I open your Bibles with me to
the tenth chapter of John. As I understand it, in this particular
country in these times, in Palestine, there was in each village what
they called a sheepfold. And the sheepfold was protected
by high walls. kind of like a corral, except
there were high walls around the sheepfold. And they had but
one door, one way in and out of the sheepfold. And when night
fell, to protect their sheep from beasts out in the wilderness
and from robbers, a number of shepherds would bring their flocks,
lead their flocks into the city and leave their flocks to the
door of the sheepfold, and the porter would take the sheep into
the sheepfold and close the door, and there would be several flocks
in there belonging to several different shepherds. And they'd
leave their sheep in the care of the porter while they rested,
while they slept. And then in the morning, and
everybody knew about these sheepfolds, in the morning The shepherds
would all come down to the sheepfold, walk up to the door, and the
porter would let each shepherd in to claim his own sheep. The porter would open the door
to the shepherd. He knew them. He recognized them.
He knew they were the true shepherds, and each one would come in, and
he would call his sheep by name. And these little sheep would,
he would go before them, and the sheep would follow them,
the shepherds. And they wouldn't follow a stranger,
only their own sheep would follow the shepherd. And the sheep responded
to the shepherd's voice and followed him out, and each shepherd took
out his flock. And the Lord Jesus is referring
to this sheepfold. If you look at our text in John
10, this is what our Lord's referring to. Our Lord preached heavenly truth using earthly
parables, and he uses this sheepfold. He says in verse 1 of John 10,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, to whom is he speaking? Our Lord
Jesus is speaking to someone when he refers to this sheepfold.
He said, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold,
but climbs over the wall, or comes in some other way, he's
a thief? He's a thief? But he that entereth by the door
is the shepherd. Verse 3, And to him the porter
openeth to the shepherd, the real shepherd, the true shepherd,
and the sheep hear the voice of the shepherd. And he calls
his own sheep by name and leads them out. To whom is Christ speaking?
What was the occasion? You see, every parable was addressed
to someone, and every parable was born of a certain occasion,
met a certain need, and had a certain meaning. Well, our Lord is speaking
here to the Pharisees. He's speaking to these religious
leaders, gods, and rulers of the people. And these religious
men, these Pharisees, had just excommunicated a fellow from
the Jewish community. They'd just kicked him out. Let's
read about it. Let's find out, before we get
into the parable, let's find out what was the occasion. and to whom the Lord is speaking,
and why he introduced this parable. That's so important. But let's
go back here to verse 24. Then in John chapter 9, verse
24, the chapter prior to John 10. John 9, 24. Then again, call
they the man that was blind. Now, who? The Pharisees. These
are religiously the preachers, and prophets, and Pharisees,
and Sadducees, and guides of the people. And they said unto
him, Give God the praise. We know that this man, Jesus,
is a sinner." And the blind man answered and said, whether he'd
be a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I know, one thing is
true, I was blind and now I see. Then said they to him again,
well, what did he to thee? What did he do to you? How did
he open your eyes? And the blind man that was healed
answered them, said, I've told you already, and you didn't hear. Wherefore would you hear it again?
Would you also be his disciple?" And then they got angry and they
reviled him. They said, you're his disciple.
We're Moses' disciples. We're not this man's disciples.
We know God spoke to Moses. As for this fellow Jesus, we
know not from what he is. And the man answered and said
to them, to these religious guides and leaders, now he said, here
is a marvelous thing. I think he was speaking a little
sarcastically. Here's a marvelous thing that
you, the leaders, the guides, the preachers, do not know from
whence he is, and yet he opened my eyes, and you don't even know
where he's from. Now, we know that God heareth
not sinners. But if a man be a worshipper
of God, doeth his will, him he heareth. Since the world began,
way back to Adam, Was it not heard that any man opened the
eyes of one that was born blind? That's never, never, never, never,
ever been done. And yet you don't know where
he came from. You're our leaders. You're our guides. You're our
spokesmen. You're the Sanhedrin. And yet
you don't know. You think you don't know who
he is. If this man were not of God, verse 33, he could do nothing. And they got angry. Now boy,
I tell you, they got angry. And they said, you were altogether
born in sin. Do you teach us? Do you teach
us? And they cast him out. They excommunicated
him. They kicked him out of the synagogue.
