All right, if you take your Bibles
and turn back with me to John chapter 10. John chapter 10. A text will be found in verse
9. And be prepared, we're going
to be moving through the scriptures today. I pray the Lord will open these
texts to you and show you the truth of this statement that
Jesus makes in verse 9. John chapter 10 verse 9, this
is my text, Jesus said this, I am the door, by me if any man
enter in, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find
Now, the Lord Jesus Christ begins this chapter with a parable of
the shepherd and the sheep. Now, this is a very simple, physical
story. It's very physical and it's very
simple to understand. The illustration is very practical.
Most of the people who heard Jesus in this day either were
shepherds or they knew somebody who was a shepherd. There was
not much in the way of businessmen that were listening to Him. These
were farmers for the most part, mostly shepherds. Most of them
hearing Him, they understood, they were familiar with this.
And Jesus begins with this, truly, truly, in verse 1, verily, verily,
that's what it means, truly, truly. Very simple fact that
none will resist. This is simple. That one who
enters into the sheepfold some other way is not the shepherd.
That's very simple, right? You see a man climbing over the
wall or digging underneath, you know this. That's not the shepherd. That's very simple. He's a thief. He's come to steal the sheep.
But now look at the man who comes into the sheepfold by the door.
There's a man, a porter at the door, somebody keeping the door. And the porter is intimately
aware of who the shepherd is. And he only opens the door for
that one person, the shepherd. So you see the shepherd coming,
and the porter does what? He opens the door. Why? That's
the shepherd. They all knew this. This was common. He enters in by the door, and
when he enters in, Jesus said this, when the shepherd calls
his sheep by name, this is just a common fact, the sheep hear
his voice, and they follow him. That's just the nature of a sheep.
They won't hear anybody else's voice. You know, we could go
in, we can get in there and we start calling them by name, and
they won't hear a thing you say. But let the shepherd speak, and
the sheep know him, and they'll follow him out. This was common. Not a very hard story to understand. And the purpose of the shepherd
was very clear. That when he calls his sheep,
he leads them out for this purpose to feed them and protect them. That's the job of the shepherd.
He will lead them in and out and they will find pasture. The shepherd loves the sheep.
That's just a common knowledge. Every shepherd that is a shepherd
loves the sheep. And He keeps the sheep. Now,
this was not some illustration that the people couldn't comprehend.
They understood the physical nature of the parable. But what
they did not understand was the spiritual nature. Now listen,
when people read the Bible, they can understand the physical nature
of these histories and stories. They can. What they cannot understand
is the spiritual nature of the story. Look at verse 6, And this
sparible spake Jesus unto them, but they understood not what
things they were which he spake unto them. They were familiar
with the common Nature of a shepherd and the sheep, but they were
not Understanding the spiritual truth why they didn't have spiritual
life this morning. You don't understand this message.
I won't tell you why you don't spiritual life To understand spiritual things
you have spirit you have to have spiritual life. Otherwise, these
things are meaningless to you. I These things have no application
for you. Why do you think the world don't
have any interest in hearing the gospel? Because it has no
application for them. They have application in those
physical things, that's why they go there. But they have no application
in spiritual things because they don't have any spiritual life.
Therefore Jesus in great compassion and mercy does not leave the
sinner to wonder what he meant. He didn't just say this parable
and walk off. He actually gives the explanation of this. And
even when I give you the explanation, when I tell you what He says,
if you have no spiritual understanding, you're not going to understand
it no matter what I say. God has to give you this understanding.
So Jesus tells us that He is represented by two characters
in this parable. Two things in this parable represent
Jesus Christ. He is both the door and the shepherd. This is not uncommon. In in the
Old Testament prophecies, you got the high priest. You we're
going to see this. You got the high priest. You
got the offering. You got the mercy seat. You got
the tabernacle. Jesus is all of that. So it's
not uncommon for him to be more than one thing in a parable.
