Why Does God Call Us Sheep? — A Bible Study Series
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”
John 10:27 (ESV)
In the first two studies, we explored why Scripture describes us as sheep and why Jesus calls Himself the Good Shepherd.
We learned that He knows His sheep, cares for them, and lays down His life for them.
But that raises an important question.
How do we recognize His voice among all the others competing for our attention?
So Many Voices. Which One Is Truth?
Every day, voices tell us what to believe, how to live, what matters, and who we should be.
Pastors preach sermons. Authors write books. Podcasts offer advice. Friends and family share opinions. Social media and culture influence what we consider right, wrong, acceptable, and important.
Some voices speak about God. Others don’t believe in Him at all.
Some tell us our worth comes from success, appearance, money, or how many people approve of us.
Others tell us to put ourselves first, pursue whatever makes us happy, or define ourselves by the wrongs we’ve suffered—even injustices experienced by others.
Scripture calls us to recognize injustice and care for those who suffer (Isaiah 1:17). But it also teaches personal responsibility for how we respond (Romans 12:17–21) and reminds believers that their identity is found in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).
And sometimes the loudest voice is our own, convincing us that we already know what’s best.
These messages influence our beliefs, our choices, and ultimately the direction we take.
Some make us feel loved, accepted, and understood. Others make us angry, uncomfortable, or convicted.
When something agrees with what we already believe, it’s easy to accept it. When it challenges us, we may reject it without examining whether it’s true.
But feeling good doesn’t make something true, and feeling uncomfortable doesn’t make something false.
Scripture warns:
“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.”
Proverbs 14:12 (ESV)
Something can seem completely right to us and still lead us in the wrong direction.
So how do we know which voices to trust?
Are we following the Good Shepherd, or simply following the voices that appeal to us?
His Sheep Hear His Voice
Read John 10:22–30.
Jesus is in Jerusalem when people surround Him and ask whether He is the Christ.
He points to the works He has done in His Father’s name, which bear witness about Him. Yet they do not believe.
Then Jesus says:
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”
John 10:27 (ESV)
Notice the relationship Jesus describes.
His sheep hear Him.
He knows them.
They follow Him.
And He gives them eternal life.
Jesus isn’t describing a religious routine or simply agreeing with things said about Him. He is describing those who belong to Him.
In the surrounding verses, Jesus also promises that His sheep will never perish and that no one can snatch them from His hand.
Their security rests in Him.
But what does it mean to hear His voice and follow Him?
Jesus Calls Us to Remain in His Word
Read John 8:30–47.
Jesus is speaking to people who had believed Him.
He tells them:
“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
John 8:31–32 (ESV)
Notice where Jesus begins.
“If you abide in my word.”
To abide means to remain or continue.
Jesus connects genuine discipleship with continuing in His teaching.
But as the conversation unfolds, His listeners appeal to their ancestry and their connection to Abraham. Jesus challenges them because they resist His words.
They were confident in their religious identity, yet Jesus confronted their unwillingness to receive the truth.
That should cause us to examine ourselves.
It’s possible to be familiar with religious traditions, attend church, and know what others teach about Jesus without carefully examining what He actually said.
Are we willing to receive His teaching even when it challenges something we’ve always believed?
Following the Shepherd means allowing His Word to shape our understanding, rather than expecting His Word to agree with us.
Where Do We Find the Shepherd’s Truth?
Read John 7:14–18; John 14:15–26; John 17:6–20.
Jesus did not present His teaching as personal opinion.
He said:
“My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me.”
John 7:16 (ESV)
Jesus taught with the authority of the Father who sent Him.
Before His crucifixion, He promised His disciples that the Holy Spirit would teach them and bring His words to their remembrance (John 14:26).
In John 17, Jesus prayed for His disciples and for those who would later believe through their testimony.
He prayed:
“Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.”
