In Jason Dohm's sermon titled 'The Marks and Treasures of Jesus’ Sheep,' he explores the continuity of Jesus' teachings on being the Good Shepherd. The sermon delves into the significance of the Feast of Dedication and the historical context of Hanukkah, relating it to the confrontation Jesus faced with Jewish leaders seeking to accuse him. Dohm highlights Jesus' response to accusations, emphasizing that His words and works testify to His identity as the Messiah. The sermon outlines three distinguishing marks of Jesus' sheep: they hear His voice, are known by Him, and follow Him. These marks are also treasures, as Jesus assures His sheep eternal life, safety from perishing, and eternal security in His and the Father’s hand. The sermon concludes by encouraging believers to find joy and assurance in their relationship with Jesus, the ultimate shepherd.

The title of the sermon this morning is the marks and treasures of Jesus's sheep. Last week we concluded four sermons on Jesus's single good shepherd discourse. Jesus is a more efficient teacher than any of your teachers here. He can teach in one discourse what it takes us many weeks to unpack. Now some amount of time has passed.

We'll talk about that in a minute, but the theme continues, Jesus continues to draw upon the word picture of a shepherd with his sheep. So there has been a gap in time, but Jesus is continuing to develop this theme. As we go to our text, let's ask the Lord to help us. Jesus, your sheep hear your voice. You know them.

They follow you. I pray that these would be things that mark us through and through. It would be so evident in how we think and speak and live that we have heard your voice that we're listening to you, that you know us intimately, you call us by name, and that we follow you. We're so happy to be underneath your authority and to walk where you have led. Pray that you would use this text as a great encouragement to unbelievers to forsake their self-idolatry and to believers to rest in you.

Oh, may your people be found resting in their shepherd as a result of these great words. Thank you for them in Jesus' name. Amen. I would like to subdivide the text today beginning with the first three verses. So I'm gonna be reading again John chapter 10 verses 22 through 24.

Follow along. Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter, and Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch. Then the Jews surrounded him and said to him, How long do you keep us in doubt? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly." In these verses, a demand is made. This is much less question and much more demand.

Let's talk a minute about time markers. The last time marker that we had, we have a time marker here, the Feast of Dedication. The last time marker we had was from the early verses of chapter 7 when Jesus and his brothers were preparing to go up to Jerusalem from Galilee to the Feast of Tabernacles. From 7 until close proximity to where we are in our text has been the Feast of Tabernacles, which would be just say mid-October. Now we're at the Feast of Dedication, which is something like mid-December.

So there's been two months. So this we know for sure. From the beginning of chapter 7 to where we are in chapter 10, two months has passed. That means there's a gap somewhere where it's not absolutely evident that there was a gap. Some commentators put the gap at chapter 9 verse 35, putting the gap after the man who had been given his sight by Jesus has been put out from the synagogue and then time passing until Jesus finds him and speaks to him.

So some commentators put the gap there. Other commentators put the gap here between chapter 10 verses 21 and chapter 22. It doesn't really matter. The reason you would put the gap earlier is to preserve the thematic emphasis of the shepherd. If you don't put the gap right here in our text, then you preserve the continuity of Jesus talking about shepherds and sheep.

I don't really care. It doesn't really matter. The text doesn't really say You have to put the gap somewhere. The big thing is we know that really a long period of time hasn't passed between the Feast of Tabernacles in mid-October and the Feast of Dedication in mid-December. We're talking about a two-month time span for all of this.

Now it is the Feast of Dedication. The Feast of Dedication isn't something you'll find anywhere in your Old Testament. The origins of the Feast of Dedication are in the intertestamental time period, meaning the intertestamental period is between the completion of the writing of the Old Testament books and then the beginning of the gospel times, the beginning of Jesus' life. There's about 400 years, they're known as 400 years of silence because no scripture is given during those times, although many of the apocryphal books are written during that time. So the origins of the Feast of Dedication are in this period after the end of the Old Testament writings and the time of Jesus.

In 167 BC, so 167 years roughly before the birth of Christ, the ruler of the Syrians, a man by the name of Antiochus Epiphanes, that name in Jesus' time would have been like the name of Adolf Hitler now. Antiochus Epiphanes is to the Jews what Adolf Hitler is to us and to the Jews in our time specifically. He was the ruler of the Syrians and he invaded and conquered Israel, he conquered Jerusalem, and he erected a pagan altar in the temple. An altar for pagan worship right there in the temple. That's why his name had such infamy during the time of Jesus.

