Let me invite you, Brethren, to take out your copy of the Scriptures and turn with me to the Gospel according to John again, and this time if you would turn to chapter 10. Our text this morning will be the first 10 verses. You follow along in your copy of the Scriptures as I read now John chapter 10 verses 1 to 10. Getting here with the words of our Lord. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same as a thief and a robber, but he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him, the doorkeeper opens and the sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them and the sheep follow him for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers. Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which he spoke to them. Then Jesus said to them again, Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All whoever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. This is the word of our God. Let's go to him together again in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you again for your mercy toward us. What a grace and mercy it is that we could read your word and understand it the way it is meant to be understood. By your spirit, Lord, you turn the lights on, as it were, and you show us our Savior. You show us that he is the good shepherd. He is the only door into the sheepfold. We pray, God, that you would give illumination to all who are in this building this morning. Father, there's one here without Christ that they would see their desperate need to enter by the door. And for your sheep, Lord, if there is one among us who's wandered astray or needs encouragement, would you provide for them today, Lord, some plus green hill of grace and mercy to renew their hearts again? We ask this in Jesus name. Amen. I'm sure many of you, if you read through the Gospel of John in your Christian life and you probably have, you probably notice that it is a book filled with many, many contrasts. These contrasts consist of such things as truth versus lies, good versus evil or God versus Satan, the children of God versus the children of the devil. Over and over again, this particular gospel is calling our attention to behold these contrasts. I remember early on when I started teaching through it, using the illustration of the diamond and the backdrop of the cloth, the black velvet cloth. This is what's going on. This is what John is trying to pull our attention to. In chapter two, there's the good wine contrasted with just the regular wine. Chapter three, we have the contrast of those who've only been born once contrasted with those who have been born again. John is showing all of us who have eyes to see or anyone who has eyes to see or willing to see that there is a real heaven, that there is a real devil in and a real hell, and we're to see the contrast of what God is showing so that you might choose and seek the right way. In John 4, there's water that leads to life and water that leaves you thirsty. In John 6, there is bread that gives you life and bread that leaves you hungry. In chapter 9, the chapter before the text I just read, there are those who can truly spiritually see the kingdom of God, and there are those who think they can see but remain spiritually blind to Christ and to his kingdom. And so all of these contrasts are given to us by John as if they were screaming off the page at us, saying to us, look, here is what true salvation looks like. In contrast, this is the path to darkness. This is the sure path to hell. Seek this day. Choose you this day. Where will you end up? Contrast after contrast. The God who inspired John to write this gospel could not have made things any plainer for all to see. This is why often we encourage unbelievers to read this book as the first book of the Bible. If they've never read the Bible, go to John. And so what better way to show the sinners the way of eternal life than to show them these contrasts of what is true light and what is true darkness, what is true sight, what is true blindness? Well, all of that to say, brethren, that We come to chapter 10 here now and we see that there is another contrast set before us. Today's contrast primarily concerns a true shepherd and his care for his sheep and the false shepherds and their abuse and disregard of the sheep. It is a narrative that's obviously born out of the previous chapter, chapter 9. As you know, there were no chapter and verses when this was written. And so these things are still in the mind and heart of all who were there that day, certainly in the heart and mind of our Lord. The Pharisees, who were claiming to be the pastors, claiming to be the shepherds over God's people, did not care for that man that was born blind. They shunned him. He was not worthy to be looked upon and helped even. And so we see the Pharisees being cruel to him, to the blind man, robbing him of his right to be in the synagogue. They excommunicated him. because he trusted in Jesus and believed Jesus to be the Messiah. And they had said if anyone believed in him to be the Messiah, they were not allowed to stay in the synagogue. But we see Jesus caring compassionately for this man. So that part of the narrative concluded with Jesus declaring to the faces of these Pharisees that they themselves were really the true blind ones. And of course, what this meant was that not only were they still sinners and under the wrath of God, they were not qualified to shepherd his people. Because they were still spiritually blind, they