Christ the Good Shepherd | Sermon 07/16/2023

Christ as the Good Shepherd and the I AM of John 10

If you would, please turn with me in your Bibles to the Gospel according to John chapter 10. John chapter 10, we're going to be in verses 11 through 21. The title of the sermon today, church, is Christ the Good Shepherd.

Christ the Good Shepherd. So hear now the inerrant and infallible word of the living and true God, starting in verse 11. I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a 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. 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, 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. 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. And a division occurred among the Jews because of these words.

Many of them were saying, he is a demon and is insane. Why do you listen to him? Others were saying, these are not the sayings of one demon possessed. A demon cannot open the eyes of the blind, can he?

Thus, ending the reading of God's holy and incredible, wonderful word. Let's pray now. Lord, I pray that you would bless the proclamation of your word today. Lord, please speak through me. Use me, Lord.

And God, illuminate the scriptures for your people. Help them to understand, help them to see, Lord. And help this to not simply be information, but something that is transforming. Lord, we thank you for this moment, for this time together in your word.

It is precious to us. We pray this in your holy name. Amen. Well, church, we have been in the Good Shepherd passage for the last week or so, two weeks. And it struck me that if you were to go to YouTube and you were to search Good Shepherd sermons, a lot of them you would hear a pastor using John 10.

And he would then do some research about a shepherd. And we did talk about shepherds last week. We talked about the Israelite, the Israeli shepherd, the Hebrew shepherd, and what it was like to be a shepherd in the east.

And that was very informative. But a lot of these pastors, and I'm not saying I disagree or have anything against them, but they would use this as a time to talk about how dumb sheep are. And it would be all about how sheep are the most dumbest animals.

And I told you a little bit about how they could just roll over and want some rest. And they would get stuck straight up. And they would literally die because they couldn't get themselves back up. You know, you have things where they would go and they would find grass.

And the flock would eat all the grass in one area. And they would eat it completely to the point where if someone didn't take them to more grass, they would eat the dirt. And then they would eat their feces.

And then they would die. And that's the reality of sheep. And so they need a shepherd to take them to right places, to take them to water, to take them to food. But I don't want to simply use this as a passage where we're just going to talk about the sheep analogy and how much they need a shepherd.

That's true. We alluded to that last week. And we're going to talk about how much we need Jesus today. But I think what John is trying to show us in sharing Jesus' words here is to not show us so much about who we are, but who Jesus is.

Who is the good shepherd? We've talked about who the sheep are. And we'll continue to talk about that. But who is the good shepherd? Okay. Now, I want you to imagine something. I want you to imagine the shepherds on the hillsides in Israel.

I want you to imagine their unceasing labors for their flocks. Just imagine in your mind. Imagine you're there in Israel. And you're in some village or town. And you see the shepherds on a hill in the distance.

Okay. One sheep's getting away. And the shepherd's running after that sheep and grabbing her. But imagine now you're in this Hebrew village and it's nightfall. And you step out of the house to grab something.

And far off in the distance, you see a small golden fire on a hillside. And around that fire is like a white concentration, a circle. White fleeces. Bright under the moonlight from the fire. Contrasted against the dark, now darkened brown and green hillside.

And the shepherds are sleeping on the edges of those white circles. They're taking turns keeping watch. You can see clusters of shepherds. And you've grown up to see the labor. You've grown up to see the selflessness, the battle scars from predators.

And the care of these type of men for sheep. You've seen it all your life. And you consider then in your heart the Torah and the Tanakh, the scriptures of old. And how they're spoken at synagogue if you were a Jew at that time.

And you remember your favorite hymns. And your favorite psalms. And you think, God truly is a shepherd to his people. God is a shepherd. Truly, God surrounds us with protection. Truly, God will bring us to pasture.

Truly, God watches out for us. And then you remember that the prophet Micah spoke just after the prophecy that the Messiah would be born in the unlikeliest of towns. That is Bethlehem. It says just after that, that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.

It says just after that in Micah 5 .4, the one who is born there, that is of course Jesus. It says, he will arise and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.

