Let us turn to God's word in
the chapter that we read, John chapter 10. I want tonight to
direct you to the verses 26 and 27. John chapter 10 verses 26
and 27. The Lord Jesus speaking to the
Jews as we see from verse 24 utters these words but ye believe
not because you are not of my sheep as I said unto you my sheep
hear my voice and I know them and they follow me in John chapter
10 and verses 26 and 27 The great division amongst men
is of course that between the sheep and the goats. And that will be made evident
in that great final day of which the Lord Jesus Christ speaks
so plainly when he returns in great glory. and sits as the
one to whom the Father has committed all judgment. In Matthew chapter
25 and verse 31, when the Son of Man shall come in His glory
and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the
throne of His glory and before Him shall be gathered all nations
and He shall separate them one from another as a shepherd divider
his sheep from the goats and he shall set the sheep on his
right hand and the goats on the left. Here is the great division
between men in that day of judgment. The goats on the left hand sent
to their appointed place, the sheep, on the right hand. But what is the difference between
these two characters? What is the distinguishing mark
of those who are the sheep of the Lord Jesus Christ? Well,
do we not see it in these verses that we've read for our text?
to those of the Jews, who alas, we have to conclude, were of
the goats, he says, ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep.
As I said, unto you, the mark of the sheep then, is the very
opposite of what was true of those Jews. They did not believe. But the sheep are those that
do believe. Here is their distinguishing
mark. How important then is this grace of faith to be those who
are truly believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, and solemnly
the Lord speaks to them in the previous chapter, in chapter
6, verse 36, but I said unto you that ye also have seen me
and believe not. The goats do not believe. The
sheep do believe. And the Lord Jesus, having made
this distinction, as it were, in verse 26, goes on in the next
verse, verse 27, to set before us something with regards to
the marks of those who are the sheep, those who do believe. My sheep, he says, hear my voice,
and I know them, and they follow me. And it's this verse in particular
that I want to centre your attention upon. and to consider the three
marks of their faith that Christ sets before us in these words. What are these three marks? Well,
he speaks of them hearing, he speaks of knowledge, and he also
speaks of a following. And that's the threefold division
then that I want us to pursue for a little while and we trust
with some prophet tonight. First of all, concerning the
sheep, the Lord Jesus Christ says of them, My sheep hear My
voice. And He is here, of course, simply
repeating things that He had said previously. In verse 25,
He answered them, I told you, and ye believed not. He has already
told them, he has already said these things. He is repeating
his ministry. What did he say previously in
the chapter? Well look at what he says in
verses 3 and 4 concerning the sheep. The sheep hear his voice and
he calleth his own sheep by name and leadeth them out. And when
he put forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep
follow him, for they know his voice, they hear his voice, they
know his voice. Isn't this one of the marks of
the sheep? Isn't this one of the marks of
the true people of God? After his resurrection and his
ascension, remember how the Lord Jesus Christ at the end of the
scriptures in the book of the Revelation appears to his servant
John there in exile on the Isle of Patmos. And John is favoured
to see that remarkable vision of the glorified sage. And then
Christ sends letters to those seven churches. The seven churches
of Asia Minor as we call them, or the seven churches of what
would now be called Turkey, of course. And in each of those
seven letters we have that refrain, He that hath an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Here is the mark
of the church, the true church of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
church is made up of those who are hearing the voice of the
Lord Jesus Christ. They are hearing those things
that are spoken by the Spirit of God. Those things that are
contained here then in the Scriptures of Truth. But not just hearing
with their natural ears, they are hearing in a spiritual sense.
You may remember that little child, that story that is told
of a young girl and she's there sitting with her mother and the
little girl is reading her book and the mother turns to the child
and says, what's that you're reading? And the little girl
looks up to her mother and says, oh mummy I don't know. And then
the mother replies and says, but you were reading aloud my
dear and the little girl answers the mother and says yes I was
reading but I wasn't listening how important it is that we are
those who are listening and listening to the word of God and seeking
to hear the voice of God as we come together under the sound
of God's word is this our desire that we might hear his voice
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto
the churches. How important it is that we hear
us then. God's Word is read. God's Word
is preached. But are we those who are truly
hearers of the Word? Now what is the consequence where
there is a right hearing and an attention to these things?
