Please turn back in your Bibles to the passage we just read from, which is John's Gospel and chapter 10. And we've got the word open before us, let's bow our heads and ask his help to understand his word and to hear from him this morning. O gracious God, we thank you that you have graciously given us your word, preserved it through the ages. And we have it translated faithfully in our English language. We have freedom to open it, to read it. And Lord, we pray that you would come and by your spirit, shine light on these pages this morning. Show us our saviour in all his beauty, we pray. And encourage and build up your people. And we ask, Lord, that you would work in those here who are unsaved, bringing them closer to the Saviour, opening eyes, bringing life to that which is dead, saving souls. Lord, we pray great things today, but Lord, we pray work in our service and be present to bless. We praise your name. In the name of Jesus, amen. John's Gospel and chapter 10. It's a familiar passage, isn't it, to us as we've read this morning about the Good Shepherd, a passage we know and love very well. But chapter 10, as you'd expect, follows chapter nine. In chapter nine has the account of Jesus healing the man who was born blind. And through that chapter, which we didn't read this morning, you'll see how the Pharisees were indignant towards Jesus. Tell us, and also towards the man who was born blind, who was healed. And they said to him, tell us how you now see. What did this man do to you that you now see? They accused that man who was born blind, who was healed, of being one of his disciples, steeped in sin from birth, they say. And they say, how dare you lecture us, as he seeks to show them the one who had healed him. And what did they do to him? They throw him out of the synagogue. They throw him out of that community. Jesus had healed him, given him life, and the Pharisees accused Jesus of being an imposter, one who's come to cause problems, one who's come to destroy even. They say in chapter nine, verse 16, that Jesus is not from God. They say that he's a sinner in verse 24. And they say themselves that we are disciples of Moses. But as for this fellow, they say in verse 28 and 29, we know that God spake unto Moses, but as for this fellow, we know not from whence he is. Where does he come from? They accuse Jesus of these things. And what follows in chapter 10, explains and reveals and shows who Jesus truly is. In light of these accusations, in light of all that they've said about Jesus, Jesus here reveals who he is. He's not an imposter, but he is the good shepherd, the one sent from God, the one who's come to rescue his people and gather God's people together. And there's a contrast in this chapter between his ministry of reconciliation with God and that of the Pharisees, who should have been leading God's people, but were not good shepherds at all. This passage, as we read it, is deep and profound. It covers a lot of ground in just a few verses. But in looking at this chapter, we'll do so hopefully simply and clearly under three headings. We'll firstly consider his arrival, the Good Shepherd's arrival. We'll consider his authority. And then we'll finally consider his love. His arrival, his authority, and his love. I'm sure, like us, all of you, if not many of you, were watching the television set in May as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle got married in St. George's Chapel in Windsor. And the bride came, as we'd expect, and all the cameras were poised and watching her arrival, and she came and she enters the chapel through the door. It's the expected way, isn't it, for a bride to come in through the front of the church. It would be very unusual if the bride would come in through the back door, or some other way, or climbing through the window. You'd think, what is going on here? It was the promised arrival of the bride, expected, normal, and clear for everyone to see, as you no doubt watched on television, or if you in Windsor saw perhaps there on the screens. And so with Jesus' arrival as well, as he came in the incarnation. It's an arrival that's expected. We have here in chapter 10, as Jesus begins by telling this parable of the sheepfold, a scene set in a village, a village courtyard. And within that village, there'd be a wall around sheep, where the families in the village would keep their own sheep there. And these walls would be fairly high, six and a half feet high, we're told. And the sheep would be kept together, kept safe from those who would come in and try to destroy or steal the sheep. And there was a door or a gate on that particular enclosure. And there'd be a watchman there, a porter, a doorkeeper. And the shepherd would come. would not climb over the wall, would not seek another way, the shepherd would come through the door and call his sheep, the sheep he'd come for, to pasture. The rightful shepherd arrives by the door. It's a very simple picture that Jesus paints here. It's the proper way, it's the expected way, and the porter or the doorkeeper knows the shepherd as he comes, opens the door for the shepherd. The sheep see the