Okay well turn with me to John's
Gospel and the 10th chapter and I want to look this morning at
the shepherd and his sheep. John chapter 10, the shepherd
and his sheep. To be likened to sheep is not
particularly flattering, you might say. I grew up in the countryside,
and I came across an awful lot of sheep. And on the whole, they
were very, very stupid. They were very, very timid. They
taste good with mint sauce, roasted. They're very vulnerable to all
sorts of things. And they're a bit smelly as well,
to be honest. They're not very nice to be around.
but Christ likens his people to his sheep. He likens them
to his sheep. Now turn with me to Matthew's
gospel and chapter 25. I want to show you something
here about sheep, but also about goats. You may say there's very
little difference between sheep and goats and in lots of ways,
they're very similar. They're very agile in the mountains,
but they're different. And in verse 32, Jesus is speaking to his disciples
about the judgment at the end of time. And in verse 32 he says,
And before him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate
them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from his goats. And he shall set the sheep on
his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the king
say unto them on his right hand, that is the sheep, come you blessed
of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world. And so it goes on. But to the
others, he says, verse 41 to those on the left hand, the goats,
he will say, depart from me cursed into everlasting fire. prepared
for the devil and his angels. He divides humanity into sheep
and goats, the righteous and the wicked as we were seeing
in Isaiah chapter 3 earlier on. and there's a huge chasm between
the two a huge chasm you know the uh... the parable of of the
of Lazarus the beggar and the rich man who'd gone into hell
and you know it's it's not it's not teaching us doctrine about
the way that people in hell see things don't misinterpret that
but it is teaching us various truths about eternity and about
judgment and about sin and in Luke 16 26 when the rich man
pleads that somebody might be sent from hell to warn those
before death, to warn his brothers to flee from the wrath to come.
The answer he's given is this, and beside all this, between
us and you, there is a great gulf fixed so that they which
would pass from hence to you cannot. Neither can they pass
to us that would come from thence. There's a chasm. between them.
God makes this separation. Oh what a blessing it is to be
counted as a sheep. To be divided and to be amongst
the sheep. What a blessing. What a glorious
blessing. It shall be well with him it
says in Isaiah chapter 3. And how dreadful. How unthinkably
dreadful to be left as a goat. How dreadful. This is the message
of this book. You may say, I don't like that
bit of it. I'm sorry, it's so true. It's so true, you cannot
cut out the bits you don't like. It is so true, it rings so true
everywhere. Surely when Christ spoke those
things, when he who had the words of eternal life spoke those things,
he was speaking the truth. He who came from heaven, from
eternity, he who is God in human flesh told us those things. or
we ought to take notice. How blessed to be counted as
a sheep, how dreadful to be left as a goat. Now in John chapter
10 Jesus continues the dialogue with the Pharisees that we saw
in chapter 9 where he healed the man blind from birth. He created new eyeballs and put
them in the sockets. He gave him sight, that act of
creation, that illustrative miracle of his power and his giving of
spiritual sight. and he continues his dialogue
with the Pharisees because he'd been telling the Pharisees in
chapter 9 that they were false teachers who were entirely blinded
by their own self-righteousness. They would be lost. They were
lost because they were blinded by their own self-righteousness.
They were among the apparent people of God in Judaism. in the temple worship. They were
in God's sheepfold, as it seemed. But here at the start of chapter
10, he tells them, you've climbed over the wall some other way.
He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth
up some other way, the same is a thief and robber. What's the
door? Christ is the door. He says later on, I am the door,
verse 9. He is the door. In what respect
is he the door? The redemption that he has accomplished
is the door into eternal life. For in the redemption that Christ
has accomplished, there is eternal life. There is forgiveness of
sin. There is cleansing. Justice is established. All of
these things are done in him. That is why he is the door into
the sheepfold. But if you don't come by him,
you climb up some other way as a thief and a robber. but he
that enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. There
are various interpretations, but I think this is particularly
talking about the shepherds. of the people of God that God
raises up. There are those who are false
shepherds who've come in the wrong way, not via the door which
is Christ. They don't know Christ. They
serve like the shepherds that we read about in Ezekiel 34.
