Reading
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
They mentioned the scripture out of John 10. I am the way, the Truth and the Life.
Maybe it would be profitable to take up John 10 and if we have the time to.
Go from there to John 15, which is the.
Results of salvation. The burden of truth.
Did you mean John 4? John 10? Do you mean John 14?
On the way the truth of life is in the 14th chapter. You mean John 10 or 14?
Oh yeah, let's let's take a look at the phone just.
John 14 is where I am. The way the truth and life, right? Yeah, and.
But I was thinking of the portion of John 10.
I am the door.
John Chan and the fact that he has a ninth verse Lamb in the door by me if any matter.
I am sure that Chuck and his prayer prayed to John 14 and we certainly could, uh, take up part of that. But I was thinking of the first part of John 10 down to the end of the 18th verse. And then if it be the mind of the president, take a part of John 14. And then possibly, I know we don't have time. 15th chapter is fruit bearing and John 10 is an entrance into the grace and the mercy of God. And that and John 14, of course, is what?
We had in our song, wasn't it the Father's house? I go to the 1St place, whatever is mine, the brother. And I was just thinking of the 1St 18 verses of John 10 primarily. That's right.
John, Chapter 10.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, either interest not by the door into the beautiful, but climb us up some other way, the same as the seas and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sea. To him the Porter open it, and the sheep hear the voice, And he calls his own seat by name, and leadeth them out. And when he put it forth his own seat he goes before them. And as she followed him, so they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sea. All that ever came before me are thieves and rappers. But the sheep did not hear us. Now 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 the 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 in hireling, and not the shepherd whose own the sheep are not. See if the wolf coming, and leave it the sheep and clear, and the wolf catches them and scatters the sheep. The heroin cleaves because he is in hireling and cares not for the sheep. I am the good senator, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.
As a father knoweth me, Even so know I the Father, And I lay down my life to the sheep, and other sheep I have which are not of this bold them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one cold and one shepherd.
Therefore thus my father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. So man take us 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 if I received of my father.
We often sing, uh, 103, uh, we'll sing of the shepherd that died. Well, that's what we had in the.
First few versions of John Chambers here and verse 17 and 18.
The Lord Jesus Christ sent by the Father. Therefore does my Father love me because I made out the way.
00:05:06
The sheep falls in this chapter first one either or, if not by the door, into the sheepfold that climbeth up some other way, the same as a thief and a robber. But he did entertain. By the door is the shepherd of the sheep. Sheepfold is Israel.
The door is the way of entrance. Had to be the true Messiah.
False Messiah may not enter properly.
And, uh, and uh, so the door of the sheep is the scriptural way, according to the Old Testament, for the Messiah to come to that sheepfold, which is Israel and enter in and.
And and those scriptures that refer to His first coming have all been fulfilled, haven't they? He answered by the door into the sheepfold.
And he came back that way, and the Porter, the Spirit of God, opened to him. He was born of the Spirit.
And all the scriptures that referred to His first coming as all the scriptures that referred to His second coming will be fulfilled. They haven't all been yet, but these first ones have all been fulfilled. The door is used in three ways in this chapter.
The door into the sheepfold, that's according to the Scriptures of the Old Testament. And then he's he says I'm the door of the sheep. He comes into the sheepfold where his sheep are. And not everyone that's a sheep, not everyone that was a Jew and that she pulled was one of his own. He call it his own by name and leadeth him out. He calleth I'm the door of the sheep the proper way. So he comes in the proper way into the sheep folds.
And then he finds his sheep there and he calls them out of that sheepfold into something which we call today Christianity. Of course, it hadn't been all revealed yet. And then in verse nine, I am the door. So the door of the shape. He's the way of exit for the sheep to leave the sheepfold, which is which is Judaism, and then enter into something which is.
What we know as Christianity, verse nine, I am the door by me. If any man entered in, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture. He goes in for worship and out for service. That's just a little outline of the first part of John 10, but you get the door in three ways, The door of entrance into the sheepfold, which is Israel, and the door of exit. The Lord was a feisty sheep there. He calls him by name.
I was just thinking correct this If this thought is wrong, does he ever call in scripture Judas by name? I don't think so.
I don't think he calls him by name because he wasn't one of his. He wasn't one of his sheep. He enters into the sheepfold. I he call it his own by name and leadeth him out. And I want to ask everyone here, has he called you by name? Because if not, you're not one of his sheep.
He speaks in the chapter before of those who were spiritually blind, the leaders in Israel in contrast to the one that he had healed there in the 9th chapter, and they were spiritually blind because they hadn't been with exercise reading the Old Testament scriptures that had prophesied of the Lord Jesus coming to Israel as their shepherd and as their Messiah. He said to them on another occasion, Ye do err not knowing the Scriptures.
And so they were blind in that way. If they had been reading the scriptures with exercise and searching things out the way they ought to have been, they would have recognized that this is the one who had come by the door. This is the one who had come according to the Old Testament prophecies. But they not only were blinded themselves, but they and didn't want to enter in, but they sought to hinder others who would have entered in. They were the ones that should have been standing for rectitude and righteousness.