And this he is the door and the shepherding tells us plainly
in verse nine, he says, I am the door. OK. And he missed it. Maybe not with me so far. I'm
the door. And he said this in verse 14. I am the good shepherd. OK, so
he tells us who he is. I'm the door and the good shepherd,
the sheep. Who are they? You're not talking
about animals, man. He's talking about people who
are the sheep. They are the elect, the elect. Verse twenty nine. My father,
which gave them me is greater than all. He's talking about
a people the father gave him. Those are the sheep. They were
given to Christ. They are all the sheep and they
are bought. These sheep are purchased. Verse
15. The father knoweth me even so
know I the father and I lay down my life for the sheep. So these sheep are bought by
the blood of Jesus Christ and all the sheep are manifest by
their faith in following Christ. Verse 27 my sheep hear my voice
and they know I know them and they follow me. This is the characteristic
of the sheep. And so this morning, I desire
to look at this character of the door as Jesus describes himself
as the door. We're also going to see him as
the shepherd. Now, Jesus said, Verily, verily,
I say unto you, verse seven, I am the door of the sheep. All
that ever came before me are thieves and robbers. The sheep
did not hear them. And this parable, Jesus says,
tells us of a door that is guarded by a porter. This door was intended only for
one person, the shepherd. That's it. The door and the shepherd
are one in the same. So if you describe the door,
you are also describing what the shepherd. They are both the
same. And it was the porter who must
protect this door from impostors. Therefore, when thieves and robbers
would come into the fold, they must come some other way. They
can't come by the door. They gotta come some other way.
And so then the door only fits one person. It only fits one
person. The shepherd. Now all these people
that Jesus spake to, they knew surely that Christ would be called
by this term, the shepherd. Anyone who had any understanding
of the scriptures of the Old Testament prophecies knew this,
that Christ was to be the shepherd. So when Christ is saying this,
I am the good shepherd, I want you to understand he is saying
I am the Christ. That's when those Jews asked
him, he said, you tell you if you're the Christ, tell us plainly.
I just told you I'm the shepherd. You look at Ezekiel 34, I'll
read it to you, but Ezekiel chapter 34. In verse 11, listen what
the scripture says. For thus saith the Lord, behold,
verse 11. I'll say it, the Lord God, behold,
I even I will both search my sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd. You see, he said,
I'm going to seek out my sheep. Who seeks out this sheep? Only
a shepherd. As a shepherd seek without his
flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered.
So will I, the good shepherd. So will I seek out my sheep and
deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered
in the cloudy and the dark day. Look at verse 22. Chapter 34, verse 22 says, Therefore
I will save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey, and
I will judge between cattle and cattle, and I will set up one
shepherd over them. Got that? Christ. God says, I'm
going to set up a shepherd. I'm going to seek my sheep, and
I'm going to set up one shepherd, and he shall feed them. Who's
the shepherd? Even my servant David. he shall
feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. And we know that this
was not David, but David's son, the offspring of David. David's
son and David's Lord. He would come and feed them and
shall be their shepherd. So I, the Lord, their God, and
my servant David, a prince among them, I, the Lord, have spoken
it. I mean, it's done. When God says
that, I've spoken it. Who's going to dissent all that
or change that? My shepherd's coming. He's going to gather
my sheep. What did Christ saying? He said,
I am the good shepherd. He's speaking of this text. I
am the good shepherd. I've come to seek my sheep and
the Christ, the one that was sent of God to gather sheep and
deliver them is called a ship. So how should the sheep of God,
the elect of God, the church of God know who he is? Now, this
one who's prophesied to come, how are we going to know he's
the good shepherd? We speak of Jesus. How do we
know he's the shepherd? A lot of people don't believe
he's a shepherd. How do we know he is? He testified
that he was. But not only does his testimony,
but the testimony of all scripture shows us that he alone is the
shepherd God sent. He is the Messiah. And so when
it says the porter open it to him, I want you to understand
who the porter is. He's the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the
one who moved and inspired the men to write this book. All scriptures
given by inspiration of God is profitable for doctrine, reproof,
correction, instruction and righteousness. You see, this book was written.
