Good morning and welcome to the
services. Turn with me again this morning
to the 10th chapter of the gospel of John, John chapter 10. What a rich chapter this is. In John 10 verse 24, every time
I read this verse, I find it both Humorous and ridiculous. Look at it with me, verse 24.
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. And 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. We spoke on this briefly in the
past study. There are two things in particular
that distinguish the Lord Jesus as the Christ of the scriptures.
First, his words. Notice there he said, I told
you and you believed not. He is very plain throughout the
scripture, especially the Gospel of John, about declaring who
he is. And secondly, the second thing
is his works. He said, the works that I do
in my father's name, they bear witness of me. They foretell,
they show who that I am. How many words had he spoken?
How many works had he done? Turn back to John chapter one. I wanna just go through the scriptures.
Let the scriptures do our talking this morning. Look at John chapter
one, verse 47. John 1.47 And Jesus saw Nathanael
coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite, indeed,
in whom is no guile. And Nathanael said unto him,
whence knowest thou me? And Jesus answered and said,
before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig
tree, I saw thee. And Nathanael answered and saith
unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the King
of Israel. And Jesus answered and said unto
him, because I sat unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree,
believest thou? Oh, you're gonna see greater
things than these. And he saith unto him, verily,
verily, I say unto you, hereafter ye shall see heaven open and
the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. And here we see the Lord's omniscience. He knows everything. He sees
everything. Look at John chapter three, verse
nine. The Lord had told Nicodemus of
the things concerning the spirit and the flesh, and he told Nicodemus
about the Spirit of God. He said, the Spirit of God is
like the wind. It blows where it wills. It saves whom it wills. He told him something about spiritual
birth, about being born again, about being born from above,
being born of God. And here in verse nine, we read
Nicodemus and answered and said unto him concerning the things
that Christ had told him. He said, how can these things
be? How can these things be? And in verse 10, Jesus answered
and said unto him, art thou a master of Israel and knowest not these
things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, we speak that we do
know, and testify that we have seen. And you receive not our
witness. I have told you earthly things,
and you believe not. How shall you believe if I tell
you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to
heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of
Man which is in heaven. How can he be on earth and be
in heaven? Because he's omnipresent. He's God. He can be in both places
at the same time. And he said, in verse 14, and
as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have eternal life. Now I love what the Lord
said here. He said, we speak what we know.
That's what Brother Mahan told me early, early on. He said,
preach what you know. Preach what you know. Christ
spoke of heavenly things and Christ plainly said, no one can
ascend into heaven but he that came down from heaven. Now that's
a tremendous clue as to who he is. I came down from heaven. Only God can come down from heaven.
And Christ said plainly, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, even so must the Son of Man who came down from
heaven be lifted up. That whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have eternal life. And what the Lord is saying
here to Nicodemus is this. He said, I am the Christ. I am
the Messiah. I am God the Son. the only one, the only mediator
between God and man. And he said, I will ascend into
heaven because that's where I came down from. I'm God in the flesh. Jesus Christ, God the Son, is
as much God as God the Father is. Like Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, even so, Christ, God the Son, must
be lifted up. Must be. In order for any to
be saved, he must be. He must be lifted up and whosoever
looks at him and believes shall not perish. And what the Lord
is plainly saying here is this, I am the Messiah. Plainly, he
said. And yet they say, why don't you
just plainly tell us? Look at John chapter four, verse
25. the Samaritan woman, the woman
at the well, the woman saith unto him in verse 25, chapter
four, I know that the Messiah cometh, which is called Christ,
and when he is come, he will tell us all things. And Jesus
saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he. And the word
he is in italics, so what he said was I am. I am the Messiah,
I am that I am. Now that's pretty plain. That's
pretty plain. How could they sincerely ask
the Lord to tell them plainly when that's all that He ever
did? Tell them plainly. Look at John chapter 5 verse
17. But Jesus answered them, my father
worketh hitherto and I work. Therefore the Jews sought the
more to kill him because he had not only broken the Sabbath.
But said also that God was his father, making himself equal
with God. Verse 19, then answered Jesus
and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do
nothing of himself, but what he saith the Father doeth. For
what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son,
and showeth him all things that he himself doeth. And he will show him greater
works than these, that you may marvel. For as the Father raiseth
up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom
He will." Now, think about what he's saying there. Only God can
make someone dead who's alive, and I can do it too, so I'm God. I'm co-equal with God. He said,
for the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment,
and to who? The Son. That all men should
honor the Son even as they honor the Father. Why? Because they're
both God. And he that honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the
Father, which hath sinned him, verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that heareth my word. There's that first thing that
we pointed out. According to his word, he is
the Christ, the Messiah. And believeth on him that sent
me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation,
but is passed from death unto life. And again we see that Christ,
God the Son, is equal with God the Father. Just how plain the
Lord speaks. That's why I find it humorous
that they would ask that question. Why don't you tell us plainly?
