G.W. North emphasizes the transformative power of being born again, suggesting that true believers should transcend national identities and pride, recognizing their unity in Christ. He discusses the importance of hearing the voice of Jesus, illustrating that spiritual blindness and deafness can hinder one's relationship with God. North highlights the significance of understanding the Scriptures, particularly the Gospel of John, as it reveals the nature of Christ and the call to follow Him. He encourages believers to live in the light and to be aware of the voice they hear, as it reflects their spiritual state. Ultimately, he calls for a deeper relationship with God, urging listeners to embody the essence of Christ in their lives.

conceived in the womb, there must have been a lot of other conceptions or births, whichever way you want, all over the world. And I couldn't choose whether I should be born English, and I'm not all that proud of it. National pride is one of the greatest influences to them. And when I got born again, it was so real that I gave up my nationality, gave it up completely in my heart. I'm not an Englishman. And if you're truly born again, perhaps it's a suggestion to you as a guidance in your life. So don't think of me as an Englishman, will you? Now we'll pray. Dear Lord Jesus, we're so glad that you came to be the universal Lord. The men have rejected you. It's not your fault, Lord. It is their sin. And we thank thee, Lord, throughout it all, known to thee from before the beginning of the world was each one of us. And how we bless you that we heard the gospel of salvation. Lord, thank you for giving thy son up to be butchered and beaten. And yet, Lord, miraculously you preserved him whole through it all. And that is exactly what thou would do for us, Lord. We're quite convinced of that. That when we are truly children of God, truly, not just believers or have any denominational names anymore, we would not so insult thee. We thank thee that thou hast gathered only a company of born-again ones. How many millions of them will there be, Lord, beside us in thy glorious presence forever. We do not know nor count ourselves to be superior to anyone. Indeed, Father, we would be a servant as thy dear Jesus was to thee, Father, though he was equal with thee in his position. How we bless thee, Lord, that to be born again is the death of pride and its only predence that makes us cling to it and more hell-deserving than ever. We thank thee, Father, for this thy grace. Bless thy name that here we meet in health and before each other, Lord. But what and who dost thou see, O blessed Father, as thou dost look upon us? Aid us by thy great grace and this thy marvellous love, which we are slowly learning and thereby being transformed. We bless thee, Lord. Help us each one this morning into thy truth. Help us in understanding. We bless thee, Lord. Amen. Well, we're all switched on. And you will know this morning that we are about to proceed into chapter 10 of the book of John. You need not that I should tell you, though I will say it, that John is not a synoptist. The other three gospel writers are synoptists. They give a synopsis of the life of Jesus Christ from different perspectives. But they present the, shall I say, the history of our Lord Jesus, but not in the detail in which any biographer might write about you or anything like that when you die. But here is John. I am quite convinced that it was the last gospel to be written and I am quite convinced that he never thought of writing until being caught up to heaven as he was in the eye of the pamphlet. God said, write. And he didn't just write what he heard there under the command of the Lord, but he commenced his, shall I say, writing career. And here we are then this morning, we're moving on. And time factors don't seem to matter. He just puts down the truth about this lovely man, Christ and God, that he met. And that's very wonderful. And yesterday, you may remember, we were on Jesus as the light. And also, you will know that God said right at the beginning, let there be light. That's why in the first chapter of John, you get him as coming to be the light of the world. And the question put by the Pharisees to the Lord Jesus was, are we blind also? Well, they were. And you can only be blind, that is inwardly spiritually blind, if you are not born of God. You are born of light. So never attempt to proceed in darkness. If you are in darkness, in any way, you need to be born again, and you will be born of him who is light. So you will have light. Then it is entirely up to you, and John makes this very plain in his first epistle, to walk in that light, live in that light, allowing nothing to come into your life or relationships with others that is darkness at all. You depend on it. If you have to keep something secret, you are in sin. However much you may believe otherwise, that's a big, big thing. I know we have little secrets, you know, as