John Plotter's first. Prince Plotter and John Plotter. Perhaps if he's read up to verse nine, you'll read verse nine, and to verse fifteen. John Plotter and Christmas. I am the door by me as any man into him. He's shall be saved and shall be in and out from fine pasture. The peace come of not but for to steal and to kill, and to destroy. I am some that we might have nice, but as my habit more abundantly. I am a good shepherd, and good shepherd give us his life to the sheep. But he that is entirely and not the shepherd To roam the sheep or not, seeth the wolf coming, and leave of the sheep, and flee it. And the wolf touches them, and slappers the sheep. The herring fleeeth because he ate and pileth, and teareth not to the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and unknown of mine. To the father know it, please. so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. Another sheep, and I want you to know this respect, and other sheep I have which are not of this fold. Them also I must bring. And they shall, I was speaking in the future sense, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold, diversions as one block and one setter. Therefore doth my father love me, because I lay down my life, and I might take it again. No man takes it upon me, but I lay it down in myself. I power to lay it down, and I power to take it again, with commandment. have I received at my father, who continued studies in this chapter, next Sunday, Lord Willing. We have these four points in that one verse that we mentioned. Verse sixteen, we have his preceptor, divine privilege, the orthorogamous, and his plan, his performance, and his purpose. He was pointing out last night how the clock, or the toll referred to in the opening verses, had to do with the Jewish nation, and how Christ came unto the Jew first. John was the one who would introduce Christ to the nation. And in that toll the Jewish nation, he called his own sheep, James, who were... believing Jews, he's looking for the coming Messiah, and he says he led them out. He led the crowd of disciples out, and he led out others, Hanna and Simeon and others. He led them out from the Jewish foes, the Jewish faces. And he said, I put them suddenly, and they said, Rabbi, go up before them, and they follow me. And the Lord had only Jewish followers until Pentecost. You know there was some Jews who saw him. In chapter five was gone, but there's no mention of them following him. So there were Jewish followers following the Lord Jesus. And not until Pentecost, when the Spirit of God came down and then the gospel went out, He says, begin at Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the Ophibos, parts of the earth. All this is very significant as he pointed out in the beginning. And so it's case he binds the logarithmic to say, others think I have that are not of this fold a Jew is there. I'm going to leap over the barrier of Judaism. I'm going out to the world, the Gentile world. They are the other people. And it's my prerogative to Jesus. I have that privilege. And so we have the Lord Jesus exercising baptism. His grace is the only reason why he should decide and design that he should be saved. Don't forget that. Only the grace of God should decide and design a way whereby not only be, but Gentiles should be made. He said himself, and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men, not just me. I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. For that all men doesn't mean all devout acceptance, as if all were to be saved, all people saved, the hypnotism, the challenge, and all the death. He's not referring to that. The gospel goes out to all men. But he said that the religious people accept you, you take, you tell him. So you have the saved and the lost. He came to save us. He gave us life that all might be saved, that he only saved those who believed. John, verse sixteen, that wonderful text, for God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life, showing those who believe and have everlasting life, those who don't will perish. And also at verse eighteen, he that believeth on the sun hath everlasting life. He that believeth not the sun shall not see life, but the wrath of God defiedeth on him, showing he has the key classes. And also in John five, forty-four, very rarely I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation. that is past and death of the light. You have the two ways and let the testimony over Matthew chapter seven. You know the wide road and the narrow road. The wide road leading to destruction and the narrow road leading unto life. And so you have the Lord Jesus. He comes with a Jewish nation and he finds a seed. who believed on him and he led them out of genius. And finally when they rejected him as a Messiah and crucified him, then he went out to the world. The error in the world. And over in Isaiah fifty three said, all