Would you pray with me, please? Gracious and merciful Father,
Lord, I pray that you might open our ears to hear your Gospel
of Christ this morning, that you might give me the strength
and the ability to preach Christ to your people, that they might
be drawn to Christ as their Good Shepherd, who not only has provided
himself as their sacrifice for their sin, but who is the door
through which they are enabled to follow Christ to You. And
so, dear Lord, I pray, draw us all that in Christ we might see
Your love, that we might look to the cross and see You dying
in our place, that we might know Your marvelous love and grace
that we have in Christ, in whose name I pray, Amen. Open your
Bibles, please. Our text today is in John 10,
verses 1-9. In Palestine, when our Savior
walked this earth as a man, each village had a sheepfold. A sheepfold was used by all the
farmers who raised sheep. This sheepfold was protected
by high walls And when night fell to protect their sheep from
wild beasts and robbers, a number of different shepherds would
lead their sheep, their flocks, through the door of the sheepfold
and then they would lead them in care of the one whose job
it was to watch and care over the sheep all through the night. The next morning when the shepherds
returned to get their sheep, The one who'd been guarding the
sheep all night would then allow each shepherd to enter in and
call out his own sheep and the sheep who knew their shepherd's
voice would respond to their shepherd's voice and follow him. In John 10, verse 1, our Lord
is speaking. He's speaking to some Pharisees
who had just excommunicated a man from their Jewish community.
That man had been blind. And Jesus healed him. And they
were going to excommunicate him from their community. And in
John 10, verse 1, Jesus says to these Pharisees, Verily, verily,
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,
Jesus begins by saying to these Pharisees, verily, verily, which
we usually understand as an emphatic way of saying truly or amen. But there's more meaning to this
word verily than just Jesus saying truly or that I'm about to say
to you something that is true. Turn please to Revelation 3 and
verse 14. By the way, the translating of
this word verily as meaning true or amen is Robert Hawker's commentary
on it, and many others agree. Hawker said in his Concordance
and Dictionary that the word amen is the original Greek, and
it means verily, certain, sure, true, faithful, and surely. Surely the Lord Jesus Christ
is all of these and infinitely more. So that by saying verily
it means Amen. That makes sense. What Jesus
is saying to the Pharisees is true and we should agree with
it. And all that our Lord says we should agree with. But it
is also true that one of the distinguishing names that Jesus
calls Himself is Thee, Amen. In Revelation 3, verse 14, Jesus
sends an angel. Jesus sends a messenger to the
church in Laodicea with a solemn message to warn them of the great
danger that they were in. Jesus says in Revelation 3, verses
14-17, And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans
write, These things saith thee, Amen. the faithful and the true witness,
the beginning of the creation of God. And I know thy works,
that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would that thou were cold
or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm
and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of thy mouth."
And in verse 17, it tells us what the problem was that the
church had in Laodicea. In fact, it's a problem that
many churches have. It says, beginning in verse 17,
Because thou sayest, this is the problem, I am rich and increased
with goods and have need of nothing. And knowest not that thou art
wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. You see
the problem? They had a zeal for God. But
they were neither hot or cold because they didn't have a real
need for God. They thought they were rich.
But in truth, verily, verily, they were wretched, miserable,
poor, blind and naked. They just couldn't see that they
were nothing but sinners. The teaching of God to the church
in His Word as we see it in Isaiah 65, verse 16, is that a child
of God, not unbelievers, but a child of God who blesses himself
in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth. And he that
swears in the earth shall swear by the God of truth because the
former troubles are forgotten and because they are hid from
mine eyes." And in John 14, verse 6, Jesus said unto Thomas, I
am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the
Father but by me. And Paul said in 2 Corinthians
1, verse 20, that all the promises of God in Him, in Christ, are
yea, and in Him, amen, and unto the glory of God by us. And in
Ephesians 1, verse 3, Paul said, Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. So when Jesus says
to these Pharisees, Verily, verily, or Amen, Amen, I say unto you,
it is as if the Amen, this glorious Amen, who is Jesus Christ, the
Son of God, This faithful and true witness of God was confirming
with an unimpeachable authority the truth of everything that
He was about to say to them. Everything that He was about
to say to these Pharisees. Jesus Christ is the blessing. Verily, verily, and Christ is
the Amen. In Hebrews 6 verse 18, the Apostle
speaking about God the Father in His personal office in the
covenant of His grace said that when God made promise to Abraham
because He could swear by no other, He swore by Himself. So in the same way, the Son of
God in His personal office as the God-man mediator is doing
exactly the same thing by His using the word verily or amen
twice. He says it twice in order to
emphasize. He's saying by Himself. He's
swearing by Himself because He can swear by no other. In the
first Amen, Jesus takes His glorious name as the Amen, the faithful
witness. And in the second Amen, His name
becomes a seal of verification on His Word and especially all
that He was about to say to these Pharisees. I find it interesting
that in the New Testament, the Lord uses the word verily nearly
50 times. And He used a double verily,
as He does here, more than 20 times. Now, I actually didn't
study every time that He used it, but it seems to me that Jesus
is making a statement about who He is every time that He does
use this word verily. He is the Lord God Almighty.
