 The title of our sermon is The Good Shepherd's Love for His Sheep. The Good Shepherd's Love for His Sheep. And our text is John chapter 10 verses 1 through 10. John chapter 10 verses 1 through 10. How does the Word of God describe or communicate the love of God for His people? Think about that question for a moment. Almighty God, the God who has created and now sustains all things for His own purpose and glory, He loves His own special people with a sovereign, electing, unconditional, and gracious love. God's love for His people is a sovereign love, fully independent of any constraint or any coercion or any influence. God chooses in Himself to love a particular people according to His own will and good pleasure. The Word of God teaches that He loves them with an electing love, choosing each of the objects of His electing love in Himself before the foundation of the world that they should be holy and without blame before Him in love. The love of God for His people is purely an unconditional love. Before they had ever done anything good or evil, He chose to set His heart upon them, unwavering and unassailable love, not based or conditioned upon anything lovely in its object. The love of God for His people is a gracious love, freely and fully given to undeserving, unworthy, and unclean sinners. God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Having loved His own with a sovereign, electing, unconditional, and gracious love, God of His own power and according to the predetermined purpose of His own will, He effectually calls them to Himself, and He grants that they should be made alive together with Christ. According to the exceeding riches of His grace and His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus, and by virtue of the perfect righteousness, sacrificial death, and resurrection of His own Son, and through the means of their repentant faith in the Son of God who loved them and gave Himself for them, God forgives them, He justifies them, He declares them righteous, He indwells them with His own Spirit, and He sets them apart to Himself, raised up together, and made to sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. God, the Almighty, the Creator of the universe, takes them into His bosom, a cherished, treasured, blood-bought possession. He sanctifies them, and He cleanses them with the washing of the water by the Word. To one day, to the end of that, He would present them to Himself, a glorious bride adorned for her husband, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. And those gathered together, that bride with the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters, as the sound of many thunderings, prays and worship the God of the universe saying, Hallelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent reigns, and the bride made ready is blessed to be called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Having overcome, they together with Christ inherit all things, their names having been written in the Lamb's Book of Life from before the foundation of the world in an act of sovereign, electing, unconditional, and gracious love. That's a glorious love, amen? And if you are His in Christ Jesus through repentant faith, that I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Jesus Christ our Lord. John 13 once said, Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. The love of God. The love of God is infinite in Christ, immeasurable in Christ, incomparable, indescribable, right? That's why the Bible can say that God is love. So we think about those things. Words fall short, don't they? The ability to describe that falls short. Words just aren't sufficient. One of the means by which God communicates that love to us is through His actions toward us. We see His love for the world in His provision for the world. The rain falls on a just alike with the unjust. We understand His love more fully in His patience toward this world, right? His goodness toward them, which is called His goodness that should lead us to repentance. We most clearly see the love of God for His own people in the life, death, and resurrection of His own Son. But another way that God more fully communicates the truth of His love in the Scriptures is through picture, through imagery, through analogy if you will. And it's amazing to me that in the use of those means, God desires for us to grasp the reality of His love. And He communicates with us in that way in the Bible for that purpose. He communicates the reality of His covenant keeping love in this way. So God, having then set His perfect love upon His covenant people, gives expression to that love in Scripture through a picture, through an image, through similes, through metaphors. And we often communicate our thoughts in the same way, don't we? Psalm 42 verse 1, the psalmist says, as the deer pants for the waterbrooks, so pants my soul for you, oh God. A picture is worth a thousand words. Psalm 18 too, listen to these similes and metaphors. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my strength and whom I will trust, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He's my stronghold. A pictures, the love and the care that He has for His people. He paints word pictures, if you will. And one of the ways that He does that is through the picture or the image of the bridegroom and His bride. He has betrothed Himself to His people and they are His bride. Hosea chapter 2, verses 19 through 20, says this, I will betroth you to me forever, God says. Yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness and justice, in loving kindness and mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness and you shall know the Lord. In another place, the Lord Jesus Christ is our head and we are His body. Ephesians chapter 5 verse 23, for the husband is the head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church and He is Savior of the body. And if you go on to verse 29, verse 29 says, for