The Christian's salvation is one hundred percent God's work. Man does not contribute anything to it. Our salvation is based upon the completed work of Jesus Christ on the cross. His resurrection proves His sacrifice for our sins was acceptable to God the Father. We come with no merits, no good virtue, or anything that would make us look good in God's eyes. We are helpless sinners, dead in trespasses and sins. We come with empty hands to receive God's free gift of eternal life. It is God's free grace received through faith in Christ alone. Saved by grace will be our theme throughout eternity. Because it is His work that saves, we can have complete assurance that He will finish what He began in us.

Jesus was walking around under the covered colonnade or portico of Solomon's porch at the Temple complex in Jerusalem. This part of the temple was not damaged by the Babylonian's and survived until the destruction of the temple by Titus in A.D. 70. The event takes place near the end of Jesus' public ministry. The hostile Jewish religious leaders circled up around Jesus, and closed Him in. They hemmed Him in. They had received a stinging rebuke by Jesus when He taught the allegory of the Good Shepherd (John 10:1-19). "How long will you keep us in suspense?" They wanted to know if Jesus was the Messiah and if so tell us plainly. However, Jesus makes it very plain that only the "sheep" can recognize the Messiah.

"At that time the Feast of the Dedication took place at Jerusalem; it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the portico of Solomon. The Jews then gathered around Him, and were saying to Him, 'How long will You keep us in suspense? 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, these testify of Me. But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will 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 the Father's hand. I and the Father are one'" (John 10:22-30, NASB95). All Scripture references are of the New American Standard Bible unless otherwise noted. 

Tell us plainly who you are.

The Jewish leaders wanted answers to their questions about the Messiah. Is Jesus the Anointed One? Is He the Messiah of Israel? With their question they were seeking to blame God for their unbelief. "If You are the Christ, tell us plainly." They were trying the blame game on Jesus. You are the reason we cannot believe. The truth is they had been told everything they needed to know, but they refused to believe in Him. If they had the right attitude they would have believed. His teaching fell on deaf ears. The root of their problem is "you do not believe."

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" (John 10:25). The Jewish leaders failed to discern that the works were a witness of His Divine Nature. The miracles were "signs" that demonstrated His Deity. The Messiah possessed Deity. The Jewish people, however, had political and military implications to the concept of the Messiah, and Jesus carefully avoided this meaning.

Jesus told Nicodemus, a Jewish leader and Pharisee, very clearly that He was the Son of God and that He could give eternal life to the believer. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:16). 

Jesus had been telling them plainly in John 4:25-26. The Samaritan woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us." Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He."

In John 5:24-25 Jesus spoke to the Jewish leaders who were persecuting Him. "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live." Jesus gives life and He also has the authority to execute judgment "because He is the Son of Man" (vv. 26-27).

Jesus is the living bread and living water that gives eternal life. "I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh" (John 6:51).  "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.' But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified" (John 7:38-39). He is the light of the world in John 8:12.  Jesus again spoke to them, saying, "I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life." Jesus was and is the great I AM (John 8:58). He told the truth when He declared, "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30).

Jesus said to these Jewish religious leaders, "If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word" (John 8:43). They could not hear His Word because they were spiritually dead in trespasses and sins. He told them plainly 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 speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies." They could not hear because they were of their father the devil. "He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God" (v. 47). 

Yes, Jesus told them plainly, but they refused to hear. They had an attitude problem.

