I am the door. That's what he
says. I am the door. And if any man
enter in by me, he shall go in and out and find pleasure and
rest for his soul. He's the door. And he that entereth
not by the door, but climbeth up some other way, the same as a thief and a robber, everybody that will refuse to
come to the feast. You know, he said in one place
that a certain man made a feast and he sent his servants out
to the highways, byways, and invited folks to come. Some made
excuses. Some said, well, I just bought
a farm. I'll have to take care of that. The fellow said, I bought some
oxen and I'll try them. The fellow said, I got married
and I can't be away from my wife. They all gave excuses for not
coming to the feast. Our Lord said, go out in the
highways and byways and compel them to come in, come in to the
feast. Those that refuse to come to
the feast are like thieves and robbers because they think down
deep in their heart of hearts, that there's another way. But
there's no other way. See? But he that entereth in
by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the portereth
open, 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 they know his voice. They heard 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. And Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. I am the
door. All that ever came before me
are thieves and robbers, if others came in which they were. and indicated that there was
some other way if you do this or do that. There's folks who
misunderstand the application of the law, who feel that, you
know, the law is your guide and you do the best you can and try
to live within the spirit of that law. God somehow will overlook
your mistakes and so forth, and let you in.
But all that ever came before me were thieves and robbers,
but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door, and by me if any
man enter in, enter into this rest, he shall be saved. He shall be saved from the penalty
of his sins, saved from his sins, saved from the fear of death,
saved from of the fear of the law, be saved from the dominion
of the devil, and be saved, the whole man, body, soul, and spirit. He shall be saved and shall go
in and out to find pasture. The thief cometh not but for
to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I am come that they
might have life, that they might have it more abundantly. I am
the good shepherd, and the good shepherd giveth his life for
the sheep. And he that is a harling, that is just working for you
for wages. But he that is a harling is not
the shepherd whose own the sheep are not. He sees the wolf coming
and he leaves the sheep and fleeeth. And the wolf catcheth them and
scattereth the sheep. The harling fleeeth because he
is a harling. He doesn't care for the sheep.
But he said, I'm the good shepherd. The good shepherd cares for the
sheep. And I know my sheep. I know who they are. I know their
names. I've always known them. I know them in eternity. I know
them in God's eternal election. I know my sheep, and I'm known
of mine, and they know me. This is eternal life, that they
might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou
hast sent. And as the Father knoweth me,
even so I know the Father, and so know I the Father, and I lay
down my life for the sheep. The other sheep I have, which
are not of this fold, them also I must bring." That's what we're
doing now, preaching the gospel to everybody. Brethren in England,
Brother Bill and Ken have got this radio broadcast in this
school over in Africa. And I got a letter from Bill
Clark here the other day, and he got 400-some letters in one
month. Four hundred and some letters
from Africa, where all this trouble is over in Africa about the apartheid
and unrest and rebellion among the blacks and the whites. Four
hundred letters over someone's interest in the gospel. That's
something. And other sheep I have, other
sheep I have which are not of this folk, down in Mexico, Yucatan,
Brother Brother Milton, Brother Walter, looking for his sheep. Them also
I must bring. I must bring them. He'll bring
them. The objective of God in the preaching
of the gospel through the Lord Jesus Christ is what? Is to save
those that he chose in the covenant in days He's going to save them
by laying their sins on the head of the covenant keeper, the Lord
Jesus. Well, they hear my voice, they
shall hear my voice, they shall hear my voice, and they shall
be one, shall be in one fold and one shepherd. Therefore doth
my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take
it up again, No man takes it from me. I let down of myself. I have
power to let down. I have power to take it up again.
