John 10:10
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life, and have it in all its fullness.
Sermons
LifeGeorge MacDonaldJohn 10:10
Life and AbundanceJ.R. Thomson John 10:10
The Fullness of Life in JesusD. Young John 10:10
The Two MissionsB. Thomas John 10:10
Climbing Up Some Other Way into HeavenD. L. Moody.John 10:1-13
Entrance Without QualificationH. O. Mackey.John 10:1-13
Jesus the Good ShepherdC. S. Pomeroy, D. D.John 10:1-13
Sheep to be Fed, not ShearedArchbp. Trench.John 10:1-13
ShepherdhoodBp. S. S. Harris.John 10:1-13
The Fold and the DoorS. S. Times., S. S. TimesJohn 10:1-13
The Fold of the SheepS. S. TimesJohn 10:1-13
The Shepherd and the FlockC. S. Robinson, D. D.John 10:1-13
Wrong Ways to HeavenJohn 10:1-13














Sad indeed is the perversion of Divine gifts, which takes place when those who teach and lead mankind use their influence for moral harm. Yet so it was, our Lord Jesus tells us, with many who came before him with great professions indeed, yet with no help for the spiritually necessitous. Some such had altogether carnal notions of what deliverance, salvation, means. Others were animated by selfishness and ambition. The purpose of many who made great claims was in reality far from benevolent. Jesus does not hesitate to designate them as thieves, entering God's flock with the intention of stealing, killing, and destroying. This was a heavy charge; and our Lord would not have brought it had there not been good reason and justification for so doing. The aim and the conduct of such pernicious leaders was contrasted by Jesus with his own. He, too, came claiming to shepherd the flock of God. But his one purpose was this, that through his ministry of devotion and sacrifice the sheep of the fold might have life and abundance.

I. THE BLESSINGS WHICH THE GOOD SHEPHERD CAME TO BRING TO THE FLOCK.

1. Life. Jesus was "the Life;" "in him was life." What he possessed in himself he came to communicate to his own.

(1) This was spiritual life. Not psyche, but zoe. Of this man only, amongst the living inhabitants of this teeming world, is capable.

(2) This life is salvation from death. Our Lord himself contrasts it with destruction. To this terrible fate, to spiritual death, this human race was hastening. But Christ, as a great Physician, undertook the case of those who were ready to perish. He came to save.

(3) This life is a new and Divine principle. Its origin is in the nature of God; its seed-germ is implanted by the Divine Spirit; its spring-tide and growth are the result of heavenly influences.

(4) This life is distinguished by progress, and is not, like terrestrial and bodily life, subject to decay and dissolution.

(5) This life is itself immortality. "He that liveth," says Christ, "and believeth on me shall never die."

2. Abundance. If we translate the word as in the margin of the Revised Version, we understand not the enrichment add perfection of life (abundantly), but the provision made for the life preserved, quickened, perpetuated. The good Shepherd, having saved the flock from destruction, and conferred upon each member of the flock a new and spiritual life, secures for those whom he has saved and divinely quickened a suitable and sufficient provision for all their wants. The fold, the pasture, the living waters, the Shepherd's guardianship and care, may be all included in this word. The wants of those who receive are many and various, but the bounty and benevolence of the great Giver are adequate for their full satisfaction.

II. THE AGENCY AND METHOD BY WHICH THESE BLESSINGS ARE BESTOWED.

1. Christ, the living Person, himself confers them. There are many who look rather to the under-shepherds than to the chief Shepherd. But all who serve the flock are merely the ministers and messengers of the eternal Lord. Not only did he, by his own personal ministry and sacrifice, save the flock from destruction; he, by his perpetual presence and spiritual care, supplies in abundance the ever-recurring wants of his sheep.

2. Christ secured these blessings by his coming to this world. The method by which he sought and saved mankind was mediatorial; it involved his incarnation and advent. This was his conscious aim. "I am come," said he, implying that his was a mission, yet one voluntarily undertaken and cheerfully fulfilled.

3. Even this Divine Person, in executing a purpose so gracious, found it necessary to submit to suffering, to offer himself a sacrifice, to consent to death. He gave up his life (not zoe, but psyche) that we might live spiritually and immortally.

4. And the redemption was completed by our Lord's resurrection and victorious reign. It is observable that in this conversation our Lord Jesus no sooner foretells his death than he declares his intention of rising again. And in fact he resumed life, not only in vindication and assertion of his proper dignity, but in order to exercise from the vantage-ground of his risen life and reign the power he delights in, because it contributes to the abundance of his people's privileges and joys. - T.

