John chapter 10. And I want to just look at one
verse as our text and then we will look at this chapter a little
more in depth. John chapter 10 verse 14. The Lord Jesus Christ says, I
am the good shepherd. and know my sheep, and am known of mine. This will be our divisions. Jesus
Christ is the pastor who is God. He's the good shepherd. Secondly,
Jesus Christ knows his sheep. He said, I know my sheep. And thirdly, all his sheep shall
know Jesus Christ. He said, and am known of mine. This may come as an odd statement
to say that Jesus Christ is the shepherd who is God, the pastor
who is God. That's what the word shepherd
means, pastor. I've titled the message, the
pastor who is God. The pastor who is God. He says
here, I am. God is the great I am. Do you remember when he sent
Moses, what he said when he sent Moses? In Exodus 3, in verse
14, God said unto Moses, I am that I am. And he said, thus shalt thou
say unto the children of Israel, I am hath sent me unto you. Any servant of God that sent
is sent by the I am. And Christ says here, I am. I am. He says here, I am the
good. Do you remember when the rich
young ruler came to him and he said, good master? He was saying
that in his heart, the Lord knew his heart, and he was saying
that in his heart, good master, as in a good preacher or a good
teacher, just like you would say it of any other man. And
the Lord called him on it. And the Lord said, Why callest
thou me good? There is none good but one. That is God. It's as if the Lord
was saying, Are you saying I'm God? Are you saying I'm God? He is. He said, I am the good. He is the shepherd. He is the
pastor who is God. And look down at verse 15. This is what he says directly
after this. As the Father knoweth me, even
so know I the Father. Look down at verse 30. I and
my Father are one. And those that heard him understood
exactly what he was saying. They said in verse 33, for a
good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy, and because
that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. They understood
him. They understood him. This is
the pastor who is God. This word shepherd, meaning pastor,
The Lord gave a parable here that's a simple illustration
of a shepherd and sheep. A shepherd, a pastor, and his
sheep. In the midst of the countryside
where the shepherds were keeping their sheep, a shepherd would
have his flock of sheep. And there'd be a sheep fold where
the shepherds would bring their flocks And they would go into
that sheepfold, and that sheepfold had a high wall around it to
protect it, protect the sheep inside there. And it had one
door, one way in, one way out, and it had a porter who kept
the door. That was that person's job, to
keep the door. In verse 1, the Lord says, 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. Christ is the shepherd who entered
this world to bring his sheep out of the fallen fold of humanity,
to bring his sheep into the one fold of his kingdom. And Christ
entered in by the door. He entered in by the lawful entrance
into the fold. The children that he came to
redeem were flesh and blood. And so Christ, who is God, the
Son of God, He took upon Him the likeness of sinful flesh.
He was made of a woman. It had to be. It behooved Him
in all things to be made like unto His brethren. It came the
lawful way. Christ came because His children
were under the law. His children were dead in trespasses
and in sins, guilty before God, and He came, therefore, and He
was made under the law. Just like they were under the
law. Christ came because by one man's
disobedience, many every single one that Adam represented were
made guilty, died in him. And he came and obeyed in all
points so that by one Christ Jesus, many, all that he represented
would be made the righteousness of God in him. Everyone He came
for owed the wages of sin, which is death. And so Christ, in their
room instead, laid down His life. and paid the wages of sin, which
is death. He answered the justice of God
and satisfied it. Verse 10, he said, 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. He has shed
on us abundant grace, that they might have abundance of life. I am the good shepherd. The good
shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. But he that is a hireling
and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, They don't
belong to him. He seeth the wolf coming and
leaveth the sheep and fleeth and the wolf catcheth them and
he scatters the sheep. The hireling fleeth because he's
a hireling and careth not for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. Christ Jesus the Lord is the
good shepherd, the shepherd who is God, who will never, ever
leave his flock, who will never, ever allow the wolf to enter
in and harm his sheep. who will never ever flee when
danger comes because He is the Good Shepherd and His sheep are
