KuJohane 10, UJesu wathi, that He is the good Shepherd and that His sheep that belong to His flock listen to His voice. Jesus knows His sheep and the sheep know Him and believe Him and therefore they do what He says. But Jesus not only spoke about His voice, but also about the voice of a stranger that His sheep wouldn’t follow. However there are many people today, who call themselves Christians and call Jesus their Lord, but don’t listen to the voice of Jesus. They don’t do what the Bible says, kodwa bahambe ngendlela yabo. They listen to the voice of strangers, who don’t preach the words of Jesus but their own words and preach a false gospel. This false gospel promotes the works of darkness and makes the people prideful and rebellious towards God and cause them to walk in disobedience to His Word in the bondage of sin. Ulalela liphi izwi?
If you belong to God you listen to Him
The children of Israel lived in Egypt for 430 iminyaka ekanye. The generation that was delivered from the power of Pharaoh by the hand of God were raised in Egypt. They considered the Egyptian culture and idolatry normal. Nokho, the Egyptian culture and idolatry were not normal to God and was not according to His will.
God made this known to the people of Israel in the wilderness after God redeemed His people by His power from the power of Pharaoh.
Through signs and wonders, God revealed His greatness and omnipotent power, and highest authority. Then God made His nature and His will known by His words and commandments, ayinika uMose.
The people had to renew their old way of thinking with the words and the commandments of God, so that their way of thinking would line up with the will of God and they would walk according to His will in His ways.
As long as the people of Israël obeyed the words and commandments of God and lived according to His will, the people of God distinguished themselves from pagan nations and were a witness of God on earth. (Oh. Isaya 43:10-12; 44:8).
God’s people distinguished themselves from pagan nations
Through the circumcision in the flesh on the eighth day and by keeping the law of Moses, which belonged to the circumcision and the covenant and revealed God and His will, God’s people distinguished themselves from pagan nations both in the flesh as in the natural realm through their walk (Funda futhi: Kusho ukuthini ukusoka kuJesu Kristu?).
As long as God’s people obeyed the law and kept God’s commandments, they didn’t walk as the Gentiles in idolatry, ubuthakathi, ubufebe, ukuphinga, (ucansi) ukungcola, amanga, inkohliso, ukuhaha, njll. God’s people walked holy (separated from the world and devoted to God) ekulaleleni uNkulunkulu emva kwentando Yakhe.
By listening to the izwi likaNkulunkulu and keeping the law, which means obeying the words of God, the people showed, that they feared and loved their God above all, above themselves and the will, izinkanuko, lezifiso zenyama.
But even in the Old Covenant, it happened regularly that God’s people compromised and adopted the religion, amasiko, imikhuba, and customs of the pagan nations and committed idolatry, ukuphinga, futhi (ucansi) ukungcola.
They didn’t stay faithful to the voice of God but left the voice and the words of God.
The children of Israel stopped following the voice of God
Izikhathi eziningi, Israel stopped following the voice of God and followed the voice of people, the voice of strangers; the voice of false prophets, abelusi bamanga, and false teachers, and expected it from them instead of God. Because of their apostasy, God’s people ended up in bondage, ubugqila, and miserable circumstances.
The majority of God’s people didn’t consider the commandments of God as good and a blessing for their lives. Kunalokho, they considered the commandments of God as evil kanye nomthwalo osindayo. This was mainly because they were unspiritual and didn’t want to do the will of God. They wanted to do the will and desire of the flesh in which the sinful nature reigns.
Jesus belonged to God and listened to the voice of God
Jesus didn’t annul the commandments of God that represent the nature and will of God. He established the law by walking in obedience to God’s commandments in His will.
Jesus belonged to God and listened to the voice of God and did nothing outside the will of God.
Jesus was not led by His flesh. He wasn’t influenced by His surroundings, nor by what the people, kuhlanganise ne (ezenkolo) abaholi babantu, wathi. But Jesus stayed obedient and faithful to the voice of His Father. He walked according to His will in His commandments and fulfilled the law.
UJesu wayengumfanekiso kaNkulunkulu. Amazwi kaNkulunkulu ayeyigunya eliphakeme kakhulu ekuphileni Kwakhe (Oh. amaHebheru 1:3; 5:8).
Through His total submission to God and obedience to His words, uJesu, iNdodana kaNkulunkulu, separated Himself from the world (uhlelo lomhlaba) and distinguished Himself from the sons of the devil (kokubili abesilisa nabesifazane).
