As the Lord may be pleased to
help us this morning, that is yourselves in hearing and myself
in speaking, I'd like to invite your prayerful attention to the
chapter we read together, John chapter 10, and we'll take as
our text verse 27. John chapter 10 and verse 27,
that is John chapter 10 page 993 for those online with
the Ruby Bible. And we do pray for help and guidance
as we look at this, what I feel is the most sacred chapter in
the word of God. All scripture is given by inspiration
of the spirit and is profitable. But here we have the words of
our Lord Jesus Christ, who is that one good shepherd, and he,
it is, who makes himself known to those who are eternally designed
to be saved. And what we see here, although we take verse 27 as
our text we will be looking at the context of this chapter and
what we see straight away in the preceding verses is a great
distinction a great divide between those who dearly love our Lord Jesus as
their Saviour and those who sadly are in unbelief. We cannot begin to describe the
situation of those who reject the way of eternal life. Our Lord Jesus at one time looked
down on Jerusalem and he said, I could have gathered you as
the hen gathers her chicks. You know, you don't see it so
much now, but years ago, a cluck hen would sit on those eggs and
hatch them out. And that hen was very protective
of that clutch of chicks when they hatched out. And every so
often, if they began to wander away, she would call them, they
would come, and she would crouch down and keep them warm. That's
the picture of the love of our Lord Jesus towards his people. But of those in Jerusalem, our
Lord Jesus said from his heart, oh, that I would have gathered
you, but ye would not, but ye would not. It's very solemn to
reject the glorious gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. And, uh,
What we see in this extremely solemn thing of
rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ, we see it here, if we read from
verse 22, and it was at Jerusalem, the Feast of the Dedication,
and it was winter, and Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's
porch. This porch was not actually built
by Solomon. It was in the same place as the
original temple when it was rebuilt. That location was revered by
the Sanhedrin, those who were professing people of great religion. And yet, sadly, many of them
did not possess the wonders of grace at work in their hearts.
And so these people were in that solemn
situation. Years before, the temple had
been profaned and defiled. And then it was renewed. And this annual feast, many Bible
scholars believe that it was kept in December. It says it
was winter here in the scriptures. And that's about the time of
the year that they would keep this feast of the dedication
of the altar. But they completely ignored the
fact that our Lord Jesus was there. God in the form of a man
was there. He who is the good shepherd was
there. And he was willing to teach.
He was attending and, of course, ready to show great kindness
to all who would hear, all who would come under the sound and
the teaching of his wonderful words of life. But they would not. And we can tell even by their
words and their attitude it would seem that they were blaming the
Lord Jesus for keeping them in doubt, just as though he made
them doubt as to who he truly is. They must have had much scripture
that they could have looked at to know that the Lord Jesus is
who he is. And of course, there were already
records being kept at this time And those dear shepherds at the
birth of the Lord Jesus, very humble they were, watching their
flocks by night. And we have a clear record of
it in Luke's Gospel, that the angel of the Lord came upon them
and the glory of the Lord shone round about them and they were
sore afraid. The message from the angel, an angel is one of
God's messengers, who comes in the form, in angelic form, and
the message was, fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings
of great joy, which shall be to all people, that is, Jews
and Gentiles. And he went on to say, this shall
be a sign unto you, and he told them where to find the Lord Jesus. You will find the babe wrapped
in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger, and then all of a sudden
there was a host, a heavenly host, praising God and saying,
glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill
toward men. It was God's goodwill, and in
his time and way, the Lord Jesus came to this world, and he came
to do love's redeeming work. And John begins this gospel with those
words, he came to his own and his own received him not. That's
who these people sadly were. But, I think we can always rejoice
when we see a but in the Bible. But as many as received him,
to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to those
that believe in his name, which were born, not of the will of
man, nor of the will of the flesh, but of God. And this same Lord
Jesus, he made it very clear in the
scriptures that no man takes my life from me, I have power
to lay it down, I have power to take it again. This I have
received from my father. And so we see in this chapter this great divide. For as many as received him,
to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to those
that believe on his name. Now these are the sheep for whom
our Lord Jesus came to this world to give his life, to pay the
ransom, to satisfy God's righteous justice, and to make for them
that place in heaven secure. He said, I go to prepare a place
for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will It's
one of those I wills, I will come and receive you to myself, that
where I am, there you may be also. I'd like to look at this subject
this morning from four headings that are already in the scripture.
