Our Father, we realize that all good gifts come from you, and we thank you for the gift of this new day. This Lord's Day, this reminder of the resurrection of our Lord who is the resurrection in the life. We thank you that Lord Jesus, you are the life giver and you are the one who not only regenerates us, but you open our eyes, you are the light of this world, so that we might not have to walk in darkness, but have the light of life. We pray that your power, by your Spirit, would be with us this morning, to open our eyes, keep us from our natural blindness, to help us to understand, to grant us grace that we might grow in our love for you, and for one another. We thank you for the forgiveness of our sins in Christ's name. Amen.
All right, starting chapter 10 this week.
So I have a volunteer to read the first six verses of chapter 10 for us. By the way, is there anyone here that's new? I
think I see a couple of that's not exactly new. Am I right that you're Carolyn James's parents? Well, welcome. I take it. You're doing a little baby sitting this week.
Any word from from Frank and Carolyn?
And if I had a good time, I'm frank because this has been over in Budapest teaching this last week. And coming home tomorrow.
Do him good. It'll do him good. You know, with many of us have been praying for something like that to happen. So this is great. No, but they were safe. Nothing else lost or were they? Good. Good. Glad to hear it. Well, do I have that volunteer to read the first six verses of chapter 10? Okay, Jim. The climbs up some other way the same as a thief and a lover. The hero ended by the door is the shepherd of the sheep to him. The door keeper.
Followed his own sheep by name and leave them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, it goes before them.
Yet they will by no means follow the stranger. But will wait them. They do not know the voice of strangers. Jesus used this.
Thank you. Now, Jesus used this illustration. Some versions might have something else. It's just one of the words for parable. The one that used this parable and they did not understand him.
Jesus in the next few verses will compare himself to two different things. He'll use two metaphors for himself. Do you remember what those are? The next, all right, the shepherd and the gate or the door of the sheep, those two. I hadn't really noticed this before last night. But really what I think Jesus is doing in the next few verses is interpreting this parable. He's just given a parable and then he goes on as he often does. We see him doing this in the other gospels in particular to interpret that parable. And this one is a little bit different than some in that Jesus himself in the parable is not one but two things, right? Two figures out of this parable and you just said what they were. He first goes on in verse seven to say that it says truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. So in the parable he's just told it's like he's the door, he's the gate. And then he goes on starting in verse 11 to say I am the good shepherd. That's probably the one we're a little more familiar with from this passage. We think of chapter 10 perhaps as the good shepherd passage and rightly so. But remember that in the parable Jesus has really identified himself with two of the figures in this parable. Now, just very briefly we're going to look at some more of this in detail. But what is it about the door or the gate that Jesus identifies himself with? In other words, what in that figure, that illustration, what about the gate? Teaches us something about Jesus. He's the only means the only proper means good to enter. Have others tried to get in? Some have tried to climb over the walls, right? Right. And what are those people called? Thieves and robbers. They've tried to enter God's sheepfold but they've tried to enter it in the wrong way. They have not entered through Jesus as he is saying here as he's claiming. They've not entered not tried to enter through Jesus. God's flock has had many shepherds under shepherds but not all have gone in the right way. They have not all treated the sheep in a way they ought to be treated. In fact, many of them Jesus says are thieves and robbers. Okay, great. And the other one, the other figure, of course, is the figure of the good shepherd just very briefly. What is Jesus teaching about himself by using this figure of the good shepherd? Right. That's one of the key things. He sacrifices himself as if you read through the rest of the passage, verse 15, I lay down my life for the sheep. Okay. That's, of course, one of the more most important things. Anything else you get from the shepherd image, the sheep know him, right? They know his voice. They hear his voice. Anything else? Yes. That's okay. We want to bear with you. Oh, excellent. If you look at my notes, that's right. Ezekiel 34, can you summarize or expand? Right. Very good. I want to look at that passage actually in a moment. That's a good comment. Let's, there are a number of things that I want to notice, spend a little bit of time on out of this passage. And I'm thinking of verses 1, especially 1 through 21, although the next episode, starting in chapter 22, there's actually, or verse 22, there's actually a break in time with