The Distinguishing Marks of True Sheep

Introduction: The Three Crucial Questions for Hell-Deserving Sinners

0:04 The following message was delivered on Sunday morning, June 26, 1994, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now may I encourage you to follow with me in your own Bibles as I read a portion of the 10th chapter of the Gospel of John, John chapter 10. And I shall begin the reading at verse 22 and read through to verse 30. John chapter 10 and verse 22.

0:43 ...of the dedication at Jerusalem.

0:51 It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in Solomon's porch. The Jews therefore came round about him and said unto him, How long do you hold us? In suspense. If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.

1:11 Jesus answered them, I told you, and you believe not. The works that I do in my Father's name, these bear witness of me. But you believe not, because you are not of my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

1:36 And I... I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand.

1:47 My Father, who hath given them unto me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one. Now let us again pray and ask that God will indeed, by the power of his Spirit, attend the teaching, and the preaching of his own holy word. Let us pray.

2:12 Our Father, we are deeply grateful for the privilege that has already been ours in this place this morning, to worship you, the living and the true God. We thank you that in the previous hour we were privileged to consider afresh the brevity of this life and the certainty of death and judgment in the age to come. Amen. Amen.

2:41 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

2:41 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

2:41 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

2:42 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

2:42 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

2:42 As once again we take your word and set it before our eyes and its truth before our minds, that as the Spirit attended the teaching and preaching of the Apostle Paul, and you were pleased to open the heart of Lydia, enabling her savingly to embrace the truth, O Lord, would you not in this place today, by the secret yet powerful, of the Holy Spirit, open many a heart to receive your holy truth. Speak with power and with clarity, we pray.

3:24 Bind the powers of darkness that would hinder your word. May it run and have free course and be glorified in this place, we ask through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. You and this preacher standing before you are part of a world made up entirely of hell-deserving sinners.

3:58 When the scripture says, For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and that the wages of sin is death, there are no exceptions. And we are all by nature and without exception, exception, fallen sons and daughters of our first father Adam. For as the scripture says, By one man sin entered into the world, and death passed upon all, for that all sinned. Furthermore, each and every one of us marked for death and for judgment.

4:36 For the scripture says, It is appointed unto men once to die, and after this cometh death. Judgment. In the light of these realities, there are three crucial, three life and death questions which ought to be asked by every one of us. Three questions which must be answered from the word of God.

Question 1: The Ground of Forgiveness and Acceptance

5:05 The first question is this, What, if any, is the ground or basis on which a holy God can and will forgive guilty? Guilty sinners, accept them as righteous in his sight, receive them into his favor and fellowship, and vindicate them in the day of judgment, and welcome them into heaven. What, if any, is the ground or basis on which a holy God can do that to hell-deserving sinners? What, if any, is the ground upon which God can take, defile,

5:47 guilty sinners, who deserve to perish, welcome them into his favor now, vindicate them in the day of judgment, and dwell with them forever in heaven? Now, the answer of the Bible to that question is that the only basis on God which will do such a thing is his sovereign mercy manifested in the provision of a perfect righteousness through the person and the person of God. The person and work of Jesus Christ as declared in the gospel. The scripture says there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.

6:30 The sole ground on which a holy God can maintain the integrity of all that he is as God, and yet pardon and accept hell-deserving sinners, welcome them into his favor now, and into his presence forever is the righteousness that has been wrought by the life and death of Jesus Christ and is proclaimed in the gospel. But then there's a second question that we must ask. By what means does a hell-deserving sinner appropriate to himself that sole provision,

Question 2: The Means of Appropriating Salvation

7:12 that righteousness of God provided in Christ, and revealed in the gospel? By what means does a sinner come to stand upon that provision? And again, the answer of the Bible is clear and unmistakable. The sole, the exclusive means of appropriating to oneself the righteousness of God revealed in the gospel is by believing the gospel and receiving the gospel.

7:46 The Savior whom the gospel sets before us. Romans 1, 16 and 17 makes this very clear. I am not ashamed of the gospel, Paul says, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes. For therein is revealed a righteousness of God from faith unto faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith.

