MY SHEEP LISTEN TO MY VOICE
John 10:1-10
In March I did a sermon on Ps. 23 about the Lord being our Shepherd. I used some verses from John 10 where Jesus said that he is the good shepherd. In vs. 27 Jesus said, "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me." If we are his sheep, we will be able to recognize when he's speaking to us. We will know him, listen to him and follow him. Let's take a look at this subject and see what we can learn that may help us to do that.
1) The sheep listen to the Shepherd.
John 10:1-4, “I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.”
Jesus gives an analogy of something familiar to the people-sheep herding. He states that the one who's up to no good doesn't enter the gate, he sneaks over the fence. If he tried to enter through the gate he'd be detected by the watchman. Plus, the gate would make noise when it was opened so he'd be detected that way too. Jesus states the reason why someone would not enter through the gate is to steal the sheep. Jesus contrasts that by saying the legitimate one will only come in through the gate.
A sheep has poor eyesight; they rely more on their sense of hearing. So, they would be listening for the gate to open. Once the sound of the gate got their attention, they would stop what they're doing and listen for the shepherd to call them to come out of the pen.
Notice they don't come at the sound of the gate, they come at the sound of the shepherd's voice. The watchman opens the gate but the sheep don't move until they hear the shepherd call them. The sound of the gate means stop, pay attention and listen for the master's voice to call you out.
God may give us a signal for us to stop what we're doing because he's getting ready to say something. When we're busy and he gives us a signal, we need to stop and give him our undivided attention so we can hear clearly what he's about to say.
And notice it says he calls them by name. The shepherd wants to identify his sheep. When you get a pet, you give him a name. When the pet knows his name, he will come when you call him. The shepherd does the same thing. This also shows a sense of intimacy with the sheep. They're not just a bunch of sheep; they're looked at as individuals.
God knows us by name. There were times in scripture when God would say someone's name to get their attention. He called out to Abraham by name when he wanted to stop him from sacrificing Isaac. When Mary didn't recognize Jesus after his resurrection, Jesus spoke her name and then she immediately knew it was Jesus. Has God ever called you by name?
Like the sound of the gate for the sheep, God will do things to get our attention so we will listen to him. If we're distracted by something else, we're not going to be good listeners. This can happen when we pray. Trying to pray when there are distractions around is not good. It might be okay for a quick prayer; especially when it's an emergency or you can't get away to a quiet place.
But when we can remove the distractions when the Lord moves us to pray, it will be most helpful. It's not only a show of respect for God; it's also so you can hear his voice. There are times when I'll be listening to the car radio and the Lord will move me to pray. Sometimes I've started to pray and he will stop me and tell me to turn the radio off. I need to focus on what I need to say as well as listen for what he will say in response.
Prayer is a two-way conversation although sometimes we don't treat it like that. We treat it more like a monologue than a dialogue. If we don't take the time to listen for God's response, we're going to miss something important.
It would be like going to the doctor and telling her all the things going on with me and after expressing my concerns I say, "thanks for listening" and head out the door. That would be silly. What good does it do to tell the doctor what's wrong and not listen for her response? Likewise, as we approach the throne of God with everything that's on our mind we need to listen for his response.
I said earlier that sheep have poor eyesight. Spiritually speaking, there are times when we will have poor eyesight. We won't be able to see certain things or we may not see some things too clearly. In those times we'll need to rely on our hearing skills more than our vision skills. It's been said that if you've lost one of your senses the others will be more sensitive to compensate for the loss.
For a blind person, their hearing would be more keen than someone who wasn't blind. This acute sense of hearing helps them to better assess their surroundings and navigate through them. When we're not able to spiritually see what's going on or if we aren't able to see clearly; our spiritual hearing will need to be strong if we are to navigate through our surroundings.
Since the sheep's eyesight is not very good, it relies on listening to the shepherd's voice and they follow it wherever it goes on ahead of them. Therefore, the sheep trusts that the voice of the shepherd will never lead them in a wrong direction.
Likewise, we come to know and trust our shepherd's voice. He has proven that he will always lead us in the right direction. Knowing him more allows us to trust him more. This will help me to hear his voice more clearly. Hearing clearly and trusting fully is a great combination to have if we are going to live peaceably.
