John 10: 1 – 18
1 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. 2 But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.”
6 This figure of speech Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things were which He had been saying to them.
7 So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9 I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. 12 He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know me, 15 even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. 18 No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down again on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”
Introduction
Among other things, this teaching by Jesus speaks about an important part of our relationship with Him as our shepherd. And that is our ability to hear His voice. I have highlighted various parts of the text in bold to demonstrate this. Jesus keeps telling us that Christians know and hear His voice.
In this text, Jesus is telling us about one of the key characteristics of being a Christian. In fact, I would say that is one of the most important characteristics. But what is the voice of Jesus and how do we hear it? Knowing the answers to these questions makes a huge difference to our understanding of what the Christian life is meant to be like. Through this teaching I hope to be able to show you what the voice of Jesus is and how we can hear it.
Hearing God’s Voice
Throughout human history God has required of us that we listen to His voice. And what has distinguished those who believe in God from all other people is their ability to hear His voice. As believers we are able to learn how to hear God’s voice. Let me give you some examples. In Exodus 15:26 we see that God tells Moses about the importance of listening to His voice and obeying Him. In Exodus 19:3-6 God tells Moses to say to all of the people that they too must obey His voice. In Deuteronomy 28:1-2, the Israelites are told that if they obey God’s voice they will be blessed. Then in Verse 15 they are told that if they don’t obey God’s voice they will be cursed. In Jeremiah 7:22-23 God tells the Israelites that if they obey His voice, He will be their God. And finally, we see in John 10:3-5 & 16 that Jesus defines those who believe in him as those who know and hear His voice. We also see this in John 10:27. And what we learn from these verses in Chapter 10 is that hearing the Lord’s voice enables believers to follow Him.
Many Christians are taught and believe that reading the bible is hearing the voice of the Lord. But that is not true. Jesus did not say My sheep read the bible. Although it is essential that we read the bible it is not sufficient. Many people read the bible but do not hear the voice of the Lord.
There are 3 features involved in hearing God’s voice. Firstly, hearing God’s voice is personal, secondly, hearing God’s voice is intangible and thirdly, hearing God’s voice is present in the sense of time.
Hearing God’s Voice is Personal
Every voice is individual and unique and so it is with Jesus. That’s why His followers recognise His voice and not the voice of a stranger. Only the voice of Jesus is a blessing to us. The voice of Jesus will never harm or deceive us. We should not listen to other harmful or deceitful voices. Jesus can only be our shepherd if we listen to His voice. He will supply all of our needs when we listen to His voice.
Hearing God’s Voice is Intangible
It can’t be touched. The only sense we have that can hear a voice is our sense of hearing. Hearing God’s voice is not restricted to any place, it does not have any kind of uniform or clothing or furniture or building. In other words, there is nothing tangible about it.
Hear God’s Voice is Always Present
Hearing God’s voice is never in the past or the future. It is always now. Only now can we hear a voice. With a book, however, we can look at it today, put it down and pick it up tomorrow to look at it again. A voice has no past or future; it is only now. Many Christians live in the past or the future but when we realise that the voice of God is in the present it makes us live our Christian life fully now. God told Moses that His name is I Am Who I Am. I Am is present and we are meant to have a personal, present relationship with the Lord.
The Spoken Word
Hearing God’s voice produces faith. Faith comes by hearing God’s voice. See Romans 10:17. In the original Greek, there are two words that are translated into English as ‘word’. These are ‘logos, and ‘rhema’. In the New Testament, logos means the mind or counsel of God; it’s God’s total purpose. See Psalm 119.89. Logos is the eternal word of God. Logos is summed up in a person, Jesus. See John 1:1-2. Rhema has a different meaning. It means a spoken word. See Matt 4:4 where the Greek word used is rhema. The spoken word (rhema) is spoken personally to us. What Jesus is saying in Matt 4:4 is that our spiritual daily bread is the word spoken to us each day. In Romans 10:17 the Greek word used is rhema. So, Paul is telling us that faith comes from hearing the spoken word of Christ. He does not say that faith comes from reading the bible even though many Christians think it does. On one occasion, you can read the bible and it doesn’t speak to you but on another occasion, it does speak to you and your faith is strengthened. That is the difference between reading the word and hearing it. It’s the Holy Spirit who takes the written word and makes it speak to us. If we are lacking in faith for something we can receive the necessary faith through a process. Firstly the word is spoken to us, then we hear it and finally we receive the faith. The ability to hear the spoken word requires some effort on our part. We need to cultivate the right attitude to be able to hear the spoken word and this takes time. We need to be still and have our mind at rest. We will know that the word we hear is from God because it will be in line with scripture.
