I'm persuaded that you have heard many sermons about Jesus the lamb of God,
the sacrifice that takes away the sins of the world.
The focus is on the imagery of Jesus as the unblemished sacrifice in the form of a lamb.
Of course, this was an idea familiar with Jews,
who for centuries
had practiced animal sacrifice,
especially of sheep, among other types of animals. The lamb of God, something that all Jews were very familiar
with, as we are, because we've seen that imagery throughout the New Testament.
Tonight I'd like to develop this thought, but not looking at Jesus as the lamb,
but rather seeing Him as the shepherd, because He was imagined in both ways. He's pictured in
both ways in the Bible. The Bible teaches that Jesus was the sacrificial lamb,
but it also teaches that He was the good shepherd, as well.
So I'd like to explore this idea from the Old and the New Testament with you. I think it would be a very rewarding
study.
Now the working character of a shepherd was quite familiar to both Jews and gentiles.
Unlike today, where machines and various trades and skills are made obsolete within a decade at times,
the life and the work of a shepherd remained the same for centuries.
This is why someone in the 21st century can read the
23rd Psalm or the song we we just sang, I'm thankful to our song leader for that,
we can hear The Lord is My Shepherd,
written by a shepherd some 2,900 years ago, and understand exactly
what the shepherd is talking about; because that job, that task, that work has not changed significantly.
in all of that time. We still have shepherds today and their life and work is pretty much the same as it was
when David wrote that song.
So this timeless image
of the shepherd is used over and over again to describe Jesus's life and
His ministry, but the inspired writers didn't simply compare Jesus to an ordinary shepherd,
they described three shepherd types
that provided insight into Jesus's unique life and
ministry.
Insights that help us to truly know Christ Jesus, who is our shepherd. I want to talk about the three
shepherd types. A type in the Bible is,
It's kind of a preview, if you wish, it's a preview of things to come.
There are three types or three previews of Jesus as a
Shepherd, different kinds of shepherds, alright. The first type is
Jesus as the promised Shepherd.
One of the promises contained in the Old Testament was that God would send a shepherd to care and to
comfort His people. In Isaiah chapter 40, beginning in verse 9, Isaiah writes,
"Get yourself up on a high mountain, O Zion, bearer of good news, lift up your voice mightily, O Jerusalem, bearer of good news;
Lift it up, do not fear. Say to the cities of Judah, "Here is your God!" Behold, the Lord God will come with might,
with His arm ruling for Him. Behold, His reward is with Him and His recompense
before Him Like a shepherd,
He will tend His flock, In His arm
He will gather the lambs and carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes."
Isaiah 40: 9-11.
We see Jesus, or
this, a good shepherd to come, a shepherd who will deal with his flock with tremendous care and love. The
prophecy: the coming One would be like a shepherd, the promised shepherd who would care
gently and tenderly for Israel. This imagery is repeated
in Jeremiah, for example, in Jeremiah Chapter 31, verse 10.
Jeremiah writes, " Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and declare in the coastlands afar off, and say,
"He who scattered Israel will gather him and keep him as a shepherd
keeps his flock." Here, another prophet talking about the promised
Shepherd to come. And then in Ezekiel chapter 34, verse 23, Ezekiel writes,
"Then I will set over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will feed them.
He will feed them himself, and he will be their shepherd."
So another type, another image of the
Shepherd to come in the future. A single shepherd who, like David, will provide for the needs of his flock.
Now we know that there are several
messianic images or types of Jesus in the Old Testament. For example,
He was seen as the seed of promise, in Genesis Chapter 3, verse 15.
You know that passage, where God is talking to the serpent, talking to Adam, talking to Eve,
after they have sinned and God says to the serpent, one day someone will come and you will bruise His heel,
and He will crush your head, you know that?
That's the seed promise: one day a seed will come.
And that's the earliest reference to, earliest
messianic reference to Jesus found in Genesis. So one type is a
seed to come.
He's also seen as the suffering servant in Isaiah chapter 53 and following, in other words,
some of the profits, or this particular prophet, wrote about the Messiah to come as a suffering servant. And
then Isaiah writes about the one to come as a
Righteous King in Isaiah 32, verse 1.
Here's the point I want to make with these references here, I don't want to, kind of, mix everything up here.
We have one type,
the shepherd to come, and there were other types for the Messiah. The seed of promise, the suffering servant,
the righteous king, so these and many others reference the position and the mission of the Messiah to come,
but they were difficult for an ordinary person to relate to.