His own. They're His. They're His. And when He did this for His
sheep, He made satisfaction to God. He entered in the door,
the way, And when he did, he made satisfaction to God. Verse
3 says, to him the porter openeth. Just like that porter would open
that door when that shepherd came and he would say, yes, the
sheep are yours. Come in. God the Father opened
up the grave and Christ came out of the grave and Christ,
the very presence of God, the very heavenly presence of this
holy God, He opened it up to Him and said, yes, come in. The sheep are yours. They're
your sheep. He said in verse 17, Therefore
doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life. This is how we perceive the love
of God, because He laid down His life. You know, love is really
saving. Love is really conditioned upon
power and ability to save. Love is conditioned upon all
of the beauty and loveliness in the
object of it. There's got to be some beauty
in that object. There was no beauty in us for
God to love us, but in His Son. robed in His Son, put in His
Son, He's altogether lovely. And the Father loves Him, because
He laid down His life for the sheep, and hereby we perceive
His love, because He laid down His life for the sheep. And from this, He tells us now
in John 10, 7, That having been said, and him entering in the
sheepfold by the door, he says this in verse 7, Then said Jesus
unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door
of the sheep. Look at verse 9, I am the door
by me. If any man enter in, he shall
be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture. The only
way, the only way into God's presence is Christ Jesus the
door. We can't come, can't come through
the law because Christ has fulfilled the law and the law now is swallowed
up in him so that we gotta come in him. We can't come in any other way because He is the one
way which takes away all the other ways. He's that one door
into His kingdom, His church, into His presence, into God's
presence. Christ is that one way. It says
here they'll go in and out and find pasture. I don't want to
go in and out of Christ, do you? I don't want to go in and out
of his kingdom. But if I'm going in and out of
a place, it means I've got liberty to go in and out. In and out. And that's what he's talking
about here. He gives us liberty. Liberty out of bondage into Liberty
out of bondage into Liberty where we find Pasture where we find
green pasture. He said by me by me And everybody
that tries to come some other way is a thief and a robber If
I start talking to you about about well, I Did something by my will That's
another way That's another way. Well, at least I believed. That's another way. It's another
way. Well, at least you have to say,
I'm full of good deeds now and I don't do near the deeds I used
to do. That's another way. Another way. Christ Jesus is
the shepherd who is God and man. in a glorified body and He is
the way, He is the door because He is the shepherd, the prophet,
the priest, the king who came in human flesh and saved His
children out of the fold of depravity. Look now at this second point.
He says in verse 14, I know my sheep. I know my sheep. Look at verse 3. It says, To
him the porter openeth, and the sheep hear his voice. They hear
his voice for this reason. Here's why they hear his voice.
He calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. You see,
in a fold, there'd be cattle that belonged to other farmers.
But when that shepherd came to that fold, he knew his sheep,
and he called his sheep. And his sheep would hear his
voice and he led out his sheep. He didn't lead out somebody else's
sheep. He led out his sheep because
they were his sheep. He's not a thief and a robber.
He's not going to take sheep that aren't his. He leads out
his sheep. Christ knows his sheep. Now listen
to this, as one with him. He knows His sheep as one with
Him, even as the Father and the Son are one. And this is by divine
election. Look at verse 15. As the Father
knoweth me, even so know I the Father, and lay down my life
for the sheep. He said, I'm the Good Shepherd
and know my sheep, and I'm known of mine. How do you know your
sheep? As the Father knoweth me, even
so know I the Father. That's how he knows his sheep.
He didn't lay down his life. The good shepherd did not lay
down his life for those he did not know. Do you understand that? He didn't lay down his life in
hopes that some would become his sheep. He didn't lay down
his life in hopes that maybe somebody would feel real sorry
for all the suffering he bore, and they'd say, you know what,
I'm gonna go over here with this fella, I feel sorry for him.
No, he died for his sheep. He knew his sheep, those given
him of the Father by electing grace. Listen to what Jeremiah
said, or the Lord said to Jeremiah, You can turn there if you'd like.