00:10:03
And pointing the general populace in Israel to this one as the shepherd who had come by the door. And so I believe it just confirms what brother Chuck said, that the door here in the opening statements of our chapter is the Old Testament prophecies in the Lord Jesus came according as it was prophesied. It might be helpful just to look at a couple of those prophecies in connection with, particularly with his being the shepherd. Go to Genesis 49.
Genesis chapter 49 is in connection with Joseph of who is beautiful type of the Lord Jesus In the Old Testament, Genesis 49 and verse 22, Joseph is a fruitful bow, even a fruitful bow by a well whose branches run over the wall. The Archers have sorely grieved him and shot at him and hated him, and his bow abode and strengthened the arm of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob. Now notice this from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel.
This is one of the Old Testament prophecies. This is the door that we're Speaking of in our chapter. Notice another one in Zechariah chapter.
Chapter 13.
Zechariah, Chapter 13.
And verse 7.
A Waco sword against my shepherd and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts, Smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered, and I will turn my hand upon the little ones. Well, I think we see in the light of the New Testament and what we have in John 10 who these prophecies are really about. And so the Lord Jesus came that the Scriptures might be fulfilled. And it's very interesting in his presentation in Matthew where he's particularly presented to the Jews. There are more Old Testament prophecies in the book of Matthew.
Than any of the other of the four Gospels. Again he came. He entered in by the door.
When the Lord Jesus.
First came into this world. There was one John the Baptist who was baptizing.
And the, the low down in the nation of, of, of, of the Jews in that day, the downcast, the, uh, the outsider, the Republicans, the sinners, they came to John to be baptized. They came and, uh, acknowledged, uh, that they were with an unforged generation.
And we're baptized now in this uh, uh, third verse.
And he called us his own sheep by name. There were those that were there that had been baptized by John, who had confessed what they were, and they were ready and ripe for the Messiah.
And so those are the ones that he called by name. They had already confessed what they were. And that's what it takes from me. Romans UH-10 gives us that.
It's beautiful to reflect upon the author of John's Gospel.
Umm, that was the disciple whom Jesus loved. He takes, he takes that expression five times. It applies it to himself, and it really applies it to all of us who are his. He, He loves us all, but he appropriated that for himself. But when he said that one of you shall betray me.
I think the other said, is it I?
Is it I? But John doesn't, he said. Who is it?
Who is it? He knew it wasn't he. He knew him well enough to not say is that I? Because he knew it wasn't him. And that's beautiful to know him so well that we know his, that we're his and belong to him. And John knew that, didn't he?
00:15:12
That's really the, uh, force of the 39th verses. And in the preceding chapter when the Lord said for judgment, I have come into this world that they would see, not might see, and they would see might be made blind. In other words, there was a mix of reality and unreality and the Lord had come to draw that line, didn't we?
And so that's the judgment that he makes. And it's like a 10th chapter comes in and and now he's making a judgment as to who are the sheep and why not?
Very helpful in scripture to see that it is only a true child of God that is ever referred to as a sheep. All we like sheep have gone astray. And the natural man is likened to sheep because sheep are wayward and like their own way. Not that I've raised sheep or had anything to do with them, but from those that have. And so all we like sheep have gone astray. But I think it's important to realize that.
It is only a true believer who is referred to as a sheep in the word of God, and so he'll feed his flock like a shepherd, gather the lambs in his arms, and gently leave those that are with young. And I believe when the shepherd is brought before us in the various aspects in which we have it in Scripture and in the New Testament, it has to do with the individual love and care that the Lord Jesus has as the shepherd for each of his own.
A shepherd might have a vast flock, but she'd need individual care for the one creature that need to be cared for individually. So the shepherd goes through that flock and he has an individual carefully sheep. That's the one who died for us and cares for us.
That's what the expression by name brings out, because in the scripture, whenever it's by name, it's referring to one and only one individual.
You might have a class of many, but when it's by name, it's bringing out a one and only one individual within that class, and a personal and individual. And so it is the Lord Jesus as my shepherd. It is an individual relationship between us that's involved in it. And when the Lord Jesus calls them by name, he's referring to 1 by 1 individually calling. And so it should be with each one of us in the room.
This afternoon there should be that sense that the Lord Jesus knows my name. That is, he knows me as a one and only individual that has a relationship of heart between the two of us. And if we don't respond to that, then he will have to say, I know you're not in the coming day. And if he doesn't know us individually and personally, then someday he'll have to say, I know you're not.
But now is the opportunity for us to recognize and enjoy. He knows me by name.
Isn't that the meaning dawn of the Strait gate?
Only one person at a time goes through that gate.
And so it's an individual thing with everyone.
Salvation is not a mass situation.
And as you said, it's an individual thing and he knows each of us by name.
He says to the Jews that didn't believe.
He says in verse 27, verse 26, But she believed not. Because you are not of my sheep, as I said unto you, They were the they were sheep, they were Jews. He says later, I have other sheep which are not of this fold.
Not of the Jewish fold. And there was a Gentiles that would believe. But then he says, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life. They shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. John 17. He tells us what that eternal life is. This is life eternal, that they might know thee.
Talking to his Father, the only true God and Jesus Christ, who now ascend to know Him, to know the Father and to know the Son is proof that you have eternal life. That's what eternal life is all about, isn't it?
00:20:15
It's a very touching scene, isn't it? To see Mary weeping by the sepulchre, grief stricken. They have taken away our Lord. We don't know where they took Him.
