John 10 Part 2

Read: John 10.15-40

As we continue in verse 15, Jesus is stating that He will lay down His life for the sheep. I love the important truth that Jesus has for us in verse 17-18, “...because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again…”

We have got to understand that Jesus was making a sacrifice for us. He knew that He must die, and He chose to die knowing that He would rise again and that we may live eternally with HIm. Moreover, He even gives us a choice as well. Jesus doesn’t force us to accept His gift no matter how much it must hurt to see people throw His sacrifice away.

Jesus goes on to explain in verses 27-29 that His sheep will not perish, and get this, no man will be able to pluck His sheep out of His hand. Please hear this, if you are a Christian, a true follower of Christ, no one can take your salvation or make you unsaved.... Not even yourself.

There are a lot of religions and even “Christian” denominations out there that teach their people that you can lose your salvation. Let me ask you this, who are we to think that we are more powerful than God?

We are just men whose salvation depends on the Faithful One. Our only choice is to accept or reject His gift. Christianity is not works based because there is NOTHING we could to earn God’s favor. To think we can work or earn our way to heaven or that we could lose our salvation is to think very highly of ourselves and not very highly of God.

God is more powerful, more loving, more just than anything we could imagine. So I pray that the choice you’ve made is with our Creator, to follow Him to eternity. I also pray that as believers, we can be CONFIDENT that Christ took care of it all on the cross, and that God can handle anything we throw at Him.

Jesus goes through all of this with the crowds, which seems like great news, but to them, it was blasphemy. They actually took up stones to cast at Jesus (verse 31). The pattern never changes. Jesus is the Savior of the world, yet when He is around, most people were aiming to harm or be rid of Him. It is the same today, more so in other countries but even in our own. The presence of Jesus in our lives and our very faith cause people to “take up arms” whether that be literally (as in China or many Middle Eastern countries) or legally (like we’ve seen here in America). It is prudent that as Christians, we realize that Jesus never said following Him was going to be a cake walk filled with health, wealth, and prosperity. He said if the world hated Him, they most surely will hate us for His sake. That doesn’t mean we should walk around being hateful or ridiculous since they will do the same to us. It just means to not be surprised when people don’t respond to the cross or the faith like we think they should and don’t be offended when people are offended by the things of Christ. Do your duty as a Christ follower and let God handle everything else.

​