Finding Pasture in Christ..

Welcome to Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church. Thank you for using and sharing our resources. What you're about to hear is God's Word from one of our teaching elders. We trust that God's Word will inspire, instruct, and bless you. For further teachings or information on our ministry, please visit us on our website at cornerstonerbc.

com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. John chapter 10 and let's read from verse 1 through 21 for the context. Am I missing something brother?

Let's read from verse one through 21. This is the word of the Lord. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him, the gatekeeper opens.

The sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. when he has brought out all his own. He goes before them and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. The stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of a stranger or strangers. This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

So Jesus again said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.

I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and fleas. And the wolf snatches them and scatters them.

He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me. Just as the father knows me and I know the father and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold.

I must bring them also and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it up again.

This charge I have received from my Father." There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. Many of them said, he has a demon and he's insane, why listen to him? Others said, these are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?

Amen. The Lord said that heaven and earth will pass away, but not a single word of his words will pass away. And we believe it, and this is why we sit under the preaching of it and live our lives under the authority of his word. Let's come before him and ask his blessing upon our time together. Lord, as we have our open Bibles before us here in John chapter 10, a glorious passage that speaks to you as the Good Shepherd, speaks to you as the door of the sheep.

Lord, we ask that you would be among us. We ask, Lord, that you would bless this time that we have together. Bless our hearts. Help us to see, Lord, the beauty, the splendor, the magnificence that is Christ, our Redeemer, our Messiah, our King. Help us, Lord, to see him more clearly.

Illuminate our heart, Lord, I pray with your word. Give us a greater depth, a greater understanding, so that our love for you will be stretched and increased. Because I'm completely convinced, oh Lord, The more we know of Christ, the more we come to love Him. So help us this day, Lord. Bless us.

I pray that the events of this day, whatever is in our minds, whatever has occupied our attention up until this point, Lord, I pray that You'd help us, help my brothers and sisters to have the attention needed, Lord, to receive from Your Word. Lord, I pray that You'd give me, as my brother prayed earlier, some clarity of mind. so that the words I speak, Lord, will be truth, and the truth that you intend to feed your sheep with, even this evening. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Well, we are continuing where we left off, our continuing in the consideration of John chapter 10. We made it to, last time, if you remember, we were in this chapter, but last time was only last week, so it wasn't that long ago, and we got as far as the first profound statements of our Lord, the I AM statements that we find throughout the gospel according to John. We came to the first one in this chapter, the fourth in fact, throughout the book, but the first one of two that is found in John chapter 10. When Jesus declares and he says to the crowd and to the audience that is before him, I truly, truly, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. Verse seven.

And then again, he repeats in verse nine, but this time he says, I am the door. They understand what he's speaking to. This evening, we will continue from that point. We'll fall short of the second great I am statement, which is I am the good shepherd. We'll get to that, God willing, in a few weeks time.

But if you remember last week when we did consider the contents of verses six through eight, primarily Jesus being the door after a small segment of considering the heart attitude and the spiritual ignorance of the then spiritual leaders, the religious establishment of the day, namely the Pharisees who are now before our Lord, After considering their state of unbelief and their state of spiritual ignorance, we went in and we began to consider what it means for Jesus to be the door of the sheep. What does it mean for Christ to be the door? Now, there's many things I could have said on that day. There are many rich and profound truths that we can expound and unpack with Jesus being the door, but I really only wanted to concentrate on one last week. And I hope you remember, the emphasis of most of the sermon last week was simply this.

It was the emphasis on the exclusivity of Christ in entering into the kingdom of God. The sheepfold of God, the people of God in that pen that Christ speaks of, the only way into that sheepfold is to come through this one and only door. Uniquely, exclusively, Christ and Christ alone. No other way in. No other way out.

Christ and Christ alone. It is through Christ, it is by Christ, it is in Christ that one's come into the household of God, into the family of God, into the kingdom of God. That's where we end up last week. That's as far as we got. Verse 8, and this week I intend to pick up from where we end up last week.

And to be honest, I did want to continue and get us as far as verse 10. I may have even mentioned it through the sermon last week, that wonderful verse about the abundant life that Christ has come to give us. However, we're not going to get as far as that. We're simply going to go as far as verse nine. Verse nine will be the verse of our consideration this week.

It would have been lovely to go that far, but I assumed that you're like me. We want to be able to sit under the preaching of God's word, that is the emphasis of what we do here, but we also want to enjoy the fellowship over a meal and not rush that as well. So may the Lord bless the time, as little as it is that we have together, we trust that he will bless it and bless our hearts. But if we were going to summarise this whole sermon, which is practically the contents of the text before us in verse nine, But I was gonna summarise really what it is all about. It is simply this.

What are the benefits? What are the benefits of being in the flock of God? What are the benefits in entering that door that is Christ and now becoming part of the flock of God, the people of God? What is the benefit of being in the kingdom of God? Let's bring it more contemporary, shall we?

Because if I know you well enough, there's no farmers among us, at least not now in your current occupation. So let's bring it to today. What is the benefit? of being Christian. We carry his name, Christ.

What is the benefit of being named as the people of Christ? Now there's many things I can say, there's many things that the Bible teaches and tonight we're not going to be comprehensive, we're not going to be exhaustive I should say, probably a better word. as to what the benefits are, because we can go through months and months and still fall short and only really scratch the surface of the infinite treasures and the richness of what it is to be in Christ, to be in the kingdom of God as glorious as it is. And every single time we stand on this pulpit and preach, every time we open our Bibles, we glimpse a little bit more of what it is to be in the people of God and the grace of God and the mercy of God that has been shed upon us. But there are three, three details, I think, that are very clear in the text.

