The sermon by Scott Brown, titled 'Beautiful Shepherd', explores John 10:11-21 where Jesus declares Himself as the Good Shepherd. It outlines the distinct characteristics of Jesus as a shepherd who willingly sacrifices His life for His sheep, contrasting Him with hirelings who lack genuine care. The sermon emphasizes Jesus' deep knowledge and love for His sheep and His mission to unite and expand His flock beyond the Jewish community. The Good Shepherd is described as having a beautiful nature, being life-giving, caring, knowing, and sovereign. Jesus is also portrayed as a substitutionary shepherd, laying down His life for His sheep, and a missionary shepherd, bringing others into His fold. The sermon highlights Jesus' role as a representative and mediatorial shepherd, bridging the relationship between God and humanity. Despite being divisive, as seen in the mixed reactions to His teachings, Jesus is ultimately a unifying shepherd, ensuring one flock under one shepherd.

Text before us is John 10 verses 11 through 21. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep, 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. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep.

I am the Good Shepherd, and I know my sheep, and am known by my own. As the Father knows me, even so I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. 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. 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." Therefore, there was a division again among the Jews because of these sayings. And many of them said, he has a demon and is mad. Why do you listen to him? Others said, these are not the words of one who has a demon.

Can a demon open the eyes of the blind? Let's pray. Father, we do have a great privilege this morning of looking into your word, of being fed by your words, being nourished and taught. Lord, help us to count it a privilege. And help us to be touched straight to our hearts, to be encouraged and strengthened by the truth that you are a shepherd, that you lead us in and out, find green pastures, Lord, the blessings that come from knowing you are abundant and great and abound of full.

And Lord, we ask that this morning you would speak to us, that you would empower Scott to bring your words, Lord, that you would strengthen him and fill him with your spirit. We thank you for the many sheep you have all over this globe that worship you and love you and cherish you. Lord, not just here, not just here in this building, but all over In every country, we thank you that you are still calling, still bringing sheep into the fold. And we praise you for your faithfulness for that. We ask that you would continue to draw and help us to be a part of that work, even as we'll be reminded tonight regarding Turkey.

Lord, help us to count it a privilege to work for you. Be with us this morning, we pray in Christ's name, amen. May be seated. It really is a joy to open up this passage of Scripture and to have Jesus Himself tell us what kind of shepherd He is. Now this chapter, John 10, takes us to the heart of Christianity, And maybe that's why John 10 is one of the most favorite passages of Scripture.

For a lot of people, that may be second only to the 23rd Psalm, but the heart of Christianity is the sending and the dying of the Lord Jesus, who's the Good Shepherd of the sheep. And John tells us here through the words of Jesus himself exactly what kind of shepherd he is. Now we always have to remember the context of this passage of Scripture. We hear these words, I am the Good Shepherd, and we have these marvelous thoughts of these green hills and pastures, and it's just such a peaceful thing. Well, that's not the context of this passage.

The Pharisees want to kill them, they've already tried at least twice. And when we get to the end of John 10, they're going to pick up stones. So Jesus speaks some of the most comforting words that you'll ever hear in the most threatening circumstance you can imagine. The Lord Jesus Christ is such a good shepherd and He's so marvelous in all of His ways. And He's telling these people that they might desire to take his life, but but they can't take it He will lay it down on his own.

He has the power to lay it down and he has the power to take it up Himself and and so, you know in this section we find ourselves really concluding this conversation with the Pharisees. There are at least three broad categories of instruction here that Jesus brings to us about the Good Shepherd. And the first is that He's a shepherd who dies willingly for His sheep. And secondly, that He's a shepherd who knows and loves His sheep. And thirdly, He's a shepherd who expands and He unites his sheep.

Well, those are broad categories, but there is such a rich density of doctrine in this passage of Scripture, and I'd like to try to play that out as we go through it. And really, Jesus is telling us about himself. These are his words. He's he's instructing us from his own mouth About who he is and what kind of shepherd he really is in some ways You know like we read in Isaiah 40 behold your God in the song that we sang earlier here, Jesus is saying, behold, your shepherd. This is who I am.

And of course, this context is that Jesus is exposing it and he's condemning the Pharisees as false shepherds. And the whole chapter is about true and false shepherds and Jesus is Is making his case for what is a false shepherd? He's pointing his finger in the face of the Pharisees and saying you're false shepherds He's saying you will die in your sins. That's what He has said already and this is a continuation of a discussion that began way back in John chapter 8 With the woman caught in adultery the Pharisees were trying to catch him They were disingenuous and they brought this woman And they all walked away because it was a fake deal. They didn't have any witnesses, and they just walked away.

