Morning, everybody. It's good
to see you guys again. You all turn to John chapter
10. Excuse me, John chapter 10. John chapter 10, I'm going to
read the first six verses here. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth
up some of the way, the same is 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, for
they know his voice. And a stranger will they not
follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of
strangers. This parable spake Jesus unto them, but they understood
not what things they were which he spake unto them. Now what we just read, true as
a parable, but this is a message. This is a message that was preached
by our Lord Jesus Christ himself. At the end of this message, something
peculiar happened. It is something that had happened
two times before this. A portion of the audience got
up and they took stones and they attempted to stone him. This
had happened two other times. Not very often, but often enough. Go down to verse 19 of John chapter
10. There was a division, therefore,
again among the Jews for these sayings. They had heard what
he said. And many of them said, he hath a devil and is mad. Why hear ye him? Others said,
these are not the words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil
open the eyes of the blind? Now, the Lord preached. He preached
a very clear message. Their lack of understanding had
nothing to do with What he said, what he said was perfect and
perfectly understandable. They did not have ears and eyes
and minds and hearts of discernment. That wasn't the problem. What
caused, what happened with this message is what happens every
time the gospel is preached in power. It caused a divide. a
divide. You had two groups. You had some
men who said he's mad, he has a devil, why would you listen
to him? And there's another group that said, I just saw him in
John chapter 9, he gave sight to a man that was born blind.
You ever met a devil that could do that? In fact, has anybody
ever done that before? No. There was division. I think it's interesting, the
messaging of this current generation is this, whatever you say, make
sure it's politically correct, make sure that It's inclusive,
that everyone agrees, that people can find common ground. But that
is not the message of the gospel. This is a message that divides.
It divides men into two groups and into two camps. And it shouldn't
surprise us when this happens, because the Lord told us it would.
I'll read you this. This is Matthew 10, verses 34
and 36. It says, think not that I am
come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but
a sword. For I am come to set a man at
variance against his father, and the daughter against her
mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And
a man's foes shall be they of his own household. This is not
a message that unifies men. This is a message that divides.
It divides men into two camps, the sheep and the goats. And
the divide, the issue, it is not worldly issues. It is not
political issues of political opinion. It has nothing to do
with foreign policy. It has nothing to do with individual rights.
The divide rests on these questions, who is Jesus of Nazareth and
what has he done? That's the question. And you've
got two camps, and you've got two groups. You have the sheep,
and this is their confession. Jesus of Nazareth, that's God.
That is God himself. Everything God is, and everyone
God is, is found in that man, Jesus Christ. He's God, having
all the attributes of God. In him dwelleth all the fullness
of a Godhead bodily, and his people, you, you're complete
in him. That's who that is. He's Messiah. Every Old Testament
type and shadow, they all spoke of him. This is God himself,
the second blessed person of the Trinity. That's who Jesus
of Nazareth is. What did he do? Well, according
to Hebrews 10.14, for by one offering, he hath perfected forever
them that are sanctified. By the offering of himself once
and for all, he completely and utterly accomplished salvation
for everyone his father sent him to die for. That's exactly
what he did. And everybody who's in this camp,
who's in this group, who is divided into these sheep, here's what
they do. They trust him. All their hope
is found in this man and what he has done. And all we have
is this, this hope. When he bowed his head and said,
it is finished, and he gave up the ghost, he gave it up for
me. And it's finished for me. That's all we've got. Everybody
in this camp believes on the same man, Jesus of Nazareth.
Now who's in the other camp? There's a divide. What does the
other side say? Who's in the other camp? Everybody
else. Everybody else. Everybody else who has another
view of who Jesus of Nazareth is, who views him as less than
who and what he is. And all these people in this
camp, they share this same thing in common. They are looking somewhere
else of the Jesus Christ and him crucified alone as their
hope of salvation. Those are the two camps. A division
was caused here. Now secondly, let's consider
the audience. Our Lord is speaking to a particular group of people.