And I want to really just summarize those for you. And I want to stick to those three points. What are the benefits that are in verse nine that speaks of those who enter into the door, that is Christ, who is Christ? And what are the benefits of being in the flock of God, according to verse nine? The first is this.

Entering into the sheepfold through Christ the door, is salvation. Entering through or into the sheepfold through Christ the door is salvation. The second is those who enter into the sheepfold through Christ the door enjoy safety and security. And third, those who enter into the sheepfold through Christ the door. Remember, there's only one way.

I had to repeat it three times because there's no other way. they enjoy or will have sufficient sustenance for all of life. Entering into the sheep gate through the door is salvation, one, two, safety and security for those who belong to the flock of God, and three, there is sufficient sustenance, provision for the people of God in this sheepfold. entering into the sheepfold through Christ, the door, is salvation. Verse nine, I am the door.

If anyone enters by me, he will be saved. There's salvific language here. Jesus is saying, anyone who enters through me, anyone who enters by me, will be saved, will be rescued, will be delivered from whatever it is that you're a part of. There is salvation taking place here. Now, I want us to remember that this sheepfold, I said last week, and I hope You can remember this, that the sheepfold spoken of here in verse 7 onwards is no longer the same sheepfold that is spoken of from verses 1 through 5.

You remember, that was the communal sheepfold. Many shepherds will have their sheep in there, but the true shepherd, who is only Christ, comes, calls his sheep out, and they follow after him. This is a different type. of sheepfold. Everyone, everyone in this sheepfold belongs to Christ.

You see, in the previous one, if you remember, I said that sheepfold which Christ calls his own out of represents what? Represents Israel. It's like the old covenant given to a particular people, the people of Israel, was a mixed people. You remember that. Those who are under the old covenant were a mixed people.

Some were enjoying the very essence and the very spirit and the very heart of what it is to know God, to love Him, and to know Him by faith. They believed upon God. They trusted in Him. And so their actions and their fruit of obedience was in relation to and rooted in a true faith in Yahweh. Now, there are others in that sheafold who weren't part of the remnant, who weren't true believers.

Under the old covenant, they were still doing the activities. They were still offering the sacrifices. They were still attending the feasts and the festivals. They were still offering and giving of their tithes. They were doing all the religious activities that they need to do, sit under the teaching and the preaching of the word.

They were doing all those sort of things, but the heart was not engaged. They were ticking the boxes, so to speak. Why? Because they live in a context where religion is highly elevated, and they didn't want to become a stigma in other people's eyes, who'd be looked down upon. So we'll do the right actions, but really the heart was far from God.

God says, these people are on me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. from me. Now in that communal sheepfold there was a mix but Jesus called his own out. And those he left behind were not the sheep of Christ. Now we're talking about a brand new sheepfold in verse 7 onwards.

And this sheepfold has one door, that is Christ. And everyone who enters into this sheepfold, we're told, is saved. There is salvation, there is a rescuing, there is a delivering of whatever danger or wherever they were in beforehand, wherever the sheep were, whatever the dangers were beforehand, the eternal dangers to the soul, are now behind them. Why? Because the door.

because of Christ, because the Good Shepherd has let them in and now they're part of that new sheepfold. Salvation. is exclusive through Jesus Christ. That's what's implied here. One door, one sheepfold, one shepherd, one way to God.

One way to God. And that was the emphasis of last week. There is no other way to the Father. Jesus says it in John chapter 14 verse 6, probably a verse that many of you have remembered. I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father but through me, all other sheep outside this sheepfold. They don't belong to God. To use this language, they are not saved. They are yet in darkness. Now, beloved, there's no coincidence that when Jesus begins to speak about the benefits of believing upon him, of entering into this sheepfold through him, the door, there's no coincidence that he begins here, All who enter through this door, anyone who enters through this door, he says, is saved.

Salvation is the primary and the most important of all the benefits for those sheep who come in. Because in that salvation lies the greatest privilege that they could ever experience. To be forgiven of our sins. Our sin is rebellion before God, trespassing, the transgression of his law, the wages of sin is the soul that sins shall, death, eternal death. And those who enter shall be saved from what?

What are they saved from? The Bible tells us in Matthew 1 verse 21 that you shall call him to Joseph about Jesus being born in the incarnation. You shall call him Jesus for he will save his people from their sins. Not only their sins, but the consequence of their sins. Why do people need to be saved from their sins?

Because their sins are infinitely offensive to God. And the God who cannot look upon sin, the one who is holy, holy, holy, and lives in unapproachable light, must, and must, he must recompense that sin. He's a just God. His throne is a throne of righteousness and justice. So every sin must be accounted for, which is bad news for everyone who has ever existed.

Every one of these sheep who have not entered into that door, that is Christ, are going to face God on their own. Imagine that day. Imagine standing before the judgment seat and giving a defense for yourself. Many of the righteous people in the Old Testament, when they were exposed to the glory of God, fell on their face and said, woe am I. Imagine standing before the judgment throne and giving a defense for yourself.

Beloved, the first and the greatest benefit of walking through that door is the salvation of your soul. It's to know that your sins have been forgiven. It's to know that now the God of the universe who was angry with the sinner every day is no longer angry with you. You've been reconciled to this God, and when he looks upon you, he remembers, he sees his son in whom you have entered. You have entered through that door.

You have been united through Christ. That door is the Savior, the resurrected Savior, who has wounds on His hands and His feet. You enter through that door. You're smothered with His blood. And His blood saves you from your sin.

And when the Father looks upon you, He sees a redeemed sinner. He sees the righteousness of Christ. And He says, I love you. You're no longer an enemy, but I still sin. Yes.

