I was thinking in the last two
days, I just want to hear songs of praise. I just want, you know,
I was just thinking about that. And then that song comes up. That was just providential. That
was so providential. Just, it was about praise. And
that's what we're here for is to praise the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what we're here for. Now
the message has to do with three doors and a shepherd this morning. This message is a continuation
of chapter eight. It's not, it's not another at
another time and another message. It's our Lord is still continuing
this sermon and this message, this conversation with the Pharisees,
this is still going on. So we keep that in mind. You
remember, our Lord had left the temple back in chapter eight
because they wanted to stone him for what he had to say. And
in chapter nine, it's all given to this blind man. The healing
of this blind man, giving sight to him, and how that after he
had been given sight, The Pharisees called him, interrogated him,
upset that he was healed on the Sabbath day. They called his
parents in, interrogated them, and they said, he's of age, ask
him. And this blind man, as they asked him these questions, he
didn't know much, but what he knew was this, a man named Jesus,
called Jesus, gave me my sight. And he did not back down. He
did not back down. And they excommunicated him.
And the Lord found him looking for him after he heard he'd been
cast out. And then he revealed himself
to him as the son of God. And he said, Lord, I believe.
And he worshiped is what he did. And this story continues now.
And the Lord here gives a parable. And in this parable, he gives
very familiar examples. the porter, the door, the sheepfold,
the thieves and robbers, the shepherd. He kept it simple. And I think
we have to learn, us who preach, we have to learn to keep it simple. Not try to be intellectual, just
keep it simple, as our Lord did. Now he begins with a sheepfold.
You see, in each city there was a sheepfold, and it was surrounded
by high walls to keep the thieves and the robbers out. That's what
those high walls were for. It was to protect the sheep at
nighttime. The shepherds would bring their sheep into town,
into the city, and then they would take them over to this
sheep pen, and the porter there who kept that lot, He would let
the sheep in, and then the shepherds would go off and spend the night,
and then they'd come back the next morning. And when they came
back the next morning, the porter would open to the shepherd, and
they would call their sheep, and their sheep would come out
to them, to their voice. They knew the shepherd's voice.
I mean, the shepherd would come in and call his sheep, and he'd
call them by name. And those sheep would come out
and follow him. And that's the example our Lord has given here,
because you see, this blind man, who was blind from birth, heard
the shepherd's voice, and he followed them. The thieves and
the robbers, the Pharisees, did not hear his voice. And he says,
the reason you didn't hear my voice, he says later on in this
chapter, because you're not of my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. And so this is how the story
takes off. And the Lord says in verse one,
verily, verily, I say unto you, I'm telling you something very
important. He's speaking to the Pharisees
now. He's speaking to the Jews that are standing around there
and the Pharisees. I'm telling you something very important.
Listen to me. Listen to what I have to say.
He that enters not by the door into the sheepfold. This is the
first door. It's the door into the sheepfold. And what he's saying, he that
does not come by the prescribed way, the way of redemption, the
way of blood, the way of righteousness, the way the father has set forth. The father is the porterman here
in this parable. And he's the one who opens the
door. He's the one who lets the shepherd in. He's the one who
recognizes the shepherd. He's the one who set up the credential,
so to speak, of the shepherd, the true shepherd. And he says
here that he that enters not by the door into the sheepfold,
the prescribed way, the ordained way, which is the way of redemption,
the way of blood, the way of righteousness, anyone who claims
to be Messiah has to have this. They have to have it. But he
climbs up some other way, some other way than prescribed by
the father. That's what he's saying. He may
come by works, he may come by heritage, whatever it is, but
he climbs up some other way. He climbs up over the wall. Now,
why would you climb over a wall when you got a door there? Because
the thief and the robber knows they're not allowed in. They
know they're not the Messiah. They know they don't have the
credentials. that the porter prescribed. They don't have it,
so they climb up over the wall. You see, the thief and the robber
climbed up some other way. He tries any and every other
way except the right way that the father laid down before the
foundation of the world. He comes any other way but the
prescribed way. And the same who does this is
a thief and a robber. He's not the shepherd. HE'S NOT
THE SHEPHERD. THE SHEEP ARE NOT HIS. THEY'RE
NOT HIS. THESE FALSE SHEPHERDS TRY TO
COME IN, THEY TRY TO ROB CHRIST OF HIS GLORY, AND ROB THE SHEEP
OF THE BLESSINGS. AND THE SHEEP HERE, AS WE'LL
SEE LATER ON, THEY DON'T HEAR THE STRANGER'S VOICE. THEY HEAR
THE MASTER'S VOICE. THEY HEAR HIS VOICE. But the
reason these thieves and robbers come, they only come to feed
themselves. Look over in Ezekiel 34. You
can read that whole chapter later on sometime, but Ezekiel 34.
