Reading the Bible is not the same as Hearing GOD’S Voice!
Jesus spoke in John chapter 10:
27 My sheep hear My Voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
There are three qualifiers of true believers mentioned by Jesus:
They hear His Voice
Jesus knows, recognizes, and acknowledges them
They follow/obey Him
Jesus did not say that reading Scripture would qualify you as sheep. The Pharisees knew the Scripture but could not hear Jesus.
Jesus spoke in Matthew chapter 11:
11 “Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he.
12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the Kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.
13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.
14 And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come.
15 He who has ears to hear, let him hear!
And Jesus spoke again in Matthew chapter 13:
3 Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow.
4 And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them.
5 Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth.
6 But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away.
7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them.
8 But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
9 He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
Jesus was speaking but people were not truly listening and responding to His Message.
10 And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?”
11 He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.
12 For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.
Hearing begets greater revelation by further hearing.
13 Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
14 And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: ‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive;
15 For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.’
16 But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear;
17 for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
In the third dispensation of The Gospel, it is all about hearing and seeing. The Jews had problems hearing because of their dull hearts.
Paul too experienced this very issue as he recorded by The Holy Spirit in Acts 28:
23 So they set a time to meet with Paul. On that day an even greater crowd gathered where he was staying. From morning until evening Paul taught them, opening up the Truths of God’s Kingdom. With convincing arguments from both the Law and the Prophets, he tried to persuade them about Jesus.
24 Some were converted, but others refused to believe. They argued back and forth,
25 still unable to agree among themselves. They were about to leave when Paul made one last statement to them: “The Holy Spirit stated it well when He spoke to your ancestors through the prophet Isaiah:
26 ‘I send you to this people to say to them, “You will keep learning, but not understanding. You will keep staring at Truth but not perceiving it.
27 For your hearts are hard and insensitive to Me—you must be hard of hearing! For you’ve closed your eyes so that you won’t be troubled by the Truth, and you’ve covered your ears so that you won’t have to listen and be pierced by what I say. For then you would have to respond and repent, so that I could heal your hearts.” ’
28-29 “So listen well. This wonderful salvation given by God is now being presented to the non-Jewish nations, and they will believe and receive it!”
You become dull of hearing when you refuse to believe the Truth when It is set before your very eyes. Refusing to believe the Truth makes you blind to all Truth.
We are to hear Truth from FATHER and HE will always confirm what HE has spoken to you by HIS written Word. If you rely solely on The written Word, you will miss the point of personally hearing GOD’S Voice.