Shepherd Lays Down His Life
Notes
Transcript
“Truly I tell you, anyone who doesn’t enter the sheep pen by the gate but climbs in some other way is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought all his own outside, he goes ahead of them. The sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will never follow a stranger; instead they will run away from him, because they don’t know the voice of strangers.” Jesus gave them this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them. Jesus said again, “Truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them. I am the gate. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, since he is not the shepherd and doesn’t own the sheep, leaves them and runs away when he sees a wolf coming. The wolf then snatches and scatters them. This happens because he is a hired hand and doesn’t care about the sheep.
Pray
The Desert
The Desert
When we think of Desert we often think of the Sahara, A lot of sand, A lot of wind, A lot of nothing. And the Sahara is the world’s largest desert. But not all desert is like that. Some desert is hard, wind packed, dry but not void of everything. In fact, the Sarah is not void many creatures live in this expanding desert
The desert in Israel, The desert in the Bible is very important
It is to the south and east
In Hebrew the word for south is Negev. Which also means desert or wilderness.
From Jerusalem one simply has to climb over the Mount of Olives (45 minute walk) to be hiking in the beginning of the desert near where Jesus was tested following his baptism it stretches for thousands of miles across the Jordan River into the eastern plateaus and through Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
The desert motif is popular in this part of the world read your Bible the desert is in many of the stories.
Villagers living along the fringe of this region use it for their sheep. From October to March a good rain will suddenly make the desert bloom with a surprising number of plants and all of these make excellent pasture for the sheep. But most of the year waster is scarce, food is rare and dangers are everywhere.
Including in the eastern deserts of Judea. Steep cliffs that present a drop of a thousand feet, Bandits, And other animals hungry for lack of other foods
The Sheep in the Desert
The Sheep in the Desert
In the desert at night sheep were often herded into walled enclosures that either backed up against a cliff face or were at the end of a canyon. Such enclosures (still used today by Palestinian shepherds) had waist high stone walls topped with thorny branches. This was to keep the wild animals away from the sheep. One small door or opening in the wall served as the only entrance and exit. The shepherd would either close this area with dry thorn bushes or would himself serve as sentry and lay down in the opening. Anything wanting the sheep would have to go through or over “his dead body”.
And these shepherds would form such a report with their sheep That the sheep knew the call and voice of the shepherd and would follow them out of a pack of sheep.
So the sheep could intermingle and be put all together but in the end when the shepherd called only his sheep would follow
YHWH the Shepherd
YHWH the Shepherd
And God as our shepherd is a motif that is used throughout the Bible as well.
Jesus here, in John claims that motif for himself
The greatest thing Jesus does for us is that he lays his life down for us. Jesus will lay his life down of his own free choice so that we can have eternal life Free from the punishment of sin. If we accept Him, And his call. We hear his voice and follow him
What a blessing it is to have Jesus in our lives to make that ultimate sacrifice
Amen
But more than just laying himself down. By taking on the role of shepherd He takes on the responsibilities of that role
Psalm 23 is a good example of those responsibilities
A psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd; I have what I need. He lets me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside quiet waters. He renews my life; he leads me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even when I go through the darkest valley, I fear no danger, 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; my cup overflows. Only goodness and faithful love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord as long as I live.
But as He does these things for us. He leads us. We must choose to follow. We must hear His voice
It isn’t enough just to say I want to be baptized
It isn’t enough to say I want to follow Him
We must hear his voice and follow
We must obey
And this is hard at times, because never before have there been so many voices calling us. So many false shepherds calling their sheep to them and wanting them to follow them. Voices sermons coming from all direction: TV, Radio, Books, Friends, Alcohol, Porn, Computers, FB, Twitter,Instagram, Tick Tock
Offering us salvation from whatever
Watch the commercials and see the saviors that are being offered
And we have to choose which voice we are going to listen too
But most of us have more time spent with other sermons than our own Lord
God will lead you if we follow
Next Steps
Next Steps
What sermons are you listening to in your life
Is it the good shepherd or is it something else