All right, brethren, let's go
to John chapter 10. John chapter 10. Let's go to the Lord before we
begin. Our gracious God and our Father,
thank you for assembling us here this morning. And we trust, Lord,
you, the one that has given us the heart to be here. We pray,
Father, now You'd teach us and give us hearts to receive Your
Word. We pray for those that may not know You, Lord, that
You'd be pleased to reveal Yourself today and that You would truly
bring us to see Christ, our salvation. Make us see how truly He is everything
we need in this life. Lord, forgive us for all that
we are by nature, and pray you keep us for Christ's sake. Amen. John 10, let's read verses 22
through verse 30. And it was at Jerusalem, the
feast of the dedication, and it was winter. And Jesus walked
in the temple in Solomon's porch. Then came the Jews round about
him and said unto him, how long dost thou make us to doubt? If
thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you,
and you believe not. The works that I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness of me, but you believe not because you're
not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice,
and I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. 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. My subject this morning is I
am a sheep. I am a sheep. I keep hearing
this in the media. I mentioned this a few months
ago, or maybe it was a few years. I don't, I lose track of time,
but I mentioned it, and you've heard it more and more, how that
you hear in the media, you hear in different platforms, people
speaking of being a sheep as a negative thing. Well, I don't
want to be a sheep. People say they don't want to
be a sheep. A sheep, they say, is portrayed as weak, just a
follower. Our culture portrays sheep as
being a negative thing. And that's, it's a subtlety of
the devil to put in the minds and hearts of men, only by the
Lord's permission to do it, but it is a subtlety of his to put
in the hearts and minds of the population. to speak of something
like being a sheep as a negative, because then when you hear a
passage like John 10, and you hear what our Lord says, if you've
never heard the word, you'll see that and say, well, I don't
wanna be a sheep, that's a negative thing. Because popular opinion
is that it's a negative thing to be a sheep. Well, I am a sheep. And when you hear the word, or
you hear men of this world speak of anything that's in this book
right here, they have no idea what they're talking about. They
have no spiritual understanding whatsoever. None. By God's grace, I'm thankful
to be a sheep because God only saves sheep. And it's the greatest
blessing a person can have on this earth is to be a sheep.
That's the greatest blessing you have is to be one of God's
sheep. I want to show you things that only God's sheep are given.
These are things only the sheep of our Lord are given. Number
one, sheep hear Christ's voice. Sheep hear Christ's voice. He
says in verse 27, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and
they follow me. Faith cometh by hearing. Romans
10 says, faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the word of God. Well,
that's hearing by the voice of God, our savior, the Lord Jesus.
Faith comes by him speaking into the heart effectually. Now, the
Lord's gonna save through the preaching of the gospel. That's
how he's gonna save his people. First Corinthians 121 says, it
pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. And through the preaching, not
just any preaching, but preaching that exalts God the Father and
the Lord Jesus Christ, gives him all the glory and gives a
sinner none. Preaching that declares he is
God who reigns and preaches that every man is a sinner who cannot
contribute to their salvation. The preaching that exalts God
our Father and the Lord Jesus, that's the message through which
Christ is gonna speak. He's gonna speak effectually
into the heart of his people. He said in Isaiah 52, six, my
people, my people, that's his sheep, my people, my people shall
know my name. Therefore they shall know in
that day that I am he that doth speak. Behold its eye, how beautiful
on the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings,
that publishes peace, that says to Zion, thy God reigneth. Christ
is gonna come through this means right here, just an earthen vessel,
a man preaching, and he's gonna speak affectionately into the
heart. He does everything involved in it. He sends the preacher,
he gives the message, he puts the people in the pew, and he
blesses it to the heart. Faith comes by his word, by his
voice, by him speaking. My sheep hear my voice. And when he says, and I know
them, My sheep hear my voice and I know them. He speaks of
the work of regeneration that happens when he speaks his voice
into the heart. This is what happens when he
speaks the word. The word is life and there's
life given and there's faith given when he speaks the word.
