just want to let you know visitors
that we do have bulletins in the back if you want to grab
one of those and any of the material back there you want to get CDs,
help yourself to them. We do have a nursery back there
if you want a little one, not to go back there. And it's you
can hear back there too. So we're gonna be in john chapter
10. john chapter 10. This week somebody asked me one
of the best questions that can be asked. And I haven't been
asked this question in a long time. If I was going anywhere
to worship God, this would be the question I'd start with right
here. What do you preach concerning limited atonement? And my answer to that was limited
atonement, or as I will refer to it, particular redemption,
is the Gospel. It is the gospel. It's not just
a doctrine. It is the righteousness of our
God, our Savior. It sets forth the depravity of
man. It sets forth the necessity of the unconditional election
of God. It sets forth the necessity of
God's irresistible grace. It sets forth the necessity that
we be preserved, kept by the power of God unto salvation.
And without limited atonement, none of those doctrines are declared.
They all fall. Every one of them. Somebody said
one time, God's cast a vote for you and Satan's cast a vote for
you and now it's time for you to cast a vote. That's not offensive. That puts me over God and Satan.
That makes me the man to be able to do whatever I'm pleased to
do and leaves it all in my hand. God ain't a voter. He's not voting. He chooses whom He will. He chooses
whom He will. And He saves them. He saves them.
He plucks them like a fire brand out of the burning. He grabs
them out of the pit of corruption and takes them to His throne
of glory and makes them snow white, pure, and holy in Him.
And He gets all the glory for that. Particular redemption means
that Christ Jesus laid down His life for a particular people
called the elect of God. They were given him before the
foundation of the world and he accomplished their redemption.
He accomplished atonement for them so that not one shall perish
but all shall be brought to Christ. Every one of them. Particular
redemption is not just a side issue. I had somebody say that.
I heard a man say one time that blasphemously he said, let's
don't get carried away with a side issue like particular redemption.
Particular redemption is the issue. particular redemption
is the issue. It is the gospel. At the heart
of every false gospel, free will, works, religion, at the heart
of it all is a denial of Christ's successful, finished redemption
of the elect of God. That's at the heart of every
bit of it. I've titled this message, For Whom Did Christ Die? And
we're going to get the answer this morning from Christ himself,
from God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. John 10, Verse 14 through
16. John 10, 14, he says, I am the
good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the
Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father. And I lay down
my life for thee, sheep. And other sheep I have which
are not of this foal, them also I must bring and they shall hear
my voice and there shall be one foe and one shepherd. First thing we see here is that
Christ knows each elect child that's been given to him of God
his father as intimately as he knows his father. Christ knows
every elect child of God given to him of the father as well
as he knows the Father. John 10, 14, he says, I'm the
good shepherd and know my sheep and am known of mine as the Father
knoweth me, even so know I the Father. He's saying there, I
know my sheep just as the Father knows me and I know the Father.
That's how well I know my sheep. Christ knows his elect children
by name. Verse 3, he says, he calleth
his own sheep by name. and leadeth them out. He calls
them by name. Christ's knowledge of His elect
is an exact knowledge. Their names were written in the
Lamb's Book of Life from the foundation of the world. He knows
them. He knows who they are. His elect
are the choice of the Father. He chose them as His Father's
gift to Him. He gave them to Him. Look it
up. There in John 10 and verse 29, He said, My Father which
gave them Me. You see that? My Father which
gave them to Me. Look over at John 17 and look
at verse 2. He says, As thou hast given Him
power, Let's read verse one father the hours come glorify thy son
that thy son also may glorify thee As thou has given him power
over all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast Given him you see that to as many that means all
of them who as many as thou hast given him look down at verse
6 and He said, I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou
gavest me out of the world. Thine they were, and thou gavest
them me. Look down at verse 9. He says,
I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me. For they are thine, and all
mine are thine, and thine are mine. and I'm glorified in them. Look down at verse 12. While
I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name, those
that thou gavest me. I've kept them, and none of them
is lost but the son of perdition that the scripture might be fulfilled."
