The Good Shepherd part 2

Well, take your Bible this morning, turn to John chapter 10. The Gospel of John, John chapter 10. We are still in our series, "Christ the Son of God, Believe and Live." If you keep up with the message series, the title of the message series, you know that that title just reverberates all through the messages. We saw salvation come to the blind man there in chapter 9. We saw that he did come to know Christ as the Son of God. And we're just seeing that all through these verses as we continue in these verses. Now, last week we covered verses 1 through 16 in chapter 10.

Really and truly if you realize it, we dove head first into these verses, into this theme, the title of Jesus as the Good Shepherd. Now, what I mean by head first is this. We covered a lot of verses in one Sunday morning message, verses 1 through 16. These verses reveal that Jesus was and is the Good Shepherd. Now, I normally do not like to cover that many verses in a verse by verse study, but sometimes that is necessary. I wanted us to get the entire parable and the teaching after the parable. You'll look at the verses and almost half of the verses were the parable.

And then the second portion was Jesus explaining the parable, teaching through the parable. And I wanted us to get all of that in one sitting. So that's what I mean by diving off head first. A lot of information, but I felt like we could grasp it in one message. Now, in introducing last week's message, I had to set up the teaching of the parable. Remember the parable was about a sheepfold or a sheep pen, depending upon what translation you have. If we would have not had a basic understanding of shepherding the sheep pen or the sheepfold, the parable would not have made much sense to us.

And I believe we covered that information well enough to grasp what was being taught there. Remember that was an agricultural illustration, that parable that was supposed to illustrate and does illustrate great teaching. Now, this morning I want to go back and I want to go back and I want to address the title of Christ as the Good Shepherd. We need to be aware that this is a title that was given to Christ very purposefully. Very purposefully. You might not realize it, but the Bible gives many titles to Jesus. This week in my study, I ran across several lists that have been put together by different people.

Lists of the titles of the names of Jesus. As a matter of fact, one of the lists I ran across was by John MacArthur. It's not an exhaustive list, but he gives a list of 67 titles from the Old Testament and the New Testament of the name of Jesus. And of course, Jesus as the Good Shepherd is within that list. I went back this week and I looked at my topical Bible. It was a long, long list. I started to count them for a few minutes and I thought, no, I'll just pause with that. What am I trying to show you? There's a long list of titles and names that have been given to Jesus. I will list a few that stuck out to me this week.

You're going to be familiar with most of these. Just listen to them as I go through them. We know that he is called the Alpha and the Omega. That is out of Revelation 22, verse 13. What is that supposed to communicate? Christ has no beginning and no end. He is, that's the title of the Alpha and the Omega. In Hebrews 2, verse 10, we see that he is the author of salvation. I'm so thankful that he is the author of our salvation. If there is an author other than Christ for your salvation, you don't have Bible salvation. We see in John chapter 10, verse 7, we learn that he is the door of the sheep. We learned that last week.

We see in the scripture that he is the great high priest in Hebrews 4, verse 14. I'm so thankful we don't have to go to a man. He is the high priest. We see in Colossians 1, 18 that he's the head of the church. I love that one. I'm so glad that no man is the head of this church. It's Christ Jesus who is the head of the church. In John 8, 58, we see that he is the great I AM. We see in Isaiah chapter 7, verse 14 that he is Emmanuel, God with us. In 1 Timothy 6, 15, he is the king of kings and the Lord of lords. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 45, he is the last Adam.

I don't know if you realize it, but Adam, the first Adam who brought sin into the world, then there is Christ who is the last Adam and he is the one who is going to and has undone everything that the first Adam has ever done. We see in John chapter 1, verse 14 that he is the only begotten, the unique one. Then in Revelation 22, 16, he is the root, the descendant of David. In Isaiah chapter 11, verse 10, he is the root of Jesse. Those two verses speak of his lineage. He is a direct descendant of King David. Then we see in Luke 1, 35, he is the son of God. In John 5, 27, he is the son of man. In Luke 1, 32, he is the son of the Most High.

