John Message #31 Intro to Chapter 10 “False Shepherds Exposed” Ed Miller, 10/23/24
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Listen to the audio above while following along in the transcript below which is also available for download at www.biblestudyministriesinc.com
We welcome all of you. Let me just begin with this indispensable principle, total reliance on the Holy Spirit. Psalm 119:96, “I’ve seen a limit to all perfection. Thy commandment is exceedingly broad.” On the level of earth we see how something begins and ends, but His word is exceedingly broad; there is no end and there is no bottom to any verse in the Bible. We’ll be in heaven a million years and we won’t come to the end of John 3:16. So, we’re asking the Lord to just take us forward in a heart knowledge of Him. Let’s pray together.
Our heavenly Father, thank You for gathering us, and now we just pray as we trust the indwelling Holy Spirit, to focus our heart and eyes and our faith on our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank You, Lord, that we can count on You to do it. We don’t deserve it, and You deserve it and we come claiming it in Your name. Amen.
We welcome you once again to God’s undeserved permission for us to gather. We thank the Lord for that privilege. Your decision to come, my decision to come has more to do with His drawing than our choosing. So, He’s drawn us together and we’re thankful. I’m praying that we all would have a revelation, a fresh look at our Lord Jesus.
In our mediation we’re studying the wonderful gospel of John, and I never tire of sharing with you why the Holy Spirit inspired John to write this book. It’s from John 20:31, “These things have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, you may have life in His name.” From that wonderful passage we have seen these three great truths. God gave us this book so that we would know the Lord. God gave us this book so that we would trust the Lord. God gave us this book so that we would delight in the Lord and have life in His name. Every part of the gospel of John takes us forward in the knowledge of the Lord and how to trust Him and how to enjoy Him.
In our discussion we’ve completed (I don’t know if I should call it a discussion because it’s like one way), in my lecture we have completed our look at John 9, our meditation on that, the miracle when our Lord Jesus performed that healing on the man that was born blind. So, I’d like to jump right in without reviewing that, and go into John 10, because John 10 is not what it appears to be at the first reading. Because of the wonderful description of our Lord Jesus in this chapter as the good shepherd, it’s easy to get lost in the word pictures. The temptation is, “This is John 10, and it’s about the shepherd, so let’s study the shepherd, and then let’s study the sheep and the nature of sheep, and we’ll see how wonderful the shepherd is and how He ministers to the sheep.” If we approach John 10 that way, we will not run out of rich material because it’s there, and we’re eventually going to get to it, but I don’t believe that’s the reason God gave us John 10. I think He had something else in mind. We’re going to get to that, and it’ll be rich when we see Christ as our shepherd, but I want this lesson not to be a lesson in John 10, but I want to show you why I believe God inspired it. What’s His heart? What is the point? Why did God give us John 10? So, we’re not really going to study beginning in verse 1 and go through the chapter. I’m going to ask for your patience because the introduction to this involves a great deal of scripture, and so I’d like to take God’s full record that all comes in this chapter. We’re going to study about the shepherd and about the sheep and about the sheepfold and about the pasture and, Lord willing, we’ll begin that next week. Again, I want to get to this theme. If you’ll be patient with me and give me space to build, and show you this and because of that it’s this and this and this, and that’s why we have this chapter. That’s what I want to do.
John 10:11, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” John 10:14, “I am the good shepherd; I know My own, and My own know Me.” Almost across the board when Christians come to this chapter, they call it the “Good Shepherd Chapter”, and there’s wonderful reason. Notice in verse 6, “This figure of speech Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things were which He had been saying to them.” You’ll know in the context that He’s talking to the Pharisees, especially. In the NAS it says, “…this figure of speech.” In the ESV it uses that same expression, and so does it in the NIV, but if you have the King James it says, “This parable Jesus spoke.” Wuest says, “This illustration.” Phillips also uses, “…this illustration.” Williams translation call it, “This allegory…” What we know is that it’s not the Greek word that’s used for parable, but it is a figure of speech and it’s a great figure of speech. It covers, for sure, the first thirty verses. That’s a long parable, a long figure of speech, so it’s not just a proverb; it’s a great picture about the shepherd, and the porter and the sheep and the sheepfold and the door and the pasture. It’s all one figure of speech describing the shepherd in his relationship to the sheep. So, you can see why some would just say, “That’s why God gave us this chapter.” We think He did it for that, but there’s a stronger reason. So, if you’ll be patient, we’ll get to the precious things about His union with the sheep, and His love for the sheep, and his care for the sheep and his protection of the sheep. It’s all there and I wouldn’t be an honest Bible teacher if I skipped over that. But this is actually a byproduct of why He gave us the chapter.
