Jesus Withstands the Opposition

John 10:22-42

 

INTRO: During the Feast of Dedication, also known as the Festival of Lights and Hanukkah, Jesus walks in Solomon’s porch.  As Jesus walks about the porch, the Jews circle Jesus and demand that He openly proclaim His Messiahship.  The Lord Jesus tells them that granting their request would be useless because of their unbelief.  Then in verses 27-29, Jesus gives assurance to His sheep that they are eternally secure never to be lost.  Secure now and forever (Rm 8:1).

 

I.        VSS 22-30, THE PROMISE OF ETERNAL LIFE

A.       Vs 22, The feast of dedication was in the latter part of December.  It commemorates the purification and rededication of the temple by Judas Maccabeus in 165 BC.  This was three years after it had been defiled by Antiochus Epiphanies, 167-164 BC.

1. It was a joyous eight day feast marked by the illumination of their dwellings.  Eight lights were set in the window.

2. The lights reminded the Jews that the light of freedom had come back to Israel.  It was in this season that Jesus said: “I am the light of the world....” (Jn 8:12).

B.       Vs 23, The rainy season had arrived. 

1. Here we find Jesus walking in the covered colonnade almost forty feet high along the eastern wall of the temple.  It was the only remnant at that time of the original temp; thus the name Solomon’s Porch.

2. It, the porch, was destroyed with the rest of the temple in 70 AD by Titus.

C.      Vs 24, The Jews surround Jesus and ask Him, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense.  If you are Christ, tell us plainly.  Do not keep us hanging.”

D.      Vs 25, He had told them He was the Messiah, but they did not believe Him.

1. Jesus had proved His Messiahship by healing the impotent man at the pool of Bethesda (Jn 5:1-3, 8, 14).

2. He told them that He is the Good Shepherd, pointing to the fact that He is the Shepherd King as David was (Jn 10:11).

3. Jesus had healed the blind man.  This was also proof of His Messiahship (9:32).  (Note Isaiah 35:5-6).

E.       Vs 26, The sheep of the Good Shepherd are those given to Him by the Father (10:29; 6:37, 39, 44).

1. The sheep listen to the Shepherd’s voice (10:3-4).

2. The Pharisees did not believe because they were not sheep.

F.       Vs 27, Those who belong to the Lord recognize his voice and respond to His Word.  His Word is inerrant, infallible, inspired, and preserved.

1. This is outward proof of inward faith.

2. The Lord also hears His sheep.  The recognition is mutual (10:3-4).

G.      Vs 28, This is in the present continual tense.  This means we have life that knows no end. 

1. We are saved now and forever.  We do not have to wait to get to heaven to see if we are saved.

2. We are in the ark of safety as Noah was.

a. The storms rage, but we are safe.

b. Our life is hid in Christ (Col 3:3 “...your life is hid with Christ in God”).

H.      Vs 29, We are eternally secure.  “Nothing could snatch them from his hand.  This would not mean that they would be saved from sorrow, from suffering and from death; but that in the sorest moment and the darkest hour they would still be conscious of the everlasting arms underneath and about them.  Even in a world crashing to disaster, they would know the security of God” (Barclay 85).

1. When we are saved, we become God’s (Jn 1:12).

2. I John 5:11-12 says that God has given all believers eternal life.

3. I John 5:13; 4:4

4. Christ will never leave the believers (Heb 13:5).

5. “Pluck” – Greek harpazo – “to seize, carry off by force.”

I.        Vs 30, One in mind, thought, heart, will, purpose, and action– We are secure (Jn 6:39-40).

1. The Greek word for “one” is neuter meaning that they are one in essence.

2. Read carefully again vss 28-29 and see that the power of God is the power of Christ; they are one in essence.

 

II.       VSS 31-39, JESUS ANSWERS THE CHARGE OF BLASPHEMY

A.       Vs 31, Once again, the Jews take up stones (8:58-59).

1. The Greek word for “took up” describes something carried as a heavy weight rather than something picked up nearby.

a. The Jews hauled their ammo from the work site of the Temple.  These are not little stones; these are big rocks.

b. They intended to kill Him for blasphemy.

2. The restraining hand of God held them back.

B.       Vs 32, Jesus wanted to know for which of the good works He had performed were they stoning Him.

1. “Do you stone me for healing the man at the pool of Bethesada who was sick for 38 years?”

2. Do you stone me because I raised the dead, cast out demons, and cleansed lepers?

3. Do you stone me for feeding the hungry and causing the lame to walk and the deaf to hear?

C.      Vs 33, The Jews were not interested in hearing about these miracles.  They didn’t want proof of His power.  They were angry because He said He and the Father were one in power (vs 30).

D.      Vs 34-35, Jesus refers the Jews to Psalm 82:6.  The reference to gods applies to the civil administrators, earthly judges, to whom the Word of God was entrusted by virtue of their high office.

1. In Ex 7:1, “elohim” is used referring to Moses as he stood in the place of God when dealing with Pharaoh.  “See I have made thee a god to pharaoh.”

2. The dignity of the office of judge in Israel was so clothed with dignity in Israel that those who held that office were called “elohim” because they represented God in that capacity.

E.       Vs 36, If it is not blasphemy to give the title “elohim” to those who, good or bad, represented God Himself by virtue of their holy office, how was it blasphemy for Him, Jesus the Son of God, born of a virgin, sent into the world by God the Father to say: “I am the Son of “?  (I John 4:9).

1. Between those Old Testament judges, unworthy of the title “elohim” and Himself, there was a great distance.

2. It is not blasphemy for Jesus to tell them the truth about Himself.  He is consecrated by God for a special task.

F.       Vs 37, If the things I do are not of the Father, don’t believe me.

G.      Vs 38, John Phillips says of this verse, “If only they would believe his words, it would not be long before they would believe Him.  Yes, and come to see the unique relationship that existed between him and his Father” (205).

H.      Vs 39, Jesus had answered their opposition.  He had withstood their charges with truth.  They asked for it and got it.

1. They had earlier taken up stones, but they could not throw them.

2. They now seek to arrest Him and arraign Him before the Sanhedrin with the charge of blasphemy.

3. They could not touch Him; they could not carry out their evil deeds because His hour was not yet come.

 

III.      VSS 40-42, SOULS SAVED BEYOND JORDAN

A.       Vs 40, Jesus left Jerusalem and went beyond the river Jordan.  He would not return to the area until April when He visits Bethany (11:1).  The next time He enters Jerusalem, the Jews would kill Him.  On the other side of Jordan, there was peace before the storm.

B.       Vs 41, The memory of John the Baptist and his preaching was still alive beyond Jordan.

1. “John did not miracle.”

a. God does not place a premium on miracles.

b. The effective thing about John was his preaching of the Word.

2. It is not belief in miracles that saves folks; it is belief, it is faith in God.  “Faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the Word of God.”

C.      Vs 42, The word “there” is emphatic; it contrasts the belief of these folks with the unbelief of those Jesus had just dealt with in Jerusalem.

1. It is a contrast between disbelief of miracles and belief in the spoken Word of God.

2. “True faith takes God at His Word.  It does not need miracles to bolster it” (Phillips 207).

3. Just as John did no miracles among those beyond Jordan, our Lord did no miracles there.  “It is the Word which is the means God uses in bringing sinners to believe on the Saviour” (Pink 150).