JOH 10:24 The Jews gathered around him, saying, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly."
25 Jesus answered, "I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for me,
26 but you do not believe because you are not my sheep.
27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand."

As we saw last week Jesus had been telling the Jews in very plain language that He was the Messiah, even though He didn’t use direct language in most cases. Part of what we’ll see in our text this morning is that when Jesus uses direct and clear language the Jews freak out, proving that they weren’t interested in plain language at all.

In response to the question from the Jews, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly," Jesus answers in a way that once again rebukes them for not paying attention.

JOH 10:25 Jesus answered, "I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for me,

Some of your bibles use the word works instead of miracles, which is a little better translation. While the context certainly is clear that Jesus was referring to miracles, it also includes all the works Jesus was doing in His Father’s name, from demonstrating love and compassion, along with justice.

Everything Christ did in public was a work which went directly back to the mission the Father gave to the Son for all to see which demonstrated that Jesus was none other than the Messiah sent from the throne of God.

But the point should be well taken, and that is that Jesus didn’t come only using words, but backed up His words with power and authority. This doesn’t mean that His words weren’t sufficient in and of themselves.

In fact, a number of Jesus’ followers came to Him based only on His words and the promises He gave them according to the word of God. Peter, for example, made it quite clear that it was the words of Jesus which caused him to stay on with the Lord.

JOH 6:66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
67 "You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve.
68 Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
69 We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."

Consider your own lives. I dare say that most of us came to Christ as a result of the words someone spoke concerning the truth of who Christ is and why He came, which was to redeem us from our sins as we were encouraged to repent of our sins and trust Christ alone for our salivation.

However, in Christ’s case it was important that both His words and His works be combined so as to leave no doubt that He was no mere man who was simply making claims of deity.

And by the way, the Jews knew that such a man would come on to the scene with power and authority to do the kinds of works Jesus was doing, and that such a man would be sent from God.

ISA 35:3 Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way;
4 say to those with fearful hearts, "Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you."
5 Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
6 Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy.

This is the very passage that Jesus uses of Himself when John the Baptist, from a prison cell, questioned if Jesus was truly the Messiah.

LUK 7:20 When the men came to Jesus, they said, "John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, 'Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?'"
21 At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind.
22 So he replied to the messengers, "Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.

What our Lord meant by this was that the very qualifications of the Messiah, which the Scriptures insist must accompany the One sent from the Father, were being performed at the hands of Jesus.

And so, the rebuke Jesus levels at these Jews cuts to the heart of the matter, and that is that there is no evidence which would be sufficient for people whose hearts are bent on rejecting Christ.

And as we’ve said so many times before we have all run into people like these. You can talk till you’re blue in the face, you can do cart wheels for people and bend over backwards showing how the word of God clearly points to Jesus Christ as the only Savior of the world, and yet people will still reject the truth, as they use the excuse that the evidence is not sufficient.

It’s like this thing with Iraq where you’ve got otherwise intelligent people throwing out all common sense when it comes to what Saddam Hussein is trying to accomplish and how he plans on doing it with the types of weapons which can destroy vast amounts of people.

Let’s see, he’s gassed his own people and the Iranian troops he warred against, we’ve destroyed his laboratories where he was using biological weapons, back in the eighties the Israeli’s bombed a nuclear installation where there was an active plan to build nuclear weapons.

After the Gulf war with him our weapons inspectors were lied to that any of these types of weapons still existed and yet we found them. But when we wanted to discover more of these weapons these inspectors weren’t allowed to go into certain areas. And then in 1998 they were forced to leave.

And yet, what is the mantra coming out of Washington among a few prominent Senators? We need more evidence if we’re going to resort to force.

It’s the same thing in spiritual matters. You can explain how over 300 OT prophecies clearly speak of the Son of God coming into this world to redeem sinful men. You can go to the Scriptures which tell us for example how the Messiah had to be born of a virgin.

ISA 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

That’s no small task for you and me, but for God that’s not a problem, which is why Mary conceived without a man, but rather by the Holy Spirit.

You can cite evidence as to how the Messiah had to be born in Bethlehem, which Jesus was. You can cite evidence that the Scriptures clearly showed how the Messiah would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver which the OT Scriptures make clear.

ZEC 11:12 I told them, "If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it." So they paid me thirty pieces of silver.
13 And the LORD said to me, "Throw it to the potter" - the handsome price at which they priced me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD to the potter.

Guess what, that’s the exact price Judas got, but because he had suddenly felt guilty for his betrayal of Christ he gave it back to the Pharisees and guess what they did with it?

MAT 27:5 So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.
6 The chief priests picked up the coins and said, "It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money."
7 So they decided to use the money to buy the potter's field as a burial place for foreigners.
8 That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day.
9 Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: "They took the thirty silver coins, the price set on him by the people of Israel,
10 and they used them to buy the potter's field, as the Lord commanded me."

