number 10, John number 10. I was going to continue with the series that I've been preaching on Wednesday night. We had a pause last week because of Vacation Bible School and was going to get back to it. We talked about the church and what Bible says about the Church and the job of the Church. And we were going to be moving on to what our job was with our brothers and sisters in Christ, learning some lessons about that. But as I was going through and studying some things God brought my attention back to a Bible study that I had been doing a long time ago. And I believe it is something that will help us what God's requirements are for for the characteristics of a believer in Christ. And we're gonna talk about some of these things, what the Bible says, what God expects of you and I, and some things that ought to be found in the believer's life. And we'll talk about that tonight. John chapter number 10 is where we're gonna start out. And it's verse number three and four in John chapter number 10. It said, To him the porter openeth, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calleth his own sheep by name, and he leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. I'm going to talk to you about the character of a believer or what should be found in the life of a believer. And we'll talk about that tonight. Let's have a word of prayer and then we'll get into it. Lord, we love you. Thank you so much for all that you've done for us. Thank you for the message that you've given me tonight, Lord, how it's helped me, Lord, and how it's already worked in my heart and my life, shown me some things that I need to work on. And Lord, I pray that you'll help us as those of us that are saved, Lord, that we will apply these things to our life and learn from the truths of the Bible. Lord, I pray that you'll also, if there's someone here tonight that does not know you as their personal Lord and Savior, I pray they'll trust you this evening. Lord, as we know, the only way someone can go to heaven is through Jesus Christ and through the blood of Jesus Christ. Lord, there's many false doctrines, many false teachers out there that say there's many ways to God. But Lord, we know that you are the way, the truth, and the life. And I ask you please just to meet with us tonight. Use me as your mouthpiece, hide me behind the cross, fill me with your spirit. In Jesus' name, amen. In John chapter 10, verse three and four, it said, to him the porter openeth, and the sheep hear his voice. You know, God likens us to sheep. And we can say, oh, that's cute. They're all fluffy and everything. But really, that's not a compliment. Sheep are not a very bright animal. They're actually pretty stupid. And you say, Preacher, you calling me stupid? No, the Bible calls us sheep. And that's why over and over and over and over and over again he has to repeat himself all throughout Scripture because we're hard-headed. And we're just like sheep are. But one thing about sheep is they know the voice of their shepherd. They know the voice of their shepherd. And that's going to be the first point tonight. One of the characteristics of God's children, what ought to be found in the life of a believer is someone who knows the voice of God. Someone who is attentive to Christ's voice. It said that my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. He said I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. It said my sheep hear my voice. and I know them." We ought to be attentive when the Lord speaks. Every time the Word of God is being preached, that is the voice of God that's coming to you. Not that I'm saying that my voice coming out that's being projected is God's voice, but the Word of God that is brought forth, the verses from the pages of this book, is the very words of God. And God's children, believers in Christ, ought to be attentive to the voice of God. We ought to be willing and listening to hear for Christ's voice. I know when I was Sunday had the opportunity to preach at the nursing home. God laid on my heart Psalm 71 to speak about. And in that passage, David is crying for God's president. He wants to hear from God. He's begging God to have his presence known upon his life. He said, Be not far from me, O Lord. And he's crying out to hear from God. And that's what our desire ought to be every morning when we wake up. We ought to be attentive to the voice of God, asking God to please speak to us that day. And when God does speak, we ought to listen and be attentive and longing to hear the voice of God. I wonder how many of us would be honest, don't raise your hand tonight, but think about it in your heart. How many of you, it's been a very long time since you heard and were attentive to the voice of God? See, we're so easily sidetracked and so easily off course that when God speaks to us, we don't recognize that it's Him. The sad part about that is even dumb sheep know their shepherd's voice. And we, who are children of God, who God created us in the image of God, we ought to know the voice of God, especially He saved us. We owe Him a great debt. We ought to be listening and longing for Him. But you know, it's almost like, here's the way I liken it to, is a lot of times you ever been to a place where you've been dealing with your children or