold.

29. 3. Provides them with all the nourishment needed.
4. Given them refreshing repose amid the cares and toils of life.
5. Guards them from all danger.
6. Guides them in all perplexity.
7. Heals all their diseases.
8. Reclaims them from all their wanderings.
9. Folds them at last in heaven.
(W. H. Van Doren, D. D.)
The slain Shepherd
Family Churchman.
I. FORESAW THAT HE SHOULD DIE FOR THE SHEEP. The termination
of the Saviour's life was not accidentalnor unforeseen. Many were the
intimations He gave of it, which disproves the notion that His death was the
disappointment of His hopes.
II. SPONTANEOUSLYUNDERTOOKTO DIE FOR THE SHEEP. He might
have savedHimself; He made no attempt at escape;He prayed for no legionof
angels to rescue Him; He told Pilate that there was a limitation of his powerin
regard to his apparently helpless captive; He committed His spirit into His
Father's hands.
III. DIED IN THE STEAD OF THE SHEEP. A shepherd while defending his
sheepsometimes falls a victim to his faithfulness. So Christ died a vicarious
death, the just for the unjust, which exempted the sinner from the doom
deserved. Not that there was a commercialequivalent, as when a debt is paid;
but a moral equivalent acceptedby a righteous and gracious God.

30. IV. DIED ON BEHALF OF THE SHEEP. It was not for His ownbut our
advantage. By His sacrifice we are redeemed from the curse of the law and the
powerof sin, and have securedfor us eternal life. Application:
1. Adore and bless the love which animated the GoodShepherd.
2. Live as those who have been bought with a price, and have returned to the
Shepherd and Bishop of souls.
(Family Churchman.)
The GoodShepherd giveth His life for the sheep
G. F. Pentecost, D. D.
In this statement we notice the following characteristicsofthis sacrifice which
the GoodShepherd makes for His sheep.
1. It was deliberate. "Forthis purpose He came into the world."
2. It was voluntary. "No man takethMy life. I have powerto lay it down, and
I have powerto take it again."
3. It is vicarious. Not for them in defence, but for them vicariously. He died
for them as a substitute, "bearing their own sins in His own body."
4. It was an acceptedsacrifice."Therefore doth the Father love Me, because I
lay down My life, that I may take it again" (John 10:17).
(G. F. Pentecost, D. D.)
The Shepherd and the sheep
J. Goodacre.
I. THE FLOCK. Were we to take a walk some spring morning among the
Yorkshire hills or on the downs of Sussexor Bedfordshire, we should see
thousands of sheepbelonging to different flocks and masters. Christ has

31. members of His flock not only in Sussex, etc., but in Africa, India, etc.;yes, all
the world over. This flock —
1. Is an exceedinglylarge one. If you were to go on counting for a whole year
you could not count them all. The patriarchs had large flocks, so have many
English farmers, but not altogetherone so large. Some say all who are
baptized, or take the Lord's Supper, or belong to this or that Church, are the
Lord's sheep. But many of these are wicked, and so cannot be Christ's, while
some where there are no churches and sacramentare Christ's because they
love and obey Him. Ever since Abel died men have been gatheredin, and
thousands are joining the upper fold every day, and still millions are left
behind.
2. While it is so large it is increasing very rapidly. Other flocks are to
decrease. Everynew convert is an addition, and what numbers are sometimes
convertedin a day (Acts 2)! Missionaries tellus of whole tribes casting away
their idols, etc. It ought to increase more than it does when we consider the
agenciesatwork Bibles, tracts, churches, schools,ministers, teachers,
Christian fathers and mothers.
3. Christ's sheepare very much alike.(1)In their actions. Justas we cantell
wolves from sheep, so we can tell who are Christ's and who are not. When we
see a man roar like a lion, or greedylike a wolf, we know he is not of Christ's
fold.(2) In their colour. "If I washthee not thou hast no part with Me."(3)In
their disposition. "If any man have not the spirit of Christ," etc.(4)In the
treatment they require. None can do without the Shepherd's care.
4. They bear His mark. What strange marks farmers sometimes put upon
their sheep— circles, crosses,initials. Some of Christ's sheephave got His
mark in greaterboldness, but the porter candetect it howeverfaint. If a king
were to attempt to enter without it he would be turned away, while a prodigal
with it would be welcomed.(1)This mark is not being an Episcopalian,
Independent, etc. We may have the Church's mark and not Christ's.(2) It is
likeness to Christ, and we cannotbe like Him without being born again. Some
try to imitate this mark and affix Morality, Liberality, Goodresolution,
Fasting, etc.

32. 5. This is a loving flock. Members of the same family, school, place of worship,
ought to be kind and gentle, but Christ's flock is the most loving in the world.
By this the world knows Christ's disciples.
II. THE SHEPHERD.
1. He is awake and watchful. A goodmany people are awake but not watchful.
Sometimes lambs are worried by strange dogs when the shepherd was asleep,
and sometimes stray into danger when he is awake but inattentive. But
nothing escapesChrist's sleeplessvigilance. "He that keepethIsrael," etc.
2. He is patient. A shepherd cannot have too much patience:much as he may
have it will be sorely tried. In all trials Christ's patience never left Him; and
were it to leave Him now how many would be expelled the fold!
3. He is strong. Look at what He has done in Nature. "All poweris given unto
Me." All ministers, teachers, and angels combined would be unable to provide
for or protect His flock. Then His stock ofprovisions never diminishes, and
every sheep is fed according to its need.
4. He goes afterevery sheep or lamb that goes astray. How strange that any
should desertsuch a fold; strangerstill that those who stray should refuse to
return.
(J. Goodacre.)
Christ the GoodShepherd
C. H. Spurgeon.
The shepherd who can always go to bed regularly at night, and who is able to
say, "I do not have much trouble with my flock," is not the man to be envied.
He coolly says, "a few lambs died lastwinter; we must expectthat kind of
thing. It is true that some sheepdied of starvation; but if the meadows failed, I
could not help that." That is the kind of shepherd who deserves to be eatenby
the next wolf; but the man who is able to saywith Jacob, "Bynight the frost
devoured me, and by day the heat," is the true shepherd. He is most irregular

33. as to his rest; the only thing regularabout him is his labour and his
disappointment, and yet faith makes him a happy man. When you grow very
weak as a pastor, and your charge utterly overcomes you, do not repine at
such weakness,for then you will be at your full strength; but when you are
strong as a pastor, and say, "I think that to be a minister is an easymatter,"
you may depend upon it that you are weak.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
The GoodShepherd and His sheep
R. Newton, D. D.
I. WHAT THE GOOD SHEPHERD DOES FOR HIS SHEEP?
1. He protects them. Sheepare exposedto many dangers, from which they are
not able to protectthemselves. When David was a shepherd, he tells us of a
lion and a bear, that eachcame and stole awaya lamb from his flock;and how
he went after the wild beasts, and slew them, and saved his lambs. And this is
just what Jesus, the Good Shepherd, does for His sheep. He protects them
from Satan, their greatenemy. And in the same way He protects them from
all their enemies, and from every danger. A Christian mother who lived in the
city of New York, in very humble circumstances,had only one child, a little
boy about sevenyears old, whom she had taught to know and love the
Saviour. One day, when this goodmother was going quietly on with her work
at home, she was startledby a loud knock atthe door of her humble dwelling.
On opening the door she receivedthis alarming message:"Hurry awayto the
police station; your little boy has been run over." She was terribly frightened,
and, hastening as fast as she could to the stationhouse, on arriving there she
found her little boy surrounded by strangers. The doctor had been sent for,
but had not yet arrived. She was told that the wheels of a large carriage had
gone over his foot, but, on examining it carefully, she was surprised to find no
real injury about the foot. "Why, Willie darling, how was it possible for the
wheelof the carriage to have gone over your foot, and not have crushed it?"
The child lookedtenderly up into his mother's face, and said — "Mamma,

34. dear, I guess Godmust have put it in a hollow place." This shows whatfaith
that little boy had in the protection which Jesus, the GoodShepherd, has
promised to exercise overHis sheep. He always has "a hollow place" to put
them in when dangeris near.
2. He provides for them. This is something which the sheep cannotdo for
themselves, and unless the shepherd does it for them they must perish.
II. WHAT THE GOOD SHEPHERD EXPECTSHIS SHEEP TO DO FOR
HIM?
1. To hear His voice. "My sheephear my voice," He says.
2. To follow Him. The sheepset us an example here, not only in hearing the
shepherd, but in obeying him.
(R. Newton, D. D.)
The Shepherd and His sheep
WeeklyPulpit.
(Children's sermon).
I. THE FIGURE OF SHEEP SUITS US. We call them silly sheep.
1. They cannotguide their own way. As wild beasts can.
2. They cannotkeepor defend themselves. Frightened at danger.
3. They quickly follow bad examples. Running after wilful one.
4. They are surrounded by unknown dangers. How much mother knows, and
teacherknows, that we do not.
II. THE FIGURE OF SHEPHERD SUITS CHRIST. A most blessedthing that
we have someone to care for us.
1. Shepherd must be strong. To defend, carry, etc.

35. 2. Shepherd must be wise. To guide to food and water.
3. Shepherd must be watchful. To see foes.
4. Shepherd must be loving and gentle. To tend in weakness.
III. WHEN WE SPEAK OF JESUS, WE WANT TO CALL HIM THE
GOOD SHEPHERD. Especiallybecause He was willing to die in defending us,
Jesus. The old and familiar tale of Eric, who threw Himself to the wolves to
save his master. Or, case ofshepherd who died fighting three robbers.
IV. WHEN CHRIST SPEAKS OF US, HE WOULD LIKE TO CALL US
GOOD SHEEP. What is it to be good, so that Christ canthink us good? A
greatdifference in sheep. The goodsheepknow the Shepherd's voice. They
follow, they keepclose, they obey.
(WeeklyPulpit.)
The shepherd's mark
Edmund Andrews was a thoughtless, cruel boy. One day he was passing by
Burlton's farm, and saw Wilkinson, the old shepherd, busy with his pitch
kettle and iron, marking the sheep with the letters "J.B.,"forJohn Burlton.
"So you are putting your master's mark upon the sheep, are you?" said he.
"Yes, MasterEdmund; but God, the Almighty Maker, has put His mark upon
them before." "Whatdo you mean?" askedEdmund. "I mean that our
Heavenly Father, in His wisdomand goodness,has put marks upon the
creatures He has made, and such marks as none but He could put upon them.
He gave wings to the cockchafer, spots to the butterfly, feathers to the bird, a
sparkling eye to the frog and toad, a swift foot to the dog, and a soft furry skin
to the cat. These marks are His marks, and show that the creatures belong to
Him; and woe be to those that abuse them!" "That's an odd thought," said
Edmund, as he turned away. "It may be an odd thought," said the shepherd,
"but odd things lead us to glorify God, and to actkindly to His creatures. The
more we have, MasterEdmund, the better."

36. How Christ knows His sheep
H. W. Beecher.
Suppose one of the sheepin a fold were to go to the shepherd, and say, "I
think I'm your sheep, because you getsix pounds of wooloff me;" and
another should say, "And I think I'm your sheep, because you getfour pounds
of woolfrom me;" and a third, "I hope I am your sheep, but I don't know, for
you only getthree pounds of woolfrom me; and sometimes it is but two."
Finally, suppose one poor scraggyfellow comes who don't know whether he is
a sheepor a goat, and makes his complaint; the shepherd would say, "I know
who are the best sheep, and who are the worst. I wish you could all give me
ten pounds of wool;but whether you give me ten pounds or one, you are all
mine. I bought you, and paid for you, and you are all in my fold, and you
every one belong to me." It is not how much a sheep brings his ownerwhich
proves him his. The proof that the sheepbelongs to the shepherd is, that the
shepherd bought him and takes care ofhim.
(H. W. Beecher.)
Christ's knowledge ofHis sheep
J. Vaughan, M. A.
The most fearful attributes of the Godheadturn to the sweetestcomfortof a
believer. His justice, to the natural man so awful, requires Him to forgive
those whom He has punished in our Substitute. His powerso tremendous
when turned againstus is assuring in the same proportion, when it is for us.
So with omniscience, a terror to the wrongdoer, but a comfort to the penitent
believer.
I. CHRIST KNOWS WHO ARE HIS SHEEP. Leave it then to Him to
pronounce who are so. We seldommake a greatermistake then when we
attempt to trespass on this province of Deity. "I know," almostas much as to
say, "You do not." And there are times when it will be best not to form the
judgment respecting ourselves. Leave it thus. "He knows whether I am His;

37. and if not, that I wish to be, and therefore will make me. If I am, He will keep
me."
II. HE KNOWS THEM AS A WHOLE. As all one, gathered out of the same
desert, washedin the same fountain, etc. In this collectiveness He expects
concertof action, sympathy, unity among His people. We are accustomedto
regard ourselves as separate individuals, families, churches. Hence our
narrowness, selfishness.
III. HE KNOWS THEM AS INDIVIDUALS. Eachstands out knownand
loved as if He caredfor none else. He knows —
1. You, and not merely about you.
2. How long you have been in the fold, and expects accordingly.
3. Your natural temperament, what you canand cannot bear, how much
exposure, liberty, etc. What kind of pasture you require.
4. Your future, and is always working up to it.
IV. HE KNOWS HIMSELF IN THEM AND THEREFOREHIS FATHER'S
MIND ABOUT THEM.
(J. Vaughan, M. A.)
I lay down My life for the sheep
Christ died to save men
J. L. Nye.
At the time of the gold fever in California, a man went from England to the
diggings. By and by he sent money for his wife and child to follow him. They
arrived safelyin New York, and there took a passagein one of the beautiful
Pacific steamers. A few days after sailing, the terrible cry of "Fire!fire!" rang
through the ship. Everything that the captain and sailors could do was done,
but it was of no use; the fire rapidly gained ground. As there was a powder
magazine on board, the captain knew that the moment the flames reachedit

38. the vesselwouldbe blown up; so he gave the word to lower the life boats.
These were gotout, but there was not room for all; so the strong pushed in
and left the weak to their fate. As the lastboat was moving off, a mother and
her boy were on the deck and she pleaded to be taken. The sailors agreedto
take one but not both. What did the mother do? Did she jump in herself? No!
Kissing her boy and handing him over the side of the ship, she said "If you
live to see your father, tell him I died to save you." That was greatlove, yet it
is but a faint type of what Christ has done for us.
(J. L. Nye.)
Other sheep I have which are not of this fold.
Outsiders
T. De Witt Talmage.
The grace ofGod is no man's little property, fencedoff all for ourselves. It is
not a king's park, at which we look through a barred gateway. It is a Father's
orchard with bars to let down and gates to swing open. There are Christians
who keepa severe guard over the Church, when God would have all come and
take the richest and ripest of the fruit. Then, again, we have those who getup
statistics and say so many Methodists, Presbyterians, etc., there, that is the
number of Christians. Christ comes and says "No!you have not counted
rightly, other sheep have I which are not of these folds."
I. The heavenly Shepherd will find many of His sheep, among those who are
NON-CHURCHGOERS. I do not think that the Church gains when you take
sheepfrom one fold and puts them into another. It is the lost sheepon the
mountains we want to bring back.
II. The heavenly Shepherd will find many of His sheepamong those who are
now REJECTORSOF CHRISTIANITY. I do not know bow you came to
rejectChristianity: but I want you, before you finally discard it, to give it a
fair trial. You want what it alone cangive — if it does not give that to you
then you may rejectit. But it will. Take not the word of a clergyman, who may

39. be speaking professionally, but that of laymen who have never preached —
Milton, Wilbcrforce, Newton, Boyle, Locke, Morse.
III. The heavenly Shepherd will get many of His sheepamong THOSE WHO
HAVE BEEN FLUNG OF EVIL HABIT. The way Christian people give up
the prodigal is outrageous. Theytalk as though the grace ofGod were a chain
of forty or fifty links, and, when they had been run out, there was nothing to
touch a man's iniquity. But there is only one class aboutwhom we may be
despondent: those who have been hearing the gospelfor twenty, thirty, forty
years, and who are gospelhardened.
(T. De Witt Talmage.)
Other sheep and one flock
C. H. Spurgeon.
I. OUR LORD HAD A PEOPLE UNDER THE WORST CIRCUMSTANCES.
"This fold" was not the Jews, but His handful of disciples.
1. Doubtless these times are exceedinglydangerous, and some brethren never
allow me to forgetit, for they play well on the minor key. But I heard it thirty
years ago, and the times have been bad ever since, and always will be. This is
better, perhaps, than living in a fool's paradise; but certainly the days of
Christ were terrible days in the point of —(1) Utter ungodliness. A few godly
ones watchedfor the coming of Christ, but the great mass were altogether
gone out of the way.(2) Will worship; the commandments of men were taught
for the doctrines of God.(3)Fierce opposition, as seenin the treatment Christ
received. Yet He had a chosencompany, and howeverguilty our age may be
in these points, there is an electionof grace still.
2. This company was a fold. Afterwards they were to be calleda flock;but as
yet one glance was sufficient to embrace them all.(1) They were distinct from
the world "Ye are not of the world," etc.(2)In that fold they Were protected
from ill-weathers, and from the wolf and the thief.(3) Even there were goats

40. — "One of you is a devil."(4) They were being strengthenedfor future
following of the GreatShepherd.
3. When Jesus had thus shut them in He would not allow them to be exclusive,
but opens wide the door of the sheepfold and cries, "OthersheepI have."
Thus He checks a commontendency to be forgetful of outsiders. Seeing that
He has those who would be found by Him through His faithful people, let us
rouse ourselves to the holy enterprise,
4. Neverdespair. The Lord is with us. We may be poor, but we are Christ's,
and that makes us precious. There were three men who had to carry on a
college whenfunds were running short. One complained that they had no
helpers and could not hope to succeed. "Why," saidanother, "we are a
thousand." "How is that?" "I am a cipher, and you and our brother; so we
have three noughts to begin with. But Christ is ONE. Put Him down before
the ciphers, and we have a thousand directly."
II. OUR LORD HAS OTHER SHEEP NOT YET KNOWN TO US. "I have,"
not "shallhave." The apostles neverdreamed of His having sheepin Britain
or Rome. Their most liberal notion was that the scatteredseedofAbraham
might be gathered.
1. Who are these sheep?(1)Christ's chosen — "Ye have not chosenMe,"
etc.(2)Those whom the Father had given Him.(3) Those for whom He laid
down His life that they might be the redeemed of the Lord, Ye are not your
own, etc.(4)Those onwhose behalf He had entered into suretyship
engagements evenas Jacobunder took the flock of Laban that he should lose
none.
2. What was their state? People without a shepherd — lost, wandering, ready
to be devoured by the wolf. Bad as the world is today it must have been far
worse in the vile Roman world.
3. This thought gave Christ greatencouragementwhenconfronting their
adversaries, andshould be a great comfortto God's people now. "I have much
people in this city." This is our authority for seeking the lost sheepin
whoever's preserves they may be.

41. III. OUR LORD MUST LEAD THOSE OTHER SHEEP, not "bring"; Christ
must be at their head, and they must follow.
1. It is Christ who has to do this, even as He has done it hitherto, "also." As
Jesus has done it for us He must do it for others.
2. He "must" do it. Subjects are usually bound by a "must"; this "must"
binds the sovereign. Who can resistit? Clear out all enemies!
3. How He must do it? "They shall hear my voice." Christ is going to save
people still by the gospel, and we must not look for other means. "Go ye into
all the world."
IV. OUR LORD GUARANTEES THE UNITY OF HIS CHURCH. "One
flock."
1. We hear a greatdeal about the unity of the Church. We are to have the
Roman, Greek, and Anglican all one. God has chosenpeople in each, but their
union would be a dire mischief.
2. This has been carried out as a matter of fact. There never was but one
Shepherd and never will be but one flock. All the visible Churches contain
parts of it.
3. As a matter of experience this is carried out in believers. A spiritually
minded man is at one with all spiritually minded men. Set a Calvinist and an
Arminian at prayer: let the Spirit work on Baptist and Paedo-Baptist. What
Protestantbut loves Bernard?
4. The external Church is needful, but it is not the one and indivisible Church
of Christ.
5. This Church is knownby its obedience to Christ.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
This fold and the other sheep
W. Arnot, D. D.

42. I. THIS FOLD: the seedof Israel. By His personal ministry our Lord founded
the kingdom in Israeland some of the seedof Abraham were gatheredin.
II. OTHER SHEEP NOT OF THIS FOLD. Here the expansive love of Jesus
breaks forth. He beganat Jerusalem, but the longings of His heart go forth to
the end of the earth.
III. I HAVE. Mark the all encompassing sovereigntyof His love. They were
His in the covenant from the beginning. At a time when they were neither
born nor born againHe counts them His.
IV. THEM ALSO. There is no respectof persons. No poor slave will be left
out because he is black;no servant pushed aside to make way for his master;
no rich or powerful man is kept out at the cry of the envious mob. If any were
kept back the Lord would say, "them also;gatherup the fragments," etc.
What a cheering word l It embraces the prodigal, the dying thief, Saul of
Tarsus.
V. I BRING. He sends none forward to make or find their own way. "In all
their afflictions He is afflicted." They shall not traverse the valley of the
shadow alone. None shall stand at the Judgment to make the bestof his own
case. "Iam the Way." He brings them through the regenerationinto the fold
on earth. It often takes much bringing; but all power is given to the Captain of
our salvation. The drunkard, miser, etc., are made willing in the day of His
power. And that same bringing power shall rend the gates of death.
VI. I MUST. He commands the winds and the sea and they obey; who then
can command Him? His own yearning love.
(W. Arnot, D. D.)
Christ comforting Himself
S. A. Tipple.
The people were listening with sneers and angerto Christ's asservations ofthe
union betweenHimself and God, and contemplating a step which would

43. expose their emptiness. When put out of the way, His presumptuous claims
would be shattered. He read this thought, and answeredit calmly, with the
inward consciousness thatthat event would only culminate His voluntary self-
sacrifice, andrender Him the specialobjectof the Father's love. Such is
frequently the blindness and defeat of bad men. It is poor business trying to
hurt a saint. You cannever be certain that your hardest blows will not ensure
him more abundant consolation.
I. CHRIST COMFORTING HIMSELF —
1. With the reflection that someone loves Him. We find Him constantlydoing
this. "I am not alone," etc.;pausing in the midst of hostility, etc., to get
soothing and inspiration. He could not geton without it any more than we
can. Let none of us weaklyand selfishly long for this, nor stoicallydetermine
to be above it; but value it as an impulse for work.
2. With His felt possessionofpower. His adversaries regardedHim as their
victim. He muses, "they are mistaken;instead of being draggedhelplessly, I
shall march in might to die." We need not shrink from the thought that Jesus
found solace in the consciousness ofHis superiority to what He looked:that
while He seemedweak, He was sublimely strong. It is both natural and
legitimate, when we are being estimatedfalsely, to feel the excellence orthe
gift that is not perceived. We may need this in encountering disparagement, to
preserve our self-possessionandkeepourselves from fainting. There are
others, however, who cannever have this consolation. Theirreputation is the
best thing they have; they are meanerthan the socialestimate of them.
II. THE GROUNDS OF THIS COMFORT.
1. The Father loved Christ because He lay down His life in order to take it
again. The beauty of self-sacrificelies not in the act, but in its animating
purpose. There is no necessaryvirtue in denying yourself. Sacrifices are often
made out of mere weakness, regardfor the usages ofsociety, self-indulgence,
even to spite others, and in disregard of the right and the claims of other
people. Christ laid down His life in order to take it again. This explanation is
at first sight disappointing. What was there to charm the heart of God in
surrender for the purpose of recovery? But this recoverywas meant to be a

44. greatsource and fountain of good, that He might be the first-born among
many brethren. It is noble to sacrifice selfwith a view to acquiring more
capacityfor service.
2. The secretof Christ's powerwas not that He had a right to electto die,
which we have not, but that He felt Himself able to make the sacrifice
required of Him. He did not need to be draggedor urged into it, but was able
to make it freely. What happens there then is in the sense ofthe powerto
respond at once to the call of a difficult, trying duty. But He was certainnot
only that He could bear the Cross, but that He should reap to the full the
anticipated fruit of it. What more blessedthan this — the assurance ofpower
to do what is wholly true, and an assurance ofgaining the object?
3. What was the secretof it all? "This commandment," etc. What God calls
one to, one will have strength to accomplish, and it will assuredly yield its due
fruit. In other things you may break down or be disappointed — never in this.
(S. A. Tipple.)
I lay down My life
Victim and priest
J. O. Dykes, D. D.
Types, like shadows, are one-sidedthings. Hence in the shadowyworship of
Judaism Christ was brokenly seenin a variety of disconnectedimages. The
sacrificiallamb was a picture of Him who is the first of sufferers and the only
sin bearer;but the dumb brute, led in unresisting ignorance to the altar, not
otherwise than it might have been to the shambles, was no picture of the
perfect willingness with which He devoted His life to God. For the type of that
we must go to the white-robed priest. There was need for a double shadow.
But in the one real sacrifice the two are one. Jesus is priest and victim. There
are certainsteps we must take in comprehending Christ's self-sacrificing will
as expressedin the text.

45. I. It was CONSTANT. The strength of one's will to suffer is tested by its
deliberate formation and persistentendurance.
1. Our Saviour's resolutionwas no impulse born of excited feeling, liable to
fail before calmer thought; nor a necessityfor which He was gradually
prepared, and at last shut up to through circumstances;but a habitual
purpose, steadily kept in view from the first, till it grew almost to a passion.
"How am I straitened," etc.
2. Many men are heroic only by impulse; give time, and the bravery yields to
"prudence." Men have ignorantly taken the first step towards martyrdom;
but, having takenit, have felt bound to go forward. But when the mind can
form so terrible a purpose, and calmly hold it on for years, in the face of
unromantic neglectand mockery, the purpose must have its roots deep. Such
will was never in any exceptChrist. Precious life, which carried its own death
in its bosom, like a bunch of sweetflowers, filling all its days with fragrance.
II. It was ACTIVELY FREE.
1. While resignationwas the habitual attitude of His soul, there was more than
resignation. We underestimate His priestly act, by thinking more of His
willingness than of His will to suffer. "I lay down My life" means that, with
ardent desire and fixed resolution, He is, at His own choice, giving awayHis
own Spiritual Person, including that which is the most personalthing of all —
His will. And this active exposure to penalty accompaniedHim through every
stage. His was both the right and strength at every stage to free His soul; but
He chose to go on deeperinto the darkness till all was over. This came out
very plainly when Peterput before Him the alternative; when, His time being
come, He set Himself to go to Jerusalem, when He said to Judas, "Whatthou
doest," etc.;when, on His arrest, He spoke about the legion of angels;yes, and
when the torment reachedHim, "Let Him now come down from the cross."
2. Now, it is harder to will a disagreeable lotthan to consentto bear it when it
is laid upon us. Many a man has piety to submit to unavoidable evil, or even to
rest in it as wise, who would yet be unequal to make it a choice. Mostmen,
therefore, aim at nothing higher than passive acquiescencein suffering; but it
is nobler to sealGod's afflictive will with our own, and will not to have it

46. otherwise. It is a further advance still to enter voluntarily into affliction for
righteousness sake. Yeteven the martyr's choice ofdeath before sin is less
absolute and free than that of Christ.
III. It was CROSSEDBY HINDRANCES FROM THE WEAKNESS OF THE
FLESH AND IT OVERCAME THEM. As you walk by the side of a deep,
swift-running river, you know not how strong the current is till you reachthe
rapids, where its flow is broken. So on reading the smooth, constantstory of
Jesus'life, there is little to tell us with what powerHe was advancing to His
agony. Nearthe end came one or two places where this was seen(chap. John
12:27-29). Thatwas a short struggle. His will to die soonovercame the
momentary perplexity, and the voice from heavenwas needed not by Him, but
for the bystanders. This, however, was only a foretaste ofthe greaterstrife in
the garden— the weak fleshagainstthe willing spirit; yet in the end it is
divinely upborne to bear the unimaginable suffering for the world's guilt. In
that hour He sacrificedHimself — laid down His life. With what relief do we
read, "It is enough, the hour has come," etc.
(J. O. Dykes, D. D.)
I have powerto take it again.
Our Lord's resumption of life
Canon Liddon.
I. WAS HIS OWN ACT. Nowhere is the majesty of our Lord's Divine Person
more manifest than here.
1. He had powerto lay His life down. Could we use His words? There is much
in life we can control, but not our way of leaving it.(1) So far from laying it
down, we yield it up. It is wrung from us by disease, violence, oraccident. No
men of this century have wielded more powerthan the two Napoleons;they
little meant to die — the first at St. Helena, the third at Chislehurst. Bishop
Wilberforce never entered a railway carriage without reflecting that he might
never leave it alive. He was a fearless horseman, but he met his death when

47. riding at a walking pace.(2)But cannota man lay down his life at pleasure?
And did not the Stoics commend it? As a matter of physical possibility, we
can; but what about its morality? It is at once cowardice and murder.(3) A
goodman may find it his duty to acceptdeathat the hands of others. Patriots
and martyrs have had moral powerto lay down their lives; but they could not
control the circumstances whichmade death a duty.(4) Our Lord's actdiffers
from that of the suicide in its moral elevation (ver. 11), and from that of the
martyr in His command of the situation. As the Lord of Life, He speaks ofHis
human life as His creature.
2. He had powerto take it again.(1)Here His majesty is more apparent, for
He speaks ofa control over His life which no mere man can possibly have.
When soul and body are sundered, there is no force in the soul such as can
reconstitute the body. In the Biblical cases ofresurrection, the powercame
from without.(2) Here barbarism and civilization are on a level. Science has
done wonders in bringing the various forces of nature under control;but no
scientistcherishes the hope of undoing the work of death, or of keeping it
indefinitely at bay.(3) When Christ claims to take His life again, He stands in
relation to His life, which is only intelligible if we believe Him to be the Son of
God.
II. WAS HIS ACT AND THE FATHER'S CONJOINTLY?
1. He is repeatedly said to have been raised by the Father. This was Peter's
language (Acts 2:24; Acts 3:15; Acts 4:10; Acts 5:30; Acts 10:40), and Paul's
(Acts 13:30-37;1 Thessalonians 1:10;2 Timothy 2:3; Romans 4:24-25;
Romans 6:4; Romans 3:11, etc., etc.).
2. On the ether hand, our Lord speaks ofit as an act distinctly His own (Mark
10:34;Luke 13:33;John 2:19, and text).
3. There is no contradictionhere. The resurrection does not cease to be
Christ's actbecause it is the Father's. When God acts through mere men, He
makes them His instruments; but the powerwhich effectedthe resurrectionis
as old as the eternalgenerationof the Son (chap. John 5:26).

48. 4. There is a moment when imagination, under the conduct of faith,
endeavours, but in vain, to realize when the human soul of our Lord,
surrounded by myriads of angels, onHis return from the ancient dead, came
to the grave of Josephand claimed the body that had hung upon the cross.
III. SUGGESTS THE FOLLOWING CONSIDERATIONS.
1. What Christianity truly means. Not mere loyalty to the precepts of a dead
teacher, or admiration of a striking characterwho lived eighteenhundred
years ago. It is something more than literary taste or a department of moral
archaeology. It is devotion to a living Christ. If it were a false religion, literary
men might endeavour to reconstructthe history of its earliestage. This is
what has been done with the great teachers ofantiquity, and with Christ. But
there is this difference. What Socrates, etc.,were is all that we can know of
them now. They cannothelp us or speak to us. But in the fulness of that power
which He assertedatHis resurrection, Christ still rules and holds communion
with every believer. A living Christianity means a living Christ.
2. What is the foundation of our confidence in the future of Christianity?
Basedas it is on a Christ who raisedHimself from the dead, it cannot pass
away.(1)Mankind has lavished admiration on greatteachers;but they have
died and been forgotten. Their age proclaimed the dust of their writings gold;
a succeeding age scarcelyopens their folios. Why are we certainthat this fate
does not awaitChrist? Because men's loyalty rests not on His words mainly,
but in His Person. Christis Christianity. And why is it that, in thus clinging to
His Person, Christianfaith is so sure of the future? Because she has before her
not a Christ who was conqueredby death.(2) Had it been otherwise
Christianity might have perished more than once;by the wickednessofthe
Roman Court in the tenth century; by the hordes of Islam in the first flush of
their conquests, or by the great Turkish sultans of the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries;by the accumulated weightof corruption which invited the
Reformation; by the Babel which the Reformationproduced; by the relation
of the Church to corrupt governments:by the dishonest enterprises of
unbelieving theologians. Mensaidthe Church was killed under Decius and
Diocletian, afterthe French Revolution. But eachcollapse is followedby a
revival, because Christ willed to rise.

49. 3. What is our hope for the departed? BecauseChristlives, they live also;
because He rose, they shall rise.
(Canon Liddon.)
The mastery of life
Fred. Brooks.
These are the strongestwords that human lips have uttered, I think; the
strongest, becausethey give us a glimpse of what elsewhere we cannotfind in
man or his history — the complete mastery and control of life. Where is the
man who comes to life as the workmancomes to his clay or marble, and
shapes out his idea preciselyas he first has thought and designedit, and leaves
it fulfilled without that obedient material having demanded any change in the
work? How little of such mastery you and I have. Your very purpose in life, of
which you speak so proudly, have you not gotit by living? And when you had
conceivedit, when you had said "I will," "Thatis my purpose," did life flow
liquidly and obediently into your mould, and stay there, and harden in it
lastingly? Who has just the life he planned? And when you begin to see your
purpose, or something like it, coming on:, of life, what controlhave you over it
and its continuance? You have time to say, "Yes, that is the shape of my wish,
of my plan," and you or it are hurried away. But even suppose that a man
cares not whether his purpose be lasting, if for a moment he reaches the place
at which he had aimed; if he stands there where he had struggledthrough life
to be; if he has made life carry him there — is he not master and victor? May
he not say, as the soldier who dies in victory, "I die happy"? The hands that
stiffen at that moment, are they not, after all, a conqueror's? Oh! but think if
the mastery of life does not include something else. It is not only to carry one's
own purpose for a moment; it is to do it in such a way as to show that you are
not indebted to life's favour for it; that it is not a gift to you; that you will take
it at your own time, as one who is completely, unanxiously master; that you
will not be hurried by the thought, "Now life is offering me my prize; if not
now, never";but can quietly choose the time of acquisition when it is best, and
then reachout the hand to take it. But stop again. Masteryof human life — is

50. it not something vastly more than all of this? Is it not to be above counting it
indispensable, to use it only as one help in the working out of the great
purpose; to lay it down, and yet win the aim by other help; to lay it down as a
workmanputs down a tooland takes it again? But who of us is so boldly
independent as that? Who canwork out his human purpose without the help
of human life? But I must go yet one greatstep farther in this description of
what it is to be a master of human life. It is this: Suppose you were
independent of this human life, yet you are not masterof it if it canwith. draw
itself and you have no powerto keepor resume it. If, after showing your
ability to do without it, it were able to keepaway from you, if you had no
powerto take it again, you would not be its master. That is the complete
mastery of human life, not only to work out your purpose independently of it,
but to really resume it, to take it againwhen it has been laid down...Ifind, in
the midst of all this history of man and his life — believing himself master,
and yet never so in reality — one life which has no such feature, which could
never have been troubled by the thought of fate. There is One among all
human existences whichbears all the marks of the mastership of life, which
claims from all the title of Lord and Master. First of all, Christ comes to
human life with His own purpose fully formed and self-originated. He brought
a Divine purpose to earth. Then see how absolutely, without change, that
purpose of Christ's is carried out. Not a feature is altered; not a circumstance
is varied, nor any addition made. It is accomplishedjust according to the
heavenly purpose. Life has no powerto change it in the smallestparticular.
But this royal purpose, will not human life override it, and outgrow it, and
destroy it, or gatherit into itself and its own purpose, like the little rift that
your hand makes in the waterof the strong river? Will it remain as it was
planned? How those words, "the everlasting gospel,"answerourquestion!
What is there but the word of God, which endures forever? Oh! what is there
today in the world which remains unchanged but the salvationof Christ? But
did life give to Him the fulfilment of His purpose, as it does to its favourites,
granting the prize to Him in its owntime as its favour? I do not know
anything more quietly grand about Jesus'life than the way in which He
choosesthe very time when it all shall be done. "My time is not yet come;" "I
lay down My life of Myself";"I must work today and tomorrow, and the third
day I shall be perfected," He says, consciousofcontrolling the time

51. completely. But how His Mastershipgrows upon us! Still let me go on to show
you how His greatpurpose is independent of human life. Life is not
indispensable to it as to our purpose. He can fulfil His purpose in loss of life,
and by loss of life. "I lay down My life of Myself. This commandment have I
receivedof My Father." The Divine purpose is not lost, but won, by passing
into death. "I, if I be lifted up, shall draw all men unto Me." How little is
human life necessaryto His purpose, who died that we might live! How little
dependent on this human existence is that love of God which came from
heaven, which has heaven's life, which is greaterthan death, which survives
the loss of earthly life! There is but one more addition. "I have power to lay it
down, and I have powerto take it again." Here is the highest and last signof
the Master. Canyou not see how the river of life flows from the throne of God
and the Lamb, where Christ, the ascendedGod-man, sits, who has taken
human life again? Christ would take us all into His greatpurpose. Follow
your own human purposes alone, and then, indeed, life is your master. But
become our Lord's follower, have a share in His purpose, have a realpart and
place in the salvationof Christ, and then you, too, have a superiority to life, a
mastery of life. Then you, too, are living for an aim which life did not give
you; an aim which life cannot modify or destroy; an aim which will be fulfilled
in its ownchosentime of heavenly happiness; an aim that can survive death
and the loss of human life; an aim which, in a resurrection, will be able by its
powerto resume life as its obedient servant.
(Fred. Brooks.)
STUDYLIGHT RESOURCES
Adam Clarke Commentary
I am the goodshepherd - Whose characteris the very reverse of that which
has alreadybeen described. In John 10:7, John 10:9, our Lord had called
himself the door of the sheep, as being the sole way to glory, and entrance into

52. eternal life; here he changes the thought, and calls himself the shepherd,
because ofwhat he was to do for them that believe in him, in order to prepare
them for eternalglory.
Giveth his life for the sheep - That is, gives up his soul as a sacrifice to save
them from eternal death.
Some will have the phrase here only to mean hazarding his life in order to
protect others;but the 15th, 17th, and 18th verses, as wellas the whole tenor
of the new covenant, sufficiently prove that the first sense is that in which our
Lord's words should be understood.
Albert Barnes'Notes onthe Whole Bible
The goodshepherd - The faithful and true shepherd, willing to do all that is
necessaryto defend and save the flock.
Giveth his life - A shepherd that regardedhis flock would hazard his own life
to defend them. When the wolf comes, he would still remain to protect them.
To give his life, here, means the same as not to fly, or to forsake his flock;to
be willing to expose his life, if necessary, to defend them. Compare Judges
12:3; “I put my life in my hands and passedover,” etc.;1 Samuel 19:5; 1
Samuel 28:21. See John10:15. The Messiahwas oftenpredicted under the
characterof a shepherd.
Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible
I am the goodshepherd: the goodshepherd layeth down his life for the sheep.
This portion of this metaphoricalpassagedominates the whole passageand
bears the principal weight of meaning. A backgroundknowledge ofthe Old
Testamentconcerning the true shepherd of Israelis vital to a proper
understanding of what is meant by Jesus here.
Almighty God appears throughout the Old Testamentas the true shepherd of
Israel. Note:

53. The Lord is my shepherd (Psalms 23:1).
We are thy people and the sheepof thy pasture (Psalms 79:13).
Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadestJosephlike a flock (Psalms
80:1).
For He is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheepof his
hand (Psalms 95:7).
Moreover, the whole 34th chapter of Ezekielis given over to this metaphor of
God as the goodshepherd and the false leaders as the evil shepherds. This
greatchapter is the keyto all that is spokenhere.
Now, in the light of this very extensive metaphor in the Old Testamentmaking
God to be the only true shepherd of Israel, how is one to understand Jesus
when twice he thundered the messagethat "I am the goodshepherd"? It is no
less a declarationthat Jesus is God than if any other words had been
employed to sayit. That he did intend it thus is proved by the fact that when
the Phariseesfinally realized what he meant, they attempted to stone him for
blasphemy (John 10:33).
But there is a further corollaryof this claim of being the Good Shepherd, and
that refers to his being the Sonof David. Ezekielprophesiedthus:
And I will setup one shepherd overthem, and he shall feed them, and he shall
be their shepherd. And I Jehovahwill be their God, and my servant David
prince among them; I Jehovahhave spokenit (Ezekiel34:23,24).
Ezekiel's prophecy did not refer to the literal king David, long dead, but to the
Son of David, the Messiah, who would truly reign over the kingdom upon the
throne of David (spiritually). Thus it came to pass that throughout all Israelin
the times of Christ, the Messiahwas usuallyspokenof as "the Son of David"
(Matthew 22:42f). See the first verse of the New Testament. Thus, they are in

54. error who imagine that John did not stress the Davidic kingdom, this entire
passagebeing full of it.
Layeth down his life for his sheep... What is this if not a prophecy of the
cross? Here the reality far surpasses the metaphor; for, while it was true that
shepherds were knownto lose their lives in defense of the sheep, there is no
record of any having consentedto do so voluntarily. Jesus willingly gave
himself up to die for men.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible
I am the goodshepherd,.... A shepherd of his Father's appointing, calling, and
sending, to whom the care of all his sheep, or chosenones, was committed;
who was setup as a shepherd over them by him, and was entrusted with
them; and who being called, undertook to feed them; and being promised, was
sent unto the lost sheepof the house of Israel;and under the characterof a
shepherd, died for them, and rose again, and is accountable to his Fatherfor
everyone of them; the shepherd, the greatand chief shepherd, the famous one,
so often spokenand prophesied of, Genesis 49:24. And discharging his office
aright, he is the goodshepherd; as appears in his providing goodpasture, and
a goodfold for his sheep;in protecting them from their enemies;in healing all
their diseases;in restoring their souls when strayed from him; in watching
over them in the night seasons, lestany hurt them; in searching for them,
when they have been driven, or scatteredin the dark and cloudy day; in
caring for them, so that he lose none of them; and in nothing more than in
what follows,
the goodshepherd giveth his life for the sheep:not only exposes it to danger,
as David did his, for the sake ofhis father's flock, but gives it awayfreely and
voluntarily, for the sake ofthe sheep; in their room and stead, as a ransom for
them, that they may be delivered from death, and might have eternal life: the
Ethiopic version renders it, "the good shepherd gives his life for the
redemption of his sheep";so Nonnus paraphrases it, the "ransom price of his
own sheep":this belongs to Christ's priestly office, and with the Jews priests
were sometimes shepherds hence we readF17 of‫ר‬ tahtsdrehpehs" ,‫כהנים‬‫ועים‬
were priests". Philo the Jew speaksF18ofGod as a shepherd and king; and of

55. his setting his word, his firstborn Son, over the holy flock, to take care of it:
and a goodshepherd is thus described by theF19 Jews;
"as ‫העור‬ ‫,בוט‬"a goodshepherd", delivers the flock from the wolf, and from
the lions, (see John 10:12) so he that leads Israel, if he is good, delivers them
from the idolatrous nations, and from judgment below and above, and leads
them to the life of the world to come, or eternal life; (see John 10:10).'
Which descriptionagrees with Christ, the goodshepherd; and so the Lord is
said to be ‫העור‬ ‫,בוט‬ "the goodshepherd", and merciful, and there is none like
himF20.
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
I am the goodshepherd — emphatically, and, in the sense intended,
exclusively so (Isaiah 40:11;Ezekiel34:23;Ezekiel37:24; Zechariah13:7).
the goodshepherd giveth his life for the sheep — Though this may be said of
literal shepherds, who, even for their brute flock, have, like David,
encountered“the lion and the bear” at the risk of their own lives, and still
more of faithful pastors who, like the early bishops of Rome, have been the
foremostto brave the fury of their enemies againstthe flock committed to
their care;yet here, beyond doubt, it points to the struggle which was to issue
in the willing surrender of the Redeemer‘s ownlife, to save His sheepfrom
destruction.
People's New Testament
I am the goodshepherd. This title, applied to Jehovahin Psa 23, and in
Ezekiel34:12, Christ here applies to himself. The mark of the goodshepherd
is {that he giveth his life for his sheep}. In that unsettled country the shepherd
had often to defend his flock.

56. Robertson's WordPictures in the New Testament
I am the goodshepherd (εγω ειμι ο ποιμηνο καλος — egō eimi ho poimēn ho
kalos). Note repetition of the article, “the shepherd the goodone.” Takes up
the metaphor of John 10:2. Vulgate pastorbonus. Philo calls his good
shepherd αγατος — agathos but καλος — kalos calls attentionto the beauty in
characterand service like “goodstewards” (1 Peter4:10), “a goodminister of
Christ Jesus”(1 Timothy 4:6). Often both adjectives appeartogetherin the
ancient Greek as once in the New Testament(Luke 8:15). “Beautyis as beauty
does.” Thatis καλος — kalos
Layeth down his life for his sheep (την πσυχην αυτου τιτησινυπερ των
προβατων— tēn psuchēn autou tithēsin huper tōn probatōn). For illustration
see 1 Samuel17:35 (David‘s experience)and Isaiah 31:4. Dods quotes
Xenophon (Mem. ii. 7, 14) who pictures eventhe sheepdog as saying to the
sheep: “ForI am the one that saves you also so that you are neither stolenby
men nor seizedby wolves.” Hippocrates has πσυχην κατετετο — psuchēn
katetheto (he laid down his life, i.e. died). In Judges 12:3 ετηκα την πσυχην —
ethēka tēn psuchēn means “I riskedmy life.” The true physician does this for
his patient as the shepherd for his sheep. The use of υπερ — huper here (over,
in behalf of, insteadof), but in the papyri υπερ — huper is the usual
preposition for substitution rather than αντι — anti This shepherd gives his
life for the sin of the world (John 1:29; 1 John 2:2).
Vincent's Word Studies
The goodshepherd ( ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλὸς )
Literally, the shepherd the good(shepherd). Καλὸς , though not of frequent
occurrence in John, is more common than ἀγαθός , good, which occurs but
four times and three times out of the four in the neuter gender, a goodthing,
or that which is good. Καλὸς in John is applied to wine (John 2:10), three
times to the shepherd in this chapter, and twice to works (John 10:32, John
10:33). In classicalusage, originallyas descriptive of outward form, beautiful;

57. of usefulness, as a fair haven, a fair wind. Auspicious, as sacrifices. Morally
beautiful, noble; hence virtue is called τὸ καλὸν . The New Testamentusage is
similar. Outwardly fair, as the stones of the temple (Luke 21:5): well adapted
to its purpose, as salt(Mark 9:50): competent for an office, as deacons (1
Timothy 4:6); a steward(1 Peter4:10); a soldier(2 Timothy 2:3): expedient,
wholesome (Mark 9:43, Mark 9:45, Mark 9:47): morally good, noble, as
works (Matthew 5:16); conscience(Hebrews 13:18). The phrase it is good, i.e.,
a goodor proper thing (Romans 14:21). In the Septuagint καλὸς is the most
usual word for goodas opposedto evil (Genesis 2:17;Genesis 24:50;Isaiah
5:20). In Luke 8:15, καλὸς and ἀγαθός are found togetheras epithets of the
heart; honest (or virtuous, noble) and good. The epithet καλὸς , applied here
to the shepherd, points to the essentialgoodnessas nobly realized, and
appealing to admiring respectand affection. As CanonWestcottobserves, “in
the fulfillment of His work, the GoodShepherd claims the admiration of all
that is generous in man.”
Giveth his life ( τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ τίθησιν)
The phrase is peculiar to John, occurring in the Gospeland First Epistle. It is
explained in two ways: either (1) as laying down as a pledge, paying as a price,
according to the classicalusage ofthe word τίθημι . So Demosthenes, to pay
interest or the alien tax. Or (2) according to John 13:4, as laying aside his life
like a garment. The latter seems preferable. Τίθημι , in the sense ofto pay
down a price, does not occurin the New Testament, unless this phrase, to lay
down the life, be so explained. In John 13:4, layeth aside His garments ( τίδησι
τὰ ἱμάτια ) is followed, in John 13:12, by had taken His garments ( ἔλαβε τὰ
ἱμάτια ). So, in this chapter, giveth ( τίδησιν) His life (John 10:11), and I lay
down ( τίδημι ) my life (John 10:17, John 10:18), are followedby λαβεῖν “to
take it again.” The phrases τὴν ψυχὴν Helaid down His life, and τὰς ψυχὰς
θεῖναι tolay down our lives, occur in 1 John 3:16. The verb is used in the sense
of laying aside in the classics,as to lay aside war, shields, etc. Compare
Matthew 20:28, δοῦναι τὴν ψυχὴν , to give His life.
For the sheep ( ὑπὲρ )
On behalf of.

58. The Fourfold Gospel
I am the goodshepherd1: the goodshepherd layeth down his life for the
sheep2.
I am the goodshepherd. The relations of Christ to his people are so abounding
and complex as to overburden any parable which seeks to carry them. He is
not the only passive doorwayto life, but also the active, energizing force which
leads his people through that doorwayinto life.
The goodshepherd layeth down his life for the sheep. The verses John10:11-
14 set forth the perfect self-sacrifice throughwhich the blessings of Christ
have been obtained for us. The world-ruling spirit blesses itselfthrough the
sacrifice ofthe people; the Christ- spirit blesses the people through the
sacrifice ofself.
Calvin's Commentary on the Bible
11.The goodshepherd giveth his life for the sheep. From the extraordinary
affectionwhich he bears towards the sheep, he shows how truly he acts
towards them as a shepherd; for he is so anxious about their salvation, that he
does not even spare his own life. Hence it follows, that they who rejectthe
guardianship of so kind and amiable a shepherd are exceedinglyungrateful,
and deserve a hundred deaths, and are exposedto every kind of harm. The
remark of Augustine is exceedinglyjust, that this passageinforms us what we
ought to desire, what we ought to avoid, and what we ought to endure, in the
government of the Church. Nothing is more desirable than that the Church
should be governedby goodand diligent shepherds Christ declares thathe is

59. the goodshepherd, who keeps his Church safe and sound, first, by himself,
and, next, by his agents. Wheneverthere is goodorder, and fit men hold the
government, then Christ shows that he is actually the shepherd But there are
many wolves and thieves who, wearing the garb of shepherds, wickedlyscatter
the Church. Whatever name such persons may assume, Christ threatens that
we must avoid them.
James Nisbet's Church Pulpit Commentary
THE GOOD SHEPHERD
‘I am the Good Shepherd.’
John 10:11
When our BlessedLord calledHimself the GoodShepherd, and spoke of His
loving care for His sheep, those who heard Him felt the full force of the
beautiful and original allegory. He spoke to men who came of a shepherd race.
He appealed to those who knew what a shepherd’s life was. A more fitting
illustration could not have been chosen, and time has only shown how fully
and universally the allegoryhas been appreciated.
I. The Shepherd leads.—How many troubles would be avoided, how much
suffering and misery spared, if the sheepof Christ’s flock would only follow
Him closely, and with the confidence shown by those sheep for their guardian.
But alas!how many professing Christians are like the sheepwhich have but
little confidence in the shepherd, and only follow him with fear and hesitation.
The GoodShepherd, Jesus Christ, is ever presentto leadus, and if we follow,
nothing doubting, when we come to the river of death which lies before us all
in the shadows ofthe future, we shall then feel no fear, no hesitation, but
follow eagerlytill the eternal fold is reached.
II. The Shepherd knows.—Youshould, in the next place, try to realise whatis
meant by the Good Shepherd knowing His sheep. In this country sheepare
marked, and a shepherd canthus distinguish his own sheep, but in the Easthe
always learns to know his flock without the aid of marks. Christ, the Good

60. Shepherd, knows eachone of His flock, but not by name alone. The character,
the weaknesses, andvirtues of eachone are well known to Him. We cannot
stray awayfrom the right path without the watchful Shepherd knowing full
well; but there are no trials and temptations through which He will not gladly
and lovingly help us; no joys and sorrows with which He will not sympathise.
Every true followerof Christ can say, in the words of the Psalmist, ‘The Lord
is my Shepherd, therefore can I lack nothing.… Thy rod and Thy staff
comfort me.’ In all times of trouble (and who is there who has not or will not
have times of trouble?), in all times of temptation and suffering, this thought
of the GoodShepherd’s knowledge ofour affliction should rise up to bring
comfort and peace,
III. The Shepherd seeks.—As youfollow the Good Shepherd you will often
find that, in some weak moment, you have been tempted to take your eyes off
Him and wander aside after some worldly pleasure, tempted, perhaps, by
some other wanderer who has strayed awayfrom the right path. But then for
our greatcomfort comes the thought that the GoodShepherd will never leave
one of His flock thus wandering without making every effort to bring back the
wanderer. No sheepfrom the flock of this Shepherd ever went astraythat was
not soughtfor, and how many, thank God, have been brought back!
—Rev. W. S. Randall.
Illustration
‘One bitter January night the inhabitants of the old town of Sleswickwere
thrown into the greatestdistress and terror. A hostile army was marching
down upon them, and new and fearful reports of the conduct of the lawless
soldiery were hourly reaching the place. In one large commodious cottage
dwelt an agedgrandmother with her granddaughter and her grandson. While
all hearts quaked with fear, this agedwoman passedher time in crying out to
her Saviour that He would “build up a wall of defence round about them,”
quoting the words of an ancienthymn. Her grandsonaskedwhy she prayed
for a thing so entirely impossible as that God should build a wall about their
house that should hide it; but she explained that her meaning only was that
God should protectthem. At midnight the dreaded tramp of the soldiers was

61. heard as the enemy came pouring in at every avenue, filling the houses to
overflowing. But whilst the most fearful sounds were heard on every side, not
even a knock came to their door, at which they were greatly surprised. The
morning light made the matter clear, for just beyond the house the drifted
snow had rearedsuch a massive wall that it was impossible to getover it to
them. “There,” saidthe old womantriumphantly, “do you not see, my child,
that God could raise up a wallaround us?” This Christian womanknew what
it was to have a perfect trust in the GoodShepherd.’
(SECOND OUTLINE)
THE DIVINE SHEPHERD
‘I am the Good Shepherd.’ Is it not a Self-revelationwhich comes as a
necessarycorollaryto that interpretation of the Divine relations to mankind
which finds expressionin the 23rd Psalmand elsewhere in the writings of the
Old Testament? If once we acceptsuch a conceptionof God; if once such a
creedtakes full possessionofour hearts and minds, we are impelled by it to ‘a
sure and certainhope’ of such a Self-manifestationas we have in Jesus Christ.
I. The Divine Shepherd!—God is not only the Guide and Mainstayof great
bodies of men—of nations and churches, of generations andkingdoms; He is
the Guardian and Friend of eachindividual life. We are all known by Him
with a knowledge that is perfect. Nothing is hidden from Him—no temptation,
no anxiety, no strain, no failure, no sin, no repentance. His is the hand that
has faithfully upheld us and brought us safelythrough the dangers and
troubles which have sorely besetus. Those strange coincidences,whichwe
could not understand at the time, have been realisedin the light of subsequent
knowledge to have been His loving counsels for our welfare. It has been His
ministry that has provided with such sufficiency for our wants. We are all ‘the
sheepof His pasture.’ He is, as has been beautifully said of Him, ‘that Eternal
Tenderness whichbends over us—infinitely lower though we be in nature—
and knows the name of eachand the trials of each, and thinks for eachwith a
separate solicitude, and gave Itself for eachwith a Sacrifice as specialand a
Love as personal as if in the whole world’s wilderness there were none other
than that one.’

