Tonight our text is found in the book of Proverbs chapter 13. If you would like to follow along. Proverbs chapter 13. I have a very interesting subject tonight. It's food. Food is the subject.

What do sheeps eat? What do goats eat? I don't know how many of you have been around goats, but I've been around goats. They eat anything. I've seen a goat eat an aluminum can. I've seen a goat eat what would be the cans you'd put beans in or something like that. You'd get it off the shelf. They eat that. How do they eat that? I have no idea. How does it not destroy their insides? I have no idea. But they do. Now a sheep's much more particular. A goat will eat thorns, a sheep will not. A sheep will eat grass, it'll eat flowers, it'll eat hay, but it will not eat things that a goat will eat. A goat will eat anything. Anything.

You and I and everyone ever born are one or the other. We're one of the other. And it was by the grace of God. If we are a sheep, it was by the grace of God alone. He's the one that chose us unto eternal life to make us his chosen people. He is elected sheep. We're one or the other. Except everyone that's been born is one or the other, except one, that was the Lord Jesus Christ, as we well know. He's the good shepherd. He says in John 10, 14, I am the good shepherd and known my sheep and am known of mine. As the father knoweth me, even so I know the father, I lay down my life for the sheep. So his elect are his sheep. They're his chosen people. He feeds his sheep. And we're talking about food. So what does he feed his sheep with? It's the bread of life, and it's the fountain of living water. It's the bread of life and the fountain of living water.

Now let's read our text here. I've titled this message, You Are What You Eat. You are what you eat. Or you could have said, you eat what you eat because of what you are. That is a little too complicated. So I just put, you are what you eat. I hope the Lord will help us tonight.

Proverbs 13 verse 19, through the end of the chapter, says, whoso despises the word shall be destroyed, but he that feareth the commandment shall be rewarded. The law of the wise is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death. Good understanding giveth favor, but the way of transgressors is hard. Every prudent man dealeth with knowledge, but a fool layeth open his folly. A wicked messenger falleth into mischief, but a faithful ambassador is health. Poverty and shame shall be to him who refuse instruction. But he that regardeth reproof shall be honored. The desire accomplished is sweet to the soul, but it is an abomination. It is abomination to fools to depart from evil. He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. Evil pursueth sinners, but the righteous good shall be repaid. A good man leaveth inheritance to his children's children, and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just. Much more is in the tailage of the poor, but there is that is destroyed for want of judgment. He that spareth his rod hateth his son, but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.

This is where our text, this is where our title came from. The righteous eateth to the satisfying of his soul, but the belly of the wicked shall want. The righteous eateth to the satisfying of his soul, but the belly of the wicked shall want.

Our gospel that we preach is a very most unpopular gospel. It's not palatable to the flesh whatsoever. The flesh does not like it. It literally abases the flesh to nothing, to nothing. And therefore, if the Lord doesn't give eyes to see and ears to hear, everyone would hate this gospel. But this gospel is the most important thing that we say. The most important thing that we do is preaching the gospel. Paul said, woe is me if I preach not the gospel. Not if I don't make you feel good, not if I don't tickle your ears, not if I don't make you wanna come back ever again, but if I don't preach the gospel, woe is me.

Why? Well, it's the only life-giving sustenance there is. It reveals the body and the blood of Christ. It reveals that the body and the blood of Christ are the only two substance whereby a sinner can be made clean, whereby a sinner can be made righteous before God, whereby that which is polluted and corrupt be made perfect and pure in the eyes of God. It's his body broken for his people. It's his blood shed for the remission of their sins. It was all in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious, I call it transaction, that's what it was. We received his righteousness, he took our sin unto himself. This is wonderful on our side, isn't it? There's no other message that you can preach that can reveal how God can save sinners, that can reveal how we can be forgiven before God. There's no other gospel besides this gospel.

Peter said, 1 Peter 5, 2, I read this for our, called worship, feed the flock of God, which is among you, taking the oversight thereof. Feed the flock of God, which is among you, taking oversight thereof. Lord calls his church, his bride, he calls his people, his sheep. And he calls his pastor, I guess they would be, some have used the term under shepherd. I don't know if that's a proper term or not, but it makes sense. So we'll use it. We are not shepherds necessarily, but we are the ones that are required and responsible for feeding the flock. So if anything, we're just the, A little boy running around with a bucket just trying to feed the sheep. You know what I mean? The Lord has to do the feeding. I can't do that. It has to be Him. It has to be Him.