He is the ruler of heaven and earth and all that's in it is.
And everything that He says is verily, verily. Everything He
says is amen and amen. It is absolutely true. But let's
go back to this parable of the sheepfold which begins in John
10. I think in order to understand
this parable, though I have been taught something different in
other places, in order to understand this parable that Jesus is going
to give us as He gives it to the Pharisees, we first need
to understand that the sheepfold is not a picture of God's church. But it's a parable about Judaism
It's a parable about a church that preaches the law, not grace. Because the Lord doesn't lead
His people out of the church as He does here, but He leads
His people into it. But the main thrust is not what
this sheepfold is. The main thrust here is that
our Lord was calling these Pharisees thieves and robbers. They had
set themselves up as shepherds of the flock and guides of the
people in Jesus' day. But they weren't sent by God. They had set themselves up. They
weren't sent by God. The sheep were not their sheep.
And they didn't come by the only door of redemption, which is
only by Christ's obedience and Christ's blood. But these Pharisees
came another way. They came by their works. They
came by their ceremonies and their self-righteousness. In
Romans 10, verses 1-4, Paul said, Brethren, my heart's desire and
my prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. For
I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according
to knowledge. For they, being ignorant of God's
righteousness and going about establishing their own righteousness,
have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believes." Isn't it marvelous? Isn't it a marvelously clear
illustration that Jesus uses an example of this sheepfold
because In his day, I think everybody in his day would have known what
a sheepfold was. Certainly, these Pharisees knew
what a sheepfold was. And even in our day, you know
what a sheepfold is. What a marvelous way to communicate
a very important idea. Christ is our shepherd, and we're
his sheep. And our Lord Jesus not only describes
Himself as a shepherd, but God describes Him that way in Zechariah
13.7. God says about Christ, Awake,
O sword, against My shepherd, and against the man that is My
fellow. And saith the Lord of hosts, smite the shepherd, and
the sheep shall be scattered. And I will turn My hand upon
the little ones. And the church addresses Christ
that way herself. In Psalm 80 verse 1, when the
church opens her prayer by saying, Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,
Thou that leadest Joseph like a flock, Thou that dwellest between
the cherubims, shine forth." We need Christ to be our Shepherd.
We need Christ as our Savior. But we need that Good Shepherd
to lead us and to guide us into all righteousness. But these
Pharisees are not good shepherds. They're not the kind of a shepherd
that Christ is. Christ who came in through the
door, sent by God, and so He calls them thieves and robbers
because they didn't enter through the sheepfold by the door. They
climbed up some other way, Scripture tells us, because they were not
sent by God. They came on their own, not having
been sent by God, And so they served themselves. They didn't
serve God. Moses tried to do this at first.
Moses took it on himself to be the shepherd of Israel before
God had sent him to lead the people out of slavery, out of
Egypt. In Exodus 2, verses 11 and 12,
it says, And it came to pass in those days when Moses was
grown, that he went unto his brethren, and he looked on their
burdens, And he spied an Egyptian smiting a Hebrew, one of his
brethren. And he looked this way and that
way and when he saw that there was no man, nobody was watching
him, he slew the Egyptian and he hid him in the sand. As a
result of acting in his own power, as a result of Moses acting by
his own wisdom, Moses became a fugitive and eventually God
would send him back. He would send Moses back down
into Egypt to lead Israel as their shepherd out of slavery.
