Christ's Other Sheep

Well, as we know, today being the last Sunday of November is the last official Sunday of our missions month.

It has certainly been a stimulating time as far as I'm concerned, as we have heard from a number of missionaries and considered the work of the gospel to the ends of the earth. And our missions month's theme this year, as you know, has been exalting Christ among the nations, drawn from the text in Psalm 47, 10. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations.

I will be exalted in the earth. I enjoyed expounding that text last Sunday, and today I've selected another text which has a similar focus and I think will be very helpful to our consideration of the word of God and the gospel of Christ and the work of missions. Our text today is John 10, 16, where Jesus said, And other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock and one shepherd. This, of course, is contained in what is often called the Good Shepherd Discourse, which is really more than one discourse.

There are at least two and possibly three different messages that are combined together by John and to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in John chapter 10 that all have the common theme of Christ as shepherd and His people as His sheep. And this is indeed a beloved passage to the people of God. It is filled with both inspiration and instruction. I think that we tend to focus more upon the inspirational part and maybe not as much upon the instructional part, but I hope today to be able to bring those two together. This ought to be a great encouragement, a great inspiration to us as we consider these truths, but there is much instruction here that we need to understand in order that we might know the truth aright and might honor the Lord in the truth that He has given.

I will be addressing this text in two parts today. First, the background, and secondly, the blessing. The background is the context in which this text is found, and without understanding the context, I doubt that we can fully understand the text. The background, which really is all of the chapter, and we're going to be looking at the preceding 15 verses leading up to verse 16. Verse 16, our text is something of a climax. We find Christ building toward this truth when He declares this amazing message to the people of His day that the Good Shepherd is going to call His sheep from outside the fold of Israel. Other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring. That was quite a revelation to the Jewish people in the first century.

But let's look first at the background, and there are actually two sections, I think. We have the sheepfold of Israel discussed in verses 1 through 5, and then the expanded flock in verses 6 through 18. The sheepfold of Israel. We learn by the words of Christ that this fold that we believe is representative of the nation of Israel, of the nation, of the people, of the physical descendants of Abraham, we learn that it is a sheepfold that is beset by false shepherds. Most assuredly, said Jesus, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in some other way, the same as a thief and a robber. There are those, Jesus said, who are going to try and in some cases succeed in gaining access to this sheepfold that represents Israel, but by not coming the proper way, the God-ordained way, the way of truth, the way that represents the one way, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And who can deny that? As we study the history of Israel in the Old Testament, we find that there were far more false prophets than true. On some occasions, you had to look long and hard to find more than one or two true prophets and hundreds of false prophets.

Think of Elijah and the 400 prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, one true prophet of God, 400 false prophets. That's the kind of thing that Jesus is describing in verse 1. The false shepherds who have endeavored and have gained access to this sheepfold, but this sheepfold is blessed by a true shepherd. He who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him, verse 3, the doorkeeper opens and the sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. The true shepherd will gain access to this sheepfold by a legitimate entry, by the door. That has been opened to him by the doorkeeper, probably a reference to the Holy Spirit of God. And having a legitimate entry into this sheepfold, he calls his own sheep by name.

Now this is important. This is a sheepfold with many sheep, or so it would appear. They are indeed sheep in one sense of the word. But only a certain number of them belong to the true shepherd. The true shepherd gains access to this sheepfold representing Israel and out of that fold he calls his own sheep by name. He calls out true sheep out of this larger body that is the nation of Israel and we learn that he calls them out. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out, we are told in verse 3.

A separation must take place. The true shepherd must separate his sheep from the other sheep who turn out not to be true sheep at all. They think they're sheep.

They would consider themselves sheep, but they're not true sheep. Among this flock, this fold, the sheepfold of many sheep, there are a certain number who are the true sheep. And they hear the voice of the shepherd and they are led out of this sheepfold. And they represent the genuine flock. Verse 4, and when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them.

And the sheep follow him and for they know his voice, yet they will by no means follow a stranger but will flee from him for they do not know the voice of strangers. And so by the voice of Christ, the true sheep are separated from the larger flock. In other words, they are separated from apostate religion because that's what the sheepfold of Israel has become. No longer the true worship of God according to the truth that has been delivered to them by Moses and the prophets that followed him. No longer worshiping God in spirit and in truth.

