Christ as the Good Shepherd

And so, last week we had a subject about shepherds, and today we're going to finish, in that sense, this second part, which has to do with more of the New Testament information. We covered the parable of the sheep and goats, also Psalms 23, looking at it from all the background information that was gleaned, also from my own research on the subject. And we can say that John chapter 10 is the New Testament equivalent of Psalms 23. So we have in the Old Testament an analogy of a little lamb talking about the pastor, and Jesus Christ is the one in the New Testament that actually answers that call. He is the Good Shepherd. He came and set up his flock here on earth. He set over that flock under shepherds. He instructed the twelve apostles and later on the rest of the elders to feed God's flock the proper food based on the Word of God. And so John chapter 10 verses 1 through 30 actually are three parables that Christ gave with this theme about the shepherd and his sheep. And we can ask as well as we go over this material, am I following Christ's teaching? Am I becoming a Good Shepherd over what God has entrusted me? Because it's not only Jesus Christ. He sets the example, but he also said, follow me. And Paul said, I follow Christ.

And we should all do the same thing. And Paul said, follow me as I follow Christ.

So are we being Good Shepherds of what has been entrusted to us? How can we know?

These parables that we're going to cover have four subjects that are primary in the teachings.

One is how it relates to God, our personal relationship with God, how it relates to love, how we love God as our chief shepherd, and how we love one another as Dan Salcedo brought out.

The third subject is how it relates to the truth of God. Because in the Bible, using the shepherd analogy, truth is comparable to what you eat like sheep. They have to eat grass.

And we, as spiritual sheep, have to feed on God's Word and how it's presented. Because there are a lot of different false shepherds out there that are not giving the good food, that the sheep are getting spiritual indigestion all over the world. Many of them don't even know what's wrong with them. The fourth element is courage, how Christ as the good shepherd taught us about courage and how we should follow his example as well.

So what we're going to do is we're going to go a little bit back before John 10 to see why he presents this. Did he just go up to his disciples and one day just said, I am the good shepherd? And that he that doesn't go through the gate is a robber? No, he didn't. He really wasn't addressing primarily his disciples. He was addressing the leaders of Israel at that time, the spiritual leaders, those that should be guiding and shepherding the flock. And he was saying they were not apt for the job. They were not doing the right job. So when he mentions about being the good shepherd, he is contrasting what he has done with the false teachers and how they had distorted God's way of life and his teachings with all these man-made rules. And they had actually taken Israel on a tangent. They had gone off the right track and he was trying to set them back. Have you ever heard that before? Setting the church back on track. Well, that's what he was doing at this time.

So let's go first because this in John 10 actually takes place around the time of the Feast of Tabernacles. And basically he was going to be there. And let's just go to John 7, verse 37, to get some background information on Christ being the good shepherd. John 7, verse 37, he was during the last day of the Feast.

It says, on the last day, that great day of the Feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. So John chapter 10 has to do a lot with Christ's invitation to the people there, the Jews, to come to me. I am the shepherd that had been prophesied to come as a Messiah, but people were not paying attention to him. So he said, come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, and we can go here to the time of the water-pouring ceremony at the Feast. You see here, one of the priests, how pouring water is the altar, and they're all announcing all of this regalia and all of this celebration. But it was only physical. They weren't celebrating the one who could provide the people of Israel with God's Holy Spirit, with the true teachings. Christ was a stranger among them.

So he goes on to say, He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.

But this he spoke concerning the Spirit, and it should say, which those believing in him would receive, for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

So you notice the Holy Spirit is given. It's not a person that you receive.

It's God's essence working in you.

It's not only power. It's also his influence, his character working in you, molding you more into the image of Christ.

