How to Follow Christ’s Voice

Good afternoon, brethren. So nice to see you on this wonderful Sabbath day.

How many of us like or have ever watched a how-to video? I know I have. I’m pretty sure all of us have at one point in time gone to... had a task to do at the house or have something we needed to learn. We went to the place of choice, YouTube, and looked something up on how to repair a faucet, how to change the oil in a car, how to do your taxes. The how-tos are endless. We’ve all looked them up. We’ve all strived to find them, to learn something new, to learn how to do it ourselves. Well, brethren, let’s go to John ten and verse twenty-seven.

Sometimes you read the Bible, you come to a verse, and the verse has a lot more there than what you expect. The verse is deep, and there’s a lot more going on. But going back to how-tos, this verse that we’re turning to, and some of you may already know where I’m going, it’s John ten and verse twenty-seven. It’s a verse that is... in a certain way, it’s a how to. It’s maybe you could say it’s the most important how-to for you and I, for what we’re called to, for what God has laid before us. This set of words we’ll learn today is a very helpful how-to. Well, let’s read them.

We’re in John ten and verse twenty-seven. “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” And verse twenty-eight, just the first phrase in verse twenty-eight, “And I give unto them eternal life.” Now, this chapter in John ten is a very important chapter. It has a lot of meaning, a lot of teaching, a lot for us to understand in this chapter. And oftentimes, in a chapter like this, and this is actually myself, you read it and you skip over verse twenty-seven. Or you just read it in the context of everything else that is going on, and sometimes you skip over the deeper meaning here.

Well, this afternoon, we’re going to learn and understand what is in this verse. What three steps, three how-to steps, are in this verse, and ultimately, how they will help us receive eternal life. Yes, we know eternal life is a gift, but there are things we must do in this verse. Verse twenty-seven will make it very clear. But again, let’s reread it. Let’s reread verse twenty-seven. “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” There are three main parts of that verse. We’re going to take them apart and learn, learn a how-to here. A how-to that you and I all want to know and be doing. A little bit for review. We know sheep. We know we are sheep. We hear that often.

But let’s go to Psalm ninety-five and verse seven. It is often in our vocabulary in the church to know that we are sheep, and Christ is our shepherd, God is our shepherd. The ministry, in a sense, look after all of us and are our shepherds of the sheep together. It’s common, that phrase, but let’s just read it. It’s an important verse. Psalm ninety-five and verse seven. Psalm ninety-five and verse seven. Actually, let’s begin reading in verse six. “O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.” Just setting up the next verse. Here we are. The psalmist is calling us. Let’s come to prayer. Let’s kneel before our God, “For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.”

So we are, God is calling us. God’s word is stating that we are people of his pasture. We are sheep of his pasture, and we are the sheep of his hand. As a reminder, as a view. But at the end of verse seven, “Today if you will hear his voice.” That will take on more meaning in a moment, but we are sheep. We are God’s sheep. And even in this verse, the verse ends with, “Today if you will hear his voice.” Ties very closely to John ten, verse twenty-seven that we just read. Now let’s go over to First Peter two and verse twenty-five. As a reminder of where we’ve been and where we’ve been called to, how that relates, the wording here ties closely to us as sheep and having a shepherd.

Let’s turn to First... we’re on our way to First Peter two and verse twenty-five. First Peter two and verse twenty-five, “For you were a sheep going astray.” For you, we, us together, we were sheep going astray. Before God called us and we were in the world, we truly... that was us, we were sheep going astray. We did not know where to go. We did not know where the true shepherd was. We did not know what pasture to be in. “But now we are returned under the Shepherd and the Bishop of our souls.” We’ve been called, we read in Psalm ninety-five and verse seven about a voice we are to listen to, we know that from John as well, but we have returned unto the shepherd and the bishop of our souls.

So, this shepherd, as all shepherds have a voice, let’s learn about that voice. Let’s get into the three parts of John ten and verse twenty-seven. We have, in the review, been reminded of how we are sheep and how we’ve been called to follow our shepherd. Let’s go first to Matthew seventeen and verse five. We’re going to go to a few verses just to expound what it means, hear my voice. In Matthew seventeen and verse five, we’re going to read a command from God, actually a command directly from our Father, from our Creator. Matthew seventeen and verse five.

