Don't Be Like a Mule

Psalms 32:8-9 ESV

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;

    I will counsel you with my eye upon you.

Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding,

    which must be curbed with bit and bridle,

    or it will not stay near you.”

For those of us who by faith in Christ have died with Christ to sin, our Lord instructs us and teaches us in the way that we should go. He does this through his written word, and via the Holy Spirit we have been given to counsel and to teach us in the ways of the Lord. But when we read his word, we need to read it in context. And in this context David is giving thanks to the Lord for forgiving him of his sins when he repented of his sins. And he also thanked the Lord for his protection over him, and for his deliverance.

And the reason that context is so important is that many lies are being spread today via Scriptures pulled outside their context and made to say what they do not say in context. So many people, for example, are claiming the promises of God over their lives when those promises are not for them. For all God’s promises have stipulations. They all have conditions. So we must always look to see who the promises are for and what are the requirements for those promises to be fulfilled in our lives.

One prime example of this is found in John 10. Many people are quoting John 10:28-30, and they are applying those promises to their individual lives. But it is verse 27 which tells us who this promise is for. 

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:27-28).

And when this says that our Lord’s sheep (his followers) hear (listen) to his voice, he is not speaking of audible hearing only. He is speaking of heeding his words, attending to them, doing what they say. And when he says that they are those who follow him, he is also speaking of those who obey him, in practice, though not necessarily in absolute perfection. For they are not hearers only of the word but they are doers of the word (James 1:22-25).

They are the ones who have eternal life with God, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of God’s hand, for they are walking in obedience to his commands, in practice, and they are following the Lord wherever he leads them, and they are not walking in sin, but in holiness and in righteousness, in the power of God, to the glory of God. Sin is no longer their practice, but godliness is now their practice. And their desire is no longer for the flesh, but to do the will of God.

And that is the way that we all should be going if we are true followers of Christ. We are not to be those who are like stubborn mules who want our own way and who want to believe what we want to believe regardless of what the Scriptures teach. But that is where many professers in faith in Christ are these days, stubbornly holding on to their sins, not willing to yield control of their lives over to the Lord, believing the lies of Satan, and not the truth of God’s word, and shutting their ears to the truth they reject.

So, please don’t be like them. Please surrender your lives to Christ, leave your lives of sin behind you, and now follow our Lord in obedience to his ways and to his commands under the New Covenant. Now walk in his ways and in his truth and in his righteousness and no longer in sin. And read the Scriptures for yourselves, but please read them in context. And look at other Scriptures which teach the same thing. And obey the teachings of Christ and of his NT apostles which are intended for us who are followers of Christ.

Then you have the promise and the hope of salvation from your slavery to sin and empowerment of the Spirit to live holy lives, and the hope and the promise of eternal life with God. But if you choose to reject the teachings of Christ and of his NT apostles, and/or to cherry pick which Scriptures you will believe and put into practice while you reject the ones which oppose the way you want to live your life, and so you continue living in sin, then you will not inherit eternal life with God regardless of what your lips have professed.

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

My Sheep  

An Original Work / June 24, 2012  

Based off John 10:1-18 NIV

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.

https://vimeo.com/114938263