Jesus Teaches the Doctrine of Grace
Tom Shrader walks through John 10:22-42, where Jesus responds to Jewish leaders demanding proof of His identity by teaching that the Father has given specific sheep to the Son, who hear His voice, know Him, and follow Him. Shrader unpacks the doctrines of grace — election, effectual calling, and the eternal security of believers — demonstrating that salvation is entirely God's work and cannot be lost. He connects these doctrines to practical Christian life, including assurance in difficult times, freedom in evangelism, and the comfort of resting securely in the Father's hands.
“God has you in His hands. He has you in His arms. And He loves you and He'll never let you go.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: John: The Essence of Life (2005)
Recorded: 2005 at East Valley Bible Church
Duration: 47 min
Themes: grace, election, salvation, assurance, evangelism, security, identity of jesus, following jesus, doubting salvation, struggling with fear, new believer, feeling spiritually lost, questioning god's love, anxious about eternity, seeker, mature believer
Scripture: John 10:22-42, John 10:11, John 10:27-29, John 10:30, John 5:18, John 6:44, John 7, John 20:30-31, 2 Timothy 3:16, Luke 4:14-28, Luke 4:18, Isaiah 61, Genesis 3, Ephesians 1:3-7, Ephesians 2:1-4, Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23, Romans 8:28-39, 1 Corinthians 2:14, 2 Corinthians 4
Theological Themes: doctrines of grace, effectual calling, election, eternal security, perseverance of the saints, soteriology, divine sovereignty, christology
Full Transcript
The Doctrine of Grace: Practical and Powerful
I have been teaching the Bible for twenty-two years. That is a long time, and in the course of it I have learned a lot. You would assume I have learned a lot about God's Word — and I have — but I have also learned a lot about myself, and I think I have learned how to communicate more effectively than I did twenty-two years ago. Not saying it is effective, but more effective than it was.
One of the things I have learned, and I absolutely love this, is that doctrine is practical. Sometimes I think we can get into a mindset where we say, "Oh, we are going to do doctrine," and we take the book, try to get all the dust off, and say, "Doctrine, doctrine, doctrine — we are done with that, now let us get to the practical." What we have today is something that is very doctrinal in its nature, and yet it is enormously practical. That should not surprise us.
Paul writes in 2 Timothy 3:16, "All scripture is inspired by God, profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, training in righteousness, so that the man, woman, student of God will be equipped for every good work." In his paraphrase The Message, Eugene Peterson deals with those two verses this way: "Every part of scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another — showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God's way. Through the word we are put together and shaped for the tasks that He has for us."
Yet another way we say it is this: the Bible tells us what is right, what is not right, how to get right, and how to stay right. That is indeed what Paul has in mind in 2 Timothy. All scripture is God-breathed — it is inspired by God. So when you are saying, "I want to know what God thinks, I want to know how God views this," here is what you do: you just pick up this book.
That is why so many discussions you have — say with others who would call themselves Christians — can go sideways. All of a sudden you start a discussion and they will say, "Well, that is what the Bible says, but the Bible is not..." No. The Bible is the infallible Word of God.
Entering John Chapter 10
Open your Bibles to John chapter 10. We are going to look today at verses 22 through 42. I did not really think about this until yesterday morning when I was going over some notes and moving things around, but what we find in this passage is something both deeply doctrinal and deeply practical — and those two things belong together.
The Purpose of Scripture
That is where we start our discussions. It is good for teaching — that means the doctrine part of it has content. When we begin to read it, it also reproves us and corrects us. Who made you King? Well, He said it, and He is King. The word translated "correction" in the Greek carries the image of something out of place being set right — if a stool were tipped over and you set it upright, that is the same word. The Bible mends you, sets you right, straightens you up, puts you in your proper place. Then it equips you and trains you.
As we look at this passage today, there is a lot of doctrine in it. I want you to see it, and I will do the best I can. If you do not walk out of here saying, "Boy, that was really practical," then I did not present it well — because this is doctrine that has huge practical application to your life and mine.