And so he's saying, this is an invitation. Unfortunately, because of the religious leaders that were opposed to Christ and they discredited him, he was very lonely, just a few disciples of all of Israel, with all the miracles he had done during this entire time. Notice it says, therefore many from the crowd, when they heard the saying, said, truly, this is the prophet, the one who was prophesied by Moses. Others said, this is the Christ. Talk about the Messiah. But some said, will the Christ come out of Galilee? Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David was? It would have been very easy to have known that his birth was in Bethlehem, that he was of the genealogy of David. They actually had the temple archives with the genealogies.

If they would have just taken a little time to conform and to check it out, to confirm this.

But they didn't. And so we see here during this feast, there's invitation.

There's an invitation and there is a rejection.

And in chapter 8, well, let's go to verse 45 before going to chapter 8.

This important section says, then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees who said to them, Why have you not brought him? They wanted him arrested.

The officers answered, No man ever spoke like this man. Then the Pharisees answered him, Are you also deceived? Have any of the rulers of the Pharisees believed in him?

See, you had to have the credentials. So they were the false shepherds of Israel.

But this crowd that does not know the law is a curse. They look down on the rest of the Jews.

Nicodemus, the one who came to Jesus by night, being one of them, so he was one of the chief leaders, said to them, Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?

And they immediately shut him up. They answered and said to him, Are you also from Galilee? Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee. Again, they're using this pretext, but he had originated from Bethlehem. He wasn't. He was taken to Galilee later on as a child. Now, in John chapter 8, verse 56, here we have the story of the woman taken in adultery and how Christ again judges them, saying they needed compassion.

They actually wanted to trap him so they could accuse them. Christ focused on being merciful, compassionate, and not being self-righteous, although judging a person. He just said, Go and sin no more. So it doesn't mean go ahead and continue. He said, I'm giving you this opportunity to change your life. So nothing worse comes of it. Chapter 8 and verse 56, we see again, they're all rejecting him. Christ said, Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad about the coming Messiah. God talked to Abraham about that day. Then the Jews said to him, You're not yet 50 years old, and have you seen Abraham? Jesus said to them, Most assuredly I say to you, Before Abraham was, I am. There's a Yahweh name.

Absolute proof. Jesus was saying, I existed before Abraham was born, again showing that he was not only the Messiah, but that he had come from the Father and he was God as God the Father is. And of course, the Jews rejected him. Verse 59, Then they took up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by. So again, this is the feast time after he tells people, Come to me. And he was persecuted. Then chapter eight here, he deals with the woman in adultery, and then he mentions about him being God in the flesh, and people rejected him. And then we go to chapter nine, verse one. Now, as Jesus passed by, he was still in the vicinity of all of these celebrations going on. And and after that moment, he saw a man who was blind from birth, and his disciples asked him, saying, Rabbi, who sinned this man or his parents that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither this man nor his parents sin, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. The night is coming when no one can work. And he's talking about his own death. And so, as we know, he healed this man who had been blind from birth. He had never seen. His eyes were completely destroyed. And yet Jesus Christ gave that person sight. He was able to see again. And he told him to go to the pool of Siloam and to wash his eyes. He placed some mud there so that this would be a physical reminder of this miracle. And everybody was around when they saw this man doing this. One of the great miracles that Christ carried out.

But what were the Pharisees and the religious leaders concerned about?

And so, verse 13, it says, they brought him who formerly was blind to the Pharisees.

Now it was the Sabbath when Jesus made clay and opened his eyes. Then the Pharisees also asked him again how he had received his sight. He said to them, he put clay on my eyes and I washed and I see. Therefore, some of the Pharisees said, this man is not from God because he does not keep the Sabbath. Why? Because one of their manmade rules was you can't need, which means just like flour that you have to need and make it into a ball. That he had actually taken some wet clay and made a ball and put it in the man's eyes there and his eyelids.

And they were saying, oh, he's breaking the Sabbath because they had so many ridiculous rules. They said a person could not carry anything that weighed more than two figs on him or you would be breaking the Sabbath day. Well, that's not what the Bible says. So they had added all of these grievous burdens about the Sabbath. And here, tremendous miracle, and they're worried about him needing some mud into balls, saying, oh, that's work. Of course not. That's how ridiculous some of these religious regulations that are manmade can become. And in verse 35, Jesus heard that they had cast this blind man out because they couldn't stand what Jesus Christ had done. They had accused him of breaking the Sabbath, which he had not done. He hadn't broken it.

