1. (verse 19) What teachings of Christ in the earlier verses of this chapter would cause a division?

It is really difficult to find anything that Christ said in the previous verses that would cause this kind of division. Perhaps his reference to himself as the door was cause for argument. Maybe they thought he was comparing them to the thieves and robbers. In verse 16 he talks about another flock. The Jews may have perceived the importance of this saying. And in verses 17 and 18 he talks about his Father giving him power. This may not have been too well received as they could understand he was referring to God. But they had missed Christ’s wonderful teaching of his concern for others. They overlooked the care, protection, and direction that he was promising.

20 And many of them said, "He has a demon and is mad. Why do you listen to Him?"

21 Others said, "These are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?"

2. (verses 20-21) Why do you think the people were so confused and in disagreement? Have you experienced a time when your serving Christ caused disagreement or confusion from others. How does your family solve disagreements?

Serving Christ will sometime cause disagreement. There will always be those who are really uncomfortable hearing the words of Jesus. Even when you have made him Lord of your life, some of the teachings of Christ may still cause confusion. People do not like to hear that they have to obey God and serve him. They want to have a religion on their own terms.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary says, "Thus did the light and the darkness reveal themselves with increasing distinctness in the separation of the teachable from the obstinately prejudiced. The one saw in Him only "a devil and a madman;" the other revolted at the thought that such words could come from one possessed, and sight be given to the blind by a demoniac; showing clearly that a deeper impression had been made upon them than their words expressed."

22 Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter.

23 And Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon's porch.

24 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."

3. (verse 24) Why do you think the Jews asked Jesus this question? Explain how you’ve had to overcome times when you had doubts about God.

The Jewish leaders confront Jesus. It seems they had this planned. Their plan was for a large group of them to surround Christ and try to get him to say he was the Messiah. If he would do that, they would then attempt to seize him. That’s why John points out in verse 24 that they "surrounded Him." Some of the leaders might have gone along with this because they had sincere doubts about Christ and they were anxious to hear his reply.

We may all go through times of doubting God. In fact, there may be times when we wonder if God is really with us. Doubts and confusion may come from time to time, but faith is our anchor. We must believe the words of Jesus and not doubt them. Even though the storms may be blowing all around us, we must trust that God will give us his peace. Even in the midst of the darkest times, we can still experience the light of God’s love shining through the blackness. All doubts are overcome by trust. Faith is the great equalizer. No matter how smart, talented, or good looking we may be, God requires each of us to have the same amount of faith.

25 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.

26 "But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you.

4. (verses 25-26) What bore witness of Christ? How can we tell today if a work is from God or not? Why don’t some people believe?

Notice that Christ says the works that he did bears witness of him. What were these works? They were more than miracles. They were works of love and compassion. Christ was known as a friend of the sinner, of the harlot and tax collector. He cared for the people and they were attracted to this love. There are many people that claim to do God’s work today. If it is genuinely from God, you will see the same fruit as the people saw in Christ’s ministry. Lives will be changed and people will be drawn by God’s love.

Some of the Jews could not believe because their heart was far from God. They wanted a religion of convenience, one that would place them in political power and would allow them to gain wealth. Christ’s message was one of sacrifice and self-denial. They didn’t want to hear this message. Many today also don’t want to hear that message. We are a very selfish society. Everything is "me first." Christ calls us to take up our cross and follow him. Some can’t believe because they don’t want to pay the price.

27 "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.

28 "And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.

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.

30 "I and My Father are one."

5. (verse 30) What is Christ teaching in this verse? What kind of person today would be upset about Christ’s claim to be God?

In verse 30 we see another example of Christ claiming deity for himself. He is clearly teaching that his sheep will hear his voice. The implication is that since the Jews won’t listen, they are not of God’s family.

McGee wrote, "The brand of ownership on the sheep is obedience. Do you want to know whether a person is saved or not? Then see if he is obeying Christ. Our ears must be open to His voice."

To remove any doubt Jesus claims that he is one with the Father. A sign of all false religions is an effort to diminish the deity of Christ. They want to bring him down to a more human level or make him a lesser God than the father. You will find many today that want to differentiate between the "historical Jesus" as if he were different than the one presented in scripture. You will also see those who will talk about the "Christ-like spirit" as if this is something God can give to all believers. We do receive the Holy Spirit, but we can never be truly like Christ. Jesus claimed he was equal with the Father. He was claiming to be God.

31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him.

32 Jesus answered them, "Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?"

33 The Jews answered Him, saying, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God."

6. (verses 31-33) Why did the Jews take us stones to stone Christ? Some claim that Jesus never claimed outright to be God. What do you think the Jews thought of Christ’s claim?

There is no question the Jewish leaders understood what Christ was saying. He was claiming to be God and so they took up stones to stone him for blasphemy. Notice in verse 33 they say, "because You, being a Man, make Yourself God." They knew what Christ was claiming to be.

