We'll turn first to that familiar and blessed Psalm, Psalm 23, and then over to John's Gospel, Chapter 10. Psalm 23, the Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. You anoint my head with oil, my cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. And now to John's Gospel, chapter 10. We'll read down through verse 30. Let's hear the words of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. 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. When he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them and the sheep follow him for they know His voice, 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. Then Jesus said to them again, most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All whoever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 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. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. 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. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know my sheep and am known by my own. As the father knows me, even so I know the father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. 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. Therefore 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." Therefore there was division again among the Jews because of these sayings. And many of them said, he has a demon and is mad. Why do you listen to him? Others said, these are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind? Now it was the feast of dedication in Jerusalem 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, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them. I told you and you do not believe the works that I do in my father's name. They bear witness 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. This is God's word. Let's pray together and ask for the help of God's spirit and the preaching of the word. Let's all pray. Lord our God, we ask now that You would bless Your Word to our hearts, that You as our Good and Great Shepherd would seek and save the lost, that You would bring back the wandering, that You would bind up the weak, that You would strengthen the sick, and that You would feed and instruct us all, gathering us as Your flock. teaching us Your ways, making us to hear Your voice. Lord Jesus, we ask that it would be indeed Your voice that we hear tonight, that You would, amidst all the voices that we hear, that You would speak by Your Word and Spirit, that You would work faith in our hearts, that You would enable us to turn from our sin and lay hold on our Savior Jesus Christ. We pray, Lord Jesus, that You would be high and lifted up, that You and Your cross would be magnified, and that we would be built up in Your name. We ask all this in Jesus' name. Amen. Again, turning in the preaching of the Word to John, chapter 10, John's Gospel, chapter 10. where particularly in verses 11 and 14, we have another of these, I am statements of our Savior. There are seven such statements we have studied in occasional preaching over recent months. We've studied a number of them already. And here in verses 11 and 14, we studied together this particularly poignant and useful picture that our Savior gives us of his shepherding care for his sheep. And I wonder as we begin, a very simple question, but yet a very important question, what you think and what you believe about Jesus Christ. what you think and what you believe about Jesus Christ. Yes, it is a very simple question, but yet it's one of the most, in fact, the most important question that you could ever ask and answer. It is a question to which there are many bad answers that we must recognize at the outset. There's much false teaching. regarding our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. There are those that think particularly of Jehovah's Witnesses or Mormons who would deny that our Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, the eternal Word of the Father, that He's merely the highest of all created beings. There are others. Liberal theology has denied that our Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God in the flesh, that he's a mere man, a mere teacher. In our own day, it seems prevalent that rather than the glorious declaration that Jesus Christ is the one mediator between God and men, truly God, fully man, that He's, as it were, some sort of therapist, someone to add in to our lives, a shoulder to cry on even, but not the glorious King of Heaven, the only Savior of sinners. There are many bad answers to this question. But yet, even for those of us who embraced Jesus Christ and embraced the scriptural teaching of who he is, yet there can be a great disconnect between what we confess about our Lord Jesus Christ and our experience. Certainly we confess together the teaching of our larger catechism regarding our Lord Jesus as the only mediator of the covenant of grace, that he is truly God, that he's the word, of God, the eternal Logos of the Father, that He, in time and in history, became flesh, that He's fully man, that He took to Himself a true body, a full and true human body, and a reasonable soul. You confess this truth of two natures, united inseparably and one person forever. But yet, is it your experience, and I believe that for many of you it is your experience, that your life is still full of besetting sin, that you're anxious, sad, your life is troubled. Perhaps you lack assurance, assurance that you truly belong to Jesus Christ. Yes, you can confess the truth of what Scripture proclaims about