And in the context, we are at the transfiguration when Christ shows a vision to Peter, James, and John, but I want to focus into the end of the vision to an instruction that is given from God the Father. And here we are in Matthew seventeen and verse five. “While he yet spoke, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold, a voice of the cloud, which said...” here at the end of the transfiguration, at the end of this vision, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” It’s the Father speaking, the Father speaking to those there, but it’s written for us. It’s written for us to know, to hear, and to act on. “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

And then God gives us a command, “Hear you him.” Listen to him. Hear what He has to say, hear what He is going to teach you, what He has taught you. Hear his voice. It’s a direct command to all of us. So, as we’re discovering and learning and expanding out, John ten and verse twenty-seven, expanding out the point of “hear my voice.” In a related way, the Father here is reminding us, hear him. Hear what Christ has to say. Hear what the Word of God has to say. Let’s go to John eight and verse forty-seven. Expound the picture of what it means to hear my voice. John eight and verse forty-seven. This is Christ speaking, and we’ll first read this verse, and then we’ll read the context around it.

It has a lot there, a lot for us to learn, a lot for us to relate to what we are studying today. So, in John eight and verse forty-seven, “He that is of God hears God’s words.” Just heard what the Father instructed us. And hear what we’re hearing from Christ, what Christ is instructing us. So that he that is of God hears God’s words. That’s who you and I want to be. “You therefore hear them not, because you’re not of God.” It’s the context we want to get into. Of course, we hear and we strive to hear God’s words. We strive to be of God. In this context, Christ is also talking to the Pharisees and the Jews of the day around him. And he says, “You hear them not, because you’re not of God.”

So, let’s go to verse forty-two and read the context. A lot... we’ll read here of what is the voice, and what does the voice lead us to. And also, the voices that are out there, the voice in the world, there are many voices in the world. There’s also the god of this world, the prince in the power of the air, that has a voice that can lead and pull us astray. Back to First Peter two and verse twenty-five, it can pull us astray. But let’s read here. Read the context. We’re in verse forty-two now. “Jesus said unto them, If God were your father, you would love me.” So, tying into loving Christ.

“If God was their father, you would love me: for I proceed forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he that sent me.” So, God, the Father, sent Christ. “Why do you not understand my speech? Even because you cannot hear my word.” So why do you not understand what Christ is saying? Why do they not understand what Christ is saying? Why can they not hear his words? They may hear his voice, they do not understand his voice; they didn’t at the time. And Christ lays it plainly to them, “You are of your father, the devil, the lust of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth.”

The god of this world, the voices of this world, the voices that can pull us left or right, off the path, off the way of living God’s way of life, they are not of the truth. Continuing in verse forty-four, “Because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” Comparing the voices that are there, comparing the voices that we want to follow. We want to have discernment to know which voice we are following. And to know when we are following an incorrect voice, it is this, a voice that does not follow the truth. Verse forty-five, “And because I tell you the truth, you believe me not.”

And here is Christ. We are to love Christ, God sent him, we know that, we do. I tell you the truth. We don’t want to be this; you believe me not. We believe God’s words. We believe the instructions of his Bible. We take them to the heart and try to apply them. We want to hear his voice, and we want to do his truth. “But you are convinced of me of sin?” verse forty-six, “and if I say the truth, why do you not believe me?” Christ is saying the truth. Of course, we believe him, we want to believe him, we do believe him. Those in the world do not. We’ll learn how, and why we can, and why we do. “He that is of God hears God’s words.” We are of God and we do.

“You therefore hear them not, because you are not of God.” He’s talking about the Jews around him. “Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and that you have a devil?” So, they accused him. What are you saying, they could not understand, they could not understand what he was saying, so they accused him of having a devil. And Jesus said, “How can they even think such a thing?” What is always in my mind reading that verse, how could they actually think such a thing? They’re talking to the son of God. “And Jesus answered them, I have not a devil; but I honor my father, and you do dishonor me.”

Grave, grave condemnation there. “And I seek not my own glory: there is none that seeks and judge. Verily, verily, I say unto you, if a man keep my saying...” So, we’re going back to hearing Christ’s voice. God commanded us to hear him, hear what He has to say. “If a man keep my saying,” that’s the voice we want to hear. This is what we want to do. “He shall never see death.” Tying back to what we read in John. The voice of Christ, the truth that He speaks, we want to follow, and we want to do. Let’s go to John ten and verse three. The beginning of John ten.

