That's why it's not safe to go
live. Turn to John chapter 10. John chapter 10. This is really
the fulfillment. I am the good shepherd of Ezekiel
34, where he speaks about the shepherd. I'll give you one shepherd
that will be over the flock. We'll look at that. We'll go
back and forth a little bit probably. Now the Pharisees were supposed to be the shepherds
of Israel. They were the ones supposed to
look over the flock, watch after the flock, teach the Scriptures,
the scribes and the Pharisees. They were supposed to feed them,
look after them. But they ended up being hirelings.
They were just hirelings, that's all they were. And not shepherds. Not true shepherds. They served
themselves. of the sheep. That's why they
were so indignant against the Lord Jesus Christ, because He
exposed them. He called them hypocrites and
liars. He exposed them for being who they were. They were not shepherds, they
were hirelings. They were the thieves. There in the first part
of this chapter, He speaks of Himself being the door, I am
the door. You know, when the Lord says,
I am the door, I am the good shepherd, I am the bread of life,
that's a particular article, that means there is no other.
I am the good shepherd. I'm not a shepherd among many
shepherds. He's not one among many. He is the only good shepherd
of the sheep. And the sheep are under His care. Over in chapter 9, there's an
incident over there of the Lord healing a blind man. And the
Pharisees were so upset about that, that He healed him on the
Sabbath day, and that He healed this blind man, they were so
upset about it that they ended up casting the blind man, they
excommunicated him from their service, from the synagogue.
They excommunicated him. I know this, the Lord will leave
no sheep among the wolves. He will bring them out. I've
learned this over the years. You cannot correct false religion.
False religion will be false all the way to the end. But the
Lord has sheep that He's going to bring out of false religion.
He has sheep that are in this denomination, that denomination,
here and here, here and there, all over the world. But he's
going to bring them out. And false religion is going to
go right on until the end. And that's why, you know, when
the Lord told Peter, he said, if you love, he said, Peter,
do you love me? Peter said yes. And three times he said, feed
my sheep. Every time, every time he asked him that question, he
said, feed my lambs, feed my sheep. Don't get caught up trying
to change those Pharisees. You know what he said concerning
those Pharisees? Leave them alone. He said, leave them alone. Now,
Peter, you feed the sheep. Don't get caught up fighting
false religion because you're not going to change it. I'm not
going to get in fight with this denomination, that denomination.
But I am going to feed the Lord's sheep. I am going to tell the
truth. And that's what I'm to do. Now this same prophecy was found
over in Ezekiel 34. And it goes on to present the
true shepherd of Israel. Now before we get into this,
I am the good shepherd, turn over to Ezekiel 34. And I'm not
going to read all of it, it would take too long. Now in the first part of this
chapter, chapter 34, the Lord accuses the shepherds of being
in it for themselves, for their own gain. They were supposed
to feed the sheep, but they didn't, they fed themselves. But the
Lord says here in verse 11, listen, For thus saith the Lord God,
Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep and seek them
out. And then you go over to John
chapter 10 and there he is. There's the Lord. The Lord God
of heaven and earth seeking His sheep. As a shepherd seeketh
out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are
scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them
out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy
and dark day. There are some here in Spring
Lake. And the Lord came here, sent His gospel here, and has
gathered in His sheep. And I will bring them out from
the people, in verse 13, I'll bring them out from the people
and gather them from the countries and will bring them to their
own land and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers
and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them
in a good pasture. Do you know what that good pasture
is? His word. Right here it is. Here's the good pasture. Over
Psalm 23, He maketh us to lie down in green pastures, the green
pastures of His Word. This is what we feed in the Word
of God. This is where we learn of Christ.
I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of
Israel shall their fold be, and there shall they lie in a good
fold, in a fat pasture. Oh, the Word of God is a fat
pasture. So full of the riches of Christ. In a fat pasture shall they feed
upon the mountains of Israel. I will feed My flock, and I will
cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God. I will cause them
to rest. The Pharisees wouldn't let them rest. False religion
will not let you rest. That's the one thing they will
not let you do is rest. But the Lord says, I will cause
them to lie down. I will enable them to lie down.
I'll give them rest. Saith the Lord God, I give you
my word on it. I will seek that which was lost.
Pray again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which
was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick. But I will
destroy the fat and the strong, those Pharisees. I will feed
them with judgment. Now look on down here at verse
22. Therefore will I 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. God said, I will
set up one shepherd over them. You see, I'm an under shepherd.
I'm not the shepherd. I'm under, I'm an under shepherd.
