Parable Of The Good Shepherd

John 10:1-18:
 
“Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. ² The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. ³ The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴ When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. ⁵ But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” ⁶ Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.
⁷ Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. ⁸ All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. ⁹ I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.^[a] They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 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.

¹¹ “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ¹² 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. ¹³ The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

¹⁴ “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— ¹⁵ just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. ¹⁶ I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. ¹⁷ The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. ¹⁸ No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”

How do we listen to the voice of our shepherd? We listen by studying the Scriptures. We make studying and obeying the Bible a priority in our lives. We make sure that the voice of Scripture is one with authority in our homes: with more authority than the daily paper, television, the computer and whatever we find on the internet. The way to know whether the Bible has authority in our lives is to ask ourselves: am I spending time in the Scriptures every day? Now I know none of us is perfect. Even I am not completely consistent in my own daily devotions. But the primary way to know Jesus, to hear his voice, to listen to him, and to know therefore how to follow him is to study the Scriptures. Psalm 19: 10 calls Scripture sweeter than honey. Do you feel this way about Scripture? Read your Bible. Get to know it. Ask God to show you how to apply it to your life. Make it a priority.

Only when you become familiar with Jesus’ voice and learn how to follow him will you be able to resist the voices of strangers. Our passage says in vv. 4 and 5 that “the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” What other voices are competing with Jesus to be heard in your life? How can you alter your priorities so that Jesus’ voice is the one with real authority in your life? Only when you become familiar with Jesus’ voice will you be able to distinguish his voice from that of strangers – and be able to run from the strangers of false teaching, other worldviews, media influence, etc.