dealing with somebody and it just seems like they're not hearing you? You talk and talk and repeat yourself and repeat yourself over and over and they just don't get it. They just don't hear it. That's how God is in His Word. He speaks to us and we just sit there and act like it went in this year, bounced around through the hollowness inside, and came out this side. You say, preacher, you mean to me? No, I'm talking about myself too. That happens quite often. You know why? Because we're hard-headed. But God's children, it says in John chapter 10, that the porter openeth, and the sheep hear his voice. I was reading an illustration one time about some shepherds over, I believe it was in Italy or Ireland or someplace like that, where all of them came down to the marketplace. And while they were down the marketplace, all of their flocks came together and they had some people watching out for them while they did errands in town. And they went through the marketplace and got all that they needed to get and they began to go back out to the field that they were being shepherds in. And as they were leaving, each shepherd began to sing a different song and they were walking in different directions. And immediately that flock of sheep began to separate and go after their shepherd. And somebody stopped the shepherd and asked one of them, he said, how do you know that you have the right sheep? How do you know that the sheep that are following you are your shepherds? He said, well, that's easy. My sheep know my voice. I sing to them often. I talk to them often. They know my voice, so when I speak, they just follow. Wouldn't that be a great thing that when God spoke, His children just followed? They just heard His voice, were attentive to it, knew it was Him, and left. You know, my kids know my voice. They know my whistle. Don't believe me, just ask Ms. Mabel. She thinks it's pretty funny. I'll go outside and I'll whistle and my kids can be on the other side of the house or the other side and they'll say, come in, daddy, and they'll come running. How? They've learned. They know my whistle, they know my voice, and when I speak, they try to be attentive to that. That's how we ought to be as children of God. When God speaks to us, we ought to be attentive to his word. We ought to be attentive to the voice of God. But not only should we be attentive to the voice of God, I want you to look at Philippians chapter number two. We're going to try to go through quite a few things quickly tonight. If you're in the habit of writing things down, you can write down some of these scriptures as we go through it in case you miss them and want to get back and look through them. But in Philippians chapter number two, not only should a believer in Christ be attentive to Christ's voice, But look what it says in Philippians 2 and verse number 15. It said that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke in the midst of crooked and perverse nation among whom ye shine as lights to the world. So a characteristic of a believer or some attributes that ought to be found in our life is we ought to be attentive to Christ's voice. Secondly, we ought to be blameless and harmless. What's that mean? That means when the world begins to look at us, they can't say that we're just like them. were different. See what it said in those verses of scripture in verse 15. It said that you'd be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation among whom you shine as lights in the world. When the world begins to point their finger at us, there ought not to be any accusation that they can rail against us. That's true. That would be accusing us of doing something against God. We ought to be the example to them as we're lights of the world. Guess what? That doesn't mean we're going to be perfect. But we ought to be striving to live wholly and righteously in this present world. We ought not to be blameless. Look at Proverbs 28. Proverbs 28. We'll be looking at a lot of scripture this evening. Proverbs chapter number 28. Verse number one says, the wicked flee when no man pursueth, but the righteous are cowardly and run away from everything. That's not what the Bible says. It says the wicked flee when no man pursueth, but the righteous are bold as a lion. See, one of the qualities in our life as a believer in Christ is we ought to be bold in righteousness. Why? Because we have the one who is right just living inside of us, so we ought not to be ashamed of that righteousness. Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for us, ascended into heaven, left us the Holy Spirit, who indwelled us at salvation. We have the righteousness of God implanted into our hearts. And he said, the righteous are bold as a lion. See, the wicked flee, they run away, even when they're not being pursued. It said, but the righteous ought to be bold. The Bible says, if we're ashamed of him, he'll be ashamed of us before our Father, which is in heaven. Paul said, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Why is it that when people come up to us and they begin to ask us questions about the Bible, ultimately, we begin to cower and we begin to run away? I believe a lot of the reason in that is, first off, we don't want to have to have an argument with somebody about the Word of