The King of Love My Shepherd Is

The Good Shepherd Who Lays Down His Life

Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

And now here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg. The Holy Gospel according to.

St. John the 10th chapter. Give me a second here. There we go. Glory to Jesus said I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand, not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep, and flees.

And the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he's a hired hand. He cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me just as a father knows me and I know the father.

And I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also and they will listen to my voice so there will be one flock and one shepherd. This is the gospel of the Lord.

Sheep, Sin, and the Need for a Shepherd

In the name of Jesus. Amen. Prophet Isaiah says in Isaiah 53 6. Oh we like sheep. We've gone astray. We've turned everyone to his own way. And that is the problem. If you think all the way back to the Garden of Eden, God, if you were to think of Adam and Eve as his sheep, that's the metaphor used by God throughout the scriptures.

It's an interesting metaphor. They were penned in, if you would, by the goodness and mercy of God and his commandment that you shall not eat of that tree that's in the midst of the garden. But what did our first parents do?

Like terrible sheep, they jumped the fence, went off into the wilderness. And you'll note that in the wilderness, there's where the lions, the tigers, and the bears are. Oh my. So that being the case, we note then here, the misery that is upon us is because of us.

Turning to our own way is the problem. It's self-idolatry. Acting like you know better than God. Sin isn't that big of a deal. It's just a mistake. It's just a slipsie. It's an oopsie doopsie. No it's not.

It's imperiling you. Your very soul. And so the devil is described in scripture like a roaring lion. But the good news here, we get a hint of it in Isaiah 53 6. The Lord has laid on Jesus the iniquity of us all.

And see, here's the interesting bit. God truly loves us. He cares for his creation. He is merciful and kind. And throughout the scripture, he is portrayed as this caring, attentive, protecting shepherd.

False Shepherds and Ezekiel 34

And what stands in contrast? Well, are the false shepherds. Now last year, when the occasion of this text came up, I preached about how in John chapter 10, the context begins in chapter 9 with the fellow who was born blind.

And John chapter 9 and 10, they work together as a unit. But what I found fascinating in preparing this week's sermon is looking at the fuller context of Ezekiel 34, which I think is a perfect parallel thematically of what we see in John 9 and 10.

And so if you would allow me, we're going to back up into the context. Again, context, context, context. It's an important thing. Ezekiel chapter 34 verse 1, and consider the fuller context and how it relates to what Jesus says about how he is the good shepherd in our gospel text today.

So it says in Ezekiel 34 1, the word of the Lord came to me. Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Now, a little bit of a no here. We're not talking about actual shepherds. God hasn't sent the prophet Ezekiel to go and scold those shepherds who are actually working with physical sheep.

The metaphor here, he's talking about the shepherds of Israel, those who are supposed to be pastoring, if you would. The idea of pastoring goes all the way back into the Old Testament. But you're going to note here, have you noticed that there are some who are pastors who are not really good at it?

What they're really good at is abusing Christ's sheep. They are good at not feeding them. I always wonder what those fellows who kind of piecemeal the word of God out every sermon. It's like, well, you sheep, I'm going to give you one half sentence of the Bible here out of context, and I'm going to give you another thing over here.

No, I'm not going to give you that last one. And then you kind of have to piece it all together. And what do they do? They just constantly ride you hard with the law, giving you tasks to do, never giving you any comfort of the assurance of salvation because they're not reading God's word.

Just try harder. Do gooder. Don't worry. You need to learn to hear the voice of God, and He's going to give you some purpose, and you've got to get busy working on that. Oh, these people are false teachers.

All right. And you'll note that in Ezekiel's day, well, there were plenty of those who somehow made it into exile in Babylon. And so the word of the Lord comes to Ezekiel, prophesy against those shepherds of Israel.

Prophesy and say to them, even to the shepherds, thus says Yahweh Elohim. Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves. Could you imagine having God show up and take that kind of tone of voice with you?

It's time for your annual evaluation, you shepherds. And let's just say things are not going well because here I come, and you're supposed to be caring for my sheep. And what are you doing? You're feeding only yourself.

I think of the recent scandals that have come to light. You'll note this was going on for a long time. Scandals with Hillsong. Scandals with Carl Lentz, who I happen to know, by the way. Carl Lentz of Hillsong, New York City.

Of all the extravagant, expensive clothes that he was buying, of the chauffeured limousine that he drove around in, and things like this. Feeding only himself. Indeed, I think of Ken Copeland and his multiple jets.

I have a jet. It's about this size. I have to shrink in order to fit into it. Somebody sent me a model of a private jet because they felt bad that I didn't have one. I have to call on Jeff Kinney to figure out how to fly that thing.

