And as you are seated, please turn with me in your Bible to the 10th chapter, St. John's Gospel, which chapter is the basis for our thinking the Sunday morning's preceding Easter. Reading this morning, St. John chapter 10 verses 1 through 10. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same as a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep, to him the door keep opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, but 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. Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which he spoke to them. Then Jesus said to them again, most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them, I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief 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, not as prey. We praise the Lord Jesus Christ for these thy words, and pray that the Spirit whom thou and the Father have sent will cause us to love them, and in the strength of the indwelling Spirit, to live them out. We pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. At least in the English language, the greatest allegory that has been written outside of Scripture, is John Bunion's Pilgrim's progress, isn't it? You know that there was a day in this country when every schoolchild at least knew the work and read it, and what is now the United Kingdom, and our own Republic, there was a time when one was not considered educated without having read it. Makes me wonder today in public, even in independent schools. Do they read it? I wonder if they've even heard of it in some places. Great allegory of truth. We're dealing with an allegory right here in St. John chapter 10, remembering that the characters are figurative but correspond to real people, so the figure of shepherd, Jesus Christ, never heard it sheep to figure, door, sheepful sheep, symbolism, so characteristic of that literary device, an allegory. Where we see not only the Lord Jesus, shepherd of the sheep, but we were able to look at his sheep.
We were ready for this in reading and receiving of songs. We were the sheep of his pasture, figuratively, of course. It's an allegory. As we see the Savior, the one alone as we looked last Lord's day, who rightfully may enter the door and enter into the sheepfold and claim and own and guard and control the sheep. So this morning we have a look at the sheep themselves, and notice in verses 4 and 5, where the Lord Jesus himself telling this allegory says when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them, the sheep follow him, they know his voice. And when he says that, he characterizes his sheep as having the discernment, the discrimination, to distinguish his voice from all others. It does say in this allegory earlier on that in the sheep here, his voice, verse 3, but at the end of verse 4, the expression they know his voice, the step beyond hearing. Hearing, indeed, might be likened to hearing the call of the gospel being awakened to our lost condition, being pointed by the spirit to the cross and to Christ. But knowing his voice, listening to that voice, not the voice of a stranger, is something beyond hearing. It is that advanced, personal knowledge, which results really from daily interaction, daily life, of being together for a period of time. We know his voice, the shepherd says, we're able to discern that voice, to know it apart from all others, many call for your allegiance,
many claiming things for you to support and give, some good, some not so good. But there is one primary call and the sheep discern that, verse 4 speaks discernment. How do we come by that? Well, if you will refer to Hebrews chapter 5, right at the end of that chapter, a verse will indicate to us what sheep do, what true sheep do. Hebrews chapter 5, verse 14, in the greater context, for which we do not have time at the moment, it speaks of giving milk to some, but then they are to develop beyond the milk stage to solid food. And if you would, in verse 14, substitute in your thinking, this legitimate thought, solid food discernment, knowing his voice, more than just hearing that advanced, personal knowledge of the living Lord Jesus, solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil discernment is a result of use. We may ask for discernment, but the Spirit of God will say, use the things you have and even struggle with them for a bit. For discernment, that ability to know that voice anywhere as distinct from all other voices comes from use, from listening, from living relationship. Well, we do not think that we hear voices, do we? We're not in that category. No, no, there's nothing abnormal here. We hear these voices as we read about benighted souls from time to time who hear all kinds of things and sometimes do mischief, even murder. It's rather distinguishing in the word by the Spirit of the Lord Jesus speaks, knowing that voice and responding to it and relating to it and interacting with his voice in the Scripture, that develops discernment and maturity and his sheep are characterised by that. We start off with milk, but he expects us to handle solid food as we mature. We are so grateful for your loving concern for us, that our sons both deployed. It really has been heartwarming and easier to bear, actually, in a cause we may not ourselves support. But we are Americans. Our sons are in the armed forces just after the 530 ring of the alarm came a 540 ring of the phone. I knew it once. Only somebody that we know well would call us at 540. I picked the phone up. I was the first out of bed. Dad, I knew the voice. We've had a long time, a loving time, crackly connection. From the desert of Kuwait, I know that voice anywhere and the maturing sheep. Having begun on milk, handling the solid meat of the word, even grappling and struggling with it at times, learns what he says. The sheep know my voice. Having heard it in the gospel call, now in the touring, in faithfulness, in relationship, they know that voice. In the same verses in particular, verses 4 and 5 here in the 10th of St. John's gospel, we have already implied in this matter of discernment that there is a process, have we not?