You're accounted with the righteousness of Jesus because he was accounted with your filth and your evil and your wickedness. He bore your sin in his body upon the cross. Glorious. Where else could you start? You could hang there, but it goes on.

But how wonderful is it? Beloved, without considering what Jesus is saying here, that the greatest and the most profound benefit is salvation and everything that entails, not only forgiveness of sin, but reconciliation with God, a true intimate relationship to God of the universe through His Son. If you're going to go to the benefits of salvation without first knowing that your absolute desperate need is to be forgiven of your sins, then everything else is idolatry. Let me explain it. What are the benefits of being in the kingdom of God, in the family of God?

What are all the benefits? And I'm going to list some for you here this evening. But all those benefits together, if you just want to go and claim them on their own, you're being idolatrous. How come? Because you're being self-centered.

You're asking the question, what's in it for me? I want to satisfy my flesh. I want to satisfy my liking. Now, let me ask you a question. Let's just look at the benefits that we're going to consider this evening in verse nine.

Verse one, salvation. The second, if you remember, safety and security. And then the last one was what? Sufficient sustenance, right? The provision for all your needs in this life.

Let's just look at those. If you were to go out to do a survey in the streets and you find the most hardened of sinners, Someone who's rebelled against God, doesn't care for Him. And you come and say, hey, would you like to have safety and security in your life? Yeah, sure. Would you like to be provided for, where your sustenance, where your provision is always maintained, because you'll always have what is required for the rest of your life.

You'll always be sustained for. Would you like that? He'll say, where do I sign up? But then tell him, like we once were, and I'm not speaking down to the sinner, because we were in this situation without the Lord opening our eyes as well. But then you tell him, however, first, you need to recognize who you are.

You need to recognize that you're a sinner before a holy God. You need to recognize your filth, your wickedness. You need to recognize that right now you're an enemy of God. And God doesn't look down upon you with a smile on his face. He looks down upon you with righteous fury and his wrath that you cannot even begin to imagine.

Now, repent. Now fall on your knees and repent and trust in this Jesus Christ because you're useless on your own. You cannot do it on your own. You can't save yourself. In the state you're in, you're pitied, you're good for nothing.

In the words of Christ, you without me, you can do nothing. You tell him that and he falls away and says, no, that's offensive to me. I'm not going to listen to that. I'll take the benefits, please. But forget this, all this salvation stuff.

You can have that yourself. You see, the benefits come because of who Christ is and because of the salvation we enjoy through faith in him. The benefits are enjoyed because of Christ, because we've entered through him. Christianity is not a guild. It's not a club.

You don't go when someone goes and is thinking about religion for the first time. They don't go around getting pamphlets from the different organisations and say, okay, which has got the best perks for me to choose? You might do that for a club. But this is what not true Christianity is about. First and foremost, it's about your greatest need.

It's to recognise that you're in desperate danger. that as it stands, as it stands, apart from Christ, you're gone. So in other words, there needs to be a recognition of your need to be saved. You know, if you offer salvation to someone and say, look, let me speak to you, you know, when we're evangelizing, we have different ways to evangelize. Sometimes we speak to people and we say, let me speak to you something about the salvation of your soul.

I need to give you the most important message, you know, for your own salvation. And you're thinking, saved from what? Saved from what? What are you trying to save me from? I don't need what you have to offer.

You see, if someone doesn't recognise that they need, desperately, more than anything in this world, what is on offer, they will flat out refuse it. It can save you from your sins. Everyone sins. To err is human. If you haven't begun to see Holy God.

And the fact of the matter is, you and I, we couldn't see Holy God, until he opened our eyes. It's interesting that it's when our eyes were open, it's at that point where we've seen the desperate need for our salvation. He who enters this door will be saved. Beloved, salvation is only appealing to those who are broken, those who recognize themselves as corrupt. Those who are, as Matthew says, poor in spirit.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for they will inherit the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of God is for who? The poor in spirit. The ones who come and say, I'm bankrupt before the Lord. I have no spiritual currency.

I have nothing to give. I can't bargain with you. I fall on my face and say, mercy, mercy. I have nothing but mercy. I plead for your mercy.

Because apart from you, I'm destroyed. I've got nowhere else to go. You are the only door to salvation. Blessed are the poor in spirit. How wonderful the benefits of being part of the sheepfold of God, beloved.

As I said, we're gonna mention a few this evening, but it all begins with salvation of our souls. It all begins with acknowledging the bankruptness of our inner soul, of our inner being. It all begins by coming to the Lord and saying, Forgive me, as the publican pounding his chest saying, have mercy on me. It all begins there, beloved. It all begins by placing our faith in the Lord.

repentance and faith. Repentance and faith. You see the repentance part is to acknowledge that I need this salvation. I need to be cleansed by your perfect spot sin removing blood. I need that because I'm a sinner, because I'm broken.

Lord, will you forgive me? And faith places the eyes upon the one and the only one who can remove and absolve us from our sin because he himself bore it upon the cross. Repentance and faith. Repentance and faith into the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 1.

15 says as much. And beloved, both repentance and faith are not things that you can conjure up in and of yourself. This is not by your own performance or your own strength. I'm going to now dig really deep within my soul and find repentance. And I'm going to dig really deep inside my soul and find and conjure up Faith.

Now, don't get me wrong. No one comes to the Lord. No one walks through the door kicking and screaming, as you heard many of the theologians say in the past. Not a single one. They all come.

Every one of us who truly knows Christ have walked through the door with hands held high and saying, we love you. We love you, Lord. We thank you for your mercy. I am a wicked sinner. I don't deserve any of this.

