John 10:22-42

Hey everybody. Welcome back. Thanks for joining us.

Continuing through the Gospel of John.

We're in the 10th chapter today.

About halfway through the chapter

and we're going to jump in at verse 22.

I think we'll try to take this by section.

So I'll read here through verse 30.

We'll try to get through this quickly.

It's a little bit of a build from yesterday.

It's connected.

So some of it may sound familiar.

At that time, the Festival of Dedication took place in Jerusalem.

It was winter and Jesus was walking in the temple in the portico of Solomon.

So the Jews gathered around him and said to him,

how long will you keep us in suspense if you the Messiah?

Tell us plainly.

Jesus answered, I have told you, and still you do not believe

the works that

I do in my father's name testify to me.

But you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep.

My sheep hear my voice.

I know them, and they follow me.

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish.

No one will snatch them out of my hand.

What my father has given me is greater than all else,

and no one can snatch it out of my father's hand.

The father and I are one.

So let's let's stop there, Michael.

Again, a kind of a continuation of what Jesus had been saying.

I am the gate.

I am the good shepherd. My sheep know me.

They don't trust the the other shepherds.

The the thief. I've come to have life.

And here we get this building conflict between Jesus and here,

this general term, John uses the Jews.

And interestingly enough,

they do what I think everybody does at some point.

They they long for clarity.

How long will you keep us in suspense?

If you're the Messiah, just tell us that now.

It is likely this isn't.

They're not.

If Jesus says yes, I am.

It's not like they're going to believe him.

They're looking for a way to charge him,

a way to cause trouble for him.

That I don't think we read that as a genuine request,

but then Jesus kind of repeats what he said.

My sheep hear me.

They belong to me.

They know me. They follow me.

And nobody can take them away from me. And,

again, I think it's helpful.

We've said something along this lines before, but it's helpful.

Reminder, I think, Michael, that we think

the book of John comes from a time

in where there is an increasing tension between

Jewish people and Jewish Christians.

There is likely there being cast out of synagogues there.

They're being oppressed or perhaps persecuted.

And this is probably

a reflection of that kind of situation.

And the word here that no one can take them away from me.

In other words, no matter what happens to the sheep, they are mine.

I think it's likely that we can read that as a word of comfort

and a word of encouragement to a church that is struggling a little bit.

Yeah, Clint,

I think what's really interesting as we come into this text is in some ways,

it's leading us into a further

exploration of Jesus's proclamation.

Because though there's not a whole bunch of new elements

sort of in this recipe, I think it's all being brought together

in some really meaningful and powerful ways.

And I think a few of those things should be pointed out.

First of all, Jesus is walking into the temple.

We have a that the place itself is setting the scene

for some resolution because here Jesus is in Jerusalem.

He's at the center of Jewish life and worship and thought.

And he's even here, in in the place

where Solomon had had built.

Right.

The founder, the architect of the of the temple.

And it's at this place where he's asked for this clarity.

And I want to just point out

Jesus's answer, as John relays it in verse 25, so important,

I've told you and you don't believe so the spoken revelation that matters here.

But we keep moving the works that I do in my father's name testify to me.

And we we need to pause there because,

in John, what

Jesus does reveals the truth of who he is

because it shows the truth of the one who sent him.

And I don't want to misspeak.

So correct me if I'm wrong on this, but it seems to me

that if you're going to lay all four Gospels out next to each other,

that John probably has quantitatively

less miracles recorded in the book.

I mean, in the mark, you know, you're going to

you just have casting out of demons left and right,

and then you've got feeding of the 5000, then you've got all these things

sort of piled into each other.

It would depend on how you define miracle, of course, these kind of things.

My point is, John makes a lot of use out of the miracles in this book.

In fact, you might remember the healing of the blind man

turns into multiple chapters of debate,

and going back and forth and trying to wrestle with what it means.

And then John teaching spiritual lessons through that work.

And I think here we see Jesus making the very, very clear point

that the works that are done are also enough,

and they testify to the truth of who he is.

And then it keeps going, you know, this is 26 but

you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep.

And this is another important part of these themes that John's been drawing out.

There is a community of belonging.

There are groups of people who are responding

to Jesus revelation who can see him for who he is.

And despite the pressing over and over and over again

from these religious leaders, that, as you say, summarized in John

by the Jews, these individuals consistently are not in the community.

People able to see Jesus for who he is.

And all of these factors, I think, matter.

You have what Jesus says, you have what Jesus does, and you have the constitution

of the people that come to him.

And all of those are important factors in this book

for how people respond to the revelation of Christ.

And then I think, ultimately, what those people will do about that revelation.

Yeah.

Along those lines, Michael, I think it's worth

remembering that John refers to the miracles as signs.

And there are seven specific signs

in this gospel.

I think we've been through six of them.

The next one, the highest one, is in the next chapter.

But for for John, I think you're exactly right.

What Jesus does is, a corroboration,

a testament to who he is.

And when you see the sign, then you have to make the choice.

Do I follow where it leads me or not?

Do I do I take it at face value?

This was largely the conversation with the man born blind.

