I want you to open your Bibles
to 2 Peter 1 and John's Gospel. The Gospel of John chapter 10
will be our text, but I want to read a few verses here in
2 Peter chapter 1, verse 1. Now, Jesus Christ is no mythological
character. Jesus Christ, his life, his works, is no cunningly devised fable
or myth. As Peter says here in 2 Peter
1, he says this in verse 16. He says, We have not followed
cunningly devised fables. when we made known unto you the
power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." We were eyewitnesses
of his majesty. We saw him. Read on. He received from God the Father,
the Creator, honor and glory when there came such a voice, such a voice, to him from the
excellent glory This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased,
and this voice which came from heaven we heard when we were with him in the
Holy Mount." Now, we have also a more sure word of prophecy,
whereunto you do well that you take heed. Now back to John 10. Peter says Christ is real. We saw him and we heard him and
we heard God bear witness of him. Not only did we hear Christ
speak, but we heard God the Father from heaven speak concerning
Christ. Jesus Christ is real. He came,
he lived, he died, he arose again, he's coming again. He's real. Jesus Christ is real. And the
scripture says, in him we live and move and have our being because
of him. He is Lord of the dead and the
living. We are in the hands of this person named Jesus Christ.
Young and old, male and female, everybody in this room, everybody
in this world is in the hands of this Jesus Christ who came,
who lived, who died, who rose again, who is coming again for
his own. This is a reality. And Christ, when he walked this
planet, he said many things. He spoke. He spoke. God manifests
in the flesh, the scripture says. He spoke. He said some things,
many things. Scripture says if the books were
written, if all the things were recorded and written that he
had said and he had done, the world couldn't contain the books. And he spoke while he was upon
this earth and said many things, and he speaks again. He is still
speaking, and people are hearing him. Well, that's so. But not with these ears. We're
going to see this in a moment. And he spoke then and he speaks
now as a shepherd to his sheep, as a shepherd to his Look at
verse 3, he says this, "...to him the porter openeth," talking
about the shepherd of the sheep. John 10, verse 3, "...to him
the porter openeth, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calleth
his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out." He calleth his own
sheep by name and leadeth them out. They hear his voice. That wasn't his voice you just
heard. But you'd better hear another voice than mine today. He's not telling some tale here.
Christ is not giving some mere allegory here about a shepherd
and a sheep. He says this three times. He
says, My sheep hear my voice. Look at verse 16. other sheep
I have which are not of this foal, them also I must bring,
and they shall hear my voice." Verse 27. My sheep hear my voice. Christ spoke, people heard him. He still speaks, he says, people
hear me. They hear me. They must. Have
you heard his voice? Do you hear him speak? Now, if you do not hear him speak,
you are not his sheep. If you have not heard him speak,
I mean just as real and personal as I am speaking right now, but
not here, but here. And not with an audible
voice, but with it. If not, you are not his sheep. What could be plainer? What could be plainer? Could
Christ speak any more plainly? He said it three times. He said,
My sheep hear my voice. I know them. They follow me. What could be plainer? Verse 3 again. Let me see if
I can't open this up. To him it says, verse 3, to his
boy. Now who is this porter? Who is
this porter who must open in order for the sheep to hear the
voice of the Lord, by which we are born again? The Holy Spirit
is he who opens the ear. Yes, this ear. If the Holy Spirit
does not open our ear this morning, we will be thinking about and
listening to our own thoughts and things that are going on
out in the world, just waiting, biding our time for about Won't
hear a thing it said. Unless the Holy Spirit opens
the heart and the ear to Christ, to take the things of Christ
and show them unto us. Now, it's not just the preaching
of the Bible. It's not just preaching some good things. It stirs people.
Christ said, if I be lifted up, I'll draw men to me. Christ said
they'll hear my voice, the voice of the Son of God. The Holy Spirit
opens the understanding to the things of Christ. This is what
John 16 says. In John 16, beginning with verse
8, he says, when he has come, when the Holy Spirit has come,
he'll convince men, he'll convince of sin, righteousness, and judgment,
and all as it relates to Christ. Sin. Our need for an offering. Righteousness. We don't have
one. Judgment. Unless we do, we're
going to be judged. Now, his voice. He said, My sheep
hear my voice. What is his voice? As I already
said, it's not an audible voice. Any man who says he heard Jesus
speak to him last night is a liar. Any man who says, Well, God told
me this. He said to me, Jimmy, In fact, Jimmy Swaggart said,
Jimmy, you're the only one I have. You're my only preacher. We saw
he's a liar, didn't we? Any man that says that, that
says, God spoke to me last night and this is what he said, if
it's not something from the pages of this book, God didn't speak
to him. Why did he say that, preacher?