The focus of this chapter is not the revelation of the good shepherd, but the focus of this chapter is He is exposing the false shepherd. That’s the purpose of this chapter. The chief emphasis is not on Jesus the true shepherd, but in contrast; He’s contrasting the false shepherds with the true shepherds. It’s actually a continuation of chapter 9. Remember that at the end of chapter 9 He’s talking to the Pharisees. In verse 40, “Those of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things, and said to Him, ‘We’re not blind, too, are we?’ And Jesus said, ‘If you were blind, you’d have no sin, but since you say, “We see,” therefore, your sin remains.’” As we pointed out in John 9, the Pharisees were Christ rejectors. Remember verse 22, “His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews. The Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed Him to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.” That’s the whole background of chapter 9. They reject Jesus as Messiah. In fact, even with incontrovertible evidence, that He came, Messiah, to heal the blind, they are going to reject it. So, it’s these Pharisees that are being exposed because they reject Christ, and yet they say, “You must listen to us because we’re shepherds; we’re the leaders; we’re the spiritual teachers, and if you want to know, you must listen to us because we’re shepherds.” They felt like they were God’s appointed shepherds over the people of God.
If we’re going to embrace God’s heart, we have to look at this, not only as a revelation of Christ, the true shepherd, but in contrast to these people who are claiming to be shepherds. This is a condemnation of those who pretend to be shepherds and they are not, and they are contrasted with Christ. John 10:1, first verse, “Truly I say to you, ‘He who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, climbs up some other way. He’s a thief and a robber.’” Well, they didn’t enter by the door. Look at verse 7, “Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly I say to you I am the door of the sheep.’” And they already said that if you believe that, you are going to get kicked out and you can’t come to the synagogue and you can’t belong to us if you believe that Jesus is the door, the true shepherd. So, they rejected Christ and they rejected the door and they climbed up another way. I like that it’s so general because there are many ways people, false teachers, get into the sheepfold, but they’re not teachers. According to this they’re thieves; a thief is one who steals when you’re not around. They are like a burglar. A robber is one that steals when you are there, and he’ll put a gun to your head or a knife to your throat or, in our context, a doctrine to your head, or some teaching and they’re not out for the sheep.
John 10:10, “The thief comes to steal and to kill and destroy.” They’re not friends of the sheep. John 10:12, “He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd who is not the owner of the sheep sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees. The wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he’s a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep.” You see, the emphasis in this chapter is that these Pharisees are false teachers and they come up another way and they didn’t come through the door and they reject the Lord Jesus Christ and they’re hirelings and are in it for the money and they’re in it for the power and they’re in it for the prestige and they want their own flock and they want their own little kingdom, and they are just trying to get a following and to be honored themselves.
They understood what this chapter was about because in verse 6 they didn’t understand, and in verse 20 & 21 they said that Jesus had a demon and that He was insane. In verse 31 they picked up stones to stone Him. They know what the chapter is about; He’s condemning them and they know it. In verse 33, he accuses Him of blasphemy. By the way, that’s one sin that Jesus could not commit; blasphemy is pretending that you are God. He can’t do that. John 10:39 they tried to seize Him and tried to arrest Him. So, this chapter is about exposing the false shepherds, in contrast with the true shepherd, and setting them over against the true shepherd and condemning them. John 10:26, “You do not believe because you are not of My sheep.” They are not only not shepherds; they aren’t even sheep; they aren’t even saved, these false teachers. So, this chapter will expose them. They’re a million light years away from the true shepherd.
