If you have your Bibles open
to the 10th chapter of the Gospel of John, I'd like to read beginning
this morning with verse 14 and read down through verse 18. Now,
this is a blessed chapter, as our brother pointed out when
he read it to us this morning, and certainly it's a chapter
that I've spent a lot of time in and intend, by the grace of
God, to continue to spend a lot of time in it, meditating upon
it, studying it, attempting to preach, as long as I'm able,
the great doctrines of this chapter wherein our Lord sets forth great
and glorious truths that are for the benefit and blessing
of His people and certainly can be used in the hands of the Holy
Spirit to bring the lost sheep unto Himself. And this is one
of the chapters that I am very, very thankful for and is one
of those high mountain peaks in my own soul. And so I invite
you to listen as I read from verse 14 down to verse 18 this
morning. I am the good shepherd, the Lord
Jesus here speaking, and know my sheep and am knowing of mine. Now you listen carefully to the
reading of God's word. 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, 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, and I have
power to lay it down, and I have power or authority to take it
again. This commandment have I received
of my Father. I hope this morning to have your
ears to listen to what we have to say about these verses and
I do trust and I do pray that God will be pleased to establish
in each one of our hearts these truths and that we'll never let
them go. It is very common in our day
and time to hear conservative fundamental preachers say, I
don't make that an issue. I don't make that an issue. Now
they don't want to offend anybody nor get anyone upset, so they
do not make an issue over the doctrines of God's sovereign
free grace. They do not make an issue of
it. We believe here in this church in the doctrines of grace, in
what is commonly known as Old Calvinism. We believe in election,
the doctrine of eternal election, and eternal redemption, effectual
redemption, irresistible grace, and the perseverance of the saints.
We believe these doctrines in this church and we preach them. You ask, what on earth do these
preachers, these fundamentalist preachers, what do they make
an issue out of? What is it that they make an
issue out of? Well, I think they make an issue
out of human morality. but certainly not the righteousness
of God in our Lord Jesus Christ. They make an issue of man's free
will. You'll hear them bragging about
the fact that man's a free moral agent and that he has a free
will, but they will not make an issue out of the fact of God's
sovereign purpose, that God is a God of purpose. And one of
the things, when you read the Bible, you must always keep in
mind that the God of the Bible is indeed a God of purpose. They make an issue of Christ's
second coming, but say very little about his substitutionary work,
his substitutionary atonement. I believe that they're answering
questions that nobody is asking in our day. This seems to be
very prevalent in the religious world, answering questions that
nobody is asking. Beloved, there's some questions
that I'd like to hear this religious world come to the place where
they could answer. How can the God who will not
at all acquit the wicked, how can he justify a man? How can
he save a man? How can God be just and the justifier
of them that is in the Lord Jesus Christ? How can God make clean
a man that is born of a woman? How can the God of the Bible,
how can He accept a sinner that is unholy? How can He accept
a sinner that is defiled and is corrupt? How can He lift the
curse off of him whenever he's been cursed because he's continued
not in all the things that are written in the book of the law
to do them? How is it that God can save a sinner? How can He
do that? Well, we're not hearing those
particular questions being answered today by the religious world. We do not hear many of the gospel
texts that are very plain, very plain, setting forth the doctrines
of God's sovereignty, the plainness of Christ being Lord. We do not
hear those verses expounded and taught in our day. Now, I'm not
of that school. I believe it to be my responsibility
to make an issue of those truths which are plainly taught in the
Word of God. Now, in fact, the only issue
that I have is the issue of the gospel of God's free and sovereign
grace in His beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And in this
place, We will continue to declare and to defend these five blessed
truths which are fundamental and essential to the gospel.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon said in his day that the gospel could
not be preached apart from preaching what men call old Calvinism. And I agree with him 100%. Now
I know that there was no authority in John Calvin other than what
the Spirit of God put in him. enabling him to teach and to
preach as he does other men. But I know that the truths that
he expounded, the truths that he systemized, were in the Bible. They're taught in the Scriptures
by our Lord Jesus and also taught by the writers of Scripture as
they spelled out God's revelation as they gave it unto the Lord's
living family. Total depravity, unconditional
election, limited atonement, limited not in its power, but
limited in its purpose. Irresistible grace that God has
a people and he will call them effectually out of sin unto himself. And once He has saved those people,
they will persevere, they will continue in the grace of God,
because they're shut up, not to their hold on Christ, but
to Christ's hold on them. And none can pluck them out of
His hand. We believe these old doctrines,
and they're plainly spelled out here in these verses that are
before us today. Now these things we know are
offensive to the natural man. They're offensive, very offensive
to the natural man. And seeing that most religionists
are not born again, seeing that most religionists are still in
their sin and lost, then, of course, these doctrines are offensive
unto them. They run in opposition to the
tide of the modern age. They run in opposition to the
tide of modern religion. You've got to lay aside your
ambitions to be a great preacher if you're going to preach these
doctrines. Another thing, you must lay aside your reputation
If all men are going to speak well of you, you cannot touch
these doctrines. You cannot preach them. You cannot
expound upon them, because men will brand you as a heretic,
just like they did our Lord Jesus Christ. There was a division,
therefore, again among the Jews for these sayings. The Jews.