And then this gardener, she thought, appeared and he just said one word. He might have said, well, don't you know who I am? I would have spoiled the scene, wouldn't it? But he just says Mary. And then they catch the heart, her heartbeat where she says ribbon, I master of my heart. Well, that's the union. Now we've been brought into that. He can call us by name and we can.
Respond.
To him what she says. I just want to add this one correction you said because they have taken away the Lord. Well, that's not what she said. She said they have taken away my Lord. Makes it very personal, doesn't it? Another very enjoyable in the same respect is that the Lord Jesus goes into a cemetery and he says the one word Lazarus.
Imagine the power of calling by name.
A dead man.
You can't not respond if you're His. And so Lazarus comes forth. Amazing that no matter what, when the Lord Jesus calls at the day of the resurrection to those who are His sheep, every single one, dead or alive, is going to hear the voice and equally respond to it.
So he says in Isaiah 43, Fear not, for I have redeemed the I have called thee by thy name. Thou art mind. And Christianity is intensely individual, isn't it?
There is a collective side that we often speak of, and that's a precious side of things. But I think it's good to get a hold in our souls, brethren, that Christianity, as I say, is intensely personal. Every one of us are precious to the heart of God.
And I've enjoyed in the Millennial City in its description in a coming day, that not only does he speak there of the gates of Pearl and every Pearl was every several Pearl with one Pearl, and so on, Speaking of the church and so on, But we find there too, that the walls of the city are garnished with individual precious stones. And when we go back to the high priest and how he bear those stones with a name, each of the names.
Of the children of Israel on his breast. We can see that those stones speak of what we mean to his heart individually. Every one of us are precious to the heart of the Lord Jesus as individuals. And so he's called us individually has been brought out. Every one of us had to come as individuals. But when we get into the sheep for to the, uh, flock of God as one of his sheep, we don't get lost in the crowd, brethren.
We are individuals, maybe there's some of us here and we come from a large family and we feel like we're sort of lost in the crowd. I've talked in staying in homes to young people and boys and girls and ask them which end of the family do they come on and talk to a young fellow one time and uh, I said, are you the oldest in your family? And he said yes. And I don't appreciate it because the younger ones get all the favors. Well, maybe sometimes we feel like that in a large family. Maybe even a shepherd has difficulty meeting all the needs of his flock individually.
But not so with our Shepherd. He knows us individually, and not only does he know us in an outward way, He knows our at the very thoughts of our hearts. He knows our down sittings and our uprisings. He knows us our family backgrounds. He knows us from a past eternity. He watched our members being formed before we were born. And so I believe this is what we have in the thought of the Shepherd. It's the individuality that each one of us ought to enjoy.
In Christianity.
In verse three it says to him to whom? Because 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 then when he put it forth, his own sheep he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.
00:25:12
That's wonderful to realize that might have a dog and someone is challenging you. That dog is not yours. That dog is mine. OK, let's test them.
And so call them by name.
And, uh, when he's called my name, our, our dog is Honey bear. As soon as I say Honey bear, he knows who to go to because he knows his own master. And that's, that's so precious. Do you know him? If you don't know him, he doesn't know you.
And if he knows you, you know him as.
Beautiful as you were speaking earlier, Chuck, in regards to the full the Jewish fold. Isn't it interesting? And and the sheep hear his voice. They all hear his voice.
But there are several flocks in that fold that belong to other men. But this shepherd has a specific flock, and it says and he calleth his own. That's beautiful, isn't it? In this world there's many voices. Do we hear the voice of only one?
That's the voice of the Lord Jesus, and that's the only voice we should get. There's many voices as well, but he called us his own.
Sheep by name. That's so wonderful too. If you have a problem in your life and you're one of His sheep, then who's going to give you the guidance that you need to answer your problem? Your own sheep, your your own master, the shepherd, your own shepherd. And he will do so if you get your instruction from him.
We had a little experience.
I, I'm a city boy and I don't know much about farming, but we had a little experience that made us think of this, uh, portion of my wife and girls and I were visiting on a farm not long ago. And, umm, there were some sheep. And there, my girls and I, we went over to the fence and we tried to coax the sheep over. We even had some grass and different things in our hand and we, we tried to call the sheep. We had no idea if any of the sheep were named, but we just tried to coax them over and we had to give up after a while.
But what was interesting, after a while, the daughter of the owner of the, uh, establishment came out and she had some lettuce or some scraps from the kitchen in her hand and she went over to the fence and she called. Come Sally, come Sally. And there was an immediate response and one of those sheep stood up and came over. But what was interesting is all the other sheep followed too. Not just the one that was called by name, but all the other sheep that sheep when she responded to her Master, to the shepherdess, Why?
It had an effect on the others as well, and so I thought of it in connection with this. The Lord doesn't just call us, but as we've been saying, He calls us by name. But isn't it interesting that when we respond to that call, it can often have an effect on others? I'm thankful for those who I've seen respond to the voice of the Lord. Jesus has had a tremendous effect on me, just as those other sheep. It had an effect when the one sheep answered to her name. So no man liveth to himself and dieth to himself.
But again, I believe it shows how that God takes the things of nature and He applies them in a spiritual way so that you and I can understand very clearly what it is to have one who cares for us, what it is to have one who died for us.