8:13 For by grace are you saved through, faith. So the second question, you see, is not what is the ground upon which God forgives and accepts the sinner? The answer to that question is the only ground is the righteousness wrought in the perfect life in the substitutionary death of the person of Jesus Christ and revealed in the gospel. But how does one come to appropriate that sole, full ground to himself?

8:48 And the answer of the Bible is clear. By faith alone. Now it will be a penitent faith, yes. It will be a faith subsequently accompanied by love and other fruits, yes.

9:02 But the sole means of appropriating the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ is faith and faith alone. There is a third question we need to ask. Because the Bible speaks, of a vain faith, of a temporary faith, of demons, of the hope of the hypocrite, that shall perish. So we must ask a third question.

Question 3: The Assurance of Genuine Faith

9:33 And that question is this. How can I know and be assured that my professed faith is what the Bible calls the faith of God's elect and has truly united me to Christ and made me a partaker and an heir of all of the world? And all of the blessings of salvation in Him? You see the difference in that question?

10:00 We're not now asking what is the ground on which God accepts the sinner. That's Christ and His righteousness alone. We're not asking the means by which we embrace that ground. That's faith and faith alone.

10:16 We're asking the question, if I profess to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and be a possessor of the righteousness of God in Him, how can I know that my professed faith is genuine faith? Since the same Bible that teaches me that the only ground of my acceptance is the righteousness of God in Christ, the only means of appropriating that ground is faith and faith alone, the same Bible that teaches me those truths, teachers, teaches me that there is a vain faith, a dead faith, a temporary faith,

11:00 a faith of the demons. I accept the Bible's testimony about the sole ground of the sinner's acceptance, the sole means of appropriating the sinner's acceptance or the ground of the sinner's acceptance, and then reject the testimony of the Bible that there is a vain faith, there is a dead faith, there is a temporary faith, there is a faith of the demons, there is a faith that damns.

11:31 No, I must take seriously that the Bible sets before us the frightening reality that men can think that they have by faith appropriated the sole ground of the sinner's acceptance, and in reality, be deceived.

11:52 Therefore, it is incumbent upon each one of us to be deeply, deeply concerned about the question, am I for real? Is the faith I profess?

12:08 Now, that obviously brings us not to question number one, what is the ground of the sinner's pardon? That's Christ in Christ alone. Not question number two, what is the means of receiving that ground, faith in faith alone, but it brings us to question number three, how can I know, that I am indeed a possessor of the faith that has united me to Christ, and all of the virtue of the salvation that is in Him? And as we began to study last week, dealing with the question, am I for real?

12:53 I sought in two sermons to open up before you four reasons why we must be concerned with this third question, because deception on this crucial issue is a real and tragic possibility, and we looked at six texts of Scripture, because the agents which promote deception on this crucial issue are constantly present and incessantly active. Thirdly, because of our present circumstances which make it peculiarly, make us peculiarly vulnerable to deception, and fourthly, because the Scripture itself explicitly commands this kind of self-examination.

The Distinguishing Mark of a True Sheep: Belief in Christ

13:38 Now as we seek this morning to open up specific Scriptures, which will I trust under the blessing of God be the divinely inspired yardsticks, the divinely given and divinely constructed mirrors, weights and measurements, whatever imagery you wish to use by which to evaluate the genuineness of our professed faith, may God help us to do so with the kind of honesty that will be forced upon us in the day of judgment. And we are going to do our first exercise in self-examination by focusing upon a portion

14:21 of John chapter 10 under the title Are You a True Sheep of Christ? Are you a true sheep of Christ? Are you a true sheep of Christ? And we're going to look particularly at John 10 verses 26 and 27 under three very simple headings.

14:44 The distinguishing mark of a true sheep of Christ, the amazing privileges of the true sheep of Christ, and the identifying actions of the true sheep of Christ. And remember, remember, this is not Pastor Martin's emphasis, this is not Trinity, this is not Trinity Church's emphasis. These are the words of the Son of the Living God.

