How would you like to be a sheep?

 Please turn with me to a very familiar passage of Scripture -- John 10:1-15.  I will use this passage for my text today: “I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice.

Jesus used this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them.

Therefore Jesus said again, ‘I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me--just as the Father knows me and I know the Father--and I lay down my life for the sheep.”

This account begins with the affirmation, “I tell you the truth....”  Other translations say, “Verily, verily” or “Truly, truly” or “Amen, amen,” depending on which work you use. Such an introduction lets the reader know that something of tremendous importance and urgency is about to be shared.  Today, we might say, “Listen up” or “please pay attention.” The Gospel of John uses such an introduction some 25 times.

This story has been given several meanings through the centuries.

·         It is no doubt a picture of Jesus – the Good Shepherd – and the religious leaders of the day who were pictured here as thieves and robbers.

·         The passage also gives us a picture of Jesus and His church. It is this meaning -- the Lord and His church -- that I want to focus on this morning. When I mention the shepherd, I want you to think of Jesus. When I speak of His sheep, I want you to see yourself. 

In this story our Savior uses four simple word pictures:

1.      The sheep,

2.      The sheep pen,

3.      The shepherd, and

4.      The gate.

These four objects will form the outline for this morning's message.

The sheep

Do you realize that sheep are the most commonly mentioned animals in the Word of God?

·         Lions are spoken of 152 times,

·         Camels are found 61 times,

·         Dogs are mentioned some 41 times,

·         Turtles 5 times, and

·         Sheep are alluded to some 377 times in the Bible.

I also want you to notice something else here:

·         Abel, the first-born son of Adam and Eve, was a shepherd. This was the first vocation listed in the Bible. The Jews were first shepherds and then they eventually turned to farming.

·         Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were all likewise shepherds as was Moses, David, Amos the Prophet. 

·         Job had 14,000 sheep, according to Job 42:12.

·         Solomon sacrificed some 120,000 sheep when he dedicated his temple.

·         To whom did the angel announce the birth of Jesus?  The shepherds.

·         Simply put, shepherds and sheep played a vital role in scripture.

Sheep simply worked so well as a biblical illustration due their being:

·         Clean animals,

·         Basically defenseless and in need of a shepherd,

·         Peaceful,

·         And as John Wesley once stated, sheep are "prone to wander." 

Why not turn to someone close by and go "baaaa."

NEXT, PLEASE NOTICE THE SHEEP PEN WITH ME

In Bible times there were two different types of sheep pens. 

1.         There was the COMMUNAL PEN

If you have traveled in Texas, Colorado, or Kansas you have no doubt seen large communal cattle pens. Thousands of cattle that have belonged to a number of different ranchers are housed together in one awful smelling feed lot. I do not recommend that you spend the night in a motel near such a place. I did once; I am a wiser man now. I have been awakened in the night by telephone calls, sirens, thunder, and just about everything else that one can think of. However, that was the first time I was ever awakened in the middle of the night by some foul odor! There ought to be a law.

These communal sheep pens in Scripture would be found in a village or in a town.  A number of shepherds would put their sheep together in such a place for the night. They were very secure. Each pen had a strong gate as well as a watchman who would patrol throughout the night in order to keep any danger at bay.

2.         the HILLSIDE OR THE COUNTRY PEN

This enclosure was much more crude than the communal pen. The wall was made of field stones which were piled high one on top of the other. Thorn bushes were then fastened to the top of the wall to act like barbed wire. Animals and thieves were discouraged from climbing up the wall due to the thorns. 

Please notice that the purpose of the pen was safety. The fence, the thorns, the door, were all a part of the shepherd’s defense system that was meant to keep predators away.    

John 10:9 now notes: “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture.”   

Here we see Jesus using a well-known Hebrew phrase. He says that through Him the sheep can come in and go out. To be able to come and go unmolested was the Jewish way of describing a life that is absolutely secure and safe.

When a person can come and go without fear, it means that the country is at peace; that it enjoys perfect security.

LOOK WITH ME NOW AT THE SHEPHERD

The Pharisees considered them members of an unclean profession, and the upper class despised them as vulgar and inferior. Then too, the fellow had to always be on the clock. Always in danger. Always alert. In short, the life of a shepherd was very hard.