He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold.
The simple lesson which our Lord intended to teach in this familiar passage has often been strangely mistaken. The minds of men have been so fixed upon certain ecclesiastical conclusions which have been commonly derived from it, that the simpler but far profounder teaching which the Master had in mind to give has been overlooked. He was not defending the formal authority of His own or of any office. He was not discussing the regularity or lawfulness of His own or of any ministry. He was not pointing out the mode of entrance into shepherdhood, but He was telling how the function for all true shepherdhood must be discharged. He was laying down the rule of good conduct and right service in all true leadership — a rule which He Himself exemplified and fulfilled, and which all must obey who hope in any degree to be worthy leaders of men. He was propounding a lesson which it behoves all men to ponder well who hope to influence their fellow men for good rank, office, order, culture, property — be the authority, the privilege, the right of these what they may, the eternal law of God, as exemplified in the life of His Son, and taught in His Holy Word, and illustrated in human history, is this: that none of these, no matter how commissioned or sent, can exercise any real shepherdhood over men except as they are in sympathy with them. This is true in Church and State; of the employers of labour; of the heads of households; of civil rulers and political leaders; of bishops, priests, and deacons — the power to lead men lies in sympathizing with them, and walking in the same way with them. The man of influence is the man of sympathy; the man of power is the man of service. He that loves is he that leads. He that serves is he that rules. Think for a moment, and you will see why it must be so. Man is free, The soul is free in the truest, deepest sense of the word. God royally made it so, and even He cannot control it by any merely external force or power. It is free to think, to will, and choose, to love, and no mere force or authority from without can control it in these operations in which its sovereign selfhood is realized. You may chain the limbs of a man — you may coerce his actions or even his words; but how can you get into communion with the soul, and rule its will and affections? There is only one way. If you would influence men intimately, profoundly, really, no matter what your authority or station, you must enter into sympathy with them. You must walk in the same path and enter in by the same door, or you can never be the shepherd of the sheep. This is what St. Paul meant when he sang the praise of love (1 Corinthians 13). Among men love is power. And a greater than St. Paul taught the same lesson and confirmed it by His own Divine experience. The Good Shepherd proved and illustrated His own good shepherdhood by sympathy and love. It was by no flash of splendour or miracle of external power that He proved His Divine leadership over the hearts of men; but by coming to walk with them, to toil and hunger, and suffer with them. He entered into mortal life by the same lowly door of human birth; He passed through it by the same path of toil and daily care; He made His exit from it through the same portal of suffering and death. In life and death He walked with the sheep. Therefore He could say, "I am the Good Shepherd, not merely because I am commissioned and sent of My Father, not merely because I wield the power of omnipotence," but "I am the Good Shepherd," He said, because "I know My sheep and am known of Mine."

(Bp. S. S. Harris.)

Note —

I. THE INDIVIDUAL CARE AND GUIDANCE OF OUR LORD for every soul that trusts Him. In modern stock raising in Western lands there is nothing of that personal knowledge and attachment which bound together an Oriental shepherd and his flock.

1. It is an infirmity of Christian people to suppose that they are lost in the crowd, that God deals with them in the gross as a general might deal with his army, with rare notice of individuals least of all of privates. Yet in nothing do we wrong Him more. "The hairs of our head are all numbered."

2. Christ showed nothing clearer than His attention to every personal want within His reach. We have reason as Paul had to appropriate His atoning work as though it were our monopoly (Galatians 2:20; Hebrews 2:9). Indeed He promises a friendship so intimate that it becomes a system of cipher messages between them and their Lord (Revelation 2:17).

3. We talk about how to convert "the masses," when we had better think of single souls.

II. THE SINGULAR COMMUNITY OF SYMPATHY BETWEEN CHRIST AND CHRISTIANS (ver. 4, 14, R.V.). It is compared for closeness and depth to that which subsists between the Father and the Son.

1. In Christ's case we might charge His knowledge on His omniscience, but we cannot so account for ours. Take Christ upon His more human side and you have the explanation. Who has not felt the mystic thrill of sympathy and repulsion when we discover the congenial or uncongenial to ourselves in another character. So Christ felt the unlikeness to Himself of hatred, falseness; but He was drawn with unerring affinity towards the faintest uprisings of human penitence and trust.

