Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And
now for today's program. Welcome to our program. I'm glad
you could join us today. And if you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles, I'm going to be preaching from John chapter
10, continuing on with the theme of Christ, the shepherd of his
people. And the title of the message
today is the voice of the shepherd. And I'm taking that title from
verse 27 of John 10, where the Lord said, my sheep hear my voice
and I know them and they follow me. My sheep hear my voice. We're gonna go back a little
bit before that to get in the context of this. But what is
the voice of the shepherd? Now, back in the Old Testament,
before the scriptures as we know them today were brought together,
what we have in the Bible, from Genesis to Malachi in the Old
Testament, from Matthew to Revelation in the New Testament, is the
completed Word of God, the complete revelation that God gives to
His people. And there are no new revelations. Now, let me explain this too,
because it's really important that we understand this. You
can get new light on what God has already revealed. But God
has revealed His whole purpose and will in the Bible. And that's why when we speak
of Revelation, not just the book of Revelation, but the whole
revelation of God from Genesis to Revelation, we're talking
about those things that God has communicated to His people and
it's complete and finished. We don't add to it, we don't
take away from it, we believe the Bible. So if anybody comes
to you and says, well, I've had a new revelation, don't believe
that. Now, maybe you might ask them,
what do they mean by that? But I've read the Bible, and
I study it, and I'm studying what God has revealed, and sometimes
the Lord will give me new light. on what he's already revealed,
in other words, his scripture. So we go along with the prophet
Isaiah that he stated in Isaiah 820. He said, to the law and
to the testimony, and the law there is the overall word of
God. He said, if they speak not according
to this word, there's no light in them. So if a preacher or
a witness speaks something in the name of the Lord that is
inconsistent with the word of God, then they don't have the
light of revelation. They don't have the light of
truth. And Christ is the light, and
we're gonna be talking about that. But his voice, what is
his voice? Well, back in the Old Testament,
before these scriptures were brought together, sometimes God
did speak in an audible voice to his prophets, to his people.
Sometimes he spoke in dreams and visions, things like that,
and there were miracle revelations of his word. At the baptism of
Christ, there was a voice from heaven from the Father. And He
said, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. At
the Mount of Transfiguration, He spoke. Now all of this is
before the completed revelation that we have in the Bible was
brought together. And He spoke and He said, this
is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, hear ye Him. Hear
His voice. Well, how do we hear His voice
today? Well, the voice of the shepherd
to the sheep is brought forth from his word as empowered by
the Holy Spirit. Several times in the New Testament,
in the gospel narratives, in the book of Revelation, for example,
the Lord spoke this way, he that hath ears to hear, let him hear. And what he's talking about there
is hearing and obeying and believing the truth. If you've got ears
to hear, many people hear physically, but they don't hear spiritually.
And of course, we know that the Bible teaches that by nature,
none of us would hear spiritually because spiritually, by nature,
as we are naturally born into this world, we are spiritually
dead. We don't have the spiritual ears to hear the word of God.
to obey it and believe it. And that's why I quote 1 Corinthians
2.14 all the time. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, their foolishness to him, their
spiritually discerned. He won't hear it, he won't believe
it, he won't heed it and obey it. And so that's what we're
talking about the voice of the shepherd. Well, when it comes
to salvation, What is the voice of the shepherd? The voice of
the shepherd is the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace
in the salvation of sinners by Jesus Christ as it is empowered
by the Holy Spirit unto life from the dead. where the Holy
Spirit, in the new birth, regenerates, gives life, quickens, the Bible
says. A dead sinner gives him life,
gives her life, gives a new heart, a new spirit within, new life
within, a new knowledge. The gift of faith, the gift of
repentance. The Bible says, Paul said, I'm
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. This is Romans 1, 16
and 17. For it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believeth. And those who believe are those
who hear the voice of the shepherd. They are the sheep. He said in
verse 27, my sheep hear my voice. And if you've heard his voice,
and by the power of the Spirit have been brought to faith in
Christ and repentance of dead works and idolatry and perseverance,
then you're one of his sheep. And if you don't, you're not
one. If you live in a state of unbelief and die in that state,
you're not one of his sheep. That's what he's saying here,
and we'll look at that. So the voice of the shepherd in salvation
is the gospel to everyone that believe it, to the Jew first,
the Greek also. In other words, national racial
barriers or divisions have no bearing here. He says, in Romans
1 17, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith. From faith means knowledge, truth,
revealed, given, revealed. And to faith means knowledge,
truth, believed. And he says, for it is as it
is written, the just, the justified shall live by faith. And the
justified are those sheep, their sins are forgiven, by the blood
of Christ, they cannot be charged with their sins. Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies.