And so Jesus, then, as we progress in this,

is going to continue to to bear this out.

Let me jump back in here at verse 31, and we'll go through maybe 39 or so.

The Jews took up stones again to stone him.

And Jesus said, I've shown you many good works from the father.

For which of these are you stoning me?

The Jews answered, it's not for good work that we are going to stone you,

but blasphemy, because though you only

a human are making yourself God.

Jesus answered, is it not written in the law?

I said, you were gods.

If those to whom the Word of God came were called

gods in the scripture cannot be annulled, can you say that

the one the father has sanctified and sent into the world is blasphemy?

Because I said, I'm God's son.

If I'm not doing this,

if I'm not doing the works of the father, then 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 am in the father.

Then they tried to arrest him again, but he

escaped from their hands. So

let's kind of work backwards in this a little bit before

we get to the kind of confusing language about the Scripture.

And you are God's here, we have to connect it with what we were just saying.

Michael, if I'm doing the work, then believe the work.

If you don't believe me, believe what you see.

And again, we should not forget that we're in the chapter

after a long discourse about seeing and blindness.

If you don't believe me, believe your own eyes.

Believe what I've done.

Look at the things that I've done.

And tell me that they don't show forth the work of God.

I'm doing godly things.

I'm doing God's work.

And how would you be upset about me?

I think, you know, John is weaving this together really well.

And this idea in John that Jesus is self-evident by what he does.

I think you're right, Michael. I think that that is a

that's present in all the Gospels,

but I think it's emphasized by far most strongly in this one.

Everything that Jesus does in this gospel is imbued with significance and meaning.

That's not to say it's not the other gospels claim,

but it is just to say there's so much weight to every moment

that is recorded in this book as to what Jesus does.

And I just really want to sort of point out what might be obvious,

but I don't want us to pass by without giving it some, you know, words.

It's just to say, friends, that one of the most common characteristics

of the Jews, the opponents of Jesus in this book, is their cynicism.

It's they're they're looking at Jesus,

and they're constantly seeing in him not good news,

but rather seeing in him a huckster

or a false teacher or a crazy person or,

someone who's vying for position and power.

It really is astonishing when you go through this book to see

how many ridiculous explanation tions can be brought forward

as to why Jesus does what he does, and not.

The very simple answer because Jesus is doing

what God Himself would do if God had taken on flesh.

I think that's the thing that we see right here.

If I'm not doing the works of my father, then don't believe me.

But if I do them, even though you do not believe, believe the works.

The idea that Jesus has come to restore the kingdom that he proclaims

is that very same kingdom, that all of the prophets,

testified to, that they said that when that God's desire

for the people of Israel was justice, it was restoration.

It was for healthy bodies, bodies being restored from sickness and demons

being cast out. Right.

That this is Jesus doing the very thing that the people had longed for.

And yet when he arrives, when he does the work, when those works are a testimony

to the one who sent him, the cynicism that deep seated

lack of belief fills in the story

with every explanation except that one.

The one that this is the one, this is the Messiah.

This is even the one that we've been longing for and waiting for.

The moment he stands in front of them, they're unable to see him

for who he is and claims that that amazing turn of the imagination.

This is another way of saying a thing

that we've said I know a thousand times already, but John returns to.

It's so consistent because we never get an opportunity

to really squirrel ourselves out of that position.

Right?

The Jews are coming to Jesus with this kind of cynical, wondering.

And the question is, what do we come to Jesus with?

Is it that same kind of cynicism?

Or are these works enough to define who he is?

And this is an amazing way of turning back to us

the very conversation he's having with them.

We kind of touched on that at the end of yesterday.

Michael, the choice John gives us is seen again

in this text today is Jesus

the Messiah or in his words, the Son of God.

He literally says, I am God's Son.

And we've talked about how much more upfront the Gospel of John is

right in that regard than than, say, Mark or even Matthew or Luke.

Or is he,

as the Jews have accused him, of being a blasphemer?

And those are the two choices, and I think that it

it is remarkable how upfront, John is with that conversation.

You know, even Jesus says it here.

Are you calling me a blasphemer?

If I do these works,

can you say the one whom the father sanctified and send the world?

Could you call me a blasphemer because I said, I am God's son?

And he's not saying I didn't say that.

He's not saying you think I said that he in John, he literally claims

that for himself as well as the Jews said,

because you're making yourself God and

the the portrayal of Jesus in John is, I think, more comfortable

with that information being out early in the story.

Yeah.

Then he is the portrayal in the other gospels for, for various reasons.

Let's talk for a minute about this kind of strange little trip through scripture.

They say

you're making yourself God, and here Jesus answers them.

This is from Psalm 82.

I say, you are God's children of the Most High, all of you.

Nevertheless, you will die like mortals and fall like princes.

That's an obscure reference from an obscure psalm.

And yet Jesus uses it, I think, for two purposes one,

Jesus knows his Scripture clearly,

and he is able to make arguments

if they want to do the kind of ticky tack

religious argument stuff.

Jesus is well armed and well equipped to do that.

On the other hand, Jesus is saying, look,

I you're not going to draw me into this.