The Jews lost, the Jews were conquered, but the Jews never ultimately gave up. They waged a guerrilla warfare. A guerrilla warfare is when you've been defeated militarily, but you continue a secret war. You continue to attack when you're not expected, and to continue to wage a war from concealment. And in 164, three years later, in 164 BC, a man by the name of Judas Maccabeus, maybe you've heard of the apocryphal book, Maccabees, it's from this name, a man named Judas Maccabeus who was leading the rebellion against this wicked Syrian ruler, defeated the Syrians and liberated Jerusalem and the Jews cleansed and rededicated the temple.

So this feast of dedication is a commemoration of Judas Maccabeus and his victory over the Syrians and the cleansing and rededication of the temple. The Feast of Dedication is also known as Hanukkah. So you know that the Jews are still celebrating this today. Well, they should celebrate the cleansing and rededication of the temple, or sometimes it's called the Feast of Lights. But it's mid-December and it's an eight-day feast or celebration of God giving them victory over their enemies and cleansing the temple of pagan worship.

Jesus is there for this and it's winter. Their seasons match our seasons. So if you look at, If you Google Jerusalem monthly temperatures, I happen to know that you find a calendar and monthly temperatures that they're not exactly our temperatures, but they mirror when our temperatures are going up, their temperatures are going up, and our temperatures are going down, their temperatures are going down. Now in modern times, December in Jerusalem is mid-forties lows to mid-fifties, so they have a little bit milder winter. Of course, That is compensating for global warming.

Jesus is walking in the temple courts. He's walking in Solomon's porch. Solomon's porch is a long row of columns under an awning in the temple court. So the temple proper is the building that you're thinking of that has the altar where the sacrifices are actually being made, but the temple complex is actually much larger than the temple proper, the building of the temple, and there are walkways and courtyards around it. And one of these is Solomon's porch, a long row of columns under an awning, under a roof, which Josephus says was one of the structures which remained partly undestroyed from Solomon's temple.

So Solomon built the first temple and it was destroyed by the Babylonians but it wasn't completely brought to the ground like the Roman destruction of the temple would be in 70 AD. And there were ruins of the temple that remained partially. Solomon's porch was one of these that was later restored and it was a remainder of the first temple. In Acts chapter 5 we learn that the early church was meeting there. So this is actually a really important location in the early life of the New Testament Church.

These New Testament believers were meeting here where we find Jesus in our chapter. The Jews find Jesus here, a very public place in the temple courts, and the Jewish leaders encircled Jesus. When it says the Jews here, often the Jewish leaders, the Pharisees, are the ones meant by the Jews and I believe that's the case here. The exact words of the text are they surround Jesus. If that sounds ominous, it's meant to sound ominous.

They encircle Jesus and they say, Jesus, how long do you keep us in doubt? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly." So again, make no mistake, this is not a question, this is a demand. And the implication from if you are the Christ, from them saying if you are the Christ tell us plainly, the implication is, you've not been speaking plainly. Here's my question. Is this coming from honest seekers Or is something else happening here?

I think the context would tell us so plainly that this is not a question from honest seekers but that something else is going on here. Next week, the first thing that happens in next week's text is they pick up stones. That tells you what you need to know. If you don't understand that this isn't a question coming from honest seekers who genuinely want to know whether Jesus is the promised Messiah or not, you know you will not understand this text. This is something other than that.

These Jews, these Jewish leaders are looking for a clear public declaration that can serve as a basis for accusation and condemnation. That's what's happening in our text. They want out in front of God and everybody, as we would say, a clear public declaration made to the multitudes in the middle of Jerusalem, in the temple courts, that Jesus is claiming to be the Messiah so that they can accuse Him and condemn Him. And in their minds, they get exactly what they're looking for. That's why next week's text will begin with them preparing to stone Jesus.

Let's move on in our text. The next verses that I'd like to consider are 25-27. John chapter 10 verses 25-27. Jesus answered them. To consider are 25 through 27.

John chapter 10 verses 25 through 27. Jesus answered them, I told you and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me. But you do not believe because you are not of my sheep, as I said to you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them and they follow me." Here in these verses, Jesus responds and draws a contrast.

So if you're taking notes on the handout and you're filling in blanks, it's response contrast. Jesus responds and then He draws a contrast to explain Himself. And Jesus begins by denying that He hasn't spoken plainly, or by affirming that he has spoken plainly. He says, I told you. They said, if you are the Christ, tell us plainly.

Jesus says, I told you. He denies that he hasn't been speaking plainly. He affirms that he has been speaking plainly. I told you and you do not believe. That should make us ask this question.

