The Exclusivity of Jesus, Part 4

Dr. Michael Youssef, beginning today's episode of Leading the Way. In biblical times, everybody was familiar with sheep and shepherd. It was part of their daily experience.

They've seen it every day. And that is why when Jesus said, I am the good or perfect shepherd, he was telling us everything that we needed to know about Jesus, everything that we needed to know as to why we should worship him, we should obey him, we should follow him, and we should submit to him. Hello and welcome to Leading the Way, featuring Dr. Michael Youssef, author of more than 50 life-changing books. Today, many people pigeonhole Jesus as just another founder of a religion or a religious leader whose reputation transcended generations. But as you'll hear today, Jesus did more than teach and be a part of history. He revealed truth about himself and the Heavenly Father.

Listen with me. Hear how Jesus revealed himself as the good shepherd. In our modern urban society, we can live our whole life without seeing a sheep or a shepherd, except on television and probably for kids in a petting zoo. Today, that concept of a sheep and shepherd is so alien that we see it as something quaint, something kind of ancient relic. So much so that now some pastors are saying to their congregations, do not call me pastor, call me CEO because that's more relevant to our time. Well, the sad part about this is that in this process, we can lose some of the deepest and the richest meanings of the term shepherd. Even though the concept is alien to our computer and internet bound lives, explanation is necessary.

And that's exactly what I'm going to be attempting to do today. Now to be sure, while in biblical times, everyone understood the significance and the importance of sheep and shepherd, particularly for religious festivities like the Passover and so on, today the average person has never met a real shepherd. Let's face it. In biblical times, everybody was familiar with sheep and shepherd. It was part of their daily experience. They've seen it every day.

It was part and parcel of their daily vocabulary. And that is why when Jesus said, I am the good or perfect shepherd, he was telling us everything that we needed to know about Jesus, everything that we needed to know as to why we should worship him, we should obey him, we should follow him, and we should submit to him. Well, some of you might say, well, Michael, did you really mean to say it tells us everything we need to know? Yes, I did.

Hang in there with me, okay? We are dead smack in the middle of the series of messages on the exclusivity of Christ, the exclusivity of Jesus in a time when upward of 65% of so called churchgoers believe that Jesus is just the founder of our religion, just like the other founders of other religions, which really stems out of ignorance. If they knew about the founders of the other religions, they wouldn't say that. But that's just drummed in their ears for so many years from false preachers and false teachers. And that is why it is absolutely imperative for us to equip ourselves and equip the next generation to the absolute necessity of comprehending the exclusivity of Jesus. And so we are looking at the claims of Jesus that seven times, at least seven times, he said, I am. And as we looked at the Greek words, ega ami. Can you say that with me?

Ega ami. Because that is the name by which God introduced himself to Moses at the burning bush. He said, who do I tell them sent me? He said, tell them I am sent you. For I am who I am. The term I am, the good shepherd, tells us all we need to know about Jesus, simply because I am is an all exhaustive term. It tells us that Christ is timeless, that Christ is self-sufficient. That means that he needs nothing and no one. That he needs no wisdom from anyone because he is all wisdom. He needs no power from anyone because he is all powerful. He does not need anyone to worship him or serve him for he is all sufficient. He does not need to accountability to anyone or answerable to anyone for he is timeless. He's eternal.

He's unchangeable. He is the great I am. Think about all of this. Then when you stick the word good next to the word shepherd, you really have a huge problem.

Now you might not have thought about it, but it is a big, big problem. I'm going to explain to you why. You cannot stick the word good next to the word shepherd. These are two extremes.

These are polar opposites. I want to explain that to you because it's very, very important. I pray to God that will transform everyone at the sound of my voice. Think back then about the work of the shepherd.

And if you don't know, I'm going to tell you. The biblical times, think of what a shepherd is. The shepherd's work was considered to be the lowest of the low. It's considered to be the lousiest work there is. It is the hardest work because it's a 24-7 work. It is day and night work. It is summer and winter work.

It's because you have to do it in good weather and in bad weather. And if a family needed some member of the family to take care of the sheep in the family, guess who they gave that work to? The youngest boy in the family. And that is how King David ended up being a shepherd. He was the youngest boy in Jesse's household. You see, in the Middle East back then, and to a certain extent even now, the youngest boy is the runt. Ask me. I was one.

