The Secure Sheep

could turn your Bibles to John chapter 10. We'll be taking up to John chapter 10 verse

John 10 · chapter mention John 10:22

22. I was reading this week that apparently this generation is the entitlement generation.

We've had the baby boomers, the me generation and the me, me, me generation. We just keep

adding them on and capitalizing them just to try and emphasize it. But apparently, if

you actually go back and you're a little bit more objective about it, what you discover

is that every, every, every generation is the me, me, me generation. The fact is, we

ask the question and it seems to be one of the things to discuss at the moment is, is

this generation more narcissistic than the one before? Well, probably not. But it is

true that younger people are more narcissistic and you actually become less narcissistic

as you get older. So some of you, perhaps those with grey hair and sitting in this sort of area

here, thumbs up to you guys. You pass through that phase and you probably are seeing it very

clearly in the rest of us who are younger than you. You know, we're probably not more narcissistic,

but I'll tell you one thing that we are and that is we're getting more and more creative

in how we actually express our sense of self. We're finding all kinds of new ways to express

it. You know, you can get a degree in under two weeks online from America. I could have

actually become a, I actually became a celebrant through the Australian system, but I could have

become a celebrant without doing anything if I'd, if I'd just given my credit card details

to an American agency. There's all kinds of different ways that we can actually gain qualifications

and a sense of importance. We take on titles. What were the titles in that last song? Our God

is the Lion of Judah? The Lion and the Lamb. They're not two titles we like to put together,

but we like titles and we do stack them on top of each other. Apparently, if you go to Italy,

any university graduates, as anyone who's got a three-year degree can call themselves doctor.

Primary school teachers can call themselves maestro as a title. High school teachers, professor.

But a university rector, and I'm looking for this job, can call himself magnifico.

Magnifico. That's good. Kim Jong Il, he calls himself, amongst his other 1,000 titles, the

guardian of the planet. There are actual job titles. This particular guy who was researching

the article that he wrote in the Atlantic a few years ago, researched some different job

titles and came up with these ones. Idea Ambassador, Knowledge Sorceress, Chief Reality

Officer. I have no idea what they do, but they sound interesting, don't they?

More and more, we're trying to find ways to bolster up our sense of self, our sense of importance,

our sense of significance in this world.

And yet, as Jesus addresses the people who come to him in this passage, he cuts through it all

and reduces it to one irreducible factor. Do you believe in me or not? That's Jesus, not me.

The setting for this confrontation is actually at the time of the Feast of Dedication, or it's

called Hanukkah in Hebrew. It's actually similar to our Christmas feast that happens at the 25th

of December. But the history of the feast is actually significant, because about 200 years

previous to when Jesus is celebrating this feast, the nation of Israel were cruelly impressed by this

man called Antiochus Epiphanes. And he had said in his heart to actually Hellenize, or make Israel

more Greek. And so he did all kinds of...Antiochus Epiphanes actually means manifest God, if we're

talking about titles. And so the way he said about that was he desecrated the temple. He

forced the priests to eat pork. He set up a pagan altar in place of the altar to the God

in that temple and turned it into a place of pagan worship. And he made it a capital offence

to own any or be in possession of any piece of Hebrew scripture. Now, eventually the Jews

got strong enough to overthrow their oppressor. They rose up and overthrew him. Judas Maccabees,

if you've heard of him, was the guy who led that. And Hanukkah is actually the celebration

of the cleansing and the rededication of that temple after all of the atrocities that

happened. It's not a feast that you'll find in the Bible. It's not a feast that God required.

But Jesus is still its fulfillment. Hanukkah, the festival of light. Jesus is being presented

by John as the fulfillment of this festival. It's about two months, chronologically, about

two months after the Feast of the Tabernacles. So the first half of chapter 10. And it's

winter. So that's why Jesus is teaching in the colonnade of Solomon. There's more shelter

from the cold winds in that sort of area of the temple. But interestingly, it's also the

first place that the Christian church gathered. So if you look up Acts 3.11 and 5.12, you'll

see that that is where the Christian church in its very early infancy was gathering. It was

their first address. Perhaps John is here reminding the early Christian readers of his gospel, of

a familiar point in their history, looking back. Have a chat with some of the folk who've

been coming to this church for more than 10 to 15 years, and you'll find that there have

been a few different changes of address. And perhaps they can share with you not just the

change of address, but the memories that come along with that. That nostalgic trip of remembering

where they were in the Lord at that point, and how far God has brought them in arriving at this

point that we're at now. So at the colonnade of Solomon, the Jews approached Jesus. And essentially

they asked the question, who are you? In verse 24, the Jews gather around him and said to him,

how long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly. To put it bluntly,

who are you? Now it could be an innocent question.

