Seeking once again the help of
God, I'd like you to turn with me to the chapter that we read,
the Gospel according to John chapter 10 and the text you'll
find 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. we looked at this morning of
the little girl, 12 years old, who was sick unto death and her
father in great agony of soul and broken heart seeks out the
Lord Jesus Christ and asks him to come to his house and to lay
his hand upon the little girl that she may be restored to to
life. And as Jesus is pressed around
by the crowd Another lady comes and touches him, seemingly distracting
him from his purpose of going to Jairus' house. And we saw
how the life of the Lord Jesus was that of busyness, constant
to-ing and fro-ing and constant dealing with the various concerns
of those who came to him. And as we saw Jairus looking
on and maybe believing that why is the Lord Jesus delaying in
his purposes? Why is he not rushing to the
house to save my little girl? We see in his delay there was
a purpose. as the woman with the issue of
blood is healed and Christ speaks to her the news comes that the
little girl has died and so in Christ's delay the girl passes
away And the message is don't trouble the master any further. There's nothing anybody else
can do. Her soul has left the body. It's now an impossible
case. All that is left for us to do
is to mourn. but Christ willing to show that compassion and to
reveal that he is God manifest in the flesh, that he is the
one who he says he is. He goes and he raises the little
girl from the grave or from her deathbed by saying unto her,
damsel I say unto thee, arise. As we saw a few weeks or months
back of the Lord Jesus Christ raising the young man who was
being carried out to be buried, he speaks to him and he also
gets up. he returns to life, the soul
being reunited with the body, summoned from wherever that soul
may have been, whether it was in the presence of God, returning
to the body and that person now lives. We know that both of these
accounts and even the account of Lazarus, they signify of that
greater day when the Lord Jesus Christ will come again. When
every soul and every body, every human body will be reconciled. and they will be able to stand
before the Lord Jesus Christ. Body and soul in his presence
to be divided as a shepherd divides the sheep from the goats. And
not only does it signify that great day of judgment but also
it signifies that great spiritual deadness by which we are all
in by nature. and that the command of the Lord
Jesus Christ, that spiritual life is imparted into a soul,
that that soul may live. And as we see when God created
Adam, he breathed into him and he became a living soul. He was
alive and he ended into a spiritual relationship with God and because
of his sin that spiritual relationship was severed. Adam spiritually
died although physically he lived. He was ever on the brink of an
eternity. as we saw this morning that our
lives are fragile and we saw that just like this little girl
we're on the brink of death at every moment and just as Adam
sinned against God his life now became limited before it was
unlimited because he sinned there was that stop now his life was
to end and his spiritual life that relationship with God was
severed We know that God in his mercy
did not abandon the human race to its own devices. In his mercy
he provided a way by which there could be that reconciliation. As Satan entered in and brought
that doubt and sowed that doubt to the word of God, you shan't
die. So Satan is punished and he is told that the seed of the
woman is going to bruise his head and that curse is going
to be reversed and that there are those who will be in the
seed of the woman that would be granted eternal life. And so Jesus says here, in his parable that he is the
one that has come so that they might have life. We see in those three that Christ
raises from the dead that in him is life and that he is able
to, the Bible tells us the son has life in himself. And he's
able to speak and the spirit be restored and that person live. And he says, I am come that they
might have life. The thief comes, but to steal
and to kill and to destroy. In verse 1 it 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. In verse 8 it says, All that
ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did
not hear them. You know, two ways of looking
at this verse. There are those, we can look
at it as those who seek to climb into the sheepfold another way,
those who seek to work out their salvation by doing their good
works. They try to climb up some other
way into the sheepfold of the Lord Jesus Christ. Instead of
passing through the door of the Lord Jesus, they come up and
they want to gain their own way. They want to gain their own salvation,
climb up to God on their own terms, do their own thing, live
their own life. And Jesus says they are thieves.
and they are robbers, they've come to rob the Lord Jesus Christ
of his glory, they've come to puff themselves up, they've come
to demonstrate how good and how able they are. But Jesus says
they're just thieves and they've come to steal his glory and they've
come to kill. And with the Pharisees, they
says, we will not have this man to reign over us. Crucify him,
crucify him, crucify him. We don't need him. We don't need
him as a savior. We don't need him as a redeemer.