Now, without a doubt, Christ knew his people. He knew his
sheep from eternity. God the Father chose who he would
save and he gave us to Christ in eternity. That's how sinners
became sheep. We don't become sheep when we're
born the first time or when we're born anew. We became sheep in
eternity. God made his people sheep by
divine election. He chose who he would. We do
not become sheep by believing. That's one thing that you'll
hear false religion preach. You become a sheep when you believe.
You go from being a goat to a sheep. No. Sheep never become goats
and goats never become sheep. God the Father chose who he would
save and we believe because we were already God's sheep. We
were already God's sheep by God's electing grace. We believe because
Christ sends the gospel and he speaks and he regenerates us.
He knows us and he regenerates us and gives us life by speaking
into our heart. But before he gave that life
and that faith, we were already his sheep. And the reason he
sent the gospel and he gave you faith and he gave you life is
because you were his sheep. Look back there at verse 26.
He told the Jews, but you believe not because you are not of my
sheep, as I said unto you. Now get what that says. They
heard him speak. Every man can hear the gospel
go forth just like this right here. Everybody can hear that.
They heard him speak. They saw the works that he did.
In person, they saw him raise the dead. They saw him heal men
that had been blind all their life and lame all their life.
They saw him do that. And they came to him and said,
how long are you going to make us doubt? But he told them here, he said,
the reason you do not believe is because you're not my sheep.
Because you're not my sheep, that's why you don't believe.
But since they weren't his sheep, he didn't send the gospel to
them in spirit and in power. In other words, he didn't come
and speak affectionately in their heart. They heard this voice
go forth, the general call. But that won't save us. It's
when Christ singles you out and speaks to you and says, Lazarus,
come forth. That's when you come in forth.
That's when a dead man's gonna have a life. Look back at John
8, verse 43. John 8, 43. He asked them this,
why do you not understand my speech? Even because you cannot
hear my word. See that? That's why you don't
understand what I'm saying. You can't hear my word. Well,
couldn't they hear with these ears? Yeah, they could hear him
with these ears. That's not what he means. Jeremiah said it this
way in Jeremiah 6, 10. He said, behold, their ear is
uncircumcised and they cannot hearken. Behold, the word of
the Lord is unto them a reproach. They have no delight in it. You
see, before the Lord speaks life into a sinner, this gospel is
a reproach to him. This gospel reproaches him. This
gospel makes him see he's helpless. It makes him see he can't save
himself. It makes him see he can't get
glory for the work, and he has no delight in it. He has no delight
in it. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto
him, neither can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned.
But now get this, be sure to get, it was not unbelief that
caused a man not to be God's sheep. It's not unbelief that
causes a man not to be God's sheep. Unbelief proves it. If he goes on in unbelief all
his day, it proves he was not the Lord's sheep, but that's
not what made him not be the Lord's sheep. The Lord did not
give those Jews faith because they were already not a sheep. Christ said in Matthew 15, 24,
he said, I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel. There was a lot of lost people
in Israel, everybody was, except those he had already called,
but he was only sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
He said, you believe not because you're not my sheep. Until Christ
gives life, this word is a reproach to man. He has no delight in
it. So then, this is natural man's
reasoning, carnal religion reasoning is, well then you shouldn't preach
something so offensive to him. You won't get him to come back.
You won't get him to come and listen if you preach something
like that that he has no delight in. Preach smooth words to him.
Well, here's why we preach this. Number one, God said preach it.