There was a division among... Many of them said, He hath a
devil, and is mad. Well, what do they say about
a grace preacher? Well, he hath a devil, he is
mad. He's mad, and I've been told,
and I've had people listen to me. Now, I want you to understand
that I do speak quite rapidly, and I do try to speak with urgency. I think that any man that preaches
the gospel ought to be fervent in their presentation of the
Word of God. If they don't believe it, then let them sit down. But
if a man believes it, then he ought to speak with some degree
of fervency. But I'm far from being angry
and I'm far from being mad. I want you to understand that.
And I've had some people listen to me and they go out and they
say, that preacher's mad. I've had people listen to me
on tape and say, he's mad. That man is mad. Well, I'm not
mad at all. I'm not. That's just my way.
And some of you have been around me for years, you know that's
just my way. That's the way that I am. That's
the way that I believe that God gifted me and called me to preach
the Word. And I've had people hear me preach
and go out and say, well, I'm just glad that most people know
that that's not the way to preach. That most people know it's not.
But beloved, this is the way that God has enabled me to preach,
and I don't want you to be offended, but I will declare the truth
in the way that God has revealed it unto me. These truths are the basic, I
think, comfort of our souls. And we need these truths. We
need to expound upon them. And they that love the grace
of God, they love to hear these things preached. They give honor
to our Lord and to our God. And we want to glorify God. That's
the first reason. And you get it straight, brother.
You get it straight. The first reason why a man is
to preach is to glorify God. That we need to understand. It's
not in order to edify or educate the Lord's people. It's to honor
and glorify God. It's to lift up Christ. It's
to acknowledge the truth as it is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And wherever that puts me, wherever it puts you, the Lord be preached
up and man be preached down. That's exactly the order. Now,
others may choose to water down these truths and ignore them
and be silent about them, but beloved, I cannot. The Spirit
of God has burned these truths into my heart, into my soul.