were not qualified to do this. In fact, they were only seeking to use and abuse. These are the thieves and robbers to whom Christ is referring. And so in this next part of the narrative in chapter 10, Jesus will call these religious leaders, these thieves, those who would steal secretly and then the robbers who would take by force. And they're doing this to God's people. Now, in verse six, the new King James calls Jesus what he says here, an illustration. The word is translated parable, if you have the King James and a lot of the modern English translations will say it just simply means a figure of speech. Some have called it a parable. I think it's probably more aptly to see it as an allegory. And either way, we have here the sheep We have the shepherds and we have the thieves and the robbers. And they're all metaphors and symbols of three specific groups of people who were standing there that day in Jerusalem. And these will represent this morning, brethren, my three main points. We have the false shepherds. Who were no shepherds at all, but are referred to as those thieves and robbers, we have perhaps the primary focus of the allegory, the true shepherd or a true shepherd. And then third, we'll look at the sheep who represent the true people of God. Beginning with those from the nation of Israel, they would be the true sheep. They're out of there would be true sheep. And then in verse 16, you'll notice he has other sheep that are not yet brought in. They would be speaking of you and me who are saved here today, the Gentiles. And so these three characters being the focus of our passage here today, we need to Now pause for a moment and explain sort of the agrarian background of what our Lord has just said to us in this text. In verse one, Jesus mentions here the sheepfold. The sheepfold was this large walled in sort of corral where the sheep would go in at night to be protected from wolves and thieves and robbers, those who would really want to steal them for food or steal the sheep for wool or what have you. And so they would go in at night to this sheepfold. The walls were usually stacked up high with rocks, and sometimes, I heard this morning, even that they would put briars on top. They didn't have wires like you have today with burrs on them, but they had briars. And so other ways to keep the thieves and the robbers from coming in to steal the sheep. Well, these walls were very high, and for obvious reasons, there was only one door in and out. And because sometimes there were so many different shepherds having their own herd of sheep, they would often share a large sheepfold. And then a doorkeeper would be hired to protect that entrance through the night. He would watch out, make sure no one or false shepherd, a different shepherd, wrong shepherd, or wolves could get in. And then something quite amazing would happen the next morning when all the shepherds would come back to get their sheep. Each one would show up and the gatekeeper would obviously recognize a particular shepherd who'd hired him to guard the entrance for his sheep. And he would allow him to go in to get his own sheep out. But then how would he know which one was his? Because there would be more than one shepherd with more than one herd. Well, the shepherds in those days had such a close connection with their own sheep that they would give each one of them a name and they would know their ways and their temperaments and the the hair, but there were spots on them and these kinds of things. They knew their own sheep very closely and intimately. But it worked both ways. The sheep would also become very accustomed to their own shepherd's voice and that whenever that shepherd spoke, they would only be able to recognize it as their own personal shepherd. And so the shepherd would wake, get up, go in that next morning and let's say there's 100 sheep in that sheep bowl, but only 25 of them belong to him. And he walks in among all those hundred sheep and he starts calling them by name and they all start hearing his voice. And as he walks out that door, they all start following him because they recognized his voice. And the interesting thing would happen to be the 75 that were left were scared of the voice, did not follow that guy, and they would run to the back of the sheepfold. And so each one would respond to their own shepherd in this way. This, brethren, is the scene that Christ uses for us to show us the contrast between true shepherd and a false shepherd. And now each one ends up treating the people of God. And so it's very important. This is a very serious metaphor, allegory, if you will. He says two times, most assuredly, I say to you, and he says it again in verse seven, most assuredly, I say to you, it's the King James. Verily, verily, I say unto you, listen up. This is extremely important. And so what he's teaching us is very serious. And we're either going to go and get led astray by the voices of false doctrine, false teachers, a false door, or we're going to be led by the true shepherd through the true door. This is why this is so important. It's why it's so serious. Now, the first group that I want us to look at here, though, this morning, are the thieves and the robbers. You notice this again in verse 1. Surely I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, climbs up some other way, the same as a thief and a robber. In verse five, Jesus calls the same group strangers. They do not hear the voice, recognize the voice of the