John 10:22-42: Words and Works

Notes
Transcript

Scripture Reading

John 1:14–16 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’ ”) For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.

Intro

Who is Jesus?
It is the most important question you can ever ask.
It’s a question that determines your salvation and eternal destiny.
And it’s a question we’ve asked again and again because John repeatedly brings up throughout his Gospel and John 10:22-42 is no exception.
Who is Jesus and how can we know?
What evidence is there?
These are all questions Christ answers in this passage.
And the Big Idea for our passage is this…

Jesus is the Messiah and Son of God and the only way to be saved is through humble, repentant faith in Him.

Now if you’re thinking, “I think I’ve heard this sermon before…”
You’d be right.
In preaching the Gospel of John, I’ve joke with my wife that it feels like a majority of my sermons are some version of:
Jesus is the Messiah.
Jesus is God.
Jesus gives eternal life.
It feels like every sermon has those same three points.
But that’s precisely wha the Gospel of John is all about.
John 20:30–31 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
And it makes sense that in the first half of the book… which theologically is known as the Book of Signs…
John would be hammering this theme again and again because the Gospel of John was written to invite us to faith in Christ…
And if we already have faith in Christ… to invite us into deeper and more abiding faith in Christ.
And that’s the overall flow of this passage as a whole.
Right before one of Jesus’ greatest signs in raising Lazarus from the dead…there is a controversy between Jesus and the Jews about who He is where Jesus appeals to His works to prove He really is the Messiah and the Son of God.
But the Jews ultimately reject Jesus in unbelief where then John ends the passage with a group of people coming to faith in Christ to beg the question what will you do with Jesus?
And that’s the pattern we are going to follow today… the Apostle’s own pattern and outline of His argument so that you and I today may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
So let’s start with point number 1…

I. Jesus’ Works Reveal and Prove He is the Messiah

John 10:22–24 At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
John 10:22 picks up about two months after John 10:21 left off.
There Jesus was in Jerusalem celebrating the Feast of Booths and here He is back in Jerusalem celebrating the Feast of Dedication (John 7:2).
The Feast of Dedication was not a Feast commanded by God in the Old Testament but actually started in between the Old and New Testaments.
Today it is commonly known as Hanukkah and it celebrated the rededication of the Temple after the Jews ousted the Tyrant King, Antiochus Epiphanes, who had desecrated the Temple by sacrificing a pig on the altar and installing an idol in the sanctuary.
All of this was prophesied in the book of Daniel, and this is what the Jews were celebrating (Daniel 8:9-14, 23-25, 11:21-35).
And while there, the Jews gathered around Jesus and said to Him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
They were not genuinely searching.
They had already determined to excommunicate anybody out of the synagogue who confessed Jesus to be the Christ (John 9:22).
They were trying to trap Jesus into saying He was the Messianic King so they could hand Him over to the Romans and charge Him with insurrection to get Him out of the way (John 11:48).
The very thing they eventually did (John 18:29-33, 19:12).
And in verse 25, Jesus gave His answer.
John 10:25–26 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep.”
Jesus answered their question in two ways.
I have told you. I have told you with my words and I have told you with my works.

Words

I told you and you do not believe.
Throughout all of His teaching and all of His conversation Jesus had told them who He was.
We see this most clearly in the I Am Statements throughout the Gospel of John.
I Am the Bread of Life.
I Am the Light of the World.
I Am the Door of the Sheep.
The Good Shepherd.
And in the next few chapters He will say I Am the Resurrection and the Life...
The Way, the Truth and the Life…
And the True Vine.

I Am Statements

In all the I Am statements, Jesus takes the Divine Name, I AM and applies it to Himself.
The Name of God revealed to Moses when God sent Him to deliver His people from slavery and bondage in Egypt.
So by saying I Am, Jesus was saying I Am the Son of God incarnate in Human flesh and the Messiah-Savior whose come to save His people from their sins.
And then all the metaphors are pictures of what that salvation is like.
The Bread of Life who satisfies the hunger of our souls.
The Light of the World who opens blind eyes.
And the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for the Sheep.
But even with all His teaching, the Jews did not believe Him.

Works

But Jesus had not only told them with His words, He had also told them with His works.
The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep.
Jesus’ works refers to all of Jesus’ miracles which John identifies as signs all throughout His Gospel.
And the signs of Christ bore witness about who He was in really two ways.