And he says, now neither pray I for these alone, not just for
these you gave me that I called out while I walked this earth,
but for them also which shall believe on me through their gospel,
through their word. Now as this gospel goes forth,
look back at John 10 again, as this gospel word goes forth,
Christ, our Lord has predestinated all things and He rules over
everything. I mean from the smallest minute
detail that you can't, I can't see or notice to the grandest
detail that we don't even know about and everything in between.
He's ruling everything and He is able because He's sovereign
God, absolutely sovereign. He's able to bring the gospel
to His child and bring His child under the sound of the gospel
Paul on one occasion, he wanted to go somewhere else to preach
the gospel. And he said, we were headed that place, we were going
there, and the Holy Spirit forbid us to go there, and sent us down
to Lydia, down by a river. That Ethiopian eunuch had been
to Jerusalem, he'd been around all those people in Jerusalem.
He left there, he went down, and he didn't take the new road,
he took the old road back home. And he was out in the middle
of nowhere on the old road on the back side of the desert of
nowhere, and all of a sudden here comes a man named Philip,
he walks up there and says, do you understand what you're reading?
Now how did their paths cross? Was that by accident? God don't
save by accident. God saves on purpose. He always
saves on purpose. And he says this, when that gospel
comes, this is what the Lord Jesus Christ is doing. He's calling
His sheep through the gospel. And when He calls each of His
elect, His sheep know Him and they follow Him. And they'll
follow Him only. Look at John 10 verse 4. When
he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the
sheep follow him. Why? How come? For they know
his voice. See that? They know his voice.
And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him,
for they know not the voice of strangers. Now, this is called
irresistible grace. And you've got to preach this
because you've got to understand those select children that God
has given to Christ, He didn't give them to Christ without a
reason. He gave them to Christ because they were dead, dull,
no good, sorry, rotten sinners who would not come to God. They
wouldn't have anything to do with Him. They couldn't have
their intellect tickled a little bit and get an understanding
of Him and come to Him. Not in truth. And they couldn't,
and they wouldn't come. The man that's dead in trespasses
and sins, he can't know God. He don't know spiritual things,
and he can't know spiritual things. They gotta be made known in his
heart. Christ has got to speak into his heart. And when Christ
calls one of his own, the Holy Spirit has given them a new heart. He's given them a new understanding.
This call that he's talking about here, where they hear his voice,
it's an inner working whereby Christ is formed in you and he
makes his child to know Christ and to follow Christ. And his
call always, always, always gets the job done. Always. When we
hear the gospel, we hear Christ's voice. That's why I keep telling
everybody, listen to the Word. Listen to the messages preached.
Keep listening to the messages preached. If you know Christ's
voice, you'll hear it. You'll hear Christ's voice. And
when we hear a false gospel, we recognize it because it's
not the voice of our Redeemer speaking. We know it's not. It's
not the truth that we've been made to know. He says the sheep
follow Him for they know His voice. And He said in a stranger
they will not follow, but they'll flee from Him for they know not
the voice of strangers. Now the Apostle John's writing
this, so let's turn over to 1 John and let's see how the believers
made to know this. 1 John 2, verse 20. The Spirit of God is using John
to write this, so let's see what John says over here in 1 John. He says in 1 John 2, chapter
20, well, let's talk about verse 19. He says, They went out from
us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they
would no doubt have continued with us. That's a strong statement. That is a strong statement. John
the Apostle is making here. But they went out that they might
be made manifest that they were not all of us. Alright, now watch
this. But you have an unction from
the Holy One. And you know all things. You
know all things. When you know Christ, you know
all things. When you know Christ, you know all things. You may
not know, you may not be able to put it into words. You may
not be able to articulate what it is you know about Him, but
you know Him. When He gives you this assumption,
you know Him. You know where salvation is. You know Him. Now
look at this, I have not written unto you because you know not
the truth. That's the key, the truth. But because you know it,
and that no lie is of a truth. That's so simple. We get that
in every other thing. If our banker tells us, I'm sorry,
sir, you only have $10 in your account, we know that's a lie.
