#3 - EASTER - THE PROOF THAT GOD’S BATTLE WITH OUR GREATEST ENEMIES WAS NOT A TIE

John 10:11-18 - “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. [12] He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. [13] He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. [14] I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, [15] just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. [16] And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. [17] For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. [18] No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father."

In our text from John’s gospel, He describes Himself as the Shepherd. The followers He loves and cares for are the sheep. In verses 12 and 13 He describes the way the owner of the sheep cares for the sheep in the face of danger, compared to the way the hired hand cares for them. The shepherd owns the sheep (verse 12), the hired hand takes care of them only as a temporary job.

The hired hand looks after the sheep, not because he loves the sheep, but because he wants to earn a living. And earning a living is only worth so much. If a pack of wolves attacks the flock in the night, or a lion, or some other wild animal, the hired hand says, “Nice knowing you” to the flock and runs to save his own skin.

When you’re not the owner, you don’t have to have the same commitment. In any of the apartments I have rented, I never worried if the furnace or air conditioning unit needed repair or replacement. I never worried that the carpets were wearing out. They weren’t my carpets. I wouldn’t be living there that long anyway, and if I were staying for a long time, renovations were the landlord’s responsibility, not mine.

Now, the reason Jesus mentions these hired hands is to show He is not like them. The hired hand loves his life more than the sheep. The Good Shepherd, Jesus, loves the sheep more than He loves His own life. Jesus says this flat out four times in this passage:

John 10:11 - “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

John 10:15 - “.... just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.”

John 10:17 - “For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.”

John 10:18 - “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father."

Please be encouraged with this precious truth today: Whatever wolves attack the sheep, whatever comes against the flock, Jesus loves saving the sheep more than He cares about saving His own life. He never deserts the sheep. Others may run. Jesus will die saving the sheep.

He tells us this so we will rest in His love. He tells us this so we will never doubt His care and commitment to us. If His ways or commandments ever seem strange or hard, we need to remember Jesus is the One who loves the sheep enough to die for them.

Let me try to apply this to our lives today by using the same imagery Jesus used in our text. He specifically talked about wolves that attacked the sheep. There are three wolves Jesus gave His life to save us from. They are the most terrifying enemies we can ever face. We need Jesus to lay down His life for us because we have no defense against these wolves on our own. The three attacking wolves against which we have no defense in our own strength are the wolves of sin, death, and judgement.

A) FIRST, there is the wolf of sin

John 1:29 - “The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

Without stretching things too far, in the analogy of our text, Jesus, the Shepherd of the sheep - the Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep - draws the wolf of sin onto Himself, and away from the sheep.

This is the exact idea Paul had in mind when he said this:

2 Corinthians 5:21 - “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

The whole New Testament makes much of the fact that there is no one else to deal with the wolf of sin. There is no one else who can free us from sin’s stain and influence. We can’t educate ourselves out of sin. We can’t gain enough wealth or success to be free of sin’s power and dominion over our lives.

In every life on this planet, either Jesus is Master and Lord, or sin rules and enslaves the life.

B) SECOND, there is the wolf of death

The Bible says “And just as it is appointed for man to die once....”(Hebrews 9:27)

The attack of death is simply unavoidable. This wolf comes to everyone who breathes. Death snuffs out every plan and activity of the human race. Death takes from us everything we work so hard to keep while we are alive. Death severs every earthly relationship.

No doubt about it, the jaws of the wolf of death bite deep into everyone who is born. There is absolutely nothing we can do about the wolf of death in our own strength.

C) THIRD, there is the wolf of judgement

Actually, if death merely ended all existence it wouldn’t pose such a great threat. We would simply slip out of conscious existence into nothingness. Death would simply be the great sleep - the end of all trial and struggle.

But the Bible says death does no such thing. It doesn’t bring endless sleep from the storms of life. Death leads into something else. Death leads everyone into the jaws of judgement:

Hebrews 9:27 - “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment”

This is the third wolf attacking the sheep. Judgement awaits everyone. We simply have to come to terms with reality as God created it. We don’t set the terms or the standards.

This is what makes Jesus Christ so precious to His followers. The Bible says He has dealt with these three wolves of sin, death and judgement. He has defeated them through the laying down of His life on the cross:

John 5:24 - “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”

Because He is the Good Shepherd He knows what our greatest threats are. The sheep don’t know this on their own, but the shepherd does. And because He doesn’t leave the flock alone with its biggest problems, because He is willing to lay down His life for the sheep, these enemies have been faced by Him and conquered.

But where does that leave us this Easter Sunday? If the story ended with a dead shepherd lying in the middle of three dead wolves there really is no benefit to the sheep. The sheep need a shepherd. They need a living shepherd. If after the wolves of sin, death and judgement are defeated the field is strewn with three dead wolves and a dead shepherd who gave his life for the sheep, then, at best, the battle was a draw - a tie - even -Steven.

