Come back to John chapter 10. John chapter 10. These verses that I read are really in response to what happened
in chapter 9. Our Lord is responding and teaching
a truth here concerning these Pharisees, false prophets, false
religious leaders, and this man who was born blind, and he's
going to give this parable. He's going to give a parable
of what really happened, what's really going on there in chapter
9. Where the blind man was healed, the Lord healed him of his blindness. He was blind from birth. And
when the Pharisees found out about it, they were upset. Go figure. They were upset that
this man received his sight on the Sabbath day. Well, the Lord
of the Sabbath, had they known him, is the one who gave him
his sight. They were upset about that. And
I think what they were more upset about was the attention that
our Lord was getting from these miracles that He was performing
on these needy, needy sinners. Multitudes followed Him, and
they were jealous of that. They said in one place, if we
leave Him alone, the world's going to go after Him. So this
is in response to that. And the example that He's going
to use here of the door and the sheepfold was something they were very
familiar with. They knew what he was talking
about, although, he says, they didn't understand he was talking
about them. They understood the sheepfold and the shepherd, and
they understood all that because they had that. But they didn't
understand the message. You know, I can give you an earthly
example, and you can understand the example, but you don't hear
the message. By God's grace, we can hear the
message. We can hear the voice of the Shepherd. Some will hear
this message, some will hear this, and it will just go right
over their head. And some will hear it, and they
will hear His voice, not just mine, but they will hear the
voice of the Shepherd. Now, there was in each city a
sheepfold. And that was to protect the sheep
that was put into it by night. The shepherds would feed the
sheep during the day and they would come into the city at night
and stay if they were close to that city. And they would take
their sheep and they would put them into the sheepfold. And
that sheepfold had walls said to be between 10 and 12 feet
high. That's to keep out the thieves
and the robbers. That's kind of like putting locks
on the door. And they had a porter. who would stand at the door.
They'd only have one door. And that porter would stand at
the door. And when the shepherd came back
in the morning, he would open and let that shepherd in. And
that shepherd would call his sheep. And those sheep, I mean,
there might be several sheep put in there by several different
shepherds at that time. But those sheep would know the
voice of their shepherd. They know it. And you know, and
I'm getting ahead of myself on this message, but you know the
voice of the shepherd when you hear it. You know it. I was telling
Mike last night, I said, here's the difference. Mike's father
could say something to him. I could repeat the exact same
thing his father says to him. We both could say it behind the
doors. His dad could holler behind the door and say something to
him. I could do the same thing and repeat exactly what he says.
Mike could tell the voice of his father from my voice, even
though we say the exact same thing. And those shepherds would
come in and they would call for the sheep. And those sheep would
hear them. They would hear the voice, they
were in tune to the voice of their shepherd. And when that
shepherd called, the sheep came and the sheep followed. And the
shepherd would what? He'd lead them. He didn't drive
them. You don't drive sheep, you lead sheep. You drive goats. But sheep you lead. And he said
he leads them out. So that's the picture. That is the picture that's being
painted. here in this chapter. Now, he says, Verily, verily,
and when he says that, truly, truly, it means amen, amen. It means listen. He's given a
truth here that's very important. I say to you, he that entereth
not by the door unto the sheepfold, he doesn't come to the door where
the porter is, but he climbs up some other way. That person,
is a thief and a robber. He's not the shepherd of the
sheep. And he's charging these Pharisees with doing this. You
have come some other way. God did not send you. You're
not chosen of God. God did not give you your office.
They took it upon themselves. You're not the shepherd of the
sheep. You're false shepherds. You're wolves in sheep's clothing.
That's what you are. He said you climb up some other
way. A shepherd does not climb over walls. You don't have to. If you actually own it, you can
just go to the door and say, I want my sheep. Well, whatever
it is you own, it belongs to you. But if not, you've got to
climb in the window. It would look silly, unless I
locked myself out of my house, for me to be climbing in my window
at my house. I have a key to the door. The
house is mine. Now, if my neighbors see someone
climbing in the window, they know that it's not me. That's not John. Better call
the police. Somebody's breaking in. The Lord's speaking to the Pharisees.
He's calling them thieves and robbers. They don't understand
it. It's going right over their head.
