The Gospel of John 10:22-42

We're in John 10. We're going to look at chapter 10, verses 22 through 42. I just want to go through the slides here just to get a good overview. So the first part that we're going to look at of the scripture this morning, we're going to see the Feast of Dedication, that's the time period that this takes place.

And we know it as Hanukkah, but this was not one of the original feasts from the Old Testament. It came about during the Hasmonean rule, and we have a timeline here. The Hasmonean rulers were 166-63 B.C., and we'll get into this a little bit more, but it was the time of the Maccabees.

The Maccabees were a... I think I have a slide here. Let's just go through the slides. Following many decades of the land of Israel changing hands between the successors of Alexander's kingdom, the Jews rebelled against Antiochus, who had forced pagan rituals. The Maccabees, they were a Jewish military group, fought for self-rule, establishing the Hasmonean dynasty. So they fought against the Romans, or Greeks. Alexander, yeah.

So this is the candles that they light during Hanukkah. Here's a look at the temple, just to give us view of that. We're going to talk a little bit about this in some of the locations. The wall facing us, that's facing east, and that's Solomon's portico. And this is where Jesus was walking. And you can see the colonnades Here's the inside view of that, the computer rendering. This is the gate, the east gate in the portico of Solomon. Oh, let's go back. The Romans had, in the upper right corner, That's where the Romans had a fortress and they could overlook into the temple area.

This is shepherds with their sheep near Bethlehem in the background. We talked about sheep last week and shepherds. We'll talk a little bit more about it this morning. Shepherds, they would often fight off lions and predators with spears and slings. And here's a shepherd watering the sheep. I think this is a more modern photo. There's a sheep pen with a gate or an opening. There's a sheep pen with a shepherd sleeping in the opening. The world's fastest growing grass in the middle of it. Yeah, grass in the sheep pen, which probably didn't happen. Okay, John 10, 22 and 23.

At that time, the Feast of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter and Jesus was walking in the temple in the portico of Solomon. So Feast of Dedication, this is the only mention of the feast that was added from the time of the Maccabees, known today as Hanukkah. The portico of Solomon was the portion of the perimeter colonnade that was on either side of the eastern gate to the temple. There's the eastern gate. John 1024, 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. Now, has Jesus told them that he was the Christ or the Messiah? Has that been brought up? Has he mentioned that? He hasn't specifically said it.

Yeah, if we look at last week's lesson, he mentions it. He tells them, he even tells the Jewish leaders, I am. Ego I mean. He tells them through illustrations. He doesn't directly tell them. So they hear this, but they're confused. That he is the Messiah, that he is God, yet he claims to be deity. So he's done it many times.

But they keep asking, how long will you keep us in suspense? And they want him to tell them plainly. So the Jews were wanting to really get a clear and well-witnessed point on which to place a charge against Jesus. So do they want to know so they can follow him? Or why do they want to know? They want to accuse him. Correct. If they would be able to get Jesus to just state openly and plainly, something like, I am the Messiah, in front of two or more witnesses, that would fulfill their desire. After all, they suppose Jesus was from Nazareth, not Bethlehem.

That's from Micah 5.2.

And Jesus did not come with the clouds, Daniel 7.13, which the Messiah was supposed to come with the clouds. So he could not be the Messiah. As we'll soon see, Christ does one better than claim to be the Messiah. He claims to be deity in completely unmistakable terms.

So there was a lot of disconnect. What were some of the things that the Jews were expecting the Messiah to be? Here it says he was supposed to come with the clouds. What were some of the other things? OK. He was supposed to take over reigning and get rid of the Roman soldiers and empire and the rule that they had over the world. We know that from Old Testament scripture that is the Messiah been David, the ruling and reigning Messiah. So he's supposed to come and conquer, he's supposed to come and throw the Romans out and become the king of the Jews.

