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Mark Thompson: Good morning! Good to see you this morning. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we pray that you might take from our minds those distractions that might keep us from hearing your word.

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We pray that you might prepare our hearts, that we might not only hear your voice, but cherish it, believe it, and obey it. And all of this we ask of you for the glory and in the name of Jesus. Amen. Well, of all the very many extraordinary and enlightening things that Jesus said about himself during his earthly ministry, the words we will read in just a minute, surely must stand out.

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I'm glad we have so many different self descriptions by Jesus. Jesus described himself as the light of the world, the one who shines light into the darkness, the darkness of the world, and the darkness of my own heart. Jesus described himself as the bread of life, the one who nourishes life, the one I depend on to survive. And the living water.

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The one who quenches our deepest and longest lasting thirst. The son of man who executes the great eternal purposes of God, the Lord of the Sabbath, the resurrection, and the life, and all the others. And we need to know that Jesus is the powerful sovereign saviour. As we walk through our own lives with all its twists and turns and ups and downs, and as we navigate our way in the world where darkness and corruption and self-interest and hardheartedness are just too commonplace to be reminded that Jesus

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is never defeated, always triumphant, not in the slightest bit anaemic or weak, is something that we regularly need. He is no pushover. He is no powerless victim of circumstances or even determined opposition. He cannot be fooled and he cannot be sidelined.

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One day every knee will bow. And aren't you glad that all of those things are true about Jesus? But of all Jesus' self descriptions, the words we're about to read have most often captured the hearts of his people. There is tremendous comfort in these words that has lifted Christians in every age understand these words of Jesus, and you'll get to the heart of who Jesus is and how he is towards us.

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The heart of the gospel. They are deeply moving words. It's definitely worth lingering on them this morning and letting them really soak in. So turn with me if you haven't already, to John chapter 10.

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And verse 11, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep, the hired hand, who's not the shepherd whose own sheep. These are not, sees the wolf coming and abandons the sheep and fleas, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them because he is a hired hand and he does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd.

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I know my own and my own know me. Just as the father knows me and I know the father and I lay down my life for the sheep and I have other sheep which are not of this sheep pen, I must gather them two and they will hear my voice and there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason, the father loves me because I lay down my life in order that I may receive it again. No one takes it from me.

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But I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to receive it. Again, this command I received from my father. Again, there was a division among the Jews because of these words.

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Many of them said he has a demon and is mad. Why are you still listening to him? Others said, these are not the words of someone possessed by a demon. A demon is not able to open the eyes of the blind, is he?

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Well, before we go much further, we should notice the very last line, the question with the obvious answer. No. A demon is not able to open the eyes of the blind. Is he?

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Because that question reminds us that the words of this chapter stand in front of the actions of the previous chapter. Jesus had healed a man born blind on the Sabbath, and the Jewish leaders were furious. The contrast between Jesus' compassion on this man and the harsh treatment that he received from the Jewish leaders is still in the background. They didn't care.

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He didn't matter to them. They did not want to have to deal with him. And we really don't have to wonder who the hired hands are that Jesus speaks about, but the words of Jesus in this part of the chapter say much more about him than about the hired hands. And what they say is wonderful.

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I am the good shepherd. It's a natural transition from talking about himself as the gate of the sheep, the shore, and certain entrance into the safety of the sheep pin. He's more than that. He's the shepherd.

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He's the good shepherd, and it's one of the most comforting images you could imagine. The shepherd who is thoroughly and completely committed to the welfare of his sheep, their protector with enough strength to deal with any predator, their guide who will lead them to the nourishment that they need. The one who, according to the passage we looked at last time, calls his own sheep by name. He is strong enough and wise enough and committed enough to ensure the sheep are safe and the sheep are growing.

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He stands, of course, in contrast to the hired hand who is willing to look after someone else's sheep for a price, but who doesn't really care for the sheep? They're just sheep, dumb, smelly animals. Really nothing to get sentimental about. It's a job that's all.