Who is he talking to? Go back to chapter 9 and look
at verse 39. And Jesus said, for judgment
I am coming to this world, that they which see not might see,
and that they which see might be made blind. And some of the
Pharisees, that's who he's talking to here, the Pharisees. which
were with him heard these words and said unto him, are we blind
also? Jesus said unto them, if you were blind, you should have
no sin. But now you say we see, therefore
your sin remaineth. Verse one, verily, verily, I
say unto you. Who's he talking to? Who's the
parable addressed to? The Pharisees. That's who he's
speaking to in this message. And you all are familiar with
the Pharisees. They were the religious academics of the day. Here's
what they were interested in. They were interested in men viewing
them as holier than thou. They wanted people to come up
to them and said, oh, you're so great. How can I be like you?
They enjoyed men coming up to them at the markets. Tell me
more. Teach me more. They put off this sense of piety
that was all false. That's what these men are. What's
interesting about these men is that when our Lord was on this
earth, he was only hoarse with one group of people. He was gentle
and kind with everybody else. Sinners could come to him. They
never felt distraught around him. They always felt comfortable.
They always felt welcome. There was only one group of people
that he openly mocked and he was hoarse with. It was these
Pharisees. These self-righteous men who viewed themselves as
having value. That's who this message is addressed
to. You know what that means? That means it is a great message
for me and you. Because by nature, that's exactly what we are. We're
Pharisees. It's the way we were born in this world. A bunch of
self-righteous folk who view ourselves in having merit that
we do not have. That's the natural man in a nutshell. So it's perfect for you and me
this morning. Now, what did he have to say
to these Pharisees? Let me back up one. I wanted
to mention this. What he has to say in verses
39 through verse 1 there in John 9, I find particularly encouraging. He talks to these Pharisees,
these men, of a good blindness. Now we think of blindness, this
is a thing that we think of as a bad thing. Nobody wants to
be blind. Blindness seems to be a curse,
seems to be a bad thing. But he says this, he says, if
you were blind, you should have no sin, but now you say we see,
therefore your sin remaineth. What does he mean by that? What
is that good blindness? Well, it's this. Right now, When
you look at yourself, in and of yourself, can you find any
reason that God should show you mercy? Can you find one? Because if
you can't find a reason, in and of yourself, that God should
show you mercy, if He doesn't owe you a thing, and you're an
empty-handed sinner, condemned in the hands of a sovereign and
a holy God, and it's right whatever He does with you, that means
you're blind. And you know what, that's a God-given blindness. That's a good thing. And he says
right here, he says if you're blind, if you can't find a reason
in you that God should show you mercy, you can be rest assured
of this, you don't have any sin. Every man who views himself as
absolutely unrighteous is actually, in all actuality, righteous,
with the very righteousness of Jesus Christ. Just the same,
every man who views himself as righteous in any way, shape,
or form, this is true about him, he is completely and utterly
unrighteous, his sins remain. That's a beautiful teaching.
Now what did he have to tell these Pharisees? He spoke to
them of a sheepfold, a sheepfold. And everybody back in that day
would have known what a sheepfold was. I had to look it up and
read on it. So I'll share what I read. So a sheepfold, just
about every village, every town had one of these, right? And
so it was a corral for sheep, a sheep pen, really. And so around
the corral, you had a large rock wall. It was about 10 to 12 feet
tall. And then on the outside of the corral, you had a door,
just a singular door. The door was manned by a porter. He was
the guard, he was the doorman. Let people in and out, let the
sheep in and out. And so you'd have these shepherds and they
would come. They'd take their sheep out to pasture during the
day, let them eat, things like that. They'd lead them back into
town. And when night fell, they would lead them in this sheep
pen, right? And that's where the sheep would stay for the
night. They'd be safe from the predators. And you'd have shepherds come
from all over. They'd bring all their sheep, and they'd all get
corralled in this one pen for the night. Shepherd would come
back the next morning. He'd do business with the porter.
Porter would say, yep, I recognize you. Go get your sheep. Shepherd
would come in, and he would call out his sheep by name. Now all
these sheep are together, right? They're all together in this
corral. Different shepherds, different sheep. But that shepherd
would show up, he'd call his sheep out by name, and they knew
his voice. And only his sheep would come out to him. He'd take
his sheep, he knew every one of them, and he'd lead them out
to pasture, and it would start all over again the next day.