verse 22. Now we're at the feast of dedication. But in a sense, the conversation continues. Some months later, we have Jesus back in Jerusalem, and we have, like, a continuation of the theme that he started on here. And I'm taking this, the first part as, as I think, continuation of chapter 7, 8, 9 where Jesus is at the feast of tabernacles. It doesn't seem to be a real break in that section, so I'm thinking it's still at that time. The first thing I think to notice is that this is a continuation from the last episode. If you look at the end of chapter 9, there's no break between that and chapter 10. No break in the narrative. Evidently, then, Jesus is continuing what he's just been saying, and you recall, it was the episode with the blind man, the healing of the blind man, and the Pharisees' rejection of, first, the blind man, and then Jesus, and Jesus pointing out that he is the light of the world. He came to, so that the blind might see, so that those who have sight might become blind. And the Pharisees realized what he's saying. So are we blind too? Jesus says, if you were blind, you might have an excuse. But now that you say we see your guilt remains, then we go right on into chapter 10. Truly, truly, I say to you, so he goes right into this parable about the gate and the shepherd and the sheep and the gate keeper, of course, don't forget. Well, what's the significance of that? I think that one thing we might often miss, if we don't keep that in mind, is that I think Jesus has certain people in mind when he says that all others have been thieves and robbers. In other words, I think it's a pointed reference. He says, he who does not enter is a sheepfold by the door, but climbs in by another way. That man is a thief and a robber. He's not a shepherd. He's not a faithful shepherd. I think this was pointed at his accusers at his opponents. There is, as Mark already pointed out, definite Old Testament precedent for this kind of thing. Not only do we have, of course, the image of God as shepherd and his people as sheep, but we have the image of God's, excuse me, the leaders of God's people as shepherds. In Ezekiel 34, as Mark pointed out, there is an indictment. It's one of the places where the shepherds, the false shepherds, are indicted and accused. Let me just read a little portion of Ezekiel 34. The word of the Lord came to me, son of man prophesied against the shepherds of Israel. Prophecy and say to them, even to the shepherds, thus says the Lord God, hoe shepherds of Israel, who have been feeding yourselves. Should not shepherds feed the sheep, you eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the sheep. It kind of sounds like a thief and a robber to me, someone who takes what belongs to the sheep and uses it himself. The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the crippled you have not bound out, the straight you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them, so they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered. They wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them. Therefore your shepherds hear the word of the Lord. As I live, says the Lord God, because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts. Since there was no shepherd, and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves and have not fed my sheep. Therefore you shepherds hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God, behold I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hand, and put a stop to their feeding the sheep. No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths that they may not be food for them. For us, says the Lord God, behold I myself. We'll search for my sheep, and we'll seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock, and so it goes. I keep in mind, Jesus is talking to not just the average Jewish man or woman on the street, but he's talking to leaders who I'm betting would know this passage, and would know the illusion, particularly as Jesus goes on and extends his explanation of the parable. Because then there become more illusions to Ezekiel 34 portions that we haven't read. That I think is one thing to notice. This is really an indictment of the false shepherds of God's sheep. Another thing that we shouldn't miss is the figure of the shepherd himself. This, of course, is a familiar one from the Old Testament. Quick apart from Ezekiel 34, what passages come to mind where this figure is prominent? Psalm 23 has to be the most well-known, certainly in our day. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. Okay, God's people are his sheep. He is the shepherd, and what a tender and comforting image it has always been for God's people. That we sheep like to stray, but there is a good shepherd that brings us back. Your mind, if you think about it for a while, probably starts to flood with these images. Jesus presents himself elsewhere as the one who goes after the one. The 99 are in safe in the fold. The one wanders off, and he goes off to find the one that has strayed. Jesus is the one who leads us to the living waters of rest. So this was a familiar image, certainly to everyone in Israel, but what's startling about it here? A familiar, very familiar image, but I can guarantee they were not just whole humming because it was so familiar. What is there about Jesus' use of this image? That is so startling. Mr. Henderson? Yes, exactly. The chief metaphor, of course, is God is the shepherd, Yahweh is the shepherd, and his people are the sheep, his flock. Now, of course there is a bit of a modification on that. Who else could be a shepherd of God's people? Under God, kings, rulers of all kinds, particularly kings. You remember the epitome of this image as a king, a king as a shepherd is who in the Old Testament. David. Remember, he's the one God says, I took him from tending the flocks to shepherd my people Israel. David, the king, the king is like a shepherd. As we know, in many ways, the king stood for God in Israel. The king was supposed to rule as God ruled, who was supposed to be a reflection. His throne was supposed to be a reflection of the throne of God. So the king can be called a shepherd. Really, by extension, all the rulers of Israel could be called shepherds, and that's why in Ezekiel they come in for accusation and indictment because they have ruled unfaithfully. Well, in any case, Jesus then is either identifying himself with the Lord or with the rightful king or ruler of Israel and maybe both. Very well, I think, very probable that he's identifying himself. He's making a connection between himself and the rightful ruler, the Davidic king and with the Lord himself. The connection with David, the Davidic king comes a little bit later in the passage. Verse 16, I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock, one shepherd, one flock, one shepherd. The idea of two flocks or multiple flocks being brought together to be one flock, having one shepherd. This too goes back to Ezekiel 34. The context there is the separation of the two kingdoms of Israel. Remember, northern kingdom, southern kingdom, Israel and Judah. Israel had already gone off to captivity and Judah was in the process. And the prophecy there is that one day God will bring back the tribes of Israel and there shall no longer be, northern kingdom, southern kingdom, no longer be these two houses but one house of Israel and they'll have one shepherd. Just a couple verses out of Ezekiel 34 verse 23 says, and I will set over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them. He shall feed them and be their shepherd. Chapter 37 of Ezekiel comes back to the same theme. Chapter 37, 21 and 22. Then say to them, thus says the Lord God, behold I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone. We'll gather them from all sides and bring them to their own land and I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel and one king shall be king over them and they shall be no longer two nations and no longer divided into two kingdoms. Verse 24, my servant David shall be king over them and they shall all have one shepherd.
Again, so you see how the allusion in chapter 10 of John, verse 16 and 17, brings to mind that concept of the restoration of Israel, northern kingdom, southern kingdom, under one shepherd and that shepherd being a Davidic king, a Davidic figure. Wow, I saw your hand up. When he says Ezekiel in verse 24, my servant David will be prince among them and also the pastor if you just read it, we are reading the same thing. Do you think that he means Jesus when he says David? I think he does. Yeah, I think that's the ultimate meaning of the passage. Yeah, the son of David, a greater than David. David to the ex power sort of a thing. We've already seen, we haven't seen much in John yet about David up until this point, but we have seen allusion many allusions to Moses, haven't we? We've had in the multiplying of the loaves which was reminiscent of the mana coming down from heaven. Jesus actually uses that to teach about himself being the true man of the two bread from heaven, which was reminiscent of Moses. We've seen Jesus presented as the prophet, like unto Moses, promised in Deuteronomy 18. The picture is very clear that Jesus is a new Moses and a greater than Moses. Here, I think it's that Jesus is David, a new David, a greater than David. This could take us pretty far into hermeneutics and so forth, but just to remind you in the rest of Ezekiel, like last week we looked at chapter 47. The whole 43-47 is the picture of the new temple. I think you have a similar thing there. Is it a real, is it the temple in Jerusalem, is it an ideal temple, a figure of a temple? Here, I think it's the figure of David, but it's the one who fulfills all the Davidic promises, all God's promises to David, to make an everlasting covenant with David and so forth. Well, Jesus then I think is making connections here with both the Lord himself, who is the one in these prophetic passages who actually does the gathering. If you read them, it's the Lord who says, I will seek out the sheep, I will gather them, I will bring them together, and I will put one shepherd over them. Here, Jesus has, in a sense, both those roles. He says that I will gather. I have other sheep of that not of this fold, and I must bring them, and they will have one shepherd over them. Another thing to notice then has already been mentioned. That is that Jesus says there are other sheep that are not of this fold. Who do you think he might be referring to?
