John 10:1–21
This is one of the most common of all spiritual challenges. If you answer yes, you will drift towards a defeated legalism, because no one can walk perfectly. If you answer no, you can drift towards a lax walk with the Lord, feeling that “I’m in, so it doesn’t matter how I walk.”
I have wrestled with this, and it can lead you into a black hole.
Jesus’ teaching on being the Good Shepherd really helps us. First, there is the emphasis on the Shepherd “laying down His life” in verses 10:11, 15, 17, and twice in 18. Here is the foundation of all that the Shepherd does. Laying down His life refers to His death on the cross, which takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29) by paying the price of sin’s penalty (2 Corinthians 5:21).
I have wrestled with this, and it can lead you into a black hole.
Jesus’ teaching on being the Good Shepherd really helps us. First, there is the emphasis on the Shepherd “laying down His life” in verses 10:11, 15, 17, and twice in 18. Here is the foundation of all that the Shepherd does. Laying down His life refers to His death on the cross, which takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29) by paying the price of sin’s penalty (2 Corinthians 5:21).
The totality of our sins are paid, and that payment is complete in God’s eyes, so much so that He forgets them (Psalm 103:10–12). So He is able to say He delights in His excellent ones (Psalm 16:3).
He knows that every believer/sheep will continue to have to battle with the old sin nature, which has lost its authority in us but not its influence. He not only gives us what we need to overcome indwelling sin as His sheep (2 Peter 1:3), but He also understands this fight (Hebrews 4:14–16). As our Shepherd, He will lead us and feed us towards spiritual growth, but He does this because we’re His, and He deeply loves and cares for all His sheep. You see this if you slowly read through John 10:1–21. All these ministries He does because we’re His and He has brought us into this friendship relationship of sheep with Shepherd.
He knows that every believer/sheep will continue to have to battle with the old sin nature, which has lost its authority in us but not its influence. He not only gives us what we need to overcome indwelling sin as His sheep (2 Peter 1:3), but He also understands this fight (Hebrews 4:14–16). As our Shepherd, He will lead us and feed us towards spiritual growth, but He does this because we’re His, and He deeply loves and cares for all His sheep. You see this if you slowly read through John 10:1–21. All these ministries He does because we’re His and He has brought us into this friendship relationship of sheep with Shepherd.
Are there occasions where we wander, and this is obviously not His plan for us? Yes. But because of His death, He never leaves us or forsakes us because of His deep love and ministry to us. This love is so clearly seen in John 10 and His revealing of Himself as our Good Shepherd. So, though we run this race and seek to walk with Him continually, we can rest deeply that He is our understanding High Priest, our powerful King, and our Good Shepherd!
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