It is a special moment for me. It
really is. This is a high honor and a special moment.
I have been wanting to come up here to see you very badly. And it's an honor to stand in the
pulpit of a man who was so faithful to preach Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. You know, I'm a result of it.
I remember riding in the car with Brother Don at seven years
old and he tells the story of everything I had to say, you
know. When my time on this earth is
done, when the Lord is pleased to reward me, I sincerely pray
that it might be said that the Lord kept me preaching the gospel all the way to the end, and kept
me believing the gospel, kept me hearing the gospel, You know,
who are we? Who are we? We're all sinners
saved by grace. And it's just such an honor. It's just such an honor. I feel
I'm here not so much to be a blessing to you, but because you're a
blessing to me. You're an inspiration to me, and I look up to you. So anyway, I pray the Lord will
bless us. I pray he will meet with us this
morning. I pray that we might truly bow to him and just gather
around him, worship him together. I bring greetings from almost
everybody in Kingsport. Everybody said to tell you hello.
And I want to especially say thank you for your support of
our building, the support that you have given us and all of
your interest in our building. We're we're so grateful for that
building. We were working there yesterday. We've been working on Saturdays
and. I was just walking through it so excited, thinking the Lord
has just. Given us something so wonderful
and. It's a lot of work, but I'm so
thankful for it and I pray the gospel will come forth from that
building like it has from this building. And I pray he'll call
sheep from it and be with us and help us, but we're moving
forward and I hope every time I give a time that we'll be in
it, it gets pushed back three or four months, but my current
hope is spring sometime, we'll see. But anyway, thank you. After I became pastor in Kingsport,
the first time that Brother Don called me and asked me to come
up here and fill in for him, I brought a message to you from
John chapter 10. And I would like to bring a message
to you this morning again from John chapter 10. This chapter
speaks to my heart. These verses speak to my heart
and that's what I want to do today. I want to speak to our
hearts. I want to speak to your heart.
The commandment to a true God called preacher is comfort ye,
comfort ye my people. That's the commandment. Sayeth
your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem,
to the heart. That's what the word comfortably
means, to the heart. And this chapter speaks to my
heart. It speaks to my heart. I pray this will speak to our
heart. I wanna begin with verse 27. Let's begin reading in verse
27. And I just want us to enjoy these
verses together. 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. My Father which gave them me
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. Isn't there something so sweet
and just so calming and so peaceful about the matter of fact relationship
between our Lord and His people? Don't you love how matter of
fact it is? Just hearing, as I was just reading
that now, I've read that so many times in the last few days, but
just reading it again right now to hear what He has to say about
us, that is, that's wonderful. That is so wonderful. It is so
peaceful. It is so calming. When he says,
when we hear him say, this is who I am. And this is who they
are. And this is what I'm going to
do for them. And this is the result that it'll
bring for them. And nobody can do anything to
change it. Nobody can do anything to stop it. It is set in stone. I have all power over it. I have
all say in the matter. I have ordered it. I have secured
it. It is finished. It is forever
settled in heaven. When you hear that, doesn't that
bring a relaxing smile to your heart? If it does, it'll work
its way all the way up to the face. When you hear him say, when you
hear him say, they shall never perish. That's exciting. That's exciting. When you hear
him say, no man can pluck them out of my hand. Doesn't that bring peace to you?
Doesn't it bring so much peace to you? Look at John 11, the next chapter
over, verse 26. John 11, verse 26, he said, whosoever
liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Do you believe that? You believe
that? I do. I do. I'll tell you somebody else who
believes that right now. Your dear pastor. Our dear friend. Never. Back in John 10, our Lord
called His people His sheep. The sheep of the shepherd. That's the title of this message.
The sheep of the shepherd. He said, they belong to me. They're mine. And he said, they
know me. They know me. I know them and
they know me. And he said, this is how you
can tell who they are. This is how you can tell that
they know me. Verse 27, he said, my sheep hear my voice and I
know them and they follow me. They hear my voice. I know them
and they follow me. He said, that's how you can tell
who my sheep are. They love and they live to hear
my voice. in my word and they follow me. And that's the truth. We love
and we live to hear His voice. Honestly, is there anything better
in life of everything that this earth has to offer us? Is there
anything better than those brief moments where the Spirit of the
Holy God speaks to your heart? And you know Him. because he
has gotten your attention. And you won't follow him. He
said they know my voice. They know my voice. Somebody
asked a dear preacher one time, does he speak out loud? And he
said, no, it's much louder than that. They know my voice. They know
when it's not my voice. They most definitely know when
it's not my voice. If you look at verse one, he
said, barely, barely, I say unto you, he that entereth not by
the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way. Is there another way? There's one way. There's one
truth. There's one life. Another way
is no way at all. There's one way. The door and
we're about to find out who the door is. But he said, 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 and
the sheep hear his voice and he calleth his own sheep by name
and leadeth them out. And I know your pastor has told
you so many times that the porter was the one who kept all the
shepherd's sheep so they could go sleep at night and they would
drop them off and the porter would keep the door and then
the next morning each shepherd would come and call for his sheep
and only his sheep would come and he leads them out. That's
what our Lord is telling us. Verse three, 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." You know, the only reason God's
sheep won't follow a stranger is because he will keep them
from it. And aren't you so glad for that? Prone to wander, Lord,
we feel it, like a sheep. But he said, they're not going
to do it. Verse six, this parable spake Jesus unto them, but they
understood not what things they were, which he spake unto them.