He's calling them thieves and robbers. They were not sin of
God. They were not the true shepherds of the sheep. They entered not
by the door, that is, they entered not through the proper way designed
by God into the sheepfold. They didn't enter that way. They
did not enter by the way of redemption, by the way of blood. They did
not enter that way. They entered by works, keeping
the Sabbath. They were upset over this man
being healed on the Sabbath day. I bet if they were the one who
received their sight, they wouldn't be upset. They came by way of works and
ceremony. They didn't come by the way of
redemption and blood. That was set aside. That pretty
much was just set aside. They were attempting to rob the
Lord Jesus Christ of His glory. as the shepherd of the sheep,
as the redeemer of the sheep. And they were attempting to rob
the sheep of their comfort and their hope in the shepherd. Thieves
and robbers. Thieves and robbers. Anyone who
stands in a pulpit, who is not called of God, does not preach
the gospel of God's grace in Christ alone, is a thief and
a robber. The most dangerous person in
the world is a man standing behind a pulpit lying on God. That is
the most dangerous man in the world. But he that entereth in
by the door... What's the door? The proper means. He that enters by the proper
means is the shepherd of the sheep. The owner of the sheep. Christ came. through the proper
door. The Scripture says that he died
for our sins. How? According to the Scriptures. He came to the sheepfold through
the proper means. He was anointed and appointed
to be the shepherd of the sheep. He came to the sheepfold through
perfect righteousness. He came to the sheepfold through
perfect obedience and satisfaction of God's law. That's the way
he came. The door of the sheepfold, as I heard Henry say one time,
is that which honors God. The Pharisees came not that way. They climbed up. They were climbing
over the back wall. See why they had to make the
wall so high? To Him, to this One who comes
by the proper means, in a proper way, by the way of redemption,
by way of blood, to Him, The porter opened it. Who's the porter
here? God. God the Father. That's who He's
talking about. The porter here is God the Father.
He put His seal of approval on His Son when He said, This is
My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And He opened to Him. Thine they were. And you've what? Given them to Me. He came by
the proper means and they were all given to Him. He's the owner
of the sheep. And He calls His own sheep by
name and He leads them out. He leads them out. They hear
His voice. They hear the voice of the shepherd and they know that voice. They
know that voice. There are many voices out there.
Many voices going on this morning in religious services. Many voices.
But there's only one voice that the sheep hear. One voice. One voice they hear and they
follow. They follow. And that voice is the voice of
the gospel. It's the voice of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The gospel is the voice of Christ calling out to His
sheep. It's His voice. Christ and Him
crucified. And it says He calls His own
sheep by name. He doesn't just say, here sheep.
No. He calls them by name. He says,
come, Mike. Come, Gary. He calls His own
sheep by name. By name. He knows every one of
them. Minutely. Intimately. He knows
every one of them. Every one of them. And they follow
him. It says also, he says he leads
them out. He leadeth them out. In the case of this blind man,
he led him out of Judaism. He leads his sheep out of legalism.
He leads his sheep out of ceremonialism. He leads his sheep out of whatever
they are in. Wherever they are, whatever they're
caught up in, He leads them out of it. He leadeth continually. That's what that means, leadeth.
He continually leadeth them out. We are right now. I heard the
gospel back when I was around 23, 24 years of age. I'm 53 now.
He's been leading me out ever since. He leads them out. He leadeth them out. And when He puts forth His own
sheep, when He brings them out, it says, He goeth before them.
Not a hireling. You know, a hireling, He goes
behind them and around them and every which way, but He doesn't
lead them. Not a hireling. He goes before
them and the sheep follow Him. They follow Him because they
know His voice. They know the voice of the shepherd.
And when He calls His sheep out from where they are, He calls
each one of us from where we were. He goes before them, not
behind, not afar off. He goes right in front of them.
You've seen, we don't see it now much nowadays, but you've
seen When a shepherd is leading the sheep, he's right in front
of the flock, isn't he? He's not half a mile down the
road. He's right there with the flock, leading the flock, and
the flock is following him. He goes before them. Before them,
leading the way. This is the way. This is the
way. He leads the way. Setting the example for the sheep
to follow. Clearing the path for the sheep
to follow. He's the shepherd. Always mindful
of His sheep. Always mindful of their weakness.
Always mindful of their stupidity. Always mindful of His sheep.
Always mindful of His people. Always. And they know His voice. They know the gospel of grace
when they hear it. They know it. They know it when they hear it.
is the sweetest voice that they've ever heard. It drips with kindness. Grace, it says, pours from His
lips. Grace pours from His lips. Oh,
they hear His voice, and it's the sweetest voice they've ever
heard. And a stranger, a stranger to the gospel, a stranger to
grace, a stranger to truth, will they not follow? They'll not
follow, but will flee. They'll flee from Him. Well,
they know not the voice of strangers. They're not going to follow that
stranger. After the Spirit of God does the work of grace in
the soul, in the heart, He gives eyes to see like this blind man.