But God shows up. Ah, shepherds who have been feeding only yourselves. Should not shepherds feed the sheep? That kind of makes sense, doesn't it? Shouldn't nurses nurse? Doctors doctor? Shouldn't shepherds shepherd?

You get the idea. Shouldn't shepherds be feeding the sheep? You eat the fat. You clothe yourselves with the wool. You slaughter the fat ones. But you don't feed the sheep. The weak you have not strengthened.

The sick you have not healed. The injured you have not bound up. The strayed you have not brought back. The lost you have not sought. And with force and harshness you have ruled over them. Think of it this way.

Some poor fellow is attending one of those churches where the pastor is twisting up the word of God and not really feeding him. And so the sheep goes to the pastor and says, I really think your sermons are bad.

I really would like more Bible, please. And what does he get? Touch not God's anointed. Let's take a look at your tithing record. Things like this. I think Perry Noble also famously years ago, he was inviting all these secret driven vision casting leaders to come to a leadership conference at his church down there in Anderson, South Carolina.

This is before his spectacular moral failing. And he famously on stage, I was there in the room when he said it because I was there reporting on it for my podcast. And he says, he talks about, well I can't use the words that he used.

Let's just say, let's come up with an alternative word. We'll use the word jackball. And so he says, the jackball in the church is the one who always screams, we need to go deeper. And he says, deep? Let's take a look at your tithing record.

He says, you're only as deep as your last tithing record. And then makes the point of saying that I'm not going to really give you more Bible until you obey the Bible I've already given you. It's sick.

To that people went, woo, yeah! Well, how do you explain this little conversation that God's going to have with you, you shepherds who feed only themselves? You see, Christ isn't like this at all. Unlike these false shepherds, Christ actually strengthens the weak.

The sick he heals. The injured he binds up. The strayed he seeks out. The lost he finds. You get the idea? And Christ doesn't deal harshly with us. The one who humbles himself Christ will care for. In fact, have you ever noticed that when you read the Gospels that Jesus' approach to shepherding makes no sense?

Let me give you an example. Jesus says, who of you who has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray will not leave the ninety-nine and go and seek for the lost one? Nobody does that. You write it off on your taxes.

Asset lost. That's how this works. Nobody's going to risk losing ninety-nine in order to go and hunt for the lost one. But Jesus does. And then you heard in our Gospel text Jesus say this. He said, I lay down my life for the sheep.

Well, what good is a dead shepherd? How are you going to protect your sheep when you're dead? So Jesus' approach to shepherding doesn't make sense by any kind of earthly standard. But it makes sense regarding us who are Christ's lost sheep.

We being harassed by the devil. Under him. Under the harshness of him. We being weakened and sick and broken. Christ comes and he seeks us out and he cares for us. He's nothing like the false shepherds of the world because the false shepherds of the world, they're wolves in sheep's clothing and they're the agents of darkness.

So God is here calling these false shepherds to account. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd. They became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered. They wandered over all the mountains and over every high hill.

My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth with none to search for them. But I know somebody who did seek them out. So therefore you shepherds hear the word of Yahweh as I live declares Yahweh Elohim.

This is God giving an oath based on his own self. Surely because my sheep have become a prey and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts since there was no shepherd and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep but my shepherds have fed themselves and have not fed my sheep.

Therefore you shepherds hear the word of Yahweh. Thus says Yahweh Elohim. Behold I am against the shepherds and I will require my sheep at their hand and I will put a stop to their feeding the sheep. No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves.

I will rescue my sheep from their mouths that they may not be food for them. So these false shepherds when they stand before Christ on the day of judgment, Jesus is going to look at them and go where's the sheep?

Why aren't they with you? What's going on here? The sheep you didn't seek for? The weak you didn't care for and strengthen? The sick you didn't heal? Where are they? I'm going to require them from you.

They were my sheep. And that's kind of the point and note the absolute tenacity, ferocity seriousness of Christ in his love for his sheep and his determination that those who serve in his church at his name, that they are to be like him.

In fact, this idea of rescuing sheep, one of the things I find fascinating is that remember when David went to war with Goliath? That little battle here? In the lead up to it, it's rather interesting.

David had just been anointed the king of Israel. He's the anointed but not yet reigning king of Israel. Kind of a big theological point at that time. And the line of the Messiah had come up to David and no farther.

So what happens is that Jesse, David's father, sends him to the war where the armies of Israel are fighting the Philistines and he sends some cheeses and some bread to his brothers provisioning them. And when David arrives, out comes Goliath of Gath and he taunts and he mocks the armies of the living God and David gets incensed.