They took his religious rights away from him. They separated
him, they thought, from God. That's what they were thinking.
And Jesus heard that they'd cast him out. And so he found him,
and he said to him, this man that was born blind, whom he
had healed, Do you believe on the Son of God? And he answered
and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? Tell
me who he is that I may believe. And Jesus said unto him, Thou
hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. And
he said, Lord, I believe, and worshipped him. And then our
Lord turned to these men. Now here is where we pick up,
you see. the parable, right here. See,
the Bible wasn't written in chapters and verses. This has all been
added later to help us find things. And so, they got so angry with
this man. He rang their bell. He had their
number. He rebuked these religious leaders
and authorities and powers. And they got mad. They excommunicated
him. They said, you can't come to
the temple anymore. You can't come to the Passover
You can't come to the feast. You're out. You're gone. And our Lord found him and revealed
Himself to him, the way of life. And then the Master turned to
the Pharisees. He turned to these guides of
the people. Verse 39, and He said to them, For judgment I'm
coming to this world. You know, our Lord said, I didn't
come to bring peace. He did bring peace to those for
whom he came, but he said, I came to bring a sword, judgment also. I come to divide. The words of
Christ unite his people, but the word of God is a sharp sword
that divides also. And Christ said, I'll divide
a father and a son because of faith. Those who used to walk
together can walk together no more. That's right. Truth and grace
and life divide. Life can't walk with the dead. What fellowship does darkness
have with light? That's what he's saying. I've
come to bring light. And when light is revealed in
a man's heart, he no longer walks in or with darkness. What fellowship
does Baal, idols, have with God? And that's what our Lord's saying,
for judgment I've come into this world. I've come to divide. I've
come to give light, and that man who walks in the light, if
we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship
one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth
us from all sin. He that dwelleth in God dwelleth
in light. In God there's no darkness. And
therefore that divides that child of light from the child of darkness.
And they no longer have that point of communication and that
basis of fellowship. There's a division. What fellowship
does darkness have with light? What communion does Baal have
with God? Huh? And that's what happens.
Christ divides. He said, I've come to set a daughter-in-law
against her mother-in-law. And if any man love his mother,
father, brother, sister, husband, wife more than me, he can't be
my disciple. He's not my disciple. Because
this is not a path that a man chooses. It's a path that's thrust
upon him. A person doesn't choose to be
divided from others. It comes by revelation. It comes naturally. There's no
basis for fellowship. That's the problem. There's no
basis for fellowship. Prior to that, they were both
in darkness. They were both worshipers of
idle God. They were both without the living God. There was basis
for fellowship. They were fellows in the same
ship. But not anymore. I've come to judgment. What's
this now? That they which see not might
see. And they which see might be made
blind. What's he talking about? Christ
said, I've come into this world, now listen to me, that those
who are in the darkness of sin, of the fall of Adam, in the ignorance
of sin, in the unbelief of sin, in the darkness and corruption
of sin, and who are conscious of it, who are aware of it, that
they might see in me the glory of God. I've come that those
which see not might see. This blind man is an illustration. He was blind, and Christ gave
him sight. He was blind, he knew he was
blind. He was aware of his blindness. He wanted to see, and Christ
made him whole. And then he said this, in verse
39, and they would see. Did they really see? No, they
think they see. Those who profess to see. Those
who feel that they're wise, those who deny their blindness in the
darkness, that they might be made permanently blind, given
over to a judicial blindness and a judicial darkness. Those
who are spiritually blind. Now hear me, this is what he's
saying. The Lord said this, verse 39. And he looked right at these
men that excommunicated this man. They'd gotten angry. They'd rejected Christ's message,
Christ's person, and he looked at them and he said, I've come
into this world. No question he came to show mercy. No question
he came to save. But he said, I've also come into
this world for judgment. Judgment. I'm come that those
which see not, they don't see, they know they don't see. They're
blind and know it. They're in darkness and know
it. They were plunged into darkness by the fall of their father Adam.