Romans 10, 17, 5, Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God. Who is that one who is set before
us in the Word of God? The Lord Jesus Christ. He is
set before us. The Lord Jesus Christ is held
forth in the Scriptures as the great object of pride. He said, did he not, here in
John chapter 5, search the Scriptures. Again he speaks to the Jews,
search the Scriptures. In them ye think that ye have
eternal life, and these are they that testify of mine. What we have in the Bible, of
course, is God's Word. We sometimes refer to it as the
inscripturated Word, or Scripture. is given by inspiration of God
and is profitable. The Holy Ghost is the one who
inspired those men who were the writers of the Scriptures. Peter
tells us, holy men of God, spake as they were moved by the Spirit
of God and the verb that he uses, the verb to move there, it's
a very strong verb and it has that idea of being carried along
It's the same word that's used there in the Acts when Paul is
caught up in that great storm, erupted and blows and remember
Paul is making that journey to Rome and they have to eventually
leave the ship, abandon the ship. But previous to that, these experienced
mariners, they cannot control the vessel and we're told they
had to let the vessel drive. They let the vessel drive, they
simply committed the vessel to the elements, to the winds and
to the waves, they had no control of the vessel. And the word that
we have there in Acts 26, the word to drive, it's the same
word that Peter used. His holy men of God spoke as
they were moved, as they were driven, as they were borne along
by the Spirit of God. It's not the word of men that
we come to consider, it is the word of God. And so as we come
under the sound of God's word, we should desire to hear God's
voice, God speaking to us. But as this book is the inscripturated
word, so remarkably we see that God the Son, the Eternal Son
of God is said before us, as the words make flesh, the incarnate
Word. In the beginning was the Word,
And the Word was with God and the Word was God. And the Word,
says John, was my flesh, dwelt among us and we beheld His glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. Oh, the Lord Jesus Christ is
set before us, is He not? The Scriptures and the Law bear
one tremendous sign. The written and incarnate word
in all things are the same. Is that what we come to hear
then as we come into a service like this? Not the words of a
man but we want to hear the word of God. We want to hear something
of the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ. But in order In order
to hear with profit there must be new life. We cannot hear spiritually,
we can hear with our natural ears, of course we can, but we
cannot hear in any spiritual or profitable way because by
nature we are dead in trespasses and sin. We have no spiritual
ears. Isaiah says here and your soul
shall live. With the hearing you see there
is the communication of life, spiritual life. And isn't this
what the Lord Jesus Christ is saying here? My sheep hear my
voice and I know them and they follow me and I give unto them
eternal life, he says. I give unto them eternal life. It's as the Lord Jesus Christ
is pleased to communicate that spiritual life, that new life
into the soul, that there is a real healing. Where the words
of a king is, there is power. For that we might have ears,
to hear that we might be those who are made a willing people
in the day of his power. Isn't that the promise that the
Father gives to him in the 110th Psalm, that Messianic Psalm,
thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. Do you
ever pray over that? Is not this the day of Christ's
power? It's certainly the day of his
authority. All power, all authority is given
unto me in heaven and in earth, he says. Go ye therefore and
teach all nations. And as that great commission
is at work, and there is the proclamation of the Gospel, so
we need to pray that the Lord Jesus Christ might earn that
work. not only with regards to the
authority that has been vested in him, but also to demonstrate
his great power in making that word an effectual word in our
souls that we might be those who truly bear the mark of his
sheep. We are hearing his voice, and
his voice is that that brings and gives life I said many times
that when we come under the Word of God we should desire not only
that we might hear of Christ and hear about Christ, we certainly
desire that. Paul could say we preach Christ
and Him crucified. He used to be the great subject
matter of the ministry. Christ should be there in every
sermon, the setting forth of the precious saving. But we don't
just want to hear about Him. We should be those who desire
to hear Him. Remember those words of Romans
10.14. How shall they believe in Him
of whom they have not heard? How can we believe in Him if
we've never heard of Him? Or, sir, said the Grecians, we
would see Jesus, we want to hear of Jesus. But as I said in the
past, that verse, or that clause in Romans 10, 14, we're told
by some of the commentators that the little word of is really
quite redundant. A more literal rendering of what
the Apostle is saying is this, how shall they believe in him
whom they have not heard? There's a difference, isn't there?
