Turn with me then to John Chapter 10. Gospel of John Chapter 10. We will start our reading in the first verse. We'll read down through the 19th. In the Gospel of John Chapter 10, Jesus is going to use a figure of speech in these 19 verses. He's going to point these people to a scene that they would have been very well familiar with. You and I have read this many, many times, and we have heard many, many times how Jesus describes himself as a shepherd, and here he says that he is the good shepherd. This scene that Jesus is going to use, he's going to to use it in order to show people who he is because they would have immediately understood the scene. We're told in this scripture, and we'll read it in a moment, that the people didn't understand what he was saying, but the scene that he described, they understood very well. This scene of a shepherd with his sheep. It was common then, and it's even common still today, that shepherds, multiple shepherds, would take their flock and they would keep them in a sheepfold all together. Many different flocks of sheep in the same sheepfold. And they'd keep them there overnight, and there would be one to stand on guard and to watch for predators or anyone who would come and steal them. Sheep being a very important component of wealth at the time, and even still today in this part of the world. And in the morning, the shepherd would come and he would begin to call and whistle even and sing. But he'd been to call his sheep. And I've never seen this for myself, but I would love to see this someday. That shepherd's sheep then begin to separate from the others and follow their shepherd. The other sheep do not, that are not that shepherd's sheep. But the ones that are his, they follow him because they hear his voice and they know that's their shepherd, and they follow him. And Jesus uses this example to tell us about himself, that he is the good shepherd, speaking, of course, of shepherding of people. It's not shepherding of sheep in this sense, but the analogy in the picture is so clear. So much in the world is such a picture of God. In fact, I am passionately convinced that if we truly study anything, if we truly examine anything, we're going to find God. And when we don't find God, we've not rightly studied. We've not thought hard enough about it. When we don't think about God in our marriages, we don't understand marriage. When we don't think about God in our study of math and science and history and certainly church, then we've not rightly studied. We've not rightly thought. And Jesus uses this analogy and they would have immediately understood the picture. The picture came to them, but they didn't understand what he was trying to say. He's telling them that I am the good shepherd. and we're all sheep. Every one of us. It's a thought that came as I studied. This is true for absolutely every one of us. We are all followers. There isn't a one of us who isn't following something. There's not a single person on the planet today that's not following something. Even those who are put into positions of leadership, They are not leading so much as they are bringing people to things that they themselves are following. We'll take people in our life, by the way, parents, children, as we know, have their own minds. But when we have position of authority in any way at all, We're leading people to a certain place and Jesus says, I am the good shepherd and we're all sheep. We all follow. And so I have a common but a simple question for you. Who's your shepherd? Who's your shepherd? Maybe you've never thought about it very much. Maybe you've never thought about the fact that you're following something. But you are. And I am, and everyone else is. Who is your shepherd? Who are you following? Who do you want to be like? Where do you want to be a year from now? Five years, 10 years, indeed a thousand years. Who is your shepherd? Who are you following? Who is the one you listen to most in life? There's one good one and only one. And we're going to see that in this passage of Scripture. Jesus says, beginning in verse 1, Truly, truly, a Hebrew way of speaking, to repeat the word, to emphasize it, we use exclamation points. A Hebrew would simply repeat the word. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him, the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 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 strangers. this figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. So Jesus again said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to 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 comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 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 flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and 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. And I lay down my life for the sheep. When 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 a division among the Jews because of these words. Many of them said, he is 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? That, of course, referring back to the previous chapter when Jesus opened the eyes of the blind man. The same setting. So often we have found in the passages of John this division that takes place in the minds and the hearts of people after hearing Jesus, after seeing Jesus do what he did. The division that takes place between those who believe him and become believers in him, and those who don't, and those who reject him. That's the pattern that the gospel has met with from the beginning, and it will be the pattern that is met with here today, and it will be the pattern that the gospel is met with from this moment until the final moment, when there will be no more confusion. no more uncertainty about who Jesus is, no more lack of clarity about the fact that he