Jesus was exposing them. Right after that, Jesus says, I am the light of the world. He was exposing them. And then you get to chapter 9, and Jesus opens the eyes of a blind man on the Sabbath day. He's saying the same thing, I am the light of the world and I am a good shepherd who leads his sheep.

And then in chapter 10, he's the one who leads his sheep in and out. He calls them by name and he shows them the way in which they should go. So that's the whole context that we we find here and it's it's it's a long and protracted extended conversation or debate of conflict with the Pharisees. So we have to understand where the, what this thing exists in the midst of this beautiful imagery of the Good Shepherd. So with this section, we complete the allegory of the Good Shepherd.

It's hard to leave it. Maybe we won't, but it's, at least today, we're going to get to the end of this passage. And we've already heard that sheeps hear the voice of their shepherd and they follow him. Some of the most beautiful words, I haven't been able to get them out of my mind lately. My sheep hear my voice, and they follow me.

It's an amazing thing. And that's what he's speaking of here. They follow Him. And now in verse 11, we get an explanation of what this means. He's a good shepherd because He describes in great detail what kind of shepherd He is, What kind of a good shepherd he is, you'll see his goodness.

I've really been thankful to be able to just repeat these things and stop word by word in this passage of Scripture. And now I want you to have your Bibles open. You're going to need to look at the words because I'm going to take this in many of these clauses phrase by phrase, word by word, and I want you to see the words as we go through. So have your Bibles open. I was telling Claudia and Deborah this morning that You can preach this passage a lot like you can preach the 23rd Psalm, you know, the Lord.

And then you talk about that. Is, and you talk about that. My, he's my shepherd. And you talk about that for a long time. And then you say, he's a shepherd.

And then, anyway, you get the idea. Well, that's what we're going to do with this passage of scripture. So please have your Bibles open to stop. Now, I'm going to tip you off. I'm going to give you 15 categories of just the goodness of this shepherd.

And I want to list them before we settle in on them one by one in the exposition. I'll tell them now and then we'll take them individually. First of all, he's a beautiful shepherd, as in verse 11. Second, he's a life-giving shepherd. Third, he's a caring shepherd.

Fourth, he's a knowing shepherd. Fifth, he's a known shepherd. Sixth, he's a representative shepherd. Seventh, he's a mediatorial shepherd. Eighth, he's a sovereign shepherd.

Ninth, he's a substitutionary shepherd. Number ten, he's a missionary shepherd. Number eleven, He is a foreknowing shepherd. Number 12, He's a persistent shepherd. Number 13, He's a unifying shepherd.

Number 14, He's a divisive shepherd. And number 15, he's a beautiful shepherd. He is a good shepherd. So, 15 ways he's a good shepherd. So, are you ready?

Are you ready to roll here? Have your eyes on the text. The first is that he is, He is a beautiful shepherd. He says, I am the shepherd, the good one. That's literally how it appears in the original language.

The shepherd, the good one. Now there are two words for good in the Greek language, and one is a word for moral goodness. But that's not the word that Jesus uses here. Moral, he's, that word of moral goodness speaks of moral purity, but Jesus uses a different word and it's a word for beautiful. It's a word for excellent.

It's a word like marvelous, excellent, beautiful. You can add those kinds of words. It's not a moral category. It's actually a category of being. And he is that kind of shepherd.

He's a beautiful shepherd. Now The first animal that you encounter in the Bible is a sheep in Genesis. And God gives hundreds of illustrations to help us understand him. And he gives us this language of a beautiful shepherd who has his sheep. And you know, this of course is one of the great I Am statements, the Tetragrammaton.

The Tetragrammaton in Hebrew, it means consisting of four characters, four letters, Yahweh, YHWH, that's the Tetragrammaton. And the Lord Jesus Christ is saying, I am, and in Greek it's ego eme, it appears 24 times in the gospel of John, but the first time was I am the bread of life, and then he said I am the light of the world, and here he's saying I am the good shepherd, and he's declaring who he is, he's the beautiful shepherd. And you know, God is so kind to us that he gives us so many illustrations of how good he is you know he he speaks of doors and green grass and bread and fountain and stars and water and branches and light and rocks and stream and sand of the sea and waves and storms and fields and cliffs and stones and locusts and honey, all kinds of things like that. Just to help us to understand how beautiful is he? Well he's beautiful in every way.

