A Sermon by Rev Donald Macfarlane
John 10:27-28. 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.
Christ here calls Himself the Door: “He that entereth in by the door”. He is the Door to the Father and He is the Door also to salvation; so He says, “I am the Door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved”. The door of the covenant of works was closed, but a new door has been opened, and that door is Christ. As we were hearing today, we are invited to enter in by that door. No man can get to heaven but by this door.
We find that the Jews were cavilling against Christ: “How long dost Thou make us to doubt?” He told them that they did not believe, and they did not believe because they were not His sheep. He does not say, Ye are not My sheep and therefore ye do not believe. No, it was stronger than that; it meant, You have not been given to Me by My Father, and therefore you do not believe.
We shall notice: (1.) Christ’s ownership of His people, indicated by the word “My”. (2.) Some marks of the sheep, of Christ’s people. (3.) The promise given here: “Neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand”. Plucking implies violence, and that means that they are not delivered by their own power.
1. They are Christ’s property
They are His sheep, His people. They are His. They are His, firstly, as they were given to Him by the Father, as He speaks in the seventeenth chapter of this Gospel: “I pray for them . . . which thou hast given Me”. All that shall be saved were given to Christ from all eternity in the everlasting covenant. They had no hand in that; the covenant was made before they had a being. The Father gave them to Christ to be saved. Then He bought them: “Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price”.
He had to buy them by redeeming them. These were prisoners of justice because they sinned against God, and Christ had to pay for them – not to the devil, but to justice, and the price He gave for them was His blood. “Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold . . . but with the precious blood of Christ”. They were dearly bought, by His blood. No man can dispute that they are His, for He bought them and He can show the receipt, for the Father gave a receipt to Christ for paying for His sheep, and the receipt was this: He raised Him from the dead at the resurrection. And Christ left a copy of that receipt to the Church; that is the Sabbath, the first day of the week. Now wicked men try to get hold of the receipt to burn it – that is, to break the Sabbath; they are enemies who do not keep it.
They are His also because they gave themselves to Him, as the Apostle says, they “first gave their own selves to the Lord, and [then] unto us”. And we took possession and gave them to the Lord and then to the Church. Some never thought anything of sitting at the Lord’s table until they were taught by God. It was nothing to them, but when they gave themselves to the Lord, they then gave themselves to the Church by professing in public that they were His. They gave themselves unto Him and they are His, as the wife gives herself to her husband, and then she is his property. The Church is called the spouse of Christ; Christ came to her and she was willing to give herself to Him.
2. Some marks of the sheep.
We heard something of that here yesterday. Sheep farmers put a mark on their sheep and, if they wander, they can claim them, saying, They are mine; see the mark on them. Generally the mark is on the ear. Well, Christ puts a mark on the ear of His people as He says, “They shall hear My voice”. Has Christ put a mark on your ear?
The thief or the robber spoken of here puts his own mark on his sheep – he cuts at the root. The devil has cut the ears of many in this generation at the root, so that they will not listen to God’s Word. They listen to lies and not to the truth.
There is a mark here of God’s children: they hear Christ’s voice with delight. The time came when those people began to listen to God’s Word with great attention, like Lydia, who attended to what Paul spoke, and whose heart God opened.
There was a man at Redcastle at the time of Dr Kennedy’s father,^2 and he attended church until he became very old – 80 years of age. The minister said he used to listen with great attention, and one day the man came to him and told him of a beautiful man he saw the previous Sabbath. The minister asked him: “Where did you see him?” “In the sermon. Not with the bodily eye, but with the eye of the soul. He was fairer than the sons of men – altogether lovely.” Some time afterwards, this man died and went to be with Christ, which is far better.
Well, they also have another mark. Farmers do not put marks on the feet, but Christ puts a mark on the feet of His own people; He says, “They follow Me” – not to follow and then turn back. No, they shall persevere. “He that endureth to the end shall be saved.” We have not come to our end yet; we must be on our guard. Many were with Jesus for a time, but then they walked no more with Him. Many in this age have turned back, and a warning is given in Hebrews 6 to those who were once enlightened and enjoyed many things, if they should turn back from the truth: that chapter speaks of the impossibility of them being renewed again to repentance. We have evidence of that in history: many of the Jews followed the Lord for some time; then they fell back. And the Jews are now almost 2000 years without Christ, not seeking an interest in Him. How many went to hell since then? They left a legacy to their children: “His blood be on us, and on our children”. What a legacy they left! And they die under this curse.
There is another instance in the church in Rome, who got the gospel from the Apostles. Peter speaks of elders – that points to Presbyterianism, and Peter was a Presbyterian, and so am I a Presbyterian! That was the only form of church government – not bishops etc, such as are now in many churches.
Another instance is the United Free Church.^3 They fell away from the faith and the truth and have made up a creed for themselves. They are now 30 years under that sin; and have they turned to the faith of the gospel? No, but they are going further and further away from God, and it is not likely that they will turn to the truth of God in this generation. But when the Millennium comes, their children will have our creed, but there is no appearance of that yet in this town. As a Church we took up the position of holding the truth of God, but most people are finding fault with this.^4
3. The promise of the Surety.
It is, “They shall never perish”; no man can pluck them out of His hand. Christ’s sheep shall never perish. There is more implied in this word, perish, and that is hell. But they shall go to heaven and serve Him there. They shall never perish but shall have eternal life, and no man can pluck them out of His hand. He took hold of them, and then they took hold of Him by faith. The hold that Christ took of them shall never relax, and He shall never let you go if He took you into His hand.
Satan would pluck them out of Christ’s hand, but he cannot. Unbelief would do so too, but it cannot. The world would, but it cannot. They will all attempt to pluck out Christ’s people, but no one can do so. It is very encouraging to those who have cast themselves upon Christ to hear these words, “My Father gave them Me . . . and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father’s hand”. And many a time I find it encouraging to myself.
^1 Preached in Dingwall on 1 August 1925. The sermon was taken down by Mrs Margaret Tallach of Glasgow. Mr Macfarlane was then minister in Dingwall and died the following year, aged over 90.
^2 The Christian name of both Kennedys, father and son, was John. The father’s parish was Killearnan, north of Inverness and by the Beauly Firth.
^3 The United Free Church was the result of the union, in 1900, of the nineteenth-century Free Church and the United Presbyterian Church. The majority of the United Free Church went on to unite with the Church of Scotland in 1929.
^4 The preacher is referring to the formation of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland as a separate body in 1893.