Unless we just got $10, we know that's a lie, don't we? But for
some reason, when it comes to the gospel, men will just love
to have their ears tickled with lies and act like, well, that's
not a lie. Well, he said so much that was
true. But did he say the truth? That's the key. Did he say the
truth? Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? And anybody that denies the limited
particular redemption, atonement of Christ, he's denying that
Jesus is the Christ. That's the whole sum and substance
of what it is for Jesus to be the Christ. He's anti-Christ. He denies the Father and the
Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father,
but he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also. Now
he says, let that therefore abide in you which you've heard from
the beginning. If that which you've heard from the beginning
shall remain in you, you shall also continue in the Son and
in the Father. And this is the promise that
he's promised us, even eternal life. These things I've written
unto you concerning them that seduce you. And there's a lot
of seducers in this world. A lot of seducers. But the anointing
which you have received of him abideth in you. And you need
not that any man teach you, but as the anointing teacheth you
of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it
hath taught you, you shall abide in him. You see, it's not that
you don't need the gospel preached to you. Whenever God saves a
person and gives them the unction of the Holy One, the first thing
they can't do without is the gospel of their Redeemer. They
can't do without it. They've got to hear the gospel
of their Redeemer. But He's saying, but you don't have to have somebody
walking around with you all the time and saying, that's a lie
and that's true, that's a lie and that's true, because you
can hear it. Now, you've got ears to hear. You can hear it.
All right, now let's go back over now, back to John 10. Now
there were some natural descendants of Abraham that the Lord was
speaking to. They had the Scriptures. They
had a profession in religion. They were well regarded in religion.
They were teachers, scribes, and Pharisees. They claimed to
be looking for the Messiah. Just like a host of people in
our day have their profession, they've got their religion, and
they claim to be looking for the return of the Messiah. But
as Christ preached this to them, they didn't hear His voice. And
they didn't follow him. And Jesus Christ tells us why
they didn't. Look at verse 6. This parable spake Jesus unto
them, but they understood not what things they were which he
spake unto them. Look down at verse 24. Then came
the Jews round about him and said unto him, How long dost
thou make us to doubt? You know, a Pharisee always blames
somebody else. Always. They blame in Christ
for them not understanding what he's talking about. How long
do you make us to die? A Pharisee can't say, Lord, have
mercy on me, the sinner. He can't do that until God puts
him face down in the dirt to see his own depravity. He just
can't do it. Until then, it's always somebody else's fault.
Everything that takes place is somebody else's fault. If thou
be the Christ, tell us plainly, he said. He said, I am the shepherd. How much more plain can you get
than that? I lay down my life for the sheep. They said, if
you be the Christ, tell us plainly. So Jesus answered them, I told
you and you believed not. The works that I do in my father's
name, they bear witness of me. That's the work we're about to
talk about, the work he came to do. He's going to bear witness
who he is. He says, now watch this, but
you believe not because you are not of my sheep. You believe
not because you are not of my sheep. It'd be a whole different
meaning if he said, you're not my sheep because you don't believe.
