My Sheep Know My Voice
John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
I've been thinking a lot about being real and learning to distinguish the actual voice of God from my own thoughts and ideas. Living for God is about so much more than being a good person and coming to church occasionally. I want REAL relationship and interaction with the Maker of the universe who has power over every disease, every bit of weather, and every created thing. But the REALLY crazy thing is that God wants that too! That blows my mind. I was standing on a dock here in Puerto Rico the other day, and while I was standing there, watching the sunset, I saw fish jumping out of the water, lizards scurrying through the leaves and a pelican plunging into the bay to get dinner. And as I was watching all the details in nature, I had a Psalm 8 moment being blown away that the God who made all this wants an individual relationship with us. God wants to know us and wants us to know Him intimately.
But that doesn't mean that we don't have to be proactive. Ephesians 4:14 warns us about being too spiritually naive. We have to know the difference between our Savior's voice and all other voices.
In John 10:27, Jesus is speaking and He says His sheep hear His voice and follow Him. Earlier in the chapter, He says it even more clearly.
John 10:1 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
10:2 But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
10:3 To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.
10:4 And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
10:5 And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.
In other words, the shepherd calls the sheep by name and since the sheep know His voice, they follow Him. They don't follow the voice of a stranger, a hireling or a thief because they don't recognize the voice!
In doing a little brief internet research, I read a story about how sheep know the voice of their shepherd and are able to distinguish it from all other voices. A lady was traveling in Israel and as she was walking along the road she saw three shepherds with three flocks of sheep. They met on the road and the shepherds stopped to greet and talk with each other. As they did, the sheep all mingled together forming one huge flock. The woman watched, wondering how the shepherds would be able to separate the sheep and get theirs back. When they left, the shepherds just called their sheep and like magic, the sheep separated into three flocks again and followed their shepherd. They knew which shepherd was theirs just based on his voice.
There are two stories from the Bible that really illustrate this...one story is about a man who did this well and another story is about a man who did not do this well. We'll start with the one who didn't.
This is kind of a strange story. In fact, a girl once told me in college told me that this was one of the hardest Biblical passages for her to accept. But everything in the Bible is there for a reason and this is no exception!
This story takes place after the times of David and Solomon when the Kingdom of Israel was divided from the Kingdom of Judah. Jeroboam had become the king of Israel under miraculous circumstances, and was told by a prophet that if he'd follow God, he'd be blessed like David. But a time came when he compromised because he was afraid that if people went back to Judah to the temple to serve God they would leave his nation of Israel and not be loyal to him as king anymore. So he built two golden calves, one on each end of his country, and said, “You don't need to go to Jerusalem to worship the Lord! You can worship God right here in Israel at these golden calves.” But God was very displeased that he had made these golden calves and that he had made an altar to burn incense outside of Jerusalem, and that people were starting to worship the golden calves instead of the Lord. So God sent a prophet to him out of Judah to speak to him and warn him about what he was doing and how wrong it was. And we know that there are times in our lives when God has told us to do things a certain way but we are worried about losing things. Jeroboam was worried about losing people from his kingdom if they obeyed God and went to the temple in Jerusalem to worship. So he compromised. Sometimes we are afraid of losing things (like our friends, our job, money, power, respect, credibility, etc.) and so we compromise what God has said to do to keep from losing things. But God will always take care of us if we follow His voice. He is a good shepherd and when we follow His voice then we can know He will take care of us. Our story picks up here.
1 Kings 13:1 And, behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the LORD unto Bethel: and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense.
13:2 And he cried against the altar in the word of the LORD, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the LORD; Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men's bones shall be burnt upon thee.
13:3 And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which the LORD hath spoken; Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out.
13:4 And it came to pass, when king Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which had cried against the altar in Bethel, that he put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him. And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it in again to him.
Sometimes we are like Jeroboam. When God gives us a message through the man of God, instead of obeying the word of God, we want to ignore it and kill the messenger. If we can get rid of the messenger then we think we do not have to listen to the word of God that came from him. We think the message from the messenger no longer applies to us. But God has sent men of God into our lives to give us the word of God and we have to listen when the Lord speaks to us and not take out the messenger.
13:5 The altar also was rent, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the LORD.
13:6 And the king answered and said unto the man of God, Intreat now the face of the LORD thy God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me again. And the man of God besought the LORD, and the king's hand was restored him again, and became as it was before.