And the sheep will remain because at that time he will be great to the ends of the earth. They will remain. They will abide. The sheep will endure. They will last. They will not be destroyed because the good shepherd has actually come.

Isaiah says of this same one who's coming, he says this, 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.

So this is a care and a love of the sheep that people have been longing for. People have been expecting a love from God that he would come and dwell among them and he would care for them and keep them from predators.

And the one is finally here in our chapter who will vanquish the greatest predator ever, sin. And it is in this sort of landscape and this mindset that many possess in this first century Judea. Remember, Jesus is speaking to a bunch of Jews right now near the temple.

Who will this shepherd be? Who is this good shepherd? So let's take a look starting in verse 11. It says, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. See, all that Jesus was alluding to in our passage last week, he now declares plainly.

He will identify the shepherd that he was describing in the verses prior. If you haven't watched that yet, check out last week's sermon. It's Christ the door, verses 1 through 11. And you see, he is the one who entered through the door.

The one to whom the doorkeeper gives access. The one whom the sheep recognize his voice. The one whom he knows each sheep by name. He leads them out. He said he goes ahead of them, protects them, guides them.

And he promised that he will give life and he will give it abundantly. He will give pasture and salvation. And so Jesus says, I am the good shepherd. And if you've been with us for any amount of time, you know those words, I am, are a phrase that comes from the Old Testament.

In Exodus chapter 3, when Moses said, Who are you that I should tell the people? What is your name, God? And God said, My name is I am that I am. He is the one who has all being. That is in the Hebrew, Yahweh.

And so Jesus, if we move too quickly in our New Testament English text, we can miss it. Jesus is saying, I am, ego eimi. That's in the Greek. I am, pointing back to the Father, pointing back to God. Jesus is ascribing to himself deity.

I am the good shepherd. He is all at the same time the shepherd who would come among his people. And he is the I am from all eternity. Jesus is God. He's not the Father and he's not the Spirit. This mysterious thing.

Jesus is the I am. And most of all, with this I am declaration, Jesus is saying he is the Lord of Ezekiel 34, the one who has been promised to come, be with his sheep, to gather his scattered flock. He is the shepherd God of the Old Testament.

He is the one, one of the holy persons of the blessed Trinity. Now, when the psalmist says in Psalm 14, the Lord has looked down upon the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God, it says that they have all turned aside.

Together men have become corrupt. There is no one who does good, not even one. And Jesus says that he's different from these regular men. The psalmist also says, taste and see that the Lord is good. Give thanks to the Lord for he is good.

And Lord, you are good and do good. The psalmist says all that about God. Men, the Bible shows that after the fall, we are not good. We need someone who is good. The Lord is good. He is perfectly good.

Goodness and benevolence are attributes from that one God. And Jesus assigns those attributes to himself. He calls himself the good shepherd. He is good. He doesn't simply call himself the shepherd, but in the wake of all these false shepherds of Israel, and all these false leaders of men, he says he's the good shepherd.

He's not like them. Only one will do good and will be fully good himself. And so he is the divinely ideal shepherd. And not only speaking about his righteous character, Jesus is also elevating himself above any other sort of leader.

He is the supreme shepherd. He is the ideal shepherd. He is the highest and best shepherd. Remember, as Ezekiel demonstrated, the Lord spoke and said, I will come to my sheep and shepherd my flock with justice.

And the point is, the Lord is here. The Lord is here in this moment, and it's in Christ. And now we see in this verse, verse 11, one of the fullest and clearest statements of Jesus' sacrifice thus far in the gospel according to John.

Do you see that? He lays down his life. We have not seen him fully talk about yet the coming crucifixion, but this is much more clear than we've seen thus far. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

This word lays down is tithemi in the Greek, tithemi. And it has several uses and meanings, okay? First, it means to put something in a particular place. In this case, Jesus qualifies with the Greek word huper, which is on behalf of, or in place of, or in front of, and it's in front of the sheep.

When judgment descends and the wrath of a holy God is about to consume, the good shepherd then lays down his life in place of, in front of the sheep. When we should have been punished, Jesus then lays down his life in place of, in front of the sheep.

