Glory to the Shepherd, Not the Sheep

March 2 2025 Sermon Outline

Main Idea: John 10 and 11 work together to show and tell the keeping power of Jesus.

In chapter 10, Jesus tells us about his keeping power (10:27-30)
In chapter 11, Jesus shows us his keeping power (11:25-26)

By the keeping power of Jesus, I mean the glorious theme of assurance which in the Calvinistic system is referred to as “the perseverance of the saints.” 

“They, whom God hath accepted in his Beloved, effectually called, and sanctified by his Spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved.” – WCF

We see it all over scripture. I could pile verse by verse up for you, building a monument of God’s great promises that: 

he will never leave you nor forsake you
that he is able to keep you from stumbling and present you blameless before the glory of his presence
that he is author and perfector of your faith
and that he who began a good work in you is able to carry it to completion.

I could spend our entire time building a scriptural monument to his keeping power, but for me personally, Jesus’ words in John 10:27-30 will always be the capstone of all of these kinds of promises. 

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”

While the Bible is full of promises of God’s preserving power, I consider John 10:27-30 to be the capstone of all the other promises. This is due to the vivid clarity provided by the sheep/shepherd metaphor.

By calling me a sheep, Jesus acknowledges my wandering nature.

I follow the herd off the cliff (the world)
I follow my own pleasures into various pits (the flesh)
I am highly vulnerable to various predators (the devil)

By calling himself a shepherd, Jesus both assures me of his keeping power and reminds me who the star of the story is supposed to be.

Look back at the text,

“I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”

Jesus is boasting here. Jesus is very proud of his keeping power. All throughout the scriptures, God stakes his reputation on his faithfulness to his people. Jesus boasts in this. Not only here but also in John 6:

All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” — John 6:37-40

The Father and the Son are proud of their preserving power.

This is a good reminder that the ultimate goal of the gospel is to glorify the shepherd and not the sheep.

Lord willing, over time, your life will take on more and more characteristics of godliness and holiness and so forth. But the difference between the worst version of you in Christ and the best version of you in Christ is never so large as to outgrow the basic dynamics put forth in this passage.

You are a sheep. Jesus is the good shepherd. 

Listen to what the great and godly puritan Thomas Watson said about this passage:

“May this make us love God, and set up the monuments and trophies of his praise! How much have we done to cause God to withdraw his Spirit, and suffer us to fall finally! yet that he should keep us, let his name be blessed, and his memorial eternalized, who kept the feet of his saints.” — Thomas Watson

Thomas Watson was a better Christian than you. And yet even he was left in wonder and praise that God continued to keep him. 

Our hope is not in the staying power of sheep but rather in the keeping power of the shepherd.

John 11 exposition:

So in John 10, Jesus tells us about his keeping power. And then in John 11, he shows us his keeping power.

Look at how similar these three verses are:

All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” — John 6:37-40

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” — John 10:27-30

“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” — John 11:25-26

They’re all about the preserving power of Jesus. The demonstration of his skillful shepherding.

And in the form of a story, certain nuances emerge.

I’m assuming many of you are familiar with the story of Lazarus. But let me take a few minutes to give those who may not know a quick primer. 

Look at 11:1-6

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. — John 11:1-6

Note the emphasis on Jesus’ love for Lazarus (vs. 3, 5, 36)

We see what being loved by Jesus does not mean:

It does not mean he will be there for us in the way we think he should be there for us. It does not mean he will give us immediate victory over everything. (vs. 1-6)

We see what being loved by Jesus does mean:

When Jesus loves a person, he will allow that person to bring glory to him through struggle. (vs. 4)

“But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” — John 11:4

When Jesus loves a person, he will, in the end, keep and preserve him. (vs. 17-44)

What does it feel like to be loved by Jesus? 

if Jesus’ loves you, he will let you live through various experiences that give God the glory. Which may exclude giving you instant victory over whatever ails you (spiritually or physically). 

So Jesus does not rush in to save the day. He lets Lazarus suffer. He lets the curse of sin and death do its work on Lazarus’ body. And Lazarus dies. 

Look at vs. 11-15

After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

And so he goes to him and I assume you know what comes next. By the time Jesus arrives, Lazarus has been dead and entombed for four days. 