Hearing God’s Spoken Word
So, what do we need to do in order to be able to hear God’s spoken word? It’s about the way we live. See Matt 4:4. We need to live a way of life in which we are continuously living by the spoken word of God. Just like bread that regularly feeds our bodies, we need to be regularly/continuously fed on the spoken word of God for our spiritual nourishment. The daily intake of the personal spoken word of God is like a spiritual bread. And this can only come through the Holy Spirit. It is only the Holy Spirit that can bring to us the spoken word of God. So, we need the Holy Spirit to guide us every day through the rhema that He gives us. See Romans 8:14. A true Christian is someone who is born of the Holy Spirit and after that we need to be led by the Holy Spirit in order to grow into maturity. When we are born again, we are babes who initially need the milk of the word. See 1 Peter 2:2. But in order to grow up we need to be led by the Holy Spirit. That’s why verse 14 uses the word ‘sons’ and not babes. Notice also that being led by the Holy Spirit is in the continuous present tense. Being led by the Holy Spirit includes practical daily direction. For instance, if the Holy Spirit wants you to go to a certain place, He will give you a personal rhema word to tell you where to go. In the Gospels we see that Jesus did this himself; he practiced it. See Isaiah 50:4-7 (this is a prophecy about Jesus). It describes how the Father would speak to Jesus every morning. It shows that Jesus received words of encouragement for others, that He received personal direction each day for Himself, that He received obedience, that He received strength to endure suffering, and that He received determination (face like flint).
Ears To Hear
In the Gospels, Jesus talked about having ears to hear. See Mark 4:9 and Mark 4:23. What does it mean to have ears to hear? Jesus it not talking about our physical ears; He is talking about an inner condition of the heart. We have to hear God with our heart. There is such a thing as a hearing heart. See 1 Kings 3:5 & 1 Kings 3:7-10. In verse 9 Solomon asked for an understanding heart but the original Hebrew says ‘a hearing heart’. See Proverbs 4:23. Our heart is like a safe; it’s the place where we keep the things that really matter to us. What you have in your heart will direct your life. We need a heart that can only be accessed by Jesus and nobody else or any other thing. Our heart is in the innermost depths of our being and it needs to be attuned to the voice of Jesus. A heart like this is a hearing heart. The opposite of a hearing heart is spiritual deafness. See Matt 13:13-15. The people that Jesus is describing are those that are spiritually deaf, who do not have a hearing heart, who have hardened hearts. See also Psalm 95:7-8. In this case the Israelites paid a price for not listening to God’s voice: they did not find rest. If we don’t want to have a hardened heart, we need to cultivate spiritual sensitivity towards God’s voice.
There are 4 requirements needed to achieve the necessary sensitivity to hear God’s voice:
Attention and Humility
These are the first two requirements. See Proverbs 4:20, 5:1 and 22:17. To incline your ear means to bow down your head (an act of humility). We need an attitude of respect and reverence towards God in order to hear His voice. To hear God’s voice, we must give Him our undivided attention. To do this we need silence and to be devoid of distractions. We also need to be humble and teachable. We need to set aside our preconceptions.
Time and Quietness
See Psalm 46:10 where we are told to be ‘still’. Out of stillness we hear God’s voice. We need to cease striving, to let go and relax. Being still and relaxed requires time. To hear His voice, we need to wait for Him. See Psalm 62:1 where we are told to wait in silence. See also Psalm 62:5. In Psalm 95:6-8 we see how this is achieved in worship.