So the question is, am I a sheep or a goat? Well, you are what you eat. If you eat all the corrupt, polluted things that a goat would eat, such as cans and briars and thorns and thistles, you're a goat. But if the only thing you can eat is the green grass that the Lord places his people in and drink from the still water, as it said in Psalm 23, and I was going to have his turn there, but I'm going to wait to the end and closing. We'll read Psalm 23. Now, hopefully it'll sum up everything, but what we eat, uh, determines or reveals what we are. It reveals what we are. So the first question I have is, am I satisfied with the simplicity of God's gospel? Does God's lamb satisfy the longing that I have in my heart? Does God's lamb satisfy the, does he reveal that I can be made right with God by his finished work, that he satisfied God? Am I satisfied with what God is satisfied with? Let's put it that way.

The scripture says, Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. What does that mean? I was going to, I had a lot of this typed up as what does it mean to taste of the Lord? What does it mean to, and we're going to turn here in a minute to John, but, um, he talks, he says, my body is meat indeed. And my blood is drink indeed. Now you try to explain that to somebody and they're gonna think you're talking about cannibalism. That's what these Jews that we're about to turn to, that's what they thought. Yeah, this guy's lost his mind. Thinks we're gonna eat his body and drink his blood. They thought he meant cannibalism. This is a spiritual matter, brethren. This is something that's done through the eyes of faith. When we come to this table, it's not an imaginary table, it's a real table prepared by the blood of Christ, by His own hands, with His body, and that's what we partake in.

What we're saying when we come here and we're listening, the Lord gives us faith to believe it. We are consuming, we are partaking of the life-giving sustenance of the Lord Jesus Christ that He gives to His people. This is how we feast upon him. So if that is my satisfaction, if I'm satisfied with that, and some people are not satisfied with that, it's not enough. They want other things in their life, in church perhaps. They wanna have recreational things. They wanna have, a lot of places have made church like it's a circus now, it's just a show.

Are we satisfied with the simplicity of the gospel of Christ? That's the question. Does he satisfy the longing that I have, the need that I have? Does God's lamb satiate your thirst and hunger or are you looking for something else? That's the question.

Turn with me to John chapter six. really long chapters. We're not reading all of it. 71 verses. We're going to read verse 47 through 58 and then read down a little bit farther after that.

Verse 47, to tell you what's happening right now, the Jews have come to him And he's explaining to them, you didn't eat manna in the wilderness by Moses. I am that bread that came down from heaven. He's explaining to them, they missed the whole point. Christ is the bread, Christ is the manna. That's why the manna was in the ark. It represented the Lord Jesus Christ. They don't understand that. So he says here in verse 47,

verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me at the everlasting life, I am the bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give him, the bread that I will give is my flesh." Now pay attention to that. which I will give for the life of this of the world.

The Jews then therefore, lost it, didn't they? They were like, what? I cannot, they couldn't fathom what he was saying. The Jews therefore strove among themselves saying, how can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you, except you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not as your fathers did eat manna and are dead. He that eateth this bread shall live forever, shall live forever.

And as we heard Sunday, the Lord's supper our confession the Lord has allowed us to do. We confess the body and we confess the blood of Christ as being our only hope for salvation. His death, His burial, His resurrection. We preach that our justification was based entirely upon what the Lord Jesus Christ did. That our righteousness was based upon His righteousness not ours. These are the things that these people could not understand whenever He said, I am that bread that came down from Heaven. He that eateth this bread shall never die.

So if you are sitting here and the Lord has given you faith, given you ears to hear and you're listening, as I am declaring this truth about our Lord and his gospel, you are eating. You are quite literally eating. You're at a table eating. Have you ever left the service before and you felt full? You know what I'm talking about? You ever felt full? The Lord meets with us and you're not even knowing how to be here, but you just hear a message and you feel full and you walk away and you feel, Fool, it's the best way I could, why? Because you ate it. The Lord lets you eat. He lets you eat of it. So what we do is we confess that his body and blood are all alone, all by his grace, what saved us. That's how we were saved.