is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, no more ambiguity, no more halting between these two opinions, no more uncertainty as to who Jesus Christ is. It will be plain to you and to me, and it will be plain to everyone. But we're all sheep, and every one of us chooses a shepherd. We choose that we follow in our life and Jesus says twice. He says it twice in this passage in the 11th and in the 14th verse, I am the good shepherd. We cannot help but to see once again the definite article the in front of good shepherd. Jesus does not say that I am a good shepherd. that I'm one of many good shepherds, that I'm one that you can choose, and maybe there'd be others that you could choose. I know that this is a point that has been made multiple times, but when God makes a point multiple times, we're We're bound to listen and to perk up and take attention, especially when he uses this definite article, I am the good shepherd. He's already said, I am the light of the world. A little later in John, he is going to say, I am the way, I am the truth and I am the life. He is not going to use indefinite articles when he refers to himself. He uses the singular and the indefinite language that he uses to describe himself. Do not think for a moment that we can succumb to the relativism that has overwhelmed our culture into believing that there is no such thing anymore as absolute truth and be Christian at the same time. We cannot. culture, and I use that word far too frequently, but our nation, people today in the world, they will look at Christianity and they will say things like they are intolerant, they are unloving, unkind, they will layer all kinds of accusations against us as believers in Christ, and never should we give them cause and reason for claiming that we are unloving or uncompassionate or without a feeling and affinity for them as people. But at the same time. Jesus used these words, I am the good shepherd, I am the light, I am the way, the truth and the life. We cannot we cannot see Jesus as one of many ways, as one of many good shepherds and see him rightly. There is this movement and it's not a movement that is happening now. I believe it is a movement that has already occurred. This removal in our country of the idea of the absolute truth of the word of God. It's not happening. It has happened. It's not progressing. It is completed almost entirely. It is so complete now that it's infiltrating even the walls of the church. Christian religion is overcome by this idea that we must be relative and we must we must identify with the changing attitudes of the time. And we must submit to their ideas that there is no such thing as absolute and that Jesus. OK, fine. He was a good person. He was a good shepherd. But I tell you, Jesus can't possibly be a good shepherd unless he is the good shepherd. Because He said, I am the Shepherd, the Good Shepherd. He did not claim that He was one of many. And if He claimed that He was the only one, and it was not true, then He is a liar. And He is not good. A lot of people want to have in one hand this world's ideas, and on the other, yet hold on to a Christian ethic of some sort. and try to marry the two and they and they cannot be. Can't be. Here I stand, as has been said by others, I can do nothing else. This is what God said. This is what Jesus said. I know that it becomes more and more unpopular by the day to claim that Jesus is the only way to heaven in our nation, especially. And it is a sad day that this has happened here. But it has happened. But we cannot back away. from what the Word of God says. And I ask you to listen today and to hear me. I ask you just to give me a little bit of your time today. If you listen to me and I'm wrong, you've lost just a little bit of time, that's all you've lost. But if you don't listen to me and I'm right, you risk eternity. So I ask you to listen for a little while. Listen to what God says about himself, Jesus, the son of God, I am the good shepherd. If he is the good shepherd, then the only way that we follow a good path of life is to follow him. There can be no other good life led by anything other than following the good shepherd. It just stands to reason. It's the logical conclusion even of what Jesus says here. I'm the good shepherd. I am the singular. I am the authentic. I am the real. I am the only good shepherd. And if we are to live a life that is good and blessed, we must be following Christ. There are a lot of people today that think that they can follow a life that is good and not follow Jesus, and it's not possible. Not when you define good by the word of God. We define good by all kinds of different things in our world today. A good person can be any sort of person. It just depends on the individual that's making the claim. But to be good in the eyes of God, to live a life that is good in the eyes of God is a life that is led by Christ. When we are asked the question, who is our shepherd to live a life that is good? The answer must be Jesus. It can't be anything else. Not my parents, not my teacher, not my boss, not my spouse, but Jesus. Christ is my shepherd. The one who leads me and guides me and directs me and gives me purpose and meaning and hope, that is my shepherd. He is my shepherd and he is the good shepherd and he does employ other under shepherds, but he's the only shepherd in first Peter. We're told this Peter says, I exhort the elders among you as fellow elders and as a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed. Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly as God would have you, not for shameful gain, but eagerly, not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd appears, You will receive the unfading crown of glory. He employs other under shepherds, as they're called. But even them, even those men, if discharging their duties correctly, they're not leading people to themselves. They're not leading people to their own ideas. They're not leading people to their own opinions. They're leading people to the shepherd Christ. I want one thing for you. I want one thing for you. I want you to be with Christ. I want you to know Him. I want you to know Him more tomorrow than you knew Him today. I want you to walk with Him longer tomorrow than you walked with Him today. I want you to go to bed at night and know this Good Shepherd. I want you to wake up in the morning and know that this Good Shepherd is there. I want you to walk with Him and talk with Him and have fellowship with Him and make all of your decisions in light of who He is and what He's done. I want you, if you don't know Him as your Shepherd, I want you to know Him as your Shepherd, your Good Shepherd as the Good Shepherd. Christ calls others, pastors and preachers to feed the flock. And Jesus said that to Peter again and again. Do you love me, Peter? And Peter said, yes. And this went back and forth three times. And every time Jesus said, if you love me, feed my sheep. Tell them who I am. Proclaim to them what I have said so that they might know themselves and then encourage them to go on into greater understanding of who I am. There are under shepherds, but there's one good one, one good shepherd, and his name is Jesus. And if we're not following him, then we are not following the path of a good life. I don't care how well we might be doing. I don't care how others in the world around us may even envy us if things are seemingly going well for us. The path of a good life is only possible when following the good shepherd. And so who's your shepherd? Who is it that you're following? Because I will tell you that as there is one good shepherd, there is also ultimately, and I wrestled with this as I studied this week, and I want to present it this way, give us license to reconsider the wording later, but there's one ultimate false shepherd. His name's Lucifer. Satan, the adversary, the devil. He also has under shepherds. He uses them in quite a different way. But he is the one that we are acquainted with in Scripture, this one who came to our parents, Adam and Eve, and talked them out of the path of goodness and on to the path of destruction. It's what he did. It's what this shepherd does. It's all this false shepherd ever does. And we call him a false shepherd because he's not really a shepherd. Because a shepherd loves his sheep, cares for them, watches over them, is concerned for them. This false shepherd has none of those things in his heart for you or me. He hates with a hatred that we cannot measure. that we could not imagine. I have seen people do things to other people that I cannot understand where the hatred comes from in my sheltered world. But that pales in comparison to the hatred that this false shepherd feels, this one who spoke to Adam and Eve and convinced them to go down his path, to become gods of their own, as though that were even possible. this false shepherd that comes and promises things he can never deliver. And not only did he do this to Adam and Eve, he had done this work before. This was not the first time Satan and he is a person. Let's not forget that. Yes, he is an angel created by God. There is no yin and yang in this relationship between God and Satan. There's no two opposite equal powers struggling for control. That is not the way the scriptures present to us who Satan is. He's a created being of God. He cannot stand in the sight of God. He cannot stand against him. He will never have an opportunity or a moment's ability to overcome him. He is a created being of God, and he is a person, and it's not the first time in the Garden of Eden that he talked some beings out of the right path. He talked one out of every three angels in heaven out of heaven. What chance do you think you have without the good shepherd? You might be thinking, I'm utterly and completely convinced of what this world tells me today that is contrary to the word of God. And you might say, I just know it. I know it's true. I don't believe this Bible. I don't believe what God has said in it. And I simply say to you, it doesn't surprise me all that much. There's one who's convincing you that has convinced people a lot more able than you and me to identify his work apart from the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. I ask you to give it a listen and give it a hearing and to think and to consider this adversary talked Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden that talked angels out of heaven that is called the evil one, the father of lies, the murderer from the beginning. This is the false shepherd. And he also employs under shepherds. But he employs them in a very different way. You see, the good shepherd calls his shepherds and he tells them to tell the people that they are to ultimately be following the good shepherd. Paul says, be followers of me as I am followers of Christ. No man is worthy of imitation at all. But no man is worthy of even looking at to pattern something after if they are not themselves trying with all their might and succeeding, at least in some measure, in following Christ. But Satan, Satan does not announce his presence. He's not so foolish as that. Satan does not come and tell you who he is. When I ask you who is your shepherd and you say, I don't know, I'll tell you that I think I probably do. There is one shepherd that is to be known, and that is Jesus. Jesus does not say that there is a knowledge of this false shepherd, but this false shepherd still influences and moves and works, but he does not announce himself. He does not come that way. He comes as an angel of light, comes as a wolf in sheep's clothing. He does not tell us that he is actually the false shepherd leading us astray. He does not give us that