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John 10:19-42 · Providence Baptist Church - Sermons

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  Amen. Please take your copy of God's Word and join me in John chapter 10.
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  Our text for today is John chapter 10 verses 19 through 42. We will finish out the chapter today.
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  I'll tell you though, and I already intended to keep my comments relatively brief this morning,
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  because you may have noted I walked up here as fast as I possibly could this morning.
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  That was not a serene pace. That was a my lower back is killing me pace. So you'll see me a little
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  uncomfortable this morning, and I don't know how long I can stand here and do this. So I already
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  intended to keep my comments brief. But also it's hot in here. You're not imagining that it would seem
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  that one of the two units that cools this room is not currently cooling anything. So it is warm in
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  here, and I recognize that. Kids were up late last night, I'm quite sure, and now they're hot.
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  So this will be perhaps a challenge. We'll pray for God's favor here in just a moment for our time in
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  the Word. These final verses of John 10 conclude John's record of Jesus's public ministry. As we have
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  noted repeatedly, John does not leave us wondering what the driving purpose of his gospel account is.
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  He tells us in John 20, verse 30 and 31. Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples,
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  which are not written in this book. But these are written, the signs that we have, these are written
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  so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you may have life
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  in his name. So this text, as well as many that have preceded it, press the question, what will you do
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  with Jesus? Who do you think that he is? How do you handle the claims that he made?
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  C.S. Lewis once said, I've shared this with you previously, quote, a man who was merely a man and said
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  the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic on the
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  level with the man who says he is a poached egg, or else he would be the devil of hell. You must make
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  your choice. Either this man was and is the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse, end quote.
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  We have to deal with the historic Jesus. He said things about himself that must be carefully considered.
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  In the last half of chapter 10, we find two groups of people. John continues to do this to present to us
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  two groups of people, those who reject Jesus as the Christ and those who receive him. We plead with
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  you this morning, if you've yet to receive him as the Christ, that you carefully consider his claims.
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  Let's pray before we read the text. Father, we ask humbly this morning as we take up your word that you
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  would help us. We never accomplish anything of any value apart from your work in our lives, certainly
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  not the study of your word. And fathers, we are likely tired and weak, frail in some way, and hot
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  this morning. I pray that you'd make us attentive, help our minds to take in the things that your word
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  would teach us this day. We want to believe its promises and obey its commands. We want to have
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  affection for you, its author. So we pray to this end. Amen. John 10, beginning in verse 19.
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  There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. Many of them said he has a demon and
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  is insane. Why listen to him? Others said, these are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon.
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  Can a demon open the eyes of the blind? At that time, the feast of dedication took place at Jerusalem.
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  It was winter and Jesus was walking in the temple in the colonnade of Solomon. So the Jews gathered
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  around him and said to him, how long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.
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  Jesus answered them, I told you and you do not believe the works that I do in my father's name,
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  bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice
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  and I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they will never perish and no one
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  will snatch them out of my hand. My father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able
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  to snatch them out of the father's hand. I and the father are one. The Jews picked up stones again
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  to stone him. Jesus answered them, I have shown you many good works from the father for which of them
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  are you going to stone me? The Jews answered him, that is not for a good work that we are going to stone
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  you, but for blasphemy because you being a man make yourself God. Jesus answered them, is it not written
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  in your law? I said you are gods. If he called them gods to whom the word of God came and scripture
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  cannot be broken. Do you say of him whom the father consecrated and sent into the world, you are
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  blaspheming because I said I am the son of God. If I'm not doing the works of my father, then do not
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  believe me. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works that you may know
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  and understand that the father is in me and I am in the father. Again, they sought to arrest him,
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  but he escaped from their hands. He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been
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  baptizing at first and there he remained. And many came to him and they said, John did no sign, but
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  everything that John said about this man was true and many believed in him there. So our text begins
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  with another division. It's a lot of arguing amongst the Jews and John uses this term to speak of those
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  religious elite. This is most likely the Pharisees could have been made up of another bit of scribes,
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  but those who are in some religious power because of what Jesus has said. In the case that you are just
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  joining us in our study of John's gospel and welcome guests. We're very glad to have you or that
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  you like me just easily forget details. I'll remind you of where we find ourselves in the narrative of
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  Jesus's life. In chapter nine, Jesus heals a man who was born blind. This sets off this whole narrative
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  that goes through chapter 10. This healing causes confusion and commotion. And so this man is brought
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  before the Pharisees and he goes through a series of little miniature trials at the conclusion of this
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  process. The man says to the Jews, John 9 33, if this man were not from God, he could do nothing.