However, the character and the work of a shepherd and the needs of a flock of sheep,
these were things that an ordinary person could understand on a
physical and on an emotional level.
Let me explain a little bit more, I can understand intellectually
what a seed of promise is. If somebody explains that to me, the seed of promise coming, yeah, I get that
intellectually, right. And also the idea of a suffering servant.
I can understand a suffering servant. And I can even picture in my mind
what a righteous king looks and acts like, however, a
shepherd
caring for his flock or a
flock in need of a shepherd, these are things that I can not only
understand up here, but I can also understand them here.
I get it emotionally. I understand, as a human being,
about a shepherd coming to take care of sheep that are lost or that are needy. And so,
knowing Him as my shepherd, helps me to relate and respond to the human side of
Jesus's nature. That's why I've chosen to talk about Jesus as the shepherd tonight.
So when the prophets spoke of the Messiah to come,
using the shepherd imagery, or shepherd type,
they were addressing the everyday needs of ordinary people,
and how God was to send a shepherd to care for them on a daily basis. The food I eat,
the way I live, the protection that I seek each day, are all provided by
Jesus my shepherd. And
I am assured that He knows what it's like to be human, because my Lord through His prophets
described Himself in very human terms
using the imagery of the shepherd, okay?
So there's the introduction. The second shepard type -
so the first type or preview of Shepard was the promised Shepard, the second type was
the good shepherd.
In John chapter 10, verse 11, Jesus said, "I am the good shepherd.
The good shepherd lays down his life for
the sheep." Now when Jesus used the imagery of the shepherd to proclaim His messianic status,
He didn't simply refer to Himself as a shepherd. He didn't say, "I am a shepherd".
He used the term, "I'm the good shepherd."
Because He also wanted to contrast Himself and his ministry to the character and the actions of the bad
shepherds that had led the people, at that time. That's why He said, "I'm the good shepherd",
meaning, I'm the good shepherd as opposed to the bad shepherds that you now have.
The passage,
excuse me, the passage in John Chapter 10 follows the healing of a blind man by Jesus.
The the story describes how the Pharisees and priests try to discredit Jesus, because He had healed this man
of his blindness on the Sabbath Day.
Faced with an undeniable miracle, these Jewish leaders, the recognized shepherds of Israel,
still refused to believe in Jesus and respond to His teaching.
So Jesus refers to them as being blind because of their sins and
disbelief and by implication,
they were useless as leaders. Imagine, somebody does a miracle right in front of you,
and you question the authenticity
of the miracle, because you have happened to have done it on the Sabbath day.
In order to further emphasize their blindness, Jesus gives them a parable about
shepherds.
Before we read this passage, we need a little bit of background information to help us visualize
the scene that Jesus is describing in this parable, since we're not very familiar with shepherds and their
work. Shepherd's used enclosures.
Enclosures were made of stones or branches and they were used as animal pens.
Some shepherds used natural caves in the mountainside to pen their animals at night.
One feature of these folds is that there was only one entrance way for the sheep to enter and to leave.
Sometimes several shepherds
would keep their combined flocks together in one large
sheepfold, and at night the sheep would be put into this enclosure and the shepherd, one of them, would be
selected to sleep in the entranceway.
Sometimes another person would man a gate at night so that the shepherd himself could go sleep in the tent.
The shepherds were familiar with their sheep, to the point that when several flocks were penned together,
the shepherds could call their sheep out to follow and
only their flock would respond. The other sheep that didn't belong to them would stay in the enclosure and
only their sheep
would hear their shepherd's voice and respond to him and leave the enclosure.
So the priests and pharisees
listening to Jesus' parable were familiar with these things, so they didn't need any of this, they didn't need
powerpoint to understand
what He was talking about. Let's read John Chapter 10, begin there.
Jesus says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep,
but climbs up some other way,
he is a thief and a robber.
But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens
and the sheep hear his voice
and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he puts forth all his own,
he goes ahead of them and the sheep follow him, because they know his voice.
A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers."
This figure of speech,
Jesus spoke to them,
but they did not understand what those things were which he had been saying to them.
A simple parable here, compares a true shepherd with a thief.
The thief doesn't enter through the door, but sneaks in over the wall, in order not to be seen.