Then said Jesus unto them again, barely, barely. I say unto you,
I am the door of the sheep. He said, I'm the shepherd. I'm
the door. He made himself to be the sheep, didn't he? Christ
is all. He said in verse eight, 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. The thief cometh not, but for
to steal and to kill and to destroy. I am come that they might have
life and that they might have it more abundantly. Our Lord
is so good. Our Lord is so good. He said,
I came that they might have life. If we have Christ, we have everything. We have everything. And he said,
I came to give them life. And not to just give them life,
but to give them more abundant life. That more abundant life cannot
be described. It cannot be described. The reason that it cannot be
described is because it is the very life of Christ himself. All we know is the life of a
sinner. That's all we know in this flesh. We only know the life of sinful. We know a sinful life full of
sin and full of heartache and full of sorrow. That's what we
know right now. But this life more abundant is
the very life of Christ himself. In verse 11, when he said, I
am the good shepherd, the good shepherd giveth his life for
the sheep. He gave His life for His sheep
and He did that by giving His life to His sheep. You think
about substitution. Just enter in for a moment to
substitution and what that means. That means He took my life, this
life, and gave me His life, that life. And that's the one I get and
this is the one he got. And then we both went and met
God. He gave his life for his sheep. By giving his life to his sheep.
Taking their life upon himself. Now you talk about life more
abundant. You talk about life, you think about our life on this
earth and his life in glory. And you want to try to enter
into life more abundant? Now this is a trivial, silly
illustration. But just think about this physically. Think about this physically.
This doesn't even come close to describing it. This is just
so beneath what it truly is. What if an actual shepherd, there
are still men to this day who are shepherds. What if an actual
shepherd could trade lives with one of his sheep? What if he
could? Can we enter into the condescension
that that would be? For a man, even a mortal man,
with this mind and all of his abilities, what a condescension
that would be for him to leave his place in life to take the
life of a sheep and everything that a sheep's life is confined
to? And can we enter into what a
life of more abundance it would be for a sheep to leave his place
in existence to take the life of a man? That sheep's mouth, if that happened,
that sheep's mouth. All right, now you think about
the face of a sheep, the mouth of a sheep. That sheep's mouth
would be able to say things that are not possible for a sheep's
mouth to utter. Sheep's mouth can't do this.
It can't do what we're doing. That's what the Apostle Paul
said. He said, I've been there. He said, I was caught up into
the third heaven. He said, oh, the things I heard. He said, let's not go into what
I saw. Just in the things I heard, he
said, I'm telling you, it's not possible for the jawbones of
a man to utter the things that I heard. It is more abundant. You talk about words. You want
to enter into words. You want to enter into life. Oh, it's so much more glorious.
So much more glorious. That sheep would be able to know
things, know as He has been known. That sheep would experience knowledge. That sheep would experience wisdom.
That sheep would have an intellect. That sheep would eat something
other than grass. That sheep would sleep in a warm
bed at night as opposed to the mud. Or the hard ground. As drastic as that change would
be, that doesn't even come close to entering in. To the life of
the Lord Jesus Christ. that He has given to His people. First Corinthians 2.9 says, I
hath not seen. What all has your eye seen? Even
if you hadn't been there, you've seen pictures. What all have
you seen? Eye hath not seen, ear hath not
heard, neither hath entered into the
heart of man, the imagination. What have you imagined? Every
person here has imagined Heaven. Every person here has imagined
what it's going to be like the first time you actually see Jesus
Christ. It's never even entered into
the heart, man. The amazing thing is, in order
for Christ to give His life for us, He gave his life to us. He gave his life to us. He did that so that he could
make that payment. Take ours, make a payment. He made it with his own blood.
He made himself to be a sheep. The shepherd made himself to
be the sheep. And he did that so we could receive
eternal life, that eternal life he mentioned in verse 28, never
perish. He said they're never going to
perish. How is that possible? He perished for us. He died for
us. That great shepherd of the sheep,
he said of himself, oh, he said, learn of me, I'm meek and lowly.
He said, I'm the good shepherd. What does every child of God
say? He's the great shepherd. Verse 11, he said, I'm the good
shepherd, the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep, but he
that is in 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's an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.