When did Jesus say to these Jews, I am the Christ? You can find him saying that to the Samaritan woman at the well, but you can believe that these Jews hadn't been talking to the Samaritan woman at the well. When did he say to these Jews, I am the Christ? You will not find it, at least not in the Gospel accounts. If you just take what Jesus has said to these Jews in Jerusalem who are surrounding him, he did not say, I am the Christ.

Here is what he has said and what he has said very publicly. In chapter 5 verse 17, when he's being questioned about healing a man on the Sabbath, he said, My Father has been working until now, and I have been working. And in the very next verse, it says that the Jews sought all the more to kill him because he made himself equal with God. They didn't want to kill him because they didn't understand. They wanted to kill him because they did understand.

They're pressing him about healing on the Sabbath, and he says, my father has been working until now, and I have been working, and they said, you're calling God your Father, you're making yourself equal with God. In chapter 6 verse 35, to a multitude in Galilee, After the feeding of the multitude out of just a little bread and a few fish, Jesus says, I am the bread of life. And later in the same chapter, chapter 6 verse 53, He says, Most assuredly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. In John chapter 6, he is making the claim to being the source of spiritual life. If you don't eat my body and drink my blood, there's no life in you." He said that to a multitude in Galilee in John chapter 6.

In John chapter 7, verse 37, he's back in Jerusalem. This is right at the conclusion of the feast of tabernacles he said if anyone thirsts let him come to me and Drink he who believes in me as the scripture has said out of his heart Will flow rivers of living water. This is like him saying I am the bread of life just using a different analogy but again claiming to be the source of any and all spiritual life. I give spiritual life and I sustain spiritual life. If you don't have me and my living waters you don't have spiritual life.

In chapter 8 verse 58 he says, most assuredly I say to you before Abraham was, I am. An unmistakable claim to be the God of Exodus chapter 3, the God of the burning bush. Chapter 9 verse 35, we've just been there to the man who he had given sight to. He said, do you believe in the Son of God? That man said, who is he that I may believe?

Jesus says, you have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you. And in the very next verses it's so clear that the Pharisees are standing right there hearing that because they asked Him about what He's just said. And now in chapter 10 verse 7 he says, I am the door of the sheep. And in verse 11 of our same chapter he says, I am the good shepherd. These are astounding public claims, very public claims in chapter 5, in chapter 6, in chapter 7, in chapter 8, in chapter 9, in chapter 10.

Brothers and sisters, I submit to you that any self-respecting Jew would have understood that these claims could only be the claims of one who was claiming to be the promised Savior. There is zero lack of clarity to what Jesus is claiming if you know anything about your Old Testament. So Jesus says I told you I gave you the word. The things that I've been saying so publicly can only be interpreted one way that I am laying claim to being God's promised Savior. I told you, I gave you the words and I showed you.

I gave you the works. Verse 25, the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me. They were in my Father's name. They are His works given to me to do. Why did the Father give him those works?

Why are they works in the Father's name? You ever think about that? Why did God give his son these works? Well John the Gospel writer tells us. I'm not embarrassed to quote this again.

I quote it almost every week. I'm telling you in advance. I'm going to quote it again next week. But let me give you John chapter 20 verses 30 and 31. And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book.

But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, And that believing you may have life in His name. He did these works in His Father's name. In other words, they were His Father's works given Him to do. Why did His Father give it to Him? So you might know that He's the Christ.

Jesus gave you not only the Words, words said so publicly that can only be interpreted by anyone knowledgeable of the Old Testament in one way to mean one thing that Jesus is laying claim to being the Messiah. He gave you the works. The Old Testament told us what to look for in identifying the Christ. And Jesus has been doing them on every page of the Gospel of John. More on this next week, but probably I've already said too much because that's what next week's text is all about, Jesus pointing them back to the works.

He's been doing the signs of the Messiah and fulfilling the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah. Now in verses 26 and 27, Jesus draws a contrast between those who do not believe and those who do believe. Verse 26 is about those who do not believe. Read it again. But you do not believe because you are not of my sheep as I said to you." He begins by speaking about the heart of unbelief, those who do not believe the claims that he's been making in chapter 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.

I told you, but you do not believe. And then he says, you do not believe because you are not of my sheep as I said to you. Belief, saving faith, those are the same thing. Belief in Jesus, real, genuine belief in Jesus and saving faith are exactly the same thing. You can use them interchangeably.