That's not what he said. He said, you believe not because
you are not my sheep. That's what he told him. As I
said unto you, my sheep hear my voice. And I know them. I give them this unction from
the Holy One. And they follow me. That's the
result. Always they follow me. And I give unto them eternal
life. Will a sheep ever be seduced
away by the voice of a stranger? It never will. It's an impossibility
for that to happen. They never will be seduced away
by a stranger. Look what he says next, and they
shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my
hand. My Father which gave them is
greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. Did they hear his voice? Then the Jews took up stones
again to stone him. They heard the audible words,
and they understood the audible words that he was saying, but
they didn't hear him in the heart. That's what he's talking about,
this knowing his elect when he says, I know them. It's not just
that he knows who you are. It's that he knows his elect
just like Adam knew his wife. they become one. He becomes one
with his children. He enters his children in the
intimate inner knowledge the mind of Christ is given to his
people. Christ is formed in the new man
and it's impossible for God to fail in making his child to know
Christ and follow Christ. Impossibility. Impossibility
for God to fail in making His child know Christ, and hear Christ,
and follow Christ. Impossibility! Because God's stronger than we
are. He's stronger than His sheep. He's stronger than those He's
going to save. Look back at John 6 and verse 45. This is the word He wrote in
the prophets. The Lord Jesus declared this. He said, this
is what was written before. And He came to fulfill everything
that's written before. It's written in the prophets,
they shall be all taught of God. All of them, every one of them.
He's talking about his elect. They shall all be taught of God. Every man therefore that hath
heard and hath learned of the Father, from being taught by
the Father. See, God the Father, God the
Son, God the Holy Spirit, all are teaching his children in
the heart. And everyone that's learned from
the Father, of the Father, been taught of the Father, they come
to me. They don't, they don't, may become pretty pleased with
sugar on top, will you please come, they come to Him. Look
at verse 68. Here's an example. Once people
heard this and they walked away, they left. They've been following
Him up to that point and then they turn around and left. For
the first time they began to hear with these ears what He
was actually saying to them. But they still wasn't hearing
it in here, so they left. And he turned around and he asked
his disciples, he said, will you go away too? You want to
go away? So different than most preachers.
Most preachers are, man, they come chasing you down and try
to hogtie you and offer you positions and places in the church, do
everything they can. Just stay, please stay. Christ
turned around and said, there's the door. You're free to go. You're free to go. How could
he say that to them? How could he say that to these
men and not expect them to turn around and walk away? They had
to unction in their heart. He'd give them a new spirit.
He'd give them a heart. Look at what Peter said. Then
Simon Peter asked him and said, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. You have the words of eternal life, and we believe and are
sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. Who
else? When you find Christ, you ain't
going to part with Him. When a man is brought to Christ
by God's grace, he's not going to part with Christ. He's just
not going to. Okay, so that's the first thing.
He says, now I know my sheep just like I know my Father. I'm
one with my Father, He's one with me, and I'm one in them.
That's what He said in John 17. Now let's look now at the second
thing, back in John 10. And in our text, Christ tells
us plainly that it is His elect, His sheep, for whom He laid down
His life. Look at verse 15. He says, and
I laid down my life for the sheep. I laid down my life for the sheep."
Now Christ just told some men that they were not His sheep. And here He says, I laid down
my life for the sheep. We got any sense of reason at
all? If we do, we got to conclude
that means Christ didn't lay down His life for those who were
not His sheep. That means He didn't lay down
His life for everybody. He didn't lay down His life for everybody
in the world. He just didn't do it. Look at Titus 2.14. Why is this doctrine of particular
redemption a vital issue? Why is this so important? Because
Christ was sent forth to declare the righteousness of God. There's
some legal issues that's got to be taken care of. before the
judge of all the earth. And Christ was sent forth as
the advocate, as the logger for his people to take care of those
legal matters that have to be taken care of. Look at this now,
when he laid down his life for his sheep, he paid the price
of redemption for them. so that they are redeemed from
all iniquity. Titus 2.14 says, He gave Himself
for us. He just told us who the for us
are. He said they are my sheep. They are those given me of the
Father. He gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from
all iniquity and purify unto Himself a peculiar people zealous
of good works. Look at Galatians chapter 3.
