We get to watch sheep listen
today. We're going to be looking at
the first six verses of John 10, but I want to begin in John
9. Everything that happened in the 9th chapter of John leads
right to the 10th chapter. The paragraph, our text is contained
in those first six verses of John 10. That paragraph begins
in John 9 verse 39. Now we're given these divisions
in the scriptures. So we can look things up real
quick. And I can say, turn here and you can look. And so we're
a step ahead of them Bereans. Used to, for a very short period
of time, seven minutes or so, one of the apostles would get
up and preach and tell you what God meant plainly. And if you
cared to listen and keep your eyelids open for seven minutes,
you can go home and look at your scriptures and see what it was.
You had to be committed to the gospel. You had to have a job
to be able to go buy the scriptures. Gutenberg hadn't come around
in Germany yet. There wasn't a printing press. That was a
hefty price tag to have those scriptures, those first five
books of the Bible. And to have the prophets too. Who could afford
that? I took some commitment, some
dedication to the scriptures, to the gospel, to go home and
look them things up. Boy, we have them now. And how
easy it is if I said, let's turn here and look. And I don't think
I've got you turning anywhere tonight. I got cut short studying
today. But we can say turn. But that doesn't mean that's
where the story starts and stops. We always got to read a little
bit before and read a little bit after, don't we? Our paragraph
begins there. Chapter 9, verse 39, it goes
all the way through chapter 10, verse 18. That's the same thought.
But beginning in chapter 9, the story starts there. And it was
beginning with the blind man. He was born blind. And the disciples
walked by. The Lord came to this man. The
disciples came with him. They went to pass by this man
and they said, who sinned, Lord? This man or his parents that
he was born blind. What a self-righteous, horrible
thing to say. How often have we said it? Well, who did wrong?
What happened? Well, what happened? Well, how
did it happen? The Lord shut my mouth. This
man did sin. Did you know that? He sinned
in Adam. We know because he come forth from the womb speaking
lies just like every one of us. We knew he was a sinner, but
the Lord said, all this happened that because so the works of
God will be made manifest in him. He said, you're worried
about the outside of the cup. I'm going to save this man. This
physical ailment that the Lord gave was for the glory and the
honor of the Almighty God. A man told my pastor one time,
he said, well, he was talking about misquoted scripture. I
may preach on that. You reap what you sow. You ever
read verse 6 in Galatians? 6. What's he talking about? Giving
is what he's talking about. Supporting the gospel is what
he's talking about. But a man said, well, all things work out
for the good. And he said, I beg your pardon.
They do not. All things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are called according
to His purpose. Now, if you ain't loved of Him and you're not called
according to His purpose, I can't tell you everything's going to
be okay. It ain't going to be. You better learn something about
His love. This physical ailment was for the glory of God, for
His honor, as all things are, but it was also for the benefit
of this poor blind man. The eternal good of this blind
man. Our Lord spit on the ground.
What human beings would find disgusting. And that's not gross
if you know who spit it is. But God, man, and human flesh
made from a woman like we are. The living water in human flesh. That living water came from his
mouth. He spit. Mixed it with plain
old dirt. Made clay out of it. And he put
it on that man's eyes. This was the means the Lord chose
to glorify Himself. This was His wisdom in action. Has anything changed? How does
He save people now? If anybody's saved, how are they
saved? He takes water and puts it in an earthen vessel, just
an old clay pot, and makes it pour out. And He waters whom
He sees fit. He gives eyes to whom He'll give
eyes to. He'll give ears to whom He'll
give ears to. People say, they get mad, don't they? That insults
their intellect. Gives them a spiritual eye. Some
other sinner just stand up talking about what the scriptures mean.
Tell them about who Christ is and what he did for them. But
no, I didn't learn that way. Well, maybe you didn't. But the
Lord's people, that's how they learn. Through the foolishness
of preaching, isn't it? That was the Lord's wisdom and
his power. And then he commanded this man after he put that clay
on his eyes, he said, you go. That was the command, go. He told him to do something.
