My Sheep Hear My Voice

Fri­day. [Acts 15:5–34; John 10:17–28]emYe be­lieve not, be­cause ye are not of my sheep/em says the Lord to the un­be­liev­ing Jews. emMy sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they fol­low Me/em (John 10:26–7). Un­be­liev­ers are not of Christ’s fold. At that time, the un­be­liev­ers were those who had not yet en­ter­ed in­to the fold; but now the un­be­liev­ers are all those who have fallen from the faith or who lag be­hind the fold of Christ. The Lord is the shep­herd: all of His sheep go af­ter Him, fol­low­ing His teach­ing and ful­fill­ing His ho­ly com­mand­ments. Sin­ners are sheep that are sick and weak, but still plod a­long to­geth­er with the fold. But those who have lost the faith are those who have to­tal­ly fallen be­hind, and have been aban­doned to be eaten by wild beasts. These are the ones who are tru­ly back­ward. They are not from the fold of Christ and they do not hear His voice; and He does not know them, be­cause they do not let them­selves be known as did the wom­an with the is­sue of blood. And at the judg­ment it will be said to them: emI know you not, de­part/em (cf. Matt. 25:12).