And when it comes to the gospel of Christ and these truths of
the gospel, we will indeed always make it an issue. We will always
make it an issue. Now, I want to talk about the
text a little bit. We never want to set one scripture
in the Bible above another scripture because all scripture is given
by inspiration of God and is profitable in whatever way that
God purposes to bless it and to use it. But there are some
chapters in the Word of God that, like a mountain range, the peaks
are just a little bit higher, I referred to that earlier, and
just happens to meet my particular need. and I believe the needs
of the Lord's people. Now John chapter 3, John chapter
6, John chapter 10, the chapter we're in today, John chapter
17, Ephesians chapter 2, Romans chapter 8 and 9 and 10 and 11,
these are some of these chapters that just seem to like a mountain
range, the peaks of these are just a little higher and they
meet the needs of God's people. Now, in these five verses that
I've read to you this morning, the gospel which is revealed
is, number one, in direct conflict with the teaching of the present-day
religion, and they will not have it. You will not be invited back. I've heard stories of many people
who began to talk just a little bit in the congregation where
they were attending about these gospel truths, and it wasn't
long before they got the cold shoulder. It wasn't long before
they got the message that they were not welcome there, and it
would be better if they took what they believe and went on
somewhere else with it. Now I know that present-day religion
will not accept these truths that are taught here in these
five verses. These five verses here that we've
read will certainly isolate you and make you appear to be quite
an unusual character in the light or in the view of the religionist
of our day. What our Lord says in these verses
is a direct contradiction of most of the religion that is
taught in this town in Great Falls, Montana. These verses
are not believed In the average church in Great Falls, in this
country, modern religion just will not have this message. They will not have it. And you're pious, I know you
are. And I know you're zealous. And I know that you wanna help
people. And I know that you wanna get
the truth out and all of that. But don't you ever be confused,
my friend. When you start handing out the
truths that are taught in these verses, you're not gonna be welcome. and you're going to be told where
that you can go and take this particular message. Number two,
the leading theologians and the seminaries, the seminary graduates,
students and writers of books, leading denominational figures,
preachers, will discuss these things that our Lord is saying
here and they will say that these are doctrines that were held
by our ancient fathers like Augustine and Luther and Bunyan and Calvin,
Gill, Spurgeon, Ryle and others and John Knox and so on. They
say these doctrines we know they were all held and preached by
these various old fathers of the faith. They will admit that
the ancient articles and the catechisms and the confessions
of faith all teach these things. They will admit that, but these
men just will not preach these things themselves. They will
not preach them. They will say, and you can argue
if you want to about whether or not they believe it or not.
But they'll say, oh, we believe that, but you can't preach it.
Now, I heard that all the way back when I was under 20 years
old, I heard that. I believe that, I believe that,
but you just can't preach that. I heard that before I was 17
years old, I heard that. That, my friend, is a lie. What you believe, you better
preach. And if a man believes it, he will preach it, if he
believes it. He dead sure will preach it. Honest men always preach what
they believe. And anybody tries to conceal
and hide the truth from you because they say, well, we believe it
and we can handle it, but you can't. You be afraid of that
individual because that individual has something, he has a motive,
he has He has some end that he's trying to serve, and it's certainly
not your soul's benefit. Honest men will always preach
what they believe. Well, number three, now I'll
bring this close to home. The gospel contained in these
verses, it contradicts what the average man on the street believes
about God, about Christ, about sin, about salvation, about eternal
life. And I'm talking about your kin,
folks, and mine. Ken folks, your relatives and
my relatives, people with whom you work, people next door that
live next door to you, people your children go to school with,
they're all religious, you know, religious as all get out, just
like they are in other places. I know your family, your relatives
are all religious, and this gospel contained in these verses contradicts
what they believe. and what these preachers believe
and preach, and when they find out that you do it, it's going
to build a wall. It's going to build a wall between
you and them. I just want you to know that.
It's going to build a wall, and that wall will never come down
it will stay there until God takes it down and opens their
blinded eyes and shows them the truth of the gospel now I've
seen that happen over and over in my own personal experience
in my own family and they say well John he's this he believes
this and of course we don't believe that and there's a wall that
goes up and it's always there and it was there I preached my
mother's funeral she was 89 years old Well, of course, when I preach,
I don't, many times, I don't just out and out, just come out
and just preach a sermon on, and certainly I didn't do that
at my own mother's funeral. I mean, I preached the gospel
at my mother's funeral, but everybody that was there could tell, I
mean, if they had any biblical knowledge, whatever, that I believed
in God's sovereignty and I believed in the doctrines of God's grace.
And I wasn't ashamed to share those things with the congregation
on that day. But immediately, and I knew the
wall was there before I ever opened my mouth, and certainly
it was evident when the service was over that some of what I
had to say was not, especially what I had to say about about
predestinating grace was not accepted by the Armenians of
my family. Now this gospel is a narrow way
and only the elect are going to find it. What we have here
is a treasure hidden afield and few know its value And those
who do sell all they have and they buy the field. Isn't that
right? They sell all they have and buy the field. This is a
mystery. And it's hid from the ages. I'm not up here blaming
you or in any way shape or form trying to cast an aspersion on
you. I'm just telling you this is
a mystery. Our Lord called it a mystery, and Paul called it
a mystery about six times when he was speaking of the gospel.