By the Holy Spirit, he's the porter. And as the Holy Scriptures
reveal him, you begin to see the door take shape. Holy Spirit,
the word of God. I was talking to a couple of
men that I know don't know the gospel, don't know anything about
Christ. And they said they heard a message the other day from
a church. And anyway, I said, what is about? He said, Joseph
said, Joseph, you know how he started out real low and he made
all the right decisions and stuff. And then he was exalted. And
that's what we got to do. We just got to make the right
decision. I said, OK, in the message, you hear anything at
all about Jesus Christ? He said, No, message wasn't about him. No, no. The whole thing's about
him. The whole book is about him.
If you're searching for something else in this book, you're missing
the whole point of the book. Jesus said that. He said, search
the scriptures for in them, you think you have eternal righteousness,
but they are they that testify of me, period. That's it. So as we read the Old Testament
scriptures, what is the porter doing? He's showing you the door. He's showing you that Christ
fits. That Jesus fits this. Now, in
the beginning, God promised a Messiah, a Savior. And God did not leave
us without a word as to how He would come and what He should
do. When Adam and Eve sinned, God gave them the first glimpse
at the door. The first glimpse. The first
gospel message was God preaching to them. He said, anybody that
doesn't fit this, he's a thief and a robber and he's come some
other way. First of all, listen. If Christ
is to be the door, He must be the seed of the woman. Genesis 3 and verse 15. The seed
of the woman. He shall crush the head of the
serpent, and the serpent should bruise his heel. This was the
first message concerning Christ. First message that was preached
to sinners anyway. And so then, He must become,
listen, by this we understand He must be a man. He's a seed. He's the seed of the woman. He
must be a man. That's the first thing you realize
about that. A representative man must be
sent of God, and listen, not by natural processes, not the
seed of Adam, but the seed of the woman. It had to be a miraculous
birth. It could not be a standard birth.
It must be miraculous. Therefore, in Isaiah chapter
7, it said this, Behold, a virgin shall conceive And shall bear
a son. And now shall call his name what? Emmanuel. God with us. So then you see the door take
shape. He must be a man and he must
be the seed of the woman. Who else fits that but Jesus?
Anybody else? Anybody else going to fit through
that door? Anybody else going to take shape of that? No, he's
the only one. He's the only one. Secondly,
Christ must be God. He can't be just man. He must
himself be God. Just as I said, his name shall
be called Emmanuel. Who fits that? Who who fits this
category? God and man. Anybody? Only one. You see, the shepherds
started to take shape. The porters opening to you and
what he looks like. Well, who is he? He's a God man. You know, Jesus stumped those
Jews with that question. He said, whose son is David?
Whose son is Christ? And they answered, boy, immediately.
He's David Sunday. They wanted to show off their
their knowledge. They want to tell everybody they
knew the scriptures. Well, he's David's son, of course.
What a silly question. I imagine they disdain the question,
don't you? He's kind of snickered at the question. But then he
asked one more follow-up question. He said this. He said, how then
did David call his son Lord? Can you figure that one out?
The Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand till
I make thine enemies thy footstool. The only answer that David's
son is David's Lord he must be God and man God and man listen
to what Malachi said Malachi chapter 3 in verse 1 says this
I will send my messenger and he shall prepare the way before
me that's John the Baptist you send that messengers prepare
the way for who the messenger the messenger He said, The Lord,
whom you seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the
messenger of the covenant in whom you delight. Behold, he
shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. You see, he must be God
and man. And when Jesus came, he made
no. This is so plain, it's so simple, Jesus made it known to
them who he really was, that he was God. Over in John chapter
8, John chapter 8, he told them, he said, Abraham rejoiced to
see my day and saw it and was glad. And they said, you're not
even 50. No, he wasn't even 33 at that time. He must have looked
old. They said, you're not even 50
and how in the world you're going to say that Abraham saw your
day? And he said, before Abraham was, I am. Now what? Does that mean anything? It meant something to those Jews
because they wanted to kill him. He said, I am God, one that spoke
to Moses. That's me. I am. I am. So you see, the savior of the
door take place, he must be man. He must be of the virgin born
seed of the woman. He must be God manifest in the
flesh. That's why Paul said in first
Timothy 3 16 without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. You know, godliness is a mystery.