You can't even count the ways of his beauty. And so he gives us this image of sheep and shepherd just to help us Grass this one element now if you don't understand the concept of a lamb and a Shepherd and sacrifice then you can't really understand the whole message of the Bible Because the whole message of the Bible because the whole message of the Bible really rests on a suffering servant, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. In Exodus chapter 12, for the sacrifice of sin you must have brought a lamb without blemish." And that really begins the discussion of substitutionary atonement in the Old Testament. In Isaiah chapter 53, we read of the same suffering servant. He's a lamb led to slaughter.

In 1 Peter chapter 1, Peter says, knowing that we were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." Well, that's why the Gospel of John begins with John telling us about John the Baptist, who sees Jesus, and you remember what he said, he said, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. So you can't understand Christianity unless you understand a lamb and a shepherd and and a sacrifice So he's a beautiful shepherd Secondly, he's a life-giving shepherd the good shepherd gives his life see the word life he gives his life for the sheep. He did not come to particularly bring a brand new, more genteel, more palatable morality. He came to give his life. He gives life.

He doesn't primarily bring a morality, though he does bring it. He primarily brings life that creates morale, a certain morality in your life. And notice he gives his life for the sheep. We'll get to that again. He's a substitutionary shepherd.

He's will deal with that in a little bit more depth later, but he takes the place of the sheep he gives his life for the sheep that word for is critical he stands in the place of the sheep this is not universalism he gives his life for the sheep not for the goats not for the angels he doesn't give his life for extra-terrestrial beings in UFOs he gives his life for the sheep just for the sheep and that's why Jesus John says of him in him was life and the life was the light of men. He's a life-giving sheep. Now this phrase, gives his life for the sheep, is the first of five references of this in this text. Now, this is repeated over and over again. But in verse 15, he says, I lay down my life for the sheep.

It's the very same thing as giving life. In verse 17 he says, therefore the Father loves me because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. In verse 18, no one takes it from me but I lay it down of myself and then he says I have the power to lay it down and I have the power to take it up again So this idea of laying his life down For the sheep his life is laid down and his life is poured out into a sheep. That's the idea He's a life-giving shepherd And his death is voluntary He laid it down pilot couldn't kill him The Jews could not apprehend him until it was his time. They came to arrest him in the Garden of Gethsemane, And Jesus said to His disciples who wanted to fight, He said, put your sword back in its place.

If I want to, I can call 12 legions of angels down. He wasn't going to, He was not dependent upon any man. He was going to do what he was ordained to do and what he has chosen to do according to the will of his father but he laid his life down which is why John later on in first John he says greater love has no one than this then he lay down his life for his friends you are my friends so he is a life-giving sheep, a life-giving shepherd. And then Jesus here draws a contrast between his kind of shepherding and another kind of shepherding. And he speaks of a hireling, verses 12 and 13.

And with this, He declares himself to be a caring shepherd. He actually cares about the sheep. But the hireling doesn't really care about the sheep. That's the contrast. But he's saying that he cares.

They don't. Verse 12, but a hireling 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. The hireling flees because he's a hireling and does not care about the sheep. So you have these characters.

You have the wolf is out there somewhere. There's a hireling. A guy's hired to take care of the sheep and you have the sheep. And you know, Jesus has already spoken about thieves and robbers telling the Pharisees that's who they are. Now He's telling them they're just hirelings.

They don't really care about the sheep, and when the wolf comes, they're going to run. That's really the basic idea. And a hireling is, he's in it for the money. He likes the job. He likes the work.

He likes the position. You know, maybe he has the skills to do the work he has you know the intellectual capacities to make distinctions and communicate things often you find very good communicators just higher links They're so good at what they do but they don't really care about the sheep. That's what he's talking about here. You've seen this, you're gonna see this forever. You find remarkably gifted men, they're able to do things but they don't really care about the sheep.

And that's what he's talking about. They may understand the doctrine, they can explain the nuances of doctrine and be remarkably clear in their communication. It doesn't matter because they don't really care about the sheep. And now there are dramatic illustrations of this in the Bible. Jeremiah 23 and Ezekiel 34 are two of the most prominent.

