Jesus Unfiltered-Follow Series: Every Sheep Needs a Good Shepherd, Part 1 | Chip Ingram

for me one of the most powerful pictures is Jesus as a Shepherd in the ancient near East the protection the caring the nurturing the patience if you want to know what it's like to have that kind of intimacy with Jesus stay with me that's [Music] today welcome to this edition of living on the edge with Chip Ingram the mission of these daily programs is to intentionally disciple Christ Chans Through the Bible teaching of Chip Ingram and we're nearing the end of our second volume in our Jesus unfiltered series follow as we head down the final stretch chip walks through another profound characteristic of Christ that we can learn from the Gospel of John so if you're ready go in your Bible to John chap 10 for Chip's message every sheep needs a Shepherd in all the time the Earth has ever been the most important thing that ever happened wasn't simply the birth of Christ as wonderful that is and not simply his life but the fact that being fully God and fully man he died rose from the dead to give life now here's the question in light of that um consciously or unconsciously we all ask a question or two as we go through life and what I want you to know is how you answer these two questions will determine the course of your life I'm not overstating that if you'll notice there's I put a teaching hand out I put the two questions there question number one is in light of this Resurrection this man who claimed to be God all of history BC ad how do you see God I mean what comes to your mind when you think God what's he what's he really like I mean is he harsh is he down on you is he kind is he angry is he mildly ticked off is he sort of is he like really engaged in what's going on or kind of impersonal did he just sort of set this whole thing up and you know whatever happens happens and I mean when you think God what comes into your mind when you pray what's the visual image of what God is like who's listening to you the quote I put there by toer I think is profound and accurate what comes into your mind when you think about God is the most important thing about your whole life because what you think about God there's an invisible law of the Soul you'll be drawn to or repelled by the image or the picture that you have and I would guess for most of us who we think God is and who he really is are two different people the second question might even be more important how do you think God sees you I mean imagine if you will long before computers long long before you know servers long before Google Facebook Twitter Instagram anything the infinite Mind Of God who knows all things about all people every moment your thoughts your behavior your motives when the picture of you comes up on the screen of this infinite God how do you think he thinks about you I mean what what's his response how does he feel is it like man I wish you'd get with the program or how come you're never doing enough or or oh brother still working with this one or is it you're cherished you're special you're loved you matter you I designed you I've got a plan for you there's a special purpose to you how do you think God thinks about you because what I can tell you is most of us don't answer that question very accurately as well in Matthew chapter 9 toward the end of Jesus life he comes into Jerusalem and he sees a multitude of people not unlike in this room and when he looked at the people and he wasn't just looking physically as he looked at their heart their motives their lives their marriages their singleness their work their pain their hurt their cancer the betrayals the struggles the the infighting the division he says he looked at the multitudes and seeing the multitudes he felt compassion for them would you circle the word in your notes compassion I don't think most of us know what that means he felt compass passion for them for two reasons because they were distressed and downcast like sheep without a Shepherd put a line under distress and align under downcast distressed that that doesn't take a lot of explanation right I mean stressed out worn out burned out struggling relationships not working looking for purpose in life but the word downcast is a little bit different downcast is a a shepherd's term sheep uh wander around and they lie down and sometimes they get where the grass is very soft and there's a little indentation and it feels really good and they will lean over and if a if a if a sheep leans over a little too much and gets almost upside down it can't get up it can't get up you know what happens to what's called a cast sheep 100% of the time they die unless a shepherd comes and lifts them and gets them back on their feet when Jesus saw the multitudes when he sees us he sees our distress he sees our hurts he sees our struggles he sees our insecurities he sees our pain he knows our past he knows what people have done to us he knows the mistakes we've made he sees our distressed and he sees us as downcast that we we're in a situation that we can't solve on our own because we're like a sheep without a shepherd and guess what it stirs in him this is how God thinks about you compassion not down on you not get with the program not do more not what's wrong with you why did you make that mistake why did you make that decision it says he saw the multitudes and he felt compassion the Greek word here means literally