62. II. He is our eternal Shepherd of infinite perfection.—He ‘calls’us ‘by name.’
We may go to Him and thankfully walk in His footsteps andrejoice in the
comfort and strength of His protection. We may be certainthat there is, and
can be, no lowliness, no obscurity, no poverty, no desolation, no suffering, no
unmerited reproachwhich His ‘goodness andmercy’ do not ‘follow’ day by
day and hour by hour. We are confident that nothing that we now are or ever
have been—no vice, no depravity, no crime, no dishonour—need continue to
separate us from Him. He is ever ready to receive us back, to welcome us once
more into the shelterof the fold. ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found My sheep
which was lost.” We are none of us, even the worstand the vilest, beyond the
blessing of His care. Because ofHis Cross and Passion, becauseofthat
supreme victory in which the ‘suffering of death’ issued, because He is
‘strongerthan the strong’ and in His own Personhas overthrown death and
Satan, because He has ‘ascendedon high’ and ‘led captivity captive,’He can
be—He is—the Shepherd of us all. In a deeper sense than was everrevealed
even to the inspired Psalmist, He will be our Guide along ‘the paths of
righteousness’—‘the straitenedwaythat leadeth unto life’—our unseen but
ever-presentCompanion on that lasttremendous journey through ‘the valley
of the shadow of death’—the valley which leads to the Paradise ofGod.
Whenever we will, He feeds us, from His own sacredtable, ‘with the spiritual
food of His most precious Body and Blood.’Aye, and when all here is over and
done with, when our time comes soonerorlater, expectedly or unexpectedly—
‘To-day, or may be not to-day,
To-night, or not to-night—’
He will receive us, through the wondrous efficacyof His own Self-sacrificeand
triumph, into ‘the house of the Lord.’
Rev. the Hon. W. E. Bowen.
Illustration
‘The figure of the GoodShepherd was one which the young Church was glad
to depict. It has often been pointed out that the earliestdelineations of our
Saviour place Him before us, not with the signs and evidences ofsuffering

63. upon Him, not with worn visage and tired body, but in all the strength and
vigour of unweariedmanhood. The “Ecce Homo” of these Christians was
unmarked by horror and outrage. “Neitherthe paintings in the Catacombs
nor the sculptures in the ancientChristian sarcophagireveala single
representationof the Passionof our Lord.” It was a later generationthat
ventured to introduce the Crucifixion into the sacredcircle of subjects
suitable for Christian art. And sometimes we are asked, indeedurged, to go
back to this older type of representationas better, wiser, truer, healthier. It is
an invitation which at first makes a strong appeal to us. But none the less we
cannot consentto respond to it. An adequate picture of the human Christ will
not exclude those deep lines of suffering which came through His voluntary
Self-abasement.’
(THIRD OUTLINE)
THE IDEAL SHEPHERD
There are three parables in this chapter. In the first six verses there is the
parable of the Shepherd. To the fold mentioned in John 10:1 many flocks
would be brought at night. Then their own Shepherd would come in the
morning and lead awayhis flock to pasture. Then in John 10:7 begins the
parable of the Door. This was the Doorof the day enclosure, where the sheep
could go in and out and find food. In John 10:11 there is the parable of the
beautiful or ideal Shepherd. Here evening has come, and as the shepherds are
leading back their flocks to the fold for the night, the wolf darts forth; but the
GoodShepherd flees not like the hireling, but lays down His life for the sheep.
Let us notice three things the beautiful Shepherd is here said to do for His
sheep.
I. He knows them.—The words are even more striking in the RevisedVersion:
‘I know Mine own, and Mine own know Me, even as the Father knowethMe,
and I know the Father’(John 10:14-15). Christknows His sheep with the
same loving knowledge thatthe Fatherknows Him, and He knows the Father.
The weakest, the feeblest, the very sickliestlamb in the flock the beautiful
Shepherd loves and knows. Notone is overlooked, orforgotten, or omitted.

64. II. He dies for them.—‘I lay down My life for the sheep.’The prophet had
foretold this—‘Awake, O sword, againstMy Shepherd’ (Zechariah13:7).
‘One came by with wounded Side,
And for the sheepthe Shepherd died.’
III. He gathers them.—‘Other sheepI have, which are not of this fold (i.e. not
Jews):them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice;and they shall
become one flock, one Shepherd’ (John 10:16).
IV. ‘The Lord is my Shepherd.’—Canyou say, ‘My’? Everything depends on
that. If you can say, ‘The Lord is my Shepherd,’ then all is yours—the quiet
rest by the still waters, the restoring, the leading, the presence in the valley,
the rod and the staff to comfort, the prepared table, the ointment for the head,
the cup running over, goodness andmercy all the days of your life, and a
home beyond the grave;all this is yours if you can say ‘My.’
—Rev. F. Harper.
Illustration
‘Garabaldi and some of his army were marching through the mountains, and
as they drew near to where they intended to spend the night they met a
shepherd wandering alone. He was taken to the General, and his accountof
himself was that he was walking acrossthe hill in searchof a lost lamb.
Garibaldi heard his story, and then calledon his men to scatterand seek for
the lost. They separatedand sought, but without success;and as night closed
in the soldiers returned tired and dispirited, without the lamb. They slept well
that night; and when the morning call rousedthem from rest they opened
amazed eyes to see a great figure looming through the white mists and
advancing towards them. They marvelled, and their wonderwas none the less
when the new-comerproved to be their Generalcarrying a little lamb in his
strong arms. They had slept, but Garibaldi had soughtall night, and at dawn
he found that which was lost.’

65. John Trapp Complete Commentary
11 I am the goodshepherd: the goodshepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
Ver. 11. I am the good shepherd] So he is by an excellency, for he left his glory
to seek out to himself a flock in the wilderness. "He feeds them among the
lilies," Song of Solomon 2:16; gives them goldenfleeces, andshepherds to
keepthem, after his own heart; watchethover them night and day in his
Migdal Eder, or towerof the flock, Genesis 35:21;seeksthem up when lost,
bears them in his bosom, and gently leads those that are with young, Isaiah
40:11;pulls them out of the power of the lion and the bear, punisheth such as
either push with the horn or foul with the feet, Ezekiel34:19;washeththem in
his ownblood, and so maketh them kings and priests to God, Revelation1:5,
&c., so that they need not fear the spiritual Assyrian, Micah5:5.
Sermon Bible Commentary
John 10:11
The Shepherd of our Souls
In those countries of the Eastwhere our Lord appeared, the office of a
shepherd is not only a lowly and simple office, and an office of trust, as it is
with us, but moreover, an office of greathardship and of peril. Our flocks are
exposedto no enemies such as our Lord describes. The shepherd here has no
need to prove his fidelity to the sheepby encounters with fierce beasts of prey.
The hireling shepherd is not tried. But where our Lord dwelt in the days of
His flesh it was different. There it was true that the goodshepherd giveth his
life for the sheep.
I. From the time of Adam to that of Christ a shepherd's work has been
marked out with specialDivine favour, as being a shadow of the Good

66. Shepherd who was to come. The shepherds of old time were such as Jacob,
Moses andDavid—men at once of peace and of war; men of simplicity indeed,
"plain men living in tents"; the "meekestofmen," yet not easy, indolent men,
sitting in greenmeadows and by coolstreams, but men of rough duties, who
were under the necessityto suffer, while they had opportunity to do exploits.
And if such were the figures, how much more was the Truth itself, the Good
Shepherd, when He came, both guileless and heroic. Jacobendured, Moses
meditated, and David wrought. Christ, too, not only suffered with Jacoband
Was in contemplation with Moses,but fought and conquered with David.
Jacobwas not as David, nor David as Jacob, nor either of them as Moses;but
Christ was all three, as fulfilling all types—the lowly Jacob, the wise Moses,
the heroic David—all in one, Priest, Prophet and King.
II. Christ is our Shepherd, and His sheepknow His voice. Let us beware of not
following when He goes before. Let us not be content with ourselves;let us not
make our own hearts our home, or this world our home, or our friends our
home; let us look out for a better country, that is, an heavenly. Let us look out
for Him who alone canguide us to that better country; let us call heavenour
home, and this life a pilgrimage; let us view ourselves as sheepin the trackless
desert, who, unless they follow the shepherd, will be sure to lose themselves,
sure to fall in with the wolf.
J. H. Newman, Parochialand Plain Sermons, vol. viii., p. 230.
Of all the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, there are none more deeply
engravenin the mind of the Church, none more dear to her than these. This is
one of the Divine sayings in which there is so much of truth and love, that we
seemable to do little more than to recordit and ponder on it, to express it by
symbols, and to draw from it a multitude of peacefuland heavenly thoughts.
Let us, then, considerthe surpassing and peculiar goodnessofthe One True
Shepherd.
I. And this He has revealedto the world by His voluntary death. There was
never any other but He who came down from heaven, that He might lay down

67. His life for the sheep. While we were yet enemies, Christ died for us, "that He
might gather togetherin one the children of God that are scatteredabroad."
II. Again, His surpassing goodnessis shownin the provision He has made of
all things necessaryfor the salvation of His flock in this state of mortality and
sin. There canno soulfail of eternal life, of reaching the rest of the true fold in
heaven, except by his own free will. As the blood-shedding of the Good
Shepherd is a full and perfect ransom for all His flock, so has He pledged the
perpetual exercise of His unseen pastoralcare, to give us all that is needed for
our salvation. (1) And for this He has provided, first of all, in the external
foundation and visible perpetuity of His Church. He has securedit by the
commissionto teachall nations, by the universal preaching of His apostles, by
shedding abroad the Holy Ghost, by the revelationof all truth, by the
universal tradition of the faith in all the world. Forthe perpetuity of the
Church, He has pledged His Divine word that "the gates ofhell shall not
prevail againstit;" and in this He has provided for the perpetuity both of
truth and grace. Whatthe Church does on earth, it does in His powerand
name; and He, through it, fulfils His own shepherd care. This, then, is the
external ministration of His goodness.(2) But once more. His love and care
are shown, not only in the external and visible provision which He thus made
beforehand for the perpetual wants of His flock, but in the continual and
internal providence wherewithHe still watches overit. When He says, "I
know My sheepby name," He means that there is nothing in them which He
does not know;there is not one forgotten, not one passedover, as He telleth
them morning and evening. His eyes are upon us all. And all the complex
mystery of our spiritual being, all our secretmotions of will, our daily
sorrows, fears, andthoughts, are seenand read with the unerring gaze of our
Divine Lord. So let us follow Him now "whithersoeverHe goeth." Be our path
through joy or sorrow, in the darkness or in the light, let us follow on to the
fold which is pitched upon the everlasting hills; where the true flock shall
"pass under the hand of Him that telleth them one by one, till all the lost be
found and all His electcome in.
H. E. Manning, Sermons, vol. iii., p. 1.

68. When our Lord calls Himself the GoodShepherd, is He using a title which has
lost its value since He has ceasedto live visibly upon earth, or has this title a
true meaning for us Christians—foryou, for me, at the present day?
I. Here we cannot but observe that, writing some forty years after the
ascension, St. Petercalls Jesus Christ the Shepherd, as well as the Bishopof
Souls;and St. Paul calls Him the GreatShepherd of the sheep. And in the
earliestages ofthe Christian Church, when the cruel stress of persecution
drove the faithful from the streets and public places of Rome down into those
catacombs whichwere burrowed out beneath the busy life of the vast pagan
city, there was one figure above all others which, in the depths of their dark
prison homes, Christians delighted to draw in rude outline upon the vaults,
beneath which they prayed. It was the figure of the Good Shepherd. And ever
since those days of persecution, when Christmas been askedto bless from His
throne some work of mercy for relieving suffering, or for teaching the
ignorant, or for delivering the captive, or for raising the fallen, it has been as
the GreatShepherd of Christians—the GoodShepherd of humanity.
II. Let us briefly reflect what this truth involves as to our relations with our
Redeemer. (1) As the GoodShepherd, He knows His sheep. He knows us
individually; He knows all about us. It is because He knows us thus perfectly
that He is able to help us, to guide us, to feed us—if we will, to save us; ay, to
the very uttermost. (2) And besides this knowledge, He, the GoodShepherd,
has a perfectsympathy with eachof us. He is not a hard guardian, who sets
Himself to keepus in order without any bit of feeling for our individual
difficulties. He is touched, as His Apostle says of Him, with a feeling of our
infirmities. Nothing that affects any one of us, is a matter of indifference to
His tender heart. (3) Above all, as the GoodShepherd, the Christ, He is
disinterested. He gains nothing by watching, by guarding, by feeding such as
we. We cancontribute nothing to His majestic glory. He seeks us for our own
sakes,notfor His.
H. P. Liddon, Penny Pulpit, No. 575.
I. Considerthis subject, first of all, in its widestpossible range. The vast
family in heavenand earth, all createdbeing, is under His guidance as the

69. risen and exalted Redeemer. Notonly has He createdall things, not only does
He uphold all things by the word of His power; but, by virtue of redemption,
He exercises a peculiar and specialgovernment over all things. Howeverlittle
we may be able to enter into the meaning of such a closerrelationshipbeing
establishedby redemption, of the factitself there canbe no doubt. Our blessed
Lord has become, in a closersensethan before, the guide and overseerand
shepherd of the vast and innumerable flock of createdbeings, since He was
born at Bethlehem, since He was crucified on Calvary, since He rose
triumphant over death and hell, and was receivedup into glory. The Christian
claims for His own Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, the lordship and rule over
all the chances and changes ofhuman affairs, and the ordering of the unruly
wills and affections ofsinful men, to the furtherance of His own high and
glorious purposes.
II. We have advancedthus far; but it is plain that, so far from exhausting, we
have not even yet approachedthe full and proper meaning of the term
"Shepherd," and the office thus designated. Christ rules and orders the
universe, and thus He may be said to be its Shepherd; He governs and
arranges the nations and events of the world, and, so far, He may be said to be
its Shepherd; but there is a sense evencloserthan any of these, in which our
risen and ascendedSaviouris the GoodShepherd; in which all the tenderness
of that character, all the individual nearness, allthe constantpersonal
vigilance felt and leanedon, may be filled up and realised. Let us note His
pastoralcare of His people, and the consequentcondition of and effecton
themselves. (1) He is their Almighty Shepherd. (2) He is an ever-watchful
Shepherd. (3) He is a tender and compassionate Shepherd. (4) He is an all-
wise Shepherd. Lie still, then, little flock, assuredby His almightiness,
guarded by His watchfulness, rootedin His sympathy, and safe in His
unerring wisdom. Seek no other shepherd, for He is all-sufficient. Question
Him not, nor distrust Him. However unpromising life may be, He will bring
out of it blessing and joy; for thus saith the Lord God, "BeholdI, even I, will
both searchMy sheepand seek them out."
H. Alford, Quebec Chapel Sermon, vol. vi., p. 226.

70. Our Saviour mentions three evidences, which He gave to entitle Him to the
name of the GoodShepherd. And
I. He says, "I know My sheep." The Lord Jesus not only knows the number of
His greatflock, but His acquaintance is so close and intimate, that "He calleth
His own sheepby name."
II. "I am knownof Mine." We speak of knowing an earthly friend, not
because his name, his position, his character, orhis occupation, are known,
but because we have testedhis sincerity, his liberality, his affection. So, too, in
regard to the knowledge which Christians have of the Lord Jesus Christ.
III. The third proof which Jesus gives that He is the GoodShepherd, is the
most convincing one of all: "I lay down My life for the sheep." He enteredthe
sheepfoldby the same door with them; and, having led them through the gate
of death, He will go before them also through the gate of the resurrection, to
the better land beyond. J. N. Norton, Golden Truths, p. 171.
Christ is the GoodShepherd
I. BecauseHe owns the sheep. He is the proprietor of the flock. It follows
naturally, that He would exercise greatervigilance, and risk greaterdanger,
on their behalf. (1) They are His by the gift of the Father. Over and over again
in the course of the Gospels, He gives utterance to this truth: "Thine they
were, and Thou gavestthem Me." (2) They are His by creative ties. This
probably is the deep meaning of the phrase, "His own sheep"—sheepwhich
are His, even before they are called. The anthem of redemption excites
reminiscences in the soul of the melody of creation;the Shepherd's voice is not
strange, for we have heard it before. The sheepknow His voice. (3) They are
His also by purchase. He shed His blood, not in His own defence, but for the
sake ofthose whom He came to rescue.
II. BecauseHe knows His sheep. "I am the GoodShepherd, and know My
sheep, and am known of Mine." (1) He knows the sheep by their faces. When
a sinner is converted, he is brought face to face with the Saviour; he looks the
Saviour in the face, and the Saviour looks him in the face;and He never

71. forgets any face, once He has a full, fair view of it. (2) He knows you by your
names. When men are comparative strangers, they surname and master one
another; but the Saviour surnames and masters no one. Like the mother, the
sister, or the wife, full of tenderness and affection, He calls you by your
Christian names. (3) He, furthermore, is perfectly acquainted with your
circumstances. (4)This word "know," means something deeperyet; it means
thorough, complete apprehension of your deepestcharacter.
III. BecauseHe feeds His sheep. "They shall go in and out and find pasture."
They go in first to the fold. This supposes that they shall rest awhile after their
wearywanderings in the desert. (2) They shall go out to graze, Here is safety
and satisfaction.
IV. BecauseHe leads the sheep. He leads them (1) Gently, (2) Safely, (3)
Through life and death.
J. C. Jones, Studies in St. John, p. 282.
References:John 10:11.—ContemporaryPulpit, vol. v., p. 282;S. Baring
Gould, One Hundred Sermon Sketches,p. 154;A. Blomfield, Sermons in
Townand Country, p. 85;Homiletic Magazine, vol. xiv., p. 301;H. P. Liddon,
Three Hundred Outlines on the New Testament, p. 85. John 10:11-16.—
Preacher's Monthly, vol. iii., pp. 239-241;Clergyman's Magazine, vol. ii., p.
222;vol. iv., p. 224;Homiletic Magazine, vol. i., p. 195.
Expository Notes with PracticalObservations onthe New Testament
In these verses our Saviourevidently proves himself to be the true Shepherd
of his church, by the marks and signs, by the properties and characters, ofa
goodshepherd; which were eminently found with him; namely, to know all his
flock, to take care of them, and to lay down his life for them.
1. Jesus Christ, the greatshepherd of his church, hath an exactand distinct
knowledge ofall his flock:I know my sheep, with a three-fold knowledge, with
a knowledge ofintelligence and observation:he knows them so as to observe

72. and take notice of them, with a knowledge ofcare and protection; he knows
them so as to defend and keepthem. Thus Christ knows his sheep, and is also
known of them; that is, he is believed on, beloved, and obeyedby them.
2. He lays down his life for his flock. And for this doth he eminently deserve
the title of the goodshepherd. (As for his power, he is stiled the great
shepherd.) A goodshepherd indeed, who not only gives life to his sheep, but
gives his ownlife by way of ransom for his sheep! This example of Christ, the
greatand goodshepherd, in laying down his life for his sheep, teachethall
subordinate and inferior shepherds, to prefer the goodof their flock, even
before their ownlives.
Heinrich Meyer's Critical and ExegeticalCommentaryon the New Testament
John 10:11. ἐγώ] Repeatedagainwith lively emphasis. It is no other.
ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλός]the good, the excellentshepherd, conceivedabsolutelyas He
ought to be: hence the article and the emphatic position of the adjective. In
Christ is realized the ideal of the shepherd, as it lives in the Old Testament
(Psalms 23;Isaiah 40:11;Ezekiel34; Jeremiah23; Zechariah11; also Micah
5:3). With the conceptionof καλός compare the Attic καλὸς κἀγαθός (also
Tobit 7:7; 2 Maccabees15:12), and the contrary: πονηρός, κακός, ἄδικος.
In the following specificationof the things in which the goodshepherd proves
himself to correspondto his idea, ὁ ποιμ. ὁ καλός is solemnly repeated.
τιθέναι τ. ψυχήν] As to substance, though not as to the meaning of the words,
equivalent to δοῦναι τ. ψ. (Matthew 20:28). It is a Johanneanexpression(John
13:37 f., John 15:13;1 John 3:16), without corresponding examples in Greek
classicalwriters (againstKypke, I. p. 388);and must be explained, neither
from the simple ‫,םּום‬ Isaiah 53:10 (Hengstenberg), nor from ‫כּוׂש‬‫נ‬ ‫פ‬ֶ‫ֶׁש‬‫נ‬ ‫םּום‬
(Judges 12:3; 1 Samuel 19:5), where ‫ׂשכב‬ is essential;but from the idea of the
sacrificialdeath as a ransom that has been paid (Matthew 20:28;1 Timothy
2:6). Its import accordinglyis: to pay down one’s soul, impendere, in harmony
with the use of τιθέναι in the classics,according to which it denotes to pay (so
frequently in Demosthenes andothers; see Reiske, Ind. Dem. p. 495, ed.

73. Schaef.;Dissen, ad Dem. de Cor. p. 271). Compare Nonnus: καὶ ψυχῆς ἰδίης
οὐ φείδεται, ἀλλὰ ἑθήσει λύτρον ἑῶν ὀΐων.
ὑπέρ] for the goodof, in order to turn aside destruction from them by his own
self-sacrifice.Compare John11:50 f. It is less in harmony with this specific
point of view, from which the sacrifice ofthe life of Jesus is regarded
throughout the entire New Testament, to take τιθέναι, with De Wette, Ebrard,
Godet, as denoting merely lay down (as in John 13:4); or to assume the idea
which is foreignto the passage, “to offeras a prize for competition” (Ewald).
Johann Albrecht Bengel's Gnomonof the New Testament
John 10:11. ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλός, the GoodShepherd) He, concerning whom it
was foretold by the prophets. The Shepherd, whose peculiar property the
sheepare: good, as being the One who lays down His life for the sheep; also as
being He to whom they are an object of care, John 10:13, “The hireling careth
not for the sheep.” In our day, they who tend for pay the flocks of one town,
or one village, are calledpastors;but in this passagethe significationof the
term, pastor, is more noble. [The whole and complete office of Christ is
containedin this parabolic discourse concerning the pastorand the door.—V.
g.]— τίθησιν, lays down) This is five times said, thereby there being expressed
the greatestforce. In this, the highestbenefit, all the remaining benefits
conferredby the Shepherd are presupposed, included, and are to be inferred
[Isaiah 53:10;Isaiah 53:6, When Thou shall make His soul an offering for sin,
He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His clays, and the pleasure of the Lord
shall prosper in His hand: All we like sheephave gone astray; we have turned
every one to his own way: and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us
all],— ὑπὲρ τῶν προβάτων, for the sheep)Christ here declares whatkind of a
shepherd He evinces Himself towards the sheep: for which reason, it cannot
be inferred from this, that He did not die also for the rest of men.
Matthew Poole's EnglishAnnotations on the Holy Bible

74. That goodShepherd prophesiedof, Isaiah 40:11. I cannotagree with those
who think that Christ here speakethnot of himself as the goodShepherd, with
reference to his office, as he was the Messiah, but only in opposition to the
hirelings after mentioned. I canallow that he thus callethhimself, both in the
one respectand the other; but I cannotallow the latter sense exclusivelyto the
former; for what followeth is peculiar to the Messiah, ofwhom it was
prophesied, Daniel9:26, that he should be cut off, but not for himself: and
though it be true, that the true shepherd will hazard his life for his sheep, as
David did, when he encounteredthe lion and the bear, 1 Samuel 17:34,35;yet
it cannot be said to be the duty of the best shepherd to lay down his life for the
sheep, for the life of a man is much more valuable than the life of any beast.
Our Saviour therefore, doubtless, in this place showethwherein he was the
most excellentShepherd, far excelling the bestshepherds in the world,
because he was come, not only to expose, hazard, and adventure his life, but
actually, willingly, and freely to lay it down.
Justin Edwards' Family Bible New Testament
I am the goodShepherd; in respectto the powerof admission to God’s fold,
Christ has declaredhimself to be the door; in respectto his care over those
within the fold, he now, by another change of the figure, calls himself "the
goodShepherd"-the Shepherd of shepherds and of the flock, and the source of
goodto all.
Cambridge Greek Testamentfor Schools andColleges
11. ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ π. ὁ κ. see on John 6:35 : καλός cannotbe adequately
translated: it means ‘beautiful, noble, good,’as opposedto ‘foul, mean,
wicked.’It sums up the chief attributes of ideal perfection;comp. John 10:32,
John 2:10. Christ is the PerfectShepherd, as opposedto His own imperfect
ministers; He is the true Shepherd, as opposedto the false shepherds, who are
hirelings or hypocrites; He is the GoodShepherd, who gives His life for the
sheep, as opposedto the wickedthief who takes their lives to preserve his own.

75. Thus in Christ is realisedthe ideal Shepherd of O.T. Psalms 23; Isaiah40:11;
Jeremiah23; Ezekiel34;Ezekiel37:24;Zechariah 11:7. The figure sums up
the relationof Jehovahto His people (Psalms 80:1); and in appropriating it
Jesus proclaims Himself as the representative of Jehovah. Perhaps no image
has penetratedmore deeply into the mind of Christendom: Christian prayers
and hymns, Christian painting and statuary, and Christian literature are full
of it, and have been from the earliestages. And side by side with it is
commonly found the other beautiful image of this Gospel, the Vine: the Good
Shepherd and the True Vine are figures of which Christians have never
wearied.
τ. ψ. αὐ. τίθησιν. Layeth down His life. A remarkable phrase and peculiar to
S. John (John 10:15; John 10:17, John 13:37-38, John15:13;1 John 3:16),
whereas δοῦναι τ. ψ. αὐτοῦ occurs Matthew 20:28;Mark 10:45. ‘To lay down’
perhaps includes the notion of ‘to pay down,’ a common meaning of the word
in classicalGreek;if so it is exactly equivalent to the Synoptic ‘to give as a
ransom’ (λύτρον). Others interpret, ‘to lay aside’(John 13:4), i.e. to give up
voluntarily. In this country the statement ‘the goodshepherd lays down his
life for his sheep’seems extravagantwhen takenapart from the application to
Christ. Not so in the East, where dangers from wild beasts and armed bands
of robbers are serious and constant. Genesis 13:5;Genesis 14:12;Genesis
31:39-40;Genesis 32:7-8;Genesis 37:33;Job 1:17; 1 Samuel 17:34-35. Ὑπέρ,
‘on behalf of.’
PeterPett's Commentary on the Bible
“I am the goodshepherd, the goodshepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”
He is a goodshepherd, efficient and trustworthy, in contrastto the bad
shepherds. He does His job thoroughly, watches overHis sheepconstantly,
has deep affectionfor them and in the end is ready to give His life for them.
But He is also the goodShepherd because He is pleasing to the Father, to
Whom true goodness alone is acceptable.

76. As we know, giving His life for the sheepis what in fact He did, but His
listeners would not know that, although they would recognise the picture of
One Who had deep concernfor His sheep.
The claim to be the goodshepherd is at the leasta claim to Messiahship
(Ezekiel34:23;Ezekiel37:24-28 compare Jeremiah23:4) and to being God’s
true Servant (see Psalms 23:1;Psalms 80:1; Isaiah 40:10-11). See alsothe
opening comments above. The shepherd of Israelhas come.
Whedon's Commentary on the Bible
11. The goodshepherd—Rather, the noble shepherd; the model and original
shepherd. The shepherd does not, as some think, symbolize the mere teacher.
It includes the various ideas of government, guardianship, maintenance,
training, and leading. Kings were called by Homer the shepherds of the
people. Hence, Christ also is calledthe shepherd and bishop (or overseer)of
our souls.
Expository Notes ofDr. Thomas Constable
John 10:7-10 expand the idea of the gate from John 10:1-5, and John 10:11-18
develop the idea of the Shepherd from those verses.
Here is another "I am" claim. Jesus is the GoodShepherd in contrastto the
bad shepherds just described ( John 10:8; John 10:10 a). Rather than killing
the sheepso He might live, as the bad shepherds did, Jesus was willing to
sacrifice His life (Gr. psyche, the total self) so the sheepmight live. It is this
extreme commitment to the welfare of the sheepthat qualified Jesus as the
GoodShepherd. The titles "GreatShepherd" ( Hebrews 13:20-21)and "Chief
Shepherd" ( 1 Peter5:4) stress different aspects ofJesus" characteras a
shepherd. Goodshepherding involves protecting, providing, and sacrificing.

77. "Good" (Gr. kalos)connotes nobility and worth, not merely gentleness. It
contrasts Jesus withthe unworthy and ignoble shepherds that He proceeded
to describe ( John 10:12-13). Laying down His life is a uniquely Johannine
expressionthat describes a voluntary sacrificialdeath (cf. John 10:17-18;
John 13:37-38;John 15:13;1 John 3:16). Likewise the preposition hyper
("for") usually connotes sacrifice (cf. John 13:37;John 15:13; Luke 22:19;
Romans 5:6-8; 1 Corinthians 15:3). Mostshepherds do not intend to die for
their sheepbut to live for them; they only die for their sheepaccidentally. Yet
Jesus came to die for His sheep. Of course, Jesusalso came to die for the
whole world ( John 6:51; John 11:50-52).
Schaff's Popular Commentary on the New Testament
John 10:11. I am the goodshepherd: the goodshepherd layeth down his life
for the sheep. The aspectof the preamble here changes:in the following
verses, until the 16th, there is no mention of the fold or of the door, but of the
shepherd only and his relationto the flock. The word rendered ‘good’ occurs
but seldomin this Gospel:it differs from the word ordinarily so translated
(which howeverJohn uses still less frequently) in that it is never used to
express the idea of kindness, but always signifies what is (outwardly or
inwardly) beautiful, noble, excellent of its kind. Both words may be used to
denote moral excellence,and with but slight difference of meaning. Here then
the epithet has no reference to kindness but to excellence as a Shepherd. Is
there a shepherd whose work is not only faithful but all fair, without spot or
defect, such a Shepherd of the flock is the Lord Jesus. The highest point which
the Shepherd’s faithfulness canreachis His laying down His life for the sheep:
when the wolf assaults the flock, the GoodShepherd repels him, although He
die in the attempt. Strictly takenthese words are general, and may be saidof
every noble shepherd; but, connectedwith the first clause, they in effect
declare what is done by Jesus Himself. Our Lord’s hearers at the time would
understand no more than this, that at the peril of His life He would defend His

78. flock;but it is impossible to read chap. John 11:51 without seeing in the words
a reference to the truth declaredin chap. John 3:14-15, John 12:32,—the
atoning death of the Redeemerwhich brings life to the world.
George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary
happy are we in having such a shepherd, so great, so good, so loving, so
careful of our true welfare!O he is the true shepherd indeed, that came down
from heaven to seek the poor sheep that was lost;and when he found it, took it
upon his own shoulders to carry it home with joy to his heavenly fold. How
dearly have his sheepcosthim, for truly has he made goodin himself
sentence, that the goodshepherd giveth his life for his sheep. Let us then ever
follow and obey, love and embrace this true shepherd of our souls.
(Meditations for every Day, vol. ii. p. 417.)The goodpastorgives his life for
his sheep;he exposes himself to every danger to save them, no inclemency of
the weather, no frost or cold, no rains or tempests, can drive him from looking
over his sheep, to defend them from the attacks ofwolves, &c. and like Jacob
he might say, day and night was I parched with heat, and with cold, and sleep
departed from my eyes. (Genesis xl.) Or, like David speaking to Saul: "Thy
servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion or a bear, and took a
ram out of the midst of the flock; and I pursued after them, and struck them,
and delivered it out of their mouths; and they arose up againstme, and I
caught them by the throat, and I strangledthem, and killed them." (1 Kings
xvii.) This is a model of a true pastor. But Jesus Christ has done more than
this for us. He has exposedhis life and his repose, he has spilled his blood, he
delivered himself to the fury of his enemies, and has offeredhimself as a
victim on the cross to his eternal Father, to free us, his lostsheep, from the
most cruel wolf, the devil. And ever since his death he has always protected
his Church, assistedand consoledhis distressedflock under all their
sufferings, pouring into their hearts the consolations ofthe holy Spirit, and
sending to them holy teachers, to govern and leadthem in the holy path of
salvation. Such were the apostles andtheir successors, the bishops and priests
of the holy Catholic Church, whom he has sent, and will continue to send, to
govern his flock to the end of time. (Calmet.)

79. E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes
I am, &c. See note on John 6:33.
the goodShepherd = the Shepherd-the good[one]. Connectthis with death,
and Psa 22;connectthe "great" Shepherd with resurrection(Hebrews 13:20),
and Psa 23;and connectthe "chief" Shepherd with glory (1 Peter5:4), and
Psa 24.
giveth His life = layeth down His life. The expressionis frequent in John. See
verses:John 10:15, John 10:17, John 10:18;John 13:37, John 13:38; John
15:13. 1 John 3:16. Agreeing with the presentation in this Gospel. See page
1511. Compare Matthew 20:35. Mark 10:45.
life = soul. Greek. psuche. See App-110.
for = on behalf of. Greek huper. App-104.
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged
I am the goodshepherd: the goodshepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
I am the goodshepherd - not 'a,' but emphatically "The Good Shepherd,"
and, in the sense intended, exclusively so (see Isaiah 40:11;Ezekiel34:23;
Ezekiel37:24;Zechariah 13:7).
The goodshepherd giveth , [ titheesin (Greek #5087)] - rather, 'layeth down;'
as the word is properly rendered in John 10:15;John 10:17,
His life for the sheep. Though this may be said of literal shepherds who, even
for their brute flock have, like David, encountered "the lion and the bear" at
the risk of their own lives, and still more of faithful pastors, who, like the early
bishops of Rome, have been the foremostto brave the fury of their enemies
againstthe flock committed to their care;yet here, beyond doubt, it points to
the struggle which was to issue in the willing surrender of the Redeemer's own
life, to save His sheepfrom destruction.

80. Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(11) I am the goodshepherd.—The centralpoint of the allegoryhas now
passedfrom the “Door,” through the last verse as the connecting-link, to the
“GoodShepherd.” If we think that the whole discourse was suggestedby a
scene actuallyoccurring (comp. Note on John 10:1), then the prominence of
an actual shepherd passing before them would suggestthe turn which it now
takes.
The word “good” means that which is fair, and is in a physical sense that
which is in its own nature excellent, and in a moral sense that which is
beautiful and noble. St. John uses the word only in John 2:10, of the “good
wine,” and in this chapter here and in John 10:14;John 10:32-33. (Comp.
Note on Luke 8:15.)The passageofthe Old Testamentreferredto above has
prepared our minds for this thought of Christ, especiallyPsalms 23;Isaiah
40:11;Ezekiel34:11-16;Ezekiel34:23;Ezekiel37:24. He is the Shepherd who
is ideally good, fulfilling every thought of guidance, support, self-sacrificethat
had ever gatheredround the shepherd’s name. No image of Christ has so
deeply impresseditself upon the mind of the Church as this has. We find it in
the earliestChristian literature, as in Tertullian (Works, vol. i., p. 371, in
Ante-Nicene Library), or Clement of Alexandria (Works, vol. i., pp. 149, 462,
A.N. Lib.). We find it in the very earliestefforts of Christian art, in painting,
embroidery, and even statuary. (See Kugler’s Handbook, Italian Schools,
Lady Eastlake’sTrans., 4thEd., pp. 5 and 6.) It comes to us naturally in our
hymns and prayers. The pastoralstaff is the fit emblem of the Bishop’s work,
and the Pastoris the name by which the humble way-side flock thinks of him
who in Christ’s name is appointed to be their guide.
Giveth his life for the sheep.—This was true of the actual shepherds, of whose
devoted bravery many instances are told. A striking one is that of David
himself who rescuedthe lamb of his father’s flock from the mouth of the lion
and the bear (1 Samuel17:34-37). Thatself-sacrifice thatwould lead the
shepherd to risk his own life for that of his flock has its ideal fulfilment in Him
who is the GoodShepherd, and will give His life for mankind. The word

81. rendered “giveth is life,” should be almostcertainly layeth down His life. They
are found only in St. John’s writings. The other passagesare John10:15; John
10:17-18;John 13:37-38;John 15:13; 1 John 3:16 (twice).
Treasuryof Scripture Knowledge
I am the goodshepherd: the goodshepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
the good
14; Psalms 23:1;80:1; Isaiah40:11;Ezekiel34:12,23;37:24;Micah 5:4;
Zechariah 13:7; Hebrews 13:20;1 Peter 2:25; 5:4
giveth
Genesis 31:39,40;1 Samuel 17:34,35;2 Samuel 24:17; Isaiah53:6; Ephesians
5:2; Titus 2:14; 1 Peter2:24
The Bible Study New Testament
I am the goodshepherd. This title is applied to Jehovahin Psalm 23;Ezekiel
34:11-12. The shepherd often had to defend his flock from enemies. He is
willing to die for his sheep!
Ver. 11. "I am the goodShepherd: the goodShepherd giveth His life for the
sheep."
The words, "I am come that they might have it abundantly," in their
reference to Psalms 23 , return back from the figure of the door to the earlier
figure of ver. 2 , that of the goodShepherd, which the Old Testamentmakes

82. still more familiar. The Lord first lays down the generalproposition, "I am
the goodShepherd," and then developes it down to ver. 18 , showing in what
way He will approve Himself to be the true Shepherd. The article primarily
notes the ideal personof the goodShepherd embodied actually in Christ.
Luther's translation, "a goodshepherd," is less inexactthan on the first
glance it might appear. But when Jesus presupposes this ideal of the good
shepherd to be known to His hearers, He indirectly points to the Old
Testament, on the expressions of which alone such a knowledge couldrest. We
must not limit ourselves to those passagesofthe Old Testamentwhich refer—
like those of Jeremiah23 , Ezekiel34 , and Zechariah 11 , already
considered—directlyto the Messiahas the Shepherd of Israel. We must
include in our range also those passagesin which we read of David being a
shepherd and feeding his flock,—ofDavid, who should gloriously reappearin
his greaterdescendant, 2 Samuel 7:8; Psalms 78:70-71;1 Chronicles 11:2. So
also the passagesin which Jehovahappears as the Shepherd of Israel, Psalms
23; Isaiah40:11;Ezekiel34:11. That which the Lord in the Old Testamentdid
to His people. He did by His Angel, His Mediator. Thus was His countenance
turned upon His Church; and it was manifested in the incarnate Christ. In
Christ, David and Jehovahare at once and at the same time exhibited, as is
remarkably seenin Micah 5:4, where we read of Messiahas proceeding from
Bethlehem, and_ thus belonging to the race of David: "And He shall stand
and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord
His God." The great King of the lineage of David is so intimately one with
God, that the whole fulness of the divine power and glory belongs to Him. If
we ask what the passageswere whichthe Lord had particularly in view, we
must think first of Ezekiel34:23, "And I will setup one Shepherd over them,
and he shall feed them, even My servant David: he shall feed them, and he
shall be their shepherd;" and then of Psalms 23. To this latter points, not only
the "abundantly" of ver. 10 , which is the positive side of the Psalms negative
"wantnothing," but also the ὁ καλός. In Psalms 23 there is the full detail of all
that a goodshepherd does in all departments; this is the very essence ofthe
Psalm. The Lord the goodShepherd is its theme.
After Jesus had laid down this theme, He proceeds atonce in its development
to the supreme expressionof His shepherd-fidelity, the most effectualmeans

83. by which He approves His care of the sheep—the sacrifice ofHis life for them.
All circumstances aroundconcurred with the time to bring this near to His
thoughts. As it respects the former, the wolf was directly before His eyes
(comp. ver. 12); He had to do with those who were already concerting their
plan to put Him to death, and to get the sheepin their own power. And as it
respects the latter, the narrative has reachedthe last half-year of the life of
Jesus:"Yet a little while am I with you." He had said in ch. John 7:33, "And
then I go to Him that sent Me:" comp. ch. John 8:21. The words are, "The
goodShepherd lays down His life for the sheep. The expression, "laying down
the soulfor any one," does not occuranywhere else independently in the New
Testament. It is never found in profane writers; nor is it familiar to Hellenistic
usage. It must be referred back to the Old Testament, and specificallyto
Isaiah53:10, where it is said of Christ, "when He shall make, or place. His
soul an offering for sin,"—thatis, give His soul, for placing often stands in
Hebrew for giving;—when He shall give up His soul as an offering for sin, or
when He, the servant of God, shall presentit as a sin-offering. This will be
plain, if we consider:
1. Its Hebraistic character. We cannottell what to do with the expression, if
we do not take it back to the Hebrew. According to Lücke and De Wette,
θεῖναι is used in the sense oflayingaside;but this is too negative. Manifestly
the Hebraism place for give has passedover into the New TestamentGreek;
and this is confirmed by the parallel δοῦναι τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ, Mark 10:45;
Matthew 20:28.
2. That the unusual phrase occurs in this one discourse of Christ no less than
five times, with such evident design and such emphasis as cannot be explained
save on the ground of its being a direct reference to an important passage of
the Old Testament.
3. That the phrase is used by our Lord always, as by Isaiah, concerning His
sacrificialdeath: comp. John 15:13 with this. The ὑπέρ of itself means only
for, to the advantage of. But the expression, generalin itself, obtains a more
specific sense by its reference to the fundamental passage, Isaiah53:10. There
the offering of the soul of Christ is termed ‫,םשא‬ satisfactionor compensation.
He provides for the sins of men, which could not be forgiven without an

84. equivalent, the offering which the sinners themselves could never have
found,—and thus effects the justification of sinners before God.
Christ is here saidto lay down His life for the sheep:in ch. John 3:16, on the
other hand, we read of the love of God to the world. But the benefit reaches
only the sheep, equivalent to those who believe in ch. John 3:16. Thus in a
certain sense it was displayed only to the sheep. But in another sense the whole
world partakes the benefit, inasmuch as the way stands open to every one to
become by faith one of the sheep.
What our Lord says here is a sign to His servants also. "Those,"says Lyser,
"who forsake their flocks in the time of persecutionor pestilence orwar, are
reckonedamongstthe hirelings, as we shall hear."
PRECEPTAUSTIN RESOURCES
BARCLAY
This passagedraws the contrastbetweenthe good and the bad, the faithful
and the unfaithful shepherd. The shepherd was absolutelyresponsible for the
sheep. If anything happened to a sheep, he had to produce some kind of proof
that it was not his fault. Amos speaks aboutthe shepherd rescuing two legs or
a piece of an earout of a lion's mouth (Amos 3:12). The law laid it down: "If it
is torn by beasts, let him bring it as evidence" (Exodus 22:13). The idea is that
the shepherd must bring home proof that the sheephad died, and that he had
been unable to prevent the death. David tells Saulhow when he was keeping
his father's sheep, he had the battle with the lion and the bear (1 Samuel
17:34-36). Isaiahspeaksofthe crowdof shepherds being called out to deal
with the lion (Isaiah 31:4). To the shepherd it was the most natural thing to
risk his life in defence of his flock. Sometimes the shepherd had to do more
than risk his life: sometimes he had to lay it down, perhaps when thieves and
robbers came to despoil the flock. Dr W. M. Thomsonin The Land and the

85. Book writes:"I have listened with intense interestto their graphic
descriptions of downright and desperate fights with these savage beasts. And
when the thief and the robber come (and come they do), the faithful shepherd
has often to put his life in his hand to defend his flock. I have knownmore
than one case where he had literally to lay it down in the contest. A poor
faithful fellow last spring, betweenTiberias and Tabor, instead of fleeing,
actually fought three Bedouin robbers until he was hackedto pieces with their
khanjars, and died among the sheephe was defending." The true shepherd
never hesitated to risk, and even to lay down, his life for his sheep.
But, on the other hand, there was the unfaithful shepherd. The difference was
this. A realshepherd was born to his task. He was sent out with the flock as
soonas he was old enough to go; the sheepbecame his friends and his
companions;and it became secondnature to think of them before he thought
of himself. But the false shepherd came into the job, not as a calling, but as a
means of making money. He was in it simply and solelyfor the pay he could
get. He might even be a man who had takento the hills because the town was
too hot to hold him. He had no sense of the height and the responsibility of his
task;he was only a hireling.
Wolves were a threat to a flock. Jesus saidof his disciples that he was sending
them out as sheepin the midst of wolves (Matthew 10:16);Paul warned the
elders of Ephesus that grievous wolves would come, not sparing the flock
(Acts 20:29). If these wolves attacked, the hireling shepherd forgoteverything
but the saving of his own life and ran away. Zechariah marks it as the
characteristic ofa false shepherd that he made no attempt to gather together
the scatteredsheep(Zechariah11:16). Carlyle's father once took this imagery
causticallyto his speech. In Ecclefechanthey were having trouble with their
minister; and it was the worst of all kinds of such trouble--it was about
money. Carlyle's father rose and saidbitingly: "Give the hireling his wages
and let him go."
Jesus'point is that the man who works only for reward thinks chiefly of the
money; the man who works for love thinks chiefly of the people he is trying to
serve. Jesus was the goodshepherd who so loved his sheepthat for their safety
he would risk, and one day give, his life.

86. We may note two further points before we leave this passage. Jesusdescribes
himself as the goodshepherd. Now in Greek, there are two words for good.
There is agathos (Greek#18)whichsimply describes the moral quality of a
thing; there is kalos (Greek #2570)which means that in the goodnessthere is a
quality of winsomeness whichmakes it lovely. When Jesus is described as the
goodshepherd, the word is kalos (Greek #2570). In him there is more than
efficiencyand more than fidelity; there is loveliness. Sometimes in a village or
town people speak aboutthe gooddoctor. They are not thinking only of the
doctor's efficiencyand skill as a physician; they are thinking of the sympathy
and the kindness and the graciousness whichhe brought with him and which
made him the friend of all. In the picture of Jesus as the GoodShepherd there
is loveliness as well as strength and power.
The secondpoint is this. In the parable the flock is the Church of Christ; and
it suffers from a double danger. It is always liable to attack from outside, from
the wolves and the robbers and the marauders. It is always liable to trouble
from the inside, from the false shepherd. The Church runs a double danger. It
is always under attack from outside and often suffers from the tragedyof bad
leadership, from the disasterof shepherds who see their calling as a career
and not as a means of service. The seconddanger is by far the worse;because,
if the shepherd is faithful and good, there is a strong defence from the attack
from outside; but if the shepherd is faithless and a hireling, the foes from
outside canpenetrate into and destroy the flock. The Church's first essentialis
a leadership basedon the example of Jesus Christ.
“The GoodShepherd!”
I. INTRO:A. We’re continuing the conversationbetweenJesus & the
Pharisees afterthe healing of the blind man in chapter 9. 1. They claimed to
be spiritual guides of Israel, but have shownthemselves to be thieves &
robbers spiritually, like the false prophets/shepherds of the OT.1

87. B. Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, CalvaryChapel - corruption of God’s plan
sadly happens in all denominations, in all religions, in all countries, in all
times. 1. It happens when religion replaces a relationship with God. 2. It
happens when pride replaces gratitude for God’s grace. 3. It happens when
hunger for power replaces a desire to serve.2
C. Let’s roll back to 1stcentury sheep & shepherds. At night flocks were
brought to a sheepfold & committed to the care of the keeper/porter. In the
morning the shepherds knockedat the barred door & the porter would open
from within (or, sometimes the porter would sit in its entrance & become the
door itself). Eachshepherd would separate his sheep by giving a call. When
summoned the flock would follow its shepherd.
D. Intro Story: Two men were called on, in a large classroom, to recite the
23rd Psalm. One was a published orator trained in speechtechnique and
drama. He repeatedthe psalm in a powerful way. When he finished, the
audience cheeredand even askedfor an encore that they might hear his
wonderful voice again. Then the other man, who was much older, repeatedthe
same words - “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want…” but when he
finished, no sound came from the large class. Instead, people sat in a deep
mood of devotion and prayer. Then the first man, the orator, stoodto his feet.
“I have a confessionto make, he said. The difference betweenwhat you have
just heard from my old friend, and what you heard from me is this: I know
the Psalm, my friend knows the Shepherd.”
II. THE GOOD SHEPHERD!A. I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD!(1-6) B.
God’s people are His flock. 1. Ps.100:3 We are His people and the sheepof His
pasture.
1
1 Stibbs; SearchThe Scriptures; Jn.10:1-21 2 Adapted from Chuck Swindoll.
2. Is.40:11 He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs
with His arm, & carry them in His bosom, & gently lead those who are with
young. 3. Ps.95:7 ForHe is our God, And we are the people of His pasture,
And the sheep of His hand (or, the sheepunder His care).