No longer seeking after God with a heart devotion of faith. They have become mired down in ceremony and ritual and have considered that to be the essence of their relationship to God. And their religion has departed from the truth of God.

It has become apostate. And so the true shepherd enters into that situation and he calls his sheep out of that fold. And they are drawn to the true shepherd and led by the true shepherd out of the sheepfold. And they are unmoved, untouched, unaffected by false shepherds. They hear the voice of the true shepherd but the false shepherds they pay no attention to. They don't hear their voice. They ignore that as they follow the voice of the true shepherd.

That's the sheepfold of Israel. Now I remind you if you think about the reality of life in Christ's day in the first century in Israel, I remind you that false shepherds may be those who are familiar to us. They may be neighbors.

They may be friends. They may be those who are known to us. And yet still may very well be false shepherds.

Not true. They may represent a familiar religion of which we are very comfortable because we have grown up in that. And yet it may be an apostate religion.

There are applications for our day today. We realize that there are false shepherds today, false teachers today, who sometimes are very warm and very friendly and very personable and very likeable and may be very familiar to us. And they may represent a church that we are familiar with and comfortable with, perhaps having grown up in it. And yet that may represent apostate Christianity.

And these may be false teachers. And we need to be careful that we are listening to the voice of the true shepherd and hearing his word so that we are not misled by false shepherds. But if we have the sheepfold of Israel described in verses 1 through 5, then we have the expanded flock described in verses 7 through 16. As Christ begins to talk about this true flock that he has called out from the sheepfold of Israel and what characterizes them, and eventually he gets to that climactic verse, our text for today, verse 16, where he makes it very clear that the flock that represents the true sheep is much larger than the nation of Israel. In that flock some come from the nation of Israel called out from that sheepfold, but other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring.

And they will come too. And they will constitute one large sheep, one large flock with a true shepherd. And so what does he tell us about this expanded flock in verses 7 and following? And I'm not going to read again all of these verses, but I'll make reference to what I have read. We are told in verse 7 that Christ is the door, he's the way into this true flock. Though there are many false doors that abound, that would be, well, I will read verse 7, Most assuredly I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. Verse 8, All whoever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.

You're going to hear that truth repeated several times in this passage. True sheep do not listen to the voice of false shepherds. Why not? Because they are given the ability to distinguish by the Spirit of God.

Why not? Because they are dissuaded from being misled by the work of the indwelling Holy Spirit of God. They would just as easily be misled as others, except they won't. They can't.

They shall not. Because one of the characteristics of true sheep is they ignore false teachers, but they follow the true shepherd and those who properly and accurately represent him. But there are false doors. Christ is the true door.

There are false doors. In other words, there are many, many voices that are claiming to offer a way of life. Some of them tell us that there are many ways to God.

It doesn't matter which way you take as long as you're sincere. Wrong, lie, false shepherd, false teaching. Some of you have heard that, no doubt.

Probably all of us have. Some of you may have said that in your ignorant past, but hopefully you would never say or affirm such a statement again. There's only one way to God. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me.

One way, one way alone. But there are many who are promising fruitful ways, enticing ways, a way of life. But as Jesus tells us here, their motive is not to help the sheep. It is to fleece them. Their motive is to take advantage.

Their motive is to rob, to fleece, to manipulate, to become rich at the expense of the people that they are misleading. But again, Jesus tells us that the true sheep will not listen to people like that. We're told in verse 9, this wonderful truth, that Jesus welcomes all who will come to Him. I am the door, verse 9. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.

Probably at that point in His discourse, the disciples are not thinking of that word anyone, including anyone outside the nation of Israel, but eventually they're going to realize that that's what Jesus means by this. Anyone, certainly anyone among the people of Israel who will follow Jesus, he will be saved. He will have spiritual freedom. The bondage of Moses will be lifted off his shoulders.

He will go in and out freely. He will find pasture, provision, true nourishment for his soul. If anyone, anyone will believe in me, and as we come to understand, that means anyone in all the world, whosoever believeth in me shall not perish, but shall have everlasting life. Christ welcomes all who will come to Him for salvation. Christ welcomes all who come to Him and gives them freedom. Christ welcomes all who come to Him by faith and they enjoy His provision.

