Greetings friends and welcome
to another broadcast of the Old School Primitive Baptist with
Elder Don Martin Sr. Stay tuned for another gospel
message of God's free and sovereign grace. I'm going to invite you
to the 10th chapter of John and I want to begin reading at the
very first of the chapter and I'll read down here to possibly verse 8 and maybe
even further. We'll see how time goes along
here for us. I won't try to keep us extra
long this morning. In the 10th chapter of John's
Gospel, this chapter contains a good composition and expression
of Jesus Christ as the Good Shepherd. He's the very one of which David,
a thousand years before, in the 23rd Psalm, when he said, For
the Lord is my shepherd and I shall not want. He was making reference to the
Lord Jesus Christ, only he did not see the total revelation
of Christ as He is manifested to us in the New Testament. But
he did know that the Lord God Almighty who had called him,
blessed him, of whom he had a heart for, was his shepherd and the one
that was going to lead him and guide and direct him throughout
the pilgrimage of his life. So behind here we're going to
talk about Jesus Christ as this good shepherd. And I'm going
to begin reading in verse 1 and it begins by saying this, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Jesus is speaking, He that entereth
not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way,
the same as a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the
door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth, and
the sheep hear his voice, and he calleth his own sheep by name,
and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his
own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him. And
they know his voice. And a stranger will they not
follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of
a stranger. Now let me stop right there just
a minute. The Lord Jesus Christ is expressing
here that he is the good shepherd, And the good shepherd, he knows
his sheep, and number two, he's known of his sheep. And they know his voice, and
they'll follow him when he speaks to them and says to them to come.
They will not follow another who is a stranger, because the
Bible says, and a stranger will they not follow, but will flee
from him, for they know not the voice of strangers. In other
words, the elect of God, the heirs of grace, the children
of God Almighty, chosen in Christ Jesus to be the heirs of grace,
to be the Christian children that God has determined to be
His church in this time world. They know the voice of that Good
Shepherd of which Jesus Christ has become. They know His voice
and His voice alone. They're not going to follow some
false religion, some false prophet. They're not going to follow some
hireling shepherd. Now a hireling shepherd is one
that is hired by somebody and paid money to take care of sheep. Jesus is not a hired shepherd. Jesus is THE Good Shepherd, which
is not hired, but he has been given by God Almighty the divine
authority to care for his sheep. love them, take care of their
needs, see that they are fed spiritual food, see that they
grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
that they will exalt Him and worship only Him and not another. For the Bible goes on to say,
for this parable spake Jesus unto them, but they understood
not what things which he spoke to them. And then said Jesus
unto them again, Verily I say unto you, I am the door of the
sheep. Now what he told them before,
they just couldn't perceive it. They didn't understand really
what he was trying to convey. And that was the way it was with
a number of things that Jesus spoke to disciples about in parables. A parable is a story type of
illustration of a truth. And unless you're giving the
revelation of the understanding of what the parable was about,
you're not really going to understand it. It's going to be kind of
confusing. Much of what Jesus told his disciples was that way,
because he said to the disciples, many of these things you'll not
understand now. You'll not understand what I'm
saying to you. But there will be a time when
I lead here, that I'm going to send you another Comforter, which
is the Holy Spirit, and when that Comforter comes, He shall
lead you in all truth. In other words, there's a time
coming when those things that you don't really understand totally
now, you're going to be revealed those things in time, which we
know the Bible made it manifest in the book of Acts, when the
Holy Spirit came upon those and They become witnesses of the
grace and the gospel of Christ. And a lot of these things that
they struggled with understanding was opened up into their understanding. And they saw, really, what Jesus
was referring to in regarding when he said, I must go away.
Many a time, if you recall, he said, Oh, but Lord, the Master,
where dost thou goest? He said, Where I go, you cannot
come. now, but I've got to depart shortly. Where are you going to go? He
says, I've got to go a place to where you won't perceive as
of now, but you will. The Bible goes on to say, he
says, I am the door of the sheep, and all that ever came before
me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. He's saying that there was many
that came that said that they had a way and a means to God. There were many false prophets.