Sent

Number 1…they proved He was from the Father.
Nicodemus one of the Pharisees had even said we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him (John 3:32).
And in John 5:36 Jesus Himself said The very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me.
Jesus’ signs should have been enough for the Jews to listen to Him and believe who He was.

Signs

But there’s a second way Jesus works bore witness about Him, and that’s in their capacity as signs.
You see, for John, Jesus’ works…His miracles…His signs were not just awesome displays of power, they are theological in nature.
They are living, breathing sermons that spiritually and theologically point to who Jesus is and what He came to do as the Messiah and the Son of God.
Make no mistake…They are true… real… honest-to-goodness miracles.
But they are also miracles that have a spiritual and theological significance for anyone that has the spiritual eyes to see.
And the works… and the signs that John wants us to have in mind and be thinking of in this passage are the very ones found in the Gospel of John.
For John they were specifically and meticulously chosen because they are signs that particularly reveal Jesus as the Messiah and the Son of God.
In the very last verse of the book, John says that Jesus had done so many miracles that if they were all written down the world itself would not be able contain all the books (John 21:25).
But these were chosen specifically.
And we’ve already looked at the spiritual significance in previous sermons.

Water into Wine

The Water into Wine was not just a miracle about a free party (John 2:1-12).
It was a sign that Jesus was the Promised Messiah who would bring the joy and the blessing of God’s banquet feast of salvation and the full forgiveness of sins and true cleansing in His blood under the New Covenant.
That’s why it was six stone water jars used for the Jewish rites of purification all filled to the brim (John 2:6-7).
Its in Christ that we have the joy of salvation… wine…
And true purification…the stone jars…where God promises to forgive our sins and remember our iniquities no more (Hebrews 8:12).

Official’s Son

The Healing of the Official’s Son at the point of death when He was miles away reveals Christ as the One who saves and gives eternal life by His free, merciful and powerful grace (John 4:43-54).

Invalid

The Healing of the lame man who had been an invalid for 38 years by the Pool on the Sabbath revealed that Jesus is the source of true healing and true rest when we are lame…hopeless…and helpless to save ourselves (John 5:1-17).

Bread

The Feeding of the Great Multitude from five loaves and two fish wasn’t just a free lunch (John 6:1-15).
It was Jesus as the True Bread from Heaven, the Son of God incarnate in human flesh who gives life to everyone who feeds and believes on Him.

Walk on Water

He walked on water to reveal that He is Almighty God who tramples on the waves and our gracious Savior who delivers us from the wind and the storm (John 6:16-21).

Man Born Blind

Most recently, in just the last chapter, He opened the eyes of a Man Born Blind to reveal that He is the Light of the World who saves us from our true spiritual blindness and the misery of our sin as we are all sinners who are born spiritually blind.

Lazarus

And in the very next chapter Jesus will raise Lazarus from the Dead to show that He is the resurrection and the Life who alone can save us from sin and death.
The raising of Lazarus is why, by the way, this whole discussion of Jesus’ works and His identity come up right before it in chapter 10.
This argument with the Jews was paving the way and preparing us for the sign coming up in the very next chapter, outside of the resurrection itself, that most clearly reveals Christ and the good news of the gospel.
A man lying dead in the grave being raised from death to life.
Jesus’ works prove and reveal that He is the Messiah.

