Things the Lord has

Turn with me please to the Gospel of John chapter 10. John chapter 10 and verse 26. John 10 and verse 26.

But you believe not because you're not of my sheep as I said unto you 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 neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand my father which gave them me is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand I and my father are one. Now chapter 12 please. Verse 24.

John 12 and 24. Verily, verily I say unto you except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

If any man serve me let him follow me and where I am there shall also my servant be. If any man serve me him will my father honor. Now chapter 15 please.

Verse 12. 15 and 12. This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you.

Greater love hath no man than this that in a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends if you do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth but I have called you friends for all things that I have heard of my father I have made known unto you.

Now chapter 20 for another reading. Verse well let's read from verse 16. Jesus saith unto her Mary she turned herself and saith unto him Rabboni which is to say master.

Jesus saith unto her touch me not for I'm not yet ascended to my father but go to my brethren and say unto them I ascend unto my father and your father and to my God and your God. Now just a final reading in the Gospel of Matthew 16 is a chapter. Verse 13.

When Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples saying whom do men say that I the Son of Man am and they said some say that thou art John the Baptist some Elias and others Jeremiah's or one of the prophets. He saith unto them but whom say ye that I am and Simon Peter answered and said thou art the Christ the Son of the Living God and Jesus answered and said unto him blessed art thou Simon Barjona for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee but my father which is in heaven and I say also unto thee that thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Now we know that God will bless the reading of his word with what we have already heard.

Now if I were to ask each one in the audience what do you have likely you get a lot of different answers. We all have maybe a lot more material things than maybe we even need but I think it was Mr. Clay fight when he went to Newfoundland years ago and he came back he said I know what our problem is and they said what is it he said we have too much stuff but I'm not interested so much and what I have or what you have but what does the Lord have and that's what we read about those things that belong to him. We read first of all he said my sheep so the Lord has sheep and you and I say by the grace of God we're part of that flock and then he said my servant in the next reading and how he would take his servant into confidence and so on and not only as a servant but he said my friends so you see we're his sheep we're his servants and we are his friends but then he said to Mary go tell my brethren so we're his brethren so these are the things that the Lord himself has and then the last reading was my church so the Lord has a church so those are things that the Lord has and I think we can learn quite a few things from them.