The shepherd goes through the door and is recognized by the gatekeeper. Remember,
we said sometimes one would man the door
while the others slept. And so when the shepherd got up the next day to go get his sheep,
Well, the one who was manning the gate, he knew who was the shepherd and which flock belonged to which
shepherd.
The sheep both know and follow the voice that they recognize as their shepherd when it's time to leave
the enclosure. The sheep, he says, will not respond to the stranger. I mean, they don't know he's the thief,
they just know that he's not their shepherd. They don't know anything about him.
They only know he's not their shepherd.
What's amazing here
is that the Jewish leaders listening to this parable do not yet understand that this story is about them.
Jesus had said that they were blind as leaders and the fact that they didn't get the parable simply proved it.
So Jesus explains it to them and adds detail, so they don't miss His point.
Jesus leaves the parable style of teaching, but in His explanation He uses metaphors to explain His position.
His own position and His own true
Identity. And so in this passage he describes four features that differentiate the good shepherd
from the bad shepherd.
The first thing that differentiates them is
legitimacy.
What's the difference between the good shepherd and the bad shepherd? Jesus says,
Legitimacy, John Chapter 10, verses 7 to 10. Jesus said to them again, "Truly, truly, I say to you,
"I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers,
but the sheep did not hear them.
I am the door; If anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life; and have it
abundantly."
So when Jesus uses this metaphor, "I am the door",
He means that He is the legitimate way that leaders must come by if they are true shepherds.
The priests and Pharisees did not believe that He was the messiah, the door.
And so they were illegitimate leaders, because of this. Jesus
enumerates many of their evil motives. He also assures that those leaders who do come through the door,
through Jesus, will be blessed in their work and safe from attack. Of course, here
He may be referring to the apostles, who will become the leaders and the shepherds of God's people in
place of the present rulers that they had at that time.
The second feature of the good shepherd, as opposed to the bad shepherd,
the good shepherd is ready to sacrifice
for the sheep. Legitimate one, two, ready to sacrifice, John chapter 10, verse 11 to 13. He says, "I am the good
shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
He who is the hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of 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 is not concerned
about the sheep." So now Jesus changes metaphors and
He refers to Himself, not as the door, now He refers to Himself as the good shepherd.
One of the striking
features of the shepherd, was to what
lengths he would go in order to find lost sheep or to protect his flock. We know this, right?
David, King David, said to Saul
that he fought both lion and bear, in the care and protection of his flock of sheep,
First Samuel, 17 through 36.
And so Jesus, in prophetic mode, now says that the good shepherd is willing to sacrifice
or lay down His life for
the sheep. He's talking about what is to come in the future. They're clueless.
They don't know what He's talking about. An ordinary shepherd would risk his life for the sheep,
but he would not sacrifice his own life for the sheep;
but Jesus, again, in
messianic prophecy mode here, which they did not understand,
Jesus reveals the heart of God's plan for Salvation: the good shepherd
laying down, not risking, but laying down his life.
Willfully giving it up for the safety of his sheep.
This in contrast to the feelings and actions of the hireling or the hired worker, with no concern
but to profit from the sheep.
This is made plain by this person's reaction to a threat towards the sheep Jesus describes.
Jesus may be referring here to the suffering of the Jews in the past, on account of poor leaders that led them into
idolatry. And the present leaders who were discouraging people from coming to Him. His biggest opposition
were the religious leaders who ought to have been preparing people for His arrival.
They were not true shepherds,
he says, and
many had been appointed to their leadership roles not by God, but by Rome. At that time they were selling the
position of high priest. It was being sold to the highest bidder. Rome controlled that position. As a matter of
fact, the governor at that time is the one that -
what's the word,
warehoused, if you wish,
the garments that the priests wore. The priests did not have the sacred garments and all the things that he wore
to do his work. He didn't have that at the priests - in the temple.
Those things were under lock and key by the governor.
So you bought the priesthood and you were permitted from time to time to use the garments;
but only under the supervision of the
of the Governor.
The third feature of the good shepherd, we've talked about the first and second - third feature of the good
shepherd, intimacy. Intimacy. In John 10, verses 14 to 16, relationship with the sheep,
Jesus says,
"I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know me, even as the Father knows Me
And I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.
I have other sheep, which are not of this fold;
I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one
shepherd. Jesus, once again, uses the good shepherd
metaphor to
emphasize the quality of the relationship that true leaders have with their sheep.
He makes a comparison between the intimacy he has with the Father and the
intimate knowledge that exists between Himself and His followers.