But the stakes you see are very high. Verse 10, the thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. Two possibilities, destruction or salvation, death, spiritual death and eternal death or life. It's a momentous choice and it is a choice. It's not that our choice is the determining factor. It's that the work of God's Spirit in our heart leads us to make the right choice, but it is indeed a choice. You will either choose to follow falsehood to your eternal destruction or you will choose to come to Christ to your eternal salvation.

It is a momentous matter. And one of the most obvious distinctions between false teachers and the true is that the true shepherd is a sacrificing shepherd. The true shepherd is a giving shepherd.

The true shepherd, we read in verse 11, lays down his life for the sheep. In contrast to the false shepherds who come to steal and to destroy. They don't come to give. They come to take.

They don't come to help. They come to hurt. And the Lord Jesus Christ, the true shepherd, comes to give and he gives so greatly and so freely. He gives his own life that the sheep may have eternal life. Salvation is costly. Not to you, not to me, but it is to him. Be careful how you present salvation. It is free to us because there's nothing we can do. It's not a matter of there's nothing else you've got to do except to believe.

It's not that while you're popping your chewing gum. It's, dear friend, come to understand how bankrupt you are. Come to understand that you have nothing to offer. Come to understand that there's no goodness within you at all.

Come to understand that the truth is there's nothing you can do. And you are completely shut up to the mercy of God. And if God doesn't do something for you, you are doomed. But come to understand that God has made a provision.

And because there's no way that we can contribute to God's provision, the only way to have the benefit of that is to believe. And yes, in one sense, that's all you've got to do, but in a much more profound sense, that's all you can do. Bow before his throne. Fall upon your face before his cross.

Recognize your utter bankruptcy and lay hold on him. Lay hold of that scepter of mercy that he extends to you and recognize that it's all of his grace and not of your own. But the true shepherd gives. Salvation is costly. But it was necessary, this sacrifice of giving his life. That was the only way for a just and righteous God to bestow salvation without neglecting his holy justice. That's the only way it could be done in a substitute, the only one who qualified to substitute in this way, for him to lay down his life in the place of sinners.

And that's what he has done, the ultimate sacrifice. Yes, self seekers abound, we are told in verses 12 and 13. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees. And the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them.

The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care for the sheep. There are plenty of people who will occupy the place of leadership in things religious who are merely self seeking. Even the apostle Paul on one occasion said, I have very few people, I'm paraphrasing largely, I have very few people that I can trust to send to you because everybody seeks his own. Hard to find a faithful under shepherd, hard to find a faithful teacher whose only motive is to honor the Lord and to help the sheep.

Self seekers abound. And then the closing words before we come to our text is a reminder that salvation is a relationship. Verse 14, I'm the good shepherd and I know my sheep and am known by my own as the Father knows me even so I know the Father and I lay down my life for the sheep. Salvation is a relationship. Christ knows in intimate relationship his sheep. And therefore his sheep come to know him by intimate relationship. And this is what's so astounding, that relationship of the believer to Christ is similar in some respects to the relationship within the three persons of the triune Godhead. The familiar relationship that the Father has with the Son and the Son has with the Father. And of course though the Holy Spirit is not specifically mentioned here, this would also be true of him as well. And if you can imagine the relationship, the personal relationship between the three persons of the one true God, that mystery that we can never understand, but if you can think of the relationship between the three persons of the triune Godhead and then realize that the relationship which believers have with Jesus Christ is similar to that, is modeled on that, and I presume when we get to glory we'll approach that level of personal intimacy. I can scarcely imagine, but that's what is indicated in these verses. Now we come to the blessing, the text that we're looking at today, verse 16.

Jesus goes on to say, Another sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock and one shepherd. There are five words that I'm going to use to describe the contents of this text. Number one, possession. Number two, expansion. Number three, intention. Number four, assurance. And number five, unification. We'll break them up one by one and quickly.

Possession. Other sheep I have, said Jesus. Other sheep I have. He's talking, as we see as the verse unfolds, about Gentiles who have not yet even heard the gospel. They're not yet believers, but they are identified as His sheep. They are already His sheep.