My sheep, my voice, I know them, they follow me. We read in verse three of these
people who are his sheep. To him, the porter openeth. The sheep hear his voice, and
he calleth his own sheep by name and leadeth them out. Who is
the porter? In Eastern customs, the porter
of a household was entrusted with the key. He had the authority,
he was entrusted by the master of the house to give entrance
to those who came into the house. And I feel sure this is a type
of the person of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit does not
speak of himself, no. He takes of the things of Jesus
and reveals them to us. I feel very concerned sometimes
when you hear people say, the Holy Spirit told me this, the
Holy Spirit told me that. The Holy Spirit speaks of the
things of God and he makes them known in a real and effectual
way. Praise his great name. And the
sheep, The sheep are those who hear his voice. And they are eternally designed
to be saved, even from before the foundation of the world. And they are purchased. That word that was given to Joseph
And poor Joseph, the earthly father of our Lord Jesus, must
have been a very concerned man. And he must have been tormented
in his mind before taking Mary to be his wife, found to be with
child, and He loved her sufficiently that he would have willingly
have hidden her up. But God spoke to him through
an angel. Fear not to take unto you Mary
to be thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the
Holy Spirit. And she shall bring forth a son,
and thou, Joseph, He was given that privilege and
that responsibility, thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sin. Surely this singles out who the
Lord Jesus is. He shall save his people from
their sin. And his people, therefore, because
the Lord Jesus has given his life for the sheep, As we read in the scriptures
here, the good shepherd gives his life,
lay down his life for the sheep. He says, I lay down my life for
the sheep. Verse 15. And sheep must have a shepherd. I think I can rightly say that
most other animals If you let them loose, they could survive
somehow. Pigs could find their way by
sticking their snout in the ground and they can eat roots, they
can find food, and they will survive quite well. And cattle,
provided there's something green to eat, they can live. There's
a herd of cattle up in Scotland that we saw some years ago, and
they've survived for generations, untouched by mankind. And they
survive. They live quite wild. A place called Chillingdon, I
think it's called. But sheep must have a shepherd. And I think we can trace this
right from creation. Adam, Abel was a shepherd because
he brought a lamb for a sacrifice. And right through history, we
have Adam, Abel, Abraham, Moses, Amos, David, and so on. There's
a whole list of people through the Old Testament who cared for
sheep. It would seem that Moses worked
as a shepherd before he was singled out by God to lead the children
of Israel out of Egyptian slavery. What a wonderful apprenticeship,
being a shepherd, caring for sheep, before he moved on to
shepherd God's people and bring them across that 40 years in
the wilderness. Sheep must have a shepherd. Their
feet need to be attended to. Their fleece needs to be disinfected. And a shepherd also has to inspect
their teeth. I worked on farms years ago. I never had much to do with sheep. But there was a neighboring farmer
that I knew very well, and he was showing me some sheep one
day, and I said to him, that's a fine
looking ewe. He said, that's interesting, Phil, because you
wouldn't have recognized it years ago. He said, when that was born,
that little lamb was born very early, and for some reason, it laid down
and I thought it was dead. And this, Man, he always used
to wear a big brown coat. He picked this little lamb up
that he thought might be dead and put it in his coat pocket.
And he went about doing the other lambing and caring for his sheep. And he could feel this lamb moving
about. The warmth of his coat had revived
the lamb. He said, it's a miracle this
one's alive. And there it was, a fine looking
Kent Romney ewe. and uh it's the mark of a shepherd
that he cares for his sheep and the thoughts occurred to me that
so often a shepherd will go out of his way to care for sheep
in need that little lamb he might have left it thinking it was
dead and within a matter of an hour or two a fox would have
smelt it and come and dispatched it. But being a shepherd, he
cared for it. Now in a far greater way, I feel
sure that God looks on his people and he sees them exactly as they
are. By his sheep, he sees them in
all their need, in all their helplessness, it is he who takes
care of them and brings them into his fold. We have that wonderful
parable in Luke 15 of the good shepherd. One sheep went straying. It's not unusual. We are kept by the power of God. If we stray from the power of
God, We're straying. We need to be brought back to
where we should be. And that shepherd in that parable, the
Lord Jesus teaches, and all those parables have the same theme,
lost and found. But this one, we don't read that
the shepherd went looking for that sheep in case he might find
it. No. God's grace is irresistible. God's grace is effectual. We read quite distinctly in that
parable in Luke 15, he looked until he found it, until he found
it. And so that sheep that was lost
and straying, he looked until he found it and when he had found
it, Did he drive it home? No, he picked it up and carried
it home. It was brought back into safety
by the power of the shepherd, carrying it on his shoulders.
