Where He Leads Me
John 10:2-4
2 The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. 3 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. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.
NIV
I Can Hear My Savior Calling
(John 10:1-18)
Intro:
A. Have you ever experienced terrible cellphone connections? You know what I mean. It’s when you are trying to hear someone but it seems like you are only getting every other word at best. You struggle, you ask them to repeat themselves, you even go as far as to suggest hanging up and calling again.
B. Sometimes, it is difficult to hear because of some type interference. Maybe you are in a restaurant or outside the noise around you makes it difficult for you to hear the other person – on a phone call or sometimes when they are right there by you.
C. There’s another time when I don’t hear someone, it’s when I am not paying attention. I hate to admit it, but that happens in my home. Kerri will be talking to me and I zone out. I start thinking about something else and then I hear her voice and try to pretend like I heard everything she just said. Hoping the conversation will catch me up.
D. My point is simple, there are many reasons that we can give for not hearing, but the truth is, if we want to have a relationship with anyone, it requires of us to hear them, not just listen, but to hear what they are saying. Jesus calls us to hear his voice, to listen to him with the intent of following him. This morning I want to take a look at what it means to hear the voice of Jesus and follow him.
I. Not Hearing, Not Listening
A. I mentioned that sometimes we don’t hear someone because we are not listening. I want you to consider what the Bible says about Saul of Tarsus and his conversation with Jesus. Listen to Acts 9:4. You want to talk about getting someone’s attention, wow, did Jesus get Saul’s attention. Saul fell to ground in response to a light that was anything but normal.
B. Others heard something but did not understand. Jesus asked him a direct question, “Why are you persecuting me?” In verse 5, Saul asks, “Who are you, Lord?” In Acts 22:7 we get an exact repeat of the question. But in Acts 26:14 Saul says there was something else said (read Acts 26:14).
C. Think through that for a moment. Jesus had been trying to get Saul’s attention, we don’t know how, but Jesus had been goading Saul and Saul’s response was not to hear Jesus, but to rebel, to kick against the very plan of God.
D. Jesus says that sometimes we don’t hear, because we are not “of God?” Listen to John 8:47. That’s bold. But it’s true. I cannot and will not hear the voice of God if I refuse to accept who God is. But that is not us, but I share this with you because sometimes we get frustrated when our non-Christian friends seem to not hear or understand the message we try to share with them concerning Jesus.
II. Hearing God
A. The dialogue between Jesus and Satan at the beginning of the ministry of Jesus is one that we use to help us stay strong during the time of temptation. When Satan tells Jesus to turn a stone into bread (and by the Jesus was hungry), the reply Jesus gives should speak to our message today. READ Matt. 4:4. God speaks. We live, we are sustained, by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. READ Heb. 1:1-2. God spoke to people directly in the past, but God chose to speak to us through his Son, Jesus.
B. Listen to how John opens his gospel (Jn 1:1). Jesus is called “the Word.” The idea here is that Jesus is the message, the expression, the visualization of God in human form. That is when whey Philip said to Jesus, “Show us the Father,” Jesus tells him, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”
C. Hearing Jesus is essential to being in relationship with God through Jesus. As Jesus speaks to a group of Jews he tells them that he is a shepherd of a flock of people. In this flock Jesus says that my sheep hear my voice. Listen to what Jesus says (READ John 10:2-4). I love the imagery.
III. Where He Leads Me, I Will Follow
A. What does it mean for us to hear the voice of Jesus and follow him? Jesus continues to share about himself as the good shepherd in that passage in John 10. He talks about how he will lay down his life for his sheep. He even talks about having sheep that are not a part of that particular fold, but how one day he will bring them in so that there is only one fold with him as the Shepherd.
B. Finally, in John 10:27, Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” This month I have tried to share with you what it means to follow Jesus. In a song we will sing the words say, “I can hear my Savior calling.” What we sing is we hear the Savior tell us to “Take they cross and follow me.” What we sing is, “I’ll go with him through the garden.” What we sing is “I’ll go with him through the judgement.” What we sing is, “I’ll go with Him, with Him, all the way.”
C. Jesus says my sheep follow me because they hear my voice. But we first have to ask ourselves if Jesus is our shepherd. If we agree to that, then we have to ask, “How do we hear him?” I can’t follow someone I can’t hear.
D. I can hear him in the words of the Bible. I can hear him in the guidance of the Holy Spirit. I can hear him in part by looking at nature. I can hear him in teaching and preaching where God’s word is explained. I can hear him in songs that praise him and teach and admonish me. I can hear him in the fellowship found in the body where we learn to do our part because Jesus is the head who directs the church. It’s not a matter of “can” I hear Jesus,” but “will I listen?”
Conclusion:
A. Where is Jesus leading you? You and I claim to be his sheep, then we must follow the shepherd. But we better know what that means or we will start hearing the wrong voices and following a false shepherd.
B. Following Jesus means to do what he says, go where he leads and be what he calls us to be. Will you go with him, with him, all the way?
Because of Jesus,
Jeffrey Dillinger, minister