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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/william-lavery/the-shepherd/
Now turn with me to the gospel of John chapter 10, please. John 10 and verse 3. John 10 and verse 3. To him, that is to the Lord Jesus, the shepherd, the porter openeth, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.
Verse 16, and other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and there shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold, or rather the word is one flock and one shepherd. Now chapter 13, please.
Verse number 4 says, He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments, and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poured water, after that he poured water into a basin, began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.
Now chapter 14, we have heard quoted. Verse 1, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house are many mansions, if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am, there ye may be also.
Now in the same chapter, verse 27. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Now chapter 17, a couple of verses.
Verse number 9. Chapter 17, number 9, I pray for them, I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine. Verse 15, I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
And verse 20 says, neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word. Now we know that God will bless the reading of his precious word with what we have already heard.
We have heard from that beautiful psalm, Mr. Spurgeon, I think it was, he called it the pearl of the Psalms. Well, we have read from the gospel of the shepherd, and you will know that a way, right in the beginning of this gospel, we have the shepherd going out after the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
And we look at this and apply it to ourselves. We're all here this afternoon, so different in many, many ways, and yet we all have this in common. There was a good shepherd that went out searching after the sheep.
And whether we were religious like Nicodemus, or maybe not so religious like the woman at the well, might have been young like the nobleman's son, could have been like the man at the age of the pool, and all our helplessness, we could have been like the woman that was taken in adultery, or the man that was blind in chapter 9.
But the Lord goes out after all the lost sheep individually, and he does it so that he's going to bring them in to his great flock. And it's often been pointed out, and you'll remember, that a fold is a perimeter without a center.
But a flock is a center. That's the Lord himself without a perimeter. Now, I just thought that when it comes to conferences like this, of course, the proof of the conference is how we're going to behave when we go home, how we're going to act when in the workplace, or in school, or with the neighbors, and how we're going to act with God's people with the other sheep.
You see, the Lord Jesus, he's a good shepherd, he's a great shepherd, he's the chief shepherd. But each one of us, not just the elders in the assembly, I think we should all have a shepherd's heart. And in those scriptures that we read together, I can see, first of all, I wanted to emphasize that he calls his sheep by name.
Marvelous that there's one who has a care for all the sheep. And then I ask myself, do I have that care for all the Lord's sheep? I have met many sheep, many that belong to him, maybe in different countries in the world.
And there's times you think of some, and you remember them, but I know I do not spend enough time in the Lord's presence remembering the sheep. Do I have a care for the sheep? Or is my life just all centered around myself?
Does it center around the assembly? Used to be that was the greatest thing in a person's life was a local assembly. And a care for God's people, no matter where they are, many are suffering in other countries.
Don't all have it as easy as we do here. I have talked to some that met in underground churches, not where they met. They wouldn't even take you there in case you had ended up in jail. But you go into homes and restaurants, get a little room, and you talk to God's people.
They're all God's sheep. Some of them don't know a lot, but they want to follow the scriptural pattern. And they ask questions. It's not easy that, you know, when you're answering by an interpreter, wherever you are, but they ask questions and you try to help them.
Why? Because you have a love for them. They're all God's sheep. Do we have a love for one another? We read that he calls them by name. Knows each one of us by name. And then it says he not only called them by name, but he led them out.
There were those that were in the Jewish fold, and he led them out from Judaism. But there are other sheep, he said, that are not of this fold. Them also shall I bring. There shall be one flock and one shepherd.
Led them out from Judaism. He laid us out of the world in every aspect of the world to follow him. Now, we read also that he washed their feet. And you will know that one of the reasons that he washed their feet was to refresh them.
And we have been refreshed, I think, at this conference. And the Lord himself, he's the one that would refresh us and wash our feet. And then he said, I've left you an example that you should wash one another's feet.
Then I asked myself, how long is it since I refreshed one of God's people? How long is it since you brought refreshment to someone? Brought a little joy. You went to visit maybe somebody that couldn't come out to meetings.
You'll find out often when you do that, they'll refresh you. But you go with that in mind, you go to refresh them. And how do you do it? Well, it's with the water. What's the water? The water of the word.
And I think personally, it would be the water of the word, the things concerning the Lord himself. And that's why our brethren have been emphasizing that we need to get into the word of God. We need to learn more of the Lord.