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  This is his estimation. Clearly this Jesus is from God. And then they answer him. You were born in utter
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  sin. And would you teach us? And they cast him out. They throw him out of the synagogue. They make him
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  unwelcome amongst God's people. Verse 35 says, Jesus heard that they had cast him out and having found him,
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  he said, do you believe in the son of man? This is a reference to the Christ found in the book of
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  Daniel. He answered. And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him? Jesus said to him, you have seen him
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  and it is he who is speaking to you. He said, Lord, I believe. And he worshiped him. Then Jesus says in
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  verse 39 for judgment, I came into this world that those who do not see may see and those who see may
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  become blind. Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things and said to him, are we also blind?
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  Jesus said to them, if you were blind, you would have no guilt. But now that you say we see,
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  your guilt remains. So Jesus, having healed a blind man of his physical disability, and then,
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  and more importantly, of his spiritual disability, uses this sight language to expose the pridefulness
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  of the Pharisees. It's that they believe that they see and therefore do not need a physician.
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  He speaks here with great irony. It's the men who think they see who are truly the blind ones. And
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  it's into that context that Jesus goes on in chapter 10. He's speaking to the Pharisees, right? He's
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  indicting them blind men who have thrown out of the synagogue, a seeing man, and he switches from sight
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  language to hearing language. And then this really rich shepherding metaphor. So notice verse six,
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  this figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.
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  And then verse seven begins. So Jesus again said to them, and he continues his indictment using
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  the shepherding metaphor. And it is here that there is once again, a division among the Jews.
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  Verse 20 of chapter 10, many of them said, he has a demon and is insane. Why listen to him?
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  And others said, these are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes
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  of the blind? And the implication is perhaps we should listen to him. Once again, this controversy set off
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  between them. And then we get into verse 22 and 23 and beyond. Now at this point, I think it's worth
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  mentioning. You may have some subtitling in your Bible and you may think, why are we including verses 19
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  through 21? Doesn't that make sense at the end of the text we were in last week? You can think that
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  and you're welcome to. The translators here thought it was good to put in a subtitle, but we've been
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  following John's gospel through its literary structure. And I'm not going to talk a lot about chiasms
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  this morning, but it is built around these literary structures called chiasms. And verse 19 through 21
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  is part of the chiastic structure of the last half of John 10. And I'll tell you where the center is
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  here in just a moment. So it would seem that John wants us to link that together with the rest of the
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  chapter. Now take it either way. I don't think it matters terribly, but I want to point out to you
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  what I think John tends to want to pull our attention to at the center of this chiastic structure of the
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  last half. Now, perhaps you go, well, wait a second though. It doesn't make sense there together with 22
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  because clearly something else is going on, right? Some time has passed. The feast of dedication is now
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  at place, but we don't really know how much time has gone on between one thing and another. John gives us
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  no real indicators of that. But the last indicator that he gave us was for the feast of booths. We read
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  about that in chapter seven and I argued into chapter eight and two or three months have gone by since
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  then. And we don't know exactly when all of this shepherding, blind healing things have happened in
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  between. And so at this point, I just think it's good to say, to remind you that not only is this a
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  record of things that happened truly and really happened, it's also a piece of literature. It's being
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  written and written brilliantly under the inspiration of the spirit to help us come to
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  conclusions. So let's make sure when we take up a text, we also read it as a piece of literature.
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  So therefore, I think 19 and 21 belong with the rest of the chapter. And I digress. At that time,
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  the feast of dedication took place at Jerusalem. This was the celebration of the dedication of the
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  second temple. This is modern Hanukkah for those who are interested. As I mentioned, two or three
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  months since the feast of booths. And we find Jesus walking in the covered area east of the temple.
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  This is a very common place for people to gather, to teach. Rabbis would gather together, students,
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  and teach. People would stroll in it and meditate. It was an especially important place during inclement
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  weather. And this would have been the rainy season in Israel. We see this little detail that it was
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  winter. And perhaps the reason that John includes that detail is to help us to understand why it is that
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  Jesus is walking in the colony. Who's gathered around him. And this word sounds like maybe he's there
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  teaching and they're milling over. But the word carries a little more weight. It means surrounded
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  or encircled. And I'm imagining a little bit at this point, but it doesn't sound to me like they have
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  come around because they're curious. They want to demand something of him. Right? It said to him,
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  how long will you keep us in suspense? Like they're, they're ganging up and they want to know this
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  answer to this question. If you are the Christ, tell us plainly. And that's, that's the stage for the
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  rest of what Jesus will say in this shepherding metaphor. Jesus answered them. I told you,
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  and you do not believe. I've already said it to you plainly. I am the Christ.