when a boy gets sweet on a girl or something like that. No, no, I mean not just playing around, but they will eventually become one in the Lord's eyes. But that which is done in secret, Paul is very clear about this. It's very wrong. Though in the other hand, as soon as we get into the light, we have our secret sessions where we go into our closet and shut to the door, and we pray in secret, and the God who himself sees in secret will reward you openly. You are the result of how you live and your heart state. Keep that right? Yeah. And here I'm touching upon psychology as well as spiritual truth. You are that, and if things go wrong in your life with you spiritually, it's because you are in sin. That should be an indication to you. Or it may be that probably you've been untaught about it. This is a great lack in the churches. Not in the true church of Jesus Christ. It's so wonderful. We all have our mental problems, of course, as they say. Well, how can he, if he professes to belong to the Lord, do a thing like that? You see, but that takes in spiritual comprehension as well, and that's not our subject this morning. But God brings us to this. Oh Lord, Jesus did, who was God manifest in the flesh. Jesus said in verse 41 of chapter 9, I'm making the link that I suggested to you was last, that yesterday morning is always there, that chapter divisions do not exist in the original Greek. Men have dared to chapterize it, because mostly we're too lazy to read it all, and we just have our portion, a few verses. But here it is, Jesus said unto them, verse 41, if you were blind, you shouldn't have no sin. But now ye say, we see, therefore your sin remaineth. Amazing how your speech betrays you. Now into chapter 10. The Lord is passing from another great part of our humanity, our makeup, from one which was seeing, he's passing to hearing now, in chapter 10. We'll read a section, shall we? Verse 1, verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth, and the sheep hear his voice. Now we've passed from eyes to ears, sight to hearing. I'll comment here on this, that it is not without complete spiritual knowledge, and John was one of them who had, in the end, the completest, most complete vision. Finishes up in Revelation, which he also wrote with a glorious vision of, not heaven, you must understand that, it's of a city, don't mistake them. New Jerusalem will be the capital city of the new creation. And there's a great new creation outside of that, new heaven, new earth, new everything, in which people are going to live, but that's not our portion, thing this morning. You make sure you belong to New Jerusalem, don't aim at going to heaven, will you? You are to live in New Jerusalem, that will transform you if you live there. Now, here is the tremendous thing, remember you'll always walk on streets of gold, in New Jerusalem, it's very clear. Here is a marvellous thing. He came in, and you will be aware, and this is in this parable which I haven't concluded, John has put together the only parable that he wrote. The other Gospels are full of parables, and you know what a parable store is, defined for me when I went to school in the days when they really taught us the Bible in schools. England's going down faster, I think, than any other nation on the earth, considering the heights to which God raised her. I've got no national pride, please, I'm not thinking about that. And comparatively it's going down further, faster than any other nation on the earth. Now, here's the parable. He teaches in parabolic symbols, say for instance when we get further on, you get the 15th chapter, I am the vine. Now that's parabolic teaching, but it isn't a parable. But this is a parable, earthly story with a heavenly meaning. And we are going to see this. Note this, it's a very important thing. And remember, as we go on into this, you and I will be entering in a little more into the understanding of God in having the scripture written. Of course, we pay him no compliment by saying he's understanding. But this wonderful thing is, let me quote John's Gospel, right at the beginning. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word became flesh. Now, that's addressed primarily in our thinking to hearing. I'm speaking words, you're hearing me. And he often spoke about hearing the Word, Jesus, when he was on the earth. Because you know, you can hear things that you cannot see. In one sense, it comes before sight. Because you can be quite sightless in your eyes. For instance, I could go and stand in there, and in the days when I used to be able to shout, which seems to have forsaken me a lot, I could have spoken in there, and you could have heard me and never seen me. The voice will penetrate to places where sight cannot go. And here then is the importance. The emphasis is here. Verily, and he's talking about the sheep, he enters in by the door, he's the shepherd, and he says, my sheep, or his sheep, hear his voice. Though they