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Mar 16, 2025

The Good Shepherd | Power and Promise

The Good Shepherd | Power and Promise

Passage: John 10:11-16

Speaker: Matt Petty

Series: Power and Promise

Category: Sunday Sermons

Keywords: jesus as our shepherd, jesus the good shepherd, abundant life in christ, the good shepherd sermon, john 10:11 sermon, jesus lays down his life, shepherd and sheep in the bible, following the good shepherd, john 10 explained, psalm 23 and john 10, jesus protects his sheep, trusting the good shepherd, spiritual guidance from jesus, unity in christ’s flock, christian sermon on jesus’ love, jesus knows his sheep, the role of a shepherd in the bible, who is the good shepherd, finding security in jesus, jesus’ sacrifice for us, how jesus leads his people, biblical meaning of shepherd, hearing the shepherd’s voice, john 10:11 meaning, jesus unites his flock, faith in the good shepherd, the voice of jesus, christ’s love and protection, john 10 sermon notes

In John 10:11, Jesus proclaims, "I am the Good Shepherd", a declaration that reveals His deep, sacrificial love and unwavering guidance for His followers. In this powerful message, we explore what it means to be led by the only true Shepherd, who lays down His life for His sheep, offers protection in life’s darkest valleys, and calls people from all backgrounds into one united flock. Unlike the false shepherds of the world who abandon and mislead, Jesus remains steadfast, knowing each of us personally and leading us to a life of abundance and peace. Whether you feel lost, alone, or simply searching for deeper meaning, this message reminds us that we are fully known, deeply loved, and eternally secure in Christ.

Well, good morning church and go ahead and grab your Bibles this morning and turn with me to John Chapter 10. As Jesus makes these “I am” promises – there are seven of them through the Gospel of John - Jesus reaches back to the Old Testament, and he grabs hold of the name that God uses to describe himself. “I am” is the highest and the holiest name, Yahweh or Jehovah in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, Jesus shows us who he is, he proclaims that name for himself, and he promises that that name fulfills the deepest needs and affections of our lives. What we've been doing in this middle section of the Gospel of John is walk through these. We started with the first “I am” claim, where Jesus just simply claims to be the bread of life.

Right after that he fed the 5,000 and the 4,000, he reached back to the manna of the Old Testament, and he said, I am God and I bring substance to your life. The second week we looked at Jesus in John chapter eight, where he proclaimed to be the light of the world, standing on the temple Mount in front of the lights at the temple Mount. He looks at the people at the festival of the Tabernacles and said, I am the light of the world. I'm the one that brings light, that illuminates your way, that grows you, and that brings you life. Last week, we stepped into John chapter 10, and Jesus makes the claim that he is the door, meaning that I am the one that brings protection. I'm the one that brings salvation, and I'm the one that brings safety.

Well, all I could think about this week was the fact that this week's message out of John chapter 10, is really just a continuation coming out of last week's message out of John chapter 10. Or you could kind of call it a part two. So in your minds, think of that. You've pressed pause on your Netflix show last week. You're joining it back this week because there's no scene change, there's no location change, there's no swap on time gone by. This week is picking up exactly where we were last week, and Jesus doubles down one more time with another I am statement. So let me just remind you of what is happening in John chapter 10.

There's this group of Jewish leaders, the Pharisees, that were so mad at Jesus that they're spreading lies about him. They're calling him a demon. They're calling him possessed. They're calling him from below. And they've tried to kill him at this point in the book of John three different times already. So they're hot at Jesus, they're mad at Jesus, but they're really mad at him, specifically for something that actually happened in John chapter nine. It was the latest offense, if you would, of Jesus, when Jesus healed this man that was born blind. Now, this man that was born blind comes to Jesus, and Jesus sets him free from his blindness from birth, and that made the Pharisees mad.