They're wandering about in ignorance and blindness and darkness and
do not know God and cannot see God. They want to know God and
they want to see. Like Bartimaeus of old, the Lord
said, what do you want me to do for you? He said, Lord, that
I may see, that I may see. Christ said, I came that those
who are blind might see. And I've come that those who
see, who think they do, might be permanently blinded. Oh, we're not in darkness. We're
not in darkness. We're not sinners. We're not
blind. We see. What do you see? Well,
we see our thoughts of God, our imagination of God, our ideas
of God. We see. Then you'll be left with
that sight, which is darkness. If that light which be in you
is darkness, how great is that darkness? It's a double darkness.
It's gospel-hardened. Do you understand what he's saying? This man, this blind man, was
just a poor, blind beggar. He deserved nothing, he had nothing,
he merited nothing, and Christ came in tenderness and compassion
and grace and gave him sight and even revealed his Messiahship
to him, his grace to him, he said. And the man fell down and
worshipped him. And over here, and this was a
blind man, over here are men with their theological training, their biblical upbringing, their
moral integrity, their self-righteousness, their prayers, their religious
creeds and duties and Sabbaths and laws and all these things.
And they wouldn't be identified with that beggar. Rather, they
cast him out. He didn't belong in their circles. He didn't belong in their midst.
They didn't want any instruction from him or any word from him
or any input from him. We'll just cast you out. We don't
want anything to do with this grace business, this deadness,
death, and life, this blindness and life, this darkness and life,
this God-sovereign grace. Get out. And the Lord comes in
and said, I've come to a judgment in this. I'm going to be the
judge of this situation. I'm going to take care of this.
He said, I've come that folks like that can see and understand. And I've come that folks like
you who say we don't need light, we have it. We don't need the
opening of the eye, we have it. We don't need light, we have
it. I've come to put you like concrete,
hardened, set judicially right where you are, and leave you
there. And leave you there. The greatest judgment God can
bring on a man is to pass him by. The greatest judgment. Sinners will be saved, and self-righteous
men shall be hardened in their unbelief. Look at verse 40. And
some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and
they said, Well, are we blind? Are you saying we're blind? Are we blind? Are you saying
that these men with their credentials are blind? You're saying these
men who've made a study of religion are blind? Are you saying we
men with white hair and a history of service to our community and
of devotion to our creeds and our Sabbath days and our religious
ceremonies. We're blind? You're saying we're
blind? Is that what you're saying? And he said to them, if you were,
if you were, oh, that you were, oh, that you were, oh, that you
would say, yes, we're children, teach us. Yes, we're blind, make
us see. Yes, we're in darkness, give
us light. Yes, we're dead, give us life.
Yes, we're dumb, teach us. Yes, we need help. We don't know
God. Yes, if you were, you'd have
no sin. If you were, if you ever were,
if you ever were lost, you'd be found. If you ever were dead,
you'd be made alive. If you ever were blind, you'd
have sight. But no, you say, we see. Then you don't need me. We see. We see. We see. We see. We see. We know. We know. See what I
think. Therefore your sin remains."
And that's when he gave the parable. Verily, verily, I say unto you.
He's still talking to him. You say, are you with me? Are
you with me? That's when he gave the parable.
He said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not
by the door of the sheepfold, but clammeth up some other way
of thieves and robbers, that's what you fellows are, he said.
You Pharisees, you guides of the people, you so-called shepherds
of the people, you're thieves and robbers. You're climbing
up some other way. You were not sent of God. The
sheep are not yours. You didn't come by the door.
