This verse explains, sustains, and completes the previous one. The previous verse indicates the double duty of the shepherd. He has to feed the flock, and he has to protect it. Jesus has to give eternal life, and secure it when given. But inevitably the thought arises in one's mind that oftentimes the shepherd is slain and the sheep are scattered. This was to be illustrated to a certain extent very soon after Jesus had spoken. It was not that the sheep were plucked away and the Shepherd remained; the Shepherd was plucked away, and the sheep seemed as if they were to fall back into the world. But, in truth, the plucking of the Shepherd away was only the lifting of a veil which hid the real wall of defense. If we look only to Jesus, and fail to see some one beyond, we shall never estimate either the greatness of the danger or the perfection of the safety.

I. LOOK AT THE GREATNESS OF THE DANGER. The perils of a stupid, helpless, defense-less sheep are really but a feeble illustration of the perils besetting the Christian. We never do properly comprehend those perils. Even as it is the shepherd and not the sheep that really knows the perils of the sheep, so it is Jesus and the Father of Jesus who really know the perils of the Christian. Well is it that we know not all our perils. A perfect knowledge of them might only increase our misery without diminishing our peril in the least. We are to learn the greatness of our peril in an indirect way. We have to learn it by the provisions that have been evidently made. Jesus provides against perils that we appreciate very imperfectly; and perils we make a great deal of, he treats as passing inconveniences. The full power of Heaven is engaged for our safety; that alone should show us the greatness of our danger.

II. LOOK AT THE PLEDGE OF SAFETY. It is not a pledge of devotion and attention merely; it is a pledge of absolute safety. It lifts shepherd and sheep alike into a region where no wolf ever wanders, where no thief breaks through nor steals. It is the defense that comes from being in a totally different sphere of life. Those on board a ship in mid-ocean are perfectly safe from the fierce and mighty sharks that swim all around; safe so long as the ship is safe; safe so long as they keep on board; but let any of them come into the water, and the sharks snap them up at once. But if these same people are on land, they can go wherever they like and have no fear of the shark; they are utterly removed from his element. Each element has its own peril and its own safety. But those who have put themselves into the hand of the great Shepherd, the only Shepherd truly good, as uniting faithfulness with ability, are in an element where all the essentials of life are safe. The intent of our heavenly Father is, not that we should be delivered from dangers when they actually come upon us, but that we should rise into a sphere where dangers will not really come. Observe exactly how Jesus puts it both with reference to his protection and his Father's protection. He does not say that he or the Father will pluck his sheep from the clutches of any foe that may seize them. He goes further than that: the foe is not to pluck the sheep out of the Father's hand. - Y.

persecutes a man on account of —

I. HIS RELIGIOUS OPINIONS. The Jews took up stones merely because Christ had proclaimed a doctrine which was in conflict with their opinions, prejudices, interests and pride. This intolerance has been rampant in every age. It cannot now inflict physical suffering, but it employs means more subtle and powerful to wound the supposed heretic. Such conduct is —

1. Most absurd. Such are the constitutional differences in minds and educational processes that it is almost impossible for two persons to have exactly the same view of the same subject. The inevitable diversity is interesting and useful; it stimulates discussion and promotes thought. Were all to think alike how monotonous would be the social life of the world!

2. Most arrogant. There is no greater audacity than for an individual or a Church to attempt to bring all men's opinions to one theological standard. Who were Luther, Calvin, Knox, Wesley that men should be bound to accept their opinions? "Jesus I know, and Paul, etc." Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind."

II. HOWEVER EXCELLENT HIS LIFE MAY BE (ver. 32). Numerous were the works of Christ, and all to bless men both in body and soul. "He went about doing good." This was not denied, but tacitly admitted, and yet though they knew that He was their greatest Benefactor, and that His character was one of exemplary excellence, because His doctrine clashed with their opinions they stoned Him. Good men here in England are stoned for their opinions, not with flint or granite, but with slander and social influences. Bigots of all sects throw stones at men, not because they are not good, but because they are not of their sect (ver. 33). We stone thee because Thou art not one of us.

