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So, Lord Jesus, we thank you that you are the shepherd of our lives. We thank you that you promised to lead us home. And Lord, as we look forward to that day, we pray that you would help us just open our eyes this evening as we read your word. To all that you have done for us, all that you are doing for us and for your great love for us. Amen.

Wonderful. Well, we're in a series, in the middle of a series on the I am sayings of Jesus. There are seven of them in, in the Book of John. There are many people that have said many things about Jesus throughout history. We want to hear from Jesus.

What did Jesus say about who he was? And so far through the book of John, we've had I am the bread, I am the light, I am the gate. And tonight we come to I am the good shepherd. Jesus says, I am the good shepherd. I'm just going to.

Am I live? Mark, it's clicking up here.

You might have to. Is it not coming? Is it not doing anything? You gotta put. There we go.

Excellent. Thank you. I am the good shepherd. Jesus as our shepherd. It's probably, I would say, one of the second most prominent images in the Bible that tells us about our relationship with God, the Christians relationship with God.

If I had to pick a top one, it would probably be God as our Father and the image of adoption and the image of being born into the great family of God. But this one is, is right up there. And if you've been a Christian for any length of time, or even if you're not a Christian, your mind may well go to Psalm 23, one of the most famous sections of Scripture. The Lord is my shepherd, I will lack nothing written by King David hundreds of years before Jesus came. And the idea of Jesus being our shepherd gives an explanation of what it means to become a Christian in, in many ways.

If you were, if you were listening to the sermon last week, but you weren't listening very well, and you heard us say, you know, Jesus said, I am the gate for the sheep. Well, you might come to the conclusion that essentially the Gospel says this, that Jesus kind of, if you just trust him, he's your free ticket to heaven. You know, here we go. Trust in Jesus. Here's your free ticket to heaven.

And on a very, very superficial level, that may be true. But when we hear Jesus say I am the good shepherd, and grapple with the idea that to become a Christian is to declare the Lord is my shepherd, we're confronted with a much more nuanced understanding of what the Christian Gospel says it means to be a Christian. Firstly, Christianity is a responsive lifestyle. To become a Christian is a bold declaration that says, I believe I am utterly unqualified to be the captain of my soul. I need a shepherd to lead me, to teach me what it is to be human and how to live a life with God.

I need a shepherd. But much more than that, to become a Christian is a bold statement that says, I don't belong to myself. I belong to another. I belong to the Shepherd. As Psalm 100 says, we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

So we see. To become a Christian is much more about signing up to creeds and beliefs which are simply the right answers, but an invitation to become part of a flock under one shepherd. All the other I am statements, all these other images, they're quite inanimate. They tell us really rich things. But the Lord, when Jesus says, I am the good shepherd, it's the most relational of these statements.

And so I ask, are you able to say tonight the Lord is my shepherd? Are you able to say, the Lord is my shepherd? Do you know the Lord Jesus as your shepherd? Or are you afraid to say yes to belonging to Jesus? Are you afraid to commit to a life lived with Jesus?

Perhaps he'll ask too much of me. Perhaps he doesn't know me as well as I think I know myself. Well, John 10 we're about to dive into briefly, and it describes this ministry of Jesus, the good shepherd, in his own words. And you'll notice our passage tonight, actually, unlike last week, doesn't talk much about a shepherd leading at all, which is the first thing we think about. I am the good shepherd.

The shepherd leads his people. Certainly that's where Psalm 23 is. But actually the emphasis of tonight's passage on the ministry of the good shepherd is the shepherd that dies for his flock. We're going to look at just two things tonight about this ministry. The good shepherd.

The good shepherd lays down his life because we are lost. And the good shepherd lays down his life because we are loved. I just want to think about those two things this evening. So firstly, the good shepherd lays down his life because we are lost. Here's the saying.

Verse 11, chapter 10, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays his life down for the sheep. You might say, okay, well, that's good to know. And certainly you've been a Christian for a while. You've probably heard those words before you go, well, they sound lovely.

You might not know that in sort of recent memory of the Church. These ideas and the ideas that are about to follow have been forgotten or called into contention. In 2003, a book was published by a leader, a guy called Steve Chalk. Many of you will have heard of him. I think Steve Chalk is a man to be commended for many, many things that in the name of Christianity, he has set up hospitals, he has set up schools, he has really impacted society.

And in the 90s, when I was growing up, the this guy was huge. When I got confirmed, I got given a Steve Chalk book. When I went to conferences and Steve Chalk turned up at youth work, we're like, whoa, it's Steve Chalk, like a really, really big deal. And there are many, many reasons to respect this guy.