Goats will not eat the body or drink the blood of Christ because they can't. This is a spiritual matter. This is not a physical matter. This is not something you do physically. This is something done completely spiritually, completely by bestowed faith. And it's something we don't quite understand, but it makes sense. It was, we think about it because sometimes we leave here full, don't we?

And look at verse 59. These things said he, the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum, therefore His disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is a hard saying, who can hear it? When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples murmured at it, He said unto them, Doth this offend you? What and if you see the Son of Man, you shall see the Son of Man ascended up where He was before? It is the Spirit that quickeneth the flesh, profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.

See, that's what we're talking about. They're not physical, they're spiritual. A lot of people, and especially in the Catholic Church, not to pick on anybody in particular, but they really believe whenever they eat that wafer and they drink that wine, they really think that it's an imputation of righteousness. They really think that, and that's not possible. It's not possible, that's blasphemy. We do it for one reason, and one reason only, and it's to confess Him, confess His body, to confess His blood. But we're doing it because of the spiritual application of it. We're looking to Him. Those elements cause us to look to Him, not the elements. We do it in remembrance of Him.

It is the spirit that quickeneth the flesh, profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not and who should betray him. And he said therefore, said I unto you that no man can come unto me except it were given unto him of my father.

You wanna know the difference between the goats and the sheep in this world? The father. Elected a people the son redeemed those people in the spirit regenerates those people. Those are the sheep of the Lord right here He's telling us except it's given of my father No man can come Unto me except it were given unto him of my father. We mean give permission given the ability We're talking about a spiritual matter. We're talking about spiritual food. All of these things have to come from God because God is a spirit and they that worship must worship in spirit and in truth.

God's elect sheep are made to see salvation is of the Lord, but the goats say everyone has an offer. of salvation. That's not true. Jesus Christ offered himself to the father one time. That's the only offering he ever made was to the father and the father was well pleased and redeemed the Lord's people back to the father.

Sometimes technology is good and sometimes it's not. Most of the place. The goats believe Jesus loves everybody. But the truth of the matter is, is he loves his people. Loved his people with an everlasting love. God doesn't have multiple kinds of love. He has everlasting love, never had a beginning, never had an end. And if God loves you, he cannot hate you. You're in Christ and he sees you as perfectly righteous. If you're not in Christ, he hates you, it's that simple. He hates me if I'm not in Christ.

The difference between goats and sheep are is the goats will not listen. to the Lord's voice. They won't listen when he calls because they can't hear his voice, but the sheep hear his voice. We're going to turn there in a second over John chapter 10, but we're made to say truth, Lord, to whatever he says. Whatever the Lord says, we say truth, Lord. That's what a sheep does. A sheep follows the shepherd. We already heard Christ said, I am the good shepherd. The Lord's people follow after him. If he tells me that upside down is the right way up and right way up is upside down, the sun's the moon and the moon's the sun, I'm going to say truth, Lord. You know all things. I don't know anything. That's the truth of it, isn't it? Now, we know he wouldn't do that, but that's what he puts on the inside of a believer, a sheep. We follow him.

A sheep has to have a shepherd. They're dumb. Not to sound mean, but they are. They'll drown theirself in rapid water. You have to give them slow, still water. And that's us. By nature, we would, there's no way we could survive without him. He's the one that's got to guide us and lead us. That's what that rod and staff does. What is that? Our comfort. Well, sometimes he grabs the hook on the end, pulls us back so we don't get to run away. Sometimes he's fending danger off. That's the picture of the shepherd fending danger off with the other one. And sometimes we don't need a whack on the head. You know what I mean? It just depends. But either way, the shepherd knows best and we follow after the shepherd. He protects us. He feeds us. He provides for us in every way that we need.

The most amazing part of this, if I could get us to understand this, the simplicity of the gospel is what we're talking about. Am I satisfied with the simplicity of the gospel? The most glorious part is the shepherd laid his life down for the sheep and gave us his body and his blood, which was the required elements for you and I to be found perfect, to be found holy, to be found good, not bad, to be found sinless and spotless before God's throne. That's glorious. That's glorious.