insight. When his under shepherds lead and guide, they always cover it and color it with some other thing that is acceptable. I would shudder to think. In fact, I think that every person who who doesn't listen and doesn't follow God and those who reject God, if they knew, if they knew anything at all about the shepherd that they're following, they would be quaking in fear and rightly so. If we had any idea that when we led people in any direction other than in Christ, whether it be a parent, a preacher, a friend, a neighbor. If we are leading people contrary to the Word of God and contrary to the Good Shepherd, then there's only one other shepherd that's left, and that's the false one. And I think that we, I think young people, I think all kinds of people today, if they understood a little bit more about this false shepherd, they would walk much more carefully in the world. Satan conceals and hides, and he does so for good reason. But if he does, and there is the good shepherd and the false shepherd, how do we know which one we're following? How do you know? Everybody thinks they're on the right path, don't they? Does anybody that's of sound mind at all go about their life and say, I am purposefully choosing the wrong path? I am purposefully choosing to go down the path that will lead to my own destruction? Of course not. If they're hidden and if he is hidden and he conceals himself and there is a good shepherd who is Christ and there is the false shepherd who is Satan, how do we know which one we're following? Well, there are some tests, and I want to bring these to you today and not linger on them long. I want you to hear the tests that the scripture gives us in verse 10. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came. The good shepherd came that they may have life and have it abundantly. The good shepherd. The good shepherd gives life and the false shepherd takes it. Want to know the irony? Satan will tell you that in order to live your life the way you would like and the way to find life is to live life according to your own mandate, according to your own desires. Do what you want to do. Don't submit to God. Don't do that. That would be surrendering your life. It's such a lie. It's such a complete and total lie. Because he knows that the only way to life is through the good shepherd, the false shepherd does not give life, he takes it. He takes it from you. He doesn't give it. He's not interested in giving you life, he's interested in taking it. He's interested in destroying you, he's interested in lying to you. Only Christ, the Good Shepherd, gives life and gives it abundantly. Only the Good Shepherd is desirous for you to understand what life is to be really about. And listen, you either have life, you either know Christ, you know Him, and you have life, and you're following the Good Shepherd, and if not, then life, at this very moment, is being stolen from you. by the thief and the robber, the false shepherd. You don't have life. And I think deep down, you know this. I think if it were just you and me, or you and someone else, in the moment, in the quietness of an hour, in a moment of honesty and transparency, there's something inside of you. Those that don't know God, that don't know Christ, that don't know the good shepherd, you know that there's not life here. It's being taken. Jesus is all that came before me are thieves and robbers. Everything you try, every path you walk, every avenue you go down, every nuance, every new thing that you go after, you're going to find at the end of that road that it is a road that is simply taken life. It's not given it. It's taken your time, and it's taken your money, and it's taken your effort, and it's taken your energy, and it's taken, and taken, and taken, and taken. It's only the good shepherd that gives, and gives, and gives. All these other things, you're gonna go down the end of that path, and you're gonna realize that my life has been taken from me and destroyed, not given. And Jesus says that's exactly the difference between the good shepherd and the false shepherd. And as sheep, there's our choice. There's our choice. There's not follow God or follow Satan or just do your own thing. Oh, that we would see that that's not an option. that we would understand that when we think we're following something that is good and acceptable, though it be not God and be not Christ, may we understand that there's no medium intermediate path that we can choose and we can carve out on our own. We're walking down a path that we've been deceived into thinking. At the end of it, there is goodness and health and mercy in life. And at the end of it, we find there's none of those things. None of those things. The path that the false shepherd leads you down only leads to destruction and pain if it leads anywhere at all. The path that the good shepherd takes you down gives you life, life as it was supposed to be, free, free of burden, free of fear, free of worry, not all. And I know that we live in this world and we have troubles and we have burdens, but I'm talking about my eternity. And I have life because I followed the Good Shepherd when he drew me to himself when I was 11 years old. And I understood what he told me, telling me, look, None of these words in these ways, but you are a sinner. I understood I was a sinner. I understood I was on the path to my own destruction, that I was rightly condemned to hell for all of eternity. Something that many, even under Christian banners today, don't say anymore. You want to know why the power has left the church? Because we don't believe that anymore. We don't believe the bottom line reality that there's heaven or hell for every soul on the planet. It doesn't ignite in us a passionate following of God, not because we're good, but because we're not. This path that the Good Shepherd