“Tell Us Plainly Who You Are”
John 10:23-42
Greenmount and O’Leary Churches of Christ
July 11, 2021
Video Link: https://youtu.be/4XueEHVVQ08
INTRODUCTION:
1) The opening verse of our text tells us this account was at the Feast of Dedication.
A) The Feast of Dedication also called the Feast of Lights, or Hannukah and would come on our calendars in November or December.
B) It would not be one of the major feasts, nor was it included in the feasts that were mandatory for the Jewish males to be present for.
C) The background to this feast is found in the first book of Maccabees which would not be part of our Bible.
ca.) Prior to 164 B.C. the Greeks had dominion over Jerusalem and Israel.
cb.) One of their leaders Antiocus Ephanes IV entered into the temple of God and defiled it by sacrificing a pig on the holy altar, and allowing its blood to also drip over the scrolls of Holy Scripture.
cba.) By this action the temple had been defiled and made unclean.
cbb.) In that state, the Jewish people could not enter to worship God there as the house of God had become unclean.
cc.) Judas Maccabees and his brothers formed a revolt against these Greek forces and eventually drove them out of the area.
cca.) The objects of Greek idolatry were removed from the temple, and in 164 B.C. the temple was rededicated to Almighty God.
.01) A festival of lights was given to celebrate the victory, and that the temple was again dedicated as a place of worship for the people of God.
.02) In that festival there was enough oil for light for one day, and yet God miraculously caused the oil to last for eight days.
.021) From that time on the Jewish people have celebrated this feast each year just before the time we observe Christmas.
.022) That is the backdrop for today’s text.
I) THE PEOPLE GAVE AN AN EAGER INQUIRY.
1) At the feast, Jesus was walking intent on his mission.
A.) By this time, Jesus was in the final few months of his ministry, and his work on earth was coming to its climax.
aa.) Everything he had come to earth to accomplish would in a few months be carried out on Calvary.
ab.) As the time came closer to the cross the conflict between the forces of God, and the forces of Satan were becoming stronger.
ac.) Those who were opposed to Jesus and the Will of God were becoming more numerous and vocal.
aca.) In the midst of all this Jesus held his ground, and continued to proclaim the Word and Will of God.
acb.) Even in the midst of this persecution, more and more people were wondering:
2) Could this be the prophesied Messiah?
A) John 10:24
aa.) The “Jews” demanded him to tell them plainly if he is the Christ.
aaa.) We must remember they were all Jews, but usually when the Gospels use that term it is referring not to all Jews, but usually to the Jewish leaders.
aab.) That being the case, it is quite likely that this was a question to stir up trouble for Jesus.
B) None the less: people were becoming aware of the prophecies of Scripture, and of the work which Jesus was carrying out.
ba.) Zechariah 2:10; Zechariah 3:8
bb.) These and many other prophecies also spoke of the coming of the Messiah.
bc.) The people were looking for a Messiah.
bca.) At each of the feasts there was more and more of a looking for the Messiah, and with many an openness to Jesus as the promised one.
II) JESUS GAVE THEM A CLEAR ANSWER.
1) Jesus answer was that he had often told them who he is.
A.) John 10:25a.
aa.) How many times had Jesus already revealed himself to the people?
aaa.) In John 4 the woman at the well said: “I know that Messiah (called Christ) coming. Jesus declared: “I who speak to you am He.” (John 4:25-26)
aab.) John 6:41,48,51) “I am the bread of life.
aac.) John 8:12 “I am the light of the world.”
aad.) John 10:7-9 “I am the door of the sheep.”
aae.) John 10:11,14 “ I am the good Shepherd.”
aaf.) These were direct statements in which Jesus identified himself as the Messiah, and on par with God the Father.
aag.) In addition to these “I Am” statements, many other times Jesus had also identified himself as the Messiah.
2) Not only had Jesus told them who he was, he had shown them by his miracles.
A.) John 10:25b.
3) His flock who know and follow him rejoice in his blessedness.
A) John 10:27-29
aa.) Jesus again goes back to the sheep and the shepherd which we looked at last week.
ab.) Even while many were rejecting Jesus, and the antagonism towards him becoming greater, there were still those who responded in faith to Jesus.
aba.) It was all a matter of who were the true sheep of the fold of God.
abb.) The sheep of the flock of God will hear and respond to Jesus the Shepherd.