The Gentiles. Yes, I'm sure that's right. The Gentiles. We will see, when we get to chapter 12 this week or next week, that the same thing comes out there. There we have a record of the Gentiles actually starting to come to Jesus, and there is a illusion later in that chapter to, let me be able to just refer to that for a moment. What has to do with when John is explaining Caiaphas' prophecy?
Yeah, that's not the verse I was thinking of. Let's see, where is Caiaphas' prophecy?
What's that? 11. Thank you. Yes. He did not have to say this. There was no record, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation and not for the nation only, but to gather it into one. The children of God who are scattered abroad. There, John makes it plain. Not the nation only, not the nation of Israel only, but to gather together the children of God who were scattered abroad. Going back to that sheep image. The sheep being scattered, and Jesus is the one that brings them together. Okay, and we'll have more to say about that later. Another thing to notice about this sheep image, sheep and shepherd imaging. Again, this is just, it's very full, very pregnant with me. This too has already been mentioned briefly that his sheep know his voice, and they follow him, and that's in verses three through five and verse eight, and then later on in verse 27. Now, if you will pardon the jargon, here I would say that here we have unconditional election, irresistible grace, and perseverance of the saints all in one passage. In fact, in one or two verses, if we go to chapter 10 verses 26 and 27, just look at 27. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. Jesus has his sheep. We'll find out in a moment that there are some tragically who are not of his sheep, not of his flock, so that there is an election. There is a portion of mankind known as Jesus' sheep. There is irresistible grace. They know his voice, and they follow him. We all know that really only some hear his voice. All can hear the same words, all can hear the same preaching, all can read the same words on a page, but only some hear the voice of Jesus in those words. And it was the same then as it is now. That hearing process, of course, may take a period of time, may take a long time, but in the end it's Jesus' sheep who hear his voice. If you're of his sheep, you will hear that voice, and you will come, you will follow him.
What a beautiful image for us to think about hearing the shepherd's voice.
Well, let's go on. Another thing to notice about this shepherd and sheep imagery is as Kyle noted a while ago that it is the shepherd, the good shepherd who cares for his sheep, and what does that mean? It means that he will lay down his life for his sheep. The higherling flees when danger comes. Of course, he cares nothing really for the sheep, but the good shepherd not only takes care of his sheep, not only goes out after them to seek them and find them, but when they're in danger he protects them, and here it says this good shepherd even lays down his life for his sheep, puts his life on the line. Verse 11, he will lay down his life for his sheep. No one takes his life from him. He lays it down of his own accord because this commission he has received from his father. Very important also to remember that he was not simply compelled to do this. He was not put into a position out of which there was no escape. He was not forced into this, but he did this voluntarily. He lays down his life on his own accord for his sheep. Well, there's certainly more that we could talk about there, but let's go on. We get to verse 20, the end of this great discourse, and as always happens with Jesus, he provokes a divided response, a divided response, and we have trouble thinking sometimes how someone could not agree with the words of Jesus, how compelling his words must have been when he spoke them, to be in his actual presence. And yet as we've seen so often, the response is divided. Verse 20, many of them said he has a demon and is mad. Why do you listen to him? Others said these are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind? Is he a madman? Is he demon possessed? Or is he the son of God?
Well, again, the options have not really changed over the years. These are really the same ones, I think, that are available to people today. Many of you have known about this by the M.R. Trial Emma, some people call it, is he liar? Is he a lunatic? Or is he the Lord? He's not a good man as many people who don't accept him think he was. I think that option he is not really left open for us, but he's a good man. Good man don't go around and proclaim that they are the only way to God. Good men do not go around and say that there's forgiveness only in them. Good men don't say that judgment on the last day is going to depend upon how you treated that one man. That's not the sign of a good man. He could be a lunatic, he could be a demon possessed person or he could be the Lord. And I think these people have focused upon the real options.
