Use verses 24 and 25 as my text this morning, and
I titled the message, Tell Us Plainly. This past week, by invitation,
I went down to Lake Charles, Louisiana, preached to a group
of people that came out of a church split. The old pastor I've known
since the late seventies. Been there many times. And I know this, that he preached
the gospel of Christ. After his death, there was a
group of men who began to intimidate and try to cause everybody in
the church to, let's have a church. more like everybody else's church.
Let's come back over here, and we can have the same routines
they do. We'll honor the oldest and the
youngest mother, and we'll do this, and we'll do that. And
we don't have to be so strong on these Calvinistic points. We can drop a couple of them
off. And I think we'll have a bigger, better church if we do this. These people who had said under
him that were true believers, they said, uh-uh, no, we're not
going to do that. And so they got their little
committees together, and I think most of you know the story. It's the same story. I've heard
it 100 times. And they pulled out and began
to meet. They have no pastor. They've
been watching some of the preachers stream their messages. They watch
them or listen to them, or they listen to them on CD. I enjoyed my visit there. And my message was received,
and unless I'm fooled, it was rejoiced in. I came away encouraged
by that little group. Maybe the Lord's gonna do something
in Lake Charles again. I hope so. But I used John 10
as my text and I brought a message titled Tell Us Plainly. Tell
Us Plainly, the Lord said I did. I did. Preachers are men whose
calling is to declare the gospel of Jesus Christ to as many as
God's providence will sit before him, whoever they are, wherever
they are. It's our calling to do that.
We're not sent to entertain folks. We're not sent to impress folks.
We're not sent to build big organizations. We're not sent to blend in with
the world and have sports programs and all this kind of nonsense,
start schools. Our purpose in God's kingdom
is to plainly preach the gospel of Christ and edify the body
of Christ. That's the preacher. That's what
he's supposed to do. That's what he's supposed to
do. We're to preach the truth in
love. In love. What's that mean? That means I want you to see
these things and rejoice in these things and be helped by these
things Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church. Now
listen, and gave himself, gave himself. That's what preaching
is. We're to preach the truth and love, and our goal is to
see his sheep come into the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge
of the Son of God, to see that perfect man, to see that God
manifest in the flesh, to see that perfect man, our Savior
and our head. And to this end, we have the
apostles and Christ himself for examples. How am I to preach? How am I to act? Well, I have
Christ and I have the apostles as my examples. And when Paul
came to the Corinthians, these were wise men. They were Greeks. They were known worldwide for
their wisdom and philosophy and all this kind of stuff. And Paul
said, when I came to you, my speech and my preaching was not
with enticing words of man's wisdom. I didn't get up and talk
and everybody wants to run home and write down a bunch of things
because they were catchy and they had an enticement about
them. wasn't with enticing words of
man's wisdom, it was in demonstration of the spirit and power. I just
plainly declared the gospel and got back out of the way. If the
gospel is dunamis, and it is, that dynamite, then like Brother
Don used to say, light it, throw it, and get out of the way. That's
what you do. We preach the gospel, and then
we wait. for that demonstration of the
spirit. He'll either reveal it to you or he won't. One or the
other. I did this, Paul said. Here's
why I didn't bring those enticing words of man's wisdom and so
forth. I did this, that your faith should
not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. And
John 10 is an exposition of a parable. What's a parable? A parable is
an earthly story. It can be a true story or it
can just be a story. But a parable is a story. It's
an earthly story, something, and it illustrates heavenly reality. That's what these parables do. It's the gospel set forth using
common things, easy to be understood, to illustrate profound and spiritual
mysteries. I have two things I want you
to see in this parable. First thing I want you to see
is the figures of the parable. He told this parable to that
crowd and those Pharisees didn't understand anything he said.
Was there anything in all of Israel easier to understand than
sheep and a sheepfold? Everybody and their brother had
sheep. Everybody there understood what
a sheepfold was. They understood what sheep was.
They understood what the porter was. Nobody was scratching their
head saying, what's he talking about? He picked, let me tell
you something. All the other parables, you go
look at them, see if I ain't telling you the truth. All the
other parables, he had to explain the parable when he got done.
The sower and the seed, he had to explain it and so on. He didn't
explain that parable. He just told them what the figures
meant. I'm the door, I'm the shepherd. I'm the shepherd. Want to know
the truth? He's the whole thing. He's the
sheepfold, he's the porter. He's the whole thing, Christ
is all. So that's what I want us to see. I want us to see the
figures in the parable. So let's start with the sheepfold.
