All right, we're in John chapter
number 10 this evening. Our Lord Jesus has been having
constant, maybe an ongoing battle, I should say, with the religious
leaders of Israel. The opposition from these Jewish
zealots is ever getting bigger. It's getting worse and worse.
Every day, it seems, back in the eighth chapter, there was
a great war of words between the master and the Pharisees
and the scribes. And it got really heated when
he said to them, you're of your father the devil, and the works
of your father ye will do. And they didn't take that too
lightly. that greatly offended them, and yet he didn't back
off. Our Lord Jesus never backed off.
He never had a loving word toward those people. They, what's the right word? They offended
him. They were an offense to him because
they believed and they taught a false gospel. They believed
and they instructed the people to keep the law of Moses and
live right and keep the traditions of the fathers and believe what
the Pharisees and the scribes and the elders taught them. And
they'd go to Abraham's bosom when they died and our Lord Jesus
exposed them. He said, basically, you lie to
the people. And they were just more aggravated. The Savior said concerning Satan,
he was a murderer and a liar. And he said, so are you. So are
you. And they said, well, Abraham's
our father. The Savior said, well, if Abraham's
your father, you do the works of your father. He said, in essence,
speaking of Abraham, Abraham rejoiced to see my day. You don't. But he did. And he said he saw
it and was glad. And then the Lord Jesus identified
himself as being the great I am. He said before Abraham was I
am. And then they just lost it. They were absolutely enraged
against him. They pick up rocks to stone him
to death. This is a mob violence. But he escaped. That led to chapter
9. Our Lord is still at the temple. He sees a blind beggar whom he
was pleased in his sovereign mercy to heal. He gave him physical
sight, and the neighbors asked the man some questions, who did
it, and so forth, and then they took him to the Pharisees. The
Pharisees confronted the man. They finally cast him out of
Judaism, cast him out of the organized church. Then our Lord
Jesus gave him something Much more dear and much more precious
than physical sight. He gave him spiritual sight. And introduced himself to him. He said, Do you believe? The
Savior said to the man, Do you believe? Do you believe? Look
back at chapter 9. He says in verse 35, last statement,
Dost thou believe on the Son of God? He answered and said, who is
he, Lord, that I might believe on him? And then our Lord Jesus
revealed himself. He gave him eyes to see. You see, this scripture is not
disconnected from chapter 10. Our Lord goes into chapter 10
speaking about himself being the shepherd and speaking about
his people being his sheep. And do you know what he's just
done? He's just found, he sought and he found, and he saved a
lost sheep. A lost sheep. So as we get into
the chapter number 10, nothing is Nothing has changed. The scene is the same. The setting is the same. He's
still there at the temple. It is virtually still the same
time because all the way back in chapter 7, it was the Feast
of the Tabernacles. And really, it's only a day or
two later after the Feast of the Tabernacles. because in chapter
7 of John, that was the last day of the feast, and then it's
maybe the Lord went up into the mount, He slept that night up
there, then He came down to the temple, and so maybe this may
be as much as a couple of days later, but that's all. That's
all. And the audience is the same.
Here's the man who's the blind beggar, and now he's not begging
anymore. He was begging. He was begging
for food, begging for money. He got a whole lot more than
he was begging for. He met that one who's the very
bread of life. He met the one who gave him the
riches of His grace. Oh, He had given him physical
sight, but He also gave him spiritual sight. And now he sees the beauties
and the glories of the shepherd of the sheep. Our Lord Jesus
has revealed himself to him. So here's the man. He's there.
The disciples are still there. The multitudes are still there.
And there's somebody else still there. The thieves and the robbers,
they're still there. Also known as the Pharisees.