Christ, but yet there yet seems to be a disconnect between this confession, this orthodox and true and biblical confession that we hold up, and yet the experience of your lives. And this is the great the great burden of of what we seek to accomplish in in studying these. I am statements of the gospel of John. that you would truly know Jesus Christ, that you would certainly know and confess the truth of what Scripture proclaims about Him. Yes, we confess that truth unashamedly. We remind ourselves, we affirm these things constantly, as Paul commanded Titus, to affirm the confession of Christ constantly. yet it is the great burden of what we seek to study here in these I Am statements of John's Gospel, that we would go deeper, as it were, that Christ would be yours, that you would belong to Him, that you would know Him and love Him, that even as we've studied these seven I Am statements, that you might confess that Christ indeed is the bread of life, the one who satisfied the cravings of your hungry soul. You know, in in our new members or in our membership interviews, we received a number of new members this morning. And it's a question that's often asked. And I think very a very useful question is, what do you believe in these interviews with new members? What do you believe about Jesus Christ and why do you need him? Why do you need this one who is the Word made flesh, the eternal Son of God who took on our humanity? Why do you need him? Well, it's, again, something that I want to bring us to by studying these glorious statements of John's Gospels, that you might be able to answer that question maybe along these lines. That Christ Jesus is the bread of life, and he satisfies the cravings of my hungry soul. That He is the light of the world, who has dispelled the darkness of my sin. That He is the door of the sheep, and I have entered everlasting life through Him and through Him alone. That He is the resurrection and the life, and because He is the resurrection and the life, I don't fear the sting of death. That He is the way, the truth, and the life, and the One who brings my troubled and anxious soul to the Father, that He's the true Vine, and in Him I live and I abide. That yes, you would confess what we confessed a few moments ago about our Lord Jesus Christ, that fully God and fully man, our Mediator, but that you would embrace Him as your Savior, as your king, as your only hope in life and in death. And tonight we study another of these glorious I am statements, the proclamation of our Savior, I am the good shepherd. I lay down my life, I give my life for the sheep. That you would confess that Christ is your good shepherd, that you would love him, and follow Him, having heard His voice. Let's study this glorious statement of our Savior and seek to use the context to help us along the way. We're going to learn about the identity of our Good Shepherd, this simple identity, I am the Good Shepherd. We're then going to look at the mission of our Savior, what He came to do, these clear statements of His mission, what He as the Good Shepherd came to do. And then lastly, we're going to consider the question of how you might receive, how you could take hold of His shepherding care, how you can participate in His good and gracious shepherding care. The identity of our Good Shepherd, His mission, and how you might lay hold of him. First, the identity of our Good Shepherd. Very simply, verse 11 and also verse 14, our Savior proclaims about himself, I am the Good Shepherd. We should say this at the outset, that the scriptures, not just here in John's Gospel, but all of the scriptures are inexhaustibly rich in the way that they portray God as the good shepherd of his people. It doesn't begin here in John's Gospel. Back, even in the first book of Scripture, back in Genesis, Jacob proclaims to his son Joseph that the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has fed me all my life long to this day, this God has, another word for fed in that verse in Genesis 48, 15, is shepherded, that God has shepherded me all my life long, even to this day. That at the end of that patriarch Jacob's life, it was his confession that Jehovah had been his shepherd, that God had been his shepherd his whole life long. A chapter later, he makes a similar confession that the mighty God of Jacob is the shepherd, the stone of Israel. We turn a few pages in our Bibles over to the Psalms, and the Psalms are full of this rich picture of God as the shepherd of His people. Psalm 23, one of the best known portions of all the Scriptures, proclaiming to us the Lord as our faithful shepherd. Psalm 100 as well, that we are the sheep of Jehovah's pasture. We belong to Him, He is our shepherd. Shepherd. Psalm 80, verse 1, a psalm that we sang together a few moments ago. The psalmist begins his prayer in this way. Give ear, O shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock. Isaiah, if we move from the Psalms over to the prophets, Isaiah describes the gentle care of the good shepherd of God as the good shepherd of his people. In Isaiah 40, verse 11, he will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom and gently lead those who are with young. And then in Ezekiel 34, among other passages, there's a stark contrast between God as the good shepherd of His people, as the faithful one, and the false shepherds, as it were, the hired hands of Israel who did not care about the people of God, but yet cared merely about themselves, lining their own pockets. satisfying their own needs and desires and not serving the flock of God. There's this contrast that Ezekiel sets before us. And this prophecy against the shepherds of Israel, Ezekiel 34, verse 2, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say to them, thus says the Lord God to the shepherds, woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves. Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool. You slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the flock, the weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost. But with force and cruelty, you have ruled them. But a few verses later, God proclaims that he himself would be the shepherd of his people, that he would do what these hirelings had failed to do. God proclaims in verse 11 of Ezekiel 34, thus says the Lord God, indeed I myself will search for my sheep and seek them out. Verse 14, I will feed them in good pasture. Verse 15, I will feed my flock and I will make them lie down. I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away. Bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick, but I will destroy the fat and the strong and feed them in judgments. Yes, this image of God as the shepherd of his people is inexhaustibly rich. And as we turn our scriptures to the pages of the New Testament and we hear the proclamation of our Savior, I am the good shepherd, we understand that God indeed has come to shepherd his flock. that God has come in His Son Jesus Christ to bind up what is broken, to seek those who have strayed, to seek and to save that which was lost, to bring back the wandering, to bind up His broken and miserable flock. This is the fulfillment, the point of all that we've read in the Old Testament Scriptures, that God in Christ has come to protect to provide and to lead his people Israel. Isn't this picture of a shepherd with sheep such a fitting picture of God's care for his people? Israel of old, the wandering sheep, those who were commanded to love God with heart, soul, mind, and strength, yet so foolish, wandering, hard-hearted sheep are such a fitting picture, aren't they? of the people of God. And a fitting picture not merely of Israel of old, but also of your heart and mine, wandering as we do, defenseless. Sheep are defenseless creatures. I don't have, to be honest, I don't have much familiarity with sheep. I grew up on a small farm, and we had one sheep at a certain point that I remember as a young boy. The sheep was sheared once, which I think was a lot of trouble, and then the sheep made its exit. Sheep are unwise. They are defenseless. They are high-maintenance creatures. Yeah, the point of using this picture is so clear that God is up to the task of shepherding such needy, wandering, high-maintenance creatures. A fitting picture of the care of God in Christ for His church. And that now as we read this proclamation, this simple yet profound proclamation of our Savior, we see, yes, indeed, here is a Savior who is able to help us, able to save us, able to shepherd us. I am the Good Shepherd. And in our studies of previous statements where Christ has said, I am the bread of life, I am the light of the world, I am the door of the sheep. Hopefully you understand something of what Jesus is saying here. I am the Good Shepherd. I am that I am. I am the self-sufficient God of Israel. The one with whom Moses was appointed in the burning bush. The self-sufficient God of Exodus chapter 3. That I am that I am. The one who proclaimed, I will be what I will be. Reliant on no one. I do not need anything or anyone. I'm from everlasting to everlasting. Infinite. Eternal. Unchangeable. Yet now, in Jesus Christ, God has come as the Good Shepherd of His people. Fully God. and fully man in His Son. His Son, Jesus Christ. God come in the flesh. A fitting redeemer and mediator for us. This is the identity of our Good Shepherd. It's the same contrast that our Savior picks up in the text that Ezekiel proclaimed back in chapter 34 of his prophecy. Christ here is contrasting Himself with the hired hands of Israel. the hired hands of the people of the Jews. Verse 12, 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. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. Our Lord Jesus proclaims that He is the one who truly cares for His sheep. He is the true shepherd. He is the good shepherd. Not another hired hand. Not someone concerned merely about filling his own pockets and caring for himself, but one who truly cares for the good of His people. He's drawing here on the opening illustration in the chapter, back in the first five verses of the chapter, the simple illustration from which Christ now has drawn two of these statements. We studied one of them a few weeks ago. I am the door of the sheep. Using that picture, a simple picture of a shepherd gathering his sheep every night and bringing them into a simple rock enclosure, bringing them into a place of security and safety, than even lying across the opening to that fold, keeping the sheep safe and secure all night, the door of the sheep. But here our Savior takes it a step further as He calls Himself, proclaims that He is the Good Shepherd. not merely the one by whom we enter into life everlasting, not merely the one by whom we enter into the fold, but as the good shepherd, the one who brings us into his fold, the one who does everything necessary to secure our redemption, to apply that redemption to us and to bring us to life everlasting. Yes, this is our good shepherd. He came to seek and to save that which was lost. This brings us right into the heart of His mission. What