Listen To The Voice

John 10:22-30 “At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.””

We live in an age where there are so many distractions . In the past few years alone time has seemed to move so quickly. We began this turbulent time with viruses and riots, uncertain elections, complete chaos in the world-view of most of our nation! Even in our churches!

In the Church in America the lack of confidence in God, in His Word, in His people is at an all time low.

A new IFS analysis using the American Family Survey suggests that religious attendance has declined significantly in the past two years. The share of regular churchgoers is down by 6 percentage points, from 34% in 2019 to 28% in 2021.

Christianity is the most prevalent religion in the United States. Estimates suggest that between 65% and 75% of the US population is Christian (about 230 to 250 million).

So here is the question, with so many calling themselves Christian why does our nation look the way it does? With more than half of our population claiming to follow Christ why is church attendance down across the board, why is sin so prevalent, why?

Why don’t all “christians” hear and follow? That is what we will dig into in our time together...

Today, I want us to look at what it means to follow and listen to the Voice of the Shepherd.

I. Who want listen to The Voice.

I have often wondered why it is so hard for people to accept Jesus. He is openly available to anyone who seeks Him.

As our text tells us here, Jesus was walking through the Temple for all to see. Very public, very approachable just as He is today. So why don’t people seek Him or more correctly, why don’t people seek Him the right way?

There is a wrong way to come to the Lord.( Vs. 24,25 )

On this day at the “Feast of Dedication” which is Hanukkah, we are told that the Jews (Pharisees, Sadducees) surrounded Him. They come to Him boldly as we all can, yet they are also coming negatively, ‘How long are you going to annoy us?’ is what they are saying.

According to D.A. Carson....They are clearly antagonistic. This suggests that the Jews are not seeking for clarity in order to worship him without restraint; rather they want to obtain from him an unambiguous statement that would provide an adequate basis for their attack.

This world is full of people who all they want to do is fight and argue. No matter how much Truth and Facts they are presented with all that is on their minds is attack attack attack.

But Christ doesn’t give them what they want. They wanted to trap Him with His own words. Even if He would have answered with the clearest speech in this moment, the Jews would still not have believed Him.

Anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear could easily understand that Jesus is the Messiah. Everything Jesus said about His relationship to the Father and His description of Himself as the Good Shepherd was tantamount to plain speaking. But they refused to Listen to His Voice!

So what does our Lord do? He says, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me,  but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. “ (v25b, 26)

He says, I’ve told you all that I need to tell you, I’ve performed miracle after miracle in the name of MY Father but you still refuse to believe!

Sadly, many lost people will never come to Christ because they refuse to listen to the Voice of the Shepherd. “Whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” (Jn 3:18b)

This is the reality of man’s condition without Christ. But what is more sad is when Professing Christians want hear the voice of Christ Jesus.

There are many who look like sheep sound like sheep who in fact are not sheep, but goats! Now I understand this isn’t a popular thing to say, but nevertheless it’s true...

But, preacher, this cant be true, Oh Church it is very true. Christ tells us in Matthew concerning these false Christians who listen to themselves or the worlds voice but not His, “On that day many will say to me, Lord, Lord did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name?”

And to this urgent plea Christ says I never knew you.

ILL: Impersonating A Christian

In her recently published book “Dance with the Devil” Barbara Bentley shares her experience with former husband, John Perry, a mysterious man, whose father was supposedly portrayed by John Wayne in a World War II movie. She fell in love with him when He dazzled her and her friends with his heroic stories of World War II, flying with the Blue Angels and fighting in Vietnam. He had several medals and proudly displayed them in their living room and would show off his naval uniform at dinner engagements, he had been in pictures with high ranking officials, and even had the then president George H.W. Bush salute him during his inauguration. Impressive! But in reality He was never in the armed forces. And although His father was a real admiral in the Navy, He was never mentioned in his own father’s obituary. Barbara later found out He was the black sheep of the family and that the FBI was looking for him for impersonating an officer. After several suspicious close calls, things reached the breaking point when He had actually tried to kill her with an ether soaked rag. He later was arrested. She has since remarried but its amazing how close she came to death. John Perry was NOT an honorable military veteran; He was an imposter looking for a way to murder his wife to get money. It’s amazing how John Perry portrayed himself as the son of an Admiral for so many years when his own father disowned him. How many people enjoy the privileges of the church, and their standing in it and pretend to be the children of God? How easily they can lie to men, but how futile it is to lie to God. On the last day He will say “I never knew you, depart from me, you worker of iniquity.” Men may be easily fooled but how dangerous is the penalty for impersonating a Christian?!