But in 2003, he published a book called the Lost Message of Jesus, which became famous for all the wrong reasons and for one particular phrase at the back half of the book. And in the book, Steve criticises this idea of the great exchange on the cross, that when the good shepherd died for us, the sin of man and wrath of God were on Jesus laid, as we've just sung, the idea that Jesus life is credited to us on the cross and Jesus takes the punishment on the cross, the sin of man and wrath of God. And Steve Jobs said, no, this idea is too unpalatable, it's too controversial. And here are just two sentences he wrote in his book on this idea. He says, oh, the fact is, the cross isn't a form of cosmic child abuse.

A vengeful father punishing his son for an offence he has not committed. The truth is, the cross is a symbol of love. It is a demonstration of just how far God as father and Jesus as his son are prepared to go to prove that love and Christendom erupted, quite rightly, the blogosphere erupted. I could spend a whole sermon talking about, you know, combating this. I want to spend a little bit of time combating it.

I don't think it's good if many of our sermons are sort of spent saying why other people are wrong. But I want to do it tonight for a couple of reasons. Firstly, young people, you need to know that sometimes the people who are very well meaning and have done lots of things and are very respectful, sometimes they teach things that are not in scripture, which is why we encourage you to get into scripture for yourself, so you can test those reasons. You can test things for yourself, me, the whole clergy, everyone. We need to test everything.

And secondly, sometimes when we read things in scripture, like I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd lays his life down for the sheep, we can say, wonderful, but it really helps to go well, because this is true, therefore this thing is not true. And that's why tonight I want to teach a few of these truths from John chapter 10 by saying, this is why what Steve Chalk wrote was not correct, is not in line with Scripture. And there's three ideas of the Good Shepherd's ministry. Firstly, that the good shepherd had to die. Secondly, that the good shepherd willingly died.

And thirdly, that the good shepherd knew that he would have to do this before he took on the job. So, firstly, here is the problem with saying that the cross was simply a demonstration of God's love. I like to imagine that you are on the third story of a burning building and you're waving out the window going, help, help, help. And you can see your friend down below who's panicking and watching you. And the fire engine hasn't arrived yet.

The fire team haven't arrived. And just as you pass out from smoke inhalation, your friend runs into the building. They run up the stairs, they run up to the third floor, try not to breathe in any of the smoke. And they pick you up, and heroically they carry you down. There's bits of burning building falling down all around them, and they come out burnt with smoke inhalation, really worse for wear.

Both of you are in a really, really bad way, but both of you are alive. And what do you say to your friend? You say, thank you. You have saved me. You're my hero.

Now imagine you and your friend are stood outside the same burning building. The fire engines are coming, no one's in the building. And your friend turns to you and says, I love you so much. You're awesome. Let me give you a demonstration of how much I love you.

And your friend runs into the burning building and goes to the third floor, experiences all those burns, all that suffering, all that smoke, inflation. They nearly die and they come out. What do you say to your friend? You go, thanks, but you're an idiot.

It makes no sense to run into a burning building as a mere demonstration of how much you would love someone if they were in trouble.

And we read later on, In John chapter 10, John, he says of his ministry, Jesus says, this command I received from my Father. Where do you see Jesus wrestling with this command? The most? The most intensely. It's in the Garden of Gethsemane.

And what does he pray in Matthew 26? He says, My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but you will There are huge problems with saying the cross was merely a symbol of how much God would love us if he had to save us. It makes no sense of Jesus prayer in Gethsemane. It makes no sense of Jesus obedience to the Father.

Jesus had to die. Not only that, but Jesus willingly died. Let's go back to this statement again. I am the good shepherd. Now, do you realise it doesn't say the good shepherd dies for the sheep?

Although that is true, they're intentional. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. And if we only have this verse, that might seem a small detail that talks of Jesus active participation in going to the cross, in laying down his life. But you may have heard later in the passage, Jesus is at pains to emphasise his willingness to lay down his life. He chose the cross.

Further down the page, verses 17 and 18. The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father Jesus is clear.

He died willingly. Jesus had to die. Jesus willingly died. And not only that, but the good shepherd knew that he would have to do this before he took on the job of being the good shepherd. And that is to say that Jesus willingly died before the foundation of the world.

Revelation tells us the plan for Jesus to die was set in motion and decided on before creation. And when Jesus says, I am the good shepherd, not just I am a good shepherd, but I am the good shepherd, he is making a claim about his identity that he is the Messiah, which was prophesied through the law and prophets. Later on, in chapter 10, you may have heard it, Jesus carries on talking to the Pharisees about his calling to be the good shepherd. He says, my sheep listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me.

