John 10:22-29 Firmly In The Grip Of The Saviour

16.08.09 John 10:22-29 (NASB)

Audio Sermon File: John 10:22-29

Going Deeper: Study Guide

Firmly In The Grip Of The Saviour

This is a letter that a Christian wrote to his pastor that I read from a book:

I’ve been attending [this church] for several years. As a result of a growing conviction in my heart, your preaching, and my seeming powerlessness against the temptations which arise in my heart and which I constantly succumb to, my growing doubts have led me to believe that I'm not saved.

How sad it is, [Pastor], for me not to be able to enter in because of the sin which clings to me and from which I long to be free. How bizarre for one who has had advanced biblical training and who teaches in Sunday School with heartfelt conviction! So many times I have determined in my heart to repent, to shake loose my desire to sin, to forsake all for Jesus, only to find myself doing the sin I don't want to do and not doing the good I want to do.

After my fiancee and I broke up, I memorized Ephesians as part of an all-out effort against sin, only to find myself weaker and more painfully aware of my sinfulness, more prone to sin than ever before, and grabbing cheap thrills to push back the pain of lost love. This occurs mostly in the heart, …. but that's where it counts and that's where we live. I sin because I'm a sinner. I'm like a soldier without armor running across a battlefield getting shot up by fiery darts from the enemy.

I couldn't leave the church if I wanted to. I love the people, and I'm enthralled by the Gospel of the beautiful Messiah. But I'm a pile of manure on the white marble floor of Christ, a mongrel dog that sneaked in the back door of the King’s banquet to lick the crumbs off the floor, and by being close to Christians who are rich in the blessings of Christ, I get some of the overflow and ask you to pray for me as you think best. (from the intro to Saved Without A Doubt - J. MacArthur)

What a gripping letter of the reality that exists in Christians - isn’t it? And perhaps it is a reflection of the way that some of you may be feeling at this moment, or this week, or recently. Have you often wondered, even if you have been a Christian for a long time, why your emotions on the issue of your salvation is like a ship in a storm - tossed here and there? Have you often wrestled with how it is possible that you could be so unsettled in your faith, when you sincerely were drawn to Christ and then came to Him in genuine repentance, but now you are lacking a firm assurance of that faith?

Well it is utterly important to understand that the way that we live our life as a Christian - is tied in directly to the reality of our salvation. If we are wavering in the assurance of our eternal security we will be constantly living in doubt and fear. Our lives will not be as productive as the Lord would desire and we would always be battling the "spiritual blues." So today we are going to examine and focus on that very issue - eternal security. And I want you to see and understand, and apply the truth of this passage to your life. I want you to know that we as genuine Christians are - Firmly In The Grip Of The Saviour. Please open up your Bibles to today’s passage from John 10:22-29.

22 At that time the Feast of the Dedication took place at Jerusalem; 23 it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the portico of Solomon. 24 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." 25 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. 26 "But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. 27 "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29 "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.

Jesus’ public ministry, in the Gospel of John, begins to close from here to the end of chapter 10. In addition our passage begins, what turns out to be, Jesus’ last offer of salvation to the hard hearted Jewish religious authorities.

v.22 - Our passage opens at the time of the Feast of the Dedication at Jerusalem. This would mark this section in terms of time frame, to take place possibly about three months later - which would be about 3.5 months before Jesus’ crucifixion. This feast was a remembrance of the rededication of the temple. Israel for many years had been under the Syrian persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes. Antiochus had pillaged and desecrated the Jewish Temple, in around 170 BC, by setting up pagan altars and sacrificing pigs on it. There was a total sense of violation - it would be like this church being broken into - and completely vandalized - and an occult set up their practices here. Therefore the Jewish people began a revolt, led by a man named, Judas Maccabaeus. It was in about November/December in our calendar, of the year 164 BC that the temple was set free, therefore restoring the worship of God once again. In remembrance, the Feast of the Dedication or what many you may identify with is Hanukkah was established. It is quite possible that the Apostle John mentions the Feast, hinting that Jesus fulfills the hopes of deliverance for the Jews.

It was winter, which would have been the wet and windy season.
v.23 - This may explain why Jesus was walking on the east side of the temple, in an area known as the portico of Solomon. This area was covered and afforded protection from the weather.

v.24 - While Jesus was walking through this area, the Jews gathered around Him - that is they literally encircled Jesus or surrounded Him. These Jews were out to get something out of Jesus and they didn’t want Him to leave without giving an answer. They were held in suspense since the last time they were with Jesus, back in the first half of chapter 10. Jesus had on several occasions made reference to His identity, yet they could not understand it properly, largely due to their own spiritual blindness and rejection of Christ. What the Jews were after was an answer to their question - If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.

