Alright, let's go back to John,
chapter 10. John's Gospel, chapter 10. This
is one of the most God-honoring, Christ-honoring comforting portions
of God's Word. I've been looking forward to
getting to this chapter, and yet all the previous chapters
are God-honoring, Christ-exalting, aren't they comforting? The Good
Shepherd. I like the sound of the title,
don't you? The Good Shepherd. This is good. This is good. Our Lord said in
verse 11, I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd giveth His
life for the sheep. I am the Good Shepherd. I am. Who's speaking here? This is
God manifest in the flesh. This is the Lord, our Shepherd. The Lord God. who will come,
like Isaiah quoted in chapter 25. This is our God. We've waited on Him. He'll save
us. The Lord our Shepherd. You look
at Ezekiel 34, and I'll turn to Isaiah. Ezekiel 34, many passages
where the Lord speaks of Himself as the Shepherd. There's no doubts
to God's people. See, the sheep know the shepherd,
as the shepherd knows the sheep. They know He's God. They know
He's Lord and God. Like Thomas called Him, My Lord
and My God. In Isaiah 40, here's what the
Lord said, O Zion, or that, those who preach to the church, thou
that bringest good tidings, get up in the high mountain, O thou
who bringest tidings to Jerusalem, that bringest Lift up your voice
with strength, lift it up, be not afraid. Say unto the cities
of Judah, that's the remnant, behold your God. Behold, the
Lord God will come with strong hand and His arm shall rule for
Him. Behold, His reward is with Him
and His work before Him. He shall feed His flock like
a shepherd. Speaking of the Lord God, is
there any doubt? Well, our Lord Jesus Christ said, I am the Good
Shepherd. Well, who is the Good Shepherd?
God or Christ? Yes. They're one and the same. He said that in verse 30 at the
end of our text. I and my Father are one. And it says, oh, I love this.
It says, He shall feed His flock like a shepherd. He shall gather
the lamb. with his Lord, and carry them
in his bosom, close to his heart, because he loves them, and shall
gently lead those that are with young." Some of you have your
young in here this morning. This is a good place to be, to
hear about the One who will lead you and guide you into all truth
and all wisdom, how to raise your young. How's that? in the
nurture and admonition of the Lord, to seek the Lord with all
your heart. While you're young, it makes
good that you bear the yoke in your youth. Gently lead those
that are with you. Here in Ezekiel 34, oh my, he
speaks, rebukes the false shepherds that feed themselves and not
the flock, and verse 11 says, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold,
I, even I, will both search my sheep and seek them out. Didn't
our Lord say, I am come to seek and to save that which was lost?
You see, all of His sheep are lost until He finds them. You might say, I'm the black
sheep of the family. Well, I've got news for you.
All of God's sheep are black. until he makes them white, aren't
they? They're sheep. He doesn't turn goats into sheep,
but they're sheep and they know like the Shulamite maiden who
said, I'm black. He said, I will search my sheep
and seek them out as a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the
day that he's among his sheep that are scattered. So will I
seek out My sheep and will deliver them out of all places where
they've been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. And I will
bring them... Does it sound like there's any
doubt about His Word, His ability? Does it sound like there's any
doubt what He came to do and whether or not He did it or not?
It's the false shepherds that all say that Christ wants to
and can't. Christ tried and failed and He's
standing outside. You see, they don't know Him.
They're preaching a God they can't save. They're preaching
a shepherd who's not a very good shepherd. This is the Lord, the good shepherd. Look at it, read on. He says
in verse 13, I will bring them out from the people. If He doesn't,
they won't come out with it. and gather them from the countries
and will bring them to their own land and feed them upon the
mountains of Israel. He's talking about the church.
By the rivers. In all inhabited places of the
country. I will feed them in a good pasture. Is this good food right now to
you? Thus far? This is the sheep food. These are the green pastures
that He leads His people. makes him to lie down and rest,
those things concerning him and his work. These are the soul-stealing
waters. This is what restores yourself.