shepherd, hear the shepherd's voice, and they recognize his arrival. And the shepherd leads the sheep out to pasture. That is the picture that Jesus paints here. And he gives us a contrast. The contrast is with the thief and the robber. They don't go through the door. They don't go to the porter and ask entry into the sheepfold. They seek to climb in another way, and they come to steal and to kill and to destroy. An imposter, Jesus is saying, would come another way. Not through the door. And his aim would be to do damage. Jesus is not an imposter. He's coming through the expected way. An arrival that's expected. And his arrival is as promised as well. It's a promised arrival. We read at the beginning of our service from Isaiah in as many passages in the Old Testament which speaks of God as being a shepherd for his people. And we read, didn't we, Isaiah 40 in verse 11. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with his arm, carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. This is how God is with his people, a good shepherd. As he led his people out from Egypt and through the wilderness into the promised land, he did so as a good shepherd, as he led his people. But the people had turned astray. had gone away from the Lord. And he speaks in Ezekiel particularly of a time when he'd come and gather his people again to himself. He, in that passage in Ezekiel, warns those who are false shepherds, those who have arisen in the nation, those who are amongst the people who should have been leading the people to God, but instead were seeking their own gain, exploiting and dominating the people. And God says in Ezekiel, I, even I, will both search my sheep, seek them out, as a shepherd seeks out his flock, in the day that he is among his sheep, and that are scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will deliver them. God promises to rescue his people. That passage in Ezekiel is during the exile and the passage in Isaiah was looking forward to that time when the people would be taken into exile and God is saying, I will rescue my people. I will not abandon them. I will bring them again to myself. The amazing thing in Ezekiel, in Ezekiel chapter 34 and verse 23, He says there that, I will set up one shepherd. God said that he will be the shepherd for his people and he will gather his people to himself. But then he goes on and says, I will set up one shepherd over them. He shall feed them, even my servant David. He shall feed them and he shall be their shepherd. Obviously these words were written a long time after David had died. What do these words mean? Is David gonna come back to life again in some mysterious way? Is that what this passage is speaking about? It's among many prophetic passages in the Old Testament, looking forward to the one who would come, the Messiah, the Christ, who would be like David, a good king, a good shepherd. and he shall lead his people, he shall feed his people, and he will be their shepherd. And so Jesus comes. He is the fulfilment of this passage. He comes as the promised shepherd. He comes as the son of David. He comes as one like David. He comes as Christ, the Messiah, the Saviour. And so we see in this passage, chapter 10 of John, the arrival of the Good Shepherd, an arrival that's expected and an arrival that is promised. And we stop at this point and we ask ourselves the question, and I ask you the question, have you recognized Jesus' arrival? Have you recognized his arrival? His arrival that was expected, is expected and is promised. Jesus came, in that passage we read from, we saw, didn't we, the reaction of the Pharisees. His arrival was divisive, and some rejected him, while others embraced and were drawn irresistibly to him. Those who are waiting for the promised Christ to come. The promised shepherds rejoiced at his coming. We think of Simeon, don't we, at the temple, as he saw Christ presented there. How he rejoiced, and Anna as well. They rejoiced at the Saviour's birth. The shepherds, how they rejoiced. And many others. God has come to save us. Our God has come to rescue us. The expected saviour has come. The promised saviour has come. God's redemption is come. The good shepherd has come. Do you recognise the good shepherd in Christ Jesus? He has come, as promised, as expected. If you do recognise him this morning as a Christian, as a believer, then there's encouragement, isn't there, in this passage. As we think of our saviour as the good shepherd, He comes to shepherd you and me, his people. He cares for us, his people. We know, don't we, Psalm 23, that famous psalm which begins, the Lord is my shepherd and I shall not want. We shall not want because we have a good shepherd in the Lord Jesus Christ. It doesn't mean that life will be without problems. It doesn't mean that life will be without suffering. We know very well, don't we, that there is suffering in this world and suffering in our lives and problems which we face. How about the blind man? He was healed and you think that would be the end of his problems. Problems he'd experienced up till now were alleviated. But what happened to him next? He was thrown