ARE YOU REALLY A SHEEP?
John 10:14-29
Introduction:
1. We will do something a little different this morning.
2. We will turn to another place before we expound this passage!
3. Look with me in Matthew 7:13-23.
4. I find this passage very disturbing.
5. If I read it right, it means that there are multitudes of people who think they are saved, yet they are not!
6. It means that at the judgment, many people will say, “Lord, we worked for You and did many wonderful things in Your Name!”
7. Yet, the Lord will thunder out, “Depart from me, I never knew you!”
8. Now let’s turn back to John 10 and look again at just three verses—John 10:27-29.
9. Are you really a sheep of God?
I. The Caretaker of the Sheep (v. 7-15)
• The Lord Himself is our Shepherd (Psalm 23)!
II. The Characteristics of His Sheep (v. 27)
A. They belong to their Shepherd—“My sheep.”
1. “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” (I Corinthians 6:19-20).
2. “Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men” (I Corinthians 7:23).
3. Since sheep are the possession of the shepherd, he is responsible for their care and provision.
B. They listen to their Shepherd—“hear my voice.”
1. Verse 3-5 add to this idea.
2. “Are you a sheep?” I ask.
3. Well, tell me if you listen to His voice!
4. Did you listen one day to the call of salvation and respond?
5. Do you listen to the call of separation and service?
6. Do you listen to His voice through the written word of God?
7. Do you care? Or would you rather read the newspaper or some paperback romance novel?
8. How about the preached word of God?
9. I want to know—are you listening to your Master, or another master?
10. Remember, Jesus said, “No man can serve two masters!”
11. Neither can you listen to two voices at the same time that are telling you opposite things!
12. The devil is directing you daily, if you are not careful.
13. You find his voice on television, in country, rock, and rap music, in many novels and such!
14. Whose voice are you listening to?
15. When Christ beckons, do you listen?
16.
C. They have a relationship with their Shepherd—“I know them.”
1. Do you remember those chilling words we read in Matthew 7 where Jesus says to some people, “Depart from me…I never knew you”?
2. If you are one of the sheep in the Lord’s fold, Jesus said He knows you!
3. The Shepherd knows his sheep and a good one will lay down his life for his sheep.
4. Jesus is the perfect example—He laid down His life for us on the Cross of Calvary!
5. The word Jesus used for “know” speaks of a deep, intimate relationship!
6. Not only does Jesus know us, but He counts us as friends!
7. “Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you” (John 15:15).
8. Verse 14 adds this thought—Sheep know their Shepherd!
9. Not only does the Shepherd know the sheep, the sheep know the Shepherd.
10. When we speak of relationship, we are not talking about merely knowing the facts about the Lord!
11. We are talking of knowing the Lord Himself!
12. The relationship a true Christian has with the Lord cuts both ways!
a. Christ knows each Christian
b. True Christians know Christ!
• “Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity” (II Timothy 2:19).
D. They follow their Shepherd—“and follow me.”
1. This is the ultimate proof of the sheep.
2. Any person who claims to be a sheep, yet never follows Jesus, is a deceiver or deceived.
3. That person is either lying to us, or lying to himself.
4. Jesus makes this statement as a simple statement of fact: SHEEP FOLLOW THE SHEPHERD.
5. Show me a person with no desire or inclination to follow Jesus, and I will show you a person who is not one of His sheep.
6. Though all sheep are prone to wander, Jesus knows His own and will not let them go.
7. He seeks them out, calls to them, and they respond and follow---even though they might have strayed.
8. When you stray away, one of the greatest proofs that you are a true Christian is that the Lord will not allow you to live your life in direct violation of His word—He will come looking for you and take you back into the fold!
9. If you have been wandering around for years in sin and selfish living, and the Lord has not convicted you or called you, I would question my salvation experience if I were you!
10. Jesus said in John 14:15, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”
11. Every time we follow and obey Jesus, we are saying to Him, "I love you."
12. Every time we follow and obey Jesus, we are also saying, "I trust you. I believe that you know what is best for me."
II. The Confidence of His Sheep (v. 28-29)
A. In His Promise (v. 28)
1. He promises eternal life.
2. He promises escape from punishment.
3. You could say this promise is both positive and negative!
4. I am thankful that once I became a believer, I never have to worry about death and hell again!
5. John 3:16 states if most beautifully.
6. Aren’t you glad about this promise?
B. In His Protection (v. 28)
1. I wouldn’t want to live a day without knowing that I was living in the safety of the hands of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2. There’s something special about those hands---the nail prints tell me that though I may sometimes question their direction, I can never question His intention.
3. He protects us from eternal danger!
a. Ill: trust him with eternal life and this life!
b. Randy Reid, a 34 year old construction worker was welding on top of an almost completed water tower outside Chicago. According to writer Melissa Ramsdell, Reid unhooked his safety gear to reach for some pipes when a metal cage slipped and bumped the scaffolding he stood on. The scaffolding tipped and Reid lost his balance, falling 110 feet and landing on a pile of dirt next to some rocks and construction debris. A fellow worker called 911, and when paramedics arrived, they found Reid conscious, moving, and complaining of a sore back. As paramedics carried him on a backboard to the ambulance, Reid had one request: "Don’t drop me." (Doctors later said Reid came away from the accident with just a bruised lung.)
c. Sometimes we resemble that construction worker. God protects us from harm in a 110-foot fall, but we’re still nervous about three-foot heights. The God who saved us from hell and death can protect us from the smaller dangers life will throw at us this week.
4. He protects from earthly dangers!
5. Hebrews 13:5-6
6. Ill: A mother dropping a baby
When Pastor Thomas Collins called on a family from his church, he found the mother to be very despondent and feeling that god had forsaken her. Looking at the baby in the woman’s arms, Pastor Collins said to her, “Drop that baby on the floor."
Startled by the suggestion, she looked at him in disbelief.
“Well,” he said, “for what price would you do it?” Indignantly she replied, “Not for as many dollars as there are stars!”
He then said kindly, “Tell me, do you really think that you love your child more than the Lord does His?”
That truth broke through the woman’s despair!
C. In His Power (v. 29-30)—“greater than all…I and my Father are one”
1. We can have confidence in His power!
2. Jesus said in Matthew 28:18, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth!”
3. “These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: as thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:1-3).
4. “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.” (Jude 24-25).
