Jesus: The Shepherd that Gives Life

John: Know and Believe  •  Sermon  •  Submitted
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Introduction

Welcome: Welcome to Hype Student Ministries. My name is Kent, I’m the student pastor here at Crosspoint. I hope you had a great holiday break with Christmas and New Years. I know Amber and I were excited to start this spring semester at Hype but then we both had covid leading up to last Sunday so we had to cancel. What a way to start the new year.
For this spring semester we will continue our study of the gospel of John and the plan is to finish John right at the end of this semester so continue to bring your scripture notebooks every week.
Because we didn’t meet last week. We are going over two chapters of John to catch up. So open your scripture notebooks to John 10.
To give you a quick reminder of where we are in the Gospel of John, up until John 10. The apostle John as been writing about the ministry of Jesus and how Jesus claims to be God in flesh. This has been the main point is that Jesus is God, the promised Savior of the world. Jesus not only claimed and taught this but he preformed miracles to prove that what He said was true. That is why for this portion of our study of John, we have called this teaching series, Know and Believe. Because we can know that it is a fact that Jesus is who He claims He is, we must believe in Him as our savior for our sins and Lord of our life. Tonight we will look at John 10 where Jesus is teaching again of who He is and then in John 11 later in the lesson we will see Jesus backing His statements up again with the seventh sign that will preform.

John 10

So let’s begin reading John 10.
Read John 10:1-21.

10 “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. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought all his own outside, he goes ahead of them. The sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 They will never follow a stranger; instead they will run away from him, because they don’t know the voice of strangers.” 6 Jesus gave them this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them.

7 Jesus said again, “Truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them. 9 I am the gate. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. 10 A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.

11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 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. 13 This happens because he is a hired hand and doesn’t care about the sheep.

14 “I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 But I have other sheep that are not from this sheep pen; I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. Then there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17 This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have the right to lay it down, and I have the right to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”

19 Again the Jews were divided because of these words. 20 Many of them were saying, “He has a demon and he’s crazy. Why do you listen to him?” 21 Others were saying, “These aren’t the words of someone who is demon-possessed. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

Here we see again Jesus’s audience having a hard time understanding what Jesus is saying. And from hearing this for the first time, it may seem hard to understand so let’s pause our reading for a moment to try to explain what Jesus just said.
In this section of John 10, we see Jesus is claiming the title of the Good Shepherd

Jesus is the Good Shepherd

Use White Board to explain the Good Shepherd image.
Draw a line separating the board in half. One half title lost and dying and then title the other half found and alive.
Then draw a space in the middle of the line for the gate.
Jesus tells us that He is the Good Shepherd that stands at the gate protecting the sheep. False shepherds or thieves and robbers don’t open the gate, they try to get into the sheep pen another way but a the shepherd enters the pen by the gate because he doesn’t need to be secretive. When the shepherd enters inside the gate, the sheep know him and he know the sheep. In this illustration Jesus is the shepherd and true believers are the sheep. Jesus says that anyone who trusts in Jesus as their savior will enter into the sheep pen and receive spiritual life and be protected from spiritual dangers.
Jesus continues that false teachers have come before him and tried to pretend like a shepherd but they were just there for their benefit but Jesus is the true good shepherd because he doesn’t leave the sheep when dangers come, Jesus stays and protects them to the point of sacrificing his life for the sheep because of his love for them. Here Jesus is clearly alluding to the fact that He will sacrifice his own life for those who believe in Him when He dies on the cross and then rises again three days later.
We see this in John 10:17-18
John 10:17–18 CSB
This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have the right to lay it down, and I have the right to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”
There are three things we can see Jesus doing as the good shepherd.
Jesus knows true believers.
Jesus knows everything about true believers. This isn’t just a general knowing. Jesus knows the good, bad, and ugly parts of a believer’s life. He knows where you sin and fail yet He still loves you.
2. Jesus protects true believers.
Jesus protects us by giving us the Holy Spirit when we become true believers. When this happens, we have the Spirit of God dwelling inside of our souls and we have protection from any spiritual attack we may face and the ability to overcome any temptation that we experience.
3. Jesus sacrifices himself for true believers.
Jesus sacrificed his life because of his love for us. He gave everything so that we may have live in a right relationship with God. All that Jesus requires is that we confess our sin to him, repent of our sin, ask for forgiveness for our sin, and commit living a life that is God glorifying.
With all that said,
At the end of this passage we see people not believing and making the claim that Jesus has a demon but others seeing the signs that Jesus has done previously believing in the words of Jesus.
Let’s read the rest of John 10.
Read John 10:22-42.

22 Then the Festival of Dedication took place in Jerusalem, and it was winter. 23 Jesus was walking in the temple in Solomon’s Colonnade. 24 The Jews surrounded him and asked, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”,

25 “I did tell you and you don’t believe,” Jesus answered them. “The works that I do in my Father’s name testify about me. 26 But you don’t believe because you are not of my sheep., 27 My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”

RENEWED EFFORTS TO STONE JESUS

31 Again the Jews picked up rocks to stone him.

32 Jesus replied, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these works are you stoning me?”

33 “We aren’t stoning you for a good work,” the Jews answered, “but for blasphemy, because you—being a man—make yourself God.”

34 Jesus answered them, “Isn’t it written in your law, I said, you are gods?, 35 If he called those to whom the word of God came ‘gods’—and the Scripture cannot be broken—36 do you say, ‘You are blaspheming’ to the one the Father set apart and sent into the world, because I said: I am the Son of God? 37 If I am not doing my Father’s works, don’t believe me. 38 But if I am doing them and you don’t believe me, believe the works. This way you will know and understand that the Father is in me and I in the Father.” 39 Then they were trying again to seize him, but he escaped their grasp.