III. HOWEVER STRONG THE ARGUMENTS IN THEIR FAVOUR (vers. 34-36). Christ seems to say that even in the assumption that He was no more than man there was no blasphemy. Their law called magistrates "gods" (Psalm 32:6). And if they allowed that, what blasphemy was there in Him who "was sanctified by the Father," "One with the Father," and who, as they were bound to acknowledge, performed works which those whom their law called "gods" never had accomplished and never could? If your Scriptures call men gods "unto whom the Word of God came," surely there can be no blasphemy in Me representing Myself as God, who am the "Word of God" itself. The argument is a minori ad magus. In what respect?

1. From those blameworthy judges and their lofty title to Christ.

2. From those who derived their dignity from the Mosaic institution to Him whom God hath sanctified.

3. From those to whom the Word of God did but come, to Him who was the Word of God. But His argument went for nothing, although it was so clear and conclusive. Conclusion: What an accursed thing this religious intolerance is! Absurd, arrogant, cruel, regardless of moral excellence, dead to argument, alive only to what it deems heresy.

(D. Thomas, D. D.)

Holy boldness honours the gospel. In the olden times, when Oriental despots had things pretty much their own way, they expected all ambassadors from the West to lay their mouths in the dust if permitted to appear before his Celestial Brightness, the Brother of the Sun and the Cousin of the Moon. Certain money-loving traders agreed to all this, and ate dust as readily as reptiles; but, when England sent her ambassadors abroad, the daring islanders stood bolt upright. They were told that they could not be indulged with a vision of the Brother of the Sun and Cousin of the Moon, without going down on their hands and knees. "Very well," said the Englishmen, "we will dispense with the luxury; but tell his Celestial Splendour, that it is very likely that his Serenity will hear our cannon at his palace gates before long, and that their booming is not quite so harmless as the cooing of his Sublimity's doves." When it was seen that ambassadors of the British Crown were no cringing petitioners, our empire rose in the respect of Oriental nations. It must be just so with the cross of Christ. Our cowardice has subjected the gospel to contempt. Jesus was humble, and His servants must not be proud; but Jesus was never mean or cowardly, nor must His servants be. There was no braver man than Christ upon earth.

I. THE GRAND PRINCIPLE ASSERTED. It is impossible to shut our eyes to the fact that a teaching is gaining ground whose fundamental principle is opposed to this, and which affirms that the Scripture can be broken. It is of the first importance that we should distinctly understand the amount of authority which is due to the Bible. The Romanists say that tradition is of co-ordinate authority with the Bible; the Rationalists that only part of the Bible is authoritative, and what portions are to be received as such is determined by the "verifying faculty." When Christ endorses, as He does in the text, the Old Testament, these philosophers affirm that He was liable to mistake, and so overthrew His prophetic office and nullify His mission, which was to "bear witness to the Truth." But turn from theory to fact, and we find that Christ's affirmation is proved.

1. From the history of the Jews, who from their first settlement as a nation down to the present moment show in all their vicissitudes that the Scripture cannot be broken.

2. From the fate of heathen nations. Nineveh, Babylon, Tyre, and Sidon, etc., verify the predictions to the very letter.

3. The life of our Lord, every detail of which from Bethlehem and Calvary was detailed beforehand, and occurred "that it might be fulfilled."

II. THE BASIS ON WHICH THE PRINCIPLE RESTS.

1. That man's word may be broken. Why is it that friends and relatives in the slightest business transaction have a legal and written form?(1) Because man is changeable. That which he honestly and determinately promises today he may see reasons to change tomorrow, or he may change from simple fickleness.(2) Man is sometimes unfaithful, and deliberately false to his engagements.(3) Man is often unable to fulfil his promises and obligations, however willing he may be.

2. That for contrary reasons God's word cannot be broken.(1) God is unchangeable. "His counsel shall stand."(2) God is faithful. God is not a man that He should lie.(3) God is able. These points are well illustrated in the promise to Abraham.

III. APPLICATION.

1. For comfort.(1) To the Church. In every age God's people have been depressed by the taunt, "Where is the promise of His coming?" But God takes time to fulfil His word. Be patient, it cannot be broken.(2) To the individual believer. He has delivered in six troubles and He will deliver in seven. Past promises fulfilled are assurances that His word cannot be broken.

2. For warning. Though God's threatenings be long delayed for merciful reasons they will assuredly be fulfilled.

(Cannon Miller.)