I'm sure there are those in this room that have been in circumstances and had the Lord call them by name. I don't like to speak of myself, but I will know what took place. I was in a life and death situation and I was just about resigned to giving up my life. And the voice came. Ron, don't panic.
You know, that was such a, such a strengthening thing to my heart. Don't panic because that's exactly what I was doing to fight for life and to hear that voice above the noise of the water and to be delivered. So that's just an example, but I'm sure if others were to speak up, they've heard their name called.
00:30:09
Be delivered.
Beautiful picture of the fourth purse, isn't it?
He put forth his own sheep, but he goes before him.
So the whole pathway that we have before us has been gone before by 1.
Hebrews 4 in the last couple of verses and, uh, and that high priest, he's been touched by everything that we've been touched by and it ends up yet in the park, but he knows exactly what we've gone through. He knows exactly what we are going through. And so here we have a, he goes before them. So the path is laid out.
And do you think that in this particular portion they let them in a bad way, you know?
And he'll never lead us in a bad way either if we follow him.
It's interesting to say that he calls them by name, because in calling someone by name it implies also in the Word of God that you fully understand.
Exactly who it is that you're calling. It's not just the sound of a word in the word of God, but it's the sense of it. Adam was probably the most intelligent. I think he is the most intelligent man that's ever lived on the earth. And it's implied in the fact that Adam had the responsibility to name the animals only. He, none of us is there with what we know would have known enough to properly name them as to what they are in their characteristics are.
But the Lord Jesus, he knows us individually and he knows everything about us. And how wonderful to no one who knows everything, he'll never discover something in us that will, can I say, say, oh, if I'd known that, I'm sorry, but we wouldn't have a relationship or anything like that. But it's not true in the opposite direction. Many times at first, we don't really know his name.
But we know his voice in the very previous chapter, the man in John 9, when the chapter begins, he's blind. He doesn't see, and he doesn't really know who the Lord Jesus is. But the Lord Jesus speaks to him and his blindness, and he hears his voice and he hears the result of that voice. And then when people talk to him, he doesn't say, oh, I know who he is and so on. But he knew his voice.
From that point on, and in fact, when the Lord Jesus comes individually and speaks to him, and he says, Dost thou believe on the Son of God?
His response is, who is he, Lord?
That I may believe he knew the shepherd's voice. He responds to the shepherd's voice. The shepherd had drawn him in such a way that he now calls him Lord, but he didn't really know him yet as the Son of God. As soon as he's presented, then he can say yes. A little example of it. I was with my youngest grandson who's was just last week, was eight weeks old. That child knows his mother and his father's voice.
If you ask the child, well, what's their name, he wouldn't have a clue. He wouldn't have a clue. But he knows the voice and he responds to the voice. He doesn't really know my voice in the same way he doesn't respond to me. How wonderful it is that when we receive the Lord Jesus, when we become one of his sheep, as little as we may know, we know his voice and it draws a response from our hearts and we get to gradually learn. And so we learn to say Lord.
As we should we learn to know him, the Son of God, and of course he has hundreds of names and we'll be learning them all for all eternity because of the Infinity or the greatness of his person. Well, we have all eternity which you might say no his names and will do so, but at least we get to start and enjoy his voice and respond to it, no matter how little we may know in the beginning. It's so beautiful down how.
He says a man that is called Jesus, open mine eyes later, let's say a cell of him. He's a prophet.
00:35:09
And.
They they said some derogatory things about the Lord. He says here's a marvelous thing that he have opened my eyes. Now we know that someone that's born blind has never had his eyes open. If this man were not of God, he could do nothing. He's making progress, isn't he? He makes me and then Lord and then.
I believe so wonderful to come to know him.
And a stranger's voice. Will they not follow because they know not?
The voice of strangers, you know, that's true of a Christianism. You hear a strange voice in Christianity or in the systems of men, and a true Christian doesn't follow it because it's a strange voice and he knows not the voice of a stranger. And we can be thankful for that, that we're preserved by the power of the Spirit of God from being deceived by a strange voice.
I think it's the Spirit of God.
I, I believe that's right because often, and I think it's helpful when you read through Scripture to realize that the unnamed man is often a picture of the Spirit of God. For instance, Abraham's servant, who isn't named in that chapter is a picture of the Spirit of God going to fetch a bride, uh, for Christ as he goes and brings Rebecca back, not named in that chapter. And you have several examples in the Gospels too, the man bearing the picture of water.
Who led the deci who the disciples followed to the house again, the water is a picture the word the man's a picture of the spirit. Another example that comes to mind is when the Samaritan picked up the man and took him to the inn. He said to the innkeeper take care of him. The picture of the Spirit of God taking care of his own in the in the assembly that in as a picture the assembly the man a picture of the Spirit of God again, he's not named there and so I believe that the quarter here.
The picture of the Spirit of God and it's beautiful to see that not only did the Lord Jesus come in accordance with the Old Testament prophecies, but he came in the power of the Spirit of God. He was begotten of the Holy Ghost. Umm, as far as his incarnation, we find that the Spirit of God comes upon him in the form of a dove to mark him out before his public ministry. And the voice declare, this is my beloved son.
He could read that portion in the Old Testament prophesying of him that the Spirit of God was upon him, for he had anointed him to preach the gospel to the poor, and so on we find with his death, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God.