He said, go wash in the pool of Siloam. And the man went.
He went the way God told him. He said, you go wash in the pool
of Siloam. And he up and walked. He hadn't spoke a word yet. He
hadn't spoke a word. And he went, and he washed, and
he came seeing. He came up out of that water
seeing. The Pharisees, they were so mad at this man that he was
healed on their Sabbath day. their Sabbath day. Just like
that Passover. That was the Jews Passover. It
wasn't the Lord's Passover anymore. But it was our Sabbath day. Don't
you see the irony of that in our day? People getting so mad
about the Sabbath. The Lord didn't heal everybody on purpose on
the Sabbath. Maybe we ought to hush and let some fellow tell
us what that means. They were so mad because he healed
these people on their Sabbath. The very rest of God His very
peace and rest, Christ our Sabbath, was standing right there in town
with them. And nobody cared. They was mad
over their traditions, the traditions of men. And they were worried
about a day. Four times they asked this blind
man, they asked, how? How'd you get your sight? How'd
you get your sight? Well, what happened? Tell me
one more time, what happened? How'd you get your sight? How? Asked
four times. How was your eyes open? And his
answer got simpler. Every time this man said, God
did it. God did it. How do you see God
did it? Do you petition him? No, he just
did it. He just did it. The one sin of God, his prophet,
God's prophet came and he did it. And he said that over and
over. And they got so mad they excommunicated this man who was
before blind. They kicked him out of church.
They took away all of his religious privileges. He can't come there
for the Passover no more. As far as they're concerned and
all the people in town, you have no more atonement for sin. You
can't play church no more. You can't be buried here. You
go find your wife to get married. You can't get married here. You
kicked out. Saying God did this. What horrible
things they said about our Lord, didn't they? But the Lord found
him. John 9, verse 35. Jesus heard
that they had cast him out. And when He had found him, He
said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God? And he answered
and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? And Jesus
said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh
with thee. And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped
him. Oh, I pray we could worship tonight. Wouldn't that be something? Not
say it. Not say we're now going to worship.
If we were to worship. Really. Oh, I'd be precious,
wouldn't I? To actually worship the Almighty
God. To sacrifice. To sacrifice. To put away everything of us
and say God did it. Why did you come church tonight?
God brought me church tonight. That's why I'm here. He did it. Christ continues to
speak in verse 39. He's still talking to this blind
man and he says in verse 39, for judgment I come into this
world that they which see not might see. and that they which
see might be made blind." He said two things in this statement,
didn't he? He said, I came to reveal God's compassion. God's
choice. All kinds of laws being turned
upside down in this nation. People pity-partying around on
news like fools and all over the internet, on internet machines.
Talking about whose choice is it? Is it your choice? That choice?
Whose choice? It's God's choice. Christ came to declare God's
compassion, His choice, His unmerited favor to those that He loved
before time. He said, I came to seek and to
save those that are lost. I'm going to find those that
are lost, and I'm going to save those that are lost. He ain't
going to try to find them. He ain't going to try to save
them. He's going to come and save them. Those that know that they're
spiritually blind, that they cannot make themselves see, and
they know that no other person can make them see. Mom and Daddy
can't do it for you. Grandma and Grandpa, preachers,
I can't do that for you. I'll tell you who can. They came into
this world that way, blind, and they know it. The Lord said,
I came to give them sight. If I could find somebody that
was blind, that didn't see, that didn't know. You ever tried to
tell somebody something? I know. I did it at camera the other day, and
I felt so bad. She was explaining something to me, and I was in
a hurry. I said, I know. I know. Oh, that hurts, don't it? Well,
if I knew, I'd do. If I knew, I'd have already done
it, wouldn't I? Yes, I did, and I didn't act on it. If I knew
I was blind, if I knew there was a time in my life I hated
God, I was at war with Him. That's who God came to give sight
to. He's already given you some sight. That's good news, isn't
it? The second reason He said He's come is to those that think
they see. I know. I see. I see. I got a handle
on that. I know. He came to prove that
they have no spiritual eyes at all. As he said this to this
blind man, as he said, for judgment I come into this world that they
which see not might see, and that they which see might be
made blind. While he was speaking, this brother
of ours, the same Pharisees that kicked him out of that temple,
they interjected in verse 40. Some of the Pharisees which were
with him heard these words and said unto him, Are we blind also?