couldn't see for a start. I mean, none of these people, John, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Mark, by the way, was not an apostle. But here's the thing. They heard him. They responded to him. They saw him. But they didn't really believe he was the son of God. They heard him. I'll point that out later. The amazing patience of Jesus Christ, and of God, who waited through the centuries, is beyond human telling. And you're listening to me, but if you don't hear the voice of God this morning, you're wasting your time coming. Because all you'll do is load up your minds with what I say. Well, I hope so. But you won't have heard anything. In which case, you will still be dead, though you might call yourself Christian. Here, then, is the big thing to understand. The sheep first three. He enters by the door into the sheepfold. The porter opens. The sheep hear his voice. He calleth his own sheep by name, leaves them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them as his sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Listen, before you could speak a word, you had a voice. You had a voice. It's essential that you know the voice of the Lord. Absolutely. You've got to know who's speaking to you. Let me illustrate this from the Old Testament. You remember? Say, Abraham. Now, dear old Abraham, you must understand that he was not under law. The law never came till Moses. So they were all under grace before the law was ever given. But you will find in the Old Testament this combination. Let me quote one by name. Noah heard the voice of the Lord. To you, I'm not asking you whether you read a text and believe it. I want you to come alive to God. Not just a mere letter believer. There are too many letter-made Christians in the world. They know how to pile text on text. But text won't save you. Abraham, for instance, God woke him up in the middle of the night. And do you remember what you, you must have remembered this, I hope. He said to Abraham, now you take your son, your only son, Isaac. He rubbed it in, if you like. He said, son, your own wisdom. Go into the land of Moriah and offer him unto me in the mountain. I will show thee. What? Now you're just supposing if he'd have said like you might have said, or I, long ago now. I said, this can't be God talking to me. It must be Satan. You've got to know the voice. Do you know the voice of the Lord? Very important. You're not one of his sheep if you don't. My sheep believe Jesus. Don't believe your own thoughts about it. You believe Jesus. He is the word. You believe your own thoughts, you'll be nothing but a prig. You'll be nothing but a proud this, that, the other. Too many people are coming out with, I think this, I think that, and I think the other. That's what in many cases sermons are made up of, if you penetrate through what's being said. Would you know the voice of the Lord? And all you are, beloved, will you listen to me, please? You get this into you. All you are is in your voice. It's not in your pretty face, or your ugly face like mine. Makes no difference. It's not in that. Not in the clothes you wear. It's not in the school you've been to. It's not in your education. It's not in your psyche. Your psyche has to be educated by the spirit that's within you. Of course, psychologists on the whole don't believe you have a spirit. You're just body and soul to them. And you know why they believe that? Because they're spiritually dead, Bo Salton. I can tell you a lot of psychic things from the psyche, gathered up knowledge, as you can read in any book anyway if you want to. Beloved, this is the important thing. I've only got to listen to you, and I know you immediately. I have to learn that. Everything is in your voice, beloved. Anger, irrationality, love, hate, confusion. For instance, if I sat here this morning, I love you. You wouldn't know I don't. I've over-illustrated it, but sometimes we need the emphases. But before the voice, there was this one called the Word. God prepared a voice for him. So you read expressions. I'm going back to the Old Testament here. Psalm, I've got to forget it now, I'm all in the memory. I think it's 59, I think. It speaks about the voice of the Lord. Beloved, what voices do you hear? And let me hear you speak, and don't try and speak sugared honey to me, because I don't know who exactly who you are. I'm putting it on myself. It goes with you too. It's very important that you hear and that you speak right. Marvelous truth. You must get these, probably they're deeper truths than you may have been used to in your past, I don't know. But you've got to get them into your being. Listen to the voice of your mother now. None of you have a mother here, or a father. How they've spoken to one another. You haven't needed to hear what they said so much. Same as you. How do you speak to one another here? Well, I'm not saying, asking you, saying, are you a swearing crowd, because I know you're not. I'm not talking