As to his resurrection, he says he was put to death in the flesh, quickened in the Spirit. His whole life and work was one in accordance with the Old Testament prophecies and in the power of the Spirit of God.
I'd like to just say this about a name too, before we pass on. And that is that you often find in scripture that those who were brought into a place of blessing often had a name change. And so we've been Speaking of how a name is very individual. But I would suggest too, that a name change is a brings a person into a place of, of personal communion and fellowship that is not enjoyed by any other.
The reason I say that is because the promise to the overcomer, I think it was in Pergamos, was that they would receive a new name that no man knoweth, saving he that hath received it.
It's something that is just shared between the person that gives it and the person that receives it. I know you've heard me use this illustration before, but I'll I'll repeat it as I travel and visit in the homes of many of the Saints. I find that often there is a special little name that is enjoyed often just between a husband and a wife. There's a name perhaps, that the husband uses in referring to his wife.
And it would be very inappropriate for me or anyone else to enter that home.
And to address the wife by that name, no, it's something that is enjoyed just between the one who gave it and the one who has received it. It has to do with personal relationship. And so, brethren, we have been brought into this place of very individual personal communion and relationship. Now the question is, do we speak by the grace of God to enjoy that personal fellowship and relationship? There's no excuse, brethren, for being out on the fringes of the flock, so to speak, if we're not enjoying that personal communion and fellowship.
00:40:32
It's not a lack on his part. He's made full provision for us to enjoy it. The question is, are we seeking to follow closely to the Shepherd? Are we walking by his side, following him?
A sheep who wanders off on its own from the path and from following the shepherd. It's still loved by the shepherd, but it doesn't enjoy the same communion, the same contact with the shepherd as the sheep that are seeking to follow closely.
No, it is.
Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. He was the door of the sheepfold. And to him the Porter opened that door, and he entered in according to the Old Testament prophecies as to His coming. Now he's the door of exit for the sheep. And then he says, All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers. But the sheep did not hear them.
And if you turn to Acts chapter 5, we have that referred to. When they heard that, they were cut to the heart, and took counsel to slay them. Then stood there up one in the council, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, had in reputation among all the people, and commanded to put the apostles forth a little space. And he said unto them, Ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves.
What she intend to do is touching these men. For before these days rose up through this boasting himself to be somebody, to whom a number of men about 400 joined themselves who was slain, and all as many as obeyed him were scattered and brought to nought. After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him. He also perished, and all, even as many as obeyed Him, were dispersed.
Now I say to you, refrain from these men and let them alone. For if this council or this work to be of men, it will come to naughty, but if it be of God, you cannot overthrow it, lest happily ye be found even to fight against God. Those are good words from Gonalio. Uh, they didn't hearken to them, but uh, here he says, all that ever came before me are thieves and robbers.
And the Gamaliel refers to a couple of them.
But the sheep, his sheep, the true sheep, did not hear them.
And then once he's gone into the sheepfold and entered by the Spirit of God, leading according to the word of God, and then he leaves his own sheep out for what?
Verse nine, I am the door this time it's the door of entrance into the new order of things that He was to introduce by me. If any man enter in, he shall be saved. First time that word is used, we use it all the time. We're saved now we're believers to Him.
He shall be saved, and he shall go in and out.
And fine pasture, it's not a sheepfold, it's not a confinement, it's not something that has a wall around it, but it's a pasture that and he's the shepherd and he leads his sheep in in that pasture and they follow him. I'm the door. If by me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved. So now we've entered into the fullness of blessing that we have in Christianity.
That's what's referred to in verse nine. He shall be saved, shall go in and out and find pasture. A little bit later he says in verse 16, other sheep I have which are not of this fold. I'm also on the spring and they shall hear my voice and they shall be one. It says in the King James a very serious blunder in the translators. 1 flock. It should read 1 shepherd. They the fold refers to Judaism.
00:45:11
And so to say there shall be one fold and one shepherd, that's that's wrong. One flock, the fold is Judaism in a confined place. A Sunday school teacher who was teaching the children about what does that mean? There should be one fold. And she said, well, that refers to some men that are out in Venus or on Mars or another planet. She had no idea that referred to the Gentiles. That referred to the Gentiles.
But, uh, that was a very ignorant teacher, to say the least. There shall be one flock and one shepherd, and we belong to that one flock. We don't belong to that one fold. He's taken his own out of that and brought them into umm. Now there's no June or Gentile, but one family and one flock actually is that. Could you say it's such a transfer from Lowell to Grace? Yes.
Yes, wonderful thing, liberty of grace. The law is a confinement, so to speak. And grace is freedom, isn't it? But grace is a person. And so it's not just one flock, but one shepherd. Because it's not that the sheep are scattered, the bull denotes that an enclosure and the sheep kept together because of a wall or a fence. But in Christianity it's a person, it's the shepherd. And in the measure in which the sheep are attracted to the per the shepherd.
The measure in which were attracted to the person of Christ. In that measure we'll find ourselves in fellowship with one another again when we think of a flock of sheep, a sheep, sheep that go off and wander on their own, Not only are they not following the shepherd, they're no longer in the company of their fellow sheep. But in the measure in which the heart goes out to the shepherd, not because we're enclosed by the law or some other confinement, but in the measure in which our hearts go out to the person.