out of the synagogue, thrown out of his community, and he went from being blind to being an outcast in just one day. He had problems and suffering to experience, but Jesus came and found him, and even as he was bewildered, wondering what just happened, Jesus came at the end of chapter nine, and there comforted him. He comes as the good shepherd to his people. And our shepherd is there for you too. As Psalm 23 says, even though I walk through the valley, through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Be encouraged this morning as we see our saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, as he's presented here in the scriptures, as the good shepherd. If you know him, if you love him, if you put your faith and trust in him as saviour, then you can see him, can't you, as your good shepherd, as he leads and guides you through life, his arrival. And then secondly, we see here in this passage his authority, the authority of the Good Shepherd. We were recently, just over a week ago, on holiday in Wales, first for us as a family, to go to that particular part of the UK, and there were lots of sheep around where we were staying, and they're loud. We didn't realise how loud sheep are. And we could watch the sheepdog across in the field, rounding up the sheep, and we went for a walk up the ridge, looking down at the valley, and had a very good view there, and you could see the sheep running this way and that way as the sheepdog followed and tried to get the sheep to be into where they should be, driving the sheep. And you could hear the shepherd as well calling the sheepdog and it began very politely and very calmly and towards the end he was getting a bit frustrated with the sheepdog and you could hear him as he was calling his commands. The shepherding was different in the New Testament time. Whereas we witnessed the shepherding as driving the sheep, the shepherd would come and lead the sheep. The shepherd would come and walk in front of the sheep, and the sheep would follow the shepherd, his authority. And Jesus comes as the good shepherd. He comes with authority. And his authority that he comes with is original. It comes from God himself. As Jesus comes, he calls his sheep by name. We see that in verse three, don't we? He calls his sheep by name. And the response of the sheep is they hear his voice. They listen to him. The shepherd comes and he leads them out. Verses three to five speak of the shepherd leading the sheep out of the enclosure. And what's the response of the sheep? They follow, they go, they obey his call and his leading. And then the shepherd, as we've said, goes before the sheep, ahead of the sheep. And the response of the sheep is to follow. Jesus gives a contrast in his passage. of the stranger who would come and would attempt to call the sheep or lead the sheep or go before the sheep. How would the sheep respond to the stranger? Well, the sheep would not hear his voice. In fact, they'd be frightened at that voice and they'd run away, the passage shared. They will not listen or follow. Instead, they would flee. Jesus shows here his authority as he comes and calls his people. The Pharisees were accusing him of being an imposter, a stranger. But yet as he called, his people respond. They hear his voice. He leads them out and they follow him because he is the true Good Shepherd. His authority is also unique, unique. We see in this passage, as the passage unfolds into verses seven and following, the scene changes now to the open country. The shepherd's come, he's taken his sheep out of the enclosure in the village, through that door and taken them out to pasture. The scene changes as the sheep are led to graze. And overnight, they'll stay in a rough stone enclosure. There'd be thorns and such like on top of those stones and those rocks to stop the animals getting into the sheep. And the shepherd would lay down in the open doorway of that enclosure, the entrance. The shepherd would become the door to the sheep, the only way in or out for the sheep. And so Jesus declares here, doesn't he, in verses seven and nine emphatically, I am the door. I am the door. I am the entrance. I am the way in and out. All that come before me, they're thieves and robbers. They're not the shepherd. They're imposters. They're false shepherds. But I am the good shepherd and I am the door. I am the way, I am. It's one of those I am statements which John brings out through his gospel. And together, as he put all those I am statements together, it paints a beautiful portrait of the saviour, of the Lord Jesus Christ. Reveals in all the many facets that he is God himself, come to save. The I am, who Moses speaks with in the wilderness in Exodus 3. I am that I am. Jesus comes, he is the I am who has come to save and this passage shows him in that particular aspect as the door. I am the way, I am the entrance to life. I am the way of salvation, Jesus is saying here. I have come to save. Verse nine, I have come to give life. Verse 10, eternal life. Verse 28, and that they would have it more abundantly, abundant life or to the full. Jesus comes as the way. As John later goes