I am the Good Shepherd

Worship Gathering and Call to Worship

What a great truth to start out the Lord's Day gathering today.

I'm so glad that you're here with us. I want to say a special thank you and welcome to our covenant members. You know who you are. We love that you continually seek obedience to King Jesus in using your gifts and what Christ has called you to for this particular body.

The fact that you're here this morning tells me that you're utilizing your gifts because we often times in our culture think of church as an event to go to and this is nothing like an event to go to. This is a unified body coming together in participation of the worship of the triune.

God.

And just the fact that you're here means that your encouragement to the other brothers, your challenging the other brothers, all that comes with that as we sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to one another, ultimately to God as the audience of one, but we're all the praise team, right?

This is the praise team. Y 'all get what I'm saying, right? This isn't the praise team. You're the praise team, right? We are worshiping the triune God this morning. So welcome. I also want to say a special welcome to all of our guests.

We have a number of guests every single Sunday and it feels overwhelming. We feel blessed that people are being drawn here and coming to see what God is doing here. So thank you for being here. We love you.

We pray that you would grow in the fear and knowledge of the triune God just as we are and you are welcome and you are loved. I do want to say if you got one of the bags at the entrance, the connect card is in there.

This connect card, if you have prayer requests, if you have questions, if you want to know more about 12 .5 Church, please fill that out and put it in the offering plate when it comes by in a little bit.

As our people participate in giving offering and worship, this can be your participation. You can give us some information about yourself that we can pray for you, that we can reach out to you and let you know more about this particular body, but you are welcome here and we are grateful that you've chosen to join us this day and it is a good day.

I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord, right? And we don't worship at a mountain. We don't worship in a temple. The veil is torn. We worship in spirit and truth, amen?

Amen.

Well, there's other brothers and sisters all over the world gathering today, aren't there? It's not just us. We're not alone.

This isn't it.

They're all over town. They're all over this community. They're all over the world, everywhere, gathering on the Lord's day to worship God on His day. And so we like to make a practice of praying for one of those churches.

So we want to pray for our local church before we officially begin our service with a call to worship. And today we want to pray for our brothers and sisters at Central Baptist Paragold. I don't know if you've seen their new building there on 49 as you're coming out of Paragold and heading towards Jonesboro.

They've got their new location built and they've had services in there for a couple of weeks. And we just want to lift them up to the Lord. We want to pray that God would work in their midst. We want to pray that God would grow and sanctify His people that are gathered there, pray for the leadership.

So please bow with me as we pray for Central Baptist Paragold. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you. We thank you for bringing us together this morning. We thank you for not leaving us to ourselves.

God, we thank you for our brothers and sisters that aren't worshiping in this particular location with this specific, particular covenant body of believers. We thank you for those brothers and sisters who are committing to gather together all over this world and all over this community.

We specifically want to thank you for Central Baptist Paragold. Lord, we thank you for their leadership. Father, we pray that you would give them wisdom and discernment. We pray that you would work in their lives and draw them closer and closer to you.

Lord, I pray that they would continue to see the beauty of proclaiming the full counsel of God, that they would boldly teach what is in your word without skipping, without avoiding. Lord, I pray that they would shepherd well.

Father, I pray for the people that are there. Lord, I pray that you would work in their midst. I pray that you would mold them more and more into the image of your son, that you would use them mightily.

Father, that you would bring about revival in their hearts and in their lives individually and their families, but then in their covenant body of believers, that they would spread all over Paragold and to Jonesboro and all over this area, Lord.

We thank you for them. We pray that you bless them. We pray that you guard them, that you grow them, that you mold them, just as we pray for ourselves this morning. In Christ's name, we pray this. And all God's people said, amen.

Let's start our service. Let's officially get ready to come into the throne room of God to gather as his children, boldly proclaiming his truth, hearing from him, being encouraged by one another, singing his truth, praying his truth, reading his truth, preaching his truth, and seeing his truth, his word.