Summary

The answer to their question was all right there.
In Jesus words and in Jesus signs.
It couldn’t be any plainer.
The Jews just refused to believe.
And the reason they refused to believe was because they were not among Christ’s Sheep.
Christ’s sheep being those the Father has given Him (John 10:29).
Those Christ’s knows and calls by name (John 10:27, 3).
Who follow Him into green pastures and still waters of eternal life (John 10:4-5).
And that’s what Christ promises in verse 27.
John 10:27–30 “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, 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.”
Jesus is the Messiah who gives eternal life.
That’s what all of His works…and all His words were given to reveal.
And that salvation is an eternal salvation for all who believe.
They will never perish. 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.
This verse is one of the most important verses that teaches the Eternal Security of the Believer.
About how all those who are truly in Christ will never ultimately lose their salvation because they are kept safe in the Almighty Father and the Son.
And when you put it with what the rest of the New Testament says about how we are sealed with the promised Holy Spirit who is the guarantee of our inheritance, we are kept safe in the hands of the Almighty Triune God (Ephesians 1:13-14).
To get into all this verse says on Eternal Security and perseverance would take us a whole sermon to get through which we might actually do.
But for this sermon, what we need to see is that all those that believe in Jesus Christ as the Messiah have eternal life and are eternally secure…
And the reason we have eternal life and are eternally secure is because Jesus and the Father are one.
This is a huge statement…one that launches into a whole other in the next set of verses.
The Jews had come to Jesus and said if you are the Christ then tell us plainly (John 10:24).
And Jesus’ answer was basically, I have already told you I am the Messiah, and not only that, I am infinitely so much more.
I and the Father are One…I am the eternal Son of God incarnate in human flesh.
And that’s point number two…
Not only to Jesus’ works prove He is the Messiah.
They also prove He is the eternal Son of God.

II. Jesus’ Works Reveal and Prove He is the Son of God

John 10:30–33 “I and the Father are one.” The Jews picked up stones again to stone him.
If anyone ever tells you Jesus never claimed to be God, go to this verse.
When Jesus says I and the Father are one, that word in Greek is in the neuter and not masculine…
Well, what does that mean?
Jesus is not saying that He and the Father one person.
That’s heresy.
What He’s saying is that He and the Father are one Being, One Substance, in the neuter: One Thing of the same mind, will, purpose, and essence.
This is what we saw in John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Jesus is distinct from the Father in His person… with God… but one with the Father in His essence or being… was God… and one with the Father in His mind, mission, purpose and will.
This is the Doctrine of the Trinity…One God… One Divine Being… eternally subsisting in three divine persons…Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
So when Jesus says I and the Father are One, He is clearly claiming to be the Eternal Son of God incarnate in human flesh.
And this is clearly how the Jews understood it because they immediately picked up stones to stone Him.
Verse 32…And
Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.”
If Jesus had ever wanted to clear up that’s not what He meant, this would have clearly been the perfect time to do it.
This was the fourth time they had tried to kill Him for claiming to be God and if that wasn’t what Jesus was saying He could have used any of those opportunities to say so.
But He doubles down.
John 10:34–36 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken— do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?”
Jesus quotes Psalm 82 and basically the argument goes like this.
In Psalm 82, God called Israel’s judges gods… lower case g… as His representatives.
And Jesus’ point isn’t to downplay His own divinity.
Well God called those mortal men gods so what’s the big deal if I’m doing it.
No…Jesus’ argument is from lesser to greater.
Jesus’ point is that if God called mortal men gods in His Word as His representatives…
How much more appropriate would it be for Jesus who is the Eternal Son of God incarnate in Human flesh, consecrated by the Father and sent in to the world to take that title upon Himself and say I am the Son of God?
Jesus is the true incarnation and representative of the Father.
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God…And 2:9: in Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily (Colossians 2:9).
Hebrews 1:3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.
Jesus is God!
And so here’s the irony as it comes to our passage…
By accusing Christ of blasphemy, the Jews were missing out on the glorious grace of Christ in His Incarnation.
A man did not make himself out to be God like they said.
God made Himself a man.
And God made Himself a man to save us from our sins.
To be born under the Law…His own Law!
And to satisfy all the righteous demands of the Law we failed to live and then bear the penalty and curse of the Law by dying in our place for our sins.
And as the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature He is the full revelation of God and the only way to know God and draw near to the Father.
I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6).
As the Messiah and the Son of God, Jesus is the only way to be saved… forgiven of your sins… and have eternal life.
Jesus continues with verse 37…
John 10:37-39 “If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”
So up until this point the Jews have rejected Him.
He’s not the Christ… He’s not the Son of God.
And so Jesus says If I’m not doing the works of my Father then don’t believe me.
If my miracles are nothing… then just ignore everything I say.
But if I do them… even if you don’t believe me…believe the works…
What do the works say?
What do they tell you?
Who do they say that I am?
All the healing… all the blessing… all the power…. what does it all mean?
Jesus again appeals to His works to prove, both in power and theologically, that He is the Messiah and the Son of God.
How can He be doing these things if He’s not true in what He says?
Just take one of the signs… the most recent one that should have still been fresh in the Jews minds… the opening of the eyes of the Man Born Blind.
And the Jews’ should have saw that and said, “You know Isaiah said the Messiah would come and open the eyes that are blind (Isaiah 42:6-7).
And didn’t Exodus 4:11 say “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?”
Maybe Jesus really is who He says He is. Maybe He really is the Messiah and the Son of God…
They might not have believed in Jesus but they should have believed His works.
But they hardened their hearts… verse 39…
Again they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands.
Instead of believing in Jesus they rejected Him in pride and unbelief.
They came to Jesus saying, Tell us plainly are you the Christ or not.
And Jesus said I’ll do you one better.
I am the Christ… I am the Messiah…
And more than that I’m the eternal Son of God and the proof is in all my works.
But the Jews refused to believe and they sought to kill Him instead.
And that takes us to point number 3…