This is the river of water that springs up, His Word. Verse 14,
I will feed them, and there shall they lie in a good fold, 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 seek that which was lost,
and I will bring again that which was driven away." Why? Because
he's the good shepherd. He's the good shepherd. The scribes
and Pharisees. Go back to our text. The scribes
and the Pharisees then and now. didn't know him, and they rejected
his claims. He said before, previously, did
he not say, before Abraham was, I am? He didn't. And here in chapter 10, verse
30, he says, I and my Father are one. They knew what he was
saying. He said, I came from above. He said, you're from beneath.
I came from above. They rejected his claims of who
he was. As Paul wrote, he who thought
it not robbery to be equal with God, yet took upon himself the
form of a servant, made in the likeness of sinful flesh. And
you and I know, God's people know, the sheep know why he became
flesh. He came to lay down his life
for the sheep. He came to be a substitute. He came to be a
sin sacrifice. We know that. We know why He
had to be made flesh to dwell among us, made of a woman, made
under the law, to redeem us from the curse of the law. We know
that, but that didn't make Him less God. He didn't cease to
be God when He left His Father and come down here. He was made
flesh, and the Pharisees rejected Him. God's people don't. None of His sheep. They know
Him. Our Lord keeps saying that. They know me. Like David said,
the Lord is my shepherd. David wrote this one time, the
Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou on my right hand, till I make
thine enemies thy footstool. And isn't that the question our
Lord asked these Pharisees one time? He said, what think ye
of Christ? Whose son is he? And they all
said, well, he's the son of David. And he said, well then, How then does David by the Spirit
say, the Lord said unto my Lord, the Christ, sit there on my right
hand? If he's David's son, how is he
David's Lord? They couldn't answer it. I can. Can you? If you can, He must
be one of His sheep. He's revealed this to you. You
notice down here in verse 6, it says that this parable spake
He unto them, and they understood not what things they were which
He spake unto them. First, He talked about the door. He said,
I am the door. He must go in the door by the
law to keep the law for His people. And He said, and I am the door. You don't come by keeping the
law, you come by Me. You're a law keeper. Your righteousness. He said that. And they didn't
understand. And he talked about them being
thieves and robbers, and they didn't understand. And why is
that? Well, he previously said, why
is it that you don't understand my speech? It's because you cannot
hear my word. But he said, he that is of God,
heareth God's word. He said, you don't hear them
because you're not of God. Do you hear them? We may look Wednesday
night at what it means to hear His voice. He said, my sheep
hear my voice. We need to fully develop that.
He said, my sheep hear my voice. They hear from me. Now the Lord
is pleased by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. He gives pastors, Jeremiah 3.15, after his own heart. He
raises up men to preach the gospel. Christ is seated on the right
hand of God right now in a body, the same Jesus that dwelled on
this earth in a body right now. And yet he said, my sheep hear
my voice. How's that? Through the preaching of the
gospel. The Holy Spirit comes through the preaching of the
gospel. Some people won't come and won't sit and won't listen.
Then they won't hear from Christ. The Pharisees, they rejected
John, they rejected the apostles, and they rejected Christ. And
our Lord said, it's not you they hate, it's me. It's me. He said, I am come, the Good
Shepherd. I am the Good Shepherd, and the
Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep. Notice, whenever
the Lord defines Himself, whenever the Lord describes Himself, it's
always in the definite article. He doesn't say, ever, I'm a Good
Shepherd. He doesn't say, I am a way. He
doesn't say, I am A is truth. It's always a definite article
in it. They said one time, Moses gave
us this bread. What about you? He said, Moses
didn't give you that bread. My father gave you that bread
and I am the bread. He said, I am the water of life. I am the door. He said, I am
the way. There is no other. I am the truth. I am the life. And he says here,
I am the good shepherd. There's one shepherd and one
foe. He gives many under-shepherds,
but he's the... He said here, I'm the good shepherd.
Paul wrote in Hebrews 13, when the chief shepherd shall appear. In another place he said, I'm the Good Shepherd, I'm the
Chief Shepherd, and I'm the... I've lost it. Somebody tell me. The Good Shepherd, the Chief
Shepherd, the Great Shepherd. When the Great Shepherd of the
sheep shall come. He's the Good Shepherd. Listen
to this. Why is He good? Why is He great? Well, number
one, He's good in His person. He's the Good Shepherd. He's good. And our Lord said
to Moses on that mountain that day in Exodus 33, He said, I'll
make all my goodness pass before you. And it says the Lord came
down and stood with him there. Didn't He? Who? Well, no man
has seen God at any time. God is Spirit. The only begotten
which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.
