Following the Shepherd

Some people pride themselves in being self-made. They're leaders. They're not followers. But in reality, we all are followers. In reality, we all look up to other people and learn from other people. Whether it was our parents or a teacher, a coach, a youth pastor, a Sunday school teacher, maybe an athlete or an entertainer that you've looked up to, or a historical figure that you've read about, or maybe a mentor in your workplace, or your employer, lots of folks could qualify as people that we learn from, people that we look up to, and people that we follow. Certainly one of the most graphic and poignant images of a believer in Christ is one who is a follower of Christ. Often when Jesus called people to believe in Him, and He used those words, follow Me. And one of the greatest images in the Bible, and images of the Bible to describe our relationship with Him, is the image of the shepherd and the sheep. It's an image which communicates that He leads us, and we follow Him. I've read that the sheep is the greatest argument against evolution. It's the dumbest animal ever made, and it hadn't gotten any better. That's what I've read. I don't know, I've never raised sheep, but I understand it's a very fitting figure for those of us who are humans. But we are followers. We are called upon to be followers of Jesus Christ. He is the shepherd. He presents Himself as the shepherd. And that figure is one that He uses over and over again in John chapter 10. In our journey through John, we come to date of chapter 10, and we find that Jesus presents Himself as the shepherd of the sheep. Now, the image quite admittedly is rural. It is Eastern, Eastern shepherding is much different from Western shepherding. For instance, in the West, in the United States, in Australia, people use sheep dogs. That would have never been thought of in the East. That would never have been thought of in Israel. The shepherd did not drive his sheep by using sheep dogs. He would lead them by using his own voice and stepping out in front of them. And they had certain ways of doing that. We'll talk about a little bit later. So the image is kind of foreign to us, even with what we know in the Western world about shepherding. The image is still kind of rare and foreign to us. And it's made even more foreign by the fact that the shepherding imagery comes directly out of the Old Testament. There is an Old Testament background here that unless we understand we will not fully grasp why Jesus uses this metaphor and imagery in chapter 10 at precisely the time He uses it. If we don't understand how He's drawing on an Old Testament background, you see, in the Old Testament, political leaders, kings were referred to as shepherds. You can read that in a book of Psalms from time to time. Religious leaders, priests and teachers in Israel were referred to as shepherds. God ultimately was the shepherd of his people, but He had entrusted to political leaders and to religious leaders the taking care of His flock, of His nation, of His people. And so kings were called shepherds. It was designed to be a figure that would represent them as leading appropriately to their people. Religious leaders were supposed to be shepherds, but those in the Old Testament had failed miserably, and where we read of that imagery the most is in the prophets, where the failure of Israel's religious and political leaders is called out by the prophets. And they point toward another shepherd that will come. Give you just one example out of many in the Old Testament prophets. Let's look on the screen at Jeremiah chapter 23 verses 1 and 2. Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture declares the Lord. Therefore, this is what the Lord the God of Israel says to the shepherds who tend my people. Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not misdoked care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you've done declares the Lord. He's talking about the political and religious leaders of Israel. You'll go on in verse 4 to say, I'm going to raise up other shepherds who will care tenderly for my people. And then he points toward one shepherd that will come in the future. And in verse 5, this is what he says, the days are coming that clears the Lord. When I will raise up for David a righteous branch, a king in the context, this king is the shepherd of the people, a king who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In his days, Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name of what you will be called the Lord our righteous savior. And so Jeremiah says, you political shepherds, you religious shepherds have failed. I want you to know there's going to someday come a true shepherd who will be the king of his people and will guide his flock by righteousness and he is the Lord our righteous savior. Obviously a prophecy of Christ. Now take all of that Old Testament imagery and put it square in John's Gospel where we are now. Jesus has just healed a blind man. And that man that he has healed has been kicked out of the synagogue by the Pharisees who are supposed to be the religious leaders of Israel. They are supposed to be the shepherds of Israel. Instead, Jesus has called them blind. How can you lead anybody when you yourself are blind? And so Jesus basically is saying you fulfill the Old Testament call for judgment on false shepherds. And so now