[0:00] Let us now turn to the Gospel according to John, chapter 10. And we may read again the first five verses of chapter 10.
[0:19] Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way the same as a thief and a robber.
[0:31] But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth, and the sheep hear his voice.
[0:42] And he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. When he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth forth before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.
[0:56] And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of strangers.
[1:07] And I wish this evening for a brief time, to set before you some thoughts from the phrase that is used twice in these few verses.
[1:23] The phrase, his own sheep. His own sheep. The phrase is expressive and places particular emphasis, it seems to me, on the ownership of the sheep.
[1:42] There is something exclusively proprietorial about the phrase, his own sheep. It speaks of a possessiveness.
[1:55] And this particular flock, his own sheep, have certain marks, as explained to us in the context.
[2:08] But first of all, by way of introduction, the ninth chapter, that's why we read part of it, tells us how the Lord Jesus saw one of the lost sheep of Israel.
[2:27] And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And you note, it was not the disciples who spotted this man first, but the Lord himself.
[2:42] And that surely tells us something about the keen eye of the shepherd, doesn't it? Every shepherd, every true shepherd, has a keen eye.
[2:56] And every true shepherd can see their own sheep. And here is the one who is shepherd one, incidentally.
[3:06] That title doesn't belong to anyone else, but to the one who is designated in the Bible, the good shepherd. But more about that, perhaps on the Lord's day.
[3:19] Tells you something about the keen eye of the shepherd, doesn't it? This blind man was a beggar. He had no other means of earning a crust of bread.
[3:30] And to this blind man, Jesus gave sight. Physically, he received what he never had.
[3:43] Vision or sight. Can you imagine the difference it made in the life of one born blind? Of course, new sight would have created its own problems for someone who was accustomed to using his hearing for vision.
[4:06] No doubt there would be a huge learning curve as he began to identify outwardly what before he could only visualize inwardly.
[4:18] The change was so dramatic that John tells us of the joyful, bubbly reaction of this man. One thing I know, he says, and you can almost hear the enthusiasm and the joy in his voice, says the former blind person, that whereas I was blind, now I see.
[4:39] Implied in the statement, I would say, is, I have much to learn. But of this I am quite sure. I have sight for the very first time.
[4:53] What a story. A former blind man, dependent on the goodwill of others. All his life, as he struggled to cope with the challenges of living, and now, new avenues of hope to be explored.
[5:14] A whole new world opening up. And you know, marvellous as that is in and of itself, and I would not wish to minimise the transformation in any way, I believe a greater transformation took place in the life of this man.
[5:34] He not only received natural sight, but spiritual sight. How do we know? Well, remember in the conversation that took place, between the newly sighted man and the miracle worker, the Lord Jesus Christ, we find this written, Lord, I believe.
[5:59] Who is making that statement? The newly sighted man. Lord, I believe. Secondly, he worshipped him.
[6:10] That is the evidence of the new spiritual life in the light of this man. And marvellous as the first transformation was on the days, it is even more significant, for it tells us that this man received much more than natural vision.
[6:30] He was made a new creation. Well, might this man sing the words of John Newton, Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.
[6:46] I once was lost, but now I'm found, was blind. And oh, how blind he was, naturally and spiritually, but now I see.
[6:59] And this miraculous restoration of sight on two levels to one born blind, you might have thought it would have been welcomed within the community.
[7:13] It was not at all welcomed by the religious authorities of the day. They threw him out of the synagogue. It's difficult to assess the level of hurt caused by that decision.
[7:29] Be that as it may, this man, formerly blind, twice over, learned that the good shepherd was vigilant about him and was jealously concerned for his well-being.
[7:46] And as a consequence of what took place, Jesus began to teach about the great difference between the true shepherd and those who are but shepherds in name.
[8:03] He calls them hirelings. He uses imagery that would have been very familiar to his listeners, much more than to us here in our communities.
[8:16] In those times, it was a common practice to have a communal sheep pen in a community where the shepherds brought their flocks for night storage.
[8:33] In the morning, each shepherd would identify himself to the gatekeeper and then called his own sheep out. The closest illustration that I can use from our own cultural background is of a fank day where the sheep of a village are gathered from the moon and various grazing places.
[8:57] But that's where the illustration comes short. If the local crafter began to call out his sheep in the way that these shepherds called them out, you might conclude that something was wrong up top.
[9:13] The practice here, as you know, is to grab the sheep and to drag them out. But in the days of which the Bible speaks, it was not just the practice to call them out, but to call them out by name.