I want it all. However, repentance and faith are a gift from God. They're the fruit from God himself. But that's another sermon. If you want some text to prove it, there's many in the Bible.

2 Timothy 2.25 is one on repentance. And Ephesians 2.8 is one on faith as being a gift from God. But the invitation of our Lord is open.

Because he says here, if anyone enters by me, he will be saved. I love that. Do you? Gentile, male or female, slave or free. Jesus says there's no distinction in God's eyes.

Anyone who comes, his door is always open. And there's no jumping through hoops. As I said before, there are no prerequisites to coming to the door. You look at what Jesus is saying here. There are none.

He just says, anyone who comes through this door, anyone who comes through the door, it's not like you get there and there's a list of things that you had to have done for you to enter into this she-fold, into the family of God. Beloved, think about that for a moment. Imagine there is a single prerequisite you and I had to fulfill. Let me ask you a question. How is God pleased?

Can God be pleased without faith? It is impossible to please God without faith. Everything that does not proceed from faith is sin. No one seeks after God, not even one. And if faith is a gift from God, then how can you and I do anything to please Him, even one detail, one small prerequisite requirement for us to enter in this door and we're all dismissed and we're all damned to hell.

Beloved, I just want you to see the grace that is on offer through salvation. What grace? If we know Him, if we're known by Him, if we've come to taste and see that the Lord is good, that's all of grace. That's all His work. How does that make us feel on the inside?

How does it, how ought it change our lives on the inside? Hungry, the thirsty, they're the ones that Jesus invites. He says, come, I'm the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. If anyone thirsts, he said, let him come to me and drink.

And those who respond in faith, they enter that door and there's salvation for all who come in. All who come in. You know, the Pharisees might not actually like those words. They might actually be offended. We don't know their reaction right now to the words of Christ.

We will know a little bit later when we get to verse 19. But when you say something along the lines of, you're not good enough, that is very offensive to the flesh. It's actually very offensive to the flesh. Because the flesh always seeks to elevate self and say, hold on, I'm not as bad as that guy or that woman or that person, or you should see my neighbor. There's always that pushing down of others and elevation of self.

But Jesus says it as it is. He says it as he sees it. And the Pharisees never did like, remember the Pharisees are standing here listening to our Lord, and they never really did like that blatant, straightforward truth. I don't know if blatant's the word, but you know what I mean. That truth that seeks or pierces into the soul.

You know, it's offensive to them. Back in John chapter 8 verse 31, Jesus said, whoever abides in my word is my disciple. And you'll know what truth and the truth will set you free. How dare you say we've ever been enslaved? I don't like the sound of those words.

An offer of salvation for those who abide in the word of Christ to know the truth and the truth will set you free. And they take offense. We are the sons of Abraham. We've never been slaved to anyone. The flesh is always offended.

But you know what Jesus says to those who are offended? He says, blessed is he who is not offended by me. Because my words are offensive to the flesh. But blessed are you if you're not offended. Blessed are you if you say, Lord, your words are like honey from the rock.

And you fall before him in repentance and faith and say, Lord, forgive me. I'm a sinner. Blessed are you because only the poor in spirit are the ones who enter into this pen. entering through the door, who is Christ, is salvation. The second is those who enter through this sheepfold, through the sheepfold, through Christ, the door, they experience safety and security.

I am the door, our Lord says, if anyone enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. In, go in, and out, we're told. It's difficult when there's analogies and word pictures before us, because we can read those words, and does that sound like Jesus saying, well, you know, we know that this new sheep fold, Christ is the only door, and this is the kingdom of God, this is the people and the flock of God. Is he saying those who come in and out of the kingdom? Is that what he's saying?

Let's not take that analogy too far, because that's not what Jesus is saying. He's making a point, but here, the in and out language needs to be derived or understood by how the scripture uses that language. Throughout the Old Testament we see that language over and over again, and in fact even in the New. And really it's the in and out language is a summary really of just basically all your activities in life, whether you're in the or out of the home, whether you're in the city or out of the city, wherever you are, whether you're engaging in business, or with your family, or with the church, or professional, or private, whatever, in all of life, your engagements in all of life is you coming in, you coming out, and you're able to do it freely, here Jesus is saying. The expression in and out, we can see in the Old Testament, sometimes when they go out for battle, it's going in and out and so forth.

But the expression is seen in the New Testament as well, as I said earlier, Acts chapter 1. It's spoken of Jesus, because when they were choosing a disciple, Judas had killed himself, and they were choosing a disciple to replace Judas, and they spoke about those who were among, with Jesus present when he was coming in and out among us. Or in Acts chapter nine, for example, when the apostle Paul was in Jerusalem, and it's spoken of that he was in and out among the brothers in Jerusalem, doing his thing, living his life. He's ministering, being the apostle that the Lord has called him to be as he goes in and out. We know the apostle Paul was a tent maker as well.

So not at this point, but a little bit later on. All of life, wherever you are, He says, you're not locked down. There's no locking down. You're not going to go anywhere. This is exactly where you need to be.

But rather, he's saying, you will come in and out. You will engage in life. You'll enjoy the activities of life. But there's a substantial fundamental change. You know, Jesus said in his high priestly prayer, he said, Father, I don't pray that you remove them from the world.

that you're protecting from the evil one who's in the world. You see, before and after being in Christ, we still live in the same world, save the same families. We might have the same work, we engage in a lot of the same activities, drive the same car. There's a difference. A fundamental difference has taken place and that is a difference.