For the sake of time, I would just like to encourage you to read Ezekiel 34. The first ten verses speak of the hireling kind of shepherd, their false shepherds. And the Lord takes an oath against them. He says they don't really feed the flocks. They just clothe themselves and feed themselves.

They really just care about themselves. And when someone is broken, they don't really care. They don't go after them. And they don't look for them. Even if they're driven away, they don't look for them.

So the force of this is that these hirelings, they don't own the sheep. So to them, they just, they come and they go, and when the wolves come, they don't really care that much. You know, Jesus warns of false prophets that come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves in Matthew chapter 7 verse 15. And this is the picture of that. A wolf comes in but the hireling doesn't care.

A wolf is someone who is going to be forcefully brutal to the flock, a person who will hurt the flock. And the Apostle Paul Gathered the elders of the Church of Ephesus in My letus and he told them that wolves would rise from among them in other words They would appoint men as elders and they would turn out to be wolves. He promised that would happen. We shouldn't surprise us when it happens, it's going to happen. It's always tragic and hard and incredibly painful when that happens.

But the wolves have to be ejected somehow. And here, Jesus says, No, I care about the sheep. He cares about the sheep. He cares about every one of his sheep. He cares about everything you're going through.

He cares about what feelings you have. He cares about what? Sorrows you are experiencing he cares about what burdens he cares about your fears He cares about everything even your wants and he says He says ask anything in my name. You know, he cares about you. And that's what he does.

He has a tender heart toward his sheep. And if you're one of his sheep, just know that he cares, he cares about everything in your life. He's also a knowing shepherd. This is in verse 14, the first phrase in verse 14. I am the good shepherd.

I know my sheep. I know. Focus on those words. This is his omniscience. This is the omniscience of Jesus Christ, and he knows every one of his sheep perfectly.

He knows their names, he knows what they're thinking, He knows where they are. David said He knows your steps before you take them. He knows your thoughts before you even have them. He knows. He knows everything about every one of His sheep.

I don't know how many sheep Jesus has in the world. Is it a hundred million or a billion? No one knows. Jesus knows every single detail of every one of His sheep. He doesn't know your name, just know your name.

He knows everything. He is omniscient. Now, Jesus knows the sheep, and he uses a very graphic word. Remember, these are Jesus' words he's using, and he uses the word that speaks of experiential knowledge. He knows by experience, he experiences with his sheep.

He's a compassionate and faithful high priest. He feels the pains of his sheep Because He's been tempted in every way, His sheep have been tempted, He knows. And so their vocations, their families, their joys, everything, He knows their faces and their situations. He doesn't need facial recognition to know who it is. He knows everyone.

This is also, this is particular redemption. He saves particular ones. He does not save everyone. He saves a particular group of people that he calls sheep. You know, to be known by Jesus is without question the most important wonderful thing in the world and that he does not know you should be the most terrifying thing.

Jesus talked about this in the Sermon on the Mount, and He said, Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, perform many wonders in Your name? And then Jesus says to them, I never knew you. I never knew you. That's the most terrifying thing you can ever hear. He's a knowing shepherd.

Fifth, He is a known shepherd. He's a known shepherd. That's verse 15, the second phrase, and am known by my own." So the sheep can know the shepherd, which for sheep is the most delightful thing that one can have. The knowledge of God is the most wonderful thing that a soul can have. You know, Jeremiah the prophet, he spoke of it in Jeremiah 9.

He said, Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, Or the strong man boast of his strength, or the rich man boast of his riches. But let him who boasts, boast about this, that he understands and he knows me." You know, my father quotes that all the time around our house. To know Him is a matter of personal relationship. It is a direct acquaintance with a person. It's more than just knowing about him.

That's easy. You can know about him. You can create a catalog of language about Him, but that's not the same thing as knowing Him. When you, and here's one way you know, when you know about Him, when you know what you know about Him, the details of that, You love that. You love that because you love Him.

It's another way of saying, you know what David said in Psalm 34, taste and see that the Lord is good. Know Him. Jesus in John 17, when we get to it, we'll read His words when he said, this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God. You know, to know Him is to find the ointment for every wound you've ever had. To know Him is to find the answer to every question about what you should do.

Even right now, God has given His Word to shine a light on every situation. What to say, what to do. It's all found in His Word. And you know Him through His Word. All of the refreshment you desire is in knowing Him.

