B The Good Shepherd Lays Down His Life for the Sheep Ezekiel 34:22-24; JOHN 10:11, 15-18 (TEXT) Rev. Nollie Malabuyo January 24, 2016 (Big Springs URC & ZCRC Pasig) eloved congregation of Christ: On October 6, 1973, as I was looking forward to the last few days of my college years, news broke out that Egypt and Syria attacked Israel simultaneously on two fronts: the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights. Egypt and Syria chose that day because it was the holiest day of the year for Jews, the Day of Atonement. Also, since it was a holiday, Israel was caught by surprise. Since the Hebrew name for the Day of Atonement is yom kippur, this war came to be known as The Yom Kippur War. In Leviticus 23, we read that God appointed the Day of Atonement on the tenth day of the seventh month. On this day of Sabbath solemn rest, no work is done, and there is a holy assembly. Sacrifces and oferings are commanded to atone for the sins of all the people, including the sins of the priests throughout the past year. On this one day of the year, the high priest enters the Most Holy Place with incense and blood. He then sprinkles the blood of the bull on the cover and on the front of the Ark. The cover of the Ark is known in Hebrew as kippur, and this is why the Day of Atonement is also known as Yom Kippur. Sins are atoned for when they are covered by the sacrifcial blood. The wrath of God is propitiated or appeased. The sacrifce of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross is usually called the atonement. In the New Testament, there is no more annual Day of Atonement in which animal sacrifces are made for the sins of God's people. Our Day of Atonement happened once for all on that day when Jesus was crucifed. He atoned for the sins of his people. This is very important. The Bible teaches in many places that Christ paid for the sins of his people. Our text today in John Chapter 10 is one of these passages. Jesus says that as the Good Shepherd, he lays down his life for the sheep. And who are the sheep? These are those whom he calls my sheep and my own. Christ laid down his life for his sheep, not for all human beings. This is one of two doctrines that usually generates heated conversations. The other one is predestination, which we studied last Sunday. For many, both doctrines evoke images of a whimsical divine puppetmaster who amuses himself by toying with his created beings. Thus, most evangelicals believe that Christ s mission was to ofer His life on the cross for all people who would ever be born in this world. Wouldn t this then mean that everyone would be saved? He says no, for their salvation is based on their freewill decision to believe in Christ. But here he is caught in a quandary, because if no one is saved unless he makes a decision for Christ, then no one was actually saved by the death of Christ His death only makes it possible for people to be saved. But the Bible contradicts this view; Christ actually accomplished the salvation of God s people from their sins (Mat 1:21; Gal 3:13). On the cross, Christ even proclaimed, It is fnished (John 19:30). But the atoning work of Christ does not end on the cross. It is completed when he takes his life up again when he rose from the grave. And his death and resurrection have benefts for all
of us believers. He atoned for our sins, and his resurrection was also for our holiness. So today, our meditation will be, The Good Shepherd Lays Down His Life for the Sheep, under three headings: frst, The Good Shepherd Lays Down His Life for the Sheep He Knew; second, The Sheep Ought to Lay Down Their Lives for One Another; and third, The Good Shepherd Takes His Life Up Again. The Good Shepherd Lays Down His Life for the Sheep He Knew Jesus tells us in John 10 that he knows his sheep by name, that they are his own. He knew them before the world was created, and this is not merely simple knowledge, but a saving and intimate knowledge (Eph 1:4; Rom 8:29). He knew them from eternity, since they were given to him by his Father then (John 6:37, 39). But it is not only in John 10 that we read that our Lord laid down his life for his sheep alone. We read this in many other places in Scripture. In Mark 10:45, Christ came to give his life as a ransom for many. In Acts 20:28, Christ purchased only the church with His own blood. In Ephesians 5:25, Christ loved only the church and gave himself only for her. We know from Scripture that in eternity past, the three Persons of the Holy Trinity covenanted with one another before the creation of the world to save the elect. What was God's plan in this covenant? In this divine plan, God the Father elected some people whom He would save. Afterwards, He would send His Son Jesus to atone for the sins of the elect. Finally, the Holy Spirit would apply the benefts of Christ's atoning work to the elect. The Triune God s works of creation, redemption, and re-creation have always been a harmonious, unifed master plan from eternity. Jesus spoke about the eternal covenant as He shared the Passover meal with his disciples on the night before he was crucifed, This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins (Mat 26:28; see also Exo 24:8). But if we believe that Christ sacrifced himself for every single human being in the world, we are in efect sowing disunity and disorganization in the Triune Godhead. How? If the Father elected only some, why would Jesus come into the world to die for everyone? If Christ s mission was to die for everyone, why would the Holy Spirit apply Christ s atoning work to only some? And there is another horrible consequence of universal atonement. If Christ died for every single human being, then he died even for those who are in hell. If I were in His shoes, I would raise a howl of protest against the Father for sending me on a hopeless, useless mission to sufer and die under His eternal wrath for people whom the Father knew were going to hell anyway. This would make God s plan illogical and unjust, since Jesus sufering and death, equivalent to spending eternity in hell for those people, would have been for nothing. But doesn t the Bible say that Christ died for all, and He is the savior of the world? Some Scripture texts seem to say that Christ died for all, for everyone, and for the world, but a cursory study of these words would yield a much diferent conclusion. In the Old Testament, one of the passages where Christ's atonement was for a defnite and particular group of people is Isaiah 53. In verse 4, Jesus the Messiah, the Servant of the Lord,