We don't need him as the Messiah. We are okay. Our works of righteousness
are sufficient for us to please God, to enter into God's presence
and to obtain God's favor. Jesus says they're not coming
by the door they're climbing up they're seeking to obtain
their own salvation and they're stealing and they're robbing
and they are destroying. The apostle tells us that we're
to be aware of those who enter into the churches who are wolves
in sheep's clothing They have come to pretend to be believers
in the Lord Jesus Christ yet they have ulterior motives. Their
motive is to steal. Their motive is to kill. Their
motive is to destroy. They are after themselves. They
are after the scattering of the flock. But also You can look at it, and which
many have thought that it is to do with teachers and preachers
of the word. Because Jesus says, all that
ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did
not hear them. As we look into the Old Testament
we find that there were many, many false prophets and they
came to take and to twist the word of God. There were those
faithful men who proclaimed the truth and the false prophets
rose up against them. And in today's world there are
false prophets, people who preach heresy, people who distort and
twist the scriptures, people who are out for their own gain.
They have their own motives. They are motivated by pride and
self-promotion and desire. And Peter tells us in 2 Peter
chapter 2, he says, but there were false prophets also among
the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you,
who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, and denying even the
Lord that brought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
And many shall follow their precarious ways, By reason of whom the way
of truth shall be evil spoken of, And through covetousness
they shall with fringed words Make merchandise of you, whose
judgment now Of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth
not. And so he warns the church of
those who would come in and bring in heresies, those that would
use the ministry as a means to benefit themselves. They are
covetous and their desire is to make a merchandise of the
people of God. Their desire is to rob them so
that they would get rich. We look at the Christian church
today. There are branches of so-called
Christianity which is solely focused upon money, solely focused
upon giving so that you may get gain, elevating the man of God
and causing him to become super wealthy. He is a wolf in sheep's
clothing. is a false representative of
the Lord Jesus Christ and he is a messenger of Satan seeking
to twist the truth with good words to make a merchandise
of the people of God. He's like shearing the sheep
so that they become cold and he becomes warm. And they enter in to the sheepfold
disguised as sheep and they preach damnable heresies and those heresies
come and they steal, they rob Christ of his glory, they kill. If you think of the ministry
of the word of God and the responsibility that the minister has to proclaim
the truth that he can preach damnable heresies. And if people lay hold of those
damnable heresies where will they end up? They don't point
people to the Lord Jesus Christ. They've come to kill and they've
come to destroy. They've come to divide. A false
message gives a false hope. A false message sends people
to hell. Jesus didn't come to make us
all wealthy. Jesus didn't come to give us
our best life now. Jesus didn't come to make us
all famous. Jesus came to seek and to save
that which was lost. The Bible tells us that we are
to search the Scriptures that the things that the minister
brings before us are to examine the word of God, to check if
these things be so. If Jesus tells us that there
are thieves and robbers, if there are wolves in sheep's clothing,
if there are those that teach you can climb up another way,
then we're to listen to what the Lord Jesus Christ says And
what does he say is the right way? He tells us that the right
way is to come in by the door. And he is the door. He says,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. Anybody that points to another
way, anybody that points to another door, anybody that says climb
up over the wall or look to this prophet or look to that prophet
or look to that saint or this saint or look to that Pope Or
look to that idol. They are pointing people in the
wrong direction. They're telling them to climb
up another way, telling them to climb over the wall as a thief. There was one man I was reading
off and he was trying to explain to a self-righteous person of
their need of the Lord Jesus Christ and his perfect salvation. And the man was pressing him,
saying, no, no, no, I'm OK. I do a lot of good. I give a
lot of money to charities. And every time I give, it's like
the Lord is helping me to make one more step up, one more step
up to heaven. Then one day, this man had a
dream. And he saw in his dream the ladder
that he was creating. And every time he did something
good, he made another bit of progress up to heaven and he
kept looking down and he's thinking, well, this ladder is getting
longer and longer and longer. Then as he got to the top, he heard a voice. He says, the thief. And this
voice says, the thief cometh not but to steal and to kill
and to destroy. And he said his ladder fell to
bits. In his dream he came crashing
down and realised that everything that he had been trusting in,
everything that he had rested in was of no use to him whatsoever. He had everything the wrong way
round. Instead of coming in through the door first, he tried to climb
up the ladder another way. Instead of looking to the Lord
Jesus Christ and his righteousness as his only hope, as his only
plea, he tried to work out a righteousness for himself and found that in
his dream he felt on that time when he reached God it all came
crashing down. He was a thief. and he came to
steal and to rob Christ of his glory. And Jesus says that he
has come that they might have life. Throughout the scripture, the
Lord uses an illustration of a shepherd. He is the good shepherd
of Israel, the great shepherd of his sheep. And David tells
us, doesn't he, in Psalm 23, of his desire to be a sheep of
God. But he is thankful that the Lord
is his shepherd. He says, the Lord is my shepherd.
