Let's go to the Lord before we
begin. Our gracious God and our Father,
we thank you for this day. Thank you, Lord, for your continual keeping hand.
Lord, we ask that you make this word go forth in your power. Hear you, hear your voice, make
us follow you, Lord. Thank you, Lord, for these blessings,
for all the rich mercy and grace we have in Christ. Forgive us,
Lord, our sin. I ask it in Christ's name, amen. John 10. Let's begin here in
verse 22. I just want to preach from a
few verses. We'll come back to some of this
another time, Lord willing. But let me just read for context. Verse 22, And it was at Jerusalem,
the feast of the dedication, and it was winter. And Jesus
walked in the temple and 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." We know our
Lord spoke the gospel more plainly than anybody ever preached it.
This was not His fault that they didn't understand. They understood. They really just wanted Him to
tell them something different. They understood what He was saying.
Our Lord just repeats the same message again. Listen to this.
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're not of my sheep, as I said unto
you. My sheep hear my voice, and I
know them, and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. My Father which gave them me
is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out of
my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. Our subject is the security of
the sheep. The security of the sheep. There
are people in this world who Christ refers to here as his
sheep. As his sheep. He says here that
he makes his sheep hear his voice. He says he knows them. And by
His knowing us, He makes us know Him, He makes us follow Him,
follow His voice. And He gives His people eternal
life. Now, some teach that once a believer is brought to faith
in Christ, they can lose their salvation, they can fall away.
But our Lord declares just the opposite here. He declares here
that his people shall never perish. He declares no man shall ever
pluck them out of his hand nor out of his father's hand. That's
the security of the sheep. This is what our Lord declared
concerning his sheep, those he calls to faith. He says he keeps,
he keeps. Christ has a people who are his
sheep. He says there in verse 27, my
sheep. That's why Christ's people are secure. They're His sheep.
That's why they're secure. They're His. How do sinners become
Christ's sheep? Look in verse 29, He said, My
Father which gave them Me. My Father gave them to Me. That's
how we become His sheep. The Father gave them to Christ.
Back in John 6 and verse 37, He said, All that the Father
giveth Me shall come to Me. And him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out." Look over at John 17. This is the
Lord's high priestly prayer, and He says it multiple times
here. He prays in verse 1, Father the
hour has come, glorify Thy Son that Thy Son also may glorify
Thee. as thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him. He says down in verse 9, I pray
for them, I pray not for the world, but for them which thou
hast given me, for they are thine. In verse 11, he says, and now
I'm no more in the world, but these are in the world. And I
come to thee, Holy Father, keep through thine own name those
whom thou has given me, that they may be one as we're one. Before the foundation of the
world, God the Father chose a great multitude. We're not talking
about just a little small number. We're talking about a great multitude
that he chose that no man can number. And He gave them to His
Son as a gift to His Son. Gave them to His Son with the
covenant promise that they would be His inheritance. When Christ
had laid down His life for them and redeemed them and brought
them to glory, these people would be His inheritance. They're His
portion. They're His portion. So that's
the Father's gift to the Son. And not only this, Christ's sheep
are his purchased people. They're his purchased possession.
He's purchased his people with his own blood. He said it back
there in John 10 and verse 11. He said, I am the good shepherd,
the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. This is why
he calls them my sheep. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. He said in verse 15, As the Father
knoweth me, even so know I the Father, and I lay down my life
for the sheep. Why did he lay down his life
for the sheep? Go over to Isaiah 53. Here's why he laid down his
life for the sheep. Because we sinned in Adam. We
came forth ruined sinners, condemned, cursed by the law. corrupt in
our sin nature, and look here, this was a must right here. Look
here, Isaiah 53, 6. All we, like sheep, have gone
astray. We've turned everyone to his
own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He's talking about the sheep.
The Lord laid on him the iniquity of all his people. We're going
to, Lord willing, we're going to observe his table here this
morning. What's the meaning of this? Why
are we doing this? We're coming here to take this broken bread
to remember how he voluntarily gave his body to be broken under
the wrath of God in the place of his people. We're coming here
to take this cup of wine to remember His precious blood that He shed,
whereby He fulfilled the whole covenant of redemption for His
people. This is what our Lord Jesus did.