[9:32] And Jesus is drawing on his knowledge of the prevailing practice to illustrate a very important theological lesson. He wishes to demonstrate the difference between the true and false shepherd.
[9:49] And so, chapter 10 begins, Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold or into the sheep pen, but climbs up some other way the same as a thief and a robber.
[10:05] In other words, those are not true shepherds. It was the responsibility of the gatekeeper to ensure the safety of the flocks in night storage.
[10:17] And anyone who sought access to the flocks other than by the legitimate way were deemed to be a thief and a robber.
[10:28] A thief, someone who steals. A robber, you might say, is almost the same, but the robber uses violence to attain or obtain his ends.
[10:42] What a scathing description of the then religious leaders in Jerusalem. In my view, that is what Christ is doing.
[10:54] He is describing those who were masquerading as shepherds and leaders in Judah as thieves and robbers. They were obviously not afraid to use their powers.
[11:07] That is very evident from the manner in which they dealt with this newly sighted man. They cast him out.
[11:18] Bishop Ryle makes the shrewd observation that the reason Christ speaks in this way is to show how unsuitable the scribes and Pharisees were to be shepherds and teachers of the Jewish people.
[11:36] They did not approach their office in a right spirit. Nor did they have an appreciation of the work they ought to undertake.
[11:48] And in some ways, it seems to me that Jesus is expanding on the teaching that you find in the Old Testament and John in his Gospel very often takes us back into the Old Testament, particularly in the prophet of Ezekiel where you find this, Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves.
[12:11] Should not the shepherds feed the flock? Ye eat the fat and ye clothe you with the wool.
[12:22] You kill them that are fed, but you feed not the flock or as it could be translated, the flock you do not shepherd. In other words, there was an overall failure to display concern for the well-being of the flock.
[12:42] It is the responsibility of every true under shepherd to pastor the flock, to provide for the flock so that they are fed and nourished.
[12:53] They are to seek constantly the well-being of the flock and in highlighting the failings of the Jewish spiritual leadership, he draws our attention to some of the marks that belong to the flock of the good shepherd.
[13:13] And I would like just for a few moments to expand a little more on this theme to see if we can find ourselves among those who are described as his own sheep.
[13:29] Now, I have already alluded to one mark that belongs to those who are described as his own sheep when I spoke of the man born blind.
[13:43] He was in possession of spiritual sight. And when that occurs, your opinions of yourself undergo a huge change.
[13:55] You are not the person you thought you were. when God floods your mind and heart with the knowledge of your true self.
[14:07] The God, your opinions of God are also radically altered. Your opinions of God's people are altered. The God whom you worship is not the God whom you perceive to be God in the days of your unenlightenment.
[14:23] No, I agree, I make the assumption that like Cain of old, that you all believed at least in the existence of God.
[14:37] Now, I do not need to elaborate on that. You have experienced it for yourself. And although your opinion of yourself has altered, would you not agree that your knowledge of self and your knowledge of God is still very limited and that you have much to learn, both about yourself and about God.
[15:03] His own sheep, three thoughts. First, they are called. Secondly, they have choosy hearing.
[15:13] I have been trying to use the letter C to make it easy to remember. And thirdly, they are careful who they follow. Firstly, they are called.
[15:27] It states in our text, the sheep hear his voice, and he calleth his own sheep by name and leads them out.
[15:37] He calleth his own sheep. They are called. No one belongs to this flock his own sheep, but those who are called.
[15:54] Now, I would not for a moment deny that there may be those who call themselves his own sheep, but who do not belong among those whom Christ designates his own sheep.
[16:12] That is something else all together. But I will repeat what I have stated. There is no one among his own sheep apart from those whom he himself has called.
[16:28] And you know, he finds them in strange places, doesn't he? He found, for example, Abraham among a family of idolatrous worshippers in heathen Mesopotamia.
[16:45] He found Moses a sheep herder in the desert. He found fishermen and tax collectors and sinners to be his disciples.
[16:59] He found Paul vigorously persecuting the followers of Christ. He often finds his own sheep in the most lowly places.
[17:14] Remember Paul's description of those who are called. Right into the Corinthians. It is so unlike how we might describe those whom we would like to see called.
[17:29] Because we frequently idolize those of great intellectual ability. We consider those in positions and power and authority to be in the number or those who belong to the titled members of society.