I'm under the shepherd, a good shepherd. I'm under his authority.
I will set up one shepherd over them and he shall feed them.
Even my servant, let's change that to Jesus. Even my servant
Jesus, he shall feed them and he shall be their shepherd. And
I, the Lord, will be their God, and My servant David, or Jesus
Christ, a prince among them. I, the Lord, have spoken it.
And listen, I will make with them a covenant of peace, and
will cause the evil beast to cease out of the land." You know when I read that, and
as I read it, and he says he'll make the evil beast cease out
of the land? I think someday that old evil
beast of my old nature is going to finally be gone. God's going
to destroy it. He'll lay it in the grave. And
they will dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods.
I thought about this 1,500 acres of swamp behind us. Would you
sleep comfortably back in that woods tonight? I doubt it. You'd
be looking for snakes and everything else coming around. But He says,
I'll make them to dwell safely. You know, in that new heaven
and new earth, that there'll be nothing in it. The scripture
says, nothing in it that harms. Nothing that harms you. But even
in this life, in this wilderness, in this life, we are just as
safe as if right now we were standing in His presence and
glory. Because we are, we are, but we don't have that experience.
We're just as safe. I can't die and you can't die
before our time. It wouldn't matter if you put
me on the hottest battlefield on earth. Ain't a bullet gonna
strike me. Now, I'm gonna get in the foxhole,
I ain't, you know, I'm gonna do that. I'm not gonna tempt
God. Seriously, I'm not gonna tempt
God. Be like, you know, let's see if God save us. I'm gonna
go out there and stand in the road. You're gonna get ran over. Go stand in the road, you won't
get ran over. That's tempting God. That's what Satan said to the
Lord. Cast yourself down. He's giving
charge to the angels to catch you, lest you dash your foot
against a stone. The Lord wasn't going to do that.
He wasn't going to tempt God. He said, Thou shalt not tempt
the Lord thy God. But I tell you this, I trust
Him for my safety through my life. And there's sad times that
I don't. There's sad times that I'm fearful. You know that. There's times
we get fearful. But in reality, we're safe. We're safe. Safe in the shepherd's fold. Now let's go back to John chapter
10. Now we can kind of put this together. Our Lord said, I am the good
shepherd. I'm the chosen one. Have we read
in Ezekiel? I have chosen one. I'll give
you one shepherd. I'm going to give him to you.
He's going to be my son. Can you think of a better shepherd?
There's no better shepherd than the Son of God, who has all power
and all authority. He's the chosen one, He's the
appointed one to take care of the sheep. You reckon He will? I reckon He will. He's very capable
of keeping the sheep. He's very capable of it. He said,
not one of them shall perish. Didn't He say that? He said,
not one of my sheep, not one sheep that the Father has given
to me will perish. It's not possible. Our Lord Jesus
Christ was chosen of God, the care of the sheep were put under
his authority, they were given to him, and he's very capable
of keeping us until the end. Very capable. And then I'll tell
you something else about a good shepherd. A good shepherd knows
his sheep. What kind of shepherd would it
be if he didn't know which ones were his? He puts them in a fold
at night and then comes back in the morning and scratches
his head Like, I don't know, I can't tell them apart. A good shepherd can. The shepherd
of the sheep can tell his sheep apart from whatever else is in
that pen. He knows his sheep, he knows
them, listen, he knows them individually. Let's not just think that God
knows his sheep collectively, you know, that he knows all.
He knows you individually. as if you were the only sheep
that there is. He knows them individually. He
knows where they are at all times. I know where my sheep are. You
know, he said he came to seek and to save the lost. That doesn't
mean he didn't know where they're at. That doesn't mean that he's
like, well, I wonder where Queenie went. No, he knows exactly where. He's
on the trail of the sheep. I must needs go through Samaria. Why? There's a sheep there. The last two sermons I preached,
I think, where there was a certain man. No, that was in the Bible
class. There was a certain man, a certain
woman. You know, that certain man was Cornelius. A certain
woman was Dorcas. He knows his sheep. He knows
them individually. He knows where they are at all
times. And he can distinguish them one from another. Well, you remember Isaac Jacob dressed up like Esau? Remember he put that on there?
And he goes, oh, you smell like Esau. Don't we though? We do smell like a bunch of Esaus.
But he said, you smell like Esau and you got a hairy arm like
Esau. He said, but you got the voice of Jacob. But he couldn't
discern because he couldn't see. So he gave him the blessing.
Our Lord knows his sheep. He can discern them. He will
never be confused like Isaac was. You'll never be confused.