Again, I had mentioned this chapter has a lot in it, a lot to learn, a lot that we can study from. Not necessarily the purpose of this message, but there are elements of it that will help us expound the verse we are painting a deeper picture on. So, in John ten and verse three, we read John ten and verse three. “To him the porter opens; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out.” So here, let’s just begin reading in verse one to get the full context. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that enters not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbs up by some other way, the same is the thief and the robber.” Just painting a picture here.

“But he that enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.” That’s Christ, he enters in by the door, he’s the shepherd of the sheep. “And to him the porter opens; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calls his own sheep by name, and they lead them out.” So, if we hear Christ, we hear the truth. He calls us by name, He leads us out, “And when He puts forth his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.” We read in chapter eight of John, his voice is truth, He teaches the truth, we are to follow the truth, and for we know that voice, if we’re following the truth, we hear that in Christ, we hear that in Christ’s servants, and we follow them.

He knows we know his voice, and He knows our name. How does he know our name? That is the next part of the verse. We just learned about, my sheep hear my voice, Christ’s voice is a voice that we must follow, that God has commanded us to follow. That voice speaks the truth. And the next part is, I know them, Christ knows us. We are in John ten already, let’s just read verse fourteen. Christ knows us. We’re going to learn here, in this section, how does Christ know us? How does Christ know who we are? Of course, God the Father and Jesus Christ, they know all of mankind; they know every hair on our head, they know every human being that walks this earth, that has walked this earth.

Just imagine, God and Christ will raise all of mankind, they must know all of mankind, they must know every human being that has ever walked on this earth, however many billions of human beings that is. He knows every one of them. But what’s the difference between what we’re studying, Christ saying, “I know them,” the way we want to be known in this way, what is the difference between that? And of course, God knows every creature that walks on this earth. Every mammal, every fish of the sea, every bird of the sky, God feeds them, God provides for them.

Of course, God knows us, but what is the level that we are to be known? What is the level that God wants us to be known? What is the difference between us and everybody else? Let’s learn. John ten and verse fourteen, “I am the good shepherd,” Christ is the good shepherd, “and I know my sheep, and am known of mine.” So, Christ knows us, and we know him. But how is that? What is the difference between us and our neighbor, our colleague at work, the people we see in the grocery store?

Of course, God knows every one of them. I mean, simply, if God knows the hairs on his head, would he not know the lady at the grocery store, or the man that helps you at the hardware store, or your colleague at work? God knows all of them. What is the difference here that we just read in verse fourteen? That Christ is the good shepherd; I know my sheep and am known of mine. How do we get there? What is missing, in a sense, between us and everybody else? Because God does, of course, know them. Well, what is the word to know here? Interestingly, it is to know intimately, to know closely, to know absolutely.

So, God knows us in a way that he knows us absolutely. He knows us intimately. He knows us closely. He’s aware of us. He has knowledge of us. You know, He can perceive where we are. He knows who we are. He understands us. But even that definition is kind of lacking something. Of course, God knows us. Of course, God can read every thought we have. What is the difference? What is the difference, again, I know I repeat, between us and that lady at the grocery store, our colleague at work? Let’s go to Romans eight and verse fourteen. We did it in a different passage. We’ll read a scripture, and then we’ll read the context around the scripture and the statement.

But our endeavor here is, I know them, is a statement Christ made. And if Christ knows us, at what level does He know us? And how does He know us differently than the rest of the world? And ultimately, how do we know him as well? And that is with Christ, and that’s also with God the Father. Here we are in Romans eight and verse fourteen. “For as many are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” So here, when we read the context, it’ll expound. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” So simply, what starts to explain the difference, if we’re led by the Spirit of God, if we’re led by the Holy Spirit, we are the sons of God.

That starts to explain what is the difference on how we are known, on how Christ knows us differently than everyone else, how God knows us differently than everyone else, and how we know them, is because we are led by the Spirit. Now let’s read, starting in verse five, and get the context of how it led to that statement. In verse five, we read of Romans chapter eight. “For they that are after the flesh do mine the things of the flesh.” Those are those in the world. God has not called them yet. God has not given them the Holy Spirit yet. God has not begun to work with them yet through his Holy Spirit.