They even refused to see the Father's hand in the "works that I do in My father's name, these testify of Me" (v. 25). They drank the wine at the wedding in Cana of Galilee. "This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him" (John 2:11). In the Gospel of John the "signs" are "attesting miracles," or tokens of divine authority that always point to the supernatural power of God in redeeming grace. There are seven of these signs in the Gospel of John. Nicodemus, the Pharisee a preeminent leader of the Jewish ruling class, a member of the Sanhedrin, came to Jesus by night and said, "Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him" (John 3:2). A royal official whose son was sick to the point of death in Capernaum saw the hand of God in the healing of his son (John 4:46-54). John wrote, "So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him, 'Your son lives'; and he himself believed, and his whole household" (John 4:53). The works Jesus did in the Father's name included the 38 year old lame man who was healed (John 5:1-18). Jesus said, "My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working" (v. 17). "But the testimony which I have is greater than the testimony of John [the Baptist]; for the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish—the very works that I do—testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me" (John 5:36). The feeding of the 5,000 (John 6:1-14), Jesus walking on water (John 6:16-21) curing the blind men (John 9:1-41), raising of Lazarus from the dead (John 11:1-44) all testify to who Jesus is.  All of these "signs" point to Jesus, the Son of God, with the purpose that all who believe in Him receive eternal life. All of the words and works of Jesus were a continuous affirmation that He is the Anointed One of God, the Messiah.

It is important to observe God the Father's sovereign election and human responsibility in this great teaching of Jesus. To deny either is to reach a false conclusion and theological error. Those who listen to the Shepherd's voice trust and obey Him and follow Him because they were given and drawn to Him.

You do not believe because you are not My Sheep.

He cut to the heart of the issue of unbelief when He said, "But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep" (John 10:26). This was the whole point of the allegory of the Good Shepherd. They were the children of the devil (John 8:43). Saving grace is necessary because of the radically depraved sinner's inability to choose God. The reason for their belief is "you are not My sheep." "But you – you do not believe because you are not My sheep." Note the emphatic pronoun and the repetition which places the blame squarely on them. This is the desperate condition of every lost sinner apart from Christ. The apostle John made it very clear in John 3:18. "He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."

The "sheep" are God's elect. Christ's sheep know Him. "I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me" (John 10:14). The Jewish leaders who are attacking Jesus are wolves in sheep clothing (Matt. 7:15). Jesus said, "You do not believe because you are not My sheep." In and of themselves men are unable to believe. They are dead spiritually (Eph. 2:1-3). The context makes clear the person believes because he is one of God's sheep. The elect are going to believe. If you have believed in Jesus Christ as your personal Savior it proves that you are of His elect. God in grace elects them into His kingdom. They are regenerate, born of God's Spirit. They choose to believe. "The just shall live by faith." They respond to God's saving grace. All who are God's elect come to Him, and none of those who come are ever lost. Faith is always a gift of God (Eph. 2:8-9).

"My sheep hear My voice" (John 10:26a).

God's elect hear the voice of the Son. They hear the voice of the Shepherd and follow Him. They know the sound of His voice. They belong to the Good Shepherd and respond to His call. "To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. . . . I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me" (John 10:3-4, 14). 

God gives them the ability to hear because the Holy Spirit is working in their heart giving spiritual life. They hear because of the sovereign grace of God is at work in their heart.

Are you one of His sheep? When did you hear His voice? Peter wrote: " you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God. For, 'All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls off, but the word of the Lord endures forever.' And this is the word which was preached to you" (1 Peter 1:23-25).  Did you hear His word and respond to life giving Word? The apostle Paul wrote: "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ" (Romans 10:17). 

"My sheep hear My voice." When did you hear His voice? What did you do when you heard it? Did you hear the voice of the sweet Spirit of God when you heard the good news of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone? Jesus said, "My sheep hear My voice." That voice still pleads: "Whoever will call upon the name of the LORD will be saved" (Romans 10:13). The message has not changed, "if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting salvation" (Rom. 10:9-10). Do you hear Him calling you in those words? I am often asked how you know you are the elect of God. The answer is very simple. I responded to His effectual call. I believed on Him as my Savior. I put my faith and trust in Him alone for salvation and eternal life.

The great evangelist George Whitfield said when Jesus called out to Lazarus in the tomb, Lazarus alone heard His name called and he responded to the call because God gave him life, and he rose from the dead. The same thing happens when a man dead in sin hears the voice of the Savior calling and gives him eternal life. It is like raising the dead. God gives spiritual life to the dead sinner. He hears the Savior's voice and comes forth. This is the effectual call of God to the spiritually dead sinner that gives eternal life. Do you hear and follow? If you are going your own way you are probably not one of His sheep. Jesus said, "My sheep hear My voice and follow Me." That is the way He called His disciples in John chapter one. His sheep believe and habitually follow Him.

