I AM the Good Shepherd - Part 2 — Stuart Briscoe

Good morning. I have been enjoying the singing so much, particularly the delightful mix that we have of the old hymns and the more contemporary music. I commend you for this mix. Music is such a hot button in the church today, isn't it?

And it's very bothersome to me to see how in some instances, I don't know how it is over here, but people actually decide which church they'll go to on the basis of the music. They don't worry too much about the preaching, it's the music.

And I think that it's very unfortunate that there are some worship wars going on, which usually, we call them worship wars actually, it's usually taste in music. We've had our moments in our church back in America, but we use music from rock to Bach.

We believe that that pretty well covers the waterfront, but we've had to do some educating there. I talked to some of our people and said, you know, some of you think God stopped being creative when Charles Wesley died.

And the rest of you, the rest of you think he only discovered how to be creative when Graham Kendrick was born. It seems to me that both attitudes are an insult to God, don't you think? That he is using his people to produce beautiful music that we can use in our worship.

Actually, I've always enjoyed music. I started out as a singer, which will be a surprise to some of you. I only sang once, but I did start out that way. Actually, I was invited to sing in church, and I did my best.

And at the end, the minister leaned over to me and said, thank you, Stuart. You have a very, very, very mellow voice. And on the way out, two people said the same thing. We had no idea you had such a mellow voice.

And when I got home, I got three telephone calls saying the same thing. They were all concentrating on the fact what a mellow voice I had. There was only one problem. I was not sure what mellow meant.

And so I got out my Oxford dictionary, and it said ripe, approaching a stage of rottenness. So I decided I'd stick to preaching. All right, well, perhaps I should stick to preaching this morning. Let's turn now to John's Gospel once again.

Jesus as the Good Shepherd in John 10

And this morning we come to John chapter 10. May I remind you that the purpose of John's Gospel was to select certain miraculous signs that Jesus had done with a view to demonstrating to people solid grounds for coming to an intellectual conviction that Jesus is the Christ, but then to take them beyond that to an understanding and experience of the life that was theirs in Christ himself.

And the various incidents that are recorded for us, both in his miracles and in his teachings, are designed not only to bring this sense of intellectual conviction, but also experiential knowledge of life in Christ.

Now, we have been concentrating on the I am passages. The obvious value of these is that it's helpful to know what Jesus had to say about himself. There's no shortage of people telling us what they think about Jesus, but I think a good place to start is to make sure we understand what Jesus said about himself.

And we have so far looked into the fact that he said, I am the bread of life and I am the light of the world. In John chapter 10, we read the well-known statement, Jesus said, I am the good shepherd.

This is not tied to a miracle. So in this sense, it is different from the others. Let me read to you then from John chapter 10 verse 1. I tell you the truth. The man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way is a thief and a robber.

The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. The watchman opens the gate for him and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.

But they will never follow a stranger. In fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice. Jesus used his figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them.

Therefore, Jesus said again, I tell you the truth. I am the gate for the sheep. All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved.

He will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life and have it to the full. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.

The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep, so when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep, and my sheep know me. Just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep, I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen.

I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there should be one flock and one shepherd. The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life, only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.

I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father. At these words the Jews were again divided. Many of them said, He is demon-possessed and raving mad.

Why listen to him? But others said, These are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind? Now you'll notice that the final statement there, the question, can the demon open the eyes of the blind, ties it into what we were talking about yesterday.

We don't know the exact chronology of this particular incident, but clearly they're still in the minds of those who are debating who Jesus is, the recollection of the fact that He did actually go up to the blind beggar, spit on the clay, put it on the man's face, tell him to go to the pool of Siloam, wash, and he would come seeing.

In accordance with that particular miracle, He then went on to explain that He was the light of the world. Some of the people charged Him with being demonically possessed, and others said that this was evidence that He clearly had come from God.

And the debate is still raging. The argument is still going on over who He is. Lord Jesus was a controversial figure when He was here on earth 2 ,000 years ago. He is still the center of controversy today.

Ezekiel and Jeremiah on Israel’s Failed Shepherds

Well now, I want to take you back into the Old Testament first of all, in order that we might see the context of the teaching of the Lord Jesus here. When He said, I am the good shepherd, the literal translation in the Greek would be, I am the shepherd, the good.

And whilst that is a clumsy way of putting it in the English language, the particular emphasis in the Greek language shows that He is saying, I am the shepherd, the good one, in contrast to something else.