15:11 First of all then, the distinguishing mark of a true sheep of Christ, verse 26. But you believe not because you are not of my sheep. Here in this setting, the Jews come to the Lord Jesus in the public setting of His presence in the temple. And as they gather around Him, they press a question upon Him, verse 24, how long do you hold us in suspense?

15:46 If you are the Christ, tell us as though He had not on several occasions in their presence clearly identified Himself as the Christ. But now they, under the pretense that He's not been clear enough, are forcing Him, and if He comes, out with a plain statement, they would stone Him there on the spot as they did shortly after in the context, or sought to do shortly after in the context of this very passage. Jesus responds by saying, I told you and you did not believe.

16:29 I told you who I was. I have declared identity, but you did not believe. And not only, did you have the witness of my words, you had the witness of my works. The works that I do in my Father's name, these bear witness of me.

16:53 The evidence of His identity as the Christ was sufficient to bring them to faith. But in spite of that evidence from His word and His works, they resolutely refused to believe. They would not accept His testimony about Himself from His words or from His works. And so our Lord underscores that what they lacked was not sufficient evidence or sufficient affirmation of His identity.

17:30 What they lacked was faith. They were unbelievers. But you believe not. And notice He says, because you are not of my sheep.

17:44 And being a believer and being a sheep of Christ are so inseparably joined that where these people do not believe, He says, surely in your state of unbelief you are none of my sheep. My sheep have as their distinguishing mark that they are believers in me. They have embraced what I have said. They have said about my identity.

18:13 They have seen in the works that I have done the validation of my identity. And they have from the heart embraced me for who I claim to be by my words and by my works. They have embraced me as the Christ of God. They have seen in me as Peter said, thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

18:42 And coming to faith in Him, they were now a part of His visible community of sheep. So that the distinguishing mark of the true sheep of Christ is that they believe upon Christ as Christ has revealed Himself in His Word and in His works. And as we are and as we contemplate this question, am I a true sheep of Christ? We must begin where Christ begins and recognize that the distinguishing mark of every true sheep of Christ is that he or she,

19:26 young or old, is a believer in the Lord Jesus. This is why throughout the Scriptures when the Bible would describe the true people, the people of God, it speaks of believers were the more added unto the Lord. The word believer and disciple used interchangeably and synonymously throughout the book of Acts. But especially in the book of John, the term believe or believer is dominant with respect to the distinguishing mark of the true sheep of the Lord Jesus.

20:09 For as John Brown has so masterfully demonstrated in his excellent commentary on 2 Peter 1 on the text Make Your Calling and Election Sure, he states this very helpful principle that the marks of a true Christian are in reality basically this. They live in the faith of the gospel and they live a life style molded by that faith. One can reduce all of the evidences of being in a state of grace to that simple principle that they are the outworking

20:54 of the impress of the gospel upon the heart and life of a man or woman. Having come into the number of God's people by faith in Christ, they more and more grow in their Christianism, their Christian experience as they are molded by the principles and the dynamics and the power of the gospel that they have believed. And so the distinguishing mark of a true sheep of Christ is that he is a believer in the Lord Jesus. Not a believer in some nebulous Christ of his own concocting.

21:36 Not a believer in a Christ who is nothing but the composite of men's opinion about him, but the Christ of biblical revelation. The Christ who has revealed himself as the eternal son of the living God. The Christ who has revealed himself as one with the Father. Here in this very passage, verse 30, I and my Father literally are one thing, not one person. There is a new

22:09 interused. We are of one thing, that is of one substance. We in the mystery of the Trinity, we compose two persons of the Triune Godhead. And the Jews well understood his claim.

22:25 For they said after taking up stones to stone him, verse 31, Jesus said, many good works have I showed you. For which of these works do you stone me? They said, not for your works, but for blasphemy, because you being a man, make yourself God. And the true believer says, no, the truth is, he who became a man while continuing to be God, he became a man and is and forever shall be the God man. And

23:05 so the distinguishing mark of the true sheep of Christ is, they are believers. Believers in Christ in terms of what he says about himself. He is God manifested in the flesh in terms of what he says about his own works. Earlier in another passage in this very chapter, two months earlier, when he had been speaking in the imagery of the sheep and the shepherd, he says in verse 14 of the chapter, I am the good shepherd, and I know my own and my own know me.