This is both a present fact and a future
promise. His disciples first believe in Him, in other words, they enter through the door and are
rewarded by an ever-growing knowledge of the good shepherd.
Jesus expanded on this idea later on in John 17, verse 3, when He said, "And this is eternal life,
that they know thee, the only true
God and Jesus Christ, whom thou has sent." Unlike the hireling,
who, as leader, is only interested in the sheep as a source of satisfaction for his own desires.
What is his desire? Maybe it's profit. Maybe it's pride. Maybe it's the idea of having control.
Whatever it is, his only motivation for being the shepherd is what it brings to him personally.
Jesus says, the good shepherd
enters into a deep relationship
with his flock, that mirrors the
relationship that exists within the godhead. Then Jesus goes, once again, into the
prophetic mode when he says, that other sheep from another fold will be called in to His flock.
So He's made two prophecies. One about the nature of the gospel, right?
That the good shepherd lay down his life for the sheep.
And two, there are other sheep out there that He's going to bring in to His flock.
Again, the leaders should have understood what He was saying, but they didn't, because they were not really
qualified as leaders.
Again, in complete contrast to the present leaders before Him, who were loathe to consider anyone else
worthy to be included into God's household, except for themselves. Never mind
having a relationship with the present sheep.
These guys were not - would never even consider bringing other people, other than Jews, into
the flock. Jesus portrays the good shepherd as one who would have the ability to
unify all men into a special intimate relationship with each other and with God.
So the fourth and final feature of the good shepherd,
authority. The four features of the good Shepherd:
legitimacy, sacrifice, intimacy, authority.
Verses 17 and 18, Jesus said,
"For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it again.
No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on my own initiative.
I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment
I received from My Father."
The priests and the pharisees, they had authority as leaders given to them by the law of Moses.
However, they had overstepped their authority by adding to God's word with their own rules and their own
regulations. And they had abused their authority by manipulating these rules to gain advantage or
They acted as hypocrites by teaching and imposing laws that they, themselves, never kept.
In contrast to their authority, which has been conferred upon them and which they have misused,
Jesus describes, again, in
messianic or prophetic form, He describes His authority. His authority,
He says, is based in Himself. It is not derived from someone else.
His authority is based in power. The power over life and death, which is supreme or
divine power. Let's face it, if you have the ability to raise someone from the dead, you've got all the power.
Somebody else may have a trick or two, here or there, be a good
orator or have a lot of money or look good in priests clothing or whatever,
but if you have the power to raise people from the dead, the game is over.
You're the one with the power.
His authority, He says, is exercised in love,
not in self-service. He doesn't give the details of His death and resurrection here, only the fact that He has the
authority, both, to give His life, and then to take His life back.
His apostles and the priests and the Pharisees will all remember what He has said,
when the time of His death and resurrection
comes. His authority is in agreement with the Father in heaven who has given Him the command, or the
commission to save mankind
with the sacrifice of Himself. To the blind priests and pharisees,
Jesus reveals the full plan of salvation,
but He does it in
parabolic and in prophetic form. He's preached the whole gospel to them, told them everything that's going
to happen, and yet they did not understand. The final verses in this section shows that His words had a
certain impact on His hearers, because some of them began to entertain the thought that He was more than
just a teacher. It says in verse 19,
"A division occurred again among the Jews because of these words. Many of them were saying, "He has a demon and is insane.
Why do you listen to Him?" And others were saying, "These are not the sayings
of one demon-possessed. A demon cannot open the eyes of the blind, can he?"
Now I said in the beginning of my lesson that we can see three types for Jesus as
shepherd. The first type,
Jesus as the promised shepherd, a shepherd in the messianic type, the shepherd who will come and care for
the sheep. Number two,
Jesus as the good shepherd, a shepherd in the sacrificial type, the shepherd who will lay down his life for
the sheep and gather them into one
flock. And then the third type is,
Jesus as the chief shepherd.
The chief shepherd. Let's read First Peter chapter 5. Peter says, "Therefore,
I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow
elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed,
shepherd the flock of God among you,
exercising oversight not under compulsion, but
voluntarily,
according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but
with eagerness; not yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge,
but proving to be examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd appears,
you will receive the unfading crown of glory." And so here, in this passage,
we see Jesus as the shepherd in the
ministry type.
Peter instructs shepherds who have, themselves, come through the door, which is faith in Jesus, to care for the
flock. And the flock, by this time, includes Jews and gentiles united in Christ, which is the church.
