Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 2919
“I am the Good Shepherd: the Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep.” John 10:11.
THESE words were spoken when our Lord was among His own people. Perhaps as you hear them there comes a whisper in your soul, “I wonder whether that is true now? If the Lord Jesus in His flesh were here at this moment, in the midst of us, and if He said, ‘I am the Good Shepherd,’ we might find it easy to believe it. But He has gone. What assurance have we that it is the same now, when He is no longer among us?” I answer, “Dear Brothers and Sisters, we know it is true because Jesus Christ is ‘the same yesterday, today and forever.’ That in itself were enough, but we have the added assurance that in this place He meant to say it was so, for, if you notice, He was evidently looking to the future when He said, ‘I am,’ seeing that He added, ‘The Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep,’ when as yet He had not done it. There was an interval between the time when He said these words and the laying down of His life upon the Cross. As He went on further in His discourse and said, ‘Other sheep I have which are not of this fold: them also, I must bring, and they shall hear My voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd,’
He was looking to the future you see. He spoke of Himself—I was almost going to say in momentary unconsciousness of His Deity without meaning, perhaps, to speak as God. He says, ‘IAm,‘using the very name of Jehovah and speaking of the future as though it were present. It was as if He had said, ‘I am the Good Shepherd and I am going to gather in the wandering people that, as yet, are not of My flock.’ So that, the meaning and force of the ‘I am,’ evidently runs right on till He has gathered in all the other sheep that were not, when He spoke the words, included in His fold. Yes, He means you to understand that He is speaking the same words as much to you, Brothers and Sisters, as to Peter and James and John. To you He is saying, ‘I am the Good Shepherd: the Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep.’”
First, let us look at our great Master’s claim, “I am the Good Shepherd.” Then we shall observe the proof of it. That, though it had not been completed when He uttered these words at the first, is now complete—“He gives His life for the sheep.” When we have talked rapidly on these two points, let us try and chew the cud and see if there is not something to be found here of very practical use to us. On these Communion nights the time is very short—therefore I must try to speak without many words upon any one point.
I. First, then, I say, let us look at CHRIST’S CLAIM, “I am the Good Shepherd.” He means us to understand three things. It is as if He said, “I am a Shepherd,” and then, “I am a Good Shepherd,” and, last of all, “I am the Good Shepherd”—that Good Shepherd who is spoken of in the Old Testament.
“I am a Shepherd,” He says first. That is to say, He stands in the same relationship to His people as a shepherd does to his flock. He owns His people—every one of them belong to Him. He prizes them because they are His—sets a value upon each of them. He takes care of them, remembering them both night and day. His heart is never off them and because of His inward love there is an outward goodness which He constantly extends to them. He protects them from the wolf. He guards them from a thousand dangers. He sees to the supply of all their needs. He guides them in the right way. He brings them back when they wander. He strengthens them when they are weak. He carries them when they are too feeble to go. He sees that they are a weak flock, a silly flock and a wandering flock—therefore is He their strength, their wisdom, their righteousness, their all. No creature, perhaps, has more diseases than a sheep—except a man. No creature is more dependent upon another and higher creature than a sheep is, for it seems only half itself till it is under the care of
man. And none of us, Brothers and Sisters, can be said to be less dependent than the sheep are, for we are not true men till we get near to Christ. We are without life and without strength till we find life and strength in Him. As a sheep would be sure to wander and, wandering, would be very likely to wander into a desert—would be sure not to better itself—would be certain in the end to come to nothing—so is it with us. Without Him who is our Shepherd we would wander farther and farther into misery and sin—and our ruin would be certain. We are more dependent upon Christ than sheep are upon the shepherd. You see, then, why Christ says, “I am a Shepherd.” Towards His own people whom He has redeemed with precious blood He stands in the position of a Proprietor, a Leader and Guide, a Father, a King—all of which may be condensed into this one word—a Shepherd.
But He is not only a Shepherd, He is a Good Shepherd, for what He does He does well Never does He neglect His flock. Not one ever perished because He forgot it. Since He never forgets, not one ever perished at all. He is a Good Shepherd because all that ought to be done—all that can be done—all that may be wished to be done towards His sheep—He does. Never shepherd so intensely threw His heart into His calling as Christ throws His heart and soul into the sacred calling of the Shepherd of Israel. He gives for His people all that He has, yes, He gives Himself! His power is their defense. He lifts up His hand and says, “I give to My sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand.” His Wisdom is their guidance. His Love is their perpetual shield. His Infinity is their storehouse. His Omniscience is their protection. Human and Divine are You, O Christ, in Your Person, but the Human and the Divine are both alike for Your people. You have a thousand of offices, and You exercise them all on the behalf of Your own flock. Oh, Christ is a Good Shepherd, indeed! He is skilled as well as zealous in the art of shepherdry. He knows all the diseases of the flock, for He, Himself, has felt all their griefs and woes. He has studied human nature oh, how long! He knows it by a personal experience and therefore knows it in such a way as it can be known only by Himself. He is a Good Shepherd. Was there ever imagined one that could be compared to Him?