He's got us!

 Read John 10:22-30

 Jesus was in the temple area and many Jews were gathered around Jesus.  They had questions.

Just tell us. Are you the Messiah or not?

Jesus responded: I already told you but you did not believe. Why didn’t you listen? I already showed you. Why did you not see? Because you are not my sheep.

Jesus had been terse with the Pharisees before, but these were just the common people.  They had questions. They had plenty of evidence to consider that should have convinced them that Jesus was the Messiah, but they could not see it.

Jesus was telling people that the time for fence-sitting was over. If you disown me, my Father in heaven will disown you.  Yes, we are at that point.

We believe or we don’t, and if we believe, we know his voice.

We believe or we don’t, and if we don’t believe, we can’t distinguish the voice of our Master from the clutter for the clutter has become our god.

Imagine Jesus looking at you and saying, you are not one of mine. Could we bear to hear him say, I don’t know you?

Jesus will not disown us because we make mistakes.

He won’t kick us to the curb because that promise to work on my language is a few years late in the making.

He won’t cancel our reservation in heaven because we missed a day or two or two hundred in our Bible reading.

Do you want Jesus to disown you? Then disown him and the Spirit of God.

For those who believe, we do not need to go down this road. We disown the whole concept of God disowning us. We need to disown the status that the pagans give the things of this world, but Jesus will not disown us.

He has claimed us and that’s forever.

Jesus goes so far as to say no one can take away those I have claimed as my own—those the Father had given him.

We could go down a predestination and the elect rabbit trail here, but we will save that for another day.

For now, think about knowing the voice of our Master. If all we hear is the clutter, we need to declutter for his sheep know his voice and if you have grown deaf to his voice, it is time for action.

It’s easy to let the world creep in gradually, often unnoticed.

Long ago and far away in my college days, a new concept was introduced called narcotizing dysfunction.  Simply stated, modern media had become so overwhelming that it could bombard someone into a state of dysfunction.

We can get bombarded into a state of dysfunction as well.  How do we avoid this?

We know his voice.

How do we know his voice?  We pray and listen. We read his word faithfully. We discuss his word with other believers.

Here’s one that we should know. How do we know his voice? By putting his words into practice. Yes, his voice becomes clearer with each step of trust and obedience.

We know his voice because we talk with him often. We listen to whim all the time. We know his voice.

I said that I believe but how do I know that I meant it? Did I really mean it? How do I know?

Sometimes, we believe enough to be curious but do we believe enough to trust in the Lord with all our hearts?

The answer to do I really believe is can I trust the Lord.  If you want to test your own belief, try trusting the Lord with everything you have.

Trust is directly proportionate to our spiritual hearing.

Do you want to hear God’s voice more distinctly?  Start trusting him more.

Once we trust him enough to put his words into practice, this thing called abundant life can take hold and once the Lord is running everything in our lives, we can enjoy this eternal ride.

First, we need to know his voice. Know his voice.

·       Know his voice.

·       Put his words into practice.

·       Enjoy the blessed assurance of Jesus claiming you forever.

Amen.