You know why? How godliness is obtained. Godliness
is obtained not by us. God was manifest in the flesh.
This is a great mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh.
I remember that story I've told you many times. It was a Unitarian,
didn't believe in the Trinity and didn't believe Christ was
God. Anyway, his brother was a Baptist
preacher and he was going to preach in his stead. And he said,
Look, I want you to preach, but, you know, we got differences
and I want you to preach anything controversial. Preach that text
without controversy. There's no controversy without
controversy. Great is the mystery of God.
God was manifest in the flesh. Thirdly, Christ must come into
the world as the lamb of God. He was not only to be the shepherd,
but he was to be the lamb of God. When God testified to Adam and
Eve of the coming seed of the woman, right after that, he gave
them a picture. A sacrifice. You know, the first
one to offer sacrifice was God. Scripture says, and he clothed
them with the skin. Of animals, the coats of skins,
he clothed them. You see, he must have sacrificed
those animals to clothe them. What a picture of Christ. What
a picture of Christ. And from that day forward God
established the only means of pardon for sin and restoration
of righteousness was shedding of blood. This is why we read the setting
forth of all true and false religion in Genesis 4. In Genesis 4 because
of that sacrifice God established the true religion. the covering of the guilty by
the offering of the innocent. That was established. But you
see then Cain and Abel coming up in Genesis chapter 4 and then
you have the picture of all religions right there. Cain brought forth
the works of his hands. There's all works religion. I
imagine his fruit was the best fruit that you could possibly
have on the face of the earth. He worked really hard. And he set that fruit out there
for God to accept. You know what happened? Nothing. That fruit rotted. God did not
accept it. Then you have Abel who heard
the message of God's offering and he offered the first of his
flock. And God had respect to his offering
and to Abel. And later on, what do you read?
You read of the Passover lamb. You see how this picture is growing?
You see it starts out as a very small thing and it grows over
the scriptures. What is the porter doing? He's
opening the door. He's showing you the door. You
go to the Passover lamb and the offering of the great day of
atonement and all the sacrifices of the law pictured the work
that Jesus Christ, the great shepherd, would come and do.
And in this, what exactly Christ said, I am the good shepherd
that giveth his life for the sheep. He was telling them that's
what I've come to do. I've come to not only be the shepherd,
I've come to be the lamb of God. And so then all the sheep of
God, though chosen of the father and given to Christ, Listen,
all of the sheep of God are by nature sinners. God did give
Christ a people. Christ agreed in a covenant to
save them by His offering. But they did not come into the
world this way. We did not come this way. We
were by nature sinners. We were no different than any
other of Adam's race. We were born dead. And without
hope of ever meriting the favor of God, we could never make ourselves
acceptable to God. But God, having provided some
better thing for us, has given all His elect to Christ. And
behold, the Son of God, the Son of Man, has come into the world
for the express purpose of giving Himself a sacrifice for sin. He tells us that in verse 14
of our text. He says, I am the good shepherd.
I know my sheep and I'm known of mine as the father knoweth
me, even so know the father. And I lay down my life for the
sheep. This is what the porter has required
of Christ, that he obtain righteousness and make an offering for sin. I want to let you think about
that Passover lamb for a minute. Think about that Passover lamb.
The Passover lamb was to be spotless. What is that saying about Christ?
That He was to be sinless, without spot. And then you take it, you
take that lamb and they say offer it in the middle of the congregation.
