They follow because they are His sheep. You assume they are sheep because they follow. Jesus tells them in vs 26 they believe not because they aren’t of His sheep. You have it backwards and deny Gods grace in saving His sheep in Christ. Only Gods elect follow and come to believe the gospel by grace. It is why your understanding of “following” or abiding is the basis for justification before God. And because of that understanding you do not see abiding and persevering in faith is the fruit of a believer by Gods power and grace. The just live by faith. This doctrine you espouse cannot say that. So how are you different from the Judaizers? And how do you assume Christ contradicts Himself from the scriptures I posted by your interpretation of John 15?
Ok notice how my interpretation if John 10:27-29 goes hand in hand with John 15 which was our original discussion and your understanding of John 10:27-29 is in conflict with John 15 which is why we’re talking about John 10 to begin with. You say I assume they are His sheep because they follow? Why would I have to assume that, It’s plainly stated right there in the scriptures. Look at the context here.
“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.
The works He does in The Father’s name testify that He is of The Father. Notice the similarity in John 15:4. If you abide in Me and I in You you will bear much fruit. Or our works are evidence of whom we are a slave to Romans 6:15-18, evidence of whom our master is.
But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep.
In His next statement He describes the qualities of His sheep, not what makes them His sheep, but the defining characteristics that sets them apart and makes them noticeable to others.
My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me
If you say that His sheep do not follow you are disagreeing with the characteristics Jesus provided to describe His sheep. If you say they don’t have to continue following then your saying they don’t have to abide (remain) in Christ.
and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish
Them referring to His sheep who know Him, listen to Him, and follow Him. Not followed for a little while then stopped following. If someone doesn’t continue to follow Christ they are following satan. There is no in between. Either God is your master or satan. Jesus said we cannot serve two masters because we will hate one and love the other. Granted it was in reference to God and wealth but His example shows it applies to any master other than God.
and no one will 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 the Father's hand. I and the Father are one."”
JOHN 10:25-30 NASB
No one can snatch them from The Father’s hand. The Greek definition of the word snatch is
1) to seize, carry off by force
2) to seize on, claim for one's self eagerly
3) to snatch out or away
Nothing about this indicates that someone will not be cast away as stated in John 15:6 or that someone cannot walk away of their own choice. This is dealing with outside forces meaning that no one can take away our salvation. It doesn’t mean that our salvation cannot be revoked or rejected. John 15:6 is dealing with branches that are attached to the vine who failed to abide. They did not remain in Christ, they no longer follow Him.
You seem to be saying that we do not need to follow Christ to be one of His sheep but then when it comes to abiding (remaining) in Christ you say the ones who fail to abide are false professors. So it seems like in one breath your saying we don’t have to continue following to be His sheep but in another your saying that only true believers will abide. The implications of follow and abide are the same thing. Your example of the wheat and tares does not apply to this subject because there are no tares present for this message. You still haven’t answered the question why does Jesus say to His 11 faithful apostles in verse 4 “abide in Me for without Me you can do nothing.” Surely you know these men are not false professors. So why would Jesus tell them to abide in Him, even explaining the consequences of failing to abide, if they were incapable of failing to abide?
I’ll address your other statements in a separate post.
