Scripture Introduction
During the last few months we have followed Jesus around Jerusalem as he interacts with a variety of people, especially confounding his enemies. Jesus often taught by a kind of paradox — a fact which I have sought to convey (in part) by the sermon titles. In John 8, Jesus showed us that “Not all who die, die.” Then he healed a blind man and made the miracle into a parable by noting, “Not all who see, see” (John 9). Last week Jesus confronted pastors who failed God’s people, and we learned: “Not all who shepherd, shepherd” (John 10). And we have found more than once that “Not all who believe, believe.”
This morning ends our study of Jesus’ public ministry. For three years he has traveled through Israel, healing, preaching, confronting, discipling, touching, blessing — demonstrating himself to be Messiah with hundreds of miracles and countless acts of mercy, proving his deity by his unique works and from God’s inspired Word. Sadly, however, his own people reject him and they will kill the one who came to save. We see why as we read in John 10. [Read John 10.22-42. Pray.]
Introduction
Biblical preaching must meet different needs depending on the hearer. True Christians need frequent encouragement and steady assurances of salvation. Life is difficult and we are easily overcome by the weaknesses of the flesh, the sins which so easily entangle, and an enemy who seeks our destruction. Hope and confidence leak from our lives like the helium from last week’s birthday balloons, and we find ourselves deflated and flaccid rather than strong and courageous.
At the same time, many professors of religion are just that — they profess to follow God, but their lives insist otherwise. They claim Jesus as Lord and the Bible as their guide, but they have no life in them.
In the early 1900s, journalist Finley Peter Dunne said, “The job of the newspaper is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” I’m not sure from whom he borrowed that line, but pastors have known it for centuries. The comfortable must be wakened to their danger, while the fearful and doubting need the calming voice of the divine Savior. Jesus carefully covers both.
To his own, Jesus preaches the causes and certainty of eternal security: “Those to whom I give spiritual life will never perish, because no one can pry my mighty hand lose from their lives.” (Some Christians use the slogan, “Once saved, always saved,” to summarize this Biblical doctrine, but that may not be as clear and accurate as we can be.) Properly titled, “The Perseverance of the Saints, this bright truth shines from countless pages of Scripture and warms the soul as it reminds us that our hope is not in our flagging efforts but in God’s infinite power to save and sanctify.
Jesus also (in this text) sharply reproves the Jews who refuse to believe. Glorious truths which should thrill the soul instead quickens their anger.
At the T4G Conference, John MacArthur preached for an hour on “Total Depravity.” MacArthur is not as passionate in form as John Piper, nor as animated as C. J. Mahaney. He eschews all gimmicks, preferring plain preaching which is careful, doctrinal, and exegetical. Additionally, his topic was no lobbed softball. I dare say that few of you are ready to hold an audiences’ attention by describing the depth of sin which deadens the soul and damns us to hell forever. But at his conclusion, 5000 men applauded. Why? Because the truth of depravity drives us to Jesus, and that always delights the soul of those who hear his voice.
The gospel is the good news that God has come to save his people. But truth has implications, and the gospel implies two profound conclusions. First, we must be more evil than we would ever dare imagine (since God himself must save); and second, you must be more loved than you would ever dare hope (for God has saved). The offense of the gospel is that you cannot get to God’s love until and unless you embrace your need. For those with faith and humility to do so, the deity of Christ is good news indeed. That explains why…
1. God As Messiah Encourages True Believers (John 10.22-30)
The Jewish leaders pretended an desire to know the truth when they demanded, “If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” Of course, Jesus had previously told them, plainly. In fact, he told them both in words and in works. The Old Testament prophets predicted Messiah would open these eyes of the blind, heal the lame, give hearing to the deaf, cleanse lepers, raise the dead, and preach good news to the poor. Jesus did all of these, and these all bear witness that God has become man to live and die. Those who entrust their lives to this Messiah find great encouragement from the fact that he is one with the Father, that he is God in human form.
