In our Bible study in John 10, we have been learning that the sheep that Jesus is talking about in this Bible illustration are sheep who can be called “the remnant”, a small group of sheep that have matured to where the Holy Spirit can write in their hearts experientially, not just theologically through their intellect, a steadfast assurance and abiding rest that all things at all times are redemptive, regardless of what circumstances seem to be,
“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
These are not sheep who are listening to other voices, “strange” voices, whether it’s their own natural internal voice, their feelings to do their own “good works”, or to the voices of teachers who are dispersing human wisdom, even when it’s a mixture of their own with the Lord’s wisdom. He’s not describing those sheep who are going astray (Isaiah 53:6) and who are not solely listening to His voice. He calls these sheep/believers that are going astray “other sheep not of this fold”,
“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.” (John 10:16)
As I shared in the last blog, I was saved in 1981, and learned right after salvation, at least intellectually, that my born-again life was in union with the Lord,
“Christ in you the hope of glory,” (Colossians 1:27)
However, it has taken these past forty-three years for the Holy Spirit to progressively mature in me to have Him live as preeminent in and through me, the exchanged life, not just as Him being prominent as part of “my” life operating in union with His, but the Life where He’s swallowed me up in victory in Him, as the Life,
“For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:3)
In regards to our study of John 10 with the sheep that hear His voice, I’ve been thinking about what those past forty-three years of spiritual growth in my life have looked like, and how the Lord has progressively in His grace been maturing in me from being a fetus, to being a baby, to being a child, to being a young adult, and finally into being a fully mature adult in the exchanged life—a sheep that is of His fold that consistently is able to listen for and discern His voice. (This progression of the growth process in believers is scripturally explained in audio and book form in Ed Miller’s, “Christ Formed in You.”)*
How did that progression of growth happen? What has the process looked like of how the Holy Spirit has been moving me from intellectually knowing about Christ living in me, and about intellectually knowing me living in Christ—knowing about the union life—to the full experience of living in the reality, being swallowed up in Christ as the exchanged life? As I thought about it, a little personal analogy came to my mind of how I’ve always enjoyed driving a car, but never much enjoyed flying in an airplane. I’d like to use that as a partial picture of what His maturing process has been like for me.
It seemed like for these past forty-three years of progressively maturing/growing as a believer, I have been enjoying Christ as I drove Him (in union in me) around in “my” car. I liked that; I could take Him where I wanted to go, and He would pretty much go along with my plans. I could take little side detours and check out some interesting sites, even Christian sites, to do good Christian things, while not listening to Him/His voice to follow His way. I presumed He would use for good any wrong turns I might make, because I didn’t really have to do anything perfectly anymore, as I was covered by the grace of His perfect life at salvation. I could even speed up a little through yellow lights and drive a faster than I should. He would chasten me occasionally with tickets, but I didn’t seem to have the desire or ability to stop wanting to be in the driver’s seat doing “my” rendition of what I thought He might want. I was glad that He was keeping me safe in my salvation and that He still loved and delighted in me.
During our travels, the Lord and I spent a lot of time talking/praying back and forth, building our relationship, as His Holy Spirit progressively unveiled many wonderful things. As we drew closer and closer as friends, I got to know and trust Him more and more. In the last few years He even began to share with me about the exchanged life, and how much He wanted to have full reign at the “wheel” to live His Life through me. It made a lot of sense to me, to let Him carry the burden of driving, but I couldn’t stop wanting to be in the driver’s seat of my little car, even convincing myself that, as his friend, I was helping Him.
Then one day, I cried out to Him in desperation, because I took a “helping Him” nice-looking side road and got into a terrible jam. This had happened many times before, but this was different. He didn’t allow me to work/manipulate myself out of my predicament. And this time, when He made me an offer for a seat on His airplane, the Exchanged Life Express, it came with a fuller revelation of Himself in preeminent sovereignty, as Lord of my life, and it came with the ability in His power and grace to accept His free ticket; I was able and wanted to board the plane and take my seat, swallowed up in Him as the plane, the Exchanged Life Express.
