The Jews (which probably means the Jewish leaders) gather around Jesus in the temple to ask if He was the Christ (v22-24). This wasn’t a genuine desire for the truth because Jesus has already clearly revealed who He is (v25).

Jesus teaches that the problem is that they don’t belong to Him, they are not His sheep (v26-27). The problem was not with the light that Jesus was revealing, the problem was with the state of the hearts of these Jews. They were so enslaved by sin and Satan that they would not embrace Christ in faith. They were dead in their trespasses and sin (Ephesians 2 v1). It is only the miracle of God’s grace in transforming a sinner’s heart that can enable them to then embrace Christ.

Those who embrace Christ receive eternal life and as it is eternal life it can never be lost (v28-30). The wonderful truth that after salvation it is not the Christian who keeps hold of Christ and the Father, it is Christ and the Father who keeps hold of the Christian. God will never let His children go. Jesus will never lose those whom He has died to save. Praise God for this truth.

Of course, this doesn’t do away with the believer’s responsibility to keep close to God through prayer and the study of God’s Word.