He couldn't have told them any plain. He said, I told you plainly,
but you believed not my words or my works. Look down at verse
39. The Lord said here in John 5,
he said, search the scriptures, for in them you think you have
eternal life, and they are they which testify of me. and you
will not come to me that you might have life. Why? Because
you don't believe that the scriptures testify of me. It's just that
simple. Look down at verse 43 and we
see the reason why they didn't believe. He said, I am come in
my father's name and you receive me not. If another shall come
in his own name, him ye will receive. Christ came to them
in the name of the father. And he plainly told them, and
he plainly showed them by the works that he did, and they didn't
receive him. He said, but if someone comes
in his own name, you'll receive him. Verse 44, how can ye believe
which receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh
from God only? Do not think that I will accuse
you to the Father. There is one that accuseth you,
even Moses, in whom you trust. For had you believed Moses, you
would have believed me, for he wrote of me. That's why I love
our studies in Genesis and now in Exodus. Moses' writing of
Christ in those books. That's what we see, and we've
seen it pretty plainly, haven't we? Look at John 6, verse 59. These things said he in the synagogue,
as he taught in Capernaum, and many, therefore, of his disciples,
when they heard this, said, this is a hard saying. Who can hear
it? And when Jesus knew in himself
that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, doth this
offend you? And what did he say? He said
that he is, in verse 58, he said that he was the bread that came
down from heaven. Not as their fathers did eat
in the wilderness and are dead, but he that eateth me, the bread
of life, shall live forever. And then he says, does this offend
you? What and if you see the Son of
Man ascend up where He was before? Now, what's He saying there?
He's saying, I'm God. I came in the flesh and I'm going
to go back. Only God can do that. And it's
the spirit that quickeneth. It's the spirit that maketh alive.
The flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit and they are life. But there are some of you
that believe not, for Jesus knew from the beginning who they were
that believe not and who should betray him. And he said, therefore
said I unto you that no man can come, no man has the ability
to come, except it were given unto him of my father. No one
can hear. the plain words of Christ, and
see His mighty works, except or unless it were given unto
them of God the Father. Now that's pretty plain, isn't
it? That's pretty plain. The Lord said in our text, in
John 10, you don't have to turn back there yet, I'm gonna turn
you a couple other places. He said, but you believe not,
because you're not of my sheep. as I said unto you. Now look
at John 7, verse 46. The officers of the priests and
the Pharisees came back. They sent them to kind of spy
on him, try to catch him in his words. And in verse 46, they
came back to him and the officers answered, never a man spake like
this man. And they answered them, the Pharisees,
and they said, are you also deceived? Have any of the rulers of the
Pharisees believed in him? You see any of us fallen for
the lies that this man is telling? Nope. No, you don't. You know
why? Because it wasn't given unto
them. That's exactly why. They were not of his sheep. Plain and simple. Plain and simple. Well, that's not fair. It's right. It's holy. It's just. It's amazing
grace that God would love anybody of Adam's fallen race. Look at
verse 24 in John chapter 8. I said therefore unto you that
you shall die in your sins, for if you believe not that I am
he, or I am, you shall die in your sins. Then they said unto
him, who art thou? And Jesus saying to them, even
the same that I said unto you from the beginning. Now we've
already looked in John one and three and five and six and saw
time and time again where he just plainly told them who he
was. And then they ask him here in verse 25, who art thou? He
said, I'm the same one that I've told you from the beginning.
And I have many things to say and to judge of you, but he that
sent me is true and I speak to the world those things which
I've heard of him. And they understood not that
he spoke to them of the father. And then said Jesus unto them,
when ye have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall ye know that
I am He, and that I do nothing of myself. But as my Father hath
taught me, I speak these things. And He that sent me is with me.
The Father hath not left me alone, for I do always those things
that please Him. How plain is that? Man, that's
just plain. how plainly he told them, and
yet they believed him not. Look down at verse 52. Then said
the Jews unto him, now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham
is dead, and the prophets, and thou sayest, if a man keep my
saying, he shall never taste of death. Are thou greater than
our father Abraham, which is dead, and the prophets, which
are dead, whom makest thou thyself? And Jesus answered and said,
if I honor myself, my honor is nothing. It is my father that
honoreth me, of whom ye say that he is your God. Yet ye have not
known him, but I know him. And if I should say I know him
not, I'll be a liar like unto you, but I know him and keep
his saying. And your father Abraham rejoiced
to see my day. And he saw it and was glad. Then
said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old,
and hast thou seen Abraham? And Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. That's pretty plain. He's saying,
I am God. I am that I am. In John chapter
nine, the Lord Jesus healed that man that was born blind. After
much going back and forth with the Jews and And the Pharisees,
they asked him, they said, where is the man that healed you and
gave you your sight? He said, I don't know. I don't
know where he is. And that poor man, he did know
something they didn't know. And look what he says in verse
30. He says, why herein is it a marvelous thing that you know
not from whence he is? And yet he opened mine eyes.
