Refiner's Fire

Here is an old article I wrote a long time ago, I was just re-reading some of my saved documents. Im sure its on PNet some place but I thought Id share it again:

The Great Shepherd and His Sheep

God’s Word uses analogies a lot to explain what its like to be a part of God’s family, it uses words such as sheep, goats, and wolves. God makes a distinction between sheep and the goats/wolves. Knowing and understanding His Word when it comes to this will help one to know the Gospel, and the doctrine of election. First I will explain that the Shepherd is Jesus Christ, the sheep are the elect, and the goats/wolves are the nonelect.. wolves seem to take on a more leadership position within the reprobates.

These passages have really opened up my eyes to God and who He is, and what He does. They are proof that Christ only died for the elect, and they are proof of a created group of elect and nonelect, Gods family and not. Let’s examine some of these wonderful passages:

Mt 15:24, (NASB), But He answered and said, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."
Jn 10:11, (NASB), "I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.

So here you see that Christ was not sent into the world for everyone, there is a distinction between sheep and others. Christ laid down His life at the cross ONLY for His sheep, the flock which He leads, meaning His people. Christ did not lay down His life for every single person on this earth, there is no biblical support for universal atonement, it is limited only to His sheep. Now is everyone His sheep or just some? Let’s read other passages…

Mt 25:32, (NASB), "All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats;
Mt 25:33, (NASB), and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.


Here we find a distinction between goats and sheep. Christ will put the sheep on His right hand and the goats on His left. If you read in His Word it talks a lot about Christ being on the right hand of God, and His people, and since we are in Christ and Christ in us I can infer that the right hand means eternal life and the left damnation. He also says he will separate the goats from the sheep. And in our previous verses we know that Christ has died for the sheep alone, NOT THE GOATS. Now we will learn even more about these sheep…

Jn 10:3,4 (NASB), "To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. "When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice
Jn 10:26, (NASB), "But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;


Christ is the leader of sheep not of the goats, only the sheep are His. The sheep know Christ’s voice and they follow Him unlike the goats or wolves. The sheep are those who will believe, and we know already Christ died for the sheep. Jesus Christ atoned for the sins of the sheep only not the goats! His sheep will follow Him because of His atoning work on the cross. If one doesn’t believe in Christ then they are not His sheep!!!

Mt 7:15, (NASB), "Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
Acts 20:29, (NASB), "I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock;

Here we see that false prophets are wolves, they try to come in with false gospels and knowledge. They try to devour the wolves, to have them turn aside from their shepherd and go astray. But even so the Shepherd will go after one sheep if they are led astray from the flock (Matt 18:12).

So by looking at sheep and goats, and the Shepherd one can understand that Jesus only died for His sheep, which are the people who will be with Him in paradise. And the goats are those who are nonelect, who do not believe, do not follow Christ and do not hear His voice. More passages describe election and how their were sheep made and how their were goats made.. Here’s a few more verses to study on election, and how Christ died only for His people not every single person. There’s even more analogies with these!

Matthew 13:37,38, (NASB), And He said, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one;
John 6:44, (NASB), No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him
Romans 9:15-16, (NASB), For He says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.
Ephesians 1:4,5, (NASB), just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will
Proverbs 16:4, (NASB), The Lord has made everything for its own purpose, Even the wicked for the day of evil
John 12:38-40, (NASB), This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet which he spoke: "Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" For this reason they could not believe, for Isaiah said again, "He has blinded their eyes and He hardened their heart, so that they would not see with their eyes and perceive with their heart, and be converted and I heal them."


Therefore, we were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world to be sheep and not goats. Those whom believe in the Lord and are His family. Then there are the nonelect who were chosen for damnation before the foundation of the world, and He has made each according to His purpose. God for whatever reason He had made His people the sheep that would believe in Him that Christ would die for them and he has made the goats those that hate Him and will be doomed to Hell for eternity. Thus you have election, the elect and the nonelect. And God is the one who opens the eyes of His sheep to see Him and understand, opens the ears to hear him and follow His voice, and finds His lost sheep. Just like amazing grace the song… “Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found was blind but now I see”. God gives grace to His people, and He is the one who converts them and makes them understand His Truths and believe in Jesus and the Gospel.

Sheep are not those who accept Christ, not every person if they confess to know Christ are sheep. Sheep are those who are only elect, who are only God’s family. So that salvation is not conditioned upon anything men do. Salvation is for the sheep alone, because of Jesus death on the cross. Those whom believe in the true Gospel are the true sheep, and those who don’t are the goats. But the sheep were made from the beginning and written down in the book of like from the beginning, so all of salvation has to do with God and not men. We as humans DID NOT choose to be sheep, it was appointed to us God’s family before the foundation of the world. And those who are goats did not choose to be goats, they were made that way by God.

So it’s an amazing thing to be known as sheep and Jesus as the shepherd. I love Thomas Kinkades picture where a picture of Jesus (well an idea of what he would look like no one knows) and sheep are coming up to him at the door to the house. Only the sheep will enter into Gods house not the goats.. for Jesus does not call the goats.