Simply by omitting one little word. How shall they believe
in Him of whom they have not heard? How shall they believe
in Him whom they have not heard? The voice of the Lord Jesus Christ
is that voice that we should desire to hear that He might
come and speak to us and address us as He did through the preaching
of the apostles. When Paul writes to the Ephesians,
remember how he reminds them that they, although Ephesus there
in Asia Minor, Turkey, the region that the Lord Jesus Christ never
visited during his tabernacling here upon the earth, he was very
much aware that he was sent to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel, that was his mission during the days of his humiliation
upon the earth, his ministry was confined then to that country,
he didn't go into Asia Minor and yet Paul can write to those
Ephesians, ye have not so learned Christ, if so be ye have heard
him and been taught by him. They heard him, they were taught
by him, how? By the ministry of the word,
by the preaching of the gospel. And all you see who are the sheep
of Christ must hear that voice of Christ in the ministry. My
sheep, hear my voice. Have you heard the voice of the
Lord Jesus Christ? Isn't this one of the marks of
those who have a true faith, a living faith, a saving faith,
a justifying faith. They have heard Christ. not speaking
in some literal sense to them, but speaking to them through
the ministry. It's as if they're the only person
present in the chapel, you see. It's as if all that is being
said is so suitable, so applicable to them. It's as if no one else
is there. It's that particular individual,
it's that particular sheep and the Lord Jesus Christ. or have we to examine ourselves
and know ourselves and prove ourselves? Are we those who have
heard Christ, the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ? But then,
what's the second mark that we have here in this verse? My sheep, says Christ, hear my
voice and I know them. There's knowledge, there's knowledge,
then Christ Christ knows them. That's what he says. He knows
his sheep. How does the Lord Jesus Christ know his sheep? Well, in a two-fold sense, at
least a two-fold sense, he knows them in terms of the eternal covenant
of Christ. That's how he knows them. because in that covenant the
father committed them to his charge, whom he did foreknow. He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn
among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
then he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified,
and whom he justified, them he also glorified. That's how we
know whom he did foreknowledge. Says Paul there in Romans chapter
8. What is that foreknowledge? It's
not just a foresight, it's not just foreseeing a certain people
that they will come to fight. and on the basis of their faith
making choice of them. That's how the Armenian will
interpret the words. But that foreknowledge is much
greater than a foresight. He knows them in this sense that
he has set his love upon them. They are the darlings of God.
He's loved them with an everlasting love. He knows them. He set them apart for Himself,
whom He did foreknow. He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of His Son. That's how the Lord Jesus
Christ knows. He says here in chapter 13 and
verse 18, I know whom I have chosen. The Lord Jesus Christ,
you see, knows his sheep. He knows them in terms of that
covenant. He knows them from all eternity,
to the end that God set his great love upon them, to the end that
they were set apart, they were committed into his hands forever.
But that's not the only way he knows them. He also knows them,
we might say experimentally, by and through His incarnation. He knows them because He has
become one with them. For as much then as the children
were partakers of flesh and blood, He likewise took part of the
same. The children that God had given
to Him, they were flesh and blood. What does He do? He becomes flesh
and blood for them. Verily, says Paul there in Hebrews
2, he took not upon him the nature of angels, he took upon him the
seed of Abraham. He is made a little lower than
angels for the suffering of death. Oh, what a precious truth it
is, friends. He became a man. Because he would
know me, he would know us in our humanity. He, of course,
is a sinless humanity. But nonetheless, it's a real
humanity. Some people say, to sin is human,
to sin is not human. When God made the first human
pair, Adam and Eve, they were not sinners. When they came pristine
from the hand of their Creator, they were holy creatures, there
was no sin in them. Adam and Eve. Sin is not human. The Lord Jesus Christ was truly
human, a real man, but he was a sinless man. Remember how the angel says to
Mary, that the Holy Ghost will come upon her and the power of
the Highest shall overshadow her, therefore also that holy
thing. that shall be born of thee shall
be called the Son of God. That holy thing, that sinless
human nature, which in the mystery of the incarnation is joined
to the person of the eternal Son of God. Oh great is the mystery
of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. He is freed from every taint
of Adam's original sin by the miracle of that virgin birth.
And he is sinless in his life of course, he is holy, he is
harmless, he is undefiled, he is separate from sinners, he
is made higher than the heavens. And yet he is touched. He is
touched with the feeling of all our infirmities. He was tempted
in all points like as we are. Yet without sin. This is how
he knows his sheep, you see. He doesn't just know them eternally
in terms of the great covenant of grace. He knows them in an
experimental sense. He knows all about them. He knows what human life is.
