The Voice Of One Crying Out In Suburbia

Toledo Reformed Theological Conference

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General Session

Friday Evening

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Steven Lawson had perhaps the best talk of the evening, quite a rousing sermon on the first 6 verses of John 10 (with the rest to follow) Pastor Lawson preached a rock solid, Gospel focused, no holds barred, unapologetically Calvinist sermon. Good stuff, and you can believe that when I finish the life of Abraham in Genesis and start preaching through the Gospel of Jesus Christ according to John, when I hit chapter 10 I am going to borrow liberally from Pastor Lawson's materials! If you buy any CDs from the Toledo Reformed Theological Conference, this is the one to get!

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Steve Lawson
The Good Shepherd and His Sheep (part 1)

His golfing is like his preaching, it is long, to the right and usually gets him in trouble.
(He sounds kind of like President Bush the Senior)

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John 10:1-6
Jesus reveals Himself as the Good Shepherd of our souls. He guides and guards us. Feed us and leads us, even lays down His life for us. Examples of the shepherd image in the Old Testament...

Psalm 23:1 The Lord is my shepherd
Psalm 78:52 But made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
Psa 100:3 Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Isa 40:11 He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.
Jer 31:10 "Hear the word of the LORD, O nations, and declare it in the coastlands far away; say, 'He who scattered Israel will gather him, and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.'
Mic 5:4 And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth.
Mic 7:14 Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance, who dwell alone in a forest in the midst of a garden land; let them graze in Bashan and Gilead as in the days of old.
Eze 34:11-12 11 "For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. 12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness

Nine key features

1. Note the false shepherds (v. 1). He begins by identifying the Pharisees to themselves, God’s indictment. The do not come the lawful way, they come to steal and slaughter. All you corrupt the Gospel of Jesus Christ are thieves and robbers, the children and grandchildren of these robbers. It will be this way until the end of the age.

2. The sheepfold. There are two sheepfolds. The first one is the community sheepfold in town, with many different flocks of sheep. The second in verse 7 and on, it is out of town, the countryside sheepfold. The community sheepfold here is Judaism. (Thieves and robbers can’t break into heaven, and it isn’t the church because the shepherd lead them out of the sheepfold.) The sheepfold represents all dead religion. All true sheep must be and will not be left in this sheepfold.

3. The true shepherd (v. 2) Contrasted with the false shepherd. The true shepherd comes in a different fashion, he comes in the door, legally and in the right fashion. He is the true owner of the sheep, His sheep are His possession because the Father gave them to Him. He lays down His life for them.

4. Note the door. He, singular, who enters by the door is the true shepherd; those who do not are false, plural false shepherds. There are many false shepherds, but only one true shepherd. The others are breaking in, self-appointed saviors of the sheep.

5. The sheep. Verses 2-4, sheep mentioned four times. Who are these sheep? The ones within Israel who hear the shepherds voice, called by name, led out by the shepherd and follow the shepherd wherever He leads them, they are His own sheep. Those given to Him by the Father from all eternity, the elect sheep, the chosen sheep, chosen before time began. They, we, are His inheritance from the Father. But not everyone in Israel is one of His sheep. There are elect sheep among Israel but also from among the nations. See John 6:37. They were given long before the sheep heard His voice. It is not necessarily a compliment to us to be called sheep: wayward, easily led astray, defenseless. Isa 53:6. (Not everyone is a sheep and not every who claims to be a shepherd is a herald of the true Shepherd)

6. The doorkeeper. Verse 3. To Jesus, the doorkeeper opens the door. Who is the doorkeeper? Two possible answers. It could be God the Father or the Holy Spirit, who vouches for the genuineness of the Shepherd to the sheep. Or it could be John the Baptist, the one who was the voice crying in the wilderness. The latter is preferred by Steven Lawson.

7. The shepherds voice (v. 3). Why do the sheep follow Him? They hear His voice and know His voice. The sheepfold is full of sheep, from all manner of flocks, led by all sorts of shepherds. In the morning comes the one true Shepherd, presents Himself to the doorkeeper and the doorkeeper recognizes Him and gives Him access. He calls them by name, individually, one at a time. When He calls them, they hear Him and the others who aren’t called don’t hear Him and ignore Him and go about their business. But those who hear their name called, while the others keep grazing, oblivious, they hear His voice and lift their heads and follow. The effectual call of the Shepherd for His sheep, called by name by His voice. It is a vast flock, a huge number, but it is a finite number. 2 Peter 1:9 . Every use of the Word call in the epistles refers to the effectual call to the sheep to the Shepherd. He called us, what did we provide? We provided the sin.

8. The shepherds leading. Leads them besides still waters, in the green pasture, He leads them out. He doesn’t leave them in dead religion. He leads them out to a place where they may be fed and nurtured. He leads us by His Word, His voice.

9. The strangers voice. As they are led out of town by the shepherd, many other voices will call out to the sheep, trying to seduce them to go back to the other sheep (v. 5) A stranger they will not follow. They will flee from them, from every other perverting shepherd because they do not know their voices. The voice of Tillich, Bultmann, the voice of the Pope, the voice of Brigham Young, the voice of Muhammad are the voices of strangers and His sheep will not follow. Why does God allow false prophets? To pull the tares out of the sheep, to purify the church, to draw away those who are not His sheep away from those who are. Pink said that the man of the world can listen to preachers, one preaching truth and one falsehood, and he cannot tell. But the child of God can will immediately recognize the falsehood of vile teachers. Hearing the voice is not the same as making an emotional decision, joining a church, hearing an audible voice. You hear that you are a great sinner and Christ is a great savior. (Again, a Baptist preacher declaring the Gospel, not assuming we are saved!) Go to the Shepherd and there you will find life and life abundantly.

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