John 10(22–42)

Introduction

When we studied the first 21 verses of John 10 last week, I made three main points about the Lord Jesus.

Firstly, the Lord Jesus is the shepherd who calls his sheep. When he was on the earth, he went around among the Jews teaching the people about himself and about his Father and about the Holy Spirit and about salvation. And all who heard and believed followed him by believing in him. That’s what he did when he was on the earth. And now that he’s in heaven, he calls his people from every nation through the reading and preaching of the gospel. He sends out preachers — or under-shepherds — into all the world to call his people to himself.

Secondly, the Lord Jesus is the shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep. The hired hand doesn’t care about the sheep. He only cares about himself and his own safety. And so, when he sees the wolf, he abandons the sheep to save himself. But the shepherd is willing to die in order to keep his safe sheep. And the Lord Jesus was not only willing to die, but he did die for his sheep. He laid down his life for us and for our salvation. He gave up his life on the cross as the ransom to pay for all that we have done wrong so that all who believe receive forgiveness and peace with God.

And thirdly, the Lord Jesus is not only the shepherd, but he’s also the gate. A gate has two functions. The gate opens for the sheep so that they can go out and find the food they need for life. And the Lord Jesus is like an open gate, because we go through him in order to find eternal life. By believing in him, we receive life in all its fullness, which is everlasting life in the presence of God. But then a gate is closed to protect the sheep from thieves and robbers. And the Lord Jesus is like a closed gate because he is our protector and defender. He will not let anyone destroy our faith, but he will strengthen our faith and he will enable us to keep believing always.

And so, those are the things we were thinking about last Sunday evening. Today we come to the verses I read a moment ago. And according to verse 22, it’s now the time for the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem. This was not one of the feasts which the Lord commanded his people to keep. This was one which they established themselves to mark the occasion when they were able to rededicate the temple of the Lord in 164 BC after it had been desecrated by an enemy army. It’s also known as the Feast of Lights, because the people would light lamps and candles in their homes to celebrate the feast. It’s also known as Hanukkah and Jews around the world still celebrate it annually.

And at the time of the Feast of Dedication, the Lord Jesus was in the temple, walking in the area known as Solomon’s Colonnade. And that’s when the Jews gathered around him one more time. Often when John refers to the Jews, he means the Jewish leaders. And they gathered around the Lord and said to him, ‘How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.’ They wanted him to confirm or deny whether he’s the Christ, God’s Spirit-Anointed and Conquering King.

And we can understand their puzzlement, because, while the Lord may have revealed to the Samaritan woman at the well that he is the Christ, he has never as far as we know revealed it publicly. He has never declared himself in a public setting to be God’s Spirit-Anointed and Conquering King. But when people thought about his miracles, they wondered whether he might be the Christ, because the miracles suggested to many of them that he had indeed come from God. And you might recall that after the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand, many of the people wanted to make him king. They clearly believed he was the Christ and they wanted to help him take his throne in Jerusalem. So, some people apparently believed he was the Christ. Others did not believe it. And now the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem have come to him and they’ve asked him directly whether or not he is the Christ.

And the Lord replied and said to them that he has told them. That’s in verse 25. He hasn’t told them directly, but everything about his public ministry — his miracles and his teaching — has made clear that he is the Christ. And so, in that sense, he has told them who he is, because his words and his works bear witness to who he is. But they do not believe. Do you see that? They’ve heard the things he has said about himself and they’ve seen the things he has done. But instead of acknowledging his words and works and believing in him, they have continued to doubt him.

And in the verses which follow, the Lord Jesus says a number of important things about himself and about his people and about those who don’t believe and about God’s word. And that’s what I want us to focus on this evening: what he says about himself and about his people and about unbelievers and about God’s word.

Himself

And when it comes to what he says about himself, the striking thing is that he ends up speaking about his Father in heaven. It’s as if he can’t speak about himself without referring to God the Father at the same time.

But that shouldn’t surprise us, should it? It shouldn’t surprise us, because whenever we think of the Son, we have to think of the Father from whom he came. And whenever we think of the Father we have to think of the Son, who came from the Father. The Father and the Son are eternally related to one another. And so, when we think of one, we can’t help think of the other.

