The Good Shepherd and His Sheep, Pt7.
Scripture: John 10:1-18.
Stream or download The Parables #83
Last Tuesday we learned that in Israel, the sheep always follow the voice of the shepherd.
That is how we today know the Saviour – by His Voice! “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them,” Isaiah 8:20.
There was one further illustration of this truth which I did not have time to show you or to comment on.
“And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself. And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God,” Luke 13:11-13. Luke 21:28, same word is translated “look up”. So she could not ‘look up’. The poor stooped woman could not have looked up to see Christ but she came to Him by following the sound of His voice! What a wonderful picture we have here!
Now we come to the verse 5. “And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.”
PLEASE NOTICE, THE SHEEP RUN FROM STRANGERS!
“They . . . . will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.”
The sheep can teach us all a lesson! Stay away from strangers!
The very opposite to the sinner! The Christians is different in all things, boys and girls. Do not try to imitate the world and its ways. “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God,” Rom 12:2.
But especially in the religious arena, we ought to copy the sheep and not follow anyone who is not our true Shepherd. Such have only one desire. “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves,” Matt 7:15. Such have only one intention – the destruction of the sheep of God.