God willing, we should be finishing up John chapter 10 this morning. If you'd open your Bibles, please, to John chapter 10. Just by way of reminder, remember the entire theme of John chapter 10 is Jesus describing himself as the good shepherd and how wonderfully that shepherd is able to care for the sheep. He takes care of his sheep. He lays down his life for the sheep. He said that no one can snatch any of his sheep from his hand. And then he says, no one can snatch the sheep out of my father's hand. I and my father are one. We have the same purpose, the same essence. But we'll find today that again, for the third time in the gospel of John, after Jesus makes this statement, that the Jews want to stone him, they want to kill him for the third time. So we'll be reading John chapter 10. I'm going to begin reading in verse, start in verse 29. So please stand for the reading of God's holy word. John 10, starting in verse 29. This is the inspired and inerrant word of God. My father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the father's hand. I and the father are one. The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, I have shown you many good works from the father. For which of them are you going to stone me? The Jews answered him, it is not for a good work that we are going to stone you, but for blasphemy. because you being a man make yourself God. Jesus answered them, is it not written in your law? I said, you are gods. If he called them gods to whom the word of God came and scripture cannot be broken, do you say of him whom the father consecrated and sent into the world, you are blaspheming? Because I said, I'm the son of God. If I'm not doing the works of my father, then do not believe me. 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 am in the father. Again, they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands. He went away again across the Jordan to a place where John had been baptizing at first. And there he remained and many came to him and they said, John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true. and many believed in him there. Amen. Please be seated. The grass wither, the flowers fade, but the word of our God will stand forever. Let us pray together. Father of lights, giver of all knowledge and wisdom, we pray now that you would indeed open our eyes to see clearly your word. you would open our ears to hear it, to hear the words of our good shepherd. Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of our heart be pleasing in your sight. Oh Lord, our rock and our redeemer, in Jesus' name, amen. Well, one thing I think you should always note, especially present, and I think thematically present in the gospel of John, is Jesus' mastery, His authority over every situation. You should see this in this encounter with people who hate Him and want to stone Him as well. Jesus believes for Himself as a human, while He was on earth, He believed the same thing He just said to these men, that he declared for his sheep that no one was able to snatch them out of his father's hand. He feels safe and secure living for his father. Living for his father in the hand of his father is the very safest place he could ever be. So he's not fearing danger of being killed. This is not his time. He knows this is not his time to die. And yet we see great courage in engaging these people who are picking up stones to kill him. courage and engaging these people. I never once backing down from the truth claim he makes about his own identity. And this is what I want you to take away from this morning sermon is the identity of Jesus Christ. It should be crystal clear that Jesus Christ truly is the Son of God. If you remember in John chapter 20. John tells us exactly why he wrote this book. The purpose of the book. These things are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. That really is the overarching theme of everything that John writes. Jesus Christ from Nazareth is the Son of God, and that by believing in him, you may have life in his name. This is really the theme of this passage as well, the identity of Jesus Christ. So I'm gonna talk about four things. First, the claim that Jesus makes that I and the Father are one. What does this mean? We're gonna talk about the charge that the Jews make against him. This is blasphemy. We're gonna talk about Jesus His counter arguments showing the evidence and showing the scriptures that they should be hearing, but were not able to. And also before we begin, remember the context of this event. The Jews had been asking Jesus just before this about his identity. Who are you? If you're the Messiah, tell us. Tell us plainly. And Jesus explains that he doesn't lose any of his sheep. This is a sign of the Messiah. He doesn't lose any sheep. He's a good shepherd. And more than that, his father is also a good shepherd and does not lose any sheep either. And then to make it abundantly clear just how safe his sheep are, he states that he and his father are one. Then it's right after this that they want to kill him. So let's look at his claim. I and the father are one. This is in verse 30. Jesus says I and the Father are one. What does Jesus mean exactly? This is an important question. Were