If we want to hear God’s voice, we need to put Him first and be prepared to set aside our plans and activities. We need to let God set the time and the place for Him to speak. Here’s some examples: In Numbers 7:89 we see Moses speaking with God in the tent of meeting. Notice how Moses was alone with God in a quiet place away from the activities outside. This happened at a place chosen by God. God spoke from between the Cherubim and the Cherubim represent worship and fellowship. So, God spoke in the midst of worship. He also spoke from above the mercy seat and the mercy seat represents sins forgiven. So, God spoke to Moses in a place of worship, a place of fellowship, a place where sin was forgiven. Bear in mind that unforgiven sin will keep us from hear God’s voice. See Matt 6:6 where Jesus tells the disciples where to pray. In 1 Kings 19:11-13 God tells Elijah to go onto Mount Horeb where he found God whispering to him. When this happened, Elijah humbled himself and worshipped God. This is what it means when he covered his face. Then God spoke to him. When Elijah went to Horeb he was a defeated man but after hearing God’s voice he became a conqueror and he had new direction. In Jeremiah 18:1-6, Jeremiah had to be in a place of God’s choosing, at a time of God’s choosing, in order to hear from Him.
How Can We Be Sure That It Was God’s Voice That We Heard?
There are 4 ways in which we should look for confirmation that we have heard God’s voice. The first is, agreement with scripture. It is the Holy Spirit who brings God’s voice to us and it is the Holy Spirit who is the author of all scripture. See 2 Timothy 3:16. The Holy Spirit never contradicts himself. The Holy Spirit will not bring to us the voice of God saying something that does not agree with scripture. So, we need to know if what we have heard agrees with the words, the spirit and the principles of scripture. If it doesn’t then you have not heard the voice of God. See Isaiah 8:19-22 where we see that there are demonic deceptive voices that can speak to us. We must not listen to them because they will harm us.
Secondly, there is the confirmation of circumstance. See Jeremiah 32:6-9 in which the thing that God told him would happen was confirmed when it happened as God said it would. When Jeremiah heard this word from the Lord, he stored it in his memory and waited to see if it would happen. When it happened, he knew that he had heard the voice of the Lord.
The third kind of confirmation we should look for is God’s peace in our heart. God’s voice will always produce God’s peace. See Colossians 3:15-16 where Paul instructs us to let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts. The word ‘rule’ means to umpire or decide on whether it is right or wrong. In other words, the peace of God is our umpire and when we have the peace of God the umpire is saying that it is right. If you have God’s peace when you hear a word then you know it is God’s voice but if there is unrest in your heart you need to be on your guard because it indicates that something is wrong. If you have heard God’s voice then you will have His peace and you will be thankful.
The fourth way to get confirmation is through our fellow believers. In Acts 13:1-3 we see the church at Antioch sending out Saul and Barnabas as apostles. Saul and Barnabas had already been called to be apostles and during the worship this was confirmed by the Holy Spirit. See Galatians 1:1 where Paul tells us that his apostolic calling came direct from God and not from men. But God confirmed it through men. Notice firstly, that the confirmation came through fellow believers of proven maturity and integrity. And secondly, truly spiritual men do not go ahead unilaterally, regardless of their fellow believers.
Conclusions
Throughout the Bible we see God speaking to His people in a personal way as well as a general way. God has chosen to reveal His eternal decrees which apply to all of us whether we believe or not. And He has chosen to speak to those who are his own with words that are personal and unique to each of us. I can give numerous examples of this from the Bible. God has a plan for each of us so how are we to know what that is unless He speaks to us in this way.
And yet, there is a false teaching common in the Church today that God no longer speaks to us in this personal way. The argument is that we now have the Bible and that it contains every word that we need from God. The leaders who teach this are robbing God’s people of the kind of relationship that God wants with us. They fail to understand the difference between logos and rhema and it’s tragic. The classic and most dangerous example of this error can be seen in the selection and appointment of leaders in the Church. The Bible shows us that this is a calling; a calling from God. And that calling comes from God’s personal spoken word to that individual. But because of the false teaching that God doesn’t do this anymore, the Church has turned to worldly ways of identifying and appointing leaders with disastrous consequences. And we end up with lots of totally unsuitable men leading the church whilst God’s chosen ones are side-lined.
So, my appeal to all Christians through this teaching is to learn how to listen to the voice of Jesus. If we all did this then our individual lives and the effectiveness of the Church would be so much better.
Acknowledgement
I am indebted to Derek Prince for his teachings about hearing God's voice. I have used his insights in this teaching.