John 10:27

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE, AND I KNOW THEM, AND THEY FOLLOW ME. See the note at MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE, AND I KNOW THEM, AND THEY FOLLOW ME. See the note at ....

27._My sheep hear my voice. _He proves by an argument drawn from contraries, that they are not _sheep_, because they do not obey the Gospel. For God effectually calls all whom he has elected, so that the _sheep _of Christ are proved by their faith. And, indeed, the reason why the name of _sheep _is applied to believers is, that they surrender themselves to God, to be governed by the hand of the Chief Shepherd, and, laying aside the fierceness of their nature, become mild and teachable. It is no small consolation to faithful teachers, that, though the greater part of the world do not listen to Christ, yet he has his _sheep whom he knows_, _and by whom he is also known _Let them do their utmost to bring the whole world into the fold of Christ; but when they do not succeed according to their wish, let them be satisfied with this single consideration, that they who are _sheep _will be gather...

22-30 All who have any thing to say to Christ, may find him in the temple. Christ would make us to believe; we make ourselves doubt. The Jews understood his meaning, but could not form his words into a full charge against him. He described the gracious disposition and happy state of his sheep; they heard and believed his word, followed him as his faithful disciples, and none of them should perish; for the Son and the Father were one. Thus he was able to defend his sheep against all their enemies, which proves that he claimed Divine power and perfection equally with the Father....

Verse 27. _MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE_] But ye _will_ not hear:- _my sheep_ _follow me_; but ye will neither follow nor acknowledge me. Any person who reads without prejudice may easily see, that our Lord does not at all insinuate that these persons _could not_ believe, because God had made it _impossible_ to them; but simply because they _did not hear and follow Christ_, which the whole of our blessed Lord's discourse proves that _they might have done_. The sheep of Christ are not those who are included in any eternal decree, to the _exclusion of others_ from the yearnings of the bowels of eternal mercy; but they are those who _hear, believe in,_ _follow_, and _obey the Saviour_ of the world....

MY SHEEP - My church, my people, those who have the true spirit of my followers. The name is given to his people because it was an illustration which would be well understood in a country abounding in flocks. There is also a striking resemblance, which he proceeds to state, between them. HEAR MY VOICE - See John 10:3. Applied to Christians, it means that they hear and obey his commandments. I KNOW THEM - See John 10:14.THEY FOLLOW ME - A flock follows its shepherd to pastures and streams, John 10:3. Christians not only obey Christ, but they imitate him; they go where his Spirit and providence lead them; they yield t

EXPOSITION JOHN 10:1 5. _Christ the Shepherd of the flock of God_._ _The discourse which now follows was the Lord's parabolic or allegoric reply to the conduct of the Pharisaic malignants. These men, claiming to be infallible guides of the ignorant, to be veritable shepherds of the flock of God, had ignored the advent of the true and good Shepherd, had opposed the Divine call and supreme claim of the Messiah, had set themselves to disturb and dislocate the relations between him and those who saw his glory and found in him the Consolation of Israel. They had excommunicated the adoring disciple who had passed out of lifelong darkness into marvelous light. They had exaggerated the faint glimmer of light which had broken upon their own blindness into true vision. They had said, "We see," and thus shown themselves to be willfully

MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE,.... The voice of Christ in his Gospel, both externally and internally; John 10:4, John 10:16; and since therefore these Jews did not, it was a plain case they were not of his sheep: AND I KNOW THEM; John 10:14; but Christ knew not these as the elect of God, or as the Father's gift to him, and therefore they could not be his sheep: AND THEY FOLLOW ME; both in the exercise of grace, and in the discharge of duty, and whithersoever he the good shepherd leads them; John 10:3, John 10:4. But now, whe

John 10:1. _Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber._ The positiveness of our Lord's teaching is noteworthy. Whatever may be said about dogmatical teaching now, it is certain that his teaching is of that character. He does not raise questions, but he solves them. He does not suggest probabilities, but he declares certainties. This might be taken as the key-word to all the Saviour's teaching, «Verily, verily.» He makes a strong asseveration; he speaks as one having authority, not as the scribes who only claimed to have authority, but as the Sent One of the Father who really has it: «Verily, verily, I say unto you.» Whatever comes to us with the imprimatur of the «Verily, verily,» of the Son of God is not to be questioned or doubted by us for a single moment. «He that entereth not

CHAPTER 10 _ 1. The Shepherd of the Sheep. (John 10:1 .)_ 2. The Good Shepherd, His Sheep and His Work. (John 10:6 .) 3. At the Feast of Dedication; the Repeated Testimony. (John 10:22 .) 4. Accused of Blasphemy and His Answer. (John 10:31 .) 5. Beyond Jordan; and Many Believed on Him. (John 10:40 .) The teaching of this chapter is closely linked with the preceding event. It has become evident that the true sheep of Christ, belonging to His flock, would be cast out of the Jewish fold. The healed man cast out had become one of

THE FEAST OF THE DEDICATION._ Mg.,_ At that time suggests a closer connexion with what precedes than the old reading And. But in any case the notes of time are not precise. The Feast of the Dedication (p. 104) was instituted to commemorate the restoration (p. 607) of the Temple services in 165 by the Maccabees after its desecration for three years by Antiochus Epiphanes (1Ma_4:36-59, 2Ma_10:1-8, Josephus, _Ant._ XII. vii. 7). It lasted for eight days from December 25, and according to Josephus was called Lights, because this liberty beyond our hopes appeared to us. According to 2Ma_1:9 it was called the Tabernacles of the month Chisleu, many of the customs of Tabernacles being reproduced at it. For the Porch of Solomon, _cf._ Acts 3:11 *. The Jews, either incited to hope by Jesus-' teaching, or wishing to discredit Him with the crowd, demand a clear pronouncement of His Messianic cla