in chapter 10, he's still speaking to the Pharisees and he's going to say, I'm going to tell you who the true shepherd is. I'm going to tell you who Jeremiah was talking about. I'm going to tell you who the prophets pointed to. I am the true shepherd. Jesus will say. And so Christ will now present himself as the true shepherd in contrast to these false shepherds. It's full of information from the Old Testament, full of background from the Old Testament. Jesus identifies the Pharisees as the modern day false shepherds. And he's presenting himself as the true shepherd. And you'll do it in several ways. First of all, he will say, you know, I'm the true shepherd because I am the genuine shepherd. I'm true in the sense that I'm genuine. I'm the real article. I'm the one the Old Testament said would come in the first six verses. Jesus will present himself as the genuine shepherd. And again, we've got to keep in mind the imagery here or we miss the whole point. What Jesus is going to talk about here is a sheepfold, a place where sheep from several shepherds are housed at night for protection. Every little village in Israel would have one of these sheepfolds. And it would look similar to the one that we're going to show you on the screen. This is a sheepfold from first century times. It's made of rock put together in a wall that would be, have all four sides. It would be square or rectangular. You may be able to see even through the gate there, the door, the rocks protruding back to the back, the back wall and the side wall there. This is a sheepfold and all the sheep in a particular area. Maybe several shepherds would bring their sheep through that gate into the sheepfold at night for protection. The next morning they would come back and their sheep would recognize their voice. And in the next picture, you see some of them coming up to the sheep gate, the door and they would follow their shepherd. Now it is that imagery that we have to keep in our minds as we read what Jesus says about being the genuine shepherd. Christ is the genuine shepherd leading his sheep out of a sheepfold. Not out of heaven, the sheepfold here is not heaven, it is not a place of rest, it's religion. He's leading his sheep out of the religious system of the day. So let's see how he presents himself in that way. He says, I'm the genuine shepherd and there are four ways you can see it. First of all, the genuine shepherd comes the right way. Verse 1, very truly I tell you Pharisees, please get this. He's still talking directly to the Pharisees. That's an important note. I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pin by the gate but climbs in some other way is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. You can tell who the genuine shepherd is because he comes the right way. He doesn't have to sneak around the back and try to crawl up over the back wall and steal some sheep. He comes directly to the gate. Now he comes the right way because he has been prophesied. It has been foretold that he would be there. He brought his sheep there in the image of the day. The shepherd has brought his sheep there the night before. The gatekeeper, the watchman knows who he is. And so he has come the right way. The Old Testament pointed to exactly how Jesus would come. How the Messiah, the true shepherd would come. Micah 5 said where he would be born in Bethlehem. Daniel 9 tells us when he would be born. At basically the exact time he would be born. Isaiah 7 tells us how he would be born by a virgin. Isaiah 61 tells us what his ministry would look like. Seven characteristics of his ministry. Isaiah 35 even told what kind of miracles he would do. So the Old Testament said this is what he's going to look like. This is how you will recognize him. This is what the genuine shepherd, the true shepherd, the one Jeremiah talked about. This is what he'll be like. This is where he'll come from. This is how he'll be born. This is how you recognize him. So Jesus fulfilled all of those Old Testament prophecies. He didn't have to sneak around, crawl up the back wall. He came straight to the front gate because he comes the right way. He walks right up to the front door because he knows and everyone else should know that he has fulfilled everything that was foretold about the true shepherd. So the genuine shepherd comes the right way. Second way you can know he's a genuine shepherd is he's recognized by the watchman. Whoever's three, the gatekeeper or the watchman opens the gate for him and the sheep listen to his voice. You see there was a gatekeeper that would spend the night at the sheepfold. He would be there when the shepherd brought his sheep in the evening. So he would recognize which shepherds were the real guys that brought their sheep. He would know who they were. He would he would stand watch over that gate at night and he would make his rounds around the perimeter through the night to make sure no one was trying to sneak in another way and steal sheep. He would be there in the morning when the shepherd came to call out his own sheep. He would recognize the shepherd. He would know the shepherd. He would know who the genuine shepherd was. The gatekeeper would only open the gate for people that he knew to be true shepherds. If there is a gatekeeper in Jesus' ministry, it is John the Baptist. John was the gatekeeper, the watchman, who knew who Jesus was. And when