But Jesus did it on the Sabbath day, which really ticked them off. But at the end of John chapter nine, Jesus lets us in to how mad these people were and sets the scene for what we're going to talk about today. Because at the end of John chapter nine, we see that there are three different kind of groups of people that are present. We have the disciples that are continually seeing over and over again that Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus is God. In the middle, you've got all the people that Jesus is healing over and over again. Specifically, the blind man that has turned his heart and his life and his vision towards Jesus. But on the other side, you've got these religious leaders that are so spun out of control that they're making up lies about Jesus.

Their logic is failing because they try to deny the miracle of this guy getting his sight. But I'm sure Jesus is like, well, you can see that he can see, right? Jesus points out that the real blind people in the story are the religious leaders. Don’t miss this point because this is the point that leads us into our texts today. Jesus looks at the religious people, and maybe you've been there in your life: he points out the fact that your blindness to spiritual things is keeping you from understanding who I am. You might not be physically blind, but Jesus says you're spiritually blind. No matter how religious you are, no matter how much you're in the temple, no matter how much you're in the church, you are separated from God.

At the end of chapter nine, it comes to a head, and Jesus calls them blind to their faces. Now, they were hot, but Jesus is showing them that he really does want to reach them. He really does want to show them who he is, and he's trying his best to draw them in, but they're not budging. Later on in Matthew chapter 23, Jesus, speaking about them and who they represent, says, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who sent you. How often have I longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings and you are not willing?

So later, Jesus is going, I tried. I presented myself. I showed you who I am. But what are you doing in your blindness to me? You are holding your hands up and saying, no. We know the way. So one more time, in John chapter 10, he tries to show them who they are and show them who he is. That's where we were last week, our double metaphor of the two sheep folds - Jesus is the door. Now this week, we're jumping right back in, and so think of the context as Jesus is with the religious leaders. He's with the disciples. He's with these other people that have already been healed, and now I want you to listen to the claim and listen to the offer that Jesus not only gives them, but he gives us.

John 10:11 says, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. That's the promise that Jesus is making to them and to us, to draw us into him as God. Now, I don't want to assume anything, so I need to ask you two questions. This is the group participatory part of the message. I know some of you have been up for a long time. You need to wake up a little bit.

Who is the shepherd in the story? Jesus. Great. Jesus is the shepherd. Now, here's the second question. Who are the sheep in the story? Okay, that was a little bit of everything. Understandably, why? Because sheep in the story can mean us. I heard me. That's what it means, but it also means those that God is speaking to and drawing, and he's hoping that even more come. So Jesus is the shepherd. We are the sheep.

The rest of this passage is dealing with the relationship that the shepherd has to the sheep. When Jesus says He is the good shepherd, we've got to talk for a few minutes about this word “Good”. The word good kind of tees us up for the rest of the message.

It is one thing for someone to be able to say that there is a God. There is one thing for even religions to be able to say that we have a God. But it is a whole other level for us to be able to say, and we're the only ones that can say this as s Christians, that we have a good God. Have you ever noticed other religions? They don't claim that. They just say that there is a god. But we actually come to the table as believers in Jesus to say, we have a good God.

In the original language, it was written in Greek, and the Greeks had two words for the word “good”. The first word that they used was Agatha, which literally meant something is good in the sense of quality, maybe even good in the sense of morals. In other words, that was a good meal. Have a good morning. You are a good person.

But that is not the word that Jesus uses for good here. Now, if you don't know Greek, and you've never looked this up in the bottom of your notes, you are just reading this and you're like, ah, Jesus is good in the sense of like my Sunday school craft, but no. The second word that the Greeks use, and this is the one that Jesus used, is the word kalos. It's the word the Greeks used to describe something that was a masterpiece, something that, from its total essence and from its being, is 100% beautiful and 100% perfect. So Jesus doesn't step onto the scene right here and go, Hey, I'm morally good. No. Jesus steps onto the scene and says, I am kalos. In other words, I am the one. I am the preeminent. I am the totally from my own essence, beautifully perfect and excellent in every way, shepherd. Now for us in English, we're like, wow, why didn't they just say that? Well, the Bible would be really big if it described all of that to us. But it's just how English collapses some of the Greek words.