Now in order to understand what He is contrasting Himself with, we need to go back into our Old Testament. So if you would, would you turn to Ezekiel chapter 34. Ezekiel chapter 34. If you're not sure where to find Ezekiel, just close your Bible and look for the cleanest pages in the Old Testament.

Now in Ezekiel chapter 34, the prophet, of course, who is in exile is reminding the people of Israel why the Babylonians have overthrown them, why they have been taken away into Babylon, why Jerusalem has been destroyed, why aliens are occupying the land of promise.

And the reason is quite straightforward. This is what it says in Ezekiel chapter 34, the word of the Lord came to me, son of man prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say to them, this is what the sovereign Lord says, woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves.

Should not shepherds take care of the flock? You eat the curds, clothes yourselves with the wool, slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured.

You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd. And when they were scattered, they became food for all wild animals.

My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth and no one searched or looked for them. Now this is an extraordinarily damning statement by the prophet Ezekiel.

It is addressed to some people who are called the shepherds of Israel. The term shepherd was used in the Old Testament to denote those who under God were called into positions of leadership of His people.

It was not just that they were pastors. It was not necessarily just that they were prophets and priests. Anybody who was called into a position of significant leadership under God in the Israeli theocracy was characterized as being a shepherd.

Now things had gone from bad to worse in Israel. The people were not getting the leadership they needed. They were becoming increasingly overwhelmed by things that were contrary to all that God had in mind for them.

They were becoming more and more like the people around them and less and less distinctive as the people of God. God had sent His prophets repeatedly to them. They had stoned the prophets. They had refused to listen to them.

They had put their fingers in their ears. They had hardened their hearts against the word of the Lord. And God had repeatedly said that if you, my people, are not prepared to live in accordance with my dictates then judgment will come upon you.

And eventually the judgment had fallen. And the judgment had come in the shape of the enemies coming from the east, these mighty fierce warriors who had surrounded Jerusalem. They had eventually broken through the walls.

They had overtaken the city. They destroyed the temple and they'd taken off the people, many of them, into captivity in Babylon. And Ezekiel was included with them. And he is taking issue with those who had failed in their responsibility to be the shepherds of Israel.

Now if you'd like to just turn back to Jeremiah and if you found Ezekiel you shouldn't have too much trouble with Jeremiah because he's the second on the left. Jeremiah had something rather similar to say to the people.

Jeremiah chapter 23. Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture declares the Lord. Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people.

Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done declares the Lord. I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture where they will be fruitful and increase in number.

I will place shepherds over them who will tend them and they will no longer be afraid or terrified nor will any be missing declares the Lord. The days are coming declares the Lord when I will raise up to David a righteous branch, a king who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.

In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called the Lord our righteousness. Now you'll notice there that Jeremiah is not only agreeing with Ezekiel and saying the judgment has come because of the failure of the shepherds and because the people have strayed away from the Lord but he goes a step further and he says that the day is coming however after the people have been scattered that God himself will gather them again to himself.

He's obviously talking about something more than returning the people to the land of promise from the time in exile because you'll notice that he promises I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them.

And then in a little piece of poetry in verses 5 and 6 of Jeremiah chapter 23 we have a statement that is clearly messianic. In other words here's the picture. The shepherds of Israel had failed lamentably.

The judgment of God had come upon them. They had gone into exile. Even though they had gone into exile however God promised that they would be brought back. But in this promise that they would be brought back there is an eschatological dimension.

That is there is a future dimension that goes beyond the return from exile. There will be a gathering under a righteous branch, under a King and David's line who will come and rule and reign in righteousness.

There is the promise of a great messianic figure who himself will become the shepherd. Now then when the Lord Jesus stands in front of the people in Jerusalem and says I am the shepherd, the good, they knew that he was identifying himself quite specifically with what Ezekiel had said and what Jeremiah had said.

Ezekiel incidentally went on to say that the shepherd had failed so lamentably that the Lord himself promised and I'm back in Ezekiel 34 verse 23 now, I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David and he will tend them.

He will tend them and be their shepherd. I the Lord will be their God and my servant David will be the prince among them. I the Lord have spoken. And so the great promise that Jesus now is applying to himself is that in marked contrast to the desperately wicked shepherds of Israel who had been partially responsible for the failure of Israel and the judgment of God coming upon them, in marked contrast to them, one day would come a great wonderful shepherd figure.

And he under God would be the means of gathering from all the nations the people that God was calling to himself. Now then we can go back to John chapter 10 because we've set the stage for what he was saying there.

I am the shepherd, the good one, in marked contrast to the ones you read about in Ezekiel and Jeremiah. I am the shepherd, the good one, the one whom the sovereign Lord has promised will come. Now then the Jewish people who hear this are greatly divided over this statement.

