is our study this evening. Our
Lord has already exposed the leaders of the Jewish religion. He has already said that they're
not His sheep. You'll remember that He's speaking
to the Pharisees. He's speaking to those men who
had religious authority. He has identified them as being
thieves, robbers, strangers and hirelings. He said they're bad
shepherds. They couldn't be trusted. They
were misleading the people. But over against them, he sets
himself forth as being the good shepherd and one who's faithful
to the souls of men. And as he addresses this crowd
who had gathered to hear him, and this includes the blind man
who had been healed in John chapter nine, as well as the religious
leaders and his disciples and the other multitudes who are
listening, as they gathered around to hear this great prophet whose
spake is never a man's spake, he began to deal with the subject
of the shepherd and his sheep. This is still during the Feast
of the Tabernacles. And then our Lord finishes up
with that theme when he gets down to verse number 21. At verse number 21, there is
an interval. An interval begins of two months,
about two months. And then the narrative picks
up again in the 22nd verse at the Feast of the Dedication.
The scripture says in the 22nd verse, it was in Jerusalem, the
Feast of the Dedication, and it was winter. I'm sure that
John is led of the Spirit of God to identify that time of
the year as being winter, not only to give us an idea when
this happened, but also he speaks to us of the spiritual condition
of Israel, it was winter. Very cold. People were cold toward
the things of God. Cold toward the gospel of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Cold in their hearts. Had no
interest in the Lord of glory. As cold as death itself. Because indeed, most of these
people to whom he was speaking, they were dead. in their trespasses
and sins. And so speaking at winter time
seemed very appropriate because it was a very cold time in Jerusalem
for the things of God. And our Lord Jesus, He walked
in the temple in Solomon's porch, which is an area that has some
covering. This is the rainy season in the
winter over there. It is rainy season. And so it
was not unusual for rabbis, teachers, even our Lord Jesus to meet with
people and speak to them underneath this kind of porch area. in Solomon's porch, this in the
temple area. And then the Jews, the Jewish
leaders, and we've already said this a number of times, and I've
tried to point it out to you, whenever you see this expression,
the Jews, most of the time, John means by that the Jewish leaders,
these who were opposed to our Lord Jesus Christ. They're supposed
to be teachers. They're supposed to be doctors
of theology, men who knew the Bible, scribes and Pharisees,
but they were anything but nice toward the Lord Jesus. You think
of Jesus of Nazareth. He went about doing good, healing
the sick. He never met a disease. He didn't
heal anybody who ever came to Him. They were healed whether
they believed Him or not, whether they rested in Him or not for
salvation. Anybody who came to Him, regardless
of the illness, regardless of the disease, He healed them all.
He healed them all. And these men were upset with
Him because He healed people on the Sabbath day. Their real
enmity toward him began in earnest back in the fifth chapter when
he healed the man who was lame, who had been lame 38 years. And
he did it on the Sabbath day. And they've been upset with him
ever since. And it just kind of is growing at a fever pace. They're just very heated in their
minds and in their hearts against Jesus of Nazareth. And he said
he was the son of God and that made him even madder. They were
absolutely furious toward him. How dare this one who is a man,
he looks like a mere man. We know his mother and his father,
that's what they said. We know his brothers and his
sisters. We've known him ever since he
was a kid. Growing up in Nazareth, we know
Him. How dare He say that God is His
Father, making Himself equal with God. So this attitude of
animosity toward Jesus of Nazareth, it just keeps on increasing. And now here in John chapter
10, it's just about at the bursting point. And so we get to verse
24. They're round about Him. They
circle Him. Upset. Mad. Mad. They say, how long dost thou
make us to doubt? How long do you keep us in suspense? If you be the Christ, tell us
openly. Tell us publicly. Our Lord answered
them and He said, I've already told you. And here's your problem. And this is always the natural
man's problem. He believed not. That's our problem. It may be
that's your problem. I don't know. I can't see anybody's
heart. I know this. None of us believe
like we ought to. None of us believe like we want
to. But there are some of us who
do believe the Word of God. I believe Jesus is the Son of
God, don't you? I believe He's the only Savior. I believe salvation's by grace
alone. I believe the Lord Jesus died
on a cross not to just show us how to be a martyr, not to start
a new religion, but He died so that God could be just and justify
ungodly folks like us. I believe salvations of God. I believe. I believe. I believe
there is no other Savior. There is no other one I can rest
my soul's welfare in and expect to have everlasting salvation
except the Lord Jesus Christ. We just heard today, or yesterday
I heard, of the passing of one of the men of our congregation.