The Setting: Feast of Dedication
Look at verse 22: "At the time of the feast of the dedication took place in Jerusalem it was winter." This feast of dedication marks a time around 165 BC when the Syrians had desecrated the temple, the Jews reclaimed it, and dedicated it anew. It is also known as Hanukkah. So we are talking about the middle to end of December — it is winter, it is a rainy time, and Jesus is there in the portico of Solomon.
The portico of Solomon was a large, roofed structure with beautiful, ornate pillars holding that roof in place. Jesus is simply walking there. I want to give you a time frame: we are at the end of Jesus' public ministry. If you look at verse 40, you will see that He is going away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was first baptizing. Jesus is going to have this confrontation with the Jews and then leave Jerusalem. He is not coming back until Palm Sunday, which is only two or three months from the moment we are looking at here.
So we are at the end of Jesus' ministry. He has been teaching, plus or minus, for three years in these public settings. He is walking through the portico of Solomon — that is the setting. The feast of dedication, the Jews gathered, and then all of a sudden a group of Jewish leaders, the Pharisees, circle around Him.
The Confrontation: "Tell Us Plainly"
They are saying to Him, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you're the Christ, tell us plainly." The word translated "plainly" is used three other times in John's gospel, where it is translated as "publicly" or "outwardly." If you are the Christ, if you are the Messiah, if you are the promised one — tell us. The implication is that they gather around Him, almost as if they want to put Him in the middle and not let Him get away, forcing an answer.
You get two senses from what they are saying. One is that they genuinely want an answer. The other — and I hope I am not stretching here — is that they are blaming Him: "If we don't get this at this point, it is your fault. You have not told us plainly." The moment I made that observation, I thought immediately of Genesis chapter 3.
The Pattern of Blame: Back to the Garden
In the Garden, God says to Adam not to eat from the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden. He communicates that to Eve. She is tempted by the serpent, takes the fruit, eats it, and gives it to Adam, who also eats. God confronts them. He asks Eve why she ate, and her answer is not too different from what these Jewish leaders are saying: "The serpent" — and the implication is, the serpent that You created, that You brought into existence — "it's the serpent's fault."
Then God turns to Adam. I always felt sorry for Adam, because he could not say, "Well, it was my parents," or blame his socioeconomic background, or his environment, or pollutants, or mercury, or global warming. He is in paradise. He has no such options — though we are so creative in our sins, are we not. So what does Adam say? "It's the woman. The woman you gave me." That is what he says. In other words: "God, this is your fault. If you had never said don't eat, if you had never given me this woman, if you had left me alone, everything would have been fine."
I think the same idea is present here with the Jewish leaders. "It's your fault we don't believe. You have not plainly told us the answer — so just tell us." I know someone may say I am pulling this out of the text, but I do not think I am doing the text an injustice.
Jesus' Answer: I Already Told You
So Jesus responds in verse 25: "I told you, and you do not believe me. The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me." He has already told them. And one of the ways He told them was through the works He did — the signs, the wonders, the miracles.
Remember John's gospel, chapter 20, verses 30 and 31. John says, "Here is why I wrote this book, and here is why I selected these signs" — seven
The Seven Signs and the Question of Identity
John records seven miracles of Jesus. He did many more, but John said, "I selected these, so that seeing these, hearing these, and understanding these, you would believe that I am the Christ, and in believing you would have eternal life." Jesus is saying to this group, "You have seen." At this point in John's gospel, six miracles have been recorded. The first is Cana in John chapter 2. The second is the healing of the nobleman's son in John chapter 4. The third is the healing of the man in John chapter 5. The fourth is the feeding of the five thousand in John chapter 6. The fifth is Jesus walking on water. The sixth is the healing of the blind man in John chapter 9. John chapter 11 then gives us the raising of Lazarus from the dead.
So John is saying: here is what I have done, and here is what I have told you. When the people ask, "If you're the Christ, tell us plainly," Jesus answers, "I have told you. The works speak of Me. When you see these works, you should understand who I am." Yet they do not get it. Part of the problem may be that Jesus simply is not what they expected.