I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. He restores my soul. He leads
me in 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'll prepare us a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
I'll anoint my head with oil, 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. And so as Israel looked
to God as their shepherd, so Christ says that he is the good
shepherd. And not only is he the good shepherd,
he is the good shepherd that lives for his sheep. He's the
living shepherd. He says, 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 he leads them out. And when he put forth his
own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for
they know his voice. He is the living shepherd, the
shepherd that goes before his sheep as we see the people of
Israel being led and guided by the cloud and by the pillar of
fire just as a shepherd leads his people. So the Lord Jesus
Christ is the living shepherd of his sheep. that he goes before
them, he has a voice, he speaks to them and his voice is a comfort
to the Lord's people. We come as we come to worship,
we come to hear the word of the Lord As we take our Bibles in
our hands we come to read and to meditate upon the Word of
the Lord and that Word of the Lord is of a benefit to our souls. We delight to hear His voice,
we gain comfort from His voice. When my sister was born she had
an abscess. Because she was so little, they
were unable to, in those days, maybe it's different now, but
in those days, they were unable to knock her out, put her under
general anesthetic. So they cut this abscess, and
obviously she was screaming. But my mum spoke, and she became
calm. And the doctor said, you see,
she knows the sound of her mother's voice. She'd been listening to
that voice for nine months inside my mother's tummy and that when
she was delivered she still could recognise that voice. And so
it is with the Lord's people. You know, we hear the voice of
the Lord Jesus Christ as we listen to the word, as we read these
beautiful accounts of his relationship with his people, that he is the
good shepherd, that he goes before them, that he speaks to them,
that he knows their names and that they hear his voice and
he calls them and he leads them out. Every
one of the Lord's sheep has been called. As we saw this morning
of the little girl and Jesus says, little maid arise, talitha
kumi, arise. She arose. It was a personal word. On that great day when Christ
comes again, every grave will be open. The scripture says the
sea will even give up its dead at the voice of the Lord Jesus
Christ. But the here and now, there is that individual called
that he calls his own sheep by name. He calls them from the
darkness into the light, he gives them a hearing ear and an understanding
heart, he changes that hard nature and gives them a soft nature
to follow him and to listen to him. He leads them out of the
darkness, he leads them through the door from that broad road
into that narrow way. He takes them from the wilderness
of this world and brings them into the sheepfold of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He calls them because he knows
them. He leads them because he loves
them and he wants them to follow him. And he lives with them and
by his spirit he lives, he lives in them. But not only does this
good shepherd go before his sheep, not only does he talk to them
and care for them and bless them and lead them into those green
pastures and still waters, but he does more than just live with
them. He dies for them or he died for
them. If you remember David, David
put his life on the line for his sheep. When the bear and the lion came
to take David's sheep he was there ready with his sling to
deliver them, to fight on their behalf and to slaughter the enemy. He was willing to risk his own
life for the life of the sheep. And the Lord Jesus Christ, that
greater shepherd, not did he just willingly risk his life
But he gave his life a ransom for sinners, a payment for sin. He says, I am the good shepherd
and the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. Verse 15. As the father knoweth
me, even so know I the father. and I lay down my life for the
sheep. Verse 17. Therefore does my father
