The Good Shepherd
John 10:11-21
This is our third Sunday studying John 10. For many of us it is a familiar chapter that presents the cherished picture of the Lord as our shepherd. Following His confrontation with the Pharisees after He healed the man born blind on the Sabbath day, in John 10:1-6 Jesus gave the illustration of the sheep pen. Remember the sheep pen was an enclosure for the sheep with four walls, no roof, and one door. A thief or a robber would try to climb over the walls to get into the sheep pen, but the shepherd would obviously come through the gate. He would call to his own sheep, and they would recognize his voice, and he would lead them out to good pasture. Jesus was drawing a contrast between Himself as the true shepherd and the self-centered false shepherds of the Pharisees who had cast the healed man out of the temple.
John 10:6 says that they did not understand His symbolic language. So Jesus got more specific by drawing two applications from this illustration. We looked at the first application last week when we saw that Jesus is the door for the sheep. We saw that He is a door of salvation, of security, and of satisfaction. Today we will look at the second application – Jesus is the good shepherd who takes lays down His life for His sheep. Listen as I read John 10:11-21,
11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.
12 But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them.
13 The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep.
14 I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.
15 As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.
16 And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.
17 Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again.
18 No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”
19 Therefore there was a division again among the Jews because of these sayings.
20 And many of them said, “He has a demon and is mad. Why do you listen to Him?”
21 Others said, “These are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”
The main idea of this passage is obvious: Jesus is the good shepherd. He states it in verse 11, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.” And He repeats it in verse 14, “I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.”
This is Jesus’ fourth “I am” image in John’s Gospel. “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35). “I am the Light of the world” (John 8:12; 9:5). “I am the door of the sheep” (John 10:7). Now He claims “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:11, 14). Each of these claims show Jesus to be the one and only Son of God, Savior and Lord.
We use the word “good” in several different ways. The Greek language has a number of words that convey the idea of goodness. Here John uses the word kalos for “good” which not only refers to that which is morally good but also to that which is beautiful or excellent. It means good in quality. So when Jesus calls Himself the good shepherd, He means that He is the most excellent shepherd; He is the pre-eminent shepherd. He is the ideal shepherd – the perfect example of what a shepherd should be. Thus Jesus is claiming that He is not just “a” good shepherd. He is saying that He is “the” one and only Good Shepherd!
In our passage today Jesus shares three different ways that He is the good shepherd. Jesus lays down His life for the sheep. Second, Jesus knows His sheep. And third, Jesus conquers death for the sheep.
1. Jesus lays down His life for the sheep.(John 10:11-13)
Look at John 10:11 where Jesus says: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.” The same word translated “gives” here in verse 11 is better translated as “lays down” in verses 15, 17, and 18.
In John 10:7-10 when Jesus said, “I am the door for the sheep”, Jesus spoke about giving life to the sheep—abundant life (John 10:10). But when Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd,” He speaks about giving His life for the sheep. This is the primary characteristic of the good shepherd. Jesus will speak about other aspects of the good shepherd, but the main idea He keeps coming back to is this: the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. Four times in these verses Jesus repeats that He lays down His life (10:11, 15, 17, 18). In the first two He emphasizes that He lays down His life for His sheep. The last two times, He emphasizes that He lays down His life so that He may take it up again. Jesus is obviously speaking about His death.
MacArthur points out that when Jesus says He lays down His life, the word life is the word for “soul,” which speaks of the whole person. Jesus didn’t just lay down His body for us, He gave His whole being to endure the sin-bearing anguish of the cross. In Matthew 20:28 again Jesus says, “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life (same word, His soul) a ransom for many.”
I could spend the entire message here, but let me point out three things:
A. His death was voluntary.
Jesus says He “gives,” He “lays down” His life for the sheep. There is something very personal and intentional about laying one’s life down for another. It’s almost as if you hold your own life in your hands, and then you purposely lay it down. Jesus will say in John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”
To lay down your life for another means you do it voluntarily. Jesus says in John 10:18, “No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself.” When Pilate claimed to have the power to crucify or release Jesus (John 19:10), Jesus said, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above.” Jesus chose to lay down His life for His sheep. He offered His life as a sacrifice for the sheep. The sheep were in mortal danger not from beasts such as wolf and lions but from the greatest enemy: sin that leads to eternal death.
B. His Death was vicarious.
Vicarious simply means in the place of another. The good shepherd lays down his life “for the sheep.” The preposition “for” here means “on behalf of, for the benefit of.” That means He lays down His life for the sake of the sheep. He dies so that they will live. His death was not for Himself, it was for His sheep. Jesus did not die for His own sins – He had none – but for ours in our place. As the Apostle Paul writes in Romans 5:6-8, For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Jesus is the only one who has ever lived who did not have any sins of His own to die for. So He alone was qualified to die for us who deserved to die. As Paul wrote (2 Cor. 5:21), “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
Jesus’ death was vicarious. He took our death that we deserved. He died in our place. He did it for His sheep.