He was offered in front of everyone. For the sins of His people, He
was offered. Christ is the Lamb of God. And so we see He's the seed of
the woman. We see He is God manifest in the flesh. We see that He
is to be the Lamb of God, the offering for sin. And fourthly,
we're to see this, He is also the High Priest. Are you getting
the picture of Christ as everything so far? I hope you're getting
to see that. Because I've not mentioned anything about you
except sinner. That's what I've said about you. That's all I
can say about us. Well, this whole thing's about
him. He's the lamb and he's the high priest that offers himself.
He said, I lay down my life. Nobody takes this from me. I
lay it down. That's what the priest does.
The priest was to take the life of the lamb. And Christ said,
I take my own. I give myself. And this is why he was made in
high priest that those sons of Aaron could only picture all
those priests. daily, constantly offering the
same sacrifices that could never take away sin. But he wasn't after that order.
He was after a completely different order of priests. Go to Hebrews
chapter 5. God by the Apostle explains this
priesthood of Christ, He says in chapter 5 of Hebrews verse
1, For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for
men in things pertaining to God, that he may both offer gifts
and sacrifices for sins. That's what a priest was done,
they take him from among the men and He does the things of
God for the people. Look at this in verse 5, so also
Christ. He said these priests, that's
what they did, but this is what they were there for, picture
Christ. So Christ glorified not Himself to be made an high priest,
But he that said unto him, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten
thee. He saith also in another place, Thou art a priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek. You see, his priesthood was not
one of time, but eternity. That's what he's talking about.
God chose Christ to be the priest. An eternal priest. You know what
happened to every one of those priests in the Old Testament?
They died. Somebody else had take their
place. Jesus Christ needed no other substitute to take his
place. He is the eternal high priest. Therefore, Jesus, the
great high priest. In that he represented all of
the elect of God. And so when he lived upon the
face of the earth in obedience to the law, he was fulfilling
the law in the stead of his people. You see, the high priest was
a representative. Everything the high priest did, he did for
the people. So Christ, everything Christ
did as the high priest, he did for the people. And what was the result of his
work? As a representative, as Jesus
Christ walked among men, what was the result of his work? God
already prophesied of this. The porter already told you.
The porter told you what he would do. In Isaiah chapter 42, he
says, The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness sake. He will magnify the law and make
it honorable. What did Christ do? What was
he doing 33 years of his life? Before his death, what was Christ
doing as our high priest? He was obtaining righteousness. He was obeying the law. He was
magnifying the law and making it honorable. Which of us did
that? We only broke the law. We didn't magnify it. He magnified
it. There was only one righteous
man that ever lived. Only one. The only man that ever
pleased God was Christ. That's it. He told them, I came not to destroy
the law, but what? To fulfill the law. To fulfill
the law. He didn't destroy it. He honored
it. He magnified it. For who? Himself? He was already righteous. He did not need to do that for
Himself. He was a high priest. He did
it for His people. You that are saved, listen, you're
righteous because of His righteousness. And we don't add anything to
that righteousness. He did it all. What are you going to add
to it? What are you going to do You
don't put a cherry on top of this. And, you know, he he he's
all my righteousness. But, you know, I tell you what,
one more thing needs to be done. Let me just do. I thought Sistine Chapel, right? A beautiful work of art. What
if I just said, you know what? I think maybe I can add to that.
Give me a box of crayons and go up there. I start drawing
some extra figures in there. How foolish. But how foolish
is it to suppose we can add anything to the righteousness of Christ?