on to recall Jesus saying in chapter 14, verse six, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father, but by me. He comes to save, he comes to give life, he comes to protect his sheep, to guard them, to preserve them, to keep them safe. As it says in verse 28, later on in the chapter, The Good Shepherd is the one who holds his people. As he gives them eternal life, they shall never perish, neither shall any man, anything, any person, anyone pluck them out of my hand. Do you see the authority of the Good Shepherd, our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ? You may say this morning, Well, I hear what you're saying from this passage, but there are many religions in this world, many philosophies, many ways who all claim some kind of authority, even my own way. How can we know? How can we be sure? If these things were only based upon my own ideas, then we'd have reason to doubt, and good reason, if it's based on my own thoughts and ideas. But we don't discover God in the way that other religions seek to find God or see in that way. But rather, the Bible is God's revelation to us. And God reveals himself to us. God starts the conversation. God comes and shows himself through his word and through his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the perfect revelation of God. These aren't my ideas. This is God revealing himself to us. His authority is in his Son. Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And Jesus claims his authority, that it's original and unique, not from man, but from God himself. God's revelation, as John says in the very first verse of his gospel. The word was made flesh and dwelt among us. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. This authority is unique. There's only one shepherd, only one saviour, and he's incomparable. has no equal. All other ways, all other religions, all other philosophies, all other idols, all other saviour claims in this world are thieves and robbers. They lead to ruin, they lead to destruction, and they rob you of life. They are strangers to truth and strangers to God. Don't be deceived. All religions do not lead to God. There is only one way. The Lord Jesus Christ is the only saviour. He is the door, the one door. And his sheep, as we have seen this morning, they hear his voice as he comes and calls his people in this world to himself. Have you heard his voice? Have you heard the voice of the Good Shepherd as he calls his authority? Will you follow him today? All who come through him, all who follow him, he gives eternal life. He is the way of life. How will you respond today as you hear his voice? And then finally we see here, as we've seen his arrival and we've seen his authority, we see his love, the love of the good shepherd. Jesus says in Luke's gospel in chapter 15, the story of the man, the shepherd who has a hundred sheep, and one goes missing, so he counts the sheep in in the evening and back into the sheepfold and 99, where's the one? Where's he gone? He leaves the 99 and he goes out to search for that missing sheep, to find it. He so loves that sheep. He cannot bear for it to be alone and to be lost. He goes and finds it. He searches diligently until he does find it and he rescues that sheep and he lays that sheep upon his shoulder and brings it home. Isn't that love? that the shepherd would sacrificially go out and find that missing sheep. Selfless love, giving love, putting others, in this case, one sheep before himself. Love. And Jesus in this passage shows that he is the good shepherd and the good shepherd is a loving shepherd and his love is a love that saves. As Jesus declares twice, verses 11 and 14, I am the good shepherd. I am, another I am statement. Emphasising he is the promised shepherd as we've seen. The one from God. He is good. He's unlike the false shepherds. He's unlike the leaders which Ezekiel spoke of in Ezekiel 34. He is good, and he's come for his lost sheep, to bring them to himself, to rescue and to save them out of love for his people. And so, as a good shepherd, he gives his life, or he lays down his life, a phrase that's repeated four times in verses 11, 15, 17, and 18. I lay down my life, I lay down my life, I give my life. for the sheep, for the sheep. As we've seen already, this picture of the shepherd laying down his life in the door of the sheep enclosure to provide safety, security, and salvation, that they were safe there with him as the door. He gives his life. and lays down his life. But the meaning here is deeper still, because it means that he lays down, he gives his life in exchange, in place of the sheep. It's one thing laying down in the sheep enclosure, but what happens when a wolf comes? What happens when a lion comes or a bear comes? Well, we see, don't we, the contrast here with the hireling, who when the wolf comes, he runs away. Though he may have been laying down there to begin with, he runs away. He's not the shepherd. He's been paid a fee to look after the sheep, and this is above his pay grade, to give his life for the sheep. But the shepherd, no, he cares for the sheep, he loves the sheep, he gives his life, he