All three of those speak to his deity. Then we've learned in John in chapter 14, verse 6 that he is the way, the truth, and the life. All these titles speak of who Christ is. You see? But the title of the Good Shepherd that we started with last week is a very intimate, personable title. We learned in our study last week in verses 1 through 4, excuse me, 2 through 4, that those verses communicate a clear and intimate relationship between the shepherd and the sheep.

Verse 14 uses this word "know," which is used both in the Old Testament and the New Testament, and it communicates a loving relationship between a man and a woman all through the Scriptures. This is more than assimilating factual information here. This is a loving relationship between the Good Shepherd and the sheep who are in his fold. We see this even in the Old Testament prophecy of Ezekiel, chapter 34, verse 23. Ezekiel says, "And I will set up over them one shepherd, Christ, my servant David, speaking of him being a descendant of King David.

And he shall feed them, he shall feed them and be their shepherd." Speaking of that intimate, personal relationship between those who are in the sheepfold and the Good Shepherd. Now, in a broad way, and looking back over verses 1 through 16, I want us to see that these verses are explaining his relationship to his sheep. And in my notes, I have those two words he has emphasized. They are explaining his relationship to his sheep. And these verses are revealing. They are revealing who Christ is. He is not just the King of Kings. He is not just the Lord of Lords. He is not just the God of the universe who is in control of all things.

He's also that true and loving and kind and intimate Good Shepherd to the sheep. Now in our verses this morning, I want to build. We're going to build on this parable. And here in these verses, we will get doctrinal. Whereas previously, verses 1 through 16, they very much explain and reveal who Christ is and our relationship to him. And we will learn truths that are doctrinal. We will learn truths of his substitutionary death and our relationship to that substitutionary death. And of course, we know, we will see, as we have always seen, the reaction of the Jews who are always following Jesus. So like I said last week, we will have a part 1.

We'll have a part 2. This is the Good Shepherd part 2. We will be in verses 17 through 21. You see before you the truths that we're going to study this morning. We're going to look at Christ's submission to the Father. Christ's submission to the Father verses 17 through 18 and the controversy surrounding Christ in verse 19 through 21. I hope that you're taking notes. I strongly encourage you to develop that habit of taking notes so that you can study and you can pray and you can learn all that the Lord wants to give you so that you would not forget and you would be prepared not only for today but for the days, weeks, and years to come.

Let's look at our verses together. It really looks like we've stopped in a random place in these verses, but you will see the difference in verses 1 through 16 and verses 17 and on, starting in verse 17. For this reason, the Father loves me because I lay down my life 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 receive from my Father. Verse 19.

"There arose a division again among the Jews because of these words, and many of them were saying, 'He has a demon and he is insane.'" In other words, He is crazy. Why do you listen to Him? Then our last verse, verse 21, "Others were saying, 'These are not the sayings of one demon possessed, and a demon cannot open the eyes of the blind man.'" Can he? Obviously, a reference to chapter 9. So let's dive into these verses. We're going to look at these two main truths. They're very simple before you. Let's look at truth number one, Christ's submission to the Father. We see that in verses 17 through 18.

Now here in these two verses, Jesus is building on what He has taught in the parable. You will notice a transition. Go back to the verses. Verses 1 through 6 are the verses concerning the parable. And then starting in verse 7, all the way down to verse 16, Jesus is explaining the parable, and now in verse 17, He is building on the parable. These verses are loaded, and they are extremely necessary doctrinally. So I want us to look at three truths out of these verses. First, notice the love of the Father. Look at the beginning of verse 17. "For this reason the Father loves me because I lay down my life." So we see the love of the Father.

Let me repeat that. For this cause, for this reason, the Father loves me. Now here in this portion of verse 17, if you pay attention, it seems to say that the Father loves the Son because He lays down His life. Now I want to say something that sounds contradictory. This is true, but it is not true. It is not that the Father's love hinges on the obedience of the Son in this matter, which is what this verse seems to communicate. In looking at the original, it can be better understood or communicated for us in this manner. Quote, "Because the Father loves me and I love the Father, that is the reason that I lay down my life." Let me continue.