There were many, even among the Jews, that said that they had
the understanding of the truth of the matter. But Jesus said,
no, there were many that came and said they had the way and
knew the door, but he said they didn't know it. They were just
thieves and robbers. They were just after trying to
gain the influence of men. They wanted the praise of people
more than the praise of God. That was the Pharisees and Sadducees,
and that was the scribes and all the other religious group
of Judaism, of the Old Covenant, Old Testament. But Jesus goes
on to say, he says in verse 9, I am the door, by me, if any
man enter in, He shall be saved and shall go
in and out and find pasture. Now, in this building here, I'm
going to give you a little parable or an analogy. This building
we're looking at here has three doors. Actually, there's four. There's two there. But we're
going to say that that is an opening in the wall as one door. We've got these three door openings
here in this building. Okay, there's door A, there's
door B, there's door C. There were many doors in the
religious aspect among Judaism that the prophets and the scribes
and Pharisees said that was the way to truth and the way to God
and the means to worship Jehovah, God, and so forth. But Jesus
said, They were not true. They spoke things which were
not the truth. They were nothing but thieves
and robbers. But he says, I am the door. Now, there's only one door. He
didn't say, I am one of the doors. Now, if he would have said that,
that would give some supposition for another religious
order to say, well, Jesus is a door, but he said he was one
of the doors. In other words, Allah The god
of the Islam is a door. Buddha, the god of the Eastern
religion is a door. Confucius, the god of also China
and Hindu sections of the world also could be a door. If Jesus would have said for
I am one of the doors. No. He said, I am the door. The door, plural. Not plural, singular. Jesus said, I am the door, and
if any man enter in, he shall be saved. You cannot be saved,
you cannot find salvation, deliverance, you can't find help and hope
in any other means or method, place, besides through Jesus
Christ. That's what the Bible teaches.
John chapter 10 is talking about the good shepherd. He's the only
good shepherd. The same one David talked about
in his 23rd psalm. The same one he talked about
throughout all the psalms when he talked about the Lord's Shepherd. The same one that Isaiah referred
to when he talked about God has a sheepfold that is not of this
group. If you recall, Jesus said to
the disciples, He says, I have got sheep that are not of this
fold. In other words, there are sheep
that are of the Gentiles, and they're not Jews. There are elect
Jews that God has chosen out of all of mankind because he
says, out of every tongue, kindred, and nation, I have got a people
that I have chosen for my namesake that shall be manifested in time.
So he says, I've got a people that's not of the sheepfold,
but that are of those that are outside Judaism. They are made
up of Jew, and Gentile, Greek, and barbarian, and all the rest. And the Bible goes on to say
that Jesus said, for a thief cometh not but for to steal. In other words, a thief comes
for one reason. He comes to steal, and to kill,
and to destroy. But he said, I am come that they
might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. There was nothing that any religious
order or sect of Judaism could offer any of them that could
give them life and life abundantly. Jesus said, I have come to give
life and to give life more abundantly than what you've ever seen or
heard of in times past by any of the prophets of old. For the
life that I've given to you is life eternal by the Spirit that
comes to dwell and be with you and shall be in you, Jesus said. The Bible says, I am the Good
Shepherd, the Good Shepherd given his life for the sheep. And that's
exactly what he came to do. The Good Shepherd had come to
give his life for the sheep. Now, I think it goes on and tells
down here about the hiring. I told you about the hiring.
It was a person that was hired to be a shepherd. But he really
didn't have a personal interest in the sheep. He was hired to
take care of them. So he was doing it for pay. But
listen, let me read what Jesus said. He says, I'm the good shepherd
and I've come to give my life for my sheep. But he that is
a hireling is not the shepherd, whose own sheep are not. And when he sees a wolf coming,
he'll leave the sheep and flee. And the wolf catches them and
scatters the sheep. In other words, a hireling, if
he's getting paid to watch over and care for some sheep, when
it comes down to taking care of his own life and watching
out for his best interest and he sees a wolf coming, he ain't
going to sit there and try to fight the wolf off. He's going
to take off running and let the wolf take and get as many sheep
as he wants. Because he's hired and he don't
really have a personal interest or care or compassion for the
sheep. Other than for the money, he
was getting paid. So it says, the hireling, when he sees a
wolf coming, he's going to take off. The hireling fleeth because
he is a hireling, and he careth not for the sheep. I am the good
shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. Now that's
a very interesting verse. Jesus don't only know his sheep,
but that he is known of his. In other words, he don't only
know those of whom the Father had given him before the foundation
of the world to come and to seek and to save, but they that whom
he has been given to seek and save, they shall know him and
they'll know his voice when he calls them. For the Bible says,
no man cometh unto me except the Father given him them to
me. And they know my voice and they'll
follow me. Last meeting time, I talked to
you about the calling of Peter and Andrew and Matthew, if you
recall. I said when Jesus went up and
said to them, follow me, they didn't make up excuses or say,
well I've got to do this or do that. They left exactly what
they were doing and they left and followed Christ. You know
why? Because they knew he was the good shepherd and he had
a divine voice that when he spoke it was with divine authority. and they left what they were
doing and they followed Jesus Christ. So it is with all of
God's people. When God calls them by His Spirit,
they come. They don't make excuses up. They
come and they follow Christ because they love the Good Shepherd. And the Bible goes on to say
in verse 15, As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father,
and I lay down my life for the sheep. This is the second time
that he said this. He said it up here earlier when
he said that he is going to lay down his life for his sheep.
