Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the gospel according to John chapter 10. John chapter
10. I would like to look at verses
26 through 29 this morning. And I would like to say, having
been reminded of this fact recently, the only thing that Almighty
God blesses to the salvation of His people, to the comfort
of His people, to the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, the only
thing that He blesses is His Word. Not my opinion of it. He blesses His Word. When we consider the hearing
of the Word of God, there is nothing this side of eternity more important. This is the most important thing
that a man or a woman will ever do. The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation. Without the hearing of the gospel,
without the hearing of the good news, Without the hearing of
God's Word set forth as Almighty God proclaims it, there is no
salvation. Our Lord, as we looked last time
at the Feast of the Dedication, was approached by some Jews with
this question. Verse 24, How long does thou
make us? How long do you hold us in suspense
to doubt? If thou be the Christ, Tell us
plainly. And our Lord answered and told
them, verse 25, I told you, and ye believed not. The works that
I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me. his works, proved that he was
the one prophesied. He was the one that the Holy
Spirit had set forth through the prophets, through the Psalms. He was the one set forth, the
Son of God. But his next word to these Jews
is one of the most sobering of all statements. Now I preface what I just started
preaching by saying, Almighty God bless us, not what I think,
He says, not what I envisioned, He said, not what I imagined
that he meant. I am not to take and add my spin. I am not to take God's Word and
add to tone it down or to make it more acceptable or to make
it where it's not as straightforward I must proclaim exactly what
God says. These words that we are going
to consider this morning are from the mouth of Almighty God. And therefore, they are to be
believed. Men are commanded to believe
them. And I know though many try to
take them and reverse the order and tone it down, we must stand
on what God Almighty says. When he speaks of, and he had
been speaking of his sheep, he talked about in verse 1, by going
into the sheepfold, Entering in verse 2, the door of the shepherd
of the sheep. Verse 3, to him the porter openeth
the sheep, heareth his voice, he calleth his own sheep out
by name, leadeth them out. When we hear of the Lord Jesus
Christ speaking of His sheep, He's talking about His elect. He's talking about His people.
He's talking about His bride. So when we see the title of sheep,
it's the same thing as those that Almighty God has eternally
loved. It's those that Almighty God
has chosen in electing grace. It is His people. It is those
that he has absolutely looked upon in mercy. Ephesians 1 verse
4 says, According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, the elect are his sheep. And our Lord Jesus Christ is
not only charging the Pharisees, With unbelief, he told them,
he said, I told you. They said, how long do you cause
us to doubt? If you're the Christ, tell us
plainly. I told you. And you believe not. But now he's going to tell them
why. Faith had not been granted unto
them. I put an article in today's bulletin
at the bottom of the back page that Mr. Spurgeon wrote talking
about which comes first. Life? Belief? Repentance? Which is first? None
of them is first. They all stand together. When our Lord sets forth why
they don't believe, This right here is the very heart of what
man by nature rebels against God for. He's telling them why faith was
not given to them. And faith is the gift of God. Faith is from above. All men have not faith. Men are not born with faith. Faith is the precious gift of
Almighty God given to those that Almighty God has purposed to
save. Salvation is of the Lord. The Scripture sets forth that
if Almighty God chose a people, He will call them out of darkness. He will give them life. He will give them faith. If these that oppose the Lord
Jesus Christ were God's people. They would, by faith, come to
Him all that the Father, John 6, 37, all that the Father giveth
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 mine own will, but the will of him that sent
me. And this is the Father's will which has sent me, that
of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should
raise it up again at the last day." This passage of Scripture reveals to those arrogant Jews that opposed
him. Our Lord is setting forth. The reason you don't believe is because you're not mine. I want you to look at Acts 13.48. Here again, I started and I said,
the preaching of the glorious gospel of God's grace is not
stating what I would envision God to say. It is preaching what
God says. We set forth God's Word. Acts 13.48 says this, And when
the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word
of the Lord, and as many as were ordained to eternal life, believed. My friend, Almighty God has set forth that
without faith it is impossible to please God. All men by nature
are born in rebellion against God. And left to themselves will
not come to God. They will not come to God. But Almighty God, who is rich
in mercy, has been pleased eternally to
do something for men that they could not do for themselves. Why? Because he chose to do so. He chose to have mercy. Leave
a man alone and he will not believe God. Why? He does not have faith. He has no will to come to Christ. He has no heart for Christ. He's
born with a heart that hates God. God's sheep. Eternally His sheep. He's going to have. And here the blessed Lord set
forth when they grilled Him and pushed Him. Are you going to
make us stand in doubt? How long are you going to leave
us in suspense? They had no heart to come to
Him. And here is the Word of our God. Verse 26, But ye believe not,
because ye are not of my sheep. as I said unto you. This is the reason that God does
not grant faith to every man, because every man is not his
elect. Almighty God rules and reigns
in heaven. He does as He will. And no man has the right to question
Him, to ask Him, why have You made
me thus? Man by nature hates, hates God's
sovereignty. Man by nature will tell people,
God wants to, but you must let Him. That's a lie. My sheep, verse 27, hear my voice,
and I know them, and they follow me. My sheep, those who are mine
by sovereign electing grace. Those that I will have mercy
on. Those that I will call to myself. Those that I will keep. My sheep
hear my voice. They shall hear my voice. Do you know what's going on in
this world today? Do you know why this world is
in the mess that it's in? Do you know why this whole world
lies in wickedness right now? Because man by nature hates God. But let me tell you what's going
on this morning. Almighty God is calling out His
people. And He's going to have them.