All of the hope that you hope for is in Him. He's a known shepherd. You can know Him. And then he's a representative shepherd number six. He's a representative shepherd verse 15 as the father knows me Even so I know the father So he knows the sheep, he's known by the sheep, and now he says, the Father knows me, and I know the Father.

The Father knows the shepherd. The father knows the shepherd and In in the father's knowledge of the shepherd and the the shepherds knowledge of the father Is all the wisdom and the power and the beauty of the Godhead mediated through the Son Every every thing that is of God the Father is communicated through the Son because he knows his Son and his Son knows him. He has experiential knowledge of his Son and his Son has experiential knowledge of God the Father and he takes those that experience and he causes his children to experience it That's the chain of logic that John or that Jesus is bringing To us here and me, you know many things have been written about this thomas shepherd one of the english puritans thomas goodwin one of the english puritans wrote a sermon called christ's beautiful heart Christ's beautiful heart. I have a friend of mine who was after many years was leaving his church and he preached the sermon out of Thomas Goodwin's sermon, Christ's Beautiful Heart for his sheep. And what he says there is that In Christ's beautiful heart, he got it from his father.

That's the whole idea that our troubles and our sins Stir up Christ's compassion. I'm quoting. He knows our frame And since he was tempted as we were he has compassion. He owns the sheep. He loves them to the end and The disciples fled from him abandoning him sinning against him in Jesus first words were peace be to you and what Thomas Goodwin is saying is that that Jesus Christ is the communicator of God's beautiful heart and therefore He's a representative shepherd.

He's a representative of God the Father. He's God is the Father of mercies and that's why you see so much mercy in Jesus Christ. Goodwin says in his sermon that that Christ's compassion is the great should be the greatest motivation for us to flee from all worldliness You know he's loved by his father For his obedience. He says this command I received from my father the father commanded him to lay down his life and he did this is The mutual love of the father and the son when you have mutual love you have obedience You know, This is why disobedience in a child is so harmful because it means that mutual love is broken...one side of the mutual love is broken down. But in the Father and the Son, there was mutual love and there was obedience in the Son.

In Christ's incarnation, He was obedient to His Father. This is the submission of Jesus Christ in His incarnation. And the Son obeys willingly. He does it on His own. He loved the church and He gave Himself up for her because His Father actually commanded Him to do such a thing.

He is a representative shepherd. He is a shepherd like God the Father. Later we'll read in this chapter, I and the Father are one. So He's a representative shepherd. Jesus is said in Psalm 40 verse 8, I delight to do Your will.

And so He's actually representing the will of the Father in His work. And so the incarnation of Jesus will brings us to the doctrine of the subordination of the Son in His incarnation. And this fellowship of the Father and the Son is also designed to be experienced in the church. Jesus said it like this, I in them and thou in me that they may be one. It's all, we're all mixed up together.

The Father's relationship with the Son is experienced by us and we experience a relationship with the Son and with the Father at the same time and with one another. So you have all of these things happening at one time when you're with other believers. It's the most amazing thing. It's supernatural fellowship. But fellowship in the Bible isn't just having a great time eating together.

It is this multi-layered, you know, multi-experiential thing where you have the Father and the Son and a sheep and all the sheep gathered together at one time. That's fellowship. Another way he's a good shepherd, he's a mediatorial shepherd. Verse 15, This speaks of the mediatorial role of Jesus Christ. Now Jesus is the only mediator between God and man.

There are no other mediators. This completely refutes the Roman Catholic Church that says there are many mediators. There is only one mediator. You only you only need one verse of the Bible To refute the Roman Catholic proposition. There's one mediator.

There's only one and If you say there's more than one you believe in a false God You don't believe in the Jesus of the Bible. You have another Jesus. You have been bewitched to believe another gospel Because there's just one mediator between God and man. Verse 15, as the Father knows me even so, I know the Father. This is the basis of the mediatorial role of Jesus Christ.

A mediator stands between two properties so that they can be made at peace, and his role is an advocate. His knowledge of the Father is the basis of his mediatorial role. Number eight, he's a sovereign shepherd. There are just two words I want you to focus on in verse 15. I lay down, just I lay, I.

He is sovereign. I lay down my life for the sheep. He lays it, he lays it down. No one takes it from him. His life was not taken.