23:45 And he says in verse 15, and I lay down my life for on behalf of in the room instead of the sheep. Here he claims that in the laying down of his life, it is to procure the salvation of his sheep. To believe in Christ as the distinguishing mark of a true sheep of Christ is not to believe some nebulous thing about his person or work. To believe is to believe what he has said about the uniqueness of his person and the uniqueness of his work as the substitute sin bearer for his own.

24:27 I ask you as you sit here this morning, are you a believer in Christ? Have you come to credit as true everything the scripture says about his person and about his work? And embracing that, cast the whole weight of your soul upon the person who is set before you in the uniqueness of his person and his work. That is to believe upon Christ.

24:59 For earlier in this very gospel, John said to his many as received him, to them gave he the right to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. What is it to believe on his name? It is to receive him. His name is the revelation of himself. To believe

25:20 upon him is to receive him as revealed. Cast the full weight of the soul upon him. That I say is the distinguishing mark of the true sheep of Christ. But then notice secondly the amazing privileges of the true sheep of Christ in verses 27 and 28.

The Amazing Privileges of True Sheep: Known and Secure in Christ

25:44 My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish and no one shall snatch them out of my hand. My Father who hath given them unto me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. What are the amazing privileges of the true sheep of Christ? Well in this passage they can be reduced to two things.

26:16 They are known by him and they are secure in him. They are known by him. Verse 27. My sheep hear my voice and I know them.

26:33 Now that's not just the general omniscience by which he knows all things. You remember when Peter was asked by the Lord do you love me? He said Lord you know all things. You know that I love you. That was a statement of the

26:47 Lord's general omniscience as God. But when he says I know my sheep he's using the word I know in the sense of the knowledge of distinguishing sovereign electing love and grace. It is the knowledge of affection and concern. Notice how he uses it earlier in this chapter verse 3 of chapter 10. To him that is

27:17 to the shepherd the porter opens and the sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. To see the element of intimacy he calls them by name. I know them. Further in verse 11. I am the good shepherd

27:39 the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. There is his love manifested to those who he knows and regards with distinguishing love and affection. And verse 14. I am the good shepherd and I know my own and my own know me.

28:01 As there is in a saving knowledge of Christ more than an intellectual comprehension of the basic doctrines about him. There is a knowledge that surrounds itself with affinity and affection and desire. So the amazing privilege of the sheep of Christ are set before us first of all in these terms. They are known by him.

28:29 There is the knowledge of distinguishing love. Of intimate acquaintance. Sacrificial love. That knowledge without which there is no true saving union with the Lord Jesus. They

28:45 are known by him and furthermore he says they are secure in him. Verse 28. I give present tense I am giving to them here and now eternal life. There is the general statement. But now

29:04 our Lord knowing the weakness of the faith of his people expands upon that. That in itself should be enough. If he is giving eternal life that must be life not only of a unique quality but of an unbroken duration. But our Lord amplifies and says they shall never perish. I give to them

29:26 eternal life. By very definition it is life of a particular quality and of a specific duration. It is not life that will last until they turn from me. It is not life that will last into the first eon of the age to come. No it is eternal

29:46 never ending life. And it is eternal life that is existence in the knowledge and communion of God and of himself in the place where there is no intrusion of sin which brings death. All of that is bound up in the very words eternal life. But our Lord amplifies and says they shall never perish and furthermore he says no one shall snatch them out of my hand. He

30:20 recognizes that his sheep are constantly in a posture of danger while in this world. This word never snatched could be rendered plundered. The Greek verb arpazo is what is used in a passage such as Matthew 11, 12. Matthew 11 and verse 12 look at the vigor of the word.