That was Christ that came down and stood beside Moses. That
was God manifest in the flesh, the Son of God. He is the goodness
of God. He said, I'll make all my goodness
pass before you, and all the goodness of God is in the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And He began to declare His name.
He said, The Lord, The Lord. There it is again. The Lord God,
Creator, Sovereign, Ruler. Merciful. The Lord God merciful. He's good. He's so full of mercy.
Love. He is love. He's full of grace
and truth. Long-suffering. Gentle. Kind. Tender. Compassionate. Always good. He's the good shepherd. He's always good to his sheep. I one time had a little flock
of animals, and ducks, and sheep, not sheep, but chickens, and
dogs, and cats. I tried my best to be good to
the horses. I tried my best to be good to
them. But our Lord doesn't try. He is good. He can never be anything
but good. Understand this for your comfort. He's good. Everything He does
is always good. All things work together for
good. Why? Because he's good. He'll never do evil. He's too
good to do evil. He's good in his person. He's
good in his work. He's good at what he came to
do. He's the good shepherd. Look at Luke chapter 15. He's
the good shepherd. He feeds, he leads, he guides,
he watches over his sheep. He brings them back, those that
wander, those that are lost. He brings them all safely home. Look at Luke 15. Just back a
little way. This is wonderful. Again, he's
speaking to these Pharisees and scribes who were false shepherds,
false preachers. He rebuked them for feeding themselves
and not feeding the flock. And in verse 1 of Luke 15, "...then
drew near unto Him all the publicans and sinners for to hear Him."
Is that why you're here? If you're a sinner, you need
to hear from Christ, don't you? And the Pharisees and scribes
murmured that sinners came to hear Him and rejoiced. Pharisees and scribes, they don't
need a shepherd. And they murmured, they said,
this man receiveth sinners and eateth with them. Aren't you
glad? And well, he spake this parable
unto them. Again, he's speaking to these Pharisees. And they
don't have a clue what he's about to say. We do. What man of you,
having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them? does not leave the ninety and
nine in the wilderness and go after that which is lost until
it come to him." No. Until he find it. It's lost,
isn't it? No one's ever been saved unless
they were condemned. No one's ever been found unless
they've been lost. quick unless they've been dead.
No one's ever been made to see unless they've been blind. No
one's ever been deaf until they've been given ears to hear. That's
the way all of God's people are, until He finds them. Through
the gospel. When He hath found it, not if
He finds it. Our Lord said, I am come to seek
and to save that which was lost. And it says, and when He finds
it. What does He do? Little sheep, now let's try this
again. He wandered off, and now here he goes. I found him. Now,
he's getting along. No, no. He lays it on his shoulder. He lays it on his shoulders and
rejoicing. Does the Lord rejoice in the
salvation of His people? Oh, my. For the joy is sitting
before Him. He endured the cross. It pleased
the Lord to make you His people. It pleased the Lord to bruise
Him. It pleased Christ to go to the cross to be made a sin
offering for His people. Oh, He rejoices. And it says
in verse 6, when He comes home, He calls together His friends,
neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with Me, I have found
My sheep, which was lost. I say unto you, likewise. Joy shall be in heaven over one
sinner that repenteth. There you go, preachers, see?
You must repent. It's the goodness of God that
leads you to repentance, or you won't repent, right? He's the
one that gives this to you. You won't repent unless He gives
you repentance. This is to the praise of the
glory of His grace. You must repent, yes, but He
gives the glory if you do. And He says 99 just persons which
need no repentance. He was talking to those Pharisees.
They didn't think they needed repentance when they did. Go
back to our text. Back to our text. So He's good
in His work. He feeds, He leads, He guides,
He watches over His sheep, He brings them. He said in the latter
part of this that we read, He says, I give unto them eternal
life and they shall never perish. He said in His prayer to the
Father in John 17, He said, Those that thou hast given Me I've
kept, he said, none of them is lost. In verse 16 of our text, he says,
and other sheep I have which are not of this folk. Now our
Lord came to the Jew first. He came to Israel. He was born
a Jew. He came to the Jews. He said,
I have come for the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And he
has a remnant according to election. All Israel, not Israel, but all
Israel, true Israel, will be saved by the Lord, by the Lord
Jesus Christ. He does all the same. But he
says, other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also
I must bring. Who is that? That's you. That's
me. And that gospel had to go out
all over the world in search of his sheep. He said, and that's
how he brings them. And he said, I must bring them.