They feed themselves and not the flock. That's their motive. It's an easy life. Avoid the world of real work
and go and do this thing where you have these mild-mannered
mild-mannered, timid people, sheep who'll bend over backwards
to do anything for you and make life easy for you. Oh, go and
do that. This is what Ezekiel was speaking
about. God, through Ezekiel, was complaining about these false
shepherds. But he that comes by the door,
the true gospel, true shepherds, truly converted before anything
else, truly burdened with the message of the truth of the gospel,
to him the porter openeth. that again could be many interpret,
could be God the Father, could be, I am inclined to think it's
the Holy Spirit here. The porter openeth, giving this
light, giving this truth, giving this belief, and the sheep hear
his voice. The sheep hear the voice of the
Good Shepherd, for Christ is the Good Shepherd. He is the
Good Shepherd, and the sheep hear the voice of the Good Shepherd
by these under-shepherds who he raises up. All the others
are thieves and robbers. Look in verse 8 again. All that
ever came before me are thieves and robbers. Meaning a line of
false prophets. Not all as in Moses and other
faithful prophets of God. No. But the false ones. The false
teachers of Israel. The ones that led the people
astray. Thieves and robbers. And the true sheep didn't hear
them. Verse 8. They're strangers, verse five.
The sheep won't follow a stranger. A stranger will they not follow,
but will flee from him. For they know not the voice of
strangers. If you're a true child of God
and you hear somebody preaching, I know I'm always referring to
it, but we're pottering around having breakfast on Sunday morning
and Radio 4 is on and so it's the morning service. And this
morning it was a service led by the Evangelical Alliance.
Now you'd think, oh, that's going to have some good truth in it,
isn't it? Evangelical, that sounds good, doesn't it? That's got
the right label on it. And the preaching was the voice
of strangers. It was the voice of a stranger
to the truth of the gospel. The man that was preaching, be
he ever so sincere, had not come through the door. He'd climbed
up some other way. And when he was speaking, the
true sheep of God don't hear the voice of strangers. They
flee from him. We're not having anything to
do with that. And you could tell by every other aspect of their
practice in that service that it was the voice of a stranger
that was speaking and not the voice of a true shepherd that
the porter had opened to. No, not at all. They're hirelings. Look at verse 12. He that is
an hireling and not the shepherd whose own the sheep are not.
The hireling. You know what a hireling is?
It's somebody you hire to do a job for you. You might... Jill does babysitting. Now, you
do all sorts of babysitting. It's wrong to regard these as
babies anymore, but there is another baby in the family. Now
if you go and babysit for that baby who is your granddaughter,
There's a feeling of great affection, isn't there? Now you do your
job responsibly for these other people that you babysit for and
you do your job professionally But they're not yours. They're
not yours as in the way that your grandchildren are yours.
And so it is here, the hireling. He says, these false shepherds
are hirelings. They're not, they don't own the
sheep. They've just been rented to do a job. Look after these
sheep. Oh, okay. Oh, whoops, there's
a wolf coming. Don't worry, Jill, I'm not saying that as soon as
a wolf comes to the house, you would flee and give up your babysitting.
But you know the thing, there's something about those that are
your grandchildren that is particularly warm and endearing. And so it
is. The hireling doesn't own the
sheep. And when the wolf comes, the hireling clears off. He runs
away. He looks after himself, like
those false shepherds of Ezekiel chapter 34. They're hirelings. And why, verse 26, why are they
like this? Ye believe not, because ye are
not of my sheep, as I said unto you. These false shepherds, these
Pharisees, were not of his sheep. They weren't amongst them. That's
the reason they didn't believe. They weren't amongst his sheep.