I was the youngest boy in the family. Please think with me. Think with me. The great God of the universe, the self-sufficient God, stoops down to do what? To do the work of a shepherd? He stoops down to take care of the flock. He first stooped down to find us. He stooped down to redeem us from the robber of our soul, Satan. He stooped down to lovingly lead us back to his fold. He stooped down to daily guide us and take care of all of our needs. He stooped down to embrace us. He stooped down to heal us. He stooped down to protect us. He stooped down to defend us.

He stooped down to lift us up. That's the great shepherd. Three things I need you to know with me about our perfect shepherd. First of all, I want to tell you that his character is all attractive. Secondly, I want to tell you that his concern is all-inclusive.

And thirdly, his call is unchangeable and unchanging. For all of eternity. Can I get an amen?

Let's look at these very quickly. His character is all attractive. This beautiful, this perfect, this lovely shepherd, he loves completely without condition or reservation. Look at verse 11. John chapter 10, the Gospel of John, verse 11. I am the good shepherd. And the good shepherd lays his life for his sheep. What is Jesus doing here is that he is contrasting himself, as you look in the following verses, with three entities.

Three entities. He's contrasting himself with three entities. First of all, he's contrasting himself with the thief, who only wants to steal the sheep. He contrasts himself with the thief.

A thief is very cunning, is very conniving. He will try to appear friendly. He tried to gain the trust of the sheep.

He tried to look like his kind until he does his dirty work, his dirty deed. Think about the false teachers and the false preachers today and the false prophets. Think about those who are building their own kingdom instead of the kingdom of Jesus. As we saw in the last message, the greatest contrast between the true teachers and preachers and the false teachers and preachers, one of the biggest contrasts is what do they feed the sheep?

Do they feed them on the Word of God or they feed them on pop psychology and pop culture? Secondly, Jesus contrasts himself with the wolf. The wolf is a fearsome beast. And his strategy, he comes in and he scatters the sheep. He scatters him. He scatters him. And then he pursues one sheep at a time. Once he gets them away from each other, he will get the one who is totally exhausted, the one who is helpless, the one who is the loneliest. And he devoured that sheep first.

Then he goes for the next one. Beloved, that is how Satan works. He gets us away from Christian fellowship. He gets us away from small home groups, which is so significant and so important, not just for fellowship, good as that may be, but it's for building each other up, protecting and being accountable. He gets us away from other believers. He gets us away from accountability. He gets us away from feeding upon the Word of God until you become spiritually emaciated. And then he moves for the kill.

Please listen to me. I know you don't lose your salvation, but listen to me. The greatest joy and the greatest sorrow when you live as long as I have and pastored for as long as I have. The greatest joy is to look over the congregation and realize that I myself as your pastor and that many of you have grown in Christ, have grown in the Word of God.

It is the greatest joy because if I'm not growing, then I'm dead before I'm dying. But the greatest sorrow by the same token is that you have seen people years ago who were on fire for Christ, but now they are nowhere to be seen. It breaks a heart of a pastor. Then Jesus contrasts himself with the hireling. Hireling. We don't use that word very often.

I know that. Can you say it with me, hireling? It's a powerful word.

Again, we don't use it. A hireling is the one who works with only one thing in mind and that is his compensation. The one who works only for the paycheck. That's a hireling. A hireling does not have the owner's interest at heart. His heart is not on the sheep, but on his selfish ambitions. His life is not lived for the welfare of the sheep, not for his own. That is why as soon as the hireling sees danger, he cuts and runs to save his own skin. As soon as he gets a better field, a better opportunity, he jumps ship. By contrast, the beautiful shepherd, he lays his life for his sheep.

Our Lord Jesus Christ laid his life for us. I'm going to tell you in a minute. Well, and I'm trying to bring this to a modern day so you can understand it. Just think of an employee and if you're an employee and please understand, I'm going to explain it. And then you look at your company and you see you're riding on the wall and it's about to hit some rough waters.

The very natural thing if you have a family is to go and find another job. This is absolutely natural. No condemnation here, no judgment.

This is absolutely natural and it's the right thing to do. I am not focusing on that. That's not my point. But I want you to think of the owner of the company.

Alright? He cannot do that. All of his life investments is in that company. So he hangs in there. He works day and night. He sacrifices and he foregoes some necessities of life. He will go without food or sleep even to salvage the company, to save the company, to keep it afloat. Why? He owns it.

He doesn't have the luxury of cut and run like an employee. Now multiply this a million or several million times and you'll get to the heart of Jesus. You get to the heart of Jesus, the good shepherd.