The Lord Jesus Christ knew who He laid down His life for. And
he laid down his life for the sheep, in the place of the sheep,
as the substitute for the sheep, as the one who answered to the
justice of God for the sheep. That's what he did. He laid down
his life for his people. That's what we're remembering
at his table. And when he did that, he accomplished, completely,
thoroughly accomplished the redemption of his people. He purchased his
people. He purchased His people. He redeemed
us from the curse and condemnation of the law. He bought us where
He is. He said, they're my sheep. They're my sheep. Here's my purchase. Here's what we're remembering
back there in Isaiah 53, 5. It says, He was wounded for our
transgression. He was bruised. He was for our
iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him. And with His stripes, we are
healed. because He bore that in place
of His people. His people are healed. God says
He will not remember the sins of His people. They can't be
charged because He put away every sin of His people completely,
totally, thoroughly. Thoroughly. So Christ's people
are secure because we're His sheep. We're His. We're His sheep. By the Father's gift to His Son,
The Father gave His elect to Christ and were His sheep because
Christ laid down His life, paid the price of His blood, and bought
His sheep. And we belong to Him. Purchase.
Purchase. Here's another thing back there
in John 10. His sheep were secure because
He makes us hear His voice and follow Him. Look here in verse
27. He said, my sheep hear my voice,
and I know them, and they follow me. This is Christ's effectual,
irresistible call. It's what we're talking about.
Him making us hear His voice. Making us hear His voice. My
sheep hear My voice. When He first calls us to faith
in Him, it's by His voice. It's the voice of the shepherd.
It's the voice of the shepherd. Goes forth in the preaching of
this Word, but He makes you hear Him speaking. It makes you alive. It makes the Word come alive
in your heart. It makes you hear Him. It makes
you believe. It makes you really believe what He is saying. That
we are dead in sin. That we need a Savior. We need a substitute. We need
a shepherd. It makes you hear Him. It makes you believe He
is the Son of God. The Son of God who came down
and redeemed His people. And you begin to believe Him.
He said back up there in verse 3, To the shepherd 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 goes before them, and the sheep follow him,
for they know his voice. Go over to Isaiah 52. Isaiah
52. Christ said this would be so
when He had come and established righteousness for His people,
and when He started sending forth His gospel into this world, He
said His people would know His voice. They would know His voice.
He's always saved through the gospel, but in this age right
now we're living in, He's spoken. He has come. He's finished the
work of redemption. And now he's speaking through
the preaching of this word. And he said, I will make my people
know it's my voice. Look here in Isaiah 52 6. He talked about how the people
made, the religious folks were making his people howl. They
were yoking them and biting them and whipping them. And that's
what the Pharisees were doing. And that blind man that He gave
sight to, that blind man that our Lord quickened and gave him
a heart to believe in, back in John chapter 9, He did for him
what Christ is saying right here. Made him hear His voice, just
like He is saying right here. Look here in Isaiah 52.6, he
says, Therefore my people shall know my name. Therefore they
shall know in that day that I am he that doth speak. Behold, it
is I. How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth
peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation,
that saith undesigned, thy God reigneth. The hymn there is Christ. He said, you're going to know
it's my voice. He's the one that brings this gospel of good tidings
and makes us hear it, really hear it. But he does it through
his watchman, he does it through his preachers. He said, verse
8, Thy watchman shall lift up the voice with the voice together. I've said this to you before.
I believe the watchmen there are his preachers, and they lift
up the voice with the voice together. It means all his watchmen are
in agreement, but when we lift up our voice, when Christ speaks
through the gospel, he's the voice that's being lifted up
with the voice of his preacher, so that we hear and we really
hear him. in the heart, by faith, and he
says, with the voice together shall they sing, for they shall
see eye to eye when the Lord shall bring again Zion. He's
the one calling, he's the one drawing and calling out his sheep
and bringing his sheep to himself. And Christ knows his sheep. This
is how come he sends the gospel to each one, he knows his sheep.