But the gathered around could also be translated from the Greek into surrounded or besieged.

And in light of how trigger happy they are with the rocks later on, it's likely that this

is actually a hostile crowd. It's not a friendly crowd gathering around Jesus.

And it's interesting because Jesus gets a very straight question and he responds in an unexpected

way. He doesn't answer their question by telling them who he is. He answers them by telling them

who they are. Jesus answered them in verse 25, 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.

I told you, he says. The problem isn't with whether Jesus has made himself known. He has emphatically

declared himself by first what he has said and second what he has done. And enough's enough.

So Jesus' answer, he uses it to show up their ignorance. I told you and you do not believe.

The problem is not with Jesus. The problem is with who they are. They don't believe him. Not what he says,

although no one can argue with him, nor what he does. Although everyone is talking, every man and his dog

is talking about what he can do. The problem is not that they haven't heard. It's that they don't believe.

And they don't believe because they are not one of his sheep.

Jesus is crystal clear here about God's sovereignty over who he's saved.

And we're faced with similar opposition and questioning about who he is in chapter 6, verse 44.

This is a pivotal moment in God's plan for his people.

The Jews believed that they were God's people.

They were descended from Abraham. It was their birthright.

Their entitlement.

Abraham was the starting point for them.

But what they neglected to realize was that Jesus was always the destination.

Now, John wrote his gospel in a time when the church was growing,

but it was becoming increasingly obvious that there was a separation between the Jews

and the Christian church.

And the majority of the Jews were actually rejecting Christ.

They were aware that the Jewish leaders had him executed.

They were aware of this difficulty.

What claim could they possibly have to God if their saviour wasn't recognised?

But by revisiting the evidence, John showed them that Jesus was real.

If the father had given them to Jesus, then they will believe.

And these people who are struggling with the controversy going on around them

are being anchored in God's people through their saviour Christ.

Now, I'm going to suggest that our problem is probably a little bit different to the initial readers.

I don't think we have an issue with what John is saying here on the basis of whether or not we're descendants of Abraham,

whether or not Jesus is genuine bona fide.

I think we've kind of moved beyond that controversy.

I think we have a problem with the fact that God has any involvement in our salvation

beyond providing the saviour.

Some suggest that this predestining work of Jesus is described in this passage.

Well, that suggests that it's a general thing.

What I mean by that is he predestines a people for himself,

but any of us have the freedom to opt in or out.

But Jesus is not talking about his flock in general terms here.

He is saying that the flock is made up of individuals.

The father gives him, even draws to him so that they can believe.

A flock that he calls to himself by name.

And those the father doesn't draw to him won't believe.

But it doesn't end there.

You see, the building of this flock is an expression of God's sovereign election for sure.

And it's also an expression of our willing response of faith or belief.

Same word group in the Greek.

Jesus places both of these truths side by side in John.

It's clear that they both apply to our salvation.

But it raises some uncomfortable questions for us.

I mean, how can I still have real and meaningful choice if God chooses me?

How does that work?

Well, there's some pat responses I can give you like,

well, how can someone dead in their sins choose life?

But I don't think that actually, I think that's a response,

but I don't think that's actually an explanation

of how we keep these two things together, God's sovereignty and our choice.

It's a response, but it's not a solution to the dilemma that's in our minds, is it?

I mean, so with this dilemma, there's some different ways we can go.

We can actually resolve the uncomfortableness of it

by revising God's sovereignty on the one hand.

Playing it down or playing it up.

Or we can revise our own free will or will on the other hand.

Playing that down or playing that up.

But if we do that, that would actually be editing scripture.

What Jesus does is he places these things alongside each other

and he doesn't give us all the answers in terms of how it works.

Perhaps the best I can say is as I look at these passages

and struggle, wrestle with them myself,

is it appears to be above my pay grade.

But there are other questions that we ask too and things like this.

How does God choose some over others?

And this is a real sticking point.

If you have members of your family who aren't yet Christians,

you'll know the deep desire you have in your heart

for them to actually come to faith.

Some of you may actually have already experienced

the loss of family members or close friends

who never actually came to a saving faith in Jesus.

So we ask the question, how does God choose some over others?

And some of our thoughts in this area border on thinking of God

in terms of being a monster,

that he should deny one person and not another.

And I've got to say again,

we don't get a full answer in scripture

to how God makes the decisions for who he makes the decisions for.

Paul comes pretty close in 1 Corinthians,

but I don't think you're actually going to find this answer satisfying either.