30:45 From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and men of violence here is our verb take it by force. You see the concept here is that of forceful plundering. John 10 and verse 12 it speaks of the activity of the wolf. He that is a hireling and not a shepherd whose own the sheep are not beholds the wolf coming and leaves the sheep in fleas and the wolf here is our verb snatches them. What does the wolf do?

31:22 He comes and with his peculiar ability to sink his fangs into the flesh of the helpless defenseless sheep he rends the throat of that sheep and drags it away dead and with its neck broken. That's the force and the Lord says though there will be perhaps a thousand predators that would seek to take my sheep away from me. He says it will never happen to a one of them. No one shall snatch them out of my hand. They are not only known

32:02 by me they are totally secure in me. And perhaps the best calling parallel to this is the latter part of John chapter 8. I mean the Romans chapter 8 where he starts in verse 35 who shall separate us from the love of God. And he speaks of life and death and tribulation and every imaginable thing that would act like a prey upon defenseless sheep and rend us from Christ. And he said I am

32:37 persuaded that none of these things shall separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. And these privileges are conferred upon all of Christ's sheep the weakest of them to the strongest from the stumbling and the faltering to those who walk in following the shepherd with steady step. You and I will never come to any place of real stability in Christ until we settle in our hearts the first two elements of the passage that I sought to open up in your hearing. Namely that the distinguishing mark of the true sheep of Christ is that they are believers in Christ. They have gone

33:21 and continue to go out of themselves into the virtue and the strength and the saving merit of another. For the very nature of faith is that it goes out of itself into and upon another and that is always the distinguishing mark of the true sheep of Christ and as the sheep of Christ believers they have amazing privileges conferred upon them. They are known by Him my sheep hear my voice and I know them they are secure in Him I give to them eternal life they shall never perish they shall never be plundered

34:06 no one shall pluck them out of my hand. Now we come in the third place and that which focuses in upon the burden of our series of studies. The Lord Jesus not only sets before us the distinguishing mark of the true sheep of Christ they are believers the amazing privileges of the true sheep of Christ they are known by Him secure in Him but He gives the identifying actions of the true sheep of Christ the identifying actions and I am underlying the word underlying the word actions getting beyond now

The Identifying Actions of True Sheep: Hearing His Voice

34:49 profession and notions into actions the identifying actions of the true sheep of Christ and what are they look at verse 27 my sheep action number one present tense verb my sheep are hearing my voice that is action number one and action number two and present tense verb me said to be true of all of Christ's sheep now as surely

35:32 as the marvelous privileges of the sheep are the privileges of the weakest of the sheep the newest of the sheep in the flock the most of the sheep as sure as those privileges are true of each and every sheep of Christ the identifying actions are Christ without exception when they separate

36:16 when God is joined there is a beautiful couplet and it comes through so powerfully in the original when one reads this passage Jesus says my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I believe to them you see these four things are joined inseparably I have separated for the uses of preaching and exposition but they are inseparable in reality and the identifying actions of the true sheep of Christ are this

37:01 they are hearing his voice and they are following his person now what does this mean they are hearing his voice well in this context it would be the spoken word of the shepherd notice in the previous treatment of the shepherd sheep analogy earlier in the chapter how central is this matter of the shepherds voice to his relationship to the sheep verse 3 of John 10 to him that is to the shepherd the porter opens and the sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep

37:45 by name when he has put forth all his own he goes before them and the sheep follow him why for they know his voice and a stranger will they not follow but will flee from him for they know not the voice of strangers do you see the dominant emphasis on the voice of the shepherd in relationship to the sheep in the context in which he spoke our Lord has underscored it powerfully repeatedly unmistakably to hear his voice in the context in which he spoke obviously meant to hear his spoken word but it meant more than that even when Christ was alive it meant to hear

38:30 the written word of which he was the author for when someone cries from hell look look my brothers will repent if they had something more than the scriptures to send someone back alive from the dead Jesus says in Luke 16 they have Moses and the prophets if they hear not them neither will they listen though one come back from the dead Peter says it was the spirit of Christ in the prophets testifying beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow so that for us the voice of Christ is holy scripture the voice