What's a sheepfold? Well they went out and gathered
up limbs or rocks or whatever they had and they built a big
wall and they walled in this great big old compound and they
left a door there, built a secure door there. And shepherds would
bring their sheep there and commit them over there to the porter,
and the porter would take care of the sheep when the shepherd
couldn't be there. He had business, whatever he
had to go out and do, he'd leave his sheep there in the sheepfold.
They were perfectly safe, committed to the porter. Porter ain't gonna
let nobody get them sheep but the shepherd who left them. What's so important about the
sheepfold? That's where the sheep are. The sheep are in the sheepfold.
Now he's telling these Jews who thought they were elect, they
thought they were sheep. And the Lord's telling them about
the sheepfold. Sheepfold, this big old compound,
and he said, Well, what is that? What's this symbolism? Let's
cut through the chapter. What is this symbol? What's he
talking about? He's talking about his everlasting
covenant of grace. All his sheep are in the sheepfold. They're all in the sheepfold.
Nobody can touch them without the porter's permission. You
remember Job, the Lord was there and they gathered and they were
ready for worship and Satan come up with them. And he said, what have you been
doing? I've been walking up and down the land. Deceiving. He said, have you
considered my servant Job? Not a man like him. Yeah, he
said, I considered him. Now listen, but you got them
heads to bow. Heads work in the sheepfold. I can't touch him. I can't touch
him. Satan hath desired to ship you
like wheat, our Lord told Peter. But he said, I pray for you.
I pray for you. We're in the sheepfold. All God's
sheep, he put them in the sheepfold. That sheepfold's the everlasting
covenant of grace. And God's people, His elect,
His church, we didn't become His elect by something that we
did in time. He chose us. That's how we got
to be elect. He chose us. We're His sheep. We're His by divine election.
And He tells us in Romans 9-11 that Rebecca's children, being
not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God according to election might stand, not of worse, but
of him that calleth. It was said unto her, the elder
shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, Esau have I hated. God chose a people in Christ,
he blessed them with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus, and these blessings are eternal. They're agreed upon
by the Godhead, and they sum up this everlasting covenant
of grace. And God's sheep have full provision
in the sheepfold. Shepherd didn't have to worry
about his sheep going hungry. He didn't have to worry about
them being watered. He didn't have to worry about
them, period. They're in the sheepfold. God's sheep have full provision
and a godly prejudice concerning their being and their welfare.
In chapter one of John's Gospel, he talks about this very thing.
He said, of his fullness have we all received, and grace for
grace. What's he talking about? He's
talking about pervenient grace. He's talking about grace before
grace. Grace upon grace. God's providence. Paul said,
we know all things work together for good. to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to his purpose. They all work
together for good. Examples? Well, the major examples
he gives you, whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate, to
be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the
firstborn among many brethren. Prevenient grace, grace that
makes sure all these things. Whom He did predestinate, then
He also called. Whom He called, He justified.
Whom He justified, He glorified. Prevenient grace. Grace that makes sure the promises
of God in Christ. He talks about our eternal quickening
together with Christ. Saying concerning such things
that we were that he purposed to accomplish. And he says, by
grace, ye are saved. Ye are saved. Later on, he tells
you, by grace are you saved. This is a sheepfold, a place
of eternal preservation, protection, and provision. All right, so
who and what is the porter? Well, by strict definition, I
suppose you could say the triune God. The triune God. But by revelation, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. I know nothing
about the Father except what I know in Christ. I know nothing
of the Spirit or His working except by Christ. The porter was responsible for
the sheep. The porter stood as their surety. No sheep's gonna enter out of
the sheepfold without the porter's approval. He tells us in Jude
verse one that we're sanctified, set apart for divine use by the
Father. But we're preserved in Jesus
Christ. And then the third figure in
the parable is the door. I might tell you this also. Well, let's just, I'll get ahead
of myself. The third figure in the parable's
the door. The door. One way in, one way out. And most of the time we think
about Christ the door, I've been taught this my whole life, we
talk about Christ the door, we think about chosen sinners being
called out of darkness. in this marvelous light, called
out of death unto life, and so on, and we see Christ is the
door. But Christ is the door by which
they got in the sheepfold. How'd they get in there? God
chose them. How'd he choose them? In Christ.