But they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. The carnally minded is death; but the spiritual minded is life and peace.” Before I go further, let me explain in a way how God’s Holy Spirit works. I know there are many in the church that aren’t baptized yet, that may have been recently called. And how do you hear God’s voice? You’re not yet baptized, you have not yet received God’s Holy Spirit, but you have God’s Holy Spirit working with you. And ultimately, that Holy Spirit is leading you to be baptized so the Holy Spirit will be working in you.

Ultimately, you must wonder, we all do, we all have, we all did, when God first opens our minds, and we first start reading things, and we see, “Wow, this is the truth.” It may have been the Sabbath day, it may have been the holy days, it may have been the pagan holidays. Your mind is open. You can start to see the truth of the Bible, the truth of God’s words, and you wonder how that’s done. It’s initially God’s voice, Christ’s voice, Christ’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit, working with you, allowing you to see what others cannot see. Ultimately bringing you to the truth, to God’s church, and ultimately to be baptized where the Holy Spirit is in you.

So why I say that, and why I take a moment to explain that, is I don’t want anyone in the room today, or around the world, to say I haven’t been baptized yet, so I can’t be known, or how is God working with me? The Holy Spirit is working with you to take you to the point of being working in you, that you can be led, but ultimately need to be baptized. Verse five again. “For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.” So, as it’s working with us, drawing us to be baptized, drawing us further to the truth, the Spirit is showing us the things of the Spirit.

“For carnally minded is death; but the spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” Just a simple verse reminding us of what our human nature, our carnal mind, does and is why we need the Holy Spirit. So, then they that are in the flesh cannot please God, but you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. If so, be that the Spirit of God dwell in you, as it does dwell in us at the point of the baptism. “Now, if any man have not the Spirit of God, he is none of his,” but we are in the Spirit, because the Spirit dwells in us.

At the beginning of verse nine, let’s continue in verse ten. “And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” So, Christ be in you through his Holy Spirit, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. Verse eleven, “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwells in you.|” Here, the Scripture shows the Holy Spirit ultimately, but it’s the Spirit of Christ, and we just read in verse eleven, it’s also the Spirit of the Father, the Holy Spirit that is in us.

“Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if we live after the flesh, we shall die: but if you through the Spirit mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live.” Expanding how we are known, what is the difference? We have the Holy Spirit, we are led by the Spirit, we shall live, we shall be able to understand the truth, be known of God and of Christ. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For you have not received the Spirit of bondage again to fear; but you have received the Spirit of sonship, adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.”

One of the things why I like the verse we’ve read, verse fourteen, so encouraging, so inspiring, that as we are called and as we are on the track that we are, reminds us easily of Mr. Pack’s recent sermon about being blessed. But in verse fourteen, let’s just read it again to know how we are different, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” That’s God’s words to you and I, to each and every one of us. God counts us as his sons now, as we are led by the Spirit, as we have the Spirit in us, working with us. As we read in John ten, where Christ knows us and we know him, and the only way that’s possible is being led by the Spirit.

And what does God call us? Calls us now, his sons. How encouraging that is. How confidence-building that is. And how easily it reminds us of the sermon that Mr. Pack recently gave about being blessed. So, let’s go to First Corinthians eight and verse three. We’ve just read in Romans and learned in Romans, how we are to be led by the Spirit. And how important that is. I’ve described how that shows that we are... how we are known. Without the Holy Spirit in us, Christ cannot know us, God cannot know us. Ultimately, without the Holy Spirit in us, we cannot know the Father, we cannot know Christ.

Let’s go to First Corinthians eight and verse three. Just a simple verse, we’ll get to a point. We understand how we are known now. “But if any man loved God, the same is known of him.” So, if any man loved God, we all would profess, in some ways, even that lady at the cashier, the gentleman at the hardware stores, they would all confess, too, probably, that they love God. But how do they love God? Ultimately, can they love God? Ultimately, when they’re called, they will. But how do we? “But if any man loved God, the same is known of him.” Of course, yes, we want to love God on a different way, in a different level.

We’ve understood how we must be led by the Spirit, and that brings us to that point as well. To love God, we are known of him. Let’s go to John fourteen and verse fifteen. Common scripture, scripture we’ve read often. Yes, we want to love God, and we want to be known of him. But what’s one thing we have to do, we must do? In verse fifteen, and this is Christ speaking, of course, it’s the words in the Bible, it’s God’s words. “If you love me, keep my commandments.” We just read in First Corinthians eight and verse three, if you love God, God knows you. How are we to love God? We are to love God by keeping his commandments. It’s quite simple, quite straightforward, and that ties into the next section.

