“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.” (John 10:27-30 NASB1995)

Have you ever noticed how many times by how many people only verses 28-30 are what are spoken or repeated or posted of John 10:27-30? Why do you think they do that? Do you realize that they are leaving out the subject matter? For without verse 27 we don’t know who the “they and them” are, do we? So, without the subject matter, how do we know to whom we are to apply verses 28-30? That opens the door to apply those verses to anyone, doesn’t it? But that is what is being done. Verses 28-30 are willfully being applied to a broad audience of people professing faith in Jesus Christ.

But if these verses are being applied to those who profess faith in Jesus Christ, then why leave out verse 27 which states clearly who the intended recipients are? Because they want to apply verses 28-30 to a much broader audience than what verse 27 allows. For verse 27 makes it clear that the recipients of verses 28-30 are the Lord’s sheep whom he knows intimately, who listen to God/Jesus, who heed his voice, and who obey his commands. And his sheep are his church, his body, those who by faith in him have died with him to sin and who are now walking in obedience to his commands.

So, it is purposefully deceptive to leave out verse 27 which states who the recipients are of verses 28-30, and then to apply those verses more broadly to a wider audience which ends up giving these promises meant for a select group to many people who have given lip service only to God, who have not died to sin and who are not living for God in obedience to his commands. But the Scriptures make it quite clear that if we profess to know God and to be in fellowship with God, but while we continue to walk in sin, and not in obedience to our Lord, that we will not inherit eternal life with God.

So, in order to avoid that teaching, they leave out verse 27 so that they can give those promises out to a broader audience who are not being required to die to sin and to obey God’s commands. But they are deceiving the people by giving them a false hope that is not theirs to possess if they have not, by faith in Jesus Christ, died to sin, and if they are not walking in obedience to our Lord’s commands, in practice, by the grace of God, in the power of God. For they don’t have eternal life with God based on lip service only, but only via dying to sin and walking in obedience to our Lord, in the power of God.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

My Sheep

Based off John 10:1-30 NIV
An Original Work / June 24, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

My sheep hear me. They know me.
They listen to my voice and obey.
I call them and lead them.
They know my voice, so they follow me.
They will never follow strangers.
They will run away from them.
The voice of a stranger they know not;
They do not follow him.

So, I tell you the truth that
I am the gate, so you enter in.
Whoever does enter
Will find forgiveness and will be saved.
Nonetheless whoever enters
Not by the gate; other way,
He is the thief and a robber.
Listen not, the sheep to him.

Oh, I am the Good Shepherd,
Who laid his own life down for the sheep.
I know them. They know me.
They will live with me eternally.
The thief only comes to steal and
Kill and to destroy the church.
I have come to give you life that
You may have it to the full…

They know my voice, so they follow me.

Jesus’ Sheep Obey His Voice
An Original Work / April 21, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love