What They Expected from the Messiah
Keep John chapter 10 marked and turn to the left to Luke chapter 4. It is a great scene. Jesus is in Galilee, the power of the Spirit is upon Him, He is teaching in the synagogues, and He is praised by all. He comes to Nazareth, and as was His custom He goes to the synagogue, stands, and reads the passage dedicated for that day.
Luke chapter 4, verse 18: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord." He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down — the position of teaching. Every eye was upon Him. And He said, "Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."
This passage is from Isaiah chapter 61, and it spoke of the Messiah. What Jesus is saying is: this is Me. This passage spoke of Me. When you read about the Messiah, you are reading about Me. And the reaction? Verse 28: "All in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things." That is a common experience in Jesus' ministry.
So it is a little disingenuous, back in John chapter 10, for these men to say, "If you're the Christ, tell us plainly." He has told them. He has told them plainly, and He has shown them through His works. Part of what they expected from the Messiah was not just what we saw in Isaiah 61 — it was freedom from bondage, perhaps from the Romans: an economic Messiah, a military Messiah, a political Messiah. They are essentially saying, "You are not what we expected."
I have shared this story before, but I experienced this personally. I flew into town to speak at a conference, and the man who picked me up was clearly troubled by something. After a while I asked, "Is there something wrong?" And he finally said, "You're not what I expected." He had apparently expected someone more dignified, tall, and polished. In the same way, Susan and I were once at the hospital — she was there for her own appointment — and I went to visit someone from the church. I had to pass through several secured doors, and eventually someone stopped me and asked what I was doing. I explained I was there to see a church member. They asked if I was family. I said no. They asked why I was there. I said I was their pastor. The response was, "Really? You're the pastor?" I was probably dressed awkwardly — shorts, flip-flops, a Nike hat. I was not what they expected.
The Real Problem: Identity
But that is not actually the problem, is it? The real problem is found in verse 26: "You do not believe because you are not My sheep." That is the problem — an identity crisis.
Who do they belong to? Turn back to John chapter 8. Jesus has been speaking to a group of Jews, and He makes this declaration in verse 44: "You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he lies, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies." That is who they are.
And let us not simply beat up on them — that is who we all are. We come into the world as Scripture identifies us: children of wrath, sons of disobedience, separated from God. We do not come into the world naturally as His sheep. There is a point in time when we move from sinner to saint. But Jesus is saying: you do not understand not because you have not been told, but because you are not My sheep.
The Security of the Sheep
Look at verses 27 through 29, and we are going to remain here for a while. "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish; 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 My Father's hand."
Two questions come up here all the time. The first is: how will I know —
not one of those guys that goes back and reads what I've taught and is inspired by it. Sometimes I'm reading my old notes and I'm thinking, did I teach this? Like, where did I get this? But this week I was going back through some stuff and I came across this illustration. I have a picture, it's on my shelf at home, of me. My son found it. He was going through some old albums. I'm probably 13 years old in this picture. And I showed it to my wife and she did not recognize me. She had no idea who this person was. I'm 13 years old, I've got these big glasses with the Coke bottle lenses, I've got braces, I've got bad hair. I mean, it was bad. And I look at this and I think, that was me. That was Tom Hughes. And you know what? If you knew me then, and you know me now, you'd say I've changed. I mean, outwardly things changed. But here's what's interesting about the gospel. When you become a sheep, when you become a Christian, when the Holy Spirit comes into your life and you become a child of God, you have an identity change. You are no longer who you were. You begin to change from the inside out.
The Three Marks of a Sheep
So how do I know if I am one of His sheep? Verse 27 gives us three marks. Number one, you hear His voice. Number two, you know Him. Number three, you follow Him.
Let me talk about hearing His voice. When I talk to men, women, and students who God has saved, and I say, "Tell me the difference," almost invariably they say, "When I read the Bible now, I get it. I get something out of it." They are not saying they understand every verse. They are not saying it is all clear to them. But they are saying, "I used to read the Bible and I did not get it. Now I read it and I understand." You hear His voice. All of a sudden, you hear His voice. You have a thirst for His word. You want Him to communicate to you. You study it, you read it, you reread it, you learn it, you memorize it. You become a student of the word. It opens up and makes sense to you. You have a hunger and thirst for it.