And they're going to be saved. They're going to come to Him.
They're going to have life. He's going to give them life
and faith. And they shall bow. And they
shall praise Him and bless Him forever and ever. And He's going
to keep them. They're going to hear the gospel. They're going to hear His voice. In this message right here, this
message that totally honors Him and gives man no honor and no
praise and no glory for his salvation. Men and women may stand in rebellion
against God right now. I was listening to a false prophet
on television, and he made this statement. Would you like to
begin a relationship with Jesus Christ? And I thought to myself,
there is no beginning to the relationship of God's people
to the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'll tell you this, if He
didn't begin it, if it wasn't eternally in His eternal purpose,
what were you going to do? I remember Brother Scott telling
me one time, somebody asked him up to him, he said, the little
fellow said, are you saved, brother? And Scott said, if I'm not, what
could you do about it? I thought, that's right. What could you do about it? My
sheep hear my voice. And I know them. I know them
in grace. I know they follow me. They hear with ears that have
been given from above. I know them completely with an
eternal, merciful knowledge. He knows them as the gift of
His Father. I'm absolutely convinced. Driving
down the road the other day, I got to looking, just looking
around the trees, and I was looking at the grass, and I was looking
at stuff. And I thought to myself, he who
rules in the army of heaven among the inhabitants of the earth,
I know this. I know that there's not one thing,
I know there's not one thing that he's absolutely, completely
aware of and ordering. A blade of grass doesn't even
move by a little puff of wind, except God sent it. Why did God
send that wind to make that little piece of grass move? I don't
know. But for the fact that He's doing
it according to His purpose in the calling out of His people.
How does that have anything to... I don't know! I don't know! But God forbid that I should
think one thing disrespectful before Him who worketh all things
after the counsel of His own will. He who knows the very movement
of a blade of grass knew every one that he was dying for. And just as that thief on the
cross cried unto the Lord and said, Lord, when You enter into Your kingdom,
would You remember me? I believe that Almighty God,
when He died, is the God-man mediator. When God Himself who
took upon himself the form of sinful flesh, was made sin. He knew those that he was dying
for. He knew them by name. He knew
them by gift. These are my sheep. I know them. I know them. They follow me. I know in time. In time, they're
going to all be made willing in the day of His power. He said
in verse 28, I give unto them eternal life, and they shall
never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand.
He gives eternal life according to His covenant mercy. He gives
eternal life Because He is the life giver. He is life and imparts
life itself. Who is life? I give them eternal
life. He gives them of Himself. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, He gives eternal life. Because in Him, robed in
His righteousness, His people are perfect, holy. He gives eternal life because
He redeemed them by His precious blood. I give them eternal life. And the Scripture says, they
shall never perish. Neither shall any. Man is in
italics. Neither shall any. No man, no
demon, no power, nothing shall separate His people from His
love. My Father which gave them Me. I looked at that here again.
Them is in italics. I was looking at it this morning.
My Father which gave Me. My Father which gave them to
Me and Me to them. My Father which gave them Me
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
My Father's hand." There is no verse that sets forth more surely
the eternal security of God's people. The Scripture says that
God the Father chose them. Christ the Son redeemed them
by blood, and the Spirit of God regenerates them and keeps them
by power to the day of redemption. To suggest that one of God's
sheep could be lost is to call God a liar. My sheep, hear my
voice, I give them eternal life. They're never going to perish.
Isaiah 49, 16, Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of
my hands. Thy walls are continually before
me. Before the world began, when there was
God, the Scripture says we were graven
in Him. I have graven thee upon the palms
of my hands." When He walked on this earth in absolute obedience,
doing only those things that pleased His Father, we were graven
in the palms of His hands, right there with Him. I'll tell you this, when He bore
our guilt in His own body, when He was made sin, when the nails
of His crucifixion were driven through those precious hands.
We were crucified with Him. Graven right there. And He finished
the work. And I'll tell you what's going
to happen. Everyone that Almighty God has
chosen to show mercy to, He shall. If you hear His voice, if God
Almighty has given you a heart to call upon Him by faith, it's
by the grace of God. He's given you life. His sheep hear His voice. I'm
convinced that this is the message of salvation. Lord, have mercy
on us today, for Christ's sake.