Sermon Text: Matthew 24:5, 11, 24
Speaker: Pastor Prabhudas Koshy
Date: 8th June 2025
Sermon Text: Matthew 24:5, 11, 24
Speaker: Pastor Prabhudas Koshy
Date: 8th June 2025
14 I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.
The Lord Jesus Christ, for the second time in John 10, refers to Himself as “the good shepherd”. It is His joy to repeatedly affirm that He is “the good shepherd” of His people, the church. He is also referred to as the “great shepherd” (Hebrews 13:20), and “the chief shepherd” (1 Peter 5:4).
The church, the body of believers, is tenderly attended to by the Lord Jesus Christ. He guides the church through His voice in the Scriptures. All Scriptural commandments, promises, rebukes, corrections, instructions, doctrines are for their protection and guidance. John Calvin, the great reformed theologian, remarked in his commentary: “Hence it follows, that they who reject the guardianship of so kind and amiable a shepherd are exceedingly ungrateful, and deserve a hundred deaths, and are exposed to every kind of harm.”
As “the good shepherd”, Jesus knows His sheep. His knowledge extends to all genuine believers. Not one of them shall be overlooked or lost in the crowd. Each one of them is individually known and named. In John 10:3, He spoke of the true shepherd as one who “calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out”. Our omniscient Shepherd knows us. No matter where we live in the world, He knows us and deals with us as His sheep. He recognises and cares for every sheep of His flock.
The word “know” here is used in the sense of affectionate regard or love. It implies His knowledge of their characters, their conditions and their circumstances. He knows their needs, their dangers, their fears, their struggles and their infirmities; as such, He knows how to attend to them according to the riches of His grace. His loving kindness as their Shepherd will defend and aid them at all times.
This assurance of His loving knowledge of His people is not a temporary one. It is a permanent assurance. He will lead His people now and forever. Even if it be through the valley of death, He will be with us and lead us into the eternal home He has prepared for us (Psalm 23:4).
Furthermore, Christ’s sheep know Him as their Shepherd, for He said that “I … am known of mine.” His sheep are happy to acknowledge Him and follow Him always. Let every believer joyfully say, “The Lord Jesus is my Good Shepherd, and I will follow Him all the days of my life.”
John 10:11
11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
Whenever Jesus Christ refers to Himself as the Shepherd of His people, He takes ownership of them and undertakes to see to their care Himself. He is not like the hireling, who does not feel responsibility for the sheep and whom Jesus contemptuously spoke of in John 10:12, “But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.”
The life of a shepherd was a very difficult one. He had to endure the heat of the day and the cold of the night. There were many dangers too. In Bible times, lions, wolves, jackals, panthers, leopards, hyenas and bears were common in the countryside. We read in 1 Samuel 17:34-37 of how David fought with a lion and a bear while tending his sheep. Furthermore, we also read of how Jacob experienced much labour and toil as a shepherd, according to Genesis 31:38-40.
Admittedly, some shepherds were very careless in the discharge of their duty. Because of their neglect, the flock was greatly ruined. In Zechariah 11:15 and 17, they were referred to as “foolish” shepherds and “idol” (i.e. idle) shepherds. But the Lord Jesus is not like any other shepherd of the people. He is “the good shepherd”. As the Good Shepherd, He tends to His people with love, mercy, concern and faithfulness. Above all, the reason why He is “the good shepherd” is that He “giveth his life for the sheep”.
When the Lord Jesus Christ came to this world to seek His lost sheep, He foresaw that He would die for the sheep. Jesus spoke those words prior to His death on the cross. His death to be the Saviour of His sheep was neither accidental nor unforeseen. The Lord Jesus could have saved Himself, but He entertained no thought of and made no attempt at escape. He asked for no legion of angels to rescue Him. Instead, He gave Himself willingly to die for the sheep. He died in the stead of the sheep.
So Christ died a vicarious death, the just for the unjust, which saved the sinner from the doom he deserved. It was not for His own but for our advantage that He died. By His sacrifice, He not only redeemed us from the curse of the law and the power of sin, He also secured for us eternal life. Thus, He is “the good shepherd”, and there is none like Him.