And Christ went and found him. And when he had found him, he said to him, do you believe in the Son of God? He answered and said, who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him? And Jesus said to him, you have both seen him, and it is he who is talking with you. Then he said, Lord, I believe. He yielded his spirit, except that Jesus has the good shepherd, as his lead, as his Savior, and he worshiped him. Notice you can't worship anything lower than God, and Christ allowed it because he was God in the flesh. And Jesus said, for judgment I have come into this world that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind. Then some of the Pharisees who were with him. Now, Pharisees is the equivalent of the religious community of that time. I mean, these were the ones that were in charge of the different churches and assemblies at that time. They were the rabbis. They were the ones that people looked up to. And so the Pharisees heard these words and said, are we blind also? Are you accusing us, the religious leaders, of not knowing what we're doing, of being spiritually blind? And Jesus said to them, if you were blind, you would have no sin. But now you say we see, therefore your sin remains. You're not doing it out of ignorance. You've seen what the truth is, and you are rejecting it. That is why you are responsible for your actions. And so he continues talking to these Pharisees.

He says in verse one of John 10, Most assuredly I say to you, he who does not enter the sheep hole by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same as a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. So he begins telling them this parable.

His sheepfold is a place that is safe for the sheep that go at night to keep the sheep inside, and it has one gate. This is one in Israel, and sometimes they'll have a cave to protect them a little bit from if it rains or not. But this is a rocky surrounding offense with one gate.

So Christ is telling them, you have not gotten your authority in a legitimate way. You have not come through me. You have not recognized me. You have not recognized what God the Father is doing.

You are rejecting me. And so he says that he who does not enter the sheep hole by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same as a thief and a robber. And so in their ignorance, they were doing a lot of this. But he's saying, you are still taking God's sheep, and you are rejecting the true shepherd. You're not going through the gate.

But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. There's another enclosure. Again, they always have just one opening because that's where the shepherd is to protect the sheep.

And Moses, shepherd Israel in the wilderness.

The sheepfold, going back here, is a symbol of God's church in the Old Testament and the New Testament. These are God's people, those that God is working with and calling and bringing together around the world. And under God's guidance in Jesus' day, of course, he was inviting the Jews, come into this fold. And the shepherds of Israel said, no, keep out. He is the one that is the robber. He's the one that is wrong. And they did not accept him and rejected him. But again, we know that the analogy of the shepherd taking care of God's sheep is throughout the Old Testament, just like in the New Testament as well. Jesus Christ in the Sermon on the Mount, he taught his followers. So he had a small flock at that time. We know that after he was resurrected and when Pentecost came around, there were 120 in this little flock. What happened to the millions at that time? Well, the false shepherds kept them out of the real sheepfold.

So we have to look at things the same way. We are brought together into God's sheepfold. This is so important to understand. He was rebuking the leaders of Israel as being the invaders, being illegitimate. They had taken over God's flock and diverted it from the path of righteousness.

So he goes on to say, verse 2, But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep, to him the doorkeeper opens and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And so the robber, being illegitimate, doesn't use the gate. They have to somehow gain that authority through the workings of men, trying to get the power and getting the influence. But the porter opens the gate to the shepherd. And so it's important again to see that Christ had the legitimacy. He had the backing. This is talking about rightful leadership, but Israel was rejecting it. So the true under shepherds, the ones that accepted Christ's leadership, they recognized they opened. They don't shut the gate. Nicodemus tried to open that gate up, and they said, no, you're not allowed to. And they shut the gate. Nicodemus was one of the few that followed Christ.

And then it goes on to say in verse 4, And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

Again, we're talking about the relationship with God, the relationship of love, and the relationship with the truth. What is the voice that you hear? What is Christ speaking about?