Jesus appears on the scene, it is John who introduces him to the nation of Israel and says, he's the one. He's the one I've been telling you about. He's the real shepherd. He also introduces him as the lamb that takes away the sin of the world, different picture of his sacrifice. But he's the one that I've been telling you about, John says. And so he's the genuine article. He's the real shepherd. Why? Because he comes the right way and he's recognized by the watchman. But third, you can tell he's the genuine shepherd because he calls his sheep by name. He has a personal relationship with those sheep. He doesn't sneak in, try to steal them. He knows his own sheep. And he calls them by name in the verse three. The sheep listen to his voice, the middle of the verse says, and then the second half of the verse says, he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. See, he has a relationship with these sheep. He knows them. He calls them by name. I am told from what I read that shepherds in this time would actually begin talking when they went to the sheep fold. And their sheep would recognize his voice. There may be three or four or five shepherds that would have sheep in that pen that was used as a community pen at night. But his sheep would recognize his voice. Why? Because they would talk to them through the day. They would even sing songs to them through the day. And sometimes the shepherd would use a particular song or a tone of voice or a call that his sheep would recognize because they know his voice. They listen to his voice. He calls them even by name and they follow him. And so he has a personal relationship with these sheep. Jesus came to Israel and not everybody recognized him as the Messiah. But there were some who did. There were some who recognized his voice and who began to follow him. The blind man in chapter nine was one of them. The Pharisees didn't recognize him. The Pharisees didn't accept him. But the blind man did. He came to it kind of gradually, but by the end of the chapters we saw last week, he knew who Jesus was and he accepted him and believed in him and worshiped him became one of Jesus' sheep. He knew his voice. Jesus is the genuine shepherd because he calls his sheep by name. But he's leading up to this. Jesus is a genuine shepherd because he leads his sheep out of the fold. Look at it in verse four or the end of verse three actually. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger. In fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice. Verse six says Jesus used this figure of speech but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them. Now, certainly they understood the figure of sheep and shepherd. That was part of their culture. They understood that. They got that part. They did not understand what Jesus was communicating to them using this figure of speech. What Jesus was communicating to them, they didn't get up to this point and they never got it. And that is that the sheep fold represents Judaism. Judaism has done a good job in the Old Testament of protecting God's people by the mosaic law and protecting them from idolatry, particularly since the exile. But Jesus has come to institute a new work, a new covenant. He's going to call his sheep out of that fold. And so he's calling them out of religion. This is a new beginning. This is a new work. The Pharisees never got it. They resisted it. But those who recognized his voice, those who knew who Jesus was, who accepted him by faith, would come to Christ and leave the old religion behind. And so Jesus, I believe with this figure, is talking about responding to him in faith and leaving the old religion, leaving your old works, leaving your own way of life and way of trying to get to heaven. Jesus is still issuing the same call today. He's calling out to people to leave behind religion. Religion is man's attempt to work his way into God's good graces, to gain favor, to earn favor from God. That's what religion is. And Jesus calls us out of religion to follow him. He calls us away from our own efforts and our own good deeds to try to impress him or please him or gain entrance into heaven. Jesus calls us out of all that to follow him in a personal relationship with him as our shepherd. We become his sheep. We become his people. We become his followers. So Jesus is saying, you religious leaders have become false shepherds because you're teaching the way of salvation, which means which teaches people that they can work their own way to heaven. They can be good, do good, and somehow please God and get to heaven. And I'm telling you, I'm come here to call people out of that. To call people to follow me, to trust in me. There are many false shepherds today who try to present themselves as spiritual deliverers, to Eastern mystics who think they have found the secrets to life, the secrets to peace, Nirvana. There are not only the Eastern mystics, there are the leaders of great world religions today. There are the originators of every cult that is every sprung up. There are the practitioners of new age remedies to find yourself, self-realization, self-fulfillment, self-actualization, the bookstores have shelves full of that kind of new age trash. The effort to try to you, you find yourself, you discover who you really are on the inside. That's new age philosophical garbage. It's the old way of salvation by works, dressed