But first, Moses had to spend time in the wilderness. Moses
had to learn to be a shepherd before God sent him back. These
Pharisees tried to sit in Moses' seat. They tried to sit there
without the power of God. In Matthew 23, verse 2, Jesus
was critical of them. saying, the scribes and the Pharisees
sit in Moses' seat. Moses is a picture of the law
and the law only makes us self-righteous. The law can't save us. Self-righteous
people are like thieves and robbers because they steal their righteousness
by comparing themselves to others. And the Pharisees are like thieves
and robbers because they have stolen what God needs to appoint
them to. So in their self-righteousness
and in their taking what wasn't theirs to take, they're twice
guilty. So in Mark 12, verse 38 to 40,
Jesus said to His people, Beware of the scribes which love to
go in loving clothing and love salutations in the marketplaces
and the chief seats in the synagogues and the uppermost rooms at the
feasts. which devour widows' houses and for a pretense make
long prayers, these shall receive greater damnation." To be a pastor,
to be a pastor of God's sheep, requires not only that God calls
you to the position, but also that God teaches you and enables
you to do the work as the shepherd of His sheep. You can't preach
Christ in your own power. I have found it to be impossible.
It takes the power of the Holy Spirit leading and guiding you.
You have to go to God through the door. You can't climb up
by some other way. You need the working of the Holy
Spirit and you need to know Christ in order to preach Christ. You
must go through Christ. There are many preachers who
say that they believe. But they really don't trust Christ, and
they don't preach Christ. Now, they would if they believe
Christ. But what they preach is salvation
by works. They preach self-righteousness.
As God says in Ezekiel 34, verses 2 to 4, Son of man, prophesy
against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say unto them, thus
saith the Lord God unto the shepherds. Woe be to the shepherds of Israel
that do feed themselves. Should not the shepherd feed
the flocks? You eat the fat, you clothe you with wool, you
kill them that are fed, but you feed not the flock. The diseased
have not strengthened, neither have you healed that which was
sick, neither have you bound up that which was broken, neither
have you brought again that which was driven away. Neither have
you sought that which was lost. But with force and with cruelty,
you have ruled them." God's true shepherds feed the flock, Jesus
Christ. They preach Jesus Christ, not
works. And the Pharisees were like thieves
and robbers because they didn't go in through the door. Not being
sent by God, they tried to steal the good shepherd's sheep for
their own purposes. But as John 10 says, he that
entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. And Jesus
Christ was appointed by God to be the great shepherd of God's
sheep. And so Christ is the good shepherd. But there are others. There are others who are called
by God to serve Him. Sometimes they are called under
shepherds because they serve under Christ and in Christ and
by the power of God. But all of those who aren't called
by God and who aren't appointed by God are only thieves and robbers
trying to steal the Good Shepherd sheep. Because Christ Jesus is
the Good Shepherd who comes with a divine commission and comes
by divine authority as a prophet, priest, and king. And Christ
comes in fulfillment of the Scriptures through the door of the covenant
of mercies, of elected grace, of atonement and sacrifice. fulfilling
all righteousness, and so Jesus Christ is the only true Shepherd
of the sheep. Others can only serve under Him. And you will know the under-shepherds
because they will preach Christ, as Paul does in Romans 3, verses
25 and 26, when he says about Christ, whom God has set forth
to be a propitiation through faith in His blood to declare
His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past. to the
forbearance of God. To declare, I say, at this time
His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of
him which believeth in Jesus. There have indeed in all ages
of the church been false pastors. But everyone who seeks such a
position, such a position as the pastor of a church, should
be very careful. Because if God hasn't called
you, If God doesn't put you in that seat, that seat of Moses,
then you shall receive greater damnation. But Jesus Christ who
is the True Shepherd, He watches over the whole flock. And He
will not allow a single lamb to be lost. Neither shall one
of them be found wanting in the day that He takes them up to
be with Him for eternity. Because they will feed on Christ.