Now look at verse 66. From that time, many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the 12, will you also go away? Then Solomon Peter answered, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. See, there it is. Truth, Lord, I ain't going anywhere. Do you think Peter understood anything the Lord just said? I mean, really. We don't know, the Spirit's not clear on it, but I will say this, he believed who he was, because he says it right here. We believe that thou, we believe and are sure. He didn't just believe it, we're sure, we're certain that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Jesus answered them, have not I chosen you, 12, and one of you is a devil. He spake of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simeon, for he it was that should betray him, being one of the 12.

Peter says, we know and are sure thou art the Christ. That's something a sheep knows. That's something a sheep knows. You're the shepherd. We know you're the shepherd. Lord, I'm not the shepherd. You're the shepherd. I'm not the boss. You're the boss.

This eating of his body and drinking of his blood is believing everything God has said about the Lord Jesus Christ and about us and about himself. Whatever he has said, it's believing all of it, every bit of it. It's to understand that everything in this book is written of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Somebody said, well, this is a roadmap. Never heard that one? This is a roadmap to get you through life. Search the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life, but they are they which speak of me. No, this is the beautiful picture that the Lord has painted to give to his bride. It's as a gift that God gave his bride a love letter. We can see his face in here spiritually in so many aspects, so many different ways. Only a sheep can do that. It's the gift of God by grace.

This eating of his body and drinking his blood is about his salvation by grace alone. It's about his son. The Lord Jesus Christ says it's about us seeing ourselves as sinners. It's a gift of faith, brethren. Everyone else, they can eat the poison of the lie and be satisfied, they think. They think they're satisfied, but they're not.

Go back to Proverbs chapter 13. Verse 25, the righteous eateth to the satisfying of his soul, but the belly of the wicked shall want. Somebody said, this is talking about real food. No, it's not. This is talking about God's food. This is talking about the body and the blood of Christ.

The righteous eateth to the satisfying of his soul. What satisfies your longing soul? What satisfies your soul? Are you satisfied with the simplicity of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? Are you satisfied with Him getting all the glory and salvation? Are you satisfied with Him being God and you not being God? There's a time we wanted to be God. I don't wanna be God anymore. I don't have any interest. I just wanna be His, because He's the only one that satisfies. He's the only one that satisfies.

Am I satisfied with the simplicity of the gospel? Only God's elect sheep are and can be, because they're made to. Righteous eateth to satisfying of his soul. His sheep are made to be satisfied because it's the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ they're satisfied with. It's not what we do. If it was what we did, we'd always be doing it. We'd always be doing something. We could never be satisfied, could you? Not if you kept doing something and doing something.

No, we're satisfied with the Lord because of his finished work, because him enabling us to be satisfied with him. Therefore, we eat of his body and drink of his blood. And as we said to start the message, you are what you eat. You are what you eat. We're one with him, united one with him.

Second, if I'm satisfied, who made me thus? It's an interesting question, isn't it? Did I choose to become satisfied? No. A dead sinner has to be made alive before they knew that they were even dead. A dead person has no consciousness of being dead. And so it is spiritually. If I'm dead, I don't know it until he makes me alive. The Lord had to give me my sight before I knew I was blind. The Lord had to give me my feet strength to walk to him before I could walk. The Lord had to heal me of my impotency, causing me to lean on and rest in his power before I even knew I was impotent. That's what he does. He gives us his word, which is a mirror that shows us we're lepers, but oh, he shows us that he's made us whiter than snow by his own blood, by his own blood.

If I'm satisfied, it's because he's made me to be satisfied. It's because he's made me to be alive. And by his grace, he's given me sight to believe, to rest in his strength.

You know, a sheep don't rest in his strength. The rams can get a little finicky, but I'm talking about just a sheep. They just run away. The first sign of danger, coyote comes around, a wolf or something, boy, they just take off. They don't want to have none of that. All they can do is bellow and whine and bleat. And the rest of their body functions, that's all they do. I mean, that's it, that's us. That's all we can do is go around just bellowing and running away. We can't fight our fight. The Lord Jesus Christ has to do that, and he does. He's the good shepherd. He said, I will not leave you comfortless. He said, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. So even if you are in a position where you feel that the wolves are closing in around you, remember his words. I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you.

If God gave his son, made his soul an offering for sin all across the Calvary, what is he going to allow to happen in your life? You that are sheep, you that are the elect of God, what is he going to allow to happen in your life? That's not for your good and his glory. I mean, it's all going to be for his good or for your good and his glory, isn't it?

