John 10:1–10: “I tell you the solemn truth, the one who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. The doorkeeper opens the door for him, and the sheep hear his voice; he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought all his own sheep out, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they recognize his voice. They will never follow a stranger, but will run away from him, because they do not recognize the stranger’s voice.” Jesus told them this parable, but they did not understand what He was saying to them.

So Jesus said again, “I tell you the solemn truth, I am the door for the sheep. All who came before Me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come so that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.”

This is part of my series exploring the animal analogies of Jesus. Look at how the sheep are described here: “The sheep follow Him because they recognize His voice. They will never follow a stranger.” This is Jesus Christ defending Himself against people who were really resisting Him, pushing against Him, fighting with Him, trying to argue with Him. Rather than simply arguing back, He says, in effect, “You are not going to listen to Me because you are not My sheep. My sheep will listen to Me.”

One message is preached and one person responds, another person does not respond. One person in that scenario is the sheep who has heard the call of the Shepherd. That means God pre‑ordained you. That is what we call predestination. God pre‑ordained you to be His. You were His sheep even though you did not know it before. But when He called you, you responded.

“And when he has brought all his own sheep out, he goes ahead of them.” What that means is that, as the Shepherd, He becomes your example. The One who goes ahead of you becomes your example, becomes the pattern, becomes the One by whom you begin to shape your life.

We need to pay attention to the words of Jesus. Elsewhere He says, among the Gentiles the leaders “lord it over” them, “but it must not be this way among you… whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave” (Matthew 20:25–27). He is saying, “This is different. This is Me. Follow Me.” You follow Him; you follow the pattern of His life.

Paul, somewhere else, says, “Let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5). He was saying, “Do not just be concerned about your own things, but be concerned about the things of others” (Philippians 2:4). Then he says Jesus Christ, though existing in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, and humbled Himself to the point of death—even death on a cross (Philippians 2:6–8).

So the sheep do not just hear; the sheep follow. He is the owner of the sheep, and they follow Him. He is the owner. That is something you need to understand too: we are owned. We are not our own. We have been bought with a price—the price of the blood of Jesus (1 Corinthians 6:19–20). We are not our own. I hope we get that point. We are owned by Someone else. We are not our own. Let us understand that. Let us embrace that as a north star of spiritual truth. We are not our own. We cannot live as if we are our own. We cannot exist on our own agenda.

What that means is that you follow. That is what you are, as a sheep: you follow your Owner. You follow your Owner. That is all you do. You follow your Owner. You have listened to His voice, being called into His sheepfold. You have heard the voice of your Owner; now you follow your Owner. That is what you do.

I used the example of leadership. When it comes to leadership, you follow your Owner, and there are so many examples that Jesus Christ laid down for us. When Paul wanted to persuade people to be more selfless, he did not say, “Be more selfless and you will have a lot of money in your account.” No. He said, “Be more selfless—look at Jesus” (Philippians 2:1–11). Why? Because when you are talking to the sheep, they instinctively want to follow the Shepherd, their Owner, Jesus. When you present Jesus in front of them as the example, they want to follow.

But perhaps we are talking to goats—that is why we want to convince them by saying, “Do this; it is for your own good,” or, “Do this and you will get this benefit.” You want to persuade by saying, “You are going to get this thing when you do this thing.”

No. The persuasion is: you are mirroring Christ when you do A, B, and C. That is the kind of powerful persuasion that Paul used.

God bless you.