13:7 And the king said unto the man of God, Come home with me, and refresh thyself, and I will give thee a reward.
13:8 And the man of God said unto the king, If thou wilt give me half thine house, I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place:
13:9 For so was it charged me by the word of the LORD, saying, Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that thou camest.
Now this is very important. God had already spoken to this man of God. The man of God has a word directly from the voice of the Lord.
13:10 So he went another way, and returned not by the way that he came to Bethel.
13:11 Now there dwelt an old prophet in Bethel; and his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel: the words which he had spoken unto the king, them they told also to their father.
13:12 And their father said unto them, What way went he? For his sons had seen what way the man of God went, which came from Judah.
13:13 And he said unto his sons, Saddle me the ass. So they saddled him the ass: and he rode thereon,
13:14 And went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak: and he said unto him, Art thou the man of God that camest from Judah? And he said, I am.
13:15 Then he said unto him, Come home with me, and eat bread.
13:16 And he said, I may not return with thee, nor go in with thee: neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee in this place:
13:17 For it was said to me by the word of the LORD, Thou shalt eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that thou camest.
13:18 He said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the LORD, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him.
Why did this old prophet lie to him? This is a terrible part of the story but it still happens today. There are people who claim to be prophets of God, messengers of God, pastors and teachers of God’s word but will lie to you. You may be tempted to listen to them because they are good people or seem to have been used of God in the past. But this is why it is so important to know the voice of God, of our Shepherd, for ourselves. Somebody may lie to you and tell you things contrary to the Word of God! If it doesn't line up with God’s Word, it is a lie.
13:19 So he went back with him, and did eat bread in his house, and drank water.
13:20 And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the LORD came unto the prophet that brought him back:
13:21 And he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the LORD, and hast not kept the commandment which the LORD thy God commanded thee,
13:22 But camest back, and hast eaten bread and drunk water in the place, of the which the Lord did say to thee, Eat no bread, and drink no water; thy carcase shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers.
13:23 And it came to pass, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled for him the ass, to wit, for the prophet whom he had brought back.
13:24 And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him: and his carcase was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it, the lion also stood by the carcase.
What happened to the man of God who disobeyed? He was eaten of a lion! The Bible says in 1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
When we disobey the voice of God, when we do not distinguish the voice of God from other voices, we open ourselves up to be devoured by the enemy of our souls, the roaring lion, Satan. What happened to the old Prophet that lied to the man of God? Nothing! What does that teach us? It teaches us that it is our responsibility to know what the voice of God is speaking to us. We are the ones who have to take responsibility for knowing the voice of God so that we are not let astray or deceived.
Kind of a bummer story, huh? But don't worry! I have one more more positive one! This is another story that can be confusing to people but it illustrates what I'm talking about well.
This is a lesser known story in the book of Acts and comes just before the arrest of Paul in Jerusalem and the trial which takes up the rest the book which takes him to Rome where he eventually is beheaded by Nero for the name of Jesus. Right now in the story they're traveling from Asia minor where they've been evangelizing trying to get to Jerusalem. They're almost there but have stopped to stay awhile with Philip the evangelist.
Acts 21:10 And as we tarried there many days, there came down from Judaea a certain prophet, named Agabus.
21:11 And when he was come unto us, he took Paul's girdle, and bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.
21:12 And when we heard these things, both we, and they of that place, besought him not to go up to Jerusalem.
21:13 Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.
21:14 And when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, The will of the Lord be done.
21:15 And after those days we took up our carriages, and went up to Jerusalem.
As I was reading this story, I was picturing what I would do. I think if a prophet came and told me that I was going to be tied up and imprisoned in the place that I was about to go and then would be handed over to the Romans to be tried (who were very cruel and crucified people) then I would probably say, “Oh! Okay God, I will not go then! Thanks for the heads-up!” And that is what everybody thought who heard it--all of the disciples who were there, they all told Paul, “Don't go to Jerusalem because we don't want you to go to prison or to go and be killed or beaten or anything like that!” But Paul would not be persuaded! The Bible says he was ready to go to Jerusalem! What gave Paul so much courage and determination? He actually explains this a couple versus before in the last chapter when he was speaking to the elders of Ephesus. Let's look at what he told them:
Acts 20:22 And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there:
20:23 Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me.