Jeremiah 1-5. The Lord said, Before I formed
thee in the belly, I knew thee. And before thou camest forth
out of the womb, I sanctify thee, I set you apart, and I ordain
thee a prophet unto the nations. You see the foundation, the foundation,
the foundation, the sure seal is this, the Lord knoweth them
that are his. universal atonement that says
Christ died for all men. We looked at this Friday night
in the Bible study with the children and went through and just looked
at verses in the Scripture that used the word all, so that we
could see what these verses declare. All. Caesar Augustus proclaimed
a tax in all the world, in all the parameters, in all the boundaries,
of that world in which He was the King, He imposed a tax. Universal atonement is a false
gospel because it makes man's knowing Christ to be the cause
of effectual redemption. The Lord didn't say here, first
I'm known of mine. He said, I know my sheep. I know
my sheep. He has to know His sheep first.
Do you remember what Paul told the Galatians? Brethren, now
that you know the Lord, or rather have been known of the Lord, it makes the cause of effectual
redemption to be man's will. Christ lay down his life for
his sheep because they were in him, as God the Father and God
the Son are in each other. Because he knew his sheep, he
said, I lay down my life for the sheep. Secondly, he knows
where his sheep are. We're looking at how he knows
his sheep. He knows where his sheep are.
Because that woman at the well lived in Samaria, he said, we
must needs go through Samaria. Because Lydia was in Macedonia,
Paul was forbidden to go anywhere else, and Paul said, assuredly
gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto
them. He was standing among Jews, he was standing among religious
Pharisees, and who he was speaking to, and he had just called out
a blind beggar in the middle of them. But he didn't call out
that beggar's mother and father, he left them in the synagogue.
He didn't call out the Pharisees in the synagogue. He left them
in the synagogue. He didn't call out those men that were standing
there that were given the charge that were some kind of leaders
in the synagogue and they were given the charge to escort that
blind man out and kick him out, tell him never come back again.
And the Lord stood right there and gave that blind man spiritual
life and didn't say a word to those other men. And he said,
as he stood there in Israel, in verse 16, he said, and other
sheep I have which are not of this fold, which are not in Israel. And he said, them also I must
bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one
fold and one shepherd. Can you picture that shepherd
coming to that fold and being able to look into that fold and
say, that's my sheep? That's my sheep. That's not my
sheep. That one's mine. That one's mine.
That one's mine. And say to them, Emma, Melinda,
Eric, Pete, Jaime, Sharon, Kathy, follow me. And all of them just
coming right together and following him and him just leading them
right on out. Ezekiel, he said, Ezekiel 34,
22, Therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more
be a prey, and I will judge between cattle and cattle, and I will
set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even
my servant David. He shall feed them, and he shall
be their shepherd, and I, the Lord, will be their God, and
my servant David a prince among them. I, the Lord, have spoken
it. Either God's a liar, or God does
what He says He does. But this morning, I want you
to see this, that knowing means even more than these things we've
been looking at. Knowing is how the Good Shepherd
makes His sheep to believe on Him and follow Him. Verse 27,
He says, My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow
Me, and I give unto them eternal life. The first thing that's
going to happen is the sheep are going to hear His voice.
It's great to be a voice speaking. The Lord Jesus Christ comes to
each of His sheep individually and He speaks. He knows their
names. Just like He said, Zacchaeus,
come down. Levi, follow me. Lazarus, come
forth. And it's still Christ the Good
Shepherd who's speaking. It's still the voice of Him that's
speaking to His sheep personally every time He speaks through
one of His messengers whom He's directed like He did Paul and
makes their path cross with one of His sheep. That Ethiopian
unit was on the backside of nowhere. He had taken the road that was
cut off now and they had a new bypass that went straight to
where he was going and he had taken that old way and was taking
his time going home and was just sitting down there in the middle
of nowhere where there wasn't anything but a bunch of old court
motels that are just grown up with grass now because no traffic
goes by there anymore and all the people went out of business.
