The Good Shepherd Loves His Sheep (John 10:14-15)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/3/2016 8:03 AM

My Worship Time                                                    Focus:  The Good Shepherd Loves His Sheep

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  John 10:14-15

            Message of the verses:  “14  "I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, 15  even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.”

            It is because of the love that the Lord has for His own that He has given His life for them.  Now it is important that we understand what the word “know” means hear as it is used in verse fourteen.  Now the following is a quote from John MacArthur, for a sermon on verses 11-21that was given last year:  “Secondly, he loves his sheep.  This is, of course, what’s behind the giving of his life.  Verse 14: “I am the shepherd, the good one, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.”  This explains why He lays down His life voluntarily for the sheep, because He knows them.

“You say, well, where do you get love?  There’s no love there.  It’s all know, four times, the verb ginosko, “to know.”  Well, let me show you something, just a little bit of a hint.  “My Father knows Me,” verse 15.  “My Father knows Me.” Verse 17, “the Father loves Me.”  That’s the interpretive key.  The word “know” here has the idea of a loving relationship.  This goes all the way back to Genesis 4:1 where Adam knew his wife and she had a child.  Cain knew his wife, and she had a child.  Adam knows Eve again and another child, Seth.  God actually says in Amos, “Israel only have I known.”  It doesn’t mean the Jews are the only people He’s acquainted with.  What is it talking about?  It says about Joseph that he was so disturbed because Mary was pregnant and he had never known her.  What is that talking about?  That’s a euphemism for intimacy. 

“It’s not about information.  It’s not about information.  It’s about love, and four times, that word “know” here; it implies this intimate relationship, this intimate, sweet, loving fellowship; this sort of consummated relationship. 

“In the 14th chapter of John, and verse 21, “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me, and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him, and disclose Myself to him.”  So there, the language is love, rather than knowing.  Verse 23: “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word.  My Father will love him.  We will come to Him and make our abode with Him.”  So when you see the word “know” in this context, it’s the idea of loving, intimate relationship.

“He loves His sheep.  He knows them more than knowing their name, more than knowing who they are.  He has an intimate relationship with them.  He knows them intimately.  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “Depart from Me, I never” - What? - “I never knew you, but I know who you are.”  It’s not about information.  I know who you are.  I don’t have any intimate relationship with you, any love relationship.  He wanted to give His life for His sheep because He knew them, He loved them.

 

“John 3:16.  “God so loved the world that He” - What? – “gave His only begotten Son.”  That’s why the Father gave the Son; that’s why the Son gave His life.  He loves His sheep.  He loves His sheep.  This too is in stark contrast to the false shepherds who have no love for the sheep, no affection for the sheep that they claim to shepherd.  He loves His own.”

Just a note on when I quote exactly from a sermon that comes from John MacArthur, and that is that every word that he speaks in his sermons are copied onto his website, and they are not edited at all and so sometimes there may be poor grammar, or a wrong word, but I think we can all learn from these quotes that he speaks in his sermons.  At any rate there was a bit more meat on the bone, so to speak, than what I found in his commentary and that is why I chose to use this quote.

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It seems that my theme this week for this section is preparation for partaking of the Lord’s table this upcoming Sunday, and as I think about this word “know” and “known” and how it relates to the love that Jesus Christ has for me, it should cause me to think about just how much He loves me, so much so that He gave His life for me and that is what I am to reflect on as get ready to take the Lord’s Supper.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To think about the love that the Lord has for me.

Memory verses for the week:  (Romans 6:5-6) “5. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;”

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Nathan” (2 Samuel 12:7).

Today’s Bible question:  “After the resurrection of Jesus, where did an angel tell the disciples they should go to see Him?”

Answer in our next SD.

8/3/2016 8:42 AM