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And the test comes when there's a real threat and the hired hand is out of the gate. Before you can say leg of lamb. It's just a job not worth getting yourself injured over or worse, not worth being inconvenienced for. Like the wicked shepherds of Ezekiel 34 who were preoccupied with their own gain rather than the safety and nourishment to the sheep.

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And everyone who heard Jesus' words that day would have known how wrong that was. It becomes pretty obvious very quickly that they are not really shepherds. Not like David in the Old Testament who told King Saul about his own adventures as a shepherd in preparation for fighting Goliath. In one Samuel 17, David said.

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Your servant O king used to keep sheep for his father, and when there came a lion or a bear and he took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth and he rose against me. I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine will be just like one of them. Now that's the kinda shepherd that you're meant to have.

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The persistent, powerful protector who doesn't flee. He fights. And that saying, David was the one who wrote a psalm to talk about God as shepherd. You might remember, the Lord is my shepherd.

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I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me besides still waters. He restores my soul.

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He leads me in paths of righteousness for his namesake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For you are with me and your rod and your staff. They comfort me.

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It's a picture that keeps being repeated through the Old Testament, the prophet Isaiah, speaking of the deliverance that God will bring through. And after judgement wrote. Behold the Lord comes with might and his arm rules for him. Behold, his reward is with him and his recompense before him.

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He will tend his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arms. He will carry them in his bosom and gently lead those that are with young. Such a different picture from an Australian sheep station with helicopters, dogs, trucks, distance, mechanised drenching, and all the rest.

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Too many sheep to know them by name. The promise of Isaiah is he will gather the lambs in his arms. He will carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead those that are with young.

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You see, there's a massive double backdrop to the words of Jesus we hear this morning. The monstrous, callous treatment of the blind man by the religious leaders who are self interested and don't care for the sheep. Certainly not willing to risk anything for the welfare of the sheep, the hired hands in their conflict with Jesus. And the Old Testament search for a shepherd who is not afraid to face the predators and to seek the safety and welfare of the sheep above everything.

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And it's against that double backdrop, the reality of what's right in front of them with the treatment of the blind man and the hope generated by the Old Testament scriptures that Jesus says, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. It's a powerful picture when you see it Against that backdrop, I don't have to tell you that the message of this passage is not Be a good shepherd. Make sure you care for the sheep entrusted to you.

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Be self-sacrificial in your care for them. That's not a bad message to hear and to teach, but it's not the message of this passage. This passage puts before us the extraordinary goodness of Jesus. The good shepherd come from the Father with a terrifying mission to lay down his life for the sheep death and resurrection.

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Not in the first instance, the model shepherd. The sovereignly saving shepherd. And this morning we need to be captured all over again by how wonderful he really is. So with me, I hope you'll see and delight in the truth that Jesus, the good shepherd, knows his own.

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And Jesus the good shepherd, lays down his life for his own. And Jesus the good shepherd gathers his own. So firstly, Jesus, the good shepherd knows his own. Have you forgotten how?

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Absolutely brilliant that is. If you belong to Jesus, you are not just part of a nameless crowd to him. He knows you, as we heard last time. He knows your name.

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He knows who you are and what you are going through. He knows where you are headed, where you will be next year, and in five years time and 20 years time, he knows how you've been treated. The joys and sorrows of today and yesterday. He knows how confident you feel or how overwhelmed.

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He knows his own. He knows you. And isn't that something extraordinary? Now I know the Prince of Wales.

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I stood a metre and a half away from him when he visited the cathedral several years ago, but he doesn't know me. If I went up to him and tried to strike up a conversation as if we were mates, pretty sure there'd be a blank look on his face, which I'd fleetingly see before the security officers took me away. I'm not part of his inner circle, his intimate inner circle. He does not know me.

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That doesn't matter at all because the King of Kings, the Lord of the universe, the good shepherd, does know me and he knows you. If you are riding the wave of everything coming together for you at the moment, he knows you. If you are tired and not sure whether you have the energy to go on, he knows you. If you are disillusioned or a little jaded because things are just not what you thought they would be, and too much is being expected of you, he knows you.