And I'll tell you something else, I think that's very important. We need to learn more of what we are ourselves. For we'll never appreciate the Lord unless we know our own frailty. And I've often thought the man that brought the burnt offering, why did he bring it?
He saw his own imperfection and he saw the perfection of the animal. And he'd like to be like that sacrifice. And I would like to be like the Lord Jesus. And what did he do? He comforted God's people, the perfect servant.
Sometimes we'll point out, it's easy to remember if you go to Jeremiah chapter 13, same as John 13. And what do you read? You read about a man that had a girdle. And what did he do? He went and he hid it in a little cave near the river Euphrates.
And then he was told to go back and get it again. And he got it and it was marred. It was unsuitable. The girdle speaks of service. But here the Lord girds himself in a perfect servant. Mr. Darby's translation tells it was a linen girdle, spotless purity.
Israel failed, but here's one who never failed. And you know, he loves to refresh his people. But then if I'm really been refreshed, am I going to go out and refresh some of God's people? Then we read that he comforted their hearts.
We all love John chapter 14, don't we? And we love to know that there is a place in heaven for each individual believer. It's not that the Lord is making them now. Those are already there. In my father's house are many mansions or many places of abode, but were not so, I would have told you.
And he said, you believe in God, believe also in me. You believe in a God that you have never seen. Believe in me when I am unseen. The shepherd is preparing the sheep for his absence. Oh, he's going to send another one to take care of them when he's gone.
And they're going to be greater things that they're going to do, greater in scope, not greater in the miracles themselves. But the Lord's preparing them. You haven't seen them. We all love that scripture, don't we?
That Peter writes, whom having not seen, we love. Him having not seen, ye love. Peter had seen him. Do we really love him? Are we longing for that day when we're going to be with him? And no matter what the difficulty is, there's a limitation to it.
Whatever problem or tribulation or whatever you want to call it that we're coming through, it's not going to go on forever. And you know the background of John 14. Peter, he was never going to deny the Lord.
Let not your heart be troubled. Why, later on in the gospel, didn't the Lord draw near to him again? And he talked to him about the sheep. And Peter was restored so that he could help, so he could feed the sheep and tend the lambs and so on in God's flock.
God is so gracious, isn't it, that he could use somebody like you and somebody like me just to have a care for his sheep. You know, if we have a care for them, I'm sure we'd like, we'd want to be with them.
That's one thing. If we really love God's people, we want to be with them. We would never want to miss one meeting. But anyhow, he comforted their hearts. And then in verse 27, chapter 14, he calmed their fears.
Well, a lot of unknowns in this world today, aren't there? And even though they tried to tell us a recession's over, it's a, it's, or it's getting, things are getting better, but there's, it's not affecting people, giving them more jobs.
I don't know. I don't understand politics. I don't try to. I don't know if anybody can really understand them. But there are lots of people have fear. None of us know what's going to take place into tomorrow.
Boast not thyself of tomorrow. Thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. But I'll tell you, it's a good thing to have a calm spirit. No matter what happens, we remember that the Lord is in control.
There is a shepherd, and he still tends for the sheep. As he did, as our brother has been ably bringing before us, the Lord has a love for the sheep. Know them all individually. I don't know too much about keeping sheep.
I did make a couple of visits years ago to Shetland Islands, and the Shetland Islands, a lot of little sheep, and I stayed with a shepherd. I didn't get to ask him too many questions because every time he came in, he fell asleep.
He'd been up in the mountains in the wind between the Atlantic and the North Sea. But I could tell you one thing. He had a real love for the sheep, especially lambing season. He's way out there. It didn't matter what the weather was like.
He was going to take me with him, but he said, I don't think that you would enjoy the weather so bad. But he said, we have to go. A real love for the sheep. Calm their fears. Do we help calm one another's fears?
Give a little word of comfort. A little word of sympathy. Maybe something we've come through, some little experience we've had, and there are others that are being tested in these things. I tell you, it's good to have a heart for the sheep.
And when our brethren have been speaking about honoring the Lord, I thought, I often pray, Lord, don't let me do anything that will bring dishonor to thy name. Satan is busy today. And the more we want to live for God, the busier he will be.
We may not have encounters with him personally, but I'll tell you, he's got lots of helpers. Then we read that he prayed for his own. I've often enjoyed this upper room ministry. And I just looked at it maybe a little bit differently recently.
And I thought, you know, here he has sent the Holy Spirit. And we're indwelt by the Holy Spirit. He would guide the apostles into all truth. And we have that recorded for us in the word. And he's going to take out of mine and give it unto you.