The shepherd doesn't just speak to the sheep when it's time to go in and out the gate, he speaks to them at other times, too. If you recall, David was a shepherd before he was a king. And David wrote many of the Psalms. And many of the psalms were set to music and used as songs.
It's understood that David wrote many of his psalms while tending his sheep. David no doubt spent countless hours singing to his sheep. That would be comforting and soothing to the sheep; putting them at ease out there in the field. How often has a psalm or spiritual song come to you? How did it make you feel?
Paul said in Eph. 5:11 to speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. If we are supposed to speak to each other this way, we can be sure that God will speak to us that way. God's voice isn't just about dos and don'ts; it's about encouragement and comfort. God's voice calms us down when we're stressed. God's voice cheers us up when we're feeling down. God's voice encourages us when we need a boost. God's voice comforts us when we're hurting.
Satan doesn't want us to be lifted out of loneliness and despair; he wants to keep us there. Satan doesn't want us to be encouraged, he wants us to be defeated. Satan doesn't want to renew our joy, he wants to rob us of our joy. Satan doesn't want to comfort us, he wants to cause us more pain. He doesn't want to boost our spirit he wants to break our spirit.
Satan's voice can give the illusion of being positive but his purpose is to turn us away from God. God's voice will point us toward acknowledging our need for him.
2) They won't listen to a stranger.
John 10:5-10, "But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice. Jesus used this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them. Therefore Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."
Jesus makes a distinction here. His sheep will listen to his voice but not a stranger's voice. In fact, not only will they not come to the stranger, they will run away from him. Jesus says that they will not recognize it. What the sheep will recognize is that the voice does not belong to the shepherd. The sheep recognize the shepherd's voice so distinctly that they run from any other voice they hear.
John 10:14, "I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me." The sheep don't just know the shepherd's voice; they know the shepherd-and the shepherd knows them. This means the shepherd doesn't just bark orders to the sheep, he spends time with them. He gets to know them personally.
Remember vs. 3 said he calls them by name and leads them out. A stranger won't know the names of the sheep. He hasn't been intimate with them. He'll call to the sheep but he won't be using the right words to draw them. Therefore, the sheep recognize that a strange voice is calling to them and since they don't hear any names being called out they turn and run away.
That's what we need to do. We need to be intimate with Jesus; get to know him. He has opened the gate so that we could come to him and learn from him. When we study his word we get to know what he said and how he said it. In doing so, we also get to know what he wouldn't say and do. That will help us to recognize the stranger's voice.
Like when Satan tried to use scripture against Jesus in the desert. Jesus recognized that he was twisting it and using it erroneously. Jesus responded to Satan's words with God's words.
That's what we need to do. If we hear a voice in our head-we need to hold what is being said up to the bible to see if it lines up. Satan will try to trick us by using the word to get us to think if it's scripture it must be God speaking. But, we pause to reflect on how that scripture is being used.
Satan is crafty. A stranger might be crafty too. If he has a clue to how the shepherd's voice sounds he might try to mimic the sound of it; like an impersonator would do. Some impersonators do a pretty good job at sounding like the real person. Typically, though, you can pick up on certain details that reveal that it's not really the person being impersonated. And, the people who really know the person will be able to pick up on it more easily.
Satan will try to mimic the voice of God. 2 Cor. 11:14 says that Satan masquerades as an angel of light. But the better we know Jesus, the easier it will be to distinguish between the voices.
But that doesn't mean we will always understand. Verse six says that since Jesus was using figures of speech they didn't understand what he was saying. Obviously the people there knew that Jesus was speaking but they didn't understand what he meant. There's a difference between recognizing and understanding. Sometimes, we will know that Jesus is speaking but we won't be quite sure what he's saying at first.
But we see that Jesus went on to explain further. That's what he will do for us. I've had people have talk to me about something that came to them but it was unclear or convoluted in some way. I would advise them to go to God in prayer and ask him to make it clear to you.
God won't leave us in the dark. He's not playing games. He may not always be clear, but he will go on to explain when we care enough to seek clarification. Obviously it was evident to Jesus that his audience didn't understand so he went on to explain. He said that he is the gate the sheep must pass through.