love me because I lay down my life that I may 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. Verse 28. or verse 27, 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. That is all that the Lord Jesus
Christ has come to do, that great good shepherd who came down from
heaven to live that perfect life then to give that life on behalf
of his sheep As David risked his life, Christ gave his life
so that his sheep may have eternal life. We saw this morning that our
lives are made vulnerable to death because of sin. Every moment
we can scarcely call our own, from the moment we were conceived
until that time frame where God has allotted for us, we are under
the shadow of death. Yet because of the Lord Jesus
Christ, because of his perfect sacrifice, because he calls his
own sheep by name, he leads them out, he gives to them eternal
life. And that was the purpose for
his coming. He says the thief, it's like
Satan comes to steal and to kill and to destroy. But I've come
to do the reverse. The opposite of what Satan came
to do, what the thief comes to do. I haven't come to rob, I
haven't come to take from you, but I've come to give. To give
my life. I am come that they might have
life and that they might have it more
abundantly. If Jesus says that he's come
to give life, that means that his sheep, they were once dead. They once didn't have any life. They were once like, as the other
parable he tells us of the lost sheep, right out in the wilderness, abandoned and without hope. But
they were found. They were laid on the shoulders
of the Lord Jesus and they were brought back. They were once dead but now they
are found. and they come to the sheepfold
and they are brought through the door. Every one of these sheep of Christ,
every one of these believers, they have all entered in through
the same way. There is no other name given
among men whereby we must be saved. There is only one door
in this sheepfold. And Christ is that door and everybody
inside of that sheepfold, everyone belongs to the Lord Jesus. They
are his. He knows them by name and everyone
has entered in by exactly the same way. By grace are you saved, the scripture
tells us. They have all come through that
door. He says, I say unto you, I am
the door. of the sheep. By me if any man enter in he
shall be saved and go in and out and find pasture. I am come
that they might have life and that they might have it more
abundantly. And so these sheep have been
given life. And someone who is living with
all of their faculties is able to hear is able to see, they're
able to speak, they're able to move. And all of these things are imparted to those
whom Christ has made alive. They hear the voice of the Lord
Jesus. They see him. They see him by
faith as Moses trusted in the invisible God as though he saw
him. So the people of God trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. He
says, blessed are they that see not yet believe. They see by
faith the Lord Jesus. They see him as their good shepherd. They see him as the shepherd
who laid down his life for them. They see him as their redeemer
that he brought them from the darkness. He paid that sum. He paid by his own blood for
their redemption. And so they see him by faith
and they follow him and they want to walk closely to him. They want to walk in his ways.
They want to obey him. They want to submit to him. They
don't want to displease him. Not only do they see him, they
hear his voice but also they speak. They speak of him. The Bible tells us, doesn't it,
and they spoke often one to another. How often do we speak of the
Lord Jesus, our good shepherd? His leadings, his guidings, his
truth, his words. Words of comfort, words of help,
words of edification. The evidence is that we have
been made alive. As that little girl this morning,
what was the evidence is that she just continued on in the
normal things of life. She ate and she drank and she
walked. And the Bible tells us whatsoever
you do, do all to the glory of God. Whether you eat or drink
or any such thing, do all to the glory of God. So these sheep
of Christ's, they follow him, they look to him, they hear him,
they speak of him and they move by faith after him wherever he
will have them to go. And Galatians tells us there Galatians chapter 2 and verse
20. For I am crucified with Christ,
nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives within me.
