Okay, this morning I would like you to turn to John chapter 10. And as we look there today, let me have a word of prayer as we continue today. Let us pray. Father, we do thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we do ask you, Lord, that you would impress upon our heart and our mind before our eyes Help us to see again that Jesus is the only way and there is no other way. And Lord, help us to stand on, in our day, the exclusivity of the gospel. We know, Lord, it's not popular. We know, Lord, the way is narrow. But Lord, we know that this is the truth. And I pray, Lord, that you would use every one of us to be able to proclaim that truth to others. And those who don't know you yet, they would come to know you. And they would walk through the door that is Christ himself. And I pray this in your name. Amen. I'd like to just, this morning, just lay out before you The gospel, in a sense, the centrality of the gospel is Jesus Christ himself. And since the Apollo space program began and our country started sending manned capsules into space, one of the most difficult parts of each mission was the reentry process. The reason for the difficulty was the spacecraft, with its crew, had only one door of opportunity to enter the Earth's atmosphere. The pilot had to make sure that he was approaching the door, that window, at just the right speed, at just the right angle. If not, they would burn up, bounce off the Earth, and wander into space with no way to return forever. And likewise, for all those who will enter the kingdom of God, all those who will enter the true church of Jesus Christ, they have one door to enter through, just one. And if I were to ask you this Lord's Day morning, are you part of Christ's body? Are you a member of Christ's church? How would you answer that question, those questions? Maybe with an emphatic yes, or maybe with a reluctant no, or maybe you're not sure how to answer that question. If you said yes, then what was that assurance that you have? What was the fact that gained you entry to become a member of Christ's true church? And what I'm asking is, did you enter through the one and only entry point that the Bible teaches us? If you didn't, if you didn't, or if you didn't yet, you're not yet part of Christ's church. The church that he purchased with his own blood, Jesus in John chapter 10 gives a parable about the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd stands in the only entryway to the sheepfold. If you want to enter the sheepfold, you must come through that shepherd. Now, that means there is only one entry point into Christ's church. Only one. And if you look at your Bibles this morning in John chapter 10, notice in verse number 7 through verse number 11. Let me read that and also the fuller passage that was read this morning. It says, so Jesus, verse 7, said to them, truly I say to you, I am the door. I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers. But the sheep did not hear them. Verse 9, I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. And verse 11, I am the good shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Now Jesus referred to robbers and thieves as being those who were the leadership of Israel. The scribes and the Pharisees were not the true shepherds. The people didn't listen to them. They did not point to the only way. So they were thieves and robbers. They pointed to the law. They pointed to the tradition of men. They rejected the prophets that were sent by God, and then they ultimately will reject the Messiah. And the reason why is because they point it to the wrong way. The wrong way. to God's true church. And as we read further on in John, we notice that Jesus says, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life, I am the bread, I am the light, and I am the door. So there's only one entry point into Christ's true church. But secondly, I want you to think about this this morning, that there are many presumed entry points into Christ's church that are very much alive and well today out there. So I'd like you to consider the presumed entry points some still try to use in order to enter Christ's true church. And the first presumed entry point some rest upon for entryway into Christ's church is that there are those who believe they have gained a mission into the church because they were simply baptized. Some have been sprinkled, some have been poured water on them, some dipped, some others immersed, some were infants, some children, others were adults. But the truth of the matter is, according to scripture, it doesn't matter They were sprinkled, poured, or dipped, or immersed. If they never come to Christ by true faith, they are nothing better than baptized heathens and they are still in their sin. You are not saved in baptism as the Roman Catholic Church espouses. The door is not baptism, but the door is Christ. So you see, only if you come to Christ in repentance and trusting in Christ alone, who is God's great way of salvation, can you have entryway into God's true church. Jesus says in verse 11 of this chapter, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. So that is the first presumed entry point. Second one, similar to that one, is a person would say, I was born into a Christian family, so I believe I have always been a Christian. You hear that often. Some call this, those who assume that they enter Christ Church through this way, they call it the birthright entryway. And the birthright is a basic right that someone has or is thought to be entitled to from birth. Either it's property or it's money that someone feels entitled to because he belongs