See, 1 Corinthians 1, verses 26 to 31,

1 Corinthians 1:26–31

he's addressing a church that's full of pride,

so proud and arrogant that they're actually abusing each other

within the context of the church.

And so John starts off, they're fighting,

they're doing all kinds of stuff.

So John starts off, sorry, John,

Paul starts off by actually saying these words to them.

He challenges them on where their salvation comes from.

In verse 26 of chapter 1, he says this,

For consider your calling, brothers.

Not many of you are wise according to worldly standards.

Not many were powerful.

Not many were of noble birth.

But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise.

God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.

God chose what is low and despised in the world,

even things that are not,

to bring to nothing things that are,

so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

And because of him, you are in Christ Jesus,

who became to us wisdom from God,

righteousness and sanctification and redemption,

so that as it is written,

let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.

Paul wrote to a bunch of struggling,

fighting Christians in a church in Corinth,

you're a bunch of losers.

He chose you because you are losers.

But not just because you are losers,

but to use you, you losers,

to actually show his goodness and his glory.

Now, I can't necessarily apply that as a blanket statement

and say, okay, therefore,

Grace Evangelical Church is a church full of losers.

And if you're visiting today,

you've just found out the secret that they would have actually preferred

I buried for a little bit longer,

like after you've come a few times at least.

But I'm not sure that I can actually apply it directly like that,

but I can tell you this,

time and time again,

throughout the story of Scripture,

God seems to do this.

He seems to pick people

who really are rogues,

ruffians,

depraved,

flawed in so many different ways.

So if we're wondering,

why does God pick me?

Frankly,

based on the evidence that I see in Scripture,

I don't want to scratch too deep.

I already have a sense of the flawedness of my own character.

I think all I'll find out is more,

and all I'll see as a result of that,

if I follow Paul's reasoning,

is God's glory in being able to save even me.

The tension is in our own pride,

our own sense of who we are in our realm of existence,

where, you know,

particularly in the Western world,

we're egalitarian, individualistic, democratic,

in the way that we think.

We want to be more than who we are.

And in our minds,

anything that diminishes our sovereignty is dehumanising.

So our solution from the very beginning,

from Adam and Eve,

has been to diminish God's sovereignty.

That's the default way we tend to go.

Now we've been creative,

and we've found other ways as well,

but that's our default way.

The Bible teaches clearly here

that God is sovereign,

and we are responsible for our choices,

which is why Jesus goes on to say these words in verse 27,

my sheep hear my voice,

and I know them,

and they follow me.

Alongside Jesus' expectation that certain sheep are given to him

is the expectation that those sheep will hear his voice

and recognise it

and follow him.

His sovereignty does not diminish our response.

In a sense, then,

it doesn't diminish our need to tell people about Jesus

so that they can respond too.

After all,

that's exactly what Jesus goes on to do next in this passage.

He doesn't leave these guys alone.

He keeps pushing them to see who they are

and pushing them to see who he is

and pushing them to respond.

So Jesus answers this question first by saying

who they are.

But then he goes on

to actually answer their question,

and he does get to that point,

and he describes who he is.

He returns to the shepherd imagery to do that, actually,

to the shepherd imagery of chapter 10,

the first part of that,

so you can actually sort of scoot up with your eyes

and have a bit of a refresh on that as I'm speaking.

But let me just summarise by saying

Jesus says in that passage,

I am the good shepherd.

And in verse 27,

you can see how he applies that imagery

by saying,

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 hands.

He's saying,

I am the shepherd who gives abundant life

to his sheep.

The shepherd who will give his sheep eternal life.

The shepherd who will not let his sheep perish.

The shepherd who holds on to his sheep.

Holds fast to his sheep.

Jesus is offering comfort to his people.

Even in speaking these words,

he's being the good shepherd.

And each promise here overlaps,

and yet kind of fills out

what his shepherding brings for us.

The shepherd who will give his sheep eternal life.

Physical death is a reality for now.

Don shared a really touching part of his history today

with the kids

in showing us the gravesite of his wife June.

Physical death is a reality

for now.

But with Jesus,

it's just a waypoint.

It's not the end.

And in fact,

it's the point that Jesus leads us through.

The shepherd who will give his sheep eternal life.

The shepherd who will not let his sheep perish.

Now, perish can have the literal meaning of die here as well,

so it could be like he's saying the same thing.

But it also has a figurative meaning

of being morally or spiritually lost.

And Jesus has this covered too.

He is the one who is just said as the shepherd,

the shepherd who will die for his sheep.

He will ransom us from the power of sin.

