If you will, let us open our
Bibles this evening to John chapter 10. What I would like to do this
evening is read the first 21 verses. And as we read through
these verses, I want to give what I believe is an outline
of these verses. The first Heading, the first
part of the chapter, verses one through six, the Lord Jesus Christ
gives a parable. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth
up some other way, the same as a thief and a robber, but he
that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
To him the porter openeth, and the sheep hear his voice. And
he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when
he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the
sheep follow him, for they know his voice. And a stranger will
they not follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the
voice of strangers. This parable. this parable spake
Jesus unto them. The them that I believe that
this especially refers to, the them to whom he spoke this parable,
refers back to those that he was speaking to at the end of
chapter 9. If you notice there, in verse
40 we read, And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these
words, and said unto him, Are we blind also? Jesus said unto
them, If you were blind, you should have no sin. But now you
say, We see, therefore your sin remaineth. These words of the
parable, I believe, were spoken especially to the Pharisees.
Pharisees who were men like Nicodemus. You remember Nicodemus came to
our Lord. He was a Pharisee. And our Lord
asked him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these
things? They were teachers in Israel,
but they had not entered by the door. They were not true shepherds. They had no call, no commission
from God to be teachers. And you notice they did not understand
the parable. Look at verse 6. This parable
spake Jesus unto them, but they understood not what things they
were which he spake unto them. Then from verse 7 through verse
18, the Lord Jesus continues to teach speaking of things which
were mentioned in the parable, such as the door into the sheepfold,
the shepherd of the sheep, and thieves and robbers. As we read
through these verses, look for those things. All that ever came,
or verily, verily, verse seven, 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. I am the
good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. But he that is an 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 scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because
he is an 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 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 may take it again. No man taketh it from me, but
I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down and
I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my father. And then verses 19 through 21,
the Lord Jesus, who is the great divider of all men. We see there's a division among
the people. If you notice in verse 19, there
was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings. Many of them said, he hath a
devil and is mad. Why hear you him? Others said,
these are not the words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil
open the eyes? of the blind. And then, we won't
go on, but verse 22, there's a division. I mean, there's a
time lapse. So I see that these first 21
verses all are part of a whole. And he begins, first of all,
by declaring that the Pharisees, who were the teachers in Israel,
they were not legitimate teachers. Because they had not entered
by the door. They had no call. They had no
commission from God to be teaching. They were false teachers, false
apostles, false prophets. And they did not understand our
Lord's parable. Now I hope the Lord willing to
bring more than just this message tonight from these verses. But
tonight, I want to point out what I'm going to call three
observations. First, I want us to see, I want
us to observe these five truths that we find in the parable. Number one, in the parable there
is a porter who opens the door for the shepherd to enter. Now
the porter may represent to us God the Holy Spirit, for it is
his office work to open the hearts of men to receive the shepherd,
that is, the Lord Jesus Christ. Every man's heart, my heart,
your heart, every man's heart by nature is shut, is shut to
the Good Shepherd coming in. And if it were not for God the
Holy Spirit and mercy opening our hearts, we would never ever
invite the Lord Jesus Christ in. A porter which may represent
to us the Holy Spirit. If you look in Acts, keep your
place here, but you'll be familiar with this verse of Scripture.