He said, my sheep hear my voice and I know them. And it's his
knowing us that makes us know him, savingly know him. He knows each of His people particularly
in everlasting love. He's known us from the foundation
of the world when the Father gave us to it. He knows His sheep. And not only that, He knows our
every need at every moment, and He meets that need at all times. He knows what we need. He knows
exactly what His sheep need. He knows His people. He knows
His people. And from the time He calls His
sheep and calls you to Him, savingly calls you to believe on Him,
from the time He calls us, the rest of our days, the way we're
going to be secure and kept and preserved is He keeps making
us hear His voice. He keeps making us hear His voice
through His word, through His gospel, through the preaching
of the word. He makes you hear His voice.
He makes you hear it. And so we continue following
him. He said in Isaiah 30, let me, if you want to turn there,
Isaiah 30, I want you to see this, Isaiah 30. In verse 20, he said, the Lord shall cause
I'm sorry, verse 20. He said, Though the Lord give
you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction. There's
going to be adversity, there's going to be affliction. But watch
this. Yet shall not thy teachers be
removed into a corner any more. But thine eyes shall see thy
teachers, and thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying,
This is the way. Walk ye in it when ye turn to
the right hand, and when ye turn to the left." That's what he's
going to do. He's going to make us follow
him. He's going to make us, when we turn to the left or to the
right, through the affliction, through adversity, he's not going
to remove the voice. He's not going to remove us being
able to hear his word. He's going to make us hear him.
That still small voice speaking into the heart is going to make
you hear Him and say, this is the way. Here's Christ the way,
follow Him. Follow Him. And it's not merely
that we're following the letter of His Word. We're following
His Word, but it's not merely that we're following the letter
of His Word. We're following Him. We're following Him. We're looking to Him in His Word
to follow Him and really follow Him. And this is what he's going
to keep his people doing, following him, in living in union with
him, getting everything from him, being conformed to him. Believers are secure because
we're Christ's possession. The Father gave his people to
him. Christ redeemed his people. He purchased his people. We're
his possession. And number two, we're secure because He makes
His children hear His voice, and He keeps us hearing His voice
and keeps us following Him by us hearing His voice. And here's
another thing. Go back to John 10. Christ's sheep are secure because
He's our life. He's our life. Look at verse
28. And I give unto them eternal life. He said, my sheep hear
my voice, I know them, they follow me, and I give unto them eternal
life. The spiritual life of each sheep
of his flock is given as a gift. Spiritual life's given as a gift.
That tells us, brethren, we didn't have it before he gave it. We
were spiritually dead. We didn't have life before he
gave it. He gave it. He gave it. And giving us eternal life, He's
declaring it has to be a gift to us. Eternal life is the gift
of God. He gave it. But notice the wording. It's not, I gave. It's, I give
unto them eternal life. Christ is the life. He's the
life. He is the life. He is the eternal
life within every believer. And when He gives us eternal
life, it's Christ entering in and making us a new man in Him,
in Him and us, so that we're inseparably united to Him, so
that the life we have is Christ. He is that life, and He hasn't
just given it to us in the past, He's continually giving us life
in the present. We are alive by Him, sustained
by Him, and He is the life. He is the life. Because I live,
ye shall live also. That's what He said. This is
what John was saying. John sat here and heard this,
and he'd written this gospel, and in his epistle he wrote,
He that hath the Son, He that hath the Son hath life. He is
the life. So it's a continual giving. And
then the very nature of this life shows that it can't be,
once He's given you this life, you can't perish. Why? It's eternal. It's eternal. It's eternal life. He says, I
give unto them eternal life. Eternal life never ends. It's
impossible for Christ to give eternal life and one of His people
lose it. It just won't happen. It's eternal. We're born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible by the Word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. Forever. So when He's quickened
us and called us to Him, and He has given us eternal life,
He is that life. He sustains us because He's the
life. We live because He lives. We
shall live because He lives. These bodies are mortal right
now, but when He raises them, they're going to be immortal.
Well, He's given you life already in spirit, and it's eternal,
and it shall not end. The moment we draw our last breath
in this body, we'll be with Him. It's eternal life. Eternal life. And we're secure because this
is Christ's Word. This is His promise to us, brethren.
