The Good Shepherd Never Loses His Sheep

(John 10:22-29)

I. Introduction.
A. Orientation.
Last time,
We saw Jesus contrasting Himself
With the leaders of Israel
In the parable of the Good Shepherd:
They thought as the religious leaders,
They were the door into Gods kingdom
Through whose knowledge and leadership
The people of Israel might enter.
But they were only misleading themselves and others:
Jesus is the only door
No comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6).
They should have been pointing the people to Jesus,
Which is exactly what we need to do today.

They also thought they were faithful shepherds

Who cared for Gods sheep
Through their spiritual nurture and guidance.
But they were taking advantage of the sheep
They were only in it for what they could get out of it
Sadly, as is true of many religious leaders today.

How can people become so deceived about themselves?

Thats what sin does
It makes you see bad as good, and good as bad.

Jesus is the faithful Shepherd who came to give

Not only His life to save us,
But His continuing nurture and guidance
To bring us safely to heaven.

B. Preview.
Shortly after this,
Jesus had another opportunity to expand
On this image a bit further with the Jews.
They met Him in the Temple and asked Him again
Whether or not He was the Messiah.

What I want you to notice is that in His response

He gave us the answer to several important questions:
1. Why He reveals Himself to some and not others.
2. Why some believe in Him, but others dont.
3. How we can know whether we believe in Him.
4. How we can know that believing, we will make it to heaven.

II. Sermon.
A. First, why does He reveal Himself to some and not others?

3
It has to do with why we want to know who He is.

1. Lets look first at the setting.

a. John tells us at what event this took place in verse 22,
At that time the Feast of the Dedication took place at Jerusalem.
What was this Feast?
We dont read about it in the OT?
It refers to the dedication of the temple.
Not the one Solomon built,
Or directly to the one Zerubbabel built during the return
To replace the first temple that had been torn down.
Theres no record of a feast in connection with either of these.
It actually refers to the feast that was instituted
At the cleansing of Zerubbabels temple by Judas Maccabeus
After it had been defiled by Antiochus Epiphanes
During the time between the close of the OT and the opening of the New.

Its like the feast of Purim

Which, if youve been doing your RBT reading,
You know was established in the days of Queen Esther and Mordecai.
God didnt require this particular feast,
But the Jews celebrated it to Him anyway
Because of His infinite mercy in delivering them
From Hamans plot to destroy them all.

The Lord doesnt have to command us

To commemorate His gracious works for us to do so.
We should remember them anyway.
We just need to be careful
Not to require our brothers and sisters to do so
When the Lord hasnt required it.
Thats how traditions often begin
That can lead us away from the simple Gospel:
We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus alone.

b. The second thing we see is the time of year and location:

John writes, It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the
portico of Solomon (v. 23).
Because it was cold,
Jesus was walking in the Temple
In a covered and enclosed area to keep warm;
And being in the Temple,
This tells us that His audience
Would likely have been the religious leaders.

2. Now we see why He was there:

To point out their sin of unbelief.
We read, The Jews then gathered around Him, and were saying to Him, How
long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly (v.
24)

5
Jesus knew they would ask this question and why they would ask it:
They didnt really want to know that they might believe,
But that they might accuse Him to the Romans.

We know they already wanted to kill Him

His claim to be Gods Son was enough for that
But it wasnt enough to kill Him legally.
For that, they would need evidence before the Roman officials
That He claimed to be the Messiah.
Remember, the Jews believed
Messiah would be a political figure
Who would lead them to freedom from the Romans.
The Romans also believed this because of the Jews.
If Jesus admitted it, they would have Him.
In doing this,
They were only proving what Jesus said earlier, This is the judgment, that the
Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the
Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light,
and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed (John
3:19-20).

If this is the condition of everyone in the world apart from Christ,

Its no wonder we often feel reluctant
To bring the Gospel into our conversations.
But even though it is, lets not forget:
The Lord can overcome any heart in a moment,

6
When and where He is pleased to do so.
Well see more of this in a few moments.

Notice how Jesus responds to their question:

He answers it, but not as directly as they wanted:
I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Fathers name,
these testify of Me (v. 25).
When did He tell them?
When He claimed to be the One
Who gives the Spirit
Represented by the water poured out at the Feast of Booths (John 7:37-38);
When He claimed to be
That represented by the lamps in the treasury
The Light of the world,
Gods truth incarnate (8:12);
When He claimed to be the One
Who could free them from their bondage to sin (vv. 35-36).

His works also proved who He was:

He did those things Messiah would do.
When John sent messengers to find out if Jesus was the expected One,
Jesus said, Go and report to John what you hear and see: the BLIND
RECEIVE SIGHT and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf
hear, the dead are raised up, and the POOR HAVE THE GOSPEL
PREACHED TO THEM (Matt. 11:4-5).

