As you know, the church at Franklin,
Tennessee asked me to serve as their pastor from afar until
God's pleased to send them one. And I'm very concerned for them.
I'm very concerned for their future welfare. I'm very concerned
that God will be pleased to send them a faithful pastor. I'm very
concerned for you. And by Paul, I know that after
my departure, grievous woe shall arise from among you, not sparing
the flock. And I recognize my departure
is not far away. And so I want to speak a word
of warning and caution and instruction and encouragement The Lord God
made a promise to his church in Jeremiah chapter 3 verse 15. It's a promise he made to those
people to whom the God of heaven declares, I am married to you. I'm married to you. I will bring
you to Zion. Now this is God's promise to
his people. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow. It is his promise to his church
in every age. I will give you. I will give
you. Not everybody, but you. I will
give you pastors according to my own heart. which shall feed
you with knowledge and understanding. These pastors, after God's own
heart, feed the sheep of Christ with knowledge, gospel knowledge,
knowledge of the truth, Bible knowledge, knowledge of the God
of all grace, and the grace of God in Christ. They feed men
with knowledge of themselves, knowing man as he really is. They constantly proclaim the
word of God and constantly call eternity-bound sinners to the
Lord Jesus Christ, urging God's people to walk in the old paths. Where is the good way that you
may find rest for your souls? And they feed them with understanding. When God calls and gifts a man
for the ministry and puts him in that work, he makes that man,
he has made him and he continually makes him to be a man of understanding. Understanding the word of God
gifts him to understand the scriptures. Understanding the times, knowing
the need of the day in which we live. understanding you. Because he's one of you. He understands what you face,
what you deal with, what you experience. When the Lord God
gives his church pastors after his heart, who feed his sheep
with knowledge and understanding, we're told in Jeremiah 23, his
sheep fear no more and shall not be dismayed, neither shall
they be lacking. Oh, blessed are those people.
Blessed is that church to whom God gives such a pastor. But what kind of pastor is that
man? Is that man? And I guess in this
day of religious tomfoolery, I ought to stress man. We've
got women all over this town who claim to be preachers, and
women everywhere else in the world claiming to be preachers.
Well, just laugh and forget those idiots. And that's about as kind
as you're going to hear me be concerning them. Just religious
idiots. Total rebellion against the word
of God. But what kind of posture is that
man? who is the gift of God to his people. Let's turn to John
chapter 10 and find out. As you know, the word pastor
simply means shepherd. The Lord Jesus Christ himself
is the good shepherd, the chief shepherd, the great shepherd
of the sheep. And all faithful pastors are
simply under-shepherds, men to whom Christ entrust the care
of his sheep. I can't tell you what a responsibility,
what a weight of responsibility that is. Under shepherds, you
chosen, redeemed, loved, blood-bought, called, children of God, he has
trusted to my care to feed you, to guide you, to correct you,
to encourage you, to protect you, to lead you through your
journey here. Undershepherds. And these undershepherds
are responsible to feed the sheep with knowledge and with understanding. They're responsible to guide
the sheep in all their ways and to protect the sheep from all
who would harm them. In this 10th chapter of John's
Gospel, our Lord uses himself as an example. The pattern, the
standard, which all true shepherds must be and are identified. Let's look at verse 1. 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 when he putteth forth his
own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for
they know his voice. And the 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, it is impossible,
really, it's impossible to understand the message of this parable concerning
the Good Shepherd if we fail to see why the parable was spoken,
the context in which it was spoken. Our master in this parable distinctly
addresses the Pharisees, those religious leaders who use their
office for their own gain, who use their office as their own
instrument by which they take care of themselves, who come
not but to rob and to steal and to kill these false shepherds
who abuse the sheep. Really there's not but two kinds
of preachers in the world. Just two kinds. Just two kinds. Those who are used and those
who use. It's the only kind there are. Our Lord was used. He never used. He served. He never sought to
be served. In this context, if you look
at the ninth chapter of John, after our Lord healed the blind
man, the Pharisees were very much afraid. Afraid that they
would lose power, position, and influence. After all, these folks
Man, if we acknowledge and we let this man get by with saying
that this man of Nazareth healed him and everybody knows he was
born blind, if we acknowledge that, folks are going to follow
him and we're going to lose credibility. We're going to lose our crowd.