As we will prepare to go to the Lord's table at the end of the sermon. Let's do this as we come in with a call to worship. The Psalms are a great place to start to get our minds pointed to the one that we are gathered here to worship.

And Psalm 23 is a very familiar Psalm, and it goes with the text and the topic of today's sermon that he is the good shepherd. And we see Christ in the midst of this. This is a Psalm of David, the Lord is my shepherd.

He says, the Lord is my shepherd. He makes me lay down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He leads me in paths of righteousness, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow.

Of death.

For you are with me, your rod and your staff. You prepare a table before me. You anoint my head with oil. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and we shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Amen.

That's good news, isn't it? Surely goodness and mercy. This is amazing. We walk in the shadow of death. Not death, we walk in the shadow of it because it has no more sting because of our great Savior who has defeated death, and we get to worship him this morning.

Let's go to him in a prayer of adoration before we begin to sing. Dear Heavenly Father, we come before you once again. You are great. You are merciful. You are kind. You are long-suffering. You have redeemed a people to yourself, our shepherd, and because you are the good shepherd, the kind shepherd, the gracious shepherd, the gentle and lowly shepherd, the powerful, almighty shepherd, I shall not want.

The lines have truly fallen in pleasant places for us, even in the midst of struggle and difficulty. Even in the midst of walking through the valley of the shadow of death, we do not have to fear evil because your rod and your staff, they comfort us.

Lord, you have prepared a table for us in the presence of our enemies and our cup overflows. Because of your great mercy, we shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Thank you for being the glorious triune God that you are.

God the Father who chose us before the foundations of the world, who loved us, who foreknew us. God the Son who redeemed us by blood ransom as a gift to the Father, redeeming us from the wrath of the Father.

And God the Son who is sealing us for the day of glory, prompting us and molding us and working your sanctifying power in our hearts and minds to mold us more and more into the image of our great Savior, Jesus Christ.

Be honored in our worship this morning, we pray in Christ's name, amen.

Glory and power, amen, from every nation.

Isaiah 40 and the Shepherd Who Tends His Flock

Isaiah chapter 40, verses 10 and 11, behold, the Lord God comes with might and his arm rules for him. Behold, his reward is with him and his recompense before him. He will tend his flock like a shepherd.

He will gather the lambs in his arms. He will carry them in his bosom and gently lead those that are with young. In present darkness and at times feels broken and overwhelming, just go before him in a prayer of confession and assurance this morning because so often times out in this pasture we stray.

This side of glory, none of us will achieve perfection. Positional righteousness, but not an experiential righteousness at all. We run from the good shepherd even though he's good and we know he's good, we just obey him.

Oh Father, we bow before you once again, we come before you confessing that we fall short. Words don't express it. I like to soften it by saying fall short, but it's more than fall short. We bail against you and rebel against you.

We don't honor you, we don't honor you with our words and our thoughts and our speech. We don't honor you with our lives, we don't honor you with our actions so often, but we are reminded you are the good shepherd, you care for us.

We know that there is a great assurance that you've not lost one of us and that even in our moments of sin against you and rebellion against you, you are good and you are there and you are declaring I paid for even that.

You are so good. Thank you for bringing us into your household, to your flock, to be your people, to be your.

Body.

Lord, I pray for each one of us individually that we would continue on with a life of confession to you and a life of great assurance. I pray for the body as a whole, 12 .5 church here represented. Lord, I pray that we would be a people of confession, but also a people of great assurance and hope because you are the good shepherd.

We thank you in Christ's name.

Keep the Father's love for us.

The Good Shepherd and the Seven I Am Statements

Nathan, you know, we were singing that song and I was sitting there going, that could very easily be the sermon text this morning. The words and I hope that you see that and what I'm bringing to you today, this is the fourth sermon in this Who Do You Say That I Am series.

This is a question that Jesus asked and that's what we're trying to answer in this series. Who is Jesus Christ? Who is the Messiah? And we're doing this by going through the seven great I am statements that Jesus said in the gospel of John.