Is the defining evidence of God's sovereign call on the life of the sheep. That's in this verse. Jesus is teaching that. If you want defining evidence, what is the defining mark of the call of a sovereign God on the life of a person? It's belief.

If you do not believe, remember, as John, the word that Jesus is using in the Gospel of John over and over, believe, believe, believe, has two elements to it. It is assenting to the truths, saying that what God has said about the Christ is true and that the words of his Christ are true, assenting to the truth and also consenting to the person. Meaning that it goes beyond just an intellectual assent to the truth But it also is entrusting yourself to the truth teller, to the one who's telling the truth. It's not just belief as if you could go into a classroom and see the truths written out on a chalkboard and say, I accept that and be saved. No, you're also entrusting yourself fully to the one who wrote with the chalk on the board.

Both of these things wrapped up in the word that Jesus is using in the Gospel of John for belief. Ascending to the truth, consenting to the person, if you do not do that you are not part of the flock of God. And the reverse is true. If you are not part of the flock of God, you do not believe. You can say it in either direction, both being true.

Jesus then says, as I told you, I already told you you're not in my flock and so you don't believe. When did he say that? Well, just in our chapter, in chapter 10 verse 3, the sheep hear his voice, the sheep hear the shepherd's voice. I just told you that. Or in our chapter, verse 4, chapter 10 verse 4, the sheep follow him for they know his voice.

The sheep follow the shepherd because they recognize the voice of the shepherd. You don't recognize my voice. I am the good shepherd, therefore you are not of my flock." Or chapter 10 verse 14, in our chapter verse 14. I am the good shepherd and I know my sheep and am known by my own." So without even leaving the chapter, you can demonstrate that Jesus has already begun to say these things or has already said these things to them. Also consider chapter 8.

Flip back to chapter 8 for a minute. Chapter 8, consider again what Jesus said in verses 42 through 47 to probably many of exactly the same people. Chapter 8 beginning in verse 42, Jesus said to them, If God were your Father, you would love me, For I proceeded forth and came from God, nor have I come of myself, but He sent me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word." Jesus is teaching exactly the same thing here in our text in chapter 10 as he was in chapter 8 in that text continuing in verse 44.

You are of your father the devil and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell the truth, You do not believe me. Which of you convicts me of sin?

And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?" Now here's the punchline in chapter 8. He just said, if I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Verse 47, He who is of God hears my words, hears God's words. He who is of God hears God's words. Therefore you do not hear because you are not of God.

Indeed, He has told them these things already. He's saying it again, but He's not saying it for the first time. He already said it in chapter 8. He already said it earlier in chapter 10. Now He's saying it again.

By contrast, verse 27 speaks of those who do believe. Look again at verse 27. I'm back in chapter 10, verse 27. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, And they follow me. Jesus says three things about his sheep, three things that are true of his sheep.

Three marks of his sheep, three evidences that you are his sheep. Things that are true of his people but are not true of these unbelieving Jews who are surrounding him, encircling him, making demands of him. Number one, Jesus' sheep hear His voice. This is not just sound waves on eardrums. They can hear that Jesus is saying words and making sounds.

That's not what He's talking about. His sheep hear his voice and when they hear him their hearts impulse is, that's my shepherd. That's the voice of my shepherd. Listen to what he said in chapter 5 verses 25 through 26. Again, this is Jesus in chapter 5 verses 25 and 26.

Most assuredly I say to you the hour is coming and now is when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. Jesus is teaching in chapter 5 that He has life in Himself. He's not alive, He is life. There's a difference.

You're alive, you are not life. You can't draw life from yourself and give it. You don't have the capacity to make someone else alive Jesus has the capacity within himself to make you alive and so he has a voice that can call your dead spirit from the grave and you hear his voice and he he's saying in our text this has happened to my sheep I I spoke and I called them out of a state of spiritual deadness and have given them life out of myself and they hear and they keep hearing. They have the ability to hear my voice and when they hear my voice their heart leaps and says, that's my shepherd. One, Jesus' sheep hear His voice.

It's the beginning of their life, but it's just the beginning of their life. They keep hearing Him and keep hearing Him and keep hearing Him. Two, Jesus' sheep are known by Him. Jesus' sheep are known by Him. Jesus' sheep are known by Him.

Not they know Him. That is true. Jesus' sheep do know Him, but that's not what Jesus is saying. Jesus is saying the opposite. Jesus is saying, I know them in verse 3, here in our chapter, in chapter 10, verse 3, he said, he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out." He's talking about the shepherd and then he'll go on to say, I'm the shepherd.