9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
Jesus was explaining His relationship with His people using the parable of a shepherd and his sheep. In the earlier section of this chapter, Jesus spoke of the sheep in the fold and the shepherd entering the fold through its door (vv. 2, 3a). Then He spoke about the shepherd and his sheep leaving the fold through the door (v. 3b), with the shepherd leading them into the pasture (v. 4). Now in our verse, Jesus describes a midday scene where the sheep had been led out from the village fold to the grassy slopes to graze and to the brook for a refreshing drink.
Now, we should not think of Jesus as the door of the fold, for in this parable, the shepherd had already left the fold and come to the pasture. Rather, we must perceive the door as representing the entrance to a wooded thicket somewhere in the pasture, where the sheep would enter to find shade and water. So here, when Jesus referred to Himself as the door, He is referring to Himself as His people’s provider and protector.
Perfect safety for the sheep lay in their being led into the pasture by the shepherd. Without him, they would not be brought into the safe pasture. The shepherds shouldered the responsibility for locating safe pastures for their flocks, a task not always easy in that semi-arid land with many wild beasts. Likewise, only through Christ can anyone enter into eternal salvation and enjoy all the subsequent spiritual blessings.
So Jesus said, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved”. When people put their faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour, they are led into everything God has prepared for them in the realm of salvation. Christ becomes their Shepherd, and He assumes the responsibility for supplying all their needs. Thus, Jesus Christ is the door not only to salvation, but also to spiritual nourishment. So He said that His people “shall go in and out, and find pasture”, like the sheep. Their spiritual growth will occur when nourished by Christ through His Word.
That’s why Paul said in Acts 20:32, “I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.” If we “go in and out” along life’s journey according to His Word, we shall be spiritually well-nourished and strong all through our earthly journey.
12b I am the light of the world.
These words of our Lord Jesus Christ indicate that the world is in darkness. The darkness that covers the world is moral and spiritual darkness. Darkness symbolises ignorance, iniquity, error, superstition and everything that opposes truth and godliness. People are living in the darkness of spiritual ignorance and moral corruption. In John 3:19, Jesus said, “men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” People are said to love darkness more than light when they are more pleased with error than truth, more preoccupied with sin than holiness, and more enamoured with the world than Christ.
By his own cravings and passions, man is pushing himself further and further into spiritual and moral darkness. Though he tells himself that he is seeking the “good life”, he is falling further into the bleakness of a stark moral darkness. That darkness seems even darker today. Some sit in darkness of sorrow and fall into darkness of hopelessness. Others sit in darkness of loneliness for a long time and slip further into dark pits of emptiness and worthlessness. Their life seems to spiral down relentlessly into dark, bottomless pits. Many, in seeking better and brighter days, are sucked right into deeper darkness. They plunge headlong into the dark grip of alcohol, illicit sex, drugs, devil-worship and the ultimate darkness of suicide, which is nothing but a great plunge into eternal darkness.
But there is light as Jesus declares unto us, “I am the light of the world”. Christ came to this world to give us the light of His salvation, grace, forgiveness, righteousness, joy, peace and hope. Jesus assured us in John 8:12 that “he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” He will drive away the darkness that had filled our souls, and cast the light of His glory into our hearts.
When those who lived in darkness come to Him, their sins, ignorance, foolish thinking and suchlike shameful realities will be exposed. If they would humbly acknowledge their sins and repent, and turn fully to the light of Christ and His wisdom, they can be assured of a bright and cheerful life. As Luke 1:78-79 declares about Christ, “Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
48 I am that bread of life.
At the beginning of this sixth chapter of John, we read about Jesus’ miraculous feeding of a large crowd of five thousand men (besides women and children) with only five barley loaves and two small fishes. When some of the people who were fed by Jesus looked for Him the next day, and found Him in Capernaum on the other side of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus told them pointedly, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled” (v. 26). Jesus further admonished them, “Labour not for the meat (food) which perisheth, but for that meat (food) which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed” (v. 27). Thus Jesus alerted them to their greater need of seeking the spiritual food that will supply them with eternal life and pointed to Himself as the One who can give just that.