Evidently, in His sovereign plan, it was the right place and the right time for me to see Him more fully, as Lord, and begin hearing His voice and to be able to accept His gracious invitation. Since then, I’ve been able to, and have wanted to continue choosing to rest and abide in Him, and enjoy the journey, with Him as the plane, and with Him in the cockpit, as the pilot. My greatest desire is to unceasingly go where He goes, in Him, in the same direction. I want to continue to rest and abide in Him at the controls, in union reality of the exchanged life! He then uses His Life through me bearing fruit as a living gospel testimony of Himself to believers and unbelievers alike. Indeed, I’ve found rest for my soul with Him as the Life living in and through me…
“Take My yoke,” (for me that’s the exchanged life, His Life), “upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls . For My yoke,” (the exchanged life), “is easy, and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:29-30)
How did it happen? Well, I just kept turning to my Friend, Jesus, while progressively growing in our relationship, until, in the fullness of His time, His hour came; in His sovereign plan, I simply received/took of the free offer of His yoke of the exchanged life—Him walking His Life in and through me as Lord in reality. That’s how I see it happened and how it continues to happen—being a sheep of His fold who is able to listen for and hear His voice, that wants to follow only Him, and who is able to trust and abide in His sovereignty as Lord in “all things”. I don’t have the ability on my own to fly like a bird, or to even enjoy flying in a plane, but now I can look forward to flying in Him unceasingly as my Life;
“I know how to get along with little, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:12-13)
The following is an edited and condensed version of Ed Miller’s Bible Study message #33 in John 10 on the sheep of His fold. Enjoy!
“KNOW HIM, TRUST HIM” FROM BIBLE STUDY MESSAGE #33 JOHN 10 EDITED AND CONDENSED
The Lord has invited us to come and know Him through His word, and we’ve accepted that invitation, and I’ve often reminded you of the fact that in God’s revelation of Himself to man, He’s made Christ central in the Godhead. Every dealing I have with the Lord is through Jesus, and every dealing God has with me is through Jesus. What is true of me is true of every Christian. This is true in time and this is true through all eternity; we’re going to know God in the person of our Lord Jesus. So, we’ve come again to behold Him.
I want to review a little bit of where we are. In our first meditation on John 10, we focused on the purpose of the Holy Spirit giving us that chapter, and that was to expose the false shepherds;
“The thief comes only to steal, to kill and destroy. I come that they might life and have it abundantly. I’m the good shepherd, and the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.” (John 10:10)
In that first lesson, we also discovered,
“I have other sheep which are not of this fold; I must bring them, also; they will hear My voice, and they’ll become one flock and one shepherd.” (John 10:16)
In the introduction lesson, we focused on one flock and one shepherd, and because there is only one Shepherd, and that’s the Lord, we need to be careful when we view a Christian servant as a shepherd. He lives in my heart as the Shepherd and He lives in your heart as the Shepherd. When we have a ministry to His people, it’s not that we are shepherding them, but it’s that we’re allowing the Lord who lives in us to be the Shepherd and to shepherd them.
“All who came before Me are thieves and the robbers, and the sheep did not hear him.” (John 10:8)
If we try to be shepherds, and not let Jesus be the Shepherd, we do harm to the sheep. So, it’s so important, in this exchanged life, to let the Shepherd live through us.
We began last session identifying the sheep in this passage,
“When He puts forth His own, he goes ahead of them. The sheep follow Him because they know His voice. A stranger they simply will not follow but will flee from Him because they do not know the voice of the stranger.” (John 10:4&5)
The sheep in chapter 10 are a special group of people. They’re Christians, of course, but I just call them “remnant sheep”. The sheep here hear His voice; they know Him and they’re in union with the shepherd, “My sheep follow Me.”