What does he say of himself and his sheep? He says, I call them by name. I know each one of them individually and I lead them out by name. This is cloudy to us. Why?

Because some people claim to know Jesus but they don't actually know Jesus. They have a life that even a secret life that we could never see that is different than the profession of their lips is so cloudy to us. What we're learning here is it's not cloudy to Jesus. He sees into every heart, he knows each one that belongs to him because they've been given to him by his by his father that's in our text I'm not quite there yet I'm giving you a preview of verses to come his father gave them to him so false profession is nothing to Jesus. He always sees right through a false profession into the heart.

He knows the sheep that are His because they're a gift of His Father to Him. Jesus knows exactly who He is shepherding as His own and He shepherds them perfectly because they're His. And He knows them. Have you ever thought about this? He knows exactly how to shepherd you.

He knows exactly how to shepherd you. He knows all the tricks of the trade. I don't want that to sound too cheap. Doesn't that sound too cheap for Jesus? He knows the tricks of the trade.

But He knows every heart string to pull there in you, individually. There's one of the, see there's a Psalm or a Proverbs that says he fashions their hearts individually. He knows you by name. He calls you by name. He knows you.

The only reason you would ever know Him is because He knows you. He knows all the tricks of the trade in shepherding you in an effective way that keeps you in a flock even though you might have predispositions where you would destroy yourself if left to yourself. He hasn't left you to yourself. He knows you so He can shepherd you perfectly. That was two, Jesus' sheep are known by Him.

Number one, Jesus' sheep hear His voice. Number two, Jesus' sheep are known by Him. Number one, Jesus' sheep hear His voice. Number two, Jesus' sheep are known by Him. Number three, Jesus' sheep follow Him.

Hey, don't just talk about Him. They actually follow Him. They really do, not just assent to the truths about him and by him. They really consent to the person. They really entrust themselves to him in the way that a sheep entrusts itself to its shepherd.

These word pictures are meaningful. Think about how a sheep entrusts itself to its shepherd. It fully entrusts itself to him. They actually, his sheep actually follow him. They don't just talk about following him, They actually follow Him.

These are set forth, these three marks or evidences are set forth by the Good Shepherd as the marks of His sheep, as the marks of Christians. A person who claims to be a Christian, all three of these things should be true of them. That they hear the voice of Jesus, they listen to Him. That they are known by Him. You can tell that they're being shepherded by a perfect shepherd who knows them intimately, who knows how to move them, who knows how to bring them back when they stray.

They follow him. The New Testament knows nothing of Christians who do not listen to Jesus and who do not follow Jesus. Does that even need to be said? The New Testament knows nothing of that kind of Christian. American Christianity knows all sorts about Christians who don't hear, who don't listen to Jesus, and about Christians who don't follow Jesus.

In fact, they feel free to contradict Him. Plain things that He has spoken, they say, that's not true. We're entering, year by year, more into a world of insanity in American Christianity. You see the drift happening. You see people who claim the name of Christ, who feel free to contradict things that he has said and feel free to just ignore what he said and not follow him.

The New Testament doesn't know anything about a Christian like that. Jesus says, as for my people, they are known by these three things. They hear my voice, they are known by me, and they follow me. You can see the inner relationships between those things. So that is Jesus' response.

I told you, I gave you the words, and I showed you, I gave you the works. And He contrasts those who do not believe and those who do believe. Now in our last verses, verses 28 through 30, Jesus says, And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand.

I and my father are one." In these verses Jesus unveils the treasures of his flock. So if you're taking notes on the handout filling in blanks it's unveils treasures. Jesus unveils, he pulls back the curtain a little bit, so that you can see the treasures that are the possession, the inheritance of His flock that they begin enjoying immediately. Don't have to wait for this inheritance, you can enjoy it immediately. First, the marks of Jesus' sheep are also the treasures.

What do I mean by that? I mean when I want to talk about the treasures of the flock, I want to back up to what we were just talking about and saying that hearing his voice and being known by him and following him are actually the greatest treasures of his flock. So we're going to talk about eternal life and never perishing and being kept by God. You know what? That is icing on the cake.

The cake, here's the secret. The shepherd himself is the greatest treasure of the sheep. So he lists other things. They're wonderful. We should praise God and rejoice in them.

But Jesus Himself is our great treasure. So if you have to forget something, forget this list in 28-30. And your heart can still be captivated for all eternity with what he's already said. You don't even need to consider any of these other things now. You can just fix your eyes on Jesus and feast.