They're still there. He's still in Jerusalem. He's
still at the temple. His audience remains virtually
the same. He begins to speak about the
shepherd, the sheep, the sheepfold, and the porter, and all of the
people could relate to this illustration. because sheep and shepherds were
very well known throughout the land of Israel. The life of a
shepherd was a rough life. He was outside in all kinds of
weather. It was a very difficult vocation. You know, if you've looked at
a map of Judea, you know that the main section of Judea was
like elevated, kind of like a plateau, and 30-something miles in length,
35, I think, 15, 16, 17 miles wide. That's usually where they
took their sheep to graze. It was rocky. It was so rocky,
they didn't use that to, they didn't do any planting or any
harvesting up there. It was used for grazing the sheep. There wasn't a lot of grass because
it was so rocky and because they took so many sheep up there,
the sheep kept all the grass eaten down low. That's typically
where they took the sheep up there, led by the shepherds. The ground was rocky, was stony. The grass was limited. So this
is a very familiar scene to all of the Israelites, the shepherd
and the sheep. There was no fencing out there
on that plateau or on the hills, where they would also feed. And
so the sheep, they were always in danger. They were in danger
of wandering, because that's what sheep do, and they'd wander
down into a valley, into a ravine, get lost, get caught up in thorns
and couldn't get out, and the shepherd would have to go get
them out. There was always that danger. There was always a danger
of thieves and robbers getting a sheep and getting the wool
or maybe butchering them and getting the meat. And then, of
course, there was the danger of the wild beasts. You remember
David wrote about, and he was a shepherd. when he was young,
and he wrote about, or told about, told King Saul when they were
squared off against Goliath and the Philistines. And King Saul
said, you're too little to be a warrior here. And boy, David,
he had a heart that was full of bravery and full of courage.
He said, I'll have you know, I kept my father's sheep. And
one time, a lion came after him, and I killed it. Another time
a bear came after the sheep. I killed it. Always the danger
of the animals, the wild animals coming after the sheep. And so
these are the things that the shepherd always had to be aware
of. So a good shepherd had to be
vigilant. He had to always be on guard.
He had to be very, very patient. There were times when they had
to spend the night out under the moonlight. You remember in
Luke chapter 2, the evening when our Lord Jesus was born, the
night when he was born, the shepherds were watching their flocks by
night. It wasn't an easy life, but it
was a life that most of the Israelites were very familiar with. Every
day for a shepherd was a long, strenuous day. There were lots
of shepherds in the Old Testament, and the Israelites knew about
the famous shepherds in the Old Testament. Abraham was a shepherd.
Isaac was a shepherd. Jacob was a shepherd. Moses was
a shepherd. He kept the flock of his father-in-law
on the backside of the desert for 40 years. David was a shepherd. This required constant vigilance,
fearless courage, A lot of patience for the flock.
But in all of the Old Testament, the most well-known shepherd
was God. And the Israelites knew that.
And if you had asked any of them about David's words, his works,
they would have all known, as we know, the Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want. Jehovah our God, Jehovah who
is the great I am, Jehovah who is always the same. He said, David said, that's the
one who is my shepherd, my shepherd. In Psalm 77 verse 21 of the songs
of Asaph, Asaph said, lead the people in singing, thou leadest
thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron. In Psalm
79, 13, so we are thy people and the sheep of thy pasture.
The very next verse, which is Psalm 80, actually, in verse
one, we read that the Old Testament church Says, give ear, O shepherd
of Israel, thou that dwellest between the cherubim, shine forth. We know very well the passage
of scripture in Isaiah chapter 53. All we like sheep have gone
astray. We've turned everyone to his
own way. The Lord hath laid on him the
iniquity of us all. Lots of references in the Old
Testament to shepherds. but most especially to the Lord
being our shepherd. But of all the Old Testament
passages of scripture that they were familiar with and that we're
familiar with, the one that deals mostly about the Lord being the
shepherd and about there being false shepherds, untrue shepherds,
is the one from which you read Ezekiel chapter 34. Would you
go back to Ezekiel chapter 34? This, of all the chapters in
the Old Testament, from Genesis to Malachi, of all of them, I
think this is the chapter that speaks the most about false shepherds
and true shepherds. Ezekiel chapter 34. This chapter
contains the words of the Lord to Ezekiel in which the Lord
Himself draws a contrast between the false shepherds and the real
shepherd, the true shepherd. Now, our brother read to us a
few verses, so I'm not going to read those, but I do want
to begin reading in verse 1 and read a few verses here about
the false shepherds. Ezekiel chapter 34. And verse
number one, And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son
of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy,
and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God unto the shepherds,
Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves. Now remember, in John chapter
10, our Lord Jesus is rebuking the Pharisees They're the false
shepherds. Last week, that was our subject.