I must. He must do it, he said. Salvation
is of the Lord. I must bring them. If he goes
after them and doesn't bring them home, his glory is at stake. His promises are at stake. His
power is worthless, isn't it? His promises are at stake. It
means nothing to them. He said, I must bring, and they
will, they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one foal,
one shepherd, no more Jew, Gentile, no more male, female, no more
rich, poor, all one in Christ. Oh, He's the good shepherd in
His work. He said, I will bring. I must bring. He's the great
shepherd of the sheep. He's a chief shepherd. As I said,
He gives pastures. Pastors like him, but he's the
chief. And they take orders from him. How good is it? Look at verse
11. He said, "...the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep."
Verse 15, he said, "...I lay down my life for the sheep."
In other words, the sheep are his whole life. Those animals, they weren't my
life. I killed some of them and ate
them. They weren't my wife. Well, these sheep of Christ are
His life. They are His whole life. That's
why He came. You remember the story of Benjamin
and Jacob, the father? Jacob didn't want to send Benjamin
down, the son. But Joseph said, you're not going
to see my face unless I see the son with the silver cup. That's
Christ. You're not going to see my face.
You're not going to be accepted. You're not going to dwell with me unless
I see the Son. What a picture of Christ that
is. Well, Jacob didn't want to turn loose of that Son, and it
says, because his life was bound up in the land. He loved that
boy so much, his life was bound up. Well, that's a picture of Christ,
his sheep, or his wife. That's hard to understand, except
maybe for a parent, a spouse, your life, your life. It has
to differ for a believer now, because our Lord said, if any
man loved your family more than me. But our Lord, you see, we
are His family, and He came for His own. His sheep, he calls
them, his life, he giveth his life for the sheep. Not only
is his life bound up in the sheep, but he laid down his life for
the sheep. He died that we might live. That's a good shepherd, isn't
it? Lay down the life, give his life that the sheep might live. David one time. David was a good
shepherd, but apparently David never lost a
sheep. David is such a good type of Christ. Christ is called the
Son of David. David never lost a sheep. I remind
you of Saul, who was not Israel's king at all, but the Lord raised
him up temporarily. Saul couldn't even find his father's
asses. You remember that? He was in
charge of some old donkeys, and he lost them and never did find
them. Well, David never lost one sheep. In fact, he said one time, that
a lion and a bear came and got one lamb, a little lamb of David. Do you believe that? I do, because
it's such a picture of Christ. One little lamb. David, maybe
somebody said, maybe David is, I'm going after that lamb, and
somebody, one of his helpers said, it's just one lamb. That's my lamb. I'm not a very good shepherd
if I lose one lamb, not a full-grown sheep, a little lamb, a little
weak lamb. And he went after that lion and
slew that lion and that bear, didn't he? And so did our Lord
Jesus Christ. He will not lose one sheep, not
one little lamb, not one who's weak in the faith, not one. Weakest
of faith is faith. Because your faith is in the
shepherd, not yourself. The strongest of sheep doesn't
keep themselves. The Lord keeps them. The shepherd
keeps them. Christ said, I am the good shepherd.
I have come to seek and to save. Not try, but to save. His sheep. His sheep. All right? His sheep. Look at verses 3 and 4. It says,
The porter openeth, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calleth
his own sheep by name. He owns them. They're His sheep. Where did He get them? Look at
verse 29. My Father gave them to me. My
Father gave them to me. They were elect before the foundation
of the world. They were chosen in Christ before
the world began. And they were given to Christ,
the great covenant head, the great shepherd of the sheep,
to come and to be their substitute, be their covenant head, be their
righteousness, to be their Savior, to be their everything. And He
did that. He finished that one. They're
His sheep. They belong to Him by gift from
the Father. They belong to Him by purchase
of His own precious blood. He paid for them. He bought them
with a price. They're not their own. Whose
are they? They're His own. My own sheep, He said. In chapter
17 of John, our Lord plainly said, I don't pray for the world.