we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one to his own way. But God, Jehovah, laid upon Jesus the immiscerly of it all. That verse begins with an all and ends with an all. All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We turned every run to days oldness. We haven't all gone astray the same way. All we, like sheep, have gone astray, that's true. One sinner. And we turn astray. He turned everyone to his own way. Some have gone the way of wickedness. Some have gone the way of wealth. Some have gone the way of the world. Some have gone the way of religion. And you're not safe. They've gone their own way. But he says, the Lord hath laid upon thee. the immensity of us all. Regardless of what way you've gone, you need Christ. And so if you go into the first law, you command it to last. God has laid upon Jesus the immensity of us all. All God has saved us. But you can be saved. Salvation is unto all. These are signatories in Sunday School up in Canada. Red, yellow, black, and white, all are precious, green, blue, white. Just these other things. The red, you may refer to the red Indians, the yellow, the asiatics, the black, the astral, the white, and the brown, for they have brown sheep in India. And so all colors and kinds of human beings can be saved. All nationalities. These are the other things. He says there are other things that I must bring. I wonder if you are among those. Have you seen yourself a lost peace in the sight of God? It is his privilege. It is his prerogative to love all men, to try for all men, and to save all who believe. Yes, then, you will never be able to save when you meet God, but he couldn't have been saved, that Christ was saved. Jesus died for you, and what an awful thing the face of Almighty God is, the one who gave his son to die for you and me in this place. He could have been saved, but that will make hell hell had a sense, he lifted it. Then he comes to the next thing, his divine plan. The divine prerogative, the divine plan. He says it is imperative. Now this thief I have, which were not of this fool that you have told, them also I must bring. that the divine imperative I've got to bring. I've got to bring. He says in John, verse fourteen, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that he or the believer in him, on him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Notice that word must, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must. from a man he lifted up. It was God's design philosophy and Christ realized it was an essential thing for him to triumph on the cross. It had to be that a science philosophy he had to die. Imperative. He must die if men are going to be saved. It is imperative. that he offered him for the sacrifice. He said, I must need gold to be Samaria. It's imperative I go to Samaria. That's the mind and path of God for me. And he said, also, I must work the work that him left of me. Why did he say? It's imperative that I work. It is imperative that day after day I look to these losses. For the night throats, when no man shall win. He says to them, also I must bring. It's imperative. I must get the gospel to these others. And I must bring them. I must. How must he bring them in? That brings us to the next point of his performance. the cross. That is it. Here is his performance at the cross. Then also I must bear. And it tells you over in verse eleven, it says, I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd, give it his life for the peace. What a wonderful performance. By a wonderful performer, the Lord Jesus. He took that bitter cup and he trained it to its last dark drop at Calgary. He was a lamb slain from before the foundation of the world. He said, I am he that lives if I was dead, but I am alive forevermore. I am seeing he's alive forevermore. He's going out after a lost heat. At God's right hand, the Son of God is still working, looking for loss. He was after the keep that was lost. You know the story of Luke the Epstein and how the shepherd went out after the lost keep. How is the Lord going after the lost keep today? He's in heaven. Why, his Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God is in the world that convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, of judgment. Of sin, he says, because they believe not on me. He doesn't say of sin they saw as they committed adultery, they committed murder, they robbed a bank. The Spirit doesn't have to convict men and women of that. They know that law. Their conscience tells them that. Yet does the Spirit of God have to convict men and women of unbelief and religious and sincere people of God to be convinced of that? You can't get to heaven by your good works, your church affiliation. can't work your way to heaven. You've got to be convicted by the Holy Spirit if you're an unbeliever. Oh, you may have a theoretical knowledge of Christ who believed on Jesus Christ if you believe that Columbus discovered