He gives ears to hear. He gives a heart to believe.
When that happens, when a man is born of God, He doesn't follow those who are
strange to the gospel. I'm not looking for another gospel.
I'm not looking for another place. When I heard my pastor, the pastor
preach the gospel, I was not looking for another. I was happy,
satisfied. For the first time, I was happy,
content to just sit and listen. Do not follow strangers, those
who are strangers of the gospel. You know yourselves you don't
want any other gospel. Do you want another message preached
here? You wouldn't stand for it. You're not going to have a stranger
up here. You're not going to have him. You want Christ and
Him crucified. Christ as our righteousness.
Christ as our all and in all. That's the food that the sheep
want. We flee from those who don't
preach Christ. Get away from them. This parable says, "...speak
Jesus unto them. But they understood not what
things they were which He spoke to them." He spoke this to the
Pharisees. He was speaking to those Pharisees.
He spoke in the simplest manners, using the most simple illustration
And this shows you how depraved and how dead men are. And I'm
talking about religious men who study the Scripture daily. They
missed it. They missed Him. They missed
it. Salvation has to be revealed.
The shepherd has to reveal himself, doesn't he? You can sit here and listen to
me preach now to the end of time. If he doesn't reveal himself
to you, You'll never have an interest
in Him. You'll never hear the shepherd's voice. They did not
understand what He was talking about. And He was talking about
them. Then said Jesus unto them again,
Verily, verily, I say unto you. Now He's going to switch. First
He says, He that enters by the door. He's talking about the
proper means. He came by the proper means and the proper way.
Now He's going to say, now He's going to teach us who the door
is. Then Jesus said unto them again, Verily, verily, I say
unto you, I am the door of the sheep." I am the door of the sheep. Back
in verse 1, he spoke of the door as being the divinely appointed
way for the shepherd to enter in, to the sheepfold and get
his sheep, as opposed to those Pharisees who put themselves
in their offices. He didn't. The Father called
him to the Word. Chose him to be almighty elect,
in Isaiah 42, my servant. But here he is saying that he
is the door. He's the door from which the
elect of God pass from legalism, Judaism, and whatever else ism
they're in, into salvation. Into salvation, into the presence
of God, and into the true church of God. He's the door. He's the
door. He's the door through which we
come into God's presence. He's the door through which we
enter in to the true church of God, not the ordinances. We don't
enter the church by being baptized and keeping the ordinance. No,
we enter the church through Him. We do this in remembrance of
Him. We are baptized in identification with Him. But we enter the church
of the living God through Him, through our union to Him, through
faith in Him. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers. Now, he's not talking about the
true prophets who God sent. He said all those false prophets
who say they were sent of God, they're thieves and robbers.
But the sheep did not hear them. The sheep didn't follow them
when they heard the voice of the shepherd all the way back
to when Adam fell from that time till now until time shall be
no more. The sheep don't follow false
prophets unto damnation. They may be in false religion
for a while, but when they hear the voice of the shepherd, they
leave it. They come out of it. When they
hear the gospel of pure, sovereign grace, they leave it. The sheep, he said, did not follow
them. It's not possible. It's not possible
for a sheep to follow a stranger, for a sheep to follow a false
prophet unto destruction. That cannot happen. He said, I will lose nothing.
Those whom thou hast given me, I have lost nothing. Not a one of them. Not a one
of them. I am the door there in verse
9. I am the door. He is saying, now listen, buy
me. Not through keeping the law.
Not through doing this, doing that. Not through anything. By
me. If any man enter in, he shall
be saved. He shall go in and out and find
pasture, food, rest. He'd make us to lie down in green
pastures. Psalm 23. The Lord had been speaking mainly
to the Jews here. But now He's speaking to us Gentiles. If any man. If any man enter in, any man
or woman who has desires of life, forgiveness, salvation, if they
come to Christ, they shall be saved. This shepherd,
this shepherd, they shall be saved. Listen, they shall go
in and out and find, they shall go in and out. You know what
that means? Liberty. Perfect liberty. If the Son sets you free, you
are free indeed. But I'm telling you, there is
no greater bondage than the bondage of religion without Christ. No
greater. Always feeling guilty because
you're not doing this, not doing that, gotta go here, gotta be
there. But boy, when you know and understand how that salvation
is in Christ alone, through His blood alone, through His obedience
alone, His righteousness alone, and you look to Him alone, Well,
if I can't be here tonight, that's okay. I won't go to hell over
it. My shepherd put my sins away. They shall go in and out. We're
in here this morning, reading the Word of God, hearing the
gospel preached, hearing the shepherd preached, and we're
going to go out. Are we going to be alone? Oh,
the shepherd's going to be with us. He never leaves His sheep. We have to leave each other,
but He doesn't. He never leaves His sheep. They
go in and out. They have perfect freedom in
Christ. In Christ we are set free. And they shall find pasture. The believer finds in Christ
all he needs at all times. At all times. But the thief... And I'll close here. The thief, he says there in verse
10, he comes not, his sole purpose, his sole purpose is to steal. To take from you your comfort,
take from you your hope, to take from you your rest, your joy,
and your money if he can get it. That's what he comes for. And to kill your testimony, your
witness of Christ, your love for Christ, to kill it. What did Paul do before God saved
him? He went about destroying the work of Christ. Trying to
destroy it. He killed. Consented. Consented
to the death of Stephens. Held their clothes at stoning. Came to kill. And He saves those
kind too. He saved Paul. And to destroy,
to try and destroy the work of God in you. To try and destroy
it. But I am come, not to destroy,
not to kill, not to steal. I am come that they might have
life. The disciples said, you want
us to call fire down from heaven and destroy these guys? He said,
no, I didn't come to destroy men's lives, I came to save them.
