John 10:22-42(NASB) 22 At that time the Feast of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem; 23 it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple area, in the portico of Solomon. 24 The Jews then surrounded Him and began saying to Him, “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.” 25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me. 26 But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep. 27 My sheep listen to My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28 and I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29 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. 30 I and the Father are one.”
31 The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him. 32 Jesus replied to them, “I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?” 33 The Jews answered Him, “We are not stoning You for a good work, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God.” 34 Jesus answered them, “Has it not been written in your Law: ‘I said, you are gods’? 35 If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be nullified), 36 are you saying of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? 37 If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; 38 but if I do them, even though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.” 39 Therefore they were seeking again to arrest Him, and He eluded their grasp.
40 And He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was first baptizing, and He stayed there. 41 Many came to Him and were saying, “While John performed no sign, yet everything John said about this man was true.” 42 And many believed in Him there.
This section of Scripture contains some verses which seem to be misunderstood by a lot of people. Before we dive into the explanation, we should first look at the context of this whole passage. [Last year I preached a sermon on the first twenty-one verses of this chapter, and here is a link if you would like to read it: https://www.homechurchsermons.com/post/the-good-shepherd ]. Earlier in this chapter, Jesus healed a blind man, and the Pharisees and other Jewish leaders were debating how Jesus was able to heal him. Jesus used an illustration of a shepherd and his sheep as an attempt to explain exactly who He was and how He healed him, but of course, the Pharisees didn’t understand the illustration and so Jesus stated it more directly. He explained He is like a good shepherd who protects His sheep. In his illustration, He also explained how the Pharisees were acting like imposters who sneak into the sheep pen, for the Pharisees were trying to lead the sheep, but they were worse than the blind leading the blind; Jesus called them thieves and robbers. After hearing Jesus speak, the Pharisees started arguing amongst themselves and some of them even accused Jesus of being demon possessed.
Continuing in John 10, we read the second half of this chapter, and we see the Pharisees still don’t get it. It is the time of the Feast of Dedication, which is also known as Hanukkah. Jesus is at the temple and He is walking in the portico of Solomon, or Solomon’s Porch or Colonnade, depending on the translation. This was a long, covered area that ran the entire length of the temple. Even in winter or rain, people could congregate there outside, out of the weather. The Pharisees confront Jesus there, and ask Him, “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.” He had just finished telling them who He is. This passage is proof of the patience of our Lord. The text tells us Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe.” Honestly, I am surprised He didn’t say, “How many times do I have to tell you!?” Instead, He patiently explains, again I might add, that the works He’s been doing, like healing the blind man, He does those things in His Father’s name, and those things testify or prove that He is the Son of God. But they still can’t see it.
I think they can’t see it because they don’t want to believe it. It reminds me of scientists today who do not want to believe in the creation of the universe. Even though there is ample evidence to believe in creation, they refuse to even consider it as a possibility and so they ignore the evidence. If they simply considered the possibility that a Creator formed the universe, they would begin to see all the evidence that matches up. The same is true with the Pharisees. If they would have even considered that Jesus was the Son of God, then they would have seen all the evidence supporting that fact, but they refused to believe Him. They were not interested in finding the truth. They wanted to hold on to their belief that Jesus was lying.
Jesus tells us why they refuse to believe Him. He says to them in verse 26, “But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep.” These Pharisees are not His sheep, for if they were His sheep, then they would recognize Him. They would know He is the Son of God. He reminds them He already told them this information. He already explained to them the illustration about how He is the Good Shepherd. They didn’t believe Him, and they accused Him of being demon possessed. He brings up this illustration again to remind them of what He already explained.
He continues the illustration in verse 27 saying, “My sheep listen to My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” His sheep listen to His voice. In the same way that sheep listen to their shepherd’s voice and recognize it as the voice of their shepherd; true believers in Jesus will follow Jesus, just as sheep follow their shepherd’s voice and not the voice of a stranger.
