Know The Good and True Shepherd

John 10:1-21

Jesus the True Shepherd

1 "Most assuredly, I say to 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. 2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers." 6 Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them.

Jesus the Good Shepherd

7 Then Jesus said to them again, "Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 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.

11 "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. 12 But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. 13 The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. 15 As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. 16 And other sheep 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.

17 "Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. 18 No one takes 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 command I have received from My Father."

19 Therefore there was a division again among the Jews because of these sayings. 20 And many of them said, "He has a demon and is mad. Why do you listen to Him?"

21 Others said, "These are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?"

Jesus is the great Shepherd of the sheep, the good and true Shepherd of His people whom He has set apart for Himself from before we were conceived in our mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13, 16, Ephesians 1:4, Romans 8:29-30) and set foot in this world.  There is therefore no other shepherd we can substitute for Him to follow who alone is able to lead us in the paths of righteousness form his name’s sake (Psalm 23:1-3) that we may honor and glorify our Maker and Lord.  Anyone who attempts to enter into eternal life which we often refer to as Heaven will be sorely disappointed; the end of any wide open door is only eternal suffering.  The ones falsely claiming to be shepherds who do not lead us through Christ Jesus as the door itself give false and misleading promises apart from the only gospel of the one Shepherd who is able to lead us from death to life (John 5:24, 14:6, Acts 4:12).  Jesus Christ there is both the door to enter into God’s acceptance for salvation and the Shepherd who leads us into and through Himself as the destination.  This is only possible if we believe into Christ and not just about Him with facts and catechisms alone.  When He calls a man or woman to Himself He leads them in to union with Himself as His flock that is lovingly cared for and protected from loss or lasting harm.  He will not allow anyone or anything to take us from His hand () and watches over us with His rod and staff (Psalm 23:4) to bring us to graze with Him forever (Psalm 23:6).  We who are His sheep therefore know His voice and follow Him and not another shepherd in wolve’s attire dressed to appear as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14-15, Galatians 1:8) but are not proceeding from God’s throne.  We only can find good pasture by following the one whose voice we know and we who know Him will not long follow after any other.  As it is written here, the sheep flee from strangers who pretend to be shepherds but only mislead those who cannot distinguish the Great Shepherd’s voice from the deceiver’s.  When Jesus told this illustration to the hearers they could not grasp the meaning because they could not understand His voice unless they were His and He open their ears to hear (Isaiah 32:3, 35:5, Luke 8:8, Mark 7:34-35, 37).  

This good Shepherd then calls those given ears to be able to hear and understand the calling of their election (Romans 8:28, 1 Thessalonians 1:4, 2 Timothy 1:9, 2 Peter 1:10) and who then follow Him out of darkness into the marvelous light of His presence.  He gifts us with abundant life instead of the ones who only steal, kill, and destroy us and all we desire and we then find this overwhelming grace to be more than e to sustain us through every trial and adversity of the circumstances of life.  As our good Shepherd, Jesus has given His life for us on the cross symbolic of the curse of our sin that we might have this abundance of joy and peace with God (Romans 5:1, 15:13) in and through Him in every good pasture He leads us through.  The false shepherds are only out for themselves, running away instead of protecting the sheep and allowing them to be devoured by the wolves (Matthew 7:15, Acts 20:29) set out to destroy God’s flock (Revelation 12:17) who testify of God’s gospel of grace and goodness given by the true Shepherd.  This good Shepherd knows us (2 Timothy 2:19) just as we who follow know Him who is known by the Father and has laid down His life sacrificially for us.  He is looking for His sheep still by the word of the gospel which we proclaim throughout the world that those who He is calling may hear and receive Him as they turn from sin to Him by the conviction brought from Him by the hearing of the message preached (1 Corinthians 1:21) by us.  He died and rose again from death to life to make this possible, a feat which no false shepherd can ever imitate.  The Jews then argued over these words of the Lord as they refused to acc the truth with closed ears, yet even then some asked how Jesus could open the eye of the blind just as they knew he had opened the ears of the deaf before.  This demonstrates how people will listen but only those given the ability to hear their Master’s voice will be able to understand and follow Him into green pastures.  Do you know this good and true Shepherd with absolute certainty?  Be sure and not misled.