John 10:3 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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John 10:3

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The porter must be God the Father or the Spirit, the divine acceptance of the Son by the Father. God approves everything the Son does. The Father says, ‘This is my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear him. Listen to him.’ ‘To him the porter openeth’, and he is authenticated in so many ways, by his own mighty miracles, by his teaching, and by various people. Remember Simeon, and the nativity of Christ, and Anna. God had his witnesses. Then he grew and came to his own ministry, and was identified by John the Baptist. So he was authenticated by messengers, authenticated by the voice of the Father, authenticated by his power.You might also say, he was authenticated by his extraordinary protection from the scribes and the Pharisees, until the moment comes for him to lay down his life. Here he is moving freely in Jerusalem when there are plots to take him and efforts have been made and will continue to be made, but he walks through the midst of them. Did they ever think: Why can’t we arrest him? Why can’t we touch him? It is all part of God’s authentication of him. ‘And he calleth his own sheep by name.’ Among the Jews there would be many who would reject him, and there would also be many who would hear his word and would respond to him and become his own children. They would follow him out of that particular sheepfold. The Jewish church was not longer to be the authentic church for God’s people. It never really deserved to be; it was saints and sinners mixed together, and when Christ came, according to the prophecies of the Old Testament, one of the things he would do was lead those who were true believers out of Israel and he would go before them and the Church of Jesus Christ would begin. It is a personal call. The old theologians used to divide the call of the gospel into two: the general call of the Gospel that is made to all men and women to come to Christ for salvation, and the effectual call of the Gospel which is made to believers one by one, as individuals. You hear the voice of God, ‘Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’ And you respond. You must. ‘He calleth his own sheep by name.’ And you become his, and he is yours, and there is a bond that can never be dissolved, not in time nor in eternity.

Application

‘And the sheep hear his voice.’ It is happening to this day. There suddenly comes a time in your life. You are against God but perhaps you have been made to think. You cannot accept these things at first. You are full of doubts. You love this vain and passing world and yourself and your sin, and yet something is beginning to draw you and to draw at your heart. And then that day comes, that strange and mysterious day, when you just know this is real. You know that the call of God is true, that the Gospel is true. That we are a fallen race, that we are sinners, that we are unacceptable to a holy God. That he is a God who is there, the only explanation, the Creator of all, and suddenly you know it is true. There are still doubts, but now this has a demand upon you. Now you long for salvation, and you need Christ, and there is nothing more you want to know but that he has heard you, and he will respond to your repentance, and he has brought you to believe in him. Am I saved? It is the thing you most want. If somebody were to say to you – some person who ought to know – you are not saved, it would be crushing.

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John 10:3 Commentary and Bible Study