The sheep are called and guided through the Holy Spirit, and they will listen the true voice.

In Acts 2, verse 37, Acts 2, verse 37, when the Israelites there realized they had been tricked by the false religious teachers, it says in verse 37, Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter, and the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said to them, Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission or forgiveness of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call. So he does the calling. But we have to accept, and we have to yield our spirit so that we can be guided by God's Spirit and say, yes, this is biblical truth. And we say this other is not biblical truth. This other is a counterfeit. It's clever. It sounds like it, but it is in Genoa. And so Christ is saying, you will listen. You will heed. You will follow my voice being guided by God's Spirit.

And so as Christ gathers God's flock, they are contented. They eat good spiritual food.

They fellowship. They are guided by God-fearing people that are going to stand firm, that are going to do what it takes, and it's not because of money or position or anything else. They are in it here for the long run. They're going to follow God's ways and His laws that are good, perfect, and spiritual. So Christ takes them to the pasture. They listen to His voice, and they follow Him. Well, what does Christ say about God's flock? What do they do?

What are their characteristics? In Revelation 12, in verse 14 is the description of this flock. Revelation 12, verse 14, it says, here is the patience, which the term should be perseverance, of the saints. Here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. You need both of them.

You can't have the faith of Jesus without keeping the commandments of God, and keeping the commandments of God without the faith of Jesus is not enough, either. You need both. That's the good pasture. That's what we really grow and develop spiritually, as we should. If you're in a place where it's just the faith in Jesus, that's not enough. If you're in a place where they're just focusing on the commandments of God and not on the faith of Jesus, too, you need both. You need to be guided by the Spirit of Christ, and you have to follow that Spirit and be able to do things that are pleasing in God's eyes.

And they don't follow strangers. They're not going to listen to the voices of others that are trying to confuse or that have a different message. The sheep know His voice.

They perk up. They pay attention. They can read it in God's word. It's not man's words, not clever things. They're just simple, straight, and faithful. And sheep don't follow a thief, which has to force sheep to go with him. You know, throughout 2,000 years of history, we've had enormous religious movements, but most of them have been done with what? With a point of a sword. Constantine did that in AD 325. He said, you better enter the Catholic Church or else we will persecute you. Fifty years later, just about everyone in the Roman Empire was a Catholic believer and a part of the Catholic Church. Why? It wasn't because of conviction. It was because you were going to be persecuted by the state. You were going to lose your possessions. You were going to be hounded until you had to seek exile. And so that's not the way. You have to do this with love. You have to do it with persuasion. But you don't have a right to use arms to impose your will. Because that just means the winners are the ones that killed more and they survived. Right? The losers are all dead. They don't get to choose anymore. And so the winners get to choose what you should believe if you are of that mindset. In Matthew 23, we see what Jesus Christ was so concerned about with these religious teachers. Matthew 23, in verse 23, talking about the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the scribes. He says, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites.

Oh yes, you talk wonderful words, but in your actions there's still rivalry, envy, hate, political ideas. That's why we don't get involved in those political ideas. We want you to learn the biblical truth. We're not interested in looking at the world and who are we going to side with and what we're going to believe. No, that's the world and that's tainted.

But we are going to be citizens of God's kingdom here on earth, representing the coming kingdom.

So he says, hypocrites, for you pay tithe of mint and anise and coming and have neglected the way to your matters of the law, justice and mercy and faith. So he says, you're focusing on such small things. You know, we've had mint plants before. Those are pretty little small leaves, and they were so scrupulous that they'd actually count the leaves and leave one little leaf for tithe. And yet, inside, they weren't truly converted. They rejected Jesus Christ and his teachings. And so they were completely spiritually unbalanced. He goes on to say, these, talking about tithing, you ought to have done without leaving the others undone.