In Jeremiah 33, verse 13, the prophet was commissioned by God
to tell the church that in the cities of the mountains, in the
cities of the vale, in the cities of the south and in the land
of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities
of Judah, shall the flocks pass again under the hands of Him
that telleth them, saith the Lord. They will pass under the
hands of Him who tells them of Christ. I pray that you're able
to see that it is the Father in Heaven who has given the sheep
to His Son, and it is the Father who has appointed or who has
chosen His Son to be the Great Shepherd of the sheep. And Jesus
delights on every occasion to keep this view of the church
before us. The prophecy of Jeremiah 33 verse 13 says that Christ will be preached.
was fulfilled and continues to be. Because in John 17, verse
6, Jesus prayed to His Father saying, I have manifested Thy
name unto the men which Thou gavest Me out of the world. Thine
they were, and Thou gavest them Me. And they have kept Thy Word. And in John 10, verse 29, Jesus
said, My Father which gave them Me is greater than all. And no
man is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand. And in Ezekiel
34, verse 23, the father said about his son, who is the good
shepherd, 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. It is Jesus Christ preached to
the people of God which feeds God's sheep. And again, in Isaiah
40, verse 11, the father says about his beloved son, He shall
feed His flock like a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with
His arms and carry them in His bosom and shall gently lead those
that are with young. And Paul says in Hebrews 13,
verses 20 and 21, Now the God of peace that brought again from
the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep through
the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in
every good work to do His will. working in you that which is
well-pleasing in sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory
forever and ever. Amen. And in 1 Peter 5, verse
4, it says, And when the chief shepherd shall appear, you shall
receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. The preaching
of Christ does a whole lot more than lead God's people to Christ.
That is important. And that is marvelous. And it
is a great blessing. But the preaching of Christ causes
God's sheep, God's people, to follow Christ. But going back
to our text in John 10, verse 3, we see that the Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit are each involved in the salvation of God's people.
It says, "...to Him the porter openeth, and the sheep hear His
voice. And He calleth His own sheep
by name and leadeth them out. The porter opens the door and
leads the sheep through the door of the sheepfold. The Holy Spirit
of Christ reveals Christ to God's sheep, and God the Father, whose
law Christ honored, whose righteousness Christ fulfilled, and whose justice
Christ satisfied, opens the sheepfold by the power of His Spirit. It
is by the power of the Holy Spirit of God that the sheep hear the
voice of Christ which is no other than the Word of the Gospel of
God's grace and love and mercy. And they follow Christ in the
way of righteousness. As 1 Thessalonians 1, verses
4 and 5 says, Knowing, brethren, beloved, your election of God,
for our Gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in
power and in the Holy Ghost. And in much assurance, as you
know what manner of men We were among you for your sake. And
as Ephesians 1, verses 13 and 14 says about Christ, in whom
ye are also trusted after that ye heard the word of truth, the
gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that ye believed
and ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which
is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased
possession under the praise of His glory. The sheep of Christ
are made to hear the voice of Christ. They're made to hear
the voice of Christ by the effectual work of the Holy Spirit in their
hearts. The Holy Spirit gives them ears to hear, gives them
eyes to see Christ, and a heart to know Christ. They are His
own sheep, as Christ says in John 6, verses 37 to 40. All
that the Father give Me shall come to Me, and Him that cometh
to Me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven
not to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me. And
this is the Father's will which sent me, that all of which He
hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again
at the last day. And this is the will of Him that
sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on
Him may have everlasting life, and I will raise Him up at the
last day." They are His own sheep. And Christ calls them each by
name. As 2 Timothy 2 verse 19 says, Nevertheless, the foundation
of God standeth sure, having this seal. The Lord knoweth them
that are His. And let everyone that nameth
the name of Christ depart from iniquity. God's Holy Spirit leads
His people out of Judaism. He brings them out from under
the law as a schoolmaster. and out from under the curse
of the law and He brings them out of their captivity and He
sets them free from the law. If the Son shall make you free,
you shall be free indeed. But the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit are one God. One God and you can't separate
them. I'm constantly impressed as we study God's Word that you
can't separate the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You can't separate
them from each other. When you try, you find that they
are as one God. They are three persons, but they
are constantly one God, and salvation is of the Lord our God. And so
we see each of the three persons of the Godhead actively involved
in the salvation of His people and in the sanctification of
His people. First, we see God the Father
giving the whole church to Christ. Then we see the Lord Jesus Christ
calling His sheep His own by virtue of His taking them for
His own as the gift of the Father, and then bringing them out of
the sheepfold where they had been kept through the night,
so that as by the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, who is the doorway
to God, is open to their sight and understanding. And so because
the Holy Spirit makes them able to see Christ, able to know Christ
as their Good Shepherd, the sheep follow Christ. They follow Christ
out to green pastures where they feed and they lie down resting
in Christ. And all of that, all of that
is the work of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. As
our text in John 10, verse 4 says about Christ, and when He put
forth His own sheep, He goeth before them, not behind them. He goes before them. And the
sheep follow Him, for they know His voice. When a good shepherd
leads the sheep out, he doesn't drive them out or follow them
as they go out by themselves, but he goes before them to lead
them and to protect them and to show them the way and to set
an example for them. The sheep follow the shepherd
in the way of life, in the will of God, and in exercising love
and humility, self-denial and obedience, all because they love
their shepherd. They know and they love his voice.
