Our pastor asked the question, what sheep does the shepherd call? John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
How is it that "His Sheep" know His voice over another shepherd's call? It is only through intimacy with the Shepherd that the sheep shall know their Shepherd's voice.
The Shepherd cares for them, protects them. He leads them to still waters and green pastures! He loves his sheep. In John 10:12 we discover that it is a hireling that will not perish protecting the sheep.
John 10:12 “But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.”
Jesus, the Shepherd, was the door to the sheepfold. The sheepfold was a rock wall enclosure of loosely stacked stones, and this provided protection against "thieves and robbers" (John 10). The enclosure also provided protection from wolves and other animals of prey. The shepherd would be the "door" to the sheepfold.
John 10: 1 Verily, Verily, I say unto you, He that entered not by the door unto the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
John 10:11 I am the good Shepherd: the good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