America. Such a historical figure. Do you know Christ and the Good Shepherd who gave his life for you and you are one of his people on the list of those who are going to be cast into the lake of fire and the fearful and unbelieving? on the spirit of God's in the world to convict men and women of that sin of unbelief. Men of righteousness. Because I go to my father. Yes, their righteousness is found at God's right hand in the person of Jesus Christ. And he says he'll convict the world of judgment. Because the prince of Satan, the prince of this world, is judged. And God will judge all. He listened to Satan. And hell is Satan. and rejects Jesus Christ. So he sent his Holy Spirit. And what else? His Word. This is how he's going after these weeks. Them also I must fear. My Spirit is out in the world convicting men and women of their needs. And my Word, he's using my Word to show them, to strip them. He shows you from the Bible you're lost. He shows you from the Bible that God loves you, that Christ died for you. You may be saved. He shows you this. And he shows you plainly if you leave yet saved, you'll be saved forever and go to heaven. But you don't get saved or lost. And going to hell, leave in the way God is taking the loss. Through the Holy Spirit and by his words and by his servants, Christ said in John seventeen, As thou hast sent me into the world, even so send thy gem, referring to his disciples, and God has sent forth his disciples, his minister, his chairman, to bring in the last feast for whom Jesus died. Join me into all the world and preach the gospel. And lo, I am with you all. Far better to have him with you than just your work for him. For if you were with him, and whose your companion and labor will be left upon your labor. Then we come to the next point, the divine person, whose privilege is plan, his prerogative, and his purpose. What is it that says that there might be one fold, one together? That's a wonderful thing, isn't it? He says, I'm going to say people of all nations, not just these, Gentiles, all nations, and they're going to be one flock of One flock in the revised version has that instead of foes. It's a flock. He the flock of God, if ye are purchased with his own blood, ye will even act just today. Yes, there are seven things, one thing here. What's that? One shepherd, Jesus Christ. One flock, those who are born again, all who are saved are in one body. saved by grace, in the one family of God, and one Holy Spirit, and one book, the Bible. One door, and only one. Yet it sides the two, inside the outside, on which side are you. And there's only one way. He says, I am the way the truth in the life. No man comes under the Father but by me, and one heaven. That is heaven ahead. Seven things. One thing. There is not a plurality here. There are not many sepals. There are not many doors. There are not many ways. There are not many flocks. There is only one sepals. Jesus Christ. That is a sepals who gave his life to the sheep and he saved. people. No one else can do that. And God sees in this world only one flock of all who are born again, softening the blood of Christ within that one body. And as he prayed in John chapter seventeen, that they all may be one. And thou father art in me and I in thee, that they all may be one. That the world may believe that thou hast sent me. How wonderful she things are. And so he comes, and I want to come back to the door. We said quite a lot about the door last week, but it's so wonderful. It's the key to this whole situation of being saved. One door. Door speaks of easy access. It's not a towering wall. No God say of salvation. It's not a towering wall. Something like a massive wall of law and work. Some people, they look at the grid wall of the Ten Commandments and they think, if only I can beat the Ten Commandments or climb over that wall, I'll get in. No, you won't. You've never kept the Ten Commandments. Only one person ever did. And that's the Lord Jesus Christ. There's not a person in the world without Christ. except that in commandment. And the Lord says plainly, if not by your work, some of the times get to heaven through a big towering wall of work. For if I work hard enough, right by that time, I'll sail that wall and I'll get over into the family of God. No salvation is at all. No timing, just talking. No craggy rocks of human endeavor or human strategy for you. Peter, I am the Lord. All you do is walk through, take a step. How simple God's salvation is. A Lord is not something to be looked at, to be admired, but something to you, something to you. God wants you to use this door this morning. No need to knock. The door is wide open. He's knocking at your heart this morning. But as to Christ's being a door to heaven, you have got to go through that door. Through Christ! The only way he is that he wants to get him to heaven is wide open. And there's no charge. It's free. God's