He gave it up voluntarily. He said in other places, my time has not yet come because he is sovereign over time and everything that has happened to him and to every person in the world. He is a sovereign shepherd. Number nine, he's a substitutionary shepherd. Verse 15 at the end, I lay down my life for the sheep again we have this Communicated again for the sheep and this communicates the doctrine of the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ He He laid down His life as a sacrifice in our place.

He obeyed every law of God. We broke every law of God. And He is our substitute. He is the one who has taken all the punishment that we deserve for our sins. Past, present, and future.

This is why the Apostle Paul said, I determined to know nothing among you but Christ and Him crucified Because without the substitutionary atonement of Jesus, all we're left with is moralism. All we're left with is shining your life up and getting a better life, becoming a better person, rising to the pinnacle of your capability. That's all you get. Now, I don't know about you, but that doesn't sound like all that much capability to me. Another way he's a beautiful shepherd, he's a missionary shepherd.

Verse 16, I had and other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring and they will hear my voice. With these words, the Lord Jesus is explaining an element of the Great Commission, that He is gathering and expanding the number of sheep in his fold. He has sheep that are not yet in the fold, but will be, and other sheep I have which are not of this fold. There are others who will be cared for. There are others who will hear His voice.

And He's saying that the gospel is not just for the Jews, it's for the whole world. It's for Muslims and Hindus and atheists and all other religions in the world. For social liberals and conservatives, you know, there are more that will be brought in from all the different religions of the world and philosophical perspectives that are actually people's religions. The Bible speaks very much about this, you know, we're getting ready to send missionaries to Turkey at the end of the year and the Lord really is blessing that you know these directions and I'm so grateful to see that. But this is what Jesus is talking about.

I have other sheep that are not in my fold. If you turn to Isaiah chapter 54, you'll see a prophecy of this very statement. This, I believe, is a commentary on Isaiah 54, what Jesus says right here, I have other sheep, Not of this fold. In Isaiah 54 verse 1 he says, he says, sing, O barren one. He's talking about the church, barren, not producing disciples.

Sing, O barren one, break forth in singing. Why? Because you're going to multiply. And he's speaking of the church that has been barren. And then in verse 2 he says, enlarge the place of your tent.

Let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings. Do not spare. Lengthen the cords and strengthen your stakes." He's telling the church to enlarge the territory of the tent because there should be an expectation that more people will be under the tent. Expand the tent. And we have this positive command to go out and expand to spread the gospel.

And you know, how are we expanding the tent? We have to ask ourselves that as a church. How are we lengthening the cords? And it means that we expand into more and more territory. And we need to trust the Lord that He is expanding the tents.

This is a promise of God that He is expanding. And are we ready? Are we enlarging? Are we expecting a harvest? Here he says, do not spare.

In other words, don't restrain yourself. Don't restrain yourself in the work of the kingdom. Don't spare. Be generous. Know it's coming and fund it and spread out the tents.

That's really the whole idea. Don't worry about where you're gonna get your food or your clothing. Focus on the kingdom of God and the increase that's there. You know, why are you restraining yourself? You know, Where are you sparing?

That's what Isaiah is saying to the Old Testament church, prophesying about this situation that Jesus is speaking of. Lengthen your cords. Strengthen your stakes. Don't think that spending the money on the work of God will make you poor. It won't.

It'll make you rich. Expand the tent. Make it larger. You know, broaden, strengthen. He says, for you shall expand to the right and to the left, and your descendants will inherit the nations and make the desolate cities inhabited.

Well, there's desolation everywhere. You know, in our country, you know, it's very desolate in the northeast. It's very desolate in the northwest It's very desolate in different places. It's it's it's desolate in the Middle East and in Europe and Africa. It's desolate everywhere And what are we supposed to do?

Well, we expand the tents. You see the deadness and you bring life to those places. And then in verse 4 he says, Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed, neither be disgraced, For you will not be put to shame, you will forget your shame of your youth and not remember your reproach." Well, it's time to expand. That's the whole issue that Jesus is speaking of, that Isaiah has spoken of before. Notice that Jesus isn't just hoping for more sheep.

He has more sheep. He says, them I must bring. I have them and I'm going to bring them. They're there. They've been chosen from before the foundation of the world.

They're there. Go find them. That's the message that Jesus is bringing. Number 11, He's a foreknowing sheep. I'm sorry, He's a foreknowing shepherd.

Verse 16, He says, I have, not I will have, not that, I have. This is divine foreknowledge. God does not look down the tunnel of history and then realize that people have come. No, He foreknows. He's a foreknowing shepherd.