Some of them say this is wonderful. This is what we've been looking for. Other people saying how dare he make such outrageous claims for himself. Well let's look at some of these claims that he was making for himself in the statement, I am the good shepherd.

Human Sheep and the Shepherd’s Knowledge

First of all let's notice that when he says that he is the shepherd he is assuming that the people he is calling to himself have some sheepish characteristics. Now we know this to be the case. Remember the prophet Isaiah in that famous 53rd chapter of his prophecy.

He said all of us like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. The thing that we need to recognize is that the great shepherd, the good shepherd knows perfectly well that the material that he's working with, that is you and me, is not very promising.

We are by nature somewhat sheepish. When the Bible says that we are like sheep it is not paying us a compliment. Now I do have some little experience of sheep. Before we went to the United States of America, Jill and I were privileged to live and work at Capenry Hall up in the north of England.

We had I think over 160 acres of land there and it was decided that we should put some sheep on this land and utilize it. So in addition to chasing hundreds of teenagers around the place we were given the privilege in our spare time of looking after sheep.

None of us as far as I remember knew anything about looking after sheep. I had been trained in banking so obviously I was ideally suited to become a shepherd. We very quickly learned about sheep. We learned about sheep for instance that if you provide a very nice field for them full of rather delicious succulent green grass and put around that field a hedge to protect them from all the things that harm them they would be extremely grateful to you and they would come up and nuzzle alongside you and say, we are so grateful that you have given us this green grass and this delightful hedge.

Is that what they said? No, in actual fact they were sheep and so what tended to happen was that they would walk around the perimeter of the field looking at the hedge until they could find the slightest little flaw in it and then they would stick their stupid noses in it and they would push and push and push until they had managed to enlarge the hole big enough to get through leaving half their fleece on the hedge.

They would then leap into the road outside straight into the front of an oncoming car and the sheep would quickly become mutton. Now then, the sheep following those sheep of course would see what had happened and say, no way am I going to do that, that stupid sheep.

Is that what they did? No, no, no, no, no. What they did was say, you know, if this shepherd of ours put the fence around here there must be something really good on the other side of that fence that he doesn't want us to have.

Oh, he is an old spoil sport and so they would ignore the beautiful green succulent grass that we had provided for them and very soon you would discover all the sheep on the road, all the cars in a traffic jam behind them honking their horns and there is a beautiful green field full of succulent grass, not a sheep in sight.

Sheep are the dumbest, stupidest, most infuriating animals known to God and God said, my dear sheep, so don't get any big ideas about yourself, that is God's opinion. Now, the simple fact of the matter of course is this, that in the same way that sheep have a tendency to go their own way, have an inability to recognize when they are well off, that don't have the sense to see that other people are in trouble and therefore should be avoided, and actually will stick their noses under the rear ends of the sheep in front and follow them mindlessly in the same way that sheep behave in that way, I don't know if you have noticed, but human beings have very similar characteristics.

All we like sheep. Actually, there are sheep and then there are sheep. There are some sheep however that are relatively placid. They seem to have settled down. They seem to be doing rather well and they are the ones who have come under the control of a benevolent, caring shepherd and they are willing to allow him to function in his shepherding capacity.

There are two kinds of people in the world. There are those people who have come under the benevolent shepherding leadership of the good shepherd and have discovered a degree of contentment and satisfaction and peace in their lives, who have embraced their lot and feed to fullness on all that the shepherd has provided and love their situation and love him.

And then there are others who regard this shepherd as being decidedly suspect, who believe that the hedges that he's put around them simply hide the good things that he's an old spoilsport and doesn't want them to have.

And they say because everybody is jumping in front of the car through the hedge, that must be the way to go. And our world is divided between sheep who found a shepherd and sheep who are shepherdless.

And standing in the place of them is somebody who in contrast to the shepherds of the old days is the good shepherd, the one whom God has sent. Now notice what he claims about his sheep. Verse 14, I am the good shepherd.

I know my sheep. That's the first thing he claims. I know my sheep. Immediately he is implying an intimacy of relationship here. Rather interesting in the beginning of John's Gospel, and well actually at the end of the second chapter of John's Gospel, we read these words.

Jesus did not need man's testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man. You ever notice that verse? Jesus didn't need anybody to come up alongside him and say, watch this fellow here. Watch him. We know him pretty thoroughly.

Jesus said, don't worry about it. I know him inside out. I don't need anybody to tell me what's in a man. That's the end of chapter 2. Immediately beginning of chapter 3, it says, now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus.