First, the true believer is delighted to be called a sheep. Last week we reviewed some of the unpleasant characteristics of sheep: they are dumb and stubborn and dirty and needy and easily startled and scattered. So why would anyone like that title? Because we would rather hear a hard truth than a soft lie.
When Hansel and Gretel wandered in the woods, they found a house built of bread and covered with cakes, and the windows were of clear sugar. Because they were starving, they began to eat the roof and window pane, when suddenly a woman as old as the hills came creeping out. Hansel and Gretel were terribly frightened, but the old woman said, “Oh, you dear children, come in, and stay with me. No harm shall happen to you.” And she fed them milk and pancakes, with sugar, apples, and nuts. Afterwards two pretty little beds were covered with clean white linen, and Hansel and Gretel lay down in them, and thought they were in heaven. But the old woman had only pretended to be so kind; she was a wicked witch, who wanted to eat the children.
That is a parable for Satan: he flatters to destroy; God speaks the truth to save. Yes, of course, being compared to a sheep is humbling, but whoever is brought low there finds a humble Savior who dwells with the meek and lowly and delights to lift you to heaven.
Second, we are not only sheep, but his sheep. A wise farmer cares well for the animals that belong to him. There is no profit in mistreating them, in ignoring their needs, in refusing them healthy food and clean water. When God says, “These are mine,” he binds himself to your comfort and care.
Also, because God is your Messiah, you hear his voice. The rebellious woman wants to hear herself speak; the Christian woman wants God’s wisdom. When the unconverted man is in a tight squeeze, he asks himself, “How will I get what I want out of this situation?” When the godly man is in a tight squeeze, he asks himself: “How will I get what God wants?” With God the Son as our Messiah, we are assured that the voice we hear is both our Lord and our Savior. The one who lays down his life and takes it up again is the same One who tells you show you shall live. But you trust his word because he has given his life for you.
Fourth, because the Messiah is God, he is able to give eternal life. If you are thoughtful, you realize that you can never work your way into God’s presence. Heaven sits on a mountain too steep; across a divide too wide; at a distance too far. “To the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.” But the wages of sin are death. I need a gift! And only God has the authority to give eternal life. Cult leaders promise life to those who serve faithfully. The power of their deceit lies in the lies told. But they cannot provide what they promise! Jesus is God — therefore he can give life as a gift.
True believers are also encouraged by the promise that they cannot be lost. Because the Messiah is God, we realize that we can contribute nothing to salvation — it is all of grace, all of Christ, all of divine initiative. All pretense of pride is stripped from us and buried in the dust of our unwillingness and inability to chose God. Sure we have a free will — you are free to chose what we want. But apart from grace, I always chose to sin. The will is free; the “want” remains a slave. God must save. But if God saves, then God keeps!
The gospel is good news – God saves sinners! But the tough implication is that I am more evil than I ever dared imagine. That is an implication of the fact that God must save us — our sin separates us from God a distance too great for me to span. The Westminster Confession of Faith summarizes this Biblical truth: “By their fall, our first parents became dead in sin and wholly defiled in all the parts and faculties of soul and body…. From this original corruption, we are utterly disinclined, disabled, and antagonistic to all that is good and wholly inclined to all that is evil…. Man, by his fall into a state of sin, has completely lost all ability to choose any spiritual good that accompanies salvation. Therefore, an unregenerate man, because he is opposed to that good and is dead in sin, is unable by his own strength to convert himself or to prepare himself to be converted” (6.2,4; 9.3, OPC, MESV).
Many enemies of the gospel consider those words virtually self-suicide, certainly destructive of self-esteem. How can anyone find hope and encouragement there?
For those with courage to hear the truth about sin, you eventually find chapter eleven: “Those whom God effectually calls he also freely justifies, not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins and by accounting and accepting them as righteous. It is not for anything wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ’s sake alone that they are justified. It is not by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any other act of Christian obedience to them, as their righteousness, but by imputing the obedience and satisfaction of Christ to them who receive and rest on him and his righteousness by faith. Men do not have this faith of themselves; it is the gift of God.”