88. C. Why does He compare us to sheep? 1. We are prone to wander (All we like
sheephave gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way) 2. We
need a Shepherd to guide us (like sheep do) 3. Sheepflock together, so should
we (should be no lone wolves!)
D. (3) Hear - listen attentively to, & so to obey. E. (4) He brings out His own
sheep, He goes before them - a rebuke to the Pharisees who expelled the man
born blind. F. (4b) Forthey know his voice - A man in Australia was arrested
and chargedwith stealing a sheep. But he claimed emphatically that it was
one of his own that had been missing for many days. When the case wentto
court, the judge was puzzled, not knowing how to decide the matter. At lasthe
askedthat the sheepbe brought into the courtroom. Then he ordered the
plaintiff to step outside and callthe animal. The sheepmade no response
exceptto raise its head and look frightened. The judge then instructed the
defendant to go to the courtyard and call the sheep. When the accusedman
beganto make his distinctive call, the sheepbounded toward the door. It was
obvious that he recognizedthe familiar voice of his master. Source unknown
G. (6) Illustration - allegory, figure of speech. A story that canbe interpreted
to reveal a hidden meaning.
H. I AM THE DOOR!(7-21)I. (9) Remember the religious leaders last
chapter excommunicatedthe newly healed blind man - attempting to slam the
door of God in his face!1. Little did they realize that they’d actually freed him
from their man-made house of hell to find the true Doorwho opens heaven to
us all. J. In & out to find green pasture (or, spiritual nourishment). 1.
Shepherds/porters regulate the coming & going of sheepbetweenthe sheep
pen & the pasture. a) As the door, Jesus decides who enters the family of God.
2. Saved- the entire process ofsoul-health! F.B.Meyer [in for fellowship; out
for service!] 3. It is He who gives salvation, security, & satisfactionto all who
enter here! K. In Dante’s Divine Comedy he shares the supposed inscription
at the entrance to Hell, “Abandon all hope ye who enter here”. 1. Q: Does
that sign hang anywhere in your life? “Abandon all hope ye who enter here”
2

89. 2. Q: Any situation in your life that seems hopeless?a)Does it hang over a
bottle/alcoholthat seems impossible to walk awayfrom @ night? b) Does it
hang over every meal with your eating disorder? c) Does it hang overyour
unemployment, thinking you’ll never find work? d) Does it hang over your
marriage that constantly feels “it’s over”? e)Where have you abandoned all
hope? 3. We canaffix a different signat the entrance to this new door,
“Abandon yourself ye who enter here”; or, “Gain all hope ye who enter here!”
a) God tells Hosea I will allure her(Israel/his wife)...Iwill give her her
vineyards...and the Valley of Achor(formerly meant trouble) as a door of
hope; She shall sing there, as in the days of her youth. (2:14,15)b) Enjoy all
HOPE...thosewho enter here! (through the Jesus Door!)
L. (10) Steal, kill, destroy - Howard Hughes - All he ever really wanted in life
was more. He wanted more money, so he parlayed inherited wealth into a
billion-dollar pile of assets. He wanted more fame, so he broke into the
Hollywood scene and soonbecame a filmmaker and star. He wanted more
sensualpleasures, so he paid handsome sums to indulge his every sexualurge.
He wanted more thrills, so he designed, built, and piloted the fastestaircraft
in the world. He wanted more power, so he secretlydealt political favors so
skillfully that two U.S. presidents became his pawns. All he ever wantedwas
more. He was absolutely convincedthat more would bring him true
satisfaction. Unfortunately, history shows otherwise. This man concluded his
life emaciatedand colorless;with a sunken chest;fingernails in grotesque,
inches-long corkscrews;rotting, black teeth; tumors; and innumerable needle
marks from his drug addiction. Howard Hughes died believing the myth of
more. He died a billionaire junkie, insane by all reasonable standards.3 1.
Steal, kill, destroy - that's all our enemy his minions are about.
M. (10b) Oh, let us not be content until our life has become abundant life!
Becauseour life, costthe Shepherd His life!
N. (13) Beware ofthieves(1,10);strangers(5);& hirelings(12) 1. Thieves,
robbers, strangers & hirelings - the false Messiahs;false prophets; Pharisees
& Scribes;the religious leaders of ch.9 who were more interested in fleecing
the sheepthan in guiding, nurturing & guarding them.

90. O. (14) The Good Shepherd(gave His life; Ps.22);The GreatShepherd
[He.13:20](Cares for the sheep;Ps.23);The Chief Shepherd [1Pet.5:4](Will
come againin glory; Ps.24)
3
3 Bill Hybels; Leadership.
P. Good- John used an unusual term for Good. It means good, beautiful. It
has the connotationof a winsome, attractive, & virtuous person.4 1. We might
use it in the sense of a model of perfection. 2. Few portraits of Jesus have more
appeal than His role of Shepherd. 3. The “goodness”ofthis Shepherd abides
in the fact that He does not spare Himself in looking after the sheep.
Q. (16) Other sheepI have - The language is sovereign& prophetic. 1.
Gentiles? Yes. - But also family members, co-workers, friends who are not
following the Shepherd yet. 2. Q: What other sheepdoes he want to lead to
Himself, through you?
R. (16b) 2 groups would become 1 fold, but only through 1 Shepherd. 1.
Eph.2:11,13,16 Therefore, rememberthat formerly you who are Gentiles by
birth...but now in Christ Jesus you who once were far awayhave been
brought near through the blood of Christ...to reconcile both of them to God
through the cross.
S. (18) In the OT the sheepdied for the shepherd; Christ is the Shepherd who
dies for the sheep!T. The story of the GoodShepherd is not the tragic story of
a Victim but the tremendous story of a Victor! One who voluntarily laid down
His life on our behalf. 1. Pilate tried to intimidate Jesus w/the authority to
release Him or crucify Him. 2. Petertried to protect Him w/his sword a
Gethsemane. a)But Jesus’death was voluntary. He told Peter“put awayyour
sword, do you think I cannot ask My Father, & He will at once put at my
disposalmore than 12 legions ofangels?” & He told Pilate “you would have
no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above.” 3. In vs.18 it
speaks aboutboth His death & resurrection!

91. U. (20) Mixed reactions - Satanic or Psychotic. The dissensionremains
unresolved as the curtain abruptly falls on this scene. 1. Vs.22-42carry’s the
same theme(Shepherd) but is 2/3 months later.
V. How do you recognize if you’re following the True Shepherd? You hear
His voice(relationship- He speaks to you); He calls you by name(intimacy);
He leads you. 1. Do you know His voice?
4
4 Shepherds Notes;pg.53
W. If you are a shepherd of God’s people, how does your leadershipstack up
w/the characteristicscommunicatedin these passages?In light of Christ’s
self-sacrificing model? What would you like to change?
X. (Ps.23 MessageBible)God, my shepherd! I don’t need a thing. You have
bedded me down in lush meadows, youfind me quiet pools to drink from.
True to your word, you let me catchmy breath and send me in the right
direction. Even when the way goes through DeathValley, I’m not afraid when
you walk at my side. Your trusty shepherd’s crook makes me feelsecure. You
serve me a six-course dinner right in front of my enemies. You revive my
drooping head; my cup brims with blessing. Your beauty and love chase after
me every day of my life. I’m back home in the house of God for the rest of my
life.
Y. The 23rd PsalmExplained! Z. The Lord is my Shepherd - That's
Relationship! I shall not want - That's Supply! He makes me to lie down in
greenpastures - That's Rest!He leads me beside the still waters - That's
Refreshment! He restores my soul - That's Healing! He leads me in the paths
of righteousness - That's Guidance! For His name sake - That's Purpose!Yea
though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death - That's Testing!I
will fear no evil - That's Protection!For Thou art with me - That's
Faithfulness!Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me - That's Discipline! Thou
prepares a table before me in the presence ofmine enemies - That's Hope!
Thou anoints my head with oil - That's Consecration!My cup runs over -
That's Abundance! Surely goodness andmercy shall follow me all the days of

92. my life - That's Blessing!And I will dwell in the house of the Lord - That's
Security! Forever- That's Eternity! 1. So, do you know the Psalm, or do you
know the Shepherd?
AA.Jesus did not become entrapped in some stickypolitical web from which
he could not extricate Himself. Rather, He spun a story of selfless sacrificeso
enticing, so enchanting, that it would attractpeople to Him for millennia to
come.5 1. Yes, it’s a 2000 yearold story. The story of a Shepherd so supremely
goodthat nothing stoodin the way of His love for His sheep. Noteven His own
life! 2. Q: Do you hear the voice of this Shepherd, calling you this morning? 3.
Q: Are you ready to follow this Shepherd? by BRIAN BELL
The Gracious Shepherd
John 10: 7-18
As we continue our study of the passageswhere Jesus declares “Verily,
verily” againwe find ourselves in this wonderful passagedealing with the
greatShepherd of the sheep. Christ offered Himself as the sacrificiallamb for
our sins, and yet He stands as the Shepherd of our souls as well. He
continually guides the sheepas they follow Him. We rest in His care.
Our text today deals with the gracious nature and provision of the Shepherd
for His sheep. This passagebears greatapplicationto our salvationand the
continued care we enjoy in Christ after coming to Him by faith. I rejoice He
doesn’t just save us and setus out to make our own way. He provided the
means of our salvation and He continues to care for us as we journey through
life. We are blessedbeyond measure to have such a gracious Shepherd to
follow.
As we are reminded of our many blessings in Christ, I want to examine the
blessings revealedin the text as we consider:The Gracious Shepherd.

93. I. The Access through the Shepherd (7-9) – Our opening verses revealthe
gracious accesswe have in Christ. Notice:
A. The Entrance (7, 9a) – Then saidJesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I
say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. [9] I am the door. Jesus had spoken
of the door into the sheepfold earlierin this passage. He revealedHimself as
the Shepherd with legitimate accessto the fold. Now He declares thatHe too is
the door of the sheepfold. He remains the Shepherd, and He is also the only
door or means of entrance into the fold. Acts 4:12 – Neither is there salvation
in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men,
whereby we must be saved.
 We need to understand what Jesus was speaking ofhere. He was painting a
mental picture that all who heard would comprehend. He is not speaking of a
door like the ones we are familiar with. In that day, sheep were kept in an
enclosure of stone or branches formed into a wall. An opening was left for an
entrance, but there was no literal door hung on hinges. The shepherd became
the door of the sheepfold as he laid in the narrow passageway. He was
literally their door, their defense, and stay.
B. The Resistance (8) – All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers:
but the sheep did not hear them. Others had come prior to Christ promising
acceptanceto God, but they were only thieves and robbers. They sought to
instill principles that required sums of money given, works
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performed, or rituals upheld. These neverbring reconciliationto God and
only robbed people of their time, money, and peace. Manhas always sought
another way to please Godrather than through Christ. They resistthe notion
that He is the way of forgiveness and eternallife.
 Surely many were deceived, but those who soughtthe Lord and were
sensitive to His guidance did not fall victim to such false doctrine. They
embracedthe truths of God’s Word and recognizedJesus as the Christ. We
too are surrounded by many who claim a different way, but we have received
truth in Christ. The sheep of His fold will not heed the voice of strangers.
C. The Abundance (9) – I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be
saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. Jesus reveals the great
abundance we enjoy through Him. Consider:
 Our Salvation – by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved. All who come
to Him shall be saved. He doesn’t reveala chance of salvation, but a certainty
of salvation. John 6:37 – All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and
him that comethto me I will in no wise castout.
 Our Security – by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in
and out. We also have the glorious privilege of going in and out. Now, don’t
misunderstand the text. Jesus is not referring to multiple salvation
experiences. The savedare eternally secure in Him. This is referring to the
liberty and assurance we have in Christ our Lord. We no longerhave to fear
death or the storms of this life. We have confidence we are going to make it

95. through Christ. 2 Tim.1:12 – For the which cause I also suffer these things:
nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am
persuaded that he is able to keepthat which I have committed unto him
againstthat day.
 Our Satisfaction– by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go
in and out, and find pasture. This is a conceptthat many in Jesus’day were
familiar with. The shepherd led the sheepto abundant pastures. It has the
idea of “plenty, not wanting or lacking the necessitiesoflife.” It is goodto be
led of the Great Shepherd to His pastures green. I have never found Him to be
lacking in His care for me and I have never wantedwhile feasting upon His
abundant supply. The world has nothing to compare with the pastures of the
Lord. I have nothing to look back or turn back for.
II. The Attendance of the Shepherd (10-15)– Jesus continues to reveal His
greatlove for the sheep. Notice:
A. His Care (10-11)– The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to
destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more
abundantly. [11]I am the goodshepherd: the goodshepherd giveth his life for
the sheep. Others sought to stealand destroy, but Jesus shows great
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love and compassion. He came to offer Himself on the cross so we might be
pardoned of sin and granted eternal life. He came to give us life more
abundantly. Jesus desires thatwe live in victory, triumphing in Him. We can
have that if we will continue to follow the Shepherd.
B. His Caution (12-13)– But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd,
whose ownthe sheepare not, seeththe wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep,
and fleeth: and the wolf catcheththem, and scattereththe sheep. [13] The
hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and carethnot for the sheep. We are
cautionedto watchwho we follow. There were many in Jesus’day that
appearedto care for the people, but they were not diligent in their care. When
trouble came they would flee the fold and leave them to the wolves which
scatteredthe sheep.
 We too must heed this caution. There are many today that appear to have
the interestof the church at heart, but are only hirelings. They stay as long as
the pay is goodand things are going well. They do not concernthemselves
with biblical doctrine or the well being of the church. Be careful who you
follow and allow to influence your spiritual aspirations.
C. His Commitment (14-15)– I am the goodshepherd, and know my sheep,
and am known of mine. [15] As the Fatherknoweth me, even so know I the
Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. We serve One that is committed
to us. I am glad to know Him, but more importantly, I am glad He knows me.

97. He cares for us individually; He knows eachof our burdens and needs. We are
never beyond the watchful care of our Shepherd.
 Jesus spoke ofthe hireling fleeing in the presence ofwolves. Jesus as the
goodShepherd stoodHis ground and provided for the sheep. In the face of
death awaiting the righteous judgment of God for our sin, Jesus never
wavered. He willingly laid down His life for the sheep. He died so we might
live. He was so committed to us that He gave His life’s blood on the cross for
our redemption. Surely we can depend on One who loves so much and has
shown such commitment!
III. The Atonement in the Shepherd (16-18)– Here Jesus describes the coming
sacrifice He would make in order to atone those who believed in His day and
all who would follow. Consider:
A. The Grace (16a) – And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them
also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice;My what a blessing we find
here. Jesus was speaking to the Jews, those ofthe household of Israel, and yet
He declares there are other sheep, not of that fold, that He must bring to
Himself as they hear His voice!He is referring to the grace ofGod that would
be poured out on all humanity. The Gentiles, you and I, would also have the
opportunity of salvation!!
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 Aren’t you gladHis grace wasn’treservedsolelyfor the Jews? Aren’t you
glad grace was extendedto us as well? Jesus knew prior to the cross thatHe
would die for those yet to hear. He knew that we too would be recipients of
such marvelous grace!
B. The Gathering (16b) – and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. There
will be no segregationin heaven. All the savedmake up the body of Christ.
We are no longerviewed in light of our race, heritage, orsocialclass. We are
viewed as the children of God, His heirs and jointheirs with Christ. There will
be one fold in heaven, and we will all worship the same Lord! Gal.3:2628 –
For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. [27]Foras many of
you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. [28] There is neither
Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor
female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
C. The Guarantee (17-18)– Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay
down my life, that I might take it again. [18] No man taketh it from me, but I
lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it
again. This commandment have I receivedof my Father. Those who heard
these words that day were likely confused. Calvary was yet in the distance;
Jesus was yetto die, but He foretells coming events. He would soongive His
life a ransomfor the sins of humanity. He would soonoffer Himself as the
atonement for sin. His life was not takenfrom Him. He willingly laid it down.
He possessedpoweroverlife and powerover death.

99.  Eachof us should rejoice atthese words. Had there been no death there
would be no life. Had Christ not offered Himself we would yet be condemned
in sin. As He died on the cross and declaredthe work finished, He securedour
salvation!We have the assurance ofsalvationthrough the finished work of
Christ on the cross. We are not depending on the guidance of hirelings or the
works of the flesh. Our hope and assuranceis in Christ and Christ alone!
Conclusion:We have considereda rich and meaningful passage. I am
thankful for the greatShepherd of my soul. I enjoy His tender care and
guidance in my life. I rest secure in Him, enjoying the abundant life He gives.
I have full assuranceofeternal life through Christ.
Do you know Christ as the Shepherd of your soul? Have you believed in Him
by faith? He is the only door of salvation. There is no hope beyond this life
apart from Christ. Come to Him if He has dealt with your heart in salvation.
Christian, are you continuing to follow the Shepherd of your soul? If you
have wandered, He is calling for you to return to Him. Come as He leads.
ALAN CARR
John 10:1-16 JESUS:THE GOOD SHEPHERD

100. Intro: "Two men were calledon, in a large classroom, to recite the Twenty-
third Psalm. One was a published orator trained in speechtechnique and
drama. He repeatedthe psalm in a powerful way. When he finished, the
audience cheeredand even askedfor an encore that they might hear his
wonderful voice again. "Thenthe other man, who was much older, repeated
the same words--'The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want...'But when he
finished, no sound came from the large class. Instead, people sat in a deep
mood of devotion and prayer.
"Then the first man, the orator, stood to his feet. 'I have a confessionto
make,'he said. 'The difference betweenwhat you have just heard from my old
friend, and what you heard from me is this: I know the Psalm, my friend
knows the Shepherd.'"
Of the many images painted by John in his wonderful Gospel, probably the
most descriptive is that of Jesus as the GoodShepherd. For like a shepherd,
Jesus is concernedwith the welfare and the care of His sheep. As Jesus
delivered this sermon, on the heels of healing the blind man at the Temple, He
clearly declares His identity and plainly states His purposes and plans. In
these verses, we canthe heart of Jesus on display. Here, He reveals His great
love for sinners and His plan for dealing with their sin.
As I bring the message this morning, I want you to ask yourselfthis question,
"Do I really know the Shepherd?" If you do not know Him, then I want you to
know this is a messagethat you need to hear. Forduring the next few minutes,
you are going to hear first hand, from the Bible itself, exactly how you can be
saved. My prayer for you is that if you do not know Jesus as you personal
Savior this morning that you will before you leave this building today. If you
do know Him, then you are going to hear how knowing the Shepherd makes
your life more abundant and rich.
These verses teachus that Jesus possessescertainqualities that qualify Him to
be called the Good Shepherd. I would like to take a few minutes this morning
to look into this passageandsee for ourselves why Jesus deservesthis title.
Please go along with me today as we walk through these verses and discover
Jesus:The GoodShepherd.

101. I. V. 1-5 HE POSSESSESTHE RIGHT CREDENTIALS
A. V. 1-3a He Came Properly - (Ill. Jesus uses the imagery of the sheepfold to
illustrate His message. A Sheepfoldwas a circular wall about 10 feettall with
a single opening that served as a door. Severalflocks might be placed into the
sheepfoldat night, with one of the shepherds lying in the opening to serve as
the door. Nothing could getinto, or out of the sheepfold without having to go
through the shepherd. Jesus is telling His audience that only thieves and
robbers seek to enter the sheepfoldby anothermeans besides the door. The
shepherd, however, always comes in the right way!)
(Ill. Jesus proves that He is the Shepherd of the sheep because He came into
the world in the right manner. He entered according to plan. He had
presentedHis credentials to His people. Notice the proof that He came in the
right way:
1. He had been virgin born - Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:21-23
2. He had been born in Bethlehem - Micah5:2; Matt. 2:4-6
3. He had come in the fulness of time - Gal. 4:4
4. He had been brought out of Egypt - Hos. 11:1; Matt. 2:14-15
5. His arrival had provokedthe rage of the enemy - Jer. 31:15; Matt. 2:16-18.
Ill. He was the right person, born in the right place, arriving at the right time,
summoned from the right country, and attended by the right sign. He
possesses allthe credentials necessaryto prove that He is the GoodShepherd!
(Ill. Luke 4:18-19;Isa. 61:1-2)When Jesus came with the right credentials, the
porter, John the Baptist openly introduced Him to the nation and declared
His identity - John 1:29.
B. He Calls Properly - (Ill. There may be severalflocks sharing the same
sheepfold. However, when the shepherd of the sheepwalks up to the door and
calls his sheep, they instantly recognize his voice and respond to him. They
know his call.)

102. (Ill. A man in Australia was arrestedand chargedwith stealing a sheep. But
he claimed emphatically that it was one of his own that had been missing for
many days. When the case wentto court, the judge was puzzled, not knowing
how to decide the matter. At lasthe askedthat the sheepbe brought into the
courtroom. Then he ordered the plaintiff to stepoutside and call the animal.
The sheepmade no response exceptto raise its head and look frightened.
The judge then instructed the defendant to go to the courtyard and call the
sheep. When the accusedman beganto make his distinctive call, the sheep
bounded toward the door. It was obvious that he recognizedthe familiar voice
of his master. "His sheepknows him," said the judge. "Case dismissed!")
(Ill. So it is with the lost soul. There are many voices which compete for our
attention in the world, but there is a specialnote to the voice of the voice of the
Lord. When He calls, everything changes - John 6:44. The lost sinners is dead
until he is awakenedby the Holy Spirit - Eph. 2:1. You see, the voice of the
GoodShepherd is the only one that can awakenthe dead heart. The only one
that can give us hope. The only one that sounds right to a desperate soul. Ill.
All other calls sound empty and frightening when compared to the sweetcall
of the Lord Jesus.)
C. V. 4-5 He Commands Properly - (Ill. When the shepherd calls forth his
sheep, he goes before them and they instinctively follow him. He doesn't have
to drive them, that is for goats. He just leads them out and they follow close
behind.)
(Ill. What a truth! When a soul is saved by the grace ofGod, they will have a
desire to follow the GoodShepherd! When a person is savedand their heart is
right with God, they do not have to be beggedto come to worship, to tithe, to
share their faith, etc. They have been called out by the Shepherd and have a
burning burden to worship Him, 2 Cor. 5:17. Their heart's desire is summed
up by 1 Cor. 10:31.)
I. He Possesses The Right Credentials
II. V. 6-10 HE POSSESSESTHE RIGHT CHARACTER

103. A. V. 6-8 His Personality- In these verses, Jesus revealsHis identity as the
Door. If you will remember, there was only one opening going into or out of
the sheepfold. It was in this opening that the shepherd lay. Therefore, the
shepherd Him self became the door of the sheep. Nothing could enter the fold,
nothing could exit the fold without going through the shepherd himself.
(Ill. If anyone desires entrance into the fold of God, there is only one door.
That door is Jesus Himself! He is the only wayto God, Eph. 2:18; John 14:6;
Acts 4:12. This truth is abundantly clearfrom 1 John 5:12. Jesus is the only
way to the Father. Any other way leads to death and damnation - Matt. 7:13-
14.)
(Ill. This may seemnarrow minded and out of step with our modern way of
thinking. However, it is perfectly in line with what God has said in His Word -
1 Tim. 2:5.)
B. V. 9a His Performance - Jesus plainly tells His listeners that He alone is the
door into God's eternal salvation. His promise to those who enter is that they
will be saved. That is, they will be rescuedfrom the wrath of God and will
experience the fullness of God's perfectsalvation.
(Ill. Saved = to be rescuedfrom all harm and danger. When a sinner comes to
Jesus and is born again, they are foreverdelivered from the awesome wrathof
Almighty God - John 5:24; Rom. 5:9.)
(Ill. It is wonderful to be eternally savedand free from the fear of dying lost
and ending up in Hell. I am grateful for the salvationthat I have in Jesus
today!)
C. V. 9b-10 His Promise - (Ill. The thief is a threat to the sheep. When a thief
enters the fold, his primary purpose is to use the sheepfor his own personal
gain. He doesn't care about their welfare. The Good Shepherd, on the other
hand, comes so that the sheepmight experience a life that is immeasurably
better. He cares aboutthe sheepand He promises them a new and better life
in Himself.)
(Ill. Everything changes whena person meets Jesus!When He enters into a
life, it cannot remain the same. He gives us the ability to live better, to love

104. better and to do something with our lives that will glorify God. Jesus makes
the difference betweena life that is lived for the devil and one that is lived for
the Lord - Eph. 2:1-4! Ill. "But God!)
I. He Possesses The Right Credentials
II. He PossessesThe Right Character
III. V. 11-16 HE POSSESSES THE RIGHT CONCERN
A. V. 11-13 His ConcernIs Proven By His Sacrifice - (Ill. Jesus explains the
difference betweenthe concernedshepherd and the hireling. The hireling is
there only for the paycheck. When trouble comes, he runs awayand leaves the
sheepto be devoured by the wolves. The shepherd, on the other hand, owns
the sheepand has a vested interestedin their welfare. Therefore,the good
shepherd is willing to pay any price to protect the sheep, even if it means that
he has to give His very life for them.)
(Ill. Jesus has proven that He is the GoodShepherd because He saw the
danger that the sheepwere in and did not run away, but did everything in His
powerto save them. The Bible says that people are like wayward sheep, Isa.
53:6. This waywardness, orsin, that is in us has separatedus from both
fellowship and relationship with God, Isa. 59:2. Worse than this, the sin of
man has brought him under the wrath of God, John 3:18; 36. This condition
will eventually culminate in every lost sinner being castinto an eternalHell,
Rom. 6:23. However, Jesus did something to change that! Since God had said
that the wages ofsin was death, Jesus came down from Heaven and was born
in human flesh. Then, after a sinless life He died on a cross, taking the place of
every sinner who would put his/her faith in Him, 2 Cor. 5:21; 2 Cor. 5:15.)
(Ill. The terrible death Jesus was calledupon to endure for sinners. There is
no more horrible death known to mankind than that of crucifixion, Isa. 52:14;
Psa. 22:14-22.He was beaten, mocked, spit upon, slapped, had the beard
plucked from His face, was whipped with a cat-o-nine tails, was forcedto wear
a crownof thorns which were driven deep into His head by His tormentors
with a staff. He endured all of this simply because He loved you and me. Yet,
beyond this, He endured the awesome wrathof Almighty Godagainstall sin.

105. When Jesus was on that cross, He literally became sin and was judged in our
place. By this priceless sacrifice forthe sheep, He deserves the title Good
Shepherd!)
(Ill. Some might ask, "Why did Jesus have to die?" The answeris simple!
Bloodis required to redeem the soul from sin - Heb. 9:22. When Jesus died,
He shed His blood, and later, after His resurrection, He ascended into Heaven
with the blood and offereda perfect sacrifice onthe mercy seatin Heaven,
Heb. 9:12; 24-28;10:12. Thank God for the Bloodof Jesus!It is the sinner's
only plea - 1 Pet. 1:18-19;Rev. 1:5; Rev 5:9. He had to die so that you might
live!)
B. V. 14 His ConcernIs Proven By His Sheep - (Ill. Jesus speaksofthe bond
that exists betweenthe shepherd and his sheep. They know Him and will not
follow another, and the shepherd knows his sheep. Ill. The individual sheepin
a flock all look alike to the untrained eye. A goodshepherd, however, can tell
them apart--often because oftheir defects and peculiar traits. A man who was
tending a large flock explained this to a Christian friend who expressed
surprise at his familiarity with eachanimal. "See that sheepover there?" he
asked. "Noticehow it toes in a little. The one behind it has a squint; the next
one has a patch of wooloff its back;aheadis one with a distinguishing black
mark, while the one closestto us has a small piece torn out of its ear."
Observing all of them, the believer thought about Christ, the Chief Shepherd,
who also knows the individual weaknesses andfailings of His flock and
watches overthe members with discerning love and sympathetic
understanding. With infinite concernHe notes the doubts, fears, trials,
conflicts, and defeats that disturb their peace, and He swiftly comes to their
aid.)
(Ill. May I remind you with morning that the GoodShepherd knows His
sheep? He knows everything there is to know about you - Matt. 10:29-31;
Matt. 6:8. He knows every strength and every weakness. He knows every joy
and every burden. He knows every mountain and every valley. He knows
every victory and every battle and He stands ready to help you in your times
of need, Heb. 4:15-16. He is your GoodShepherd and He will look after you -

106. Psa. 23:1-6)(Ill. He is still Jehovah-Jireh- "The Lord will see to it!", Gen.
22:14.)
C. V. 15-16 He Proves His ConcernBy His Salvation - (Ill. Jesus makes it
plain that there will be other sheep that will come along afterwards. These
sheepcan be assuredof being savedjust like those who were there to hear
Jesus speak. Yousee, He came the first time to the nation of Israel, John 1:11,
but when they rejectedHim, He turned to the Gentiles. Therefore, anyone
who needs salvationcan rest assuredthat Jesus will provide that salvation
when faith is placed in Him - John 1:12.)
(Ill. When faith is placedin Jesus Christ, salvationis always the result. This
salvationis complete, Heb. 7:25; and it is eternal, vrs. 28-29. The goodnews is
this: Jesus died for every personin the world, including you. If you will come
to Him right now and will place your trust in Him, He will save your soul. You
see, the salvationthat Jesus provides is open to all. He is still the Doorand He
is still the Good Shepherd. Like the shepherd of Luke 15:4-7, He is still out on
the mountains of sin searching for those who are lost and awayfrom the fold.
All who will respond to Him in faith will be brought into the flock and will be
saved, Acts 16:31.)
Conc:There is no question that Jesus is the GoodShepherd. The only
question that remains at this point in the service is this: Do you know the
Shepherd? How you answerthat question determines where you can expectto
spend eternity. Your answerto that question will make all the difference
betweenHeaven and Hell. If you know the Shepherd, then you canrejoice in
the factthat He will ever be with you and that He will ever watchover you. If
you do not know Him, then I invite you to come to Him right now. You do not
have to, nor should you want to wait. Delayis dangerous!Come to Jesus today
and He will save your soul. He will place you in the flock of God. He will save
you from the wrath of God. He will give you a new life and a new birth. Will
you come to Him?
STEVEN COLE

107. The True Shepherd and His Sheep(John 10:1-6)
RelatedMedia
May 11, 2014
When I was in seminary, my professors in preaching classesallstrongly
emphasized the need to be clearwhen you preach. One professoroften
repeated, “A mist in the pulpit is a fog in the pew.” In other words, if you’re
slightly fuzzy in your preaching, your congregationwill be completely lostin
the fog.
While I agree with that and I work hard to be clear, I sometimes wonderwhat
kind of grade in preaching class the greatestpreacherwho has ever lived
would have received. And I wonder whether He would be well-receivedas a
preacherin modern evangelicalchurches. The reasonI say that is that Jesus
often left His audience—including His inner circle of followers—confused
about what He was saying. It’s not that Jesus was unclear, of course. He knew
the truth of God as no one else has everknown it. But often He deliberately
spoke in cryptic language, leaving His hearers scratching their heads about
what He meant. That was the case in our text, as verse 6 shows:“This figure
of speechJesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things
were which He had been saying to them.”
This text is the closestthing to a parable in John’s Gospel. It’s more like an
allegoryor a symbolic illustration. But Jesus oftenspoke in parables. Matthew
13:34 says, “All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables, and He did
not speak to them without a parable.” Parables revealedthe truth to those
who really sought it, but it also concealedthe truth from scoffers and those
who were ambivalent about it. In verse 6, “they” refers to the Pharisees, with
whom Jesus was speaking in John 9:41. They didn’t get it. But there are still a
lot of divergent opinions among commentators today on the exact
interpretation of the details here.
One key to understanding this passage is to view it in its context. John did not
divide his Gospelinto chapters and verses, so we should not draw a line
betweenthe end of chapter9 and the beginning of chapter10. There is no

108. transitional phrase, such as “afterthese things,” or other time markers. When
we get to 10:22, John designates the time as the Feastof Dedication, which
took place in the winter. But verses 1-21 were probably connectedwith the
FeastofTabernacles (orBooths, 7:2), where the events of chapters 7-9 took
place. John 10:21 refers back to the healing of the blind man in chapter 9.
And, Jesus’words, “Truly, truly,” which begin chapter 10, are never used
elsewhere to begin a new discourse (LeonMorris, The GospelAccording to
John [Eerdmans], p. 501).
So we should understand John 10:1-21 as being closelyrelatedto the events in
John 9, where Jesus healedthe man born blind. The connectionis: The
Pharisees,who were the religious leaders in Israel, should have been faithful
shepherds over God’s flock, but they had failed. The story of the blind man
illustrates this when they get frustrated with his testimony concerning Jesus
and throw him out of the temple. Notonce did they rejoice overthe wonderful
fact that this man’s eyes had been opened. Rather, they were more concerned
that Jesus had violated their legalistic Sabbathrules than they were about this
man.
We saw the same thing in chapter5, when Jesus healedthe lame man by the
Poolof Bethesda on the Sabbath. The religious leaders didn’t rejoice that this
poor man had been healed. Rather, they wanted to get Jesus forviolating their
Sabbath rules. They also revealtheir contempt for the people they should
have been tenderly shepherding when they say (7:49), “But this crowdwhich
does not know the Law is accursed.” As shepherds they should have taught
the people, but instead they ridiculed them for their ignorance. Theyused
their power to keepthe people in fear, threatening them with
excommunication if they confessedJesus to be the Christ (9:22). And we see
their arrogance andlack of concernfor the flock when they told the blind
man (9:34), “You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?” These
Pharisees were notfaithful shepherds over the Lord’s flock.
So in John 10, Jesus draws a sharp contrastbetweenthem as false shepherds,
whom He calls thieves and robbers (10:1), and Himself as the true shepherd.
Many Old Testamentpassagespicture the Lord as the shepherd over His
people (notably, Psalm 23). If in the Old Testamentthe Lord is the shepherd

109. of His people and in the New Testament, Jesus is the shepherd, it shows that
Jesus is the Lord.
Probably Jesus paints the picture in John 10 againstthe backdrop of Ezekiel
34, where the Lord castigatesthe religious leaders of Israel for being self-
centered, greedyshepherds who used the flock for their own comfort and
gain, but failed to care tenderly for the hurting. The Lord pronounces
judgment on those false shepherds and promises (Ezek. 34:23), “ThenI will
setover them one shepherd, My servant David, and he will feedthem; he will
feed them himself and be their shepherd.” That prophecy was fulfilled by the
Son of David, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the goodshepherd of His sheep
(John 10:11).
So John 10 gives us a symbolic picture of what has just happened in John 9. It
also affirms the blindness of the Pharisees, who don’t understand this picture
(9:40-41;10:6). John 10:1-18 falls into three sections:In 10:1-6, Jesus
contrasts Himself as the true shepherd with these self-centeredfalse
shepherds. In 10:7-10, He portrays Himself as the door of the sheepfold, who,
in contrastto these false shepherds, came to give abundant life to His sheep.
In 10:11-18, He explains how as the goodshepherd He lays down His own life
to provide life for His sheep. Todaywe canonly look at 10:1-6, which shows
Jesus to be the true shepherd of Israelin contrastto these self-centeredfalse
shepherds. The point is:
Jesus’credentials and His qualities prove Him to be the true shepherd, whom
His sheepfollow.
We’ll look first at Jesus’credentials, then at His qualities, and finally at what
He says about His sheep.
1. Jesus’credentials prove Him to be the true shepherd.
“Truly, truly” (10:1) alerts us that this is something that we need to perk up
and pay attention to:
A. Jesus the true shepherd warns the flock about false shepherds (10:1).

110. John 10:1: “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.” Jesus was both rebuking the Phariseeswho were listening to Him
and warning His followers, including the former blind man, not to follow
these false shepherds, whom Jesus calls thieves and robbers.
I read once about a seminary class thatspent a semestersearching the New
Testamentto discoverwhich truth is emphasized more than any other. To
their surprise they found that warnings againstfalse teachers topthe list,
aheadof love or any other virtue. Jesus Himself warned (Matt. 7:15), “Beware
of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are
ravenous wolves.” The metaphor pictures the deceptiveness andthe self-
centereddestructiveness offalse prophets. They fool the sheepinto thinking
that they are sheep, and thus gain access to the flock. But their aim is not to
build up and care for the flock, but to ravage them for their own selfish
purposes (see also, 2 Cor. 11:13-15;2 Peter2; and 1, 2, & 3 John).
Satan’s aim is never to build up or care for people!He always seeksto destroy
(John 10:10; 1 Pet. 5:8). And he often uses as his agents men or women who
pose as true believers to cause destruction in the church. They seemto know
the Bible and teachthe Bible, which gains them a hearing among those who
profess to know Christ. But their teaching and their practices do not lead
people towardgodliness, but toward destruction.
“Thieves” and“robbers” have slightly different meanings. Thieves tend to use
cunning and deception. They break into your house when you’re gone or are
asleepand stealwithout your knowing it. Robbers are more aggressive.They
hold you up at gunpoint and force you to give up your valuables. But in both
cases, they don’t care about you. They only want to profit at your expense.
They want to use you to further their own selfishends.
Note two important lessons here:(1) Being grounded in sound doctrine is
essential, notoptional. False teachers do not wearblinking neon signs saying,
“I’m going to leadyou astray!” They’re subtle and just slightly off. You have
to know and be able to defend from Scripture the core doctrines of the faith.
And you need to know how to distinguish the core doctrines, where

111. compromise is fatal, from secondarydoctrines that are not as essentialfor
spiritual health.
(2) Christlike shepherds warn their flocks about false teachers. IfJesus, the
true shepherd, warned about false teachers, then His undershepherds must
also warn about false teachers if they are faithful to Him. To put it another
way, Jesus was notalways “nice” and “positive.” ReadMatthew 23, where He
pronounces woe after woe on the scribes and Pharisees,whom He repeatedly
calls “hypocrites.” BothPaul and John pointed out false teachers by name (1
Tim. 1:20; 2 Tim. 2:17; 4:14; 3 John 9-10). People have criticized me because
at times I have named false teachers orhereticalgroups. But if I leave it vague
and general, people don’t connectthe dots. I would not be a faithful shepherd
if I didn’t specificallywarn you about false teachers.
B. Jesus the true shepherd entered by the door (10:2).
John 10:2: “But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep.” The
Greek constructionwarrants the better translation, “is the shepherd of the
sheep” (Morris, p. 502). Jesus was referring to Himself as the legitimate
shepherd of God’s flock because He entered the fold by the door. Some (e.g. J.
C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels [Baker], p. 175)jump down to
10:7 and identify Jesus as the door. While that’s true in 10:7, importing that
identification back into 10:2 is to confuse two different metaphors. In 10:1-6,
Jesus is the true shepherd who enters the fold by the door. In 10:7-10, Jesus is
the door with no reference to the shepherd. Then in 10:11-18, Jesus is again
the goodshepherd.
To understand 10:1-5, you need to have a mental picture of a sheepfold in that
day. Each village would have a common walled-in fold where every evening
the different shepherds from the village would bring all their sheep. There
was one door or entrance to the fold, which often was just an opening. The
doorkeeperwouldguard the door by lying across it, making sure that wild
animals or robbers would not enter to harm or stealthe sheep. In the
morning, the shepherds would return, the doorkeeperwould open to them,
and they would call their sheepout to lead them to pasture during the day.

112. Some commentators (e.g. Calvin) hesitate to getspecific about what each
figure in this allegoryrepresents, but I think we can make some helpful
identifications. The fold is Judaism or Israel. Jesus is the true shepherd, who
enters the fold to lead His genuine sheep, those whom the Fatherhas given to
Him (10:27-29), out to pasture. The man born blind is an example of this. The
Pharisees are the thieves and robbers, who are not genuine shepherds.
But, what does the door represent? While in 10:7, the door is Christ Himself,
in 10:2 the door is the Messianic office as describedand prophesied in the Old
Testament, which sets forth the credentials of the coming Messiah. He would
be born of the tribe of Judah (Gen. 49:10), a descendantof David (Isa. 9:7;
Jer. 33:17). He would be born in Bethlehem (Mic. 5:2) to a virgin (Isa. 7:14).
He would give sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and cause the lame to
walk (Isa. 35:5-6). He would be the prophet greaterthan Moses (Deut. 18:15).
He would be a light to shine on all who are in darkness (Isa. 9:2; 42:6; 49:6).
He would provide the water of God’s Spirit to thirsty souls (Isa. 44:3). John
has shownus how Jesus fulfilled many of these and other Old Testament
prophecies.
In his amazing little book, Science Speaks ([MoodyPress], pp. 99-112), math
professorPeterStonertakes just eight Old Testamentprophecies about
Christ and assigns to eachone conservative odds with regard to the question
(p. 106), “Whatis the chance that any man might have lived from the day of
these prophecies down to the present time and have fulfilled all eight?” He
comes up with the answerof one in 1017.
Then he helps us picture this huge number. If you take 1017 silverdollars and
spread them all over Texas, they would cover the entire state two feet deep.
Mark one of the silver dollars, mix it into the whole, blindfold a man and tell
him that he can go as far as he wants, but he must pick the one marked dollar.
That is the same chance that Jesus could have fulfilled just eight Old
Testamentprophecies. But the reality is, Jesus fulfilled over 300 Old
Testamentprophecies (p. 108)! The point is, Jesus’credentials show that He is
the only person who could enter through the door of the Messianic office as
prophesied in the Old Testament.

113. C. The doorkeeperopenedto Jesus the true shepherd (10:3).
Again, some reputable commentators (Calvin, Morris) think that we are going
too far to assignanyone specificallyas the doorkeeper. Others saythat it
refers to Godor the Holy Spirit or Moses.But in light of John’s Gospel, I
think it is reasonable to view the doorkeeperas Johnthe Baptist. He opened
the door for Jesus to enter the fold of Judaism as their true shepherd. He was
the predicted messenger, who criedout in the wilderness, “Makestraightthe
way of the Lord” (John 1:23; Isa. 40:3; Mal. 3:1). John pointed to Jesus and
said (1:29), “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes awaythe sin of the world!”
He opened the door for Jesus to enter the fold of Israel.
Thus Jesus came to Israelthrough the door of prophetic Messianic Scripture
and the doorkeeperopenedto Him as the true shepherd so that He could call
His sheepout of the fold. His sheep are all from Israelwhom the Father had
given Him (6:37, 39, 10:29). He also has other sheep (the Gentiles), whom He
would gather into one flock under Him as shepherd (10:16). Thus Jesus’
credentials prove Him to be the true shepherd.
2. Jesus’qualities prove Him to be the true shepherd.
Of course, all of Jesus’attributes show that He is the true shepherd of His
sheep. As He will go on to say(10:11-18), the sheepbelong to Him because He
gave His life to purchase them. But here I can only point out two of the true
shepherd’s qualities:
A. Jesus the true shepherd provides personalcare for His sheep, calling them
by name (10:3b).
John 10:3b: “The sheephear his voice, and he calls his own sheepby name
….” The picture here is of a NearEasternshepherd who spent much time
with his flock and who knew eachsheep personally. One writer gives an
accountof this sort of thing (H. V. Morton, cited by Morris, p. 502, note 17):
Early one morning I saw an extraordinary sight not far from Bethlehem. Two
shepherds had evidently spent the night with their flocks in a cave. The sheep
were all mixed togetherand the time had come for the shepherds to go in
different directions. One of the shepherds stoodsome distance from the sheep

114. and beganto call. First one, then another, then four or five animals ran
towards him; and so on until he had counted his whole flock.
Another writer tells of three or four shepherds separating their flocks solely
by their different calls (ibid.).
Isn’t it nice when someone knows your name or sends you a personal note? I
realize that form letters are necessaryand I try to read form prayer letters
from missionaries. But if I getone that has a personal note at the bottom, I
always read that first. We all appreciate it when someone recognizesus
personally.
Jesus does that with His sheep. If you belong to Him, He knows you by name.
Unlike me as a pastor with limited storage spacein my computer (brain),
Jesus neverforgets a name. More than that, He not only knows your name,
but He also knows everything about you, yet He still loves you and wants to
fellowship with you! He is your caring shepherd.
B. Jesus the true shepherd provides leadership and protection for His sheep.
These blessings are implied in John 10:3b-4: [He] “leads them out. When he
puts forth all his own, he goes aheadofthem, and the sheepfollow him
because they know his voice.” Jesuswas probably alluding to Numbers 27:16-
17, where Moses prayed, “May the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh,
appoint a man over the congregation, who will go out and come in before
them, and who will lead them out and bring them in, so that the congregation
of the Lord will not be like sheep which have no shepherd.” Jesus was leading
His true sheepout of the barren fold of Judaism and into the rich pastures of
abundant life that He provides.
Note, too, that Jesus doesn’tdrive His sheepfrom behind. He leads them by
going ahead of them. He makes sure that the way is safe from predators. He
takes them where He knows there are rich pastures for them to feed on. He
never takes them where He has not gone Himself, including the valley of the
shadow of death. He has been tempted in all the ways we are tempted, yet He
was without sin (Heb. 4:15). With such a caring, personalSavior who always

115. has our best interests at heart, we cansubmit to and follow Him, trusting Him
even in life’s most difficult trials.
3. The shepherd’s sheep follow Him because they know His voice, but they flee
from strangers whom they don’t know.
John 10:4b-5: “… the sheep follow him because they know his voice. A
strangerthey simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because theydo
not know the voice of strangers.”
A. The shepherd’s sheep follow Him because they know His voice.
Jesus repeats that His sheep hear and know His voice in verses 3 & 4. He is
not referring to hearing an audible voice, as when people say, “The Lord
spoke to me.” Rather, we hear His voice through His written Word, properly
interpreted and applied. Granted, sometimes the Holy Spirit impresses a
particular verse on our hearts as we read the Bible or through a sermon or a
book or a word from another brother or sisterin Christ. But it should never
be some screwyinterpretation of a verse takenout of context. The Lord’s
sheepknow His voice through His Word because they graze often in it.
B. The shepherd’s sheep flee from strangers whom they don’t know.
One mark of the Lord’s genuine sheep is that they persevere in sound
doctrine. In Matthew 24:24, speaking of the end times, Jesus predicts, “For
false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show greatsigns and
wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.” There will be many false
teachers, but it is not possible that they will deceive God’s elect. As Jesus said
(John 6:39), “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given
Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.” (See also, John 10:27-30.)
But these promises do not absolve us of the responsibility to grow strongerin
sound doctrine so that we will not be deceived. Dig deeper by studying God’s
Word and by reading some solid theologicalbooks. Thenwhen false teachers
try to seduce you, you will flee.
Conclusion

116. But the bottom line is, it’s not how much you know, but who you know. The
Pharisees knew farmore theologythan the man born blind, but they didn’t
know the true shepherd. But the healed blind man now knew Jesus as his
shepherd. Do you? Jesus prayed(John 17:3): “This is eternallife, that they
may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”
The Good Shepherd
Dr. W. A. Criswell
John 10:1-10
10-15-67 7:30 p.m.
And you who listen on the radio, you would be surprised at how many people
are at church tonight in this greatauditorium in the First Baptist Church in
Dallas;we are here because we wantto come – rather be here than anywhere
else in the world, looking at God’s Book, listening to God’s message. Itis
entitled The GoodShepherd.
As you know on Sunday night, every Sunday night, the pastor preaches a
sermon from the life of our Lord. We are going through the life of Jesus, step
at a time. It is so slowly progressing thatyou have no sense ofmovement in it,
but that is what we are doing every Sunday night; taking the life of our Lord,
one incident after another. Now tonight, the messageis from the tenth
chapter of the Gospelof John, and if you listen on the radio you are invited to
turn with us in God’s Book to the Fourth Gospel, to the Gospelof John,
chapter 10, and we shall read the first 10 verses togetherout loud. You on the
radio get your Bible and read it out loud with us, and you share your Bible
with your neighbor here and all of us read it out loud together. Johnchapter
10, the first ten verses. Now together:

117. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the
sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the
porter openeth; and the sheephear his voice:and he calleth his own sheepby
name, and leadeththem out.
And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goethbefore them, and the sheep
follow him: for they know his voice.
And a strangerwill they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not
the voice of strangers.
This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they
were which He spake unto them.
Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door
of the sheep.
All that ever came before Me are thieves and robbers: but the sheepdid not
hear them.
I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in
and out, and find pasture.
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come
that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
[John 10:1-10]
And the whole chapter follows that beautiful and gracious order: The Good
Shepherd.
Some of you have been to Palestine, and if you have at all lookedatany
sectionof the country, you are very cognizant of the sheepfolds that are found
most everywhere. Now the flocks are very small and the sheepfolds are very
small; they are made out of stone piled up in a fence. And into every one of

118. those little sheepfolds where the flock is gatheredat night, where it is carefully
watchedover, is a door. And that is the first thing that our Lord says in this
parable of the goodshepherd, the door into the sheepfold, "he that entereth in
by the door" [John 10:2]; and again, "I am the door: by me if any man enter
in, he shall be saved" [John 10:9]. "I am the door of the sheep" [John 10:7].
There are not half a dozen ways out of our sin and out of our misery. There’s
not a half a dozen ways for us to be saved. There is one way, just one. There
is one door into the fold, there’s one door into the kingdom, there’s one door
for us to enter heaven; just one door, and Jesus is that door. "Verily, truly, I
say unto you, I am the door of the sheep" [John 10:7]. And how many times
will you find that emphasized in the words of our Lord? "I am hē hodos kai
hē aletheia kai hē zoe – I am the way" not a way, "I am the way";"I am the
truth" – hē alethea – "I am the truth," not a truth, "I am the truth"; "I am
the life" – hē zoe – not a life, not a way of life, "I am the life" [John 14:6].
There is no eternal life outside of our Lord. A man will never know the truth
outside of Jesus, and he will never find the way apart from our Savior; "I am
the door."
How many doors were in the ark, which is a type of Christ, and which is a
type of our salvation? In the judgment of God upon the antediluvians
[Genesis 6:5-8], when the Lord destroyed man from off of the face of the earth
[Genesis 7:17-24]but he savedrighteous Noahand righteous Noah’s family,
how many doors were in that ark? There was one door and only one!
[Genesis 6:16]. And that is that chorus that I used to teachthese children
when I was a teenagerand I led the music, and I preachedthe sermons, and I
taught the Sunday schoolclass, andI taught the Training Union. I didn’t
have anybody leading the prayers, I prayed all the prayers. I did all the
visiting, I did everything, and that was the best job you eversaw any church
doing goodin your life! I did it all. I did it all.
I taught all those juniors, and I always had a junior band, and I taught those
juniors a chorus: "One door and only one, and yet the sides are two; I’m on
the inside, on which side are you?" [Dutch ReformedSunday-schoolsong]
Now wasn’t that classical? Idon’t know what operatic work that was taken
from, but it is a greatchorus, and it’s God’s message. "One doorand only

119. one, yet the sides are two; I’m on the inside, on which side are you?" Come in
and be saved, come in and love the Lord with us: one door, just one.
And in that one door into the ark lumbered the greatelephant; he came in
that one door. And in that one door, a little snail crawledin – I would have
left him out, but that one snail crawledin. In that one door, the great eagle
swoopedout of the blue of the sky and entered in; and in that one door, the
little wren hopped in. In that one door Noah enteredand his wife; Shem,
Ham, and Japheth, and their wives [Genesis 7:7-9]. There is one door into
God’s sheepfold: "I am that door" [John 10:9]; we are savedin Jesus our
Lord.
Then He says, "I am the goodshepherd: and the goodshepherd giveth His life
for the sheep" [John 10:11]. And He repeats it againin the fourteenth verse,
"I am the good shepherd" [John 10:14]. Then as He describes His tender care
for us, He says, "I know My sheepby name, I call them by name, and they
know Me [John 10:3, 14] – I am knownof mine" [John 10:3, 27]. Then He
says, "Theyhear My voice and they follow, Me and a strangerwill they not
follow: for they know not the voice of a stranger" [John 10:3-5]. Now that’s a
marvelous passage.
Now look at it carefully. You won’t getthe thought of what the Lord is saying
when you think of the sheepindustry in our modern day. Today, men follow
the herd business, the sheepbusiness, the flock business as they do the other
businesses. It’s an investment, it’s an enterprise. You could invest in it like
you caninvest in any other kind of stock;you can also invest in livestock, and
today we are conditioned to that kind of marketing procedure. Here is a man,
and he is the foreman over a vast ranch, and he will have hundreds of
thousands of acres in that ranch, and he will have thousands and thousands of
sheep; and to him they are just marketable, that’s all. Theyare just
instruments of investment and money and they raise them by the thousands
and they marketthem by the thousands and the investment is in terms of the
thousands. Now that’s the way that we live today.
It is altogetherdifferent, altogetherdifferent in the life of the shepherd who
lived in the day of our Lord. Oh, how different! For in that day, the shepherd

120. lived with his little flock, a little flock. And he named every one of those
sheep. And every one of those sheephad its own personality, and its own
idiosyncrasies, andits own self. And the shepherd lived with them by day and
by night. And in those vast, lonely solitudes, in those interminable deserts
around and beyond Palestine in the Sinaitic Peninsula in Northern Arabia, oh,
how very much was the life of the shepherd identified with his sheep;Moses
on the back side of the desertwith a little flock [Exodus 3:1], or David out
with his father’s sheep, challenging a lion and a bear, preserving the flock [1
Samuel 17:34-37]. And he knew them intimately, and they were close
together. Now it’s that kind of a shepherd, with tender care, with every sweet
and heavenly remembrance, it’s that kind of a shepherd that our Lord says
He is. Then He says that "I know My sheep, and they know Me, and they
hear My voice and they follow Me" [John 10:27].
Did you know I am told – I didn’t see this over there, I wish I could have but I
didn’t have the opportunity – I am told that in Palestine and in those Arabic
peninsulas and deserts that three shepherds, three shepherds or more, but
three shepherds could meet and their flocks all inter-commingle, and when
time comes for one of those shepherds to leave, that he could raise his voice
and speak and all of the sheepthat know him and that follow him will
disassociatethemselves from all the rest of the flock and follow him; isn’t that
a remarkable thing? And the shepherd, out in the blazing Syrian sun –
seeking water, seeking food, seeking pasture – before wild animals, before
mountain torrents, before the driving rain, always identified with his flock.
And they know him and he knows them and calls them by name [John 10:3,
14].
Then that leads me to what the Lord says about a stranger. Downhere in the
passage, He calls that stranger"an hireling," – a hireling and not the
shepherd, who owns the sheepor not:
seeththe wolf coming, and leaveth the sheepand fleeth: and the wolf catcheth
them, and scattereththe sheep. The hireling fleeth, because he is a hirling, and