brings you down is a path to life. The path that the false shepherd leads you down is a path to death and destruction. Secondly, the good shepherd lays down his life. He says that in verse 11, the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd And so notice, God, Jesus does not call these people shepherds. And so I hesitate to as well. And so we put the word false shepherd. They're not really shepherds. He was a hired hand and not a shepherd who does not own the sheep, which tells us, by the way, the good shepherd does. This false shepherd sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he's a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. Did you hear that? This false shepherd cares nothing for the sheep. He does not care about you or me or our children or our friends, our family, our coworkers, our enemies. He doesn't care about them. The good shepherd does. So much so that he laid his life down for them. Jesus willingly laid his life down. Sometimes there's this silly argument, who killed Jesus? You wanna know who killed Jesus? And this might sound offensive to you. God did. He poured out his wrath on his only son. And Jesus submitted to the death, the death of the cross, to be the propitiation for our sins, all of our sins. He laid it down. Yes, the Romans were used as a tool. The Jews were used as a tool. But he died for your sins and mine because he's the good shepherd. He died for our sins even without our asking him to do it. with no pleas from us as we're one step away from eternal destruction in hell. Not one of us would call out to him. Not one of us would seek him. That's according to the scripture as well. Not one of us would go after this good shepherd. And even then, and even yet, the good shepherd laid down his life. How clear was Jesus in this passage? No one takes it from me. I lay it down. I have power to lay it down. I have power to pick it up again. The false shepherd, he's going to leave you when you need guidance and help and protection the most. He's gonna leave you. Let me ask you this. I asked you earlier, who is your shepherd? Who are you following? I wanna tell you, how can you know? I want you to examine your own heart and think for a minute when you are alone by yourself and you have experienced a heartache, brokenness, something that you thought was going to be a pleasure or a good thing turned out to be nothing and you're in your agony and you're in your brokenness. Do you feel a shepherd there or do you feel all alone? Do you feel as though all have left you and despised you and turn their face from you? Or do you feel the presence of the good shepherd? Is he there in those moments of brokenness? In the quiet of your tears. You feel the shepherd's presence. Because he's your shepherd. And He's going to go after the one even that strays. He's not going to leave you. He's not going to forsake you. He's not going to turn from you. Deuteronomy reread before they go into the land of promise. Moses is instructing the people at the end of his life, and he's preparing Joshua to take over leadership. And he tells Israel, God will never leave you. He will never forsake you. There are struggles ahead of you. There are battles ahead of you. There's a city with walls you can't hope to scale. There's a land that God is sending you to. You can't hope to occupy on your own. But the good shepherd God will never leave you or forsake you in those moments of brokenness and heartache and desperateness. Do you feel the presence of God? Do you feel the presence of the good shepherd or do you feel nothing but utter loneliness? An absence of provision and comforts. reaching for one thing after another to find the comfort that you want and that you need and you know that you have to have and yet you don't have it. The false shepherd, he's not gonna be anywhere close by to comfort you in your hour of need. He's going to be standing by and frankly, if anything, he'll be laughing. Although I don't think he laughs. I don't think he even has that grace. I think he'll long to make your misery even worse, because he does not care for you. Oh, that I could somehow make all of us, including myself, see the truth of this. The false shepherd doesn't care about you, but the good shepherd cares so much he died for you. Is there really a choice to be made? Does it not show you? Does it not tell you the depth of our own depravity that we even hesitate to submit to God? It's clear to me. The good shepherd lays down his life. The false shepherd cares nothing for the sheep. The Good Shepherd finally is known. And there is more here than I, and I'll not linger. I know I'm towards the end of my time. I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me. There's a saying among our people, when people ask, how will I know when I'm saved? And the answer's maddening to those who don't know him. You'll know. You'll know. And when one comes to experience salvation and they come to know Christ, they know. Jesus says, I am the good shepherd. I know my own. And my own know me. There is an experiential understanding of who Christ is. He becomes more than just words. He becomes more than just Sunday school lessons. He becomes more than just a list of do's and don'ts. Christianity is more than that. Do you see that? Christianity, when did it become just a list of do's and don'ts? The world looks at the church today and in some measure of validity accuses us of saying all they are is a bunch of religious goody two-shoes who tell us how to live and how not to live and what to do and what not to do and there's no reality of God in them. Christianity's not a list of rules. But let me tell you this, Christianity is about the good shepherd. And a lot of people will then champion that and they'll say, yes, indeed, it's about Christ. It doesn't matter what we do. And I