Sermon C: 4 S Easter: John 10:26

The three appointed readings for the 4th Sunday of Easter for Series C are Acts 20:17-25; Revelation 7:9-17 and John 10:22-30. Selected to preach on is John 10:26, “But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you.”

We live in a religious atmosphere that assumes a person has some kind of will to make a decision to become a Christian either by doing some kind of good work or by inviting Christ into the heart. If the false teaching is not that obvious, most Christians shudder to think if they would miss church on purpose or if they continue to do some kind of sin again and again.

To put it another way, the old Adam of every Christian wants to give you the impression that first you make an effort to believe and then you become a sheep of the Lord. However, Jesus appears to say the very opposite; namely, that those who are rejecting His Word are those who are not of His sheep. That is to say, first you become a sheep of the flock of God and then you believe! (Luke 15 and the parable of the Lost Sheep.)

But then, what does Jesus mean that the works He does in His Father’s name bear witness of Him? Is that not just another way of saying that the miracles He does are the evidence the unbeliever needs to be convinced to believe? The point Jesus is making though, is that because they do not believe, even His miracles are not persuasive. How many times do we look around for some sign from God that our decision is the correct one? We are often like those unbelieving religious leaders!

For you see, the miracles of Jesus never convinced an unbeliever to become a believer. Instead, they were to give assurance to believers that the promises of the Old Testament predicted that the One Who would be doing theses miracles is the promised Messiah. For those with faith in the promises of God as found in the Old Testament books, the miracles were persuasive. But for those who were unbelievers, no miracles would suffice to create faith. Instead, faith is created by hearing the Word of God, not by being convinced through miraculous signs and wonders.

The key passage to remind us of that is the parable of Lazarus and Dives (Luke 16:10-31). Though the rich man is convinced that if Lazarus would only go to warn his five unbelieving brothers about what is in store for them, then they would believe. Listen carefully to Abraham’s words, “They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them…If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.”

And we know that to be true. When Jesus rose from the dead, His resurrection was not something that either the devils or unbelieving Pharisees denied. The Pharisees thought that, as with the raising of Lazarus from the dead, it was a trick of the devil. Pastor and parents should not waste time attempting to “prove” the truth of the Christian faith by means of evidence or signs and wonders. Instead, the Word of God is quite adequate to accuse one of his utter sinfulness and impossibility to do anything to save himself. And the Word of God is quite adequate through the power of the Holy Spirit to make any unbeliever a sheep of the flock of God with all the subsequent benefits of faith, the forgiveness of sins and the robe of righteousness!