Now Christ, when He laid down His life, God is just, God is
righteous, and He was made sin. He was made the iniquity of His
people in order that God would be just to pour out wrath upon
Him. He's the just one. He knew no
sin. He did no sin. But you know when
the shadow, the picture in the Old Testament, when that priest
put his hand on the head of that goat and the iniquities for all
their transgressions went on to the head of that goat, that
goat became the guilty one. That goat became justly liable
for the sins of those people who put on him. And that's what
happened with Christ. He was made sin for his people.
He wasn't a type. He wasn't a shadow. He was made
sin for his people. And when he was, God justly then
poured out wrath upon him. He couldn't have done it if he
hadn't been the just one. He couldn't have done it if he
hadn't been perfectly righteous. But he's that spotless lamb who
can give himself to lay down his life for his sheep. And so
God laid on him the iniquity of us all and then poured out
the stripes upon him for the transgression in the place of
his people. Now, when he did that, he satisfied
divine justice. For the sheep. I mean, satisfied
it. For the sheep. And He's going
to bring them to faith to see Christ our Justifier because
they've got to see Him. They've got to lay hold of Him
because He said, there's but one way to the Father. And He
said, I'm that way, the only way to the Father. There's no
other name in heaven whereby we must be saved. There's no
way to come to God except in the blood of His Son, through
faith in His Son. So He's got to draw all of them
to see Him because He's redeemed them. Now let's look at Galatians
3.11. 3.11. But that no man is justified
by the law in the sight of God is evident. For the Scriptures
say that just shall live by faith, and the law is not of faith.
If you're living by the law, you're not living by faith. You
can't do both. You can't live by the law and live by faith.
The law's not of faith. The law's the ministration of
death. The law was given to shut our mouths and declare us guilty
before God that we might fall at his feet in need of mercy.
The just, those that are justified by Christ, we live by faith.
We walk by faith. That's our rule of life is faith.
Now look, the law's not of faith, but this is what the law that's
not of faith says, the man that doeth them shall live in them.
That's totally different. To just live by trusting Christ
to have done all for us. But if you want to come to God
in the law, you've got to do everything under the law yourself
and try to live in it. But at the end, when you get
to the end, having done everything that you might think is righteousness
and holy and good in this world, when you get to the end, you're
still going to have to go to hell and bear the wrath of God,
because the sins have got to be paid for, too. The law won't be satisfied just
in precept if you could keep it, which we can't. But then
we've got to bear the just punishment of it, too. That means we've
got to die. So see what I'm saying? There's no way to live by the
law. No way. But look at this good news. Christ
hath redeemed us. He said, I'll lay down my life
for the sheep. It didn't say Christ wanted to. It didn't say
Christ tried to. It didn't say God cast a vote,
Christ cast a vote, Satan cast a vote, now you cast a deciding
vote. It didn't say that. It says Christ hath redeemed
us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is written, Cursed is
everyone that hangeth on a tree, that the blessing of Abraham..."
You see, Abraham was saved 430 years before the Ten Commandments
were ever given. He didn't have the believer's
rule of life, did he? Neither did Enoch, neither did Noah. How'd
they walk? How'd they know how to walk?
They were led of the Spirit of God and they walked by faith.
That's how. That's exactly how. He died that the blessing Abraham
was given might come on the Gentiles too, through Jesus Christ, that
we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Christ said, My sheep shall hear my voice. He said, Each one for
whom he died must be given the promise of the Spirit through
faith. For it is impossible for God who is just to condemn one
for whom Christ was made a curse. Do you think God who's just and
holy, do you think he's going to provide his only begotten,
darling, precious son to lay down his life in the place of
a bunch of hell-deserving rebels, and he so fully be satisfied
with the love and the faith of his son that he redeemed his
people from the curse of the law, that he's going to allow
some little pygmy of a man to come up to him and try to boast
about what he's done to make himself accepted of God? He made
His Son a curse for His people. The only way God could be just
and the justifier was for Him to do that, to declare God righteous
before this whole world. He's not going to accept anybody
coming to Him any other way than in His Son. That's the only way
we can come to Him. The very purpose for which He
came into this earth was to declare the righteousness of God. And
God is just. And all those for whom Christ
died were justified by God when He made Him sin for us who knew
no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
And the elect of God are sons of God. They must be given the
Spirit and the gift of faith to believe on Christ who justified
them. Look at Galatians 4.4. When the fullness of time was
come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the
law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might
receive the adoption of sons. You see, He predestinated us
unto the adoption by Jesus Christ unto Himself. And because ye
are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your
hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Don't the world have it backwards?
