Voice of the Shepherd: John 10:22-40
Welcome to the Defender Bible Study, a weekly encouragement to equip the body of Christ through the study of scripture and prayer to manifest the gospel to orphans and vulnerable children around the world. This podcast is of Lifeline Children's Services where we believe that defending the fatherless begins by being rooted in God's word.
Jeff Kunard:My name is Jeff Kennard, vice president of advancement at Lifeline, and it is Monday, March 31. We are going to continue on in the second half of chapter 10 in the gospel of John today. So we'll be doing a piggyback, if you will, off of what was taught last week where Jesus is calling himself the good shepherd. And before we get into it, just as a word of caution this morning, we're we're gonna get into scripture that for a lot of us as believers is might have you saying, I already knew that. And you might even be tempted to kinda gloss over this part of scripture.
Jeff Kunard:And I just caution against it. So I really am gonna pray before we get started because if this wasn't so important, the enemy wouldn't be attacking it constantly throughout the world. And anytime the enemy is attacking, we should be praying. We should be paying attention to it. We should be meditating on this type of scripture.
Jeff Kunard:So if you will open up to John ten twenty two through 40 is where we will be spending our time this morning. And just pray with me if you will, please. Good morning, Father. Lord God, we worship you. We worship the name of Jesus Christ.
Jeff Kunard:We love you Lord. We wanna thank you for this time. Lord, I pray that you would awaken our hearts to your word, strengthen us in our faith in who you are. And Lord just have your way with whatever comes next Lord. Please bless this time, I pray this in Jesus Christ name, amen.
Jeff Kunard:John ten twenty two-forty. 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.
Jeff Kunard:Jesus answered them, I told you and you do not believe. The worst that I do in my father's name bear witness about me, but you do not believe me 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.
Jeff Kunard:I and the father are one. The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, I've shown you many good works from the father for which of them are you going to stone me? The Jews answered him, 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. Jesus answered them, is it not written in your law, I said you are gods?
Jeff Kunard:If he called them gods to whom the word of God came and scripture cannot be broken, do you say of him who the father consecrated and sent into the world, you are blaspheming because I said I am the son of God? 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 me, believe the works that you may know and understand that the father is in me and I'm in the father. Again, they sought to arrest him but he escaped from their hands. So there are so many things covered in this scripture, but I wanted to lay out probably the most decisive thing, which would be this crazy part that's covered in three, twenty four actually, verse 24.
Jeff Kunard:What is going on when the Jews say, how long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly. Now if you've been following along in our study of John and you're a follower of Christ, you probably are getting exasperated reading what the Jews are saying because it's not like Jesus operated in isolation. Jesus was the thing happening at the time in history. Everyone knew it, not the least of which were the Jewish elite that were threatened by his authority.
Jeff Kunard:And so just to be clear, the devil often questions biblical truth with the word if. We could go back, don't have enough time to today, but the Jews not being his sheep say, if you are the Christ. Well, let's just do a little review, go back to John five:eight, all this is gonna be really familiar for you guys. Let's see, does he say that he is God? This is crazy, right?
Jeff Kunard:It's crazy to those who have faith in Christ and have read the gospel of John and clearly understand every time he says, he's the son of God. John five eighteen, this is right after he healed the layman on the Sabbath and Jews were questioning him. Well five eighteen, this is why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him. Because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own father, making himself equal with God. The people with the most interest in denying Christ's divinity are the religious Jews.
Jeff Kunard:It was not lost on them back in chapter five that he was claiming equality with God. They wanted to kill him. Can't kill somebody unless they blasphemy. Clearly they got the picture back in chapter five. Let's go to chapter eight.
Jeff Kunard:Go to John eight fifty eight really quick. Here we are again. Jesus said to them, Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham was, I am. Invoking the name of God there, which was not lost on the Jews again. Verse 59, So they picked up stones to throw at him.
Jeff Kunard:They're ready to kill him again. Here we go in 10, all the more crazy when they say if you're the Christ, tell us plainly. Y'all know, I mean the sarcasm just wants to come out of me when I read this, but that's because I'm reading it and I don't wanna project myself into scripture here. But for the faithful follower, this is crazy. But if you are not part of the family of God, this is not crazy.