shepherd. So these thieves, these robbers are self-appointed spiritual leaders of Israel. They're referring to not only the scribes and the Pharisees who were listening to Jesus there that day, but according to verse eight, to many of those who claim to be spiritual leaders of the path. In verse eight, notice what verse eight says. Jesus says, all who ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. Now, this would go pointing back, brethren, not just to those false shepherds who led Israel, but all who like the pagan doctrines and that Israel would often go astray by. And again, every one of the false teachers and false prophets of Israel, they all carried a false gospel. They all taught the people of God that they did not because, of course, it was by grace alone, even in the Old Testament. It was by Christ alone, even in the Old Testament. And so these false teachers, these false prophets were false messiahs, they would claim many of them claim to be messiahs, and they all who came before Jesus are not not the true one. So God often would rebuke these false shepherds, one of the passages you've heard many times, it's often pointing to them and how God will reprimand them, it says in Ezekiel 34 to. Tells Ezekiel, son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Thus says the Lord God to the shepherds, woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves. Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? You eat the fat and you clothe yourselves with the wool. You slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the flock. That was an allegory there, too. Our Lord was saying here that these Pharisees, they had rejected the blind man and who had blackmailed his parents They're just like those false shepherds. They were only self-indulgent, getting what they could get, and then they would only offer a works salvation. Remember, these Pharisees had threatened again to kick anyone out of the synagogue who did believe in Jesus, and that was a major deal. If you were kicked out of the synagogue, you were kicked out of society. Even in the Jews believed that day, if you weren't a part of the synagogue, you weren't even allowed to think that you were of God or a child of God. Excommunication meant a lot more than what it does in a lot of churches today, if that was for sure, for what they went through. You imagine this blind man thinking he had just got a kicked out of the kingdom itself. That's how important they looked at being attached to the synagogue. It was so important that the parents lied about who it was. They knew it was Jesus that healed him, but they wouldn't go that far because they didn't want to be kicked out. Well, Our Lord tells us plainly the intent of these false shepherds in verse 10. He says that they only seek to steal and to kill and to destroy. Certainly, the blind man and his parents were on our Lord's mind as he spoke all these words, all of John chapter 10. I don't know if you ever read this before or thought about this. A lot of people come to John 10 and think it's just disconnected from the chapter before, but it's not. That blind man is the sheep. Christ obviously is the true shepherd. And so the thief mentioned in verse 10 is often thought about by many as the devil. But it's really more of a picture of false messiahs and false prophets and teachers. Certainly, the devil was behind that in some ways. But brethren, these false shepherds that Jesus is pointing to here, preserved for us in this chapter, they're still around. They're still around everywhere. We know many of them in what we call the health, wealth, prosperity churches, many of them connected to Pentecostal churches. They love to fleece the flock. It's very sad what they do. They fly around on their airplanes while many of their parishioners struggle to just make ends meet. And then they will look at the sheep, the very people there in their own churches and say the reason you don't have what I have is because you don't have enough faith. And they have a false gospel. They talk about the word gospel and then they immediately add the word money after. It's interesting when you go listen to these people. It's always health and wealth. They only have two sermons and they're both wrong. The brethren, there are false shepherds and other churches as well. Biblical, what we might call biblical denominations. Men who are drawn like these Pharisees to the honor and the praise of the pastoral ministry. But are not given over to the care of God's people. Many refuse to study hard. It's hard to prepare a sermon. so that you get up there. And every time I preach one, I know there's things in it that I don't get right because it's so precise and deep. So it's difficult and men don't want to do it. I remember a pastor of my first church where I was converted in, I asked him, how do you prepare for your sermons every week? He says, well, I just basically what I do is I go through my week and whatever experiences I have, I just put them all together, make a sermon out of it. And you could tell. The Apostle Peter warned us about men who claim to be shepherds, but use their authority to lord over God's people. Brethren, having been a pastor there for almost 28 years, I can tell you that some of the things that come with this job are quite tempting and seductive to the flesh. The respect and the honor that people give you can easily go to your head. There is respect, and yes, there is an authority that should be given to