[17:46] And Paul does not say for one moment that none of these groupings are ever called. But what he does say is not many. For ye see your calling brethren how that not many wise men after the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and God hath chosen the weak things in the world to confound the things which are not and best things of the world and things which are despised as God chosen ye and things which are not to bring to not things that are.
[18:27] And you note the frequency of the repetition of the little word many. it does not say that not any wise man or not any mighty man or not any noble doesn't exclude all these groupings but it says not many and apparently there was once a titled lady and I think if my memory serves me right her name was lady huntington and she said she was very grateful that the letter M was in the alphabet.
[19:16] You see she appreciated what is written in the Bible the word many and although it didn't say not any it said not many and so she found herself among those who are not the many and the reason that Paul writes this and it's very important that we grasp it that no flesh should glory in his presence in other words that we shouldn't glory in any of the things that we may have or not have in this life because they are only gifts given by God no one can take credit for their salvation it's God's work from beginning to end and if you go around this gathering this evening and you were to question everyone who belongs to the grouping his own sheep ask them how they came to be in the group his own sheep you would probably find a different answer given according to their understanding of how they were called and when some were perhaps reading their
[20:33] Bible when light flooded their understanding some remembered long forgotten script buried deep in their psyche only for it to surface and have an effect upon them some perhaps listening to a sermon on the radio or a tape or a CD or today on the internet others present in a sermon and the sermon gripped them in a way that they were never gripped before by the message of the gospel others perhaps through the witness of a close friend or a member of the family and however it might have been and that is not an exclusive list by any means the voice of the shepherd influenced their minds and hearts no longer was it just a meaningless sound for them that's how it may have been for long enough but then it became full of meaning it was a voice that spoke with authority a voice that demanded submission because it came with divine authority you weren't just hearing the voice of a preacher but the voice of
[21:56] God it was a voice that addressed your circumstances your needs your innermost thoughts and desires so meaningfully and minutely that no one but no one could possibly have that knowledge of you and you know some at that stage in their pilgrimage thought that someone close to them had divulged their thought process to the preacher but no one had the knowledge had come from above through the leading and guiding of the Holy Spirit it was the voice of the shepherd and he knew you a persuasive authoritative voice that said come unto me follow me and I will give you life in abundance and you began to see the world and the temporal affairs of this life in a new light a world that you once thought could satiate every desire you now saw as empty and futile just a mere chasing off the wind as the writer in the book of
[23:17] Ecclesiastes speaks of the things that are meaningless a world without Christ it was a call that could no longer be rejected or refused and you were compelled to come to Christ I think it was one of the Boner brothers who wrote I heard the voice of Jesus say come unto me and rest lay down thou weary one lay down thy head upon my breast I came to Jesus as I was weary and worn and sad I found in him a resting place and he has made me glad I heard the voice of Jesus say behold I freely give the living water thirsty one stoop down and drink and live
[24:18] I came to Jesus and I drank of that life giving stream my thirst was quenched my soul revived and now I live in him you obeyed the voice and you began to attend the means of grace and earnest and with diligence you valued the gatherings of the flock you received an effectual call let's remind ourselves how the reformers described such a call as it is set down for us in the shorter catechism where the question is asked what is effectual calling effectual calling is the work of God's spirit whereby convincing us of our sin and misery and like new minds in the knowledge of Christ and renewing our wills he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ freely offered to us in the gospel behind your calling and what makes your calling sure is the predestination of
[25:28] God and what God predestinates happens that's what it means to be God what do we learn from that we learn that God's calling is a sovereign action to bring us from the spiritual deadness of unbelief and hostility to God to the spiritual life of faith in Christ and love to God God's calling secures the faith that it commands it is effectual God's call is his omnipotent creative word just like the word that Jesus spoke to Lazarus when he stood outside the grave took away the stone he calls out Lazarus come forth the call created the life and
[26:29] Lazarus came out and how astounding it must have been to the watchers to see this once dead man four days in the grave emerge still bound by the grave clothes well it is no less astonishing I believe to see spiritually dead persons restored to newness of life when they begin to follow the Lord God's call comes through the gospel and makes dead hostile hearts alive so that they hear the gospel of Christ crucified and risen as irresistibly true and beautiful now because I I do I do not know you as well as I would know the flocks for which I was once responsible it may be that you are here tonight and you are saying
[27:32] I would be sure of belonging to his sheep if my calling like that person or this other person because that's often what we do we tend to compare ourselves to others or if I had a really graphic spellbinding dramatic conversion I used to hear my late father say something like that the Lord came into his life from an early age he was but 13 to 14 years old he had never been to a church service on the Lord's day and the reason when you would ask him the reason he used to give was that he didn't have adequate clothing to enable him to go to church and by that he meant he didn't have a suit I don't think it would be such a problem today but that was how it was then when he began to attend the public means he went first to the prayer meeting that used to take place in the village mission house he went and borrowed clothing someone gave him a jacket and someone else a pair of trousers
[28:56] I suppose that tells volumes about the level of poverty that would be in the late 1920s seems a long time ago some years after that revival broke out in the congregation congregation to which he belonged the congregation of locks may be somewhat here this evening and you may be feeling that that is true of you that you too are in that kind of situation that you the change in your life is not so dramatic as in the lives of others. Well, it may be helpful if we look at the scripture and take examples from the Bible, because it's always safer to take examples from the Bible. The children of Israel in the Bible are symbolic of the church, and when they crossed the Red Sea, they were coming out of bondage to liberty. They were obeying the divine instruction. Many were adults. They could remember the sequence of events. They could speak of the guiding pillar of cloud by day that appeared, same pillar, as a pillar of fire by night. They could tell of the strong east wind that blew.