And in him,

nothing can condemn us.

Do you have guilts?

Things you feel guilty about?

Are you struggling with guilt?

Are you struggling with regrets?

Are you struggling with thinking of yourself

as worthy in any way of God's attention

or anybody else's?

Jesus is a shepherd who will not let you perish,

despite the fact that many of your concerns

may well be true about you.

And he's the shepherd who holds on to his sheep.

It's the final thing.

Jesus holds on to us.

Our belief or faith

isn't where our assurance comes from.

The one we have faith in

is where our assurance comes from.

And he's got a hold on us.

A hold that he will not let go.

I don't know if you remember as kids,

we had this thing called Tarzan grip

when we were kids

and we were playing on the climbing frames

and the castles and things at school.

And we just thought it was unbreakable.

We were little tiny tots, you know.

If you held each other like this,

that grip could not be broken.

I've got stitches and scars

and broken bone history on the medical records

to prove that it can.

But this grip cannot.

Jesus says,

there is no one who can prise us out of his hands.

But if that isn't enough,

he says in verse 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 hands.

If you have any doubts

about Jesus' capacity,

do not doubt the father's capacity

who is greater than all.

There is no one who is stronger.

Stronger.

So how can anyone possibly

take us out of his hands?

So if he has a hold on you,

who can possibly tear you away?

Jesus finishes by declaring

who he is in slightly different terms

in verse 30.

He says,

I and the father are one.

He is perfectly in sync with the father.

But it's more than a oneness of mind

or will with God

that's being expressed here.

We know this because of the reaction.

Jesus and the father are one

and they are not.

You see,

they're not even one mind with God.

And their reaction proves

how far they are away from God.

In verse 31,

the Jews picked up stones

again to stone him.

It's kind of getting a regular feature

of their response to him.

So John has to kind of describe it like that.

Here we go again.

The Jews pick up stones again

to stone him.

Now in the past,

Jesus has kind of slipped away from them.

This time he does something

I think is crazy.

I cannot believe

what it must have been like

to be standing there alongside him

as he does this.

They're standing there

with stones in their hands

about to throw them.

And Jesus says,

just looks them in the eye

and says,

so tell me precisely,

of all of the good things

I've done in the father's name,

which one am I going to be killed for right now?

That's my paraphrase.

In one question,

he demonstrates his closeness to the father

and their distance from him.

He is one with the father

and they are clearly not.

And yet they press on

in verse 33.

It is not for a good work

that we are going to stone you,

but for blasphemy

because you being a man

make yourself God.

In their minds,

Jesus is a man.

He cannot be God.

So he must be a liar.

Even though his words

and his actions

speak otherwise.

But they can't see the truth.

Essentially,

because they can't see the truth

about themselves.

So Jesus explains their problem

by quoting Psalm 82.

It seems like a bit of an obscure psalm

to quote at this point

and an obscure direction

of argument to go in.

Jesus answered them,

is it not written in your law,

I said you are God's?

It looks like he is applying

simple logic here.

The Bible says we are all gods.

So how can you complain

if I say I am a god?

In fact, if I am the Messiah,

I have more right

to this claim than you do.

But this is a barbed psalm.

It is a psalm of judgment

on Israel itself.

Israel was such a privileged nation.

They were God's people

in possession of God's law

and in that sense,

they were gods among men.

But Israel's crime

is taking their privileged position

as God's people

and choosing to withhold justice

and to exploit the weak

and to do everything else

other than actually embody

that law in their lives.

Jesus is saying here

that their rejection of him

is expected.

The truth about them

is that they are so far from God

that they're blind

even to this coming judgment

of this psalm.

Stumbling around in the dark

as the psalm says.

Bumping into God at work

and just unable to see

or appreciate

that it's actually their God

that they're actually opposing.

Jesus exposes the truth about them

and he exposes the truth

about himself too.

So if you struggle

to see Jesus as God,

you're not alone.

That's why Jesus spoke these words.

It's why John recorded them.

Jesus is speaking

into the darkness.

Remember,

this is the festival of light.

He's speaking to those

who struggle to see

the man that they see before them

as their God and Savior.

And he's saying,

if my humanity puts you off,

consider my actions.

Verse 37,

Jesus says,

If I am not doing

the works of my Father,

then do not believe me.

But if I do them,

even though you do not believe in me,

or believe me,

believe the works

that you may know

and understand

that the Father is in me

and that I am in the Father.

If at all it possibly helps

to take me out of the equation

in thinking this through,

then take me out of the equation

and start to think about

what I've been doing.

and then come back

to think about me.