We're going to lose influence. So they just put the man out
of church. They said, you're not alive,
you're not really the fellow who was born blind. This was not really
the Christ who, if indeed you're the man, you're a devil, and
the fellow who did it was a devil too. We'll put you out of church. Look at verse 39, John 9. And Jesus said, this is our Lord's
response to what they had done. Jesus said, for judgment I am
come into this world. That they which see, see everything so clearly don't
need to learn anything. So that they which see, they
which see and have no need of a teacher. They which see might not see. Or they which
see not might see. And they which see might be made
blind. Verse 40, And some of the Pharisees
which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are
we also blind? Are you talking about us? Did you prepare this sermon for
me? Did you intend that to be addressed to me? And Jesus said
to them, O no, O no, I will leave you alone. If you were blind,
you should have no sin. But now you say, we see. Therefore your sin remains. And
then the Master 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. Oh, how those words
must have stung those religious leaders. those thieves and robbers,
those destroyers of men's souls, those false shepherds. Now, the
title of my message this morning is The True Shepherd and the
False, and I've just got two points. First, here's the true
shepherd. 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. With those words, our Master
describes every false shepherd in every age. He is the true
shepherd. But he that entereth in by the
door is the shepherd of the sheep. With those words, our Savior
describes himself and every true shepherd in every age. First, our Savior describes every
false shepherd. Every false prophet, every false
preacher. I don't know how to stress this
sufficiently. The most dangerous thing in this
world, the most dangerous thing in this world is a false prophet,
a false shepherd, a false preacher. The Pharisees of our Lord's day
were all false shepherds. But we are plainly and repeatedly
warned in the word of God that throughout the ages of time,
until time shall be no more, false prophets and false shepherds,
like those Pharisees, will only increase. And like those Pharisees,
the false shepherd will always be recognized, applauded, and
promoted by a lost religious world and the true shepherd despised. Our Lord said, for there shall
arise false Christs and false prophets and shall show great
signs and wonders. We live in this age of signs
and wonders. We've got Pentecostals popping
up everywhere. Folks performing miracles. So
you reckon they're real? Maybe they are. Maybe they are.
I'm sure some of them are. That doesn't mean they're of
God. That doesn't mean they're God. In this day of divine judgment,
when God sent a delusion that men should believe a lie, those
men who come with signs and wonders give us clear evidence that they
are the apostles of Satan, as those signs and wonders gave
evidence of Peter, James, and John that they were apostles
of Christ. And what is it? They shall show great signs and
wonders, insomuch that if it were possible, it's not possible. Thank God it's not possible.
But these men will have such great signs and wonders that
insomuch that if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect
of God. Look in 1 John 2. Verse 18. Little children, it
is the last time. It is the last time. I wish I
could get all the prophecy nuts in the world to put that in their
pot and smoke it a while. It is the last time. When was
that? It began when the Lord Jesus
Christ came into this world in human flesh. It is the last time. And ye have heard that Antichrist
shall come. Now watch it, even now, there
are many antichrists, whereby we know that it is the last time. Chapter four, verse one. The
Lord believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, try them
how? By the word of God. Not by your
fanciful opinion, not by what you feel or think, by the word
of God. Try the spirits, whether they
are of God. Because many false prophets are
going out into the world. Chapter 1 of 2 John. Who are these antichrists, these
false prophets? For many deceivers. Deceivers. That's who they are. Deceivers. Oh, they smile and grin and they're
so full of love and sugar. You can't hardly stand being
around them. They're so sweet. They're deceivers. They're after
your soul. They're after your money. They're
after your name. They're after you on their tote
board. They're after you to use you. They're deceivers. I read
it into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ is come
in the flesh. That is, they do not confess
the Christ of God as he's revealed in this book. This is a deceiver
and an antichrist. Let's go back to our text, John
chapter 10. Who is this false shepherd? The thought shepherd
is described in many, many ways in the scriptures. But in our
text, the Lord Jesus lays the axe to the root of the tree.
He tells us that all thought shepherds that will ever be in
the world are those who enter not by the door, but climb up
some other way into the sheepfold. The false shepherd is one who
refuses to enter the kingdom of God by Christ the door. That's
all. They confess not that Jesus is
the Christ. They will not come by faith in
Christ. The false shepherd is a lost,
self-righteous man. One who is going about to establish
his own righteousness. One who refuses to submit and
trust the righteousness of God that's in Christ Jesus. There
can't be a question about this. Our Lord says here that this
false shepherd is one who entereth not in by the door. Oh, well,
let's sit down and study that out. All right, look at verse
9. I am the door. Is that clear enough? But the
false shepherd will not enter by the door. He climbs over the
wall. He digs under the wall. He goes
around the wall. But he will not enter by the
door. And the master says, I am the
door. They won't enter by me. By me,
if any man enter in, he shall be saved and shall go in and
out and find pasture. But they won't enter by the door.
