Unshaken: Chapter a Day

John 10 Discussion

• Pastor Plek

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A voice that calls you by name, a promise that refuses to break, and a claim that sparks stones—John 10 holds all three in tension and beauty. We open with the sheepfold: Jesus isn’t a distant manager but the good shepherd who knows his own and lays down his life by choice, not compulsion. That single image reframes leadership, safety, and love, challenging the lure of slick voices that promise ease while leaving us exposed.

The scene then shifts to winter at the Feast of Dedication, where pressure mounts for a public, uncomplicated answer about Messiahship. Instead of bending to demands, we point to the works that speak for themselves—and to the stubborn unbelief that ignores them. The conversation reaches a critical moment when Jesus declares, “I and the Father are one,” and meets a hail of accusations. Here we walk through Psalm 82 and why Jesus’ citation dismantles the charge of blasphemy. Along the way, a vital line rings out: “Scripture cannot be broken.” That’s not a catchphrase; it’s a compass for reading the Bible with confidence when tensions appear.

We close beyond the Jordan, where the volume drops and faith deepens. John the Baptist performed no signs, yet his testimony stands strong, and many believe. From that quiet riverbank, we draw out the anchor promise of the chapter: “I give them eternal life… no one will snatch them out of my hand.” If you’ve wrestled with doubt, struggled to trust leaders, or wondered how assurance fits real life, this journey through John 10 offers clarity, courage, and rest in the Shepherd who does not flee.

If this conversation helped you hear the Shepherd’s voice more clearly, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a quick review—what verse from John 10 anchors you this week?

Text us at 737-231-0605 with any questions.

Pastor Plek:

And welcome back to a chapter a day. Keeps the devil away. I'm Pastor Pleck. That's Pastor Holland. And we are talking John chapter 10. We're going to outline it, make some observations, get some interpretations, and land the plan with an application for you to take along with you today. All right, let's get into it. John 10, verses 1 through 18. It's the parable of the sheepfold and the good shepherd. Jesus contrasts unauthorized thieves and robbers who climb into the sheephold with the legitimate shepherd who enters by the gate, aka Jesus. All right. Then we're going to look at about the division among the Jews in 19 through 21. The words spark a split. Some call Jesus demon-possessed and insane. And they are urging silence. Others defend his work as pointing, hey, can you cast out demons and heal blind men? Then in 22 through 30, you've got Jesus at the feast of dedication. At Hanukkah, in the temple's second colonnade, you got a little winter action. They demand if he is the Messiah. Jesus rebukes their unbelief and kind of moves on, and they kind of charge him with blasphemy. Then you have the attempted stoning and Jesus' defense. They pick up stones at 31-39. Jesus appeals to the works of his fathers, quoting Psalm 8 to 6, saying, You are guard gods, to argue if the scripture calls humans gods who receive the word. How is it blasphemy for the sanctified son to claim unity of the Father? And that made people upset. They tried to seize him, but he escaped. Then in verses 40 through 42, many believe in the place of John's ministry. So Jesus withdraws across the Jordan where John had baptized. Many believe from John's testimony that Jesus was greater than he. All right, let's pick up some observations. What you got here? Uh Halando.

Pastor Holland:

Okay, we get two more I am statements here. We got we got the first two already. I am the bread of life, John 6, I'm the light of the world, John eight. And now we get I am the door for the sheep, and I am the good shepherd. So we got four of our seven I am statements now.

Pastor Plek:

Wow, lock those in. He is not only the shepherd, he's also the gate, which is sort of weird to be both things, but it's a metaphor.

Pastor Holland:

Right. It's also, you know, as we've talked about um the temple, and Jesus, uh, he is the um bread in the temple, he is the light in the temple, he is the water in the temple, he is, you know, the sacrifice, he is the altar, he is the everything. So Jesus really showing like it's okay for him to be multiple parts of a metaphor.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah, that's good. He kind of takes on all forms. All right. So uh yeah, he's the self-revealed gate, good shepherd. He emphasizes voluntary sacrifice. I think that's a big piece here, uh, because he's not a hired hand. He is a guy that's willing to lay down his life for his sheep because they're his, he owns them. Yeah. Uh, what else do you see?

Pastor Holland:

Uh, this interesting passage, verse 34, where 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. So, a couple things there. Uh, very interesting. Like, what does he mean you are gods? And then what does it mean scripture can't be broken?

Pastor Plek:

Right. So let's go back to the word that he's using from Psalm 82. It's Elohim. It's the same word that whenever uh God describes himself in Genesis, he uses Elohim. And that just the term, whenever you hear like an I am, Ahim, anem, that's like an S. So that's like plural. Like Hebronically is talking about Hebrew now because he's quoting Psalm. Yeah, it's quoting Psalm, which Elohim is the Hebrew word, and so it naturally has the term of gods, to which, if you're asking me, kind of my Michael Heiser background, uh, that is like the demons and angels make up the Elohim, and he's at the height of the divine council. And so sometimes he calls himself Elohim when he's kind of referring to the divine council as a whole, but sometimes he refers to him as I am. And that's the exclusive part of like him being the only God, the counsel being like he he's using the the spiritual world to rule and lead.