no one ever hated His own flesh, but He nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. In another place, He is our Heavenly Father and we are His children, all communicating the love of God for His people. Do you see? Psalm 103 verse 13, as a Father shows compassion to His children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear Him, for He knows our frame and He remembers that we are dust. Because of His great love with which He loved us, we are the apple of His eye. One of the most endearing pictures of the love and care of God for His own special people is found right here in John chapter 10. He is the great and good shepherd and we are the beloved sheep of His fold. John's purpose for writing the gospel of John is given to us in chapter 20, verse 31, where he says that the purpose for the writing is so that you would believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you would have life in His name. So here in John 10, John reveals that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, through this depiction of the good shepherd and his sheep. This is what it looks like. John chapter 10 is what it looks like to come under the saving and loving care of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus owns the sheep. He protects the sheep. He leads the sheep. He feeds the sheep. And in love, he lays down his very life for them, saving them, rescuing them, carrying them safely home. And it's his gracious, sovereign, electing love that is only further magnified by the sober fact that we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. In light of that truth, we can say with a psalmist in chapter 79, verse 13, so we then, your people and the sheep of your pasture will give you thanks forever. And we will show forth your praise to all generations. The glorious love of God and the thankful heart of God's people for it. Jesus Christ, the good shepherd, gives his life in love for the sheep. That's painted for us. This picture painted for us in John chapter 10. And we see the love of the good shepherd for the sheep displayed here in four ways. In verses one and two, he shepherds his people with a protective love, with a protective love. In verses three and four, he shepherds his people with a directive love. We'll talk more about what that means with a directive love. In verses five through eight, he shepherds his people with an exclusive love. And in verses nine through ten, he shepherds his people with an exhaustive love, a protective love, a directive love, an exclusive love, and an exhaustive love. Let's look first. He shepherds his people with a protective love in verses one and two. In verse one, John chapter 10, verse one, the Lord says this, most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. So the Lord's protective love then, in John chapter 10, beginning in verse one here, begins with a stern warning. He says, most assuredly, I say to you, listen carefully to me, Lord Jesus Christ says, amen, amen. This is emphatic. He who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same there is a thief and a robber. This is a stern warning. Now this is not unusual, right? The Lord gives us stern warnings throughout the scriptures, throughout the Bible. And warnings here, if you think about that, are often used in the Word of God as a means by which a loving, protective God warns us from departing from him. It's a warning for our good. It's a means by which God protects his sheep from strain. We see that in several places. One example is Hebrews chapter three, verse 12, beware brethren, he says. He's not talking to lost people. He's talking to those that profess the name of Christ. Beware brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. And it's through the means of a warning like that, that his people persevere in the faith. Take heed to the warnings in scripture. Another warning is from Hebrews chapter four, verse one. Since a promise remains of entering his rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. Don't come short of that rest. It's through the means of warnings like these that believers are protected from apostasy. So take warning and respond. Don't harden your hearts to the warnings in scripture. Heed the warnings. There are some of you here today, one that are not converted, they're not saved. Take heed of the warnings in scripture to the salvation of your souls. Take heed to the warnings in scripture about your future judgment. But if you're here today and you profess the name of Christ, you profess to be a brother or a sister, and you're not fervently, actively serving the Lord, and you're not faithfully growing and maturing in Christ, then take heed. Those warnings apply to you. Repent of sin with fervency and faithfulness serve the Lord. These warnings don't come lightly. These warnings have teeth to them. Listen to the warnings. Don't harden your heart. Respond to them. Some of you here this morning profess Christ and you're not healthy. You're not faithful. You're not fervent. Take heed to these warnings. Repent of sin. Faithfully serve the Lord. But notice first from verse one that the flock of God here, after the warning, the flock of God is enclosed in the sheepfold. He says 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. Most towns at this day and age had a common sheepfold where the local shepherds would bring their flocks, and sheep from various flocks would be mixed together inside the fold. Now the sheepfold, in God's protecting love, in the picture that's being painted here, the sheepfold is intended to keep the sheep in and danger out. And so often the sheepfold was surrounded by a very high wall, sometimes 10 or 12 feet high. And they paid a watchman or a guard in verse three. It's a doorkeeper to sit at a single entrance, a single gate on the way in. There was only, to the sheepfold, there was only one legitimate way in. That was the door, the gate to the sheepfold. Now through a