And the Lord says at least three things about himself and his Father in this passage.

Firstly, in verse 25 the Lord Jesus refers to the miracles which speak for him. He means that his miracles — turning water into wine; healing the official’s son; feeding the five thousand; healing that man who had been lame for 38 years; healing that man who had been blind all his life — bear witness to who he is.

They bear witness that he is the Christ or God’s Spirit-Anointed and Conquering King, sent into the world by God to rescue his people from our sin and misery.

However, the miracles also bear witness that he is God the Son.

How do they bear witness to that? Take a look at how the Lord describes his miracles in verse 25. He says that they are the miracles which he did in his Father’s name. So, he did them on behalf of God the Father. God the Father sent his Son into the world to do these things on his behalf.

To help you understand the point the Lord is making, imagine that there’s a famous doctor called Dr Green. And Dr Green sends his son to treat a friend who is unwell. But the sick friend has never met Dr Green’s son. And so, when the son arrives, the sick man asks him: ‘Who are you and why have you come?’ And the son replies: ‘I am Dr Green’s son and I have come to treat you on his behalf. He’s told me exactly what to do to make you better.’ And by making the sick man better, the son makes clear that he really is his father’s son, because his father told him exactly what to do and how to do it.

And the Lord Jesus was doing something similar when he was on the earth. He had come from God the Father in heaven to do exactly what his Father told him to do. On his Father’s behalf, he made sick people well. And by making them well, and by performing all his other miracles on his Father’s behalf, he made clear that he really is his Father’s Son, because his Father told him exactly what to do and how to do it.

And so, his miracles speak for him. They bear witness that he is not only the Christ, but he’s also the Son of God the Father.

Secondly, in verse 30 the Lord says that he and the Father are one. And that’s significant, because every Jew was familiar with what they called the shema, which was their confession of faith. It comes from Deuteronomy 6, where it says: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.’

So, every Jew believed that God is one. But here’s the Lord Jesus, saying to the Jews in Jerusalem that the one God they worship is actually the Father and the Son. He’s saying to them that within the life of the one God they worship, there’s the Father and there’s also the Son. And we know from elsewhere in the Bible, that there’s also the Holy Spirit. And so, within the life of the one God they worship, there are these three persons. But the three persons are not three separate gods, because ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.’

How can three persons be one God? The three persons are one God because all three persons possess one and the same divine being. And so, the three persons are not three beings. They are one being. And the Lord Jesus bears witness to this in verse 30 when he said that he and the Father are one.

Thirdly, in verse 38 the Lord says, ‘the Father is in me and I [am] in the Father’. The Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father. The theologians refer to this by the Greek work perichoresis which means ‘going around one another’. And what they mean by this term is that although the Son comes from the Father eternally, the Son is not separate from the Father. And although the Holy Spirit comes from the Father and the Son eternally, the Spirit is not separate from the Father and Son. All three persons of the Trinity are wrapped up in one another eternally and they exist in and through one another, because all three persons possess one and the same divine being and they possess one and the same divine life as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

And so, where you have the Father, you also have the Son and the Spirit. Where you have the Son, you also have the Father and the Spirit. And where you have the Spirit, you also have the Father and the Son.

And that means that when the Son of God was on the earth, he was not on his own, because the Father and the Spirit were with him, because they are in one another eternally.

And this is our God. There’s only one God, but the one God we worship is three persons, because there’s the Father and there’s the Son and there’s the Holy Spirit. All three persons possess one and the same divine being so that they are one God. And all three persons exist in and through one another. And when the time was right, God the Father sent the Son into the world on his behalf to do all that he wanted him to do and to set his people free from our sin and misery and to give us eternal life in his presence, where we’ll be made perfectly holy and happy in the presence of our great God: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

His people

So, the Lord tells us about himself. He also tells us about his people. In verse 27 he refers to his people as his sheep. And he says that his sheep listen to his voice. He also says that he knows his sheep and his sheep follow him.

So, his sheep know his voice. We thought about this image last week. More than one flock of sheep might spend the night in the same sheep pen in biblical times. In the morning, each shepherd would stand at the entrance to the pen and call his sheep. And remarkably, the sheep recognised the sound of its shepherd and they went to him.