I. WHAT IS MEANT BY SCRIPTURE? The Old Testament as accepted by the Jews of our Lord's Day.

1. This fixes the canon of Scripture for Christians and excludes the apocrypha.

2. This stamps the Old Testament with a Divine authority, against which it is infidelity and blasphemy to protest.

II. HOW DID CHRIST DEAL WITH SCRIPTURE?

1. He was zealous in fulfilling it. In looking at Christ as our example this is to be observed. Scripture declares what Christ would be and do and suffer, and all this He was and did and suffered "that the Scriptures might be fulfilled." It tells us too what we must be and do and suffer, and in order to these we must follow Christ, and in the earnest eager spirit in which He saw that no jot or tittle of the word concerning Him was broken.

2. He submitted to it. The only man capable of judging for Himself always submitted His judgment to the written Word.(1) As the servant of God He came to do God's will; but that will was not God's secret will, but His will as declared in the Bible.(2) He submitted to that will without question, and with the utmost joyfulness.

III. THE USE CHRIST MADE OF SCRIPTURE.

1. As a weapon against His enemies. To the devil in the wilderness He said, "It is written," and to the Sadducees about the Resurrection (Matthew 22).

2. As His authority. When He drove the money changers from the Temple, His only warrant for doing so was "It is written." On the same grounds He defended His disciples for plucking corn on the Sabbath.

3. As the court of final appeal in different questions (Matthew 19).

4. As His inspiration for suffering (Luke 13).

5. As a consolation in trials.

(J. W. Reeve, M. A.)

The works of God must necessarily have relation to the attributes of God, and in their nature must partake of His. Will the works of Jesus sustain this test? If so, then His claim to be one with the Father is made out. Note, then, that the works of Jesus were —

I. WORKS OF MERCY AND LOVE, and this without exception; the seeming exceptions when fully examined are seen not to be really so. Consistently and continuously He went about doing good. All succeeding time has acknowledged the influence of heavenly love which eighteen hundred years ago was manifested. Charity has ever taken her lessons from it. He was merciful as His Father was merciful; and His mercy on the diseased bore witness then, as His mercy on the sinful bears witness now, that He and the Father are one.

II. WORKS OF WISDOM. His contemporaries confessed as much — "Whence hath this Man this wisdom, etc." His works were performed at the right time, in the right way, on the right persons. He made no mistake in His diagnosis, in His prescription, in His application of His remedies, nor in the result. The cleverest men fail in one or other of these circumstances. It is the same now with His administration of His providence, and the pardoned sinner and the comforted saint alike are constrained to say, "Thou hast done all things well." Of whom can this be said but of Him who, being "the wisdom of God," could say, "I and the Father are one."

III. WORKS OF POWER. Divine love, as exhibited on earth, can, in a measure, be imitated, and Divine wisdom as taught on earth, can, in a measure, be communicated and received. But "power belongeth unto God." This power was demonstrated by Christ. He was no Divine instrument as were the miracle-working prophets. There is a Divine independence and originality about all His operations. "I say unto thee arise." And the power that made men walk in apostolic days was the power of Jesus of Nazareth, and the power which now heals the decrepitude of sinful man is His. Conclusion: This testimony to the mutual onebeing of Father and Son (ver. 33) is —

1. Sufficient.

2. Hence our responsibility.Without this evidence men are guiltless, for they are not unbelieving, but ignorant. But with this evidence before Him, for a man to refuse to believe in Christ's Deity, and to decline to submit to His claims, is morally fatal.

(J. W. Burn.)

shows —

I. WHAT MEN MIGHT LOOK FOR IN THE WORKS OF GOD.

1. Wisdom.

2. Mercy.

3. Love.

4. Power.

II. THAT THE WORKS OF JESUS WERE MARKED BY THESE CHARACTERISTICS.

1. Water made into wine.

2. The miracles of healing.

3. The resurrection of Lazarus.

4. His own resurrection.

III. THAT NOT TO SEE THESE FEATURES IN THE WORKS OF JESUS IS TO BE BLINDED BY PREJUDICE. As in the case of the Jews.

IV. THAT TO REJECT THE DIVINITY OF HIM WHICH DID SUCH WORKS IS THE HEIGHT OF FOLLY. We judge of the nature of a creature by its works. When we see a bird's nest we know that it was not made by a horse; when we see an ant hill we know that no lion threw it up; as we contemplate a building or read a book we have evidence of the work of man. But what creature can give sight to the blind, life to the dead? etc.