That's why. The porter had not opened to
them. The Holy Spirit, who gives faith
and sight to believe, had not given it to them. But by contrast,
Christ is the Good Shepherd. Verse 11, I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. He's the Good Shepherd. He, verse
7, is the door of the sheep. Verse 7, Jesus said to them,
verily, verily, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. Verse
9, I am the door, by me if any man enter in. By that redemption,
by that propitiation, by that atonement that Christ has accomplished,
he shall be saved from judgment. How can a man be just with God
if any man enter in by Christ? He shall be saved and go in and
out, live his life and find pasture in safety. He is the door of
the sheep. Those that enter by the door,
verse 2, are Christ's true under-shepherds, true ministers, not false shepherds. Not the thieves and robbers of
verse 8. All that came before me are thieves and robbers, but
the sheep did not hear them. They're the ones that Ezekiel
was speaking about in Ezekiel 34. You know, we read those verses
there. How they'd fattened themselves. They hadn't fed the sheep. They
hadn't looked after the sick and the weak and the lame. They
just looked after their own interests. We're living in dark days in
these days, we're living in what we could call Revelation 11 days,
at least the first part of the chapter. You know where the prophets
are killed and they lie dead in the street, meaning the true
gospel and the world rejoices as in a party. It's got rid of
this shackle of religion. Let us break their bonds, let
us take these links away from us. But it's all in God's sovereign
purposes. But in the middle of it, he raises
up under-shepherds to speak the truth and to feed the sheep.
And how he's doing that in these days, even in these dark days,
through Free Grace Radio, there are people that are hearing the
truth of the Gospel clearer than they've ever heard it before.
So how do you become a sheep? How are you counted amongst the
sheep that this passage is speaking about? How do you become one
of these innumerable multitude? Well, it's all by sovereign grace.
And it's all by election before the beginning of time. This is
how John 15 and verse 16, Jesus says this in chapter 15 and verse
16, you have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. You have not
chosen, it couldn't be clearer could it? It could not be more
stark on the pages of scripture. You have not chosen me but I
have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring
forth fruit and that your fruit should remain by the sovereign
grace of God. It's not, as John 1 says, John
chapter 1 and verse 13, born not of blood, nor of the will
of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. It's the
will of God. He chose us in Him before the
foundation of the world, says Ephesians 1 and verse 4. We mentioned
earlier 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 13. Bound to give
thanks to God for you, beloved, because God has from the beginning
chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit
and belief of the truth. Romans 9, verse after verse,
that the election of God, the purpose of God according to election
might stand. This is how. So is it passive? Is this becoming a sheep a passive
thing? No. The Holy Spirit calls with
an effectual call but you must respond to the call The Holy
Spirit makes his people willing in the day of his power, Psalm
110 verse 3. But nobody, nobody became a sheep
of God who didn't exercise that will. He gives eyes to see, which
is faith. But you must believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ in order to be saved. What Paul said to the Philippian
jailer, what must I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? You must
come through that door. You must come to him. It's not
passive. It's all of sovereign grace.
But given those things and hearing those messages and seeing those
truths, you must exercise that will you've been given and come
to him through that door into the sheepfold. Remember what
Isaiah chapter 1 said, verses 18 to 20. Come now and let us
reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient,
ye shall eat the good of the lamb. But if ye refuse and rebel,
ye shall be devoured with the sword, for the mouth of the Lord
hath spoken it. Is that not clearly saying you
don't passively sit there with an attitude of laissez-faire,
it doesn't really matter, it will turn out the way it will
turn out. No! He says if you hear, come let us reason together,
you come. Be obedient and come. Hear that
call and respond to it. Feel that willingness, but exercise
that will and come through the door which is Christ. And having
come, if you know you are a sheep, which you do by faith, by faith
and belief of the gospel, how is it Paul knew the Thessalonians
were believers, were the elect of God? God hath from the beginning
chosen you through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth. You believe the truth. If you
know you're a sheep by faith, what blessings What enormous
blessings, what incalculable blessings are yours as opposed
to the fate of the goats in Matthew chapter 25. Though we're straying
by nature, all of us, all we like sheep, says Isaiah 53 verse
6, again likeness to sheep, all we like sheep have gone astray. All of us, we've turned everyone
to his own way. all of us though apparently goats
in this world because Ephesians 2 and verse 3 says this about
him making us alive when we were children of wrath even as the
others no different unbelievers at that time even though apparently
goats yet blessed blessed, the sheep of God blessed. He has
blessed us with all spiritual blessings. Ephesians 1 verse
3, blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ. Now here
are some of the blessings of Christ's sheep. This is what
I want to look at this morning. First of all, first of all, think
of this The Lord Jesus Christ, in this passage of scripture,
refers to the sheep again and again as His sheep, My sheep. He calls them My sheep. Look
in verse 3. Look in verse 3. The sheep hear
His voice and He calleth His own sheep by name. He calls His
own sheep by name. Verse 14. I am the good shepherd
and know my sheep and am known of mine. Verse 27, my sheep hear
my voice and I know them and they follow me. They're his sheep. did you see the series on the
television earlier on in lambing season you know they did one
of those like spring watch things where every day they had a broadcast
from the lambing shed and you saw that family there who were
raising these lambs Make no mistake, these lambs were going to be
meat by about the end of this year. They were going to be roast
legs of lamb somewhere. But the care of that family of
farmers for their sheep, those sheep were their sheep. And they
stayed up all night looking after them in the lambing shed, making
sure that they gave birth to their lambs safely, that the
lambs came into the world safely, that they didn't suffocate, that
no harm came to them, that they were in a warm place, in a barn,
sheltered from the storm, that they only went outside where
they should be when it was safe. They looked after them. Why?