[31:01] They could graphically describe the waters that were piled up as a wall on either side. They could tell of their secret fears as they passed between the walls of water. Would they come crashing down on top of them? Would they reach the other side? Would they be drowned? Would the pursuing Egyptian forces overtake them? What lay before them on the other side? But you see, there were others. And they couldn't tell any of these things. Why? Why couldn't they tell any of these things? Because they were just infants. They had no recollection of coming through the Red Sea.
[31:50] They couldn't tell of the fears of the walls of water on either side. But you know what? They experienced the same marvelous divine deliverance. They too were delivered.
[32:05] And so that's one illustration. In the New Testament, if you compare Lydia and Philippi and the Philippian jailer, the Lord opened the heart of Lydia.
[32:21] She listened to Paul expound the truth. Because the Lord alone has the key that unlocks the sin-encrusted heart. Her entrance into the kingdom was so serene in comparison to the jailer, whose entrance was so dramatic as one who was shaken to the very core of his being.
[32:49] But the same Christ is their Savior and Deliverer. It was the same Shepherd who found them. And is this not part of the parable? It's often known as the parable of the lost sheep. I like to think of it as the parable of the found sheep.
[33:09] The shepherd leaves the ninety and nine. He goes in search of the lost one. And you notice there is this phrase in the parable, until he finds it. Until he finds it.
[33:24] There is, that is very significant. Until he finds it. In other words, it's not a half-hearted search. It's not like perhaps some crafter going out to the moor.
[33:37] Oh, well, I didn't see it. I went here and there, but I never saw the sheep in the usual places. Who knows where it's gone? That's not how the good shepherd operates. He goes until he finds it.
[33:49] And then, when he does find it, there is joy associated with his found sheep. There is joy in the heart of the shepherd.
[34:02] And that joy reverberates around heaven. It touches the church on earth. It's a joy that infuses the hearts of those who are found.
[34:17] The voice of rejoicing, says the psalmist, is in the tabernacles of the righteous. Let me ask you, is that joy in your heart tonight, friend?
[34:33] How diligent the shepherd in his search. Like Boaz in the book of Ruth. Remember how Boaz is described by Naomi.
[34:45] The man will not be in rest until he have finished the thing this day. That's how the good shepherd operates. He cannot rest. Other sheep, he says, I have, which are not of this fold.
[34:57] Then, also I must bring in. And they shall hear my voice. And there shall be one fold and one shepherd.
[35:10] There is a divine compulsion to find. But one other thought on the call.
[35:21] Lord, is what is said? He calleth his own sheep by name. Does that not suggest to you the peculiar knowledge that he possesses of them?
[35:35] You know how significant it is when you speak to someone by name. And it means so much to the person to whom you are speaking. And so often, if you meet a lot of people, perhaps you forget names.
[35:51] But he never forgets. His knowledge is omniscient. Thou understandest, says the psalmist, my thought afar off.
[36:04] Thou compassest my path and my line down. Thou art acquainted with all my wisdom. There is not a word in my tongue. But, Lord, thou knowest it altogether.
[36:14] He has a love knowledge of them. For they are a people whom he did foreknow.
[36:26] That could be translated as foreloved. I am the good shepherd and know my sheep. I know my sheep. And I'm known of mine as the Father knoweth me.