He is our righteous. See, God required righteousness
that we could not fill, and he fulfilled the righteousness of
God. But not only righteousness, but
blood was required. The priest must also offer a
sacrifice, not like the great day of atonement is a great picture
of that. Remember the priest? He'd come in and he'd dawn that
linen white robe. What a picture. That's a picture
of Christ's righteousness. He dawns humanity. And he is
completely pure and righteous. And then what? He kills that
animal. blood is all over his righteous
white garments Christianity is a bloody religion
friends it is but it just requires the blood of one Christ Christ
and so then as our atonement he offered himself to For without
the shedding of blood is no remission of sins. Therefore God said that
Christ should satisfy his justice for the sins of his sheep. I lay down my life for the sheep. Go to Isaiah chapter 53. Isaiah chapter 53, look at verse
5 again, we're using this illustration of the scriptures, the porter
again is showing you the door, he's showing you that everything
Christ said in John 10 has already been said about him. He says, verse 5, but he was wounded for
our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities,
a chastisement of our peace was upon him. And by his stripes,
we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray
and turned everyone to his own way. But the Lord had laid on
him the iniquity of us all. You see, he's using the same
illustration Jesus is using the borders opening here. You see,
what does it say about you? We all went astray. What does
it say about the shepherd, the great high priest, the God-man?
What does it say about him? The Lord hath laid on him the
iniquity of us all. All our iniquity was laid on
him. Have you any sin? Believer, you have any sin? You
know how you're going to be accepted with God? God took all that sin,
laid it on his son. Look at verse 11 of that chapter,
it says, The result of what God determined to do to these sheep,
for these sheep, to save them, to heal them, here's the result,
And he shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied. God already determined, when
I see his blood, I'm going to be satisfied. And by His knowledge shall my
righteous servant justify many. Consider the knowledge of Christ.
That's by His knowledge. You realize from His birth, He
understood what He was to do. By His knowledge. His knowledge
of the law, His knowledge of God, the knowledge of His people.
I know my sheep. I know who they are. I know how
I'm going to save them. Consider it Gethsemane the knowledge
of Christ knowing that he was to be made sin in Agony poured
out sweat as it were great drops of blood by his knowledge not
by my knowledge by his knowledge Shall my righteous servant justify
many for he shall bear their iniquities and here's the result
success Therefore, I would divide him a portion with the great
and he shall divide spoil with the strong because he had poured
out his soul under death. He was numbered with the transgressors
and he bear the sins of many. Man, that should do away with
all universal atonement. Shouldn't it? He bear the sins
of. Many. Not all. All his sheep. But not all men. And made intercession for the
transgressors. Behold, Christ then would come.
Behold what the porter says. He should come to satisfy the
justice of God numbered with the transgressors. And you don't see clearly that
Christ Jesus, the Nazarene alone fit this. Description. To him alone does the porter
open. It was Jesus Christ, the spotless
Lamb of God, without blemish, was crucified. And was not just being hung between
two thieves, he was counted as a transgressor. No, he was counted
as a transgressor by God. Not that he had any sin of his
own. But the scripture says he was
made sin for us. It was there upon Calvary's tree
that our shepherd bore our sins in his own body on the tree. He bore our sins. And when God
saw our sin, He who could not look upon sin turned his back
upon his son. He forsook his son. All mercy
and love had gone and turned to vengeance and wrath. The reproach of them that reproached
thee has fallen upon me. And what was the end result of
his offering? God was satisfied. You know how I can be confident
that God is satisfied with me? Because God was satisfied with
Christ. That's my only confidence God's
ever going to be satisfied with me. I'm not going to look around
and say, well, you know, I preach the gospel for many years. I
did a lot of studying. I read a lot of books. I witnessed
to a lot of people. A lot of people were converted
under my ministry. You know what? None of those
things satisfied God. The only hope I have is that
God was satisfied. Christ. That's it. That's my hope. All my eggs in
one basket. Christ, and it's a safe basket.