Because they were their sheep. Those sheep belonged to them.
And Christ calls his sheep, his people, my sheep. They're my
sheep. If you're one of his sheep, think
of this, he calls you my sheep, my sheep, his precious possession. That's what they are, his precious,
his vulnerable ones, because sheep are vulnerable. They're
vulnerable, they're prey to wolves and all sorts of other beasts
of the field as we saw in Ezekiel 34, but he cares for them. They're
my vulnerable ones, they're my sheep, his precious possession. And why are they his? They're
his because he bought them. He has bought them. They're redeemed.
They're his by purchase. He has paid the price. Look at
verses 11 to 15. He says, and remember his audience
is still these Pharisees and others. He says, I am the good
shepherd. The good shepherd pays a price. gives his life for the sheep.
That's the price. He gives his life for the sheep. The life is in the blood. He
shed his precious blood for the sheep. But he that is an hireling
and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf
coming and leaves the sheep and flees. And the wolf catches them
and scatters the sheep. Notice that the wolf doesn't
destroy the sheep, he just scatters the sheep. because nobody can
destroy them, as we'll see later. The hireling flees, because he
is an hireling, and cares not for the sheep. I am the good
shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the
father knoweth me, even so know I the father, and I lay down
my life for the sheep. He lays down his life for the
sheep. They're his sheep. They're his
precious possession by purchase. And the purchase price was his
own precious blood. His own lifeblood. He paid the
price. God so loved the world. God so
loved a world, meaning all different races. God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish but have everlasting life. But it
was not free he had to give. his only begotten son. He had
to pay the price with precious blood. As Peter says, you are
not redeemed with corruptible things like silver and gold,
things that will decay away with the passing of time, but with
the precious blood of Christ. I can't understand that. I can
only scratch the surface of understanding that. Redeemed, the price paid
was the precious blood of Christ. Oh you can meditate on that every
minute of the rest of your life and never get to the bottom of
it. The precious blood of Christ. It was the price to buy us back
from the just penalty of sin. You know the picture of the slave
in the slave market and the one comes along with the price of
freedom. And that's it. Redemption. Redemption. Lay down
his life for the sheep. It was prophesied in Zechariah
13 verse 7. Awake, O sword. This is the sword
of the wrath and judgment of God. Against my shepherd. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd. Speaking of Christ. and against
the man that is my fellow this is God speaking against the man
that is my fellow who is equal with God but God the God man
awake against my shepherd the God man saith the Lord of hosts
smite the shepherd because that's the price of the redemption of
the sheep that's the price Romans 5 and verse 8, God commends his
love toward us in this, that while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us to pay the price, to redeem us. And then secondly,
the sheep are called. Verse 3, verse 3, To him the porter openeth, and
the sheep hear his voice, and he calleth his own sheep by name,
and leadeth them out. He calls his sheep, verse four,
and when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goes before them,
and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. They know
his voice, he calls them. This is an individual personal
call. You know, British shepherds tend
to drive their sheep with sheep dogs and, you know, the sheep
dogs snap at the heels of the sheep and round them up and drive
them. But Eastern shepherds and other parts of Europe, they lead
their sheep. They go before them. And that's
the picture here. Christ, by his spirit, calls
his people out of spiritual darkness into his marvelous light, says
Peter. He called you out of darkness, spiritual darkness and blindness.