lays down his life for the sheep. While we were in Wales, we heard some strange noises in the night. We'd go out on the balcony and we could hear the sheep very loud in the evening. It was bad enough, but these other noises were unusual to our town ears. And we think they're badgers, and you see a picture of badgers, and you think they're cute, they're nice, fluffy animals, but no, they sounded pretty ferocious, and the people we're staying with said, well, I think I came close to one one evening, I could almost feel the ground shaking as it bounded towards me, and I moved myself away. They're ferocious, and that's just a smaller animal. Imagine a wolf coming in the night. How ferocious that would be. Now David knew the shepherd's life, didn't he? And he tells a story in 1 Samuel 17, before he fights with Goliath, and says that he laid down his life for the sheep, when he fought a bear, and a lion as well. And then Jesus comes, doesn't he, as the one greater than David, who lays down his life for the sheep. He's not a highling. He's not a hired hand. He is the Good Shepherd. It's a love that saves, but also it's a love that's known. A love that's known. Jesus declares, I am the Good Shepherd in verse 14, and I know my sheep. I know my sheep, and they know me. I'm not just a hired hand. I'm not just employed for the day or for the season. I'm not temporary cover. I know my sheep, and they know me. And this knowledge of the sheep is profound, as Jesus explains, as the Father knows me, and I know the Father, in verses 14 and 15. What knowledge is this? As the Son knows the Father, and the Father knows the Son, so I know my sheep, and they know me. as we're brought into this close communion, this close fellowship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. This is deep, isn't it? Through Christ Jesus, he knows us and we know him, as the Father knows the Son. And this love of the Father to the Son and the Son to the Father, this love that's eternally true and constant, is the basis for God's love for the world. It's the basis of salvation itself. It makes salvation possible because God is love. Within his person, within the Trinity, God is love. And from this love, Jesus Christ comes and lays down his life for his people. He comes to Calvary and dies on that cross. for you and for me. This is the heart of the gospel. As Jesus shows here the good shepherd that comes, he shows he comes to lay down his life, to give his life a ransom for many. But also he speaks of him taking his life up again, the resurrection, because death could not defeat the good shepherd. No, the good shepherd overcomes death and overcomes sin and rises again from the dead. This is the heart of the gospel. And don't we need this gospel? Don't we need this good news? Don't we need this good shepherd, this saviour, this morning? Isaiah says, doesn't he, in chapter 53, verse six, all we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. That's outside of Christ. We've turned everyone to our own way. There's none that doeth good, no, not one, the Bible says. But this is the amazing thing in Isaiah. It says the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Our sin is laid on Christ. What love is this? What love, what great love is this? John explores this further in chapter 15 where he says, greater love has no man than this, than a man lay down his life for his friends. But what love is this where Christ comes and lays down his life and gives his life for those who have no thought or care for God, who are dead in trespasses and sins, and yet Christ comes and lays down his life for us. This is amazing love, isn't it? As Jesus bears the sins of his people, dies in our place, and hallelujah, rises again the third day, so we can see and know that he has triumphed. And those sins which we have committed against God, as they are laid on Christ, are no more. Because he is alive. and he is ascended. The Good Shepherd today is ascended, living on the right hand of the Father, coming again for us, his people. This is the love of God that saves and knows. There's great encouragement here, isn't there, this morning for us as believers, as Christians? to hear this good news and to see our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd, and to know that love of God, the love of the Good Shepherd, and to be safe in His hand, as it says in verse 28, where no one can pluck you from the hand of the Good Shepherd. Even when the wolf comes, where do we turn? We don't trust, do we, in a priest or a church, even a Baptist church, a religion, or ourselves, or our own knowledge or ideas. We trust in Christ, the Good Shepherd. He is the one who laid down his life and took it up again. And in him, we are safe in his hand. Nothing can pluck you from his grip. And as we're thinking about that knowledge being encouraged this morning, as we think that he knows you, he knows all about you, every facet of your life. Nothing is too big and nothing is too small for the Good Shepherd. He laid down his life for you. What are we trusting in this morning? What are you trusting in? And what are you looking for, for deliverance