Don't the world have it backwards? The world teaches you if you
want to be a child of God, you want to be a son of God, you
want to be the elect of God, you do steps A, B, C, and D and
He'll give you His Spirit and you'll be His child. God said,
because you are sons, because I've chosen you, Because my Son
came forth and redeemed you, God has sent forth the Spirit
of His Son into your hearts, and that's why you cry, Abba,
Father." Now that's right side up. What the world's teaching
is upside down. This is right side up. Now listen
to these scriptures. I'm just going to give these
to you. I'm trying to make a point to you. Here's what it says.
When He had by Himself purged our sins, He sat down on the
right hand of the Majesty on high. When He had by Himself
purged our sins, He sat down. The high priest went into the
holiest of holies and he never sat down. His work was never
done. He went once a year, every year, and did it again because
he couldn't make any atonement by the sacrifice of the blood
of bulls and goats. Christ Jesus, when he by himself
had purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty
on high because the work was finished. It's done. Hebrews
9.12 says, By His own blood He entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. He entered
in once. Having obtained, past tense,
eternal redemption for us. Who did He say the us was? I
laid down my life for the sheep. Hebrews 10.14 says, For by one
offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Turn to Romans 8 with me. Romans
8. Art just read Romans 5 to you. God commended His love toward
us. Who's to us? Christ said, I lay
down my life for the sheep. God commended His love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than being now justified
by his blood. See, when Paul was writing this,
at the time he was writing this, it was already done. Christ had
already done it. And he said, being now justified
by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. Who's
the way? He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to
God, then, before we knew anything about it, who's we? I lay down my life for the sheep.
If, when we were reconciled to God, by the death of his son,
much more than being reconciled. It's done. We shall be saved
by his life. You see, he's at the right hand
of the Father. The whole reigns of the whole universe has been
given into his hands. Christ is adding to the church
daily such as should be saved. He said when he led captivity
captive, he gave gifts unto men. He gave some apostles and some
evangelists and some pastor teachers for the perfecting for the work of the ministry,
for the perfecting of His saints, calling them out by His Spirit,
by His Gospel, by His voice, and making them to know Him with
this unction from on high that they might draw near to Him.
Romans 8, 29. For whom He did foreknow, I've
told you this time and again that foreknowledge is not that
he looked down through time and said, well now, they're going
to believe on me so I'll choose them. There's that bottom side
up again. Turning things around backwards.
He foreordained them. The only reason a man believes
is because God foreknew them. He foreordained them. He also
did predestinate them to be conformed to the image of his son. that
He might be the firstborn among many brethren. That's the whole
purpose of this thing, for the glory of His Son, that His Son
might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
He did predestinate, them He also called, and whom He called,
them He also justified, and whom He justified, them He also glorified. He, He, He, He did it all. Do
you see that? Father sheep, what do we say
to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? If God ever lets you in on it,
that He's done this for you, you're going to say, I hated
that doctrine before, but that's the sweetest thing I've heard
in my life now. Because before He lets you in on it and shows
you what He's done, He's going to make you see just how, what
a rotten, dirty scoundrel you are. And when He makes us see
that, we're like that publican that just hit our face and just
smite upon our breasts and say, Lord, have mercy on me. I got
nothing to commend me to you. I got nothing to commend me to
God. There's not anything in me now
to commend me to God. There's enough sin in me preaching
this message right here to send me to hell. I need a perfect
preacher and he's the perfect preacher. Purge me of all the
sins of my preaching. That's just how righteous and
holy he is. He's everything that the elect
child of God needs. Everything. I needed somebody
to stay in my mother's womb for me and do it perfectly without
sin. I needed somebody to be formed
in their mother's womb perfectly without sin and he's that holy
one. I needed somebody to spend nine months in the womb and never
kick and punch and all that stuff. I needed somebody to do that
for me perfectly. He did it. I needed somebody
to come forth and not cry out in anger as soon as they're born.