The truth about Jesus

is that every point

he cares for his sheep.

He ransoms us

from slavery to sin.

He rescues us

from our biggest enemy,

even death.

And he does it

by dying in our place.

Spurgeon once said,

You stand before God

as if you were Christ,

because Christ

stood before God

as if he were you.

This is the will

of the Father.

This is who Jesus is.

The Lion of Judah

who became the Lamb,

who fought the one battle

we could never survive.

Jesus is one with the Father.

They are not.

But are you?

Two responses

are described

in the final verses

of this section.

The first is disbelief

and the second is belief.

Again,

they sought to arrest him,

we read,

as their response

to the Jews.

So the Jews

were actually unchanged

by Jesus' words.

They resumed

their initial intent

to arrest Jesus

to have him done away with.

And if you really understand

the claims of Jesus

and choose to disbelieve in,

then there really is

only this one option,

hostility.

Jesus' claims

are too big on your life.

You are a sinner,

he is your only saviour,

trust him or die,

serve him

or be treated

as a rebel.

Statements like that

provoke a response.

If you're not with him,

you can't help

but have contempt for him.

And maybe you're thinking,

well, I'm not a believer

but I don't have contempt,

I just don't really care.

I've been dragged along

by a friend

or I've been coming

with my family members

for months, weeks, years.

I just don't care.

Try saying that you don't care

to your parents.

Try saying,

I don't care what you have to say.

I don't care about who you are.

I don't want you in my life.

You try saying that

to one of your parents

or your brother

or your sister

or your close friends.

See how they respond.

It will crush them

because it's the most

contemptible thing

we can do

is just to treat God

with indifference.

Unbelief

is a hardness of heart.

It's a hostility

toward God.

But there's also

belief here.

Many responded

to the evidence

and in verse 41

we see this

and many came to him

and they said

John did no sign

but everything

that John said

about this man

was true

and many believed

in him there.

They saw what he did

they listened

to what he said

and they came to him

and they believed.

This is the response

that Jesus is calling for.

It's not a response

we can assume.

There's no entitlement here.

You can't just assume

that you're in.

It's also not a response

we can inherit.

Another way of assuming

entitlement.

You know my parents

brought me up in the faith.

It's kind of my faith too.

I put Christian

on the census floor.

Come to church

every now and then.

You might come to church

regularly.

You might even tithe.

If everything that John

says about this man

is true

then he is the good shepherd

and following him

is not loss

and following him

is what is being called

for here.

And in following him

it's not loss

it's only gain.

Only by following him

do we actually achieve

abundant life.

I'm going to finish this point

by saying this.

You may not feel

that you're actually

in the camp of belief

but you may actually

want to find out

a little bit more

about who this Jesus is

before you actually

saddle yourself

for life

with both

the Lord

and Saviour.

So I want to encourage you

if you're thinking

man I heard some

of what you said Rob

and I

you know

I'm not there yet

but I'd love

to talk more about it

then come and have a chat

with me

because I'd love

nothing more than to do that.

In fact we're looking

at running a

Christianity Explored course

sometime this term

if possible

where we just get

a bunch of people together

and we actually look

at who Jesus is.

You know

one short

30 minute burst

of me

you know

pounding the pulpit

and telling you

you're idiots

if you don't believe

that you know

that's not enough.

In fact that's quite

confronting

and probably a bit

off putting

but if you want to sit down

and actually discuss

that I'd love to do that.

I'd love nothing more

than to do that.

And friends

if you are Christians

if you call yourself

Christians

if you believe

that this

in this Jesus

and he is your shepherd

own him

as your shepherd.

He's saved you

at great cost

to himself

he's called you out

of a world

in slavery to sin.

He's given all

for you.

Let's give all

for him.

Let me pray.

Father God

we thank you

for the

for the fact

that you introduce

passages like this

into your word

that you know

that really challenge

us to think about

who Jesus is

that confront us

with people

who don't believe.

Well you know

it's not just

a bunch of

trite sayings

and helpful

anecdotes

for how to live

but this is

a gospel

Lord

that challenges

us

to really

consider

who Jesus

is

before we

actually

follow him.

And so I ask

Lord

for all of us

here

whether we

actually believe

or not

Lord

that you

would actually

challenge us

through these

words.

If we're

struggling to

believe

or we're

struggling

to lay

hold of

our

belief

Lord

I pray

that these

words

would stick

with us

through the

course of

this week

that they

would push

us

to a new

point of

belief and

understanding

and to a

deeper desire

to putting

our life

in your

hands.

We pray

this in

Jesus name.

Amen.

Amen.