A couple of months ago, when they released the newest Harry Potter book — and for the record, the church does not have a Harry Potter position, if you are wondering — do you remember the night they released it? People were lined up at midnight to buy it. They had been waiting for hours. They were dressed like the characters. They had already digested books one, two, three, and four. Do you remember that in the first 24 hours they were selling 2 million copies every hour worldwide? These people were hungering and thirsting for Harry Potter.
Maybe for you it is not Harry Potter. Maybe it is the new Grisham novel, or a movie star whose every film you watch, or a new album coming out, or a columnist you love to read. You love to hear their material. Here is the mark of one of the sheep: you hear His voice, it makes sense to you, and you thirst for it.
And then here is what also happens. You know Him, and you follow Him. Do you see those three steps in verse 27? I hear His voice, I love it, I know Him — there is intimacy and relationship — and I begin to follow Him. There has been a point in time where God has opened my ears. I was that, and now I am this.
Chosen Before the Foundation of the World
Look at verse 29. "My Father, who has given them to Me." Who are "them"? The sheep. God has given these sheep to Christ. First Corinthians chapter two, verse 14 says the natural man cannot understand spiritual things. So here we are in this world as a child of wrath, a son of disobedience. But then the Holy Spirit indwells us. He opens our ears. It makes sense. We are no longer operating as natural men and women — we operate supernaturally. The Holy Spirit lives inside us and puts a thirst in us, so that when we read the word it makes sense. As Jesus says in John 6:44, "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him." That is what He is saying in verse 29: these are the people the Father has given to Him.
Turn with me to Ephesians chapter one. Paul talks about this whole process. Verse three: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." He is talking about us — the sheep, the believers. Verse four: "Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him in love." Verse five: "He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself."
We were by nature children of wrath and disobedience, but we have been predestined to adoption. We have moved into a new family. We are no longer children of disobedience and wrath. We are now sons and daughters of Jesus Christ. Verse seven: "In Him we have redemption through His blood." Paul goes on to describe this beautiful process that has taken place.
Then look at Ephesians chapter two, verse one: "You were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest." He says: that is who you were. Do you see the identity change? Things begin to change. I hear His voice. I know Him. I follow Him. I was that, and now I am this.
A Picture of Change
In Priority Living, I teach a lesson every week, and every four years or so I work through the curriculum. This week I was going back through some material I had taught years ago. I came across an illustration — and I have a picture of it on my shelf at home — that my son found when he was going through some old albums. In the picture I am probably 13 years old. I showed it to my wife and she did not recognize me. She had no idea who that person was. I am 13 years old, big glasses with Coke-bottle lenses, braces, bad hair. It was bad. And I look at it and think: that was me. That was Tom Hughes. If you knew me then and you know me now, you would say I have changed — outwardly, things changed. But here is what is interesting about the gospel. When you become a sheep, when you become a Christian, when the Holy Spirit comes into your life and you become a child of God, you have an identity change. You are no longer who you were. You begin to change from the inside out.
We Were Lost
One of the things I had this week was an ad from the New Times. I know you probably don't read the New Times, but I do, especially if there's a cover story I find interesting. If I get to a restaurant or a meeting early and don't have something to read, I'll pick up the New Times. I will admit that I read most of it, and from time to time I will indulge in the pleasure of reading those ads toward the back — Man Seeking Woman, Woman Seeking Man.
Under the column "Man Seeking Man," there was this ad: "Cross-dressing gay white male seeking bisexual white female." Strange, perhaps odd. But the next phrase was what got me: "Must be emotionally stable." I remember just laughing and saying, well, there's an illustration. Every time we read something like that, we get a laugh. But here's what it's really saying — that's how we used to think. We used to think as goofy as that. That's just silly, sinful, lost thinking. That's who you were.
But God
Verse four, still in Ephesians chapter two: "But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, He made us alive with Christ. By grace you have been saved."