Three weeks ago, we went through I am the bread of life. We've covered I am the light of the world. And last week, we started this kind of a series within a series where we're covering this one long allegory in John chapter 10, if you want to go ahead, be turning there, that where Jesus says, I am the door and I am the good shepherd.

And we did a lot of context last week, bringing us up to speed, kind of where Jesus is, why he's saying what he's saying. If you remember, we talked a lot about this confrontation that Jesus is having with the religious elite, the false shepherds.

He ends up calling them thieves, robbers, hirelings, and they are pretty pointed in their rebuke of Jesus Christ. And he's very bold in replying back to them. If you remember, he said, your father is the devil.

So he was very pointed in his remarks back to them. And today, since that happened, I'm going to be very pointed in my remarks today. I want to warn you a little bit as we get started. So we're going to be starting in John 10 chapter 1 through 18.

Last week, we covered the first six verses. So if you weren't here last week, don't think that you're very far behind because as I get started, I'm going to bring you up to speed about what a lot of the different metaphors within this allegory means.

So let's get started. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

To him, the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of the stranger. This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying.

To them.

So Jesus again said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.

The thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.

He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the father knows me and I know the father, and I lay down my life for the sheep.

And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock and one shepherd. For this reason, the father loves me because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.

No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my father. Well, as we've seen up to now, and it will continue in these chapters, Jesus is repeatedly making the claim of deity to these Pharisees, to these false religious leaders.

And one of the main things you need to understand about this allegory is who Jesus is talking to. He's talking to the Pharisees, to the chief priests. He, and at the last of chapter 9, he had a conversation with them after this blind man was healed, and he accused them of being blind because they think that they can see, and he even judged them.

He says, your guilt remains. And this is just carrying on that conversation. So he is speaking to these false shepherds, and we need to keep that in mind. Now, the church back then had a problem with religious leaders.

These religious leaders, the Pharisees and the chief priests, like I said, especially the Sanhedrin, their problem is that this Christ, this Jesus, this Galilean that they thought was not the type of Messiah that they were looking for or wanted.

He didn't fit in their little mold of who the Messiah was supposed to be. So the question is, why? Why did the Pharisees despise him so? Why did they hate Jesus? I mean, they tried to throw him off a cliff at Nazareth.

They tried to stone him at the end of chapter 8, and they're going to try to stone him again. They'll try it again. So why this rampant animosity against Jesus? Well, in John 11, if you'd like to kind of turn the page over to John 11, I'm going to be there briefly.

In 47 and 48. We'll cover this in more detail next week, but this, I believe, tells us exactly why. It says, starting in 47, so the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council. Now, this is the council of the Sanhedrin.

These are 71 of the most religious elite in all of Israel. Pharisees, Sanhedrin, chief priests, and so on. And they're modeled after the 70 elders of Moses. And plus Moses would be 71. So they've gathered the council, and they say, what are we to do?

They've got a big problem on their hand. They've been trying to control it, but now it's spinning out of control. For this man performs many signs. He's still a man. He's still this Galilean, is what they think of him.

But they recognize that he's doing things that they can't really understand. All these miracles have unfolded before him. If we let him go on this way, everyone will believe in him, is what they say. And we've seen several times, it says, and many believed in him.

And they go on to say, and the Romans will come, take away both our place and our nation. Listen to what they're saying here. They're not saying they're going to take away that place that God put us in and is using us.

They're not saying come and take away God's land. They're saying our place, our land. It's all about what they think is theirs. And that's exactly what Jesus is telling them. Oh, no, you're not the good shepherd.

You're not the door.

I am.

This is why they hated Jesus so much. So in this allegory about a shepherd and a flock of sheep, most everyone in hearing distance knows what Jesus is saying when he says, I am the good shepherd. I mean, as in the present, the 23rd Psalm was one of the most beloved Psalms to the Jews.

So they knew what the first verse meant.

What does it say?