He spoke of it as being a mystery, and it is a mystery that's only
understood by revelation of the Spirit of God, not by education,
but by revelation of the Spirit. This gospel, beloved, that's
contained in these verses here, and I'll finish my preface here
just right away, is the very glory of God. the very glory
of God, oh the joy and the rejoicing, the fellowship and hope, oh the
pleasure and the privilege of seeing the glory of God in the
face of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said, blessed are your
eyes for they see, blessed are your ears for they hear. And
I say to you twice blessed are your eyes if they see and your
ears if they hear Now then back to our text here in verse 14
of john 10. The lord. Jesus says I am the
good shepherd I am the good shepherd. Now our Lord was speaking the
truth. He told the truth about Himself. Now whatever type our Lord takes
to illustrate His relationship with His people, He is always
the one and the only. The one and the only. What did
He say about the door in John 10 and 9? He says, I am the door
not a door, the door. And that needs to be understood.
Whatever type our Lord takes to illustrate His relationship
with these people, He is always the one and the only. What did He say about the bread
in John 6 and 35? He said, I am the bread. He said, I'm the bread that came
down from heaven. Have you ever got any bread from
heaven? Does any of the bread you ever
ate up, did it come from heaven? If you're saved, it did. Jesus
said, I am the bread that came down from heaven. What did he
say about the water? He said, I am the water of life. I am it. So we see that very
clearly. John 14 and six says, I'm the
way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
except by me. Whatever type he takes. He's
always the greatest and the best. I am the good shepherd. Peter
said, when the chief shepherd shall appear, then we shall appear
with him in glory. Paul talked about the great shepherd
of the sheep in Hebrews 13 and 20. And the great shepherd protects,
he provides, he shelters, and he saves His sheep. The Lord is my shepherd. That's what these people told
us this morning quoting Psalm chapter 23. The Lord is my shepherd
and I shall not want. Whatever it is my soul needs. My soul requires whatever God
demands of my soul. He provides for me in the Lord
Jesus Christ in the eternal covenant of grace. Now note, if you will,
the next line, and he says, and know my sheep. I know my sheep. Now they are mine, the Father
gave them to him. The foundation of God standeth
sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his. Jesus
says that, I know my sheep, I know my sheep. Now the sheep follow him, for
they know his voice. Stranger they'll not follow,
but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of a stranger,
but the Lord Jesus, He knows His sheep. He knows His sheep. He has a knowledge of them because
they were chosen by God the Father and give to Him in that eternal
love contract before the foundation of the world. They were known
by Him before He ever came into this world to be their representative
and substitute. They were known by the Lord Jesus. And so he said, I know my sheep.
I know them. And so when some didn't believe
on him, he said, you don't believe on me because you're not on my
sheep. No question. No questions. Clear. You're not
on my sheep. You don't believe on me. You're
not on my sheep. Now, the word of God says, when
I make up my jewels, God said, when I make up my jewels, they're
mine. They're mine. And they'll be
in my jewels. They are my jewels. I bought
them. I purchased them. Jeremiah 1
and 5, Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee, and before
thou camest forth out of the womb, I had already set you apart,
and ordained you to be a prophet unto the nations. This is God's
knowledge of His people. And God knew Jeremiah the prophet
before he was ever conceived in the womb. God knew him and
had purposed he come forth and be a prophet. And he calls them
by name. And we read that, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Andrew, Peter,
Nathanael, Zacchaeus, Abraham, Paul, whoever you want to mention
in the scriptures that were his sheep, he knew them by name.