salvation is a gift, the gift of God's eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. If God is not good character, if not a good religion, if not a tree, if not a church, there are sixteen hundred at least religions in the world would not be something. Fifteen hundred ways ahead. And that's what people who had sincere believed in these religions. I was talking before in the last meeting about the Bible conference in Tampa, and I stopped at a motel. And in that motel, I noticed what I thought was Bible. Well, it wasn't exactly a Bible. It was a kind of a paraphrase of the Bible. And in the front page, at the front, it had these words. It said, this is put out by a group of people who take literally what the Lord Jesus Christ said, Love your neighbor as yourself. Why don't they take all the Bible literally? And not just the letter. And they were giving the impression that they were going to love you and try to help you. And I read on. and they had this for them. As of all, so today, in almost every church are found two kinds of worshipers. First, the proud, the self-righteous, the most faithful. Those are not worshipers. They're what they're written for. They're not worshipers, not at all. And then the second group they have. And those who are truly sincere in their prayers. You can do that, under law, and you can't worship God unless you've been born again. Only those who are born again and know something of worshiping God in spirit and in truth. And I read that. I thought, well, they're not saying anything to you here. And as you did in the Bible, of men who prayed when they weren't saved, sincere in your prayer, he said. Nicodemus was a very religious man, and undoubtedly prayed constantly, and you find also familiar in chapter ten, he worshiped God, and he prayed night and day, and yet he wasn't a Christian. Peter had a problem. I'm going to tell you words whereby you and your house may be saved. They needed to hear words to be saved, not words. He had plenty of them. And I thought of this book that I picked up. Why in this world and they make it plain, that they beat around the bush for all its invasive language and say they are only one kind of worship. And they are the ones who are saved on the way to heaven. Outside of them there are no other workers. But lift these days again. How sad it is. And so you don't get to heaven by doing the images. Only one class gets into this lock, and that's the lock. The southern man has come to speak, and to say he is the good shepherd, speaking to say that which was lost. Only one class can go through this war. And it says something lovely here. By me, if any man intervenes, he shall he soon. No question, my dear. No doubt. This is immediate, definite, decisive. It's a fact. Shall he soon? You say this one, and we're under a say, I hope I'm. I didn't ask you that. As I mentioned once before, this slap swam, I would talk to a man one time, and, oh, I said, I don't think you can know you're safe. Well, I said, I know I'm safe. Well, he'd highly like to call me a liar. I said, I know I'm safe. Well, I didn't say how anybody could say. I said, are you married? Married and how I got this kid? Well, don't you think you may be married? Or you hope not? No, I know I. I know just as well that I am saved as the Lord will. Saying this is definite, he says, he shall be saved. I am the Lord by me, if any man ever will, he shall be saved. Isn't that wonderful? In fact, saved from a wasted life, to a profitable one. Save from a sad life to a sad life. Save from going to hell. Going to heaven. You know this door springing from here. It sprang out. To let God come out to man. And it springs in. That man can bring to God. Get it out and burn that I want to say this, this door is going to shut from this. It's been open for nineteen hundred years. And if you want to shut, in Matthew twenty-five, remember the incident of the police versions, and they tried when the door was shut. And they tried, oh, let it in. Let it in. They shouldn't have he had eaten and drunk and eye-present and so on. He says, depart from me. I never knew you. Then once the master of the house has risen up and stopped. He would go and eat and understand without him or not. Then Lord, Lord, open up to us. He says, I never knew you. Not I knew you once, but I don't know you now. You're back to me. He said, I never did know you. The Lord is going to stop. is not far distant the way things are going on in the world, that door is going to stop. There were two men who came close to that door. Paul was feeling it. Paul, she says, when Paul was sleeping, when I have a convenient feeling, I'll settle this matter. And then another one, a gripper, she says, almost. He persuaded me to be a assistant, Paul. Your messages crank and chassis. Paul, you're a persuasive man. I know you loved me. I'd like to see me say, but I'm not married yet. I'm not married yet. Paul