But there was the messiah named Joseph who was the suffering messiah and those two messiahs were totally disconnected from each other. And it seems like they kind of just didn't want to believe in a suffering Messiah. So they kind of put that aside. Messiah being Joseph. But in all of the Old Testament scripture they had the evidence there. Every Messiah was disconnected. And through John we've seen he's called Prophet. they're looking for a prophet, or at times they give him a different title.

So all these titles, all these definitions of the Messiah are disconnected from each other, and they can't make up their mind what he is, but they don't realize from Old Testament scripture he's all of those things. And something that I had a question about, I asked Byrne, was did they believe that the Messiah was, that he could be God, that he could be deity? And they didn't believe that. They equated, when they called him prophet, they equated him with Elijah or some of the Old Testament prophets who were human, but they weren't looking for the Messiah being deity, being God himself.

And we'll see a little bit more about that coming up here. John 10, 25-30, Jesus answered them, I told you and you do not believe The works that I do in my Father's name, these testify of me. But you do not believe because you are not of my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish. And no one will snatch them out of my hand. The Father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one.

There is in the language of the New Testament Greek a pair of words, umē, which means not not, that convey the idea of not the slightest chance, or not at all, or by no means. Though double negatives are not proper in the English language, In New Testament Greek, the double negative serves to emphasize the negation and is therefore called an emphatic negation, a double negative strengthening the denial. In part, Jesus' response to the challenge of some Jews gathered about him to declare plainly if he was the Christ or Messiah, Jesus told the Jews about his relationship with the sheep Jesus has already said in John 10, 11, and 14, I am the Good Shepherd, and that He, as the Shepherd, was also the Door. The words of verses 20 and 29 are of great interest to us regarding the impossibility that one could lose his or her salvation. While this passage was said explicitly to the Jews in response to their question, it is in the larger context of salvation by faith, the theme of the Gospel of John. So we look at this, there's this impossibility with the word perish. It's impossible. If we are his sheep, We make it personal, because we as believers are his sheep. We cannot perish. We will not. It's impossible.

The same root word translated perish in John 10.28 is used in Matthew 10.28b, but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

It is used similarly in John 3.16 and 17.12.

In the John 3.16 context, perish, Apollumai, is used in contrast to eternal life. So the intent is clear. Apollumai means to be in or reserved for hell.

It is used in the middle voice in John 10.28 meaning that the action of destroying or perishing cannot be accomplished by one's actions with the result coming back upon oneself.

Additionally, the use of ume regarding the ability of the sheep to perish of the sheep's undoing is emphatically negated, not the slightest chance. When he's telling this to the Jewish leaders, is he saying that they can perish? That they will perish? The Jewish leaders? Because he's basically saying they're not his sheep. They don't hear his voice, right? So the Jewish leaders are perishing and will perish. They've continually asked for signs, they've asked for proof, and they continually hear what he's saying, but they don't understand.

The words of Jesus in John 10.28 and 29 also tell us that the life that Jesus graciously and continually gives to His sheep cannot be taken away by any outside hand.

Drawing from the shepherd and the sheep metaphor, neither the thief in John 10.10 nor the robber in John 10.8 nor the wolf John 10 12 can make can take anyone out of the hand of the son or father The one who is in the shepherd is also the door and will not allow access to any Who will take or harm any of the sheep? We are we're in Christ's hand and We are also in the father's hand so it's it's like Christ has us and then the father encompasses that. So it's just really clear here that we're safe and we're secure.

In John 10.28, in expanded and explained form, Jesus is therefore saying that eternal life is something he gives constantly to his sheep, and that there is not even the slightest possibility that they can lose that eternal life so as to perish in hell, even of their own doing. And no other outside entity can remove those sheep from his hand, those to whom he constantly gives life. The saving work of Christ is, therefore, continually giving us eternal life that cannot be lost of our own doing, nor by that of another. Verse 29 even takes us one step further. Christ is saying that His sheep were given to Him by the Father, and they cannot be taken out of the Father's hand either.