They love His Word and they love His commandments and they love
His Gospel. Let's think about this relationship between Christ
and His sheep for a few minutes because it's a very close and
a very marvelous blessing, this relationship. Christ, the Good
Shepherd, not only owns His sheep, not only calls them by name,
but He has given them all clear and distinguishing marks by which
His sheep are known and distinguished from all of the goats of the
world And so you can tell them from those who might appear in
sheep's clothing. First, they are the sheep of
Christ which were given to Him before the foundation of the
world when Jesus, as the wisdom of God says in Proverbs 8, verses
22 and 23, the Lord possessed me in the beginning, the beginning
of His way before His works of old. I was set up from everlasting,
from the beginning wherever the earth was. And it was at this
time that the Son of God and the wisdom of God was set up
as the head and the husband of His church and as the great shepherd
of His sheep. And in Proverbs 8, verses 30
and 31, wisdom says, wisdom, of course, is Jesus Christ. Then
I was by Him as one brought up with Him, and I was daily His
delight, rejoicing always before Him, rejoicing in the habitable
part of this earth and made delights were with the sons of men. My
delights were with the sheep." And then look at the sheepfold
and those who are selected and called out of it. We are made
separate and distinct from others who are not in Christ by the
everlasting love of the Father and by their union with Christ,
and they are blessed by the grace and anointing influence of the
Holy Ghost. God the Father chose the church in Christ before the
foundation of the world. And God the Son betrothed the
church to Himself as His Bride from everlasting. And as He said
to His church in Hosea 2, verse 19, And I will betroth thee unto
Me forever. Yea, I will betroth thee unto
Me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in
mercies. And so God the Holy Spirit, in
respect to Christ and His church, also revealed His everlasting
love in the divine appointment of Christ by anointing the head
and members as one, revealing and making the Church and the
Messiah to be God's anointed together many ages before Christ
was born as a man here on the earth. And as Christ was anointed
as the head of the body, the Holy Spirit of God had a loving
eye towards the Church because of Christ. You can see that in
the oneness and the union of the whole Godhead, there is no
division among them as the Church as one is united in Christ. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
are all united as one in the love of God's Church, just as
the Church and Christ are united as one in their love. The relationship
of Christ with the Church and theirs to Him is just as Jesus
prayed for to His Father in John 17, verse 23, when He said, I
in them, and thou in Me, that they may be perfect in one, that
the world may know that thou hast sent Me, and has loved them
as thou hast loved Me." And then the third thing about the relationship
between Christ and His sheep, or Christ and His church, is
that we see Christ as the Good Shepherd of His sheep. In John
10, verse 16, Jesus said, Another sheep I have which are not of
this fold, they are of another fold. Them also I must bring,
and they shall hear My voice. And they shall be one fold and
one shepherd, And when Christ is comforted in His church, He
speaks to them as one. In Song of Solomon 6 and verse
9, Christ says, My dove, my undefiled one, she is the only one of her
mother and she is the choice of her that bare her. The daughters
saw her and blessed her. Yea, the queens and the concubines,
and they praised her. Oh, how I pray you can see this.
much like the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one. Christ's
sheep can only be one because they are one in Christ, one with
Christ and in Christ, who is the husband of His bride, the
church. The goats, who are those that are of this world, although
they look a lot like sheep, they can never be added to the church
as part of the body of Christ because they are not one with
Christ. They trust in their works. They trust in their keeping of
the law. They do not trust Christ. They do not trust His righteousness.