single door, the shepherd would enter. And the true shepherd only and obviously would use that door. However, as we find out, the good shepherd isn't the only one interested here in the sheep. And that's why he gives us the warning in verse one. So now, picture then, if you will, the protecting love of God for the sheep. And the Lord begins this picture in verses one and two with a contrast, with a contrast. He contrasts one, the good shepherd that enters in by the door, and he contrasts that good shepherd with two thieves and robbers that climb up some other way. So let's look first then at the thieves and robbers from verse one. Now these thieves and robbers, they're primarily representative of false religious leaders at this time in Christ's day. Those that have opposed Christ, we've seen them already in the first nine chapters of John, haven't we? Those that oppose Christ here are described as thieves and robbers, the scribes, the Pharisees, the religious elite, those we've seen in opposition to Christ. The word there for thieves means that they steal by stealth and by deception. They're like Judas, the keeper of the money purse, right? That through deception, sneaking around, he stole from the money purse. The word for robbers is a word that means they steal using violence. These were like Barabbas, an insurrectionist, a zealot who killed in order to steal. And that's exactly, that's exactly, that's the picture of what these spiritual traitors were doing in the first century. That's the religious elite here opposing Christ. They were attempting to take for themselves even by force, even by violence if necessary, that which rightly and only belongs to God. They intended to fleece the flock. All who desire to come between the shepherd and his sheep, to come between the shepherd and his flock are thieves and robbers. Now what were they stealing? They're thieves and robbers. What are they stealing here? First, they're seeking to steal sheep from God. They're after the sheep themselves. They sought to lead disciples away after themselves. They were perjurers of division and discord. It's robbing God of his sheep here. They're robbing from God, his sheep. And in robbing God of his sheep, they're robbing from God the worship that is rightly due him, the praise and honor and glory that the sheep would bring to God. Now think about it this way. First, they robbed the people of the truth of God's Word. According to the Lord in Mark chapter seven, they rejected the commandments of God and they made the Word of God of no effect through their tradition. We've looked at that text several times before. They taught the people to do the same, to lay aside the commandments of God in lieu of their own tradition. And in that, they taught the people to reject God's Word. Luke chapter 11 verse 52, the Lord rebukes lawyers there in 1152 for having, it says there, taken away the key of knowledge. The Lord says they were not entering in themselves and those who were entering in, they hindered. So they were robbing the people of God of the Word of God and replacing it with their own traditions. But it doesn't stop there. They also stole, robbed from the people the grace of God in the gospel. They robbed the people of the grace of God in his Messiah. They robbed them of the gospel. Now think about this for a moment. These religious elites, they stole salvation from the people. They stole salvation from them. They enslaved them to a damning legalism and a works-based righteousness. Romans 10 verse 3 says, for they, these people, being ignorant of God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they have not submitted to the righteousness of God. Now who taught them to do that? It's these religious, these religious elites right here in John chapter 10. The opposition describes the Pharisees, the lawyers. They robbed the people of the grace of God in the gospel, stole salvation from them. Thirdly, they deprived the people, they robbed the people of the goodness and mercy of God. Matthew chapter 23 verse 4 says that they bind heavy burdens on the people, hard to bear, and they lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves will not move one of them with one of their fingers. So they robbed the people of the mercy of God, the goodness of God, bind heavy legalistic burdens on them. Now this is what traitorous thieves and robbers do. This is what's being spoken of here in John chapter 10. It's exactly, if you make the application right, it's exactly the same kinds of violent, soul-damning fevery that goes on today in the professing church. Exactly the same kind of thieving and robbing that goes on today. And so the Lord gives us a warning, and I want you to see that in another text. Look at Matthew chapter 7 with us. Matthew chapter 7, this thieving and robbing wasn't isolated here only to the first century. We see it in our day, and we have it in spades in Matthew chapter 7. And look with me beginning there at verse 15. Matthew chapter 7 verse 15. Here the Lord says, listen, beware of false prophets. And that's what these were in Jerusalem at that time. These false teachers, false teachers of Judaism, a Judaistic system that was against, opposed to the truth of God. Beware of these false prophets. And this is another warning here in Matthew chapter 7. Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing. They look like a sheep. They smell like a sheep. They baa like a sheep, right? But they're not sheep. Inwardly it says they are ravenous wolves. Now I know this is going to come as a shock to you. You've probably never heard this. But not everyone who claims to speak for God actually speaks for God. It's amazing thought, isn't it? In verse 14, the truth of God leads you through a narrow gate and along a difficult path. But that narrow and difficult path leads to life. These ravenous wolves, that word there for ravenous is harpox. It means a swindler or it means a robber. It's another word for robber. These robbering, robbing wolves, these ravenous wolves, they're ravenous. They're robbing for numbers. Numbers in their church. They're ravenous for money in their pocket. They're ravenous for fame, for popularity. Ravenous for book sales. Ravenous for appreciation. More people they have, the better they think they're doing. Whatever it is, they look like sheep. They smell like sheep, but they're not sheep. It's an outward veneer. It looks like they're leading you to heaven, but they are leading you down a broad path to destruction. These are ravenous wolves with lies. They lead you along a primrose path, flowery beds of ease all the way to hell. It says in verse 16 there, you're going to know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore, by their fruits, you'll know them. So what often are their fruits? Covetousness, deceit, a false gospel, compromising the word of God. Think about your own circumstances. What are the fruits of your associations? What are the fruits? Paul warned the Romans in chapter 16 to note those who caused divisions and avoid them. What are the fruits of your associations, your friendships? Who's influencing you? The Bible teaches we read it this morning that bad company corrupts good morals. What are the fruits of your associations? Who's influencing you? What is the fruit of your theology, the fruit of your thinking? Look at your life. The word of God transforms the life. If the Spirit of God dwells in you, then through the means of grace that God provides, your heart and your mind will be transformed, conformed into the image of his Son. If there's no progress in you, what is the fruit of your theology? What is the fruit of your thinking? Is it holiness and righteousness and obedience and growth and maturity? Or is it stagnation, a weak or absent assurance, apathy? By their fruits, you'll know them. Look with me at Acts chapter 20. Acts chapter 20. We see a similar truth taught in Acts chapter 20 beginning at verse 25. In Acts chapter 20 beginning in verse 25, Paul says, And indeed now I know that you all among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God will see my face no more. He's talking to the elders at Ephesus. And he says in verse 26, Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men, for I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. Listen, stick to God's word. You want to grow, you want to make progress, you want to be safe, you want to be protected in God's love, then avail yourself of the means of grace that God provides and cling to his word, cling to Christ, cling to God in prayer. Therefore, verse 28, take heed to yourselves and do all the flock. There's that word again. And again, it's communicating God's loving protection of his people, God's loving protection of the sheep. Therefore, take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departure, savage wolves, that's a word meaning oppressive, heavy-handed, severe, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves, men will rise up speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after themselves. They are robbing God of disciples. Do you see? Therefore, verse 31, here's the warning. Watch and remember. Remember that for three years, I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears. All professing shepherds of God, who do not shepherd the flock of God according to the word of God, are ravenous and savage thieves and robbers. They may have the appearance of sheep. They may have the appearance of an angel of light, but they're not sheep. They're not an angel. If they do not shepherd the flock, which Christ purchased with his own blood, they are traitorous enemies. They're enemies of the cross of Christ and they are to be avoided. Many today fit this category. Many today fit this category. They are false preachers of a false gospel, false teachers, and they lead people to hell. Now this is prevalent. This is prevalent in most Baptist churches today, most Methodist churches today, most Presbyterian churches today, most Lutheran churches today, most all Unitarian churches today, churches in which they teach us an easy believism, that the cost of following Christ is so miniscule, so low, anybody can do it. It's just as easy as ABC. They preach faith without a turning from sin. They hold to a form of godliness, but they deny its power. Catholicism today, just like Judaism in the first century. Catholicism preaches a works righteousness. Matter of fact, they pronounce an anathema, a curse on you if you believe, that's the counsel of Trent, if you believe that faith is faith alone without works. Most charismatic theology today confuses faith with experience. And because it confuses faith with experience, it brutalizes the sheep. Whatever the influence, whatever the false religion, when Christ calls you to himself, you must flee those false teachers. You must flee that false teaching. You have to flee that false influence. You have to flee those strangers, those ravenous and savage wolves, and you have to follow Christ. But listen, flee that bad church. Flee those lost false teachers. Flee fellowship with those that professed Christ that are lost themselves. Bad company corrupts good morals. Flee them. They become objects of evangelism. Most people, most people would never, ever consider trusting their health to an incompetent or ignorant doctor, right? How many of you would undergo open heart surgery with an incompetent, unproven doctor? Wait a minute, this is your first time? I'm gonna pass. How many of you would trust your life savings to a greedy or snakey banker? You'd never do it, right? But how quickly today people trust their eternal soul to the figment of some man's imagination? A Joseph Smith, an LNG white, I remember witnessing to a man one time, his response to the truth of God was, I know that what you're saying is true. I know that what they're doing and teaching at my church is false, but I'm