Book of John 10:19-42; 11:1-6                    July 17, 2021 

John 10 is the famous “Good Shepherd” chapter.

We are still in Jerusalem at the end of the Feast of Tabernacles.

Pharisees were the shepherds of Israel and consider Jesus was an intruder and impostor, a false shepherd to the people.

John 10:19 Once again there was a division among the Jews because of what Jesus had been saying.

The Jewish leaders were again divided in their opinions about him.

This same division occurred earlier.  Jesus is a dividing line of people, dividing between accepting or rejecting Jesus.

John 9:16 Some of the Pharisees began to remark, “This man is not from God because he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others were saying, “How can a sinful man perform such signs?” And there was a division among them.

Paul has an interesting comparison between the Saints and the Wicked.

2 Corinthians 2:15-17 For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.  (16)  To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task?  (17)  Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God.

Those who sell the Word of God is not what was intended by our Lord Jesus.  Should be given freely, without profit made. 

John 10:20 Many of them said, “He is demon-possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him?”

Some believe Jesus who claimed to be God must either have a demon or be mad.

John 10:21 But others said, “These are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?“

These people were right in looking at both the works and the words of Jesus.  Can demon’s heal? 

I and the Father Are One

John 10:22-23 Then came the Festival of Dedication {Hanukkah, of the Temple} at Jerusalem. It was winter, (23) and Jesus was in the temple courts walking in open porch of Solomon.  {covered area, east side of the outer court}

“Winter”: Feast of Tabernacles is now over, Hanukkah is for 8 days towards the end of December, a few months before Passover {the cross}. It was to celebrate the cleansing and re-dedication of the temple after three years of desecration by the king of Syria about 164 B.C. 

John 10:24 So the Jews surrounded him and quizzed him, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us so plainly.”

The Jewish Leadership came, not for information, but to secure ground for more accusation. Jesus responds to the religious leaders hostile questions.

John 10:25-26 Jesus answered them, “I have told you, but you do not believe it. The actions {works} that I do in my Father’s name testify on my behalf, (26) but you do not believe because you do not belong to my sheep.

• Jesus’s sheep would follow {hear and obey}, they would recognize Jesus.
• They do not believe, they are not followers of Jesus.
• Jesus was not teaching at this time, but merely walking.

John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.

The Saints hear, imitate and obey Jesus Commands, because they Love Him and wants Jesus to led them and the Saints will follow Him.

John 10:28 I give them eternal life, they will never be lost {or perish}, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

• Eternal life means, not eternal existence, but eternal bliss.
• Jesus just said, “gave them” eternal life, not “will give them”
• It is not a promise, but a gift, safely in Jesus care and keeping.
• The Good Shepherd would take good care of His sheep, safe and secure in Jesus hand.

John 10:29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.

We, who are Jesus sheep, have a double security, hands of Jesus and hands of the Father.

John 10:30 I and the Father are one.”

Finally, now the Jewish Leadership understood that Jesus was claiming to be God and they sought to stone Him. 

• This is an important statement regarding the deity of Jesus and the nature of the Godhead.
• I and My Father means that the Father and the Son are not the same Person.
• Are one means that the Father and the Son are equal in nature.
• Father and the Son are not the same Person – they are one God, but distinct in their Persons.

John 10:31 Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him to death.

We know when someone cannot stand before the truth, they find it is necessary to silence the truth through forceful means.

John 10:32 but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?”

The Jewish leadership finally revealed their reason for their opposition to Jesus, claiming His own deity with the Father.

John 10:33 The Jews answered him, “We are not going to stone you for a good action, but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, are making yourself God!”

• Because Jesus said He and the Father were one.
• Jesus clearly claimed to be God.
• Jesus looked and acted like a physical man while being fully God. 

John 10:34 Jesus replied to them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, “You are gods“‘?

Psalms 82:6 “I said, ‘You are “gods“; you are all sons of the Most High.’

• Psalms was there addressed to judges, agents of God.
• Christ’s argument is: If your law calls judges gods, why should I be held guilty of blasphemy for saying that I am the Son of God?
• The judges of Psalms 82 were called “gods” because in their office they determined the fate of other men. 

John 10:35 If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came; and Scripture cannot be set aside {or disregarded, broken}

John 10:36 how can you say to the one whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?

Notice Jesus made His strong statement on the Holy Scriptures being correct and absolute trustworthiness. 

This is why we can believe what we read today in the Scriptures.

Matthew 5:19 Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.   {is this a warning to us – all are teachers}

John 10:37-38 Do not believe me unless I do the works of my Father.  (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 in the Father.“

Jesus asked the Jewish leaders to at least consider His miracles because these indicated and demonstrated His deity.

Belief is the heart of the issue. 

The word translated believe is used 99 times in the Book of John.