His equipment was simple enough. He had his scrip, a bag made of the skin of an animal, in which he carried his food. In it he would have nothing more than bread, some sort of dried fruit, a few olives and a bit of goat’s cheese.

  Nonetheless, Jesus, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, humbly identified Himself here in verses 11 and 14 with the shepherds.

He then gives us six traits that marked him as the good shepherd. Lets notice them:

1.         The sheep recognizes the shepherd's voice

Think back with me to the communal pens that I alluded to a few minutes ago. Remember how the sheep are all bunched in together? This shepherd and that shepherd may have all of their sheep in the same pen.

·         Genesis 29:1-2 speaks of this, “Then Jacob continued on his journey and came to the land of the eastern peoples. There he saw a well in the field, with three flocks of sheep lying near it because the flocks were watered from that well.”

    They were lying there together.

·         Luke 2:8 fits well here too. You will recognize the account from the Christmas story: “And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.”

The question is, how did these shepherds separate their sheep? The answer is simple, when it came time for the shepherds to move on, they would go and stand one by one near the gate and call out something like "TAHHOO! TAHHOO!" or some other familiar call. Each shepherd’s call and voice was unique; the sheep knew which one was which.  

At that, the sheep would raise their heads, perk up their ears, and then each sheep, knowing their shepherd’s voice, would follow their own shepherd.

A true story. Some time back, some men were trying to steal some sheep. The shepherd, who had been sleeping, suddenly awakened to see his sheep being driven off by the band of thieves. He could not hope to recapture them by force single‑handedly. So then the man did what he had done so many times before. He simply cupped his hands around his mouth, and gave out his own peculiar call. “TAHHOO! TAHHOO! TAHHOO!” The sheep immediately heard the familiar sound of their shepherd’s voice. For a moment they listened and then, hearing it again, they turned and rushed away from the bad guys and toward their shepherd.     

I like verses 4-5 here in this chapter. I want to read them, this time from the King James Version: “He (the shepherd) goeth before them, and the sheep (you and me) follow Him: for they (we) know His (the Lord’s) voice. And a stranger will they not follow.” One of the greatest safeguards that is out there in a world of strange voices and vices is the knowledge of the Shepherd’s voice. Do you know it, Him?

2.         The shepherd calls each of his sheep by name

It is not unusual for a shepherd to have his sheep with him for years. Every sheep is known individually. Maybe the animal's name is "Pure White," or "Black," or "Brown-leg," "Black-ear."  "Gray-ears," or some other like term. The names are meant to identify a particular sheep with a certain affection.

Think with me for a moment. This account is really about you and Jesus. When I say that the shepherd knows his sheep individually including their names, what I am really saying is that Jesus knows you by name. Out of the every believer on Earth, God knows who you are.

If you have ever had your identity “lost” in a maze of computer operations, then you can appreciate the comforting fact that the Good Shepherd knows more about you than your Social Security number or your ATM Pin. He knows you by your name. I like John 10:3 as found in Wuest's Expanded Translation: “And the sheep hear his voice: and he personally calls the sheep which are his private possession by name....”

3.         The shepherd, according to verse 3, THEN leads his sheep

Listen to the familiar Psalm 23:2-4, “He leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.”

·         Again, He leads,

·         He restores,

·         He guides,

·         He is with me….

It is interesting to note that shepherds never drive their sheep. Butchers do, thieves do, shepherds don't. Rather, true shepherds always go before the sheep looking out for danger and for green pastures.  

I have read that a good shepherd doesn't ask his sheep to go anywhere where he would not or has not gone himself. 

·         He is the scout,

·         The guide,

·         The guardian of the way. 

The sheep confidently follow the shepherd wherever he leads. 

The events of life cannot take me where His grace cannot keep me!

The twists and turns of fate cannot hide me from His knowing and leading hand.

The song writer wrote:

He leadeth me, He leadeth me!

By His own hand, He leadeth me!

His faithful follower I would be,

For by His hand He leadeth me.

4.         The shepherd offers life while the thief offers death

John 10:10 states, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

This is an important point. The Biblical shepherd did not tend the sheep in order to slaughter them, rather sheep were raised for wool, milk, and lambs. The only exception to this were the sheep that were offered as a sacrifice. 

Thieves, on the other hand, loved to “steal, kill, and destroy.” Jewish law distinguished thieves from robbers: thieves broke in, whereas robbers often lived in the wilderness and assaulted those who were unfortunate enough to pass their way. Shepherds continually had to guard against losing sheep to either kind of enemy.