How do I know I'm one of the sheep? Back to John 10 — I hear His voice. I know Him. There is an intimacy here, and there is an outward change. I begin to follow Him. I act differently. And this is entirely, utterly, completely a work of God.
It is the Father who gave them to the Son. It wasn't anything the sheep did. They didn't wish themselves into the fold. They didn't make a decision to get into the fold. It is God who moved them — the Father who moved them. The language Paul uses is this: they were chosen before the foundations of the earth.
The Good Shepherd Lays Down His Life
Jesus Christ died — and look at what He says. We're still in John 10. Look at verse 11, where we spent time earlier: "I am the good shepherd, and the good shepherd lays down his life for" — whom? The sheep. Who did Jesus lay His life down for? The sheep. Who are the sheep? Those who hear Him, those who know Him, those who follow Him.
So the first question — what does it mean to be a Christian? How do I know I'm one of these sheep? Here you go: Do you hear Him? Do you know Him? Do you follow Him? Do you love Him?
Can a Sheep Lose His Salvation?
Can a genuinely saved person lose their salvation? Look at verse 28: "I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish. 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 the Father's hand."
Do you see that eternal life is a gift? Jesus says, "I give it to them." Paul says it this way in Romans 3:23: "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." And Romans 6:23: "The wage of sin is death." Here's what I earn. As a person, I can only earn death because my sin is in the way — my sin deserves death. "But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus." Jesus is teaching exactly this: I give them eternal life. In Me, they have eternal life, love, joy, peace. In Me, there is something different.
Now, I don't mean this as a trick question, and I'm not trying to be flip — but remember the question before us: can a genuinely converted Christian, can a sheep, lose his salvation? Let me ask you this: how long does eternal life last? It seems to be forever. And it's as though Jesus is being intentionally redundant — "I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish." He is not speaking physically here; He is speaking spiritually. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. If we track what Jesus is saying as we work through the Gospel, that is exactly what He says: "I will raise them up again" — speaking of the sheep. "If they believe in Me, they have eternal life. They shall never perish."
You have conquered death. That is one of the characteristics, one of the results, of being a sheep. It doesn't mean you won't die physically — it means you won't die spiritually. You will live forever in a place called heaven.
No One Can Snatch Them
"No one can snatch them out of My Father's hand." What a magnificent picture. God holds you and me in His hands. There is nothing that can break this relationship. He has us held so tight.
I had this grandfather who was a bit of a curmudgeon. He would take a dime or a quarter and put it in his hand, and when we were three or four years old he'd say, "Okay, if you can open my hand, you can have the coin." You had no chance. He'd let you peel away a finger, and then peel away another, and then he'd flash the silver in your face — and the minute you got anywhere close, his hand would close right back up. The only way you could possibly get it was to kick him in the shin and grab the quarter out of his hand while he was distracted.
Whenever I read John 10, verses 28 and 29, I think of my grandfather holding that quarter. God has you in His hands. He has you in His arms. He loves you, and He will never let you go.
Thinking about that even makes me think of my kids when they were little and they were afraid. You'd say, "Listen, don't worry, honey, everything's going to be okay." "Don't leave me." "Not going anywhere, baby. Right here with you." That's your Father.
Do you see the practical application of this doctrinal truth? In a scary world — where sometimes you sin and mess up, where sometimes other things come into play — you can snuggle right up into His arms. And He says you are safe.
The Great Chain of Salvation
Write the word "fact" next to Romans chapter eight, verse 28. "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love him and to those who are called according to his purpose." This is not speculation, not wishful thinking — we know this. Is that a promise to the whole world? No, that is a promise to the sheep.
Here is what the sheep knows: that God will cause all things to work together for good. It does not say that everything that comes into your life will be sweetened and easy. It says that everything that comes into your life, whatever it is, God has a purpose and God will use it.
How can He say that? Verse 29: "For whom He foreknew" — and this speaks of an intimacy of relationship before the foundations of the earth — "He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He may be the firstborn among many brothers. And whom He predestined, these He called. And whom He called, these He justified. And whom He justified, these He glorified."