39:14 of Christ is the word of the living God embodied in this book and Jesus says that the identifying action of every one of his true sheep is this they are hearing his voice it is an exclusive hearing they will not listen to the voice of the stranger it is a universal hearing they hear my voice it is a constant hearing they are listening to my voice from the initial voice of Christ that becomes the means of their effectual calling into his

39:57 visible fold verse 16 other sheep I have which are not of this fold them also I must bring he is speaking of the Gentiles and he says my sheep that are mine by sovereign electing love by eternal covenant engagement with the Father I have others that are not of this fold and I must bring them and how are they going to be brought they shall hear my voice Jesus never preached among the Gentiles how do they hear his voice they hear his voice according to Romans 10 when sent one speak in his name speak his word speak his

40:40 gospel call men to repentance and faith that is how they hear his voice and Jesus said my sheep are hearing my voice and they hear it first of all when in the preaching of the gospel whether at the table in family worship in a godly home whether in a Sunday school whether in the privacy of a hotel room reading a Gideon bible or sitting under the preaching of the word in a place like this suddenly or gradually or by various ways none of them predictable they are coming at a time when no longer is it just the words of the preacher or the words of the bible or the words of mum and dad

41:24 through all oblivious is opened to hear the voice of Christ and the invitation come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden they hear it and say Lord that's me I am heavy laden with my sin with my barrenness with my emptiness Lord Jesus I come or perhaps the promise him that comes to me I'll in no wise cast out and they throw themselves upon Christ in the word and promise that he will receive all who do furthermore they hear his voice saying if any man will come after me let him deny himself take up his cross and follow me

42:09 they hear his voice not only in the word and promise of the gospel but in the word and demands of true discipleship my sheep hear my voice and Christ has never changed his voice saying that the non negotiable terms of being his follower are to deny self take up the cross and to follow him to give him a place of affection above father mother brother sister wife husband lands possessions and your own life also and he says my sheep hear my voice they hear my voice in the sweetness of the word and promise of the gospel in the stringent demands of discipleship

42:52 they hear my voice and having heard it and become true believers true disciples they go on hearing my voice and as they begin to understand what my voice says about how they are to conduct themselves as husbands when they read husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it when they read of the nurturing tender sensitive caring love of Christ and they didn't have any example of that in their father and they were brought up with such a wicked notion of hard hearted machoism they go down before their savior and say Lord Jesus you are speaking to me

43:36 in Ephesians 5 and it's not native to me I wasn't programmed by example or instruction to love a woman as you say I must love my wife but Lord Jesus you what is not native to me but do it I must they hear my voice they hear my voice saying husbands love and when that woman reads the text and it says wives be in submission to your husbands in everything they hear the voice of Christ even when he says to you wives Peter who have unconverted husbands obey them submit to them

44:21 if any obey not the word they may be won by the holy manner of living that woman with an unconverted husband hears the voice of Christ the King in his word to submission to her unconverted husband child hears his voice saying children obey your parents honor your father and your mother they hear the voice of Christ and they say Lord Jesus my heavenly shepherd who died for me to make me your sheep who called me out of darkness into light Lord Jesus in the day when I know it's the end thing to mock

45:05 mom and dad I know it's the end thing to act cool as though mom and dad can't get to you Lord I'm determined no matter what my peers think I am Lord Jesus I'm going to hear your voice calling me to be an obedient respectful son or daughter wherever I speak on whatever issue I speak now you see dear people this is what has gotten to me as one of my greatest concerns there's some of you who've sat in this place and have heard series of sermons on many of these practical issues and you are not fundamentally different in these areas and it troubles me because

45:49 if you're a real sheep of Christ why aren't you hearing his voice you see hearing his voice does not mean just listening to his voice in sermons or listening to his voice in the word of God so that it touches the outer vestibule everything in this passage about the sheep hearing his voice is indicative that his voice governs what they do with a disposition to obey and what are we to think when as elders with some of you

