Where Do You Stand?
John 10:22-42
Remsen Bible Fellowship, 10/06/2019
Introduction:
- Last week we looked at Jesus’ sermon to the Pharisees wherein he unpacks a simple illustration: he is the Good Shepherd of his sheep. He displays his character as the Good Shepherd by sacrificially laying down his life for the sheep, which stands in stark contrast to the thieves and robbers, the false shepherds, who seek merely personal gain and who live of the fat and wool of the flock.
- This morning, though the scene has shifted slightly between verses 21 and 22, the theme remains largely the same. And as we move through the text this morning questions may arise in your mind, such as, am I his sheep? Do I hear his voice? Am I in the Father’s hand? Do I believe in him?
- I think we can summarize these all in one: where do you stand?
Read: John 10:22-42
- Note the time marker in v22: the Feast of Dedication. The feast of dedication is a celebration of the rededication of the temple after the Maccabean revolt won freedom from the Greeks in 165 b.c. It is still celebrated today as Hanukkah (which means to dedicate), or the Festival of Lights.
- We’re looking at a gap of perhaps two months between the previous section and this.
- The winter timing explains why in particular that Jesus would be in this spot. The colonnade or portico would have been fairly shielded from the weather.
- John might also be noting the location not simply for the sake of historical detail, but to draw a connection for his readers who may be familiar with the book of Acts and know that this portico is an important location, especially in chapters 3 & 5 where the apostles are recorded preaching and healing in this same location.
- So, with this feast of dedication, and Jesus walking in the most weather friendly area of the temple, there would have been crowds all around, perhaps thousands of people.
- With this crowd of people looking on, the Jews (leaders hostile to Jesus) surround Jesus and put him on the spot.
As we look at the text this morning, in order to address our big question, where do you stand?, I want to ask three other questions:
Question 1: Why don’t they believe? V24-26
- Look at the question in verse 24. Does this seem genuine? Could Jesus be any more plain than he already has been?
- He has not in public claimed specifically to be the Christ, the Messiah (though see 4:26, I who speak to you am he). However, as DA Carson notes in his commentary, the reasons for that most likely are tied to the wrong military and political connotations these folks would have with that specific term, rather than a caginess on Jesus part.
- Has Jesus been unclear in his claims?
- 2:16, my Father’s house
- 5:17-47, esp 39, it is they that bear witness about me
- 6:35, I am the bread of life
- 8:28, then you will know that I am he
- 8:58, I am
- 10:9, I am the door...be saved
- Jesus’ claims have been absolutely and utterly clear. More than that, he has been understood by the Pharisees, Sadducees, and other leader to be claiming not only to be the Christ, but equal standing with the Father himself. He’s been so clear that they seek to kill him: 5:18, 7:1, 8:59
- Jesus points out in verse 25 that his works themselves bear witness about him. What sort of works?
- Clearing the temple, 2:17
- Long distance healing, 4:46-54
- Healing the invalid, 5:1-9
- Feeding the multitude, 6:1-14
- Healing the blind man, 9:1-7
- These works are clearly of God. Why don’t these people believe? V26
- Doesn’t this order seem backwards? What does he mean, because you are not my sheep? Wouldn’t we think it is therefore you are not my sheep? But being a sheep apparently comes before hearing and believing.
- If it is true that only the sheep hear and respond, and since these guys aren’t sheep and that’s why they don’t respond, is it their fault? Are we held accountable to God for being goats rather than sheep? John 3:18-20
- Why do we rebel from the light, not come to the shepherd? Because we don’t want to. Yes, we are accountable for that. In our natural state, we want to be as far from God as possible.
- Why don’t they believe? Because they aren’t his sheep.
Question 2: Where do sheep find hope? V27-30
- If we all are born in sin and are separate from God, how do some of us end up being sheep who do follow the voice of the shepherd? Was it their own powerful free will? No. v27. I know them. They follow me. No ambiguity.
- Do you remember back when we were looking at 6:60-65? This is just after Jesus is speaking of his body and blood being bread and wine which must be eaten and drunk. Whom does in this passage does Jesus say enables coming to him? V62, the Spirit; v65, the Father.
- This is a hard truth for many of us, the idea that God chooses those whom he will save. Yet it is the pervasive teaching of Scripture. Exodus 33:19
- To hold together both the responsibility of man and the sovereignty of God defies easy answers and simple solutions. But the best way I can explain it is this: given a world in which God has created human beings in his own image, with volition, with wills, and the cognitive ability to choose between right and wrong, good and evil; and given a world in which we all live this side of Adam and thus are inclined toward evil; we would all free will ourselves right into hell, and God would be just to let us do so. Yet in his abundant mercy he chooses to save some. Not everyone. Why, I do not know. No one does, except for God himself. Does this solve all our questions? No. But it does make clear that I don’t earn my salvation or receive it because I’m more special or smart than anyone else.