the Jews right in assuming that Jesus is making a claim of divinity? Yes, I believe they are. They are rightly perceiving that Jesus is claiming to be God. And he's used similar language in the past. If you remember just two chapters ago in John 8, Jesus said, before Abraham was, I am. And the words he used are ego, a me, which we've talked about. This is the name of God, the Greek translation of the Hebrew text in Exodus three, ego, a me, I am that I am. Jesus says before Abraham was, I am. And their response again was to try to kill him. They wanted to kill him. Jesus states here that I and the Father are one. Or in the Greek, literally, I and the Father are one thing. So he's not saying that he and the Father are the same person. That would not be in accordance with the rest of scripture. They're not the same person. The Trinity is not destroyed by this statement. John has carefully sought to preserve and explain the Trinity really throughout this gospel. Remember John 1 one. This is how he starts. In the beginning was the word. That's Jesus, the word. The word was with God. And the word was God. So the word is not the father. The father is not the word, but they are God. This word verse two was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made. And then in chapter 1 verse 18, we read that no one has ever seen God, the only God who is at the Father's side. He has made him known. Jesus is God. So what exactly does it mean when Jesus says I am the Father, our one? This is a question that the church grappled with for the first few hundred years of its existence. The identity of Jesus. Is he just a man? Was he a man who was created and then God lifted and exalted him up into a position of maybe some kind of deity? Or has he always existed as God? Well, of course, the scriptures that I just read show us that Jesus is God. He is the same in substance, equal in power and glory with the Father. The Father and the Son are two persons of the Godhead. The third person is the Holy Spirit. the father and the son have the same essence. They have the same purpose. I was doing a family worship with another family this week and I turned to the young man who was at our table. It was the first time to be in our house and I said, young man, what's the Trinity? Look of terror came over his eyes because it's a trick question. We can't understand the Trinity. I was asking this young man, The importance of the Trinity, and it's something that theologians who have known God and the word their whole lives will never fully grasp. It is a mystery. And yet we know what the word tells us, and it's true. The father and the son share the same infinite, eternal and unchangeable attributes. Jesus came to the earth. Concealed his glory for most of his earthly ministry. and proved to be the perfect second Adam while he was on earth. He did what the first Adam should have done, which is submit and obey the father perfectly while he was on earth. Jesus did this. And Jesus now tells these people that he is one with the father. Well, this is an important verse for so many reasons. Augustine in the fifth century wrote that this verse 30 destroys two separate heresies. The heresy of Sabellianism, which claims that there is only one person in the Godhead, and this one person just becomes different based on what God is doing. Heresy. And the heresy of Arianism, which states that God somehow created or brought forth the Son, who didn't exist at one time. This is also heresy. The Son in His glory is no inferior to the Father. They are one, the same in substance, equal in power and in glory. You say, well, these old heresies, do they have anything to do with us today? Well, they do actually. These heresies still exist. All the heresies since the beginning of time have continued to exist in various forms. Do you realize that Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons claim that Jesus is subordinate to the Father, in some way created by the Father? This heresy, that's not a Christian church. Unitarian churches, of course, modern liberal churches claim a purely human Jesus. And of course, Muslims deny that Jesus preexisted before he was born. All of this really is beside the point of the point of the text is that these Jews, although not understanding all that Jesus was saying, they did understand he was making a claim to deity. He was claiming to be God. They perceived correctly. This is the third time that we've seen that they tried to kill him for it. So I'm going to just spend a moment talking about the doctrine of the Trinity. This is important, not just for your information, for your knowledge, but it's important for you to show the gospel, the truth of the gospel and all it contains. To those around you. Our creeds and confessions, they really do a wonderful job of kind of distilling the truth of the scriptures about the Trinity. It is a high and holy mystery, I will say that. It is to be handled with great care. I wouldn't ever tell you to try to explain it to your children in any other way except the way we read it in the Word. I remember my dad telling me, well, the Trinity is like water. It's in three different, and he doesn't mean anything wrong. I probably said the same