He came to do. We have plain statements of this glorious mission, what our Savior came to accomplish as the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep, verse 11. Verse 14, I know my sheep and am known by my own. Again, this clear contrast between our Savior and the false shepherds or the hired hands of the people of Israel. These hirelings, did not care about the people of Israel. They cared about themselves. How can you know if a shepherd or someone hired to care for the sheep is true to their task? How can you know? Well, expose them to some trouble. Let a wolf or a thief appear as the first sign of trouble, a hired hand, will run, he will not be willing to take pain for the sake of the flock. The first sign of adversity, he runs away. Jesus says, I am not this way. I am the good shepherd. I give my life for the sheep. I will do everything necessary to bring everlasting life to those given to me by the Father. And I can't help here but emphasize to all those of us who are elders in Christ's church, men who aspire to that office and the desire that we have to see more officers raised up in our congregation, our Savior is the model, the chief shepherd, the good shepherd, and we follow Him. We are to be willing by His grace to take up our cross and to stand even in the midst of pain and adversity for the good of Christ's church. Christ is the good shepherd. Let's be clear about it. Those of us who are ministering as pastors and elders are merely under shepherds. Our authority comes from Christ, yet we are to follow Him. to not be mere hired hands in it for ourselves, but to serve, following our Savior, denying ourselves, and being willing to take pain for the sake of Christ's sheep, those whom He has loved. But there's something more here than merely a generic statement of Christ's care for His sheep. I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep. There are a few statements that are more clear about our Savior's mission, what He came to do. Even here in chapter 10, Christ is pointing us ahead to what He would accomplish on the cross of Calvary. His willingness to go, to be obedient all the way to death, the death of the cross, to purchase salvation for His people, to die particularly for His sheep. This is the heart of our Savior Jesus Christ. And if you lack assurance, you're troubled and anxious, talk with a number of you who can be tormented by doubt, How much time do you spend meditating on the heart of Christ, on His finished cross work, on this glorious reality that He laid down His life for the sheep, that He was willing to go to the cross to purchase redemption, to bear the wrath of God in the place of His people, to die as a substitute for His sheep to bring them life, forgiveness, and communion with God. This is the heart of our assurance, of our hope, of our confidence, and of our joy as Christians, how acquainted you and I are with the Good Shepherd who laid down His life for the sheep, who did everything necessary to redeem us to die our death, to take our shame and guilt, to remove the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, to take it out of the way, nailing it to the cross, to bear the wrath that you and I ought to have borne. He gave His life, laid down His life for the sheep. This statement is re-echoed in v. 15, Christ laid down His life for the sheep. In v. 17, I lay down my life that I may take it Again, a life and a death in our place as our substitute, as our sin-bearer to turn aside the wrath of God that you and I so richly deserve, to bear our curse, made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him, the Good Shepherd. lay down His life for the sheep. But there's more that our Savior proclaims about His mission. This mission is based upon His intimate knowledge of each of His sheep. This mission has a personal and a particular intent to it. It's not, as it were, a general mission and a general atonement for for all men without distinction, but it's for his sheep. Verse 14, I am the good shepherd and I know my sheep and am known by my own knowledge of each of those whom, as we read later in the chapter, those given to him by the father, a personal and particular atonement, a sin bearing death for the place of each of his sheep. Christ, as the Good Shepherd, knows His sheep. And think of this, brothers and sisters. Christ knows you. He knows your name. He knows your circumstances. He knows your history. He knows your sins. All of them. The secret ones. Perhaps those even that you do not know. And yet he still went to the cross to purchase your redemption. Christ knows his sheep and laid down his life for them. I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep and am known by my own. There's something deep in our hearts, isn't there? That if someone really knows us, perhaps this even happens within that bond of marriage for those of you who are married. That if someone really knows me, they won't love me. That if they find out that really the deep sin in my heart, all my worries, anxieties, and cares, perhaps they will cease, they will stop loving me. Not so with our Savior Jesus Christ. He knows His sheep. He laid down His life for us, and He brings us into that knowledge of Himself. giving himself in communion with us. This is a communion that he enjoys with the father. Verse 15, as the father knows me, even so I know the father and I lay down my life for the sheep, a communion with God and a knowledge of the father with his son. Then that sinners like you and I, the wayward sheep that we are