Now, this contrast between the true and the false, between pretenders and the reality, this is not the first time that God uses this illustration, the false shepherd and the sheep. This is one of the chief messages in the entire Bible. This isn’t just for the first time we learn about the false shepherd and the sheep. This is all through the Old Testament. I know this is not the time to study all of that in the Old Testament, but let me identify the false teachers in the New Testament; these are God’s illustration. They’re the Pharisees, the scribes, the priests, the Sadducees, and later the Judaizers, even the Herodians, the Essenes, and they were all false teachers.
In the Old Testament who were the false shepherds. Let me read you a couple of verses. Jeremiah 23:11, “’Both prophet and priest are polluted, even in My house I found wickedness,’ declares the Lord.” Isaiah 56:10, “His watchmen are blind; all of them know nothing. All of them are mute dogs, unable to bark. They are shepherds who have no understanding. They’ve all turned to their own way, each one to his unjust gain, to the last one.” The political leaders, the judges and the kings are called shepherds, and they led their flock to Babylon, to captivity, and so on.
When we think of a shepherd, we usually think spiritually because we’re talking about the Lord and His people, but over and over again in the Old and New Testament it was political: the kings, the judges were called shepherds. Originally, the sheepfold in God’s heart and His mind was in Jerusalem; that was going to be the sheepfold, but the false shepherds came in. I’m not going to read this but I want you to see the emphasis. I’m just going to recite the chapters that deal with the shepherd and the sheep; Psalm 23, Psalm 80, Psalm 100, Isaiah 40, 56, Jeremiah 23, 25, Ezekiel 34, Zachariah 11, and that’s just some of the references. That’s why I say that this is not a new theme; this didn’t just come up in John 10. What you have in John 10 you have in the whole Bible. It’s that men have claimed to be God’s shepherds and they’re not, and then there is the true shepherd, and that’s the Lord Jesus. God is angry with the fakers.
Listen to these verses, I’ll just read them. Jeremiah 23:1, “’Whoa to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of My pasture,’ declares the Lord.” Jeremiah 25:35, “Flight will perish from the shepherds and will escape from the masters of the flock, hear the sound of the cry of the shepherds, the wailing of the masters of the flock. The Lord is destroying their pasture.” Ezekiel 34:2, “Son of Man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to those shepherds, ‘Thus says the Lord God, whoa shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves. Should not the shepherd’s feed the flock?’” Isaiah 56:10, “His watchman are blind, and all of them know nothing. All of them are mute dogs unable to bark; they are shepherds who have no understanding; they’ve turned everyone to their own way, every last one of them.”
The message in the Old Testament and the New Testament is exactly the same, and God is against those who claim to be shepherds and are not. He’s against them who think they are coming the God ordained way, “God has called me to be a shepherd of His flock.” Be careful! The Old Testament spells out many of the controversies and we’re not going to get into that now, but just know right now that there are false shepherds and the true, and God is angry with the false shepherds. That’s the beginning of introducing John 10.
I want to continue on that vein. I told you that the Holy Spirit takes great pains to contrast the false with the true, and there is no doubt in John 10 who the true shepherd is. I already read it. I’m going to do it again, just so you know and there is doubt. Verse 11, “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.” John 10:14, “I am the good shepherd; I know My own and My own know Me.” John 10:27, “My sheep hear My voice; I know them and they follow Me.” That’s the New Testament. False shepherds? Who is the true shepherd? It’s the Lord Jesus.