When we read this, to the Jewish audience, Jesus single-handedly and instantaneously, without any question, separates himself out as the only kalos good shepherd. He separates himself from the moral leaders. He separates himself from anything else that is ever claimed to be good. We know this because, first he uses the phrase, I am. We've covered that a few weeks in a row. He picks up on the fact that he is God. But secondly, Jesus does something specific here, separating himself from any other shepherd that has ever lived. If you were a Jew, and if you heard Jesus say this, it would've blown your mind.

Why would that blow my mind as a Jew any more than it blows my American mind? Here's why. Because as a Jew, every time the word shepherd was mentioned, the only thing your mind went to was that King David was the shepherd of all shepherds that ever lived, and that God is my shepherds. So Jesus is in essence looking at these guys saying, listen, I am fulfilling the messianic promise that the Messiah is going to come from the line of David. He's going to come as the great shepherd, and he's going to come to fulfill all of the promises of all times, and he is going to be God. That's what Jesus is saying.

Jesus has already stepped up on the scene and said, I'm greater than Moses and his manna. In John chapter eight, he comes up and says, I'm also greater than your man, Abraham; before Abraham was, I am. And now he leans in and says, listen, I am even above your good shepherd, David, and I am the one that even he talked about.

Pretty cool, isn't it? Jesus says, I'm superior to all those other shepherds. I'm superior to all those other prophets. I'm the one that you've been looking for. I'm the fulfillment of all that the prophets spoke of. I am even going to bring a better kingdom than the kingdom of David. Oh, it was that big of a deal to them. The guys that he's speaking to would have memorized that the true and excellent shepherd was God and the under-shepherd David.

Remember what David said in Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd, and I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the quiet waters. He refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right path for his name’s sake. And even though I'll walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil and my cup overflows. And surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. You see, they're looking at the good shepherd being God the other good shepherd being David.

And now Jesus says, I fulfill both of them. I am the kalos shepherd and I am the one, religious leaders, that you better turn to and follow, so that I can give you life. That's the Old and the New Testament just slamming themselves together with Jesus being the Messiah.

John 10, verse 10. Here's what it says. We'll start where we left off last week. It says this, the thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. But I have come that they may have life and they may have it to the full. Here's the claim. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming and he abandons and runs away, the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it, the man runs away because he's a hired hand and he cares nothing for the sheep.

I am the good shepherd, and I know my sheep and my sheep know me just as the father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay my life down for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this pen, and I must bring them also, and they too will listen to my voice. And there shall be one flock and one shepherd.

Now, this is an incredibly intimidating text because we could take the next nine hours and dissect everything that is in it. We're not going to do that. But what I want to do with the moment already being established, I want to show you three of the many things that the great good shepherd brings to his sheep. Here it is, number one, the good shepherd dies for his sheep. The good shepherd dies for his sheep. Now, at first glance, this seems like a crazy place to start.

Why? Because if he dies for his sheep, then his sheep won't know where to go. They won't be protected. They won't have a way. They won't know where to go. But thanks be to God that although our great shepherd died, he rose again. Without him dying, none of the rest of everything else that we're going to take into context today could have happened. In fact, without this first step, there would be no relationship with God for us, the sheep. It says, the thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. But I have come that they may have life and have it to the full. Are you seeing that is the heart of the shepherd. The heart of the shepherd is that we may have the life, right?

It's overflowing. He wants to continually pour himself into us. So Jesus says, even though the world's going to try to steal it, even though people are going to try to get it out of you, I want you to have that fulfilled life in me that I have promised. But verse 11, what he continues on to say from there. But because we have walked away from him because that sin entered the world, because sin entered my life and your life, what does the shepherd have to do? Look at verse 11. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd. What does he do? He lays his life down for the sheep. Before we can have any relationship with God, Jesus had to lay his life down. Jesus had to die before we can have any access to God.  So that we could now be adopted through the shepherd across the door (from last week) into the sheepfold of God. What does that mean? That we have the opportunity to be in his flock.