Who are the thieves and robbers that came before Jesus? The OT prophets came before Jesus but he isn't referring to them because they were legitimate. However, there were false prophets. They were thieves and robbers because they were robbing the people of the truth and their allegiance to God.
Fast forward to the religious leaders. They would classify as the thieves and robbers who came before Jesus because they were doing the same thing; robbing the people of the truth and leading them away from God. Jesus says the sheep will not listen to them.
When Jesus was doing his ministry, he often highlighted how the religious leaders were in error. If you remember in the Beatitudes, there were times when Jesus said, "You have heard it was said...but I tell you..." Jesus was that shepherding voice that clarified the truth. The people thought the teachers of the law were giving them the truth but they weren't. But they didn't realize that until Jesus came along.
In Matt. 23, Jesus pointed out many things the Pharisees were doing wrong. They were supposed to be the shepherds of the flock but instead they were robbing people of being able to come to God.
Matt. 23:13-15, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are."
Since they were hypocrites, they were leading people away from God by their actions. If they converted anyone to Judaism, by their practices they were being a bad example for those who would genuinely want to live a godly life. Jesus called them blind guides.
Today there are people who Jesus would classify as thieves and robbers. People who appear as spiritual leaders but are actually hypocrites who are leading people away from what being a Christian is really about. And they fool many people.
However, if someone decides to hold their words and practices up to the lens of scripture and seek insight and clarity as to whether the person was genuine or not, God would let them know. Not that the legitimate ones are perfect, but they won't be purposely misleading people.
And we see Jesus saying in John 10:9 that whoever enters through him will be saved. Jesus is the only gate; all other "gates" are invalid. You can't "climb over the fence" and think you're good to go. You are not of Jesus' pen. Jesus is the only way to be saved, as he said a little later in 14:6.
Then in vs. 10 Jesus makes an important distinction between him and the thief. The purpose of the thief is to steal, kill and destroy. Since the thief is the enemy of the shepherd, we can conclude that Satan constitutes the thief. Satan wants us to think that he cares about us. I could see him saying something like this:
"That mean 'ol God doesn't care about you. He only cares about you just so long as you tow the line and follow all of his archaic rules. You know what his problem is? He doesn't understand that people need to have fun. But don't worry; I've got that covered. I'm the cool one; I want you to have nice things and enjoy life. C'mon, let's go."
Whenever Satan tries to get you to go over the fence, remember what Jesus said here in John 10:10-he has come to give us the fullness of life. When we have eyes to see we'll understand that the fullness of life comes from spiritual things not material ones. It comes from having a relationship with Jesus. It comes from doing God's will; it comes from pleasing God over ourselves.
In Matt. 4 Satan tempted Jesus by offering him the world, if only he would worship him. Jesus set him straight on that. But guess what? Satan's M.O. hasn't changed. He's not going to come right out and tell us that he'll give us the world if we worship him; at least not directly. Indirectly, though, that's exactly what he's saying to us. The question is, which voice are we going to listen to? Let's be sheep that listen to the shepherd's voice and run from every other voice we hear; even when that other voice is our own.
One evening Sam left his bible study group where his pastor was teaching on listening to God, convinced that he would listen when he felt God was speaking to him. It was at that very moment that Sam felt the compulsion to buy a gallon of milk. He thought that was strange since he was lactose intolerant. However, he stopped at the convenience store and bought the milk.
As he began his trip home, Sam felt compelled to turn down a different road than the one that led toward home. This road led him into the worst neighborhood in town. After making another turn, he felt he needed to stop the car. He pulled over and waited. Sam wondered if he was crazy when a voice said, "Sam, take the milk up to that house, and give it to the family inside."
He hesitated going through with it, telling himself to forget all this nonsense and go home. Yet the urge to do as the voice requested was very strong, so Sam decided to get out of the car and go up to the door. As he was debating whether to knock or not, the door opened to reveal a startled young man. "Who are you?" "Hi, I know this is going to sound ridiculous, but I think God wanted me to give you this milk."
The man smiled. With tears forming in his eyes he said, "My wife and I were just praying for food for our baby, we ran out of milk yesterday and God said he would provide." As Sam drove away, he was the one smiling with tears in his eyes. He was praising God and being thankful that he listened to God's voice over his own.