In the days of His flesh we are told when He had offered up prayer
and supplication with strong crying and tears unto Him that
heard Him. He was heard in that affair. that we were a son, the eternal
son of God, yet learned the obedience by the things that he suffered.
Thank God for the human nature of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank
God for that, that the Lord Jesus is a man and a real man, and
he understands men. He did not at any should testify
of man. He knew what was in the hearts
of men. He had a human heart himself. But what a man he was. You know,
it was said of Martin Luther, the
great Protestant reformer, that he could preach as if he had
been in the heart of a man. That's what they said of Luther's
preaching. It was real experimental preaching, he knew, real trials,
troubles, tribulation. And he came out in his ministry.
Luther also said that three things make the minister, prayer and
meditation and temptation. Temptation referring you see
to those trials and troubles that put metal into his ministry.
But if that was true of a man like Martin Luther, how much
more true was that of the Lord Jesus Christ. He needed not that
any should testify of man he knew. Knew what was in the heart
of me. We oft times quote those words
in Hebrews chapter 4 concerning the word of God, how it is quick
and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing
to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit into the joints and
marrows, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the
heart. We quote those words in reference
to the Scriptures. But if you look at the context
there in Hebrews 4, It is evident that Paul is principally speaking
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not so much the word inscripturated,
but the word incarnate he is speaking of there. He is that
word that pierces to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit. His ministry was a discriminating
ministry. What do we read here in verse
19? There was a division therefore regained among the Jews. for
these sayings. How his ministry, you see, separated
between men. How his ministry entered into
the hearts of men. He knew men. He knew how to preach
to men. He knew how to touch men. But here is the mark of the sheep,
you see. My sheep hear my voice, he says, and I know them. And because He knows them, they
also know themselves. They also know themselves. Whom
the Lord knows, He makes them to know themselves. That's how
the Lord deals with His people, is it not? David says in the 139th Psalm,
Thou hast searched me. And as the Lord searched him and
knew him, so what was his desire? Search me, O God, know my heart,
try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way
in me. Lead me in the way everlasting. He wanted to know himself, he
wanted to know his true condition. How the Lord knows you see. His
eyes behold, His eyelids try. the children of men. For remember how His eyes are
spoken of in the Revelation in that vision that John is favoured
with in the opening chapter. His eyes were as a flame of fire. Those eyes which are so searching they are a flame of fire. All
the churches shall know that I am he, the church of the rhymes
and the hearts, he says. This is how the Lord deals with
his people, he knows them and he searches them and he seeks
them and he deals with them and he deals with them in a very
personal way. The Lord deals with his people
individually, does he not? What do we read here in verse
3? He calleth his own sheep by name. Calls them by name. Wasn't that
how he called Saul? That great enemy of the gospel,
that great persecutor of Christians. In Acts chapter 9, here he is
He's come to Damascus to lay hands upon Christian believers. He wants to take them before
the Jewish authorities in Jerusalem. He's bent upon their destruction.
And the Lord meets with him. And what does the Lord say? Soar!
Soar! Why persecute us no more? He says. It is hard for thee to kick against
the prick See how the Lord speaks to a man, the Lord speaks very
personally. He calls His sheep by their name. And as He calls them, what does
He do? As we've already said, that voice, the voice of the
King, it's such a powerful voice. That voice brings life, new life,
spiritual life. Verse 27, I give unto them eternal
life, he says. My sheep hear my voice and I
know them and they follow me and I give unto them eternal
life. By nature they are dead in trespasses
and sins. They know nothing of spiritual
things. Isn't that the condition of each and every one of us by
nature? And it matters not what our parentage
is. We're all born dead in trespasses and sins. And we have no ear
for the voice of the Lord Jesus. It's a remarkable thing. We have
no ear for the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ and yet, what does
he do? He comes and he speaks. And as
he speaks there's an awakening in the soul, there's that communication
of new life. But there's something so strange
and so paradoxical about it, where new life comes into the
heart of the sinner, what happens? Why? It tries a lot. That was John's experience, when
he turns, you remember he heard the voice
and he turned, And he saw the candlesticks, and in the midst
of the candlesticks one lied under the Son of Man, and what
does he say? I fell at his feet as dead. When I saw him, I fell at his
feet as dead. You hear the voice of the Lord
Jesus Christ, and it slays you. It kills man. It brings a man
to the end of himself. You see what the man learns,
you see. He learns something concerning himself. He learns
what he is before a holy God. He learns that he is a sinner.