You know, this was his mission from the very beginning. You shall call him Jesus and he will save his people from their sins. He knows that he will save some. He's a foreknowing shepherd with a predetermined plan. You know, everything that happened to Jesus had nothing to do with getting caught in the crossfire of history with the political and religious movements, had nothing to do with that.

It was because He was ordained to be the Savior of the world, that's why. And he was a foreknowing shepherd. Number 12, he's a persistent shepherd. He says, and there will be one flock and one shepherd. Now he's declaring His absolute unbreakable resolve, the necessity, the mandatory persistence, he says, there will be one flock and one shepherd.

That's a promise. Anybody who's involved in the Great Commission is winning because God has already declared that he will win. He has won actually. You know, we're not wringing our hands to know whether God's going to win this. No, He has already said it.

There will be one flock and one shepherd. And then number 13, he's a unifying shepherd. One flock and one shepherd. That's what he's doing. One flock and one shepherd.

That's the language of unity. You know, Christian unity is not something that man achieves, it's something that Jesus accomplishes in the hearts of people. This kind of unity is not based on your different perspectives on things. This kind of unity is not based on whether you're a paedobaptist or a credobaptist. Our unity is based on Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone and his death and his resurrection and everything that he has said.

It is his word that is the unifying factor. We have difficulty understanding exactly how to interpret everything in his word. So we have different opinions, but that's not the kind of unity he's talking about here. He's talking about the bond of unity that you have with every true believer in the world. And they might have different perspectives, they might be in different places, but there is a unity that only Jesus Christ accomplishes.

The fourteenth way, He's a divisive shepherd. Verse 19, He's a divisive shepherd, therefore there was a division again among the Jews because of these sayings. And many of them said, He has a demon and is mad. Why do you listen to Him? Jesus said already that He didn't come to bring peace but a sword in Matthew chapter 10 he already said the Bible says that the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God the world will always be divided over Jesus and his identity Jesus has already told everyone that he is God that he came from heaven that there's only one way to have your sins forgiven, there's only one way to heaven, that he and the Father are one, that he was sent from the Father.

Now either Jesus was who he said he was or he was crazy. There are no other alternatives. You cannot listen to what Jesus said and stand in the middle. You have to decide who He is. And He's divisive.

Some people will say that following Jesus' madness, they'll say that He's not God. They'll say that His moral structure is too much of a stricture, It's too restricting on you. But don't think that some strange thing is happening if you encounter resistance over what the Bible says about Jesus. The best thing you can do for the people in this world is say that Jesus was sent from God. He's the Son of God.

He's the Savior of the world. That's the most divisive thing you can say because you're saying there's only one God and His Son is Jesus Christ. That is the matter upon which the world is divided. And the world must be divided. And it will finally be completely divided at the end of the age in Matthew 25 when he separates the sheep from the goats.

And then number 15. He is a good shepherd. Look at verse 21, others said, remember some said he has a demon, so we're contrasting those who said he has a demon, Now others didn't think that way at all. There were others that didn't think He had a demon or was a demon. Others said, These are not the words of one who has a demon.

Can a demon open the eyes of the blind? He's a good shepherd, not a demon. He is a good spirit, not an evil spirit. The devil comes to kill and steal and destroy. The good shepherd comes that you might have life and you might have it more abundantly.

He's good. He is so good. He is a good, not an evil shepherd. He is a holy shepherd, not an unholy demon. These are not the words of one who has a demon.

He's a life-giving spirit. He's an edifying spirit. He's a caring spirit. He's a beautiful shepherd. He's a life-giving shepherd.

He's a caring shepherd. He's a knowing shepherd. He's known shepherd. He is a representative shepherd. He is a mediatorial shepherd.

He's a sovereign shepherd. He's a substitutionary shepherd. He's a missionary shepherd. He's a foreknowing shepherd. He's a persistent shepherd.

He's unifying shepherd. He is a divisive shepherd. And He is a really good shepherd. This is the one that we celebrate today on the Sabbath day. This is the one that's drawn us together.

What a blessing it is to have such a good shepherd. Would you pray with me? Oh Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer, precious Savior of my ruined life, oh Lord, how kind You are to come and call your sheep by name and they follow you. Lord, we pray that you would just give us such a sense of rejoicing and happiness and all that you've done, all these things that you've done as such a good shepherd, where would we be without you? Amen.