Oh, brethren, we're made to need, his sheep are made to need the body and blood of Christ more than anything else because it alone cleanses every sinful stain. It alone does. Thank God that's exactly what he has done and what he has given to his people.

Turn with me to John chapter 10. Typically, I don't read this much, but I tried to break it up as easy as I could, but this is just how it's going to be. We're going to read 6 through 19.

This parable spake Jesus unto them, but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them. Then said Jesus unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that enter, 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 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. I am the good shepherd. There it is again. The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep, but he that is in hireling and not the shepherd whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming and leaveth the sheep and fleeth. And the wolf catcheth them and scatter the sheep. The hireling fleeth because he is a hireling and careth 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 I know the father. I laid on my life for the sheep. And other sheep have I, 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. I have the power to lay it down. I have the power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my father.

There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings. And many of them said, he hath the devil and is mad. Why hear you him?

They literally got mad at him for saying that he was the good shepherd. Now, of all the things that he has said in the past, telling them, you will not believe, you cannot come to me, that you might, you will not come to me that you might have life. You're not of my sheep. He told them that, he told them that, but, and we're gonna read that in just a second, but they got mad at him saying, I'm the door to the sheepfold. I am the good shepherd.

Why did they get mad at him for that? Why did they get mad at him for that? Because he was God. And they couldn't see that he was God because they were goats. Because they were goats. They did not like those words of living water. They didn't like those words of eternal life. Isn't that what Peter just got done saying in chapter six? Thou, Lord, whom shall we go? We know and are sure that thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, Lord. And these words are life eternal and they hated them because they couldn't see because there were goats.

Look at verse 25. Jesus answered them, I told you and you believe not. They just asked him, are you the Christ? They had just asked him that. Jesus answered them, I told you and you believe not. The works that I do in my father's name, they bear witness to me, but because you believe not, because, here it is, but you believe not because you are not my sheep as I said unto you.

My sheep," and I quote this pretty often, you might recognize this part, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My father, which gave them me is greater than all. And no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand. I and my father are one.

Now what does the Jews do then? They took up stones to stone him. Look at that. They took up stones again to stone him.

Brethren, the only way, the only way that we're going to hear is if the Lord is the one that gives us the ears to hear. If we're his sheep, he will, he will. If I find myself believing it's because the Lord made me believe because he gave me his life. He gave his life for the sheep and he gave me life because of it. By his sacrifice, the father was pleased. By his blood, he purged every bit of the sin of his people on the cross of Calvary. And by his death, justice was fulfilled once and forever before his sheep.

We can see the goats plainly right here in verse 26. Again, it says, but you believe not because you're not my sheep, as I said unto you, either you're a goat or you're a sheep. These are the goats that follow hireling. A goat cannot be made a sheep and a sheep can't be made a goat. You are what you eat. You are what you eat. A goat cannot turn into a sheep and a sheep cannot turn into a goat. And the scripture tells us clearly, can the Ethiopian change the color of his skin or the leopard spots? No, we are what we are by nature. I need to be saved from myself. I need to be saved from myself. Now let's go back. Chapter 13, verse 25 of Proverbs. The righteous eateth to the satisfying of his soul, but the belly of the wicked shall want.

Last question I have. First question I had is, are you satisfied with the simplicity of the gospel? Second question was, How are you satisfied, or who made you satisfied? And the last one is, what are you eating? What are you eating? If you wanna know whether you're a sheep or a goat, ask yourself what you're eating. Are you satisfied with the hucks, the husks? You remember the prodigal son? He was down in the pig stall, he was eating the husks, or would a fane fill his belly with the husks? The scripture says, but he came to himself and remembered his father had servants that were being treated better than he was, and he said, I gotta get back to my father. Maybe he'll let me be one of his servants. I'm not worthy to be a son. It's a picture of false religion. That's what it is. And sheep can't be satisfied with husks. Goats can. Goats like husks. Are you satisfied with the husks of false religion or has God made you love his election? Love his election. If he's made you love his election, it's because he's revealed to you that that's the only way a sinner could be saved, is if he chose to save me completely.