He learns the truth of that awful doctrine of the sinner's total
depravity. He hears the voice of the Lord
Jesus Christ and he feels his complete and utter inability. He can do nothing to save himself.
He is dead. And the Lord makes him feel the
deadness. of his sin the deadness that
is in his soul he was always dead and yet he was blissfully
unaware of his condition but when the Lord Jesus Christ comes
why he makes the man to know the truth concerning himself
he makes him to feel what he believes and therefore he must know Christ
as his complete Saviour What does he say here in verse 14?
I am the Good Shepherd and know my sheep and am known of mine. They know him. And they know him and they must
know him as that one who is the complete Saviour, the Good Shepherd. And what has he done in order
to save his people? He says in verse 14, I am the
Good Shepherd But he says it again in verse 11, I am the good
shepherd, and the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. He gives his life, he dies for
the sheep. He dies for just, for the unjust, to
bring the sinner back to God. Or this is the great work that
the Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished, is it not? He comes that they
might have life. Look at verse 10. I am come that
they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. How does he communicate this
life? Here is the sinner you see. And
what is the consequence of this sin? Why, the consequence is
death, as we said. Death and the curse and ultimately
damnation. When our first parents sinned,
hadn't God made it quite plain to Adam what would be the consequence
of transgression? He could eat of all the trees
of the garden, bar the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
And God said to him, in the day that they eat us thereof, they
shall surely die. They shall surely die dying.
They shall die, is what he literally says. There was a death that
was immediate, there was death in his soul then. Because of
his sin there was a separation. Your sins have separated between
you and your God, your iniquity as he displaced from him. And
Adam knew that death. spiritual death, separation,
alienation from God. And then, what do we read? The
curse. You see, what sin brings in its
wake, it brings death and the curse. And here is the Lord Jesus
Christ and he is the great antidote to sin. Oh, what does the Lord
Jesus Christ give where there is death he gives life, where
there is curse he brings blessings. I am come, this is why he is
come, that they might have life and
that they might have it more abundantly. I give unto them
eternal life. He is that one you see who has
come and come and stood in the place of the sinner, made of
a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under
the law. And in that law place, He's answered for His people.
He's answered for them in respect to all the precepts of the law. He has obeyed it in every one
of its commandments. He's wrought a righteousness.
He's the end of the law for righteousness. But He's also been obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. And there upon the cross,
He has answered that self-signed Lord in respect to every one
of its penalties. He's borne all that punishment.
He's been made a curse for His people. Cursed is everyone that
hangeth on a tree, and He's borne that curse, you see. In their room and in their stead.
This is the saviour that the sheep must know. When the Lord
Jesus Christ causes them to know themselves, to learn experimentally
what they are, their complete and utter inability to help themselves,
they need a sovereign saviour. They need the great Jehovah,
and this is who he is. He is the great I AM. or how he keeps saying it here, I am the door of the sheep, he
says in verse 7. Again in verse 9, I am the door,
by me if any man enter in he shall be saved and shall go in
and out and find pasture. Verse 11, I am the good shepherd,
the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep, Verse 14,
I am the good shepherd and know my sheep and have known of mine.
He is the I am. He is I am that I am. He is Jehovah. He is the image
of the invisible God. And he is that one who is mighty
to save. Always able to save because of
who he is. And this is the one you see that
the sheep must know. I am the good shepherd. and know
my sheep, and have known of mine, you know him as that shepherd,
the shepherd who gives his life for the sheep. It is life eternal,
he says, to know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom
thou hast sent. Is that your desire? Can you
honestly say, as before God, You might say, well I'm not sure
that I know it, but you desire to know it. Is that what you
long for, or you want to know it? Remember Paul and what he
says in Philippians 3, his desire to be found in him. Not having
mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which
is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of
God by faith, that I might know him, he says. The power of his
resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings being made
conformable to his death. You desire that, to know him.