How can that be true? Well, if you don't see the doctrine of election in that, you're not looking, because here it is. Here are other sheep who have not yet believed. As far as we could tell, looking at them, they're not sheep, they're goats.

Some of them are, most of them, I think, are worshipping pagan idols, and they're enmeshed in darkness. But Jesus says, I have sheep. They are sheep. They are my sheep. I already own them. I already possess them.

And they are mine, and in the proper time and way, I will bring them. Other sheep I have. They already belong to Christ. They are His sheep as much as those who have already been called out and led out by the shepherd and are hearing His voice. These who have not yet believed are as much His sheep as they are.

And there is equal standing among all the sheep of Christ, whether they be Jew or Gentile. They are all sheep. No less than sheep.

What a wonderful privilege. No more than sheep. You don't have important sheep and not important sheep. You don't have big shot sheep and little shot sheep. You've got sheep. We're all sheep in the same flock that belong to the shepherd. That's possession.

Number two, expansion. Other sheep I have which are not of this fold. They don't belong to the Jewish fold. There is actually a distinction throughout this passage between the fold and the flock. Jesus talked about the fold in verse one.

Most assuredly I say to you, he who does not enter the sheep fold by the door but climbs up some other way, the same as a thief and a robber. But as we've already seen, as He continues talking, He tells us that He must go into that sheep fold and call His sheep out of that sheep fold. They must be separated out of that fold and brought into His flock. And that's the way He operates and there are Gentiles that are also going to be brought into this flock. They have never belonged to this fold that represents Israel but they will be equal members of the flock when Jesus calls them unto Himself.

They are Gentiles which are not of this fold but they belong to Christ as much as the Jewish sheep who believe in Him. Christ, you see, has enlarged His flock by this statement. The people of God, the flock of Christ, are no longer defined or confined in terms of national Israel as they seem to have been up until this time as God called Abraham out of the Ur of the Chaldees and made of him a nation and gave through Moses the law and constituted the people of God, a special people of God.

And those were His people and His saving work was largely confined to those people for many centuries but now something has changed. Now the old covenant has been fulfilled. Now the one who is inaugurating the new covenant is about to shed His blood and to inaugurate that new covenant with His blood, the testimony of His blood, the cup which is His blood which inaugurates the new covenant. And when this new covenant is inaugurated, then Jesus is going to expand His flock many fold. In fact, as we look at it today, we see that there are a whole lot more that are not of the fold of Israel as are of the fold of Israel. There are some from both but Jesus has greatly expanded His flock. Expansion, number three, intention.

Other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring. Intention is really too strong a word but that's the one I chose for this particular point. But this is an infallible intention. It's not the kind of intention we have like I intend to make this phone call tomorrow, I intend to go to the store tomorrow and I may or may not get it done. But when Jesus tells us that He intends to do something, you can mark it down, done.

If He said He's going to do it, if He says He plans to do it, it's as certain as if it were already done. Other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring. Now isn't this interesting?

Think this through. He has Jewish sheep who have been brought. He brought them and now there are others whom He will also bring. So there's bringing here that applies to those that were brought out of the sheep fold of Israel as well as those who will be brought out of the darkness of pagan superstition. Jewish sheep must be brought and Gentile sheep must also be brought, them also I must bring. Jewish sheep must be brought.

This is something that many of them did not understand. They thought their standing with God was automatic by their birth. I'm born into the nation of Israel. I'm born into the line of Abraham. I have been circumcised on the eighth day.

I keep the law. Listen to all the things that Paul used to look at when he was Saul. He used to look at with confidence for his standing before God.

All the things he did which he thought qualified him for a right standing before God because they were things that came to him automatically and then he in his good intentions and efforts had kept them up and he could brag about those things and now we realize that's not what does it. Nobody comes into the true flock of Jesus unless they have been brought. They must be sought and when sought they must be brought and when brought then they become a part of this flock.

They become one of the sheep. This bringing is necessary, them also I must bring. It's necessary for salvation blessings to be secured. No one has salvation blessings unless they have been brought into a right relationship by Christ. This is necessary because they cannot come on their own.

