I Am the Good Shepherd (John 10:11–18)

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Courtney Doctor: What a great morning It has already been. I’ve got to tell you that it is a personal joy for me to not only share a morning of teaching, but to actually share a text with one of my dearest friends in the entire world, Dr Vanessa Hawkins. Give it up for her again. We went to church. I told her, I said, You brought the meal. I’m just going to try and offer a little dessert after that, because that was amazing. So get your Bibles out and open again to John 10 While you’re turning there. I want to tell you about the summer of 1980 This is before Netflix, before Amazon Prime, before Blockbuster and before VCRs. I was 12 years old. Don’t go on the whole math journey right now. Stay with me. I am 56 years old, okay? 12 years old, the summer of 1980 and I went to go see The Empire Strikes Back, right? Well, there are some words spoken toward the end of that movie that you probably all know, but for me, it was the first time that I remember hearing a line in a movie that made my jaw drop and my eyes pop, and I thought, what really could it be? And all these scenes started flashing in my mind, remembering what had been the story so far. And you know the line, don’t you? It’s when Darth Vader says to Luke Skywalker, say it with me, Luke, I am your father. Well, if I had not been watching the movie the whole time, that line wouldn’t have meant anything. Who cares if some guy with a creepy voice, is someone’s dad, but since I had seen the movie from the beginning, it was an astounding line. It’s why we all know it. We all remember it. So what I want you to do, I want you to pretend for just a minute that we are gathered at my house to watch a movie. Be a little little cozy, little cozy, but the movie we’re watching is the story of Scripture, and you walked in late, you walked in about two thirds of the way through the story. Do you know what I would do? I would hit pause and I’d give you a really quick recap to catch you up, and here’s what I’d say, surprisingly, shepherds have been kind of a low key big deal in the story. So far, you go all the way back to Genesis four, Abel. Do you remember Cain and Abel? Abel was a shepherd. In fact, all of the major characters in the story of Scripture were a shepherd at one point in their life, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, they were all shepherds. All of Moses’ family, Joseph was a shepherd, and then Moses was a shepherd during the middle 40 years of his life, and then in the last 40 years of his life, he was like A Shepherd to the people of Israel. And right before he died, he actually prayed, let the Lord appoint a man over the congregation who shall lead them that the congregation or the people of the Lord may not be as sheep that have no shepherd. So the people make it into the promised land. They get settled. And God establishes the monarchy, and Saul is the first king. God said to Saul, you shall shepherd my people Israel. But if you know the story? You know that not all of the kings were good shepherds. And three of the prophets, Jeremiah and Ezekiel and Zechariah, they they point this out, and they say that that these Bad Shepherds, that they the ones leading Israel, they actually scatter the sheep instead of gathering them. They left the sheep instead of protecting them. If you remember what Vanessa taught on just a few minutes ago, they even ate the sheep instead of feeding them. And God was angry with these Bad Shepherds. But then it got a bit confusing, because in Ezekiel 34 God said this. Verse 13, he said, I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep. I myself will make them lie down. I will seek the lost, I will bring back the stray. I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak. But then in verse 23 he said, eight. End I will set up over them, one shepherd, My servant, David, and he shall feed them. He shall feed them and be their shepherd. And so we were watching the movie, and we were like, well, which is it going to be? Is God going to be their shepherd or is he going to send another man like David to shepherd his people? Well, that’s been the story of shepherds. So far, we’ve seen that God has been like a shepherd to his people. We’ve seen that it was not good to be sheep without a shepherd or with a bad shepherd. And then we’ve seen that the Lord had promised to either be or send a good shepherd. Let’s hit play and pick up in John 10, verse 11, and Jesus said, I am the good shepherd. That would have been a line for those standing there that day where whole pieces of the story came together and they were standing there thinking, what really could it actually be, would God himself be their shepherd? Yes? Would he send a man, a descendant of David, to be their shepherd? Yes. And that line was meant to be a type of a mic drop moment, but Jesus wasn’t finished. The story continues, and he has several more surprises in store for them and for us. So let’s read His words, picking up where Vanessa left off. John 10, verse 11, 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’s a hired hand and he cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep, and I have other sheep that are not of this fold. 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 my life down that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord, and I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to pick it up again, this charge I have received from my father. And so instead of going verse by verse through this passage, what we’re going to do right now is we’re going to consider the whole shepherd’s story, and we’re going to watch Jesus drop a few more unexpected surprises into this story. Surprise number one, the Good Shepherd seeks unexpected sheep. Surprise number two, the Good Shepherd leads on unexpected paths and surprise number three, the Good Shepherd dies an unexpected death. Surprise number one, the Good Shepherd seeks unexpected sheep. Look again at verse 16, 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 and one shepherd. And after Jesus’ declaration that he is the Good Shepherd, this would have been one of the first big surprises for those standing there that day. I mean, what did he mean? Sheep from other folds, surely not the Gentiles. But the good news for most of us in this room today is that is exactly what he meant. Because God has always had his sights set on the whole world. He is saving a people from every tribe, tongue and nation. He is bringing them into one flock, one people of God. In Luke 19, Jesus said that the whole reason He came was to seek and save the lost, and he certainly meant the Gentiles, the outsiders, the pagans.

