The God-Given Liberty of Individual Christians – Non-Essentials
Beware of the Dietary Devils
Among the several lists of soul damning sins in the New Testament, not even one of those lists includes the “sin” of eating unhealthy other than things “strangled.” (Acts 15:20, 29) Such is a NON-essential. Read Romans 14. HINT: If something is not a sin cited in God’s Word, leave it alone as far as judging others for such (1 Peter 4:15).
YOU might go to Heaven earlier if you don’t eat healthy BUT WHAT YOU EAT, THE FOOD YOU EAT ON EARTH, HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH YOUR SALVATION. Beware of the judaizing dietary and day-worship devils in our midst. Oh, and in case you are wondering, I personally eat very healthy and live a fit lifestyle – but that has nothing at all to do with someone’s salvation which is in Christ! Let us read Romans 14 afresh and learn to mind our own business concerning non-essentials – things not essential to salvation. Read this….
Colossians 2:14-19
14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.
18 Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,
19 And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.
1 Timothy 4
4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
5 For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
Now who wants to order a few dozen fresh oysters and some crawfish from Nawlins? hahaaaaaaaaa
Judaizing Dietary Devils
Sabbath idolatrous cults are famous for over-emphasizing things that God says are non-essentials. Food is one of those non-essentials they emphasize in removing the attention from Christ. The testimony of Scripture is that non-essentials, food and drink namely, are the God-given liberty of each believer – which are not a Heaven or hell issue and are therefore non-essential. Read Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 8.
Here’s a snapshot of Romans 14:
“Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him. 4 Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand. 5 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.” Romans 14:3-5
Food, drink, and days have nothing to do with salvation because CHRIST alone saves – He is eternal life (1 John 5:20-21). When Paul beheld how the Galatians had departed from Christ by emphasize
“But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? 10 Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. 11 I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.” Galatians 4:9-11
Paul then informs these apostates who had departed from worshiping Christ supremely that they were no longer in His kingdom but rather had departed from Christ!
“Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.” Galatians 5:4
OSAS (once saved always saved) / eternal security wolves teach that once one is saved he can never lose salvation. Absolute nonsense. See Lie of the Ages and The Psychology of Eternal Security.
“The Record that God Gave of His Son”
Jesus Christ and the testimony, “the record that God gave of his Son,” is essential for eternal glory (1 John 5:10). One is either in Christ or not in Christ and such determines those who are in the kingdom of light and those who are excluded and in the kingdom of darkness. Walking in “the record that God gave of his Son” – the testimony of Scripture – which upholds Christ as the supreme and only LORD and Savior, is essential to being in Christ.
Does the Bible inform us that God looks on the heart or on the stomach?
“But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7
Beware of judaizers saints. Judaizers are those who seek to bring NEW Testament believers back under the law, ceremonies, etc.
WHAT food is absolutely forbidden under the NEW Covenant?
The only thing absolutely forbidden to eat under the new covenant is what? Blood and strangled animals, right?
“But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.” Acts 15:20
“That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.” Acts 15:29
One specifically cited doctrine of devils involves forbidding the eating of certain foods – such as we see taught in the cult of catholicism, Hebrew Roots judaizers, and SDA (Seventh Day Adventism).
“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
3 Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
5 For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.” 1 Timothy 4:1-5
Interestingly, the cult of Rome teaches to abstain from certain meats and yet also teaches that one must EAT “Jesus” to receive Him (transubstantiation). The catholic church teaches that when the catholic priest waves his wicked hand over the elements that they become the literal body and blood of Jesus (ask them for DNA proof!). But the Bible teaches that Jesus is received by faith in the heart and not food in the stomach! In fact, this diabolical cult of catholicism uses John 6 to teach such blasphemous cannibalism. In that very passage Jesus tells us:
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” John 6:47
“It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” John 6:63
The testimony, the record of God’s Word is that we are sinfully depraved, can never merit His justification of ourselves, and must repent and put our trust in the LORD Jesus Christ, the righteous One, in order to receive the gift of God – His bless-ed salvation (Romans 3-5; Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5-6, etc.).
Antichrist (Christ-demoting, Christ-denying) cults are the only groups who teach the forbidding of eating the things, the foods God has blessed us to eat. For example: On special “holy days” catholics are forbidden from eating meat so they resort to eating fish – as if that justifies them instead of CHRIST, the only Savior. Like so many other things taught by the roman cult, this has nothing to do with New Testament Christianity.
