John Chapter 10:11-16

Who you are following makes all the difference. Ask yourself this morning, who are you following? Now I know a lot of us in here this morning go, Jesus, follow Jesus. Praise God. That's great. That's a good answer.

That is in fact the answer I'm looking for. But are you? Are you following Jesus?

Because you know what happens at certain points in my life? I've been like in another pasture, going, yeah, I'm following him. Well, he's going the other way. Yeah, but I'm following him.

I'm just going opposite direction. Follow him. Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David McGee. David is the senior pastor of The Bridge in Kernersville, North Carolina. Do you think about how much Jesus knows you, what the most important things in life are, and who you are following? You know, we've all walked different paths in life, and when we look back at our life, we probably realize that who we are following makes all the difference. Today, Pastor David McGee discusses why it's important to follow Jesus as he continues in the Gospel of John chapter 10 with part three of his teaching, The Shepherd. John chapter 10, verse 11, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. The real shepherd protects the sheep. First Peter chapter 5, verse 4 says, And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away. See, Jesus is coming back for his sheep.

He's coming back for you and I. And Jesus is the good shepherd. Understand, when Jesus is saying this, when he's talking about himself being a shepherd, we don't know because we don't really live in that society and that culture. But when Jesus is referring to himself as shepherd, he's really humbling himself. We've kind of sanitized the whole idea of the shepherd. You know, we got the little manger scene and they look nice and they're always clean and well-shaven and smell good. That's not a real shepherd.

I mean, look at the practical aspects. These guys didn't go into town very often. They hung out with sheep. I don't know if you've ever smelled a sheep, but there's an odor about a sheep. So, and they probably weren't clean-shaven, so they're not clean-shaven.

They smell kind of bad and they don't go to town very much. That's a little clearer picture of a shepherd. Verse 12, it says, and it's talking about Jesus being the good shepherd, 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.

Pastors need to be, they need to be shepherds and protect the sheep. And guys, I'm very protective of what happens here. And we've had an occasion a couple of times where wolves came in here. It was not good. A guy from an aberration, from a heretical teaching came in here and was handing out literature. And I got hot.

I got hot and I got in a space and I said, You need to leave right now. Why? Because this place needs to be protected. This is a special place. And I'm not just going to smile and go, Oh, it's okay. You're giving out that weirdness here.

Maybe somebody will believe it. That's not my role as shepherd. Ezekiel 34, I'm just going to mention a couple of these scriptures and I would encourage you to read the whole chapter.

Ezekiel 34 says, And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to them, Thus says the Lord God to the shepherds, Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves. Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool. You slaughter the fatlings and you do not feed the flock. So you see his number one gripe with the shepherds not feeding the flock.

What's the food? The word of God. We know that. The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost, but with force and cruelty have you ruled over them. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the beasts of the field when they were scattered. My sheep wandered through all the mountains and on every high hill.

Yes, my flock was scattered over the whole face of the earth, and no one was seeking or searching for them. Verse 19 says, And as for my flock, they eat what you have trampled with your feet, and they drink what you have fouled with your feet. See, even the word of God that's presented is polluted and not pure.

We see this today. Verse 14, Jesus says, I am the good shepherd, and I know my sheep, and am known by my own. Now, Jesus here again is doing the, we call him the I am statements. And if you go back to John 6, remember he said, I am the bread of life. And then he says, I am the light of the world. I am the doorway. And here he says, I am the good shepherd. So these are four I am statements. I am the bread of life. I am the light of the world.

I am the doorway. And I am the good shepherd. These I am statements kind of, and we've talked about this before, play back to when Moses said to God, Who shall I say sent me?

And he says, I am that I am has sent you. Now, if you question that that's a statement of Jesus proclaiming deity, just look what happens every time he says something like that. The Pharisees pick up rocks to throw them at him. The Pharisees are such a good Bible study tool, if you will, okay? Because what can happen sometimes is you can read something and you can miss it, and then you see the Pharisees picking up rocks to throw them at him.

Whenever you see that go, wait a minute, what just happened that they want to throw rocks at him? And you'll get some interesting answers. So they're kind of there to help you, if you will, to understand the significance of some of what Jesus said.

But you know what's interesting? He says here, he knows us. He knows his sheep. He knows you.

He knows me. I don't know if you really understand the significance of that. I don't know if you've ever had a friendship where, you know, you started out kind of good, and then as you kind of got to know each other, you kind of started drifting apart a little bit because you saw something in the other person. You thought, oh my gosh, I didn't know they were so messed up. Or maybe the person looked at you and said, oh my gosh, I didn't know they were so messed up.