Courtney Doctor
But it wasn’t just the Gentiles that Jesus was talking about. Another huge Shepherd surprise is found in Luke 15. Jesus is speaking to a Jewish audience. He is speaking to the Jewish religious leaders. Of the day, and he says, What man of you having 100 sheep if he’s lost, one of them does not leave the 99 in the open country and go after the one that is lost until he finds it. And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, Rejoice with me, for I found my sheep that was lost. Just so I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance. And that would have been like, wait a minute, is he talking about us? Is he surely not? You know, we’re not the lost ones, right? We’re God’s people. We are the religious ones. We’re the ones with the promises and the covenants. Today, we’d say we’re church folk, we’re good people, but friends. Jesus came to seek and to save sheep, no matter who or where they are. He came to seek and save those who appear to be religious, and those who don’t, for those who go to church and those who haven’t set foot in one in years, Jesus came to save the irreligious as well as those who merely appear religious. But there is a third type of sheep that Jesus seeks, and it’s those that he’s already saved. Every believer can sing, Jesus sought me when a stranger wandering from the fold of God, he to rescue me from danger. Interposed His precious blood. He saved me. By the blood of Jesus, He saved me. But the same hymn goes on to say, bind my wandering heart to you. Why? Because I’m Prone to wander. Lord, I feel it. I am prone to leave the God I love. This is after we’ve been saved, Prone to wander. Think of all the ways a sheep can wander off. They can stop listening to their Shepherd’s Voice and just sort of slowly drift away. They can see some grass in another field and just trot over. If that’s what sheep do, just trot over to nibble and see if it tastes any better. They can get too close to a ditch and fall in. Have you seen the video of the sheep that is pulled out of the ditch just to run a few feet down the path and fall in the same ditch. Yeah, sometimes, sometimes sheep just get lazy and they just lag too far behind, and eventually they can neither see nor hear their shepherd friends. Where are you today? If you have been rescued from danger, if he has interposed His precious blood, and if he has found you and carried you home, then Do you know His voice? Are you spending time in His Word, or have you just stopped listening and you’re just slowly drifting away? Are you content where he has you? Or are you searching in other places, just kind of nibbling in some areas that you shouldn’t. Are you attempting to get closer to a ditch than you should, or are you running back to the same ditch that he’s already pulled you out of? Have you become weary of following and are just content to lag behind. We have all been in these places, wandering here and there, drifting away, falling away, running away. But there is more good news. The Good Shepherd came not only to save the irreligious and save those who merely appear to be religious, he also seeks and rescues and brings back the truly religious, those who truly belong to him but have just wandered away. No, I want to be really clear here, once saved, always. Saved Jesus is going to go on in just a few verses and say twice, no one can snatch them out of My hand. No one can take them out of the Father’s hand. This is not a question of whether you belong. This is a question of whether you’re following for his sheep. So the Good Shepherd came in order to seek and save the lost, but also the weary and the stuck and the lame and the hungry and the thirsty and the fearful and the scattered. He’s searching and seeking and so whether you have never been found or you have just wandered away, I want you to listen to what Ken Bailey, a man with first hand shepherding experience, says. He tells the story of two brothers and their lost sheep. My brother and I sought for our sheep for hours. We walked in the moonlight over rocks and through thick, thorny bushes. We covered every part of the mountain climbing and then descending again and again, we called for her. We called for her. At last, weary and bleeding from thorns and sharp stones, we seemed to hear a faint response in answer to our call. Exhausted and perspiring, we kept moving, and to our unspeakable delight, we found her our sheep. The Shepherd was the one who went looking, searching, seeking, calling, calling, calling, calling. Did you see what the sheep did? She had just the faintest response. She let out an almost inaudible bleat, but the shepherd who was searching heard and came running. So what I want you to hear today is, no matter who you are or where you are, hear the Shepherd’s Voice. He’s calling, he’s searching, he’s seeking, he’s saving, he’s rescuing, he’s bringing back his own and so ask him to give you a voice so that you can lift it with even just the faintest response in answer to his call, because that’s what faith is. It is taking the voice that he gives and using it to respond to his call. Nothing would delight him more. Nothing would delight him more than to bring you home because the Good Shepherd came to seek and to save unexpected sheep like you and like me. Surprise number two, the Good Shepherd, leads on unexpected paths. So once he has searched for you and found you and carried you and saved you and brought you into His flock, his desire is to lead you every day of your life and to have you follow no matter how unexpected the paths may be. And I’m going to say that again, because that’s really the whole point. His desire is to lead you every single day of your life, and to have you follow no matter how unexpected the paths may be, I’m sure you’ve already picked up on the fact that being called sheep is not a compliment. Philip Keller, a man who grew up in East Africa and was for a great part of his life, an actual Shepherd said, sheep do not take care of themselves. They require tremendous care. You can’t just turn them out to pasture. They have and listen to this mob instincts, fears and timidity, stubbornness and stupidity, as well as perverse habits.

