FOLLOW THE VOICE OF THE LORD JESUS
Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice and follow me. And they shall never perish, for I give them eternal life. But the Lord also said, there are other sheep that do not hear and follow his voice. (John 10:26-28). We know we are hearing the Lord when we follow and obey all the biblical words of God (Luke 6:46).
CONSEQUENCES OF NOT FOLLOWING THE LORD
ADAM AND EVE disregarded the Lord’s words, and experienced separation from God, causing spiritual and physical death (Genesis3; Ephesians 2:5).
ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA pretended to follow the Lord. But they lost their lives, for the Lord knew they were pretenders (Acts5:1-10).
JUDAS betrayed the Lord’s trust and his guilty conscience caused him to commit suicide (Matthew 27:3-5).
WHOEVER believes in and follows the Lord, shall have everlasting life; but whoever does not follow him stands already condemned to perish (John 3:16-18).
SEPARATE FROM UNBELIEVERS!
Jesus said be separate from unbelievers. For believers and unbelievers are of different spirits which have no fellowship with one another. (1 Corinthians 6:14-17).
Unbelievers do not closely follow the Word of God. Many pursue the things of the world—lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—which are not of the Lord (1 John 2:16). Because of their lust for worldly things, many follow false teacher who are interested in making profit and their own disciples. These teachers tell followers what their ears want to hear; but do not tell them the whole truth of the Bible (2 Timothy 4:3; Acts 20:30; Titus 1:11).
False teachers often tell people that “God is love” (1 John 4:8); but they gloss over the fact that the Bible also says, “except you repent you will perish” (Luke 13:3). God is love and just. God’s says all have sinned; and the wages of sin is death (Romans 3:23; Rom. 6:23). God’s love sacrificed Jesus Christ, his only begotten sinless Son, on the cross to satisfy God’s justice for the sins of whoever repents and believes in Christ’s atonement (John 3:16-18; Acts 2:38).
False prophets and their followers may think they can claim before the judgment seat of God that they have prophesied and done many good works in the name of the Lord. But the Lord said he will tell them, “I never knew you, depart from me you that work iniquity.” (Matthew 7:21-23).
Still some may claim they did not know the biblical Word of God, as an alibi for not following and obeying the Lord. However, God searches the heart and knows how much each person is aware of, and how much they have had opportunity to know his will. And he will judge each person according to what he knows about their knowledge, opportunity and deeds (Jeremiah 17:10; Luke 12: 47-48).
JESUS CALLS TO ALL
Jesus calls all his sheep. The Lord knows that all have sinned and separated themselves from God (Isaiah 59:2). Yet, he is not willing that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9). He came to seek those who are lost. If you have not accepted the Lord into your life, nothing should prevent you from doing it now. He offers all of us a chance to repent and believe in the gospel of salvation (Isaiah 55:7, Acts 2:38).
If you are one of those who have accepted and follow the Lord, you should tell others about your Lord and Savior. And you ought to remind yourself and others that even if a follower of the Lord should stray, the Word of God says: “If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John1:9). Moreover, Jesus promised we will be strengthened by the power of the Holy Spirit who is able keep us from falling away from God. (Acts 1:8; Jude 1:24).