He is the greatest treasure of his people. Listen to what Martin Luther says. By the way, did you recognize we sang a song by Martin Luther, By Grace Alone? Not his music, but his words. He wrote the words to buy grace alone.

So we're hearing from the great performer twice this morning, one in singing that song now by hearing a quote from Luther. Luther says, The sheep, though the most simple creature, is superior to all animals in this, that he soon hears his shepherd's voice and will follow no other. Also he is clever enough to hang entirely on his shepherd and to seek help from him alone. He cannot help himself, Nor find pasture for himself, nor heal himself, nor guard against wolves, but depends wholly and solely on the help of another." on the help of the sheep. What's he saying?

Sheep are stupid. But Luther says they're smart enough to do this. They're smart enough to entrust themselves to their shepherd. They can't help themselves, they can't find pasture for themselves, they can't heal themselves, they can't protect themselves from predators, but they're smart enough to stick close to their shepherd, and that makes them smart enough. That's what Luther says.

And in the Christian's case, it's not just self interest, but real affectionate attachment. I think Eastern shepherds would say actually that word picture, there actually is a real affectionate attachment between the sheep and the shepherd. But how much more so for Christians. It is a real relationship of love in both directions between sheep and shepherd. Meaning the shepherd knows them.

He initiates this love relationship. You didn't initiate the love relationship with Jesus Christ. You love him because he first loved you he knew you he used the tricks of the trade Buried in your heart that I could have never known but he knew to bring you to himself And He caused you to love Him. He loved you first and caused you to love Him. So is there self-interest?

You better believe it. I can't care for myself. I can't find pasture for myself. I can't heal myself. I can't protect myself from the predators out there.

Heaven help me if I have to rely on my own smarts and my own faithfulness and my own strength. But He has loved me first. And He has made me see Him as all lovely. He's captured my heart. This is what the shepherd does.

He uses the tricks of the trade of your heart to teach you to love Him. He captures your heart. He woos you. He brings you into a real affectionate attachment and into a love relationship where you know that He's the right one to depend on. You learn to forsake depending on yourself.

You begin to depend upon Him because you've learned. He teaches you, you can't depend on you. You need one greater than you to depend on. So this is the great secret of our text, that the shepherd is the chief treasure of his people. But he also unveils three more treasures.

Number one, I give them eternal life. This is a treasure of Jesus' sheep. I give them eternal life. Again, we encounter Again in the gospel of John what we've encountered multiple times before I've lost count Eternal life is the present possession of believers It's not out there after you show that you're faithful and persevere. It is the present possession of His people.

Because after all, Your perseverance is really your preservation. Meaning your faithfulness in holding to the gospel is really dependent upon God's faithfulness to you. It's really just a reflection of his faithfulness. He is guaranteeing it with his faithfulness. If you find yourself to be faithful, you know that God has been at work in your life.

If you wasn't at work in your life, you wouldn't be faithful. You would abandon all these things to go serve your lusts. Has life not taught you that yet? Life has taught me that. God has taught me that through the things that he's brought me into my life.

So this is one of the three treasures that he unveils that is the present possession of his people. I give them eternal life. Number two, they shall never perish. This is a treasure that belongs. It is the rightful inheritance of Jesus' sheep.

They shall never perish. Sheep appear totally vulnerable to death at any second. When you look at a sheep, if you could design prey, what would you have? You would have a sheep. That is the ultimate description.

That picture belongs next to the word pray in the dictionary. Pray. Not fast, not strong, not smart. Totally vulnerable to death at any second. Either from predators or from their own cluelessness.

Hey, sheep die from predators And sheep die from just their own cluelessness every day in this world, all the time in this world. They'd be exposed to the elements or drowning themselves or, or, or. They are vulnerable to death in any second. Why aren't these sheep vulnerable to death at any second? Because of their shepherd.

That is true of sheep in their own nature. That is not true of sheep under the care of a good shepherd. It's not true of those sheep because of the shepherd. It's his job to keep them from the imminent death that they would face from predators or from their own cluelessness and he takes it seriously. He acts not like a hireling but as the one who owns the sheep and he guarantees their safety.

Number three, no one or nothing shall snatch them out of my hand. That's the third treasure that he pulls back the curtain on just a little bit so that you can see it. No one or nothing shall snatch them out of my hand." That's the third treasure that he pulls back the curtain on, just a little bit so that you can see it. No one or nothing shall snatch them out of my hand. I'm actually adding words.