I give them eternal life. They shall never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of my Father's hand.

I and the Father are one. And what is the response? Again, his Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone him. But Jesus said to them, I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?

We are not stoning you for any good work, they replied, but for blasphemy. Because you, a mere man, claim to be God. Because you and man claim to be God.

What is the Problem with characterising the cross as cosmic child abuse. Not only does Jesus tell us that he willingly goes to the cross, but it falls into the trap of the cult about the identity of Jesus. It's essentially saying God is someone who, who found somebody else to die for his people. But who is Jesus? Who is Jesus?

I am the Father One. He is the one who was there from the beginning. It takes us right back to John, chapter one in beginning. In the beginning was the Word, that's Jesus. In the beginning was Jesus, and the Word was with God.

And the Word was God. And all things were made by him and for him and through him. And on the cross we do not find God finding somebody else. Die for his people. God Himself in Jesus Christ dies for his people.

Jesus had to die. Jesus willingly died. And the good shepherd knew that he would have to do this before he took on the job. He chose to be a shepherd. He chose to be the good shepherd that lays his life down for the sheep.

Isaiah 53 says this. We all, like sheep, have gone astray. Ben read it earlier. Each of us have turned to our own way, but the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of it all. Jesus had to die.

Jesus willingly died. And you think, well, it's good to make sure our theology is correct, but what difference does that make? Well, because the moment you start saying Jesus didn't have to die, actually there was no purpose to it other than a demonstration. The moment you say that we weren't really lost, the moment you start to say, actually, as Christians, we don't really need a shepherd, well, what does our religion become? What does all this become?

Sort of carry on your religious activity in whatever way you wish. And the church's role is simply to affirm whatever brand of spirituality you choose, because you, you can be your own shepherd. And in our nation and across the west, that seems to be where we are going. Jesus lays his life down because we are lost. The good shepherd lays his life down because we are lost.

And that is the chief ministry of the good Shepherd. But secondly, the good shepherd lays his life down because we are loved. In verses 12 and 13, you may have read it, Jesus distinguishes himself from the hired hand, the hired hand that don't really care for the sheep. And so when danger comes, when the shepherd's life is in danger, when the hired hand's life is in danger, they simply run. But the good shepherd lays his life down to the sheep.

Why? Because he loves the sheep. Question why does the good shepherd love the. The sheep? Three verses 14 and 15.

I think our digi person has moved to the next room. I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep know me, just as my father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay my life down for the sheep. The good shepherd loves the sheep because he knows the sheep.

They are his. Douglas MacMillan was a pastor in the Free Church of Scotland in the 20th century. But before he became a pastor, he was a shepherd for 12 years. And in 1979, he gave a set of Bible talks at a conference Based on Psalm 23, this idea of the Lord being the shepherd. And those talks are well worth reading because as he expounds scripture, he litters them with all these stories, all these anecdotes from his experience of actually being a shepherd.

Not only the life of the shepherd, but the heart of the shepherd. And so when Jesus says in verse 14, I know my sheep, he talks about how each of the sheep a shepherd knows, each of the sheep has a different character, they have different ways about them. He always talks about sheep as though we would talk about our own children. In one story he says this, he says, I've known men who know their sheep so well they could recognise them anywhere. One man I Remember had sold 100 lambs in Oban, and travelling in a train three weeks later, he passed a big flat plain.

When he got home, this fellow said to me, you know, Douglas, I saw my lambs. Where did you see your lambs? I asked, among about 3,000 other ones in a field at Stirling. You see, I didn't even think of saying to him, how did you know that they were your lambs? He.

He knew his lands. And as he helps the congregations try and understand why a shepherd loves his sheep and how a shepherd knows their sheep, he talks about three ways in which a shepherd acquires their sheep. There are three ways which a shepherd acquires a sheep. Firstly, sometimes the sheep has been given to the shepherd. Shepherds were not often wealthy people.

They didn't own very much and they were often looking after their sheep on land owned by somebody else and a flock that was owned by somebody else. But every so often, the landowner, as a reward for good shepherding, in addition to this kind of small pay they had, they would say, I want to give your sheep this sheep is yours. And Douglas MacMillan says, the moment those words are said, this sheep is yours. The shepherd loves that sheep. The shepherd loves that sheep the most because it has been gifted to him.

Or secondly, sometimes the sheep has been bought at a great price. Macmillan says, usually to improve a flock, you bought expensive sheep. And the very fact that you paid a lot for them meant that you looked after them all the better. Sometimes you would get an hour's sleep at night, sometimes not even that. You spent your days and your nights seeing that these beasts did not stumble into a drain or wander off to somebody else or fall over a cliff.