Your nature has changed now that you are in the sheepfold of God. He's given of his Holy Spirit. Salvation has occurred. Now no longer do you come in and out on your own, trying to do things by your own strength, but rather now you have the power of God in you. The power of the Spirit of God, who is the one leading you in and out, and the Good Shepherd has his eye upon you, always.

The things that used to enslave you no longer enslave you. The dominion of sin is now being broken And now the Lord is saying that you are, you come in, those who are saved, you come into my sheepfold through me. They come in, they go out in all of their lives, activities, and they find pasture. In other words, you'll come in and out and every time you do, I will provide for you. In other words, you can do it safely and securely and not be afraid.

You may have been afraid before, but the Lord is saying here, there's no need for fear. In the engagement of your life from this point on, you don't need to be afraid. The brother read a psalm this afternoon, and it's one he opened with, and this is a psalm I plan to read with you, and it's Psalm 121. You may open your Bibles if you want to go there. What a beautiful psalm that speaks to this.

Psalm 121. Psalm 121, let's go from verse one. I lift my eyes to the hills, from where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord who made the heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved.

He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will never slumber nor sleep. Good shepherd, right? The Lord is your keeper. The Lord is your shade on your right hand.

The sun shall not strike you by day nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil. Beloved, the Lord will keep you from all evil. Is that a promise to those who are not in Christ? Is that a promise for those who are not in the household of God?

He will keep your life. He'll preserve your life as long as he wants you to remain. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in. There's that language again. All of life, whatever you do, all your activities, from this time forth and forever.

You know, how are we to understand this in relation to the picture the Lord's given us? Remember the picture he's given us is that he's in, he's the door of the sheep pen or the sheep fold. You have yay high walls built out of stone. High enough the sheep can't get in and predators can't, well, most predators can't jump over. And there's a sense of this security that is found because they're contained in that one place.

And the door's guarded and it's guarded by Christ. But it's clear to me that when Jesus says in and out, it doesn't mean that they remain where they are, but rather they do get out and do the things that they do. Let's face it, apart from the night time, that time when the sun comes down until the time the sun comes up, the sheep are normally not in the pen. They're out and about. They're going to the paddocks and watering holes up the hills.

Wherever the sheep are going, they're actually going around the place. They're not remaining in the sheep pen. The Lord is saying that in your coming in and going out, you'll find pasture. In other words, you can do what you do without fear. You can have safety and you can have security.

In our minds, we might think that the safety and security comes because of the height of the walls. That the wolves or the foxes can't get in because the walls are high and if they come to this door, then Jesus is gonna go, no, you can't come in. But when they go out into the real world, the dangers are still there and they're real. There are dangers in this world and they're real. It's not simply the height of the wall that protects these sheep.

You don't find safety and security in the parameters, the physical parameters that you put around yourself. There is no safety and security in the things that we've built materially from this world. You can put bars of this thick on your doors. That's where the problem is. Your flesh is one of your enemies.

The thing is, Psalm 121 gives us the answer. It says here, the Lord will keep you from all evil. He will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and coming in from this time forward. Evil comes from many places.

The danger comes from many places. Some that you and I know about and some that are actually not even seen by our eyes. But there's a common denominator in these words. Listen to it. The Lord will keep you from all evil.

He, the Lord, will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and coming in from this time forward. What is the common denominator? You're coming in and you're going out. The protection and the safety and the security you experience as being part of the household of God, the flock of God, in the kingdom of God, is not by the height of those walls or by anything else.

Or if you're on a hill up top where there's a good vantage point to all your enemies. None of that. It is simply that the Lord becomes your Lord. And it becomes your king, your master, your shepherd who's willing to lay down his life for you. Your shepherd who loves you dearly.

And he says, I'll protect you. The brother said earlier on when he was speaking to that passage in Joshua chapter six, faith demands obedience. Faith is predicated upon what? Faith comes by hearing and hearing the words of Christ. You hear these words.

And you can sit down and calculate in your own minds, what about all these dangers? What about this? What about that? What about the other? I don't want to give examples because I'll miss some of yours.

Thinking all that through. But then you read texts like this and you say, but I'm safe in his hands. I'm safe when I go out and when I come in, I'm safe. When I'm communing with the Lord in faith. When I'm eating of his word.

When I'm communing with Him in prayer, when I'm truly engaged in walking in the Spirit, because I know Him and I love Him and He loves me, then I walk by faith. I walk in the Spirit and I trust all the consequences of my life to Him. And I can rest in Him. I can know I'm secure in Him. The enemy is still there.

He still has an influence in this world. But he will not harm you eternally. He cannot because of what Christ has done. It's not about you. It's about who your shepherd is.

And he's the all powerful shepherd who is God in flesh. And when he says, I will keep you, beloved, he will keep you. Question is, do you believe it? That's what it comes down to, really. We can stand here, and I'm sure when you read the Word, you see some of these beautiful truths.

And you know you ought to derive rest from them. You know you ought to find comfort in these promises. The question is, do I believe them? Because if you believe them, it changes everything. If you believe, then the life that you live will be consistent with that belief.

And you no longer have to fear you're coming in and you're going out. Beloved, I'm saying this to you, but I'm also preaching this to me. Because it's easier said than done. Knowing the truth is one thing. How many times have we said, and I know brothers and sisters you know this, that you can have it all up here.

We can utter those truths to others. We can engage in iron sharpening iron and encourage one another. But when you're in the pit of difficulty and struggle and tribulation, It's if it's really rooted in your soul, if you actually have the faith that God has placed in your inner being, and you've been able to apprehend that truth, that you're able to say, though I go through the shadow of the valley of death, I will fear no evil. For you are with me. And your rod and thy staff, they comfort me.