At this time, shepherds were not cuddly little men that you looked at and went, Ooh, he's a little rugged. No. These were absolutely gnarly, nasty men that would cut your throat and not care a bit. That's just who they were during this time period. So they took their job incredibly, incredibly serious. In fact, they were fanatics about keeping the sheep safe. And they did not care. They would protect their sheep, even if it cost them their lives. And it often actually did. Often in history, you can read it, it often did cost their lives.

Why? Because they were there to save the sheep at all cost. And church, listen, it cost Jesus everything to save us. It's the point of the text. You've got the shepherd that it cost everything. But on the other side, notice what Jesus does here. It's an incredible literary moment right here for Jesus, because Jesus shows us the true shepherd that lays down his life. But on the other side, he shows us a contrast in the text in verse 12, and he begins to talk about the hired person. He's kind of looking over at the Pharisees at this moment and giving them a wink. But listen to what he says about them. He says, the hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So look at this, verse 12.

So when he sees the wolf coming, the hired hand abandons the sheep, he runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it, and the man runs away. Why? Because he is a hired hand and he cares nothing for the sheep. Now, in our minds, we're reading this like, I'm not a shepherd. I don't really care about this. But what Jesus is saying here is there's a difference. And you have to know the difference. You see, for us sheep, there are going to be countless things that try to sneak into our lives and lead us and entice us, that promise us that they're going to be our protector and they're going to be our promise. But only the good shepherd can be the one that stays with us when the wolves attack.

Now, in context, the wolves are the religious people that are trying to bring this false religion of works and just Old Testament grinding it out. But for us, it might be something in your life that's trying to lead you like popularity or status or financial gain or some earthly goal or maybe some group that you want to be in. But Jesus says, Hey, remember this when the going gets tough and when the fights start, be careful not to follow the fake shepherds of this world because they will always only be about their own advancement. They will always leave you exposed. They will always turn their backs on you just to save themselves. That's exactly what everything else other than the good shepherd will do in your life. But man, don't we chase it? Don't we chase the other stuff that looks alluring, that looks like it is worth following.

But Jesus is the one that laid his life down. You may ask, was it really that big of a deal? About a month and a half ago, I met with a person that we kind of got into a little bit of an argument. It wasn't an argument, it was a discussion, right? They wanted to challenge me on the fact that it wasn't a big deal for Jesus's physical self to die. Was it truly a big deal for his body to be taken on the cross, that he just gave up this little temporary flesh suit and he was God and it really didn't matter. And it hit me in that moment, this verse right here.

Jesus said that he's the good shepherd and the good shepherd lays down his life for sheep. Verse 12 literally says, the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. That word life that you're seeing right there is not the word bios. That just means breath. It's actually the word psuche. That literally means that Jesus didn't just kind of lay down this biological self for you. I want you to hear this, all right? He didn't just lay down this biological, temporary, earthly suit for you and then just kind of went on about his business. No, no, no. Jesus laid down his psuche. That's the word that Jesus uses right here. What that means is he laid down his very essence and all of who he is.

From the beginning to the end, he laid down every bit of emotion, every bit of his soul, every bit of his body, for the atonement of your sins. That's what the good shepherd does. So don't think that Jesus just all of a sudden just gave up this temporary earthliness he had. No, Jesus fully felt everything, the physical pain, the curse of sin, the hurt of hate, the separation from God, and thank God the shepherd did this for me as a fellow sheep. Thank God he died for me. I'm so glad that even when the wolves come at me, I know that Jesus already died for me and he's already still walking with me. Yes, sir.

When the going gets tough, it's only the good shepherd that has the perfect love to stay right there with you. Teenagers, if you don't hear anything else today, hear this: every other shepherd in your life will turn its back on you when the wolves come. But he won't.

