FOLLOWING THE VOICE OF THE LORD
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 follow his voice. (John 10:26-28). We hear the Lord when we follow and obey all of God’s words (Luke 6:46; Matthew 4:4).
DANGER OF NOT HEARING AND FOLLOWING THE LORD’ VOICE
JUDAS was one of Jesus’ disciples who evidently did not hear the Lord. He heard with his ears and saw with his eyes the Lord say and do many things that came from God; but Judas’ heart was far from the Lord. His heart was fix on money and personal gain. He betrayed the Lord for thirty pieces of silver. His guilt-ridden conscience caused him to commit suicide Matthew 27:3-5). Apparently he was so focus on money that he did not hear or believe what the Lord said about forgiveness: “All manner of sin…shall be forgiven unto men…And whosoever speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him” (Matthew 12:31-32).
ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA, members of the early church, pretended to be followers of the Lord. They sold a possession and kept part of the proceeds, but told other members of the church they had given all the proceeds to the church. Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.” Both of them died in the presence of the church, which caused great fear among members of the church. (Acts 5:1-10).
The Lord wants us to understand: “Man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). “For it is with your heart that you believe” (Romans 10:10).
THE LORD SEPARATES HIS SHEEP FROM OTHER SHEEP
The Lord tells his people to be separate from unbelievers. For believers and unbelievers are of different spirits, and have no true fellowship with one another. (1 Corinthians 6:14-17).
There are unbelievers who have “a form of godliness” but do not really obey all 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). Their lust for worldly things causes them to follow false teacher who tell them what their ears want to hear; but do not tell them the whole truth of the Bible (2 Timothy 4:3; Acts 20:30).
False teachers often tell them “God is love;” without telling them God is also just–“a man reaps what he sows” (1 John 4:8; Galatians 6:7-8). Such teachers gloss over the fact that the Bible also says, “except you repent you will perish” (Luke 13:3).
God is love and just. The Word of God says all have sinned; and the wages of sin is death (Romans 3:23; Rom. 6:23). But to satisfy his justice, God sacrificed Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, to pay for the sins of whoever repents and believes in his Son’s atonement (John 3:16-18; Acts 2:38).
FOLLOWING THE LORD’S VOICE
Jesus said, he “came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). For it is not God’s will that anyone should perish, but that all should come to repentance and believe in his only begotten Son (2 Peter 3:9; John 3:16). The Word says, today is the day of salvation; if you hear the Lord’s voice, open the ears of your heart and follow him (2 Corinthians 6:2; Hebrews 3:15).
If you are one of those who have accepted and follows the Lord Jesus Christ, you should obey his instructions to tell others about salvation through believing in him (Mark 16:15-16).
Even if we should stray, because of Jesus atonement: “If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). And he assures us he will never leave or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). And by the power of the Holy Spirit (John 14:16), the Lord will present us faultless before God with great joy when he comes again to call us to live with him forever in heaven (Jude 1:24; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 ).