That's the image we get. Before it comes to us, it goes fully to Him. He takes our punishment. The other meaning for tithemi is assigning to a task or a function to appoint something. You see, the good shepherd has appointed his own life for the sheep.

This is his assignment. And that tells us that laying down his life wasn't on a whim. It wasn't a quick decision. Well, I better lay down my life. They really need me at this point. The good shepherd has appointed his own life.

The book of Revelation speaks to this as such a firm reality. It says that he was the lamb slain before the foundations of the world. It was so assuredly and firmly predestined that it was as if it happened before the world was created.

He was the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. He laid down his life. Jesus giving his life was the greatest divine appointment of all appointments. And finally, tithemi also means to lay something aside, that is, to deposit something, like depositing money.

However, in this case, the good shepherd will deposit his own life. He'll make a payment with his own life on behalf of the sheep. Whatever we owe, whatever we owe to God, the sin that we've committed that makes us owe God, like as if when someone commits a crime and they have to pay a fine or they have to pay time in jail for the crime they did.

Our crime is sin. And it says here that Jesus paid for that fine. It was as if he went to jail for you. We don't have to go to hell because Jesus endured that. For us, our debt is paid in full. The demands of God are completely satisfied.

And Paul says to the Ephesians that we have redemption in his blood. Redemption. You ever heard of that term? Redeem this. Redeem this coupon. Redeem this thing. It's like making a payment. And that is to say Jesus redeemed us.

He made a blood payment. He made a blood payment. He gave his own blood. He gave his own life for us. You see, a shepherd doesn't die for his sheep as an example, right? You're thinking back to that shepherd sheep example in Israel.

And the shepherd is there with his sheep and he sacrifices his life. And the sheep are just like, they don't know what to do from there. It's not simply about being an example. There's much more significance than that to this.

The assumption is that the sheep are in great peril. They're not just sitting there. The sheep are in great peril. The kind of life losing or life retaining kind of peril. And the shepherd has to act to save them.

Now the Old Testament, you might wonder, does the Old Testament bring those themes together? Is this completely foreign to the Old Testament? Is this just something in the new? A shepherd's going to come and the shepherd's going to die for his people?

No, this is not new. Zechariah, and if you look in your printout, I have it there too, or you can look in your Bible. Zechariah 13 verse 7 says, "'Awake, O sword, against my shepherd and against the man my associate,' declares the Lord of hosts.

Strike the shepherd that the sheep may be scattered.'". You see, the New Testament writers associated that verse with Christ. My associate literally means in the Hebrew, the one who stands close to me.

So who can stand close to God? Jesus. Jesus stood by the throne of God. He stood by the Father. This word also, my associate, can be translated in the Hebrew, my equal. My equal. This is the equal of God.

And so, in Zechariah, the Father is calling for the sword, that is another word for death, to come upon His shepherd, His equal. The one who stands close to Him. And the night that Jesus was struck, indeed the sheep were scattered.

And the apostolic writers apply that to the apostles, right? After the Garden of Gethsemane, all the apostles ran. Sheep were scattered. The shepherd seems to be, the one of Zechariah 13, seems to be the same one, the same person in Zechariah 12.

It says, "'I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplication.'". Listen to this. "'So that they will look on Me whom they have pierced. They will look on Me whom they have pierced, and they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him, like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.'".

So the shepherd, who's going to give His life, who the Father calls the sword to come after Him, and the one whom the sheep after will be scattered, is the same one whom they will look upon who will be pierced.

Despite all this, Jesus will give a clue in a few verses what's going to happen after that death. We'll see that in a moment. Now, what else I find interesting about this verse is that Jesus doesn't say the word for life.

Your translation may say life, but it's not the word zoe. This is the word psuche, which is the word that we use for soul in the Greek. It can mean a whole person, a whole living person, one's whole self, but it's also related to breath.

That is to say, as if it's not just your physical body, it's not just physical life, your psuche is a life force in a way. Like when someone's breath comes out for the final time, is the image we get.