Jesus contrasts His voluntary, vicarious sacrifice as the good shepherd with that of the cowardice of the hired hand in verses 12-13:
12 But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them.
13 The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep.
Jesus is contrasting His own sacrificial love and care for His sheep with the false shepherds of Israel, whom He here calls “hired hands,” who only cared for themselves. The difference is that Jesus owns the sheep because He bought them with His blood. But when predators come, the hired hands are more concerned about saving their own lives than they are about saving the sheep. It’s no great loss to them if the sheep perish, as long as they escape with their lives.
They’re not his sheep, and therefore he does not care about them or risk his life to defend them. In contrast Jesus is the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep. He not only risks his life for the sheep. He willingly, voluntarily lays down his life for them. He dies, so that they don’t have to. Jesus, our shepherd cares more for you than for His own life.
Jesus’ death was not only voluntary and vicarious,
C. His death was victorious.
In John 10:17-18 Jesus repeats the statement that He has the authority to lay down His life and the authority to take it back again. “….I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.”
His voluntary, vicarious death was followed by His victorious resurrection. From the human point of view, it appeared that Jesus was executed; but from the divine point of view, He laid down His life willingly. He voluntarily yielded up His spirit to the Father (John 19:30) after His victory cry from the cross, “It is finished!” Three days later, He took up His life again and arose from the dead.
That is why He can promise in John 10:28, “And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.” By His death and resurrection Jesus was victorious over sin and death. Therefore He is able to give eternal life to His sheep.
Jesus is the good shepherd first of all because Jesus lays down his life for the sheep. Jesus died for us so that we would not have to.
2. Jesus knows His sheep.(John 10:14-16)
The second way that Jesus is the good shepherd is this: Jesus knows his sheep. Look at John 10:14, “I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.”
Jesus knows His sheep and they know Him. We saw the same truth in 10:3-4, where Jesus said that He calls His own sheep by name and they follow Him because they know His voice.
“To know” here is not an academic word, it is a relational word. It speaks of personal knowledge and intimacy. Jesus and His sheep enjoy a relationship of deep intimacy and love.
Jesus even compares this knowing and being known to His own relationship with God the Father. Look at verse 15: “As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.” God the Father and Jesus the Son know and love each other in perfect harmony. The relationship between God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit is the most intimate of all relationships. It is so close a relationship that Jesus will say later in this chapter (John 10:30) “I and My Father are one.”
Obviously we don’t know Jesus to the same degree that Jesus knows the Father, but just as God the Father and God the Son know each other, so Jesus knows His sheep, and we know him. Jesus lays down His life for us and takes care of us in every way. We love Him, trust Him and follow Him wherever He goes. We yield our lives to Him as our shepherd who knows us and loves us.
Jesus knows everything about you. He knows your deepest thoughts, your silent longings, your private victories and your secret shames. He knows it all, and He loves you. He loves you so much that He died for you. Jesus repeats at the end of John 10:15. “and I lay down My life for the sheep.” What better shepherd to guide you in your life and lead you than the one who knows you and loves you best.
Jesus knows both the sheep who are under his care now and also those who will come under His care in the future. Look at verse 16: “And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.” He will gather all the sheep together and there shall be one flock under one shepherd.
Here Jesus goes back to the sheep fold part of the illustration. In the sheep fold illustration from John 10:1-5, the shepherd came into the sheep pen and brought out His sheep and lead them from the fold. The fold, we saw was the Israel and Judaism. Jesus saves His sheep from that fold. Now Jesus says He has other sheep who are not of this fold. He must bring them also. Who are these other sheep?
It would be all those who are not Jews. Jesus was talking about the Gentiles. Salvation was not only for the Jews, but for everyone who would place their faith in Jesus. And so Jesus was speaking of the great Gentile mission of the church.
This is the missionary mandate that Jesus later gave in the Great Commission to take the gospel to all nations (Matt. 28:19; Luke 24:47; Acts 1:8). And, Jesus promises the success of the mission: “they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.” This is the ultimate goal of Christ’s mission. Jesus’ mission is worldwide. Jesus came to purchase a people for himself from every nation, tribe, people and language (Revelation 7:9). We could spend a whole sermon on this verse, but we must move on.
Jesus is the good shepherd first of all because he lays down his life for the sheep. Secondly, Jesus is the good shepherd because he knows his sheep. And then thirdly, Jesus is the good shepherd because he conquers death for the sheep.