Let me read something here because
he's talking about these thieves and robbers are false prophets,
what they are. In chapter 34. I didn't mark that down, so take
me a minute to get there. Look in verse 1. And the word
of the Lord came to me, saying, Son of man, prophesy against
the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy I say unto them, Thus
saith the Lord God unto the shepherds, Woe be to the shepherds of Israel
that feed themselves. Should not the shepherds feed
the flocks? You eat the fat and you clothe you with wool, you
kill them that are fed, but you feed not the flock. The disease
have you not strengthened, neither have you healed that which was
sick, neither have you bound up that which was broken, neither
have you brought again that which was driven away, neither have
you sought that which was lost, but with force and with cruelty
have you ruled them. Our Lord heals this man and they're
mad. They're so mad they want to kill
him. And they were scattered because there's no shepherd,
and they became meat to all the beasts of the field when they
were scattered. My sheep wandered through all the mountains and
upon every high hill. Yea, my flock was scattered upon
all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after
them. The thief is interested in nothing
but themselves, and feeding themselves, and fleecing the sheep, getting
out of the sheep what they can get out of them. That's all it's
about. But now listen, He that entereth in by the door, the
ordained way of God, the ordained way set by the Father, righteousness,
blood, sacrifice. You see, He has the proper credentials. Christ entered by the door that
was ordained by the Father. He's no imposter. They called
Him a blasphemer, an imposter. That's what they called Him.
He's telling them, I'm no imposter. I've got their credentials. All
you got to do is Oh, you know, listen, that's what he's saying.
Listen to me. Listen, he's no imposter. He has the proper credential. He has all that the porter requires. He has all of it. He has all
that the father requires. Our Lord came according to the
scriptures. What Paul say in first Corinthians 15, three and
four. Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.
He was buried and rose again according to the Scriptures.
The Scriptures back up his claim as Messiah. As God, the Scriptures
back it up. To him, to this shepherd, to
this shepherd, the porter, God the Father, openeth. Openeth. The porter opens the door of
the sheepfold to him and no one else, because there is no other
shepherd. He's the only one. He's the only
one who has the right to the sheep that's in that sheepfold
he's talking about. He's the only one that has the
right to it. Look over in verse 29 of John chapter 10. In verse 29, My Father which
gave them Me, the sheep, is greater than all, and no man is able
to pluck them out of My Father's hand. He gave them to Me, they're
Mine. I have a right to them, and I
have the right credentials to them. Blood, the blood of atonement,
righteousness, obedience, He has it all. He has it all. And
this shows here also, listen, to Him the porter openeth. This
shows the Father's approval of Him. He doesn't open it to anyone
else. To Him the porter openeth. Look
over in Psalm 24. We're in Psalm 24. Listen to this. Verse 7. Lift up your heads, O ye gates,
and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory
shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The
Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your
heads, O ye gates, even lift them up, ye everlasting doors,
and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory?
The Lord of hosts, He's the King of glory. See, He has the right
credentials. Who's the door opened up to?
this sheepfold, it's opened up to the Lord Jesus Christ, the
King of Glory, that's who He is, the right credential. And
when He enters in and He calls His sheep, And I believe he's
speaking here, I think this first door and this sheepfold has to
do with Judaism. It has to do with the Jews. It
says that the gospel was preached to the Jews first, and then to
the Gentiles. We'll see that door in a minute.
But right now he's speaking to these Pharisees, he's speaking
to these Jews, and he's saying here that the porter, the sheep
that are in this sheepfold, God has sheep in Jerusalem. That's
where the gospel was preached first. And the first church that
had rose up was in Jerusalem. And the sheep hear His voice.
Our Lord's in the tent. He is speaking the truth. He's
telling them the truth. He's giving it so powerfully.
He's revealing himself as God. They take up stones to stone
him. He walks out of the temple. He
saw a blind man, blind from birth, told that he put spit and clay
and made clay out of it, mud thing out of it, put it on his
eyes, told him to go wash in a pool of Siloam. He went and
he came seeing. You know why he went? He heard
the shepherd's voice. That's exactly why he went. He
did exactly what the voice of the shepherd said. He heard his
voice. He's blind as a bat. Couldn't
see anything. But he heard his voice. He heard
him. There's a sheep. That sheep's
his. He has a right to that sheep.