Going on in a verse 22, evidently some time passes. Now we've gone from the feast of tabernacles to the feast of dedication. Who knows what other name that feast has? Hanukkah. Hanukkah. So now we're in the month of our month of December. Jesus is in Jerusalem once again and he is accosted by some Jews in the temple demanding a plain answer for their question. Are you the Christ? Tell us plainly.
Does Jesus give them a plain answer? What do you think? Verse 30 is pretty plain.
Yeah, well eventually he gets to that blockbuster of a statement in verse 30.
How about right away? No. Jesus answered them. I told you and you do not believe. The works that I do in my father's name, they bear witness to me. But you do not believe because you do not belong to my sheep. He points to his words, his former words which they must have heard. I take it. This is a lot of the same people. And remember, you know, he must have known them by face. They knew him. A lot of the same people who were there before. You've heard my words. You have seen or at least heard about my works. In essence, he's asking them to believe. They want an open declaration at that point. He's saying you have enough evidence. Believe. But they don't. They're asked to believe and they will not believe. Here again is a place where I believe we are shown the truth of election and even of limited atonement. Jesus says you do not believe because you are not of my sheep. We might think about putting it the other way around. Usually when we talk to people or when we think about this, that is you're not of Jesus' sheep because you don't believe. If you do believe, if you would just believe, you would be part of his sheep. And there's a sense in which we can say that. But here Jesus puts the because in a different place. You do not believe because you are not of my sheep. And again, I can't imagine being there and being told that by the Son of God.
Now, I think the word of caution might be in order. This is, I believe, not something that we ought to try to imitate Jesus in. Jesus knows his sheep. He knows them by name. We don't. Jesus could look someone in the eye and say that they are not of his sheep as awesome a thing as that is. I don't think that privilege is given to us. The closest thing I suppose the church ever closest church ever comes to that is in the matter of excommunication where the church makes a judgment that is given to it as far as it can see that a person has excluded themselves from God's flock. But in the real sense, and even that is always, even that is always an imperfect judgment. We don't have the ability to say, as Jesus said here, to look at someone and say they're not of his sheep. But there is a great blessedness. A great blessedness here, he goes on to say, in verse 27, right after that awesome statement, he says, my sheep hear my voice. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give them eternal life and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand. My 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. And there is that blockbuster statement that gets Jesus into trouble here. But let's not miss what he said just before that, the great comforting statement that his sheep hear his voice. Do you hear his voice? Do you hear the voice of Jesus when you read his word, when you hear it preached, when you meditate upon it? Praise God because it's not a privilege given to all. But his sheep hear his voice and they follow him. And no one will snatch them out of his hand. Amen. In verse 31, any comments or questions on that? I know some of you are holding back. Yes, Andy? Well, yeah, I think so. Andy asked if that comment was perhaps totally lost on them. Of course, there's no way to know really, but we've seen time and time again where Jesus has made a statement, something like this, and it's as if it didn't sink in for them. I mean, again, can you imagine being told by Jesus that? And what that would do? But here they go on, and they're mad at him because he says, I and the father are one. I mean, as you say, it's almost as if it went right over their heads. They didn't take it to heart. Again, you know, his sheep are not hearing his voice. They're not recognizing who he is. Those who are not his sheep are not recognizing his voice. Jim? That's right. It's only those who know what it means who would have the reaction, the right reaction. So they're they're not feeling awful and feeling penitent and feeling the effects of what that really means. Bob? We've taken as narrowly as as to see that the reaction and lovingly just coming because I think I'm wondering if they can't be taken in the second step. There's a qualification there if you would believe you would be a lunge. You know, what I'm talking about was a lot of this timing was part of the leadership rule and thing. You know, in the sense that you could say of Paul, he didn't he wasn't one of Jesus' sheep at that time because he didn't believe, but does it have to be saying that there's no room here for change of part later on? If Jesus were or if someone were speaking to an indiscriminate crowd, I think yes. I mean, you might you might come up with that as a possibility. Here, I'm less inclined to see it that way because I think Jesus knows in particular who he's talking to. You know, he said something similar back in chapter 8. Remember, this is the chapter 8 is this very I think very intense conversation between him and some of the Jews. And you know, he's talked about their father being the devil. I mean, that to me, he's not just talking to the rank and file and believer out there who might who might one day repent and might become part of this walk. He's talking to those who are hardened in their unbelief and and he knows for him to say your father is the devil. I think shows more than just there's still a possibility that they might turn. I think he's talking to people who are who are bound for destruction at that point. And in verse 41, chapter 8 verse 47, he who is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God. I think it's a similar situation than as to what we have in in chapter 10. And again, I would just emphasize that this is a progative Jesus has that we don't have. There are certain people he could say that about and we shouldn't dare. If we hold back, yeah, that's an interesting point. Roy brings up just the whole practice of preaching judgment and preaching damnation.