They were wrestling with a seemingly unending dilemma in their minds. Most of them were engaged in rejecting the messianic claims of Jesus, but… what if? What if…. Jesus was really the Messiah that was long ago promised to Israel? So it appears that some of them - you could say that they were losing sleep over this issue - therefore they want a clear and definite answer from Jesus - whether He is the Christ OR He is not the Christ - Yes OR No. (And I am going to develop this aspect of this passage more next time).

Yet the dark underlying reason why the Jewish authorities wanted to plainly know, which was the predominate reason, was that they wanted Jesus to outright publicly declare that He is God. This would in their twisted thinking substantiate a charge of blasphemy, justifying their murderous hatred towards Him, and therefore be able to kill Jesus.

The answer to this question is the whole focus of the Gospel of John - to present aspects of Jesus’ life, so that we may believe that He is the Son of God (cf. 20:31).

v.25 - Well let us see what Jesus says. Jesus replies - I told you - who He was, but the Jews do not believe. We know that Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well when she asked about the Messiah - there Jesus said I who speak to you am He. Jesus also revealed Himself to the man born blind in chapter 9 - there Jesus asked if the man believed in the Son of Man - and Jesus responded by saying - You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you (9:37). But to the Jews, Jesus never made any clear and unmistakable statements like these - but He did speak with strong implied statements, like back in 8:58 - where Jesus said - before Abraham was born, I am! - so He told them already. In addition Jesus had already given them the answer through the works He did in the Father’s name. It is these works of Jesus that demonstrated Jesus as being the Messiah. Yet because of their faithlessness - they reject Jesus’ words and works - and therefore they did not allow the miracles to testify of Jesus.

v.26 - So the conclusion that Jesus clearly emphasizes is that these Jews are not Jesus’ sheep due to their failure to believe. In fact in chapter 8:44 Jesus clearly stated this to them - You belong to your father, the devil. Now Jesus goes on to elaborate that these hardened Jews were not of His flock. They believed that they were secure in their God, but in reality Jesus is saying - no you are not. Jesus does this by speaking about His real sheep. This is what we are going to focus upon today - that we as Jesus’ flock are Firmly In The Grip Of The Saviour.

Do you remember the Peanuts cartoon character Linus, who had to take his blanket everywhere he goes. Today I am going to offer you a security blanket, which is a better understanding of the nature of our salvation in Jesus Christ. That our eternal security - or can I say - ‘eternal security blanket’ is found in our almighty God. Our text states:

27 "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29 "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. We will examine verses 27-29 by looking at these realities:

We Are Secure Because We Are Christ’s Sheep (v.27)
We Are Secure Because The Lord Has Decreed It (v.28)
We Are Secure Because We Have A Powerful God (v.29)

1. We Are Secure Because We Are Christ’s Sheep (v.27)

v.27 - Jesus continues and says - My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. In the context of chapter 10 - this was the point made to them back in the first part of chapter 10 also - that Jesus’ sheep know His voice and they love and obey the Shepherd. To make the point stronger Jesus says - I know them - emphasizing the fact that Jesus as the Shepherd and owner - He can identify the sheep in His flock. There is an intimate relationship so Jesus’ sheep will follow Him. It is interesting to note that the Greek tense of the word follow, indicates a continuous habitual pattern of following - the implications are that the true sheep will never depart from Jesus (this is developed in the next verse).

Do you find yourself often with DOUBT? Foremost make sure that you are saved. The Apostle Paul was concerned about this reality in the Corinthian church - 2 Cor. 13:5 - Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith ; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you--unless, of course, you fail the test?

A summary test is to see if there is to examine yourself to see if there is an accompanying holiness to your confession. Ask yourself this question - Is there a continuing and present work of the Holy Spirit in your life? If there is not you have reason to question your assurance. A good place to put yourself under examination is in 1 John. If you pass all the tests that the Apostle John presents then you have good reason to rejoice in your eternal security. After testing yourself against Scripture to see if you are a true sheep, it should go without saying that we should realize that our faith is not dependent upon good works. I bring this up often because when we were saved were came out of a works based society. Even institutions like the Roman Catholic Church place their assurance in faith plus works and NOT in faith alone and in Christ alone. So we need to be on guard for this enemy.

