Let’s read that precious portion, John 10:27-29, “MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” Notice that the Lord does not say that His sheep CAN hear His voice. He does not say that His sheep SHOULD hear His voice. No, He says that His sheep DO hear His voice. You say you have never heard the Lord’s voice, but perhaps you have without knowing it.

Have you ever read your Bible and gained understanding of what you are reading? Have you ever prayed for direction from the Lord and then felt He was leading you in a particular direction? If so, you have heard the voice of the Lord speaking to your heart. The Lord’s sheep HEAR HIS VOICE. One way to hear the Lord’s voice is to read His Word. The Lord will quietly speak to your heart, convincing you of the truth. In 1 John 4:1 we read, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” You hear a voice, not audibly, but speaking to your heart. How do you know if it is the voice of the Lord? You TRY the spirits by comparing what has been impressed upon your heart with what the Word of God says. If what you have heard in your heart contradicts the Word of God, the voice you hear is not the Lord’s.

We read in 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. 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.” The Berean saints listened to Paul as he preached to them. Before they accepted what he preached, they searched the scriptures to make sure the voice of Paul was speaking truth from the Word of God. If you hear a voice speaking to your heart, it is so necessary that you compare that with the Word of God. If it follows what the Bible says, then you can accept if as from the Lord. If it contradicts the Bible, then it is to be rejected. That which contradicts the Bible DOES NOT come from the Lord.

The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 14:37, “If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.” Paul was assuring his readers that what he had written was the voice of God! We hear the Lord by reading His Word. Even the unsaved can hear the Lord’s voice! The Lord Jesus said in John 5:25, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when THE DEAD SHALL HEAR THE VOICE OF THE SON OF GOD: and they that hear shall live.” How literal are we supposed to take this verse? We just need to understand the context. The DEAD are those who are spiritually dead…the unsaved. To HEAR THE VOICE OF THE SON OF GOD is to believe and obey what they have read from the Word or what someone has told them concerning the Word.

I have never heard the audible voice of the Lord. I can’t say He will NEVER speak audibly to me, but even if He did, I would be obligated to compare what I hear with the Word of God to make sure that it is in agreement with the Word. If not, I must reject it! (278.10)