Or you want to know him, plead with him that he would make himself
known to you. But more than that, more than
that, what do we read concerning this faith? There is the hearing
of his voice, there is a knowledge, the knowledge of self, The knowledge
of the Saviour, because he knows his sheep and he knows how to
deal with his sheep. But there's also in the third
place is, there's a following. My sheep hear my voice, and I
know them, and they follow mine. It's obedience. It's obedience. that is the sign of those who
are the true sheep of Christ, true believers, be ye doers of
the Word and not hearers only deceiving your own selves. If
we're really hearing His voice, will we not do His Word? To obey is better than sacrifice,
and to hearken than the fat of rams. That's what Samuel said
to the disobedient king Saul. To obey. And the parallel statements to
obey, to hearken is one and the same thing. If we're really hearing,
we're obeying. To obey is better than sacrifice. To hearken than the fats of rams. Let me ask you tonight, do you
love the Lord Jesus Christ. And you say, I love him. You
love him. But he says this, if a man loves
me, he will keep my words. There's the mark of love, you
see, if you love him, you'll keep his words, you'll obey him,
you'll want to do his commandments. When he calls his disciples,
how remarkable it is, that they respond, they follow. For example,
here is Matthew, the publican, the tax gatherer, and he's sitting
at the receipt of custom last Lord's Day afternoon, and our
brother Graham Miller preached on that word, sitting. He brought in other scriptures,
But really his text was simply that. In Matthew 9 and verse
9. As Jesus passed forth, from thence
he sought a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom,
and he said unto him, follow me. And he arose and followed
him. Ere it is, you see, obedience.
The Lord says to this man who is so settled, because that's
the import of the word, the city's settled, he's at his business
and it's rather a lucrative business, he's making lots of money but
the Lord passes by and says to this man follow mine and he arose
and follows him how remarkable it is and doesn't Charles Wesley bring
that out some way in his hymn And can it burn? That I should
gain an interest in the Saviour's blood. And it's said that that
is one of those hymns that is really Charles Wesley's personal
testimony. And in that hymn, doesn't one
of the lines run like this? I rose, went forth, and followed
him. I rose, went forth, followed
him. That was Matthew, you see. He
was sitting. He rose. He went forth. And he followed
the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, friends, are we those who
would follow Him? Is that what you want to do?
You want to follow Him? You want to obey Him? You want to come
to Him? That's what fight is. Fight is
a coming to Him. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger, says Christ. He that believeth on thee shall
never thirst. The statements are again parallel
statements. The coming to Him is the same
as believing on Him. That's what you do. That's what
faith is. You come to Christ. You cast yourself upon Christ.
You follow Christ. That's what faith is. Joseph Hall And the author of that remarkable
book, Contemplations, Contemplations on Various Passages of Scripture,
was a most godly man, Bishop in the Church of England, Bishop
at one stage at Norwich. Again the tale is told how the
neighbour of the good Bishop, after one of the services, says
to him, What, Bishop, is the sermon done? And he replied,
the good bishop, and said, done? No, we could say it is ended,
but it is not so readily done. O friends, let us be those who
are doers, doers of the word of God. Christ says, observe
all these things whatsoever I have commanded you. This is the mark
of those who are the sheep of the Lord Jesus Christ. They follow
the Good Shepherd and they follow Him wherever He leads them. And
those who are truly lovers of the Lord Jesus Christ will want
to go with Him, will want to follow Him, will want to obey
Him and do all His commandments. Oh God grant me that we might
stand on the right side of that great divide, that we might be
those who are numbered amongst his sheep, and bear this mark
of the sheep. He says to the Jews, but ye believe
not because you are not of my sheep. As I said unto you, my
sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. The Lord bless to us his word,
for his name's sake. Amen. Closing hymn is 233. And the tune is Covenant Versing
737. the sinner that truly believes
and trusts in his crucified God, his justification receives, redemption
enfolds through his blood. that truly believes and trusts
in his crucified God. His justification receives redemption
in full through his blood. Though thousands and thousands
of foes Against him in malice unite Their rage he through cries
can oppose Led forth by the Spirit to fight Not all the devil Shall ever seduce him to death
He now has a witness within Rejoicing in Jesus by faith His faith shall
eternally fail When Jesus shall fall from His throne For hell
against both must prevail, since Jesus and he are but one. The faith that lays hold on the
Lamb, And brings such salvation as this, Is naught a mean notion
or name, The work of God's Spirit it is. A principle active and
young, That lives under pressure and load That makes out of weakness
more strong And rules us all upward to God It treads on the
world and on hell It vanquishes death and despair And what is
still stranger to tell It overcomes heaven by prayer Permits of a
worm of the dust With God to commune as a friend To hope His
forgiveness is just And look for His love to the end It says,
to the man takes depart That's done betwixt God and the soul
It binds up the broken in heart, And makes their soul consciences
whole. It sins of a crimson like dye,
Is spotless as snow and as white. and make such a sinner as I as
pure as an angel of light. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you
all. Amen.