The term "works," as applied to the miracles of our Lord, is eminently significant; as though the wonderful were only the natural form of working for Him who is dwelt in by all the fulness of God; He must, out of the necessity of His higher being, bring forth these works greater than man's. They are the periphery of the circle whereof He is the centre. The great miracle is the Incarnation; all else, so to speak, follows naturally and of course. It is no wonder that He whose name is "Wonderful" does works of wonder; the only wonder would be if He did them not. The sun in the heavens is itself a wonder: but it is not a wonder that, being what it is, it rays forth its influences of light and heat. These miracles are the fruit after its kind which this tree brings forth; and may be called the "works" of Christ, with no further addition or explanation.

(Archbishop Trench.)

Consider the general expression respecting our Lord's Person which arises upon a survey of our Lord's miracles. To a thoughtful humanitarian they present, taken as a whole, an embarrassing difficulty. In the case of "the miracles of power," Schenkel observes: "These are not cures which could have been effected by the influence of a striking sanctity acting on a simple faith. They are prodigies such as Omnipotence alone could achieve. The laws of nature are simply suspended. Jesus does not here merely exhibit the power of moral and mental superiority over common men; He upsets and goes beyond the rules and bounds of the order of the universe." The writer proceeds to argue that such miracles must be expelled from any life of Christ which "criticism" will condescend to accept. But the question arises how much is to be expelled? Is the Resurrection, e.g.? If so, then there is nothing left to argue about, for Christianity itself is gone (1 Corinthians 15:14, 13). And if this conclusion be objected to, we must reply that our Lord's credit and honour were entirely staked upon this issue (Matthew 12:39, 40) But the Resurrection was attested by evidence which must outweigh everything except an a priori conviction of the impossibility of miracles, since it was attested by two hundred and fifty persons (1 Corinthians 15:6). As to a priori objections, St. Paul would have argued, as most Theists, and even Rousseau have argued, that they cannot be urged by any man who believed seriously in a living God at all. But on the other hand, if the Resurrection be admitted, it is puerile to object to the other miracles. As compared with them, that occurrence has all the force of an a fortiori argument, and are fitly complemental incidents of a history in which the Resurrection has made it plain that we are dealing with One in whose case an ordinary experience of the limits and conditions of human power are altogether at fault. But if the miracles of Jesus be admitted in the block, as they must be by a "rational" believer in the Resurrection, then they point to the Catholic belief, as distinct from any lower conceptions respecting the Person of Christ. They differ from those of prophets and apostles, in that, instead of being answers to prayer granted by a Higher Power, they manifestly flow forth from the majestic life resident in the Worker. And instead of presenting so many "difficulties" which have to be surmounted or set aside, they are in entire harmony with that representation of our Saviour's personal glory which is embodied in the Creeds. St. John accordingly calls them Christ's "works," meaning that they were just such acts as might be expected from Him, being such as He was. They are like the kind deeds of the wealthy, or the good advice of the wise; they are like that debt of charity which is due from the possessors of great endowments to suffering humanity — Christ as Man owed this tribute of mercy which His Godhead had made it possible for Him to pay to those whom (such was His love) He was not ashamed to call His brethren.

(Canon Liddon).

Jesus, John, SolomonJerusalem, Jordan RiverGods, Isn't, Law, Replied, Saying, Stand, Written1. Jesus is the door, and the good shepherd.
19. Diverse opinions of him.
23. He proves by his works that he is Jesus the Son of God;
31. escapes the Jews;
39. and goes again beyond Jordan, where many believe on him.

John 10:22-40

     2369   Christ, responses to

John 10:33-36

     5800   blasphemy

John 10:34-35

     5509   rulers

John 10:34-36

     1611   Scripture, inspiration and authority

February 5 Morning
I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.--JOHN 10:10. In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.--She took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.--If by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

March 18 Evening
His name shall be in their foreheads.--REV. 22:4. I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep.--The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.--Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. After that ye believed, ye were sealed …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

May 11 Evening
My sheep hear my voice.--JOHN 10:27. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: If any man hear my voice, and open the door, 1 will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled. I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer. …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

December 10 Morning
No man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.--JOHN 10:29. I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.--The Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom.--We are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

July 18 Morning
He calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.--JOHN 10:3. The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his; and, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ, depart from iniquity.--Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you . . . depart from me, ye that work iniquity.--The Lord …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