46:33 we've gone through two and three and four regimens of counseling session on the same issues one elder I see the voice of Christ and you claim to be his sheep he said my sheep my voice say what they will Jesus said my sheep don't listen

47:13 to the voice of strangers let the perverts in New York and the equally perverse news media trying to present them in a lovely light fill the screens with the activities of the perverts you don't hear their voice you hear the voice of Christ who says no homosexual shall enter the kingdom of heaven you hear the voice of Christ that says no unclean person shall enter the kingdom of heaven you hear the voice of Christ you don't regard it with indifference with selectivity with negativity but you not only hear his voice

The Identifying Actions of True Sheep: Following His Person

47:56 look at the second that second this identifying action of the true sheep of Christ and he says and they notice he doesn't say and they obey my voice or they obey my word but he said my sheep are hearing my voice and they are following me and I was sharing with the elders when we met to pray this I said the verse came with freshness to me and this was the part that came with tremendous freshness to my own soul why didn't Jesus say

48:40 my sheep hear my voice and they obey me my sheep hear my voice and they do what I tell them there are other places where he says if you love me keep my commandments but he said my sheep hear my voice and they are following me they hear my voice and they follow me you see the distinction in one you have detached the word from the person in the other attachment to the person is the rationale for obedience

49:20 to the word think of the analogy of the shepherd long before the sheep may see the shepherd coming over a hill behind the corner of a sheepfold they hear his voice they are all ears and when he goes before them they follow there is an attachment to the person of the shepherd and could it be that that is the fundamental flaw in the professed faith of not a few of you there is no real attachment to the person of Christ no real attachment to the shepherd himself

50:04 you see the identifying of the true sheep is not that they keep the rules of the shepherd keep the laws of the shepherd they follow the shepherd himself there is all the difference in the world between keeping enough of the rules of Christ to be a respectable member and good standing of Trinity Baptist Church and having a warm living vital relationship to the person of Jesus Christ and he said this is the identifying action of all my sheep they are following me

50:48 following me following me Ryle has a beautiful comment on what this means in particular he says they follow me this means that his people like sheep obey trust and walk in the steps of their divine master they follow him in holy obedience to his commandments they follow him striving to copy his example and they follow him in trusting implicitly his providential leadings going where he'd have them go and taking cheerfully all he appoints for them it is almost needless to remark that this description belongs to none but true Christians it did not belong to the Pharisees

51:33 to whom our Lord spoke and it does not belong to the multitudes of professing Christians in our own day what Ryle wrote a hundred years ago is equally true in our own day if only those who have this constant disposition sometimes stronger than others the vicissitudes of the Christian life are all assumed but the prevailing disposition is that of hearing his voice and the prevailing pattern of life is that of following him in attachment to his person obeying his voice

52:16 seeking to follow his example willing to go when he leads through places of difficulty whether in personal mortification or in the dispensations of his providence with regard to job and relationships one thing in life they cannot forfeit and that's Christ they follow him if only such are those of whom he says I know them I gave eternal life to them ain't everybody talking about heaven going there yes he does say the privilege of all of his sheep

Are You the Real Thing? A Call to Self-Examination

52:59 is I know them and I preserve them but who are the them the them are those who hear his voice and who follow him as I summarize and bring this message to a close this morning I want to ask you very simply are you the real thing? the distinguishing mark of his true sheep you are a believer in Christ you have been brought to that place for owning what you are as a sinner acknowledging that what God has said about his son

53:42 is true you have from the depths of your heart cast yourself upon Christ and Christ alone as he is revealed in the word and promise of the gospel you are a believer in Christ you believe what he said about himself you believe what he has said about his work you hear you have come to the posture of being a believer and as a believer you have the amazing privileges of being known by him and being secure in him and in the light of those privileges your heart is bound to him in a faith that has been the mother of love

54:26 and a love that constantly begets obedience and therefore you have the identifying actions of his true sheep you are hearing his voice and you are following his person you are hearing his voice not only when you come to church you read your bible because there you hear his voice you seek to do what you can in every situation consistent with your responsibilities in life to hear his voice as frequently as you can as broadly as you can when the scriptures are read here morning and evening you don't sit there and say oh boy