This commandment have I received from my Father." There was a
division, therefore, among the Jews because of what he said. Many of them said, Well, he's
got a devil and he's mad. Why hear him? Others said, These
are not the words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil open
the eyes of the blind? And it was at Jerusalem, at the
Feast of the Dedication, it was winter. And Jesus walked in the
temple in Solomon's porch. Then came the Jews round about
him and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt, if
thou be the Christ? Tell us plainly. He said, I told you, and you
believe not. Unbelievers. That's what sends a man to hell,
he will not believe. He will not believe. He will
not trust Christ. He won't do it. The words that I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness of it. But ye believe not because you're
not of my sheep. You don't believe because you're
not of my sheep. That's the reason for your unbelief,
you're not of my sheep. My sheep, listen, my sheep hear
my voice. I read that to you. They shall
hear my voice. They shall hear my voice. Over
here he says, You are not of my sheep, but
ye believe not, because you are not of my sheep. Over here he
says, And they shall hear my voice, one foe and one shepherd. But ye believe not. You don't
believe. Why? You don't want to. You have
no desire to. You don't see no need of it because
you're not of my sheep. I've already said unto you, my
sheep hear my voice. They hear my voice. Remember
I read to you in Acts, chapter 22, there this morning, Paul
said in talking about his conversion, he said there's a whole bunch
of people around there And he said they all seen the light,
but he said nobody heard the voice of God except Paul. Why didn't the others hear the
voice of God? Well, ye believe not, because
ye are not of my sheep. As I said unto you, my sheep
hear my voice. He says over here, I know my
sheep, and have known of mine other sheep I have which are
not in this fold, Them also I bring, they shall hear my voice. But
you don't hear my voice. My sheep hear my voice. I know
them. I know them. And they follow
me." Then it goes on, "...and I give unto them eternal
life." Give it to them. Who? His sheep, who did he lay down his life
for? His sheep. What about these others over
here? He said, you believe not because you're not my sheep.
I lay down my life for my sheep. I give unto them eternal life
and they'll never perish. They won't perish. The devil will not get them before
They get to their design journey. They won't fatally fall and perish. I give unto them eternal life
and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. True believers never perish.
The true children of God will never perish. I'll tell you why. Because they're God's spatial
property. They're His spatial property.
It's like you have a piece of spatial property and you put
a sign on that and say, no trespassing. God's put a sign on His sheep
that says, no trespassing, spatial property. All right? They shall never perish
because they're His spatial property. And the second reason is, is
because they're servants of his house. And the third reason is,
is because they're members of his family. They are children
of his adoption. They're children of his selection,
children of his election. Now, the question arises, will
he, will God, Will the Lord Jesus Christ let them be overthrown
by their enemy? These that are his sheep, these
that he said he laid down his life for, these that he said,
I know them and am known of them, they know me and I know them,
they follow me, I give unto them eternal life, they shall never
perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my Father's
hands. Will they be overthrown? No,
sir. He will watch over them as tenderly
as we watch over our own children. We've got to give God more credit
than what we're willing to take ourselves in the watch care of
our own children. Well, we wouldn't, if we had
the power to prohibit any type of sickness or any pain or anything
that's depressing to come upon our children? If we had the power
to prohibit that, would we not engage all of our energy and
activity to prohibit anything from happening to our children?
Our children are bone of our bone, blood of our blood. We'll
do anything for our children, anything. Don't make a difference
what it is. Don't make a difference what
they've done. We'll still go to the bottom of the well. Isn't
that right? For our children, let's give
God as much credit at least as we give ourselves. We're not
going to be overthrown, Daryl. The children of God by election,
adoption, service of His house, members of His family, bone of
His bones. They're not going to be overthrown
by the devil and fatally and finally perish along the way. Oh, listen. He'll guard them just as we guard
our children and just as we guard our valuable possessions. He guards us. Listen to me. He have died for them? Would
he have laid down his life for his sheep if he intended somewhere
along the way to give them up? He never intended to give them
up. When he died for them, the question
of sin was settled once and for all, their sin. The penalty that
was due They're seen as sinners and rebels. He's their guaranteed
surety. And he's going to take care of
every liability that they owe God. He's going to take care
of every bit of it. Satisfy God. He's going to save
them completely. He's going to save the whole
man. body, soul, and spirit. And if he didn't intend to do
that, he'd have never laid down his life. But he laid down his life, and
it says here, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, they
hear me. How do they hear him? He unstops
their ears. He puts the balm of Gilead on
their eyes that they might see. And when they hear the voice
that, I'm the Savior, I died for you, I paid what you owe,
they gladly embrace Him. They go, He's mine and I'm His. That's what I need to hear. And
they receive Him, and they bow before Him. They acknowledge
Him as their God, and their Lord, and their Savior. They look nowhere
else. They hear His voice, and they
follow Him. And they won't give Him up. They
won't give Him up. They won't give Him up. That's
one evidence of a true sheep. He won't give up his shepherd.
