INTRODUCTION
• U571 CLIP-Winclips.com Keyword FOLLOW
• SLIDE #1
• There are many voices calling out to each of us enticing us to follow them.
• Voice of fear call out to us.
• Voice of pride.
• Voices of sin.
• Voices of reason.
• The young sailor in our clip had to decide which voice to follow, the voice of fear, or the voice of his commander.
• When one is committed to Jesus, we have to decide which voices we will follow.
• Which voice would a committed Christian follow?
• Over the last two weeks we have been examining the concept of commitment.
• Last week we defined the word committed as follows: loyal to a belief, organization, or group, and willing to work hard for it.
• Can you imagine a world with no commitment? How would you enjoy being married to someone who is not committed to you? How would you like employees who are not committed to doing a great job, or would you feel good working for an employer who was not committed to you?
• Zacchaeus demonstrated one’s need to be committed to the transformation which Jesus offers. Last week we examined the concept of counting the cost before jumping into the water.
• Commitment to Jesus is more some of the religious practices people follow, it is about FOLLOWING Him!
• In our text today, a group of religious leaders have cornered Jesus, seeking an answer to a question.
• Let open up with John 10:25-26
• SLIDE #2
• John 10:25–26 (HCSB) 25 “I did tell you and you don’t believe,” Jesus answered them. “The works that I do in My Father’s name testify about Me. 26 But you don’t believe because you are not My sheep.
• SLIDE #3
SERMON
I. Why listen to His voice? (25-26)
• In verses 22-24 we see that Jesus is at the Festival of Dedication.
• The Feast of Dedication or Hanukkah, or "the Feast of Lights," began on the 25th day of the month December.
• On that day in 167 B.C. the Greek King Antiochus Epiphanes desecrated the temple and sacrificed on an altar erected in it to Zeus, the chief Greek god (1 Macc. 1:59).
• Three years later to the day (164 B.C.) Judas Maccabeus re-dedicated the temple with a new altar, and Jews have since kept this feast in memory of this national victory.
• So as Jesus is walking in the temple complex, He is surrounded by a bunch of Jewish leaders who start asking a question.
• In verse 24 they ask Him how long is He going to keep them in suspense?
• SLIDE #4
• John 10:24 (HCSB) 24 Then the Jews surrounded Him and asked, “How long are You going to keep us in suspense? If You are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”
• "Keep us in suspense" literally, "take away our life.”
• Jesus you are killing us!
• They want to know when Jesus is going to tell them if He is the Messiah.
• In verse 25, Jesus replies that He HAD told them, they just did not believe Him.
• They had not accepted the claims he had made nor the evidence he had given them (John 5:30-40) in the testimonies.
• "Don’t believe" has the force of continuing not to believe.
• The reason these do not believe is that they are listening and following other voices, not the voice of the good shepherd.
• So one of the reasons we should listen to Jesus is because we all are seeking answers.
• These leaders were looking for purportedly were looking for answers; however, with the evidence starring them in the face, they were not willing to accept the answer.
• DO you know people still do this today?
• It is like asking a thief who holding your jewelry if they took it, you can see the evidence, you just refuse to accept it.
• IF you are seeking an answer to life’s questions, Jesus’ voice would be a good on to listen to.
• A second reason one should listen to the voice of Jesus is His works.
• “The works that I do in My Father’s name testify about Me.
• Jesus was not only speaking of the miracles, He was speaking of all the works He had done to this point, including His teachings.
• The pre-2011 versions of the NIV use the word MIRACLES instead of works. Translating the Greek in that way was a stretch of the meaning of the word. So they corrected it in 2011.
• Jesus’ works give one a reason to listen to Him! If you are looking for a Messiah, what more could one ask Jesus to do or teach, especially now that we have the complete story!
• A third reason one ought to pay attention to the voice of Jesus is simply that unbelief, refusing to listen is akin to rejecting Jesus!
• In verse 26, Jesus takes the leaders to the root of their problem, they do not hear Jesus because they are not His sheep!
• Why are they not His sheep?
• Their unbelief shows they "do not belong to my sheep".
• The religious leaders chose not to listen to the voice of Jesus not because He was not their shepherd, but rather because they were not His sheep!
• For one to be one of Jesus’ sheep, they must begin with belief in Him, which would be followed up with confession, repentance, and baptism where at that point you clothe yourself with Christ! Romans 6!
