How is your Hearing
How’s Your Hearing?
Introduction: (mumble) Jesus said, “My Sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me”
(loud voice) Jesus said, “My Sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me”
Can you hear me now?
Ill. A very dear friend of mine who worked in the Auto industry, passionately loved the Lord and wanted the Lord to use him, related an experience with me. From my memory I bring back these details.
He said, “As a relatively new Christian one day I was minding my own business when a quiet voice distinctly spoke to me. It was very strange because no one was around me at the time. Very quickly the voice directed me to go to the hospital and visit a person whom I knew only in passing at the shop, and to share the gospel with him. At the time I had not heard that he was in the hospital. Besides, I had shared the gospel with only a few people before, and those times were on church visitation with my pastor.
Sharing the gospel made me really nervous, he said, “and I knew I wasn’t very good at it.
After work instead of going right home I went to the hospital and found the room where this man was. I soon found out that he was not a Christian and that he had only hours to live. Opening my pocket New Testament I read some verses about God’s love for him and how that Lord Jesus Christ died to pay the debt for his sin, and that by confessing his life of sin, and receiving by faith the work of Christ, God would make him one of His own.”
“He made no profession while I was there,” my friend admitted, but the man in the bed thanked me for coming.” I went my way and never saw him again. The doctors were right about his ‘hours to live’ and I never saw or talked with him again. And I never heard the voice again though I have witnessed to many people since that time.”
The audible voice, however, is not the best way that God has chosen to communicate with His own. I believe I show you the better way
Our passage is John 10:27 - “My Sheep hear my voice and I know them and they Follow Me
Prayer: Heavenly Father: You are the God of all wisdom. In this room are those who long to hear from you. Tune our hearts to hear thy word. As we hear from Heaven fulfill your purposes in us and that following Christ we might enter into the good things that He has prepared for those who love Him.
I. Hearing the Voice of Christ is an imperative
The people of old heard the voice of the Lord – it terrified them
The prophets of old heard the voice of the Lord – it puzzled them
The patriarchs of old heard the voice of the Lord – it made them stand in awe and bow their heads in repentance.
A. Hearing is relational – If we are believers we will hear
Jesus said “My sheep hear my voice”
It is part of the package,
It is an empowerment of the New Life,
It is one of the privileges of being born again
B. Hearing is reassuring - as we hear and recognize the voice of the Spirit
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them
C. Hearing expects a response – because we hear we heed. We act because we believe.
With the hearing comes a responsibility to fulfill. That responsibility is to follow Him.
James warns: be doers of the Word , and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves
We can be a
Culture led people – what everyone else is doing
Politically led people – what my political affiliation says is right
Peer led people – what people in my age group say is right
Ego led people - What I say goes
But unless we a Christ led people we will never know what it means to ‘go in and out and find pasture. Nor will we ever appreciate the more abundant life that is in Christ.
Christ knows who we are and where he wants to take us. We know him that where he Leads we will greatly rejoice.
An old hymn says “When faith has heard the Master’s word,
Falls peace upon the soul.
II. Hearing the Voice of Christ as a practical matter
The Bible is filled with statements God spoke to people, as in:
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying
And God spoke all these words, Ex. 20:1
The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord Thus saith the Lord, Jer. 12:
Because His sheep hear his voice and He knows them and they follow Him.
We live in an age when every believer being a recipient of the Holy Spirit can hear and respond to the ‘voice’ of the Lord.
Hebrews 1:1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world
How are we to know the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ? By carefully considering all the moral and spiritual implications of
the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and His word
Notice the use of the passage: Ephesians 4:1
Person and work of Jesus Christ, the designs of God’s Spirit in this world and in my life
Ill. In the ground floor position that I have in my workplace, I have many bosses. The other day one of those bosses whose decisions had made my life at the bottom somewhat difficult came around the corner in the hallway. We exchanged pleasantries, I with a smiling face, all the while grumbling in my spirit about those decisions. Immediately I recalled some of a passage the Wednesday prayer group had just studied. Ecclesiastes 10:20
Do not revile the king even in your thoughts,
or curse the rich in your bedroom,
because a bird of the air may carry your words,
and a bird on the wing may report what you say.[1]
In the New Testament we forgive from the heart because of the work of Christ.
Sensing this recall was a rebuke from the Lord, I confessed my bitterness and ungrateful spirit and went on. I knew that what had transpired in my heart violated the designs of God’s Spirit and if held in my heart would diminish the abundant life He intends me to live.
Conclusion
Many voices are in the World today speaking to us about which choices morally and spiritually we should make. Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me.”
Within this company, in someone’s heart is a longing for the Lord to speak personally and specifically just as He seems to have spoken my friend. However, in order that a life may be lived:
Confidently,
assuredly,
knowingly
Be ready to hear the voice of the Shepherd of the sheep, The Lord Jesus.
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