Dear Christian friends:

Without doubt the favorite and most treasured psalm is Psalm 23, The Shepherd Psalm. Even non-Christians treasure this Psalm. Also, here in America, where we are not too well acquainted with sheep and sheep herding, it seems to be the favorite psalm.

Yet, I wonder how many of us in our more rational moments and among our non-Christian friends and fellow workers think of ourselves as sheep and Jesus as our Shepherd. While sheep are are docile, cute and loveable, and make good pets, they are vulnerable and very dependent upon their master. It is not our nature to think of ourselves vulnerable and dependent.

In spite of this, our Lord has chosen to liken us, who believe in Him, to sheep. (verse 27) And He does this for some very good reasons. Since today is Good Shepherd Sunday, and since our Lord has chosen to call us His sheep, and since our text tells about this, let us consider the topic:


And as we consider this topic we will want to be concerned with the question: Am I one of Jesus' sheep?

Many are not Jesus' sheep. Even some of those who think themselves to be one of His sheep really are not.

Those people in our text who did not believe in Jesus were not His sheep. Jesus said to them, "Ye are not My sheep." (verse 26)

Sadly, also today many people do not believe in Jesus, that He is the Christ, the Good Shepherd who gave His life for the sheep. Most wouldn't humble themselves to such an extent, and would be highly insulted to be called one of Jesus' sheep. And, as I said before, even we Christians according to our human nature rebel at this name tag. Really now, how many times in your life have you told someone outside of church walls that Jesus was your Shepherd and you were one of His sheep?

In spite of clear, plain, overwhelming evidence many do not believe that Jesus is the Good Shepherd, and yet they claim that God has given them no clear proof.

The people in our text who did not believe in Jesus had the audacity and arrogance to say to Him, "How long dost Thou make us to doubt? If Thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. (verse 24) Jesus answered them. "1 told you; and ye believed not." (verse 25a) Did He ever tell them! Just read John's Gospel, chapters 5-8. Also in this chapter of which our text is a part, He plainly has told them. Listen to Him! "I am the Good Shepherd: the Good Shepherd give His life for the sheep----As the Father knoweth Me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep----Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life that I might take it again. No man taketh 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 commandment have I received of my Father." (verses 11-18)

He not only told them that He was the Christ, He showed them. He says to them, "The works that I do in My Father's name, they bear witness of Me. He changed water to wine at the wedding of Cana; He fed the five thousand by the seashore with five loaves and two fishes. He healed the nobleman's son who was at the point of death. He healed the man at the pool of Bethesda who had been a cripple for 38 years. He gave the man born blind his eyesight, and many more miracles did He in His Father's name.

Indeed, Jesus most plainly had told them and had showed them, and yet they believed not in Him.

Those people today who are not Jesus' sheep have deliberately chosen not to be, in spite of the clearest evidences, and against all reason and logic. The Bible says, "The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." (Psalm 14:1) God has given people plenty of proof in nature and in the Bible.

It is very interesting what Jesus in conclusion says here in our text to those who did not believe in Him: "ye believe not because ye are not of My sheep." (verse 26) Notice, He doesn't say, "Ye believe not because ye are wicked or foolish," although they were that, but He says, "because ye are not of My sheep. Jesus seems to be saying to them, "You couldn't believe in Me even if you wanted to, because My Father hasn't chosen you to be of My sheep."

Some are Jesus' sheep. (verse 27a) We don't know why God chose some people to be Jesus' sheep and not others. It is a mystery. Here Jesus does not tell us why, nor does the Holy Spirit in the whole Bible. But the Bible does tell us that the sheep God chooses He calls, and whom He calls He justifies, and whom He justifies, He glorifies. (Romans 8:28-30)

Jesus here in our text puts it this way: "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. (verses 27-30)

It is only by God's grace and mercy in His Son Jesus Christ that we are Jesus' sheep. We are basically no better than others who are not His sheep. We were just as dead, just as lost, just as blind as they. "Ye who were dead in trespasses and sins hath He quickened, made alive in Christ." (Ephesians 2:8) St. Paul tells us. In Christ we have been made alive. A relationship of love has developed based on the forgiveness of sins between us and God.

Therefore St. Paul could write these most amazing and comforting words to the church at Ephesus: "Grace and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ; according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love: having predestined us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved." (Ephesians 1:2-5)

Since God has lavished such amazing grace on us and continues to do so, what kind of sheep are we to be?

Jesus says, "My sheep hear my voice." (verse 27a) Are we hearing Jesus' voice, the Good News that we are justified by grace alone through faith in His substitutional death and resurrection, without any merit or worthiness on our part? Or are we listening to the voice of strangers and hirelings who preach that man must contribute in one way or another, either by his own good works or at the very least by his non-resisting disposition and faith?

Although we may not be listening too well to the voice of the Good Shepherd, and in fact may often be listening to the voice of strangers, He is still speaking to us through His faithful evangelical messengers and disciples here at church.

We need to become more familiar with the sound of His sweet Gospel voice, so that we can know in a few moments whether it is His voice or the strangers. When my children call me on the telephone, I can tell right away, before they tell me, whether it is Ida or Sarah, Ted or Fred. I know the uniqueness of my children's voices. In the same way we should know the evangelical sound of the Good Shepherd's voice. Jesus says, "When He putteth forth His sheep, He goeth before them, and the sheep follow Him for they know His voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not his voice." (verses 4-5)

Jesus says that His sheep follow Him. (verse 27b) Are we really following Jesus out of a cheerful, thankful heart, obeying His call to loving service? Who are we following? Who are our models and heroes? The stars in our videos and movies? The Iaacoas and the Boeskys of the obscene business community? The Reagans and Bushes of the sleazy political scene? Do we have any Christian leaders, pastors, missionaries or teachers as our heroes? Perhaps those of us who are baseball fans have Orel Hershiser as our hero. At least he is a start. Why don't we follow somebody worth following?

Although we may not have been following our Good Shepherd too well, and even straying away a good deal of the time, He is still leading us and finding us, even when He must drag us kicking and screaming and carry us. The fact that we are here today is evidence of that.

Jesus says that He gives His sheep eternal life. (verse 28a) Do we show we have he gift of eternal life? Are we new creatures in Christ? Have the old things passed away? Are we living for Jesus a life that is true, trying to please Him in all that we do?

Jesus says that the stranger comes only to steal, kill and destroy the sheep, but that He is come so that the sheep may have life, and have it more abundantly. (verse 10)

Although we frequently walk around like spiritual zombies, as if we have no life at all, Jesus keeps coming to us with the Word of Life, challenging our dry bones to arise from death and really live. He says through His messengers as St. Paul said to the Ephesians, "Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead; and Christ shall give you life." (Ephesians 5:14)

In spite of our frequent doubts, misgivings and misdeeds and our total unworthiness, Jesus is the faithful Shepherd and Bishop of our souls, and we are His precious and beloved sheep. This He guarantees to us when says, "My Sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life: and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." (verses 27-28)

Amen.