just comfortable there. You would place your eternal soul in the care of a false shepherd for temporal comfort now? That makes absolutely no sense. When it comes to their eternal soul, most people will trust just about anyone. They'll pick a church based on comfort rather than the truth. They'll pick a church based on comfort rather than a church that practices accountability, and that for the good of your eternal soul. I don't care what you think about it, the Bible teaches accountability. We need to hold people accountable because we need to fear lest anyone fall short of heaven. They'll pick a church based on who they know there, rather than what is taught there. They'll pick a church based on how they feel when they leave, how they feel while they're being entertained. They'll pick a church for entertainment reasons, won't pick a church based on the preaching of God's Word, the truth of God's Word. That false teacher up there compromising week in and week out, and yet people go, and they go, and with no concern whatsoever for the eternal value of what's being said. Compromise, and compromise, you say to them, listen, what you're saying is not in the Word of God. I don't know where that prayer came from. Listen, that way of salvation is not in the Word of God. Well, that's how I got saved. It's insanity. I'm going to look by contrast with that, by contrast with those ravenous and savage wolves. Look at the faithful leadership of a true shepherd in that Acts 20 passage. Look at Paul's example. Look at verse 27. Paul did not shun to declare to them the entire counsel of God, the whole counsel of God. Paul's preaching the Bible. Paul's determined among them to know nothing but Christ and him crucified, right? Look at the end of verse 28. He shepherded the church of God that he purchased, that Christ purchased with his own blood. That's the responsibility of a true shepherd to shepherd the church of God. Look at verse 31. Watch and remember, Paul says that for three years he did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears. We've got to warn each other and warn others. There's so much error back in John, John chapter 10. Let's look at this contrast here in John chapter 10 between the shepherd of the sheep being the one who enters in at the door and all those thieves and robbers that climb up some other way. The true shepherd of the sheep verse 2 is he who enters by the door and that one who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. Now he's not coming in unlawfully here. He's not sneaking in over the wall. He's not sneaking in like a thief or a robber and notice first that he enters in at the door. Now there's a way to think about that. There's a door here to the sheep fold that's clearly established. Notice at verse 7. Drop down to verse 7. What does the Lord say? Most assuredly I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. So not only is the Lord Jesus Christ the good shepherd, in verse 7 he is the door. So now the door has been clearly established. From verse 7 we know that the Lord Jesus Christ is that door. So what this is saying basically the way to think about this is that this is speaking of the legitimacy if you will of Christ's claim to be the Messiah. They are all illegitimate. Christ is the only one who is legitimate. He is the Christ, the son of God, the son of man. He is the promised Messiah. He is the promised seed that would crush the head of the serpent. He is the prophet like Moses, the living water, the bread of life, the light of the world. He is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy and the fulfillment of the promises of God. He is born of the virgin, the only one born of a virgin, born under the law and yet sinless and perfect. He is the only one both fully God and yet fully man. He is the only one who can die as a substitute for God's people. He is the only one who can propitiate or satisfy the wrath of Almighty God for all of those who would turn from their sin and put their faith in Him. He is the one, the only one who has come to seek and to save that which is lost. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He is the Lord of glory, the Creator of all things. He represents here both the shepherd and the door. Do you see? He is the door through which all of the promises of God are yes and amen in Him. He is the door through which the redemptive plan and redemptive decrees of God are worked out. He represents both the door and the shepherd. The author of Hebrews in chapter 13 verse 20 calls him the great shepherd of the sheep. Peter calls him the shepherd and overseer of our souls in 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 25. In Revelation chapter 7 verse 17 he is the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne who will shepherd the sheep. So the Lord clearly takes this title to himself in John chapter 10 in verse 14 and in verse 15 he is the good shepherd that lays down his life for the sheep. And once again looking at that claim on the part of Christ it's a claim to deity. Do you see? It's another claim of Christ's deity that he is God in the flesh. This same analogy of the shepherd and the sheep used of God in the Old Testament and it was used to describe God the Father's relationship to his people. In Psalm 77 verse 20 the psalmist says you led your people like a flock and by the hand of Moses and Aaron. In Psalm chapter 80 verse 1 give ear oh shepherd of Israel you who lead Joseph like a flock you who dwell between the cherubim and shine forth. It's his loving protection. It's God's loving protection for the sheep that caused the psalmist to pray in Psalm 23 verse 4. Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for you are with me and the tools of the shepherd right your rod and your staff they comfort me. So in John chapter 10 verse 29 the sheep have been given to him. In verse 2 the Lord Jesus Christ is the true shepherd because he owns the sheep. Do you see? In verse 3 he calls them each by name and he leads them out. He calls the sheep and at the same time the sheep are his calling of God, his calling from God. The false shepherd now by contrast if we're looking at contrast the false shepherd isn't really in it for the sheep at all. They're simply there to fleece the sheep, fleece the flock for personal gain whatever that gain is. You see that in their compromise with the word of God you see that in the lack of genuine shepherding. A church can have good doctrine on paper and have absolutely no concern for shepherding or discipling the sheep. False shepherds come unlawfully over the wall. They creep in unnoticed as Jude says right. The true shepherd comes lawfully through the door visibly, boldly. False shepherds come to steal and to destroy and from verse 10 a true shepherd comes to give life. False shepherds leave the sheep astray from God. The true shepherd leads me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his namesake. And the obvious implication here from the contrast is that sheep are in great need of protection. It's implied from the text. Think about sheep for a moment. We need protection don't we? Sheep if you think about a sheep I learned some things about sheep this last week. A sheep have nothing to fight with. Did you know that sheep have no teeth in their upper front jaw? Not only do they have no teeth in their upper front jaw they only have eight teeth all together. So you're not going to get very far on eight teeth. Sheep have terrible eyesight. They can't see. Praise the Lord from John chapter 10 they can hear. They're timid. Sheep are timid. They're nervous by nature easily skittish frightened. Sheep similar to a turtle strangely enough when they're on their backs they can't get up they need help. So you have to turn them back over when they're on their backs just like children without a parent. Sheep are in constant danger apart from a shepherd. There are several predators of sheep higher up on the food chain and sheep are good eating. They have a habit of huddling together. Sheep huddle together and then sheep are easily confused and so sheep blindly follow themselves. I remember watching a documentary one time where a man was trying to cultivate a herd of sheep and one sheep began walking toward a cliff that one sheep went off the cliff and all the rest of the sheep went off the cliff after it. All of them dead wherever one goes the others all follow. You know sheep if you think about it sheep represent a really good argument against evolution because if evolution teaches survival to the fittest there's no way that sheep should ever make it. Sheep would die. Sheep must have a shepherd someone to stay on alert someone to tend to their every need someone to fight off enemies. Sheep need someone to love them with a protecting love. That's the picture that is communicated to us in scripture of God's love his protecting love for his people the good shepherd and ignorant sheep we're far worse than sheep aren't we because we'll wallow in our filth we're like a dog that eats his own vomit we're like a pig often that wallows in the mire worse than sheep and you need the good shepherd to lead you. In that knowing that sheep are in great need of protection great need of that protecting love on the part of God for his people you need to position yourself you need to put yourself in a position of being led being protected if you bite with your eight teeth and snap at God's hand when God seeks to protect you through means which he does love you through means grow you through means then you're taking your life into your own hands your spiritual life into your own hands cling to the shepherd be led by the shepherd hear the shepherd's voice how do you hear the shepherd's voice you read your bible out loud we we go everywhere with the shepherd's voice at our fingertips hear him you need the means of grace to remain outside or apart from separated from the means of God in protecting and loving and shepherding his own is to be vulnerable and exposed vulnerable to wolves vulnerable to those higher up on the food chain apart from the good shepherd apart from a good shepherd you are hopeless apart from the good shepherd and I don't mean simply outside of Christ and you may be saying to yourself I know I'm a Christian listen you you may with confidence say that you're a Christian but if you're not clinging to God through the means of grace that he provides for your protection for your shepherding then you are in a dangerous position without that you are hopeless and you are lost you'll not make it apart from the gracious loving protection and shepherding of the good shepherd you will not make it you're not going to make it let me give you another text that sums all this up together turn with me to Jeremiah chapter 23 Jeremiah chapter 23 God's covenant keeping sheep shepherding protecting love Jeremiah chapter 23 look beginning there with me at verse one it's a great text to summarize all of this Jeremiah chapter 23 in verse one God says woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pastor these are those who have climbed up over the wall they've snuck in right they've come in some unlawful way they've not entered in at the door their thieves and robbers ravenous wolves and they scatter the sheep of his pastor says the Lord verse two therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel against the shepherds who feed my people these are the people these are the shepherds who are feeding the children of Israel the sheepfold here God says you have scattered my flock driven them away and not attended to them may teach them instruct them but they're not attending to them behold God says I will attend to you for the evil of your doing says the Lord that's a scary thought verse three but I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries where I have driven them and bring them back to their folds and they