He knows them. He can distinguish them one from
another. And he knows, and I tell you something, he knows this
sheep from this other sheep. He knows what's going on with
this sheep and what's going on with this sheep, because they're
his sheep. He knows what's going on with them. He knows that. I don't know. You know, we've
gathered here. I know a few things, not many,
but I know a few things about some of you. I know Kim's been
sick. I know Bill's been sick with his eye. I know a few things.
But the Lord knows everything. He knows your heart aching. I
don't know if your heart's aching this morning. I don't know. I
don't know if you're just about to fall apart. I don't know. He does. That's comforting. He knows. I know my sheep. And that's more than just saying,
well, I know that one and I know that one. He knows us intimately. He knows our thoughts. David
said, you know my thoughts are far off. You know my thoughts
before I think them. Now that's knowledge. He knows our down sittings and
our uprisings. That's what David said. He knows
our weakness. He knows if we're sick or not,
spiritually and physically. He knows that. And then a good shepherd, listen,
marks his sheep. He marks his sheep to show they
are his. Not to remind him that they're
his, but to show that these are mine. There's a mark on them
saying, these are mine. This is my flock. This is my
mark. You know, they used to, back
in the old days, they used to brand They brand the cattle and
they mark the sheep. He marks his sheep. They have
a distinct mark on them. You know what it is? They are
stamped with his own image. Conformed to the image of Jesus
Christ. What is that image? Love. That you love one another. I
tell you, when one brethren doesn't love another brethren, somebody's
lost. Somebody's lost. Love is a mark of a sheep. Love,
grace, meekness, humility, faith, repentance, obedience, righteousness,
these are his marks. Why should you say mark? They're
all into one mark. It's like we talk about the fruit
of the Spirit. We don't talk about the fruits of the Spirit,
plural. It's just called the fruit of
the Spirit. But it's love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness. He marks His sheep. Then a good
shepherd leads his sheep to green pastures. I'm glad I'm not under
a shepherd that leads me out to a barren pasture. There's
nothing there to eat. Really? You bring me here, there's
nothing to eat? Oh, He leads us into green pastures,
the green pastures of His Word. Now, He may have to lead us into
the wilderness here in order for us to enjoy the green pastures
of His Word. You know, it's just a given that
we have to be brought under trial before we pray, like we ought
to pray, before we pray with real sincerity. You know, until
we are really hurting, prayer is a chore. Prayer is not easy. Have you
found it easy to pray like the Lord did throughout the day?
But I'll tell you this, when you're hurting, it ain't hard
to pray. It is not hard to pray when you're hurting. It just
flows out of you. It flows out of you. Our Lord leads His sheep to green
pastures and springs of water. He says by the green pastures
and deep waters over there and still waters over in Psalm 23.
He feeds them and makes them to lie down and rest. The Lord Jesus Christ feeds His
sheep on the Word of God. He feeds His sheep on truth.
Truth. Man, I don't want to hear somebody
standing in the pulpit and lying to me. I don't want someone standing
here and lying to me. I don't care if you tell me how
ugly I am or how short I am. I want the truth. I want the
truth. Listen, and this is what God
gives pastors for. Listen, in Jeremiah 3.15. And I will give you pastors according
to My heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding."
They'll feed you with knowledge of Christ, knowledge of the Word
of God, the riches of Christ. And then a good shepherd, a good
shepherd defends his flock. He defends them from their enemies,
the wolf. He brings up the wolf. The wolf
is just a mortal enemy to the sheep. But a good shepherd will
defend his flock. David, I still can't imagine
this. The Lord had to have moved him,
or this is part of his character. A lion came in, a lion came in
to get one of the sheep. You know David killed that with
his bare hands? A bear, the same thing with a bear, was going
to take the flock, and David killed that bear. He didn't have
a shotgun, I mean, he didn't have a high-powered rifle. This
is what he had. I don't know that I, would you
take on a bear or a lion? A good shepherd would. A good
shepherd would. Good shepherd defends the flock.
The Lord Jesus Christ warns us in his word to beware the wolves.
Dressed in sheep's clothing, he continually defends us from
Satan, sin, and all other enemies. I just, I
was thinking, we don't even realize how many enemies we got. We got a whole world of them. There's
a whole world of enemies out there. A sheep by itself is defenseless.