2. "My sheep know Me"; not merely something about me. Not by the mere investigation of the shepherd's clothing or crook, to see if both are genuine, as men puzzle themselves over churches, creeds, ordinances. But as one friend recognizes another by a glance if he can be seen; by his voice if out of sight. The test of truth is the character within us. We know God by resembling Him. These Jews could not be satisfied with our Lord's credentials, but certain Samaritans felt the Divine life (chap. John 4:42).

III. GOD'S EXCLUSIVE WAY OF MERCY. Thebes had a hundred gates, but salvation only one (ver. 9). An engine off the track is not more a failure than a man off the track of God's conditions. All entrance to spiritual hope and safety is through Christ. He will endure no rival. Mingle anything with Him as our hope and the mixture fails.

IV. THE ADVANTAGES TO WHICH CHRIST OPENS THE DOOR (ver. 9).

1. Safety. It reminds us of some fugitive running for his life to the city of refuge.

2. Liberty. A Christian is no jailbird, so closely guarded that he finds himself a prisoner. No slave on a plantation, but a child in the family. He knows the truth, and that makes him free to go where and do what he pleases if he only pleases right.

3. Plenty.

V. THE GRAND PURPOSE OF CHRIST'S ADVENT (ver. 10). Nothing is so precious as life. It was forfeited by sin; but Christ restored it at the expense of His own (ver. 11). And it is to be had now. The young are eager to "see" and "enjoy life." And they are right if they will not look for it in the wrong way. In Christ is the way to gain it, not in the low average of worldly attainment, but "more abundantly" in all that makes life worth living.

VI. THE METHOD OF CHRIST'S RULE. "Leadeth" — "goeth before." An Eastern shepherd does not drive his flock; and Christ goes before, never behind, saying not "Go," but "Come."

(C. S. Pomeroy, D. D.)

I. THE APPROPRIATENESS OF THE SIMILE.

1. To Israelites. From the beginning they had been shepherds; hence all along God had been calling Himself their Shepherd.

2. To Christians. The gathered force of all that psalmists sang and prophets spoke has come down to the "little flock."

II. THE ANALOGIES SUGGESTED BY THE SIMILE.

1. The shepherd is the rightful owner of the fold, and treats his fleck in an honest way. He enters by the door, is recognized as the master, and has no semblance of the thief, etc.

2. The shepherd is the true pastor of the sheep. He admits responsibility for the care he has assumed. A hireling would flee, a robber steal and kill, but the good shepherd has thoughtful and affectionate care for the whole flock.

3. Between the pastor and the flock there is the relation of individual acquaintance.

III. THE APPLICATION OF THE SIMILE.

1. Christ as a Saviour sustains an individual relationship to every soul He saves, Each needs the atonement and the work of the Spirit precisely as each needs the entire sunshine and atmosphere in order to see and breathe.

2. Christ as a leader is acquainted with every Christian personally. He knows if he is absent from the communion table, and looks at him when he imagines himself out of sight as to love or duty.

3. Christ as a model expects each believer to be wholly conformed to His likeness. It is not to be supposed that one Christian is to exhibit gentleness and another force, etc.

4. Christ as a master is specially direct in laying His commands on every individual He chooses. He knows the one He wants and calls him by name — Samuel, Zacchaeus, Mary, Simon, Saul.

5. Christ as a comforter deals with each believer as His personal friend (Isaiah 43:1-2).

6. Christ as a judge will close His last account with each individually and alone (Matthew 25).

(C. S. Robinson, D. D.)

S. S. Times.
A place of —

I. SEPARATION.

II. SUPERVISION.

III. SAFETY.

(S. S. Times.)

S. S. Times., S. S. Times.
Not to enter by the door is a characteristic of Oriental thieves, from the Nile to the Ganges. When a tent is to be attacked, the common method is to approach it under cover of the darkness, cut a hole large enough to crawl through, and then silently to enter and as silently to retire with the booty. Bolder robbers will occasionally dig through the walls of a house in the same way. The experience of a British officer in India affords a curious illustration of the skill of Oriental thieves. During the officer's absence in the evening, a man crept quietly up to the tent without attracting the attention of the sentry on guard, cut an opening in the rear of the tent, and began to collect his booty. While he was engaged in this process, the officer returned. The Hindoo instantly fixed himself, silent as a statue, close to the tent wall, with arm drawn up and hand slightly extended. The officer came in, and proceeded in the half-darkness to prepare for rest. Noticing the extended hand of the thief, and mistaking it for a pin of some sort, he hung his helmet and his coat upon it. The thief stood silently holding the helmet and the coat until the officer was asleep, when he retired as he came, taking the helmet and the coat with the rest of his booty. Next morning the hole in the tent and the missing "pin" told the whole story.