"The death of Jesus was the perfect will of the Father since before the beginning of time, and because Jesus is in perfect harmony with the Father and the will of the Father, He goes all the way to death, death on the cross. The Father's love for the Son provided the template for the Son, and therefore the Son provides the same template for the sheep. The problem here is that some have here, some have separated love from obedience. Jesus loves the Father as the Father loves, therefore He is perfectly obedient to the predetermined will of the Father.

Listen, it is not that this love from the Father depends on obedience, for that would make the Father's love conditional, but that this obedience is as a result of an inseparable from this perfect love between the Father and the Son. So we see the love of the Father and the love of the Son and the Son's perfect obedience, which is completely inseparable from love. So we see the love of the Father. The second thing I want us to see out of these verses is the submission of the Son. Go back to the verses. "For this reason the Father loves me, because," notice, "I lay down my life that I may take it up again.

No one has taken it away from me, but I lay it down on my own initiative." We see in these verses the submission of the Son. Now in Jesus' submission to the love of the Father, He expresses perfect love and perfect obedience and I've already shown you that it is inseparable. So in Jesus' submission, He expresses perfect love, perfect submission. Remember that this love and this obedience, it is inseparable. That Jesus were not to obey, He would not love the Father. But because He loves the Father perfectly, as the Father loves, He is obedient or submissive. Now I want to notice some facts about this submission.

I want us to see two things about this submission of the Son. Notice Jesus lays down His life. What does He say? "For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life." Two times in verse 17 and verse 18, Jesus says that He lays down His life and one time in verse 18, He says that no one has taken His life. The clarity of these verses totally obliterate the horrible lie that men took the life of Jesus. Even close, Jesus was not murdered, nor was He a martyr. He was a willing sacrifice, meaning that He died in the place of another.

The Father was in full control of Jesus' life as Jesus was fully submissive to the Father, the love of the Father, and the will of the Father. We see this communicated as Jesus is on trial before Pilate. You will recognize these verses, but I think you'll hear them a little bit different. John 19 verse 11 says, "Jesus answered him," speaking of Pilate, "You would have no authority over me at all unless it has been given to you from above." Matthew 26, verse 53 through 54 says, "Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and He will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?

And how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled that it also be so?" So what do we see? Jesus lays down His life. No man took His life. This was not a murder. This was not a murder. It was a willing sacrifice and other stead. Under this submission of the Son, also notice, Jesus takes up His life. Go back to the verse. "For this reason the Father loves me because I lay down my life, that I may take it again." No one has taken it away from me, but I lay it down on my own initiative, and I have the authority to lay it down, and I have the authority to take it up again. So what do we see? Jesus takes up His life.

Now the English Standard Version reads, "Take it up again." The New American that I read from, the King James reads, "Take it up." Communicating the same thing. Now, hear this phrase, "Take it up again," obviously speaks of the resurrection. If we have any Bible understanding, we know what that's speaking of. So this speaks of only, listen close, a portion of what Christ came to do in providing the redemption of man.

Jesus came to lay down His life, that's the cross, to take it up again, as we've just read, that's the resurrection, and to ultimately ascend back to the Father to sit at the right hand of the Father, making mediation between God and man. So Christ's ultimate destination was not the cross, but back to heaven, and in doing that, taking up His life was providing proof that He had victory over the grave and over sin. But all three, the cross, the resurrection, and the ascension, you have no perfect sacrifice, because all three prove the perfect sacrifice of Jesus for man was sufficient. So what do we see?

Under this submission of the Son, He lays down His life, no martyr, no murder, a willing sacrifice, and He takes up His life again. So we've noticed three main truths, the love of the Father, the submission of the Son, and then let's notice the third main truth, the authority of the Son. The authority of the Son. Look at verse 18, "No one has taken it away from me, but I lay it down on my own initiative. I have authority," the King James reads, "power to lay it down, and I have authority, power, to take it up again.

