John 10:22-31
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I wish I had time to go through John 1-10:21 with everyone this morning…seriously, I would love to but I don’t have that much time. But we are at John 10 verse 22 this morning and we are going to be going through verse 31.
This morning we are going to be looking at some more deep theological themes…as we did last week. Last week we covered the Atonement of Christ and the Doctrine of Election.
This morning we are going to cover one of those doctrines of the church again and hit on one or two more. One thing we will be covering this morning is the Security of our Salvation…the Perseverance of the Saints…the doctrine that teaches us that we can not lose our salvation. And…that’s good news!
So, if you have ever been taught or for whatever reason you may believe that you can lose your salvation…Im so glad God brought you here this morning.
If you came to hear the words of Christ and to hear the good news of his gospel…I can’t wait for you to hear what Christ has to say about that.
So, before we read this section, the last section of chapter 10, we are reading about the end of Jesus’ public ministry in and around the Temple in Jerusalem.
Let’s read God’s Word and then we will pray over our text:
John 10:22–31 (ESV)
At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
The Jews picked up stones again to stone him.
Prayer:
Look at verse 22
John 10:22 (ESV)
At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter,
Church, I want you to understand something. Nothing is wasted in this book. There is something behind everything that God has revealed to us.
What was the Feast of Dedication? I am so glad you asked!
Turn to Daniel 11 first and lets read verses 30 and 31
Daniel 11:30–31 (ESV)
For ships of Kittim shall come against him, and he shall be afraid and withdraw, and shall turn back and be enraged and take action against the holy covenant. He shall turn back and pay attention to those who forsake the holy covenant. Forces from him shall appear and profane the temple and fortress, and shall take away the regular burnt offering. And they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate.
When Daniel wrote this…this (verse 30-31) happened about 350 years (give or take some years) AFTER THIS WAS WRITTEN.
Antiochus IV was a Greek King and he was on a conquest to conquer all of Egypt.
A Roman delegation met him and Alexandria and made him leave Egypt and its territories alone. He was given a decision to make, leave Egypt alone or lets get it on right now.
So, what did he do? He did what Daniel prophesied about 350 prior to this event (Dan. 11:30-31). He took his army into Jerusalem and ransacked it. He killed thousands of Jews and overtook the Temple. Every month he would check to see if anyone had a Book of the Law of God or if any child had been circumcised. If so, they would be killed on the spot.
And “the abomination that makes desolate” that Daniel talks about in verse 31 happened in December of 167 B.C. It was the first pagan sacrifice done on the altar in the Temple. They made a sacrifice to Zeus there.
It is a good history read, Darcy said I don’t have time to tell you all the details. But, this is what started the Maccabeeian revolt to take back the Temple and Jerusalem.
3 years to the DATE (in 164 B.C.) the Temple was restored.
When they dedicated the temple one of the sons only had one days supply of oil and he lit the menorah (the lampstand), it burned for 8 days on a days supply of oil.
The Feast of Dedication mentioned here is Hanukkah. It was the end of November or Early December.... “it was winter”.
That is the history behind the “Feast of Dedication” and why it was and still is celebrated in winter.
But there is something else that God is telling us here. When they should be celebrating the true Temple, …the true tabernacle…God with us…when they should be celebrating Jesus Christ who is standing right in front of them...
Their hearts were as cold as winter. The hearts of these religious people had no life in them…cold and dark. “winter”.
What can we learn?
Don’t have a cold heart to the words of Christ this morning.
Listen to His Word.
God never tells us to like his words first and then believe.
He never says, “wrap your mind around these things and understand them first and then believe”
When Christ said these hard truths of predestination and election earlier in John 6 we see how his disciples responded and it is how we should respond today
And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”
After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”
First…you believe the words of Christ.
Then…you come to know, to understand.
That is the order.
Believe the Words of Christ this morning.
Verse 23-24
and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
When it says they “gathered around him”
It literally means they “encircled him on all sides simultaneously”
and not in a way that they were wanting to learn something
it was an aggressive move toward him.
