John 10 has special instruction for us at this moment. It is said, "They [the sheep] know His voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him; for they know not the voice of strangers.”
The great and important matter is that "they know His voice." Beautiful and divine order is here, and a necessary effect of this is that they do not know the voice of strangers. What then? This is not all. It is also said that they will not follow the stranger; they will flee from him.
How can you discern if it is the voice of the Good Shepherd? Easily. You know Hint. You know then His thought, His care, His interest in feeding and nursing every Iamb and sheep of His flock. You know what He thinks of anyone who would make the sheep his Own sheep, forgetting that they are Christ's sheep. "The thief [thus He calls that maul cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy." All this, true in Israel in that day, has remained always true and is still true. He uses plain words; may we hear!
But there is even more for your guidance than this. The thief gathers the sheep for his own ends and the result is that there is scattering, for every thief that comes (and there are many that conic during the passage of the sheep through the wilderness) is found taking some and thus increasing The confusion if one comes, and by him the sheep are more distinctly led after the Good. Shepherd, then the flock is more distinctly united, and thus the opposite of the work of the thief is done. So you discern the voice of, the Good Shepherd speaking through the under-shepherds whom He sends forth now to feed and nourish His flock. (See Acts 20:28; John 21:15; 1 Peter 5:2-5.)
The wolf may come too, as well as the thief. Even then, he who serves the Lord as an under-shepherd does not flee as a hireling. Imitating his Lord, who was faithful even unto death, he will not leave them. Any voice you hear suggesting that it is time to flee, you at once know it cannot be the Shepherd's voice. It is the voice of a stranger.
Few animals are more foolish as well as more feeble than the sheep. And so the Lord by this Figure would show us ourselves, and, blessed be His name, Himself, too, as the Good Shepherd. They only know it is not His voice, and thus everything is settled for them. They do not argue about the claims or the statements the voice makes. If it waxes louder and louder, it only Makes them flee the farther and the faster from it. It is their wisdom to hear the Shepherd's voice; there is no path for them but what it points out, no food for them but what He gives, no love for them like His.
How does all this apply to the troubles and difficulties of these last days? How has it helped you in them? And where will you be found if the Lord leaves you yet awhile to tread the wilderness? Oh, the grace that cares for us, notwithstanding all! Jesus is the same (Heb. 13:8), His voice is still to be heard; His sheep are His still, either stumbling and scattered, or feeding and resting (Psa. 23:1-2). Which? Young Christian