God. By the way, I'm not for arguing about things, but I am for standing up for righteousness. There's something about being confrontational about certain things, and there are certain things worth being controversial over and worth arguing about. That Bible is worth arguing about. The truths of the doctrines of that book are worth standing up for. There are some things that we can agree to disagree that aren't black and white in Scripture, but the things that are black and white, I'll stand up and fight for. Why? The Bible says the righteous are bold as a lion. You know why churches are changing left and right? It's because people will not stand up for righteousness. And there's been a phrase that's been going through my mind and heart recently. It says, if you stand for nothing, you'll fall for anything. And the fact of the matter is, the Bible says stand. and having done all to stand. Stand therefore. And he gives us all throughout the book of Ephesians some armor to place on so that we can fight the battle that's coming our way. Serving God is never going to be easy. God never said it would be. He never said that it's going to be all roses. And we always use that illustration. I always thought that illustration was unique. Because they say, oh man, life's just a bed of roses. I don't want to lay on roses. There's something that's attached to roses. called thorns. And they hurt. The fact of the matter is, we have a life that's going to have some bumps in it. There's going to be some trials and some heartaches. There's going to be some people that come up to you and question the beliefs that you have in God. That's why we've been going through what the Bible says about certain beliefs and certain doctrines that we stand upon. It's so that we can give an answer to any man when they ask us a question about why we believe what we believe. Throwing out, my pastor said so, is not going to fly. Not going to. By the way, I don't have authority. The Bible has authority. You understand that? And the world's view, you can say, Pastor Colwell said such and such, and they'll say, so what? Who's he? But even the world knows the authority that the Bible has. That's why they hate that book so much. That's why they're afraid of it. When you open up the pages of scripture, see the Bible says the righteous are bold. as a lion. We shouldn't run and cower down. The Muslims stand up for what they believe in. The Jehovah's Witnesses stand up for what they believe in. They'll be out on the street corner passing out literature. I just passed by one last week sitting out by Wells Fargo Bank on Main Street standing there with their little catalogs passing out false doctrine and people are taking it and walking through. Why is it that we have the truth of the Word of God but we're afraid to pass out a gospel tract? See, the Bible says the righteous are bold as a lion. We ought to be bold. If a lion came in this room, I know we've got some strong men in here, but I don't think any of you'd want to face it man to man. Don't think so. I'd be pulling out my firearm and going to town. That's what I would be doing. Why? Because I'm no match for a lion. But the Bible says we ought to have the boldness that a lion has. The righteous are bold as a lion. Look at Romans 13. Romans 13 and verse number 3 says, For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same. Wilt thou not be afraid of the power? It asks that question. We ought not to be afraid. God doesn't tell us to be afraid. God has not given us a spirit of fear. What are we supposed to have? Boldness. boldness is what we're supposed to have. So attributes that ought to be found in a believer's life, we ought to be attentive to Christ's voice, blameless and harmless, we ought to be bold. Look next at Acts chapter number 8. Acts chapter number 8. Verse one and two says, and Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time, there was a great persecution against the church, which was at Jerusalem. And they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial and made great lamentations over him. You see what kind of man it said carried him out? Devout men. So one of the attributes that are found in our life is we ought to be a devout person. We ought to be devout about what we're doing. That ought to be one of the attributes about us. Look at Acts 22. Acts chapter 22. Paul is giving testimony here of what happened in his life. And look what he says in verse 12. And one, Ananias, a devout man, according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there, came unto me, and stood, and said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked up upon him. He gave testimony of Ananias being a devout man. According to the law. He said he had some act an attribute about him that he was a devout person He was that kind of person that that was just not going to quit and what he was doing. He was obedient to God He was devoted To the work that God had for him He was devoted to it He was a devout person blameless Harmless bold devout all these are attributes that we're supposed to have Look at Matthew chapter number three Matthew chapter number three. Matthew chapter number three, look at verse number 16. It says, And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water. And, lo, the