I have never owned sheep and so I can’t testify to whether this is always true, but my family has owned guinea pigs. Our first guinea pig was very attached to our eldest daughter. Her bedroom was on the second floor and the guinea pig cage was on the first floor near the kitchen. We always knew when our daughter woke up because long before we could hear any noise, our guinea pig would start squeaking because she could hear her get out of bed. She recognized the sound of our daughter’s feet and knew that soon she would come downstairs and feed her breakfast. If anyone else was walking around upstairs, she did not react. She knew the difference in sound. Jesus is saying that His sheep listen to His voice. His sheep can recognize the difference between His voice and an imposter’s voice.
I would also add that His sheep listen for His voice. Our guinea pig was awake and alert, listening for the sound of our daughter’s feet. In the same way, we have to be awake, listening for God's voice if we want to hear Him speak to us. And when we hear Him speak, we have to pay attention so we don’t miss what He’s saying. If we are crowding our minds with too much other noise, or are never reading His Word, then we won’t be able to hear Him.
How can we follow Him if we can’t hear Him? It is vital that we hear Him because only those who follow Jesus will receive eternal life. Verse 28 records Jesus saying, “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.” This is the section that is hard for some people to understand. It has led to a lot of mixed up theology, too. Some people, like Calvinists who believe in a doctrine which is casually called “once saved, always saved” think these verses support their idea. They are not understanding these verses correctly, though. To understand it correctly, we need to read these verses in context. Verses 29 and 30 continue Jesus speaking. He says, “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.”
Jesus is mentioning again His illustration of a Good Shepherd. He is saying that just as no one can snatch a sheep out of a shepherd’s hand because the shepherd will lay down his life to protect his sheep, no one can snatch a sheep out of Jesus’ hand. While someone could theoretically steal a sheep from a regular shepherd’s sheepfold, no one can ever steal sheep from Jesus’ or the Father’s hand. This verse simply means that no one can snatch a believer away from the faith. This does not mean that believers cannot lose their salvation. A person could willfully leave the sheep pen and walk away on their own accord. It means no one, not even the devil, can make another person lose their salvation. This is because God the Father is greater than all. That is why no one can snatch a believer from the Father’s hand. And because Jesus and God are one, then that stands true for Jesus as well. Jesus makes this same point, and that is why He adds a simple statement. He says, “I and the Father are one.” And that statement is the actual issue that the Pharisees have a problem understanding.
This is the statement that bothers the Pharisees the most. I don’t think they have a problem with the idea that no one can snatch a sheep from God’s hand. Their problem is Jesus stating that He and the Father are one. By asserting that He and the Father are one, He is claiming to be the Messiah. They get so angry about this that they “picked up stones again to stone Him.” In Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers, he explains: The word “again” reminds us that they had done this two months before, at the Feast of Tabernacles as recorded in John 8:59 which says, “they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and left the temple grounds.” The words for “picked up” are not the same. There the sense is, “they lifted up stones,” and we are told that Jesus hid Himself; here the meaning is, “they carried stones,” there being none in Solomon’s Porch where they were.
I want to know, are these stones they have in their hands the same stones? Have they been carrying them this whole time? Have they held onto them, just waiting for the moment when they can throw them at Jesus? Are they are so certain that Jesus is lying or demon possessed that they are armed and ready? They think they are in the right to stone Jesus, for they think He has committed blasphemy. Obviously, Jesus has not committed blasphemy. The Pharisees are wrong. The only thing they have correct is that according to Old Testament law, the penalty for blasphemy was stoning. Leviticus 24:16 says, “Moreover, the one who blasphemes the name of the Lord must be put to death; all the congregation shall certainly stone him. The stranger as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.”
While the stones are in their hands, verses 32-33 tell us: Jesus replied to them, “I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?” The Jews answered Him, “We are not stoning You for a good work, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God.”