Just absolutely incensed. And who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should talk trash like this and mock the armies of the living God? And David starts kind of talking it up. He's starting to do some trash talking himself and people notice this and they send him to go to King Saul.

And King Saul is trying to talk some sense into young David. After looking at this guy who was showing such bravery with his words, Saul's like, yeah, you know, Goliath has been a warrior for his entire life and you're still a youth.

You can't even shave yet. We got a problem here. But what does David say? And listen to these words because this kind of invokes Christ. David said to Saul, listen, your servant used to keep sheep for his father.

David was a shepherd. And when there came a lion or a bear and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him, struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him.

Say what? Okay. Whoa, that's savage. That is brutal, man. I mean, I'll be blunt. If I was a shepherd and a lion comes and snatches a little lamb, I'd say, you can have it. We're good here. Because I'm pretty sure I'm not going to do well going against the lion, but not David.

David miraculously here, he snatches the lamb out of the lion's mouth and then kills the lion with his bare hands. Who does that? Sounds a lot like Jesus, right? And that's the point. You see, the devil is the lion.

You're the lamb. Christ has come. And by his death and his resurrection, bleeding and dying for all of this, you're straying and all of your sin and iniquity, he snatches you out of the mouth of the devil and death itself and he delivers you.

This is who Jesus is. And it's absolutely amazing. So verse 11 now in Ezekiel 34 says, For thus says the Lord God, Yahweh Elohim, Behold, I myself I will search for my sheep and I'm going to seek them out as a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered so will I seek out my sheep and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.

Hey, wait a second. The day of clouds and thick darkness? I know what that is. Have you read Amos? Have you read the prophets? That's the last day. And so think of it this way. You know, always people talk about the end of the world, right?

It's the apocalypse. It's the end of the world. Well, for those who persist in sin and unbelief and those false shepherds who feed only themselves, well, it will be a day of clouds and thick darkness.

It'll be a terrible day for them. But for us who are in Christ, his forgiven shed, bled for sheep, he is going to seek us out on that day. The day of judgment is not a day of judgment for us. It's a day of us being gathered together into one final flock, the flock that will persist in the new world forever in a world without end.

I will bring them out from the peoples. I will gather them from the countries. I will bring them into their own land. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel by the ravines and in all the inhabited places of the country.

I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. They shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel.

Isn't it amazing? Although all we like sheep who have gone astray, Christ doesn't scold us. Christ doesn't come to us in wrath. Christ comes to us with comforting words. I'm going to gather you up, and I'm going to put you in a good land, rich pasture, and there you're going to lie down and you're going to rest, and you're going to graze.

This is who Christ is. This picture of the good shepherd is so endearing, it is so comforting, and it's absolutely amazing. This shows and typifies the love of Christ for his fallen creation, even you.

Because each and every one of us, we have strayed from God in so many varied ways. We have broken his commandments. We're guilty of idolatry. We're guilty of blasphemy. We're guilty of not holding God's word sacred and gladly hearing and learning it.

We're guilty of disobeying our parents, our bosses, and our governmental authorities well, a plenty. We're guilty of murder and adultery. We're guilty of theft. We're guilty of lying. We're guilty of coveting and stealing.

It's just horrible, if you think about it. But Christ has mercy on us, because what did Isaiah say about Jesus? You see, in that same verse, Isaiah says, all we like sheep, we've gone astray. We've turned every one of us to his own way, and that's what sin is, turning away from the ways of God to our own ways.

But God, the Lord, has laid on Jesus the iniquity of us all. He is born in his body. Well, our iniquity suffered and died in our place, so that we can be forgiven and pardoned and restored. And so you'll note the comforting words that God says here in Ezekiel 34, the perfect cross reference to our gospel text, and God is speaking words of comfort.

I will seek the lost. I will bring back the strayed. I will bind up the injured. I will strengthen the weak. The fat and the strong, though, I will destroy, and I will feed them in justice. And here in Isaiah 34, things start to turn a little bit in the metaphor, because if you were to think about it, the sad and tragic bit of all of this is that when a false pastor, when a false shepherd, when one who abuses Christ's sheep, who feeds only himself, who doesn't strengthen the weak, who doesn't bind up the injured, that fellow, at the end of the day, even though he was a shepherd, he was supposed to be an under-shepherd of the good shepherd, and he is still a sheep.

Even though I'm a pastor, I'm still a sheep, right? And so you'll note the turn here in Ezekiel 34, now talking about what those, well, false shepherds really are. They themselves were sheep, but what did they do?

They abused their fellow sheep, and God says, I will act in justice against them. As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord God, behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and male goats. Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture, and to drink of clear water that you must muddy the rest of the water with your feet?