In Acts chapter 16 and verses 13 and 14, the Apostle Paul in
the city of Philippi, the first convert of Europe. And on the
Sabbath day, we went out of the city by riverside. Do you mean
Paul, the great Apostle Paul, would condescend to go to a prayer
meeting of just a few women outside the city. This great, great apostle,
this great man of God, the reason he was great is because he went. everywhere and anywhere that
God opened a door for him to preach the gospel. And yes, in
this city, they hear, they learn that on the Sabbath, outside
the city, by the river, a few people gathered there to pray. And Paul, along with Luke, we
sat down and we spake unto the women which resorted thither. Aren't you glad we have verse
14? And a certain woman named Lydia,
a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira. Now, Paul's at Philippi. But you see, in the providence
of God, here's Lydia, one of his chosen, one of his sheep. And she's directed, probably
she had no idea what was going to take place. She'd gone here
on business. She was a seller of purple. Yet
she worshipped God, we know that because she was with these other
women. And the scripture says, which
worshipped God, she heard. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. She heard us, now notice, whose heart the Lord
opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken
of Paul. What do you suppose he was speaking? Do you think he was talking about
the weather? Do you think he was talking about politics? I
don't think so. I believe he was speaking, he
was of Christ, don't you? I know he was. I don't doubt
that for a minute. Just like he told those in Corinth,
for I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus
Christ and him crucified. God opened her heart, the Holy
Spirit opened her heart actually gave her a new heart. So she
attended unto the things, the gospel. She believed. In the Lord's parable, we see
there's a porter who opens a door for the shepherd to enter. What
a picture we have of the Holy Spirit opening the heart of one
of his to receive the Lord Jesus Christ. Someone maybe asked this
question, what about Revelation 3.20? The scripture there says,
Behold, and it's the Lord Jesus speaking, I stand at the door
and knock. If any man hear my voice and
open the door, I will come into him and will sup with him and
he with me. Well notice first of all, this
is spoken to the church, to individuals in the church who profess to
know Christ. But more than this, as you read
that verse of scripture, the Lord said, if any man, behold
I stand at the door and knock, if any man hear my voice and
open the door, I will come in to him. If you look back in our
parable tonight, The first thing that we read of that takes place
when the porter opens the door, what does it say? The sheep hear
his voice. The sheep hear his voice when
the porter opens the door. Historians tell us that in the
setting in which the Lord lived and in which He spoke this parable,
that the sheep knew the voice of their shepherd. And we know
for certain that Christ's sheep know His voice. They know the
voice of the Lord Jesus Christ. They know that Jesus Christ is
God, the Son of God. They hear His voice. They hear
his voice which raised them from the dead. Our Lord said, behold,
the hour cometh and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice
of the Son of Man, and they that hear shall live. Yes, the very
first thing that we read of that takes place when the porter opens
the door is that the sheep hear his voice. They hear His voice
as they are listening to a man's voice, a man like myself and
other men that God has called and put into the ministry. I
don't understand this, but I know it so, that as we preach, if
you only hear my voice, if you only hear the voice of a man,
this service, this message is not going to profit you at all,
nor any other message that you might hear. But in hearing the
voice of a man, if you hear the voice of the shepherd, you will live. My sheep, he said,
hear my voice. The third thing in this parable,
first, the porter opens the door, second, the sheep hear his voice,
third, the shepherd calls his own sheep by name. Again, the
historians tell us that in this setting, shepherds gave each
one of their sheep a name. Now in Western Europe and the
U.S., we name our dogs, and I guess we name our cats if you have
a cat. Men name their horses. Some people
name their cows. Yes. But in this culture in which
the Lord lived, These men named their sheep. Now they wouldn't
have thousands of sheep. You recognize that. But they
named their sheep. Every one of them had a name. And the Lord Jesus Christ, He
knows all His sheep. And He calls us by name. You
know the scripture says in Isaiah 45 and verse 4, I have even called
thee by thy name. I have called thee by thy name.