His dad has just recently passed away. Listen, we're faced with
death every day. Every day. And then the issue
is, what then? What then? You say, well, I have
many years to live. You don't know that. Nobody knows
how long they have to live. Job says God set a boundary that
we can't pass. And we must face death. I dare
not face death without the Savior. I dare not face death with my
sins unforgiven. I dare not face death without
being righteous in the Lord Jesus Christ. So I believe. I don't know about you. I can't
see your heart. And I wouldn't ask you. I wouldn't
embarrass you. I wouldn't say, well, do you
believe? Do you believe? Do you believe? Although I'm
sure most everybody in here does. Maybe everybody in here does.
I don't know. And maybe those who are watching,
maybe you believe. But I know this. If we believe,
if we believe the Son of God, if we believe salvation is all
of grace, Our belief is evidence of the greatness of God's grace. To just believe Him. To just
believe, as I said in my prayer, just believe the naked Word of
God, unadorned. You know, you think about religion
today. Religion today, preachers try
to make it real attractive, exciting, Fun? Let's make church fun again. Well, you know, we're not here
to have fun. I go other places to have fun. I go other places
to be entertained. Why do you come here? We come
here to worship God. Well, that's rather old-fashioned,
isn't it? Well, yes, it is. It's very old-fashioned. But it's the right thing to do
because God's the one who made us. God's the one who sustains
us. God's the one who provides for
us. And we may even deny His existence and you know what?
He will still provide for us. Isn't that amazing? That's how
merciful God is. I was reading this week on the
internet about movie stars who are atheists. I was reading down
the list, and I'm not going to name the names. None of them
would probably surprise you. And I'm not a big follower of
Hollywood. I don't pay any attention. When
they say something politically, I don't pay attention to that,
because that's just one voice. I don't know why their opinion
means more than anybody else's. And everybody's got an opinion
like everybody's got a nose. But I was just kind of interested.
Well, one after another, they said, I don't believe there's
a God. But if you believe it, that's OK. That's OK. And I don't think it's necessary
to have faith, and I don't believe Jesus is the Son of God, and
I don't think you've got to believe Him to go to heaven when you
die, if there is a heaven. And one lady said, she said,
when I die, if I do go to see God, I'm going to say, well,
I'm really shocked to be here in front of you. Well, she's
in for a shock. I assure her of that. But you see, some of us do believe.