They follow me. Reading John ten and verse twenty-seven. Now we’re in the third section. “And they follow me.” We just read about loving God. If you love God, you keep his commandments; you keep all of his commandments. Now we’re talking more about what we must do, what actions we must take. We can see the sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me. We can very quickly see that that is an action that the sheep are doing, that you and I must do. Let’s go to John eight and verse twelve. It’s over a few pages in your Bible. John eight and verse twelve.

One more page for myself here. “Then spoke Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world; he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” God is the light of the world. There’s a point I want to look at the scripture. Why would we follow Christ? Expands it. “He that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” The reason why we want to follow Christ. And to follow the word in John ten and verse twenty-seven. And this is... I really like this definition, has much meaning. To be in the same way with.

As soon as I read that, I was reminded of the many ways through Acts, where those Christians, they were also called in the way. Those of the way. It’s found throughout Acts. Found on many occasions. And I found that interesting. The definition of the word follow was to be in the same way with. To be in the same way with Jesus Christ. To be in the same way with God the Father. We are to follow Christ. We are to follow God. We are to be, as the first-century Christians were called, in the way. How important that is. How much meaning that little word should have. And to accompany. To follow on a journey.

You think of accompanying someone on a journey, we are to accompany Christ on a journey as he leads us in our calling, ultimately, towards the kingdom of God. How important the word “follow.” And the connection to the way. The way of God. The way of life that God wants us to live. Let’s learn, let’s go to Mark eight and verse thirty-four. Mark eight and verse thirty-four. Let’s read here in Mark eight and verse thirty-four. We just saw about how to follow Christ. The meaning of that word. The depth that that word brings. When we follow Christ, we follow the light and not the darkness of the world. How important it is to which voices we are to follow.

But here, an instruction of what we must do. What all of us must do. Mark eight and verse thirty-four. “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, whosoever will come after me,” whosoever will follow me, “let him deny himself, and take up the cross, and follow me.” So, whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. You know, if we love God, we are to keep his commandments. Here, one instruction is to deny himself. To not do what we want to do. To not do our own self-will. To not be on the path the way that we thought we were on.

To not continue on that way. But to accompany Christ, to accompany God, and the path that they want us on. Here we are to deny ourselves. Let’s go to another place where this is said. Let’s go to Mark ten and verse twenty-one. Mark ten and verse twenty-one. Okay, let’s go to Mark ten and verse twenty-one. Here we’ll read another very similar verse, where we just learned about to deny ourselves, to change the path that we are on, to remove self-will, to walk on the path as we follow Christ, and the way as we accompany Christ, on the path that he wants us on. Let’s go to Mark ten and verse twenty-one.

“Then Jesus, beholding him, loved him, and said unto him, one thing thou lacks: go your way, sell whatever you have, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross and follow me.” Sounds similar to the last verse we read. Why is Christ saying this? Who is he saying it to? Now let’s read this entire section for context, because it is telling. It adds to what we’ve just learned about following a voice, about being known, and how important it is that we must be known. We must also be following the right voice.

So, let’s go to verse seventeen. Get the whole context of how Christ came and said, “Give everything to the poor, give up everything you have, pick up your cross and follow me.” How did we get there in this story, in this scenario? Verse seventeen, “And when he had gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him...” It’s interesting, this young man. He came running to Christ. He came running to learn. He was urgent. He was full of zeal in a way to know what he must do. And he kneeled to him. He kneeled in front of Christ, “And asked him, Good master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” How did we start out this message?

We read two verses. Christ actually answered that question for us in those verses. And we’re learning about them more, expanding them. So here this young man comes to Christ and says, “Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” It’s a question on all of our minds. “And Jesus said unto him, why call you me good? There is none good but one, that is, God. You know the commandments.” Christ, of course, knew this young man. Knew how this young man was grown up. You could say a good Jewish son. He knew that this young man did not commit adultery. “Do not kill. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness. Do not defraud. Honor thy father and thy mother.”

He knew that he was keeping all these commandments. “And he answered him and said unto him, Master, are all these I observed from my youth?” As an aside, why didn’t Christ list the other commandments? Why did he only list those? Well, it would be obvious that this young man, in Israel at the time, surrounded by Jews, he would be keeping the other commandments. He would know there was only one God. He would know not to take God’s name in vain. He would know not to have idols. He would know not to keep the Sabbath. That was known without being said, without being asked.