And get what it says in Ephesians 1. According as he hath chosen
us in him before the foundation of the world. That's how they
got there. That's how they got there. Sheepfold existed before there
was any sheep. Same in natural life. They went
out there and built a sheepfold. There wasn't any in it. So how'd
the sheep get in there? Through the door. Through the
door. How'd they come in out? Through the door. He made us accepted in the beloved,
predestinated us, chose us. God the Father put the sheep
into the sheepfold by the door. Our Lord said in John 10, 1,
he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, climbeth
up some other way, the same as a thief and a robber. But he
that entereth by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. What's
this door represent? He tells us in John 10, 7, I'm
the door. I'm the door. John 14, 6, he said I'm the way. I'm the truth, I'm the light.
The door is the way. The way, you ain't going in,
you ain't coming out. Just one way. And that'll tell us something
about all these theories about Preaching being like spokes in
a wheel and all this kind of nonsense. They're just one way
in and one way out. Christ is the way. He's the way. He reveals to chosen sinners
the true and living God and the love and kindness, mercy and
grace of God, the justice, righteousness and wrath of God. One way in, one way out. He's
the door of the sheep. And then lastly, The shepherd
of the sheep. The eternal God of glory chose
a people and appointed for them a shepherd. We're His by divine
appointment. Sanctified by God the Father.
We belong to Him. We're His sheep. And they are by an everlasting,
unchangeable love united to Him. We're one with Him. Sometimes
the old writers, for lack of a way to communicate it, talk
about a divine union. We're united to Him. We're one. God sees us in Him, considers
us in Him, loves us in Him. Scripture said, nothing shall
separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus
the Lord, who chose us in Christ, that we might always be before
him in love. That is, being loved. He said, I'm the good shepherd.
A good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. And when he died
on the cross, he not only manifested God's love for his sheep, but
the shepherd's love of the father. He loved his father. His father
loved him. And then he tells them, he said,
other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them I must
bring. Talking about the Gentiles, he's
talking about future believers all through the last days. I must bring them. And they must
just be one shepherd and one fold, one sheep. Therefore does
my Father love me because I lay down my life for the sheep that
I might take it up again. And it's in love and honor to
his father that Christ goes to the cross, and also love for
his sheep. And in his dying breath, he says,
into thy hands I commend my spirit, speaking of the father. He's
the good shepherd. He's the door. He's the sheepfold. And the shepherd is depicted
all through this chapter as talking to the sheep. and the sheep hearing
his voice. He starts out telling us that,
he ends up telling us that. Our Lord said this to his preachers
when he sent them out. He said, he that heareth you,
heareth me. They hear me. His sheep hear
his voice. They hear his voice. You know, when he refers to the
spirit of God, we don't hear voices. I went down to Yucatan
years ago and they took me out to one of those big old buildings
that the conquistadors forced them to build. And they had a
wall that you saw and then Walter took me around the corner and
we went in and there's a space between the walls and these old
circular log stairway that went up to the top and they'd put
people up there and they'd speak and say things and the people
in there didn't know where it was coming from. It just sounded
like it was just coming out of nowhere. And people get the idea
when you're talking about the Spirit of God, that's what you're,
that ain't what he's talking about. The Spirit of God works
in conjunction with his preacher. I don't know if you know that
or not, but he does. He speaks through his preachers. You're
not going to hear a voice out here in the air somewhere. You're
going to hear a man. And the Spirit of God is going
to confirm that voice in your heart and you're going to say,
that man is the man of God. I don't have to prove it to you.
I don't have to do anything. All I've got to do is preach.
And he'll manifest these things to us. Now these are the figures of
the parable. And then secondly, I want us
to see the purpose behind the parable. One reason for giving
the parable is to make sure the gift of faith goes to the right
source. Think about this. The simplest
thing, the sower went out to sow. And he throws his seed on this
ground, that ground, that ground. It's so simple, so simple. It actually offended the Pharisees,
the simplicity of it. It offended them. But our Lord
did that because it didn't offend His sheep. His sheep understood
exactly what He was saying. And our Lord preached to multitudes,
but He ministered to His elect. In Matthew 13, 11, he gives his
disciples the reason for speaking in parables. He said, because
it's given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God,
but it's not given to them. And the Pharisees and scribes
and chief priests heard the same thing that the rest of the crowd
heard. Every one of them knew what a sheepfold was and the
porter and the door and the ship. But it said they understood nothing.
