I and the father are one

Introduction

Our passage this morning is set in the Jewish holiday of the Feast of Dedication. This feast is what we now know as Hanukah. In the year 167 BC the Syrian king Anticohus Epiphanes was returning from his conquest in Egypt and entered Jerusalem and having pillaged the city, proceeded to pollute the temple with sacrifices to false God’s, burning the scriptures of the Jews and putting to death anyone who dared to confront him. This led to a revolt led by Judas Maccabaeus which eventually resulted in the Jews regaining control of the city and the temple.

Therefore, it is winter and the Jews have gathered for this celebration. Summer and Autumn have since passed and nothing remain but cold deadness. The leaves which were once green and beautiful have fallen and died. I remember as a child watching my grandfather’s garden grow in the spring and summer. It was beautiful with flowers and vegetables. However, when winter came what was once filled with beauty and color was now brought to dark deadness and decay. The cold of winter is an appropriate backdrop for the conversation that is about to take place. Indeed, when winter comes we anticipate spring. But, to stay in winter will surely bring death.

What we will find this morning, though the season will surely change from winter to spring there is no indication that the warmth will be enough to thaw their cold hearts. They have gathered to celebrate the consecration of the Temple, yet the refuse to believe the one who has been consecrated by God to redeem those who believe in him. It is interesting, here we find the true and eternal temple of God being rejected.

“Christ in fact perfectly accomplished what the Maccabees wrought in a figure, and dedicated a new and abiding temple”

“Christ in fact perfectly accomplished what the Maccabees wrought in a figure, and dedicated a new and abiding temple”

The Q n’ A

So, here we find Jesus walking alone through Solomon’s portico when he is approached by a group of Pharisees. It is said that these Jews “gathered around” or “surrounded” Jesus. This word is only used four other times in scripture and two of those four are referring to armies encircling their enemies. In other words, while this may seem like an innocent question, it is certainly not. There are two ways that we can understand this question. One, is that they are asking Jesus in hopes that he will be the long awaited messiah and the other is that they are wanting to trap him in his own words. In other words, they are seeking an opportunity to accuse him of blasphemy. D. A. Carson notes,

There are two ways that we can understand this question. One, is that they are asking Jesus in hopes that he will be the long awaited messiah and the other is that they are wanting to trap him in his own words. In other words, they are seeking an opportunity to accuse him of blasphemy. D. A. Carson notes,

The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Gospel according to John a. Jesus the Messiah (10:22–30)

This suggests that the Jews are not seeking for clarity in order to worship him without restraint; rather they want to obtain from him an unambiguous statement that would provide an adequate basis for their attack.

In reality they are saying, “If you are greater than Solomon and Maccabeus tell us no with confidence! Why wont you speak plainly to us?” This week I read one commentator who said, “Shall the victory that we celebrate today be carried some day for thee?” Their words are incredibly antagonistic. They are tired of figures of speech and parables. Remember last week when Jesus told of the door and the gate keeper? How did they respond? “But. they did not understand what he was saying to them.”

They Just wanted plain truth, clearly spoken, without any question of who Jesus is. They needed an irrefutable confession. We could read this verse more clearly to say, “If you are the Christ, tell us that we will understand well.”

Furthermore, their tone is almost as if to say, “

Chapter 2: Jesus turns water into wine

Chapter 3: John the baptist declares Jesus to be the Messiah.

Chapter 4: Jesus heals the officials son without being any where near him.

Chapter 5: Jesus heals a man who had been paralyzed for 30 years.

Chapter 6: Jesus miraculously feeds an estimated 12,000 people.

Chapter 7: Jesus applies the Messianic passage of to himself.

Chapter 8: Jesus applies the Messianic passage of to himself.

Chapter 9: Jesus heals a man born blind.

Chapter 10: Jesus calls himself the good shepherd.

The truth is, Jesus never withheld who he was. The reason that these people could not see Jesus for who he was is because they lacked the facts, it is because they lacked faith. It was not because of intellectual ignorance. It was because of spiritual ignorance.

