THE SHEPHERD AND THE SHEEP - Kenute P. Curry

THE SHEPHERD AND THE SHEEP

Kenute P. Curry

How fittingly that the Scriptures would use these words to describe the tender care of Jesus Christ for the believers of His Body, as He guides them to springs of living water.

John 10:27

1. GOD LED HIS PEOPLE SAFELY OUT OF EGYPT LIKE SHEEP, AND GUIDED THEM LIKE A FLOCK (Psalm 78:52-53). HE CALLS THEM THE SHEEP OF HIS PASTURE (Psalm 79:13). SHEEP ARE PRONE TO WANDER AND FIND THEMSELVES LOST (Psalm 119:176).

2. GOD’S PEOPLE WERE SCATTERED FOR LACK OF A SHEPHERD. THEY WENT ASTRAY ON ALL THE MOUNTAINS, AND EVERY HIGH HILL. NO ONE WAS SEARCHING FOR OR SEEKING THEM (Ezekiel 34:5-6).

3. GOD PROMISES TO SEARCH FOR HIS FLOCK (People) AND SEEK THEM OUT (Ezekiel 34:11). HE WILL MEET THE NEEDS OF HIS FLOCK (People) AND LET THEM REST (Ezekiel 34:15). HE WILL APPOINT A SINGLE SHEPHERD OVER THEM – JESUS CHRIST, WHO WILL TEND THEM AND SHEPHERD THEM (Ezekiel 34:23). “YOU ARE MY FLOCK, THE FLOCK OF MY PASTURE; YOU ARE MEN, AND I AM YOUR GOD (Ezekiel 34:31).

4. WE CAN TAKE COMFORT IN KNOWING THAT WE HAVE A STRONG AND COMPASSIONATE SHEPHERD, IN JESUS CHRIST, WHO AMAZINGLY DEMONSTRATES HIS UNCONDITIONAL LOVE TO US, DAY AFTER DAY (Isaiah 40:11).

5. JESUS IS DESCRIBED AS THE GREAT SHEPHERD OF THE SHEEP (Believers) (Hebrews 13:20).

6. JESUS REFERS TO HIMSELF AS THE GOOD SHEPHERD. HE KNOWS HIS OWN SHEEP (Believers) AND THEY KNOW HIM (John 10:14).

7. JESUS IS KNOWN BY HIS SHEEP (Believers), BECAUSE THEY RECOGNIZE HIS VOICE. THEY DO NOT RECOGNIZE THE VOICE OF STRANGERS (John 10:4-5).

8. PAUL WAS CHOSEN:

A. TO KNOW GOD’S WILL.

B. TO SEE THE RIGHTEOUS ONE.

C. TO HEAR THE SOUND OF HIS VOICE.

(Acts 22:14)

9. A TIME IS COMING WHEN ALL WHO ARE IN THE GRAVES WILL HEAR CHRIST’S VOICE (John 5:28).

Jesus is the Door. This time it will not be Jesus who walks into our house; it will be us who will walk into His, and behold Him face to face.

February 11^th 2014

©2014 Kenute P. Curry. All rights reserved. 

Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version of the Bible, © 1979, 1980, 1982, 1990, by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Publishers.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

JOHN MacARTHUR – The MacArthur Study Bible, New King James Version (Nashville, Tennessee:  Word Publishing, a division of Thomas Nelson Inc. 1997)

HCSB STUDY BIBLE – Holman Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, Tennessee: Holman Bible Publishers 2010)