to a certain family. It's a great privilege to have a Christian family, to have Christian parents. But to grow up in a Christian home and attend a Christian church does not mean you have admission into Christ's true church. It is, of course, of great advantage because you have access to the truth of God's Word. But with this privilege, there is great responsibility. One must use it rightly. if not, this great blessing actually can become a great curse. So you see, being born into a family of a long or a short line of saints does not guarantee anyone salvation. The Bible does tell us in John 3, 3, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Jesus was speaking to a leading teacher of the nation of Israel who thought he was in God's sheepfold. But Jesus pointed out to Nicodemus he was not in God's sheepfold, even though he thought he was. See, a person can enter the kingdom of God through only one entry point. And so the goal of all Christians should be to glorify God. Under this overarching goal, the aim of parenting is to be a faithful instrument in God's hands for actively bringing up children according to biblical principle. Every child is born a sinner. who intrinsically follows his or her depravity. So then the task of being a parent is not easy. But God has not left us without instruction. God's command is clearly stated in Ephesians 6, 4. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. It is my observation over the years that parents should first focus the teaching of their children on the Ten Commandments and the Book of Proverbs. that these teachings will expose the child's own sinful nature along with God's character and what He, the Creator, requires with the goal of preparing the soil of a child's heart, making it ready for the gospel of Jesus Christ. So if the goal of parenting, then, is to be to be faithful to bring up one's child, one's children, according to biblical principles, that those principles need to be taught and also modeled by the parents. But are there any guarantees regarding the outcome? The answer would be no, because the child's response is not necessarily the measure of biblical parenting. A godly example and good training cannot ensure conversion. And just as God's grace an ungodly parent may be blessed by a God-fearing child, and that means that a godly person is not guaranteed by their efforts that God will save any of their children, however When the grace of God has entered into the home, when the word of God is prevalent in that home, when a child is exposed to the fellowship of believers, the possibility of salvation coming to that child is heightened. And many times God will bless us with saving our children. But not always the case. So the parent's duty before the Lord is to be faithful to their instruction, modeling and raising their children in the manner of the Lord's commandment, but the results are the Lord's to determine. That is the sovereignty of God in salvation. The bottom line then would be this, you must be born again yourselves. You have no right of entry into Christ's true church except as by your own personal and individual faith in which you enter into Christ, you enter into his church. It's not a matter. It's not your mother and your father that can be the door to Christ's church, no. It must be Christ who is the door. everyone individually must come through him. Again Jesus says in John 14 6, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life, no one can come to the Father but through me. So those are ways, assumed ways, presumed ways that people come sometimes bank on but they haven't really considered their own soul in life and say am I really a believer? Am I really a Christian? All children from Christian families have to ask that question. They can't live through the faith of their parents. They have to have their own. And it's a great blessing when they do come to that place and they do live on their own. When they're gone from their home and they're living for the Lord, that's a great blessing. There are some other supposed entry points common today worth mentioning. And the third one would be The presumed entry point some rest upon for entry into Christ Church is a profession of faith. Common these days that just because someone made a profession of faith, signed the card, raised their hand, went forward in an evangelistic meeting that they are part of God's true church. But mere profession cannot prove a genuine Christian. The willingness for a person to say, I profess this or I confess that, no more will make a Christian than for someone who stands in their garage and proclaims themselves a car. There must be true repentance, true believing. We must then bear the fruit of progressive holiness and godliness. That the person who makes a profession of having it when he has not, salvation is in great danger. And it was Jerry Bridges who said the only safe evidence that we are in Christ is a holy life. So their holy progress is manifested more and more in their thinking, in their words, in their actions, in their outlook, in their worldview, in their passions and desires. Titus 1 chapter 1 verse 16 tells us they profess to know God. There's profession. but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed. So that passage simply says these kinds of people claim they know God, but they deny Him the way they live. The Lord didn't command to get a profession. The Lord commanded to make disciples. And who are disciples? Disciples are learners. They're followers of Christ. It is not merely your profession of faith, but your repentance of sin, leaning to a cleansed and