I know My sheep (John 10:27b).

Jesus knows His sheep. He calls you by name. That is one of the greatest comforts I know. My Savior knows my name. Jesus said in John 10:14, "I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me." "I know by experience My own, and My own know by experience Me." He knows you by name, personally for all eternity. My name is written down in "the book of life." In fact, my name is "written down from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain" (Revelation 13:8; 17:8). The believer's name is written down because "He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him" (Ephesians 1:4). Is your name written down in glory?  Have you believed in Him? Why not trust Him right now as He speaks to you?

The sheep have an intimate personal relationship with their Shepherd. The important emphasis is the knowledge Christ has of His sheep. "My sheep hear My voice, I know them; they follow Me." The result of this knowledge is their habitual following Him.

 They follow Me (John 10:27c).

"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me" (John 10:27).

Lenski notes "Hearing the shepherd's voice is an inward act, following the shepherd is both inward and outward. . . 'They follow me.' I call, they come; I choose the path, they trust and come after; I lead, they are safe in my care; I command in love, they respond in obedience and love" (R.C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of John, p. 754).

They follow in obedience to His commands. They follow Him and grow in His grace.

Jesus said, "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments" (John 14:15).  Jesus answered Judas (not the traitor Iscariot) and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me" (John 14:23-24).

The bottom line is if we love Him we will follow Him in obedience. The proof of love is obedience. That is where we learn to obey our Lord. F. F. Bruce observes, "Those who neither believe nor follow Him show by that very fact that they do not belong to His own sheep. Not only do His own sheep recognize His voice; He for His part knows them—knows them individually, calls them by name (verse 3)" (The Gospel of John, p. 231).

"I give them eternal life" (John 10:28a).

Eternal life is His gift to them. Jesus lays down His life in death so that His sheep may receive His life. This life is a free gift, sovereignly bestowed on the believer. It is not merited or earned. "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23). We deserve the death penalty because we are guilty sinners, but Jesus paid our debt. "The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Eternal life or salvation to use the apostle Paul's designation for the same gift is free. It is a gift. You cannot purchase a gift. You cannot earn a gift. It is freely given as a gracious gift. The sheep cannot perish because the Shepherd is eternal. He rose from the dead; He lives. No true saint of God will perish. (John 3:16, 36; 5:24; 10:10; Ephesians 2:8-9; Galatians 2:16, etc.) "For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day" (John 6:40). 

"I give them eternal life." John uses "life eternal" seventeen times. This life principle begins in the new birth or regeneration and makes us alive spiritually. Nothing dead can give itself life. The Son of God alone bestows this spiritual life. The Holy Spirit kindles faith in us. This life is "eternal," and goes on endlessly unaffected by physical death.

Lenski writes: "This is the very principle of life which flows from God, is grounded in God, joins to God, and leads to God. Born in regeneration, it pulses in every believer, becomes stronger as faith increases, and reaches its full flower in the glory of heaven. Temporal death merely transfers this life from earth to heaven. Itself invisible, this life manifests itself in a thousand ways and thus attests its presence and its power. When the day of glory comes, its manifestation shall be glorious altogether. No earthly shepherd is able to give life to his sheep; Jesus 'gives' life eternal to his sheep. By way of gift alone this life is ours—free grace alone bestows it, and by free grace 'without any merit or worthiness on our part' it is our possession" (R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of John, p. 755).

A. W. Pink said, "Quite impossible is it for a sheep to become a goat, for a man who has been born again to be unborn."

This gift of life is "eternal," and therefore "shall never perish." Those to whom Christ gives the gift of "eternal life" will "never perish."

How long is "eternal life"? Take the expression exactly as it is written. Do not read something into it or change it in any way. "Eternal life" is eternal life. It is eternal; it is never ending. It is always. It "shall never perish." It is God's kind of life. They may backslide, but they will never perish. If you have eternal life, you have it for all eternity.