from the innermost parts or the bowels the Hebrews thought that the the seats of your emotions were were visceral you and if you've ever had your heart go out to someone where almost you watered up just when you saw someone's pain and it was almost like something down in your stomach hurt that you had to do something to help them that's this word in fact in English I put a good definition there it's a deep awareness and understanding of another person's struggle or hurt or pain that compels you to want to help them sympathy and compassion are very different compassion is you are compelled and you just long to help solve it and make it right I had a probably one of the most compassionate moments I had in the last maybe 10 years or so on Tuesday I have a little grandson his name is Noah so we've gotten really close and Tuesday uh his mom was uh just kind of mopping a floor and he came running behind and and just slipped in a very unusual way came down on his knee and he broke his femur and um I mean when he hit she he Teresa got a call from Annie Mom I don't know what's wrong he's crying and no matter what I do I mean he's uncontrollable it's like he's in tear so they took him to ER and then they took him to the orthopedic guy and by the time I heard about it you know I drove over to the orthopedic guy across from good sams and um I walked in as I walked in the orthopedic doctor had put up his X-ray you know I saw this bone it had this diagonal fracture in it and I mean he was just beside himself and if if it moved at all he just this poor little kid that I'm so close to and Annie uh had been in there for a couple hours and and so she had to uh go get a drink of water and the doctor and everybody left and I just sat there this little guy and he looked at me with like Terror in his eyes like fix me pop off what's wrong and everything in me I just something happened do this ever happened to you I mean something happened now deep inside of me like I just wanted to say it's going to be okay and and it's going to heal up and you know probably five years from now you won't even remember and and and and of course he's 19 months old he can't understand anything and then he just looked at me like Papa why don't you help here's what I want you to know what I felt inside when I saw his need is how God feels about you when he sees your need spna is the word when he sees the divorce in your past when he sees The Strife in your marriage when he sees the the depression and the anger when he sees the conflict that's happening at work when he sees whatever need the cancer that you're battling the parent that's dying the kid that just doesn't seem to get with the program your deepest hurts needs and mistakes are like a magnet that draw Jesus love and compassion to you that's what the bible teach God's like now I don't know about you but I that's not the picture I've had of God most of my life and I've been a pastor for over 30 years and I can tell you that that's intellectually the picture I know is true but I have this default mechanism anybody have that like on any given day I can think I don't think I measure up I don't think I'm doing very well God's probably kind of mad at me and it's none of that's true but I act that way and part of my family of origin part my personality and and so we have to be reminded why did he come it was compassion so Old and New Testament sometimes a word picture helps people grasp it especially comes out of the culture so we can take sort of these Concepts and get them into real life and so 200 times in the old New Testament God makes the metaphor of sheep Shepherd sheep Shepherd because that's their world and sheep are dependent vulnerable has anyone ever seen a wild sheep or a documentary on a wild sheep you know why they don't exist they they don't exist they don't I mean a sheep without a Shepherd here's here's here's the game plan die they can't find water on their own they're vulnerable uh they can't if they if they're not moved to get new Food they'll sit and eat the grass there down to the roots kill themselves if they roll over or cast they can't pick themselves up they have to be led don't take this personally God calls us sheep pigs are way smarter than sheep sorry and orangutangs are way up there and so sheep are these not that intell ENT animals but they're super valuable they're wool they milk whole Villages whole Nations have lived on the Great Value and specialness of what a sheep bring and so all through scripture God helps us understand compassion and what he's really like by the shepherd and the Sheep there was a time where uh Israel had um you know just to use a vernacular blown it big time and you would think God would be just like you know what I'm just going to start over in Ezekiel 34 after speaking to a group of shepherds who were fleecing the Sheep literally and using them and and and just just messing up things this is God's word to them in Ezekiel 34:11 he says for thus says the Lord God behold I myself will search for my sheep and seek them out and here's the metaphor or the simile as a Shepherd cares for his herd in the day when he is among his scattered sheep so I will care for my sheep and I'll deliver them from all the places in which they're scattered on a cloudy and gloomy day you know I myself the it's Yahweh Elohim I mean this is God the Lord and he looks at his people and he says I myself I'm going to