There is no doubt that He must have other sheep because we’ve gone astray, and there’s others that are not following the Shepherd, “All we like sheep have gone astray.” That’s true in Isaiah and in other places in the Bible but not in John 10. In John 10, the sheep He talks about are not dumb, stupid sheep doing dumb things and following someone over a cliff. This chapter tells us how wonderful the Shepherd is.
Last week we began to illustrate that God has given us a picture and when it’s the Lord, the reality is always greater than the picture, infinitely greater than the picture. We looked at the picture and of the great descriptions of the hairs of our head being numbered by God, and we looked at Him naming all the stars in the sky, and knowing the number of the grains of sand on the earth, and knowing us all by name. All of that is a picture: the hair, the sand, the stars, the sand, and our names.
Here is the reality, Don’t ask me to explain this verse, but I’ll proclaim it,
“I’m the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father, I lay down My life for the sheep.” (John 10:14&15)
If you ask me how much I know the Lord, I would say, “I’m getting there, and maybe not that much,” but if I read the Bible, I know Jesus as much as Jesus knows the Father, and the Father knows Jesus. Like I said, I can’t explain that, but I’m not going to stop believing it. Whatever it’s going to mean, I know I’m going to be knowing Him forever as ages roll on ages in eternity, I’m going to keep on knowing the Lord. But that’s the reality.
“He puts forth His own and He goes ahead of them, and His sheep follow Him because they know His voice. A stranger they simply will not follow, and will flee from Him, and they do not know the voice of strangers.” (John 10:4&5)
We were pondering the discernment that the Holy Spirit has given Christians to know the difference, “That’s His voice; that’s the voice of a stranger.” These sheep hear His voice. They know His voice, and they don’t listen to the voice of a false shepherd. I closed by reminding my heart and yours the reason why.
“As for you, the anointing which you’ve received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you, as His anointing teaches you about all things and is true and is not a lie, just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.” (John 10 2:27)
When you are one of those sheep in union with Him and following Him and know His wants, then through the Holy Spirit, when somebody says something that is not His voice, it’s straw in your mouth. And when someone says something, you say, “I don’t know why, that’s just not right.” You don’t have to explain it. You just have to know it’s His voice.
I’m not saying if you are looking to Christ that you are infallible, that you’ll never be deceived, because there is a lot of Christ you have yet to know. What I am saying is that while I’m looking to Christ, I’m safe, and I’ll be protected from the strangers.
When we hear the word “voice” we automatically, as students of the word of God, want to know what He is saying, and what is that voice teaching us. I’m sure you’ve heard people ask, “What’s God trying to teach me through this experience? I broke my ankle. What is the Lord’s message? Why did He allow this in my life? What’s He saying?”
Before we continue, let me just say this; I don’t know what you’re going through, but God is not trying to teach you anything. There’s no lesson and there’s no message in the experiences that you have. He wants you to know Him, and not learn a lesson. He wants you to know who He is and recognize His voice. He’s not training you; He’s conforming you to the image of Himself. It’s a common saying among the people of God when they talk about His voice, and maybe you’ve said it or heard it, “The Lord told me. God spoke to me. The Lord, I heard Him speak to me. I got a word from Jesus. I heard His voice.” What did He say? “Well, He told me to go,” or, “He told me to stay,” or, “He told me to write,” or, “He told me visit,” or, “He told me to cook,” or, “He told me to join,” or, “He told me to give some money to somebody,” or, “He told me to rebuke a Christian, and that was a tough one,” or, “He told me to encourage,” or, “He told me to preach.”
When we think of voice, we think of communication, and of a message, “What is He saying?” Now, there are many answers. Where did you hear His voice? Some say, “Well, from the Bible.” Some say, “Well, I heard Him in my heart.” Some say, “I had a thought, and I knew that thought wasn’t mine. It was an intuition; I just had this intuitive jab of the Holy Spirit to go here and do this or do that thing.” Some would say that it was an audible voice, a still, small voice. What is the voice of the Lord?