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  What he says, the works that I do in my father's name, bear witness about me, but you do not believe
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  because you are not many places that the Bible places divine election and human responsibility
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  right next to each other with no apology or nuanced explanation. It just says it right there together.
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  Jesus does not minimize the guilt of their unbelief. This whole chapter is a judgment
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  of their unbelief. He's indicting them all along. You should believe. And yet you don't,
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  but here he just simply explains it. How is it? These men don't believe Jesus just states because you
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  are not among my sheep. This does not let them off the hook. He's not sympathetic to them because of
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  this. They are entirely guilty of their unbelief. He just says it's because you're not mine.
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  Beloved, I encourage you to take up God's word and read it plainly. Not all of its tensions are
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  resolved. In God's infinite wisdom, he decided not to resolve every tension. My best guess as to why is
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  because our finite minds just couldn't handle it. To really understand how it is that God's sovereign
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  work and man's responsibility function together, it's a mystery to me. And so I just want to deal
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  with the text plainly. I want to be careful not to import my logic into the text. I want to let God speak
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  for himself and to have the final word. You do not believe because you are not among my sheep.
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  Which brings us to the chiastic center of the text. The thrust of it being drawn here to verses 27
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  through 30. He says, my sheep hear my voice. He's repeated this in the metaphor throughout chapter 10.
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  I give them eternal life. Life now and life forevermore and they will never perish and no one will snatch them
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  out of my hand. If you are Christ, you are Christ forever and no one including yourself can change that reality.
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  My father who has given them to me. My father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to
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  snatch them out of the father's hand. I and the father are one. Jesus clearly declares his deity in this text,
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  declares that he has been sent to accomplish a task, the salvation of his people, and nothing will thwart his good
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  purpose for his people. This is the thing that we ought to revel in if we are in Christ. This is the thing
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  if we are not in Christ that we ought to ask him to show us that we're not and then repent and believe
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  that we might belong to him. This is a reality that should drive evangelism and missions to the very
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  ends of the earth. Jesus is calling together. He's using the church as the means and the ends to draw
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  together his flock. Do not be like the Jews in verse 31. You don't like the things that Jesus says.
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  Yes, they're infuriated by what he has said. They pick up stones again to stone him. The again there is
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  this is not the first time back in chapter five they sought to stone him there as well and for the
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  same reason. Jesus says, I've shown you many good works in the father for which of them are you going
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  to stone me? And they answer it is not for a good work that we're going to stone you but for blasphemy
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  because you being a man make yourself God which would be a form of blasphemy if it were untrue that
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  he is in fact himself God. And so Jesus responds with a bit of a mysterious response. Jesus answered
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  them, is it not written in your law? I said you are gods. This is Psalm 82 and verse six. If you call
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  them gods to whom the word of God came and scripture cannot be broken. Do you say of him whom the father
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  consecrated and sent into the world you are blaspheming because I said I am the son of God.
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  What exactly is he doing here? And I will tell you that explanations abound about this text as well
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  as Psalm 82. Some very reasonable, some rather out there. Let's take just a moment and I'll tell you
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  what I think he is doing. First and then undeniably everybody agrees he's making a lesser to greater
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  argument. It goes something like your Bible, your law, he says, calls men gods. It cannot be wrong.
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  So how can it be wrong for the son of God to be a son of God? However, I think something else is going
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  on here. When Jesus cites the scripture to the Jewish religious leaders, he assumes they know the rest of the
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  text from which he is citing. He references a portion of the text and these men would have known Psalm 82.
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  They spent their days memorizing what we call the Old Testament. So all kinds of things are coming into
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  their mind as he cites this verse. So as he references Psalm 82, what else is it that he's communicating?