A place where the sidewalks that used to be in the little towns
that used to be thriving little towns now just sort of dwindle
down to nothing because the traffic doesn't go through there anymore.
It's just little one-horse towns. And he was sitting there reading
and Philip came up to him. Just happened to go that same
way too. by the sovereign, omnipotent, all-knowing purpose of God. Philip
went that way too. And he said, do you understand
what you're reading? And the eunuch said, how can
I except some man guide me? And Philip preached the gospel
to him, and God saved him. God saved him. Same thing happened
to Lydia with Paul. And fact is, since Christ arose
and sent the Holy Ghost throughout the New Testament, throughout
the Book of Acts, Paul is the one exception because he was
an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, but every one of Christ's
sheep were called through the messenger he sent with his doctrine. You see, we're looking at the
doctrine of Christ. Who's teaching here? Christ is.
This is His doctrine. This is what He says. This is
how He does things. This is the doctrine that declares
Him to be the Son of God. Deny it, and we deny that. See
that? He said, My sheep hear My voice.
And He said there, He said there, And I know them. Verse 27. My sheep hear My voice, and I
know them. Adam knew his wife Eve. And you
know what happened when he knew his wife Eve? She conceived and
bear a son. The Spirit of God, just like
that porter, opens the door. When Christ sends His Gospel,
the Spirit of God opens the heart's door. And Christ enters in, in
intimate union with his sheep, and when he does, he knows his
sheep, and there is a conception by the incorruptible seed, and
there is life. Life. And he says, and they follow me. You know what repentance is? Repentance is leaving everything
and following Christ. Repentance is doing the leaving,
turning from it all, and faith is following Him, following Him. Unregenerate men like to think
that it's their believing on Christ that makes them sheep.
This is why Free will as opposed to invincible grace is alive.
Again, it puts things in the hand of the creature. It puts
the creature above the creator. He's the creator. I'm talking
about of new life. Look here at verse 26. The Lord
says, but ye believe not because, because ye are not my sheep. As I said unto you, my sheep
hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. Faith that
makes man a sheep of God is nothing more than a work. It's what it
is. It's a work. You want God to
have all the glory? This is what makes sons of God. Having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to
His good pleasure, the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of
the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the
Beloved. Galatians 4, 6 says, And because ye are sons, when
as yet dead in trespasses and in sins, because ye are sons. God hath sent forth the Spirit
of His Son. There's the triune God. God hath
sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying,
Abba, Father. You see that? A man's faith is
not what makes him one of God's sheep. Faith is the fruit of
God making him one of His sheep. Well, here's the last thing.
All His sheep shall know Jesus Christ. He says, and am known
of mine. Look back at verse 4. When He
putteth forth His own sheep, Now he's called them, he knew
them, he called them, they heard his voice, and they followed
him out, and it says, and when he putteth forth his own sheep,
when he brings them out of that former fold they were in, he goes before them, and the
sheep follow him, for they know his voice. They know his voice. 1 John 2. I want to show you a
couple of scriptures in 1 John that I think are important. And
then we'll wind this up. 1 John 2. Look at verse 20. You have an unction from the
Holy One. This is what we're talking about.
We hear His voice. I was telling Scott and Eric
that last night we were talking, it was Friday night, and I said,
I don't know exactly what unction is, but I do know this. I've
preached loud, I've preached quiet, I've preached very close
to my notes, and I've preached very freely without my notes. And I'm persuaded unction don't
have a thing to do with any of those things. Not any of those
things. Because in each case, there's
been times when there wasn't anything between me and God.
That's unction. That's unction. He said, you
have an unction from the Holy One and you know all things.
