Would you turn with me to John
Chapter 10? Now, this evening, we're going
to observe the Lord's table together. And we're going to look at First
Corinthians, Chapter 15, verse 10, where Paul said, I am what
I am by the grace of God. And I've entitled this evening's
message, The True Christian's Motto. That is our motto, isn't
it? I am what I am by the grace of
God. And there's two questions I'm
going to ask out of that passage of scripture. What does Paul
mean by the grace of God when he says, I am what I am by the
grace of God? And the second question I want
to ask is, Paul, what are you? He says, I am what I am. Well,
what is he? Well, whatever he is is whatever
believer Truly, that's what we're going to consider tonight. John, Chapter 10, beginning in
verse six. This parable spake Jesus unto
them. But they understood not what
things they were, which he spake unto them. Then said Jesus unto
them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the
sheep. All that ever came before me
are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he
shall be saved, and shall go in, and out, and find pasture. The thief cometh not but for
to steal, and to kill, and to destroy, I am come that they
might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. Verse 7, Then said Jesus unto
them again. I'm thankful the Lord speaks again,
aren't you? Then said Jesus unto them again,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. Everybody in here knows what
a door is. We pass through doors every day. You pass through a
door to get into this building. What would a house be without
a door? What would a room be that had
no door into it? There are many doors in this
building. Now, a door has four purposes. First, a door lets
people in. You can't get in without a door
and Christ is the door into the sheepfold. He is the door into
the kingdom of heaven. He himself is the door into heaven
and we enter by the door. A door lets people in. Secondly, a door lets people
out. He is the door to freedom. He is the door to liberty. A door lets people out. Also, a door keeps people out. A closed door and a locked door
prevents people from entering, and Christ is a closed door to
all who try to enter the Kingdom of Heaven by their works. In
any way, they will find Him to be a closed door. And a door
is also used to keep people in, to prevent them from getting
out. There are special doors in the nursery that we have that
are used to keep the little ones in a certain room so they can't
get out. Now Christ is the door that keeps
us in and won't let us out and prevents us from leaving. I don't want to leave. And if I wanted to, I couldn't.
He prevents it. Now, what a beautiful and simple
illustration of what Christ is to each one of his sheep. He
is a door of entrance or access to the Father. He is a door of
liberty, an open door. He's a closed door to all who
come some other way. And he is a door that closes
us into Christ, much like when Noah and his family entered the
ark. The scripture says the Lord shut
them in. He closed the door. And notice
he says, I am the door. He doesn't say, I am a door,
but he says, I am the door, not one of many, but the only door. How many doors were there into
the ark? One. There's one door of entrance
into the kingdom of heaven. And notice he says, I am the
door of the sheep. That's very significant. Look
at verse seven again. Then said Jesus unto them again,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. Who
are the sheep? And the reason that we must ask
that question is that not everybody is a sheep. So I want to know
if I'm one of them. I want to know if I fit the bill
if I'm a sheep, because he says he's the door of the sheep. He's
not the door of goats. He's not the door of those who
will not believe. He's the door of the sheep. Well,
who are these sheep? Well, they're the people Christ
died for. Look what he says in verse 15. As the Father knoweth
me, even so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the
sheep. The sheep are those that the
Lord Jesus Christ died for, who He represented, who He died for. They're the elect of God. Look
in verse 24. Then came the Jews round about
him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If
thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you,
and you believed not. The works that I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness of me, but you believe not, because
you are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. Now how much clearer
can words be? He doesn't say, you're not my sheep because you
don't believe. He says, you don't believe because
you're not of my sheep. Now, he goes on to describe who
these sheep are. Let's go on reading. Verse 26,
but you believe not because you're not of my sheep, as I said unto
you, my sheep. Those who he calls his sheep,
what do they do? They hear my voice. And I know
them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life. And they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which
gave them me, is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck
them out of my Father's hand. So the sheep are the elect of
God. Now he is the door of the sheep. Now let's go on reading verse
8. John chapter 10 verse 8. All
that ever came before me are thieves and robbers. But the
sheep did not hear them. Now what do you mean when he
says all that ever came before me? are thieves and robbers. Does he mean that Moses was a
thief and robber? Moses came before Christ in time,
as far as that goes. Does he mean David or Isaiah
or Jeremiah or Malachi? You mean the Old Testament prophets
or thieves and robbers? Well, you know he doesn't mean that.