moved. That's all together lost. Then he came close to the door and didn't step through. Judas chipped the door. That's how close he got. But he went and kissed the Lord Jesus to give the signal to his follower that this was Christ. Oh, Judah, the saints throughout a long, grand eternity will remember the day when your chipped lips touched the teeth of the Son of God and chipped the door of heaven and went to hell. outside. This opposition we are getting into this war, to this war. Try to enter into this great gate. Not, that's not worth. He knows you're going to be a foe. It's going to be an effort. Try vagueness. The devil will sign a foe you and kick you. The devil will cry and beat you with you and going to this go. And God doesn't assist with this. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make any sense, you all say. I thank many people in this castle I knowed over twenty-four years. We thank God for those who passed through the door. Many of them have gone on to heaven. Many are here. Many have been scattered all over. That day when the son of the airport takes you here, many military men you say. Or yes, then, but remember, you've been brought to the very threshold of this door. You may be there this morning. And God's not going to push me through. No angel's going to push me through. No man's going to push me through. If God pushed one through, he'd have to push all through to be dropped. You're brought by the Spirit to the door. The next step is door. Step. through the door. What's on the other side? Ah, wonderful things. Peace, joy, forgiveness, assurance, pardon, fellowship, contentment, chatter, practice, training. All this is on the inside right there. I don't know whether he has heard me more than the day before yesterday, but he was taught by the great J.M. Dobby, one of the greatest theologians of the first age, What, a hundred years ago, when I was in Ireland, thirty-some years ago, I went by because he's such a wonderful man. I went by at home with a picture of it. I went through the area. A man took me through from Dublin, through the area where Jay and Darby, that great mind and that great thing. He still walked with his Bible over the scales and hills and through the marshes and in the mountains. Just keep the farmers. Just... He was in demand by nobility. He shaped the men and women of gigantic mind. He had a gigantic mind instead. One day he received a call to go and visit a guy born. A guy who started out and asked for a whole hour of suddenly stumbling. getting goth. And finally came to what looked like a hovel of a hut. And he peeked in the door and panicked off, devised to fight a gutter. And then he saw an old woman who outstover a steep fire in Fallen Ireland. And she was conscious some woman was around and she turned around and saw him in a very humble way she offered him, her feet, and she sat down. But he looked at his eyes, and he saw the object of his visit. Over on from afar, he saw the body of a young man, seventeen. He said he was sat in a cloud. He was still in his eyes, they told. Another eye He said he opened his eyes until he looked at me like a frightened animal. He turned in his tip of me. I looked at this young man. He was in a state of extreme luxury and exhaustion in the last stages of his humility. You know, I tried my best to impress the boy. How could I get through to him? And he said what I said didn't seem to reach him. It seems as though the Bible was a steel book. And he said it was a sad, hard-hearted, wended experience of seeing this young man. At any moment he might be gone into his service. And yet his mind seemed so blank, hysterically. So he said, I lifted my heart to God. Oh, God. How can I, he says, boy, what can I say? In my penitence, the darkness that seems to be in his heart, my mind. And so after a moment's trial, I said, my boy, you're very ill. You must suffer the day here. Yes? He said, I'll have a bad cold. And he said, When I saw it, it cut off my dress. When he said, I do, Scotland, a great deal. How long have you been like this? Well, he said, about a year now. And how did you get into this condition? You know, one of the boys in this part of Ireland, brought up hardly. You ought to have been able to withstand this silly air up here. Well, he said, I'll tell you, our war has held you until one terrible night. It was about a five-year-old. And he said, when one of our father's feet, that's how we live, far ahead of him, he's lost his feet, not many, about twenty. And he said, he kept them up in the mountains, and he came in late that day. He said, son, one feet is missing. I want you to go in the church. And he said, I left. He said, there was snow on the ground and oh, he said, the wind was killing. But he said, I didn't mind. He said, I wanted to get that sheep. And then he was cursing me through that I just wanted to get that sheep. I knew how we needed it and