You're coming by some other way, by the law or by morality or
by the commandments or by the Sabbath days or by self-righteousness. You're trying to come and get
the sheep. Not through the door. What is
the door? The door is the way of obedience and blood. The door
is the way, that is, the way of life. God's standing at the
door. He's the porter. God's standing at the door. And
you're not coming God's way. You're coming some other way.
See, this sheepfold may be Judaism, may be the law, or any form of
religion whereby men and women are held in captivity. This sheepfold
may be the world. The sheep in the sheepfold, there's
no pasture in there. There's no food in there. It's
captivity. It's bondage. They're all in
there. And there's one door, and that's the door of righteousness,
and the door of atonement, and the door of blood, and the door
of ransom, and the door of redemption. And God stands at that door,
and He only lets in the true shepherd who has the true price
to whom the sheep belong. But he said, you Pharisees, you
religious leaders, you're avoiding the door, and you're climbing
up some other way. You say, we're going in to get some sheep. You
come with your Sabbath days, and come with your laws, and
come with your tithes, and come with your righteousness, and
come with all these things. Here's the door. You didn't come
that way. But verse 2, look at this. He that entereth in by
the door, he that comes to the door, he who comes to the door,
his intentions are honorable. His intentions are honoring to
God. He comes to the door. He comes in honesty and truth.
His intentions are good. He comes to the door to meet
the requirements of the porters. He doesn't slip around, because
it says, He's the shepherd of the sheep. Where did He get these sheep?
Where did the Lord Jesus get these sheep? Well, they were
assigned to Him. They were assigned to him. Look now over here at
verse 29. It said, My father gave them
me. That's where he got his sheep. My father gave them me. He said,
All that my father giveth me have come to me. They're called
his sheep. They're called his elect. They're
called his brethren. They're called his jewels. John
17, six times he prayed for those that the father gave me. Talked
about them. Not only did the father give
him the sheep, but I tell you, he bought them. In verse 11,
he said, I'm the good shepherd. I gave my life for the sheep.
Here's the sheepfold, and there's the sheep in there. Here's the
porter standing at the door. Who's going to come to the door?
Only the shepherd to whom the sheep belong. The one who bought
them. The one whom the sheep belong
to. They're his sheep. He's going
to come to the door now. If a fellow's sneaking around
some other way, he's not the shepherd. But the shepherd's
going to come, and not only are they his, assigned to him, and
he bought them, but he loves them. Look down here at verse
15. Verse fourteen, I'm the good
shepherd, I know my sheep, and have known of mine. As the Father
knoweth me, I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the
sheep. I lay down my life for the sheep. I care for them. I
love them. They're my sheep. The Lord is
my shepherd. I shall not want. He maketh me
to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth
me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake. He anointed my head with oil,
my cup runneth over me. Though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for He is with me. His
rod, His staff comfort me. He prepares a table before me
in the presence of my enemies. He is my shepherd." And look
at verse 3, "...and to him the porter openeth." Some people Say, that's John
the Baptist. But I can't buy that. That's
God the Father. That's God the Father. When the
true shepherd appears, here's the sheep, whether it's Judaism
or whether it's shut up under the law or whatever, but nevertheless,
they're in captivity. They're in bondage. They've been
kept there through the night. And the true shepherd comes to
the door. The shepherd who's the sheep are. The shepherd who
ransomed them paid the price. The shepherd to whom they belong,
he comes to the door. And the porter, the porter has
some requirements. Who are you? Are they your sheep? Did you attain them in a legal
manner? Then I'll let you in and get
your sheep. And our Lord Jesus Christ comes
there to the door, and the porter, the Heavenly Father, knows that
he is the son to whom the sheep belong. And He purchased them. Christ redeemed us from the curse
of the law being made a curse for us. God was in Christ reconciling
the world unto Himself. Christ obeyed the law and gave
to us a sufficient righteousness. By Him we have the atonement.