He'll follow all, he'll follow behind his shepherd, even when
he doesn't know where he's going. And he doesn't understand. And
the way is dark and dreary, but if the shepherd leads, he'll
go. He'll go. Oh, my soul. They shall never pass. They follow
me. I give unto them eternal life. Not only Not only is he speaking
of Quanticae, but he's speaking of Quanticae. Life! I give him life. He's our life! We talk about this fella and
he needs to change his lifestyle. Lifestyle ain't got anything
to do with it. Christ is his lifestyle! Christ is his life! He needs to have life, and he's
got Christ, he's got life. I give unto him eternal life.
They shall never perish. They won't perish. They won't
perish. These preachers going around
telling people, well, you believe in Jesus and do the best you
can from now on. He's done something for you up
to this point, but it's up to you from now on. There ain't
no good news in that. They're going to perish. The
man who believes that God's done something for him, for his past
life from his birth up until his reception or his belief in
Jesus Christ. God's taken care of that, but
he's got to take care of the rest. That's not eternal life. That's not eternal. He's going
to perish. He's going to fall by the way. He's going to go
out from us. Because if he had been one of
us, he'd have remained with us. He'll go out from us every time.
He'll finally fatally perish. if he's trusting in himself or
trusting in his self-righteousness, which is all the same. Man trusts
in himself, he's trusting in his self-righteousness. We go outside of ourselves to
trust in Him. We hear what He did for us. We
find out who He is, the Eternal, Son of the Eternal, God become
a man. We know that He's got power to
do what He promised. He promises eternal life to the
sinner that'll trust Him. And the Bible says, let me read
this to you, over here in the book of Philippians, I believe,
I think. Listen to this. Ah, Paul says, I thank God. Thank
my God upon every remembrance of you people, there at Philippi,
the sheep of God. He said, every time you cross
my mind, I remember you, I thank God for you. Oh, isn't that a
prayer of mine? For you all making requests with
joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until
right now, I thank God every time I think of you. Being confident,
Paul says, being confident, of this very thing. This is what
gives me confidence," Paul said, that he, that's God himself,
which hath begun a good work in you. He's begun something
in you. Confident that he that hath begun
a good work in you will perform it, complete it, until the day
of Jesus Christ. Oh, listen, they shall never
perish. Does not the Bible say, I believe
in 1 Peter? Let me look at that a minute. Listen to this. He's talking
here about the strangers that are scattered throughout Pontius. Cappadocia, these places, elect
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification
of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus Christ. Grace be unto you and peace be
multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy
hath begotten us again. unto a lively hope by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible
and undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved, reserved in heaven
for you." For who? The sheep. I lay down my life
for my sheep. I give unto them eternal life.