Because God hath in these last days, Hebrews 1, spoken unto
us by son. In son language. What's son language?
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God, and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among
us." He's the Word. This is son language, the Word.
God speaks through the Word, only through the Word. And therefore,
if any man says that God spoke to him outside of this book,
you see, then that means you'd believe anything and everybody,
wouldn't you? Any man or any woman could say,
well, God told me this. Well, okay, I guess, all right.
Right? But didn't Isaiah say that they
speak not according to this word, that there's no light in them?
Didn't he say that, John? Isaiah 8, 20? His word. And Peter said, this
is the word which we preach unto you. Peter said more specifically,
this is the word, not just preaching the Bible. I hear people say
that about their preacher. Well, he preaches the Bible.
Does he now? Does he preach Christ from every
page of the Bible? Then he's not preaching the Bible.
Peter said more specifically, this is the word which by the
gospel is preached unto you. The gospel is the word of his
power. And that is the gospel concerning
God's Son. Look at that verse 3 again here
in John 10. Let's just dive into this and
see if the Holy Spirit will open it up to us. He says, To him
the porter openeth, and the sheep hear his voice. So that is, to
the preaching of Christ, the porter openeth, and the sheep,
true sheep, hear his voice, the word, the gospel. And he calleth
his own sheep. He called it his own sheep. Did you hear that? Sheep did. They heard something loud and
clear in those three words. His own sheep. Now, the world says everybody
belongs to God. Well, isn't everyone the children
of God? No, sir. Romans 9 says then,
are they because they are the children of Abraham, are they
children of God? Let me read it. I don't want
to misquote it. He said, They which are the children of the
flesh, these are not the children of God. They that are children of the
flesh, who's that? Every son of Adam. These are
not the children of God. All men are not the children
of God. He doesn't say that in the Bible. Here's who they are,
the children of the promise in a covenant before the world began.
Did you hear that? His own sheep. He calleth his
own sheep. He said, all that the Father
giveth me, whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life before
the foundation of the world, his own sheep. He said, of the
sheep I have two, this particular one that he's standing there
in the midst of, them also I must bring. I must. Why? They're mine. I'm a good shepherd. I never
lose a sheep. Never have, never will. He is an own sheep. He is an own sheep. You see,
all men and women and young people are not the children of God.
They're sons of Adam, though. Well, how is somebody a child
of God? How does somebody become a child
of God? Accepting Jesus as their personal Savior? Letting go and
letting God? Deciding to let God? Suppose
that my wife and I were childless. We have one child. One begotten
child. We have no other. That's my only
begotten, well-beloved daughter. All right? Suppose we weren't
capable in the Lord's will to have any more. All right? Suppose
we wanted some more. What would we do? What are we
going to do? Adopt. Right. OK. All right. We're going to adopt and make
somebody our child. All right. We go down to the
adoption agency and here are a bunch of little, well, kids. Boys. Stephen. Rugrats, they call them. A red-haired
boy and me as a snake with skin up shins. A mean look on his
face called, name him, Butch. He runs up to me and says, I
decided to go home with you and your son. Is that how it's done? What do
you reckon I'd do with that kid, if the law would allow it? All right, who's going to be
my child? Who's going to be my child? The one I choose, not
choose me. And I'm going to choose them,
and if they know the shape they're in and know what they need, a
loving family, a loving father, they need help or they're going
to remain this way if they know. them realize, oh, they would
be so willing to go with me. I'd make them my own, I'd make
them my choice, that one my choice, or two or three or however many.
Now, that's not really the way it's done today. It's hard to
adopt today. There were many adoption places,
and if anybody was willing at all to have one of those kids,
they could have them over in ancient England. But I made one
of those my choice. Say it was the worst, it was
the least. the one nobody else wanted. And
I chose him and all he knew, and he'd come home with me willingly.
Well, that's the way God does it. That's the way God's people
are made sheep. They're all sons of Adam. They're
all butchers. They're all stone. He chooses
his own. He calls them, look at verse
3, he calls them by name. Have you heard Jesus Christ call
your name? Have you? Now doesn't it say here that
the shepherd calls his own sheep and he calls them by name? Have
you heard him call your name? Huh? It says here the good shepherd
Calleth his own sheep, they hear his voice. Every one of them,
if they're sheep, they're going to hear him call, and he calls
them by name. Have you heard your name called? Now, he doesn't say, Bill. He doesn't say, George. Why? There's lots of Georges. There's
lots of Bills. Lots of Pauls. He didn't say
Paul. I went to Wheatersburg, Ohio, and preached down there.