Why? Because their head was so filled
with preconceived notions about Christ and everything he said
was contrary to what was in their head. You start talking to the
average religionist out here, you start talking to them about
God and you start talking about election and these things. Man,
you're speaking in a foreign language. They've never heard
any such thing. Where'd you get that? Well, about every page
in the Bible. I don't know. Maybe I'll buy
one and read it. They didn't understand anything
I was saying. It wasn't given to them to understand. Given
to the sheep. Given to the sheep. This parable made no sense to
them because they tried to understand it through all those preconceived
notions. And there was a division again
among the Jews for these sayings. What in the world does anything
that man say have to do with law righteousness? What did anything that man had
to say? I'm talking about from the Pharisee's
standpoint. What does anything he just said
have to do with ceremonialism? Temple worship, the priesthood,
national deliverance. What does anything this man say
have to do with these things? Well, you can't decipher God's
message that way. And all it did was frustrate
them and make them mad. Made them mad. The gospel of
Christ, in the simplest of terms, leaves natural man in a state
of fury. It just leaves him furious. Why? Because the carnal mind's enmity
against God. That word law there is more general
than the Ten Commandments. What he's talking about when
he says law, the whole word of God. Natural man receiveth not the
things of the Spirit of God. He ain't gonna receive that parable.
And then listen to this. Our Lord said, I thank thee,
O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for thou hast hid these
things from the wise and prudent and revealed them unto babes. Well, the first reason for this
parable is to make sure it goes to his elect, and then secondly,
it's to manifest the glory of God in this revelation. He said
this is, what can we do to work the works of, this is the work
of God, that you believe on him whom he has sent. There was some
there that did hear, that did understand, that did believe,
that did rejoice. Others said he hasn't, he's got
a devil, he's mad. I'd like to know how many times
I've heard that over the years. He's a madman. He's crazy. Crazy. Somebody else said, this ain't
the works of him that has a devil. He opens the eyes of the blind. He uses these simple parables,
easy to understand stories, to reveal the ignorance, rebellion,
and unbelief of those who will not receive the gospel of Christ.
He made a public spectacle of them, and it infuriated them. Nobody, nobody in God's judgment, in
that day of judgment, can accuse Christ, his apostles, or his
preachers, or his prophets of not telling them simply the truth. But they got angry, they said,
if thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. He said, I told you,
and you believe not. And then thirdly, he uses this
parable to fulfill the scriptures. Matthew 13, 34. All these things
spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables, and without a parable
spake he nothing unto them. that it might be fulfilled which
was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables,
and I will utter things which have been kept secret from the
foundation of the world. And fourthly, to strengthen the
ground and comfort chosen sinners. What a comfort it is to understand
what he teaches. Isn't it? Ain't that precious?
To open that book, there was a day when I opened that book
and it was just like reading a foreign language. Nothing in
there made any sense to me. Nothing. But now, I open it up and oh,
what a joy. What a joy to read and understand
or to hear a man preach and understand what he's saying. And then fifthly, he preaches
to us in parables to show us, in the simplest of terms, the
full sufficiency of Christ. He's the shepherd. He's the shepherd. He's the surety of the everlasting
covenant of grace. And he said, you believe not,
because you're not of my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know
them, and they know me. Now watch this, and I'll give
unto them eternal life, and they'll never perish. And nobody's gonna
pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me
is greater than all, and no man's able to pluck them out of my
Father's hand. And I, my Father, am one. He's all. Religion, for the most
part, is antichrist. And most, whether they know it
or not, are infected with it, influenced by it, and blinded
because of it. They walk in a vanity of their
mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from
the life of God through the blindness of their heart. Salvation's a
divine work. And so it is even in the preaching
of it. It's a divine work. God stirs
up the heart. He opens the mind, and they hear
his voice, and they know what it means. When the Lord says,
come to me, they knew exactly that this is my shepherd. Out
the door they went. Out the door they went. And he
said, I just put them out before me. He didn't put a collar on,
lead them around like a dog. He put them out there. And they
followed him wherever he went, wherever he went. And it infuriated
those Jews. They picked up stones and was
going to stone him over what I just told you this morning.
They were ready to stone him to death over the gospel. God shows us what's in the heart
of man when the gospel is preached on him. Oh, my soul, he shows
you. All right, thank you.