Pastor Holland:

So when he says, I said you are gods, if he called them gods to whom the word of God came, who's he referring to there, to whom the word of God came?

Pastor Plek:

Okay, so this would be two options. Option A, uh that I think probably is the most consistent or common, not consistent, common, is that's that would be judges or ruling kings on the earth. The word of God comes to them and they rule according to God's word. Or it is they are the, you know how each nation had its own, I guess, angelic uh, like you see, uh Michael is the prince of Israel in the spiritual realm. Each nation had its own prince, but they all rebelled and wanted them to worship them. And so um that's how he called your gods, and he was they were given the word of God to rule or to care for that nation by not to absorb worship, but to point it towards Yahweh.

Pastor Holland:

Okay. So I I take it's the you know, the option of the human judges and human rulers. And so to me, the logic of this is saying if scripture would call human judges and rulers gods, because they, in a sense, were like a proxy for God, they ruled over people according to God's word. They, you know, the prophets, the priests, the kings, these were God's representatives on earth. He's saying, if scripture called them gods with a little g, um, then why do you have a problem with me being called the son of God? Um, this seems consistent with how scripture speaks of, you know, those who represent God in a position of, you know, authority or something. Yeah. So he's identifying himself as the Christ chosen by God. He's saying, even by human standards, you could ascribe the title of little g God to Jesus, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, he's a ruler. Yeah, a ruler. Um, and in the in this case, in the sense the Christ. Yeah.

Pastor Plek:

Even if you go to the very basic, he's a shepherd of the sheep, we're sheep, he's a shepherd. Yeah. I mean, like to a sheep, the human beings are gods. Um back to Psalm 82, though, I I do like that it I it goes both. I think it can easily go both ways as like an angelic spiritual realm. And I don't, because I don't know, you know, when Asaph wrote that psalm, was he thinking like, oh, clearly God's speaking through me to kind of give a clear, here's what God told the angelic realm? I don't know if he got that, but when I look at it, um, a God is taking his place in the divine counsel in the midst of the gods, Elohim. He has holds judgment. How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Say a give justice to the weak and the fatherless, maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute, rescue the weak and the needy, deliver him from them from the hand of the wicked. They have neither dark knowledge nor understanding. They walk about in darkness, all the foundation of the earth are shaken. I said, You are God, Son of the Most High, all of you, nevertheless, like men you shall die and fall like any prince. Arise, O God, judge the earth, for you shall inherit the nations. So, from the spiritual perspective, like that's the judges are fallen angels that have used their power for evil uh as opposed to good. It speaks that also for human judges and rulers, it speaks that very same thing. So I think that interpretation fits both ways. Um, but it is very cool to think about from an angelic realm.

Pastor Holland:

Uh yeah. So Jesus, he's saying, It's fine for me to call myself the son of God, even if you like now, Jesus is God, and he does, you know, claim to be God and he is divine, but even if he wasn't, he could have kind of taken on that title of a little g God in the sense that um he was a you know anointed um figure from God, right?

Pastor Plek:

And and again, he is fully God, but he's also fully man. Yeah. And so that to me like speaks to that, like he is a son of God that does fit for him perfectly. Um anyway, okay.

Pastor Holland:

And then it says scripture cannot be broken, right? So that's another interesting thing here where uh yeah, Jesus is really giving us a theology of scripture that it is consistent, it does not contradict itself, um, God's word is always true, it doesn't fail. Like you can get a lot about the nature of what scripture is just from that statement.

Pastor Plek:

Man, that that that that's really good. There's so much depth there um with all that. Um, what about um how we go to John the Baptist at the very end there? I I thought that was sort of an interesting. He went again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing 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. So he in the very beginning, they go, they kind of point at Jesus and they're saying, This guy's insane. This guy's got to have a demon. But they're like, wait a minute. Another person who he thought was of God pointed to this man. Yeah, right. So therefore, I think we can trust that what John said was true, because he didn't do any signs, but we all loved him and he was a man of righteousness, and he pointed completely to Jesus. Yeah, that's cool. Um, what else we got as far as observations here?

Pastor Holland:

Uh, verse 18, when he's talking about laying down his life, uh, he says, No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. So you see the voluntary aspect of Jesus' death on a cross. Sometimes people talk about the cross, you know, the I've heard the phrase divine child abuse before, of like, oh, God's a meanie who punishes his son on the cross. And um, Jesus very clearly here says, I willingly go. I lay it down, I'm laying down my life willingly.