I think you all know the difference between something that is objective and something that’s subjective. When you study something objectively, you study the facts. That’s apart from your experience, apart from your interpretation, and apart from your feelings.
Subjective, on the other hand, is what I think about that or how I feel about that or how that affects my life, how I’m influenced by that. How does objective and subjective relate to the voice of the shepherd? Does God speak objectively? The answer is yes in the Bible when the Holy Spirit is interpreting it. That’s objective. Does God speak subjectively? Yes. When? It’s whenever He’s not speaking through the Bible. He speaks subjectively. He speaks objectively and subjectively. When He speaks subjectively, He can’t contradict what He said objectively. So, everything He says out here has to agree with His word. What is the subjective? What does God speak? Well, He speaks through nature, creation, and through circumstances sometimes. Does He speak through people? Sometimes. Does He speak only to Christians or to unsaved people? Sometimes. He speaks subjectively a lot.
Some people say that He not only speaks subjectively, but directly to me. He’s not using nature, He’s not using circumstances, He’s not using people; it’s just me and Him, and sometimes, “He touches me, and sometimes I feel that touch, and sometimes the hair on my head stands on end and the hair on my body stands up, and sometimes I can’t control my language, and sometimes I can’t control my balance, and sometimes I can’t control my voice,” and so on. So, the question is when God speaks subjectively, is it His voice? You need to know His voice because everything subjective can often be abused. Satan will certainly try to make you think something is the voice of God when it’s not. So, we’re going to look at God’s subjective voice, and then we’re coming back to how I know that it’s Him. The more subjective it is, the more dangerous it is; that’s why God gave us a whole chapter, Jeremiah 23, on the most dangerous, subjective things that God ever said.
“The heavens are telling,” that sounds like speaking, “the glory of God. Their expanse is declaring the work of His hand. Day unto day pours forth speech, night to night reveals knowledge.” (Psalm 19:1)
That’s a voice. Many go out in creation, and they don’t see the glory of God. They don’t hear His voice in creation. This is a very interesting passage…
“With moisture He loads the thick cloud; He disperses the cloud of His lightning, and it changes direction, turning around by His guidance, that it may do whatever He commands it on the face of the inhabited earth, whether for correction or for His world or for loving kindness, He causes it to happen.” (Job 37:11-13)
He gives reasons why He does certain things, so objectively we’re in a museum. We see the birds, the stars, the insects and we see His creation. Psalm 29, seven times in that psalm we read the expression “the voice”, “the voice of the Lord,” “the voice of the Lord,” “the voice of the Lord.” In this case, it’s the “voice in the storm”, and in circumstances. That’s Psalm 29. Does He speak through sickness, does He speak through the job that you are doing, does He speak to the student in his studies? If you have an accident, is God saying anything? When He closes the door, when He opens the door, when He gives a provision, when He withholds a provision, when you face a temptation, all things work together for good to those that love the Lord.
So, God has a voice, subjective, but He speaks in nature, subjective, but He speaks in the storm, in circumstances. Does He speak through people? Sometimes; through teachers, through coaches, through counselors, through co-workers, through family, parents, neighbors, and sometimes it’s a sermon, and sometimes it’s a book, and sometimes it’s a tape, sometimes it’s a song that you sing. Paul made this comment…
“For this reason we constantly thank God when you receive the word of God which you heard from us,” that’s through people, “you accepted it not as the word of men but for what it really is, the word of God which also performs it’s work in you who believe.” (1 Thessalonians 2:13)
Once again, He’ll speak, but it can’t contradict His objective voice.
Some claim that God speaks more directly, “The Lord came to me in a dream. God gave me a vision. I actually heard His voice; it made me laugh.” Sometimes I’ve heard some say, “I saw the Lord; He came into my room. Maybe it was an angel, an apparition. I saw an angel.” You hear, “I picked up a hitchhiker and he disappeared,” etc.
