“As I said unto you, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him; for they know not the voice of strangers.” John 10:26,27,5.
“Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” Matt. 28:20; 2 Thess. 2:15; John 8:31; 14:21; 15:10; Matt. 11:28. 1 John 3:7.
How the false prophets are to be known and distinguished from the true servants of Jesus Christ, read: “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits.” Matt. 7:15,16; Deut. 13:1.
“He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.” John 7:18.
“For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God.” John 3:34; 8:31; 1 Pet. 4:11.
“But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.” Jer. 23:22,31; Is. 55:11; Matt. 23 throughout; Col. 1:6; read also Tit. 1:6; 1 Tim. 3 throughout.
How Christians are to be known by their love, read: “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” John 13:34,35; 1 John 3:23.
“In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.” 1 John 3:10; 15:12; Matt. 22:39; Eph. 5:2; 1 Pet. 1:22; 2 Pet. 1:7.
ARTICLE XX.
Of the ordinances of the church of God, and the sending and electing of ministers. Of this we confessed: That, as a house, city, or country cannot subsist unless it have laws and ordinances by which to be governed and upheld, and as no human body can subsist without the members performing the service appointed by God for the needs of the body; so also, God the Lord has appointed in his church divers ordinances, laws and commandments, by which it is to be built up, edified, and improved.