Those Pharisees, those men who were educated in the Word of
God, they couldn't hear him. Because he's not of their sheep.
He said that so plainly. I'll show you that in a minute.
That blind man heard his master's voice. Oh, the sheep hear his voice. His sheep hear his voice. They
know the voice of their master when he calls them. There are
many voices calling out to the sheep. Satan is so subtle. He sends out a lot of voices.
He sends out a lot of voices. But the sheep don't hear any
voice but one voice when God saves them. And that's the voice
of the shepherd, the good shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ. When by
grace they hear his gospel voice, They follow Him. They follow
Him. Listen to these scriptures. In
Matthew 9, 9. And as Jesus passed forth from
thence, He saw a man, just like He saw that blind man. He didn't
just, He saw everybody around there. He could see everyone
around there. But He saw, He saw a man named Matthew sitting
at the receipt of custom, and He saith unto him, follow me. That's all He said. He didn't
sit down and explain the gospel to him. He didn't. He said, follow
me. And listen, he said, follow me,
and he arose, Matthew did, sitting there at the seat of customs. And he arose and followed him. John 1, 43, the day following,
Jesus would go forth into Galilee and find Philip. He's looking
for him. He's looking for Ishii. He's
on the trail of his sheep. He findeth Philip, because he's
looking for Philip, and he says unto him, he just says this two
words, follow me, follow me. There's no long explanation.
There's no theological explanation. He just says, follow me. And
with that command goes the power to do it. You see, Matthew got
up from the receipt of customs, left the money there, just got
up and left. Matthew 4, 18-20, And Jesus,
walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw, see there's that word again,
saw two brethren. Simon called Peter and Andrew's
brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers. They
were at work with their father. And he saith unto them, He's
walking by the sea. Now, he's not strolling. This
is not a stroll. He's walking by the sea on purpose. He's going
to go by this boat where they're fishing. He saw them casting
nets. They were not next to the shore.
These men are not doctors at shore. They're throwing their
net. They're out there. They're out there deep enough
to fish. And he said to them, follow me
and I'll make you fishers of men. And they straightway, straightway,
they didn't say, well, wait a minute. Like that one man said, well,
let me go bury my father. He said, let the dead bury the
dead. You come and follow me. And he said to them, follow me
and I'll make you fishers of men. And they straightway left
their nets and followed him. They got out of the boat and
said, goodbye, dad. They said goodbye. He that loves
mother, father, sister, brother more than me is not worthy of
me. They didn't turn around and consider dad to be left in the
boat. What are we going to do? They got out of the boat and
followed him. If Jesus Christ ever says to
you and me, follow me, we'll do it. If he walks by, if he
passes by this morning, And he says to someone here this morning,
follow me. I promise you, you'll follow.
When that shepherd calls, you hear his voice, and you won't
have this excuse or that excuse. You'll follow the master's voice.
Some of you have already done it. Some of you have followed
the master, and you're still following him. You're still following
him. When the shepherd calls, the sheep follow. And he calleth
his, now listen, He didn't just call sheep. He didn't just say,
here, sheep. He didn't do that. He calleth
his own sheep by name. You see, the shepherds back then
gave their sheep names like we do to our dogs now. You know,
we give our dogs names. They gave their sheep names. And they would call them by name. And he calleth, now this is so
important. This is so important. If a person
cannot see election in this, they don't want to see it. They
don't want to see it. It's so evident in this scripture. He calleth and he continually
calls us. You know, he's continually calling
us to himself. He calls his own sheep by name.