The apostle lays out the manner that the chief shepherd, who is Jesus,
cared for them as apostles and how He wants the shepherds who have come from Him, how they should
care for their flock.
They, the present shepherds, are to shepherd the flock as Jesus shepherded the flock.
Serve willingly, He says, and eagerly, as a response to God's grace towards you, not out of
duty or guilt or a desire to gain money or other
worldly things. What if your parents said to you,
you were born, we didn't really want you, and it's been a tough go,
it's been uphill all the way, and since we had you,
we got to do our job, because we didn't want to flunk our responsibilities,
so we did the best we could.
Would you feel very loved if your parents said that to you?
I was pregnant, and - your mom said, well, I was pregnant,
I didn't believe in abortion, so I went ahead and had you. Wow, I feel loved.
Or if your dad said to you, well, look, you know, it's a job. I was a man,
I was a husband, your mom had you and then had your sister, and it was my duty
to take care of you, I mean I'll do it.
Do you feel love with all of that?
Well, in the same way,
if the shepherds of the church say well, it's a - jobs got to be done. It's a dirty job,
somebody's got to do it, and I figured, well, I might as well do it.
Are you going to go to the wall for a leader like that?
Well, I'm staying in the eldership, because if I quit, than Joe will quit and then there will only be one elder,
and then we won't have elders, so I'm just gonna hang in there.
Really?
That's the good shepherd?
That's the shepherd laying down his life? I know it's not fair. Is it fair?
Did Jesus say to the members, you've got to lay down your life. He said that to the elders.
Did Jesus say to all the members,
you know what, you're going to answer for how the others act, you're going to answer for how others
manage, you're going to answer for the individual members around you, you're going to answer for them.
He didn't say that to the members.
He said that to the elders. Is that fair? Well, no, I guess.
It would be different if they were getting paid a lot of money, and had a lot of prestige,
and then they got free cars every year.
There's none of that.
What's the reward for a congregation growing bigger: more work, more
responsibilities, more meetings, more late nights, more phone calls, more counseling, more fires to put out.
Yeah, that was one of the deacons.
Peter, said, to his fellow elders
They are to shepherd the flock as Jesus shepherded the flock.
Sometimes people say, well, we should have shepherd classes, we should have a seminar,
How Shepherds Should do Their Job, or How Deacons Should do Their Job.
Here's a seminar, right here. There's the seminar right here.
You want to know how the shepherd does his job, just watch Jesus and do that.
Want to see how the deacon does his job, just look at Steven and then do that.
The role is not there as a way of exercising power or control,
the role is there as an opportunity to model Christ, the good shepherd,
to the flock. The ideal scenario,
and I realize, the Bible presents
ideal scenarios, of course, everybody's a sinner from top to bottom, the oldest to the youngest Christian,
the most mature Christians are the most immature
Christian. There's sin. We get that part.
We get that part. But, what's the purpose of the shepherd? To model Christ to the others.
How does Christ act?
I'm going to look at our six or seven shephards and I'm going to find out how Christ acts.
I'm going to watch them.
Why? Well, because the Bible says that's the way. That's why they're there.
We're going to find new shepherds. What are we looking for, we're looking for Christ-likeness.
Not for, well, he was an executive with the bank for 20 years. Yeah, let's get that guy
Just as the good shepherd was rewarded with the salvation of many souls, because of His sacrifice -
you realize that,
What was Jesus's reward for what He did?
Our eternal life, that we
exercise, that we experience, rather. Eternal life with Him. That's His reward.
This is why He laid down His life, to gain the eternal life for His followers.
The chief shepherd will award this same joy to those who lay down their lives in the service of the flock.
What's the reward for the elder? Again, pension?
He's probably poorer because of his experience.
Hopefully on his dying day
the thought that he will have
is the face of
all the people that he shepherded
who are going to be in heaven with him. That's the reward.
That young man,
and that young couple, and this fellow over here, and this guy who showed up and who was a wreck when he
came into the church and finally pulled himself together and
he's going to heaven.
A parade of all of those
who are saying, thank you.
Thank you for what you've done for me.
Thank you for setting me on the pathway.
Thank you for showing me the way.
Thank you for persevering, despite your own weaknesses and flaws.
Thank you for showing me what perseverance was about.
Thank you for showing me what purity was about, what holiness was about.