And Jesus gets into a conversation with Nicodemus and very obviously and immediately we begin to see Jesus knows him through and through. You remember in the first chapter of John's Gospel, there was a little man called Andrew.

Andrew and his friend were with John the Baptist. One day Jesus walked past. John the Baptist looked at him, pointed to him, said, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Andrew and his friend went after Jesus.

They were intrigued by him. Jesus turned around, looked at them and said, what do you want? And they couldn't think of anything to say. So they said, oh, where do you live? And he said, we'll come and see.

So they went and spent some time with him, were convinced that he was the Messiah. Andrew goes back, finds his brother Simon, brings him to Jesus. And as Andrew is leading Simon towards Jesus, Jesus takes one look at him and says, you're Simon, but you will be Peter.

I know you. I know you inside out. I know what you are and I know what you can become. You are Simon. You will be Peter. Peter, of course, is related to the word for rock. We look at Simon and we say to ourselves, he's going to make a rock out of him.

And only Jesus could see the potential in that man. One of the exciting things to me about Jesus being the Good Shepherd is this. He knows how sheepish we are. He knows our proclivities. He knows our tendencies.

He knows our inclinations. He knows our flaws. He knows us through and through. And at the same time, he knows our potential. He knows our potential for good because we are created in the divine image.

He knows our potential for evil for we are fallen. He knows our potential for growth because once he comes into our lives, we are being changed into his image. And Jesus knows his sheep. What he wants us to discover is what he knows about us.

Think about that. Have you taken the time out to ask him, Lord, would you please show me what you know about me because there's a whole lot of stuff about me that I don't know. I visited Elmbrook Church in Brookfield, Wisconsin a little over 30 years ago just for a week's meetings.

While I was there, the pastor announced that he was going to resign. And so they asked me during the course of that week, you know people all over the place. Can you recommend a pastor to us? And I said, well, I'll think about it.

They asked me every day. And then one day while I was having lunch with the pastor and one of the elders of the church, they asked me again, have you thought of anybody? And I said, well, what about me?

Would I do? And the elder looked at me and said very seriously, I knew as soon as I saw you that you'd be our next pastor. And I said, what else do you know about me that I don't know about? That's how I talk to the Lord sometimes.

What else do you know about me that I don't know about? For the good shepherd knows his sheep. He knows our potential for good because we're created in the divine image. He knows our potential for evil because we're fallen.

He knows our potential for growth because we're in the process of being changed into the likeness of Christ. However, the other side of the coin is in verse 14, I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep know me.

My sheep know me. Now, Paul looks forward to the day. He tells us about this. You remember in first Corinthians 13, he looks forward to the day when he will know the Lord as thoroughly as he is now known by the Lord.

So when Jesus says, I'm the good shepherd, I know my sheep and my sheep know me, he is not suggesting for a moment that we know him as well as he knows us. But what he is saying is that when we become his sheep in the same way that the eastern shepherd will literally recognize his individual sheep and his individual sheep will recognize him.

So there's a very real sense in which we bask in the knowledge that he knows us through and through and loves us anyway. And at the same time, he embraces us into an intimacy of relationship that can only adequately be called knowing him.

Now, clearly knowing Christ is a matter of being introduced and then progressing into an ever deepening relationship. In fact, Peter tells us, you remember, that we are to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep. I know you. But you know me, don't you? Well, the question now that comes to mind is, well, how well do I know him? How well do I know him? I was at a conference up at Capon Ray when I was in the banking business.

I had taken a vacation, a holiday, excuse me. I am bilingual here. And I had gone to help with one of the youth conferences there. And there were a whole lot of kids there. And there was a particularly rowdy group from Liverpool.

And there was a young, pretty young lady looking after them. And I was so concerned about these young people from Liverpool. God laid a real burden for these young people on my heart. I don't want any of you to think it had anything to do with the fact that their leader was a very pretty young lady.

I mean, I would not want you to think that about me, even though, of course, it would be absolutely true. And so I made some inquiries. And I discovered that her name was Jill Ryder. And so being English, of course, it was necessary for me to be introduced.

And so I was introduced to Jill Ryder. And she said, would you like to play table tennis? So I went and played table tennis. And she, you won't believe it, she beat me. Of course, I let her. But that was my introduction to Jill Ryder.

And if you had said to me after I'd played table tennis for the first time, do you know Jill Ryder? I'd say, sure, that's her. She's a very good table tennis player. She's not as good as she thinks. I let her win.

But yeah, sure, I know her. So we got married. There was a brief interval there. And now we have been married almost 42 years. And I wouldn't say this in public, but I'd just say this with a little group of my personal friends here today.