Pastor Plek:

And this was the plan of the Trinity even before he entered into um into humanity. And I think what people look at is they see the guard to Gethsemane as proof, that's their proof text, that clearly Jesus didn't want to do it, he just d did it against his will. But that wasn't that wasn't his divine will, his divine will had planned this all ahead of time. And then it and then the human aspect of going through pain and suffering, he's like, Is there any other way to do this? No, all right, I fully commit to the plan.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, and the the idea of divine child abuse is so dumb that uh he was not a child here, too. He's the son, but he's a grown man, he's not just baby Jesus forever. He grew up, he grew up, and you know, he's he's saying, uh, no one takes it from me. I am willingly giving my life to save my sheep.

Pastor Plek:

Okay, so that gets us to some um truth about the nature of man. I think humans gravitate towards false shepherds who say stuff like cosmic child abuse and they kind of go wherever it tickles people's ears. Um or and like or they could say stuff like, because that seems so mean, don't worry about what the cross means. Everybody gets to heaven. There is no hell.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, right. And you know, these are people who Jesus would call here um thieves and robbers, right? Um, false, false shepherds, um, people who don't want to care for the sheep, but want to benefit from the sheep, who want to kill the sheep or steal the sheep or whatever it might be. These are um so what it teaches us about human nature is we will exploit religion for personal gain.

Pastor Plek:

How about um unbelief uh stems from like this worldly disconnection from God? Like you've gotten so into what your expectation should be of what God should do that you can't see anything. And so therefore you don't believe anything unless it meets your own criteria as opposed to meeting God's criteria.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah. We we are something else it teaches about humans. We are rational, logical people. And you know, sometimes that gets um that gets all distorted by sin. But even so, you can see the logic and the reason of people here where, you know, it says in verse 20, they call him a demon. He has a demon, he's insane. Why listen to him? And others say, these are not the words of one who's oppressed by a demon. They're using rational thinking and logic of going, no, his words make sense, actually. And, you know, they're piecing together, look at the signs he's doing, listen to his teaching. None of this comes off as someone who's demonic. This comes off as someone who is from God. I like how uh they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands. I know.

Pastor Plek:

I wish I knew, I wish they gave us a little more detail. What does that mean? Like, did he evaporate? Did he was it just like, hey, God's over there? And he walks away. I don't, you know, that would be kind of a fun thing to know. Or is he like super fast and they like couldn't catch up? She's like a man, Jesus should have tried out for the track. All right, so how about um character of God? What does it teach about the character of God? Hmm. How about he's an intimate, because the sheep know him. Yeah. Uh, and he he knows they he knows their voice, they know his. He's a protective, intimate shepherd who calls and knows, secures his sheep eternally.

Pastor Holland:

His his scripture cannot be broken. I think this points to that God does not lie, God is not insane, he does not contradict himself. God is consistent and true, and his word never fails.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah, how about Jesus is one with the father that affirms his divinity and isn't blasphemy.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, that's right. Um God is so related to that, God is triune. Nice. Father, son, and Holy Spirit. Yeah. And we get we get more of the Holy Spirit teaching, you know, coming up in later chapters. But even here, you know, the ice idea of people um of Jesus saying, I and the Father are one. Yeah. We go, there's one God, three persons, co-equal, co-eternal. We already get Trinitarian teaching here.

Pastor Plek:

That's good. Uh how about God unites believers from different backgrounds, sheepfolds, and that's his point to bring to make from many one, e. pleuribus unum, if you will.

Pastor Holland:

Um, God is a protector. Yeah. Um you see Jesus, you know, he sees the wolf coming and he leaves the jeep and the sheep and flees. That's the hired hand. Um, and then he says, I'm the good shepherd, you know, I lay down my life for the sheep. Um and so you see, Jesus is not someone who's gonna abandon his people, he is a protector and a savior for his people.

Pastor Plek:

Nice. All right, let's get into uh application. We got sin to avoid or confess, a promise to claim, an example to follow, a command to obey, or knowledge to believe. How about a sin to avoid is following the thieves through distraction or self-reliance that just kind of gives you the fake entry into the kingdom of God?

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, that's good. I like knowledge to believe. I just really love this line. Scripture cannot be broken. You gotta believe that. When you see something that seems to be contradictory in scripture, you gotta go, I'm missing something here. Yeah, I need I need to dig in here because scripture can't be broken, so it's not gonna contradict itself.

Pastor Plek:

Okay. How about command to obey, enter through me, and you'll be saved. Yeah. Uh so like go enter through Jesus. Yeah, there is no other way to be saved.

Pastor Holland:

Amen. Example to follow. Um, verse 42. Many believed in him there. Believe in Jesus. Same thing.

Pastor Plek:

Okay, promise claim. I think it's verse 28. I gave, I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. That's like you don't have to worry about losing your salvation. No one can snatch you out of his hand. Amen. Uh, hey, so today as you go along your day, I want you to be reminded that if you are a child of God, you are a flock of his uh pasture, or you're a sheep in his flock, like you can know for sure that your salvation is secure and that he's got you no matter what. Trust in him today. Hey, we'll see you next time. We'll see you on a chapter a day.

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