John 10:39 Again they tried to seize him, but he slipped away from them.

Jesus escaped again in such a way as we do not know how, because John does not tell us

John 10:40 Then he went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing at first, and he remained there.

• Jesus had to get away from Jerusalem because the Jewish Leadership sought to kill him.
• To give some security of his person and the disciples and the women who follow them around.
• Being away from Jerusalem, give Jesus’ time to prepare what He will have to go through in about 3 months at Passover time.
• This was where Jesus was baptized and where John bore such a testimony of Him.
• Jesus loved to teach the people we have seen.
• Again many people came to him, and as was his custom, he taught them the Gospel, work miracles and bring many souls to believe on him.

John 10:41 Many people came to him and kept saying, “John never performed a sign, but everything that John said about this man is true!”

• What a witness John the Baptist, a Prophet, was to the people for Jesus, while still fresh in the memory of the people.
• John who taught, baptized, directed people to Jesus without doing any miracles.

John taught that Jesus was:  the Lamb of God; the Son of God; the Savior of the World; the true Messiah who will baptize people with Holy Spirit; heal many who are sick; and miracles of Jesus work.  Jesus proved that what John said was true.

John 10:42 And many believed in Jesus there.

Book of John 11:1-6

The raising of Lazarus is found only in the Gospel of John. Before the final week, we have a special witness to Jesus Glory.

The Death of Lazarus, A request if brought to Jesus1:1 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.

• This begins perhaps the unique miracle Jesus has performed.
• Bring back to life someone who was dead 4 days and the body starting decay.
• John is the only one to mention this miracle.
• Lazarus is an abbreviated form of “Eleazer,” {means God is my Help} only two in NT with this name.

• He is not named in the other Gospels, but his 2 sisters are.

• Bethany”: “House of Figs”; “House of Affliction.”
• Only two miles east of Jerusalem, on the southeast slope of the Mount of Olives; dangerous ground.
• An unwalled village or town.

• As a side, Jesus waited for two days, because Burial of a person takes place on the day of the death.
• The mourning period began immediately and lasted a month. First three days: professionals mourners.
• Fourth day after was the day for friends to visit {historical records}

John 11:2 Mary was the woman who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair. Her brother Lazarus was the one who was sick.

• The reader is assumed to be acquainted with the other gospels; Martha was the older sister: “her house” (Lk 10:38);
• Mary is memorialized (Mk 14:9). Mary (in John) was always at the feet of Jesus, with Long Hair.
• The anointing was well known, so he used the event to distinguish this Mary from other women with the same name, which happens later, next chapter.

John 12:3 Mary took a pound of very expensive perfume made of pure nard and anointed Jesus’ feet. She wiped his feet with her hair, and the house became filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

John 11:3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, saying, “Lord, the one whom you love is sick.”

• Notice, they did not specifically ask Jesus to come and heal Lazarus.
• They probably felt they did not need to, that is was enough to simply let Jesus what the problem was.

“Sick”: The word meant something even stronger: “Deathly sick; (Acts 9:37).

Some speculate that this was the rich young man Jesus loved.

Mark 10:21 Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

• The message simply states the facts.
• Jesus was beyond the Jordan and they both turn to Jesus.
• There is no request or plea, yet it implies a belief that Christ can and will heal him.
• Sent messenger and stay to take care of their brother.

Jesus responds with a short delay. 

John 11:4 But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This illness is not meant to end in death. It is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.“

• Lazarus was already dead when Jesus said this,
• Not unto death means not having death as its final result.
• Be glorified: By raising Lazarus from the dead, Jesus would demonstrate His deity in an undeniable way.

“Glory of God”: The beginning of miracles, wedding, wine

John 2:11 What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

John 11:5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

• Jesus had a very close relationship with this family.
• It seems like He stayed at their place all the time.
• John reminds us that Jesus did genuinely love these sisters and their brother.
• It was an important reminder, showing that a testing of their faith was not a denial of His love.
• John mention all three by name to show Jesus loved all three, individually, showing how their personally was different.

John 11:6 Yet, when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was for two more days.

• Because his work there was not yet done. Jesus was across the Jordan in Bethabara, teaching and Lazarus was at Bethany in Judea.
• Jesus waited additional 2 days because He wanted to manifest His glory by raising Lazarus.
• The delay was probably mystifying to the disciples and agonizing to Mary and Martha, grief for 2 more days.
• God’s timing to accomplish His purpose is perfect.
• Even the disciples were skeptical, Jesus actions demonstrated that His delays were not denials. This would bring greater glory to God.
• In their minds, for Jesus to go back to Judea would mean death.

Jesus decides to go to Judea and Jerusalem.

What is the difference between:

Believe in Jesus  or

Believe Jesus