What does he mean? May God give us grace to see
exactly what he means All that ever came before me
as an inference. Listen real carefully. He's not
talking so much about individuals right now, although false prophets
would certainly be included. But all that ever came before
me as an inference. Are thieves and robbers. Here's what it means to come
before Christ as a thief and a robber. Before you can come
through this door, you must first do something in order to make
it to where you can come through this door. You have to believe
first, repent first. You have to make a decision to
believe before you can enter this door. You need to be baptized
first before you can enter this door. You need to join the church
before you can enter this door. You need to blank Fill in the
blank. You need to blank before you
can enter in this door. There's something you must do
in order to qualify you to enter into this door. You've got to
come up with the goods. There's something you must do. And when you do that, then you're
qualified to enter the door. Now anybody who comes, anything
who comes before Him is a thief. and a robber. It's deception
and it's destructive. Anything, anybody that comes
before Him is a thief and a robber. You see, Christ must come first
in everything. Nothing comes before Him. Nothing
begins with man. It just doesn't happen. Now,
you take every doctrine of the Scriptures. You talk about election,
for instance. We talk about election. God didn't pick me out and then
give me to His Son. I was viewed in Him. Christ comes
first. It's not, well, I'm going to
pick Him out and give Him to Christ. No, I've always been united to
the Lord Jesus Christ in the mind and purpose of God. Christ
comes first. In the forgiveness of sins, Christ
comes first. He doesn't forgive me because
I ask Him to, although I do. He doesn't forgive me because
I believe, although I do. He doesn't forgive me because
I repent, though I do. He forgives me for Christ's sake.
Be ye kind. Ephesians 4.32. Tenderhearted,
forgiving one another even as God, for Christ's sake, I have
forgiven you. I can stick my teeth in that. For Christ's sake. In the new
birth, nothing comes before Christ. I'm not born again because I
believe. I'm born again because Christ
gave me life. It begins with Him. In faith and repentance,
nothing comes before Christ. You see, He gave me the faith.
The faith didn't begin with me. It began with Him. He's called
the Author and the Finisher of our faith. Nothing comes before
the Lord Jesus Christ. In perseverance, I persevere.
But I persevere because He enables me to. In holiness, nothing comes
before Christ. You don't do anything to become
holy. He makes you holy. Nothing comes before Him. And
He says, all that ever came before Me are what? Thieves and robbers. Nothing comes before Christ. But what does it say in verse
7? Then said Jesus unto them, Verily I say unto you, I am the
door of the sheep. All that ever came before me
are thieves and robbers. But the sheep did not hear them. Now, I know this. And this is
my assurance in preaching the gospel. I look at this group
and I think I can't make anybody believe. I can't keep anybody
from believing. I can't make anybody believe.
I can't keep anybody from believing error. I can't do a thing. I
don't have any control in this thing. Not a bit. I can't do anything
for you. You can't do anything for me.
But the sheep, here's our assurance, Christ's sheep, that great shepherd,
he watches over his sheep. And the sheep will not hear the
voice of a stranger. They will not hear a false gospel. Look what it says in verse 5.
of John chapter 10. We looked at this last week.
A stranger will they not follow? But they will flee from him,
for they know not the voice of strangers. They're just not going
to follow a false message. Listen to the words of our Lord
in Matthew chapter 24, verses 23 and 24. He says, For there
shall arise false Christs and false prophets and shall show
great signs and wonders, insomuch that if it were possible If it
were possible, they would deceive the very elect. But here's the
catch. Is it possible? Absolutely not. He said, my sheep
hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal
life. Now back to John chapter 10 verse
9. He repeats himself again, he said, I'm the door of the
sheep, and now he says in verse nine, I am the door. I am the
door by me, if any man enter in, he should be saved and should
go in and out and find pasture. Now, this is one of the seven
I am's of Christ in the book of John. He said, I am the light
of the world. I am the good shepherd. I am
the resurrection. I love that with the resurrection,
we all are raised from the dead at the end. Well, he said, I
am the resurrection. He said, I am the way. I am the
truth. I am the life, and here he says,
I am the door. Now, here's a precious word,
I am the door by me, if any man enter in. He shall be saved. You know, I'm thankful it doesn't
say here, by me if the sheep enter in. It doesn't say that,
does it? It says by me if any man enter in. I don't care who
they are. It doesn't say by me those who
believe enter in. It doesn't say that at all. There's
no qualification given here. It just says by me if any man
Enter in. Now while God never intended
to save everybody, He does save any man. Any man who'll come. While Christ didn't die for everybody,
He died for anybody. Anybody who'll come. And beloved,
I'm an anybody. I'm one of them. I can put myself
in that group. It's very similar to what our Lord says when He
says, whosoever. shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved." Whosoever. I'm one of them. I'm a whosoever. And I'm an anyman. I'm an anyman. I can get myself into that group.