And we recognize the reason we believe is not because we're
better than somebody else, or we're more intelligent than others,
or we've studied more than others. That's not the reason why people
believe. Because there are people who
are very intelligent who don't believe, and there are people
who are very intelligent who do believe. So the degree of
intelligence or how high an IQ you have has nothing to do with
it. I'll tell you what has everything
to do with it. It's whether God will teach you
or not. It's whether God will reveal
His Word to your heart. Here these people are. You're
talking about religious. They're very religious. They've
been religious for years. And yet here comes Jesus of Nazareth,
who is the answer to all the things that were set forth in
the Old Testament. We've said this before. You've
heard it said many times. The Old Testament tailor makes
a garment that only fits one man. That's Jesus of Nazareth. Hear all these Old Testament
prophecies and promises, and God sets them forth by all of
these various writers of the Old Testament, like I've said
in my prayer, most of them didn't even know one another, and yet
they're all telling the same story. And hear these Jews who studied
them all. They studied them all. And if
you say, well, I know my Bible, I'll guarantee you this, you
don't know your Bible like they knew their Bible. At least, the
words of it. And yet, the words of the Scripture,
the message of the Scriptures, the Lord Jesus of the Scriptures,
the salvation of God revealed in the Scriptures meant nothing
to them, and they didn't believe. And they said, if you're really
the Christ, why don't you just tell us openly? Tell us publicly
and plainly you're the Christ. And our Lord Jesus said, I told
you. I told you. But here's your problem. You don't believe. You don't
believe. And then he gets to verse 26
and he says, but you believe not. Again, he mentions their
unbelief. You don't believe. And we can't
make anybody believe. You can't force anybody to believe. That's just a matter of the heart. You have to be persuaded in your
innermost being by the Spirit of God that these things are
true. I can't make you believe. I can't make my children, my
grandchildren, my friends, my neighbors, I can't make anybody
believe. Hey, I can't even make myself
believe. I had to be given the gift of
faith. Faith is a gift of God. Our Lord
Jesus says you believe not, but He says this in the 26th verse.
Here's the reason you believe not, because you're not of my
sheep. As I said unto you, my sheep hear my voice, and I know
them, and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. My Father which gave them me
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
my Father's hand. I and my Father are one." Here's
the subject I want to deal with for the next few minutes, if
you'll give me a hearing. Reprobation and salvation. Reprobation and salvation. What does it mean to be reprobate? Well, before I give you a definition
of reprobation or reprobate, let me say this. These people
were reprobate. Here's what it means to be reprobate
or reprobation. It's divine rejection. It's for
God to pass you by. It's for God to bypass you with
His love, with His grace, with His mercy, and with His salvation. It's for God to reject you. You see, the Bible sets forth
both reprobation and salvation. We know that before God made
the world, He chose a people unto salvation. The Scripture
teaches that. 2 Thessalonians 2 and verse 13
tells us, Paul says, but we're bound to give thanks unto God
always for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath
from the beginning chosen you unto salvation, Through the sanctification
of the Spirit and the belief of the truth. God set you apart. And if you believe this evening,
it's because God set you apart before He ever made the world.
He set you apart and He said, you'll be mine. You're for me.
You're for me and I'm for you. And in time, I'm going to make
sure that you learn my gospel. I'm going to send my Son who's
going to redeem you and reconcile you. He's going to give His life
in order that you'll be redeemed. You'll be redeemed from divine
justice. You'll be bought back from that
bondage into which you have fallen yourself. And I'll send my Spirit
who will cause the Word proclaimed by one of my preachers to find
a welcome in your heart. This is God's salvation. God chose a people unto salvation. On the other hand, when God chose a people unto
salvation, all others were necessarily therefore rejected. They were
passed over, passed by with His mercy. That's why the Apostle
Paul in Romans chapter 9 speaks of Vessels of mercy afore prepared
unto glory, and vessels of wrath foreordained to condemnation. Question. Don't answer out loud. You might have the wrong answer.
