I want to look at the Gospel
of John chapter 10 with you this morning. John chapter 10, if
you would like to follow along in your Bible. John chapter 10,
verse 27, the Lord Jesus Christ says, My sheep hear my voice,
and I know them, and they follow me. In this chapter, the Lord
speaks of himself as the shepherd of his sheep. And he says he
has a particular sheep. They are my sheep, he calls them,
and they hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. The Lord Jesus Christ calls his
people, each of them individually. The shepherd calls his sheep
and they hear his voice. Has the Lord Jesus Christ ever
spoken to you? Well, he doesn't speak audibly.
He doesn't speak out loud as he once did when he walked this
planet. But he does speak through his
word. This is how he calls his sheep,
through his word, through the preached word or the written
word. All right, in verse 3 of John
chapter 10, the Lord says, The porter openeth for the shepherd. The porter openeth the door for
the sheep to enter into the fold, and for the shepherd. This porter
is the Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit is the one who
opens the heart's door for Christ to come in, for the Word of God
to come into the heart for the person to receive it. The Holy
Spirit opens the door, yea, the Scripture says, breaks the heart. The heart must first be broken. It is not, as some say, Christ
is standing outside our heart's door, knocking on the door, and
if we will let Him in, because there's no handle on the outside
of the door. If we let Him in, then He will
come in and save us. No, that comes from the revelation. Christ is speaking to the church,
and He talks about supping with or fellowship with the church,
not salvation. But what the Holy Spirit of God
does is breaks the heart. God the Holy Spirit first breaks
the heart before He heals it. And He breaks the heart by convincing
us of our sin. God's Holy Spirit doesn't come
to human beings with a message of love, the love of God, first. Oh, no. There must be conviction
of sin before we hear about the mercy of God, the grace of God,
and the love of God that's in Christ Jesus alone. No, no. Outside of Christ, the wrath
of God abides upon the unbeliever and the ungodly. So this is the
message that the Holy Spirit first brings to a human being. He breaks the heart, convinces,
our Lord said in John 16, of sin. He convinces of sin. There's a story in the Old Testament
in the book of Genesis about Joseph who was on the throne
in Egypt and his brethren, his wicked brethren who had before
sold him into slavery into Egypt. His brethren came to appear before
him not knowing that it was their brother Joseph. And it says that
Joseph spake roughly to them. He spoke hard to them. And they, upon hearing the ruler
on the throne hear him speak roughly and hardly to them, they
began to be convicted of what they had done to their brother
Joseph. They said, God is judging us and we're being treated like
this because we deserve it, because of what we did to our brother.
And that's what the Holy Spirit first does to a human being upon
operating upon them. He breaks the heart. He convinces
them of their sin. And so this is the opening of
the heart. The opening of the heart's door
for the Shepherd to come in. For the Word of God to come in.
Alright? In verse 4, the Lord says, now
when He comes into His own sheep, verse 3, He calls His own sheep
by name. He calls them by name. In verse
4, He puts forth his own sheep. Christ has a sheep. And he says
here in John chapter 10, several times, the Father hath given
me a sheep. Over in John chapter 6, he says,
all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. Yes, God chose
a people before the world began, elected a people to be sheep. That's what Ephesians 1 verse
4 says. He has chosen us, that is, his
people, in Christ before the foundation of the world, having
predestinated them to be conformed to Christ's image. They are chosen
sheep. They are Christ's sheep given
to him by the Father to save. That's what he said. I know my
sheep. My sheep hear my voice. His own sheep. Have you heard
Christ call your name? Well, what are the names of His
sheep? What does He call His sheep? Over in Luke chapter 5, if you
want to turn there, Luke chapter 5, verses 30 through 32, I read,
The scribes and the Pharisees murmured against His disciples,
saying, Why do you eat and drink with publicans and sinners? And
Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not
a physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance." So his sheep are called sinners. If you're a sinner and you hear
him through the preaching of the word, the reading of the
word, call you a sinner and you believe that you're a sinner
in need of his mercy and his grace and his salvation, the
salvation that is only in Jesus Christ and Him alone, then perhaps
you're one of these sheep. My sheep, I know them, I call
them by name, and what He calls us is sinners. He called a woman
one time a dog, and she didn't mind being called a dog. She
said, Yea, Lord, the dogs eat the crumbs from the master's
table. Well, what if the Lord calls you a dog from the Scriptures?