I'm saying no one or nothing because The Greek that is rendered here can be a person or a thing. It can be either one. That word was chosen by Jesus because He keeps you safe from it all. The people and the things. Any personality in heaven and on earth, Jesus keeps you safe from any that would seek to harm his people.

No weapon fashioned against them can prosper. No thing, no human personality or demon of hell, no circumstance of life, no hardship that has been brought upon you can snatch you out of his hand. The Greek word rendered snatch here, no one or nothing shall snatch them out of my hand, it literally means to seize, to carry off by force. No one can seize you out of Jesus' hand and carry you off by force. Now if we knew Greek, which I don't and you don't, I think, largely, there Might be an exception in this room.

But not knowing Greek, we don't know that Jesus has already used that word in this chapter because our translators did us the disservice of rendering it differently. I'm sure they had good reasons, but it's unhelpful in this sense that English speakers don't know that he's already used this same Greek word in verse 11 when he said, a hireling sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. What the New King James translators rendered catches in verse 12, the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them is what is rendered snatches or snatch in our verse. So Jesus gives a hypothetical in verse 12 of a hireling who abandons the sheep and the wolf comes and seizes and carries off by force one of the sheep. But now Jesus is clarifying that of his sheep that will never happen.

That will never happen. Send all the wolves. Send a thousand packs of wolves. They cannot seize you and carry you off by force because of the hand that holds you but what happens hypothetically in verse 12 is an impossibility for his sheep it's an impossibility no No wolf is strong enough to seize you and carry you off by force because of in whose hand you live and reside. Listen to Paul in Ephesians 1, 3-3-6.

This is Paul in Ephesians 1, 3-6. He's thanking God for these recent pagans, pagan converts in Philippi. Philippi was filled with Greco-Greece and Roman paganism. Filled with it. But people got saved at the preaching of the gospel in Philippi.

Here's what he writes to these former pagans. Paul writes, �I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine, making requests for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now. Verse 6, Philippians 1 verse 6, being confident of this very thing that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. What's another way to say that? Paul had ultimate confidence, no doubt in his mind, that his fellowship in the gospel with these Philippians, They were joined together through one gospel that saves Jews and Gentiles alike.

Their fellowship in the gospel meant that the one who had started a good work in their hearts would be faithful to bring it to completion all the way until Jesus returns. So will he see these Philippians in heaven if he never sees them again on earth? Absolutely, there's no doubt in his mind. How does he know that? Because it's not based on the ability of these Philippians to withstand the cultural pressures in Philippi.

That's not what's going to determine this. Whether they'll relapse into their paganism. Because a good shepherd has undertaken them into his care. A good shepherd has undertaken them. And he knows all the tricks of the trade.

When they begin to wander off, when they begin to collapse under the pressures of this pagan city and this pagan culture, He knows how to draw them back by working on their heartstrings, by confronting sin. Fellowship in the Gospel brings us under this shepherd. That's what he's saying. And once you're under this shepherd, the good work that he starts, he finishes. Not because you're strong enough, good enough, faithful enough, but because he's strong enough, good enough, faithful enough to deliver on his promises to you.

That's the whole point. He's strong enough, good enough, and faithful enough as the good shepherd to deliver on every one of his promises to you and he promises if he begins this work in your heart that He'll bring it to completion. Here's what the Expositors Bible commentator says, The preservation of the sheep is the task of the shepherd. True? Isn't that the shepherd's job?

Keep the sheep alive. The preservation of the sheep is the task of the shepherd. It is up to him to keep them safe. The salvation that we receive in response to our faith is a salvation that cannot be lost because it is safeguarded and guaranteed by none other than Jesus Christ Himself. Morris writes, so this is a commentary that's quoting another commentary, Morris writes, Our continuance in eternal life depends not on our feeble hold on Christ, but on His firm grip on us.

Exactly! Our continuance in eternal life depends not on our feeble hold on Christ, heaven help us, but on His firm grip on us. Or as J.C. Ryle says, His hand holding them, not their hand holding Him, is the true secret of their safety and perseverance. It's His hand.

The hand that matters is the hand that holds the people of God. Jesus's hand. If you have saving faith you're in the hand of the Good Shepherd and also in the hand of the one who sent the Good Shepherd to claim you. Look again at verse 29. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand.

So whose hand are we in? To be in Jesus' hand is to be in the Father's hand. To be in the Father's hand is to be in Jesus' hand. Jesus and the Father are one. Jesus and the Father are one.

