The Shepherd Knows the Sheep

Tom Shrader walks through John 10:1-10, using the cultural background of first-century shepherding to explain how Jesus functions as both the door and the shepherd of His sheep. He emphasizes the intimate, complete knowledge Jesus has of each believer — their weaknesses, failures, and sins — and that this knowledge does not diminish His love or acceptance. The teaching closes by contrasting the thief who comes to steal and destroy with Jesus, who came to give His sheep real, purposeful, and abundantly full life.

“He knows your weaknesses, your failures, your temptations, your sin, the good you've neglected to do, the evil that you've pursued — and He loves you anyway.”

— Tom Shrader

Series: John: The Essence of Life (2005)

Recorded: 2005 at East Valley Bible Church

Duration: 33 min

Themes: shepherding, belonging, acceptance, abundant life, knowing jesus, love, identity, protection, feeling unworthy, struggling with shame, doubting god's love, new believer, recovering from failure, questioning faith, feeling known, searching for purpose

Scripture: John 10:1-10, John 10:11, John 10:19, John 3:22, John 4:1, John 9

Theological Themes: christology, jesus as shepherd, soteriology, union with christ, john 10, pastoral care, incarnation, divine omniscience

Full Transcript

The Flow from Chapter 9 into Chapter 10

Please turn to John chapter 10. Though there is a chapter break at the beginning of chapter 10 and an obvious end to chapter 9, I believe this is a continuation of thought in John's mind as he records and expands on what he has seen in chapter 9. Throughout this gospel, John does a great job of breaking one scene and moving to another. In chapter 3, verse 22, he says, "After these things, Jesus and His disciples..." indicating they moved to another place. In chapter 4, verse 1, he writes, "When therefore the Lord knew that He had heard this, He left Judea." You begin to see this pattern all through the gospel.

John does not add that kind of transitional marker to the break here between chapters 9 and 10. When the gospels and letters were written, they didn't have chapter and verse divisions. These were added later to give us a natural way to navigate the text, which is very helpful — it would be quite difficult to find a reference in the middle of a book without them. But don't assume that a chapter break signals a break in the train of thought.

I'm not saying that chapter 10 falls immediately after chapter 9 in terms of events, but an understanding of chapter 9 is really important as we look at chapter 10. Chapter 9 is where Jesus and the disciples came upon a man who had been blind from birth. The disciples asked whose sin had caused the blindness — his own or his parents' — and Jesus said neither, but that the man might be a display case for the work of God. That physical picture of a spiritual truth then begins to unfold: the man is healed, he begins to understand who Jesus is, and Jesus, because of the healing, is now pitted against the Pharisees.

The Pharisees are attacking Him, and there is deep disagreement about who He is. Look at the reaction recorded in chapter 10, verse 19: "There arose a division again among the Jews because of these words. And many of them were saying, 'He has a demon and He is insane. Why do you listen to Him?' And others were saying, 'These are not the sayings of one who is demon-possessed. A demon cannot open the eyes of the blind, can he?'" That confirms, I think, that we are still in the continuation of the same story and the same conflict.

The Shepherd, the Sheep, and the Fold

Jesus uses a vivid picture here. He talks about a shepherd and sheep, a sheepfold, thieves and robbers, a doorkeeper, strangers, and voices. Between this week and next week, we will get our arms around all of it. This is rich and important material, filled with both practical teaching and great doctrinal truth, and it doesn't get much better than when those two come together.

Now, this passage can initially seem confusing. In verse 7 Jesus says, "I am the door," and again in verse 8, "I am the door," and then in verse 11, "I am the good shepherd." So what is He — the door or the shepherd? The answer is actually straightforward, and it would have been immediately clear to the people Jesus was speaking to because of their cultural background.

In that day, when a shepherd was tending his flock, he would take the sheep out to graze during the day and, ideally, bring them into the town or village at night. When the sheep were in the village, there would be what we might think of as a pen — some translations call it a sheepfold or a fold. It was an enclosed area with a wall but typically no ceiling, a door, and a doorkeeper who protected and managed access to it.