thing to my children. There's three forms, it's ice, it's water, liquid, it's gas. It's just like the Trinity, it's still water. These may seem helpful, but they're not helpful because they're not the word of God and it greatly degrades the majesty and the glory of the Trinity. So I never would want to use some earthly metaphor to describe something so wonderful as the Trinity. What we're told in scripture is enough. It's enough for children, it's enough for anyone else. The scriptures, that's where we go to talk about the Trinity. Well, I think one of the best places that the Trinity is described in the history of the church is the Athanasian Creed. Please humor me and listen to these words and actually listen. Listen as if your life depended on it. to this to this doctrine as they really distill the scriptures. And try to help us understand the Trinity. We believe that we worship one God in Trinity. And the Trinity in unity. Never blending the persons or dividing the essence. For the person of the father is a distinct person. The person of a son of the sun is another. and still that of the Holy Spirit is another three distinct persons. The divinity of the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit is one, their glory equal, their majesty co-eternal. What quality the father has, the son has, and the Holy Spirit has. The father is uncreated. The son is uncreated. The Holy Spirit is uncreated. The father is immeasurable. The Son is immeasurable. The Holy Spirit is immeasurable. The Father is eternal. The Son is eternal. The Holy Spirit is eternal. And yet there are not three eternal beings. There is but one eternal being. So too, there are not three uncreated or immeasurable beings. There is but one uncreated and immeasurable being. Similarly, the Father is almighty. The Son is almighty. The Holy Spirit is almighty. Yet there are not three almighty beings, but one almighty being. Thus the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God. Yet there are not three gods, but one God. Thus the Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, the Holy Spirit is Lord. Yet there are not three lords, but one Lord. Just as Christian truth compels us to confess each person individually as both Lord and God, so the universal or Catholic religion forbids us to say that there are three gods or lords. The Father was neither made nor created nor begotten from anyone. The Son was neither made nor created. He was begotten from the Father alone. The Holy Spirit was neither made nor created nor begotten. He proceeds from the Father and the Son. Accordingly, there is one father, not three fathers. There is one son, not three sons. There is one Holy Spirit, not three Holy Spirits. Nothing in this Trinity is before or after. Nothing is greater or smaller in their entirety. The three persons are co-eternal and co-equal with each other. So in everything, as was said earlier, we must worship the Trinity in their unity, and their unity in the Trinity. Well, I agree with all of those words. There is actually another heresy that has been purported more frequently in the New Testament church, more frequently as in just the past 20 years ago. And that is the doctrine of the eternal subordination of the Son, that Jesus is still subordinate to the Father in heaven right now. that he's still doing the father's will in heaven right now as he did on Earth. This is heresy. His glory is the same as the father. He hid his glory on Earth and he lived in obedience to the father while on Earth. But when he was sent back to heaven, when he went back to heaven, he went in all of his glory and there he reigns with the father on high. He and the father are one. He and the father are one. So Jesus, who said he is the gate for the sheep, he's the good shepherd before Abraham was, he was. This is the son, the shepherd, who is united with the father for the purpose, it seems in this passage, at least, of keeping safe his own sheep. So you see, all of the doctrine we just read is all in some way related to your own redemption and salvation. the eternal Father, Son and Holy Ghost. They are glorified and bringing you to themselves and then holding you tightly. As their own. Indeed, to have the son is to have the father. You are perfectly safe. In the arms of your son of the father and the son. The Holy Spirit living in you. So Jesus certainly is making a claim of divinity. The charge of the Jews is seen in verse 31 and also in verse 33. They pick up the stones to stone him and they say we're going to stone you for blasphemy. Because you being a man, make yourself God. In John 518, they wanted to kill him because he was calling God his own father, making himself equal with God. In John 8, 58, he said, before Abraham was, I am, and they picked up stones to throw at him. Jews, the Jews were taking a great offense to Jesus claiming to be God, to be one with God. They didn't understand the Trinity. And you might think, well, is it really fair that we're accusing them of not seeing the divinity of Christ? Is that really fair? Well, Jesus answers that for us. He tells them that they should have seen. And if they didn't believe him, they should at least believe the works that he did. So Jesus