Are you saying I'm blind? Is that what you're telling me?
What if I preach to somebody and somebody said, Kevin, are
you telling me I'm blind? I hope you are. You might just need
a physician. I know him. I can tell you to
come to him. They said, are you talking to
me? You say we're blind also. Verse 41, Jesus said unto them,
unto those Pharisees, not unto the blind man. He said the ones
who just asked his question. He said, if, if you were blind,
you ain't. If you were, you should have
no sins. Is that what it says? But now,
verse 41, but now ye say, oh we see, we see, I see, I see,
I got a good handle on this. Do you know what I am? I'm a
member of the Sanhedrin. I'm in the top 70 of all Israel.
We see, do you think I don't understand these things? We're
masters of Israel. He said, but now you say, we see. Therefore,
because of that, your sin remaineth. Because of your self-righteousness
and your pride and your holiness you think you have, your sin
remaineth. He said, if you knew by God's
grace that you were blind and dead, if you knew that God called
you out of darkness into his marvelous light, you would have
no sin. But you think you have your own
eyes. You think you have your own understanding and your own
knowledge, and therefore your sin remaineth. But the paragraph
doesn't stop there. The Lord spoke to them. He will
give them a parable. Chapter 10, verse 1. They kept asking
everyone, how, how, how, how was this man's eyes open? And
the Lord's going to tell them. He's going to tell them how this
man received his sight, and then He's going to tell them the result
if someone ever does have sight given to them. What happens?
Verse 41 says, if you were blind, you should have no sin, but now
you say we see, therefore your sin remaineth. Verse 1 of chapter
10, barely, barely, of a truth, of a truth, truly, truly, we
ought to pay attention to this. I say unto you, he that entereth
not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way,
the same as a thief and a robber, but he that entereth in by the
door is the shepherd. 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 goeth before them, and the sheep follow him,
for because 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 Jesus spake unto them, but they understood
not what things they were which he spake unto them." What a rebuke
to these men. What a rebuke to these that profess
themselves shepherds of the sheep. Look up in verse 34, chapter
9. They answered, said unto him,
Thou wast altogether born in sins, and thou dost teach us
I told that blind man, you're a sinner. You were born in sin. And you're going to teach us
something? And they cast him out. They truly believed that
they were God's ordained, qualified teachers. Masters in Israel. And they said, who are you talking
to, sinner? These teachers did not feed the flock of God. They were not shepherds that
fed the flock of God. And they're not today. Nothing's
changed. Just like He said He's going
to lead His sheep out, didn't He? They'll follow Me. I'm going
to lead them. That's what that angel said in Exodus. You think
anything's going to change? No! He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever, isn't He? And those that profess themselves wise
prove that they're fools. So here our Lord is going to
teach these arrogant, religious, foolish men how sinners are saved.
how sight's given to blind, what true seeing really is and who
it is that does all this. He's going to teach them through
a very common thing, something that in those days a boy at age
could tell you everything that this means. This is second grade
level is the illustration he's using. Not to us nowadays. We've
progressed. cars and grocery stores. But
everyone here in this town, at that time, they knew exactly
what the Lord was telling them. He was going to teach them. They're
not what they thought they were. Now, in every village, there
was a sheepfold. The most recent thing you and I can enter into
is what a sheepfold is, is a livery, a livery stable, or a livery
stable if you, poor pronunciation, a livery stable at night. These
cattlemen would come in, these cowboys, and they'd take their
horses and turn them over. And in the morning they'd go
get their horse. We understand that, don't we? Well, here in each
one of these villages, at night these shepherds would go out
in the countryside. They'd go out all day long with their sheep,
and they'd come into town. And they'd turn their sheep in.