Yes it is true that we are to do good works - that is our purpose in Christ, but our relationship to Christ is what undergirds our works. Works and good deeds are done in response to our salvation. We are saved unto good works and NOT that good works save us. If you are counting on your good deeds to keep you in God’s flock you better think again - that is what the Pharisees were doing. Many Christians can think this way too. Imagine if this is what our salvation depended upon. This would mean that your salvation is only as secure as your lack of faith - and that would be quite insecure, wouldn’t it? You would have little sense of security because if you are not faithful then you would feel that Jesus is going to take back eternal life from you. So what this kind of thinking does is it drives you into a vicious cycle of despair - you serve God with a wrong attitude - you falsely believe that if Jesus is going to take back eternal life, then you want to break free from this pattern, you all the more through human effort do only what Christ’s power can accomplish - that is to set you free from works based righteousness. You would have a miserable and unfulfilled life, because you can never merit eternal life on your own.

We should also note that the other extreme may be true too. That we know that we are secure in Christ, so we don’t bother to grow, we don’t bother to get to know Christ better, we don’t bother to serve Christ and His church, and we maybe even will intentionally sin counting upon our grace (cf. Rom. 6:1). Both these extremes are unBiblical.

Do you find yourself often with DOUBT? Make sure that you hear the Shepherd’s voice. That is submit yourself to Biblical and God centered teaching and serious study. Teaching that is geared towards man will tickle your ears. It will cause you to leave the worship only feeling good - and you might be thinking well that is what I want - what is wrong with that? I need to feel good.
Yes we want to be assured and rejoice, but the issue is not how do we feel about our self, but the issue is how does The Shepherd see us. God centered teaching will provide a balance that we can grow under, so in many cases it may be hard to swallow, because Spirit driven teaching will not flatter our soul, nor soothe our conscience, but it will convict with power from on high. Therefore we are assured in the areas we are pleasing God, and we will be unsettled, in the areas we need to conform to Christ.

Listen to what it says in Eph. 1:18-20 - I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might 20 which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places (NASB).

This passage clearly tells us that our security is not at all dependent upon how we feel, or what we do - but instead it is solely based on (v. 19 beginning) - the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. So our security comes from the objective truth of God’s Word and not of our own feelings. Our hope is not founded upon our faithfulness, but it is founded upon God’s faithfulness - (v. 19 end - 20) - it is the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ. If you feel a little shaky in your faith, then go to God’s Word and read it, believe it, follow it, and you will be assured.

2. We Are Secure Because The Lord Has Decreed It (v.28)

v.28 - Jesus gives His sheep the free gift of eternal life with Him. This begins here on earth as the Father draws a person to Him; then grants faith to that person to believe in, and understand who He is and who Christ is; we hear the gospel; the belief blossoms into recognition that we are sinners; we come to a point were we understand God’s wrath for sin; we understand that God sent Christ to die for our sins so that we could be forgiven; we count the cost of following Christ as God continues to draw us; we sincerely confess and repent of our sin to the Lord; and we are forgiven of all our sin and through Jesus we are granted eternal life - we are a part of God’s family so we have the Holy Spirit living in us to make all those changes which will bring glory to God.

Jesus provides eternal life and it continues on into an unending future. Eternal life speaks of infinite time but we should also remember that it speaks about the quality of that time. It is a quality that we right now can only partly comprehend as revealed through the Bible and then experience through daily living. Though our grasp of what eternal life is limited right now - we know that it will be an absolute blessing - since we will be in the presence of, and in unending fellowship with the Lord in the future.

Christians will never perish. The Greek words translated as never, is a double negative - two "no’s" side by side, which is the strongest and most definitive way to express impossibility. No one will snatch them out of My hand. - that means if a wolf comes, a thief, robber, or even a hired hand - not even Satan - if any desires to take us out of the fold, it will be impossible, because we are guarded by Jesus. So we can be encouraged and comforted that when Jesus calls us to be His sheep, it is immutable (that declaration is unchangeable). He has us in His grip - we are eternally secure. We are eternally His and it is not dependent upon us.

Those who have made that profession for Christ and may have even lived like a Christian, yet later fall away - and some of you may have seen this - and they deny Christ and never want anything to do with Him anymore - based on a passage as this, we must seriously consider that their profession was never genuine in the first place - you could say that they were playing Christian, but were never part of the true flock. If Christ saves it is permanent. Salvation - eternal security is guaranteed through Christ’s personal pledge - His decree. Jesus will protect His sheep.

Do you find yourself often with DOUBT? This despite the Lord’s decree, could arise out of an uncertainty to the time of our salvation. Too much emphasis in our day and age by the notion that we have to know the exact time we were saved. Modern evangelist make the act of raising a hand, signing a commitment card, coming forward to the altar, reciting a prayer - the end all, of salvation. Now if that were the acid test, then if you didn’t remember your natural birth date - would that mean that you would wonder if your alive - of course not.