doesn't run. They want to kill him. He doesn't run. He stops and he talks to these people and he gives them evidence of his divinity. In verse 32, he says, I've shown you many good works from the father. For which of them are you going to stone me? I mean, hear the irony of the question. I've done all of these amazing miracles for which one of these miracles are you stoning me? This is after 400 years of silence from God, no prophet speaking, no miracles performed silence. And then Jesus comes performing great works and miracles. After 400 years, things that that think of 400 years ago. 400 years ago in this country. The 1600s. It's been a long time since the first settlers arrived at Jamestown. It's been a long time. And yet imagine just imagine. After all that time, if someone someone were to come and say I was there, I knew all of that. I actually spoke to those people. This is Jesus. He knew all of the patriarchs. He knew all the prophets and he came and he said here I am and he began to perform miracles. He tells them, look at the evidence. Even John the Baptist had a similar question. Are you the one? Are you the one who has come or should we look for another? In Luke 7, Jesus tells them, take this answer to John the Baptist. Luke 7, 22, go and tell John what you have seen and heard. The blind receive sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the good news preached to them, and blessed is the one who is not offended by me. In other words, he tells the disciples of John, go back to John and tell him what you see. What are you seeing? You're seeing me perform the works of God, the evidence that only God can do. In other words, these Jews should see all of the evidence in the Old Testament prophecies that connect him to Jesus, to God and his work, And this should be sufficient for the Jewish person who knows the scriptures. To hear the spirit and say yes, this is God. This is why Jesus responds to them as he does. We see also in verse. 25 that he says the works that I do in my father's name bear witness about me. My works bear witness about me. And then to hammer the point home even further. He says in verse 37, if I am not doing the works of my father, then do not believe me. But if I do them. Even though you do not believe me, believe the works. He's saying you should judge me by the fruit of the ministry. Am I doing what the Messiah was told to do? As you read the Scriptures, do you see me performing the works the Messiah was given to do? Do I do these things? The obvious answer is yes. Many of these. Things that he says point to Isaiah 35, which speaks of blind and deaf and lame and mute. Isaiah 26, speaking of the dead coming to life. Isaiah 29, the healing of the sick. Isaiah 61, bringing good news to the poor. Jesus says, believe the works. If you don't believe me, believe the works. That I am in the Father, that the Father is in me and I am in the Father. The implication is clear. The evidence suggests, indeed, implies directly that Jesus is God. It demands that we accept that Jesus is God, healing and raising the dead at will, turning water into wine, feeding the 5,000, and all of the other miracles he performed. Indeed, dying and then coming to life, Jesus is God. But no amount of evidence would convince them that he was one with the Father, that he was God. Why he tells him because you're not among my sheep. You don't believe me because you're not among my sheep. But they should. They should see the evidence and believe. Well, he also points to the Scriptures. First, he points to. To the evidence of his ministry, but then he points to the evidence of the Scriptures. That his claims are not blaspheming. Look at verse 34 with me. Jesus answered them, is it not written in your law? I said, you are gods. If he called them gods to whom the word of God came and scripture cannot be broken. Do you say of him whom the father consecrated and sent in the world, you are blaspheming? Because I said, I am the son of God. So he then uses their scriptures. Of course, he wrote the scriptures by the Holy Spirit himself. But he uses their scriptures to prove to them that for him claiming to be the son of God, per the scripture, is not blasphemy. The evidence of the scriptures themselves point to the fact that this is not blasphemy. And let me just break down the argument for you. It goes like this. First, he references Psalm 82. This is verse 34. Is it not written in your law? I said you are gods. So Psalm 82, what is that? Psalm 82, Asaph, the psalmist, is saying to the judges of Israel, to men, you are gods, sons of the most high, all of you. Not meaning, of course, they're all deity, but meaning that they have been put there by God to do God's work. Psalm 82 says, you are gods, sons of the most high. Speaking of men, speaking of mere judges, So Jesus, this is His first point, if Israel's judges are called by Asaph, gods, if these human men are called gods by Asaph, and number two, if He, verse 35, if He called them gods to whom the word of God came, so God sent men, maybe speaking of Moses or the prophets, but God sent men like these judges to give the Word of God. It's the point of their their task and their calling was to give the Word of God. If