Only then, beloved, The question we have to ask ourselves always, do we believe? Because the words of our Lord should derive so much joy and so much comfort, so much peace. As the psalm that I just quoted, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. In all of life and even at death's door, I'm able to rest in him. This is true and I know most of us, if not all of us, believe it.

But beloved, it's not an abstract truth. It ought to be an experiential truth. You know the difference. One is in the mind, it's out there somewhere, it's true because truth is objectively true, but one has actually pierced our soul and now we've experienced or begin to experience that truth. You know why I say that?

It's because of that passage in Psalm 23. You can't get very far in John 10 without thinking of that Psalm, Psalm 23. And we can always just even just go parallel back and forth and explain everything Jesus says with that Psalm. It's so wonderful. But that Psalm, Psalm 23 from verse 4, where it reads, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me, your rod and thy staff, they comfort me.

I know that that's true, but having that settled peace in the soul ought to be married or coupled to that truth with a true believer. And the reason why I say that is because of what comes next. You see, what comes next in verse five of Psalm 23 are these words. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Now I don't know where your understanding of that verse, and there's so much in it, I'm not going to unpack it today, because that's not the text.

The text is verse 9 of John chapter 10. But there is one element in those words I just want us to see. preparing a table, he says, preparing a table in the presence of my enemies. Can I ask you, what's on that table? What is the preparation spoken of here?

Is it simply to have a plank of wood and some chairs? Or is he speaking of something further than that? I think he's speaking about a banquet. I think he's speaking about food that is placed generally on the table. And it's interesting because food is meant to be what, looked upon?

eaten. It's meant to be consumed off the table into the stomach. However, we're told the table is prepared in the presence of my enemies. These are the people who hate me. These are the people who despise me.

These are the people who want me out of the way. These are the people who want me dead. They want to harm me. Remember, Jesus says the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. But there's something else I know.

about eating, I've got a bit of experience in that area. There's a particular emotion that if you're experiencing, you can have the smorgasbord of the best and the finest foods, but you won't eat it. What is that emotion, deep, ingrained emotion? Fear. Fear and anxiety.

If you've ever experienced fear and anxiety, do you have an appetite to eat when you're really in the thick of things? You know, providentially, I was reading just very recently Acts chapter 27, and you might remember the Apostle Paul being taken to Rome on the ship gets shipwrecked. You remember the story. For 14 days there was heavy winds and waves. I think it was 200 and something, 273 or something people on board.

So it was a fair size of a ship. And people were absolutely terrified. This was a fearful occasion. Everyone thought they were going to die. Listen to what the Apostle Paul says in that text from verse 33.

As day was about to dawn, Paul urged them all to take some food, saying, listen to these words, today is the 14th day that you have continued in suspense and without food. I can understand that. Because when you're in the midst of fear and anxiety, you don't eat. He says, having nothing, you've eaten zero in 14 days, because fear has struck your very bones. And then the Apostle Paul graciously says, therefore I urge you to take some food.

I don't know if the Apostle Paul ate before this time, I'm not sure. I suspect he did, but that's conjecture because we're not told. But here it is, I'm afraid. I'm not hungry. Food is the last thing on my mind.

I cannot eat when I'm afraid and when I'm anxious. He prepares before me a table in the presence of my enemies. You're expected to eat on that table because your enemies are no longer driving fear into your bones. Your enemies are no longer causing you to be anxious. Why?

Because I know my Lord. It's not because of my own strength. It's not because I've conjured up enough strength to sit upon that table looking upon my enemies. It's because my enemies have been dealt with. By whom?

Not by me, but by my Lord, the Good Shepherd. He says He prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies. And the assumption is you're going to eat and you're going to enjoy and there's not going to be any anxiety in your heart by His grace. And that comes by concentrating not on the event or the circumstances or your fears or your problems, but rather it comes by looking to Him, recognizing who your great shepherd is, Jesus, the Son of God. He's the good shepherd.

He's with me. He promises never to leave me nor forsake me. But my enemies are before me. Yes, but don't fear those who kill the body but can do no more. My eternity is secure in Christ.

My eternity is secure in Him. I come and go and engage in the activities of this life. And I know the enemy, but I'm going to walk by the Spirit of God according to the Word of God. And I'm going to trust in my Good Shepherd, knowing full well that He's the one who leads me. He's the one who guides me.

Knowing. that if they take my body, if it comes the time when my heart stops beating, my lungs stop expanding, then my eternity is secure. How do I know that? It's because He brought me through the door. And as I said, He brought me through Christ, and now I am in Him, united with Christ, covered in His blood.

I'm no longer an enemy of God. My home is to come. This becomes the exile. You see? You see you're coming in and out how it ought to not be a fearful thing because the things that you used to grasp so dearly and you would break your heart if you lost them.

Those things in this world that the world treasures and possesses. Those are the things that for the most part we are anxious about. Our money, our health. our homes, our property, our friends, all these things we are so anxious about. Now in the Lord, you're able to say my grip has been loosened because now it's upon something that is far greater than anything in this world.

And that can never be taken away because what God has done in Christ for me is eternal. You can feast on verse 29. We'll get there maybe in a few months, but we'll get there. in the son's hands, yeah, you're in the father's hands. No one can snatch you away.

You see? You see? You see why you can come in and why you can go out and you can do it knowing you're safe and you're secure. You can do it without the fear, without the anxiety of this world. Why?

Because of who he is and your position that is found in Jesus Christ. That's it. That's it. And beloved brothers and sisters, when When you recognize that truth and the Lord allows us to open our eyes and really apprehend it, then you say, I'm hungry. My appetite has come back.