.01) Those who were not willing to follow the Good Shepherd are not the true sheep.
.02) Even today the true sheep will hear and follow the voice of the Shepherd.
.021) There are those today some of whom are in the church and who claim to be Christians may not hear the voice of the shepherd.
.022) Even though such ones may call themselves Christians, if they do not hear and respond to the voice of the shepherd, they are not the sheep of God.
B) The true sheep are those who have come to know that He and his father are one.
ba.) John 10:30
bb.) It was not that Jesus had not revealed himself, but rather that the people would not accept him as the Christ.
bba.) 10: 31-33
III) THE PEOPLE SHOW PREJUDICE AND DISAPPOINTMENT.
1) They had been blinded by their false views of the Messiah, and prejudiced by the religious leaders.
A.) The people would not accept Jesus, partially because they were prejudiced against him by the religious leaders, and partially because like their religious leaders their concept of the Messiah was not in alignment with He who was prophesied in the Word of God.
B.) How do we see Jesus today?
ba.) Have we designed our own version of Jesus?
bb.) Are we willing to follow Jesus even if our view of him is not the messiah portrayed in the holy Scriptures?
bba.) The people of that day had a view of the Messiah that was different than He who is pictured in the Word of God.
2) As a result, they picked up stones to stone him.
A.) They had asked Jesus to clearly identify himself, but it was not from a desire to know him as Messiah and Lord.
aa.) When Jesus honestly answered their question, they only wanted to kill him.
IV) JESUS GAVE A CALM REFUTATION.
1) Jesus referred them to the Sacred Scriptures.
A.) Jesus is quoting from Psalm 82:6
B.) The passage Jesus referred to was speaking of judges, and other rulers or leaders of the people who were divinely appointed for that task.
ba.) It was not so much these men were to be seen as God or as one of many gods, but rather they served to represent the rule and plan of God on this earth.
bb.) Jesus goes on to show that as the Son of God He is more worthy of that title than mere men who were called by that term.
2) What about the one the Father has set apart as his very own, and sent into the world?
A) Why do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said I am God’s son?
aa.) John 10:36
aa.) “Do not believe me unless I do what my father does.”
aaa.) Jesus made it very clear that if his were empty words only they were not to accept that He is the Christ.
.01) If the words of Jesus were without proof they had every right to reject him as the Christ.
.02) But the opposite of that was also true.
ab.) “But if I do it, even though do not believe me, believe the miracles that you may know and understand the Father is in me, and I am in the Father.”(John 10:38)
aba.) Did the people come to accept the miracles of Jesus as proof of what He said?
abb.) We would like to think they did, but when we look at our text we see an entirely different result.
.01) John 10:39
3) At this point Jesus left that area and went over to Perea.
A.) For much of the final year of Jesus’ ministry he avoided Jerusalem and Judea, except for the mandatory feasts.
B.) In these final few months of ministry, Jesus would avoid not only Judea, but also Galilee.
ba.) It had come to the place that in Judea, and even in Galilee the negativity to Jesus and his ministry meant Jesus could not accomplish anything more in those areas.
bb.) Besides all of that his offering as a sacrifice had to be in the timing of God, not man.
B) Perea was where Jesus had started his ministry three years earlier.
ba.) John 10:41-42
bb.) “Here the people came out to him.”
bba.) While Judea and Galilee had many who wanted to put Jesus to death in Perea, many were still looking to him as their Messiah.
bc.) “And in that place many believed in Jesus.”
bca.) Just as had happened a few years before this with John the Baptist, the people were making trips out to Perea to listen to Jesus.
bcb.) The sheep will always hear the voice of the shepherd.
.01) Here in the wilderness areas of Perea, the true followers of Jesus were coming to Him.
CONCLUSION:
1.) Like those of old we too must make a decision on Jesus.
A.) Each day we have to decide what we will do with Jesus.
B.) These people of the first century rejected Jesus because he did not meet the picture they had formed in their minds of who he should be.
C.) Are we willing to follow Jesus if he doesn’t fit in the box we have placed him in?
D.) Will we still follow Jesus even if he wants to elevate us to a higher level of Godliness than where we are comfortable to be?