It's possible that what Jesus is trying to say is, He won't just sacrifice His physical body for us. The crucifixion isn't only about the torment of nails, and whips, and hanging on a cross. When Jesus takes the judgment of God on our behalf, it hits even deeper.

Strikingly, once again in the Garden of Gethsemane, right before Jesus' crucifixion, He says this, My soul, my psuche, my soul is deeply grieved to the point of death. And so, even He knew that His suffering would be on whips, and nails, and crosses.

Now go to verses 12 and 13. It says, He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the shepherd, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees. The wolf snatches them and scatters them.

He flees because He is a hired hand, and is not concerned about the sheep. So if you remember, Jesus previously had contrasted Himself, in verses 1 through 10, to robbers and thieves, and inferred in that was false shepherds, poor watchmen.

But now Jesus will contrast Himself, the good shepherd, against hirelings, hired hands. This is someone who gets a wage for a short time, and does not own the flock of the sheep. They get a paycheck. They get hired for what they do.

If this gig does not work out, if it becomes too dangerous, or arduous, they can just quit. They can be done. He doesn't have to stick around. He has no stock in this, except to earn that wage. If some sheep get lost, if some sheep get maimed, if something happens, as long as He's good, and He gets His paycheck, that's who He is.

That's who He is. He's good to go. He's not nearly as invested in the flock as the shepherd is. You know, actually, when you look at this word hireling, most, not all, but many people back in ancient times were more likely to be business owners.

You know, maybe they were a shepherd. Maybe they did farming. Maybe they had a fishing company. But typically, you were your own boss. And you would work and make some sort of produce. You would build things.

Maybe you were a carpenter. There were many more business owners per capita back then. People would be truly invested in their own work. You see, that word hireling was sometimes used in a derogatory way.

Hired hand. People who were considered lower quality workers. People who clock in, clock out, get a paycheck. They were considered lazier, less invested. Now, if you're wondering what the hireling is a symbol for, there's nothing in particular that I see here that Jesus is using hireling for, except as a backboard for Himself.

Okay, so we know the thief and the robber were more about the Pharisees, but here, I think Jesus is just contrasting Himself to an example, a hireling. But isn't that interesting? I think that's interesting that there's so many more hirelings today.

Hired hands. You trade time for money. Anyhow, the Lord gives us a scenario here, okay? The hireling is watching over the flock, sees a wolf coming. He flees, he runs away, and abandons the sheep for what?

For his own life. The sake of his own life. And then on the other hand, what will Jesus do? What did Jesus promise? He lays down His what? His life. The hireling's concerned about his life. Jesus gives up His life willingly.

The hireling wants to save his own neck. And so the sheep come and snatch, I'm sorry, the wolf comes and snatches the sheep and tears them up. And with a predator coming into the flock, the ones who are lucky enough scatter.

They run away. And Jesus tells us, this man flees because he's hired. He's a hired hand. He has no deep care in Him for this. He is more concerned for himself. And this sort of person is selfish. Sometimes even people can act like the hireling.

We can act like the hireling. Paul says, have this mind which is in Christ Jesus. Consider one another as more important than yourselves. It is better to give than to receive. Jesus says it is better to serve than be served.

He says, pick up your cross, deny yourself. Christianity is a faith of selflessness. You see, a selfish person typically does not or cannot see how their behavior impacts others. They serve themselves, even when it comes at the expense of others.

They're top dog. Often they cannot sympathize with one who is suffering. They just don't get it. They don't give back to others. Their reflex isn't, how will this impact this person or whoever? Their reflex is, what about me?

What about me? And if they actually do good things, if a hireling or selfish person like this actually does a good thing, it typically comes with, you owe me for that. Or there's a price that goes along with it.

Price for the help they give. Just as we see with the hired hand here. So even if all the sheep scatter, if everything goes downhill, and the shepherd walks up, and he's like, where's my flock? The hireling goes, I've been here for eight hours.

A wolf came. They're all out there. You'll find them eventually. Where's my money? That's the hired hand. But this is not what a shepherd is like. We've been raised to think that shepherds are soft men.