So the one great mark by which false shepherds are identified
is that they enter not by the door. The mark of every false
shepherd is just this. He is a lost man. He is a lost man. That's not being hard. That's
not being hard-nosed. That's just telling you the truth.
If he won't enter by the door, he's as lost as a goose in a
snowstorm. He may have more degrees than
you can write out on one line, but he's still a lost man. He
may be able to read the Bible in all the ancient languages,
but he's still a lost man. He may be able to recite scripture
verse by verse, chapter by chapter, book by book, from beginning
to end, but he's still a lost man. He may be impressive. He may be well-liked. He may
be eloquent. He may have great pulpit skills. He may be a great leader, but
he's still a lost man. He may be your mama's pastor,
but he's still a lost man. He might be your pastor, but
he's still a lost man. That's exactly right. He won't
enter by the door. And not entering by the door
himself will do all he can to keep you from entering. Is that what the book teaches?
Of course it is. This is the mark of the false
shepherd. He makes another way into the
sheepfold. He has found another door for
himself. And he offers another hope, another
mediator, another way, another door to you. Oh, these are perilous
times. The Lord Jesus says, I am the
way. The false shepherd says, he's
a good way, but there are others. Christ declares, it is not of
him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that
showeth mercy. The false shepherd says, no,
no, no, God's done everything he can, now it is all up to you
and your almighty will. The Lord Jesus says, I lay down
my life for the sheep. The false shepherd says, the
Lord Jesus laid down his life for everybody. Christ says, by
my own blood I have purchased and obtained forgiveness, put
away sin, obtained eternal redemption, made an end to transgression,
and brought in everlasting righteousness. The false shepherd says forgiveness
and righteousness and redemption are all possible for you since
Jesus died, if you'll only accept it. Christ says, it's the spirit
that quickeneth. The flesh profiteth nothing.
The thought shepherd says, the spirit wants to quicken. And
it's really his great desire to quicken. And he sort of quickens
everybody. But it's really your will, the
will of your own flesh, that profits you with salvation and
eternal life. He won't enter by Christ's door.
And if he can, he's going to block the door for you. The false
shepherd is Antichrist. Now Antichrist is not a single
figure in a red suit with horns, a long tail, and a pitchfork.
He is not a single figure with six, six, six steps in fire across
his forehead. Antichrist is often represented
as one man. But he is really many. You see,
Antichrist, now if you don't get anything else, get this.
Antichrist is all free will works religion. And all who promote
it, call it what you will. Antichrist is all free will works
religion. And all who promote it, call
it what you will. Our Lord here in John 10 speaks
of one false shepherd rather than of many. Because all false
shepherds are really one. All false shepherds are antichrist. All false shepherds are the man
of sin. They all come into the sheepfold,
the churches of Christ, climbing over the wall, refusing to enter
by Christ the door. Paul and Peter describe them
this way. They come into the church prithee land. They sneak
in under false pretense. The false shepherd is a man who
would turn you away from the gospel to another gospel. One
which is not another. The false shepherd is one who
tries to corrupt your minds from the simplicity that's in Christ
Jesus. Preaching another Jesus, another
spirit, and another gospel. Listen to what Paul says. Turn
over there and read it for 2 Corinthians chapter 11. Paul is describing
these false shepherds. He's describing Antichrist. He's
describing preachers around the corner. He's describing preachers
that live next door to you. He's describing preachers that
came out of the same womb as you. He's describing preachers
who gave you birth. He's describing the religious
world in which we live. Look here, 2 Corinthians 11,
verse 13. For such are false prophets.
Here they are. Here they are. You don't have
to wonder about them. You don't have to guess who they
are. Deceitful workers. Transforming themselves into
the apostles of Christ. And no marvel. That shouldn't
surprise you. Oh, I thought Satan was working
down in the brothel in the beer joint. Well, he's there, but
he's busier in the church. I thought Satan was involved
in the pimps, pushers, and go-getters. Well, he is, but he's busier
in the pew. They transform themselves into
the apostles of Christ. No marvel, for Satan himself
is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no
great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers
of righteousness, not God's, yours. What's the false shepherd
do? Lindsay described it this morning.