And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and drink what you have muddied with your feet? Note the abuse, sheep on sheep abuse here. Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them, behold, I myself, I will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep.

And the reason why there are lean sheep is because the fat sheep are hoarding everything for themselves. Don't think for a second this doesn't happen also in the world. Let me put it this way. Christ cares for the poor, and it is absolutely true in our day that some people are poor, literally experiencing poverty in this life.

Not just the poverty of spirituality, but the poverty that comes in physical poverty as a result of those who are wealthy, who exploit the system and work everything in their favor in order to oppress people and to make themselves rich on the back of everybody else.

This is also what false shepherds do. They make themselves rich on the back of the sheep that Christ has called them to care for. So Christ himself promises that he will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep, because you push with side and shoulder, and you thrust at all the weak with your horns till you have scattered them abroad.

I will rescue my flock. They shall no longer be a prey. I will judge between sheep and sheep, and I will set over them one shepherd, my servant David, that's referring to Jesus, and he shall feed them and be their shepherd.

With Christ there is no lack. There is no lack physically in food. There is no lack spiritually when it comes to being fed by Christ. Jesus is not chintzy with his word, and he's not chintzy in meeting your need.

And so the Lord, their God, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am Yahweh, and I have spoken. And so it's in this regard, then, we hear again the words of our gospel text, and we'll add a little bit of context.

Hearing the Voice of Christ in John 9 and 10

You see, in John chapter 9, you had that fellow who was born blind, and the disciples, they asked Jesus a question, kind of parroting the false doctrine of the false shepherds, which is what the Pharisees were.

There was nothing orthodox about the Pharisees. They asked Jesus, who sinned, that this fellow was born blind, this man or his parents? And you see Jesus going, oy vey, right? No way. He said, neither.

He was born blind in order that the power and glory of God may be demonstrated in his life. And so what does Jesus do? He makes mud, puts it on the fellow's eyes, sends him off to the pool of Siloam to wash his face and wash the mud off of his eyes, and he comes back seeing.

And everyone's like, what's going on here? Listen, Jesus, he made mud and I can see. And no sooner does that happen that the soundtrack begins going really dark. Here come the Pharisees. And what are they upset about?

What is this? Jesus restored your sight? We need to interrogate you. So they interrogate the fellow, wanting to know what's going on. They think it's a ruse at first, that somehow they've been punked.

This guy's just some kind of an actor trolling them. And it turns out they're not satisfied with the answers that he gives, so they call his parents in. The line of questioning goes something along the lines of this.

Is this your son? Yes, this is our son. Was he born blind? Yeah, he was born blind. How does he now see? He's of age, ask him. We need to get out of here, right? Because the Pharisees at that point had already said, if you believe in Jesus, you're out of here.

They're going to excommunicate you from the synagogue, which makes no sense. That's how false shepherds work, by the way. So they bring the guy back and they reinterrogate him, and the beautiful bit in all of this is that he stands his ground and he confesses that Jesus is a prophet, because never in all of Scripture has there ever been, ever heard of a man who was born blind receiving his sight, and he confesses that Jesus is a prophet.

And they say, no synagogue for you! And they excommunicate the guy. You've got to love how this works. And so Jesus finds him in one of the most compellingly beautiful sections of Scripture, the most beautiful section.

Christ finds this fellow who still has not seen him with his own eyes, and he says to him, do you believe in the Son of Man? And the fellow says, well, who is he, sir, that I should believe in him? And Jesus says, it is he who is talking to you, and you have seen him.

And his response is, I believe. And he worships Jesus. And so Jesus makes a pronouncement at the end of chapter 9, basically saying, this is the reason why I came into the world, for judgment, so that those who are blind may see, and those who see, that they may become blind.

That's the point. The false shepherds, they are truly blind. And it's in that context that we hear these words. Jesus says, truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the sheepfold, by the door, but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber.

Let me put it in another way. Just because you can wear skinny jeans and play an electric guitar does not make you qualified to be a pastor in Christ's church. I could put skinny jeans on, too. I'd never get out of them.

I'd never get out of them. At least alive. You'd have to call the jaws of life would be necessary at this point. But you get the idea. That does not make you qualified. So the one who enters by the door, he's the shepherd of the sheep.

To him, the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name. He leads them out. And let me point this out to you, brothers and sisters. This is an amazing bit about our God.

You think that God doesn't know you. God doesn't care. He doesn't see you. You're experiencing the difficulties of this life and the suffering that goes along with it because of your sin, because of mine.

And you'll note this, that God here is assuring us. Christ is telling us. He knows us by name. And if that's not enough, Scripture also reveals that in the world to come, Christ is going to give you a stone that has a name on it that only you and he know.