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If you are grief stricken, weighed down by loss and can't imagine what joy would look like in the future, he knows you and if you are proud and preoccupied with yourself, he knows you. And need, I remind you that God's knowing is not some abstract, remote thing. He knows you does not mean he can point you out in a crowd. It's the personal, intimate knowledge of one who is right up close, even when you feel unknown, unappreciated, unwanted, or invisible, abandoned.

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He knows you hasn't just read your profile or followed the posts or watched the video. He doesn't just know about you, he knows you. There is a unique bond between the good shepherd and his sheep. And have you taken any time lately to revel in that fact that he knows you?

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What an extraordinary thing it is. But Jesus said a little more, didn't he? In verse 14, I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me.

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Just as the father knows me and I know the Father and I lay down my life for the sheep, it's not just a matter of the good shepherd knowing his own, and that's you, but also that you know him. Just as the father knows me, and I know the father, that knowledge, the mutual knowledge of the father and the son is rich and personal and intimate, and that's the kind of knowledge that we've been invited to share. In other words, as a mutual personal recognition between the good shepherd and his own sheep, he knows their name. They know his voice.

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Wonder whether you've ever heard of Francis Baral. He was not a very well known British painter from the beginning of the 20th century, but one of the paintings that he did became perhaps the most recognisable brand label of the first half of the century. Now, as many of you are discovering, before streaming, there was DVDs and before DVDs, there were cassette tapes. We'll skip over cartridges, and before the cassette tapes were vinyl.

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And vinyl records, or their equivalent were originally played on gramophones. And this is where Barrow's painting as a company logo comes in. The brand was his master's voice and the painting was of a dog head tilted with his ear at the gramophone listening. And the very obvious point was that he recognised the voice he was listening to.

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It was his master's voice, and that's why he's listening so intently with his ears cocked and his head tilted on a different scale altogether. The wonderful life-changing truth is that the good shepherd knows his own and his own, hear his voice. In that sense, it's mutual knowledge. The sheep, his sheep know him.

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We can cut the slide. Now I've shown I can do what Dan Woo can do. Now let that fill your heart, not the last silly comment. If he knows you, then you really don't need anyone else to know you, do you?

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If you hear his voice, you recognise his voice, you won't confuse it with the voice of the so many others who want your attention, even your theological attention today, Jesus, the good shepherd knows his own, and secondly, even more wonderfully, Jesus, the good shepherd, lays down his life for his own. It's an astonishing thing to say when you think about it. Just in case those listening to Jesus that day, or we reading these words this morning, missed the point.

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It's repeated five times. The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. It's not just that he risks his life or he's willing to lay down his life should it be necessary. It's not just a vivid metaphor or a high sounding figure of speech.

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It's a prophecy. He actually does it. He will do it. He will lay down his life and he will receive it back again for the sake of the sheep.

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It is that mutual knowledge of the good shepherd and his sheep, reflective of the knowledge of the Father by the son and the son by the father that leads him down that road. This is why he lays down his life for the sheep. Follow the argument in verse 14. I am the good shepherd.

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I know those that are mine and those that are mine know me just as the father knows me and I know the father and I lay down my life for the sheep. It's that union of knowing and being known of calling by name and hearing his voice that explains why he lays down his life for the sheep, not a reckless and senseless act, it is because he knows these his own, that he does this. He lays down his life for the sheep because this is the way. This is the only way to save them.

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This is the way the love of the father for the son and the son for the Father pours out into love for the lost sheep. As one writer put it, this is the strategy of the love of the Father for the son. That's astonishing when you think about it, isn't it? The father's love for the son and the son's love for his sheep come together at this point.

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See it there in verse 17. This is why the father loves me, because I lay down my life in order that I might take it again. Protecting, guarding, guiding, loving the sheep is not something incidental or accidental. It reflects the very heart of the Father for the son and the son For the father.