Because God the Son had to come as a human in Jesus Christ, I am shown to be much worse than I would have ever dared think; because God the Son has come as a human in Jesus Christ, I am shown to be much more loved than I could have ever dared hope. So when Jesus says, “I and the Father are one,” true believers are thrilled by the stamp of hope that places on their souls. But not everyone cheered this revelation.
2. God As Messiah Infuriates False Professors (John 10.31-39)
At first glance it appears that the gospel is nothing but good news. As J. I. Packer neatly summarized: “There is really only one point to be made in the field of soteriology: the point that God saves sinners.” So why was Jesus attacked? Because if God must be our Messiah then my contribution to salvation is only my sin.
These men dedicated their lives to obeying the law; now Jesus’ presence insists their good works are filthy rags. Their religion was supposed to send them to heaven; but if Jesus is God, their efforts condemn them to hell.
Puritan Pastor John Bunyan, famous for Pilgrim’s Progress, said that the best prayer he ever prayed had enough sin in it to damn the whole world. The Prophet Isaiah said it first: “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment” (Isaiah 64.6).
If God becomes a man to save, then unredeemed sinners are both unwilling and unable to please God. So simply by standing before them Jesus insists:
• They cannot love the true and living God;
• They cannot obey God’s law with pure motives;
• They cannot understand basic spiritual truths;
• They do not accept the things of the Spirit of God;
Note well: they quoted Scripture; they claimed to be all about the honor of God and his church; they reminded Jesus of how they longed for the Messiah. But when he arrives, they hate him. It is always so — religious people hate grace.
John Calvin: “This story warns us that we cannot escape the tricks and slanders of the wicked if we are called to preach the Gospel.”
But this applies to more than me; it speaks to everyone who follows Jesus. 2Timothy 3.12: “All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” When your life is transformed by the grace of the gospel and you can take no credit to yourself, you will be persecuted, even as Jesus was.
I have counseled women who say they want a godly man who will lead them spiritually, but when he tries, they find fault and fail to support. Plenty of churches search for a pastor to teach them the Bible, but when he arrives, they complain and criticize. It is simple to quote the Scriptures and say you want what God does – what will you do when you get it? These men saw the Messiah they had so long sought, and they picked up stones to kill him.
3. God As Messiah Prohibits Hearing Without Responding (John 10.40-42)
John 10.42: “Many believed in him there.” How are you responding?
Most of Jesus’ enemies counted on their religious efforts to please God. That problem certainly remains today. We might call it, “Carbon Offset Religion.” I pollute the world with my sin, but I do some good deed to offset the damage. Many people participate in “religion” in order to appease God.
Maybe a bigger issue among Americans is their belief in some form of eternal rewards with neither a relationship to the Messiah nor any religious effort. Liberalism and universalism promote this false belief.
Within the evangelical church, many professions produce no effect. Many hear that salvation is by grace, then quit listening. Every pastor sees it in the church and it grieves him terribly — people who mouth the right words but whose lives are unaffected. We love our comfort as much as any pagan. We spend our money in the same way as our neighbor. We believe that “things go better with Jesus,” but we really want the riches of this world. We like sermons which make us feel self-righteous, churches which do not challenge us, and leadership which never asks us to change. We will give an hour or two each week, but commitment and community went out with the WWII generation. We have not yet learned that “faith without works is dead” (James 2.17,20,26).
The Bible teaches that the faith which saves also sanctifies. We are saved by grace through faith alone — for how could sinners add anything to the wonderful works of God? But the faith which saves is never alone — it produces fruit in keeping with repentance.
Be encouraged that God has come to save; believe in the greatness of the gospel and be conformed into his likeness. For Jesus’ glory and your sake, amen.
