Note that as the true shepherd, the doorkeeper admits Christ into the fold (of Israel in context). Of course, Christ has access to the larger fold of His world.

Further, in v. 3, as the true shepherd, Christ calls His own sheep by name. Christ has chosen His sheep before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:3f). He calls each one that He has chosen, His own, by name.

Beyond that, as the true shepherd, Christ leads His sheep from the fold (3). Christ leads His chosen ones out of the fold (of Israel and indeed the larger fold of His world). Not only has He chosen them, but He calls them effectually to Himself and translates them from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light (Col. 1:13).

Of course, in v. 4, as the true shepherd, Christ goes on ahead of His sheep. Christ is not a rancher who drives the sheep like a herd of cattle but a shepherd who leads His sheep. What a gracious, merciful, and loving Savior! He is indeed the true shepherd of the sheep.

Fourth, Christ is superior to all other would be shepherds because His sheep know His voice and they follow Him (3-4). The picture Christ paints was familiar to His audience. Two or three flocks of sheep might be in the same fold at night for various reasons. In the morning, each shepherd would call his own sheep. Each sheep knew the voice of his shepherd and followed him only. Christ so works in the human heart by grace that His sheep know His voice and follow Him.

Fifth, Christ is superior to all other would be shepherds because His sheep will by no means follow a stranger. Christ Himself said, “Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers (5).” Just last week, an Alabama pastor’s wife, Mary Byrne Smith, disappeared from a woman’s conference in Bossier City, LA. Her husband is the Pastor of First Baptist Summerdale. She is thirty years old, has two small children, teaches kindergarten, and appears happy in her pictures. Obviously, a real tragedy has occurred. But questions abound. What happened to her? Did she leave her husband? Was she abducted? Did she follow a stranger to her death?

Isn’t that one of the biggest fears of parents, that their child will follow a stranger? We teach them to flee from strangers. Just this year a convicted sex offender was arrested in our neighborhood as he was watching young boys in the rest room at a swim meet we were attending (one of my friends tackled him for the police). How I pray my children flee from those strangers who would seek to do them harm!

O, there are false shepherds who would steal your soul! And yet, the word of God gives the children of God a guarantee. Those who truly know Christ will by no means follow a stranger. They will not and cannot fly from Christ but they will fly to Christ as they flee from false shepherds. Christ has done that work in our hearts. It is a matter of Christ’s effectual work of grace in us. What comfort that dynamic ought to give us and what commitment to our shepherd that reality ought to foster in us by His grace, for His glory, and for our joy.

False shepherds seek to steal Christ’s sheep. Let us flee from them and follow after Christ, the Good Shepherd, to the end. Further, let us not be confused by charges of intolerance. Christians are tolerant of other religions and even false shepherds in the sense that we affirm and defend their right to exist and propagate their message in a free society. However, that does not mean that we may not attempt to reach them for Christ. In fact we must seek to win them. That is not intolerance but obedience to our God and love to our neighbor. Let us, as under shepherds of the Good Shepherd, proclaim the gospel of grace to all possible that Christ might call His own from the fold of the world to Himself.

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