He knew their name. And you say, well, what happens
if there are more than one John? Say there's 50 Johns, and you
know, I've studied a little bit in genealogy, my family's genealogy,
and I find back through the years there were several John Mitchells,
several of them. And somebody said, well, now
you say that he knew your name. Well, what about, was there any
of those other John Mitchells that he knew? Well, Maybe he
did. Maybe he did. And in the day
and time they lived, maybe they knew it. That the Lord had called
them and visited them with his salvation. But he does know the
names of his sheep. Romans 9, listen to this. Verse
11 through 13, For the children being not yet born, neither having
done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand not of works, But of him that calleth it was said
unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. That was before
they were ever born that God said this. Now the sheep, their
names are in the book of the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. The names were written down in
God's book before the world began. Next, and they know me, the text
says. and they know me." Now, I'm the
Good Shepherd, I know my sheep, and I'm knowing of mine. And
I am knowing of mine. Jesus said this. John 17 and
3 says, and this is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the
only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. And so this
is life eternal. We must know Him. We must know
Him, and He says, and am known of mine. John 5 and 20 says,
and we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an
understanding that we might know Him. That is true. You see, the Lord takes care
of that. I mean, when He saves you, He gives you an understanding
so that you may know. You say, well, there's a lot
of people, you know, that believe in sovereign grace that I don't
know. Well, that may be so, but I know one thing, that if you
are saved, you know the Sovereign Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ. You know Him. He's given you
an understanding that you know Him. Listen to Jeremiah. And
they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man
his brother, saying, Know the Lord. For they shall all know
Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the
Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember
their sin no more. So the question is, do you know
Him? The sheep do know Him, and they
will know Him. Now, how are they knowing? Verse
15, look at it. As the Father knoweth me, even
so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. Now, beloved, this is maybe over
our head. But as the Father knoweth me,
Jesus said, so know I the Father. Now the knowledge of God, God
knows everything, and I don't think there's anybody here in
their right mind that would dispute that. God would be less than
God if he did not know everything, and certainly the Father knows
the Son. Even so, know I, the Father Jesus,
that I have a knowledge of the Father." Now, the knowledge that
Christ had of the Father was complete, it was full, it was
a revelation that was in his soul from the very beginning
of the Father. Now, I believe what the Lord
Jesus is saying here, that those that are my sheep, those that
are given to me, those that are taught, by the Spirit of God
to me and those that wind up coming to me, that they have
in them this same Spirit of revelation and knowledge. They know me,
and they know what it is that I have done on their behalf. Next, he says, I lay down my
life for the sheep. Now, I've heard all the arguments,
pros and cons about the atonement, whether it be general, whether
it be limited. I've heard all the arguments,
backwards and forwards, but let me say this. Let me say this
clearly here. Do you want to know, really,
Do you want to look into the effectual, redeeming work of
the Lord Jesus Christ? Would you like to see the truth
as it's spelled out in the Word of God? Well, I certainly do.
Do you want to understand the covenant mercies of our God? Those sure mercies that David
talked about? Listen, let me say, do you want
to know the efficacy and the sufficiency of the death of the
Son of God? Well, certainly I do, and I believe
you do. Do you want to enter in to that
blessed body and blood of the Son of God by which we are made
to live eternally? Well, here it is in one line. Listen to it. And I lay down
my life for the sheep. The Lord Jesus said, that's what
I do, that's what I'm doing, is I'm laying down my life for
the sheep. And from the very time of His
conception in the womb of the Virgin Mary, the Lord Jesus Christ
was on this mission. He was born into the world and
He born in a manger. He was given this body that in
that body He might serve this purpose. Note, He did not say,
I lay down my life for all mankind in hope that my sheep will find
their way home. No, no, no, no. No, no. Consider
this modern notion that Christ died for and provided redemption
for all men in the light of these questions that I'm about to ask
you. Number one, would Christ die
for a people for whom he refused to pray? John 17 and verse 9,
I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine. So would the Lord Jesus die for
a people that he refused to pray for? The answer is no. Number
two, would our Lord, who is infinitely wise, shed his blood to redeem
men who were already eternally damned when he died, such as
Judas Iscariot, and the sons of Korah, and the inhabitants
of Sodom and Gomorrah, and etc. With the Lord Jesus, would he? Now he's infinitely wise. He
knows all things. And so would he die, shed his
blood to redeem a people who were already in hell? Number
three, would it be reasonable to suppose that the Lord Jesus
Christ would die for a people who are positively the objects
of God's hatred? Esau have I hated. It seems to me that any reasonable
person who would consider these questions with an open mind,
and unless your mind is open, your mind's like a parachute.