He told Ezekiel, speak to these dry bones and tell them, I must
give you life. And number two, we preach it
because it gives God all the glory. And number three, we preach
it because when Christ does speak into a person's heart, this word
is gonna make us see we're at the mercy of God. It's gonna
humble us from our pride to where we have to beg God, please have
mercy on me and save me. You see, that's when you find
out it's not of man's will and it's not of man's running, man's
work, It's of God that shows mercy. He will save whom he will
save. He will have compassion on whom
he'll have compassion. I love my family. I want to see
everybody in my family saved. But I have to bow to God. I can't
save a soul. Only he can. And I beg him to
have mercy. I beg him every day, please have
mercy, Lord. And we preach this because when
he starts speaking in your heart, you're going to hit your face
and beg him, Lord, please save me. And for the believer, he
keeps saving us through this gospel. For the believer, you
keep begging him, don't you? Lord, don't let me go. Please
save me. It keeps you humble down at his
feet. But when he speaks into our hearts, when he knows us
in regeneration, he makes his sheep follow him. We follow him. Verse 27, my sheep hear my voice
and I know them and they follow me. And Christ's sheep will not
follow the voice of a stranger. They won't. Just like, they just
won't. He gives you spiritual discernment
to hear A man preached the gospel of Christ, and you know that's
Christ's voice. And then you hear a man come
along and he's preaching man, exalted man, and he's saying
man has a will to do what he will when he will, and that man
can save himself by his works and make himself be born again,
and man can do this and that and the other. And the Lord's
sheep says, that's not the voice of my Savior. That's a stranger's
voice. Look back at John 10 in the verse
one. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth
up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he
that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
To him the porter openeth, and the sheep hear his voice, and
he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when
he putteth forth his own sheep, he goes before them, and the
sheep follow him, for they know his voice. And a stranger will
they not follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the
voice of strangers." This parable, this earthly story spake Jesus
unto them, but they understood not what things they were which
he spake unto them. You sitting here that he's given
discernment, before I read him give us the interpretation of
that, you already know what that means, because he's taught you
what that means. They didn't understand a thing
about what that meant. They thought he was talking about
a man being a shepherd and a man having some sheep and a man being
a porter and opening the door. They didn't have a clue, but
look what he said. Then said Jesus to them again, verily,
verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. He's telling
us everything he just said. I'm the door of the sheep. All
that ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the
sheep did not hear them. I'm the door, by me if any man
enter in, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find
pasture. The thief cometh not but for to steal and to kill
and to destroy. I'm come that they might have
life and that they might have it more abundantly. Then he tells
them what else it meant. I am the good shepherd. I'm the
door and I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep, but he that's a hireling. just in it for the
money and not the shepherd who's owned the sheep or not. He sees
the wolf coming and he leaves the sheep and he flees. And the
wolf catcheth them and scattered the sheep. The hireling fleeth
because he is a hireling and careth not for the sheep. I am
the good shepherd and know my sheep and have none of mine.
As the Father knoweth me, even so I know I the Father, and I
lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which
are not of this fold, not of this, he was in Israel, he said,
I got some other sheep that I'm gonna call out there, not just
of this Jewish fold, I've got some among the Gentiles. That's
me and you, we weren't born in Israel. He said, them also I
must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be
one fold and one shepherd. If he makes you hear his voice,
gives you life, makes you willing to follow Him. It will be through
the preaching of this gospel that exalts Him. Christ continues
to save His sheep this way. Once He's called you by this
gospel, He'll continue leading you by this gospel, making you
to hear His voice. So listen, whatever else you
do, do not forsake assembling together to hear the gospel preached. Whatever else you do, Do not
do that. The only reason a professing
believer forsakes the gospel is because he can. That's the
only reason. He can. And it's because he manifests
by being able to do it and he was never a sheep. And the Lord
never had called him. He was there simply because put
on show. But a man can't keep himself
doing that. If he can, a man will leave.
The first step to total apostasy is to stop coming to hear the
gospel preached. Stop coming to hear it, and it'll
get harder and harder to come hear it. It'll get easier and
easier just to stay out in the world. Harder and harder to come
hear it. And before long, a man cannot
make himself listen to the gospel. I have an uncle went everywhere
with his father when he was young and his father preached the gospel.
He went everywhere with him. And the older he got, the more
harder he got. And at the end of his life, if
you brought up the scriptures, he would look you right in your
face and cuss God right to your face. Just harder and harder
and harder. This is why I'm not ashamed to
confess I'm a sheep. I'm a sheep. It's all by God's
grace to hear the voice of the shepherd is the greatest privilege
a sinner can have in this world. And I pray every day, Lord, have
mercy on me and keep me because if he doesn't, I won't continue. I know that, you know that if
he's called you. We need him every hour. That's
one reason we come hear the gospel. We need him, we need to hear
his voice. That's why we come. It's only
by Christ and he only gives this to his sheep. Secondly, we're
not ashamed to confess we're sheep because sheep never die.