go after them like a Shepherd goes for scattered sheep and he doesn't stop he says I will feed my flock and I will lead them to rest I mean like anybody here like need rest I don't mean just physical I mean in your soul declares the Lord God I will seek who's he after the lost I will bring back the scattered I'll bind up the broken and I will strengthen the sick even David when he was trying to express the intimacy that he had with God remember what he would say I mean here's a guy that was a king and the psalmist and powerful and then on a really really weak moment on a bad day commits adultery and then covers it up and commits murder and yet the the New Testament looks back on this very flawed person that was very gifted and said he was a man after God's Own Heart not because he never messed up but because of the tenderness of his heart what he understood was here's what David got I see how God sees me I see that God is a god of mercy and compassion and forgiveness and wants to restore and so the Holy Spirit led him one day to say the Lord Yahweh is my shepherd and I won't be in want he makes me lie down in Green Pastures and what he does he's going to Lead Me by Quiet Waters because he's going to restore my soul and he says even though I walk through the valley of the Shadows of death I won't fear evil because he's with me his Rod his staff they comfort me he'll Lead Me in passive righteousness he's going to direct my life and there'll be a day when I come through all these difficulties and there's going to be this Victory banquet and he's going to allow he's going to set a table a buffet if you will in the very presence of my enemies and then just like in the big buffets in the huge moments he will anoint my head with oil like happens on these marvelous celebrations and then instead of waiting for the other shoe to drop and something bad to happen his mercy and his love will follow me and the word literally is pursue me come after me Chase me all the days of my life you're listening to living on the edge with Chip Ingram and we'll continue the second volume of our Jesus filtered series titled follow in just a second but let me ask you do you feel bombarded by negative depressing or even sinful thoughts if you want some help overcoming them join us after the teaching as chip talks about the importance of renewing our minds with God's word and highlights a resource that can help you take every thought captive stick around to learn more well with that here again is Chip do you think of God like that so good so kind so loving that he's he's trying to chase you you down to say would you let me give you the best and then maybe the last thing and I know he says I'll dwell in the house of the Lord forever and so Jesus in John chapter 10 is speaking to a group of people that that they just can't figure out some believe in him and some have rejected him and he wants them to know even those that are trying to kill him about his compassion and his love of why he came and you pick up the story in John 10 open your notes if you will and as you do John chap 10 we're going to get uh the story of Jesus speaking to a mixed group of people some trying to kill him and some who believed and so he gives them this metaphor and what you're going to see first is you're going to see some uh you're going to see a parable cuz he he Longs for people even those that want to kill him he Longs for them to understand God's compassion so he gives them a picture in their world that they can understand I tell you the truth Jesus says the man who does not enter the Sheep pin by the gate but climbs in some other way is a thief and a robber the man who enters by the gate is The Shepherd of his sheep The Watchman or the porter opens the gate for him and the Sheep listen to his voice he calls his own Sheep by name and he leads them out when he's brought them all out his own he goes on ahead of them and his sheep follow him because they know his voice but they will not follow a stranger in fact they will run run from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice Jesus used this figure of speech or Parable but they did not understand what he was telling them now I I don't know about you and I didn't grow up in the church I didn't grow up reading the Bible but if I wanted to know about God's compassion and I heard those six verses parable about sheep it didn't do a lot for me okay if you understand the culture you understand what he now says later what he basically said was look you all understand how life works with sheep it's an agrarian culture uh there's Shepherds they can't grow a whole lot the land isn't all that good so if you're the youngest son your job is to be the shepherd and and then in the village you lived off the wool you lived off you could sell the wool the milk occasionally you would sacrifice one and so I'm a Shepherd you're a Shepherd he's a Shepherd she's a Shepherd us and so at the end of the day we would go to the village and in our village would be a a shepherd's pen if you will it often would be about 4T High all made out of stone a large area and there would be a gate and so I would bring my sheep and I would stand and I would put my rod and I would count them and maybe I've got 53 sheep and then the next Shepherd or Shepherd us comes and they've got 35 50 40 and so this whole big area is filled with sheep and there's an entrance he's just describing their