Jesus, The Good Shepherd

and Satan, on their derelict ranch-scoffing at the plight of those within their power.

iii. In pastures, by water, or in the valley, the sheep need not fear because the shepherd is caring for them.
iv. As the shepherd cares for the sheep, the sheep get to know the shepherd better.
3. THE GOOD SHEPHERD LEADS HIS SHEEP
a. Sheep know the voice of the shepherd and they follow only HIS voice
b. When the stranger comes, they run!
4. THE GOOD SHEPHERD PROTECTS THE SHEEP
a. He is the sacrificial shepherd, one how places Himself between His sheep and any attacks.
b. SHEPHERD vs. HIRED HAND
c. WILLIAM BARCLAY The Gospel of John
A real shepherd was born to his task. He was sent out with the flock as soon as he was old enough to go; the sheep became his friends and his companions; and it became second nature to think of them before he thought of himself. But the false shepherd came into the job, not as a calling but as a means of making money. He was in it simply and solely for the pay he could get. He might even be a man who had taken to the hills because the town was to hot to hold him. He had no sense of the height and the responsibility to the task. He was only a hireling.
d. Jesus is motivated by love, not selfish gain
e. GREATER LOVE HAS NO ONE THAN THIS THAT HE LAY DOWN HIS LIFE FOR HIS FRIENDS
f. Sheep are prone to wander and often are searched for and brought back to the flock (LUKE 15:3-7)
g. SIR GEORGE ADAM SMITH Historical Geography of the Holy Land

With us sheep are often left to themselves; but I do not remember ever to have seen in the East a flock of sheep without a shepherd. In such a landscape as Judaea, where a day’s pasture is thinly scattered over an unfenced tract of country covered with delusive paths, still frequented by wild beasts, and rolling off into the desert, the man and his character are indispensable. On some high moor, across which at night the hyenas howl, when you meet him, sleepless, far-sighted, weather beaten, armed, leaning on his staff, and looking out over his scattered sheep, everyone of them on his heart, you understand why the shepherd of Judaea sprang to the forefront of his people’s history; why they gave his name to their king and made him the symbol of providence; why Christ took him as the type of self-sacrifice.