I've not written unto you because you know not the truth, but because
you know it and that no lie is of the truth. That's so simple. No lie is of the truth. What makes it a lie? It's not
true. It's not true. Who is a liar but he that denieth
that Jesus is the Christ? That's what untruth is. That's what lies are. It's denying
that Jesus is the Christ. He's anti-Christ. He is anti-Christ
that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son,
the same hath not the Father, but he that acknowledgeth the
Son hath the Father also. Let that, therefore, abide in
you which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which
ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also
shall continue in the Son and in the Father. And this is the
promise that He's promised us, even eternal life. These things
have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. Seduce
you. You're not going to be seduced
by an ugly woman. You're going to be seduced by
a very attractive woman. Them that seduce you are going
to be very attractive. That false gospel. Or anointing which you have received
of Him abideth in you, and you need not that any man teach you.
But as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth,
and is no lie, even as it hath taught you, you shall abide in
Him. John was teaching them, wasn't
he? He was a man teaching them, but he was saying that because
Christ is the pastor who is God, but through His Spirit teaching
you, that anointing is going to abide in His sheep. They're
going to follow Him. Our text says there's not one
sheep ever that was ever deceived, and there shall not ever be one
sheep that's deceived by false prophets. He said in verse 5,
John 10, 5, A stranger will they not follow, but will flee from
him, for they know not the voice of strangers. In verse 8, he
said, All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but
the sheep did not hear them. There was a lot of false prophets
then, just like always have been, just like there are more now.
And they increase, increase, increase. There's never been
a sheep of God who followed them. Ever. and won't ever be. Won't ever be. There shall be
one foal and one shepherd. Here's why they won't. You've
got to look at this, Isaiah 52.6. I know we've got company. Isaiah
52.6. You see, the glory in this goes to
Christ. If we don't bow to Christ the
pastor who is God, we'll say, no, that's not so. But look here,
this is how the glory is. This is why there's one foal
and one shepherd. The shepherd and all his sheep
see eye to eye, look here, because of him. Verse 6, therefore, my
people shall know my name. Everything Christ is telling
us is His name. This is what declares Him to
be the Son of God. We deny any of this work that
He says that He does, and we deny that the Son of God come
in human flesh. We deny Him. We're anti-Christ. All you gotta be to be anti-Christ
is to be anti-Christ getting all the glory. And you're anti-Christ. But here's, therefore my people
shall know my name. Therefore they shall know in
that day that I am he that doth speak. Behold, it is I. Well, how is He going to speak?
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of Him that bringeth
good tidings, that publisheth peace, that bringeth good tidings
of good, that publisheth salvation, that saith undesigned, Thy God
reigneth. That's what Christ is saying
in our text. Thy God reigneth. And He's saying,
and here I am. Standing before you and his preachers
that he sins come forth and they say that God reigneth. He does
this he does this Why do they say that and why does he bring
them into this one fold and how is it they're all Folded together
verse 8 thou watchman That's who they are, His under-shepherds,
His witnesses, all of them, shall lift up the voice, with the voice
together, with His voice, because His voice is doing the speaking
in them. I and my Father are one, and
He's one in His people. And because He is, they lift
up the voice, and it's His voice that's being lifted up. It's
Him that's speaking. You behold, it's I that speaketh. And they lift up the voice, and
they lift up, each one of them, lift up their voice together
in harmony saying the same thing about this one Redeemer because
He's speaking in each one of them. And look, for they shall
see eye to eye when the Lord shall bring again Zion. And that's exactly why the Jews
took up stones and stoned Him. They said, Thou being a man,
make us Thyself God. You see, this gospel declares
he's God. And that's why the enmity, the
true enmity, that's how it's revealed. You know, if you just
tell somebody God's trying to do something and make it just
a little bit as if God is dependent upon you for something, you will
never see any hatred for God from anybody, not at all, because
that God is not even worthy to be hated. That God is the creature,
and that God is serving the creature. So why would the creature ever
become angry? But when you preach this gospel,
and this is why false prophets won't preach it, because people
get angry. People get angry. But when you
preach it, they will pick up stones to stone the Savior. If not literally, in their hearts,