In verse 11, I am the Good Shepherd, the Good Shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. He says in verse 11, he says
in verse 15, he says even so, I know the Father and I will
lay down my life for the sheep. So in two places there, in four
verses, Jesus said, I am laying down my life for my sheep. I'm not laying my life down for
the world. I'm not laying my life down to
make opportunity for every person born of woman to have an opportunity
to become one of my sheep. I am laying down my life for
a designated flock of people God had ordained before the foundation
of the world to come and have his son seek and save them. And that is who Jesus Christ
came and he died for. For it says that in verse 16,
and other sheep I have which are not of this fold. Remember
I just told you a while ago that I said that he had sheep other
than those of the fold of the Jews. There were some believing
Jews, as we know, in the book of Acts, that when the Holy Spirit
came upon the 120 that were gathered together, those Jews that had
come up and gathered there, they were blessed by the Holy Spirit
of God and they were disciples and believers of Jesus Christ.
But he had others outside of Judaism, as I said, that are
not of that original fold of Israel. Out of every tongue came
to the nation, as I said before. He said, them also I must bring. Jesus said, I must bring them.
They're going to come. When Jesus calls a person, as
you have heard it preached so often, God has given you now
the opportunity and it's up to you. That is a lie of the devil
and not a true thing of scripture. Nowhere will you find where Jesus
said, I've come to give opportunity for anybody and everybody to
become one of my disciples and followers of me. Nowhere! You'll find where Jesus made
it very particularly and designated that he has a people that were
given him of the Father, which he said, All that the Father
give me shall come to me, and I shall in no wise lose none. Now there's no one coming to
the Lord Jesus Christ except those that the Father has given
Christ. That's just the bottom line.
Now I've heard preachers say this and you've heard it probably
most of your life, that Jesus Christ died on the cross to make
salvation available to the entire world. That is not true! If that's the truth, now listen
to me. Just use a little bit of rational
intellect. If Christ came and died on the
cross of Calvary, and shed his blood and his body was bruised
and upon that cross for the entire world of mankind, then all of
mankind automatically have been covered for by the blood and
by the sacrifice of Christ. And heaven will be their ultimate
eternal home. In a matter of belief, if Christ
has paid it all on the cross for all of mankind and his atonement
covers the sins of all of mankind, all are going to heaven. Now
let's just face it. Now, there is some up in the
mountains of eastern Kentucky and West Virginia that are called
no-hellers. They don't believe in a literal
hell, and they believe that Jesus Christ, when he died on the cross,
that he did pay the price for salvation for all mankind. Everybody's going to heaven.
Now, there's folks that believe that. But what do you do with
scriptures here? He says that there's other sheep
I have which are not of this fold and them also I must bring. He didn't say that they're made
up of the entirety of the world. They're made up of individuals
that God the Father has chosen by His sovereign free grace alone. When I say sovereign, I mean
total controller of all things. God is sovereign. God is sovereign
controller of all things that come to pass in this time world. Every king, every ruler, every
prince, every creature that crawls up, every cattle of the field,
Every cloud in the sky, every snowflake that has ever fallen
has been so designated by God Almighty to occur and by no one
else. And Satan himself is under the
divine control and order of God Almighty. People get the idea
that Satan is on an equal basis with God. I've heard preachers
say, well, you've got Satan that's warring against your spirituality. And if you feed Satan, then he's
the one that's going to be the one that controls your life.
Let me tell you something. Satan don't control anything
that God does not give him control of. Satan had went and he challenged
God about Job. Do you remember Job? He said,
here's this man Job, a righteous man. This man is Sheweth. That word is Sheweth means he
shuns and he hates evil. Here's a man, Job, that is sheweth
evil and is a righteous man. Oh, if you take these things
from him that he has for possessions, oh, he'll curse your name. And
the Almighty said to Job, oh, he says, you go about your business
and do your thing, but don't you touch his soul, and you'll
see. And so when the Bible says Satan
departed from the presence of the Almighty, he went down and
what happened? He took and he took and he took
and annihilated every bit of the possessions of Job. His cattle, his sheep, camels,
his she-asses, his ten children, they all died. All that was left
was his wife. And his wife said to him, in
the final analysis after his crops were burned by the enemies. His children were taken and killed
in a whirlwind that destroyed the house of which they were
gathered together in, in the festivity. All of his animals
and livestock were taken and either killed or taken by other
enemies that were driven there by Satan's fiery works of wickedness. And his wife says, Job, why do
you continue to honor this God? Why don't you just curse him
and die? And you know what Job said at that time? He said, Though
the Lord slay me, yet shall I trust Him. Now that's grace that God
had given him. No matter what come upon Job,
God gives him grace greater than the twilight. Next, we find Satan
going before the Almighty and he says, He says, you know, if
you afflict his body, or cause his body to be afflicted with
pain and suffering, he will then curse your name. The Almighty
says, you go and do your work, but you don't touch his soul.