(S. S. Times.)

Climbeth up some other way.

1. Even thieves and robbers seek a place within the fold.

2. The basest motives may impel to a place in the fold.

3. Any way but God's way suits base men.

4. Some climb up rather than walk in; they prefer works to faith.

(S. S. Times.)

Let the Pagans, the Jews, the heretics say, "We lead a good life." If they enter not by the door, what availeth it? A good life only profiteth if it lead to life eternal. Indeed, those cannot be said to lead a good life, who are either blindly ignorant of, or wilfully despise the end of good living. No one can hope for eternal life who knows not Christ, who is the Life, and by that door enters the fold.

( Augustine.)

George Moore tells the following striking incident: "After I had been about two years in London, I had a great and anxious desire to see the House of Commons. I got a half-holiday for the purpose. I didn't think of getting an order from an M.P. Indeed I hadn't the slightest doubt of getting into the House. I first tried to get into the Strangers' Gallery, but failed. I then hung about the entrance to see whether I could find some opportunity. I saw three or four members hurrying in, and I hurried in with them. The door keepers did not notice me. I walked into the middle of the House. When I got in I almost fainted with fear lest I should be discovered. I first got into a seat with the name of 'Canning' upon it. I then proceeded to a seat behind, and sat there all the evening. I heard Mr. Canning bring forward his motion to reduce the duty on corn. He made a brilliant speech and was followed by many others. I sat out the whole debate. Had I been discovered I might have been taken up for breach of privilege."

(H. O. Mackey.)

I heard of a man some time ago who was going to get into heaven in his own way. He did not believe in the Bible or the love of God, but was going to get in on account of his good deeds. He was very liberal, gave a great deal of money, and he thought the more he gave the better it would be for him in the other world. I don't, as a general thing, believe in dreams, but sometimes they teach good lessons. Well, this man dreamed one night that he was building a ladder to heaven, and he dreamed that every good deed he did put him one round higher on this ladder, and when he did an extra good deed it put him up a good many rounds; and in his dream he kept going, going up, until at last he got out of sight, and he went on and on doing his good deeds, and the ladder went up higher and higher, until at last he thought he saw it run up to the very throne of God. Then in his dream he thought he died, and that a mighty voice came rolling down from above: "He that climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber," and down came his ladder, and he woke from his sleep, and thought: "If I go to heaven, I must go some other way." My friends, it is by the way of the blood of Christ that we are to go to heaven. If a man has got to work his way there, who will ever get there?

(D. L. Moody.)

These words do not constitute a tautology or mere rhetorical amplification (Obadiah 1:5). The one and the other appropriate what is not theirs, but the thief by fraud and in secret (Matthew 24:43; John 12:6; cf. Exodus 22:2; Jeremiah 2:26), the robber by violence and openly (2 Corinthians 11:26; cf. Hosea 9:1; Jeremiah 7:11). The one steals, the other plunders, as his name in the Greek (as our own from raub, "booty), sufficiently declares. The latter should be substituted for the former in Matthew 21:13; Matthew 26:55; Luke 10:30; Luke 23:39-43.

(Archbp. Trench.)

Sheep to be fed, not sheared: — Dr. Johnson declined a rectory in youth with "I cannot in conscience shear the sheep which I am unable to feed."

People
Jesus, John, Solomon
Places
Jerusalem, Jordan River
Topics
Abundance, Abundantly, Death, Destroy, Destruction, Except, Full, Greater, Kill, Measure, Sheep, Steal, Thief
Outline
1. Jesus is the door, and the good shepherd.
19. Diverse opinions of him.
23. He proves by his works that he is Jesus the Son of God;
31. escapes the Jews;
39. and goes again beyond Jordan, where many believe on him.

