Jn.10:4,5 – And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.

David described the gospel as this, “He makes me lie down in green pastures”. What does a sheep’s diet consist of? A sheep eats grass, when a sheep lies down in green pastures it seems to imply that he has plenty of food to satisfy him. Jesus called Himself the Good Shepherd and said that His sheep know His voice. His voice is our daily bread, we eat His words and we are satisfied. Now this brings us back to the message of the gospel, just as sheep are attracted to the fields of green grass, the Lord’s sheep are attracted to the word of God. I still remember those early days of my Christian experience, God’s word which had been closed to me for my whole life became strangely attractive; I just couldn’t get enough of it. The Lord had awakened my hunger and I found myself delighting in the the fields of green grass that the Shepherd brought me to. Here is how Luther describes this.

“The voice of this Shepherd, however, with which he speaks to his sheep and calls them, is the holy gospel. It teaches us how we may win grace, forgiveness of sins and eternal salvation, not by the law of Moses—which makes us even more shy, unstable and discouraged, though even in times past we were excessively timid, shy and frightened—but by Christ who is “the shepherd and bishop of our souls.” For Christ has sought us miserable, lost sheep and has brought us back from the wilderness. That is, he has redeemed us from the law, sin, death, the power of the devil and eternal damnation. By giving his life for us he has obtained for us grace, forgiveness of sin, comfort, help, strength and eternal life against the devil and all misfortune. To the sheep of Christ this is a dear, sweet voice. They are sincerely glad to hear it, for they know it well and let themselves be guided by it. But a strange voice they neither know nor hear, because it sounds unfamiliar; they avoid it and flee from it.”

Martin Luther was an Augustinian monk in the 1500’s. He had struggled his whole life with Paul’s preaching on righteousness until one day he saw it, “the just shall live by faith”. This was the green grass of the word of God, a man can never attain to righteousness by his works, its only by faith in God’s word that a man can become one of God’s blessed sheep enjoying the green grass of God’s word.