The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light into
his marvellous light. He predestined his people, but
he called them. Those he foreknew, he predestined
to be conformed to the image of his Son. And those he predestined,
these he also called. And those he called, these he
also justified. And those he justified, these
he also glorified. He called them by gospel preaching. How does the great shepherd of
the sheep call his sheep in this gospel age? by the preaching
of the gospel, called by the preaching of the gospel. Whoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, but how
shall they call upon the one that they've never heard of?
And how shall they hear unless somebody's sent to preach to
them? He sends a preacher. with the gospel of his grace,
a faithful under-shepherd who's come in by the door into the
sheepfold and he sends a preacher and that preaching calls them
for it is by the foolishness of preaching that it pleased
God to save those who believe. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 21. By the foolishness of preaching
it pleased God to save those who believe. Can you hear it?
Can you hear that call of the gospel of grace? Can you hear
God saying to you through Isaiah, come let us reason together.
Though your sins be as scarlet, yet they shall be white as snow. He calls his sheep. What a blessing
to be called. When others around can hear nothing
at all, what a blessing to be called, to hear that call. You
know, have you ever heard an alarm going off and you say can
you hear that and those with you say no we can't hear anything
at all it's like that you hear the alarm call of the gospel
of grace he calls his sheep what a blessing to be called to be
one who's heard to be one who's known the voice of the great
shepherd of the sheep calling him and then thirdly it's a two-way
knowledge between the shepherd and the sheep look at verse fourteen
I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and are known of mine. And verse 27, my sheep hear my
voice, and I know them, and they follow me. This knowledge between
the shepherd and the sheep. If you're a sheep, the God of
the universe in the Lord Jesus Christ knows you intimately. knows you in a loving way. How
does He know you? Look at verse 15. Look at verse
15. I know my sheep and am known
of mine as the Father knoweth me. Even so know I the Father
and I lay down my life for the sheep. That intimate knowledge
between the Father and the Son that we cannot understand that
we cannot get close to appreciating is like the knowledge of the
shepherd for his sheep of Christ the shepherd of his sheep and
his people it's an intimate loving knowledge like the father and
the son it's reflected in the husband and wife relationship
just turn over to Ephesians chapter five and at the end of the chapter Verse 30, likening husbands and
wives and the intimate union that there is between husbands
and wives, that loving intimate union. I know people have fallen
and there's all sorts of distress in life, but in marriage as it
was intended to be, in that loving union between a man and a woman,
and then he says, we are members of his body. Members of his church
are members of his body, of his flesh and of his bones, united
with him. absolutely one flesh with Christ
so that when Christ walked perfectly his people walked perfectly in
him so that when Christ paid sins debt his people paid that
sin debt in him members of his body for this cause shall a man
leave his father and mother and shall be joined unto his wife
and they too shall be one flesh this is a great mystery but I'm
not really talking about marriage says Paul verse thirty-two I
speak concerning Christ and the church nevertheless there is
application in marriage he's talking about Christ and the
church this knowledge the shepherd knows the sheep and the sheep
know the shepherd this is an intimate person it's not just
it's not just a general I remember when I used to be a teacher and
you'd get a new class at the start of the year thirty-two
children in a class and it would get to report time. And some
people had been such extrovert characters that you couldn't
avoid knowing them. And there'd be other timid, hardly
ever contributed anything, very difficult to get anything out
of them. And when it came to report time, It would be, Johnny
is somebody that I hardly know, to be perfectly honest. I know
it's that shy little face sitting there in the corner that never
says anything and never responds when asked a question. I really
struggle to know what to make of them. In a sense, you know
everybody because you know their name. But what this is speaking
about is an intimate knowledge. It's a personal knowledge. you
cannot be a sheep of God without a personal knowledge of the shepherd
of Christ you can't you know how you know husbands and wives
who don't speak to one another for months on end are not really
living in this relationship and so it is with Christ and his
sheep it's this intimate personal knowledge they know him he knows
them Philippians 3.10, Paul says this, where he wants to be, that
I may know him and the power of his resurrection. This is
the thing. Then the next point. Leading
and following, verse 4. He puts forth his own sheep and
goes before them. Verse 27. My sheep hear my voice
and I know them and they follow me. He leads and the sheep follow. He leads his sheep, he doesn't
drive his sheep. The sheep gladly follow him.