20:24 But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
He already knew before Agabus came and prophesied what was about to happen! The Holy Ghost had been speaking it in every city! So why in the world would he go through with this? Why would he go somewhere where he knew that bonds were waiting for him? Some people may disagree with me but I believe it is because he had already heard the voice of the Shepherd saying, "Paul, follow me to Jerusalem and then to Rome." I believe that Paul knew the voice of his Shepherd so well that even when well-intentioned people came and were telling him something different than what he had already heard, he was already so confident in what his Shepherd and told him and where his Shepherd was leading him that he was determined to go anyway. And the people there were well-respected brothers and sisters in the church! Philip, the guy who led the revival in Samaria and won the Ethiopian eunuch and was teleported in the spirit, as well as his four prophesying daughters, Agabus the guy who prophesied the famine in the days of Claudius, Luke the beloved physician who wrote the book of Acts and one of the four gospels... these are people who are spiritual and love God and love Paul. And yet his decision wasn't based on what everyone else in the church thought.
And he, unlike us many times, didn't make his decisions based on how many hardships he'd have to go through. He made his decisions based on the will of God! Paul had a stronger Bond than the ones that were waiting for him in Jerusalem. Paul was "bound in the spirit," the Bible says. He was so close with his Shepherd that he felt he had no choice but to go through with this and do what he was supposed to do. What is God calling you to do that you may be resisting because it may be difficult? When your Shepherd is calling your name and saying, "My beloved sheep, come and follow me. I have a task for you--I have a job for you to do." Are you obeying and following because you know the voice of your Shepherd, or are you resisting because you see that there could be some hardships waiting for you if you do follow your Shepherd? I am not saying that it will be easy. It wasn't for Paul! But God is with you and if you will follow through with what he wants you to do, follow him wherever he wants you to go, then he will be with you and provide the way and take care of you even unto death...even past that! In fact, we see that in Paul's case.
In Acts 23, after Paul has come to Jerusalem and been in the center of two riots, has been taken into custody by the Romans, and kept in prison, in fact, there are even a band of 40 Jews, who have taken a great oath that they will neither eat or drink anything until they have killed Paul! Sounds like a pretty great time, huh? Those sound like rough circumstances. Paul hasn't even been there for a week and already he's in prison, bound, a mob tried to tear him apart, and a group of people has taken a vow to kill him. Just like was prophesied. But look what happens in Acts chapter 23:11, the night that Paul is sitting in a prison waiting to find out what is going to happen to him, and a group of men are deciding they are going to kill him, the Bible says that the Lord stood by him.
Acts 23:11 And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.
Even in the midst of all of Paul's difficulties that are happening to him just because he felt bound in the spirit to go to Jerusalem (even though it was prophesied that a lot of troubles would come!) the Lord Jesus, Paul's Shepherd, is standing right there, telling Paul to trust him, to take courage and to be of good cheer. Can I tell somebody today that if Jesus is with you nothing is impossible? Can I encourage somebody and tell them that if they are following the voice of your Shepherd you can face anything, because your Shepherd will still be with you! I don't know what you're going through, and I don't know what the voice of the shepherd is leading you to do, but I do know that if you obey him, he will be with you!
If there's anything I want you to take out of this post, it's to seek to know and be able to discern the voice of your Shepherd! We read in the first verse "my sheep hear my voice." That means that God still speaks to us. It means that we can hear the voice of Jesus! But we have to be so familiar with it that we are able to recognize his voice and distinguish it from all other voices even if they look spiritual even if they are from well-intentioned and well-meaning family and friends. We have to know the voice of Jesus beyond all other voices!
I have one final question for you. How do you think the sheep know the voice of their shepherd? According to one article that I read, sheep can come into a fold and a lot of times when they first come into the fold, the new sheep, they follow the other sheep and eventually they learn the voice of the shepherd. You may be in a place where you don't feel like you can distinguish the voice of the shepherd right now. But if you are in the flock with the other sheep who are listening and no the voice of their Shepherd, then soon enough as the shepherd feeds you, as he takes care of you, as he protects you, as he guides you, as he gently prods you with his staff, as he rescues you from danger, then you too will be able to distinguish the voice of your Shepherd. But that involves being in a relationship with him and seeking him. It's okay when you start out to be amongst the flock who are following the shepherd and just follow them. But there will come a time where you will need to know the voice of the shepherd for yourself so that you don't follow a thief and a robber. And I encourage you to seek the voice of your Shepherd today! Follow after your Shepherd! Follow his voice! Follow him!