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  Now, earlier in our scripture reading, Jake led a reading of Psalm 82 and it's there in your
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  bulletin. If you'd like to look at it along with me, I'd like to read it and give you a little bit of
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  notes. Psalm 82 says, God has taken his place in the divine counsel in the midst of the gods. He holds
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  judgment. How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Give justice to the
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  weak and the fatherless, maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute, rescue the weak and the
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  needy, deliver them from the hand of the wicked. They have neither knowledge nor understanding. They walk
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  about in darkness. All the foundation of the earth are shaken. I said, here it is. You are gods,
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  sons of the most high, all of you. Nevertheless, like men, you shall die and fall like any prince.
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  Arise, oh God, judge the earth for you shall inherit all the nations. Do not forget that this is a piece of
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  poetry. And Asaph, its author is picking up this picture. It's from pagan religion of a divine
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  council of God's coming together to accomplish something. And he's stating that God is the one
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  who comes into that and rules over those others. So what he's talking about are those who judge unjustly,
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  right? The judges of Israel who judged unjustly, right? And that God will judge them. Verse eight says, oh God,
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  judge the earth. God is the ruler over everyone and everything. And it's this context that's being brought to
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  play in the minds of Jesus. And the minds of Jesus' listeners, those he's indicting. It's these Jewish
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  religious leaders who have gathered around him, right? Pressed on him, make it plain that you're
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  the Christ. And his response to them is, you're these judges.
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  I think this reference to Psalm 82 is piling up the indictment on these men.
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  That Jesus means for them to see themselves as those who have judged unjustly and shown partiality to the
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  wicked. Those who have neglected justice, those who have neither knowledge nor understanding.
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  I think this is what Jesus gets swimming around in their minds as he cites Psalm 82 and verse six.
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  Notice the way Psalm 82 ends. Arise, oh God, judge the earth for you shall inherit all the nations.
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  Now, it's been a little while since we've been in John 10, but you may remember in the shepherding
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  metaphor back in verse 16, Jesus says, and I have other sheep that are not of this fold.
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  I must bring them also. And they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.
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  This is one of the things that he has said that has caused some of these Jewish men to say he has a
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  demon that he would suggest that his kingdom includes those who were not of Jewish descent.
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  Oh God, judge the earth for you shall inherit all the nations. So this, I think, is what he's doing in this text, right?
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  First, lesser to greater, right? He's reasoning, he's logicking through, but something much more significant is happening here.
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  He's pressing this judgment on these men for their unbelief. And then he proceeds.
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  Note what he says next. Verse 37, I'm not doing the works of my father. Then do not believe me.
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  But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works that you may know and understand that the father is in me.
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  And I am in the father. You see what is pressing along here, right? This continuing indictment for those who will reject him as the Christ.
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  If you reject Jesus as the Christ, you will be judged one day. And the point, the result, I should say, of that judgment will be eternal damnation.
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  The temperature will be hotter than it is in this room right now.
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  Their response to that verse 39 again, they sought to arrest him.
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  They've tried to arrest him before again. They sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands.
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  And he goes away across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing at first.
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  And there he remained. And many came to him and they said, John did no sign.
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  But everything that John said about this man was true.
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  Behold, the Lamb of God takes away the sins of the world.
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  And many believed in him there.
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  In the place, Solomon's Portico, the colonnade of Solomon, where the gospel should have been most readily believed.
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  Like by the men who knew the Bible best, Jesus is rejected as the Christ.
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  But in a desolate place along the Jordan, where John had been baptizing, a baptism of redemption.
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  Jesus there ministers and many believed in him there.
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  In closing, I want to read a rather long quotation from the bulletin and hear it as a plea.
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  And then I'll pray to the same end.
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  This is Charles Spurgeon.
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  He once wrote of this text.
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  Here is the matter in a nutshell.
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  Christ appears as a shepherd to his own sheep, not to others.
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  As soon as he appears, his own sheep perceive him.
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  They trust him.
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  They're prepared to follow him.
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  He knows them and they know him.
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  There is a mutual knowledge.
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  There is a constant connection between them.
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  And so the evidence, the infallible mark of regeneration and adoption, is a hearty faith in the appointed redeemer.
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  Reader, are you in doubt?
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  Are you uncertain about whether you are one of God's children?
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  Then do not let an hour pass until you have said, search me, O God, and know my heart.
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  Do not linger here, I warn you.
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  If you must linger anywhere, let it be about some secondary matter, your health if you wish, or the title deeds of your home.
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  But about your soul, your never dying soul and its eternal destiny, I urge you to be in earnest.
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  Make certain of this eternal issue.
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  Let's pray.