And it was a time of rejoicing. Rejoice with me, for I have found
the sheep, no, my sheep, which was lost. He brought it home rejoicing. And this power and this care
of the Good Shepherd is the same yesterday, today, and forever. That word, I am, seems to be
very prominent in this passage of scripture. I am the door.
By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved and shall go in
and out and find pasture. And verse 11, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life
for the sheep. Verse 14, I am the good shepherd
and know my sheep and are known of mine. And therefore, we should
ever rejoice that we're not kept in our own strengths No, we are
kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, we read,
don't we? Ready to be revealed at the last
time. What a blessing this is, to know this good shepherd. I don't know who I'm speaking
to online, but dear friend, if God has awakened you to a felt
sense of your need to know this Good Shepherd, God is already
at work in you. He'll be pleased to hear your
prayers, that you might know that keeping grace, that strength
of His at work in you, that you might be kept, kept by the power
of God, kept by that Good Shepherd, a good shepherd. The Lord Jesus himself said of
himself, who giveth his life for the sheep, he has paid the price. Therefore,
his sheep are all his purchased possessions. And he knows them
individually. And he says, they are my sheep.
He also says, My voice, my sheep hear my voice. It's a wonderful blessing to
hear the voice of God, isn't it? It's a wonderful blessing.
And we sometimes sing a hymn and God's voice, he makes known when
he calls his people by their effectual calling. And good John Kent wrote a hymn,
and you'll find it in Gatsby's number 76. There is a period
known to God when all his sheep, redeemed by blood, shall leave
the hateful ways of sin, turn to the fold, and enter in. At peace with hell, with God
at war, In sin's dark maze they wander far, Indulge their lust
and still go on As far from God as sheep can run. But see how
heaven's indulgent care Attends their wanderings here and there,
Still hard at heel, where'er they stray, With pricking thorns
to hedge their way. I think it's the last verse in
that hymn. Verse six. The appointed time
rolls on apace, not to propose, but call by grace to change the
heart, renew the will, and turn the feet to Zion's hill. This
is the blessing that comes to those who hear the voice. Do you and I know this voice?
Do we look forward to the next time that we hear it? We can hear it. We can hear it
while we read his word, while we sing his praise, and while
we hear the preaching of the word. God can use his servants
as a channel whereby the voice It may not be an audible voice,
but it can be a voice that our very heart and soul can rejoice
in because the word of God can come expressly to us and meet
our need. God knows. God looks into the
heart and soul of his people and he can make his voice No. We can so often identify a person
by their voice. Some years ago I met a lady who's
almost completely blind, and I spoke to her, and she, I hadn't
seen her for a matter of three or four years, and she answered
me by name. And I didn't make much of it,
but apparently with losing her sight, she's got a very good
ear for sound. And she can identify someone
by their voice. What a wonderful blessing this
is. But to know the voice of God when
he speaks to his people is a wonderful blessing. Think of those in the scriptures
who heard the voice of the Lord Jesus. We have the case of our dear
friend Bartimaeus who sat by the highway begging. He'd never
seen Jesus. These people that were in contention
with the Lord Jesus in this chapter. They saw Jesus, but they didn't
recognize him as to who he was, co-equal and co-eternal with
his heavenly father. He is God. He said, I and my
father are one. But they didn't recognize him,
and they saw him. Bartimaeus had obviously heard
of Jesus, and he believes who Jesus really is. And in the Gospels, we read that
Jesus was passing by in Jericho and a great number of people. Bartimaeus asked what it meant.