That's how they did business. That's what he's using here.
That's the illustration he's using here. And he begins with
a warning. A warning. Look at verse 1 again
of John chapter 10. It says, Verily, verily, I say
unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold,
but, listen to these words carefully, Climeth up some other way, the
same is a thief and a robber. Now, who are these thieves and
the robbers here? What is this? This is any man
who would attempt to enter in any other way than Christ the
door. That speaks of everyone. It speaks
of Satan. It speaks of preachers of false religion. And it speaks
of any man who would dare approach God on the basis of his own merit
and his own works, seeking acceptance with the Father. That's who these
people are that it's talking about. And that phrase is so
telling. He says, but climbeth up. ascending up some other way. What is the message of false
religion? What is the message of works religion? Come up. Do. Get to work. You can do it. You
can please God. There is something you need to
do to make the work of Christ effectual for you. There is something
you need to do to please God, to attract His attention, to
cause Him to show you mercy. And depending on which denomination
of false religion, of which religion you're subscribing to, that thing
you need to do will change. But they all have this in common.
There is something you need to do, and you fill in the blank,
whatever that thing is, and it's a climbing up, exertion. Work. Climb up. Get in there. Do it. You've got to do it. It's on
you. That phrase, climb up, it made me think of something that
Paul said. Turn over to Romans chapter 10 for a second. Romans chapter 10, and look at
verse 5. Paul is going to contrast law
and grace. In verse 5, he says this. He
says, for Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the
law. That's works. Righteousness by
law. Righteousness by you doing. That
the man which doeth those things shall live by them. He's saying
this. He's saying if you want to approach
God on the basis of your own works in any way, whatever form
that may take, that's law. That's law. And if you want to
be judged by the law, if you want to be judged by your own
merits, your own works in any way, here's what you have to
do. You have to do it. If you want to live, you must
do. You must keep God's holy law every jot, every tittle,
every day, all day long, all night long, inwardly and outwardly
in your mind, in your heart, in your thoughts, in every single
way. That's the only thing God will
accept. A man that will approach God on the basis of the law,
he's a debtor to do the entire law. Christ is made of no effect
to you. I think it's interesting. We use that term, salvation by
works. How many times have you heard that term? It's not a thing. We have a phrase for something
that does not exist because a man cannot save himself by his works. We're sinners. We've got nothing
to bring before God. The actuality of this is this.
None of us have ever kept God's holy law. Not one time. Not hearts. This isn't a real thing. Look
down at verse, I'm sorry, verse six. He's gonna talk about grace now.
He says, but the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on
this wise. Now what does he mean by that,
the righteousness of faith? Does it mean I believe God and
my faith takes the place of righteousness? No, no, there's one righteousness. It's the very righteousness of
Jesus Christ. It's the righteousness that he freely, by his own grace
and mercy, gives to his people. And how can a man know if he
has that righteousness? If he stands righteous before
God with the very righteousness of Jesus Christ, but the righteousness
which is of faith, the evidence. What's the evidence you sit there
right now, righteous before God with the very righteousness of
Jesus Christ? You're looking to Christ alone. That's it. He's
talking about grace here. But the righteousness which is
of faith speaketh on this wise. Say not in thine heart who shall
ascend. Go up. That's what we're talking
about, isn't it? That's what we saw in our text.
Climbing up. Climbing up some other way. Who shall ascend into
heaven? That is to bring Christ down
from above. Or who shall descend into the deep? That is to bring
up Christ again from the dead. Now what does he mean? He's saying
don't say this. Don't say, who's going to go
up and bring Christ down? And don't say, who's going to
go down and bring up Christ again from the dead? What in the world
does he mean by that? Don't say this. Don't say, what can I do
to make him come down here and do something for me? And don't
say, what can I do to make his death effectual for me? Don't
say, what is it I need to do to attract his attention and
get him to do something for me? Because there's absolutely nothing
God will accept from you and me. Nothing. Don't say that. Then what do we say? Down here,
verse 8. But what saith it? The word is
nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart. That is the
word of faith, which we preach. That if thou shalt confess with
thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart
that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Now it goes back to this original
question, who is he? Who is Jesus of Nazareth? Because
right here, everybody who has the very righteousness of Christ,
they all believe the exact same thing, that He's the Lord Jesus.