Courtney Doctor
Isaiah, 53, six, we all, like sheep, have gone astray. Every one of us has turned to his own way. It’s why we need a good shepherd who will not only search for us, but who will lead us, if you have your Bibles, turn to Psalm 23 we skipped over it as we were kind of recapping the story. But it is the shepherd Psalm. It is one of the most well known, well loved passages, and David begins with the familiar words that we just sang, The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. And what David was saying was that his good shepherd had supplied everything he had ever needed. The better translation here is the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not lack or I shall need nothing, because there is a big difference between wanting something and needing something, wanting something and not lack. 18. I wrote a Bible study on the book of Romans a few years ago, and I have been asked what stood out to me as I studied that magnificent book, and it has been Romans 832, it’s a verse that I didn’t think much about before, but here’s what Paul wrote, He who did not spare His own Son, but gave him up for us. How will He not also with Him, graciously give us all things? And Paul is saying the exact same thing as David, but with more clarity, with more understanding. So David knew that God had protected him and forgiven him and delivered him and given him everything he needed, time and time again. But Paul knew not only had God done those things for him, but that God had given his one and only Son so that he would not perish, and that inarguably, is the greatest, most incomprehensible gift of all. So what Paul is saying is that he, if he, if God has already given the greatest gift imaginable, why would he withhold a lesser thing? He won’t. He won’t. And this verse has ministered to my soul, because there are things I want, there are big things and small things, and there are good things that I want. And when it appears that God is not giving them to me, I run back to this verse, and I run back to this truth, and I say to my soul, The Lord is my good shepherd. He has already given me the greatest gift imaginable. So if I were to need this thing that it appears he’s not giving, then I choose to trust that I don’t need it, or I don’t need it yet. Why? Because I will lack no good thing, and neither will you. I remind myself, deep in my soul that my shepherd’s ways are not my ways. His thoughts are not my thoughts, and his paths are not always my paths. But what does scripture tell us about his ways and his thoughts? They are higher, they are wiser, they are better than our ways, than our thoughts and friends than our paths, and so as a result, I can trust that what he has provided and what he has withheld are infinitely better than anything that I want. David was saying that the Good Shepherd, no matter where he leads, will supply everything you need. Why? Because he himself is everything you need. Some of the paths that David identifies are these. He makes me lie down in green pastures, and he leads me besides still waters. I don’t know about you, but I’ve always pictured that a certain way, going from one luxurious green pasture to the next, from one gentle stream to the next, but we have to remember, David did not live in Ireland. Ireland is called the Emerald Isle because it is laden with green pastures. David lived in southern Israel. It is dry, it is arid. It is a desert, and green pastures are neither common nor naturally occurring. One commentator points out that green pastures do not happen by chance. They were the result of clearing rough, rocky land, of tearing out brush and roots and stumps, of deep plowing and careful soil preparation if his sheep were to enjoy green pastures, it meant he the shepherd had a tremendous job to do. He goes on for the child of God. How he the Good Shepherd, works to clear the rocks of stony unbelief, to tear out the roots of bitterness, to break the hard, proud human heart that is set like sun dried clay. He then sows the seed of his own precious Word, which will grow and produce crops, rich crops of contentment and peace. That’s the green pasture that we all need, a place free of pride and bitterness and unbelief, but rich in contentment and peace. And so how does he How does he prepare these pastures. How does he lead us to these pastures? How do we follow him into these pastures? And it’s the same way that we feast on his living bread. It’s by spending time with him in his living word, because it is his living word that instructs and corrects and rebukes and trains and feeds. It is through his word and by His Spirit that He will break up the soil of our hearts. He will rip out roots of bitterness and pride. And we get to participate with him. We get to follow him into these green pastures. We do it by believing. We believe His Word. We know his word, we read His Word, we believe it, we respond appropriately, we repent, we worship, we obey, we humble ourselves, and so we feed on His Word and we drink deeply from the well of truth, because those are the green pastures that will satisfy us