The Lord Jesus spoke these words publicly. This is not yet when He went with his disciples apart into the upper rhythm in chapter 13, but these were spoken in a, can I say, a mixed audience of people. And so he tells, He presents himself here in these verses, and then you see the response in verse 19. There was a division, therefore among the Jews for these things. They heard them.
They listen to them and divided them, and they start to talk about it. And many of them said, He hath the devil, he's mad, why hear ye him, And so on.
My point in it is this.
They only knew to talk about him.
And we're divided in what they had to say about him. The contrast is found in the 23rd Psalm, where it starts out, The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want he maketh me to lie down in green pastures, and so on. But in that short little sum, about midway through, it changes from talking about the Lord and what he was. And it gets to a point when it says, Thou art with me.
In other words, he starts to talk directly to the shepherd and have a personal enjoyment of the shepherd. And it's the same way here this afternoon. We can talk for an hour and a half together about the shepherd, but the real intent of the Spirit of God is that as we talk about him, our hearts would become that individual. When we in our hearts we say shepherd Lord, and enjoy a sense even while together.
Of Himself speaking to us and being able in our hearts to give thankfulness of response to himself. But the end of you might say they spent their hour and a half or whatever listening to what the Lord Jesus said, but in the end all they could say was he said there was no personal response to his voice. But always, even when we're together, brother. And the intent of God is that.
We listen, we hear what's being said by somebody saying it, but God wants us to get it down in such a way that it's as if it comes directly from himself to our own heart. That we want to listen this afternoon to the shepherd's voice, not the people speaking, not to the sounds of this brother saying this and that brother saying the other, but we want to listen to the shepherd's voice and respond to his heart for us and care for us this afternoon and so.
00:50:19
When he says I this and I that, we want to respond. Yes, Lord.
That's something like what he said to Philip Done. Hast I've been so long time with thee, Philip, and that thou not know me?
You know he had been with him for about 3 years at that point.
Good question for each of our heart.
There are three outstanding comments made about the sheep in this chapter, which I think are very precious. We find in verse four, they follow and brethren, it's a lot easier to follow someone than just have them give us the directions, isn't it? I again, I've told this story, but I remember one time we were in a sea and I think it was Saint Louis and we were trying to find the home we were to visit in and was when I wasn't that familiar with Saint Louis years ago and.
Finally I swallowed my pride and stopped and asked for directions and.
The lady that came out to give me directions, she said something like this. She said, well, you go down three blocks and you turn right and you'll go a block or two and then you'll see a light and you'll turn left. And when you get to the Y, take the right Y. And by that time she knew by the look on my face, I wasn't taking all that in. She said that's OK, I'm going that way, just follow me. And it was a lot easier to have her give me direction, have to follow her than just have her give me directions. And the Lord has done both. He's given us infallible guidelines in His Word. His Word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. But then He goes before.
He says just follow me. It's about the last words he said to Peter in John's gospel, Follow thou me. But then you have another statement made in the 14th verse. Not only do they follow him, but they know him.
Now, brethren, only in the measure in which we follow and walk closely with Him, are we going to know Him.
You might have a friend and you've known that friend for a short time, but the more you walk with that friend and enjoy communion, the better you get to know that person. You say, I thought I knew that person when I first met them ten years ago, but boy, I really didn't know them relative to what I know now. And so as you walk with somebody, you get to know them. And then the next comment, which we've made some remarks on is in verse 27. Uh, my sheep hear my voice and so.
These things are, are precious, but they're practical too. Are we, uh, seeking to follow him? If we are, we'll get to know him. If we get to know him, we're going to hear, to understand, or we're going to hear his voice. We're going to know the shepherd's voice. If you have a friend and you spend a lot, a lot of time in their company, why when that friend calls on the phone, you don't have to ask who's on the phone. You say, I know that voice because I've spent time in that person's presence.
And only in the measure in which we spend time in His presence are we going to know the shepherd's voice. So these are three outstanding comments made about the sheep. Are they character really practically characteristic in our life?
Like to just point out an example of it, what Tim just said with respect to the Lord Jesus himself in verse 15.
Uh, he says, as the father knoweth me, Even so know I the father and I lay down my life for the sheep. Immediately after saying I know the father, he says I lay down my sheep, I lay down my life for the sheep. Why would he lay down this life for the sheep? In that in this context, I know my father, I know my father's heart for those sheep. I know what he cares for, how he feels about them, because I know my father.
And the Lord Jesus, you might say, he knew the Father perfectly. And so he says, My father wants those shapes. My father loves those sheep. I'll lay down my life for them. Anyway, he heard the Father's voice too. This commandment have I received of my father. Look at verse 14 in the King James. I'm going to read it in Mr. Darby's translation.
And the context, the the real meaning is very deep and rich. Verse 14 I am I'm reading Darby. I am the Good Shepherd.
00:55:10
And I know those that are mine comma and of and am known of those that are mind comma as the father knows me and I know the father. Now just let that sink in. Do you really understand that? He says I know those that are mine have known of those that are mine as the Father knows me and I know the father.
I pondered that and pondered it and pondered it and I don't know. So I can really fathom it right now. Do you get the point I'm making? It's quite different than the King James.