It seems obvious after talking about that the good shepherd not only dies for his sheep, but the good shepherd loves his sheep, loves his sheep. Jesus did not just die for you because it was something he was supposed to do. He did it because of his love for you. It's so comforting and it's so good to know that in light of the good shepherd, if you have given your life to Jesus, if you have been saved, this is not just a theological something for you to grasp hold of. It is a personal relationship with Jesus to where, yes, he so loved the world, but also, yes, he so loved you. Individually, personally, he loves you. In fact, look at verse 14 where he proves this. He says this, 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. Why does he lay down his life for us? Because of how strong his relationship with God is, how much he knows God, how much his relationship with God teaches him how to love. That's how much he loves us. This beautifully explains Jesus's love for us. The word love is not used. But the word to know is.

Actually, it was in there four times. If you want to circle it. This word to know is the word gnosko. It doesn't mean that you read something or heard something on the radio. It is literally that he knows us at a soul level. He knows us at our worst enough to give his best. He knows us as a husband knows his wife. So in other words, when Jesus died for us, when we were at our worst, he has now given us a fully loving relationship in him. Even though he knows our wounds, even though he knows our battles, even though he knows to walk in front of and behind us, he offers all of himself to us in his love. And listen, we are like sheep in a lot of ways, right? We wander in the pastures we don't belong, we get into fights. We know we can't win. We find ourselves in crevices we can't get out of right. Even though we know that here's the great part for us. We are loved by the good shepherd that will always fight for us. That's the good shepherd. He knows me by my name and he will always love me. In fact, Romans 8:38 says, for I'm convinced, in neither death nor life, nor angels nor demons, nor present or future, nor any powers, watch this, neither height nor death nor anything in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in the good shepherd Christ, Jesus, my Lord. Good shepherd was mine, but it works. So the good shepherd has given us this perfect, this lasting, this powerful love that transcends not just the fact that he may know us, but he knows us.

So he dies for his sheep. He loves his sheep. Here's the third one, it's quick, but it's powerful. The good shepherd unites his sheep. Think back to shepherds with me just for a minute. What was the role? The role was to protect the sheep. To keep the sheep together. The role was to keep the sheep moving and to pastures to where they could flourish. Because listen, left to their own, sheep will literally stand in the same place and eat every blade of grass and never move from that dirt spot and literally starve, eat their own feces and die. But the good shepherd unites his sheep around him and leads them into pasture to where they can flourish. That that's what he's saying in the text right here.

Jesus unites us in our salvation, right? He invites us from all walks, from all places, from all backgrounds. He is the way he keeps us safe. As his believer, we looked at that last week. He is the door, the gate. He keeps us moving in a direction as one group, as one body, as the Big C church and the local church. But also watch what he says in verse 16, Jesus says this. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. Now, I must pause there for a minute. This is one of the most taken out of context verses in all of the book of John. Let me tell you what this doesn't mean. This doesn't mean that there's aliens out there that he's going to save. The Discovery Channel will try to tell you that it does, but it's not. It is not that. It also doesn't mean that there are cult groups that are mimicking Christianity, that are out there, that are trying to say, we are the other sheep pens that Jesus is going to save, thank you Joseph Smith. That is not what it is.

He's speaking to the Jews in Jerusalem at this moment, and he's thinking about you, and he's thinking about me. All of us who are non-ethnic Jews from Jerusalem, thanks be to God. He is looking back over all of us for all times saying, this is not just a Jewish game. This is a whole world game that anybody that turns to me, I will unite them.

I will save them, and I will give them life. 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 shall be one flock and one shepherd. He just absolutely blew a hole in the idea that there are multiple ways into his pen. He just blew a hole into this idea that all roads lead up the mountain to the same God. He just blew a hole into pluralistic thinking that our world has just grabbed a hold of. There is only one pen. There is only one savior. There is only one good shepherd. And Jesus has always been him. He will always be him, and he is offering you his life, and wants to unite you in it.

