Now I invite you to stand for the reading of the scripture. Tonight our scripture reading is taken from two places from the scripture. One is taken from Ezekiel chapter 34, verse 1 through 16, and then we'll skip to verse 23 and 24. My text this evening is taken from the Gospel of John chapter 10, Verse 11 through 21. But first, the Old Testament reading from Ezekiel chapter 34, verse 1 through 16, and then 23 and 24. This is the word of the living God. The word of the Lord came to me. Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to them, even to the shepherds, thus says the Lord God. Our shepherds of Israel, who have been feeding yourselves, should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat. You close yourselves with the wool. You slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. The weak, you have not strengthened. The sick, you have not healed. The injured, you have not bound up. The strayed, you have not brought back. The lost, you have not sought. And with force and harshness, you have ruled them. So they were scattered. because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered. They wandered over all the mountains on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them. Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. as I live, declares the Lord God. Surely because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts, since there was no shepherd, and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves and have not fed my sheep. Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God. Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hand and put a stop to their feeding the sheep. No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them. For thus says the Lord God, behold I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out as a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that has been scattered. So will I seek out my sheep and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. And I'll bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and will bring them into their own land. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the rivens, and in all inhabitants places of the country. I will feed them with good pasture. On the mountain heights of Israel shall be their gazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on a rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed. and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice, and I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them. He shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their God. And my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the Lord. I have spoken. And turn to the New Testament now, to the Gospel of John chapter 10, verse 11 through 21. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and fleece, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He fleece because he is a hired hand, and he cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me. Just as the Father knows me and I know the Father, I lay down my life for the sheep, and I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason, the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my father. There was again division among the Jews because of these words. Many of them said he has a demon and is insane. Why listen to him? Others said these are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind? This is the reading of God's word and may the Lord bless the reading of his word. into our hearts by the power of his Holy Spirit. I assume most of you, you know that in the biblical times, when the person is hired to be a shepherd, shepherding was the lowest and unwanted task that any person would take to do in his life. That being true, there is one striking and unusual picture and metaphor that we see in both the Old Testament and in the New Testament. You see, in Israel, the task or the work of a shepherd being the lowest task that any person would take. We see God Himself, the eternal, all-powerful, holy, majestic God, stooping down to the earth to identify Himself with His people as the shepherd of His people. You see, the Bible speaks about the loving-kindness of God, the steadfast love and kindness of God. That picture, my brothers and sisters in Christ, is the picture of God's loving-kindness, loving and caring to His people. Tonight, in our text, we see our Lord Jesus Christ claiming this title for himself, saying, I am the good shepherd. Jesus never said, I am a shepherd. Jesus never said, I am the good shepherd among other shepherds. but Jesus referring to himself, he said, I am the good shepherd. And from our text tonight, we learn one important lesson. And that lesson is Jesus Christ is the sacrificial and caring shepherd of God's people. He came to die for the sheep, but also he came to care and to shepherd his own sheep. And based on this biblical fact about Jesus Christ and his claim in the fourth I Am Statement, I want to show you this in three ways. One, the good shepherd Jesus Christ lays his own life for the ship. And the second is the good shepherd loves his ship. And the third point that we see in the marvelous and wonderful character of the shepherd is the shepherd lives and unites the ship in Him. So first, the Good Shepherd lays down His life for the ship. When we consider this