in language that appeals to people today. There are the promoters of legalistic self-denial, try to purify your soul and make yourself ready for God and pure before God. All of those ways and all of those people are thieves and robbers and strangers trying to crawl up some other way. Jesus is the only true shepherd. Jesus is the genuine shepherd, the only one who qualifies from Old Testament prophecy, the one who came directly to the front gate calls his sheep by name and they follow him. I love what Roger Fredrickson in one of the commentaries I've been looking at, the preacher's commentary, illustration he gives about John Armott. This commentary is written in 1985 and he says, Erickson Fredrickson says, I vividly recall the brief intense visit I had backstage with John Armott more than 30 years ago. So this was the mid-50s. If you've never read any about John Armott, John Armott was a layman who got a burden to challenge college students for world mission and made that his mission in life. And many of the missionaries who went to the foreign field in the mid-1900s went because of John Armott's influence. He was an amazing, amazing man. And Fredrickson tells about this meeting with him. He says that amazing world Christian a visionary layman whom God used in the early part of this century to call a whole generation of students to Christ and missionary service was now well into his 80s. And although he had just finished pouring out his heart to several thousand students in one of his characteristically passionate missionary addresses, he was fresh and eager. His clear piercing eyes and great mane of white hair reminded me of a shaggy old lion. When I asked him about his Christian pilgrimage, he spoke simply and tenderly of his quote unquote capitulation to Christ as he called it as an undergraduate student at Cornell University and of his continuous growth in the spirit ever since. It had all been a great adventure, he said, then he concluded and this is what I want you to really hear. This is coming from a man who had been across the world had spoken in universities all across the world. This is what he says. After being on hundreds of university campuses in more than 80 countries and having seen all the great religions of the world firsthand, I now know more than ever that Christ powers above all the monuments and movements of history and religion. Absolutely unique. He stands erect among the fallen, clean among the defiled, savior of the world, king of kings and Lord of lords. I can just see the blazing eyes and passion of that 80 year old man speaking privately to a guy not in front of a crowd. He's just spoken to thousands of students and poured out his soul, but he still got that passion that Christ is the only way having seen all the major world religions. He realizes just by looking at them they cannot begin to measure up to the excellency of the glory of Christ and that is still true today. It was true in MOTS day. It is still true today. Nothing can compare to Christ. He is the real deal. He's the genuine article. He is the genuine shepherd. The only way to heaven. Jesus makes that claim. But not only is he the genuine shepherd, he says he goes on to say, I am also the giving shepherd. Now the imagery changes a little bit in these next few verses and verses seven through 10. The shepherd has led his sheep out of the sheep fold in the morning. And now they are out finding pasture and the shepherd is leading them to fields where they can find pastries, leading them to Brooks where they can find water. But in the heat of the day, they will find another sheep fold. It may be a makeshift sheep fold. It may be a cliff where a cave is kind of cut out of the bottom and he can gather his sheep out of the sun. It may be a thicket of small trees where he can move his sheep in to find some shade and rest. And wherever he puts them, he puts them in a group and tries to encircle them with something, trees, rocks, something that will protect them and he lies down in the opening. He's away from the sheep fold. There is no gatekeeper. There is no watchman now. He himself becomes the gate as he lies down to protect his sheep in their time of rest. That's the imagery of these next few verses. And so Jesus presents himself as the giving shepherd, the emphasis is on what he provides for his sheep, how he gives for his sheep. And he says, I give them three things. I give my sheep three things. Number one, he gives salvation. Look at verse seven. Therefore Jesus said again, very truly, I tell you, I am the gate of the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate, whoever enters through me will be saved. Jesus is now the gate. He is now the only entrance into rest and safety and spiritual provision. He is the only way of salvation. The gate through whom we must enter, the door through whom we must enter to be saved. Jesus says it in those words. Religion cannot save you. No church can save you. No work or action that you do can save you. Baptism, making a better person of yourself, finding yourself. There's nothing you can do to save yourself. Jesus is the gate. Jesus is the way. Jesus is the door. Jesus gives salvation. If you come through him, you are saved. He alone is the way of salvation. So he gives salvation. But he also gives nourishment. Look at it, verse 9. He says, I am the gate, whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out