Jeff Kunard:This is par for the course. This is normal behavior for someone who does not follow Christ. It doesn't matter how much they hear biblical truth, they will continue to deny the truth over and over and over again because they're deceived. And so when you look at the Jews saying, or at least the religious Jews, if you're the Christ, tell us plainly, of course they're saying that. They'll continue to say that until the day they die and they face them face to face.
Jeff Kunard:It makes perfect sense. The confusion of the enemy attacking the Trinity and Jesus Christ being the son of God and equal with God is something that has deceived millions and millions of people that are walking the face of this planet now with different religions. This is a common attack by the enemy. In the book, Mere Christianity, CS Lewis lays out a defense of Christianity and dispels any notion that Jesus Christ was not God. How could he be?
Jeff Kunard:A lot of these other religions can't deny the historical accuracy in the life and death of Jesus Christ. So they called him a good teacher, a good professor. And a lot of you heard his line, CS Lewis's line is like, that can't be possible. How could he be a good teacher and a good professor if he was lying about who he was? Or was he so crazy that he was just making stuff up?
Jeff Kunard:So you're left with either he's a liar, he's a lunatic, or you have to believe him and call him Lord. There was no middle ground here. And as the years roll along and the deception of the enemy settles in, all you have to do is look back to the most vested, most interested people in this quote of Jesus Christ claiming to be one with the father. It was the religious Jews of the time that they got the picture quite clearly. He wasn't mistaken or I think I'm the son of God, they're ready to kill him because that's exactly what he was saying.
Jeff Kunard:So he's either lying or he's nuts or he's the Lord. Our Jesus, the son of God is part of the Trinity. One of the main points of this scripture. But there's some other really cool things that we can go moving on further from this. The nature of God, the characteristics of God, and this gets personal now because who amongst us hasn't been attacked by the enemy when it comes to our own sin?
Jeff Kunard:Our own failures when we get emotional about things and we act out of anger or we expect outcomes to be a certain way and when they don't get that way, we act kind of foolish. You can go on and on with the sins, but how does the enemy attack that? Well, once you have had faith in Christ and you've been adopted into his family, the enemy wants to sit there and chirp in your ear and constantly talk to you about you not being qualified to be in his family. It's common, there's another attack from the enemy. What does he say in verse 27?
Jeff Kunard: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's given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of the father's hands. Just previous to this, he's talking about the Jewish elite not being his sheep.
Jeff Kunard:Right here, he's making sure to make it clear that he is all powerful. He's also all knowing and those of us who believe in John three sixteen and have faith in what Jesus Christ came to do, have been adopted into his family. And there's not a single sin or a moment of failure that can disqualify us from being a part of his family. That's what he says here. Nobody, the enemy chirping in you cannot take you from my family.
Jeff Kunard:You are mine for forever. How encouraging is the nature and the character of a God who died for all of our sins and patiently endures all of our fumbles in this life. Keep bridging past the biggest verse in here, which is verse 30, I and the father are one. Okay. This is a fun part.
Jeff Kunard:We start getting into the actionable items of what the Jewish leader are gonna do. What do they do in response to I and the father are one? They pick up stones, they're ready to kill them. Alright, so the moment was already tense. And if you remember back in John eight, remember the woman caught in adultery?
Jeff Kunard:The description of that tension where the Jewish leader coming up to Christ or say this woman was caught adultery, they're ready to stone and kill her. It's a tense moment. And here we go again, how many times has Jesus faced a bunch of Jews with deadly weapons in their hand ready to kill them? There's a pattern here. And in this next part that we're gonna get into, I can't tell you everything about it, but it is kinda cool.
Jeff Kunard:Because every time you see repetition in the Bible, you gotta pay attention. What does Jesus do when he's facing death yet again, physical death? First of all, he's all knowing, so he realizes he's not gonna die there, but it's pretty cool to walk through this. He cites the Old Testament law, that's specifically Psalm 80 two:six where they call the judges in Old Testament, you are gods, little g gods if you will. And then the Lord gets into this monologue really quick about why the Jews shouldn't be offended to the fact that he calls himself the son of God.