And in a similar way, the Lord Jesus calls his sheep, or his people. He calls us through the preaching of his word and his sheep hear his voice calling to them. And the Holy Spirit enables them to respond to his call. They leave behind their life of sin and unbelief and they begin a new life of faith and obedience to Christ their Saviour.

And the Lord knows his sheep. That is to say, he knows who are his people. And he knows who they are because, as he says in verse 29, the Father has given them to him. I mentioned this last week. Before the world was created, before we existed, God the Father gave his Son a people to save. He elected a people for himself and he gave them to his Son to save them from their sin and misery in this world, so that they could live with him for ever in the new and better world to come. And since the Father has given them to him, then the Son knows who they are.

And the Lord Jesus gives his people eternal life. That’s in verse 28, where he says that he gives them eternal life and they shall never perish. And they shall never perish, because no-one can snatch them out of his hand or out of his Father’s hand. Since the Father and the Son are one, since the Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father, then both of them hold their people in their hand. The Father is holding us and the Son is holding us. The Spirit is also holding us. And no-one can snatch us from their hands. A robber might be able to snatch a sheep from the hands of an ordinary shepherd. But no-one can snatch a Christian from the Saviour’s hand. He will keep his people for ever.

Theologians talk about the perseverance of the saints. By this they mean that all those who are true believers will continue in the faith until the end. They cannot lose their salvation.

Sadly, we all know of people who once professed faith and who later fell away from the faith. But the Bible teaches us that if they fell away from the faith, then they were not true believers in the first place. They can’t have been true believers, because true believers will continue in the faith until the end. And true believers will continue in the faith until the end, not because they themselves are strong in the faith, but because God is strong. And so, even the weakest believer will persevere in the faith. because God, who is strong, will keep his people. What God began in us, he will bring to completion and he will uphold us and help us and keep us from falling.

Because we’re sinners, even true believers may wander from the Saviour for a time. But if they’re true believers, then God will keep them from falling away from the faith for ever. God will eventually lead his wayward people back to himself. Like a good shepherd, he will go after whoever has strayed from him and he’ll bring them back to himself. And he will keep us, because he has promised that he will let no-one snatch us from his hand and he has promised that his people will never perish and that they will live with him for ever.

And so, even though we are weak in our faith, even though we are prone to wander, we can be confident and we can rejoice because our Saviour has promised to keep us for ever. He will not abandon us and leave us to fend for ourselves. He is with us always to the end to help and strengthen us.

And, of course, one of the ways he strengthens us is by means of what we do on Sundays. He has given us the reading and preaching of his word and he’s given us the sacraments and he’s given us prayer to strengthen our faith. And that’s why we mustn’t neglect what we call the means of grace. We mustn’t stay away from church. A young believer once asked an elderly believer what’s the secret of persevering and growing in the faith. How can I remain faithful over a lifetime? And the elderly believer said that the secret is to find a pew and make sure you sit in it every Sunday. Make sure you’re in your seat every Sunday, because God uses what we do here to keep us in the faith and to bring us to heaven.

Unbelievers

So, the Lord tells us about himself. And he tells us about his people. And he also tells us about unbelievers.

In vese 25 the Lord Jesus said to the Jewish leaders that the miracles he does in his Father’s name bear witness to him, but they do not believe. And they do not believe because they are not his sheep.

And we should note carefully how the Lord arranged his words and we should note carefully the order he put them in. He did not say what we might expect him to say, which is that they are not his sheep because they do not believe. That’s what we might expect him to say. We would expect him to say that they are not his sheep because they do not believe as if believing is what makes us his sheep. But that’s not what he said. He said they do not believe; and the reason they do not believe is because they are not his sheep.

What they are determines whether they will believe or not. So, because they are not his sheep, they won’t believe even when they hear the Saviour’s voice calling them through the reading and preaching of his word. On the other hand, those who are his sheep will hear his voice and follow him by believing in him. They will hear the voice of the Saviour and they will believe because they are his sheep.

And so, what we are determines whether we will believe or not. What we are determines how we will respond to the Saviour. And what we are has been decided in eternity by God the Father, because in eternity he chose the people he wanted for himself and he gave them to his Son to save. And the rest, he passed by. And since he passed them by, he will not enable them to believe in the Saviour when they hear his voice.

