John 10:3-5 The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.”
John 1:1-4 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.He was with God in the beginning.Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.In him was life, and that life was the light of men.
Revelation 19:13 He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God.
This verse is assuring us of several things. Once again it is pointing to a personal relationship with the Lord. Notice it says He calls us each by name and that we know Him. You can't get much more personal then that! Once again this verse also assures us that we will hear His voice and recognize it. Oh sure, Satan may try to place doubt in our minds, but deep down we'll know it's Him. He created us to know Him!
Keep in mind as well that Jesus says that we will follow Him because we know His voice. As sheep we may not understand what He’s saying all the time, but we will follow because we know it’s Him.
At the end of this passage we are told that we won’t follow a stranger (or a false teacher) but will run away from them because they don’t speak with His voice. Why then do so many Christians follow after imposters? It’s simply because they do not know the voice of the Lord. The only way to know His voice is to listen to Him, to know Him personally and to spend time with Him. Yes, yet again we are right back to know His Word, the Bible. Jesus Christ is the Word of God. We have that Word in written form and He expects us to know it inside out. When we do, we will instantly recognize when someone is teaching something that is not of the Lord, because it won’t be His voice. We will know Him so well that anything wrong will be very obvious to us. We may not understand why it’s wrong, but we will know that we shouldn’t listen and we will “run away” from the stranger.
When we are saved, our proper response is to follow Him. The way we do that is by reading our bible, and spending time in prayer and in listening to Him. Unfortunately most churches forget to tell people that so we wind up with a lot of newborn baby Christians who don’t have the foggiest notion of “how to follow Christ”, or that they have any responsibility at all in this transaction.
One other thing I want to remind you of before we close out this week. God can not lie! Therefore everything He has said in this verse (and of course all the others) is totally true. It's true for you personally and it's true for everyone else. You will hear His voice and He will speak to you!
Hebrews 6:18 that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.
2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by His power He may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith.We pray this so that the Name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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