Different shepherds would bring their flocks in, and the sheep from various flocks would be mingled together inside. The doorkeeper was responsible for the sheep overnight. The shepherd would go home and return in the morning, and the doorkeeper, recognizing him as the legitimate shepherd, would grant him access to retrieve his flock.

The Shepherd as the Door

When the shepherds were out in the countryside or pasture rather than in a village, the setup was different. They would stack stones into a temporary enclosure for the flock. Because it was just one shepherd's flock and a makeshift shelter, there was no permanent door. Instead, the shepherd himself would lie down in front of the opening — the shepherd would be the door. Now this is starting to come together.

Jesus is drawing on something His audience knew intimately well. He says in verses 1 through 3: "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens." The doorkeeper opens to the legitimate shepherd — the one whose credentials are recognized and approved. The others who come by another way are thieves and robbers.

Jesus is saying clearly: I am the shepherd here. The doorkeeper grants Me access because He recognizes that I am the one true shepherd.

The Shepherd Knows His Sheep

This is a parable, so Jesus is using terms that are very familiar. As those things are applied, what He is teaching us is a spiritual truth, and it becomes real easy to see once we recognize that. He said in verse 3 that the sheep hear his voice, that He calls His own sheep by name, and that He leads them out.

Remember, they would take sheep from different flocks and put them all in together. The sheep were not branded, and they did not wear name tags. So how would you separate them? The shepherd would come and literally begin to call, and those that were his sheep would come out to him. Those that were not his sheep were actually fearful of him and would pull away. That is how they would separate the flocks. The shepherd would go to a distance and begin to call, and his sheep would come out to him.

He Calls Us By Name

Now Jesus is using this physical picture to convey a spiritual truth. He is the shepherd and we are the sheep. There is that point in time when we, His sheep, hear His voice. Look at the intimacy: we hear His voice, He calls us by name. This is a relationship. There is an intimacy of knowledge of one another, a closeness, and this transfers from just the shepherd and the sheep in this picture to the good Shepherd — to Jesus and His sheep, you and me as believers.

Brooke Westcott writes this: "Nothing in his flock is hidden from him. Their weaknesses, their failures, their temptations, their sins, the good which they have neglected when it was within their reach and the evil which they had pursued when it lay far away. All is open before his eyes. He knows them and he loves them still."

Think about that. He knows your weaknesses, your failures, your temptations, your sin, the good which you have neglected to do, the evil which you have done — and He loves you anyway. He has accepted you anyway. This is not a situation where He allowed you to be saved and then discovered something He did not know and cast you out. He knows you. He knows you perfectly.

No Human Knows You Completely

I try to think about this in my own life. Susan knows me better than any other person on earth. My girls think they do — Haley in particular. She will say, "I knew you were going to do that. You're so predictable." And I will always say, "Well, I knew you were going to say that, because you're predictable." So we have our little games. And I probably am somewhat predictable. But Susan really does know me better than anyone on earth.

But she does not know everything. No human knows you perfectly. No human knows all the thoughts you have had or the intentions of your heart. I got a call from a guy the other day and he said he wanted to meet and talk about something, but he wanted to tell me upfront that he did not even know his own motives. He said he did not know what he wanted me to do with it, did not know if his motives were even pure. I told him I could not wait to meet with him, because that was real honesty.

But that is not the case with God. He knows you perfectly. He knows your weaknesses, your failures, your temptations, your sin, the good you have neglected to do, the evil you have pursued — and He loves you anyway. He accepts you just that way. You do not have to prove yourself to Him.

Freedom From the Performance Game

I meet many people who are caught up in the performance game. I imagine it is just the way they were raised or the way they are wired, but they are deeply concerned about what everybody thinks. I was talking to a professional golfer — a very accomplished one who has won a major — and he told me that he went through a period where he would stand on the first tee and literally think to himself, "I wonder what they'll think if I don't hit a good shot." I was stunned by that.

I have talked to many athletes driven by that same idea. What will they think if I throw an incompletion? If I hit a bad shot? If I do not close the deal or get that job? Listen — God knows everything about you, and to those of you who are followers of His, those of you who are His sheep, He loves you anyway. No surprises. He accepts you just as you are.