I'd hate to embarrass you. But here's the question. What does God have to do so that
a person remains in unbelief and dies in their sins and they
perish in the judgment of God and face an everlasting darkness
separated from the God of glory. What does God have to do? And
the answer is nothing. Just leave you alone. That's
all he's got to do. Just leave you alone. Leave you
to your will. Leave you to your thoughts. Leave
you to your vain imaginations. Leave you to your learning. Leave
you to your education. Leave you to the natural inclinations
of your heart. Just do nothing with you. Just
pass you by. Pass you by with instruction. Pass you by with His gospel. Pass you by with His Holy Spirit. Pass you by with this work of
regeneration. Pass you by with the work of
redemption. All it's got to do is just leave
you alone. Because you'll destroy yourself
and me too. This is what the Lord said to
Israel in Hosea 13 verse 9. He said, O Israel, thou hast
destroyed thyself. What does God have to do for
a man to destroy himself? Just leave you alone. Just not
have anything to do with you. And that is reprobation. It's
a fact. It's a Bible fact that multitudes
of people in this world, of them it must be said God just leaves
them alone. He never exerts His effectual
grace in calling them to the Savior for salvation. He doesn't
disturb them about their ungodliness. He doesn't bother them about
coming judgment. And you know, I'm not going to
argue with anybody about these things. I'm not going to listen
to anybody or speak to anybody who's in opposition to the ways
of our sovereign God. But I'll just tell you this,
God does what He wants to with everybody. And He doesn't owe
us anything. He may pass by your way and show
you mercy. He may reveal the Lord Jesus
Christ in His glory, the wonders of His salvation and His grace. God may reveal that to you or
He may leave you alone and whatever He does is right. And we have no quarrel with Him. You see, I'm just thankful He
didn't leave everybody alone. I'm thankful He didn't leave
me to myself, to my will and to my ways. He could have and
He would have been perfectly just in doing so. And so I say
to those of you here this evening and to those of you who are watching
who rejoice in God's salvation by grace in the Lord Jesus Christ,
thank God for electing grace. Because God didn't have to choose
you. He could have just passed you by. He could have just rejected
you as you and I deserve to be rejected. He ordained you unto
eternal life. He redeemed you by the blood
of the Lord Jesus. There's a verse of Scripture
in Jeremiah 6. Would you turn to that passage
with me in Jeremiah chapter 6? Look at Jeremiah chapter 6. The
most interesting Scripture from the Old Testament. Actually,
I don't believe many people have ever heard or know anything about
divine reprobation. It is, and even when it is presented
to the natural mind, it is kind of a doctrine that people find
repulsive and they don't want to believe it. But it's as true
as salvation is. Before I read this verse, let
me just say these things. What is election? What is election
unto salvation? Well, it's God's everlasting
choice of some people to salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ, while
reprobation is God not choosing the others. I don't have a problem
with that. Do you have a problem with that?
Doesn't the potter have power over the clay? To make one vessel
of honor and another vessel of dishonor? I don't have any problem
with that. What about predestination? Predestination
is God's sovereign, everlasting purpose of grace toward and for
His elect, whereas reprobation, reprobation is God leaving everybody
else to themselves. Salvation is God's mighty, wondrous
work. It's His operation of grace for
us, in us, and on us. Whereas reprobation is God leaving
everybody else to their own will and to their own ways. I'll tell you how sinful we are. Us intelligent people. If God
leaves this to ourselves, you know what, we're liable to start
worshiping a rock, a tree, an animal. There are nations in
this world who worship animals. Animals are sacred too. Oh, that's
our God. And you know, those of us who
are, we think we're educated, a little smart, and say, well,
that's kind of crazy talk, isn't it? That's what happens when
God leaves men to their own imaginations. They'll do anything. They'll
worship anything. What is election? Election is
God's everlasting love to Jacob and all the sons and daughters
of Jacob. Reprobation is God's hatred of
Esau and all the sons and daughters of Esau. Jacob have I loved,
Esau have I hated. What is effectual calling? It
is God refusing to leave you alone. It's God not taking He refuses
to take no from you for an answer. That's what effectual calling
is. And reprobation is God consigning
you to the natural desires of your heart. And those natural
desires, they may lead you into open rebellion. Or they may lead
you to be a very nice person and have no religion. Or they
may lead you into false religion and you just go absolutely crazy
about something that is contrary to the truth. Reprobation is God leaving you
to yourself. Look at Jeremiah 6.27. I've got
to go quickly. Jeremiah 6.27. This is the Lord speaking to
Jeremiah, and Jeremiah's a prophet of God, of course. And God says
to Jeremiah, I've set thee for a, I've set thee, I've set you
for a tower and a fortress among my people that thou mayest know
and try their way. In other words, God's going to
pronounce judgment upon Israel. But he says to Jeremiah, I'm
going to put you like in a fortress. I'm going to put you in a tower.
