He Will Hold You Fast

Gabriel Yoder

The Gospel of John • Sermon • Submitted a year ago

John 10:22–30

Salvation

Endurance

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John 10:22-30

Jude 24-25- Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

The Feast of Dedication

Not on OT instituted feast

Antiochus Epiphanes took Jerusalem in 167BC and set up a pagan altar in the temple

The Jews revolted and finally under the leadership of Judas Maccabaeus in 164BC they took back the city

The Jews instituted an 8-day celebration of the rededication of the temple in our month of December, now called Hanukkah

It is here that we find Jesus walking among the Jews in Jerusalem again

How long will you keep us in suspense?

Very literally- “at what time will our soul be lifted up?”

They are greatly annoyed with him

They have heard Jesus make many claims about Himself

He has already made 4 “I Am” statements

I Am the bread of life (6:35)

I Am the light of the world (8:12)

I Am the door (10:7-9)

I Am the good shepherd (10:11-15)

He has repeatedly claimed divine Sonship

He has declared that He has been sent by the Father and from the Father

He has claimed unity with the Father

Yet they have only responded in hardness, unbelief, and anger

They want Jesus to clearly say “I am the Messiah”

He will not give them such a statement

Most likely because of the distorted ideas that the Jews had about what the Messiah would be

Why do they not believe?

They do not believe because they are not His sheep

He does not anyone to be left wondering why they are so hard in their unbelief

They are not His

If they would be His, they would hear and believe

Every single one of Jesus’ sheep listens to Him and follows Him

Every single person who is not one of His sheep does not believe or follow Him

He is not a weak Savior who can do nothing but beg sinners to come to Him

He is the powerful shepherd who calls and His sheep come, and if they don’t come they aren’t His

Noone snatches His sheep away

He gives them eternal life

The abundant life that Jesus gives will never end

He has come to give His sheep life so satisfying and fulfilling that words and imagination both fail us as we try to grasp it

They will never perish

Isn’t this the same as eternal life?

If life is eternal, then it will never end, and therefore perishing is out of the question

He means for us to see the impossibility of the perishing of even one of His sheep

John 11:25- Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,

Every time that the NT writers emphasize the keeping work of God, it is connected to some dimension of His electing work

1 Peter 1:3-5- Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Philippians 1:6- And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 1:11-14- In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.

He and His Father hold His sheep secure in their hand

His Father is greater than all

There is no greater power than that of our God

Sin isn’t greater

Death isn’t greater

Satan isn’t greater

Human will isn’t greater

The greatest power in the world is like a speck of water vapor being crushed under a tsunami in the ocean of God’s power

He and His Father are one

The power that the Father wields is the same power of our Good and gracious Shepherd

Though the thieves and wolves threaten for a time, they will be utterly laid waste by one swift blow

He will soon go to the cross and deliver this decisive blow that ensures not one of His sheep will be lost

Fear not little flock

Luke 12:32- “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

He will not let you go

If you are His through faith, nothing can separate you from His love

I want to close by reading Romans 8:29-39 as way of application, and then read the first two verses of our closing song

Romans 8:29-39- Bible

It gives God great joy to keep you to receive His kingdom

He Will Hold Me Fast-

Verse 1

When I fear my faith will fail, Christ will hold me fast

When the tempter would prevail, He will hold me fast

I could never keep my hold through life's fearful path

For my love is often cold; He must hold me fast

Verse 2

Those He saves are His delight, Christ will hold me fast

Precious in His holy sight, He will hold me fast

He'll not let my soul be lost; His promises shall last

Bought by Him at such a cost, He will hold me fast

Manuscript

Jude 24-25 says “Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”

Do you sit here this morning as a man or woman who is trusting in the person and work of Jesus through faith? I pray that if there are any of you who cannot answer with an assured “yes” to that question, that the Holy Spirit would come over the course of this sermon and grant you eyes to see Christ’s beauty and a heart to believe in the truth of the gospel. But for the rest of you who are answering “yes” to that question, I have a follow-up question. How do you know that you will still be a Christian when you die? What confidence do you have that you will make it and that your faith won’t one day vanish or be destroyed? I want us to reckon with this question, because when the season comes that your faith is being tested you will need a rock of assurance to stand firm on.

The Feast of Dedication

Our passage this morning opens with a new scene. It is winter time and jesus is walking in Solomon’s colonnade, which is in the temple. It is here that the Jews are about to ask Jesus a question, but first I think that it is helpful for us to stop and give the context so that it will land on us with the truth and historicity that it ought to have. Jesus is not here at this time because He had nothing better to do. He is here for the Feast of Decication. So, what is the Feast of Dedication? Because if you are a very astute Old Testament scholar, you will recognize that the Feast of Dedication is Found nowhere in the Old Testament Law or History. This is because the Feast of Dedication is not an Old Testament sanctioned feast.

So, by way of a brief history, we can see why the Jews were celebrating an unsanctioned feast. The Syrian king Antiochus Epiphanes and his army took Jerusalem in 167BC. Upon capturing the city, he set up a pagan altar in the temple and sacrificed pigs on it to his gods. Actually, many scholars (myself included) see this event as the near/physical fulfillment of what Daniel describes in his prophecy as the abomination of desolation. It defiled the temple to sacrifice unclean animals to the pagan gods. The Jews didn’t allow this to go without resistance and so a rebellion began to grow. The rebellion gained strength and then under the leadership of Judas Maccabaeus in 164BC they took back the city from the Syrian invaders. The Jews rededicated the temple to the Lord and instituted an 8-day celebration of the rededication of the temple in the month of Kislev (our month of December), This celebration is now called Hanukkah, and it is here that we find Jesus walking among the Jews in Jerusalem again.