Number one of course we know the gospel of John is the gospel of the shepherd and we have the shepherd going out after the lost sheep of the house of Israel. They were all different kinds of people there was a Nicodemus the woman of Samaria the nobleman's son you know the man at the pool chapter 5 you have the woman taken in adultery and you have the blind man and then that brings us up to chapter 10 and all these different sheep is like us we're all different I'm sure that's a good thing isn't it you couldn't maybe want too many like me around and I might return the compliment to you we're all different but of course we're all precious and we all belong to him he said you know these sheep that I have I'll give my life for them not wonderful a part to lay down my life I have part to take it up again this commandment I received from my father so he went out after the lost sheep of the house of Israel they were in the fold the fold is a confine it speaks of Israel under the law but now after he tells us about his death that he would die for the sheep then he says other sheep have I that are not of this fold that would bring us into the days after Pentecost and he said them also shall I bring and he didn't bring them into the Jewish fold but he brought them into the flock that's the word really it says fold maybe in our Bible but it's really shall be one flock and one shepherd now we always taught us the difference between a fold and a flock is this they said a fold is a perimeter without a center that's something that confines you and they were under law but we're not under law but he said the flock is a center with no perimeter and the center is the Lord himself the good shepherd that giveth his life for the sheep and he said you know I love these sheep and he said I'm never going to give them up I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any man or anything ever pluck them out of my hand and then he said I and my father are one I remember the first time I went to visit another assembly for a Lord's Day I had been saved a couple of years I suppose they took a big chance but anyhow they thought they should maybe and I wonder what am I going to preach I said I'll come and preach the gospel they said no you if you come and preach the gospel you have to have the ministry meeting well you know it was a something happened that was quite unique never happened to me before there was a lady came into the ministry meeting wearing a Salvation Army uniform now you might know the Salvation Army people they don't believe in eternal security so as a young believer I thought well here's something I can really get across you know you do things you maybe don't always do the right way so I preached eternal security and I said not only that but not only we in his hand he's in the father's hand as a double security you know on the way out the dear lady the dear sister she was a Christian she shook my hand and she said thank you very much son for the challenging sermon but you said I've always believed on the eternal security I felt kind of small but she said thanks for telling me about double security so she was kind and it taught me quite a lesson you surmise things you know they're not always right but do you think the Lord will ever give you up after the price that he paid for you you think he'd ever just set your side he couldn't the Lord loves you the shepherd loves the sheep where the beginning of our Bible is a sheep that took the place of a shepherd died for the shepherd but when we come into the New Testament that would be able of course come into the New Testament where the shepherd dying for the sheep so I'm glad that I'm one of his sheep now you know if you have sheep and I'm not a farmer by any means but I know this this shepherd here he makes provision for the sheep that's the first little point I have he said I'm going to take him into pasture the Lord had a desire for his people even when he fed the multitude you know and he set them down according to John said there was much grass in the place the Lord was looking for the comfort of the sheep if you go to the gospel of Mark the servant he said there was green grass in the place so he was looking for a place that was suitable and then he would feed them now I could ask we could ask ourselves myself included where am I feeding what pastures are my feeding in in the world am I in the tender grass Lord is my shepherd I shall not want to read the steel what still waters and so on not wonderful to have a shepherd and he wants you to feed and there's lots that we can feed on in this book we're fed on a lot today already and hopefully we're going to feed on more feeding means to assimilate it not just to hear it some of us can hear things and not put them into practice but I remember mr. Sidney Maxwell some of us remember him he said you only know what you put practice so then we may not know too much after all so whatever we get we need to assimilate it there's lots of other places we can feed in the world we used to feed in those places and we used to be happy in them surely we couldn't go to those places anymore whether it's a sports arena or what we read the magazines or the pleasures of this world all those things they grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace so the shepherd has he won your heart has he won my heart am I willing to be with him in the song of Solomon isn't that what the the bride said she said where was where's the shepherd where does he feed his flock that's important and you know this is a good place to get the food you need to get it at home on your own as well but it's good to be able to be with the with the flock and to be enjoying the pasture now what about the the servant in chapter 12 the the servant he says where are we now verse 26 well first of all he said of a corn of wheat fall into the ground and died abideth alone but diet bringeth forth much fruit so now this fruit that we're talking about you would expect the the servant wouldn't you to bear fruit well where does it come from submission to him he said if you love this life if you were living our lives to please ourselves are not going to be very happy we're not going to be really nurtured but he said he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal so we're living for this world what are we serving the old him said I was serving Satan well I'd say there's a great change that took place now we're serving the Lord where his bond servants and he said of he served me let him follow me there shall also my servant be of any man served me him shall my father honor so it's not a great privilege to serve the Lord imagine the Lord letting me serve him I'm not talking about what we call full-time service we're all servants now wonderful to think that the Lord would let you and I serve him what a privilege it is but do we serve him day by day if we serve him we need to be in submission to him there could be a cost involved the Apostle Paul paid a great cost didn't he as a bond servant a bond slave you remember how in Galatians 6 isn't it he said he I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus and it's often been explained that the thought is a an animal being branded by the mark of its master he said all these brand marks that I have all the beatings what I suffered in the shipwrecks and so on and all my whole life what a life he lived he wasn't complaining about them he said I'll know these are my bond marks they only show that I belong to him are we subject to him we may not have many trials the same as the Apostle Paul but you know you would who knows what lies ahead but may the Lord help us to be subject to the man that won our hearts you're my friends he said you're my friends I give it give you instruction it's not just a blind service that's in view some people would like you to do that but you know the hearts not touched there's not going to be much for God in any of our lives and what we say need to have the heart touch don't we when I was first saved they used to say you can't fix a clock by twiddling around with the hands you need to get into the works and when my minister the word or preach the gospel that's what we're trying to do we're trying to get into the works as it were see the Lord Jesus was a perfect servant he wasn't acting like a servant we could do that but he was a servant