We're not there yet. We're not to John 14 yet, but I'll quote it in advance. In John 14 verse 8, Philip says this to Jesus, Lord show us the Father and it is sufficient for us. Jesus will be satisfied if you show us the Father. Verse 9, Jesus said to him, Have I been with you so long and yet you have not known me, Philip.

He who has seen me has seen the Father. So how can you say, show us the Father? Jesus says, I and my Father are one. To see Jesus is to see the Father, to be in Jesus' hand is to be in His Father's hand, He and His Father are one. Here again we have the building blocks of the Trinity.

This is another text where we have the building blocks of the Trinity. One God, three persons. God in three persons. John the Gospel writer has built his whole gospel on this great foundation stone. John 1.1.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Two, Both God. Two and one. And again the Jews perfectly understood what he was saying. So in the very next verse, fast forwarding into next week's text, They're going to pick up stones to kill Jesus.

Not because they didn't understand, but because they perfectly understood what he was saying. He was claiming to be God. Applications, I have four of them. Number one, If you don't believe in Jesus, if you don't assent to the truths and also consent to the person and trust yourself to Him, lack of clarity or Lack of evidence isn't the problem. That's the favorite diversion of the unbeliever.

You haven't been clear enough or there's no proof. Not true. That's your diversion for the rebellion and stubbornness in your heart. The real problem is you want to be God and you won't humble yourself and let go of your self-pride and your self-love and so you say, You haven't told us plainly enough. There's not enough evidence.

It's in this text. It's in the heart of every human that's ever been born. Christians, people who have been brought into the family of God, can look back and say, that was true of my heart. I've made all sorts of excuses, but really I just wanted to be God. So that's application number one.

If you don't believe in Jesus, lack of clarity or lack of evidence isn't the problem. Your heart is the problem. Number two. Jesus' sheep hear His voice and follow Him. There are no other kind of sheep that belong to Jesus.

And really, if you look at the parable that Jesus gives in Matthew 25, there are only sheep and goats. Only sheep and goats. The New Testament knows nothing of sheep that don't hear Jesus' voice and follow him. It should help us as we consider other people, but more importantly, as we work out our salvation with fear and trembling, examining ourselves, this helps us. Jesus doesn't have sheep that don't listen to him am I listening to Jesus Jesus don't have sheep that don't follow him am I following Jesus application number three don't blame Calvinism on Calvin poor man And don't even blame it on the Apostle Paul.

I've done this for so many years. I've said this about a hundred times in my lifetime. Don't blame Calvinism on Calvin blame it on Paul It's dawning on me more every chapter as we work through the gospel of John that Jesus is the root of this problem. If Calvinism is a problem, Jesus is at the root of it. Was Calvin perfect?

Did he teach these things perfectly? No. But the things that he taught about the sovereignty of God are rooted in the things that Jesus Himself said. Calvin heard it from Paul, and Paul heard it from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. We saw it in John chapter 6 verse 37.

Just listen again. I know we've been there. This is from a different sermon, but John 6 verse 37, all that the Father gives me will come to me. Isn't this exactly what he's saying in this text? My Father has given me sheep and they will come to me and the one who comes to me I will by no means cast out.

Ones who come to Him have been given to Him by His Father and He keeps them. He has the power to keep them. It's exactly what's being said again in John chapter 10. Number four. Oh, consider the treasures.

Oh, consider the treasures. This is an inheritance that you can start enjoying today. What treasure of the sheep of Christ Can you not start enjoying today? Well, he's the Shepherd himself is the chief treasure. Hearing his voice, being known by him, following him, we can enjoy Christ today.

We're not waiting for heaven for that. It's perfected in heaven. I'm confident that even the sweetest joys that we have now will compare to seeing Him face to face. But we can begin enjoying that now. We can hear His voice now.

We can follow Him now. Eternal life has begun. It is the present possession for his people and we will never perish that is a treasure that That his sheep will never perish is a treasure that you can enjoy now. Meaning, living in that truth sets you free from a life of fear. You say, well, I'm a sheep.

What could be more vulnerable than a sheep? Here's the question, what can be less vulnerable than a sheep in the hands of this shepherd? That's the real question. And the question we're being taught to ask so that we won't live in fear. We can rest in the hand of our shepherd.

Father, thank you for your word. Make us happy. Make us happy in your word. Make us happy in who you have claimed to be, one sent from the Father to save the people by the shedding of his own blood and then to keep them in a relationship of love where you know us and you call us by name. You know all the tricks of the trade to pull on our heartstrings to Keep us in your fold.

Thank you for your great faithfulness. Help us to enjoy it. Help us to rest in it, oh God, this week. Today, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.