heavens were opened unto him. And he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him. And, lo, the voice of heaven saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. God was announcing that Jesus Christ was his Son. This is who he was well pleased in. And then the Bible goes on to tell us, if you look over in Acts chapter number 10, Quickly, the reason that we ought to be, this next thing, and I'll get to it here in just a second, but Acts chapter number 10. He said, why'd you read that? He was talking about when Jesus is getting ready to start his earthly ministry here, he's baptized, he's being introduced. He said, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. Look at chapter 10 of the book of Acts and verse number two. It says, and a devout man and one that, what? feared God with all his house and gave much alms to the people and prayed to God always. He's saying, listen, we ought to have a reverential respect and fear for God. You say, well, he talked about Jesus. Jesus is God. We talk about Jesus, the one who guides our steps, the one who does it. The Bible tells us to fear God, keep his commandments. We're supposed to do all those things. A devout man, Cornelius was a devout man, but it said he feared God. Listen, Jesus, when he came up out of that water, was baptized, the power and the presence of God at that time revealed who Jesus was, the deity, his son, whom he loved and was very pleased of, we ought to fear those things. You say, what are you talking about fear? You just told us he had not given us a spirit of fear. That word fear is a respect and reverential fear, a reverential respect for who he really is. See, Jesus is God. The Holy Spirit is God. We ought to have a reverential fear of the Holy Spirit, of Jesus, and of God. Why? They're a trichotomy. They're all one. You say, well, I don't believe that. Well, we were created in the image of God, weren't we? There's God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. You and I are made up of body, soul, and spirit. We are made up the same way He is. We are made of a trichotomy. Body, soul, and spirit. And the fact of the matter is, we ought to fear God. Look at 1 Peter also, chapter number 1. Not only should we fear God, not only should we be devout, not only should we be bold and blameless, but look at 1 Peter chapter 1. I want you to turn in your Bibles. I don't want you to cheat and look on the banner behind me. 1st Peter chapter number 1 and all of you did opposite of what I told you, didn't you? You all looked at the banner behind me when I said it. That's like kids, you tell them don't touch that light socket, right? And what do they do? They do this, right? Or that power outlet. Don't touch it. And they try to do it. See, you all are rebellious. Just kidding. 1st Peter chapter 1. verse 15 and 16. But as He which has called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation, because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy. God wants His children not only to fear Him, not only to be devout, not only to be bold, not only to be blameless, not only to be attentive to His voice, but He wants us to be holy. He wants us to live holy. That ought to be found in the life of a believer, is we ought to be holy. Look at Colossians chapter number three. Colossians chapter number three. In Colossians chapter three, they're writing to the church of Colossians and he's telling them to put off certain things and to put on certain things. To get rid of this and to put on this. Anytime we get rid of something bad, we ought to put on something good. Anytime we get rid of the bad, we ought to replace it with good. Why? Because there's a void there and then if we don't fill it with something good, Satan's going to bring it back. So he's telling them that all the way down to verse 10. And then look what he says in verse 11. It says, Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, syndicant, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all. Verse 12, Put on therefore the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering, forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, If any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. Then he says, above all these things, put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness, and let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body, and be ye thankful. He goes on to tell us, let the word of Christ dwell in us richly and on wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another. So the word of God that's in us, we're supposed to teach to others. But he tells us to put on holy. We're supposed to put on holiness, the holiness of God in our life. We're supposed to put that on. We're supposed to wear that cloak of holiness. When someone looks at us, not for our recognition, but so that Christ can be exalted in their life and ours, they ought to see a life of holiness. Someone that is desiring to live holy for God. It goes on, there's other things that we could talk about in that passage of Scripture, but for sake of time we're going to move on. We ought to be holy. Look at the next one in 1 Peter chapter number 5. 