because there's enmity against God. These men, you see, what
had happened was, here's why. These fellas had a hope that
was of them, that they had gotten before they ever heard the gospel
preached. They had a hope before Christ
ever came to them and preached the gospel to them. And because
that hope glorified something that they had done, when Christ
spoke to them and they heard the truth of how God saves sinners,
they would not let go of their glory. Because that would mean
turning from it and giving the divine shepherd, all the glory. And a man can't do that, not
even God's sheep, until this pastor who is God speaks into
our heart and makes this so. He told them, if you were blind,
you wouldn't have any sin, but now you say we see, therefore
your sin remains. Now, I'll try to get you to stay
at 1 John. I've got to get you to look at
this. 2 John. 2 John 1-7. This doctrine, 2
John 1-7, this doctrine, I said to you before, Christ is speaking,
right? This was the pastor who is God,
who is speaking in everything he said. So this is, without
a doubt, the doctrine of Christ. It's the doctrine that declares
Him. It's the doctrine taught by Him. This is the doctrine
of Christ we're hearing in this passage. It is the doctrine of
Christ. And everything about this doctrine
declared Christ to be the Son of God in human flesh, Christ
come, that's what it declared, this doctrine. And this is the
doctrine that whereby Christ speaks and saves his people. You can't understand a person's
name without knowing them. And you can't know them unless
you hear about them. And you can't hear about them
unless this one who wants his sheep to hear about him sends
a man to declare everything about him. And when he does that, he
saves in his doctrine and his people have an unction and they
abide in that doctrine. And those who don't, who say
no, Universal Atonement now, it's not a lie. I know no lies of the truth,
but it's not really a lie. God saves through it. Well, let's see. 2 John 1, 7. Many deceivers are entered into
the world who confess not that Jesus Christ has come in the
flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. You know what the Pharisees were
that stoned him? Antichrists. They were antichrists
being God come in human flesh, in working the works He says
He works. Antichrists being that. Antichrists
saving in the way God says He saves in His Word. because they
had a glory prior to hearing this gospel. They wouldn't let
it go. They wouldn't let it go. Look at this now. Look to yourselves
that we lose not those things which we have wrought. In other
words, look to yourselves that you don't lose the gospel that's
been preached unto you wherein you've been saved, but that we
receive a full reward Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not
in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. He that abideth in the
doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there
come any unto you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not
into your house, neither bid him Godspeed. For he that biddeth
him Godspeed is partaker of his evil deeds." Right this minute, everybody
who hears this word, this doctrine that Christ Himself taught us,
right here, Everybody that heard this doctrine, Christ taught
us. I am the Good Shepherd. He is God, the pastor of His
sheep. I know my sheep. He knows them
as one with the Father, as He's one with the Father. He knows
where they are. And He comes and knows them intimately and
makes them alive. am known of my shape. Not one
will follow a stranger. They will follow Him. This declares
His name. It declares He's God. It declares
the glory that only God can perform. It declares the glory of God
the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit in the man
Christ Jesus. This is what it does. And we
know right now in our hearts we are either gathering up stones
and saying, Because that's stripping away my refuge. My refuge of
lies. My refuge I've been trying to
stretch out on them, and if I would just admit I've never ever had
any peace from it, I just keep being going from one to and fro,
to and fro. I never had any real peace from
this. Never been planted, never been
settled, never been set down to where I'm just settled. This is I'm not moving to hide no hair
from here. This is it. You know, you know,
if that's the case, if you're picking up stones in your heart,
or if right now you're sitting there and you're thinking, He's
just emptying your hands of every stone and filling your hearts
by His grace and making you to fall down at His feet at Thanksgiving
and say with that blind man, herein is a marvelous thing. You've revealed Yourself to me. Nobody from nowhere, and You've
made me to know You. Everybody here knows where they
stand in their heart. And for you who are sheep of
God, look at this last verse, John 10, 28. Hear His voice to
you now. This is what He says to His sheep.
And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish,
neither shall any seducer 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. That's my God. Thy God reign. Amen.