Regarding his words, I and the Father are one, Jesus did not mean that he and the Father were the same person of the Godhead. If Jesus had meant that, he would have used the masculine form of the word translated one. Instead, he used the neuter form of the word. So what Jesus says here, down to the smallest detail of the Greek grammar, is consistent with the teaching regarding the Trinity that the Godhead consists of three personal beings and one essence. So did Jesus make a claim to be Messiah as requested? In a low-key, polite, but straightforward way. Okay. But he went beyond that, didn't he? He claimed to have a unique and intimate connection to God and to be God himself.

In John 10, 31-33, it says, the Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, I showed you many good works from the Father, for which of them are you stoning me? The Jews answered him, for a good word we do not stone you, but for blasphemy, and because you, being a man, make yourself out to be God. Where was Jesus from? Where did they know him to be from? Yeah. And it's said that no good thing can come from there, right?

And they're looking for a Messiah from the clouds. So that's a pretty big contrast there. So they're saying, you're a man and you make yourself out to be a God, to be God. And when they say man, they mean this man from Nazareth. So, let's look at the image here.

So, in the portico of Solomon there, For them to pick up stones was pretty dangerous, because you can see the upper right corner of the temple, the Roman citadel up there, they can overlook and see what's going on. So if there's something happening, like a bunch of people getting excited, people picking up stones, If there's any kind of problem, the Romans are going to see that and they're going to come down and take care of business. They're not going to squelch whatever's going on. So for them to pick up stones was pretty serious.

But this is a pretty serious claim, right? He's claiming to be God himself. And they were looking for this. They were looking for a chance to charge them. They had more than two witnesses. And so they could just stone him on the spot. They wanted him to claim to be the Messiah. He claimed beyond that to be God. Additionally, there were a lot of people there. It was the Feast of Dedication.

So it would have created a great disturbance with so many people. It would definitely draw the attention of the Roman soldiers. So Jesus challenged them and he asked for what good work they were going to Stoneham. We know that he's done many good works.

They've witnessed them. And they still didn't believe him. And at times, it was said, if he was not the Messiah, he could not do this. He could not give sight to the blind man. to an impartial observer and say that they're just ignoring the facts. Correct. Ignoring the facts. But they always overlook these things. We saw this last week. He healed the blind man, but I don't know if that was last week, but when he healed the blind man, their charge against him was that he healed on the Sabbath. So he was breaking their policy, he was breaking their law. They overlooked the greater thing. to look and follow the law, look at and follow the law.

So, something that we hold on to about Christ and what He did as His sacrifice for us was, and this is what the Jews, they couldn't grasp, was that God made Himself out to be a man. That's really important to us because he gave up his position to give up his life for us.

Let's go on, John 10, 34-39, Jesus answered them, has it not been written in your law, I said you are gods. If he called them gods to whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken, do you say of him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, you are blaspheming because I said I am the Son of God? If I do not do the works of my Father, do not believe me. But if I do them, though you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I am the Father. Therefore they were seeking again to seize him, and he eluded their grasp."

So here he quotes a portion of Psalm 82.6. So he goes back to the Old Testament scripture, which they would have known. And to show that the Old Testament used the word gods to refer to those other than God himself. spoke of people as gods, why should the Jews object if Jesus implied that he was a god?

The identity of the people whom God addressed as gods in Psalm 82.6 were Israel's judges. They were functioning as God's representatives. In that context, there is a contrast between God as the true judge and the people whom he rebuked for judging falsely. So as Jesus brought out this passage, he was saying that these Jews also were judging falsely. So he's not making a lot of friends here. Jesus brings these unbelieving Jews back to the real issue. If they have to believe on the basis of his works instead of his words, they still need to believe.