Now we know that God heareth not sinners, but if any man be
a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth. Now
you see what he's saying here? He's got some wisdom. He's saying
God don't hear sinners, and this man healed me who was blind from
my birth. That's never been done before.
It's pretty obvious that God hears him. Pretty obvious that
God hears. Since the world began, it was
not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born
blind. If this man were not of God, he could do nothing. And they answered and said unto
him, thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach
us? And they cast him out. Get out of here, get out of this
synagogue, don't come back. And Jesus heard, verse 35, that
they had cast him out, and when he had found him, He said unto
him, dost thou believe on the Son of God? And that poor man
answered and said, who is he, Lord, that I might believe on
him? And Jesus said unto him, thou
hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshiped him. Boy, he
just told that old boy just plain up who he was, didn't he? And
the Lord tells us plainly in verse 39, why the majority of
the Jews didn't believe in him. Verse 39, and Jesus said, for
judgment I am coming to this world, that they which see not
might see, and that they which see might be made blind. And
some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words and
said unto him, are we blind also? And Jesus said unto them, if
ye were blind, you should have no sin, but now you say, we see,
therefore your sin remaining. Now listen, if a man knows himself
to be in spiritual darkness and in need of grace and in need
of forgiveness, in need of the light of God and desires truly
to see it, to have it. God's going to have mercy on
them. It's just that simple. He's never refused one who sincerely
wanted mercy. Never. And He never will. He
never will. But those who boast in their
righteousness, those who are always talking about, haven't
we, haven't we, look what we've done. Those who boast in their knowledge,
their spiritual wisdom, their sin remains upon them, and they're
gonna die in their sins. Now back in John chapter 10,
back in our text in verse 24, I want just for a few minutes,
in light of these scriptures that we've read, to think about
this. They asked, how long are you
gonna make us to doubt? Now that is a ridiculous, absurd
question. He didn't make them to doubt.
They chose to doubt. They chose not to believe. So
in verse 25, the Lord tells them that His word and His work bear
witness that He's the Christ. And friends, they still do. They
still do. It's the word and the works of
Christ recorded in this book. that God uses as the means through
preaching to save them that believe. That's what we do when we preach.
We tell men the words and the work of Christ, His perfect work
of righteousness in our place. In order for God to be both just
and justifier, a perfect man has to die for us. That's Christ. It's His work of redemption,
His work of righteousness for us. That's what we preach. We
don't tell men how to live when we ourselves can't live the way
we should. My, my. I want to make a statement that
might surprise you. But you have to choose not to
believe. God's people believe because
they have no choice. We must believe. from what we've
heard, from what we've seen. We have no choice but to believe.
There's no salvation apart from Christ and Him crucified. No
salvation apart from His words and His work of righteousness.
Christ said, I've told you plainly and you believe not. You've heard
my words. You've heard the words of my
Father. He's the one that gave them to me. And He said, I've
done what my Father sent me to do. I've done His work that He
sent me to do. But you choose not to believe.
If you don't believe, it's because you choose not to. And if you
believe, it's because God chose you to salvation through sanctification. God setting you apart. God making
you perfect. And making you perfect in Christ,
I might add. That's the only way you can be.
And belief of what? The truth. The work and the work,
words of Christ. And if you believe this, it's
because God chose you to salvation and you are one of His sheep.
But if you don't believe, it's on you. It's on you. And God is just letting you have
your way. Now, is that right? That's why
I say that if you choose not to believe, it's your choice.
And if you choose to believe, it was God's choice. Do I understand
that? No, but I believe it. I sure
believe it. And again, verse 26 of John 10,
you believe not because you're not of my sheep, as I said unto
you. Not believing Christ is not the
reason that you're not a sheep. Not being one of his sheep is
the reason you choose not to believe. And in verse 27, we
see the characteristics of the sheep. We talked about this briefly.
Three things in particular. First, they hear Christ, the
Good Shepherd's voice. My sheep hear my voice. Have
you heard His voice? Well, I know many of you have. Secondly, they're known of Christ.
Salvation is more being known of Him than knowing Him. What
did He tell those who He said, haven't we done many wonderful
works? He said, I never knew you. Never knew you. And thirdly,
his sheep follow him. That's why you're here this morning.
We're following the Savior. Where else would they go? Peter
said, thou hast the words to eternal life. Where else would
we go, honestly? Well, preacher, you pick on religion
a lot. Well, you're going to go down
to the first church And find words to eternal life? I don't think so. Where else
would we go? We're following Him this morning
is what we're doing. And the reason Christ knows His
sheep is because He foreknew them. This is not talking about
what He foreknew. Salvation is not talking about
what He foreknew. He foreknew everything. He's
the author and finisher of our faith. He's the Alpha and Omega.