He says I am the Good Shepherd and I know those that are mine and am known of those that are mine. How does he know them as the Father knows me and I know the Father? Tremendous knowledge, Tremendous knowledge.
Very deep. You remind me, Chuck, of a good verse that John wrote in his first epistle in the last chapter. I've read this at home many a time, but it it talks about knowledge and I'll read it here first, John.
520.
We could read 19 as well.
We know that we are of God and the whole world lies in wickedness. There's some knowledge that we have, as John says it.
And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding that we may know comes from God.
What the one you were talking about while ago?
Giving us an understanding that we may know him that is true. Well, who's the true one?
It's a it's a complex thing to me here and we are in him. That is true even in his Son Jesus Christ. I and my father are one who says this is the true God and eternal life. You're mentioning about that eternal life earlier in this meeting.
Just wanted to go back to that because I think what uh, brother Chuck just brings out in this verse is particularly brought out in the 17th chapter. Any the Lord Jesus prayer is connected with that knowing because it says in the right beginning of his prayer, this is life eternal that they might know the the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou has sent.
God wants us to know Him in such a way that He has given us a life. We call it eternal life. He has given us a life which is capable of entering into what He is in His heart and in His nature.
We weren't born with it. We had a knowledge of God in creation, but we didn't know God as we know Him now until we were born again. And through new birth we received the life of the family of God. We received the life of Christ, and consequently we can know our God. It's life eternal to know Him. We have a life that loves as God loves.
We have a life that is pure as God is pure in His Holiness and in his character. And so we we are brought to enter into that and just one extra comment about it. The lot, the knowing that is being talked about is not in the mind. True knowledge in Scripture gets down into the heart that you might understand in your heart. And if I don't have a heart like God.
I'll never know him. You can read the Bible forever or you're not allowed to because you've got a short life, but your knowledge of facts is not the knowledge of God. And so in Ephesians chapter one where it really brings some of it out, it's hard knowledge. That's where knowledge has to reside in us. It's not in the mind, it's in the heart. And so when you say a man loves his wife, he may know 50 facts 1,000,000 facts about her, but knowing is knowing her heart.
Then you say, well, he knows her heart, He really knows her. And if you don't know somebody's heart, you don't really know you know you know about him, but you really can't say you know them. But with God we've been brought to know him, and this is life eternal. So. So we know the Father as the Son knows the Father, and we know the Son as the Father knows the Son, and we have that same nature and life.
01:00:20
That's what life eternal is that they might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent and it's not a life that's forever. I mean all everyone that's been created of the human race will live forever, but some in hell, they they don't have eternal life. They don't have that nature, but we do so that that's really what's in that verse, isn't it? And in Ephesians chapter 3 in his prayer. Well, the working of the Spirit of God in US that we might enter into this. It doesn't stay that we can comprehend it in its fullness that is.
Well, you can know something without having the same capacity of perhaps the one who has communicated it to you. And so it says we know the love of God. And then when it says the height, heights and depth and breadth and so on, that really isn't talking about the love aspect of it, but it is the fact that we know our God. We have the same nature and character, even though God is infinite.
And capacity, we'll never know the fullness of that, but we can still know Him. We can still know Him even though mentally we will never comprehend. We know the Lord Jesus will always know him, but we have to stop short of saying that we can comprehend Him and understanding and all that He is. Only God knows that and can know that. But God says we'll know. You'll not know that. You'll never know that.
But you can know it uses the word apprehend in Philippians. Uh, about that kind of a thing I follow after.
If that I may apprehend. He doesn't say comprehend. I I think we can't do that but apprehend.
That for which I have been apprehended or arrested of God. God wants us to know. That's beautiful. Yeah. But I wanted to, I wanted to add what you spoke on in, in, in Pella.
Uh, I didn't, I didn't, I wasn't there when you spoke on it, but I got the tapes and I enjoyed it so much. Umm, the first ten of these 615 which in his own time, the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which in its own time the blessed and only ruler shall show. I'm reading Darby again. The king of those that reign and Lord of those that exercise lordship who only.
Has immortality.
Well, don't we have immortality? Not in the sense that spoken of here. This is only true of Deity, who only has immortality dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen nor is able to see, whom the honor and eternal might even. That's what you're talking about, God, that which is beyond the creature.
That's Matthew 1127, isn't it?
No man knows the sun saves the Father. And then I'm curious. Yeah, Yeah. But you can't go beyond that. But then how beautiful the next statement. And no man know if the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son does reveal him. How beautiful that is God.
There's another nice verse to bring into the picture, and that's John 637 where it says all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
We don't know it, but we have to do it the Father first. We thought we had to do with the Lord in accepting Him as our Savior and to be brought into eternal blessing. But here the Father.
Brings us to the sun, and he doesn't reject the one of us.
Now to introduce the thought that there's no such a thing as eternal security, you have to turn a blind eye to.
Chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. What comfort, what rest, what peace we can enjoy today in our relationship. Eternal life is not something we have gained or deserved. It's it's given to us, isn't it? That new nature, that dairy nature of God himself. But there's always.
01:05:08
An aspect of truth that goes beyond any of us and that's only known by God Himself.
That's the portion you just read in the 6th chapter of.
Nor can.
Referred to us, but uh.
I think it's worth just going and looking at it for a moment in Ephesians chapter 3.
Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 18.