about the words you use. You are greater than anything you say. It's the impact of the person on me, not mere personality. That can be cultured into something that you are not. Actors and actresses, film stars, are absolutely wonderful at it. You, my beloved brother and sister, you either shout to me of hell, or whisper to me of it, or of heaven, a saint, or a worldly. Clear as anything. Clear as any. You must develop that. Now don't go around trying to suss people out, as they say, unless you finish up in the devil's clutches. The wonderful part about it, beloved, is that my sheep hear my voice. That's it. And I could almost preach to you right now about that wonderful psalm that contains this blessed eulogy, I might say, of the voice and what it does. And so, you've already understood, of course, that this parable, or of whom, which these people said in verse 6, the parable he was speaking to, he said, they didn't understand what he was talking about. Do you understand what I'm saying this morning? Measure yourself on it. It's come out of depths of experience, beloved. Dealing with devils in people. Dealing with all kinds of things in people. And sinful natures in people. That's what it's about. They didn't understand. Seems a simple, straightforward story to me. And I'm an ignoramus, but these people were very clever. Do you understand what this is about? If I appear to be neglecting you and talking bare, this is one of the things I've got a nickname for. I'm a right-handed preacher, they tell me. I seldom turn to the left, so you all need to sit on the right side. It's all right. But I do that. She knows me more than any of you. But here's the tremendous thing. This is so simple. And what the Lord is doing is referring back to the opening chapter of the Gospel, which in the very first chapter, you will remember, there was a man sent from God, whose name was John. OK. You see, he's referring to John Baptist. Are you taking this in? John Baptist was a man filled with the Holy Ghost in his mother's womb. From the time when Mary, who was filled with the Holy Ghost, the takeover of her humanity by God for the birth of his son. She just went out to Elizabeth, her cousin, and spoke, and John Baptist, who had been conceived within her purposely by God. You must read this, or think about this, in the first chapter of Luke. John doesn't concern himself with the biographical and physical elements of it. But here is the great truth. She went and John Baptist was filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb. Lept with him at the voice of the Lord. So that's what it was. He was sent beforehand to baptise in water. And it may surprise you, and I only know these things through, I think, this book. Chiefly the New Testament has been my companion through these many years. You'll be surprised to see, you read any amount of books, don't you? Of course, you need to, when you're young, learn all about the great pioneers. That's like, like Derek has got an immense library. Alright, the whole thing, beloved, is that John Baptist was a man prepared to be the porter by God. God was preparing the porter. The fold was the Jewish nation. That's right. And John Baptist, by baptism in water, alright, opened the door. There standeth one among you, said, John, whom ye know not. He it is, he said. And he opened the door, and when he baptised the Lord Jesus in Jordan, he himself confessed, now you're listening to this very carefully, he himself was full of the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb. And yet when Jesus came and stood in Jordan with him, he said, I have need to be baptised as a, oh, filled with the Spirit before I was baptised in the Spirit then. For Jesus never did water, never practised water baptism. As John's very careful to tell you this, his disciples did the baptising, lest he should confuse people that he was talking about water baptism, he was talking about baptism of the Holy Ghost. And John Baptist, a greater than whom had ever been born a woman, at the last, shall we say, of the Old Testament. Prophets, equipped by God, recognised he needed to be baptised in the Spirit by Jesus Christ, and he was already full of the Holy Ghost. If I may comment still further, that you get clear, I'd rather you all got clear on truth, than me just give you a load of lectures, and you come out top of everybody else. I'd rather you do this, Mary, who was filled with the Holy Ghost, and brought forth Jesus, herself had to be baptised in the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. She was there in the room. So keep it clear, because lots of people were filled with the Holy Spirit. Baptism in the Spirit marks the children of God in a very, very wonderful way. Ponder it, because there's much confusion about it. Much confusion. But when Jesus stood in Jordan with John, and he came up out of the waters, the Father opened the heavens. He was introduced to the nation, and he spoke, and