What about the Old Testament. Well, I told you who are the false teachers: the priests, the prophets, the watchmen, the political leaders, and so on. Who is the true shepherd in the Old Testament? You see, the name Jesus doesn’t appear, but over and over and over again when He talks about the false shepherds, He contrasts it with the true shepherd. The true shepherd in the Old Testament is Messiah. Listen to Jeremiah 23:3, “I Myself with gather the remnant of My flock out of the countries where I’ve driven them, and bring them back to their pastures where they will be fruitful and multiply. Ezekiel 34:11, “For thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out, as a shepherd cares for his herd in the day when he’s among the scattered sheep. I will care for My sheep and deliver them from all the places to which they were scattered on the cloudy and gloomy day.’” Ezekiel 34:22-24, “I will deliver My flock; they will no longer be a prey. I’ll judge between one sheep and another. Then I’ll settle with them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will feed them and he’ll feed them himself and be their shepherd, and I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant, David, will be prince among them. I, the Lord, have spoken.” That’s a Messianic passage. Ezekiel 34:31, “As for you, my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, your men, I am your God.” You get the idea; one more. Isaiah 40:10, “Behold, the Lord God will come with might with His arm ruling for Him. Behold, His reward is with Him and His recompense before Him, like a shepherd He will tend His flock, and in His arms He’ll gather the lambs and carry them in His bosom, and He’ll gently lead the nursing ewes.”
There has always ever only been one
Shepherd, and His name is Jesus. In the Old Testament it was Messiah. “I’ll raise Him up and we’ll get rid of those false shepherds because there is only one shepherd, and that shepherd is the Lord Jesus Christ.” In the Old Testament there are the false shepherds and the Messiah, the true Shepherd. In the New Testament there are the false shepherds and Jesus who is the true Shepherd. That’s why I want to introduce John 10 before we begin feeding on the precious shepherd truths.
Now, I want to continue because we might think we can escape being false shepherds because, “We’re not Pharisees.” I want to dig a little deeper into false shepherds, and what is a false shepherd. In the New Testament, clearly, it’s the Pharisees, and they represent the other group, the religious leaders, and they’re not even sheep. So, that’s the extreme example, those who reject Jesus are false shepherds, those who come up some other way into the fold. We get the idea that the false shepherds are always unsaved. Are there pastors and priests and are there elders and are there teachers that don’t know Jesus and didn’t come through the door, and yet they’re trying to teach in the church. Indeed there are, and every place you look! John 10:7, “Jesus said, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.’” And John 10:1, “Those who climb up another way, they only do damage to the sheep.” There’s one shepherd, and His name is Jesus, and if He’s not shepherding you, somebody is hurting you, and they’re robbing you and they’re out to kill you or destroy you.
Is it possible that a saved person can be a false shepherd, somebody that’s gone through the door, and they’ve trusted Christ, and yet they’re false shepherds? The answer is yes. Let me give you the Holy Spirit’s phrase to describe them. 1 Corinthians 2:14, “A natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God. They are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” The natural man is not necessarily a non-Christian. The natural man is one who looks at things naturally, who comes by nature, who is trusting his mind or something in the world. They’re not being taught of God and they’re not learning from God Himself. So, they come at you with psychology and psychiatry and worldly wisdom and academics and they throw out, “The Greek says this and the Hebrew says this and the Aramaic says this, and we’ve got the degrees and we’ve been to the schools and we’ve got the books and we are your shepherds and you’ve got to listen to us because we know and we’ve studied these things.” They may know the Lord, but if they’re coming as a natural man, they’ve come up another way.
Listen to John 10:9, “I’m the door. If anyone enters through Me he’ll be saved,” that’s when you get through the door the first time, “and will go in and out and find pasture.” It’s not only once. We’re going in and out and in and out, and we better be dead certain when we go in that we go through the door, and when we come out we go through the door. Let me say it another way. When we begin, it better be with Jesus, and when we end, it better be with Jesus, or we’ve come up another way, and we are not helping. We are going to damage the sheep. So, you can be a false teacher, even if you’ve gone through the door once. I went through the door in 1958, but every time I come before you to teach, I better be coming through the door, and when I leave I better leave through the door. It’s all about the Lord Jesus.
I’m going to read Ezekiel 34:26 for those who are pastors and teachers and Christians; here’s a great description, “Some men prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to those shepherds, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Whoa, shepherds of Israel, who should have been feeding them who have been feeding themselves, should not the shepherds feed the flock. You eat the fat and clothe yourself with the wool, and you slaughter the fat sheep without feeding the flock? Those who are sickly you’ve not strengthened. The disease you’ve not healed. The broken you’ve not bound up. The scattered you’ve not brought back, nor have you sought for the lost, but with force and severity you’ve dominated them. They were scattered for lack of a shepherd and they became food for every beast of the field and they were scattered. My flock wandered through all the mountains on every high hill. My flock was scattered all over the surface of the earth, and there was no one to search or seek for them.” That describes the true shepherd.