He then says that He is in the Father and the Father in Him. There is a reference to John 17, 21-26. John 10, 40-42. And He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was first baptizing. And he was staying there. Many came to him and were saying, while John performed no sign, yet everything John said about this man was true. Many believed in him there. Jesus left Jerusalem for the Jordan River Valley, where John had been baptizing. Many testified of the truth of the claims that John made about Christ. And many came to believe in Christ there. So it's interesting.

We've seen a few times where Jesus eluded the grasp. Many times they tried to seize him, the Jewish leaders tried to seize him and take him captive. Why do you think Why do you think he just can walk away or just easily get away and not be captured? It's not his time. And when it is his time, we'll see that he goes on his own volition. he goes and gives himself up, because it's what he wants to do, it's what he needs to do. So these signs, these actions of Christ, and the things he says, what do we see? Where's the fruit? Well, first of all, why does he keep talking to the Jewish leaders? Why doesn't he just give up on them? Because, obviously, they've seen many things, they've heard many things. This is just totally unsupported.

It would seem that it's possible that in the background or nearby, Joseph of Arimathea, who might still have been in the process of being convicted that the Lord is who he said he is, and Nicodemus already knows it, would be encouraged into faith such as they had. OK, that's a good. They were part of the Jewish leaders. The Sanhedrin, I believe, right? I think he's doing two things. It's a two-sided coin. One, he's giving them an opportunity to still believe and be saved.

So that opportunity is being presented over and over again. Even though he knows they won't accept that, except for like Tom said, a couple of them will. And the other reason would be that They're the ones who are going to take him to Hia. So he continually talks to them and brings their anger out and makes them more and more adamant about the fact that the angrier they get, the more they're going to bring him closer to his album. So he's building them up to that point.

And the other point he said, I think is a good lesson for us today is, I know unbelievers who just say they have no opportunity. It's just clear here that Christ gives people opportunities over and over and over again. And so it's also hopeful in those unbelievers that are close to us that that there's hope there as well. I'm going to go back to Mary. But he had to go to the Jewish leaders first because he had to offer salvation to the Jews first and before they had to reject him. He wanted them to be saved. He didn't have to offer it first. That's why he went to the Jews first.

Well, I think it's a lesson to anybody that's willing to read scripture, is that if you come to scripture with your own attitude and you use it to justify your own personal beliefs, you're going to come away without a saving grace. But if you go to scripture and Read it for what it says. You may have to change your attitude. You may have to change the way you look at things. But you will come away with a saving faith.

And this is what they were not doing. They were going to the law of Moses, and they were creating their own additions to it to justify their own arrogance and their own personal attitude. They were not allowing the law to speak to them. I don't know. I don't ever remember hearing or having read whether after his crucifixion, death, burial, and ascension, any of these Jewish leaders that have heard all of this ever put two and two together or not.

But they would certainly have a completion of the story. And they knew the Old Testament that they could ever changed their mindset enough that they would put that together. But he had laid it all out for them. So they really couldn't understand it before that. They certainly would have another opportunity afterwards to understand it because he had been so specific. Oh, that may be what he meant when he said this.

And we have that advantage because we can see in the picture where they put me. I don't know where they did, but this is certainly, again, they had the knowledge that they ever took advantage of that. Some Jewish leaders today, Burmitch is the one that said, if one may see Christ, They'll ask him, is this your first or second covenant?

It's even possible that if you include among the words, not just the Council of Seven, but Jewish priests who are right there in the temple, that it happened to be their turn to do the duty, because they were doing it in turns. They couldn't all do it at the same time. There was only so much room. Yet they had to do it efficiently, so they had to switch out of it and so on.

Well, the ones that happened to be in that head, well, I wonder if an amazingly high percentage of those who happen to be doing all of this while listening with one ear in the background to the argument might have thought to themselves, this deserves a closer look. and then got convicted by the Holy Spirit on any cause that was afterwards.