Many people have a form or an essence of religion, a spirituality but they don’t have Jesus! They don’t know His voice. Oh they may have an idol that they call Jesus but He looks like them and His voice sounds like theirs and so as scripture says not only are they deceived, but they continue in this deception comfortably.

But how is it that they believe themselves saved? Simple, they base their salvation on their good works and not on the finished work of Christ. “Lord didn’t we do this and this and this in your name?”

But they do not believe because they are not among His sheep.

Which brings us to our next point . If some want submit to Christ and hear His voice....

II. Who will Listen to The Voice. (v.27)

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”

ill: the sheepfold and the shepherd calling his sheep. (Jn. 10:1-5

John 10:1–5 ESV

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”

What needs to be understood about Christ and His Church is this....He knows each individual that He died for! He knows for whom His blood was shed!

He Loves His Sheep, He feeds His sheep, He calls His sheep, He leads His sheep and no one else’s. And Because He knows them they know Him also.

This phrase “I know them” isn’t just a mere knowledge of them. Although He does know everything about us, our thoughts and desires even the very number of the hairs on our heads, no this is an intimate relational knowledge...

It is a relational knowledge founded in eternity past as Paul tells us in Ephesians, “even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should holy and blameless before Him.” (Ep 1:4)

It is a relationship that the Father has coveted to His Son, “All that the Father has given me will come to me and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” (Jn. 6:37)

Christian, If you have followed the voice of Christ and come to Him understand you could only accomplish this because He Know His sheep. It wasn’t because of anything in you that persuaded Him in your direction.

Not by your good works, for you had none, all your righteousness is filthy rags!

He doesn’t KNOW you because you hear His voice, You hear His voice because He KNOWS you!

The King of the universe knows you personally and intimately! And because of this the sheep will follow...

Ezekiel 36:26–27 ESV

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

The Sheep who hear the voice of the Good Shepherd will follow because He leads them, they aren’t on their own they are in His fold.

And since they are His, he cares for them.

III. What are the benefits of the Voice (v.28,29)

There are privileges and benefits to hearing and following the voice of Christ that are beyond belief.

To His sheep, Jesus give eternal life! In vs.10 He says that He gave them abundant life. But now He is saying that this life is His own eternal life!

You now LIVE BECAUSE HE LIVES! And the consequence of His knowing you as His sheep and giving you His life is that you shall never perish....

But, the focus should not be on the life itself BUT on the power of Jesus....

“no one will snatch them out of my hand.” (v. 28b)

Not the wolf, not the thief not anyone, not if you yourself can break the grasp that Christ has on you, His sheep!

Because, just like everything else Jesus does, He does it with His Father. All that Jesus says and does is the Father’s Will.

Meaning that it is the Father Himself who upholds the sheep of Jesus.

Who can steal from God? who is strong enough or smart enough to over power or out smart Him?

If the Father is greater than all things or persons, there is no force or being sufficient to sever the relation between the true believer and Jesus Christ. In short, as Paul would say to the Colossian believers, ‘your life is now hidden with Christ in God’ (Col. 3:3). There can be no greater security.

So Church, put off your cares and worries that this world brings. No matter what Christ knows you and cares for you. His sheep who hear His voice are secure in His strong hand.

Lost person, you who may be here and you are fighting that voice, I say fight no more! Come to Him, submit to Him for He is good....

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THEN CLOSING PRAYER