So again, here he doesn't say it's abolished, but he says, focus primarily on those spiritual matters. Verse 24, blind guides who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel. So they strain a technical gnat and they swallow a spiritual camel with their attitudes, with the real conduct, when it's hidden away someplace, where you're not in the limelight. So he's saying, no, that's not the way it works. So this was the indictment on the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the scribes.

And he said, my followers are not going to follow strangers. They're not going to follow these spiritual nitpickers and just exaggerating these little points. And yet, what about their attitudes? What kind of example are they setting with that? He says, set your example first, then balance the smaller things of the law.

So they didn't understand, and they wouldn't yield despite the great miracle, as it mentioned there in John chapter nine, where it said, since the beginning of time, there hasn't been ever someone recorded of having been healed of being blind from birth. And yet Jesus Christ did this with the Pharisees there. They knew the person, they knew the great miracle, and yet they weren't willing to accept it.

So Christ ends the parable, saying in verse five, Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers. Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which he spoke to them. So the Pharisees didn't feel, oh, he's talking to me or to us. So he uses a second parable, again inviting them to come into the full, instead of being those that are snatching the sheep from him. He's the legitimate one. He says in verse seven, Then Jesus said to them again, Most assuredly I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.

So it doesn't have to do with the sheepfold. Now it has to do with the door of the sheep. And sometimes shepherds became the gate of the sheep. Sometimes they would stay at night, and they would block the opening there. They were the gates. They would not let anything that would harm the sheep or have the sheep leave and escape and then be devoured by predators.

So he says, I am the door of the sheep. All whoever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. So he says, all of the pretenders that they are the true leaders, the messiahs, because they have many different, even the high priests of those at that time, they'd all come. Some of them weren't even from the legitimate, Aaronic background.

They purchased it through political means, the Hasmoneans and others afterwards. So he says, All who ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. He says, I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. So again, he's inviting those to be part of his fold, to listen to his voice, to not compromise with the world's ways, to be that faithful little flock that continues following him as he walked.

He goes on to say, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. So it's not a part-time job. You are committed. When you become baptized, you signed a vow, a contract with God that you will put everything else in second place. If you love your father, mother, husband, children more than I do, even your own life, you cannot be my disciple.

And so again, false shepherds lead people astray, like the pied piper of Hamlet. Oh, they might sound pretty and nice, but they're leading people away from the true path.

He goes on to say, But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. So a good shepherd protects his flock to the death. Jesus Christ did that. How many faithful people over the last almost 2,000 years stood about keeping God's ways and being faithful and being hounded and did not take up the sword and did not take up armies to kill others, and they were willing to lay down their lives for their beliefs and convictions? Jesus Christ gave us the example as a good shepherd. But the hireling, he flees when he sees danger. See there? The wolves are eating the sheep. They're there. They're mostly in it for the pay, for the prestige, for teaching others. You can get a hire with that. You can feel very important. You can sound great, but that's not where it's at. It's not the messenger.

It's the message. I don't care if it's taught by some broken-down, blind man who can barely get it. If he's got the truth, that's where I want to go. I'm not there because of the eloquence or the fancy surroundings or the baritone voice or all the theatrics. No, I'm there with that person that is following faithfully God's commandments and has the faith of Christ. And I hear that voice and it is genuine. It rings true. The bell rings true.

And so he says that the hireling flees when he sees danger. He's not willing to sacrifice at all. He will turn tail and run. It doesn't mean people have not sacrificed themselves, and some have been willing to give up their lives, but that doesn't mean they were right.