Sheep never die. Look here in verse 28, John 10,
28. And I give unto them eternal
life. Jesus Christ is the life. He
is the life. He's the life of his sheep. He
said back in John 14.6, or ahead in John 14.6, he said, I'm the
way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. There is no other way, there
is no other truth, and there is no other life than Jesus Christ. He is the way, the truth, and
the life. And the sinner who does not hear
Christ, and who Christ does not know, give life, and make to
follow him, give him faith to follow him, that sinner who doesn't
have Christ, he may be very, very, very religious. He may
be very, very zealous for good works, and do a lot of good works,
and appear outwardly to be a holy man. But if he doesn't have Christ,
he's dead as a hammer. Search the scriptures, Christ
said, in them you think you have eternal life. That's what most
of religion is, men searching the scriptures, looking for something
to do. What does the scripture tell
me to do that I might be saved? And thinking by doing those things,
they have life. And Christ said, and they are
they which testify of me. Everything in here is testifying
of me, and you will not come to me that you might have life. But you that hear his voice,
you that believe him, you that follow him by his grace, he's
given you eternal life. Now think about this, he's given
you eternal life and Christ is our life. He said back up there
in verse 10, the thief cometh not but for to steal and to kill
and to destroy. I am come that they might have
life and that they might have it more abundantly. In 1 John
4.9, he said, this is how the love of God was manifested toward
us. God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might
live through Him. That we might live through Him.
Those that He saved, those that He's elected to save, and those
that Christ has called. Here's why we have eternal life.
Because Christ bore the eternal death that we owe to justice. Listen, you don't, everybody
here has sinned. Everybody in this world has sinned
in Adam. And you don't just owe God a
physical death. You owe God an eternal death.
That's a living death in hell, the worm that never dies. It's
knowing everything you could have had and knowing God and His glory
as well as the people that are in glory. But being separated
with a great gulf fixed that you can't cross over, and I don't
even know the totality of what this knowing flame and this knowing
worm will be, but it's being cast out forever. Christ bore that for His people
on the cross. You say, well, he just was on
the cross three hours. Yeah, but he's eternal God. And
what he bore amounted to eternal suffering for every single one
of his elect sheep. That's what he was bearing. Look
back there at verse 11. I am the good shepherd. The good
shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. Our shepherd became
our substitute. He took the place of the sheep.
And with our sin upon Him, God justly said this. He fulfilled
Zechariah 13.7. With the sheep, listen now, the
shepherd, the shepherd, here's the lowly sheep who deserved
to die. The shepherd took the place of
his sheep and became the substitute. He became the one sheep God looked
to. And with all the sin of His people
on Him, God justly said this, Zechariah 13, 7, God said, Awake,
O sword, against the shepherd. Against the man that is my fellow,
saith the Lord. And God smote him with the fierce
fury of his wrath. We came into this world gone
astray like lost sheep. Every one of us did. Everyone
looking to his own way. And the Lord laid on him the
iniquity of all his sheep. But this is what Christ promised
the Father from eternity. In Zechariah 13, seven, he promised,
smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered, and I will
turn my hand upon the little ones. I'll go after my sheep and I'll
call every one of them. Isaiah 40 verse 11 said, he shall
feed his flock like a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with
his arm and carry them in his bosom and shall gently lead those
that are with young. And when he called us, When He
made us hear His voice through this gospel, and He knew us and
He regenerated us, and He made us willing to follow Him, He
gave us eternal life. Look back with me at John 6 and
verse 40. John 6 verse 40. He said, this is the will of
Him that sent me. This is the will of God my Father
that sent me. that every one which seeth the
Son and believeth on him." Now, I hear that brethren, everyone
that looks to the Son and believes on him, no work on your part,
no work for you to do, nothing for you to contribute at all.