Through His obedience to God’s voice and keeping His commandments, Jesus showed that He feared and loved God. Jesus showed that He belonged to Him and nobody else.
Futhi njengoJesu, who showed through His walk that He belonged to God and was His Son, wonke umuntu, who is born of God and belongs to Jesus Christ, shall fear and love Him and listen to His voice and keep His commandments and be His witness.
The people who belong to Jesus listen to His voice
UJesu wathi, His sheep hear His voice and follow Him. This means that they listen to Jesus and do what Jesus told them to do. UJesu naye wathi, His sheep shall not hear the voice of a stranger and follow the stranger but flee from him, because they don’t know the voice of strangers.
Ngiqinisile, ngempela, ngithi kini, Lowo ongangeni ngesango esibayeni sezimvu, kodwa ikhwela ngenye indlela, okufanayo isela nomphangi. Kepha ongena ngesango ungumalusi wezimvu. Umlindisango uyamvulela; nezimvu ziyalizwa izwi lakhe: ubiza ezakhe izimvu ngamagama, bese ebakhipha. Nalapho esezikhiphile ezakhe izimvu, uhamba phambi kwabo, lezimvu zimlandele: ngokuba ziyalazi izwi lakhe. Futhi umfokazi ngeke zimlandele, kodwa lizambalekela: ngokuba azilazi izwi lezihambi (UJohane 10:1-5)
Then came the Jews round about Him, wathi kuye, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If Thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. UJesu wabaphendula, Ngikutshelile, kepha anikholwanga: the works that I do in My Father’s name, bafakaza ngaMi. Kodwa anikholwa, because ye are not of My sheep, njengokutsho kwami kini. Izimvu zami ziyalizwa izwi laMi, nami ngiyabazi, futhi bayangilandela: Futhi ngizinika ukuphila okuphakade; futhi azisoze zabhubha naphakade, akakho ongazihlwitha esandleni Sami. Ubaba wami, owabanika Mina, mkhulu kunabo bonke; futhi akakho ongazihlwitha esandleni sikaBaba waMi. Mina noBaba waMi simunye (UJohane 10:24-30)
Many Christians don’t know the voice of Jesus
Today there are many people, abazibiza ngamaKristu, but don’t know the voice of Jesus Christ. They don’t listen to the voice of Jesus and don’t do what the Bible says. Kunalokho, they listen to the voice of strangers.
They listen to the devil and people, who speak from their carnal mind, and follow them and obey their words.
AmaKristu amaningi awalifundi futhi alitadishe iBhayibheli ngokwawo. Therefore they don’t know the words and the will of God and have no knowledge of good and evil.
Instead of spending time with God and knowing His voice and listening to Him and feeding themselves with the words of God, Christians listen to the world and all kinds of preachers. They feed themselves with their words and consider their words as the truth.
They don’t look at their lives and izithelo abazithelayo. Nor do they compare their words with the words in the Bible. But they blindly trust their words and follow them. All because they don’t know the truth of God themselves.
Since they don’t study the Bible, but rely on the words of preachers, who are many times carnal and worldlike and preach their own truth, they become lukewarm and apostate to God and His Word. They don’t live according to God’s will but live outside His will. Ngenxa yalokho, the ‘sons of God’ (kokubili abesilisa nabesifazane) don’t distinguish themselves from the sons of the devil.
Are Christians a reflection of Jesus?
Christians are supposed to be a reflection of Jesus (the true Jesus Christ and not the inkathi entsha uJesu) and walk in obedience to His words and distinguish themselves from the world.
But instead of Jesus Christ being the Lord of their lives and hearing His voice and obeying His commandments, they are the lord of their lives and live after the will, izinkanuko, lezifiso zenyama yabo. They speak words and do things, which are an abomination to God and go against His will.
Many times they bring fellow Christians down with them and defile the church through their sinful behavior and consider the blood of Jesus as unclean.
God’s people distinguished themselves from the pagan nations by keeping the law. Jesus Christ distinguished Himself from the carnal man, Indalo endala, nge keeping the commandments of God and fulfilling the law, namaKristu, abesidalwa esisha kuKristu, distinguish themselves from the old creation, who belong to the world and walk in darkness, by walking by faith after the law of Spirit of life.