Thank God for that. I'm thankful for this. By me, if any man enter in, he
shall be saved. Anybody who enters by the door,
any man, good or bad, smart or dumb, rich or poor, black or
white, no distinctions. Any man. Any man. Now, that ought to encourage
everybody here. I'm worried I'm not one of the
elect. Don't even worry about that. If you call upon the name
of the Lord, you will be saved. If you come to Christ, you will
be saved. That's a promise from the Word
of God. You see, these glorious doctrines of election and predestination
and Christ's atonement for His elect, they don't keep people
away. Anybody who wants to can come. Do you want to be saved
by the grace of God? This is for you. Don't use this
as an excuse to stay away. No, this is a reason to come.
By me, if any man, any man, enters the door, he'll be saved. Now, this door, in one respect, it's a very small
door, in one respect. The Lord said, straight is the
gate, and narrow is the way that leads to life, and few there
be that find it. And this door is so small that
if you try to carry anything in with you, you can't get through. You won't make it. You hold on
to one thing of your own, you won't get through the door. That's
how small the door is. But you know, the door is also
in a very real, just a real sense, it's the biggest door there is.
I don't care how The biggest sinner you are, you can come
through this door. Now, you can't be too small to
enter a door, can you? You can be too big, holding on
to too much stuff. But you can't be too small to
enter into this door. By me, if any man enter in, he
shall be saved. Now, notice this. This is what
has hit me about this passage of Scripture more than anything
else. He says, by me. By me, if any man enter in, he
shall be saved. By me. He doesn't say beside
me. He doesn't say come on in beside me. He doesn't say come
behind me. He says by me, if any man enter in, he shall be
saved. Now, how do you enter in by him?
Well, this is the illustration that came to my mind. When a
woman is with child, That child is in her. And that child is completely
dependent upon her for all things. You want to talk about dependence.
That child can't even breathe. Everything is dependent upon
being in that woman and drawing her nourishment or the child's
nourishment from that woman. Now, when a woman with child
enters that door. She comes in and enters the door.
You know who else enters? That child. And truly, that child
enters by her. Not beside her, not behind her,
but by her. And that's exactly what Paul
meant when he said, oh, that I may win Christ and be found
in Him. When He enters, I enter. He is the door, I enter by Him. And I just read that passage
of Scripture to open up this service. Wherefore, He is able
to save them to the uttermost that come to God, how? By Him. Now, here's what I'm... I'm not... Lord, let me enter by Him. That's what I'm saying. Lord,
let me enter by Him. I don't want to come in on my own. I
don't want to come beside Him. I don't want to come behind Him.
I want to come by Him. Oh, that I may win Christ and
be found in Him. That's the only place I want
to be found. So wherever He is, that's where I'm at. I'm in the
Lord Jesus Christ, united to Him by faith. And that's how
I come. I come by Him. I don't come saying, look, I'm
only pleading Him. Although He is who I plead. But I don't come
saying, look, I'm only pleading Him. Therefore, you've got to
save me. No, I don't say that at all. Lord, let me come by
Him. And I come by Him. I come by Him. I come no other
way but by Him. By me, if any man Enter in. By me. Here's a you know. This stuff's
hard to explain. I can't explain it. Only the
Lord can teach us. Lord didn't say. I'll show you the way. He said
I am the way. If you're in me, you're there.
He didn't say, I'll teach you the truth. He said, I am the
truth. He didn't even say, I'll give
you life. He said, I am the life. He is my life before God. By me, by me, if any man enter
in, he shall be saved. Now notice, he says, by me, if
any man enter in. Not simply know all the facts
about the door. Somebody says, well, I know what that door is
made of. I know its composition. I can tell you all about that
door. Well, do you enter in the door? It won't do you any good
to just know what the door is made of. I know all kinds of
accurate doctrine. Well, congratulations, but that
won't do you any good. You must enter in by the door. You must
enter in. It's not even a guardian of the
door, somebody who's going to protect the door against robbers
and thieves and they know it. No, it's entering in. By me, if any man enter in. He shall be saved. I must enter in by this door
or I will not be saved. What do you do when you enter
in? Well, you go in. You go in. And I'm doing that
right. I'm going in. A plane. I believe the plane
can fly and I believe I can't fly. I thoroughly believe that I cannot
fly. And I thoroughly believe that plane can. And I prove I
believe it when I enter in and I set down. And I trust that
plane to get me to the desired destination. And I don't try
to help it out. When it starts, I don't start
flapping my wings. No, I just sit there. I trust
the plane to get me to that destination. And that's what a believer does.