There's a common area in the town. They'd turn their sheep
in to this sheep fold. And there's one door going in,
one door going out, and it's surrounded in walls about 10,
12 feet high. And there was a porter there at the door. And he would
accept the sheep in, and then the shepherd would go. And the
next morning, they'd get up real early, and the shepherd would
come back, talk to this porter, and he would give whatever proof
was required to satisfy the porter. I know you from last night. Or
if it was a stamp or a nickel or whatever it was, he had to
give it to them. So, okay, that's your ticket. You can go get your
sheep. And then the access would be granted, and he would go get
these sheep. And the whole time, that whole night, that porter,
he checked them in, checked them out, he watched over those sheep,
was accountable for those sheep, made sure those sheep were secure
and safe, and provided all things that were needed for those sheep.
The shepherd would go in that morning, satisfied the porter,
whatever was required to make entrance. The shepherd would
go in, he would call his sheep, and the sheep would hear his
voice. He'd say, come, call my name, and they'd follow him,
and he would lead them out to wherever he was going to go that
day. That's what happened. That's what he's talking about
right here. That was common occurrence in young people, and it still
is in parts of the world. Inside that sheepfold, there
were several different flocks from other shepherds, several
different shepherds, and each shepherd would go in, they'd
call their sheep by their name, they would recognize their shepherd's
voice, and they would follow him out. In the late 90s, I did
all the legwork for today. And I didn't realize it until
27 years later how much I was going to need that legwork. I
did all this study and then I got the facts down pat then, wrote
a message on it. Well, I wrote a bunch of facts down. I needed
that for today. I got my historical facts right
then. And then years later, about 2004, I was over in the Middle
East. And I saw this happen. It wasn't in a sheepfold, but
I saw it happen. I think I've told you all that
before, but I'll tell you again. I was sitting up in the tower looking
on the, from the north side of Samara, looking on the town,
and there's a road in between, it's all open fields, and these
little boys come in the mornings, about seven, eight years old,
and they'd have about 50, 100 sheep apiece, depending on how big
their flocks was. And their daddy put their responsibility on them.
If you want to keep a child's feet on the ground, put a lot
on their shoulders. Good for them. Make them do stuff. And
they'd give him all his sheep, and these little eight-year-old
boys would come walking together, one from the east and one from the west.
And they each had, I don't know, 50, 75 sheep apiece. And they'd
come right down the same road. Sometimes they'd go around each
other. It was just like fish floating in the ocean. Other
times them boys would stop and they'd talk. And all them sheep
just meshed together. Oh, they're two different shepherds.
That's two different flocks. But all of them just blended
in there together, like that. And them old boys would talk
and whisper, and all this laughing and talking carried on, just
like your old boys do. And I thought, man, y'all going
to get whipped. If my dad let me in charge of
one sheep, I didn't bring it back. Or especially if I brought
back the wrong sheep, I'm left with a ram coming on with a ewe,
I'm in trouble. or vice versa. I thought, man, you boys are
going to get it. And then they get through talking.