transformed life because you came through the door, Jesus Christ, into his true church. There's a fourth presumed entry point. Some rest upon for entry way into Christ Church and that is that of simply of church membership. There are some, there are those who think that because they are members of a visible church that they are somehow in the sheepfold of God. If they have trusted the external organization to help them feel secure, they're just deceiving themselves. somebody born into a religious system. Oh, I'm this or I'm that. And that they kind of live in that realm or that thinking the whole of their lives. Have you ever witnessed to somebody says, well, I belong to this church or, or, or I, my family goes to that church, you know, and that's where they rest. They don't really consider their own protect predicaments spiritually as to whether they're in the kingdom of God, whether they're in Christ to church. So if they have bypassed the door of living faith in Christ and have tried to get in without being a disciple of Christ, well then, Christ will say to them, you're a thief and you're a robber. Because they tried to get in some other way without coming in by the door, Jesus Christ. However, if you are truly born again, well then, baptism profession of faith in Christ, membership in a Bible-believing Christ-honoring assembly show that you desire to obey Christ and you desire to reverence him. So commitment to Christ should go hand in hand with commitment to his church. There are other supposed points that have crept into our day. that people think because they live this way they can have entryway or somehow God accepts them. And that is the ism of moralism. Some people say, wait a minute. Some would say I'm a pretty good person. I live to the best of my ability. I live a moral life. Surely that must count for something. Many bank on the entry point into God's true church is simply to be a moral person. That is actually a thing that is sweeping across Christianity today. The basic structure of moralism comes down to this, the belief that the gospel can be reduced to improvements in behavior. far too many believers and their churches succumb to the logic of moralism and reduce the gospel to a message of moral improvement. In other words, we communicate to the lost person the message that what God desires for them and demands of them is that, is really to get their life straightened out. No, the gospel is Come with your messy life and all your sin to Christ. Bring it all to Him. You can't straighten out your life. You can't do anything to make yourself clean and right before God. So really, if people proclaim that or hold to that, that's actually a false gospel. When Paul writes to the Galatian church, what does he say to them about receiving or adding something on to what's already proclaimed to them in the true gospel, or taking something away from the gospel? He says to the church there, I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting him who called you by the grace of Christ for a different gospel, which is really not another. Only there are some, Paul says, who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, Paul says, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed. God is serious about his one door. He is serious about you only can come exclusively into God's church and into the kingdom of God through Christ. See, most moralists would not claim to be without sin. And as Al Mohler says, they just claim to be without scandalous sin. So the essence of moralism is the belief that we can achieve righteousness by means of proper behavior and theologically the wrong assumption that what God expects of fallen humanity is moral improvement. It is good for parents to rightly teach their children to obey moral instruction. The church actually bears that responsibility to teach the moral commands of God and to bear witness to the larger society of what God has declared to be right and good for all human beings. But these impulses, right and necessary, they are not the gospel. Indeed, One of the most insidious false gospels is moralism. That promise is really the favor of God and the satisfaction of God's righteousness to sinners if they will only behave and commit themselves to moral improvement. Don't misunderstand. Being morally good is good, but it does not save you. It could never save you. It can never earn you salvation. So the Bible simply becomes a code book for human behavior. And moral instruction replaces the teaching of the gospel of Christ. The corrective to moralism comes directly from scripture. Paul, again, in the book of Galatians, that you just got done, I think you're finishing up, in Yam. where he says in chapter 2 verse 16, nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but through faith in Christ. Even we have believed in Christ so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law since by the works of the law no flesh will be justified. Moralism makes sense to sinners, it surely does. it is because it's really an expansion of what we have always been taught in our earliest days. But moralism is not the gospel, it will not save, only the gospel saves. And that is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul again says in Galatians in chapter 4, but when the fullness of time came, God sent forth his son born of a woman, born under the law, that he might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. So we are justified by faith alone, saved by grace alone, and redeemed from our sin by Christ alone. Moralism produces sinners who are potentially better behaved The gospel of Jesus