and sustain us. The next thing David says about his good shepherd is that He restores my soul. Sheep not only wander away, they also can become cast down. Philip Keller, again, wrote cast down is an old English shepherd’s term for a sheep that is turned over on its back and cannot get up again by itself. He goes on to say that even David, who was much loved of God, knew what it was to be cast down. David was acquainted with the bitterness of feeling hopeless and without strength. In Psalm 42 David cries out, why are you cast down? O, my soul, and we know what it’s like to be cast down, don’t we, to be unable to get up, to be knocked off our feet. Keller explains how he, as a good shepherd, responded to his sheep that were cast down. He said, I would spend hours searching, then I would see it at a distance, down on its back line, helpless at once, I would start to run toward it, hurrying as fast as I could to what to restore it, to restore it. And if a mere human Shepherd has that much care and concern and compassion for his sheep that are cast down, how much more so does our good shepherd have? Isaiah 42 three says A bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick, he will not quench. And so if you find yourself in that place today, if your soul is cast down, if you find yourself unable to get up, bruised and battered by life with a light that feels like it’s barely burning, friends, lift your eyes, behold the Good Shepherd of your soul. He is filled with compassion. He loves you, and you will not be cast down forever. He will restore your soul. Our good shepherd also leads us in paths of righteousness, for his name’s sake, and I pray this almost every day, for me and for my family, lead us in paths of righteousness, but it implicitly means that not all paths are paths of righteousness, and don’t we know it? Sometimes we don’t know it until after we’ve walked the path. Sometimes we don’t know it until we’re pretty far down the path. But more often than not, let’s be honest, we know before we even start off that this is no path of righteousness. And so if you today are standing at the front end, if you’re standing at a crossroads, unsure of which path to take call out to your good shepherd. Psalm 40 says he will set your feet on solid ground. Psalm 18 says he will keep you from slipping. Proverbs three says he will make your paths straight. But if you are already part way down a path of unrighteousness,

Courtney Doctor
stop. Turn around, friend. You don’t have to keep going. That’s what repentance is. It’s turning around. So no matter how far down a path you are or how many wrong paths you are taken, your Shepherd wants you to come back. He wants you to return, and he wants to show you how beautiful and how good are His paths of righteousness, His ways are good, his thoughts are good and friends, his paths are good. Trust Him, walk in them. Now we come to what is probably the most well known verse in all of Scripture. You might even know it in the King James Version. If you do, I want you to say it with me. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me the valley of the shadow of death. Faith. First, I want you to notice that this is still a path that the Shepherd has for His sheep. David has not wandered off. In fact, he came to this path, this dark valley, while walking in paths of righteousness. He didn’t do anything wrong. He hasn’t wandered away. He is following his good shepherd. And there are times in all of our lives when the Good Shepherd leads us through a dark valley, times when the darkness feels like it’s just closing in, like fear and anxiety and sadness and grief and shame are going to win. If you’ve been there. You know what I’m talking about, times that you think might just kill you, might just kill you. And David knew these dark places. Psalm six, I am weary with my groaning every night. I flood my bed with tears. I drench my couch with weeping. My eye wastes away because of grief, David knew dark valleys, yet he could say, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. I mean, why? How could David say that? Well, his answer is the center of the Psalm. It’s the whole point of the Psalm. It’s because you, my good Good Shepherd, are with me. Are with me. It’s not the removal of the darkness that comforts David, it’s the nearness of the shepherd. One scholar said, the darker the shadow, the closer the shepherd, and that changes everything. You are not alone. You are not alone. So when you find yourself in this dark valley, what do you do? We do what David did, and we remind ourselves of a few things. Number one, the Good Shepherd is with me. He will not leave me or forsake me in this place. Remember, The hired hand flees, but the Good Shepherd stays. And friends, we remind ourselves that the valley will end. Did you see where the Shepherd was leading through? And that is true for every valley we walk in this life, and it is true for the final and darkest valley of all, the shadow of death, because if Jesus does not come first, every single one of us in this room, every single one of us are going to follow