He's the King. He's the Sovereign. He is God
Himself. And here's the thing about Him
being the Lord Jesus. He said, if you confess with your mouth
the Lord Jesus, it means this more than anything else. He's
the Lord. And you know what? There's absolutely nothing I
can do to make Him respond to me. There's nothing I can do
that he's going to be pleased with. He responds to absolutely
no one. And if he wants to send me to
hell, he'd just be giving me what I deserve. That's what it
means to confess the Lord Jesus. This is the confession of every
believer, though. This is our hope. God raised him from the
dead. What's in that? What does that
mean? This is my hope. This is the hope of every believer.
It's this. God raised him from the dead because he did exactly
what his father sent him here to do. What did he send him to
do? To completely and utterly put away all the sins of everybody
he died for. And this is my hope. God raised
him from the dead because he did it. And my only hope is He
did it for me. He took my place. And I tell
you what, folks, if He is the Lord Jesus, and if that's your
only hope, that He took your place, that God raised Him from
the den because He took away your sins, that's the only way
you can be accepted. You have the very righteousness
which is of faith. You have the very righteousness
of Jesus Christ, a beautiful, perfect righteousness, the only
one God will accept. Now go back to your text. Look at verse 1 again. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into
the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a
thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the
door is the shepherd of the sheep. to him the porter openeth. Now we've got to talk about a
few things here, right? It mentions a porter. I mentioned that earlier,
the porter. The porter was the doorman, right? So the porter stood behind the
door. The shepherd would come. He'd look for the shepherd. He'd
open the door, right? The porter's job was this, was
to make sure everything that happened in that sheepfold, it
happened exactly the way it was supposed to. He was going to
ensure that no robbers and no thieves came over the wall. He
was going to ensure there wasn't a shepherd who'd come in there
and he'd take sheep that didn't belong his. That porter made sure everything
was done exactly the way it was supposed to be done. And if you
were a shepherd and you would come to get your sheep, you've
got to do business with the porter. You know who that porter represents
in this parable here? That's God the Father. And more specifically,
it's this, it's his perfect sense of justice and his holy law. God is a God of perfect justice. Then you've got this, you've
got the shepherd. And I think it's interesting, in front of
all these words, the porter, the shepherd, the door, it's
always the word the, because there's only one. There's only
one. The shepherd, who's the shepherd? We don't have to guess.
Look over at verse 11. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. Who is that shepherd that's spoken
of in that parable? That's Christ. And we hear of
a door, the door as a matter of fact. We don't have to wonder
about that one either. Look down here at verse seven.
Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you,
I am the door of the sheep. I love it when the Lord uses
language like that. I am. I'm not like a door. It's not
that you can use a door as an illustration. He says, I am the
door. Read it again. I am the door
of the sheep. All that ever came before me
are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.
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
what is the teaching here? The teaching is this, the elect,
God's people, we are penned up in bondage, in captivity to sin. But the good shepherd stepped
up. The good shepherd came to the sheepfold, he came to the
pen, and who did he have to do business with? The great shepherd,
the good shepherd, that great shepherd of the sheep, he had
to do business with his father. his father's law, his father's
perfect sense of justice. He stepped up. He took on the
sins of his people. He took on the wrath of God.
He bore it in his body. He died a propitiation for their
sins. He effectively put away all those
sins and was raised again on the third day because full justification
had been made. And now, the father, the porter,
he opens the door and he says, they're yours. You are completely
acceptable. Me and you, we're square. Everything
I require, it's been taken care of. You satisfied every demand.
Now take your sheep. Call them up by name. They're
all yours. That's the teaching here. Now, my question is this. Why would he do such a thing?
He was no victim in this death. Let's be very clear about that.
Our Lord Jesus Christ volunteered. Who shall go for us? He said,
I'll go. I'll go. for his people, for
his elect. Why would he do such a thing?