• The religious leaders would not listen to the voice of Jesus because they did not want Jesus to change things, they loved life just the way it was for them.
• People today refuse to listen to Jesus for the same reason. They are afraid they will have to let go of some things in this life.
• With all the voices call out to you in this life, Jesus is the one to listen to, He has displayed the power to show you He is who He claims to be!
• Next let us examine verse 27
• SLIDE #5
• John 10:27 (HCSB) 27 My sheep hear My voice, I know them, and they follow Me.
• SLIDE #6
II. Who will follow His voice? (27)
• I have said this before, but I hate that Jesus calls those who follow Him sheep. Sheep are not the most intelligent of creatures, but they do have a trait that is important, when they hear the shepherd, they follow!
• In a world full of voices cry out for you to follow them, those who have given their lives to Jesus will be the ones who will listen.
• It is not always easy to listen. In our opening clip from U571, logic and fear was calling out to the gunner to take down the enemy plane. He was locked and loaded and ready to go, finger in the trigger, ready to take the enemy plan down.
• What stopped him? His commander, the young man on the gun was able to muster the courage to listen to his commander in the midst of fear and confusion.
• The young man’s fellow sailor was pushing him hard to fire the weapon, however, the voice of the commander won out.
• In a world filled with voices calling you, when you belong to Jesus, you need to follow His voice.
• Had the young man heeded the fearful voice of his fellow sailor, the mission would have been ruined. They had procured the Enigma machine which the Germans used during WWII to send coded messages.
• Failure of the mission would mean the deaths of more sailors in the long run.
• The mission was too important to fail.
• You life’s mission is too important to fail, when you are in Christ, you need to trust and follow His voice!
• Jesus said HIS sheep HEAR His voice. The difference between those who are His and those who are not is simply belief in Jesus.
• If you belong to Jesus, you hear Him.
• Jesus also says He knows His sheep. He knows you!
• To "Hear" carries with it the idea of heeding, of obedient faith expressing itself in following.
• When you hear the voice of Jesus, you will follow!
• One cannot be a part of Jesus if they refuse to follow Him, if they refuse to listen to His voice.
• We all have struggles at times with honing in out the voice of Jesus. They world and our desires can at times drown out His voice.
• SLIDE #7
• John 10:28–30 (HCSB) 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish —ever! No one will snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 The Father and I are one.”
• SLIDE #8
III. Why follow His voice?(28-30)
• I want to look now at some reasons as to why it behooves one to follow the voice of Jesus.
• First blessing we find in verse 28 for those who follow Jesus- ETERNAL LIFE!
• This is a gift of God! It is not a paycheck earned.
• SLIDE #9
• Ephesians 2:8–9 (HCSB) 8 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift— 9 not from works, so that no one can boast.
• Do you want to get to heaven? Follow the voice of Jesus, He will lead you there!
• The life God has in store for you is awesome in both quantity a quality!
• I wish I could put into words how great heaven will be. The Biblical writers did the best they could!
• SLIDE #10
• Revelation 21:3–4 (HCSB) 3 Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: Look! God’s dwelling is with humanity, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will no longer exist; grief, crying, and pain will exist no longer, because the previous things have passed away.
• We also see a couple of other benefits tied to one’s eternal life.
• First, those who possess eternal life will NEVER perish!
• This is an emphatic construction in Greek, meaning, “They will certainly never be destroyed.” This is the language of immortality.
• One in Christ will never cease to exist! We no longer have to fear not existing!
• SLIDE #11
• 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 (HCSB) 13 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. 14 Since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus. 15 For we say this to you by a revelation from the Lord: We who are still alive at the Lord’s coming will certainly have no advantage over those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are still alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
• WOW!
• Next those who possess eternal life will have security in Christ!
• No one can snatch them out of my hand. For Jesus this is because these sheep are his with the consent and cooperation of the Father, and no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.
• One is secure in Christ. You still have the freewill to walk away, but who would be foolish enough to do that?
• Sadly some have.
• No one is more powerful than God, no one can wrestle you away from God!
CONCLUSION
• WE can all hear the voices calling, the voices of fear, the voices of sin, the voices of peer pressure, along with the voices of the world.
• The question one must decide whose voice they are going to listen to.
• If one is to be committed to Jesus, there is but one decision.
• Don’t listen to all the conflicting voices, listen and follow Jesus!