brought into the knowledge of God, knowing Christ, not merely knowing about Him, but knowing Him, delighting in Him, walking with Him, knowing His love, His shepherding care, having a sight of His glory in the Scriptures and brought in to His love. the good shepherd, lay down his life for the sheep. He knows his sheep. But as I mentioned a moment ago, this mission is, as it were, the mission of the Trinity, of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. This is really what our Savior is driving home. This is the mission of the Father, why the Father sent his Son into the world. It is the Trinitarian love of the Father His Son, sending His Son as the only Redeemer that undergirds this mission. We read of this in verses 17 and 18, that, therefore, 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. It is the love of the Father for the Son and the love of the Son for the Father that stands at the heart of this redeeming grace, this mission of the Good Shepherd to seek and to save that which was lost. It's the Father who sent His Son into the world, who delights in the obedience of His Son. Make no mistake, when Jesus proclaims in verse 17 that, therefore my Father loves me because I lay down my life, He's not saying that He had to earn the love of His Father, that His sacrifice on the cross of Calvary was necessary to, as it were, gain the love of the Father. No, He's saying something completely different. He's saying that He possesses the approval, the love of the Father in laying down His life. It's, in many ways, a very limited analogy, just as all illustrations and analogies are. But some of you fathers, particularly, you have sons who enjoy playing sports. And as your son plays and engages in that activity, your heart delights in his performance. Perhaps there are times you don't delight as much. It's a poor and a limited analogy as they as they are. But this is the delight of the father in his son in that perfect life of obedience in accord with his law. This is my beloved son and whom I am well pleased. The father proclaimed. at the baptism of Christ. And all through his life, it was the smile of God the Father that rested upon our Savior, Jesus. And then supremely in the cross, you have the love of the Father for the Son magnified. This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. The Father loves the Son. He's committed all judgment to his hands. He delights in His Son, even as His Son goes to the agonizing, painful, and cursed death of the cross of Calvary, as the Son lays down His life and takes it again. This command He's received of the Father. He has power to take it, to lay it down, and power to take it again. This is the mission given to Him from eternity by the Father. Our salvation, brothers and sisters, is not a maybe-hope-so salvation. It is the definite, glorious design of the triune God, the Father, and His delight in His Son, and all of it brought about by the power, the grace, the applying grace of the Holy Spirit of God. This is the ground of all of our assurance and all of our hope Salvation accomplished outside of ourselves. Martin Luther said that the glorious thing about our salvation is that it's outside of us, an accomplished redemption. The design of God triune, the design of the Father worked out by the Son as He laid down His life and then takes it again. And then that salvation applied to our hearts by the Holy Spirit of God. And then what's the great results of the mission of our Good Shepherd, the One who came to seek and to save that which was lost, the One who gave His life for His sheep, the One who knows His sheep, sent by the Father, the One in whom the Father delights, whom the Father loves. What's the result of this mission? We have a hint of it in verse 16. Other sheep I have which are not of this fold, our Savior proclaims. Them also I must bring. They will hear my voice and there will be one flock and one shepherd, our Savior proclaims. I will bring my sheep into my fold. Not merely as it were the fold of Israel. but the fold of all those given to the Son by the Father, a people from every tribe and tongue and people and nation, the fullness of the Gentiles gathered in by the work of our Savior Jesus Christ. But then later, we have more on the result of this grand mission. Our Savior says in verse 27, 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." An unshakable salvation, an unlosable salvation, a secure inheritance in Christ that no one can snatch us from the hands of our Good Shepherd. A mission that is absolutely successful in every way. Sheep redeemed, brought into the fold through the death of the cross, through the death of the Good Shepherd. Held in His faithful and sovereign hands. Held as well by the hands of the Father. The unity here of the Father and the Son together accomplishing our redemption were held in his good hands, a secure salvation, an unlosable inheritance. This is the life everlasting, sure, unlosable, unshakable, the result of this glorious mission. This is the work and the mission of our Good Shepherd. a secure inheritance and salvation for all of his sheep. And brothers and sisters, in the midst of your trouble and your anxieties and your cares and even your remaining sins, would to God that you could get hold of this truth of Jesus Christ as the good shepherd of the sheep. that you would meditate on this truth, that when you receive hard news of the sickness of a family member, and you're confronted by the brevity of life, that you would lay hold of this truth that our