They shall never perish. Nobody can pluck them out of
my hand. Listen. Undefiled, that fadeth not away,
reserved in heaven for us." Verse 5, listen to this. Who? That's the sheep, elect according
to the foreknowledge of God. The sheep. My sheep, hear my
voice. Ye believe not, because ye are
not of my sheep. I'm not talking to you, I'm talking to my sheep,
he says. Listen. Verse 5, "...who are kept," kept,
K-E-P-T, kept, "...by the power of God through faith, under salvation,
ready to be revealed in the last time." If I know anything about
language, he's saying that the man that God has begun a good
work in, God shall complete it. unto the day of salvation or
the day of redemption. He shall complete that. The man
that starts shall finish it because God says that he'll see to it
that we're kept by the power of God. We'll be kept on the
way and in the way and in Christ and safe by the power of God
through faith unto salvation. That is, I believe today, I believe
tonight, I believe this morning, I believe this afternoon, I believe
this evening, I believe now. What is to be? I believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ. I believe in him as he's revealed
in the Bible. I believe in the electing love
and grace of God given in me in Christ Jesus before the world
began. I believe who I am, a sinner
by nature and by choice and practice, not any good thing in man. Everything's
corrupt and abominable in the sight of God. I believe that
the Lord Jesus Christ came and stood in my place instead, determined,
predestinated. to pay what was my due. And I
believe that the Holy Spirit quickened me from my dead state
and gave me life, gave me repentance, brought me to the Lord Jesus
Christ. And my salvation doesn't depend
upon me. My salvation depends upon His
obedience. I believe that. I believed it
yesterday. I believed it this morning. I
believed it this evening. I believe it now. And by the
grace of God, I'll believe it tomorrow. I'm kept through faith. See what I'm talking about? I'm
kept through believing. It's not that I believed one
time about 40 years ago or 35 or something like that, and that
was all there was to it. I believe every day. Lord, I
believe, Kevin, help thou my unbelief." Well, that's what he says. We're
kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. Listen
to this. He said, My Father, verse 29,
which gave them me, is greater than all, My Father. And no man is able to pluck them,
the sheep of God, out of my Father's hand. Nobody is able to do that. Does not Paul say the same thing
over here in the 8th chapter of the book of Romans when he
says here, Who is he that condemneth? Who can condemn a child of God?
It's Christ that died. Yea, rather, that is risen again.
who is even at the right hand of God who will also make a intercession
for us? Well, who is it that condemns
nobody? Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Who's going to step in and do
something, whether it be situation, circumstance, or the power of
the devil and fallen angels? Can they somehow? come in upon
us and separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus
and bring us to a state that we refuse to believe and turn
our back on the Lord Jesus Christ. Can they do that? Who? Who is that? Raise your hand,
they said, that shall separate us. Oh, how we ought to rejoice. Oh, what assurance! Oh, I wish everybody had it,
don't you? I wish everybody felt that way. I wouldn't have to
worry about church members not coming to church, would I? If
they believed that, they'd want to, oh, they'd say, I want to
please God. I desire to please Him. Oh, if
this will move in that direction just a little bit, even though
I don't see it or don't understand it, Well, it ain't too difficult
for me. I'll do it. Oh, listen. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Self-tribulation, hard times,
persecution. People, well, you know, look
down their nose at you and say, well, he's so religious and he's
holier than thou and he goes to church all the time and wants
to talk about Jesus all the time and I get so tired of him talking
about the Bible and that kind of stuff. misrepresentation,
misusion, abuse, tribulation, or distress, or persecution,
or famine, or nakedness, or power, or sword. As it's written, he said, for
thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as
what? Sheep for the slaughter. Hey, in all these things, we're
more, more, not just conquerors, but more than conquerors, through
him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither
death nor life, my God, if we can't be separated by anything
in this life, we can't be separated from the love of God by anything
in death. Death is our day of exultation. It's the day of graduation. It's
when you get your diploma. It's when you see Him who loved
you and gave Himself for us. There's nothing in death. He's taken all the sting out
of death by destroying sin and the world and the devil and bruised,
bruised the head of the devil. I'm persuaded that neither death
nor life nor angels bad or good, principalities, powers in unseen
places, nor things present, right now, nor things to come, height,
depth, or any other creature, shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Uh-huh. Ain't that fine? That's fine. My sheep does appreciate. Thank God for the Lord Jesus
Christ, who is our life, and when he shall appear, we shall
also appear with him. Well, the Lord bless these few
thoughts to your heart.