THE VOICE OF THE SHEPHERD
‘They know His voice.’
St John 10:4
In one respect this parable is given to show how we may know that He is our Saviour. But it also shows how we may know that we are His sheep. How is it with us?
I. Have I listened for His Voice?—Do I know His Voice? A man says, ‘You tell me that Christ sorted people by His Voice, and sorts them still. What is that Voice?’ The answer surely is, Dear soul, if you do not know that Voice, what then? Is He a stranger to you? ‘They know not the voice of strangers, but My sheep hear My voice, and follow Me.’ If therefore I should be at a loss to know what is the Voice of Jesus calling Me, then surely something is amiss; and I must at once to my knees and say, ‘O let me hear the Voice, for it is they who hear the Voice who are of the flock.’ Is it that I have been too hurried with matters of this world? Is it that I have been perplexed and distracted by various demands, all kinds of voices claiming my allegiance? Is it that I have been selfish, self-concentrated, or stopping my ears? Or have I been afraid that if I listened too closely, if I read the Bible and pondered on the Saviour’s words, if I was constant in church, patient in silent prayer by myself, if I looked into my conscience where He speaks, if I sank into the solitude of my own heart where He makes Himself known—have I been afraid that His demand would be difficult, that He would ask me to give up some practice of my business or pleasure, something which I could not bear to put under the light of His law—is that why I do not know which is His Voice in all the voices of the world?
II. We have much to guide us towards the Voice.—There is the glorious Gospel written, the Church ordained, uplifting and proclaiming His commandments and invitations. There is the speaking appeal of the Sacraments. You might try these, and see whether they find an answer in your heart. See whether through them will not come an appeal which cannot be denied. If a man does not know this Voice, it may be because he is deserting the means of grace; it may be because he has taken pains to keep outside his own heart where Christ knows well how to make himself heard. Every one who says, ‘What is the Voice?’ though he has no answer to that question, yet has a warning and a call of the very Voice he knows not. He has example also to help him. There are many sheep who know the Voice and love it. If I do not know it, it is my own fault. ‘O Saviour and Shepherd, O Lord of my soul, give me this first grace that I may keep still, and pray for grace; give me this first beginning, that I may at least listen. And O give me then to hear, and let me follow.’
III. There are some who know the Voice, but they have not followed.—They put it from them, sink back into their selfishness and sloth, or give themselves even to Christian duties in such a way as to leave themselves no time for speaking and listening to Christ. We know quite well how we can damp down our own souls. We know the Voice, and have not obeyed. ‘O give us the grace to listen, to obey, to be careful, to go forth to follow His footsteps.’ We are His if we follow Him in the paths of self-discipline and loving obedience to all God’s commandments.
IV. In that fold there are sheep that do not follow the Shepherd. What becomes of them?—Somebody claims them later on; somebody whose voice they have grown accustomed to. What becomes of the men who will not hear Jesus? Somebody will claim them later on, somebody claims them now—somebody whose voice they are growing accustomed to; that is to say, Satan, the destroyer of their souls. If you will not hear His Voice, whose voice are you listening to? If you do not care for the invitation to prayer, to purity, to lovingkindness, to worship, and reverence of God, you are not standing still, you are hearing the voice which invites to pride, to self-satisfaction, to self-indulgence, to carelessness of others’ good and salvation, to wicked ways. There are such voices going through the world, and multitudes follow them. Remember, the voice that we follow now is the voice that we grow accustomed to; the voice that we grow accustomed to is the voice that we shall have to own. It will be the voice of our owner at the end. So the man who is growing accustomed to the Voice of Jesus, and loving it, is becoming more truly His; and Christ is his owner, and will claim him and protect him in the last day. But if you persevere in listening to and obeying and following another voice, be sure your character is becoming fixed in conformity to that voice, and you are gaining a different sort of owner. The man who continually answers the call to self-indulgence is finding a master, a shepherd. It is a shepherd who leads him to the shambles, who claims the soul from Christ Himself.
—Rev. P. N. Waggett.