He enters by the door and he trusts the Lord Jesus Christ
to bring me into the very presence of the Father simply being in
Him. Now, there are three great blessings
He speaks of those who enter in. Look in verse 9. I am the
door. By me. By me. And I tell you what, I
can hold on to this. I'm entering in by Him. No other
way. By Him, if any man enter in,
three blessings He speaks of. He shall be saved. Blessing number one. He shall
be saved. Blessing number two. He shall
go in and out. That's the blessing of liberty
and freedom. He'll go in and out. And thirdly,
he'll find pasture. Now, first, they'll be saved. By me, if any man enter in, he'll
be saved. Well, saved from what? I know
I say this all the time, but maybe somebody will hear this
for the first time. Wouldn't that be a blessing? If you're saved,
you know what you're saved from? Someone says, well, I'm saved
from hell. Well, yeah, that's a good point. I don't want to go to
hell. I, matter of fact, I think that when somebody first comes
to Christ, here's the first reason for coming. I don't want to go
to hell. I don't want to go to hell. I want to be saved from
that awful place. But you know what I need to be
saved from? Myself. My sin. My sin. That's my big problem. My sin. My sin's ever before me. Matthew
chapter 1, verse 21 says, Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for
He shall save His people from their sin. Do you find that attractive? To be saved from your sin? That's who I... My biggest problem
is me. I really believe that. I am the
problem. And I need to be saved from my
sin. Now, if I go in by the Lord Jesus
Christ, by the only door into the Kingdom of Heaven, He says
He should be saved from His sin. I'm saved, first of all, from
the penalty of my sin. I'm never, thank God, I'm never
going to have to give an account for my sin. I'm safe from the
penalty of sin. What that means is I'm justified.
If I'm justified, that means I'm not guilty. There's nothing to condemn me
for. I'm justified before God. Now that's saved, isn't it? Justified
before God. I'm safe from the penalty of
sin. It kills me the way these people, religious people, believe
that believers will be judged. on judgment day and they'll be
given a position in heaven according to their personal obedience or
their lack of sin and all that kind of stuff. That is the biggest
bunch of foolishness. There's just no truth to that.
I'm saved from the penalty. Well, you won't mind it if your
sins are brought up on judgment. Yeah, I will. I assure you I
will. But thank God I've been saved
from the penalty of my sin. There's no condemnation of infidelity
in Christ Jesus. Isn't that wonderful? Safe from
the penalty of sin? I'm safe from the power of sin. Sin shall not have dominion over
you, for you're not under the law, but you're under grace. I can remember when I could not
believe. I didn't even know what it meant.
I'd hear, but I couldn't understand. I can remember when I could not
repent. I didn't even know what it meant.
I'd hear the words with the preacher, but I didn't understand it. I
was under the complete dominion of sin. I had no light, no understanding,
but I've been saved from the dominion of sin. I believe now. I repent. I love the Lord Jesus
Christ. I've been saved from the dominion
of sin. And one of these days I'm actually
going to be saved from the very presence of sin. That's called
glorification. Turn to Romans chapter 8 for
a moment. We see all three of these in this verse of Scripture. Verse 29, For whom he did foreknow,
He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His
Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover,
whom He did predestinate, then He also called. Now that is salvation from the
power of sin. When God calls somebody, they
respond. He never calls anybody in vain.
Thy people shall be willing. in the day of thy power. When
he calls, you respond. Whom he called, them he also
justified. That is salvation from the penalty
of sin. Thank God for that. I'm just
before God. Justification is more sweet to
me than it's ever been. To be not guilty before God,
to have no sin before Whom he called them he justified, and
whom he justified them he also glorified." There's salvation
from the very presence of sin. That every believer, we believe
we have it now by faith. And one of these days we're going
to experience it in its reality. Back to John 10. By me, if any
man enter in, he shall be saved, and he shall go in and out. That's freedom. That's freedom. He shall go in and out." The
freedom of knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, there's two things
involved in freedom. The first thing that's involved
in freedom is being debt free. Now, if you have any debt, if
you owe any money, you know how heavy that weighs on you. To
be free is to be without debt. I'm without debt. I'm truly free. I don't owe anything. I'm so
free. I'm footloose and fancy free.