Then, too, wolves and other beasts loved to prey on the defenseless sheep. David, in the Old Testament, had to kill both a bear and a lion while he was watching his flock. Peter Keller, in his excellent book entitled A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, tells of two dogs that killed 292 sheep in but a single night.

Sheep have little if any means of self-defense. When provoked, about all a sheep can do is butt the person or thing with it’s head. They are basically helpless, timid, and feeble creatures whose only other recourse is to run or be protected by the shepherd.

As God's sheep we are reminded of the thieves that yet seek to shatter and destroy the church of the Lord today. Paul the Apostle warned of ravening wolves that get in among the flock. Beware!  Run to the shepherd. He offers life, not death!

5.         The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep

John 10:11-13 declares, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.”

The shepherd would put himself in harms way in order to protect his flock. I remind you once again of David and the bear and the lion.

Again, this passage serves as a graphic picture of Jesus who gave His life on the cross for His sheep.

·         He suffered our death.

·         He faced the thief head on, and never blinked.

·         He died that we might live.

·         The Good shepherd truly gave His life for His sheep.

6.         The shepherd knows his sheep 

John 10:14 adds “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me.” In verse 3 He speaks of voice and name recognition. The knowledge spoken of here in verse 14 goes well beyond that.

This means much more than simply some intellectual awareness, rather it speaks of our having an intimate and obedient relationship with Him.

Vines Lexicon says that the word “know” speaks of a “complete and absolute understanding on God's part.” The shepherd truly knows his sheep and therefore he knows how to best minister to them individually.

·         One sheep might be afraid of high places,

·         Another one might be afraid of water,

·         Then yet another one might be prone to stray away from the flock. 

The good shepherd knows his sheep -- intimately. 

Someone wrote that a good shepherd doesn't have to count his sheep at night.  He can literally sense the absence of any one of them. A shepherd in Lebanon once boasted, "If you were to put a cloth over my eyes and bring me any sheep and only let me put my hands on its face, I could tell in a moment whether it was mine or not."

In like fashion, at the end of the day, when the sheep were going into the sheep-pen, the shepherd would hold his rod across the entrance, quite close to the ground; and every sheep had to pass under it; and, as each sheep passed under, the shepherd quickly examined it to see if it had received any kind of injury throughout the day. Ezekiel 20:37 confirms: “I will take note of you as you pass under my rod….”

How does it strike you, that as you lay down your head on your pillow, you are passing under the rod of the Good Shepherd? That He examines you to see how you are doing; how you fared through the rigors of the day.

In Ephesians 4:11, the word that is translated pastor in English is translated shepherd in Latin. Outside of the actual job of being a shepherd, I don’t know of another job that better fits the description of a shepherd than does the office of pastor. In time, a pastor gets to know his people as few others get to know them. There is no way of knowing how many times I have been told by someone that “I have never told this to anyone before, but I feel as if I need to tell you….” 

Then too:

·         Being there at the time of a birth,

·         Marriage,

·         Death,

·         Going through counseling,

·         Sharing meals together….

Loving people creates a bond that is unique and special.

If a pastor knows his people to such an extent, how much more does our Heavenly Pastor, the Good Shepherd know those who follow Him?

After my dad died on Christmas Eve, 1994, my mother developed a fear of being alone. For the first time in nearly fifty years, she was living by herself. It took her a while to adjust. One day the Good Shepherd, knowing her fear, gave her a verse of Scripture. Listen to it. It is found in Psalm 4:8, “I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O LORD,  make me dwell in safety.” It was as if the verse had Evelyn Jackson’s name written all over it. It was just what she needed. The Shepherd knew.

So many times, so many ways, so many people have told me of God knowing and speaking to them personally about some private fear or need.

·         Some times He speaks through His Word, as with my mother.

·         At other times, it may be through a sermon,

·         A telephone call from a friend,

·         Or a song over the radio---

The point is, He zeroes in at just the right time and in the best possible way. Why? He knows His sheep.

Oft-times we note that He knows the number of hairs on our body. True. But He knows so much more than that.

·         Are you worried about your job? He knows.

·         Are you concerned about some area of your health? He knows.

·         Are you thrilled about the birth of your first child? He rejoices with you.