And when He appears there to claim His sheep, the porter opens
wide the door. Opens wide the door. And the
Lord Jesus The Lord Jesus doesn't come around some other way and
steal sheep. The Lord Jesus comes in because he's paid the price.
He's met all the requirements. The porter's glad to open the
door. The porter rejoices to open the door. The porter opens
the door because the sheep belong to him, and he belongs to them. And he says, come in and claim
your sheep. And then he says he calls them by name. Look at
verse 4, or verse 3. to him the porter openeth, and
the sheep hear his voice. And he calls his sheep. How do
the sheep hear his voice? Well, they hear his voice for
the preaching of the gospel. They hear his voice for the preaching
of the gospel. If you don't mind, hold John
10 and turn to 1 Thessalonians, chapter 1. It says here in 1 Thessalonians,
chapter 1, verse 4, Paul is writing to the church Thessalonica, and
he says in verse 4, "'Knowing, brethren, beloved, your election
of God, that God chose you and gave you to Christ, sheep, and
Christ owns you, how do you know their election, Paul?' Verse
5, "'Because our gospel came not to you in word only, but
in power, and the Holy Ghost in much assurance.' Now when
that shepherd went in through the door and called his sheep,
the other sheep heard him say something too. But they didn't
recognize his voice. The other people there, the other
animals there heard. And that's what he's saying here,
that our gospel didn't come in word only. It came in word to
everybody there. But to you it came in power and
the Holy Ghost in much assurance. That's how the gospel came to
you. And that's what he's saying here, that Christ comes even
now by the gospel and he calls his sheep. And they hear his
voice. They hear his voice, and he leads
them out. He put forth his own sheep. You
know, actually, soul winning today is really carried on on
the wrong basis. I think soul winners have the
wrong idea altogether of what God's doing. The average preacher,
soul winner, is out here trying to convince men against their
wills to come to God. And we're out here preaching
to men whom God makes willing. There's a difference. I'm not
up here this morning trying to change a goat into a sheep. I'm
hunting sheep. I'm not on television this morning
hoping that I can convince someone that they're a sinner or that
Christ is the Savior. I'm preaching the gospel to every
creature knowing in my heart that God will show his sheep
that they're sinners and show him that Christ is the Savior.
I'm looking for the sheep. We go to Mexico. I preached and
Bob preached down there several times. I wasn't trying to win some Baptists or get some folks
to get religion. We're down there with Bill O'Sullivan.
Walter and Bill, those churches, and we support the missionary,
they're hunting God's sheep. They're coming among multitudes
of people that hear with these ears and see with these eyes,
but then, once in a while, somebody hears with this heart, this ear,
and sees with this eye. And we're looking for the sheep,
really. That's right. He said, I come in and I call
my sheep by name. And he put it forth his sheep,
and he goes before them, and you know what they do? He doesn't
drag them out. That's what we're doing. We're
dragging them down the aisle. We're trying to get them right.
Come on, raise your hand. Now raise the other one. Won't you please come?
Won't you please let God have His wonderful plan? Won't you
please? Now he just goes in there, and the sheep, one named Spot. Spot! Spot! He calls them, and then he turns
and walks them up, and here they come. They're just right behind
him. He doesn't drag a one of them,
and they don't try to run back, and he runs and grabs them, so
he can't go back. I don't want to go back. There's pasture out
there. There's beautiful, quiet, smooth
water, and clover knee-deep. He's going to lead me out there,
and I'm going to run along behind him. This thing's all wrong. Now, while the choir bowed, while
the choir sang, everybody bowed their heads, no one looking around.
She don't care who's looking. She don't care who's looking.
He knows his shepherd. His shepherd came and called
him. He didn't promise him, now, if
you'll go with me, I'll give you a new car. If you'll go with
me, I'll give you a better job. If you'll go with me. No, he
just came in there and said, Mike! I said, I've been waiting
on you. I've been waiting on you. I've
been here all night. I'm tired of this place. I'm tired of this
outfit. I'm tired of this whole outfit.
