If you were to compare yourself to a creature from the animal kingdom, would you choose a noble, majestic creature, such as the horse or the eagle? Or perhaps one of the strongest, most powerful beasts, like the lion? In John chapter 10, our Lord Jesus likens us to one of the more laughably foolish and feeble beings, the lowly sheep.
But for the Christian, the title of “sheep” does not offend; rather, it consoles and relieves. When Christ is the Shepherd, no one needs to feel insulted to be called a sheep. If we were not shown our own weakness, we would not experience the help and comfort of being shepherded by Christ. Only when we feel the frailty of our condition can we learn to confess our sheepishness and submit to the tender care of the Good Shepherd.
In this 1871 sermon, Spurgeon draws our attention to what it means to be a sheep of Christ’s, the identifying marks of Christ’s sheep, and the privileges that are ours in Christ. His words ring: “Oh, what sweet music there is to us in the name which is given to our Lord Jesus Christ of ‘the good Shepherd’!” Indeed, to the Christian, the voice of the Shepherd is the sweetest sound.
Excerpt:
“My sheep,” says Christ. They are his, or in due time they shall become so, through his capturing them by sacred power. As well by power are we redeemed as by price, for the blood-bought sheep had gone astray even as others. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way,” but, my brethren, the good shepherd has brought many of us back with infinite condescension: with boundless mercy he followed us when we went astray. Oh, what blind slaves we were when we sported with death! We did not know then what his love had ordained for us: it never entered our poor, silly heads that there was a crown for us; we did not know that the Father’s love had settled itself on us, or ever the day-star knew its place. We know it now, and it is he that has taught us; for he followed us over mountains of vanity, through bogs and miry places of foul transgression; tracked our devious footsteps on and on, through youth and manhood, till at last, with mighty grace, he grasped us in his arms and laid us on his shoulder, and is this day carrying us home to the great fold above, rejoicing as he bears all our weight and finds us in all we need. Oh, that blessed work of effectual grace!
Read the rest of the sermon here.