He did it for me. I needed somebody to serve my
mother and my father perfectly all the days of my life. Can
you imagine what a good child he must have been? Never gave his mother and father
an ounce of trouble. I needed somebody to work in
the carpenter shop sawing logs for me and never, never, never
do it. with an impure motive and never
steal time from the boss and never do anything to be charged
with guilt for God. He did that for me. I needed
somebody to enter into His public ministry and go into the waters
of baptism and be baptized perfectly for me. Because when I was baptized,
I sent enough to send me to hell when I was baptized. He did that
perfectly. I need somebody to walk this
earth and preach the gospel because God knew before the world began
and He called me to preach the gospel. And then since He's called
me to preach the gospel, there's been enough sin in me to send me to hell for preaching
the gospel. I need somebody to serve my wife
perfectly. He served His bride perfectly.
I need somebody to be a faithful husband. He's the faithful husband. I need somebody to be a faithful
father for me. He's the everlasting father. Perfect. I need somebody
to be a faithful son for me. He's the faithful son. I need
somebody that once they've done everything God requires of me,
then to take my place as the most wretched thing on the face
of the planet and bear the wrath of God at my place. And that's
what he did. And God says of him, I'm well
pleased with him. He's done everything that I require
of Clay Curtis. And there's nothing that Clay
Curtis can ever do that will be a sin or a wrong or unholy
ever in my sight. His sins I remember no more. They're as far as the east is
from the west. I remember them no more. He's
as righteous as my own son. He's as righteous as I am righteous,
God says. And He is made fit to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints and light right now of my Spirit
within Him. If I keep Him on this earth,
I'm going to grow Him in grace and knowledge and understanding
of me and more and more of what my Son has done for Him. But
He's never going to be one whit more holy than He is in my Son
right now. He's as fit to come into glory
as the thief on the cross was that day when he saw the Lord
and got this unction from the Holy One. And because Christ
is the one who, He didn't come and just attempt at putting away
sin, He put them away. And so God's calling out his
sheep. Because he can. Because he can. Because he's
God. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. He waited a little while to show that the world by its
own wisdom can't know God. But why did he choose something
as foolish as this to save his people? Because haughty, arrogant
men don't want to, they think it's foolishness. I can be saved
another way. He said He did it so that He
takes nothings and nobodies and uses nothings and nobodies to
call out His sheep, to make His sheep nothings and nobodies by
His Spirit, that He that glories will glory in the Lord and not
glory in man. That's why He does it. Let's look at this last thing,
John 10, 16, and I'll be brief here. He tells us plainly in our text
that His elect are not only among the Jews, but they're also among
the Gentiles, and that they each shall hear His voice as well.
Verse 16, other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them
also I must bring. Why is it a must? God's glory. That's why. God's glory. God's
righteousness, God's holy character. I must bring them. They shall
hear my voice. And there shall be one foal and
one shepherd. The churches made up of Christ's
elect, of his called sheep in this earth are scattered here
and there. He's got them here and there. But all God's firstborn
elect children make up one church of which Christ the firstborn
is the head. He's the head. This doctrine
is a lot older than Rome's doctrine. The doctrine I'm teaching you,
I know Rome's corrupted that doctrine. Catholicism's corrupted
that doctrine. The man wearing the little funny
hat pretending like he's God has corrupted this doctrine.