I want to feed on your word. I want to feed on your spirit. I want to feed and engage in the things that you've given me to satisfy my soul by his grace. If you believe it, it'll change your whole life. Time is getting away, so let me quickly finish on that last point.

If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and freely find pasture. Not only does he provide and protect us, that is our safety and security, but he also sustains us. in all of life. That word pasture simply means that those grassy fields, I'm sorry if I'm preaching to the choir, but it just simply means the grassy fields, that the sheep are led to those nice green patches that they can eat and they can enjoy and they can be nourished, they can be fed, they can graze upon. The nutrients come from it.

It's essential to live, you have to eat to live, right? So he's telling us that you can come in now and you will find pasture. Sometimes we can read that it may look like it's the engagement of the sheep, they're the ones who need to be able to figure out where the pasture is, but that would be wrong for us to think that way. It's not the sheep that go in and out and automatically find these things. There is a leading going on.

In fact, we were told that in verse four, where our Lord said, when he that is a good shepherd is brought out all his own, he goes before them and the sheep follow him for they know his voice. Shepherd leads his sheep to green pastures. Again, Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.

He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Now, I can go back and emphasize the he's and the he's and the he's and the he's all referring to the Lord. You see how in none of this you're looking at yourself? See, none of this, the sheep has to go, okay, I've got to grow my mind to be able to engage in these things.

Look, we ought to use our minds and engage in mental activity, of course. But your provision, everything that the Lord has written for you doesn't come by your own strength, but by His. And your concern and mine, beloved brothers and sisters, ought to be to look to Him and to feed upon his word so that we are walking in the paths of righteousness. And when we are walking in the path of righteousness according to his word, we know we are being led by him because you and I can't interpret his word on our own. It requires his spirit to do so.

Every way we look at it, he gets all the glory, we get none, but we are the benefactors of all the better blessings, which is just so incredible when you think about it. sustaining power of God through Christ is upon his people. He sustains them and he abundantly provides for them. And beloved, he provides for all their needs. Now I want you to see this, both physical and more importantly, spiritual.

Now when it comes to the physical things, the Lord has spoken extensively about that subject. You might remember. He says, let me read this text and you can tell me if you know or if you remember this text. Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, or what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is life not more than food and the body more than clothing?

Look at the birds of the air, they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? They're pissing words. And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to their lifespan or span of life? And why are you so anxious about clothing?

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they neither toil nor spin. Yet I tell you, even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothed the grass of the field, which is today alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you? Oh, you little faith. Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, what shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear?

For the Gentiles seek after all these, and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them. You see, he doesn't dismiss them. They're important. But don't put your heart upon them. Don't set your heart upon the things that are temporal.

Trust him with those. And then he goes, and this is the clincher. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient the day is its own trouble.

He'll provide. He'll provide. We just need to trust Him. He'll provide for your needs, He'll provide for your family needs. Beloved, your life is indestructible until the day the Lord has decreed from eternity past that it will come to an end.

As I said earlier, if your heart still beats and your lungs still expand, He wants you here and He'll provide for you as long as you are here. But there is something also which is more spiritual, something a bit more profound, that he also provides, I believe, when he speaks about the green pastures or pastures that you come in and out, and he leads you to those pastures, he is also speaking about the spiritual food, not only the physical food. Let me end with that. He leads us to spiritual food, and he does it. by His Spirit and through His Word.

See, your going and your coming is according to His Word. This is how He leads us. This is the green pasture for your soul and mine. I've said this verse before and you probably know it, but Deuteronomy 8 says that man shall not live by bread alone. but by how many of God's words?

Every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. The word, the Bible, the inerrant infallible God-breathed word is nourishment for your soul and mine and he leads us through his word. His word is life. All scripture is what? Breathed out by God.

It carries the breath of God. Adam was formed out of the clay of the ground and God breathed upon him and life came. It's the breath of God. The Word of God carries with it the life of God. And that's why throughout the Word, in the Old and the New, we see that the Word of God ought to be consumed.

Not literally, although sometimes it was literally consumed. Hebrews 5 speaks of the word to be like milk, and then like solid food, even meat in some of your translations. Ezekiel the prophet, if you remember, was commanded to eat the scroll, eat the word of God, and he said it was sweet to his lips. The apostle John, the same apostle who wrote the words that is before us under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, was commanded in Revelation chapter 10 also to eat the word, and he said it was sweet as honey. The psalmist in Psalm 119 says, how sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth.

And Jesus himself, the incarnate son of God says to his crowd, you must eat of my flesh and drink of my blood. Literally eating the incarnate word of God. Not his actual flesh. not his actual blood, but all that he is and all that he said and all that his claims and all his teachings need to go from out there and be consumed into here. You see the importance of us taking in the word of God, receiving the word of God, eating upon the word of God.

The pasture he speaks of is to go and consume and graze upon it like sheep. Have you ever seen sheep eat? I can't see myself, that's a pretty poor example. They just keep grazing, eating, eating. I'm so fascinated when I go to farms.

I don't go very often. And they just eat. You see, they're eating all day. I mean, are you serious? The cows and whatever.

They're just eating all day. The whole day just chewing and chewing and chewing. That's the illustration that we ought to be a people who continually and continually eat and chew upon the Word of God. It is life to our soul. It increases and builds and strengthens our faith.

Faith comes from hearing and hearing the Word of Christ. The reason why we fear, the reason why we're anxious, the reason why we come into trepidation in this life, beloved brothers and sisters. Yes, there are events and circumstances that are fearful. I can only imagine, I can imagine some in my mind, and I can only imagine how difficult it is for people to go through them. And I'm not belittling them.