Dictionary of Bible Themes
John 10:10

     2354   Christ, mission
     2424   gospel, promises
     4018   life, spiritual
     4035   abundance
     4942   fulness
     5295   destruction
     5555   stealing
     5845   emptiness
     6645   eternal life, nature of
     7789   shepherd, church leader
     7950   mission, of Christ

John 10:1-16

     4684   sheep

John 10:7-10

     5323   gate

John 10:7-14

     2203   Christ, titles of

John 10:9-10

     2426   gospel, responses

Library
February 5 Morning
I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.--JOHN 10:10. In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.--She took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.--If by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

March 18 Evening
His name shall be in their foreheads.--REV. 22:4. I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep.--The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.--Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. After that ye believed, ye were sealed
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

May 11 Evening
My sheep hear my voice.--JOHN 10:27. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: If any man hear my voice, and open the door, 1 will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled. I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

December 10 Morning
No man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.--JOHN 10:29. I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.--The Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom.--We are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth,
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

July 18 Morning
He calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.--JOHN 10:3. The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his; and, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ, depart from iniquity.--Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you . . . depart from me, ye that work iniquity.--The Lord
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

April 19 Morning
Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.--JOHN 10:7. The veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.--Christ . . . hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.--The way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing. I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.--Through
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

'Other Sheep'
[Footnote: Preached before the Baptist Missionary Society.] 'Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice; and they shall become one flock and one Shepherd.'--JOHN x. 16 (R.V.). There were many strange and bitter lessons in this discourse for the false shepherds, the Pharisees, to whom it was first spoken. But there was not one which would jar more upon their minds, and as they fancied, on their sacredest convictions, than this, that God's flock
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Gifts to the Flock
... By Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.'--JOHN x. 9. One does not know whether the width or the depth of this marvellous promise is the more noteworthy. Jesus Christ presents Himself before the whole race of man, and declares Himself able to deal with the needs of every individual in the tremendous whole. 'If any man'--no matter who, where, when. For all noble and happy life there are at least three things needed: security, sustenance, and a
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Good Shepherd
'I am the Good Shepherd, and know My sheep, and am known of Mine. 15. As the Father knoweth Me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down My life for the sheep.'--JOHN x. 14,15. 'I am the Good Shepherd.' Perhaps even Christ never spoke more fruitful words than these. Just think how many solitary, wearied hearts they have cheered, and what a wealth of encouragement and comfort there has been in them for all generations. The little child as it lays itself down to sleep, cries-- 'Jesus, tender Shepherd,
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

January the Seventeenth Spiritual Discernment
"My sheep hear My voice!" --JOHN x. 19-30. This is spiritual discernment. We may test our growth in grace by our expertness in detecting the voice of our Lord. It is the skill of the saint to catch "the still small voice" amid all the selfish clamours of the day, and amid the far more subtle callings of the heart. It needs a good ear to catch the voice of the Lord in our sorrows. I think it requires a better ear to discern the voice amid our joys! The twilight helps me to be serious; the noonday
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

August the Twenty-Third not Lost in the Flock
"I know My sheep, and am known of mine." --JOHN x. 7-16. There is mutual recognition, and in that recognition there is confidence and peace. "I know my sheep." He knows us one by one. My knowledge of the individual wanes in proportion as the multitude is increased. The teacher with the smaller class has the deepest intimacy with her scholars. The individual is lost in the crowd. But not so with our Lord. There are no "masses" in His sight. However big the crowd, even though it be "a multitude
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

The Shepherd of Our Souls.
"I am the good Shepherd: the good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep."--John x. 11. Our Lord here appropriates to Himself the title under which He had been foretold by the Prophets. "David My servant shall be king over them," says Almighty God by the mouth of Ezekiel: "and they all shall have one Shepherd." And in the book of Zechariah, "Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, and against the man that is My fellow, saith the Lord of Hosts; smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered."
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIII

On the Words of the Gospel, John x. 14, "I am the Good Shepherd," Etc. Against the Donatists.
1. We have heard the Lord Jesus setting forth to us the office of a good shepherd. And herein He hath doubtless given us to know, as we may understand it, that there are good shepherds. And yet that the multitude of shepherds might not be understood in a wrong sense; He saith, "I am the good Shepherd." [4124] And wherein He is the good Shepherd, He showeth in the words following; "The good Shepherd," saith He, "layeth down His life for the sheep. But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd,
Saint Augustine—sermons on selected lessons of the new testament

On the Words of the Gospel, John x. 30, "I and the Father are One. "
1. Ye have heard what the Lord God, Jesus Christ, the Only Son of God, born of God the Father without any mother, and born of a Virgin mother without any human father, said, "I and My Father are One." [4164] Receive ye this, believe it in such wise that ye may attain [4165] to understand it. For faith ought to go before understanding, that understanding may be the reward of faith. For the Prophet hath said most expressly, "Unless ye believe, ye shall not understand." [4166] What then is simply preached
Saint Augustine—sermons on selected lessons of the new testament