fourth I AM statement of Jesus Christ, I AM the Good Shepherd, we need to remember and understand the context where Jesus Christ made this claim about Himself. You remember he had this encounter with the Pharisees, with the religious leaders in Israel. At some point in his ministry, especially in chapter eight, he called them the children of your father, the devil. And since that time, they decided to kill him. They were looking for an occasion where they will kill the son of God. And then in chapter 9, we see Him healing the man who was born blind. And their anger, their furiousness increased. They really wanted to kill Jesus Christ. And because of what they did to the man who was born blind, the fact that they cast him out from their synagogue, and Jesus Christ heard what they have done to the man who was born blind, He made this statement in their presence, I am the Good Shepherd. Jesus was contrasting his integrity in shepherding his people with the unfaithfulness and the failure of those religious leaders in Israel. So he was referring to himself, but in contrast with their failure in shepherding his people, he said, I am the good shepherd. And think about that phrase good. It is not the phrase good that we use in our everyday conversation to one another. This phrase good here is a very comprehensive word. It means divinely good. It means beautiful, it means loving, it means caring, it means attractive. When people see the shepherd, they are attracted to him. He is beautiful, he is caring, but he is divinely good. At the wedding in Cana of Galilee, you see the host of the wedding, when he offered the good wine, Then people said, why did the man preserve the good wine for the last, at the conclusion of the wedding? You see, that wine was so good, it was so attractive. And people recognized that. And the rich young ruler, when he came to Jesus Christ, the first thing he did was, he called Jesus, good master. And Jesus told him, why are you calling me good? It is only God who is good. You see, Jesus is referring to this goodness. He is unique in his goodness. He is beautiful in his goodness. He is loving and kind in his shepherding to his people. So this is not a common word, good. This is the excellence of the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, our Savior. And remember, He was addressing, when He made this claim, I am the Good Shepherd, He was addressing to the people of Israel. He was addressing to the Jewish people who were filled and surrounded and with the history and the knowledge of God being the shepherd of Israel. You see, for the people of Israel, the only one who is worthy to this title, shepherd, is Jehovah God himself, no one else. The reason why they charged him in verse 33, they charged him for blasphemy. They actually say to Jesus Christ, we are not planning to kill you because of your good deeds, but we are planning to kill you because you claim to be God. Jehovah is the only God. Jehovah is the shepherd of Israel. You can't claim this title, it belongs to our shepherd Jehovah. But who is this Jehovah? Who is this God? You see, in Psalm 80 verse 1, the psalmist says, Give ear, O shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock. This is what they know about God, the shepherd. Psalm 100 verse 3, Know that the Lord, He is God. It is He who made us, and we are His people and the sheep of His pasture. And the prophet Isaiah, he prophesied the same prophecy about God being the shepherd of Israel. Isaiah 40, 11. He will tend his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arms. He will carry them in his bosom and gently lead those that are with young. You see, this is what they know. This is what they know about the God of Israel. And Jesus is claiming this title for himself. I am the good shepherd. But the question that we need to ask tonight is this. How does the God of the Old Testament, for the sake of our understanding, How does the God of the Old Testament, who was known to the people of Israel as a shepherd of the nation Israel, becomes the shepherd in John chapter 10? How do we understand that? How is Christ explaining to them that He is indeed God? He is God in the flesh, and He was sent to His people to become their shepherd. And in order for us to get the answer, we have to go to Ezekiel chapter 34. And we have already heard the reading from Ezekiel chapter 34. But let me remind you this. From verse 1 to 4, we see warning to the shepherds in Israel. God was expressing His anger. He was expressing His displeasure with the shepherds in Israel. Both the leaders in Israel and the religious leaders in Israel. Because they abused his sheep. There was no justice in Israel. They were abusing the people of God. And God was not happy with the shepherds in Israel. And He tells them, because of your unfaithfulness, because you failed to honor Me, you failed to shepherd My people after My own heart. My sheep are scattered. My sheep are lost. I see My sheep being scattered without a shepherd. and my heart goes for them, and my anger comes towards you. I am angry towards the shepherds in Israel. Now let's stop there and think about this. If everything about the sheep in Israel would stop there, God is angry, shepherds are unfaithful, and they are scattered, they are lost without a shepherd. What misery would be that