Martha meets him as he comes into town. Look at vs. 21-26

Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” 

Once again, Jesus is presenting his preserving power to Martha. He is saying, Lazarus is not lost. Indeed, Lazarus cannot be lost because he is mine. 

And then he says to Martha, “do you believe this?”

Doubting Christian, do you believe this?  

Do you understand that you are not out here in the hard world, battling the world, the flesh, and the devil all alone? Do you understand that you can never be snatched out of the good shepherd’s hand?

Do you believe this?

Look at vs. 38-44

Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

From the greater to the lesser

In ancient literature, death is routinely seen as a river or some other “terrain” that separates a person from their loved ones. This is evident in Egyptian hieroglyphics, Virgil’s Aeneid, and Homer’s Odyssey.

The Lazarus story is fundamentally a narrative presentation of the fundamental promises we find in the last section of Romans 8:

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:35–39, ESV).

Application: We should both commend and correct those struggling with assurance.

Commend: It is good to feel unworthy of salvation.

Grace is amazing. It is strange. It is in some ways a shock to our system. So if you’re struggling with believing that God saved you, or would save you – then I would say there’s something commendable about that. 

“While others are congratulating themselves, I lie humbly at the foot of Christ's cross and marvel that I am saved at all.” — Charles Spurgeon

Correct: It is wrong to doubt God’s word.

So I would commend some part of what you’re feeling. But there are other aspects of this struggle that deserve critique.

Let me address just one.

9 times out of 10, when I speak with someone who is struggling with assurance, they are also struggling with some besetting sin. 

I’m going to use sexual immorality as an example. The general way of approaching this issue would be to see the presence of this sin as the reason they are lacking assurance. Afterall, doesn't Paul make it plain in places like Galatians 5:19-20 that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 

And so most people typically assume that if they could finally get freedom from this or that besetting sin, that assurance would follow. 

But I want to invite you to look at it in another way.  

The typical way of thinking sees assurance as downstream from performance. If I started acting more like a Christian by cutting off this terrible sin of sexual immorality, then I would feel assurance in the reality of my salvation.

But I want to suggest the issue may be more about faith in general. You have a problem with taking God at his word. You keep leaning on your own understanding. That is manifested in unbelief in at least two areas of your life (and probably many more):

The same disbelief that allows you to temporarily go your own way and engage in a behavior God has forbidden is also at work in how you view the gospel more broadly. 

All that to say John 10:28 is a promise from God’s mouth to your ears. 

“I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”

And at some point you’re going to have to simply take God at his word.

All of our joy is bound up in believing the gospel.

Earned assurance is not gospel assurance.
Performance based assurance is not gospel assurance.

The assurance God has for you is gospel assurance. It comes by faith, and not by works, lest any man should boast. 

The grand purpose of God is not to make you look good. It is to make Christ look good. Christ will look good by both keeping you and by sanctifying you. 

Prayer:

Lord, I now see that my main problem is doubting your word. When I sin against you, it is because I doubt your word. Likewise, when I doubt that you have saved me, it is because I doubt your word. Father, you have made it very clear that believing the gospel always comes first. And you hate works based righteousness both to secure salvation and to secure assurance. Please forgive me for doubting your word. This is my main problem. This is the cause of all my troubles. Today I choose to take you at your word. You that you are the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. And today I choose to believe this.

Communion:

All the way my Savior leads me;
  What have I to ask beside?
Can I doubt His tender mercy,
  Who through life has been my Guide?
Heav’nly peace, divinest comfort,
  Here by faith in Him to dwell!
For I know, whate’er befall me,
  Jesus doeth all things well,
For I know, whate’er befall me,
  Jesus doeth all things well.

All the way my Savior leads me,
  Cheers each winding path I tread,
Gives me grace for every trial,
  Feeds me with the living bread.
Though my weary steps may falter,
  And my soul athirst may be,
Gushing from the Rock before me,
  Lo! a spring of joy I see,
Gushing from the Rock before me,
  Lo! a spring of joy I see.

All the way my Savior leads me;
  Oh, the fullness of His grace!
Perfect rest to me is promised
  In my Father’s blest embrace.
When my spirit, clothed immortal,
  Wings its flight to realms of day,
This my song through endless ages:
  Jesus led me all the way,
This my song through endless ages:
  Jesus led me all the way.

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. — Jude 24-26