By doing this, number one, he shows ownership. They're his
sheep. He owns them. He bought them
with the price, his blood, his obedience. By doing this, he's
showing his love for them. They're my sheep. They're my
sheep. Nobody else's. If there's 99
sheep and one has gone astray, he says the shepherd, the true
shepherd, the loving shepherd, goes after them. You see, I hardly
won't go after them. I hardly will say, well, you
know, 99, 99% is, that's pretty good odds. I mean, that's a pretty
good number. You know, that's good numbers to a businessman,
isn't it? 99% profit? You know, I only
lost 1%. Jesus Christ, to him, that's
total failure. That is total failure to the
Lord Jesus Christ, to lose one. To lose one. He goes after that
one. You see, the hireling says, I
ain't going out there. The bear, the lion, and whatever else can
have it. He goes out and gets it. And then it shows his care for
their sheep. Cast all your cares upon him,
for he careth for you. He loves the sheep, he knows
the sheep, he has knowledge of the sheep, and he cares for the
sheep. Who's cared for you all your
life? Who cared for Gomer? Who left her her corn and her
wine? She thought it was her lovers. We may think because
of our intelligence, our super intelligence, that we're able
to make this great living, have a great job. God gave that to
us. You know how fast you can be
made to be dumb as a box of rocks? You can get hit in the head on
the way home and you won't even know your name or anybody else's. He gives us the intelligence
we have, the abilities we have. Lord, it's all yours. It's all
yours. Talent to gifts we have, to sing,
to preach, to do, to give, to pray, that's all given of God.
That's all given of God. Our Lord knew every one of His
sheep before they ever knew Him. He knew me before I knew Him. Madison was saying the other
day, was in there, she says, I don't like my name. She was
just saying, I don't like my name. I like change. She didn't
like the name Madison. I told Vickie this the other
day, or yesterday, I think it was, yesterday or the day before
yesterday. I said, I love my name. I love my name. It's a peculiar name. It's a special name. I have a
special name. You know, one day when I was
born, mom and dad, no doubt, were saying, what do we name
him? This or that? You know, they settled upon Jonathan
Darryl Chapman. Well, Chapman's an automatic,
but they settled upon Jonathan Darryl. Do you know why they
settled upon that? They said, you know, I like that
name. Yeah, let's call him that. That name was written in the Lamb's
Book of Life before the foundation of the world. I love that name.
God gave it to me. God gave me my name. And they're
standing there in a hospital or mom probably laying there
in a bed trying to decide, what do we call him? You're going
to call me exactly what God's called me long before creation. I'm telling you the truth. I
wouldn't change my name for nothing. I might change it to a name that's
not written there. Yeah, you don't want that, do you? I don't
want that. I keep my name. Listen, He calleth
His own sheep by name, and He leadeth them out. He doesn't
send them out. He leadeth them out. You see,
that's why I say that I believe He's speaking to the Jews here.
He's speaking of Judaism because the Lord doesn't lead His sheep
out of the church. He leads them into it. He's leading
them out. He led that blind man and the
others whom He saved, He led them out of Judaism. He led them
out of that ceremonialism. He led them out of that legalism.
He leads them out of whatever ism they're in. Paganism. Whatever it is. He leads, and
He continually leads us out. That's what He's doing. He leads
us out. He does so by His Spirit, by His Gospel, by His grace. He continually leads us out. this world he calls us out out
from the world come you out from among them saith the Lord he leads us out of these things
and when he puts forth his sheep when he brings them out when
he brings them out listen now listen when he put it forth his
own sheep these are his these are his he goes before them Whenever he calls his sheep out
of or from wherever they are, he goes before them, he doesn't
go behind them, he's not driving them, they're not goats, they're
sheep. He never calls us to go back, but to go forward, he calls
us out to himself. Exodus 14, 15, And the LORD said
unto Moses, Wherefore cryest thou unto me? Speak unto the
children of Israel, that they go forward. You see, the finish
line, the finish line in any race, I've never, ever seen a
finish line behind the race. You don't start to, no, the finish
line is always in front of you. Paul said this in Philippians
3, 14, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling
of God in Christ Jesus. Heaven is onward and upward. HE CALLS THEM FORTH, HE PUTS
THEM FORTH, HE CALLS THEM FORTH, HE LEADS THEM FORTH, BY EXAMPLE,
BY HIS WORD, BY HIS SPIRIT, HE LEADS US, LEADS US. HE GOETH BEFORE THEM. Well, this
verse just meant so much more to me after I was reading that
scripture there, it says, HE GOETH BEFORE THEM. Listen to
John 14, 2 and 3, IN MY FATHER'S HOUSE ARE MANY MANSIONS If it
were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place
for you. I'm going before you. I'm going,
I'm going into heaven itself to prepare a place for a place
of acceptance. I'm preparing a place for you.