our good shepherd through but that’s the point. The valley is not the destination. David knew that he was going to walk into that valley and he was going to walk right out the other side. David didn’t know how his Good Shepherd was going to lead him through. He just knew that he would. But friends, we know, we know in John 10, we’re told how our Shepherd is going to see us through this valley, and it’s by going through first surprise number three, the shepherd, The Good Shepherd, dies an unexpected death. Jesus says three times that he’s going to lay down his life for his sheep. Verse 11, verse 15, verse 17, I lay down my life for the sheep. And that is the second biggest surprise in the text. No one would have seen that coming. I mean, the shepherd’s not supposed to die, not willingly, not voluntarily. But Jesus has another surprise in store, doesn’t he? I will lay my life down verse 17, that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord, because I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to pick it up again. Do you remember watching shows as a child that had good guys and bad guys and the good guys, they always seemed to end up trapped at the end of a canyon, didn’t they? Like no way out. The bad guys are up on the cliffs. They have all the good shots. They have all the advantage surrounded by their enemies. And the good guys are trying to dodge the bullets, but there’s nowhere else to go. I mean, this is it. This is the end of the road. They were trapped. What Jesus did in his death and resurrection was walk willingly into that dead end Canyon, the one with no way out, surrounded by our greatest enemies of sin and death. And he was killed. He died in that canyon of death, and His body lay there for three days, but on that third day. Okay with one miraculous inhale and one mighty exhale, the back of that canyon burst open, and a new path was forged, a valley, a way that had not previously existed. Now, does and friends, none of us are going to walk into that dead end Canyon. None of us, if you are in Christ, you’re going to walk through the valley into a greater and more glorious destination, not alone but with Jesus, not in fear but in faith, not in defeat, but in victory. But before we end, I want to trace this story all the way to the end, because there is one more Shepherd surprise for us, the same John who captured Jesus’s words. In John 10, was given a vision of the end of the story, and in Revelation seven, when he saw the great throne of God, guess who was being worshiped? The Lamb, the Lamb of God. But here’s the surprise, Revelation 717, for the lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd. Not only did the Son of God become man for our sake, The Good Shepherd became a lamb for our sake, fully God, fully man, friends, fully Shepherd, fully lamb. We are all like sheep. And so he became one of us, but perfect in every way, a lamb without spot or blemish, a lamb sent to be slaughtered, a Lamb who was slaughtered so you and I wouldn’t be and a lamb so perfect that no other lamb ever need die, Ever Need die, and so Amazing love, right? How can it be that, thou, My God, my good shepherd, would die for me? I don’t know why. I don’t have that answer, but I can speak to how we should respond. What does any good shepherd want from his sheep? Well, in John 10 the word know is used five times. The sheep know the Shepherd’s Voice. The shepherd knows the sheep. The sheep know him. And it’s this intimate knowledge. It’s this, it’s this deep in your soul, knowledge of who Jesus is, of what he has done and what he will do, and so how do we unexpected sheep on unexpected paths? Respond to our good shepherd. You spend your life knowing him more and more, you spend time knowing him, you learn more about his ways. You learn more about his will. You learn more about his glory. And as you do, I promise you, and I can’t promise you many things, but I promise you this, as you do, you will love him more and more, and you will trust him more and more, and you will know, and I mean deep in your soul, know, that when you’re lost, he will find you when you’re weary. He will carry you when you are afraid. He’s going to draw even closer when you’re hungry. He will feed you when you’re thirsty. He will take you beside still waters when you are cast down, he will restore you what you need. He will provide and when you walk through that valley, friends, he will be with you. He will be with you.

Courtney Doctor
So how do we respond? Know this Good Shepherd and follow this Good Shepherd all the days of your life. Let’s pray Almighty God, thank you for sending your son. Thank you Jesus for coming to be our good Good Shepherd. Thank you that you seek and you save and you feed and you lead and you guide and you protect. Thank you that you never leave us. You never forsake us, but you stay with us on every path and through every valley. And Lord, we look forward to the day that we will see you face to face the Lamb of God, the Great Shepherd of our souls, hold us and keep us until that day we pray in the name of the crucified and risen lamb. Amen.