The answer

The answer

The maneuver that Jesus does here is brilliant. Notice that he answers their question without answering it. He does not say, “Alright guys, since it is obvious you are not going to drop this. I will tell you, I am the Messiah.” Instead he says, “I told you, and you do not believe.” You see, Jesus never called himself the Messiah in public but just a few verses up he said, “I am the good shepherd” which would have possibly led them to recall . Not only that but he has told them that he will give his life for the sheep which by itself just seems noble. Yet, when he adds, “I lay down my life that I might take it up again”. But, did they truly lack information about who Jesus is? Let’s take a moment to review.

Chapter 2: Jesus turns water into wine

Chapter 3: John the baptist declares Jesus to be the Messiah.

Chapter 4: Jesus heals the officials son without being any where near him.

Chapter 5: Jesus heals a man who had been paralyzed for 30 years.

Chapter 6: Jesus miraculously feeds an estimated 12,000 people.

Chapter 7: Jesus applies the Messianic passage of to himself.

Chapter 8: Jesus applies the Messianic passage of to himself.

Chapter 9: Jesus heals a man born blind.

Chapter 10: Jesus calls himself the good shepherd.

The works that he does bears witness about who he is. No man could have multiplied the bread and the fish, no man could have healed the man born blind, no man could have healed the officials son, and no man had ever raised the dead. The works the Jesus performed should have been sufficient evidence for who he was. No mad had ever done such things and no man sense has. Since the time of Christ his works can be seen all around us. There are those perhaps in this room today who are asking, “How long will you keep us in suspense?” Church, I tell you this morning that if you are sincere in your question do not be held by doubt any longer. However, examine your heart to determine if you are like these Jews whose hearts are calloused and the only sincerity that can be found in them is the sincere desire to make Jesus a fraud.

But, Jesus takes it a step further. The works that he does bears witness about who he is. No man could have multiplied the bread and the fish, no man could have healed the man born blind, no man could have healed the officials son, and no man had ever raised the dead. The works the Jesus performed should have been sufficient evidence for who he was. No mad had ever done such things and no man sense has. Since the time of Christ his works can be seen all around us. There are those perhaps in this room today who are asking, “How long will you keep us in suspense?” Church, I tell you this morning that if you are sincere in your question do not be held by doubt any longer. However, examine your heart to determine if you are like these Jews whose hearts are calloused and the only sincerity that can be found in them is the sincere desire to make Jesus a fraud.

The truth is, Jesus never withheld who he was. The reason that these people could not see Jesus for who he was is because they lacked the facts, it is because they lacked faith. It was not because of intellectual ignorance. It was because of spiritual ignorance.

“For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.”

;36

John 5:36 ESV

But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me.

“But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me.”

The verdict

What could possibly prevent them from believing what Jesus has said? He has told them, he has shown them and still they do not believe. The greek wording when Jesus says, “You do not believe” could be literally translated as “You had/have no desire to believe” or “You did not want to believe.”

Indeed before Christ, our desires are against believing in him. Our will is to reject him at every front. Paul declares in , “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying our the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”

Yes, each of us in this room if we have believed in Christ were at once enemies of his. We were those who opposed him. We were these people! It was not something we merely chose to do but rather it was our nature from birth. From our first cry we were in opposition to Christ. However, it was not merely this that Christ reveals about his opponents in this passage. It’s not that they had no desire to believe but had Jesus clearly said, “I am the Messiah” they still would not have believed. In other words, Jesus is saying, “Even if I told you plainly you still would not believe.” Why? Because you are not my sheep.

Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice, my sheep follow me” and there something I want to draw our here incase we miss it. Jesus is not making the point here primarily of the sheep’s hearing and following but rather of the deafness and stubbornness of these people. They do not hear and the do not follow and it is because they are not among the sheep. When the shepherd comes to call his sheep these people do not come. This goes back to last weeks passage when the shepherd comes and calls the sheep by name it is not the names of these that will be called.

Oh but what comfort we find in these words. We are Christ’s sheep! Believer, you can find rest in the word “my” this morning. You are Christ’s by choice, you are a gift to him by the father and you have been bought with a price as the shepherd has laid his life down for you. We you went astray he came and found you. When you were in distress and caught in the thorns of your sin the shepherd rescued you. To be a possession of the shepherd means you are secure, safe.