This commandment I receive from my Father." Like I said, the King James reads, "power." All of the modern translations read, "authority." Now this word can be translated, "authority, power, or right." As a matter of fact, I think it was the Bible commentator, A.T. Robertson, gave me that brief explanation. This is a difficult phrase really to define, but those three words grab it. This means a power, an authority, a right that has been given. This means that He, Jesus, has been given this authority by the Father to do both. To do what? To both lay down His life and to take it up again. This was a commission. I think you understand that word.

This was a commission given by the Father to Christ, and He, Jesus, was perfectly submissive to this commission. Therefore, He had the authority, the power, the right to lay it down and to take it up. Go back to the end of the verse, verse 18. "This commandment I have received from my Father." That's where the authority comes from. So we see the authority of the Son. So what have we looked at? Christ's submission to the Father. We see the love of the Father, the submission of the Son, and the authority of the Son. So I know this is a lot, but I want to help us. I want to work backwards, back through these verses. I want to work backwards.

That might seem strange. What do we see here in Christ, in working backwards? Christ has authority. He has power. He has the commission. He has the right to lay down His life and to take it up again, because He is perfectly submissive to the Father and His will. But it all comes out of and is inseparable from this perfect love of the Son for the Father. And where does this love originate from? It originates from the Father. And so in working backwards, we ascend, we go up, we go back up to the Father. You see? Christ has authority given by the Father to lay down His life, to take it up again.

And He is perfectly submissive to the Father and to the will of the Father, and it comes out of this inseparable, perfect love and obedience for the Father by the Son. And we ascend back up to the Father. Now why do I do that? Because in doing that, we put all glory at the feet of God the Father. It was God the Father who originated every single bit of this. So when we get back up to the top, we must say, "Glory be to God." Now I want to turn it back around. And I want to come back down. This has come from the Father. Where did it originate? From the Father to the Son. And then I want us to see where. Where does it go?

Who are the objects of this action? This laying down, this picking up, this inseparable love and obedience. None other than man. The sheep. Remember those who are in the sheepfold. You see? This came from the Father to the Son. To who? To the sheep. We are the sheep who have been born again. Those who have entered through that door that we learned about. We are the object of this wonderful action. One of the Bible commentators that I read frequently is an old Presbyterian. His name's Albert Barnes. He's very solid theologically, but he's also very practical.

One of the comments that I read on this verse by him is very simplistic, but I think it really grasps this verse. I want you to listen. First in the quote he's speaking of Christ, then he transitions. So I want you to notice he's speaking like from Christ, and then he changes. He turns. Notice what he says. I give myself the die for my people, the Jewish and the pagan lands. I offer myself a sacrifice to show the willingness of my Father to save them, to provide an atonement, and thus to open the way for their salvation.

This proves that the salvation of man was an object dear to God, and that it was a source of special gratification to him that his son was willing to lay down his life to accomplish his great purposes of benevolence. Very easy to grasp, but that communicates exactly what we see here, and what do we see? Christ's submission to the Father. I really wanted to put love in there. His submission to the love of the Father. Listen, there's nothing theological about Barnes' statement.

It's easy to understand, but when we understand that quotation on top of what we've learned in these verses, listen, it booms like a cannon, and it ought to grip our hearts and minds, because we see that the Father who is on the throne, who has all power and authority, loves man. Let's move on. I want us to see truth number two. The controversy surrounding Christ. I know sometimes in looking at the reaction of the Jews, if we're not careful, it could cause us to have this ho-hum attitude. "Oh, here we go again." We're used to this. All along the way, Jesus has encountered hostility and rejection.

It's just the same old song, but there's a lot here that we need to see. There are three things out of these verses. Look at verse 19. I want to read them again for our memory. "There arose a division again among the Jews because of these words, and many of them were saying, 'He is a demon, and he is crazy or 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 a blind man, can he?'" Three things I want us to see out of these verses. First, there was division. Look at verse 19. "There arose a division." That's obvious.

The word division is used in all translations. You use this word division. It's there. And this word, again, here, seems to indicate that this is the often received, the often pattern, this often repeated pattern. Go back. "There arose a division again." In other words, here we go again. So this word division is used all in the translations. This word again indicates this is often, an often repeated pattern. And it was like an old record that just keeps skipping all through these encounters. We should be used to this by now. We would be familiar. We should be familiar with this pattern.