All the men and women would understand that. You must be brought. Thank God you may be brought.

You can be brought. There's a savior who died to bring sinners to himself but dear friend, you can't get there on your own. You can't get there on your merit. You can't get there on your birth. You can't get there on your upbringing. You can't get there on your parentage. You can't get there on the church that you belong to. You can't get there on your baptism. You can't get there on your own. You must be brought.

You must be carried there by somebody else because you are unable to do that on your own. must be brought because they belong to Christ, and since they already belong to Him, they must be brought into the flock. How many times in that high priestly prayer in John chapter 17 did Jesus, praying to the Father, remind the Father that He had a particular people that had been given to Him by the Father? Verse nine, I pray for them. I do not pray for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. Now, said Jesus, I am no longer in the world.

He was getting ready to ascend back to heaven. But these are in the world, and I come to you, Holy Father. Keep through your name those whom you have given to me, that they may be one as we are.

There's that relationship. The oneness that Christ, that the Son has with the Father, He says, that's the oneness that I'm producing in the lives of those whom you have given to me. Verse 12, while I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name. Those whom you gave me, I have kept.

And none of them is lost. There are a people that were given to the Son by the Father in eternity past. That's why they're already His sheep, even if they haven't even heard the gospel yet. The Father gave them to the Son. And because they belong to the Son, Jesus said, those also I must bring. I'm not gonna leave them out there in darkness. They're my sheep. I must bring them. The Father gave them to me.

And I've got to get them. I'm the good shepherd, and I've got to go gather up all of my sheep. I must bring them because they belong to Christ. It is therefore imperative, imperative, that they must be brought. And you can mark it down, they will be brought. This is Christ's infallible intention.

Them also I must bring. This speaks of His purpose. This is His determination to bring them. This speaks of His promise. He has promised to bring them. This speaks of His integrity.

What He promises to do, He must and will perform. Them also I must bring. Do you think any of the elect of God who were given to the Son are going to fail to be brought to faith in Christ and be found in heaven? No, not one. I must bring them.

There's fourth assurance. They will hear my voice. His sheep will hear His voice. Contrary to natural desire or ability, in His natural state, this is what is true of every one of us, but the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to Him, nor can he know them, because they are spiritually deserved. You let the truth of that sink in, and if you don't come to believe the doctrines of grace, you're not listening.

You're not listening. Can a natural man exercise his will to believe? Not as long as he's natural. The things of the Spirit of God are foolishness to him? Neither can he know them. He can't, he can't, he can't. You can say, but he can. The Bible says he can't. You can say, but he must be able to. The Bible says he can't. Who shall we believe? You or God? Well, then how do they believe? How do they come? How do they hear His voice? I must bring, they will hear my voice. Well, a divine operation enables them to hear His voice.

It doesn't come naturally. It's not by the first birth, it's by the second birth. Divine promise assures that they will hear His voice, because the Spirit of God will so operate within them that they will come alive, and now they will hear His voice, and they will follow the shepherd and be saved. And then the fifth word in our text is unification. There will be one flock and one shepherd. One flock of all Christ's sheep. One flock, similar to what Jesus said in John chapter 11, just across the page in my Bible. John chapter 11, verse 49. And one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year said to them, you know nothing at all, nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people and not that the whole nation should perish.

Now this he did not say on his own authority, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation and not for that nation only, but also that he would gather together in one the children of God who are scattered abroad. There it is. Other sheep I have which are not of this fold. Them also I must bring, and they will hear my voice. And when these are all brought together, there will be one flock and one shepherd. One flock of all Christ's sheep. One shepherd over all of Christ's sheep. All old covenant barriers are hereby removed. One people of God. Paul said this in Ephesians 2. For he himself is our peace, who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, that is the law of commandments, contained in ordinances so as to create to himself one new man from the two, that is from Jew and Gentile, the two, thus making peace, and that he might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. Oh yes, much enmity between Jew and Gentile.

If you've read your Bible, I don't have to convince you of that. But in this flock, all the barriers are gone. All the enmity is gone. One people of God with one shepherd. Unity among all Christ's true people. Now what is the nature of this unity?