And sheep are characterized by being in the process, development. And so there is discernment on the part of the sheep, of the Savior's sheepfold. And there is as well development of thought and life and obedience and service. There is a development that is characterized as in verse 5. They will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him for they do not know the voice of strangers. The development here, knowing what to flee, what to reject. There is here at the beginning of verse 5, the strongest form of negative in Greek. There cannot be stronger statement negatively. By no means will they follow a stranger, but will flee most of the commentators who have written on this wonderful allegorian, St. John 10, record some validated experiments to see whether this is so concerning sheep. I read of one a Scottish traveler in the Middle East, in the Orient, on the edge of the Orient, where shepherds having put forth their sheep out of a full lead them as opposed to the oxidant, where shepherds seem to drive them. Said he wanted to experiment with the shepherd and exchanged clothing and tried to imitate the voice of the shepherd, whose clothing he was wearing looked just like him, and not a sheep moved. They knew the shepherd's voice, and would not follow. And St. John records for us from the lips of the shepherd himself, they will flee sirens, causes that may in and of themselves not be evil, we are to flee evil like Joseph, flee from it, lest it caps you. But there are things in between that intrinsically, essentially, in and of themselves, neither good nor bad, the issue is, do they impede, do they expedite, following the Lord Jesus, hearing his voice, can't do everything, you've caught onto that haven't you, have priorities in your purpose, we don't have enough energy enough days to do everything. I remember in university days, we're crazy kids in those eras, aren't we? I tried to take so many courses from so many different areas, and that registrar's office said down through my faculty advisor, tell that fellow to concentrate in his course of study. Now I avoided the laboratory science as I thought that was good concentration, who wants to know us at the test too. But I wanted to know what British authors had said, I wanted other subjects, but some of them were beginning they thought to bog down my purpose in my major, even a double major concentration. There were some things that had to be set aside, good things. And when we begin to ask about those things, what's wrong with them?
We're already revealing we're on shaky ground, the real question, according to St. Paul, in first Corinthians is, what's right about them? How does this help? The issue is not, is it good or bad? In so many choices we make, it is, rather, does it impede? Or expedite? My spiritual purpose in Christ Jesus, and if it's just more clutter and confusion, I flee from it. Count of the stranger to God's purposes. So there is rejection, isn't there, in our development? A thing's wrong, things that are in the black column, if you please, but fleeing volitionally, willfully, intentionally rejecting things that would only impede in clutter,
so that our ordered lives confess the beauty of his calm. You're still trying to do everything.
Follow every cell that comes along, or do you understand the high calling in Christ Jesus? And there are things we gladly willingly set aside, that we flee, we reject. In order in our development to follow, such as fleeing, it's following, such as rejecting, it's resolving my sheep. As I go before them, follow me, for they know my voice. And there is that development of followership, discipleship we like to say in our Christian churches, where we are decisive, definite, determined. You allow me to revert again for a moment to Wheaton College days and the beginning of my Christian pilgrimage, those days, the student body mess on Tuesday nights, for the campus prayer meeting, a thousand students or so. And then we divide it up into small groups for prayer, and that's where I learned to pray, extemporaneously. I grew up in a home that never missed church, but never prayed out loud at home. That's not a Trinity home, is it? Why would we go to church every Sunday? And sit there on the same row and do all of those things and never pray out, I learned to pray loud in those small groups. After the large gathering on Tuesday night, student groups led those prayer meetings. The football team was leading one of the early Tuesdays when I had first gone to Wheaton, a man who was a little all-american as stand out on the football field. A 4-0 I was told, able hands of my hope he'll come preach some day here, gave a stirring message to us before we divide it up for prayer, and then he asked us to sing a chorus that may not pass theological muster, but I like it, and I hope you do. I have decided to follow Jesus. I know, theologically, we only decide because he first chose us, and that's how we want to think when we sing a chorus like that so that we can sing it correctly, theologically, but I want to sing it volitionally. Lord Jesus, response to what I have seen on Calvary's mountain, I have decided to follow you. Resolutely, I will reject things that impair and clutter that I may follow you with an undivided and loving heart, my sheep know when I speak, and they flee the voices, strangers, they follow me, rejection of the one, resolution about the other. No turning back, no turning back, I learned there as well about quiet time, and I was living in rather makeshift circumstances because there had not been room for me in the middle of the year to transfer in. Some of you know that I pleaded with the admissions office to take me anyhow, there must be some place I could stay. So I had that first semester of difficult time finding some were quiet and alone to read the word, and I discovered the third floor of the student union was a student chapel. Services were not held there. Students then nicknamed the building the stoop. Other students come up with those names. We love to go to the stoop, that's where we met our friends. I discovered that third floor chapel that many of the students used it for their time alone with the Lord, so I started going there, and I had to wait for a place filled with students listening to his voice, reflecting on it, kneeling, communing with the great shepherd of the sheep, the good shepherd. I looked back on that the early days when I could only take milk, had to look up some of the books of the Bible in the index, but I determined to hear his voice
and follow, and flee everything that would impede. Dilute my devotion. I have decided to follow Jesus, having heard his voice, longing for living union with him to be an authentic sheep,
beyond simply confessing, beyond simply hearing his voice, knowing that voice, listening to that voice, fleeing the voice of strangers, every allurement of what is wrong, every enticing to things that would be delay, detour. The sheep decided and response to grace albeit to follow,
resolubly, no turning back, no turning back. That's what characterizes the sheep. Discernment, development, it characterizes you, doesn't it?