[36:39] Even so I know the Father. It's as if he sees a similarity between the way in which Jesus knows the Father in glory and the way he knows his own sheep.
[36:54] Jesus sees himself in the Father. But he also sees himself in his own sheep. You know, it is hard to overemphasize what a tremendous privilege it is to be known personally, intimately, lovingly by the Son of God.
[37:20] It is a precious gift to all his sheep and it contains within it the promise of eternal life. Why has the Lord called a people to himself?
[37:34] Because he loved them with an everlasting love. But the time is passing. Called effectually once. But he calls you constantly to service.
[37:50] You see? Yes, you were called once effectually. But he is calling you every day to serve him. To follow me. That is surely implied in following him.
[38:04] And that brings me to the second point. They have choosy hearing. The sheep hear his voice for they know his voice. Now, however you interpret this statement, pay careful attention to what he says of them.
[38:21] They hear his voice. And you may say, well, that's surely simple enough. It's plain enough. I'm not so sure.
[38:31] I'm not so sure that it is. You see, he's not just saying that they hear sounds. Like someone who is deaf here.
[38:43] A deaf person. And I speak with some experience here. You hear sounds. But you don't understand what has been said. That's not what is stated here, though.
[38:59] Remember how McChain put it, I once was a stranger to grace unto God. I knew not my danger or felt not my load. Though friends spoke and wrapped you of Christ on the tree, Jehovah said Kenu meant nothing to me.
[39:19] You may have heard the sounds, but it was meaningless to you. Perhaps I could illustrate it like this a couple of years back. I met a contemporary of mine.
[39:32] She had been around about the same year as me in the Nicholson Institute, a long time ago. And the Lord had come into her life just recently.
[39:43] That's about two years ago. And when she met me, her greeting was, Why did you not tell me how wonderful and amazing it is to be in fellowship with Christ?
[39:57] I was so delighted to learn that the Lord had come into her life in her 60s. And I just didn't have the heart to tell her in answer to her question that it was because she then had no interest in Christ.
[40:16] Jehovah said Kenu meant nothing to her. He was to hire us to every person prior to conversing.
[40:27] As the prophet Isaiah reminds us, He has no form or comeliness. And when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.
[40:38] Oh, how dismissive you were of the person of Christ in those days. Is that not part of the sorrow today that is in your heart?
[40:51] How dismissive you were of His person. You didn't need Him. Nor did you understand the message. But when light from above flooded into your sin-darkened heart, your understanding was enlightened.
[41:10] And your heart became receptive to the message. And everything became so different. Jehovah said Kenu, my treasure and boast.
[41:24] And so therefore what I understand from the language which states they hear His voice is that they hear with understanding.
[41:34] If I put it in Gaelic, there is a huge difference between a weeklointin and a weekestach.
[41:47] And that is what in essence is set before us here. You hear, but you're not listening.
[41:58] But here it's, they are hearing in the sense that they are listening. And they are listening to the message. There is a measure of understanding.
[42:15] I would not be so bold as to state that they understand all they hear. Obviously not. There is much that is still deeply mysterious and which we are unable to understand.
[42:29] But there is a measure of understanding. And if I am not mistaken, it is a mark of understanding that they obey. There is recognition of the voice of the shepherd.
[42:44] When we lived in Skye, the congregation we were in there, there was a large glebe attached to the manse, probably about 21 acres.
[42:58] And we kept some sheep. In the winter months, I used to feed them every morning with a mixture of beet pellets and bruised barley.
[43:08] And nearer lambing time, I used to add yew lamb pellets to the mix. And sometimes you were doing this if growth was slow until the beginning of June.
[43:22] When I would go out each morning to call them to the feeding troughs, they would come running. But the sheep on the neighbouring crops paid absolutely no attention to my voice.
[43:37] And I used to think, that's just how it is in the spiritual realm. In the spiritual realm, his own sheep.
[43:49] They know the voice of the good shepherd among every other voice because he has been with them before. It may be that when you first responded to his voice, that you thought life in the flock will always be one of constant fellowship.
[44:12] That there will be no weakening of the relationship. You would always be waiting to be fed in due season. Well, can I ask you tonight if things have worked out as you first thought.
[44:30] Did you manage to curb your proneness to wonder? Has the fellowship been constant since he first lifted you on his shoulders?
[44:44] Oh, my friend, do I hear you sigh for shame at the number of times you wandered, at the number of times you were faithless in your following.