“…his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. 21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.” 1 John 5:20-21
Do you enjoy eating healthy? Personally, I sure do, yet food has nothing to do with salvation. Jesus Christ is eternal life, salvation (1 John 5:20-21). Yes, we reap what we sow and if you eat trash you will die early but food does not save or damn.
Do you enjoy eating healthy? I sure do, yet food has nothing to do with salvation. Yes, we reap what we sow and if you eat trash you will die early but food does not save or damn. Yet, what we eat does not affect our place, our state, our relationship with Christ.
“Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.
18 Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,
19 And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.” Colossians 2:14-19
Christ-defying cults are known by their emphasis on anything other than Christ Himself. They are “not holding the Head.” These are the “accursed” devils who elevate anything other than and in place of Jesus Christ who is “eternal life.” They preach another gospel which is defined as any other gospel that is not the original Gospel – given to us in the record of God’s Word. Only those who are truly born again AND also hold to the original Gospel will escape.
“I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: 7 Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. 9 As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.” Galatians 1:6-9
“The Simplicity (single focus) that is in Christ” 2 Corinthians 11:3
Paul was a true apostle watchman of Christ. Such a man, extremely rare in our day, fervently and with the utmost vigilance, watches over to protect the flock of God (Acts 20:20-32).
“Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me.
2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity (single focus) that is in Christ.
4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.” 2 Corinthians 11:1-4
The original Gospel record reveals the single LORD and Savior – Jesus Christ! Any divergence is antichrist (which means in place of and against Christ).
“singleness” in the Greek
G572
ἁπλότης
haplotēs
hap-lot’-ace
From G573; singleness, that is, (subjectively) sincerity (without dissimulation or self seeking), or (objectively) generosity (copious bestowal): – bountifulness, liberal (-ity), simplicity, singleness.
Total KJV occurrences: 8
All whom Jesus saves who do not remain in Christ (abide) according to the testimony/record of Christ given in the Word, will be vanquished from the kingdom of God.
“For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.
8 Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.
9 Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth (remains) not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.
10 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:
11 For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.” 2 John 7-11
Holding faith in Christ to the end is essential to final salvation and to avoid being a castaway, an apostate.
“Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck: 20 Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.” 1 Timothy 1:19-20
All true disciples of Jesus hold to Christ according to the record of Holy Scripture, allowing God to speak for Himself about who He is and saying with the great apostle of Jesus – “Let God be true and every man a liar.” (Romans 3:4) They refuse to allow anything to occupy the affections of their hearts except Jesus Christ!
“He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. 11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” 1 John 5:10-12
What Defiles a Person? Does Food or Drink Defile or Does the Heart from which our Words Emanate?
Jesus teaches that what comes out of our mouths emanated from our hearts (Matthew 12:34). Yet, what we eat does not defile us. Listen to the LORD as He articulates what does and what does not defile a man in the eyes of God – as opposed to what false religionists say defiles a man:
“And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand:
11 Not that which goeth into the mouth (food) defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.
12 Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying?
13 But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.
14 Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.
15 Then answered Peter and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable.
16 And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding?
17 Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?
Mat 15:18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.
Mat 15:19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
Mat 15:20 These (sins of the heart) are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.” Matthew 15:10-20
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Abiding
The Eternal Danger of Trusting Mere Men [podcast]

Idol Shepherds Abounding!
The LORD is Holy and will not share His glory with any other.
“I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.” Isaiah 42:8
Your favorite pastor, evangelist or teacher among men is “at his best state … altogether vanity” (Psalms 39:5). God be thanked for the life of every true servant elder and yet they are mere men. God did not send His only begotten Son to die and be buried and raised again to make you a good church member or fan of a mere man who is supposed to be a servant leader. Jesus came to take away our sins, make us new creatures so we could know Him and His Father – and serve them and not man (John 1:29; 17:3; 1 Corinthians 7:23). We are each called to “know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death” (Philippians 3:10). Let’s read the whole verse: “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death” (Philippians 3:10).
RAVI ZACHARIAS is just another pawn of Satan whom gullible dupes clung to, they hung to his every word. He rarely even mentioned the cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith – the holiness of God, the precious blood of Jesus, the crucified life, repentance, etc.. Why did they cling to him, a mere man? They were unrepentant and therefore weren’t choosing to truly worship, seek the face of, love and obey Christ. The vacuum left by their idolatry facilitated their delusion. Then Ravi died in sin. When you love the LORD, truly, you love and devour HIS Word, daily. Read 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12.
“LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am. 5 Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah. 6 Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them. 7 And now, Lord, what wait I for? MY HOPE IS IN THEE.” Psalms 39:4-7
When O When will we truly repent and genuinely follow JESUS, pouring over and hanging on HIS every Word – from Genesis to Revelation? Isn’t that why He gave us HIS Word, the Bible? (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:19-21)
“And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” John 17:3
“But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.” 20:31
“Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.” Jeremiah 17:5
The ministries of mere men are not an end in themselves.
They are called to simply teach God’s Word itself – and to get you into God’s Word daily for yourself.
Notice how the apostle Paul reveals how the disciples at Thessalonica “received the word of God.”
“For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when YE RECEIVED THE WORD OF GOD which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.” 1 Thessalonians 2:13
“Ye received the word of God – Ye received the doctrine of God, not as any thing fabricated by man, but as coming immediately from God himself, we being only his messengers to declare what he had previously revealed to us. And ye have had the fullest proof that ye have not believed in vain; for that doctrine, under the power and influence of the Holy Ghost, has worked most powerfully in you, filling you with light, life, and holiness.” Adam Clarke
They were “taught of God”, not men (1 Thessalonians 4:9).
The ministries of the servants of God are merely designed to get you to discern ….. and to get into God’s Word FOR YOURSELF – to study to show your own self approved unto God! (Acts 17:10-11)
” And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. 11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. Acts 17:10-11
“For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.” 1 Thessalonians 2:13
YOU do it.
“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15
The lazy, those who don’t truly love the LORD are being eliminated as goats. This all comes on the heels of their refusal to seek God…. and study His own Word.
No, instead the idolaters of mere men will read and listen to endless messages by mere men, their favorite preachers, mere men. They then bond with those mere men, there is an unnatural soul-tie created.
“Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?” Isaiah 2:22
“Isaiah 2:19-22 People will seek for shelter wherever they can hide. It will be clear then that fleeting man is unworthy of trust. Only the Lord is worthy of the undivided confidence of His people.” Believer’s Bible Commentary
“Cease ye – Never admire or place your trust in man. Breath – Whose breath is quickly stopped and taken away. Wherein – What excellency is in him, considered in himself, and without dependence on God?” John Wesley
“Cease ye from man – Trust neither in him, nor in the gods that he has invented. Neither he, nor they, can either save or destroy.” Adam Clarke
The church world is full of wolves in sheep’s clothing. The list of “idol shepherd(s)“ is long…. Here is but a sampling:
See all shorts videos here on ministry youtube channel.
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Abiding
“Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith” [podcast]

Jesus Christ is the Author and Finisher of our faith and He requires our personal participation both initially and ongoing, as we “endure to the end”, abiding in Him (Matthew 10:22; 24:13; John 15, etc.).
“From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. 67 Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?” John 6:66-67
WHERE O WHERE are we going to go if we depart from Jesus? …. does He, the eternal God and Creator of all things not hold the future of every living soul in His holy hand?
FB Meyer on John 6:60-71
“THE SIFTING OF JESUS’ FOLLOWERS
Christ’s pathetic question-Will ye also go away?-elicited from Peter a reply which proved that the inner meaning of His words had already broken upon their souls. ‘Thy words give us and nourish within us the eternal life.'”
“Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?” John 6:66-67
There are many today, who like the 5,000 who departed from Christ, leave when they hear the cross message – the divine command to be crucified with Christ. Jesus asks us today: “Will you allow He who authored your faith to finish it?”
“Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.” Ezekiel 18:4
“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2
“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” Colossians 3:1-4
“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? 3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: 6 knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. 7 For he that is dead is freed from sin. 8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: 9 knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. 10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. 11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. 15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. 16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness”? Romans 6:1-16
“In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. 5 For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ. 6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: 7 rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. 8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. 9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. 10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:” Colossians 2:3-10
The Gospel, the Resurrection of Christ
1 Corinthians 15
1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:
6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.
7 After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.
8 And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.
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Abiding
“My Sheep Hear My Voice, and I Know them, and they Follow Me” [podcast]

There are 7 portraits of Jesus in the Gospel of John. One of those seven portraits is Jesus our “the good shepherd.” (John 10)
The first thing the good shepherd of the sheep did was give His life to purchase the sheep with His own blood.
“I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.” John 10:11
Jesus who created us, then came to die to buy up back to the Father and Himself.
The Bible, God’s Word, is full of illustrations of who God is, and who He is to us. He is our shepherd….the shepherd of His true sheep. How do we know who His remnant saints, sheep truly are? How do we know if we individually are truly His?
