Who Are They?

[Christsfreeservant]

This is today’s “Verse of the Day” on Bible Gateway (on the internet):

“and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 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.” (John 10:28-30 NASB1995)​

But what’s missing? What comes before the “and”? And who are “them” to whom Jesus Christ gives eternal life? Who are “they” who will never perish? There has to be a subject matter. And why cut it off?

Now, it is not just this particular internet site that does this. This is something being done by people all over the place, by many pastors and teachers of the Scriptures. This passage of Scripture, minus who “they” are, is being taught this way, and it is being applied broadly to all who profess faith in Jesus Christ with their lips. But does it apply to everyone who says, “Jesus is Lord”? If it does, why not say so? Why cut off who “they” are?

I believe the purpose, whether intentional or not by everyone who does this, is based in deception. They (who initiated this) want you to believe that if you “prayed the prayer,” or if you proclaimed verbally Jesus as Lord, or if you acknowledged belief that God raised Christ from the dead, that you now have eternal life with God secured for you, and that nothing and no one can take that away from you. But is that true? No! Why? Because this is being taught out of context and it is leaving out who “they” are.

For, with all of God’s promises come conditions. And that is biblical. So what are the conditions which go along with this passage?

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” (John 10:27 NASB1995)​

Jesus’ sheep are his followers. And a follower of Jesus Christ is a disciple of Christ, a believer in Jesus Christ who follows the Lord in obedience to his commands, and who walks in his ways, and who learns from him as to what he should be and do and say as a follower of Christ. And he listens to Jesus, and this is not just hearing with our physical ears, but this is to attend to what the Lord is saying, to adhere to (to heed, to obey) his commands, to take what he says to heart, and to apply his words to our lives, in practice.

And if Jesus Christ knows us, i.e. if we are known by him, this has to do with an intimate relationship with him based in the truths of what the Scriptures teach on what it means to know God/Christ and to be known by him. And the Scriptures teach that we must deny self, die with Christ to sin, in practice, by the Spirit, and walk with him in obedience to his commands. But if we say we know him or we are in relationship with him, but we do not obey him, in practice, and we continue in deliberate and habitual sin, then he does not know us, and we do not know him (read 1 John chps. 1-3).

So, in context..

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 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.” (John 10:27-30 NASB1995)​

So, if we have not died with Christ to sin, and if we are not putting sin to death in our lives, by the Spirit, in practice, and if we are not walking (in conduct, in practice) in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, but we are still charting our own course, living however we want, still making sin our practice and not walks of obedience, then we are not the Lord’s sheep, and so these promises do not apply to our lives. For the Scriptures teach that if this is how we live that we will not inherit eternal life with God.

So, please be students of the Scriptures who read them in their full and appropriate context. For all of God’s promises have conditions that we must adhere to or we do not have those promises. And this is not claiming sinless perfection, either (see 1 John 2:1-2). Where God draws the “line in the sand,” basically, is between those who practice obedience to him and those who don’t; between those who practice putting sin to death, and those who are continuing in deliberate and habitual sin. So read Scriptures in context!

[Matt 7:13-14,21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 10:27-30; Ac 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

My Sheep

Based off John 10:1-30 NIV

My sheep hear me. They know me.
They listen to my voice and obey.
I call them and lead them.
They know my voice, so they follow me.
They will never follow strangers.
They will run away from them.
The voice of a stranger they know not;
They do not follow him.

So, I tell you the truth that
I am the gate, so you enter in.
Whoever does enter
Will find forgiveness and will be saved.
Nonetheless whoever enters
Not by the gate; other way,
He is the thief and a robber.
Listen not, the sheep to him.

Oh, I am the Good Shepherd,
Who laid his own life down for the sheep.
I know them. They know me.
They will live with me eternally.
The thief only comes to steal and
Kill and to destroy the church.
I have come to give you life that
You may have it to the full…

They know my voice, so they follow me.

An Original Work / June 24, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Who Are They?
An Original Work / April 21, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love