That's usually my case. But anyway, Jesus won't do that. Jesus, well, if you'll excuse the saying, Jesus knows how messed up you are. He knows how messed up I am. And he still loves you. And he still loves me. See, understand, he's not going to get to know you deeper and discover something about you and go, oh my gosh, you can't come to church here.

He's not going to discover something about you. Or you're not going to be praying, Lord, please forgive me of this, and him go, oh my goodness. And be praying and the Lord go, oh, you know, and you repent for something and say, Lord, please forgive me of this. What did you do? When did you do that? You shouldn't have done that.

My gosh, that's never going to happen. He already knows. Now, you still need to confess. 1 John is very plain about that. But the fact that he knows you, I don't think we think about that as much as we should. He knows you and he loves you.

And there's no need to be afraid. And you know what? Your fears, whatever your fears are, he knows your fears. See, that was the role of a shepherd. A shepherd knew what would freak a particular sheep out. Maybe one sheep really didn't like high places or one sheep really didn't like shadows or dark spaces or something. And the shepherd would know that.

He would help his sheep through those places. The Lord knows you. He knows your fears. He knows what freaks you out.

Why? Because it's his role as a shepherd to know those things. Man, I take such comfort in that, that Jesus knows me. And he says, and am known by my own. So he knows us and we are to know him.

Now, that's the important question for us, isn't it? Do you know Jesus? The most important thing in this life is to know Jesus. Now, some of you may be sitting there going, well, I'm not sure it's the most important thing.

But I guarantee you at some point in life, you will recognize that it is the most important thing, to know Jesus. If you remember, the Bible tells us a story about people who had done a lot of good things. They had fed the poor and housed the homeless and visited people in prison. And they went to Jesus and they said, Jesus, we did this.

Jesus, we did that. And Jesus said, depart from me. I never knew you. Jesus didn't say, well, you didn't do enough.

You know, you were almost there. If you had just done a couple more good things for me, that would have been great. But Jesus says, no, you didn't know me.

You didn't know me. So that's key, guys. See, we get trapped up in all these good works things. And we are, as believers, supposed to perform good works. But if you're thinking that your good works will earn God's favor, that's unscriptural. The thing is, do you know Him? The mind-boggling thing is He stands by waiting to introduce Himself at any moment of any day, in any place. I've heard of people getting saved in the weirdest places. I don't know if you've heard some of them, they got saved here, they got saved there, they got saved riding down the road, they got saved when they pulled off, they got saved in the bathroom, they got saved in jail. You know how that's possible?

Oh, loved ones. It's possible because He's always standing there going, hey, hey, hey, here I am. Let me introduce myself. See, that's the picture that we have in the book of Revelation. When it says Jesus, Jesus, creator of the heavens and the earth, stands at the door and knocks, waiting for us to open the door. What an amazing thing. We'll be right back with more from David Magee on Cross the Bridge. Right now, here's a word from associate pastor D.A.

Brown. Hey, Bob, we want to take a minute to pray for our listeners in these cities in Georgia, Warner Robins, and Woodstock, and also these cities in Hawaii. Hilo, Honolulu, Kalua, and Kaleo. Lord, we thank you for these cities, and we thank you for the people living in these cities that we get to pray for right now. We pray that you would encourage them in your word, that you would encourage them to get plugged into a Bible-teaching, Bible-believing church. Lord, if some are sick, we pray that you please heal them.

God, we pray that you would give them wisdom how they can be a blessing to their neighbor for you. And Lord, we pray for the pastors in those areas, that you would give them wisdom and discernment and help them to not grow weary and doing good. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.

Thank you, brother. And now, let's get back to David Magee as he continues teaching verse by verse. Verse 15, as the Father knows me, even so I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. Jesus meant this in a literal way. Jesus was not the kind of shepherd that said, hey, you know, you're a sheep, man, I hope it works out for you. He's not the kind of shepherd who goes, well, you know, when some get lost or struggling, he doesn't go, well, you know, win a few, lose a few, it's okay.

No. He lays down his life for the sheep. Now, it would be one thing if he laid down his life for the sheep because, you know, he's got just this really prized, beautiful sheep that's just, oh, just works with him and follows him everywhere and, you know, does everything right and just, you know, is just, you know, pride and joy like that. Guys, that's, beloved, that's not the kind of sheep we are. Sheep are not, let's say they don't follow well, okay? They don't follow well. They tend to do their own thing at their own moment at their own time. They wander off.

They walk the fences looking for holes and looking for ways to get out. Oh, we never do that, do we? Oh, you bet you. Some of you asked the question, and this is a looking for a hole in the fence kind of question.