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It's an act of monumental compassion and care for the sheep, but it is at the same time an act of faithful, loving obedience. I have authority to lay it down. Jesus said, and I have authority to receive it Again, this command I received from my father, the father, and the son in perfect unity in the work the good shepherd came to do. It was not, I'm sure you know, not just anyway, a tragic miscarriage of justice and an act of malice when Jesus was arrested and beaten, and condemned, and executed, it was not something forced upon him

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by powers beyond his control, as the rest of this gospel will make clear no one took his life from him. He laid it down on his own accord, literally from myself. When they came to arrest him and he identified himself, the leaders of the mob fell to the ground. We're told in John 18 when Pilate boasted that he had authority of life and death over Jesus.

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A chapter later, Jesus replied, you would have no authority at all over me unless it had been given to you from above, because he was laying down his life for the sheep. No one takes it from him. He laid it down from himself and brothers and sisters again, isn't that something worth lingering on this morning? Whatever else occupies your attention today.

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This is the most significant thing. The good shepherd knows you, and with all the authority given to him by his father, he laid down his life for you and he received it again so that he might grant you the overflowing, abundant life he spoke about just before this passage. No other leader, no matter how impressive has done anything remotely like that his, is the voice worth listening out for his? Is the voice worth attending because he is the one who laid down his life for his sheep for you?

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Jesus. The good shepherd knows his own. Jesus. The good shepherd lays down his life for his own.

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And finally, Jesus, the good shepherd gathers his own. That's the bit in the middle, isn't it? And I have other sheep, which are not of this sheep pen, I take it. That's us, the Gentiles.

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I must gather them too, and they will hear my voice. And there will be one flock, one shepherd, one flock, one shepherd. The gathering of all he knows by name, all for whom he laid down his life. It's the great fulfilment of the ancient promises to Abraham and even earlier to Adam and Eve in the garden.

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It is the unity of the redeem to hear their master's voice and rejoice in the wonderful truth that he laid down his life for them and received it back with the name above all names. It's a unity of Jew and Gentile in one flock under one shepherd. It's not a unity that the sheep established for themselves. It's not a human achievement.

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It's not the kind of institutional unity that has distracted so many. It's a unity one flock affected by the shepherd who calls his sheep to himself and they hear his voice. If that unity is something he brings about by his call, we have no business erecting barriers to divide the flock. I love the fact that for most of my Christian life when the Lord's Supper has been celebrated in our churches.

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The invitation to share in that meal. Symbolic of the Lord's death has been offered to all who love the Lord Jesus and trust in him for their salvation. You are welcome, come creating conditions that would qualify that invitation. Dare I say, even requiring those who come to be baptised first.

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Distracts from the one thing that binds the one flock to the one shepherd to him, he knows them and they hear his voice. It's intriguing, isn't it, that Jesus talk about unity or the unity of his sheep should be followed at the end of this passage by talk of division again, there was a division among the Jews because of these words. These words were not self evidently the wonderful words of comfort that we rejoice in this morning. Not to everyone who heard them that day.

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Some ridiculed him as mad or demon possessed, and they derided those who did listen to him. The opposition that has been building throughout this gospel continues, but others remembered the man born blind who now could see. The one who could open his eyes deserves a hearing. He knows his own and his own Know him and those who are his both then and now.

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Hear his voice. Throughout the centuries, Christian men and women have seen these words of Jesus as an immense comfort. Whether they were rejoicing in revival and growth, or struggling with hardness of heart and even fierce persecution. What Jesus said that day reminded them of the greatest truths of the heart of the gospel.

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Jesus, the good shepherd, knows his own. He knows you. Not at a distance, but right up close. Jesus the good shepherd lays down his life for his own.

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He laid down his life for you. This is the great plan he shares with his father, A plan by which he protects and provides for you and Jesus the good shepherd. Gathers his own. He's brought you into the one flock with the one shepherd, as he would say elsewhere at this rock, I will build my church and the gates of death itself shall not overcome it.

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Hallelujah. What a saviour. Why don't we pray? Father, we thank you for your word.

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Would you help us to meditate on it, to chew on it, to understand what you have said and may it give to us and to those we love and serve the comfort that you intended, and we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.