I'm not shying back from them and saying there's no justification for the difficulties that people go through. But let me tell you, The reason why we fear, the reason why we're anxious, the reason why we come in and out and we carry this anxiety in our hearts, it's because we don't have the faith in Him that we're required to have. And that comes through the eating, the chewing, the consuming the Word of God. Apprehending His promises for all they are. The Lord said He will be with me.

The Lord said He'll preserve my life until it's time to come home. The Lord said He will be the one who carries me in His hand and the evil one can never take my life. The Lord said these things. Well, I believe Jesus said to his disciples in John chapter six, the words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. The words are life, just like vegetables and fruits and meats.

You need to eat to sustain your body, beloved. We need to chew and eat and consume the word of God to sustain the life of our soul. Do you get it? His sheep hear his voice and they follow after him. He leads his own sheep with his voice, his word.

It's a lamp unto their feet and a light unto their path. But not only does he lead by his word, he leads to his word. And the word needs to be eaten, it needs to be consumed, it needs to be done by faith. Can I ask you a question, beloved? Let me end with this, really, this time.

I'm sorry, I've gone over. How long will you and I last in this world without his word? Think about the day-to-day events you go through. Think about the difficulties and the dangers in this world. Think about the enemy and his minions who has always some fiery arrows it wants to shoot at you and I.

Those arrows, by the way, are distinguished only by faith. How long will we last in this world without him? Without trusting and apprehending his word? You see, we can answer that question simply by saying, How much time do I actually spend with him? You see, there is a direct correlation, and I'm not saying hour to hour, minute to minute, I'm not saying that at all, but if you and I truly have eyes to be open to see the dangers of this world, the enemy, and the enemies of us, our enemies, who are continually trying to bring us down.

And if we knew that in and of ourselves we haven't got the strength or the power to oppose this enemy on our own, then we would see just like now we've been able to look back and see our desperate need for Christ the Saviour to redeem us and to forgive our sins, we will also see our desperate need to come before Him and submit before Him with His Word in hand and in our hearts and approach Him by faith and say, Lord, feed my soul. Feed my spirit, deepen my faith, strengthen my faith, so that my eyes can continue to be upon you, because I can't go out of these doors, my home, without you. I'll fail, I'll fall. What is out there is strong, but He who is in the world is not as strong as He who is in us. But He's powerful in and of ourselves.

We cannot stand against Him. How many times a day do you and I eat to nourish this body? I eat three times a day. This is temporal. How often should we be eating upon his word?

How often should we be consuming and communicating with our Lord? Apostle Paul says, prayer without ceasing. Are we always engaged in that, brothers and sisters? Why the trials that come our way? How can we go through them?

if we're not able to actually go back to the Word and understand why they've come our way in the first place. That they're fashioned by Him for our own good. You remember what James says? Count it all joy, my brothers, when you enter trials of many kinds, for you know the testing of your faith produces steadfastness, and let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking for nothing. James 1, 2 through 4.

The trials come so that you and I are matured in Christ. Okay? That becomes a less difficult pill to swallow. No one wants the suffering and the trials. But now we know there's a purpose for those trials.

How do we know? The Bible tells me so. How about tribulation? So strong that we may come to the point of despairing. This life, beloved brothers and sisters, we will experience times like that.

The Apostle Paul experienced a tribulation that brought him to the point of despairing even life, if you remember, in 1 Corinthians, I think it's not 2 Corinthians 5, if I'm not wrong. What do we know about trials? Well, our good shepherd speaks soothing words that enter into our heart through his word that we should feed upon. And this is what he says. He says, I have said these things to you, to the disciples, that in me, you may have peace.

In the world, you will have tribulation. Take heart. I have overcome the world. You're in the midst of this tribulation and all you can see is darkness, but then that's wrong. We ought to be looking at the light.

He's overcome the world. Whatever this is, his temple, our eternity is secure in him. Suffering, who wants suffering? Put your hand up. None of us want suffering.

None of us want suffering. We don't wish that upon ourselves, but we're told to rejoice in suffering. rejoice in it. Why? Because suffering produces endurance and endurance produces hope and hope produces character.

I'm sorry, suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope. And hope never puts us to shame because the love of God was poured into our hearts by His Spirit. There's a reason for your suffering and there's a reason for mine. But we don't know those reasons apart from His word. His word is food for our soul, it's sustenance for our soul.

And beloved, it's the same word that our Lord promises. and says that he needs to leave the disciples. You remember there in John the Upper Room Discourse. And he says to them that I am going to prepare a place for you. And if I go, I will what?

Return. To take you so that you will be where I am also. The promises of God's word not only help us to continue, to persevere, and to endure, sustaining our spirits in this life, but it also helps us to clinch, and to grab, and to apprehend what is to come. The glories of heaven with him. You see, you see, only then are the things of this world really diminished to what they really are.

and the glories that are yet to come that we ought to enjoy even now because He is the eternal life. That's next time. We enjoy Him now and we savour who He is even now with the light to eternity. And that's why our Lord says, do not pursue the food that perishes, but pursue the food that endures to eternal life. You want to eat?

Eat. Eat. We can eat more food, literally, or we can consume His Word that endures unto eternal life. His Word puts our eyes upon eternal life. His Word puts our hearts and fixes our souls and our desires upon the things that are eternal.

The question is, beloved brothers and sisters, not if this is a reality, because it is, it's his word, and it never changes, and if God has spoken, he will bring it to fruition. Every one of his promises, every one of his promises will come to fruition. The question is, do you believe them, and do I? Because that makes a world of difference when we come in and come out, whether we are experiencing anxiety and fear, or whether we're able to sit before our enemies on a table and say, I trust you, Lord. In you there is no fear.

Let's pray.