everyday life but now he says some things that they really get and if you've ever seen the documentary or this still happens today today Shepherds name their sheep and sometimes it's you know strip legged or uh bad attitude or stuff like that or wh spotted face but they name all their sheep and they know them personally but they build this intimacy and relationship it's why Jesus uses this so when a Shepherd would come at in the next morning all the Sheep are there they're safe he would might come and and they almost have like talk he might go yo yo y and all about 50 sheep they look and he walks and they follow him none of the other sheep move move and then another Shepherd comes goes oh oh another 35 sheep and they walk out so he's explaining how it happens and then he says thieves and robbers see at night there this it's about four feet or so Stone and some might be a little bit higher a thief would come during the dark and he would climb over it have a couple friends slit the neck of a sheep and then get as many as they could robbers didn't just steal they would beat up who was on guard often kill them and try and get the whole herd so he just describing a world about the relationship between sheep and Shepherds now listen carefully because now he applies it to himself we pick up the teaching in verse 7-10 verse 7 says therefore Jesus said I tell you the truth I am the gate or the door for the Sheep all whoever came before me are thieves and robbers but the Sheep didn't listen to them I am the gate here's his offer whoever enters through me will be saved he's talking about spiritual salvation in the context of this book he will come in and go out and find pasture so come to me and believe in me I will provide for you and I'll protect you the thief comes only to steal and to kill and destroy and then he gives his purpose statement for why he came I came that you might have life and have it to the full or have it abundantly literally the word means to exx and to overflowing and so so the teaching here Jesus is saying that door the entrance way in and out and relationship I'm the answer I'm the Shepherd in fact what he says you might jot it in your notes he's saying Jesus is the Good Shepherd and and what what they knew in their day but that's what you need a good shepherd this is the part of your view of God my view of God most people's view of God I think is completely skewed we don't believe he's good and you can't trust someone that you don't think is good we don't think if we left the decision about a future mate to him he would make a very good decision we don't think if we left the decision and and wanted his guidance about what job to take or where our kids ought to go to school or is it this roommate I should live over here or there or we down deep we want to control we think we know better and so he wants them to know because the barrier to belief is you got got a trust and he wants him to know I'm the Good Shepherd now the teaching goes on and he's going to say let me prove it to you and he's going to say the Good Shepherd lays down his life for the Sheep In other words greater love has no one than this that one lay down your life for your friend and it says I want you to know I'm going to lay down my life and as I read this you'll count maybe three four different times he talks about laying down his life laying down his life and as he does he's going to say why he does it he's going to say that he offers this for all people and then he's going to say I'm doing it voluntarily what you'll learn In this passage is Rome did not kill Jesus and Jews did not kill Jesus follow along as I read let's pick it up at verse 11 I am the Good Shepherd the Good Shepherd lays down his life for the Sheep The Hired Hand is not the shepherd who owns the Sheep so when he sees the wolf coming he abandons the sheep and runs away then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it the man runs away because he's a Hired Hand and cares nothing for the Sheep I am the Good Shepherd I know my sheep and my sheep know me just as the father knows me and I know the father repeated I lay down my life for circle the word for will come back to it I lay down my life for the sheep and then he's speaking to Jews here but he expands I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen I must bring them also he's speaking of us Gentiles the reason my father loves me is I lay down my life only to take it up again no one takes it from me I lay down my life of my own accord and I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it up this command I receive from the father now notice the response either going oh come on are you kidding at these words the Jews were divided many of them said he's demon-possessed he's raving mad listen to him and others said these aren't the says of a demon-possessed man and and can a demon Open the Eyes of the blind in the last chapter he opened the eyes of man blind from birth and so his offer for life is that little word for I give my life I lay down my life for the sheep in Greek there's two words for for one is sort of uh on behalf of I I do it for you the other is I'll do it on behalf of you but in place of you that's this word in other words what he's saying is I'm going to lay down my life for you as a substitute and what you deserve for your behavior and your sin and what I deserve for my behavior and my sin and how I've treated