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” John 10:27-29
“John 10:27
My sheep hear my voice – But ye will not hear: – my sheep follow me; but ye will neither follow nor acknowledge me. Any person who reads without prejudice may easily see, that our Lord does not at all insinuate that these persons could not believe, because God had made it impossible to them; but simply because they did not hear and follow Christ, which the whole of our blessed Lord’s discourse proves that they might have done. The sheep of Christ are not those who are included in any eternal decree, to the exclusion of others from the yearnings of the bowels of eternal mercy; but they are those who hear, believe in, follow, and obey the Savior of the world.” Adam Clarke
We know He is our shepherd if we are reading, listening for, and walking out the voice of His Word. That’s why He gave us His Word. The voice of His Word is His voice. This is why God gave us the Bible, His Word, the “voice” of His Word. Jesus says “My sheep hear my voice” and the “voice” of Jesus is with us, is God’s written Word. We have the “voice”, the very words of our LORD on record. “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
The primary way God’s voice is heard by His sheep is the Holy Scriptures….. reading God’s Word is hearing the voice of God.
“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” Psalms 119:105
“Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. 14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.” John 16:13-14
Our LORD, the good shepherd of our souls, told us that His sheep are those who hear His voice, the voice of His Word. Those not in the Word are not hearing the voice of God.
“He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.” John 8:47
Those who are “of the truth” hear the voice, the words of Jesus Christ.
“To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.” John 18:37
Jesus made it clear who His true sheep are ….
“He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.” John 14:21
Jesus’ sheep hear His voice, He knows them, they follow Him. They don’t listen to nor follow their own feelings, human reasoning, their own wicked heart, nor any mere men … “follow your heart”? No. That’s a lie from hell. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9) Jesus died to save you so you would be His, and that you would follow Him, His voice and none other.
Jesus, on record in John 10:27-29, is telling us that it’s only those who are hearing His voice, the voice of His Word, and following Him, who are going to be kept in His holy hand. After being saved, only those who abide in Christ to the end will be kept by Him and with Him eternally. Read John 15:1-6 where you will see that any whom Jesus saves and yet then they don’t “abide” (remain, continue) in Him will be cast into the fire of hell (v6).
Take a closer look at John 10:27-29. Anchor the promise in verses 28-29 on verse 27 where Jesus identifies who His sheep are—those who hear and continue to hear His voice and continue to follow Him (present tense). The divine promise here to be kept is a conditional
promise requiring the individual recipient of the gift of God to continue to hear His voice and follow Him (John 10:27-29). If you are born again, a sheep of Christ’ pasture, and you cease hearing His voice and following Him, you are no long His.
Many today detach, separate our LORD’s words in verse 27 from verses 28-29 of John 10. In doing so, they perpetrate their “eternal security” mythology which is Satan’s first lie (Genesis 2:17; 3:4). Beware as this was the first lie Satan told mankind, which led to the fall (Genesis 2:17; 3:4).
The LORD saved you to be His – to hear the voice of His Word and to follow Him, to walk with Him.
“Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” 1 Peter 1:5
To be kept you must live “through faith” – to hear and believe the voice of His Word, and walk with Him accordingly.
“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Hebrews 11:6
“Eternal security”, otherwise known as “once saved always saved”, is a lie from hell. Run from any and all wolves peddling this, Satan’s first lie (Genesis 2:17; 3:4).
To be “kept” by Jesus, the saved sheep must live his life “through faith.”
“And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.” Luke 17:5
The recipient of salvation must “through faith” be “kept.” God never removes man’s free will and requires not only initial but also continued faith. Jesus foretold that some would be saved and then not continue with Him and “fall away” (Luke 8:12-13).
“Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.” 1 Peter 1:9
Prayer: Father, I know You are holy and require my faith to the end of this life. Make sensitive my conscience, quicken my spirit to repentance and to be holy as You are holy. In Jesus’ name.
Jesus Christ our LORD is “that great shepherd of the sheep.”
“Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, 21 Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” Hebrews 13:20-21
“For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice,” Psalms 95:7
“Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.” Psalms 100:3
“To hear His voice, we submit to the pruning of the Holy Ghost in our heart. The fruit of righteousness can only be produced in an ABIDING relationship with Jesus and cultivated by the Holy Spirit given to them that OBEY him. (John 15:3-5; 14:15-17)” Jon Crane
Moments with Our Master [book] 365 Day Devotional book available at and amazon. English and Spanish.
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