Why did you spend so much time with them? Because you had paid a great price for them. Sometimes the sheep are gifted to the shepherd, sometimes the shepherd buys the sheep at a great price, or sometimes the sheep have been born into the flock. And macmillan recalls a time where there was a sheep born five miles away on a field. One of his sheep gave birth and the weather was so terrible that new lamb could not survive.

And so he picks up the lamb and he walks five miles back to the farmhouse so that that night he could look after this lamb. And in the morning, when the weather had cleared, he would pick up this lamb again and he would walk five miles back to give this lamb back to its mother, back into the flock. And he says in these talks, he says, it's been over 20 years since I've been a shepherd, but I can tell you where so many of those sheep were born. I remember the stories. And he says, for a shepherd, it's always true that one of those things.

Those things, three things are true. Either the sheep was gifted or the sheep was born at a price, or the sheep was born into the flock. But for the Christian, all of those three things are true. All of those three things are true. Did you hear in our reading, did verse 29 where Jesus says, my sheep have been given to me by my Father.

My sheep have been given to me by my Father. Why does Jesus prize his sheep? Because they are a gift from his Father. We've been learning that the job of the good shepherd is to lay his life down for the sheep. If you belong to Christ, you have been bought at a great price.

Not with perishable things, as one Peter says, but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ himself, a lamb without blemish or defect. And for those who are in Christ is also true that we are born into his flock. We are given his identity. We are given his inheritance coming under his care and belonging to him. The good shepherd knows his sheep.

The good shepherd loves his sheep. The good shepherd lays his life down for the sheep. But did you know? Jesus isn't just the good shepherd. Jesus is the great shepherd.

So the ministry of the good shepherd is to lay his life down for the Sheep, but the ministry of the great shepherd, Hebrews 13, which ends like this. May the God of peace, who, through the blood of the eternal covenant, brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep. Equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him. The good shepherd dies for us, lays down his life for us. The great shepherd is the one that leads us.

This is the Psalm 23, Ministry of the great Shepherd. And Jesus is not only the good shepherd. He is not only the great shepherd, but Jesus is also the chief shepherd. There's another ministry of Jesus that comes later, 1 Peter 5. When the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.

And this is the promise for the Christian, the crown of glory. Not because we did such great things, but because Jesus, the good shepherd, the great shepherd, has. Has completed us, has perfected us, has brought us to that glory.

You see, Jesus guides us between grace, glory, the grace of the cross and the glory of the crown. And he leads us as his sheep. He leads us knowing us as individuals. He knows us as a people who are bought and born and given to Him. He knows our frailties.

He'll guide us as a flock. But he also guides us knowing the individual sins that will drag us away, the hurts we each carry, the dangers we each face, and the calling he has for each of us. And so I ask you again tonight, is he your shepherd? Can you sing tonight? The Lord is my shepherd.

This is our God. What would you withhold from him? And why would you withhold from him? What has he not done to have your trust? We are going to sing about the ministry of the good Shepherd.

We're going to sing Psalm 23, which is the ministry of the great Shepherd. But before we do that, we're going to sing a song that resonates with Psalm 22, Psalm 22 we heard earlier. Ben read it out. I didn't ask him to, but he did, which is about how Jesus went to the cross. It was a song that Jesus sung on the cross.

We're going to sing about how Jesus chose the cross. And then we're going to sing Psalm 23. And then we're going to sing a Psalm 24 song. And Psalm 24 is about the risen and ascended Jesus, who is this King of glory. We're going to sing about the King of glory, who one day will lead us and give us that crown of life, having perfected us in glory.

Let's pray. And then we'll stand and sing.

The Lord is my shepherd, therefore I lack nothing. Lord Jesus, we praise you that you chose the cross. We praise you that you went to the cross willingly, that you chose to be a shepherd and that you love your sheep. And Lord Jesus, we thank you that you call us to belong to you. We thank you that no one can snatch us from your hand.

We thank you that we are secure in you. And, Lord Jesus, I want to pray that you would help us to be able to receive the knowledge of that love in our hearts and our minds. Lord, I pray for those who do not feel loved tonight, that they would know the love of the good shepherd. Lord, I pray for those who do not feel the leading of the great shepherd tonight. Lord, that they would have trust that you are leading them between grace and glory through the darkest path.

Lord Jesus, by your spirit, lift our eyes to what is to come, that we might follow faithfully, that we might not wander as we take advantage of this precious gift of your blood shed for us on the cross. Amen.