John 17:17 (ESV)
After Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, the apostles proclaimed His death and resurrection. Those who believed devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching (Acts 2:22–42).
Through Scripture, we have the authoritative testimony of God’s revelation, including the words and works of Jesus Christ.
Paul explains its importance to Timothy.
Read 2 Timothy 3:14–17.
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”
2 Timothy 3:16 (ESV)
Scripture is given to teach us, correct us, train us, and equip us for good works.
Notice that it doesn’t simply confirm what we already believe.
It corrects us.
And correction can be uncomfortable.
We may discover that something we’ve believed for years doesn’t reflect what Scripture actually teaches.
That doesn’t mean every pastor, parent, or teacher who taught us was intentionally misleading us.
They may have been sincere.
But sincerity doesn’t determine truth.
We should be more passionate about discovering what God’s Word says than defending what we’ve always believed—even when those beliefs are religious.
When Tradition Becomes What We Believe
This is something I’ve had to examine in my own life.
Growing up, I was taught that lighting a candle for someone could help bring about their salvation.
It was something I accepted because it was what I had always been taught.
But eventually, I had to ask myself:
Where does God’s Word actually teach this?
I could continue lighting candles and praying for someone I love. But before believing that the candle itself could help save them, I needed to examine what Scripture says about salvation.
Ephesians 2:8–9 teaches that salvation is by grace through faith, not through works. Acts 4:12 identifies Jesus Christ as the one through whom salvation comes.
Lighting a candle while praying isn’t necessarily wrong. But Scripture does not teach that the candle itself has saving power or the forgiveness of sins.
The people who taught me may have been completely sincere. So was I.
But I needed to ask whether I was trusting what God had said or simply what someone had taught me about God.
Jesus confronted this danger when He challenged religious traditions that were being elevated above God’s commands.
Read Mark 7:6–13.
The issue wasn’t that every tradition was wrong. It was that human traditions were being given authority over God’s Word.
And that brings us to a difficult question.
What other beliefs might we be holding onto simply because we’ve always believed them?
We Must Examine What We Hear
Read Acts 17:10–12.
When Paul and Silas preached in Berea, the people received their message eagerly.
But they also examined the Scriptures daily to see whether what Paul taught was true.
Think about that.
They examined the teaching of Paul himself.
They didn’t reject his message because it was unfamiliar, and they didn’t accept it merely because he spoke with authority.
They searched Scripture.
Now consider something else.
Read Matthew 4:1–11.
When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, the devil quoted Scripture from Psalm 91.
But he used it to encourage Jesus to test God’s protection.
Jesus responded with another passage of Scripture, Deuteronomy 6:16, correcting that misuse.
The words quoted were from Scripture, but the way they were being used distorted their meaning.
Just because someone quotes the Bible doesn’t mean they’re teaching what the Bible actually says.
We need to examine the context.
Who is speaking? Who is being addressed? What is happening? What does the passage actually teach?
And how does it fit with the rest of Scripture?
This applies to sermons, devotionals, podcasts, social media posts, and even this Bible study.
Don’t accept something simply because it sounds convincing or comes from someone you trust.
Open the Bible. Examine it for yourself.
Whose Responsibility Is It to Know the Shepherd?
There is a dangerous kind of comfort that can come from believing we’re following Jesus simply because we’re doing everything we think Christians are supposed to do.
We attend church. We pray. We give. We serve. We listen to sermons and follow familiar religious practices.
We believe we’re doing what God requires.
But what if we’ve mistaken following a religious routine for following Jesus?
Read Matthew 7:21–27.
Jesus warns:
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”
Matthew 7:21 (ESV)
He describes people who call Him Lord and point to remarkable works done in His name.
Yet He tells them:
“I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.”
Matthew 7:23 (ESV)
These people expected to be accepted.
They had religious words and impressive works. But Jesus exposed the difference between their profession and genuine obedience to Him.
Religious activity is not the same as knowing and following Jesus.