Oh, images of shepherds. They're just laying in fluffy grass with fluffy white fleeces of lambs laying on their chest. Oh, make a Hallmark card, right? Look at that. Shepherds are so soft. But Christ is the epitome of biblical masculinity and toughness as a shepherd.

A shepherd needs to be courageous, self-sacrificing, someone who will put himself in between the sheep and the predator in the front. That's a true shepherd. He is regard for others over himself. It's like when David was still a young man.

You might remember this story. When David was still a young man, he had not yet become king. And his father Jesse told him to bring, deliver food. I believe it was cheese and bread. It was a grilled cheese.

David had to bring food to his brothers. His older brothers were what? They were on the battle lines fighting against the Philistines. You remember this story? And Goliath was there at the battle line.

And the Israelites hadn't started the battle yet because they were afraid. Because Goliath of Gath, a giant of a man, was like, I'll kill every single one of you. Bring someone to fight me and I'll beat them.

And I'll make the rest of you my slaves. He was a giant. He was huge. Well, if you remember, David brings the little cart of bread and cheese. And his older brothers are there. And he hears what's going on.

There is this scare, this concern going on throughout the Israelite camp. Oh my goodness, they're so frightened of Goliath. But a righteous anger then burned in David. Young man, a righteous anger, a righteous indignation.

He wanted to show the Philistines that there is a God in heaven and He is greater than Goliath. So in trying to convince King Saul, David goes to King Saul and says, look, let me fight Goliath, right?

And they're looking at this young man, still a teenager possibly. And this is what happens. 1 Samuel 17, 31 -37. When the words which David spoke were heard, they told them to Saul and he sent for him.

David said to Saul, let no man's heart fail on account of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine. Then Saul said to David, you're not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him for you are a youth while he has been a warrior from his youth.

But David said to Saul, and this is where the shepherd stuff kicks in, your servant was tending his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock, I went out after him and I attacked that animal.

And I rescued that lamb from its mouth. And when that animal, when that beast rose up against me, I seized him by the beard. It says, I imagine that mean the mane, right? I seized him by the mane and I struck that bear and I struck that lion and I killed those beasts.

He says, your servant has killed both the lion and the bear. And so this uncircumcised Philistine is going to be like one of them. He has taunted the armies of the living God. And so the Lord has delivered me, he says, from the paw of the lion, from the paw of the bear, and he will deliver me from the hand of the Philistine.

And so Saul sees this amazing faith. He sees the Lord is with David. And he says, go and may the Lord be with you. We'll have to go over the rest of the story another time, you know it. You see, a good shepherd doesn't back down from wolves, from beasts, either of the human kind or the animal kind.

You don't back down. You stand your ground. You know, actually, I'm reminded, I saw this video. It was incredible. This guy, I think he has a GoPro on or something. And his friend is in front of him. And I don't know if they're in Alaska or if they're in Canada or somewhere where there's grizzly bears.

You got to see this video. I'll find it. And this grizzly bear, I've never seen a video like this. This grizzly bear is running across the beach, like full sprint, 35 miles per hour. I don't even know.

So fast, this grizzly bear is charging at these men. And the guy with the camera is backing up. But his friend comes forward and starts growling and yelling. And I'm telling you, like between here and 10 feet away, maybe where my brother is here, that grizzly face to face and then darts that way.

And I mean, that man stayed firm, yelling, growling. And he actually was advancing steps towards the charging grizzly bear. And what do you think would happen? What if those guys dropped everything and ran?

Probably a deadly attack. It would trigger the predator and prey sort of mode. Jesus did not turn back from facing the most awful and terrifying experience anyone in the history of the world will ever go through.

He didn't turn back. When the curse wrapped its claws around us, when Satan the serpent coiled his body around us, and when our sin bound us in chains, Christ stood up and fought for us. He fought for us.

He would not let us be taken because we're His sheep. And what did He say in John chapter 6? He will lose none that the Father has given Him. He'll lose none. Go to verses 14 and 15. 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, I lay down my life for the sheep. Once again, Jesus is not like the hireling. And we see again, He says, I am, ego eimi, Yahweh. He is the good shepherd.

