“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—and I lay down my life for the sheep.”
John 10:14-15
The gracious Shepherd saves His lost sheep. Read John Newton’s reflections on this:
“A shepherd is a relative name; it has reference to a flock. [Our] great and good Shepherd has a flock, whom He loved from everlasting, and whom having loved, He will love to the end …. He humbled Himself for their sakes, submitted to partake of their nature and their sorrows, took upon Himself the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of sinful flesh. He died for His sheep, ‘the just for the unjust,’ to redeem them from the curse of the law, from the guilt and dominion of sin, from the power of Satan, and to bring them to God.
“They, by nature, are all ‘gone astray, every one to his own way.’ But having thus bought them with His blood, in His own appointed time He seeks, finds, and restores His sheep. By the power of His word and Spirit, He makes Himself known to their hearts, causes them to hear and understand His voice, and guides them into His fold. Then they become His sheep. … They are under His immediate protection and government.”
“A shepherd is a relative name; it has reference to a flock. [Our] great and good Shepherd has a flock, whom He loved from everlasting, and whom having loved, He will love to the end …. He humbled Himself for their sakes, submitted to partake of their nature and their sorrows, took upon Himself the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of sinful flesh. He died for His sheep, ‘the just for the unjust,’ to redeem them from the curse of the law, from the guilt and dominion of sin, from the power of Satan, and to bring them to God.
“They, by nature, are all ‘gone astray, every one to his own way.’ But having thus bought them with His blood, in His own appointed time He seeks, finds, and restores His sheep. By the power of His word and Spirit, He makes Himself known to their hearts, causes them to hear and understand His voice, and guides them into His fold. Then they become His sheep. … They are under His immediate protection and government.”
Scripture Focus
Luke 15:1-7
Insight
“Thus bought with blood and born again,/ Redeemed and saved by grace,/ Rebels in God’s own house obtain/ A son’s and daughter’s place.” (John Newton, 1725-1807)
Bible In A Year
- Isaiah 3-5
- Psalm 74
- John 14-15