They started walking. That one kitten was going east, kept going
east. One going west, kept going west. And they'd whistle and
click. And they'd throw a rock over there. And they'd take that
little rod and tap one of them over here. And they'd hedge those
sheep about. And just as it was all intermingled
together, they'd come out clean. I stood there 15 minutes, turned
every which way. And then one called this way, one called that
way at the same time. And every one of them sheep left together,
right with their shepherd. I got to see that happen. God
ain't lying to us. He proved that to me. I did leg
work and then He proved it to me. And I said, those sheep really
do hear their shepherd's voice. They know His voice and they
follow Him. They don't follow another. They
won't hear another. They can't stand to hear another
one. And it's instinct for them. Sheep's natural, just like a
sheepdog. It's natural for them. It's bred into them. What did our Lord teach these
Pharisees in this parable? He says in verse 1, Verily, verily,
I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold,
but climbeth up some other way. Well, now, who was going to do
it this way? Was that another way? It's some other way than
the door, isn't it? But climbeth up some other way,
the same as a thief and a robber. You're thieves and robbers. That's
what he's telling them. He went to the pinnacle of religion,
right into it. They come to him, picking on
him. And he said, you're thieves and robbers. You have another
way. And a six-year-old could tell
you what's going on here. They agree with me. It's good
logic for them. What's a sheepfold? That's a
yard. But what's this represent? We understand physically how
this happens. Spiritually, what does this mean for us? What's
he talking about? What's the real lesson he's teaching me? Let me tell
you what it's not. It's not heaven. Or people say, well, the sheepfold's
heaven. Thieves and robbers can't sneak into heaven, can they?
Are they going to find another way in there? No, that's not
it. Well, some have said, no, that it's the local church, the
eternal church, or the body in that generation. No, that's not
it. He says He leads them out. Look down at verse 3. To Him
the porter openeth, and the sheep hear His voice, and He calleth
out His own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. So thieves
and robbers can get into this sheepfold, intermingle with them,
And when the shepherd comes, he takes them out of this sheepfold.
What do you think that is? Sheepfold is this world. This
world we're in right now. And in it, there's all kinds
of flocks of sheep from different shepherds. But in here, in this
world, there are some of them that are the great shepherd's
sheep. Those that he's laid down his life for, those that he will
come to redeem. There's some of them in this
world. I don't know which ones they are. I'm just a dumb old
sheep. I'm just one listening to the voice of the shepherd.
But there's some here. Down in verse 16, John 10, 16.
He says, And other sheep I have which are not of this fold, this
particular one right here, them also I must bring, I must bring,
and they shall hear my voice. and there shall be one fold and
one shepherd. When we're brought out of this
sheep fold, when we're brought out of this earth, of every tribe,
kindred, tongue, nation, generation, throughout time, there's going
to be one fold of sheep, and there's going to be one shepherd
leading us. Isn't that wonderful? He said in verse 1, Verily, verily,
I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheep
fold, but climbeth up some other way, the same as a thief and
a robber, but he that entereth in by the door, is the shepherd
of the sheep. To him, to the shepherd of the
sheep, the porter openeth. And the sheep hear his voice,
and he calleth his own sheep by name, and he leadeth them
out. Who's the porter? Throughout mankind, and these
Pharisees before then, many think that Peter's the porter. Isn't
it? Peter is the man at the pearly gates. You've got to make it
through him. You've got to talk to him. Or Mary. Mother Mary,
or some other Catholic nonsense. That's not it. That's not a person
at those gates. That's God's holy law right there.
You have to satisfy the requirements of a holy God to go through that
door, to go through that gate, to be in that door. Well, what's
the door? What has to be satisfied for us to be in this door? Verse
6 says, "...the parable spake unto Jesus unto them, but they
understood not what things they were of which he spake unto them.
Then Jesus said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am
the door of the sheep." I am the door. I'm the one that satisfied
the porter. And I'm the door. And if you
want to get out of here alive, it's going to be me. I'm going
to give you life. Because you're mine and I called you by name.
And I'm going to lead them out. He said, Verse 8, All that ever
came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not
hear them. I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he
shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture. 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. I am the
good shepherd, and the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
He laid down his life for the sheep. He willingly endured the
cross for his sheep. for those inside of those walls,
for us in this world right now in this sheepfold, those that
are His, that He owned before, they were His before, given to
Him by the Father. And He came, and He satisfied
all requirements to legally bring them out, to justly, rightfully
so, He earned the right. And they've earned the right
to leave, whatever payments do. How much is rent? I don't know,
He paid it. And He's gonna bring them out, and they're gonna have
life more abundant with Him. And whatever green pastures this
great shepherd leads us by, and still waters he brings us by,
with surely goodness and mercy following us ahead and behind
us, he satisfied all those things of Calvary by giving his life
for the sheep. Now how do I know if he's called
me to be a sheep? How do I know? This needs said in every generation.
