Do you know THE Shepherd?

Do you know the Shepherd? Jesus speaks in parables many times, but I want to take a few short minutes to look at a particular one. If you look in John 10:1-18, He gives a parable about a Shepherd. While we can take many things away from these verses, I want to look at two.

First of all, are you of the sheepfold? We see that there is only one way to enter the sheep and be known of the Shepherd and that is through the door, which is Christ (vs. 7). We see in John 14:6 that Jesus says, “I am THE way, THE truth, and THE life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.” Jesus is the only way to be added into the flock. We also see that the flock is the church and that the only way to be added into it is baptism (Acts 2:47, Galatians 3:27). Are we of the flock? And if we have been added to the flock, are we listening to our Shepherd?
We see in the parable how obedient the sheep were to their Shepherd and didn’t listen when others tried to lead the sheep away. Are we living after God’s word alone and truly listening to the words of the Shepherd and no one else’s?

Secondly, do you know the Shepherd? We see from verse 14 of our text that the sheep know their Shepherd and the Shepherd knows His sheep. We see that the Shepherd leads, feeds, and takes care of His flock and even knows them by name. We know, if we have read the 23rd Psalm, who the Shepherd is. There is a story that I’ve heard many times and I never get tired of hearing it.
“The time was the late 1800s. It was a time before most of our modern forms of entertainment - before movies, before television, before the internet, even before radio. Entertainment consisted of traveling groups of actors who went from town to town.
One such actor went into a small midwestern town. The town hall was packed, the audience was wildly enthusiastic as the orator recited passages from great plays, poems, and literature. At the end of the performance, they shouted for more. The actor agreed to take a few requests.
Immediately, a hand shot up. The hand belonged to an older man with a weather-beaten face and clothes that were clean but definitely patched and had seen better days. "Would you… could you…do the 23rd Psalm, please?" he asked.
The actor thought for a minute, then said, "I’ll do it on one condition. After I have finished, you will come up and recite it, also." Puzzled, the old man agreed.
The orator began, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want…." As he went, he infused the words will all the tricks of his art. One by one, the phrases known and loved by all rolled off his tongue. "He leadeth me beside the still waters, he restoreth my soul…Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me."
When all the words of the great beloved Psalm were delivered with great art, the audience gave the actor yet another enthusiastic ovation.
Then the man who had requested the Psalm came up. His face was not handsome, and his voice was thick and uncultured. Yet, as he began to speak, his face took on a glow of joy, and the love almost leaped from his mouth with the words.
When he concluded, "Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in house of the Lord forever." the only sound in the hall was the rustle of handkerchiefs as they brushed away tears.
The silence was finally broken when the actor stepped forward and said, "Now you know why I wanted him to follow me. It's just as I thought. You see, I know the Psalm, but he, he knows the Shepherd.”
Now the question is yours to think on, Do you know the Shepherd? We see from John 10:14 that we can know the Shepherd, so do you?