God called them gods because they spoke the Word of God to the people of God as vice regents, if you will. And thirdly, if the scripture cannot be broken, in other words, you can't explain away the psalm where the psalmist actually calls these men gods. You can't explain it away. It's there. The text won't go away. And fourthly. I am special, I'm the one sent from the father, the father consecrated, he sanctified me, he set me apart and sent me to the world. to speak the Word of God. So if God called them gods who came and spoke the Word of God, and now the Holy One of God has come into the world, and I call myself the Son of God, am I blaspheming? Can you rightly say the very one the Father has sent to the world is blaspheming? The answer is no. Of course, it's not blasphemy at all. You can't use the Scriptures to accuse me of blasphemy. I am the son of God. Well, they sought to arrest him and he escaped from their hands. They weren't convinced by anything that he said. It just reminded me of the hardness of the heart of man. Hard hearts remain hard apart from evidence. There was a person I was talking to just a few hours before he died. You don't know this person. He wasn't a Christian, and I was sharing the gospel with him for the third or fourth time. So burdened for his soul, because I knew that once he closed his eyes and breathed his last, his hope of salvation was over. That was it. And he acted like he really wanted to talk. He kept coming and asking me, please come and talk to me more about God. So I was very hopeful. And then just a few days before his death, As persuasively and prayerfully as I could, I shared with him the good news of Jesus Christ once again. And he would not bow his knee to Jesus. He said, this is just really hard for me. I said, I don't understand the hardness. You lose nothing by coming to Christ, but if you reject him, you lose everything. And you may not live very long. And he said, I know I just I'm not ready. As I thought and prayed about this, the scriptures revealed to me and the Lord showed me that the hard heart will not come to Him. They will stand on their rebellion and their pride to the very end, even though they're afraid of death, even though they're afraid of what the unknown in the afterlife might entail for them. They would much rather die in their sin and their pride in the rebellion than come to Christ. It's a hard and difficult thing. So we see that same attitude in these Jews. You might wonder, well, how come? How come they won't believe him? He's given the best argument ever. He said, look at my word, look at the scriptures, look at the evidence of my life. And they say, no, we're gonna kill you. Why? Because their heart is rebellious, deceitful, above all things. But there is good news. He went away and after crossing the Jordan, it says, Many believed in him there. Many believed in him there. He went away to the Jordan and God had a remnant of people who did believe in him, believe in him there. God always preserves his own remnant, even among the most rebellious people in the world. Let me just conclude by asking this. Do you truly believe in Jesus? Do you believe that he is one with the father? Do you believe that the father sent the son to die for your sins? Do you believe that is the most important thing you could ever do is live for Jesus Christ? Trust him with all of your heart. Serve him with and love him with your heart, your soul, your might, your strength. He truly is the Lamb of God, the spotless Lamb of God, the eternal Son of God. He's one with the father and he's been sent by the father and he will be sent again. And next time he's coming in glory to judge both the quick and the dead. Those who are alive and those who are dead. We should all want to believe him. We should all want to trust him. And we should know that he truly is God. If you don't believe in him today, if you find that you your heart does not have this kind of trust in him today, then turn your heart to Christ. And if you do find that you do have faith in Jesus Christ, if you do love him, then let this this this knowledge of his divinity and and the safety that you have in your shepherd's hand, let this comfort your soul. He is a good shepherd. He knows everything about you. He knows all of your wounds, all of your sorrows, all of your sadness, all of your struggles, all of your weakness, all of your sin. He knows it. You can bring it all to him. Because he's a good shepherd, he'll never leave you. He'll never forsake you. Let us pray. Father in heaven, we thank you that you have given us your word. We thank you that you have given us your son. Your son who came to Earth. God of God, light of light, very God of very God, begotten, not made Lord, you have sent your son to us. That we might see him and know you, that we might see him and love him and love you. Lord, turn our hearts to Jesus Christ. Holy Spirit, do your work in our lives. Sanctify us, change us, redeem us, save us, protect us. Holy God, there is nowhere else we can go. We run to your loving arms and we pray that you would do your work in us. We pray all of this in the mighty and powerful name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and King.