Tell the countable to give them the whole countable God and then I'm struggling. In a way in some sort of way, right? It's not that we're playing with somebody who reject the proclamation of the gospel. I think there's some responsibility to consciously let them know what the implications of that. Roy is for those of you listening by tape. Roy is bringing up the factor of our responsibility in evangelism and in evangelistic encounters to bring up the negative, the bad news, the consequence for those who reject Jesus. It's not as though they'll have everything they want and Jesus is just a bonus. And if they reject Jesus well, that's just their plain old expectations. No, there's something worse to expect. Roy is reminding us of the responsibility we have to complete the picture and to tell the bad news. I think that is right. What I'm suggesting here is the sort of personal frank statement. The Jesus is able to make to these people that I don't think we're able to make. So it was said over here a moment ago, there is for us always the possibility that the person we're speaking to, though now they are children of wrath, they may turn, they may know that they may at a later time come to him. I'm taking this that this is Jesus supernatural knowledge of them that enables him to say about this about them personally that we don't have. But I think that's a good reminder that the consequence is the wrath of God. The consequence of rejecting Jesus is the wrath of God. Yeah, Chris, I think.
Well, thanks. Chris is saying how thankful he is that these verses are there to give us a glimpse into the workings of eternity, the workings of the mind of God. God is not bound by some mechanical process by what we might decide to do or not to do. God has his purpose. And in giving us both an insight into the destruction of those who reject him and in the security, forever of those who hear his voice, there is a tremendous insight into God's plan and to Jesus a way of salvation. John, I was just thinking about a royal statement there. It seems that we have not only the right, but perhaps the obligation to make certain kinds of conditional statements about a person's present status, using words like if or unless, unless the Holy Spirit moves in your heart to change you from where you are now, you are subject to eternal fun. But unless or if we can do that, but we cannot do it with the certainty that Christ will be certainly, and we have that obligation. Sometimes we back off from the old hell of fire and brimstone preaching as well. That's all wrong, but there's an element in which part of proclaiming the gospel is to warrant of consequences. But we have to do it in that conditional way. It's a good point that John's making about when we do give the consequences, we must really put it in a conditional way if you do not repent, if you do not turn, if you do not change the path you're taking, then this is what awaits you, only destruction, only God's wrath, and we cannot use the same definition, definite terms that Jesus used. Yes, I think. I think that when Jesus was speaking to the unconverted elect, that he said stuff like that, unless you were told you were like like Kurt. When he talks about your child of the devil, he's seen the full skill of their life, and he's being aware of that, that the moment they die, and something like that. That's a good point too. Kurtis is making that Jesus very often, and we might imagine when he's addressing a crowd of mixed people, he will say unless you repent, unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins, unless you believe that I am he, and that is more the sort of proclamation, I think, that we are unable to make, but when he says you are a child of the devil, that's a different ball game there. Yes, I saw your hand in here in the front row. Your name is Stephen. Stephen. I guess it's along his line depends on who he was talking to. I think of the rich, young ruler who wasn't able to accept the gift of salvation because of these riches, but yet Christ looked at him lovingly and longingly, seemingly wanting him to believe, or maybe what pity depending on how you describe what that love, longing, longing love you had, what, so, how do you do it in different countries depending on who he talks to in a different way. That's right, and that's good to emphasize too, Stephen's emphasizing the rich, young ruler, who did not, was not able to accept Jesus' call, and yet Jesus looked at him lovingly, and there are other instances as well. You remember the parable that