How long will you keep us in suspense?

Now, the Jews find Jesus and they gather around Him to ask a question. They ask “How long will you keep us in suspense?” Their question, very literally, is “at what time will our soul be lifted up?” They are clearly greatly annoyed with him and they aren’t hiding it. But what do they want Him to clearly say to them? They want Jesus to tell them if He is the Christ, the promised Messiah. But we need to recognize that they have heard Jesus make many claims about Himself. He has already made four “I Am” statements about Himself that have clearly drawn attention to His claim of divinity. He said: I Am the bread of life (6:35), I Am the light of the world (8:12), I Am the door (10:7-9), I Am the good shepherd (10:11-15). He has also repeatedly claimed divine Sonship. He has declared that He has been sent by the Father and from the Father. He has claimed unity with the Father. He has made all of these statements and claims, but yet they have only responded in hardness, unbelief, and hot anger.

What whey really want Jesus to do is to clearly say “I am the Messiah.” They want those four words given to them directly. But He will not give them such a statement. This is most likely because of the distorted ideas that the Jews had about what the Messiah would be. Jesus was not the Messiah of their making, and He was not going to use language that would open that possibility up to them.

So why do they not believe? In verse 26, Jesus says that they do not believe because they are not His sheep. He does not want anyone to be left wondering why they are so hard in their unbelief. They are not His and so they do not believe. Notice, He does not say that they are not His sheep because they do not believe. He says that they do not believe because they are not His sheep. The ground for not believing is not belonging. If they would be His, they would hear and believe. And so it is with every one of Jesus’ sheep. Every last one of them listens to Him and follows Him, and every last person who is not one of His sheep does not believe or follow Him.

Why is this so significant? It is significant because He is not a weak Savior who can do nothing but beg sinners to come to Him. This is often the picture that Christians have in their mind of Jesus. That He is a loving Savior who died for the sins of all who come to Him, but He only stands with arms wide open and pleads with sinners to come. Of course, it is true that He pleads with arms wide open toward sinners to come to Him, but He does not merely do so. As He pleads he also creates what He commands. To those who He knows are His sheep, who need to come into the sheepfold through faith, He calls and He powerfully works in their hearts so that they will come without fail. He is the powerful shepherd who calls and His sheep come, and if they don’t come they aren’t His.

Noone snatches His sheep away

Now we come to verses 28-29 and we ought to simply take a step back to marvel at what we see. He gives them eternal life. The abundant life that we saw Jesus talk about last week is life that never end or fade or become dull. It lasts in ever-increasing fullness forever. He has come to give His sheep life so satisfying and fulfilling that words and imagination both fail us as we try to grasp it. But He doesn’t stop at giving eternal life. He says that these sheep will never perish. Isn’t this the same as eternal life? If life is eternal, then it will never end, and therefore perishing is out of the question. But I think that He means for us to see the utter impossibility of the perishing of even one of His sheep. We see will see this more fully in John 11:25, where He says “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,”

I want to take a step back and recognize something. Almost every time that the New Testament writers emphasize the preserving work of God in the life of believers, it is connected to some dimension of His electing work. For example, 1 Peter 1:3-5 says “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” Philippians 1:6 says “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” And Ephesians 1:11-14 says “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.” This list of passages goes well past these few references, and the point becomes clear- God will keep you believing because He is the One who granted you the faith in the first place. He is the giver of New Birth and the New Birth cannot be undone.

Jesus says that He and His Father hold His sheep secure in their hand. His Father is greater than all authorities and powers. He is the creator of them all and He sustains them by the Word of His power. There is no greater power than that of our God. He is infinitely greater. Sin’s power isn’t greater than God’s power. Death’s power isn’t greater than God’s power. Satan’s power isn’t greater than Gods power. Human will isn’t greater than God’s power. The greatest power in the world is like a speck of water vapor being crushed under a tsunami in the ocean of God’s power. He does all that He pleases and it pleases Him to give His sheep life and to keep them secure in the faith that brough the life.

It’s at this point that Jesus makes one more point about His connection to the Father. He and His Father are one. What He wants us to see this morning, as we read this, is that this power that the Father wields is the same power that He has as our Good and gracious Shepherd. Though the thieves and wolves threaten for a time, they will be utterly laid waste by one swift blow from His rod. He will soon go to the cross and deliver this decisive blow that ensures not one of His sheep will be lost. He not only purchased your salvation on the cross. He also died that He might deliver the decisive blow over sin and death and Satan, and that He might ensure that His sheep will never once be lost.

Fear not little flock

Therefore, "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32). He is not stingy with His power to keep you. He will not let you go.

I want to end by simply reading Romans 8:29-39 was way of application and then read the first two verses of our closing song. Romans 8:29-39 says: For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This word is for you this morning, Christian. It gives God great joy to keep you to receive His kingdom, so trust that He will be faithful to hold you fast.

I want to read the first two verses of our closing song and I pray that these words will resound in your hearts this week.