people and what I've done instead of me receiving that he says I'll lay down my life and I'll take what you deserve and you can have what I deserve before God's presence and then he says I'm offering this to whosoever will believe and then finally says it's voluntary no one's making me do this there's no group to blame I have the power to lay my life down have the power to lift it up this is living on the edge with Chip Ingram and you've been listening to part one of Chip's message every sheep needs a Shepherd which is from the second volume of his Jesus unfiltered series follow chip will be back shortly to share some help application for us to think about when Jesus called his disciples he used two simple words follow me so what does it look like to follow Jesus today well join us as we uncover the answer as chip opens his Bible to a section in the Gospel of John learn what chapters 6-10 tell us about being content humble bold and in awe of Christ's power and how all of those ideas tie into our decision to follow Jesus you're not going to want to miss a single program Chip's with me in studio now and chip in today's world we're bombarded by lies and negativity and we often believe those ideas without even realizing it so take a minute if you would and talk about how we can better guard our minds great question Dave I was just discussing this with the discipleship group I have early on Monday mornings and we were all talking about the news and distractions and negativity and scrolling and all the rest and the scripture in 1 Corinthians says we're to take every thought captive to The Obedience of Christ and so the battle is in our mind and it's one thing to limit the intake but you have to have an offensive weapon and so what we've developed is what I call truth cards each card has a lie that we're tempted to believe and then the truth is from The Book of John and what you do is you read these over I mean just casually and it is amazing how you learn to take every thought captive let me give you an example the LIE living the Christian life feels like an impossible Journey trying to be and do all the Bible says is overwhelming and then you flip over the card and here's the truth I can't do the Christian Life In My Own Strength but as I stay connected to Jesus I experience his power and his Joy John 155 you get the idea get these truth cards they'll really help amen chip well to order your set of Our Gospel of John truth cards go to livingontheedge.org or call us at 8333 6003 and as you read through and meditate on these 21 cards you'll expose the lies we've bought or fallen into and replace them with the Rock Solid truth of God's word to learn more about this helpful tool visit livingontheedge.org or call 8333 603 appur tap special offers well before we go here again is Chip as we wrap up today's program this is a very very familiar passage but down deep I'm not not sure we relate to it that much I I don't know anything about cheap personally I've been around a few and I've read that they're you know kind of dumb that they're helpless and they smell and um I guess there's a parallel with people there but you know the fact of the matter is the point is is that sheep are followers and sheep are helpless but I think many of us feel very self-sufficient a lot of the time and I think this Parable what Jesus taught really Rings home when you're out of work when your spouse walks out on you when one of your kids is an ICU or when you get a biopsy report and it says cancer you see that's when we're helpless that's when we realize I can't change things I need a savior I need God and Jesus is saying I am the Good Shepherd and he says whether you've wandered from the truth or whether you're drowning in alcohol or whether you're sick on drugs or whether you're stalled in selfishness I want you to know that I want to rescue you that great Psalm that people read at funerals it says the Good Shepherd he says he'll rescue Your Rod and your staff sometimes he corrects and sometimes he pulls us out of the ditch but today is the day for you to know there's someone who cares about you there's someone that knows everything in your life if you will admit that you're helpless if you'll admit that you need help if you cry out for help and run to him the promise of God is very clear draw near to God and he'll draw near to you today whatever it looks like would you take a moment would you maybe just go to a park maybe 5 minutes in the car and would you bow your head and just draw near to God and let him draw near to you good word chip and as we close I want you to know that as a staff we ask the Lord to help you take that next Faith step in your faith journey and if there's a way we can help we'd love to do that give us a call our number is 83336 tree or connect with us at livingontheedge.org and while you're there take a moment and look through our resources on various topics many of them absolutely free Listen to Next time as chip wraps up the second volume of his Jesus unfiltered series follow until then this is Dave drwy saying thanks for joining us for this edition of living on the edge thanks so much for watching this video if you'd like to watch more content like this click and subscribe here to our Channel and by the way if you'd like to know more about living on the edge find out about more resources maybe get on the mailing list go to livingontheedge.org see you next time