Sheep Know Shepherd’s Voice
The contrast with the shepherd is even greater for the shepherd knows each sheep by name and his sheep follow his voice alone. Lloyd Ogilvie, the former Chaplain of the Senate and Pastor of Hollywood Presbyterian Church tells of being in the Middle East and watching a group of shepherds walk a large flock down a hillside one evening. As they got nearer each man called to his sheep and out of this huge mass the sheep moved to follow the voice they knew. They then led them into their pen and with a fire near the doorway settled down, literally sleeping in front of the opening, just as Jesus describes.
Source: Lloyd Ogilvie, The Bush is Still Burning
From a sermon by Charles Wilkerson, Being Safe in an Unsafe World, 10/21/2009