Very safe. God says I'm satisfied. Daniel
said this in Daniel 9 24 says 70 weeks are determined upon
thy people upon the holy city to finish the transgression make
an end of sins and make reconciliation for iniquity you see all three
are present transgression iniquity and sin all done finished to bring in everlasting righteousness
You see, that's what Christ, that's what the shepherd, the
porter says about the shepherd, about Christ. You see, does he
not fit this door? Does he not fit? Everything fits. Fifthly, Christ must be raised
from the dead. It's just it's a big one. It's a big one. Why
do you think they all trying to tell us that, you know, oh,
we found his tomb over here. I said this for 100, you know,
2000 years been saying, oh, his tomb's over here. No, no, no,
it's it's over here. And we know where the real tomb is. They
got a clue. But you know what? Wherever it is, it's empty. It's
empty. I love this. There were more
people that saw the risen Christ and signed the Declaration of
Independence. We believe in that document we have over there in
Washington, D.C. We believe that those men really
signed it. Why? There's 120 of them in the
room. I think it was that much, but
probably more than that, a little more than that. But more men
saw Christ when He rose from the dead. But I don't believe that. What
I believe is what the porter said about it. Christ the Spirit
said about it and in Psalm chapter 16 he says thou will not leave
my soul in hell neither will thou see neither without suffer
that holy one to see corruption this is speaking of Christ matter
of fact Peter tells us about that in Acts chapter 2 after
his resurrection Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God, you have taken by wicked hands and crucified
and slain whom God has raised up, having loosed the pains of
death because it's not possible that he should be holding of
it. And now God has raised Christ
from the dead and set him upon the throne of God. And here is
the purpose and will of the Savior. Listen to what Christ said about
himself. He said that I am the good shepherd. I give my life for the sheep.
My sheep hear my voice. And they follow me. What is the
purpose of the shepherd? What is the porter opening and
telling us about the shepherd? He is going to call his sheep.
He is risen and ascended to the throne of God for this purpose
to call his sheep by name. Very personal. Intimate calling,
isn't it? When I think of his calling,
I think of Lazarus. There Lazarus was, he was dead.
He was dead and anyone in that crowd could have called his name.
Anybody call his name, you know what would happen? Nothing. Lazarus, get up, please. Nothing. Mary and Martha sitting there,
Lord, Lazarus, please come, come back to us, come back to us.
Nothing. But when the shepherd came, he
said, Lazarus, come forth. Now, was there anything else
that Lazarus could do? Was he asking Lazarus to, please,
Lazarus, would you please come up? Would you please get up so
I can show these people I'm not? No. Lazarus, get up. Come here. He could do nothing
but get up. What was that a picture of? God
calling his sheep. You that are called. When he
called you, could you do anything else but believe? Right now,
can you do anything else? Do you want to do anything else?
Is there anything else you want to do but believe on Christ?
Is there anything else? Why? I heard him. He called me. And his call was not a question. It was a command. It had power. It was a call of love and a call
of grace, a call of mercy. I was dead. And he said, get
up. Come here. I couldn't do anything
else. Don't you see this door only
fits one person? The only one could save me was
Jesus Christ. Only one could call me was him.
He called me by his spirit, but I heard his voice. You know why? The spirit doesn't do anything
but testify of Christ. Have you found that out? The spirit didn't
say anything at all about himself in all those texts. Spirit was
writing it, but he didn't say anything about himself. What
did he say? Look at the shepherd. Spirit always points to Christ.
And so then the sheep are known by this faith in Christ. Are you one of his sheep? Are
you one that he came as a priest and an offering to save? Are you given to him of the father?
Are you purchased by his blood? Are you clothed in his righteousness?
How do you know? My sheep hear my voice and they
follow me. No one else. Listen, you're his
sheep. You're not following me. I'm
just telling you about him. And when you hear him, what do
you do? You follow him. Why? It's just natural for a
sheep to follow the shepherd. If they're his, they ain't gonna
do nothing else but follow him. Faith in Christ alone, and that's
why Jesus said that in chapter 10. He said, I am the door, verse
9. Is he not the door? Have we not
proved that? Has the porter not opened to him? Is He God manifest
in the flesh? Is He the virgin born Son of
God? Yes. Has He come as an offering for
sin and a high priest? Yes. Was He successful? Yes. Did He call me? Yes. Yes, I am the door by me. If any man enter in, he shall
be saved. Is that not clear enough for
you? I fit everything the spirit says about Christ. Come to me
and be saved. Is there any question about that?