I don't know. A sheep by itself is defenseless,
but the whole fold is defenseless against the wolf, against the
bear, against the lion. I mean, you can take 10 million
sheep and let one wolf in the fold, and it's going to wreak
havoc. It's going to kill the sheep. You know what all the
sheep are going to do? Ain't none of them going to attack
that wolf. They're going to be running around like crazy, trying to get away from
the wolf. We're defenseless. We really
are. If the Lord would show us how frail we are, it doesn't
take much to bring us down. Not much at all. You can take
an invisible germ and we're in bed. We're down. A good shepherd has a fold for
his sheep where he puts them for their safety. I cannot express to you the importance
of this fold. Right here. This fold, this church. He's given us a place. He's given
us a fold to come to. And there's protection here.
We look after one another here. There's safety here. There really
is. You're hearing the voice of the
shepherd right now from the scriptures. Instructing you. He's feeding
you. And there's no better place for safety in this world, as
we live in this world. We know we're safe in Christ,
but in this world, it's the fold, it's being with the fold, the
flock, the church. And then a good shepherd keeps
his sheep together. He doesn't let them stray far
off or run with the world. Now, can you picture this in
your mind? Sheep and wolves running together. Does that mix? That's like fire
and gas, if you ask me. There's going to be a combustion.
There's going to be trouble. When the wolf go down the road with
the sheep for a while, and he starts to get hungry, guess who's
for dinner? It's the sheep. It ain't the
wolf. That's why he doesn't let us run with the world. No more
than you would, if you had a sheep, would let it run with a wolf.
So a good shepherd will not let us run with the world. He will
keep his sheep together. And then a good shepherd will
give his life for the sheep. He'll give his life. Our Lord
said there in verse 11, I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd
giveth his life for the sheep. He laid it down that you and
I might live. And then a good shepherd will
not abuse his sheep. Aren't you glad we don't have
a dictator? But we have a good shepherd. A good shepherd. He will not overdrive the sheep.
You heard the old story of riding a good horse to death? Some people
do. They'll ride them to death. Our
Lord will not overdrive his sheep, but I tell you what he will do,
he'll lead the sheep. He don't drive the sheep. You
don't read of him driving sheep. You drive goats. He'll lead the sheep. That's
what happens if you ever, you know, over to Eastern country,
when the Lord gave this, they knew exactly what he's talking
about. Whenever the shepherd's gonna take them to the green
pastures, he's out there walking and they're following him. There
they go. And a good shepherd will lay
his life down for the sheep. And a good shepherd will not
abuse the sheep. He'll keep the sheep. He'll put them in a fold.
He'll defend them. He won't abuse them. And a good
shepherd will search for that one sheep that goes astray. Is that one sheep really worth
it? What if you're that one sheep? Whoa, that just changes everything,
doesn't it? I just changed the whole story
if I'm that one sheep. That's what it always, it's always
just baffles me whenever they talk
about medication and stuff. Well, you know, percentage wise,
only one or two people have ever died from it. You know, a million
live. Well, what if you're that one or two? You're like the lucky
rabbit's foot. The rabbit wasn't very lucky. He will search for that one sheep
that goes astray till he finds it. He said over in Ezekiel,
I'll search him till I find him. Throughout all the countries,
throughout all the countries and all the wilderness, I'll
find him. And then a shepherd, listen, a good shepherd heals
the diseases of his sheep. You don't just kick them aside.
You don't just count that as... Well, you know, percentage-wise,
if you lose... You know, if I got a hundred
sheep and I lose one, percentage-wise, that ain't bad. Well, not for
me and you. But for God, it's all His glory.
It's all His glory. His redemptive glory is gone
now. The Lord Jesus Christ binds up
the brokenhearted. He restores the sight of the
blind. He sets at liberty them that are bruised. Listen to this, Ezekiel 34, 16.
I will seek that which was lost, bring again that which was driven
away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen
that which was sick, but I will destroy the fat and the strong.
I will feed them with judgment, but I tell you what, not my sheep.
I'm going to take care of them. Hasn't God taken care of you
throughout your life? And then a good shepherd washes
his sheep from all the filth from being out there in the pasture,
from out there in the world. I've seen them do this on television.
They put them in sheep dip. They just dip that old sheep.
Now they just spray them, I guess. But used to, they'd dip them.
I remember my dad, when he was little, he'd have his coon dogs.
And I remember one time, one of them had gotten the mange. And there was a motor oil. He dipped that dog in motor oil.