and there's a big difference isn't it but anyhow I'm not going to take a lot of time in this he instructs us or his friends taking us into his confidence but how are we going to enjoy that friendship by spending time with him if we are friendly with someone we like to be with them and we miss them if we're not with them and we well how are we going to be with them get into the Word of God get into the sanctuary not where the hidden manna was the manna was in the sanctuary and if we're going to enjoy the hidden manna we need to get into the sanctuary and spend time with the Lord in the sanctuary you know the Apostle Paul when he went to Ephesus should say before he went to Ephesus he was a troas before that he tells about seven young men that were his companions there were companions in everyday life that's what we need we need to be careful of our companions who need to be good companions we need that then he said a troas so he could remember the Lord and the local assembly so we need an assembly companionship in the assembly but then he sent them away by ship and he walked he joined the ship later on why did he walk why did he walk alone he was going to address the elders at Ephesus and I thought this is the last time I'll ever see them and I want to have a good word for them something that will encourage them and something that will safeguard them and something that will help them so he said I'm going to spend time with the Lord alone that's so important it's maybe difficult for us today we're so busy aren't we we're occupied with too many things we need to slow down a bit that's what they tell you when you get old when you're a preacher you know it's a you have to slow down and then you feel well maybe I don't have too many years left I better keep going faster but anyhow it takes a toll on the body well you want to be keep busy but we need to spend time with the Lord as individuals don't expect to be spoon-fed and everything get into the Word of God and read the Word of God and the more you become familiar with it when you read something you'll be able to join it with something else and you'll see another scripture and that's the way God feeds his people but what about brethren we've already been reminded I should say maybe the the Lord was a friend of publicans and sinners that's something that's how he became our friend we were sinners and then he became our friend and now he has taken his right into his condolence but brethren go to my brethren he said now as far as uh what we have read together we read about Mary and just want to say this she wanted to hold on to him she wanted a Christ as she had known him but he said you know go tell my brethren I'm going to send her the Father so he had something else in mind a different relationship not a natural relationship but now he said I'm going to heaven and he called these men I'm going to my they're my brethren why well again I I link that in my mind if he said um uh don't hold me he's going to heaven go tell my brethren well you know he had to be or we had to be his brethren and he had to be like us if he's going to represent us in heaven to be our advocate he had to be different from us of any man's sin we have an advocate with the father Jesus Christ the righteous one he was sinless not like us but to be our high priest he had to be like us whereas the children are partakers of flesh and blood he in like manner took part of the same so you go into heaven they were going to miss him but they were going to know him in a different way and I would link that with Hebrews four he's going to he's going to draw near well the book of Hebrews really where brother has referred to it he's able to sucker them that are tempted that's chapter two isn't it at the end able to draw near to us there's times when we tried there's times when we're tested but here here's one he's an interest in his brethren and he suckers us in temptation and then he sympathizes with us in our weakness in those first chapters of Hebrews after the two chapter first two that are introductory I don't want to get involved with no time but anyhow there's a priesthood from God to man he's drawing near to us the suckers in temptation to sympathize with us in our weakness and and it's a good thing to know our weakness sometimes we think we're getting along that's what they did in Laodicea they didn't realize their weakness but you know in our week how do we how are we going to know our weakness well go to Hebrews four as well the word of God is living in powerful sharper than any two-edged sword reading the word of God not only tells me the glories of Christ it shows me my weakness and then in my weakness I find out I have a a great high priest who draws near to sympathize with me in the weakness where does he take me he takes me to the throne of grace right into the presence of God and then chapter seven he's able to save to the uttermost sometimes we preach that in the gospel he used to say he can save from the gutter most to the uttermost well that's true but that's not what the verse is saying he's able to save us right through this wilderness world there are lots of pitfalls there's an enemy that's busy we've been warned about him he wants to disrupt the marriage relationship that's where he works you know and he pleases the book of the inheritance isn't it he doesn't want you to enjoy that inheritance doesn't want you to enjoy some of the grapes of eskol that are brought into the wilderness he doesn't want you to enjoy the things of God but God has given us an armor but where he attacks the marriage relationship now remember I just say this I should say in Hebrew as you know after the central chapters it's a priesthood from man toward God God to man in the first part but then is taking us into the sanctuary that's where we where we get the strength in the sanctuary at the throne of grace well now what about my church I have maybe I didn't give you these little labels I had I should took me a while to get some of them so my sheep I thought about the provision the servant submission and friends that's instruction brethren representation before God and then the church revelation upon this church this rock rather I will build my church what a revelation that God gave us it wasn't we something we figured out ourselves we might have thought we did but the father revealed it to us we found out who the Lord Jesus really was well my church and if we had time we could go into what our brother Davidson brought us into a lovely picture Christ loved the church gave himself for my church belonged to him and I thought as he was reading you know the family relationships you have the submission of the wife who is the greatest model would we say of submission in the Bible the Lord himself not inferiority but submission husband loved your wives who's the one that shows what love really is the Lord obedience of children who's the one that we would look to as an example of obedience the Lord himself what a wonderful person he was we come to bond servants this service who is the greatest example of service in the in our Bible the Lord himself the masters righteousness who the most example of righteousness it's the Lord himself and if we had time we could go to what was referred to in revelation the presentation of the church that's going to be a wonderful day and we're looking forward to that you know most people like weddings don't they nicer than going to funerals I like to go to the weddings and any wedding I've been to I'll tell you a couple of things about them you never saw an ugly bride brides are always beautiful aren't they no matter who maybe they look better with a veil on someone but anyhow brides are lovely lovely bride I've been married twice both times I know they admired the bride I did too I didn't know if anyone ever admired me when I married Linda everybody told me you made a great choice nobody told her she made a great choice then one day somebody came and they said your wife made a great choice I said did Linda tell you to say that she said yeah but there's a great day coming and I tell you we'll not be occupied with a bride we'll be occupied with a groom meanwhile isn't it marvelous where's where's servants where's friends where's brethren where's church some of the lord bless his word to us and encourage our hearts for his name's sake