However, the Jews scoffed at Christ’s claim by arguing that He could not measure up to Moses who had given their fathers manna from heaven (vv. 30-31). To which Jesus replied that it was not Moses but God who gave them the manna from heaven (v. 32). He then declared to them that He is the true bread that God has provided for eternal life. In verse 33, He said, “For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.” To which they clamoured, “Lord, evermore give us this bread” (v. 34). Jesus then asserted, “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.” The fact that He is the bread that God has provided for man to receive eternal life was reiterated by Christ no less than 6 times in this chapter of John (vv. 35, 41, 48, 50, 51, 58)!
“Bread” refers to the food necessary to satisfy our hunger, and to nourish and strengthen our bodies. We cannot live without food. No one, whether rich or poor, can live without it.
So it is with Christ. Without Christ, our souls will be starved to eternal peril! Without Christ, the craving and emptiness of our souls can never be satisfied. He alone can supply eternal life that will fully satiate the yearning of our sin-plagued souls. We feed on Him by believing in Him as God’s gift for our salvation and spiritual blessings. If we keep on believing in Christ, our souls shall be fed with the glories of eternal life.
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
The purpose of God in sending His Son into the world was not to condemn or judge the world, though the world was lost in sin. Even after God had judged the world through the universal flood of Noah’s time, people continued to walk in sin. The sins of the rebellious world had been growing and had reached an appalling situation by the time Christ was here on earth. From time to time, God’s prophets were sent to warn Israel to repent and turn to God. They were also chastised, sometimes severely for many years, that they might repent. However, even Israel continued to defy God with their deeds. John the Baptist’s message to the people revealed how rotten and ripe the world was for God’s judgment, for he said, “And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire” (Matthew 3:10).
When the Son of God was here on earth, the world was hostile to Him. Most people were unrepentant when He rebuked their sins. They were antagonistic towards Him and sought to kill Him. Condemnation of a world that would hate the Son of God would be most fitting. The world that rejected and killed the prophets whom God had earlier sent to call unto repentance, the world that subsequently ridiculed and taunted the Son of God who condescended to this world, was certainly deserving of divine judgment! Jesus Himself had repeatedly reminded the Jews of the inexcusable nature of their actions. Once He said, “Woe unto you! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed them … Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute: That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation” (Luke 11:47-49).
Notwithstanding the world’s open rebellion against God, the mercy and love of God was manifested through the sending of His Son into this world. Christ came that the world might be saved through Him. If He did not come to take away the sins of the world (John 1:29), the world would never have a Saviour. Let us believe on Christ, the only divine Saviour who came from heaven to this world, that we may be saved from the coming judgment of the world.
28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
What is eternal life? It refers to being saved from sin and from God’s judgment, and then living now and forever in the spiritual blessings that the eternal God has prepared for us. It denotes the life that one can live in relationship with God. It not only speaks of the life with God in heaven after death, but also of life now as we live here on earth with God.
However, man cannot obtain eternal life on his own. His natural birth into a family, even though his parents are Christians, does not guarantee eternal life. Neither can he merit eternal life by his own works, as he has sinned and come short of the glory of God. The Bible says in Romans 3:23, “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”. It also tells us that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). So man, by virtue of his sin, has inherited death and not life. “Death” refers to the eternal separation from God because of sin, ultimately resulting in God’s judgment in hell, which the Bible calls “second death”.
Nevertheless, in today’s verse for our devotion, Jesus says, “And I give unto them eternal life”. Eternal life is a gift from the Lord Jesus Christ. All who come to Jesus Christ upon hearing His voice calling them, and follow Him by faith, like a sheep going after its shepherd, will have eternal life.
Moreover, the Lord Jesus promises that “they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” This is one of the clearest statements in the Bible that one who believes in Jesus for salvation will never be lost. The phrase, “they shall never perish”, is a strong affirmation in the Greek text; it can also be translated literally as “they will indeed not ever perish”!
Christians may sin and stumble, but Jesus, the perfect Shepherd, will sanctify and secure them. Like a sheep that is too frail to defend itself and find its way to safety, a Christian on his own cannot ensure his eternal life. The security of the sheep is found in the ability of the Shepherd to defend and preserve His flock. The enemy and the adversities will be too strong for His sheep to overcome on their own. But Jesus says, “neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” No one, not even Satan, can snatch His sheep out of His hand. We are eternally secured in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. Praise be unto the Lord, our great Shepherd!