I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me. Long
before we knew the shepherd, the shepherd knew us, if we're
his sheep. He knew our name, and he calls
us by name. He knows our name, he knows where
we live, he knows everything about us. I've often said this
and I know it's true. He knows us better than we know
ourselves. We think we know ourselves. Peter
did too, didn't he? Look over here in Matthew chapter
26. Peter thought he knew himself. In Matthew chapter 26 and beginning
in verse 31. This is the evening before the
Lord was arrested and taken to be crucified. The Scripture said,
Then saith Jesus unto them, All you shall be offended because
of me this night. For it is written, I will smite
the shepherd. Now this, this is written. This
is written. Where is it written? It's written
in God's Word. And God's Word is going to be
fulfilled. Our Lord told His 12 apostles,
or 11 apostles at this time, I will smite the shepherd, and
the sheep of the flock shall be scattered. But after I am
risen again, I will go before you into Galilee. Peter, oh,
I know myself. I sure do. I know you cannot
be talking about me. You surely don't include me in
that group. Oh, yeah, I do. Peter answered
and said unto him, Though all shall be offended because of
thee, yet will I never be offended. What am I saying? I'm saying
that Christ knows His sheep. Knows our name. Knows where we
live. Knows everything about us. Knows
us better than we know ourselves. Jesus saith unto him, Verily
I say unto thee, that this night, Peter, before the rooster crow,
thou shalt deny me thrice. Peter said unto him, though I
should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. And notice this,
likewise also said all the disciples. Peter wasn't alone. What happened? whose word was
true, our Lord's. They all forsook him, as the
scripture said. Remember when they came to arrest
the Lord in the garden, he said, if you've come after me, let
these go. What a picture, right, of substitution. He was taken in our place. He
suffered. He died in our stead. Back in the parable. In the parable,
the shepherd leads his sheep out. Christ leads his sheep out of
trusting in their own righteousness. All men by nature, we all are
born Pharisees. in this sense. But when the shepherd
calls us by name and when he leads us out, he leads us out
of trusting in our own works, in our own righteousness, in
our own goodness. And we are brought to see that
our very righteousnesses are as filthy rags in God's sight. Paul's a prime example of this,
isn't he? As a lost sheep, he gloried in
his heritage. He could trace his lineage all
the way back to the tribe of Benjamin. He gloried in his good
works, that he was keeping the law the best he could. He thought
faultless, in fact. But when the shepherd found him,
he let him out of that. He sure did. And this is what
he said about his righteousness. I count it all but done. Refuse. He leads his sheep out. He leads
us out to be like that one English martyr who was being burned in
the fire. And as the flames were kindled,
he cried out, none but Christ, none but Christ. Christ leads
his sheep out of false religion. The sheep come to see the idolatry
and the false ways of worship, and he wants no part of it. Christ leads his sheep out into
a public confession of faith. I want to be identified with
the shepherd. I want to be identified by baptism
and by being a part of a fellowship that believe the gospel. The
fifth thing, this is the last thing in this parable, the shepherd goes before his
sheep and they follow him. Now the shepherd, who is the
good shepherd, he went before us in his obedience and in his
suffering. He was obedient to the Father's
will and suffered in so many ways. You know, in every one
of his offices, as mediator, he's prophet, he's priest, he's
king. And he was maligned and suffered in every one of those
offices. As king, he was mocked. Come
down from the cross if you be the Christ. As a prophet, he
was derided, and as a priest, he was scorned. And yet he goes
before us. And in going before us, Peter
tells us, let's look at this verse, 1 Peter 2. In going before
us, Peter tells us that he left us an example. 1 Peter chapter
2 and verse 21. For even here unto were you called,
because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example
that we should follow in his steps. Who did no sin, neither
was guile found in his mouth. Who when he was reviled, reviled
not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not, but committed himself to him that judges righteously. who his own self bare our sins
in his own body on the tree. And we being dead to sin should
live unto righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. For you were a sheep going astray,
but now are you returned unto the shepherd and bishop of your
souls. So that's my first observation.
Those five things that we see in our Lord's parable. Now, second,
I want us to observe that the Lord Jesus Christ spoke metaphorically. Metaphorically. In the parable,
He stated that there is a door into the sheepfold, and then
He declares with emphasis, verily, verily, I say unto you, verse
7, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. I say he spoke of himself metaphorically
under the emblem of a door. No one imagines that he turned
himself into a door. We've got doors out of this room,
don't we? When he said, I am the true vine,
no one imagines that he turned himself into a vine. He was speaking
metaphorically. The youngest child in our audience
tonight, the youngest child recognizes this truth. He was not saying
that he was literally a door. I make this point because there
are thieves and robbers. There are thieves and robbers.