for the ship? But God comes with a message of hope to his ship in Israel. And this is what he tells them in verse 11, I will seek my ship by myself. In verse 12, I will rescue my sheep. In verse 13, I will gather my sheep. In verse 14, I will feed my own sheep in green pasture. All these provisions are the language of salvation. Language of shepherding. And God is saying, You failed to shepherd My people. And I will come and shepherd My people." In verse 15, He tells them this. I Myself will be the shepherd of My people. God is speaking to the shepherds in Israel. The sheep in Israel are listening to this message of hope and salvation and shepherding through Ezekiel. I will be the shepherd of My sheep. This is God before John 10 was fulfilled in the person, in the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. But notice carefully what God told the fall shepherds and the sheep in Israel in verse 23. He said, I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them. Now he's referring to David, King David. He was indeed the shepherd of the people of Israel. But remember, by then, David was long dead. This is the first return from exile. And this time, David was dead. Here, David is the type of Christ. You see, this prophecy goes beyond the return from exile. The David here, who will become a prince upon the people of God, he will become the shepherd of God's people, is the Messiah, Jesus Christ Himself. And notice the word or the phrase that God uses in this prophecy. I will set up over them one shepherd. Not two, but one shepherd. And he will come and shepherd my people. This must be Jesus. Because David was dead. But how is that Christ fulfilled the characters of the good shepherd in John chapter 10, claiming to be the good shepherd? I will show you three things. You see the outstanding and distinctive characters of the shepherd. One is he dies for the ship. Shepherding in Israel was very exhausting and strenuous, but also it was very dangerous. Most of the time shepherds, they watch over their flock in a countryside on an open field. And they put fence around the fold. And they put only one door. And at night, the shepherd would lay down at the gates. So if a wild animal or a wolf comes, they first encounter the shepherd. The shepherd actually dies for the sheep. David did that in his life. He killed a lion to rescue, you see, the sheep. And that's a picture of a shepherd in Israel. But did Jesus fulfill this shepherding, this character of a shepherd, by fighting for us against wolves, against wild animals? No, He fulfilled that on the cross. By dying for His sheep. That's where he fulfilled this ministry to his people, by dying for the sheep on the cross. There is important lesson that we need to learn here. You see, often, most of the time, shepherds in Israel, unless they are hired, shepherds in Israel, could be the owner of the ship or his son. That's the only way that was working. He could be the owner or his son. They own the ship. If you come to them and ask them, what's your riches? What's your wealth? They will point to you at their ship. This is my riches. No wonder what the Bible, you see, uses the word about the saints, about the elect, the riches of the glory of Christ. We are the riches of the shepherd because he purchased us by his own blood on the cross. But for the shepherds in Israel, that's how it used to be. But for our shepherd, the good shepherd, Jesus Christ, we are his riches. And Christ fulfilled that not by fighting for us against wild animals, but by giving up his own life on the cross. And remember, his death was a voluntary death. He's not just saying that the good shepherd dies for the sheep. That's true. And that's a wonderful truth in the Bible. He died for his sheep. But what Jesus is really teaching us here is, his death was a voluntary death. He's telling us, I actually came to the earth to give my own life for the sheep voluntarily. He was not a martyr for the cause of the truth. He didn't die on the cross to set a good example of self-sacrifice. You see, his death was not an accident. His death was not a tragedy. His death was planned by his father, and he came to die on the cross willingly. His death was a voluntary death. You remember his triumphal entry to Jerusalem. And skeptics, people who want to deny the death of Jesus Christ, especially his voluntary death for his people, for the ship, they try to make arguments like, he actually came to Jerusalem to become a king. And then the people surprised Him. They said, crucify Him, crucify Him, crucify Him. And His whole plan failed. He had no choice than going to the cross. Remember, Jesus came to Jerusalem sitting on a donkey. Kings in Israel would come to towns and cities in Israel sitting on a white horse. He came sitting on a donkey. He came to die for his ship. He was fulfilling what his father commanded him to fulfill. You see, in verse 18, Jesus said, no one would take my life away from me. I laid it down by myself. Professor John Murray one time said, for Christ, his death was not his fate. It was His deed. You see, Christ was active in His own death. It was a voluntary death, and He did it for His sheep. He was active in His own death, and He did it because He came to die for His sheep. His death was a vicarious death. Jesus said, I give my life for