Why would he take on the sin? Why would he such an agonizing
death? Why would he suffer that separation
from his father and his father's deep frown? Why would he be willing
to do things like that? Because make no mistake, he was
in fact willing. Read verse 11. I am the good
shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. But he that isn't hireling and
not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not. seeth the wolf
coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth, and the wolf catcheth
them, and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because
he is a hireling, and careth not for the sheep. I am the good
shepherd, and know, and you can take out that word know, and
you can put the word love there, it's the same word, love my sheep,
and I'm loved of mine. Why would he do such a thing?
Why would he take on such suffering? It was all this. It was love.
Love. The hireling, he flees. The hireling
sees the wolf coming and he says, it's not worth it. It's not worth
it. I'm not going to take on that fight. I'm not going to
suffer the damage. It's absolutely not worth it. But suffer me for
a minute. You ever been to a grocery store
and you watched a mother with her children? It's an interesting
thing. Go to a public place, watch a
mother with her children, small children, and wait for something
loud to happen. Some sort of perceived emergency
to take place, right? A loud crash, somebody yelling,
something like that. You will see that mother, she will grab
her kids, and she will shove them behind her immediately.
Immediately. And everybody understands what
that body language means. It means this. If you want them,
you've got to get through me. You see mothers do it all the
time. That's exactly what the Lord Jesus Christ did. He saw
the wolf coming, and he said, you gotta get through me. He
put himself between us and the wolf. He took our place. Because he careth for the sheep. Read verse three. To him the porter openeth, and
the sheep hear his voice. And listen to this. This is amazing. And he calleth his own sheep
by name. There's something extremely personal
about this. The shepherd walks up to the
sheep pen, and he doesn't give a generic call. He doesn't give
a general call. He calls them all out by name.
He says, that's Bob, that's Bill, that's Sarah, that's Phil. He
knows them all. He knows them all intimately. You think about
this. If you're a believer, before
the world ever began, before you were ever created, you had
a name. You had a personality. You had
a person. And the Lord Jesus Christ knew
you and he loved you for no reason in you, found the reason in himself. I'm sorry. And because of that
love, and I don't understand these things in fraternity, I
don't claim to. He went after the wolf. He took your place.
What an amazing thought. But through all that, because
he took our place, because he satisfied the justice of God,
satisfied his father's holy law, he became our door. That's what
he says. He says, I am the door. I guess the best commentary,
scriptural commentary, on that statement, the Lord saying, I
am the door, is this. It's John 14, 6. Jesus saith
unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto
the Father but by me. Christ is the way. He is the
way of acceptance with the Father, the only way. He says, I am the
way. What does that mean, though?
What does that mean? What does that look like? I think
this is very interesting. Look at verse 2. John 10 verse
2. I think this is the best way
you could possibly describe it. But he that entereth in by the
door is the shepherd of the sheep. That's an interesting way of
putting it. Christ the shepherd and Christ the door. How did
the elect come before the Father? and have acceptance, and find
acceptance in the presence of the Father. It's not that we
walk through the door, it's that we're in Christ, in the Shepherd.
And we always have been, and we always will be. And He walks
through the door, and He comes into the presence of His Father,
and He finds acceptance, and He finds love. And in Him, when
He goes to His Father, we go too. In Him. It's all done, it's
all found in Christ. But, Let's make this personal
to you and me. Do you want that? Do you want
to be represented by Christ alone? Do you just want to be found
in Him? Do you just want to ride His
coattails? He comes into the Father. He finds acceptance.
You find that same acceptance in Him. Is that what you want? The door is wide open. The door
is wide open to any sinner in need of mercy. But I got one
thing to tell you about this door. It is a very, very narrow
door. You can't bring anything with
you. If you have any baggage whatsoever, if you have anything
to bring, it'll get caught on the doorframe. You can't get
through. The only way you can get through is if you have nothing. an empty-handed, hell-deserving
sinner. That's it. Now if that's you,
and you've got nothing to bring, the door is wide open to any
sinner in need of mercy. Come to the door. Come to the
door. That is the command. Somebody says, what if I'm not
elect? That is a baseless fear. Election has never held off any
man who wanted mercy. It only includes men who would
have damned themselves. That's it. That door, Christ the door,
it is wide open to any sinner in need of mercy. Only one condition.
