Let's take our Bibles again and
turn with me to the Gospel of John 10. This has truly been
a wonderful, wonderful study, not only in this entire chapter, I mean
book of John, but especially this particular chapter has just
been so enlightening to me. There's been some things that
I truly believe the Lord's taught me in this chapter that I had
never seen before. But our Lord had set Himself
forth as the One who had entered into the sheepfold of this world. That's what he said in verse
1. He said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not
by the door into the sheepfold. Now, I know this as I've said
in the last few services concerning this passage of Scripture. You
realize that this sheepfold And he's talking about right here
is the world. The yard. And as I said last
time, how did we get in here? How did we get in this yard?
We were born in it. Born in it. Here within this
sheepfold, in this yard, the Lord has a people. And he's going
to have to get them out one way. He's going to have to come in
here and get them. And how did he get into the sheepfold?
We were born in sin in this yard. How did he get in here? Well,
the Scripture says he was made like unto his brethren. He was
made of a woman. Made under the law. Obligated
himself. to every demand of God's law. He entered by the door. That's
the door into this sheepfold lawfully. He entered into it. And he came into this sheepfold
and he honored God's law. He honored the porter. He came in here and he was He
was made sin within this sheepfold. Everlastingly, His Father had
seen Him being made sin, being the sacrifice, being the Lamb.
But He had to actually come into this sheepfold and live before
Almighty God. It was one man in this sheepfold
that has ever obeyed God. And the Lord Jesus Christ obeyed
God. Established righteousness. Lived before and died before
Almighty God. And then when He's pleased, He
calls His sheep out of darkness. Here they are. They're in this
sheepfold. And how is He going to lead them
out? He's going to lead them out by Himself being the door. He had a door. That he had to
enter to come into this sheepfold. He had to be made under the law.
Obey it. But I'm telling you, when he
takes his sheep out, he's the door. They come out by him. Now, the Scripture sets forth
that they're not going to follow a stranger. They're going to
flee from him. He said that a stranger And that's
those thieves and robbers. I'll tell you that right now. Thieves and robbers are those
that declare that you can get out of this sheepfold some other
way than by coming out by Him alone. That's what we were talking
about in first service. Any man, any woman that believes
A lying thief and a robber that tells them you can come out of
this sheepfold, out of this yard, out of the stench of unbelief,
sin, and rebellion against God. You can come out some other way,
except by Christ's sovereign grace, electing, redeeming, regenerating,
keeping grace. Any man that tells you that's
a thief and liar, Now, the Lord told His listeners there in verse
8, this is where we were last time, He said, All that ever
came before Me, thieves and robbers, sheep did not hear them. All
that came, as I said, not before Him in time. That's not what
He meant. There were a lot of the prophets that came before
Him in time. But all that came before Him,
exalting themselves above Him. When he says, all that ever came
before me, that means exalting themselves above Christ. Telling men that
they can reconcile themselves before God without Christ. That they could do it. Thieves
and robbers. Now, all that honor not. And preach not the glory of Almighty
God in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. They're a thief. Now today, I want us to look
and find our Lord as He sets forth and gives the reason not
only for Himself coming into the world, but also the reason
for the thieves and robbers. Now, if you look back, verse
1 says, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into
the sheepfold, but climb up some other way, the same as a thief
and a robber, but he that entereth in by the door, as I said, the
lawful way, made under the law, obligated himself to the law,
is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth. Do not fail to remember that
there are thieves and robbers in this world. And I will tell
you this. I was reading something that
Brother Henry wrote one time. It talked about men that have
actually crept in. Look at this scripture right
here. Certain men crept in unawares. who were before of old, ordained
to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of God
into lasciviousness. I'm going to tell you what that
means in just a second. And denying the only Lord God and our Lord
Jesus Christ. And what Brother Henry was setting
forth is, he says, be aware. Be aware. There are thieves and
robbers, and even to the point of having found thieves and robbers
standing in the places where God's sheep are. And he said
what you'll find. He said it won't be an out-and-out
denial of the totality of the truth. But he said there will
always be things that will start to enter in where they put down,
where they begin to soften the truth of God's sovereign grace. The sheep, when they don't hear
the pure, clear sound of the gospel, they begin to listen. And they're watching. Be aware. Be aware. There are thieves and
robbers that are in this sheepfold. In this yard. These men that
deny the absolute the sovereign grace of Almighty God. They deny particular redemption,
surety of regeneration. Now, our Lord, and I'm going
to be in verse 10 this morning, our Lord said forth, the thief
cometh not but for to steal and to kill
and to destroy. I looked at that verse again
this morning and I thought, you know, it doesn't matter what
a man says that his intentions are. Men will pretend to be concerned
with the souls of sinners. But actually, they're wolves
in sheep's clothing. I'm telling you that when they
stand and try to give an appearance of being a sheep, when the absolute,
straight, clear, The sound of grace is not set forth. The sheep hear the growl within
it. And they know it. And they won't
follow it. They hear the growl of a wolf
when the clear sound of free grace, free grace, sovereign
free grace. I think about how many times
we've considered that passage. I've spoken on it and other men
have too. On 2 Corinthians 5.21, it talks
about, here is how. This is how our Lord put away
God's wrath. Eternally. This is how God eternally
saw it. He hath made him. And the word
to be is in italics. It was added to try to help. Just read it the way it is. He
hath made him sin. Who knew no sin. And whenever
a man stands and tries to tone that down, Now, I tell you as I've told
you before, I want to be respectful. I stand here, and if you only
knew how many times I have to swallow, how many times faster
my heart is beating than yours is right now, how many times
I think, Lord, please, oh, help me. Don't let the wrong word
come out of my mouth. But I'm telling you, As Brother
Scott told me that time, I'll remind you again, when he put
that finger in my face and said, don't you ever take away, don't
you ever try to tone down the glory of that which the Lord
God did in the putting away of the guilt of His people. Don't
you ever try to tone down what God said He did. They're hanging upon that cross. The holy, harmless Lamb of God,
the Scripture said, there was sin in all of its guiltiness. And God dealt with it. And eternal
wrath was spewed out. And God forsook Him. God turned
His back. God would not look upon Him.