April 19 Morning
Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.--JOHN 10:7. The veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.--Christ . . . hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.--The way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing. I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.--Through …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

'Other Sheep'
[Footnote: Preached before the Baptist Missionary Society.] 'Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice; and they shall become one flock and one Shepherd.'--JOHN x. 16 (R.V.). There were many strange and bitter lessons in this discourse for the false shepherds, the Pharisees, to whom it was first spoken. But there was not one which would jar more upon their minds, and as they fancied, on their sacredest convictions, than this, that God's flock …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Gifts to the Flock
... By Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.'--JOHN x. 9. One does not know whether the width or the depth of this marvellous promise is the more noteworthy. Jesus Christ presents Himself before the whole race of man, and declares Himself able to deal with the needs of every individual in the tremendous whole. 'If any man'--no matter who, where, when. For all noble and happy life there are at least three things needed: security, sustenance, and a …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Good Shepherd
'I am the Good Shepherd, and know My sheep, and am known of Mine. 15. As the Father knoweth Me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down My life for the sheep.'--JOHN x. 14,15. 'I am the Good Shepherd.' Perhaps even Christ never spoke more fruitful words than these. Just think how many solitary, wearied hearts they have cheered, and what a wealth of encouragement and comfort there has been in them for all generations. The little child as it lays itself down to sleep, cries-- 'Jesus, tender Shepherd, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

January the Seventeenth Spiritual Discernment
"My sheep hear My voice!" --JOHN x. 19-30. This is spiritual discernment. We may test our growth in grace by our expertness in detecting the voice of our Lord. It is the skill of the saint to catch "the still small voice" amid all the selfish clamours of the day, and amid the far more subtle callings of the heart. It needs a good ear to catch the voice of the Lord in our sorrows. I think it requires a better ear to discern the voice amid our joys! The twilight helps me to be serious; the noonday …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

August the Twenty-Third not Lost in the Flock
"I know My sheep, and am known of mine." --JOHN x. 7-16. There is mutual recognition, and in that recognition there is confidence and peace. "I know my sheep." He knows us one by one. My knowledge of the individual wanes in proportion as the multitude is increased. The teacher with the smaller class has the deepest intimacy with her scholars. The individual is lost in the crowd. But not so with our Lord. There are no "masses" in His sight. However big the crowd, even though it be "a multitude …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

The Shepherd of Our Souls.
"I am the good Shepherd: the good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep."--John x. 11. Our Lord here appropriates to Himself the title under which He had been foretold by the Prophets. "David My servant shall be king over them," says Almighty God by the mouth of Ezekiel: "and they all shall have one Shepherd." And in the book of Zechariah, "Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, and against the man that is My fellow, saith the Lord of Hosts; smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered." …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIII

On the Words of the Gospel, John x. 14, "I am the Good Shepherd," Etc. Against the Donatists.
1. We have heard the Lord Jesus setting forth to us the office of a good shepherd. And herein He hath doubtless given us to know, as we may understand it, that there are good shepherds. And yet that the multitude of shepherds might not be understood in a wrong sense; He saith, "I am the good Shepherd." [4124] And wherein He is the good Shepherd, He showeth in the words following; "The good Shepherd," saith He, "layeth down His life for the sheep. But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, …
Saint Augustine—sermons on selected lessons of the new testament

On the Words of the Gospel, John x. 30, "I and the Father are One. "
1. Ye have heard what the Lord God, Jesus Christ, the Only Son of God, born of God the Father without any mother, and born of a Virgin mother without any human father, said, "I and My Father are One." [4164] Receive ye this, believe it in such wise that ye may attain [4165] to understand it. For faith ought to go before understanding, that understanding may be the reward of faith. For the Prophet hath said most expressly, "Unless ye believe, ye shall not understand." [4166] What then is simply preached …
Saint Augustine—sermons on selected lessons of the new testament

The Sheep and their Shepherd
In a very simple way, we shall speak about the proprietor of the sheep. "My sheep," says Christ. Then, we shall have a little to say about the marks of the sheep. After that I propose to talk awhile about the privileges of the sheep. "I know my sheep:" they are privileged to be known of Christ. "My sheep hear my voice." I. Who is the proprietor of the sheep? They are all Christ's. "My sheep hear my voice." How came the saints to be Christ's? They are his, first of all, because he chose them. Ere …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 17: 1871