Over and over again, He said in that He said, those that thou
hast given me, those that thou hast given me. He said, I don't
pray for the world, I pray for those whom thou hast given me.
If you like the sound of this, now the world, just as soon as
you get on the subject of election, as soon as you get on, start
talking about God doing as He will with whom He will, choosing
some, rejecting others, they get mad. Goats, you know, butt,
butt, butt, butt, butt. Why? No sheep butts the truth. No sheep rejects the truth. All
sheep know. If He hadn't come to save me,
I'd still be lying. They're His own sheep. They were
given to Him by the Father. They were purchased by His own
precious blood. And you know, they're born sheep.
Born again. Born into His family. Chosen
of God, the Good Shepherd came to save His sheep. Alright? Did
He come for you? Are you a sheep? Are you a sheep? Here's the question we need to
ask ourselves. If this means anything to you at all, you have to be a sheep. Alright? What about sheep? It says He
came to lay down His life for the sheep. The sheep. My sheep. Good Shepherd, I know my sheep.
Sheep, sheep, sheep. Are you a sheep? If you are,
then Christ died for you. All right? Let me tell you a
few things about sheep. I've heard and read and studied
and seen and looked at sheep. All right? I'll tell you one
thing about sheep. It's one of the most helpless
animals on earth. Sheep can't fight back. They're
helpless. They're prey. They're easy prey
for any predator, any predator, any kind of wild dog, any kind
of predator, meat-eating creature. They're easy prey. They're helpless. They need to be tended to. They
need to be cared for. They need to be led. Sheep are
dumb. You can't say, now, there's pasture
out there. Go to it. They're dumb. They're nearsighted. Real nearsighted. They can't see far away. They
can see about right here. You know that? Horses the same
way. They must be led. They're dumb
animals. Does that offend you? You know
what you are by nature? Stupid. Does that offend you? Oh, Pharisees, we be not stupid.
If you don't follow Christ, you are. If you don't know what you
are, you're blind. He'd been telling them that all
along, hadn't he, sister? He said, you're blind, leaders
of the blind. Sheep are dumb. They're dirty.
We look at sheep and we think, oh, pretty little white creatures.
Ha! You ever been close to them?
They're filthy. They're so subject to every kind
of mite and lice and filth that gets in them, and they have to
dip them in sheep. They have to be cared for constantly,
or they'll just be eaten up by creatures and insects. They're
dirty creatures. Job was the finest man on earth,
wasn't he? The Lord said so. There's none
like Him on the earth. Wasn't it? That's what the Lord
said. He said, upright, perfect, one
that is true as evil. You know what Job said about
himself after he saw the Lord? You know what he said? I am vile. Explain that. I don't have to,
the sheep. They know it. Those that know
Him, know themselves. That's why they know, if the
Lord doesn't save me, I'm gone. Because I'm a dirty, wandering
sheep. We sing that song. Why do we
like to sing that song all the time? Is it come, thou fount?
Why do we like to sing that song all the time? I believe I'd sing
that every single song. If there's one song in our book,
I believe I'd sing that. Why? Because of that one verse. Prone to wonder. Lord, I feel
it. Prone to leave the God I love.