Its interesting that the only person

He was open with regarding His identity

Apart from His disciples
Was the Samaritan woman.
We read in 4:25-26, The woman said to Him, I know that Messiah is coming
(He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to
us. Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am He.
Why was He open with her, but not with the Jews?
Because she was looking for Him,
While the Jews wanted to kill Him.

If we want to know who Jesus really is,

He is willing to reveal Himself to us
If we seek Him for the right reasons.
These Jews only wanted an opportunity to do away with Him.

B. But why did they want to kill Him?

Why did they not believe in Him, while others did?
Jesus tells us in verse 26
He says to the Jews, But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep.
Its because some are not His sheep, while others are
Because God has chosen some to give to His Son,
While others, He hasnt.

Its true that we often understand sheep

To refer to those who have believed in Jesus.

8
But thats not how Jesus uses it here.
If it was, then when Jesus says,
You do not believe because you are not of My sheep,
He would mean, You do not believe because you do not believe.
Jesus means something different by sheep
Its the reason we either believe or do not believe.

We dont have time to look too deeply at this,

But let me say this much:
God tells us that everyone was born dead in sin,
Including us:
Paul writes, And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly
walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the
power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the
desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even
as the rest (Eph. 2:1-3).
As long as we were in that condition,
We never would have chosen to believe and receive Jesus Christ,
Because we would never want to.
Paul writes, The mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject
itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the
flesh cannot please God (Rom. 8:7-8).
If anyone was to be saved,
God would have to intervene,
And thats what He did.
He chose to have mercy on some:

9
Paul writes, For He says to Moses, I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I
HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE
COMPASSION (Rom. 9:15).
And He can do that because we all belong to Him.
Again Paul writes, Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from
the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? (v.
21).
Through Adams sin,
We were all handed over to death.
But through His grace,
We have received mercy.
Paul writes, For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become
conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among
many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom
He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified
(Rom. 8:29-30).

So why did the Samaritan woman receive Jesus,

While these Jews rejected Him?
Why did we receive Him, while others dont?
Its because God chose us in eternity
To be among the sheep He would give to the Shepherd
As a reward for His work of redemption.

Lets thank God for having mercy on us.

And lets also not forget,
There are many others He has chosen and intends to save,
So we can go out armed with the confidence that He will.

10

C. But how can we know whether He has chosen us?

We can if we believe in Him.
How can we know we have believed in Him?
Jesus says, My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me (v.
27).

First, its clear that Jesus knows who His sheep are.
John Gill suggests
That what Jesus means here
Is not that He knows us
In the sense of loving us
After we come to Him
But that He knew each of us personally
Before we came,
Because, being God,
He has known we would be His
From all eternity.
This is certainly true,
But that doesnt help us to know whether we are His.

What does? Our fruits; the way we live.

Jesus said, You will know them by their fruits (Matt. 7:20).
What fruit should we expect to see?
Jesus says, My sheep hear My voice.

11
We will recognize the voice of our Savior,
As He speaks through His Gospel,
And receive Him.
We will also hear Him speaking to us from His Word,
And believe and obey Him.
My sheep hear My voice . . . and they follow Me (v. 27).
If these things are true of us,
Then we can know we are His sheep.

D. Finally, if we are His sheep,

What can we expect from the Shepherd?
We can know that He will bring us to heaven.
How can we know? Because Jesus tells us.
He continues in verse 28, And I give eternal life to them, and they will never
perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.

If we are His sheep, He has given us eternal life.

Eternal life is not just length of life that goes on forever,
But a quality of life:
We are in a relationship with the Father and the Son
A loving relationship that will last forever
In a very real heaven
Full of love and beauty.

If we are His sheep, we will never perish

12
Our sins will never overtake us and destroy us.
We will never go down into hell.
We are forever forgiven.

And no one will be able to take us away from Jesus.

Jesus says this is true because,
My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to
snatch them out of the Fathers hand (v. 29).
As weve seen,
We are Jesus reward for His work of redemption.
We are what the Father has decided to give to His Son.
And because He has determined to do this, He will.
There is no one strong enough to take us away from Him.
We also will never want to leave Him,
Because we love Him too much.
Jesus gives us eternal life, and we shall never perish.

We can know we will make it to heaven

If we know we belong to Him.
And we can know we belong to Him,
If we hear His voice and follow Him.
Is that true of you this morning?
If it is, thank God for His mercy.

If it isnt,

13
Then listen to the Shepherd
As He mercifully calls to you again this morning:
Believe on Him, and you will be saved.
If you will only look to Him in faith,
He will save you,
And bring you safely to heaven.
If you come to Him,
The Good Shepherd will never let you go. Amen.
http://www.gcmodesto.org