There were five Pauls down there. If I said Paul in here, you'd
only think of me, wouldn't you? But if you said Paul down there,
you'd say who? If I said Paul, it'd be four
fellows raised up. But he does call them all by
their name. Have you heard your name called? Do you remember old Jacob? When
he was wrestling, the man wrestling with him, Jacob was on the run. And a man shook him out of his
sleep and wrestled with him. Took old Jacob by the nape of
the neck and said, What's your name? Jacob said, Jacob. What does that name mean? Does
it mean prince? Does it mean wonderful fellow?
It means cheat. It means liar. As his name was,
so he was. Jacob, a surplanter, a no-good,
a Jacob. What's your name? God demanded
of Jacob, tell me your name. He says, I'm the God of Jacob. He said, I'm the Lord, I change
not, therefore What's your name? Jacob! Jacob! Jacob! Any Jacobs
in here? Cheat! Liar! Snitch! Suppleter! Sinner! Jacob! This is a faithful
saint. Look over at Luke chapter 5. He says, He calls them by name,
and they are Bill and George and Paul, or Henry or Stan. Henry, right in the Bible, is
it Henry? Neither is Stan. Neither is Stan. Luke 5, but
your name's here, Stan. It's here just as you've heard
it, hasn't it? Luke 5. Look at Luke chapter
5. Look at verse 30. Luke chapter 5, verse 30. It
says here, these old religious Pharisees, scribes and Pharisees,
murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do you eat and drink
with publicans and sinners? Talking to Christ. Because the shepherd eats amidst
the flock, doesn't he? That's where he eats, if he's
a good shepherd. This is his flock. Read on. Verse 32. Verse 31. They that are whole need not
a physician, but they that are sick. Any sick in here? Now, I'm not talking about arthritis.
I'm not talking about cancer. I'm not talking about with disease
that fills your loins like David talked about in Psalm 38. You
might know what that means. Romans 7 centers in here. I mean,
there's spiritual AIDS. Stevie said, my body's filled
with a loathsome disease. Sick like, anybody sick like
that? Sick. I'm sick! and sick and tired
of yourself. Well, look at verse 32. I came
not to call the righteous, but he calls them by name. Sinner. I heard my name. When you hear
your name called, it's a faithful saying worthy of all acceptation.
Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. Hey! That's
me! Mary Magdalene, back in the background,
says, Hey, that's me! Matthew, the public, says, Hey,
that's me! Paul, the rotten wretch, says,
That's me! He's calling me! He says he comes
to call sinners. Hello! I heard my name. Heard my name. And they hear his voice. Is that
your name? Oh, my. Somebody said, I'm not.
I'm no sinner. He's not calling you. You've heard people say that,
haven't you? A fellow told John Davis where he works one time.
He said, I used to be a sinner, and now I'm a saint. Well, then
you no longer have a Savior. You used to have one when you
were a sinner, but you don't now, because he comes to call
sinners. And he's not calling you anymore.
He didn't come to call the righteous, etc. Is that your name? What about this? Now, do you think that would hold
up in the First Baptist Church of Washington, D.C., or whatever,
if I stood up and said, Any worms in here? Everybody hear the worm? Oh! He calls worms. That's who he
calls. Listen to it. Listen to your
name called if you're a worm. Fear not, thou worm, Jacob, for
I have redeemed thee. Oh, man, I heard my name. What's
a worm? It's a maggot. That's what the
word translates to. It's a maggot. It's a thing that
feeds off of dead things. It's a wriggling. I don't know
why we call it wiggling, but we always have. Wriggling maggots. It feeds on dead things, and
that's me in this world, this dead and dying world, feeding
on it. He says, Fear not, thou worm,
Jacob. I'm going to make a butterfly out of you, put you in a cocoon. but in a grave, crucified with
Christ. You're going to live someday,
no more a worm. They hear his voice. He calls
them by name. He calls them by name. And look
at it here. Verse 3, it says, "...he calleth
his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out." Verse 4, "...and when
he put forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep
follow him." They follow him. They know his voice. Every sheep
that he calls, he calls them by name. That's the voice of
conviction and the voice of power. They follow him. They follow him. They know him,
it says. They know his voice. They know
his voice. They hear him declare who he
is in no uncertain term. Do you remember that passage
we read where it says the people After they heard Christ preach,
they said, Well, he speaks as one having authority, not like
the scribes. He doesn't speak like the scribes,
those poor little intellectual fellows. He speaks as one having
authority. Yes, I've heard him. And he does
have all authority. He said it. I heard his voice.