That dog didn't like it, but I tell you what, it wasn't but
a few days and that dog was fine. He was fine. The Lord washes his sheep. He cleanses his sheep from contamination
and filth of this world that we live in every day. You realize
how much contamination we get day by day? You can't even drive
down the road, you get all these advertisements, turn on the television,
look what you get. Turn on the radio, look what
you get. Man, just think if we didn't have the Lord cleansing
us, the stuff you and I are exposed to, far more than our ancestors
were exposed to. The Lord Jesus Christ washed
us from our sins by His blood, And listen, He continues to wash
us by His Word. I realize more and more how important
it is for me to be in this Word. There's a real cleansing effect
in the Word of God. Listen, Psalm 119, 9. Wherewithal
shall a young man cleanse his way? It's interesting he calls it
a young man because it's usually the young that go out and fulfill
the lust of the flesh. You get too old, you start dying,
you know, you can't do that no more. But a young man, wherewithal
shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according
to thy word. Taking heed to the word of God.
Taking heed to God. I'm so glad, I'm telling you,
I can't express to you how thankful I am God saved me as a young
man. Kept me from a lot of things. Kept me from a lot of trouble.
Kept me from a lot of scars that I was telling you about in Bible
class. There's a lot of scars I don't have because God saved
me as a young man. And by His Word, He has guided
me and used it as a cleansing agent. The Holy Spirit, in the
hands of the Holy Spirit, used it as a cleansing agent. It says in 1 John 1 verse 9,
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And then a good shepherd delights
to be with his sheep. He delights to be with his sheep.
It's not a job to him. It's not a job. It's like, I've got to be with
the sheep today. What are you doing today? I've got to be with
those old sheep. I can understand that kind of attitude with us,
but he doesn't have that. He delights to be with his sheep.
The Lord Jesus Christ delights to fellowship. He delights to
fellowship. I would to God we delighted to
fellowship with him as much as he does with us. That'd be heaven
on earth. And now we come here and a few
things to say about the hireling and I close. He makes a contrast
here. of the good shepherd and the
hireling. You see, before it was the, he said, I'm the door,
and he compared himself to a thief who climbs up some other way.
Well, now it's the hireling. He that is a hireling and not
the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, he doesn't own them,
he seeth the wolf coming and leaves the sheep. He leaveth
them. He's running. He's running down
the road. And he flees. And the wolf catches them and
scatters the sheep. The hireling, he's in it for
the money. He's in it for advantage. He doesn't own the sheep. They're
not his and he don't care for them. He doesn't care for them
at all. His only motive is profit. He
profits off the sheep. And the wolf here, I believe
it's troubles and trials and dangers. Remember the church
in Jerusalem, how they suffered persecution and they were scattered? They were scattered. And it could be Satan. It could
be Satan, spoken of here. But he flees when this trouble
comes. And it says the sheep are scattered,
but thank God it doesn't say the sheep are devoured. They're
just scattered. They're just scattered. For a
while. For a while. The hireling flees
because he's a hireling and he cares not for the sheep. You
know, listen, this is so. A man does what he does because
of who he is. When trials come, a man reveals
what he is by what he does. When trials come, that's when
we see who we really are, if we really believe, if we really
believe God. Because trials will never run
a child of God away from Christ, it'll run him to Christ. And I thank God that our shepherd
is the good shepherd. You know why he's the good shepherd?
He's God. There's nothing good but God.
So if Christ calls himself the good shepherd, I am, I am that
I am, I am the good shepherd. Then when you go over in Ezekiel
34 and you read where the Lord God is going to seek His sheep,
and then you come over here and you put the two together, this
is God. That's Christ over in Ezekiel
34 speaking. And over here in the New Testament,
we see the fulfillment of Ezekiel 34. I am the Good Shepherd, and
I know My sheep, and am known of Mine. He's the good shepherd,
he's the chief shepherd. He's the only shepherd, the only
good shepherd. And they know his voice. They
know the shepherd's voice. When you hear the gospel, you
know it, you know it, you know it. You know it. And other sheep, and I'll close
with this. Other sheep, and boy, this is a powerful statement. I can't tell you how many times
I've read it and probably just let it go right over my head. Other
sheep I have. Other sheep I'm gonna try to
get, no. Other sheep I have, they're mine,
I'm going after them. Other sheep I have which are
not of this fold, they're not here, they're not of this Jewish
fold that he's speaking to at that time. He's speaking of us. This is
why the world is still going on. It's not going on because
of the brilliance of man, that's for sure. It's still going on
because of this verse right here, "...other sheep I have, which
none of this also I must bring." I must do it. And they shall. Man, you can just spend all day
on this verse. And they shall hear my voice, and there shall. Be one fold and one shepherd. Oh, thank God for the good shepherd.
I thank God that I am the great I am. God Almighty is also the
good shepherd. Our good shepherd. All right.