Someone might say that these examples are mere coincidences. Maybe if only two or three of these OT Scriptures came to pass. But not 300 plus. In fact, Josh McDowell quotes Peter Stoner in Science Speaks, to show that coincidence is ruled out by the science of probability.

Stoner says that by using the modern science of probability in reference to eight prophecies, we find that the chance that any man might have lived down to the present time and fulfilled all eight prophecies is 1 in 10 to the 17th power.”

Stoner illustrates this number by supposing that we take 10 to the 17th power silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They will cover the entire state of Texas two feet deep. He then says, to take one silver dollar and mark it and stir the whole mass thoroughly.

Now blindfold a man and tell him he can travel the entire state, but that he must then pick up one silver dollar and show that it is the right one. What are his chances? 1 in 10 to the 17th power.

These prophecies which came true in Christ had to be inspired by God who knows the beginning from the end.

By the way, Stoner goes on to show how only 48 prophecies of the 300 concerning Christ all coming true finds the averages going way up. 1 in 10 to the 157th power. Instead of using silver dollars as an example he has to use electrons. But we haven’t got time to go there.

The point is that the evidence is there and still men reject Christ to their own detriment, even as these Jewish leaders in our text are doing.

Jesus gives these Jews no excuse for not believing by adding that not only did He convey to them that He was sent from the Father, according to the OT Scriptures, but that His works proved it.

But they still would not believe. And here, Jesus gives a fascinating reason as to why they didn’t believe.

JOH 10:26 but you do not believe because you are not my sheep.
27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

Two things need to be noted here.
1) These particular Jews are not Christ’s sheep, therefore they don’t listen to Him.
2) Christ’s Sheep not only listen, they prove it by their faith in Him to the extent that they follow Him.

Let’s deal with the first premise. These particular Jews in our text don’t listen to Jesus because, as the Lord says, they are not His sheep.

But wait a minute, I thought Israel was chosen of God and is even referred to as the sheep or flock of God.

ISA 63:11 Then his people recalled the days of old, the days of Moses and his people - where is he who brought them through the sea, with the shepherd of his flock?

JER 23:1 "Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!" declares the LORD.
2 Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people: "Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done," declares the LORD.

How then can Jesus say that these Jews He is addressing are not His sheep? Because, though Israel as a nation is chosen of God, and identified as the sheep of God, it is clear that there is a distinction between the general identification of Israel and the spiritual identification of individuals in that nation.

ROM 9:6 It is not as though God's word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.
7 Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham's children. On the contrary, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned."
8 In other words, it is not the natural children who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring.

In other words, simply being identified with Israel didn’t make you a child of God. What makes a person a child of God is faith in God and His promises regarding the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

It’s just as true today. Simply because someone identifies themselves with the church doesn’t necessarily make them a child of God. Only as they truly believe on the Lord Jesus Christ are they children of God, forgiven of their sin and given the hope of eternal life.

Jesus is saying to these Jews that though they have all the religious characteristics that might identify them with Israel, they prove themselves not to be God’s sheep because they won’t follow Christ.

Again, this is quite an indictment when you consider that these were the elite religious leaders in Israel. And Jesus has just gotten through calling them reprobates. And this isn’t the first time. Our Lord was consistent with His rebuke of these leaders as you’ll remember back in the eighth chapter of this gospel.

JOH 8:42 Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me.
43 Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say.
44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
45 Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me!

That’s what Jesus is basically saying in our text. JOH 10:26 but you do not believe because you are not my sheep.

But here’s the beauty of God’s salvation. For those who are His sheep; those who have had their eyes opened and have embraced Christ for eternal life, they have been given some pretty awesome promises.

JOH 10:27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.
29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand.

“My sheep listen to my voice.” In other words, we who are in Christ have ears to hear. We have the ability to come to this word of God and hear what the Lord is saying to us. We have spiritual ears and eyes when it comes to the things of God.

And the reason for this is because God is the One who has given us this ability as the Spirit of God has opened our eyes and ears to hear and receive. And so, when the Lord says, come to Me, we hear our God and come by His grace as we use the faith He has given us to believe on Him and His promises.

But notice that Jesus says that once we hear Him and place our faith in Him He knows us. Can you imagine being personally known by the creator of the universe? I mean known by name?

EPH 1:4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.

This last Thursday night bible study we have been talking about angels as it relates to the mercy seat which covers the ark of the covenant in the book of Exodus. There are two cherubim which were to be crafted from the gold covering of the ark.

And we have been talking about the different angels in God’s kingdom, including the Cherubim, and the Seraphim. There is one angel referred to as the Archangel. And there appears to be angels of the regular order who carry out God’s purpose of ministering to His people. Some people refer to them as Guardian angels though ministering angels would be a better description.

But one of the things which the Scriptures clearly teach is that these angels were created by God to have fellowship with God and carry out His will. And we know that these angels are personal beings who have a personal relationship with the Lord by the fact that He has named them.

We have the names of just a couple of them. Michael is the one who is called the archangel. Gabriel is also mentioned who appears to be a Seraphim. And if you were with us on Thursdays, you would know why.