Everyone that looks to the Son and believes on Him may have
everlasting life. Freely. You may have it. Verse 47, Verily, verily, I say
unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. Now that right there shows you
how deceiving sin is. That shows us how deceiving sin
is. Christ plainly declares, this is the will of the Father.
Oh, I just want to know what the will of God is for me. Well,
the Ten Commandments, that's the will of God. You got to keep
those or you can't be saved. Christ said, this is the will
of the Father. Look to me, believe on me, you may have an everlasting
life. They'll look at that, and they'll
hear that, and He said, here it is. You stop working. Stop
trying to save yourself. Stop trying to go around making
yourself out to be better than others, and simply believe on
the Lord Jesus, and you may have an everlasting life. And sinners
go on refusing to believe Him. go on refusing to believe Him. Knowing, knowing they're facing
eternal death. They're gonna meet God in judgment.
And everybody knows that. But they think it's more wise.
Religious men think they can save themselves by their works
and do a better job than what Christ did. That's not gonna
work out good for them when they meet God. He's pleased with the
Son. And brethren, and others just
try to put it out of their mind. Say, I'm just going to live for
today. I'll get to that one day. You
won't ever. You won't ever get to it. It's
the deceivableness of sin. The desperately wicked heart.
Christ said, this is it. Look to me and believe on me.
And you have everlasting life. I mean, nah. I got something
else better to do. I'm going to watch a ball game. I'm not ashamed to confess I'm
a sheep, because this is the record. This is the record God
made me hear. This is the record God has given
to us, eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath
the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. That's it. That's God's record.
That's His testimony. I'm not ashamed to confess I'm
a sheep because Christ gave me eternal life and he's my life.
He's my life. Sheep never die. You know why? We have no sin. Sin's the only
reason men die. We don't ever die because Christ
put our sin away. He said, whosoever liveth and
believeth in me shall never die. Now lastly, We're not ashamed
to confess we're sheep because sheep are lions. Sheep are lions. Sheep are conquerors. Sheep can't
be defeated. Sheep are always victorious.
Always. Verse John 10, 28. They shall
never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
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. When I say we're lions and we're
conquerors, it's not due to anything in us. You that know him know
that. Sheep are defenseless and they're
helpless. God chose to call us sheep and made sheep the way
they are to give us an illustration of what his people are. Sheep
are the most defenseless, helpless creatures, dumb creatures, stinking
creatures. I mean, they just nothing really
good about a sheep. Sheep, if they fall on their
back, they cannot get up. You can YouTube it. If they fall on their back, they
can't get back on their feet. They just sit there and waggle
their feet in the air and can't get back on their feet unless
the shepherd comes and sets them back upright. That's us. God designed sheep that way to
show you and me what we are and our need of our shepherd. Sheep
are still sinners. Hypocrisy in the scriptures is
not what men, I don't think it's what men call hypocrisy. You
know, men will say, well, you profess to believe, and yet you
still sin and fall, and so you're a hypocrite. No, the Lord's people
will tell you, I am a sinner. I sin every day. I sin, I try
not to, I don't want to, but I sin every day. I sin when all
I'm doing is sitting and blinking my eyes. Hypocrisy in scripture is claiming
that you can live above sin and claiming you are living above
sin and claiming you're a little better than others because you
don't sin quite like they sin and telling them to sin over
there, you're holier than they are. That's hypocrisy. We're like David. We have to
say what he said in Psalm 119, 176. He said, as a sanctified,
holy believer, he said, I have gone astray like a lost sheep.
like a sheep that's lost, like a sheep that don't even know
you, Lord. Seek thy servant. I do not forget your commandments.
What's he mean by that? He means, I remember, Lord, you've
told me that if I'll go astray like a lost sheep, call on you,
because you're my salvation. I had forgot your commandment.
I'm calling on you, Lord, save me. That's what we have to do.