Satan departs from the Almighty on the second time. He goes down,
and what does he do? He afflicts Job with boils from
head to toe. to where his skin, as it says,
oozed with the sores upon his body. In anguish did he sit at
the gate of the city and people looked at him in shame and scorn
and yet he did not turn and curse the Lord God Almighty, but was
given grace to endure it. And you know the final result
of Job's trials was that he was blessed a hundredfold over. He was given more children. He
was given tenfold the livestock. He was given greater wealth than
he ever had before. And Satan, you see, the whole
picture, the whole analogy of that trial of Job was to prove
God is almighty, all-powerful, and there was nothing so great
that can come upon God's people that God Almighty will not give
the grace for to cause us to endure it in the time of need. And if you ever get low and down
and weary and troublesome, read the book of Job and see the end
result. Though God Almighty caused all
these things to occur and allowed Satan a reign of sorts to do
what he said that he wanted him to do, yet he can only go so
far. And Satan can do nothing today
that what God Almighty does not allow an authority given to him
to do. And people think that Satan just
has a free rule. He don't have. Though he's called
the Prince and Power of the Air, yes he is the great influence
of this world around about us because of the depravity of our
natures, we're prone to do that, which is wicked. and to follow
the prince of darkness. But God, God's people, they're
sheltered about. God's people are like the song
that we sing so often. We are a garden wove around,
chosen to be peculiar ground. Hey, sisters and brothers, we
are a rolled around garden, a little garden prepared of God and nourished
by Him. And we have a hedge about us
that is called grace, the unmerited favor of God that continues to
keep us in the fold, that we do not get outside the realm
of what God has called us into. You recall, where Jesus said
in the Gospels, I believe in Matthew, it might be mentioned
also in Luke, where he said in there that Jesus said that this
good shepherd had left the ninety and nine. He had a hundred sheep. He left
the ninety and nine that were in good shape and they were pasturing
to go after that one lost sheep. That one new lost sheep that
wandered out away from the flock, that got over in a thicket, got
caught down in there, that could not get out by himself to get
back where he belonged. Jesus left the ninety and nine
and went after the one lost sheep. That's exactly what he does to
every one of us. that are his chosen sheep in
this time world throughout the generations of time. He leaves
for an instant, if you can imagine this, and he takes and goes after
his chosen little lamb. and takes them from the world
of sin and woe and in a state of depravity and sin and brings
them unto himself and causes them to be born of his spirit
and become new creatures in Jesus Christ. And they become his little
lamb and sheep and part of his fold. And that foal is going
to end up being the bride of which Jesus talked about. For
I am the bridegroom and the church is my bride. And I'm preparing
a bride that I'm coming back for. Jesus Christ is preparing
a bride. And they're his sheep. He's a
good shepherd and he's the bridegroom. Let me conclude. The Bible says,
there's other sheep that I have which are not as full, but they
also shall hear my voice and they're going to follow me. There were those that were criticizing
Jesus Christ and they said to Him, well how can this be? And Jesus said to the Jews that
doubted what He said, He says, but you believe not because you're
not of my sheep. People believe not today because
they're not of sheep. You remember I said Jesus Christ
came to die on the cross of Calvary and he shed his blood for a particular
people? Those particular people are his
sheep. Not the whole world. But his sheep, made up of peoples
out of this world, but not the entirety of the human race are
going to be under the blood of Christ. Only those chosen of
the Father with which He has given Christ to come to die for
on the cross are those going to be covered by the blood of
Christ. His blood atonement is particular in its application. That is very important. He says,
you believe not because you are not my sheep, in verse 27. My
sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give
unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall
any man pluck them out of my hand. My sheep hear my voice, and I
know them, and they follow me. That right there distinguishes
those who are merely religious and those that are truly God's
people. God's people are God's sheep
given to Christ to come to seek and to save. And when He calls
them, they come because they know His voice. And they'll not
follow a marriage. They'll not follow a stranger.
because that voice does not ring true to their hearing. They only
can hear and they will follow after the Good Shepherd, the
Lord Jesus Christ. For He and He alone is the one
that can seek and save sinners. He and He alone is that door
by which we must enter into to experience forgiveness of sin
and life everlasting. Have you entered into that door?
Have you came in by that Good Shepherd? Do you know Him? Have you trusted in Him? Do you rely upon His crucifix, His blood and His body that was
scorched, spit upon and bled from the crown of thorns crammed
down over his head? Is that what you rely on for
the redemption of your soul and for life everlasting? I hope
it is. Because if it's not, you're trying
to enter in with some other door. You're trying to climb in over
some other way. You're trying to come around
the true door. You've got to enter in door,
Jesus Christ.