the ship. You see the phrase for. This is signifies to whom his death belongs or who benefits from his death, his ship. He died in the place of his ship. He replaced his ship on the cross. He took the place of the ship and he died for the ship. But you need to ask what happened to his ship? What was wrong with the ship? Why did he come and die for the ship? Was the ship sick? Was the problem sickness? He could have taken his ship to a doctor and heal the sickness. Did He die on the cross to improve the guilty of humanity? No, my friends, the sheep was dead. Not only sick, the sheep was dead. The sheep gone astray from God. Isaiah 53, 6, we all like sheep have gone astray. In 53 verse 8, Isaiah tells us this. By oppression and judgment, he was taken away. And as for his generation who considered that he was cut off of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people. The apostle Paul uses trespasses for transgression. He died for the transgression of the ship, for the sin of the ship. In Matthew 1, 21, the angel prophesied, she will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus. Now listen to this, for he will save his people from their sins. You see, he died for his ship. It was a substationary death. But remember also his death was a specific death. It was a voluntary death. It was a substationary death. But it was also a specific death. Jesus said, I lay down my life. for the sheep. It was for the sheep. He died for a specific number of people who are designated here as a sheep. I died for my sheep. I died for the elects. A shorter catechism in question 21, raises a very important question in relation to what we are dealing with tonight. Who is the Redeemer of God's elect? You see, a peculiar chosen people, the sheep of God. The question, you see, presupposes election. before the foundation of the world, that God the Father chose people and gave to His Son as gift. And His Son came to die for these specific people. Romans 9 15 the Apostle Paul said for he says to Moses I will have mercy on whom I have mercy and will have compassion on whom I have a compassion you see it was the will of God it was the plan of God you see for his son to die for his own ship I had I had a friend in Eritrea who comes from another denomination. And he always says to me, you see the one thing that I'm unhappy with the Presbyterians, the one thing that I don't like about Presbyterianism is that you limit the atonement, you limit the death of Jesus Christ to the ship. And I used to respond to him always, If you have a problem with Jesus being dead for the elect, for the ship, your problem is with Jesus. It's not with me. You see, in this verse, Jesus Christ is a Calvinist. He's saying, I die for my ship, for the elect, for those whom the Father gave me. That's my commission. And Paul said, God have mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and will have compassion on whom he wants to have compassion. Now remember what happens to the sheep when the shepherd is dead. What happens to the sheep? The good news for us, the sheep, the shepherd didn't remain in the grave. You see the shepherd who gives his own life to the sheep he was raised from the dead. He won victory over death and this is the good news The shepherd who dies for the ship has the power to raise from the dead. In verse 18, Jesus said, I have the power. You see, it has two meaning. I have the power to lay down my own life for the ship. That's his authority, the authority that he received from his father. And then the second meaning of the word power is I have the power to bring it back to life. I am God. I am able to do that for the sake of my sheep. So the beauty of the character of this good shepherd is he dies for the sheep. He loves the sheep. and he raises from the dead to secure his ship for eternity. There are three passages of scripture in the Bible that refers to Jesus Christ as the shepherd. You see, one is our verse today, I am the good shepherd. And that's a reference to his death on the cross. But Hebrews 13, 20 is another reference to Christ as a shepherd. And the writer of the Hebrews says, Now may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead, our Lord Jesus Christ. Now listen to this, the great shepherd, the shepherd of the ship, by the blood of the new covenant, John 10, 11 to his death, and Hebrews 13, 20 to his resurrection. And then another beautiful passage in 1 Peter 5, 4 is this. And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. And that's his return. He dies, he raises, and he's coming back for the sheep. No one can fulfill this apart from Christ, a good shepherd. You have all these benefits, all these blessings in Jesus Christ, your great and chief shepherd. But the second character of the shepherd is this. Jesus said, I lay down my life for the sheep. And I say the second point that we'll consider tonight is that the Good Shepherd loves the sheep. The Apostle Paul in Ephesians 5, 2 describes the love of Christ for the sheep in this way. And walk in love as Christ loved us. And gave himself up for us. as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. How did the shepherd loved us? By giving up his own life for the ship. You see, behind his death on the cross lays his love for the ship. The reason why he died for the ship is because he loves