It's His Word to us. He said in verse 28, And they
shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my
hand. My Father which gave them me
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. That's
a great comfort to a believer. who knows we are weak sheep,
helpless sheep, defenseless sheep. That's why the illustration of
a sheep is so appropriate to us, because sheep are kept and
provided for by the shepherd, by the shepherd. And we need
the shepherd constantly, continually. The Lord speaks in the Old Testament
about numbering Israel with the rod, making a pass under the
rod. That's the shepherd's staff.
And the shepherd, he not only used the staff to pull the sheep
back and to direct the sheep, he used the staff to number the
sheep. He held it out and he numbered
the sheep to make sure all the sheep in the flock were accounted
for and wasn't any of them missing. They were all there. And he,
through this word, through his gospel, through his powerful
hand, he numbers his people. He keeps his people accounted
for before him at all times, so he knows where his sheep are,
and he knows what his sheep need, and he's protecting his sheep.
He's got a mighty, mighty big hand. And he said, they're not
going to pluck them out of my hand. Now there's a lot who would
like to pluck us out of his hand. The devil would love to just
get one sheep and make one of his sheep perish. If he could
just cause one to perish, the whole work is in vain. It can't be. Christ has said,
they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. Wolves would love to devour us.
We have enemies in our flesh, we have enemies in the lusts
of our flesh, trials come by the Lord's hand that trouble
us, and we have our own temptations that are just sinful. But the
Lord's going to keep His people, the Lord is going to keep you
hearing His voice, and He's going to keep you following to Him.
And He speaks affectionately, and as sheep, being weak and
dependent upon the shepherd to keep us, we have this assurance.
He's telling us whatever our state is, whatever our condition
is, he's going to keep his people. Whatever sins and sorrows and
opposition that we face, whatever it is, none is going to pluck
his sheep out of his hand. None. This makes you want to
hug up on the shepherd. This makes you want to flock
together with the sheep under the shepherd, under his care. The will of Christ Jesus to the
Father is that they be with Him where He is, and so none shall
be plucked out of the Father's hand. God the Father and God
the Son are one God. It's two persons, but it's one
God. And they're one in their will,
they're one in the purpose, they're one in the work. And so they
can't pluck us out of Christ's hand and they can't pluck us
out of God the Father's hand. They're one God. So they're one
in their will, they're one in their power to save. They will
not lose one. Now this is the security, brethren. This is the security of the sheep. Just picture a flock of sheep
out in a pasture. What's their security? What is
the security of just some physical sheep out in the field from wolves
and from every kind of… the weather and from their own sickness and
from their wool getting too thick, they need to be shorn. What are
all these, what's going to keep them? How are they going to be
kept and provided for and led to pasture and brought into the
fold and kept safe? How's that happen? It's by the
shepherd. It's by the shepherd. And guess
what Christ is declaring here? He's the shepherd and he's going
to keep his sheep and he's not going to lose one. Now let me
review it. Here's why. First of all, he
said they're my sheep. By the gift of the Father given
to him, he said they're my sheep. By divine election, choosing
us freely by his grace, giving us to Christ as a gift, his inheritance
promised to him due to his faithfulness before the Father. They're his
gift. They're my sheep. Two, they're His sheep because
He bought us. He purchased us with His precious blood. When
we observed this table today, one reason I was looking at this
was I thought, this is a good thing to remember when we come
to the Lord's table. He bought us with His blood.
He's promising us we're going to be secure in His hand. That's
something good to remember. We're observing this table. It
says, till He come again. What's he coming back for? Until
he comes for the redemption of the purchased possession. He's
already redeemed us from the curse and condemnation of the
law and bought us to himself. He's going to come and take us
out of this world to the new heavens and new earth. where
he is, where he is, where he is. The gift of God the Father
and the purchase of his blood. Number two, his voice is irresistible. He speaks and he keeps speaking
and he knows what you need. He knows where you are and he's
gonna keep speaking. When you fall, he gonna speak
and his voice gonna be your strength. When you lift it up, his voice
is what's gonna humble you. When you go to the right or to
the left, his voice is what's going to say, here's the way,
walk in it. His voice is going to keep us.