Bible Witness TV will air a new series of teachings entitled, “Old Age in God’s Design”, on its main channel. In this series, the biblical truths about ageing will be expounded.
We live in a world that often idolises youth and fears ageing. However, the Bible presents old age as a phase characterised by both decline and dignity. While the Bible speaks of old age realistically, it also encourages respect for the elderly.
With the passing of the years and the weakening of the body, the mind also becomes sluggish. As Scripture declares, the outward man withers! There’s a tendency to believe that our best is now behind us, that we are no longer useful to the Lord and His kingdom with the passing of the years. There are biblical expressions, such as “old and well stricken in age” (Gen. 18:11), which recognise the ravages of the years; and “full of years” (Gen. 25:8), which commemorate the gift of a well-lived life.
The psalmist declares in Psalm 92:14 that even in old age, the righteous shall still bring forth fruit. Far from becoming useless or irrelevant, they are described as “fat and flourishing” (i.e. full of sap), spiritually vigorous and fruitful in ways that glorify God.
The biblical promise of old age is precious. Far from being a time of only decline, old age is an opportunity for spiritual fruitfulness. God does not put aside His aged saints; instead, He employs them in powerful ways to bear testimony to His faithfulness, to teach and mentor, and to demonstrate His glory in lives shaped and refined after many years of His gracious working in their lives.
According to Scripture, God’s plan for old age can be a vibrant spiritual life even though physical abilities generally decline. Rather than waning, elderly Christians’ maturity and fruitfulness surpass their youth.
In the weeks to come, we will examine various themes related to God’s plan, responsibility, testing, and blessing in old age. As I begin this new series, I pray that all of us will grow through the challenges and joys that ageing brings, by trusting in God’s plans and promises.
Beloved congregation, as we approach the upcoming church camp, let us not treat this opportunity as just another event in this year’s calendar. Instead, let us see it as a gracious provision from God—a time set apart for spiritual refreshment, deeper fellowship, and renewed consecration to Christ. In the midst of our busy lives, God calls us to come aside and be still before Him, to sit under His Word, to pray together, to sing His praises and to strengthen the bonds of Christian love. Let us come with hearts prepared and full of expectation, believing that the Lord will meet with us, minister to us, and pour out His blessings in ways that will bear fruit long after the camp is over. May this be a season of rich encouragement and spiritual renewal for everyone who attends the church camp.
This year’s church camp brings together two vital and timely themes: “Stand Guard Against Last Days’ Deception” and “Churches and Missions”. In an age of increasing doctrinal confusion, compromise and ungodliness, God’s Holy Word calls us to remain vigilant, be firmly grounded in the truths of the Word, and be discerning of the subtle deceptions that mark the last days. At the same time, Scripture expects us to be committed to the church’s enduring mission—to proclaim Christ to the nations, making disciples by teaching the sound doctrines of God’s Word. These themes call us both to watchfulness and to witness: to guard our hearts and to go forth with Gospel purpose. May the Lord use this camp to awaken, equip, and strengthen us for those God-given responsibilities of His people in the last days.
Take heed, O soul, the Saviour cried,
Let truth, not lies, in you abide.
Deception spreads both far and wide;
Choose Christ alone, and none beside.
The serpent’s voice, so smooth and sly,
Deceived Eve’s heart with whispered lie.
So guard your mind with God’s Word near,
Lest Christ’s pure truth grow dim or drear.
Temptation glows with borrowed light
When evil masks as just and right,
But hearts held fast to Christ alone
Resist the lies the serpent sown.
No longer tossed by ev’ry breeze,
Nor fooled by words designed to please;
In Christ we grow, no more deceived,
But cling to truth once we believed.
Though falsehoods rise and scoffers sneer,
And many fall in crippling fear,
Your thoughts let Scripture still and guide,
Press on in faith, though you are tried.
Sermon Text: Genesis 17:7
Speaker: Rev. Sujith Samuel
Date: 1st June 2025