Does that offend you? What about a worm? Scripture
calls God's people worms. The sons of Jacob are the elect,
the chosen of God, the children of God, and God says, Fear not
thou worm, Jacob. Does that offend you? What about
grasshoppers? The Scripture says the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing, as grasshoppers. Does that offend
you? You see, You can't offend the
chief of sinners. God's Word, Christ's voice, the
shepherd first calls his sheep by what they are, nothing, sinners,
unworthy, wretched, vile, poor, miserable, blind, naked, haught,
lame. These are descriptions of the
sinner in the eyes of God from God's Word. Does that offend
you? Well, that's what you hear and that's what breaks the heart
and convinces of sin. And only then, and not until
then, till we hear our utter corruption and sinfulness, do
we hear him call us sons, sons of God. Jacob, one time, the
Lord wrestled with Jacob in Genesis chapter 32, the angel of the
Lord, which was the Lord himself. And the angel asked him, what
is your name? And Jacob was forced to say,
my name is Jacob. The name Jacob means cheat, no
good, a sinner. Well, then the angel of the Lord,
upon hearing Jacob's confession of his own guilt and unworthiness,
changed his name to Israel, that is, Prince of God. But I'll bet
you that Jacob never went around calling himself Israel, as some
people like to brag and boast of calling themselves Christian. But I bet you Jacob referred
only to himself as Jacob, not Israel. Even so, the child of
God, though he is called by God a saint and a Christian, yet
he himself only refers to himself as a sinner. Yea, the scripture
says, Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help. Well, Christ calls his people
by name. He says, My sheep, they hear
my voice. He calls them by name, and they
follow him. He leadeth them out, verse 3,
and he puts forth his own sheep. Where does he put these sheep?
In verse 4, he putteth forth his sheep. Where does he put
them? Well, Christ puts his sheep in the church, in the fold, in
the sheepfold, under the sound of the gospel, where they are
feeding on the green grass, on the green pastures of his works.
in his family, in his flock. There is no such thing as a solitary
sheep. No, sheep are gregarious. Sheep
congregate. Sheep gather together. Sheep
flock together. Sheep warm one another. Sheep
feed together. That's the nature of the animal.
Goats can abide alone and eat just about anything. Not sheep. Sheep must have tender green
grass Sheep must be led, sheep must have other sheep to dwell
with. So Christ puts them forth, it
says. He putteth them forth, and verse
4 says he goeth before them. Yes, the Good Shepherd calls
his sheep by name and then gets out in front of them and leads
them all the days of their life. He calls them, they come to him,
he leads them. And it says the sheep follow
him. They follow him. It is Christ
that the sheep look to, believe upon, and follow. Not a man,
not a denomination, not an organization. It is Christ himself that they
look to, that they believe on, and follow. And it says they
know his voice, verse 4. They know his voice. I have a
little dog that I went down to the local dog pound, animal shelter,
and found that dog. The dog didn't find me. I found
it. It was in a cage along with several
other dogs, and I, according to my sovereign purpose and will,
I chose a particular dog, the dog that I wanted, and set my
love and affection on that dog, gave that dog a name, took that
dog home with me, and it's still with me, and I will not sell
that dog nor ever forsake that dog. And I love that little dog. I chose the dog. I named the
dog. I brought the dog home with me. And I trained the dog and lead
the dog and feed the dog. So it is with Christ and his
people. And that little dog of mine,
when I call it, she comes. And she follows me wherever I
go. She loves me and appreciates me and is thankful for the to
me because of the fact that I did choose her. That dog was scheduled
to be euthanized the very next day, to be put to sleep. But
I saved that dog from certain destruction. And so it is with
those whom God has chosen that we are on death's row by nature. But God, who is rich in mercy,
chose some. He didn't have to, but he did.
And He chose them for His own and called them by name. And
they follow Him. And they love Him. And He says,
I'll never leave them, nor forsake them. I give them eternal life.
That's verse 28 of this same chapter. He said, I give My sheep
eternal life. They shall never perish. Neither
shall any man pluck them out of My hand. In verse 5, and I
close with this verse, the Lord said, A stranger will they not
follow. that will flee from him. They
don't know the voice of a stranger. The sheep listen to the preaching
of Jesus Christ and him crucified. Once they hear the message of
Christ and Christ alone, they are not content with anything
else. And they listen to and follow the preaching of Christ
alone, the doctrine of Christ, the gospel of Christ, the sovereign
grace and mercy, the true gospel, the truth as it is in Jesus Christ. They won't hear anything or anyone
else. Have you heard the shepherd's
voice? Well, it's a heart-breaking voice, and after that, though,
it's a heart-healing and comforting voice, and it's the voice of
Christ Himself to His sheep. Well, until next Sunday, may
you hear His voice, is my prayer. Amen. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.