At this time I am not challenging the validity of any of those experiences; His word in nature, His word in circumstances, His subjective word through people, but I’m trying to discern, and we need to go back to John 10, the voice. His sheep know the voice. What’s John 10 talking about?
“The sheep follow Him and they know His voice. A stranger they will not follow. They will flee from him. They do not know the voice.” (John 10:4&5)
Let me remind you of the figure of speech; it’s a shepherd and his sheep, and thirty verses of that figure of speech. What does it mean that the sheep know His voice? Are the sheep asking questions? What is the shepherd trying to say through this experience?
Take the 23rd Psalm, wow, here’s the sheep, the Lord is using His rod. “I wonder what He’s trying to teach me through the rod?” He used the crook; He used the staff, “I wonder what He’s trying to teach me through the staff? Why did He lead me to this pasture? Does He have a reason? What’s the purpose of that? Great day! I’m going through a dark valley; it’s dangerous and scary, a valley of the shadow of death. I wonder what the Lord is trying to teach me through this. What in the world is He putting me in this environment for? In the presence of my enemies? Come on, He can get a better environment that that!”
Do the sheep ask why I broke my leg and why is He carrying me? That’s part of the shepherd/sheep thing. They’re not trying to become theologians. The sheep in this pasture don’t ask questions, “What is He saying?” The sheep just want to know who is speaking. That’s the voice in John 10; who is speaking? If you know who is speaking, you’ll figure out what He’s trying to say, but you’ve got to know who.
Even a dog knows his master’s voice, and a dog is going to bark at a stranger. It’s just knowing who, and not what. So, knowing the voice of the shepherd is asking who is speaking. It’s almost incidental about what He’s saying. That’s another study, but for now, in this chapter, we’ve got to know who is speaking. Job is a great illustration;
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 1:21)
Job knew who. In Job 1 Satan challenged God, and said, “Put forth your hand, and touch all he has, and he’ll surely curse you to your face.” God said, “Alright, my hand.”
“The Lord said to Satan, ‘Behold, all he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand; It’s got to be my hand and not your hand.” (Job 1:12)
Sabeans came and they stole Job’s livestock, 500 yoke of oxen, 5,000 donkeys, and they killed many of his servants. Then lightning came, and he lost 7,000 sheep. Then the Chaldeans came in three different raids, and stole 3,000 camels and killed a whole bunch of his servants. And then a tornado came and blew down a house and all ten of his children were killed in one swipe. This is all on the same day, by the way.
Job didn’t curse Satan and say, “Cursed be Satan; he took away.” He didn’t blame the Sabeans or the lightning or the Chaldeans or the tornado. He said, “The Lord gave, the Lord took away. I know His voice.” It was enough to know who. You know, it doesn’t matter, brothers and sisters in Christ, if we know it’s the hand of God, whether He’s giving or taking. That part doesn’t matter, as long as we know it’s His hand. That’s one of the great messages of the book of Job.
“I will instruct you in the power of God; what is with the almighty, I will not conceal.” (Job 27:11)
In the margin of the American Standard we read a note for the word “power”, and it’s the word “hand”, “I will instruct you in the hand of the Lord.” That’s the whole book of Job, “The Lord gave, and the Lord took away; it’s his hand, and I don’t care if it was the Sabeans or the Chaldeans or lightning or a tornado or a storm. Who? It’s the Lord. His hand gave, and His hand took away. And Job says right in the heart of the book, “Let me instruct you about the hand of the Lord.” Marvelous!
That’s the point of chapter 10 and the word “voice”; they know Him and they recognize His voice. The application to our life is quite simple. Who is speaking? Is it His voice? God has not called me to discern error; He’s called me to discern His voice. Who is speaking? Whether it’s in nature or in circumstances or through people or through me directly, who is speaking?