In Jesus' words, always seem to cause division among the people. Now interestingly, this word, 'Jesus' here, is a general description. This is a word that's describing the crowds at large. It would be describing those religious leaders that are vocal, and then those common lay people as well. So there's this overt, obvious, repeated division. Second, notice many were rejecting. Many were rejecting. Verse 20, "And many of them were saying, 'He is a demon. He's insane. He's crazy. Why do you listen to him?'" One of the Bible commentators I use says, "This was the opposition party." I like that. We're in the middle of a political year.

And it doesn't matter what political party you're affiliated with, the other ones, the other political party, they're the opposition party. So what do we see here? This is the opposition party. Here in their rejection, they are accusing him, notice, they are accusing him of two things being demon possessed and being crazy. This would have been the height of insult, both spiritually, because they're claiming him to be demon possessed, and also socially. Because to claim that he was crazy would have meant that he was a social outcast. This has been done on three different occasions through the Gospel of John.

John 7, verse 20, verse 8, verse 48, and verse 52. MacArthur says, "Instead of even considering what Jesus was saying, many, these people arbitrarily dismissed his words, responding with ridicule rather than repentance and faith in their own Messiah." See, many were rejecting. They were the opposition party. Third, notice some were observing. Some were observing. Notice verse 21, notice how it's written. Others were saying, "These are not the sayings of one demon possessed. A demon cannot open the eyes of the blind, can he?" Now on the onset, one might think that this is the crowd that are believers.

Some people might assume that, and that is not the case. These people, they are observing. They're not believing. You really need to see that. They're observing. They are not believing. Notice their observations. Two things. They're observing that his teaching is not of a demonic source. What do they say? Others were saying, "These are not the sayings of one demon possessed." They're saying, "No demon possessed man can teach like this." The second observation, they said, they observed that his miracle was not of a demonic source.

These are not the sayings of one demon possessed, and a demon or a demon possessed man cannot open the eyes of the blind man, can he? See those two observations? And listen, this may seem respectable at first, especially compared to the group in verse 20, but what needs to be seen here is that what they do not do. One of those Bible commentators says they say what Jesus is not, but they make no attempt to say what he is. What do we see? They fall short of believing, unlike the man who had been born blind in chapter 9. He believed. He worshiped. You see? They are just observing. So what do we see here? A division, a controversy.

It arose quickly as a result of what Jesus did and said. The new American commentator that I read says there were two reactions that came out of Jesus teaching. First, Jesus' words cut deeply into the guilty hearts of his opponents, and he dulled their sensitivities and their actions. In other words, those who rejected that opposition party, what Jesus taught, dulled their sensitivities, and it dulled their actions. And second, for others, his powerful actions gave perspective. In other words, they did have perspective.

They had observation, but they fell short because those observations, even though they were accurate, did not equal to belief. There was no belief. There was no worship. So we see this controversy surrounding the Christ. So what are we seeing out of these verses? Two main truths. Christ's submission, his great love, his obedience to the Father, and the controversy surrounding the Christ, those rejecting and those who were just observing. Now exactly like last week's message, I want to make my application at the end of the message. I want to take what we've learned and what we've seen, and I want to apply it to us.

And I really believe that this speaks straight to everyone here this morning. To one, it speaks in one way, but to another, it speaks in an entirely different way. First application. The first application is for those who are not in the sheepfold. Those who are without Christ, those who have not been born again, those who have not experienced the new life in Christ, they are out of the sheepfold. They are not in the sheep end. He is not their good shepherd. And I want you to listen. You are not just outside of the sheepfold, but you are also outside of this great act of love.

You are alienated from Christ, from his sacrifice, from his love for the Father. You are alienated from the Father's love for the Son and their love for the sheep. You are not a sheep, you are not in the fold, and you are outside of this wonderful love that we've learned about from verses 17 through 18. You are an alien outside. And not just outside of the fold, you are outside of his love. I give you a good illustration. My dad was telling me this story a while back. It's kind of comical, but it really helps us. And some of my parents' goings-on in a particular business, they know a particular man who is what's called an illegal alien.