It actually said in the scriptures, me and the priest who came to know the faith came forward. And as we saw in the last scriptures we read, it seemed the people that us and many came to believe in Christ. Where Jesus went to where John was baptized in the Jordan River Valley, people had heard these claims and possibly some of these more recent ones about what Jesus did and what he said to the Jewish leaders. And they verified it. They knew the Old Testament scripture, and many people believed there.

So on the last page, Just a little chart of the feast. If we look at the bottom chart, we can see that this was about four months out from Christ's crucifixion. So about four months before that is when Hanukkah takes place. And then some references, the dates of the celebration from the Jewish calendar, and some references in scripture for that.

And to go back to Stan's point, I think a lot of the Scripture with the Jewish leaders, they knew it, but just could not make the connection. And when you look at the things that Christ said or did, a lot of it we can see today. We can know who he was and who he said he was through these things.

Is there any more questions? finishing up a little early. Mary? I think they were also looking for a king. Right. And Christ came as a servant. I mean, and from a poor family, and they thought he was going to come in and settle all their problems in town. He came from London, London, and Utopia, and he was quite wise about it. They didn't really know the scriptures. But I think they were expecting someone totally different. Right. And that was the intention, was it not?

If the majority of the Jews were to believe him, he would have ushered in the millennial kingdom. And so they were looking for an earthly solution, and Messiah. But he had already brought in this idea of sanctification rather than what the Jews, the Jews' idea of salvation. So he had started to express that, but of course, like you were saying, he was speaking to the Jews, and the church was not to be started yet at this time.

Great. I think it's also that, like I said earlier, Mary's right in the fact that we were expecting him to come like he's going to come the second time. But again, they see everything from their own perspective. How is he going to help us? What is he going to give us? How is he going to make our life better? What is he going to do for us? instead of them going to the scripture and saying, like the publican in the Pharisee. The Pope then went away and justified it. The Pharisee didn't, because the Pope was looking at God and asking God to forgive his sins. And he was in total humility, where the Pharisee was in total arrogance.

And these people are in total arrogance. They can't see. Like Paul, I think that's what fell from Paul's eyes when he was on the road at Damascus. I think the scales, the great scales, Basically, it was his pride that was falling away from him. And that's what God had to do away with, so that Paul could be an effective missionary. Pride is the key point of Paul. It certainly became pride, right? I think it was the law, as well as the veil was the law.

And like you said, They were trying to follow the law, but they lost the heart of the law, right? And they made up their own rules to help them follow the law. And Christ came to fulfill it, right? And he was following it the way it was supposed to be followed, and followed the heart of the law. And that's what they had lost. And like he said, it's pride. may kind of cause them to lose sight of the heart of the law.

Certainly Jesus didn't have to try to forget Satan all the time. He only did the things that the Father told him to do. He gave all the credit to God, and he took no credit for himself at all, even though he was God. He still took no credit. Going to the cross was a superhuman or super humble thing to do. He gained nothing out of that. The fact that he was doing what God asked him to do, And being God, he gave up his position to come to Earth. It is very humbling that he did all this willfully, right? Even to give his life.

I think, too, is that the law is our taskmaster when it's to Christ. But they look at the law as if the law didn't save them. We can keep them. Moses asked them, when they were given the law, how can we be subject to that? We can do it. And then they just kept asking to do it. Not really. The law was to show them they couldn't do it. But in their pride and arrogance, they thought that they could. So they set themselves up as God. Yeah, they believed. As Jews, they were in, right? as having that lineage that they were in. And if they followed the law, they were in. But we know that salvation has always been by faith. It's always been that way. Well, let's pray. All right.

Father, we just thank you for your word. We thank you that we can look at these things and that you have written these things for us and that there are definitely lessons in it for us today and we thank you for what you have done for us. And we thank you for your grace and your salvation. And thank you also that you hear our prayers and requests and that you value them so much. And we just pray that these things will be clear and we'll understand them even more and more as we go through John. In Jesus' name.