He knows his sheep. Is that not an incredible declaration. Church, Christ knows you. He knows you personally, through and through. He knows your sins that he may forgive them and your sickness that he may heal you. Oh what a blessed thing it is to be known by him.

But, hear the distinguishing marks of the sheep. They follow him. Consider back to last week’s text, when the shepherd calls his sheep they are separated from the rest and they distinguish the difference in his voice and the voice of strangers.

Do you hear his voice this morning? If you are among the sheep you will hear and you will follow. Whose voice are you following?

Security in the sheepfold

Our text again connects back to last weeks text. We have been told that Jesus give an abundant and full life to those who are his sheep but now he begins to define what that life is. “I give them eternal life”, he says. The result in Christ knowing his sheep is eternal life! I think there is a misconception in the church that says that our eternity is secured in our believing. As a young child I remember the calls for people to believe so that they may have eternal life. While our believing is necessary for this life it is not what secures it.

Jesus declares, “I will give them eternal life and no one will snatch them out of my hand.” Your eternity does not rest in your great faith but in the great faithfulness of the shepherd. No one can snatch you out of his hand. The trustworthiness of the gospel really hinges on this fact. It is the will of the father that Christ preserves all who have been given to him by the father.

“All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

Not only this, but the security of the sheep rests in the greatness of the father as well. It is the father who has given them to his son. Nothing that Jesus has done has been independent of the will of the father. Like Paul says in ,

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

“Your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”

Jesus says his father is greater that all.. This means his father is greater than your

-financial security

-social status

-and yes, the father is greater than your presidential candidate and the political atmosphere of our country. In this we can resonate well with these Jews. The security that is found in Christ far surpasses and security you might find in your government.

I think D.A. Carson says it well, “The ultimate security of Jesus’ sheep rests with the good shepherd.”

If Jesus makes you alive you will never die. If Jesus adopts you, you will never be alone. If Jesus calls you, you will come! When this world is gone and history is a memory Jesus will still be holding you fast! Church, you are safe and secure with the shepherd. Nothing, no one and no situation is strong enough to remove you from the shepherds grip.

It is becoming obvious that Jesus is better that Judas Maccabeus and Solomon. The question is church, who or what are you trusting in for your ultimate security?

The oneness of the father and the son

The oneness of the father and the son in this text needs to be understood in light of the over all context of the passage. Jesus is saying, “I and the father are one in preserving the sheep.” It is the fathers will that the sheep are preserved to eternal life and he has given Jesus the responsibility to ensure that happens. In other words, Jesus and the father are one in what they do. What Jesus does, he does so by the will and direction of the father.

John has already given us enough evidence to show that Christ is divine.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

Yes, from the beginning of John’s gospel he thought it important to begin with the deity of Christ. He was in the beginning with God and he was not merely from God, he was God.

Therefore, in the context of our passage we find the Father and the Son not only in complete agreement of who the sheep are but also on what the future of the sheep is. Is this not incredible? There is not an ounce of disagreement with the Father and the Son in saving the sheep. The father gives the sheep to the Son and in agreement with the father the Son preserves them until the end. This is what Christ was sent to do! Verse 36 Jesus describes himself as the one who was consecrated and “sent into the world.”

That word consecrate implies that Christ was separated, set a part for this task. It is the same word we see in when the instructions for the outer walls of the temple are given, “He measured it on the four sides. It had a wall around it, 500 cubits long and 500 cubits broad, to make a separation between the holy and the common.” It is the same word used for the separation of the Holy place from the most Holy place in the tabernacle. Christ was set a part to do what only Christ could do! No other man could do this!

Church, on the cross as the imagery of the shepherd laying his life down for the sheep comes to life there was no question in the Son’s mind of who he was dying for. Indeed he knew who his sheep were. Not just his sheep who heard his voice then, but his sheep who have heard his voice today and his sheep that will hear his voice tomorrow and the next day. Yes church, Christ knew his sheep and laid down his life for them in complete agreement and submission to the Father. There was no question of what would happen to the sheep, for the sheep hear the voice of the shepherd and they come to him and the shepherd gives them eternal life. No one can snatch the sheep out of the hand of the shepherd.