1 Peter chapter number 5. Starting in verse number 1, we're going to read several verses of Scripture here. It said, "...the elders which are among you I exhort, whom am also an elder, and a witness of the suffering of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed. Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of ready mind, neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock." And when the chief shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory, which fadeth not away. It says, likewise, you younger, submit yourself unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another. And then it says this, and be clothed with humility. For God resisted the proud and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourself therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. See, it's not our job to exalt ourselves. The Bible says we're to be humble. Because God resisted the proud, but he giveth grace unto the humble. He said, humble, wear the clothes of humility. We're supposed to be humble. If you're a child of God, someone who's born again, been saved by the blood of Jesus Christ, by faith in him and his finished work, and on his death, burial, and resurrection, you've trusted in that, you have the Holy Spirit living inside of you, you ought to be humble. You ought to be humble, not thinking of yourself more highly than you ought to think. You see, if we're not careful, as we go through this, it said there that we're supposed to be as elders in the church. Guess what? There's younger kids around here. There's teenagers in there. We're to be in samples for them, examples for them to follow. But in the meantime, we can get caught up with a power trip and say, you're going to listen to me just because of who I am. But the Bible tells us not to think more highly of ourselves. It's saying to look at this, when the chief shepherd shall appear, you shall likewise receive a crown of glory. He tells us that likewise you younger submit yourselves unto the elder, but he doesn't stop. Look what he says. Yea, all of you be subject one to another. We've never arrived to the place where we have supreme authority. God may put us in a position in a church, but just because we have a position doesn't mean we're somebody special. Just because I'm the pastor of this church does not mean that I'm more spiritual than all the people in the church. The fact of the matter is we have to be humble. We have to not think more highly of ourself than we ought to think. Why? Because the Bible says that if we humble ourselves, God will exalt us. in due time. Why was Jesus Christ exalted? Why was he given a name which is above every name? You say because he's God. No, the Bible says because he humbled himself and took upon himself the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. You see the humility that came first? Then it said, Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name. Yes, he's God in the flesh. Yes, he's worthy of us exalting. Yes, he's worthy of us lifting his name on high. But he was an example for you and I to follow. And he was saying, before you're ever going to be exalted, you've got to be humble. And by the way, you shouldn't go pretending to be humble just so you can be exalted. God knows your heart. He knows why you do what you do. You ought to serve Him humbly. Thanking Him for every opportunity that you have to serve Him. We're to be humble. Psalm 34 and verse 2 also talks about being humble. Look at Romans chapter 8 and verse number 14. Romans chapter 8 verse number 14. It says, for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby ye cry, Abba, Father. You know what he said? He said we ought to be led by the Spirit. Led by the Spirit. That ought to be one of our attributes, that the Holy Spirit leads us. that He leads us. When He speaks, not only do we hear, but we follow Him. See, that passage we started out in John chapter 10, it said, my sheep hear my voice and follow me. When He was walking on the Sea of Galilee and He called the disciples unto Himself, you know what He said? Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men. When they're led by Jesus Christ and we're led by the Holy Spirit, He makes us something that we're not. when we follow Him. See, we ought to submit to the leading of the Holy Spirit in our life so He can mold us and shape us into what He wants us to be. Part of the, one of the attributes that ought to be found in the life of a believer is one who is led by the Spirit of God. Next, Colossians chapter number one. Colossians chapter number one. Verse number 4 says, See, Paul's writing again to the Church of Colossae and he's saying, we give thanks, verse 3, to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which he had to all the saints. So what ought to be found, what ought to be one of the characteristics of a believer is we ought to have love for others. We ought to have love for others. If you go back to Colossians 3 where he's talking about putting off and putting back on certain things, he tells us to put on charity. Love. We ought to love each other. We ought to love one another. Love them that hate you. We're supposed to do that. You say, how is that? By having the love of Christ in you. We're supposed to love the church as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. Husbands, we're supposed to love our wives as Christ loved the church. and gave himself for it." Well, to have love for one another. The Bible talks about us loving others. 