and find pasture. This beautiful imagery of the sheep being gathered in the middle of the day, out of the sun, for rest in the shade. But they can go in and out and find pasture. He's got them to a place where they can find nourishment. And as they go in and out, they find nourishment. Then they come back to rest. And he is leading them the whole time and protecting them the whole time. As it comes down to us, this imagery is so beautifully represented, I believe in this way. Our spiritual nourishment comes from him through the word of God. The pastures that we go in and out to, the pastures that we feed on are the pastures of his word. It is clear that the word of God in the Bible is presented as our food, our milk, our meat, our food, our sustenance, our source of strength, everything we need for nourishment is found in this book. And so Jesus leads us in and out of these pastures so that we can find the nourishment we need here. And I love that little expression that he uses. They will come in and go out, come in and go out. Obviously in the picture it is of the sheep leaving that place of rest going out to the pasture, feeding and coming back to the place of rest. But this expression come in and go out as often used in the New Testament of daily living, of everyday life, of just living normal life, carrying out life's duties. To go out and come in, to go out and come in is an expression used for the normal carrying out of one's duties and responsibilities in the life. And so the image that becomes much more personal and dynamic, what Jesus is saying for us is that in your everyday life as you carry out your responsibilities and duties day in and day out, the nourishment and strength you will find to do that comes from God's word. And you need time in God's word to be strong for your work each day, strong for your family responsibilities each day, wise for the decisions that you will make every day, insightful in the relationships you will have each day. No matter what you're doing, even in your business dealings, honesty and integrity, it all comes from feeding on God's word. This is how our minds are renewed. Our minds are made to be like Christ, our hearts are nourished and energized. It all comes from feeding on the word. And so it is through the word of God that as we go in, come out as we live daily life, we are nourished in everyday life. This is where we find our sustenance and strength. So he nourishes us, but he also thirdly gives abundant life. He gives abundant life, verse 10, the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life and have it to the full. That's clear as we've gone through this context to the thief, isn't it? It's not the devil. Although he would qualify for sure, it's the Pharisees. It's the false shepherds. It's the people who tried to climb up over the wall some other way. Those are the thieves. He's already identified them as thieves and robbers earlier in the passage. And so it is false shepherds, false teachers, who try to get sheep for their own agenda. Their only goal, basically, is to steal, kill, destroy. They don't care what happens to the people. They're only getting what they can get out of them. And that is true. Read about the cults. It is true of every cult leader. Eventually when it all shakes down, when the story is told, you find that that leader has been in it to get whatever he can get to build his empire. And he will use people to get there. He will use them spiritually. He'll use them physically. He'll use them emotionally to get for himself. That's the way every cult works. It's the way major world religions work. Jesus says, I'm not that way. I'm not here to get. I'm here to give. And what I offer, what I've come to give is that you might have life and have it to the full. Jesus came to give us eternal life. My friend, when Jesus calls you to himself, he's not asking you for anything. So, he'll get something. He wants to give you eternal life. He wants to give you eternal life. And by the way, eternal life is not just everlasting life. It's not just the duration of life that's in view here. Eternal life is not just length of life. That's true. We do have eternal life in the sense that we will live forever with him in heaven. But that's not all that's communicated in that word eternal. The word eternal has to speak not only of the duration of life but of the quality of that life. It's an eternal kind of life. It is life lived from a heavenly perspective from an eternal perspective. And for that reason, Jesus can describe it as having life and having it to the full. The only way you can have full life is to live life from a heavenly perspective, from an eternal perspective. Because Jesus, when you get life from him, when you get saved, enriches everything about your life. Knowing Christ and following him enriches everything about your life. It enriches your marriage. It enriches your home. It enriches your work. It enriches even your leisure time and fun activities. Everything is enriched. You can only live life to the full in Christ. Remember, that's what the book of Ecclesiastes is all about. Solomon writes that book to describe all the ways that we try to find meaning and fulfillment and purpose in life. So many ways we try that through money and possessions and pleasure and fun and gaining more knowledge. And he says, none