III. Faith in Jesus is the Only Way to be Saved and Have Eternal Life

John 10:40–42 He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing at first, and there he remained. And many came to him. And they said, “John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.” And many believed in him there.
So verse 39 ended with the Jews outright rejecting Jesus and seeking to arrest Him.
With not believing in Him or His works.
And as what usually happens in the Gospel of John anytime we get a picture of the proud…hard-hearted…and self-righteous unbelief of the Jews, John comes in with a picture of genuine saving faith.
And that’s precisely what we have going on here.
Jesus went away again across the Jordan…And many came to Him…and many believed in Him there.
Remember, this fits with John’s overall purpose and goal of His book.
That you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name (John 20:31).
We’ve already seen that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
But what does it mean to believe and have life in His name?
What does that look like?
We see it through these disciples from across the Jordan, and in these disciples, John is calling us to true saving faith and giving us a picture of what that faith actually looks like.
Just notice the difference in how John describes their faith compared to the self-righteous and proud unbelief of the Jews.
The Jews had seen Jesus do many great signs. They had witnessed them with their own eyes.
And yet in their pride, they rejected all of Jesus’ powerful signs and refused to believe.
These disciples on the other hand did not need powerful signs…they did not need amazing wonders.
John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.
All they needed was the testimony of John the Baptist…the humble words of a humble prophet who did no sign but only pointed to Jesus saying He must increase, I must decrease (John 3:30).
So what you see is the Pharisees reject Jesus in pride, self-righteousness, and unbelief even in the face of indisputable and amazing signs and wonders…
While these disciples come to Him with simple humble faith through the preaching of the good news of the gospel…the proclamation of Christ’s glorious person and work.

Simple Humble Faith

What does faith look like?
Simple…humble…faith.
Humble belief…humble trust.
Faith by its nature is a self-emptying grace.
It says I have no sufficiency in myself.
I can’t save myself.
I have nothing to give…I have nothing to bring.
My only hope is you.
Faith by its nature looks outside of itself for salvation.

Receiving and Resting

Saving faith is “receiving and resting on” Christ.
Its receiving Christ…receiving all that He is and all that He has done.
Its receiving Him as the Son of God and Messiah.
Lord and Savior.
Our Prophet, Priest, and King who gave up His life for us.
Who died in our place for our sins and is the only hope for our salvation.
That’s why saving faith is also resting on Christ.
Its putting all of our trust in Jesus and leaning on Him alone for the salvation of our souls.
Simple, humble faith…receiving and resting on Jesus Christ.
Coming to Christ empty handed with no good works or righteousness of our own and saying God be merciful to me a sinner (Luke 18:13-14).
And what does Christ promise?
All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out (John 6:37).
And John 10:28–30 I [will] give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
All that come to Christ including you to day will be saved and kept forever in the hand of Almighty God for eternal life.

The Baptist’s Testimony

But that beg’s the question, what are we to believe?
What are we to receive and rest all of our hope and souls on concerning Jesus Christ?
And that’s where John the Baptist comes in.
The people who believed in Jesus said, John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.
Well what did He say?
What was John the Baptist’s Testimony concerning Jesus Christ that led these people to believe saying everything that John said about this man was true?
Thankfully, John the Apostle has already told us in the Gospel of John.
We looked at most of these before in a sermon titled, “The Baptist’s Testimony,” but they bear repeating here now.
True, saving faith is simple and humble faith that receives Jesus Christ and rests wholeheartedly on His glorious person and work…
But what are we to believe?
What was John the Baptist’s testimony where everything John said about Jesus Christ was true?
There are 6 things.