They trust their own. Here in this wilderness of sin,
they may jump over the fence to get into the sheepfold, but
they must go through the door, which is Christ, in order to
come to God. They must go through the door,
which is Christ, in order to be in union with Christ. So in
John 10, verse 5, Jesus says about His sheep, "...and a stranger
will they not follow, but will flee from Him." They'll flee
from a stranger. "...For they know not the voice
of strangers." The sheep of Jesus Christ have heard the voice of
Christ. "...So that they will not hear,
they will not follow, they will not support those preachers,
teachers, and pastors who are strangers to His gospel." They
don't approve of the doctrines of work, ceremony, and self-righteousness. And so they will flee from it
as being disagreeable and dangerous, dangerous to their souls. They
see their salvation as being only in Jesus Christ. Do you
remember that blind beggar that Christ healed? This is the reason
why that beggar heard Christ and rejected the counsel of the
Pharisees. He was one with the Lord's sheep.
and he knew his Good Shepherd's voice. He also detected that
those false teachers were not of God. In 1 Corinthians 2, verses
14 and 15, Paul says, But the natural man receives not the
things of the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness unto
him, and neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned. But he that is spiritual judges
all things, and yet he himself is judged by no man. And in John
10, verse 6, our text says, this parable spoke Jesus unto them,
unto the Pharisees, but they understood not what things they
were which He spoke unto them. Our Lord spoke this parable about
the Good Shepherd, spoke it to these religious and self-righteous
Pharisees, calling His sheep out of the sheepfold, but they
didn't have any knowledge of their sins. They didn't see themselves
as sinners and they had no knowledge of the righteousness of God.
Those Pharisees had lots of head knowledge about Moses. They knew
and had studied the writings of Moses. But so far as we know,
they didn't have spiritual eyes to see or spiritual ears to hear
the things of Christ. They were not given the Holy
Spirit to teach them to understand the meaning of the sacrifices
of all of those lambs that were made every day in that synagogue,
at least so far as we know. If they had been made to need
a Savior, that would have been evidence of the work of the Holy
Spirit. But they didn't have a need for a Savior, which indicates
that they probably weren't God's sheep. And so because they weren't
God's Christ's sheep, They didn't understand one single word of
what Christ had been saying to them. And yet Christ continued
to preach to them. Do you hear me? Christ continued
to preach to those Pharisees. I'm going to ask you, can you
understand this parable of the sheepfold? Do you see Christ
Jesus as your Savior, as the Good Shepherd who died and shed
His blood as a sacrifice for your sin? Do you see Christ as
the door by which you have come out of your legalistic, works
religion to follow Christ, to learn of Christ, and by which
you will be led by God? If not, then should I quit preaching
the Gospel of Jesus Christ to you? Well, Christ didn't stop
preaching to those Pharisees. I pray that you can see Jesus
Christ as your Good Shepherd. But these Pharisees couldn't
see Christ or know Christ at all. Was it because they weren't
His sheep? In John 10, verses 24-27, it
says, Then came the Jews round about Him, round about Jesus,
and said to Him, How long dost Thou make us doubt? If Thou be
the Christ, Tell us plainly." I wonder how plainer could they
speak? 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
are not of My sheep. As I said unto you, He's going
to say it again, My sheep hear My voice. I know them. And they
follow Me. Christ doesn't stop preaching
to them. Then said Jesus unto them again, in John 10, verse
7, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. What wonderful patience Jesus
is showing to them. What a dead, lifeless, depraved
hearts they reveal. Yet, God is able to take hard
hearts, minds that cannot understand,
and give them a new heart. Give them eyes so that they see. Give them ears so that they can
hear the Gospel of Christ. And so since these Pharisees
didn't seem to understand the parable by way of explanation,
our Lord said, I am the door of the sheep." How clear could
he be? Which of us knows whether or
not God saved any of those Pharisees that day or whether any of them
were ever saved? Many of them may be in hell today.
But Christ tells us plainly, He tells us plainly, that He
is not only our Shepherd, He not only owns us because He bought
us with His blood, but He's our King. He Himself is the door
to the Kingdom of God. Christ is the door by which we
come into the presence of God. The same gospel has been preached
to you before, too. I have told you over and over
again to trust in Christ. I pray that today would be that
day that those of you who have never heard before would hear
today. and that you might come to Christ trusting in Christ
and not in your own righteousness, not in your own works, not in
your church membership, not in your baptism, not in anything
that you've done, but trust only in Christ. So that as Hebrews
10 verses 19 to 22 says, having therefore, brethren, boldness
to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new
and a living way. What is that new and living way?