Lord Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd of His sheep. That when you are battling against sin and temptation, that you would run to Him, the Good Shepherd who is promised to be with you even in the valley of the shadow of death, that even as you hear preaching, that it would not merely be the voice of a preacher, but that it would be the voice of Christ, your Good Shepherd, calling you to follow Him, to lay hold on Him. That you would meditate on the cross, the finished cross work of our Savior, His blood shed for your sins, His life laid down for you and in your place to bring all glory to the Father and to bring you this unloosable life everlasting that you're held in His hands. Think of these things. Run to our Savior, meditate on Him, delight in Him, and then worship Him. follow Him. And this, very simply, as we conclude, is how we are to respond to our Good Shepherd, how we are to receive His shepherding care. I hope you picked up on this as we read the text, but what is the refrain regarding the sheep that we read? In verse 3, the sheep hear His voice, the voice of the Shepherd. Verse 16, as well, they will hear, the sheep will hear my voice. Verse 27, my sheep hear my voice. How can you receive the glorious shepherding work, the finished cross work, an unlosable inheritance, this accomplishment of God triune? How can it become yours? Better, how can Christ become yours? hear His voice and follow Him by faith. Lay hold on Him and follow Him. Many of you have heard His voice, the Spirit taking the Word and working faith in your hearts, and you're glad to continue to hear His voice in the preaching of the Word as you study His Word, as you give yourself to it. May you be built up and secure in the Gospel Others of you are hearing the siren calls of the world. You're hearing other voices, and you're giving your attention, and you're giving your affection and your heart and your attention to other voices. Hear the voice of Christ calling to you in the Word. Lay hold on everlasting life. Refuse the siren calls of the world and of sin. and embrace Jesus Christ. Live for Him. He alone is the Good Shepherd. Your only hope in life and in death. The ground of your peace with God. Your only mediator. Lay hold of Him and refuse to listen to the siren calls of the world. And perhaps even others of you have never heard savingly the voice of Christ as the Good Shepherd, the Shepherd who knows His sheep and who calls them. May you tonight, by the grace and power of the Holy Spirit, may you run to Jesus Christ, repenting of your sins and laying hold on life everlasting, knowing that in Him You're brought to lie down in green pastures, led beside still waters. Your soul restored. You granted His righteousness. Your sins forgiven. Assured that even in the face of the shortness of life and the adversity that yet remains and the certainty of death, that Christ would be your Good Shepherd to bring you through the valley of death's shadow all the way to the house of the Lord forever. Lay hold of Christ, repent of your sins, and flee to Him. Hear the voice of Christ. You are a good shepherd. I mentioned the inexhaustibly rich teaching of the Scripture on our good shepherd. Perhaps you did not realize this, but at the end of the Scriptures, in Revelation chapter 7, we read, we continue to read of the shepherding work of Christ. that this One who is our Good Shepherd, who is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, we read of our eternal inheritance, of the saints in the new heavens and new earth, that they shall neither hunger nor thirst anymore, the sun shall not strike them nor any heat, for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Christ, our Good Shepherd, leads us into the home, the everlasting, settled, sure home in heaven, in new heavens and new earth, with all sorrow and sin removed, brought to the throne of God and of the Lamb, brought to dwell in the house of the Lord forever. This is your hope, Christian, your confidence, your joy, and this is how you are to think and to believe about Jesus Christ. Yes, to confess that He indeed is the God-man, two natures inseparably joined together in one person, but that He would be your Good Shepherd, that you belong to Him, you've heard His voice, and you've been brought into life everlasting. Let's pray together. Oh, Lord, our God, we praise you for the shepherding work of our Lord Jesus Christ. We praise you, Lord Jesus, as the good shepherd who gave your life for the sheep. We thank you for the blood of the cross. shed in our place for our sins. And we think of the life everlasting for unlosable life with you and communion with the Father by the Spirit which you have purchased. And Lord, we pray indeed that in the light of these things, we would hear your voice, that we would follow you, that we would delight in your ways. Lord, we pray that for those who have not heard the voice of the Good Shepherd, that You would, by Your Spirit, open their blind eyes and unstop their ears, that they indeed would hear Christ calling them to faith and repentance. And Lord, for all of us, quicken us with the hope of Christ as our Good Shepherd, that we would hunger for that better day when we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Teach us to walk with you, to trust in your promises, to delight in your ways, and to trust and to follow you, our Good Shepherd. We ask all this in Jesus' name. Now may the God of peace, who brought again our Lord Jesus Christ, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.