20 He measured it on the four sides. It had a wall around it, 500 cubits long and 500 cubits broad, to make a separation between the holy and the common.

Church, on the cross as the imagery of the shepherd laying his life down for the sheep comes to life. There was no question in the Son’s mind of who he was dying for. Indeed he knew who his sheep were by name. Not just his sheep who heard his voice then, but his sheep who have heard his voice today and his sheep that will hear his voice tomorrow and the next day. Yes church, Christ knew his sheep and laid down his life for them in complete agreement and submission to the Father. When Jesus went to the cross it was the sheep that he was thinking of! Erik Raymond said,

Yes, the unity we see here between the father and the son is one of purpose. T

“It is the sheep of Jesus that are on his mind as he approaches the cross. He does not go to the cross with the sheep of Joseph Smith, the sheep of Muhammad, or the sheep of Buddha on his mind. No, he goes to the cross with HIS sheep on HIS mind.”

“I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.”

I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

“I and the father are one”, says Jesus and if you have ears to hear this morning there is no sweeter truth, no more powerful words, no

The Jews wanted plain language from Jesus. They expected a yes or a no. However, Jesus gave them so much more than what they expected.

Continued hardness of the Jews

This is not the first time that the Jews threatened to put Jesus to death by stoning. and the Jews sought to kill Jesus and the reason was the same— he claimed to be equal with God. In most cases this was the time when Jesus would retreat. However, he was not done with them yet and stays to confront them further. “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?”, he asks. Can you imagine that? A group of people are standing there ready to execute you and you calmly ask, “Why?” The compassion and grace that is seen here is out of this world. One may see Jesus as trying to win the argument but he is not. Jesus stays to further help them see their error, to call out in hopes that they will hear.

In most cases this was the time when Jesus would retreat. However, he was not done with them yet and stays to confront them further. “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?”, he asks. Can you imagine that? A group of people are standing there ready to execute you and you calmly ask, “Why?” The compassion and grace that is seen here is out of this world. One may see Jesus as trying to win the argument but he is not. Jesus stays to further help them see their error, to call out in hopes that they will hear.

I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?”

But, it is not his works for which they are going to stone him. The miraculous works of Jesus means nothing to these Jews. It is his words. Indeed the words of Christ have been offensive for many. You see, Jesus’ words “I and the father are one” mean much more than the father and son agree. It means that salvation is found in no other name. We have been seeing an increasing sympathy, even in our churches, to a pluralistic world-view. It is offensive to take Jesus’ words for what they mean, and what they mean is if your faith is not in Christ, the Son of God you will not have eternal life. It means that Buddha, Krishna, nor Mohammed will save you. It means that “good people” do not make it to eternity. Jesus is emphatically clear that HE is the one who gives eternal life.

Yes, even today there are those who take up stones because of this claim. Even today there are those who wish to corner Christ, interrogate him and in the end discredit his message. But, church we are those who boldly go into the world and declare the truth of the gospel! When the world picks up their stones we stand compassionately pleading with them to believe. However, I am afraid that we often miss the example of Christ here. Because, I myself far too often pick up my stones to throw back. May this not be so.

We have approached the end of this conversation and Jesus leaves them with one last plea, “ 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.”

No, the works and signs of Christ are not enough to cause one to believe. We saw that in chapter 6 after Jesus fed the multitudes. “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.” However, the works of Christ reveal who he is. All he does expresses the will of the father and therefore reveal the character of God. You see, the signs and miracles are not merely tricks for our entertainment. But, they do manifest the character of God, his love, wisdom and grace.

If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; 38 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.”

Believe the works, Jesus says because if you are of my sheep my works will tell you who I am. My works will show you that I and the father are one. Jesus never stopped pleading with them to believe.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

Now, you may be scratching your head at this point and wondering, aren’t these the same folks that Jesus just said could not believe because the are not his sheep? And now he is pleading with them to believe? Yes, because here we see the true heart of the gospel. Remember the parable of the seed? The gospel goes out to all and is to be shared relentlessly with everyone. Church, in this text we find not only the heart of Christ but his hope for us as the church.

Is there a person who you have given up on? You have determined that they will never believe? Consider now, the compassion and patience of Christ. Will you likewise go into the world with the same?