“I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep.” ( John 10:25 25 Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believe not: the works that I do in my Father's name, these bear witness of me. –26)

Think about this for a moment. Think about what it means, and think about the fact that Jesus would dare to say it to unbelievers.

Jesus does not say, “You do not belong to my sheep because you do not believe.” Belonging to the sheep, in this text, is not dependent on believing. It’s the other way around.

Believing is dependent on being a sheep. Belonging to the sheep enables a person to believe. So Jesus says, “The reason you don’t believe is that you don’t belong to my sheep.” What Jesus means by “my sheep” is that the Father has given the sheep to him. That is what makes them his.

Picture yourself as a Pharisee hearing the message of Jesus and saying to yourself, “If he thinks I am going to be sucked into this movement along with the tax collectors and sinners, he’s crazy. I have a will of my own and the power to determine my own destiny.”

And then picture Jesus, knowing what is in your heart, and saying, “You boast in your heart that you are in control of your life. You think that you can frustrate the ultimate plans of my ministry. You think that the great purposes of God in salvation are dependent on your wavering will. Truly, truly I say to you, the ultimate reason you do not believe is because the Father has not chosen you to be among my sheep.”

In other words, Jesus is saying, “The final boast of unbelief is destroyed by the doctrine of election.” Those whom God chose, he also gave to the Son; and those whom he gave to the Son, the Son also called; and for those whom he called, he laid down his life; and to them he gave eternal joy in the presence of his glory.

This is the Father’s pleasure.