In John 10, the apostle records a confrontation between Jesus and a group of Jews who demanded (24), “How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of me” (25).
What problem did the Jews have? They did not believe the evidence. It is a simple thing to review the previous chapters of John’s gospel to see such public evidence of His claims. Turning the water into wine (John 2). The healing of the nobleman’s son (John 4). The healing of the lame man at the pool of Bethesda (John 5). The feeding of 5,000 (John 6). The giving of sight to a man blind from birth (John 9).
In John 9 he declared plainly that He was the Son of God in the presence of some of the Pharisees (cf. 35-41). In the very setting of their question, He had just affirmed himself to the the Door of the sheep and the good Shepherd. The problem was not that Jesus did not speak plainly, nor that the evidence was insufficient. The problem was their unbelief.
So, Jesus said, “But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. 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. 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 My Father are one” (10:26-30).
God calls through the gospel of Christ, (cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:14). Those who heed the gospel and believe (hear the voice of and follow the Shepherd) are His sheep. Those who refuse to believe the gospel (in which is found both his claims and the evidence to support them) are not His sheep.
This is the blessing promised to those who are His sheep, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.” How can we be assured of this? Because no created being, in heaven or on earth, “is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.” “…If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:31-32).
Brethren, “comfort one another with these words” (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:18).
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