of that will work. It will all leave you empty and you'll be standing around saying, this is like soap bubbles, all this vanity. It's empty. It didn't fill me at all. The only thing that can give you full life that you can live to the full is a relationship with Christ. And then everything else is enhanced and beautified and given purpose by your relationship with Christ. So he came to give us salvation, to give us nourishment, to give us not only life, but abundant life, full life. Granted, none of us takes full advantage of all that he's given us. But that's what he came to give us. He is the giving shepherd. But notice, he goes on. He also says, not only am I the genuine shepherd, not only am I the giving shepherd, I'm also the good shepherd. In verses 11 through 18, three times, he will refer to himself as the good shepherd. It's interesting the word he uses. There are two words in the New Testament and the language the New Testament was written in for good. One of them is good morally and it means good as opposed to evil. You know, they're good people, they're evil people. That's not the word he uses here. The second word for good was a word which meant something that is intrinsically good. Something that is worth imulating, worth following, good in the sense of being a pattern, a model, or the ideal. It's the word that's used for beautiful in the New Testament. Good in the sense of attractive, beautiful, ideal, the model. Jesus is the ideal shepherd. He is the best shepherd. He is the most attractive and beautiful shepherd. Why? Because first of all, he dies for the sheep. He dies for the sheep. He says it in verse 11, I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he has a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. There's no personal investment. There's no personal relationship on the part of the hired hand. But the genuine shepherd, the giving shepherd is also the good shepherd and frantically good, ideal, a model, beautiful in the sense that he willingly, voluntarily lays down his life for the sheep. Sometimes human shepherds did that. Sometimes when they were out in the field, attackers would come, animals, bandits to try to destroy or steal the sheep. And in defense of the sheep, there were times when the shepherd would lay down his life. And Jesus is saying, I voluntarily do that. The sheep are in danger and I voluntarily give my life to set them free from the danger they are in. The greatest danger we've ever faced is the danger of our own sin. And what that does to us, ultimately the consequences of sin is death, eternal separation from God and Jesus laid down his life to save us from that danger, to rescue us from the result of our own sin. Four times in these verses, he'll say that. He says it again in verse 15, 17 and 18. He lays down his life. He dies for us. A police don't be confused by the fact that it says he lays down his life for the sheep. That sounds like there's only a limited few that he died for. And this passage cannot be taken out of the context of the whole Bible. The Bible sometimes refers to specific groups that Jesus died for. For instance, in chapter 11, it will say that he died for the nation of Israel. Is that all he died for? Can you limit it to that one passage? Of course not. He didn't die just for the nation of Israel. In Ephesians chapter 5, it says he died for the church. Is that all you can limit it to? Of course not. Jesus died for more than the church. Otherwise, Old Testament saints could not be saved. The only way people can really say Jesus died only for the church is to take the church back into the Old Testament, become covenant theologians. And I find it inconsistency even there. They only go back to Abraham. What about Noah? Wasn't Noah saved? What about others before that? Were they saved? They were saved just as much by the death of Christ as we were. So Jesus died for more than just the church, although he did die for the church. Second Corinthians 5 will tell us that he died for the world. So who did he die for? You can't exclude the larger group by focusing on the smaller groups that are included in it. Yes, he died for his sheep, his church, the nation of Israel, but he died for the world, which includes all those other groups. In some way, provision was made through his death for everyone so that anyone can be appealed to to come to Christ. It will only be applied to those who trust him. And those are his sheep. That's his church in this age. The Bible keeps that balance. Sometimes we have a tendency to get out of balance, but the Bible keeps that balance. Look at these two passages, 1st Timothy 4, verse 10. That is why we labor and strive, Paul tells Timothy, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the savior of all people and especially of those who believe. This is not talking about Jew and Gentile here as some people try to read into this text. The contrast is between all people and those who believe. Those who believe are the sheep. They're the church. There's a special sense in which Christ purchased our salvation, but he also died for all people. Text clearly says it. 1st John 2, 2 says he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins. And John's not writing to Jews as some claim he is. He's writing to a wider audience in the 90s after his resort. He's been scattered. His atoning sacrifice for our sins, believers