121. carethnot for the sheep,but the goodshepherd, He lays down His life for His
sheep.
[John 10:12-15]
Think of that for a moment with me: how many strangers are there and how
many hirelings are there who bid us follow them? I have never in history ever
seenany phenomenon like the bedlam of voices that callto us today, "You
follow me and I will lead you into life, and into pasture, into joy and happiness
and pleasure, every goodthing." Ah, what people, and what things they say!
Everybody now tries to approachlife scientifically, so we have these pseudo-
scientists, and they approachlife with greaterudition and learning. So we
have these philosophers, and they are men of the books, and they made great
researching, andthey have studied, and they have found what it is that can
bring us into these marvelous rewards that awaitthose who listen to their
voice. And what things they say!
For example, this week, eitherin the newspaper, on the radio, or in groups
talking – in this one week alone I have heard these things. One: the wayfor us
to find happiness and solution in our liquor problem is to teachall the
children to drink. "Oh, the children are to be taught to drink in their homes,
and the drinking age is to be lowered." Mysoul in heaven! They arrestedone
thousand teenagers Fridaynight here in Dallas. If they loweredthe age, I
don’t know what in the world we’d have here in Dallas on any Friday night.
But that’s the scientific approachto it that I have been reading about this
week. And we’re to solve our liquor problem by flooding it into our homes
and with our children! What an amazing way to sobriety.
All right, another thing this week, we are to legalize the sale of"dopa." And
that’s not out here just where these dope-heads are, this is in the area of our
greatscholastic institutions, and it is to be openly sold and openly condoned.
Listen to me! We have a scientistwho has said that the peddling of dope has
no ultimate repercussions in life at all, and of course as is with liquor – if it is
available – why, the people will not touch it or indulge in it. So the suggestion

122. is made on the basis of greatlearnedness that we ought to license and peddle
and selldope. Ah, what a marvelous and interesting suggestion!
Then of course, all these things that belong to the sexrevolution, and this
week one of those articles I read, for a man to bind himself to purity with his
wife would be unthinkable! What he needs is trial. And in trial, and in
experience, why, he can find a life’s companion that will be companionate and
uh, every wise, Well I’ve been casting word after word out of my mind, just
how would you say that? That a fellow tries and tries and then finally finds
somebody that suits him, now what is the word for that? Why, you just can’t
imagine! You can’t imagine! These voices that say, "Come and follow me,
and I will show you the path into happiness – the greatsummum bonum for
which life was made."
All right, another world; this very week there was describedto me a lecture in
one of our greatreligious institutions. Now were this in a communist
university in Moscow, Iwould think nothing about it at all, or were this in
some infidel institution that scoffedand mockedat the religious faith, I would
think nothing about it at all; but this is in one of our greatChristian
universities! The professorthis week was teaching and he said the first eleven
chapters of Genesis are myth. And he comparedthem and paralleled them
with the myths of Greek story, lore, mythology. Then when he gotthrough
toward the end of the lecture, he said, "And for the benefit of you students
who are here today listening to me, I would also like to say to you that just as
the first eleven chapters of Genesis are myths, I would also like to say to you
that the stories of the resurrectionof Christ are myths and that the story of
the ascensionofChrist is a myth. It came out of hallucination."
And then to capit all, in our daily newspapers – and if you read any of them,
here is this learned doctorof philology, and of all those Semitic languages,and
he says:
I have read and studied the DeadSea scrolls eversince they were discovered
and I have found that the roots of Christianity – I have discovered, in the
drugs, the hallucinatory drugs that the community of Essenestook in the days

123. when Christ lived. Out of those fantasies of drug addiction, and out of those
hallucinations of the medicines that they took came the Christian faith.
Now I’m not parroting what madmen are saying, I’m not repeating in this
pulpit what fools are saying, I am voicing what the learned and the
pseudoscientists are saying in this day, and in this time, and in our generation.
What a voice, "Come and follow me and I will lead you into the life
abundant."
Aren’t you glad? Aren’t you gladthat Jesus says, "ButMy sheepwill not
follow the voice of a stranger" [John 10:5]. Never, never; they fool lots of
people, and they delude lots of students, and they castlives on the rock, and
they lead others into frustration and infidelity and unbelief and rejection, but
not God’s own. "Mysheep hear My voice and they follow Me, and a stranger
will they not follow, but flee from him" [John 10:3-5].
Did you know – and I am speaking out of the years of the experience of my
life; did you know if a man is born again, if he is a real Christian, a fellow can
stand up in the pulpit, and within five words almost, the born againChristian
can tell, can know, canintuitively sense whetherthe man up there in the
pulpit is a man of God or a false prophet? They can do it immediately, just
like that. You just sense it, you just feel it. God’s sheep hear and know and
follow the voice of the Lord [John 10:27]. But a stranger, when he stands up,
immediately they will sense, they’ll feel that this man is not God’s messenger;
he’s a hireling, he’s a pseudopreacher – he’s a false ambassadorfrom the
court of heaven. Aren’t you glad all of this bedlam of voices will not deceive
God’s people? Never, never, God has given us an intuitive hearing on the
inside of our souls and when the true Shepherd speaks through one of His
undershepherds, God’s people know and rejoice. And when a false
undershepherd speaks, God’s people, God’s people intuitively and instantly
know it.
Now I want to conclude. "The goodShepherd giveth His life for the sheep"
[John 10:11]. Then He repeats it:

124. Therefore doth My Father love Me because I lay down My life, no man taketh
it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have powerto lay it down, and I
have powerto take it again. This have I receivedfrom God the Father.
[John 10:17]
Does that mean that the death of Jesus was a suicide? "I have powerto lay it
down; I lay down My life for My sheep." Doesthatmean that Jesus’death
was a suicide? "No man taketh it from Me, I am not killed by any man, but I
lay down My life of Myself, I do it" [John 10:17]. Does thatmean He is a
suicide? No, what it means is that Jesus could have withdrawn, He could have
refused to die for us, He could have.
When Simon Peterdrew out that swordand [he was]right-handed and tried
to cut off the head of that servant of the high priest, Malchus, Malchus
ducked, and he cut off his ear, his right ear [John 18:10]. You canjust see
him duck awayfrom that swordas Simon Peterbrought it down; he meant
not to cut off his ear, he meant to cut off his head. And the Lord turned to
him and said, "Simon, put up that sword. If I were to ask, there would be
seventy-two thousand angels here to fight, to protect, to stand by Me"
[Matthew 26:51-53].
When we had the Lord’s Supper the last time I pointed out to you that one
angel, one angelover the army of Sennacherib, one angel that night passing
over left one hundred eighty-five thousand of the Assyrian army corpses dead,
dead, dead – one angel [Isaiah37:36]. And the Lord said, "If I were just to
ask, seventy-two thousand angels," [Matthew 26:53]. Oh!what He did, He
voluntarily did, and no man took His life from Him, even on the cross He
bowed His head and gave up the ghostand gave up His spirit [John 19:30].
"Weepnot," in the fifth chapter of the Book ofRevelation, "Weepnot, for the
Lion of the tribe of Judah has prevailed to open the seals thereof. And I
looked, and behold a Lamb as it had been dying, slain," crucified [Revelation

125. 5:5-6]. "I lay down My life for these sheep" [John 10:15]. This was a
voluntary immolation on the part of our Lord; He gave Himself for us.
Mostof you young people do not even remember the SecondWorld War; I
lived through it, every syllable of it. I was pastor at Muskogeein that war; we
had an enormous camp there. I came to be pastor of this church in Dallas in
the midst of that war; all those cruel and merciless days. I don’t know of a
more moving – maybe it is a melodramaticallymoving – I don’t know of a
more moving story than this one that I have heard in the days of that cruel
and merciless war
There was a mother who went down to the dock to see the ship come in and
to welcome her son back home. After everybody had been takenoff the ship,
they beganto roll down the gangplank some of those American boys who were
greatly hurt, wounded – amputees. So as that mother stoodthere and
watchedthose men wheeleddown, she found her sonand she ran up to him
and said to him, "Son, look, look, here is your dear old mother son, look on
your old mother!" And the boy replied, "Mother, I can’t see you, my eyes are
gone." She saidthen, "Son, canyou stand up and greetyour old mother?"
And he replied, "No, Mother, my feet are gone." She knelt down by his side
and said, "Well then, son, just put your arms around your dear old mother!"
And the boy replied, "But Mother, I can’t, my arms are gone." And the
mother burst into a lament and said, "Oh son, this terrible war, you’ve lost
your eyes, and you’ve lost your feet, and you’ve lost your arms!" And the boy
proudly satup the straighter in his wheelchair, and said, "No, Mother, no. I
gave them away. I gave them away."
Jesus laid down His life for us. He gave Himself for us [John 10:11, 17;
Galatians 2:20], and it is that response in our souls: this did He do for me. O
God, with how much, with how much of love and appreciation and devotion
and thanksgiving and praise do we return glory unto Thee. "Unto Him who
loved us and gave Himself for us, unto Him be dominion and power and glory,
world without end, foreverand ever, amen and amen" [Revelations 1:5-6].
That’s the song we shall sing in heaven, "This did the Lord do for us!"
"I lay down My life for you" [John 10:15-17].

126. We are going to sing our hymn of appeal. And while we sing it, a family you,
a couple you, one somebodyyou, to put your life in the church, come and
stand by me. "Here I am, pastor, I make it tonight." What a glorious night to
come, what a blessednight to stand here before men and angels;confess your
faith and your love and your thanksgiving to the Lord Jesus. "Lord, washme
that I might be clean: give me a new heart, a new hope, a new vision, a new
life. Master, I come to Thee, forgive me, save me, keepme forever." And
God will do it. What He has done for others, He will do for you. In a moment
when we stand up to sing, stand up coming. In the balcony round, on this
lowerfloor, make the decisionfor Jesus now and when we stand, you stand up
coming. Do it now, make it tonight, come now, while we stand and while we
sing.
THE GOOD SHEPHERD
Dr. W. A. Criswell
John 10:1-18
3-21-71 7:30 p.m.
On the radio of the city of Dallas you are sharing the services ofthe First
Baptist Church. The title of the message is The Good Shepherd. In our
preaching through the Gospelof John, we are in the tenth chapter. And in the
pew rack in front of you, you will find a Bible if you have not brought your
own, share your Bible and let us read out loud togetherthe first nine verses.
The Fourth Gospel, Gospelof John, chapter10, the first nine verses. And on
the radio, if you have a Bible in your home, getyour Bible, read it out loud

127. with us, the GospelofJohn chapter10, the first nine verses. Now allof us
reading together:
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the
sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
To him the porter openeth; and the sheephear his voice:and he calleth his
own sheepby name, and leadeth them out.
And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goethbefore them, and the sheep
follow him: for they know his voice.
And a strangerwill they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not
the voice of strangers.
This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they
were which He spake unto them.
Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door
of the sheep.
All that ever came before Me are thieves and robbers: but the sheepdid not
hear them.
I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in
and out, and find pasture.
[John 10:1-9]
The ideal of Israelwas a shepherd. Their king, their ideal king, David, the
sweetpsalm singerof Israel, was a shepherd; Moses, the lawgiver, the greatest
of the Jews, was a shepherd; and our blessedLord likened His ministry in the
days of His flesh to that of a shepherd. And all of you who have visited that
land know how the whole earth, fading into the desert, the whole vast Fertile
Crescent, from Mesopotamia arounddown to Egypt, is a land that is covered

128. with those who give themselves to the flocks and the herds. So the Master
taking up that parable speaks ofthe fold, the sheepfold and the shepherd and
the door into the fold. How many? I could not imagine how many of those
sheepfolds you will find. They’re made out of unhewn rocks, rocks stackedup
a little enclosure, and always one door. And the Lord, following the
symbolism, said, “I am the door of the sheep. I am the door,” repeatedit, “by
Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find
pasture” [John 10:9]. The door: there is one door, and always just one. As in
the ark, there was one door, just one [Genesis 6:16]. And in that one door, the
greatelephant lumbered in and the little snail crawledin. In that one door,
the greateagle swoopedout of the blue of the sky and the little wren hopped
in. Through that one door Noah and his wife, Shem, Ham, and Japheth and
their wives all enteredin. There is one door into the ark [Genesis 6:17-18, 7:1,
7, 13]. There is one door into the kingdom of God, just one. And our Lord
said, “I am the door!” [John 10:9]. Oh, how many times did He emphasize
that? Ego eime he hodos kai he aletheia kai he zoe, “I am the way, and the
truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me” [John 14:6].
There is one way for a man to be saved, and that is through Jesus Christour
Lord. “I am the door into the fold: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be
saved” [John 10:9].
Then He avows, “Iam the goodshepherd” [John 10:11]; and again, “I am the
goodshepherd, and know My sheep, and am known of Mine. I know My
sheep” [John 10:14]. Now that sounds astonishing to us here in Texas. Out
there in the West, and particularly and especiallyaround SanAngelo are
those vast sheepranches. My mother’s father had one of those greatsheep
ranches out there on the Concho River; and my cousins still operate those big
ranches. Theyhave sheep by the thousands and the thousands, and to them
they’re commodities;just greatflocks of thousands of sheep. But no thing
approachedthat in Palestine and in the Orient, in the Middle East. “Iam the
goodshepherd, and I know My sheep” [John 10:14]. The shepherd lived with
them; out under the hot Syrian sun, or in the face of a mountain torrent, or
protecting from the wolves and the lions and the bears, or taking care of them,
thirsting with them for water, daily seeking to find pasture, always the
shepherd was with his flocks. And out there usually where no human being

129. was ever in sight, such as Moses onthe back side of the desertat the base of
Mount Sinai with the flocks of Midian [Exodus 3:1]; “I know My sheep, and
knowing them I lay down My life for them” [John 10:15]. O Master, for
sheep, for us? Yes, for us. “And they are sensitive to Me; My sheepfollow
Me, and they know My voice” [John 10:27]. That’s what on the inside of us.
When a man knows Jesus and is saved, there’s something on the inside of him
that just responds like a harp that’s plucked. When the name of Jesus is
named, or when the gospelis preached, or when the songs of Zion are sung, or
when time comes to go to the house of the Lord, he’s a sheepand he knows the
voice of the Shepherd, “And they follow Me” [John 10:27].
Let me tell you one of the most amazing things I ever lookedat. I was in
Galilee at a waterhole in a dry part of the country. And there at that
watering place were severalflocks;here was a shepherd with his flock, and a
shepherd with his flock, and a shepherd with his flock. And I just wondered
as I lookedat them, they were all mixed together, the sheepwere, all mixed
together, you couldn’t tell who was who and what was what and which was
which. And I thought, “When the time comes and the flocks are watered, how
are these men going to separate them? Going to run them down, eachone?”
They were scatteredall around. Well, did you know, the time came for one of
those shepherds to leave, and he called, that one shepherd calledand he
turned to go awayand every one of his sheepstarted following after him; that
one call, that one shepherd. “Theyknow My voice, and they follow Me, and a
strangerwill they not follow” [John 10:4-5].
Now I had a man lastweek, one of these major-domos, one of these high
factotums, and he took me out to lunch. You know, in this ecclesiasticalworld
he took me out to lunch. And he wantedto know what was the matter with
me because in my spirit and in my attitude I feel certainthings about certain
folks, especiallyin certain areas of our denomination. He was just talking to
me about it. And so I said to him, “I will not try to mislead you, nor will I try
to hide how I feel in my heart. But,” I said, “I cannot help it. When I see you
men stand up and you deny the Word of God and you put question marks
about that sacredBook, there is something in me that dies, and I cannot help
it, I cannothelp it! It isn’t because I choose to be that way, I just am that way.
And I think you mislead and misdirect our people! And I think the ultimate

130. is: if our people follow you, we will come to that day and we’ll come to that
time when our own denomination and our own churches and our own pastors
will be exactly like those that I have seendie in Europe, that I have seendie in
England, in Scotland, in Scandinavia, in continental Europe, in the North!
And I think it’ll come down here in the South.”
There is something on the inside of the sheep that when a hireling stands up
[John 10:11-13], when a man stands up and denies the Word of God, there’s
something in him that he [the sheep]can’t help but feel; you can’t help it, you
can’t help it. Why, when a man stands up to preachit isn’t any time at all
until I can feelhim, just feelhim. Either he is a man of God and he
encouragesme and he blessesme and I want to say, “Praise the Lord, bless
God,” or as I listen to him I say, “Oh dear me, there’s another one of those
half-infidels trying to parade, trying to be ostentatious, but underneath he
doesn’t know what it is to give himself completely to the Word of God.”
“My sheep, My sheephear My voice, they know Me, and I know them” [John
10:2-4], and He says and repeats it three times, “The goodshepherd giveth His
life for the sheep” [John 10:11];then He says it again, “I lay down My life for
the sheep” [John 10:15];then He repeats it yet again, “I lay down My life, that
I might take it again. No man taketh it from Me, I have power to lay it down,
and I have powerto take it up. This is the promise I have receivedof the
Father” [John 10:17-18]. The goodshepherd lays down His life for the sheep,
“I lay it down of Myself.” Oh, the curse is so bitter, and the tragedy is so
solemn, and the need is so everlastinglypervasive, “I lay down My life for the
sheep” [John 10:15], instead of the sheep, that we might be saved.
What does that mean, “I lay it down of Myself”? [John 10:18]. Why, they
took His life, they crucified Him, in bitterness and in anger and in burning
wrath, they nailed Him to a tree! [John 19:16-34]. Whatdoes He mean, “I lay
down My life”? [John 10:15]. Why, when you read the life of our Lord it looks
as though, if that’s true, He just committed suicide;He gave Himself into the
hand of the smiter and turned Himself over to those He knew would crucify
Him, which howeveryou dress it is just another way of suicide. Well, what
does He mean, “I lay down My life”? [John 19:15, 17]. Well, it means simply
this: at any time He could have withdrawn, He could have savedHimself

131. [John 19:18]. He volunteered in heaven, “Lo, in the roll of the book it is
written of Me—to do Thy will O God, I come! [Hebrews 10:7; Psalm 40:6-8]”
And He was made incarnate in flesh that He might die, He volunteered in
heaven [Hebrews 10:4-14], He volunteered in history.
“Weepnot, because the Lion of the tribe of Israelhas prevailed, and He is
worthy to open the book and to loose the seals thereof” [Revelation5:5]. And
“they sang a song, Worthy art Thou … for Thou was slain, and hast redeemed
us to Godby Thy blood” [Revelation5:9]. He volunteered in history, He
volunteered in the earth. And when Simon Peterunsheathed his swordand
struck at the band that came to destroyour Lord, the Lord said, “Simon,
resheathit, put it up. Why, are there not twelve legions of angels that I could
call to deliver Me?” [Matthew 26:51-53]. Do youever think about that?
Twelve legions. Well, that’s about seventy-two thousands of angels. One
angel… I spoke about Sennacheribthis morning, one angel, just one, passed
that night over the army of Sennacheribas he besiegedJerusalem, and the
next day there were a hundred eighty-five thousand Assyrian soldiers that
were corpses! one angel [Isaiah37:36]. “Why, Simon Peter, they are waiting
now to be unleashed, twelve legions of angels. But then, how would it be if I
do not die for the sheep?” [Matthew 26:54].
He lay down his life [John 10:15]. And when they nailed Him to the tree, as
they marched up and down, paraded up and down in front of Him, “Come
down from the cross and we will believe You. Come down You who say that
You can raise up the temple in three days, You who say that you are the Son
of God, prove it, come down from the cross” [Matthew 27:39-43]. Youknow,
when you listen to that you just can’t help but feel on the inside of you those
human repercussions,“LordJesus do it, come down and strike terrifying fear
in these souls and hearts that are blaspheming You, come down, Lord!” No,
it’ll not be a superhuman man tearing himself from the wood, but it’ll be a
dead man, a dead man, limp and lifeless [John 3:14-15], like that serpent
raisedin the wilderness [Numbers 21:8-9], the fangs of sin extracted, the
penalty of death paid, a brazen serpent, typical of them all, limp and lifeless,
brought down from the cross and laid, with tears, in the tomb; dying for us
[John 3:16-42]. “I lay down My life for the sheep” [John 10:15]; this Jesus did
for us, gave Himself for us [1 Corinthians 15:3].

132. I lived, as some of you did, through those bitter days of the waragainstNazi
Germany. I buried those boys who were brought back in caskets andin
coffins draped with the American flag. And I’d do what I could to comfort,
pray for, the sweetmothers and fathers who wept over those fallen boys,
dying for us. And out of all of the things that I ever heard of in those tragic
cruel days of that merciless war, there wasn’t anything that ever moved me as
much as this little story.
There was a mother who went down to the port to meet her soldierboy who
was coming home. She had not been prepared for the extent of his wounds.
So as the boys came down the gangplank, as they were brought down in
wheelchairs, she looked forher lad, and spied him. As soonas she could she
made her way to the boy and said, “Son, son, look, look up, look on your old
mother! Son, look!” And the boy replied, “Mother, I can’t see you, my eyes
are gone, my eyes are gone.” Well, the mother, coming to the lad, said, “Well
then my lad, just stand up and greetyour old mother.” And the boy replied,
“I can’t mother, my feet are gone.” The mother said, “Oh, this war.” She
knelt down by the side of the lad and said, “Then, son, just put your arms
around your old mother.” And the boy replied, “Mother, I can’t, my arms
are gone.” And the mother sobbedaloud and cried, “Oh, my boy, this terrible
and cruel war, you’ve lost your eyes, and you’ve lostyour feet, and you’ve lost
your arms.” The boy raised himself up in his wheelchairand said, “No,
Mother, lost them? No, I gave them away.”
Sometimes I wonder about America; if our land and nation is worthy the
sacrifice ofthose noble boys who willingly laid down their lives for us: “No,
Mother, I gave them away.” Thatis what Christ did for us. He laid down His
life. He gave Himself for the sheep [John 10:15]. Why, my soul, I feelit; I
love the Lord in return. I bless His name every day of my life. When I was a
boy like that lad, I gave my heart and soul to Jesus. It’s been a sweet,
precious pilgrimage ever since. Will you?
This has the Lord done for you: He died in your place [Romans 5:8; 2
Corinthians 5:21], He paid the penalty for your sins [1 Corinthians 15:3], you
belong to Him; you don’t belong to the world, and you don’t belong to Satan,
and you don’t belong to darkness and God’s trying to stealyou away, no, you

133. belong to God [Ephesians 4:30]. Look to Him in faith and trust and
acceptance[Ephesians 2:8-9]. “Here I come, Master, tonight.”
Somebody you: “Pastor, tonightI take the Lord Jesus as my Savior, and here
I am, I’m coming.” A family you, a couple you, or just you, in a moment
when we stand up to sing our song—ifyou’re in that topmost balcony, there is
time and to spare—walk downthat stairway: “Pastor, Igive you my hand, I
give my heart to God, and here I come.” Into the fellowship of the church,
into the arms of our Lord, as God shall press the appeal upon your heart, as
the Spirit of Jesus shallwoo and give invitation, shall press the appealto your
soul, answerwith your life. Make the decisionnow where you are seated. In
the balconyround, on this lowerfloor, make the decisionnow, and in a
moment when we stand up, stand up coming. “Here I am, pastor, tonight, I
make the decisionfor Christ tonight, and here I’m coming.” The whole
family of you, two of you, just one somebodyyou, come now, do it now. As the
Spirit calls, make the decisionnow—“I’m coming, pastor, here I am”—while
we stand and while we sing.
Dr. W. A. Criswell
John 10:1-18
11-1-87 8:15 a.m.
With joy unspeakable we welcome the throngs of you who share this hour on
radio. You are now a part of our dear First BaptistChurch in Dallas, and this
is the pastorbringing the messageentitled The GoodShepherd. It is an
exposition of the first eighteenverses of the tenth chapter of John. And if you

134. will turn to the Gospelof John, the Fourth Gospel, chapter 10, you can easily
follow the exposition.
John chapter 10; it begins with a “Verily, verily.” “Verily, verily, I say unto
you” [John 10:1]. There is no exceptionto this; a “Verily, verily,” never in the
Bible introduces a new topic. It is always a continuation of one that is already
presented. So this “verily, verily” is a continuation of chapter9. Now,
chapter 9 is what happened, and chapter 10 is a parabolic presentation,
interpretation, of what had happened.
Last Sunday, remember, the exposition was on the ninth chapter. This blind
man, congenitallyborn blind [John 9:1], this blind man was marvelously
healed [John 9:6-7]. And they threw him out; they casthim out [John 9:34].
These are the thieves and the robbers, the Phariseesand the Sadducees who
refused to accepthis witness from heaven [John 9:24-34]. Thenour Lord
found him. He sought him out, searchedforhim and found him [John 9:35].
That is the GoodShepherd, seeking His lostsheep [Luke 15:4; John 10:11].
Then last, this man, who had been blind, worshipped the Lord, acceptedHim,
believed in Him [John 9:35-38]. And that is the Lord’s sheepwho hear His
voice and follow close after[John 10:27]. Now that is the tenth chapterof this
Gospel. So it begins with a “Verily, verily” [John 10:1].
Now, verse 7: “Then saidJesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I sayunto you,
I am the door of the sheep” [John 10:7], and repeated in verse 9: “I am the
door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out,
and find pasture” [John 10:9].
I have meandered severaltimes through Palestine and the NearEast, and one
of the impressive topographicalfeatures ofthe land will be those sheepfolds.
There’ll be a rock enclosure, and many times, inside, a little rock house, and
one door. That door, our Lord says, is He. “I am the door” into the
sheepfoldof God’s family and the Lord’s people [John 10:9].
A door is such a simple thing, such a plain thing, and Jesus is that door: ego
eimi hē thura, the door. Our Lord so often will emphasize that. Ego eimi, I
am, hē hodos, kaihē alētheia, kaihē zōē. “I am the way, and the truth, and

135. the life” [John 14:6]. There are not half a dozen ways to God. There are not a
dozen ways to be saved. There is one way [John 14:6; Acts 4:12]. There is one
revelation. There is one incarnation [John 1:1, 14;Philippians 2:5-7]. There
is one Lord God Jehovah, our Savior [Isaiah 45:22]. There is one door, hē
thura, the door [John 10:7, 9].
Such as is in the ark of Noah: there were not half a dozen doors into the ark.
There was one [Genesis 6:16], and if one were saved in that awful day of
judgment, he entered in through that one door [Genesis 7:1, 13-16]. There
was one door into the tabernacle [Exodus 33:10]. There is one entrance into
the presence ofGod, and that is through Jesus Christ our Lord. Ego eimi hē
thura; “I am the door” [John 10:7, 9].
Now look again, another ego eimi. “I am the goodshepherd” [John 10:14]:
ego eimi, “I am,” ho poimēn, ho kalos, “Iam the shepherd, the good.” I could
not help but be sensitive to the fact that poimēn, “shepherd,” is the word for
“pastor,” the same word for “pastor.” Same wordfor “shepherd.” Ego eimi,
“the shepherd,” the—and I’m amazed at the word that is used—kalos.
The usual word for “good” is agathos. Forexample, when that rich young
ruler bowed before the Lord Jesus, he addressedHim “Didaskalē agathē”:
“GoodMaster, whatshall I do to inherit eternal life?” [Luke 18:18]. Good,
agathos, agathē.
But that’s not the word He uses here, saying in the fourteenth verse, “I am the
goodshepherd” [John 10:14]. And the word translated“good” is kalos, and
kalos is the word for “beautiful”; it’s the word for “noble.” “Iam the
beautiful, the good, the heavenly shepherd” [John 10:14]. And he says that
the goodshepherd goethbefore them. Let’s take verse 3: “He leadeth them
out” [John 10:3]. Then in verse 4, “He goethbefore them” [John 10:4]. And
in verse 14, “I am the goodshepherd … and am known of Mine” [John 10:14].
That is a beautiful description of our Lord. He Himself leads us. He goes
before us.
There are no experiences that we everhave in our lives that He has not
already experienced. A child, an infant, He was the Babe of Bethlehem
[Matthew 1:23-2:1]. A youth, He grew up in a home in Nazareth, in a

136. carpenter’s shop [Mark 6:3]; twelve years of age, was in the temple [Luke
2:42-47]. “Wearywith the work, He sat thus by the well” [John 4:6]. Tried
and tempted? There’s been no temptation or trial He has not experienced
[Hebrews 4:14-15]. Betrayed? He was delivered into the hands of His
enemies [Matthew 26:14-16, 47-50]. Crucified? [Matthew 27:32-50]
Suffering? There is no suffering we ever experience that He has not suffered
[Hebrews 4:15]. And dying? The cerements of the tomb were wrapped
around Him [Matthew 27:57-59]. “He goethbefore us” [Matthew 28:7].
There are no things, no providences, no hurts or sorrows, no experiences in
life that we ever face that He has not faced. “He goeth before us; He leadeth
us” [Psalm23:3].
And again, the intimacy betweenHim and His sheep:verse 3: “He callethHis
own sheepby name” [John 10:3]. Verse 4: “The sheepfollow Him: for they
know His voice” [John 10:4]. Verse 14: “I am known by My sheep” [John
10:14]. There is a closenessbetweenourLord and His sheepthat is enduring
and endearing; precious, unbreakable, continuous [Luke 15:4; John 10:11].
That is strange to us in our Western world, because if you have ever visited
those greatsheep ranches in WestTexas or in New Mexico or Arizona,
anywhere in the West, it’s an investment to them. The sheep are there by the
multitudes. There are thousands of them, and they drive them; no exception
to that. They are greatvast herds who are driven.
It’s just the opposite of that in the East. As I said, I meandered around over
Palestine severaltimes. And one of the distinguishing features of a pastoral
landscape will be a little intimate flock of sheep, and the shepherd close by.
One time I took a picture and brought it back here and showedit to our
congregation. In the Negev, southof Hebron, I stopped and took a picture of
a little boy, a young teenager. He had a flute made out of a reed, and he was
playing his flute, and the sheep, the little flock, were following close by.
He knows them by name. They’re not herds; they’re not investments. They
are intimately known and they’re close to eachother. They live together.
They seek pasture together. Theyseek the waterof life together. And that is
our Lord. He knows us by name [John 10:3]. We’re not a digit to Him.

137. We’re not one out of a vastmultitude to Him, facelessandnameless. He
knows us, all about us, and He calls us by our names.
There is an instinctive attractionbetweenthe sheepand the shepherd. We
feel that. As a plant in a basement dark leans towards the light, any child of
God is like that. You will find yourself instinctively drawing nearerto the
Lord, laying before Him all of the providences of life.
Do you know, as He says in verse 16, “And other sheepI have, which are not
of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice; and there
shall be one fold, and one shepherd” [John 10:16]. Other sheepI have, which
are not of this fold.
You know, it is strange how in a providence of life, reading the Scripture,
preparing the message, a thing will come to your heart so poignantly. This
happened this week. Foryears, for years, for so many years I can’t remember
how many, for years I have prayed, “Lord, could it be possible, in the
providences of God, that we could have a televised service ofour worship of
God and the preaching of the gospel?” Going from station to stationto
station over a period of years and years and years, nothing but a refusal; they
have other things, they have other interests, they have other programs. And
to carry live a worshipful hour, a preaching hour, is just not acceptable.
Sweetpeople, this week, this week, there have been two of the greattelevision
stations of Dallas that have come to us and said, “Could we televise live your
services from the First BaptistChurch?” Two of them. Televisionis
extremely expensive, most so, most so. But when I think of the other sheep
beyond this fold [John 10:16], thousands and thousands and hundreds of
thousands of households, eachone of those televised stations carries with it
hundreds and hundreds of cables. WhenI think of the multiplied thousands
of households into which we could enter, preaching the gospelof Christ,
worshipping our dear Lord, making appealin His name—O God, when the
decisionis made these next few days, what shall we do? I am crushed to think
that we would refuse.
How infinitely better and how magnifying the name of Christ if we could sit
down with the managementand the leadership of one of those great television

138. outlets and say to them, “As of this day, we’ll be ready.” It would be from
eleveno’clock to twelve o’clock. The service wouldhave to be beautifully and
effectively arranged, our choir and our orchestra, with the pastor and all who
share in the hour, working for, planning for a tremendous impact in the
gospelof Christ in those thousands and thousands of homes.
What it would take would be, if a few of us sought to pay for it, it would be
beyond us; but with the thousands and thousands of us in the church, beyond
our tithe, just a small gift, that would do it. It would bring an incomparable
victory to our Lord and to His message ofsalvation. “OthersheepI have out
there beyond our owncongregation” [John10:16]. Lord, You help us and
You direct us and You put it in the hearts of our people: “Pastor, let’s do it.
Let’s do it. That’s why we’re here, worshipping God, calling upon His name,
preaching the messageofsalvation, calling others to believe. Let’s do it.”
My time is gone. MayI conclude with this beautiful and precious Word of
our Lord? “The goodshepherd giveth,” verse 11, “His life for the sheep”
[John 10:11]. Verse 15: “I lay down My life for the sheep” [John 10:15].
Verse 17: “I lay down My life, that I might take it again” [John 10:17]. Verse
18: “No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself” [John 10:18]. He
had just spokenofthe thief and of the robber [John 10:1]. These who do not
save, they do not guard; they just stealand kill and destroy. When we submit
and turn over our lives to the philosopher or the pseudoscientistorthe
demagogue, whenthe dark hour comes and we face the bottomless abyss,
where are they? In the hour of my final death, what is that philosopher to me,
or that pseudoscientistto me, or that demagogue to me? When I ultimately
face the great judgment day of Almighty God, I need the Lord, standing near
and close by; “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” [Hebrews 13:5], my
Friend and my Savior forever.
And for you, for us, “I lay down My life” [John 10:15], paying the penalty of
our sin [1 Corinthians 15:3], saving us from the awesomejudgment upon the
wrong and the transgressionof our life [2 Corinthians 5:21]. Foryou, for
your sake, “Ilay down My life” [John 10:15]. Ah, the peril is so great, and the
curse is so bitter, and the tragedy is so solemn. As the shepherd boy David,
facing, he said, in behalf of his flock, a lion and a bear [1 Samuel 17:34-35], so

139. our Lord facing the judgment that comes to us in our sin and in our death
[Isaiah 53:5], He interposes His precious life, blood of expiation and sacrifice
pouring out from His riven side, that we might be saved, that we might stand
before God justified [Romans 4:25].
And how beautiful when He avows, “No man takethMy life from Me, I lay it
down of Myself” [John 10:18]. Now I cannothelp, when reading that, be
askanceand skeptical, when I read the words; they did take His life! These
agents of destruction crucified Him. They did kill Him. They did it! [John
19:16-30].
And then I bring to mind, “No, He willingly offered Himself” [Hebrews 7:27].
They could not have takenHim. They could not have slain and crucified Him,
had He not voluntarily submitted and gave Himself in our behalf. “How do
you know that, pastor?” When He was in Nazarethand the people there, in
anger, took Him to the brow of the hill to castHim down headlong, the
Scriptures say, He just walkedthrough the midst of them [Luke 4:28-30].
There was something about Jesus. He just walkedthrough the midst. They
couldn’t touch Him.
When the soldiers came with a mob to arrestHim in Gethsemane, “We seek
Jesus ofNazareth,” they said, and He replied, “I am He,” and they fell
backwardto the ground [John 18:4-6]. How could you stand in His presence?
Or take once again, when Simon Peterdrew out his sword to cut off the head
of that leading antagonist, Jesus saidto him, “Put up your sword. If I would,
I could ask the Father twelve legions of angels—seventy-two thousandof
them—and they would be here to deliver Me and to protect Me” [Matthew
26:51-53]. Wouldyou considerthat just a moment? Seventy-two thousand!
In the thirty-seventh chapterof the Book of Isaiah, when Hezekiahbrought
before the Lord that threatening ultimatum of Sennacherib, the king and the
generalof the Assyrian army that closedJerusalemlike a vise [Isaiah 36:1],
God sent Isaiahto him, saying, “I have heard your prayer, and I have
delivered your people” [Isaiah 37:21-35] And that night, that night, one angel,
one angel, one angelpassedover the Assyrian army, and one hundred eighty-
five thousand dead corpses layon the ground [Isaiah 37:36].

140. Think of having seventy-two thousand of them! [Matthew 26:51-53]. I’m just
saying He voluntarily laid down His life for us. He did it out of the love of His
soul, that we might be saved [John 15:13].
I think of that mother that went down to the dock to welcome her boy back
home from the war, wounded, but not knowing how severely. The troops
poured off of the greatship, returning home, and she stood there looking at
everyone, waiting for her lad.
Finally, those in wheelchairs beganto come off, and she saw her boy in one of
those wheelchairs coveredwith a blanket. When he came down the ramp and
was there on the dock, the mother went up to her boy and said, “Son, look.
Look on your old mother.” And the boy replied, “Mother, I can’t. My eyes
are gone.” Thenshe said, “Well, son, just stand up and greetyour old
mother.” And the boy replied, “Mother, I can’t. My feet are gone.” She
knelt by his side and said, “Then, son, just put your arms around your old
mother.” And the boy replied, “Mother, I can’t. My arms are gone.” And
the mother cried in an agony, “Oh, my boy! You have lostyour feet. You’ve
lost your eyes. You have lostyour arms.” And the boy replied, “Mother, no.
I gave them away.” The reasonwe’re here today, free, is because ofthe
sacrificialgift of that boy. “I gave them away.”
This is our Lord. “I lay down My life of Myself” [John 10:18], willingly,
voluntarily, gladly, sacrificially, lovingly, tenderly, endearingly, that we might
be saved [John 15:13]. How could you but love, worship, adore, serve a
glorious Lord God like that?
And that is our appealthis solemn hour. To give your heart to the Lord
[Romans 10:9-10], to place your life with us in the family that worships Him,
to serve Him, as God shall open the door, come, and welcome, while we stand
and while we sing.
BOB DEFFINBAUGH

141. The GoodShepherd (John 10:1-18)
Introduction
Our text in John chapter 10 is best introduced by this Old Testamenttext in
Ezekielchapter 34:
1 And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2 “Sonof man, prophesy
againstthe shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the
Lord GOD to the shepherds: “Woe to the shepherds of Israelwho feed
themselves!Should not the shepherds feedthe flocks? 3 You eatthe fat and
clothe yourselves with the wool;you slaughterthe fatlings, but you do not feed
the flock. 4 The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those
who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven
away, nor sought what was lost; but with force and cruelty you have ruled
them. 5 So they were scatteredbecause there was no shepherd; and they
became food for all the beasts of the field when they were scattered. 6 My
sheepwandered through all the mountains, and on every high hill; yes, My
flock was scatteredoverthe whole face of the earth, and no one was seeking or
searching for them.” 7 Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD:
8 “as I live,” says the Lord GOD, “surelybecause My flock became a prey,
and My flock became foodfor every beastof the field, because there was no
shepherd, nor did My shepherds searchfor My flock, but the shepherds fed
themselves and did not feed My flock”—9 therefore, O shepherds, hear the
word of the LORD! 10 Thus says the Lord GOD:“Behold, I am againstthe
shepherds, and I will require My flock at their hand; I will cause them to
ceasefeeding the sheep, and the shepherds shall feed themselves no more; for
I will deliver My flock from their mouths, that they may no longerbe foodfor
them.” 11 For thus says the Lord GOD:“Indeed I Myself will searchfor My
sheepand seek them out. 12 As a shepherd seeks outhis flock on the day he is
among his scatteredsheep, so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from
all the places where they were scatteredona cloudy and dark day. 13 And I
will bring them out from the peoples and gatherthem from the countries, and
will bring them to their own land; I will feed them on the mountains of Israel,

142. in the valleys and in all the inhabited places ofthe country. 14 I will feedthem
in goodpasture, and their fold shall be on the high mountains of Israel. There
they shall lie down in a goodfold and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of
Israel. 15 I will feed My flock, and I will make them lie down,” says the Lord
GOD. 16 “I will seek whatwas lost and bring back what was driven away,
bind up the broken and strengthenwhat was sick;but I will destroy the fat
and the strong, and feed them in judgment.” 17 And as for you, O My flock,
thus says the Lord GOD:“Behold, I shall judge betweensheepand sheep,
betweenrams and goats. 18 Is it too little for you to have eaten up the good
pasture, that you must tread down with your feetthe residue of your
pasture—and to have drunk of the clearwaters, that you must foul the
residue with your feet? 19 And as for My flock, they eat what you have
trampled with your feet, and they drink what you have fouled with your feet.”
20 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD to them: “Behold, I Myselfwill judge
betweenthe fat and the lean sheep. 21 Becauseyouhave pushed with side and
shoulder, butted all the weak ones with your horns, and scatteredthem
abroad, 22 therefore I will save My flock, and they shall no longer be a prey;
and I will judge betweensheepand sheep. 23 I will establishone shepherd
over them, and he shall feed them—My servant David. He shall feed them and
be their shepherd. 24 And I, the LORD, will be their God, and My servant
David a prince among them; I, the LORD, have spoken. 25 I will make a
covenantof peace with them, and cause wild beasts to cease fromthe land;
and they will dwell safelyin the wilderness and sleepin the woods. 26 I will
make them and the places all around My hill a blessing;and I will cause
showers to come down in their season;there shall be showers ofblessing. 27
Then the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield her
increase. Theyshall be safe in their land; and they shall know that I am the
LORD, when I have broken the bands of their yoke and delivered them from
the hand of those who enslavedthem. 28 And they shall no longerbe a prey
for the nations, nor shall beasts of the land devour them; but they shall dwell
safely, and no one shall make them afraid. 29 I will raise up for them a garden
of renown, and they shall no longerbe consumedwith hunger in the land, nor
bear the shame of the Gentiles anymore. 30 Thus they shall know that I, the
LORD their God, am with them, and they, the house of Israel, are My
people,” says the Lord GOD.’” 31 “You are My flock, the flock of My pasture;

143. you are men, and I am your God,” says the Lord GOD (Ezekiel34:1-31,
NKJV).
Here, through the prophet Ezekiel, God rebukes the evil shepherds (or
leaders)of the nation Israel. He speaks ofa coming day when they will be
judged, and when God Himself will gatherHis scatteredflock in the person of
Messiah(“Myservant David,” verse 24). In our text in John 10, Jesus boldly
claims to be the promised “GoodShepherd,” and in contrastto His
shepherding, He exposes and indicts the Jewishreligious leaders (especially
the Pharisees)as wickedshepherds, who care not for the hurting and troubled
sheepand who use and abuse the sheep of God’s flock for their own personal
gain.
This is the first time in the Gospelof John that the topic of shepherding152
has been addressedas such, though it is not the last (see John 21:15-17). It is a
very common theme in the Old Testament,153 andit also appears in the
Synoptic Gospels,154notto mention the rest of the New Testament.155While
the subjectof shepherds and shepherding unifies all of chapter 10, the
teaching of our Lord recordedin this chapter seems not to have taken place
all at one time. The teaching referred to in verses 22-42 appears to have
occurredseveralmonths later than that of verses 1-21. The feastof
Tabernacles tookplace in the Fall; the feastof Dedicationwas observedin the
winter. We cannotbe sure where Jesus was orwhat He did during these few
intervening months.
The teaching of Jesus in our text (verses 1-21)appears to closelyfollow the
healing of the man born blind and relatedevents, which are recorded in
chapter 9. This appears to be a safe conclusion, basedupon three
observations. First, there is no indication of a change of time or setting in the
first verse of chapter 10. Second, the expression, “Verily, verily …” is never
used to introduce a new sectionin the Gospelof John:
The opening ‘Verily, verily’ … never begins a discourse. It always follows up
some previous teaching. It indicates that the following statement is important,
but also that it has a connectionwith the preceding. This passage thenmust be
understood in the closestof connections with the story of the blind man.156

144. Third, in verse 21 of our text, reference is made to the healing of the man born
blind: “Others said, ‘These are not the words of someone possessedby a
demon. A demon cannot cause the blind to see, canit?’” The healing of the
man born blind is very fresh in the minds of those who are divided as to who
Jesus is. I therefore conclude that the events of John 10:1-21 follow
immediately upon the healing of the man born blind and his “interrogation”
by the Pharisees.The events of verses 22 and following take place a few
months later, though the sheep/shepherding theme continues throughout the
rest of the chapter.
In John chapter 10, our Lord identifies Himself as the “GoodShepherd,”
contrasting Himself with those shepherds of Israelwho are rebuked by the
Lord in Ezekiel. Ezekielindicts the wicked“shepherds of Israel” who care for
themselves at the expense of the flock. They prey upon the sheeprather than
protecting them from predators. They feed and clothe themselves at the
expense of the flock, yet they do nothing to minister to the needs of the sickly
or injured among the flock (Ezekiel34:3-4). It is not difficult to see that Jesus
looks upon the Pharisees before Him as the kind of shepherds Ezekiel
condemned. The paralytic man in John chapter 5 had spent years unable to
walk, and thus was forced to support himself by begging. Yet when Jesus
healed him on a Sabbath day, the Jews were incensed. It is clearthey would
have preferred that this man not be healedat all than for him to be healedon
the Sabbath. They most certainly had no compassiononthe woman caughtin
the actof adultery (John 7:53–8:11). Theywere more than willing, however,
to “use” her in their efforts to accuse Jesusofcontradicting the law of Moses.
In the immediately preceding context(John chapter 9), the Pharisees were
greatly distressedby the healing of the man born blind. These religious
leaders did not think of the Israelites as sheep, but as an ignorant, disgusting,
mob (John 7:49). The “fold” (of those destined to enter the kingdom of God)
was consideredto be a kind of private club, of which they were the
membership committee. Thus, they had no compassionon the man born
blind. He was a write-off. And when this man refused to cooperate (and
pointed out their inconsistencywith their own teaching), they “put him out”—
not just “out of the synagogue,”but, in truth and reality (so far as their
thinking is concerned), out of the fold. Jesus, onthe other hand, has just

145. brought this man into His flock, by faith. No wonder Jesus turns to the subject
of shepherding in John 10. Here, he contrasts Himself (the GoodShepherd)
with the Phariseesand religious leaders of the Jews, who were evil
shepherds.157
This is truly one of the greatestpassagesin the GospelofJohn and of the
whole New Testament. We will only begin to plumb the depths of the truths
containedhere, but let us begin, looking to the Spirit of Godto enlighten our
hearts and minds concerning Him who is the GoodShepherd.
Jesus:The True Shepherd of Israel
(10:1-5)
1 “I tell you the solemn truth, the one who does not enter the sheepfoldby the
door, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2 The one who
enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The doorkeeper158opens
the door for him, and the sheephear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name
and leads them out. 4 When he has brought all his own sheepout, he goes
aheadof them, and the sheepfollow him because they recognize his voice. 5
They will never follow a stranger, but will run away from him, because they
do not recognize the stranger’s voice.”
Our Lord describes a typical pastoralscene that is familiar to all in His
audience. Many of the Israelites were sheepherders (see Genesis 46:31-34).In
any city or village, there would be a number of flocks of sheep. For
convenience, they would all be herded into a common sheepfold, a simple
enclosure where the sheep could be contained, while thieves and predators
would be forbidden access. There wouldbe but one door, one accessthrough
which the sheepwould enter and exit. Through this same door the various
shepherds would enter to gather their flocks. Earlyin the morning, the
shepherd arrives at the sheepfoldand enters to lead his flock out to pasture.
Then, at the end of the day, he (or she—I have seenmany a girl or young
woman herding sheepin the East)brings his sheepinto the sheepfoldfor
safekeeping through the night. One person is assignedas the doorkeeper.
Perhaps this duty is shared among the shepherds on a rotating basis. The
doorkeeperstations himself in the doorway, keeping the sheepsafelyinside

146. and any dangerto the sheepoutside. In the morning, eachshepherd reports to
the doorkeeper, who recognizeshim and lets him into the sheepfold. Once
inside the fold, eachshepherd calls out his own sheepand leads them outside
the fold. Knowing the voice of their shepherd, the sheepof eachflock go to
their own shepherd when called by name, and then they follow him outside
the sheepfold, only to be brought safelyback to the fold in the evening.
Jesus uses this familiar scene to demonstrate how He is Israel’s true
Shepherd, and how the Pharisees and other Jewishleaders are evil shepherds.
Evil shepherds—to whom Jesus refers as “thieves and robbers”—do not dare
present themselves to the doorkeeper, becausehe will know them for what
they are, and will not grant them accessto the sheep, since their intent is to
stealsheepand to kill them. If they are to gainentrance into the sheepfold,
they must enter by some other way than through the door.159 Theymust
climb over the wall. The way these folks seek to get to the sheepmakes it clear
that they have no goodin mind. The true shepherd enters the sheepfold in a
way that demonstrates his claim to his sheepis legitimate. He comes to the
doorkeeper, who recognizeshim and grants him access throughthe door to
the sheep.
Some will differ over the interpretation of some of the details, but the general
meaning of this allegoryis clearto the reader.160 Jesus is the true Shepherd,
Israel’s Messiah. There are many who have claimed to be “shepherds” of
God’s flock, but who most certainly were not. Included would be the
Pharisees andother Jewishleaders who were currently opposing Jesus. Also
in view are those false shepherds yet to appear (see Matthew 24:11, 22-28).
Whether in the past, present, or future, all false shepherds are alike in that
they use and abuse the sheepfor their own selfishinterests, and they attempt
to gain accessandleadership in a way that seeksto avoid the divinely
prescribed boundaries. Simply put, they don’t meet the job description of a
true shepherd, as described in Ezekiel34 and elsewhere. And so far as any
who would claim to be the Messiah, theydo not fulfill the Old Testament
prophecies pertaining to MessiahandHis coming.
Jesus is the true Shepherd. He is the Messiah, the One who came in fulfillment
of all the Old Testamentprophecies concerning Him. If you would, these

147. biblical qualifications are the “door” to which Jesus refers in verses 1-5, and
through which He passedby meeting every one of them. While not all would
agree with this, it seems to me that the “doorkeeper” must be John the
Baptist. As David was designatedthe king of Israelby the prophet Samuel, so
also Jesus, the Son of David, was designatedIsrael’s King by the prophet John
the Baptist. The sheepin the sheepfoldare the Jews to whom our Lord
came161as the Messiah. His flock is but a portion of the sheepin the
sheepfold. His sheepare the “elect,” the sheepwhom God the Father has given
to the Son (6:37, 39), and thus Jesus calls them “His ownsheep” (verses 3, 4).
Becausethey are His sheep, they “know His voice,” recognize Him as the
Messiah, andtrust in Him as their Shepherd. These sheep, who belong to the
true Shepherd, also know better than to follow any false shepherd. Instead,
they avoid such “shepherds” by fleeing from them.
Jesus:The GoodShepherd
(10:6-18)
6 Jesus told them this parable, but they did not understand what he was
saying to them. 7 So Jesus saidto them again, “I tell you the solemn truth,
I162 am the door for the sheep.1638 All who came before me were164thieves
and robbers, but the sheepdid not listen to them. 9 I am the door. If anyone
enters through me,165 he will be saved,166and will come in and go out,167
and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to stealand kill and destroy; I168
have come so that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.169 11 “I
am the goodshepherd.170 The goodshepherd lays down his life for171 the
sheep. 12 The hired hand172 who is not a shepherd and does not own sheep,
sees the wolf coming and abandons the sheepand runs away. So the wolf
attacks the sheep and scatters them. 13 Because he is a hired hand and is not
concernedabout the sheep, he runs away. 14 I am the goodshepherd. I
know173 my own and my own know me— 15 just as the Father knows me and
I know the Father—andI lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other
sheepthat do not come from this sheepfold. I must bring them too, and they
will listen to my voice, so that there will be one flock and one shepherd. 17
This is why the Fatherloves me—because I lay down my life so that I may
take it back again. 18 No one takes it awayfrom me, but I lay it down of my