And that aggressive move leads them to ask this question:
So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
They come at Him with this attitude as if they really want to know…as if they are truly wanting to know the Truth…
They ask this question in almost an accusatory way. It is as if they are blaming Him for not truly knowing…its his fault for their “doubt” and “unbelief”.
Doesn’t this sound like people today?
Blaming God for their unbelief?
“If God would just speak to me...”
“If God would just show Himself to me…then I would believe”
“If God would just...”
Instead of seeing their own unbelief in the Word of God, they want to blame Him for their unbelief!
Instead of seeing their own depravity and sinfulness…people want to blame someone else and ultimately it all goes back to Adam…in the garden
The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”
This is what fallen man has always done…BLAME GOD for their unbelief.
“tell us plainly”?
At this point in their unbelief, it didn’t matter what he said.
Their minds were already made up.
The problem isn’t that they didn’t see and hear things plainly enough…
BUT THE PROBLEM is they DIDN’T TRULY WANT THIS KIND OF MESSIAH
they wanted a Messiah they had dreamed up...
they wanted the “Messiah” they had convinced themselves of
they wanted a “Messiah” to be like the one they “wanted”…they didn’t want the True Messiah sent from God!
Who’s fault is it? LOOK AT VERSE 25
Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me,
When has He told them that He was the Messiah?
HE HASN’T come out an openly “said” he was the “Messiah” to them but...
John 5:27 He tells them that He is the Son of Man
John 5:46 He tells them that it is Him that Moses wrote about
John 6:51 He tells them that He is the Living Bread that came down from Heaven
John 8:56 He tells them that Abraham rejoiced that he would see his day and that he saw it and was glad.
John 8:58 He says that He is the “I am”
THESE ARE ALL CLEAR TITLES of the Messiah… and they knew that.
We signs/works had He done? :
Water in to Wine (chapter 2)
Heals the lame man at Bethesda (chapter 5)
Jesus feeds the 5,000 (chapter 6)
Gives sight to a blind man (chapter 9)
And these were all CLEAR signs that He was the Messiah. They just refused to believe.
NOW…BEFORE WE GET TO the rest of this section…lets get some things straight
What we are about to go over was not written by John Calvin, Martin Luther, St. Augustine…James White didn’t write this nor did R.C. Sproul or John Piper.
the Apostle John wrote this through the guiding of the Holy Spirit.
And what we are about to go through was not a private meeting that Jesus had with “really mature” Christians. This was not said to people in a seminary or people with a PhD in theology...
Jesus said this to people who are lost in their sins
Jesus said this to people who did not believe in Him
Lets read verses 24-26
So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep.
Look at verse 26:
but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep.
Have you noticed that religious people like to reverse the things that God says and does a lot?
One is when God says you are justified (saved) by faith (believing in, trusting in, confidence in) in Christ
Some say, “No…thats not true.”
Its faith PLUS “something else” and they fill in the blank for you as to what else you have to do...
One of those instances is when Jesus turned water into wine.
The religious have been trying to reverse that for a while now.
This is another one of those instances.
Notice what Christ says here (look at verse 26)
“you do not believe BECAUSE you are not among my sheep”
Many religious people today would like to tell you “what that means is that you are not one of his sheep BECAUSE you do not believe”
Here is what people do when they see something in the Bible…when they see something they don’t like...
they twist it to make it say something they want it to say
they change the definitions of words so it says what they want it to say.
Instead of accepting the Word of God for what it IS…they try to convince themselves and others that IT DOES NOT SAY what it ACTUALLY says.
Don’t do that! Believe the Word of God…look at the word’s of Christ and believe it.
Believe like Peter said in chapter 6:69…Believe and then you will come to know.
We can not be like these people that Christ is talking to…they didn’t believe because He wasn’t the type of Messiah they thought He should be.
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Lets keep looking at the words of Christ in this verse:
but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep.
Christ tells them… you have no excuse for not believing in Me.
I’ve told you who I am
the works I’ve done proves who I am
you’re unbelief is NOT MY FAULT...
You have no one to blame but yourself!
But he also tells them why they don’t believe…why they don’t have faith in Him.
He tells them the reason you don’t believe is “because you are not among my sheep”.