God gives warning. Everything is subjective; we just need to know if it’s the Lord. If you are living in union with Him, you’ll know it’s the Lord, whether to make the call or make the visit or cook the meal; you’ll know, if you are walking in union with the Lord. But we need to know, and the strongest warnings come when God allows really subjective experiences, and I’m going to name four of them—dreams, visions, voices and imagination. God takes a whole chapter to warn about that because the enemy would want you to think that because it’s so real, “I had a dream, and God came to me in a dream,” there’s a difference between God coming to you in a dream and you dreaming that God came to you. That’s not the same thing. What I’m going to do is just read the warnings, and I won’t expound on them.
“Thus says the Lord of hosts, do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesizing to you; they are leading you into futility; they speak of vision of their own imagination, not from the mouth of the Lord.” (Jeremiah 23:16)
“I did not send these prophets, but they ran. I did not speak to them, but they prophesy. If they had stood in My counsel, they would have announced My words to My people.” (Jeremiah 23:21)
“I have heard what the prophets have said who have prophesied falsely in My name saying, ‘I had a dream, I had a dream.’ How long; is there anything in the heart of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, even these prophets of the deceptions of their own heart.” (Jeremiah 23:25)
“Therefore, behold, I am against the prophet,” declares the Lord, “who steal My words from each other.” (Jeremiah 23:30)
I used to think that was a verse against plagiarism, but in the context He’s saying, “Somebody says, ‘I heard this from the Lord,’ and then you go out and steal his vision; he had a vision and now it becomes your vision…
“’I’m against the prophets,’ declares the Lord, ‘who use their tongues and declare, “The Lord declares.”’” (Jeremiah 23:31-32)
You get the idea; I’m not going to continue to read those. God gives strong warnings against subjective guidance, and the sheep need to ask, we as Christians need to ask, “Is it Him? Is it His voice?” You know Him; You know the voice of the shepherd. As we pointed out in our previous lesson, I’m protected from the voice of the stranger if I’m living in union with the Lord. I have His Life; I have the indwelling Holy Spirit, and so when you are in all these subjective things and the Lord speaks to you, all you need to know is, is it Him? I don’t apologize for taking that much time, because I think this is important, since many people rely more on the subjective voice of God than the objective voice of God.
I had someone come to me, sadly, and say, “God told me to divorce my husband.” There are no scriptural grounds. See, that went against the objective word of God. I have also dealt with somebody who said, “God made me this way; this is my lifestyle. I’m a homosexual. That doesn’t contradict anything in the Bible.” God’s voice, “God’s talking to me. God told me.” You’ve got to know His voice, and it will never contradict His objective word. When you take a rugged stand against somebody that says something like that, and they say, “Well, you’re judging.” No, I’m not. God’s word is judging; I’m not judging. I’m just quoting God’s word.
I think the most dangerous is what I heard in Plano, Illinois. We were in a meeting, and all of a sudden everything went silent and a brother stood up and they said later that he had a gift of prophesy, and he said, “Thus says the Lord,” and then he began to quote that God was speaking directly to Him, dictating, and he was speaking that. If someone claims to hear a word of dictation, that’s not God moving in nature or through people, but God is saying this, “Thus says the Lord,” I’ll tell you, I’ll take a strong stand against that because I think it undermines the scripture. The Bible is not only inspired; it’s sufficient; it’s full and it’s done; it’s complete, and you don’t need anything else. Don’t open the door to the “Pearl of Great Price” or the “Book of Mormon” and all this other stuff. Every time God speaks, He inspires. He can’t speak an imperfect word; God can only speak a perfect word, and if He’s telling somebody something that’s not in this book, and it’s on the same level as this Book, “Well, what God just told me is as inspired as Isaiah and as the gospel of John and as Romans, and as Revelation,” don’t go there. God is not adding to the scripture.
“After He spoke long ago to the Fathers and prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days He has spoken unto us in His Son.” (Hebrews 1:1&2) So, all He has to say now is Jesus.