False shepherds, the true shepherd. Here in Ezekiel chapter 34, the
Lord pronounces a woe. A woe, destruction, judgment. Judgment be on the shepherds
of Israel that look after themselves and they don't look after the
flock. He says, you eat the fat. and you clothe you with the wool,
you kill them that are fed, but you don't feed the flock. The
diseased have you not strengthened, neither have you healed that
which was sick, neither have you bound up that which was broken,
neither have you brought again that which was driven away, neither
have you sought that which was lost, but with force and with
cruelty have you ruled them and they were scattered because there
is no shepherd, And they became meat to all the beasts of the
field. When they were scattered, my
sheep wandered through the mountains and upon every high hill. Yea,
my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none
did search or seek after them. Therefore, ye shepherds, hear
the word of the Lord. As I live, saith the Lord God,
surely because my flock became a prey and my flock became meat
to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd,
neither did my shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds
fed themselves and not my flock. Therefore, ye shepherds, hear
the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God behold,
I am against the shepherds. And in the New Testament, the
Lord Jesus there in John chapter 10 at the very beginning of the
chapter, he exposed the Pharisees as being the false shepherds.
He says, I'm against them. I'm against them. The Lord was,
you know, toward the needy, the sinful. The Lord was always full
of mercy. He was full of compassion. But
lying prophets, false shepherds, He never had a word of mercy
for them. He never had a nice word for
them. Somebody says, you shouldn't
rebuke, you shouldn't speak ill of preachers who don't see eye
to eye with you on the gospel. Our Lord was always attacking
them. He never had a good word to say
to them because they were fleecing the flock. They were murderers. They were liars. And the Lord
said, instead of feeding my flock, you're feeding yourself. Boy,
that speaks volumes about false preachers today. They rob widows'
houses. They take from others and give
to themselves and they're living in wealth when people are sacrificing
to give to them. And they have no message. They
have no message of life. They have no message of grace.
They have no message about Christ Jesus. There is nothing about
substitution or satisfaction in their preaching. This is a money-run religion
today. False religion is run by money.
Somebody said, well, money, the dollar is always the main thing
in the pharmaceutical industry. I heard a man advertising for
a credit card company. He said, I've come to the conclusion
my credit card company only wants to make money. Duh, they all
want to make money. So do the false prophets. And our Lord exposes him and
he said, I'm against you. I'm against you. Oh, we read in Romans chapter eight
of the Lord's people, if the Lord be for you, who can be against
you? But he says, I'm against these
shepherds. He says, I'll require my flock
at their hand. I'll cause them to cease from
feeding the flock. Neither shall the shepherds feed
themselves anymore, for I will deliver my flock. You know what
that means? I will save my flock. Listen, this shepherd that we're
talking about, he is the saving shepherd. The Lord Jesus, he's
the saving shepherd. And though Though false shepherds
fleece his flock, and lie to his flock, and rob his flock,
and do everything they can against his flock, the Lord said, I'll
save my flock. The Father gave these sheep to
him. There's a flock of sheep that
were given to the Savior before he made the world. And it was
for these sheep that the Savior came into this world. Next week,
we'll get down a little bit further. He says, I am the good shepherd.