All authority is given unto me in heaven and I've heard that boy, I've heard
him say that. I heard him say, You call me Lord and Master,
for so I am. I heard him say, I am. I heard
him say, I am God, there is none else. I heard him say, I will
do all things according to my will. I work all things according
to my will." Did you notice verse 5? He didn't notice it, but he
hadn't got to it. Verse 5, a stranger, he said. A stranger will they not follow? They will flee from him. They
know not the voice of a stranger. They know not the voice of strangers.
Do you remember when Paul went to Athens, and he went up to
a place called Mars Hill? It was a court of the Areopagites. It was a place where all the
philosophers and the learned intellectuals of his day would
philosophize, and all that philosophizers do, intellects do. Lighting, telling, and the hearing
of nothing. Well, Paul stood up in that day and said, I saw a
plaque, and I was going by, and I saw all these statues and all
these plaques and all these idols and all that, to all your gods,
this god and that god. And he said, I saw one that was
to the unknown God. And he said, that's what I'm
going to declare to you right now. that he's not God like we think
he's God. Not a man, not a creature, not
in our hands, but in him we live and have our being. We're in
his hands. He's truly God to dispose of
with us as he pleases. And God hath put his Son in charge
of all things, Jesus of Nazareth, who is now Lord of all. He's
not In our hands, we're in his hand. This is the unknown God.
You know what the people said? You remember what the people
there said? Well, he's setting forth some strange God. You remember that, Henry? He
seemeth to be the setter forth of some strange God, they said.
Well, this is strange, this God. No, he's not. He's strange if
you don't know him. And as I said this morning, the
average person would come in and listen to what we're saying
and would say, Now, this is a strange doctrine. It's strange if you're
not hearing it. But this is not a strange doctrine.
This is a doctrine which God has declared from the beginning
who he is. John, he has said from the beginning,
I am God. There's none else. The God who
says, I work all things unto the counsel of my own will. He said that a long time ago,
didn't he, John? Long before Romans said, Not
of him that willeth. God said, My will. I'm God. He kept saying that over and
over again. Yet men say, That's a strange God. I tell you who's
a strange God. A God they call God who's not
God, who wants to be God. Now, that's a strange God, isn't
it? A God, Henry, who creates everything
out of nothing, but has no hands. Wait a minute. Now, that's strange,
isn't it? He created everything out of
nothing. He's the Creator, but he has
no hands. He can't—but your hand. He can't do anything unless you
let him. That's a strange God. Well, that's no God at all. No feet, no hands, no nothing.
Dead, like they are, dead. Not my God. He's no strange God. He's God
who is God. I say, strange doctrine is the
doctrine of a God who loves you and might send you to hell anyway.
Now, that's strange, isn't it? And I find it strange, Brother
Henry, that anybody would want that, don't you? Why would anybody
want the love of God and be talking about the love of God? Well,
they might end up in hell. Well, I don't want that kind
of love. Strange love to me. I love my daughter, and I see
her walking across the street, and the car coming, and I don't
want to violate her will. The car's going to hit her, she's
going to die, and I don't want to violate her free will. I love
her. Oh, honey, please. That's strange
love, isn't it? Let me tell you love. I'd ban
her out of my path and pull her out of the way and I'd be in
her place. That's love. That's the love of God. And a
love that says, Hannah, I'll never leave you no matter what.
You go to prison, you're still my daughter. And the love of God that says,
I've loved thee with an everlasting love, never quits loving, never
stops loving, saving love too, not a love that wants to, a love
that tries and fails and can't, a love that strains. Any other
kind of love is strange love to me. Huh? A love that says, God had
written a covenant concerning his people, he signed his name
to them, he married them, he said, their maker is your husband. That's what he said to me, John.