All those He knew before the foundations of the earth, all that the Father would give to the Son, all those He foreknew — He predestined. All He predestined, He called. All He called, He justified. All He justified, He glorified. The entire process moves right through from God's sovereign work into that moment of justification when they are saved, and onward into glory in heaven.
What Can Separate Us?
Can a genuinely converted sheep lose his salvation? Paul asks in verse 35: "What can separate us from the love of Christ?" — not our love for Him, but His love for us. "Tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword?" Verse 37: "In all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us." And verse 38: "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor heights, nor depth, nor any other created thing is able to separate the sheep from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord."
Persecution and the Ordinary Hardships of Life
This does not mean that coming to Christ guarantees an easy life. I was talking with Jerry Smith on Friday about ministry, world missions, and the persecution taking place right now — particularly in Indonesia, China, and North Korea. He described one situation where Christians being moved between prisons are made to stand in a line, connected to one another with barbed wire strung from neck to neck.
The promise is not that if you come to Christ, hear His voice, know Him, and follow Him, everything will be smooth. Some of you will lose loved ones, some of you will lose friends. You will be slandered. You will have the ordinary human experiences — the car battery will die, there will be aggravation, challenges, and difficulties. You are not exempt from those things.
In fact, they are added to you because of your faith. On top of all the ordinary wear and tear of living, you have persecution and everything associated with it. And yet: "My sheep hear My voice. I know them. They follow Me, and I give them eternal life. They shall never perish. No one will snatch them out of My hand." No one can break this relationship. Why? Because it was initiated by God Himself — He is the one who gave these people to the Son.
Does Grace Give License to Sin?
So when we ask the two questions — what does it mean to be a Christian, and can you lose your salvation? — the answers are these: Do you hear God's voice? Do you know Him? Do you follow Him? And no, you cannot lose your salvation.
Every time I teach this, someone stops me or sends me an email, so perhaps addressing it here will head that off. The concern is: if people believe they are saved forever, does that not give them a license to sin? Might it not provoke them to sin more? Paul addressed that very concern in Romans chapter six. After teaching that same doctrine, he said, "What should we say? Because we are under grace instead of under works, should sin abound?" And his answer is, "May it never be."
Consider what it would mean as a parent to say, "I am never going to tell my children that I love them unconditionally, because they might take advantage of it." We do not do that with our children. We tell them: you are our girls. You will get married, you will change your name, but you will always be our girls. We will always love you, no matter what you do. There may be consequences to what you do — there may be sin you are involved in that we will have to deal with — but we will always love you. We did not withhold those statements because we were afraid they might be abused.
This is a marvelous truth and a point of genuine encouragement. If I truly understand who He is, and I understand my relationship with Him, I am in love with Him, and I rest in that. Here is this heavy, weighty doctrine with enormous practical ramifications. Sometimes, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians, you feel like it is all closing in around you —
The Doctrines of Grace
When you feel like things are closing in around you from every direction, and then all of a sudden it hits you — He'll never leave me. He'll never forsake me. You get involved in some sin, and all of a sudden you're saying, "I'm such a wretch. I'm so awful. How can God ever forgive me?" And then it comes: if we confess our sin, He's faithful to forgive it.
When we are His sheep, when the Father gives us to the Son, we begin to hear His voice, we know Him, we follow Him, we have eternal life, and it can never end. The triune God saves us, we are safe, we are secure, we respond. That is clear and unambiguous. There is nothing in there that is uncertain or unknown.
Do you know what those truths we just looked at are called? They are the doctrines of grace. Some of you have been in a situation where you start coming to East Valley Bible Church, and a friend asks where you go to church. You tell them, and they say, "Oh — that's where they teach that predestination and election and that Calvinism stuff, isn't it?" But get rid of all those labels. What we just taught are the doctrines of grace. In fact, we ought to have t-shirts made up: "Jesus Is a Calvinist." That is what we just saw. That is what Jesus just taught.