148. own free will. I have the authority to lay it down, and I have the authority to
take it back again. This is the commandment I receivedfrom my Father.”
This text is not actually a parable, as we might think of the (English) word
here from its use in the Synoptic Gospels. The word for parable, used so often
in the Synoptic Gospels (approximately 50 times) is not found in the Gospelof
John. Conversely, the Greek word which is rendered “parable” above is not
found in any of the Synoptic Gospels, but it is used four times in the Gospelof
John. Hendriksen, Morris and Carsonseemto agree that the word “parable”
may not be the best translation for the term John has employed:
The discourse about the goodshepherd is calleda paroimia. In generala
paroimia (literally, wayside saying) is a figurative saying (16:25, 29). Here in
chapter 10 it is an allegory rather than a parable. The Gospelof John does not
contain any parables. The very term parable occurs only in the Synoptics (and
in Heb. 9:9; 11:19), while paroimia occurs only in the Fourth Gospel(and in II
Pet. 2:22). In the N. T. there is some overlapping in the meaning of the terms
parable and paroimia: eachmay refer to a proverb (II Pet. 2:22; cf. Luke
4:23), but this is the exceptionrather than the rule. Similarly the Hebrew
mashal has a very wide connotation: proverb, parable, poem, riddle (veiled
and pointed remark). … Essentiallythe difference in meaning betweena
paroimia in the sense ofallegory(as here in chapter 10) and a parable
amounts to this, that the former partakes ofthe nature of a metaphor; the
latter is more like a simile. A metaphor is an implied comparison(‘Tell that
fox,’ meaning Herod); a simile is an expressedcomparison(‘his appearance
was as lighting). An allegorymay be defined as an extended metaphor; a
parable, as an extended simile.174
It is difficult to class this sectionexactly. It is called a paroimia in v. 6 …,
which may indicate a proverb, or, more generally, a ‘dark saying’ of some
sort. It differs from the Synoptic parables in that there is no connectedstory.
Mostpeople callit an allegorybut Lagrange objects that in an allegorythe
one personcan scarcelybe representedby two figures, as here Jesus is both
shepherd and door. He prefers to call it un petit tableau parabolique. The
name we give it matters little, but in our interpretation we must bear in mind

149. that it does not fit neatly into any of our usual categories.It is basically an
allegory, but with distinctive features of its own.175
The word rendered ‘figure of speech’is paroimia, an expressionthat occurs
againin 16:25, 29 but never in the Synoptic Gospels. The favouredterm there
is parabole (‘parable’), which never occurs in John. Both words render
Hebrew masal, and all three words canrefer to an extraordinarily wide
variety of literary forms, including proverbs, parables, maxims, similes,
allegories,fables, riddles, narratives embodying certain truths, taunts and
more (cf. Carson, Matt, pp. 301-304). The commonfeature in these quite
different genres is that there is something enigmatic or cryptic about them:
hence NIV’s ‘figure of speech.’Whateverthe form (and Jesus usedmany
forms), Jesus’opponents did not understand what he was telling them.176
It is little wonder that our Lord’s audience does not understand Him. How
can they when they are not His sheep(10:26-27)? In verses 7-18, Jesus
continues with the sheep/shepherdimagery, but with a somewhatdifferent
twist.177 First, He shifts from the more generalthird person(“the one who,”
“he,” “him,” “his”)to the very specific first personsingular (“I,” “me”). He
makes it very clearfrom here on that He is speaking of Himself as “the True
Shepherd” and “the Good Shepherd.” He now speaks ofHimself as the
“door,” and He drops any further reference to the “doorkeeper.”In verses 7-
10, John continues to speak ofthose who are “thieves and robbers,” but in
verses 11-18 JesuscontrastsHimself—“the GoodShepherd”—with hirelings.
The GoodShepherd not only presents Himself in a way that is fitting, He also
cares for the sheep by laying His life down for them.
The importance of our Lord’s teaching is indicated by the familiar expression,
“Truly, truly …,” or as the NET Bible renders it, “I tell you the solemn truth
…” Jesus is the “door” for the sheep. In verses 7-10, it is not “the shepherd”
who passes throughthe door, but his sheep. Those sheepwho pass through the
door—who trust in Jesus as God’s Messiah, the Good Shepherd—are those
who are saved, and who enter into the abundant life. In “sheepterms,” they
enjoy the safetyof the shepherd’s care and protection, and the abundance of
the rich pastures and water to which he leads them. They couldn’t have it any
better. In “people terms,” those who trust in Jesus are forgiven their sins and

150. enter into the abundant life, under the protection, guidance, and tender care
of the Savior, who is their “GoodShepherd.”
In what appears to be a sweeping statement, Jesus says,“All who came before
me were thieves and robbers, but the sheepdid not listen to them” (verse 8).
He most certainly is not referring to the godly prophets of old, men like Moses
and Elijah, and Daniel.178I believe we could paraphrase our Lord’s words in
this way: “All who have come before me, claiming to be me—what I alone am
as the GoodShepherd—are thieves and robbers.” In the immediate context,
Jesus has just claimed to be “the door.” When He speaks of“allwho came
before me,” He is referring to all those pseudo-shepherds (past, present, and
future) who seek to usurp His place and prominence as the One sent from
heaven by the Father, the Messiah. The Pharisees certainlythink of
themselves as the “gatekeepers” ofthe kingdom of God in Jesus’day: “But
woe to you experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites!You keeplocking
people out of the kingdom of heaven! For you neither enter nor permit those
trying to enter to go in” (Matthew 23:13).
These “shepherds” are nothing more than “thieves and robbers.” They do not
come to do goodto the sheep. They do not care about the sheep, nor do they
care for the sheep. They come for personalgain, at the expense of the sheep.
But the Lord’s sheepare not taken in. They know the voice of their Shepherd,
and they know a strangerwhen he comes as their shepherd, so they do not
listen to them. In contrast, the GoodShepherd has come to benefit the sheep,
at His own expense.
Evangelistic efforts in my generationhave placed John 10:10b in the spotlight:
“I have come so that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.” It is a
greattext and worthy of our attention. My only concernis that in taking this
half-verse out of its context, we lose some of its meaning. Jesus has “come so
that His sheep may have life, and have it abundantly,” but He has done so in
contrastto the evil shepherds, who have come “only to stealand kill and
destroy” (verse 10a). Pseudo-shepherds promise sheep“the goodlife,” but
they most certainly do not provide it. It is our Lord who is the Good
Shepherd, and as such He alone gives salvation, safety, and the abundant life.
There is not only an abundance for the sheep here, but a freedom. They can

151. “come in and go out, and find pasture.” This does not mean that they can go
their own way, but the GoodShepherd goes before His flock, and His sheep
willingly follow Him. He does not, as some sheep herders are inclined to do,
drive them (sometimes using a sheepdog, which nips awayat their feet).
Now we come to the really amazing part. Pseudo-shepherds do not care about
the flock;they care about themselves. Thus, they use and abuse the flock, but
they do not tenderly care for the flock. They come “to stealand kill and
destroy.” The GoodShepherd intimately knows and tenderly cares for His
flock, but He does far more. He places the interests of the flock above His
own, and thus in order to save the flock, He lays down His life for His sheep.
The hireling is interestedin his wages more than the sheephe is paid to care
for. If a wolf attacks the sheepunder his care, he would be risking personal
injury were he to seek to save the sheep. The hireling therefore forsakesthe
sheepto save his own skin. He runs from danger, rather than endanger
himself by seeking to save the flock.
The GoodShepherd does much more than simply put himself in harm’s way
to save the sheep;He deliberately lays down His life in order to save the sheep.
The sacrificialdeath of the Good Shepherd described here is not for “sheep”
in general(all the sheepin the sheepfold of verses 1-5);it is for His sheep, the
sheepin His flock, the electwhom the Father has given Him, whom He
Himself has chosen:
It is for the sheep—only for the sheep—thatthe goodshepherd lays down his
life. The design of the atonement is definitely restricted. Jesus dies for those
who had been given to him by the Father, for the children of God, for true
believers. This is the teaching of the Fourth Gospelthroughout (3:16; 6:37, 39,
40, 44, 65; 10:11, 15, 29;17:6, 9, 20, 21, 24). It is also the doctrine of the rest of
Scripture. With his precious blood Christ purchasedhis church (Acts 20:28;
Eph. 5:25-27);his people (Matt. 1:21); the elect(Rom. 8:32-35).179
Howeverclearly this Gospelportrays Jesus as the Saviour of the world (4:42),
the Lamb of God who takes awaythe sin of the world (1:29, 36), it insists no
less emphatically that Jesus has a peculiar relation with those the Father has
given him (6:37ff.), with those he has chosenout of the world (15:16, 19). So

152. here: Jesus’death is peculiarly for his sheep, just as we elsewhere readthat
‘Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her’ (Ephesians 5:25).180
In verses 1-5, the sheepfoldinto which the true Shepherd enters contains
many flocks. Only some of these sheep“belong” to the true Shepherd. Out of
the sheepfoldof Israel, the true Shepherd calls His own sheepby name. His
sheepknow His voice and follow Him out of the fold. Verses 7-18 leave the
sheepfold(Israel) and focus on the flock of the GoodShepherd. It is for this
flock that Jesus laid down His life. His sacrificialatoning death was no
accident, and the Shepherd was no helpless victim (in the popular sense of
that term today), overcome by His adversaries. His death was by His own will
and purpose, and in obedience to the Father’s will. His death was purposed by
Him to save all those the Father had given to Him. He laid down His life so
that He could take it up again. It was a sacrificialdeath, sovereignlypurposed
and sovereignlyplayed out. Our Lord was never more “in control” (that is
what sovereigntyis about) than when He was hanging on the cross of Calvary.
You will remember that it was He who “gave up His spirit” (John 19:30).
So far, the focus has been upon the relationship betweenJesus, the Good
Shepherd, and His Jewishsheep. He is, after all, the JewishMessiah, who
came to save His people. But “His people” does not include every Israelite
(verses 1-5;see Romans 9:6); it does include many from among the Gentiles:
“I have181 othersheep that do not come from this sheepfold.182I must bring
them too, and they will listen to my voice, so that there will be one flock and
one shepherd” (verse 16).
Jesus does not saythat He will have other sheep, but rather that He does have
them. These are surely elect“sheep” from among the Gentiles. While these
“sheep” have not yet become a part of our Lord’s flock, they most certainly
will. Our Lord can therefore speak of these “sheep” as those “sheep” He
already has, because salvationis of the Lord. Salvationis God’s work. Men
are calledto respond, and respond they will if they are His sheep. They will
hear His voice, and they will follow Him. These sheepwill become a part of
our Lord’s one flock. They are not an inferior flock, nor are they a separate
flock. Believing Jews and Gentiles make up one flock. Paul puts it this way:

153. 11 Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh—who are
called“uncircumcision” by the so-called“circumcision” thatis performed in
the body by hands—12 that you were at that time without the Messiah,
alienatedfrom the citizenship of Israeland strangers to the covenants of
promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ
Jesus you who used to be far awayhave been brought near by the blood of
Christ. 14 Forhe is our peace, the one who turned both groups into one and
who destroyedthe middle wallof partition, the hostility, in his flesh, 15 when
he nullified the law of commandments in decrees. The purpose of this was to
create in himself the two into one new man, thus making peace, 16 and to
reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by which the
hostility has been killed. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were
far off and peace to those who were near; 18 so that through him we both
have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer
foreigners and non-citizens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and
members of God’s household, 20 because youhave been built on the
foundation of the apostles andprophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the
cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building, being joined together, grows into a
holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built togetherinto a
dwelling place of Godin the Spirit (Ephesians 2:11-22).
Elsewhere Paulwrites,
26 For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith. 27 For all of you
who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There
is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male
nor female;for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to
Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to the promise
(Galatians 3:26-29).
It is for this reasonthat I very much dislike the expressions, “Jewish
Christian” and “Gentile Christian.” There are only “Christians.” There is
only “one flock,” with “one shepherd” (verse 16). I also struggle with churches
which are recognizedas “Jewishcongregations”or“Gentile congregations.”
Divisions based upon theologicalanddenominational lines may not always be
commendable, though they seemto be a factof life. Divisions basedsolely

154. upon raciallines are much more suspect, in my opinion. It is the very “stuff”
of which the Judaizers of the New Testamentwere made, the error which
endangeredthe church and the gospelin Acts and the Epistles.
Verses 17-19 stresstwo important and related dimensions of our Lord’s work
as the “goodShepherd.” First of all, as the good Shepherd, our Lord is also
the sovereignShepherd. This is a point that will be taken up shortly, in
relation to the security of the sheep. Our Lord is no victim, and His life is not
takenawayby men. He voluntarily gives His life for the sheep. He does so
with full confidence that He will then rise from the dead. In His words, He
lays down His life so that He “may take it back again” (verse 17). He lays
down His life in order that He may rise from the dead. He who is life, who is
the source ofall life (see 1:1-5), cannot have His life takenawayagainstHis
will. He who is life must give up His own life, and He also has the authority to
take it up again! Such a Shepherd cannot be defeated, and thus His sheep
could not be more secure.
The secondthing verses 17-19 stressis the unity of the Father and the Son in
the work of redemption. The Son willingly lays down His life for the sheep,
knowing this is the Father’s will. It is, in fact, the Father’s commandment
(verse 18). The Son’s sacrificialdeathon the cross of Calvary enhances the
Father’s love for Him (verse 17). On the one hand, Jesus and the Father are
united in the work of saving men; on the other, Jesus submits to the Father’s
will when He lays down His life for His sheep.
Conclusion
It is Leon Morris183 who observes that this chapter contains the last public
teaching of Jesus that John records. It seems to me that as John records our
Lord’s teaching here on the “GoodShepherd,” he sums up all the major
themes of his Gospelto this point, and he does so in a way that climaxes at the
cross ofCalvary and the substitutionary atonementaccomplishedby our
Lord. John the Baptist’s ministry is describedas the work of the doorkeeper
in verses 1-5.184Our Lord’s deity and union with the Father are also clearly
stated. Our Lord came to the house of Israel, and many rejectedHim. We are
told here that it is because many in the sheepfoldof Israel were not His sheep.

155. They did not hear His voice. Those who were His sheepheard the voice of the
GoodShepherd and followedHim. The GoodShepherd is here presentedas
the Shepherd who will voluntarily lay down His life for His sheep. He will do
so in order that He may rise from the dead, resulting in a completed
redemption.
In this final collectionof our Lord’s teaching on the GoodShepherd, there is
the most direct statementyet concerning His sacrificialdeath. There is also
the clearestcondemnationofthe Jewishreligious leaders, who are at best
“hirelings” and at worst“thieves and robbers.” Nowhere has the contrast
betweenthe GoodShepherd and the evil shepherds been as clearas we see
here. This contrastchart may be helpful:
Evil Shepherds
The GoodShepherd
1 “I tell you the solemn truth, the one who does not enter the sheepfoldby the
door, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber.
5 They will never follow a stranger, but will run away from him, because they
do not recognize the stranger’s voice.”
2 The one who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The
doorkeeperopens the door for him, and the sheephear his voice. He calls his
own sheepby name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought all his own
sheepout, he goes aheadofthem, and the sheepfollow him because they
recognize his voice.
8 All who came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheepdid not
listen to them.
6 Jesus told them this parable, but they did not understand what he was
saying to them. 7 So Jesus saidto them again, “I tell you the solemn truth, I
am the door for the sheep.
10 The thief comes only to stealand kill and destroy;

156. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved, and will come
in and go out, and find pasture. I have come so that they may have life, and
may have it abundantly (verse 10b).
12 The hired hand who is not a shepherd and does not own sheep, sees the
wolf coming and abandons the sheepand runs away. So the wolf attacks the
sheepand scatters them. 13 Becausehe is a hired hand and is not concerned
about the sheep, he runs away.
11 I am the goodshepherd. The goodshepherd lays down his life for the
sheep. 14 I am the goodshepherd. I know my own and my own know me— 15
just as the Fatherknows me and I know the Father—andI lay down my life
for the sheep. 16 I have other sheepthat do not come from this sheepfold. I
must bring them too, and they will listen to my voice, so that there will be one
flock and one shepherd. 17 This is why the Father loves me—because I lay
down my life so that I may take it back again. 18 No one takes it awayfrom
me, but I lay it down of my own free will. I have the authority to lay it down,
and I have the authority to take it back again. This is the commandment I
receivedfrom my Father.”
This, of course, is the beginning of the end. Up to this point, these wicked
shepherds have been attacking Jesus atevery opportunity. Now, He
commences to attack them. We know that our Lord’s final attack (as
describedin Matthew 23)will bring the response our Lord expected—the
cross ofCalvary. Now, more than ever, Jesus is a marked man. The Jewish
religious leaders are more determined than everto put Him to death. It is now
only a matter of the right opportunity.
As we conclude this lesson, letme draw your attention to some of the “high
points” of this passageandsuggestsome thoughts for your consideration.
First of all, our text reminds us that “it’s not what you know, but who you
know.” I think we would all have to agree that the Phariseesare much more
highly educated than the masses, whomthey despise (7:49). In spite of all their
“knowledge” ofthe Old Testament, the Pharisees do not know God. They do

157. not know the voice of the Great Shepherd, Jesus Christ. That is why they
cannot “hear” Him. That is why they wish to kill Him. There is a greatdeal of
difference betweenknowing about God and knowing God; while education
has much to do with the former, it has little to do with the latter.
As individuals and as a church, we know a great dealabout God and about
His Word, and this is very good. But it is not the same as knowing God
Himself, in the Personof Jesus Christ. Calvin puts it very well when he writes,
This passageoughtto strike us with the deepestshame;first, because we are
so ill accustomedto the voice of our Shepherd, that there are hardly any who
do not listen to it with indifference; and, next, because we are so slow and
indolent to follow him. I speak of the good, or of those who are at least
passable;for the greaterpart of those who boast that they are Christ’s
disciples kick fiercely againsthim. Lastly, as soonas the voice of any stranger
has sounded in our ears, we are hurried to and fro; and this lightness and
unsteadiness sufficiently shows how little progress we have hitherto made in
the faith.185
There is nothing more important than knowing God:
7 But these assets Ihave come to regardas liabilities because ofChrist. 8
More than that, I now regardall things as liabilities comparedto the far
greatervalue of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the
loss of all things—indeed, I regard them as dung!—that I might gainChrist, 9
and be found in him, not because ofhaving my own righteousness derived
from the law, but because ofhaving the righteousness thatcomes by way of
Christ’s faithfulness—a righteousness from God that is basedon Christ’s
faithfulness. 10 My aim is to know him, to experience the powerof his
resurrection, to share in his sufferings, and to be like him in his death, 11 and
so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead (Philippians 3:7-11).
Second, there is a fundamental principle found here in John 10, which will
give us greatjoy and protectus from the evil one: It is Jesus Christ alone who
offers us the abundant life. Knowing Him is the Christian’s greatestprivilege
and blessing. It is also our greatestdefense againstthe wiles of the devil, who
is constantly trying to tempt us to follow false shepherds (see 2 Corinthians

158. 11:1-15). There is no sweetersound than that of His voice, and knowing the
sound of His voice, we should easilysense when a pseudo-shepherdcomes our
way. I cannot stress this truth enough. From the very beginning, God is the
one “who richly provides us with all things for our enjoyment” (1 Timothy
6:17). It was this way from the beginning. Look at the vast wealth of beauty
and enjoyment God provided for man in the Garden of Eden, and yet Satan
sought to portray God as someone who was holding back something good. He
convinced Eve that he had more to offer than God, that he was the one who
gave abundant life. And in their taking of the forbidden fruit, Adam and his
wife did not experience the “life” Satanpromised, but death.
It has been this wayever since. Satanis the one who would deceive us to
believe that the Christian life is a life of denial, of doing without the “good
things of life.” It is a lie! Jesus is the GoodShepherd. He laid down His life so
that we might have abundant life. He gives life, eternal life, abundant life.
Satanand all of his pseudo-shepherds offer the “goodlife,” but what they
produce is theft, murder, and destruction. Young person, do you think you
are missing the abundant life by refraining from pre-marital sex? The
abundant life is that life in which sexual pleasures are soughtand experienced
only within the boundaries which God Himself has set. The abundant life is
not having everything you want, here and now; it is knowing and serving
Jesus Christ. Do not fall for Satan’s lies, or seek whatGod has forbidden as
though it was the “goodlife.” The goodlife is living as one of His sheep, and
following Him as the Greatand GoodShepherd.
We are now brought to the third observation:John 10 is the best commentary
available on Psalm23. The Psalmbegins, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want …” Isn’t that exactly what our Lord promises us in John chapter
10? When He is our Shepherd, we will not lack any goodthing (see Psalm
34:10;84:11). There is nothing more assuring than these words in Psalm 23,
and in John 10 Jesus makes it clearthat all the blessings of this Psalm are to
be found and experiencedin Him—and in Him alone.
I need to ask you a very personalquestion, my friend: “Is the Lord Jesus
Christ your GoodShepherd?” Do you hear His voice, even as you read this
chapter in John’s Gospel? The GoodShepherd is also the “Lamb of God who

159. takes awaythe sin of the world” (John 1:29, see also v. 36). The Good
Shepherd laid down His life by becoming the Lamb of God. The Son of God
took on human flesh, adding perfect humanity to His undiminished deity.
Having no sin, He died on the cross ofCalvary in the sinner’s place, to make
an atonement for our sins, and to procure the gift of eternal life. Have you
acknowledgedyour sin, and trusted in Him alone who canforgive sins? That
is how you follow the GoodShepherd. Can you hear His voice, calling you to
believe in Him?186
Fourth, while Godloves, calls, and cares forHis sheepindividually, much of
His care and guidance comes as His sheepare a part of a flock. We live in a
very individualistic age, whenpersonalindependence and autonomy are
paramount in the minds of many Christians. I would simply remind you that
it is both arrogantand ignorant for us to expect and demand personalized
ministry and attention from human “shepherds,” wheneverwe want it. In the
first place, it is not possible. In the second, it is not necessaryor good. Even
empoweredby the Spirit, men can only be in one place at a time. Human
shepherds cannotpossibly live up to the expectations that many place upon
them. This is why God deals with His church as a flock. It seems clearto me
that God has instituted His church so that the needs of His people canbe met
in the context of a flock. Are you vitally involved with a flock of sheep(a
church)? You should be, both to minister to others, and to be ministered to by
others. Many churches, like our own, have small groups for ministry as well.
In these smaller groups, individual sheep canbe knownand caredfor
individually. If you are not a part of some such group, I believe you should be,
because Godprovides care for His sheepin the context of a flock.
But let me press the point a little further. God has no limits on His time or
availability. While men can be in only one place at a time, God has no such
limitations. He can—andoften does—minister to eachof us in a very personal
way. But there are times when we expector even demand that God minister to
us “personally” when this is neither necessarynor beneficial. I may shock you
when I say this, but I believe there is an element of truth here. Some people
wish to receive personalguidance from God when He has alreadyspoken
clearly in His Word. They want God to give them some specialrevelationor
personalword from above, when it isn’t necessary. Godmay have already

160. spokento us clearly in His Word, but we may simply be too lazy to seek it out
for ourselves. (If all else fails, we seek to find a “How To” book, which makes
it easyfor us.) Let us not demand that God minister to us personallywhen He
has alreadydone so, through His Word or through His body, the church.
I’m almostfinished with this point, but not quite. Sometimes human
shepherds find it flattering when people depend upon them entirely for
shepherding. The Lord’s sheep are His sheep, not our sheep. It is He alone
who saves His sheepand makes them secure. It is He alone who knows His
sheepintimately. Let us not dare to be like the false shepherds, who want His
sheepas our own, to meet our own selfishneeds. As under-shepherds, it is our
calling and privilege to point men to the GreatShepherd, whose sheepthey
are.
Fifth, as the GoodShepherd, Jesus Christ is the ultimate standard for all
shepherding, and for every shepherd. Let me first say that Jesus Christ is the
GreatShepherd:
20 Now may the God of peace who by the blood of the eternal covenant
brought back from the dead the greatshepherd of the sheep, our Lord Jesus
Christ, 21 equip you with every goodthing to do his will, working in you what
is pleasing before him through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever. Amen
(Hebrews 13:20-21).
I am always very nervous when men who are calledpastors use John chapter
10 of themselves. Christ alone is the true, good, and great Shepherd. In Peter’s
words, He is the Chief Shepherd:
1 So as your fellow-elderand a witness of Christ’s sufferings and as one who
shares in the glory that will be revealed, I urge the elders among you: 2 give a
shepherd’s care to God’s flock among you, exercising oversightnot merely as
a duty but willingly under God’s direction, not for shameful profit but
eagerly. 3 And do not lord it over those entrusted to you but be examples to
the flock. 4 Then when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the
crownof glory that never fades away(1 Peter5:1-4).

161. We are, at best, undershepherds. If we truly love our Lord, then we, like
Peter, will devote ourselves to the passionof our Lord—shepherding His
flock:
15 Then when they had finished breakfast, Jesus saidto Simon Peter, “Simon,
son of John, do you love me more than these do?” He replied, “Yes, Lord, you
know I love you.” Jesus told him, “Feedmy lambs.” 16 Jesus saida second
time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He replied, “Yes, Lord, you
know I love you.” Jesus told him, “Shepherd my sheep.” 17 Jesus saida third
time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peterwas distressedthat Jesus
askedhim a third time, “Do you love me?” and said, “Lord, you know
everything. You know that I love you.” Jesus replied, “Feedmy sheep. 18 I tell
you the solemn truth, when you were young, you tied your clothes around you
and went whereveryou wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out
your hands, and others will tie you up and bring you where you do not want to
go.” 19 (Now Jesus saidthis to indicate clearlyby what kind of death Peter
was going to glorify God.) After he said this, Jesus told Peter, “Follow me”
(John 21:15-19).
When we shepherd His flock, we should do so as He did. We should give
specialcare and attention to the wandering, the hurting, the sick, the weak.
We should “lay down our lives,” giving of ourselves, seeking the best interest
of the sheep. May God grant that eachof us who know and love Him will take
up His work of shepherding His sheep. At the same time, let us never cease
being sheep who know and follow the voice of the Great Shepherd.
152 In John 1:36, John the Baptist identified Jesus as the “Lamb of God,” but
now He speaks ofHimself as the “GoodShepherd.”
153 Israelis calledGod’s flock (Psalm 74:1; 78:52;79:13; 95:7; 100:3). God is
describedas Israel’s Shepherd (see Psalm23; 77:20;78:52; 80:1; 107:31-32,
39-42). Moses(and next Joshua)served God as shepherds of the nation Israel
(see Numbers 27:15-17), as did David (Psalm 78:70-71). Godeven employed
the leadershipof pagan’s so that He could call Cyrus His “shepherd” (Isaiah
44:28). Under divine judgment, Israel is describedas sheep without a

162. shepherd (Jeremiah 10:21;50:6; Ezekiel34:5-6; Zechariah 10:2; 11:1-17).
Those who led Israelastray were also referredto as “shepherds” (Jeremiah
23:1f.; 50:6; Ezekiel34:10f.;Zechariah 10:3). God promised to restore Israel
by sending One who would be their “shepherd” (Isaiah 40:9-11;Jeremiah
23:3-8; 31:10;Micah 2:12-13).
154 See, for example: Matthew 2:6; 7:15; 9:36; 10:6, 16;12:11-12;15:24;
18:12-13;25:32-33;26:31.
155 See Acts 20:28; 1 Peter5:4; Hebrews 13:20;Revelation7:17.
156 Leon Morris, The GospelAccording to John (Grand Rapids: Wm. B.
Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1971), p. 501.
157 “Some have felt that there is little connectionbetweenthe opening of this
chapter and the end of the preceding one. Various reconstructions have been
proposed. But these are not necessary. … It is apt, accordingly, that,
immediately after Israel’s shepherds have failed so conspicuouslyin the case
of the man born blind, we should have setforth the nature and functions of
the GoodShepherd. The sequence is tolerably plain.” Leon Morris, p. 499.
158 The Pharisees consideredthemselves the doorkeepers ofthe kingdom of
God (see Matthew 23:13). They thought they had just “slammedthe door” in
the face of the man who was born blind, but in truth he just found the “door”
in Christ and enteredinto eternal life.
159 It seems to me that Matthew 11:12 may well be speaking of those who
would break into the sheepfold.
160 John reminds us that it was not so clearto those who heard Jesus as He
spoke these words (verse 6). Some never understood, and even our Lord’s
disciples did not really understand until after His death, burial, and
resurrection.
161 See John1:11.
162 “WhenJesus says, ‘I—emphatic; i.e., I alone—amthe door of the sheep,’
he means that he is the only One through whom anyone obtains legitimate
access.There simply is no other entrance.” William Hendriksen, Expositionof

163. the GospelAccording to John, 2 vols. (Grand Rapids: BakerBook House,
1953-1954), vol. 2, p. 107.
163 “According to Hegesippus, a second-century writer, James the half-
brother of Jesus was executedby Jewishopponents, in part because ofhis
answerto the question, ‘What is the gate (thyra, as in Jn. 10:7, 9) of Jesus?’
(by which they probably meant the gate of which Jesus spoke). WhenJames
answeredin terms reminiscent of Matthew 26:64, he was thrown off the
temple and, still alive, was stoned to death (H. E. II. xxiii. 12-19). Whatever
the reliability of this report, it attests that Jesus did indeed speak of himself as
the door or gate.” D. A. Carson, The GospelAccording to John (Grand
Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1991), p. 389.
164 There is a footnote here in the NET Bible, indicating that the verb is
present tense (“are”), not past tense (“were”). Morris comments, “We should
almost certainly take ‘before me’ as part of the imagery, rather than as
indicating Jesus’predecessors as religious leaders.The shepherd comes to the
fold for his sheep(vv. 2f.) first thing in the morning. All who precededhim
accordinglymust be thieves and the like working in the darkness. All the
more is this likely to be the case in that Jesus does not say that they ‘were’ but
that they ‘are’ thieves and robbers. The emphasis is on His own day.” Morris,
p. 507.
165 “Note the emphatic position of the phrase by me [in the Greek text].”
Hendriksen, vol. 2, p. 109.
166 “There is no goodreasonto restrict the meaning of the verb in this
passage, as if it meant no more than, ‘he will be safe.’To be sure, safety is
implied also in the words, and will go in and out; but this is only part of the
meaning. Not only will he go in and out, i.e., experience perfect freedom from
all real harm and danger, and this even in the small affairs of every-day
living, and feelhimself entirely at home in the daily routine of God’s people
(see especiallythe beautiful words of Ps. 121:8), but in addition, he will find
pasture; i.e., life and abundance, as the following verse indicates. The pasture
which the true sheepfinds in the study of the Word is certainly included.”
Hendriksen, vol. 2, p. 109.

164. 167 “Bygoing in and out, Scripture often denotes all the actions of the life, as
we say in French, aller et venir, to go and come, which means, to dwell. These
words, therefore, present to us a twofold advantage of the Gospel, that our
souls shall find pasture in it, which otherwise become faint and famished, and
are fed with nothing but wind; and, next, because he will faithfully protect
and guard us againstthe attacks ofwolves and robbers.” John Calvin,
Calvin’s Commentaries, Volume 7: The Gospels (GrandRapids: Associated
Publishers and Authors Inc., n.d.), p. 772.
168 “… ‘I’ is emphatic …” Morris, p. 509.
169 “This is a proverbial way of insisting that there is only one means of
receiving eternal life (the Synoptics might have preferred to speak ofentering
the kingdom, although entering into life is also attestedthere), only one source
of knowledge ofGod, only one fount of spiritual nourishment, only one basis
for spiritual security—Jesus alone.”Carson, p. 385.
170 “Jesus continues, Iam the goodshepherd, really: the shepherd, the good
one. The adjective is stressed!This adjective, however, is not agaqo" but
kalo". The basic meaning of this word is beautiful. Here it indicates excellent.
This shepherd answers to the ideal both in his characterand in his work. And
he is the only one in his class.” Hendriksen, vol. 2, p. 110.
171 “The words ‘for (hyper) the sheep’ suggestsacrifice. The preposition,
itself ambiguous, in John always occurs in a sacrificialcontext, whether
referring to the death of Jesus (6:51;10:11, 15; 11:50ff.;17:19; 18:14), of
Peter(13:37-38), or of a man prepared to die for his friend (15:13). In no case
does this suggesta death with merely exemplary significance;in eachcase the
death envisagedis on behalf of someone else. The shepherd does not die for his
sheepto serve as an example, throwing himself off a cliff in a grotesque and
futile display while bellowing, ‘See how much I love you!’ No, the assumption
is that the sheepare in mortal danger; that in their defence the shepherd loses
his life; that by his death they are saved. That, and that alone, is what makes
him the goodshepherd.” Carson, p. 386.
“The goodshepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The prepositionis uper, a
word which has the root-meaning over. In the Fourth Gospelit is always used

165. with the genitive. Thus used, its meaning pendulates all the way from the
colorlessconcerning (1:30), through for the benefit of and the closelyrelated
for the sake of(6:51; 11:4; 17:19), to the very meaningful insteadof (see 10:11,
15; 11:50, 51, 52;13:37, 38; 15:13;18:14). However, it is probably incorrectto
say that this preposition in itself ever means instead of. That is its resultant
connotationwhen it is used in certaincontexts. The goodshepherd lays down
his life for the benefit of the sheep, but the only way in which he canbenefit
the sheep, saving them from everlasting destruction and imparting everlasting
life to them, is by dying instead of them, as we learn from Matt. 20:28;Mark
10:45, where the preposition anti (instead of, in exchange for) is used. It is
easyto see how by a very gradual transition for the benefit of or in behalf of
may become insteadof. Thus, in the papyri the scribe who writes a document
in behalf of someone who cannot write is writing it insteadof that unlettered
individual.” Hendriksen, vol. 2, pp. 110-111.
172 “‘Hireling’ is perhaps a little too strong for the word, as this has
connotations in the English that are missing from the Greek. In the only place
where the word is used in the New Testamentapart from this verse and the
next it refers to fishermen working for pay (Mark 1:20; MM cite its use for
men paid to carry bricks). But certainly it indicates someone otherthan the
owner. It speaks ofa man whose interestis in what he is paid for doing his job
rather than in the job itself.” Morris, p. 510.
173 “Fourtimes in these two verses the verb know (ginwskw)occurs.”
Hendriksen, vol. 2, p. 113.
174 Hendriksen, vol. 2, pp. 99-100.
175 Morris, pp. 500-501, fn. 9.
176 D. A. Carson, The GospelAccording to John, p. 383.
177 “The fuller explanation in these verses cannot easilybe accommodatedas
long as we think of vv. 1-5 as a cohesive narrative parable, and the verses
before us as mere explanation of them. Now Jesus is not the shepherd who
goes through the gate; rather, he is the gate (v. 7). Before, the shepherd led the
sheepout of the fold; now he leads them in and out (v. 9). Hired hands are

166. introduced (v. 12), along with sheepfrom other sheeppens (v. 16), and the
death of the shepherd (v. 15). The tensions are largely alleviatedwhen we
recognize that the expansions in these verses are not predicatedon a single,
narrative parable, but are further metaphoricaluses of the three dominant
features of the shepherding language introduced in vv. 1-5—viz. The gate,
which generates further metaphoricalexpansion in vv. 7-10;the shepherd,
whose parallels with Jesus are further elucidated in vv. 11-18;and the notion
of his own sheep, further expanded in vv. 26-30. This last sectionis placed a
little further on in the chapter because it admirably explains the Jews’
unbelief of Jesus’messianic claims. In short, John 10 makes sense as it stands,
as long as we do not approachit with false expectations of a formally coherent
narrative.” Carson, pp. 383-384.
178 “The ensuing verses suggestthat All who ever came before me excludes
from the indictment such leaders as Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiahand others who
heard God’s voice in former times, and who served him faithfully in the terms
of the covenantto which they had sworn allegiance. Nevertheless,the
expressionsurely hints at more than despotic localleaders who care more for
their own gain than for the sheepin their care (cf. ‘thieves and robbers’ in v.
8). It sounds, rather, as if reference is being made to messianic pretenders who
promise the people freedom but who lead them into war, suffering and
slavery.” Carson, pp. 384-385.
179 Hendriksen, vol. 2, p. 111.
180 Carson, p. 387.
181 “The goodshepherd also has other sheep. He has them even now because
they have been given to him by the Father in the decree ofpredestination
from eternity (6:37, 39;17:6, 24). That is also the reasonwhy even before they
are gatheredout they can be called his sheep.” Hendriksen, vol. 2, p. 113.
182 “The outgathering or electionof a remnant is taught in many Old
Testamentpassages:Jer. 3:14; 23:3; Am. 3:12; 5:15; Mic. 2:12; 5:3, 7, 8; 7:18-
20; Hab. 2:4; Zeph. 3:12, 13; Hag. 1:12, 14; Zech. 8:6, 12;13:8, 9. In Mic. 2:12
this outgathering of the remnant is even associatedwith the idea of the
shepherd. Cf. Am. 3:12.” Hendriksen, vol. 2, p. 107.

167. “The greatblessing of Pentecostand the GospelAge which followedit is here
predicted. It is a wonderful theme. In a sense it was predicted even in the Old
Testament:Gen. 12:3; Ps. 72:8, 9; 87:4-6; Is. 60:3; Joel2:28; Zeph. 2:9; Mal.
1:11. But there the idea that electfrom among the Gentiles will come in on the
basis of equality with the electof Israeldoes not receive emphasis.”
Hendriksen, vol. 2, p. 114.
183 p. 498.
184 Note that in the closing verses of this chapter, John the Baptistis
describedas the one who pointed men to Jesus as the Messiah.
185 Calvin, p. 772.
186 Is it not interesting that the chapter in John which is so “Calvinistic,” and
which stresses so stronglythe sovereigntyof God in the salvationof men, is
also one of the most winsome and attracting texts in the Bible?
Dr. S. Lewis Johnsongives exposition on Christians' relationship to Jesus as
sheepto a shepherd.
[Message]Let’s turn now to John chapter 10 verse 11 through verse 15, and
will you listen as I read the Scripture for this morning. There is a part of this
particular passagethatI want to make specialcomment upon in just a
moment. John 10 verse 11 through verse 15, the Lord Jesus is continuing to
tell this rather lengthy, something like an allegoryof the work of the shepherd
and the sheep.
“I am the goodshepherd: the goodshepherd giveth his life for the sheep. But
he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheepare not,
seeththe wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth
them, and scattereththe sheep. The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling,
and carethnot for the sheep. I am the goodshepherd, and know my sheep,
and am known of mine. As the Father knowethme, even so know I the Father:
and I lay down my life for the sheep.”

168. Now if you are reading a modern translation or perhaps if you’re reading a
different translation from the Authorized Versionyou’ll notice that the
rendering of verse 14 and verse 15 is somewhatdifferent from that that I have
just read. In the first place when we read in verse 14, “And am known of
mine,” and a period is used in punctuation. That period should probably be
eliminated, and then in verse 15 instead of “Evenso, know I the Father,” we
should rather have the word “and.” And the resultant translation is
something like this, “I am the goodshepherd and know my sheep, and am
known of mine as the Fatherknoweth me, and I know the Father. And I lay
down my life for the sheep.” Now you will notice that that conveys a rather
interesting series ofideas. “I know my sheepand I am knownby my sheep,
just as the Fatherknows me and I know the Father.” We’ll talk about that in
the expositionthat follows, but that is an important idea, and I would like for
you to think about it. That probably is the way in which we are to take this
text.
[Prayer removed from audio]
The words that we have read in our Scripture reading this morning form part
of the third of the series ofallegories, orparables, about an easternshepherd
and the life that he lives. This is all said in the light of the healing of the man
that was born blind in chapter 9, preceding chapter 10. You remember I’m
sure the story of how the blind man who had been born blind was healed by
the Lord Jesus and how after his healing, he was brought by the Lord Jesus to
a personaltrust in him so that finally in verse 38 of chapter 9 he said, “Lord I
believe,” and worshipped the Lord Jesus, then this parable or this allegoryof
the shepherd and the sheep is given in the 10th chapter which in a sense is an
illustration of what has happened in the healing of the blind man. He was cast
out of the synagogue for his faith, but it being castout of the synagogue he was
thrown into the arms of the goodshepherd. So the Lord Jesus tells this
parable, this allegoryin the light of what has just happened.
You can sense as you read through it that he understands us to think when we
think of the hireling and the wolves to think of the religious leaders of the
time, and when we are to think of, when we think of the shepherd we are to
think of him, and when we think of the sheep who are brought out of darkness

169. and into light and into relationship to the shepherd, we are to think of that
blind man who was brought out of darkness into the marvelous light of the
Son of God.
It’s very appropriate that the Lord Jesus should use the figure of a shepherd
and the sheep because he is so much like a shepherd and we are so much like
sheep. The shepherd suggestsownership, and the Lord Jesus makes a great
deal of that. The sheep belong to him. One might think that was a rather
strange thing in the light of shepherds outside of the eastfor very frequently
shepherds outside of the eastare not owners of the sheep, but in the eastthe
shepherds were almostalways owners of the flocks, and in fact if you askedan
easternerhow much money he had, he would say, “WellI have so many
sheep,” or “I have so many cattle.” They were ordinarily owners of the sheep.
So, the term shepherd suggestsownership. It suggests also fellowshipbecause
the shepherd was always with his sheep, and it suggests naturally solicitude,
the care that a shepherd would exercise for the sheep. So when we think of the
Lord Jesus as a shepherd we think of all of these things.
Now it’s so appropriate too that we should be calledsheep. This is one of the
favorite terms of our greatGod when he refers to us because we are so much
like sheep. Now sheepwere cleananimals. That is cleanfrom the standpoint of
the Levitical cultus. They were regardedas cleananimals. Now we know the
Lord Jesus speaksofthe apostles anddisciples as clean. Later on in this same
book he will say to the eleven, “Now ye are cleanon accountof the word
which I have spokento you.” So sheep were cleananimals, and they effectively
representthen us who have receivedthe benefits of the justifying grace of our
greatGod. Sheepare also helpless. Theyare some of the most helpless of all of
the animals, and in chapter 15 the Lord Jesus will say of the apostles,
“Without me ye cannot do anything.” So we are helpless.
And then one other characteristic ofsheepis so appropriate for us who are
disciples. It is this. Sheep are prone to wander, and if anyone is prone to
wander spiritually, it is the child of God. There are many expressive pictures
of the lostin the Bible. We are said to be enemies of God before we come to
Christ. We are said to be prisoners of our sin. We are said to be prodigals. We
are saidto be wanders. But the thing about the term sheepthat is so

170. appropriate is that a sheepwill wander and wander and wander so far from
the other sheepand from the shepherd that it will lose its sense ofits lost
condition, and that is characteristic ofus. We wander so far from God our
shepherd that we lose the sense ofour lostness.
There is a story, a true story, of a man who was a shepherd who went out with
another man, a friend, and they were talking about various things and as they
were talking, the country was hilly. It was the kind of country you might find
in Scotland. The shepherd said to his friend, “Look overthere on the side of
that cliff.” And he strained his eyes because it was some distance away, and he
said, “WellI don’t see anything. He said, “Well look. Look about half way
down that cliff side there,” and he said, “You’ll see a sheep.” And finally the
man found the sheepon the cliff. It was a very steep side of the cliff that the
sheephad managedto come down and it was steeperstill below. And the
friend said, “Wellwhat can you do for the sheep? How has this happened?”
He said, “If you’ll look above carefully you will see that there are some places
where there was grass andthe sheephas eatenthe grass. It’s come down the
side of that slop nibbling here and nibbling there and finally it has reached
that place where it cannot go any further and it cannotreturn.” The friend
said, “Is there anything that you can do for it?” He said, “No there is nothing
you cando for it, and furthermore if you will look up above you will see that
big bird up above and that big bird is just waiting for the sheepto fall in order
that he might feedupon the body of the sheep.”
Well that’s a beautiful picture it seems to me of the fact that apart from the
Lord God we wander, we wander, and we wander. We are lost. We are in an
absolutely impossible situation. In factwe sometimes sing of that. We sing,
“Prone to wander, Lord I feelit. Prone to leave the God I love.” So the figure
of the shepherd and the sheep is so fitting for us, and it’s especiallyfitting to
for God’s elect. As Petersays, “You were as sheepgoing astray, but now you
have returned unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls.” This explains why
God fed Israel as he did in the wilderness and how he feedthem. In
Deuteronomy chapter2 and verse 7 Moses describing the way in which go
dealt with the children of Israelin the wilderness writes, “Forthe LORD thy
God hath blessedthee in all the works ofthy hand: he knoweththy walking
through this greatwilderness:these forty years the LORD thy God hath been

171. with thee; thou hast lackednothing.” And then in chapter 8 and verse 4, he
speaks ofwhat he did for Israel in the wilderness. Moses writes, “Thyraiment
waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.” So God
was a shepherd to the nation Israel in the wilderness.
Well that is the picture that we are to look at now in this particular part of the
allegorythat Jesus is giving us here in John chapter 10. The evening scene
comes before us now because it’s in the evening that the wolves come out to
attack the sheep. So, Jesus in his address to those, and I’m sure it must have
included the blind man, said, “I am the good shepherd the good shepherd
giveth his life for the sheep.”
Now I grew up in the city, and I lived in another city, and I’ve been in Dallas.
All of my life I have lived in cities, but you know you don’t have to be a person
who lives on the farm to appreciate this wonderful metaphor of the shepherd
and the sheep. It is something that has instant appeal, even to a city dweller.
I’d like for you to notice first what Jesus says about himself. He calls himself a
faithful shepherd of course, “I am the goodshepherd. The goodshepherd
giveth his life for the sheep.” But he describes his personin a very significant
way. He says, “I am the goodshepherd.” Now there are two kinds of good,
and in fact in the Greek there are severalwords that are used for goodin the
New Testament, two primary. One of these words is a word that refers to
moral rectitude. Another word is a word that refers not so much to moral
rectitude or austerity, as it does to the attractiveness ofgoodness. Now thatis
the word that is used here because it’s possible to be morally up right in an
almost repulsive kind of way. In fact one of the translators translates verse 11
something like this, “I am the shepherd, the shepherd beautiful.” Well that
probably exaggerates a little bit the force of the Greek work “kalos”here, but
it should be rendered something like, “I am the shepherd, the noble
shepherd.” “The shepherd, or the noble shepherd, giveth his life for the
sheep.” So the Lord Jesus is one who is characterizedby moral rectitude but
not by the kind of moral rectitude that is repulsive. The moral rectitude of the
Lord Jesus Christ was very attractive. “I am the shepherd, the shepherd
beautiful.” “The beautiful shepherd, or the noble shepherd, giveth his life for
the sheep.”

172. Now I want you to notice also the way in which the Lord Jesus describes his
work. He speaks ofhimself as one who has given himself for the sheep. That’s
the emphasis of this section. He dwells upon his care for the sheepin his dying
for them. That would have been fairly rare for the Palestinians because
ordinarily their shepherds did not face death constantlyin caring for the
sheep. We do have some instances of it in the Old Testament. David risked his
life to care for the sheep. He was a shepherd. He wrestled with the bears and
the lions. That was comparatively rare. Jesus singles this out as something
that is unusual. “The goodshepherd giveth his life for the sheep.”
I’d like to stop for just a moment and point out the significantfeatures of this
reference to himself as one who “Lays down his life for the sheep.” Firstof all
when he says, “The goodshepherd giveth, or lays down his life,” that’s the
sense ofthe original text. “Lays down his life for the sheep,” it is obvious that
he is speaking of something that is voluntary. It’s not something he is required
to do. It’s something that he himself voluntarily does. And so we cansay
concerning the death of the Lord Jesus, firstof all that it is a voluntary death.
It is not something that is forced upon him. He is not compelledto die for us.
Of course he is compelled to die for us if he would save us, but the stress of
this passageis upon the voluntariness of his death. And that is true of the New
Testamentas a whole. First of all he, “Lays down his life for the sheep.”
That’s stressed. It’s spokenof in three other places, verse 15, “I lay down my
life for the sheep,” verse 17, “Ilay down my life that I might take it again,”
verse 18, “No man takethit from me. I lay it down of myself, and I have
powerto take it again.” That’s the first thing about his death that is
important. It is voluntary.
Now, secondlyhe says, he lays down his life for the sheep. Now the preposition
that is used and translatedhere “for the sheep” is a preposition that in some
places does not suggestsubstitution, but most of the commentators, and
particularly the recentcommentators, have given it that force here, and I
think it is correct. He “gives his life for the sheep.” He “lays down his life for
the sheep” in the sense that he is a substitute for them. He takes their place in
order that they might be delivered from the penalty of their sin. And he bares
all of the judgment of heaven upon their sin, and he exhausts the wrath of
God upon sin so that those for whom Jesus Christ dies are in such a position

173. that heaven itself canbring no further charge againstthem. “I lay down my
life in the place of the sheep, in the steadof the sheep, for the benefit of the
sheepin the sense that I am their substitute and bare their penalty.
Now notice he does not say he dies for goats. He says he dies for the sheep. He
does not saythat he dies for angels, orseraphim, but he dies for the sheep. “I
lay down my life for the sheep.” Now that is extremely important. Later on I
want to say something about it, but notice secondlythen is his death is a
substitutionary death. Thirdly he says he lays down his life for the sheep. Now
that life that he lays down and the laying down of it suggestssatisfaction. He
satisfies the claims of God againstthe sheep. In factthe sheepcould be
rescuedin no other way than by the death of the Sonof Godfor them, for they
owe God death because oftheir sin, but they cannot pay that penalty of
themselves, and therefore they need someone to pay it for them. And the Lord
Jesus is the one who pays their debt for them so that heaven can no longer
charge them with the guilt and penalty and condemnationof sin. He lays
down his life. It requires his life. No other waycan the sheepbe rescuedthan
by the laying down of our Lord’s life. And because he is the infinite Son of
God, his death has infinite value and thus is sufficient for the sins of all men.
When we saythat Jesus Christ died a substitutionary death we mean that he
died a substitutionary and penal death. That is he bore penalty that was due
us. It’s remarkable how people can preach Christ againstChrist. And by that
I mean they can preachChrist, but deny the truths of Scripture at the same
time. That’s remarkable isn’t it? It’s a testimony to the way in which the evil
one is able to take goodthings and use them for his own purposes.
A.B. McCauleywho was for many years professorof theologianat Trinity
College University of Glasgowin Scotlandin 1938 published a book called
The Deathof Jesus and in it he gave his mature views on the Doctrine of the
Atonement. According to ProfessorMcCauleyJesus did not offer a
satisfactionforsin, although he died as a substitute. Now that distinction was
never made by the church historically that he died as a substitute but he did
not die as a satisfaction. Whatdid he do according to ProfessorMcCauley?
Well he died for sins in the sense that he realized to the full as he alone could,
the guilt of sin and the divine reactionto it. In other words, Jesus died for sins
in the sense that he realized the debt that sin gives men and also he realized to

174. the fullest extent the divine reactionagainstsin. He was subjectto a perfect
consciousnessofthe divine reactionto sin, so ProfessorMcCauleysaid. So
that his death is a revelationof Godin the sense that it reveals how God feels
about sin. And it’s a mediation of how God feels about sin to men. The cross
witnesses to sin and it witnesses to the love of God and that’s it. Due to him
repentance is awakenedin men and the assurance offorgiveness is begottenin
their hearts.
Now one might think that is preaching Christ, but I would suggestto you that
that is preaching Christ againstthe Christ of the Bible. For if there is one
thing that the Bible makes plain it is that the Lord Jesus is the substitute in
the sense that he has born our penalty. Why of course our Lord realized to the
full the guilt of sin. And of course he realized the divine reactionto sin. Of
course he did that. Being the secondpersonof the Trinity, that is absolutely
true. But to realize a debt is not to pay a debt. Let me illustrate. Some of you
probably spent a few dollars more than you ought to have spent overthe past
few weeks. So, I suggestthatyou go to your department store, Sanger-Harris,
Joske’s, mostof you I’m sure shop in Sakowitz. So you go to Sakowitzand you
say to the credit manager, you say, “I just receivedmy bill $2,750. 60. I would
like for you to know that I realize to the full how much I owe. I really do
appreciate also how much you want that money, and now of course in the light
of the fact that I realize to the full how much I owe and how much you want it,
surely you’ll acceptthat as payment for my debt.” I’d like to see the look on
the credit manager’s face. [Laughter] I’d like to see what he would sayto his
fellow workers in his office afterwards. “We just had the biggestkook ofthe
whole Christmas seasoncome in.” [Laughter] “Triedto getout of his debt
theologically, saying that he was a Christian and believed in substitution and
because he believed in substitution he realized exactly how much he owedus
and how much we wanted it, and said he was sure that we would acceptthat
as payment. To realize a debt is not the same thing as to pay a debt. It is all
the difference in the world and I just suggestthatthe professorought to have
spent a little money at Sakowitz. He wouldn’t have written his book like he
wrote it.
Well, it’s not quite as simple as that, but nevertheless when the Lord Jesus
said, “I lay down my life for the sheep,” he means he gave himself voluntarily.