In verse 28, salvation is in the power of Christ who grants eternal life - and Jesus gives that, often in a way were we can’t always pinpoint. This may be particularly true for you, especially if you grew up in the church - we can’t be certain if it was the prayer as a child, or was it the time that I felt really convicted of sin because I did something really bad, or was it through the teaching, or was it ____??

We don’t need to have a specific moment to make our salvation real, but for some of us it may be the case. Our assurance of salvation should come not from the past, but more importantly from the present. Look at the pattern of your life - do you live a holy and righteous life? Do you adorn the attitudes of Christ-likeness? Do posses true Christian character?

Eph. 1:13-14 - is a classic statement assuring us that our faith is secure if we are in Christ - And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession--to the praise of his glory. The indwelling Holy Spirit is the seal that Christians have which guarantees us our heavenly inheritance. Do you experience the life changing work of the Holy Spirit in your life? Is the fruit of the Spirit evident in your life?

3. We Are Secure Because We Have A Powerful God (v.29)

v.29 - The Father protects the destiny of the sheep through His vast and infinite resources. The sheep are granted eternal life, it is not something which the sheep gained for themselves, it was given as a free gift - unmerited and undeserved. So as it is that the Father entrusts or has given the sheep to the Great Shepherd, Jesus Christ. We as sheep are weak, our faith is often weak, and we are ever inclined to waver in our faith, but God has us in His invincible grip - no one can snatch us out of the Father’s hand.

Think about this….if it were remotely possible to remove one’s salvation - to lose eternal life, then what needs to be done first? It would necessitate that whether it is Satan or anyone one else - that God Himself must be overpowered first in order for that to take place. So can God be overcome? Can anyone steal something from God? Is anyone more powerful than our great God and Saviour? NO.

Do you find yourself often with DOUBT? Then you should make sure that you understand God’s grace and mercy. One reason we doubt our salvation is that we don’t really understand the concept of forgiveness. We may have sinned and we don’t think God is powerful enough to forgive us - so we end up on this emotional roller coaster. We all have a conscience and God has given us that to convict us of sin and to bring guilt to bear upon our life - so that we can change. But we need to realize that our conscience does not know anything about grace and mercy.
So if we don’t balance what our conscience is telling us with the understanding of forgiveness - that God has forgiven us completely in Christ - that we have and will continue to receive His grace and mercy as His sheep, then we will be un-necessarily burdened by guilt, which leads to a lack of assurance.

This is very important to comprehend because many Christians live in the fear of temptation. They live their lives fearing the fear of sin. Or we fear the reality that we will sin, until we are glorified in Christ. If sin overcomes you, it is at that point which you will most likely feel the lack of assurance. Fear amputates the growth and maturity that God want for us. We will end up re-hashing over and over again the questions of - Was I sorry enough for my sin? Did I repent enough? What’s wrong with my faith - is it enough?

So in order to counter this kind of fear, it will help us if we understand that we have a powerful God. Jesus is all sufficient for us in all things, He is all powerful…. then we can live in the light of His power and grace and we will not be overwhelmed, but rather our minds will be renewed, and our lives transformed.

We can live in full assurance of our eternal destination, as Paul wrote to the Romans about this issue - Romans 5:1-11 - Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. 6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! 10 For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

The truth that we are held firmly in God’s powerful grip is marked out by six aspects of our binding relationship in Christ, as extracted from the passage I just read. These are:

The peace we have with God in Christ (v.1)
The grace we now stand in the light of Christ (v.2)
The hope of glory of God (v. 2-5)
The outpouring and receipt of God’s love through Jesus (v.5-8)
The certain deliverance from God’s wrath against sin (v.9-10)
The joy we have in God through Christ (v.11)

There are many more passages that speak to the issue of our eternal security, and I have barely scratched the surface. But in today’s passage we have the strongest passage on this reality. So we can leave any doubt behind since:

We Are Secure Because We Are Christ’s Sheep (v.27)
We Are Secure Because The Lord Has Decreed It (v.28)
We Are Secure Because We Have A Powerful God (v.29)

When we understand objectively that we are secure in Christ we will be able to live out a fruitful and productive life for the Lord. We will not need to suffer the unnecessary misery of not knowing, and we will live in the newness of life which Christ has granted to His sheep.

The impact of assurance is far reaching as it will give you a right response in worship, grant joy in your life, stir you to faithful service, create a deep passion in prayer, guard you against false teachers, increase your love for Christ, spur you on to true fellowship, help you endure and persevere, and you will look forward to the day that you see Christ and to receive from Him an unfading crown of glory (1 Pet. 5:4).