Friday, May  23(10), 2025
Acts 15:5-34; Jn. 10:17-28                                                                

“Ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you”, ─ said the Lord to Jews who did not believe in Him, ─ “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” [Jn. 10:26-27].  Unbelievers do not belong to the fold of Christ.

Back then the unbelievers had not yet entered into the fold; in our time, however, in our society, the unbelievers have fallen away from the faith, have separated themselves from the fold of Christ.   The Lord is the shepherd; His sheep follow Him, follow His teaching, fulfill His holy commandments.  Sinners are week and infirm sheep which, in spite of their weakness and infirmity, still drag along with the fold.  And those who have fallen away from the faith altogether are the sheep which have gone astray and remain on the loose, until some wild beast devours them.

These are true outsiders.  They have walked out from the fold of Christ, they do not hear His voice, and He does not know them for they do not call on Him, as the woman with the issue of blood did [Mt. 9:20].  And at the Last Judgment they will hear: “I know you not whence ye are; depart from Me”  [Lk. 13:27].

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