No. Now, listen. What good is it
for you to just measure the door but not come in? A lot of people
are measuring Christ. They look at the scriptures and
they say, oh yeah, he fits this. Oh yeah, he fits that. Look at
that. Okay. And then they just walk away. Well, knowing he's
the door is not enough. Knowing he's the door is not
enough. If any man enter in, to enter in is to believe. It
is, just as we said, I am persuaded that He is able to keep that
which I've committed unto Him. I know whom I have believed.
That's what it is to enter the door. It's not just to know the
door. I know whom I believe. Do you?
Do you know Him? Are you persuaded that He's able?
Well, my friend, you've entered the door. And there's a reason. He shall
be saved. Any question about that? any
conjecture, anything out of sorts, maybe, you know,
He didn't say, I am the door, if any man enter in, he might
be saved. Well, if he'll just do this, then he could make it. No, he shall be saved. He shall
be saved. Christ is the door. I am the
Christ. I am the Savior. I am the door. I am the shepherd. I am the high
priest. I am God manifest in the flesh.
If any man come to me, I will save him. What type of people come to Christ? You that come to Christ, what
type of person are you? I'm a sinner. It's only people he receives. That's good, because that's all
I am. All I have to offer is that I'm a sinner. I don't have anything to give.
I don't have anything to add. I don't deserve what you've done. Good, that's the kind of people
he saves. Sinners. When he calls you, I know this. You will intervene. You will. I think of that Passover lamb
again, you think about that young man, the first born. Scripture says they were take
the blood of that lamb and put it on the door. And after that,
they were to go inside the door. You may not understand that.
It's simple, isn't it? First blood, firstborn need to
be inside the door. There's the door, I'm inside.
You know what I can't see? Can't see the blood. How often do you and I fear because
we can't see? Believe the blood is sufficient. Often we doubt. Often we fear. Does that make the blood any
less efficient? That first born in there, Dad,
you sure the lamb was pure? Are you sure that you put the
blood on all sides of the door? Yes, son, I'm sure. Now, what
we say to the father, are you sure he's enough? Yeah, I'm sure
testifies to me is enough. And just like that firstborn
inside was safe, so are you, if you've entered into Christ,
you are safe. He says this. I am the door,
if any man come in by me, he shall be saved and listen, go
in and out and find what? Food, food. This morning we've
come in under Christ. We've come in to what? Be fed. My soul needs to be fed. Not this frame, not this physical
body. My soul needs to be fed. A lady asked me one time, she
said, what kind of programs do you have for your children? I
said, we have the same program for the children as we have for
you. The gospel of Jesus Christ, him crucified. What they need,
you need. And what you need, they need.
And only sheep really like it. The only sheep gonna feed on
it. But then we also go out. You're gonna go out of here in
just a minute. You know what you find in here and out there?
Pasture. He'll lead you out there just
like he's leading you in here. Why? He is the door. He is the shepherd. He is the savior of his people. With all my heart, I've always
desired to set Christ before you. Why? That's what the porter does.
What the Holy Spirit does. What this book is about. About
Christ. And his sheep. Don't want to
hear anything else. Because I need him. I need him. I pray if you need him, come
to him. And he will save you. Even you. Even you. I know if you're not a sinner,
that's offensive. What do you mean even me? But to the center
said, even me. Even me, yeah, even you. Even you. I pray God bless this,
stand and be dismissed in prayer. Father dismiss us with your blessing
and your mercies upon us please. I do pray that you would remove
all things from the minds and hearts of your people except
Christ. Every time we read or study,
pray, we should magnify Him and His work. I pray you'd open this to our
hearts and I pray, Father, that you would cause sinners to come
in by Jesus Christ and be saved and find rest. I pray you do
it for your own glory in Jesus' name. Amen.