Christ produces people who are transformed from the inside out and are adopted sons and daughters of God. So the church must never evade or accommodate or revise or hide the law of God for indeed it is the law that shows us that we are sinners and makes clear our inadequacy and our lack of righteousness. The law cannot impart life, but Paul insists in Galatians 3.24, therefore the law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ so that we may be justified by faith. You know, someone said hell will be highly populated by those who are raised right, who are moral, The citizens of heaven will be there by the sheer grace and mercy of God. And they're there in heaven solely because of the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. So moralism is not the gospel. It is also an improper entry point to the kingdom of God and to the true church of Jesus Christ. Come through the door, the only door. Jesus Christ, the good shepherd. And that's the way a sinner must come. They can't come in any other way. And why is that? Why do we have to come through Jesus? Well, John 10 verse 17 and 18 says this, for this reason the Father loves me because I laid down my life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it from me, but I lay it down on my own initiative. I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from my father. The reason why is because Jesus is the only one who died in the place of sinners, in the place of those who would become his sheep, redeemed by the blood of the lamb, brought in to the true sheepfold of Jesus Christ. And then one last thing. There's several others, but just two things that are swirling around today in our society is that of another presumed entry point would be pluralism. That means there's many ways to God. The basic belief of the pluralist comes really down to this. The pluralists believe that Jesus is the provision that God has made for Christians. But, but, big but, there are no other, there are other ways of getting right with God and gaining eternal bliss in other religions. The work of Christ is useful for the Christian, but not necessary for the non-Christian. That's a bunch of bunk. That's hogwash. Example, one British theologian, John Hicks, argues that different religions are equals, though they each have different emphasis. Christianity is not superior, he says, but merely one partner in the quest for salvation. He says that we are not to seek one world religion, but rather we look to the day when the ecumenical spirit, which has so largely transformed Christianity, will increasingly affect relations between the world's faiths. See, Christians should not reason, as some do, thinking that truth is like a great mountain with one summit, but many ways of reaching the summit, reaching the top of the mountain. It doesn't matter which way you reach it as long as you reach it. Well, that really goes against what the scripture is saying here, that Jesus is the door. There's no way to go around it. If you climb in some other way, you are not a true sheep. And that's all that espouses the ecumenical spirit of our day. So for the pluralist, in the final analysis, the only authority for his viewpoint is his own mind. That's it. His mind is the standard. He has no blueprints. or any kind of measuring device to show whether he is in error or not, but a Christian has the Bible. The Bible is the measuring stick. The Bible tells us what is true and what is not. They have nothing. They have themselves. They have academia. That's all they have. There is only one way to measure one is correct in one's belief concerning the soundness their foundation and that is the truth that is God's truth found in the Word of God and Paul really teaches in the book of Ephesians in that letter to them he said listen this having been built on the foundation of the Apostles and prophets Christ himself being the cornerstone Paul's Paul is very clear and he draws a line in the sand between what is true and what is false. Anything that is not from the foundations of the apostles and prophets or correctly aligned with the cornerstone, Jesus Christ, the chief cornerstone, is not to be relied upon as spiritual truth. There are not many entry points into Christ's true church. There is but one. So the pluralist concludes wrongly that there are many good and different ways to enter into favor with God. That's a faulty understanding, so also an improper entry point, and so therefore they're at the wrong door, and they're at the wrong doors. So all these things I've just mentioned just reveal that people want to be part of the Church of Jesus Christ, or they want to be right with God in their own way and their own thinking, or that they just simply say, I'm spiritual and I'm okay. You hear all those things when you talk to people. But because of the way they chose to enter, not by the door, but by another way, they cannot gain entry. The Gospel of John, chapter 10, verse number 1, again, indicates the illegitimacy of the way they try to enter the church, for it says in verse 1, truly, truly, again, that double getting our attention with the double words there, the repetitive words, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of sheep but climbs up some other way is a thief and a robber. So my friend, candidates for Christ's true church must make a credible profession of their faith and that they have entered by the door of Jesus Christ and in Christ alone and it does not matter if they have been baptized or have a membership certificate in their hand or if they adhere to some popular ideology that thought would be helpful to be