·         Are you thinking about where to attend college? We already has the right one picked out.

Psalm 139:1-6 states, “O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. You hem me in -- behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.  Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.”

Does the Good Shepherd know us?  Of course!

Does He still love us?  Undoubtedly!

How much, you ask?  Look at His hands and His feet.   

THE LAST WORD PICTURE, THEN, IS THE GATE OR THE DOOR

In verses 7 and 9 Jesus emphatically and dogmatically declares Himself to be “THE GATE” OR “THE DOOR.”

·         There was only one door into Noah's ark.

·         There was only one door into the Old Testament tabernacle or Holy of Holies.

·         There is only one gate or door into heaven.

So it is that there is only one door into the Kingdom of God, that gate or door is JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF!

Now, if you are like me, you might have trouble understanding how someone could be likened to a gate or a door. I once read of a lady who made a trip to the Holy Land. While there she came to understand this passage in a whole new light. Let me share with you her insights. "We reached a high ridge overlooking the village of Bethlehem. There we found a sheepfold and went right in to inspect it. It was not long before the owner appeared -- a veteran, with a long beard. "‘Is this your sheepfold?' my friend asked. 'Aye.'

"'And is this where the sheep sleep?' pointing to a rough shelter thrown up against a rock in a corner.' He nodded.

"'But you've no gate to the fold; how do you close them in at night?'

"The old man looked at us as if we ought to have known better. 'I am the door,' he said with emphasis; and gathering his loose robe right about his ankles, he was down in a moment, squatting in the doorway, back against one post, feet against the other, his knees drawn up and clasped by his weather-beaten old hands. 'I am the door,' he repeated. 'I keep watch here at night. If thieves or wild beasts attempt to enter, they have to tackle me first. I have never lost a lamb from the fold yet.'"

Jesus is the door -- to God's sheepfold! Before a thief can get to the sheep, he must deal with the door. Before a wild animal can destroy one of the little ones, it must get through the door.

(Put on a shepherd’s garment, pick up shepherd’s staff) The Shepherd's body lies at the entrance of the pen. Before anything gets in, it must first be granted permission from the Good Shepherd; who is minding the door! Jesus by His very presence guarantees the well-being of His sheep. John 6:39 declares, “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.” The Good Shepherd would rather die Himself rather than allow a wolf to get in and spoil the flock!

Listen now to John 10:9 once again: “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.” We don’t hear that word “saved” much anyone. Some modern preachers want to do away with the term. I don’t know why. The word translated “saved” here means “delivered safe and sound.” It sounds like a good word to me.

·         Originally, it was used to say that a person had recovered from severe illness,

·         Come through a bad storm,

·         Survived a war, or

·         Was acquitted at court.

Whatever the circumstances, those who enter the sheep-pen through Jesus Christ are “saved.”

The songwriter wrote:

Saved by the blood of the Crucified One! Now ransomed from sin and a new work begun. Sing praise to the Father and praise to the Son, saved by the blood of the Crucified One!

Saved by the blood of the Crucified One! The angels rejoicing because it is done. A child of the Father, joint-heir with the Son, saved by the blood of the Crucified One!

Saved by the blood of the Crucified One! The Father spake, and His will it was done; Great price of the parson, His own precious son; saved by the blood of the Crucified One!

Saved! Saved! My sins are all pardoned, my guilt is all gone! Saved! Saved! I am saved by the blood of  the Crucified One!

I want to close this message out with this thought. 

John 10:10 notes that Jesus came that we might have life and might have it “to the full” or “more abundantly.” The Greek phrase used for having life more abundantly means to have a superabundance of a thing. To be a follower of Jesus, to know who He is and what He means, is to have a superabundance of life. 

A fellow once stood before a judge requesting permission to commit suicide. He was a miserable person devoid of any joy or peace. The judge looked at him and listened to his plea, then he asked, "Man, were you ever really alive?" 

When we try to live our lives without the giver of life, all to often we end up with no life at all. On the other hand, when we walk with Jesus, there comes a new vitality, a superabundance of life. It is only when we live with Christ that life becomes really worth living and we begin to live in the real sense of the word.

Since Jesus is the gate, He offers an open door to whosoever will come to Him for eternal salvation. Acts 4:12 promises, “Salvation is found in no-one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” If you want eternal life, you have to go though Jesus –

He is the only way. 

How would you like to be a sheep?