The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. He came to
die. He came to give his life a ransom
for us to pay our redemption price. He said, I'll save my
sheep. I'll save my flock from their
mouth that they may not be meat for them because they would only
devour them. Look down at verse 22. Look at verse 22, therefore I
will save my flock. They shall no more be a prey. And I will judge between cattle
and cattle, verse 23, and I will set up one shepherd, watch it,
I will set up one shepherd over them and he shall feed them,
even my servant David. He shall feed them and He shall
be their shepherd. But wait a minute. David has
been dead many, many, many years when this was written. Who is this talking about? David's
son. David's Lord. The great Messiah. This is the Son of God. Look
at verse 25. And I will make them a couple,
verse 24. And I, the Lord, will be their
God, and My servant David, a prince among them. I, the Lord, have
spoken it. It's going to happen. That's
what He said. It's going to happen. And this
was written hundreds of years before our Lord Jesus came into
the world. But the Lord said, It's going
to happen. I, the Lord, have spoken it. He says, I will make with them
a covenant of peace. Oh, there's the everlasting covenant
of grace, of peace. I'll cause the evil beasts to
cease out of the land. They shall dwell safely in the
wilderness, sleep in the woods. I'll make them my places round
about my hill of blessing. I'll cause the shower to come
down in this season. There shall be showers of blessing. That's where that song comes
from. And every day to us we experience showers of blessings,
showers of blessings. And all of these blessings we've
been blessed with in heavenly places from old eternity in Christ
Jesus. He says in verse 27, the tree
of the field shall yield her fruit, the earth shall yield
her increase, and they shall be safe in their land. Safe,
safe, safe from the wild beasts. safe from the enemies, safe from
the false shepherds. Watch this, and they shall know
that I am the Lord. When I have broken the bands
of their yoke and delivered them, saved them out of the hand of
those that served themselves of them, they'll know who did
it. They'll know who did it because I'll reign in their hearts. They
shall no more be a prey to the heathen, neither shall the beast
of the land devour them, but they shall dwell safely and none
shall make them afraid. There's nothing to be afraid
of. Fear not, he says, little flock. And I'll raise up for
them a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with
hunger in the land. Neither shall bear the shame
of the heathen anymore. Why? Because he leads us into
the green pastures of his word. Thus shall they know that I,
the Lord, their God, am with them. And that they, even the
house of Israel, they are my people, saith the Lord God. and
you're my flock. The flock of my pasture are men,
and I am your God, saith the Lord." Beautiful promises concerning
the shepherd of the sheep. Well, then we get to the New
Testament, and you can go back to John chapter 10. We get into
the New Testament, and We find that our Lord Jesus is often
spoken of as the shepherd. We don't have time to turn there,
but in Luke chapter 15, the parable of lost things, lost sheep, lost
coin, lost son. Very first one, he's the shepherd.
He's the shepherd. Man has a hundred sheep, he leaves
the nine in the wilderness, key words, in the wilderness. where there's death, no word,
nothing to eat. Who's the 99 Pharisees? He leaves them. You know who
he goes after? A lost sheep. This is the seeking
and saving shepherd, and he seeks it till he finds it. Picks it
up on his shoulders, goes home, rejoices, and says, rejoice with
me. I found the sheep that was lost. In Matthew chapter 9 and
verse 36, it says, when Jesus saw the multitudes, he was moved
with compassion on them because they had fainted and were scattered
abroad as sheep having no shepherd. I wish I could have that kind
of compassion. I pray that God would give me
that kind of compassion on the multitudes and give it to you
too. Our Lord was full of compassion
and pity. In 1 Peter 2 and 25, our brother,
I think you read that passage of scripture last week, for ye
were his sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the
shepherd and the bishop of your souls. The Lord Jesus is the
shepherd of our souls. But you know, in all of the New
Testament, in one main chapter we go to, when you want to read
about the shepherd and the sheep, just like there's one main chapter
in the Old Testament. The chapter in the Old Testament
now is Ezekiel 34. The chapter in the New Testament,
John chapter 10. And in the very first few verses,
our Lord brings out an illustration in which he exposes the Pharisees
as being thieves and robbers, and he shows that he himself
is the true shepherd The one who cares about his sheep. In
verse one, verily, verily I say unto you, he that entereth not
by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way
is a thief and a robber. He exposes the Pharisees. He
says they're thieves and robbers. A thief is one who gets by cunning,
craft, conniving. A robber is one who gets by violence. He takes by violence. In the
second verse, he says that he's the real shepherd. He says, but
he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
The Lord Jesus is the real shepherd. Then note verses three through
five, to him the porter openeth. The shepherd would take the sheep
out, go up on the plateau or up on the hills, feeding the
sheep during the day. And if they could, they'd come
back. Sometimes they'd stay out all night. But if they could,
they'd come back to a sheepfold. And the sheepfold had walls around
it, but an entrance, a gate, a door. And there was a man who
was there. He's the gatekeeper. The scripture
calls him, he's the porter. And he would let the real shepherd,
they could go in among the sheep. But he would stand there and
here comes the shepherd leading his sheep back. They've been
out grazing all day. And the shepherd, he'd take his
rod, put his rod down, cross the gate, cross the opening rather,
and every sheep would go under the rod, and he would inspect
all the sheep, make sure that nothing, they didn't get injured
during the day, and you know, they didn't get sick during the
day, and he'd inspect all of his sheep, and there's all in
there, and the porter said, is that all your sheep? Yep, that's
all my sheep. Okay, I'll look after them for
you. And then they were all in there, and then the shepherd
would go, he'd try to get a night's rest somewhere, and then another
shepherd would come in, he'd do the same thing. There were
a bunch of shepherds that would do that. Then next morning, the shepherd
would come, and the porter would say, morning, good to see you.