right with God if they have not Christ. The only thing all those things are good for is to be put in the bottom of a wastebasket. The only way that you get into the real living church is by coming to Christ who is himself the door. By a simple faith and a dependence upon Jesus, yes, the one who bled and died on Calvary's cross and defeated Satan in death and rose from the grave any other way is a sham. And the preaching of any other system is a delusion. It must be Christ who is the door. And everyone individually must come through him in order to be saved. Saved by the righteousness of another. Somebody who gains an alien righteousness from Christ to enter the kingdom of God. The door is Jesus. Come to Him and He will save you. That's what He does. He saves people. So brethren, have you come through the door? Jesus Christ, if you have trusted Christ and have entered by the door, well then, you have come in by God's appointed means. But if you have not yet come, If you have not yet called upon Jesus and trusted him as your own Lord and Savior, don't put it off. Come. However, I must warn you that if you do not come, If you remain in the state of unbelief, if you remain in your own philosophy of how you think you get right with God, if you are holding to some particular thing from the past on a religion or something you did or something that happened in your life and you say, I'm trusting in that. Some people will say, well, I had a dream that I met Jesus. So I'm trusting in that. I said, well, I'm not denying you had that dream, but have you come through the door? Have you trusted in Jesus Christ? And of the warning is this, John chapter 3 verse 18, who believes in him is not judged. He who does not believe has been judged already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. It's pretty clear. Christ is the only way. I can stand here this morning and preach to you about entering into the kingdom of God through the door, Jesus Christ, but if you merely walk up to the door, and you say, you know what, I think that's true, I agree with what you're saying, but you don't do anything about it, you don't come through the door, then it's in vain to look at a door unless you enter it. That's the whole point about having the door, right? Go through it. So this morning, that God would give you the grace to come in if you have never entered before. But please don't think you are safe from God's wrath if you have not entered by his appointed means. Jesus says in John 10, 9, I am the door if anyone enters through me. That leads me to really the encouraging part in our text that the persons who entered through the door, through God's appointed means, can claim certain privileges and distinctives. I can claim, because I've come through the door, certain privileges, certain distinctives, and I can proclaim them to you with great confidence that the person who enters through God's appointed means can certainly Hold on to these things. And what are they? There's really three encouraging privileges. Verse number 9 of chapter 10, the first privilege is this. Jesus says, I am the door. If anyone enters me, he will be saved. That's the first privilege. You'll be saved, right? You'll be saved. He uses a passive voice there. It means the subject receives the action of the verb. Salvation, safety. That's what the Lord gives those who come He who enters in by the door shall be saved just like Noah and his family They were kept safe from the destructive power of the great floodwaters but he was not kept safe until he passed through the door and God closed the door and sealed him in and See, they were kept safe from anything that could harm them, especially the wrath and judgment of God. You know, we come to the New Testament in the Book of Ephesians. It says, what do we do? What happens? We receive the Spirit of God and we're sealed unto the day of redemption. God's seal is on us. That means no one touched that person. That's mine. That's my sheep. So you see, the moment a poor sinner trusts in Christ, God shuts the door. So then you do not know what means it really means to come through the door unless you actually come through the door. It means that you come to Jesus. You come to depend on him. You come to rest in him. You come for forgiveness of sins. You come for eternal life. Now we learn those things after we come. But this is Only this is the first privilege, but there's also the first distinctive. In chapter 10, look at verse number 26, it's this. The sheep have saving faith. In verse 26, it says, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. Jesus clearly makes a distinction between those who believe and those who don't believe. If you believe, you're my sheep. If you don't believe, you're not my sheep. That's what he says there. So the bottom line is that we have saving faith, and saving faith really forsakes all human means of salvation. Saving faith involves turning from your sin and saving faith involves commitment to Christ as Lord. Biblical faith demands and produces costly and radical changes in one life by the Spirit of God and the Word of God. Its essence is supreme commitment to Christ. A second privilege, if you notice in verse number nine, it says, I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved and he will go in and out. He will go in and out. That's freedom. Do you know when you become a believer, you are actually free. You're free from your own guilt. You're free from the condemnation of your own sin. You're free from the claim of the demons on you. you're free from the clutches of death. Freedom because there is no more condemnation