and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith
of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace
of God, for if righteousness came by the law, then Christ
died in vain. This was the anthem of the apostle,
I'm crucified with Christ. As the Lord Jesus Christ is crucified
upon the cross, so our old nature, those goat-like characteristics,
that sinful nature was crucified with Christ and we now live. We died with him and we've risen
again in newness of life. And the life which we now live,
we do not live unto ourselves. The sheep has no will of its
own but to follow the one that it loves, follow the one that
it knows is going to provide and guide him. And so Paul says, I am crucified
with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Not I,
but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by faith. in the Son of God. So these sheep
are drawn to their saviour because the saviour died and gave himself
for them. You think of that lady who came
to the feet of the Lord Jesus and with her alabaster box of
ointment and Jesus says, to whom there has been much forgiven,
the same loves much. We truly realise what the Lord
Jesus Christ has done in his laying down of his life for us. How much more we would desire
to serve him and to live for him. That he has given us life. Not just so that we can live
now. The world are living now. Some of them are living an abundant
life. But it's a life of temporal things. Christ has given eternal life. A life that has brought about
reconciliation between God and man. A life by which you can
have a relationship with the Father, the Creator of heaven
and earth. A life by which he gives you of his Holy Spirit
and you are united to the Godhead in Christ Jesus. You become a
son and daughter of the living God. A true life. A life that is worth
living. You see, Satan is a taskmaster. Those under his and in his kingdom
are living a life of lies. They believe they are free yet
they are chained. They don't have a life. But Christ has come that we might
have a true life, a life that is worth living. Living for his
honour and for his glory, living for his service. But not only does he say, I'm
going to give you life, but he says, I'm going to give you more
abundantly. A life that is overflowing, abounding. Now as we see the lives, the
exterior lives of Christians, often don't look like lives that
are abounding. The scripture tells us that it
is through much trouble. The scripture tells us that we
pass through much opposition and difficulty. The scripture
tells us that we are soldiers in an enemy territory. And so
our lives don't necessarily look like we are abounding in the
things of this world. Jesus isn't speaking about the
things of this world He's speaking of the abundance
of the blessings that he has bestowed upon us In that reconciliation
between God and ourselves. That relationship that was severed
because of sin, now that relationship has been restored because Christ
has taken away that sting by becoming the curse for his people. The people of the world, they
are alive. They're not living. The Christian is alive. He has
a life, both body and soul. He's 100% alive, created for
how God created him to be. A life that is lived for his
honour and for his glory. A life that shines as a light
in a dark place, the salt of the earth. The Christian is living
abundantly, for he has an eternal life. You see, once You have
been born again of the Spirit of God. You will never see death as the
world knows it. We said this morning it's just
a change of location. The body and soul separate. body
into the grave, the soul into the presence of God. This day
shalt thou be with me in paradise. The Christian once having been
given this eternal life, that life that he has is eternal,
it will never be severed. His relationship with God is
secure. As we read, no one can take you out of my father's hands. I am my father, we are one. in 1 John chapter 5, 11 and 12. And this is the record
that God hath given to us eternal life. And this life is in his
Son. And he that hath the Son hath
life. and he that hath not the Son
of God hath not life. These things have I written unto
you that believe on the name of the Son of God that you may
know that you have eternal life and that ye may believe on the
name of the Son of God. that God has given to us or imputed
to us, to his people, eternal life through his Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ. For God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him
should not perish but have everlasting life. And Jesus says this is
the reason that I am come. This is why I came into the world
to those who were dead. Those who had no hope of eternal
life, no way of being reconciled to God, who would have continued
living and dying and then ended up in eternal death. I am come
as a good shepherd to bring my people from the wilderness and
to gather them to myself and to die for them. to pay the curse
that they might live, to experience the wrath of God, be abandoned
upon the cross for the sins of my people, became sin for us. He who knew no sin became sin
for us. That the shepherd laid down his
life. Nobody took it, but out of love
to his sheep, he laid down his life. And then he took it again,
raising himself up from the dead. all because of his sheep. Are we one of his sheep tonight?
Are we able to say like David, the Lord is my shepherd? Is he leading us? Is he guiding
us? Are we willingly following him and obeying him? Do we have
that humble nature, that true meekness of a sheep to follow
the shepherd wherever he will have us to go? Do we willingly
give ourselves as a living sacrifice unto our good shepherd as he
has laid down his life? for his people. I am the good
shepherd and the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. May the Lord bless these few
remarks. Amen. Let's sing our concluding hymn
from Hymns for Worship number 20. Number 20. Glory to thee, my God, this night,
for all the blessings of the light. Keep me, O keep me, king
of kings, beneath thine own almighty wings. Hymns for worship number
20, tune 422. ? Where do they park on this night
? ? For whom the blessings of the night ? ? Give me air, keep
me free of fear ? ? Give me fire, burn all my terror away ? I will be loved for thy care,
so be ill that I may stay at home, that with the world myself
and thee I might sleep at peace with thee. to live out my nature, the painless
way to last my life. Teach me to drive the soul away,
as long as hope can judge. In the night I sleep as one, my soul with
heav'nly hosts above. ? The pilgrims' tears shed by grace
? ? The paths of darkness we now face ? ? Raise up now, people,
as things were two days ago ? May the grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ and the love of God the Father, with the fellowship and
communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you each now and for
evermore. Amen.