He is not a citizen of the United States. It's kind of a comical and a sad story. He came to this country one time and he was deported. I don't think it was because of any criminal behavior, but he was deported. And he did not go about it the right way, and so he was basically blacklisted. But what did he do? He went the long way around, he went to another country, and he slipped into the United States again in another illegal fashion. And he is an illegal alien. He flies under the radar. And if you really examine his life, although he might look like an American citizen, he carries on business.

He has a wife, he has a family, he pays his bill, he carries the same currency that we might carry. He is not a citizen. He is an illegal. And he is outside. And that is exactly what is taking place here, what is being explained to us right here. Those who are outside of Christ, they are not just outside of the sheepfold, but we learn this morning, they are outside. They are aliens to this wonderful great love that originates from the Father and has been bestowed upon man. They are completely and totally aliens. They might use the language of a citizen. They might wear the clothes of a citizen. They might have the possessions of a citizen.

They might have the affections of a citizen, but they are illegal. And the only way you become a citizen is if you come through the door which is Christ Jesus. But I want to ask you a question. How are you reacting to Christ's message? Are you rejecting? I believe there are some here this morning, you are exactly like the ones in verse 21 you are observing. Listen, you are perfectly willing to say what he is not. When some say Jesus is a kook, you will say no, he is not. And you are perfectly willing to say what he is.

You are perfectly willing to have a proper doctrinal statement to use all of the rhetoric that would communicate a proper Christ, but you fall short of humbling yourself just like the blind man in chapter 9. You are not rejecting but observing and I want to say to you if that is you, that is not enough. The right observations are not enough. You cannot assimilate or acclimate into being a child of God. You only walk through the door which is Christ. Prior to walking through the door, you are out of the fold and you are outside of his love. You are an alien, but friend don't fall short by holding on to mere positive truthful observation.

The second application I want to make is for those of us who are in the sheet pen. We are truly born again believers and it does not matter if you were born again at 9 or 19 or 39 or 99. You are in the sheet fold. You have experienced the great love of Christ. You have been called under Christ. You have been forgiven of your sin. You are a new creation. And listen, if Christ's love and obedience are inseparable and Christ lives in us, then how is our obedience? Our obedience is a direct reflection of our love for Christ. You hear that? Do you see that great example in Christ out of these verses?

Our love, our obedience is a direct reflection of our love for Christ. The Father's love for Jesus the Son is perfect. The Son's love for the Father is perfect and out of that love and inseparable from that love is perfect, perfect, perfect obedience. And if we are redeemed and if we are in the fold, our obedience is reflective of our love for God. Those of us who are a little bit mechanical can understand this illustration. When I was growing up, there were certain things my dad taught me. He always taught me to check the oil in my automobiles.

I've got vivid memories of my dad checking the oil, checking the fluids as we were getting ready to go on a trip. I remember the days as a kid of those full service service stations. Checking the oil, checking the fluids. But you know whether it's our car or our lawnmower, when we take that dipstick and we put it into that motor, listen, when we pull that dipstick out, it either tells us that our oil level is correct or we are lacking. And listen, the dipstick that is put into our life when we pull it out, the dipstick that measures our love is when we pull that dipstick out, where are we with obedience?

Because for us to say we love Jesus and we serve God and we are obedient to God, for us to say that means that that is inseparable because it was inseparable for Christ. The problem is is we have dissected it. We've separated it. And we must see that those two must be unified because we must obey out of a perfect love for Christ. So I want to ask you, has this message been a dipstick to place down into your heart? Are you lacking in obedience? See the two areas of application? Some of you are not in the sheepfold. I hope you're not rejecting, but I want to warn you, my friend, if you're just a good observer, that's not enough.

And for those of us who are in the sheep pen, we must see that we must be obedient. Christ was fully, totally, completely, and we must do the same. So yes, lacking yes, but redeemed in Christ living in us. Let's pray. Lord, I thank You for the truths. In this message, I thank You for how they have really just echoed in my mind and my heart this week how not just the names of Jesus have meant something to me.