The Lord did not audibly speak to these people. He doesn't speak
to us people in our day. That age is over. It doesn't
happen. We don't audibly hear a voice.
I walked outside and the clouds rumbled and the Lord spoke to
me. No, He didn't. No, He didn't audibly do it.
But we know that He speaks to His children. He says He calls
them and He calls them by name, doesn't He? Who was the first
one we know he called by name? Adam? Where are you? Adam? He spoke, didn't he? He spoke
to Adam. Abraham? You're going to leave your mom
and daddy's house. You're going to serve me. You're
going to have a great nation. You and your bear and wife. Jacob?
What's your name? He answered him, didn't he? Moses? Take your shoes off. This ground
is holy. Samuel, Samuel. Isaiah, Isaiah, after he thought
he was a dead man, he said, I'm undone. What am I doing here?
And the Lord said, who am I going to send? There wasn't nobody
there but the Lord and Isaiah. And he said, here my Lord sends
me. He's the only one in town. Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me? Come to Mary at the tomb. She
was weeping. Saw the angel, one with his head, one with his feet
where he was laid. She turned around and the Lord
hadn't revealed himself. He said, what's wrong with you? And he
spoke to her. And then he said, Mary. Right then, she saw him. She saw him. Lazarus. Lazarus didn't see nothing, did
he? He was dead in that tomb, stinking, bloated, swelled up. Oh, I wouldn't want to go on
in there. And the Lord said, Lazarus, come forth. He called
him by name, gave him a command. And what'd Lazarus do? He said,
well, maybe whenever I hit 40, I'll start. No, he got up and
came, didn't he? Every one of these, the Lord
called by name. If you were to ask him, Jacob, how come you
knew what name to give? Moses, how come you took your
shoes off? Abraham, why did you leave those idolatries? And boy,
you must have had strong faith to do such a thing. Lazarus,
oh, you must have just really believed. To come back to life,
have your heart start beating again and come out of that tomb
right now. Every single one of them would have said, God did
it. God did it. God did it. What about that blind
fella? That's what he's in trouble for right now. Lord did it. He
saved me. I don't know. His eyes are blind.
I see. He called me. He drew me. He gave me life.
He revealed himself to me. What did David say? When thou
said, seek my face. You said it, Lord. I sought you,
but you said seek and I didn't, because you made me. I don't
know if I've been called, look here in the text. Verse 3. 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 put forth his own sheep, when he puts them out there, he goes
before them. And the sheep follow him. Why do they follow him?
They know his voice. And a stranger will they not
follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of
strangers. He's saying this in front of
this blind man that just worked in that morning. Remember, we've
been looking at this week in and week out. This is a baby.
This is a baby in Christ. He doesn't have his words down
right. He doesn't really know what he's doing. He's probably
putting on a show of religion a little bit, because that's
what he used to do. He's got a bunch of grave clothes. But the Lord's telling
him, You're going to hear other people preach and you'll say,
what's wrong down there? Why'd you leave? I don't know.
I don't know. Something ain't right. I can't
hear it. I can't listen to that no more.
A goat can eat grass or weeds. A sheep can't. It's got to have
grass. You think a sheep knows the difference between weeds
and grass? I don't like that, but I like that. When a child
of God hears Christ exalted, and Him and Him only, and the
salvations of the Lord, and man's nothing, we're grass, and praise
Him. He needs to be praised. He's holy. He fulfilled God's
holy law. He did it willfully. He bore
our sins in His body on a tree. Praise Him for it. Kiss the Son. Kiss Him. Worship
Him. Come down to His feet. Cry on
His feet and wipe them with your hair. Clean His feet. He deserves it. That's right. That ain't complicated. A six-year-old
child can understand that. That's right. That's right. What
about this other stuff? What about hyperlepsarianism? I get goosebumps all through
here every time stuff like that comes up. It gives me heebie-jeebies.