If it ain't open, it isn't any good. And so I want you to think
with an open mind here this morning and consider these things, these
questions. There are some people for whom
Christ did not die. The doctrine of the Bible is
this, the Lord Jesus Christ died in the place of His people, Isaiah
53, 8, for the transgressions of My people was He stricken. He died as a sinner's substitute,
2 Corinthians 5 and 21. He was made to be sin for us. He knew no sin, but that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. His death was an
effectual atonement for sin, fully satisfying the justice
of God for what it had against His elect and accomplishing their
redemption. Galatians 3 and 13 says Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law. What was that curse? It was that curse that came upon
us because we had not done all those things that were spelled
out in the book of the law to do them. And there was a curse
upon us and the Lord Jesus was hanged on a tree and he was made
a curse for us in order that that curse might be lifted. And
the only way the curse is ever coming off of you is for it to
be taken off through the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I make bold to say that the
sure result of our Lord's death is the eternal salvation of all
those for whom He suffered, all of those for whom He died. Else
how could He ever sleep of the travail of His soul and be satisfied? Isaiah 53 verses 9 and 11. It says, "...he shall see of
the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied by his knowledge,
or by the knowledge of him shall my righteous servant justify
many, for he shall bear their iniquity." The Lord Jesus Christ
will see the travail of his soul. So those at last that enter into
eternal glory, that make up the host of heaven, and fill all
of those mansions that our Lord has gone to prepare. All of those,
my friend, will be there because of the death of our Lord Jesus
Christ, because of the shedding of His blood, because He laid
down His life for the sheep. Now then, the only question that
remains is this, if Christ died to redeem some but not all, who
are they that are redeemed? Well, John 10 and 15 here says,
spells it out, and I lay down my life for the sheep. I lay
down my life for the sheep. Now note verse 16, where he says,
another sheep I have, which are not of this fold. He was looking
at this time at his disciples and And he says, others besides
Peter and James and John and Andrew and Nathaniel, others,
other sheep besides you Jews that have been brought into the
fold, a people out of the Gentiles, I must call for my name. Other
sheep who are not of this generation. other sheep that are yet to be
born into this world. This is what he was talking about.
He says other sheep, I have. Notice that. You see, part of
the family of God is in heaven today, this morning. Part of
the family of God is in heaven. Part of the family of God's on
earth. Part of the family of God hadn't even been born yet.
But the Lord knows them all, he knows of them all, they're
all his sheep. And he says, other sheep I have.
I have other sheep. Notice the next line. Them also
I must bring. Them also I must bring. We all have hope, we entertain
hope that our grandchildren will have children. and that the day
will come when they will bring their children to a place where
the gospel is preached and where it might be that the Spirit of
God would beget in their soul a living, a living hope. That
would be our hope, that would be our desire. But we know that
if that happens, it's because our Lord has known those sheep.