It has often been misunderstood. This is not the unity of external organization. That's the unity they had in the Jewish sheepfold. And Jesus said, that's not it, that's apostate.

I've got to call my sheep out of that. That's not godly unity. It's not the unity of denominational structures. It's not the unity of the World Council of Churches, bringing everybody together. It's not the unity of the Roman Catholic Church, claiming to be the one and only church in all the world, and everybody must be unified in them.

It is not a mixture of true sheep and pseudo-sheep. It is not a mixture of those who have truly been saved and those who claim to be saved but have no spiritual life. It is a spiritual union with Christ, and a spiritual unity that centers upon Christ. And all who are in the flock of Christ listen to the same voice and believe the same truth. And there is a spiritual unity, unseen by those in the world, unorganized.

Nobody can get ahold of this organization and gain control of it. The one true shepherd is in control of it. The bond of unity is the common relationship to the one Lord. It's not in a fold, like the sheep fold of Israel or anything similar, external organization, but these people are a flock. There is internal affinity and spiritual relationship.

Some have put it this way, and it's a good way to think about it. Not organization, but organism. What is a living organism? Well, it's a body that has life. The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is a living organism. You can't see it.

Someday we'll see it in heaven. But it is one body, and it's likened to a body many times in scripture. We're not all hands, we're not all feet, we're not all the same, but we're all members of the one body. And Christ is the head, and there's one life flowing through us all. This is an organism created by God, belonging to Christ, and all who belong to Christ are part of this, all one body, we, one in hope and doctrine, one in charity.

You can't put this together in one organization, and it's futile to try. That's not what's involved here. This is a spiritual organism, and all who belong to Christ are part of that unity. Now, let me draw a couple of lessons out of this passage. We see something about the nature of Christ's enlarged body, which we know elsewhere by the term the Church. The enlarged body of Christ is not national Israel enlarged. That's what the Jews were anticipating.

They knew that the scriptures had foretold a time when Gentiles would be brought into the people of God, that the people of God would not forever be only Jews, but they still didn't understand how this was gonna happen. We read in Isaiah 54, Sing, O barren, you who have not borne, break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not labored with child. For more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married woman, says the Lord.

That's a picture, that's an analogy. More are the ones that are born out of the nation of Israel than the ones who are in the nation of Israel and are in that respect, the wife of Jehovah. But there are more outside. Enlarge the place of your tent and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings. Do not spare, lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes for you shall expand to the right and to the left and your descendants will inherit the nations and make the desolate cities inhabited. Now, that's one of many Old Testament texts that speak of the people of God expanding beyond the confines of national Israel, but what Israel apparently conceived of when they read these promises and when they thought about their fulfillment was, God's going to in some way enlarge the tent of Israel so that Gentiles will come into the tent and in essence become Jews.

That's the way it's going to be done. But that's not what Jesus is telling us here. It's not national Israel enlarged, it's not Gentiles becoming Jews. Here's another similar text, Micah 4, one and two. Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills and peoples shall flow to it. Many nations shall come and say, come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways and we shall walk in his paths for out of Zion the law shall go forth and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

Now what does that mean? To the Jews it meant well Gentiles are gonna finally see the light and they're gonna come to us, they're gonna come to Jerusalem, they're gonna come to the temple, they're gonna come to Mount Zion, they're gonna acknowledge that we were right, they are going to submit to Moses and become the people of God. There's going to be Gentiles who brought into the nation of Israel but I would submit to you that there's another way to look at this and that is to say no that's symbolic language. It's not that Gentiles are going to become Jews in order to come into the flock of God. It is that Jesus is creating one new flock. He's calling sheep out of the sheepfold of Israel.

He's calling sheep out of the darkness of paganism. They are all one flock with one shepherd and it's not that Israel is going to become larger by Gentiles becoming Jews on their way to becoming followers of Christ but it is that Gentiles are going to become followers of Christ bypassing Moses, bypassing Israel. That temple they're coming to on Mount Zion is a spiritual temple, it is the Lord Jesus Christ. That Jerusalem they're coming to is the Jerusalem from above that Paul talks about in the book of Galatians. Jews and Gentiles called out into one new flock and this, dear friend, explains the use of the word world in the Bible in many places.