Who can condemn us? It's Christ that died, risen
again, seated at the right hand of the Father, ever living to
make intercession for us. That's his sheep, see? And they
are declared righteous in the sight of God, based upon Christ's
righteousness imputed to them. And if, listen, if Christ died
for you, that means you're one of his sheep and you will in
time, in a time appointed by God, you'll hear his voice. You'll
hear the gospel and you'll believe it. Well, how do you know that?
Well, we read back in John 10, 11, he said, I am the good shepherd,
the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. Now, the
question comes, for whom did Christ die? Well, false preachers
will tell you he died for everybody without exception, even those
who perish. But what did he say? And this
is where I'll tell you, he that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Are you hearing what God's word says? Now, I know the Bible says,
you know, God so loved the world, he beareth the sins of the world.
It's not talking about every individual in the world that
has ever lived or ever will live. It's talking about God's elect,
Christ's sheep, all over this known world. Jew and Gentile,
out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation, the Bible
says. And they're all over the world.
And this world is saved through them, a remnant according to
the election of grace. So he said he gave his life for
the sheep. He said, he's speaking here,
he said in verse 14, John 10, 14, I'm the good shepherd, I
know my sheep and am known of mine. I know who they are, Christ
said. Their names were written in the
Lamb's book of life before the foundation of the world. They're
written upon his heart. His breasts played like the high
priest, his shoulders, salvation was conditioned on him. And he
says in verse 15, he says, as the father knoweth me, even so
know I the father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. How
many times would he have to say it to get people to understand
this? Do you have ears to hear? He
laid down his life for the sheep. And he says in verse 16, now
listen to this. Other sheep I have which are
not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they shall hear my
voice, the voice of the shepherd, and there shall be one fold and
one shepherd. Christ is the only way of salvation. He's the good shepherd, the great
shepherd, the chief shepherd, who gave his life for the sheep,
and he's going to bring them into the fold. He bought the
sheep. but with the price of his blood, he redeemed them.
He was their surety, their substitute, their redeemer. And so he says
in verse 17, therefore doth my father love me because I lay
down my life that I might take it again. He's speaking of his
death, his burial, his resurrection for the sheep. And this was a
product of his father's love, both for him and for the sheep.
God's elect. There's no love from God outside
of Christ. Understand that. And so, listen
to this, verse 18. He says, no man taketh it from
me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down,
and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my Father. Now, that's covenant language.
Before the foundation of the world, the Father, the Son, and
the Spirit entered into that covenant relationship. The Father
choosing His people, His elect, His sheep, giving them to His
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, making Christ their surety, having all
of their sins, even before the world began, laid upon Him. He bore the iniquities of His
people. By His stripes they are healed.
And Christ agreed willingly to come and do what was necessary
to secure the salvation of his sheep. And that includes their
justification based upon his righteousness imputed, the merit
of his obedience unto death. And that also includes the giving
of life in the new birth. So the righteousness of Christ,
the merit of his obedience unto death, is the ground of their
salvation, the ground of their justification, but it is also
the source and the power of their new birth, their regeneration
and conversion. And that is testified of in his
resurrection from the dead. As the sins of his sheep were
imputed to him and demanded his death under the wrath of God
in their place as their substitute, as their Redeemer, He drank their
damnation dry, He drank the cup of wrath empty, not one drop
left, and He established a perfect righteousness whereby God is
enabled to be both a just God and a merciful Savior in their
salvation. And the sign of that, of the
success of that, is his resurrection from the dead. As sin demands
death, righteousness demands life. And having Christ's righteousness
imputed to them, they must be brought to life. And that's what
he says here, when he says, other sheep I have which are not of
this Jewish fold, there's a God's elect among the Jews, but there's
also God's elect among the Gentiles, sheep. He said, I must bring
them. They're righteous. They're forgiven.
And he says in verse eight, he said, I lay it down to myself.