175. He means he gave himself as a substitute, and he means also that he had paid
the debt, his life, a satisfaction. He has satisfiedthe claims of a Holy God
againstmen.
Now there are other kinds of people who claim that they are shepherds too. So
he speaks ofthem. He says in verse 12 and verse 13, “He that is an hireling,
and not the shepherd, whose ownthe sheepare not, seeththe wolf coming,
and leaveththe sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheththem, and scattereth
the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the
sheep.” In the original text at this point, the terms that our Lord uses of these
false shepherds are such that you could almost callthem no-shepherds. These
no-shepherds, what about these no-shepherds? What are they interested in?
Well they are interested in what they are paid. Jesus calls them hirelings.
There are many people who stand in the pulpit of our churches in many of our
independent and in many of our denominational churches who are interested
in the money that they obtain from the ministry from the word of God. They
are hirelings.
The Lord Jesus had in mind when he spoke about wolves, the Pharisees who
were intruders into the priesthood. He had in mind hireling priests who
should have stoodfor the truth and should not have relinquished their
position to the Phariseesbecausethe priests were those who were supposed to
have knowledge. Butthey were interested not so much in the sheepas they
were interested in what they obtained from the people for the exercise oftheir
office. Jesus calls them hirelings. “He that is a hireling and not the shepherd
whose ownthe sheepare not when he sees the wolf coming,” when he sees
those coming who are going to prey on the flock, he flees. He doesn’t protect
the flock. He doesn’t keeppreaching the gospelofthe Lord Jesus Christ and
proclaiming the messageby which men alone canbe saved, but he trims his
message. He makes it agree with the thought of the time. He makes it the kind
of message thatmen will approve and thus he is unfaithful to the Lord God
and unfaithful to those who are given into his hands. That’s one reasonwhy I
hope in Believers Chapelas long as this church exists that from the pulpit
shall be preached pure gospelofthe Lord Jesus Christ. May their never be
any hireling preachers who stand behind the pulpit here.

176. Now Jesus says, “The hireling flees because he is an hireling and careth not
for the sheep.” The apostle warned about this too when he was speaking to the
Ephesianelders in the 20th chapterof the Book of Acts when he calledthem
down to Miletus. He spoke in the 28th verse,
“Take heedtherefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the
Holy Ghosthas appointed you (bishops or) overseers,to feed the church of
God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after
my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
Also of your own selves shallmen arise, speaking perverse things, to draw
awaydisciples after them.”
So Paul warned the elders and through the elders those who were in the care
of the elders that false teachers, wolves,wouldcome in afterwards, not
sparing the flock, and furthermore ultimately of themselves would arise those
who would speak perverse things in order to draw awaydisciples after them.
Faithless shepherds, the faithful shepherd is the one who gives his life for the
sheep.
Now coming to the lasttwo verses of the section, the Lord Jesus lays stress on
the fullness of mutual knowledge that exists betweenthe shepherd and the
sheep. This is one of the most magnificent portions in the GospelofJohn. In
fact I had intended to give just one messageon this sectionbeginning at verse
11 through verse 21, and then this week afterI had already given Ms. Ray the
titles for the next two or three weeks, Icame in and told her, “No this passage
is just too important. We’re going to have a messageonverse 11 through
verse 15 and then next Sunday, one message onverse 16 which is extremely
important eschatologicallyand also for the total program of God, and finally
another on verse 17 through verse 21. But this is a passage in which we have
three important things stressedby the Lord. First of all he stressesagainthat
he is the goodshepherd, “I am the goodshepherd.” “I’m the beautiful
shepherd.” I’m the noble shepherd.” And notice he puts it in the terms of
deity. “I am.” He’s the shepherd beautiful. What does that mean?
Well first of all he’s the ownerof the sheep. He’s the caretakerofthe sheep
too. And the thing about the Lord God as shepherd that is so wonderful is

177. this. He is never off duty. He does not have holidays. No holiday weekend, no
holiday for Christmas, no holiday for New Years. No eight to five hours. He is
always on duty. The shepherd of Israelneither slumbers nor sleeps. So he’s
the noble shepherd, never off duty.
He provides for the sheep. He even provides for the sheep when they don’t
know they need providing for. Have you ever noticedthat statement in Psalm
23? “He makethme to lie down in greenpastures?” It’s so hard to get sheep
to lie down. It’s so had to get Christians to stay quiet for a while and study the
word of God. “He maketh me to lie down.” He even cares for me in that way
too. He’s the leaderof the sheep. He’s the defender of the sheep, and did you
notice too he doesn’t say, “I am a shepherd,” but “I am the noble shepherd.”
There is no other shepherd such as our Lord. And did you notice this too? He
does not experience any shame what so ever in calling himself the shepherd of
sheepsuch as we are. I’ve seenpreachers who are embarrassedto say they are
they are pastors of a certain congregation. I’ve understood something of what
they’ve spokenabout because there are some congregations thathave groups
of people in them that are far from being what Godintended flocks should be,
but the Lord Jesus is not ashamed to callus his sheep. Imagine it. He’s not
ashamedto speak of us as being part of his flock. Now if I lookedat us I would
say, “Well maybe I better be a little ashamedof being the shepherd of me, but
he is not ashamedto be my shepherd. He’s not ashamedto be our shepherd.
In fact he seems to delight in it. Forabout four or five times through this
section, and all through it he stressesit. He says that he is the noble shepherd
of the flock. No shame about being our shepherd, in fact he seems to rejoice in
it. Such a greatshepherd we have.
Mr. Spurgeon was right when he said, “Creationis too small a frame in which
to hang his likeness. Youmay square the circle before you can setforth Christ
in the language ofmortal men. He is inconceivably above our conceptions and
unutterably beyond our utterances.” “Iam the goodshepherd.” That’s the
first thing. He’s the complete shepherd.
Notice too that there is a complete knowledge that exists betweenthe shepherd
and the sheep. It’s like the knowledge that exists betweenthe shepherd and
the Fatherin heaven. Listen as he says, “I’m the goodshepherd and I know

178. my sheepand I am known by my sheeplike my Father knows me and like I
know the Father.” So I know the sheepand my sheep know me, like I know
the Fatherand like the Father knows me. What an amazing thing. Think
about that for a moment. He knows us, first of all, as the Father knows him.
Well now there is no question but that the Fatherknows the Son perfectly.
Now he knows us as the Father knows him. That means he knows our
number. He didn’t have to look down through the years and say, “I see that
countless multitudes are going to come to the Son of God by the preaching of
the gospel, some outof every kindred tongue and nation. I will choose them.”
He knows all of the sheep, all the number of them.
In fact in this very chapter he will say lateron, “My sheephear my voice and I
know them and they follow me and I give unto them eternallife and they shall
never perish, neither shall anyone pluck them out of my hand.” He knows the
sheepperfectly. Now he knows us as the Father knows him. The Fatherknows
him perfectly. He knows us perfectly. He knows all of us, and he knows the
number of us, and he knows all of our persons. He knows our feelings. He
knows our fears. He knows our frights. He knows our trials. In factevery
thought that has ever passedthrough your mind, even that one at the very
moment is one that is perfectly known to him, and not only now but from ages
past. He knows what sore temptations mean for he has felt the same, but he
also knows them because he is the eternal Son. He knows us as the Father
knows him.
But now think of this. This is the other side. We know him as he knows the
Father. Isn’t that amazing? Think about that for a moment. Look at that text.
“As the Father knowethme and I know the Father.” So I know my sheepand
my sheepknow me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. He
knows us as the Fatherknows him. We know him as he knows the Father.
Now wait a minute, he knows the Fatherinfinitely doesn’the? He knows
everything there is about the Father. Do we know everything there is about
Christ? No. Then how can he say we know him as he knows the Father.
Obviously this is not something quantitative. It must be something qualitative.
He means we have the same kind of knowledge ofhim as the kind of

179. knowledge that he has of the Father. What is the knowledge thathe has of the
Father? What kind of knowledge is it?
Well they delight in the same things. They have sympathy and empathy with
reference to the same things. They have a unity of purpose and design, and
there is also the knowledge ofinfinite trust, trust, the trust that the Son has in
the Father. We know him as he knows the Father. We delight in the things of
God. Christians delight in the things of God. They are failing believers always.
We are always failing. The world can look at us and find many flaws and
faults in us, canalways find flaws and faults in us. We’re always sinful. There
are always aspectsofour characterthat need the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
But there is one fundamental thing that is different from the saints and the
world. It is that there is a relationship with the Lord in heaven. There is a
delight in the things of God. And so there is the delight in the things of Christ.
We know him as he knows the Father in that qualitative sense ofthe
knowledge ofdelight in the holy things of the Lord God, the knowledge of
unity, the knowledge oftrust. We have that kind of knowledge. Itmarks out
Christians. When the gospelis preachedthere is a response in the heart of the
believer that is different from the response in the heart of the unbeliever.
There is a delight in the gospelthat Christians manifest that non-Christians
know nothing about. There is also a measure of trust in the Lord that is
different from the experience of the non-believer. It is that which distinguishes
a believer from a non-believer. There is also a love for the brethren, not
perfectly expressed, but a love for the brethren that is different from the
relationship that the non-believers have to believers. If you were to come in
here this morning and you were a true believer, you might find many things
wrong with this sermon, many things wrong with the way in which it was
delivered, but it would be possible for you to go out and say, “Well, it was
goodthat I was there because Christwas preached.” But it’s possible for you
to enter into a building such as this and hear a messagewith an open Bible in
front, a messagebeautifully delivered, stylishly delivered, delivered in the best
of taste and to go out and say, “It was not goodfor me to be there because
there was no Christ in it.” There is all the difference in the world betweena
messagewhichis a beautiful messageand one in which the Lord Jesus Christ

180. is in it. For the Christian it’s the thing that distinguishes that which is good
from that which is not.
I love the story that Mr. Spurgeontells about a time in his life when he was
having trouble with the things of the Lord, about his own faith, and he had
takenoff for a while to think through things. He had come into a period of
time in which he had some selfdoubts, and he said he went out to hear a
messagein a little chapel. He said, “A man gotup who was a layman to preach
that morning and he preacheda sermon,” and he said, “I made my
handkerchief soddenwith the tears that I wept during that sermon.” He said
it really touched my heart and afterwards I went up to the man and shook his
hand and just said, “I want to thank you for the messagethat you’ve given.”
The man turned to Mr. Spurgeonand said, “Thank you sir,” and “What’s
your name?” He said, “Charles Hadden Spurgeon.” He said the man turned
all kinds of colors. He said, “Mr. Spurgeonthat was your own sermon.”
[Laughter] And Mr. Spurgeonsaid, “Of course I knew it was my own sermon,
but I just want you to know that I receiveda tremendous blessing from it and
it was a tremendous blessing for me to realize that the things that I had
preachedto others were things that comforted me when I neededcomfort
too.”
I always think of the story in Spurgeon’s college whenone of the students in
the homiletics class preacheda sermon, and when he finished his sermon the
homiletics professorsaid, “Sir, that sermon you derived from Mr. Spurgeon.”
The young man said, “No, I didn’t.” And he said, “Yes you did.” And he said,
“No I didn’t.” And the professorwas so certainthat he was not telling the
truth, he said, “I want to take you in and have you speak to Mr. Spurgeon.”
So he went in and the professorexplained things, and Mr. Spurgeon turned to
the young man and said, “Well son, where did you getthe sermon?” He said,
“WellI got it,” I’ve forgottenthe name of the man, but he said, “I got it from
David Dixon,” and Mr. Spurgeonturned to the professorand he said, “He’s
right. That’s where I gotit.” [Laughter] Well anyway it’s a comforting thing
to know that when the Lord Jesus Christ is mentioned in the messageit means
something to the saints.

181. Now finally he says in verse 15, “I lay down my life for the sheep.” Any man
can die. Only Jesus Christ canlay down his life for the sheep. Four times he
says it. It’s almost like it’s the chorus of his personal, pastoralhymn. “I lay
down my life for the sheep.” Now I want you to notice that he says he lays
down his life for the sheep. Now, I know that there is quite a bit of controversy
in the Christian church from time to time on whether the Lord’s death is a
generalatoning death or whether it’s particular. That is did Jesus Christ
come with a purpose design of dying for all men, to save all men or did he
come with the designand purpose of saving the elect? Goodmen have held
both positions. I think the better position is that he came to die with the design
of saving the elect;otherwise we have a frustrated deity who tries to do
something which he is unable to accomplish.
Now there are many plausible reasons why on the supposition of a personal
and definite atonementuniversal expressions might be used. For example, it
might be helpful to illustrate the fact that the redemption of Christ is suited
for all men, and therefore to sayhe died for the world, or that it is sufficient
for all men and he died for the world, or that it is offered to all men that he
died for the world, that the electare chosenout of every family, kindred,
tongue and nation, that the electare both Jews andGentiles. So from time to
time we should expectthese universal expressions to show that his death was
not simply for Jews but also for Gentiles. He died for the world. “Godso loved
the world, (Jews and Gentiles)that he gave his only begotten Son.”
Now we can understand then why generalexpressions might be used if the
Bible teaches a particularly redemption. But we cannot give any plausible
reasonwhat so ever for the use of definite language if the Bible teaches a
generalatonement. There is no point at all in saying, “If Christ did come to
die to save all men, why he should say he died for the sheep.” It’s obvious that
if he died for all he died for the sheep. So to say he died for the sheepis to say
nothing at all if the Bible teaches he came with the design and purpose of
dying and saving all men. No sense whatso everin saying he died for the
sheep. So when the Scriptures say, “He gave his life for the sheep,” the
definiteness and the particular designof the atonement is set out. We do not
have a frustrated deity. We have a deity who has accomplishedhis purpose.
He has laid down his life for the sheep. Later on in verse 26 and 27 the Lord

182. Jesus will say, “But ye believe not because ye are not my sheepas I said unto
you. My sheephear my voice and I know them and they follow me.” So he’s
the goodshepherd, the shepherd beautiful. He laid down his life for the sheep.
Finding the sheepin peril, he has in his atonement given them eternalhope in
his sacrificialsatisfaction.
Why should anyone refuse to come to a shepherd like this? That is the
constantpuzzle of humanity. Why anyone should want to turn awayfrom this
shepherd, the goodshepherd who lays down his life for the sheep, who
covenants to care for them and all of the circumstances oflife and finally
bring them into the presence ofthe Triune God for time and eternity, why
should not every sheep want such a shepherd? And yet the Bible says there
was a division againamong the Jews for these sayings.
Where do you stand with reference to the shepherd? Are you one of the
sheep? Is there that knowledge ofcommunion and union that means that you
delight in the things of the Lord, that you have the sense ofthe forgiveness of
your sins, of relationship to him? If you don’t may God help you to come to
the shepherd? Perhaps like Peteryou’ll be able to say, “We were his sheep
going astray. I was as a sheep going astray, but I’ve returned to the shepherd
and bishop of my soul.” Come to Christ. Return to the greatshepherd, the
greatoverseerofour souls. Let’s stand for the benediction.
[Prayer] Father we are so grateful to Thee of these magnificent words of the
Lord Jesus Christ, so authoritative for they come from the divine Son, so
sufficient for us, for he lays down his life for the sheep, so wonderful in the
care and solicitude expressedby them, a shepherd who owns and cares for the
sheep. We are surely blessed. Lord, if there should be someone here who does
not know him as the shepherd, may at this very moment they lift their hearts
to Thee and give Thee thanks for the blood that was shed on Calvary’s
cross…
JOHN MACARTHUR

183. Turn in our Bibles againto the tenth chapter of John. And this really
wonderful, and rich, and precious portion of Scripture in which our Lord
identifies Himself as the GoodShepherd who cares forHis sheep.
That particular metaphor, that simile, that word picture as it’s called in verse
6 maybe needs a bit of an explanation for us as to context so that you know
why it happened here. There’s nothing sortof isolatedin the ministry of
Jesus. Everything of course had a context, a historical context. I think many
people read the Bible as some kind of a spiritual book, as if it were detached
from history, and events, and people, and consequences, andsequences. But
this is all history. And all that we read in the gospels in terms of doctrine, and
theology, and our Lord’s greatdiscourses were, in a moment and an event, a
strategic point where this is what spoke to that moment, and what spoke to
that crucialhour. That’s essentiallytrue of this.
Our Lord had been, in chapter 8, in a confrontationwith the leaders of Israel.
And they had rejectedHim, and they had declaredtheir hatred of Him, and
they were on a course to kill Him. In fact, by the time you get to chapter 10,
they’ve tried at leastthree times to bring about His death. There’s no
question what their view of Christ is.
In chapter 8, there was this conflict, this confrontation. And admittedly, He
escalatedit by telling them the truth. He said to them: “You’re of your father,
the devil.” He’s a liar and a murderer, and so you are liars and murders as
well. We could say that, for them, the incident in chapter 8 ended on a very
severe note. As a result, chapter 8 ends with these words: “Therefore they
picked up stones to throw at Him. Jesus hid Himself and went out of the
temple.”
So He escapesa stoning; and on the spot, kind of vigilante mob violence
execution. On His way out of the temple, He sees a blind man. And by now,
He’s absorbedin the crowd. And as He goes outof the gate, He sees a blind
man, ’cause that’s what blind men did. They satat the gate to beg. And
that’s where He found this man. The man had been blind from birth and
Jesus stops and heals him.

184. By then, His enemies, the Pharisees,had caughtup with Him. They had
sloweddown the effort to kill Him at the moment, He being absorbedin the
crowdand having drawn the crowd’s attention by the miracle. Theyare,
again, deeply distressedby the fact that He is having such popularity and that
He has healed this man and drawn such attention to Himself. They had made
a law. That law is indicated in chapter 9, verse 22 that if anyone confessed
Jesus to be the Messiah, he was to be put out of the synagogue. Well, Jesus
healed the blind man, and then the blind man came to faith in Christ.
As the story ends, we know down in verse 38 he said, “Lord, I believe,” and he
worshiped Him. So, the man was healedphysically, and he was healed
spiritually. And as a result of that, he violated their law. He has confessed
Him as Messiah, Lord, and Savior. They throw him out of the synagogue, and
they are still completely intent on killing Jesus.
Chapter 9, then, features an extensionof chapter 8 in the hostility of the
religious leaders of Judaism toward Jesus. The healing of the blind man, in a
sense, in the big drama of things, is somewhatincidental. Notincidental to the
blind man, but the big picture here is that when Jesus does a monumental
miracle that has no other explanation, because this is a man congenitally
blind, and everybody knows it because he’s a familiar figure there who has
been begging a long time, it has no effecton how they feel about Jesus. They
make no move in the direction of affirming something other than that He’s
satanic. Theirhostility has passedthe point of any return. They are, in fact,
demonstrating themselves to be false leaders who, instead of acknowledging
their Messiah, rejecttheir Messiah, and want to execute their Messiah. They
are, in a word, the false shepherds of Israel.
Shepherding was obviously a metaphor in the ancient world that people
understood in an agrariansociety. It was very common in the Old Testament
as we read in Psalm80. God was calledthe shepherd of Israel. Psalm23,
“The Lord is my shepherd,” and other places. Theyall understood that
because the land of Israelwas full of sheepand shepherds. Shepherds spoke
of care and feeding and protection. These were men who appointed
themselves shepherds of Israel, but they were false shepherds. Truth is: they
were wolves in sheep’s clothing.

185. So, in chapter 9, after the healing of this man, they surface againwith the
same hatred and the same hostility. The chapter closes,chapter9 does, with
Jesus pronouncing a judgment on them because oftheir blindness, because
they are willfully blind to the truth. The conversation, specificallywith them,
ends with these words: “Your sin remains.” You are anything but righteous.
You are in your sin.
Now, He said that back earlierwhen He said to them, “You will die in your
sin, and where I go, you will never come.” Here He says, a couple of chapters
later, “You remain in your sin.” Your sin remains. So, here are the blind
leaders of Israel, the blind leaders of the blind; here are the false shepherds of
Israel.
As we come into chapter 10, He is still talking to them, still talking to them.
They’re still there. The blind man is still there. The disciples are there. The
crowdof Jews is there by the locationwhere the healing took place. And the
Pharisees,scribes, are still there. Jesus then launches into a description of
how a goodshepherd conducts his life. That description is what we lookedat
last week, verses1 to 10. It is, according to verse 6, a figure of speech, an
analogy, a metaphor. And we lookedat some of the details about that last
week that help us to understand shepherding. A shepherd has his own sheep.
He has his own sheep. He knows his own sheep. He not only has the right to
lead and feed his own sheep, but he has the responsibility to lead and feedhis
own sheep.
At night, you’ll remember, the sheep would come into the village fold and
every shepherd would bring his sheep, and they would all be in the same fold.
And then in the morning, the shepherd would come and callout his ownsheep
and callthem by name. He knows his sheep. He calls them by name. The
sheepknow their master’s voice, and they follow him. The sheepwill not
follow a stranger. We also learned that while they’re in the fold at night,
thieves and robbers may try to climb over the wall and fleece the sheepor
even slaughterthe sheep. And so, there has to be a guard set at the door to
protect the sheep, ’cause there are always thieves and robbers. The shepherd
is committed to protecting them at night in the fold, and then in the morning
coming and leading them out and, by name, one by one, to green pastures and

186. still waters. The shepherd is even the door, because they have to pass by him
to be identified as his own.
Beautiful picture of animal husbandry, but that’s not its intent. That’s the
figure. The reality comes clearwhen you look at the language in verse 9. “I
am the door; if anyone comes through Me, he will be saved.” Oh, I see what
we’re talking about. This is a picture of the salvation provided by the true
shepherd. The salvation. These are all pictures of salvationdoctrine. The
divine Shepherd has His own sheep. They’ve been given to Him by the
Father. They’ve been chosenbefore the foundation of the world. He knows
them all by name. He has the right to callthem. He calls them by name.
They know His voice. They follow Him. They will not follow a stranger.
That’s salvation. The electare in the fold of the world. But the time comes to
call them out, and the voice of the Shepherd calls, and they hear that voice,
and they follow that voice. This is irresistible grace;this is the effectualcall,
the divine call to salvation.
They will not follow a stranger. Theywill not follow a voice that’s unfamiliar.
Yes, there are thieves and robbers, false teachers who try to climb into the
fold and fleece and destroythe sheep - can come to destroy and kill - but the
Shepherd provides protectionfor them from the false teachers. The Shepherd
leads them, goes before them, and they follow Him. He takes them in a safe
way to greenpastures, meaning spiritual blessing; still waters, meaning
spiritual blessings throughout time and all into eternity. It’s a lessonon
salvation. That’s the figure.
Contrary to the false shepherds who are the strangers, who are the thieves,
who are the robbers, and who we will see in verses 11 to 21 are the hired
hands. The true Shepherd cares for His sheep. So, this picture, everybody
would affirm. They would all say that’s exactly what a shepherd does. He has
his ownsheep, he has the responsibility to care for those sheep, he puts them
in a safe place, he calls them out of the fold, he calls them by name, he names
them, they know his voice, they follow him, they don’t follow a stranger, they
have to be protectedfrom the dangerof thieves and robbers, they are led out
by the shepherd to places where they can eatand drink. That’s a good
shepherd. That’s a picture of salvation.

187. Who is the shepherd? Jesus is starting to give us a pretty goodidea when in
verse 9, as we saw lastweek, He says, “I am the door.” Shepherds were the
door. At night, the sheepwould go in, and the shepherd would drop his rod
and stop every sheep, every sheep, every sheep. Check them over for any kind
of wound or any kind of problem, and then lift the staff and let them go in. In
the morning, he’d call them all by name, and they had to pass by him into his
care. The shepherd was the door. Jesus is saying this shepherd, this faithful
shepherd, this is how shepherding should be done. This is how I do it. I am
the door. That gives a pretty good hint.
We know He’s speaking metaphoricallybecause it is a figure of speech, and
because in the same verse, He says He’s talking about salvation. But then in
verse 11, He says specifically, “Iam the Good Shepherd.” That Good
Shepherd that I just described? That GoodShepherd that I just identified by
the wayHe behaves Himself and conducts His life with the sheep? “I am the
goodshepherd; the goodshepherd lays down His life for the sheep. He who is
a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the ownerof the sheep, sees the
wolf coming, and leaves the sheepand flees, and the wolf snatches them and
scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand” – or a hireling – “and is
not concernedabout the sheep. I am the goodshepherd, and I know My own
and My own know Me, even as the Fatherknows Me and I know the Father;
and 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 reasonthe Father loves Me,
because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one has takenit
awayfrom Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay
it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I
receivedfrom My Father.”
“A division occurred againamong the Jews becauseofthese words. Many of
them were saying, ‘He has a demon and is insane. Why do you listen to Him?’
Others were saying, ‘These are not the sayings of one demon-possessed. A
demon cannotopen the eyes of the blind, can he?’”
So here, in verses 11 to 21, our Lord explains how He fulfills the identity of the
GoodShepherd. He is the GoodShepherd. He is the One prophesied, as we

188. saw lastweek in Ezekiel34, the GoodShepherd that God Himself would send.
And as I told you lasttime and I reiterate again, He launches into this
particular figure of speechbecause the religious leaders of Israel were known
as the shepherds of Israel, but they were false shepherds. And so, He
distinguishes the false leaders from Himself. He is the True Shepherd of the
sheep. They were blind. That’s how the conversationwith them ended in
chapter 9, verses 39 to 41. Theywere spiritually blind to the truth of God.
They couldn’t lead anybody anywhere because they couldn’t see where they
were going themselves. They are false leaders. Theyare, in fact, strangers,
not shepherds. They are hirelings, hired hands who do what they do for
money and have no concernfor the sheep. They are thieves, they are robbers
who want to fleece and kill.
Jesus was talking about them, in contrastto Himself. Did they understand it?
No. Verse 6. They didn’t understand what those things were which He had
been saying to them, which is proof of what He said in verses 39 to 41 in
chapter 9. “Youare blind. You do not understand.” He saidthat earlier.
“WhateverI say, you don’t understand.” He actually went so far as to say,
“Because Itell you the truth, you don’t understand, because youare of your
father the devil, who is a liar.” If I lied, you would getit, but when I tell the
truth, you don’t.
So this very paroimia, or simile, metaphor, is designedas an illustration not
only of the GoodShepherd, but an illustration of the blindness of the false
shepherds, because they didn’t even understand it at all. The false leaders,
thieves, robbers, strangers, hired hands have nothing in mind but protecting
themselves. Theyare not about to risk their lives for the sheep, as we read.
They want the money, and if need be, they will become thieves and robbers to
get it. They are strangers, notshepherds. The true shepherd, however, is
describedhere as one who loves and cares for and nourishes, and lives for and
dies for the sheep. And that, of course, is none other than our Lord Jesus
Christ.
So let’s look then at these verses 11 through 21, and we’ll just kind of work
our way through. This is the, by the way, the fourth “I am” in the gospelof
John. There are a whole series of“I am’s” that our Lord gives, and “I am” is

189. the Tetragrammatonin Hebrew, the ego eimi in Greek, the “I am,” meaning
the name of God; so they are claims to deity as well in the contextof eachone.
I am the way, the truth, and the life. I am the resurrectionand the life. I am
the door. I am the GoodShepherd. All affirmations of His deity bound up in
the “I am” statementof it.
But here, He is the Good Shepherd. Let’s look at that a little bit. “I am the
goodshepherd.” Then He repeats it immediately, “the goodshepherd,” again.
Now, this is an important construction for us to understand. The emphasis
here is this: “I am the shepherd, the goodone.” Very important order there.
“I am the shepherd, the goodone.” As if to say, “in contrastto all the bad
ones.” I am the shepherd, the goodone. But there’s two words in Greek for
“good.” One is agathos, from which you getthe word, “agatha,”orthe name
“Agatha.” Agathos, oldname. Agathos means sort of morally good. Good,
and sort of confined to moral goodness. It’s a wonderful word, a magnificent
word, familiar in the New Testament.
But the other word is kalos, the opposite of kakos, whichis “to be bad.” Kalos
is to be goodnot only in the sense of moral quality, but it’s a more
encompassing word. It means to be beautiful, to be magnificent, to be
winsome, to be attractive, to be lovely, to be excellenton all levels, not just in
that which is unseen in terms of character, but in all aspects. Iam the
shepherd, the excellentone. I am the shepherd, be it the lovely one, the
beautiful one, as contrastedto the ugly ones, the dangerous ones.
He is not just another shepherd. He is the shepherd, the goodone, the one
who is preeminently excellent. He’s above all shepherds. The good one.
Now, the Jews had an idea about who was the best shepherd. Forthem,
historically, it was David. It was David. David the shepherd boy who cared
for his father’s flocks and defeatedGoliath, and became the king of Israel.
David was their greatshepherd, historically.
But you do remember in chapter 5, Jesus claimedto be greaterthan Moses,
and in chapter 8, He claimed to be greaterthan Abraham – “before Abraham
was I am.” And here, He is shepherd far greaterthan any other shepherd
including David, including David.

190. He is the shepherd who is the goodone, the premier one. That is quite a claim
to make, to say You are better than Moses,betterthan Abraham, better than
David, and to say You are God? No wonderHe had to back it up with
miracles, right?
He was telling those Jews that He was God, because theyknew Psalm23, “the
Lord is my shepherd.” They knew Psalm 80, the “Shepherd of Israel.” They
knew what Isaiah the prophet said about God shepherding His people. He is
saying: “I am the shepherd, the goodone.” Again, another claim to deity.
Now, His true goodness as a shepherd is seenin three ways here in this
passage. I’m not going to tell you anything you don’t know, but I am going to
tell you what’s here. You can be grateful you do know this, because looking at
this againis so rich and wonderful for us. This shepherd, this shepherd, the
goodone is marked by three particular ministries to His sheep. One, He dies
for them; two, He loves them; three, He unites them. He dies for them, He
loves them, He unites them.
Back to verse 11. The shepherd, the goodone, “lays down His life for the
sheep.” Shepherds were absolutelyresponsible for sheep. It was serious
business. It was a man’s man’s job, and it was really kind of a lowly and
humble job as well, because it was unskilled and it was high risk, and it was
messyand dirty. But a shepherd was absolutelyresponsible for the sheep. If
anything happened to the shepherd, he had to produce proof that it was not
his fault due to dereliction of duty or rustling the sheep awayfor his own
keeping, or letting a friend take one, or whatever.
Amos the prophet speaks aboutthe shepherd rescuing two legs, ora piece of
an ear out of the lion’s mouth (Amos 3:12). Theywere in battle with beasts.
There were wolves, there were mountain lions, there were even bears. David
tells Saul how when he was keeping his father’s sheep, back in 1 Samuel17,
David fought off a lion, and he fought off a bear. By the way, that’s what
made David such a heroic shepherd.
In Isaiah 31, Isaiahspeaks ofthe crowdof shepherds being called out. When
a lion attacked, theycalled the shepherds to go fight the lion. The law laid it
down, Exodus 22:13, “If the sheepbe torn in pieces, then let him bring a piece

191. for a witness.” Ifyou don’t have a sheep, if you lost a sheep, you have to
accountfor that sheep to the ultimate owner. You have to bring a piece to
prove that it was an animal.
To the shepherd, it was the most natural thing then to risk his life. It’s what
shepherds did. It’s what they did. You could just take them to the grass and
leave them there, I suppose, but why did the shepherd stay? Why those long,
long, long hours of staying there? Becausehe had to be a protector.
There’s an old book calledthe The Land of the Book, andthe author of that
historicallook at Israelsaid, “I have listened with intense interest to their
graphic descriptions of downright and desperate fights with savage beasts.
And when the thief and the robber come, the faithful shepherd has often to
put his life in his hand to defend his flock. I have known more than one case
where he had literally to lay it down in the contest.” Well, I mean, if you’re
fighting a wild beast, you could lose. So, there was risk and you couldn’t just
all of a sudden stop the risk. It could come to death.
He goes on to say: “A poor fellow lastspring, betweenTiberius and Tabor,
instead of fleeing, actually fought three Bedouin robbers until he was hacked
to pieces with their khanjars, and died among the sheep he was defending.” It
happened. But that’s what a shepherd did. Talk about a man’s man, talk
about a tough job - low paying, low skill.
A shepherd who was doing what he should never hesitatedto risk, perhaps
even lay down his life. And it was voluntary, ’cause he didn’t have to engage
in that. That’s why Jesus says, “Iam the goodshepherd, the shepherd who’s
the goodone lays down his life.” He lays down his life. Go down to verse 18.
“No one has takenit awayfrom Me, but I lay it down on My owninitiative. I
have authority to lay it down, and to take it again.”
Freely, voluntarily, Jesus gave up His life for the sheep. Some would say,
“Well, that’s no big thing. He’s God, so He had a body, and He gave up the
body and, you know, big deal.” It’s more than that. It’s strange that the
commentators would even say something like that. There was a lot more than
that, and it’s bound up in the word “life.” He lays down His life. It’s not the

192. word bios or zoe. Those are the two words for “life” in Greek. Bios,
biologicallife; zoe, that gets transliterated “zoology,”the study of life.
It was neither of those sort of scientific words. It’s the word psuche, which is
the word for “soul,” which speaks ofthe whole person. Notthe outside, but
the inside. The psuche is the inside. He gave up His soul, His whole person.
He didn’t just feelthe pain of the nails in His body, and the pain of the thorns
in His body, and the pain of the scourging in His body. His whole soulwas
tortured with sin-bearing anguish, suffering.
In Matthew 20:28, Jesus said, “The Sonof man gives His soul a ransom for
many.” It translates “life,” but it’s psuche again. He gives His soul, His whole
person, and He felt it in every part of His being.
Why did He do that? Why did He voluntarily lay down His soul? He says,
“for the sheep,” huper, “on behalf of, for the benefit of.” That’s exactly what
it says in 2 Corinthians 5:21 where Paul explains: “He who knew no sin
became sin for us” – “forus,” “for us,” “for us.” Huper appears in a lot of
passagesthat speak about the substitutionary atonement of Christ, that He
took our place, that He died for us. An actual atonement, folks. He laid down
His soul for the sheep. That’s pretty narrow. Forthe sheep. It was an actual
atonement, a complete atonementfor the sheep whom He knew, and who,
when called, would know Him.
He did it for the benefit of the sheep. From a natural standpoint, if this
happened to the shepherd, that’s the end of the sheep. If something’s coming
after the sheepand kills the shepherd, the sheepare going to be vulnerable.
They’re liable to be killed, they’re liable to be scattered. Whetherit’s an
animal or a robber or a thief, the death of the shepherd could really spell the
end of the sheep.
But this shepherd? No. BecauseHe laid down His life, verse 18 says He had
the powerto do what? “Take itup again.” And on the third day, He came
out of the grave and re-gatheredHis scatteredsheep. Were they scattered?
Yeah, they were. Smite the shepherd and what? The sheepare scattered.
Zechariah promised, and they were. But He came back from the grave and

193. re-gatheredthem, and He said this: “All that the Father gives to me will come
to Me, and I have lost none of them.”
So the death of the shepherd usually meant the death of the shepherd in some
cases, but not in this case. Whydid He die? Isaiah53:8, “Forthe
transgressionof My people.” Matthew 1:21, “You shall callHis name Jesus
for He shall save His people from their sins,” His sheep. It’s an actual
atonement. It’s not a potential one that you cansort of turn into a real one by
believing. He actually paid in full the penalty for His sheep, whom He knew,
and throughout human history is calling to Himself. Very unlike a hired
hand, verse 12. “He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the
ownerof the sheep, sees the wolfcoming, leaves the sheepand flees, and the
wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and
is not concernedabout the sheep.”
The true shepherd, or the owner - and sometimes they were the same - he
cares aboutthe sheep. It’s not a job for him. It’s his very life. He has
developed relationships with those sheep. They’re knownto him. They’re
loved by him. That’s not true of hired hands. I like the old translation,
“hirelings,” “hirelings.” A characteristic ofa hireling, according to Zechariah
11:6, is that he makes no attempt to gatherthe scatteredsheep. The world has
always been full of hirelings; this is another word for the leaders of Israel:
strangers, thieves, robbers, now hired hands, hirelings. I suppose it’s better to
be a hireling who runs than a thief or a robber.
But the end is the same. The end is the same. The sheepbecome victims of
any of these. The world has always been full of this, and the flock of God is
always attacked, andthe world is always attackedby these false leaders who
fleece and destroy the sheep, and who flee when real trouble comes.
And who is the wolf? The wolf is anything that attacks the sheep, anything.
Anything satanic, anything satanicallyorchestratedthrough the world,
anything, anything that comes againstthe sheep. There are many false
pastors, false teachers,as there have been throughout history. They may say,
“Lord, Lord, we did this, we did that,” and He’s going to say, “You depart

194. from me. I never knew you.” There are perverse men, Acts 20, who rise up
within the church and leadpeople astray, as well as wolves from the outside.
But Jesus is the one who will risk His life and give it up for His sheep. A
hireling is a mercenary. No impulse other than personalgain, and a coward
in a crisis. And when the crisis comes, whetherit’s an attack on the outside or
an attack on the inside, the hireling is going to protect himself. He’s out.
There is outside danger. Outside danger, attack from the wolves. There is
also the wolves dressedlike sheep. Jesus saidin Matthew 7, “There is inside
danger, the false teachers, who insteadof protecting the flock, flee when the
danger comes.” But the True Shepherd, He gives His life for the sheep, and
then He takes it back againand gathers them as they have been scattered.
So, the church’s first essentialreallyin leadership is Christ-like shepherding,
where you even put your life on the line, even risk your life for the sheep. You
risk your life to be the one through whom God in Christ can call them out,
protect them. When the danger comes, you don’t run. When the danger
comes, you stand up.
I was talking to one of the missionaries at the conference yesterday, and he
was saying, “Where are the people who will stand up and speak the truth to
protect the people of God? Where are they?” So hard to find any. We’re all
under-shepherds, 1 Peter5, under the GreatShepherd, the GoodShepherd.
We all have to be willing to risk our lives for the sheep.
So, the first characteristic, then, of the shepherd’s relationship to the sheepis:
he gives his life. Secondly, he loves his sheep. This is, of course, what’s behind
the giving of his life. Verse 14:“I am the shepherd, the good one, and I know
My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the
Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.” This explains why He lays
down His life voluntarily for the sheep, because He knows them.
You say, well, where do you get love? There’s no love there. It’s all know,
four times, the verb ginosko, “to know.” Well, letme show you something,
just a little bit of a hint. “My Fatherknows Me,” verse 15. “MyFather
knows Me.” Verse 17, “the Father loves Me.” That’s the interpretive key.

195. The word “know” here has the idea of a loving relationship. This goes allthe
way back to Genesis 4:1 where Adam knew his wife and she had a child. Cain
knew his wife, and she had a child. Adam knows Eve againand another child,
Seth. Godactually says in Amos, “Israelonly have I known.” It doesn’t mean
the Jews are the only people He’s acquainted with. What is it talking about?
It says about Josephthat he was so disturbed because Marywas pregnant and
he had never known her. What is that talking about? That’s a euphemism
for intimacy.
It’s not about information. It’s not about information. It’s about love, and
four times, that word “know” here, it implies this intimate relationship, this
intimate, sweet, loving fellowship. This sort of consummated relationship.
In the 14th chapter of John, and verse 21, “He who has My commandments
and keeps them is the one who loves Me, and he who loves Me will be loved by
My Father, and I will love him, and disclose Myselfto him.” So there, the
language is love, rather than knowing. Verse 23: “If anyone loves Me, he will
keepMy word. My Fatherwill love him. We will come to Him and make our
abode with Him.” So when you see the word “know” in this context, it’s the
idea of loving, intimate relationship.
He loves His sheep. He knows them more than knowing their name, more
than knowing who they are. He has an intimate relationship with them. He
knows them intimately. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “Depart
from Me, I never” - What? - “I never knew you, but I know who you are.”
It’s not about information. I know who you are. I don’t have any intimate
relationship with you, any love relationship. He wanted to give His life for His
sheepbecause He knew them, He loved them.
John 3:16. “Godso loved the world that He” - What? – “gave His only
begottenSon.” That’s why the Fathergave the Son; that’s why the Son gave
His life. He loves His sheep. He loves His sheep. This too is in stark contrast
to the false shepherds who have no love for the sheep, no affectionfor the
sheepthat they claim to shepherd. He loves His own.
That love leads to a third aspectof the relationship. He unites the sheep.
First with Himself, and then with eachother. Verse 16. “I have other sheep,

196. 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.”
Now, what did I tell you about the fold in verse 1 lastweek? Itold you the
fold in verse 1 is Israel, right? The shepherd comes to the fold, calls out his
sheep. The Lord is the shepherd; He comes to Israel, to the Jew first, and
then He calls out His sheepby name, and they follow Him. But, He also has
sheepwhich are not of the fold of Israel. I have to bring them also.
Who are they? Non-Jews. Anybody outside Israel. The Gentiles, the nations.
This is stunning. This is unacceptable to the Jews. This is more fuel for their
animosity because they resent Gentiles. Theybelieve Gentiles are
permanently outside salvation, the covenant, and the promises of God. And
yet, in Isaiah 42, a messianic chapter, a messianic prophecy, we read verse 6:
“I am the Lord. I have calledYou in righteousness.” This is God speaking to
the Messiah. “Iwill also hold You by the hand and watch over You. I will
appoint You as a covenantto the people, as a light to the nations to open blind
eyes and bring prisoners from the dungeon, and those who dwell in darkness
from the prison.” There’s a messianic promise that the Messiahwouldtake
salvationto the nations. Another one of those is in 49 of Isaiah, verse 6. “Is it
too small a thing that You should be My Servant” - the Messiah– “to raise up
the tribes of Jacobto restore the preservedones of Israel? I will also make
You a light of the nations so that My salvationmay reach to the end of the
earth.” What about that?
He’s shocking them by saying, “Look, I have sheepnot in your fold.” It’s why
there’s a GreatCommission. “Go into all the world and preach the gospelto
every creature.” Go make disciples of all nations.
And He will bring them all togetheras one flock with one shepherd, and that’s
why Paul in Galatians 3 says, “In Christ, there’s neither Jew nor Greek,” Jew
or Gentile. That’s why in Ephesians 2, Paul says, “The middle wall of
partition is torn down, and we’re all one in Christ.” Jew, Gentile.
In chapter 11, verse 49, Caiaphas in making his inadvertent prophecy; he was
high priest. He said to the people who were conspiring to kill Jesus, he said,
“You know nothing at all, nor do you take into accountthat it is expedient for

197. you that one man die for the people, that the whole nation not perish. Now, he
did not say this on his own initiative. But being high priest that year, he
prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, and not for the nation
only, but in order that He might also gather togetherinto one, the children of
God who are scatteredabroad.” Thatwas always His intent. He unites His
sheep. He brings them together. To Himself, to eachother.
So that is the relation of the GoodShepherd to the sheep. He gives His life
because He loves them, and He brings them into intimate unity with Himself,
and with one another. He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit, one with
Him, and one with all others in the one body of Christ.
Secondly, and just briefly, the relationship of the GoodShepherd to the
Father is in verses 17 and 18. “Forthis reasonthe Father loves Me, because I
lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it awayfrom
Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down,
and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I receivedfrom
My Father.” Let me give you a simple understanding of that. The Father
gave a command. The command to Jesus was:“Lay Your life down and take
it up. You have the authority to do that. I am commanding You to do it.”
It was a command, but “no one has takenit from Me. I lay it down on My
own initiative.” That’s why the Fatherloves Me, because ofMy obedience.
This is pretty profound. Yes, the Father chose Jesus to be the Lamb, the
acceptable sacrifice. Yes, the Father is the One who killed the Son by the
predetermined counseland foreknowledge ofGod. He was the sacrifice.
But this is not fatalism. This is not something about which Jesus had no
choice. I laid My life down. No one takes it from Me, including God. Jesus is
telling us this was a perfect actof willing obedience. These are mysteries. He
couldn’t sin. He had no capacityto sin. And yet, there’s a real struggle.
Becausein the garden, He says, “Father, if it’s possible” - Do what? Stopthis.
- “take this cup from me; nevertheless not My will, let Yours be done.” He
voluntarily did what the Father commanded Him to do, and that’s how He
demonstrated His love to the Father, and that’s why the Fatherloves Him.
“The Father loves Me because I laid my life down that I may take it again.”

198. That’s what the Father wanted Him to do; that was critical to the plan of
salvation, to gather the redeemed into eternalglory.
He did it voluntarily. This was not fatalistic. This wasn’t something He had
no choice about. He couldn’t make a wrong choice, but He voluntarily made
the right choice. “Ihad a command given to Me. I voluntarily, willfully
obeyed that command and thus securedthe Father’s love.” “If you love Me,”
Jesus said- Do what? - “keepMy commandments.” That’s how you affirm
your love.
There’s so much of this in the sectionwe’re coming to in John 14 and 15, I
won’t go into it now. But, His relationship to the Fatherwas one of love and
obedience, love and obedience. Two sides ofthe same thing. So that’s a model
for us. “Have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who was
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” The Fathereternally loves
the Son, of course. The Son eternally loves the Father. But in some unique
way in the incarnation, the Son voluntarily, willfully, obeyed the command of
the Fatherto give up His life out of love for the Father, and in so doing,
sustainedthe Father’s love forever. Love and obedience.
There’s a final relationship here, the relationship of the GoodShepherd to the
world, the relationship of the GoodShepherd to the world. What is it? Well,
it’s in verses 19 to 21. “A division occurredagainamong the Jews becauseof
these words.” And by the way, if you go back to chapter 7, verse 43, back to
chapter 9, I think it’s verse 16, there are divisions. Jesus divided the crowd.
The divisions, though, are not betweennecessarilybelievers and non-
believers. There are divisions among non-believers and that’s what you have
here. A division occurred among the Jews becauseofwhat Jesus had said.
Many of them, many of them, maybe the majority of them, were saying, “He
has a demon and is insane. Why do you listen to Him?” That would’ve been
the mantra, of course, of the leaders. And the people would’ve bought into it.
You know, He does what He does by the powerof Beelzebub, Satan, as we
read in Matthew 12.
So, at one pole in the division were the people who saidJesus is a maniac, He’s
a madman, He’s a demon-possessedlunatic. We have people like that, people

199. who don’t mind cursing Jesus, saying blasphemous things about Him. But
then there were the others, verse 21, saying, “These are not the sayings of one
demon-possessed.” Imean, that’s pretty rational, isn’t it? That’s pretty
rational. A demon can’t open the eyes of the blind, can he? Demon-possessed
people don’t talk like that. They’re not coherent, and they don’t do that.
They don’t do those miracles. So whatevercounterfeit things demons do, they
don’t look like this.
So these are the more rational people. I guess you could saythe first are the
irrational blasphemers, the secondare the more rational people. They both
end up in the same hell forever, ’cause it really doesn’t matter whether you
curse Jesus, orwhether you think you need to treat Him more reasonably.
That kind of hesitation gets you nothing. You either confess Jesus as Lord or
die in your sins and occupy the same hell with the extreme blasphemers.
So we meet the Good Shepherd. In relation to His sheep, He gives His life for
His sheep, He loves His sheep, He unites His sheep. His relation to the Father,
He loves and obeys the Father. His relation to the world, He’s rejectedeither
by those who blaspheme Him in a kind of irrational way, or by those who
rationally tolerate Him. But for us, we’ll place ourselves among the disciples
there that day, and we’ll say with Him: You are the Christ, the Sonof the
living God, won’t we?
And we’ll say this for our benediction, Hebrews 13:20, “Now the God of
peace, who brought up from the dead the greatShepherd of the sheepthrough
the blood of the eternalcovenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every
goodthing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight,
through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.” We
declare Him to be the GreatShepherd of the sheep who came out of the grave.
He is our Shepherd. Let’s pray.
Father, we thank You againfor loving us, giving Your life for us, uniting us,
loving and obeying the Father, and so willfully being the sacrifice forour sins.
Rising to raise us in justification and glory. We would be literally
overwhelmed if we could even grasp what You have prepared for us in the
future. But we acknowledge the thrill of even what You bestow upon us now.

200. Fill us with gratitude and with blessing as we continue to serve You. We pray
in the name of Christ. Amen.
THE IDEAL SHEPHERD by F. B. MEYER
"I am the Good Shepherd: the GoodShepherd giveth his life for the sheep."--
John 10:11.
THIS CHAPTER is a pastoralidyll, composedand spokenby the Chief
Shepherd Himself. It resembles some masterpiece ofart, which one visits for
days together, only finding on eachsuccessive occasionsome new beauty. It
naturally falls into the three divisions of morning, noon, and evening.
It is morning. The dew lies heavy on the upland wolds; the fresh morning
breeze is airing the feveredworld; the sun's pavilion glows with gorgeous
colours, as he prepares to emerge on his daily pilgrimage; and the shepherds
stand knocking at the barred gates ofthe fold, calling to the porter to let them
have their flocks. Whenthe door opens, eachcalls to his own sheep, and leads
them forth, and they follow him to pastures greenand waters still. They would
flee from a strange voice;but they know their shepherds.
Is not this a true picture of the response which Christ's own give to his voice?
Many are the voices whichfall on the ears of men in the early morning of
their life, summoning them to follow;and in the majority of cases withonly
too much success. In the hubbub the voice of the true Shepherd is undetected
or unheeded, except by a few. But these hearits soft gentle tones, and obey,
and follow;and to do so is certain evidence that they are his own. The desire
to hear and follow Jesus proves that you are his sheep(John 10:4, 8, 27).
Again, It is noon. The downs are baking in the scorching glare, and every
stone burns like fire; but in that oppressive hour the shepherd remembers a
little greenglen, where a tranquil lake reflects the azure sky, or a brooklet
babbles musically over the pebbles. The grass is green and the boulders cast

201. black shadows. Perhaps anold fold is there, with open doorway, so that the
sheepmay go in for shelter or out for pasture, till the shadows beginto climb
stealthily up the hills.
Thus our Belovedmakes his flock rest at noon. He is not Shepherd alone, but
fold. In Him as in a safe enclosure we lie down secure. He is the secretplace of
the MostHigh, in whom our life is hidden. Nor is He the fold only, He is also
the door; there is no ingress to rest, or egress to pasture, except through Him.
We canget pasture, abundant life, and salvationonly by the Lord Jesus.
Lastly, It is evening. The sun is setting, the air is becoming chill, the valleys
are deep in gloom. The shepherd hastens downward with his flock to the fold.
They are descending togetherthe last dark gorge, denselyshadowedby
foliage. Suddenly the ominous snarl and screamtell that a wolf has sprung
from the thicket, and seizedon one of the hindmost ewes or tender Iambs; and
then the shepherd rushes to the rear, prepared to lay down his life, if needs be,
to save. And who canview the struggle which ensues betweenthe shepherd
and the wolf, without being reminded of the fourfold allusion of our Lord to
the factthat He was about to lay down his life for the sheep(John 10:11, 15,
17, 18).
I. THE DOUBLE CONTRAST TO THE GOOD SHEPHERD.
Gooddoes not mean benevolent and kind; but genuine and true. And its
significance is pointed by the contrastwith the thief and the hireling; by which
it appears that the Good Shepherd is One who is imbued with the true spirit
of his work, and is an enthusiastin it, not for pay or reward, but by the
compulsion of the noble instincts of his soul.
Robbers may turn shepherds, climbing the walls of the fold, or swooping
down on the flock and driving it off, as Nabal's were seized on Mount Carmel.
But their purpose is for the flesh and fleece, to kill and to destroy. They have
no more the true shepherd's heart than a bandit has a soldier's or a pirate a
sailor's.
Many such nominal shepherds had the Jews in their national history: kings
ruling for their own aggrandisement;teachers who prophesied false and

202. smooth things for place and pelf; Phariseeswho lined their nests with what
they appropriated wrongfully. Such were the thieves and robbers who came
before the GoodShepherd, stealing from God his glory, from men their souls
and goods. Whata contrastwas the Saviour, who expectedno reward but
hatred and a crown of thorns, a cross and a borrowed tomb, and whose
supreme object was to give life, and to give it more abundantly--abundant as
the flowers of May; exhaustless as the perennial fountains of his own being;
infinite as the nature of God!
The hireling, too, may turn shepherd, and, to a certain point, may do "his
work with credit. He will not desertthe flock for frost, or hail, or a thunder
shower. His pay will be more than an equivalent for hardship in these
respects. Butwhen it comes to the supreme test of sacrificing the life, he
breaks down. Love alone can nerve a man voluntarily to lay down his life. Of
what use is hire to a dead man? "He that is an hireling, and not the shepherd,
whose ownthe sheepare not, seeththe wolf coming, and leaveth the sheepand
fleeth; and the wolf comethand scattereththem."
There are goodmen about the world, in the Church and out of it, who have
come to sheep-tending as an occupation, becauseit affords a means of
livelihood; men who become pastors becausethere is a family living to be
filled, or the position is an honourable one. Such do their work fairly well, so
long as there is no particular danger to be faced. But when the winds of
persecutionare let loose, andthe fires are lit, and the dragoons scourthe
moors, they renounce their office, and even endeavour to efface the vestiges of
their calling (Zec. 13:5, 6, 7).
Very different to this has been the spirit of the true shepherd, revealedin
hundreds of casesofChurch history, and above all in our blessedLord. He
has receiveda greatreward, which dazzled his gaze throughout his earthly
life. "Forthe joy set before Him He endured the cross." Butthere was nothing
selfishin it. And it was not for this alone that He fulfilled his self-settask. He
loved us. He had taken us to be his own. He had sethis heart upon us. And
when the question arose ofdelivering us from peril, He never hesitatedto lay
down his life. It was his own act and deed. "I lay it down of Myself."