You can't bring anything with you. Christ alone is the only
way you get in. We talked about the thieves and
robbers. We talked about the porter, the good shepherd, and
the door. And there's one element left
to talk about, and that's the sheep, the sheep. In this story,
and I think I've made it pretty clear up to this point who the
sheep represent, represents God's elect. Well, let's see that from
the scripture. I want to prove that to you.
Look over at verse 27. Our Lord said, my sheep hear
my voice. and I know them, and they follow
me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand, listen to this,
my Father which gave them me. Who are these sheep? Those who
the Father gave to Christ before the world ever began. Now if
a man can read this book and he cannot see that election is
a thing, I don't know what to tell him. It's right there. Where
did these sheep come from? His father gave them to Him.
Before the world ever began, God chose. That's what He does.
He's God. He chooses. He chose a people
and He gave them to the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, you're
going to save them. Christ said, I am the surety. I volunteer. I'm going to do it. And folks,
it was done. As soon as that pact was made, it was over with.
That was it. Read this, verse 15. As the Father
knoweth me, even so know I the Father. And I laid down my life
for the sheep. Who are these sheep? They're
those who Christ died for. Did Christ die for every man
without exception? No. Let me be very clear about
that. No, he died for the sheep. Why make such an issue of that?
Why is that such an issue that Christ only died for the elect?
Because it's the only hope we have. If he died for every man
and a man can end up in hell, then his death is useless and
worthless. Well, that's not that way. He died for the sheep, and
his death actually accomplished the salvation of all of these
sheep. Look at this, look at verse 23.
And Jesus walked in the temple of Solomon's porch. Then came
the Jews round about him and said unto him, how long dost
thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us
plainly. You know, it's interesting. He
had told them several times very, very plainly. This wasn't a matter
of lack of understanding. They were hoping to hear something
different. They hated the fact that he was the Christ. They
couldn't stand that. They were just hoping that he would say something different.
But he didn't. He said the exact same thing
he said before, my and my father are one. But look at this, look
at verse 25. Jesus answered them, I told you
and you believe not the works that I do in my Father's name,
they bear witness of me. But listen to this, this is so
important. But you believe not because you are not of my sheep. Now there's an important distinction
here. He did not say you're not of my sheep because you believe
not. He says, you believe not for this reason. You're not of
my sheep. Now, I find it both amazing and unbelievable
at times that I believe. I actually believe God. I actually
believe on Christ. I actually do look to Him. There's
only one reason that any man would ever believe on Christ,
and it's for this reason, because he was called to. That's it.
Because he's a sheep. Because before the foundations
of the world were ever built, God chose him unto salvation,
and everybody he chose, they're going to believe. They're going
to come to Christ. They're irresistibly and invincibly drawn. They can
do no other. Now, what do they believe? Better
question. Who do they believe? We already
read it, already gave it to you, but I'm gonna give it to you
again. Romans 10.9, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth
the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath
raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. I believe that
he is the Lord Jesus, that he is God, and he is successful
in everything he did. God raised him from the dead
because he did what he sent him to do, and that's my hope, that
he accomplished it. Every believer believes the exact
same thing. Now, is that your hope? Is that
your hope? Christ and him crucified, your
only hope of acceptance with God, Jesus Christ laid down his
life for me and he put away my sin and you don't have anything
else. If that's the case, please recognize that means you're a
sheep. That means this whole thing,
this is all done for you, every bit of it. And here's the last
point. Look at verse three about these 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,
for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not
follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of
strangers." What does the voice of the stranger have to say?
Well, he has this to say. There's something you need to
do. There's something you need to
do to be safe. Do you find any comfort in that?
If it's put on you in any way, if there is something you need
to do to make this thing of salvation possible for you, can you find
any comfort there? Can you find any hope there?
A sheep can't listen to the voice of a stranger. Only thing a sheep
can listen to is this. It is finished. Because that's what the voice
of the Lord has to say. It's the only thing that gives him
comfort. It's the only thing that gives him hope. And he won't
hear the voice of a stranger. Well folks, I'm going to leave
you there. It's a beautiful parable.