elders in the church. Even the Apostle Paul had to defend his apostleship to the Corinthians. But Paul always held something very close to his chest when he had to do that and something that every other pastor and under shepherd should do as well. He humbly confessed that he was the least of all apostles and was not worthy to be called an apostle. The attitude of a pastor, he ought to have it. Christ is the only one who has the right to claim it truly. He is worthy. Brethren, a sure sign of a false shepherd is their need for honor and their need for praise. If anything threatens that position, they will indeed lie, cheat and steal to keep it. And sadly, there are men in pulpits across the country. Who believe in the doctrines of grace or at least intellectually, who believe in election, God's predestination of sinners, but they refuse to preach it because they would get run out of their churches. Now, I'm not saying all these men are false shepherds, many of these are just trying to bring reformation. The Lord knows those who are truly his. But some just want security that comes with being a pastor and they'll compromise to keep that position. Ultimately, the Lord knows, as I said, those who are truly his shepherds, but in many ways it was like this blind man's parents who refused to publicly profess and confess Christ because they didn't want to lose their position in the synagogue. And there's something about being a pastor, it comes with a lot of perks. Pastors know this. So you want to make sure you don't lose it, as it were. But everyone should go in and recognize that he is not worthy to be called one, though he should be at his best by God's grace to do it. Jesus is warning all who have ears to hear there that there are such men as this out there like these Pharisees who do not love his people, who do not sacrificially care for his people. who by their deeds prove they only care about themselves. Brethren, every pastor has to constantly mortify the selfishness of his own heart all the time. We don't have to clock in. The sheep don't know what we're doing Tuesday afternoon, Monday mornings, Wednesdays, all day. They see us at Sundays. They see us at prayer meeting. And it's alluring. Thomas Watson said, selfishness is the reigning sin of the whole world. And it could reign in the hearts of pastors, and it certainly was in these men. But in contrast, we now turn our attention, brethren, to the true shepherd. What a true shepherd looks like. First, we're told in verses 2 and 3 that the true shepherd enters by the door and the doorkeeper opens it up to him. Verses 2 and 3. He who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him, the doorkeeper opens and the sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep. by name and leads them out. Now, there is no question but that verses 1 to 21, we're not going to go to the end of that, that this is primarily all about a Lord himself. He is the true shepherd. He calls himself the good shepherd. These are two I.M.' 's that we'll see here as well. He's the ultimate shepherd of the sheep in contrast to the false shepherds who claim to be the pastors of God's people there in Jerusalem. However, several commentaries that I read on these verses made reference to the fact that Christ's under shepherds are also to be in view here in verse two. Albert Barnes probably goes a little further than most when he says in verse two, he says, Christ does not here refer to himself, for he is the way or door by which others enter. But he refers to all the ministers of the gospel who have access to the church by him. Now, not all commentaries agree with Barnes, but most of them do see the reference of fact that that it is very applicable here to see under shepherds being in view. reminding ourselves, obviously, that Christ himself is the true shepherd. So as we move through these verses, I want you to see that I don't have any problem with referencing Christ, that Christ is referencing himself here ultimately, but under shepherds secondarily. Now, so with that, as the doorkeeper would have been hired by the shepherds to guard the sheep, when they returned the next morning, he knew who to let in and to not let in. He was hired by the shepherds. Now, we've got to be careful with allegories. Sometimes we can take them too far. R.C. Sproul sees the doorkeeper here as God the Father, and I'm not sure if I could go there, but he would say that the doorkeeper knows who to trust to give his sheep to, and certainly he trusts his own beloved son. And certainly we also know that God has given undershepherds to the church. God the Father has. Ephesians 4.11, he gave some to the apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, teachers. But what we have here in John 10 is Christ showing us how to spot a true shepherd from a false shepherd, primarily himself. But first of all, we see that a true shepherd here, brethren, calls his own sheep by name. Well, as an under shepherd, obviously, they should not only know the names of God's people, but they should know them intimately as they're called and they're commanded by God to pray for them individually as the apostles were to give themselves over to prayer and to the word of God. What were they praying for? They're praying for the people of God. This is what the great shepherd and the good shepherd does now. He ever lives to make intercession for what? For his people. And the shepherds are to follow this. And so this is what is being