The Lord is my shepherd. I mean, the shepherd, it's mentioned so many times in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. So they knew what he was claiming. He was claiming to be the Lord that is the shepherd.

Now, one of the verses that speaks about this is in Isaiah 40 verses 10 -11. The pastor just read it just a minute ago. Behold, the Lord God comes with might and his arm rules for him. Behold, his reward is with him and his recompense before him.

He will tend his flock like a shepherd. He will gather his lambs in his arms. He will carry them in his bosom and gently lead those that are with young. What a picture of the good shepherd. Let us pray.

Lord God, heavenly fathers, as we talk about your word that you spoke so boldly in this allegory, I just pray that you would give us the deep meaning of what you're trying to say and how it can affect our lives that we may come to know you as the good shepherd, as the door.

Speak to us, Lord Jesus, today. I pray, amen. So, last week we covered basically the first section that was one through six where he talks about being the door to the sheepfold. And we'll get back to that in just a minute.

And I said that the good shepherd enters lawfully. Now, there's three different doors in this allegory and this is where people get confused. He talks about three different doors and it's important to understand what he's talking about with each of the doors because they're not all exactly the same.

So, let's get started. We have the door of the sheep. The good shepherd leads his sheep unto himself and salvation. So, beginning in verse 7 in John 10. So, Jesus again said to them, truly, truly, or truly indeed, it is true that I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.

All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved. And go in and out and find pasture. The thief only comes to steal and kill and destroy.

I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. So, as we continue to deal with this confrontation between Jesus and these Pharisees, I want to point out five distinctions that separates the good shepherd from the false shepherds, which Jesus is calling the thieves and the robbers.

Number one, the good shepherd enters the sheepfold, which is actually historic Israel. That's what he's talking about when he says sheepfold. He's talking about historic Israel, which is controlled by a false religion, Judaism.

By the door. That's that first door I was talking about. The door to the sheepfold, which it talks about in verse 1. He enters it and does not climb over the wall as the thieves and the robbers did. He said they climbed over the wall.

Jesus goes through the door. This is the lawful way of entry into Israel. He met all of the conditions that the father had set before him to give him the divine right to enter into this door into Israel and claim his sheep.

Okay, there's multiple flocks of sheep within this sheepfold. One of the flocks is his and that's his sheep. These are the elect of the Jews, Abraham's seed. That's what he's talking about. And he entered in that door lawfully.

Now, second, the good shepherd enters the door by the gatekeeper, giving him access to his sheep. I explained last week that there are those that feel that this is also Jesus Christ. They make good points and I'm not saying they're wrong.

I just don't agree. I think it fits more that this is actually the Holy Spirit that gives him access to the sheep. The Holy Spirit, when you were saved, came into your life, changed your heart of stone to a heart of flesh, thus giving Jesus Christ, the word of God, access to your heart.

And I believe this is a picture of what is happening. The Holy Spirit opens the door to Jesus Christ, gives him access to his sheep. Number three, the good shepherd speaks with a voice that his sheep recognize.

When he calls them, they know this isn't a false shepherd calling me. This is the good shepherd. They recognize that. And what do they do? They follow him. Number four, the good shepherd's manner of dealing with his sheep are different than that of the false shepherds.

We talked last week about how the false shepherds were like predators. They drove the sheep before them. They put such a burden on their sheep that there was no way that they could live according to the law of God.

They were just overburdened. But the good shepherd leads his sheep out and they follow him. He loves his sheep. Number five, the good shepherd proves himself because his sheep recognize and respond to his voice.

Like I said, they know his voice and they respond to his voice. They come to him and they follow him and he leads them out to green pastures. So that kind of brings us up to speed to where we are today.

The Door of the Sheepfold, the Door of the Sheep, and the Only Door

So in verse 7 again, Jesus says again to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. So in verse 1, I told you we had the door to the sheepfold.

This was the divinely appointed way for Jesus to enter into Israel. And this is in contrast to the way the false leaders had entered in. And now we have the door of the sheep. It's different than the door of the sheepfold.