No sinner will ever know true peace, and he'll never have true
freedom in this world until God makes you know you're a helpless
sinner. Until God brings you to the point
where you can stop being a phony religionist, or a phony irreligionist. People that aren't religious
get a lot of pleasure out of calling religious folks hypocrites,
and they're just as big a hypocrite as everybody else is. Everybody's
a hypocrite that don't believe Christ. But when He brings you
to stop being phony and confess to God that you're a sinner,
and that's all you are is a sinner, and you can't produce anything
but sin of yourself, and you can't contribute, and you can't
save yourself, and you need the Lord Jesus Christ to be your
all, all your acceptance with God, when you're brought there,
you got some peace then, because God accepts you and makes you
know He accepts you. That's when we stop putting on
a show before men. and we believe the Lord. And we stop having to try to
defend ourselves because Christ is our shepherd and he's our
strength. Romans 8, let's go there real
quick. I'm going a little long this morning. Romans 8, this
is why I'm saying sheep are lions. Christ's sheep are lions. Look
here, Romans 8, 36. As it's written, for thy sake
we're killed all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for
the slaughter. That's certainly how the unregenerate
world regards us, sheep for the slaughter. No, in all these things
we're more than conquerors through him that loved us. We're more
than conquerors through Christ that loved us. In all what things? Verse 38, I'm persuaded neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the
love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. That's everything,
brethren. Everything you're gonna face
right there. He said we're more than conquerors over every bit
of those things because of Christ. You see what I'm saying? No one
can defeat one of Christ's sheep. Not anybody can. It's because
we have Christ as our shepherd. Turn over to Psalm 23, and I'm
gonna end with this, Psalm 23. Here's why we can't be defeated.
Christ has already overcome for his people, already overcome
this world, and we've already overcome this world in him. We've
overcome all our sin in him. We've overcome the devil in him.
We've overcome death in him. We've overcome everything that
would separate us. We've already overcome it in
Christ, and so therefore Christ is gonna make you overcome it
as you walk through this world, and he's gonna save us, and nobody's
gonna plug us out of his hand. Look here in Psalm 23.1. The
Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. I'm not gonna want
for anything. I'm not gonna lack anything. Now listen, he maketh me to lie
down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of
righteousness for his namesake. Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou
art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort
me. I love this next one right here.
Listen to this. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence
of my enemies. Right, I was just surrounded
by enemies. There's enemies all around the Lord's people, all
around it. Here's a little helpless sheep with all these enemies
surrounding it. Lord says, that's a good place right there. I'm
gonna prepare a table for him right there. And just provides
whatever he needs right there. Feast of fat things, Christ our
Lord. Thou anointest my head with oil. This is spiritual blessings,
brethren, spiritual in the heart, the oil of the spirit, and my
cup runneth over. Surely, goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the
house of the Lord forever. That's why I say I am a sheep. I'm blessed by God to know I'm
a sheep. I'm blessed of God to have a
heart that values being a sheep above everything else in this
life. My prayer is that today that Christ might speak and make
one of his lost sheep know him. That Christ might know you and
make you know him and make you willing to follow him and fill
your heart with his joy and make you see What a blessing it is
to be a sheep of God. And for you that are His sheep,
I pray you'll hear His voice and He'll restore your soul again
and anoint your head with oil and make your cup run over and
make this gospel a feast to you right here while you're surrounded
on all sides by Him. Just make this a feast to you
and keep you following Him, trusting Him, delighting in Him. So the
next time you hear somebody speak negative about being a sheep,
I'm going to tell them, hold up. I'm a sheep. I'm a sheep. Don't talk bad about sheep. I'm
a sheep. Let's go to him. Lord, thank you for this word.
Thank you for making us your sheep. Thank you for being our
shepherd. Lord, you are the shepherd that
never fails and has overcome all for your sheep. Keep us,
Lord, and keep us looking to you. And we pray, Lord, you call
out one of your lost sheep. wherever they are in this world.
As the gospel goes forth today, we pray, Lord, you call them
and bless them. Thank you so much, Lord. Thank you for these
unsearchable riches we have in Christ. Forgive us, Lord, our
sins and our doubting. Don't let us get swallowed up
with this world. Don't let us listen to goats,
Lord. Keep us here in your gospel and trust in you. In Christ's
name we pray, amen.