I bet you almost everybody in here has asked this question. Can I be a Christian and, can I be a Christian and still drink beer? Can I still be a Christian and go to a bar?

Can I still be a Christian and do this and do that and do that? You know what that is? That's a little sheep running around the thing going, oh, is there a hole in the fence? Is there a hole in the fence? Oh, here's a hole. I can get out right here. I've asked the same questions.

I've done the same things. He lays down His life for us. Hebrews chapter 13 verse 20 says, Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever.

Amen. See, Jesus died for us as the good shepherd, not because we were good enough, but because He loves us that much. It wasn't that we had earned His favor or He saw some spark of innate human goodness that was worth giving His life for. Now, He gave His life for us because He knew there was no other way. There was no other way for us to gain access into heaven.

And He didn't die as a martyr or part of some political conspiracy. This chapter makes it very clear He laid down His life for us. First Peter chapter 5 verse 4 says, And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away. See, Jesus is that chief shepherd. Now verse 16, 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. I believe the Lord is speaking of us as Gentiles here being grafted in, the future flocks. Jesus is looking for those that are hungry and those that are hurting, those that are caught deep and dark in their sin.

He's looking for them. This was spoken to people who lived around sheep and saw sheep a lot. I mean, if you go over to Israel today, you'll see a lot of shepherds outside of Jerusalem keeping their flocks and stuff. But, you know, we don't really understand the symbolism of some of the shepherd sheep things. So the Lord laid on my heart for us to talk about that a little bit.

So do me a favor. Let's go to Psalm 23. Psalm 23.

It's in the Old Testament, about in the middle of the Old Testament. Some of you are familiar with this psalm. And understand this is a psalm of David who was a shepherd, but David is not writing this psalm as a shepherd. He's writing it as a sheep. And he starts it out and he says, the Lord is my shepherd.

Well, that right there is really awesome. David's not just shepherd by anybody. We're not just shepherded by anybody. We're shepherded by God.

How awesome is that? See, this is God who created us, who knows us, who knows our weaknesses, knows our frailties, knows we like to wander and look for holes in the fence. But he still wants to be our shepherd.

What an amazing thing. And let me ask you a question. Who better qualified to be our shepherd than the God who created us? He knows us. Let me ask you a question here.

And I'm not about to do like an expositional teaching of Psalm 23 because we're in John 10. I just want to mention a couple of things here. How did we come to be one of God's sheep? He bought us. He paid for us. And guys, we weren't cheap.

So you can tell the value someone places on an object when you look at what they were willing to pay for that object. Well, friend, God was willing to pay an extremely high price for you. He places that kind of value on you that he was willing to lay down his life so that you could be one of his sheep. What a precious thing.

The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want. There's something about us that's always wanting, wanting, wanting, wanting, isn't there? But you know what? That is our flesh and that's part of this. We need to leave that behind because you know what? If that's left unchecked, it will kill us.

It will kill us. That part that always wants more. You can look at the world and they're always wanting more. It's never enough whether it's money or sex or drugs or whatever.

It's never enough. But that should not be the hallmark of a believer. Paul says I've learned to be content. You know what that means?

That it can be learned but it's not something we have naturally. See, being content is not something we have naturally but it can be learned and it says I shall not want. Now, verse 2, he makes me lie down in green pastures and he leads me beside the still waters.

Do you understand if Jesus is your shepherd and he wants to be your shepherd, you should be following him? Do you know what happens to sheep when they don't follow the shepherd? They get in trouble. They get in trouble pretty quick. I don't know if you can relate to that or not.

I sure can. When you're not following the shepherd, you get in trouble quick. And you know what? We're all following something or somebody, aren't we? Yeah, every one of us. Now, the second life lesson is who you are following makes all the difference. Who you are following makes all the difference. Ask yourself this morning, who are you following?

Now, I know a lot of us in here this morning go, Jesus, follow Jesus, praise God. That's great. That's a good answer.

That is in fact the answer I'm looking for. But are you? Are you following Jesus?

Because you know what happens at certain points in my life? I've been like in another pasture going, yeah, I'm following him. Well, he's going the other way. Yeah, but I'm following him.

I'm just going the opposite direction. Follow him. Because you know what happens sometimes?

Oh, and this is really bizarre. We follow ourselves. We follow ourselves. See, when you look to do your will, you're drinking from your own will.

When you look to do the will of the Lord, of the Father, then you're drinking from his will. How often? You don't need to answer out loud. But how often have you followed yourself?

You've been doing what you want to do and following yourself. Now, let me give you a graphic picture of this. Have you ever seen a small dog, small puppy? Cats don't seem to do this.