Free in the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't owe anything. And to
be free, you get to do what you want to do. You're not doing
what you have to do. You're afraid not to do. You're
doing what you want to do. And God is my witness. My want to is to serve the Lord
Jesus Christ. My want to is to walk as He walked. My want to is to be exactly like
Him. That's what I want. That's what
I want. And I want to be here. I want
to be here. This is a blessing to me. You
know, most people's religion is a very unhappy thing. It's
people not getting to do what they really want to do. and doing
what they really don't want to do. It's a very unhappy thing. But to that one who's entered
by the door, he's doing what he wants to do. He goes in and
out. There's a true freedom. The freedom
of grace. Stand fast in the liberty wherewith
Christ has made us free. And don't you be entangled in
that yoke of bondage. You know, a religious person
that doesn't know the Lord is scared to death of freedom. They're afraid of what it will
lead to. And they ought to be scared of it because they don't
have this new nature that a believer has. They don't have the same
want to that a believer has. But to a believer, oh, freedom. Freedom is walking with the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's true freedom, isn't it?
Knowing Him. So he says he shall be saved,
he shall go in and out, And He'll find pasture. He'll find nourishment. Don't you find the Gospel to
be nourishing to your soul? What food there is in the Gospel. Now it says in verse 10, the
thief. Who's that thief? He's anybody
or anything that comes before Christ. That's not just talking
about a person, although it's included a false gospel, a false
doctrine, a false prophet. But the thief has one motive.
Now, understand this about error. The one motive is to steal, to
rob God of his glory, to kill and to destroy. There's no good
motive in false doctrine. That's why false doctrine is
so evil. Behind it, there is the desire to steal. to kill
and to destroy. False doctrine is an infinite
evil. Anything that comes before Christ
is a thief and a robber. And if it's a man who brings
this message, if it's some doctrine you believe, anything that comes
before Christ is a thief and a robber. And here's the thief
and robber's reason for coming. The thief cometh not but for
to steal and to kill and to destroy. But our Lord says, I am come. that they might have life and
that they might have it more abundantly. I am come that they
might have life. You see, they were dead. They were dead in trespasses
and sins. Graveyard dead. Stinking dead. Unable to come to Christ. Unable to see any beauty in Him. Unable to believe the gospel.
They were dead. But I've come that they might
have life. Life. The life of God in their
soul. Life before His holy law. Live! What life there is in simply
knowing and seeing the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ. I've
come that they might have life. And that they might have it more
abundantly. You know, the wealthiest man
alive is a pauper in comparison to the believer. You take the
Wall family, Bill Gates, those are the richest people I can
think of. What do they have in comparison
to me? Well, they're paupers. Now, I'm
not saying... Maybe they're believers. If they're
believers, they've got everything I have. I'm not trying to judge whether
or not these people know the Lord. I don't know. But I'm talking
about a rich man in comparison to a believer. You know the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ. That though He was rich, yet
for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty,
the poverty He experienced on the cross, might be rich. Now, I'm a joiner with Christ.
How rich is that? I have the very righteousness
of God. I have Christ in me. I have God the Holy Spirit in
me. I've got the very life of God
in my soul. I've got the promise of Romans
8, 28 that everything is working together for my good and God's
glory. I'm a saint. Saint Todd. Saint Todd. I like the way that
sounds. You know what saint means? Holy
one. Every believer is a saint. A holy one. I have fellowship with the Lord
Jesus Christ. I have fellowship with God. You
want to talk about rich. Paul said, all things are yours. And you are Christ's. And Christ
is God's. I can say this to every believer. Would you trade what you have
in Christ Jesus for all that this world has to offer? You
wouldn't do it, would you? Not only would you not do it,
you wouldn't even consider it. It's not like you'd think, well,
let me see. No, no, no. Rich in the Lord Jesus Christ,
I am come that they might have life and that they might have
it more abundantly. I have it abundantly now in Christ. I do. But one of these days I'm
going to have it even more abundantly than that. How's that? Well,
you know, the Lord said, When you enter life. When you enter life. He's talking
about when you die. When you enter life. This. This is not life. Not like that
life will be. I am come that they might have
life and that they might have it more abundantly. I'm thankful for that. Now, remember, by me, our Lord
said, if any man enter, he'll be saved. Enter the door. You are commanded right now to
enter the door. and to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's God's command to you.
And if God commands it, better obey it. Let's pray.