She's still a bit of a mystery to me. I'm still getting to know her. There are depths and qualities in my wife that become to the surface as we move through different circumstances. That's one of the wonderful things about being together many, many years.

I grieve for so many people who give up on their marriages far too soon. You don't give up on your marriage. You grow together. You discover new dimensions of each other as you go through different situations.

And so if you were to ask me now, do you know Jill Ryder Briscoe? I'd say, oh, yeah. If you were then to say, do you think you know everything there is to know about her? I'd say, oh, no, no. For there are depths contained in this woman that are still beyond my comprehension and sometimes my apprehension.

Incidentally, she gets to speak tonight. Don't believe anything that she says about me. I know her. She knows me. Here's the wonderful relationship. I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep. My sheep know me.

Hearing the Shepherd’s Voice and Following Him

Now read on. I am the good shepherd. Verse 14. I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep. My sheep know me. Just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. What a remarkable comparison here. In the same way that there's an intimacy of relationship between Father and Son, so there is an intimacy of relationship between sheep and shepherd.

I lay down my life for the sheep. We'll come to that in just a moment. But then he goes on to say this. My sheep listen to my voice. My sheep listen to my voice. The wonderful thing about the Eastern Shepherd is that he will go to the sheepfold, and in the sheepfold will be his sheep and the sheep that belong to other shepherds, all mixed up.

And in the morning he will call his sheep, and his sheep will prick up their little ears and come trotting out, and the others will say, oh, that's him. Don't take any notice of him, and they'll just continue what they were doing.

His sheep hear his voice. The wonderful picture here is this, that our Lord is actually telling us that in this intimacy of relationship, He has things that He wants to tell us. He wants to continue to communicate to us.

And those who are truly His sheep recognize when He has something to say to them. Now, how does the Lord speak to us in these days? Well, we do know for a fact that He speaks to us in His Word. You remember, I hope you remember something I told you the very first day of our series here.

One of the rules we have in our church back home is never put your head on the pillow at night unless you've... What's the rest of it? Oh, yes, you've made my month. Yeah. Never put your head on the pillow at night unless you've had your nose in the book during the day.

My sheep hear my voice. There is no question about it that those who are the shepherd's intimates are those who have an intimate knowledge of His Word. We take time on a daily basis to be in the Word.

We take time to be in a community of believers where the Word is honored and proclaimed and taught systematically and carefully and applied practically. He continues to speak to us, and we hear His voice.

He speaks to us in our conscience. He speaks to us in the community of believers as we get sound helpful advice. He speaks to us in creation. He is revealing the invisible things of Himself in the things that are seen.

I love Elizabeth Browning's little poem, Earth's crammed with heaven and every common bush aflame with God. Those who see take off their shoes and worship. The rest sit round, pluck blackberries, and daub their natural faces unawares.

Now, you may not be into poetry very much and certainly not the way I say it, but you get the picture there. If we have eyes to see in the wonderful creation that God has placed us in, there are messages all the time about who He is and what He is doing.

He speaks to me in creation. He speaks to me in conscience. He speaks to me in the community of believers. He speaks to me in Christ. He speaks to me in the Word, and I hear His voice. The wife of one of my associate pastors had a baby that was, I think, many, many weeks premature.

I was going to say how many, but I'd probably be wrong, so I won't put a number on it. This little baby was in the neonatal emergency area for week after week after week, and every day she went in. The little child would be linked up to heart monitors and all that sort of thing.

The nurses said that as soon as the mother came into the room and said something, the heart monitor would record an instant recognition on the part of this premature baby of the mother's voice. There is an intimacy of relationship that is so, so wonderful for those who know the Good Shepherd.

I know my sheep. They know me. They listen to my voice. But then he goes on further in verse 27. This is what he says. My sheep listen to my voice. I know them, and they follow me. Now, if ever you see a shepherd in our culture at the present time, he's probably on a tractor chasing sheep.

If you go to the Middle East today, well, actually, you'll get there rather late, but let me start that sentence again. If you go to the Middle East today out in the wilderness areas, you will see shepherds, often small boys or young girls, playing on a flute with sheep coming literally nose to tail behind them.

They go ahead of them, and the sheep follow. The people in Jesus' day would have no difficulty understanding that picture. Now, here's the picture as far as we're concerned. I am the Good Shepherd. I know my sheep.

My sheep know me. They hear my voice, and they follow. You remember that Jesus would go up to people while He was down here on earth and simply say to them, follow me. Just like that. And they would jump up and leave everything and follow.