But the point is that just as each angel who loves the Lord is known by name, by God, every single one of us in Christ is known personally by our Lord and Savior.

What would be the point of being one of Christ’s sheep and then not following our Great Shepherd?

Jesus says, they will follow Him. And the reason is that His sheep have been called out by name and have an appreciation and love for the Shepherd. When we begin to appreciate how the shepherd has laid down His life for the sheep, you and I in Christ, then it compels us to follow where He leads.

These Jewish leaders in Israel had no intention of following Christ, and showed how they were not His sheep, who didn’t have ears to hear. And in fact, demonstrated that they covered their ears, if you will, when Jesus tried to give them what they needed to hear. It’s like that psalm.

Despite the evidence all around us, there are people today who say, there is no God. And yet, these same people try and explain the existence of the universe on a mistake and chance.

To hold to such notions without evidence is nothing short of a faulty belief system, which is bad religion. Because, no matter how much you try and reconcile this earth and universe in terms of billions of years of mutation and evolution, you still have to go back to physical matter which predates life.

Where did that stuff come from if someone didn’t create it? Oh, it created itself, or it always existed? Did it? Then that would make matter a god. That takes more faith than simply admitting that a personal Almighty God created all things, including you and me, and who wants to have a personal eternal relationship with us, which is where Jesus goes next in our text.

JOH 10:28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.

Now, if Jesus had been accused of not speaking clearly earlier, He is not being ambiguous now. Who but the Messiah could make the claim that He can give anyone eternal life?

If He were a lunatic you could blow such a statement off. But not when He has just healed a man born blind and given him his sight back. This is what Jesus meant earlier when He said, “... The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for me....” (JOH 10:25)

The very person who is standing in front of these Pharisees is the same person who claims to be God and Savior, and who is offering this eternal life to these men, but they want nothing to do with Him. Though they think He’s a lunatic, He is none other than the Lord God Almighty incarnate.

And not only does He have the ability to give His people life, He drives home the point that this life is not some fleeting thing. It is eternal, which is to say that not only is it eternal in quality, it is eternal in quantity. Like that refrain from the song, Amazing grace, “when we’ve been there ten thousand years, we’ve only just begun.”

By the way, eternity works both ways. Eternal condemnation is just as real for those who reject God and His Savior. The prophet Daniel makes mention of this.

DAN 12:2 Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.

For believers in Christ we will receive everlasting life, and as our Lord says in verse 28, “... and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.”

When Jesus says, “they will never perish,” He means it. To suggest that somehow we can undo what God has established is not to place much ability in our God and Savior. In fact, Jesus has already pointed this truth out earlier in this gospel.

JOH 6:39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.
40 For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."

One of the things that always comes up in a discussion on eternal security is the notion that somehow I can let go of Christ and therefore forfeit eternal life. And part of the reasoning for this is the fact that even believers still sin and if we are given a blank check as to our futures in Christ it will lead to a sinful life with impunity, while claiming that I am still a child of God. Mere fire insurance if you will.

And while it is true that good works are a very important indicator as to whether someone has embraced Christ there is still the truth that even if a true child of God messes up there is still forgiveness.

If you would have taken bets on King David after he committed adultery with Bathsheba and then had her husband killed, as to whether God would continue hold on to him, most of us would have gone with David being lost and condemned by God.

But David repented and the Lord didn’t let go of him. We can even look to an apostle by the name of Peter who denied Jesus three times before our Lord’s crucifixion and yet Peter was not forsaken of God, but he too repented and was restored and was given the assurance of his salvation.

What about Annanias and Sapphira? These were two people who were part of the church in Jerusalem shortly after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Here’s what we read.

ACT 5:1 Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property.
2 With his wife's full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles' feet.
3 Then Peter said, "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land?
4 Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God."
5 When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened.

The same thing ended up happening to his wife Sapphira. Some have concluded that they were obviously unbelievers for God to do this to them. But we would be jumping to conclusions if we took that position. Nowhere does it say they were unbelievers, only that they made a foolish decision to lie to Peter and thus lie to God.

God took them home to make an example of them. They weren’t given time to repent. One thing this shows us is that despite how God will not allow one of His sheep to perish it doesn’t mean He will always be patient with those who don’t follow Him as He desires.

Does this mean we should always be looking over our shoulders? No, but it should cause us to consider the love we’ve been given and in turn love God above all. By the way, that incident with Ananias and Sapphira did have its desired effect.

ACT 5:11 Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.

Sometimes God’s discipline can be severe, but the bottom line is that He loves those He disciplines. And though all discipline seems hard at the moment it’s always intended to lead us back into the arms of Christ, which I believe is where Ananias and Sapphira ended up, with the question from Christ, what were you thinking?

We’ll pick up on this next week. But remember, we in Christ will never perish and no one can snatch us out of His hand. May that be an incentive to love and obey our Lord, not to go our own way.

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