1 Thessalonians chapter number 4. See, in these things he's writing to the churches. These are believers. 1 Thessalonians chapter number 4 and verse number 9. But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you, for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another. were to love one another. You say, well, how am I supposed to love somebody I don't even like? I don't get along with them. Listen, if you pray for people, you begin to love them. You ought to pray for them. Listen, there's times that, just to be honest, any of you that are married, there's times you don't like each other. You know why? Because you get in an argument about something or there's something. When my wife and I were dating, there were some things about me that she didn't know. There's things about her that I didn't know. You know what? I never saw her get up with messy hair. I didn't see that. She didn't see me losing mine. Any of that kind of stuff. But guess what? Once you begin to live together, you begin to see each other's faults. You know what love is? Love's a choice. You choose to love each other. You choose to stay in love. I heard people say, well, I fell out of love. No, you didn't. You chose not to love. You chose not to love. The fact of the matter is, I'm twice the man I was when I got married. You say, what do you mean by that? Just look at the pictures in my office. You can tell there's a lot more of me now than there was then. But the fact is, she chooses to still love me and I choose to still love her. Why? Because it's a choice. It's a choice. You know why God loves us when we're undeserving of it? Because He chooses to. He chooses to love us. And His command to us is to love one another. Another attribute, you don't have to turn there for the sake of time, Isaiah 29 verse 19, he tells us to be meek. We have to be meek. That's part of humility, meekness. Having a meekness about us. We're supposed to do that. Look at, here's a couple more that I want to share with you quick before we're done tonight. Look at Romans chapter 16. Romans chapter number 16. Romans chapter 16 verse number 19, look what it says, for your obedience has come abroad unto all men. I am glad therefore on your behalf, but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good and simple concerning evil. He said your obedience has come abroad unto all men. So one of the attributes of a believer in Christ is we ought to be obedient. What obey? You remember when God gave the command to King Saul to utterly destroy the Amalekites? And they go out to utterly destroy it and they killed most of them, but they spared Agag and the best of the flocks and all those things. And when he comes back, the man of God comes to him and Saul begins to come at him with this spiritual statement. He said, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord and have gone the way that the Lord sent me. Samuel said then what mean is then the bleeding of the sheep in mine ear and the lowing of the oxen that I hear Basically, he said really if you obeyed God, how come I hear sheep? When you were supposed to kill him How come I can hear oxen when you were supposed to kill him and immediately instead of Saul stepping up and taking responsibility For his disobedience. He blames all the people around him for the disobedience and And he was rejected as being king. And you may say, well, God was harsh about that. It was more than disobedience. It was a rebellious spirit and not a willingness to repent of the disobedience. See, he said to him, I've done wrong, but do me no harm. What he was saying is, I'm sorry, but that I got caught is basically what he was saying. Because I've had people say, well, then why did God forgive David? Because David committed adultery with Bathsheba. He sent Uriah to die. He got Uriah drunk. When David was confronted by the man Nathan that came to him, that prophet, and he said, David, thou art the man. David said, I've sinned against the Lord. And he repented of his sins. He said, for to obey is better than sacrifice. See, you may be saying you're doing something spiritual by sacrificing these sheep and oxen. God didn't tell you to sacrifice them. He told you to kill them all. So obedience is what God wants us to do. We sing that little song with the kids. Obedience is the very best way to show that you believe. Listen, you've got to obey God. When He tells you to do something, we need to obey Him. It's God's command for us to read His Word. We ought to obey it. It's God's command for us to pray. We ought to obey it. It's God's command for us to be attentive to His voice, to be blameless, to be bold, to be devout, to be faithful, to fear God, to be holy, to be humble, to be led by the Spirit, to be loving, to be meek, and to be obedient. God commands us to do these things. So we ought to obey Him. You can try to act spiritual and say, oh, I'm obeying the voice of the Lord, but God knows if you're really being obedient or not. There's other things that God wants us to do, but I do want you to look at this last one. Look at 1 John 2. 1 John 2. Verse 26 is where we'll start. 