shall be fruitful and increase that's God's promise I will set up shepherds these are under shepherds you have the chief shepherd Christ right the cornerstone which the builders rejected that has now become the chief cornerstone here he sets up under shepherds under the chief shepherd I set up shepherds over them who will feed them and they shall fear no more nor be dismayed nor shall they be lacking says the Lord it is an exhaustive love behold verse five the days are coming says the Lord that I will raise to David a branch of righteousness who's that the Lord Jesus Christ that's right a king shall reign and prosper and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth in his days Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell safely now this is his name by which he will be called the Lord our righteousness therefore verse seven behold the days are coming says the Lord that they shall no longer say as the Lord lives who brought us up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt but as the Lord lives who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the north country and from all the countries where I had driven them and they shall dwell in their own land my heart within me is broken because of the prophets all my bones shake I'm like a drunken man and like a man whom wine has overcome because of the Lord and because of his holy words for the land is full of adulterers for because of a curse the land mourns the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up their course of life is evil and their might is not right you see this is a judgment of God upon the people the judgment of God these worthless shepherds look at verse 11 for both prophet and priest are profane yes in my house I have found their wickedness says the Lord there's a myriad wicked atrocities and wicked abominations that are perpetrated in so-called houses of God today all over the place right their wickedness in the house of God says the Lord verse 12 therefore their way shall be to them like slippery ways when the chief shepherd calls his own by name and brings them out of the sheepfold they're on shore ground following the chief shepherd here all of their ways these thieves and robbers that climb over the wall come up some other way are on slippery slopes slippery ways in darkness verse 12 they shall be driven on and fall in them for I will bring disaster on them the year of their punishment says the Lord I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria they prophesied by bail and caused my people Israel to air that's the issue there isn't it cause the people of God to air if they were a prophet and God had sent them to run they would turn the people from their sin if they were a prophet God had not called them to run and yet if they preached God's word God says he would turn God's people from their sin here they don't turn them from their sin they cause God's people to air verse 14 also I've seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem they commit adultery and walk in lies they also strengthen the hands of evil doers think about that for a moment the easy believism gospel that is preached in most churches today strengthens the hands of evil doers how does it do that by teaching you that you can be a Christian and live in your sin you don't have to turn from your sin to put your faith and trust in Christ just try your artist strengthening the hand of evil doers it teaches the grace of God so to speak but denies its power strengthening the hands of evil doers so that the effect of that verse 14 no one turns back from his wickedness listen you must repent or you will perish you must repent or you will perish you must put repentant faith in the Lord Jesus Christ turning from your sin to trust Christ alone or you will die and go to hell all of them God says are like Sodom to me and her inhabitants like Gomorrah therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets behold I will feed them with wormwood and make them drink the water of gall for from the prophets of Jerusalem profaneness has gone out into all the land this land is profaned today verse 16 thus says the Lord of hosts do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you they make you worthless you know it's interesting that all we like sheep have gone astray we've all turned aside and we have all become as the scripture says unprofitable outside of Christ they cause you to err they turn you from God they turn you from righteousness turn you from holiness and they make you worthless why do they do that how do they do that because they speak of vision of their own heart it's not a word from the mouth of the Lord they continually say to those who despise me the Lord has said you shall have peace you see listen just walk the aisle you you shall have peace just say this little prayer you shall have peace go to mass you shall have peace be baptized you shall have peace just ask for forgiveness you shall have peace let your good works outweigh your bad works and you shall have peace lies they're all lies and to everyone who walks according to the dictates of his own heart they say no evil shall come upon you that's the message of the modern church listen no evil is going to come upon you and if there's any inkling that may be a little dabbling of evil might come upon you they're going to wash that off the table as quickly as possible they don't want to preach that it's not popular it's not going to grow churches it's not going to entertain the people not going to make them feel good about themselves they don't want to preach that so they say no evil shall come upon you peace peace verse 18 for who has stood in the council of the Lord and has perceived and heard his word who has marked his word and heard it behold a whirlwind the Lord has gone forth in fury a violent whirlwind it will fall violently on the head of the wicked the anger of the Lord will not turn back until he has executed