F. F. Bruce stresses "this abundant life is called eternal life" and is promised to those who believe in the Son (John 3:15, 16, 36; 6:40, 47). "To have eternal life is to live forever (6:51, 58); negatively expressed, those who have it 'will never see death' (8:51), 'will never taste death' (8:52), 'will never die' (11:26) or, as here, 'will never perish' (apollymi, passive). Physical life may be destroyed, but those who are united by faith to the Son of God, those who belong to the flock of the true Shepherd, can never lose real life, for He keeps it secure. 'No one,' He says, 'will snatch them out of My hand'" (The Gospel of John, p. 232).

When does "eternal life" begin? It began the moment you were spiritually regenerated. The moment you believed in Christ you received eternal life. You either have it or you do not. "And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life" (1 John 5:11-13).   You either have eternal life or you do not have it. You either have the Son or you do not have Him. You are His child or you are not His child.

"They shall never perish" (John 10:28b).

The original is even stronger. It is a double negative ou me: "they shall never – not perish, never." ou mē apolōntai eis ton aiōna ("they will not ever perish") makes better English.

"Perish" (appolumi) never means to suffer annihilation or cease to exist. The idea is to be separated from God or to be punished in hell.

Believers sin, but they have a perfect Shepherd who never loses a single sheep. Everything depends on the Shepherd, not the sheep. Our great Shepherd defends and preserves His flock.

Remember what Jesus told Peter the night before he denied Jesus three times? "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers" (Luke 22:31-32). Sifted, but not rejected.  God perseveres with His saints. "His gracious power is all-sufficient to protect every believer forever," notes Lenski.

"No one will snatch them out of My hand" (John 10:28c).

How big is your God? In contrast to the ravenous wolves, our Shepherd is Sovereign. The wolf attacks and snatches away, but our great Shepherd guards His sheep. Nothing, and no one can touch His sheep without His permission (Romans 8:28-39).

No one can "snatch" them out of our Shepherd's hand. Harpazo has the idea of violence. Not even a violent snatching can remove us from the Savior's hand. "Our continuance in eternal life depends not on our feeble hold on Christ, but on His firm grip on us. . . . They will be saved, no matter what earthly disaster may befall" (Leon Morris, Gospel According to John, p. 521).

Where are you right now? You are in the Good Shepherd's hand. He "raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:6-7). No one will snatch me out of My Savior's hand.

If that were not enough, now it really gets interesting.

"My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all" (John 10:29a).

"My Father" indicates the unique sonship of Jesus. Jesus does not say our Father, but "My Father." "My Father has given them to Me."

The believer is a gift from God the Father to God the Son! "He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world" and gave us to His Son (Eph. 1:4a). The believer is the Father's gift to the Son. You think for one moment He is going to lose His most precious gift? How much did He pay for that gift? (cf. 1 Peter 1:18-21)

Jesus said, "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out" (John 6:37). "This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day" (John 6:39; cf. 17:12; 18:9). "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day" (John 6:44). True sheep believe and follow the Good Shepherd because they are given to Him by the Father. It is all God's supernatural work from beginning to end (John 1:12-13). Again Jesus said, "For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day" (John 6:40). Everyone who has been chosen by the Father and has been "given" by the Father to the Son for salvation will believe and be saved. Those who believe in the Son have eternal life because the Father gave them to the Son. In our own personal experience of coming to a saving faith in Christ Jesus there is the realization that behind this decision to believe on Christ there is the mysterious, unseen operation of God the Holy Spirit and the Father who was drawing us to faith in Christ. He does a work in our hearts that brings us to faith in Christ. God the Father puts the yearning and inclination to come and ability to trust in Christ as our Savior. It is an act of God the Holy Spirit in the lost unbelieving sinner that causes him to trust in Christ.

These verses imply that no true believer will ever lose his salvation. Everyone who believes in the Son has eternal life. If he has received the gift of eternal life he will continue as a believer until Jesus comes and will raise him up to be with Him in glory. True believers are the objects of God's special care and can never be lost.

"No one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand" (John 10:29b).

I am eternally safe in the hands of my God and Savior because absolutely no one is strong enough to snatch me out of the Father's hand. Where am I? I am secure in the hand of Jesus and He is in the Father's hand.