Why? Because where does he lead them?
Into green pastures, in safety, to food supplies, in all the
uncertainties of life and most definitely the uncertainty of
death. Christ is his people's shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. Just as the sheep are my sheep,
he says, so the Lord is my shepherd. Christ is his people's shepherd.
He causes all things to work together for their good. He leads
through uncertain waters. I saw a program yesterday evening
about the old pilot boats of the Bristol Channel. The Bristol
Channel, very dangerous waters, did you see it? Lovely old boats
and how the tides are so fierce there, it was so easy for a big
ship to be wrecked. And the pilot would go out and
the pilot would get on board the ship and would guide that
big ship safely through those treacherous waters. And one pilot
spoke of a time when a captain of a large ship broke down and
cried when he got on board because he was so glad to see the pilot,
because he was so nervous that his ship was going to be wrecked.
He was so anxious. Well, so it is. Christ leads
his sheep, and his sheep follow him through all of these stormy,
dangerous waters. And then next, and I know we're
having to rush these things, but security. He keeps his sheep
safe. Look at verse nine. I am the
door. By me, if any man enter in, he
shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture. This
is a picture of living life as a believer in the safe keeping
of the one who is the shepherd of his sheep. Going in and out
and finding pasture safely. And then look at verse 28 where
he says, I give unto them eternal life. If you're one of his sheep,
he's given unto you eternal life. What did he say earlier? I came
that they might have life and have it more abundantly. That's
why he came, that they might have life and have it more abundantly. I give them eternal life and
they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. If you're Christ's sheep, nobody's
ever going to come and steal you away from him. Never. My father which gave them me
is greater than all. Nobody's more powerful than God
the Father. My Father is greater than all. No man is able to pluck
them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. It's
speaking of a sheepfold, which is a place of safety and of protection
from wolves. If you look at Ezekiel 34, where
we were just before, and verse 11, Ezekiel 34 and verse 11. For thus saith the Lord God,
Behold, I, even I, will both search out my sheep and seek
them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his
flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered,
so will I seek out my sheep and will deliver them out of all
places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. and
I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from
the countries, and I will bring them to their own land, and feed
them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the
inhabited places of the country. I will feed them in a good pasture,
and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be. There
shall they lie in a good fold." Safety. secure and in a fat pasture
rich pasture and they shall feed upon the mountains of Israel
I will feed my flock and I will cause them to lie down you know
when the sheep are lying down they feeling pretty safe says
the Lord God he will do all of these things security this is
this is speaking spiritual things This is the blessings of grace
in salvation. This is the, if God before us,
who can be against us? For my Father, says Christ, is
greater than all. Nobody shall pluck them from
the Father's hand. And then sixthly, finally, I
just want to note this. other sheep. He has other sheep. You may say, look in verse 16,
other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I
must bring and they shall hear my voice and there shall be one
fold and one shepherd. You may say, well what's that
got to do with me? That's a bit of an odd blessing, isn't it?
As a sheep of Christ for him to tell me that there are other
sheep. What's the point of that? This is the point. Whilst we're
in this life There are still more sheep to call. There are
still more sheep to call out. What do they look like? Well
now, look round Nebworth, look round all of this area. They
appear as children of wrath, even as the others. They're in
unbelief. They're in rejection of the gospel. But he will call. He says, look, other sheep I
have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they
shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. And there will be one universal
sheepfold of grace. So here's the point. Every time
the gospel is preached, every time it goes out on Free Grace
Radio or wherever else it might be, pray for and expect some
to hear good news. Expect some to hear the shepherd's
voice through an under shepherd and hearing it to believe it
and Believing it to come to him and coming to him to follow him
These are the blessings some of the blessings of being the
sheep of the Lord Jesus Christ his own personal precious possession
sheep the comfort of knowing these things and is beyond what
we can imagine. Blessed is the man. Blessed is
the man. The Psalms say it again and again.
Blessed is the man, particularly to whom the Lord does not impute
sin. But you could say blessed is the man who is one of God's
sheep, safe and secure now and for eternity. Amen.