The Shepherd, the Sheepfold, and the Sheep: 6. The Sheep

John 10:24-30.
This section relates in a summary manner to the characteristics of the sheep of Christ, as contrasted with the unbelief of the Jews. The latter display their utter blindness to all the Lord had previously said and done, by their question, “How long dost thou make us doubt?” “If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly” (ver. 24). In reply He charges them with positively rejecting both His words and His works, as chapters 8. and 9. of this Gospel respectively show in greater detail. He told them Who He was, but they believed Him not. His works bore witness to the same, but neither did they believe them, because they were not of His sheep. The very fact of asking such a question at such a juncture was full proof of their spiritual status.
The Lord thereon turns from the unbelievers to the believers. He speaks of the sheep of which He is at once the Owner, the Shepherd, and the Guardian. They had heard His voice (ver. 27). He had cried unto Israel, “To-day, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts” (Psa. 95:7, 8); but the mass of the nation would not hear, and accordingly their foolish hearts were darkened. There were however some who heard the voice of the Son of God, and they that heard lived (John 5:28)'.
Of such He says, “I know them.” But to the faithless ones He will say, as to the foolish virgins, “Verily, I say unto you, I know you not” (Matt. 25:12); and to many who have prophesied and cast out demons and done many wonderful works in His name, He will profess “I never knew you; depart from me, ye workers of iniquity” (Matt. 7:22, 23).
Moreover, those who heard the Shepherd's, voice followed Him, as He said before in a somewhat different connection (ver. 4). Here His words are, “My sheep hear my voice and I know them, and they follow me.” Not so the rich young man, who anxiously inquired of the Lord, how he might inherit eternal life. Though outwardly moral and inwardly sincere, he absolutely failed to answer to this claim of the Master. “Go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow me” (Mark 10:21). But he went away grieved. Whatever else he may have possessed, he undoubtedly lacked this distinguishing characteristic of the sheep of Christ. He was not constrained like the disciples to leave all and follow the poor, the lowly, and the despised. Nazarene; it is therefore clear he had not heard the Shepherd's voice. To him the path, with its apparent darkness and chilly gloom, was forbidding and repellent, as indeed it must be to all who have not the light of life (John 8:12).