he says, My beloved Son, and all my world, please, and the nation, it was done properly. God always does everything properly. You can't fault God. You may kick against him, and curse him, which I trust you've never done, but you don't alter God. He does everything properly. He's never sloppy, but we're in an age where you can be a sloppy as you want. If you want to wear your boots on your head, you can. You can do a joint saying, God done thing. He does. He's very particular. And that's mostly what most people can't understand. They always want to be sure of going to heaven. Well, I don't want to go to heaven. See? And you can tell everybody that all over the world if you want. Because God's not good enough. God says, I'm going to make a new heaven for my people. Church, in the Bible, you know, I go around, oh, how are you going to heaven when you die? Or something like that. First thing, are you sure you're going to die? And then God's saying, oh no, I'm going to make a new heaven for my born again, my newborn children and family. So clean up your act, and clean up yourself on it. Because if you get wrong things in your mind, you will be unclean by the retaining of those things. So it's very important that you know the truth, for only the truth can make you free. Free of superstitions, free of behavioral problems, free of sloppy thinking, working, dressing, or anything like that. It'll make you a real son of God, if I may use this word of God, of which you might be proud. Just like my son. That's what it's about. Don't endeavor to be a best preacher, or a best teacher, or a best anything like that. You just be a personification of Jesus Christ. That is what it's about. All right. He was very pleased with his son Jesus, who was God the Father, right at the beginning. And by this time, he'd lived 30 years on the earth. And he was telling Jesus and the world, this is, you've been wonderful. Up until that moment of time, we know forever, he was pleased with his human behavioral patterns, and his life on this earth. Now you struggle to be there. Or, if it be, I've used the word struggle with regard to faith. Get to that place in your heart, where God could open the heavens now and say, this is my beloved son. I'm well pleased with you, son. I'm well pleased with you. You live for that. Don't live for anything else much. The accolades of men are mere rubbish made from the ideas of men. Wonderful. John opened the door to him. And then he got immediate proof, if I follow. It's all compressed into a few words in the parable, by the fact that the sheep heard his voice. Do you remember, he went to walk the Lord Jesus by the Sea of Galilee. And he sees a boat out on the lake. They're fishing. Peter! Andrew! What's all this about? Put yourself in their places. They were his sheep. They weren't yet born again children of God, but they were going to be. And I want to say this to you within your hearts. And I'm more concerned in your spiritual life than the fact that you're learning stuff. I believe I said it yesterday or the other day, my concern with you is pastoral, not professorial. Here's the truth. I want to see each one of you there full of the Holy Ghost in the presence of God in that day. I don't care about anything else much. Here is the thing. They didn't know they were his sheep. Not yet. There are many people in this world that God sees now beforehand before they ever hear the Gospel or meet the Saviour. Look at these. And the proof is that when you hear, you respond. Fitfully, they came to the shore, said what's this all about sort of thing in their minds, then went back to their fishing again. See? Have you been like that? You know, God called you and you went back and got on with, oh you've got to live on here, you've got to earn your living, you've got to do this, you've got to do that, and you've got to do the other. Oh beloved, to see what God's offering you. And when you may come to the knowledge that you were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. Take another case. I hope you're happy to listen. There's another case. We'll come to it yet. That's in the next chapter, but I'm giving you a hint before we get there. Lazarus come forth, and he came forth. He was dead. He is the perfect expression of a person long loved with whom he had contact during his lifetime. You all know the story of the Bethany home, all right? Now he's dead. He said, Lazarus, he called him, and he came out. That's all he needed. So don't anybody here in this room or never you allow in your hearing people to talk as though God has never chosen or called them. They need missionaries to bear the message with. I mean in England too, we need evangelizing in England, not other parts of the world. You've got to see these things, beloved. You'll be useless to God if you don't. You've got to get into the heart of God and what it's about. And remember this, never forget this. It's in the voice. That's what John Baptist