- Now, if we take that logic into verse 28, what do we get? Jesus sovereignly gives salvation> what sort of salvation?> life eternal> who can take it away? No one.
- Could there be any greater comfort than this? Do you ever find yourself discouraged, wondering if God still loves you? This is a precious promise! A license to sin? No. If we can pursue sin with abandon and ignore the commands, the voice of Christ in scripture, we should examine ourselves as Paul says. But if you are genuinely pursuing him and find yourself stumbling, take heart! He has not, and never will, drop you.
- This logic is taken and upped even further by Jesus drawing back a step, as it were. Not only does he have you, the Father has you, too.
- V30, I and the Father are one. Jesus again definitively answers their question, and makes another claim to equality with the Father.
- As we walk through John, we time and again this truth: Jesus is one with the Father, distinct persons but of one divine essence. Is this just abstract theological jargon? No. This matters, because the unity of the Father and the Son in not only being, but in purpose as well, forms the foundation of our confidence in the salvation which they have determined to give all of those who are trusting in Jesus. If they have determined to give it, and it is eternal, we can trust that the grace that brought us safe this far will be the same grace that leads us home. Is this true if they are not one? I don’t think so. If there could be some sort of discord between Father and Son the Father might cease to honor the Son’s sacrifice in our place, but because they are one, the Son can intercede for us before the Father and is always honored, always heard, and we are forgiven because of what he did for us. But only because these three eternal persons are eternally together as one God.
- Where can sheep find hope? In the sovereign, saving work, of an Almighty God.
Question 3: How does belief happen? v31-42, cf 1:6-9
- In v31 we find a familiar response to Jesus’ divinity claims. Again, cf 8:59
- Jesus pauses their mob violence with a question. What work are you killing me for?
- Obviously, doing good works never got anyone killed, definitely not Jesus. It is always words. What are they upset about? Claims to be God. (v33)
- Side note: anyone who says Jesus didn’t mean to be taken that way needs to read the gospels!
- V34-38, Jesus makes a weird maneuver, apparently meant to simply get them to drop the rocks and make them think for a minute.
- He quotes a fairly obscure (at least to us) psalm, Psalm 82, v6. In doing so, he makes clear that they aren’t dealing with the substance of his claim. They are charging him with blasphemy because he connects himself with God, and has the nerve to say things like I AM. He disarms this objection, at least momentarily, by saying, hey, here in the Old Testament God himself calls these human beings (v7) “little g” gods. Why freak out over the word? How about actually dealing with the substance of what I’m claiming, and a good way to do that would be to examine my works.
- Now if you go home today and read Psalm 82 you might be scratching your head, because Psalm 82 definitely doesn’t prove anything about Jesus being God. But that isn’t his point here. His point is to throw them off balance (remember they have picked up stones to hurl at him), and to illustrate that their protest is not as theologically careful as they think it is.
- Do they then pause to examine his works? No. But they do move from the equivalent of a lynch mob in v31, to being back to seeking an arrest in v39.
- In v40-42, where does Jesus end up? He heads back to the beginning. Back over the Jordan. He disappears for three months between Hanukkah and Passover. What happens? Many come to him, and many believe. What inspires their belief? These are people who knew of, perhaps followed, John. John did no signs, but he preached. He preached about Jesus. And what do these people recognize? That the preaching was true. The preaching was right. The preaching was faithful to who Jesus was, and so they understood that it was worth believing. They trusted in the Shepherd, they heard his voice, and they followed him. They weren’t waiting for a miracle to prove anything. They trusted the word preached to them.
- How do we come to faith? We hear the voice of Jesus, in the pages of Scripture or in the preaching of his word, and we follow him. We trust the word of the Lord.
Conclusion:
- So where do you stand this morning? Jesus leaves us with two options. We can be really offended by him. We can get annoyed, irritated, or driven away by his exclusive claims. Or we can stop and look at the evidence.
- What is the evidence all like sheep have gone astray, that seems obvious. But Jesus, the Good Shepherd, entered into the world, doing many signs, teaching powerfully, but most importantly, he came to lay down his life for the sheep. And he lovingly invites all who will come to follow him, to receive life and life eternal. Life and life abundantly.
- We can come to understand that he is exactly right to call out my sin, precisely correct in calling me to repentance, and unbelievably merciful in offering to absorb the punishment that is due to me.
- In the words of John the Baptist, Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. Behold. Behold and believe.