And we love to look at the prepositions. He's going to take out of mine. There's always lots left. We'll never learn everything about the Lord. But most of us could learn a lot more than we really know and we see the work of the Spirit and the absence of the Lord.
But is that all that we need? We need a man at the right hand of God. We need the Lord Jesus. And what is he doing? He's praying for his own. He has an interest in each one of us right at this very moment.
And I thought now, if we have a shepherd's heart or a shepherd heart, are we going to spend time praying for his own? Do we have a real love for the sheep? Or is my life all self-centered? It's just me.
That's the most important thing that happens. If everything goes right, the way I plan it and my life, then I'm okay. And all the time, do I not have a heart for the sheep, for God's people? I tell you, we love God's people.
We like to see them. If you're ever in a place where there is no assembly and you're going around knocking on doors, it's really refreshing to find a sheep. They may not look at things exactly the way we do, but there's one thing, they belong to the Lord.
And what do you do? You try and help them. You don't just find something that's different and try and make a big wedge between you, but you appreciate the things that you have in common. And I think it's a lost art maybe, and I'm at fault as well as others, but I remember when I was first saved, the brethren and sisters would come once in a while and they'd say, what have you been studying recently?
What have you been thinking about from the scriptures? And you know, I remember Mr. Sidney Maxwell, he, when he was riding on the bus to work, work in the aircraft factory, and he said an old believer would sit down beside him and said, what were you reading this morning before you came out and got the bus?
He says, reading? I could hardly get time to get my breakfast and get out to get the bus early in the morning. But he said, after that, I took time. I went to bed earlier. People in Ireland don't like to go to bed.
Sometimes they say it's like heaven, there's no night there. They just love to sit and talk all night and maybe they don't get up so early in the morning as we do in this country. But he said, I got up early and I learned, tried to learn something from God's word.
And when the old gentleman would sit down and say, well, what were you reading this morning? He said, I was able to tell him and the things that I found. And he said, he was able to add to them. And, and, and I think it would be good if we could stir each other up like that.
What have we been reading? What are we interested in? What subject are we taken up with? And we all have different needs. And sometimes we, what we preach is what our need is. I think that that's maybe obvious in some, uh, sometime, but just leave you with this.
How is the conference going to affect me? How is it going to affect you? Is there going to be a definite change for the better in your life? Maybe, maybe, uh, uh, you're doing all these things. If you are, thank God for anybody that is.
But do you have an interest in God's sheep? You know, many of them by name, interest in individual sheep. Some people I find their own when there's gospel meetings are only interested in their own gospel meetings.
Never think about other people's families that need God's salvation, but we should remember the sheep, call them by name, led them out separate from the world in every aspect, wash their feet. Am I going to wash someone's feet?
Am I going to refresh them? Maybe it's to remove some defilement. If you see something wrong in my life, I hope you would wash my feet and I hope you would do it. I've heard a man say, Oh, I like good scalding water and a rough towel.
Well, that's not me. I'd like you to be a little gentle. One time, Mr. Paisley in a Bible reading, someone, uh, strongly disagreed with him. Uh, and he said, brother, pad the basket. He was talking about Paul being let down through the window in a basket.
He said, pad the basket when you're letting me down. We don't need to be antagonistic because if we're trying to correct someone, it's because the, the, they're not enjoying the Lord as they should. And we want to remove whatever the hindrance is.
And I hope you would do the same for me. It's not to hurt someone or to show that, you know, a little bit more than they do, but it's really to have a heart for the sheep and then to comfort the sheep.
There's many ways we can comfort God's people. Many are bereaved. Many have illnesses. And sometimes we wonder why we just don't lift the phone. We've got programs that can get us into every state without paying a lot of money and so on.
Why don't we do it? Why don't we have that heart to comfort God's people? Others are worried and wondering, why don't we calm them down? And above all, why don't we emulate the Lord in this? He prayed for his own.
May the Lord help us to pray for his own. That we might be characterized by these things, that we might in some little way be like a shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ. Just to be more like him. What more could we covet?
What more could we want? And I know that's the desire of every believer here in this conference meeting this afternoon. But may the Lord help us not to forget these things. Some of us are slow learners, but we need to keep these things in mind and put what we have learned into practice.
And if we do, I'm sure we'll be a help to God's sheep and a comfort to them in difficult days in which we live.