They were just willing to die for their faith or whatever. I'm not here to judge anyone. I'm just saying we have to follow the voice of Christ as he teaches in his word. He goes on to say that he has a relationship with God the Father that is unique. He says, I am the good shepherd and I know my sheep and I'm known by my own. As the Father knows me, even so I know the Father and I lay down my life for the sheep. So God the Father and Christ now rule in heaven and are one in mind and spirit. So they work together as a team. Did you ever think? It says God the Father and God the Son. Is there another son somewhere? Is there an uncle? Is there somebody else there? No, it's God the Father and the Son. That's the only thing I know. Maybe I'm being too simple or simplif... But that's what God says. God the Father and God the Son worship them and no other thing. So he is the Messiah. No one else. He came to establish the church and to make it into a natural transition from the Jews at that time. They were supposed to come and as a natural transition, accept him as a Messiah. Be taught. They would be part of the light to the Gentiles. But they were so wrapped up in their own religious, nitpicking ideas that they rejected Christ. And so he called others to come along. He goes on to say, And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock and one shepherd. So no matter where we are, we are one flock, and we have one shepherd over us. Therefore, he says, my father loves me because I lay down my life that I may take it again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from my father.

And so he says, I'm doing this on my own. It is a decision that I have made. It is something that God did not make for me. It's in my own purview to decide, and he was willing to do it. That is why it is far more meaningful that he did it voluntarily. He wasn't forced into it. He could have avoided it if he wanted to.

And that takes us to the third parable. This is the time of what is called the Feast of Dedication, verse 22 of John 10.

It says, now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem. It's called Hanukkah today.

And it was winter, and Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch. Then the Jews surrounded him and said to him, how long do you keep us in doubt? If you are the Christ, the term is the same as Messiah in Hebrew. Tell us plainly, Jesus answered, I told you, and you do not believe the works that I do in my Father's name.

They bear witness to me, of me. But you do not believe, because you are not of my sheep. As I said to you, my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand.

My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. He doesn't say there are three. He says there are two that have one mind, one spirit, one way of doing things. This term here, where he says one in the Greek, is heis.

And it can have several meanings, but one of the meanings is to be one in unity and spirit, just like he mentions just a couple of chapters. In chapter 17, he uses the term heist as well.

John chapter 17 in verse 11, he's praying here in Gethsemane before he was going to be arrested. He says, now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to you, Holy Father. Keep them through your name, those who you have given me, that they may be one as we are. So again, he's saying I have this oneness, but are we all one being?

No, just like God is not one being. He says, Father, just like you and I, have this oneness so that they may have the same oneness, that they may all share the same spirit, attitude, the truths that we are all in one accord, as it says in 1 Corinthians 1.10, that we all speak the same thing. And then in verse 17, verse 21, he says that they all may be one as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that you sent me.

So again, God the Father and Jesus Christ are not one soul being. They are two beings, but they have the oneness. They have the unity of mind and spirit. And just as they're so united, he says we have to be united, that they may all be united in spirit, but that doesn't mean we all become one big glob.

Right? So the term heist has this very special meaning which we have to recognize as well. And then in John 10, in verse 31, to finish here, then the Jews took up stones again to stone them because he was making himself the equivalent of God the Father. That he was he had this co-equality, and they couldn't accept that.

They took up stones, and Jesus answered, many good works I have shown you from my Father, for which of those works do you stone me? The Jews answered him, saying, for a good work we do not stone you, but for blasphemy, and because you, being a man, make yourself God. And Jesus Christ didn't deny that.

But they could not accept, they did not listen to his voice. It's only by being led through God's Spirit that you can listen to that voice, and you feel at home. You feel like sheep in a sheepfold that is comforted, that we're in the right place, that we're being fed the right thing, that we are being led by Jesus Christ in the proper way. And so we should ask again, are we following the Great Shepherd?

Are we listening to his voice? Are we being submissive to him? Are we following his example, becoming good shepherds over what we are in charge of? We need to have the same traits and characteristics that Jesus Christ exhibited. Put God first. Put love first. Put truth first. And put courage first in your life. So we end with this.

It should be encouraging that the great majority of mankind will one day know and follow that good shepherd. That is the message. The world isn't going to be lost.

The people who don't know Christ are not going to be condemned forever. They're going to have an opportunity, and Christ wants to shepherd them as well. That, brethren, is the greatest news we can send to the world and the greatest news that encourages each one of us as being sheep in that sheepfold, being guided by the good shepherd.