He has a name for you that is unique that nobody else has. And only God, only Christ has that kind of a vocabulary that he can create that many different names. He leads his sheep out. When he's brought out all his own, he goes before them and the sheep follow him for they know his voice.

Now, if you've ever heard anyone say, well, you need to learn how to hear the voice of God. And so what you need to do is get into the lotus position after having obeyed and really shown that you're intentional.

Just knock it off. It's super simple. Are you ready? Jesus says to his disciples who become the apostles, the one who hears you hears me. And the one who hears me hears the one who sent me. The apostles have given us the living voice of Christ in the scriptures.

You will hear his voice here and no other place. And if there's ever a man or even myself who stands in this pulpit who doesn't bring you these words, don't listen to him. Listen to the voice of Christ.

It's in the scriptures. That's how you hear his voice. A stranger, they're not going to follow. They'll flee from him. They don't know the voice of strangers. So this figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying.

So again, Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me, these false shepherds, they're thieves, they're robbers. But the sheep, they didn't listen to them.

I'm the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and he will find pasture. The thief, though, he comes only to steal, to kill, and to destroy. Who's the thief here? The false teachers, the false shepherds.

I came, though, that they might have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep, and that's exactly what Christ has done for you. By laying down his life and dying for you, his sheep, he has destroyed death.

He has conquered the devil. He has snatched you out of the mouth of the lion, which is Satan, and he has brought you into his good pasture. In fact, today, Christ has you lay down. You're sitting now, right?

And today, we will feast on the body and blood of Christ, given and shed for the forgiveness of our sins. Here, the good pasture of his word goes forth, and Christ is the one caring for you, not me, him, right?

The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He was a hired hand, not a shepherd who does not own the sheep. He sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep, flees, and then the wolf snatches them and then scatters them.

He flees because he's a hired hand. He cares nothing for the sheep. But I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me. Just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep.

And I have other sheep. Jesus is referring to the Gentiles. That's most of us, by the way. I have other sheep that are not of this fold, and I must bring them also, so that they will listen to my voice, so that there will be one flock and one shepherd.

Pastoral Office, 1 Peter 5, and the Shepherd's Judgment

Ah, it is truly amazing that Christ, our good shepherd, has laid down his life for us, his sheep. And even though we have strayed, he has forgiven us. Even though we have wandered away to our own ways, he has brought us back in love and kindness and mercy and pardoned us and reconciled us to the Father by his shed blood on the cross.

And it's in here that I would add just kind of a little post-note, an end thought to the sermon. And that is that the Apostle Peter in 1 Peter chapter 5, he gives an exhortation to those who would want to be, or who presently are shepherds of the under-shepherd, Jesus Christ, in his church.

Peter writes this. He says,. And by shepherd, he means really shepherd, feed the sheep. Those who are weak, strengthen. Those who are injured, bind them up. Those who are sick, heal them. That's what he's talking about here.

Shepherd the flock of God that is among you. Be like Jesus, our great shepherd, exercising authority, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you. And don't do this for shameful gain, but eagerly, not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.

And then when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. You get the idea. So there is an admonition here. There is a proper office of shepherd, a pastor in Christ's church, but if you seek to aspire to that office, you must do it the way Christ shepherds.

And that's the point. And when you do, then you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Remember, those who are in Christ's church that on the day of judgment, shepherds get a stricter judgment than anyone else.

Keep that in mind. And so we leave then with this thought. The scriptures paint Christ and Jesus himself makes it clear that he is our good shepherd. And because of this, Jesus is our shepherd and we will never be in want.

Psalm 23 and the Comfort of Christ's Care

He is the one who makes us to lie down in green pastures. He is the one who leads us besides the still waters, the waters of baptism where we have had our sins washed away. And he is the one who has restored our souls.

He leads us now in paths of righteousness and all of this he does for his name's sake. And even though we presently now walk through the valley of the shadow of death, that is what this world is. We do not fear evil because Christ is with us.

He is with us in body and blood given and shed for the forgiveness of sins. He is present with us now to forgive us, to strengthen us with his word. He is here and because he is with us we will fear no evil.

He is with us and his rod and his staff, the disciplinary measures of a shepherd. They will comfort us when we stray because he's not going to let us wander away. And he himself prepares a table before us in the presence of our enemies.

And I like to think that today while we have the Lord's Supper think of a good way here in light of that text from Psalm 23 he prepares a table for us in the presence of the enemies that outside the building of Kongsvinger there the devil and his demons are seething and raging that we are being cared for by our good shepherd and being assured of the forgiveness of our sins.