Do You Follow the Voice of a Stranger?

Tom:

We are continuing with the Gospel of John and we are going through it verse by verse and we are in chapter ten and we read, I think we probably got through 3, 4, 5, or 6, but I want to start again with 3, because this is really a picture, an illustration, an analogy, a metaphor of—it really gives us an understanding of how we relate to Jesus; how he relates to us.This is really good stuff.Picking up with John:10:3To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.
See All..., “To him the porter openeth;

Dave:

That is to the shepherd—the sheep.

Tom:

Right “…and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.”That’s personal, that’s very personal.This is not just a God up there, impersonal, supposedly ruling the universe, but with no interaction with man and so on.This is a God who cares personally for each and every one of us.

Dave:

Probably the most familiar Psalm to anyone is Psalm 23.

Tom:

Yes.

Dave:

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want…” and David really experienced that.That he was like a sheep that was being guided and protected and cared for by the Shepherd and to think that God, the Creator of the universe is my Shepherd.And now Jesus—you can’t escape the fact that Jesus is claiming to be this one who was David’s Shepherd.He’s claiming to be God.They understood that because we get a little farther down and they are going to stone him for claiming to be God.They know what he’s saying.

Tom:

Yes, verse 4, “And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.”Dave, we have, I’d say about two dozen sheep in the pasture next to ours, right here in Bend where I live.And it’s amazing; I can see David watching the sheep.He is a shepherd and watching the sheep, but I do, I just look across and see how they follow when somebody calls.Some of them have been nursed from the beginning and I saw their shepherd come out and help them learn how to graze.So when you see these animals I can see how it’s just a wonderful analogy of how the Lord deals with us.But they know his voice Dave.

Dave:

They’ve got a fence around them, but this shepherd, he’s out in the field with them.

Tom:

Right.

Dave:

The dew is on him at night, he is sleeping there protecting them.

Tom:

The wolves—exactly.

Dave:

Right.Well it’s a tremendous picture that Jesus presents of his personal love and care for each of his sheep.But again, I want to emphasize that he is claiming to be God.He is claiming to be the Creator that looks after those he has created.And he goes before them and they follow him.I remember that poem and I can’t say it in the poetry, but I think it wasn’t rhyming poetry anyway, but the person says, Lord how can I follow you when the footsteps you left on this earth lead only to a cross?Jesus said, “You must deny yourself, take up the cross and follow me.”People say well I’m trying to follow the teachings of Jesus; do good and so forth.Yes, but Jesus said, you deny yourself, take up the cross and follow me.The cross is a place where I die to myself, to all that I would be and I recognize that Christ, when he took my place, he had to die for my sins and I accept his death as my death and I am no longer my own, but I belong to him.He has become my life.So he goes before the sheep; they follow him; they know his voice and a stranger will they not follow, but they will flee from him, for they know not the voice of strangers.Tom when you meet people and what does this mean?They hear an audible voice?No, as we read the scriptures we recognize the voice of the shepherd.“You continue in my word, Jesus said, back there a few weeks ago—

Tom:

John 8.

Dave:

John 8, yes.“You continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed.You will know the truth and the truth will make you free.”So you meet people and they just don’t get it.They claim to be Christians, but you give them to truth of God’s Word and either they don’t understand it, or some of them are willfully disobedient, rebellious.“Well I don’t think it matters.Well I can do this, well I am sincere.The Shepherd’s voice means nothing to them.Then I would have to conclude they are not one of his sheep.Because he says, “My sheep hear my voice.”They know my voice and they won’t follow strangers.So when we have people in Mormonism for example, the bizarre claims that God isn’t man as man is, God once was as man is, man may become and we are all on the road to become little gods and we’re all going to have another world, another Adam and Eve and so forth, that Jesus wasn’t God who left his throne in Glory, one with the Father to become a man through the virgin birth and didn’t cease to be God, who came to die and pay the penalty for our sins.But no, he came to earth to get a body so he could become a god.He was Satan’s half brother up there in the spirit world and we were all half brothers and half sisters and so forth.You have teaching like this?And people follow it?They don’t know the voice of the Shepherd.They don’t know who the real Jesus is.Or you have them in various other cults.Science of Mind, Religious science and so forth and the false teachings that you have from them that deny the deity of Jesus Christ, deny that sin is nothing.It’s the illusion or delusion of Adam Mind, or Christian Science, these are just negative thoughts and so forth, and Christ didn’t really w because there is no death Mary Baker Eddy taught.He didn’t really pay the penalty for our sins.Teaching that is so contrary to the Word of God and yet they will follow this.If they could read the Bible and not recognize that these teachings are contrary to God’s Word, I don’t have to say they’re not his sheep, they don’t know the Shepherd’s voice.

Tom:

Dave, we don’t know how many listeners we have.We are on lots of stations around the country and so on, but somebody is listening to this and says wait a minute that could be me, I bought into this.What do I do?I really want to know God, but I’ve grown up in this system all my life and some of it seems right.I don’t know any better, but I want to know God’s truth.Is it that difficult for somebody to turn to God, to repent, for God to open his eyes, or her eyes?

Dave:

It’s not difficult at all.But be certain that you want to know the true God.And the true God has promised, “You will seek for me and find me when you seek for me with all your heart.”The problem is that many people don’t want to know the true God.They want some cosmic energy source, some Star Wars Force, and some energy that will answer their prayers, that will do their will.But if anyone out there listening now, you want to know your Creator, you want to know the true God, because you want to obey him, you want to know his will, you want to know Jesus Christ and Jesus, remember we will get to it in John 17.He said, “This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.”Go to his Word.Read the Gospel of John.See what Jesus says about himself.See who he is and get to John:19:31The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
See All... where Jesus is on the cross and he is dying for our sins and then he says, “It is finished.”And in the Greek the word is Tetelasti.They stamp that on promissory notes.They stamped it on the invoice and so forth in his day.It meant “paid in full.”Jesus is saying I have paid the penalty for the sins of the world in full.Now if you want forgiveness, you can’t earn it.It’s a gift.You can’t pay for it.You can’t merit it.You can only receive it as a gift.And anyone who’s listening, if you believe that Jesus Christ paid the penalty for your sins and you will accept his payment on your behalf and you will believe in him as your Savior, this one who is the Lord Creator of this universe.He became a man through the virgin birth, didn’t cease to be God, he’ll never cease to be man, the only and only God-man.Because of who he is, he was able to pay the penalty that his own infinite justice required and without that there is no hope.There is no forgiveness of sins.It’s like a traffic ticket.It’s been written out, it’s got to be paid.The ticket has been written out on all of us.And only God can pay that penalty.So if you want to know him, say Lord, I want to know you.I want you to have your way in my life.I’ve been looking to your Word now and what it says I will believe and you can open your heart to him.

Tom:

Again, Jesus in the Gospel of John says if you’re willing. If you’re willing to do his will, you will know.

Dave:

Right.

Tom:

God will guide and direct and encourage that.That’s what he desires.That all should come to him.

Dave:

Amen.