1 John 2, These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you. And ye need not that in any man teach you, but as the same anointing teaching you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie. And even as he hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. What he's saying is a believer ought to be taught of God. Taught of God. How are we to be taught of God? In his word, studying it, looking at it. What is truth? Jesus is truth. What sets us free? The truth sets you free. So what is it that we need to be taught by? Truth. And what is truth? The word of God. So an attribute of us is we ought to be taught of God, be teachable. There's other things that it talks about, some things, characteristics of a believer, but we ought to be taught of God. Look at Isaiah 54. Isaiah 54. And look at verse number 13. And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children. So we ought to be taught of the Lord. How do we get a peace that passes all understanding, that keeps our hearts and minds by Christ Jesus? It's being taught of Him. Letting Him teach us. By the way, I haven't arrived. You haven't arrived. We all constantly need to be learning and be taught of God. That's why we go through the Word of God. That's why we have Bible study on Wednesday night. That's why we go through and dissect verse after verse after verse, teaching different doctrines according to the Bible. Why? So that we can know what the Bible says and be taught of God. I don't want you to go around to every wind of doctrine and just believe anything that anybody tells you. I want you to go to the Bible and be taught of God. This will teach you far more than I ever can. It'll teach you more than any person ever can. I don't care how much of a scholar somebody is, you ought to be listening to the voice of God. When He speaks, you ought to learn and you ought to listen. There's other things the Bible says we ought to do. We ought to be prudent, pure in heart, righteous, sincere, steadfast. All of these, I don't have time to go through all of them, but there ought to be some attributes about us, differences that the Bible tells us that we ought to have in our life, some characteristics about it. And these aren't requests according to the Bible, they're commands. These are what ought to be found in the life of a believer. But remember what the response was to Saul. Obey is better than sacrifice. You ought to be obedient to him, listening to what he has. Listen, our soul winning conference is coming up. We ought not to only come out soul winning or come to organize soul winning whenever we have pancake breakfast. God tells us to go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He tells us to go ye therefore and teach all nations. Listen, I understand if people can't come to organize soul winning, that's fine. You ought to be a soul winner every day, not just on Saturdays, by the way. Why? God commands it. We ought to be in our Bible every day. Why? So people think we're somebody? No, because we ought to be taught of God. and obey Him and obey the voice of the Lord. You'll never hear His voice unless you begin to be attentive and listening for His voice. You say, what are you talking about? You may just think it's some random voice until you learn and hear it so much. Listen, my dad can talk. I'm not with my dad every day, but when my dad speaks, I can tell it's my dad. I know his voice. He could be outside, he could surprise me, show up here, and I could hear him talking if I'm in my office. And guess what? I know it's my dad. Why? Because I've spent time with him. I know when my wife talks or when she laughs, I know it's her. Why? There's a distinctness to it. I know it's her. Why? Because I know her voice. See, we ought to know the voice of God. When He speaks to us, we ought to hear it, obey it, and do it. That's a successful Christian life. Those are attributes that ought to be found in us. Be taught of Him. Listen to what He has to say. I'm glad people ask questions and people say, hey, preacher, what do you think about this? This is what I'm studying. It's great to hear people are studying the Word of God. That's a blessing. We ought to be doing that. Why? So we can be taught of Him. and learn of Him. These are attributes that will be found in every one of us. If you're here tonight and you're not saved, you can be. He wants you to be saved. He's not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. He wants you to be His child. And the Bible clearly says that the only way to get to heaven is through Jesus Christ. Putting your faith and trust in Him and Him alone and the finished work that He did on the cross His death, burial, and resurrection, raising from the dead, conquering death, hell, and the grave, so He could offer life everlasting to us. And it's free to you and I, but it costs something dearly. It costs Jesus Christ's blood to cover our sins. And you've got to, by faith, trust in Him, obeying the gospel, putting your faith and trust in it, asking Him to save you. And He said, you shall be saved. If you're here tonight and you're not saved, let me encourage you to trust Him. But if you are, be obedient. Listen to what He has to say. And not just being a hearer of the Word, but a doer of the Word. Let's pray. Lord, we love You. Thank You for the day that You've given to us.