Oh, I do love Him, but only because He first loved me. Oh, I do seek
Him, but only because He sought me. Oh, I have come to cry, but
only because He came to me. I have called on, do call Him,
only because He first called me. Prone to wonder. Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave
the God I love. Here's my heart. Take and seal
it, seal it for thy courts above. Oh, my. Sheep are forgetful creatures. They have a short memory. Like
nearsighted, they have a short memory. All their lives they
have to be led. Taught. Led, guided, taught. You older sheep. Do you feel
it? If I asked you to quote 4 or 5 verses of scripture, could
you do it? After 30 or 40 years, could you
do it? What's wrong with you? The Lord knows everything. You know why I do it? Because
it's my job. I must defeat you. I must. Many pastors and I have talked
together and we've all said, would we study the Scriptures
as hard as we do if we didn't have to feed the people? Probably
not. Do you? No. But see, it's not
up to you to know the truth, to know the Scriptures. It's
up to Him. He knows you. He knows you. I would tell you this though,
the more of Scripture you know, the more you have within you,
it'll spring up and help you later on. You'd do well to read
more and study more. You'd do well. But that's not
your salvation. I've seen, I was down preaching
in the islands one time. Many of you were there. Remember
this? There were some adults standing up, quoting. They could
quote whole books, whole chapter after chapter of the Bible, like
children. Showing off. It sickened me,
didn't it? It sickened me. And people, I
think they even applauded it. Those people might be lost. The
Pharisees were. Those phylacters they wore were
little boxes full of scriptures. that they had memorized. The
scribes, that's all they did all day long. Scribes was transcribe
the Old Testament so they could have copies of it. That's all
they did. Well, they knew the letter, but they didn't know
the Spirit. They knew the Scripture, but they didn't know Christ,
did they? The point I'm making is sheep
are very forgetful. They're very short. They have
short memory. Sheep are owned by someone. They're owned by someone and
they love to have it so. Do you want to be owned by the
Lord? Owned by someone. You're not
your own. I don't want to be. I made this
statement one time that the world hates sovereign grace because
it takes their destiny out of their hands. That's why men and
women hate sovereign electing keeping eternal grace that's
in Christ. They hate it because it takes
their destiny out of their hands. You know why God's people love
it? It takes their destiny out of their hands. I thought I was in charge of
myself years ago as a young man. I thought I had the world by
the tail. I thought I could do anything. If the Lord hadn't subdued me,
if the Lord hadn't come to me, I would have destroyed myself. They're owned by the shepherd.
Sheep are gregarious. That means they must flock together.
It's the nature of this animal to flock together. We get the
word congregate from that. Congregate. David said, I was
in the congregation of the righteous. I went into the congregation.
David was always with God's people. That's a sheep. Sheep must congregate
with other sheep. A goat can get along fine by
itself out there, can't it, Stephen? They can get along fine. Not a sheep. Sheep must have
other sheep. Especially because that's where
the shepherd is. That's where the sheep... Wherever
you find sheep, And it's always two or three in it. Not one,
but two or three. You'll find the shepherd. He's
quiet because he's still a good shepherd. He never leaves them.
Two or three are gathered. That's where he is, right there.
And that's where they want to gather. Gather together with
the saints. Gather together with the sheep
by the shepherd. And they eat one thing. Sheep
eat one thing. What's that? Grass. Everybody on the ark, lions,
tigers, bears, hippopotamuses, leopards, wolves, all of them
ate one thing. You know what? Straw. Now how
can a lion learn to eat straw? The Lord changed his nature.
He made them all like sheep. If you don't like this, you know,
goats out there and religion, you know, they have to have...
Why do you go there? Oh, the music. Why do you go there? It's the
programs for our kids. Why do you go there? They have
a singles ministry. Why do you go there? Because we're all going
to the Holy Land this year on a trip. They have a bus ministry.
You ask the sheep, why do you go there? To feed on Christ. To feed on His Word. One thing
is needful. And David said, and every sheep
says, that's what I'm going to seek out. I have to have this
grass, which is His Word, which is His Gospel. They eat this
grass. They eat it. They eat it. They chew it. They
meditate. Remember those clean animals
meditate? They chewed the cud. He chewed that cud. He chewed
that cud. He said, isn't it time to spit it out? No, there's some
more nutrients in it. And you've heard this, all of
you. Most of you have heard this. Some of you have heard this.
Man, he's preached it more years than I've been born, a lot. Well,
no. But you've preached it thousands
of times. You never get tired of it. A sheep never gets tired
of grass. A sheep will never say grass
again. What are you preaching today,
John? John the Baptist stood up to preach one day. What are
you preaching today? Behold the Lamb! And they came
back the next day, and the Pharisees said, What are you preaching
today? He said, Behold the Lamb! The Pharisees said, That's all
he knows. They're not sheep. But those
publicans and sinners are hanging around, aren't they? Preach it
again, John. Preach it again. Behold the Lamb. They eat grass. Do you? Oh, man. Look at, let me close. I'm going
to close. Look at verse 12 and 13. He said, as in a herding, and
not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf
coming, and leaveth the sheep and fleeing. And the wolf catcheth
them, and scattereth the sheep. Hire him, flee him, because he
doesn't hire him. Careth not for the sheep. I must go ahead
and say this. The man that replaced this faithful
shepherd wasn't there any time at all.
