If your interpretation of John 10:26 were true, Jesus should have said: ‘You are not of my sheep because you do not believe.’ But he said: ‘You do not believe because…’. Is this not the opposite?

This text is an extract from a transcript of a Q&A session given by David Gooding entitled ‘The Glorious Gospel of the Blessed God’ (1995).

Well, I have to confess I am a trifle surprised by the question, for I believe with you that what Christ said was: 'You believe not, because you are not of my sheep.' I do believe that, and I accept the order of it. The reason why they didn't believe was that they were not Christ's sheep. Christ's sheep hear his voice and they believe and trust the Saviour. The reason why these people at this point didn't believe was because they were not yet Christ's sheep, so they had no confidence in him. But he shows them at the end how they may come to believe and at last become his sheep.