Overview

1. Hearing God’s voice begins with faith
2. The enemy’s strategy is to make us doubt God’s heart
3. The Shepherd’s voice vs. the voice of the stranger
4. Hear His affirmation before His direction
5. How to discern the Lord’s voice

Hearing God’s voice begins with faith

As believers, many of us desire to hear God’s voice. Perhaps you’ve prayed, “I wish I could hear God’s voice better.” Or perhaps you’ve even wondered if you can hear His voice at all.

But beloved, see what our Lord Jesus said: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27).

Notice that He does not say His sheep might hear His voice one day. Neither does He say hearing His voice is reserved only for spiritually mature believers. No, He simply said, “My sheep hear My voice.” And if you have placed your trust in Christ, that includes you.

Hearing His voice does not begin with striving, self-effort, or trying to become “spiritual enough.” It begins with faith, with believing what the Lord says about you.

Galatians 3:5 tells us,

Faith is how we receive what God has already provided for us. Just as we are saved by faith, healed by faith, and walk by faith, hearing His voice also begins with faith.

And if faith is the key, then unbelief is what keeps us from enjoying what God has already prepared for us.

Think of the children of Israel. Though God brought them out of Egypt and promised them a land flowing with milk and honey, most never entered because they did not mix what they heard with faith (Heb. 4:2). Now, Joshua and Caleb saw the same giants and the same obstacles. But they chose to believe what God had said over what they saw. And because they heard with faith, they entered the promised land.

Faith has a good opinion of our heavenly Father. It takes Him at His Word even when circumstances seem contrary because it trusts His heart. This is why faith pleases Him so much, and it is precisely why the enemy’s strategy has always been to make us doubt the Father’s goodness and love toward us.

The enemy’s strategy is to make us doubt God’s heart

The very first temptation in the garden of Eden reveals something important about the enemy’s strategy.

Before Satan tempted Eve to sin, he first caused her to question God’s heart. He came to Eve and said: “Has God indeed said...?” (Gen. 3:1). With one question, he sowed a seed of doubt. Not just in God’s Word, but in His character; he led Eve to doubt God’s goodness, love, and heart toward her. And it was this doubt that eventually led to the fall.

Yet when we look at the very first command God gave to man, we see His heart so clearly. Before warning Adam about the forbidden tree, God first said: “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat” (Gen. 2:16). In the Hebrew, the invitation is even more emphatic. The word for “eat” is repeated, conveying the sense of eating and eating freely. That is the heart of our Father. He is generous in His love, abundant in His provision, and lavish in His goodness toward us.

But the enemy always tries to paint Him differently, as distant, harsh, restrictive, or unwilling to bless. Why does he do that? Our Lord Jesus said, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy” (John 10:10).

And the first thing he will try to steal is God’s Word in our hearts. That is exactly what he did with Eve. When he asked, “Has God indeed said?”, it was not merely a question. It was an attempt to strip the Word from her heart.

This same strategy continues today. The enemy still seeks to make us question the Lord’s goodness and turn us away from Him. But our Lord Jesus came that we might have life, and have it more abundantly. He has so much good in store for you. Will you trust His heart today?

The Shepherd’s voice vs. the voice of the stranger

In this passage, our Lord Jesus paints a beautiful picture of a shepherd and his sheep, and it’s a picture of our relationship with Him today.

To illustrate this, Pastor Prince shared a story of a shepherd who once demonstrated this truth to a group of tourists. When the tourists called out to the sheep grazing in the distance, the sheep barely moved. But the moment the shepherd called, every sheep lifted its head and came running toward him. That is what our Lord is describing. His sheep hear His voice, not because they have worked hard enough to tune in, but simply because they belong to Him.

And friend, the Lord’s voice is so personal. He calls His sheep by name. This means His leading is not generic but specific, tailored to each one of us. And He goes before us. He does not drive us forward through fear or pressure, but leads the way so that wherever He takes us, we can follow with confidence and rest.

Now notice how the passage also addressed another voice, the voice of the stranger. This voice distorts our perception of the Father’s heart. It burdens people with fear, condemnation, and legalism, and pulls them further from Him.

The sobering reality is that many believers have grown more familiar with the voice of the stranger than with the voice of their Shepherd. They find it easier to believe condemning thoughts like “You are a failure,” “You are not good enough,” or “You will never change” than the Lord’s affirmations over them.

Why is that so? Because these accusations agree with what our natural eyes can see.