so that you can look at these people and you see these people
like I see these people. And then you'll understand the
equity and the rightness of my judgment. So I'm going to raise
you up so you can look upon these people, you'll see their violence,
you'll see their rebellion, you'll see how repugnant they are to
me, how ignorant they are of my ways and my person. And then
when I judge them, You won't have any problem with it. So that's exactly what verse
27 is saying. I've set thee for a tower and
a fortress among My people that thou must know and try their
way. You'll see how they are. I'm going to show you. Now look
at verse 28. It says they're all grievous
revolters. And literally it's saying they're
all revolting revolters. They've rebelled against me.
Walking with slanders. Speaking evil. Speaking evil
of who? Of God. Of God. He says they're brass and iron. That's the baser metals. They're
low. They're low people. He says they're
corruptors. In other words, they not only
corrupt themselves, but they want to corrupt others. They
not only don't believe the truth themselves, but they don't want
anybody else to believe the truth. It's like the Lord said to the
Pharisees, they're not going to enter the Kingdom of God,
and they're going to try to keep you out of the Kingdom of God
as well. He says in verse 29, the bellows are burned. Undoubtedly
a metaphor for the voices of the prophets of God. Their voices became, as it were,
worn out. Their breath just kept going
out. But all it did was feed the fire
of their animosity toward God. The lead is consumed of the fire. Precious metals, you put it in
the fire to burn the dross out. But he said, no, I put them in
the fire, there's nothing left of them. Because there's no goodness
in them. He says, therefore the founder
melteth in vain, for the wicked are not plucked away. What does
that mean, the wicked are not plucked away? They're left as
they are. They're left as they are. They're
not drawn away from their idols. And he says in verse 30, Reprobate
silver shall men call them. In other words, silver that's
worth nothing. And this is the reason, the Lord
hath rejected them. The Lord hath rejected them.
And so, going back to John chapter 10, there is a people that God
has rejected. They're a reprobate people. Our Lord says to these Jews,
and they were always a thorn in his side, and they're not
going to be happy until he's dead. But of course, their strategies to have him killed
just works into the purpose of God because he's ordained that
he die even before the world began in order to save a people
from their sins. And He says, you believe not
because you're not of My sheep, as I said unto you. So there's
reprobation, but here's salvation. And I'll go into it more fully
the next time we gather on a Wednesday evening. But He says in verse
27, My sheep hear My voice. What's the difference between
the Lord's sheep and these Jews? The Lord's sheep hear His voice.
These people wouldn't hear His voice. They don't want to hear
anything He's got to say. We're not interested in what
you say. We're not interested in your
sermons. We're not interested in your God. We're not interested
in your views. Don't preach to us. That's what
they said. He said, well, the reason you
have those beliefs is because you're not of My sheep. But My
sheep, they hear My voice. They want to hear. They're anxious
to hear. They come together, and as it
were, they said, Speak, Lord, thy servant heareth. We're ready
to hear. My sheep hear my voice, and I
know them. I love them. And they follow
me, whether it's wherever I go. And I give unto them. I give
them something. I give them eternal life. And
they're never going to perish. Nobody's going to pluck them
out of My hand. Because My Father which gave them Me is greater
than all, and no man's able to pluck them out of My Father's
hand. And I and My Father are one on this. We're unified in
our eternal purpose of grace. To save a people from their sins. We will not let them die. They
must be saved. They must be brought to the light.
They must be brought to faith. They must be brought to me, the
shepherd said. They're my sheep. They're my
sheep. And I'm going to give them eternal
life. And they're never going to perish. Preacher, do you believe
in eternal security? Oh, I do. I believe in the eternal
security of the sheep of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank God
He didn't leave us to ourselves. He didn't leave us to our wills
or to our ways or to our vain imaginations, but He came after
us. He did. In the effectual grace,
here's the good shepherd, the seeking shepherd. He sought the
lost sheep and He found us and He made us to know we belong
to Him. And we're His forever.