1. Deliverer and Redeemer

Number 1…Jesus is the Deliverer and Redeemer.
When asked who he was John the Baptist said in John 1:23 “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord.’”
This was a prophesy from Isaiah and in the context of the Prophesy, God promised to send a deliverer to lead His people out of Exile into the Promise Land in a New and Greater Exodus.
And this prophecy was ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
He is the True and Greater Moses who delivers us in the True and Greater Exodus out of our exile and the wilderness of sin and death into the Promise Land of Eternal life and the fullness of Salvation.

2. Great and Glorious God

Number 2…Jesus is the Great and Glorious God.
In John 1:27 John was talking about Jesus and described Him as the one whose strap of [His] sandal I am unworthy to untie.
This was a job reserved only for the lowest of slaves.
And what’s interesting is that Jesus Himself described John as the greatest man that had ever lived (Matthew 11:11).
And here, the greatest man that had ever lived, says next to Jesus I’m lower than the lowest slave.
I’m not anyone.
Jesus is so great and glorious that the greatest man that had ever lived was unworthy to even untie His sandals.
That puts Jesus infinitely higher than all of us!
As the Messiah and Son of God, He is infinitely Great and Glorious and worthy of all our love, adoration, and praise.

3. The Lamb of God

Number 3…the Lamb of God.
Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29).
He is the Lamb of God who died in our place for our sins.
The perfect, once for all sacrifice that made full atonement for all our sin once and for all and satisfied the wrath of God on our behalf in His death on the cross.
The wages of sin is death, and He shed His blood to pay the debt that our sins deserved so that through faith in Him we could be forgiven of our sin and have eternal life.
And that takes us to number 4…

4. The Mediator of the New Covenant

Jesus is the Mediator of the New Covenant.
John the Baptist said I baptize with water, but this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit (John 1:33).
This was the Promise of the New Covenant.
Ezekiel 36:25–27 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is true cleansing…true forgiveness…its being born again.
And so as the One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit, Jesus is the Mediator of the New Covenant that He sealed and ratified with His blood where God promises to forgive our sin and remember them no more (Hebrews 9:15, 13:20).

5. The Son of God

Number 5…the Son of God.
John 1:34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.

6. Joy and Life

And finally in John 3:28-30 John the Baptist says Jesus is the source of all joy and the One who is worthy of all of our life.
This joy of mine is now complete. He must increase…I must decrease.
Christ is the purpose of my life. I live for Him.
And in Him is all my joy and life.
The same Idea is in Jesus’ words where Jesus said Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life (John 4:13-14).

Summary

This is the hope we have in Jesus Christ.
He is our Deliverer and Redeemer.
Our Great and Glorious God who is worthy of all our worship.
The Lamb of God who takes away all our sins and removes them from us as far as east is from the west (Psalm 103:12).
The Mediator of the New Covenant where God promises to forgive our sins and remember them no more.
The Son of God who took on Human flesh and laid down His life on our behalf to satisfy once and for all the wrath of God our sins deserved.
And the Fountain and Source of all Joy and the One worthy of all of our life.
Lord and Savior.
Messiah and the Son of God.
The One True Mediator who alone can save us from our sin.
John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.

Conclusion

With the end of this passage John poses a simple question.
The same simple question posed to us today as we close out our sermon.
Jesus is the Messiah and Son of God…the Savior of the World (John 4:42).
What are you going to do about it?
What will you do with Him?
Will you reject Him in pride and unbelief like the Pharisees or will you come to Him with simple, humble and receive the free and gracious gift of eternal life?
Will you perish in your sins or will you come to the Good Shepherd who so loved the Sheep that He laid down His life for them?

Christian

And for the Christian…through Jesus’ works and John’s testimony…we are invited into deeper and abiding faith in Him.
In what all of Jesus’ works… and all John’s words… all point to.
A greater faith and devotion to Christ who is:
The Lamb of God
Mighty to Save
Lord and Savior
And the fountain and source of all joy and all life.
Does our faith receive and rest on Christ in all His words and works reveal Him to be?

Let’s Pray

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