This is the only way in which the elect of the Jews of Israel pass out of Judaism. Jesus did not come to restore Judaism, but to lead out his own sheep, the elect among the Jews. He is leading, he is calling his sheep to the true door himself.

He is calling them to him away from this false religion of the time. And that is this religion of the thieves and the robbers. I mean, you would think right off the bat, Jesus would say, I'm the good shepherd, I'm going to clear all this up.

You know, follow me. I mean, wouldn't that kind of, I thought at first that probably would make sense. But when you think about it, he doesn't become your good shepherd until you've walked through the door.

Which he is, until you've come to him in salvation. Then he becomes your good shepherd. So in verse 8 he says, All who came before me are thieves and they're robbers. I mean, this is another instance.

I don't want us to get confused about this word all. But this is another instance where all doesn't necessarily mean all. If you remember several weeks ago, we talked about the world not meaning everybody on the face of the earth.

You have to take the context in which this is said. And of course, the context is who is he talking to? He's talking to the false shepherds. He's talking to the religious elite. So what he's saying is that not all the false shepherds who came before me, they're thieves and they're robbers.

They placed themselves ahead of him in determining what the truth was. They exalted themselves in preeminence above him in stature. And they elevated themselves above him in authority. I mean, look at the way they've treated him.

Now that there were good shepherds in Israel, I don't think anybody can deny. I mean, just even look at John the Baptist is one that is just recent to Jesus. He's not talking about them. He's not talking about David or Moses or any of the others.

But what he's saying here when he says, all who came before me are thieves and robbers, he's talking about these false leaders. These false self-righteous leaders of Judaism. I mean, and nothing is more sinister.

I mean, look at the language he uses. Nothing is more sinister or offensive to the Lord than a false teacher. They're deceptive. They depend on their own resources and abilities to grasp what is not theirs.

What does not belong to them. What they cannot have. And that's why he uses a strong language, thieves and robbers. They're nothing more than criminals in his sight. Well, then in verse 9 and 10, we see the third door.

He says, I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved. He'll go in and out and find pasture. And again, he talks about him. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

So we've talked about the door of the sheepfold. God's appointed way for the good shepherd to enter into historic Israel and have access to his sheep. We've talked about the door of the sheep. That Jesus is the way of leading the elect out of Judaism, out of this false religion.

But now Jesus is saying, I am the door. So what's the difference? What's he talking about? Well, there's a key word here. Right after he says, I am the door, he says, if anyone. Notice he's not talking about his sheep that's in Israel now.

He's talking about anyone. What he's saying and now entering into the door and through the door is not just restricted to Jews only. It's also open to the Gentiles. Salvation is open to the Gentiles is what he's saying.

And this becomes even more plain if you look down in verse 16. He says, I have other sheep that are not of this fold. So he's talking about their sheep outside of Israel, outside of this fold. And of course, we know this is the Gentiles.

It means throughout the Bible. Now, I want you to note in the statement he makes that there's a condition of entry. There's a condition to go through the door. And what is that? By me. If anyone enters by me is what it is.

And here again, we have another cause and effect. If you enter by me, that's the cause. What's the effect? He will be saved. He will be saved. There's no other way. Jesus is the only door. And I want to point out three truths from that.

Jesus is the only door. This door is closed to the self-righteous and the false religions. I mean, the Pharisees, they were the ultimate purveyors of self-righteousness. They thought they could earn favor with God by what they did.

And it's no wonder that the severest rebukes in Scripture are reserved for these false teachers. Jesus calls them blind guides, serpents, a generation of vipers, hypocrites, blind fools, and whitewashed tombs.

And in Matthew 23, there's 36 verses that detail his seven woes to the scribes and the Pharisees. And the last verse is a scathing question to them. He says, how are you to escape from being sent to hell?

Don't get any worse than that. He's saying there's no way. How can you escape with what you've done? And we see this in the world today. We see this same type of false religion all around us in the world that we live in.