communicated here. The Pharisees knew the names of many of the Jewish people, but they didn't know them intimately. They weren't on a first name basis. One of the struggles I've had as pastoral minister is keeping up sometimes with the names. I have a great memory. It's a real weakness for a pastor. And we have had several babies born in our church over the last couple of years. And one was just born last week. We got another one on the way maybe next week. And they come up with new names. And we have family with five, another family with four, another family with four, and they keep having children. And as a pastor, you need to remember those names and continue to serve them and to love them. Well, he calls his own sheep out by name. Again, the Lord Jesus is the ultimate shepherd here. How does He do this, brethren? He does it through the effectual call. He opens the eyes and the ears and the hearts of His people by the power of the Holy Spirit and gives them the gift of faith that they might know who He is. We call on Him as our Lord and Savior because He first called on us through the Gospel. This is the first reality of the new birth. You begin a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ when at that first It's just between you and Him. You always keep and maintain that one-on-one relationship with God. But sometimes, and particularly around Reformed people, because we do promote the corporate aspect, it's very important. So it is your personal relationship to Jesus that's very important. Because when you first were converted, it was just you and Him. No one else. You looked to Him. And he was there and you beheld him. You began to love him because he first loved you. Secondly, we see a true shepherd leads his sheep out. He leads them. Nowadays, we know that most sheep farmers use sheepdogs. They herd them. And those sheepdogs are really good at it. But in those days, in the Bible days, they didn't do that. They didn't have sheepdogs. In the ancient Israel, they were simply led by the shepherd himself. They had such a close relationship. They knew his voice. And so just Secondarily, again, as we think of under shepherds, they should never drive the sheep. He's called to lead them. I remember being taught this when I was first seeking the pastoral ministry. When a pastor starts to force church members to do things, he's no longer being a shepherd. But sometimes it's. You know, there's the rod that the shepherd has, and that's the word, the word is his way that he governs the sheep, and sometimes it's some hard things to get the sheep to go in a different direction. But if he just forces, then he's not doing it the way Christ does it. The Lord Jesus, though he has the right to force us, he simply gently, lovingly leads his people. He goes before them. He shows by example the right way to go. He never asked his sheep to go where he himself is not gone. So ought to be the way with under shepherds. Thirdly, a true shepherd not only leads the sheep, notice that he leads them out to find F.I.N.D. Pasture. You know, for years when I read that text, my brain registered F.I.N.E. Real fine pasture over there. No, he leads us out to locate it. A true shepherd will always seek to lead God's people constantly to all that is in Christ through faithful teaching and preaching of the word of God. so that their sheep might be fed, that they have always from every sermon something of which to feast upon, to aid them, to nourish them, to nourish their faith. He will always lead them to the peace and the salvation that is in Christ Jesus. Every sermon ought to bring forth the Gospel of Christ, to hold up Christ. And so Christ, through the ender shepherds, is always leading the sheep to find comfort in Him, peace in Him. Just thinking about what He's done for you will soothe hurt you have as a Christian. Sheep have a tendency to wander off. And by many cares of the world, they get easily distracted. Therefore, it is the duty of a true shepherd to always lead the sheep to the green pastures of God's Word. He describes these pastures where we might envision these green hills, these plush hillsides in verse 10. What does he say about it? I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly, the true shepherd leads his sheep into green pastures of eternal life and abundant life. The words are two words, abundant life. This literally means super abundant, super abundant. I don't think we may believe this sometimes as Christians. This describes the kind of life that Christ leads all of his sheep in day by day, if they would have faith to see it through the scripture. It covers this life and it covers the life to come. Brethren, the whole sermon could be given over. What is this abundant life? Well, we know what the health, wealth, prosperity people might do to defile such thinking as this. But let me give you some things of what the abundant life is from Scripture. It begins, brethren, with the forgiveness of all your sin. As our brother was saying many times in his prayer and other thoughts, that you're no longer under the wrath of God. Christ's righteousness has been imputed to your account. You stand before a holy God, pure and clean. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken unto you. What a wonderful thing to continue every time you go through anything, it is coming back to the cross that reminds you it's all going to be OK. Secondly, the abundant life allows you to see all the earthly blessings that you have now as having come from the Father. Every good thing you have. You go home to your homes. You go out to your cars. You eat a nice meal. You have friends. You have whatever you have in this world has come down from the Father above. As the psalmist said, I would have lost heart unless I have not seen the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Oh, how good our Father is to us. Oh, the day in which we live and we have so many technologies and medicines. Brethren, we are living the abundant life. How about the continued cleansing of sin? You all sin, I sin. And the conscience begins to prick and to pry against you. You do not need to be there today. 1 John 1.90 says if you confess, He forgives. Cleanses your conscience. You can let it go because God does. How about this one? This is probably the hardest one of all. How about an abundant life would be a worry-free life? Would you like to have a worry-free life? You know, three times in our Lord's Sermon on the Mount, he says the words, do not worry, do not worry. It's command. Thirdly, do not worry. The third time he says, do not worry about tomorrow. And if you should need more affirmation of having a worry free life, he tells the Apostle Paul in Philippians four, be anxious for nothing. That sounds like a pretty good abundant life, if you ask me, Jesus is telling me if I was sitting on the hillside of That day you listen to the sermon on the Mount. So let me get this straight. You're you're God, you're the Lord. And you're telling me I have I have the right through you to not worry about anything. That's right. We're in abundant life, this is. He who began a good work will complete it. All things work together for good to them that are called. according to his purpose. Wow. Brethren, you as a Christian in here today, you are living the abundant life. The world are only living for that which is temporary and it's going to destroy them in the end. Lastly, I would say another part of this abundant life, brethren, is our shepherds promise to always preserve us to the end. You get the sheep fold image from Psalm 121, verse eight, the Lord shall preserve you going out And you're coming in from this time forth and even forevermore. He preserves you at night when you go into the sheepfold. He preserves you during the day when he's out there with you on the hillside. Verse 28, what does he say in chapter 10? I'll give them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. What a glory. Grace has brought me safe this far. What grace will lead me home. Wow, what an abundant life. You need to be reminded of that sometimes. Because some of you are going through things in your life that I don't know about, but God knows about. And he's trying to tell you this morning that I've already given you a whole lot to keep you encouraged. Even in the midst of your storm. Dear brethren, in every sorrow and every pain we experience in this cruel, sinful, fallen world, our true shepherd will always lead us to the green pastures of some grace and some mercy to feast upon. And you find them in the Scripture. You find them in answers to prayer. You find them in so many ways. Sometimes maybe it's nothing but in the hope that you have left, that once you breathe your last, you will enter into the presence of your Lord. All the promises of God and Christ in him are yes and amen. When we look at how to spot a false shepherd, how to know and recognize a true shepherd, but there's one more character in this allegory, and it is how to recognize true sheep. First of all, true sheep, notice it hears the voice of the shepherd. And how do they hear, brethren? Well, because he calls them supernaturally and effectually through the gospel. These whom he predestined, these he also what? Called. Just as our Lord opened Lydia's heart in Acts 16, so he must open our ears. And it is the fruit of regeneration. It is a work and miracle of the Holy Spirit of God. To try to get to God any other way through the new birth is to go through a different door. It's trying to climb up some other way. Jesus told Pilate in John 18, 37, everyone who is of the truth hears his voice. Back in chapter eight in verse 47, again, Jesus dealing with these religious leaders who were false shepherds. He tells them he was of God, hears God's words. And then he looks at him in the face and says, therefore, you do not hear because you're not of God. Excuse me, this is an amazing thing about the way this works. What does he mean here that true shepherd hear the voice of the shepherd? It means that they can understand for the first time in their life the word of God and when they read it and when they hear it preached. It doesn't mean they understand everything, but it does mean because they now have the Holy Spirit, he makes known to his people the truths that are necessary for salvation and who God is, at least for these two things primarily. Without the Holy Spirit of God, we are not Christ's sheep. Without the Holy Spirit of God, we would never understand the teachings of our Lord. And you see it in verse six. Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which he spoke. Why didn't they understand? Because they did not have his spirit. First Corinthians 2, 14, you know, the text, the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God for the things of God, things of the Spirit of God are foolishness to him. You have to have the Spirit. Paul gives that to us in the negative, but the positive is what? That if you do have the Spirit, then you can discern the things of God in the Scripture. Brethren, isn't it such a testimony of every one of you in here, most of you, if not all of you, that when you used to read the Bible before your conversion, you didn't get anything from it. It bothered you that everybody else seemed so excited about it, but it felt boring to you. But then God saved you and then all of a sudden truth started coming off the pages. Your love for Christ, your desire for the Lord, your desire for his word, it all changed. You became hungry and thirsty, you couldn't stop listening to sermons, you wanted to keep knowing what doctrine was and who is this God who has come to me? It is a testimony of all. For the first time in my life, I remember I was blind, but now I can see that was all I had. I was dead, but then I was alive. But then I began to be taught some things from the Bible, doctrine, justification, sanctification, glorification, you know, the three sons. Wow, I thought I was a theologian once I got those down and I'm still struggling. And then the doctrine of the Trinity, I didn't know anything about the Trinity, but I wanted to know what the Bible taught. What a glory, every new doctrine, every new truth, and we're all still learning, we're all still growing. But it is you hearing his voice. as truth, as true doctrine begins to be explained and taught to you from the Scripture. When you came to the truths of the doctrines of grace, predestination, election, it was the voice of your Savior from the Scripture that convinced you of it. And you should praise Him for it. All these glorious doctrines. You heard the voice of your Shepherd. But now the second way to recognize a true sheep is in verse 4. And when He brings His own sheep, Out his own sheep, he goes before them and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Now, what do you think it means here, this word follow? Well, it means to obey the shepherd. Every sheep that hears the shepherd's voice and then follows out after him, they only do so because they want to. Only because they want to and they want to, because now they know that the shepherd cares for them. They know that the shepherd gave them life and the shepherd promised them life and abundant life. And they know that he will protect them. I said it many times through the years, a true sheep or true Christian is never able to obey their Lord perfectly. Never. None of us are. But I believe every true Christian wants to. I don't know about you, at least that's my personal experience. I wish I could go all this coming week without ever committing the first sin. that I could follow my Lord from sunup to sundown till I lay my head on the pillow in such a strong fashion and way that I never sinned against him. But what a gracious shepherd we have who provides for that times when we do go astray. But true sheep follow the shepherd wherever he leads them. There's an old Baptist hymn that we used to sing, a very shallow hymn, but wherever he leads I'll go, wherever he leads I'll go. And it says, I'll follow my Christ who loves me. So wherever he leads, I'll go. I think that's the whole song. There's a lot of truth in it. This is the heart of a true sheep because their shepherd has proved his love, proved it by staying near unto him. You want to be near unto him. He's proved it by going to the cross for you. We'll see that later when you continue to read through how he lays his life down for the sheep. You will show me the path of life, the psalmist says. And that's your right hand of pleasures forevermore. This is the key to victory over sin is staying near to Christ. The closer you stay to Christ, your want to change, your desires change. And so when you're lusting after things and you want things that's of the world and it leads you astray, we've all been in there and all done it. The way to overcome it is to keep falling in love more and more with your shepherd. Well, third way to recognize your sheep is that they never follow a stranger. Verse five, they will by no means follow a stranger. Verse eight, all who ever came to me are thieves and robbers, but they sheep did not hear them. Though no sheep has perfect discernment. Nor knows all the Bible doctrine perfectly, yet generally speaking, all things pertaining to salvation and the doctrine of God, a true sheep will not waver into soul damning heresy. And not stay there. Jesus said many false Christs and false Prophets would come and lead many astray, if it were possible, even the elect. But it's not. The true sheep hear the voice of Christ. It's so interesting to see when you read the Bible, particularly in the New Testament, there's this bright thread that runs through all of it. You know what it is? It's these warnings about false teachers, false doctrine. I have often wondered as a pastor, when I read through and talk through the epistles in other places, why is there so much emphasis Hey, we're Baptist. We know the Bible. We got our doctrine. What do we need to keep talking about this? Worried about? Well, you need to always be concerned about it. There's always somebody wanting to come up into your church, bring some intriguing new doctrine that's contrary to Christ. And you are the pillar and ground of the truth, and you must fight for it. This is the purpose of our confession, because there it lays down primary doctrines of what the church believes. But at the end of the day, brother, no one, none of God's sheep will