So, I say that the unsaved false teacher rejects Christ. The saved false teacher neglects Christ. You can reject Christ, or you can neglect Christ. Every time a true teacher is taught of God, it’s going to lead to Christ; it’s all about the Lord, the true shepherd. So far, in an introduction, I hope we’ve seen two things; there are false shepherds and there are good shepherds, or a good Shepherd, one, the Lord Jesus. But there are human shepherds who claim to be shepherds. So, my next question, and this builds on it, what about human shepherds? Does God use His people as shepherds? Well, listen to Jeremiah 23:4, “I’ll also raise up shepherds over them, and they will tend them,” that’s plural and that’s not the Lord. God is going to raise up those He calls shepherds. “They’ll not be afraid any longer, nor be terrified, nor will any be missing.” He doesn’t rule out human shepherds. Acts 20:28, “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” Are there human shepherds? Yes, and we need to understand that, but yes. In 1 Peter 5 Paul addresses the elders who were among those that scattered throughout Pontius and Galatia and Cappadocia and Asia and Bithynia, and He addresses them and here’s what He said, verse 2, “Shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight, not under a compulsion, but voluntarily according to the will of God, not for sordid gain, but with eagerness, nor as yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, proving to be examples to the flock, and when the chief Shepherd appears, you’ll receive an unfading crown of glory.”
All I’ve wanted to show you from those verses is that He hasn’t ruled out human shepherds. All human shepherds are not false shepherds. We need to see the place the human shepherd has, giving Him preeminence to be the only Shepherd. So, clearly God intends that there be human shepherds. We call them under shepherds. You know the Greek word translated “pastor” is shepherd, shepherd your people, and that word is not only applied to pastors. It’s applied to elders, and in the New Testament it’s applied to every Christian. Every Christian is to be shepherd. It’s the same word. God is a Shepherd, but He wants to use us, but how does that work?
Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, in your hearts please pray for me as we look at this next part because it’s so basic to not being a false shepherd and not going up another way. What qualifies someone, any Christian, or any office, what qualifies them to be an under shepherd according to the will of God? Let me read a couple of verses and then give you a principle. 2 Corinthians 3:18, “We all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image.” Note that expression, “Transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.” Romans 8:9, “Those He foreknew He predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.” 1 John 3:2, “Beloved, now we’re the children of God, and it has not yet appeared as to what we will be, and we know when He appears we’ll be like Him, and we’ll see Him just as He is.” 1 John 4:17, “As He is, so also are we in the world.” Expressions like “transformed into His image,” “conformed to the image of Christ,” “to be like Him,” “to be as He is,” that expression, if I’m going to be an under shepherd, I need to be conformed to Jesus, and you need to be transformed, conformed to His image. But now the question comes, “What does that mean? How am I conformed to the image of Christ? Is it that I see Christ as shepherd, and then I see Him as the perfect Shepherd and I look at how He did it, in Ephesians 5, ‘He walked in love,’ so we’re to walk in love? I look at Philippians 2, the mind that was in Christ, and He was humble, so I’m going to be a good shepherd and I’ll be humble? I look and see how He prayed, and I pray, and how He had compassion I had compassion, and how He didn’t neglect sinners and I won’t neglect sinners? Is that what it means to be conformed to Christ, to follow His example? He’s the perfect illustration, so we study His life, and then we copy His life?”