to those who are in Christ. There is freedom to go in and out into the Lord with holy boldness in prayer and speak to the Lord as a member of God's family to have a regular and a deep fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ because you have entered that door and once you're in that door and he closes the door then you're in there with Christ. John 10 verse 3 and 4 says, to him the doorkeeper opens and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he puts forth his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. See, there is not only a privilege here, but there's a second distinctive, and here's the distinctive of Christ's sheep. Christ's sheep hear his voice. My sheep hear my voice. It says there and then verse 16 it repeats it. I have other sheep which are not of this fold I must bring them also and they will hear my voice and they will come become one flock with one shepherd. Now he's referring to the Gentiles. The Jews and the Gentiles. So to hear Christ's voice means more than being familiar with his words They are recorded in scripture more than believing that they are his words. The lord is requiring more than simply Listening respectfully and believing what he says his sheep submit themselves unreservedly to the authority of christ The lord is truly my lord He's my he's my master now And he's a good master. He's a good shepherd He will never lead us into something that will be harmful to us. He will always lead us to the right place. He will give us right what we need when we need it, because that's what He is. And so His sheep respond promptly to what He says in the Word of God, and they literally obey Him. And of course it also means that you're free from the bondage of your own sin, so you can now serve Christ without guilt. I don't have to be guilty. to get up every day and say, Lord, I'm your servant. Take care of me today. As I go into the hostile world, I'm going in your name. Make me an instrument in your hand. As I depend on you, allow me to speak about the door to other people so they can meet you also. Give me victory over my remaining sin. over my enemies, over the allurement and the temptations that are still present all around me in the world. Give me victory there. And then there's a third privilege in verse number nine of chapter 10. I am the door, if anyone enters through me, he will be saved, he will go in and out, and he will find pasture. Know what that is? Nourishment. Spiritual nourishment. The Word of God is the source of spiritual nourishment to my soul and your soul if you are a believer today. A place of great instruction, of wisdom, of spiritual strength, of comfort, of rebuke. Making me ready to be in God's presence, God's sheep. They want heavenly truth. They don't want Substitutes. They don't want fast food. No other food would satisfy them except the Word of God. So they come to the house of God through Christ, and they come for Christ, and they find rich pasture that satisfies their soul. Isn't that what David found in Psalm 23? The Lord is my shepherd, What does he say? I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures, nourishing pastures. He leads me beside what? Rough waters, quiet waters. He restores my soul. He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his namesake. The shepherd is doing it for his name. Raising up people, putting his spirit in them for his namesake he's doing it. So this is not only a privilege, but it also exposes two more distinctives. And what are they? Verse number 27, Christ's sheep are known by Him. You know, there's one thing about it, you know God, yes, but does God know you? That's the real question. Does God know you? He knows them. He calls them by name. He knows your name. And then he leads them. So Christians have a unique relationship to Christ. A union with him, a communion with him deeper than any other. See, God loves us. We love him, but we learn in scripture in 1 John, in this is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be a propitiation for our sins. And then we learn also that we know that all, that God causes all things to work together, what? For the good to those who love God. to those who are calling to his prayer. Who loves God? His sheep love him. His sheep hear his voice. His sheep follow him. And that's verse 27 of John chapter 10. Here's another distinctive. They follow me. They don't follow the false teachers. They don't follow the false ideologies. They don't follow the currents of the world, what's being taught now and, you know, the whole woke mindset today. That's another gospel out there that's turning over the truth, setting aside the truth. This is what the church ought to be. No, the church ought to be preaching that Jesus is the only door. He's exclusive. There's no other way. There's no other substitute. There's nothing else to teach. See we, they follow me it says here in verse 27. They're bent on following Christ. They're true and good shepherd. So only those who hear and are known of Christ and who follow him shall never perish. And that's the triple security we get as believers. And look what it says in verse 28 and 29. It says, here's double security. I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand. We have Christ holding us. We have the Father holding us. We have the Spirit of God sealing us. Triple security. You have nothing to fear if you're a Christian. You understand that? See, that's where we get the boldness from. That's what we get the gumption to just go on and live our life for Christ no matter what happens around us. No whether, even if no one's following us. And