The Sheep and their Shepherd
In a very simple way, we shall speak about the proprietor of the sheep. "My sheep," says Christ. Then, we shall have a little to say about the marks of the sheep. After that I propose to talk awhile about the privileges of the sheep. "I know my sheep:" they are privileged to be known of Christ. "My sheep hear my voice." I. Who is the proprietor of the sheep? They are all Christ's. "My sheep hear my voice." How came the saints to be Christ's? They are his, first of all, because he chose them. Ere
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 17: 1871

The Good Shepherd
JOHN x. 11. I am the good shepherd. Here are blessed words. They are not new words. You find words like these often in the Bible, and even in ancient heathen books. Kings, priests, prophets, judges, are called shepherds of the people. David is called the shepherd of Israel. A prophet complains of the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves, and will not feed the flock. But the old Hebrew prophets had a vision of a greater and better shepherd than David, or any earthly king or priest--of a heavenly
Charles Kingsley—The Good News of God

Abbott -- the Divinity in Humanity
Lyman Abbott was born at Roxbury, Mass., in 1835. As successor to Henry Ward Beecher, at Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, he ministered with great spiritual power until 1898, when he resigned his pastorate to devote his entire time to The Outlook, of which he was, and still is, the editor. Dr. Abbott's conception of the minister's work is briefly summed up in his own words: "Whenever a minister forgets the splendid message of pardon, peace and power based on faith in Jesus Christ as God manifest in the
Grenville Kleiser—The world's great sermons, Volume 8

Life.
I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.'--St. John x. 10. In a word, He came to supply all our lack--from the root outward; for what is it we need but more life? What does the infant need but more life? What does the bosom of his mother give him but life in abundance? What does the old man need, whose limbs are weak and whose pulse is low, but more of the life which seems ebbing from him? Weary with feebleness, he calls upon death, but in reality it is life he wants. It is
George MacDonald—Unspoken Sermons

The Disciple, -- what is the Meaning and Purpose of the Cross...
The Disciple,--What is the meaning and purpose of the cross, and why do pain and suffering exist in the world? The Master,--1. The cross is the key to heaven. At the moment when by My baptism I took the cross upon My shoulders for the sake of sinners, heaven was opened, and by means of My thirty-three years bearing of the cross and by death upon it, heaven, which by reason of sin was closed to believers, was for ever opened to them. Now as soon as believers take up their cross and follow Me they
Sadhu Sundar Singh—At The Master's Feet

Questions and Answers
Question. How may we know definitely that we are sanctified? Answer. We may know it by knowing that we have met all the conditions. This grace is obtained upon the conditions of consecration and faith. When we are sure that we have measured up to a true Bible consecration, we will have no difficulty in knowing that we are sanctified. The depth of meaning of this consecration does not necessarily need to be fully comprehended by the seeker, as we enter into this covenant, but there is a yielding up
J. W. Byers—Sanctification

Discourse on the Good Shepherd.
(Jerusalem, December, a.d. 29.) ^D John X. 1-21. ^d 1 Verily, verily, I say to you [unto the parties whom he was addressing in the last section], He that entereth not by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. [In this section Jesus proceeds to contrast his own care for humanity with that manifested by the Pharisees, who had just cast out the beggar. Old Testament prophecies were full of declarations that false shepherds would arise to
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Feast of the Dedication. The Jews Attempt to Stone Jesus and He Retires to Peræa.
(Jerusalem and Beyond Jordan.) ^D John X. 22-42. ^d 22 And it was the feast of the dedication at Jerusalem: 23; it was winter; and Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch. [The feast of dedication was one of eight days' duration and began upon the 25th Chisleu, which, according to the calculation of M. Chevannes, fell upon the nineteenth or twentieth of December, a.d. 29. The feast was kept in honor of the renovation and purification of the temple in the year b.c. 164, after it had been desecrated
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Good Shepherd' and his one Flock' - Last Discourse at the Feast of Tabernacles.
The closing words which Jesus had spoken to those Pharisees who followed HIm breathe the sadness of expected near judgment, rather than the hopefulness of expostulation. And the Discourse which followed, ere He once more left Jerusalem, is of the same character. It seems, as if Jesus could not part from the City in holy anger, but ever, and only, with tears. All the topics of the former Discourses are now resumed and applied. They are not in any way softened or modified, but uttered in accents of
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

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