1 John 3:2, “Now, we are the children of God. It has not yet appeared what we shall be. When He appears, we’ll be like Him and we’ll see Him as He is.” Following the example of Christ is not being conformed to Christ; it’s the exact opposite of that. May God help us here! How can I be conformed to Christ; what does it mean, if I see Jesus by the Spirit, and I’m not just talking about academic? If I see Jesus as the great forgiver, will I become a forgiver? And the more I see Him as One who forgives, the more I’ll be able to forgive? Is that being conformed to Jesus? If I see Him as a teacher and I study how He taught and how He answered the Pharisees and the wisdom He used, is that going to make me a good teacher? If I see Him as the righteous One, does that mean I’m going to start being righteous now because I’ve seen Him as the righteous One? If I study Him as the shepherd, is that going to help me? Is He my model, so that I lay down my life for the sheep and I feed the sheep, and so on? Listen to Luke 7:47, “For this reason I say to you, her sins which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much. He who has forgiven little, loves little.” I see Jesus as forgiver, do I become a forgiver? She’s forgiven, therefore, she loves. That’s a strange response to seeing someone as a forgiver; they become a lover, not a forgiver.
I want to be conformed to Christ. I had a great revelation of the Lord and He’s omnipresent. How am I going to be conformed to His image if He’s omnipresent? If I see Him as the Potter, do I become a potter or a clay pot? Being conformed to the image of Christ, what if I see Him as divine? I’ve got to become like Him? What if I see Him as a miracle worker. How am I going to be conformed to Him? What does it mean to be conformed? Let me suggest, if you see Him as a teacher, you become a student. If you see Him as Lord, you don’t become a Lord; you become a slave. If you see Him as a shepherd, you become a sheep. I’m going to actually take you to Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” What if I saw Him, as a shepherd? Verse 1, I would lack nothing. Verse 2, I’d be at rest, “green pastures and still waters.” If I saw Him as a shepherd, I’d be restored, my soul would be restored. If saw Him as a shepherd, in verse 3, I’d walk in paths of righteousness, and I wouldn’t fear in the valley of the shadow of death, and I would be blessed and my cup would be running over, and goodness and mercy would be following me all the days of my life. Why? It’s because I saw the shepherd, and my being conformed to Him was not becoming a shepherd; it was becoming a sheep.
Let me ask you this. You’re a pastor or you’re a priest or you’re a teacher. If that person actually was at rest with the Lord and lacked nothing and was not fearing anything, and in the shadow of death was rejoicing and his cup was flowing, would you resist that person ministering to you? That’s the one you want to minister to you; that’s the shepherd. The point is, if I’m an under shepherd, it’s not me learning how to shepherd; it’s me responding to the revelation of Christ as a Shepherd, so that He could be the Shepherd. He’s the only Shepherd. There’s no other Shepherd. It’s not me. That’s the whole idea of the exchanged life. The best thing any Christian can do for anybody, Psalm 37 4&5, “Delight yourself in the Lord; He’ll give you the desires of your heart.” You have no greater privilege and I have no greater privilege than to delight in Jesus. Parents, do you have some concerns for your children? The best thing you can do for them is to delight in Jesus. Husbands, do you have concern for your bride? Delight in Jesus. Wives, you’ve got concern for your husbands? Delight in Jesus. Shepherds, do you have concern for the sheep? Delight in Jesus. That’s the best thing you can do. You respond to the revelation and you are conformed to Him by becoming not what He is but the results of that revelation. So, if I see Him as omnipresent, how is that going to show itself in my life? I’ll tell you how. I’ll never be alone wherever I go; you’ll never be alone wherever you go because He’s with you and He’s with you always. If you see Him as the righteous One, how is that going to change your life? Well, it’s His righteousness; you are not going to live in condemnation. You’re not going to live under the burden of sin. That’s seeing Him as righteous. If you are conformed to Him as Lord, you are going to become a servant and you are going to serve Him. “I’ve had a revelation that the Lord is a vine! I need to be conformed.” I don’t become a vine; I become a fruitful branch by being conformed to the vine, and then others look at me at rest and they say, “He must have a wonderful Shepherd.” They see the Shepherd. You’re not the shepherd. They see the Lord by seeing your service. Do you see what I’m saying? That’s what it means to be conformed to Christ.
