"YE BELIEVE NOT, BECAUSE YE ARE NOT OF MY SHEEP."

John 10:26

Most all preachers claim to believe and preach the Bible. They say that they believe it all and preach it all. Why then have you never heard a preacher preach a sermon from John 10:26? I dare say, you have not only never heard a sermon from that text, you have probably never even heard it read in a public worship service. You will, probably be surprised to learn what it says. Yet, this verse of Scripture is right in the middle of our Lord's famous discourse about the Good Shepherd.

Listen to what our Lord Jesus Christ says in John 10:26 – “Ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep.” If language means anything at all, our Lord told these Pharisees that they were not elected to salvation. The reason why they rejected Christ and would not believe on him is that God had not bestowed the gifts of grace, faith, and salvation upon them in eternal election.

We all know that the Bible teaches the doctrine of divine election. But most preachers pervert the doctrine and say that God has chosen to save all men, and the only reason why some are not among the elect is that they will not believe. Our Lord says just the opposite. He told these unbelieving Pharisees that the reason why they could not believe was that they were not among the number of his elect. They could not believe because he had left them to themselves; and sinners left to themselves cannot and will not believe the gospel.

Those to whom the Master spoke these words were not among the sheep given to him by his Father in eternal election. If they had been, they would have come to him and been saved by him. Our Lord said, "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me” (John 6:37). They were not among that great multitude who were chosen of God and predestinated to eternal salvation. We know that they were not, because all who were ordained to eternal life do, in God's time, believe. That's what the Scripture says in Acts 13:48 - "As many as were ordained to eternal life believed.” Modern day religion says, "As many as believe are ordained to eternal life,” making man's faith the basis and cause of God's election. But the Bible says, "As many as were ordained to eternal life believed,” making God's decree of election the cause of man's faith. Our Lord told these Pharisees that the reason why they had no faith was that they were not elected. God did not cause them to reject Christ. God did not refuse to give them faith. God simply left these men to their own perverse, wicked free-will. He did nothing for them. And they did what was natural to man, they rejected God's salvation and despised his Son.

Many rant and rave about free-will. They cry, "Man must have a choice. God will not overrule man's free-will." Let me tell you something. -- Any man whom God leaves to himself, any man whose “free-will” is absolutely left alone is going to hell. Unless God almighty, in his matchless, free, sovereign, and eternal grace has chosen you and given you to Christ as one of his sheep, you will go to hell. Unless God creates faith in you by his own irresistible power, you never will and you never can have faith. Faith is not created by the power of man's “free-will.” Faith in Christ is created by the operation of Divine power.

It is true, some men are not elected to salvation. But, blessed be God, some of Adam's fallen race have been elected to eternal life in Christ. If you believe on Christ, it is because “God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation” (2 Thess. 2:13). Your faith in Christ must be attributed, not to your own freewill, but to God's free, sovereign, eternal, electing love and grace. AMEN.