"THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD" (2)
The Description of This Sheep
Psalm 23

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In the preceding message we set forth "The Identity of This Shepherd". In this message we will set forth "The Description of This Sheep". Who is it that is qualified to say, "The LORD is my Shepherd"? What is a description of such a sheep?

In general, Christ's sheep share a characteristic with physical sheep: They need a shepherd! Unlike goats, sheep cannot fend for themselves. They often go astray and become lost (Psalm 119:176; Isaiah 53:6), and ever in such instances must be sought and found (Ezekiel 34:6; Luke 15:4). They depend on a shepherd to "go out before them and go in before them, ... lead them out and bring them in" (Numbers 27:17), and to ascertain that they are provided pasturage (Ezekiel 34:2, 13f) and "still waters" (Psalm 23:2). We repeatedly read in Holy Scriptures the lament for "sheep which have no shepherd" (e.g., Numbers 27:17). "They are in trouble because there is no shepherd" (Zechariah 10:2). "So they were scattered because there was no shepherd; and they became food for all the beasts of the field when they were scattered" (Ezekiel 34:5). "Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered" (Zechariah 13:7; Matthew 26:31 / Mark 14:27).

In particular, Christ's sheep are characterized in ways distinguishing them from the "sheep" of other religions – who in reality are "goats" (as in Matthew 25:31-32ff; Ezekiel 34:17). Christ the Shepherd in John 10:1-30 describes in considerable detail the identity of those whom He calls "My sheep" (e.g., vv.14, 26, 27). Indeed, whereas in Psalm 23 the sheep say, "Here is a description of my Shepherd," in John 10 the Shepherd says, "Here is a description of My sheep."

I. Christ's sheep are His property: "My sheep" ...

1. by creation: "It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture" (Psalm 100:3): Indeed, they are His sheep by a double creation: He first made them men, then He made them Christians – a "new creation" (2 Corinthians 5:17). They therefore confess that "we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:10).

2. by donation (v.29): "My Father ... has given them to Me." God the Father gave His sheep to Christ when He before the foundation of the world chose them in Christ unto salvation, and predestined them to be His own, and accepted them in their Shepherd (Ephesians 1:4-6; 2 Thessalonians 2:13f).

3. by redemption (v.11): "The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep." He did so in order to redeem those who had been given to Him. They therefore sing to Him, "For You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood" (Revelation 5:9).

4. by restoration. "All we like sheep have gone astray" (Isaiah 53:6) in our fall in Adam. But our Shepherd has declared He will restore us to Himself, both in our conversion and subsequently (Ezekiel 34:6-16): "My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and on every high hill; yes, My flock was scattered over the whole face of the earth .... I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day. ... I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away."

II. Christ's sheep are known personally by Him (v.3): "He calls his own sheep by name" – as He did when He saved Saul of Tarsus (Acts 9:4).

III. Christ's sheep "know His voice" (v.4). Having once heard His voice they afterward instantly recognize it - even if He does not identify Himself when calling (see Acts 12:13f). They furthermore ably distinguish Christ's voice from "the voice of strangers" whom "they do not know" (v.5).

IV. Christ's sheep "follow Him" (v.4). Not only do Christ's sheep know His voice, but they also heed it. He calls; they respond. He teaches; they believe. He commands; they obey. He warns; they comply. He leads; they follow. And they do so ...

1. unhesitatingly. It is with all Christ's sheep as it was with the first disciples He called to "Follow Me": "They immediately left their nets and followed Him. ... and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him" (Matthew 4:19-22). But goats contrarily will find a multitude of excuses for not following Him (Luke 9:59-62; 14:16-20).

2. anywhere and everywhere. "These are the ones who follow [Christ] wherever He goes" (Revelation 14:4).

V. Christ's sheep will not succumb to a false shepherd (v.5): "Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers." Many of Christ's sheep, especially the lambs, confess to not being very knowledgeable of His doctrine. But they learn how to obey the command "do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world" (1 John 4:1-6). When Christ's sheep hear any doctrine they know to be contrary to Him, they flee from it.

But some will now object, "We know of many Christ's sheep who have been led away from Him by false preachers!" Not true! "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us" (1 John 2:19). Goats will not abide with sheep for long.

VI. Christ's sheep find in Him their only Savior (v.9): "I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture." Christ is the only entry into His fold, and it is entered through faith alone in Him. The Shepherd saves His sheep when they believe in Him (Acts 16:31); He then adds them to His fold (Acts 2:47). But He warns, "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way [not by faith alone, but by works], the same is a thief and a robber" (v.1).

VII. Christ's sheep intimately know Him (v.14): "I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own." We previously noted Christ's intimate knowledge of His sheep. We here note their intimate knowledge of Him. They know Him not in some mere general or historical way – as do even demons (James 2:19). Rather, they know Him savingly and experientially – through "the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death" (Philippians 3:10).

VIII. Christ's sheep will live forever (v.28): "And I give them eternal life." Christ does so because, as He prays to His Father, this is a reason why He was sent into the world (John 17:2f): "You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." Christ gives eternal life to His sheep by giving to them ...

1. Himself – "the true God and eternal life" (1 John 5:20).

2. His own righteousness – "resulting in justification of life" so that "grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 5:19, 21).

3. "the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4) – so that "he cannot sin" (1 John 3:9) and thereby incur "the wages of sin ... death" (Romans 6:23).

4. "the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance", and by whom "you were sealed" (Ephesians 1:13f).

IX. Christ's sheep "shall never perish" (v.28). (See also John 3:14-16.) Some may ask, "Why is it necessary to add this statement to the previous "I give them eternal life"? Because some false shepherds, being deniers of Christ the True Shepherd, say, "One may have eternal life today, but suffer eternal death tomorrow!" Yes, we realize their terms are self-contradictory. But when men contradict Christ the Truth, they become contradictions in and of themselves, and in everything they say and do. Christ's sheep never perish - neither before nor after He has found them.

X. Christ's sheep are eternally secure (vv.28-30): "neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand. I and My Father are one." Christ's people are "the sheep of His hand" (Psalm 95:17). And He assures them, "See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands" (Isaiah 49:16). Therefore absolutely nothing is able to snatch them therefrom (Romans 8:35-39). If you find no such eternal security in your shepherd, let me introduce you to mine!

When Christ declared these truths, "Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him" (v.31). They did so because goats will not receive these truths (v.26): "But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep." But these truths gladden the hearts of all who confess "The LORD is my Shepherd."

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