Here is what we’ve seen. There’s a contrast between the false and the true. The false shepherd is someone who comes up another way, and not through the Lord Jesus Christ. God is against those false shepherds, and an under shepherd is not one who shepherds. I mean, he does, he shepherds but he shepherds by allowing Jesus to be the Shepherd. John 10:16, “I have other sheep which are not of this fold; I must bring them, also. They will hear My voice, and they will become one flock and one Shepherd.” I think that is one of the key verses, “…one flock, one Shepherd.” No pastor is the shepherd of a church; Jesus is the Shepherd of a church.
When I was at Bible school, we had to take a course called “pastoral theology” and I had to learn how to be a pastor; I had to learn how to be a shepherd. That is so off-center. They should have had one on sheep theology, so I’d learn how to be a sheep in order to be a shepherd. If you come here and I give you something besides Jesus, and it could be good, and it could be wonderful things, and we could have a lesson on missions and a lesson on spiritual warfare or a lesson on end times or a lesson spiritual gifts or a lesson on stewardship, I’ve come up another way and I’m only hurting you; I’m not helping you. The only things that’s going to help you, ever, is to let Jesus be the Shepherd. There’s one Shepherd and one fold. It’s not a Catholic fold and a Baptist fold and a Lutheran fold and a Episcopalian fold and a Brethren fold, and all these different folds. There’s one flock and one Shepherd; all the people of God.
There are more than two hundred Baptists denominations. There are tens of thousands of different sheepfolds, so they say. There’s the Anglican and the Puritan and Free and the Independent and the non-denominational, and on and on you go. There’s one fold, and one Shepherd, and that’s the heart of Christ, and that’s what John 10 is about, that it’s got to be only one. God is not concerned about all those folds that man makes and identifies with.
Once again, I want to get back to this exchanged life, that if I’m going to in any way help God’s sheep, it’s not by trying to be a Shepherd or a teacher; it’s by responding to the Lord Jesus, letting Him be the Shepherd. I’ve heard people say, “He has a Shepherd’s heart,” “He has a servant’s heart,” “He has a teacher’s heart.” Don’t believe it for a moment. Nobody has a servant’s heart except Jesus; He has a servant’s heart, and I have Him. He has a Shepherd’s heart, and you have Him. He has a teacher’s heart, and you have Him. He’s the One that’s compassionate, and He lives in you and He wants to live through you, and so, it’s the exchanged life. That’s what John 10 is about. There are false shepherds, and there’s a true shepherd, I’m against a false shepherds, and I don’t want anyone to come up another way, and they’ve got to come through the door and out the door, and there’s one flock and there’s one Shepherd, and that’s all there will ever be, and Jesus is the Shepherd. When you get to that, then you are ready to study John 10, the Good Shepherd. That’s all about the Shepherd.
Let me close by quoting these three verses. John 10:11, “I’m the good Shepherd. The good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.” He’s the good Shepherd. Hebrews 13:20, “Now, the God of peace who brought from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus, our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us what is pleasing in His sight.” He’s not only the good Shepherd; He’s the great Shepherd. The 1 Peter 5:4, “When the chief Shepherd appears, you’ll receive the unfading crown of glory.” He’s a good Shepherd, He’s a great Shepherd, He’s a chief Shepherd, and He lives in your heart; he lives in my heart. If I’m ever going to be His instrument, then I’m going to let the great Shepherd… You aren’t saved to serve the Lord. He wants to serve Himself. You’re not called to live for Jesus; let Jesus live for Himself. He lives in you, and He wants to be the great Shepherd, and if He’s the great Shepherd, I will be laying down my life. And if He is the great Shepherd, then I will be the high priest praying. And if He is the chief Shepherd living in my heart, He’ll be leading to the glory of God and to the reward. It’s all about Jesus. Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, thank You for Your word, and not what we think it might mean, but everything You’ve inspired it to mean. We pray that you would work that in our heart. Thank You, Lord, for the Old Testament truth, and the New Testament truth that You are Messiah, You are Jesus, You are the true Shepherd, the good Shepherd, the great Shepherd, the chief Shepherd. Forgive us for invading Your space, and we just pray that, Lord, we would so behold You that we would be conformed, as radically as it is, to Your image. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.