203. For the most part his life was not his own, but his Father's in Him; yet special
powerwas given Him that He should be able to take individual and personal
actionin this matter. "He had power to lay it down, and power to take it
again." And as the voluntariness of his sacrifice unto death is insisted on,
there comes out more evidently the mighty passionof his love for us who hear
his voice, and may therefore claim to be his own. Why has He loved us thus?
We cannottell. It is a mystery which will for ever baffle us; but love knows no
reason, no law. Surely the Son of God might have discovered, or made, beings
more worthy of his attachment. But it was not to be so. He has loved us with
the greatestlove of all, the love that recks not the costof life; and there is
nothing now of goodwhich He will withhold from his own, his loved, his
chosenand purchased flock.
II. THE WORK OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD.
(1) His knowledge ofhis sheep.
The RevisedVersion brings out the exquisite meaning of John 10:14-15, which
was somewhatobscuredin the older version: "I know mine own, and mine
own know Me; even as the Fatherknoweth Me, and I know the Father."
The Easternshepherd knows all the particulars of eachof his sheep; its
genealogy, defects, temper, and tastes, andembodies some one of these in the
name he gives it. Thus did the Fatherknow all about that one Lamb which
stoodin so peculiar a relationship to Himself. There was nothing in Jesus
hidden from the Father. His eyes beheld his substance, when it was yet
imperfect; and in his book were all his members written, when as yet there
was none of them, whether of his mystical or of his physical body. Who shall
explore or adequately elaborate the perfectknowledge subsisting betweenthe
Father and the Son before the worlds were made?
And it is just in this way, with a Divine, comprehensive, and perfect
knowledge, thatthe Lord Jesus knows eachofus. He is of a quick
understanding to take in our past, with its sad and bitter failures, and our
present with its unrealized longings. He knows our downsitting and uprising;
our motives so often misunderstood; our anxieties, which casttheir shadows
over our lives; our dread; our hopes and fears. He intermeddles with the

204. bitterness of our hearts, knownonly to us and Him. He scrutinizes eachguest
as it enters, and needs no census to tell Him the inmates of our hearts. "There
is not a word on our tongue, but Thou, O Lord, knowestit altogether." It is
very blessedto be known thus; so that we do not need to assume a disguise, or
enter into laboured explanations. He cannotbe surprised, or takenunawares
by anything we may tell Him.
Let us, on our part, seek to know Him as He knew the Father; the eyes of our
heart being enlightened; the Soul illumined by the knowledge whichis born of
sympathy, fellowship, and purity.
(2) His seeking love.
Again the RevisedVersion, in ver. 16, gives the true intention of our Saviour's
words. "Other sheepI have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring
(lead), and they shall hear my voice, and they shall become one flock, one
Shepherd."
There may be, and there will be, many folds. By the very constitution of our
minds we are sure to have different views of truth, of church government, and
of the best methods of expressing our love and worship. And there are many
who would have us believe that if we do not belong to their specialfold, we
have no right to assume that we belong to the flock. But it is not so. Our
Masternever said there would be one fold. There may be many folds, yet one
flock;even as there is one Shepherd. The more one climbs up the mountain
side, the less one thinks of the hurdles that pen the sheepbelow in the valley,
and the more one rejoices in the essentialunity of the flock. Whatevermay be
your specialfold, the one question is : Do you hear and obey the Shepherd's
voice? If so, you belong to the one flock, part of which is on that, and part on
this side of a narrow parting brook.
These other sheepmust be the Gentiles--ourselves. ThoughHe belongedby
birth to the most exclusive race that has everexisted, our Lord's sympathies
overflowedthe narrow limits of national prejudice. He was the Sonof Man;
and in these words He not only showedthat his heart was set on us, but He
sketchedthe work which was to occupy Him through the ages.Eversince that
moment He has been bringing in these other sheep, and folding them. Perhaps

205. the work is almostdone, and the flock complete;and soon, as He leads his
blood-bought ones forth to the pasture-lands of eternity, their unity shall be
manifest, and the world shall admire and believe (John 17:21).
(3) His words to His own.
"He calls them by name." We often speak to the dumb animals of our homes,
telling them words they can hardly understand, and to which they can
certainly give no response. But there is a dialogue ever in process betweenthe
GoodShepherd and his own. He not only calls them by name as He leads them
forth, but He talks to them, encouraging, soothing, communing with them
about his purposes, explaining his reasons, indicting his commands.
Holy souls become aware of impressions which are made on them from time
to time, promptings, inspirations, largely through the words of Scripture, and
sometimes otherwise, whichthey recognize as the Shepherd's voice. That voice
ever calls to self-sacrifice,fellowship, purity, and is different to all other
voices. And there grows up a response, the more speciallyso when the path is
lonely, and the sheep keeps closeto its Shepherd's heel. Those who follow very
nearly behind Him will bear witness to the perpetual converse by which the
human friend is able to keepin touch with the Divine.
(4) His care of his own.
"I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish." Time wears out all
things else. It crumbles the mountains, dims the sunshine, loosens the
machinery of the universe; but it cannottouch or impair the life of the blessed
God, whether it be in Himself, or imparted through Jesus Christ to the hearts
of those who love Him. When once that life has come to indwell the believer's
heart it must remain. Beneathworldliness, carelessness, andfrivolity, burning
feebly perhaps, almost quenched in the heavy atmosphere, it is there an
incorruptible seed.
Christ's sheepshah never perish. They may wander far from Him, lose all joy
and comfort, fall under the rebuke of men, and seemto be living under a
cloud; but, if they are really his, his honour is pledged to seek them out in the
cloudy and dark day, and bring them back to Himself. His body cannotbe

206. dismembered; He cannot forfeit that which it has costHim so much to
purchase. He would rather lose his throne than one of his sheep;for the lion of
the pit would glory over Him, and it would be a fatal blemish on his
escutcheonthat He had attempted but had failed to perform.
You may be a very lame and timid and worthless sheep;but you were
purchased by the Shepherd's blood, because He loved you so. There is not a
wild beastin all hell that He has not vanquished and put beneath his feet;
there is no fear, therefore, of his ability, as there is none of his love. He will
deliver you from the lion and the bear, and bring you in triumph to the fold,
with all the rest.
Question:"What did Jesus meanwhen He said, 'I am the goodShepherd'?"
Answer: “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:11)is the fourth of seven “I am”
declarations ofJesus recordedonly in John’s Gospel. These “I am”
proclamations point to His unique, divine identity and purpose. Immediately
after declaring that He is “the door” in John 10:7, Jesus declares “Iam the
goodshepherd.” He describes Himself as not only “the shepherd” but the
“goodshepherd.” What does this mean?
It should be understood that Jesus is “the” good shepherd, not simply “a”
goodshepherd, as others may be, but He is unique in character(Psalm23;
Zechariah 13:7; Hebrews 13:20;1 Peter 2:25; 1 Peter5:4). The Greek word
kalos, translated“good,”describes thatwhich is noble, wholesome, good, and
beautiful, in contrastto that which is wicked, mean, foul, and unlovely. It
signifies not only that which is goodinwardly—character—butalso that
which is attractive outwardly. It is an innate goodness. Therefore, in using the
phrase “the goodshepherd,” Jesus is referencing His inherent goodness,His

207. righteousness, andHis beauty. As shepherd of the sheep, He is the one who
protects, guides, and nurtures His flock.
As He did in declaring that He is “the door of the sheep” in John 10:7, Jesus is
making a contrastbetweenHimself and the religious leaders, the Pharisees
(John 10:12–13). He compares them to a “hireling” or “hired hand” who
doesn’t really care about the sheep. In John 10:9, Jesus speaksofthieves and
robbers who soughtto enter the sheepfold stealthily. In that passagethe
Jewishleaders (Pharisees)are contrastedwith Christ, who is the Door. Here,
in John 10:12, the hireling is contrastedwith the true or faithful shepherd
who willingly gives up his life for the sheep. He who is a “hireling” works for
wages,whichare his main consideration. His concernis not for the sheep but
for himself. Interestingly enough, the shepherds of ancient times were not
usually the owners of the flock. Nevertheless, theywere expected to exercise
the same care and concernthe owners would. This was characteristicofa true
shepherd. However, some of the hirelings thought only of themselves. As a
result, when a wolf appeared—the most common threat to sheepin that day—
the hireling abandoned the flock and fled, leaving the sheepto be scatteredor
killed (John 10:12–13).
First, to better understand the purpose of a shepherd during the times of
Jesus, it is helpful to realize that sheep are utterly defenselessandtotally
dependent upon the shepherd. Sheep are always subject to danger and must
always be under the watchful eye of the shepherd as they graze. Rushing walls
of water down the valleys from sudden, heavy rainfalls may sweepthem away,
robbers may stealthem, and wolves may attack the flock. David tells how he
killed a lion and a bear while defending his father’s flock as a shepherd boy (1
Samuel 17:36). Driving snow in winter, blinding dust and burning sands in
summer, long, lonely hours eachday—all these the shepherd patiently
endures for the welfare of the flock. In fact, shepherds were frequently
subjectedto grave danger, sometimes even giving their lives to protecttheir
sheep.

208. Likewise, Jesusgave His life on the cross as “the GoodShepherd” for his own.
He who would save others, though He had the power, did not choose to save
Himself. “The Sonof Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give
His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28). Through His willing sacrifice,
the Lord made salvationpossible for all who come to Him in faith. In
proclaiming that He is the GoodShepherd, Jesus speaks of“laying down” His
life for His sheep(John 10:15, 17–18).
Jesus’death was divinely appointed. It is only through Him that we receive
salvation. “I am the goodshepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by
My own” (John 10:14). Furthermore, Jesus makes it clearthat it wasn’t just
for the Jews that he laid down His life, but also for the “othersheep I have
which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My
voice;and there will be one flock and one shepherd” (John 10:16). The “other
sheep” clearlyrefers to the Gentiles. As a result, Jesus is the Good Shepherd
over all, both Jew and Gentile, who come to believe upon Him (John 3:16).
https://www.gotquestions.org/Good-Shepherd.html
DAVID LEGGE
It's goodto be with you againin Scrabo as always, and I'll be here, God
willing, the next three weeks as we continue to progress through the gospelof
John. I think it was the last time I was with you when you were last in John, so
we're turning againto John chapter 10 - we were in John 9, I'm sure none of
you canremember that! It was way back in June, and you've been hearing a
lot since then, but we will recapa little on the previous message.
The term 'shepherd' was also usedand understood in this period of time that
Jesus was teaching as a leader of any shape or form...

209. John 10 then, and we're looking at 'The GoodShepherd', John 10 verse 1 -
and I'm reading from the New King James Version: "'Mostassuredly, I say to
you, he who does not enter the sheepfoldby the door, but climbs up some
other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is
the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeperopens, and the sheephear
his voice;and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when
he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him,
for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will
flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers'. Jesus usedthis
illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them.
Then Jesus saidto them again, 'Mostassuredly, I sayto you, I am the door of
the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep
did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved,
and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to
steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that
they may have it more abundantly. I am the goodshepherd. The good
shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the
shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves
the sheepand flees;and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The
hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. I am
the goodshepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. As the
Father knows Me, evenso I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the
sheep. And other sheepI have which are not of this fold; them also I must
bring, and they will hear My voice;and there will be one flock and one
shepherd. Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I
may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have
powerto lay it down, and I have powerto take it again. This command I have
receivedfrom My Father'". Justdown, please, to verse 25:"Jesus answered
them, 'I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father's
name, they bear witness of Me. But you do not believe, because youare not of
My sheep, as I said to you. My sheephear My voice, and I know them, and
they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish;
neither shall anyone snatchthem out of My hand. My Father, who has given
them to Me, is greaterthan all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My
Father's hand. I and My Father are one'".

210. We don't have to contextualise the idea of a shepherd for us in the 21st-
century, because we allknow what a shepherd is...
Let us pray, and do pray togetherwith me, that the Lord might come and
speak and minister by the Holy Spirit and by His grace to all gatheredhere
today. Do enter into prayer with me now: Father, we thank You for Your holy
word. We thank You for the words of the Lord Jesus Himself, we thank You
that we have the recordof what He said, what He taught, how He lived, and
how He died, and how He was buried and rose againfor us, and ascendedto
heaven, and how He is at Your right hand now interceding for us, and He
dispenses the powerof the Holy Spirit to us for our need. We ask now, Lord,
that You will come. We don't want to be preaching the word without power,
we don't want the letter to go forth without the Spirit, and so we pray that
what will go forth now, Lord, will be in the demonstrationand the unction of
the Holy Spirit Himself. Come and presence Yourselfwith us, and meet the
needs of all gatheredhere. We think particularly of those who may not have
yet believed in the Lord Jesus. We pray that You will, by the Holy Spirit,
revealChrist to them, and revealtheir sin to them, and enable them, by Your
grace, Lord, to just take that step of faith and repentance and be saved even
today. Lord, we would long for that to happen, we would love someone here
today, for the light to dawn on their spirit for the first time, and for them to
realise the GoodShepherd that is the Lord Jesus, and that they would enter in
and be savedthis very morning. We pray for all Your people here, maybe
some who are coldin their faith, some who are struggling with burdens, and
we pray that, Lord, they too will geta glimpse of this Good Shepherd. We ask
these things all in His marvellous name, Amen.
We don't have to contextualise the idea of a shepherd for us in the 21st-
century, because we allknow what a shepherd is. Even if you don't come from
a rural community, and maybe haven't grownup on the farm, you know what
a shepherd is, you know what he does. What you may not be aware of is that
the term 'shepherd' was also used and understood in this period of time that
Jesus was teaching as a leader of any shape or form. So if you were a political
leader, you would have been seenas a shepherd. If you were a religious or
spiritual leader, you would have been seenas a shepherd. Now the Pharisees
were a very strict sectof the Jews who wantedto geteverybody back to the

211. Old Testamentlaw of God, and they really put the hammers on people, and
screwedthem down as far as the laws of God were concerned, and took all the
joy - if there was any in their religion - took it all awayby the rules and rituals
and regulations that they imposed on the people. But they claimed to be the
rightful spiritual shepherds of the Jews.
Now chapter 10 we have just read part of is a lessonaboutwhat actually
happened in chapter 9. I'm sorry if you weren't here when I was last
preaching on chapter 9, but let me just recapfor you, and hopefully - if you
don't know anything about it - you'll get the gist of what chapter 9 is all about.
There is a man born blind, he is blind from birth, and the leaders of religion
were insinuating that he had to have sinned - how he did that in the womb, I
don't know - or his mother or father had to have sinned, that he was born
blind. He meets the Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus heals him and gives him back his
sight, and there is a greatcross-questioning goesonin chapter 9, and the
Pharisees questionhim about how he now sees, thoughhe was born blind. The
Pharisees hadmade a rule that if anybody confessedJesusChrist, that they
would be put out of the synagogue. This man, he didn't know all the theology
of who Jesus was, but he knew this much: 'Once I was blind, and now I see,
and it was Jesus who gave me back my sight' - and because he confessed
Christ and His power, he was excommunicated from the synagogue, he was
put out!
False shepherds, Jesus says, are like strangers:the sheepdon't recognise their
voice...
Now chapter 10 is all about the Shepherd leading people out and bringing
them into His fold. The false shepherds, the Pharisees, threw this man who
was once blind out of their fold, but the GoodShepherd, the Lord Jesus
Christ, took him into His fold. Chapter 10 essentiallyteaches us the great
difference betweenfalse shepherds and the True Shepherd. False shepherds,
Jesus says, are like strangers:the sheep don't recognisetheir voice. They are
like thieves: they want to rob the sheep, and kill the sheep. They are like
hirelings, or hired hands, or paid workers, foreignlabourers:they don't own
the sheep, so they don't care for the sheep, so if there is danger coming they
will flee from the sheep- because it's more than their life is worth! But Jesus

212. is the GoodShepherd, and in verses 1 to 3 - it's so interesting, look at it again,
chapter 10:'I sayto you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but
climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he who enters
by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper', orthe
watchman, 'opens, and the sheephear his voice;and he calls his ownsheep by
name and leads them out'
What Jesus is saying there is: the shepherd goes throughthe door of the fold,
because he is the shepherd, and a watchmanlooking out for the shepherd
recogniseshim as the shepherd and lets him in. What Jesus was saying here is:
'I am God's Shepherd, I am the True Shepherd, and I am coming in by the
door, I am coming in God's appointed way that proves I am His Shepherd'.
Now, what was God's appointed way for the Shepherd to come in? Well, part
of that was His lineage, His birth. If you look at the beginning of Matthew's
gospeland the beginning of Luke's gospel, you'll see that Jesus is in the Regal
line, He's a King, the Sonof David. Also there is prophecy that proves Jesus
came in by the rightful door to prove that He is the GoodShepherd. He
fulfilled all of the Old Testamentprophecies concerning the Messiah. This
book, as you've been travelling through John's Gospel, you'll know that it's all
formed around signs or miracles. John tells us in his lastchapter that these
are all to prove that Jesus is the Christ, and that you might believe and be
saved. So Jesus came the appointed way, through the door, and proved that
He is God's Shepherd. He said: 'Anybody else has to climb over the walland
stealthe sheep'.
Now this is what I want you to see this morning, first of all that the Lord
Jesus, the Good Shepherd, leads His sheepout of harm and into safety. Now
one of the great differences betweenfalse shepherds and true shepherds is
this: false shepherds don't enter the door, but climb the wall - we've seenthat
already in the first three verses. Jesusreiterates this againin verse 8, look
down at it: 'All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the
sheepdid not hear them'. Jesus comes through the door, He's the only one
qualified to go God's appointed way, the only one God has promised and
anointed to be Christ and Saviour - and anybody else that came before Him
were thieves and robbers, they climbed over the door, because they denied
Christ by not going God's appointed way. They disqualified themselves. That

213. was the Pharisees, wasit not? Becausethe Pharisees, who were claiming to be
the rightful shepherds of God's sheep, they were denying Christ, they were
encouraging the people to disownChrist and actually hindering them from
following Christ - and effectively, as you follow on in this gospel, andevery
gospel, you will find that they killed Christ on a human level.
Let me cause you to beware of deceivers - because there are millions out there,
especiallyin religion, who are not transparent...
You see, false shepherds want to deceive the sheep. Now can I sayto you this
morning - I don't know if there's anyone who could class themselves as a
searching and seeking soul:you haven't found the truth as far as you're
aware, but you're searching and you're seeking, andmaybe that's why you're
in the meeting this morning. Well, let me cause you to beware of deceivers -
because there are millions out there, especiallyin religion, who are not
transparent. You find them in the cults, you find them even in churches,
especiallychurches that emphasise rules and regulations, and they're not
being straight with you! Now Jesus, the True Shepherd, always had candour,
He was always straight up, He said: 'I am the truth'. He had nothing to hide.
Now listen carefully to what I'm saying: false shepherds don't enter through
the door, they came over a wall. They don't come God's appointed way, and
they don't recognise Jesus Christas the only way to God. If you're reading
about anything, or dabbling in any systemor organisationthat does not
recognise thatJesus is God's appointed and only way to God, it is not of God -
they are false shepherds.
Another difference betweenthe false and true shepherd is: false shepherds
can't lead the sheep, so they must drive them and stealthem - do you notice
that? Jesus said:'My sheep don't recognisethe voice of a stranger, a false
shepherd' - they only recognise His voice. Like the blind man in chapter 9,
who heard Jesus, and he responded to Jesus, but he didn't recognise God's
voice in the voice of the self-proclaimedshepherds of the people, the
Pharisees.Theywere like strangers to him in his need. You see, the Pharisees
ruled with fear: 'If you don't do what we say God wants you to do, we'll put
you out of the synagogue' - and that meant many of the rights of community
and societywould be robbed of the people. Now listen carefully to what I'm

214. saying: false shepherds can't lead the people, so they drive them - beware of
leaders who want to control you, for that is not of God.
We see that in the whole spectrum of religion right throughout human history,
whether it's from the Sword of Islam - Jihad - forcing people to convert by the
sword, which the 'Christians' did during the Crusades to Muslims. Whether
it's that militancy of religion, or whether it's even evangelical, politically
correctpolitics in the church, where we throw our weightaround and use
position or rank to getour way - listen carefully: true shepherds leadthe
sheep, they don't need to drive the sheep, and they certainly don't need to
stealthe sheep. True shepherds never have to use force or coercionto get their
way. Thieves stealpower, they use the sheepto feed their need for power, and
ultimately the goalis to fleece the sheepand slaughter the sheep. Look at verse
10: 'The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy' - that's
what the thief wants to do, and the devil is behind it! You say: 'That would
never happen in Christian churches' - are Christians not used, and at times
abused, by dictatorialleaders? I repeat: the devil is behind that kind of
leadership. It is a false shepherd - because he cannot lead the sheep - that
drives them.
The third difference betweenthe false and true shepherd - not only does the
false shepherd not enter through the door, but climbs overthe wall; and he
doesn't lead the sheepbecause has to drive them and stealthem - but when
self-interestis not satisfiedin leading the sheep, and the well-being of the false
shepherd is threatened, that false shepherd will endangerthe sheep. You see it
in verses 12 and 13:'But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does
not ownthe sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheepand flees;and
the wolfcatches the sheepand scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a
hireling and does not care about the sheep'. You see, a hired worker, he only
serves for wages,that's what the Amplified Version says: he is only serving for
wages,he's only in it for what he can getout of it - goodliving for a living, we
might say. The Pharisees were like that, if you read the gospels the Pharisees
were only interestedin providing for themselves and protecting themselves.
Luke 16 says they were lovers of money, Mark 12 says they took advantage of
widows, in Matthew 21 we see the Lord Jesus going into the Temple and
turning the tables upside down because, He said, 'They have made the house

215. of God into a den of thieves'. This is what these false shepherds had done -
because they didn't own the sheepand didn't really care for the sheep, when
they didn't feed their need any longer, and when their own well-being was
threatened, they ran and endangeredthe sheep.
The GoodShepherd leads His sheep out of such harm and into safety, His
safety, His fold...
But the Good Shepherd loves the flock - what a difference!This is the
wonderful thing: the GoodShepherd leads His sheep out of such harm and
into safety, His safety, His fold. Now please notice this, in verse 1 this
sheepfoldappears to be Israelover whom these Phariseesleaders claimedto
be shepherds. Now a sheepfold, in these days, was just an enclosure ofrocks,
four rock walls with a hole, a gap, in one wall which was the door - just an
opening. Now I want you to see this, because Ihave never seenthis before
myself, and I imagine some of you have never seenit. Watchthe progression
here in the first couple of verses of chapter 10, look, verse 2: 'He who enters
by the door', this opening, of Israel, this sheepfold where the Jews are, 'is the
shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeperopens, and the sheep hearhis
voice'- now watchthe direction here - 'and he calls his own sheepby name
and leads them out'. He is taking them out of the sheepfold. Now watch this,
verse 4: 'And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the
sheepfollow him, for they know his voice'. So He brings them out, leading
them, going before them - now look at verse 7, look at the directional language
here: 'Then Jesus saidto them again, 'Mostassuredly, I say to you, I am the
door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but
the sheepdid not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters', goes in, 'by Me,
he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture''.
Do you see what's happening here? He's bringing them out of fold where there
is danger, He's calling them and He's leading them aheadof Him into a fold
where they are safe - His fold, where they can go in and out and find pasture.
Did you ever see that before? There are two folds: one of them Jesus is leading
them out of, and the other He's bringing them into - awayfrom the Pharisees,
awayfrom the danger, awayfrom the stranger, the thief and the hireling, and
into His safe fold.

216. Look at verse 27:'My sheephear My voice, and I know them, and they follow
Me'. A traveller to the Holy Land on one occasiontells about stopping one day
at a watering place, and he saw three shepherds come down to watertheir
flocks - there was a total of about 100 sheep. Soonthe three flocks got
intermingled, and an outsider could never have distinguished betweenthe
sheep, who the sheep belongedto - but soonone shepherd walkedawaya little
distance from the flock and then gave his call. When he called, his flock
separatedthemselves from the others and followedhim - that's exactly what
you have here. Jesus is calling into the sheepfoldof Israel where these people
are being fleecedand destroyed and killed by dead religion, and He calls with
His voice, and those who hear Him, those who are receptive to Him, move out
to Him, hearing His voice.
Now I want to ask you here this morning: have you ever heard His voice? Is
there someone here this morning, and you're that seekeror that searching
person, and you're hearing His voice at the moment? Maybe even in this very
messageyou are hearing the voice of Jesus Christ calling you to be saved,
calling you to repent of your sins and believe in Him - to change your mind
about the way you're living your life, and to come to the cross where He died
for you and be cleansed, and be forgiven, and have the power of the Holy
Spirit come into your life and give you victory over sin. Maybe, like the sheep,
He's been separating you from the flock that you've once belongedto - maybe
it's a religion, maybe it's a church where you don't hear the Gospel - but
because He's calling you, you're moving toward Him. You haven't takenthat
final step of faith, but He's wanting to translate you from the kingdom of
darkness - one fold - into the kingdom of light, the kingdom of God, the
kingdom of God's dear Son.
The GoodShepherd loves His sheep, and I want you to see in severalways
how He loves his sheep...
Jesus is the GoodShepherd who knows His sheep. He speaks to His sheep,
they're not like strangers to Him. He protects His sheep, so He's not like a
thief. He gives His sheeplife, so He's not like the hireling who runs awayfrom
danger. Now let's look closerat the GoodShepherd as we come to the end of
the meeting. The GoodShepherd loves His sheep, and I want you to see in

217. severalways how He loves his sheep. Now I want you, by the eye of faith
please, to really try and see this GoodShepherd.
First of all we see that He loves His sheeppersonally, or individually. Look at
verse 3: 'He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out'. Now these days,
whether you go to the bank or you phone somebodyup to pay a bill, we're all
only numbers, aren't we? They don't know you by your name, but your
number. It's so impersonal, but it's not like that with God. He knows you by
name, which means He knows you personally, He knows you individually, He
knows everything about you! Though you're only one sheepin a greatflock,
whateverthat flock is, Jesus cares aboutyou. His parable in Luke 15 would
indicate - He told the story of 100 sheep, and the Shepherd finds out, counting
them one night, that one is missing; and He leaves the ninety and nine that are
safe in the fold to go out to the one sheepthat has wanderedinto the
wilderness. He goes and brings that sheepback on His shoulders through all
the dangers, becauseHe loves us individually - that's the GoodShepherd!
He also loves savingly, look at verse 9: 'I am the door. If anyone enters by Me,
he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture'. Now a door is an
entrance, isn't it? It's a way into some place, it's a threshold that crossesa
barrier. Positively it could mean that when you enter a door you enter shelter,
you enter safetyor warmth, or even home. Negativelyit can mean when you
enter through a door that you leave the cold, and the elements, and any
danger or peril. Sure, when you're on a long journey and you've broken
down, you couldn't getthe carstarted, what do you look for? You look for a
door, a light that is on, a place where you can gethelp - home! Jesus says:'By
Me, if any man enter in through Me, you will enter the door of salvation, you
will come into spiritual shelterand security - it's a fire escape from hell and an
entrance to heaven and home by Me, not by anyone else, only Me!', Jesus says.
Don't look anywhere else but Jesus!
A wonderful illustration of this is the Old TestamentArk that Noah built. The
Bible tells us that Noahwas commanded to just put one door in the Ark - I
don't know how many we would have put, but Godsaid only one door. It was
a picture of how there's only one door to salvation, through Jesus Christ. It's
all looking forward to this day when He would say: 'I am the door'. I imagine

218. that as those animals travelled to the Ark before the flood of God's judgement
came, that there might have been two goldeneagles in the skyflying and
soaring in the heights of heaven, but they had to come down - they had to
come right down to where the door was to go through. If there were two snails
crawling along the dirt, they had to come up to the door. But whether it was
the eagle orthe snail, they all had to come the one way - through Jesus. Have
you done that? The Bible says:'Neither is there salvation in any other, for
there is one name under heavengiven among men whereby we must be saved'.
There can be many churches and many beliefs, but there's only one flock and
there's only one Shepherd, and there's only one way to be saved:Jesus.
There can be many churches and many beliefs, but there's only one flock and
there's only one Shepherd, and there's only one way to be saved:Jesus...
He loves his sheeppersonally, He loves them savingly - we see something else:
He loves them sacrificially. Verse 11:'I am the good shepherd. The good
shepherd gives His life for the sheep'. Verse 15: 'As the Father knows Me,
even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep'. Verse 17:
'Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it
again'. Verse 18: 'No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have
powerto lay it down, and I have powerto take it again. This command I have
receivedfrom My Father'. I don't think it's without significance that this
GoodShepherd labours the sacrificialaspectofHis love more than any other.
He loves His sheep - that's why He's a GoodShepherd! He demonstrates His
love for His sheepin that He lays His life down for them. He is not like a hired
hand! An old hymn - and it is a very old one - but it captured this thought
when it said:
'None of the ransomed ever knew
How deep were the waters crossed;
Nor how dark was the night the Lord passedthrough
'Ere He found the sheep that was lost'.

219. Do you understand what Jesus suffered for you, that He might save you as a
lost sheep? Do you know? Do you know about the cross?The sacrifice ofJesus
as He took your sins, as He bore your shame? He loves you sacrificially.
We see something else:He loves His sheepsatisfyingly. I love this, the end of
verse 9, these sheepwho enter through the door will go in and out and find
pasture, and at the end of verse 10, though the thief comes to steal, kill and
destroy, Jesus says: 'I have come that they may have life, and that they may
have it more abundantly' - have it to the full. The Amplified Version says:
'have it till it overflows'!Is that the kind of life that you have? I think a lot of
Christians don't have that life. They might have some kind of residual life
within their breast, but it's not bubbling over and overflowing - this is pasture
life! You cango in and out and get satisfaction!It's like Psalm 23:'He makes
me lie down in green luscious pastures, He leads me beside the still waters, He
restores my soul' - that's what Christ does for you! It's not just getting your
sins forgiven and escaping hell, but it's life that overflows!
Philip Keller was a Shepherd, and he wrote a book 'A Shepherd's Look At
The 23rd Psalm', and he says in it: 'The strange thing about sheepis that
because oftheir make-up it is almostimpossible for them to be made to lie
down unless four requirements are met'. Here's the four he gives:'One, due to
their timidity they must be free from all fear' - that's what Psalm23 says, 'I
will fear no evil'. Are you free from fear? Is that your problem? Is that the
thing that binds you? Some phobia, some paralysing anxiety? Christians,
many of whom are shackledby this, don't realise how it is sapping from them
their God-given right of a satisfying life filled with the Holy Spirit,
overflowing in joy and meaning! The Lord wants you to lie down without any
fear!
For the Christian, the grass cannever be greeneron the other side if you have
this life to overflowing...
The secondthing he said about sheep: to getthem to lie down they must be
free from predators, enemies. Are you free from the devil? Has the devil got
his claws onyou through habits, through your lifestyle, maybe even through
dabbling in the occult? You're cursed? The Lord wants to free you from all

220. predators. Thirdly, they have to be free from hunger to lie down - they have to
have food. Are you hungry here? The Lord wants to satisfyyou. There's a
fourth thing that has to happen for the sheep to lie down, and it's more
relevant to believers: they have to be free from friction with others of the
flock. I'll maybe talk more about that tonight in the preaching, but you know:
you will never be satisfiedin your heart if you've got something againstyour
brother or your sister. Pasture means freedom - people who are living a life of
sin think they're free, they don't want Jesus becausethey don't want their
freedom to be trampled upon, their style to be cramped - but it's not freedom
at all! Becausewhatthe devil is doing is: he's wanting to fleece the flock, he's
wanting to slaughter the flock and feed upon the flock - and that's what he's
doing with your life. Yes, there is a buzz in sin at the beginning, the great
magnetic attraction of it - but once he gets you in his sights, he destroys you -
and you know that now, don't you? He wants to destroy your life, Jesus wants
to give you life, He wants to give you true freedom. For the Christian, the
grass cannever be greeneron the other side if you have this life to
overflowing.
Quickly see:He loves His sheeppersonally, savingly, sacrificially, satisfyingly
- but He loves them intimately. This is beautiful, verse 14:'I am the good
shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by sheep'. Notonly does He
know them, but they know Him. How wellcan we know Him? Look at this,
verses 14 and 15 - the New King James and the Authorised Version I don't
believe really translated this the best way - if you have the English Standard
Version or the NIV you will read this, verse 14:'I am the good shepherd; I
know my sheepand am known by my own - just as the Father knows me even
so I know the Father - and I lay down my life for the sheep'. What that is
saying is that the same union and communion and intimacy that was always
betweenthe Fatherand the Sonis now betweenthe Shepherd and His sheep!
That's incredible! You wouldn't think it to look at some of you folk here this
morning! You can know your Saviour the way the Father knows the Son -
now don't ask me to explain that, I haven't evenbegun experientially to
explore that, but that's what that verse says!He loves us intimately, He's not
withholding any knowledge ofHimself from us - He wants us to know Him
completely!

221. He loves His sheep intimately, but look also:He loves them by leading ahead
of them. Verse 4: 'He goes before them'. Now in the Middle East, unlike here
in our country, the shepherd does go before, in front of, the sheep. He calls
them and walks before them and they follow him. He doesn't drive from
behind, and he doesn't need a sheepdog. That's exactlythe way it is in the
Christian life: the Lord Jesus neverasks us to go anywhere or do anything
that He has not gone or done Himself before us. He's out in the front as our
Saviour, the Man who lived life here as a man, apart from sin, who faced
temptation and trial. He is one who can sympathise, and therefore He can lead
and He can guide us, and He can be our example to follow. It's wonderful,
isn't it?
Sheepare pretty dumb animals, perhaps the dumbest of agricultural beasts
that we know - and yet they still recognise the voice of their shepherd. Do
you?
See something else:He loves His sheep - I found it hard how to put this one, I
thought of the word 'audibly', He loves them audibly, or He loves them
communicatively - what am I talking about? Look at verse 27: 'My sheep hear
My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me'. He is reiterating what He
said already in verses 3 through 5. Now listen, sheepare pretty dumb animals,
perhaps the dumbest of agricultural beasts that we know - and yet they still
recognise the voice of their shepherd. Do you? I wish I had time to go into this,
maybe anotherday, but Godstill speaks, andJesus still communicates with
His sheep- through the Word, yes, but also through the Spirit. I want to ask
you here today: do you hear His voice? You may claim to be one of His sheep,
but do you hear His voice? Does He communicate with you? You say:
'Audibly?' - well, I wouldn't restrict Him, would you? I haven't heard Him
audibly yet, but often it is inaudibly, the still small voice - do you hear Him?
That's how He loves you.
Finally, He loves His sheeppersonally, savingly, sacrificially, satisfyingly,
intimately, by leading ahead, audibly, communicatively, and He loves them
securely. Verses 28 and 29, look at it: 'I give them eternal life, and they shall
never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father,
who has given them to Me, is greaterthan all; and no one is able to snatch

222. them out of My Father's hand'. One of the greatesttruths in the Bible is found
herein. Some people think you can be savedtoday and lost tomorrow - you
can't! That's not to be found in the Bible. As Jesus puts it here: with His
sheep, He puts His nail-pierced hand over them to protectthem in God's hand
- His nail-pierced hand is over you. Then God comes along, and He puts His
hand over Christ's hand, and over the Christian believer - which means that
our security is not down to us. If you saythat the Christian can ever be lost,
you're saying that there is some force strongerthan the hand of Christ and
the hand of God. That's real protection, isn't it?
Can I ask you here today: do you have that? Are you secure in time and
forever in eternity? George Adam Smith once went to the Middle East, and he
saw one of these folds and a shepherd - just this stone wallwith one opening.
The shepherd was there, and he askedthe shepherd, he said: 'There's no door
actually on that gap that is the entrance'. He says:'No, we don't need one'. He
said, 'Well, how do the sheep stayin at night, and how do you keeppredators
out?'. This is what the shepherd said: 'I lie down in that gap, that entrance. I
am the door, the sheep are safe and predators are kept out'. That's how the
GoodShepherd loves the sheep.
There was once a little girl who was taught at Sunday Schoolthe 23rd Psalm.
She was taught the beginning of it on her five fingers of one hand: 'The - Lord
- is - my - shepherd'. She trusted Jesus Christ as her Saviour and her
Shepherd, and one day she was killed tragicallyin an avalanche, and was
buried under tons of snow. When they dug her out they found that she was
holding onto her fourth finger: 'The - Lord - is - my...' - Shepherd. Is He
yours?
Let us pray. Maybe there is someone here, and you've never trusted Christ -
well, why not trust Him now? The devil has tried to destroy you and wreck
your life. Why not say: 'Lord, I repent of my sins', from your heart, 'and I
believe in You, Lord Jesus, as my Shepherd, the One who died for me, and I
ask You to save me now and give me life'. Canyou do that? Is there someone
who we would calla backsliderhere, you have gone astrayas one of the
sheep? Is there a believer here - I imagine the place might be full of them -
who is one of the Lord's sheepbut is not experiencing this life to overflowing?

223. Maybe it is because offriction with other sheepin the flock? Will you come to
the GoodShepherd this morning and let Him minister to you?
Father, we thank You for Your word, there is so much in it - we really are
rushing through it, and we feel, Lord, that we are only dipping our toe into
the edge of the water. But I pray that in the Spirit, people would have gota
glimpse of the GoodShepherd. Amen.
Don't miss part 4 of Portions From John: “Aiming High By Stooping Low”
MACLAREN
THE GOOD SHEPHERD
John 10:14 - John 10:15.
‘I am the Good Shepherd.’ Perhaps even Christ never spoke more fruitful
words than these. Just think how many solitary, weariedhearts they have
cheered, and what a wealth of encouragementand comfort there has been in
them for all generations. The little child as it lays itself down to sleep, cries-
‘Jesus, tender Shepherd, hear me,
Bless Thy little lamb to-night,’
and the old man lays himself down to die murmuring to himself, ‘Though I
walk through the valley of the shadow of Death, I will fearno evil, for Thou
art with me.’ ‘I am the GoodShepherd.’ No preaching can do anything but
weakenand dilute the force of such words, and yet, though in all their sweet,
homely simplicity they appeal to every heart, there are greatdepths in them
that are worth pondering, and profound thoughts that need some elucidation.
There are three points to be noticed-First, the generalforce of the metaphor,
and then the two specific applications of it which our Lord Himself makes.

224. I. First of all, then, let me say a few words as to the generalapplication of the
metaphor.
The usual notion of these words confines itself to the natural meaning, and
runs out into very true, but perhaps a little sentimental, considerations, laying
hold of what is so plain on the very surface that I need not spend any time in
speaking about it. Christ’s pattern is my law; Christ’s providence is my
guidance and defence-whichin the presentcase means Christ’s
companionship-is my safety, my sustenance-whichin the present case means
that Christ Himself is the bread of my soul. The Good Shepherd exercises
care, which absolves the sheepfrom care, and in the present case means that
my only duty is meek following and quiet trust. ‘I am the GoodShepherd’-
here is guidance, guardianship, companionship, sustenance-allresponsibility
laid upon His broad shoulders, and all tenderness in His deep heart, and so
for us simple obedience and quiet trust.
Another way by which we get the whole significance ofthis symbol is by
noticing how the idea is strengthened by the word that accompaniesit. Christ
does not say‘I am a Shepherd,’ but He says, ‘I am the goodShepherd.’ At
first sight that word ‘good’is interpreted, as I have said, in a kind of
sentimental, poetic way, as expressing our Lord’s tenderness and love and
care;but I do not think that is the full meaning here. You find up and down
this Gospelof St. John phrases such as, ‘I am the true bread,’ ‘I am the true
vine,’ and the meaning of the word that is here translated ‘good’is very
nearly parallel with that idea. The true bread, the true vine, the true
Shepherd-which comes to this, to use modern phraseology, that Jesus Christ,
in His relation to you and me, fulfils all that in figure and shadow is
representedto the meditative eye by that lower relationship betweenthe
material shepherd and his sheep. That is the picture, this the reality. There is
another point to be made clear, and that is, that whilst the word ‘good’ is
perhaps a fair enough representationof that which is employed by our Lord,
there is a specialforce and significance attachedto the original, which is lost
in our Bible. I do not know that it could have been preserved; but still it is
necessaryto state it. The expressionhere is the one that is generallyrendered
‘fair,’ or ‘lovely,’ or ‘beautiful,’ and it belongs to the genius of that wonderful
tongue in which the New Testamentis written that it has a name for moral

225. purity, consideredas being lovely, the highest goodness, and the serenest
beauty, which was what the old Greeks taught, howsoeverlittle they may have
practisedit in their lives. And so here the thought is that the Shepherd stands
before us, the realisationof all which that name means, setforth in such a
fashion as to be infinitely lovely and perfectly fair, and to draw the admiration
of any man who canappreciate that which is beautiful, and can admire that
which is of goodreport.
There is anotherpoint still in reference to this first view of the text. Our Lord
not only declares thatHe is the reality of which the earthly shepherd is the
shadow, and that He as such is the flawless, perfectOne, but that He alone is
the reality. ‘I am the GoodShepherd; in Me and in Me alone is that which
men need.’ And that leads me to another point which must just be mentioned,
that we shall not reachthe full meaning of these great words without taking
into accountthe history of the metaphor in the Old Testament. Christ gives a
secondedition of the figure, and we are to remember all that went before.
‘The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want’; ‘Thou leddestThy people like a
flock, by the hand of Moses andAaron.’ These are but specimens of a
continuous series ofutterances in the old Revelationin which JehovahHimself
is the Shepherd of mankind; and there is also another class ofpassagesof
which I will quote one or two. ‘He shall feed His flock like a shepherd, and
carry them in His arms.’ ‘Awake, O sword, againstthe Man who is my fellow;
smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.’There were, we should
remember, two streams of representation, according to the one of which God
Himself was the Shepherd of Israel, and according to the other of which the
Messiahwas the Shepherd; and here, as I believe, Jesus lays His hand on both
the one and the other, and says:‘They are Mine, and they testify of Me.’ So
sweet, so gracious are the words, that we lose the sense of the grandeur of
them, and need to think before we are able to understand how greatand
immense the claim that is made here upon our faith, and that this Man stands
before us and arrogatesto Himself the divine prerogative witnessedfrom of
old by psalmist and prophet, and says that for Him were meant the prophecies
of ancient times that spake of a human shepherd, and asserts that all the
sustenance, care,authority, command, which the emblem suggests meetin
Him in perfect measure.

226. II. Now let us turn to the two specialpoints which our Lord emphasises here,
as being those in which His relation as the GoodShepherd is most
conspicuouslygiven.
The language ofmy text runs: ‘I am the GoodShepherd, and know My sheep,
and am known of Mine. As the Father knowethMe, even so know I the
Father.’Our Westernways fail to bring out the full meaning of the emblem;
but all Easterntravellers tell us what a strange bond of sympathy and loving
regard, and docile recognition, springs up betweenthe shepherd and his sheep
awaythere in the Easternpastures and deserts;and how he knows every one,
though to a stranger’s eye they are so like eachother; and how even the dumb
instincts and the narrow intelligence of the silly sheeprecognise the shepherd,
and will not be deceived by shepherd’s garments worn to deceive, and will not
follow the voice of a stranger.
But we must further note that Christ lays hold of the dumb instincts of the
animal, as illustrating, at the one end of the scale, the relation betweenHim
and His followers, and lays hold of the communion betweenthe Father and
the Sonat the other end of the scale, as illustrating the same thing. ‘I know
My sheep.’That is a knowledge like the knowledge ofthe shepherd, a bond of
close intimacy. But He does not know them by reasonof looking at them and
thinking about them. It is something far more blessedthan that. He knows me
because He loves me; He knows me because He has sympathy with me, and I
know Him, if I know Him at all, by my love, and I know Him by my
sympathy, and I know Him by my communion. A loveless heartdoes not know
the Shepherd, and unless the Shepherd’s heart was all love He would not
know His sheep. The Shepherd’s love is an individualised love. He knows His
flock as a flock because He knows the units of it, and we can rest ourselves
upon the personalknowledge, whichis personallove and sympathy, of Jesus
Christ. ‘And My sheepknow Me’-notby force of intellect, not by
understanding certain truths, all-important as that may be, but by having our
hearts harmonised in Him, and our spirits put into sympathy and communion
with Him. ‘They know Me,’ and rest comes with the knowledge;‘they know
Me,’and in that knowing is the best answerto all doubt and fear. They are
exposedto danger, but in the fold they cango quietly to rest, for they know
that He is at the door watching through all dangers.

227. III. Turn for a moment to the lastpoint, ‘I lay down My life for the sheep.’
I have said that our Westernways fail to bring out fully the element of the
metaphor which refers to the kind of sympathy betweenthe shepherd and the
sheep; and our Westernlife also fails to bring out this other element also.
Shepherds in England never have need to lay down their life for the sheep.
Shepherds in Palestine oftendid, and sometimes do. You remember David
with the lion and the bear, which is but an illustration of the reality which
underlies this metaphor. So, then, in some profound way, the shepherd’s
death is the sheep’s safety. First of all, look at that most unmistakable,
emphatic-I was going to say vehement, at any rate, intense-expressionofthe
absolute voluntariness of Christ’s death, ‘I lay down My life,’ as a man might
strip off a vesture. And this applicationof the metaphor is made all the
strongerby the words which follow: ‘Therefore doth My Father love Me,
because I lay down My life that I might take it again. No man taketh it from
Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power
to take it again.’We read, ‘Smite the shepherd, and the sheepshall be
scattered,’but here, somehow or other, the smiting of the Shepherd is not the
scattering but the gathering of the flock. Here, somehow or other, the dead
Shepherd has power to guard, to guide, to defend them. Here, somehow or
other, the death of the Shepherd is the security of the sheep; and I sayto you,
the flock, that for every soul the entrance into the flock of God is through the
door of the dying Christ, who laid down His life for the sheep, and makes
them His sheepwho trust in Him.
ARTHUR PINK
Christ, the GoodShepherd
John 10:11-21
The following is submitted as an Analysis of the passage whichis to be before
us:—

228. 1. The good Shepherd dies for His sheep:verse 11.
2. The characterand conduct of hirelings: verses 12, 13.
3. The intimacy betweenthe Shepherd and the sheep: verse 14.
4. The intimacy betweenthe Father and the Son.’ verse 15.
5. Gentile sheep savedby the Shepherd: verse 16.
6. The relation of the Shepherd to the Father: verses 17, 18.
7. The division among the Jews:verses 19-21.
The passagebefore us completes our Lord’s discourse with the Pharisees,
following their excommunication of the beggarto whom He had given sight.
In this discourse, Christ does two things: first, He graphically depicts their
unfaithfulness; second, He contrasts His own fidelity and goodness.They, as
the religious leaders of the people, are depicted as "strangers" (verse 5), as
"thieves and robbers" (verse 8), as "hirelings". (verses 12, 13). He stands
revealedas "the door" (verses 9, 11), and as "the goodShepherd" (verse 11).
The Pharisees were the shepherds of Israel. In casting out of the synagogue
this poor sheep, the man that was born blind, for doing what was right, and
for refusing to do what was wrong, they had shownwhat manner of spirit they
were of. And this was but a sample of their accustomedoppressionand
violence. In them, then, did the prophecy of Ezekielreceive a fulfillment, that
prophecy in which He had testified of those shepherds of His people who
resembled thieves and robbers. Ezekiel34 (which like all prophecy has a
double fulfillment) supplies a sadcommentary upon the selfish and cruel
conduct of the scribes and Pharisees. The whole chaptershould be read: we
quote but a fragment—"And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son
of man, prophesy againstthe shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto
them, Thus saith the Lord God unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds
of Israel that do feed themselves!should not the shepherds feed the flocks? Ye
eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye
feed not the flock. The diseasedhave ye not strengthened, neither have ye
healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken,

229. neither have ye brought againthat which was driven away, neither have ye
sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled
them" (verses 1-4).
The same prophecy of Ezekielgoes onto present the true Shepherd of Israel,
the GoodShepherd: "Forthus saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, will both
searchmy sheep, and seek them out. As a shepherd seekethout his flock in the
day that he is among his sheepthat are scattered;so will I seek out my sheep,
and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scatteredin the
cloudy and dark day... I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down,
saith the Lord God. I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which
was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen
that which was sick... And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall
feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their
shepherd... Thus shall they know that I the Lord their God am with them, and
that they, even the house of Israel, are my people, saith the Lord God. And ye
my flock, the flock of my pasture, are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord
God" (verses 11, 12, 15, 16, 23, 30, 31).
Ezekielis not the only prophet of the Old Testamentwho presents the Savior
under the figure of a "shepherd." Frequently do the Old Testament
Scriptures so picture Him. In His dying prediction, Jacobdeclared, "From
thence (the mighty God of Jacob)is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel" (Gen.
49:24). The Psalmistdeclared, "The Lord is my Shepherd" (Ps. 23:1).
Through Isaiah it was revealed, "The Lord God will come with strong hand.
and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work
before him. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gatherthe lambs
with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are
with young" (Ps. 40:10, 11). In Zechariah occurs that remarkable word
"Awake, O sword, againstmy shepherd, and againstthe man that is my
fellow, saith the Lord of hosts:smite the shepherd, and the sheepshall be
scattered:and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones" (Ps. 13:7).
In addition to the prophecies, the Old Testamentis particularly rich in the
types which foreshadow Christin the characterof a "shepherd." So far as we
have been able to trace, there are five individual shepherds who pointed to

230. Christ, and eachof them supplies some distinctive line in the typical picture.
First, Abel, for in Genesis 4:2 we are told that "Abel was a keeperof sheep."
The distinctive aspectof typical truth which he exemplifies is the death of the
Shepherd—slain by wickedhands, by his brother according to the flesh. The
secondis Jacob, and a prominent thing in connectionwith him as a shepherd
is his care for the sheep—see Genesis 30:31;Genesis 31:38-40;and note
particularly Genesis 33:13, 14. The third is Joseph:the very first thing
recordedin Scripture about this favorite sonof Jacobis that he fed the flock
(Gen. 37:2). The fourth is Moses.Three things are told us about him: he
watered, protectedand guided the sheep: "Now the priest of Midian had
sevendaughters: and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to
watertheir father’s flock. And the shepherds came and drove them away: but
Moses stoodup and helpeth them, and wateredtheir flock... Now Moseskept
the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock
to the backside ofthe desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to
Horeb" (Ex. 2:16, 17;3:1). The fifth is David, and he is presentedas
jeopardizing his life for the sheep—"And David said unto Saul, Thy servant
kept his father’s sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out
of the flock:And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of
his mouth: and when he arose againstme, I caughthim by his beard, and
smote him, and slew him. Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear" (1
Sam. 17:34-36). There is one other individual "shepherd" referred to in the
Old Testamentand that is "the idol shepherd" (Zech. 11:16, 17), and he is the
Antichrist—how significant that he is the sixth! The only other individual
"shepherd" mentioned in Scripture is the Lord Jesus, and He is the seventh!
Sevenis the number of perfection, and we do not reachperfection till we come
to Christ, the GoodShepherd!
"I am the good shepherd." The word for "good" is a very comprehensive one,
and perhaps it is impossible to embrace in a brief definition all that it included
within its scope. The Greek wordis "kalos" andis translated "good" seventy-
six times: it is also rendered "fair," "meet," "worthy," etc. In order to
discoverthe prime elements of the word we must have recourse to the law of
first mention. Wheneverwe are studying any word or expressionin Scripture,
it is very important to pay specialattention to the initial mention of it. The

231. first time this word "good" occurs in the New Testamentis in Matthew 3:10,
where we read, "Every tree which bringeth not forth goodfruit is hewn down,
and castinto the fire." The word "tree" is there used metaphorically. It is the
unregenerate who are in view. No unbeliever is able to bring forth "good
fruit." The "goodfruit," then, is what is produced in and through a Christian.
What kind of "fruit" is it which a Christian bears? It is Divine fruit, spiritual
fruit: it is the product of the new nature. It is Divine as contrastedfrom what
is human; spiritual as contrastedfrom what is fleshly. Thus in the light of this
first occurrence ofthe word "good" we learnthat when Christ said, "I am the
goodshepherd" He signified, "I am the Divine and spiritual Shepherd." All
other shepherds were human; He was the Sonof God. The "shepherds" from
whom He is here contrasting Himself were the Pharisees, andthey were
carnal; but He was spiritual.
It will also repay us to note carefully the first occurrence ofthis word "good"
in John’s Gospel. It is found in John 2:10. When the Lord Jesus had
miraculously turned the waterinto wine, the servants bore it to the governor
of the feast, and when he had tastedit, he exclaimed, "Every man at the
beginning cloth setforth goodwine; and when men have well drunk, then that
which is worse:but thou hast kept the goodwine until now." Here the
meaning of the word "good" signifies choice,orexcellent, yea, that which is
pre-eminently excellent, for the "goodwine" is here contrastedfrom the
inferior. This usage of "kalos"helps us still further in ascertaining the force
of this adjective in John 10:11. When Christ said, "I am the goodshepherd,"
He intimated that He was the pre-eminently excellentShepherd, infinitely
elevatedabove all who had gone before Him.
"I am the good shepherd." This was clearlyan affirmation of His absolute
Deity. He was here addressing Israelites, and Israel’s "Shepherd" was none
other than Jehovah(Ps. 23:1; 80:1). When then the Savior said, "I am the
goodshepherd." He thus definitely identified Himself with the Jehovahof the
Old Testament.
"I am the good shepherd." This, like every other of our Lord’s titles, views
Him in a distinctive relationship. He was, says Dr. John Gill, "a Shepherd of
His Father’s appointing, calling, and sending, to whom the care of all His

232. sheep, or chosenones, was committed; who was setup as a Shepherd over
them by Him, and was entrusted with them; and who being called, undertook
to feed them." In the Greek it is more emphatic than in the English: literally it
reads, "I am the shepherd, the good."
"The goodshepherd giveth his life for the sheep" (verse 11). The word for
"giveth’ is usually translated "layeth down." "Forthe sheep" signifies, on
their behalf. The goodShepherd gave His life freely and voluntarily, in the
room and steadof His people, as a ransomfor them, that they might be
delivered from death and have eternal life. The Ethiopic Version reads, "The
goodShepherd gives His life for the redemption of the sheep."
"The goodshepherd giveth his life for the sheep." This is one of the many
scriptures which clearly and definitely defines both the nature and extent of
the Atonement. The Savior "gave his life" not as a martyr for the truth, not as
a moral example of self-sacrifice, but for a people. He died that they might
live. By nature His people are dead in trespassesand sins, and had not the
Divinely-appointed and Divinely-provided Substitute died for them, there had
been no spiritual and eternal life for them. Equally explicit is this verse
concerning those for whom Christ laid down His life. It was not laid down for
fallen angels, but for sinful men; and not for men in general, but for His own
people in particular; for "the sheep," and not for "the goats." Suchwas the
announcement of God through the prophets, "Forthe transgressionofmy
people was he stricken" (Isa. 53:8). As said the angelto Mary, "Thou shalt
call his name Jesus:for he shall save his people from their sins" (Matthew
1:21); and as said the angelto the shepherds, "BeholdI bring you goodtidings
of greatjoy, which shall be to all the people" (Luke 2:10). The same
restriction to be observedin the words of Christ at the Supper: "This is my
blood of the new testamentwhich is shed for many for the remissionof sins"
(Matthew 26:28). (Cf. also Acts 20:28;Titus 2:14; Hebrews 2:17, etc.)
"But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are
not, seeththe wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf
catcheththem, and scattereththe sheep" (John 10:12). It seems evident that
our Lord is here pointing once more to the Pharisees,the unfaithful shepherds
of Israel. The hireling shepherd is not the ownerof the sheep—note "whose

233. own the sheep are not"; he has neither a proprietorship over them nor
affectionfor them. The "hireling" is paid to guard and watch them, and all
such mind their own things, and not the things of the Lord. And yet in view of
Luke 10:7—"The laboreris worthy of his hire"—and other Scriptures, we
must be careful not to interpret the use of this figure here out of harmony
with its context. "It is not the bare receiving of hire which demonstrates a
man to be a hireling (the Lord hath ordained that they who preach the Gospel
should live of the Gospel);but the loving of hire; the loving the hire more than
the work;the working for the sake ofthe hire. He is a hireling who would not
work, were it not for the hire" (John Wesley). The "hireling" in a word is a
professing servantof God who fills a position simply for the temporal
advantages whichit affords. A hireling is a mercenary: has no other impulse
than the lust of lucre.
"But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are
not, seeththe wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf
catcheththem, and scattereththe sheep." We do not think that the "wolf"
here has reference, directly, to Satan, for the false shepherds do not flee at his
approach; rather does it seemto us that "the wolf" points to any enemy of the
"sheep," who approaches to attack them. Note in passing the care of Christ
here in the selectionofHis words:"the wolf catcheththem and scattereththe
sheep," not devoureth, for no "sheep" ofChrist can everperish.
"The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep"
(John 10:13). At first glance this saying of Christ’s seems very trite, yet a little
reflectionwill show that it enunciates a profound principle—a man does what
he does because he is what he is. There is ever a rigid consistencybetween
characterand conduct. The drunkard drinks because he is a drunkard. But
he is a drunkard before he drinks to excess. The liar lies because he is a liar;
but he is a liar before he tells a lie. The thief steals because he is a thief. When
the testing time comes eachman reveals what he is by what he does. Conduct
conforms to characteras the streamdoes to the fountain. "The hireling fleeth
because he is an hireling": this is a philosophical explanation of the fugitive’s
deed. It was the flight which demonstratedthe man.