You have a good night's rest? Yeah. And the shepherd would
say, I'm here for my sheep. And he had a special, he called
his sheep. And they say, well, some reading
I've done, and you've read it too and heard it, that the sheep
know the voice of the shepherd. There have been people who've
tried to, what do you call it, impersonate the shepherd. Sheep
wouldn't respond. The sheep know about the voice
of the shepherd. They know how he talks. They
know his different intonation. They know his voice. This shepherd
comes in, he calls his sheep, and sheep come from everywhere.
Here's one over here, and one over there, and one over there.
And a bunch of sheep still left in there, but they're not his
flock. They don't recognize his voice, but they recognize the
voice of their shepherd. He takes them out, and then the
next one comes in, and so forth and so on. And it says in verse
number three, to him the porter opened, the sheep hear his voice,
he calls his own sheep by name, and he leads them out. Verse four, when he put it forth
his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him,
for they know his voice. Now, I know that, according to
verse six, this is a parable. And verse five, by the way, says
a stranger will they not follow? They'll run from him, flee from
him. For they don't know the voice
of strangers. This is a parable, and we don't want to push the
parable too far, but I think without pushing it too far, I
hope, I think that we could say the sheep fold is Judaism. And this man who was blind, he
was in Judaism. You know what the Lord did? He
got him out of it. He got him out of it. You say,
yeah, but they excommunicated him. The reason they excommunicated
him, excommunicated this man was because our Lord was providentially
arranging all of these things to where there was nothing else
that they could do. Did you notice back in chapter
9 when we were studying that, when the man was brought before
the Pharisees and they questioned him? He really didn't pay much
attention to what they had to say. You know why? Because a stranger's voice the
sheep won't listen to. But the Lord Jesus came and said,
do you believe on the Son of God? That man, he didn't turn
a cold shoulder to the Lord Jesus. He said, who is he, Lord? Who
is he, Lord? You see what our Lord is doing
is drawing him out. The sheep recognize the voice
of the shepherd. And I'll tell you the way it
is with all of God's elect. We can listen to false prophets
and to a degree we'll follow them. But when the shepherd comes
and he speaks to us with this magnificent, effectual voice,
and the voice of the shepherd is the gospel. It's the gospel
of redeeming grace, of salvation in Christ Jesus, of the blood,
the blood of sacrifice that made atonement for the soul. When
the shepherd, his voice goes forth, the gospel goes forth,
there is a response. in the heart of the sheep. Because
all of a sudden, the Spirit of God gives them life. They recognize
that voice. They recognize that voice. And you notice in verse 4, he,
notice the word, he putteth forth his own sheep. You know what
that putteth forth means? To draw them out with force. You know what this is? This is
effectual grace. This is effectual calling. This
is the Lord coming after one of His lost sheep. You see, this
illustration about the shepherd and the sheep is just bringing
to light what has already happened back in the 9th chapter. The
shepherd has sought and found and saved a lost sheep. And the Pharisees are going,
what has happened here? And so the Lord gives a parable,
and they still don't get it. They still don't get it. And
then the Lord says this in verse 7, Verily, verily, I say unto
you, I am the door of the sheep. Now, this, to go back to the
illustration of the sheep, at the sheep fold, there were sometimes,
there wasn't a gate, there wasn't a door, And that man who was
the porter, he would actually go to sleep across the entrance
into the sheepfold. Nobody could enter in unless
they went over him. So the Lord Jesus now says, I'm
not only the shepherd, but I'm the door into the sheepfold too.