I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and have known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even
so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. Specifically for my sheep, he
said. Christ did not die for the world,
did he? who He calls the goats. He died
for His sheep. He died for His sheep. He loved
His own. I love that verse, John 13, I
believe it is. Having loved His own, He loved
them to the end. He loved His sheep. He died for
His sheep. And He said in Matthew 25, When
the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels
with Him, And think about that day. You talk about what a glorious
day that'll be. It'd be okay with us if it was
today. You think about that moment. When the son of man shall come
in his glory and all the holy angels with him. You know, there's
going to be a number of sheep there that no man can number.
But he also said there's a number of angels no man can number.
An innumerable company of angels. That's how he's coming back. He said then and that day. Then
shall he sit upon the throne of his glory. And if Solomon was glorious to
the queen of Sheba, just wait till you see God on the throne. And he said, before him shall
be gathered all nations and he shall separate them one from
another as the shepherd divided his sheep from the goats. And
to the goats, he's going to say, depart from me, ye cursed into
everlasting fire. But to the sheep, he's going
to say, come ye blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. You talk about a blessed
people. You talk about amazing grace.
He said, you come and inherit the kingdom that was prepared
for you. All the way from the foundation
of the world. What makes that difference? What makes the difference? What
spares the sheep from receiving the same destruction that the
goats do? What makes the difference? The end of verse 15, he said,
I lay down my life for the sheep. All the sheep endure the same
destruction in him. He endured the destruction. He said, I gave myself their
destruction. And they're not going to bear
it. I bore it for them. Verse 15, he said, as the father
knoweth me, even so know I the father and I lay down my life
for the sheep and other sheep I have which are not of this
fold. He said, I have sheep out of every tribe, nation, kindred
and tongue on this earth. And he told us to go unto all
the world and preach the gospel. And by his grace, that's what
we'll do. If he'll keep us, if he'll give us his message, we're
so dependent on him in every way, shape, and form. But if
he'll do it, that's what we'll do. He went on to say in verse 16,
them also I must bring. And I am so glad for that. The longer I go in this, the
more thankful I am for the fact that he's going to do it all.
He's going to give the message. He's going to send the spirit.
He's going to call his own. Not one sheep is in my hands. I'm just the, you know, helper. Just grab the seed and throw
it. He's going to call every single one of his people. Them
also I must bring and they shall hear my voice and there shall
be one fold and one shepherd. Therefore, doth my father love
me because I lay down my life that I might take it again. 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." There was a division therefore
again among the Jews for these sayings. And many of them said,
he hath the 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? And it was at Jerusalem, the
feast of the dedication, and it was winter. And Jesus walked
in the temple in Solomon's porch. Then came the Jews round about
him and said unto him, how long does thou make us to doubt? If
thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you
and you believed not. The works that I do in my father's
name, they bear witness of me, but you believe not because you
are not of my sheep. As I said unto you, only God's
sheep can believe on him. Only God's sheep believe on him.
If I believe on him, if you believe on him, If you see his death
to be your only hope of life, when somebody says, what is your
hope of salvation? If you don't say I was baptized
back in 19, whatever. And if you don't say, well, I'm
trying to be the best person I can possibly be. And if you
don't say all those things, if the only thing you can say is
the death and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ is all my hope
of salvation, that's it. That's all I have. If you see
the work of the shepherd, what he did alone for the sheep to
be your only hope of salvation. And if you desire the shepherd,
if you need the shepherd, If you're begging for the shepherd
to be your shepherd, if you are begging for the shepherd to be
your shepherd, but you're wondering whether or not you're one of
his sheep. I tell the brethren in Kingsport
this all the time. I tell them this all the time
because I believe this is a help to people, especially young people
who grow up in the gospel. Because you don't have a point.
I grew up under the gospel. My father preached the gospel
and these men preached the gospel. And you don't have a point where
you were in religion and the gospel came and the light came
on. You don't have that. I grew up
with my dad telling me, you're a totally depraved sinner. And
all men and women are totally depraved sinners. And God chose
who he would save. God elected a people to save. And he gave them to Christ, and
Christ only died for those people, no one else. And God the Spirit
is gonna call every one of them, and they're all gonna make it,
no matter what. That's what I was told, and that's
what I believed. And I knew God elected a people. There was an
election. What I didn't know for a long
time is, was I part of it? I tell people all the time, and
I mean this, God either saved me and opened my eyes. It was
some point between the ages of 7 and 27. I don't know exactly
when. But here's the thing. The Spirit
of God finally came to me at some point and spoke peace to
my heart. by notifying me of the fact that
only God's sheep can believe. I used to say, I believe it.
I mean, he's my all. I have nothing outside of him.
