John 10:22-30

John 10:22-30 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  I'd love to have a firm a certain knowledge, based on something concrete, that God is real and Jesus was who he says he was and that things will unfold just like he promised.  The Jews here in John's Gospel were looking for the same -- but they were also looking to trap Jesus in his words, to use them against him.
  What Jesus instead pointed to were his works, the miracles and the fulfillment of prophecies and the teachings, reminding us that all of these things pointed to his identity as the Christ.  These are what we look to as well -- these and the evidence we have discovered of the historical reliability of what Scripture proclaims.  The Holy Spirit plants faith within us, and it's up to us to be patient and listen to God calling us deeper into the religious life.  We hear the whispering of God, and we can be confidant that we are safe within the hands of God.
  What better promise can we have than to hear the most powerful man who ever lived, the one who willingly went to death and then rose again, having defeated death, say that nothing can snatch us out of his hand, for we have received eternal life?  Note how it's phrased as well -- Jesus gives this to us.  We don't earn it or grab it from him -- he gives it, and because of his gift, we will never die.