say, no. Oh, yes, it does matter what you do, because the good shepherd himself has told us some things to do and some things not to do. But I do them and don't do those others, not because of the list, but because my good shepherd told me. I don't do them in order to look like a Christian. I do them because I want to be like Christ. You see the difference? It's night and day. It's up and down. It's left and right. It could not be more different. And I would, that the church of the living God would again understand that the good shepherd is to be followed and obeyed and loved, not to just obey a list of commands, but a list of things that our good shepherd has laid out for us to do. Why? Because he loves us. I've heard it said, and it's so true. Which of the commands of God do you think are so restraining? Do you hate the one that says don't lie? Is that the one that's really holding you back? Not the one that says don't covet your neighbor's wife. Is that a struggle? Do you wish he hadn't said that? Is that not a good thing for human society that people live in the sight and in the commands of God? But I'll tell you this. A lot of people follow the list without following the shepherd. And I'll tell you, that's not going to be enough. It's never going to be enough. If you live the Christian life or attempt to by living according to the do's and the don'ts of Christianity, whatever that your church might lay it out to be, it's not going to be enough. It is as though you have been given a set of orders by someone, a leader that you don't know. I'll tell you, it's not going to be enough. You're gonna live that life and have that list in front of you and search the scriptures even and say, what should I do? And you're gonna turn into a Pharisee before you know it. Following the do's and the don'ts and not the shepherd. And it's never gonna be enough. There's gonna come a time, there will come a time in your life when the list is not enough and you need the shepherd. And certainly at the moment of salvation, there's not a list, there's no recipe. There's no do this and you're in. There's no just jump through this hoop, fill out our paperwork. And your name is now written in the book of life as though you and I even have a pen that could write in such a book. No matter how holy we might think we are. I know my own and my own know me. And I want to finish with just a final couple of thoughts. The weight, the sheer weight of verse 15 should crush us. I know my own, he says, in verse 14, and my own know me. Just as my father knows me and I know the father. I don't want to overstate it, but I'm nearly breathless, wordless. When I look at what Christianity has done today in saying what it is to know God. Do you think, do you see the frivolousness of the Christian world today that says knowing Jesus is to repeat a verse? Do you think that God knows his son merely because he admits he exists? Do you think the son knows the father merely because he knows God created the world? No. That knowledge between those two is infinitely deeper than that. We are to know our shepherd just as the shepherd knows his father. And how is that? He knows him. He knows him. He's walked with him. He's prayed. How many times in the New Testament do we read of Jesus finding time to be alone with his father? Oh, that I would, I would look at my planner and planning my days as I'm somewhat meticulous at doing. Block out even more time with my shepherd. Or those spots in that calendar in that day when there are times that I know I'm going to need or have an opportunity to be a witness to others. Father Christ, my shepherd. During 10 to 1130 tomorrow. Open a door. that I might reveal to people they're following a false shepherd. Emptiness and ruin and devastation is at the end of that path. That they might see you, the good shepherd. That they might come to know you. When we have lost the understanding that the good shepherd is a person to be known, and we just follow some kind of a religious pat ourselves on the back, and let's be good Christian people in the eyes of the world, it's no wonder we have such little spiritual power. Because we're not tapping the strength of the shepherd. We're not looking to him. Instead of following the good shepherd that leads with a staff and a rod, we follow the false shepherd who has nothing but destruction in mind. Verse 19 is where I finish. There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. There's a division. Again. Haven't we seen this already in the Gospel of John? Certainly we have. Jesus does a work. Jesus teaches a lesson. And people are divided. The world wants us to believe that dividing that division is wrong. That dividing people is wrong. I'm going to tell you the gospel has always done that. It's divided. Because there's only two shepherds. Doesn't it only make sense that there's going to be a division? There are going to be those who follow the Good Shepherd. I pray you're them. I pray you're one of them. I earnestly do. I pray that you're following the good shepherd. And then there are going to be those who follow the false shepherd, maybe even unbeknownst to themselves until it's too late. But without argument, there's a division. I tell you today, you must choose. You must. I pray that you choose the good shepherd. For whatever reason. For whatever reason. God has been hammering and hammering and hammering. These thoughts over and over and over week in and week out here in this place. to choose. He's presented this in the Gospel of John, inspired by the Holy Spirit, in this way, and here we are. The only thing that we have left to do is to choose. Follow the Good Shepherd. Think. Pray. Consider. I don't care if you ever even I don't care what would come next. I don't care. I earnestly ask you to examine your own heart and follow the Good Shepherd.