You know the Scripture. He said, where's the deal with
divorce? Try it! I don't know, I'll let you go. You might get on that auction
block like Gomer, but you ain't gonna leave me. You'll play the heart of the
Y, but you can't hold me! That's powerful love, and that's
God's love. Love that the Scripture says
in Isaiah that men talk about brings to the birth and brings
forth with, and everybody in here knows what he's talking
about. God doesn't miss words. God speaks very plainly, like
our righteousness is what he calls it, very plainly. Filthy
rags, look it up. And he says in one place there
in Isaiah, he says, they bring forth to the birth and bring
forth with. Not me, he says. Not me. When I bring to hear the gospel
and I send my Holy Spirit, buddy, they're going to be born again.
They're going to be born from above. They're going to hear
my voice. They're my own. They're not their
own. I bought them with a price. They're
going to hear my voice, and they're going to follow me. They're going
to come to me. I'm not going to wait around to be willing.
I'm going to make them willing in the day of my power. You'd
like that. Now, what have I said but what
God has already said? Someone may hear that and say,
I don't believe that. Then you're not his sheep, because I've done nothing but
tell what God has said. Haven't I? Haven't I done anything
other than quote scripture? That's his voice. He said, my
sheep will hear it. And they'll say, hallelujah.
They hear his voice. They believe. They follow him. Oh, my. Where am I? Wherever. John 10, look back
there. Look at verse 19. I've got a
quiz. It's hot. I'm hot. While my heart's on fire. Verse
19. I love this stuff. He said, well,
we can't leave this out. Here's love, verse 11, greater
love hath no man than this, and he lay down his life for his
friends, for his sheep. Verse 11, I'm the good shepherd,
the good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep. Verse 15,
I lay down my life for the sheep. Who did Christ die for? Well, the sheep. Hear who he
died for? Sheep. That's what he said. He said
it twice, didn't he? Did you hear that? Did you hear that,
Sherry Anderson? The world said, no, no, no, I don't believe it.
He didn't hear him, did you? Did you hear him say that loud
and clear? I lay down my life for the sheep, and verse 16 said,
and the other sheep I have, which are not of this fold, and you
know who he's talking about? John Davis. He's talking about
Sherry Anderson, Henry Sword, Mary Park, Rebecca Shively. He's talking about other sheep.
He's got them engraved on the palms of his hands. Who? Rebecca Shively? If you'd asked
Thomas or Matthew or somebody, or told them, this is for Rebecca
Shively. Rebecca Shively lives in a burnt
chimney. Where? What? She lives in a burnt
chimney? Oh yeah, two thousand years from
now, she's going to hear the gospel. She's one of my sheep. I must bring her. I must! She's mine. Before the
world began, wrote her name on the palms of my hands. She's coming. But what if she's
not? She's coming. But what? But God will bring
her. God who is God. And a preacher
will stand up, but it will be more than a preacher, it will
be Christ himself, the voice of Christ saying, Sinner, Jacob,
daughter of Jacob, come. Either heavy and laden and heavy
laden, come. Buddy, she'll skedaddle down
that isle and she'll get in that water just as glad and happy
and say, This I heard, I heard, I heard him call my name. I'm going to follow you in believer's
baptism and the rest of my life. Verse 19 says there's a division. You don't believe that? Well, sheep do. There was a division
because of what? These saints. These saints. If they argued with the Son of
God, and this is what Christ said, he said, my words will
receive yours. He said, they didn't. They won't. They don't like what I'm saying,
and when you come just repeating what I said, they're not going
to like that either. But the sheep will. That's who
you're going after. You're not trying to convince
goats, you're on the trail of my sheep. You don't know who
they are, so you go and preach to every. Man, woman, boy and
girl will hear it and say, Sit over there and my sheep will
hear my voice, I'll call them by name. You don't know who they are,
I do. I've known them before the world began. And they're
going to hear it and they're going to come. And I'm not going
to share my glory with you. I'm going to get the glory for
you. You're going to say, Well, surely Sherry's not. Well, surely
Sherry's not. It's going to be Vicki over here. That's how it works, or vice
versa. They're going to hear. The wind
is going to blow and speak to that heart. And the preacher
might not even know it until much later. But the sheep will
hear his. I'm so glad. Hymn number 46. Oh, for a thousand
tongues to sing, my great Redeemer's praise. Look at this verse. Hymn number 46, verse 4. They're
all so good. My gracious Master and my God,
assist me to proclaim. Verse 4, he breaks the power
of cancelled Verse 5, Hear him, ye deaf, he is praised, ye dumb. Oh, for a thousand tongues to
sing my great Redeemer's praise, the glories of my God and King,
the triumphs of His grace. High saints below and saints
above Church in earth and heaven above