Observe how Christ points to his good works. They temporarily stop as they consider his question. Being threatened with being stoned was not something to be taken lightly. Stephen was killed by stoning. But Christ confronts these Pharisees with a question. Remember he said in verse 25, "The works that I do in My Father's name, they bear witness of Me." So he is referring the Jews again to his good works. He had just healed a blind man. So they knew of his good works. Jesus deflected their theological concerns by pointing to his works. He did not get into an academic debate with them about how the Messiah would have to be the son of God. Instead he merely pointed to the evidence that they could clearly see before them. When we are presenting Christ to others, let’s not worry about getting into a theological argument. But let us concentrate on showing them Christ. His love, compassion, and sacrifice will melt more hearts than the finest crafted debate points.

34 Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law, `I said, "You are gods" '?

35 "If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken),

7. (verse 35) What do you think it means that "the Scripture cannot be broken"? Do you believe that the Bible is God’s word or that it only contains God’s word?

Verse 35 is important evidence for us that the Old Testament canon was already considered authoritative at the time of Christ. Jesus confers authority on the Old Testament by saying "the Scripture cannot be broken." In the process of canonization, scholars generally agree that the order of acceptance was Torah first (Genesis through Deuteronomy), then Prophets, and finally the "writings" of which the psalms were an important part. The portion Jesus is quoting is from the Psalms. So here we have Christ acknowledging the authority of the last portion of scripture to be canonized. The clear indication is that the whole of the Old Testament was considered authoritative before Christ’s time. In fact it was probably finalized right after the return from the exile about 400 B.C. when Ezra re-assembled all the holy writings and read them to the people.

36 "do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, `You are blaspheming,' because I said, `I am the Son of God'?

8. (verses 34-36) What is Christ’s point in this verse? Find the scripture that Jesus is referring to (hint: it’s in the Psalms). What do you think the scripture in the Psalms means?

Christ is quoting Psalm 82:6, "I said, ‘You are "gods"; you are all sons of the Most High.’ " This is apparently a term used by those who sat in judgement in Israel as representatives of God. They were not really gods, but the term was denoted since they represented God’s will by their decisions. As Jamieson-Fausset-Brown explain, "respecting judges or magistrates...as being the official representatives and commissioned agents of God." In the early part of this century we used a similar term when religious leaders were referred to as "divines." Obviously no one considered any of them divine. Jesus is quoting this verse to show them their foolishness. They would be willing to honor mere men with the term "sons of the Most High," but unwilling to honor Christ who truly was the son of God.

37 "If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me;

38 "but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him."

9. (verses 37-38) Jesus gave us a litmus test to know God’s works. Does this help us in discerning others’ claims to be used of God?

Jesus gave us a test to determine if a ministry is genuinely from God or not. The test is if the ministry produces the works of God. There are many who claim to be from God, but their lives are full of sin and deceit. Christ said someone truly sent will perform the works of God. Of course we are all human and none of us are perfect. But we find those claiming to do God’s work and yet the evidence of their ministry is littered with empty promises and deceitful practices. No matter how persuasive they may be or how charismatic they may appear, if they are not doing God’s works, they have not been sent from God. This doesn’t mean we should go around questioning other’s motives and being suspicious of everyone. But it does mean when we see things that we know are not from God, we need to be careful.

39 Therefore they sought again to seize Him, but He escaped out of their hand.

10. (verse 39) Look at verse 24 again. How could Jesus have escaped?

This shows their true intentions all along. From verse 24 we see that Christ was completely surrounded. How did he escape? Humanly it was impossible. But this is just further evidence that when Jesus was actually seized and brought to trial it was not due to any human will, but rather divine acquiescence. Jesus willingly went to pay the price for our sins. He could have escaped then as he did now. But it was his time to fulfill his mission for us.

40 And He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was baptizing at first, and there He stayed.

41 Then many came to Him and said, "John performed no sign, but all the things that John spoke about this Man were true."

42 And many believed in Him there.

11. (verses 40-42) Why did the people beyond Jordan believe on Christ? How important was John’s witness to them, do you think? Share about someone who witnessed to you about Christ.

Jesus escapes to the place where John had baptized before. It was also the place where Jesus’ ministry began when he was baptized by John. The people came to Christ because of the testimony of John the Baptist. They had apparently heard John speaking of the coming Christ. Now he was there with them. Who can we tell about Jesus? Who do we need to witness to about Christ? Let us be like John the Baptist and share our testimony with others. John did not see all these people come to Christ. They accepted Jesus as their Savior after John was beheaded. So in a way, his work continued even after his death.

Footnotes:

This study on John 10:19-42 © 1998 by David Humpal. All Rights Reserved.

All scripture unless otherwise noted is from the New King James Version © 1984, Thomas Nelson Publishers

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary, electronic version © 1996 by Biblesoft

Thru the Bible with J. Vernon McGee, vol. 4, pg. 433 © 1983, Thomas Nelson Publishers

Psalm 82:6 from the New International Version © 1971, Zondervan Bible Publishers

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary, electronic version © 1996 Biblesoft