You are not of the Elect of God…that is why you don’t believe.
Now, someone might be thinking, “How is that? How are they to blame for their unbelief if it is God who grants us faith, if it is God who elects people unto salvation?”
That’s a good question…so, now that I have you thinking…let me ask you a question…and follow me here, let’s reason together...
Do you believe we are saved by GRACE?
Grace: unmerited favor…meaning that there is nothing you can do to merit the grace of God? Do you really believe that?? (you better)
IF IT WAS A SINGLE ACT that we did that tapped us into the grace of God then that would not be grace but a reward.
if it were a bunch of stuff that we did…we would say we earned it, it is our wages, our payment that was owed to us for ALL the good we did.
And no one who calls themself “Christian” would come out and “say” that…you can’t!
So…if the Christian doctrine is that “we are saved by grace” then that means there is nothing on our part that we can do to become a Christian. If there is something that we “do”…then it is merited…it is a reward.
Now, God’s word tells us that none of us deserve salvation.
None of us DESERVE God’s grace…that is why it is called GRACE.
Every person that has ever lived deserves eternal punishment.
We all deserve eternal death.
And why do we all deserve that? Why is it that we deserve death?
Because of sin! Our sin!
There it is…SIN SEPARATED US FROM GOD.
It isn’t unbelief that separates people from God but it is sin that separates people from God.
The fact that they are not Jesus’ sheep is not an excuse for their unbelief…it is an indictment of their unbelief.
INDICTMENT: the state of being indicted, which is to charge with a fault or offense (sin)
God owes no one anything!
But you may be thinking, “We can’t “DO” anything but we have to “BELIEVE” don’t we?”
Nope!
It isn’t that we have to believe to become one of Christ’s sheep…we “believe” because we are one of his sheep.
This is what he has been telling them all through Chapter 10...
Faith isn’t something we conjure up in ourselves…faith is a gift of God…given by grace (unmerited favor).
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
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Verse 27:
Lets look at verse 26 and 27 together:
but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
Notice what Christ says here:
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me”
He doesn’t say:
I hope they hear my voice when I call them?
I hope they follow me?
I think they might follow me?
HE SAYS, HIS SHEEP HEAR HIS VOICE AND HE KNOWS THEM…AND THEY FOLLOW HIM!
Do you see the difference?
Christ’s sheep hear his voice…those who are not Christ’s sheep do not.
Why is it that only the sheep of God hear His voice and follow Him and the others do not?
I could not make it any more simple than Christ Himself did in Chapter 8...
Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”
And this is why he says “MY SHEEP hear my voice…and they follow me”
This is the Doctrines of Grace taught by Christ are all right here in this section of Scripture.
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Have you ever been taught that you can lose your salvation?
It is a scary thought isn’t it?
If you believe that you can lose your salvation and the thought of it doesn’t scare you then you must pretty confident in how your’e handling things…thats called self-righteous.
If you can lose it…how do you know you wont if other people have lost theirs?
are you just that much better at this Christian thing than they were?
When I ask people how they know they won’t lose their salvation it always goes like this:
because I will keep studying my Bible
because I will keep going to church
because I will keep praying
because I will keep...
The problem with that is it is becomes obvious that their faith is in themselves…not Christ.
If you think you can lose your salvation then you have no confidence in your salvation.
If you are a believer in Christ…and you have been taught that…we are about to let the Word of God straighten that out right now...
Here the Words of Christ...
Look at verse 28....but lets read verse 27 first....
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
Christ says, He GIVES his sheep ETERNAL LIFE!
He doesn’t say:
I give them a “chance” of eternal life
I give them an “opportunity” to “eventually” get eternal life
He SAYS I GIVE THEM ETERNAL LIFE.
NOW…if we say that we BELIEVE the Word of God…BELIEVE THE WORDS OF GOD!
ETERNAL means: continuing forever or indefinitely.
If that is what the word means…then you can’t have it and then not have it!
The legalistic one always says, “of course he gave us eternal life when we _____ed but if you don’t keep doing _______ then you can lose that gift”
Don’t listen to the Legalist…LISTEN TO THE WORDS OF CHRIST!