God so loved the world, what does that mean? That means not only Israel, the lost sheep of the house of Israel, but other sheep I have which are not of the Israel fold, them also I must bring out of every kingdom, every nation, every tongue, all over the world indeed. Lesson number two, the mark of Christ's true sheep.

We learn here that Christ's true sheep all hear his voice. They are all drawn to his word. It's not that they are drawn to religion. It is not that they are drawn to their friends who have a particular religion and they'd like to join them. It's not that they are drawn to a particular church, although all those things will happen when a person comes to faith in Christ. He will have a religion for sure, true religion. He will have friends in the body of Christ that will become dearer to him, more dear than his own family. He will come into a Bible believing church and enjoy all those benefits, but that's not the essence of it.

You can do all those things without being born again and many have. The question is, do you hear his voice? The question is, are you hearing his voice?

What is his voice? This is not a voice that whispers to you in the night. This is the Holy Spirit making the Bible, making the word of God alive, real, powerful, applicable. You hear the voice of Christ in the word of God. And that is the mark of Christ's true sheep. They hear his voice in the word, which causes them to love the word.

And that becomes probably the most important mark of a true believer in Jesus Christ. He loves the word because he hears the voice of his savior, of his shepherd in the word. So he wants to read the word. He wants to hear the word. He is drawn to the word. He's not one of these people who attends church, but isn't really interested in the sermon, isn't really interested in the word, kind of hangs around on the periphery of things and sort of enjoys the fellowship of the people, but doesn't really have any heart love for the word.

If you're in that category, dear friend, you are in great danger. The mark of a true sheep of Jesus Christ is that he hears the voice of his shepherd in the word. And the final lesson is this, to remind ourselves of the way that his sheep hear his voice. There's two parts to it.

There's gospel proclamation, which is our part, and there's spiritual enablement, which is his part. Now, I can't do anything to change your heart. I can't do anything to cause your ears to truly hear. That's not in my ability.

That's not a sign to me. God didn't give me that responsibility. So I don't take responsibility for it. It's not my responsibility to somehow talk you into it, to twist your arm, to apply psychological pressure, to somehow get you to the front to pray a prayer or do any of these things.

That's not my part. And if I try to take over the Holy Spirit's part, I'm gonna make a royal mess of it, like so many have. And why we have so many people who think they're saved who are lost, it's my part to proclaim the word and pray that the Spirit wise will open blinded eyes. My part is to proclaim the word. It's God's part to open hearts.

And missions is the extension of gospel proclamation to the ends of the earth. I can proclaim the gospel here and any place the Lord allows this ministry to extend. I told you Tuesday night at the praise service, we had a wonderful praise service Tuesday night as those of you who were here know. So I told you Tuesday night how encouraged I was by this visiting couple on Sunday night. They just showed up.

Turned out they live in Florida. They drove up here to meet me and to scope out this church because they've been listening to sermons on sermon audio. That's quite an extension from this pulpit.

That's a long ways from Burlington, North Carolina. But I've only got a limited area that I can proclaim the gospel. But our commission is to go to all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. So what is the work of missions? It is to find people who are called and commissioned and enabled by God to go to the ends of the earth and proclaim the gospel. That's the human part. Praying that the spirit wise will open blinded eyes.

And it's amazing how often he does that. Don't you're just thrilled to hear reports like the one we heard from David Edens. The gospel goes to a, because we're on internet today, I have to be careful what I say here. But the gospel goes to a dark land, to a land dominated by another religion, a place where it seems very unlikely that people will be saved. And for a long time, just laying foundation, laying foundation, years go by, a couple of decades go by, and then suddenly that word begins to take root and bear fruit and the spirit wise is opening blinded eyes. And now there are scores, if not hundreds of believers there.

And where did they come from? Gospel proclamation empowered by the spirit of God. Our part is to proclaim the gospel to the ends of the earth, so that these other sheep that belong to Christ might hear the gospel. It might be brought into the flock along with us. Shall we pray? Oh Father, how we thank you for the encouragement of this text, how we thank you for the enlightenment which this text gives to us. And now Lord help us to live in the light of what we have heard. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.