how my father was rejoiced. Did he find it? Says Mr. Barber. No. Oh yes, he said, I find it. I had a long weary day to go, but I never stopped when I followed you. How did you get home? Well, he said, Mr. God, he said, did you let it follow you? Well, how did you get home? No, he said, I wouldn't trust him. He said, the poor thing was just dead deep. And he said, it was dark, and I wouldn't... possed it on its own feet. He said, I took this thing up and put it on my shoulders. And he said, I carry that people. And when I got home, he said, what rejoicing. And the word had got around the countryside, and he'd lost one of his feet. And he said, the people around here are so kind and take it so hard when a man leaves his feet. And he said, there was an early joy. He was in the morning. But he said, I had an awful story. I thought it that night. And he says, Mother told me. I haven't long to live. Well, he said, God knows best. I did my best. You say, you see. Mr. Garvey said to him, yes, wonderful. I've got the nephew. This boy has given me an illustration of exactly what he found in the Bible. And so he said, I perceive him. Here's the whole gospel story he taught. The seat was lost. The father sent the son to recover the seat. The son was willing to go and suffer without complaint. And as he sacrificed his life, the gift of peace, He brought it home faithfully, and many regret. And so he says, my prayer was answered, and I said to the young lad, He says, no boy, you are the lost me. He says, Jesus Christ is the shepherd, as given in the Bible, because he came from the heights of glory in the presence of God. from all the delight of this heavenly home that had been with his father and he came into this world the father sent him like your father sent you and he said he gave his life the apostle his life to find peace like the apostle in New York Now he said, God wants to save you. He wants you to accept the fact that the Lord Jesus came into this world, his faith and his faith up with you as long. He said, your experience is exactly what the Bible portrays about the Lord Jesus coming into this world as a good shepherd to give his life to the people. And he said, he died on the cross for you to put away your sins. And he said, he'll save you right now, and he'll put you on his shoes. And he'll take you all the way home to heaven. And what rejoicing that will be! You're right there with rejoicing in your home in the beginning that morning. There's joy in the presence of the ages of God over one sinner that repented. For the night be a nine of heaven's day. Mr. Garvey said, The boy passed his mind. And I could tell he was taken away. And finally he understood this glory and accepted Christ. And that long after a good supper came home. That's the gospel he said. God, he says, I'll never forget. Here I was, I could be left to which he my long would be with me. But the boy had this serious, the justice of what it takes to save a lost piece, and the price that has to be paid. He said this morning, you're a lost piece, lost on the way to hell, but you're all lost. He sent the Lord Jesus into this world, his teaching, and he died on the cross to put away all your sins. He's a God's right hand this morning, and he sent his spirit and his word and his messenger to save you. And if you trust me and put you on his toes, he gave you home to glory and what rejoicing there, what rejoicing now in your heart, And in your family, and among the Christians who in the West, we read it. Read over in that same chapter of Luke fifteen, when the prodigal came home the last week, they began to be married. It doesn't say any more that they ever thought being married. They began to be married. And you will be married for the rest of your life. And always will be married to you. If only you will come to Christ. Very close. Oh, so dear, I'm saved. If I'm not a very real Greek, with your heart this morning, saw this calling. Is there not a hollow sound to all earth music? To listen to the sweet melody of the gospel, as Paul has given to us in his words, God's wonderful love to you in Christ, to leave him in his name. By bowing your heart in his blessed presence, and praise, Lord, be I want to be more than anything else than all of us. And I do accept you now, right now. And thank you, Lord Jesus, for saving my soul for all we need. We accept Christ. We need a pastor. We need a pastor. We need a pastor. We need a pastor. in what I am. Our Father in heaven, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we thank you, for thy wonderful love, the love of God, that sent his Son his only Son, into this world his feet, his tail is up, which is lost. We ask thee to bless thy word, we ask that someone, this very morning has passed from death unto life. They take them a step to the door, and roll them a step to thee. Why not take a plow? We must get high. So we commend thy word to thee.