took up our griefs and our sorrows. In verse 5 he was pierced for our transgressions. In verse 11, he sufered to make many to be accounted righteous. And in verse 12, he bore the sin of many. But in verse 6, we read, All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Who are the our, every one, many, and all in these verses? These words cannot mean everyone who ever lived, because the context of Isaiah 53 is the sufering and death of the Servant for God's people, for his sheep. The word all doesn t always mean all without exception, but often all without distinction. In relation to salvation, this means Jews and Gentiles, men and women, rich and poor, Filipinos and Americans, etc. Consider these representative examples: Matthew 4:23-24: Do all and every in these verses mean that Jesus healed all the people of all diseases? This is an impossibility, so some translations added the correct interpretation: healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease (KJV). Mark 1:5: Does all in this verse mean every single person in Jerusalem and Judea were baptized by John? 1 Corinthians 15:22: In Adam, all every single person who will ever be born in this world came under the curse of death; but in Christ, all means only believers who have eternal life. Titus 2:11: Did God bring salvation to all mankind, without exception? The use of all and everyone is common usage. The New Testament writers use the same colloquialisms, as when the disciples of Jesus say that the whole city was gathered together at the door, and then tell him, Everyone is looking for you (Mark 1:33, 36-37). What about those texts which say that Jesus is the Savior of the world? Used in Scripture, world (Greek kosmos) has a variety of meanings, including creation (Eph 1:4), all the nations (Mat 26:13), the fallen world (John 1:10), and the ungodly world (John 7:7 and 1 John 2:15-17). John 3:16, the world that God loved is obviously his creation, or those who would believe in the only-begotten Son. World in Scripture frequently means only some people in the world, not all of mankind. Here are just a few examples: Luke 2:1: Were people from the Philippines, Japan, South Africa, etc. included in all the world under Caesar s decree? John 1:10 ("the world did not know him"): Did no one in the whole world not even a single person believed in Christ when John wrote his Gospel? John 7:3-4 ("show yourself to the world"): Were Jesus brothers asking Him to show Himself to every individual in the whole world? John 12:19 ( the world has gone after him ): Did the Jews mean that every individual in the whole world was following Jesus? In remembering the death of Christ, let us consider the question, For whom did Christ die? The answer is that he died only for all those who would believe in him. And we are to be eternally grateful to God that Christ's death actually accomplished and secured our salvation. The Sheep Ought to Lay Down Their Lives for One Another This knowledge that our Lord laid down his life especially for us believers ought not to make us proud of ourselves, for we too were dead sinners like others. It ought not to make us complacent regarding our salvation, for Paul himself warns us to work out your own salvation
with fear and trembling (Phil 2:12). It ought not make us content and complacent with our salvation, but we are to bear the fruits of our salvation, by asking God to give us grace to do so. Peter also exhorts us to be all the more diligent to confrm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall (2 Pet 1:10). What are these qualities that we are to practice? Among them are faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly afection, and love. The last two are important to John, who says, Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13). Jesus considers us now as his friends, not enemies, and he laid down his life for us. Later, he says, By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers (1 John 3:16). John connects Christ's love for us in sufering and dying for us, to our selfess love for our brothers and sisters in Christ. What kind of love did Jesus have for us his friends? Paul says in Philippians 2, he emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant... And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. He left his glory in heaven and humbled himself as a mere man, and sufered and laid down his life for us on the cross. Paul says that we are to model the humility and love that Christ has for the sheep, Do nothing from selfsh ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more signifcant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus (Phil 2:3-8). The Good Shepherd Takes His Life Up Again Jesus did not only say he lays down his life for his sheep. He also says he has power and authority to take it up again. Because he is divine, he is able to raise himself up from the grave. In verses 17-18, he says, I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 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. His resurrection is a demonstration of his divinity, since no one is able to do this except God. The atoning work of Jesus for his sheep is useless if he did not raise himself up from the grave. Paul says that if he did not, our faith is in vain, and our testimony about him is a lie. And all of us will still be hopeless sinners, and we are the most pitiable of all people (1 Cor 15:12-19). What are the benefts that believers attain because of the resurrection of Jesus? The Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 45 lists these benefts. First, we are made partakers of the righteousness which He has obtained for us by His death. Paul says that Jesus was raised for our justifcation, which means that without his resurrection, we can never be righteous before God. Second, we too are also now raised up to a new life. Because we are united to Christ in his death and resurrection, Paul says, we are also dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus, and are enabled by the Spirit to live righteous lives (Rom 6:11). Third, his resurrection is a sure pledge of our blessed resurrection. Christ is the frstfruits of the resurrection, then at his coming those who belong to Christ will also be raised from the dead (1 Cor 15:23).
D ear brothers and sisters, what a comforting promise that our Lord Jesus Christ, our Good Shepherd, has accomplished all things for us, his sheep. He laid down his life for us, his friends, so we too might be dead to sin, through the indwelling Holy Spirit. He raised himself up from the grave as a down payment of the resurrection that all of us await when he returns. And as a church, a community of believers for whom Jesus laid down his life, we ought to lay down our lives for one another. Serving one another. Teaching one another. Praying for one another. Sharing resources with one another. Visiting with one another. Submitting to one another in humility. Encouraging one another. Comforting one another. This is what John means when he says, we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.