Why Do Some Believe and Others Don't?

Ligonier.org is doing a series on Predestination. Fine. In the latest installment, they ask the question, "Why Do Some Believe and Some Don't?" A decent article about what it means to believe, where faith comes from, that sort of thing. They didn't actually mention Jesus's answer for some reason.

In John 10 Jesus was having conversations with the Jews. There we read this:

So the Jews gathered around Him and said to Him, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly." Jesus answered them, "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. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me" (John 10:24-27).

Remember the question: Why do some believe and some don't? The question is quite pertinent. Why did you believe and your next-door neighbor not? Why did your mother believe and your grandfather didn't? What makes the difference? Well, Jesus answers that question and He does it without any mincing of words. It is crystal clear.

The Jews wanted to know if He was the Messiah. "Tell us plainly." As if He hadn't. Okay, fine. Jesus answered (rightly), "I told you, and you do not believe." The problem, you see, was not a failure of the message. It wasn't that the messenger had failed to provide sufficient information or sufficient proof or sufficient argumentation. It wasn't unclear. The difference between "believe" and "not believe", then, is not in the message or the messenger. Look, Jesus proved it with miracles. It doesn't get any clearer than that.

Nor was it a failure on the other end. "Well," some might say, "if we could just see an actual difference between 'believe' and 'not believe', then we could believe." Jesus says that's not the issue. "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me." That is, there is never a case of "I believed, but it made no difference." As a coworker once suggested, "I tried that, but it didn't work." Jesus said that doesn't happen. His true sheep 1) hear His voice (without exception), 2) He knows them (in an experiential, personal way), and 3) they follow Him -- not possibly or potentially or sometimes, but certainly.

So it's not the message nor is it a matter of questionable outcome. The message is fine and the outcome works always. What, then, does Jesus say determines if someone believes or not?

"You do not believe because you are not among My sheep."

Now, that's easy to miss, but stop and look long enough and I think you'll see that it isn't actually mistakable. He did not say, "You are not among My sheep because you do not believe" as we might think. No one would have any issue with that. That wouldn't be any revelation. But that's not what He said. He said the reverse. He said that a failure to believe is a direct result of not being among His sheep.

Now, it's easy to think of His "sheep" as those who are "in the flock" because, after all, isn't that how our language works? But Jesus said, "I have other sheep that are not of this fold" (John 10:16). So in Jesus's vernacular, "My sheep" would include all who are part of the present flock and all who will be part of the flock at some time future.

Why do some believe and some do not? Jesus said that the efficient cause (He said "because") is "among My sheep". If you are, you will believe. If you are not, you will not. He did not say it was due to poor expression of the Gospel, hardness of heart, improper witnessing techniques, a poor apologetic, a bad testimony ... any of a lot of reasons we typically assign to the question.

Now, here's the real question. Since Jesus is abundantly clear here, are you going to believe Him ... or are you going to believe someone else?