He could hear the people passing by and he inquired, what a blessing
it is when people are given an inquiring spirit. And they told
him, Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. Now, did Bartimaeus call
out, Jesus of Nazareth, have mercy on me? Now, that dear man recognized the Lord Jesus as
his shepherd. And his true title, because he
was a descendant of David, and yet he was David's greater son, He cried out, Jesus, thou son
of David, have mercy on me. Now this identified the Lord
Jesus to who he truly is. The only one who came to this
earth and lived a perfect life and then could give his perfect
life a ransom for many, a true type of the Passover lamb without
blemish, Bartimaeus. was quite right. Jesus, thou
son of David, have mercy on me. The poor man couldn't see, but
his voice was strong. He could be heard, and he would
not be silenced, would he? Those about him tried to quieten
him down, but he cried out it more. Jesus, son of David, have
mercy on me. And Jesus stood still and commanded
him to be brought. He heard the voice of Jesus commanding
him to be brought to him. People are brought to Jesus by
divine command. And they hear his voice. They
hear his voice. What a blessing it is if we do
know the voice of Jesus. And what did Jesus say to this
man? What wilt thou that I should
do unto thee? What a question, but what an
answer he gave. Lord, he referred to him as his
Lord. Lord, that I might receive my
sight. The Lord Jesus commanded his
sight to be given. And he said, receive thy sight,
thy faith has made thee whole. And immediately he received his
sight. And what do we read? And he followed Jesus in the
way. His miracle of having received sight, he kept Jesus in view
and followed him. And where was Jesus going? He
didn't go back to Jericho again after that, did he? No, he was
on his way to Jerusalem to do love's redeeming work. He followed
Jesus. He joined himself to those who
were already following Jesus. And dear friends, whoever you
are listening this morning, if you hear the voice of Jesus,
You do well to join with those who are already following Jesus
and keep Jesus, the good shepherd, in view. My sheep hear my voice,
and he says, and I know them. I know them. He knows them because it was
in God's eternal design before the foundation of the
world. And if we can go back to our hymn book again, this
has just come suddenly to my mind. T'was fixed in God's eternal
mind when his dear sons should mercy find from everlasting he
decreed when every good should be conveyed. And the hymn goes on. Determine was the manner how
eternal favours he'd bestow. Yes, he decreed the very place
where he would show triumphant grace. God eternally made appointments
for his people. that in a certain place, a certain
time, he had designed that they would hear and know him. They would hear his voice and
know it to be his voice. By effectual calling, they got
brought into his kingdom. He knows them as individuals. Just as that shepherd I was talking
about, knew that sheep. He knew it as
a little helpless lamb that he put in his coat pocket. He watched
it all the way along. It was his sheep, and he knew
it. And the Lord Jesus has left it
on record. My sheep hear my voice, and I
know them. He knows them as individuals. It is God who has commanded that
he would know them. When the Apostle Paul wrote those
encouraging words to those Corinthian believers, he went right back
to creation and he said, God who commanded the light to shine
out of darkness has shined in your hearts give the light of
the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. For we have this treasure in
earthen vessels, earthen vessels. God created mankind out of the
dust of the earth, out of the clay, out of the soil. And he quite rightly refers to his
people as earthen vessels. The blessing is the treasure
that the earthen vessel contains. And what a blessing it is, beyond
all estimation, to be one of his sheep, to hear his voice
and realize that he knows us. If we move on just a few pages
to John 17, it's a remarkable thing that when our Lord Jesus was
praying for his disciples, shortly before he was betrayed and taken
for that trial and He gave his life to redeem lost
souls. In John 17, we have a record
of his prayer. You can imagine him praying with
his disciples around him. And then when we get to the 20th
verse, in that chapter, he says, neither pray I for these alone,
but for them also which shall believe on me through their word. And he goes on to say about his
sheep that he knows For he says, that they may be one, even as
thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may
be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent
me. What a blessing to think that
our Lord Jesus prayed for the likes of us. How unworthy we feel. but what
a blessing it is that our Lord Jesus is that good shepherd. I am, he says, the good shepherd. I am the door. Years ago when we were in Israel,
we went to, it was called a Bible Resources Center, and there they
had a sheepfold. a rock wall, it had brambles
on top, big thorns run built, just lodged into the rock work
at the top of the wall, because apparently wolves are very wary
of jumping over things that might scratch them underneath. And
if they see thorns, they won't attempt to jump up over a wall. But the bit that was most interesting
was there was a doorway wide enough for a sheep to get through and a person could fit through,
but it was a doorway. There was no door, no hinges,
no door there. The shepherd himself would be
the door. He would rest at night in the
doorway. Therefore, the Lord Jesus picks
up this picture. He says, I am the door. By me,
if any man enter in, he shall be saved. In Pilgrim's Progress,
somewhere we read how that someone tried to come alongside and enter
into eternal life, but they hadn't come through
the door. I must read it again and get
it more clearly in my mind. But it emphasizes the fact and
dear John Bunyan makes it clear that there's only one way to
enter into eternal life and that is through the door. The Lord
Jesus himself being the door. I am the door. By me, if any
man enter in, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find
pasture. There's only one way of salvation,
and that is through our Lord Jesus Christ. And of course, the Lord Jesus
was speaking here, and we have it so clearly in verse 16. He
says, other sheep I have, which are not of this fold, them also
I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall
be one fold and one shepherd. He knows them, Jews and Gentiles. And that's why when the Apostle
Paul was singled out as a servant of God and a follower of the
Lord Jesus, the Lord Jesus spoke to him clearly as to what he
should do. His work was to spread the gospel.