And then number three, he said, I give them eternal life, and
he's the life. He's the life. Spurgeon always
gave this illustration that a man, as long as his head's above water,
he can't drown. The body can be in the water,
but as long as the head's above the water, he can't drown. Here
we are in the water. We're in the earth. Our head
is in glory, and we can't drown. He's the life. He's the life,
and he's gonna keep his life within us, and then we're secured
by his covenant promise. His covenant promise. His promise
is here. They shall never perish, neither
shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father which gave
them Me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them
out of My Father's hand. That's His promise. Now, what
was the result when these Pharisees heard this? What was the result? They said, tell us plainly. Tell
us plainly. And he didn't tell them something
different. He told them the same message he'd been declaring to
them. We've been seeing this since
the beginning of the Gospel of John. He just told them the same
message again. Again. And what was their response? It says, verse 31, then the Jews
took up stones again to stone him. They want to kill him. They want to kill him. Because
he declared this message of the security of his sheep. But they
heard him when he said, you don't believe me because you're not
my sheep. And they proved it. You know
how they proved it? They picked up stones to kill
him. That's how they proved they didn't believe him. They proved
they were not his sheep. What does his sheep do? When
his sheep hear this message, they hear his voice. And what
do they do? they draw nearer to the shepherd.
In their heart, in their life, in every way, they draw nearer
to the shepherd. They huddled closer together
with his sheep under the watchful eye, the protection, that mighty
hand of the shepherd. And they keep following the shepherd.
We thank him. We sing praise to him. We give
all the glory to him. And you're just so thankful that
He's keeping you. He that hath begun a good work
in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. He's going
to keep His people. And if you hear His voice and
follow Him, you know what that means? If you hear His voice
and you follow Him, You follow Him. You behold every other way
is vain. You behold your sin is vain. You behold your best deeds are
vain. You behold the only way to God
is Christ. The only way for me to be kept
and saved and brought to God my Father is my Shepherd, Christ
Jesus. You believe Him. that you prove
you are His sheep. You are His sheep. If He's all
to you, He's the only salvation you have, the only hope you have,
just to get through today, you believe Him, you trust Him to
keep you right now. You prove by faith, you're the
sheep. You're the sheep. You have eternal
life, and He promises you shall never perish. That's good news,
isn't it? The security of the sheep. Let's
go to him in prayer. Our great God and our Father,
we do thank you that your word never returns to you void. We're
thankful that you're able to make your sheep
hear your voice and you won't let us Turn away, you won't let
us go away and be taken and destroyed. Father, we thank you that you
keep us in your hand. Thankful that you keep turning
us and causing us to follow you. Lord, keep faith in our heart. Keep faith in our heart. Help
us, Lord, to be more zealous for you, to honor you, be more
zealous to avoid every hindrance and every sin and every pitfall. Lord, make us, cause us to hear
your voice in the morning when we awake. Cause us to hear it
throughout the day. Cause us to seek you in your
word. Cause us, Lord, to be continually
giving ourselves to hear your gospel. Keep Your voice constantly
in our heart. Keep us in Your mighty hand,
Lord. We delight to hear this message. We delight to hear this
truth that You proclaim, this security You promise. And Lord,
we depend on You. We're sheep in Your pasture,
sheep in Your hand, and we depend on You. Father, we ask you, would
you be pleased, make this word go forth, make one of your lost
sheep hear your voice for the first time. Make them hear affectionately
and come to you and believe on you. Lord, we pray for your mercy. We pray for your power. For all
our brethren, wherever they are, those that are here and those
that are not with us, we love them and we want to see them
provided for, we want to see them here with us, and we want
to see them under your gospel. Lord, we ask you to gather your sheep, strengthen
them, Make them healthy and make them be able to come and hear
Your Word, continue in Your Word, trust in You, believe in You.
Lord, we thank You so much for brethren. We thank You for this
place You've given us and thank You for the Gospel. We ask You,
Lord, to keep it going forth. Thank you for this new year,
for the blessings we have of the year past. And trust, Lord,
that you'll keep us for as long as you're willing, and till you're
pleased to return or bring us to you, and that you'll bless
us by your word, by your promise, by your grace. Lord, we ask you. We need you to be our Savior. We're thankful that you promised
you are. Lord, forgive us of our unbelief, forgive us of our
insincerity, our lukewarmness, our sin, our pride. Lord, behold us in Christ and
hear us for Christ's sake and forgive us for His sake. We ask
it, Lord, in His name. Amen.