Jesus is The Good Shepherd

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.” (John 10:11-15 ESV)

The Good Shepherd

Jesus Christ is not only the only begotten Son of God, but he is God, the second person of our triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Over 2000 years ago he left his throne in heaven, humbled himself, came to earth, and was born as a baby to a human mother, but conceived of the Holy Spirit and not of man, so he was not born into sin like the rest of us. Thus, when he lived on this earth for some 33 years before his death on that cross, he was fully God and fully human (God incarnate).

When Jesus lived on the earth, during his years of ministry prior to his death, he healed the sick and afflicted, raised the dead back to life, delivered people from demons, fed the hungry miraculously, and did all sorts of other miracles. He also preached true repentance (death to sin) and obedience to his commands as required of him for genuine salvation (deliverance) from our slavery to sin and for eternal life with him. He confronted the hypocrites with their hypocrisies and warned them of divine judgment, too.

Although he had a huge following for a while because of all the miracles that he performed, there were few who truly followed him with genuine faith in him and in the works that he performed. For the words that he spoke mainly were too hard for most people to accept. For he spoke of his requirement of his followers that they die with him to sin and that they walk in obedience to his commands in order to have life in him. And the religious rulers in the temple did not like him, were threatened by him, and wanted him dead.

So, they plotted his death, and had it carried out. But God had a purpose for Jesus’ death on that cross, and that was to bring many to genuine salvation from sin and to eternal life with God via genuine God-persuaded faith in the Lord which dies with him to sin, and is raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, now as slaves to God who live in obedience to his commands. So, we must no longer be those who obey sin, in practice, for if we do, it will lead to death. Obeying obedience to God, though, leads to eternal life.

The Hired Hands

Who are these “hired hands”? They are false shepherds of the people, many of whom are getting paid to be pastors and teachers of the word of God. They are those whose lives are not committed to Jesus Christ, to walking in his ways and in his truth and righteousness. So they are not committed to serving the sheep with their lives, either. They are just getting paid to do a job, and so they do the job they are getting paid to do. But if their own lives are threatened, they will desert the sheep to save themselves.

Some of them are entrepreneurs and businessmen who have chosen church planting, church growth, and/or evangelism as their business of choice, but who are following after the ways of humankind and of marketing schemes and tricks and gimmicks rather than following the leading of Christ and of his Holy Spirit. So many of them, thus, have altered the character of God/Christ, of his church (the body of Christ), and of his gospel message, in order to cater to and to draw in large crowds from the world into their gatherings.

They are those who profess faith in Jesus Christ and who disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, but who are not serving the Lord but the flesh and the world. So they are those who desert and who abandon the sheep while pretending to care for them. For they do and say what will make them popular and what will “draw in large crowds of people from the world into their gatherings,” even if it means compromising the truth of the gospel and not leading the sheep to genuine walks of obedience to God.

So, this is why the Scriptures warn us against false shepherds and teachers and prophets, and why we are instructed in the Scriptures to test what we are hearing or reading or seeing against the Scriptures, taught in context, to make certain that what we are being taught is truth and not the lies of the enemy. No matter what titles or credentials people have, and no matter whose son or daughter they might be, or how popular they might be, we still need to test what they are teaching to make certain it is truth, and not lies.

Other Sheep

“And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.” (John 10:16-18 ESV)

Although I was primarily applying the previous words to our lives today, because they do apply to us today, Jesus was speaking then to the Jews. So, when he spoke of “other sheep,” he was speaking of the Gentiles who would now be included in Israel by faith in Jesus Christ.

Now Jesus spoke these words when he was still on this earth, prior to him being crucified on that cross, prior to his death and resurrection, and prior to his ascension back to heaven and him sending his Holy Spirit to indwell his followers. So the “other sheep” he was referring to were the Gentiles who would now be included in Israel by genuine faith in Jesus Christ, while all Jews who rejected Jesus Christ were cut out of Israel. 

Thus, “all Israel” is now all who have, by faith in Christ, died with him to sin and are now (or were then) living to him and to his righteousness, by God’s grace, and in his power. In his death and resurrection he made us one people by faith in him.

[Genesis 17:7-9; Genesis 18:19; Romans 2:28-29; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 9:4-8,25-28; Romans 11:1-36; Galatians 3:16,26-29; Galatians 4:22-31; Ephesians 2:11-22; Ephesians 3:6; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 2:22; John 8:18-19,38-47; Jude 1:5; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-16; Hebrews 8:6-13; Revelation 2:9; Revelation 3:9]

My Sheep  

An Original Work / June 24, 2012  

Based off John 10:1-30 NIV

My sheep hear me. They know me.

They listen to my voice and obey.

I call them and lead them.

They know my voice, so they follow me.

They will never follow strangers.

They will run away from them.

The voice of a stranger they know not;

They do not follow him.

So, I tell you the truth that

I am the gate, so you enter in.

Whoever does enter

Will find forgiveness and will be saved.

Nonetheless whoever enters

Not by the gate; other way,

He is the thief and a robber.

Listen not, the sheep to him.

Oh, I am the Good Shepherd,

Who laid his own life down for the sheep.

I know them. They know me.

They will live with me eternally.

The thief only comes to steal and

Kill and to destroy the church.

I have come to give you life that

You may have it to the full… 

They know my voice, so they follow me.

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