Instead of being worried that they will hurt Him, verses 34-38 tell us: Jesus answered them, “Has it not been written in your Law: ‘I said, you are gods’? If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be nullified), are you saying of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.”
Jesus says a lot in this section of verses. First, He quotes from Psalm 82. In that Psalm, earthly judges are called “gods” because they have power over the fate of other people. These Pharisees, though, they aren’t interested in the truth. They just want to catch Jesus in some error so they can get rid of Him. Jesus is turning their words around on them. He’s pointing out, if mere mortals can be called ‘gods’ then how much more can the One whom the Father sent into the world be called the Son of God? He says, “believe the works” if you can’t take My word for it.
This reminds me of what James explains about works testifying to our faith. James 2:14-18 (ESV) states, “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”
Our good works prove we are followers of Christ, the same way that Jesus’ miraculous works give proof that He is the Son of God. The Pharisees, though, did not want to believe Jesus, even with the overwhelming evidence He was presenting. They refused to ‘believe the works.’ The conclusion of this chapter tells us what happened next. Verses 39-42 say, “Therefore they were seeking again to arrest Him, and He eluded their grasp. And He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was first baptizing, and He stayed there. Many came to Him and were saying, ‘While John performed no sign, yet everything John said about this man was true.’ And many believed in Him there.”
The Pharisees refused to believe, but many others believed in Him. They heard His words and teachings and they became followers of God. The Pharisees heard Jesus speak, they saw His miracles, and yet they couldn’t understand His parables or what He was saying. They heard without understanding. Jesus said in our text for today that the reason they could not hear what He was saying is because they were not actually His sheep. Jesus explains in John 8:47, “The one who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God.” Unlike the Pharisees, these people who came to hear Him speak, they heard Him and they believed in Him.
Today, our world needs to hear the Word of God. There is overwhelming evidence that proves that Jesus is the Son of God. There are testimonies, miracles, good works, and historical documentation spanning the 2,000 plus years of time since Jesus died and rose from the dead that all give proof that Jesus is the Son of God. Some people hear the Word and see the evidence, and they accept the message. If you are a believer today, then you are among those who heard God’s voice, and now you are ‘of God.’ You heard the message and you believed. Others have not heard the message yet. Romans 10:14-17 explains just how vital it is that the Word of God is preached and shared so people can come to faith. It says, “How then are they to call on Him in whom they have not believed? How are they to believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher? But how are they to preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!’ However, they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed our report?’ So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”
When we consider our text in John 10 in context of all Scripture, I see three immediate takeaways. First, as the book of Romans points out, our task as believers is to get this message out. We know that not everyone who hears the word of God will listen to it or understand it, but still we must share it. In order to do that job well, we must be awake, listening for His word. Then when God speaks to us, either while we read His words or when He speaks to our hearts or through other people, we will recognize His voice. We will discern whether the voice is Jesus or an imposter.
Second, we believers should show evidence that we are following Him. The same way Jesus’ actions testified to what He said about being the Son of God, so our actions must testify to what we say about being a follower of God. As the book of James tells us, in order for our faith to be real, actions must accompany our faith.
Third, we believers can have confidence that if we are counted among God’s sheep, then no one can snatch our faith away. As Romans 8:37-38 assures us, “But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Therefore, let us listen for His voice, so that when we hear Him, we obey. For He is our Good Shepherd who wants to guide us and lead us all the days of our lives so we can dwell with Him forever in eternity. As Psalm 95:6-8 encourages us, “Come, let’s worship and bow down, let’s kneel before the Lord our Maker. For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.”
Pray: Heavenly Father, we thank You for giving us Jesus, our Good Shepherd, who loves us so much He died on the cross for our sins. Please help us, by Your Holy Spirit, to hear Your voice when You speak to us. Help us to listen and obey Your Word so that we will stay in Your hands where we are safe. We sing again with the Psalmist, You are our God, and we are the people of Your pasture. That is why we bow before You, giving You all the praise and glory that is due Your name. And in Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
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