He tries to get lost, unregenerate, hell-bent, hell-deserving sinners,
folks who are the enemies of God, who live with a, who are
spitting in God's face, trying their best to kill God, and they
try to get them back like Christians. Try, oh, if you'll quit this,
if you'll start that, if you'll start living right from, oh,
it'll be so good for you. They try to get them to behave
as though they were righteous. Try to convince them that they
are righteous. They're ministers of righteousness. Oh, they fight
abortion and alcohol and pornography. Now, hear me, understand, understand,
I'm not here to promote any of that trash, no. But that's not
our business. It won't do you one bit of good
in this world for your soul's sake. If you never took another
drink, never smoked anything in your life, never visited a
brothel, never read any pornography, if you lived as straight-laced
as a tight-fitting tennis shoe, it wouldn't do you one speck
of good and would not make you righteous. Would not do it. But
these false shepherds, they come and say, do this and you'll be
righteous. The ministers of righteousness,
whose end shall be exactly according to their works. Paul spoke of
a day when the man of sin must be revealed and clearly identified
him for us in 2 Thessalonians 2. Here he is. You've seen him and heard him
many times. Turn the TV on this afternoon, you'll see him and
hear him again. You can find him in almost every church in
this town, almost every church in this state, almost every church
in this country, almost every church in this world. Baptist
churches are full of him. He is that one who opposeth and
exalteth himself. Above all that's called God,
he opposes God and exalts himself. His will, his worth, and his
works above God Almighty sits down in the house of God and
demands that he be worshipped as God. Is there any better description
of the fellow who talks about salvation by his free will? We are real worshippers who claim
that we are saved by our will. Real worshippers who demand our
free will. Real worshippers who declare
that man's will is more powerful than God Almighty. Look at 2
Thessalonians 2 verse 7. Paul says, for the mystery of
iniquity doth already work. Only he who now letteth, he who
now restrains, will continue to restrain until it be taken
out of the way. And then shall that wicked be
revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit in his
mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming,
even him whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all
power and signs and lying wonders, with all deceivableness of unrighteousness
in them that perish. Because they received not the
love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this
cause God shall send them a strong delusion that they should believe
a lie. That they all might be damned
who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
There's no question then. The great enemy of the sheep,
the false shepherd, who comes like a lamb but has a paw on
her bear, is Antichrist. He's empowered and directed by
Satan himself. In the first chapter of Romans, I read it to you earlier with
this in mind. The Holy Spirit there tells us
that that religion that changes the glory of the uncorruptible
God into the image of a corruptible man. That religion that turns
the truth of God into a lie. That religion that worships and
serves the creature more than the creator is the judgment of
God upon a generation. that refused to receive the love
of the truth. The fruit of such religion. The
fruit of such religion. I want to be so plain you can't
possibly misunderstand me. The fruit of the religion with
which the United States of America on August 10, 2003 is plum full. The fruit of the religion that
makes postulates week after week after week. Not everybody in
Denver, Kentucky has been saved at least two or three times.
the fruit of the religion, the fruit of free will religion,
the fruit of works religion, the fruit of antichrist religion,
call it by what name you will, is a constantly increasing moral
degeneracy that ultimately manifests itself by the judgment of God
in homosexuality. That's exactly right. We're not
in a mess we're in because the schools are in such a mess. The
schools are in a mess because the churches have been in a mess.
We're not in a mess we're in because politicians are so bad.
We're in a mess we're in because the church is so bad. We're not
in a mess we're in because of the pornographers. We're in a
mess we're in because of preachers. That's exactly right. That's
where the blame goes. That's where the blame is laid
in Romans chapter 1. Indeed, homosexuality, really, is but
the outward expression of free will works religion. And it is
a clear expression of it. It's a clear expression of it.
Men have been told all their lives, God's in your hands. God
loves you. You know he does. No matter who
you are, he loves you. Everything's all right. God's
going to be, oh, God's so good. God loves you, don't you know
that? And He wants to do good for you and He wants to save
you, but everything's up to you. God's in your hands. You hold
Him in your pocket. You move Him where you will.