May be able to comprehend with all the Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height.
And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
And it's verse 19 sometimes verse 18 is connected with the 19th verse as if it's talking about the love, which I don't believe that it is, but the point here is verse 19 is and in addition to know the love of Christ and then it says which.
But I could know it and I can worship. Read the end of verse 19.
And to know that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.
Can you tell them that? No, never been able to.
The heavens of heavens cannot contain thee, and then it says that ye should be filled with all the fullness of God. It's amazing.
That's amazing.
Just just for maybe the young people God has so made us.
Even without the question of sin, God has so made us that nothing in the visible creation will ever fully satisfy the desires of our heart.
In Ecclesiastes said, he set the world in their hearts. In one sense, that means that the world is too small and all that it contains is too small to satisfy the earnings of the human heart.
There's only one thing that God has made or not. I don't know if I should choose the word made, but there is only one thing that God has presented to us that is sufficiently great to satisfy the human heart, and that's himself in the person of the Son. And that's great enough so that with you can just feel the heart to overflowing forever. And if you put all the fullness of God in, the vessel is too small to contain it.
But oh, it's great to fill it and overflow it and just keep overflowing it for eternity. And so it will be we're just little in one sense, little tiny vessels, although God has given us a nice capacity as a creature, but as it were, he, he just will keep filling that vessel forever to overflow. And that very overflow produces in our hearts of worship for himself that will go on without without stock on large day mornings. Sometimes some of us sometimes are filled to.
Our hearts are overflowing with himself and often times after the hour is over, a little bit beyond, and our thoughts go to lunch in the afternoon and this and that. Well, the worship in a practical sense is kind of put aside for a little while. But any in heaven, it won't be so. It won't be so. We'll enter into a state of worship that will be unending and uninterrupted. Would you?
Please explain the last three verses of John 9.
I asked the question.
The last three verses of John 9.
01:10:09
Read it aloud, please.
John 9 verse 39 And Jesus said for judgment, I am come into the world that they would see not might see and they would see might be made blind.
And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard those words, and said unto him, Are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, If you were blind, ye would you should have no sin. But now you say, we see.
Therefore your sin remaineth.
Umm to explain those verses you have to say what the whole chapter is about, but try to be very brief and what those verses mean. This chapter is about a man that's physically blind and the Lord Jesus gives him his physical eyesight and in the same process it gives him spiritual eyesight so that he can see and know the Lord Jesus at the same time. There are other people in this chapter.
Who have their physical eyesight, but they are spiritually blind. They begin the chapter in spiritual blindness and they end the chapter in blindness. But they said in judgment upon the Lord Jesus, we see this man is a nobody. He claims to be something and he is not. And so the Lord Jesus himself was the test of mankind. He was the light that came into the world.
If man has eyesight, he will see him and respond to him. And so for judgment he came because they saw him. He was perfect light, but they proved and his he was the judgment of them. Because they were blind spiritually, morally, they didn't recognize who he was. And so he says that they would see, not may see. That was the blind man.
In the beginning of the chapter who was also spiritually blind and we've noticed in this reading how gradually his his eyesight was open and so he says that they would see might be blind. The Pharisees said they saw but in truth they were blind. Eyesight in the word of God is always connected with faith and if you if it says a man sees it implies that he has faith and if a man is blind, he's blind because.
He does not have faith. The wisest so-called people living on the planet earth at this hour are the most blind men that live in this world at this time. And they are blind because they do not believe, they do not have faith. And if you do not have faith, it is impossible to see and impossible please God too. It's impossible to please God without faith and it's impossible to see Him, to know Him.
Without faith. And so he says, some of the Pharisees heard him say these words. They heard the words and they said, are we blind? Also? They could send through what he said that he was talking about them in some way. And they they were saying, are you calling us blind? Are you saying we don't see? And he said to them, if you were blind, you should have no sin. That is if you do not, if you truly have a reason to be blind like the man in the beginning of the chapter.
He Washington, it was of no fault of his own. It says who? Who sends this man or his parents? And he says neither the man nor his parents, but that the glory of God and God was going to do a work to his glory. And so he said.
If you had taken the position of blindness, I could have opened your eyes, as it were, But you didn't take that position. You said you see, and because you say you see.
You remain, and they do remain. In the end of the chapter. They're still blind and a man remains. God will work with the blind man.
But the problem is the man that says I see who's really blind.
And that man is the man who says I see who is truly blind is the man who is without faith, who do not does not believe. And the world is full of blind people because they say we see and they will not. But the world by God's grace, God works with blind people and gives them their sight. But they're the ones that say one thing I know that there whereas I was blind that was this man one thing I know that there are size line. Well, he says now I see and so.
01:15:09
Someone comes up to me and he gives me a whole lot of arguments about believing the Bible and what it says and it's truth and all the rest of it. And I can say to that person one thing I know, whereas I was blind, now I see he's not going to convince me with all the arguments in the world that the Bible is not true and Christ isn't true. I see and so do you if you know the Lord Jesus, all the arguments in the world that Satan may use it to try to shake the face of a person, but the reality that simplicity of the situation is.
I see, I see, I know he's my Lord, He's my savior. I see all that you say to me. The man may say, well, I see, but I can say in my heart He's blind.
Whereas I was blind, now I speak.
2:38.
230-823-8238.