I've been waiting on you. And he just turns, walks away.
And there you come. If he has to drag you, you're
not his. If he has to bribe you, you're not his. If he has to
do something to keep you, you're not his. That's right, because
it says, read on. Verse 4, And when he puts forth
his sheep, he goes before them, and they follow him. They follow
him willingly, lovingly, because they want to follow him. They
know his voice. And a stranger they will not
follow. Brother man, don't you worry
about your congregation hearing some high-pressure evangelist
These Armenians and these flesh merchants and hucksters and...
Yeah, I worry about the congregation, but not the sheep. You understand
what I'm saying? Not the sheep. They're not going
to hear them. They know the difference in the gospel and another gospel.
They're not having... I hear people say, well, he said
some good things. You don't know garbage when you see it? You're
not a sheep. Goats eat tin cans garbage. That's
right. Goats eat the garbage. You won't
find the sheep in the garbage. There ain't no garbage. Green
pastures is where they lie down. And if you don't know the difference,
you don't want to hear sheep. And somebody's got to give you
a card to get you to come to church. You don't want to hear
sheep. Somebody has to bribe you to
get you to read the Bible. You don't want to hear sheep. See,
his sheep just follow him. They just run along behind him.
That's right. They won't follow a stranger.
Verse 5 says they'll flee from him. They'll actually flee from
him. They'll actually turn away from
a stranger. They do not know his voice. All
right, let's skip over to something here, and I'll quit. Verse 23.
Now, he'd gone on to talk to these fellas. In verse 23, and
he was walking in Solomon's porch. And these fellas, here they come
again. They don't quit. They just don't quit. They're
still coming at him. They're still coming at him.
The religion is a powerful tradition. It dies hard. They're still coming
at it. And they said to him, how long are you going to keep
us in the dark, hold us in suspense? Now, if you're the Messiah, if
you're the king, son of David, for whom we're looking, we've got an earthly kingdom,
we've got some things to take care of, just tell us. If you're
the Messiah, tell us. Tell us. And he answered them
again. He said, I told you. I told you. I told you, and you didn't believe
me. The works that I do in my Father's name, they told you.
You had a lot of witnesses, a lot of reasons, but you didn't believe
because you're not of my sheep. Remember the story I gave you
a while ago? The shepherd comes in, the true shepherd, and the
porter opens to him because he's met every requirement. He's the
owner of the sheep. He's paid the ransom. They belong
to him. And the porter opened it, and
he came in, and he said, I'm here. And he called them, and
they followed him. And that bunch that stayed in
there, they didn't believe him. That's what he said, you didn't
believe me. I told you, you didn't believe me. I told you, my sheep,
watch it. I said to you, my sheep, hear
my voice, I still stand by it. I know them, and they will follow
me. And I'll give them eternal life,
and they'll never perish, and nobody's going to take them out
of my hand. My Father gave them to me, and I met every demand.
And my Father's greater than all, and no man's getting them
out of His hand. And my Father and I, the poorer than I was."
Well, it looks like they'd have rejoiced in that. But no, they
took up stone to stone Him. A sheep hears the truth, the
voice of Christ. and loves it and rejoices and
follows. The religionist, he not only fights it, hates it,
denies it, but if he could, he'd kill the shepherd. If he could,
he'd kill the shepherd. That's beautiful, isn't it? You
know who bleeds that in here? Sheep. And that's who I'm looking
for. And I got no quarrel with anybody
else's sheep. Got no quarrel, got no argument
whatsoever. Just want to be left alone. And
we'll keep telling this good news, this story. And the sheep
are going to say, I believe that. And you know what they're going
to do? They're going to follow. They're going to follow. Sheep follow the shepherd. No
matter how difficult the road. No matter how dark the cloud.
To whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of life.
They follow the shepherd. Wherever he leads, I'll go.