I don't want to talk about it. That's weird. You want to tread
in the deepest waters you can? The Almighty Godhead came down
here in a body. He was a baby and he learned
and was weaned. For me, now that would blow your
mind. We said, well enough, you got that and you squeeze it down
real small. No, for me, to read the cause of love. That's love,
buddy. That's deep love. To follow him. They won't follow another. They
won't listen to another. They can't stand it. I got to
be like Scott. I got to turn my notes. We're
both Scott Richardson. Take a little three by five card
and spin. And they follow Him. This is
important to me. I'm going to tell you, I've told
you about me a little bit, and I'm going to tell you a little more about me. That was a hard
struggle I had being a believer growing up and wondering if I
believed because my mommy and daddy believed. And I was jealous of people that
didn't have believing parents. And I thought they had a clearer
understanding that there's a child of God than I did. And it took
a long time. The Lord dealt with me and taught
me a lot of things in that. And I realized I was following
Him. He showed me that. I was just an old dumb sheep.
It took a long time. I was following Him. I wasn't following family. I wasn't following a man. I love
my pastor. I love my pastor. That's the
man that God used to bring the gospel to me. I'd die for him. Look at, you ain't gonna talk
bad about him. He has done something bad, I'm sure he has. Don't you
bring it up around me, you hush. That's my pastor, I love him.
But I wasn't following him. I was following the one he preached.
I wasn't following my family, I wasn't following a man, and
I wasn't following a doctrine. Ah, buddy, if I can, I can't
get that through nobody's head. God has to, I believe he will,
but there's so many people claim to a doctrine instead of him.
That's just how we eat elephants, one bite at a time. He went before them. He's went
before us, brethren. You, if he's done a work on you,
he's given you life and you're his. He's purchased you. He owns
you. You're his sheep. His purchased
possession. And he goes to that sheep, he
calls you out. That's going to be scary. It's going to be scary
to get called out of this sheepfold, out of this world. I've never
died before. You? Not me. I've never entered into
eternity before. I started out here. He's went before. He's went to
the grave before I went to the grave. He's been resurrected
before I was resurrected. We see all those things as the
end state. Where'd all that come from? He's the firstborn among
many brethren. Before I was spiritually born,
He was the firstborn of all of us spiritually. Before He gave
me life, He was there first. That's the one we follow. A stranger
they will not follow, verse 5, but will flee from them for they
know not the voice of strangers. This parable That's a parable. Ain't hard to understand, is
it? If we was in those days, I hope we understand it these
days. This parable spake Jesus unto them, but they understood
not what things they were which he spake unto them. As simple
as it is, a message a six-year-old can understand. If you're going
to be saved, God's going to save you. And it don't matter whether
he does or not, he deserves to be worshipped. We ought to respect
Him and honor Him and glorify His name. We can't until He saves
us. But it's every bit Him. He's
going to have to do it, just like an old dumb sheep. And He's
going to call you whenever it's time. And He ain't going to say,
you're mine, now do what you want. He's going to call His
and He's going to lead them and take them by the hand, hedge
them about, and put them right wherever He wants them, as it
pleases Him. And that sheep's going to have
plenty of grass to eat and plenty of water to drink. That's it. We understand these parables.
That's precious. I'm an oil buddy. That's a rare,
rare, rare thing. And that doesn't make me feel
high and mighty. That makes me want to praise God for it. Thank
you, Lord. Me, of all dumb sheep on this earth. I think I'm a
goat. I act like one most of the time.
I'm butting and headbutting and kicking and banging. Old Cam
laid down his life for me. For you. Isn't that something?
We thank him, though. Amen.