Christ was not forced to go to the cross. He went willingly
and he told him, he said, nobody takes this from me. I give it
willingly. This is what he came to do. In the eyes of sinful
men, sinful mankind, it was murder. We meant it for evil, but God
meant it for good. And that's what he did. He said
they did no more than what God had ordained for them to do.
Well, look at verse 19. Now, when he said these things,
there was a division, therefore, again, among the Jews for these
sayings. They divided, the things that
he said. And it says, and many of them
said, he hath a devil and he's mad. He's gone crazy. Why hear you him? Why are you
even listening to this man? And others said, these are not
the words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of
the blind? Can a devil give sight to the
blind? Verse 22. And it was at Jerusalem,
the feast of the dedication, and it was winter, and Jesus
walked in the temple in Solomon's porch, and then came the Jews
round about him and said unto him, how long dost thou make
us to doubt? How long do you hold us in suspense?
If thou be the Christ, if you're the Messiah, tell us plainly.
And Jesus answered them. He said, I told you. And you
believe not. I've already told you. And I've
got a list here that I made just going through the book of John
alone. And you know, I hear people talk
about, well, Jesus never claimed to be God, he never claimed to
be the Messiah. What did he tell them? Well, he told them earlier
on, he said, I'm the one who came from heaven. He wasn't of
the earth. Now, his humanity was conceived
on earth by the power of the Holy Spirit, but in his deity,
he came from heaven. And that's what the Messiah was,
both God and man. I'm gonna preach on that in the
next week, Lord willing. He told them that whosoever believed
on him has eternal life. I couldn't say that, that if
you believe on me, I don't have the power to give eternal life,
but he did. Christ did and does. He said,
I'm the unique son of God, the only son of God. He said this,
he told them this, he said, I'll judge all humanity. Now who's
gonna judge all humanity? God, manifest in the flesh, the
Messiah. He told him this, he said, all
should honor me just as they honor God the Father. Now I can't
tell, if I said that, I'd be a liar. If I said, if you honor
me, honor me just as you honor God the Father. No, I'm a sinner
saved by grace. My righteousness is the righteousness
of Christ, and he saved me by his grace. I honor him, he that
honoreth the Son honoreth the Father. And if you don't honor
the Son, you don't honor the Father. Here's another thing
he told them. He told them that the scriptures
all spoke of him. Remember back in John 5, 39,
I believe it is, he said, you search the scriptures, for in
them you think you have eternal life. They are they which testify
of me. Only the Messiah could say that. Only God manifest in the flesh
could say that. And listen to this, he told them
this back in John 7. He said, I perfectly reveal God
the Father. Wow, what a statement. A man on earth. could say, I
perfectly reveal God the Father. Well, who could say that? But
he who is God, the Son, manifest in the flesh, the Messiah. You
see, he said, I've told you these things and you didn't believe
them. Let's go on with this, though. He said this, in John
eight, he said, I always please God and never sin. No mere human
being could say that, not even a sinner saved by grace. I heard
a preacher say one time, talking about union with Christ, and
we are in union with Christ. And it's a beautiful union, it's
a saving union. But he made this statement, he
said, because I'm in union with Christ, I can say I have never
sinned. That's a lie. I have sinned. I am a sinner. but I'm a sinner saved by grace,
only a sinner saved by grace. But Jesus Christ, the God-man,
the Messiah, is the only one who could say, I've done the
will of God perfectly, I've always pleased God, the Father, and
I have never sinned. Now he told them that, and they
didn't believe him. Over in John chapter eight, he
also said, I'm uniquely sent from God. I can say I'm sent
from God as a preacher of the gospel, but sent from God from
heaven? God said through Isaiah, I bring
near my righteousness. That's Christ. That's the Messiah. Listen to this in John 8 that
he said. He told him this. He said, before Abraham was,
I am. Now that's language that only
the Messiah, who is God manifest in the flesh, could use. The
eternal Son of God. As the book of Revelation says,
the alpha and the omega, the first and the last, who was and
is and always will be, that's the I am. How many I am statements
did Christ make concerning his Messiahship? Over in John nine,
he made this statement. He told him this, he said, I'm
the son of man prophesied by Daniel. Well, the son of man
prophesied by Daniel, that term son of man there in that context
is the Messiah, the Christ, the Savior, the Lord, our righteousness. And then over in John chapter
10, as we've read just now, he said, I've told you I will raise
myself from the dead. Listen to it again. Verse 17,
he said, therefore doth my father love me because I laid down my
life that I might take it again. He raised himself from the dead.