Now, He does not leave you there. He does not say, "Okay, I know all the weaknesses and failures, and that is good enough, just stay there." He says to you and me as His sheep, now let us get our act together.

He Leads You Out

He knows you. He is not going to be surprised by that. I love that truth. And He leads them out. Leads them out of what? Well, if we take it back into the context of chapter 9, He took the blind man who could not see physically, gave him physical sight, and then led him out of a dead faith. He exposed the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. God came in the person of Christ, and He loves His sheep. He leads you away from anything that is taking His place in your life. It might be a false religion, materialism, work, or education. You might be a deal junkie.

A Story About Susan

I had a great experience Friday night. I was invited to speak at a marriage conference, and I suggested we do an interview format instead of the usual approach. It turned out to be terrific, and it gave me an idea — this would be good to do in a lot of different settings.

The interviewer asked me to talk about my life before I was a Christian, and then he asked me to talk about Susan and how we met. Many of you know the story, but I lived in apartment 202 and she moved into apartment 201. I saw her moving in — she was a skinny little thing — and I thought this would be cool, so I started trying to court her. It did not go well at first, but eventually we started dating.

This was back when I drank a lot, every day. We were coming home from a Christmas party — I had been drunk, driving home, seriously risking her life and mine. The next day I called her and she said, "I'm never going out with you again." I thought I had heard that before and could handle it, but she stuck to it for about three months.

Finally one day I called her and said, "I won't call you for two weeks if you promise you'll go out with me." She said, "I'll go out with you if you promise you'll never call me again." I said okay, she asked me to give my word, and I thought to myself, it's not worth much, but I'll give it. So I went to pick her up and she opened the door and said, "The only reason I'm doing this is because you promised you'll never call me again. Is that right?" I said yes, but I was thinking this was not going to be all the fun I had hoped for. This was going to be a long night.

We went out, and at that point I had her in the crosshairs. She was helpless. The laser charm beam was turned on. She was also dating a guy who had graduated from Notre Dame, got his master's degree at USC, and flew his own plane. I told Susan she had to choose between the two of us. She said, "Don't make me do that." I said I could not handle it. So she said she would make her decision the next day.

I came home the following evening and his car was outside her apartment. I thought, well, at least she did not blow him off on the phone. But he was there at 5:00, then 5:10, 5:20, 5:30, 5:40, 6:00, 6:15. I was thinking it was taking a long time to say goodbye to this guy. Finally she came over and said she had broken up with him. That was it. That was the relationship.

We dated seriously after that and I asked her to marry me. She said yes. And this is none of it hyperbole — I stood there watching her come down that aisle and she looked absolutely incredible. We went through the whole ceremony, and when the minister got to the moment and said, "Do you take Tom to be her husband?" I was genuinely thinking there was a fifty-fifty shot she was going to say yes. That is how shaky this whole thing was. She said yes. We walked out of that church and I thought I was the happiest person on the planet.

Asking Her to Be My God

There is an old saying that goes something like this: women marry men hoping they will change and they do not; men marry women hoping they will never change and they do. Well, I married Susan hoping she would change me. She was sweet, kind, and innocent, and I was everything but that. But after about three months, I was miserable.

That is when I said to her, "I married you to make me happy, and you are not making me happy." She said, "Well, let me tell you something. I married you to make me happy, and I am miserable." I could not understand it then. I could feel it, but I did not have a framework for it. Here is what I did not understand: I was asking her to be my God — not my wife, my God. To make me happy, make me fulfilled, make me content. Make me, make me, make me.

You can put anything in that box. It may be a foreign religion, a ritualistic religion, materialism, or another person. He is going to lead you out from that. He is not going to leave you there. You cannot have two masters. You cannot have two shepherds. He is going to lead you out.

The Sheep Recognize the Shepherd's Voice

A stranger they simply will not follow. They do not get it. They are not going to follow a stranger. Just like when the shepherd stands at the door and calls out, "All right, let's go" — those that belong to him know His voice.