through life? As we enter this new week, as we encounter difficulties and situations in our life which we perhaps didn't foresee, and bang, it hits us. What do we do on Monday morning? What will you do? Will you turn to your Good Shepherd and say, I'm in your hands, Lord. Deliver me. I turn to you for help in this crisis, in this point, whatever it might be. And those ongoing struggles we deal with in our bodies, in our lives, those health situations perhaps, when life is difficult and that pain is real, you have a good shepherd who knows all about it. who endured the suffering and the pain and the agony of living in this fallen world but then dying on the cross for your sins. Bring those things to him as your good shepherd and know that he knows you and he loves you. You can rest in his hands. Where will you turn? Where will you turn? But finally, there's another point of application I want to bring from this passage, and that is the pattern for us to follow. We've seen our saviour. We've seen the beauty of the good shepherd this morning. But there is, as I said at the beginning, a comparison between Jesus and the Pharisees. They were, on one hand, supposed to be shepherding the people, but were bad shepherds. Jesus comes to show what a good shepherd is. What a good shepherd is. We may point the finger this morning at the Pharisees and say, well, that was crazy what they did. How could they treat that man so badly, the one born blind? How could they throw him out? He's been healed. They should have embraced him. They should have sought after Jesus and seen him as the one who has come to save. We may point the finger, but are we guilty in some measure of the same failings? Do we lack in love and care for others as those Pharisees did? We have responsibilities, don't we? People that we know, different spheres of life, different relationships. How are we shepherding people? Whether we're elders, pastors, leaders, or teachers, parents, grandparents, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, church members, Christians. I think that covers all of us, doesn't it? We all have relationships and opportunities to come along someone else, to show love and care for someone else, to shepherd someone else, in those different relationships and different spheres in our lives. As we've seen Jesus this morning, Jesus Christ, our Saviour, the Good Shepherd, as we follow Him, we get to know Him more, to love Him more, to see Him more. And God in His mercy, through His Spirit, makes us more like Him. It's not about today thinking I must be more like Jesus and trying hard out of our own efforts. No, we come to Jesus and we say, I'm not like this. I am a sinner, saved by grace, but Lord, by your Spirit, you can change me, work in me. And through that, he empowers us to live out the life he's given you to the full, abundant life, more abundantly. The Apostle Paul speaks on this issue, and with this I'll close. Ephesians 5, he says there in verses one and two, be imitators therefore, or be followers of God. Be followers, be imitators of God. That is profound, isn't it? That's worth stopping and thinking, how can that be possible? The Apostle says, as dear children, walk in love. Your manner of life should be a life of love, as Christ has loved you. and loved us and has given himself for us, it says in Ephesians, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour. As Christ has come as the good shepherd, laid down his life for you and so loved you, Paul says, be you therefore followers, imitators of God as dear children. Our manner of life must be a life of love, love for others, As God has loved you, so go and love others. Let's pray. Our loving Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word this morning. We thank you for this passage, which is a wonderful passage. It shows us our saviour. as the Good Shepherd, the one who's come to save, the one who has come to gather his people and to lead his people, the one who loves his people, the one who calls his people. This morning, we bow our knee to him and we worship the Lord Jesus Christ. We acknowledge him as our Lord, as our God, as our Saviour. We pray, Lord, have mercy upon us, as your people this morning, to be imitators, followers of Christ, that we would in our lives show others the good shepherds as they would see our lives before them. They would see something of Christ in us. Lord, forgive us for our failings in this. And Lord, empower us by your Spirit to live out lives which follow and show Christ. We pray, Lord, this morning. for those in our service who do not know the Good Shepherd, who have heard the message this morning but have not yet heard his voice calling to them, or perhaps are resisting his voice, thinking that they can hinder that call. Lord, have mercy upon them this morning. Open eyes, open ears, open hearts, grant life, we pray, that we may see many in this church, in this fellowship, coming to know the Good Shepherd and following him. Lord, we look to you this morning to hear and answer our prayers as we pray these things in accordance to your word, for your glory and for your honour. Amen.