You know, heaven is a place prepared for his sheep and the Lord went
before and prepared it. He's not preparing it now. He's
preparing it. It's ready. He's just making
us ready. It's ready. And if I go and prepare
a place for you, if I go ahead and prepare a place for you,
I'll come again, receive you to myself. I'll come to the sheepfold
and I'll call them out. And I'll call them out one by
one. And where I am, there may you
be also. And he says here, and the sheep
follow him. He goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for
they know his voice. One of the unique things about
sheep is this. They know the shepherd's voice,
and they follow wherever he leads. And a stranger, he says, will
they not follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the
voice. And that word voice also has the meaning of tone. You
know, our voice has a certain tone to it. Everyone's voice
here has a certain tone. And I tell you this, the children
of the parents know the tone of that voice. They know the
tone of that voice. I don't care if you have a thousand
people in here. If there's a thousand people
in here and my father spoke, I'd know the tone of that voice.
A stranger they'll not follow, for they know not the voice of
strangers. A sheep will not follow a stranger. You know, we teach
our children not to follow strangers, don't we? God teaches his children
not to follow strangers also. It's amazing how in tune sheep
are to their shepherd. They're in tune to his voice.
And then he gives an example as I wind this down. He just
said, my sheep hear my voice, stranger they'll not follow.
He's the true shepherd. In verse six, this parable spake
Jesus unto them, but they understood not what things they were of
which he spake unto them. He said, my sheep hear my voice,
stranger they'll not follow. And those Pharisees he was speaking
to and some other Jews standing around there, they said, what
is he talking about? Do you know what he's talking about? I know what he's talking about.
I can hear the voice. I hear what he's saying. I hear
what he's saying. Look over in John chapter 10
there, look over in 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. Jesus answered
them, I told you, I told you plainly, and you believe not.
The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me.
They saw the man that was blind, now see. But you believe not,
here's why. God, you're not my sheep. As
I said to you, my sheep hear my voice. I know them, they follow
me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which
gave them to me is greater than all. No man is able to pluck
them out of my Father's hand. You see, the porter gave them
to him. The Father opened the door and gave him the sheep back
in eternity. He says, the reason you don't
hear my voice The reason you're turning a deaf ear to me is because
you're not my sheep. That's the truth. You have to
deny scriptures and say that's not so. It's so. And now we come
to the second door. Then said Jesus unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. See, the
first door had to do with the shepherd and his right to the
sheep. This door is the one that the
sheep enter, and they have right to the kingdom of God. They have right to heaven. They
have right to heaven. Jesus Christ is the door from
which we pass from death unto life. He is the door from which
we go from works to grace, from self-righteousness to His righteousness,
from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of life. He is
the door of the sheep. You see, we go through Him, we
are in Him, and it is in Him that we enter into glory. You
see, a door is for one purpose, that's to either come into this
room or go out of this room. It's to either come from outside
in or from inside out. And He'll tell us here in a minute
that He's the door in which we go in and out. We're never outside
of Him. Our Lord is the door, listen,
He's the door into the church. Not baptism, not the Lord's table,
not a profession. Christ Himself is the door into
the church. Now, we confess Him by baptism,
but He's the door. He's the door. And there's only
one door, and that's Him. There's no other way. He said,
I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but
by me. All that ever came before me thieves and robbers all that
ever came claiming to be Messiah there is a good you know there's
some really good on the internet I googled this this morning to
how many how many messiahs has how many people have claimed
to be Messiah unbelievable list did all these different names
of men that have come along claiming to be the Messiah but none of
them had the credentials to that the porter laid down in his word,
that he laid down in that covenant of grace. None of them had that
credentials. He said, all that ever came before
me claiming to be the Messiah were thieves and robbers. But
the sheep did not hear them. No sheep ever followed a false
prophet to final destruction. No sheep. You know, heaven is
made up of an innumerable company of men and women saved by the
grace of God, the blood of Christ, the righteousness of Christ.
Not one ever followed a false prophet to final ruin. He has 100% success. He said in Isaiah 42, my servant
shall not fail. If one perishes, he failed, he
failed. The sheep did not follow any
of those false prophets to eternal ruin. And even now, in our day, our day, the Lord Jesus Christ
is going to call his sheep. Now, some of them may be in this congregation somewhere, and another
one somewhere, and another one somewhere else, but he knows
where they are, and he's going to call them out. When the Lord
called me by His grace, when I heard the gospel, and I heard
the gospel in power, and He called me, I tried to stay where I was
at. I wanted to stay there, and I wanted to tell them the truth.