Maybe they're more intelligent. I don't know. Anyway, that earned me some cat points, didn't it?

If you're a cat lover, give me something here now. No, but puppies, they chase their tails. You know what they're doing? They're following themselves.

Do you know how often we must look like that to God? What are you doing? I'm doing something here. I'm following myself.

I'm busy. I'm going somewhere. Have you ever noticed when the dog's chasing its tail, do you know, is it going anywhere? No, it's just in a circle.

It's not going anywhere. That's us sometimes. Here's another one. I love this one. I'm trying to find myself. How bizarre is that?

Wait a minute. You're lost. What do you mean you're trying to find yourself? You recognize that you're lost, so you're going to find you.

No, you need somebody that has a sense of direction. Sheep don't have a sense of direction, guys. Here's another one. I'm looking for the truth within. You heard that one?

That's another good one, isn't it? I'm looking for the peace within. What do you mean the peace within? Well, I don't have peace. You don't have peace, so you're looking for the peace that's inside you that you don't have.

Is it just me? Who are you following? Because who you're following makes all the difference. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Jesus wants to lead us into this type of life.

And sheep tend to be wandering and rebellious. I want to be content with what the Lord has provided. And I want this kind of relationship with the Lord.

The still waters. There's a thirst and a hunger that seems to drive people that don't know the Lord that, you know, sometimes can drive me as well. It shouldn't be. It shouldn't be for you.

It shouldn't be for me. As a matter of fact, that's kind of a heart check sometimes. See, another thing about sheep is they tend to run. That's what sheep do. Whenever they see something that freaks them out in the least little bit, I was reading a book by a shepherd and he said, you know, he had like 200 sheep and this guy came and visited the ranch and a little Pekingese dog got out of the truck and the sheep weren't really sure about the Pekingese, so they all ran in the opposite direction. Does that make, I mean, sheep are kind of big, I'm sure.

And there's 200 of them. I'm thinking they could have taken the Pekingese, okay? But they didn't. They were freaked out, so they ran.

You know why? Because that's what sheep do, but it can get them in trouble. And very often it puts them right in the face of danger. They run so that they will feel safer, but in running they place themselves in danger. Beloved, I don't know if you relate to that or not, but I sure do, because I have a propensity to do that as well, to run. To run when the Lord is trying to do something in my life.

Oh, I'm not talking about physically necessarily, although that could work. You know, leave church, leave a job, leave whatever, because you're running because you got freaked out about something. But you know, as a believer, as a follower of Jesus Christ, you don't have to do that. You don't have to run.

Or if you do run, you run to Him. Jeremiah 2.13, speaking of still waters and good waters, Jeremiah 2.13 says, They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water. See, this verse tells kind of what's going on. See, it makes sense that if a sheep needs a shepherd, that if you don't have one, that explains what's up with the world today. That explains why people are wandering around and they're hurt and they're lost and they're hungry and they're thirsty. Why? Because they don't have a shepherd.

And then they start to hewn these cisterns that don't hold water. You see that in broken lives and shattered hopes and the lives of people who don't have a shepherd. Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven?

You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short, simple prayer, simply telling God you're sorry and asking Him to help you to live for Him. Now, God wants you to pray this prayer so much that He died to give you the opportunity and the ability to ask Him to forgive you.

Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me that I could be forgiven. And I believe you were raised from the dead that I could have a new life. And I've done wrong things. I have sinned. And I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things.

Please give me the power to live for you all of my days. In Jesus' name, amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer, according to the Bible, you've been forgiven. You've been born again. Jesus said He would not turn anybody away who comes to Him.

And He came for those people who knew they needed forgiveness, those who were sick, not the righteous. So congratulations, friend. You made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If you prayed that prayer with David for the first time, we'd love to hear from you. You can visit crossthebridge.com to receive our First Steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ.

Or you can write to Cross the Bridge at P.O. Box 12515, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 27117 and share how God is working in your life. The Bible tells us that the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. But it does cost for us to come and bring that message to you and to others in your neighborhood through radio, through the internet, and through the mobile technologies that God has gifted us to be able to use. So if you'd like to support this ministry, please go to crossthebridge.com, click on the donate button, and ask God how much He would have you give either on a one-time basis or a continuing basis each month to help ensure that the teaching of God's Word continues to go out through Cross the Bridge.

Thank you so much. Well, DA, before we go, what are some ways that we can bless our listeners? Each day you can wake up with encouragement from Pastor David through the Word of God with his email devotional, life lessons to consider, a daily reading plan, and a thought to meditate on throughout your day from the heart of David McGee. Thanks again for listening, and join us next time as David McGee continues teaching verse by verse in the Gospel of John.