The Good Shepherd
JOHN x. 11. I am the good shepherd. Here are blessed words. They are not new words. You find words like these often in the Bible, and even in ancient heathen books. Kings, priests, prophets, judges, are called shepherds of the people. David is called the shepherd of Israel. A prophet complains of the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves, and will not feed the flock. But the old Hebrew prophets had a vision of a greater and better shepherd than David, or any earthly king or priest--of a heavenly …
Charles Kingsley—The Good News of God

Abbott -- the Divinity in Humanity
Lyman Abbott was born at Roxbury, Mass., in 1835. As successor to Henry Ward Beecher, at Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, he ministered with great spiritual power until 1898, when he resigned his pastorate to devote his entire time to The Outlook, of which he was, and still is, the editor. Dr. Abbott's conception of the minister's work is briefly summed up in his own words: "Whenever a minister forgets the splendid message of pardon, peace and power based on faith in Jesus Christ as God manifest in the …
Grenville Kleiser—The world's great sermons, Volume 8

Life.
I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.'--St. John x. 10. In a word, He came to supply all our lack--from the root outward; for what is it we need but more life? What does the infant need but more life? What does the bosom of his mother give him but life in abundance? What does the old man need, whose limbs are weak and whose pulse is low, but more of the life which seems ebbing from him? Weary with feebleness, he calls upon death, but in reality it is life he wants. It is …
George MacDonald—Unspoken Sermons

The Disciple, -- what is the Meaning and Purpose of the Cross...
The Disciple,--What is the meaning and purpose of the cross, and why do pain and suffering exist in the world? The Master,--1. The cross is the key to heaven. At the moment when by My baptism I took the cross upon My shoulders for the sake of sinners, heaven was opened, and by means of My thirty-three years bearing of the cross and by death upon it, heaven, which by reason of sin was closed to believers, was for ever opened to them. Now as soon as believers take up their cross and follow Me they …
Sadhu Sundar Singh—At The Master's Feet

Questions and Answers
Question. How may we know definitely that we are sanctified? Answer. We may know it by knowing that we have met all the conditions. This grace is obtained upon the conditions of consecration and faith. When we are sure that we have measured up to a true Bible consecration, we will have no difficulty in knowing that we are sanctified. The depth of meaning of this consecration does not necessarily need to be fully comprehended by the seeker, as we enter into this covenant, but there is a yielding up …
J. W. Byers—Sanctification

Discourse on the Good Shepherd.
(Jerusalem, December, a.d. 29.) ^D John X. 1-21. ^d 1 Verily, verily, I say to you [unto the parties whom he was addressing in the last section], He that entereth not by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. [In this section Jesus proceeds to contrast his own care for humanity with that manifested by the Pharisees, who had just cast out the beggar. Old Testament prophecies were full of declarations that false shepherds would arise to …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Feast of the Dedication. The Jews Attempt to Stone Jesus and He Retires to Peræa.
(Jerusalem and Beyond Jordan.) ^D John X. 22-42. ^d 22 And it was the feast of the dedication at Jerusalem: 23; it was winter; and Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch. [The feast of dedication was one of eight days' duration and began upon the 25th Chisleu, which, according to the calculation of M. Chevannes, fell upon the nineteenth or twentieth of December, a.d. 29. The feast was kept in honor of the renovation and purification of the temple in the year b.c. 164, after it had been desecrated …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Good Shepherd' and his one Flock' - Last Discourse at the Feast of Tabernacles.
The closing words which Jesus had spoken to those Pharisees who followed HIm breathe the sadness of expected near judgment, rather than the hopefulness of expostulation. And the Discourse which followed, ere He once more left Jerusalem, is of the same character. It seems, as if Jesus could not part from the City in holy anger, but ever, and only, with tears. All the topics of the former Discourses are now resumed and applied. They are not in any way softened or modified, but uttered in accents of …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

John 10:34 NIV
John 10:34 NLT
John 10:34 ESV
John 10:34 NASB
John 10:34 KJV

John 10:34 Bible Apps
John 10:34 Parallel
John 10:34 Biblia Paralela
John 10:34 Chinese Bible
John 10:34 French Bible
John 10:34 German Bible

John 10:34 Commentaries

Bible Hub