John 10:25 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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John 10:25

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Of course, he had told them, quite explicitly enough in the past, and even in his previous sermon in the temple, just two months earlier. They had questioned him before then, and through the chapters of John he has told them very plainly. But he is not going to tell them today. He is not going to tell them anymore. He is going to point to the evidence rather than to make an explicit statement. Why? Well, for two small reasons and one big one. The two small reasons, first of all his time was not yet come. He is not going to court assault and arrest. Then secondly, if he tells them they will completely misunderstand him, because in their opinion when Messiah comes, he will be a political Messiah, who will get rid of the Romans, and set up a great army and a kingdom. So if he says, I am Messiah the Son of God, they will say, well, where is your army? He has been patiently trying to teach them, but they will not take it in – I am a spiritual Messiah. I have come to give my life. You read that in chapter eight, but they will not take that in. So he is not going to tell them plainly, I am Messiah, because they are attaching completely the wrong meaning to that.In fact, and this is the big reason, he is not going to tell them anything plainly because they are not willing to hear it. And this is how God deals with us. If we are not willing to hear him, we will not know; we will not be told; we will not understand. We will be under a kind of judicial blindness. He will not communicate it to us. Because they were not his sheep and the Spirit of God had not opened their eyes but they were lost in human rebellion and obstinacy, they were not going to get an explanation. There had not been miracles among the Israelites for centuries, and now amazingly, astonishing healing, thousands of them. And they hardened their hearts. Every healing was the voice of the Father saying: This is my beloved Son, hear him. Every time Christ healed a leper, cast out a demon, gave sight to the blind, raised the dead, it was the voice of God: This is my beloved Son, hear him. Each healing was a statement from God, an authenticating statement. And the leaders would not hear, would not listen.

Application

Before we can understand, before we are given the truth, before we will take it in, there must be a work in our hearts. We are so obdurate and stubborn. The Holy Spirit must illuminate us, and open our hearts, and give us, by his regenerating power, desire and need to hear, and readiness to believe. And then we are given a plain understanding. When anyone preaches the Gospel, or when you teach the Sunday school children and the youth, when you witness, we are dependent upon the Spirit of God to open eyes. Without that, people will understand nothing. We do not go into our acts of witness and preaching with self-confidence. Perish the idea that we should ever think: I am getting good at this, at explaining these things to people. We depend upon the prior work of God to open hearts. The cleverest people in the world will not really understand the question to believe it unless the Spirit prepares the heart. So we do everything we do with great dependence upon God and humility. Lord, open their hearts. Lord, enable them to see. We depend upon him. We pray to him.

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John 10:25 Commentary and Bible Study