follow after Strange doctrine. But you don't do this because of your flesh. Let it be known to all of us today that the reason you and I do not join the Watchtower Society or the Mormons is because of God's spirit. And that's it. And his word. That's the only thing that protects you from getting a part of cults that are everywhere. It's not our native ability to protect us from false doctrine, it is the spirit of God bearing witness with our spirit that he is The true God. Doesn't mean we don't use our brains and fight against false doctrine and learn and study, that's a part of it. Paul warned the Church of Colossae, beware unless anyone cheats you through vain philosophy and empty deceit. And so you have to study. God uses truth. Well, brethren, I hope the text has been clear about shepherds, sheep and thieves and robbers, but I think we look closely and our Lord would also show us there's a potential fourth group here. Those who may yet become sheep, but haven't come through the door. Verses seven and nine, Jesus is very clear. Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. Verse nine, I am the door. And if anyone enters by me, he will be saved. This is the third of the seven I am's in John. It's a statement which he declares a self declaration of Christ saying that I am God. I am the I am that was in Exodus 3, visiting with Moses at the burning bush. And as I went back and I looked at all seven of these I am's in John, I found something that I had never seen before, that four of the seven come with a promise to save. Let me give them to you quickly. I'm the bread of life, John 6. He who comes to me shall never hunger. John 8, I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in darkness. John 10, I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved. Later, John 11, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. The promise of God through Christ. If you come to Jesus by faith and you become his follower, if you believe that Jesus is the son of God, you will prove that you too are one of his sheep. That you long to follow after Christ. But you must know that what Jesus is saying here when He says that He is the door, it means that He's the only way to be saved. He's the only true Messiah. It is John 14, 6, isn't it? I am the way, the truth and life. No man comes to the Father but through me. He is the only door. And the only door of protection, if you don't get into that sheepfold, you're out there in the world and you're unprotected from all the false doctrines and the false teachings and my unconverted loved ones. are right now believing something other than the truth. And it's worse than that. Because there's somebody else outside that sheepfold one day, and it's God's wrath that's going to come down upon you if you don't get into the sheepfold through the door. Through Christ. Turn to Him. He will forgive you of all your sins. He made atonement. He will forgive you. And there's someone here today, perhaps there certainly is, who have not yet called upon Christ in salvation. I hope that you'll do it. Today is the day of salvation. Brethren, in closing, I trust there were some applications for all of you throughout the sermon, but to wrap it all up in one, I would ask if you this day, as you are God's people in here, if you're following your shepherd closely today, can you still hear his voice when you read the Bible? Sometimes our ears get clogged because of sin and we don't hear things in the Bible so well. You go through seasons and you do your devotions and it's just not meaning a whole lot to you. What could it be that you've gone astray as Christ's sheep? More worldliness has crept in than you wish or would like to have had happen. Had some thieves and robbers come in and stolen your joy in the Lord. And the abundant life feels elusive to you. Well, you need not be. Jesus is the door and through the word preached here today, he's saying, come back in. Through me, you can be cleansed of all your wayward ways. And once again, find joy in abundant life. Do you hear his voice today, dear Christian? Come to the shepherd's table this morning. And find solace for your soul as you remember, as you remember Christ dying for you. He laid down his life for his friends. The allegory is for you, if you're Christ's sheep, to come to this table and find solace. You come to the table and you also find every time we read from the Corinthian passage a promise that he's going to come back. And indeed, he will one day, brethren, take us to the hillsides of the F-I-N-E pasture, the fine pastures of the new heavens and the new earth. We get to believe it and see it as we partake of the supper this morning. Let's go to Lord in prayer. Father, we thank you for sending the good shepherd, the great shepherd, the true shepherd, to call us out of darkness and into your marvelous light. Who are we that we should have been brought into the sheepfold? Lord, it was only by your grace we're not the ones trying to climb over and to steal, to kill and to destroy. We thank you, our Father, for your word, how it warms our heart, how we see Christ, how we believe and our faith is tested and our faith is strengthened when the word is proclaimed to us and grounding us more and more in Christ, our Lord, so that on our day of departing this fallen world, we will leave with confidence. We can leave with joy. We can thank you and praise you for that as we consider the supper, Lord, meet with us, we pray now in Jesus name. Amen.