and not ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. So don't be confused by saying here that Jesus just died for the sheep. He didn't just die for the sheep, although his provision is enough to include his sheep. The point is this, Jesus died for us. He died for you. He died for me. I can confidently say that without any restriction because of what the Bible teaches. He died for the world. He died for all people, especially those who believe. So he died for you and you can trust him a savior. If you will today, he died for you. He paid for your sin on the cross, but not only does he die for the sheep, he knows the sheep. Look at verse 14 quickly. I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep know me. How does he know us? How personally, how intimately verse 15 just as the father knows me and I know the father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. I'm so thankful that Christ knows us intimately, personally. He knows everything about. He knows your name. Remember verse 3, he calls out his sheep by name. You are not a number to him. You are not a computer entry to him. You are a person with a name. Think about that for a moment. He responds to you as Richard. He responds to you as Susan. Whatever your name is, he knows you by name. And he loves you and calls you by name. He knows your nature. Not only your name, but your nature. He knows all about your personality, all your traits, all your likes and dislikes, all your fears. It's not the same with someone else. But he knows you. He knows what you're like. He knows what you fear and he'll deal with you on that level. Unlike he may with someone else because he knows specifically what's in your heart, what troubles you, what concerns you. And so he deals with you in that way. He knows your name. He knows your nature. He knows your needs. He's constantly addressing your specific individual needs. He dies for the sheep. He knows the sheep. And finally he gathers the sheep verse 16. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pin. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice and there will be one flock and one shepherd. And remember the pin that he's just talked about taking. His sheep out of his Judaism, the old religious system. But here he's he's kind of anticipating the church and he's saying, you know, there's another sheep pin. That I've got to get some folks from Gentiles. He's anticipating the church. I've got more than one sheep pin to call people out of. There are not only Jewish religions, there are Gentile religions. And so I'm going to call people out of those two and they will all become one flock with one shepherd anticipating the body of Christ, the church, the one body composed of both two engine tile with one shepherd. He gathers his sheep and the way he gathers them is once again laying down his life for 17. The reason my father loves me is that I lay down my life only to take it up again. No one takes it from me. But I lay it down on my own accord. This is willing. This is voluntary. I have authority to lay it down on authority to take it up again. This command I received from my father, Jesus voluntarily lays down his life so that he can gather his sheep. What was the response to this? What was the response to the fact that Jesus is the genuine, the giving, the good shepherd? Now the response was that people were divided again. Look at it in verse 19. The Jews who heard these words were again divided. Many of them said he's beaming possessed and raiding mad. Why listen to him? But others said these are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind? Jesus always divides people. Jesus divides history. Jesus divides time. Jesus sometimes divides families. Jesus divides all people. Here's the point, my friend. Jesus is the gate and the same gate that shuts some in also shuts others out. But it's not an arbitrary decision. It's not that the gatekeeper does not want you. It does not love you. He does. You make that decision. You make the decision as to whether or not you will trust him. Jesus was appealing to the Pharisees, appealing to the lost, calling out people to be saved. If you trust Jesus as your savior, you will enter the sheet fold of his protection, of his rest, his nourishment, his life. Because he is the way, he is the gate, he is the door, the entrance in the salvation. If you reject him, however, there will come a day when the gate is closed and it will be too late for you to get in. And you will suffer eternally for your own sin. The decision is yours. Will you trust him as your savior or will you reject him? Go on your own way. Trust in your own efforts, helping to get to heaven your own way. The decision is yours. Would you pray with me, please? Father, thank you for dying for us sending your son to be our savior, our shepherd, who was willing to lay down his life so that we might be saved. I thank you, Father, for his death for us, for the salvation that we have in him. And Lord, I pray that everyone here today will know for sure that they have trusted Jesus, that they are saved, that they know him as savior, and they are not trusting in their own good works, religious performance or rituals or ceremonies, but they are trusting in Jesus. I pray that that would be the case today. And if there are some who are not sure that they will make sure today in Jesus' name we pray, amen.