He has known them. Even like an oak tree is in an
acorn. Even this day, the Lord has people
that will come forth out of the loins of these young men. The Lord has people. He has a people. And He will
save those people. And He said, I must bring them. I must bring them. You see, he
had brought these. Anybody questions that? He brought
these. Who will bring them? Who will
bring them? Well, will we have a skillful
preacher down through the years, 25, 30 years from now? Will there
be a skillful preacher? I mean, will it be somebody whose
knife is sharp, whose axe is sharp? Is he a skilled man? When he stands in the pulpit,
will he be able to take the word of God? And will he be able to
convince people? I mean, who brought these sheep? Who brought them? Well, I'll
tell you, the Lord Jesus Christ brought them, and if there's
any other sheep ever brought, then He must bring them. And He said, He said, them I
must bring. I must bring them. So He must
needs, as the expression is, and most of you are familiar
with it, He must needs go through Samaria. He must needs do it. I must today abide at your house,
Zacchaeus. And this day has salvation come
to your house. I must, I must, I must. And know, they shall hear my
voice. Now that is very important, you hear that. They shall hear
my voice. Now, I want you to listen to
this. John 5 and 25, Verily, verily. And that always means
truly, truly. And that's said over and over
in the scriptures. And especially in the Gospel
of John. I think twenty-some times it said in the Gospel of
John, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the
dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that
hear shall live. They that hear shall live. Now this is talking about two
things. First of all it is talking about dead sinners. hearing the
voice of the Son of God. You must hear some other voice
besides the preacher's voice. You must hear the voice of the
living Christ. You must hear his voice. And
now if you're dead and you hear his voice, they shall hear my
voice and they shall follow me. They'll follow me. So you must
hear his voice in your soul that you'll follow him. And this is
also talking about the day of the resurrection. Now nobody
here wants to get rid of this verse and especially the meaning
that I'm just now giving it. No one wants to get rid of it.
Everybody would say, well preacher that's fine, that's the way I
want it. Oh I'm thankful there's going to be a voice that the
dead is going to hear one of these days in the grave. All of the bodies, the Lord's
people buried throughout the world wherever they're buried,
they will hear his voice, resurrection morning, and they'll come forth
out of the grave. They will come forth, marvel
not at this, the hour is coming when all the dead shall hear
the voice of the Son of God and shall come forth. Marvel not
at this, it'll happen. But just as sure, and I won't
tell you this, that if in this life, while a person is living,
and breathing, the breath of life. If they do not hear the
voice of the Son of God, they will never be resurrected to
the resurrection of life. Their resurrection, they'll hear
a voice, they'll hear the voice, but they will be resurrected
to the resurrection of damnation. You must hear his voice in this
life. And now I'm just telling you
what the Word of God teaches. And all those who are truly the
children of God, they hear from the Lord Jesus. They hear His
voice in their soul. And you say, well, what will
He say? Well, I believe He'll say, I am thy salvation. I believe
He'll say, I am the one who died for thee. I believe He'll say,
I'm the one who gave myself for you. I'm the one who suffered
in your place. I'm the one who answered. to
the justice of God for you. I'm the one that paid your sin
debt. I'm the one who gives from my nail-scarred hands. I give
you life. I'm the life-giving Christ. and he will reveal his sufficiency
to you show you his sufficiency and that is the voice of the
Lord Jesus scripture says that he that believeth on the Lord
Jesus that he that he's seen him we see him by faith we see
that he is the all-sufficient Savior that he he's the one that
God has sent we believe he's the Messiah and we see him as
being all that God has said that he is He's made him known to
our souls. Romans 10 and 13 says, for whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then
shall they call on him whom they've not believed? And how shall they
believe in him of whom they've not heard? And how shall they
hear without a preacher? The word of God preached. My
sheep will hear my voice. Through the preaching of the
word of God, you will hear that voice in your soul. Those wandering
goats, those foolish and rebellious goats, they won't hear, but my
sheep will hear. They will hear. There shall be
one fold and one shepherd, one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
one fold, one shepherd. John 17, 21 through 23. Now verse
17 and 18 here, and we're going to hurry on to be finished here.