But the battle wasn’t a draw. Jesus did lay down His life for the sheep, but He didn’t just lay down His life for the sheep and die, period. He didn’t just defeat the wolves and die. He makes this point very clear in our text:

John 10:18 - “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father."

Notice the way Jesus repeats that word, “authority.” Jesus came into the world with both mission and authority from Father God. The mission was to save the sheep from the wolves of sin, death and judgement. But there was also authority. The authority was to both lay down His life (which He did on the cross) and then to take His life up again from the grave (which is the reason for Easter celebration).

Here are the results of having a Risen Good Shepherd:

1) WE NOW KNOW FOR CERTAIN THAT JESUS WAS VICTORIOUS IN HIS BATTLE WITH OUR ENEMIES

Romans 1:1-4 - “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, [2] which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, [3] concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh [4] and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord....”

Paul is very clear in these verses. The prophets had long ago predicted the coming of Jesus Christ to die for the sins of the people. He was marked as the coming Lamb of God so clearly by Isaiah and others.

But how do we know He did what He came to do? How do we know death was conquered? I don’t know how you feel, but to me it’s too late to wait until I die to find out for certain whether these wolves were truly defeated. I need to know for certain right now.

A dead Shepherd, even a very moral and loving shepherd, is of no use at all to me or to the church. What proof do we have that Jesus accomplished anything more than good teaching and good example for people like me in Newmarket?

Paul says we have great proof. He very carefully uses the word “power” in his comments - “....and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord....”

The resurrection of Jesus reveals the great conquering power of the living good Shepherd. He is the living Lord right now. Easter morning means the battle with the wolves was not a tie!

It’s the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead that guarantees I am not still in my sins. It’s the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead that validates my faith and my commitment to Jesus. Paul says it all again in 1 Corinthians 15:17 - “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.”

But there are other results of serving a Risen Good Shepherd. First, we know Jesus won the battle He came to win. And second...

2) THE CHURCH STILL HAS A LIVING GOOD SHEPHERD

John 10:14-15 - “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, [15] just as the Father knows me and I know the Father....”

Jesus takes His life back up from the grave to establish a living, loving relationship with the sheep. And, if we didn’t have His own words, we would never even dare to ask for the kind of relationship He wants to establish. How much does He love the sheep? How close is the relationship with us to be?

Jesus says it’s to be as close as His own relationship with the Father - “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, [15] just as the Father knows me and I know the Father....”

So the sheep have a living Good Shepherd. Even when they feel overwhelmed and afraid they are more tightly tied to this Shepherd than they could imagine. The Shepherd has His own power and strength.

I am not bound to Jesus by my psychic energy or emotional strength. His love for me isn’t hinged on my ability to mentally image or picture it. There is strength in the Name of the Lord. There is, right now, power, and hope, and healing, and guidance, and mercy. The Shepherd, having proven His willingness to lay down His life for the sheep, will now, Paul says, “freely give us all things” in Christ Jesus!

But there is still one more result of having a Risen Good Shepherd. First, we know the battle with the wolves was successful. Second, we are now closely united with a living and loving and faithful Good Shepherd. And third...

3) THE RISEN GOOD SHEPHERD IS LEADING HIS CHURCH INTO A WORLD-WIDE MISSION TO BRING OTHERS FROM ALL NATIONS UNDER HIS LORDSHIP

That desire of the Good Shepherd is right in the middle of our text:

John 10:16 - “And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.”

Jesus didn’t come into this world to lay down His life for just a few Jewish disciples who lived two thousand years ago in Palestine. He has other sheep not of that fold. He has sheep in Antioch, Rome, Athens, Manila, Cairo, London, New York, Toronto, Tokyo, Sydney, Singapore, Jakarta, Beijing, Calcutta, Moscow and Northern Canada.

We do not just remember a dead Good Shepherd. That is emphatically not why we have gathered here today. He said He had authority to lay down His life and to take it up again. That is tremendous power. Jesus said that kind of power and authority made His claim to truth absolutely binding and unique among all the religions and nations of the earth.

Matthew 28:18-19 - “And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. [19] Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit....’”

This is what the authority of the Risen Good Shepherd means to us today. The message has spread from a scraggly dozen to close to three billion. And that number is still growing. Not because of human might or ingenuity. It’s because the Risen Good Shepherd has all power and authority. He still transforms humble and repentant hearts and lives. Nothing will stop the King of Kings!

Let me close with these wonderful words from Jesus:

John 10:27-28 - “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. [28] I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”

Are you sure you are one of His sheep? Do you hear His voice? Have you bowed before His claim of Lordship over all of your life? Do you follow Him with every decision and thought and affection?

The benefits of His victory over sin, death and judgement don’t float into your heart automatically. You don’t drift into the fold. You must bow before the Risen Good Shepherd.

Romans 10:9 - “....if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”