The Exclusive Love of God for His Church from John 10:26–30
The unbeliever who hears the voice of Jesus Christ, in the preaching of the Gospel of grace, will never follow Jesus, unless He belongs to Jesus. This is the clear teaching of John 10:26, as our Lord Jesus Himself taught it.
The key issue of faith, therefore, is ownership. Those who have been purchased in Christ’s redemption of His church will believe Him and follow Him because they know Him. They know Him because He first knew them (Mt 7:21–23).
The redeemed people of God know Him because God the Father and God the Son have sent God the Holy Spirit to baptize and indwell each elect soul at the appointed time of their regeneration. Stated another way, the born again have been brought into vital union with Christ Jesus (Jn 15; 1 Jn 4:13). This is an inseparable union, where the life of God flows into the believer. The Christian has an internal fountain of abundant life (Gal 2:20).
Jesus promised He would give eternal life to those whom the Father had given to Him. He promised they would never be severed from Him (Jn 10:28–29; Heb 13:5). Nothing could separate this union of love between Christ and His church (Rom 8:35–39), the Israel of God (Gal 6:16), His beloved bride (Eph 5:25).
The Arminian notion that God loves everyone; Christ died for everyone, but everyone must decide for himself whether he believes in Jesus or not, is debunked by John 10:26–30.
In this passage, Jesus is not only claiming equality with God (the Father), but in the proposition of His deity (Jn 10:30), He is issuing the immense comfort of the preservation of the saints. Both the Father and the Son are active in guaranteeing blessed assurance (Jn 10:28–29).
Jesus identifies His exclusive relationship to His sheep. These did not become His possession by their free will decision. Simply put, sheep do not choose their owners (much to the chagrin of Arminian theologians!). God the Father actually gave Jesus His sheep (Jn 6:37; 10:29), to whom Jesus gives eternal life (Jn 10:28). He does this when He gives them His Holy Spirit, as a gift (Rom 5:5).
The apostle John wrote 1 John for the very purpose that believers would know they have eternal life (1 Jn 5:13). For those who have the Son have this life (Jn 3:36; 1 Jn 5:12). Those who do not have the Son, do not have eternal life. Whereas Jesus promised His sheep would not perish (Jn 10:28), those without Christ will die in their trespasses and sins (Jn 8:21, 24). Jesus never knew them (Mt 7:21–23) — them being vessels of wrath prepared for destruction (Rom 9:22).
The exclusive love that God has for His chosen people in election (Eph 1:4–5), for His church in redemption (Eph 5:25), and for the born again in regeneration (Rom 5:5) is an offense to the unbeliever. This exclusive love is the scandal of the Gospel. It is why so many “Christ followers” and churches have opted for the Jesus of Universalism, or the Jesus of Arminianism. They are offended by the Jesus of the Bible.
Following the wrong Jesus is nothing new. It is the essence of every Christian cult, formed by the false teaching within the church. The “Love First” cult of Christianity, today, must deny John 10:26–30. Their teaching of universal love and redemption, while denying universal regeneration, entrusts the success or failure of salvation to people who may or may not belong to the Good Shepherd of His sheep. Eventually, His sheep figure out this false teaching, and then, they attempt to expose it (Eph 5:11). Those who are deceived by man-centered theology will only serve to propagate this false teaching and become false teachers themselves.
The blasphemy of easy-believism and free will decisionalism, therefore, denies the exclusivity of Christianity. This is a rejection of God’s exclusive love (monogamous) for His people, that is, Christ’s exclusive love for His church. They have turned Jesus Christ into an adulterer, by their false teaching. They have robbed the Holy Spirit, as the sovereign giver of life (Jn 6:63; 2 Cor 3:6), by claiming that the Holy Spirit can only work regeneration (Jn 3:1–8; 1 Pet 1:3), by the beck and call of totally depraved sinners (Gen 6:5; Rom 3:10–12; 1 Cor 2:14), spiritually dead in their trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1–3).
All of this is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, but it is perfectly in alignment with what Jesus taught about false teachers. There is a line of demarcation in theology, as seen in the Augustinian/Pelagian and Calvinism/Arminian debates. These two sides are diametrically opposed to one another, and only one of them can be the Gospel of truth. The other is a diabolical work of our adversary, who has been enticing the sons of Adam to question the sovereignty of God, since the Garden of Eden (Gen 3:5).
Seeing the sovereignty of God in salvation is only by the grace of God. Jesus alone can open the eyes of the blind (Jn 9), to see that only He saves those who have been chosen (Titus 1:4; 2:13; 3:6), by the free will and gracious choice of God the Father (Jn 1:12–13; Rom 11:5). He loses none of those who were given to Him and whose names were written in the Lamb’s book of life, from before the foundation of the world (Rev 13:8; 17:8; 21:27). Paul stated it succinctly, “He saved us (Titus 3:5),” that is “us“ the church not, “He has made salvation possible for all people.”
Have you been taught the false gospel of universal love and universal redemption, leading to the sovereignty of man in deciding his own eternal home? Repent and believe the true Gospel of John 10:26–30. Jesus said it best, and as clear as day. People do not believe in Jesus, for only one reason…because they do not belong to Him (Jn 10:26). They were not given to Him by the Father because they were reprobate (Rom 9:22), according to God’s eternal decree, which is the declaration of all God’s holy will (Eph 1:11), from His predetermined plan and foreknowledge (Acts 2:23), derived from His eternal good pleasure.
Christian, marvel again at the mercy of God that He willed your salvation from eternity (Rom 9:15–16). God never fails, nor does His exclusive love fail toward you (1 Cor 13:8), which has transformed you from a hater of God (Rom 1:30) to a lover of God (Lk 10:27; 1 Jn 4:19).
Rejoice that you can hear His voice in the true preaching and teaching of the Gospel of life. This Gospel of grace has come to you because you belong to Him (1 Cor 3:23). You were lost but He found you. You were blind but He gave you eyes to see. You were deaf, but now you hear His voice, and you follow Him, who is true (Jn 14:6; Rom 3:4)…only because He was true to you…exclusively.
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
August 21, 2022