I just don't know if I belong to him. Only God's sheep can
cast their all, I mean all of it, enslave themselves on the
Lord Jesus Christ. Only God's sheep can believe
on Him. Only God's sheep are given the
ability to look to Him completely, adding nothing to it, no work
of the flesh to it. Only God's sheep can truly need
Him. If I'm going to get there on
my own words, I don't need Him. I may like Him and look up to
Him, I don't need Him as my only hope. Only God's sheep hopelessly,
desperately have to have Him and Him alone. Only God's sheep
hear His voice and follow Him, believe Him and follow Him. 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 you believe not because you
are not of my sheep. As I said unto you, my sheep
hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. He said,
they hear my voice. They hear my voice. How does he speak to his sheep?
Through his word. Through his word. What does he
say to his sheep? What does he say to his sheep?
If we are his sheep and if he's speaking to us, we say that he
speaks to his people. Is he speaking to us? He's speaking
to his sheep and he's speaking to his people, but is he speaking
to us? Is he really speaking to me?
Well, what does he say to his people? This is how we can know
if he's speaking to this, how I can know if he's speaking to
me. And this is how you can know
if he is actually personally talking to you. What does he say to his sheep?
He says in his word, you are all a bunch of sinners. That's
what he says. He says, all flesh is grass. I think he's talking to me. He says, all nations are nothing
before me. He says, in your flesh, you're
nothing before me. I'm pretty sure he's talking
to me. He says, you have never done
anything right in your flesh. I think he's talking to me. He says, you don't deserve one
kindness from me. I'm positive he's talking to
me. And after hearing his voice from his word, all of his sheep
say, Amen. Amen. I believe you. You're all
sinners. All flesh is grass. You're worthless. You're helpless. You're in need
of everything. Amen. That's right. I believe you. And then he says,
I'm a holy God who judges sin. I'm a holy God who punishes sinners
for their sin. And when God's people hear that
in the word, they cry, Amen. Whatever you do with me, you're
just in doing it. You're just and right and holy,
I believe you. Amen. And then he says through
his word, fear not. Come unto me. I'm a God of mercy. I'm a God who delights to show
mercy to sinners. That is one of the most enjoyable
thoughts that I've ever thought of. We all have things that we
enjoy doing. We all have hobbies. There are
things that we just, they're just enjoyable to us and we enjoy
doing them. Well, do you know what our Lord
Jesus Christ enjoys to do? He said, I'd like, this is my
delight, I'd like to show mercy. I love showing mercy. Mercy to
sinners. And he says from his word, I've
settled all of your debt. I've made all of your payment.
I took care of all of your sins. And after hearing his voice from
his word, all of his people cry, Amen. I believe you. I believe you. I think I'm going
to stop working now. I think I'm going to rest from
all my labors as he has rested from his. Verse 27, my sheep
hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give
unto them eternal life, life forevermore. He said their death
has been put away. That's what he accomplished on
the cross. He put away the death of his
people, the sin and the death. Verse 28, he went on to say,
and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. I love that declaration. He said,
no man can pluck them out of my hand, no man. What I love
about that is it includes this man. If any man could pluck me
out of his hand, if it could be done, it would be this man
right here. But he said, no man. Verse 29, My Father which gave
them Me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them
out of My Father's hand. My Father chose them, He put
them in My hands, and then He put My hand in His hand. And
no man can pluck them out of My Father's hand. Verse 30, He
said, I and My Father are one. And He said in John 17 that His
sheep are one with them. Us in Him, Him and His Father
one. Verse 31, then the Jews took
up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, many good
works have I showed you from my father, for which of those
works do you stone me? The Jews answered him saying,
for a good work, we stone thee not, but for blasphemy and because
that thou being a man, make us thyself God. They didn't know
him, did they? They didn't see him. They didn't
believe him. They didn't follow him. Him being God made himself to
be a man. Verse 34, Jesus answered them,
is it not written in your law I said you are gods? If he called
them gods unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture
cannot be broken, say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified
and sent into the world, thou blasphemous, because I said I
am the Son of God, If I do not the works of my Father, believe
me not. But if I do, though you believe not me, believe the works,
that you may know and believe that the Father is in me and
I in him. Therefore they sought again to
take him, but he escaped out of their hand and went away again
beyond Jordan into the place where John at first baptized,
and there he abode. And many resorted unto him and
said, John did no miracle, but all things that John spake of
this man were true. And many believed on Him there. How about us? Do we believe on
Him? Do we truly believe on Him? Do
we hear His voice in this Word? Do we hear this Word speaking
of Him, all of it about Him? Do we need Him? Do we need Him? Do we follow Him? If we do, we're
His sheep. We are. We are. If we are His sheep, that's a
good thing to be. There's nothing better to be
in this life than a sheep of the shepherd. No greater blessing,
no higher calling, no higher honor. A sheep of the shepherd. And it's because he said in verse
27, 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. Wonderful news,
isn't it? Let me close with a word