Nokho, due to the fact that many Christians listen to the voice of the world and the voice of preachers, who are carnally minded and belong to the world, and consider the voice of the world as the highest authority in their lives, they live like the world and therefore there is hardly any difference between believers and unbelievers.
KunamaKristu amaningi, who are sincere and want to walk right, but because of carnal preachers and carnal fellow Christians, they are misled by their lies and keep doing the works of the flesh and persevere in sin and keep living after the will of the devil in the bondage of death.
Lithini iBhayibheli?
In all three dispensations in the Bible, the will of God has always remained the same. Not God, but the people changed. The people changed and twisted the words of God and came up with new things and preached their own message.
Kunjalo, we should distinguish the Old Covenant, which was sealed with the blood of animals and was meant for the carnal old man, kanye nesivumelwano esisha, okusho ukuthi sealed with the blood of Jesus and is meant for the spiritual new man. Nokho, the will of God did not change with the New Covenant and shall never change!
Imisebenzi yenyama (i.e. ukuqamba amanga, ukukhonza izithombe, (ucansi) ukungcola (ubufebe, prostitution, ukubukela izithombe zocansi, ukushaya indlwabu, non-marital sexual relationships, having sex with plural people or people of their own gender or children or animals, njll.) ukuphinga, ukuthukuthela, ubusela, drunkenness and so on, are works of the old man and should be put off.
These works of the flesh don’t belong in the lives of the sons of God.
And nobody can ever say, that this is impossible. Because the Bible says that by the power of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, the new man is able to put off the works of the flesh.
Empeleni, the Word commands to put off the works of the flesh and to alikhumule ikhehla kanye gqoka umuntu omusha, owadalwa ngomfanekiso kaNkulunkulu. (Oh. Kwabase-Efesu 4:20-32, AbaseKolose 3:1-14).
The fear and love for God and the will of man
But it all depends upon the fear and love for God and the will of man. Does the person fear and love God with all his heart, umphefumulo, ingqondo, and strength and submitted his will to the will of God?
Is the person willing to lay down the works of the flesh or does the person loves the works of the flesh more than God and wants to keep doing the works of the flesh to please himself and fulfill the desires of the flesh? Uma kunjalo, people shall search for preachers and fellow Christians, who are carnal just like them, and say what they want to hear and affirm and approve their works of the flesh.
The fruits of people’s lives prove to whom they belong and what voice they listen to
Abantu, who are born of God and really belong to Him shall listen to His voice. Even when God’s voice doesn’t correspond with their will or feelings.
Jesus speaks the words of His Father and the Holy Spirit speaks the words of Jesus. Therefore the Holy Spirit always speaks according to what the Word says.
The Word is the reflection of God and His nature and reveals His will.
Ngakho-ke, if people say, Ngokwesibonelo, that a little white lie, marrying an unbeliever, ukuhlala ndawonye bengashadile, ubufebe, nonmarital sexual relationships, (ucansi) ukungcola, ukuphinga (isehlukaniso), ukukhipha isisu, i-euthanasia, ukukhonza izithombe, and witchcraft aren’t bad, and that engaging in Eastern religions, and philosophies and practices, like yoga, ukuzindla, ukuqaphela, reiki, ukutshopa, Umbukiso wezokulwa, njll. isn’t evil and harmful and is allowed for Christians, then they put themselves above God and speak lies because their words contradict the words and the will of God (Funda futhi: Ungakwazi yini ukuhlukanisa okungokomoya namafilosofi nemikhuba yaseMpumalanga? futhi Ungaqhubeka ukona ngaphansi komusa?).
Their words prove they are unspiritual and don’t discern the spirits and don’t know the will of God and don’t live according to the Word and the Spirit. Ngakho-ke, you should reject their words and run away from them, instead of believing and obeying their words and following them.
Christians should live within the framework of the Bible. God’s Word must be the highest authority in the lives of Christians. Ukuze, AmaKristu’ lives align with the Word.
This only happens if the fear of God and Jesus Christ returns in the lives of Christians and they put God and His Word above the people and the world.
Ulalela liphi izwi?
If you’re born of God and belong to Jesus Christ and are part of His flock, you’ll hear His voice and follow Him. You shall do what Jesus said and keep His commandments, whereby you shall distinguish yourself from the world and show that you are a son of God instead of a son of the devil.
‘Yibani usawoti womhlaba’