He was gone. He came for this reason. I heard him say it. My financial
worries are over. In ten years, He's gone. Why? He's a hireling. None of
God's preachers do this for filthy lucre. They do it out of love
to the glory of their God, love to Christ Himself, and love to
His people. Yes, sir. They do it for free. A hireling fleeth. A good shepherd,
a watchman, tells sheep who a wolf is. See, they wear sheep's clothing. Do sheep know wolves are in sheep's
clothing? No, they don't. A good shepherd does. That's
a fact. That's a fact. He said, I am
the good shepherd, verse 14, and know my sheep. Oh boy, that's
my salvation right there, John. He knows me. He entered into
this union with me before the world began. For whom He did
for, no. He entered into this relationship.
The Father gave Him a people. All the people of God, chosen
of God, were given to Christ. Christ was given this commandment
to go down and lay down His life for the sheep, to be their substitute,
to be their Redeemer, their Savior. And He said, I'll do it. I love
them too. He and the Father are one. They
both love them. And He entered into this union. That's what
know means. He knows them. For whom He did foreknow, He
did predestinate. Whom He did predestinate, He
called. Whom He called, He justified.
Whom He justified, He glorified. He foreknew them. And here's
another wonderful thing about this knowing His sheep. He knows
them. He knew what He got when He took
them. When He agreed to come for them. And He always knows
them. He knows their frame. What are
they? Sheep. Dumb, helpless, dirty, forgetful,
easy prey. He knows our frame. That's my
salvation. He knows them. He said this,
He said, I am known of mine. How well do you know the Lord? If you really knew Him, you wouldn't
have many doubts and fears at all. You know that? You wouldn't
have any worries if you really knew Him. One time our Lord said
to Philip, He said, Have I been so long time with you? And you
haven't known Him. He kept telling us, Why? Why? Why is it that you have no faith?
Why? After all you've seen me do,
after all you've heard me say, after all the promises, after
all these years I've been with you, how could you have any doubt
whatsoever? You don't know Him. You know
Him, but you don't know Him very well anymore. If we knew Him. Paul said, Paul knew Him. There's
some who know Him better than others, don't they? Paul said,
I know whom I have believed. Where was he when he said that?
Prison! And he said, I'm the Lord's prisoner.
I'm here because He put me here. And this is falling out to the
furtherance of the gospel. He said, I know whom I am. And
I am persuaded. He's able to keep that which
I committed unto Him against that day. Well, Paul, they're
going to cut your head off. Yeah, and the Lord, He's the one that
purposed it. Peace. He knew Him. Oh, to know Him better, huh?
But your salvation. Paul one time in Galatians said
this. He said, after you have known Christ, rather, are known
of Him. How could you turn back to the
beggar again? You see, it's because we don't know Him well enough.
But here's our salvation. And He gives this illustration
in our cloth. Verse 15, He says, As the Father knoweth Me, even
so know I the Father. How well does the Father know
the Son? Does that just mean He's acquainted with, oh, it's
deep, isn't it? That's a word that goes much
deeper than men and women know, than we can possibly understand.
It's just like Adam knew his wife, Eve. And the Lord said
of those goats in the inn, He said, I never knew you, and they
never knew Him. But as the Father knoweth me,
Christ said, Even so, I know the Father. And that's what he's
saying about the relationship of Christ and His sheep. He knows
them in the same way that God the Father loves God the Son.
Can you believe that? He loves His sheep. Christ loves His sheep. It says,
having loved His own. Can't wait to get to that chapter.
Chapter 13. having loved his own, they were
in the world, he loved them, how long? To the end. That means never end. And he said, I lay down my life
for the sheep. He's a good shepherd. He did
what he came to do. He did it for whom he came to
do it for. And he said, they'll all be with me someday. God the Father promised. He went
on to say, and maybe Wednesday night we'll look at that. He
said that no man, no one, not even yourself, can pluck yourself
out of his hand. If you could, he wouldn't be
a very good shepherd. But he's the good shepherd. All right,
we're going to sing number 296. 296. Let's sing the first and last
verse. Stand with me.