They're all dependent on one thing. What can you do? How can you earn the right? What work can you perform? The second is Jesus is the only door. It's open to those who come to him by faith. Church Scripture's clear.

We just spent a year and a half going through Ephesians. We've been going through the doctrines of grace on Wednesday night. And we've seen verse after verse after verse. It is by grace alone and faith alone through Christ alone.

You must come to him by faith. We were dead in our trespasses and sins and we could do nothing. That means zero without Christ. This is why the world is always busy coming up with other doors. They create these doors because they want to find enlightenment or the meaning of life or a way to come to their imaginary God.

But Jesus tells us that he is the only way to the father. And the gold standard verse I believe is Ephesians 2 8 and 9. I don't think you can ever get away from that. Paul says, for by grace you have been saved through faith.

You get that? Well, he goes on to say, wait a minute. If there's some question, let me go. Let me double down on this. And it is not your own doing. It is the gift of God. What he's saying is nothing to do with you.

It's a gift of God. He says, have you got it now? Oh, is there still some question? Well, let me go further. It's not a result of works that no one can boast. That no one can boast. What he's saying is not about you.

It's not what you can do. Because we don't want you boasting and taking any of the glory away from God. He gets all the glory for all salvation. None of it is ours. The third truth I want to point out.

Jesus is the only door. He is the only way to salvation. He is the only door. Notice in verse 9, it says, I am the door. If anyone enters by me, we cannot enter on our own or of ourselves. It must be by him.

He's the only one that could have paid the price for our sin. When he went to the cross, he paid the penalty that opened up the way for us to become righteous before God. That's what the song we sang about says.

This is the doctrine of imputation. When he went to the cross, our sin was imputed to him. And his righteousness was imputed back to us. It was Jesus Christ who became the door that allows us to enter into the presence of God the Father.

Without that, in our sin, in our darkness, whatever you want to call it, we could not come into the presence of God. There was only one way into the ark. There was only one entrance into the tabernacle.

There was only one door into the holy of holies in the temple in Jerusalem. And there is only one door into the presence of God the Father. And that is Jesus Christ. Acts 4 .12 says, and there is no salvation for anyone else.

There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. There's only one way. There's only one way to be saved. There's only one way to be justified. There's only one way to sanctification.

There's only one way to be adopted into God's family. This is the heart of this whole allegory. It's the heart of the issue. This is what Jesus was saying. You are not the way when he was talking to these false leaders.

I am the way. You know, this isn't popular in the world we live in. At all. The world hates it. It creates hostility. Like I said before, this is why they're so busy creating all these other doors. They hate that the only door is Jesus.

Because why? He points out their sin. He points out that there is no goodness in them at all. Now they want to ignore. If they can ignore that he is just and that he is righteous and only focus on his love.

They're good and happy to have a Jesus like that.

Oh yeah.

I can accept that. But they deny him. They deny that there is no beginning. Because if there's no beginning then there's no end. That leaves them with a Jesus that only loves and does not judge. Because we know in the end there's judgment.

That way they can be good enough. They can be good enough on their own. They don't need Jesus Christ then. One of the worst sins is believing that we by our own merit can be good enough. That is what is the basis, the foundation of all false religions.

That we can be good enough. But we know we can't. Scripture makes it clear we cannot be good enough. That's why Jesus must be the door. Now in verse 10 I want to move on. What a contrast. I mean I don't know if you can get see darkness and light anymore.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. There is death. What does Jesus say? I came that we may that they may have life and have it abundantly. What a contrast. And I mean he is blatantly contrasting himself with these false religious leaders of this false religion, this Judaism, what it's become.

I mean false religions affect on the flock is disastrous. It's destructive and it's insulting to God. They're only interested in their power, in their influence, in their importance, in their position, in their material gain.

I mean it's well documented in the time of Jesus there was many of the religious leaders that were enriching themselves while they sheared the flock. They were enriching themselves at the flock's expense.