John 10:22-30 ESV
“At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, ‘How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.’ Jesus answered them, ‘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. 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 hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one.’”
I am not going to go into the history of all of this, for
the Lord is wanting me to focus here on the practical application of the
message being conveyed here to our lives today. And so he has given me the
title, “You Do Not Believe Because,” because that is the central message of this
passage of Scripture. And the reason we need to look into this is because far
too many people, at least here in America, believe that they do believe in
Jesus Christ, and so they are convinced that they have salvation from sin and
eternal life guaranteed them, but regardless of how they live.
So, the first point here is that people don’t believe in
Jesus Christ with genuine God-given and God-persuaded faith in Jesus Christ,
i.e. with biblical faith in Christ Jesus, because they aren’t really listening
to the Lord and to what his word teaches, in context. But they are listening to
the voices of human beings who are telling them what to believe and who are
teaching the Scriptures out of context, and who are twisting the Scriptures to
say what they do not teach. Thus, many people are listening to humans over God,
and so they end up with a false faith and not with biblical faith.
And the second point here is that so many people are
following after the lies and the liars, not because they have not heard the
truth, and not because they don’t know the truth, but because they prefer the
lies. And so they reject the truth, for the lies give them permission to keep
walking in sin, in deliberate and habitual sin against God and against other
humans. But the truth confronts their sins, and calls them to repentance, to
turn from their sins to follow Jesus in obedience, and in submission to Christ
as Lord, and in holy living. But they don’t want the truth. They want the lies.
The third point here is that the church at large here in
America, though not including every congregation, has largely adopted the ways
of the world and of the flesh of mankind, and they are hiring and putting in positions
of pastor within their congregations so many men who are worldly, and who are
liars and deceivers and manipulators, who are living morally impure lives, who
are fakers, mere wolves in sheep’s clothing who masquerade themselves as
servants of righteousness when, in truth, they serve the devil, instead. So
their goal is to deceive and to turn you away from Christ.
Therefore, what so many of them are teaching as truth today
are partial truths (truth mixed with lies), and so they are lies. And so what
they do is they lessen, soften, suppress and muffle the authority of God, and the
authority of God’s word, to make them less offensive to human flesh and to the
ungodly. And they turn the truth upside down so that lies now are accepted as
truth, and the truth is now being regarded as the lie. And this is because
people are largely listening to humans over the Scriptures and they are
accepting the lies over truth because the lies require nothing of them.
And this passage, using verses 28-30 only, is one of their
key passages of Scripture they use to spread their lies, along with other
Scriptures removed from their context and made to say what they do not teach.
For one thing they like to do is to pull God’s promises out of context, which
he gave to those who believe in him, and they apply them across the board to
all who make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ. But all of God’s promises
have stipulations. They all have conditions. So we need to read those
conditions, for the promises don’t apply to us who don’t meet those
requirements.
So, what did Jesus say to the Jews? He told them that they
did not believe because they were not among his sheep. And then he described
those who were his sheep. He said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them,
and they follow me.” So his sheep listen (pay attention) to him, not just with
their ears, but with their hearts. And they heed his words. They follow (obey,
abide by, keep to, pursue, and put into practice) his words. And Jesus knows
them. And they know Jesus because they listen to him, and they believe him, and
so they follow him in obedience and in holy living, and not in sin.
[see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23; 1 John 1,2,&3;
Romans 6:1-23]
So, the promise in verses 28-30 only applies to those who
are paying close attention to the teachings of Christ and of his NT apostles,
and who are heeding Christ’s words and who are obeying them and living by them
and putting them into practice in their daily lives. So they are those who have
repented of their sins, who are no longer deliberately and habitually sinning
against the Lord and other humans, but who are walking in obedience to the Lord
in holy living. So adultery, idolatry, immorality, lying, cheating, stealing,
and being unfaithful, etc., are no longer how they live, in practice.
But these liars and deceivers who masquerade themselves as
servants of righteousness are deliberately leaving out verse 27, and they are
giving people who do not fit the requirements of verse 27 a false hope that
they have eternal life with God guaranteed them, and that it can’t be taken
away from them, and that they will never be judged by God for how they live,
even if they are still living in deliberate and habitual sin against God and
against their fellow humans. For they are turning everything upside down, and
they are suppressing the truth and are teaching lies, instead.
So, going back to the title, you who are believing the lies
and not the truth, who are following these liars and deceivers, and who are not
testing them against the Scriptures in context, do not believe in Jesus Christ
because you are not his true sheep. For his true sheep listen (pay attention)
to him, not just with their ears, but with their hearts. And they heed his
words. They follow (obey, abide by, keep to, pursue, and put into practice) his
words. And so they have forsaken their sins to follow Jesus in obedience and in
holy living in the power of God, by the grace of God, and to the glory of God.
My Sheep
An Original Work / June 24, 2012
Based off John 10:1-18 NIV
My sheep hear me.
They know me.
They listen to my
voice and obey.
I call them and lead
them.
They know my voice,
so they follow me.
They will never
follow strangers.
They will run away
from them.
The voice of a
stranger they know not;
They do not follow
him.
So, I tell you the
truth that
I am the gate, so
you enter in.
Whoever does enter
Will find
forgiveness and will be saved.
Nonetheless whoever
enters
Not by the gate;
other way,
He is the thief and
a robber.
Listen not, the
sheep to him.
Oh, I am the Good
Shepherd,
Who laid his own
life down for the sheep.
I know them. They
know me.
They will live with
me eternally.
The thief only comes
to steal and
Kill and to destroy
the church.
I have come to give
you life that
You may have it to
the full…
They know my voice,
so they follow me.
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