My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me who has made sin?"
And whenever a man tries to dance around all of that, and the more
he tries to explain it away, the worse it gets. I don't understand the fullness
of it. But I will tell you this, Lord, help me to not try to dance
around it. Lord, help me to set forth clearly
the absolute sovereignty of God. Let me set forth salvation as
God the Holy Spirit sets it forth. The thief cometh not but for
to steal and to kill and to destroy them. One purpose, they cometh
not. That's what he said to the king.
He cometh not. But for this purpose, men will preach free will, man-centered,
works-based, false salvation. And it always has a sound that
is not right. It's like playing a musical instrument
and you're hearing something all of a sudden. There's a note.
You think, that just didn't come out right. Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol. You think, ooh, that wasn't right. That's not right. Thieves and robbers. But our
Lord set forth. He said, I am come that they
might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. The thief has one purpose. I cannot state this clearly enough. All that exalt themselves above
the Lord. That's what he said. All that
came before me. That means all that exalt themselves above me. Meaning, setting forth another
way. Another way. Thieves and robbers. They have one purpose. Steal,
kill, destroy. One purpose. That's all they
want. I'm telling you, listen to me. May I give every one of
us and anybody that you know, I'm going to give you a warning. Whoever you know that's sitting
under another gospel, God give us grace to tell them They're
lying to you. They're lying to you. They have
one purpose. Steal, kill, destroy. I am come that they, His sheep,
might have life. The Lord Jesus Christ said, I
came into this world to give life and more abundant life. Now, you know the blessing of
life right now. Here we are. We're sitting here
this morning, and by the grace of God, we know that the Lord to a believer,
they know. The Lord has given me life. I know Him. I trust Him. I know this. that He gives me
a life. It wasn't a life that was made effectual by me at Him. It was life. I know what it cost
Him. I know He said that for me to
have life, He must die. For me to have no sin, He must
be made sin. I know that. For the bride to
be made the righteousness of God, In Him, He must be made
sin, be forsaken. So He says, I came to give life,
to procure life for His own, to produce it in His people.
And this He does by His Holy Spirit. working marvelously and
mysteriously and powerfully in his people under the preaching
of the gospel, I never want to leave that out. Paul says, not
ashamed of this gospel is the power of God. Does it matter
what you hear? Does it matter? Paul said in
Galatians, if any man preach any other gospel than that which
was preached unto you, let him be accursed. I said before, so say I again.
If any man preach any other gospel, let him be accursed. One of these days this is going
to be real. One of these days it's going to be real. And we're
going to know it in fullness. Right now, though, we know it.
We know it by faith. I know this. I know by faith that He's given His people life.
And He said, I am come that they might have life, and that they
might have it more abundantly. You know, before Adam fell, he
had life. But it was life that was susceptible
to fall. If he obeyed, he lived. If he disobeyed, he died. And
he disobeyed, and he fell. And spiritually, he died. But
the life that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ is eternal
life. I give unto them eternal life,
and they shall never perish. And the life that we have in
Christ, regenerated by God's grace, is not secured. It's not secured on our ability
to obtain it or maintain it. God gives it. I give unto thee
eternal life. But I'm telling you, and I tried
to look into that passage where he says, I give life and give it more abundantly.
I know this. There's coming a day when we
shall discover our life truly more abundantly than we do now. By faith, I see Him. I believe that. I believe that
God's calling me out of darkness. And I know that He set forth,
He said, I give eyes to see, ears to hear. And I see the promises
that He sets forth in the fullness of the blessing of being with
Him. Father, I pray that those that Thou hast given me be with
me where I am, that they may behold my glory, the glory that
Thou gavest me before the foundation of the world. Now, I know that.
I know that by faith. But I'm telling you, I see the
frailty of my faith. Lord, increase our faith. Lord,
teach me. I desire to grow in grace and
in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior. I see right now through
a glass darkly, but thanks be unto God that I see what the
Scripture sets forth. that one day we're going to see
Him as He is. And I can try to mull that over
right now, Mitch, in my mind, right now. And I think, oh, how little I know. How little I see. I know that
it's by the grace of God that I have life. But to be seated
with Him, to be seated with Him in the heavenlies, to behold
Him who has eternally betrothed Himself to His people, to see
Him as He is, and to be like Him. Oh, the more we read, the
more I realize. how little we know. I've come
that they might have life and that they might have it more
abundantly. I know this. He who is our Savior, our representative,
He who was made like unto His brethren, we're going to see Him in His actual body that He was
resurrected in. I know this. We're going to behold
Him. You men of Galilee, why stand
you gazing into the heavens? This same Jesus that you see,
He said, shall in like manner return. Oh, you that have been given
a heart to see Him by faith, Lift up your heads for your redemption,
draweth nigh. There's coming a time when that
which we know in part now, and at best, that's what we know.
We know in part, we prophesy in part. Nobody knows everything. But I'm telling you, there is
life according to His Word. And it is life that He gives
more abundantly. Lord, help me to walk before
You with a spirit of thankfulness, ever knowing, Lord, that while
I'm in this earth, I know You. But Lord, how little I know.
And Lord, thank You again for Your longsuffering. Thank You
for Your mercy. Thank you for your kindness.
Thank you for forgiveness. Thank you that when you see the
blood, you'll pass over me. Lord, for Christ's sake, bless
these words to our heart. Amen.