[45:02] All these moments of going astray in thought and in deed. Well, the psalmist too says, I have gone astray like a lost sheep.
[45:17] Sign of going astray is a coldness in your affections, a lack of growth. And if we keep the shepherd, the sheep metaphor, there is a pronounced leanness.
[45:35] Oh, aren't you grateful tonight for the patience of the good shepherd? Are you not grateful also that although it is true that you have wondered that you still recognize his voice and that there is a leaping for joy in your soul at the sound of his voice, just like the leaping of the unborn child in the womb of Elizabeth when she met the mother of her Lord?
[46:11] The church rejoices in anticipation of meeting with them. The voice of my beloved, behold, he comes, leaping on the mountain, skipping on the hills, speaking of many obstacles and barriers, and they're all on our side.
[46:37] Our sins erect the barriers. How grateful we ought to be that the good shepherd is able to overcome the barriers.
[46:50] You know when in midwinter the ground can be so hard with frost and it may be in the spiritual realm, a winter in your life, perhaps for many different reasons.
[47:08] Perhaps you are not present when you ought to be. Perhaps the whisper in your ear. You'll only mar or spoil the fellowship, given your state and frame of mind and you stayed away rather than be present with the flock and where he promises to be among the two or three gathered in his name.
[47:38] Oh, if I am one of thine, from anxious thought, says the bard, I would be free. Where do they hear his voice? And you might say, yes, they hear it in providence, but especially in his word.
[47:54] That's where they hear it. You remember the confession of the man of God, how sweet unto my taste, O Lord, are all thy words of truth. You notice what he says, the significance of the little word, all, not some of the words of truth, not the words of truth that he likes, but all the words of truth, the words that hurt, the words that wound, the words that rebuke, as well as the words that give uplift.
[48:24] Yea, he says, I do find them sweeter far than honey to my mouth. They have choosy hearing, or selective hearing.
[48:35] They are called. They are careful who they follow. You know, sheep, by nature, they're not generally militant. They're easily startled and unfrightened.
[48:49] They are unable to defend themselves against the attack of dogs and thieves and robbers. And their main defense mechanism is to run.
[49:03] And this is another mark of the sheep, of his sheep. They are careful as to who they follow. A stranger will they not follow, but will flee from them for they know not the voice of strangers.
[49:20] In other words, they will not be sucked in by false teaching. By something that is not backed up by the word of God.
[49:34] They will not follow a stranger because they are dependent on the care of the shepherd. A stranger cannot give them what they need. They need in their beginnings the sincere milk of the word.
[49:49] And thus they mature, strong, the strong meat of truth. As John Newton puts it, the Saviour calls his people sheep and bids them on his love rely.
[50:03] For he alone their souls can keep and he alone their wants supply. Oh, my friend, have you learned that too? They seek where the shepherd feeds.
[50:16] You see, if you have sheep constantly grazing on the one place, what happens? There is no sustenance and no feeding for them.
[50:27] It becomes bear land. And no shepherd in his right mind would keep the sheep on the same place all the time. Becomes filthy as well as bears.
[50:40] the pasture becomes overgraced. And so, my friend, is this your own and my own desire tonight?
[50:51] Tell me, oh, thou whom my soul loves, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon. In other words, deeply desirous of his fellowship, yes.
[51:05] and it could also mean a sense of perplexity as to where the shepherd is, because the inquiry is addressed directly to the shepherd. It's a prayer.
[51:17] A prayer that he reveals himself through the truth. It's an indication of surrounding darkness, waiting for in light, tell me where you are feeding the flock at this very moment, that I might feed on what I must require.
[51:35] they are called, they have choosy hearing, they are careful who they follow. If these marks are in your life, friend, then you are his.
[51:49] You know, we began tonight by singing Psalm 100, and you find in Psalm 100 the words, we are his. It's a most suggestive phrase.
[52:02] We are his. his. And if that is true, he is yours. The converse is true.
[52:15] It cannot be otherwise. We are his. He is yours. And regardless of what might happen, troubles, sickness, difficult providence, loss of job, death, you are his.
[52:32] does not change. Oh, to be among his sheep. There is no better place, no better place throughout life than to be among a sheep.
[52:53] Can you find yourself among them this evening, because he will never leave, nor forsake his own. If you find yourself among them, yes, he calls you to sit at his table.
[53:11] Let us pray. to be beautiful and to be very possible.