Preparing a sermon on John 10:22-30 I was struck by Jesus phrase - "you do not believe because are not my sheep..my sheep hear my voice"
If the only people who can see what Jesus does and understand how it affirms him as the Messiah are those predestined for an eternity with God then why bother speaking to the unsaved at all.
Is the message here that only Christians will interpret attempts to live like Jesus correctly and so words are wasted on those not chosen to believe, those who are not and never will be his sheep
In which case does Jesus say this only for those who love Him so that they understand the gulf between those eternally saved and those who are dammed. Or do his words fix that gulf for the unsaved who hear them and are thus condemned to darkness
This passage seems to affirm double predestination to me.
Hi. Thoughtful questions that require a thoughtful response...
When we view the OT, did not God promise to guide, teach and save the humble and to bring them justice? Yes.
The humble are the sheep God favors and calls His own.
And remember, that the Spirit was not sent to regenerate believers in the OT - that is only for the NT.
And note that the regeneration of the indwelling Spirit is only received by faith.
See vs 38 below...
John 7:37-39
37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38
Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said,
rivers of living water will flow from within them.” 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive.
Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified..
God looked upon the humble with favor and made sure promises to them which God destined to fulfill in Christ Jesus...
The Sheep are the humble. Christ Jesus was specifically sent by the Father to preach to the Humble to fulfill His promises to them and because they will listen and believe.
Isaiah 61:1-2 (Jesus applied this prophecy to himself)
1 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, 2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
Psalms 25:9 (WEB)
9 He will
guide the humble in justice.
He will
teach the humble his way.
Lord Jesus taught about the sheep as well as the goats. For instance, read
Matthew 25:31-46
What does the word
"sheep" refer to?
Answer: Those who are meek and humble.
What do the
"goats" refer to?
Answer: Those who are stubborn and arrogant.
Who did Christ come to preach the Gospel to?
Answer: The humble.
So which ones will believe in and follow in Jesus - the sheep or the goats?
John 10:27 (WEB)
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
"My sheep" are those sheep God the Father sent the Son to save according to His promises.
Those who are humble will listen to God and so believe. Those who believe receive the Spirit and regeneration:
John 7:38-39
38
Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said,
rivers of living water will flow from within them.” 39
By this he meant the Spirit,
whom those who believed in him were later to receive.
The goats (those who are self-righteous) will not listen to God.
God is righteous in that He hardens in judgement those who repeatedly reject His grace. Those that keep hardening their hearts to God's grace are the Goats. God may use this hardening to fulfill another purpose, as God did with Pharaoh, or even with Elect Israel - so the humble among the Gentiles could be grafted in.
The reason some people are goats or sheep is by their own choice, for God continually calls on the willful and stubborn to humble themselves and repent, but their is a limit to God's patience with those who continually reject His grace. So if someone perishes, it is their own fault.
2 Thessalonians 2:10-11 (NIV) 10 They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie.
Romans 1:28 (WEB)
28 Even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting
Romans 1:21-25
21 Because, knowing God, they didn’t glorify him as God, neither gave thanks, but became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless heart was darkened.
22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
23 and traded the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed animals, and creeping things.
24 Therefore God also gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to uncleanness, that their bodies should be dishonored among themselves,
25 who exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
In like manner, God declares many times how Israel is rebellious toward him and hard-hearted and would not listen. In this respect, most of the Jews were goats by choice. And God gave them over to their stubbornness and hardened them.
Ezekiel 3:7 (WEB)
7 But the house of Israel will not listen to you; for they will not listen to me: for all the house of Israel are obstinate and hard-hearted.
So God hardened the hearts of His Elect people in judgement.
God will show Mercy on whom he shows mercy...
Regarding salvation, God wills to show mercy on all...
Romans 11:32 (WEB)
32 For God has shut up all to disobedience, that he might have mercy on all.
However, only those who humble themselves and repent and believe receive the mercy that God wills to give to the sinner (
John 3:16).
Luke 18:13-14
13 But the
tax collector, standing far away, wouldn’t even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘
God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you,
this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but
he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
So
HOW did God say he would save us?
John 10:9 (WEB)
9 I am the door. If
anyone enters in by me,
he will be saved, and will go in and go out, and will find pasture.
John 3:16-17
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 17 For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him.
Romans 10:8-12 (WEB)
4 For Christ is the fulfillment of the law for righteousness to
everyone who believes. ...
8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth, and in your heart”; that is,
the word of faith, which we preach:
9 that
if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For with the heart, one believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “
Whoever believes in him will not be disappointed.”
12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, and
is rich to all who call on him.
In summary:
God designed the Gospel to save only those who humble themselves. These are the sheep God promised to save. The goats will laugh at the Gospel as foolishness.