Jesus tells about the two sons, the father tells them to go do something, and the one says, no, I'm not going to, and then later on he does, and the one who says, yeah, I'll do it, but then doesn't. So, we all know that a person's initial response to gospel is not necessarily the final one, probably almost never is. Yes, Mark. I know the times of the essence, but I, and looking at this, I think that the people that are gathered around them are kind of a hundred genius groups, and kind of have a sense of that, that they're watching in the tenth area where there's the exchange of money, people are coming into the temple to fight their sacrifice, and I imagine that he's talking to the temple fan garden of Caiaphasus Proneus, and not a diverse group of people, these are people that have already shown quite a bit of hostility to him. Yeah, well, I think that's a good point. The Jews isn't speaking broadly, he's speaking in a very narrow context for a certain group of Jewish people. Right, Mark's making the point that these people are a specific group, he's walking in the temple, Portico, and they must have been a long contact, and I think that's implied, in fact, with verse 22, now it's the feast of dedication, this is some months later, and yet to Jesus tells them, I told you, if you were the Christ tell us plainly, he says, I told you, and you do not believe, the works that I do, they bear witness, they already have some prior knowledge of Jesus. Jesus has told them before, so I think that's right, I think this is a specific group of people, they are, as Mark says, probably part of the temple vanguard, part of the officials that work in the temple, probably, at least these are ones who know about Jesus who have been obstinate in their resistance of him. Good point. Yes.
Yes, it does. That's right, in verse 26, you do not believe because you do not belong to my sheep, the cause is there, and the effect is there. The ultimate cause is they are not of his sheep, and therefore they do not believe. Remember what we said last time, or time ago, whatever, all may come, whosoever will may come, but not everyone can come, not everyone can come, and not everyone will come. Yes. I think it was Dieter von Hofer who said, we are not sinners because we sin because we sin because we are sinners. It's sort of that kind of statement where the way you normally think of it is kind of reverse. Very good. What was your name? Becky. Becky reminds us of that saying Bonhoeffer, or he may not, if he said it, he was not the first one, but he may have said it too. It's not that we are sinners because we sin because we are sinners. I would say Augustin. Well, since Frank's not here to check me, I'll say Augustin. I'll wait for the review later.
I think some very good discussion, and I'm not sorry for taking the time to talk about this. We are at the end of our time. We just have at the end of chapter 10, this one more attack on Jesus. I may just mention this quickly, and if you have any questions about this maybe next week, we can go into this. They take up stones again to stone him because he's making himself God, they say. Jesus refers back to Psalm 82, 65, where the leaders of Israel who receive and administer the word of God are given the title, God's. We would say God's are the small G. I said ye are gods. How then could they criticize Jesus who is not merely one who receives the word of God, but who is the word of God, whom God consecrated and sent into the world? How could they criticize him for saying he is the son of God? Again, they tried to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands. Any final questions or comments? There's a lot in that section too, but perhaps we can take that up if anyone wants to. Next time, let's pray. Lord Jesus, we are both humbled and we are brought into great appreciation and gratitude for your work for us on our behalf, that you left the Father's throne and came to seek and to save that which was lost. You came to gather together, to scatter to Israel, and we thank you even for laying down your life for us, for your sheep. Lord, we pray that this day and through the rest of our lives, we would hear your voice and follow. We pray that your voice might be trumpeted abroad through all the earth, that all your sheep from every land might come and might follow you into waters of rest.
Please be with us now as we go our separate ways or as we go to worship you in the worship service. We ask in Jesus' name on that. Again, enjoy the rest. Oh, my pleasure. Pleasure. Glad you're here.