I just encourage you, wherever you are, just live in union with the Shepherd and you’ll know His voice, and you will run from the voice of strangers. I’ll just quote again,
“You have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know.” (1 John 2:20)
How does the revelation of the Shepherd help me to trust Him? I’m encouraged to place my trust in the shepherd because He’s a provider in this chapter and a protector in this chapter, and since we’re close to the end now, I want to say a word about Him being a protector.
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them. They follow Me. I give eternal life to them. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and the Father are One.” (John 10:27)
Remember, He’s addressing this chapter to sheep who are walking in union with Him.
When we read verses like we just read, we automatically think of the word “security”. When He says, “I give eternal life to them,” or, “They shall never perish,” or, “No one shall snatch them out of My hand,” and, “My Father is greater than all, and no one will snatch them out of My Father’s hand,” they not only think of security, but they think eternal security, and therefore, they jump out of the chapter and they say, “Let’s have a doctrine and we’ll call it ‘eternal security’.” The doctrine of eternal security never secured a flea; it just doesn’t. You are safe because the Lord secured you, and I’m safe because of the Lord. But as you know, in many circles this idea of eternal security, some say it is used as a proof text, “Once saved, always saved. I am secure because I accepted Jesus as my Savior. It doesn’t matter if I walk with the Shepherd; once saved, always saved.”
Then there’s another group that says, “Wait a minute; that’s just greasy grace; that’s sloppy agape; or easy going believism. Are you telling me that if you got saved at seven years old in Sunday school and then you live fifty years for the devil, that you’re going to end up in heaven?” Some actually take it to the limits; even if you become a murderer or a terrorist, if you accepted Christ sometime in your life, you are going to heaven.
The question is, does this passage teach that? My suggestion is it does not. There are not two roads to heaven; there’s not a spiritual road that leads to heaven and a carnal road that leads to heaven. The carnal road does not lead to heaven. Now, this is addressed to those who are getting it right, and if you are a sheep following the Lord, if you are in union with Him, then He gives you great assurance; He gives you eternal life, and you’ll never perish, and all. It’s my understanding that if somebody is actually, truly, really saved, I think, you can call it eternal security, if they are genuinely saved, I think they are going to go to heaven. I don’t think they are going to lose their salvation. A possible explanation for those who wander off is,
“They went out from us, but they were not really of us. If they had been of us, they would have remained with us. But they went out so that it would be shown that they are not all of us.” (1 John 2:19)
Did they lose it, or did they never have it? That’s what that passage says. I’m not ruling out backsliding, by the way, because I know the shepherd well enough to be thankful for verse 3, “He restores my soul.” I was very far from the Lord after I became a Christian, and He restored my soul.
“A righteous man falls seven times and rises again.” (Proverbs 24:16)
That’s the difference between the ungodly and the godly; they are going to rise again.
Can you see in somebody’s heart? You can’t, and if someone claims to be a Christian and is living in another direction, I can’t say, “You’re not saved.” I can’t say that you’ve never been saved. I can say this, and I won’t clear my throat, and I’ll say this with conviction, “You have not one syllable in the Bible of proof that you’re saved.” This verse is given to those who are walking with the Shepherd, and if you’re not walking with the Shepherd, there’s no evidence that you’re saved. I’m not going to say you are not saved; I can’t see your heart, but there’s no proof in the Bible that you’re saved, and you can’t quote any passage in the Bible. I’m trying to be careful with my words; I don’t want people to rest in false security, and I don’t want to discourage any Christian to cast away their confidence, but I want you to know this, if you are walking with the Lord, you can have a great assurance of eternal security, maximum security. If you’re not walking with the Lord, you better examine yourself whether you be in the faith. That’s what the Bible teaches us to do. You just have no evidence; you have no proof.
“Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?” (2 Corinthians 13:5)
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(the unedited uncondensed audios and transcripts of Ed Miller’s Bible study messages # 31-37 in John 10 can be accessed and/or downloaded at www.biblestudyministriesinc.com)