He's the beginning and the end. This is his story. History is
his story. But the election and predestination
has everything to do with who he foreknew. Those whom he foreknew,
he also did predestinate. And he predestinated, he predetermined
those to be what conformed to the image of his son. Now that
is good news, because he's the one that foreknew me, he's the
one that predetermined and predestined me, and he's the one that's conforming
me to the image of his son. Guess what? I'm gonna be conformed. That's right, because he's the
one that's doing it. The reason Christ knows his sheep
is because he foreknew. And it's not talking about what
he foreknew, it's talking about who he foreknew. The word conformed
there, do you know what it means? Fashioned. Immediately my mind
runs to the potter. It's the sovereign potter that
fashions the clay. It's the sovereign potter that
fashions and molds that lump of clay either into a vessel
of honor or a vessel of dishonor. Isn't that right? Isn't that
what the scriptures teach? You know, if I brought in a big old
lump of clay this morning and set it up there on the pulpit
and said, OK, hey, lump, you make yourself a vessel on, what do you think it'd have?
Nothing. I'd have to take it and mold
it and fashion it into something that was presentable. How more
so is that with God than the lumps that we are? He fashions,
he molds the clay, one into a vessel of honor and another into a vessel
of dishonor. And it's his prerogative, it's
his sovereign choice. He's the one that's fashioning
it. Well, he may take that one and mire it in his hands, the
scripture says. It's his clay to do so. He's
the sovereign potter. no different than you and I endeavoring
to mold and fashion ourselves to the image of Christ apart
from the conforming, molding hands of the powerful potter.
It just can't be done. It's impossible. Impossible.
God's people know His voice, and they follow Him. And that's
the response to irresistible grace. They follow Him. Follow
me. Matthew, you follow me. He left
all and followed him. Zacchaeus, come down. I'm going
to your house today. Where did Zacchaeus go? He went
to his house with him. He went to his own house because
he followed Christ there. And this is the sheep's eternal
security. Recently, someone asked me again
if I believed in one saved, always saved. That's a big talking point
among Baptists, I guess. I don't know. And I, not to be
ugly, but I asked him, I said, well, who saved you? Who saved
you? Did God save you? Or did you
fashion and mold yourself into a vessel of honor? You see, that's
the difference, and that's the difference between eternal security
and losing your salvation. If you mold it and shape it yourself,
there's a good chance that you're going to get unmolded and unfashioned
by the work of your own hands. Verse 28, and I give unto them
eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any
man pluck them out of my hand. Now listen, I know we know this,
but it's all through the scriptures. Salvation, eternal life, is a
gift from God. We say it all the time, but it's
everywhere in scripture. Christ, who is God, said, I give
unto them eternal life. Who does? God gives. God gives
it. And because of who it is that
gives it, he says, they shall never perish. That's the reason they won't
ever perish, because it's God that gives it. None can stay
in his hand and say unto him, what doest thou? If he fashions
it into a vessel of honor, it's forever a vessel of honor. It's
just that simple. Salvation is a divine gift, not
earned, not merited, not deserved. They shall never perish because
of whose hand they're in. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. But that's not all. Look at verse
29. My father which gave them me
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
my father's hand. And I might add, none can jump
out of his hand either. Well, you know, I back slid. You can't jump out of his hand. No man can pluck you out of his
hand and you can't jump out. Sounds to me like you're in his
hand forever, eternally secure. Yes, I and my father are one,
verse 30. Then the Jews took up stones
again to stone him. And Jesus answered them, he said,
many good works have I showed you from my father, for which
of those works do you stone me? And the Jews answered, saying,
for a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy, and because
that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. No, that's not true. He is God. He is God. He's always been God. Nobody
made Him God. He's God. And they still didn't
believe Him. They wouldn't have tried to stone
Him if they had. And He had told them plainly. Plainly. I suppose that the greatest compliment
a preacher can ever receive is when someone says you plainly
told me the truth. That's what we endeavor to do
in preaching in the gym. Plainly tell the truth of how
Christ died for sinners. That's the only thing that's
going to make any difference. In turn, he is the one who makes
the difference. God's sheep know, God's sheep
hear, God's sheep follow Christ the Good Shepherd who gives freely
life to his sheep. They must, they will, and I might
add, and they'll want to. Nobody goes to heaven kicking
and screaming against their will. Why? Because God makes them willing
in the day of His power. It's God's power that makes us
willing. We want to, don't we? I want
to follow Him. I do. I want to follow Him. Don't
you? I thank God that He changed my
want to. It wasn't always the case. I
was made willing in the day of His power. Okay. Isn't that good? Man, I'm telling you, God's Word
is so good. I appreciate your attention.