So put that all together, Christ could have asked him all ten commandments. It’s a given he was keeping the Sabbath. He lived in Israel. He lived as a good Jewish boy at the time. “And he answered him,” this young man that was full of zeal that came running to Christ, “and said unto him, Master, all these I have observed from my youth.” This young man kept them all. He kept all the ten commandments. He kept God’s law as best he could. And then Christ tells him... beholding him and loved him. Christ’s heart went out to him and said unto him, “One thing you lack: go your way, sell what you have, give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven.

Sell everything that you have, give it all to the poor, you shall have treasure in heaven. Come, take up the cross and follow me.” Verse twenty-two, “And he was sad at that saying, and he went away grieved: for he had great possessions.” So, in what we’re reading, what we’re learning about John ten, verse twenty-seven, this young man, he kept it all. He kept the ten commandments, but he was missing an important element. Important element, ultimately. Yes, the Holy Spirit was not given as it was at the beginning of the church. But here, he heard Christ’s voice. Christ gave him an instruction. He didn’t follow those instructions.

He didn’t hear the voice of truth. He heard it. He didn’t act on it. So even though he was keeping all of God’s commandments, he was not known by Christ, in a sense, in a way. And he did not hear Christ’s voice. He did not follow him. How important it is that, yes, we must follow God. We must keep his commandments. And by keeping his commandments, we love him. But we must be led of the Holy Spirit, so God can know us and Christ can know us. We must hear the voice and follow the truth. So, when an instruction is given, and the voice of truth speaks through his word, God’s word, through his ministers and his servants, we must follow.

You wonder what opportunities this young man missed because he did not follow Christ. What could have laid before him as Christ was working with his disciples, as Christ was working towards beginning the church. What opportunities did that young man miss? Even though he was keeping all of God’s commandments. How important this shows us, to all of us, what we must do. Tie together all three points of John ten, verse twenty-seven. Hear the voice, be known, and follow. Let’s go to Matthew seven, and verse twenty-four to expand more about what it is to follow Christ, to follow God’s words.

Matthew seven, and verse twenty-four. When we read about the young man, it’s not a positive example. It’s an example we can learn from. It’s an example we can read and learn from, of course. But here, we want to follow Christ. We want to do God’s words. Verse twenty-four, we’ll hear what that means. “Therefore, whosoever hears these sayings of mine, and does them,” whosoever loves me and keeps my commandments, whosoever is led of the Holy Spirit, “I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain...” Verse twenty-five, “And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.”

That’s you and I. That’s who you and I want to be. That person who hears the sayings of mine, the sayings of Christ, the sayings of God, the words that God the Father told us, hear you him, the voice that we want to follow. We do that. We do the sayings of God, of Christ. We’re the man who builds his house upon a rock, who comes no matter what comes as we walk on the way. We remain fast. We hold on. We keep our eyes on the goal. Interesting. Just before this, in verses twenty-one and twenty-two, let’s just read that for a moment as a reminder.

“Not every man that says unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven.” So, to follow Christ, and Christ did God’s will, if we follow Christ, we’re following God. We’re doing the will of the Father that is in heaven. That’s the only way. ‘But many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?” Haven’t we done all these things in your name? “And then I will profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity.”

So those that ultimately did not do the will of the Father, did not hear the correct voice, would not be known. And ultimately would not build that house upon a rock that would help them to hold fast. Just to see an example of a verse where Christ would not know somebody because they did not do his will. But we are those, in verse twenty, “Therefore, whosoever hears these saying of mine, and does them, I’ll liken him unto a wise man which builds his house upon a rock.” Brethren, that is you and I. As we take John ten and verse twenty and apply it in our lives, we have learned that we are to hear Christ’s voice. It’s a voice of truth. And we are to follow that voice.

We are to be known of Christ, to be known of God, to be led of the Holy Spirit. And that Holy Spirit leads us into understanding the truth, to knowing the truth, to be known of God and be known of Christ. And ultimately, doing those two allows us to follow, to walk in the way, to do the truth. Then, what does this all lead to? Let’s go to John ten one last time. John ten. And to review, as we close, we’ll read John ten, twenty-seven and twenty-eight. “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” Verse twenty-eight. “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”