John 10:11

I know what I'll do. With my own arm, I will rescue my people. I will seek out my sheep. I will gather them. I will keep them safe. I will feed them I myself will shepherd the sheep and make with them a covenant of peace

Ezekiel 34 testifies that Yahweh himself is the Good Shepherd But then you don't see the Shepherd again until you get to our passage here in John 10 And that's what's so captivating about Jesus when he declares. He's the Good Shepherd He's referencing Ezekiel 34. I mean, every Jew would have known the promises that God will come to be their shepherd. They would have been searching for the one who's going to care for them and protect them and feed them and guide them and bring them peace. And so when John chapter 10 arrives in this chronology and Jesus declares verse 11, I am the good shepherd, this is a very bold and clear declaration of his own deity. Because if Jesus is this good shepherd, that means that he is the fulfillment of Ezekiel 34, and that means that he is God incarnate. Jesus is declaring he is Yahweh God living a life on earth. But as bold as that declaration is, Somehow the statement that follows in verse 11 is still even more stunning because look at what he says. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. What? He ties this identity of the good shepherd with his death? And that's startling because if you're a Jew listening to Jesus who knows the promises of Ezekiel 34, then you know that the shepherd doesn't die in Ezekiel 34. So what's this about? You're telling me that the Good Shepherd is gonna die? That God, God is gonna die? And the answer is yes. He has to. Because the only way God can bring about the covenant of peace with his sheep, with us, that he promised back in Ezekiel 34, is if this shepherd dies. There is no other way. You see, because of our sin, there can be no peace between us and God. Our sin requires death. It requires blood. That's the price of peace. But God has offered amnesty now so that we might escape his judgment later. He's offering peace to rebels and he's purchased this peace through the death of this good shepherd. On the cross, Jesus was slaughtered and bore the full wrath of God that we deserved in order to solidify a new covenant of peace wherein everyone who believes in Jesus Christ, God's only begotten son, is reconciled to God. Don't miss the irony. The good shepherd becomes our Passover lamb so that his blood could cover our sins. That's what's at stake here. His death makes atonement, the forgiveness of sins, and his blood establishes this covenant of peace. Jesus dies for the sheep. And his death, by the way, it's entirely voluntary. I mean, look at that language in verse 11.

I lay down my life.