The Shepherd's Voice Changes Lives

When God saved me, one of the things He did was give me a thirst to read and to understand. Things would come along and, even though I hadn't been a Christian very long, I'd say, "That doesn't sound right." Do you know what that was? That was a false shepherd. It didn't sound right because I didn't have the ears to hear it.

I wasn't always like that. I was not a student. I never liked school or anything that goes with it. I went to college because that's what you had to do. I sat down at the admissions meeting, they took me through all the information, and they said, "Any questions?" I said, "Yes. What grade point average do you need to graduate?" They said, "2.0," and it was the first time in my life I had a goal. I was freshman class president — and I ran for real. I was also on academic probation. When God saved me, He changed all of that.

Jesus Is the Door of the Sheep

Now look at the reaction in verse 6. The figure of speech Jesus spoke to them, but they didn't understand it. They didn't get it. So Jesus said, "All right, let me expand on this."

"Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep." This is really important. We were talking about the sheep gate. When the shepherd was out in the fields and there was an opening in the fold, the shepherd would lay there — he would be the door. He's the one who would protect the sheep, keeping danger out and the sheep in. Jesus is saying: I am that door.

"All who came before me are thieves and robbers." He uses two different words there. The first speaks of something like an embezzler. The other is more of a plunderer — and the lexicon defines it as a plunderer, a robber, a freebooter. Have you ever heard the term freebooter? I had to look it up. It means pirate. So some thieves suddenly take your things away, like a shoplifter or a pickpocket. Others say "stick them up," or they'll whack you over the head. Satan will come like a subtle serpent, or an angel of light, or a roaring lion. They are all thieves. They are all robbers. But Jesus is the real deal. He is the door.

Saved — What Does That Mean?

"If anyone enters through Me, he will be saved." I want to spend a moment on the word saved, because for most of you, you know exactly what I mean, but some of you don't. We use that terminology and there's nothing wrong with it — that's what Jesus said — but let's make sure we understand it.

I've had people say to me, "Are you saved? Are you lost?" and I didn't have the foggiest idea what they were talking about. Lost what? Saved from what? Here's what the Bible teaches: all of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and the wages of sin is death. All of us are sinners who have been separated from God. Consequently, we are lost — lost from Him. We don't have a relationship with Him, and we are lost in life. We don't know who we are, we don't know why we're here, and we don't know where we're going.

That is the eternal quest. It's meaningful to me to spend time with students and hear them ask, "Why are we here? What's going on?" Those are deep questions, and I smile when I hear them — because those are the questions I asked, the questions my dad asked, and my grandfather asked, and every generation that has ever lived has asked, and every generation that ever will live will ask. It seems to me that in the United States at this point in time, students are asking them earlier than we did. They're asking them in their sophomore, junior, and senior years of college, where past generations might not have wrestled with them until their twenties or beyond. But these are legitimate questions with legitimate answers.

The answer is this: I am lost. If I remain in that condition, I will be separated from God forever. But Jesus died to save me — to rescue me, to deliver me from the death I am in. That death means I don't understand the world around me and I'm never going to get it on my own, so I pursue thing after thing after thing. And it also means my eternal existence is at stake. When we've been there ten thousand years, we're just getting started. That is what He is talking about, and the essence of it is Jesus Christ.

Christ Is Essential — Unlike Any Other Religious Founder

Let me read to you what James Boyce wrote. Speaking of Christ:

"This is crucial for Christianity, that Christ is at the center of it. It's not so for other religions. It would make little difference to most world religions if their founder were someone else or even if they had no founder at all. For essentially all of these are collections of spiritual truths, or claims to truth, and methods, all of which could exist without the founder. They needed someone to discover them, of course, but the point is that anyone could have discovered them, and then once they were discovered and existed in their own right — much as scientific propositions — they could be lost and rediscovered. This is the nature of the world's religions. Christianity is not in this category, nor is Jesus like other religious figures. Jesus did not claim merely to know the truth. He said He is the truth. He did not merely show the way to God. He said He is the way to God. Therefore, within Christianity, if there is no Christ, there is no way to God, no truth about God, no vitality of God. Jesus Christ is essential to the Christian faith."