Jesus is breaking every cultural, ethnic, or diversity barrier that you have ever thought of, and he's saying, if you are in Christ and he is your shepherd, everything else that distinguishes you comes after the fact that you are in his pen. So whatever you grew up with, I don't know what yours was, it was something, whatever you grew up thinking, Hey, stay away from, get away from, do whatever. He's saying if he is your shepherd and he is your king and he has redeemed you, then whatever that was, it no longer exists in his sheepfold.

In fact, later on, Paul says it like this, in Galatians chapter three, verse 26, so in Christ, you all the children of God through faith, for all of you are baptized and to Christ Jesus, you've clothed yourself with Christ. And now there is neither Jew nor Gentiles, slave nor free. Neither is there, male or female, for you are all one in Christ. Listen, church, this sheepfold is the primary function of how we are now to operate in life. Wherever you came from is great, you can celebrate that, but you celebrate the fact that you were led by the good shepherd, under his name, under his banner, under his salvation, and you are now unified as his church under him way before any of that. That's what he's saying, and hallelujah, he's saying it because actually, here's the bigger principle of all this.

As sheep, we're not called to do this alone. Have you noticed that everything in this has been a massive response to Christ, has unified us. Listen, there's so many Christians that think that they can just operate as a lone wolf or sheep. They can operate outside the body of Christ. They can operate outside of community and walking with a group of believers that are moving in the same direction. Listen, that is not following Jesus. Jesus died for the church to be unified together under His name as the good shepherd to give us life and to direct our paths. Listen, we're called to live as part of the body in community, as him being our good shepherd, linking arms with others, never alone to walk with him.

Maybe you’ve never felt like you belong, because you've never stepped into the sheepfold. You've never given your life to Jesus. You've never allowed him to forgive you of your sins and to be your savior and Lord. But number two, for those of you that have done that, some of you have felt alone your whole life because you've never given yourself over to the body of Christ to be unified underneath the banner of Jesus. You've just tried to do it on your own, and can I tell you, it never ever works. The shepherd dies for his sheep. The good shepherd loves his sheep. Yes, sir. And the good shepherd unites his sheep. Let me ask you this morning as we close, do you need to give your life to Jesus today? The offer’s on the table for you to cross through the gate of his forgiveness and to his lordship?

Has there been a moment in your life where you've surrendered your life to Jesus? If not, today's your day.

For some of you that are believers today, maybe there was something in this message that just showed you one more time that he has died for you and that he loves you. He loves you. He doesn't just love the world, he loves you. Maybe today you just need to stand in his presence. Say, thanks for loving me, shepherd. Thank you. Even when I wandered, even when I went my way, you love me. Maybe that's what you need to do these next couple minutes. Move in me, Lord.

 

Follow Along with the Message

The Good Shepherd

March 16, 2025

Matthew 23:37
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing."
John 10:11
 "I'm the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep."

PRINCIPLE: We have a God.

Kalos Shepherd = Preeminent & totally from my own essence, beautiful & perfect & excellent in every feature.

John 10:11

“I am the Kalos shepherd.”

Psalms 23:1–6
1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 3 he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. 4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
John 10:10–16
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. 11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep". 12The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own 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. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me. 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 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 shall be one flock and one shepherd.

 

The good shepherd (jesus)...

1. for his sheep.

John 10:10
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
John 10:11
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep."
John 10:12–13
12 The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own 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. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
John 10:11
12 The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

 

PRINCIPLE: When the going gets tough, it’s the Good Shepherd that has the perfect love to stay right there with you.

2. his sheep.

John 10:14–15
14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me 13 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep."

 

Romans 8:38–39
38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

3. his sheep

John 10:16
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 shall be one flock and one shepherd.

 

Galatians 3:26–28
26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

 

PRINCIPLE: As his sheep, we are not in this .

Hebrews 13:20–21 (NLT)
20 Now may the God of peace—who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, and ratified an eternal covenant with his blood 21 may he equip you with all you need for doing his will. May he produce in you, through the power of Jesus Christ, every good thing that is pleasing to him. All glory to him forever and ever! Amen.

 

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