Leon Morris notes, "Notice that the statement here is more far-reaching than that in the previous verse. There we had a future, 'no one shall snatch them'; here it is 'no one is able to snatch them.' This Shepherd is all-powerful and the sheep in His hand have mothering to fear" (ibid, p. 522).

A. T. Robertson keenly observed: "No wolf, no thief, no bandit, no hireling, no demon, not even the devil can pluck the sheep out of my hand. Cf. Col. 3:3 (Your life is hid together with Christ in God). . . . The greatness of the Father, not of the flock, is the ground of the safety of the flock. Hence the conclusion that 'no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.'"

God the Father "according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" (1 Peter 1:3-5). 

"The 'hand of Christ' (v. 28) is beneath us, and the 'hand' of the Father is above us. Thus we are secured between the clasped hands of Omnipotence!" (A. W. Pink, John's Gospel, Vol. II, p. 268).

F. F. Bruce reminds us the apostle Paul expresses this security in the words: "your life is hid with Christ in God" (Col. 3:3). "God and Christ are together engaged to protect believers. Whom Christ protects, God protects; whom Christ keeps in His hand, God keeps in His, and even if it were (mistakenly) thought possible to snatch one of Christ's people from His hand, it is self-evident that no one is powerful enough to snatch anyone or anything (no object is expressed) from the hand of God" (ibid, p. 232).

Jesus draws the conclusion: "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30).

Absolute Deity. We are sheltered in the omnipotent power, protection and security of God's eternal purpose. The Holy Trinity is guarding our eternal salvation. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are in complete agreement as to our eternal salvation. They are not heading off in different directions. They are one in their eternal purpose.  Saved by grace! The Son and the Father are two Persons in the Trinity. Jesus is not saying He and the Father is the same Person as some cults teach.

"Note how carefully both the diversity of the persons and the unity of the essence is expressed here. Jesus says, 'I and the Father.' Hence, He clearly speaks about two persons. . . These two persons never become one person. Hence, Jesus does not say, 'We are one person, but he says, 'We are one substance. Though two persons, the two are one substance or essence. . . .Thus in this passage Jesus affirms His complete equality with the Father" (William Hendriksen, The Gospel According to John, vol.  II, p. 126).

Here is hope and assurance for every believer in Jesus Christ. Because He is the Almighty, no created power is able to resist Him. The Almighty protects His sheep. This great teaching of Jesus guarantees the absolute security of every child of God. A. W. Pink has a great summary in application for us today. He suggests "seven strands in the rope which binds them to God."

1. "They are Christ's sheep, and it is the duty of the shepherd to care for each of His flock! To suggest that any of Christ's sheep may be lost is to blaspheme the Shepherd Himself."

2. "'They follow' Christ, and no exceptions are made; the Lord does not say they ought to, but declares they do. If the sheep follow Christ they must reach Heaven, for that is where the Shepherd is gone!"

3. "To the sheep is imparted 'eternal life': to speak of eternal life ending is a contradiction in terms."

4. "This eternal life is 'given' to them: they did nothing to merit it, consequently they can do nothing to de-merit it."

5. "The Lord Himself declares that His sheep 'shall never perish,' consequently the man who declares that it is possible for a child of God to go to Hell makes God a liar."

6. "From the Shepherd's 'hand' none is able to pluck them, hence the Devil is unable to encompass the destruction of a single one of them."

7. "Above them is the Father's 'hand,' hence it is impossible for them to jump out of the hand of Christ even if they tried to" (Pink, Gospel of John, Swengel, PA: Bible Truth Depot, Vol. II, p. 268).

The apostle Paul, awaiting his execution by the Caesar declared: "For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day" (2 Timothy 1:12).

The life given to the sheep is "eternal," and those who receive it shall "never ever perish." The sheep are eternally secure in the hands of the Good Shepherd.

Don't presume on your relationship with Christ. You are not His sheep unless you hear and respond by following Him. "If you love Me, keep My commandments."

Title:  John 10:22-30 The Christian's Eternal Security

Series:  Life of Christ