My sheep know My voice

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My sheep know My voice

By Ivan Ho  27 Oct 2024

 

Many people only know about a person by looking into his wiki (if available) or look at his social media profile. But that doesn’t mean they know the person. They may know about the person, but don’t really know him.

If you don’t talk to the person, spend time with the person, you won’t know his voice. If you don’t know his voice, you don’t have a relationship with him. It’s not just about the physical voice, how he sounds like, but know what he is saying. If you don’t spend time listening to what someone is saying and talking to him, there’s no chance of knowing the person. We may know about his physical attributes such as his marital status, his age, where he is from, what he has done, and so on. But that doesn’t mean we know the person.

That’s the same kind of situation when one seems to know about God but doesn’t really know him.

 

Knowing God’s voice enables us to respond in faith

Rebekah did not know Issac personally, never met him in person nor dated him before, but she decided to follow him because she knew God and heard what He was saying through Abraham’s servant. It’s not about Fate encounter but Faith in God. Not only did she respond to God in faith, she did so immediately despite the fact that her brother and mother wanted her to stay 10 more days with them. (Genesis 24)

Rebekah did not make a fateful (or fatal) decision but a faithful decision because she heard God speak and responded to his voice.

Some people won’t believe unless God comes down from heaven or send an angel to speak to them personally.  Rebekah did not have Issac come to speak to her in person, but she heard God speak through Abraham’s servant.

We don’t need to hear God speak to us with an audible voice, or send an angel to speak to us before we know it’s God. God has already come down from heaven to speak to us through His Son Jesus Christ about 2000 years ago. Jesus came to reveal God the Father and most of all, reconciled man to God through his atoning death on the cross.

Today God primarily speaks to us through His Son, the Word of God. We can hear God speak to us through reading the bible, the written word of God.

God can also speak to us in many ways: through other people, through dreams and visions, through this message you’re reading and so on. Above all, He speaks to us through His written word.

Encountering God is not a fate encounter in the sense that one fine day, out of nowhere, Jesus suddenly appears to you. Jesus has already appeared to man in the flesh 2000 years ago. We just need to respond to him in faith.

We belong to Christ and become His sheep if we 1. know his voice and 2. have faith to follow him.

Jesus says: “My sheep know my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me“.

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
John 10:27-28 KJV

We can’t follow Jesus if we don’t know his voice, ie, not know who is speaking and what he is saying. We can’t follow Jesus if we don’t mix faith with the words we hear.

 

Knowing God’s voice enables us to enter His rest

The people of Israel during the generation of Moses had been wandering in the wilderness for 40 years but could not enter into God’s rest. Why was that? The bible tells us that, having heard God’s voice, they hardened their hearts. They might know about God and saw his works but they did not know His ways. They might have heard God speak, but they did not obey His voice.

Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, In the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, And said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, they shall not enter into my rest.)
Hebrews 3:7-11 KJV

It would be a disaster if one has been attending church for 40 years and not being able to enter into God’s rest. One could be attending church for years, listening to sermons week in week out but not know God, because his or her heart is hardened and not willing to respond to God’s voice in faith. Not knowing God’s voice is one thing, having heard God’s voice and not follow is another.

One won’t be able to enter into His rest until he obeys His voice and follows Him.

 

Knowing God’s voice enables us to embrace kingdom culture and deny worldly cultures

Suppose when you were a child, you grew up under the influence of certain cultures in your city. Since childhood, you grew up getting used to certain language, music, food and so on from your country of birth and early upbringings. Then afterwards you moved to another place in which the people and cultures are foreign to you. It will take you some time to adapt to the new language and cultures of the place you have moved to. Now, after some years living under the cultural influence of the new country, if you return to your place of birth, the cultures of your former country would become foreign to you. The cultures in the place of your early upbringings haven’t changed much, but you have.

Similarly, when you first come to know God, it will take you some time to get used to His voice and the brand new kingdom culture that are totally different to the values and cultures of the world. After learning God’s voice and His ways, you would find it hard to go back to the world again (unless you haven’t allowed God to change you, or the church cultures are not much different to the cultures of the world).

If you know God’s voice and follow Him, you cannot go back and walk in the ways of the world again.

By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.

Hebrews 11:24-26 NKJV

 

Knowing God’s voice enables us to identify the voice of strangers

A baby grows up knowing the voice of his mom and dad. He won’t confuse their voice with that of a stranger. Why? because he or she listens to his parent’s voice day in day out. When a child hears his dad speak, he won’t ask silly questions like: “Is it dad, is it me , is it the devil?”.

And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”

John 10:4-5 NKJV

Wrong advice will lead to a man’s demise. More often than not, wrong councils would come from sincere people who are closest to you, pleading you not to take certain step that leads to your destiny, or choose a pathway that is not God’s will for you. He or she maybe your best friend or even your spiritual leader who wants you to be happy and live a trouble free life.

After all, if someone who could work miracles, cast out demons and walk on water councils you, it must be God, right?

That’s exactly what happened when apostle Peter who had the revelation of Jesus tried to council his master to avoid the path of the cross. Behind the ungodly council is an evil spirit. Jesus said to him: “Get behind me satan! You are an offence to me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men!Matt 16:21-23

If you don’t know who is behind the voice speaking to you, you will follow the wrong councils.

 

Knowing God’s voice enables us to pass from death to life

Some people might be thinking: “Whether I hear from God or not, it’s no big deal…. If He wants to speak to me, He will speak to me”. Little do they know, hearing from God or not is a matter of life and death. Our life is dependent on God’s words, not only in this life, but also in the life to come! Our eternal life is dependent on us following God’s voice in faith.

The issue isn’t God not wanting to speak to man but man not responding to God when He speaks. God has already spoken through His Son, it’s up to individuals to respond to Him in faith.

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.

John 5:24-25 NKJV

If we believe in His words and His words abide in us, we have passed from death to life and enter into everlasting life!

 

Today if you hear His voice do not harden your heart

Please understand that to follow is a faith decision, but not to follow is also a personal decision. Someone might say: “I’d like to follow but now isn’t the right time…”.

TODAY, if you hear God’s voice, do not harden your heart!

If we hear God’s voice today, but our heart doesn’t respond, it won’t be any easier to do so tomorrow, or 4 months later. The best time to respond to God is now. Today is the day of salvation!

Many people have heard about Jesus like they hear the daily news from whatever sources. They may believe the news they hear are true but have no impact on their lives. Our lives remain unchanged by the news we watch everyday and we carry our business as usual, even if we believe the news are true.

If we stay on the level of just hearing the news about Jesus and believe what we hear are true, that is not enough. We need to take what we believe as true to the level of Faith in Christ, to make the decision to repent and follow Jesus. Otherwise the news we hear would have no impact on our lives.

If Jesus is not in your life, you not only have no part in His life, you will also have no part in eternal life. Jesus came as a man to speak to us, to connect us with God the Father.

When the word of God comes to us, we must allow His words to change us as if our life is dependent on it!

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
John 10:27-28 KJV

 

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