Think about that. No man taketh it from me. And
then he'd said, I'm the bread of life. I'm the light of the
world. I'm the door. to the sheep fold, I'm the good
shepherd, all of that. Well, look back, he says in verse
24, he says Jesus, or verse 25, Jesus answered, I told you, you
believe not, the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear
witness of me. All of the miracles, all of the
preaching that he did, and then ultimately what he accomplished
on the cross bore witness of who he is, he's the Messiah.
He went to the cross for the sins of His people. He died,
having those sins imputed, charged to Him, remaining incorruptible,
the impeccable Jesus. Knew no sin, had no sin, could
not sin. Walked among sinners, but was
not contaminated with their sin. He was made sin, but only by
the legal charging, accounting of the debt of their sins to
his person. And he went to the cross, he
suffered, he bled, he died. and he was raised again because
of their justification. And he said, these works bear
witness of me. Even though he hadn't gone to the cross yet,
he did say, I'm the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. That's the work of the Messiah.
But listen to verse 26. He says, but you believe not
because you're not of my sheep. He said, as I said unto you,
my sheep hear my voice, I know them, they follow me. You're
not of my sheep, he said. Now notice the wording in verse
26. But you believe not. Why don't
you believe? Because you're not of my sheep.
My sheep hear my voice. Notice he didn't say, you're
not of my sheep because you believe not. Believing is the gift of
God. Faith in Christ in the way of
receiving Him and believing Him, that's the gift of God. Given
to His people from Christ by the power of the Spirit. Believing
does not make a person a sheep. They're already a sheep. But
before they are brought to faith in Christ, they're lost sheep.
All we like sheep have gone astray. You remember that? The lost sheep
of the house of Israel, lost sheep among the Gentiles. But
when God sends His Son and He finds them, He knows where they
are and He knows their name, and He pulls them out of the
world into the sheepfold by the work of the Spirit through the
preaching of the gospel, His voice empowered by the Spirit,
now they're found sheep. Now they're revealed to be his
sheep. The only way you know that you're
a sheep and not a goat is when you hear his voice through the
preaching of the gospel. And here's what he says. Look
at verse 27 again. My sheep hear my voice, I know
them, they follow me, verse 28, and I give unto them eternal
life. Eternal life is a gift from God.
And John 17 tells us this, I believe it's verse two, he says, this
is life, verse two or three, I can't remember, but it says,
this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true
God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. He says, I know them
and they follow me. They won't follow another. And
he says, and I give unto them eternal life, verse 28, and they
shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my
hand." That's eternal security based upon the blood and righteousness
of Christ, the shepherd of the sheep. What is ensured? Their whole eternal well-being,
their justification before God, their sanctification. their regeneration,
their conversion, their preservation, and their glorification. They
cannot be lost ever again. I was talking to a false preacher
one time who believes that a person can be saved and then lost, and
he used this verse. And here's what he said, it says,
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. In other words,
he says, man can't not do it, but Satan can, he said. Oh, my
friend, what heresy. First of all, if you look in
your King James Version, the word man is in italics. So it's
not really saying any man pluck them out of my hand, it says
neither shall any pluck them out of my hand. And any includes
the devil. Satan cannot make a saved sinner
lost. And John clears that up so beautifully
in 1 John 2, 19, when he talks about they went out from us,
but had they been of us, they would have no doubt remained
with us, but they went out that it might be made manifest that
they never were of us. A person who, in my view, has
a good profession and looks like they're saved, but then turns
totally away from it and against it and leaves it, What does the
Bible tell me to do, to think about that? Well, they never
were saved. That's what it says. And so Christ
says in verse 30, now listen to this. He's telling him this.
I and my Father are one. Are one. I and my Father are
one. He's the Messiah. He's the shepherd
of the sheep. And salvation comes to us spiritually
and experientially when we hear His voice in the power of the
Spirit. My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. He gives unto them eternal life.
They'll never perish. I hope you'll join us next week
for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, Write us
at 1-1-0-2 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia 3-1-7-0-7. Contact us
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today and may the Lord be with you.