HE GOES ON TO SAY:
“and they will NEVER PERISH”
Never: for a limitless time; conceived of entering into an endless era
Here is the Greek word and its meaning…ON THE SCREEN.
That means if you can lose your salvation…that Christ graciously GAVE YOU… then HE NEVER (by definition) really GAVE it to you. OR…HIS promises can not be trusted!
He doesn’t say, “and they will never perish UNLESS they _____”
He says, “they will NEVER PERISH”.
“NO ONE WILL SNATCH THEM OUT OF MY HAND”.
What do people say about this one? What might you be thinking?
“yeah but, you can lose it if you keep.....”
NO NO NO…see, the defenseless sheep of Christ are safe in the hands of the Good Shepherd. Remember, a shepherd is not a job for the weak…but for the strong.
And our Shepherd PROMISES us that NO ONE can snatch one of HIS SHEEP out of HIS HAD!
But what is the one that they ALWAYS SAYS…when they argue up and down that you can lose your salvation?
YEAH, BUT YOU CAN JUMP OUT OF HIS HAND!!!!
Look at verse 29....just the first 7 words…lets take it slow here:
John 10:29 (ESV)
My Father, who has given them to me...
Let me ask you something?
Do you believe that Christ fulfilled the will of the Father?
every professing Christian must say yes to that!
Then let me remind you of what Christ has already said in chapter 6
All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.
If Christ has lost one…then he did not fulfill the will of the Father.
If He ever does lose one…then He has not fulfilled the will of the Father.
If one of those that the Father gave to the Son is lost…then we are all lost because He hasn’t fulfilled the Fathers Will.
Christian…THESE ARE PROMISES FROM OUR SAVIOUR! BELIEVE THE PROMISES OF GOD!
For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
BELIEVE THE WORDS OF CHRIST!!!
Now…Im a visual guy so let me give you a visual of what is going on here:
Look again at verses 28-30
I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
You are clasped in the SOVEREIGN HANDS OF GOD CHRISTIAN!
These are the Doctrines of Grace taught by Jesus Christ…I did not read ONE WORD of John Calvin!
And people will fight you all day long and argue with you all day long that you can lose your salvation...
I never have been able to wrap my mind around why someone would want to reject this teaching from our Saviour
why would someone fight for the chance to lose their salvation!
I would think this is one you would WANT to believe...
But religious people hate this doctrine of Christ!
You have to ask yourself, “why”?
I have some ideas but none are good.
Christ couldn’t be any CLEARER in this passage. But people hate it...
And they hated it then too...
Look at our last verse:
The Jews picked up stones again to stone him.
When Christ preached about election and predestination in verses 1-18…some of the people said that Jesus had a demon and that he was insane, “why listen to him?”
when you start preaching what Jesus preached…they will say the same about you.
IN this section Christ teaches more about the elect of God, how they follow him when they hear His voice, and how they are given eternal life and they will never lose their salvation...
These religious people here hated this teaching as well. They picked up stones and tried to stone him for it.
If you preach that today…because of our laws here, the religious may not try to through stones at you and stone you to death. But, they might slander you, they may speak evil about you.
But stand firm Christian and believe the Words of your Good Shepherd.
He died for you, on your behalf. He gave you faith when He called you to Himself! Be BOLD!
IF you believe in THIS Christ…you will spend eternity with Him and be in His presence.
For those here who haven’t come to Christ, you may be wondering, how do I know if I am one of HIs sheep?
I’ll tell you…you have sinned against God by breaking His Law! Eternal death is what you deserve. But God…God sent His Son into the world to live the Law of God perfectly for all of those who would believe in Him.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Christ was put to death on a cross and he died for His Sheep…and 3 days later he rose from the dead and is now at the right hand of the Father mediating for us. One day He is coming back to judge the living and the dead.
You want to know if you are His Sheep?
Then repent of your sin
Answer His Voice if you hear it in your heart...
Trust in Him as your Lord and Saviour and follow Him!
Thats what He just said his sheep do…they listen to his voice and they follow.
If you have never done that, come talk to me this morning.