234. The same principle holds goodon the other side. The Christian acts
christianly because he is a Christian; but a man must be a Christian before he
can live a Christian life. Christian professionis no adequate test, nor is an
orthodox creed. The demons have a creed, and it causesthem to tremble, but
it will not deliver them from Hell; It is by our fruit that we are known:it is
deeds which make manifest the heart.
"The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling." Characteris revealed by our
conduct in the crises oflife. When is it that the hireling fleeth? It is when he
seeth"the wolf coming." Ah! it is the wolf that discovers the hireling! You
might never have knownwhat he was had not the wolf come. Very suggestive
is this figure. It has passedinto our common speech, as when poverty and
starvation is representedby "the wolf is at the door." It suggestsa crisis of
trial or fierce testing. St. Paul made use of this simile when addressing the
Ephesianelders: "ForI know this, that after my departing shall greivous
wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock" (Acts 20:29). This is all very
searching. How do you act when you see "the wolf’ coming! Are you terror
stricken? Or, does approaching danger, temptation, or trial, castyou back the
more upon the Lord?
"I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine" (John
10:14). There seemto be three lines of thought suggestedby this figure of the
"shepherd" as applied to the Lord Jesus. First, it refers to His mediatorial
office. The shepherd is not the owner of the flock, but the one to whom the
care of the sheepis entrusted. So Christ as Mediator is the One appointed by
the Fatherto act as shepherd, the One to whom He has committed the
salvationof His elect—note how in the types, Joseph, Moses,and David
tended not their own flock, but those of their fathers. Second, the figure
speaks offellowship, the Savior’s presence with His own. The shepherd never
leaves his flock. There is only one exceptionto this, and that is when he
commits them into the care of the "porter" of the sheepfold; and that is at
night-fall. How suggestive is this! During the night of Christ’s absence, the
Holy Spirit has charge of God’s elect!Finally; the shepherd-characterspeaks
of Christ’s care, faithfulness, solicitude for His own.

235. In two other passages in the New Testamentis Christ presented as "the
shepherd," and in eachwith a different descriptive adjective. In Hebrews
13:20 we read, "Now the God of peace, that brought againfrom the dead our
Lord Jesus, that greatshepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the
everlasting covenant.’’Again in 1 Peterverse 4, we are told, "When the chief
shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crownof glory which fadeth not
away." There is a striking order to be observed in the three "shepherd" titles
of our Lord. Here in John 10, the reference is plainly to the Cross, so that He
is the "good" Shepherdin death, laying down His life for the sheep. In
Hebrews 13 the reference is to the empty sepulcher, so that He is the "great"
Shepherd in resurrection. While in 1 Peter5:4 the reference is to His glorious
return, so that He will be manifested as the "chief’Shepherd.
"I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep." Why does the Lord refer to
His people under the figure of "sheep"?The figure is very suggestive and full.
We shall not attempt to be exhaustive but merely suggestive.Under the
Mosaic economya sheepwas one of the few cleananimals: as such it suitably
represents God’s people, eachof which has been cleansedfrom all sin. A sheep
is a harmless animal: even children will approachthem without fear. So God’s
people are exhorted to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves" (Matthew
10:16). Sheep are helpless:nature has endowedthem neither with weapons of
attack nor defense. Equally helpless is the believer in himself: "without me,
says Christ, ye can do nothing. Sheepare gentle: what so tame and tractable
as a lamb! This is ever a grace whichought to distinguish the followers of
Christ: "gentle, easyto be entreated, full of mercy and goodfruits" (James
3:17). The sheepare entirely dependent upon the shepherd This is noticeably
the case in the Orient. Not only must the sheeplook to the shepherd for
protection againstwild animals, but he must lead them to the pastures. May
we be castback more and more upon God. Sheep are preeminently
characterizedby a proneness to wander. Even when placedin a field with a
fence all around it, yet if there be a gap anywhere, they will quickly get out
and stray. Alas, that this is so true of us. Urgently do we all need to heed that
admonition, "Watchand pray lest ye enter into temptation." A sheep is a
useful animal. Eachyear it supplies a crop of wool. In this too it prefigures the

236. Christian. The daily attitude of the believer should be, "Lord, what wouldst
thou have me to do?"
"I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep." Very blessedis this. The Lord
Jesus knows eachone of those whom the Fatherhas given to Him with a
specialknowledge ofapprobation, affection, and intimacy. Though unknown
to the world "the world knoweth us not" (1 John 3:l)—we are known to Him.
And Christ only knoweth all His sheep. Ofttimes we are deceived. Some whom
we regard as "sheep" are really "goats";and others whom we look upon as
outside the flock of Christ, belong thereto notwithstanding. Whoeverwould
have concluded that Lot was a "righteous man" had not the New Testament
told us so! And who would have imagined that Judas was a devil when Christ
sent him forth as one of the twelve!"And know my sheep":fearfully solemn is
the contrastpresentedby Matthew 7:23—"Inever knew you"!
"And am known of mine" (John 10:14). Christ is known experientially;
known personally. Eachborn-again person cansay with Job, "I have heard of
thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeththee" (Job 42:6). The
believer knows Christ not merely as the outstanding Figure in history, but as
the Saviorof his soul. He has a heart knowledge ofHim. He knows Him as the
Rest-giver, as the Friend who stickethcloserthan a brother, as the good
Shepherd who ever ministereth to His own.
"As the Father knowethme, even so know I the Father" (John 10:15). The
word "knoweth" here, as frequently in Scripture, signifies a knowledge of
approbation: it is almostthe equivalent of loveth. The first part of this verse
should be linked on to the lastclause of the previous one, where Christ says, I
"know my sheep, and am knownof mine." The two clauses thus make a
complete sentence, and a remarkable one it is. The mutual knowledge of
Christ and His sheep, is like unto that which exists betweenthe Fatherand the
Son: it is a knowledge, anaffection, so profound, so spiritual, so heavenly, so
intimate, so blessed, that no other analogywas possible to do it justice: as the
Father knoweththe Son, and as the Son knoweththe Father, so Christ knows
His sheep, and so the sheep know Him.

237. "And I lay down my life for the sheep" (John 10:15). The precise significance
of the preposition is unequivocally defined for us in Romans 5:6-8, where the
same Greek term ("huper") occurs:"Forwhen we were yet without strength
in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcelyfora righteous man will
one die: yet peradventure for a goodman some would even dare to die. But
God commendeth his love towardus, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us." The word "for" here means not merely on the behalf of, but in
the steadof: "the Greek expressionfor "dying for any one," never has any
significationother than that of rescuing the life of another at the expense of
one’s own" (Parkhurst’s Lexicon).
"And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold" (John 10:16). It is clear
that the Lord is here contemplating His electamong the Gentiles. Not only for
the electJews wouldHe "lay down his life," but for "the children of God that
were scatteredabroad" (John 11:52)as well. But note Christ does not here
say, "other sheepI shall have," but "othersheep I have." They were His even
then; His, because given to Him by the Fatherfrom all eternity. A parallel
passageis found in Acts 18. The apostle Paul had just arrived in Corinth, and
the Lord spoke to him in a vision by night, and said unto him, "Be not afraid,
but speak, andhold not thy peace;for I am with thee, and no man shall seton
thee to hurt thee, for I have much people in this city" (verses 9, 10). How
positive, definite, and unequivocal these statements are! How they show that
everything is to be traced back to the eternalcounsels of the Godhead!
"And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring,
and they, shall hear my voice" (John 10:16). Equally positive is this. This is no
uncertainty, no contingency. There is no they are willing to listen." How
miserably man perverts the truth of God, yea, how wickedlyhe denies it! It is
not difficult to understand what is the cause ofit; it is lack of faith to believe
what the Scriptures so plainly teach. These "othersheep" Christ must bring
because necessitywas laid upon Him. He had covenantedwith the Father to
redeem them. And they would be brought, they would hear His voice, for
there can be no failure with Him. The work which the Fathergave His Son to
do shall be perfectly performed and successfullyaccomplished. Neitherman’s
stubbornness nor the Devil’s malice can hinder Him. Not a single one of that
favored company given to Christ by the Father shall perish. Eachof these

238. shall hear His voice, because theywere predestinated so to do, and it is
written, "As many as were ordained to eternal life believed" (Acts 13:48).
"They shall hear my voice" was both a promise and a prophecy.
"And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring,
and they shall hear my voice." Upon this verse the Puritan Trapp has some
most suggestive thoughts in his excellentcommentary—a commentary which,
so far as we are aware, has been out of print for over two hundred years.
"Other sheep—the electGentiles, whose conversionto Christ was, among
other types, not obscurelyforetold in Leviticus 19:23-25—‘Andwhen ye shall
come into the land, and shall have planted all manner of trees for food, then
ye shall count the fruit thereof as uncircumcised; three years shall it be as
uncircumcised unto you: it shall not be eatenof. But in the fourth year all the
fruit thereof shall be holy to praise the Lord withal. And in the fifth year shall
ye eat of the fruit thereof, that it may yield unto you the increase thereof:I am
the Lord your God’. The first three years in Canaan, the Israelites were to
castawaythe fruits of the trees as uncircumcised. So our Savior planted the
Gospelin that land for the first ‘three years’of His public ministry: but the
uncircumcision was castaway;that is, to the uncircumcised Gentiles, the
Gospelwas not preached. The fruit of the fourth year was consecratedto
God: that is, Christ in the fourth year from His baptism, laid down His life for
His sheep, rose again, ascended, andsent His Holy Spirit; whereby His
apostles, andothers were consecratedas the firstfruits of the PromisedLand.
But in the fifth year, the fruit of the Gospelplanted by Christ beganto be
common, for the Gospelwas no longershut up within the narrow bounds of
Judaism, but began to be preached to all nations for the obedience of
faith!"[1]
"And there shall be one fold, and one shepherd" (John 10:16). Everywhere
else in the New Testamentthe Greek wordfor "fold" is translated "flock," as
it should be here, and as it is in the R. V. In the first part of this verse the
Greek uses an entirely different word which is correctly rendered "fold"—
"Other sheepI have which are not of this fold." "This fold" referred to
Judaism, and the electGentiles were outside of it, as we read in Ephesians
2:11, 12, "Ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called
uncircumcision by that which is calledthe circumcisionin the flesh made by

239. hands; That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the
commonwealthof Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having
no hope, and without God in the world." But now the Lord tells us, "there
shall be one flock, and one Shepherd.’ This has been already accomplished,
though not yet is it fully manifested—"Forhe is our peace, who hath made
both (believing Jews and believing Gentiles)one, and hath broken down the
middle wall of partition" (Eph. 2:14). The "one flock" comprehends, we
believe, the whole family of God, made up of believers before the nation of
Israelcame into existence, ofbelieving Israelites, ofbelieving Gentiles, and of
those who shall be saved. The "one flock" will have been gathered from
various "folds."
"Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might
take it again" (John 10:17). Christ is here speaking as the Mediator, as the
Word who had become flesh. As one of the Godhead, the Father had loved
Him from all eternity. Beautifully is this brought out in Proverbs 8:30: "Then
I was by him, as one brought up with him, and I was daily his delight,
rejoicing always before him"—the previous verses make it plain that it is the
Son who is in view, personified as "Wisdom." But the Fatheralso loved Christ
in His incarnate form. At His baptism, the commencementof His mediatorial
work, He declared, "This is my beloved son, in whom I am wellpleased."
Here the Sondeclares, "Thereforedoth my Fatherlove me, because I lay
down my life that I might take it again", for the laying down of His life was
the supreme example of His devotion to the Fatheras the next verse clearly
shows—itwas in obedience to the Fatherthat He gave up His spirit.
"No man takethit from me, but I lay it down of myself" (John 10:18). When
Christ died, He did so of His own voluntary will. This is a point of vital
importance. We must never give a place to the dishonoring thought that the
Lord Jesus was powerlessto prevent His sufferings, that when He endured
such indignities and cruel treatment at the hands of His enemies, it was
because He was unable to avoid them. Nothing could be farther from the
truth. The treacheryof Judas, the arrestin the Garden, the arraignment
before Caiaphas, the insults from the soldiers, the trial before Pilate, the
submission to the unjust sentence, the journey to Calvary, the being nailed to
the cruel tree—allof these were voluntarily endured. Without His own

240. consentnone could have harmed a hair of His head. A beautiful type of this is
furnished in Genesis 22:13, where we readthat the ram, which was placedon
the altar as a substitute for Isaac, was "caughtin a thicketby his horns." The
"horns" speak of strength and power (see Habakkuk 3:4, etc.). Typically they
tell us that the Savior did not succumb to death through weakness,but that
He gave up His life in the full vigor of His strength. It was not the nails, but
the strength of His love to the Father and to His elect, which held Him to the
Cross.
The pre-eminence of Christ was fully manifested at the Cross. In birth He was
unique, in His life unique, and so in His death. Not yet have we read aright the
inspired accounts ofHis death, if we suppose that on the Cross the Savior was
a helpless victim of His enemies. At every point He demonstrated that no man
took His life from Him, but rather that He laid it down of Himself. See the
very ones sent to arrestHim in the Garden, there prostrate on the ground
before Him (John 18:6): how easilycould He have walkedawayunmolested
had it so pleasedHim! Hear Him before Pilate, as He reminds that Roman
officer, "Thou couldesthave no power at all againstme, except it were given
thee from above" (John 19:11). Behold Him on the Cross itself, so superior to
His sufferings that He makes intercessionfor the transgressors, savesthe
dying robber, and provides a home for His widowedmother. Listen to Him as
He cries with a loud voice (Matthew 27:46, 50)—no exhaustedSufferer was
this! Mark how triumphantly He "gave up the ghost" (John19:30). Verily
"no man" took His life from Him. So evident was it that He triumphed in the
hour of death itself, the Roman soldierwas made to exclaim, "Truly this was
the Sonof God" (Matthew 27:54).
"I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again" (John 10:18).
Here our Lord ascribes His resurrectionto His ownpower. He had done the
same before, when, after cleansing the temple, the Pharisees haddemanded
from Him a sign: "Destroythis temple, and in three days I will raise it up"
(John 2:19) was His response. In Romans 6:4 we are told that Christ was
"raisedfrom the dead by the glory of the Father." In Romans 8:11 we read,
"But if the Spirit of him that raisedup Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he
that raisedup Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by
his Spirit that dwelleth in you." These passages are not contradictory, but

241. complementary; they supplement one another; eachcontributing a separate
ray of light on the glorious event of which they speak. Putting them together
we learn that the resurrectionof the Savior was an actin which eachof the
three Persons ofthe Trinity concurredand co-operated.
"This commandment have I receivedof my Father." This is parallel with
what we read of in Philippians 2:8, "And being found in fashion as a man, he
humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross."It was to this our Lord referred in John 6:38, "ForI came down from
heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me."
"There was a division therefore againamong the Jews for these sayings"
(John 10:19). This had been foretold of old: "He shall be for a sanctuary; but
for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel,
for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem" (Isa. 8:14).
Similarly, Simeon announced in the temple, when the Saviorwas presentedto
God, "Behold, this child is set (appointed) for the fall and rising againof
many in Israel" (Luke 2:34). So had the Savior Himself declared. "Think not
that I am come to send peace onearth: I came not to send peace, but a sword"
(Matthew 10:34). From the Divine side this is a profound mystery to us. It had
been an easymatter for God to have subdued the enmity in men’s hearts and
brought them all as worshippers to the feet of Christ. But insteadof this, He
permitted His Son to be despised and rejectedby the greatmajority, and He
permitted this because He Himself eternally decreedit (see Acts 2:23; 1 Peter
2:8, etc).
"And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him?"
(John 10:20). Terrible indeed was the condition of these men. The Sonof God
calleda demoniac, Truth incarnate deemed insane! "Tigers rage,"says a
Puritan, "atthe fragrancyof sweetspices:so did these monsters at the
Savior’s sweetsayings.’’How humbling to remember that the same corrupt
heart indwells eachof us! O what grace we daily need to keepdown the
iniquity which is to be found in every Christian. Not until we reachthe glory
shall we fully learn how deeply indebted we are to God’s wondrous grace.

242. "Others said, These are not the words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil
open the eyes of the blind?" (John 10:21). Notice it was the "many" who
deemed Christ a madman. But there were some—"others"—evenamong the
Pharisees who had, even then, a measure of light, and recognizedthat the
Savior neither spake nor actedlike a demoniac. This minority group was
made up, no doubt, by such men as Nicodemus and Josephof Arimathea. It is
significant that they were impressed more with His "words" than they were
with His miraculous works.
As a preparation for our expositionof the remainder of John 10, let the
interestedreader study the following points:—
1. What is the force of "it was winter" (verse 22) in the light of what follows?
2. Mark the contrasts between John10:23 and Acts 3:11 and 5:12.
3. What verses in John 8 are parallel with John 10:26?
4. Enumerate the sevenproofs of the believer’s security found in verses 27-29.
5. Trace out the seventhings said about "the sheep" in John 10.
6. Trace out the seventhings said about the "shepherd."
7. What is the meaning of "sanctified" in verse 36?
OUR OWN DEAR SHEPHEARD NO. 1877
A SERMON INTENDEDFOR READING ON LORD’S-DAY, JANUARY 3,
1886, DELIVERED BYC. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN
TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER
26, 1885.

243. “I am the goodShepherd, and know My sheep, and am knownof Mine. As
the Fatherknows Me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down My life for
the sheep.” John10:14, 15.
AS the passagestands in the Authorized Version, it reads like a number of
short sentences withscarcelyany apparent connection. Even in that form it is
precious, for our Lord’s pearls are priceless evenwhen they are not threaded
together. But when I tell you that in the Greek the word “and” is severaltimes
repeated, and that the translators have had to leave out one of these “ands” to
make sense of the passageontheir line of translation, you will judge that they
are none too accurate in this case. To use many “ands” is after the manner of
John, but there is usually a true and natural connectionbetweenhis sentences.
The “and” with him is usually a real goldenlink, and not a mere sound, we
need a translation which makes it so. Observe also that in our Version the
word “sheep” is put in italics, to show that it is not in the original. There is no
need for this alteration if the passage is more closelyrendered. Hear, then, the
text in its natural form— “I am the goodShepherd; and I know My own, and
My own know Me, even as the Fatherknows Me, and I know the Father; and
I lay down My life for the sheep.” This reading I have given you is that of the
RevisedVersion. For that RevisedVersion I have but little care as a general
rule, holding it to be by no means an improvement upon our common
Authorized Version. It is a useful thing to have it for private reference, but I
trust it will never be regarded as the standard, Englishtranslation of the New
Testament. The RevisedVersion of the Old Testamentis so excellent, that I
am half afraid it may carry the RevisedNew Testamentupon its shoulders
into generaluse. I sincerelyhope that this may not be the case, forthe result
would be a decided loss. However, that is not my point. Returning to our
subject, I believe that, on this occasion, the RevisedVersion is true to the
original. We will therefore follow it in this instance, and we shall find that it
makes most delightful and instructive sense. “Iam the goodShepherd; and I
know My own, and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me, and I
know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.” He who speaks to us
in these words is the Lord Jesus Christ. To our mind every word of Holy
Scripture is precious. When God speaks to us by priest or prophet, or in any

244. way, we are gladto hear. Though when, in the Old Testament, we meet with a
passagewhichbegins with “Thus says the Lord” we feelespeciallycharmed to
have the messagedirectlyfrom God’s own mouth, yet we make no distinction
betweenthis Scripture and that. We acceptit all as inspired, and we are not
given to dispute about different degrees andvarying modes of inspiration, and
all that. The matter is plain enoughif learned unbelievers did not mystify it,
“all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness”(2 Tim 3:16). Still,
there is to our mind a peculiar sweetnessaboutwords which were actually
spokenby the Lord Jesus Christ Himself; these are as honey in the comb. You
have before you, in this text, not that which comes to you by prophet, priest,
or king, but that which is spokento you by one who is Prophet, Priest, and
King in one, even your Lord Jesus Christ. He opens His mouth, and speaks to
you. You will open your ears, and listen to Him, if you are indeed His own.
Observe here, also, that we have not only Christ for the speaker, but we have
Christ for the subject. He speaks, and speaksaboutHimself. It is not seemly
for you, or for me, to extol ourselves, but there is
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nothing more comely in the world than for Christ to commend Himself. He is
other than we are, something infinitely above us, and is not under rules which
apply to us fallible mortals. When He speaks forth His own glory, we feel that
His speechis not vain-glory; no, rather, when He praises Himself, we thank
Him for so doing, and admire the lowly condescensionwhichpermits Him to
desire and accepthonor from such poor hearts as ours. It were pride for us to
seek honorof men; it is humility in Him to do so, seeing He is so greata One
that the esteemof beings as inferior as we are cannot be desired by Him for
His own sake,but for ours. Of all our Lord’s words, those are the sweetestin
which He speaks aboutHimself. Even He cannot find anothertheme which
can excelthat of Himself. My brethren, who can speak ofJesus but Himself?
He masters all our eloquence. His perfection exceeds ourunderstanding; the
light of His excellence is too bright for us, it blinds our eyes. Our Belovedmust
be His own mirror. None but Jesus canrevealJesus. Only He cansee Himself,

245. and know Himself, and understand Himself, and therefore none but He can
revealHimself. We are most glad that in His tenderness to us He sets Himself
forth by many choice metaphors, and instructive emblems, by which He
would make us know some little of that love which passesknowledge. With
His own hand He fills a golden cup out of the river of His owninfinity, and
hands it to us that we may drink and be refreshed. Take, then, these words as
being doubly refreshing, because they come directly from the Well-beloved’s
own mouth, and contain rich revelations of His own all-glorious self. I feel that
I must read them again—“Iam the goodShepherd; and I know My own, and
My own know Me, even as the Fatherknows Me, and I know the Father; and
I lay down My life for the sheep.” In this text there are three matters about
which I shall speak. First, I see here complete character. “Iam the good
Shepherd.” He is not a half shepherd, but a shepherd in the fullest possible
sense. Secondly, I see complete knowledge,“andI know My own, and My own
know Me, evenas the Father knows Me, and I know the Father.” Thirdly,
here is complete sacrifice. How preciously that sentence winds up the whole,
“and I lay down My life for the sheep!” He goes the full length to which
sacrifice cango. He lays down His soul in the steadof His sheep, so the words
might not be incorrectly translated. He goes the full length of self-sacrificefor
His own. I. First, then, here is COMPLETECHARACTER. Wheneverthe
Savior describes Himself by any emblem, that emblem is exalted, and
expanded, and yet it is not able to bear all His meaning. The Lord Jesus fills
out every type, figure, and character, and when the vesselis filled there is an
overflow. There is more in Jesus, the goodShepherd, than you can pack away
in a shepherd. He is the good, the great, the chief Shepherd, but He is much
more. Emblems to set Him forth may be multiplied as the drops of the
morning, but the whole multitude will fail to reflect all His brightness.
Creationis too small a frame in which to hang His likeness. Human thought is
too contracted, human speechtoo feeble, to setHim forth to the full. When all
the emblems in earth and heaven shall have describedHim to their utmost,
there will remain something not yet described. You may square the circle
before you can setforth Christ in the language ofmortal men. He is
inconceivably above our conceptions, unutterably above our utterances. But
notice that He here sets Himself forth as a shepherd. Dwellon this for a
moment. A shepherd is hardly such a man as we employ in England to look

246. after sheepfor a few months, till they are large enough to be slaughtered; a
shepherd after the Oriental sort, such as Abraham, Jacob, orDavid, is quite
another person. The Easternshepherd is generallythe ownerof the flock, or
at leastthe sonof their owner, and so their proprietor in prospect. The sheep
are his own. English shepherds seldom, or never, own the sheep, they are
employed to take care of them, and they have no other interest in them. Our
native shepherds are a very excellentsetof men as a rule—those I have known
have been admirable specimens ofintelligent working men—yet they are not
at all like the Oriental shepherd, and cannotbe, for he is usually the ownerof
the flock which he tends. He remembers how he came into possessionof the
flock, and when and where eachof the present sheepwas born, and where he
has led them, and what trials he had in connectionwith them, and he
remembers this with the emphasis that they are his own inheritance. His
wealth consists in them. He very seldom has much of a house, and he does not
usually own much land. He takes his sheepover a goodstretch of country,
which is open common for all his tribe, but his possessionslie in his flocks.
Ask him, “How much are you worth?” He answers, “Iown so many sheep.” In
the Latin tongue the word for money is akin to the word “sheep,” because, to
many of the first
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Romans, woolwas their wealth, and their fortunes lay in their flocks. The
Lord Jesus is our Shepherd; we are His wealth. If you ask whatHis heritage
is, He tells you of “the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.” Ask
Him what His jewels are, and He replies, “Theyshall be Mine in that day.” If
you ask Him where His treasures are, He will tell you, “The Lord’s portion is
His people. Jacobis the lot of His inheritance.” The Lord Jesus Christ has
nothing that He values as He does His own people. For their sakesHe gave up
all that He had, and died nakedon the cross. Notonly canHe say, “I gave
Ethiopia and Seba for you,” but He “loved His church, and gave Himself for
it.” He regards His church as being His own body, “the fullness of Him that
fills all in all.” The shepherd, as he owns the flock, is also the caretaker. He
takes care ofthem always. One of our brethren now presentis a fireman, and

247. as he lives at the fire station, he is always on duty. I askedhim whether he was
not off duty during certainhours of every day, but he said, “No, I am never
off duty.” He is on duty when he goes to bed, he is on duty while he is eating
his breakfast;he is on duty if he walks down the street. Any time the bell may
ring the alarm, and he must be in his place, and hasten to the fire. Our Lord
Jesus Christ is never off duty. He has constantcare of His people day and
night. He has declaredit—“ForZion’s sake willI not hold My peace, andfor
Jerusalem’s sakeI will not rest.” He cantruly say what Jacobdid, “In the day
the drought consumedMe, and the frost by night.” He says of His flock what
He says of His garden, “I the Lord do keepit; I will waterit every moment,
lest any hurt it, I will keepit night and day.” I cannot tell you all the care a
shepherd has over his flock, because his anxieties are of such a various kind.
Sheephave about as many complaints as men. You do not know much about
them, and I am not going to enter into details, for the all-sufficient reasonthat
I do not know much about them myself, but the shepherd knows, and the
shepherd will tell you that he leads an anxious life. He seldomhas all the flock
well at one time. Some one or other is sure to be ailing, and he spies it out, and
has eye and hand and heart ready for its succorand relief. There are many
varieties of complaints and needs, and all these are laid upon the shepherd’s
heart. He is both possessorand caretakerofthe flock. Then he has to be the
provider too, for there is not a woollyhead among them that knows anything
about the finding and selecting of pasturage. The seasonmay be very dry, and
where there once was grass there may be nothing but a brown powder. It may
be that herbage is only to be found by the side of the rippling brooks, here and
there a bit, but the sheepdo not know anything about that; the shepherd must
know everything for them. The shepherd is the sheep’s providence. Both for
time and for eternity, for body and for soul, our Lord Jesus supplies all our
need out of His riches in glory. He is the greatstorehouse from which we
derive everything. He has provided, He does provide, and He will provide, and
eachone of us may therefore sing, “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not
want.” But, dear friends, we often dream that we are the shepherds, or that
we, at any rate, have to find some of the pasture. I could not help saying just
now to our friends at our little prayer meeting, “There is a passage in the
Psalms which makes the Lord do for us what one would have thought we
could have done for ourselves—‘He makes me to lie down in greenpastures.’”

248. Surely, if a sheep cando nothing else it can lie down. Yet to lie down is the
very hardest thing for God’s sheepto do. It is here that the full powerof the
rest-giving Christ has to come in to make our fretful, worrying, doubtful
natures lie down and rest. Our Lord is able to give us perfect peace, andHe
will do so if we will simply trust to His abounding care. It is the shepherd’s
business to be the provider; let us remember this, and be very happy.
Moreover, he has to be the leader. He leads the sheepwhereverthey have to
go. I have often been astonishedat the shepherds in the South of France,
which is so much like Palestine, to see where they will take their sheep. Once
every week, I saw the shepherd come down to Mentone, and conduct all his
flock to the beach. I could see nothing for them but big stones. Folk saythat
perhaps this is what makes the mutton so hard, but I have no doubt the poor
creatures geta little taste of salt, or something which does them good. At any
rate, they follow the shepherd, and awayhe goes up the steephillsides, taking
long steps, till he reaches points where the grass is growing on the sides of the
hills. He knows the way, and the sheephave nothing to do but to follow him
whereverhe goes. Theirs is not to make the way; theirs is not to choose the
path, but theirs is to keepclose to his heel. Do you not see our blessed
Shepherd leading your own pilgrimage? Cannot you see Him guiding your
way? Do you not say, “Yes, He leads me, and it is my joy to follow”? Leadon,
O blessedLord, lead on, and we will follow the prints of Your feet!
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The shepherd in the Easthas also to be the defender of the flock, for wolves
yet prowl in those regions. All sorts of wild beasts attack the flock, and he
must be to the front. Thus is it with our Shepherd. No wolf canattack us
without finding our Lord in arms againsthim. No lion can roar upon the flock
without awakening a greaterthan David. “He that keeps Israelshall neither
slumber nor sleep.” He is a shepherd, then, and He completelyfills the
character—muchmore completely than I canshow you just now. Notice that
the text puts an adjective upon the shepherd, decorating him with a chain of
gold. The Lord Jesus ChristHimself says, “I am the goodShepherd.” “The
goodShepherd”—that is, He is not a thief that steals, andonly deals with the

249. sheepas He bears them from the fold to the slaughter. He is not a hireling, He
does not do merely what He is paid to do, or commanded to do, but He does
everything conamore, with a willing heart. He throws His soul into it. There is
a goodness,a tenderness, a willingness, a powerfulness, a force, an energy in
all that Jesus does that makes Him the best possible Shepherd that can be. He
is no hireling, neither is He an idler. Even shepherds that have had their own
flocks have neglectedthem, as there are farmers who do not well cultivate
their own farms, but it is never so with Christ. He is the goodShepherd, good
up to the highest point of goodness, goodin all that is tender, goodin all that is
kind, goodin all the directions in which a shepherd can be needed, goodat
fight and goodat rule, goodin watchful oversight, and goodin prudent
leadership, goodevery waymost eminently. And then notice He puts it, “I
am the goodShepherd.” That is the point I want to bring out. Of other
shepherds we can say, he is a shepherd, but this is the Shepherd. All others in
the world are shadows ofthe true Shepherd, and Jesus is the substance of
them all. That which we see in the world with these eyes is after all not the
substance, but the type, the shadow. Thatwhich we do not see with our eyes,
that which only our faith perceives, is after all the real thing. I have seen
shepherds, but they were only pictures to me. The Shepherd, the real, the
truest, the best, the surestexample of shepherding is the Christ Himself, and
you and I are the sheep. Those sheepwe see on yonder mountainside are just
types of ourselves, but we are the true sheep, and Jesus is the true Shepherd.
If an angelwere to fly over the earth to find out the real sheep, and the real
Shepherd, he would say, “The sheep of God’s pasture are men, and Jehovahis
their Shepherd. He is the true, the real Shepherd of the true and real sheep.”
All the possibilities that lie in a shepherd are found in Christ. Every good
thing that you canimagine to be, or that should be, in a shepherd, you find in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I want you to notice that, according to the text,
the Lord Jesus Christgreatly rejoices in this. He says, “I am the good
Shepherd.” He does not confess thatfact as if He was ashamedof it, but He
repeats it in this chapter so many times that it almost reads like the refrain of
a song. “I am the goodShepherd,” He evidently rejoices in it. He rolls it under
His tongue as a sweetmorsel. Evidently it is to His heart’s content. He does
not say, “I am the Son of God, I am the Son of man, I am the Redeemer,” but
this He does say, and He congratulates Himselfupon it, “I am the good

250. Shepherd.” This should encourage you and me to get a full hold of the word.
If Jesus is so pleasedto be my Shepherd, let me be equally pleasedto be His
sheep, and let me avail myself of all the privileges that are wrapped up in His
being my Shepherd, and in my being His sheep. I see that it will not worry
Him for me to be His sheep. I see that my needs will cause Him no perplexity.
I see that He will not be going out of His way to attend to my weaknessand
trouble. He delights to dwell on the fact, “I am the goodShepherd.” He invites
me, as it were, to come and bring my wants and woes to Him, look up to Him,
and be fed by Him. Therefore I will do it. Does it not make you feel truly
happy to hear your own Lord sayHimself, and sayit to you out of this
precious Book, “Iam the goodShepherd”? Do you not reply, “Indeed You are
a goodShepherd. You are a goodShepherd to me. My heart lays emphasis
upon the word ‘good’and says of You, ‘there is none goodbut One, and You
are that goodOne.’ You are the goodShepherd of the sheep”? So much, then,
concerning the complete character. II. May the Holy Spirit bless the word
still more, while I speak in my broken wayupon the next point; THE
COMPLETE KNOWLEDGE. The knowledge ofChrist towards His sheep,
and of the sheeptowards Him, is wonderfully complete. I must read the text
again—“Iknow My own, and My own know Me, even as the Fatherknows
Me, and I know the Father.”
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First, then, considerChrist’s knowledge ofHis own, and the comparisonby
which He sets it forth, “As the Fatherknows Me.” I cannot conceive a
strongercomparison. Do you know how much the Father knows the Son, who
is His glory, His darling, His alter ego, His other self—yes, one Godwith Him?
Do you know how intimate the knowledge ofthe Fathermust be of His Son,
who is His own wisdom, yes, who is His own self? The Fatherand the Sonare
one spirit. We cannot tell how intimate is that knowledge, andyet so
intimately, so perfectly, does the greatShepherd know His sheep. He knows
their number. He will never lose one. He will count them all again in that day
when the sheepshall pass againunder the hand of Him that tells them, and
then He will make full tale of them. “Of all that You have given Me,” He says,

251. “I have lost none.” He knows the number of those for whom He paid the
ransom price. He knows their persons. He knows the age and characterof
eachof His own. He assures us that the very hairs of our head are all
numbered. Christ has not an unknown sheep. It is not possible that He should
have overlookedorforgottenone of them. He has such an intimate knowledge
of all who are redeemed with His most precious blood that He never mistakes
one of them for another, nor misjudges one of them. He knows their
constitutions—those thatare weak and feeble, those that are nervous and
frightened, those that are strong, those that have a tendency to presumption,
those that are sleepy, those that are brave, those that are sick, sorry, worried,
or wounded. He knows those that are hunted by the devil, those that are
caught up betweenthe jaws of the lion, and shakentill the very life is almost
driven out of them. He knows their feelings, fears, and frights. He knows the
secretins and outs of every one of us better than any one of us knows himself.
He knows our trials—the particular trial under which you are now bowed
down, my sister, our difficulties—that specialdifficulty which seems to block
up your way, my brother, at this very time. All the ingredients of our life cup
are knownto Him. “I know My own, as the Fatherknows Me.” It is
impossible to conceive a more complete knowledge than that which the Father
has of His only-begottenSon, and it is equally impossible to conceive a more
complete knowledge than that which Jesus Christ has of every one of His
chosen. He knows our sins. I often feelglad to think that He always did know
our evil natures, and what would come of them. When He chose us, He knew
what we were, and what we would be. He did not buy His sheepin the dark.
He did not choose us without knowing all the devious ways of our pastand
future lives— “He saw us ruined in the fall, Yet loved us notwithstanding
all.” Herein lies the splendor of His grace. “WhomHe did foreknow, He also
did predestinate.” His electionimplies foreknowledgeofall our ill manners.
They say of human love that it is blind, but Christ’s love has many eyes, and
all its eyes are open, and yet He loves us still. I need not enlarge upon this. It
ought, however, to be very full of comfort to you that you are so known of
your Lord, especiallyas He knows you not merely with the cold, clear
knowledge ofthe intellect, but with the knowledge oflove and of affection. He
knows you in His heart. You are peculiarly dear to Him. You are approved of
Him. You are acceptedofHim. He knows you by acquaintance with you, not

252. by hearsay. He knows you by communion with you; He has been with you in
sweetfellowship. He has read you as a man reads his book, and remembers
what he reads. He knows you by sympathy with you, He is a man like
yourself— “He knows what sore temptations mean, ForHe has felt the
same.” He knows your weaknesses. He knows the points wherein you suffer
most, for— “In every pang that rends the heart The Man of sorrows had a
part.” He gained this knowledge in the schoolof sympathetic suffering.
“ThoughHe were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He
suffered.” “He was in all points made like unto His brethren,” and by being
made like us, He has come to know us, and He does know us in a very
practicaland tender way. You have a watch, and it will not run, or it runs
very irregularly, and you give it into the hands of one who knows nothing
about watches, and he says, “I will cleanit for you.” He will do it more harm
than good. But here is the very person who made the watch. He says, “I put
every wheel into its place, I
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made the whole of it, from beginning to end.” You think to yourself, “I feel the
utmost confidence in trusting that man with my watch; he can surely put it
right, for he made it.” It often cheers my heart to think that since the Lord
made me, He can put me right, and keepme so to the end. My Makeris my
Redeemer. He that first made me has made me again, and will make me
perfect, to His own praise and glory. That is the first part of this complete
knowledge. The secondpart of the subject is our knowledge ofthe Lord, and
the factby which it is illustrated. “And My ownknow Me, even as I know the
Father.” I think I hear some of you say, “I do not see so much in that. I can
see a greatdeal more in Christ’s knowing us.” Beloved, I see a greatdeal in
our knowing Christ. That He should know me is greatcondescension, but it
must be easyto Him to know me. Being so divine, with such a piercing eye as
His, it is amazingly condescending, as I say, but it is not difficult for Him to
know me. The marvel is that I should ever know Him. That such a stupid,
blind, deaf, dead soulas mine should ever know Him, and should know Him
as He knows the Father, is ten thousand miracles in one. Oh, sirs, this is a

253. wonder so greatthat I do not think you and I have come at it yet to the full, or
else we would sit down in glad surprise, and say—This proves Him to be the
goodShepherd indeed, not only that He knows His flock, but that He has
taught them so well that they know Him! With such a flock as Christ has, that
He should be able to train His sheep so that they should be able to know Him,
and to know Him as He knows the Father; is miraculous. O beloved, if this is
true of us, that we know our Shepherd, we may clap our hands for very joy!
And yet I think it is true even now. At any rate, I know so much of my Lord
that nothing gives me so much joy as to hear of Him. Brethren, there is no
boasting in this personalassertionof mine. It is only the bare truth. You can
say the same, can you not? If anybody were to preach to you the finest sermon
that was everdelivered, would it charm you if there were no Christ in it? No.
But you will come and hear me talk about Jesus Christin words as simple as
ever I canfind, and you cry one to another, “It was goodto be there.”— “You
dear Redeemer, dying Lamb, We love to hear of Thee: No music’s like Your
charming name, Nor half so sweetcanbe.” Now mark that this is the way in
which Jesus knows the Father. Jesus delights in His Father, and you delight in
Jesus. I know you do, and herein the comparisonholds good. Moreover, does
not the dear name of Jesus stiryour very soul? What is it that makes you feel
as if you wish to hasten away, that you might be doing holy service for the
Lord? What makes your very heart awake, andfeel ready to leapout of your
body? What but hearing of the glories of Jesus? Playon what string you
please, and my ear is deaf to it, but when you once begin to tell of Calvary,
and sing the song of free grace, and dying love, oh, then my soul opens all her
ears, and drinks in the music, and then her blood begins to stir, and she is
ready to shout for joy! Do you not even now sing— “Oh, for this love let rocks
and hills Their lasting silence break, And all harmonious human tongues
The Savior’s praises speak. Yes, we will praise You, dearestLord, Our souls
are all on flame, Hosanna round the spacious earth To Your adored name”?
Yes, we know Jesus. We feelthe powerof our union with Him. We know Him,
brethren, so that we are not to be deceivedby false shepherds. There is a way
nowadays of preaching Christ againstChrist. It is a new device of the devil to
setup Jesus againstJesus, His kingdom againstHis atonement, His precepts
againstHis doctrines. The half Christ in his example is put up, to frighten
souls awayfrom the whole Christ, who saves the souls of men from guilt as

254. well as from sin, from hell as well as from folly. But they cannotdeceive us in
that way. No, beloved, we know our Shepherd from all others. We know Him
from a statue coveredwith his clothes. We know the living Christ, for we have
come into living contactwith Him, and we cannotbe deceivedany more than
Jesus Christ Himself canbe deceivedabout the Father. “My own know Me,
even as I know the Father.” We know Him by union with Him, and by com
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Volume 32 Tell someone todayhow much you love Jesus Christ.g 7
munion with Him. “We have seenthe Lord.” “Truly our fellowship is with the
Father, and with His SonJesus Christ.” We know Him by love; our soul
cleaves to Him, evenas the heart of Christ cleaves to the Father. We know
Him by trusting Him—“He is all my salvation, and all my desire.” I
remember once feeling many questions as to whether I was a child of God or
not. I went into a little chapel, and I heard a goodman preach. He was a
simple working man. I heard him preach, and I made my handkerchief
drenched with my tears as I heard him talk about Christ, and the precious
blood. When I was preaching the same things to others I was wondering
whether this truth was mine, but while I was hearing for myself I knew it was
mine, for my very soul lived upon it. I went to that goodman, and thanked
him for the sermon. He askedme who I was. WhenI told him, he turned all
manner of colors. “Why,” he said, “Sir that was your own sermon.” I said,
“Yes, I knew it was, and it was goodof the Lord to feed me with foodthat I
had prepared for others.” I perceivedthat I had a true taste for what I myself
knew to be the gospelof Jesus Christ. Oh, yes, we do love our goodShepherd!
We cannothelp it. And we know Him also by a deep sympathy with Him, for
what Christ desires to do, we also long to do. He loves to save souls, and so do
we. Would we not save all the people in a whole streetif we could? Yes, in a
whole city, and in the whole world! Nothing makes us as glad as that Jesus
Christ is a Savior. “There is news in the paper,” says one. That news is often
of small importance to our hearts. I happened to hear that a poor servant girl
had heard me preachthe truth, and found Christ, and I confess Ifelt more
interest in that fact than in all the rise and fall of Whigs or Tories. Whatdoes
it matter who is in Parliament, so long as souls are saved? Thatis the main

255. thing. If the kingdom of Christ grows, allthe other kingdoms are of small
account. That is the one kingdom for which we live, and for which we would
gladly die. As there is a boundless sympathy betweenthe Father and the Son,
so is there betweenJesus and ourselves. We know Christ as He knows the
Father, because we are one with Him. The union betweenChrist and His
people is as real and as mysterious as the union betweenthe Son and the
Father. We have a beautiful picture before us. Can you realize it for a
minute? The Lord Jesus here among us—picture Him! He is the Shepherd.
Then, around Him are His own people, and whereverHe goes theygo. He
leads them into greenpastures, and beside the still waters. And there is this
peculiarity about them, He knows them as He looks upon eachof them, and
they every one of them know Him. There is a deeply intimate and mutual
knowledge betweenthem. As surely as He knows them, they know Him. The
world knows neither the Shepherd nor the sheep, but they know eachother.
As surely, as truly, and as deeply, as God the Fatherknows the Son, so does
this Shepherd know His sheep, and as God the Sonknows His Father, so do
these sheepknow their Shepherd. Thus in one band, united by mutual
communion, they travel through the world to heaven. “I know My own, and
My own know Me, even as the Fatherknows Me, and I know the Father.” Is
not that a blessedpicture? God help us to figure in it! III. The last subjectis
COMPLETE SACRIFICE. The complete sacrifice is thus described—“Ilay
down My life for the sheep.” Thesewords are repeatedin this chapter in
different forms some four times. The Savior keeps onsaying, “I lay down My
life for the sheep.” Readthe eleventh verse, “The goodShepherd gives His life
for the sheep.” The fifteenth verse, “I lay down My life for the sheep.” The
seventeenthverse, “I lay down My life, that I may take it again.” The
eighteenth verse, “I have powerto lay it down, and I have powerto take it
again.” It looks as if this was anotherrefrain of our Lord’s personalhymn. I
call this passage His pastoralsong. The good Shepherd with His pipe sings to
Himself and to His flock, and this comes in at the end of eachstanza, “I lay
down My life for the sheep.” Did it not mean, first, that He was always doing
so? All His life long He was, as it were, laying it down for them, He was
divesting Himself of the garments of life, till He came to be fully disrobed on
the cross. All the life He had, all the powerHe had, He was always laying it
out for His sheep. It means that, to begin with. And then it means that the

256. sacrifice was activelyperformed. It was ever in the doing as long as He lived,
but He did it actively. He did not die for the sheepmerely, but He laid down
His life, which is another thing. Many a man has died for Christ; it was all
that he could do. But we cannotlay down our lives, because they are due
already as a debt of nature to God, and we are not permitted to die at our own
wills. That is suicidal and improper. With the Lord Christ it was totally
different. He was, as it were, ac
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8 Tell someone todayhow much you love Jesus Christ. Volume 32
tively passive. “I lay down My life for the sheep. I have powerto lay it down,
and I have powerto take it again. This commandment have I receivedof My
Father.” I like to think of our GoodShepherd, not merely as dying for us,
but as willingly dying—laying down His life; while He had that life, using it
for us, and when the time came, putting off that life on our behalf. This has
now been actually done. When He spoke these words, it had not been done. At
this time it has been done. “I lay down My life for the sheep” may now be
read, “I have laid down My life for the sheep.” Foryou, beloved, He has given
His hands to the nails, and His feet to the cruel iron. For you He has borne the
fever and the bloody sweat, for you He has cried “Eloi, Eloi, lame
Sabachthani,” for you He has given up the ghost. And the beauty of it is that
He is not ashamedto avow the objective of it. “I lay down My life for the
sheep.” WhateverChrist did for the world—and I am not one of those who
would limit the bearings of the death of Christ upon the world—yet His
peculiar glory is, “I lay down My life for the sheep. GreatShepherd, do You
mean to say that You have died for such as these? What!For these sheep?
Died for them? What! Die for sheep, Shepherd? Surely You have other
objectives for which to live beside sheep. Have You not other loves, other
joys? We know that it would grieve You to see the sheepkilled, torn by the
wolf, or scattered, but You really have not gone so far in love for them that for
the sake ofthose poor creatures You would lay down your life? “Ah, yes,” He
says, “I would, I have!” Carry your wondering thoughts to Christ Jesus.
What! What! What! Sonof God, infinitely great and inconceivably glorious
Jehovah, would You lay Your life down for men and women? They are no

257. more in comparisonwith You than so many ants and wasps, pitiful and
obnoxious creatures. You could make ten thousand millions of them with a
word, or crush them out of existence at one blow of Your hand. They are poor
things; make the most you can of them. They have hard hearts, and
wandering wills, and the best of them are no better than they should be.
Savior, did you die for such? He looks around, and says, “Yes, I did. I did. I
laid down My life for the sheep. I am not ashamed of them, and I am not
ashamedto say that I died for them.” No, beloved, He is not ashamed of His
dying love. He has told it to His brethren up yonder, and made it knownto all
the servants in His Father’s house, and this has become the song of that house,
“Worthy is the Lamb that was slain!” Shall not we take it up, and say, “For
You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood”? Whatever
men may talk about particular redemption, Christ is not ashamed of it. He
glories that He laid down His life for the sheep. For the sheep, mark you. He
says not for the world. There is a bearing of the death of Christ towards the
world, but here He boasts, and glories in the specialty of His sacrifice. “Ilay
down My life for the sheep”—“insteadofthe sheep,” it might be read. He
glories in substitution for His people. He makes it His boast, when He speaks
of His chosen, that He suffered in their stead—thatHe bore, that they might
never bear, the wrath of God on accountof sin. What He glories in, we also
glory in. “Godforbid that I should glory save in the cross ofour Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world!” O
beloved, what a blessedChrist we have who loves us so, who knows us so—
whom we also know and love! May others be taught to know Him, and to love
Him! Yes, at this hour may they come and put their trust in Him, as the sheep
trust to the shepherd! We ask it for Jesus’sake. Amen.
By the grace ofGod, for all 63 volumes of C. H. Spurgeon sermons in Modern
English, and 574 Spanish translations, visit: www.spurgeongems.org