He knows His own and His own know Him. There is a mutual recognition. There is a mutual intimacy. This isn't just a thing where you know of Jesus and you pray a special prayer at an altar call or at a church call.

And you pray a special prayer at an altar call or at a church camp. You see, a sheep is ever dependent on the shepherd for sustenance, leading, care, healing, binding up, bruises, protection and love.

You see, there are people out there who have experienced none of the shepherd's care and they don't need the good shepherd's care. They believe. Because the prayer that they spoke when they were a kid or a teenager or as a young adult in some big church that had fancy music that made them feel really good.

When they prayed that prayer and that minister said, your sins are forgiven. It doesn't matter what you do. It doesn't matter who you are. Even if you're a false convert, you'll escape hell. It's this easy believism sort of thing.

People who don't darken the doorstep of a church. People, and I'm talking about people who profess Jesus, okay? People who say, I'm a believer. I pray to prayer. I'm good. It doesn't matter what I do in my life.

The things they think will bring them into salvation, that magical prayer, are actually the things that create a mirage. A mirage of pasture. A mirage of salvation. And they're going to come to it and realize they're actually the slaughterhouse, those things.

Brothers and sisters, Christianity, real faith, is more than just saying the right things at the right time. It's a living faith. It's a dependency on Jesus. We're the sheep. He's the shepherd. That's what I'm trying to get at.

And the knowledge and relationship of the good shepherd and the sheep are two deep things. They're just too deep. They're amazing. To the point that Christ likens this relationship of sheep to shepherd to the knowledge of the Son to the Father and of the Father to the Son.

And we've talked about the Father and the Son's connection in the Trinity. This is an unbreakable, ontological, cosmological bond. The Father and the Son and the Spirit are the one God. Co-equal, co-eternal.

They're not parts of God. They're not three parts of one God. They aren't one mode of God. Here's the mode of God in the Spirit form. Here's the mode of God in the Jesus form. The mode of God in the Father form.

They are not that. It's amazing. It's mysterious in a way. The Scripture maintains that there is only one God. And yet, while that's held up as true, at the very same time, the Bible demonstrates that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are God.

But there's only one. And that's where we get the doctrine of the Trinity. That's where we understand that God is triune. You are one being and one person, but God is one being and has three personhood.

It's hard to explain. But it's between that Godhead, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, it's that kind of love that then comes over onto us. It's that sort of same knowledge and intimacy that flows onto us that the Shepherd has with us.

His love for us is grounded in His love for the Father and the Father's love for Him. And so, as I said last week, this passage in John 10 isn't simply about agrarian works, that is, farming. It's not simply about analogies of sheep and shepherd that's part of it.

But when Jesus mentions the Father, and He mentions the name of God, I Am, He's showing that this is cosmic. This is bigger than we could have ever thought. This is divine. Jesus is fulfilling all the Old Testament prophecies concerning Him.

In a way, this is more profound than we have ever thought before. I love what John Calvin says about these two verses. He says, it's as if Jesus said that it is no more possible for Him to be oblivious of us than for the Father to reject or neglect Him.

I like that. In as much as the Father will never neglect and never reject His Son, in the same way Jesus is trying to say, I will never do that to my sheep. That's awesome. It's an eternal commitment.

Now, go to verse 16. Here is some of the most blessed news in all of the Bible, honestly. Verse 16, 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.

We've seen a love of the Son to the Jews of His flock. We've seen the love of the Son to the Father, and the Father towards Him. And now we see the love of the Son towards other sheep. Because who has Jesus been talking to this whole chapter?

He's been talking to Jews. He's been talking to Jews. But now there's other sheep. And I would say that those are the Gentiles. Anyone who is not Jewish, there are other sheep that are not of this Judaism fold.

And He's going to go to them. Jesus first came to the lost sheep of Israel, of Judaism. But the coming of the Messiah carried with it prophecies of His salvation, touching people all over the globe, all over the world.