his ship. But we need to ask this. Where and under which circumstances was the ship when the shepherd died for the ship? The shepherd died for the ship while the ship was still in sin. While the ship was still the enemy of God, Romans 5.8. But God shows His love for us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. You see, if you are a father, you could say, I love my family, and if something bad happens to them, I'm ready to die for them. A father would be ready to die for his family, simply because you love your family. But remember, the good shepherd died for those who didn't love him. The shepherd died for his enemies. Paul said, Christ died for us while we were still sinners, while we were still the enemies of God. And that's the beauty of the gospel. That's the beauty of the work of Christ, the great shepherd for his sheep. But Jesus, the good shepherd, died for the sheep whom he loves. But why? God's people, we need to ask why. Why did the good shepherd loves the sheep this way? Did he see anything good in the sheep? Was he attracted by the sheep, by any virtue in the life of the sheep? And then that compelled him to go to the cross and die for the sheep? Why? Why did the shepherd die for the sheep? The sheep that died in sin and transgressions. The answer is this, my friends, because his father loves the ship. This is, you see, the eternal and electing love of the father. I always picture, we don't find that in the Bible, but the whole concept of our salvation pictures that picture for us. The father comes to his son and he says to his son, my son, I want you to go to the world and to die for my ship. I love my ship. And the son said, yes, father, I will go and die for them. You love them. I love them. anyone whom you love, anyone whom you have predestined for eternal life, and you want to accomplish their salvation through my death on the cross, yes, father, I will go to the cross and die for them. Jesus said, the reason why my father loves me is because I laid down my life for this ship. The love of his father and the love that he had for the ship compelled him to come to the cross and die a voluntary death on behalf of the ship. Ephesians 1, 3 and 4. shows us this beauty of what the shepherd did for us. Blessed be the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world. You see, people think when a person responds to the message of the gospel, he actually responds to the message of the gospel so that God will choose him for salvation. No! We respond to the message of the gospel because God already has chosen us in his son Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world. We respond to the message of the gospel because we have been chosen by God. And that ability to respond to the message of the gospel, to be awakened for new life, becomes ours in Christ Jesus. We don't choose God. We don't respond to the message of the gospel by our own strengths. But we do that because God the Father has elected us before the foundation of the world. And the people of God remember, we don't know who they elect up. We don't know who the elect are. The Father and the Great Shepherd, His Son, Jesus Christ, knows them. Now you might say, what about by their fruit you will know them? Yes, it's true, but that verse doesn't give you the full knowledge of who the elect are. It's up to God. to know the elect. He knows them by name. He knows where they live. He knows where they come from. He knows their situation. That's the reason he becomes the only good shepherd. So an exhortation for all of us as God's children, do not be hast to judge people by their outward appearance. We don't know the elect, but God has elected a people for his own inheritance. And we need to be thankful to the Lord for his electing love, not in seeing anything good in us, but out of the sheer of his mercy. And lastly, the good shepherd leads and unites the sheep. Listen to what Jesus says in verse 4 and 5. Jesus says this, when he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of the stranger. You see, the sheep is to be led. The sheep is a weak animal. The sheep is fearless and defenseless. Sheep needs a shepherd. And Jesus comes to become a shepherd, and we are designated as sheep in the Bible. An American tourist was visiting the Middle East one time. And he saw shepherds, a group of shepherds, shepherding their flock. And their flock were intermingling, and they were drinking water. And the tourists approached them, they exchanged greetings, and then one of the shepherds called his own ship. And all his sheep left the other sheep and joined him. And the tourist was surprised. And the other shepherd, the second one, did the same thing. And all his sheep came to him. And the tourist was somewhat curious. And he said to the third shepherd, can I try that? Can I take your stuff and dress your clock and call your ship?" And the shepherd, yeah, he said, yes, you can try that. So he took his stuff, he dressed his clock, and he called the ship. No ship moved towards him. No single ship. They knew that voice was the voice of a stranger. And he asked the shepherd, now let me ask you this, did they ever wonder, did they ever follow the voice of a stranger? And the shepherd told him only in one condition, when they get sick, they wonder. When he stopped listening to the