3. Jesus conquers death for the sheep.(John 10:17-18)
Look at verses 17-18: “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”
At this point Jesus drops the shepherd illustration altogether. He stops speaking about shepherds and sheep and speaks directly about Himself and His relationship with the Father. And that’s probably because at this point the analogy breaks down. Yes a good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. And yes, a good shepherd knows his sheep. But no common shepherd could ever conquer death for his sheep. Once the shepherd laid down his life for the sheep, that shepherd’s life was over and done with. He could no longer take care for the sheep. But not so with Jesus the good shepherd. Jesus says: “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again.”
Now that is a remarkable statement. We are told here why God the Father loves the Son. The Father and the Son always loved one another with infinite love. Jesus prays to the Father in John 17:24, “You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” Jesus did not mean that He earned the Father’s love by laying down His life.
What we do see here is that the love of God the Father for Jesus the Son is bound up from all eternity in the willing sacrifice of Jesus for His people. Though the Father has always loved the Son, Jesus knew that His willingness to lay down His life and then take it up again would call forth the Father’s eternal love in a fresh way. For example, I have loved Kathy for over 35 years now. But there are times when she does something so thoughtful that it completely reflects her love for me. Then my love for her wells up in a fresh way so that I say something like, “I love you for doing that for me.” The love was there before her deed, but what she did called forth my love once more.
Christ’s death on the cross shows both the love of the Father and the Son. God the Father sent His only son to die for us. Jesus willingly gave up His life to bring us salvation.
Jesus said, “I lay down My life that I may take it again.” Notice how Jesus was in complete control of both His death and His resurrection, “I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.” This is a clear statement of the divinity of Jesus Christ. Only God has the authority to take life. Only God has the power to restore life. Jesus says He has this authority over His own life. Even after Jesus’ earthly body died, Jesus still had divine power to rise again. This was completely unlike any other resurrection account in Scripture. Other people were raised from the dead, but they were not divine. Why? Because someone else raised him. But Jesus had authority to raise himself from the grave, therefore He is divine.
It’s interesting, Scripture sometimes speaks of God the Father raising Christ from the dead, and other times Jesus raising himself as here. The Holy Spirit is also involved in Christ’s resurrection. (Romans 1:4, 8:11) It is all part of the mystery of the trinity.
Jesus says, “This command I have received from My Father.” The command encompassed both Jesus’ death and resurrection. The Father commanded it, but as we have seen Jesus did it voluntarily, selflessly. Jesus’ relationship to the Father was one of love and obedience, two sides of the same thing. The Father eternally loves the Son. The Son eternally loves the Father. But in some unique way in the incarnation, the Son voluntarily, willfully, obeyed the command of the Father to lay down His life out of love for the Father, and in so doing, sustained the Father’s love forever. Love and obedience (MacArthur).
Jesus’ resurrection depended on him living an obedient, sinless life. Jesus obeyed this command of the Father from the start. Jesus came into this world; he lived a perfect, sinless life; he laid down his life for the sheep; he took his life up again.
Jesus is truly the good shepherd. He laid down His life for the sheep. He knows His sheep and gathers them into one flock. He conquered death for the sheep so they also could know victory over sin and death, and live forever with Him and God the Father. Jesus is the good shepherd of the sheep.
How did the people respond to these truths? We read in John 10:19, “Therefore there was a division again among the Jews because of these sayings.” We have seen this repeatedly in John. Jesus’ words always divide. There is always a divided response to the truth according to the hearts of people. We read in John 10:20: “And many of them said, “He has a demon and is mad. Why do you listen to Him?”” Notice the double accusation: that he is both demon-possessed and insane. They probably thought the insanity was a result of the demons. They told the others, “Why listen to him?” Have you ever noticed how some nonbelievers are not content in their own disbelief but seek to pull others away also? That’s what these Jews were doing.
But some of the other Jews were not so quick to dismiss him. We read in John 10:21, “Others said, “These are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”” Jesus did not speak as a madman. His words were intelligible, full of grace, wisdom, power, and authority. Not only His words proved He was not demon possessed, but also His actions. As Matthew Henry put it: “The devil will sooner put out men’s eyes than open them.” The responses show that it is impossible to be neutral about Jesus Christ. What we believe about Him is a matter of life or death (John 8:24).
There is no question that Jesus is the Good Shepherd. The only question that remains at this point in the service is this: Do you know the Shepherd? How you answer that question determines where you can expect to spend eternity. Your answer to that question will make all the difference between Heaven and Hell. If you know the Shepherd, then you can rejoice in the fact that He will ever be with you and that He will ever watch over you. If you do not know Him, then I invite you to come to Him right now.