MANY BEYOND THE JORDAN BELIEVE IN JESUS

40 So he departed again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing earlier, and he remained there. 41 Many came to him and said, “John never did a sign, but everything John said about this man was true.” 42 And many believed in him there.

In this second part of John 10 Jesus clearly makes a claim that He is God’s son and God in flesh.
Re-read John 10:29-30.

29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”

As a result of claiming He is God’s son and God in the flesh, the Jews try to stone him.
As a defense for himself Jesus says this in verses 37-38. I would underline these verses in your notebooks.

37 If I am not doing my Father’s works, don’t believe me. 38 But if I am doing them and you don’t believe me, believe the works. This way you will know and understand that the Father is in me and I in the Father.”

This is point that we’ve been trying to teach you by going through the gospel of John. Whether or not you decide to trust in Jesus as your savior, we hope that you do trust, but ultimately I hope you understand the truth that Jesus is God and He is truth. Wether you accept or reject that truth is up to you but I hope you realize it as truth. What we can’t do is just say, “oh yeah I believe that Jesus was real but not God. Instead he was a good person and a good moral teacher.”
C.S. Lewis writes
“A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse.”
Later he concludes
“Now it seems to me obvious that He was neither a lunatic nor a fiend: and consequently, however strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem, I have to accept the view that He was and is God.”
Jesus, after teaching the Jews once again that He is God in flesh, preforms yet another sign that what He says is truth.
To close out our lesson are going to read this in John 11. Follow along in your scripture notebook as we will read it all the way through. Underline anything that seems interesting to you.

11 Now a man was sick, Lazarus from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair, and it was her brother Lazarus who was sick. 3 So the sisters sent a message to him: “Lord, the one you love is sick.”

4 When Jesus heard it, he said, “This sickness will not end in death but is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha, her sister, and Lazarus. 6 So when he heard that he was sick, he stayed two more days in the place where he was. 7 Then after that, he said to the disciples, “Let’s go to Judea again.”

8 “Rabbi,” the disciples told him, “just now the Jews tried to stone you, and you’re going there again?”

9 “Aren’t there twelve hours in a day?” Jesus answered. “If anyone walks during the day, he doesn’t stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 But if anyone walks during the night, he does stumble, because the light is not in him.”

11 He said this, and then he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I’m on my way to wake him up.”

12 Then the disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will get well.”

13 Jesus, however, was speaking about his death, but they thought he was speaking about natural sleep. 14 So Jesus then told them plainly, “Lazarus has died. 15 I’m glad for you that I wasn’t there so that you may believe. But let’s go to him.”

16 Then Thomas (called “Twin”) said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s go too so that we may die with him.”

THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE

17 When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Bethany was near Jerusalem (less than two miles away). 19 Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother. 20 As soon as Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him, but Mary remained seated in the house.

21 Then Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. 22 Yet even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”

23 “Your brother will rise again,” Jesus told her.

24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live. 26 Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

27 “Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who comes into the world.”

JESUS SHARES THE SORROW OF DEATH

28 Having said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”

29 As soon as Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Jesus had not yet come into the village but was still in the place where Martha had met him. 31 The Jews who were with her in the house consoling her saw that Mary got up quickly and went out. They followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to cry there.

32 As soon as Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and told him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died!”

33 When Jesus saw her crying, and the Jews who had come with her crying, he was deeply moved in his spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you put him?” he asked.

“Lord,” they told him, “come and see.”

35 Jesus wept.

36 So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Couldn’t he who opened the blind man’s eyes also have kept this man from dying?”

THE SEVENTH SIGN: RAISING LAZARUS FROM THE DEAD

38 Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39 “Remove the stone,” Jesus said.

Martha, the dead man’s sister, told him, “Lord, there is already a stench because he has been dead four days.”

40 Jesus said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”

41 So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you heard me. 42 I know that you always hear me, but because of the crowd standing here I said this, so that they may believe you sent me.” 43 After he said this, he shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out bound hand and foot with linen strips and with his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unwrap him and let him go.”

THE PLOT TO KILL JESUS

45 Therefore, many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what he did believed in him. 46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.

47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees convened the Sanhedrin and were saying, “What are we going to do since this man is doing many signs? 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”

49 One of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all! 50 You’re not considering that it is to your advantage that one man should die for the people rather than the whole nation perish.” 51 He did not say this on his own, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, 52 and not for the nation only, but also to unite the scattered children of God. 53 So from that day on they plotted to kill him. 54 Jesus therefore no longer walked openly among the Jews but departed from there to the countryside near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim, and he stayed there with the disciples.

55 Now the Jewish Passover was near, and many went up to Jerusalem from the country to purify themselves before the Passover. 56 They were looking for Jesus and asking one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think? He won’t come to the festival, will he?” 57 The chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should report it so that they could arrest him.

In the end we see Jesus performing this miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead and some people believing in Jesus as their savior but the majority of the Jews are still trying to conspire against Jesus and have Him arrested.
I will end with this question. What will you do with this knowledge and understanding?
What will you do with the fact that Jesus is God? If you haven’t yet will you believe in Jesus as trust him as Lord over your life. If this is something you are feeling convicted about please tell your small group leader or come find me after small groups are done and we can talk about what it means to trust Jesus as your savior and have a right relationship with God.
If you already have been saved from your sins, who can you share this life giving truth with? If you believe that the Gospel of Jesus has changed your life, who are you praying for that you know doesn’t have a right relationship with God. In either case I pray that we wouldn’t just sit still with an understanding that Jesus is God. I pray that this truth would bring us to action and that we can live it out. Let’s pray.
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