and performed the thoughts of his heart in the latter days you will understand it perfectly I have not sent these prophets yet they ran I have not spoken to them yet they prophesied how many uncalled ungodly unsaved pastors are in pulpits today it's just staggering but if they had stood in my council and had caused my people to hear my words then what's the fruit of that what is a mark of that what does that look like they would have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their doings am I a god near at hand says the Lord and not a god afar off can anyone hide himself in secret places so I shall not see him says the Lord do I not fill heaven and earth says the Lord I've heard what the prophets have said who prophesied lies in my name saying I've dreamed a dream I've dreamed a dream sounds like Charismania today how long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesied lies those are lies you see indeed they are prophets of deceit of the deceit of their own heart their deceitful prophets who try to make my people forget my name by their dreams which everyone tells his neighbor as their fathers forgot my name for bale that's what most of Charismatic worship is today Charismania Charismaniac worship is nothing more than bale worship it's bale worship the prophet who has a dream let him tell a dream he who has my word let him speak my word faithfully what is the chaff to the wheat says the Lord is not my word like a fire says the Lord and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces therefore behold I am against the prophet says the Lord who steal my word everyone from his neighbor they're robbering they're robbers they're thieves they steal the word of God do you see they use their tongues and say he says behold I am against those who prophesy false dreams says the Lord and tell them and cause my people to air by their lies and by their recklessness yet I did not send them or command them therefore they shall not profit this people at all says the Lord written centuries ago and yet as relevant today as anything in scripture don't believe those lies the Lord Jesus Christ the good shepherd the true shepherd enters in at the door he's the only one who does listen hear his voice hear his voice if you hear his voice you have his voice in your hands hear his voice cling to his voice don't harden your heart there's an eternity to spend in his care you see you can be led and fed and cared for and matured and grown and protected and loved by the good shepherd the good shepherd that lays down his life for the sheep we'll see next time that he shepherds his people with a directive love in verses three and four to him the doorkeeper opens to the true shepherd the doorkeeper opens there's a lot of speculation as to what that represents the doorkeeper is not the doorkeeper to your heart it's not your heart open think of it the doorkeeper think of the doorkeeper as God and his redemptive decrees God from before the foundation of the world chose to set his love on a particular people a particular people that he would call to himself he would cause to be born again he would forgive them and cleanse them and save them and rescue them redeem them to himself for his own special purpose for his own glory for his own worship and praise think of the the doorkeeper that opens opens to the true shepherd the great shepherd the chief shepherd that goes then in and saves his people all the promises of God in him are yes and amen if you're here this morning and you're a Christian then delight in the fact that God has shed his eternal decreed redeeming love upon you that he has saved you that he's called you by name and he leads you out you're here today and you're not a Christian turn to christ in faith christ extends an offer he paints this picture in john chapter 10 so that you would believe that he is the christ the son of god and that believing that he is the christ the son of god you would have a life in his name it's not an ounce of fatalism in any of this truth from the word of god you can't say that i'll wait on god to call me i'll wait on god to lead me out god calls you to come turn from your wicked way let the unrighteous man turn from his thoughts let him return to the lord for he is merciful and gracious he is slow to anger and of great kindness who knows if he will turn and relent and leave a blessing behind him if you'll turn to christ he'll forgive you of your sins he'll wash you cleanse you justify you make you to sit in the heavenly places in christ jesus and will shepherd you home where one day entering his rest you'll enter into that eternal fold of god where you'll be with the lamb where the lamb is its light an eternal sheep in the sheepfold of our god amen let's pray thank you for these glorious truths thank you for the for your indescribable and matchless and incomparable and unspeakable love we acknowledge freely there's nothing lovely in us that is in our flesh the part from christ there are rebels and enemies dogs and pigs god we praise you and thank you that you freed us from the bondage of our sin you cleanse us and forgive us and justify us and seed us with christ and then one day with him we'll inherit all things we praise you for this glorious gift thank you lord for your effectual call thank you that you call us by name that it is a personal call that it is an individual call it's an intimate call i thank you for causing us to be born again i pray lord there's anyone here not saved that you as the gracious and merciful chief shepherd that you would save for your namesake that you would lead them out the sheepfold of their own sin and the sheepfold of this world set them apart to yourself sanctify them prepare them as a part of the bride we thank you lord that you do that glorious saving work and an asset you would do that work now we trust you for it we rejoice in it we love you and worship you for it in jesus name we pray all these things amen