1 Jesus the True Shepherd “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
3 To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by John 20:16 name and leads them out.
4 And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.
5 Yet they will by no means follow a (2 Cor. 11:13–15) stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”
6 Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them.
7 Jesus the Good Shepherd Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.
8 All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.
9 (John 14:6; Eph. 2:18) I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
11 Gen. 49:24; Is. 40:11; Ezek. 34:23; (Heb. 13:20); 1 Pet. 2:25; 5:4; Rev. 7:17 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.
12 But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and Zech. 11:16, 17 leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them.
13 The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep.
14 I am the good shepherd; and Is. 40:11; Nah. 1:7; Zech. 13:7; John 6:64;2 Tim. 2:19 I know My sheep, and 2 Tim. 1:12 am known by My own.
15 Matt. 11:27 As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; Matt. 27:50; Mark 15:37; Luke 23:46; (John 15:13; 19:30); 1 John 3:16 and I lay down My life for the sheep.
16 And Is. 42:6; 56:8; Acts 10:45; 11:18; 13:46 other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; Ezek. 37:22; John 11:52; 17:20; Eph. 2:13–18;1 Pet. 2:25 and there will be one flock and one shepherd.
17 “Therefore My Father John 5:20 loves Me, (Is. 53:7, 8, 12; Heb. 2:9) because I lay down My life that I may take it again.
18 No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I Matt. 26:53; (John 2:19; 5:26) have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. (John 6:38; 14:31; 17:4; Acts 2:24, 32) This command I have received from My Father.”
19 Therefore John 7:43; 9:16 there was a division again among the Jews because of these sayings.
20 And many of them said, John 7:20 “He has a demon and is mad. Why do you listen to Him?”
21 Others said, “These are not the words of one who has a demon. (Ex. 4:11) Can a demon John 9:6, 7, 32, 33 open the eyes of the blind?”
22 The Shepherd Knows His Sheep Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter.
23 And Jesus walked in the temple, Acts 3:11; 5:12 in Solomon’s porch.
24 Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, “How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. John 5:36; 10:38 The works that I do in My Father’s name, they Matt. 11:4; John 2:11; 20:30 bear witness of Me.
26 But (John 8:47) you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you.
27 John 10:4, 14 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.
29 John 14:28 My Father, (John 17:2, 6, 12, 24) who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.
30 John 17:11, 21–24 I and My Father are one.”
31 Renewed Efforts to Stone Jesus Then John 8:59 the Jews took up stones again to stone Him.
32 Jesus answered them, “Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?”
33 The Jews answered Him, saying, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for Matt. 9:3 blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, John 5:18 make Yourself God.”
34 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law, Ps. 82:6 ‘I said, “You are gods” ’ ?
35 If He called them gods, Matt. 5:17, 18 to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture 1 Pet. 1:25 cannot be broken),
36 do you say of Him John 6:27 whom the Father sanctified and John 3:17 sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ John 5:17, 18 because I said, ‘I am Luke 1:35 the Son of God’?
37 John 10:25; 15:24 If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me;
38 but if I do, though you do not believe Me, John 5:36 believe the works, that you may know and believe John 14:10, 11 that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.”
39 John 7:30, 44 Therefore they sought again to seize Him, but He escaped out of their hand.
40 The Believers Beyond Jordan And He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place John 1:28 where John was baptizing at first, and there He stayed.
41 Then many came to Him and said, “John performed no sign, (John 1:29, 36; 3:28–36; 5:33) but all the things that John spoke about this Man were true.”