I want you to listen to what John 17 here and or verse 17
and 18 in John 10 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 on myself. I have power to lay it down I
have power to take it again this commandment have I received of
my father He was delivered the Lord Jesus was by the determinant
counsel of God up to death John 18 spells that out, and I want
to say to you that you cannot kill God, nobody can kill God,
either as God or even as the God-man, unless it was given,
unless it was allowed, unless Jesus voluntarily gave himself
up to death. He was the only man, now you
listen to what I've got to say here. Jesus was the only man
who ever chose his own mother he was the only man that ever
chose the time when he would be born he was the only man who
ever chose the nation ever chose the place in which he would be
born and that place where he would lay his head the time of
his birth and the time of his death and the people for whom
he would die all determined by him by him. Now I want you to
get a picture of this sovereign Christ in his humiliation. Here he comes into this world,
chooses his own mother, chooses the time, chooses the place,
chooses the nation, the nationality, chooses it all. And he says this,
no man taketh it from me. No man taketh my life from me. I lay it down of myself. I lay it down of myself. I have
the authority from God the Father to lay it down and I have the
authority to take it again. I have the authority. He's a
sovereign. He's a sovereign. We're not dealing
with a doormat called Jesus. You can wipe your dirty feet
on any time you get ready. This is a sovereign Christ we're
talking about. A sovereign. Well, there's four
things that we've learned this morning from this text and we
want to nail them down. We don't want you to go out of
here and lose sight of these four things. We say them plainly
and clearly. We're not trying to conceal what
we've been talking about. I want you to get it. I'm just going to Identify these
four things that we've learned. Number one, the Lord Jesus Christ
has a people in the world called His sheep. He has a people in
the world, a particular people, they are called His sheep. Anytime
you find one of the Lord's people, say that fella, he's one of the,
on the higher plane. You know, higher plane than I
am, just one of the Lord's sheep, that's all he is. He's one of
the Lord's sheep. You say, that fellow, I don't
know, he barely got any evidence that he's a Christian. Well,
he's one of the Lord's sheep. Might be the meanest of the flock,
but he's one of the Lord's sheep. He's just one of the Lord's,
we're just the Lord's sheep if we're God's people. Number two,
so the Lord has a people and they're his sheep. Number two,
Christ Jesus laid down his life for his sheep. He laid it down. And I mean for you to understand
that. That's exactly what I believe, and that's what the Word of God
teaches. The limited atonement, limited in its purpose, not in
its power. God wanted to save everybody
in the world. He could have done so. The good
shepherd, number three, will affectionately save all of his
sheep. I must bring them. Those I will bring. He will effectually. You know what that word effectually
means? It means that he will accomplish that thing. Here a
while back, a few years back, they set off some charges in
the smokestack over here at the refinery. And they tried to blow
it down. The fellas that put the charges
in They were so cocksure of themselves they got on an airplane and flew
back down to Utah or Salt Lake City from where they came before
they ever set the charges off. They set the charges off and
just part of it came down. So they had to come back up and
set the charges again to blow the rest of it down. Now that
was not an effectual explosion. It didn't accomplish what they
intended for it to accomplish. But I want to tell you this.
that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd, that He will effectually
save all of His sheep. He's not going to fail. He's
not going to fail. He's not going to be discouraged.
He's going to save His sheep. Now, aren't you glad of that?
Aren't you glad of that? Well, I'm mighty glad of it,
I'll tell you that. Now, number four, this I want
you to see. Christ, our Good Shepherd, effectually
keeps And I mean he's successful in doing it. Keeps all his sheep
in his omnipotent hand of grace and will bring them all safe
to heaven. Every one of them. And if you
listen to our brothers, he read through this chapter, verses
27, 28, 29. These verses that talk about
the security of the believer. And let me close by saying this.
The singular purpose of every gospel ministry and every local
church is this, seeking the Lord's sheep. God has not placed us
here to entertain sinners on the way to hell. That's not why
we're here. Or to in any way to provide wholesome
activities for the young people or to feed the world. Build hospitals. That's not why we're here. We're
on the trail of God's sheep. He put us here and put this church
in the world, put His churches in the world to seek His sheep,
to seek His sheep. And we're on the trail of the
sheep. And we know that our labor shall
not be in vain, because all that the Father giveth me shall come
to me, and they that come to me I shall know and know I is
cast out. Years ago, I come across this,
and I'll give it to you and leave. We have listened to the preacher,
it is said. Truth by him has now been shown,
but we want a greater teacher from the everlasting throne.
Application is the work of God alone. I think that's good. And that's where I come to, you
know, after preaching a message like this, I don't know how many
of you remember 10 minutes. How many of you remember anything
about it in a week? But application is of God alone,
and if He applies it, you will remember it. You will remember
it. You may even remember it throughout
eternity. I know if He applies it, you
will remember it.