And now he's talking about his sheep being sheltered safe in
salvation. And He says, I'm the door. He's
the living door. Nobody's going to get in and
harm any of His sheep. He will say later in verse 27
and 28, He says in verse 28, I give to My sheep eternal life. They shall never perish. How
do you know they won't perish? Because I'm the door and nobody
can get to them. You see, the only way anybody
could get to any of the sheep is to go through the shepherd,
and that can't be done. He's the almighty Savior. He's
the shepherd, the saving shepherd. And then he says in verse 8,
all that ever came before me, that is all who weren't sent
by God. Now there were a lot of men who
were sent by God. But it says all that ever came
before me, which shows that the word all has always got to be
qualified. I hear people say, well, all
means all. All means everybody. No, it don't
mean everybody. You got to understand what the
word all means. It's all who weren't sent of
God. They are still thieves and robbers. But he said, but the sheep. He's talking about the forefathers
of, and to a degree he's talking about the Pharisees who stood
there right before him. Thieves and robbers! There they
are! Thieves and robbers! But here's this sheep. He once
was blind, but now he sees. He's lost, but now he's found.
Here's this formerly blind beggar. He didn't hear those guys. He
didn't pay much attention to them because they weren't paying
any attention to the one who healed him. They had no interest
in Jesus of Nazareth, so he had no interest in them. You see?
He knew the one who healed him. People said, who healed him? He said, a man named Jesus. And here come the Pharisees trying
to put a man named Jesus down. He didn't take too kindly to
that. So he wouldn't hear them. Sheep wouldn't hear them. But
verse 9, the Savior says again, I am the door. By me if any man enter in, like
this man. He's a living, breathing, walking
example. If any man enter in, even a blind
beggar, guess what? He shall be saved. And shall go in and out and find
pasture. My time's about gone. Let me
give you, I got just a couple of things written down here.
The Savior said, I am the door. Not a door, not one of many doors. He's the only way to God. He's
the only way to salvation. That's why we preach Christ and
Him crucified. Secondly, He says, by Me if any
man enter. If you enter in, you will only
enter in by the grace and power of the Lord Jesus Christ. By
Me if any man enter in. You see, faith is a gift. Faith
to enter in is a gift. We enter in by Him. Thirdly,
if any man, Jew or Gentile, whoever you are, whoever you are, don't matter where you live,
don't matter what you've done, you know who this salvation is
for? Anybody who wants it. Anybody who wants it. You say,
well, it's for the elect. That's right. It's for the redeemed. That's right. But you know what?
You don't know whether you're one of the elect. And you don't
know whether you've been redeemed or not. We say it's for everybody
God loves. You don't know whether God loves
you or not. So the question for you is, do you want it? It's
for anybody who wants it. And if you want it, it's because
He chose you. If you want it, it's because
He redeemed you. If you want it, it's because
the Spirit of God is drawing you effectually to Christ Jesus. Amen. Fourthly, if any man enter
in, Christ is appropriated by faith. If you don't believe,
you're going to perish. That's the truth now. You've
got to believe on Christ. Enter ye in at the straight gate. That's what, enter ye in, that's
a command. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And fifthly, he says, he shall
be saved. Christ delivers, he's the shepherd
who saves. He delivers from the penalty,
the power, and someday the very presence of sin. He's the saving
shepherd. He shall be saved. Sick he shall
go in and out. There's a blessed freedom in
the Lord Jesus Christ. You go where you want to. And
you're always safe. The enemy can't get you. The
beast can't get you. Because the one who said, the
Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He's always with me. He's always with me. That's the
reason He prepares a table before me right in the presence of my
enemies. I don't have to be afraid. The
Shepherd's with me. I go in and out. And you know what? Finding pasture. Finding pasture. You know what
He leads us into? The green pastures of His Word.
We go in and out and find pasture. We come here and find pasture. We go hear Brother Shepherd down
in Jacksonville, find pasture. Go hear another preacher of the
gospel, you find pasture. This is the saving shepherd.
That's who he is, the saving shepherd. Well, let's sing a
closing song. God leads us along.