This doctrine I'm preaching is older than him. It's older than
that doctrine. This is God's doctrine. You've
been brought to the General Assembly and Church of the Firstborn,
which are written in heaven, to God the Judge of all and to
the spirits of just men made perfect. Ephesians 4 verse 4
says there's one body, one spirit, even as you're called, and one
hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God
and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you
all. Paul said, For this cause I bow
my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the
whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant
you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened
with might by his Spirit in the inner man. The whole family in
heaven and earth is named after him. And likewise, Christ has
sent many under-shepherds to preach this gospel to them, but
there's only one shepherd. There's only one shepherd. The
Lord Jesus Christ, he's that shepherd. Listen to Ecclesiastes
12, 11. The words of the wise are as
goads and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies. You
see what this word is doing right now as I'm preaching the gospel
to you? It's fastening you, it's anchoring
you. He said that's why I gave my pastors and teachers is so
that you'd be no more like children tossed to and fro by every wind
of doctrine. The words of the wise are as
gold and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which
are given from one shepherd." And he's that shepherd. He said,
if all you hear is my voice, it won't do you any good. But
if you hear the shepherd's voice. From whom, Paul said, the whole
body is fitly joined together and is compacted by that which
every joint supplies, according to the effectual working and
the measure of every part, and it makes increase of the body
unto the edifying of itself in love. He's filling every joint
from the head to the body. Peter said, you were sheep going
astray. But now, you're returned unto
the shepherd and bishop of your souls." That's him. Now, here's
the last question. How do I know if I'm one of his
sheep? How do I know if I'm one of his
sheep? I don't know how I could be more clear than what he said.
Do you hear his voice? He said, my sheep hear my voice.
Do you hear his voice? Do you know him? He said, My
sheep know Me. That means your heart's burning
for Him. You love Him. You adore Him. You're as satisfied and delighted
with Him as God the Father is with Him. Wish you were more
delighted with Him than you are. Are you following Him? He said,
My sheep follow Me. Is your heart rejoicing that
Christ has finished the work? And are you trusting that you're
complete in Him? Well, there's things I've got
to do, you know. I had the same thing happen to
me the other day, Art, with a physician. He told me that Christ has done
it all. And he said, we've just got to
work and He'll help us out. He'll do what we can't get done. then you're not complete in Him.
If that's the case, you're not satisfied that the work's finished.
If that's the case, you're not satisfied that it's done. But
if you're complete in Him, you're satisfied. You know God's satisfied. Nothing else to be added to a
field full. Full. Well, he said, my sheep
hear my voice and they know me and they follow me. He said,
I'm the good shepherd and I know my sheep and I'm known of mine.
And he said, and I laid down my life for the sheep. Now, if
you don't know him, I pray he make himself known to you. I
do hope so. But if you do know him, there
is only one thing we can say, is what Paul said. We are bound
to give thanks all the way to God for you. Brethren, beloved
of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you
to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth, whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining
of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren,
stand fast and hold the traditions which you have been taught, whether
by word or epistle." You know what that means? That means don't
even move the width of a hair to the left or to the right from
the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't look anywhere else. Don't
look anywhere else. Growing in grace is for this
thing to become more and more narrow, as narrow as Christ,
to where you're just dropping off everything else that you
thought mattered. Everything else that you thought mattered.
And it's getting more narrow and more narrow, and your vision's
becoming tunnel vision, where all you can see is Christ. And
that day when you're laying on your death's pillar, and you
can't lift your finger, you can't lift your toe, you can't make
yourself think a good thought, you can't make yourself do anything,
and you got the death rattle in your throat, you're gonna
be so thankful if you're not dependent on to do one thing,
but if Christ has done it all. And in that day, when you wake
up, there won't be but one you're gonna see. It'll be that narrow. And He'll be the God our salvation,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And you'll take whatever He's
adorned you with and drop it down at His feet and say, Lord,
all the honor and all the glory goes to You because You've redeemed
me. You've done it all.