we're, we have, that's real eternal security when we understand that. That when God saves us, he saves us completely. He's not an Indian giver. He's not gonna give you, oh, I guess I can't even use that term today, huh? That's wrong, right? I don't really care, really, to tell you the truth. But when he gives it to you, he gives you all of it. He keeps you. And we have to know that. We have to know that every waking moment of every day. We have to know that. Because we go onto the world, and what do we do? We get bombarded. We get bombarded by too much information, and it's all discouraging. All right? It's all discouraging. But we come to this, and all of a sudden, I get encouraged. If you are Christ's sheep, I have to ask you this, what evidence do you have to show it? Nowadays, if someone applies for a passport, they're required three to six points of identification. I don't know if that's true today, but it was at one time. Birth certificate, driver's license, marriage license, military discharge papers, current phone or utility bill to prove who are you? Where do you live? What are you about? Are you the person you say you are? So they have to prove to the authorities who they are. See, the burden of proof is on that person. See, God's saints are really distinguished from all other people, not only by what He has done for them, but also by what He has worked in them. The saints are endowed with a new life, with a spiritual and a supernatural principle or a nature which affects the whole of their being. God is transforming all of us, all of who we are, not just one little part of it. All of us, that's what he, all of who we are. He's making us into the image of Christ. So wouldn't it be great today? Wouldn't it be great if today you were to enter into God's true church by the door of Jesus Christ? That would be great. You know what else would be great? That you realize that if you're in that door, you are secure. And that the Good Shepherd has all good for you. And you know what happens? Every day of your life, you're dogged by God's goodness. You can't run from it. Everywhere you go, you look, there's God's goodness. You pray, and God answers your prayer, and you say, wow, the good God, he just, I don't deserve this, but God gave it to me. You sit down, you eat some food, and you say, well, you think I didn't just get this from ShopRite? God gave us this. And we thank Him for it. I get up every day, and I'm breathing. Thank you, Lord. Wow, you're keeping me around for a while. But the thing is, I see it's the Lord providing that. He's got you in His hand. He's got his eye upon you. And you cannot run from that. You cannot escape that. And that is the most encouraging thing for a believer to grasp in their thinking, in their, not only their thinking, but their doing. How they respond to circumstances and to people in their life has everything to do with whether I went through the door and I'm secure inside the other side because of Jesus Christ. So it would be really good today if you have never entered the door today to call upon the Lord Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. And then if you do, you gain the privileges of safety, of freedom, of nourishment that God freely gives to those born into his family, and that you would be known as Christ's sheep. You have saving faith. You hear Christ's voice through his word. And now you're known by Christ. And now you follow him as your faithful shepherd. So believing God's gospel message and repenting of your sin and transferring your trust to Jesus Christ and him alone by a simple transfer of trust in what you could have earned to obtain eternal life, which you could never have done, Christ has done. So throw it all overboard, all of it, and just come to Christ with all your baggage, with all your garbage, with all your stuff, and the Lord knows all of it anyway, and he'll save you, right? But don't just sit there saying, oh, I agree with that. I think that's a good message, you know, and walk out and do nothing. Don't do that. Days are short. There's signs of Christ coming back all over the world. Now is the time to be very serious and sober about our Christian faith and about our true salvation and about living for the Lord. There's really no other reason to live. Whatever God has you doing work-wise, that's secondary. That's just to provide the bills. Pay the bills, right? That's all it is. It's not careers. God gives us careers, I guess, but you don't live for a career. You live for Christ, right? That's what you do. So if you have already come through the door of Jesus Christ, you're saved. You are saved. So you know what? Rejoice and be exceedingly glad because you have been given great salvation that no one, no one, no thing, no demon can take from you. It's yours. Amen? Let's pray. Lord, thank you today. Thank you, Lord, because you are God. And Lord, your word is narrows it down so simply to give us an illustration of a door opening, that Christ is that door and just to come through that door is the way to be right with God and to be saved and to reap these privileges and benefits. Oh Lord, thank you. Encourage us by your word every day. And Lord, those who have not yet come, Lord, bring them today. Convict them in their heart of their sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Bring them to yourself. And Lord, let them experience the things the Word of God has been communicating to us, not only today, but every Sunday we meet, that it's wisdom from God. And I will thank you, Lord, for what you have done and will do. Use us as your servants in Christ, I pray. Amen.