Are you content with believing the lie about how bad our sin really is? I heard somebody say, I've cleaned up my life recently, too, man. Well, I think I know what you mean by that, but I don't think you know what you mean by that. I try to explain, we're sinners because of what we are, not because of what we do. And I said, we believe that the Lord has to do all the saving or none's going to be saved. And he told me, that's too simple. That's too simple. That's like the one time I was at the airport and I'm getting off track here, but this is interesting. I went through TSA security. They scanned my Bible and they said, sir, you got something in your bag. You take it out. We got to look at it. I took it out. They said, yeah, this is too dense of an object. And it was a Bible. They couldn't see through it. But I thought, well, there's a lot of, uh, there's a lot of ways I could use that. I mean, it is too dense. It's too many people. We can't see this. This is so precious and yet we can't see it. God has to be the one to reveal it. It is too simple. It is too simple. As a matter of fact, it's so simple. We can't believe it. God's gospel is not complicated. We just can't believe it unless he gives faith.

Are you perfectly fine? Are you perfectly fine believing that when Christ said it is finished, he meant it? Or like so many others, they said, yeah, he meant it, but there's something you have to do with it and he didn't mean it. They're calling God a liar. It's that simple. You still have something to do. Salvation is not accomplished. How do I know if I'm a goat or a sheep? Can I sit underneath a preacher that preaches that salvation's my choice, my decision? Or can I sit under a preacher that says salvation's definitely a choice, just not mine or yours? It's God's choice. It's God's choice before time ever began. Only the Lord's sheep rejoice. Not in that we were chosen and that puffs us up. but in that we rejoice because we are the chief of sinner and we see the sin that we are and cannot imagine how great the love, the mercy, and the grace of our God is, the magnitude of it, to save a wretch like me. That's why we rejoice in election. Not because I did something to deserve it, but because it's all by grace. That's what makes it so wonderful. It's not in me or you that determines it.

Do you love the fact that salvation is all of God? It's his choice. It's by his power, by his purpose, by his determinant counsel, according to his will, before time ever began. Do you love that? I love that. Do you love that he saved us before we were ever even born? Before we ever, he said, I knew you before you were formed in the womb. I knew you. I knew you. saved us before we were ever even born, and then calls us in time to let us know what? It's finished. Salvation accomplished. Completely, successfully accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ alone.

Do you love the fact that his calling us is irresistible? You can call a dead man all day long, but until he becomes alive, he can't do anything about it. He won't hear it anyways. No, he says, live, come forth. irresistibly. Lord didn't give an offer to Lazarus. Lazarus come forth. Lazarus came forth. Have you been taught of God that if he doesn't save you against your will, you won't be saved? If he doesn't save me against my will, I won't be saved. He's going to give me a new will. That's what he does. It's exactly what he does.

Do we look at our good deeds as part of our salvation, or do we see ourself getting better, or do we realize, no, oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? We don't look at our good deeds. We know that if there's any good deed that we do ever in the eyes of God, it's because our eyes are on Christ, and he sees Christ alone. That's what we believe. We don't look at our works and measure them and try to value them or put them on a balance. I heard somebody say one time that a good deed erases a bad deed. And on certain holidays, good deeds count for double. So you can do more good deeds and you'll be double getting rid of the bad deeds. That's not true. That's not true. Good deed don't erase a bad deed. A bad deed has to be judged by the judge of the earth. Sin will be judged. He will not acquit the guilty.

Are you looking at your life thinking that you're getting better, thinking that you're keeping yourself? Are you rejoicing in the fact that God has said that it is by his power alone that you are kept? Therefore, you're going to be kept all the way to glory. All the way to glory. It's his power, brethren, whereby he won't lose one sheep. Does he alone satisfy your need? Has he made a need in you? Like no other need that you ever had before. Only he can satisfy, and has he satisfied that need? If so, if you can say yes to everything I just said, you're a sheep. You're a sheep. Believe on the good shepherd, brethren. Feast on the lamb of God and be satisfied with him. Be satisfied with him alone. If you can do that, you're a sheep. Because you are what you eat.

In closing, let's go to Psalm 23. I said we would. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. We will not be in want of anything because of our good shepherd. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over. Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

You see all the words where it's the Lord doing, he maketh me, he leadeth me. See, this is his salvation, and only his sheep love it that way. Only his sheep love it that way.

Let's pray. Father, thank you that you are the good shepherd and that you laid your life down for your sheep. Cause us to enter into this for your glory. Bless it to our understanding. In Christ's name, amen.