Now, how can a person know whether they’re one of the Lord’s sheep or not? How can a person know whether they’ve been chosen by God before the beginning of time? We have no way of knowing apart from this one way: do you believe? Do you believe the good news of the gospel? If you believe, if you’re relying on Christ for salvation, then that means you must be one of the Lord’s sheep, because only his sheep can believe. And if that’s the case, then you should give thanks to God every day for his kindness to you, because you did nothing to deserve this kindness from him.

And what if you don’t believe? Does that mean that you’re not one of the Lord’s sheep? Not necessarily. It might just be the case that you haven’t believed yet and that you will believe in the future. But if you don’t believe yet, don’t think you should do nothing except sit around and wait. Don’t sit around and wait, but get down on your knees and cry out to God to enable you to believe. Faith in Christ the Saviour is the gift of God and he’s able to give faith to whomever he wishes. So, cry out to him to give you the faith you need for salvation.

And to help you believe, the Lord says in verse 37: ‘Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does. But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles.’ So, believe the miracles and what they say about him. And that means you should think about the miracles which the Lord performed when he was on the earth. His Father sent him to do these things on his behalf. He sent him to feed the multitude and to heal the sick and the lame and the blind. In the next chapter, he will raise the dead. How could he do these things if he were not from God? How could he do these things if he were not the Son of God the Father? The miracles bear witness that he is indeed the Son of God the Father. And the Son of God the Father came into the world to save sinners from the path of destruction and to bring us onto the path that leads to life.

The Scriptures

So, the Lord tells us about himself. And he tells us about his people. And he tells us about unbelievers. And he also tells us about the Scriptures.

I’m looking at verses 34 and 35. The Jewish leaders want to stone the Lord Jesus for blasphemy. They think he’s committed blasphemy and that he deserves to die because they don’t believe he’s the Son of God. And he answers them by using an argument based on the Scriptures.

Now, he’s not saying that this argument based on the Scriptures proves that he’s the Son of God. He’s not saying that. He’s saying that this argument based on the Scriptures shows that the Scriptures use the word ‘god’ to refer to other beings apart from God himself. So, he quotes from Psalm 82, where God says: ‘I said, You are gods. You are all sons of the Most High’. It’s not immediately obvious whom he’s addressing. Some interpreters think he’s addressing human judges. Some think he’s addressing angelic beings. We don’t need to get bogged down in the detail. The point the Lord is making is that God can refer to other beings as gods. In that case, why should the Jewish leaders object if the Lord Jesus refers to himself as God?

As I say, there’s no need for us to get bogged down in the detail. The words I want to highlight are what the Lord says in parenthesis: ‘the Scriptures cannot be broken’. He means the Scriptures cannot be set aside. They have binding authority on us. We can’t set them aside or disregard them. We can’t treat them as if they’re untrue. And the person who is telling us this is the Lord Jesus, who is God. He is God in the flesh. And God is saying to us that we can’t set aside the Scriptures.

And the Scriptures having binding authority on us, because the Scriptures are the word of God. The Bible is God’s word to us. Whenever we read the Bible, God is speaking to us. And we’re to receive the Scriptures and believe them and obey them because they are the word of God.

And we’re to receive, believe and obey the whole of the Scriptures. We can’t pick and choose the bits we like and disregard the bits we don’t like. We can’t accept some of it and set aside the rest of it. It is all of God’s word to us and we’re to receive it as it is and believe the promises and obey the commands.

And it’s for our benefit, because what’s the Bible about? It’s about God: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. And it’s about all the things they’ve done to save us from destruction because of their overflowing and abounding love for us. And it’s about all the promises God has made to comfort and encourage us: promises about forgiveness and peace with God and eternal life and about his faithfulness and goodness to us every day. And it’s about the commands he wants us to keep. And his commands are for our good, because he knows what’s the best way for us to live. He knows what’s the best way for us to live, because he made us.

And so, we’re to receive and believe and obey his word. And his word tells us to believe in the Saviour, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who gives eternal life to his people. And because he gives us eternal life, we will never, ever perish.