Jeff Kunard:And I could reread it, but for the sake of time we're gonna leave it. I think it's interesting to instead to look at the pattern here. Back in John eight, when the woman is caught in adultery and the Jews are saying, hey, which one is it? Follow Old Testament law, kill her or deny Old Testament law and likely will kill you. What is the first thing that Jesus did in that moment of tension where life and death are on the line?
Jeff Kunard:He sticks his finger in the dirt and he writes in the ground or draws. I don't know what he was doing, but you're like, okay, wait, Jesus life and death. Why are you drawing in the dirt? Here he asks them a question and he cites Old Testament law and he's accomplishing some things here. Now I can't tell you everything about it, but what's clear about these two moments because they're very similar, he deflects the tension of the moment, he exposes Jewish hypocrisy in that moment, and he gets them to think With the Old Testament law being compromised with the adulterous woman, Jesus gets them to think and says, He who's without sin casts a first stone.
Jeff Kunard:Starting with the oldest to the youngest, they dropped their stones, they walked away. Here he cites Old Testament law and all of a sudden death is delayed. The tension of the moment comes down. I wish I could tell you more, but I do think it's cool. Jesus is the master of the moment.
Jeff Kunard:And with death on the line, he's all knowing, he's all powerful. And he makes some choices there that I can't completely understand, but I do think they're repeated in scripture and worthy of paying attention to. Finally, we get to this last part of scripture, which I think this gives us a take home as well. Those of us that are in the family of God want to be like our father in heaven. Now think in the end, as Jesus is addressing the Jewish elite that he knows are not in his family, that he knows want to kill him, and what does he do to these people that seem hopeless?
Jeff Kunard:He appeals to them. Our God who knows all things appeals to people that are not gonna be in his fold. Look at the very end here, verse 36. Do you say of him who the father consecrated and sent into the world, you're blaspheming because I said I'm the son of God? Listen to this appeal.
Jeff Kunard: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 me, believe the works that you may know and understand that the father is in me and I'm in the father. He's appealing to them like, okay, if you don't believe that's fine, but are you blind? Because nobody can argue against what he has done, the miracles that he has performed. If you recall a few lessons back, somebody cited the purpose of the gospel of John, John twenty thirty one, but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
Jeff Kunard:This referring to the works and the signs that Jesus performed. That's why they're documented the purpose of the gospel at the end of the gospel. And here we are again, Jesus's own words saying, if you don't believe me, believe the works understand that the Father is in me and I'm in the Father. The continuity of scripture, the continuity even in the gospel of John and the repetition in which Jesus gives us story after story, proving exactly who he was saying exactly who he was is worth noting. And I would offer to you as we look at the scripture, this is where it gets really, really personal for us.
Jeff Kunard:How many of us have run into people that we wanna write off? That are so backwards and so evil. They're like, there's no way that that person will ever come to faith in Christ. I'm guilty of it. I've had that moment before where I prayed diligently about a meeting, a day of work, and it got so ugly on that day, was driving home and I was like, well that was a waste.
Jeff Kunard:There's no way that guy's ever gonna believe in Jesus Christ. I couldn't even get the sentence out and I felt like the Holy Spirit convicted me from within. I didn't give up on you, don't give up on him. We're not all knowing. We don't know who Jesus is gonna call.
Jeff Kunard:But I will tell you that if Jesus Christ himself was appealing to people that were not gonna be in this fold, our mission is clear. Despite whatever we face, no matter what evils we face in any one person, our job is to be like our Father in heaven. Our job is to appeal. Our job is to share the gospel and our job is to love that child of God. And a lot of people will gloss over this ending, if our Messiah and our savior is appealing to these people, the religious elite that wanted to kill him, I think we can rinse and repeat, right?
Jeff Kunard:And honor the God who saved us from our sins. Love this scripture.
Herbie Newell:Thanks again for joining us for the Defender Bible Study. If you enjoy making this podcast a part of your weekly routine, we'd love for you to take a moment to subscribe, rate, and review the Defender Bible Study to make it easier for more people to find. For more resources and information on how you and your church can partner with Lifeline, please visit us at lifelinechild.org. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter by searching for Lifeline Child. You can email us directly at info@lifelinechild.org.
Herbie Newell:We look forward to seeing you again next week for the Defender Bible Study.