It's not taken from him. We can't speak like that because our lives will invariably be taken from us. But Jesus, in verse 18, no one takes his life from him, but he lays it down by his own accord, his own design. He's the one orchestrating it. In other words, what Jesus is saying here is that he intends to die according to his definite plan and foreknowledge. That's how much he loves his sheep. What a good shepherd. He cares about his sheep. He knows which ones are his and he knows them and he loves them intimately and personally and perfectly. And because of that, he would die for them voluntarily. What an amazing love. The greatest love, a complete contrast with the other wicked shepherds. And I hope that this makes you ask yourself this question this evening, because this is the most important question you could possibly ask in your life. Are you one of his sheep? Or perhaps we could ask a more specific question. Whose sheep are you? See, the reality is we're all sheep. Whether we like it or not, we all have a shepherd. There's someone, something, a desire in our hearts that we follow. And that's just the nature of sheep. I mean, there's so much literature on this, stories about how. six or seven shepherds would put their sheep in a pen together at night. And when morning comes, the shepherds would come and they would call for their sheep and the sheep would divide and follow the right shepherd based upon the voice. They would not follow a stranger. Jesus is talking about this in verse four and five and 16 and 27. So I think we would do well to reflect for a moment. Who is your shepherd? Whose call do you follow? Listen, there are so many bad and wicked shepherds out there calling for their sheep. And I'm not just talking about false religions. They can take the form of pleasure or work or family or even morality. These shepherds, they promise comfort and safety and happiness, asking you to just trust them. And they seem so good and plausible, but they only lead to the slaughter, right? That's been one of the themes of the Sunday sermons for the past couple of weeks. All is vanity. But the good shepherd is also calling for his sheep. And what Jesus calls us to in this new covenant of peace is to crucify ourselves, to die to ourselves, and to follow him. That's how you can know you're one of his sheep. Because this call is not natural. It's not something you can do unless you are one of his sheep. He's calling you to kill all the desires in your hearts, to just get rid of them, and that's not possible. You know this, it's just basic fourth grade science. Nature abhors a vacuum. And so it is with the nature of our hearts. You can't just get rid of your desires. You could trade one earthly sinful desire for another, but you can't just get rid of them and have nothing take its place. What you need is for the Spirit to come into your heart and to replace your natural desires with supernatural desires, with spiritual desires, with love for God, with love for His glory, with love for His goodness, with love for His character. And that's exactly what God does in the New Covenant. He gives us His Spirit to respond to His call, to lift the veil so that we see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, and we can recognize that I'm a creature in the image of the God who made me, and I've sinned against this God. And I see my sin, and I see Christ. And in Christ, I see a merciful Savior who will forgive me and rejoin my life with the God who made me and will make me happy forever, and I love Him. And when your love is for Christ and His glory, you can take up your cross and follow Him. Apart from that, the call of the new covenant to deny yourself is just, it's misery. But if your eyes have been opened to see that Christ is better than anything that you could hope, think, or imagine, and what He offers you when He offers you to come to me is He offers you more than you could ever dream of. You trade the whole world. In fact, what good would it be if you gained the whole world and forfeited Christ? And so, if you are one of his sheep, and when you hear his call, his commands may sound absolutely ridiculous, just totally ludicrous, but I want you to be encouraged with this reminder that it's worth it. Because not only will you receive life everlasting in the future, but he, as your good shepherd, cares about you even now, at this very moment. When he commands you to do something that may cause you to lose your job, may cause you to be shunned by your family and friends, may cause you to lose everything. When He commands you to do something that just makes you think, don't you care? Don't you understand? I want you to know that He does care, and you can trust Him because He has promised to work all things together for your good, for the good of those who belong to Him, all things, even the things that are hard, painful, or even evil. And I get that that can be a hard thing to understand because there are genuinely evil things in this world. But the only way I know to understand that is what we pulled out from this text earlier. And that is that Jesus was delivered up by the definite plan and foreknowledge of God. That is that the cross, which is by any objective measure, the greatest evil that has ever occurred in human history, the crucifixion of the sinless, perfect, infinitely glorious son of God, the wicked and treacherous unjust murder of the son of God, if there is evil in this world, there it is on a cross on the hill. That's wicked. And yet it was part of God's definite plan. Listen, the cross is not an accident. It's within the scope. No, it's at the center of God's purpose. And yet, of course, the cross is simultaneously evil and the greatest good in the universe. It collects a people from every tribe, tongue, and nation to God's throne to worship him forever, redeemed, ransomed people, washed of their sins, and purified to stand before God and to know him and enjoy him eternally. That's the greatest good that's ever happened. Now, if God can turn the greatest evil into the greatest good, then certainly he can turn the evils in our lives into good. He can turn our tragedies into triumphs. He can reach into our sufferings and bring us to salvation. And so when his call comes into your life and he commands you to die to yourself, then his call, as ludicrous as that sounds to a natural man, just makes sense to a supernatural man, to a sheep who belongs to God, Jesus Christ's commands make sense. Yes, of course, the shepherd who died for me, of course, the shepherd who bore the full wrath of God for me, of course, the shepherd cares for me. Of course, when the shepherd commands me, he commands me for my good. Yes, of course, I will follow him. Will you pray with me? Father, you are our shepherd. You guide us and care for us and love us. And we thank you for sending your son to be our good shepherd here on earth, who laid down his life for us, his sheep, that we might be able to enter into your presence and enjoy you forever. And we ask now that your spirit apply these truths that we just heard to our hearts, that we might trust you and follow you in all things. In Jesus' name, amen.