said. He said, I am the voice, one crying in the wilderness. That's what he said. But then, here's the marvel of it, the word came to the voice. Jesus was the word. In the beginning was the voice, all right? He went, the word, the person being Jesus, conjoined with the voice, and the voice said, I must decrease and he must increase. I leave you with the word. The word is a person. You are speaking, my precious young person, when I hear your voice. And you are the word to me, even on this level, you're not the word. I look at you, I listen to you, I observe you. You've spoken all you need to speak. If I never see you again, that is not again this week, ever, or evermore on earth, you bear that in mind. You're shouting things out at the top of your voice, without ever speaking. Here is the thing, beloved, my sheep, hear my voice. But Jesus is speaking objectively at the moment, and not subjectively. For he goes on to tell the parable. He calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. I've given you two illustrations in the Old Testament. Abraham, or if you like before that, Moses from the burning bush he spoke. And you have Lazarus, as I've told you, in the New Testament. It's there. These are the deeper things, but that's why you come to a Bible school, I suppose, to learn what might be called deeper things. All right. He calls them, and when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him. For they know his voice. They know his voice. Wonderful. Do you? A stranger they will not follow, but will flee from him. For they know not the voice of strangers. This parable spake Jesus unto them, but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them. There's the only parable in John. But how vital it is, because that is the human being. That voice tells you who the human being is. By God's classification, or you may be called a lot of other names that science has cooked up, and become full of knowledge about those things. But take the word of Jesus, beloved. He says, I'm the word. So now you'll be able to tell everybody, and everybody will be able to tell who you are. Wonderful. Derek and I this morning, I mustn't let you into too many family secrets, but we started breakfast at seven and got up from the table in time to come to the meetings. And we talked. And we talked. Because we know a man, he's, he talks, talks, travels the world. He does all sorts of things. But we both knew he was as full of pride as you could find. Bible knowledge, all the kinds of things, accepted in conference, in speakers, as a speaker, he's as full of pride as one day his own son said to me, he's full of pride. Family, no, don't they? This is the thing, beloved, you've got to be like Jesus. You're my sheep, he says. You're my responsibility. I'm accounting to my Father for you. Beloved, do you wonder if I knew you were a wonderer? I don't know if I tell you that John's gospel is my favorite. It really is. It's no matter about historical facts, which the other three gospels are full of, and so is this one too. The fact is he came and died. The fact is he rose again. The fact he was born of a virgin. The fact of the fact he came out of a grave. It was all so marvelous. They're facts. And thank God we have got a factual gospel. But if you're resting in that, beloved, you see, you've got to come into intimate knowledge of God and Jesus Christ, be moved in your being and love him. That's what it's about. You want to partake of his grace, oh thank you for giving me all my sins and believe I'm not mocking. But I've been through all these stages, you see. If I don't hear love in your voice, my young friend, or elder friend, whoever it is, including dear brother here, I know you're not God's. It is the responsibility of the Holy Ghost in Jesus' name, for Jesus said my Father will send him in my name. He does exactly the same things. He doesn't need to die on a cross that once was sufficient. He does exactly the same things. And you've got to see that he speaks like Jesus. They all speak the same. Wonderful. And God's will is to incorporate you into the life of his own being. That's what it's about. Your mother and father never knew anything about that. To incorporate you into their being. This is marvellous. Much better than going to heaven or anything like that. I used to sing a hymn in the days when we sang hymns and never titillated ourselves with about five, six repetitive lines in a jazzy tune or something, accompanied by much bashing of drums and clanging of cymbals. Old Testament, that is. Hold a lot of it. Read it yourself. I used to sing, where Jesus is, it is heaven. Aim for it, son, daughter, aim for it. Mould your life so that God believes you're attempting to get there. He's got to believe you, no? Actually, you've got to believe him. All right, I'm going to stop. I need a cup of tea, please. I don't know whether we're going to get through this chapter at this rate, but it's rather usual, I suppose.