Please hear me right on this one. When Jesus hung on that cross, he got down and dirty with the wolf, the big bad wolf, Satan. And he hung in there on that cross until he broke his legs. He hung in there on that cross until he knocked his teeth out. He hung in there on that cross until he bruised his head and rendered him brain damaged.

There on the cross, he rendered the wolf to be ineffective as far as his sheep was concerned. Listen to me. Never fear the devil. Never fear Satan. Run to Jesus instead. Amen.

Give God praise. His character is all attractive. Secondly, his concern is all inclusive.

We're talking about the exclusivity of Jesus, but his love, his care is all inclusive. Not only on the cross that he knocked Satan's teeth out, but even after the resurrection, his protection of the sheep from the big bad wolf is a nonstop. His continuous arms giving us his full armor so that we stand in the battle. He continuously fighting the battles for us. He continuously defending us when we can't defend ourselves. He's continuously protecting us when we can't protect ourselves.

He cannot run and leave us in the lurch. That is not his character. That's not who he is because he loved us. He loved us inclusively. He's the owner. He's the owner. He's not a hireling. Not only that, but he knows you intimately. I'll never forget I was young and I think in my probably my middle teen years, I can't remember exactly, but I do remember the event so clearly.

I was fascinated by sheep and shepherds and obviously God has had planned for me, but I remember sitting literally on the ground with a shepherd and I asked him, how can you tell them apart? I was sorry I asked because he started talking and he wouldn't stop. He said this one is that. This one is that. This one is rambunctious. This one is calm.

This one is that. I was absolutely fascinated. Later I thought about it as a person who doesn't have good record or attention for details. It blew my mind how the simple uneducated unschooled shepherd, he knew every one of those sheep and he knew every one of their characteristics. Oh, but beloved, there is nothing in comparison to the great shepherd of the sheep. He knows each of us, not just by name. Of course he knows us by name.

That is given. He knows us individually, but he knows each of our strengths and weaknesses. He knows each of our limitations. He knows what thoughts go through our head before we think them. He knows what burdens us. He knows what causes us to stumble. He knows what blesses us and what encourages us.

And while he loves us all equally, but he treats us different individually. What a great shepherd we have. But there's even greater news than that.

Can you imagine? There is greater news. None of his sheep are excluded from his love and care. Did you get that? None of his sheep are excluded from his love and care. None of his sheep can say, well, you know, I'm just not his favorite like so and so. He has no favorites.

Did you get that? He has no favorites. He loves us equally. He cares for us individually, and his concern for us is all inclusive. Praise God. Our good shepherd's characteristic is all attractive.

Our shepherd's concern is all inclusive. Thirdly, our good shepherd's call is unchangeable. Unchanging.

Unchangeable. If you're looking at John 10, go down to, all the way down to verse 27. Jesus said, my sheep, listen to my voice. I know them and they know me. I give them eternal life and they shall never, and they shall never, and they shall what? Perish.

They'll never perish. No one can snatch them out of my head. Oh, beloved, listen to me today with our old technical wizardry and internet and the social media. All of that has contributed to us becoming scatter brains. All of this contribute to the conflict and confusing voices. Only God knows how I pray for the younger generation because they are experiencing this cacophony of voices, a sound, a vying for our attention.

They really are. Oh, but listen to me. The shepherd's voice, the shepherd's voice is recognized by his real sheep. I don't know where you are, whether you have digging your heels and disobedience. You may have left the sheepfold long time ago or few days ago. All I can tell you is when the authority of God's word is the shepherd is calling you back. The shepherd is calling you back. Look at verse 18.

Verse 18 is one of the greatest joys in my life. Literally. He said, no one can snatch him out of my head.

I want you to think long and hard about that. No one can snatch him out of my hand. Those are the hands of Jesus, the good shepherd from which no one can snatch his real sheep from him. These are the same hands that were fastened and nailed to a wooden cross, but he was not crucified against his will. He was crucified by his own will in order to save his sheep.

He willingly allowed those hands to be nailed to a wooden cross for you so that those same hands, the same hands can hold you secure until you see him face to face. Dr. Michael Yousaf with the challenge to listen and to respond to the shepherd as he calls you back. In fact, if you'd like to speak with someone about what you heard today, someone who can help you with your response, we invite you to speak with a Leading the Way pastor or counselor. And you can start that conversation just by going to ltw.org slash Jesus. Building upon the strong infrastructure established by your faithful and generous partnership, Leading the Way's Open Door campaign is continuing to focus on three strategic areas where the greatest need and opportunity exists.

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