Unfortunately, we live in a world where people say, "I don't believe that Calvinist stuff." I've had people say exactly that — "I don't believe it" — and when I ask them what it means, they say they don't know, but they don't believe it. I understand that emotion, because these labels carry so much baggage. But consider the actual claims. Do you believe that God chose you before the foundations of the earth? If you say no, your argument is not with us and it is not with Calvin — your argument is with Paul in Ephesians 1. Do you believe that the Father gave us to the Son? It is right there in John 10:29. Do you understand who Jesus died for? Jesus said, "I lay down my life for the sheep." All that He calls, all that He foreknew, all that He predestined, all that He called — He did it all. And I can never break this relationship, because I have eternal life. Eternal life lasts forever. What a magnificent point.
"I and the Father Are One"
Now look at verse 24. The people ask Jesus, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you're the Christ, tell us." And Jesus answers in six words in verse 30: "I and the Father are one." Without unpacking all that this entails, what He is saying is simply: I am God. He is answering their question directly. Tell us if you are the Messiah — and He says, "I and the Father are one."
Verse 31 tells us the response: "The Jews took up stones to stone him." They said they wanted an answer, that they did not believe because He had not told them plainly. Now He has told them plainly, and they are ready to stone Him. Jesus responds in verse 32: "I have showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning me?" The Jews answered, "For a good work we do not stone you, but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself out to be God."
So the next time you are sitting at a coffee shop and someone says that Jesus never claimed to be God, take them to John 10:30. We also saw this earlier in John 5. Jesus heals a man who had been lying paralyzed by the pool, with no one to put him in the water. After the healing, the man later identifies Jesus to the Jewish leaders, and they come after Him. John 5:18 tells us they were seeking all the more to kill Him, "because not only did he break the Sabbath, but also he was calling God his own Father, making himself equal to God."
The Freedom of Proclaiming the Gospel
I run into people all the time who say, "I would believe if I could see a miracle." Really? Jesus rose from the dead. We have empirical data — so much empirical data that we can walk through the entire forensic case: that He was dead as a result of the crucifixion, that He was buried, that God allowed all of this evidence to come together, and then He rose from the dead. You would think that would grab someone's attention. But then they say, "Well, I meant a different kind of miracle." No. Here is the miracle. The truth is, you will not believe because you will not believe. Do not claim you lack enough knowledge — there is the knowledge.
What does this mean for evangelism? It does not mean we stop sharing. We share with everyone. We proclaim the gospel. This doctrine does not impede evangelism at all. In fact, it has huge practical ramifications, because it frees us to share our faith with great freedom. We are no longer preaching for decisions for Christ. We are no longer trying to get people to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior through our own maneuvering. We are presenting the gospel, and we trust God to begin to work in their lives. We do not have to manipulate, maneuver, out-argue, or debate. If you are one of God's sheep, here is what is going to happen: you are going to hear His voice.
Knowing Him and Being Known
To know Him is to follow Him, and to follow Him is to have an intimacy of relationship. At the heart of what so many people long for is simply this: to be accepted. To be loved just as they are.
Here is the answer to that longing. Here is the Creator God of the universe who knows everything you have done, everything you have said, everything you have thought, and everything you plan — and He loves you, and He accepts you anyway, just as you are. You do not have to clean your act up for Him. You do not have to dress a certain way or cut your hair. He just accepts you. That is the God that He is.
You come into a relationship with Him and you are united with Him forever. This is about Him. It is heavy-duty doctrine, but it is filled with practical ramifications for the way we live. That is why we love God's Word.
A Response of Gratitude
That is a great truth, and it calls us to stop, reflect, and respond. Think of what we say when a little child receives a gift — we prompt them with a simple question: "What do you say?" And the answer is: "Thank you."
Now is our time to say thank you.
Father, thank You for these truths. Thank You for the words we find here in Scripture, and for the truth we see in the way You have worked in our lives — all that You have done, all that You have said. Father, thank You for Your Son Jesus. Thank You for the love that we find in Him and Him alone. We pray that You would continue to work in our lives. God, thank You that as Your sheep, we can hear Your voice, we can know You, and follow You. God, now is our time to say thank you. Use it to bring honor and glory to You. We pray it in Christ's name, amen.