Forgive me for having fought you. Forgive me for having resisted your counsel,
but thank you for having persisted in doing what is right and good and
pure and necessary and spiritual and Christ-like,
every day, every Sunday, every Wednesday, every time.
I could always depend on you to show me the way.
That's the reward.
Every believer
receives eternal life, but
it seems that shepherds in the mold of Christ will also share in the type of joy that He
experienced.
I know that's a little esoteric. It's a little out there. It's a little wild. I can't quite grasp it.
All I can say to you is, if it's a promise that Christ has made to you,
do not doubt Him, and
do not doubt that it is a reward indeed, and do not doubt that it is a reward worth
pursuing, and a reward worth persevering for.
So we come back to Paul in Philippians 3,
where he says, "More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ
Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish
so that I may gain Christ."
So tonight, we've gained some insight into knowing Christ Jesus as our shepherd,
but what have we learned exactly?
I don't know what you have taken away from this presentation in addition to the points and ideas that I've
made, but I can tell you two things that I have learned,
how I have come to know Christ from this study
about
shepherds. First thing I've learned: I am a sheep.
I am a sheep.
You see, I like to think that I'm a lion or a
stallion or an eagle, but in reality, I'm just a sheep.
And I am quite vulnerable to attack,
because I'm easily lost, I'm easily injured, and I'm easily always needing protection.
I think back on my life as a lost sheep, and how I came
so close to
destruction.
Have you never had that thought? Have you never
remembered the time you were right at the edge,
and you looked over the deep edge of the things that you almost did or could have done or were being led to do
and say, oh God. Thank you. I was almost lost. I was almost swept away.
I've realized that I put myself in grave spiritual danger when I forget that I'm just a sheep.
And like a sheep, I cannot just go off by myself or care for myself or be something other than just the sheep.
It's quite a humbling moment when you realize that you are the sheep and not really a lion.
Actually, Satan's most effective lie in seducing me is
to lure me into thinking that I'm not a sheep.
The second thing I've learned:
Jesus is my shepherd.
He's not only the promised shepherd, not only the good shepherd or the chief shepherd,
He's my shepherd. We get so used to calling him Lord and, of course,
that's who He is, we forget that He never referred to Himself as that.
In describing His relationship to me. He called Himself the good shepherd.
I've learned that I cannot have an intimate relationship with Him unless I begin relating to Him as my shepherd.
If I want to know Him more,
I need to consciously rely on Him for protection and direction and sustenance
and comfort and understanding.
In my everyday interaction with Him as my shepherd, as the shepherd of my home.
I begin to experience the true eternal life reserved for those in His flock or
kingdom or church, no matter which way you want to look at that.
Of course He's my Lord. Of course
He's my savior. Of course He's my God. But knowing Him as my shepherd helps me maintain my
physical and spiritual balance until
Jesus Christ, the chief shepherd, comes to transform me from a sheep in a physical body,
to an eternal being in a spiritual body.
You cannot know Jesus
unless you begin to know Him as your shepherd. Yes, you'll know Him as Lord and savior,
but on an intimate level, to get to know Him, you have to begin relating to Him as
your shepherd. And you need to understand that what you are,
what I am, is a sheep.
There we get the right, we get the right balance
for how to relate to Him and
what position we are in this world, because in this world, where Satan rules,
we are sheep and
we need the good shepherd.
Well, I do thank you for your attention, and I pray that Jesus,
the good Shepherd, will always guard you and
keep your way. And, of course, if you're not one of His sheep,
you can become part of His flock tonight,
by confessing your faith in Him as Son of God,
repenting of your sins,
being immersed in the waters of baptism. That's how you become
one of the sheep, led by the good shepherd.
But most of us here, and I look here,
I think we've got the flock here, pretty much everyone's the flock. Our problem is we wander away from the
flock. We forget that we're just sheep. We think we're something else and that we can go it on our own.
We don't need the good shepherd.
If you're one of those people that have wandered away
from the good shepherd,
realize that He looks for you.
He's searching for you.
In your conscience and in your heart, He's always drawing you back to Him through my lesson, through
Marty's lesson, through every lesson,
the good shepherd is always
searching for those who have wandered off. So if you're one of those and you hear Him calling you,
then I encouraged you to return to Him now, through the prayer of repentance or
baptism, whichever it needs to be. Anyways, we offer the invitation tonight, and if you're subject to it,
we encourage you to respond as our young brother here leads us in a song of encouragement.