You do with Him what you want to. God Almighty has come here
to be the servant of your divine, almighty free will. And man says, well, good. Let
Him serve me. Let Him serve me. Homosexuality
is but the reflection of free will works religion. It is a
pretense of love that involves no commitment and is only hatred. Let us sink in. That's what the
religion of this age is. That's what the religion of this
age is. And that's what homosexuality is. It is a union of men that
can never produce life. That well describes the churches
of this entire world. A union of men that can never
produce life. It is the result of man's high
opinion of himself. The fruit and the exercise of
his own will, the service of his basest lust. And if you want to see just how
true that is of the religion of this age, you pick up the
paper and read their church advertisements on any paper in any city in the
United States of America on any Sunday of any week. Just read
them. What's going on in the churches?
are giving a high opinion of themselves, exercising their
will, and performing their own basest lust. That's all that
goes on in churches everywhere. Oh, they call it entertainment,
and they call it plays, and skits, and they call it doing things
for the children, and doing things for the singles, and doing things
for the old people, and doing things for the divorced people,
and doing things for the folks who don't want to get divorced,
and doing things for the folks who have. And ball teams, and
Christmas plays, and Easter plays, and Santa Claus, and living Christmas
trees. Do I need to go on? What else goes on in churches? What else goes on? Oh now, folks
get up and read the scriptures every now and then, give a little
tip of the hat toward God so you can understand we're doing
this in God's name. What we're doing in God's name
is exercising our will. Performing our basest lust to
the gratification of our flesh. More than that. But like the religion of this
age, homosexuality constantly seeks to recruit others. Pressure you into joining up
with us. Make you feel guilty if you don't. Oh, well. You lowlife. You bigot. Free will phobic fellow. Don't you know everybody got
somebody like us in their family? Oh, I know. God, I know. Don't you know the whole world's
accepted us? I'll tell you something else
about it. It's condemned of God. Babylon's going to fall. If we are saved from this curse
of anti-Christ religion, there's only one reason. God has from
the beginning chosen you. Now let me show you the false
shepherd's object and I'll quit. I'll come to point two tonight,
Lord willing. Why is he here? What's the object
of the false shepherd? What's his purpose? I hear fellows
talk about these false shepherds and I realize I'm just not naturally
near as sweet as I appear to be to folks, and I'm just, I'm
not quite as nice as this age wants me to be. But I hear these
fellows that talk about false prophets and false preachers,
and when I get done hearing them, I recall with Brother Harry Graham
when I was sitting in a meeting of preachers one time, and he
said, these fellows are going to love themselves right out
of the kingdom of God if they're not careful. I'd get done listening
to one of these fellows say, they're really fine, fine brethren. Their brains are just a little
muddled, that's all. Our Lord says they are thieves
and robbers, and they come not but for to steal and to kill
and to destroy. Is that what he said? They're robbers! And the only
reason they engage in the ministry of any kind, under any pretense,
is because they're thieves and robbers! And they come to kill,
and to steal, and to destroy. What on earth does our Lord say?
Satan's object in this world is to destroy man and to rob
God of his glory and to serve himself. And that's the object
of Antichrist. That's the object of all false
shepherds. They are God's enemies. They
are Christ's enemies. They're your son's enemies. They're
your daughter's enemies. They're your family's enemies.
They're your enemies. And you ought to kill them so.
David did. He said, I count them mine enemies
who hate thee, my God. Paul did. He said concerning
those Judaizers of Galatia, while they're practicing circumcision,
I wish the knife would slit and they castrate themselves. That's
a Fortner translation of Galatians 4.12. I would that they were
cut off, which trouble you. Cut off. They come for the express purpose
of robbing and destroy Him, to rob God of His throne, to rob
Christ of His glory, to rob the Son of God of His seed, of His
soul's satisfaction for His travail. They come to rob you and your
children of the way of life. They come to rob you of the only
door to the Father. They come to rob you of redemption,
salvation, forgiveness, peace, and eternal life. They've come
to destroy you. Our Lord says, Woe unto you,
scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, for you shut up the kingdom of
heaven against men. For ye neither go in yourselves,
neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. Be warned. Be warned. Be warned, all my
friends. Flee from all free will works
religion. Flee from every false shepherd. Twice the wise man Solomon warns
us to flee from that way which seems right to a man. The righter it seems to your
neighbor, Lindsay, The more sure you've got to be it's wrong. That's just right. The wise man says there's a way
that seemeth right to a man. But the end thereof are the ways
of death. But bless God, there is a way
that's right. A way by which sinners can and
do come to God and find acceptance with Him. A way which is called
a door open in heaven. And that way is the way of the
cross. The blood of Christ. The door. Come. Enter in by the door. And go in and out. And find pasture. And be saved. Amen.