When He came in the flesh, He didn't come to condemn, He came
to save. Men are under condemnation already,
born under condemnation. He came to save sinners. He said that they might have
life and they might have what? More abundantly, freely, fully.
I am the good shepherd. They were bad shepherds. They
were bad shepherds. They were robbers and thieves.
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life
for the sheep. They didn't. The hireling, look
here what the hireling does. The hireling, who's owned the
sheep or not, when trouble comes, what does he do? He leaves. When
they came to take Christ to the cross, did he leave? Did he rebel? No, it says he's led as a lamb
to the slaughter. Quietly. He opened not his mouth,
it says. And Isaiah 53, he opened not
his mouth. But the hireling, as I said, this job doesn't pay
enough. And he flees to the next place
until they run him off, until it gets too hot. And the wolf
catches him and scatters them. But now they're under his protection.
It doesn't say the wolf kills them, but the wolf can scatter
the sheep. They can scatter if the Lord
allows it. They can be scattered. The hireling flees because he's
a hireling. He doesn't care for the sheep. You get sick. Your child gets
sick. You have a child that gets real
sick. The nurse is a hireling, isn't she? She's there for a
while. She comes into the room and she
goes home. I know she cares. I know the
nurses care, but they're hired to do it. It's not that mother. No, you can't drive her away. That's her little one. The hireling doesn't care. He
said, I'm not a hireling. I'm not getting paid for this.
I'm doing this freely. Says old Hosea, I've loved them
freely. He loved you freely. I am the Good Shepherd and know
my sheep. I know who I'm dying for. He
didn't just die and hope somebody would accept Him. He knew exactly
who He was dying for. And He knew that they would be
saved through His blood, His righteousness, His substitutionary
work. He knew it. That's why it says on Isaiah,
He shall not be discouraged. Because He shall not fail. He
has not failed. Now as the Father knows me, even
so I know the Father. They're one. They're one in this
thing. And I lay down my life for the
sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold. And
right here are some of them. Right here are some of them.
Them also I what? Must try to save? I must try
to get them to follow me? I've got to go wrestle them?
Drag them into the fold? Him also I must bring. It's the goodness of God that
leadeth thee to repentance. His goodness, His grace, His
mercy brings us into the fold through faith and repentance.
And they shall hear my voice, those who are scattered across
this earth, and there shall be one fold It won't be. You know, Peter did this once
over in the book of Acts. He was eating with some Gentiles
and a Jew showed up and he split. He went over there and separated
from them. Because you know how they were very prejudiced against
us Gentiles. There shall be one fold. Harmony. Grace. Grace makes harmony. All races. Whatever the race
is, it doesn't matter. Grace harmonizes it. One fold
and one shepherd. Therefore doth my Father love
me because I lay down my life and I might take it again. Rise
from the dead. No man takes it from me. No man
takes it from me. Those soldiers, he speaks, they
fall backwards. They all fell to the ground.
He said, here am I. And they all fell down. He had
to help them up to take him to Jerusalem to be crucified. No
man takes it from me. I lay it down on myself. I have
the power and I have the right to lay it down. And I have the
power and the right to take it again, to rise from the dead.
This commandment to be the shepherd of the sheep, the Messiah, I received of my
Father. I am the proper shepherd. I am
the shepherd. The porter has opened to me,
not to them or no one else. He's opened to me. I'm the one
sent of God. I'm the one anointed of God.
And I'm the door. Now come to me. Come to me. Enter in. And you what?