shepherd, my friends, when he stopped following his lead, When you somehow say in your life, I'm not satisfied in my Christian life. Nothing is new. Every Lord's Day, it's the same. I'm not satisfied. You're actually stopping listening to the voice of your shepherd and you get sick and you go astray from your shepherd. Because this great shepherd has under shepherds and under him who stand in the pulpit from Lord's day to Lord's day and nourish you with the word of God. And when you say what is coming from these shepherds is not the voice of the shepherd or it is not enough. I'm not satisfied. And that's where the problem comes with the sheep and the sheep wonders. The sheep scatters. The sheep gets sick. But Jesus said, my sheep knows me. They hear my voice and follow me. You see, your feet follows the shepherd. Your ears listens to the shepherd. If you are following him, but you are not listening, you are taking a walk. That's not the true Christian living. You need to follow him and you also need to listen him. Jesus said, they listen my voice and then they follow me. They come wherever I go. They come wherever I take them by my word and spirit. But Jesus becomes, you see, that great shepherd for us. You see, you stand behind sheep and you make a powerful noise. You see, they don't run. They actually come to you, and they stand behind you as if they are saying to you, now you lead. There is danger ahead of us. We're not going towards that. You lead. That's the nature of a sheep. And you can come to the shepherd and follow him, and you will be safe. But the question to all of us tonight is this. Are you listening to the voice of your Great Shepherd, Jesus Christ? So that you apply these things in your own life. Let me challenge you tonight with these three exhortations, based on the Scripture, based on the ministry of the Great Shepherd. Because Jesus indeed speaks about the ship. You see, when Jesus said, they know me, they hear my voice and follow me, Jesus is talking about the character of a sheep. What is the character of a sheep to follow Jesus? How do you follow Jesus? My dear friends, follow Jesus by a delight. The apostle Paul said, rejoice in the Lord. And I say again, rejoice in the Lord. Are you following your great shepherd with a delight? Are you glad that you are the follower of Jesus Christ? Are you glad that you are worshiping him? You see the sheep needs to follow him with a delight. but also the sheep follows the shepherd by union. Remember, the sheep is united with the shepherd by faith. Your union with Jesus Christ by faith is very vital. It's fundamental for your Christian life as a sheep. We are united with him by faith. He becomes the head and we become the branch. He becomes the vine and we become the branch. But certainly, you see, the sheep is called to follow the shepherd by love. He loved the sheep and he gave up his own life for the sheep. He's not demanding, you see, your life for him. He did that for you. But one of the characters of the ship towards the shepherd should be following the shepherd in love. And especially in this period of time where we are in the United States of America. My friends, your love for the shepherd will be tested. Your love and your loyalty to the shepherd, Jesus Christ, will be tested. It will be tested in school, it will be tested in your workplace, it will be tested with your interaction with other people. It's common for people to come to you today, why do you go to church? to worship God morning and evening. Even your fellow Presbyterians would come to you to ask you, why do you go to church two times on a Sunday? Your response should not be because it's a command in the Bible. It's true. But your instant response should be because I love the shepherd. I love him. I want to spend the whole day with my shepherd. You see, if someone comes to the husband and he asks you, why do you care for your wife and your children? Would you say the vow? The marriage vow? Or you would say, because I love my wife. I love my children. I'm compelled to do all these things for my wife and my children because I love them. And as a sheep, your response should be, I do this because I love the shepherd. Notice what's happening around you today. Your love for the shepherd will be tested. So follow him by a delight. Follow him by union, by faith, and follow him by love. Let's pray. Our great Father in God, we thank you for your word. This reminder of your word for us as the sheep. Thank you for your son, Jesus Christ, whom he gave us to become the great shepherd for his people. By dying for us, to love us, and even to lead us and unite us. He brought us together in one flock by His blood, by His sacrifice. He leads us, but He also unites us. He brought to His fold not only the Israelites, but also the Gentiles, and in whom despite who we are and where we come from, in whom we became one flock, one body, the body of your son, Jesus Christ. We thank you for the ministry of your son, Jesus Christ, our great shepherd who made us one. And now we ask you to grant us your Holy Spirit so that when the time comes that our love for the shepherd is tested, Help us our response to be, it is because I love my shepherd. Help us to hear his voice, to follow him by a delight in union and in love. And it is in his name that we pray, amen.