Here is something else worth paying attention to. The voice of the stranger often sounds like your own thoughts. The enemy speaks so subtly that condemnation can feel completely natural to us; he points us back to our failures, our weaknesses, our inconsistencies, and before we know it, we have accepted his accusations as our own inner voice. That is why so many believers do not even realize those thoughts are not coming from the Lord.

Beloved, our Father in heaven sees beyond what our natural eyes can see. He calls us righteous even when we still see flaws. He calls us beloved even when we feel undeserving. He speaks to us according to our position in Christ, not according to our feelings, emotions, or performance.

Faith chooses to believe what God says about us above what our feelings may tell us. This is why hearing His voice begins with faith.

Hear His affirmation before His direction

Many of us want God to speak directionally. We want Him to tell us what to do, where to go, what decision to make, or what step to take next. But before He gives us direction, He first desires to establish us in who we are in Christ. Because what we do flows from that secure identity, not the other way around.

We see this in the Lord Jesus’ baptism at the Jordan River. Before He performed a single miracle or began His public ministry, the Father declared: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17). And everything Jesus did flowed from that security.

Immediately after that, the Lord Jesus was led into the wilderness where the devil tempted Him. Each time the enemy spoke, he began with the words, “If You are the Son of God...,” challenging the Lord to prove His identity through His actions.

But notice what the devil quietly dropped. The Father had said, “You are My beloved Son.” But the devil only said, “If You are the Son of God.” That one missing word, “beloved,” was intentional. Because the moment we are rooted in the Father’s love, the enemy’s attacks begin to lose their power.

The Father’s affirmation over Jesus came before He went into the wilderness, before He started His ministry, before He did any miracles. In the same way, the Lord wants us established in who we are before He directs what we do. Because when we are not anchored in His affirmation, we will inevitably make our identity about our performance.

Yet so often, we find it easier to believe the worst about ourselves than to believe what our Father says. But beloved, your heavenly Father does not see you according to your failures. He sees you in Christ. He sees you holy, righteous, and blameless before Him because of Jesus’ finished work.

So, whenever condemning thoughts arise, return to what the Father has declared over you. And as you become established in His love for you, you will begin to recognize His leading more clearly.

How to discern the Lord’s voice

So how do we discern whether a voice is truly from the Lord? First Corinthians 14:3 gives us a clear picture:

This verse tells us that when someone prophesies over us, it should bring edification, exhortation, and comfort. Since prophecy begins with hearing from the Lord, we can apply this same principle to how His voice sounds to us today under the new covenant.

Now, the Greek word for “edification” is oikodomeo, which means “to build up.” The Lord’s voice strengthens us. It builds us up rather than tears us down.

The word “exhortation” carries the idea of drawing near. When the Lord speaks to us, His voice draws us near to His heart. It encourages us and fills us with hope.

And “comfort” speaks of tenderness and reassurance. The Lord’s voice brings comfort and peace to our hearts.

Under the new covenant, these three qualities mark how our heavenly Father speaks to us. His voice is never condemning. Even when He corrects, He does so with love.

Hearing God’s voice is not merely about learning how to discern whether God is speaking. It is also about learning the character and nature of His voice.

His voice builds up. His voice draws near. His voice comforts.

The voice of the stranger, however, leaves us feeling condemned, fearful, distant, and discouraged. It constantly points us back to our failures and shortcomings. So if anyone prophesies without pointing you back to the finished work of Christ, or if the thoughts that repeat in your mind leave you feeling condemned, know that these are not from the Lord.

Now, some might wonder whether receiving such affirmation would lead us to be prideful.

But consider David. When he stood before Goliath, he declared: “This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, that all the earth may know there is a God in Israel” (1 Sam. 17:46). That is not pride. That is confidence in the Lord! David’s eyes were not on himself but on the Lord.

In the same way, when we agree with the Father’s affirmation over us, when we declare His truths like “I am the righteousness of God in Christ,” we are not boasting in ourselves. We are agreeing with all that Christ has accomplished, and every time we do, it pleases the Father’s heart.

Beloved, hearing God’s voice begins with faith. It begins with believing what He says about you. As you continue to hear His words of affirmation and become more conscious of His heart toward you, you will grow more sensitive to His leading, more confident in His love, and more at rest in following Him.

We hope these sermon notes blessed you! If they did, we encourage you to get the sermon and allow the Lord to speak to you personally as you watch or listen to it.

© Copyright JosephPrince.com 2026
These sermon notes were taken by volunteers during the service. They are not a verbatim representation of the sermon.