It's the way of Christ which He, which Christ, has consecrated
for us through the veil. That is to say, His flesh. And having a high priest over
the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full
assurance of faith. Having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Jesus
Christ is not only the doorway to God, But Jesus Christ is the
same God to whom the atoning sacrifice is offered. Christ
is the atonement as well as the great High Priest by whom the
atoning sacrifice is offered. And in the same manner, Jesus
Christ is both the Shepherd who leads and Christ who is the door
by which God's sheep are led out of this wilderness of sin
and into the presence of God. Then, as if to emphasize the
importance of what He was saying to them, Jesus says in John 10
verse 8, All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers. Before
me is ahead of me. All that ever came ahead of me
are thieves and robbers. But the sheep did not hear them."
Now don't get confused here. Jesus isn't talking about those
that God sent to preach the Gospel of Christ, such as Moses and
the prophets, John the Baptist, Our Lord is talking about those
false prophets and false priests who were not sent by God because
they denied the way of redemption was through Christ and because
they fed themselves and not the flock. As God says in Jeremiah
23, verses 25-32, I have heard what the... and I'm going to
add the word false. Jesus said, I have heard what
the prophets said that prophesy lies in my name saying I have
dreamed, I have dreamed, How long shall this be in the heart
of the prophets that prophesy lies? Yea, they are prophets
of the deceit of their own heart, which think to cause my people
to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to
his neighbor, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal. The prophet that has a dream,
let him tell a dream. And he that has my word, let
him speak my word faithfully. What is chaff to the wheat, saith
the Lord? is not my word like a fire, saith
the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? Therefore,
behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my
words every one from his neighbor. Behold, I am against the prophets,
saith the Lord, that use their tongues and say, he saith, Behold,
I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the Lord,
and do tell them and cause My people to err by their lies and
by their lightness. And yet I sent them not, nor
commanded them. Therefore, they shall not profit
this people at all, saith the Lord." I think that's pretty
clear, don't you? It's just as clear that the sheep
of Christ did not and they will not hear a false prophet or the
false gospel that they preach. The elect of God will not hear
and believe false prophets because it is impossible for them to
be totally and finally deceived. They eventually will hear the
voice of Christ, their Good Shepherd, and they will follow Him. He
will not lose a single one of His sheep. Then in John 10, verse
9, Jesus says to those Pharisees, and He's saying to us as well,
and I pray that we can all hear it and understand it, Jesus says
again even more clearly, if that's possible, I am the door. By Me, if any man enter in, he
shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture. Our
Lord Jesus Christ is declaring it again. He's saying it again
to those Pharisees because it's most important. And He's saying
it to us and He says it over and over again. I am the door. I am not only the shepherd of
the sheep, the shepherd that belongs to the sheep because
they trust me as their Savior, but I am the door. Hear me please
as I say it again. Jesus Christ not only provided
a way of redemption, Jesus Christ not only provided a way of fellowship
with the Father, but Jesus Christ is the very way. And we must
follow Him. if we're going to come to God.
It is by Jesus Christ, it is in Christ, it is through Christ,
it is with Christ that we are accepted by God. And we are only
accepted by God in Christ. As Paul says in Ephesians 1,
verses 3-7, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places, where? In Christ. according as He has
chosen us in Him, in Christ, before the foundations of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him
in love, having predestinated us under the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He has made
us accepted in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption through
His blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of His grace. It isn't what you are. It's who
you are. No, it's not even who you are. It isn't what you are. It isn't
who you are. The only thing that counts is
are you in Christ? And if you're in Christ, then
I know that this will be true of you. If any man who is conscious
of his sin is emptied of his self, in other words, he has
no faith in the flesh, but he's seeking a Savior, a Savior to
give him life, if he believes on Christ, receives Christ, comes
to Christ, that man will be eternally saved. be made to be completely
righteous in Christ. And he will find in Christ all
that he needs because all things, everything that he needs is in
Christ. Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd
who has provided Himself as the sacrifice that takes away all
of our sin. Jesus Christ is the only way
that leads us to God. And so we go through Christ to
come to God and Jesus Christ provides life and all that we
need because in Christ are all things. Oh, I pray you can hear
this. I pray that His Word you can
hear and that it may be the Holy Spirit of God who gives you ears
to hear in the faith of Christ to teach you of the things of
Christ as you live in Christ in this sinful world. And as
you go to God through Christ, as you leave this world, to go
and be with God in Christ for all eternity. For it is in Christ's
name that I pray, Amen.