I told them, I mean, I was excited. And when I told them the truth,
the pastor got mad at me. I was serious. I was surprised. I thought, I've found something
here. I mean, I have good news, and
I was telling him about it, and he got mad. And I was talking
to Henry about it. And Henry said to me, he said,
you'll probably have to leave there. He knew I'd have to leave
there, but he didn't say, well, you got to leave there. He just
said, you'll probably have to leave there. Well, it wasn't a few
weeks later. I had to leave there. It got so bad. I had to leave. One preacher stood in the pulpit,
and I was sitting up next to the front row, and he said, we
have a Calvinist in our midst now. No, you don't. You have a believer. You have
a child of God, you have a sheep whom the Lord has found, revealed
the gospel to, that's what you have. And I had to leave there,
I couldn't stay. I couldn't stay. And no sheep
will stay under a false gospel. Not when he hears the shepherd,
not when he or she hears the shepherd's voice, you're not
staying, I promise you, you're not gonna stay. You're gonna
leave, you're gonna leave. And then the last door, and I'm
going to make this brief. I am, you know, she says, I am, I am
the light. This is God speaking. God's the
shepherd. God's our shepherd. I am the
door by me. If any man you see, he was speaking
to the, to the Pharisees, the Jews talking about Judaism. Now
he's, now he's speaking to us Gentiles. He's speaking to his
other sheep. I am the door by me if any man
enter in, he shall be saved and go in and out and find pasture.
Our Lord been speaking to the Jews, and now He's speaking to
us. If any man enter in. One may say, but what if I'm
not a sheep? What if I'm not a sheep? Are
you any man? I am. Boy, that just opened the
door wide open, any man. Whosoever will. If any man enter
in, look over in John, look over in verse 16, look in verse 16. And verse 15, as the father knoweth
me, even so know I the father, and I lay down my life for the
sheep, and other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them
also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall
be one fold and one shepherd. We're not Jews and Gentiles.
were one fold. There's one true Israel, the
spiritual Israel of God, and it's made up of Jews and Gentiles. And our Lord is the door by which
Jew and Gentile enter God's church, God's presence, and God's heaven. He said, I'm the door. And you'll
go in and out and find pasture. That is, you'll go in the church
for fellowship, exactly what you did this morning. Here you
are this morning. You came in here or fellowship. You came
in here to hear from the shepherd. You came in here. Now, in a little
while, we're going to go out. And now he tells us this, whether
you come in here, whether you go out, you're going to find
pasture because the shepherd is going to lead you. You're
going to be sitting down and you're going to think of a scripture.
You may think of this message again. I find pasture every day
when I'm not here. I think upon the Lord every day,
every day. Scripture comes to my mind. Wake up four o'clock
in the morning. Scripture's just rolling, rolling. I wish I could preach to you
like I preach laying in bed. I preach with such authority.
I do. I preach with such freedom. It's
unbelievable how much freedom I have until I have to get up.
But you go in and out and you find pastures. The shepherd is
always pasturing us. He's always leading and guiding
us. Always. And last of all, the thief cometh
not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy. He's not coming
for you. He's coming for yours, your back
pocket, your influence. You know, some people would attend
these large congregations for influence. I know businessmen
that attend big congregations. I know one or two I'm thinking
of particularly. But they go where they go for
influence, name dropping, connections. As I say, business is a contact
sport. If you're going to be in business,
you're going to have to learn how to make contacts. But he says here, the thief comes
not but to kill or steal. I am come that they might have
life. I didn't come to take from them,
but to give to them. And that they might have it more
abundantly. That word abundantly means superior in quality. Isn't that something? That the
life you and I have in Christ is superior in quality to the
life we have in this flesh. It's the life of God. We have
the life of God. To completely, listen here, there
are two completely different motives between the true shepherd
and the false shepherd. One comes to give life and we'd
have it and have it more abundantly. The other comes but to fleece
the sheep. That's all. One came to save, to give life
to the sheep. The other came to fleece the
sheep and kill them. Kill them. Christ told those Pharisees,
you compass sea and land. And when you have made one proselyte,
you have made them twofold the children of hell. That's the
only reason you come, they're empty. You know, one of the reasons
they hated the Lord so much, you know what one of the reasons
was? Probably one of the main reasons. It tells us, envy. He got a bigger following. Those
who were following them were now listening to him, and it's
like, oh, we're gonna lose our income here. Oh, Christ is the shepherd of
the sheep. Now, next time we'll pick up on the good shepherd.
All this is going on now, still, right there where that blind
man was healed and talked to those fairies, this whole thing's
going on right there. We don't lose sight of that because it
really puts it in perspective. All right.