in those early New Testament days and make it known to the
Gentiles, other sheep I have, they shall hear my voice. And he knows them. To all people, Jews and Gentiles,
and we read in the scriptures, where our Lord says, this people
have I formed for myself. They shall show forth my praise.
And therefore, in every corner of the world, north, south, east,
and west, there will be a people who are known eternally of God. And in time, he makes himself
known to them. He says, I know them. and they will be brought into
a living relationship with himself. And that's why we should pray
for and support such work as the Trinitarian Bible Society
and the publication of the Holy Scriptures, that these people might prove
to be those whom the Lord Jesus has eternally known among those
who he has formed for himself. He says, I know them. Because by his spirit, he dwells
in them. Therefore doth my father love
me because I lay down my life that I might take it again. No
man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself I have power
to lay it down, I have power to take it again. This commandment
have I received from my Father. The Lord Jesus, having given
his life a ransom for many, is he who, after he had risen again
from the dead, he made a tremendous statement. He said, all power
is given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and teach
all nations. What a blessing it is that our
Lord Jesus is a risen saviour and those who are his sheep,
who hear his voice and who he knows are those who follow him. What a blessing it is to be completely
dependent on this good shepherd. And the security he gives is
remarkable, isn't it? Just look at verse 29. In a few
words there we have volumes to encourage us. My father, he said
verse 29 in this 10th chapter, my father which gave them me
is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out of
my Father's hand. I and my Father are one." What
a tremendous statement. What security, what blessing. He which hath begun a good work
in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. And
he says, no one is able to pluck them out of his hands. His father's hands, he says,
and I and my father are one. That oft-repeated verse that
the eternal God is our refuge and underneath are the everlasting
arms is a great truth, isn't it? A truth which cannot fail. Underneath all that goes on in
our lives, those everlasting arms which cannot fail are there
and we can never drop below the safety of those everlasting arms,
can we? No man is able to pluck them
out of my Father's hand. After the glorious resurrection
of our Lord Jesus, that word went forth. Go and tell his disciples and
Peter that he is risen from the dead. It's most encouraging to
read that, isn't it? Poor Peter, he who said to the
Lord Jesus, that all men forsake thee, yet will not I. And the
Lord Jesus had a special work to perform in Peter's heart and
soul and life. He said, Simon, Simon, Satan
hath desired to have thee that he may sift thee as wheat. But
the Lord Jesus says, I have prayed for you that your faith fail
not. What happened? Well, within a
short time, Peter had three times denied the Lord Jesus. And we
read that Jesus didn't say anything to him. But we read, the Lord
Jesus turned and looked at Peter. And Peter went out and wept bitterly. But Peter still followed. We
read, and Peter followed afar off. Yes, Peter kept his eye
on the Lord Jesus. And Peter might have thought
that he'd gone too far. But the Lord Jesus had a wonderful
work for Peter to do. And the fact that he was brought
into this dark situation and that the Lord Jesus restored
him, it was Peter who was singled out to make known even to the
likes of these people who opposed the Lord Jesus in this chapter.
Peter was empowered by God to preach to them. And many souls were saved, weren't
they, through the preaching of the Lord Jesus by the Apostle
Peter. I remember our dear old pastor
Dawson saying at one time that when Peter had been brought through
Satan's sieve, he was just about the right size Peter to preach
the gospel because his whole dependence was on God and not
on his own strength. And that's one of those things
that's stuck in my mind. How humble we need to be, depending
on God to work in us, that we might be among those who are
his sheep, who hear his voice, he knows them, and they follow
him. Peter followed. The Lord Jesus
also said to Peter, when he made known to him that he would go
through that trial, he said, when thou art converted, strengthen
thy brethren. And this he did. He strengthened
them with that convicting preaching whereby souls were awakened and
brought to a saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus. They said,
what shall we do? He said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And
this they did. And so, may the Lord bless these
few remarks this morning and may He speak to us as His sheep. May we hear His voice. May we
be among those whom He knows And may we be given grace to
follow Him, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.