Jesus continues by comparing two builders.
One hears His words and does them, building on rock.
The other hears His words but does not do them, building on sand.
Both hear.
But only one responds in obedience.
The difference isn’t how religious their lives appear. It’s whether they respond to what Jesus actually teaches.
No pastor, teacher, church, or religious routine can follow Jesus for us.
And we cannot earn salvation by studying enough, understanding everything perfectly, or doing more religious activities.
Ephesians 2:8–10 teaches that salvation is God’s gift, received by grace through faith, and that believers are created in Christ Jesus for good works.
The question isn’t whether we’ve completed enough religious requirements.
It’s whether our faith is truly in Jesus Christ and whether we’re willing to hear and follow Him.
Following Means Being Willing to Change Direction
Following the Shepherd isn’t simply hearing His words.
It isn’t blindly accepting what someone else says about Him.
And it isn’t deciding where we want to go and expecting Him to agree.
Jesus said:
“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples.”
John 8:31 (ESV)
James also warns:
“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”
James 1:22 (ESV)
We have to be willing to search for truth, even when it makes us uncomfortable.
Sometimes that means reconsidering something we’ve believed since childhood.
Sometimes it means admitting we misunderstood Scripture.
Sometimes it means changing how we live.
And sometimes it means recognizing that the voice we’ve been following wasn’t leading us toward Christ.
We don’t need perfect understanding before we can follow Jesus. But following Him requires a willingness to be taught, corrected, and led.
A sheep doesn’t follow the shepherd by standing where it has always stood, convinced it already knows the way. It hears his voice and follows where he leads.
That is the picture Jesus gives us.
His sheep hear His voice.
He knows them.
And they follow Him.
What Do These Scriptures Reveal Together?
Let’s bring what we’ve studied together.
John 10:22–30: Jesus knows His sheep, and they hear and follow Him.
John 8:30–47: Genuine discipleship involves remaining in Jesus’ teaching.
John 17:6–20: Jesus prepared His disciples to bear witness to His truth, and others would believe through their testimony.
2 Timothy 3:14–17: Scripture teaches, corrects, and equips God’s people.
Acts 17:10–12: The Bereans examined Scripture rather than simply accepting what they heard.
Matthew 4:1–11: Scripture can be quoted while its meaning is misused.
Matthew 7:21–27: Religious claims and activity are not substitutes for genuine faith and obedience to Jesus.
James 1:22: Hearing God’s Word must lead to responding to it.
So how do we recognize the Shepherd’s voice?
We come to know Him through the truth God has revealed in Scripture. We examine what we’re taught, remain in His Word, and respond to Him in faith and obedience.
The goal isn’t to make Scripture agree with what we believe. It’s to allow Scripture to shape what we believe.
And the goal isn’t simply to know more about Jesus.
It’s to know Him and follow Him.
But What If the Voice Sounds Christian?
We’ve explored why knowing Scripture matters and why we must examine what we believe.
But what happens when someone speaks confidently about God, quotes the Bible, and claims to represent Jesus?
Jesus warned about false prophets who come in sheep’s clothing (Matthew 7:15).
Paul warned that people would gather teachers who tell them what their itching ears want to hear (2 Timothy 4:3–4).
And John instructed believers to test the spirits rather than believe every claim to spiritual authority (1 John 4:1).
These warnings were given to God’s people.
So how do we recognize teaching that leads us away from Christ?
How do we examine someone who claims to speak for God?
And how do we do that without assuming everyone who disagrees with us is a false teacher?
That’s where we’ll turn next.
Continue the Study
Part 4 — When Other Voices Claim to Speak for God
Read Matthew 7:15–20; Acts 17:10–12; 1 John 4:1–6; Galatians 1:6–10; 2 Timothy 4:1–5.
Even If, Still
Even when truth challenges what we’ve always believed, still we seek it in Scripture and follow Jesus wherever He leads.
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