Look at what I did

and judge by what I did.

If it's of God, and therefore judge if I am of God, and if I am of God,

then what I'm saying is true, and I'm telling you the truth.

So why don't you believe me? And,

it can be missed.

I think the seriousness of this,

you know, in the Gospel of John, I've sort of lost count.

Michael, this is

this is either the third or fourth time

there have been stoning

you, you know,

that that's been the purpose

that they've approached Jesus to put him to death now.

So we've seen this before, but it's a it's a reminder

of how serious this conflict is, how much is at stake here.

You know, again, in the end, we get that typical John phrase.

They were going to arrest him, but he escaped.

That John is never interested in how that happens.

He's telling us, no, it didn't happen.

And so, a lot going on in this part of the text, some,

some difficult

interpretive stuff, I suppose, from the Psalms.

But essentially the point is the point

that Jesus is evident

in what he does and who he is.

And yet those who claim to be godly

disbelieve him and reject him, even even want to kill him.

I think that you've really summarized that really well.

I think the only thing I want to add here is what John is doing from

more of a 20,000ft view in giving us

this teaching that Jesus has, which I do think is in some ways

confusing for for us, as it would have been for those there.

But I just want to point out, this is actually a very high theology of

of Christ's divinity, of his, of his full humanity,

but also the fact that he's fully God,

that this is a really true reckoning with this right in the middle of the text

and it's in red letters, it's Jesus himself teaching about the reality

that that he is God's Son, and what that means

that Clint is mind bending regardless of what century you hear it.

If you really take it seriously, if you really let it land on you.

The claim that a human being could be the Son of God,

that there could be full divinity with the enclosed within the creation itself.

I mean, that's it's an unbelievable thought.

Lots of books written about that.

But John's unique and important.

And I just want to point out, because if we didn't have John,

we would miss so much of this substantive theology

that really pushes us to understand that's exactly who

Jesus believed himself to be, that the other gospels.

Jesus is certainly doing miraculous work.

He's certainly teaching Saint.

He is besting the Pharisees at every turn, no doubt.

Right?

But in books like this, when Jesus pulls out the Psalms and says,

hey, look, you're fixated on God's.

You know that even in the Old Testament, there's a reference

to the to God's and to the reality of that.

And here I am, standing in front of you doing the work of God.

And you don't recognize that work alone

and yet alone, the source of the one who has sent it to you.

This is very, very robust.

It's very thoughtful,

and it really guides and leads the first generations of the church

who really wrestle with who is this man, Jesus, and what he claims to be

the gospel.

John will never let us off that hook, and I think we owe a debt to it for that.

It it shows Jesus at his best.

Being clear and yet showing us how that clarity often

led to more confusion than it did to to faith.

And so, Clint, it's in that way

an invitation, I think, to enter into some of those earlier conversations

that the earliest generation of Christians had and to wonder for ourselves,

does that apply for me?

Can I say yes to that or not?

And that's a lifelong journey for for many, many people.

Yeah, we've said this before, Michael, but I think the other gospels

have a more of a sense of the big reveal at the end.

And, and John is not that's not the way he approaches the story.

He, he puts the big reveal

in the first chapter, in the third chapter, in the ninth chapter and seven,

I mean, we we have the big reveal over and over and over again.

It's not it's not held out to the, to the resurrection.

And oh, surely this man was the Son of God.

We got that already.

We know that going in.

And so, let's just wrap up this little bit of,

text here at the end of the chapter, Jesus went away again across the Jordan.

There's a place where John had been baptizing earlier, and he remained there.

Many came to him and they were saying, John, perform no sign.

But everything John said about this man was true.

And many believed in him there.

Interesting that John the Baptist makes a kind of,

reoccurrence here.

Not the character, but the idea as well as do not miss the last verse here.

Many believed in him there. And why?

Because they saw the signs.

They heard what John had said.

They saw it for themselves.

And this is one of those bridge passages

that that ends one story and moves on to another story,

but it does so in a way that makes it clear

that the contrast here is between the people,

the many who believe in him and the Jewish people,

the religious people who refuse to believe in him.

So there's, even in this little transition section that there is a lesson here.

And I think there's a very noticeable contrast that John wants us to see.

Yeah. And don't miss tomorrow.

I mean, this story is going to only continue.

The signs are not done in many ways.

Jesus.

And the reality of who he is

are only going to become more clear as the story moves forward.

But Clint, at each step of this journey,

there's a new group of people who have seen enough

or who have heard what they needed to hear, and they believe.

And that number will only grow the the really

the villainous crowd who wants Jesus dead?

They remain relatively consistent throughout this book, but the number

and the witness of those seeing the miracles, seeing the signs,

seeing and hearing what it means that that group continues to grow.

And each one of them, comes from that pivotal moment that they had with Jesus.

And you don't want to miss the next group that will experience that as we continue

this story.

Yeah, I would say

that as we move in in chapter 11, it it is all the chapters in John matter,

but it's a very pivotal chapter in the flow of the book.

So I give this for you.

Like helps others find it as they study their own Bible.

Subscribe so you can stick with us on studies like this and we will see them.