There are thieves and robbers who teach people that when He
said, 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. There are thieves and robbers
who would tell us that those words must be taken literally. That we must, in order to be
saved, we must actually, literally eat his flesh and drink his blood. They claim to have the power
to change bread. It was kneaded, it rose, it was
baked in the oven, It was broken into pieces. It looks like bread. It smells like bread. It tastes
like bread. It is bread. And yet they tell
us they have the power to somehow magically, through their ceremony,
turn that bread into the actual body of Christ. Thieves and robbers. Pay me. Pay us, and we'll sell
masks. That's what we'll do. And your
loved one who is in purgatory, you just pay us, and we'll get
him out of there. You remember that one Roman priest
that was selling indulgences? Tetzel, I believe, was his name.
And he was right outside of Wittenberg, where Martin Luther was a priest. Remember, his selling point was,
some of you helped me with this, before the coin hits the bottom
of the box, the soul will be escaped from purgatory. You say, is that true? Yes, it's
true. You say, well, that church isn't like that anymore. That's
where you are wrong. Absolutely wrong. That church
hasn't changed in that way at all. It's still a place of thieves
and robbers. You say, you shouldn't say that,
preacher. Why shouldn't I say it? It's the truth. I'm going
to say it. You say, well, do you dislike
those people? No, I love those people. And
I pray for those people. But I say this, they're being
deceived, those people that believe that lie. It's a lie of Satan. It's out of the pit of hell. My third observation, I want
you to observe these four truths hurriedly that are pictured to
us by Christ as the door. Now in the parable, the door
is the way into the sheepfold. Number one, as the door is the
way into the sheepfold, so Christ is the door. He's not one of
the doors. He's not a door. He is the door. He is the way into heaven. He is the only way of salvation. The Apostle Peter said it like
this in Acts 4 and verse 12, neither is there salvation in
any other. For there is one God and one
mediator between God and man, the man, Christ Jesus. I am the
way, the truth, and the life, and no man cometh unto the Father
but by me. He's the door into salvation,
the door into heaven, the door into the relationship with God. Number two, as a door is appointed
by the owner and builder of the sheepfold, so Christ, he was
appointed by God. He was appointed by God as the
one and only mediator between him and men. And number three,
as a door is fitted in every way to answer the purpose of
the owner of the sheepfold, so is Christ. A door is fitted to
be so wide and so high. Maybe a 2.6 door, a 3.0 door. I mean, all these doors have
measurements. They're so high, they're so wide.
They're fitted for the purpose of the owner, for the builder
of the house. And so Christ is fitted to answer
the purpose of the owner of the house, which is God. In the wisdom
of God, Christ is fitted to answer every purpose. To be the perfect
Savior that I need, the perfect Savior that you need. To be bone of our bone, flesh
of our flesh. and yet not partake of Adam's
sin, to be the seed of the woman, to be man that he might bleed
and die and suffer and pay the penalty, and to be God as well,
that he might satisfy Almighty God. He was in the wisdom of
God purposed as the perfect door, the perfect savior that you and
I need to be our high priest who may be touched with the feeling
of our infirmity. And number four, as a door allows
entrance into the sheepfold in order to enjoy the benefits,
so Christ, he is the door. Entering into the sheepfold would
first of all have communion with the shepherd. It is through Christ that we
have communion, fellowship with God and His Son, Jesus Christ. Inside the sheepfold, there's
safety. There's safety, protection, security. There's rest, rest inside the
sheepfold. And for those of us who look
to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Good Shepherd, we find
rest, rest for our souls. I pray that God will bless this
word to all of us here this evening. And God willing, I hope to bring
another message, maybe a couple of more messages from these scriptures. Now let's sing a hymn before
we go.