If we don't have the virgin birth, His perfect life, His crucifixion on the cross, His resurrection from the dead, His interceding for us — we have nothing. He is not merely one option among many. He is the door.

Jesus Is the Essence of the Christian Life

Jesus Christ is the essence of the Christian life. When people ask if I am a Christian, they often begin to talk about what they do — I do this, I do this, I do this. But that is not what makes someone a Christian. What makes you a Christian is doctrine and belief. I believe the right things, and therefore I do the right things. That is a really important truth.

Jesus is at the heart of this. He is the essence of this. Apart from Jesus, there is no way, no truth, no life. He said, "I am the good shepherd. I will go out, I will go in, I will find pasture." Pasture and grazing land are hard to find, but He said He would find it, take care of it, and meet every need. He provides the security that comes with having a place — a place in a relationship with Him.

The Abundant Life He Promises

He said, "I may not give you all you want, but I will give you all you need." Look at what He says: "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that you might have life, and have it abundantly." This verse means a great deal to me because it is the verse Larry Rice used when he started his ministry.

Let me read from the lexicon what the word "abundantly" actually means: exceeding some number or measure or rank or need — a mathematical term meaning way in surplus; above and over; more than necessary; super added; superior; extraordinary; surpassing; uncommon; more than excellent; more remarkable. He said He has come that you might have this super-abundant life.

Is He talking about heaven? Well, sure, heaven is part of that. But I think it is bigger than that. I think it means here on this earth — to find meaning and purpose and happiness. It does not mean you are going to have everything you want, but it does mean you will have everything you need. Jesus came that you would have an abundant, fulfilled life.

Not a Prosperity Gospel

Now, do not run out of here and say that this is a prosperity gospel. That is not what I am saying. He is not necessarily going to make you rich in terms of stuff. What He is going to do is make you full — full in terms of purpose and meaning and richness, not of possessions.

That is not anti-material. Some of you have a great deal of stuff, and that is fine. Some of you do not have much, and that is okay. Some of you are barely getting by. That is not the issue. The issue is that He said He is going to cause you to fall in love with what you do have. He is going to give you what you need to get through this life, meet all of your needs, and give you a life that has difference, purpose, meaning, and direction. You are going to have a rich life.

Happiness Versus Joy

I want to go to heaven. I am embarrassed to tell you it is not quite as noble a desire as you might think. I do want to be with Jesus, and I wish I were driven purely by a desire to be with Him. But much of my desire is simply to get out of here. There are times I just long for that richness, and I would love to see Him face to face. But I live — and you live — in a culture that is always fighting against that.

I was watching television the other day because I had some free time. There was absolutely nothing on, and it took me three hours to reach that conclusion. But I watched infomercial after infomercial — someone standing there saying, "I was a size twenty and now I am a size four," or "You can get rich with no money down." I am not making any value judgments on those things. I am simply pointing out that is what the world is saying: here is what is really important, and when you get this, you will be happy.

But here is the truth — when you get it, you will not necessarily be happy. I was talking to someone the other day who asked what I shoot in golf. When I told him, he said, "I would be so happy if I shot that." And I said, "No, you wouldn't." I am out there shooting that score and I know exactly what it is. You would be happy a time or two, but then I am right back to being miserable on the course.

Here is what you discover after a while: you think happiness is wherever you are not. You think happiness is having whatever you do not have. And Jesus says, no. We are not talking about happiness — we are talking about joy. Happiness is circumstantial. Joy is relational.

Real, Genuine Life

He said, "I have come that you might have life." Look at verse 10. The thief — the false teacher, all those other things — steals and kills and destroys. But He has come that you would have life. Real, genuine life. Life as it was meant to be, in its richest and fullest expression. Not with every gadget, not with every comfort, though my experience is that He gives you a great many of those things as well.

He has come that you might have real, genuine life, and it is going to begin with Him and with a relationship with Him. You are the sheep, and He is the Shepherd. He will meet your needs, provide your security, and give you a life of purpose, meaning, and lasting joy — not because of what you have, but because of Whose you are.

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