55:10 another chapter you say oh God the voice of my heavenly shepherd help me to hear your heart leaps with eagerness to hear his voice to hear his voice but you not only hear but you follow him you cannot separate his voice from his person and though you follow him imperfectly with greater alacrity than in others and though you follow sometimes with leaden feet none the less the drift into the old description of your life is that you are a follower

55:52 of the great shepherd now my friend is that a description of you well I've got this area and that area and this area I'm not sure well then my friend you better deal with those areas if you know you are true Christians then be Christians if you would know that you are a Christian be a Christian you see what he means to Christ for grace

56:37 to hear his voice in that area and then you will no longer doubt that you are a sheep who hears his voice where are you not following him is it in some area of self denial is it in some area of refusing to cut off a right hand and pluck out a right eye is it in some area of refusal to deal with some interpersonal relationship if your brother hath ought against you go tell him his fault if you come to bring your gift to the altar and there remember your brother has something against you go be reconciled is it in some area where you refuse to deal then my friend follow him say Lord Jesus it's your word it's your person it is the constraint of your love upon me that constrains me to obey

57:22 and if you would have solid unshakable assurance that you are a sheep of Christ start by settling God's answer to that first question is there any ground on which a holy God can welcome sinners into his favor now and in eternity yes there is and that ground is Christ in Christ alone start there don't start with your evidences don't start with your obedience settle that resting in him and him alone by faith is the foundation of your dealings

58:06 with God and in the strength of Christ get on with hearing the voice of Christ and following the person of Christ for true Christianity never stops with the first issue or with the second it always moves on to the third and you could describe a true Christian in a very real sense as a man a woman a boy or girl whose perspectives motives and whole life is but an extension of the impress of the gospel gospel perspectives and gospel motives and gospel incentives possess the heart

58:50 the love of Christ constrains me for to me to live is Christ God forbid that I should glory in the cross by which the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world is crucified with Christ nevertheless I live nevertheless not I but Christ lives in me in the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me you see what I mean when I say that the Christian life is but an extension and the outworking of the gospel and its impress upon the soul may God grant that as we ask ourselves the question am I for real to be able to take a passage like

59:34 John 10 27 26-28 and say oh God as I have searched my heart with judgment day honesty and dependence upon the Holy Spirit by your grace I am described in this verse my friend if you are described in that verse then you of all people ought to be rejoicing with joy unspeakable and fully full of glory for you are known by this great shepherd and you are secure in him but if you cannot produce with evidence that you'd be prepared to put in in the day of judgment

The Path to Assurance and a Final Prayer

60:18 those identifying actions of a true sheep if you can't produce them to your own conscience now then my friend you go have dealings with Christ as an unconverted man or woman and throw yourself upon his mercy and ask him to save you to change you and to make you into a sheep that will hear his voice and will follow him let us pray our Father we thank you for the words of our Lord Jesus and we pray that the Holy Spirit would take those words and write them upon all of our hearts with power

61:02 we pray for those who sitting here this morning have had whatever measure of assurance they came with into this building shaken by the word we pray Lord that you will not allow them to retreat deeper into self deception but may they flee to you and have hard dealings with you and give themselves no rest until by your grace they can say I do hear the voice of the heavenly shepherd and I do follow him we pray our God that for all who with judgment day honesty can say by grace that's a description

61:45 of me give them to the heavenly shepherd and they are secure in him oh we thank you our Father that there is nothing that can snatch us out of his hand grant us joy unspeakable and full of glory in the certain knowledge of our security in Christ seal then this word dismiss us with your blessing we pray for those who will be making that long journey down to Dayton Tennessee watch over them protect them bless the many who will gather at that conference

62:29 and oh we pray that it may be a time when many will be brought into the kingdom brought into the fold of Christ become his true sheep in their own experience grant our Father your blessing to rest upon us we ask in Jesus name Amen